Samuel Byers and Elizabeth Ramsey

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Husband Samuel Byers ^{1 2}

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            AKA: James Byers 3
           Born: 1762 - Maryland 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 1836 - Pulaski, Lawrence Co, PA 1
         Buried: 

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         Father: Samuel Byers (      -      ) 4
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Elizabeth Ramsey ^{1 3}

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           Born: Abt 1764
     Christened: 
           Died: 1847 - ? Venango Co, PA 1
         Buried:  - Mount Pleasant Church

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Children

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1 F Agnes Byers ¹

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2 M Andrew Byers ¹

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3 M William Byers ¹

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4 M Samuel Byers ³

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5 M John Byers ¹

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6 M Daniel Byers ¹

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7 M James Byers, Jr. ³

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           Born: 11 Jun 1800 - Pulaski, Lawrence Co, PA 3
     Christened: 
           Died: Abt 1891 - Sandy Lake, Mercer Co, PA
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Elizabeth Piper (1807-Abt 1900) 3
           Marr: 22 Dec 1825 1 3

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8 M Ebenezer Byers ¹

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9 F Betsey Byers ¹

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General Notes: Husband - Samuel Byers

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He settled in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, in 1796 (in an area that later became part of Lawrence County.)

The Byers have been identified with Venango County, Pennsylvania, for nearly three quarters of a century, and have been established in that part of the state since 1807. So far as known the family is of old Virginia stock, and the first of the name to settle there, James Byers, had been a member of George Washington's staff during the Revolutionary war. In 1807 he removed to Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and later made a permanent settlement near Pulaski, Lawrence County, where he died. [CAB, 691]

None of their daughters had any posterity.

The first settlers of Shenango Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, were Samuel Byers and Andrew Wylie. In the spring of 1796 they left their old home at Morgantown, Virginia, to depart upon an expedition of exploration and discovery, so to speak, in the region lying in what was then generally known as "the northwest." Their purpose was two-fold. They were desirous of becoming familiar with the territory in question, being both of a roving disposition, and they also were in search of land upon which to establish newer and better homes. They took with them an ample equipment of agricultural and hunting implements, together with such other necessaries as were absolutely indispensable to them while on their journey. They passed by way of the Monongahela, in a canoe. Before reaching Pittsburgh, however, they met with the misfortune of having their boat capsize, losing thereby, according to one account, everything but an ax. But they were of too determined a disposition to be deterred by an occurrence so slight, and leaving the settled regions far in their rear, they pushed forward toward the land upon which they were destined to eventually take up an abode. They followed the course of the Shenango River, and when they had arrived at a point distant about one mile from the present town of Pulaski, Byers determined to halt. He accordingly did so, erected a cabin, staked out a claim, blazed a few trees with the ax which had escaped from the accident on the Monongahela. After thus securing his property from seizure, he resolved to return for his family. He was seconded in this by Wylie, who had also taken up a claim in the manner described. During the same year he returned again to his Shenango Valley home, accompanied by his wife and six children. The following is a graphic and accurate account of their return as given by one of the family: "The entire journey was made by land; Mrs. Byers rode on horseback, with a feather-bed for a saddle, and with one child before and another behind her. Two of the next oldest children were carried upon another horse, with various household goods, while the father and two older sons walked, and drove several cows, a sow and seven pigs. Their progress was necessarily slow. Several young men from Virginia accompanied the family.
On rising the next morning after their arrival, a large bear was observed in the top of a tree which shaded the cabin, which had evidently climbed thither for the purpose of reconnoitering, but whose philosophic meditations were brought to a melancholy end by a rifle ball, and the flesh of the monster furnished food for the family. Their cabin would be thought a curiosity at the present day, as it was built of round logs, after the usual manner of the times, and had a door of shaved clapboards, split from white oak logs and hung on wooden hinges. Provisions were raised during the first summer to sustain them through the winter, and, with some additions to their store, from the game which abounded, they were supplied until the harvest of 1797. Once or twice in 1796 Byers returned to Virginia, and brought back a supply of groceries and other articles of which they stood in need, and in 1798 six sheep were driven out, and from that date clothing was mainly manufactured at home. Bells were attached to them during the day, and they were watched by the younger boys while the older members of the family were clearing land, and at night they were enclosed in a log pen ten feet high, to protect them from the wolves, which prowled near the rude dwellings." Great difficulty was had with bears, which were then exceedingly numerous. Byers had a fine breed of hogs, and these animals were in constant danger of destruction by the carnivorous bruins. It became necessary to keep a constant guard over them. Upon one occasion, a large sow and her six shoats escaped and wandered too far from the pen. They were set upon by bears, and on the following day, the remains of four of the venturesome porkers were found partly eaten in the adjacent woodland. [HMC 1888, 590]

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General Notes: Wife - Elizabeth Ramsey

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She reached the age of eighty-three years, and spent her last years with her son James in Venango County, PA. None of her daughters had any posterity.

1 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 663.

2 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 691.

3 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 692.

4 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1877), Pg 79.