Husband Maj. Robert Darragh 1 2 3
Born: 23 Feb 1776 - Darraghtown, County Fermanagh, Ireland 1 2
Christened:
Died: 21 Jul 1872 - Bristol, Bristol Co, RI 1 4
Buried:
Marriage: 1803 1
Wife Deborah Hart 1 5
Born: - near Trenton, NJ
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jesse Hart ( - ) 6
Mother:
Children
1 M Maj. John Stafford Darragh 5 7
Born: 16 Jul 1804 - Allegheny Co, PA 6
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Mary Lyon ( - ) 8
Marr: 1827 8
2 F Martha A. Darragh 3 5
Born: Abt 1805
Christened:
Died: Aft 1888
Buried:
Spouse: Hiram Stowe ( -1877) 9 10
3 M Jesse Darragh 5
Born:
Christened:
Died: in infancy
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
4 M James Darragh 5
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
5 M Hart Darragh 5 11
Born: Abt 1812
Christened:
Died: 1885 12
Buried:
6 M Mattison Darragh 5 13
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
7 M Scudder Hart Darragh 5 11
Born: 27 Feb 1817 - Bristol, Bristol Co, RI 12
Christened:
Died: Aft 1904
Buried:
Spouse: Catherine Weyand ( - ) 14
Marr: 23 Aug 1865 14
8 F Cynthia B. Darragh 5 15
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Dr. Milo Adams (1790-1846) 15 16
General Notes: Husband - Maj. Robert Darragh
While quite young he came to America and settled in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where he passed the remainder of his life. Major Darragh filled many positions of honor and credit, and, in every case, filled them well. His title of Major was obtained from militia service. He was also the representative of the state senatorial district in which he lived for a number of years. In his religious views the Major was an active member of the M. E. church.
He was born in Ireland, and early in life came to America and settled at Bridgewater, Pennsylvania, that place being then called Sharon. He was one of the early hotel keepers of Beaver County. He afterward embarked in the mercantile trade in Sharon, which was then a shipping point, and did a large and successful business. His family consisted of eight children, seven of whom grew to maturity.
He was born in Ireland, came to America in 1798, and to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, in 1808. He taught school at Sharon (later called Bridgewater), and subsequently kept a hotel and general store. Sharon was then the best business point in Beaver county. He was successful in business and succeeded in accumulating a handsome fortune.
He was born in Darraghstown, near Milk Hill, County Fermanagh, Ireland, and came to America when about twelve years of age, landing at Philadelphia. For a short time he remained there, then coming on to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and later to Beaver County, where he first settled on the south side, obtaining employment on the farm of John Braden, on Raccoon Creek. He was naturalized in Beaver County, August 3, 1807.
He built a warehouse in Bridgewater and entered into the boating business, and met with success, till he suffered the loss of a pirogue, or flat-boat, load of merchandise, the same being caught in a heavy ice flow near the mouth of Chartiers Creek, the boat sinking and he himself narrowly escaping from a watery grave. As there were few insurance companies in those times, the loss fell entirely on him, and in order to assist in meeting his obligations, he taught school in Beaver County, later going for a short time to Yellow Creek, Ohio, where in the daytime he worked in the salt works and at night taught a night-school, until he was able to meet all losses claimed against him.
Returning to Bridgewater (in those days known as Sharon), he at once opened a general store and warehouse, and later built a large iron foundry, which he successfully conducted with his sons, John Stafford, Hart, Mattison, and Scudder Hart, under the name of R. Darragh & Sons, until in 1848, when he himself (his sons John Stafford and Hart having retired a few years before) withdrew and the business was conducted by his sons Mattison and Scudder Hart, and his son-in-law Hiram Stowe. The latter soon withdrew, leaving the business to the remaining partners, by whom the foundry business was carried on until in the summer of 1902, at which time, because of age, they sold out and retired. The store and foundry conducted as above were long among the largest and most successful of the neighborhood.
Robert Darragh was elected to the State Senate of Pennsylvania in 1846, where, though himself a Whig, he voted for Simon Cameron, a Democrat, for United States Senator, because of the agreement of their ideas as to a protective tariff. During the War of 1812, when news came reporting the massacre of women and children near the present city of Warren, Ohio, he sent at his own expense all the powder, shot, lead, and flints stored away in his warehouse, to the relief of the city.
He was one of the pioneers of the Methodist Episcopal Church in western Pennsylvania, and one of the founders and first trustees of the Beaver M. E. Church erected in 1829, and later of the Bridgewater M. E. Church. Prior to the erection of these two churches he was a member of the old Methodist Episcopal Church located in Sharon, on the hillside, not far from the end of the later Sharon toll-bridge, and was one of the first trustees of this church.
General Notes: Wife - Deborah Hart
She was a granddaughter of John Hart, of New Jersey, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.