Husband Col. Samuel Futhey Dale 1 2 3 4
Born: 15 Jul 1773 - West Fallowfield Twp, Chester Co, PA 1 3
Christened:
Died: 1 Sep 1842 - Lancaster, Lancaster Co, PA 1 5
Buried: - Woodland Cemetery, Lancaster, Lancaster Co, PA
Father: Samuel Dale (1735/1741-1804) 3 4 6 7
Mother: Ann(e) [2] Futhey (1750-1835) 3 4 6 8
Marriage: 29 Jul 1834 9
Other Spouse: Eliza Gundaker (1787-1830) 10 11 - 19 Nov 1812 - Lancaster, Lancaster Co, PA 12
• Biographical Sketch: John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913).
To read this brief biographical sketch of his life and career, click here.
Wife Leah Lightner 9 13 14
AKA: Leah Lightener 10
Born: 18 May 1789 - Leacock Twp, Lancaster Co, PA 13
Christened:
Died: 9 Feb 1886 9 14
Buried:
Father: John Adam Lightner (1743-1798) 13
Mother: Leah Ferree (1757-1841) 13
Children
General Notes: Husband - Col. Samuel Futhey Dale
Colonel Samuel Dale was born in West Fallowfield township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. His parents removed to White Deer township, Northumberland (later Union) county, in the following spring, but were obliged to return in 1777 on account of Indian troubles. In 1781 they took up their residence in Dauphin county, and in 1784 returned to White Deer township. In 1797 the future colonel, then a young man of twenty-three, went to Philadelphia to learn the mercantile business, but finding yellow fever very prevalent he returned home and two years later made a journey to the state of Ohio. He was on the point of returning thither when Samuel Cochran, surveyor general of the state, appointed him deputy surveyor for Venango county. He proceeded thither the same year, although it was not until 1801 that he came to reside at Franklin. In 1802 he was elected colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-Second regi-ment of the First brigade and Fourteenth division (subsequently the Sixteenth). He was elected as the representative of Venango and Mercer counties in the legislature in 1807 and successively re-elected until 1813. The commission under which he led his regiment in the war of 1812 was given by Governor Simon Snyder under date of August 3, 1811. After the close of the war he resided at Lancaster the remainder of his life. He served as alderman, notary public, president of the school board, and judge of the court of common pleas, and filled various other positions of trust with credit and fidelity. He died in that city at the age of sixty-nine. [HVC 1890, 273]
At the age of nineteen years, he was commissioned lieutenant of a militia company by Governor Thomas Mifflin, and then commenced the study of military tactics. In 1802 he was commissioned by Governor Thomas McKean lieutenant colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-Second regiment, and was recommissioned in 1811 by Governor Snyder. The rank of colonel does not appear in the appointments of those times in Pennsylvania. He represented the counties of Venango and Mercer in the state legislature, from 1808 to 1813. On the 19th of November, 1812, while a member of the legislature at Lancaster, he married Eliza, daughter of Michael Gundaker, one of the early and successful merchants of Lancaster city. He had in contemplation a commercial life in Philadelphia, but having a mathematical mind he applied himself to the study of civil engineering, and in 1800 accepted the appointment from the surveyor general of the state of deputy surveyor of Venango county. He devoted himself to the survey of the county, establishing its boundaries with a view to a correct map of the county, and in establishing the boundaries of lands of companies and of individuals in Venango and adjoining counties, continuing in this employment until 1812. He was characterized by a conscientious faithfulness in discharge of his duties and labors, even in the smallest undertakings, so that notwithstanding the inconveniences and difficulties attending surveys at that early day through the unbroken forests, they were made with such care and accuracy that, in land litigations since that time, his field notes, when applicable, have been almost invariably accepted as conclusive.
In his early years the Indians were numerous, and hostile to the settlement of what they deemed their hunting grounds by the white men. There was constant dread of their ravages. He therefore made the Indian character a study, and being of an active frame and possessed of a high degree of energy, capacity, and courage, traits admired by the Indians, and enjoining fair dealing at all times with the Indian, he gained the confidence and esteem of "the Seneca's great chief," Cornplanter, and of his warriors, to such a degree as to have been one of the principal means of reconciling the Indians of this region to the peaceable settlement and occupation of the land by the white man.
In the War of 1812, the national government having determined to obtain the command on Lake Erie, and having ordered that vessels be built at the port of Erie, under the directions of Commodore O. H. Perry, a messenger reached Lancaster with instructions to Colonel Dale, July, 1813, to march his regiment to Erie, to assist in protecting the vessels while crossing the bar. Within a few hours after the receipt of the message, he mounted a fleet horse, and after a long and tedious journey, was enabled to report with his regiment at Erie at the time named in the order. In January, 1814, after the burning of Buffalo, the British, with their Indian allies, were reported advancing on Erie, and he again marched to that point with his regiment.
In 1818 he chose Lancaster city for his permanent home. About the year 1829, being in western Pennsylvania, in the interest of Franklin College, of which he was a trustee, he visited Franklin. Known to almost every citizen, personally or by reputation, the early settlers gathered in from all parts of the county to grasp the hand of one whose name was as a household word. December 3, 1819, he was commissioned an associate judge of the court of common pleas of Lancaster county, and filled this position up to the time of his death, fulfilling the duties of president judge during the last few years of his life. He was also honored with numerous trusts, such as president, trustee, or director of educational, monied, or benevolent institutions, for he was an active participant in all of the public enterprises of his day. He died full of honors, and with the reputation for fidelity to every one of the many trusts, public and private, committed to his care, and with the consciousness of rectitude of purpose through life. He was a Democrat in politics, and a Presbyterian in faith. [HVC 1890, 745]
General Notes: Wife - Leah Lightner
from Paradise, PA
She was born in March, 1789. [BACC, 69]
She died February 29. [GPHAV, 510]
Notes: Marriage
They were married April 29, 1834. [HLC 1883, 526]