Identification of Lt. Thomas Wynne of the Flying Camp, 1776

0EMPOMM9202MMOMP3MP?,MM2MMS3 '7 2 aq VM o aq &es/ a9 fts The Pennsylvania m GENEALOGICAL m Magazine m sgmwmgmmggzgamgmgmmaamgmmaim Identification of Lt. Thomas Wynne of the Flying Camp, 1776 EVELYN ABRAHAM BENSON Dr. Thomas Wynne, who arrived on the Welcome with William Penn in 1682 and was the first elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1683, had only one son, Jonathan, but a number of daughters. At his death in 1692, Dr. Wynne willed to Jonathan his two plantations in Sussex County, Delaware.' Some time after 1693 (when he was assessed a six shilling head tax in Sustex County)', Jonathan married and moved to Philadelphia County, settling on a tract of Blockley Liberty Lands adjoining his brother-in-law, Dr. Edward Jones. Upon his second visit to Pennsylvania in 1701, William Penn, at the request of Dr. Jones, gave Jonathan Wynne a warrant to survey this land, one hundred acres "he is now seated on." This original warrant, in the handwriting of James Logan and signed by William Penn, plus the subsequent survey of the property showing 135 acres, are on file in the Pennsylvania State Land Office, Harrisburg.' There is no mention of this land having been granted in right of Dr. Wynne's original purchase of 5,000 unlocated Pennsylvania acres in 1681 in company with John ap John. Jonathan had no accurate list of his father's land transactions. He believed that some hundreds of acres were still due him from Dr. Wynne's original purchase. 99 100 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine In 1707 he claimed 725 acres, which the land commissioners at first ordered surveyed to him then reduced considerably in size, eventually finding that only 100 acres of Wynne's original purchase could not be accounted for.' Possibly in anticipation of receiving a considerable tract of land on his father's Old Rights, Jonathan began paying taxes on 1,000 non-resident acres in Chester County in 1718, although there is no record of his ever purchasing this land assessed 1718 in "The Rate of the Highest District from Skoolkill to Brandiwine." In the 1720/21 assessment, "Upon Schuylkill District near ye branches of ye French Creek and the branches of Brandywine", the same entry appears. This area became Nantmel Township, and after Jonathan Wynne's death in 1721, the same land is assessed there to his son Thomas Wynne, who continued to pay the tax for several years.' Jonathan Wynne's will, probated 17 May 1721, bequeathed the land in Blockley to his eldest son Thomas, 250 acres "near the Great Valley in the County of Chester" to each of his sons John and Jonathan, and 400 acres in the same locality to be divided among his three youngest daughters. To his two eldest daughters, Mary and Hannah, he bequeathed a lot of land in the High (Market) Street, Philadelphia, 60 feet front and 300 feet in length, a bonus to which he had laid claim in right of Dr. Wynne's original purchase.' Whether the three youngest daughters ever lived in Chester County or claimed any land there has not been ascertained. Jonathan's son John, coachmaker of Germantown, when he made his will in 1774, still had some hope of securing his nebulous legacy, for he willed to his five children, sons Pastorius and Isaac and three daughters, his "right to 250 acres of land near the Great Valley bequeathed to me by my late father Jonathan Wynne.'" Two of Jonathan Wynne's children did locate upon this Chester County land. Apparently they were able to do this not because they owned the land but because Jonathan Wynne's claim and taxes paid on it had prevented others from settling there; they. were able to purchase it from the Penn proprietors because they could establish that no one else had a prior claim. The crucial year was 1734: in that year William Branson and Samuel Nutt, ironmasters, petitioned the Penn Board of Property to secure "the Land called Wynns for which they [the Wynnes] have but little or no right . . . .'" This may have been the prod that set the Wynne heirs in motion, for in that same year there appears on the Nantmel assessment for the first time the name of Jonathan Wynne [Jr.] and that of his brother-in-law Noah Abraham, who had married Mary Wynne, heiress to the lot in High Street.' It was four years later that Noah Abraham and his wife Mary visited Philadelphia to sell her High Street lot" and to secure a warrant to survey 300 acres in Nantmel Township. James Steel wrote to John Taylor 6 Dec 1738 that he was doubtful about the warrant to Noah Abraham, that "the warrant would not avail Identification of Lt. Thomas Wynne 101 if the Lands were not Vacant & clear of all former Surveys ... [but] ...N. Abraham affirmed the land was vacant."" Both Noah Abraham" and Jonathan Wynne Jr." secured warrants and surveys for Nantmel land, Noah's 215 acres patented in 1751, and Jonathan's 188 acres in 1774. The disparity in acreage given in various documents dealing with the same parcel of land is probably caused by sloppy surveys, allowance for roads, and/or calculation only of cultivated portions. Noah Abraham we may discuss later; our present concern is with the sons of Jonathan Wynne, especially the one who became confused with his Philadelphia cousin. The descendants of Dr. Thomas Wynne's daughters and of Jonathan's children who remained in the Philadelphia area are well known and many of them famous, but the ones who went to the backwoods of Chester County after the death of Jonathan have almost escaped detection. It would seem that even in the eighteenth century, so soon after the founding of Pennsylvania, the small cities of that day were less healthful than open country: Thomas Wynne of Blockley had ten children of whom five died in infancy," John Wynne of Germantown mentions only five children in his will, while their brother Jonathan Wynne of Nantmel named in his will six sons and four daughters," most of whom in their turn produced large healthy families. Thomas Wynne of Blockley and his brother Jonathan of Nantmel had married sisters, so the difference in vigor must have been due to environment rather than to heredity. Thomas Wynne of Blockley and his brother Jonathan of Nantmel each had a son named Thomas. Thomas, son of Thomas, is written about by John W. Jordan in Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania as follows: Thomas Wynne, only surviving son of Thomas and Mary (Warner) Wynne, born in Blockley, Philadelphia, January 21, 1733/4 . . . commissioned a lieutenant in the Flying Camp, August 27, 1776, took part in the battles of Long Island and Fort Washington, and was taken prisoner at the fall of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776, and suffered imprisonment in the loathsome warehouses in New York City, and the prison ships in the harbor for over four years, not being exchanged until January 2, 1781. To the hardships endured during his imprisonment was due his early death eighteen months after his exchange at the age of forty-eight years." Despite the above account, however, the documents concerning the service, capture and imprisonment of Lt. Thomas Wynne of the Flying Camp 1776 point to Thomas Wynne, son of Jonathan Wynne of Nantmel Township, Chester County, as the true Lt. Thomas Wynne of the Flying Camp, and not to Thomas, son of Thomas, as heretofore assumed. Thomas Wynne, ninth child of Jonathan and Ann (Warner) Wynne, was born 27 Oct 1750 in Nantmel Township, Chester County and married 13 Oct 1773 102 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine at St. Gabriel's Protestant Episcopal Church, Douglassville (formerly Morlatton), Amity Township, Berks County, his cousin Ann Abraham, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Goheen) Abraham," granddaughter of Noah and Mary (Wynne) Abraham." The Revolutionary War was then brewing and Chester County soon became involved. At a meeting for Chester County held in Downington I Jul 1776 with fifty members present, the Revolutionary Committee "On motion, Resolved . . . to use their utmost endeavors . . . for raising 652 men forthwith in this county . . . ." and that William Montgomery be appointed Colonel." Col. Montgomery's Chester County Battalion of the Flying Camp took part in the Battle of Long Island 27 Aug 1776. Most of this Battalion was taken prisoner at Fort Washington 16 Nov 1776, but only a partial list of its members exists.' Thomas Wynn; a member of Col. Montgomery's Chester County Battalion of the Flying Camp, was commissioned second lieutenant 27 Aug 1776, captured by the British at Fort Washington 16 Nov 1776, and was on parole in August 1778." In a payroll of the Revolution entitled, "An Account of monies furnished by Lewis Pintard to American officers, prisoners of war on Long Island 1776," Lt. Thomas Wynn, "Montgomery's", received £150.15.4." Jordan states that Lt. Thomas Wynne remained a prisoner of the British from his capture 16 Nov 1776 until he was exchanged 2 Jan 1781." I have not found.documentation for the date of exchange, but I believe it exists. Deem, who was related by marriage to the family of Thomas Wynne of Nantmel, Chester County, gives a list of his seventeen children with dates of their births which could have come only from a family Bible. These children arrived with almost mathematical regularity every two years; even the death of Thomas's first wife did not much lengthen the interval between her last child and the first child by his second wife. There is, however, one notable exception to this time table: Thomas Wynne's son Thomas, born 26 Jan 1777, must have been conceived toward the end of April 1776, shortly before Col. Montgomery's call for Chester County volunteers. The next child, Isaac, born 23 Feb 1782, must have been conceived in the Spring of 1781, soon after the prisoner returned; this gap of five years between conceptions is found nowhere else in the list of children, and corresponds exactly with the military service and imprisonment of Lt. Thomas Wynne of the Flying Camp." After his return from the war, Lt. Thomas Wynne went to live on the farm of his ailing father-in-law, Benjamin Abraham, the farm patented to Noah Abraham, husband of his aunt Mary Wynne. After Benjamin's death in 1785, the property Identification of Lt. Thomas Wynne 103 was advertized for sale in the Pennsylvania Gazette: would-be purchasers were advised to see "Capt. Thomas Wynne, who lives on the place."" In his will, Benjamin left Bibles to his two daughters—Ann, wife of Thomas Wynne, and Mary, wife of Warner Wynne." Warner Wynne, brother of Thomas, born 28 Jan 1747, married Mary Abraham 3 Jan 1775, also at St. Gabriel's Church where Thomas had earlier married Ann Abraham. He was very likely captain of the company in Col. Montgomery's Battalion in which his brother Thomas was lieutenant: "Capt. Warner Wyme, Chester" is mentioned in a "List of American officers prisoners who violated their paroles, belonging to the State of Pennsylvania."" It has been said that the Welsh migrated from Great Britain in large family groups. Many of them continued the pattern in America. Before the end of the eighteenth century, a goodly number of inter-related families from Nantmel Township, Chester County, were located in Fayette County, in the extreme southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, among them the families of the three brothers Thomas, Warner and Isaac Wynne, as well as sons of the deceased Benjamin Abraham, James, Lot and Benjamin Abraham, and an uncle to most of them, Enoch Abraham, who had purchased land there in 1778. In the 1790 U. S. Census for Pennsylvania (Fayette County, Georges Township, p. 106, col. 3), it is seen that Thomas Wynne and his brother Warner each had six children. The 1810 Census shows that Warner Wynne still lived in Fayette County. No probate of Capt. Warner Wynne nor any list of his children has been found. In 1803, Thomas Wynne sold 280 acres of mineral lands in Fayette County, near Fairchance, to John Hayden for £3,000, payable in iron castings at $100 per ton." Between 1783 and 1810, the Wynne-Abraham relationship swarmed again: Lt. Thomas Wynne and most of his numerous children, the three sons of Benjamin Abraham mentioned above, and five children of Enoch Abraham with their spouses and young children took boat on the Monongahela River, floating down to southern Ohio. There the children of Enoch Abraham, with James and Benjamin, sons of Benjamin Abraham of Nantmel, settled in Clermont County, Ohio, while Thomas Wynne and Lot Abraham located in nearby Butler County, Ohio." Lt. Thomas Wynne's first wife, Ann Abraham, mother of his first seven children, was born 31 Jan 1755, died 18 Oct 1793, and is buried on the Thomas Wynne farm site near Fairchance, Fayette County." Thomas Wynne died 9 Jun 1819, his will recorded in Butler County, Ohio, Old Will Book I, p. 187. Thomas Wynne's , the mother of his last ten children, one of second wife was named Letitia 104 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine whom died in infancy. The county, church and burial records of Butler County hold many references to this family. Some descendants are still found there, many others have migrated further west over one hundred years ago, following the frontier. The data compiled in this paper indicate that Thomas Wynne of Nantmel Township, Chester County, born 27 Oct 1750, son of Jonathan Wynne and Ann (Warner) Wynne, great-grandson of Dr. Thomas Wynne, was a member of (Jul. William Montgomery's Chester County Battalion of the Flying Camp in 1776, received a commission as second lieutenant 17 Aug 1776, was captured by the British at Fort Washington 16 Nov 1776, and remained a prisoner until 1781. He migrated from Chester County to Fayette County in 1786, and about 1803 migrated to Butler County, Ohio, where he died 9 Jun 1819. Noma 1. Will of Thomas Wynne, 1692. Philadelphia Will Book A, p. 200. 2. Tax Lists, 1693-6, Delaware: Sussex County, 1693, in GSP Collection. 3. Old Rights Book D-80, p. 266. 4. Ibid., p. 269. 5. Futhey, J. Smith and Cope, Gilbert, History of Chester County . . . (Philadelphia, 1881), 172, 186; original Chester County Tax Lists, Chester County Historical Society, West Chester. Nantmel is now Nantmeal. 6. Will of Jonathan Wynne, 1720. Philadelphia Will Book D, p. 190. 7. Will of John Wynne, 1774. Philadelphia Will Book T, p. 517. 8. "Minutes of the Board of Property . . .", Pennsylvania Archives (PA), Third Series, I (1894), 55. 9. Original Chester County Assessments, Chester County Historical Society. 10. Philadelphia Deed Book D23, p. 381; Miscellaneous Papers of Philadelphia County, Am. 3841, p. 56,/s, in HSP Manuscript Collection. 11. James Steel Letter Book, 1730.41, p. 194, in HSP Collection. 12. Noah Abraham's land, Nantmeal: Land Office, Harrisburg: Survey A. 59,290 Nantmeal; Warrant 13 Aug 1751 #30; Patent Book A16, pp. 304-6. PA, Third Series, XXIV (1897), 61. 13. Jonathan Wynne's land, Nantmeal: Room 171 City Hall Philadelphia, Warrants and Surveys 1759, Province of Pennsylvania, vol. 8, p. 140; Chester County Deed Book X4, p. 276; PA, Third Series, XXIV (1897), 103. 14. Jordan, John W., Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania (New York, 1911), III, 1194. 15. Will of Jonathan Wynne, 9 Apr 1788. Chester County Will Book H: 202. 16. Jordan, op. cis. 17. Marriage of Benjamin Abraham and Elizabeth Goheen, 6 Aug 1752. Records of Holy Trinity Old Swedes, Wilmington, Del. (Wilmington, 1890), 692. 18. Marriage of Noah Abraham and Mary Wynne, 28 Nov 1729, First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. PA, Second Series, IX (1896), 3. 19. PA, Second Series, XIV (1888), 138. 20. Ibid., 757-8, 760, 762; also 68. 21. PA, Second Series, XV (1890), 773, 650. Identification of Lt. Thomas Wynne 105 22. W. H. Egle, Notes and Queries . . . (Harrisburg, 1893), Series IV, vol. 1, 204. 23. Jordan, op. cit. 24. Deem, T. B., The Wynnes (Kingston, Ind., 1907), 288. 25. Wednesday, March 1, 1786, p. 1, col. 2. 26. Will of Benjamin Abraham, 3 Oct 1783, probated 12 Apr 1785. Chester County Will Book 7, p. 360. 27. PA, Second Series, XV (1890), 672. 28. Ellis, Franklin, History of Fayette County, Pa. (Philadelphia, 1882), 237. 29. Abraham Family Papers in possession of the author; History of Clermont County, Ohio (Philadelphia, 1880), section on Washington Township. 30. Deem, op. cit. ANNOUNCEMENT The Society is pleased to announce the availability of two publications, The Pennsylvania Militia in 1777, by Mrs. Hannah Benner Roach, and How to. Search for Your Revolutionary Patriot in Pennsylvania, by Dr. Dorothee Hughes Carousso. The first publication is a reprint of a 69-page article that appeared in this Magazine in 1964 (XXIII, 4) and was immediately recognized as a classic in its field. The author, a Vice President of the Society, and Editor of PGM, 1962-72, renders intelligible the militia records published in the various series of the Pennsylvania Archives and relates them to the actual operation of the militia as it was called out, with particular reference to the first year under the act of 17 Mar 1777. A 9-page index and a second illustration have been added to the article to enhance its value as a reference. The second publication has been specially prepared by Mrs. Carousso, also a Society Vice President, and a professional genealogist whose course on genealogical research methods at the Society in 19734 met with great success. In twelve pages, the article delineates the methods and sources used to establish either civil or military service in Pennsylvania in support of the Revolutionary cause; it serves to answer the question, "How can I find out if my Pennsylvania ancestor fought in or helped the American Revolution?" 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