Sunday, February 08, 2015

James Magee

" As a young man, he embarked for America. After a perilous voyage of eleven weeks, during which he nearly died for lack of water, he reached this country and settled first in Delaware.  He soon moved to the Connoquennessing Valley, Butler Co Pa, where he lived the remainder of his life, dying in 1847 in his 78th year.  James Magee was an elder in the Covenanter Church under the pastorate of Rev Matthew Williams.  James was also a soldier in the War of 1812."

James MAGEE, one of the first settlers on the beautiful lands of the Connoquenessing Valley, was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1769. He settled in 1797, on the farm a part of which is now owned by his son John. A barn built by him is still standing. The first crop he put in the ground by the aid of a mattock. He was a soldier of 1812. He died in 1846. He was the father of thirteen children--Isabel, Mary Ann, Robert, Elizabeth, Rebecca, William, George, Susan, Jane, Lucinda, Margaret, James and John.

This article was given to me by Keith White.  The occasion for the history was the MaGee family reunion.  This is a copy of the text.

    "The occasion which has brought us here today is one that does honor to the head and heart of those who suggested it.  We have been called together not to rejoice over the great fact of the common brotherhood of our race-- united by a common origin and a common destiny-- but we have assembled to enjoy a more intimate fellowship and closer union with those who are united to us by the dearer ties of a common parentage, a common altar, and a common hearthstone; and amid these endearments of social life to commemorate  the worth and virtues and to recount the obligations we owe those who have given us the faith, the culture, and the social and religious position we enjoy.
    Let me offer for your affectionate remembrance today a great name--not of royal birth and courtly training--not of a warrior whose record is written in human gore--not of a statesman whose brilliant career has given him a deathless name--but the name of one whose pure faith, ceaseless energy, and unsullied life, entitle him to rank among the best.   "The good are always great-- the great not always good".  We offer you the name of James Magee, Sr.--"an honest man, the noblest work of God."
    Let us this day, as "chips of the old block", meet on a level around this shrine of a common ancestor, and recount some incidents in the life of one to whom Western Pennsylvania owes so much of its social and religious advancement.
    James Magee, Sr. was of Scotch-Irish origin--an element to which this country owes so much for the liberty and religious freedom engrafted into our Constitution, and whose sound principles are the hope of the Republic.  His parents, Robert Magee and Isabella Hamilton, were born in Scotland in the early part of the last century, of a family which subsequently gave to the church the noted divines William Magee, DD, Archbishop of Dublin, and William Connor Magee, DD, Bishop of Peterborough.
    Those great principles of religious faith and civil order evolved in the conflicts of Cromwell and Knox in those lands of spiritual and intellectual development, gave him that love of liberty and religious freedom which induced him to seek a new home in this asylum of faith cramped refugees.   In 1792, he sailed for America, and for several years make his home in Wilmington Delaware.  There he became acquainted with Jane Boyle, the estimable partner of his life, who came over with her father’s family in the same year from County Derry, Ireland, and to whom he was married in January 1795.  In the following April, William Boyle with his wife, son, 5 daughters, and 2 sons in law, James Magee and James Graham left their Delaware home on the Brandywine with a wagon and 4 horses, in quest of the Indian Trail across the Appalachian  chain in search of a permanent home in the then far West.
    In order to appreciate properly this group and the great work they undertook and so fully accomplished during their lives, we must go back--back--back through the marvelous growth and development of this country; through all the wonderful progress of this present century; beyond the era of canals, railways, telegraphs and telephones-- even beyond the period of the stage coach and turnpike, and follow these adventurous men and women as they lead the advance column of the ‘star of empire." 
Let us stand by them at the summit of the Alleghenies, as they view with deep emotion, from that Nebo, the Canaan of their hopes, and see nothing but a howling wilderness before them.  No friendly voice of one who had gone before comes forth from the wild prospect to greet them.  No messenger sent out to ‘search the land’ comes back with the clusters of Lachol to cheer them.  Yet with true heroism, with a faith that had no doubt, and energy and determination of purpose that never faltered, they commence the descent with the assurance of toil, privation, and suffering awaiting them to plant the standard of civilization in the inhospitable forest.  What higher aim, what grander purpose, what truer heroism could inspire the heart of man?
    The three single daughters of William Boyle married respectively Phillip Mowry, Esq, an old type gentleman of scholarly attainments, intimately identified with the early history of Allegheny county, and father of a large and creditable connection; Hugh Fleming, Esq, grand uncle of your orator, (thereby uniting the Fleming branch to the Boyle family by a double tie), and Capt Alexander Woods.  What reminiscences crowd the mind as we take a retrospect of this connection, numbering probably several thousand, who have come and gone during the present century.  How suggestive to us of whence we came, what we are, and whither we are tending.  Some of us have known them in full vigor of manhood and womanhood, but they have all long since lain concealed beneath the green sod of summer and the white mantle of winter, and there is nothing left of them for us to cherish but the memory of their worth and virtues and the fragrance of well spent lives.  Western Pennsylvania has been blessed by the deathless influence of their Christian example and precept.  Some of us have seen their descendents in the flush of early manhood; but forty years have not only thinned the ranks but checked the ardor and weakened the energy of those who stand with us in the broken column; yet, there are none of them but have had occasion to thank God for the great boon of a Christian parentage, and none whose love is not warmed at the recollection of a father’s untiring care and a mother’s devoted tenderness.
    James Magee, Sr, located in the Connoquennessing Valley, preceding Dr Dettrian Besse, of Frankfort Germany, and the Harmony Society six or seven years.  His nearest post office was Allegheny.  A year or two after settling in this valley, on his return  from Pittsburgh with his supplies in a sak, he discovered  that he had a neighbor who recently located within six miles of his place.  Promoted by kindness of heart, or the Scriptural injunction, ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens", he dismounted, placed her sack upon his already loaded horse, and relieved her of her great dread of having to camp out in the woods alone by taking her to his own home and giving her shelter.
    We extract the following incident in his life from reminiscences of early times written for the Historical Society of Western PA.
CONNOQUENNESSING VALLEY
"Keeping down the Connoquennessing Valley we pass near the first settlement in this section of James Magee, Sr, who came out form Wilmington Delaware in 1797.  As he passed through Allegheny on his way out, he was offered a farm of fifty acres on the line of Federal Street for a horse, saddle and bridle which he had with him.  He preferred, however, to go to Butler County, where land was cheap, and located accordingly on Big Connoquennessing Creek.  He was a soldier in the War of 1812.  During the first fifteen years of his residence in that section he had to pack his supplies of flour, groceries, salt, implements, etc from Pittsburgh on horseback.  A portion of the land is still owned and occupied by his son , John Magee, Esq.  The first spring after moving out he procured a couple of shoats, which he prized very highly.  Hearing them squeal quite lustily one morning, he took a small dog and proceeded to the place to find one of them in the forcible , if not affectionate embrace of a large black bear.  With the assistance of the dog he managed to release the pig, when Bruin at once make for the old gentleman who struck out for a slender sapling, under the impression that a bear could not climb a small tree without limbs.  The bear, following close after, sprang high enough at a single bound to catch the first limb and slowly drew himself up.  Mr Magee, disposed to give the bear as much room as possible went higher, bruin still following, and Mr Magee, not wanting to crowd him, went still higher and higher again, until the weight of man and bear  was too much for the sapling, and it bent over sufficient to enable Mr Magee to spring to the ground.  The sapling, thus relieved of his weight, straightened up with bruin in the top, very much to the satisfaction of Mr Magee, who, before the bear could take in the situation, secured his pig and ran to the house."
    During his life he had the satisfaction of seeing all his children profiting by the Christian example and religious instruction of himself and his devoted partner; by becoming consistent, conscientious members of the Church of Christ, and also seeing twelve out of thirteen of them surrounded by large families and well settled in life; exemplifying the declaration of Israel’s King:-- "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread."
    A number of members of this family have filled important public positions with rare fidelity.  In the War of the Rebellion they were represented by Col. HS Fleming, Col. John E Fleming, and OG Fleming, all of whom made honorable records.  When the Rebellion broke out John E Fleming was engaged in a general merchandise business in Strausburg Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley, when his manifest sympathy for the Northern arms made him an object of suspicion to the rebels which culminated in the confiscation of his property.  Through the advice of his friends he left Strausburg and placed himself in the occupancy of Winchester.  When Shields was superceded by Gen Banks, on account of his familiarity with the topography of the valley, he was selected to pilot the army to Strausburg.  When Banks was surprised and routed, he determined to remain at his home and weather the storm, but the rebels were incensed against him for his  course, and determined his life should pay the forfeit.  Through several special friends he was rescued from their plot when he and his two boys started in a buggy to overtake  Bank’s retreating column.  The rebels, who were in hot pursuit, opened fire on Bank’s rear, when a cannon ball struck the wheel of his buggy and disabled it.  He managed to cut his horse loose, get his boys to a place of safety, and in a round-about way overtake Banks and follow up the retreat.  He then entered the Army  and served until the close of the war, retiring with the rank of Colonel.  There are also several items of note in the connection: notably Julian E Fleming , editor of the New Dominion, West Va.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
George H Magee, the seventh member of the family , is a kindhearted man of easy disposition and gentle manners, a sincere believer and artless in his social life and business methods.  His sympathies for the downtrodden led him to aid and succor fugitives for freedom in slavery times, and his house was a refuge for any who needed shelter or protection.  The innocent old muslin covered pedlars wagon that had something else than butter, eggs, or chickens in the hogshed ,or big store box inside lacked neither provender nor prayers  as it passed ‘this way for Canada’.
Here we pass near one of the old transfer stations of the night express on the underground railway,--a close corporation whose charter was written by the pen of God on the hearts of men.  It was under the directorship of McElray, Williams Jones, George H Magee and other true men, whose respect of the higher law and regard for the rights of men induced them to disobey the disgraceful enactments of the slave power and aid many  a fugitive in his dash for liberty to the Mecca of his hopes.  This road has been rendered classic by the many acts of true heroism and perilous incidents along its line as the white eyes peered through the midnight darkness, seeing with palpitating dread, a persuer in every apparition, and scenting dfanger in every sound.  The road went into liquidation when Lincoln garlanded the Republican party with the broken manacles of four million slaves.  Its earnings wee only such as spring from the consciousness of noble action, and its final dividend will not be declared until the Great King shall sit on the throne of His glory and say to those on His right hand, "In as much as ye did it unto the least of these".