;r-iM \- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 . ; -^^^I^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H :ins\avan!i ADEN 0^3 )i) Qass G&p / ^0^ The Simpsons Of RYE TOP, Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania By ELIZABETH SIMPSON BLADEN, Of Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA Press of Allen, Lane & Scott 1905 o^ PREFACE I OFFER this story of the Simpson Family to my ancestors as a slight token of grati- tude for the heritage of a healthy body and hardy soul which have enabled me to breast the storms and gather the sunshine of seventy years. I have followed their trail from the waters of Chesapeake Bay to the Forks of the Ohio, and their history from the reign of King James to the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Among those who have kindly facilitated my investigations, I make grateful acknowl- edgment to 'Col. Thomas Kennedy, President of Ciunberland Valley Railroad ; Mr. George W. Boyd, General Passenger Agent Pennsyl- vania Railroad ; Col. Frank N. Barksdale, for information of the old National Road, &c. ; Mr. Jordan, Historical Society of Pennsyl- vania ; the Curator of Historical Society, York, Pa. ; Cotmcillor George Calvart Lewis, of Pitts- burgh; Mrs. T. J. Nill, of Green Castle, Pa.; and Miss Martha Clark, of Lancaster, Pa., for valuable assistance. Elizabeth Simpson Bladen. 708 South Tenth Street, Philadelphia. THE SIMPSONS OF RYE TOP, Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania When Charles the Second was re- stored to the throne of England, 1662, he proclaimed a general amnesty to the various sectaries and adherents of the late Protector, Oliver Cromwell, but with the astute diplomacy char- acteristic of the "Merry Monarch," the provisions of this amnesty were de- layed for two years. Eminent oppo- nents were beguiled to London only to find that the "amnesty" was merely symbolic; many were indicted for treason and had their heads cut off. Notably among these was the Duke of Argyle, whose son had been 6 THE SIMPSONS received graciously i)y the King and had persuaded his father to trust to his Majesty's clemency. This summary vengeance on so shining a mark greatly impressed the old Cromwell ian soldiers. One of these, John Simpson, who had done gallant service for Cromwell, turned all his property into gold and came to the New \\\)rld with a thousand pounds in his saddlebags. He land- ed at New York, bought him a horse, and rode to Albany, subsequently prospecting through the Genessee countr)^ with a view to buying a new estate. From this he was deterred by the severity of the climate and the sight of numbers of refugees who could find no means of earning their bread. So he retraced his steps and finally made his way to Maryland, where he purchased a tract under the OF RYE TOP. 7 charters of Lord Baltimore, in the northwestern portion of the State, which later was, under the survey of English Commission, Mason and Dix- on, assigned to the Province of Penn- sylvania. The milestones set up by Mason and Dixon in the reign of Queen Anne, marked with a royal crown, are still in good condition in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on the border of the two States. At the time of the erection of these stones the present county, known as Frank- lin, was included in Lancaster. John Simpson is referred to in genealogical and historical works as " Indian trader," though he cultivat- ed a great farm and had many slaves and servants. In point of fact, all early settlers traded with the Indians for the lands they held, as this second payment was security for peace. No 8 THE SIMPSOXS doubt they also bought furs and game, but they were in no way less than the lords of the manor, over which they held sway. Of this par- ticular John Simpson it is said that he had been a colonel in Cromwell's army, but he sank his military title for obvious reasons, and carried out through life his Presbyterian conscien- tiousness. He never allowed a dish to be washed in his house nor a bed to be made on Sunday ; feeding the stock was the only work he permitted to be done. Tradition asserts that all his children, grandchildren, and servants were well instructed in the Lari/er and the Shorter Catechisms, with such excellent results that it is rare to find any one of the name of Simpson in the State of Pennsylvania who is not a Presbyterian. His orthodoxy even affected the OF RYE TOP. 9 animals on his estate, as it was the habit of his house dogs to follow him to preaching, when there was any within ten miles, and an aged horse named " Nasby," though no longer ridden, would amble slowly after the family cortege and reach the meeting house in time for the second service. This old Cromwellian soldier lived to a great age and left behind him sons and daughters, some of whom ex- tended their possessions up toward the first gap in the Alleghanies, near Winchester, Va., while the main stem pushed down through the Cumberland Valley, locating on fertile farms, being much given to horse and stock breeding, and "Gathering gear by every means that's justified by honor, Not for the purpose of display nor for a gay attendant, But for the glorious privilege of being inde- pendent." 10 THE SIMPSOSS A grandson of the orii^inal John Simpson, also John Simpson, is the next to appear in history. At the age of eii^hteen he accompanied George Washington, in October, 1753, when Washington was sent by Governor Robert Denwiddie to M. De St. Pierre, commander of the French at the Forks of the Ohio, with a letter of remonstrance. On receipt of an answer to that letter preparations for war were recommenced and a fort at the Forks of Ohio begun. This was captured by the French and fin- ished by them. It was named Fort Duquesne, after the then Governor of Canada. Washington at that time was only nineteen years of age and young Simpson eighteen. They were surveyors, and both thoroughly fa- miliar with the route. History frivoles a good deal over OF RYE TOP. 11 this seemingly juvenile exploit. One writer says, "The Marquis Duquesne told them to run home to their mothers," but in point of fact the Marquis was in Canada. Washing- ton's commission is on record, and in his own diary he relates how they spent the night with Queen Alliquip- pa and her brother, "The Half King," at their camp, seven or eight miles above the fort, and that the Indians got royally drunk. John Simpson trod the light fantastic toe with Queen Alliquippa. This camp was always known as Alliquippa, be- ing subsequently the country seat of the late Judge Wilson McCandlass. After his death it was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad, being lo- cated directly on the banks of the Allegheny River. I have played there as a child with Judge McCandlass' 12 THE SIMPSOXS children, Mar)- and Stephen, but little dreamed at that time that one of my own ancestors had made merry in the same locality two centuries earlier. Considering the vast area of the great Middle States, one wonders how two boys living so far apart could come so close together, but valleys and mountains considerably limit the distance. Though the trav- eler passes through four different States to go by way of the Cum- berland Valley Railroad from Green Castle to \Vinchesk:r, the time con- sumed is but four hours. In the city of Winchester is the Indian spring where Lord Fairfax kept his Indians, and right through the Allegheny Mountains is the gap which opened the trail to the West. In the Shen- andoah Valley two of young Simp- son's aunts were settled with their OF RYE TOP. 13 husbands, and the probabilities are young Simpson visited them often; hence, probably, the early friendship and association of boyhood and youth with the Father of his Country. This John Simpson was one of eight brothers. His father, Thomas Simpson, had settled in Paxtang Township, near Harrisburg, with his mother, Sarah, and sister, Rebecca. John was one of the executors of his father's will, probated 21st of March, 1761. He built his homestead in Cumberland County, and was known as the Master of Rye Top. He was also known as General Simpson, whose house General Washington often vis- ited. When the British landed at the Head of Elk, this John Simpson took his sons and his slaves and marched down to aid the Americans, leaving his harvests in the field. These were 14 THE SIMPSONS saved by his women servants and la- borers, under the direction of his wife, Mart^aret Murray, whom he had mar- ried in 1 76 1. With him on both of these expeditions were one of his young sons, also John Simpson, who joined the company of Capt. James Murray and fought at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. While General Washington lay with his starving soldiers at Valley Forge, John Simpson, the father, again took his musket, and with his friends and neighbors marched out to protect the convoy of food sent by patriotic friends in Maryland, and got it safely to the camp. When he died his household fur- niture and live stock required two weeks for the vendue. Among his children surviving were Dr. John Simpson, who developed Shippensburg OF RYE TOP. 15 (see Archives), Robert Simpson, who established the first glass industry in the city of Pittsburgh, Mary Simpson, who married Mr. Holmes, Hannah, wife of Mr. Cassatt, Lydia, who mar- ried also a Mr. Cassatt, and Isabella, the wife of Mr. McDonald, all men of old families and great prominence in the State of Pennsylvania. The grand- father of Mr. Cassatt was a French Hu- guenot. He was elected a member of the First Colonial Assembly, a gentle- man of wide learning and culture. This John Simpson, popularly known as General, is still often re- ferred to in the local journals of the Cumberland Valley in connection with sturdy opposition to Indian encroach- ment ; always ready to take the field as a volunteer when an armed force was sent to rescue captives or protect the frontier. He was the brother of 16 THE SIMPSONS Michael Simpson, who marched with Arnold to Ouebec. This Michael was a man for posterity. He endowed a churchyard near Harrisburg known as the " Paxtang Churchyard, " and there a great many of his kindred lie buried. He started the fcrr)^ known as Simp- son's, below Harrisburg, securing from the State riparian rights ; belonged to various societies ; married twice, had many children, and left an estate worth only $2000 when he died. This prob- ably did not include the realty, and the records of various county court houses show numerous tracts at one time owned by him. His descendants moved to Huntingdon, Bellefonte, and more northern counties. The distribution of estates in early days in the Cumberland \'alley was peculiar; often the children got their portion when they married and set OF RYE TOP. 17 out for themselves. Thus it was cus- tomary for the father to build for his eldest son a house and barn ex- actly like his own, with its due com- plement of land, and it came to pass that the youngest son frequently inherited the homestead. Many of these old homesteads, or, as they are called, ** mansion houses," still re- main, the stability of their construction having defied the storms of more than two hundred years. A marked char- acteristic is the plain solidity of the external stone walls in contrast to the interior decorations. Often the man- tel pieces, door frames, and window frames are beautifully and elaborately carved. These houses are rather long- er than broad ; upper windows are more numerous than those in the lower stories, and a detriment to architectural effect is the unimposing 18 THE SIMPSONS porches which have been added to the original edifice. These are doubtless innovations of more modern days. To return to John Simpson, Master of Rye Top, whose descendants carry on the straight line from the Crom- wellian soldier though the collateral branches are numerous and wide- spread. His son Robert settled in Pittsburgh, where he built the first glass works and died a bachelor. His son John studied medicine and began practice in Maryland, where he mar- ried lilizabeth lidward Durban Will- iam Andrews, who was only fifteen years old and a great heiress, having inherited two plantations and a thou- sand slaves. The young couple im- mediately set free all their slaves, but as they resided in Baltimore, so many of the slaves followetl them that they found it necessary to buy a farm to OF RYE TOP. 19 maintain their dependents. Dr. John Simpson purchased a valuable wheat land tract, still known as "The Head of the Spring," in the town of Ship- pensburg, where he also bought a city lot and built him a residence. Dr. John Simpson lived in Shippens- burg until his death, having done much to develop its prosperity. He also put money in his saddlebags and traveled to the State of Kentucky, where he bought ten thousand acres of land in Greene County, which re- mained in the family until two years before the Civil War, when it was sold for $10,000. A few years later it would have been worth a hundred thousand. The Head of the Spring remained in the ownership of Dr. John Simpson until his death, and was held by his eldest son. Dr. Will- iam Andrews Simpson, until the writer 20 THE SIMPSONS of this article was eighteen years of age, when it was sold for $10,000. It is noticeable amid the vagaries of real estate that this beautiful farm has since then been sold for a much smaller amount. Dr. John Simpson left four sons and four daui/hters. The sons were William, Edward, David, and Robert. Dr. William Simpson married Mary Theresa de Beelen, and left one child, Elizabeth Simpson, who married Ben- jamin Rush, of Philadelphia, of whose two daughters only one survives, Mrs. William Camac. Edward Simpson settled in Pitts- burgh, where he became an eminent member of the bar and a law partner of Edwin M. Stanton, President Lin- coln's able Secretary of War. David settled in New Orleans, where he also died a bachelor. OF RYE TOP. 21 Dr. Robert Simpson was a physi- cian of great repute, but never mar- ried. Mary Holmes, Dr. Simpson's second daughter, at the age of seven- teen married Cornelius Darragh, one of the most remarkable members of the Pittsburgh bar. He was just twenty-one when he was elected to the State Legislature, and before he was twenty-three, two years later, to the State Senate, which he left to go to Congress for two terms; was then United States District Attorney, and subsequently Attorney-General of the State of Pennsylvania. At that time the Attorney-General had the appoint- ment of his whole three hundred deputies. His children married: Mar- garet, Dr. Julian Rogers, of Pitts- burgh, and Elizabeth, Washington L. Bladen, of Philadelphia. Isabella Simpson married Gen. 22 THE SIMPSONS William Hoffman, of the United States Army. They left one dauj^hter, who is the wife of Major-General Kobbee, of the United States Army. The third daughter, Louisa, survived the whole family. In addition to her own means, she inherited the es- tates of her brothers, and lived with a degree of style and elegance at that time unusual in the city of Pitts- burgh, driving out daily with colored coachman and footman in livery, and her dog seated by her side. Often she drove herself, and ever)^ day she took a gallop on her horse "Rocket," attended by her groom. She was a splendid horsewoman, had traveled widely, and was a most agreeable conversationalist. In herself she con- centrated all the traditions of the Simpson Cromwellian soldier. Her dog "Cora" accompanied her to the OF RYE TOP. 23 First Presbyterian Church every Sun- day and sat in her pew beside her. She had five dogs, to each of whom she left a weekly income. She also pensioned her colored servants and bequeathed $5000 to her cook, Hettie Jackson, descendant of a slave of the same name, and provided for her sis- ters' children and grandchildren. She endowed four lots in the Allegheny Cemetery for the interment of the deceased members of her family. Never was there a woman so strong in her principles, love of family, and her native State. A characteristic an- ecdote told of her relates how, when a fashionable woman was expatiating on the marriage of a pretty girl. Miss Louisa said: — "How ridiculous to make such an ado about a girl whose father was only an old Irishman!" 24 THE SIMPSOXS The lady replying: "Well, most of us arc descended from some old Irish- man or Dutchman." ••Not all, thank God!" retorted Miss Simpson. *Tf you want to see one, look at me, the sixth generation of native-born Pennsylvanian. There is a man still living who was at the vendue of my grandfather, John Simp- son, which it took two weeks to dispose of his stables and household possessions." In early life she was engaged to an officer in the United States Army, but discarded him when, on the ap- proach of the Civil War, he took sides with the South. Her brother. Dr. Robert Simpson, having at his own expense raised and equipped a com- pany, Miss Louisa devoted herself in providing for the comfort of the en- listed men ; and when this company OF RYE TOP. 25 was cut to pieces at Pittsburgh Land- ing, she took upon herself the work of sympathy and solace to their families. Yet the writer of this article re- members when a child how this wo- man of heroic mold used to wander in the woods and play with her, tak- ing acorns for tea cups, and crimson maple leaves for dishes, embroider- ing with delicious fancy those magic hours. In her will she forbade any of her household furniture or personal possessions being sold, leaving them to be divided between three nieces. The share of one niece of personal clothing amounted to twelve trunks full of apparel. Hannah Cassatt, the youngest daughter, married Colonel Card, of the United States Army. Of the daughters of Gen. John Simpson, of Rye Top, the eldest 26 THE SIMPSONS married Mr. Holmes, of Baltimore. They left one son, Robert Holmes, who moved to St. Louis, married there, but died without issue. Hannah married David Cassatt, of York, Pa. One of their daughters married Mr. Coleman. She left four daughters and two sons. The second daughter married Mr. Samuel Small, the millionaire of York. They left no children. Lydia, the beauty of the family, married also a Mr. Cassatt. They had two children, Robert Cassatt, who married Miss Johnston, and Mary, who married Dr. Gardiner, who was not only a physician, but also a wealthy owner of mines and 'mills. Isabella, Gen. John Simpson's youngest daughter, married Mr. Mc- Donald, a successful lawyer of early days in Pittsburgh. She had no chil- OF RYE TOP. 27 dren, but her stepdaughter Martha married a Mr. Smith, and their son married a Miss Gardner, a niece of Isabella S. McDonald. The object of this paper is to trace distinctly the direct descendants of John Simpson, known as the General, and through him back to the Crom- wellian soldier, for which reason it has been necessary to throw out all the collateral branches. Many of these are distinguished and wealthy men and women, but their great num- ber of ramifications make the names too confusing for classification. There are the Culbertsons, who went as missionaries to China, where the daughters married great merchants in Canton. Of the great-grandchildren of Gen. John Simpson there are only five surviving. These are Alexander J. 28 THE SIMPSOSS Cassatt. President of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad, Mar)^ Cassatt, the celebrated artist, J. Gardner Cassatt, Isabella S. Hoffman, wife of Major- General Kobbee, and Elizabeth Simp- son Bladen. The children of these are the great-great grandchildren of Gen- eral Simpson, of Rye Top. There are now living of the great- great-grandchildren of Gen. John Simpson, in the direct line from the Cromwellian soldier. Mrs. Mary D. Ritchie, widow of George Ritchie and sole sur\-iving child of Elizabeth Simpson Bladen, wife of Washington L. Bladen, Mrs. George Calvert Lewis, William Rush Rogers, childr«