Genealogy Data Page 284 (Notes Pages)

Note: Source: Gail Habbyshaw column, Unknown Mercer County Paper via Hugh Buffham, Sr. 4/20/00
When [James] Kilgore died in 1882 a local newspaper described him as an "earnest abolitionist" who had "helped many salves to freedom on the underground railroad". Elizabeth Breckinridge, Kilgore's daughter, recalled seeing as many as 13 slaves hidden in the basement of her father's house on South Erie Street.

1880: District 221 Living with daughter Clarissa and son-in-law William Martin, in Mercer, Mercer County PA, age 81

1870: Living in Mercer, Mercer County PA, 72, Blacksmith, real estate value 5,000, personal value 500, with: Wife Elizabeth, 62, Elizabeth McKim (grand-daughter, Nickname Lillie), 16, and Alice Snyder, 12

1860: Living in Mercer, Mercer County, PA with Wife Elizabeth, 52, Daughter Elizabeth, 13, and Granddaughter, Lizzie (Elizabeth or Lillie) 6 and a Domestic Lucinetta Travis (black 18)

1850: Mercer, Mercer Borough, Pennsylvania, James, occupation: Blacksmith, 51, West Moreland County, Elizabeth, 42 Mercer County, Mary Jane, 22 Mercer County, Sidney, 18 Mercer County, Clarrisa, 15 Mercer County, William S, 10, Mercer County, Elizabeth, 3 Mercer County PA, Samuel Lee, 19 Mercer County PA (Page 1 United States Census)

1850: Population Schedules of the 7th Census of the United States, 1850

1850: Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census, M432, Seventh Census of the U.S., Roll 796 - Pennsylvania, Mercer County - United States National Archives, Washington D.C. 1964 - Borough of Mercer - Borough of Mercer, October 6-8, 1850, enumerated by M. Yeager - Transcription by Richard S. Winder.

1850: 37 10 10 KILLGORE, James 51 M Blacksmith 2500 Westmoreland Co., Pa.
38 10 10 GILLGORE, Elizabeth 42 F Mercer Co., Pa.
39 10 10 GILLGORE, Mary Jane 22 F Mercer Co., Pa. S
40 10 10 GILLGORE, Sidney 18 F Mercer Co., Pa. S
41 10 10 GILLGORE, Clarissa 15 F Mercer Co., Pa. S
42 10 10 GILLGORE, Wm. S. 10 M Mercer Co., Pa. S
Schedule No. 2, Frame No. 59, Enumeration Date 06 Oct 1850
1 10 10 GILLGORE, Elizabeth E. 3 F Mercer Co., Pa.
2 10 10 LEE, Samuel 19 M Blacksmith Mercer Co., Pa.

Guardian: 1863. Personally appeared before me one of the associate (illegible) of the Court of Common Pleas of said county, James Kilgore a resident of Mercer, Mercer County Pennsylvania, age sixty four years, and being first duly sworn according to law (illegible) make the following declaration as guardian of the minor child of William R McKim, deceased in order to obtain the benefits of the pension made by the Act of Congress appeared July 14, 1862 granting pensions granting pensions to minor children under sixteen years of age of deceased officers and soldiers the he is the guardian of Elizabeth S McKim his care, w2hose father was a sergeant in company "A" commanded by Captain Wistar (Isaac J. Wistar)in the 1st California Regiment. Commandeered by Col E Baker, in the war of 1861 and that the said William R McKim was killed in the Battle of Balls Bluff, in the state of Virginia on the 21st day of October A.D. 1861, by a rifle ball of the enemy; and that the mother of the said child died on the 28th day of November in the year 1857; that said child was born on the 7th day of July in the year 1854; and that the said William R McKim was married to Sidney S Kilgore, mother of said Elizabeth S McKim was married on the 24th day of August in the year 1853 at Oberlin in the state of Ohio, by Rev George Clark and that there are no other children living except the said child, issue of the said marriage; and that he constitutes appoints W H Sheakley, his attorney to prosecute this claim said attorney's address being Mercer, Mercer County, state of Pennsylvania that said child (illegible) county and state of Pennsylvania the town of Mercer

James Kilgore

Also personally appeared Elizabeth Y Kilgore and Clara S Martin residents of said county and state persons who certify to be respectable and entitled to credit and where by me duly sworn say that they were present and saw the above James Kilgore sign his name to the foregoing declaration of the applicant and their acceptance with him that he is the identical person he represents himself to be and the the said William R McKim and the said Sidney S McKim lived together as man and wife and were reputed as such by all their neighbors and acquaintances and they have heard both of the said parties say that they were married at Oberlins in the State of Ohio; and they they are acquainted with the said child and know that she is, as represented in the above declaration and that we have no interest in this claim.

Elizabeth Y Kilgore
Clara S Martin (Clarissa Stewart Kilgore, Aunt)

Sworn to and subscribed on the day and year fist above witness before me; and I hereby certify that I have no interest in this claim direct or indirect.
D W Fredley
Associate Judge

Obituary: James Kilgore
Mercer Dispatch and Republican, February 17, 1882
James Kilgore, Mercer County

Mr. James Kilgore died at his residence in this place, on Saturday last, at the ripe age of eighty-three years. Mr. Kilgore had been a resident of Mercer for seventy years, and by his kindly disposition and consistent Christian life, was esteemed and beloved by all who knew him. He was an earnest abolitionist when to avow such opinions was to invite ridicule and censure, and he helped many a fleeing slave over the underground railroad to safety and freedom.

http://www.wqln.org/safeharbor/Archives/Obituaries.htm

BIOGRAPHY: Walking Tour of Mercers Historic Underground
Railroad and Abolitionist Era Sites
Researched and Compiled by Gail Habbyshaw
Edited by Rachel E. Darby
Intern, Summer 2001, Westminster College
Kilgore House: located at the corner of South Erie and Beaver
streets
James Kilgore, a blacksmith, operated a station at this two story white clapboard house. Elizabeth Breckinridge, Kilgore's daughter, vividly recalled the occasion her mother's uncle, John Young, delivered thirteen runaway slaves in a hay wagon, and unloaded them under the cloak of darkness. Young, his brother David, and their neighbors harbored fugitive slaves on their farms at Indian Run, an area about six miles from Mercer where East Lackawannock and Springfield townships converge. James Crouse operated an Underground Railroad station in the cellar of his home. He then transferred the fugitive slaves to another station in Ashtabula, Ohio. I can just imagine I see them again, lying on the cellar kitchen floor with straw pillows. As they came in the night, they were taken at three o'clock in the morning. Mr. Joseph Sykes had a big wagon and took them to Mr. Crouse's next station in Georgetown--now Sheakleyville, Breckinridge once said. Breckinridge also remembered a young runaway slave who could read a little, and her mother trying to teach him to write his name. Mrs. Kilgore was a courageous woman; teaching a slave to read and write was illegal. In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass recounted that it was forbidden to help slaves to learn to read and write.

Slave owners feared that they would get ideas out of books and begin to think of a way to become emancipated.

When Kilgore died in 1882, a local newspaper eulogized him, saying, He was an earnest abolitionist when to avow such opinions was to invite ridicule and censure, and he helped many a fleeing slave over the Underground Railroad to safety and to freedom.

Source: (Name)
Title: GEDCOM File : ~ATF1.ged
Note: ABBR GEDCOM File : ~ATF1.ged
Data:
Text: 4 DEC 2002

Occupation: Date: BET 1850 AND 1870
Place: Blacksmith

Census: Date: 1801
Place: Sandy Creek Tax Records

Census: Date: 1800
Place: Irwin Tax Records

Census: Date: 1802
Place: Sandy Creek Tax Records

Census: Date: 1850
Place: Mercer, Mercer, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1860
Place: Mercer, Mercer, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1870
Place: Mercer, Mercer, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Mercer, Mercer County, PA

Back to Main Page

Stewart, Mary (b. ABT 1849, d. AFT 1920)

Source: (Birth)
Title: 1860 US Census, Mercer, Mercer County PA
Note: ABBR 1860

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa

Census: Date: 1870
Place: Mercer, Mercer County, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1910
Place: Souix City, Woodbury, Iowa

Census: Date: 1920
Place: Sioux City Precinct 7, Woodbury, Iowa

Back to Main Page

Stewart, Robert Annan (b. DEC 1852, d. 1920)

Source: (Birth)
Title: 1860 US Census, Mercer, Mercer County PA
Note: ABBR 1860

Occupation: Date: 1920
Place: President - Creamery

Census: Date: 1860
Place: Mercer, Mercer County PA

Census: Date: 1870
Place: Mercer, Mercer County PA

Census: Date: 1900
Place: Norfolk, Nebraska

Census: Date: 1920
Place: Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska

Back to Main Page

Merrill, Samuel T (b. MAY 1831, d. AFT 1910)

Note: 1900: Census, Dover, Piscataquis, Maine

1910: Census, Dover, Piscataquis, Maine

Back to Main Page

This HTML database was produced by a registered copy of GED4WEBŠ version 3.31 .