Samuel Jeffrey and Jane Hanna 5th great grandparents on RootsMagic Tree

Samuel Jeffrey was born in 1750, probably in Pennsylvania, maybe in Ireland or Scotland. HIs parents and past aren’t known. Wife Jane Hanna has even less information, just that she was in the area and about the same age. Samuel and Jane married around 1775 and had 9 kids.

The Jeffreys married near Maryland, then settled in Allegheny County in western Pennsylvania, about 15 miles west of Pittsburgh. In the area, near the towns of Clinton, Moon and Imperial, the Pittsburgh International Airport is there now.

Samuel was in the Revolutionary War with the Chester, Pennsylvania Militia, from 1781-1782. A Pennsylvania Veteran Burial Card shows this info. On December 8, 1786 Samuel and James Brice were on a land deed, they bought 3.4 acres.

The Jeffrey family is on the 1790 US census which is 9 pages with 5800 total households, heads listed by name, wife and spouse by tick marks. With Samuel and Jana are 3 daughters and 4 sons. On this same census are William Stewart, William Speedy, Henry Crooks, the Howlett and Hanna families- all ancestors of Elizabeth Speedy. Some members of these families traveled west together from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and a few to Iowa.

In the digital book from 1889, History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, there’s a bio with details on Samuel Jeffrey, “R. W. Jeffrey (Robert Walker Jeffrey b. 1824), farmer, is a grandson of one of the early settlers of Fayette township. Samuel Jeffrey, who was born in Ireland, emigrated to America, locating first in Maryland, but later coming to Allegheny county, where he took up a tract of land from the government.” The ‘born in Ireland, emigrated to America’ part is a maybe, there’s no records to prove this yet.

Samuel died on August 26, 1798. Jane Hanna Jeffrey probably died about the same time. Samuel has a headstone at Montour Cemetery, Oakdale, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The current newer headstone was placed in 1970. Inscribed on the headstone: Samuel Jefferey Sr. Died August 26, 1798 Revolutionary War Veteran Pvt. H? Chester Co. Penna Militia Served Apr 23 1781 to Jan 1, 1782 The Oldest Marked Grave … Cemetery. Jane is probably buried in the same cemetery.

In the same Montour Cemetery other Jeffrey family are buried including Elizabeth Jeffrey Crooks whose daughter Elizabeth Crooks Stewart went all the way to Iowa where her daughter Elizabeth Stewart and husband Manford Speedy had a son Harve Speedy, dad of Elizabeth Speedy .

Sources

• Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952 at Ancestry
• Pennsylvania, Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-2012 at Ancestry
• History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania at HathiTrust
• 1790 US Census at FamilySearch