Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS Joseph Ledlie and William Moody: Early Pittsburgh Residents, their background and some of their descendants. Ledlie I. Laughlin, comp. (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1961. 0,208 p. Illustrations, appendix, index, genealogical charts. $10.00.) This new genealogical record is arranged in three sections. The first devotes twenty pages to a discussion of recovered data on Ledlies in Ireland. The second section includes a brief survey of Pittsburgh in 1803, the year Joseph Ledlie brought his family to that frontier town, and an equally brief account of the known data on the Irish background of Joseph Ledlie's son-in-law, William Moody. The third and major section contains the genealogical record through seven generations of descendants of these two Scotch-Irish immigrants. As explained in the first section, the lack of extant church records, destroyed in the course of many Irish uprisings, hampered investigation of the family's ancestry. Surviving civil records in the Tennison Groves Collection, deposited in the Genealogical Office, Dublin Castle, and in the Belfast Public Records Office, however, furnished much of the information on the early years of the Ledlies in Ireland. From these and a family tree compiled for James C. Ledlie, descendant of a brother of the emigrant Joseph Ledlie, it appears that one John Ledlie and his father James Ledlie had both been living in Belfast parish since at least 1676. Whether the father had come from Scotland after the conquest of Ireland by Cromwell in 1650, when the Protector continued the policy, first instituted fifty years earlier, of settling in Northern Ireland Scotch Protestants, or earlier, is not established in this record because of lack of records. Family tradition, however, handed down in Irish branches of the family, claims that two "Laidley" brothers, both Covenanters, did cross from Scotland during the seventeenth century, thereby following a migration trail already well established. James Ledlie died in 1694 and his son John then removed to Carnan, County Tyrone, west of Lough Neagh. John's son James (ca. 1670 - 1750), had a son William (ca. 1705 - 1773), who had three sons, Joshua, William and George. The first two of these sons, whose descendants were not traced for this record, left for America about 1765, and seem to have appeared, at least briefly, in eastern Pennsylvania. The third son George (1743 - 1819), was the father of the 1803 immigrant Joseph Ledlie, subject of this record. Both William and his son George were linen-drapers and bleachers of some substance at Ballygoney, County Londonderry, not for from the little town of Coagh, County Tyrone. Joseph, son of George, was born about 1774, and married in 1796 Margaret Ekin of Ruskey, County Derry. Both Joseph and his father apparently were active members of the Society of United Irishmen, organized in 1791 by Presbyterians and Catholics to wrest from Parliament by any means "thoroughgoing Parliamentary reform and the removal of all existing restrictions upon Catholics which were not imposed upon other citizens" (p. 17). The movement culminated in open rebellion in 1797 and 1798, which was put down with such repressive measures that trade came to a virtual standstill and the market for linen was seriously affected. It seems probable, therefore, that for both political and economic reasons, Joseph Leckie determined to emigrate. He and his family sailed from Newry for New York 25 June 1803, arriving in that city on 17 August 1803. From there they journeyed to Pittsburgh. 2 79 280 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine The family's movements are uncertain during the ensuing years. Their residence apparently changed from Pittsburgh, where in 1804 a daughter was born, to Coal Hill, now Mt. Washington, across the Monongahela from Pittsburgh, where in 1806 a son was born. Then in 1809 a son died in Brownsville, some thirty-five miles up the Monongahela, and in 1813 another daughter was born, this time in Williamsport. Two years later Joseph ."Laidlie" was listed in Pittsburgh 8 first directory, but was missing in the second, published in 1819. That year his widow "Mrs. Ledlie" was listed at what was apparently the same address. She lived on in Pittsburgh for some years, but died in Galena, Illinois, at the home of a married daughter, on 9 December 1850. In the second section of this book, it is related that the name Moody appears in the earliest surviving records—dated 1666—of Limavady , County Londonderry; settlers of the name from Scotland during the reign of James I, had appeared at Magilligan, a small settlement on the coast, north of Limavady. But again lack of records has prevented connection with the John Moody whose son William (1791-1859), born in or near Lon donderry, married in 1817 Isabella Ledlie (1799-1879), daughter of Joseph Ledlie. After the death of Wiliam Moody's mother, his father married again. By the second wife the father had a son Robert, and a daughter Ellen, both of whom eventually came to the United States. William, reared and educated by a grandmother, first came to this country about 1810. He returned to Ireland early in 1816, stayed only a few months, and then with his half-brother Robert set sail in June 1816, for Philadelphia. A diary kept by William on his return trip to Ireland late in 1815, and letters written by Robert to William after their arrival in Pennsylvania, provided much of the data known about their movements. William remained for a time in Philadelphia, then taught school briefly in Mt. Holly, New Jersey. Robert, however, unable to find suitable employment, headed for Pittsburgh, arriving there by September 1816. He was soon followed by William who, a year later, married Joseph Ledlie's daughter Isabella. The third section of this record, largely devoted to their descendants and those of Isabella:s brother, James Ekin Ledlie., contains an unusual amount of biographical information on these descendants, tracing them down to 1960. Its major defect* for the purpose of following any particular line, lies in the numbering system. No distinction is made between those individuals who left descendants, and those who died without issue. Children who died young are numbered; those children who survived and had issue of their own noted subsequently, are not so designated when they are listed follow ing the parents' biographical notice. The simple notation "of whom further," would have assisted greatly in understanding the family ramifications. The second section, in which is described the Irish ancestry of the Ledlie family, on the other hand has no numbering at all, except for the children of Joseph and Margaret (Elun) Ledlie, which for some unclear reason are included in this portion of the book, rather than in the third section. As a result, it takes considerable digging to establish Joseph Ledlie's presumed ancestry. To some extent, this omission is covered in the genealogical charts, of which there are four. The first shows four generations of the Ledlie family in Ireland descending from John, son of James. The second chart is devoted to six generations of Joseph Ledlie's descendants. Charts 3 and 4 cover the five generations of the descendants of William Moody and his brother-in-low James E. Ledlie. Properly speaking, the book is not documented. But the appendix, which includes extracts from William Moody's diary and his half-brother Robert's letters, also lists M detail the principal sources consulted in the course of the research. In effect this list is an extensive bibliography which includes some extracts from both Dublin and Belfast records, such as deeds and wills, lists others by file number. and presents a few cemetery Book Reviews 281 inscriptions. American civil records are only enumerated by volume and page under a general county reference. In the case of deeds so listed, the listing would have had more value for the researcher if dates and grantors and grantees had been included. In no case were abstracts offered in evidence, as with the Irish records. Adding interest to the work are twelve pages of illustrations: photographs of early members of the Moody and Ledlie families, of homes in Ireland and Missouri, and two examples of a Ledlie and a Moody coat of arms. No claim is made, however, that the descendants of either inan are entitled to use them as their own. Concluding the book are three indices: for names, places, and "All Other Proper Names," which add greatly to the usefulness of the record. In spite of the faults mentioned above, which are a matter of presentation rather than of content, this book represents a commendable family record, the result of a tremendous amount of work. The compiler is to be congratulated for acknowledging the absence of conclusive evidence in the early Irish years, and for making no claims for which he cannot reasonably vouch. It is a record which reflects from till; personal level a major historic path of Scotch-Irish migration: front Scotland to Ireland in the seventeenth century, front Ireland to Pennsylvania and its frontier in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and from there westward in the ensuing years. RALPH DOLINFELD OWEN The Sten of Muscatine: A Family Chronicle. (Privately printed, Muscatine, Iowa, 1961. Forward by S. G. Stein III. 53 p. Genealogical chart, maps, illustrations.) This beautifully printed little monograph was designed primarily to record a single family's lineage; only to a very limited extent is it a family history. According to this account, research in the church records of the State Archives at Koblenz, Germany, revealed that the origin of John Sebastian Stein (1696-p. 1762), the American ancestor of the family, was in Kappeln, a small village on a tributary of the Glan River in the Rhenish Palatirmte. The family had been established in this area probably for two generations. Son of Heinrich Stein (1663-1717) and his wife Anna Elizabeth Buffi, Sebastian married in 1719 at Sicn, near Grumbach, Anna Catherine Arnoldt (1695-p. 1762), daughter of Nicol Arnoldt of Hoppstildten. In 1748 Sebastian Stein sold his property in Sien-Hoppstadten, and with his wife and family emigrated to Pennsylvania. By 1750 they were settled in Bethel Township, Berks County. Their descendants remained in Berks County for nearly one hundred years. It was not until the 1840's that two of Sebastian's great-great-grandsons left the neighborhood, finally settling in Muscatine (originally Bloomington), Iowa. Here they and their descendants became prominent in the rapidly growing town, participating largely in the civic activities and commercal interests of the community through their connections in the lumber and milling industries, the local railroads and ferries, banks, and churches. Brief accounts of the ancestry of members of the Gerberich, Berntheisel, Sawyer, Eldrige, Waugh and Ellis families, who married Mto the particular Stein family line covered in this work, conclude the record. Unfortunately, the account of the family does not follow the standard pattern of genealogical records. !ndividuals are not numbered, except as to generation, and then only those carried down—in this case one single line only—are so designated. Na dates are given for the spouses of those persons who married into the family after the second American generation. This omission seems inexcusable, since the church records obviously examined—the pastoral record of Rev. John Caspar Stoever, Christ Lutheran ChurchivStouchsburg, Altalaha Lutheran Church, Rehrersburg, Jacobs Lutheran Church, 282 The Pennsylvan;a Genealogical Magazine Pinegrove Twp., Schuylkill Co—provide a good many of them. Nor is any documentation to speak of offered, with the exception of military service gleaned from the Pennsylvania Archives. No wills or similar estate records are offered in evidence, nor are the land records which are mentioned documented. It seems a pity, therefore, that a book, otherwise so tasteful in format, should be so deficient m these necessary areas. The inclusion of such data would have made it muckt more valuable as a record, not only to the Stein family as a whole, but to future generations of the single line presented. An index would also have added to its usefulness. HANNAH BENNER ROACH RECENT GENEALOGICAL STUDIES OF INTEREST TO PENNSYLVANIANS The Aster; can Genealogist Vol. 37 (April, 1961), 104; ibid., (October, 1961), 219: "Enochsons on Delaware," by George E. McCracken. Vol. 38 (January, 1962), 31; ibid., (April, 1962), 90: "Alrichs of New Castle County, Delaware," by Lewis D. Cook. Ibid., (January, 1962), 64: "Barber of Connecticut and Luzerne County, Pennsylvania," by George E. McCracken. /bid., (April, 1962), 65: "Jannetje Jans Van Buskirk:' by George E. McCracken. /bid., (July, 1962), 182: "Welcome Notes," by George E. McCracken. (Identifies as passengers Batchelor, Barber, Buckman, Ottey, Rowland, Ingram, Thompson, Short.) The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey Vol. XXXVI (September, 1961), 107: "Some Descendants of John Loofbourrow (Loughborough) of Woodbridge:' by Edith Loughborough Mulford. National Genealogical Soc-iety Quarterly Vol. 49 (March, 1961), 26: "The Origin of the Belsterling Family," extract from Sammlung Schweizerischer Ahnentafeln I (193 8 ) , 65. Vol. 49 (March, 1961), 28: "Who Was the Widow Anna Maria Lenz?" by Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. Ibid., (September, 1961), 142: "Bowne, Butcher and Harris Notes, Bucks County, Pa., Alexandria, Va., and Washington, D. C.," by John Insley Codclington. Ibid., 149: "Descendants of Major Isaac Nathans," by H. Minot Pitman. Ibid., 157: "Elder Ephraim Rittenhouse's Record of Marriages." Ibid., 170: "Tomes, Stiles, Estlack, Hinglish, Brooks, Bible Records!' LIPPINCOTT Fomi/v TREE Compiled in 1880, nothing of a permanent nature has been done on this genealogical record since that time. Miss Elizabeth Lippincott of Crescent Brook Farm, Moorestown, New Jersey, has now undertaken the task of bringing it up to date., A . card file of mem' bees of the family, surnamed Lippincott, as well as those who married, into the family, is now being compiled to form a permanent record, and eventually will be given to the Historical Society. Those who have not been contaaed by Miss LIppincott, or by Mrs. Emily Lippincott Webster, 7200 Cresheim Road, Philadelphia 19, Tel. CH 7'8658, are requested to gee in touch with them if they want their Lippincott line preserved for posterity. Mrs. Webster has a few of the original Lippincott Faintly Trees for sale.