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Subject: [DESUSSEX] Ben Stokely's family
Date: 9 Jul 2002 13:04:00 -0600

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Classification: Query

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http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/3Y.2ADI/1435

Message Board Post:

The narrative below is part of an autobiographical statement written by Ben and transcribed by his granddaughter ["This is a copy of the original paper or document written by B. Stokely, my Grandfather, written at the old home in Coolspring, Mercer County.
Transcribed July 7th, 1914 by Mary E. Hart, daughter of the 2nd Donna Bianca Perimale Stokely"].

Ben's family lived in the area of EARLY West moreland County that became Fayette County (Luzerne Twp., near Mirritstown), Nehemiah Stokely is the only Stokely relative I know of who located in what we now know as (North Huntington/Sewickley Twp.) Westmoreland County. Ben later became one of, or the earliest settler in today's Mercer County.

Introduction:
The following pages relative to the life of Benjamin Stokely were penned
at his request and were written at a time before his death wile in sound
mind, but feeble in body, and may be depended upon as containing a true
history, so far as embraced by this narrative, of his life, etc. June
1843.

I was born in the state of Delaware about 7 miles from Lewiston in the
County of Sussex on the 4th day of October 1766. My father was John
Stokely, and my mother was Mary Baynes. I was the last of 7 children,
three of whom were sons and four daughters. Elizabeth, the oldest;
Thomas, the second; Mary, the third; John, the fourth; Anna, the fifth;
Leydia, the sixth; and myself, the seventh.
The earliest recollections of my life extend as far back as 1769. In
the year following in April of 1770, my father died. I have no
recollection of anything worthy of notice having taken place in 1771. In
the fall of 1772 my oldest sister was married to John Conwell by Gilbert
Parker, Esq., one of the Justices of the Peace commissioned by King
George III. Of the years 1773 and 1774 I have nothing material to
narrate. In the fall of the year 1775, my mother and family, composed
then of 6 children, removed to Redstone, then Westmoreland Co.,
Pennsylvania.
In the year 1776 my mother married Charles McClane, about the month of August, and removed to Grass Creek, state of Virginia. About this time,
the western settlements were very much harassed by the Indians. The
Americans were then raging with violence and the Indians murdering and
plundering on all the frontier. During that year the few scattering
families were under the necessity of seeking protection from the forts
or places where the people had collected to defend themselves against
the assaults of the Indians. Into one of these, that is called Grave
Creek Fort, my mother, step-father and part of the family went for
safety.
In the fall of this year my brother Thomas entered the American Army.
In the fall of 1777 my mother died at the home of my brother-in-law,
John Connelly [Conwell], having lately left the fort.
In the fall of 1778 my brother Thomas returned from the army.
In the fall of 1779 I returned from Fayette, then Westmoreland Co.,
Pennsylvania, and continued there until late in the fall of that year,
and then went back to Fayette Co., where I resided about 5 years. During
this time, I learned the tanners trade and shoemakers trade, in part and
while learning a trade, I improved an opportunity offered by going to
school...

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