Revised 5/2/2017. Copyright @2017; The following Documentary Timeline has been compiled and created by Paul Rhetts. It may be copied for research purposes; but it may not be reproduced for inclusion in any printed or electronic distribution of any kind without the express written permission of the author. Any requests to use this information should be sent to Paul Rhetts, LPDPress@q.com.
Robert REED (1730-1796) m. Mary INGALLS (1735-1803)
s/o John R REED (1697-1783) m. unknown
d/o Unknown
abt 1730 Robert REED born at Donegal, Ireland
18 May 1735 Mary INGALLS born at Roxbury, Cumberland, Pennsylvania
abt 1745 son Edward Reed born
abt 1747 son John Alfred S Reed born at NJ
26 Jan 1750 dau Martha Reed born at Raritan, NJ; married John Middleswarth in 1770 at Snyder, PA
bef 1750 Robert REED immigrated to Raritan, Somerset, NJ area
abt 1750 Robert REED and Mary INGALLS married
1751 son Joseph Reed born at Cumberland, Pennsylvania
1752 son McQuade Reed born at Cumberland, Pennsylvania
1752 dau Isabel Reed born
abt 1753 son John Reed born
1754 dau Margaret Reed born
1755 dau Polly Reed born at Westmoreland, Pennsylvania
1755 dau Martha Ann Mattie Reed born at Cumberland, Pennsylvania
1756 son George Reed born at Ligonier, Westmoreland, PA
1757 dau Elizabeth Reed born at Westmoreland, PA
9 Sep 1767 Robert Reed listed as having land warrant in Cumberland, PA (doc)
1768 Robert Reed listed as immigrant arriving 1768 in Virginia, 2989.50, p.281 (NOT our Robert)
12 Aug 1770 son Robert Pomeror Reed born at Ligonier, Westmoreland, PA
nd Robert Reed listed a Army Veteran in Pioneer Rangers as a private from Cumberland, PA (doc) [SAR Ap#18058 (doc)]
1783 Robert Reed listed on PA Tax List for Fairfield, Westmoreland, archive Rollname 341 (doc)
6 Mar 1786 dau Mary Reed born at Lancaster PA; baptized 3 Jun 1787 [IS THIS our Mary?]
3 Jun 1787 dau Susannah Reed born at Lancaster PA [IS THIS our Susannah?]
1790 Census, Fairfield, Westmoreland, PA - Robert Reed: Males <16=1; males >16=2; females=3 (doc) [MAY NOT be our Robert Reed]
1796 Robert REED died (age 66) at Bethehem, Hunterdon, NJ (Record of Burial Place of Veteran lists Old Fairfield Cemetery, Fairfield Twp, PA; no headstone (doc)] [FindAGrave lists burial at Westmoreland, PA; child as Robert Pomeroy Reed]
17 Mar 1796 Robert Reed listed as residence in General Records for Mayors Court Dockets in Philadelphia, PA (doc) [MAY NOT be our Robert Reed]
1798 Robert Reed listed on Fairfield Twp, Westmoreland, PA Tax List as owner of 1 dwelling house 24’ by 28’, 1 house 16’ by 14’, with value of $80.; 1 barn shingled roof; adjoining proprietors Henry Tash and Robert Piper; land valuation 200 ac. $800 (doc)
10 Dec 1803 Mary INGALLS died at Fairfield, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania
The Reed Family; History of the Descendants of Robert Reed, Sr; by J.P. Lytle of Home, PA. Printed at the Independent Office, Marion Center, PA, 1909.:
The History of the Reed family commences with the early settlement of Pennsylvania. Many emigrants from the Emerald Isle are known to have settled in the Cumberland Valley as early as 1753 and previously. The Indians were friendly at this time. Trading posts were established at Frankstown and many other places along the Old Trading Path leading to Fort Pitt. This much travelled Indian highway crossed the Loyalhanna at Ligonier. The beauty of the valley and general fertility of the soil tempted our subject, Robert Reed, Sr., and a Redemptionist, Chillian Green, to build a cabin in the woods hear a spring of never failing crystal water. The dense forest was cleared away and an orchard of trees, packed on horse-back from the "Jerseys" was planted. Then came Indian discontentment and Braddock's defeat in 1755. The merciless tomahawk, the flight of our prioneers for their lives, abandoning home, property and all, for more safety was the result. But those who have paid attention to the history of our country recollect that in the year 1758, General Forbes with an army composed of British Regulars in part, and in part colonial troops set out from the eastern part of Pennsylvania along this same western "highway." After much cutting, digging and blasting, the road was prepared so that he could march his army forward, or if necessary, return as far as the valley of Ligonier. Being about fifty miles from his destination, and ignorant of the enemy's force. he determined to fortify himself by the erection of a stockade fort, to which he might, in case of an emergency, retreat. By scouting parties sent forward, for the purpose, General Forbes ascertained that Fort Duquesne was weak and apparently about to be abandoned. He left a small body of men at Fort Ligonier and soon captured Fort Duquesne. The object of the expedition, being thus accomplished and the term of service of the colonial troops having expired, they were discharged. The men engaged in this expedition had the opportunity of examing the territory through which they passed, and were enabled to judge what it was afterwards, by improvement, destined to become; and though the campaign had been one of arduous fatigue and many dangers, it did not discourage them in future displays of valorous enterprise. Reed has little difficulty in persuading twenty or thirty of his comrades, the brave followers of General Forbes, in his western expedition, to leave the great valley of the Cumberland, for this tempting valley of Ligonier. So in the Spring of 1759, Robert Reed, Charles Clifford, James Clifford, Isaac Stimmel (Shot by Indians in 1764), James Flack, (Captured by Indians and carried toMontreal, escaping by the aid of a pocket compass given him by Charles Clifford, who was also a prisoner for two years) returned and the others, with their families, set out for Ligonier. "In traversing a mountainous wilderness one hundred and fifty miles in extent, and with no other pathway than that made by Forbes the preceeding summer, settling in a dense forest with only the provisions they brought with them, having to clear the ground before they could raise anything, and to erect habitations to protect themselves from the inclemencies of the approaching winter, the difficulties and hardships they had to encounter can be more conceived than described. But what can not be effected, united as they were by those cementing ties of friendship and feeling, which make the interest or danger of one, the interest or danger of all. The Reed family, ten in all, the father and wife, whose name was Polly Pomroy, and five sons and three daughters, of course continued the improvement already begun by the father and Chillian Green years before. Chains hidden before the hurried flight were rusty; some were never found. A wagon hid in the hollow just where the stone bridge now stands below the school house, had rotted and fallen to pieces. (Following a digression detailing Charles Clifford's capture by Indians, and detainment for two years in Canada, the story of Robert Reed, Sr. resumes.) Robert Reed was of Scotch ancestry and born probably about 1730. At the age of 18 or 20 years he migrated with others from the north of Ireland, Donegal, where it is said "they eat potatoes skins and all," to the Cumberland valley. The five sons and three daughtes all seem to have been born here and before the parents moved to Fort Ligonier or settled on the homestead from which the father had been driven by the merciless tomahawk. The remains of the parents, Robert and Polly, rest in Fairfield Cemetery.