Author: Thomas Frank Linn
Married Ann Fleming in 1780 [see Fleming note below]. They were married by John’s brother, Rev. Dr William Linn, a man of much note, see above. John Linn, [William Sr.’s second child] was a farmer and a private in the Revolutionary War. John relocated north from Lurgan Township in Franklin County to the area around Lewisburg in about 1772 or so when that area was opened for settlement [officially February 17, 1769] about a hundred miles to the north. He was about 18 or 19 years old at the time he left his father’s home in Lurgan township and migrated to an area now known as Union County. John lived in White Deer Township. White Deer was later whittled down and John’s residence is actually now in Kelly Township of Union County [at the time he migrated to the area, called Buffalo Valley, it was part of Northumberland county] John is shown as living there in 1778 in the Annals of Buffalo Valley by John Blair Linn and is on the list of “Taxables” for that year . John Linn eventually acquired a good deal of land in what became Union county probably learned from his father William and growing up in Lurgan Township. A map of 1792 shows the general vicinity at the time he lived there. My research points to an area around Spruce Run near the town of Lewisburg. He served in the Revolutionary war and received pay for services on the frontier . He served several tours and the one for which I have a record shows he served under Capt James Thompson in 1779. Thompson served as head of the Second company, First Battalion under Colonel John Kelly who commanded the First Battalion in 1778. “Northumberland County in the American Revolution” , The Northumberland Hist. Soc., 1976 at 249. There were four battalions. Id at 443 In 1786 he is taxed for a female slave named “Judy” . The 1830 census shows that his son John Linn Jr. [born 1797] indeed had a female slave of 55 years or older and at that time they were living in Kelly township, Union County PA. Immediately above on the census form are listed William Linn and David Linn whose relationship to John is not certain in my mind. Judy went with John’s son and his family to Ohio where she died but did so as a ‘free colored’ having been freed by 1830 as is appears from the census for that year [see John Linn 1797-1891 below]. Later censuses do not show her to be a slave and indeed, I ran across something recently [12-17] which implied she had been freed. John Linn was elected an Elder of the Buffalo Cross-Roads Presbyterian Church in Union County PA in 1787, when he was but 33 years old. In 1791 he rented pew no. 27 in the church for 2 pounds [apparently still using British currency] which was far at the back of the Church [there were 36] . Annals at 270. Pew location reflected both cost and status. It is worth quoting in detail from the Annals at 384-85 the following from 1809 Deaths. Tuesday, 21st March, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, John Linn, of White Deer township, of pleurisy, on the tenth day of his sickness. He was buried at Buffalo Cross-Roads, on the Thursday following. The funeral was attended by a large concourse of people. He was an inhabitant of this county upwards of thirty-six years, and twenty-one years an elder of Buffalo church, and principal clerk, conducting the music. He came into the Valley in 1772, and endured the hardships incident to the early settlement of the country, frequently sleeping on his cabin floor, with a bag of grain for a pillow, and his rifle by his side. During the year 1779, while off on a tour of service, his cabin was spoiled by the Indians. He was married by his brother, Reverend Doctor William Linn, to Ann Fleming, of Middleton township, near Carlisle. She was of the Fleming family, of Chester county. Her ancestor, William Fleming, came over before 1714, and settled in Cain township, in Chester county. From there, his descendants moved up to Cumberland and Northumberland counties. John Linn's children were : Susan, married to William Thompson, (son of Captain James,) in 1804, and shortly after removed to Venango county ; Ann, married to Andrew McBeth, a son of John McBeth, of Aaronsburg, died at Greencastle, Indiana, October 1873, aged eighty-six; William Linn, who moved to Miami county, Ohio, died there, October 26, 1834. John Linn, married to Mary F., daughter of Colonel William Chamberlin. He resides at Mount Vernon, Ohio. Margaret Linn, married to Joseph McCalmont, of Venango county, died February 7, 1873. The late James F. Linn, Esquire, of Lewisburg, who died October 8, 1869, aged sixty-seven, and Jemima Linn, who died April 17, 1873. John and Ann were married in 1780 but produced children at an intermittent rate including our ancestor, also name John [John Jr] who was born in 1797. The area opened in 1769 for settlement http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-43NewPurchaseRegister/r17-43NameInterface.htm At age 57 when he died John left behind his wife, Ann, of 19 years and minor children, among them our ancestor John, Jr. who was but 12 years old when his father passed away. Although Ann was 47 when John died in 1809 and lived until 1841, the law required appointment of a guardian for the children. The barely legible petition states in part: To the Hon Seth Chapman Esq and his associate Judges of the orphans Court holding the said Court at Sunbury for North(umberland) county this 19th April 1813. The Petition of Ann Lynn [sic] widow of John Lynn [sic] late of White Deer Township, North(umberland) County , deceased … That the dec[eased] John Lynn (sic) died leaving lawful issue to survive him seven children five of which are now under the age of twenty one years to wit William, John minors under twenty one years and Margaret, James and Jemima minors under fourteen years of age ---- That the deceased John Linn died intestate seized of real estate in the Township and possessed of personal estate that the said [?] Minors have no guardian over their persons or estates and are all desirous to choose William Hayes of Derrs Town [now Lewisburg] to be their Guardian as aforesaid--- which choice if approved of by this Court will be agreeable to your Ptnr? [petitioner?] She therefore prays that the William Hayes may be appointed Guardian as aforesaid. Remarkably the Petition is signed by Ann Linn and is here reproduced: Many women did not read or write at the time. The petition was granted