The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: PA
Qualifying Service: Private / Patriotic Service
Author: Paul D. Banister
Johannes Leidig (John Lydick) was baptized on 19 Apr 1739 in Duchess County, New York and was the son of Andreas Leidig and Elizabetha Hassler.
On 3 May 1759, Andreas Leidig brutally murdered his wife, Elizabetha and was executed on 9 June 1759 in York, Pennsylvania. In 1762, John and his brother, Andrew petitioned the court for letters of administration for the estate. After nearly three years for court decided not to make the children forfeit the property as they were left with "sundry debts" of the father.
John Lydick was one of the earliest pioneer settlers of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, then part of Westmoreland County. Prior to the year 1768, John Lydick settled on a farm in that county about four miles east of the present town of Indiana, the county seat.
He saw much Indian trouble; regularly joined with his neighbors in defending themselves against the Indians. In 1774, when an Indian war was on, he with a number of his neighbors took refuge in Fort Shippen at Captain John Proctor's. From there they petitioned Governor John Penn for relief. This petition was signed by over seventy persons, one of them John Lydick. Three times John Lydick and his neighbors were driven from their homes by the Indians between 1768 and 1783.
In 1778, John Lydick enlisted in Lieutenant Thomas Fletcher's company of Frontier Rangers from Westmoreland County and served until 1783. The service of the "Rangers" was not to battle with the regular English forces along the ocean front, but to protect the settlements on the frontier from the ravages of the Indians, led often by renegade English more dangerous and brutal than their Indian allies.
In 1803, the year Indiana County was formed, John Lydick, Pennsylvania colonist and Revolutionary soldier, passed away. His death occurred sometime between July 4th, the date his will was written, and August 10th, the date it was probated. He and his wife were buried in the graveyard on the Conrad Rice farm. The site is known today as Memorial. The Lydick graves are marked by a bronze plaque placed there by descendants.
John Lydick (Johannes Leidig) and Mary May were the parents of nine children: 1. Jacob Lydick, born 05 Mar 1767; married Mary Stuchell. 2. John Lydick, born 30 Nov 1770; married Penina Rice. 3. Patrick Lydick, born 1772; married Mary McHenry. 4. Anna Mary Lydick, born 24 Feb 1773; m. William Caldwell. 5. Elizabeth Lydick, born 11 Jun 1777; married Christopher Stuchell 6. Barbara Lydick, born 18 Apr 1780; married Abraham Stuchell. 7. James Lydick, born 01 Aug 1781; married Jane Boyles. 8. Margaret Lydick, born 1787; married John Allison. 9. Nancy Lydick, born 1783; married John Baird.
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