This is the final article for the series "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks", a challenge by Amy Johnson Crow on
No Story Too Small. I made it!
Thomas Cresap was not a large man; he was stockily built,
his muscles were hard, and his great strength was a byword on the frontier.
He
was born about 1694 in Skipton, Yorkshire, England and emigrated to America when about 15 years old.
Thomas Cresap was my 7th great-grandfather.
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Google map showing Skipton in relation to London
[click images to enlarge] |
Not much is known about him until he married Hannah Johnson on
30 Apr 1727. She was the daughter of
Daniel Johnson and Frances who also emigrated from England to Maryland as early
as 1698. Daniel and Frances and their
six daughters lived on a 100 acre plantation in Lapidum, Harford County, Maryland.
Thomas and Hannah's children included sons Daniel, Thomas, Robert and Michael, and daughters Sarah
and Elizabeth.
Among his diverse occupations were those of land speculator,
French and Indian fighter, army commissary, guide and explorer, Indian agent,
cartographer, road builder, politician, fur-trader, planter, and colonial
traveler.
Stood His Ground
His infamous tenacity was revealed during one of his many
land disputes. In 1730, Thomas, Hannah
and young son Daniel settled on land deeded by Lord Baltimore on the
Susquehanna, [possibly current day Havre
de Grace], land that the Pennsylvanians claimed as their own although they had
not conducted a survey to determine the actual boundaries between Pennsylvania
and Maryland. He mightily defended the
land but to no avail as the house was burned causing his family to seek shelter
in a nearby friendly Indian village. The
Penns captured and imprisoned him for a year in Philadelphia. His captors offered to release him earlier
because of his vile behavior but he demanded a trial believing his was a just cause. Upon order of the King to free prisoners on
both sides of the boundary dispute, he agreed to the release. It was during this period, when he was hauled
to jail in chains through the streets of Philadelphia, that the crowd shouted
“Maryland Monster”. The boundary dispute
continued for several years and was eventually settled legally in 1750.
Titles
Lord Baltimore commissioned Thomas Cresap a justice of the
peace in the early 1730s.
By 1734, he was made a captain in the
Maryland militia. He was referred to as
“Colonel” in court records of 1747 but no official record of appointment has
been found.
Cresap’s Fort
His frontier post in Oldtown exemplified Thomas’s keen
ability to strategically locate his base of operations. In 1741 at age 47, he established Skipton, a
frontier post at the site of the abandoned Indian village of Shawanese Old Town. The shortened name Oldtown stuck though and
stills exists today.
Here, Col. Cresap built and lived in a stone
house, situated on a high hill about one-half of a mile southeast of the town,
and within four hundred yards of the Potomac River. The house had very thick stone walls, and
only two rooms, each about twenty feet square. The building was known in early times as
“Cresap’s Fort” and often afforded shelter to the inhabitants of the country
for miles around during the forays of the Indians….” The house also served as a rendezvous for
settlers in more peaceful times.
Due to the post’s strategic location near
frequently traveled trails, Cresap kept it fully supplied for visitors and
traders.
Indians as well stopped on their travels and partook of Thomas’s
hospitality with the kettle for which they nicknamed him “Big Spoon”. He
waged war against some Indians yet befriended others. It was the Indians who sheltered his wife and
son after his house was burned and he was imprisoned. An Indian named Nemacolin became attached to
Cresap, took his sons hunting and when migrating south with his tribe, he left
his young son with Thomas to raise and educate.
The treaty between the chiefs of the Six Nations and the
Maryland commissioners of 30 Jun 1744 set forth geographic boundaries which
included Col. Cresap’s “hunting or trading cabin”. From the fact that this treaty embraced Cresap’s
settlement, and did not include that portion where Fort Cumberland was
afterwards located, and that there were no other settlements nearer than the
Conococheague, it is evident that Cresap was the first actual settler of
Allegany County [Maryland].
George Washington (yes, that George)
The first meeting of Thomas Cresap and 15 year old George
Washington, who was surveying Lord Fairfax’s western lands, was in March 1747. Washington sheltered at Cresap’s inn for five
days due to inclement weather.
Over the years, Washington’s journal cited
other visits to Cresap’s establishment in Oldtown.
Ohio Land Company
Thomas Cresap was one of the charter members of the Ohio
Land Company. A land grant from the
British government was given in 1749 to a group of Virginians and Marylanders. They so-named it because their task was to
explore and settle a portion of that vast territory draining into the Ohio
River. They were given a grant of five
hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio between the Monongahela and the
Kanawha Rivers, of which number two hundred thousand were to be settled
immediately. The grant was made free
from quit rent or tax to the Crown on the condition that one hundred families
were settled there within seven years.
Cresap’s role in the Ohio Company was to lay
out and mark a road from Will’s Creek to the mouth of the Monongahela, the
present site of Pittsburg. He was
assisted by a friendly Indian named Nemacolin.
The
road has had several names over the years including Gist’s Trace, Nemocolin’s
Path, Washington’s Road, [General] Braddock’s Road, and the National Pike.
Cresap’s Land Holdings
Of all of Thomas’s occupations mentioned earlier, land
speculator and surveyor likely brought him his wealth. Records indicate that he acquired 760 acres from
1739-1743 for Long Meadow; 155 acres in 1742 for Linton; and 160 acres in 1752
for Leeds.
American Revolution 1775-1783
His formation of the Maryland Sons of Liberty in 1765 to suppress
the Stamp Act showed his separation from England. Then, in 1774, he firmly planted himself on
the side of the Patriot’s efforts against the British stronghold over the
Colonies. He was 81 at the beginning of
the American Revolution. Not
surprisingly, he wasn’t a participant in field operations as was his son
Michael Cresap, but became an elected delegate from Frederick County to the Maryland
Provincial Convention. Thomas was named
as one of the Committee of Observation and Committee of Safety. Maryland needed supplies and he was tasked to
raise money for arms and ammunition. And,
once again, the Maryland Sons of Liberty organization was activated with Cresap
as a prominent promoter.
At the close of the American Revolution, Thomas was about
90. In his journal entry of 17 May 1785,
Major Andrew Endicott, a civil engineer, wrote of his visit with him at Oldtown
“…This evening I spent with the celebrated Col. Cresap. He is now more than 100
years old. He lost his eyesight about 18 months past, but his other faculties
are yet unimpaired, his sense strong and manly, and his ideas flow with
ease."
His will, dated 17 Jan 1784, was 'signed' with his
mark instead of his signature which may support the report of blindness.
Frontiersman to be Reckoned With
He had his detractors, mostly Pennsylvanians, who disdained
him as profane, incendiary, and a rattlesnake.
His admirers pointed to his achievements and cite circumstances where
any man would act likewise to defend life and property. And again, Indians called him Big Spoon.
Nobody described him as blood-thirsty but more
as ambitious for land and settling the west.
His intimate knowledge of the landscape made him more often than not the
go-to guy for surveying the vast wilderness.
Late
Life
Hannah died before 1774
according to the Cresap Society. Thomas may
have married a second time, at age 80, to the widow Mrs. Margaret Milburn, but
no record of the marriage exists other than the writings of Michael Cresap’s
biographer, John J. Jacob. Thomas died in 1790.
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Grave of Thomas Cresap at Oldtown, Allegany, Maryland
Source: Find-a-Grave.com |
Thomas Cresap lived in a time of
remarkable history of colonial America. He
arrived in America poor but amassed wealth through strategic land purchases. He became a chief agent for land speculation
for the British yet turned his allegiance to America when tightening British
rule intruded on his own ambitions.
My Grandma Ethel joined the Daughters
of the American Revolution. Should I?
Thomas Cresap, 1694-1790
Married 1727 to Hannah Johnson 1705-abt 1774
Son Daniel Cresap, 1728-1798
Married (second) 1750 to Ruth
Swearingen, 1728-
Daughter Mary Cresap, 1760-1838
Married
1777 to William Ogle, 1751-1810
Married
1804 to Stephen Clark, 1770-
Daughter Denise Hibsch Richmond, me
Future Research
- Profile my direct line of descendants of Thomas Cresap
- Read the dozens of biographies and books that include Thomas Cresap
Sources
