Rachel Miller

Other Events:

• Census: 1850, Harrison Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania
• Residence: 1850, Harrison Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania; With husband Daniel May and four grown children

Notes:

Buried:
Milligan's Cove Christian Church Cemetery

Rachel — Daniel May. Daniel was born 1793, Harrison Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania; died 26 Jan 1878, Harrison Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania; was buried Buffalo Mills, Bedford, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Census: 1790, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania
• Census: 1800, Bedford and Saint Clair Twps., Bedford, Pennsylvania
• Census: 1810, Bedford Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania
• Census: 1820, Napier Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania
• Census: 1830, Napier Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania
• Census: 1840, Napier Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania
• Probate: 18 Oct 1848, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania; Will proved; letters testamentary issued
• Residence: 1790, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania; With two females
• Residence: 1800, Bedford and Saint Clair Twps., Bedford, Pennsylvania; With five girls under age 10 and a woman age 26 to 44
• Residence: 1810, Bedford Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania; With two boys and a girl under age 10, three girls age 10 to 15, 2 women age 16 to 25 and a woman age 26 to 44
• Residence: 1820, Napier Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania; With three girls under age 10, a boy age 10 to 15, a boy age 16 to 18 and a woman age 26 to 44
• Residence: 1830, Napier Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania; With a boy age 5 to 9, a man age 20 to 29, two woman age 30 to 39 and a woman age 60 to 69
• Residence: 1840, Napier Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania; With a woman aged 20 to 29 and two women aged 40 to 49
• Will: 17 Sep 1832, Milligan's Cove, Bedford, Pennsylvania; To daughters Susanna (John Hardman), Rachel (Daniel May), Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah (John Boor); to sons Abraham, John; to "dear" wife Mary Miller; to grandson Solomon May son of daughter Rachel (Daniel May); executors sons Abraham and John

Notes:

"History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania", published in Chicago by Water, Watkins & Co. in 1884, pg 362:

"The Millers of Milligan's cove are very numerous, and are reckoned among the most enterprising and influential citizens of the township. They are descendants from Elias Miller, an early pioneer. John Miller, a brother of Elias, and, like him, a soldier in the revolutionary war, also settled in the cove. His son John - known to all the early residents as Big John, for the fact that he was tall, and weighed over three hundred pounds - lived and died on the place which afterward became the Carpenter and Baker farms.

Elias Miller was a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown. Shortly after the war he came to Bedford county and lived on Dunning's creek, whence he was often obliged to take shelter in the Bedford fort during the Indian hostilities. He afterward moved to the cove, married Mary Leiberger, and spent the remainder of his days on the place where his grandson, J. R. Miller, now lives. He lived to be about eighty-six, and was remarkably strong and healthy until the very last. He and his brother John located in the woods, and were afterward joined by other members of the family. They had a shop, and carried on weaving. Their brother Peter lived on the farm now occupied by A. M. Miller. Another brother, Abraham, moved to Somerset, became sheriff of that county, and officiated in that capacity at the celebrated hanging of the Frenchman.

Elias Miller had two sons, Abraham and John E., both of whom lived in the cove. Abraham was a minister of the Christian church many years. John E. lived on the old homestead and died there in 1876, at the age of sixty-eight. His wife was Hannah Carpenter. They reared a family of eleven children, nine of whom are still living: Michael C., A. M., Elijah, Eve (Martin), Mary (deceased), Jacob (deceased), Ephraim, Simon, Amanda (Swartzwalter), Hannah (Diehl), and J.R."

Buried:
R. W. Garland Farm Cemetery

Elias married Mary Lybarger 31 Mar 1789, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania. Mary (daughter of Nicholas Lybarger and Mary Ann) was born 8 May 1765, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania; died 27 Jul 1833; was buried Bedford Co., Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Buried:
R. W. Garland Farm Cemetery

Abraham — Catherine. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Census: 1790, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania
• Census: 1800, Cumberland Valley and Londonderry Twps., Bedford, Pennsylvania
• Probate: 11 Mar 1808, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania; Will proved
• Residence: 1790, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania; With four boys under age 16 and two females
• Residence: 1800, Cumberland Valley and Londonderry Twps., Bedford, Pennsylvania; With a man age 16 to 25 and a woman over age 44
• Will: 3 Jul 1803, Londonderry Twp., Bedford, Pennsylvania; To beloved wife Mary Ann; to "all my children"; sons Henry Lybarger and Ludwick Lybarger executors
• _MILT: 1776; Private, 4 Co 1 Batt, Bedford Co. Pennsylvania Militia

Notes:

Rev War service with Fourth Company, First Battalion Bedford County Militia.

Buried:
Lybarger Cemetery

Nicholas — Mary Ann. Mary died Aft 1826, Bedford Co., Pennsylvania; was buried Madley, Bedford, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Buried:
Lybarger Cemetery

Notes:

Nicholas (immgrant) marriage in Hornbach Reformed Church in Brenschelbach. Brenschelbach is no longer on present-day German maps but in the 1700's it was in what today is southwestern Germany with France to the south, the Rhine River to the east and Saarbrucken to the west. Brenschelbach was thus in the lower part of Alsace which was part of Saarland. It in turn, was part of a broader region known as the Palatinate which encompassed the whole of the Rhineland region including what is now part of Switzerland. Germany did not come into being as a separate nation until 1871, hence our Nicholas Lybarger in the 1700's were commonly referred to as Palatines.

The first of the Lybarger kinsmen to come to America emigrated from the Palatinate in the early part of the eighteenth century. This district, now Rhenish Bavaria, lies in a flat, fertile country along the River Rhine, bordering Alsace-Lorraine. Two hundred years ago this area was the battle ground of Europe's warring lords. For years the lands of the Palatinate and Alsace-Lorraine had been continually devastated; their villages destroyed; and their thrifty citizens tortured, robbed, and murdered. Religious persecutions, the tyranny of autocrats, destructive wars, failure of crops, famine, and ecnomic bankruptcy were all forces which turned the minds of the people toward the New World. With conditions thus, William Penn made a number of visits to the Palatinate and urged her people to seek peace and security in the Province of Pennsylvania. The response to this invitation was immediate and overwhelming. Thousands of farmers and artisans, often whole communities, abandoned the land of their birth and started for America. The route followed by the Palatines lay down the River Rhine to the seaport of Rotterdam, Holland, thence to Deal, England and finally across the Atlantic to Philadelphia. The newcomers were especially anxious to settle in Penssylavania or Maryland because religious toleration was assured, and economic oppurtunity was almost without limit.
It is worth of note that on August 27, 1739 there arrived at Philadelphia the ship "Snow Betsy" from Rotterdam and Deal, with Richard Budden its Commander. Amoung its male passengers over 16 years of age was Nicholas Leyberger. It well may be that the Nicholas here mentioned was the one who some thirty years later settled in Bedford Co. Pennsylvania, or he may have been the father of Nicholas, Sr. the pioneer in Bedford County.

Nicholas married Maria Catharina 1727, Brenschelbach, Germany. Maria was born Abt 1705, Germany; died Frederick County, Maryland. [Group Sheet]