vi

Prefatory.

of pioneer farming, and in May, 1763, married Miss Anne "Wilson, by whom he had seven children   four sons, Jonathan, William, James, and Robert; and three daughters, Jane, Elizabeth, and Rebecca. His subsequent adventures, as a leader of the Blackboys, in 1763 and 1769; his service as a lieutenant in Bouquet's expedition against the Ohio Indians in 1764; his exploring excursion into southern Kentucky in 1766, and his services during the Revolutionary war, in Avhich he earned and received the rank of colonel, are sufficiently detailed in his own narrative.

After the temporary peace lnade with the Indians in 1778, he removed to Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania, and settled on a farm on Jacob's creek. Here his wife died. Of her we know little, except that she was a good woman, and a devoted wife and mother. In 1785, he spent most of the summer in Kentucky, looking after some land claims; there he married his second wife, Mrs. Margaret Irvin,* nee Rodgers,

* The following account is given of Mrs. Irvin in the

edition of this work, published by Grigg & Elliot, in 1834:

"She was born in the year 1744, in Hanover county, Virginia. She was of a respectable family; her father and the Rev. Dr. Rodgers, of New York, were brothers' children. Her mother was sister to the Rev. James Caldwell, who was killed by the British and tories at Elizabeth Point, New Jersey. Her father removed, when she was a child, to what was then called Lunenburg, now Charlotte county, Virginia. She never went to school but three months, and that at the age of five years. At the expiration of that term the school ceased, and she had no opportunity to attend one afterward. Her mother, however, being an intelligent woman, and an excellent scholar, gave her lessons at home. On the 5th of November, 1764, she was married to Mr. Irvin, a respectable man, though in moderate circumstances. In the year 1777, when every true friend of his country felt it his duty to render some personal service, he and a neighbor, by the name of William Handy, agreed that they would enlist for the term of three years, and each to serve eighteen months; Irvin to serve the first half, and Handy the second.   Mr. Irvin