Saturday, January 25, 2014

William & Elizabeth Robeson of Armstrong, Indiana, PA

Going through the Indiana County, PA Quarter Sessions today, I was reminded why it pays never to be surprised by anything that happened in the past. I was scanning, attempting to see if I could find anything of interest regarding some related families (the McGinnities). I found a bond out for the arrest of an Elizabeth Robeson in 1810, "late of Armstrong twp, Indiana, PA" for "fornication and bastardy". As I read on, I found the accused other party was a "William Robeson". I was attempting to make sense of this (especially since another Robeson was signing off on the charges) and presumed perhaps they had gotten married or he was her brother in law, but the truth was slightly different. In William's arrest warrant, he's identified as "her uncle". The wording is mostly what gets me. "She allowed him to beget a male child upon her body". Perhaps she did, and perhaps not. I don't know at this point who either of these people were, nor what became of them or their child, but I do wonder...

3 comments:

  1. Hi, where are the Indiana Co QS records kept? Your and my wife's ancestry meet at several points and there is one item I had been wanting to look for in these records. My wife descends from Eunice Foor, born December 8th, 1851, daughter to Martha Foor and a thus far unknown man. In the 1850 census Martha is 18 lives in Montgomery Twp, Indiana Co right next to a man named Thomas Ferrier, 25. The intriguing part is that when Eunice got married she gave her last name as Ferrier. So naturally Thomas (or maybe a direct relative of his) is suspected to be the father and I had been wanting to see if there is any mention made of this in the Indiana Co QS records. Thanks!

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  2. Hi Niels,

    I believe they should have the originals at the Indiana County Courthouse. I was in there recently, they have a lot of books in the basement. They also have microfilm copies of them at the State Archives in Harrisburg.

    Do your Foor's happen to trace back to Bedford, PA? I have lots of Quarter Session records of Foor's there. Only have records on me though from 1771-1801 and 1838-1850.

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    Replies
    1. If you want to e-mail me at witkamp@gmail.com we can compare notes and I can send you a copy of that Koontz letter I previously mentioned.

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