Prepared by members of the family in the town of Rush, N.Y. 1908. Paper read by Mrs. Horace L. Bennett, 312 E. Kennedy Street, Syracuse, N.Y.
"Our first Price ancestor in America was John, born about 1720. He lived near Strasburg in Alsace, Germany. When he was 33 years of age, he came with his wife and one daughter at least, and perhaps more (one having been born during the voyage), and his brother Hans George Price, to Philadelphia. The record of this fact is found in a published list of 30,000 emigrants, coming mostly from the German Palantines to Pennsylvania and Maryland, and is as follows:
We next hear of them at Carlisle, Pa., where they doubtless first settled, as they were in that place during or after the French War, when the prisons were filled with Indians and the friends of those whom they had massacred, came there threatening vengeance.
Shortly before this time in 1735, about one hundred families from the Rheinish Palatinate and Switzerland, emigrated to Maryland and made the first settlement of Frederick, They were of the Lutheran and German Reformed Church faiths and soon established schools and churches, They settled on both sides of Carrol Creek, near the Monocasy River, They were a vigorous race from a Palatinate which has furnished to American history some of its brightest names. They were soon followed by other Germans from the same locality in the Fatherland who had settled in Pennsylvania. At what time John Price and his family moved from Carlisle to Frederick, there is no record, but they were there in 1773 and owned land upon the Monocasy River - - two miles from what is now Frederick city. They were members of the German Reformed Church whose creed was the Heidelburg confession and who used the Heidelburg catechism.
John Price and his wife lived until the last of the century, and died at the home of their son Philip who was the Executor of his father's will. The brother of John, Hans Georg, is supposed to have settled in New Jersey.
Philip, the son of John, was born about 1754, the year following his father's arrival in this country. At the time of the beginning of the War of the Revolution, he was therefore 21 years of age. It is generally understood that he took part in this war, driving his own horses in a baggage train. He was always called "Captain Price" during his residence here. A recently published list of sailors and soldiers from Maryland, however, does not contain his name. The list, though official, admits that the records of many companies were missing; so we are justified in assuming that family tradition is true, and that his name belongs upon the Roll of Honor in the war of the Revolution.
He had married, previous to this time, Susannah Layman; the daughter of Philip Jacob Layman, also of Frederick city. The Laymans were French Huguenots of noble birth who had fled from France into Germany; doubtless from religious persecution, One tradition fixes the date of their flight as in Robespierre's time, There may be some doubt as to this as Robespierre was still a young man whose political career had not yet begun where the Laymans were known to have been in this country. There were, however, many influences at work during the early life of Robespierre, leading up to the Reign of Terror, which caused the Huguenots to leave their native land. Susannah spoke both French and German as well as the English language, In personal appearance she was large and strongly built, with dark hair and eyes. She was a woman of much strength of character, refusing td keep slaves in a country where slavery was well nigh universal because she believed it sinful. She was an ardent Presbyterian and very strict in the observance of the Sabbath.
In 1782, Philip Jacob Layman died leaving one son and three daughters. Philip Price, his son-in-law, was executor of his will.
After the War of the Revolution, Philip purchased British property from the State of Maryland, From that time until he came here, he was engaged in business of a public nature, probably that of a magistrate, The papers in his possession when he died, and from which many of these notes have been taken, indicate that He practiced law in some form. He also had two distilleries, He was a lover of horses and kept many. Before coming here he host 26 during the prevalence of an epidemic,
Between 1775 and 1792, nine children were born to Philip and Susannah-- seven sons and two daughters. One of the daughters died in infancy. Names: John, Adam, Philip, Jr., Jacob, Susannah (Price), Stull, George, Hen. Peter, and Henry.
October 4th, 1800, Charles Williamson, agent for much of the land in the Genesee county, wrote to Philip Price the following letter which explains itself:
It will be seen from the foregoing that Philip had negotiated for land at Sodus a year before they finally came north, but which he did not take owing to Williamson's failure to build a road through from Lyons as agreed upon.
On the 7th day of August, 1801, a sale was held at which they disposed of all property they did not care to move into the wilderness. In September they set forth with three six-horse teams and covered wagons and four saddle horses, one of which Susannah rode. Of that journey across the Alleghany Mountains we, who live in these days of easy travel, can have but little conception, It occupied nearly a month, All streams had to be forded. They camped at night in and among their wagons, and cooked their food by their campfires. They hid their money in kegs "of nails, for there was always a very real danger from the robbers who infested the mountains,
Other valuables were carried in the heavy black walnut chest, which is on exhibition here today and which doubtless crossed the ocean with earlier ancestors. We are told that there were forty people in the party, At last they arrived at Lyons intending to settle at Sodus, but for the reasons mentioned before they turned about and came to Hopewell where Philip's eldest son had settled in the preceding year. Here they rested for a few days; as there was not sufficient food for their horses, they came to Hartford; now Avon. At Hartford they lived two years on the south side of the main road between the Erie railroad of today and the Genesee River, Soon after their arrival in 1801, Philip purchased of James Wadsworth 160 acres of land where we are now, paying $4.50 per acre, He afterwards purchased fifty acres for each of his sons. Later he was urged to trade a fine brown horse which Re owned; for one hundred acres of land on which the City of Rochester is now built. He went on horseback to see the land, but finding it a swampy wilderness, infested with rattlesnakes, declined to make the trade.
February 3, 1802, Philip with a posse of man came here to cut the timber preparatory to building a log house. Arriving at the Honeoye Creek, in what is now the village of East Rush, they felled the trees and built the first bridge at that point. Philip cooked the breakfast which they ate on the south side, after which his son George drove across.
Philip did not build his first house until 1803, which was the second one erected north of the Honeoye Creek in the town ---- his son-in-law, Jacob Stull, having erected the first in 1802, This house was built on a generous plan and Father better than the usual first house. It was of hewn logs 30 x 40 feet and two stories high with a plaza across the south side, At either end there was a chimney and fireplace, The lower floor was divided into three rooms, separate two story building was afterward erected for spare bedrooms. This building is still standing. A large brick oven was also an outside structure,
In April after the house was built, Philip and Susannah rode down on horseback to inspect it. Before starting, however, Susannah put some lettuce seeds in her pocket of her short gown and while Philip's attention was otherwise engaged, slyly planted the seed on the south side of the house. When the family moved down the following June, she gave them a little surprise in the form of some delicious wilted lettuce for dinner, There is a monument to her foresight still standing near the site of the old log house, in the shape of a pear tree nearly one hundred years old. She brought the seed from Maryland and planted it with her own hands, In 1803 a sawmill and a distillery were built.
Until the War of 1812 improvements went on and Philip's sons were gradually established on farms of their own. During the War, so close at their doors, they lived in a constant state of alarm, and were prepared at all times to remove at a moment's warning to a place of greater safety. On December 19, 1813, a company of volunteers was formed and marched to Fort Niagra. They arrived at the seat of war just after Buffalo was burned; too late to be of service, They were absent three weeks. Among those who went were Jacob, George, and Peter Price and Jacob Stull.
April 2, 1823 Susannah died, Five years later, June 6th, 1828, She was followed by her husband Philip, aged 74 years. They were buried in the family cemetery on the farm and later removed to Pine Hill cemetery, where marble slabs now mark their final resting place.
They had been pioneers in Frederick and in this town. They had lived through the troublesome times of the Revolution, in which Philip participated, and the War of 1812, to which they sent four sons, Of hardship and privation they had full measure, but they lived to see the wilderness give place to a prosperous home; and their children comfortably settled in life.
John Price, the eldest son of Philip and Susannah Price, was born in Frederick, Maryland, in 1775, the first year of the War of the Revolution, He was educated for a Presbyterian minister. He married while in Maryland to Elizabeth LeFevre, of French Huguenot descent, whose ancestors owned forth acres to the site on which the walled city of Strasburg, Germany, was built, and which was confiscated when Alsace passed into Germany's possession. Eight children were born unto them; three sons and five daughters, two of whom were born in Maryland, In 1800 they removed from Frederick to Hopewell, Ontario County, New York using three wagons, two double and one single for their journey, They intended to go farther west to settle, but circumstances changed their plans. On their arrival at the point where they finally located, they camped for the night in their wagons in the midst of a dense forest. During that night their third child was born. This occasioned delay and during that time John surveyed the land and woods in that vicinity and decided to remain where he had camped. It proved to be a wise choice. He afterward surveyed a great deal of the land in that and adjoining towns,
Although educated for the ministry, he was in addition to being a farmer and surveyor, an expert mechanic. During those first years he frequently made coffins for the neighborhood. Mr. George Price, of Ithaca, has a desk of excellent workmanship which John made from the. first black walnut tree cut from his farm.
During the War of 1812 he was in camp for a short time on the Canadian border. A crowd assembled to bid him good-by as he left for the seat of war on horseback with his rifle over the horn of his saddle.
At an early day he was elected a Justice of Peace, which office he held for 25 years. During that time he had an extensive Law practice which continued during his life. For many years he was an Associate Judge and for a short time County Judge of Ontario County, by appointment to fill a vacancy, He was a member of the State Legislature from Ontario County continuously from 1814 to 1821, during which time he enjoyed the acquaintance and friendship of Martin Van Buren and other prominent men. On one occasion the stage coach halted at their door and Martin Van Buren alighted. The family were at dinner --- and old fashioned boiled dinner, He was given a seat at the table and some apology was offered by John's wife for the dinner when so celebrated a guest was present. John said, "Mother, stop; the dinner is good enough for us --- it's good enough for Matty." It was said that Van Buren ate very heartily and thoroughly enjoyed the dinner.
When John left Maryland he owned a few slaves, Be gave them their freedom and told them they could come North with them if they wished. Six came, two of whom afterward returned to Maryland, The others died and were buried in Hopewell.
John took much interest in the Morgan affair in anti-Masonic times. His son Christian was deputy sheriff at that time and followed the abductors of Morgan into Canada. They crossed the border at Black Rock in hot pursuit, but were met by a superior force and compelled to return empty handed.
In 1821 John was a delegate to the State Constitutional convention at Albany; the second one ever held, In 1825 he was one of an escort of General Lafayette from Canandaiqua to Geneva and rode in the carriage with him. In 1814 he was Chairman of a Board that built the Ontario County Jail, and also Chairman of a Hoard that built the house for the county poor in 1826.
He died at Hopewell, May 10, 1837, in the 63rd year of his age. His funeral was one of the largest ever seen in that vicinity; over a mile of carriages having followed his remains to the grave.
His wife Elizabeth survived him only 6 months.
One of his sons died in childhood under a surgical operation. The others settled in Hopewell, one afterward removing to Rochester. His daughters married Alien Spear, Abram Van Buskirk, John Spangle, Ephriam Archer, and Exra Parshall; all well known names in Canandiaqua and vicinity where most of their descendants reside,
Issue of Philip and Susannah Price
Honorable John Price
Adam Price
Philip Junior Price
Susannah Price Married Stull
George Price
Hon, Peter Price
Henry Price
Go back to Johannes Preyes [John Price} | Capt. Philip Price | John Price
Source: Paper prepared by members of the Price Family of Rush, N.Y. 1908
This page was produced by Bob Newcomb in Brea, CA
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