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IN LOVING MEMORY 
 
 A REVERED FATHER 
 
 A SAINTED MOTHER. 
 
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WmiilAJVr SEARIGHT. 
 
 n^IIP] wonderful Scotch -Irish race, in its career 
 among the nations of the earth, has been fitly 
 compared to the Gulf Stream in its course through 
 the regions of the ocean. To trace the making of 
 the Scotch -Irishman we must go back to the cen- 
 turies before the Christian era, during one of which 
 a branch of the Gallic or Celtic race from the wild 
 interior of Asia, settled in Asia Minor, which it 
 named Gallatia. This restless Gallic people soon 
 left Asia, and passed through Italy, Spain and 
 Southern France, to which it gave the name of 
 Gaul, and settled in Great Britain, where it became 
 the Celtic race of the British Isles. The branches 
 that settled in Ireland and Scotland soon came to 
 be known as Scots. In 430 the famous St. Patrick, 
 a Scotsman of patrician birth, made Ireland the 
 field of his wonderful religious labors, and one 
 hundred and twenty years later St. Columba, an 
 Irishman of Scot blood, and of the royal lineage of 
 the house of Ulster, founded in the Scottish island 
 of lona, on the ruins of an old Druid college, the 
 college of Icolmkill, which shed its rays of light 
 
all over Europe during the darkness of the Middle 
 Ages. Three centuries after the founding of this 
 great college came the occupation of the seed bed 
 of the Scotch -Irish race, which lies in the water- 
 girt region embracing the southern part of the 
 lowlands of Scotland, then known as Stathclyde ; 
 and the river-encircled plain of northern England, 
 which at that time bore the name of ^N'orthumbria. 
 Into this peculiar region came the Palriadaian Scot 
 from the north of Ireland in large numbers to 
 absorb its few Celtic inhabitants who were descen- 
 dants of the ancient Britons of King Arthur's 
 days. The boldest of the Vikings and Sea Kings 
 sailed up the rivers of this land and left many of 
 their bravest followers to become a part of a new 
 forming race by infusing into it the best blood of 
 the Norseman, the Dane and the Saxon. This 
 Brito-Scot and Anglo -N'orman fusion formed a 
 people known as the Lowland Scot, who, from 1047 
 to 1605, were passing through a fixing period in 
 which they assumed a new character under the 
 preaching of John Knox, and made their name 
 famous all through Europe as the fighting grand- 
 sons of the " old raiders of the North." In 1605 
 the Lowland Scot was ready for transplanting by 
 the Divine Husbandman, and on April 16, 1605, 
 the English court signed the charter to colonize 
 Ulster or the Korth of Ireland with the Bible- 
 
reading Lowland Scot and the choicest blood of 
 England. The Lowland Scot stock in Ulster was 
 modified by the choicest elements of the Puritan, 
 the Huguenot and Hollander, and thus became the 
 Ulsterman, noted for thrift, prudence and pros- 
 perity. He made a war-worn desert a fertile land, 
 and then finding himself persecuted by the govern- 
 ment, he changed from the contented colonist to 
 the exasperated Scotch -Irish emigrant. By perse- 
 cution the Ulsterman w^as made ready for his mis- 
 sion in the new w^orld, where, settling on the 
 western frontier of the Thirteen Colonies, he be- 
 came the Scotch -Irishman of history, so named 
 from the dominating strain of his blood and the 
 land from which he had come. He protected the 
 settlement from the Indians; he bore an important 
 part in the revolutionary struggle for Independence, 
 and he was mainly. instrumental in winning all of 
 the territory of the United States north of the 
 Ohio and west of the Mississippi river. The 
 Scotch -Irish is a grand race, whose great charac- 
 teristics are : Independence, education, and Scrip- 
 tural faith. The Scotch -Irish have always borne 
 a prominent and distinguished part in the progress 
 of the Union, from its establishment down to the 
 present time, and being the "first to start and the 
 last to quit," can proudly say " my past is my 
 pledge to the future.' 
 
Of this great race came William Searight, the 
 subject of the first of these two memoirs. 
 
 William Searight, of Menallen township, the 
 founder of the Fayette county family of Searights, 
 w^as born near Carlisle, Cumberland county, Penn- 
 sylvania, December 5, 1791. He was of Scotch- 
 Irish descent on both paternal and maternal sides. 
 His family came from Scotland, and had for its 
 crest a hand holding a thunderbolt, while its motto 
 was Deum Timefe. His paternal grandfather, Wil- 
 liam Seaw right, came from near Londonderry, in 
 County Donegal, in the ISTorth of Ireland, about 
 the year 1740, settled in Lampiter township, Lan- 
 caster county, Pennsylvania, and was, at the time 
 of his death, 1771, a prominent citizen and land- 
 holder of that county. His paternal grandmother, 
 Anne Hamilton, came from Belfast, Ireland, at the 
 same time, and settled in about the same locality 
 near Lancaster city, Pennsylvania. She came to 
 America with her brothers William and Hugh, and 
 a sister Mary. Her brother William w^as the grand- 
 father of the distinguished governor of South Caro- 
 lina in Calhoun's day, who was known as the ITulli- 
 fier Governor, in consequence of his having advo- 
 cated the nullification of certain tarifip laws passed 
 by Congress, which he considered adverse to the 
 interests of the people of the South. A pretty full 
 though incomplete lii story of the Hamilton fstmil}" 
 
of Lancaster county, this State, can be seen in 
 Egles' Pennsylvania Genealo^^ies and in "Notes 
 and Queries," by Colonel Evans, of Columbia. 
 The ancestors of the Lancaster county Hamilton 
 family, of which, as stated, the grandmother of 
 the subject of this memorial was a member, went 
 from Scotland to Belfast, Ireland, when it became 
 the refuge for persecuted Covenanters. They were 
 a part of the historical Scotch family of Ilamiltons, 
 one of whom was chosen as the husband of Queen 
 Mary, and another as the husband of Queen Eliza- 
 beth. Family tradition and family history also 
 teach that Alexander Hamilton of revolutionary 
 fame was connected with this same Lancaster 
 county family of Hamilton s. 
 
 The names of the children of William Sea- 
 wright and Anne Hamilton were Mary, Esther, 
 Anne, William (the father of the subject of this 
 first memorial), and Alexander. (See deed book 
 W. W., page 134, Lancaster county records.) 
 
 Mary, the eldest of the children, married John 
 Glenn. The Glenns are extinct, and mostly sleep 
 in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Esther married Gilbert Seawright, and did 
 not change her name. Gilbert Seawright was 
 the founder of the large family of Seawrights in 
 and around Carlisle, Cumberland county, this 
 State. 
 
Anne married William Woods and removed 
 from Lancaster county to Albemarle county, Vir- 
 ginia, where they died. They had two children : 
 Alexander and Seawright, who were born in Lan- 
 caster county, this State. These children settled 
 in Fayette county, Kentucky, and afterward re- 
 moved to Illinois, where Alexander died in Jo Da- 
 viess county, and Seawright passed away in Greene 
 county. 
 
 Alexander married a Logan, and removed to 
 Augusta county, Virginia. They had three chil- 
 dren : William, Alexander, and Margaret, who re- 
 moved with their families from Augusta county, 
 Virginia, to Henry county, Tennessee, in about the 
 year 1826, where some of their descendants are 
 now living. 
 
 William married Jean Ramsey, a daughter of 
 Samuel and Catherine Ramsey ( nee Seawright). 
 
 The maternal great-grandfather of William 
 Searight came from Donegal, Ireland, about 1740, 
 and settled in Leacock township, near Lancaster 
 city, Pennsylvania, where he lived and died. His 
 name was also William Seawright. He was for 
 many years a landholder and prominent citizen of 
 Lancaster county, this State. In the Revolution of 
 1688, the ancestors of William Seawright threw 
 themselves into the cause of William of Orange. 
 Some of them were driven within the walls of Lon- 
 
donderry when its gates were closed against James 
 the Second, some afterwards died in tlie besieged 
 city, while others of them survived the siege. The 
 maternal great-grandmother of the subject of this 
 first memorial was also a resident of the North of 
 Ireland. Her maiden name was Catherine Jackson. 
 William Seawright and Catherine Jackson had but 
 one child, Catherine. Catherine Seawright married 
 Samuel Ramsey, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
 who afterwards became a wealthy and prominent 
 citizen of Cumberland county, this State. He owned 
 the famous "Letort Springs" tract near Carlisle, 
 where he lived and died. They were the parents 
 of the mother of the subject of this first memorial. 
 The names of the children of Samuel and Cath- 
 erine (Seawright) Ramsey were: Jean, Catherine, 
 Margaret, Esther, Elizabeth, Samuel, Archibald 
 and Seawright. Jean married William Seawright. 
 Catherine, Margaret, Esther and Elizabeth died 
 unmarried. Samuel married a Gettysburg lady and 
 had no children. Archibald married Margaret 
 Dean, some of whose grandchildren are now- resi- 
 dents of New Bloomfield, Perry county, Pennsyl- 
 vania. Seawright Ramsey married a Denny, a 
 member of the Pittsburgh family of Dennys, and a 
 sister of the wife of the late Dr. Murray, of Carlisle, 
 this State. All of this family except Jean and Samuel 
 sleep in the old graveyard at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 
 
Samuel is interred in Huntingdon county, this State, 
 and Jean in the Ligonier valley. After the death 
 of his wife Catherine, Samuel Ramsey married the 
 widow Macfeely, grandmother of General Robert 
 Macfeeley, commissary general,United States Army, 
 of Washington, District of Columbia. 
 
 In about 1780 the parents of William Searight 
 removed from Lancaster to Cumberland county, 
 Pennsylvania, and from there to Augusta county, 
 Virginia. They remained in Virginia about eight 
 years, when they returned to Cumberland county. 
 There they remained for a short time, when they 
 started for the western part of the State, stopping 
 a short time in Huntingdon and Indiana counties, 
 and finally made their permanent settlement in the 
 Ligonier valley, Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- 
 vania, about -B.Ye miles above Ligonier, on the 
 Loyalhanna river. 
 
 The names of the brothers and sisters of Wil- 
 liam Searight were: Samuel, Alexander, Mary, 
 John, Hamilton and Archibald. After 1810 Sam- 
 uel settled in Tippecanoe county, Indiana. Alexan- 
 der first settled in Brooke county, Virginia, and 
 afterwards removed to Morgan county, Ohio, and 
 William, the subject of this first memorial, settled in 
 Fayette county, Pennsylvania. The other members 
 of the family remained in the Ligonier valley, and 
 died without issue, and their remains lie beside 
 
their parents in "Pleasant Grove" graveyard, about 
 five miles from the town of Ligonier. 
 
 William Searight received only a plain English 
 education, but he was endowed with the precepts 
 of stern integrity, industry, sobriety, and lionor, the 
 elements of his future success in business, and of his 
 elevated character. In the neighl)orhood in which 
 he was reared, he had learned the business of fuller 
 and dyer of cloth, a knowledge of which, with his 
 energy, sobriety and honor, was his entire stock in 
 hand. He arrived in Fayette county at about the age 
 of twentj^-one, and commenced business at an old 
 fulling-mill on Dunlap's creek, known as Ham- 
 mond's mill. He afterwards prosecuted his voca- 
 tion at Cooke's mill, on Redstone creek at the 
 mouth of Dunlap's creek, and also on the old 
 George Washington farm, near Perryopolis. He 
 next purchased a farm and hotel at Searights, 
 the property and village deriving its name fron\ 
 him, and there made his permanent settlement. 
 On March 26, 1826, he married Rachel Browniield, 
 a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Brownfield, 
 of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Rachel Brownfield (wife of William Searight) 
 was of English Quaker lineage. Her parents were 
 natives of Frederick county, Virginia. Her mem- 
 orial, which follows, will contain an account of her 
 ancestry. 
 
 11 
 
At the village of Searights, William Seariglit 
 laid the foundation of a large fortune. His integ- 
 rity, united to a generous and benevolent heart, 
 gave him a high place in the esteem and afiections 
 of the community in which he lived. His sound 
 judgment soon impressed itself on his own county 
 and he became one of her most influential and 
 useful citizens. He was a prominent and zealous 
 old-time Democratic politician, and w^ielded a wide 
 influence. On one occasion he rode on horseback 
 from Searights to Harrlsburgh, a distance of over 
 two hundred miles, to assist in the preparation to 
 nominate General Jackson for the presidency. He 
 was an intimate friend of the late Simon Cameron, 
 ex-United States senator from Pennsylvania, and 
 had close political relations with the leading poli- 
 ticians of his day. 
 
 In the early history of Fayette county, political 
 conventions of both parties were accustomed to 
 meet at Searights and plan campaigns. A memor- 
 able meeting, of which Mr. Searight was the chief 
 promoter, was held there in 1828, known as the 
 " Gray Meeting," from the name of the keeper at 
 that time of the local hotel, John Gray. At this 
 meeting the Jackson and Adams men met to test 
 their strength. They turned out in the meadow 
 below the hotel, formed in rank and counted ofi^'; 
 the Jackson men outnumbered their opponents 
 
 13 
 
decisively, and it was regarded as a great Jackson 
 victory. 
 
 In the political campaign of 1856 a large demo- 
 cratic meeting was held at Uniontown, and the 
 delegation from Searights hore a banner with the 
 inscription "Menallen the battle ground of the 
 Gray Meeting." Many politicians of the olden 
 time were at the Gray Meeting, among them on 
 the Jackson side were General Henry W. Beeson, 
 Colonel Ben Brownfield, Westley Frost, William 
 F. Coplan, Henry J. Rigden, James C. Beckley, 
 Benedict Kimber, Solomon G. Krepps, William 
 Searight, Hugh Keys, William Hatfield, Colonel 
 William L. Miller, John Fuller, Provance McCor- 
 mick, William Davidson, Alexander Johnson and 
 Thomas Duncan. On the Adams side were An- 
 drew Stewart, John M. Austin, F. H. Oliphant, 
 John Kennedy, John Dawson, William P. Wells, 
 Samuel Evans, James Bowman, Stokely Connell, 
 William Hogg, Basil Brownfield, George Mason, 
 Kennedy Duncan and John Lyon. 
 
 The many similar political meetings with which 
 William Searight was identified, go to show the 
 esteem in which he was held by the citizens of the 
 county by all parties. But Fayette county, although 
 the first, was but little in advance of other counties 
 to learn and admire his worth. He early became 
 known and appreciated throughout the entire State. 
 
 14 
 
He was appointed commissioner of the Cumberland 
 road (N^ational road) by Governor Porter in the 
 most palmy days of that great thoroughfare, a posi- 
 tion he held for many years. In 1845 he was 
 superseded by Colonel AVilliam IIo|)kins, of Wash- 
 ington, Pennsylvania. Subsequently an act of the 
 legislature placed the road in the hands of trustees, 
 appointed by the courts, and these trustees restored 
 William Searight to the commissionership, the 
 duties of which office he continued to discharge 
 with great fidelity and industry. He was thor- 
 oughly familiar with all the hills and valleys of 
 that grand old road, once so stirring and active, 
 but now still and grass-grown. Previous to his 
 appointment as commissioner of the National road 
 he was a contractor on the same. He was one 
 of the contractors who built the iron bridge over 
 the mouth of Dunlap's creek, between Bridge- 
 port and Brownsville, and was also a contractor on 
 the Erie extension of the Pennsylvania and Ohio 
 canal. 
 
 At the time of his death he was the candidate 
 of the Democratic party for one of the most im- 
 portant offices in the State, that of canal commis- 
 sioner. To this office he would have undoubtedly 
 been elected, had not death interposed and called 
 him from the active duties of this life to the reali- 
 ties of another world, as after his death Colonel 
 
 15 
 
William Hopkins, of Washington county, was nom- 
 inated by the Democratic party for the same office, 
 and was elected by a large majority. He died at 
 his residence in Menallen tow^nship, on the 12th 
 day of August, 1852. He left a widow and six chil- 
 dren : Thomas B., Ewing B., Jean, Captain William, 
 James A., and Elizabeth. His widow, whose mem- 
 orial follows his own in this volume, died at Union- 
 town, on January 3, 1893, at the advanced age of 
 eighty-eight years. Of the children. Captain 
 William is dead, the rest are living. Thomas B., 
 Jean and James A. live in Uniontown. Ewing B. 
 lives on the old homestead in Menallen township, 
 and Elizabeth is the wife of J. T. Colvin, President 
 of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce, and 
 lives in Pittsburgh. 
 
 William Searight was a man of the most gener- 
 ous and humane character, ever ready to lend his 
 counsel, his sympathies, and his purse to the aid of 
 others. Though a strong political party man, yet 
 he always treated his opponents wdth courtesy. In 
 religion he was like most of the race to which he 
 belonged, imbued with Calvinism. The brightest 
 traits of his character were exemplified in his last 
 hours. So far as human judgment can decide, he 
 died a Christian. His aged widow often quoted an 
 expression he made as he was approaching the sad 
 realities of death, which gave her much comfort 
 
 16 
 
then, and continued to comfort her as her trembling 
 footsteps drew near the shores of the same river, 
 over which he passed so many years ago; it was 
 this : " Our prayers have been answered ; I feel 
 that if I should die to-night, the Lord will receive 
 me into His Holy Kingdom." Although death 
 plucked him from the very threshold of earthly 
 honors, yet it caused him no regrets. The King- 
 dom into which he was about to enter presented 
 higher honors, and purer enjoyments. To him they 
 offered : 
 
 "No midnight shade, no clouded sun, 
 But sacred, high, eternal noon." 
 
 A more emphatic eulogy than is in the power 
 of language to express was bestowed upon him on 
 the day of his funeral, by the assembling around 
 his coffin, to perform the last sad duty of friend- 
 ship, of as great if not a greater number of citizens 
 than ever attended the funeral ceremonies of any 
 one who had died within the limits of Fayette 
 county. Among that vast assemblage were alike 
 the patriarchs of the county and the rising youth 
 who came to give their testimony to the lofty worth 
 in life of the distinguished dead. A few days after 
 his death a large meeting of the citizens of Fayette 
 county, irrespective of party, convened at the court 
 house for the purpose of bearing suitable testimony 
 
to his memory and character. The following gen- 
 tlemen were chosen officers: Hon. I^athaniel Sw- 
 ing, president; Hon. Daniel Sturgeon (ex-United 
 States senator) and Z. Ludington, vice-presidents; 
 John B. Krepps and R. P. Flenniken, secretaries. 
 On motion of Hon. James Yeech (later author of 
 "Monongahela of Old"), a committe on resolu- 
 tions, composed of leading citizens, was appointed, 
 which committee presented the following pre- 
 amble and resolutions, which were unanimously 
 adopted : 
 
 "When a valuable citizen dies, it is meet that 
 the community of which he was a member mourn 
 his loss. A public expression of their sorrow at 
 such an event is due as some solace to the grief of 
 the bereaved family and friends, and as an incen- 
 tive to others to earn for their death the same dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 "In the recent death of William Searight, this 
 community has lost such a citizen. Such an event 
 has called this public meeting, into which enter no 
 schemes of political promotion, no partisan pur- 
 poses of empty eulogy. Against all this death has 
 shut the door. While yet the tear hangs upon the 
 cheek of his stricken family, and tidings of his 
 death are unread by many of his friends, we, his 
 fellow citizens, neighbors, friends, of all parties, 
 have assembled to speak to those who knew and 
 
 18 
 
loved him best, and to those who knew liim not, 
 the words of sorrow and truth, in sincerity and 
 soberness. Therefore as the sense of this nieet- 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That in the death of William Sea- 
 right, Fayette county and the commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania have lost one of their best and most 
 useful citizens. The people at large may not realize 
 their loss, but the community in which he lived, 
 over whose comforts and interests were diffused 
 the influences of his liberality and enterprise, feel 
 it, while his friends, of all classes, parties and pro- 
 fessions, to whom he clung, and who clung to him, 
 mourn it. 
 
 '^Resolved, That while we would withhold our 
 steps from the sanctuary of domestic grief, we may 
 be allowed to express to the afliicted widow and 
 children of the deceased our unfeigned sorrow and 
 sympathy in their great bereavement, and to tender 
 them our assurance that while in their hearts the 
 memory of the husband and father will ever be 
 cherished, in our hearts will be kept the liveliest 
 recollections of his virtues as a citizen and a 
 friend. 
 
 '''Resolved,, That among the elements which must 
 enter into every truthful estimate of the character 
 of William Searight, are a warm amenity of man- 
 ner, combined with great dignity of deportment, 
 
 19 
 
which were not the less attractive by their plain- 
 ness and want of ostentation ; elevated feelings 
 more pure than passionless; high purposes with 
 untiring energy in their accomplishment; an en- 
 nobling sense of honor and individual indepen- 
 dence, which kept him always true to himself and 
 to his engagements ; unfaltering fidelity to his 
 friends; a liberality which heeded no restraint, but 
 means and merit; great promptness and fearless- 
 ness in the discharge of what he believed to be a 
 duty, private or public, guided by a rigid integrity, 
 which stood all tests and withstood all temptations ; 
 honesty and truthfulness in word and deed, which 
 no seductions could weaken nor assaults overthrow, 
 in all respects the architect of his own fortune and 
 fame. These, with the minor virtues in full pro- 
 portion, are some of the outlines of character which 
 stamped the man whose death we mourn, as one 
 much above the ordinary level of his race. 
 
 '^.Resolved, That while we have here nothing to 
 do or say as to the loss sustained by the political 
 party to which he belonged, and whose candidate 
 he was for an office of great honor and responsi- 
 bility, we may be allowed to say that had he lived 
 and been successful, with a heart so rigidly set as 
 was his, with feelings so high and integrity so lirm, 
 and withal an amount of practical intelligence so 
 ample as he possessed, his election could have been 
 
 20 
 
regretted by no citizen who knew liini and wlio 
 placed the public interests beyond selfish ends and 
 party success. As a politician w^e knew him to 
 hold to his principles and party predilections with 
 a tenacious grasp, yet he was ever courteous and 
 liberal in his deportment and views towards liis 
 political opponents. 
 
 '^Resolved., That in the life and character of 
 William Searight we see a most instructive and 
 encouraging example. Starting in the struggle of 
 life with an humble business poor and unbefriended, 
 with an honest mind and a true heart, with high 
 purposes and untiring industry, he by degrees 
 gained friends and means which never forsook 
 him. He thus won for himself and family ample 
 wealth, and attained a position among his fellow- 
 men which those who have had the best advantages 
 our country affords might well envy. That wealth 
 and that position he used with a just liberality and 
 influence for the benefit of all around and depen- 
 dent upon him. Though dead, he yet speaketh to 
 every man in humble business — 'Go thou and do 
 likewise, and such shall be thy reward in life and 
 in death.' 
 
 '•'Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting 
 be furnished for publication in all the papers of the 
 county, and a copy thereof, signed by the officers, 
 be presented to the family of the deceased." 
 
 21 
 
FAC SIMILE OF RESOLUTIONS 
 Passed by leading democrats of Philadelphia upon learning of the death of William Searight. 
 
The leading democrats of Pliiladelpliia, upon 
 learning of William Seariglit's death, met and 
 passed resolutions of respect to his many virtues. 
 A copy of these resolutions were beautifully en- 
 graved and sent to his family. 
 
 A few weeks previous to Mr. Searight's death, 
 the Congressional conferrees of Fayette, Washing- 
 ton and Greene counties met at Waynesburg, and 
 passed resolutions endorsing Pierce and King, Gov- 
 ernor Bigler, John L. Dawson, and William Sea- 
 right. Of Mr. Searight they said : 
 
 ^'Besolved, That it shall be our pride and duty to 
 contribute by every honorable means in our power 
 to swell the Democratic majority for our neighbor 
 and well-tried Democrat, William Searight, — 
 candidate for canal comjnissioner — knowing him 
 to be the very man for the position, and that if 
 elected he will carry into office the same energy, 
 talent, honesty, and kindness of heart which have 
 distinguished him at home in the discharge of his 
 private pursuits." 
 
 • Among Mr. Searight's papers are found many 
 social invitations from President Buchanan and 
 other men of national fame. 
 
 After his death resolutions of condolence w^ere 
 passed at meetings held in adjoining counties, and 
 the press throughout Pennsjdvania paid handsome 
 tributes of respect to his life and character. 
 
 23 
 
The funeral services of William Searight were 
 conducted by the Rev. Samuel Wilson, founder of 
 Dunlap's Creek Presbyterian academy, and his re- 
 mains were interred at Grace church, near the vil- 
 lage of Searights, under the auspices of the Masonic 
 fraternity, of which he was a member. 
 
 William Searight has passed from time to eter- 
 nity, and left an untarnished name and honorable 
 course in life behind him. Let those w4io would 
 attain to a like worthy name and useful career, 
 realize that such can only be obtained by energy, 
 industry, economy, honesty and sobriety. 
 
 24 
 
f^^W^ j e:^<^-/«y^^ *:^4lCt-e^f^4 . 
 
f^flCHEli (BHOWlMpiEliD) SEA^IGHT- 
 STIDGE!^. 
 
 /^NE of the later and most powerful of the races of 
 the human family is the English ; and the mak- 
 ing of the Englishman can be traced from the cra- 
 dle and nursery of the human race in Central Asia, 
 away into five great climate zones, around whose 
 settlement centers grew race masses. Three were 
 in Asia, one along the Nile, the other on the shores 
 of the Mediterranean, where civilization had its 
 birth and the two great groups of modern nations, 
 the Latin and the Greek, had their rise. Of the 
 fierce Northland German races, that swept from 
 the Mediterranean to the Baltic, one was Teutonic, 
 whose unconquerable tribes settled largely along 
 the northward waterways from the heart of the 
 great German forest. Three of these tribes, the 
 Angles, Jutes and Saxons, stretched westward along 
 the North Sea coast from the mouth of Elbe River 
 to that of the Weser. Their life was fierce and 
 the land was wild, but both were needed, the one 
 to fashion the earliest character elements of the 
 parent stock of the w^onderous Englishman, and 
 
the other to render a birthland so uninviting as to 
 drive its children forth to their destiny of an island 
 home and a world-wide dominion. The Britons' 
 appeal for aid against the Pictish invader of Scot- 
 land was answered by the grating of Anglican, 
 Saxon, and Jutish boats upon the British shore; 
 but the invited defenders, when the Pict was driven 
 back, became the self-appointed conquerors, and 
 the nursery was exchanged for the school grounds 
 of the oncoming Englishman. 
 
 The Angles gave their name to the country, 
 the Saxons theirs to the language, while the Jutes 
 were so few in numbers as to stamp their name in 
 no prominent way and were even denied mention 
 in the name of the new race, which at the time of 
 their conquest by the I^ormans was called Anglo- 
 Saxon. The Anglo-Saxon had driven the Briton 
 from the land, but when in turn they were con- 
 quered by the Dane and Norman they remained, 
 and in one hundred and fifty years had so largely 
 absorbed their last conquerors that there were an 
 Anglo-Saxon and Norman-Dane people that became 
 known as English when they aided the Barons, on 
 June 16th, 1215, to compel King John to sign the 
 Magna Charta, which secured many liberties for all 
 the people of England, which country had formerly 
 been called Angleland. From the granting of the 
 Great Charter the Englishman rapidly developed 
 
 28 
 
those magnificent and powerful traits of character 
 for which he is noted all over the world. He warred 
 with Wales and Scotland and France from 1282 to 
 1450, and in the next hundred years had planted 
 great colonies in the new >vorld. In the meantime 
 the strength of the English people was increasing 
 in the growth of the House of Commons, whose 
 power was instrumental in the destruction of the 
 Feudal nobility in the War of the Roses, hut was 
 not powerful enough to restrain the Crown until 
 the days of the Stuarts. Then the great struggle 
 was fought out and Absolute monarchy went down 
 in the great Revolution of 1688, when Constitu- 
 tional government and a Limited monarchy were 
 established. One year later the Bill of Rights was 
 passed, the Commons was in the ascendancy, and 
 the making of the Englishman was completed. 
 His character was fully formed. He was as un- 
 bending as oak, possessed of great fortitude, and 
 had a high sense of honor and a strong love of 
 home and country. Intelligence, genius and de- 
 .cision are his in bountiful measure, and, though 
 sometimes wrong, yet the English have swept for- 
 ward in a career of greatness among the nations of 
 the earth that has never been equaled in the old, 
 and can only be surpassed in the new world by 
 the United States, the mightiest of England's many 
 planted colonies in the different parts of the globe. 
 
 29 
 
From this wonderful English race was descended 
 Mrs. Rachel (Brownfield) Searight-Stidger, the sub- 
 ject of the second of these two memoirs. 
 
 Mrs. Rachel Brownfield Stidger (formerly Sea- 
 right, widow of William Searight), died at her 
 home at the west end of Main street, Uniontown, 
 Pennsylvania, at fifteen minutes after eight o'clock 
 on Tuesday, January 3, 1893. 
 
 Her father, Thomas Brownfield, and her mother, 
 Elizabeth (Fisher) Brownfield, were both natives 
 of Frederick county, Virginia. Their remains are 
 buried in the central part of the old Methodist 
 church burial ground at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 
 near the grave of Col. William B. Roberts, of Mex- 
 ican war fame. One infant son and others of her 
 relatives also sleep there. Her grandfather, Barak 
 Fisher, and her grandmother, Mary (Butler) Fisher, 
 were both natives of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
 and sleep in the old Back Creek meeting house 
 burial ground, at Gainsboro, Frederick county, Vir- 
 ginia, about nine miles from Winchester. Her 
 grandparents were married in '^ Buckingham Meet- 
 ing House," Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the 
 18th day of the Second month, 1761 . This meeting 
 house has the usual partition or division for the 
 purpose of separating at certain meetings the Or- 
 thodox and the Hicksites. In this partition there 
 is a bullet hole made by a ball from a revolutionary 
 
 30 
 
gun shot over fifteen years after this marriage took 
 place. At a meeting on the 6th day of the Sixth 
 month, 1763, at Hopewell meeting house, Frederick 
 county, Virginia, there was a certificate produced 
 from Buckingham monthly meeting, in Bucks 
 county, this State, for Barak Fisher and Mary 
 (Butler) Fisher, his wife, which was read and ac- 
 cepted. Hence her grandparents must have re- 
 moved from Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to Fred- 
 erick county, Virginia, in the year 1763. They 
 settled on Back creek, near the village of Gains- 
 boro, about nine miles northwest of Winchester, 
 Virginia. The ruins of the old house in which 
 they lived when they first removed from Pennsyl- 
 vania to Virginia can yet be seen. The old farm 
 upon which they originally settled is still in posses- 
 sion of some of their descendants. Her grand- 
 mother, Mary (Butler) Fisher, died in the year 
 1800. Her grave is still clearly and distinctly 
 marked. Her grandfather, Barak Fisher, died in 
 the year 1784. His grave is not so clearly defined. 
 The records of Hopewell monthly meeting, of 
 which Back creek meeting was a branch, contain 
 the names of her grandparents and all their chil- 
 dren, as plain and distinct as if they had been 
 written but yesterday. So also is the record of her 
 lineage clear back to the origin of the Society of 
 Friends, in the early part of 1600. Her greats 
 
 31 
 
grandfather, John Fisher, and her great-grand- 
 mother, Elizabeth (Scarborough) Fisher, natives of 
 Yorkshire, England, sleep in the Buckingham 
 burying ground, near Centreville, Bucks county, 
 this State. Their graves are not very distinctly de- 
 fined, as the Society of Friends in the very early 
 history of this country did not particularly care to 
 mark the graves of their dead. Her great-grand- 
 father, John Fisher, was born in Barmstone, York- 
 shire, England, 1672, Twelfth month, 20th day. 
 He was the eldest son of John and Sarah (Hutch- 
 inson) Fisher. He emigrated in 1703, and settled 
 in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. On the 3d day of 
 the Third month, 1710, he married Mary Janney, 
 in Falls meeting house. Mary (Hough- Janney) 
 Fisher was the widow of Jacob Janney. Her 
 maiden name was Hough. Jacob Janney was a 
 relative of Samuel Janney, who was the author of 
 '' Janney's History of the Society of Friends" in 
 America. John Fisher and Mary (Hough- Janney) 
 Fisher had one child named Mary. Thomas Max- 
 well Potts, of Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, is one 
 of the descendants of this child Mary. John 
 Fisher's first wife lived only a short time. On the 
 6th day of the Eleventh month, 1719, her great- 
 grandfather, John Fisher, married Elizabeth Scar- 
 borough. From this marriage there was a large 
 family of children, of whom Barak Fisher, her 
 
 32 
 
grandfather, was the eighth child. The records of 
 Buckingham monthly meeting, and of the Middle- 
 town monthly meeting, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
 vania, have the names of her grandfather, Barak 
 Fisher, and her grandmother, Mary (Butler) Fisher, 
 and their brothers and sisters plainly and distinctly 
 set forth. These same records also have the 
 names of her great-grandfather, John Fisher, and 
 her great-grandmother, Elizabeth (Scarborough) 
 Fisher, as distinctly shown, whilst the records of 
 Hull monthly meeting in Yorkshire, England, have 
 the names of the parents, and date of marriage, 
 and also the names of the brothers and sisters of 
 her great-grandfather, John Fisher, as clearly writ- 
 ten. Her great-grandfather, Thomas Butler, was 
 born at Hanley, on the Thames, England. His first 
 settlement in America was in Middletown, Bucks 
 county, Pennsylvania, after which he removed to 
 Chester, in Delaware county, this State. His certi- 
 ficate is dated Tenth month, 5th day, 1728. On the 
 4th day of the First month, 1730, he re-deposited 
 his certificate in Middletown monthl}^ meeting, 
 Bucks county, from Chester monthly meeting, Dela- 
 ware county, Pennsylvania. On the 17th day of 
 the Fourth month, 1731, he married Rebecca Gil- 
 bert, in the Middletown meeting house. Thomas 
 Butler and Rebecca (Gilbert) Butler had two chil- 
 dren, named Joseph and Mary. Mary married 
 
 33 
 
Barak Fisher, and they removed, as has already been 
 stated, from Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to Fred- 
 erick county, Virginia, in the year 1763, where they 
 raised a large family, one of whom (Elizabeth) was 
 the mother of the subject of this memorial. Thus, 
 through scrupulously kept, carefully preserved and 
 unimpeachable records, the lineage of Rachel 
 (Brownfield) Searight-Stidger is traced back to the 
 origin of the Society of Friends in the early part 
 of 1600. From thence, through equally reliable 
 sources, in Parish and other records, her lineage 
 can be traced into the same family of Fishers 
 of which John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who 
 was beheaded by Henry VIII. in the early part of 
 the year 1535, was a member. Through her grand- 
 mother, Mary Butler, her lineage is also traceable 
 through the same reliable sources, into the family 
 of which Bishop Butler, of Butler's Analogy fame, 
 was a member. The alleged cause of the behead- 
 ing of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, by Henry 
 YIIL, was because the Bishop refused to declare 
 his marriage to Anne Boleyn legal. Persistently 
 refusing to affirm its legality, the Bishop was com- 
 mitted to the tower, and treated with great bar- 
 barity. Pope Paul III., as a reward for his services, 
 sent the Bishop a Cardinal's hat, and when King 
 Henry was informed of this, he exclaimed : "Mother 
 of God, he shall wear it on his shoulders, then, for 
 
 34 
 
I will leave him never a head to set it on.'' After 
 a brief trial for treason, he was condemned and 
 barbarously beheaded. 
 
 Rachel Browniield Stid^^er (formerly Soaright) 
 was born at the village of Gainesborough, Frederick 
 county, Virginia, on the 7th day of February, 1805. 
 When she was about six weeks old her parents re- 
 moved from Virginia to Uniontown, Fayette county, 
 Pennsylvania. Her father and mother, her sisters 
 Catherine, Rebecca, Sarah and Mary, and her brother 
 Ewing and herself constituted the family at that 
 time. They came from Gainesborough through 
 Romney over what was known as the old mail route 
 road, and over the same route which General Brad- 
 dock had come some fifty years before on his disas- 
 trous campaign through the mountains toward 
 Fort Duquesne. They traveled the old Braddock 
 road until they came to " Slacks," on top of Laurel 
 Hill, near Washington's Springs. From Slacks 
 (now Washington's Springs) they came to Union- 
 town over the old Is'emacolin road. When they 
 came over the mountains, in 1805, the only stop- 
 ping places on the old Braddock road, between 
 Uniontown and Cumberland, were, viz. : Slacks, 
 now Washington's Springs; Clements, near Farm- 
 ington; Clarks, the Burnt Cabins, just back of 
 Squire Smith's; Smiths, at the ferry, now Smith- 
 field; Boughs, one mile east of Smiths; Simpkins, 
 
 35 
 
seven miles east of Boughs; Tomlirisons, the Little 
 Meadows; Musselmans, now Frostburg; Gwins, 
 at the forks of the road, the left road going to 
 Cumberland, and the right road to Roraney and 
 Winchester. Sarah, the third child, relict of the 
 late Dennis Springer, of North Union town- 
 ship, recently deceased at the age of ninety-four 
 years, frequently said that whilst they were on the 
 way from Virginia to Uniontown they stopped at 
 what was called the "Burnt Cabins," or "Clarks," 
 and spent Easter day. Sarah was about eight years 
 of age at that time, and up to the time of her death, 
 in 1891, she recollected distinctly that her parents 
 sent out and got a basket of Easter eggs, and that 
 they had an Easter egg feast at the "Burnt Cabins" 
 on Easter of the year 1805. The "Burnt Cabins" 
 was on the old Braddock road not far from the line 
 between Henry Clay and Wharton townships, Fa}'- 
 ette county, Pennsylvania, where, in 1790, a man 
 named Clark lived, and which on the old road was 
 called " Clarks." In 1796 David Young kept 
 tavern there. The ruins of the old stone chimney 
 and a splendid spring of the coldest water are the 
 only things left to mark its site. As Easter Sunday 
 in 1805 fell upon the 14th day of April, the family 
 was at the "Burnt Cabins" at that date, en route 
 for Uniontown. They arrived in Uniontown on the 
 18th or 19th day of April, 1805. The house in 
 
 36 
 
which the subject of this nieniorial was horn in Vir- 
 ginia is still standing. The old stone chimney is 
 crumbling, but the house is still in a pretty good 
 state of preservation. The old homestead, also, 
 where she landed in Uniontown, an infant of but 
 a few weeks of age, is still standing, and is one of 
 the landmarks of the olden time. It is located at 
 the west end of Main street, and for many years 
 has been owned and occupied by her youngest 
 brother, i^athaniel Brownlield. Iler education con- 
 sisted of all that Uniontown could aftbrd at that 
 time. She went to school in a school room in the 
 old Methodist church which stood on the site of 
 the property now owned by William McShane, on 
 the west end of Peter street. In her girlhood days 
 she sang in the Methodist church choir in this old 
 church. Her mother was a member of the " Society 
 of Friends," but as there was no meeting house of 
 that denomination near enough to attend, she con- 
 nected herself, after their arrival in Uniontown, with 
 the Methodist church, and continued a consistent 
 and faithful member of that church until her death 
 in 1835. William McCleary, the eldest son of her 
 eldest daughter, Catherine, and who now, at seventy- 
 nine years of age, resides on Church street, at Union- 
 town, says that when a boy he used to frequently 
 drive with his grandmother out to Sandy Hill 
 " meeting house," in Menallen township, which has 
 
 37 
 
long since been abandoned by the Society of Friends. 
 The late William Wilson, the banker, has often 
 stated that Elizabeth Brownfield died one of the 
 most saintly deaths that he had ever witnessed. 
 Her daughter Rachel, the subject of this second 
 memorial, and also her other children, were constant 
 attendants in childhood at the Methodist church. 
 Her brother John, late of South Bend, Indiana, and 
 her sister Hannah and family, of the same place, to- 
 gether with others of her brothers and sisters, have 
 been very faithful and prominent members of the 
 Methodist church. Rachel, however, never united 
 with the M. E. church. In the year 1825, when 
 General Marquis de LaFayette visited Uniontown, 
 Rachel was one of the young girls who were 
 selected to be dressed in white and to precede the 
 escorting procession and strew flowers in the path- 
 way of the distinguished guest. 
 
 On March 25, 1826, she was united in marriage 
 to William Searight, of Menallen township, Fayette 
 county, to which place she removed immediately 
 after her marriage. Her first married life home 
 was on the old Kemacolin road, which left the old 
 Braddock road at " Slacks," on top of Laurel Hill, 
 and passed through UniontoAvn to Brownsville. 
 Her home was situated on this road about an eighth 
 of a mile north of the present village of Searights, 
 in Menallen township. She soon, however, removed 
 
 38 
 
from this location on to the then new (now old) 
 E'ational road, and into the village of Searights. 
 Here she lived until the homestead was huilt, itito 
 which she moved and where she resided during 
 the remainder of the days that she spent in Men- 
 alien township. 
 
 On August 12, 1852, William Searight, her hus- 
 band, died, yet she still continued to occupy the 
 homestead until the year 1858, at which time she 
 niarried Harmon Stidger, M. D., of (Janton, Ohio, 
 and removed with him to that city. She resided 
 in Canton during the civil war, and watched its 
 progress with great interest. Her son William was 
 a captain in the 8th Pennsylvania reserves, and was 
 reported very sick while the regiment laid upon 
 the river near Fredericksburg, Virginia, and she 
 hastened to his bedside to minister unto him. On 
 this occasion she had a letter direct from the hand 
 of the great war secretary, Edwin M. Stanton. It 
 was also on this trip that she saw Abraham Lincoln 
 on horseback. He was, in company with some of 
 the cabinet, reviewing the troops which were sta- 
 tioned near Fredericksburg, Virginia. After re- 
 turning from her trip she frequently remarked upon 
 the length of the great war president's back, as she 
 saw him on a splendid charger, towering above his 
 cabinet and guards. When coming up the Potomac 
 she took occasion to speak and minister tenderly to 
 
 39 
 
many of the sick and wounded soldiers who were on 
 the boat. When the nation was draped in mourn- 
 ing because of the tragic death of the illustrious 
 president, she reluctantly joined this great populace 
 in submiting to the will of Him whose government 
 is past understanding. Later on, when President 
 Garfield was shamefully assassinated, the tenderness 
 of her heart and the nobleness of her character 
 were again show^n forth in her great grief because 
 of that sad affair. So interested w^as she in this 
 matter that she was always impatient to see and 
 read the bulletins as they told of his painful suffer- 
 ing, until the end came. She was equally interested 
 in reading the trial of his assassin, and joined the 
 nation in lauding the justice that led to his final 
 removal. She lived in Canton until the year 1869., 
 at which time she purchased what is known as the 
 " Robert's property," situated at the west end of 
 Main 8treet,Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and returned 
 to Fayette county, this State, and to the old town 
 in which she had passed her earlier days, to live 
 the remainder of her life amongst her old friends 
 and early acquaintances, and from the year 1869 
 until her death, lived within one hundred feet of 
 the spot on which she landed in 1805, an infant in 
 her mother's arms. Soon after her first marriage 
 and removal to Menallen township to live, she 
 became a member of Grace Episcopal church, in 
 
 40 
 
Menallen township, and continued a faithful mem- 
 ber of the Episcopal church during her whole after 
 life. She was confirmed by Bishop Onderdonk, 
 whilst the Rev. Mr. Freeman was E-ector of Christ 
 church, Brownsville. 
 
 Before the building of the present Grace church 
 at Menallen, Episcopal services were frequently held 
 at her home. After the completion of the present 
 church building, we are carried back in youthful 
 memory to a group of male members on one side 
 of the aisle and a group of female members on the 
 other side. Old Robert Jackson, who donated the 
 ground upon which the church stands, and also the 
 graveyard in which the dust of many of these two 
 groups is buried, stood with trembling limbs among 
 those on the right side of the aisle. Old Philip 
 Fout, with his long cue, a part of the dress of those 
 days, with quivering voice and trembling hands, was 
 there also, and started the tunes to "A Charge 
 to keep I have," and "When I can read my title 
 clear," and other old and familiar hymns. James 
 Allison, the old postmaster, whose name is the 
 synonym of honesty and integrity, was there trying 
 to help the singing along in his feeble way, as well 
 as he knew how. Hiram Jackson, John Dixon and 
 the Moores, from near ^ew Salem, were also heart- 
 ily joining in the service. On the left of the aisle 
 there was a group of females. Amongst this saintly 
 
 ive: 
 
group were Mrs. Hugh Keys, Mrs. John Dixon, 
 Mrs. William Searight (the subject of this second 
 memorial), Mrs. Hiram Jackson, Miss Moore and 
 others. Many of the persons who composed these 
 hallowed groups have long since passed into the 
 heavenly world. Others of them have passed over 
 the river more recently, and now the last member 
 of these groups, Mrs. Searight, has bowed to the 
 incomprehensible summons, and joins the others 
 in the heaven above in possibly singing the same 
 old beautiful and angelic hymns they sang at Grace, 
 Menallen. 
 
 The names of the brothers and sisters of Mrs. 
 Searight were as follows : Catherine, who married 
 Ewing McCleary, was the mother of our townsman, 
 William McCleary. Rebecca, married German D. 
 Hair, who came from Lancaster county to Fayette 
 county, this State, during the time the National road 
 was being built. German D. Hair was a schoolmate 
 and always a great friend and admirer of James 
 Buchanan. He was a contractor and builder of 
 many of the beautiful and substantial stone bridges 
 which yet grace the old National road. Sarah, mar- 
 ried Dennis Springer, late of North-Union township, 
 Fayette county, Pennsylvania. Dennis Springer 
 descended from one of the oldest families in the 
 country. He came of a family which can trace its 
 lineage back to the fifth century. Mary, married 
 
 42 
 
Charles Wolverton, who removed in the early part 
 of this century to Missouri, where he raised a large 
 and widely known family. Ewing, who was well 
 known in Fayette county as one of the oldest and 
 most highly respected merchants, and as President 
 of the People's Bank of Fayette county. Thomas, 
 who was for many years a resident of Henry Clay 
 township, and who at one time was sheriff of Fay- 
 ette county, and who afterwards removed to Mis- 
 souri, where he died, highly respected by all who 
 knew him. John, who removed at an early date to 
 South Bend,Indiana,where he became a very promi- 
 nent citizen and wealthy merchant and banker. 
 Financial troubles, however, overtook him in the 
 latter part of his life, but never swerved him from 
 the path of honesty and integrity. He became a 
 prominent, active and influential member of the 
 Methodist church, and in his palmy days was also 
 somewhat distinguished as a politician. ITathaniel 
 is now, and has been since his birth, a resident of 
 Uniontown, and owns and occupies the old Brown- 
 field homestead at the west end of Main street, and 
 is known by all men to be honest and straightfor- 
 ward in all his dealings. Part of the house w^hich 
 he now occupies is the house in which Rachel (Sea- 
 right) Stidger, the subject of this second memorial, 
 entered, in the arms of her mother, in the spring 
 of the year 1805, aged about six weeks. Hannah 
 
 43 
 
was the wife of the late William B. Roberts, who 
 left his home, at his country's call, to go to the 
 Mexican war, and who died soon after the victorious 
 army entered the City of Mexico. She and Mrs. 
 Catherine Baker, her only living child, are now 
 residents of South Bend, Indiana. Esther is the 
 widow of C. B. Snyder, once a successful merchant 
 in Fayette county, afterwards a prominent citizen 
 and merchant in Philadelphia, Boston and New 
 York. She, with two of her only living children, 
 now reside in New York city. 
 
 Golden treasures to the living are pleasant 
 memories of those who have lived life full well, 
 and in ripened years of advanced age have passed 
 from the weak bonds of frail mortality and the 
 scenes of their earthly labors to life immortal, and 
 to the world of eternal blessedness. Such was the 
 life and departure from earth of Rachel (Searight) 
 Stidger. She was quiet, gentle and patient, never 
 neglecting a duty, nor failing in an act of kindness, 
 or lacking on any occasion in any courtesy of life. 
 Even as the sunbeam is composed of millions of 
 smallest rays, so was her life made up of unnum- 
 bered thousands of acts of kindness, deeds of char- 
 ity, kind looks, pleasant words and loving counsels. 
 Her throne, her kingdom, her world was her home, 
 where she ruled by affection and kindness. 
 
 Her life has spanned one of the most wonderful 
 
 44 
 
periods in human history since the creation of the 
 world. She was reared in the Land wliere tlie ruins 
 of fort and mound and temple of the dim myster- 
 ious Mound Builders were plain during her early 
 and childhood years, and where likewise at the 
 same time were to be seen the vestiges of villages 
 and the traces of the war-path and camping grounds 
 of the red lords of the forest, in a country they 
 loved so well as a private hunting ground. These 
 ruins, visible around the playground of her infancy, 
 were the fading monuments of two of the most 
 wonderful empires of the world — the Mound 
 Builder and the Indian. The Mound Builders, a 
 race with civilization but without history, stretched 
 wide their realm from the Mississippi to the Alle- 
 ghenies, and came either over Behring Strait, on 
 its ice-bound floor, or fled from fabled Atlantis, 
 when it was sinking in earthquake throes beneath 
 the blue waves of the Atlantic. Without domestic 
 animals they erected forts, great temples, altars, 
 effigies, and tomb mounds. Southward and sun- 
 ward they traveled after many generations of per- 
 manent residence, and were undoubtedly the archi- 
 tects and builders of the great halls, cities, temples, 
 and the aqueducts of the Montezumas and the 
 Incas of Peru. Their age corresponded with the 
 stone and the beginning of the bronze period of 
 Europe, and whether the ancient Mexicans and 
 
 45 
 
Peruvians were their degenerated descendants, or 
 that fever and famine, or plague swept them from 
 off the face of the earth, we know not. We only 
 know that in mystery was their origin, in power 
 and civilization was their reign, and in darkness 
 and gloom came their sad fate of decay and extinc- 
 tion. 
 
 The Indian who succeeded the Mound Builder 
 was a race possessed of a tradition but having no 
 civilization, and whose origin has been a fruitful 
 subject of conflicting theories, which only agree in 
 making him of Mongolian extraction, on account 
 of the affinity of his language to that of the Tartar 
 groups of languages. The Indian copied after the 
 Mound Builder in flint and stone for rude weapons 
 and crude utensils, while fort and mound only sug- 
 gested to him stone pile graves, memorial heap, 
 and stone circle, and the overgrown highways 
 which he found were only partly reproduced in 
 war-path and hunting trail. 
 
 Mrs. Searight's infancy and youth were passed 
 when warrior and chief, like flitting shadows, were 
 going to and fro on their way to see their great 
 father at Washington. During her youthful days, 
 she came in contact with that wonderful class of 
 people of the AUeghenies, who were then pushing 
 westward, where their courage and arms were des- 
 tined to win the country from the Lakes to the liio 
 
 46 
 
Grande. Foremost as well as most numerous and 
 always prominent in that western tide were the 
 Scotch -Irish, the grandest self- asserting race that 
 ever lived in the world. One of this nohle race 
 she married, in the person of William Searight, 
 who, for honesty, sterling integrity, and an endur- 
 ing name in the hearts of his fellow-citizens, has 
 been scarcely paralleled, as w^as shown by the vast 
 assemblage who came to his funeral to add their 
 testimony to the lofty worth in life of the distin- 
 guished dead. Ere a score of years had passed 
 over the head of the subject of this second memor- 
 ial, she had witnessdthe departure of the red lords 
 of the forest, and the passing of the backwoods- 
 men to their mission of conquest in the valley of 
 the Mississippi, and then was chosen as one of the 
 young maidens who strewed flowers in the pathway 
 of General Marquis de LaFayette when he passed 
 through the county which bears his honored name. 
 She was the last survivor of that little band of 
 youth and beauty, and likewise amongst the last of 
 the assembled hundreds at Uniontown who gazed 
 upon General LaFayette, America's most honored 
 guest and noblest friend. Frequently, in speaking 
 of this interesting event, she has stated that she 
 heard the smack of the kiss when General LaFay- 
 ette and Albert Gallatin, then a distinguished resi- 
 dent of the county, met and greeted each other on 
 
 47 
 
the steps of the old court house of that day. After 
 this, for a quarter of a century, she lived on the 
 old ITational road, and witnessed in that time the 
 full-orbed glory of stage coach travel v^^ane and die 
 before the iron pathway which, within her span of 
 life, was to stretch throughout the land from ocean 
 to ocean. During the next fifteen years, which 
 only carried her from the prime of life to early old 
 age, she witnessed the second stage of railroad 
 growth and the rise and termination of the great- 
 est civil war in the world's history. From the 
 close of this war until the centennial year, she wit- 
 nessed the resting period, as it were, of the nation, 
 ere it moved forward in the van of modern progress 
 of the world. From the centennial year until the 
 close of her life, surrounded with kind friends and 
 endearing relatives, she beheld an era unequaled in 
 the w^orld's advancement. During that time the 
 phonograph had brought back the voices of those 
 who had spoken, and had made their tones triumph- 
 ant over time, death and the tomb ; the telephone 
 has annihilated distance in conversation, and elec- 
 tricity in a more pleasing form than as the storm 
 fire of the heavens, has lighted up the gloom of 
 night in city and town, while the imprisoned gases 
 in the earth have been conducted into mansion and 
 manufactory to afford heat and service without dust 
 or ash. 
 
 48 
 
Mrs. Rachel (Searight) Stidger, in her eighty- 
 eight years of life, was signally fortunate in seeing 
 more change of event, and of advancement in the 
 material world and the history of the human race, 
 than many of the untold millions of the past. Her 
 life was consistent, pleasant and useful, and Time 
 presented to her his most wonderful panorama of 
 change and achievements. Reared amidst the ruins 
 of two races, it was her privilege to witness the 
 grandest triumphs of the third, the Anglo-Saxon, 
 such as the birth of all the great American indus- 
 tries, and the development of one of the wonderful 
 modes of modern travel, also not only the invention 
 of, but also the adoption and growth of the tele- 
 graph, telephone and phonograph, and the develop- 
 ment of electricity for light, heat and power. When 
 her eyes first saw the light of day there was not 
 an iron ploughshare in the whole world, nor was 
 there a steamboat, steamship, locomotive nor rail- 
 way train; telegraphing and telephoning were un- 
 known ; most of the inventions in machinery and 
 nearly all the appliances for comfort and conveni- 
 ence were also unknown. The improvements in 
 agriculture, mining, manufacturing, etc., were all 
 made during the span of her life. What a privilege 
 and yet what a responsibility to be permitted to 
 live so long and witness so much. Like her sainted 
 mother and her ancestoi'^ named, she was entombed 
 
 49 
 
and over her grave was written the chilling word, 
 " died." Alongside this, however, thanks be to 
 God, were written the more cheering words, " to 
 be resurrected." In the fullness of years she has 
 passed to her reward, but has left us the precious 
 privilege of recalling and talking over the beautiful 
 story of her long life. Sweet as are the memories 
 of her long, useful and never to be forgotten life, 
 yet the scythe of time came to gather the ripened 
 sheaf into the garner. Around the scenes of her 
 infant childhood and girlhood days, death, in seem- 
 ing reluctance, came and whitened the ruddy cheek, 
 stilled the melodious tongue, dimmed the sparkling 
 eye, and hung a pale flag over the citadel of her 
 priceless heart. And yet how comforting it is to 
 feel and know that that same cold messenger in- 
 stantly and unhesitatingly held forth in his hand a 
 parchment signed by Him who knows that "we are 
 but dust," and "Who doeth all things well," and 
 whilst sadly reading the stern mandate, pointed to 
 a better life, " a house of many mansions," into 
 whose sacred portals he can never enter. How 
 beautiful and lovely it is to feel that in addition to 
 having been a friend to all the living, she was also 
 even a friend to the king of terrors himself. The 
 interment of her remains took place in Grace church 
 burying ground, Menallen township, on Saturday 
 afternoon, January 7th, 1893, from whose com- 
 
 50 
 
BURIAL PLACE, 
 
manding site can be seen, not very far distant to 
 the eastward, the beautiful mountains over which, 
 in her infancy, she came, and at the foot of which 
 she lived her earliest and latest years, and also from 
 where she was beckoned by the Redeemer, home- 
 ward, whither she frequently in angelic tones said 
 she wanted to go. 
 
 Her funeral services were conducted by the 
 Rector of St. Peter's Episcopal church, Uniontown, 
 and the Rector of Christ's church, Brownsville. 
 Notwithstanding the excessive coldness of the 
 weather, large numbers of her old Uniontown 
 friends and many others from the surrounding 
 country assembled to witness the interment of her 
 remains at Grace church, and were touched by the 
 beautiful and solemn service, and by the rendering 
 of the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee," which was 
 sung by the choir during the interment. After her 
 death, letters of condolence and tributes of respect 
 to her Christian life and character were received 
 by her children from many different parts of this 
 and other States. 
 
 Those who would be like her must learn to fol- 
 low in the footsteps of the Savior. 
 
 52 
 

COL. T. B. 8EARIGHT. 
 
THEIJ^ CHlLtD^EH 
 
 n^o William and Rachel (Brownfield) Seariglit 
 (afterwards Stidger), the subjects of these 
 memorials, were born six children, four sons and 
 two daughters: Col. Thomas B., Ewing B., Mrs. 
 Jean Shuman, Capt. William, James A., and Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Colvin. 
 
 COL. THOMAS BROWNFIELD SEARK^HT. 
 
 The oldest in active practice of the lawyers at 
 the Uniontown bar, is Col. Thomas Browniield Sea- 
 right, who was born on the National road, in Men- 
 allen township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, Feb- 
 ruary 20, 1827. He attended Washington and Jef- 
 ferson college with James G. Blaine, and was grad- 
 uated from that well-known institution of learning 
 in the class of 1848, one year later than Blaine, 
 who was one of his warm and intimate friends. 
 He read law with James Yeech, was admitted to 
 the bar in 1850, and has been engaged in the prac- 
 tice of his profession ever since. He was editor of 
 the Genius of Liberty from 1851 to 1861, and was 
 elected as prothonotary in 1857, in 1860, in 1881 
 
EWING B. SEARIGHT. 
 
and in 1884, thus far being the only man in the 
 county who has ever served four terms in that of- 
 fice. Colonel Searight was elected to the legisla- 
 ture in 1862 and again in 1864, served in the State 
 senate from 1866 to 1868, and in 1873, without 
 solicitation upon his part, was appointed by Presi- 
 dent Grant as surveyor-general of Colorado, which 
 position he held for three years. He received the 
 nomination for president judge in 1883, in the 
 Fourteenth Judicial district of Pennsylvania, but 
 dissension that year in the Democratic party pre- 
 vented his election. Colonel Searight is a Jeft'er- 
 sonian Democrat. On Ot'tober 29, 1857, he married 
 Rose Flenniken, only daughter of Hon. Robert P. 
 Flenniken, minister to Denmark under President 
 Polk. Mr. Searight wrote a series of able and 
 logical letters on " State Rights," and his forth- 
 coming book, "The Old Pike," is pronounced by 
 those competent to judge, a work of great value 
 and of National interest. 
 
 EAVIXG BROWNFIELD .SEARIGHT. 
 
 One of the most popular and efficient superin- 
 tendents of the National Road, or " Old Pike," is 
 Ewing Brownfield Searight, who is the second son 
 of William and Rachel (Brownfield) Searight, and 
 was born at the village of Searights, in Menallen 
 
JEAN (SEARIGHT) SHUMAN. 
 
township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, September 
 5, 1828. He received a good practical English edu- 
 cation, and then engaged in agricultural pursuits, 
 which he has followed successfully ever since. Mr. 
 Searight is a man of standing in his community, 
 and on February 3, 1859, married Elizabeth Jack- 
 son, only daughter of Zadoc Jackson. He is a 
 democrat, an Episcopalian, has served as a town- 
 ship and county official, and was superintendent of 
 the National Pike in Fayette county, by appoint- 
 ment of Governor Pattison, for two years, during 
 which term he rendered the best of satisfaction. 
 
 jp:ax (seakKtHT) shuman. 
 
 The third child and eldest daughter of William 
 and Rachel (Brownfield) Searight, is Jean (Searight) 
 Shuman, who was born in Menallen township, 
 Fayette county, Pennsylvania, September 17, 1832. 
 Slie received her education at Washington Female 
 seminary, then under the charge of Mrs. Sarah K. 
 (Foster) Hanna, who was a well-known teacher and 
 a prominent member of the Seceder church, of west- 
 ern Pennsylvania. On April 25, 1849, she married 
 Capt. Thomas Shuman, of Brownsville, wlio died 
 February 11, 1878. Some fifteen years after her 
 husband's death Mrs. Shuman removed to Union- 
 town, where she has resided ever since. 
 
CAPT. WILLIAM SEARIGHT. 
 
CAPT. WILIJAM SKAKKUIT. 
 
 One of the best local newspaper editors that 
 Pennsylvania ever produced was Capt. William 
 Searight, who had served bravely in the late civil 
 war, and was popular wherever he was known, on 
 account of genial nature and generous impulses. 
 He was the third son of William and Rachel 
 (Browniield) Searight, and was born at Searights, 
 in Menallen township, Fayette county, Pennsyl- 
 vania, July 28, 1835. He received his education 
 in Dunlap's Creek academy, and Washington and 
 Madison colleges, and after serving for some time 
 as a clerk, in 1853 was appointed as a cadet to 
 West Point Military academy, from which he re- 
 signed one year later. He then took a thorough 
 commercial course, was in clerical employ under 
 Governor Black, of ^N'ebraska, and then became a 
 clerk under his brother in the prothonotary's office 
 at Uniontown. The late civil war came, and he 
 left his clerkship and comfortable home, to enlist 
 in Co. G, 8th Pennsylvania reserves. Captain Oli- 
 phant. He was made first sergeant, soon became 
 popular, and his W^est Point knowledge made him 
 an efficient drill officer. Upon Captain Oliphant's 
 promotion, he was elected captain over several of 
 the company officers who were his seniors in rank. 
 Sickness compelled him to resign, but after return- 
 
ELIZABETH i SEARlGHT i COLVIN. 
 
\ 
 
 ing home and recruiting his healtli, lie enlisted 
 again, as a private soldier, in the 88th Pennsyl- 
 vania regiment, and served until the close of the 
 war. Under President Johnson's administration 
 he served efficiently as a departmental clerk at 
 Washington city, and in 1869 became local editor 
 of the Genius of Liberty. In his new sphere of 
 labor he became phenominally successful, and made 
 the Genius one of the ablest and most popular local 
 newspapers of the State. From that time on, until 
 his death in 1881, Capt. William (familiarly known 
 as " B ") Searight did splendid local work on the 
 Genius, Standard and Democrat at Uniontown, and 
 was a valued correspondent of several Pittsburg 
 dailies. He passed away July 31, 1881 ; his remains 
 were interred at Grace church, under the auspices 
 of the Grand Army of the Republic, but his mem- 
 ory will long survive in many loving hearts, on 
 account of his many generous and noble qualities. 
 
 ELIZABETH (SEARIGHT) COLYIX, 
 
 The youngest child of William and Rachel 
 (Brownfieid) Searight is Elizabeth (Searight) Col- 
 vin, who was born at Searights, in Menallen town- 
 ship, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, February 17, 
 1839. She received her education at Washington 
 Female seminary, then under charge of Mrs. Sarah 
 
JAMES A. 8EARIGHT. 
 
R. (Foster) Hanna, a Scotch-Irish teacher of ability 
 and reputation. On February 7, 1859, she married 
 Joseph T. Colvin, who is now President of the 
 Pittsburg JSTational Bank of Commerce. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Colvin have resided ever since their marriage 
 in Pittsburg. 
 
 JAMES ALLISON SEA RIGHT. 
 
 James Allison Searight, President of the Peo- 
 ples Bank of Fayette County, and the first mem- 
 ber of the Scotch-Irish Congress of America, 
 from Southwestern Pennsylvania, is the young- 
 est son of William and Rachel (Brownfield) Sea- 
 right, and was born on the old Searight home- 
 stead, in Menallen township, Fayette county, Penn- 
 sylvania, September 13, 1836. He received his 
 academic education atDunlap's Creek Presbyterian 
 academy, and after spending some time at the Iron 
 City Business college of Pittsburg, he entered 
 Kenyon college. Gambler, Ohio, where he was a 
 classmate of E. L. Stanton, son of the great war 
 secretary, Edwin M. Stanton. Mr. Searight was 
 graduated from Kenyon college in 1863, and two 
 years later entered the Philadelphia Divinity 
 school, which ill health compelled him to leave in 
 a short time. He passed two years in Washington 
 city, and in 1871 established himself at Union- 
 town, this State, in his present insurance and real 
 
estate office. Mr. Searight is a member of St. 
 Peter's Protestant Episcopal church, has been 
 very active in the aftairs of the church, and has 
 served repeatedly in diocesan councils and con- 
 ventions. He helped, in 1873, to organize the 
 Peoples Bank of Fayette County, of which he was 
 elected the first cashier, and of which he has served 
 as President since 1889. Mr. Searight has spent 
 considerable time and been at some expense in se- 
 curing data for an accurate account in which to 
 preserve for all time to come the memory of his 
 family and ancestry. 
 
 66 
 
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