John Means and Martha Ramsey

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Husband John Means ¹

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           Born: Abt 1745
     Christened: 
           Died: 3 Oct 1795 - Paxton Twp, Dauphin Co, PA 2
         Buried:  - Paxtang Church Cemetery, Paxtang, Dauphin Co, PA

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         Father: Samuel Means (      -1746) 3
         Mother: Grizzle [Unk] (      -1746) 3

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Martha Ramsey ²

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           Born: Abt 1751
     Christened: 
           Died: 13 Sep 1849 4
         Buried: 

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         Father: James Ramsey (      -      ) 5
         Mother: Janet Woods (      -      ) 5

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Children

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1 F Nancy Means ⁶

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2 F Jane Means ⁶

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3 M Nathan Means ^{5 6}

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           Born: 1784 - Dauphin Co, PA 6
     Christened: 
           Died: 1881 6
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Elizabeth Cochran (      -      ) 6

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4 M John Means ⁶

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5 M James Means ⁶

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6 M Joseph McCord "Squire" Means ¹

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           Born: 10 Feb 1796 4
     Christened: 
           Died: 8 Jun 1880 7
         Buried:  - Ashland Cemetery, Carlisle, Cumberland Co, PA

         Spouse: Jane Woods (      -1878) 1
           Marr: 15 Feb 1820 5

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General Notes: Husband - John Means

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The descent of the Means family of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, is readily traced back to John Means, of Paxtang, Dauphin County. To go back of him the historian must rely mainly upon traditions that necessarily are vague and doubtful. Little is known as to when John Means settled at Paxtang except that it was at some date prior to the Revolution, and when that part of the province was yet included in Lancaster County. An Adam Means lived in that vicinity at the same time, as is shown by the Paxtang Church records. According to a well founded tradition John and Adam Means were brothers. Their father was probably Joseph Means, of County Tyrone, Ireland, who never came to America. [BACC 1905, 92 - But this is contradicted by information presented elsewhere in the same source.]
In 1776 John Means enlisted under Captain John Murray, whose company was a part of Col. Samuel Mile's rifle battalion, which participated in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton. Subsequently he was in several other enlistments and rendered his country valuable service down to the end of the war. He died at the age of fifty years, and is buried in the graveyard of the Paxtang Presbyterian Church. The will of John Means is on record in Dauphin County.

He was known as "John Means of Swatara." He was a private in Capt. Joseph Sherer's Company, of Col. James Burd's Battalion of the organized "Associators" of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which company was in active service during the whole of the spring and summer campaign of 1776, and a number of the men were wounded in a skirmish with a party of British cavalry near Amboy, N. J. [Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. XIII, 309-10] He was a private in the company of Capt. John Murray of Paxtang township, of the Second Battalion-Lieutenant Col. Daniel Broadhead's-of the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, which took part in the battle of Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776. [Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. X, 193-219.] He was at home in 1778 and took and signed the oath of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania, prescribed by the Act of Assembly of June 13, 1777. [Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. XIII. 395-6.] Subsequently he was a member of Capt. Samuel Cochran's Company of the Tenth-Col. Robert Elder's-Battalion of Lancaster County Militia. [Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. XIII, 387-9.] In 1781 he enlisted in Capt. Campbell's Company of the Pennsylvania Line, and formed part of Col. Thomas Craig's detachment, which marched for Yorktown, Virginia, in the autumn of 1781, and thence to Georgia and North Carolina, taking part in Gen. Greene's southern campaign of 1782, and returning by sea to Pennsylvania in 1783. [Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. X, 382-390.]

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General Notes: Wife - Martha Ramsey

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In 1798, several years after her husband's death, she removed from Paxtang, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, to a farm near Library, Allegheny County, carrying on the backs of pack animals her household effects and her children, one of whom was a baby boy who was not yet born when his father died.

She died in 1851, aged sixty-nine years. [HAC 1889 ii, 391]

1 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 92, 227.

2 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 92, 228.

3 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 227.

4 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 228.

5 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 92.

6 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 391.

7 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 93.