Leonard Shannon and Jane Walker

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Husband Leonard Shannon ^{1 2 3}

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           Born:  - on the Atlantic Ocean
     Christened: 
           Died: 1843 - Connoquenessing Twp, Butler Co, PA 2
         Buried: 

       Marriage: 

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Wife Jane Walker ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: Robert Walker (      -      ) 2
         Mother: 

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Children

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1 M David Shannon ^{1 4 5}

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           Born: 1794 - Cumberland Co, PA 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 1874 or 1876 - ? Butler Co, PA 2 6
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Jane White (      -Bef 1883) 6

         Spouse: Anna White (      -1875/1879) 4 6 7
           Marr: 1818 - ? Butler Co, PA 2

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2 F Rachel Shannon ⁸

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1883
         Buried: 

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3 F Sarah Shannon ⁸

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1883
         Buried: 

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4 M Joseph Shannon ⁸

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1883
         Buried: 

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5 M John Shannon ⁸

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1883
         Buried: 

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6 F Mary W. Shannon ^{9 10}

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           Born:  - Pennsylvania
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1883
         Buried: 

         Spouse: William Gibson (1797-1884) 9 10 11
           Marr: 1842 12

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7 F Jane Shannon ⁸

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1883
         Buried: 

         Spouse: [Unk] Berger (      -      ) 8

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8 M Samuel W. Shannon, Esq. ⁸

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1883
         Buried: 

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9 F Betsey Shannon ⁸

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1883
         Buried: 

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10 F Hannah Shannon ^{2 8}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Aft 1883
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Robert McGinniss (      -      ) 2

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General Notes: Husband - Leonard Shannon

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He was born while his parents were crossing the Atlantic ocean coming from Ireland. He passed his early life in Philadelphia, and moved to Butler County from Cumberland County with his family about the year 1798.

He was once Sheriff of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

He was a man of great physical strength. It is said that he could pick up a barrel of whisky, hold it and drink from the bung as easily as most men can drink from a jug. When he came out to settle the place in Butler County, he built a little shanty of puncheons in which he lived alone for three months. Salt was at times a very scarce article and he packed salt from Westmoreland County when it was worth $10 a bushel. He also had to take his plow-points to Westmoreland to have them sharpened. His son David afterward learned the blacksmith's trade in Pittsburgh, and returning home, worked for the settlers.
Wolves and bears gave the family much annoyance. He built a stout log pen to preserve his sheep. The wolves would come at night and howl around, frequently digging under the logs in an effort to get the sheep. He built wolf traps of logs, and so captured many wolves and bears.
The family had a hand mill for grinding corn. It consisted of two stones upon a bench, one fitted with an arrangement for turning it, and required two persons to operate it, one turning and the other dropping in the kernels with the hand.
There was much hunting at this date; deer, panthers, bears, wolves, turkeys and wild bees, were all abundant. Jefferson's Rock, on the Shannon farm, is so called from a hunter named Jefferson, who, with the assistance of Leonard Shannon, killed a bear over 400 pounds in weight, having first driven him into a hole under the rock. Rattlesnakes were so numerous that, while the men were mowing upon the farm, they sometimes killed as many as a hundred in one day. Their scythes became so full of poison that handling them made the men sick.
Leonard Shannon and his wife lived and died upon the farm later owned by their son, Samuel W. Shannon, Esq., who furnished the foregoing particulars. Three of their children were born before the family came to Butler County. [HBC 1883, 329]

He was born on the Atlantic Ocean, during the passage of his parents from Ireland to America. The family settled in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where Leonard grew to maturity. He learned the wagon-maker's trade in Philadelphia, subsequently located in Cumberland County, where he filled the office of sheriff for one term. In 1799 he moved to Butler County, and settled in Franklin township, where he took up a tract of 400 acres of land, and engaged in farming and wagon-making. He was a man of great physical strength and undaunted courage, and was well fitted by nature for the trials and hardships of pioneer life. He resided upon his farm in Connoquenessing township until his death. In early life he was an adherent of the Democratic party, but afterwards became a Whig, He was a prominent member of the Masonic order, and in religious belief, was a member of the Presbyterian church, in which denomination he filled several offices at different periods.

1 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 187, 329.

2 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (R. C. Brown & Co. Publishers, 1895), Pg 1183.

3 James A. McKee, 20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1909), Pg 1112.

4 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (R. C. Brown & Co. Publishers, 1895), Pg 1151, 1183.

5 James A. McKee, 20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1909), Pg 1082.

6 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 187.

7 James A. McKee, 20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1909), Pg 1115.

8 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 329.

9 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 329, 415.

10 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (R. C. Brown & Co. Publishers, 1895), Pg 1054, 1183.

11 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 660.

12 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 415.