Samuel MacMillan Manuscript

A photocopy of this original work is located in the genealogy collection at Citizens Library in Washington, Pennsylvania. I first came across it while researching ancestors from North Strabane township. Some inquiries of members of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Genealogical Society in the early 1990's brought out that Dr. Herron, a retired veterinarian in Canonsburg, was in possession of the original manuscript. A letter to Dr. Herron was answered by his family explaining that Dr. Herron had recently passed away. 

Other than these few details, not much is known about the manuscript. However, after pouring over it for purposes of my own research, and now again for purposes of this transcription, I can offer a few comments. 

Most of the families documented in this work were from the Canonsburg area, including families from North Strabane, Chartiers, and Cecil townships. Most of the burials, when the location is given were in cemeteries in those places. 

I am inclined to believe that Mr. Samuel MacMillan actually gathered information from living family members. My support for this conclusion stems from work I did in constructing a cemetery census of Chartiers Hill Presbyterian Church cemetery. Mr. MacMillan includes in his work information about individuals that did not necessarily appear on their gravestones. For instance, for nearly every person in his manuscript, an age at death is given, something which does not appear on all gravestones. In some instances, Mr. MacMillan's information even conflicts in minor ways with that inscribed on the stones. He must have had a second source for his data: living family members. 

Readers should be aware that there are occasional known errors in Mr. MacMillans data, for instance a few people are acutally buried in a cemetery other than the one he noted. Therefore you should use this data as just another clue in your research and attempt to verify it with primary sources before claiming it to be accurate. In cases where the death dates or ages don't make sense in relation to other family memebers, I have noted that in square brackets. 

Transcriber's notes: 

1. Entries take the form:

   Name, relationship to family, cemetery, date of birth, date of death, age at death

          or

   Name, relationship to family, cemetery, township/town of residence, date of birth, date of death, age at death

2. Sometimes both a township/town and the cemetery are given.
3. Page numbers are given as they appeared in the original work.
4. Blank lines between family groups have been retained.
5. Commas were not used in the original manuscript; I have added them in order separate dates and ages.
6. Month abbreviations have been retained from the original text.
7. Ages are assumed to be the age at death.
8. HC is taken to mean the cemetery at Chartiers Hill Presbyterian Church, known locally as "Hill Church".
9. OS is taken to mean Oak Springs cemetery in Canonsburg, Penna.
10. SS is taken to mean Speer Spring cemetery in Canonsburg.
11. PC or Pigeon Creek refers to Pigeon Creek Presbyterian Church cemetery.
12. MR is taken to mean Millers Run Church cemetery.
13. CC is taken to mean Center Church cemetery.
14. Information about these cemeteries can be found in the cemetery database.
15. [?] denotes text which was difficult to read in the manuscript.
16. Mr. MacMillan consistently spells Rachel as Rachal, Pittsburgh as Pittsburg, Benjamin as Benjaman, Catherine as Catharine, etc.
17. Note that Samuel MacMillan sometimes included married women with their family of origin and sometimes with their husband's family, so check in both places. 

[Genealogy in Washington Co., PA] 

Copyright (c) 1997 Jean Suplick Matuson. All rights reserved.