More on the Flemings in early Pennsylvania has been found, particularly about Robert Fleming, the brother to my 4th great grandfather, John Fleming. This confirms the relationship found in John's will and adds information about land ownership.
All of this information was found in "Past and Present of Clinton, County, Pennsylvania".
" Prominent among the early settlers of the West Branch Valley was John Fleming. He was a descendant of the Earl of Wigton, a Scottish Nobleman. His ancestry can be traced back to the fourteenth century. In 1773 he secured possession of a large tract of land lying between the Susquehanna river, and the Bald Eagle creek, which is the land upon which the city of Lock Haven and Part of Flemington now stands. His territory was a part of Dr. Francis Allison Tract. After the death of John Fleming which occurred in 1777, his land consisting of over 1000 acres was divided among his five sons and three daughters, namely Joseph, John, David, Robert, Ezekiel, Mary, Elizabeth and Rosanna. John Fleming built a house on the bank of the Susquehanna, near the abutments of the dam, where he died in 1777. Several hearth stones of the chimney of this house were found by workmen in excavating for the erection of the abutments at the time the dam was built, nearly half a century later.
His son the Hon. John Fleming, who came to this section in 1773. was appointed to the associate judgeship of Lycoming county by Governor Mifflin, in 1798. He was a native of Chester County, Pa, and born near the London Cross Roads, He was married to Susan Chatham, a daughter of Col. Chatham who at one time owned a mill and large tract of land at Chathams Run. Mrs. Fleming was born in Dublin, Ireland, coming to this county when an infant she died in 1824. Hon. John Fleming had nine children, namely, General Robert Fleming, John Fleming, who was one of the first associate judges of Clinton County, Algernon Sydney, who was sheriff of the county, from 1866 to 1869, Exekiel, who went to Kentucky in 1833, William, who died at Alton, Illinois in 1846, Sarah, who Married Joseph Montgomery, Nancy who married David McCormich and Mary, who was the wife of Hon. Joseph Quay
Land Holdings:
Land; Grantee index, Northumberland Co., PA; John and Robert Fleming, grantees, Nehemiah Breese grantor; Vol. D page 8; 26 Sep 1777; 6 Sep 1787;
Biographical; John Fleming (who died in 1777); "The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley 1769-1784; A Study of Frontier Ethnography" by George D. Wolf, 1969, F157.L9W6; BYU-Idaho. P. 67, "However after the treaty one Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Francis Alison, pastor of the college of Philadelphia, applied for land above the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek and was granted some 1500 acres. Alison never came into the region and,in fact, sold his entire purchase to John Fleming in 1773." (The author cites 'History of Centre and Clinton Counties' by John Blair Linn, page 520.)
Page 53 Refers to Squire Fleming's daughter Betsey, and says the Squire had "two fine daughters (including Betsey).
Page 77 (Referring to their roles in the Revolutionary War) Robert Fleming was a regional leader, John Fleming was a local leader.
Page 81 (Regarding Robert Fleming and his several leadership positions): "During the revolution he was primarily concerned with the area around the Great Island (in the West Branch of the Susquehanna, near Jersey Shore), serving at Reed's Fort (present Lock Haven) and on the Fleming estate, which some referred to as Fort Fleming. Robert had a brother John...Their combined holdings ran to almost 3,000 acres of which 1,250 was Robert's."
Page 82 John Fleming actually resided outside the Fair Play territory, on the Provincial or State side of the Susquehanna (he lived on the north or west side). He died in 1777.
Pocahontas was the daughter of a Powhatan Indian Chief who married John Rolfe, an early American English settler. Their daughter Jane Rolfe married Robert Bolling. In the next generation Jane and Robert had a son, Colonel John Bolling, whose daughter Mary, married Colonel John Fleming in Virginia. The Virginia Fleming family also claim to descend from the Earl of Wigton. The children of Col John Fleming and Mary Bolling would marry into families with kinship to George Washington, Stephen Douglas, Stonewall Jackson, James Madison, members of Congress and at least one Supreme Court Justice. While we do not share kinship with Pocahontas, we do share ancestral kinship with her descendants from the children of John and Mary.
