Hartleys in western Pennsylvania and Virginia before 1800
by Charles Hartley, 2011.

We know from Hartley family records that John Hartley b. 25 Feb, 1755, m. Rebecca Arvecost b. 15 Jan 1763. They were in Nelson Co., KY in 1800 for the birth of their son Joseph Hartley. We have little direct evidence of John Hartley (b. 1755) before 1800.

There was a John Hartley and a William Hartley in the British militia under Capt. Harrod at Ten Mile Creek, Washington Co. PA in 1774, as a part of Lord Dunmore’s War against the Indians. They were discharged from Capt. Harrod's group and join the regular militia of Capt. Wm. Linn. They were paid a year later for their service. This is all quite well documented from payrolls, militia rolls, and the Draper Manuscripts relating to the activities of Capt. Harrod at Ten Mile Creek. (See Appendix A.) It is claimed that most of the men that had been discharged from the British militia in the Lord Dunmore War later join the colonial militia at the start of the Revolutionary War. This would fit John Hartley b. 1755.

In 1774 Capt. Harrods people collect provisions for the war effort and in particular a John Hartley sells the militia a “beef”. This could be the John Hartley who is in Capt. Harrods group, but it also might be the John Hartley who lived at Patterson Creek, Hampshire Co., VA at the time.

A John Hartley had land on Patterson Creek, Hampshire Co., VA from 1764 until his death in 1784. By the age of his children he was probably born about 1720, meaning in 1774 he would be a little old for service in the militia. He would however have been successful enough in 1774 to have cattle to sale to the militia, while John Hartley b. 1755 would only be 19 years old in 1774, and most likely did not have cattle to sell.

There is another John Hartley in the Patterson Creek area, most likely the son of the first Patterson Creek John Hartley. He is listed in the 1820 census for Hampshire Co., VA and is obviously not our John Hartley b. 1755 who was in Kentucky by 1800.

At this point in the story there are at least three John Hartleys, one of them may be our John Hartley b. 1755. I suspect the John Hartley with Capt. Harrod’s militia is our John Hartley b. 1755 for the following reasons:

Capt. Harrod’s militia was forted at Ten Mile Creek, Washington Co. PA the summer of 1774. As far as I can tell, most of the men in Harrod’s group were local to the Ten Mile Creek area, far from Patterson Creek.

Some time “before 1790” there is a Mary Hartley on the Church rolls of a Ten Mile Creek church. So there might be other Hartleys (not Patterson Creek people) at Ten Mile Creek.

John Arvecost (presumably with his children) is in the Ten Mile Creek area in 1785 according to tax rolls. There is an 1802 will for John Arbengast of E. Bethlehem Township, Washintgon Co., PA (basically Ten Mile Creek) showing his wife Rebecca, and children, Joseph, Elizabeth and Catherine. Researchers have established that Catherine Arvecost married Jonathan Harned, and Rebecca Arvecost married John Hartley b. 1755. Rachael Enoch b. 1760, daughter of David Enoch, prominent in the Ten Mile Baptist Church, Washington Co. PA, married Joseph Arvecost. It looks as though John Arbengast is John Arvecost, father of Rebecca Arvecost b. 1763 who was the wife of John Hartley b. 1755; the children all match Arvecost people. If he could not write, it would be left to others to spell or miss-spell his name.

It therefore fits that John Hartley b. 1755 met and married Rebecca Arvecost around 1780, and that most likely occurred in the Ten Mile Creek area. Since there is a John Hartley in Capt. Harrods militia in the Ten Mile Creek area in 1774, I believe these are the same person. (If that is the case, then John Hartley of Patterson Creek is not the John Hartley in Capt. Harrods militia.)

It is interesting to note that in 1780 Jacob Van Meter (in Capt. Harrod’s militia in 1774) of Ten Mile Creek organized a group of about 100 people from the Ten Mile Creek area and floated down the Ohio River and settled in what is now Nelson Co., KY. Harrods, Van Meters, Keiths, Enochs, Hartleys, and others are in Nelson Co. by 1800, all families from Ten Mile Creek.

So I believe that before 1800 John Hartley b.1755 was in Lord Dunmore’s War (for the British) at Ten Mile Creek, and later enlisted in the Colonial Militia in the Revolutionary War. He met and married Rebecca Arvecost at Ten Mile Creek and latter moved to Nelson Co., KY with or following other Ten Mile Creek families.

Summer 1774-“War of 1774.  In the summer of 1774 Captain Harrod commanded at Ross's fort on Rough Fork of Tenmile.  (Ruff's Creek) Captain Harrod aided in getting supplies for Dunmore's Army and went out with a company in the Fall of 1774.  Dunmore's Treaty was made on Kinnekenic Creek, a branch of the Sciota.” (1)

Ten Mile Creek is 36 miles as the crow flies roughly south of Fort Pitt, and a tributary of the Monongalia River.

July 4 –August 22, 1774. "From Draper MSS., Vols. NN. 4, 11, and 174, from paper dated 1774. is taken a list of those who contributed in a "lift of cattle for the youse of the army by William Herrod." In this list are the following names: Abraham and Jacob Van Meter, Levi Herrod, John and William Hartley, and Henry Keeth. The names indicate the region of Frederick and Hampshire counties, Virgina. Jacob Van Meter was in Kentucky in 1781. The Hartleys were there about the same time." (2) Names include Nathanel Bell, Abel Bell,Henry Ross, John Ross,  and Henry Vanmeter. These counties, then part of Virginia, became part of West Virginia when that states was formed in 1863.

July 16, 1774- Capt. Connolly writes to Capt. William Harrod, Ten Mile, in a letter dated July 16th, 1774, telling him to let him have the “Cattle you have bought for Whalin”, and the “Men who you have had in pay you are to discharge immediately, and give them a certificate for their services done. They had better enter into some Companies that are on actual service of Government to the end that they may be completed” (3)

July 20, 1774 – In a letter from Capt. Dorsey Pentecost to Capt. William Harrod to “. . . discharge what men you have Except you can raise a Company.” (4)

July 26th 1774- Draper Manuscript

“July 26th 1774 Cattle prd. At Ross’s Fort
for y arme ???
of Capt. Herod
Abel Bell one cow and two beaves of -10-0
William Hartley One Bull ? ?
Levi Herrod one Cow And two Beaves 10-7-6
Banajah Dunn, a large Fat Cos 15-5-0
Henry Ross one ??
. . . “ (5)

So William Hartley, and the Bells and Harrods were within distance of Ross’s fort on the “South” or “Rough” Fork of Ten mile Creek on July 26th, 1774.

August 2, 1774- A letter of August 2, 1774 from Wm. Crawford to Capt. William Harrod acknowledges the receipt of “Twenty Five Beeves for the use of the militia at Fort Fincastle. (6)

August 7, 1774- Draper MSS indicates
“August 7 1774 ????
Discharge mens names
Zeavis Linley
Zephaniah Johnson
John Ross
Abell Bel
Jas. Bell
John Hartly” (7)

October 1774- Captain William Linn’s company was at Camp Charlotte. The roll [Berkeley County, West Virginia] includes
William Hartly,
John Hartley,
James Harrod,
Zephaniah Johnson,
John Ross,
Abel Beal,
James Beal,

And Lieutenant William Harrod(8)

Note: These are the first few names of the men of Capt. Wm. Lynn’s Rolls whose pay was only 3 pounds 10 shillings, perhaps because they were added to his unit later than others.

Others were paid more. See Lord Dunmore's little war of 1774: his captains and their men who opened up ... By Warren Skidmore, Donna Kaminsky, page 33.

From microfilms of payrolls from the Library of Virginia, we find that Jno. Hartley is paid for 52 days (3 pounds, 10 shillings), and Wm Hartly for 170 days (12pounds, 15 shillings. (9)

5 November 1774 – “After the Shawnees had been forced to make peace in the valley of the Scioto river, the officers of Lord Dunmore's army, on the homeward march, held a meeting at the mouth of the Hocking River, on November 5, 1774, and unanimously declared their intention, as soldiers, to exert ‘every power within us for the defense of American liberty and for the support of our just rights and privileges’”.(10)

Part of the resolution reads as follows:

“Resolved, that we will bear the most faithful allegiance to His Majesty, King George the Third, whilst His Majesty delights to reign over a brave and free people; that we will, at the expense of life, and everything dear and valuable, exert ourselves in support of his crown, and the dignity of the British Empire. But as the love of liberty, and attachment to the real interests and just rights of America outweigh every consideration, we resolve that we will exert every power within us for the defense of American liberty, and for the support of her just rights and privileges; not on any precipitate, riotous or tumultuous manner, but when regularly: ailed forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen. Signed, by order and in behalf of the whole corps” by Benjamin Ashby, Clerk. (11)

This marked the end of Lord Dunmore’s War.

Nearly all the men who were in that battle and afterward returned to their homes, were subsequently soldiers of the American Army in the War for Independence. (12)