Matthew Pigman Villiers

Other Events:

• Will: Will Book 1 page 284 No.524
• Military: Between 1776 and 1779; Revolutionary War-served at Ft. Pitt in Lt. William Wither's Rangers
• Census: 1790, Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States; as John Villars

Notes:

In the old cemetery on "Manfield,: a tract of land warranted on May 7, 1789, and patented June 13, 1794, to John Villis, there has been erected in late years a modern tombstone marking the resting place of the original warrantee of the land. Beside it is an old stone partly legible which was the original marker. Unfortunately the persons who erected the new stone did not examine the records, which show that the will of John Villiers was probated May 25, 1826 as the new stone bears the inscription placing the death date as 1836. The old stone must then have read that he died in 1826 at the age of 92 years. Thus John Villiers was born in 1734 and died in 1826, and is buried on the tract of land near Jefferson, which had been warranted to him. The new stone says that he served at Fort Pitt in Lieutenant William Wither's Rangers in the Revolutionary War in the years 1776-1779. He must have been on the Tenmile prior to 1780 as his name is among those who signed the petition for the new State of "Westsylvania" in 1779. In the tax list for 1784, he refused to turn in a list of his property to Washington County, still claiming Virginia Allegiance. John Villiers was twice married, his first wife being Mary _____, who died in October 22, 1807, at the age of 64 years. His second wife was Elizabeth _____, who died July 26, 1834, at the age of 59 years, who remarried after the death of her husband, her second marriage being to Archibald Ewart. (O. C. Docket 1. pp. 281.) Both wives are buried with John Villiers. The marriages of his children suggest he lived in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, before he came west.

John married Mary Dakin about 1764. Mary was born on 6 Jan 1742 in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America; died on 22 Oct 1807 in Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States; was buried in Oct 1807 in Jefferson, Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]