Jonathan Center (1744 - aft. 1827)

Born 25 May 1744 in Middletown, Connecticut

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 1827 after age 82 in Fairfield County, Ohio, United States

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Genealogically Defined

Biography

Jonathan Center is an American Patriot (see sources below)

Early Life

Jonathan Center was born to Jonathan Center and Bethiah Merry on October 14, 1744^[1] and baptized on May 25, 1746 in Middletown, Connecticut.^[2] He was the third generation to bear the name "Jonathan Center". He was named for his father and grandfather.

Jonathan had brother and sisters born in Middletown named John, Seaberry, Ebenezer, Bethiah and Jeremiah.^[3][4]

The Connecticut Charter granted the colony land from "sea to sea". This overlapped the land that was granted to William Penn that became Pennsylvania. The Connecticut settlers felt that they had right to settle in the Susquehanna Valley of Pennsylvania. People in the Connecticut colony started a land bank where people borrowed and deposited money. The deposited money earned interest, and people put up Susquehanna land as collateral for the money they borrowed. The land bank invested in the Susquehanna land company.^[5]

Susquehannah Company Claim Map

When Jonathan was about ten years old in 1754, when the Susquehanna Company acquired the land for 2,000 pounds from an Iroquois delegation at a conference in Albany, New York, many called the validity of the transaction into question. Settlement of the area (which also included land west of the Wyoming Valley and made up almost one-third of Pennsylvania) quickly became a divisive issue among Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and several tribal nations, as well as within the Connecticut colony itself.^[6] This land was disputed during the French and Indian War which endured from 1754 to 1761. When the war ended and the threat of the French and the Indians dissipated, settlement began in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. However, the Proclamation of 1763, part of the French and Indian War peace treaty, banned settlement in the Susquehanna land. Webster’s investment seemed to have lost its value. But, in 1769, Connecticut residents, in direct opposition to both Parliament and the Pennsylvania colony, once again settled in the Susquehanna.^[5]

In 1768, the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut devised a plan to divide the Wyoming Valley into five townships. Each township was to be divided amongst forty settlers.^[6]

Sometime around 1768 Jonathan removed to the Susquehanna. This is supported in his pension application of 1818 and the will of his brother-in-law Daniel Willard.^[7] His revolutionary war records show that Jonathan was a blacksmith. It is unknown where he learned his trade.

Revolutionary War Service

Private Jonathan Center served with Flower's Artillery Artificer Regiment, Pennsylvania Line during the American Revolution.

Jonathan Center is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P130536
Rank: Private

Jonathan Center was a blacksmith who served in the Pennsylvania line in the Revolutionary War as a bombardier in Pennsylvania 4th Artillery Artificers.^[8] In the month of April of 1780, Jonathan Center is listed in the muster roll of Capt. Thomas Wylie's Company of artillery and artificers. The company was under the command of Col. Benjamin Flower. Jonathan is listed as a bombardier serving in the company since July 1, 1778.^[9][10]

In 1777 [General Washington] he sent Flower immediately to Pennsylvania to establish a magazine and laboratory at York, although the work was soon transferred to Carlisle. He directed the Commissary General of Military Stores to provide buildings for preparing fixed ammunition and to construct an air furnace capable of holding 3,000 pounds of fluxed metal, as well as a mill to bore cannon after they were cast. Washington also ordered Flower to provide sufficient shops to accommodate 40 carpenters, 40 blacksmiths, 20 wheelwrights, 12 harness makers, and such turners and tinmen as the laboratory required, enlisting these artificers for one year^[11]

In Congress in 1778, "resolved: That the pay of col. Benjamin Flower's corps of artillery-artificers shall be, for those who engage to serve the United States as such, for three years, or during the war, 20 dollars a month, besides the same bounty, clothing..."^[12]

Jonathan Center's abstract in DAR's roster of Revolutionary war vets buried in Ohio shows that he served for three years.^[1] Jonathan is listed among the "Soldiers of the Revolution" in the Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield County, Ohio.^[13]

Jonathan applied for his pension in 1818. His application stated that he was seventy four years old at that time. He named his daughter Lucy but did not name his wife Mercy.^[14]

Family & Migrations

Jonathan Center migrated from Connecticut to New York.

Jonathan Center migrated from New York to Ohio.

Soon after his arrival west, Jonathan married Mercy Willard. Mercy was born in Berkshire, Massachusetts and they likely married there. A source is needed for an exact marriage date and location.^[7]

Mercy's brother Daniel Willard states in his will of March 11, 1819, "Mercy Willard married to Jonathan Center and removed into the Susquehanna Country and has a large number of children and is herself living..." The will further states that after the death of his wife Phoebe, his heir "unto my nephew Roderick Center the son of my sister Mercy Center who was the wife of Jonathan Center, which said remainder, if any, I give and bequeath."^[7]

Jonathan's brother-in-law Daniel names his son Roderick who was living at the time of the bequeath.

Wyoming Massacre

On July 3, 1778, Loyalist and Indian forces some 700 strong overwhelmed a colonial militia of about 300 men. (Some fighting on the British side had, in fact, lived in the valley until the Yankee settlers forced them out.) The attack left hundreds of settlers, including noncombatants, dead and thousands more homeless. With the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, armed conflict among the disputing parties in the Wyoming Valley intensified. In Connecticut, residents became increasingly divided over whether or not the expansion into Pennsylvania was justified.^[6]

Settlers in these regions encountered grave danger as their lands were being attacked, homes burned to the ground, and families’ safety jeopardized.^[15] This was the time that Jonathan and Mercy were raising their family. We find Jonathan and Roderick in Cuyaga County, New York shortly after the revolution.^[16][17]

Mercy and the children likely fled to New York when the hostilities began. Jonathan joined the patriot forces immediately after the Wyoming Massacre. He is listed on the pay roster in 1778.^[18][19]

Jonathan and Mercy had children born in New York:

1. Roderick b. abt. 1769
2. Jonathan b. abt. 1773
3. Robert b. abt. 1775
4. Ebenezer b. abt. 1776
5. James H. b. abt. 1786
6. Lucy b. abt. 1790

By 1820, Jonathan had migrated to Fairfield County, Ohio.^[20]

Death

Jonathan died in Farfield, Ohio in the fall of 1827 according to his last payment record for his pension.^[21]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Frank D. Henderson, Adjunct General, John R. Rea, Military Registrar, Daughters of the American Revolution of Ohio. The Official Roster of the Soldiers of the American Revolution Buried in the State of Ohio. F.J. Heer Printing Co., Columbus, Ohio, 1929. Ancestry.com. The Official roster of the soldiers of the American Revolution buried in the state of Ohio [database on-line]. citing the birth of Jonathan Center on 14 Oct 1744 https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/17590645?h=584453
2. ↑ Connecticut. Church Records Index. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Volume 070 Part 1 Middletown. Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920 [database on-line]. citing the baptism of Jonathan Center on 29 Oct 1810 parents named Jonathan and Martha. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/17590620?h=966f4f
3. ↑ Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928.

   Name Jonathan CENTER

   Marriage 1735

   Location Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States

   Original Text Jonathan, Jr., m. Bethiah Merren, of West Hartford, Nov. 13, 1735

   Original Volume 1

   Original Page 85

   Volume Name Middletown

   Page 91

   https://www.americanancestors.org/DB414/rd/12576/91/139490756

4. ↑ Steve Condarcure's New England Genealogy Index 2103 (Family Pages), n.d. http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/f_836.htm.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Wilson, Tracey M. Life in West Hartford. West Hartford, CT: West Hartford Historical Society, 2018. https://lifeinwesthartford.org/colonial-life.html#community-in-the-west-division
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} “The Susquehanna Settlers: Connecticut History: a CTHumanities Project.” Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project, n.d. https://connecticuthistory.org/the-susquehanna-settlers/.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Massachusetts. Probate Court (Berkshire County); Probate Place: Berkshire, Massachusetts. Probate Records, Vol 22-23, 1818-1820. Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991 [database on-line]. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/17591272?h=4160ed citing sister Mercy Willard married to Jonathan Center and removed into the Susquehanna Country
8. ↑ Revolutionary War Battalions & Militia Index Cards. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
9. ↑ Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution : battalions and line. Continental Line. p. 248
10. ↑ Pennsylvania, Revolutionary War Battalions and Militia Index, 1775-1783. Vol 2, p. 256.
11. ↑ Risch, Erna. “Evolution of the Ordnance Department.” Supplying Washington's Army, 2005. http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/ebook/p/2005/CMH_2/www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/revwar/risch/risch-fm.htm.
12. ↑ “Journals of the American Congress: from 1774 to 1788.” Google Books, n.d. pg. 440 https://books.google.com/books?id=LWYFAAAAQAAJ.
13. ↑ Wiseman, Charles Milton Lewis. Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield County, Ohio. Place of publication not identified: Rarebooksclub Com, 2012. Citing pg. 406 for Jonathan Center soldier in the revolutionary war. archive.org
14. ↑ "United States Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers, 1818-1872," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24Q-VGT7 : accessed 6 September 2019), Jonathan Center, 11 Apr 1818; citing Ohio, United States, NARA microfilm publication T718 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1962), roll 1; FHL microfilm 1,319,381.
15. ↑ Fairchild, Michael. “Neighbor vs. Neighbor in the Wyoming Valley: Pennsylvania Center for the Book.” Neighbor vs. Neighbor in the Wyoming Valley | Pennsylvania Center for the Book, n.d. https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/neighbor-vs-neighbor-wyoming-valley.
16. ↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5Y-VDL : accessed 6 September 2019), Jonathan Senter, Tioga, Tioga, New York, United States; citing p. 249,250, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 24; FHL microfilm 193,712.
17. ↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH51-M92 : accessed 6 September 2019), Roderick Center 'originally indexed as Ladowick Sintic', Milton, Cayuga, New York, United States; citing p. 594, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 28; FHL microfilm 193,716.
18. ↑ Numbered Records Books Concerning Military Operations and Service, Pay and Settlement of Accounts, and Supplies in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records. Numbered Records Books Concerning Military Operations and Service, Pay and Settlement of Accounts, and Supplies in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records. https://www.fold3.com/image/286597231
19. ↑ "United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG2M-RMVM : 16 March 2018), Jonathan Center, 01 Jul 1778; citing Military Service, Washington, Pennsylvania, United States, Citing various published state rosters, United States; FHL microfilm 102229254.
20. ↑ "United States Census, 1820," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHLS-N6Z : accessed 6 September 2019), Jonathan Centers, Hocking, Fairfield, Ohio, United States; citing p. 151, NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 87; FHL microfilm 181,393.
21. ↑ Final Payment Vouchers Index for Military Pensions, 1818-1864. The National Archives NARA Catalog Id: 2733385; NARA Catalog Title: Index to Final Pension Payment Vouchers, compiled 1818 - 1864; Record Group: 217 Roll: box01_00010 https://www.fold3.com/image/249416052

• Pension Application of Jonathan Center, shared by Fold3.com