Hannah (Potter) Applegate (abt. 1777 - abt. 1808)

Born about 1777 in PA

Wife of William Applegate — married about 1791 in Ocean Co, NJ

Descendants

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Biography of William Applegate

I just did a search on "Applegate Crossing"……………………………..submitter was R3910@aol.com William Applegate Sr. Fourth Grandfather of Kenneth C. Werden Jr.

William was born October 25, 1767 in Burlington County, New Jersey to George and Sarah Fenton Applegate. William grew up in New Jersey. His first wife's name is unknown at this time, and is the mother of all William's children except Abner. They were married about 1796.

William served in the New Jersey Militia during the Indian Wars of 1790. At this time I do not know what unit he served in or the dates of his enlistments and discharge. I also do not know of what battles he may have participated in. I do know that the Indian Wars lasted from 1790 to 1796 and that the militia men from New Jersey fought a lot of their battles in upper New York State along the Canadian border.

William had four sons born to him:

In Oct. 26, 1797 John was born in Bordentown, New Jersey. He married Fannie Cramer on Oct. 22, 1818 in Hubbard Township. He passed away February 17, 1871 in Scotch Grove, Jones County, Iowa.

William Jr. was born in 1798 in New Jersey. He married Sarah Ann Hann on Aug. 28, 1828 in Hubbard Township. He died in Brookfield Township Jan. 13, 1861 and is buried at the Disciples Church Cemetery in Hubbard Township.

Richard was born in Burlington County, New Jersey in 1805. He married Caroline Adams on Aug. 27, 1829 in Hubbard Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. He passed away in 1877 at Carroll County, Iowa.

His fourth son George in born Jan. 2, 1808 in Hubbard Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. He married Margaret McCluskey in 1832. He passes on September 17, 1866 in Jackson County, Iowa.

Britain's War with Napoleon had an indirect influence on emigration to the Western Reserve from 1800 to 1810. President Thomas Jefferson had placed an embargo on shipping, and shipbuilding yards were idle; work in the eastern states was exceedingly scarce. Many young people prepared to teach, practice law and medicine, went west to make a living. They were ready to farm, clerk or tutor. Most professional men farmed to support their families. Also to keep in mind, Ohio was considered a land of opportunity and the farmers were looking to exchange the rocky soil of New England for cheaper, more fertile land in the west. William Applegate decided to do just such a thing. He decided to move his family from New Jersey to the land of opportunity, Ohio.

In 1807, William could have taken one of two routes west, the northern or the southern route. The northern route was the Genesee Road through New York. An emigrant using the northern route might cross the Hudson River at Newburg, New York, travel through Binghamton and Ithaca, and pick up the main road around Geneva. Most followed the Mohawk Valley past Albany and headed west for Utica, where they picked up the Genesee Road. The Genesee Road was relatively flat and emigrants could travel as many as thirty miles a day. The Genesee Road went west from Utica to the Genesee River and on to Fort Niagara, New York. Approximately 195 miles. The emigrants then would have to take flat boats down the Niagara River into Lake Erie then onto Cleveland. William and his family then would have to have taken a Wagon onto Trumbull County. I don't believe that this is the route they took.

I believe that William and his wife with their three sons took the southern route. They would have left Chester in central New Jersey. Crossing a covered bridge over the Delaware River around Easton, the party then made its way through the Pennsylvania Dutch towns of Bethlehem, Kutztown, and Lebanon, reaching Harrisburg. From Carlisle to Pittsburgh, some two hundred miles, they followed the Pennsylvania State Road, an upgrade of the old Forbes' Road, travelers heading for Marietta in southeastern Ohio might have taken the left fork four miles beyond Bedford, Pennsylvania. This road the old Glade Road, was reported to be ten times worse than the right fork that William had taken. The right fork crossed the Allegheny Mountains to Greeneburg and Pittsburgh. From there, the road followed the Ohio, Beaver, and Mahoning rivers into Ohio. The entire trip took about five weeks.

William Applegate with his wife and three sons arrived in Hubbard Township June 8,1807. In this area it was still thick and heavy with forest. They cut out of the forest their log cabin home and cleared the land for farming on their property which was located in the north, northeasterly section of Hubbard Township. Their next door neighbors were Moses Cole and Nicholas Mizner.

William's wife died shortly after the birth of their fourth son George. William married Diademia Thorn Jan. 26,1811. He then married Ure who died Mar. 28,1822 in Hubbard, Ohio and he married his fourth wife Mary Huff about 1825. On October 26,1826, Abner is born to William and Mary in Hubbard Township. He will grow up on his fathers farm and remain living