Catharine (Rosbrugh) McDonald (abt. 1734 - 1813)

Born about 1734 in Bedminster Township, Somerset County, New Jersey

Ancestors

Wife of James McCrea — married after 1753 in Lamington, Somerset county, New Jersey

Wife of Richard William McDonald — married after 1773 in Lamington, Somerset county, New Jersey

Descendants

Died 23 Jul 1813 at about age 79 in Bedminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

Catharine Rosbrugh was born in 1734, in Bedminster Township, Somerset county, New Jersey, the daughter of Robert Rosburgh (pronounced "Rosebrook") and his first wife, Mary, who arrived from England, with many other English immigrants who came to New Jersey between 1720 and 1740.

Catharine married the minister of the church, Reverend James McCrea, the first pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Lamington, New Jersey. Reverend McCrea's first wife died September 15, 1753, leaving him with five sons and two daughters. Catharine and James were the parents of five more children:

• Lieutenant Phillip McCrea, born 1753, died June 2, 1781, in Elizabeth, Union county, New Jersey, during the American Revolutionary War, married Abigail Woodruff

• Major Robert McCrea, born November 2, 1754, died July 2, 1835, in Paris, France, married 1) Jeanne Coutart and 2) Sophia LeMesurier

• Stephen McCrea, born 1755, a surgeon in the American Revolution, died Nov. 1795 New York City. married Mary Rutgers

• Gilbert McCrea, born October 21, 1758, died June 7, 1824, in Pleasant Run, Hamilton County, Ohio, married Lydia Machett

• Jane McCrea, born 1760, died July 27, 1777 killed by Indians allied with General Burgoyne at Fort Edward, Washington county, New York at the onset of the American Revolutionary War

• Captain Creighton McCrea, born 1763, died December 10, 1818 at Bound Brook, Somerset county, NJ

Reverend James McCrea died 10 May 1769 in Lemington, Somerset, New Jersey, and was buried in the Lamington churchyard, beside his first wife. After 1773, Catherine married her second husband, Major Richard McDonald, born May 29, 1734, in Somerset county, New Jersey. A builder and carpenter, by trade, during the Revolutionary War, he was a Captain, then Major in the First Battalion of the Somerset Militia.

Richard and Catherine were married at the time of her father's death, January 21, 1783 and Richard was made executor of her father's Will. The estate of Robert Rosburgh was divided equally between Catherine McDonald and her half-sister Lydia (Rosburgh) McCrea.

Catherine died July 23, 1813 and was buried in the cemetery of the Lamington Presbyterian Church. The inscription on her headstone reads, "In memory of Catharine wife of Major Richard McDonald who departed this life July 23 1813 aged- 79 years"

Reseacher's Notes

Major McDonald survived Catharine. After her death, he moved back to Somerville, where he died, August 5, 1820. He is buried in the Old Somerville Cemtery, in Somerset county, New Jersey.

There is a photograph of her headstone on the FindAGrave memorial here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/53648612/catharine-mccrea

Sources

• Somerset County Historical Quartely, Volume 7, Article: Two Bedminster Families -- McCrea and Henry, Abraham Van Doren Honeyman, Somerset County Historical Society (N.J.) 1918, beginning on page 82 and found digitally here: https://books.google.com/books/about/Somerset_County_Historical_Quarterly.html?id=fPI5AQAAMAAJ