"[L]iberty must at all hazards be supported.
We have a right to it, derived from our Maker.
But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us,
at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."
-- John Adams, 1765
The first European settlements in Maryland were made in 1634 when English settlers created a permanent colony.
Marylandwas established with religious freedom for Catholics. The colonial economy was based on tobacco cultivated by Africans who had been enslaved.
A James Wilson enlisted on July 13, 1776 and served in Captain Leonard Deakins Company, Colonel John Murdock's Maryland regiment of the Flying Camp.
James married Anne Johnson on October 16, 1777 in the Sugarloaf Hundred, Montgomery County, Maryland.
At first they lived in Frederick County, Maryland, then in 1778 they moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania.
In 1784 he bought 200 acres in Canton Township which is now Franklin Township from Reason Virgin.
James and Anne's children included: Douglas Wilson (1778-1846, married Jeanette Ossie Hinds),
Elizabeth M. Wilson McMurry (1782),
Robert Wilson (1785, married Elizabeth Lacock),
Jane Wilson Ross (1786),
Margaret Wilson Sweeney (1788),
Euphene Wilson Ely (1788, married Jonas Ely),
Agnes Wilson (1790),
Mary Wilson Braddock, and
Sarah Wilson.
In 1787 he was paid 7 shillings 6 pence for lathe timber and 5 shillings for drawing wood and new boards for the first court house in Washington County. The
first court-house was burned in the winter of 1790/91, and then for a short time the courts were held temporarily at the house [tavern] of James Wilson, on one of the opposite corners of Beau Street [northwest corner of Main and Beau Streets]. (from The courts of justice, bench and bar of Washington County, Pennsylvania)
James signed his will on May 9, 1827 in Washington County.
Ann died on February 23, 1827. She is buried with her son Robert in the Vankirk Cemetery in Amwell Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
At the time of the 1830 census, James Wilson was still in Canton (now Franklin) Township. The household consisted of a man between 70 and 79, 3 women between 30 and 39, a girl between 10 and 14, and a boy between 5 and 9.
The Flying Camp was an American military formation used during the second half of 1776. It was a mobile, strategic reserve of 10,000 men. The men recruited for the Flying Camp were militiamen from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.
The Battle of White Plains was on October 28, 1776 near White Plains, New York. The Americans retreated from New York City and the British landed troops in Westchester County to cut them off. The Americans attempted to establish a position in White Plains, but the British drove them from a hill near the village.
An early American tavern(or ordinary) was an important meeting place and they were strictly supervised. Innkeepers were respectable members of the community. Taverns offered food and drink. An inn also offered accommodation.
