MATTHEW GRAHAM

My fifth great-grandfather, Matthew Graham, first arrived in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania with his brother William in 1796. They were wolf bounty hunters and had traveled from the McKeesport area. Their father, Matthew Sr., a Scottish immigrant, had been killed by Indians about ten years earlier in Northumberland County. The brothers liked what they saw in Cranberry and decided to settle down with each of them buying 200 acres of land. Their mother followed them about a year later and in 1801 Matthew married Mary Freeman.

In 1813, Matthew established the Black Bear Tavern on Perry Highway, which was then called the Pittsburgh-Mercer Road. The Black Bear Tavern was a general stopping place for all who traveled between Pittsburgh and Mercer for thirty years. The abandoned ruins of the Black Bear Tavern still stand off of Old Perry Highway near Marshall Road.

Matthew also became a farmer, home builder, church builder, established a sawmill, grist mill and founded the school system in Cranberry Township. Because of this, Graham’s School Road was named after him. John Vandivort, the foreman of his grist mill married his daughter, Hester. John (a superior marksman) and Hester Vandivort are my fourth great grandparents.

Matthew died in 1850 and is buried in Plains Church Cemetery.

THOMAS PETTIT, CHRISTIAN MELLOWES AND THE ROYALTY CONNECTION

My tenth great-grandparents, Thomas Pettit and Christian Mellowes were married in England in 1629. They came to the colonies in 1630 aboard the "Talbot" and disembarked at Charlestown, Massachusetts. Thomas was granted a plot in Boston where the Capitol now stands. It is still possible to see where Thomas’s house stood because John Hancock later built his house next door and a bronze plaque now stands at that location to commemorate him.

For siding with Anne Hutchinson against the Massachusetts Bay Colony regarding religious matters, Thomas was put on trial in 1638 for suspicion of slander, insubordination and inciting a riot. He was convicted but was released for agreeing to leave the colonies within 10 days. Thomas moved on to New Hampshire with Rev. John Wheelwright and founded the town Exeter.

THE RAPALJES

Joris & Catalynite Rapalje, my eleventh great-grandparents arrived in New Amsterdam in 1623 with the first Dutch settlers on board the "Unity"

Gaspard Colet De Rapalye ( my fourteenth great-grandfather) was a colonel in the French infantry and came from a family of rich land owners in Province, France. In 1548, Gaspard became a Huguenot and fled from France to Belgium to avoid religious persecution when Henry II discovered his conversion. In 1623 Gaspard’s great- grandson Joris Rapalje would sail with the first Dutch settlers on board the "Unity" with his future wife Catalyntie Trico. Joris and Catalynite Rapalje are my eleventh great-grandparents.

Joris became a magistrate of Brooklyn and a was a deacon in the Reformed Dutch Church of Brooklyn where he died at an election of church officers in February 1663. After Joris’s death one of his nephews wrote the following about his wife Catalyntie:

"...an old Walloon woman...74 years old. She is wordly-minded, with mere bonte (human goodness), living with her whole heart, as well as body, among her progeny, which now numbers 145 and will soon reach 150. Nevertheless, she lives alone by herself, a little apart from the others, having her little garden and other conveniences, with which she helped herself...."