The Story of Wallace Bower

By Dorothy Saxton Dusa[1]

This text was written in the late 1970s and therefore contains language that is not acceptable today. I lightly edited this in January 2025, but I left the language of the original document. It does not reflect my views.

ROBERT WALLACE immigrated from Scotland and settled in Hanover Township, Washington County, Pa., on a land tract called “Wallace Bower” sometime in the 1760s. He was my great-great-great grandfather on my father’s side of my ancestry and his mother’s side. The S.M. McConnell farm where my grandmother Saxton was born where my father was born and where I lived for six years during my childhood must have been a part of the original “Wallace Bower.” Evidently, through the years, other parts of the original tract must have been sold out of the family and became known by different names of occupants. From my memory of the contour of the land and the surrounding farms, I would say that either what I knew as the Stroud farm or the Langham place probably were of the original tract, which consisted of 379 acres. The S.M. McConnell farm consisted of 148 acres and became known as the S.M. McConnell farm through the inheritance of Sarah Wallace, who married S.M. McConnell and who was my great-grandmother.

During this period of early settlement in this area, there were many problems with Indian raids on the settlers. On Feb. 10, 1782, while Robert Wallace was absent, his cabin was attacked and burned, and his wife and children were taken captive. The raiding party found the mother and infant baby girl troublesome in making their way to the Ohio River, so near what is now known as Frankfort Springs, the child was bashed against a tree, and Mrs. Wallace was tomahawked and scalped, and her body hung on a sapling tree. The other two sons, ages 10 and 2½, were taken along to the eventual destiny of Sandusky, Ohio. The older son got sick and died, and the younger was sold to the Wyandotte tribe of Indians. At the time of the raid, Mr. Wallace tried to follow the trail of the Indians but lost the trail in a snowstorm before going far. Soon after, he learned something about his family from an Indian trader, which led him to believe that a tribe of Indians camping in the Mingo Junction area was responsible for the raid and capture of his family.

He organized a posse of men among settlers of the area and went to this camp. These were supposedly Christian Indians from what they said, but Mr. Wallace recognized things taken from his cabin in the camp, and one of the squaws was wearing the dress his wife had on the day of the raid. These Indians protested that they were innocent and that they had acquired these items through trading with Indians of another tribe that passed through. The settlers had suffered so many losses of property and burning of cabins and the outrage of both this and the capture of Mr. Wallace’s family had so aroused hatred that they had no mercy. The entire Indian camp of over one hundred men, women, and children were murdered. Later, Mr. Wallace learned through another Indian trader more of the fate of his family and the whereabouts of his younger son. So the Indians that they murdered were really innocent of his tragedy. He eventually recovered his son, Robert, also by identifying him through a birthmark and paying a ransom. He also found the skeletons of his wife and infant daughter where they had been murdered.

I have heard several versions of this finding. One was that he kept the bones in a sack hanging in his cabin and another was that they are buried in an old cemetery at Cross Creek. Mr. Wallace remarried and had other children, one of which was my great, great grandfather, James Wallace. His daughter, Sarah, was my great-grandmother McConnell. And her only child, Annie McConnell, married George Saxton, my grandfather Saxton.

Something I vaguely recall is hearing that the farm I referred to above as being the “Langham” place was only rented by this family and that the farm was called the “John Burns” farm. In my mind, this must have been part of the original “Wallace Bower” because a section of the S.M. McConnell farm always seemed to me not to fit in and to be more of that farm than of my grandparents’ farm. The son Robert who was recovered from the Indians was about 9 years of age when recovered. He had no memories before the Indians and was like an Indian child. In the area, he was known always as “Indian Robert.” He married Mary Walker and settled in Robinson Township. They had two sons, Joseph and Robert. Indian Robert’s descendants are in a way related to us, but just how I don’t know as he was the half-brother of my great, great grandfather Wallace.

JAMES WALLACE, the son of Robert Wallace by his second marriage, was my great, great grandfather. I do not know more of him except that he had several children, one of whom was my great-grandmother McConnell. Her name was Sarah, and she inherited 148 acres of the original “Wallace Bower” through her father James Wallace. If I remember accurately, Sarah was not really young when she married and lived with her father. When she married S.M. McConnell, he came to live with them. She eventually inherited this farm, and it became known as the S.M. McConnell farm.

S.M. McCONNELL AND SARAH WALLACE McCONNELL were my great-grandparents. They had only one child, my grandmother, and named her Annie. Sarah died when Annie was about fourteen years of age. Annie assumed the heavy load of the farm life a farmer’s wife carried in those days, carrying the responsibilities of her mother.

ANNIE McCONNELL MARRIED GEORGE M. SAXTON and these two were my father’s parents, my grandparents. When they married, George came to live with Annie and her father. The house and farm buildings I remember were not the original ones that these grandparents started their married life in. From what I can recall from being told as a small child, the original house was brick and log and very old. During a storm shortly after my grandparents’ first two children were born, Roy M. and James Wallace (my father’s two older brothers), the house was struck with lightning, and it and all the farm buildings burned down. The family lived in a tent while the new house was being built. If I remember correctly, it had just reached the stage of completion of being a “roof over their heads” when my father, George Dean, was born. My grandmother Saxton died of an appendicitis operation in 1921 on Christmas Eve. The operation was performed on the kitchen table by the light of lamps. My grandfather Saxton died in 1941 of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

The house my father was born in was built in 1895, as was the stable and barn. Below where the barn stood was a small log building left from the original farm buildings. When I was little, I used to play “Early Settler,” imagining this little log building as being my log cabin. I can clearly recall every inch of the land of the “farm,” as well as the house and farm buildings. I only have a few faint memories of my grandmother. From the time I was a few months old until about age two, my grandmother had me to take care of, as my mother had rheumatic fever, was confined to bed for seven months, and then was on crutches for over a year afterward.

ROY M. SAXTON married Frances Warwick and had two children, Clyde, who died of a heart attack in 1970 at age 57, and Ashley, who married Bill Cosan and lives in Grand Rapids, Mich. James Wallace married Hannah Reed, and they had no descendants. George Dean, my father, married Agnes Florence (Thornton) Potts, my mother. There are three of us children, myself being the oldest, Don and Anna.

GEORGE M. SAXTON, my grandfather, was the son of James Saxton, a farmer in what was known as the Five Points area. My great-grandfather, James Saxton’s wife’s maiden name was Mary Jane Applegate. They had five children: Florence, George M., Ada, Samuel, and Wylie. My grandfather, George M., and Wylie were the only ones who married. Wylie’s wife’s first name was Barbara (I do not know her maiden surname), and they had only one child, a son named Elmer. Wylie was a minister, and he died before Elmer was born of pneumonia. Aunt Barbara lived somewhere in the Pittsburgh area, worked as a secretary, and she never remarried. She used to come during her summer vacation to visit with my great aunts and uncle, always bringing Elmer, as he meant a great deal to them. Her visits when I was a child were a big event in the Saxton family. She was entertained for dinner by all the various families. She died sometime around 1950. Elmer married, but I do not know his wife’s name or if they had children. I was a young teenager at the time of his marriage. I sort of remember his wife’s first name as being Delores but could be mistaken. Also, he worked in an office in Pittsburgh.

I can clearly recall the house of my great grandfather’s and much of the farm itself. James Saxton loved to dance, and he played a bass viola. His house was unusual in construction because of his love for dancing. The hall, which was in the center of the house, ran the depth of the house, opening onto a portico to the front and onto a porch that ran the length of the house to the back. The hall was at least 12 feet in width, and two huge glass chandeliers hung from the ceiling that used gas for lighting. When the breeze came through the open doorways, the chandeliers made twinkling sounds. At one end of that huge hall at the back stood what was called a “melodeon” (a form of an early piano), a bass viola leaning against it, and two violins (fiddles) in cases laid on top of the melodeon. This was all that was in that great mammoth hallway. Every room on the first floor opened onto that hall.

To the front, at the left, was the parlor, which had a piano, horsehair sofa, and two matching chairs, two heavy carved tables with marble tops that had oil lamps with hand-painted glass shades on them. The carpet had big roses in it, and the wallpaper was sort of dark and had some sort of big flowers. The draperies were heavy and dark and always kept drawn so the light would not fade the carpet or wallpaper. There were two bedrooms behind this on the same side, one of which was my great Aunt Florence’s and the other the guest room. They also were furnished with heavy carved furniture. I remember the guest room especially, as only once was I permitted to sleep there. This was on my last visit when I was about eleven years old. On other occasions, I always slept with one of my aunts. The bed in the guest room was very high. One could have used a footstool to get in very easily. The bed had “rope springs” and a feather tick. The dresser and washstand had marble tops. On the washstand, there was a bowl and pitcher that were hand-painted, and towels hung at the side of the stand. Under the bed was a commode with a lacy cap-type thing that fit over the lid, which was called a “husher.” There was a sort of striped carpet and flowered wallpaper and heavy drapes that were kept drawn so nothing would fade.

On the other side of the hall was the sitting room and kitchen. These two rooms were where the family lived. The parlor was always kept closed and only used when guests came, who did not visit frequently. The stairway upstairs went up from the kitchen. Upstairs was one little bedroom that was my Aunt Ada’s, and another huge room with about four double beds in it. Here was where my Uncle Sammy slept, but I expected it was the room of all the boys when they were all home. At the right side of the house was the garden, which was all fenced in and laid out sort of formally. Close to the house was the lawn and a grape arbor with double swinging under where the “girls” (this is how my great uncle and grandfather referred to my great aunts) sat on nice summer afternoons, either sewing on handwork or reading.

All around the fence were flowers of every kind, then a grassy path, then bushes of currants and berries, then the garden produce, and then at the back side length of the garden was a steppingstone path with flowers by the fence and also on the other side of the steppingstone path. This led to the “outhouse,” and this little building had a sort of trellis arch in front with a trumpet vine growing over it to hide the building.

Another thing I vividly remember was when I went with my Aunt Ada to Five Points to get the mail. We went across fields, crossing from one field to the next using a “stile.” This fascinated me as we did not have this on our farm. Nor did we have the formal type of garden or a grape arbor where you could sit and swing. My great grandfather Saxton’s farm sort of lay in a valley.

LAWRENCE SAXTON was my great-grandfather’s first cousin. His farm connected with the James Saxton farm and was uphill, with the house sitting at the top. Lawrence’s wife was named Jessie, and they had two children, Kenneth and Irene. The children were probably 10-12 years older than me. The Lawrence Saxton house was a very large frame house of three stories, entirely different than that of my great grandfather’s, which was low and sort of spread out. I know that my great grandfather’s was a much older house.

Lawrence Saxton, to outsiders, seemed very jovial and easygoing, but he ruled his family with an iron hand. He drank heavily, and at these times made their lives anything but pleasant. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the dinner table while asking for a blessing. Both Kenneth and Irene had piano lessons for years and more education than average in those times. They both went on to college. Irene taught music in a school for the blind in Pittsburgh, married a man whose last name was Murphy, and she died giving birth to her first child. What became of the child, I do not know. Lawrence had disowned her when she married because her husband was of the Catholic faith. Kenneth, for some years, was the organist and director of the choir at First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. He married, but I do not know if he had children or not. In later years and to his retirement, he was President of Beaver Falls College. As far as I know, he is living. Lawrence’s wife, Jessie, lived to be 93 years old. After his death, she had a mental problem and was in an institution, as far as I know, for the balance of her life. I remember all of these Saxtons well. Jessie was a very pretty woman, and so was Irene, a pretty girl.

BIG SAM SAXTON was the brother of James Saxton and the father of Lawrence Saxton. Across the road from Lawrence Saxton’s home, there was a white brick house that had been the home of Big Sam and his wife Maggie. I would say this house was at least the age of my great-grandfather’s. I can only remember it as standing vacant. I expect that the Lawrence Saxton farm and that of James Saxton combined was originally part of the original Samuel Saxton farm. Big Sam’s farm was the other part. Even that of Lawrence and Warren could have been a part of the original. Big Sam and Margaret had two sons, Lawrence and Warren. If there were other children, I have never heard about them.

I have a vague memory of an old, broken-down log house that was behind the house that was Big Sam’s. This may have been the original home of Dr. Warren Saxton. Big Sam evidently was sort of a gentleman farmer, a very heavy man, and somewhat of a bully from the stories I have heard about him. Lawrence was like him in character and looked like him. At one time, I remember seeing a family Bible and another book that told something about family history when I used to visit my great aunts on the James Saxton farm. I asked my father once what had become of this, and he said that Uncle Roy had always been one to go over personal possessions after someone died, and he may have had it. I wrote my cousin Ashley and asked if she had this, and she said no. Ashley could care less about family history, and so I expect that when she went through her mother’s possessions after she died, she threw most things into the rubbish.

WARREN SAXTON married either Rena Fullerton or Ralston (I’m not sure of her last name), and they never had children. Dr. Saxton at one time practiced in Burgettstown, and he was the doctor who brought me into the world. In later years, he practiced in East Liverpool, Ohio. He died in a hospital in Pittsburgh of stomach cancer. Both he and his wife are buried at Grandview.

ROY SAXTON married Frances Warwick, and they had two sons, Clyde and Ashley. Roy was the oldest of George M. Saxton’s sons. Both he and Frances died in Bradenton, Florida, and are buried there. Clyde died of a heart attack in 1969. Clyde and his wife had been separated for many years. They had two children, George (whom we called George the Fifth) who married and had one son at the time of his father’s death, and Frances, who is married and has several children and lives someplace in either Washington state or Oregon.

JAMES WALLACE SAXTON married Hannah Reed, and they had no children. He was the second son of George M. Saxton. Wallace died in 1961. His widow, Hannah, is still living and is in her mid-eighties.

GEORGE DEAN SAXTON married Agnes Florence Thornton on August 1, 1914. They had three children: Dorothy, born in 1915; Donald Dean, born in 1917; and Anna McConnell, born in 1920. Dean died in 1971 of bone cancer, and Agnes died in 1973 of a heart attack. As of this writing, the children are all living, all are married, and have descendants.