PART III - THE DELAPS IN AMERICA - Pennsylvania
Will will now take up the history of the family in America. It isn't known
whether William had any brothers who came to this country. We do know that
the youngest brother, Samuel, remained in Ireland and his descendants were
still there as late as 1875. We began a study of the Delaps in America with
information found in the Quaker records of Adams and York Counties, Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Delap family was fortunate in that they were Quakers of Society
of Friends. The "Quakers" were very careful to see that the records of their
membership, as well as their acts, were kept in good shape, and no better record
of any religious denomination is in existence than that of the Quakers.
In Immigration of Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, by A.C. Myers, will be
found correct records of many of this sect and among these is the family record
of the WILLIAM and RUTH DELAP Family.
The Quakers were great people to help one another and there are many records which
show where needy families were helped to get to America in the early part of the
18th century. One instance of interest that may be mentioned is found in the
Minutes of Grange Meeting, near Chalimount, County Armagh, Ireland, April 2, 1726,
when Ruth Delap was one of a group of signers of an order for a family belonging
to that Meeting, named Joshua Marsh and wife, making them eligible to join a
similar Meeting when they arrived in America.
Another instance is given when at the same Grange Meeting on February 3, 1741, "Patrick
Holm and wife, also Hugh Kennedy and family having laid before our Meeting their intention
of removing to America, they were poor friends, and in want of help, therefore this
Meeting agrees that William Delap, do lay out ye sum of 15 pounds sterling to help
pay their fraught and other necessaries for their journeys until he be paid the same
out of ye interest left to poor Friends of this Meeting. Also John Whitsit, James
Pillar, William Delap, Thomas Greer, and Benjamin Marshall are desired to draw suitable
certificates of ye said Hugh Kennedy and for Jacob Hinshaw and his wife who intends
the same journey." Cost of passage was about nine pounds.
When William and Ruth Delap came to America, they landed in Philadelphia, whereupon they
stayed there a while, looking around, whence they left for York County, selecting land
and settling in what is now Adams County, Pennsylvania, and what proved to be near where
they Battle of Gettysburg was fought over 100 years later. They were married in Ireland
in 1742 or 1743, and their first child was born in Ireland in 1745 and was one year old
when they came to America. They transferred their membership from Grange Meeting, Ireland,
to Menallan Meeting, York County, Pennsylvania, said Meeting being first located about
seven miles west of Huntington on the east side of Opossum Creek in Menallen, now Butler
Township, Adams County, June 4, 1746. Sadsbury Monthly Meeting "tolerates the Friends of
Menallen to have meetings of worship to be kept on the 1st and 5th day, until further orders."
Daniel Winter, William Delap, and Joseph Hewitt and son George Hewitt, were from Ballyhagen
Meeting, County Armagh, Ireland.
The Friends believed it their duty to settle all questions pertaining to members of the
church. At first the Delaps were members of the Menallen Grange, but later transferred
to the Warrington Meeting, it being closer to where they lived. At Warrington Monthly
Meeting, in 1767, Sarah Delap, daughter of William and Ruth Delap, made a written
acknowledgement "for keeping company with a young man not of our Society, and attempting
marriage with him by a priest, to the great grief of my tender parents." She was
reinstated in good order. (She was then 19 years old and later on married Stephen Foulks)
In 1799 Warrington Meeting had a diffcult love affair to settle. John Delap made objections
to the marriage proposals of Joseph Garretson and Rebecca McMillan, declaring that he had a
prior claim to her, which he is not willing to give up, and it appears that she kept company
with him a considerable time after she altered her mind. After lengthy discussion the Meeting
finally decided against poor John and the marriage was duly consummated without any further
interruption from him (John immediately joined up in the Revolutionary War with a Pennsylvania
Regiment and served for three years. This was strictly against the teachings of the Quaker
religon. We don't know what they did to him for that. Probably nothing. He later married
Catherine Leas and they were the parents of eight children and now have many descendants over
the United States)
A marriage or a funeral was an occasion for the gathering of a great number of Friends. The
bride would ride to the Meeting behind her father or next friend, on one horse, seated on a
pillion, but after the ceremony, the pillion was transferred to her husband's horse, behind the
saddle, and with him she rode home.
Courtship among Friends was a very solemn affair. Before declaring his affections, the young man
must first have the consent of the young woman's parents. This permission granted, he came
a-courting, but he must strive by "grave staid demeanor and solid conversation" to make an impression
on his girl. If he went with the girl before getting permission, he was dealt with by the Meeting
as the case demanded. This slow method and troublesome process would cause impatience among the
young folks, and they would often haston off to the magistrate, and be married without delay or
formality. The offenders would be expelled from the Society. However, upon due confession of their
transgressions, they would be forgiven and reinstated, as in the case of Sarah Delap, above mentioned.
Many conveniences were in common use at that early day not known of today. A bed warming pan was
in every household. It was a solid pan with a long handle like a popcorn popper, which was partly
filled with hot coals from the fireplace and thrust into the bed between the sheets and rapidly moved
back and forth to warm up the bed on cold nights.
A candle lantern wasd an article in every home, being a candle inside a lantern fixed so the wind
couldn't blow it out, and yet the light was sufficient to see by around the barn and along the road
when traveling by night. Later on the coal oil lantern replaced the candle and the glass lamp chimney
replaced the metal lantern with slots in it for the light to filter through.
After the close of the Revolutionary War, the migration westward began, first to the southern states
because it was easier to go that direction, there being no mountains to cross. Later they found
passes through the mountains which made it easier and then the people in the northern states went
west into Ohio and the Northwest Territory. A great many people, however, from Pennsylvania went
south to Virginia, then to North and South Carolina, before their children turned westward into
Kentucky and Tennessee and up into Indiana and Illinois.
William Delap was a man of considerable means, as it attested to by his Will. He was a man of affairs
in York County where he lived, Adams County not being then organized. His name is shown as a member
of several important committees in the early days of Pennsylvania when the Indians were still causing
considerable trouble. It is believed he was a member of the Vigilantes, who were organized to protect
the frontier from Indian raids. Especially during the French and Indian War were their services in
demand, and as these men were inducted into that War, William Delap was with the riflemen under
General George Washington, at the battle of Braddocks defeat in 1755. His name is listed with the
men in that encounter from York County but is misspelled "Dunlap", as the name is so often done.
In the U.S. Cencus of 1790, William Delap and his four sons, who lived in York County, were all
spelled Dunlap. Later on he was elected as one of the Commissioners of York County, serving from
October 1758 to October 1761. He was County Treasurer of York County from 1757 to 1759. (History
of York County 1729-1834, by Carter)
The citizens of York County experienced considerable difficulty in keeping peace among themselves
in the early days due to the division among the population. It was divided between the Scotch-Irish
and the Germans, each of whom usually put up a candidate for office. Frequent fights took place on
election days. The Scotch-Irish were usually elected to office, but following the Revolutionary
War many of the younger men and their families emigrated South and West into newer land opportunities,
leaving the Germans in the majority. Of William Delap's children, four the six who are known to have
married left Pennsylvania for other states.
William and Jane Delap probably married in Pennsylvania, then emigrated to Washington County, Virginia,
in 1794. They lived in South Carolina previous to that time was their son William was born in South
Carolina. His uncle, Robert Delap, also lived in Washington County, Virginia, as real estate records
show he bought 242 acres of land there in 1796.
William Delap bought and sold land there as follows:
Bought 100 acres, September 16, 1794, for 250 pounds
Bought a lot in Abington, January, 1795, for 13 pounds
Bought a lot in Abington, March, 1796, for $20.00
Bought a lot in Abington, October, 1795 for 13 pounds
Sold by William Delap and Jane, his wife, on May 4, 1799,
a lot, No. 22, in Abington, Virginia, to Louisa Le Chartier
for $500.00
It is conjectured that William Delap died in Virginia and that his widow, Jane Delap, went to live with
her son, William Delap, who at that time was living in Sumner County, Tennessee. In 1830 they all moved
from Sumner County, Tennessee to White County, Illnois, where in 1834 Jane Delap passed away and was one
of the first to be buried in Village Cemetary, near Norris City, Illinois.
CLICK ON NAME FOR THE FAMILY GROUP SHEET
WILLIAM DELAP ///
GEORGE DELAP ///
WILLIAM DELAP
TO PART II-Ireland
TO PART IV-Tennesse and Arkansas
TO DELAP FAMILY PAGE
