Somers, of Great Egg Harbour, who was elected a Member of the Continental Congress in 1775, and commanded the Third Battalion of Gloucester County, New Jersey, Militia during the Revolutionary War.* Mrs. Keen's mother was Sophia, daughter of Nicholas Stillwell, of Cape May County, New Jersey.† Mrs. Keen was b. December 31, 1772, Captain Keen d. S. p. on a visit to Philadelphia, December 4, 1809, and was bur. the following day in Gloria Dei Churchyard.‡ Mrs. Keen survived her husband, and, after remaining three or four years at Somers Point, returned to our city, where she lived from 1817 to 1847 at No. 147 South Ninth Street, between Locust and Spruce. She removed afterwards to the home of a daughter of her brother, Constant Somers, in New Jersey, where she d. January 21, 1850. She was bur. in the family burying-ground at Somers Point.

259. MARY, b. August 16, 1769. She m. an Englishman named Cawthorne, and removed to Great Britain, where she d., leaving a large family.

84. WILLIAM KEEN, son of Hans and Mary (Laican) Keen, was born in Philadelphia County, Pa., and, losing his parents in his childhood, was brought up by his grandfather and uncles. He passed his life in Philadelphia, following the trades of shipwright, and was married by the Rev. William Sturgeon, Assistant-Minister of Christ Church, August 1, 1755, to Anne Shillingsforth. Mrs. Keen died

* A descendant, it is said, of John Somers, a native of Worcester, England, who emigrated to Pennsylvania among the first settlers under William Penn, and resided in the northern part of Philadelphia County, where he married (Records of Abington Friends' Meeting) in 1685 Susannah Hodgkins. He was one of the signers of the testimony of Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting against George Keith in 1692. Soon after this he removed with his second wife, Hannah Somers, likewise a native of Worcester, to Great Egg Harbour, New Jersey, where he was appointed supervisor of the roads and constable as early as March 20, 1693. In 1695 he purchased from Thomas Budd several tracts of land, amounting to 1500 acres, on Great Egg Harbour River and Patconk Creek. He died at Somers Point in 1723, Mrs. Somers surviving him till 1738. (See History of Little Egg Harbour Township, Burlington County, N. J., by Leah Blackman; and The Friend, vol. xxviii. p. 396, and vol. xxix. p. 404.) A person of the same family name married Mary Steelman, of Great Egg Harbour, niece of Susannah Steelman, wife of John Keen, of Oxford Township, Philadelphia Co., Pa. † Information furnished by the Hon. John Clement, of Haddonfield, N. J., to whom I am indebted for repeated assistance in connection with the history of New Jersey members of the Keen family.

A portrait of Mr. Keen is in the possession of the family.

in August, 1788, and was buried the 12th in Christ Church Ground. She had four children:

260. WILLIAM, b. May 23, 1756; bur. in Christ Church Ground, December 13, 1759.

261. MARY, b. December 28, 1757.

262. PETER, b. August 31, 1759; bur. in Christ Church Ground, August 7, 1760.

263. REBECCA, b. November 20, 1768. She married Jacob Toy, son of Elias Toy, of Philadelphia County, Pa., and his wife Barbara Clair, brother of Margaret Toy, who married his cousin Andrew, son of Daniel Keen. Mr. Toy was born December 11, 1771, and died November 20, 1802. They left issue.*

86. MARY KEEN,5 daughter of Peter and Margaret Keen, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., about 1730. She married (license dated September 14, 1763) Joseph Stout, a seacaptain in the merchant service of our city, afterwards and until his death Lieutenant in His Majesty's Navy. Mrs. Stout inherited from her father half a dozen houses and lots in Philadelphia, and £3000 in currency. She died in this city, March 22, 1767, "aged thirty-six years," and was buried in Gloria Dei Churchyard, Wicacoa. Captain Stout survived his wife six years, and was buried in the same Swedish Lutheran Cemetery, November 20, 1773. He made bequests to the Society for the Relief of Masters of Ships (which he joined in January, 1766), "the Poor of the Hospital of Philadelphia," and the children of his "brother Cornelius Stout," and left the residue of his estate, comprising a house in Spruce Street (doubtless his city residence), and land in Moyamensing, and on Frankford Road, "opposite the Plantation," belonging formerly to Peter Keen, afterwards called "Stouton," with negro slaves, and money at interest, to his only child, whom he appointed with his brother-in-law, Reynold Keen, and William Moore, executors of his last will and testament:

* Their daughter Maria Toy m. Jacob Delaney, parents of Rebecca Delaney, m. George W. Stull, parents of Adam Arbuckle Stull, sometime President of the Trust Company of North America and Treasurer of the Society of the War of 1812 in Pennsylvania.

A portrait of Mrs. Stout is in the possession of her great-granddaughter, Mrs. Caleb W. Hornor, reproduced in Some Colonial Mansions, by Thomas Allen Glenn, Second Series, opposite page 274 (Phila., 1900).

Son of John Moore, Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, elsewhere

264. MARGARET, b. in 1764. After the death of her parents, she lived with her uncle, Reynold Keen, and is mentioned in a letter of Colonel Henry Haller to Thomas Wharton, Jr., President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania,* as claiming "a negro girl" in Mr. Keen's household at Reading, when her uncle's property was sold as elsewhere stated. At about eighteen years of age, she m. William Macpherson, son of Captain John Macpherson, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, of the noted clan of Clunie, who emigrated to America and took up his abode in Philadelphia.† Mr. Macpherson's mother was Margaret Rodgers, daughter of Thomas Rodgers and his wife Elizabeth Baxter, who came from Londonderry, Ireland, to Boston in 1721, and removed to Philadelphia in 1728. He was born in our city in 1756. He was educated partly here, and partly at Princeton, N. J., and at thirteen years of age received the appointment of Cadet in the British Army. July 26, 1773, his father purchased him commissions as Lieutenant and Adjutant of the 16th Regiment, which was stationed at Pensacola at the beginning of the Revolution. At first he sympathized with the cause of his sovereign,§ mentioned, and grandfather of the Hon. Charles Smith, who married Mary Yeates, a descendant of Jöran Kyn hereafter spoken of.

* Printed in Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, vol. iii. pp. 176–7. † For some account of Captain Macpherson see Thompson Westcott's Historic Mansions and Buildings of Philadelphia, pp. 212 et seq. He acquired a large fortune by privateering, and in 1767 purchased an estate on the east bank of the river Schuylkill, where he erected a stone mansion, which he made his country-seat, calling it Mount Pleasant, sold by him, in 1779, to General Benedict Arnold, just before the marriage of the latter to Margaret Shippen, cousin-german to Mary Shippen and Sarah Burd, who married descendants of Jöran Kyn hereafter mentioned.

Sister to the Rev. John Rodgers, D.D., a noted Presbyterian minister, whose Memoirs were written by his successor in charge of the Wall Street Church in New York City, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, brother-in-law to Major John Patten, a descendant of Jöran Kyn elsewhere spoken of. A portrait of this gentleman is in the possession of Mrs. Hornor. Dr. Rodgers's wife, Elizabeth Bayard, was a niece of Sarah Richardson, second wife of Major Patten's great-uncle, Dr. John Finney, of New Castle. An obituary notice of Mrs. Macpherson appears in The Pennsylvania Gazette, June 7, 1770.

§ Travels in North America, by the Marquis de Chastellux, vol. ii. p. 376, foot-note by the English translator (Second Edition, London, 1787). According to the writer, William Macpherson bitterly reproached his brother John for having entered the American Army, in a letter which the latter received a day or two previous to the storming of Quebec. General Montgomery's "Aide-de-Camp immediately returned him an answer full of strong reasoning in defence of his conduct, but by no means attempting to shake the opposite principles of his brother; and not only free from

but finally declined to bear arms against his fellow-countrymen, and tendered his resignation of the service. This was accepted by Sir Henry Clinton, after several months' refusal, on the arrival of his regiment at New York in 1778, Macpherson not being permitted, however, to sell his commission, and being forbidden to leave the city. Towards the close of this year he escaped from the British lines, and joined the American Army on the Hudson, when he was honoured by Congress with a commission as Major by brevet, due to the recommendation of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, "in regard to the memory of his brother Major John Macpherson, who fell before the walls of Quebec, as well as in consideration of his own merit."* He acted for some time as Aide-de-Camp to Generals La Fayette and Arthur St. Clair, and was appointed by General Washington, in 1780, to the command of a partisan corps of cavalry, which performed duty in Virginia. A letter addressed to Generals Wayne and Irvine, in consequence of some dissatisfaction among the officers of the Pennsylvania line at the designation of so young a man for this important charge, proves that the august Commander-inChief entertained a high opinion of the qualities of Major Macpherson, as well as a kind appreciation of “the sacrifice he made to his principles, by quitting a service in which he had a handsome existence," and testifies to his being "a man of acknowledged capacity and worth." The regard felt for him by La Fayette is best evinced in the following letter of the Marquis (dated “La Grange, November 7, 1832") to Major Macpherson's son-in-law, Peter Grayson Washington. "It is to me a matter of patriotic

acrimony, but full of expressions of tenderness and affection," dating the letter "from the spot where Wolfe lost his life, in fighting the cause of England, in friendship with America." To the effect of this epistle, immediately followed by the news of Major John Macpherson's death, the author attributes the "instantaneous" conversion of William Macpherson to the side of the Colonies, in whose behalf, after long waiting, he found opportunity to bear arms.

* Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council, January 1, 1779. See also those for January 4, 1779. Bancroft's eulogy of John Macpherson is appreciated by the family: "a youth as spotless as the new-fallen snow which was his winding sheet; full of genius for war, lovely in temper, honoured by the affection and confidence of his chief, dear to the army, leaving not his like behind him." A portrait of Major Macpherson is in the possession of Mrs. Hornor. Another brother of William Macpherson was Major Robert Hector Macpherson, U. S. A., who distinguished himself in actions on the St. Lawrence and in Lower Canada during our second war with Great Britain, and was afterwards appointed United States Consul at Madeira.

Then residing in Washington, where during President Pierce's administration he held the office of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of the

duty and personal gratification to do Justice to the Memory of my Accomplished Companion in Arms the late William Macpherson. I knew him from the time when, after numerous and fruitless Applications to retire from the British Service, he executed his declared determination to withdraw, and at any Loss or Hazard to join his fellow Citizens in their Contest for independence and freedom. His Situation at the Battle of Monmouth had been very particular. Wearing still a British Uniform, but forbearing to act against his Countrymen, a Sense of Honor kept him a Witness, altho not an Agent, on the field, where he received a slight Wound from the friends he had openely avowed, and was determined not to fight. Major Macpherson has since for the greater part of the War been placed under my command, where he distinguished himself on several occasions, namely at the head of a detachment during the Virginia Campaign. He was an excellent patriot, officer, and friend. I am happy in the opportunity to give this testimony of my high esteem and cordial affection for a Beloved Brother Soldier who, being placed at first under uncommon circumstances, and afterwards entrusted with remarkable commands, has ever nobly supported the character of an American Citizen and Warrior." Mr. Macpherson always retained the friendship of General Washington, and was rewarded by the latter, when President of the United States, September 19, 1789, with a commission as Surveyor of the Port of Philadelphia. This was followed by another, March 8, 1792, appointing him Inspector of the Revenue for the same city, and by a third, November 28, 1793, constituting him Naval Officer. This last responsible position he occupied throughout the administrations of Presidents Adams and Jefferson, and under President Madison until his death. On occasion of the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794 a large and respectable body of citizens of Philadelphia, forming themselves into companies of militia, invited Major Macpherson to command them as a battalion, called in compliment to him the "Macpherson Blues." This fine corps held the advanced post on the right wing of the army in the expedition to western Pennsylvania, and was universally respected for its patriotism and discipline. Before the return of the troops to Philadelphia, Major Macpherson was promoted by Governor Mifflin to the rank to Colonel, and, subsequently, to that of Brigadier-General in the Militia of our State. On the threat of war with France, in 1798, the "Blues" were reorganized, with the addition of other companies of cavalry, artillery, grenadiers, and riflemen, composing United States. The original letter (now first printed) is owned by Mr. Washington's daughter, Mrs. Hornor. The delicate situation of Major Macpherson referred to in it was also made the subject of a letter from the British Government to Mr. Washington, acknowledging the honorable behaviour of that officer while he was still nominally in the Royal Army.