The McCalmont Family of Franklin, Pennsylvania

There is a tradition in the McCalmont family that before their Scottish ancestors of whom we have knowledge, their forbears were Irish, descended from Fiack, son of Niall, who was the 126th monarch of Ireland, and that from Fiack they come through nineteen generations to Calma (in Irish, “brave”), from whom came the ancestors of the Scottish clan of MacCalma, or McCalmont. Of the descendants of Fiack, one line comprises the McGeoghagans, lords of Maycassel and Terlulagh, in county Westmeath, Ireland. Of the same stock are the Higgins family, of counties Westmeath and Galway. From Main, son of Niall, of the Nine Hostages, and brother of Fiack, came Loftus of Meath and Fox, lords of Tiffin. Thus the McCalmonts seem to be descended from kings and princes of Ireland. The family arms in Scotland are: A lion rampant between three dexter hands couped at the wrist gules. Crest: A greyhound statant azure. Motto: Semper patriae servire presto. At Dumfries, Scotland, the family name is preserved on a pane of glass in the home of James McCalmont, upon which in July, 1793, Robert Burns inscribed the following verse:

Blest be McCalmont to his latest day; No envious clouds o’ercast his evening ray; No wrinkle furrowed by the hand of care, Nor ever sorrow add one silver hair. O, may no son the father’s honor stain, Nor ever daughter give the mother pain.

(I) Thomas McCalmont

Thomas McCalmont, a Covenanter minister who was persecuted for his faith in the reign of Charles II., made his escape by crossing in a fishing boat to Ireland, where he settled at Cairn Castle, county Antrim. His children were:

1. Thomas McCalmont, of whom further.
2. James McCalmont, born 1707, married Hannah Blair.
3. John McCalmont, born May 1, 1709; emigrated to Pennsylvania, and settled on the Susquehanna; married a Latimer, of county Tyrone, Ireland; died 1779.
4. Robert McCalmont, of whose descendants there is no trace.
5. Hugh McCalmont.

(II) Thomas (2) McCalmont

Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1) McCalmont, was a resident of county Armagh, Ireland, for a short time previous to 1766. He subsequently joined his brother John in America, and was drowned in crossing a river near Philadelphia, on his way to meet his son Robert, who had come in his ship to conduct him back to Ireland. He married Susan Wallace.

(III) John McCalmont

John, son of Thomas (2) and Susan (Wallace) McCalmont, was born in Ireland, in county Armagh, near the town of the same name, January 1, 1750 (old style), and came to America when sixteen years old. He was apprenticed to a clockmaker, and, not liking his master or the trade, entered into an agreement with the captain of the ship “Rose” to serve three years for his passage to this country, with the privilege of selecting the person with whom he should live, and have his indenture cancelled on payment of a certain sum of money. He remained near Philadelphia until 1773, when he married Elizabeth, born 1750, daughter of Henry and Jane (Stroud) Conard (or Kunders), and great-granddaughter of Thomas and Ellen (Strepers) Conard (or Kunders). Thomas Kunders and the eminent Pastorius were the first in America to protest against human slavery.

John McCalmont was out with the militia in the revolution one tour of service under General Lacey, in Captain Alexander Brown’s company, and wintered with Washington at Valley Forge. In 1783 he moved to Nittany Valley, having previously for a few years lived in Kishacoquillas Valley, at Greenwood, now Mifflin county, near Lewistown. In Nittany Valley he purchased a tract of land near where Jacksonville is located, his home being a few rods from Lick Run meeting house. He remained there until 1805, when he removed to Venango county and located in Sugar Creek township, about four miles north of Franklin. Children of John and Elizabeth (Conard) McCalmont:

1. Thomas McCalmont, born October 14, 1774; came to Venango county in 1802.
2. Henry McCalmont, born March 15, 1776; came to Venango county in 1819.
3. John McCalmont, born January 15, 1779; drowned when about eighteen months old.
4. James McCalmont, born May 17, 1781; served in war of 1812, wounded in battle of Bridgewater, and died from wounds about three weeks later.
5. Robert McCalmont, born August 26, 1783; came to Venango county in 1802.
6. Alexander McCalmont, of whom further.
7. John McCalmont, of whom further.
8. Elizabeth McCalmont, born February 3, 1791; married William Shaw.
9. Sarah McCalmont, born November 3, 1792; married George Grain.
10. Jane McCalmont, born October 8, 1794; married James Ricketts.
11. Joseph McCalmont, born November 23, 1798.

John McCalmont died August 3, 1832, at the home of his son Henry, in Cornplanter township, Venango county, and was buried in the churchyard there. His wife died August 12, 1829, and was buried in the old graveyard at Franklin.

The following are extracts from the notebook of Alexander McCalmont, son of John and Elizabeth McCalmont:

I was born at a place called Greenwood, in Kishacoquillas Valley, October 23, 1785. (Note that date of his birth given in list of John McCalmont’s children, is October 13, a discrepancy of ten days; the first date is copied from the family Bible). When about two years old my father moved to Nittany Valley and settled on a place at the head of a spring called Lick Run. The tract of land on which we lived and improved until the spring of 1803, adjoining the tract on which my uncle Thomas settled, and on which Jacksonville is. My father’s tract which he purchased was east of the one on which the village of Jacksonville is, and was bounded on the east by a tract owned by Captain Thomas Wilson, on which he was settled before the revolution.

My brothers (the first five were all born in Kishacoquillas Valley):

1. Thomas McCalmont
2. Henry McCalmont
3. John McCalmont, was drowned when about eighteen months old.
4. James McCalmont
5. Robert McCalmont
6. John McCalmont, my next brother, born in August, 1788, was named the same.

I recollect the day of my next brother John’s birth, and also recollect seeing the raising of the house in which he was born, and the small shanty without any floor or loft, in which we lived before the house in which he was born was built. It was of hewed logs. Joseph McKibben was one of the corner men and raised the northwest corner. It is strange that he is the only one assisting that I can recollect. I had come near the corner of the house on which he was, and he throwed chips at me and told me to go away. This I never forgot, and his image at the time, and that of the building on the corner of which he was, are still as fresh in my mind as the occurrences of yesterday.

The first school I went to was taught by William Wilson. The schoolhouse was between Thomas Wilson’s and William Wilson’s. The land on which it stood was afterwards owned by Samuel Beck. This was in 1792. The only persons living in Nittany Valley between where Bellefonte now is and Fishing Creek Narrows, in my earliest recollection, were as follows: William Lamb lived on Spring Creek (now Bellefonte); a German family by the name of Elson lived three miles further down the valley; Thomas Wilson next east of us; Thomas McCalmont around the point or little hill south of us; William Wilson lived down the valley on the next place east of Thomas Wilson’s; William Swanzey next below; Joseph McKibben next; William Davis lived down near Fishing Creek Gap. There was no mill in Nittany Valley. Robert McClelland built the first mill in the narrows at Lick Run. I remember when he came to my father’s. The second time he brought hands with him—Joseph Lucas and Baptist Lucas. They lodged at my father’s and sawed the stuff for the mill with a whip-saw. Philip Houses was the millwright whom Joseph McClelland settled on a tract next to my uncle Thomas, up the valley. A number of settlers came in soon after, and a road was opened for wagons down along the sunnier north side of the valley. At the time my father came to Nittany I think there were no improvements on the Nittany below Harbison’s Gap. John Harbison lived there at the time my father settled.

In 1794 a schoolhouse was erected on my uncle Thomas’ land, twenty or thirty perches southwest of my father’s. William McGarvey was the first teacher, and taught in it two years. I attended his school most part of the time, and sometimes in winter went barefoot through the snow. McClelland’s mill had been burned, and when rebuilding, I recollect Mr. Petit was the master millwright. William Tipton and David Tipton were working at the mill and attended the school in the winter. Thomas Wilson, John Shoup and other young men went from William Wilson’s to the school past my father’s, and frequently carried me on their shoulders to school. About that time there were frequent meetings to make arrangements for building a meeting house and forming a congregation. The only sermon I had ever heard up till 1794 was preached by Rev. Mr. Grier, in Mr. Wilson’s barn. His text was, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden” (Matt. xi, 28, 29, 30). I think it was in 1795 or 1796 that arrangements were made to build a meeting house. It was built by Bennet Lucas and his boys, of hewed logs. Pine trees were very plenty at that time, and were not as valuable as at present. The meeting house was covered with lap-shingles. I recollect I carried shingles to the top of the house for amusement. The first year there was nothing done to it but to cover it. It progressed very slowly. The next summer a door and floor were in it. The first sermon I recollect was preached by a Mr. Johnston, a son-in-law of Judge Brown’s. It is possible that others were preached there before. Henry R. Wilson took charge of the congregation and continued until I left in the spring of 1803.

(IV) Judge Alexander McCalmont

Judge Alexander McCalmont, son of John (III) and Elizabeth (Conard) McCalmont, was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1785. He went with his parents when they removed to Venango county, and there passed the remainder of his life. Having for those times acquired a good practical education, he became a teacher. He later embarked in mercantile pursuits, and subsequently was engaged in the iron business. He was a Democrat, and at one time took active part in local politics. He was sheriff in 1811, commissioner in 1814, and prothonotary in 1818. He also served as deputy surveyor. He became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1820. Having taken up the study of law, he was admitted to practice about 1820, met with considerable professional success, and acquired a reputation as an able attorney. He was appointed president judge of the Eighteenth judicial district in 1839, and served with distinction for ten years. He died August 10, 1857. Judge McCalmont married (first) Margaret, daughter of John Broadfoot, of Franklin, Pennsylvania. She died in 1817 without issue. In 1818 he married (second) Elizabeth Connely, born in Bellefonte, in 1801, but became a resident of Franklin in 1806, with her father, who removed there. Children:

1. William McCalmont.
2. John Swazey McCalmont, born April 28, 1822, died 1906; married Elizabeth Stehley.
3. Alfred B. McCalmont, of whom further.
4. Elizabeth McCalmont, married General Edward Clinton Wilson.

(V) General Alfred B. McCalmont

General Alfred B. McCalmont, youngest son of Judge Alexander and Elizabeth (Connely) McCalmont, was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania, April 28, 1825, and died May 7, 1874. He received his education in the local schools, Allegheny College and Dickinson College, and was graduated from the last named institution in 1844, at the age of twenty years. He studied law in his father’s office, and was admitted to the Venango county bar May 25, 1847. He afterward removed to Pittsburgh and entered upon the practice of his profession, and his ability soon won for him a satisfactory share of the legal business there. In 1853 he was associated with T. J. Keenan in the newspaper business. In 1855 he was appointed prothonotary of the supreme court of the district of western Pennsylvania, an office always filled by a lawyer. This position he resigned in May, 1858, to accept an appointment as chief clerk to Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, then attorney general of the United States, in the cabinet of President Buchanan, with functions since exercised by the deputy attorney-general. He held that responsible position until the end of that administration, and then returned to Franklin and resumed his law practice, in partnership with James K. Kerr. An ardent patriot, in 1862 he espoused the Union cause and recruited a company of volunteers for the 142d Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was attached to the Army of the Potomac. He early displayed genuine soldierly qualities, and by successive promotions rose from the rank of captain to lieutenant-colonel in his regiment, and later was commissioned colonel of the 208th Pennsylvania Regiment. He served throughout the war and made a most brilliant record. He commanded a brigade in the assault upon Petersburg, and in recognition of his gallantry in that and other engagements he received from President Lincoln the brevet rank of brigadier-general. At the close of the war he returned to Franklin and resumed professional work, continuing actively employed until his death. He was one of the ablest members of the Venango county bar, winning for himself, by his brilliant oratory and forensic ability, a reputation which, after all these years, is still green in the memory of all who knew him. Judge Heydrick said of him, in an article on the Venango bar, in the “Proceedings of the Celebration of the First Centennial of the Organization of the County of Venango,” (and the tribute is as just to him in his professional as in his military career): “General McCalmont was impulsive, and, under a great impetus, just the man to win promotion for a successful assault upon fortifications. Given the opportunity and supposed incentive, he would have led another six hundred at another Balaklava, but might not have been willing to lead a retreat.”

General Alfred B. McCalmont married, April 25, 1853, Sarah F., daughter of Evan Roece Evans, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Children:

1. Lydia Collins McCalmont, born February 12, 1854; married Thomas McGeough.
2. Sarah Lowry McCalmont, born June 7, 1856; married W. V. Lewison; children:
   1. Sarah McC. Lewison
   2. Almina Parker Lewison, who married George Hayes, of Boston.
3. Robert McCalmont, of whom further.

(VI) Robert McCalmont

Robert, only son of General Alfred B. and Sarah F. (Evans) McCalmont, was born in Washington, D. C., while his father was residing there and officially employed, September 18, 1859. He was educated in the Franklin schools and Princeton University, graduating from the latter institution in 1878 at the age of nineteen years, as civil engineer. After finishing his university course he read law in the office of Dodd & Lee, in Franklin, and was admitted to the Venango county bar in 1881, and from that time has practiced law in that city with conspicuous success. In politics he is affiliated with the Democratic party. He is a communicant and vestryman of the Protestant Episcopal church, and is a member of the Masonic order. He married Jessie B. Crawford, daughter of William R. and Jane (Kerr) Crawford.

(IV) John McCalmont

John McCalmont, son of John and Elizabeth (Conard) McCalmont, was born in Centre county, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1788, and died August 27, 1877. He was one of the early pioneers of Venango county, whither he removed with his parents in 1803, the family locating in the forest of Sugar Creek township. After coming to this region he remained with his parents for a time, assisting in clearing and tilling the homestead farm. He obtained a good education for that early day, and taught in one of the pioneer schools. On attaining his majority he removed to Franklin and engaged in the milling business, and later in the manufacture of iron. He always took an active interest in public affairs, and was county commissioner in 1814 and treasurer of Venango county from 1816 to 1818. He married (first) Maria, who died in 1814, without issue. He married (second) January 18, 1818, Mary H., daughter of Samuel Plumer; she died September 3, 1842. Her father settled in Jackson township, Venango county, in 1800. He was a son of Nathaniel Plumer, who purchased four hundred acres of land embracing part of the site of Mount Washington, one of the present wards of Pittsburgh, on the south side of the Monongahela, and settled thereon in 1789, and grandson of Jonathan Plumer, a commissary in Braddock’s expedition, and quartermaster of Forbes’ army, a native of Newbury, Massachusetts, and descendant of Francis Plumer, one of the founders of that town in 1635. Children of John and Mary H. (Plumer) McCalmont:

1. Patty McCalmont, married Rev. A. G. Miller
2. John McCalmont
3. Samuel McCalmont
4. Margaret McCalmont
5. Samuel Plumer McCalmont, of whom further.

(V) Samuel Plumer McCalmont

Samuel Plumer McCalmont, son of John and Mary (Plumer) McCalmont, was born in Sugar Creek township, Venango county, Pennsylvania, September 21, 1823. His boyhood was passed on the farm, assisting his father in the laborious occupation of pioneer farming. After attending the neighborhood school, he took a brief term of study at Allegheny College. He then entered the office of his uncle, Judge Alexander McCalmont, as a law student, and was admitted to the bar of Venango county November 25, 1847, and at once entered upon the active practice of his profession, which he successfully followed without intermission until the infirmities of age compelled his retirement, only excepting a period of three years spent in the California mining region, and a brief term in public service. He was an industrious, vigilant and aggressive lawyer, and one of the best known members of the Venango bar. Politically he was originally a Democrat. He was, however, bitterly opposed to human slavery, was one of the most aggressive pioneer anti-slavery advocates, and devoted much time and liberally of his means to the cause. Even now there are not a few who have distinct recollection of his bold and uncompromising advocacy of abolition. With the opening up of the free soil issue as opposed to slavery extension, in 1856 he became one of the organizing members of the Republican party, to which he ever afterward steadily adhered until 1874, when he aided in organizing the Prohibition party, being for forty years an unswerving enemy of the liquor traffic. In 1855 he was elected to the legislature, and he was twice re-elected. He married, in April, 1859, Harriet, daughter of Piatt Smith Osborne, died December 25, 1912 (see Osborne VII). Children:

1. Mary Plumer McCalmont
2. Samuel Plumer McCalmont Jr.
3. John Osborne McCalmont
4. Harriette Osborne McCalmont
5. James Donald McCalmont, born February 10, 1870
6. Constance Plumer McCalmont, July 6, 1874
7. David Burnett McCalmont, of whom further.

(VI) David Burnett McCalmont

David Burnett, son of Samuel Plumer and Harriet (Osborne) McCalmont, was born in Franklin, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1876. He was reared in that town, and received his preliminary education in its public school, passing through the high school, afterward entering the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897. He then studied law under the office preceptorship of Bryan Osborne, and was admitted to the bar of Venango county August 26, 1900, and at once entered upon practice, in which he has been successfully engaged to the present time. For ten years, from 1898 to 1908, he served in the Pennsylvania National Guard, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He is a Prohibitionist in politics, and in 1905 was elected to the state chairmanship of that party, occupying that position until 1909, when he resigned to take charge of the Venango Herald, the only Prohibition daily newspaper in the United States. He has been the candidate of his party for local offices on various occasions, and in 1903 was nominated for district attorney, being defeated by only 308 votes, and receiving 3,394 votes.

Mr. McCalmont married, September 26, 1900, Edna Swallow, born December 31, 1878, daughter of Burling E. and Lydia (Schuyler-Jack) Swallow, and a descendant of the famous Schuyler family of revolutionary fame. Children:

1. Virginia Lucretia McCalmont, born September 10, 1905
2. Samuel Plumer McCalmont (2nd), November 11, 1906
3. David Burnett McCalmont Jr., August 9, 1909.

See: Genealogy of the Allegheny Valley Pennsylvania

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content has been preserved.