Prior to the Revolutionary War, the area which is now southwestern Pennsylvania was in doubt as to which colony it was in. Both Virginia and Pennsylvania claimed it. In the 1760's and perhaps up to the war, Virginia was allowing land claims to be made. The French and Indian War had made the area much better known and the construction of Braddock's Road made the area much more accessible.
At Pittsburgh, two very respectable rivers merge together. From the northeast, the Allegheny (spelled with an "e") flows. From the south, the Monongahela River flows toward Pittsburgh, which at the time of the Revolution was Ft. Pitt, a military installation, not a city. The combined river becomes the mighty Ohio which flows to the northwest before turning more westerly and then southwesterly. The Ohio forms the boundary between the states of Ohio and Kentucky.
About thirty miles south of Pittsburgh, a creek flows from the west into the Monongahela River. It has been named incorrectly; instead of being called Ten Mile Creek, it should have been called something more like Twenty Mile Creek. If you have a Rand-McNally Atlas, you may be able to locate Ten Mile Creek. It is large enough that it marked by name on my copy of the western Pennsylvania map. If you draw a ten-mile circle centered on where Ten Mile Creek flows in the Monongahela, you would have the location of much of the action that has been mentioned.
In April of 1772, Abraham Teagarden, William Teagarden, John Death, Andrew Gutchell, Jacob Coleman, John Krupp, Michael Cox, George Myers, William Proctor, and Henry Thomas were arrested in Bedford County, Pennsylvania for riot and assault and battery. This particular incident arose from the conflicting claims of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Anyone who supported one colony was liable to arrest by officials of the other colony. Sometimes this became an armed conflict.
In this list of names, the last three stand out especially for me. The names Myers, Proctor, and Thomas all were mid-century names in Culpeper County, Virginia. It does grab your attention to see familiar names in another area. BUT, I do not claim that Myers and Proctor were from Culpeper. Henry Thomas is said to be the eldest son of Michael Thomas of Culpeper County. Michael's daughter Margaret was there as Margaret Hupp. Abraham Thomas was there, as told in his own story. By implication Michael Thomas was there. I believe that probably all of his sons had made the move also though some of the daughters seemed to have stayed in Culpeper County. Hardens were in the area. They were associated with the Holtzclaws who had married Thomases. I have mentioned other names recently and my "mentions" are probably incomplete.
Thanks to Bud Thomas, a descendant of Henry Thomas, I will follow Henry Thomas for a while. In following Henry Thomas, we will be catching the early history of Kentucky.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.