m27p18wr

Daniel McAninch (McNench, McNeneh) 1776 Marriage, Cumberland County, Penn.

This is the second article in the early story of Daniel McAninch working his way westward across

Pennsylvania, from colonial times, through the time of the American Revolution, and to the first

census in 1790. Daniel lived in Cumberland County, 1770-1786, and Westmoreland County, 1790,

and then they went down the Great Valley of the Shenandoah, into eastern Tennessee, 1796-1797,

and then through the Cumberland Gap on the Wilderness Road into southern Kentucky.

Daniel McAninch (McNench) and Mary Smith were married on Tuesday, 11 June 1776, by the

Rev. John King, pastor of the church, at the Conococheague Presbyterian Church, Church Hill,

Peters Township, Cumberland County, in the Colony of Pennsylvania, just before the revolution.

Nine years later, in 1785, Church Hill, Mercersburg, and Peters Township became part of the

new Franklin County, set off from Cumberland County. The church moved into Mercersberg

in 1794, and is still active today, known as the Upper West Conococheague Presbyterian Church.

The earlier "Daniel McAninch 1770s to 1790, Pennsylvania" article follows Daniel westward

across colonial Pennsylvania (Cumberland County, Bedford County, and Westmoreland County).

Daniel McAninch was born ca.1748-1749 (born before 1750), in (northern) Ireland [Note M1],

and Mary Smith was born 1750-1760, probably also in (northern) Ireland [Notes M1, M2]

Daniel and Mary were married just weeks before the American Revolution began (Declaration

of Independence, Second Continental Congress, Philadelphia, July 4, 1776 . . . Siege of Yorktown,

victory over Cornwallis, October 1781, and ending with the Treaty of Paris, September 1783).

Surname Spellings, McAninch/McNinch/McNench(McNeneh)

At that time in history, our names were spoken (almost certainly in Gaelic), and then hand-written

by educated, English-speaking people, including ministers, tax clerks, court clerks, and judges,

Of course, these people wrote down our names phonetically, according to what each person

thought they heard at the time, leading to numerous variations in the transcription of our names.

In 1776, this Daniel McAninch (McNench,McNeneh) is of the right age (for a first marriage) and

he is in the right place (on the Ulster-Scot frontier, south-central area of colonial Pennsylvania).

(1750) Cumberland County was created 27 Jan. 1750, from Lancaster and Non-County (frontier)

areas, and stretched from the Susquehanna River on the east, to the Forks of the Ohio on the west,

and Maryland on the south. It is often referred to as “Mother Cumberland” because of the twenty

______________________________________________________________________

Daniel McAninch 1776 Marriage, Cumberland Co., Penn. Copyright Frank McAninch

McAninch Family History Newsletter v.XXVII n.2 July 2019 p.2019-18