On June 15, 1762, Hugh Brown obtained a warrant for two hundred and fifty acres of land, a portion of which would later become known as the borough of Newton Hamilton. Sometime before 1783, Brown was killed during an encounter with Indigenous peoples in the area. During the resolution of Brown's estate, that land was inherited by Margaret Hamilton, according to 18th-century land ownership and assessment documents in Pennsylvania's Juniata and Susquehanna Valley region, which show that Hamilton's land holdings were assessed at sixty acres in 1783. Hamilton subsequently sold "lots 28-29 'in the general plan of Newton Hamilton' to Samuel McCurdy on January 19, 1802," according to historian Franklin Ellis, who also noted that the town of Newton Hamilton "was laid out under its present name about 1802" by Margaret Hamilton, who "lived and died there." Those plots of land were described in re…
wick in 1S17. His first settlement was in this (Mifflin) connty in 1819. From this time until 1822 he labored as an evangelist in the Juniata Valley, from Lewistown to Shade Gap. Through this field he labored, embracing McYeytown, Newton Hamilton and Shirleysburg, and laid the foundation for the present churches. Here he is claimed by all as the father of Presbyterianism in this region He often preached in private houses, school houses and barns. He mingled much with the people, catechising statedly faithfullj', and
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2016
2016
