Person:Elizabeth Blair (1)

Elizabeth Blair

George Duffield

• Harris, Alexander. A biographical history of Lancaster County being a history of early settlers and eminent men of the county, as also much other unpublished historical information, chiefly of a local character. Published Elias Bar & Co., Lancaster, Pa. 1872.

Page 165 - ..."The subject of this notice was born Oct. 7, 1732. He received his academic education at Newark, Delaware, where afterwards he officiated as Tutor. He graduated at Nassau Hall, joined the church under the care of Rev. Robert Smith, of Pequea, and shortly afterwards commenced the study of theology under his supervision. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the New Castle Presbytery, March 11, 1756. He received a call from the united churches of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Big Spring and Monohan (now called Dillstown), and was ordained at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Sept. 25, 1761.

"During the pendency of his ordination and settlement at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he was married March 5, 1759, to Margaret Armstrong, sister of General John Armstrong, of Revolutionary memory. By this marriage he had four children. His youngest son, GEORGE, was for many years connected as Register and Comptroller General, with the administration of the State of Pa. under Governor Thomas McKean.

Page 166 - In the year 1766 MR. DUFFIELD was deputed by the Synod, in connection with the Rev. Charles Beatty, to make a missionary tour and visit the families that had made their way along the great valley that stretches through Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The object of this mission was to administer the offices of religion to those families which had settled in what is now Franklin Co., Pa., and through the range of country where Greencastle, Hagerstown and other villages now stand, as far as the Potomac, with a view to the organization of churches.

Page 167 - Some time after this, MR. DUFFIELD was called to the Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, where he officiated during the sessions of the Colonial Congress, anterior to and during the Revolutionary struggle. That church had been originally a branch of the First Presbyterian Church, under the care of the Rev. Dr. Ewing. A controversy arose between them and the parent church, relative to their independence. Both the Presbytery and MR. DUFFIELD judged that it was his duty to accept the call and move to Philadelphia. On an occasion shortly after his appearance in Philadelphia, the large church edifice, then standing on the corner of Third and Pine streets, which the First Church claimed to have under its control, was closed and barred against his entrance, by their order, notwithstanding an appointment had been made for his preaching in it for the congregation accustomed to worship there, and by their direction. The house was opened by the officers of the Third Church, and MR. DUFFIELD was assisted through the throng that had assembled to hear him, and introduced through a window. News of the people assembling on Sabbath evening spread, and application was made to Mr. J. Bryant, the King’s magistrate, to quell what was called a riot. The magistrate proceeded to the spot, and, shortly after the commencement of public worship, pressed his way into the aisle of the church, before the pulpit, (on the very spot where afterwards MR. DUFFIELD’S remains were interred, and where they yet sleep, and in the name of the King, read the riot act and required the people to disperse.) The congregation was composed of zealous Whigs, who could not endure Tory influence or authority. The principal officer of the congregation, a Mr. Knox, rose and ordered the magistrate to desist. He refused and went on with his reading. A second time the

Page 168, zealous champion of liberty, in hearing of all the congregation, with loud voice, demanded that the magistrate cease from disturbing the worship of God. He still refused; when, without further ado, he seized the magistrate, who was a small man and lifting him up carried him through the crowd out of the house, and ordered him to begone, and not come back there to disturb the worship of God.The magistrate bowed to the stern assertor of popular liberty, and MR. DUFFIELD went on with his preaching. But the next day he was arrested and brought before the Mayor’s Court, and was required to plead to the charge of aiding and abetting a riot, and give bail for his appearance for trial. He politely and respectfully refused to put in any plea or give the bail, averring, that as a minister of Christ, he was performing the duties of his office and was no way accessory to a riot, of the existence of which there was no proof. The Mayor said that such a procedure would greatly embarrass the Court, who would be compelled to send him to prison if he did not plead or offer bail. His brother, SAMUEL DUFFIELD, M. D., or other of his friends whomsoever he might name, would be accepted by him as bail. After some entreaty, the Mayor offerred himself to be his bail, not wishing to commit him to prison. He cordially thanked his Honor for his unmerited kindness, but protested that he stood on the ground of principle, and that he was called, in the providence of God, to assert the rights and liberty of a minister of Christ, and of a worshipping assembly, and denied the legitimate interference and cognizance of the King’s government in such matters. The Mayor delayed for several deciding in the case, and requesting him to take the matter into consideration, suffered him to withdraw to his own house, under the assurance that he must again appear before the Court and give his definite answer. The news that the King’s government was going to put MR. DUFFIELD in prison, spread through the city and into the country. He was never again brought before the Mayor’s Court. He was allowed to pursue his ministerial duties unmolested, and the First Church settled their matters with the branch, and recognized their right to call the minister of their choice without dictation or control. He voluntarily applied for and received a dismission to the other Presbytery, with whose members he had more especial affinity.

• History and Biography of The City of Detroit And Wayne County, Michigan. (Chicago, Illinois: Henry Taylor & Co.), Page 334, 1909.

Page 334 - The Duffield Family – George Duffield (II), progenitor of those of the name in Michigan, was twice married. His first wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Blair, died in 1757, without issue. In 1759, he married Margaret Armstrong, a daughter of James Armstrong, a noted Indian fighter on the frontier, and a sister of General John Armstrong held the rank of major general in the Continental army and in 1778-79 was a member of the provincial congress from Pennsylvania.

1.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (TM) July 1996 (c), data as of 2 January 1996 (2).
2.   Burton, Clarence Monroe; Gordon K. Miller; and William Stocking. The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1989)
   Vol. 4, Page 864.

   Page 864 – “…The first representative of the name in America was the Rev. George Duffield, who was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, and who came from England to the new world in 1720, establishing his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rev. George Duffield and his wife Susanna, were the parents of a son George, who married Elizabeth Blair, and they in turn had a son, George, who wedded Faithful Richardson Slaymaker…”

3.   Burton, Clarence Monroe; Gordon K. Miller; and William Stocking. The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1989)
   Vol. 4, Page 864.

   Page 864 – “…The first representative of the name in America was the Rev. George Duffield, who was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, and who came from England to the new world in 1720, establishing his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rev. George Duffield and his wife Susanna, were the parents of a son George, who married Elizabeth Blair, and they in turn had a son, George, who wedded Faithful Richardson Slaymaker…”

4.   This Day in Presbyterian History February 2, 2012: Rev. George Duffield (1732-1790) , in The Presbyterian Heritage Center at Montreat, North Carolina.

   He was married first to Elizabeth Blair, who died in 1757. Two years later, he married Margaret Armstrong. Among his descendants were two others named George Duffield, each of whom continued serving both Church and nation as Presbyterian clergy. George Duffield died in Philadelphia.

5.   History and Biography of The City of Detroit And Wayne County, Michigan. (Chicago, Illinois: Henry Taylor & Co., 1909)
   Page 334.

   Page 334 - The Duffield Family – George Duffield (II), progenitor of those of the name in Michigan, was twice married. His first wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Blair, died in 1757, without issue. In 1759, he married Margaret Armstrong, a daughter of James Armstrong, a noted Indian fighter on the frontier, and a sister of General John Armstrong held the rank of major general in the Continental army and in 1778-79 was a member of the provincial congress from Pennsylvania.

6.   Keister, Bernice Hubbard. The Van Hook and allied families. (New York, New York: B.H. Keister, c1957)
   pp. 67, 69.

   Children of Rev. Samuel Blair and Frances Van Hook: "Elizabeth Blair, m. her cousin, Rev. Geo. Duffield, Mar. 8, 1756." Elizabeth d. 1757 following birth of a son William Duffield.