Person:James Ewing (26)

JOHN EWING was a son of William and Eleanor Ewing, nee Thompson, and was a native of the Conococheague valley, in what is now Franklin county. His brothers, James, Robert and Alexander, and himself, came to the vicinity of what was afterward McFarland’s mill, in 1788. (See sketch of Mrs. Mary Horn Work, a daughter of James Ewing for Ewing notes.) John Ewing was married to Sarah Moore, of Westmoreland county. Their children were: James, d., m. first to Jane Harbison, d., and second to M. Hart, d.; William, d., m. to Margaret Elder, d.; John, d., m. to Sarah McCurdy; Robert, b. in 1804, m. in 1828 to Elizabeth Walker; and Alexander, m. to M. McAfree. Robert located in 1828, in the woods on his present farm, near Lewisville, Conemaugh township, where he still remains.

In the year 1788 the Ewing family moved westward and settled in the vicinity of what has since been called McFarland’s Mills. The second son of William and Eleanor Thompson Ewing was John. … The writer’s father, James Henry Ewing, has left this reminiscence of John Ewing: “My grandfather, John Ewing, was left an orphan at the age of nine years. At that time he was bound out to Ezekiel Matthews. He told me that …they had settled at the old farm, near Ebenezer Church, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.” … John Ewing’s wife, Sarah Moore, was born two miles west of what is now New Alexandria, Pennsylvania. Her home was within a few miles of the fort at old Hannastown, a refuge from the Indians in those days. On one occasion, when she and some neighbor girls were gathering berries, some indians sprang upon them, capturing her companions. Sarah was saved from capture by a white man on horseback, who took her on behind him… John Ewing’s death occurred January 27th, 1842. He was followed to the grave by his wife in 1851. The children of John and Sarah Ewing were: Rebecca, James, William, Sarah, John, Robert, and Alexander.