Person:Margaret Handley (5)

Information on Margaret Handley

From "The Handley Family History", by Mary Mortimeyer and Richard Hopkins:

Margaret Handley, born February 28, 1753, married first James Pauley on October 1, 1777. In the fall of 1779, the Pauley party, consisting of John Pauley, wife and child, Captain James Pauley, Margaret and child, Mr. Wallace, and Brice Miller left Handley's Fort near Union in Monroe County to go to Kentucky. They followed the trail down by Wood's Fort, to New River, crossed the river near the mouth of Rich Creek, and were overtaken by the Indians about five miles from the mouth of East River near the present site of the town of Princeton, West Virginia. John Pauley, Mr. Wallace and the two children were killed. Margaret was dragged from her horse and knocked senseless by an Indian club, and Captain James Pauley was mortally wounded. Believing that his wife and child were murdered, James Pauley, although mortally wounded, made his way back to Wood's Fort, where he died the next day of his wounds. Margaret was taken to the Indian towns on the Miami, where she was adopted by Chief White Bark. A short time after she was taken prisoner, she had another child, John Pauley. She and her child were released and they returned to Union, Virginia, around 1785. A short time later she married Tridly Michael Erskine of Union, Virginia. He was a delegate to the Virginia State Assembly in the 1819-1820 term. He also served as a Captain in the Military. Margaret died June 3, 1842. Margaret and Tridly Michael are buried in the Union Cemetery at Union, West Virginia. Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vlwest/handley/mortimer.htm