Person:Samuel Ramsey (11)

Information on Samuel Ramsey

From "A Record of the Seawright Family", by James Allison Seawright, pg. 62:

Samuel Ramsey was a lineal descendant of the famous Ramsays of Scotland, of which there were twenty different families having crests and mottoes. Their crests were : a sixrayed star, a unicorn head, an eagle and a Griffin's head. An earl and four baronets were included in the list. Another branch wrote their name Ramsay, and had three families —one with a dexter hand holding a covered cup for a crest, and the olhertwo having a unicorn's head for their crests. Samuel Ramsey removed in 1771 from Lancaster to Cumberland county, and being very wealthy, when the Revolutionary struggle came he contributed large sums in aid of the Continental troops. He would not allow the English officers stationed at Carlisle, previous to the Revolution, to set foot on his lands. He owned several large tracts of land in Cumberland, and also in what is now Huntingdon county, while his wife owned two large plantations near Lancaster City, and several tracts in the last named counties. Samuel Ramsey would never see any one wronged, and his influence at Carlisle was wonderful. He married Catherine Seawright, the only child of William and Catherine (Jackson) Seawright, of Leacock township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who are noticed in a succeeding foot-note, and lived on the " Letort Spring " tract, near Carlisle. Mr. Ramsey and his wife died within one-half hour of each other, on the same day, in the year 1804, and the bells of Carlisle were tolled in respect for them, for three days after their death. Samuel and Jean (Seawright) Ramsey had eight children: Mrs. Jean Seawright, Catherine, Margaret, Esther, Elizabeth, Samuel, Archibald and Seawright. The daughters never married, and their remains lie in the old cemetery at Carlisle. Samuel was a prominent merchant in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, married a Miss Foli, and two of his children were John and Samuel. Archibald married Margaret Dean, and had five children: Samuel, John Alexander and Robert, who were lawyers ; Rev. Davidson, a Presbyterian minister, and Margaret, who died young. Seawright married Miiry Denny, who died April 27, 1842, aged sixty six years. Elizabeth, who died last, succeeded to all the estate, and bequeathed it, excepting a few small legacies, to the Associate Synod of North America, for the education of indigent students for the ministry. Speaking of the sisters, Dr. A. F. McOill, a professor in Princeton college, said : '• A family dear to me. in the recollections of early manhood ;. and whose memory I cherish in my old age, fondly and gratefully. Theirs was a delightful home, and these noble, grand women, are household names with me."