Archibald CRAWFORD

1733 - 1806  (72 years)

• Name	Archibald CRAWFORD  [1]
  	born on the ship coming from Ireland. Son of John & Jane Henderson Crawford. Information researched and provided by Robert Crawford ****************** Archibald Crawford 1779 , Pound Ridge, New York Archibald Crawford was the second son of John and Jane (Henderson) Crawford. John and Jane came to America from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, in 1733, and Archibald was born on the ocean 13 Aug 1733. They were Episcopalians and christened Archibald in New York. Archibald lived with his parents in Stanford, Conn., until 1744 when they moved to Pound Ridge, N.Y., where he lived for 52 years. In 1763 he married Mary Benedict, he being 30 years old and she 23 years old. They lived on the farm that was bequeathed to him by his father. The house was situated on the south side of the valley, in which ran the Beaver Dam creek, with a very pleasant view up and down the valley and the bold Black Hills on the other side. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Archibald had five sons, the oldest being 12 years old. As Pound Ridge was on the main line, the two army lines and military operations were acted out through this area all through the war. Raids were common, and one battle was fought there. The people lived in constant fear of personal injury and robbery by the soldiers or the hated "Cowboys" and "Skinners" who hovered around, whose special business was to rob everyone of whatever they could collect. On 2 Jul 1779 Col. Tarlton of the British army with 400 soldiers on horse and foot made a raid on Pound Ridge for the purpose of capturing a company of Continental troops, about 100 in number, who were stationed there. The British were misled in their approach to Pound Ridge, and instead of reaching the place early in the morning and surprising the Americans, they did not arrive until 9:00 a.m. where they found Col. Sheldon, the American commander, with his company drawn up in battle ready to meet them. After a short skirmish, the Americans retreated two miles where they were reinforced by the infantry. They returned and pursued the British for several miles. The loss in killed, wounded and prisoners was about equal on both sides. The British burned two or three houses and committed other depredations. Col. Sheldon had posted a sentry on the hill just west of Archibald's house to watch the approach of the enemy and to give the alarm. When they came in sight, the sentry gave the alarm. Archibald and his family heard the horseman's cry as he passed the house, and soon after that the British soldiers marched past and they heard sounds of the battle. Archibald was disqualified for military duty because of a deformed right hand, being without three fingers, yet because of his active sympathy with the Americans, rendered himself as obnoxious to the British, and he was spotted as one of those to be punished. In the autumn of 1779 a company of soldiers visited him and burned his house. From 10 of his grandchildren, who had the account from those who were present, we learn the following particulars. The soldiers appeared before the house quite early in the morning, about the time the family was rising from their beds. Two of them went into the house while the other soldiers kept watch in the road. They began breaking up the furniture and making a fire to set the house on fire. They threw fire brands in the bureau among the clothing. The room was soon in flames and smoke. The family was driven out into the road. Archibald thought that all of the family were out and into safety in all this confusion until the soldiers in the road saw one of the children still in the house at one of the windows. They came running in crying, "For God's sake, don't burn the man's children." It was little Archie, age 7, who was then in danger and would soon perish if not rescued. His father worked his way up the stairs through the smoke and caught Archie up in his arms, wrapped him in a quilt, and made their way down the stairs through smoke and flame to safety. So hastily were they driven out and so sudden the destruction that they had no time to save anything except one bed. Archibald was in a bad situation with winter doming on, an aged mother, his wife, Mary, pregnant, and five children without a house to live in. Everything had burned with his house. Most of the neighbors had been ransacked by the soldiers or by the hated "Cowboys" and had been through the same torture as Archibald. But they still had the barn. Boards and whatever else could be found was used to make the barn as comfortable as the neighbors' help could make it. The barn was partitioned off and a large pot ash kettle placed in the center in which a fire was made to cook and to warm with. In that manner they spent the cold winter. When Mary's time of confinement was drawing near, Mr. & Mrs. Wood opened their home to her so she could be more comfortable and secluded than in their barn home. In the Woods' home on 19 Apr 1780 little Robert was born. In jest Mr. Wood claimed him as his boy, and later on that proved to be a fact, as the Woods' had a daughter, Debra, born to them three years later, and when she was 16 years old, she married Robert. Archibald, who was 7 years old when Robert was born, married an older sister, Mary Wood. Taken from a family history written by a John Crawford descendant. Posted on Find a Grave
  Birth	13 Aug 1733	At Sea   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	08 Jun 1806	Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, New York   [2]
  Person ID	I14319	Main Tree
  Last Modified	15 Jun 2022

  
  

  Father	John CRAWFORD,   b. Ireland
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Jane HENDERSON,   b. 1709, County Tyrone, Ireland
  Relationship	Birth
  Family ID	F24601	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Rachel BENEDICT,   b. 27 Feb 1745, Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
  Family ID	F24600	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 13 Aug 1733 - At Sea  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S03449] The Genealogy of the Benedicts in America by Henry Marvin Benedict. [S02329] Find A Grave Website.