John B McFerrin Author:Oscar Penn Fitzgerald Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A GENEALOGICAL GLANCE. (To be skipped if you will.) THE McFerrins emigrated from Ireland to America about 1750. They settled in York County, Pennsylvania. ... more »The family connection consisted of three brothers and their young families. The descendants of one of the three removed to the western part of that State. The Rev. Dr. McFerrin, an able and respected minister of the Presbyterian Church, lived for many years near P1ttsburgh. William McFerrin, the grandfather of John B. McFerrin, removed to Augusta County, Virginia, in 1765, where he was married to Jane Laughlin. John Laughlin, the father of James, was married to Jane Matthews, and was reared within two miles of Belfast, Ireland. They emigrated to America in 1753, and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His son James married a Miss Duncan, and the grandmother of John B. McFerrin was one of their numerous offspring. These Duncans indulged a pardonable pride in a family tradition that they were remotely connected with the once royal family of Scotland. (The most demoeratic of Americans are seldom indifferent to the fact of having a noble ancestry.) The Laughlins and Duncans became numerous families, and intermarried with the Singletons, the Kings, the Sharps, the Prices, the Vances, the Berrys, the Youngs, the Porters, and many others. The Laughlins were noted for their muscular strength and courage. These qualities were highly valued atthat day, and many striking incidents were related concerning these strong and dauntless people. One of these was the grandmother of J. B. McFerrin. She was small of stature, weighing only one hundred and ten pounds, but was a woman of extraordinary bodily strength. She became the mother of nine children, all of whom lived to reach maturity and developed into remarkable physical vi...« less