| i. | MARY5 THRUSH, b. 1830. |
| ii. | WILLIAM THRUSH, b. 1835. |
| iii. | JOHN THRUSH, b. 1845. |
| i. | SAMUEL5 THRUSH, b. July 17, 1825, NEWTON TWP, CUMB. CO, PA; d. 1899, HAGERSTOWN, MD. NEAR STATE LINE; m. NANCY R ALLEN. |
| ii. | ELIAS THRUSH, d. NEWBURG, CUMB. CO; m. HAMSTER HAMILTON. |
| iii. | WILSON THRUSH, b. 1833, HAGERSTOWN MD; d. 1903, KANSAS; m. SUSAN GAYMAN. |
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Notes for WILSON THRUSH: -67- who held title to the same until 1796, when it was sold to Frederick and Anthony Klippinger. They or their heirs had possession to 1820, dividing in the meantime the larger tract into smaller farms. In 1820, or shortly thereafter, Jacob Haldeman became the owner of Black Manor and his heirs in 1886 conveyed the same to Christian Long, who sold in 1869 to D. W. Thrush. In 1875, after the death of Mr. Thrush, it was purchased by Ira C. Long, a son of Christian Long, and it is now owned by some of the heirs of said Ira C. Long. Following the War of the Rebellion there was a great advance in the price of farm land and Mr. Thrush paid for this farm about $27,000.00, a price that was thought not excessive for the time. Following the panic of 1873, land values depreciated very greatly and this farm when sold by his estate in the fall of 1875 brought a little over $16,000. For the five years that Mr. Thrush lived on this farm he attended continuously to his law practice, going daily to his office in Shippensburg while overseeing the farm operations and owning the stock and farm equipment, and employing by the year a tenant farmer. During this interval of five years he employed three different farmers. First was John Meredith, whose wife was Kate Grafton of near Keefers Store. They had Wilson and Maggie, about the writer's age, and one or two younger children whose names are not now recalled. James Henry followed. His wife was a Brandt and they had four sons. John, the oldest, was -68- married and not with his parents; Samuel, Daniel and Perry were employed on the farm. Then came John Hutchinson, who was the farmer at the time of the death of Mr. Thrush. Hutchinson had a family. Their names I do not recall. D. W. Thrush was active in the organization of the Cumberland Valley State Normal School and assisted in securing its location at Shippensburg. He made one of the principal addresses at the laying of the corner stone of the main building, the first to be built, on May 30, 1870. Dr. Thrush was married February 5, 1865 to Mary Ann Bollinger, daughter of Joseph and Lydia (Johns) Bollinger of Greene Township, Franklin County, Pa. They began housekeeping in the brick house on the hill in Shippensburg and removed to the farm in 1870, where they lived until the death of Mr. Thrush in 1875. After her husband's death Mrs. Thrush disposed of the personal property and the farm and in December, 1875, removed to the home of her mother in Greene Township, Franklin County, where she continued to reside with her two children until the death of her mother in 1883. She then removed to a farm close by Air Hill Dunker Church belonging to her brother, Jacob Bollinger, and lived here five years. In the fall of 1887 she purchased at assignee sale for $74.50 per acre the ninety-five (95) acre farm of John S. Lehman in Greene Township adjoining the Bollinger homestead. Here she lived until the time of her -69- death in 1909. This farm originally contained four hundred and fifty acres and was first granted to one James Finley by warrant dated in 1785. The original buildings stood a short distance south and across the Loudon Road from the present buildings. The site of the house is still marked by an abandoned well. The "Old Loudon Road" cut through the wilderness in 1755 passes through this farm. Ownership of this farm passed from Finley to Judge George Chambers, who built the present barn, then to Daniel S. Reisher, Edward Grove and John S. Lehman, from whose assignees it was purchased by Mrs. Mary Ann Thrush. In the meantime it had been divided at various times and portions sold until the portion on which the original and the present building are located contained ninety five acres. Daniel Webster and Mary Ann (Bollinger) Thrush were the parents of two children, Ambrose Watts Thrush, born Dec. 23, 1865, in the home in Shippensburg; Nancy Lydia Thrush, born Feb. 1, 1875, on the farm south of Shippensburg, Pa. D. W. Thrush was six feet tall, broad shouldered, muscular and lean; he weighed about 180 lbs. His hair was dark brown, slightly wavy at temples. His eyes were grey blue, rather deeply set, with heavy eyebrows and high forehead. He wore a full beard always clipped moderately short and the upper lip shaven. He always was dressed in long coat, usually black, with a tall silk hat and was fastidious as to boots and neckwear. He was an admirer of good stock and always drove high -70- spirited horses, usually a pair. He bought at a considerable price the first pure bred short horn Durham cattle seen in his community. He bred a number of varieties of fancy chickens, keeping each variety in a separate pen. He had a flock of Chinese geese which at that time were new to the community. His fish ponds were well stocked with brook trout and he had 18 to 20 skeps of bees. He had a fondness for experimenting with new seeds and plants. He grew new varieties of wheat, oats, corn, etc. in small experimental plots and was first to introduce the early rose potato in his neighborhood. He was a member of the Agricultural Society, which met regularly in Shippensburg and took an active interest in its affairs. Mr. Thrush was a close student of men and affairs, a great reader, a good conversationalist, a versatile writer and a ready public pseaker. He was a man of good habits, never used alcoholic stimulants and for a number of years, at least, did not use tobacco in any form. He was not a politician in the usual sense of the word and never held an elective public office, but always was interested actively in community, state and national affairs. Mr. Thrush was born of Lutheran parentage and from his boyhood days was a member of the Lutheran Church in Shippensburg and seldom was absent from the Sunday morning service. D. W. Thrush was a man with strong willpower, great determination and was unusually energetic. He voluntarily -71- assumed responsibilities and financial obligations that the average man would hestitate or refuse to assume and he met the same successfully. When he bought the farm in 1869, he incurred a heavy indebtedness, when land values were very high, following the War of the Rebellion. The financial crisis and depression which became general throughout the United States, four years later, was not anticipated in 1869. The marked decrease in land values and the great depreciation in values in all lines of industry that came with the panic of 1873 made financial obligations more difficult to meet and affected everyone. The exactions of a considerable law practice, the demands made upon his time and energy by the management of an extensive farming operation with its many details, added to the worry and care of personal financial problems, were the indirect causes of his untimely death. The load became too heavy, the strain too great, and his physical and mental powers were taxed beyond their ability to withstand. The very first break occurred during the night of May 30, 1870. On this day he had delivered an address at the laying of the corner stone of the first building for the Normal School. This address was spoken of as "a forceful and scholarly address." During the night following, Mr. Thrush lost consciousness for a brief time. The next day he was around as usual and in a day or two apparently was fully recovered. These lapses of consciousness recurred, at first, at irregular intervals of six or eight months, but gradually became -72- more frequent and more severe and lasted longer, with more protracted recovery and lessened physical vigor, until August 1, 1875. On this day he was transacting business in his office in Shippensburg, as usual, with several clients present, when he was seized suddenly and without warning with a severe apoplexy. The degeneration of brain tissue, coming with the repeated attack of unconsciousness during the past five years, was the direct cause of an apoplexy and led to the diagnosis by the family physician, Robert C. Stewart, M.D. of Shippensburg, of Chronic Interstitial Cerebral Softening, followed by apoplexy. Mr. Thrush was conveyed to his home immediately and remained unconscious until the morning of the 9th of August, when for a few minutes he apparently regained consciousness, spoke briefly to the family and then lapsed again into unconsciousness and in a few hours passed to the great unknown beyond. His funeral was held on Aug. 12, 1875, which, had he lived, would have been his forty-fifth birthday. The funeral services were in charge of Rev. Dr. B. F. Alleman, pastor of the Lutheran Church in Shippensburg at this time, and a second cousin of the deceased. More than one hundred vehicles followed the remains to Spring Hill Cemetery, where they were placed in the family plot. David Criswell, then in business in Shippensburg, was the undertaker in charge and his son, Craig Criswell, living in Greenvillage, was driver of the hearse. -73- SHE CERTAINLY HAD BACKGROUND TO WIN DISTINCTION IN MUSIC, ART THE EVENING NEWS It's only natural that Mrs. Ethel Gray Thrush should have won distinction in music, art and history. Her early life was touched by such classical cities as Troy and Athens, although both are in Bradford County. It was in Troy that she was graduated from high school and in Athens that she taught school for a year. While their paths never crossed, Ethel Gray and Stephen Collins Foster, the composer, both moved through Athens in their early lives. And while Mrs. Thrush never will achieve immortality, she's coming a lot closer than Foster. That's because Mrs. Thrush, of 222 N. Prince St., will be 97 on Monday. So, she qualifies also in history as an antiquarian herself -- her girlhood memories are ancient history -- and as a descendant not only of Lady Jane Grey, nine days the Queen of England in 1553, but of one of those who came to America in 1620 on the Mayflower. Ethel Gray was only a year out of the Conservatory of Art and Music at Mansfield and teaching in Athens, when the call went out from Shippensburg Normal School for someone qualified to head up the Music Department. The recommendation from Mansfield for Ethel Gray was impressive and she got the job. While this was 1906, which may or may not have predated the -74- once-popular song "Crazy Over Horses," it was Ethel Gray's great admiration of the horse and buggy driven by a young man around town that rang down the curtain on her campus teaching career only four years after it began. But the four years were long enough to win the favor of the undergraduates, for she was selected as faculty dean of the graduating class for the 1910 ceremonies. And, she recalls one of the favorite tricks played on freshmen students in those days was directing them to save all their socks needing mending and deliver them to the wife of the college president for darning. Charles Thrush was holder of a name long noted in the Cumberland Valley and the third generation of the Thrush family in the buggy building firm known as Thrush and Stouch. The vehicles they made were said by Mrs. Thrush to be the Cadillac of buggies. But the buggy business was on the wane and Thrush -after a year as a car dealer about 1918 - took a job with the General State Authority and served 40 years before retiring. When Ethel Gray married Charles William Thrush in 1910, she violated a firm rule of the college in those days, because a married woman was not allowed to teach. So, she began giving piano and voice lessons privately in her home. And while piano lessons today cost about $4 for a half-hour, Mrs. Thrush in those early days before World War I charged only 50 cents for a 45-minute lesson. -75- Looking back to her private teaching career, Mrs. Thrush figures she must have taught "everybody in Cumberland County" at one time or another, with a passing parade of 40 students each week for at least a quarter-century. She stopped teaching in 1936 when her son Charles died, but continued directing three church choirs and singing soprano solos in Grace Evangelical Reformed Church. Mrs. Thrush said she was in demand throughout the valley for both classical and religious vocal renditions, but she hit a high note one day in 1936. A founding member in 1845 with Henry Lewars and twice president of the Shippensburg Historical Society, Mrs. Thrush also was big in the U.S. Daughters of the War of 1812, in which James Gray, her ancestor, had served. So, as national music chairman of the 1812s, she sang "The Star Spangled Banner," backed by the Marine Band, when the group convened 41 years ago at Washington's Willard Hotel. After her husband was killed and she was injured seriously in an automobile accident in 1959, Mrs. Thrush depended on her creative talents in the art field as an outlet for her energy and imagination. She also injoyed the game of bridge, although she gave up her music completely after the accident. Today, the Thrush home is a veritable showcase of the art objects created by Ethel Thrush. Although her eyesight is failing, Mrs. Thrush still manages -76- an occasional game of canasta and solitaire - her days with the artist's brush apparently are over. And she still enjoys socializing at the frequent soirees held by her daughter, Virginia, at their spacious home here. But, not so much as going out to eat and spending several hours shopping at one of the large malls. A one-hour nap after breakfast and another half-hour after lunch is all this grande dame needs to be off and going again. Approaching 97, Mrs. Thrush has no great social commentary to offer the world about the way it was then and the way it is now. Yet, one thing she offered may have said it all: "We never had to lock the doors when I was a little girl." Everybody wants to leave something for posterity. For Ethel Thrush, in addition to her art and the heritage of music she brought to the valley, she is proud of starting an organization that continues to make a community contribution. As president of the Shippensburg Civic Club from 1938-41, Ethel Gray Thrush was instrumental in starting the Junior Civic Club. "They've been doing great work everywhere" she said. |
| iv. | MARY JANE THRUSH, b. September 20, 1840, OHIO; d. August 21, 1921, INDIANA; m. JAMES MCKNIGHT. |
| i. | EDGAR STEPHEN5 THRUSH, b. 1852. |
| i. | GEORGE W.5 THRUSH, b. 1828, SOUTHAMPTON TWP, CUMB. CO, PA; d. 1924; m. MARGRET MCCLURE. |
| ii. | JOHN THRUSH, m. SARAH THRUSH. |
| iii. | HENRY THRUSH, b. SOUTHAMPTON, PA; d. INDIANA; m. ELLEN ANDERSON. |
| iv. | BARBARA THRUSH, m. JEREMIAH OTT. |
| v. | ELIZABETH THRUSH, m. HARRY CLAIR. |
| vi. | MARTIN THRUSH, b. 1850, MARION ,PA.; d. 1923, PHILEDELPHIA, PA; m. EMMA ETTER. |
| i. | CATHRINE5 WHITMER. |
| ii. | JOHN WITMER. |
| iii. | ELIZABETH WHITMER. |
| iv. | MARY WITMER. |
| v. | JACOB WITMER. |
| vi. | PETER WITMER. |
| i. | WILLIAM5 THRUSH. |
| ii. | HENRY THRUSH, b. 1840. |
| iii. | JOHN THRUSH, b. March 4, 1822. |
| iv. | EDWARD THRUSH. |
| v. | JANE THRUSH. |
| vi. | SOPHIA THRUSH, b. August 21, 1814; m. DANIEL DUKE. |
| i. | CATHRINE5 THRUSH. |
| ii. | RACHAEL THRUSH. |
| iii. | ANNIE THRUSH. |
| iv. | DANIEL THRUSH. |
| v. | JOSEPH THRUSH. |
| vi. | JOHN THRUSH. |
| vii. | EMMA THRUSH. |
| viii. | CAROLINE THRUSH, m. EDWARD STAHLER. |
| ix. | MARY MAGDALENE THRUSH, m. SAMUEL EVINGER. |
| i. | ESAMEISH5 THRUSH, b. January 24, 1825. |
| ii. | MOSES THRUSH, b. October 22, 1827. |
| i. | EDWARD5 STAHLER, m. CAROLINE THRUSH. |
| i. | DANIEL WEBSTER5 THRUSH, b. August 12, 1830, SOUTHAMPTON TWP, FRANKLIN CO; d. August 9, 1875, SOUTHAMPTON TWP, CUMB CO; m. MARY ANN BOLLINGER, February 5, 1865, SHIPPENSBURG, PA. |
| ii. | ELIAS THRUSH, b. October 24, 1832, SOUTHAMPTON TWP, FRANKLIN CO. PA; m. EMMA VENDERSOULE. |
| iii. | MARY ANN THRUSH, b. October 24, 1835, SOUTHAMPTON TWP, CUMB CO, PA; d. January 13, 1910, CHAMBERSBURG, PA; m. ISRAEL JOHNS BOLLINGER, December 29, 1868. |
| iv. | SARAH S. THRUSH, b. 1838; d. 1865. |
| v. | DAVID LEONARD THRUSH, b. 1843, SOUTHAMPTON TWP, FRANKLIN CO, PA; d. 1913, OAKVILLE, PA; m. HARRIET YOUNDT. |
| vi. | EMMA JANE THRUSH, b. June 9, 1848; d. March 21, 1852. |
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