Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Hanna relative was an early US Congressman & commander during Whiskey Rebellion

Just found some interesting information on the Hanna side of the family I discovered last year (the Scottish side of our family).  John Hanna, our ancestor who brought the Hanna family to America, was born in Ulster, Ireland in 1700.  He was the great great grandfather of Adeline Hanna who married Jonathan Ringer (my great great grandparents).  According to a book on the Hanna's I found online at ancestry.com, we learn the following:

John Hanna came to this country in 1731.  He located on Neshaminy Creek, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a few years; next we find him in East Fallowfield township, Chester County, where John purchased land June 1743.  Next we find him in New Jersey.  John was born in 1700; he was united in marriage to Jane Andre in Ulster.  John died March 8, 1770.  Jane (Andre) Hanna died in December, 1774.  They had a son, John, born in mid-ocean, who became the highly esteemed pastor of Bethlehem, Kindwood, and Alexandria, New Jersey.  He was united in marriage to Mary McCrea.  John and Mary (McCrea) Hanna had a son, John Andre Hanna born 1762, who in after years became the noted lawyer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
On FindAGrave.com we find additional information about John Andre Hanna:

A 1782 graduate of Princeton College, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1783. A member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, he was appointed brigadier general of the Dauphin County Brigade in 1793 and was in command during the Whisky Insurrection of that year. He was elected as a Democratic Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania, serving from 1797 until his death in 1805 
According to Wikipedia, John Andre Hanna was a brigadier general of the Dauphin County Brigade and was in command during the famous Whiskey Rebellion where President George Washington led troops into Pennsylvania to collect whiskey taxes.



Here's the wikipedia entry link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Hanna