Samuel D. Darby, II

Hannah Owen was first cousin

According to DAR application by Lucille Scott:

He served  in Captain William Garthwait's Co. a part of Edward Thomas  First Regiment Battalion:  Essex, Co. New Jersey Militia 1776 . 

"The Ordinance of August 11, 1776 detached one-half of the militia to join the Flying Camp and authorized the finding of men refusing to serve. Pursuant to this ordinance, Captain Garthwait, on October 24, 1776 ordered the sergeants of his Company to make sale of goods belong to the Privates of the company to the value of 3 pounds. Samuel D. Darby appears to have refused the service required as his name is included on the list. In July of 1777, in Essex County, re received pay for the boarding (nursing etc.) one Benjamin Conkling, who had been wounded in an engagement a Westfield; he also received certificates from the Quarter-master engagement at Westfield; he also received certificates from the Quartermaster General's Department for pasturing horse, carting, etc. There are indications the family received rough treatment from British soldiers during the period of the war. Between 1774 and 1784., he removed from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Pennsylvania, perhaps remaining a while enroute at Bottle Hill (now Madison), NJ, where perhaps it was he, on May 24, 1780, who offered a reward for the return of a horse, strayed or stolen. About 1784 or 1800 he arrived in West Virginia (then Virginia) with his family and in the company of one Benjamin Trembly. Perhaps he settled on a farm in the vicinity of Hopewell, Preston (the Monongalia) County or perhaps settled on farm known as the Miller Place near Clifton Mills in the same county.

At the time of his arrival, there was a general resumption of hostilities with the Indians, making it necessary to fort against them; Old Fort Morris, in 1774, was located in the 'Sandy Creek Glades' on land belonging to one Richard Morris, a stockade fort, it provided safety for residents in Washington County PA as well as those living near Morgantown. Samuel D. Darby is recorded as doing much toward establishing a favorable condition of affairs in the county. In 1796, he is recorded as being a witness to the will of James McCollum. Samuel D. died in Preston County and he is buried with his wife in a farm cemetery on a high hill along Sandy Creek; the crude grave stones, located in the midst of a crab apple thicket were still readable in the 1930's"

He married Hannah Darby, she being his first cousin, the daughter of William Darby and Patience Frazee Darby, of union County, NJ."