Sgt. Richard Pile

GEDCOM Note

Birth: Dec. 14, 1761 Richmond Henrico County Virginia, USA

Death: Mar. 23, 1816 Jeffersonville Clark County Indiana, USA

The lineage of the family of this name is ancient and honorable. The men on both sides served their country well both in war and peace and wherever found were among the sturdy citizens of their respective communities. We first hear of Dr. Richard Pile, who lived in Virginia when she was a colony of Great Britain. His son and namesake was apprenticed to the saddler's trade but ran away to join the patriot army in the war of the Revolution. He served for a time in the Eighth Virginia Regiment under General Jonathan Clark, and this body of troops rendered valiant service at the storming of Stony Point. He was also with Washington as sergeant at Valley Forge. After the war he settled in Kentucky, where he married Rebecca Clifton, of the vicinity of Bardstown. Sometime before 1798 he moved to Springville, near Charlestown, but later he removed to Jeffersonville His wife was a famous cook and prepared the dinner for the surveyors who platted the town. One of his sisters married Evan, brother of Isaac Shelly, the first Governor of Kentucky. Another sister married an ancestor of Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, of Civil war fame. Richard Pile died in 1816, and about 1820 his widow married Thomas Morgan, of Jeffersonville, by whom she had one daughter, Elizabeth, who subsequently became the wife of Samuel Athey, and removed with him to Missouri. Richard and Rebecca (Clifton) Pile had four children: Marston Green Clark, Burdett Clifton, Mary and Margaret. The elder brother (Marston Green Clark Pile) was the first white child born in Clark county, his native place being what was then called Fort Finney, but afterward Fort Steuben.

Page 601, Captain Lewis C. Baird, Baird's History of Clark County, Indiana, B.F. Brown Company, Publishers, Indianapolis, Indiana 1909.

Family links: Spouse: Rebecca Clifton Pile (1772 - 1858)*

Children: Marston Green Clark Pile (1802 - 1860)* Burdett Clifton Pile (1805 - 1885)

Note: Cenotaph. Originally buried in Old City Cemetery, Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Burial: Eastern Cemetery * Jeffersonville Clark County Indiana, USA

• Cenotaph

Find A Grave Memorial# 91601639

Another version:

Richard Pile, Sergeant, Revolutionary War, served in Captain Joseph Mitchell's company, 12th Virginia Regiment, under Colonel James Wood, enlisting January 17, 1777, for three years, and in September of that year was appointed sergeant. In December, 1777, he was transferred to Captain Thomas Bowyer's company, same regiment, and later to Major Jonathan Clark's company, 8th and 12th Virginia Regiment; this company was transferred to the 8th Virginia Regiment in October, 1778. He was transferred in May, 1779, to Captain Robert Gamble's company, 8th Virginia Regiment. The last mention of his name on the rolls was dated December 1, 1779, at Scon River, near Newark, with the remark "on guard." He was at Valley Forge from February to May, 1778. His name is on the list of sergeants who returned from Stony Point, New York, when it was taken July 15, 1779, under Captain Robert Gamble, 7th and 8th Virginia Regiments.

Connecticut, 1600s-1800s Local Families and Histories, New England Families, Vol. II, Genealogies and Memorials, Page 849.

Early trustee of Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1802.

Richard was known as "Wolf Killer" and was a founder of Jeffersonville, Indiana. One of his sons was supposedly the first white child born in the Indiana Territory (citations needed).