When the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, revolutionary tendencies had been brewing for a long time. Since the French and Indian War and the Intolerable Acts, the continental settlers had been on a path to separate from British rule. Though Greene County had not yet been established, nor her parent Washington County (Greene was established in 1796 and Washington in 1781), many settlers living within what are now our current county boundaries played roles in the War for Independence.
A great many settlers and pioneers of Greene County were veterans of the Revolutionary War—far too many to be named in one short writing—and their contribution to the war cannot be understated. The desire for independence in Greene County was strong. Here are a few brief stories of these pioneer patriots.
Colonel John Minor, Father of Greene County.
It would be remiss to mention any Revolutionary soldier or pioneer of Greene County without discussing John Minor, one of the earliest (if not the earliest) permanent settlers in what would become Greene County. John was born January 5, 1747, in Winchester, Virginia to Stephen and Athalia (Updyke) Minor. With roots tracing back on the continent over a century before his birth, John was a descendant of early New England settler Thomas Minor who landed in the New World in 1629 aboard the ship “The Lyons Whelp.” Thomas later became known for helping found the town of Stonington, Connecticut, and was well remembered for his preserved diary giving an account of his life throughout the mid-17th century.
Around the age 18, John Minor traveled by foot, along with a man by the name of Jeremiah Glasgow, from Winchester, VA to Whitely Creek to scout out a settlement for his family. The following year, approximately 1765, Minor returned to Whitely Creek and permanently settled in what eventually became Greene County. There, on his land on Whitely Creek, John established the first mill in Greene County and was an early member of Goshen Baptist Church, now Corbly Memorial Church, in Garrards Fort.
In 1777, John Minor came into the service of the Continental Army as a captain, where he took command of military fortifications in Garrards Fort and at Statler’s Fort on Dunkard Creek near what is now Pentress, WV, just across the Pennsylvania state line. It is said that later in his military career, Minor received a commission of colonel from Patrick Henry, though this has never been confirmed. John served for over seven years in service to the Continental Army and after the war remained a prominent citizen and local leader in the region. John was responsible for the legislative act that separated Greene County from Washington County on February 9, 1796. John died on December 5, 1833, at the age of 86 and is buried in the old cemetery in Greensboro on Third Street.
Thomas Kent
Thomas Kent, ancestor of the Kent family of Greene County, was born in County Derry, Ireland on March 1, 1748, and baptized in St. Columb’s Cathedral on April 13, 1749. Very little is known of his early life and ancestry, other than he had an older sister Elizabeth who was born in 1745 or 46. In the 1760s or 1770s, Thomas was among the throngs of immigrants coming to the new world to create a better life.
Thomas settled initially in Maryland, alongside of the Smith family, creating a bond between the two families that lasted for well over a century. In March 1774, the Kent and Smith families left Maryland and started exploring Tenmile Creek in Franklin Township just south of Waynesburg, preparing to settle there permanently.
The outbreak of the Revolutionary War interrupted this settlement, when on July 1, 1776, just days before the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, Thomas enlisted in Captain Maxwells Company at Battle Swamp in Cecil County, Maryland. Thomas’ service brought him directly into the presence of General George Washington; he was alongside him during the famous crossing of the Delaware on Christmas Night in 1776. Thomas’s enlistment expired soon after, and he was discharged on April 1, 1777. He finally achieved his goal of settling in future Greene County, but not at Tenmile Creek where he had explored with the Smith family. Instead, he settled a tract of land just west of what is now Waynesburg.
There, Thomas would farm his land and live the simple life of a pioneer until his death on January 8, 1835. Initially, Thomas was buried in the old “Hookstown” Cemetery near where McCracken’s Pharmacy is now. In the 1930s, as development encroached on the site of the cemetery, Thomas Kent’s grave along with that of his wife, Ann (Ralston) Kent, was moved to the Greene County Memorial Park near Jefferson where they remain resting in peace.
Benjamin Garrison
Benjamin Garrison is perhaps a very obscure and little-known patriot in Greene County history, but he has one claim to fame that no one else does, and that is that he lived to the ripe old age of 107.
Benjamin Garrison was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on May 13, 1738, and though only a resident of Greene County for a few years before his death on August 1, 1845 near the village of Bluff in Wayne Township, he was one of the last remaining Revolutionary War veterans living in the region.
In December 1776, at the age of 38, Benjamin enlisted at Pottstown, Pennsylvania as a trumpeter in Captain George VanHair’s troop of Dragoons. The troop of mounted men’s mission was to be constantly attached to the guard of the Commander-in-chief, and except for a brief period in 1777, Garrison’s unit did exactly that, guarding and protecting General George Washington. Garrison saw service at the Battle of Brandywine, Valley Forge and Monmouth, among other notable conflicts during the war. Garrison was discharged in 1779.
In 1780, Garrison was engaged as a privateer on board a ship to smuggle supplies from France for use in the Continental Army. Garrison’s ship was eventually captured by a British Man of War, and he was imprisoned in England for nine months until an exchange of prisoners was made, when he was sent home on a ship bound for South Carolina.
Little is known of Benjamin Garrison’s life in the early 19th century. In his older age he lived with his daughter Zibiah, wife of Adam Geho, and came with them when they settled in Greene County in the late 1830s or early 1840s. It was in their home that he died in 1845, and he is buried alongside Adam and Zibiah Geho in the Geho Cemetery near Bluff in Wayne Township.
With Independence Day right around the corner, let’s spend some time remembering these pioneer patriots that called our county home and the patriots in our own families. Some of these men were instrumental in the establishment of the county, as well as the founding of the nation.