“When Margaret Lynn Lewis married Mr. McFarlane, of Pittsburgh, and left the parental roof, she traveled through a wilderness infested with hostile Indians till she reached that place. Once, when they least apprehended danger, a war whoop was heard, her husband taken prisoner, the tomahawk raised and she averted her eyes to avoid witnessing the fatal stroke. The river was between them and she, with her infant and maid servant, of course endeavored to fly, knowing the inevitable consequences of delay. After starting, the servant reminded Mrs. McFarlane of her husband’s money and valuable papers, but she desired the girl not to mention anything of that sort at such a moment; but, regardless of the commands of her mistress, the servant returned to the dwelling, bringing with her all of the money and as many of the papers as she could hold in her apron, overtaking, in a short time, her mistress, as the snow was three feet deep. On looking back she saw the house in flames, and pursuing their journey with incredible fatigue, reached the house of Colonel Crawford, a distance of fourteen miles. The contemporary account of this event is found in letters from the frontier, written to the officers of the Pennsylvania Government at Philadelphia and made public in later years. “Two British subalterns, two Chippewa and two Iroquois Indians were sent by the commandant of Fort Niagara, to descend to Allegheny. “On February 25, 1777, they arrived opposite the little settlement of Kittanning. Standing on the shore, they shouted toward the far shore, calling for a canoe. Thinking the Indians had come to trade or to bring important news McFarlane decided to venture across. The instant he stepped from his boat he was seized by the savages and told he was their prisoner. His capture was witnessed by his wife and some men at the settlement.” At the time Andrew McFarlane was captured, his brother James was a lieutenant in the First Pennsylvania of the Continental Line. It was through his personal efforts that Andrew was exchanged, in the fall of 1780. The released man immediately rejoined his wife and child at Staunton, and they soon afterward returned to the vicinity of Pittsburgh. Kittanning being deserted and exposed, Andrew McFarlane opened a store on Chartier’s Creek, where he lived for many years. His eldest son, Andrew, doubtless the infant whom Mrs. McFarlane carried in her arms when she fled from Kittanning, became one of the pioneer settlers on the Shenango, near the present New Castle, Pa., and his descendants are numerous in Lawrence County. ---------- Westmoreland County, Last Under Proprietary, Erected February 26, 1773