Bill’s Family - Person Sheet
Bill’s Family - Person Sheet
Death23 Dec 1820, Allegheny County, PA, US273 Age: 70
OccupationCongressman
Military SvsAmerican Revolution, Captain Of Riflemen
FlagsLived in US
Cause of deathIllness
FatherJohn Tannehill , 2601, M (1724->1786)
MotherRachael Adamson , 2602, F (<1730-1809)
Misc. Notes
From “History of John and Rachael Tannehill and their Descendants” by Letitia Tannehill Coe 1903
Adamson Tannehill, the oldest son
of John and Rachel (Adamson) Tannehill, was born May 23rd, 1750 and was given the family name of Adamson, which was his mother’s maiden name. His maternal grandfather, John Adamson, took a special interest in the grandchild who bore his own name, and gave such pecuniary assistance as to secure from him a fine education. At the breaking out of the Revolution he was 26 years of age and had probably been engaged in business on his own account, but I do not in what was. The following biographical sketch was among some old letters and papers of my grandfather’s. It was probably written by his brother, Zachariah, and sent by him to my grandfather his brother Adamson’s death. “Died on the 23rd, of December 1820, General Adamson Tannehill, in the 71st year of his age”.
Gen. Tannehill was amongst the earliest volunteers in the cause of his country at the breaking out of the war that resulted in the establishment of American Independence. He marched from Maryland, of which state he was a native, in the month of __1776 as orderly sergeant in a rifle company commanded by Captain Price. In the month of September following he was promoted to third Lieutenancy in the company while lying before Boston, and soon after he received the commission of First Lieutenant.
He was at the taking of the Hessions at Trenton, and in the affairs at Princeton when the enemy was forced to abandon that village; the remainder of that campaign he spent on the enemy’s lines, with a special command from General Washington. In the year 1777 at the particular request of General Daniel Morgan, he joined the celebrated Partisan’s rifle corps of that officer, and acted as his Adjutant on the day on which Burgoyne surrendered to him at Saratoga; after that he marched to Frederickstown with a detachment of prisoners taken on that occasion. He was then ordered to Fr. Pittsburgh) with the remains of Rawlings regiment, which he commanded until the second reforming of the army. At the close of the war he received the Brevet of Lieutenant Colonel. From hence until his death Gen. Tannehill has resided in Pittsburgh. For two sessions he represented Allegheny and Butler counties in Congress, and on several occasions he has filled some of the most respectable offices. His remains were accompanied to the grave by a large concourse of his fellow citizens and were interred with military funeral honors by two of the Volunteer
Corps of that place”.
The following is an extract from a letter written to my grandfather by his brother Zachariah, dated:
Pittsburgh, December 1, 1812
Brother Adamson has been appointed Brigadier General of Pennsylvania Volunteers and marched from this place about two months ago. I heard from him yesterday. He had arrived safe at Black Rock, within half mile of the British lines, and it is supposed they will cross over the river in a few days to try to take Ft. Erie and Queenstown. He had 2000 fine men with him. I hope to hear better news from him than we had from that dastardly villain hull. Sallie joins me in our best wishes for your health. I intend this letter for Thomas Coulters also.
Z. A. Tannehill.
The following letter informs my grandfather of his brother’s death:
Grove Hill, Dec. 25, 1820.
My dear Sir:
Your brother, General Adamson Tannehill, died on Saturday morning last after an illness of seven days. He expired without a struggle, and was buried yesterday morning with the honors of war by the four volunteer companies of this place.
Then follows a request that grandfather collect some accounts due him from persons here, saying: “you will consider this your authority to do so”. Adding: “Mrs. Tannehill is at present in great need of money and it is absolutely necessary that all debts be collected”.
Uncle Tannehill made a will in which he left all his real and personal property to his wife, but it is encumbered with debts.
Yours, etc.,
Algernon H. Mountain,
Atty. for Mrs. Agnes Tannehill.
General Adamson Tannehill married Agnes Morgan. They had no children. She was usually called Nancy. This Algernon Mountain was a nephew of Aunt Agnes, whom she and great uncle Adamson had reared – I think from childhood – and at her death she willed him all the property inherited from her husband which at that time had become quite valuable. Among other property was ten acres of land in what is now the heart of Pittsburgh and which, until after the middle of the last century was held in one tract and called “Tannehill Land”. It has since been laid out in city lots, and one street is called Tannehill
Street, which serves to mark the locality.
The following is an extract from a letter received in 1895 from a great granddaughter of great Aunt Nancy Coulter:
I finally went to the cemetery one day last week. I found General Tannehill’s grave without any trouble. His remains were moved there in 1848. He has no monument, only one of those old slabs that covers the entire grave. There used to be a good many of them in the Perrysville graveyard. He is buried in the James B. Morgan lot; is some relation of theirs. The inscription on the slab is peculiar. The first line all run together in one word:
SACREDTOTHEMEMORYOF
ADAMSON TANNEHILL
WHO AFTER A LONG LIFE SPRNT
IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY
EXPIRED
DEC 23RD 1820
AGE 71 YEARS
His mother is not buried in the same cemetery. We will have to give her grave up. No one seems to know of a cemetery by the name of grove hill ever being in that city.
M. E. Christie.
I think this is Allegheny Cemetery where he now lies, although Mrs. Christie does not say so.
The following is from the record & pension office, War Department:
Jan 15th 1902
It appears from the records that one Adamson Tannehill was commissioned First Lieutenant July 1, 1776, but no further information relative to this soldier has been found of record.
The records also show that one Adamson Tannehill served as a Lieutenant in Captain Alexander Lawson Smith’s company of Lieutenant Colonel Moses Rawling’s Regiment of continental Troops, under command of Colonel Daniel Morgan of the 11th, Virginia Regiment, Revolutionary War. The war commissioned July 11,1776, and his name last appears on a muster roll dated August 5,1777, which bears the remark – “on command”.
The records show that one Adamson Tannehill served as a Brigadier General during the war of 1812. His name appears on the rolls of the field officers and regimental staff of the 1st Brigade Pennsylvania Militia, war of 1812, with remarks:
Commencement of service September 25,1812
Expiration of service, or of this settlement, November 25, 1812.
Term charged two months”.
Other records show that his term of service commenced September
25, 1812 and expired Dec. 25, 1812.
By authority of the secretary of war.
I have arrived at the conclusion that the records of the war department, in the early years of our republic, were very carelessly kept, or that some of the present clerks in that department are not anxious to work more than is required to hold their positions. I am led to this opinion by the fact that the records gave you a more explicit account of his service than they gave me, and the similarity of the two records prove conclusively that they have reference to the same person.
My grandfather told me that his brother Adamson was, at birth, a puny babe of hands length, but when he reached manhood was six feet in height, well proportioned and of commanding appearance. His wife, Agnes, died in August 1827 and is probably laid to rest at hi side.
Adamson Tannehill, the oldest son
of John and Rachel (Adamson) Tannehill, was born May 23rd, 1750 and was given the family name of Adamson, which was his mother’s maiden name. His maternal grandfather, John Adamson, took a special interest in the grandchild who bore his own name, and gave such pecuniary assistance as to secure from him a fine education. At the breaking out of the Revolution he was 26 years of age and had probably been engaged in business on his own account, but I do not in what was. The following biographical sketch was among some old letters and papers of my grandfather’s. It was probably written by his brother, Zachariah, and sent by him to my grandfather his brother Adamson’s death. “Died on the 23rd, of December 1820, General Adamson Tannehill, in the 71st year of his age”.
Gen. Tannehill was amongst the earliest volunteers in the cause of his country at the breaking out of the war that resulted in the establishment of American Independence. He marched from Maryland, of which state he was a native, in the month of __1776 as orderly sergeant in a rifle company commanded by Captain Price. In the month of September following he was promoted to third Lieutenancy in the company while lying before Boston, and soon after he received the commission of First Lieutenant.
He was at the taking of the Hessions at Trenton, and in the affairs at Princeton when the enemy was forced to abandon that village; the remainder of that campaign he spent on the enemy’s lines, with a special command from General Washington. In the year 1777 at the particular request of General Daniel Morgan, he joined the celebrated Partisan’s rifle corps of that officer, and acted as his Adjutant on the day on which Burgoyne surrendered to him at Saratoga; after that he marched to Frederickstown with a detachment of prisoners taken on that occasion. He was then ordered to Fr. Pittsburgh) with the remains of Rawlings regiment, which he commanded until the second reforming of the army. At the close of the war he received the Brevet of Lieutenant Colonel. From hence until his death Gen. Tannehill has resided in Pittsburgh. For two sessions he represented Allegheny and Butler counties in Congress, and on several occasions he has filled some of the most respectable offices. His remains were accompanied to the grave by a large concourse of his fellow citizens and were interred with military funeral honors by two of the Volunteer
Corps of that place”.
The following is an extract from a letter written to my grandfather by his brother Zachariah, dated:
Pittsburgh, December 1, 1812
Brother Adamson has been appointed Brigadier General of Pennsylvania Volunteers and marched from this place about two months ago. I heard from him yesterday. He had arrived safe at Black Rock, within half mile of the British lines, and it is supposed they will cross over the river in a few days to try to take Ft. Erie and Queenstown. He had 2000 fine men with him. I hope to hear better news from him than we had from that dastardly villain hull. Sallie joins me in our best wishes for your health. I intend this letter for Thomas Coulters also.
Z. A. Tannehill.
The following letter informs my grandfather of his brother’s death:
Grove Hill, Dec. 25, 1820.
My dear Sir:
Your brother, General Adamson Tannehill, died on Saturday morning last after an illness of seven days. He expired without a struggle, and was buried yesterday morning with the honors of war by the four volunteer companies of this place.
Then follows a request that grandfather collect some accounts due him from persons here, saying: “you will consider this your authority to do so”. Adding: “Mrs. Tannehill is at present in great need of money and it is absolutely necessary that all debts be collected”.
Uncle Tannehill made a will in which he left all his real and personal property to his wife, but it is encumbered with debts.
Yours, etc.,
Algernon H. Mountain,
Atty. for Mrs. Agnes Tannehill.
General Adamson Tannehill married Agnes Morgan. They had no children. She was usually called Nancy. This Algernon Mountain was a nephew of Aunt Agnes, whom she and great uncle Adamson had reared – I think from childhood – and at her death she willed him all the property inherited from her husband which at that time had become quite valuable. Among other property was ten acres of land in what is now the heart of Pittsburgh and which, until after the middle of the last century was held in one tract and called “Tannehill Land”. It has since been laid out in city lots, and one street is called Tannehill
Street, which serves to mark the locality.
The following is an extract from a letter received in 1895 from a great granddaughter of great Aunt Nancy Coulter:
I finally went to the cemetery one day last week. I found General Tannehill’s grave without any trouble. His remains were moved there in 1848. He has no monument, only one of those old slabs that covers the entire grave. There used to be a good many of them in the Perrysville graveyard. He is buried in the James B. Morgan lot; is some relation of theirs. The inscription on the slab is peculiar. The first line all run together in one word:
SACREDTOTHEMEMORYOF
ADAMSON TANNEHILL
WHO AFTER A LONG LIFE SPRNT
IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY
EXPIRED
DEC 23RD 1820
AGE 71 YEARS
His mother is not buried in the same cemetery. We will have to give her grave up. No one seems to know of a cemetery by the name of grove hill ever being in that city.
M. E. Christie.
I think this is Allegheny Cemetery where he now lies, although Mrs. Christie does not say so.
The following is from the record & pension office, War Department:
Jan 15th 1902
It appears from the records that one Adamson Tannehill was commissioned First Lieutenant July 1, 1776, but no further information relative to this soldier has been found of record.
The records also show that one Adamson Tannehill served as a Lieutenant in Captain Alexander Lawson Smith’s company of Lieutenant Colonel Moses Rawling’s Regiment of continental Troops, under command of Colonel Daniel Morgan of the 11th, Virginia Regiment, Revolutionary War. The war commissioned July 11,1776, and his name last appears on a muster roll dated August 5,1777, which bears the remark – “on command”.
The records show that one Adamson Tannehill served as a Brigadier General during the war of 1812. His name appears on the rolls of the field officers and regimental staff of the 1st Brigade Pennsylvania Militia, war of 1812, with remarks:
Commencement of service September 25,1812
Expiration of service, or of this settlement, November 25, 1812.
Term charged two months”.
Other records show that his term of service commenced September
25, 1812 and expired Dec. 25, 1812.
By authority of the secretary of war.
I have arrived at the conclusion that the records of the war department, in the early years of our republic, were very carelessly kept, or that some of the present clerks in that department are not anxious to work more than is required to hold their positions. I am led to this opinion by the fact that the records gave you a more explicit account of his service than they gave me, and the similarity of the two records prove conclusively that they have reference to the same person.
My grandfather told me that his brother Adamson was, at birth, a puny babe of hands length, but when he reached manhood was six feet in height, well proportioned and of commanding appearance. His wife, Agnes, died in August 1827 and is probably laid to rest at hi side.
Misc. Notes
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949
Biographies
T
page 1895
TANNEHILL, Adamson, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Frederick County, Md., May 23, 1750; attended the public schools; served in the Revolutionary War as captain of riflemen; moved to Pennsylvania and engaged in agricultural pursuits near Pittsburgh; held several local offices; brigadier general of Pennsylvania Volunteers in the United States service from September 25 to December 31, 1812; elected as a Democrat to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813-March 3, 1815); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1814 to the Fourteenth Congress; resumed farming; died near Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pa., December 23, 1820; interment in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church; reinterment in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1849.
American Biographical Library
The Biographical CyclopÊdia of American Women
Volume II
Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution
Alphabetical List of Officers of the Continental Army
T
Fifteenth Virginia
page 532
Tannehill, Adamson (Md). 2d Lieutenant of Stephenson's Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment, 11th July, 1776; 1st Lieutenant of Rawlings' Continental Regiment, ó January, 1777; Captain, 20th July, 1779, to rank from 1st April, 1778; retired 1st January, 1781; Brigadier-General Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1812. (Died 7th July, 1817.)
1123624
Tannehill, Adamson 1750-1820
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971. The Continental Congress (September 5, 1774 to October 21, 1788) and the Congress of the United States (from the first through the ninety-first Congress March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1971, inclusive). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971. Biographies begin on page 487. (BiDrAC) Who Was Who in America. A component volume of "Who's Who in American History." Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Revised Edition. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1967. (WhAm HS)
1123625
Tannehill, Adamson 1750-1849
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989. The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774 to October 21, 1788 and the Congress of the United States from the first through the one hundredth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1989, inclusive. Bicentennial Edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989. Biographies begin on page 507. (BiDrUSC 89)
1123626
Tannehill, Adamson 1752-1817
Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Six volumes. Edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1888-1889. Reprint. Detroit: Gale Research, 1968. (ApCAB)
Biographies
T
page 1895
TANNEHILL, Adamson, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Frederick County, Md., May 23, 1750; attended the public schools; served in the Revolutionary War as captain of riflemen; moved to Pennsylvania and engaged in agricultural pursuits near Pittsburgh; held several local offices; brigadier general of Pennsylvania Volunteers in the United States service from September 25 to December 31, 1812; elected as a Democrat to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813-March 3, 1815); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1814 to the Fourteenth Congress; resumed farming; died near Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pa., December 23, 1820; interment in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church; reinterment in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1849.
American Biographical Library
The Biographical CyclopÊdia of American Women
Volume II
Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution
Alphabetical List of Officers of the Continental Army
T
Fifteenth Virginia
page 532
Tannehill, Adamson (Md). 2d Lieutenant of Stephenson's Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment, 11th July, 1776; 1st Lieutenant of Rawlings' Continental Regiment, ó January, 1777; Captain, 20th July, 1779, to rank from 1st April, 1778; retired 1st January, 1781; Brigadier-General Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1812. (Died 7th July, 1817.)
1123624
Tannehill, Adamson 1750-1820
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971. The Continental Congress (September 5, 1774 to October 21, 1788) and the Congress of the United States (from the first through the ninety-first Congress March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1971, inclusive). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971. Biographies begin on page 487. (BiDrAC) Who Was Who in America. A component volume of "Who's Who in American History." Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Revised Edition. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1967. (WhAm HS)
1123625
Tannehill, Adamson 1750-1849
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989. The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774 to October 21, 1788 and the Congress of the United States from the first through the one hundredth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1989, inclusive. Bicentennial Edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989. Biographies begin on page 507. (BiDrUSC 89)
1123626
Tannehill, Adamson 1752-1817
Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Six volumes. Edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1888-1889. Reprint. Detroit: Gale Research, 1968. (ApCAB)