Joseph Junkin II (1750-1831)

Joseph Junkin II	Elinor Cochran

B3 Joseph Junkin II, born January 22, 1750, died February 21, 1831, buried in the Old Mercer Cemetery, Mercer, Pennsylvania. Joseph married May 24, 1779 Elinor Cochran, born December 26, 1761, died September 17, 1812. Fourteen children.

Joseph Junkin was a soldier of the Revolution and a company commander in the battle of Brandywine. He enlisted early (July 28, 1776), leaving his intended bride unwedded until the storms of war should pass; he enlisted and went to the front. He served under Captain John Trindle as a First Lieutenant from 1777-1778.

A few days after the Battle of Brandywine, in the sharp skirmish near White Horse Tavern on September 16, 1777, he received a musket ball through his right arm, shattering the bone. The torture arising from the wound, or perhaps loss of blood, caused him to faint and lie as one of the dead men when the enemy passed over the ground.

With a shower of rain falling on him in the evening, he revived and sought by crossing fields and woods to get outside the British lines unperceived. Providence directed his steps to the kitchen door of the residence of a Chester County Quaker named George Smith, who met and gently pushing him back, said, 'Friend, thee is in great danger; my house is full of British officers, and there in my meadow is encamped a squadron of British horses; but I will try to save thee.' He took the wounded Junkin to his hay-loft, but in a short time returned, saying that the British officers demanded hay, and that their soldiers would be presently there to take it, so another hiding place must be found. The loft over the spring house was the next place, where a bed was made of some bundles of flax for his resting place. Mrs. Smith soon afterwards supplied him with a supper of scalded bread and milk, and some linen cloths with which he dressed his wounds. Before daybreak his host routed him out, and leading him past the sentries of the British encampment, and giving him a hunting-shirt to cover his Continental Uniform, pointed the way of Washington's retreat. This was not to be the end of his trouble.

Soon after sunrise he was captured by two dragoons dressed in English Uniforms, who compelled him to march forward between the heads of their horses. Their questions as to who he was, and to what brigade he belonged, he answered truly. They marched him along for about a mile, he in the meantime determining to escape when they reached a place of woods in advance. When within a short distance of the thicket at which he contemplated making the attempt, his captors said, 'You will find your regiment in a field just beyond this wood - we are Americans in disguise'. The enfeebled man sank to the ground from the revulsion of feeling caused by this declaration, but with the assistance of the perpetrators of this rough jest played upon him, was soon enabled to rejoin his company. A horse was then procured for him, a saddle improvised out of a knapsack stuffed with hay, with a rope bridle, he made his way home (Kingston, Pennsylvania), a distance of ninety miles, in three days.

Kanaga House Bed & Breakfast Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Joseph II married Elinor Cochran on May 24, 1779. They finished building the home pictured at right after Joseph returned from the Revolutionary War. They named the home Prospect Hill. In 1806, it was sold to Joseph Kanaga, and it is now a Bed and Breakfast known as the Kanaga House.

Jopseph's wife Elinor was born near Waynesboro, Franklin County, PA. When she was about seven or eight years old (1767-68), she was one day kept home from school (with another girl, a little older than she) to take care of the smaller children, whilst the adults of the family, assisted by neighbors, joined in the "flax pulling". That day a party of Indians came upon the school, and murdered all the pupils except one. That one was named Archie Little, and he reported the sad catastrophe. The master was first knocked down, with the tomahawk, then the children, including Little, who was the largest boy in the school. He fell under the blow and was scalped, as all the rest were. But he recovered, kept still, and heard the Indians driving the hatchet into the skulls of such as showed any signs of life, whilst, by lying quiet as if dead, he escaped a second blow, and lived to tell the tale. Thus Elinor Cochran was spared and went on the become the mother of a very large family.

Headstone of Joseph Junkin II Old Mercer Cemetery Mercer, Pennsylvania

On the 15th of April, 1806 Joseph Junkin and his family removed to Hope Mills, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Joseph's son, George Junkin, wrote of this journey:

"It was a tedious and sometimes perilous journey, for the road over the Allegheny Mountains was of the most primitive kind. At Pittsburgh we had to lighten our wagons by leaving part of their loads, for the road to Mercer was new, through deep forests, and over steep hills. We only arrived at Hope farm on the 1st of May. Here, for a season, we lived in a somewhat spacious 'cabin,' until the large mansion-house was erected. During these [next] three years the new homestead at Hope Mills was founded, the farm opened, a flouring mill, the largest in the county, and with the first set of French burr millstones north of the Ohio, erected, carding machines, a fulling and cloth-dressing mill established, the first in the county, and other improvements made."

His first wife Elinor Cochran died after accidentally falling through the hatchway in his flouring mill on August 29, 1812, dislocating her spinal column. She died on September 17, 1812, all this time she had no power of her limbs except her hands.

Joseph Junkin II married (2nd wife), Rebecca Agnew on 1/28/1815. She died November, 1815.

Joseph Junkin II married (3rd wife) Polly Rambo Findley on 3/28/1819, a sister of Joseph Junkin III's wife. She survived him until his death on February 21, 1831.

Children of Joseph Junkin II and Elinor Cochran:

C1 Elizabeth Junkin, born 05/01/1780. Died of childbed fever 05/25/1802. Married her first cousin John Findley. Moved to Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth and her baby were buried on the old house farm, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. No children.

C2 Joseph Junkin, born 12/27/1781. Died 05/01/1787.

C3 Mary Junkin, born 01/12/1783. Died 08/04/1861. Married the Rev. George Buchanan on 06/06/1812.

C4 Eleanor Junkin, born 08/20/1784. Died 07/22/1839. Married Walter Oliver on 11/28/1808. Walter was a First Lieutenant in the "Mercer Blues", a company of soldiers from Mercer, Pennsylvania in the War of 1812.

C5 John Junkin, born 09/12/1786. Died 04/27/1814. Married Martha Findley 04/1804. John was the Captain of the "Mercer Blues", a company of soldiers from Mercer, Pennsylvania in the War of 1812.

C6 Joseph Junkin III, born 10/20/1788. Died 07/22/1859. Married Sarah Rambo.

C7 George Junkin, born 11/01/1790. Died 05/20/1868. Married Julia Rush Miller on 06/01/1819.

C8 Agnes Junkin, born 01/12/1793. Died 07/01/1880. Married Rev. James Galloway.

C9 Benjamin Junkin, born 09/19/1794. Died 04/01/1880. Married Anna Mariah Agnew on 01/18/1816.

C10 William Junkin, born 02/05/1797. Died 05/10/1798.

C11 William Findley Junkin, born 05/05/1799. Died 08/02/1886. Married Elizabeth Adams on 02/21/1826.

C12 Matthew Oliver Junkin, born 05/28/1801. Died 12/24/1882. Married Rebecca Jane Buchanan.

C13 Male Junkin, born ca. 1803. Died 9 days later.

C14 David Xavier Junkin, born 01/08/1808. Died 04/22/1880. Married Jane McCleery on 04/12/1835.