James Junkin (1772-1823)

C1 James Junkin, the eldest son of William and Jane Galloway Junkin, was the great grandfather of the author (Laura Gayle Junkin). Nine children. He was born 9 Oct., 1772, and died 17 February 1823 in Wayne Twp., Mifflin County, Pa., at 50 years of age. When he was ten years old, his father built the first of his three mills in Mifflin County Soon the Junkin mills were well-known in the vicinity. Customers were numerous, and it was the usual thing to see several men, who had traveled either by horseback or wagon, waiting in the mill yard for their grain to be ground.

James and his brothers William and Andrew assisted their father with work about the mills. As William the elder prospered and added to his land holdings and milling business, James became his father's right hand man, the other boys having taken up businesses of their own. Eventually his father turned the active management of the mills over to James, who had married Agnes Nancy Bratton 12 May, 1794. After the death of William's wife, Jane Galloway, in 1786, the young couple made their home at the mills, and it was here that their nine children were born.

It was about 1820 that financial disaster came to James. He had given security to a banker whom he considered trustworthy, but through ill fortune and mismanagement of his affairs, this man failed in business, and James was obligated to pay large sums in his behalf. Worried over the financial hardships that this might impose on his family is said to have caused his death in 1823. Considering the longevity of most of the Junkins, 50 was a comparatively early age. He was buried near Waynesburg (now McVeytown) in Mifflin County

Agnes Nancy Bratton was born in 1777 in Mifflin County, and died 23 March, 1853, and was buried in the cemetery at Kirkwood, Ill. Her father, Andrew Bratton, and his brother-in-law, Samuel Holliday, were the first white settlers in Bratton Twp., of Mifflin County They came to that area in 1755 and took out warrants for land. Because of violent Indian raids, they returned to their Cumberland County homes until 1762 when they deemed it safe to take their families to their new homes.

Samuel Holliday immediately erected a mill on his land, and for sometime grain was brought over the Alleghenies by horseback, there being no road to the mill. Andrew Bratton confined his activities to farming and constantly increased his holdings. By the time of his death, he and his brother James owned over 1,000 acres of land.

A Presbyterian church was erected on Bratton land shortly after the family settled in their new home, and it was here that the first religious service in what is now Mifflin County was held. Rev. Charles Beatty, a circuit-riding minister, conducted services in the small log church in 1766.

After the death of her husband, Agnes Junkin continued to live at Junkin mills with the aged William until he died in 1825. The mills were then sold. Surely Agnes had a true pioneer spirit, for she decided to take her family west, where she had heard opportunities were greater. By then her two oldest daughters had married, and a son, William George, had been killed by a kick from a horse. The other five children, Andrew, John Bratton, Catherine Ann, James Law and Margaret made the trip from Pennsylvania to Xenia, Ohio, by covered wagon. Also with the family was John Holliday, a relative of Agnes Junkin, whom the family had taken into their home when he was a small boy and reared with their own children.

The Junkins "tarried with kinfolks" in Xenia (probably with the Lancelot Junkins) for some ten years. During that time Catherine Ann Junkin was married to Anthony Galloway, the son of James and Rebekah Junkin Galloway, so when the family resumed their trek to Illinois in 1835, she remained in Ohio with her husband. Later the Galloways joined the other Junkins in Warren County, Ill.

Always a faithful Presbyterian, Agnes Junkin was a charter member of the First Presbyterian of Monmouth, Illinois. Lumber for this new building had to be hauled from Chicago, and her son, James Law, remembered making several trips for that purpose.

Much of this account concerning James and Agnes Junkin came from their son, James Bratton, who was a youth of nineteen when the family left Pennsylvania. John Bratton was always interested in family history and passed much of it on to his niece, Sarah Agnes Junkin Brown, who in turn related it to this author.

Nine children:

D1 Margaret Junkin, born 24 Sept 1795; died 21 June 1803.

D2 Jane Junkin, born 10 June 1798; died 16 Apr 1885. Married 1815 Casper Dull III, born December 1791, died September 22, 1874.

D3 Agnes "Nancy" Forguson Junkin, born 14 Apr 1801; died 10 Dec 1874, Warren County, Ill. Married (lst) Benjamin Dull, (b 11 May 1799; d 17 March 1824) a cousin of Casper Dull III. Married (2nd) John Jacoby. No issue.

D4 Andrew Junkin, born 15 Aug 1803; died 1 October 1882, Warren County, Illinois; buried Kirkwood, Ill. cemetery. Married Sarah Smith (b 20 Dec 1817; d 2 March 1901, Warren County, Ill.) daughter of Adam Smith and Mary Calbraith. There is an unverified story that Sarah's grandfather was the Smith who befriended Joseph II after the Battle of Brandywine. The Junkins farmed between Monmouth and Kirkwood, Ill.

D5 John Bratton Junkin, born 6 Aug 1806; died 21 Aug 1901, Chicago, Ill. John Bratton was much interested in family history, collected material, and became quite an authority on his ancestors. Unfortunately much of the material was destroyed at the time of his death. He was the most studious of the three brothers, reading extensively and owning many books for that time. He also had an oil painting of the original Junkin mill which his sister Jane had commissioned done. The author remembers seeing it in her grandparents' home when she was small, but the picture seems to have disappeared over the years.

D6 William George Junkin, born 6 Sept 1808; died 6 July 1821.

D7 Catherine Ann Junkin, born 15 Sept 1811; died 29 Aug 1907, Kansas City, Mo.; buried Kirkwood, Ill. cemetery. Always known as "Katie" she met Anthony Galloway (d 1856) in Ohio where they were married in 1833, later joining the rest of Katie's family in Warren County, Ill.

D8 James Law Junkin, born 15 July 1815, died 15 January 1907. Married November 4, 1852 Rebecca Jane Lowthar, born December 13, 1832, died May 20, 1914. Both are buried at the Penn Center Cemetery near Earlham, Iowa.

D9 Margaret Elizabeth Junkin, born 14 Nov 1818, died 7 Nov 1909; Married 6 June 1851 John Bratton Holliday (born 29 June 1813, died 6 May 1886). Both are buried at Kirkwood, Ill. J.B. Holliday was a captain in the Mexican war and also made a trip to California with the 49ers. The Holliday family lived on the original Junkin farm, and Agnes Junkin and the bachelor brother John Bratton Junkin lived with them.

1. Everts, History of the Juanita and Susquehanna Valley Pennsylvania, 1 66, Vol. I, pp 613-14.
2. Junkin, Laura Gayle. The Descendants of Joseph Junkin I and Elizabeth Wallace, September 1976.
3. National Historical Society, History of the Juanita Valley, 1936, Vol. 1, p 269.
4. Robinson, Richard D. and Elisabeth C. Repassing at My Side...A Story of the Junkins. 1975, Southern Printing County, Blacksburg, Virginia.