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- John Alton was born on May 22, 1759 in Baltimore County, Maryland. He and his younger brother, Benjamin, were farmers and soldiers serving together in the Pennsylvania Rangers on the Frontier. John also served in the Whiskey Rebellion and at Tippecanoe. On March 18, 1778, John Alton signed a Loyalty Oath in Harford County, Maryland, in the Worshipful Mordacai Amos's Returns in which he swore to the Oath "I do swear that I do not hold myself bound to yield to any allegiance or obedience to George the Third, King of Great Britain ... " (NOTE: This document is held by the Maryland Archives and may be seen at the Maryland Hall of Records in Annapolis, Maryland). In 1782, John Alton served as a Private in the Pennsylvania Rangers on the Frontier in Captain John Dean's Company in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, with his brother Benjamin during Colonel Crawford's disastrous expedition against the Indians at Sandusky. He was a Private in Captain John Wall's Second Battalion in 1782, and, later, Corporal in Captain Bazel Bowel's Company of Pennsylvania Militia in Fayette County in 1791. At the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, he was William Henry Harrison's wagonmaster. John Alton married Catherine Adams in 1784 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. They had 8 children. He migrated to Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, in 1805. John died in Knox County, Indiana on July 18, 1823.
John had an older brother Benjamin, they were frontier rangers in Fayette Co., PA. and protected settlers from Indian raids. Wilma Davis wrote, "John and Benjamin got depreciation pay for their services in Capt. John Dean's company of rangers during May 1782, while they were on Col. William Crawford's expedition against the Indians at Sandusky. I doubt the troops got as far as Sandusky, because the Indians attacked them from behind after they got well into Ohio, and captured Crawford, later burning him at the stake. The men were chased all the way back to Pennsylvania."
John also served in the Whiskey Rebellion, Tippecanoe, and then went to Vincennes, Knox Co., IN when William Henry Harrison became governor of the Northwest Territory.
His occupation was listed as farmer and soldier.
Allton, John - Alton Cemetery Records, Knox Co., IN
Died July 18 1823 aged 64Y 1M 26D
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Our Family History
1759 - 1823 (64 years)
