Rash's Surname Index


Notes for John CROSBY

John Crosby (1747-1822) was captain in the 1st battalion of Pennsylvania militia, attached to the Flying Camp at Perth Amboy, commanded by Col. Jacob Morgan, Jr., in the brigade under Brig.-Gen. John Cadwalader, 1776-7. He was born and died in Delaware County, Pa.

John Crosby, of Ridley, was appointed by Governor Mifflin, April 26, 1799, one of the associate judges of Delaware County. He, like his fellow associate, Hugh FLoyd,was a decendant of the early English settlers who emigrated to Pennsylvania when Penn acquired title to the province.
He was born at the farnily homestead on Ridley Creek, March 11, 1747-8. In 1776, in his twenty-ninth year, he entered the service as first lieutenant in a Company of the First Batallion of Pennsylvania militia, attached to the Flying Camp, which had been recruited by his brother-in--law, Captain Culin. It is related that on the day the organizaton was mustered in at the White House Tavern, one of the privetes, enraged at something said by Captain Culin, shot that officer, inflicting a wound of which he died.
Crosby thereupon succeeded to the command, and as such marched the company to the encampment at Perth Amboy, New Jersey. After the capture of Philadelphia by the British, in the fall of 1777, Crosby (a militia officer and not in the Pennsylvania troops enlisted for the war) was with Governor Porter, intercepting the foraging parties of the enemy.
One night in the winter of 1777-8 he was at his home in Ridley, when a boats crew from a British man-of-war, lying off, ascended the creek and took him prisoner. Crosby was in the act of washing his face at the pump, near the house, when he was captured. He was taken to New York and confined on the British ship Falmouth. During his imprisonment, which lasted six months, his hair turned white, consequent upon the harsh treatment received and insufficient food then furnished to the American prisoners of war. He was finally released on parole, his wife going to New York, at great personel risk, to intercede with the English authorities on his behalf.
John Crosby, as stated, was commissioned, in 1799, associate judge of Delaware County, and continued on the bench until 1826. He died about the date given as the conclusion of his judicial.
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