Daniel
Ogden jr. was born on August 21,1735 in Greenwich, Connecticut, He died on November
30, 1819, in Clearfield, Pennsylvania and was buried in the Old Clearfield Cemetery.
He married Eleanor or Helena Schouten,
Scoutan or Schoutien (her actual name is a mystery as spelling was frequently
phonetic during the 18th century; however family tradition holds
that her first name was Eleanor) on August 9, 1756 in Brinckerhoff, New York.
He
was my 6th great grandfather on my mother’s side. He died 207 years ago, and his 84 years of
life neatly framed the turbulent years surrounding the birth of the United
States of America. All and all, I would
have loved to have met him and listened to stories of his life, but that is
impossible. Luckily much more is known
about him than many of his age, but unfortunately for modern historians, even
more has been lost in the mists of time.
So let’s talk about what we do know and infer what we can.
Damiel
Ogden had been described by those who knew him, in as “a strong, muscular
man, a great hunter, and quite fond of joking…”, as Lewis Cass Aldrich
recorded in History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, 1887. Author S.B. Row wrote in Clearfield
County: Or, Reminisces of the Past, 1859, that “He was naturally of a
jolly, rollicking disposition [and] liked to joke. He could build log cabins, make looms,
spinning wheels, cut out pants, coats, vests, repair guns, pull teeth and
doctoring ... He made millstones for his mill ... and had enough mechanical
genius to take care of himself anywhere”.
Additionally, S.B. Row described Daniel as “...impulsive, yet firm
and resolute” and “courageous [and] sought rather than avoided dangers”. The historian Francis Halsey who wrote in The
Old New York Frontier, 1902, that Daniel “...had become famous as a
hunter of beaver and a scout...”. In 1759, his 17 year old brother Ichabod, when
enlisting in Captain Joshua Bloomer’s Westchester County, New York Company, was
described as “5’ 7”, light ey’d, light brown hair, dark complexion” - it
is likely that Daniel Ogden would have looked similar.
The Early Years
The
war was concluded with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and infuriated the British
colonists in the New England colonies, by returning Louisbourg to the French in
exchange for territories in India. This
allowed Le Loutre, the Acadian militia and forces of the Wabanaki Confederacy
to continue their attacks on the British Colonial frontiers of Maine, New
Hampshire, and areas of New York along the Hudson river and north of the Mohawk
River. These raids and counter-raids
became known ‘Father Le Loutre’s War’, it was also known as the ‘Indian War’, the
‘Mi’kmaq War” and the ‘Anglo-Mi’kmaq War’ and filled the years between King
George's War and the French and Indian War, from 1749 to1755.
Throughout
this time, there is no record of Daniel’s whereabouts and activities. The historical record is silent, as would be
expected of someone who had not yet reached the full age of adulthood in
British society of the 1700s.
During
the 1700, under British common law, full majority, ‘complete full age’, was
reached at the age of twenty-one, and under Civil law the age was twenty-five in
matters of contract law. Anyone under these
ages was legally an ‘infant’. At eighteen
a will could be made for goods and chattels, but not until twenty-one could a
will include land. The average age for a
first marriage was mid-twenties, according to Matthew Hale’s Historia
Placitorum Coronæ (1736), for marriage ‘the full age of consent in males
was fourteen years, and of females twelve’.
We
will continue the chronicle of the Life and Times of Daniel Ogden, later in our
Summer of 1776 series.
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Lost
in Late 18th and Early 19th centuries...Lessons Learned©”, where we will talk about surviving being
lost in the Old Northwest Frontier.
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hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
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That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Sources
Aldrich,
Lewis Cass; History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, [D. Mason &
Co., Syracuse NY, 1887], https://archive.org/details/historyofclearfi00aldr/page/n5/mode/2up,
accessed June 20, 2026
Baird,
Robert W.; “Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet, Legal Age”, [© by Robert W. Baird
(various dates, 2010-2030)], https://genfiles.com/articles/legal-age/,
accessed June 20, 2026
Crosbie,
Barbara; “Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z”,
[© the Authors], https://read.uolpress.co.uk/read/adulthood-in-britain-and-the-united-states-from-1350-to-generation-z/section/db525031-1b10-4ec0-8f59-dc57d2b93d28#chapter4-11,
accessed June 20, 2026
Halsey,
Francis; The Old New York Frontier. [Charles Scibner’s Sons, New York , NY,
1902], https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_old_New_York_frontier_1614_1800/GAhO7XwjJPcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Francis+Halsey+new+york+frontier+ogden&pg=PA273&printsec=frontcover,
accessed June 20, 2026
Harpster,
Jack; and Stalter, Ken; Captive! The Story of David Ogden and the Iroquois,
[Praeger, Santa Barbara, CA, 2010]
Row,
S.B.; Clearfield County: Or, Reminisces of the Past, [C.G. Holloway and
S.J. Stephenson, 2000]
