Life and Times of Daniel Ogden 1735 to 1819: The Early Years©

 

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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 18^th century; however family tradition holds that her first name was Eleanor) on August 9, 1756 in Brinckerhoff, New York.

 

He was my 6^th 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

 

As a youth of Daniel would have lived through and heard tales of the ‘Old French War’ of 1744 to 1748 (thus called in the Americas to distinguish it from the French and Indian war of 1756 to 1763.  The Old French war is also known as King George's War and was the North American theater during the War of the Austrian Succession, an early world war pitting many of the great European powers against each other in Europe and throughout their colonial holdings.  In North America, the most notable action was the New England militias surprise capture of the French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island.  While the Fortress of Louisbourg was never the direct launching point for inland raids into the American colonies by Native Americans, its French governors and missionaries, such as Jean-Louis Le Loutre led French soldiers, Acadian militias, and actively armed and directed the Wabanaki Confederacy (Mi'kmaq and Abenaki tribes) to attack upstate New York and the New England frontier, particularly in Maine, New Hampshire.

 

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.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

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]