2A-G: (FNU – Son) Guthrie
Guthrie Family Group 2A · Branch G · Child Page
Son Guthrie
Given name unknown · Estimated birth 1778–1780
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
His family knew his name. Among the children remembered in the family of John Guthrie and Jane Reed was a little boy whom the surviving testimony identifies simply as a brother. Sarah and Jane were his older sisters; Elizabeth, already married to Joseph Brownlee, was another. His name has been lost to the records so far found, but his place among them has not.
He was presumably the youngest child, born after William in July 1777. The working estimate of 1778–1780 places him in early childhood during the last years of the Revolution. William would have been the brother nearest him in age within the presently reconstructed family, while several of their older siblings were approaching or already living adult lives.
The later account remembers a boy old enough to wander away on his own while his father lay ill at home. That small detail gives us a glimpse of a child who could move about independently but still needed the watchfulness of his family. It does not tell us his exact age, but it helps us picture the stage of childhood he had reached.
Sarah’s memories give us a glimpse of the family around him. She recalled their father taking charge of Joseph Brownlee’s farm near Hannastown during Brownlee’s military absence, with Elizabeth remaining in the family household. She also remembered working in the cornfield with Jane. These recollections preserve something of the world into which the boy was born: a family sharing a home and the work of a farm, with the demands of war reaching into ordinary life.
We know little of his ordinary days, but these family memories allow us to remember him first as a child among brothers and sisters, with a life still beginning.
Family at a Glance
- Name
- Son Guthrie; his given name has not been recovered.
- Family
- A son of John Guthrie, included in the John Guthrie & Jane Reed family group. The surviving testimony does not identify his mother by name.
- Birth
- Estimated 1778–1780, probably Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; presumably the youngest child, born after William. No birth record has been identified.
- Death
- 13 July 1782, during the attack on Hannastown and the surrounding settlement. His sister Sarah testified that he was killed.
- Burial
- Place not identified.
13 July 1782
The war reached the family’s fields on a summer day. Sarah remembered that she and Jane were hoeing corn when the attackers approached. Forced to flee for their lives, they left their young brother behind. In her sworn account of 26 May 1847, Sarah said that he was killed.
The attack on Hannastown—also called Hanna’s Town—took place on 13 July 1782. Elizabeth’s husband, Joseph Brownlee, and their little son also died during the attack, while Elizabeth and her daughter were taken captive. The Guthrie boy remembered here was Elizabeth’s brother; the Brownlee boy was her son. Both children have a place in the family’s history.
Nearly sixty-five years later, Sarah still included her young brother in her account. Her testimony preserves no description of his face or character, but it preserves the relationship: he was their brother, and she remembered him.
Family account: Sarah Beaty’s affidavit, 26 May 1847, Joseph Brownlee / Elizabeth Guthrie pension file W.3245. Historical date and setting: Westmoreland Historical Society, Historic Hanna’s Town.
Explore the Records
The strongest evidence for this child is his sister’s testimony. Sarah’s affidavit describes the flight from the cornfield and calls the boy “their young brother who was killed.” It gives neither his name nor an exact age. Sarah placed the events in July 1782; the precise day comes from the established date of the Hannastown attack.
Primary source: Sarah Beaty, affidavit dated 26 May 1847, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, in Revolutionary War pension file W.3245, Joseph Brownlee, widow Elizabeth Guthrie; National Archives, Record Group 15, publication M804, roll 0383. The two supplied affidavit images have been inspected. The link opens the pension file’s entry image; access may require a subscription.
His Age, Place in the Family & Mother
Presumably the youngest: the working reconstruction places his birth after William’s in July 1777. The research tree’s 1778–1780 interval is an estimate, not a date supplied by Sarah. C. Hale Sipe’s later account calls him the youngest son.
Laurence R. Guthrie’s revision notes of 1946 instead list a son born about 1773, before Nancy and William. That conflicting estimate remains part of the research record; it has not been adopted here as a proved birth year.
The boy is retained within the John Guthrie & Jane Reed family group. Neither Sarah’s reference to a brother nor the later “youngest son” description establishes his mother’s identity. The earlier claim that Jane’s reported death in 1780 left him motherless for two years depends on dates and maternity that remain unproved.
Laurence R. Guthrie, revision beginning 18 July 1946, typed page 3, manuscript page 89, in Some County Records in the U.S.A. of Guthrie and Other Families, PDF image 96 of the supplied 402-image volume. This is a later family reconstruction, not a birth register.
The Later Bread-Oven Account
C. Hale Sipe’s The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania tells a more detailed story: John Guthrie, unwell, remained at home with his youngest son while bread baked; the boy wandered into the woods, and the alarm sent the family toward the fort before his absence was noticed. Sipe says that he was never seen again.
That later narrative has long formed part of this family’s story. The bread oven, the father’s illness, and the boy’s movements are not details supplied by Sarah’s affidavit. Her testimony states that her young brother was killed. The accounts are retained with their different wording and sources; they do not establish a precise place of death or burial.
C. Hale Sipe, The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania (1929), page 669, as quoted in the family’s earlier research. The quotation was reviewed; the original book page was not independently re-examined for this update.
DNA participation: No descendant line exists for this child. Y-DNA, Big-Y, and autosomal participation are therefore not applicable. Research through his siblings is summarized on the Family Hub.
Most Wanted Documents
A family Bible entry, baptismal record, contemporary letter, or casualty or burial account naming the boy could restore his given name and clarify his age and mother. The source behind Sipe’s detailed account would also help distinguish family recollection from later retelling. Any proposed identification must keep this Guthrie child separate from Joseph and Elizabeth Brownlee’s son.
We remember him here as Son because he had a name, even though we do not yet know it. His short life belongs beside those of the brothers and sisters whose longer lives left fuller records.
Researched & Curated by Ann Guthrie
Guthrie Genealogy