2A-H: Ann Guthrie
ANN GUTHRIE
Parents: John Guthrie 1708IRE – 1790PA and Ann Hill (or Emmons) 1715IRE – 1814PA
Birth: 1749
Birth Location: Pennsylvania, Chester or Lancaster County
Marriage: John Murphy on 4 Nov 1779 by Rev. Alexander Dobbins
Murphy Children: Unknown
Death: Unknown, 1800s
Death Location: Unknown, probably Augusta County, Virginia, USA
Burial Location: Unknown
JOHN MURPHY
Parents: Unverified, possibly John Murphy d.1792 York, PA and Martha MNU
Birth: Unknown, Est. 1749
Birth Location: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Military Service: Unknown
Death: Unknown, 1800s
Death Location: Unknown, probably Augusta County, Virginia, USA
Burial Location: Unknown
NOTES:
John Murphy was living in Hamiltonban, York (now Adams) County, Pennsylvania at the time of his marriage to “Ann Guthory”. The marriage was recorded by Rev. Alexander Dobbins who was a Scots-Irish Presbyterian minister, educator, land developer and entrepreneur in Gettysburg. He was pastor of Rock Creek Congregation.
American Guthrie and Allied Families author, Laurence R Guthrie, comments that after their marriage, the Murphys presumably settled in Augusta County, Virginia. Only two additional notations on the distribution of the estate of John Guthrie, decd, provide any information. (LRG, p.693)
28 Sep 1791:
Thomas Love filed a partial account as executor of the estate of Ann’s father, John Guthrie, who had died in 1790. He had paid out 33 pounds, 6 shillings, 8 pence to various legatees including: “To Daniel McClellan per order from John Murphy in part of his wife’s legacy.”
21 Jun 1814
Final account of Thomas Love and Alexander Andrews was filed for Estate of Thomas McClelland, including: “To Jno. Murphy in right of his wife Ann…48 pounds, 3 shillings, 6 pence.”
There is a John Murphy (c1715 – 1792PA) whose will was written in 1792 York, PA and probated 1798 who could possibly be the father of this John Murphy. The children named in his will: Edward, John, James, Hugh, Daniel, and Samuel.
No other notations about the John Murphy-Ann Guthrie family found.
YDNA Project Participants: N/A – Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Participants: No
Primary Sources
(Original, contemporary records from the period, providing direct evidence of Ann Guthrie and John Murphy’s marriage and her connection to her father’s estate):
- Marriage Record, 4 November 1779 Rock Creek Congregation (now United Presbyterian Congregation), Gettysburg, Adams County (formerly York County), Pennsylvania. Citation: “John Murphy of Hamilton Bann [Hamiltonban Township] to Ann Guthory,” 4 Nov 1779, officiated by Rev. Alexander Dobbins; recorded in Rock Creek Congregation (now United Presbyterian Congregation), Gettysburg, Adams, Pennsylvania computer printout; Marriages, 1774-1840. Family History Library microfilm 1002595, Item 14 (extracted from book Q 974.B42/G1 V2L). Also indexed in the Pennsylvania, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Marriage Records, 1512-1989 collection. Repository/Access: FamilySearch.org catalog entry (search “Rock Creek Congregation marriages”); digitized images or microfilm at Family History Centers; transcribed versions appear in local histories such as the 1886 History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania (Chapter VII, “Early Marriages—Rev. Alexander Dobbin”). Excerpt/Context: The record explicitly names “Ann Guthory” (variant spelling of Guthrie) and notes John Murphy’s residence in Hamiltonban Township. Rev. Dobbins was pastor of the Scots-Irish Presbyterian Rock Creek church; the entry is one of hundreds of frontier marriages he performed. Relevance & Nuances: This is the sole confirmed primary link between Ann and John Murphy. No parental consent notation or banns details survive in the surviving extracts. Spelling variants (Guthory/Guthrie/Guthery) are common in 18th-century Scots-Irish records.
- Estate Accounts of John Guthrie (d. 1790), Chester County, Pennsylvania Chester County Orphans’ Court / Register of Wills, Estate File #4075, Oxford Township. Citation: Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994 (digital images), Chester County, “Estates 1789-1791, no. 4057-4158,” images 160–169 (John Guthry/Guthrie #4075); FamilySearch. Partial account filed 28 Sep 1791 by executor Thomas Love; later settlement notations (including 21 Jun 1814 final account referenced in related McClelland estate proceedings). Repository/Access: FamilySearch.org (free, images viewable online); original files at Chester County Archives, West Chester, PA.Excerpt/Context: 28 Sep 1791: “To Daniel McClellan, per order from John Murphy in part of his wife’s legacy” (payment of £33 6s 8d). Later notation (1814): “To Jno. Murphy in right of his wife Ann … 48 pounds, 3 shillings, 6 pence.” These are distributions from John Guthrie’s estate (will proved 1790) to his married daughters via their husbands. Relevance & Nuances: Direct evidence that Ann survived at least into the early 1790s and was legally represented by John Murphy as her husband. The 1814 payment appears in accounts tied to the Guthrie estate final settlement (executors included Thomas Love and others linked to sibling marriages). This refutes erroneous online trees listing Ann’s death as 1779. No will or administration for John or Ann Murphy has surfaced in York/Adams PA or Augusta VA searches.
- Possible Paternal Line for John Murphy (unverified but contextually relevant) York County, Pennsylvania, Will of John Murphy (c.1715–1792), written 1792, probated 1798. Citation: York County Wills, Book (specific volume/indexed under Murphy 1792–1798); abstracted in Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683–1993 (Ancestry). Repository/Access: York County Archives or FamilySearch Pennsylvania Probate collections.Relevance & Nuances: Names sons including a John; the blog and researchers note this as a possible (but unproven) father. No direct link to the 1779 groom has been confirmed via Y-DNA or deeds.
Secondary Sources
BOOK: Guthrie, Laurence, Rawlin, ‘American Guthrie and allied families : lineal representations of the colonial Guthries of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North and South Carolina, some post-revolutionary emigrants and of some allied families‘ Kerr Print Co., Chambersburg, PA, 1933. Digital Repository: Internet Archive. [See p.160 and p.693 for entries about John Murphy and Ann Guthrie]
MICROFILM: Rock Creek Congregation (now United Presbyterian Congregation), Gettysburg, Adams, Pennsylvania computer printout; marriages, 1774-1840. FHL FILM: 1002595 Item 14. Extracted from book no.: Q 974.B42/G1 V2L. Other Similar Records.
WEBSITE: Early History of Hamiltonian Township (1730-1860)
Additional Context, Implications, and Research Considerations: Ann Guthrie’s birth (~1748–1749, Chester or Lancaster County, PA) is estimated from sibling spacing and her father’s timeline; no baptismal record has been located (common for Presbyterian frontier families). The couple’s post-1779 life is poorly documented—consistent with many Scots-Irish families who moved westward. The “presumably Augusta County, VA” statement originates in Guthrie 1933 and reflects regional migration patterns (many Guthries appear in Augusta tax/deed records 1780s–1810s), but no tax lists, deeds, or censuses explicitly naming this John/Ann Murphy pair have surfaced in public indexes. No children are named in any source; exhaustive searches of Augusta County VA wills, deeds, or tax lists (1780s–1820) and Adams/York PA records yield no further hits.
