2A-I: William Guthrie
Guthrie Family Group 2A · Branch I · Child Page
William Guthrie
Washington Township · Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
William Guthrie of Washington Township is remembered as a Revolutionary soldier and pensioner. His story is also associated with a trader named William Guthrie at Fort Pitt, but LRG treated the connection between the trader and the later Westmoreland man as an assumption. Their records must be compared before being combined into one life.
No wife or children are securely identified for this William. His will’s references to a brother James’s children and a sister’s children offer important family leads. Identifying those relatives is essential before deciding which Guthrie household he belonged to.
William remains in LRG’s presumptive family beneath James Guthrie and “Miss Bissell,” with that parentage unproved. No confirmed descendant currently supplies a direct DNA result for this line. The Branch I Family Hub and Three Brothers Tradition review explain his historical placement and the unresolved connections.
The Family at a Glance
William Guthrie
- Birth
- About 1734–1735 is the working estimate from the reported ages. The records contain conflicting age statements; birthplace unknown.
- Parents
- Unidentified. James Guthrie and “Miss Bissell” are presumptive parents in LRG’s arrangement.
- Residence
- Washington Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The identification with the earlier Fort Pitt trader remains unproved.
- Occupation & Service
- Revolutionary soldier and pensioner. Trader is an attributed occupation dependent on the Fort Pitt identification.
- Death
- August 1829. The pension-roll account gives 1 August; the reported newspaper notice gives 8 August.
- Burial
- Location not established.
Marriage & Family
- Wife
- No wife securely identified. The absence of a wife in his will does not prove that he never married.
- Children
- No confirmed children. An earlier family, children who died before him, or another explanation cannot be excluded solely from the will’s silence.
- Brother
- James, according to the reported will wording. His identity must be established through the beneficiaries and their records.
- Sister
- An unidentified sister whose children are included in the reported will account.
- Proposed Son
- James Guthrie, husband of Sally Cochran, appears as a supposed son in LRG’s discussion. The relationship is unproved.
Family status: No marriage or child is treated as established on this page. William’s collateral relatives provide the principal family leads.
| Person or Connection | Status | What the Evidence Needs to Establish |
|---|---|---|
| James Guthrie & Miss Bissell | Presumptive parents | A record connecting this William to the couple; his inclusion in LRG’s family is not that proof. |
| Brother James | Relationship reported in the will | Which James, and which children received or claimed the bequests. |
| Unidentified sister | Relationship reported in the will | Her name, marriage, children, and their connection with the estate. |
| Woman at Fort Pitt | Household association | Her relationship to the trader, and whether the trader was the later Washington Township William. |
| James Guthrie & Sally Cochran | Supposed son and wife | An independent parent–child connection; the name James and a regional association are insufficient. |
The Will’s Collateral Family
The reported will account refers to the children of a brother James and those of a sister. The distinction between an explicit relationship and an identification is important: a brother named James does not automatically mean James Guthrie, husband of Ann in Chester County.
Names, residences, receipts, distributions, and deeds involving the beneficiaries could identify the correct household. The other James families in the wider GFG2A research remain comparisons to test, not interchangeable identities.
The Fort Pitt Household
LRG discusses a 1761 entry for William Guttery at Fort Pitt, with one man and one woman and no children listed. His identification of that trader with the later Westmoreland pensioner was an assumption.
Even if the two Williams prove to be the same man, the household count alone does not establish the woman’s name or relationship. It also cannot rule out children born later or living elsewhere.
Keep the Other Williams Separate
This page concerns the Washington Township man who died in 1829. He must be distinguished from William Guthrie, son of James and Ann of Chester County, whose blacksmith household belongs to the preceding Child Page.
LRG also distinguished the William associated with James Guthrie and Jeanette Wilson’s family, and a younger William associated with John Guthrie and Jane Reed’s family. Occupation, spouse, township, age, land, and estate relationships must be compared before transferring any record between these men.
Historical Highlights
A Pensioner and an Unresolved Family
William’s later history centers on Washington Township in Westmoreland County. Pension and estate references give the investigation a more definite identity than the traditional account of his parents. The challenge is to establish which earlier records belong to that same man.
The Fort Pitt trader is an important possibility. LRG connected the earlier William with the later soldier and pensioner, but acknowledged the assumption. A plausible route between communities is not itself an identity link. The trader’s household and later William’s estate should first be studied independently.
The Revolutionary service narrative includes more than one enlistment, captivity, and service in different commands. Those details need to be aligned with the actual pension declarations and military records, especially where several men share the name. A narrative discharge date of 1788 conflicts with its Valley Forge setting and should not be repeated as settled chronology.
The will offers a different route into the family. Instead of supplying an established descendant line, the reported bequests point to a brother’s and sister’s children. Tracing those beneficiaries may clarify kinship without relying on the older presumptive family.
William’s place in this branch therefore remains a historical research placement. It preserves his story for readers looking for him here while keeping his own identity, ancestry, and genetic classification open.
The Family Timeline
| Date | Event & Evidence |
|---|---|
| About 1734–1735 |
An Estimated Birth Reported age statements support an approximate date in this period, but another recorded age would imply a later birth. The original declarations and the date to which each age applies need comparison. Source: Pension-age and death-notice information in the family study. |
| 1761 | The Fort Pitt Trader LRG describes a household entry for William Guttery. Its identification with the Washington Township pensioner is a separate, unproved step. Source: AGAF, p. 301. |
| Revolutionary War |
Military Service The family study links the later pensioner with Continental service. Exact enlistments, units, captivity, and discharge dates require comparison of the pension packet and service records. Source: Pension and military sources cited in the family study. |
| 4 May 1818 |
Pension Commencement The published roll entry is reported to give this commencement date. Commencement of an allowance is not necessarily the date of an application or admission to the roll. Source: 1835 pension-roll entry. |
| 9 June 1819 |
Placed on the Pension Roll The roll account records admission on this date. An age printed in a later roll should not automatically be treated as his age on the admission date. Source: 1835 pension-roll entry. |
| 1828 | William Makes a Will The reported will names collateral family through brother James and an unidentified sister. It supplies no confirmed wife or child for this reconstruction. Source: Westmoreland County will reference, vol. 1, p. 213. |
| August 1829 |
Two Reported Death Dates The pension-roll account gives 1 August, while the reported newspaper notice gives 8 August. The disagreement remains visible rather than selecting a day without resolving the sources. Source: Pension roll and reported Westmoreland Democrat notice. |
| 1835 | The Pension Roll in Print The published roll is a later compilation containing earlier pension and death information. Its column headings and dates should be read with the original pension file. Source: The Pension Roll of 1835. |
| 1933 | LRG’s Reconstruction AGAF gathers the trader, soldier, pensioner, and presumptive family into one narrative. Its acknowledged assumptions must remain distinct from its documentary extracts. Source: AGAF, pp. 301–308. |
Explore the Records
The central questions concern identity: which early records belong to the Washington Township pensioner, and which families are represented by the relatives in his will?
The Will and Its Beneficiaries
The family study cites Westmoreland County Will Book, vol. 1, p. 213, for William’s 1828 will. The linked register image provides the starting point for checking the reported wording.
The key next step is to trace the brother’s and sister’s children through the whole estate file, including distributions and receipts. An abstract may preserve a relationship while omitting the identifying details needed to connect it with another household.
No provision for a wife or child is not equivalent to an explicit declaration that William never married or never had children. Likewise, “brother James” must not be silently expanded into “James Guthrie and Ann of Chester County.”
The Pension Roll and Service Narrative
The 1835 pension-roll image is linked in the family study. The reported entry includes a commencement date of 4 May 1818, admission on 9 June 1819, and a death date of 1 August 1829.
The pension packet should control the reading of declarations, service periods, and personal circumstances. Keep the application, allowance commencement, roll admission, and later publication dates separate. An age appearing in the printed roll must be interpreted from its column and context.
The existing service narrative contains conflicting enlistment and discharge details. They should be resolved from the documents before being presented as a precise continuous military chronology.
The Death Notice and Conflicting Ages
The reported Westmoreland Democrat notice gives 8 August 1829 and places William in his ninety-fifth year. The pension-roll account instead gives 1 August. The original newspaper issue, rather than a later reprint alone, is needed to determine whether the difference arose in publication or transcription.
Being in a ninety-fifth year ordinarily describes someone aged ninety-four; it does not mean a ninety-fifth birthday had occurred. Neither that wording nor a rounded pension age supplies an exact date of birth.
Two Separate Assumptions in the Fort Pitt Story
First: identity. Was the earlier trader the later Washington Township pensioner? LRG acknowledged that this connection was assumed.
Second: parentage. Even if the two records concern the same William, that does not establish James Guthrie and Miss Bissell as his parents. Each inference requires its own evidence.
The woman in the trader’s household and the supposed son James, husband of Sally Cochran, belong to these unresolved questions. Neither should become a named spouse or confirmed child through repetition.
See AGAF, pp. 301–308, and the Three Brothers Tradition comparison.
DNA Participation
No confirmed descendant line is currently available for assigning a direct DNA result to this William. His inclusion under Branch I is a historical placement, not a demonstrated match to the GFG2A Y-DNA profile.
| Line | Y-DNA | Big-Y | Autosomal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmed children | None established | No result attributable | No confirmed descendant line |
| Proposed son James & Sally Cochran | Parentage unproved | No result attributable to William through this proposal | Relationship must first be established |
This describes the evidence available for assigning results to William. It does not mean that every possible descendant has been investigated or that no member of a proposed family has tested.
What Collateral DNA Can—and Cannot—Show
Results from documented collateral families may help compare competing ancestry hypotheses. They cannot identify William’s Y-DNA merely because a tested family appears beside him in LRG’s presumptive arrangement.
Before using a brother’s descendants as evidence for William’s paternal family, the brother’s identity and relationship must be established. The same requirement applies to the proposed son James. A surname match or autosomal match alone does not supply the missing documentary connection.
Sources & Further Reading
- William Guthrie’s reported 1828 will, register image: Ancestry, Pennsylvania wills and probate collection; cited in the family study as vol. 1, p. 213.
- William Guthrie in the Pension Roll of 1835: compare headings, age, allowance dates, and death notation with the pension file.
- Laurence R. Guthrie, American Guthrie and Allied Families (1933), pp. 301–308: trader identification, service account, and presumptive family.
- Westmoreland Democrat, reported August 1829 death notice: original issue and exact publication date still to be established in this review.
- William Guthrie in the Guthrie Research Tree.
- The Three Brothers Tradition and Branch I Family Hub.
The linked pension-roll and will images were not newly inspected in this revision. Their citations and reported contents are retained as source leads, with unresolved readings identified above.
Most Wanted Documents
- The complete estate packet: will, probate, receipts, distributions, and beneficiary residences identifying brother James and the sister’s family.
- The original pension declarations: ages on stated dates, residence, service chronology, and any household information.
- The original death notice: newspaper title, issue date, and wording to compare with the pension-roll death notation.
- A link to the Fort Pitt trader: deeds, accounts, testimony, or correspondence bridging the two identities.
- Marriage or children: direct evidence of a wife or child, including any record supporting the supposed son James and Sally Cochran.
- Parentage: evidence naming William’s parents independently of the Three Brothers tradition.
Some records may no longer survive. The absence of an answer should remain explicit rather than being filled with a plausible but unproved family connection.
Help Build the Family Story
William’s history does not depend on proving the traditional family arrangement. His pension and estate records offer a story worth recovering, while the trader identification and collateral relatives provide questions for further research.
A beneficiary’s receipt, a land transaction, or a family letter may help distinguish him from the other William Guthries. Contributions are welcome from descendants of associated families as well as researchers of Westmoreland County. Please include the source and explain which William the record concerns.