Robert Strayhorn 1731-1805

I received this message recently:
"Hello –
I am the source for Robert Strayhorn being born in 1731, being the son of John Straehorn and Jean Niven, wife of Margaret Ross, and children Bethia, Janet, Jean, and Agnes. Such an individual existed, but I now know he is not Robert Strayhorn, the father of Nathaniel, Samuel, and Margaret. Please delete these erroneous connections from your tree. Sorry, Gary Zentmyer.
http://www.zentmeyergenealogy.com/getperson.php?personID=I86048&tree=ZentMain "

I always appreciate corrections!  I'm adding this note here quickly and will come back and review this post and move it to the "Not Heathers Genealogy Notes" soon.

Robert Strayhorn

son of

Born abt 1731

Died abt 1805

Married

Margaret

daughter of

Born

Died 1784

1731 - Robert Strayhorn is Christened
12 Dec 1731  Ochiltree, Ayrshire, Scotland

1758 - Married Margaret Ross

June 30 1758

Marriage Record for Robert Stratharn and Margaret Ross

Dated 30 Jun 1758, "Margaret Ross 'Relict' of Charles Dickson" means 'Widow'

1761 - Named in the Belfaft Newsletter, Antrim, Ireland

1775 - Arrived In America

Name:	Robert Strayhorn
Arrival Year:	1755-1790
Arrival Place:	Pennsylvania
Source Publication Code:	9761
Primary Immigrant:	Strayhorn, Robert
Source Bibliography:	WHYTE, DONALD. A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to the U.S.A. Vol. 2, with an appendix and corrections to vol. 1. Baltimore: Magna Carta Book Co., 1986. 200p.
Page:	144

"According to the Biographical History of Chester and Delaware Counties by Cope and Ashmeade (the copy I have seen was entitled Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Chester and Delaware Counties -Ed.) published in 1901, Vol 2, page 394, "Robert Strahorn was a Scottish dissenter, who left his native land in order to escape religious persecution, and landed in America in April 1775, about the time of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He enlisted three times in the Continental army, serving through the entire war, and never receiving a wound. He participated in some of the most memorable events which marked the struggle for independence, and was a sharer in many of the greatest of the hardships which fell to the lot of the devoted patriot army. He accompanied Washington when the latter, on that never-to-be-forgotten Christmas night, crossed the Delaware in order to surprise the Hessians at Trenton, and he shared all the sufferings of the winter at Valley Forge. Robert brought his two sons, Nathaniel and Samuel with him to America in 1775." -Ancestry.com UK 

Served In Revolutionary War

My fold3 membership expired, when I renew it, see if this is his pension file:
https://www.fold3.com/document/18947573/  (I don't think this is him - but check.)

Robert "heroically ate rats with Washington at Valley Forge." from Ninety Years of Boyhood the autobiography of Robert E. Strahorn, Robert's great-great-grandson.
Robert E. Strahorn, “Ninety Years of Boyhood”, (1942),  Strahorn Memorial Library, College of Idaho

http://www.worldcat.org/title/ninety-years-of-boyhood/oclc/38951564
This is an unpublished book, and appears to only be on microfilm.

Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania"Biographical History of Chester and Delaware Counties" by Cope and Ashmeade published in 1901, Vol 2, page 394, " Robert Strahorn a Scottish dissenter, who left his native land in order to escape religious persecution, and landed in Americal in April 1775, about the time of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He enlisted three times in the Continental army, serving through the entire war, and never receiving a wound. He participated in some of the most memorable events which marked the struggle for independence, and was a sharer in many of the greatest of the hardships which fell to the lot of the devoted patriot army. He accompanied Washington when the latter, on that never-to-be-forgotten Christmas night, crossed the Delaware in order to surprise the Hessians at Treton, and he shared all the sufferings of the winter at Valley Forge." 

According to the above record, he crossed the Delware with Washington on Christmas Eve

1790 Census
Name: Robt Strayhorn
Home in 1790 (City, County, State): Montgomery, Pennsylvania
Free White Persons - Males - Under 16: 2
Free White Persons - Males - 16 and over: 4
Free White Persons - Females: 3

Number of Household Members: 9

1793 - Owned Distillery in Bucks County PA
Robert was recorded in 1793 as one the owners of a distillery in Buckingham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

Bucks County Pa Tax Records
Name: Robert Strayhorn
Location: Buckingham

Tax Year: 1793

1800 - Septennial Census
Name: Robert Strayhorn
Residence Year: 1800

Residence Place: Goshen, Chester, Pennsylvania, USA

Abt 1805 - Robert Died

Burial:
Thought to be in New London Presbyterian Cemetery, Chester County, Pennsylvania - Old Section

"It is believed that Samuel Strayhorn and his father Robert Strayhorn are buried here. Samuel's sons Robert and Samuel and their wives are buried across the street in the New Section of the cemetery. This older section of the cemetery has no comprehensive listing of persons interred here, and many headstones have disappeared or been buried. Robert was living nearby with his son Samuel at the time of his death, and Samuel in turn was living with his son Robert in the years prior to his death." http://www.zentmeyergenealogy.com/getperson.php?personID=I86048&tree=ZentMain

From The Zentmeyer Genealogy - 
"Robert Strayhorn, a Scottish emigrant from Ayrshire, who according to two published sources arrived in the United States in 1775 from Scotland, along with sons Samuel and Nathaniel.  Anecdotal sources claim Nathaniel and Samuel were born in Ireland.  We have not yet located the record of their arrival in America, nor the sons' births.  We have twice visited Edinburgh and also Ayrshire, Scotland and Belfast, Ireland, and the results of our research have been in a word, inconclusive.  There is a Robert Straehorn in the church records who was born in Ayrshire, for whom we found no death record in Scotland.   Robert was identified as a 'mason' in Ayrshire, and as a 'weaver' upon his arrival in Philadelphia.   Ayrshire and Ulster are only thirteen miles apart and there has been a history of seasonal labor migration going back many hundreds of years, albeit primarily Irish workers going to Scotland to harvest crops.  But Irish linen weaving was labor-intensive, as it was an industry which was late to mechanize, so skilled weavers were in high demand.  And we do know that there was a recession in the Irish linen industry in the mid 1770s, because of competition from inexpensive cotton from the British colonies in America, which could have prompted Robert to emigrate in 1775.  So far, we have found only a single piece of evidence in Ireland for Robert's presence there, a newspaper article from Antrim in the year 1761.  Robert's wife Margaret died alone of 'Asthma' in Ayr in 1784, and while she may have been unfit to travel, we could not fathom Robert abandoning her, until we came across This Article." http://www.zentmeyergenealogy.com/other-surnames.html


Listed in the AGBI

Name: Robert Strayhorn
Birth Date: 1750
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Volume: 171
Page Number: 53
Reference: Heads of Fams. at the first U.S. census. Pa. By U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, 1908. (426p.):163
(Note - Order copy here - http://www.godfrey.org/agbi.html)