"Swamp" George C. McCandless
Immigrant 1819
George C. McCandless arrived from Ireland in about 1819, with two brothers, James McCandless and "Swamp" Robert S. McCandless. They settled in Franklin Twp., Butler Co. PA, near McCandless relatives who had immigrated earlier. (These three brothers were given the nickname of "Swamp" McCandlesses to distinguish them from other of their relatives with same names; they settled on Swamp Run, a small tributary of Muddy Creek.
George married Hannah McCandless, a daughter of Moses McCandless, and the granddaughter of William "Tailor Billy" McCandless , one of the original group of McCandlesses who arrived in Butler Co. PA from Ireland in 1796.
George C. and Hannah McCandless had four children, all daughters. Center and Franklin townships in Butler Co. were thickly settled with McCandless families; two of George C. McCandless' daughters married other McCandlesses.
Daughter Annie was senselessly murdered by a young man named Z. Taylor Hockenberry. In the published confession, Taylor reveals himself as seldom employed, with past experiences of highway robbery, breaking and entering, etc. He reports becoming preoccupied with Annie McCandless, and says he didn't wish to marry her, but didn't want anyone else to marry her either. He fixed on an idea of disfiguring her and thus destroying her marriage prospects. To that end he carried a rifle to the George McCandless family house one night, and hid outside a window. While the family were at the supper table, Taylor shot through the window pane at Annie's face. He ran away, learning the next day when he was arrested that he had killed her.
| Date | Location | Notes | Sources | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | ~1810 | Ireland | [6] | |
| Marriage | To Hannah McCandless | [6] | ||
| Death |
Ancestry chart segment
Generation 5 Generation 6 Generation 7
+-- Unknown McCandless II
| (????-????)
+-- "Swamp" George McCandless --+
| (~1810-????) |
| +-- Unknown
| (????-????)
+
|
| +-- Moses McCandless
| |
+-- Hannah McCandless ----------+
|
+-- Jane Hockenberry
Sources: [6]
Children
(all children with Hannah McCandless)
| Name | Gender | Date of Birth | Birthplace | Spouse | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucinda McCandless | F | ~1837 | [2][3][6] | |||
| Keziah McCandless | F | ~1840 | [2][6] | |||
| Nancy Ann "Annie" McCandless | F | ~1844 | [2][3][6] | |||
| Mary E. McCandless | F | ~1847 | [2][3][4][5][6]
|
Places of Residence
| Location | Dates | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| County Down,Ireland | birth~1800/1810 - immigration 1819 | [6] | |
| Muddy Creek Twp., Butler Co. PA | by 1840 | [1] | |
| Franklin Twp., Butler Co. PA | by 1850 | [2][3][4][5] | |
Sources
| Ref. Num. | Description | Image of original |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1840 United States Federal Census Muddy Creek Twp., Butler Co. PA, pg 9. Census page not dated. Family headed by Geo. McCandless: 1 male 20-30, 1 female <10, 1 female 20-30. |
 |
| 2 | 1850 United States Federal Census, Franklin Twp., Butler Co., PA, Page 20. Census dated 12 Aug 1850. Lines 2-7: George McCandless, 42, farmer, $2300 real property, b. Ireland; Hannah, 38, b. PA; Lucinda, 13, b. PA; Keziah, female, 10, b. PA; Anne, 6, b. PA; Mary 3, b. PA. |
 |
| 3 | 1860 United States Federal Census, Franklin Twp., Butler Co., PA, page 16. Census dated 27 June 1860. Lines 35-39: George McCandless, 50, farmer, $5700 real, $1050 personal property, b. Ireland; Hannah, 48, b. PA; Lucinda, 22, b. PA; Anna, 15, b. PA; Mary 13, b. PA. |
 |
| 4 | 1870 United States Federal Census, Clay Twp., Butler Co., PA, Page 19. Census dated 27 July 1870. Lines 13-15: George C. McCandless, 60, farmer, $11,600 real, $2600 personal property, b. Ireland, parents foreign born; Hannah, 58, keeping house, b. PA; Mary, 23, b. PA, father foreign born. |
 |
| 5 | 1880 United States Federal Census, District 42, Franklin Twp., Butler Co., PA, page 19. Census dated 11 June 1880. Lines 25-27: George C. McCandless, 69, farmer, b. Ireland, parents b. Ireland; Hannah, 67, wife, keeping house, b. PA, parents b. PA; Mary, 19, dau., at home, b. PA, father b. Ireland, mother b. PA. Age for Mary inconsistent with previous census. |
 |
| 6 | McCandless and Related Families, Pioneers of Butler County Pennsylvania , 1977, researched & compiled by Joseph A. Ferree, Sr.; ed. & publ. by Joseph A. Ferree, Jr., Natrona Heights. PA.
|
(complete text James McCandless, The McCandless and Related Families) |
| 7 | Supplementary Confession of Z. Taylor Hockenberry, published Nov. 1869, Butler Co. PA, news source unknown. See http://www.myfamily.com/isapi.dll/c/content/f/viewproperty/contentclass/FILE/contentid/ZZZZZYW6/propertyname/File/ssid/O1396oDa7ZQy8rV-enzONXvQ2*CB*Ow2YgE/~/Hockenberry_Confession.pdf In this confession, Taylor Hockenberry describes his route from the Graham farm in approaching the George McCandless home as passing through Jacob Campbell's meadow, passing Johnson's house on the road, and the former Oliver Pisor place. Hockenberry hides when he hears Isaac Brandon coming down the road. On page 69 of Reproduction Map of Butler County Pennsylvania 1858 by Violet M. Covert (See source #9 below),Franklin Township, the farms of "Danl. Graham" is marked on Swamp Creek on the northern boundary of the township. Three farms to the east, also on the creek, is the farm of "Thos. Brandon" (see Thomas Branand, who had a son Isaac). The second farm directly south of the Brannan farm is the "Geo. McCandless" place. Between Brannan and McCandless is another property, ownership not noted on the map, so possibly Campbell's or Johnson's. |
 |
| 8 | Pennsylvania Atlas & Gazetteer, 3rd Ed., DeLorme Mapping Company, Freeport MA, 1990, p. 57. Map includes portions of Butler County. One of the tributaries of Muddy Creek and present day Lake Arthur is Swamp Run. It flows through the northwest corner of Centre Twp. into Franklin Twp. (See The McCandless and Realted Families, p. 68, re. the "Swamp McCandlesses. | |
| 9 | Reproduction Map of Butler County Pennsylvania 1858, Violet M. Covert 2005, p.25 Centre Twp. Map shows the farms of various owners in 1858. In northwestern Centre Twp., along Swamp Run, are various McCandless farms including those listed as belonging to R. McCandless, Geo. McCandless, J. McCandless, McCandless, (and a variety of other McCandlesses). These likely indicate the farms of the three brothers Robert, George, and James McCandless (or James' son Joshua). | |
| 10 | Personal correspondence from Elizabeth Wilson Williams. | N/A
|
Source notes
- We have not found George C. McCandless in the 1830 census. He would have been about 20 yrs. old, based on his age in later census. He is not seen in the households of his two brothers, so may have been working as a farmhand and living with his employer.
- 1900 census and 1890 pension records give no evidence of George or Hannah McCandless in Butler County. They would have been about 90 in 1900, so it is reasonable to assume their deaths occurred between 1880 and 1900. Daughter Mary E. McCandless with a birth year of 1847 is found as the wife of Nehemiah McCandless in 1900. According to Ferree, page 56, Neemiah, son of John T. McCandless married Mary E. McCandless, daughter of George C. McCandless.
Conjecture
In Joseph Ferree's publication, "The McCandless & Related Families", the "second group of three brothers", who arrived in 1819, were said to be cousins of the first group of three McCandless brothers, the immigrants who arrived in Butler County in 1794. It is possible they were one generation younger, and so not likely first cousins as we use the term today. They married children or grandchildren of the first group of immigrant McCandlesses.
Research
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