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these farms are still owned by their descendants. These people were located in the midst of the turmoil of the Revolution and were closely identified with it. They claim relationship with Robert Morris, "Financier of the Revolution," Benjamin Rush, and Reverend Carmichael, Washington's chaplain, while Abraham Lincoln was also among their family connections.
James McCrea Thompson was a son of Maj. John Thompson and wife, Ellen (Patton) Thompson, of Ebensburg, where Major Thompson conducted the Cambria House and Mountain House and the stage lines in the early days, and was later postmaster of Ebensburg for 16 years.
Maj. John Thompson was born in 1804 on the old homestead about 12 miles north of Indiana, in Rayne Township, Indiana County, cleared from the forests by his pioneer grandparents, Robert Thompson, three sons and five daughter and wife, Mary Cannon, both natives of County Derry, Ireland, who emigrated to this country in 1789. Major Thompson's parents, Hugh Thompson, and his wife Martha (nee Thomson), a Scotch woman, and an infant daughter, attempted to settle on the homestead in 1793, but were compelled to return to Salem by the Indians. Following the signal defeat of the red men at the Fallen Timbers in Ohio by Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne in 1795, the family returned to their homestead, which is to this day owned and occupied by the Thompson family, their descendants.
John C. Ryan, deceased, was born in Johnstown, Pa., July 4, 1865, and was a son of Cornelius and Mary (Fitzgerald) Ryan. He was educated in the Johnstown Parochial School and the St. Frances College, Loretta, Pa. Previous to the flood he worked in the Gautier general offices, later conducting a general merchandise store on Washington Street, which was destroyed. Some time later he purchased this property and conducted business under his own name, later changing it to the Johnstown Produce Company. In 1900 he organized and incorporated the Ryan-Correll Company, wholesale grocers, of which he was the sole owner. Under the guidance of Mr. Ryan the company grew and prospered, establishing branch stores at Somerset, Cresson and Barnesboro, Pa., and a manufacturing plant in connection called the Cambria Manufacturing Company. He was also extensively interested in coal, being the sole owner of the South Cambria Coal Company of Dunlo, Pa., and was interested in gas companies,
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