Skip to main content

Surname Saturday: The Bing Family of Chester County

The Bing surname, according to Ancestry, is “English, of uncertain derivation.” Uncertain – yep, that’s my family! My Bing Family begins with John and Jane Bing. Like so many on my mom’s side, John just kind of appears. I have no idea where he came from or how he came to be in Chester County or very little else about him. 

John and Jane had three boys: James, Robert and Joseph. Robert is my direct line.  
 
James
James was born in 1776, the year of our Nation’s Independence! He died 84 years later on 23 November 1860 in East Fallowfield Township.  

Robert
Robert was born in 1781, according to the 1810 US Census. He appears in East Caln in both 1800 and 1810 census records. In 1820, the US Census shows him living in nearby East Fallowfield. At some point, he married Sarah McWilliams (1788 – 1859). They had seven children: Jane, Mary, John (1808-1871), my 3rd great grandmother Sarah (1811-1891), Samuel (b. 1813), James (b. 1819), and Robert (b. 1822). 

Joseph
Joseph was born about 1790. He moved to Boggs, Centre County That is where appears on the 1850 US Census at least. He married a woman named Elizabeth. They had two children: John (1818 – 1890) and H. Caroline (b. 1832). John was born 24 October 1818 in Chester County but was in Unionville, Centre County by 1850 when he married Melissa Iddings. They had 10 children! The last record I have of his sister Caroline is in 1850, still at home with their folks, when she is 18. 

Joseph seems to be the only one who left Chester County. John and Jane are buried near James, Robert and his wife Sarah in Doe Run Presbyterian Cemetery in East Fallowfield, Chester County. 
 
 

A closer look at John and Jane
John appears on the census records for Chester County. The earliest is on the US Census Reconstructed  Records 1660-1820 for 1770, in which he is living in East Caln Township[i]. He is a freeman. 

In 1810, a John Bing lists six people in the household. Presumably, he and Jane are the two people aged 45 or older. There is also a male between 16 and 25; Joseph would have been 20 then. Two men between 26 and 44; James would have been 34 and Robert would have been 29. That accounts for five of the six people. There is also a female under the age of 10. I have no idea who she might be. 

 

Surname Saturday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers.
 
© Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

[i] Document: Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd Series, Proprietary Tax Lists, Chester County Rates - 1771; Volume Number: Vol 11; Page Number: 781; Family Number: 1
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coatesville's First Serial Killer

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc
4 comments
Read more

Thaddeus Stevens at the Lancaster Convention Center

Within the Lancaster Convention Center (Lancaster, PA) is a small section dedicated to Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. The section is known as the Stevens & Smith Historic Site. It is scheduled for development this year. At the moment one can only get a glimpse of it through the Convention Center or by peeking in from the outside. Here at Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens had his law office. Stevens was an abolitionist. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Stevens was born 4 April 1792 to Joshua Stevens and Sarah (Sally) Morrill in Danville Vermont. One of four children, he attended Vermont University from 1810 to 1812 when the War prompted its closure. He then went to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1814. He then studied law and found himself set up in Gettysburg, PA in 1816. He practiced law there until 1828 when he found hi
Post a Comment
Read more

Living History Offers Opportunity to Step Back in Time

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to work the fields on a plantation during the Revolutionary War? Or stroll through an 18th century village? Or fight in battle during the Civil War?  Living history  offers an interactive perspective which incorporates  historical  activities and dress providing a sense of stepping back in time. So, how can YOU step back in time? Rock Ford volunteer Nancy Bradley in the Study of the mansion Rock Ford Plantation, in Lancaster County, PA, will be hosting a Volunteer Tour Guide Recruitment Event on Sunday, 22 March. They need tour guides for its upcoming tour season.  Built circa 1794, Rock Ford was the home of Edward Hand and his family. Hand, an Irish immigrant and physician, served as Adjutant General to George Washington during the Revolutionary War.   Volunteer tour guides at Rock Ford bring the past to life for museum visitors. A tour guide can be any person aged 18 years and up. No experience is necessary, and trainin
Post a Comment
Read more