McLafferty Family History, Page 1

• page 1: Henry McLafferty, Rev. Henry McLafferty & Rebecca Dunn McLafferty
• page 2: Henry & Rebecca McLafferty's Children
• page 3: Henry McLafferty & Rachel Dunn McLafferty; Other McLaffertys; Kendaia Cemetery Records

Henry McLafferty

Henry McLafferty had been a private in the Third New Jersey Regiment during the Revolutionary War . He was an Ulsterman and emigrated to New Jersey in 1772, where he was indentured in a south Jersey salt marsh and tannery. He then served two enlistments in the Revolutionary War. After the war, Henry McLafferty wed Elisabeth Babcock, his employer's daughter. We don't know either of their dates of birth, but she was likely born sometime in the 1760s.

The land that became known as the town of Romulus, New York was part of New York's Military Tract, which was divided in 1790 to reward Revolutionary War veterans with tracts of land. It was here that Henry McLafferty emigrated in 1794. McLafferty purchased some land in central Romulus and took up farming.

According to one source, Henry McLafferty became a minister in the First Baptist Chruch, as did his younger kinsman, Barna S. McLafferty. Another source tells us he was an Elder in the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Piscataway, which had broken away from the First Baptist Church of Piscataway, preferring to worship on the seventh day rather than the first. He was apparently already a minister in the First Baptist Church before leaving to join the newer congregation. Reverend Henry McLafferty took the pastoral care of that flock in 1797 and was still the pastor when the General Conference was organized in 1802. This church built their first building in 1736, and when a new building was built some time later, the older one was given to Elder McLafferty to use as a barn.

Together Reverend McLafferty and Elizabeth Babcock McLafferty had seven children who died in infancy. They did have a surviving son, Henry.

Rev. Henry McLafferty & Rebecca Dunn McLafferty

On December 7, 1856 Henry McLafferty III notes that on that day, the sabbath, his father, the second Henry McLafferty had "been giving a history of his father, mother, brothers, and others of his grandfather's family." Would that there were tape recorders then!

The Reverend Henry McLafferty married his son Henry McLafferty to Rebecca Dunn on February 27, 1808, in Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey. They were married on Rebecca's 38th birthday, Henry was 21. (Henry was born June 9, 1787 in Shrewsbury, Mammoth County, New Jersey, and Rebecca was born February 27, 1770 in Piscataway, Middlesex County.) Rebecca had a daughter, Rachel, who was about two months shy of her fifth birthday when her mother married Henry McLafferty. Rachel was born May 12, 1803.

Henry was a farmer. The family farm produced timothy, clover seed, barley, potatoes, and maple molasses. They raised hogs and some cattle.