County wide
Tea Party Patriot
Did you know? One of the men remembered as throwing tea into Boston Harbor is buried in Huntingdon County.
Thomas White came over from Ireland and settled here. The county biographical record says he "is remembered as having taken part in the Boston tea party," and that he was a farmer, a nail maker, and a soldier in the Continental Army. He was born in May of 1739 and died September 13, 1820.
Note the wording, because it matters. The old book says remembered as, not proved to be, and I am going to say it the same way the source did.
A nail maker from Ireland who may have stood in the harbor that night, and who chose to spend the rest of his life farming in these hills.
From the record
Passages about this subject, quoted from county histories now in the public domain. Each one names the book and the position in the text so it can be checked. Spelling is as printed.
Some of the latter's descendants still reside in Perry county. After the Revolution the settlement of the township was more rapid. Among those who came between 1776 and 1800 were Andrew Porter, Matthew Henderson, David Lindsay, the Sterretts, William Wallace, Hugh Ferguson, John and Thomas White, Enoch Lewis, Stephen Duncan, John Moore, John Lawshe, Ephraim Blain, George West, and William Rogers. All the lands in the township were not taken up, however, until after the beginning of the nineteenth century, for as late as September 27, 1812, Thomas Mehaffie received a warrant for 120 acres in the western part. Thomas Sutch came into Carroll before 1775 and took up land about two and a half miles west of Shermansdale. Some time between 1775 and 1780 a log school house was built on his farm, which is believed to have been the first school house in the township. In the early days it was also used as a house of worship. With some repairs this house was used until 1850, when a new school house took its place. Another early temple of education was the "Smiley school house" on the bank of Sherman's creek.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 489,479 of the scanned text
Other physicians of prominence during the same period were James Frow, John Harris, Joseph Kelly, Michael Shellenberger, John Green, Thomas Whiteside, J. Philo Hamlin, William Elder, John Irwin, Henry Harshbarger, George I. Pearce, and Samuel Floyd, located at various points in the county. Among the homeopathic physicians of this county may be mentioned Dr. Perry county's pioneer physician was probably Dr. Henry Bucke, who located at Millerstown about 1805, or perhaps a year or two before that time. Samuel Mealy succeeded him about the close of the War of 1812. Armstrong was engaged in practice at Duncannon as early as 1818 and remained there for about six years, when he went to Liverpool, being the first physician to settle in that place. Some years later he went to Bellefonte and finally located at Princeton, New Jersey, where he died in 1870. He was a grandson of that Colonel John Armstrong who led the expedition against the Indians at Kittanning in 1756, later served as a member of the Provincial Congress, and rose to the rank of major-general in the Continental army.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 790,435 of the scanned text
He was appointed a deputy commissary for the Continental army. At this time the united colonies had little else than "Continental money" with which to pay the soldiers or procure supplies for the army, and this money became practically worthless, so that Mr. Cryder, bent upon doing his full duty, pledged his personal credit to obtain the much-desired provisions and forage, and when the war ended he found himself heavily indebted, and the Continental treasury so nearly bankrupt as to afford him no relief. This heavy debt, the price of his patriotism, would have disheartened most ordinary men, but he persevered, and by thrifty and careful management of his business, and the sale of the greater part of his lands, paid off all his obligations, and in the year 1796, with his wife and family (except his sons Israel «and Daniel), consisting of five sons, Henry, John, Emanuel, Jacob, and David, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Susan, removed to the valley of the Scioto, Ohio, and there began the battle of life anew. He settled a large tract of river-bottom land near Chillicothe, where he died in 1816, leaving his large family amply provided for, and was buried near Hopetown, Ross Co.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 2,697,596 of the scanned text
What the fact check changed. Partly confirmed, one clear error, several unsourced. CONFIRMED by the 1897 Juniata Valley encyclopedia: Thomas White was an immigrant from Ireland, is remembered as having taken part in the Boston tea party, was a soldier in the Continental army, born May 1739, died September 13, 1820. IMPORTANT: the source HEDGES ('is remembered as having taken part'), and the original post correctly preserved that hedge with 'county histories remember him among the men'. Good instinct, kept in the rewrite. THE ERROR: the post calls him 'a young Irish tailor'. The source says 'farmer, nail-maker, and soldier'. There is no tailor anywhere in it. And born in 1739 he would have been about 34 at the 1773 tea party, so 'young' is a stretch too. STILL UNSOURCED and therefore removed: raising 21 children, membership in the American Philosophical Society, three sons serving in 1812, and son Ezekiel being captured at Lundy's Lane in 1814 and dying in a British prison camp. That last one is a vivid, checkable claim and it deserves its own research pass before it is ever published. Worth chasing: if the Ezekiel story holds up it is a strong post on its own.
Checked 2026-07-29 · County history, independently fact checked