Samuel Maclay Resigned From United States Senate January 4, 1809

A monument was unveiled in memory of Samuel Maclay, a great Pennsylvanian, October 16, 1908. The scene of these impressive ceremonies was a beautiful little cemetery close by the old Dreisbach Church, a few miles west of Lewisburg in the picturesque Buffalo Valley, Union County.

Samuel Maclay was the eighth United States Senator from Pennsylvania and had the proud distinction of being the brother of William Maclay, one of the first United States Senators from Pennsylvania. The Maclays are the only brothers to ever sit in the highest legislative body of this country. The third brother, John, was also prominent and served in the Senate of Pennsylvania.

The imposing shaft was erected by Pennsylvania at a cost of only $1000, which included the contract for the marble shaft and the reinterment of the Senator’s body.

Miss Helen Argyl Maclay, of Belleville, a great-great-granddaughter of Samuel Maclay, unveiled the monument assisted by her two brothers, Ralph and Robert Maclay. Rev. A. A. Stapleton, D. D., delivered the principal address. Other speakers included Frank L. Dersham, then the Representative in the General Assembly from Union County, who introduced the bill for this memorial; Alfred Hayes, now deceased, also a former member of the Assembly, who represented the Union County Historical Society; Captain Samuel R. Maclay, of Mineral Point, Mo., a grandson of Senator Samuel Maclay.

Lieutenant Governor Robert Murphy attended the ceremony, as did many distinguished citizens from this and other States, school children and military, civic, historical and patriotic societies. There were thirty-five representatives of the Maclay family in attendance.

Perhaps the strangest emotion during the preparation of this shaft and its unveiling was caused by the seeming lack of knowledge of this statesman, farmer, frontiersman, soldier, surveyor, citizen, who was an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolution, who was a foremost actor in the actual development of the interior of the State to commerce, one who sat in the highest legislative councils of this Commonwealth and presided over its Senate, who represented his State in Congress and later in the United States Senate, and so serving was the compeer of men whose names are radiant with luster on the pages of American history.

Yet, strange to say, the memory of this man had so completely faded from public view that college professors, members of the General Assembly 10and men who held some claim to be styled historians asked in wonder, when the bill was before the Legislature, “Who was this man?”

The ancestors of Senator Maclay came from Scotland, where the clan Maclay inhabited the mountains of County Boss in the northlands.

When the darkest chapter of Scotch-Irish history was written in tears and blood, emigration was the only alternative to starvation, and among the 30,000 exiles who left for these shores were two Maclays.

These two exiles were sons of Charles Maclay, of County Antrim and titular Baron of Finga. Their names were Charles, born in 1703, and John, born in 1707. They set sail for America May 30, 1734.

Upon arrival they first settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where they remained nearly seven years, when they removed to what is now Lurgan Township, Franklin County, on an estate, which is still in possession of their descendants.

Here John, son of Charles, the immigrant, built a mill in 1755, which, with modern improvements and alterations, is still operated by the third succeeding generation. This mill was stockaded during the French and Indian War, as it was located on the well-traveled highway leading from McAllister’s Gap to Shippensburg.

During the Revolution every male member of the Maclay family, of military age, was in the service, and every one an officer.

John Maclay, the younger of the immigrant brothers, married Jane MacDonald in 1747. To this union were born three sons and one daughter; John born 1748, a soldier of the Revolution, died 1800; Charles, born 1750, a captain in the Continental Army, who fell in the action at Crooked Billet, 1778; Samuel, born 1751, also an officer, fell at Bunker Hill; Elizabeth, wife of Colonel Samuel Culbertson, of the Revolution.

Charles Maclay, the elder immigrant brother, died in 1753. His wife, Eleanore, whom he had married in Ireland, died in 1789. To them were born four sons and one daughter: John, born in Ireland, 1734, for many years a magistrate, and in 1776 he was a delegate to convention in Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia. He also served in the General Assembly, 1790–1792 and 1794; William, born in Chester County, July 20, 1737, whose sketch appears in another story; Charles, also born in Chester County, in 1739, was a soldier of the Revolution, died in 1834 at Maclays Mills; Samuel, the subject of our sketch, was born June 17, 1741.

Samuel Maclay was educated in the classical school conducted by Dr. J. Allison, of Middle Spring. He also mastered the science of surveying, which he followed for years. In 1769 he was engaged with his brother William and Surveyor General Lukens in surveying the officers’ tracts on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, which had been awarded to the officers of First Battalion in Bouquet’s expedition.

A coincident fact is that the remains of this distinguished patriot lie 11buried on the allotment awarded Captain John Brady, who drew the third choice, and which was surveyed for him by Maclay.

Samuel Maclay, November 10, 1773, married Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel William Plunket, then President Judge of Northumberland County, and commandant of the garrison at Fort Augusta. They took up their residence on the Brady tract in Buffalo Valley. To this union six sons and three daughters were born.

From the moment Samuel Maclay became a resident of what is now Union County until his death he was identified with the important history of the valley.

Samuel Maclay was one of the commissioners to survey the headwaters of the Schuylkill, Susquehanna and Allegheny Rivers. The others were Timothy Matlack, of Philadelphia, and John Adlum, of York. They were commissioned April 9, 1789. These eminent men were skilled hydrographical and topographical engineers and completed the first great survey of Pennsylvania.

The journal kept by Maclay is interesting and valuable and relates many thrilling experiences quite foreign to those of present-day surveyors.

He was lieutenant colonel of the First Battalion, Northumberland County Militia, organized at Derr’s Mills, now Lewisburg, September 12, 1775.

In 1787 Samuel Maclay was elected to Pennsylvania Assembly and served until 1791, when he became Associate Justice of Northumberland County. In 1794 he was elected to Congress. Three years later he was elected to Pennsylvania Senate, where he served six years. He was elected Speaker in 1802 and he served in this capacity until March 16, 1802, when he took his seat in the United States Senate, where he continued until January 4, 1809, resigning on account of broken health.

He died October 5, 1811, at the age of seventy years. His wife, Elizabeth Plunket Maclay, survived her distinguished husband until 1835.

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