Name: James Hogue
   Born: 1754
  Place: Ireland
   Died: 31 Oct 1827
  Place: Butler Co., OH
 Buried: 
  Place: Collinsville Cemetery
Y-Haplo: I-Z138
Married: 1783
  Place: Cumberland Co., PA

I once told my maternal uncle, Ron Hogue, that he was descended from a long line of old men:

James Hogue was 46 at the birth of
John Hogue who was 46 at the birth of
Robert Irwin Hogue who was 47 at the birth of
Hugh Wallace Hogue who was 45 at the birth of
Ronald Hugh Hogue in 1939

The "tradition," however, stopped there. Ron and his only child, Heather, died prematurely and only a couple of years apart from one another. Although we are in the unfortunate position of being unable to move that line forward into the future, we can help honor their memories by looking further back into time, further into the history of their legacies.

If James and Margaret indeed married in 1783, it's difficult to believe they waited fifteen years to have children.

Elizabeth Hogue	1798-1870	Elizabeth was born in KY and married Joseph Gaston McQuiston in Butler Co OH. She and her husband died in Warren County OH. Three known children: James Hogue McQuiston, Margaret McQuiston and William Hugh McQuiston.
John Hogue	1800-1872	Married Ann R Simpson. Findagrave memorial #97297279.

James Hogue appears on the 1810 tax list for Butler county, Ohio. This is the only reliable census data known for him. Was there another daughter?

1820 > OHIO > BUTLER > WAYNE Series: M33 Roll: 87 Page: 128 James Houge 000101 011010 1

See Descendants of James Hogue to Five Generations for additional information on James's descendants.

James Hogue Article

My grandmother received the following along with a letter from her niece (in-law), Jody Hogue Bentson, in 1987. Judging from the content of the letter, Jody was responding to Birdie's phone call, which she might have very well have made at my instigation.

Jody did not know who the writer was. Evidently, it was a son or daughter of Robert Irwin Hogue, James's son. And judging from what follows, the author was still living in Ringgold county. "Uncle Bob" and aunts Bertha and Ethel (who my cousins, Patty and Rhonda, fondly recall from their childhood summer vacations in Tingley) remained in the area all their lives. It seems unlikely this would have been written by my grandfather, Hugh Hogue, or by Jody's father, "Uncle Harry".

All five siblings mentioned above lived to the 1960s. I'd suspect that what follows was written mid-century, certainly well beyond any possibility of personal knowledge. Since they were third cousins to Margaret Milne, the DAR applicant, it seems likely to me that she was the source of the information, although it is not known just what they would have learned from their own father, Robert (1846-1929). Whoever the writer was, the remark about the chicken thief is of the kind of humor I came to expect from my Iowa antecedants.

I've retained all punctuation and grammarical errors as found in my copy, itself a type-written transcription.

Our father, Robert Irwin Hogue, was born in Butler County, Ohio, Sept. 13, 1846. He was the son of John Hogue, who was born also in Butler County, Ohio, April 17, 1800. The latter was the son of James Hogue, who was born in Ireland in 1754.

Great Grandfather, James Hogue came from Ireland to America at the age of 15 years. When he was 16 years old he went to Carlisle, Pa. to reap. Shortly after that he enlisted in Capt. Hendrick's Rifle Co., and they were drafted to Quebec. He served Five and One half years in the Revolutionary War.

About the year 1784 he moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, and later to Butler County Ohio. He got a ticket of 40 shillings for his service on the Trumbull frigate, which is all the pay he got for his five and one half years service. He was married some years after returning from the war.

Our connections as far as I know are all respectable, law-abiding citizens. However in recent years there are some Hogue families residing in this Ringgold County, Iowa, As far as I know they are not related to us. Our father and his three brothers came to Iowa about 60 years age, and these Hogues, who are here do not belong to any of these families. If they should be related it must be quite distant. One, however, was in jail for chicken stealing, so I am not anxious to trace any relationship.

According to the Navy Department Library (http://www.history.navy.mil/library), the Trumbull was commissioned from 1776-1781. The following is from page 280 of The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians, Now Deceased, by Henry Simpson.

In July of this year [1781], [Richard] Dale sailed from the capes of Delaware as lieutenant of the Trumbull frigate, Captain James Nicholson. When at sea but a few hours, they fell in with a British frigate and sloop-of-war. After a severe engagement in a dark and stormy night, the Trumbull, having been crippled by the gale, was compelled to strike her flag to a force vastly superior. Lieutenant Dale was severely wounded in this encounter. In a short time he was put on Long Island a prisoner on parole; he was soon afterwards exchanged, and, in November, 1781, returned to Philadelphia.

Navybuddies.com states that

Captain James Nicholson (1737-1804) was the senior Continental Navy Captain in the Revolutionary War. Prior to receiving his commission in the Continental Navy, he served in the Colonial Navy with the British and was present during the assault on Havana in 1762. During the Revolutionary War, he commanded three ships of the line: Defense, Turnbull and Virginia. Most notable, when his ship was blockaded at Baltimore, Captain Nicholson took his men to join Washington at Trenton, and aided in that victory.

From page 4 of Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, Battalions and Line, 1775-1783:

On the 11th of July Congress was informed that two companies had been raised in Lancaster county instead of one, and it resolved that both companies be taken into the Continental service. This battalion, therefore, consisted of nine companies, enlisted as follows: Chambers' and Hendricks: in Cumberland county, Doudel's in York, Ross' and Smith's in Lancaster, Lowdon's in Northumberland, Cluggage's in Bedford, Nagel's in Berks, and Capt. Abraham Miller's, in Northampton."

Captain Hendricks was born in Cumerberland County and was killed in the engagement at Quebec. James Hogge is listed as being in his service on page 25 of the same book along with the note, "resided in Cumberland county in 1794."

1915 Biography

This is part of a much larger article about William C Elder, a great-grandson of James's. Much of it is difficult to swallow, particularly that James met the brother of the King.

[link]

A History of Northwest Missouri
edited by Walter Williams
Published by The Lewis publishing company, 1915

p1458

The maternal grandfather of Mr. Elder was John Hogue, a son of James Hogue. James Hogue was born in Ireland in 1754, came to America at the age of fifteen, and a year later found work at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. From that community a few years later he enlisted for service during the American Revolution in Captain Henrick's Rifle Company, and in three days was on his way to Boston. At that city his company was assigned to the Quebec expedition under General Benedict Arnold, made the arduous campaign to the St. Lawrence, participated in the battle and the storming of the heights, and was taken a prisoner after General Montgomery was killed. The British threatened to send all the English, Irish and Scotch back to England to be hanged as traitors unless they enlisted and fought against the Americans. Before the prisoners were sent off James Hogue and Thomas Walker escaped, were recaptured, again escaped, and while living among the French the British authorities again apprehended him, and tried him by court martial and sent him to England. While being taken to prison in England he got loose from his captors, hid for a time in a cellar, and then traveled overland towards London. While on the way he met the king's brother, the Duke of Gloucester, who asked him and his companions what ship they belonged to. They explained to the duke that they had permission to go by land to London. In London they were once more captured, made their escape and James Hogue was finally put aboard a British ship bound for Halifax, subsequently sent to Charleston, South Carolina, then back to Halifax, and there was put on board an English privateer which fell in with an American vessel and in the engagement the British ship was captured. Mr. Hogue quickly made friends with the captain of the American ship, finally reached Baltimore, and was assigned to service on the American frigate Trumbull. After about five and a half years of service in the many vicissitudes between the English and Americans, he reached Philadelphia, and was granted as pay for his work in the patriot cause a ticket for forty shillings. In 1784 James Hogue moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and in 1788 to Butler County, Ohio, which was his home until 1826. One of his children was John Hogue, maternal grandfather of William C. Elder.

Both of James's children were born in Kentucky so the idea that he had gone into Ohio as early as 1788 is unlikely.

I'd been aware of the following article for decades, but never saw a copy until I visited the DAR library in Washington, DC during July, 2012. It was included as proof in the DAR application of Margaret McQuiston Milne (³William Hugh McQuiston, ²Elizabeth Hogue, ¹James Hogue), and is filed as document #6612457. The following points should be noted:

• James Hogue's birth year does not match up with the arithmetic of his stated ages, as spelled out in the first paragraph. The Battle of Quebec occurred in December, 1775. If James was born in 1754, he would have been about 21, not 16 or 17, as inferred here. It would make better sense if he had been in Pennsylvania for seven or eight years rather than days. In other words, this makes sense: Born Ireland 1754; immigrated 1769; moved to Carlisle 1770; enlisted 1775.
• A James Hogg is found listed in the "Battalion of Riflemen" and is noted as having been captured. The entry in Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution further states that he was living in Cumberland county, PA in 1794, which doesn't agree with James's account.¹
• There was a well-known Thomas Walker whose story somewhat dovetails James's. Although also captured by the British and released when the Americans intercepted the ship, he was an important merchant, not a soldier. He had a large estate in Montreal where he played host to Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll in 1776. There was an enlisted private of the same name in Col William Thompson's company, also noted as being captured.²
• James Hogue married Margaret Irwin. Her parentage is unknown but it has long been suspected she was a sister of James Irwin (1758-1847), who received a pension for his service and who had children Ann, John, Mary, Jane, James, Robert, William, Nancy, David S, and George. If the following was taken down by David, he might have been a nephew to James Hogue.⁹
• The narrative would have been fifty years old when it was published in 1878. Did the original copy travel from Ohio to Illinois with the Hogues or (more likely) with the McQuistons? Is there any chance that the original still exists?

There is virtually no genealogical information in James's narrative, but it makes for one hell of a yarn. To help determine its veracity, I've linked to further information. I italicized those nouns and terms that I'm not yet been able to identify.

1827 Narrative of James Hogue

Who Served in the Revolutionary War Five Years and a Half

(Written by D. S. Irwin, Jan. 7 1827, and published in the Monmouth Atlas, May, 1878.)

I was born in Ireland, in the year of 1754. At the age of fifteen, I came to America. When I was about sixteen, I went to Carlisle, Penn., to reap. After I had been there seven or eight days [years?], I enlisted in Captain Henricks' Rifle Company. In three days we set out for Boston; and in a few days after we arrived in Boston we were drafted to Quebec.³ We got scarce of provisions—so scarce that each man had but one pint of flour to subsist on for thirteen days. While in our distress, there came a drove of cattle, of which we killed some to eat. After we had refreshed ourselves, we marched on again until we arrived at Quebec. After we had laid there two or three weeks, Gen. Montgomery arrived with an army and laid siege to the upper part of the town; at the same time, Gen. Arnold (the General under whose command we were) laid siege to the lower part of the town. The battle then commenced, in which Gen. Montgomery and his aid-de-camp were killed, and his army retreated.

When the British saw that Montgomery was dead, and that his army had retreated, they took us prisoners.⁴ When we were taken, the British General, whose name was Charlton [sic], took down the names of all the English, Irish and Scotchmen, and told us we must go to England and be hung, or enlist with him and fight against America. So we chose to enlist with him.⁵

As soon as the Americans had left Quebec, we were sent to Montreal, to keep garrison. We had not been there more than two or three weeks, till Thomas Walker and I deserted. We had not traveled far till we parted. Soon after I had left him, I was taken by five Englishmen. I escaped from them, but they followed me about thirty miles and took me again, and put me in a Quebec jail. There were twelve of us in one room. I had not been long in till we broke jail; six of us made our escape and left six in jail. After I escaped jail, I went to Walker again.

We lived one summer with the French, and then we were taken again and sent to Montreal, tried by a court martial, and sentenced to be transported to Bay Baudoras, to cut logwood.¹⁰ But we were not sent, but sent to Quebec again, put on board a ship and sailed for England. While were were sailing, we became very intimate with some of the sailors, so that we might desert when we came on shore.

Modern Portsmouth. Routes to London are 75-90 miles

When we landed at Portsmouth, we were kept on board for eight days. So on a day when there was a fair in town, the captain sent three of his men, with fixed bayonets, to take us to prison. When we were going through the crowd, we escaped from them and ran through the town till we came to an old cellar, and stayed there till night, took off our soldiers' clothes and put on our sailors' clothes. As soon as it became dark, we left the cellar and got on the road that led to London.

We traveled all that night; in the morning we got our breakfasts, which cost us twelve pence, which was all the money we had. After we had traveled some distance, the Duke of Glouchester [sic] (the King's brother) overtook us, and asked us a number of questions and inquired what ship we belonged to. We told him that we belonged to the Montreal frigate. He asked us how we came to leave our ship. We told him that we were left sick in the hospital, and had our choice to travel by land or water, and that we chose to travel by land to see the country. So he gave me a guinea and Walker a crown piece to get shoes for myself and bear our expenses to London, and told us to stop at a certain tavern in Kingston and get our dinner on his account, and then he left us.¹²

When we came to Kingston, we were afraid to stop for fear we would be taken up. But when we came to the tavern at which we were to stop, the landlord called to us and asked us if we were the men who were to dinner on the Duke's account. We told him that we were. Then he took us in and gave us our dinner and a mug of porter to drink. After we had refreshed ourselves, we went on toward London, and arrived there that night.

When we came into the town, we thought it best not to lodge at any public house for fear they would ask us too many questions. So we stopped at a widow's house and called for some refreshments. While we were sitting at the table (taking our refreshments) that stood near a window that fronted the street, the press gang came by the window and saw us. When they observed our dress, they came in and took us prisoners and put us in the Savee. After we had been there about two weeks, we made our escape. We had not gone far till Walker and I parted. He said he would go back to London and try to get on a ship that was going to America; but I said that I would never go to London again unless I was compelled to go. So he went to London, and I went toward Willedge, a little town on the Thames river.

When I got some distance, I saw a man on a gibbet, and a man watching him, lest any person should give him bread, so the senty [sic] told me that if I would go up opposite the town and hail a boat, they would come over for me. Then I went up and called for a boat and there come one over for me, but I had no money to pay them. So they said they would not ask anything. They asked me what ship I wanted to go to. I told them a merchant vessel. Then they took me to one and asked the captain if he wanted to hire a hand. So he offered me £4 s. 10 per month and the river wages; but the boatsmen told me that I could get higher wages at another ship. So they took me to a bomb ship. When I went on board, I found the wages lower that I was offered on the other ship; but I soon found that I was obliged to stay. The name of the ship was Vesuvius.

In three or four weeks she sailed round to Portsmouth. I took the fever while at Portsmouth and was put into a hospital. After I recovered I was put on board the guard ship. Soon after, I was drafted from the guard ship to the Robust, a ship-of-war, of 74 guns. In a few days we sailed, in company with forty-nine other ships, for Halifax. Soon after we came to Halifax, we sailed to New York, took in the English soldiers that were at New York and sailed to Charleston, S.C. We had not been long at Charleston, till the whole ship's crew took the scurvy and some died with it. After we had laid three or four weeks at Charleston, we sailed again for Halifax, and after we landed I went and engaged with the captain of an English privateer.

We went out, and after some time we fell in with an American privateer, and we fought with them two hours and five minutes, and they took us prisoners. After we were taken, I told the captain my narrative. So he told me that if I would work my passage to Boston, he would give me a discharge, to go into any part of America that I wished.

When we landed at Boston I went to the captain for my discharge; but he told me that he could not give it without the permission of the Governor. So there came to the ship a lieutenant of the Trumbull frigate, and asked if there were any that would enter on board with him for three months or the first intended port. So I said I would enter with him. We set out and sailed to New York, from that to Baltimore. When we came to Baltimore, there came out two English ships and chased us up as far as New Castle, Delaware, and then left off to follow us. When they left us, the captain told us that if we would take the ship safe to Philadelphia, that he would give us our discharges.⁷ When we landed at Philadelphia, I went to the captain time after time for my discharge; but he still put me off.⁸ So I soon started without my discharge; but after I had passed through Lancaster and Middletown, I was taken up by Captain Smith, who was obliged to take any soldier that had no pass.¹¹ So he locked me up in his house, and I laid down and slept until morning.

A contemporary hike from Philadelphia to Carlisle via Lancaster and Middletown

About the break of day his two daughters came to me and told me to get up, take some refreshments, and start away before their father would be up.⁶ So I set out again and traveled on till towards evening; but I began to be hungry, so I stopped at a house and asked the landlady for something to eat. Then she asked me if I had a pass. I told her that I had none. Then she said I must be taken up. So she called to her husband, who came and told me that I must be taken to Esq. Green. I asked him if he ever knew a sailor to have a pass. Then he concluded that it was best to let me go, so I arrived home in about two days after.

After some years, I went back to Philadelphia to get my pay. I got a ticket of forty shillings for my service on the Trumbull frigate, which was all the pay I got for five and a half years of service.

I was some years home before I was married. About the year 1784, we moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky.

In 1808, we moved to the state of Ohio; and now I reside in the state of Ohio, the County of Butler; and I am now about seventy-two years old. As my memory is now bad, and having kept no journal, I can give but a brief narrative.

James Hogue

1. Linn, John Blair, and William H. Egle, M.D., ed., Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, Battalions and Line, 1775-1783, vol. 1 (Harrisburg: Lane S. Hart, 1880), 25.

2. Linn, 41.

3. Prowell, George R, Continental Congress at York, Pennsylvania and York County in the Revolution (York, PA: York Printing Company, 1914), 161. "An expedition had been planned to invade Canada. The story goes that this expedition was suggested by Benedict Arnold, then considered a skillful soldier, who held the commission of colonel in the army around Boston. One thousand men were to be detached and sent under Arnold through the wilderness of Maine to Quebec. On September 5 [1775] the company under Captain Smith, of Dauphin County, and the company under Captain Hendricks, of Cumberland County, were ordered to parade upon the Boston Common, preparatory to joining Arnold, and they united with his expedition the following week."

4. Linn, 24. "Captain Hendricks was born in Cumberland county, on the place long known as Tobias Hendricks', near Oyster's Point, two miles, west of Harrisburg. He was buried at Quebec, in the same inclosure [sic] with General Montgomery, on the south side."

5. Linn, 7. "These companies led the advance under captain, afterward Col. Daniel Morgan, through the wilderness, and participated in the attack on Quebec, on the morning of the 31st of December at Palace Gate, where, as the dispatch of the day reads, 'that excellent young officer, Capt. William Hendricks, of Pennsylvania, fell,' and the rest of the command after desperate fighting, were forced to surrender. The survivors were paroled on the 7th of August, 1776, and after being exchanged, for the most part, reentered the service..."

6. James served with a Captain Smith. I think it's unlikely that this is the same man. But if he had already known the family, it might explain why Smith's daughters help him escape.

7. This might have been the Trumbull's engagement with the British letter-of-marque Watt, June 1, 1780. But that was not a light affair. There were heavy losses on both sides. However, this accounting may be more like his arrival on the Trumbull: Budd Hannings, Chronology of the American Revolution: Military and Political Actions Day by Day, 418. Entry for July 27, 1780: "The frigates Deane (Captain Samuel Nicholson) and the Trumbull (Captain James Nicholson), neither carrying a full crew, depart from Boston en route to the Delaware River to join with the frigate Confederacy (Catain Seth Harding) and the sloop Saratoga (Captain John Young).

8. Judging from the narrative this was before the Trumbull was captured on 28 August 1781. The captain was James Nicholson. The lieutenant at the time of the capture, Richard Dale, had just come aboard at Phildelphia, where James's journey ended. Henry Simpson, The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians, Now Deceased, 280. "In July of this year [1781], [Richard] Dale sailed from the capes of Delaware as lieutenant of the Trumbull frigate, Captain James Nicholson. When at sea but a few hours, they fell in with a British frigate and sloop-of-war. After a severe engagement in a dark and stormy night, the Trumbull, having been crippled by the gale, was compelled to strike her flag to a force vastly superior. Lieutenant Dale was severely wounded in this encounter. In a short time he was put on Long Island a prisoner on parole; he was soon afterwards exchanged, and, in November, 1781, returned to Philadelphia." The Trumbull arrived in Natusket, near Boston, on June 14, 1780 [citation] and was in Philadelphia during the first part of 1781. This jibes closely with James's account of his travels back in America.

9. According to findagrave.com, David S Irwin was born 7 Jan 1802 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania to James and Nancy Irwin. His son, William Irwin (1827-1886), was the 13th governor of California. But his father James is erroneously given the parents Archibald Irwin and Jean McDowell. Their son was another James who died Cincinnati a few years earlier.

10. There's a Badoura State Forest 150 miles west of Duluth, Minnesota, which is on Lake Superior. That 150 miles would probably have been trecherous for the day and doesn't seem likely.

11. It's about 37 miles from Lancaster to Middleton. He must have been heading to Harrisburg, which is where his company was mustered.

12. Frankly, this seems too fantastic to be true. Wikipedia has this to say about the Duke: "With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, the Duke hoped for a field command, but George refused. He made a request to serve in the forces of Frederick II of Prussia during the War of Bavarian Succession (1777-1779) -- George consented but Frederick himself turned down the offer. He later transferred to the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards, and he became a field marshal on 18 October 1793." In other words, the Duke was certainly "home" at the time.