BAZIL DERRY (1786-1879) 1838 - BAZEL DERRY bought 4 acres 90 perches of land on George’s Creek in Georges Township, Fayette County, PA from ALEXANDER BROWNFIELD and his wife, MARTHA. 1840 - MARY DERRY, daughter of OLD MARY, bought _ of Lot #4 in Haydentown, Georges Township, Fayette County, PA from RICHARD SMITH. (*log cabin) 1843 - Will of MARY DERRY, mother of MARY DERRY (FOWLER), bequeathed log cabin to her grandson, ANDREW DERRY (FOWLER). 1852 - BAZIL DERRY, appointed guardian for his sister, MARY DERRY (FOWLER), 3 minor children: ANDREW (1839), BASIL (1848) and MARY (1849). 1856 - Settlement of accounts for estate of MARY DERRY, who died January 1852. 1857 - Sale of log cabin to CHARLES HARTMAN through auction. 1876 - Citation filed against BAZIL DERRY by ANDREW DERRY (FOWLER) of Millersburg, Elkhart County, Indiana, for non-settlement of accounts. Genius of Liberty Newspaper – August 31, 1876 (research credit to Vickie Leonelli) OUR OLD CITIZENS GEORGE: ...BASIL DERRY is in the neighborhood of ninety and MARY DERRY, nearly as old... 1879 - BAZIL DERRY and MARY, his wife deeded over 4 acres 90 perches of land on Georges Creek, Georges Township, Fayette County, PA to his grandson, BASIL DERRY (Jr.).
Will of Mary Derry The last will and testament of Mary Derry of George Township Fayette Caounty State of Pennsylvania. In the name of God I Mary Derry considering the uncertainty of the mortal life and being of sound mind and memory blessed be almighty God for the same, do make this my last will and testament in manner and form following that is to say, first I give and bequeath unto my grand child Andrew Derry the son of Mary Fowler the house and lot where I now live in Haydentown or George Town lying and being in George Township in Fayette County and state above mentioned it being the whole of my freehold estate whatsoever to hold to him the said Andrew Derry his heirs and assigns forever whom I hereby appoint Mary Fowler sole Executrix of this my last will and testament hereby revoking all formers wills by me maid (sic). In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the fifteenth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eighteen hundred and forty three. Attest: Jacob Dawson Jacob Derry
1810 Maryland Census Index Derry, James Kent 229 No TWP Schultz, C. Balt 296 Baltimore Schultz, Frederick Balt 169 Baltimore Schultz, John Balt 295 Baltimore 1820 Census Index - Pennsylvania Derry, Bazel Fayette 159 Georges Derry, Jacob Fayette 159 Georges Derry, London Fayette 110 Washington Derry, Mary Fayette 159 Georges Derry, Phebe Fayette 159 Georges Derry, Phillip Fayette 101 Springhill 1840 Census Index - Pennsylvania Derry, B. Fayette 298 Georges Derry, Mark Fayette 230 Washington Derry, Murry Fayette 297 Georges Derry, Solomon Fayette 230 Washington 1850 Census Index - Pennsylvania Derry, Bazil Fayette 048 Georges TWP Derry, Jacob Fayette 048 Georges TWP Derry, Solomon Fayette 378 Washington TWP Derry, Mary Fayette 047 Georges 1850 - Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Georges TWP p. 48 12 12 Mary Derry 39 F Widow Pa Andrew 12 M Pa Bazil 5 M Pa Mary E. 2 F Pa 19 19 Bazil Derry 50 M Farmer Md Mary 57 F Md Charity P. 16 F Pa Lavina 14 F Pa 24 24 Jacob Derry 32 M Shoemaker 100 Pa Nancy 28 F Pa Mary E. 10 F Pa Bazil 5 M Pa Melechor 4 M Pa Margaret Hartman 24 F Pa George 22 M Laborer Pa Josiah Mitchell 21 M Do. Va 35 35 Alexander Brownfield 53 M Farmer 3000 Pa Martha 48 F NJ ... Merker Hartman 62 M Farmer Md 1852 - La Fayette - Marriages of Fayette Co. George Hartman, farmer, s/o Melker and Mary Hartman, born in Georges Twp, now residing in Georges Twp., and Charetta Phebe Derry, d/o Bazel and Mary Derry, were married 23 Dec 1852 in Georges Twp. in a legal ceremony by G.W. Hertzog of Smithfield. 1860 Census - Fayette Co., PA Georges TWP 1395 1391 Derry, Bazzil 74 M Old Gent Pa Mary 72 F Pa 1402 1398 Derry, Jacob 45 M Shoe Maker Pa Nancy 40 F Va Mary E. 19 F Pa Bazzil 17 M Shoe Maker Pa Melchi 16 M Pa Margaret Hartman 33 F Domestic Pa 1861 - La Fayette - Marriages of Fayette Co. Gaskins, William and Mary Ellen Derry, both of Georges Twp. married on 27 Dec. 1861 by Lewis Hunter Esq. (9 Jan 1862) 1870 Pennsylvania Census - Georges TWP, Fayette County, PA 423 427 Derry, Basil 83 M W Invalid 200 -- Penna Mary 82 F W Keeping House Virginia Mother & Father of Mary are of Foreign Birth 1880 Census - Fayette County, PA Georges TWP 50 50 Hartman, George W M 52 Husband Farmer Penna W.Va Penna Phebe W F 41 Wife Penna Penna Penna Ellen W F 22 Daughter Penna Penna Penna Nancy W F 18 Daughter Penna Penna Penna William W M 14 Son Penna Penna Penna Liza Jane W F 12 Daughter Penna Penna Penna Sarah W F 10 Daughter Penna Penna Penna Dery, Mary W F 86 Mother of Wife Penna Penna Penna 7/4/90 - Information from Arch Miller as written in his book. (brackets are my comments) Arch Miller c/o Barbershop Fairchance, PA 15436 Polly Shultz - There was supposed to be a write-up in the Pittsburgh paper listing witches and she was on the list. It is possible she just beleived in omens & superstitions and in those days the people thought she was a witch. (born before our time) Charlotte Phoebe Derry married George Hartman Dec. 23, 1852 by Rev. G.W. Hertzog in Smithfield, Pa. Parents of George were Melker & Mary Hartman. In 1884 Jacob transferred a piece of property to Basil his brother. Basil Derry Polly Shultz b. around 1787 MD b. 1788 still listed d. between 1870-1880 in 1880 census Shoemaker (leather) bn in MD Jacob - Nancy Hartman Barbara - John Bates Charlotte Phobe - George Hartman Kathryn - Samuel Huntly Lavina - William Emme Basil - single (Smithfield) Sofe - Henry Roderick 1. Charlotte Phoebe - 1834 2. Lavina - 1835 3. Jacob - 1815 4. Nancy - 1822 5. Basil - 1845 6. Melicher - 1846 7. Barbary - 1823 Basil Jr. died 3-22-1917 Lavina Derry b. Sep 2, 1835 d. Nov 14, 1927 youngest of children bad temper Basil Derry/Polly Shultz lived around Haydentown, Pa. They are buried at Rubles Mill in a field opposite Paul School on the farm. Shacklet Henry Roderick & Jones buried there.
Newspaper article – May 1, 1879 (research credit to Vickie Leonelli) AN OLD HUNTER BAZIL DERRY was born in Bedford County, PA, in the month of April 1786, and is now 92 years of age. His wife, MARY, was born in the same county, in the year 1789 and is now 90 years of age. This venerable couple have lived in the same house nearly 70 years, about a half mile south of Wood’s Tannery, and near the foot of the mountain in George Township, Fayette County, PA. Mr. DERRY has been confined to his bed for 8 months, is reduced to a mere skeleton and is almost blind. They had 5 children born to them, all of whom are living. JACOB, their only son is over 60 years of age. Mrs. JOHN GATES (nee Barbara Rosanna Derry), Mrs. SAMUEL HUNTLEY (nee Kathryn Derry), Mrs. WILLIAM EMME (nee Lavina Derry) and Mrs. GEORGE HARTMAN (nee Chariety Phebe Derry), are their daughters; they have a large number of grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Mr. DERRY was a shoemaker by trade, but followed hunting in the mountains until his eyesight failed, and it is safe to say that he has killed more deer and bear, caught more coon, and shot more turkeys and squirrels and killed more rattlesnakes than any other man that ever lived in Fayette County; he has been to the head of Cheat River and all over the Canaan Valley on that stream in his hunting tours. Mr. DERRY is a very singular and excentric man; is entirely unlettered, but well-acquainted with the habits and instincts of wild animals. R. H. J. (*Note: BAZIL DERRY died a few weeks after this article on May 20, 1879. He and his wife, Mary, are buried in a field across from the Old Paul’s School in Woodbridgetown, Fayette Co., PA - unmarked). (*Note: A road is named DERRY HILL after Bazil where he and Mary lived).
Genius of Liberty Newspaper, Uniontown, PA – Thursday, January 1, 1891 (research credit to Vicki Leonelli, Uniontown Library) A COUPLE Who slew wild animals about Haydentown in early days The following story comes to us from Gainesville, New York. Many of our readers will remember DERRY and his wife. For further information concerning them we refer you to J. GATES HARTMAN and A. W. SCOTT, who knew them well. “Of all the men I need to hunt with, when the Pennsylvania woods were filled with game, not one of them is alive, and they were all younger than me except one, BASIL DERRY of the Laurel Hill mountains, ‘way down in Fayette county’, said the veteran, URL PARMLY, of Gaines Corners. Mr. PARMLY is nearly 93 years of age, and undoubtedly is the oldest hunter in the state, although he does very little hunting now. ‘Not because I’m too old’, he says, ‘but because there isn’t game enough to make it worthwhile’. ‘BASIL DERRY was seven years older than I,’ continued the old hunter, ‘and he’s been dead ten years. He was a great hunter. He had bought a small piece of land on the Laurel Mountain as early as 1812, and there married a girl named MARY SHULTZ, a member of the same stock that rock-ribbed old GOV. SHULTZ* same from.’ (*Note: John Andrew Melchior Shulze of PA – 1775-1852) ‘The day they were married they started afoot through the woods on their wedding tour to their new home in the mountains. BASIL, carried his rifle and on the way to, killed fifteen wild turkeys, five deer, a bear and two wild cats. The bear and the wild cats, BASIL and his wife hung up in the woods out of the reach of wolves, and he shouldered the two deer and six of the turkeys and his wife loaded herself with the nine remaining turkeys and carried them to their home. Some of the burden had to be carried twenty miles.’ ‘The business BASIL was going to engage in on the mountain was charcoal burning for the furnaces at Haydentown and he sold the deer and the turkeys he killed on his wedding trip for enough money almost to pay for his cabin. The bear and wildcats his wife and himself went back and carried in after they got their other game safe home. They had to take a tramp of ten miles to do it, and then got back home before dark. This was in the early part of March 1812.’ ‘A few days after BASIL and his wife – he was only 20 and she 17 – got settled in the wilderness on the Laurel Mountain, BASIL had gathered in a back load of wild turkeys. He started with them to Haydentown and on his way in killed a bear. He sold his turkeys and his bear skin, having left the bear’s carcass in the woods, and was about to start back home, when he was solicited to stay and fiddle for a dance that was to be given in Haydentown that night, BASIL being a good natural fiddler.’ ‘He didn’t want to leave his wife alone in the cabin, miles from any place, although he knew she could take care of herself, but the snug purse they offered to make up for him he needed, and so he agreed to stay and fiddle. He left for home at daylight and when he got home he found that MARY had been sitting up all night shooting wolves from a loophole in the cabin, around which they had been howling all night. The snow was strewn with dead wolves and the young wife told BASIL she was glad he had stayed at Haydentown and earned the money.’ ‘When out hunting DERRY always wore moccasins made by himself out of a groundhog skin. He made his way through the woods on these as noiselessly as a shadow. He had two guns, both flint locks, and he never changed them to percussion locks when those were invented. He said the old flint locks had always stood by him and he intended to stand by them. He called his guns Burnt Eye and Black Snake. Black Snake he always kept home for his wife in case of emergencies. In case no emergency arose, she frequently started out herself in the woods to raise one. She seldom came back home without a turkey or two, perhaps a deer, and likely as not a bear.’ ‘One time, after they had lived on the mountain a year or two, he wounded a big buck late in the afternoon. One of the buck’s forelegs was broken by the shot. BASIL did not follow the deer then, but returned home, ate his supper, and then told his wife he was going back to run down the deer.’ ‘All right’, she said, ‘I’d go with you’. Taking a couple of dogs which they led, BASIL and his wife started for the clearing where he had wounded the buck. Arriving there, they waited and listened. They heard deer after deer pass them in the darkness by their footfalls on the dry leaves, but the quick ear of BASIL could tell that none of them was his wounded buck. By and by a deer came along through the woods and by its gait, BASIL knew it was the wounded buck. The dogs were turned loose. Down the steep ascent the deer went, the dogs after him.’ ‘BASIL ran after the dogs and his wife kept easily at his side. They ran nearly two miles and then came out suddenly in an open space lighted brightly by the mon. In the moonlight BASIL saw that one of his dogs had caught the deer and was holding it by one of its hind legs. He shot it. Aided by his wife, he dressed and skinned it. They were at least seven miles from home and it was late. BASIL built a fire. His wife cooked some of the venison. She ate a hearty meal and lay down on the bare ground and slept soundly until morning, although it was late November. How was that for a young married couple?’ ‘For sixty-seven years BASIL DERRY followed the life of a hunter and backwoods farmer and the many grand hunts I’ve had with him make me feel good to think of. He never had his superior as a woodsman. He was a native of Loudoun county, Virginia and was a son of MOLLY DERRY, the fortune-teller of the Revolution. DERRY died in Fayette County and his wife was still living in 1883 hale, sound and hearty.’�
