MEHITABLE WING
WIFE OF WILLIAM PRENDERGAST
Mehetible Wing (Jedediah Wing, Elisha Wing, Stephen Wing, Rev. John Wing, Matthew Wing), born March 20, 1738 at Rochester, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts. Meheitible died September 14, 1812 at Chatauqua, Chatauqua, New York at the age of seventy-three. She was buried at the Prendergast Burial Grounds at Chatauqua, Chatauqua, New York. Her stone reads; To the memory of MEHETIBEL wife of William Prendergast AND Daughter of Jedediah & Elizabeth Wing of Beekman Dutchess Co. Born March 20, 1738 Died September 14, 1812 Mehetible Wing married William Prendergast of Quaker Hill, Dutchess Co., New York about 1755. She was barely seventeen years old when she married the young Irishman who was born in Waterford, Ireland on February 5, 1727. William was a shipwright by trade, who made his way first to Nova Scotia and then into Dutchess County. William was the son of Thomas Prendergast and Mary Unknown. He died on February 14, 1811 at Chatauqua, Chatauqua, New York at the age of eighty-four. He was buried at the Prendergast Burial Ground in Chatauqua. The Prendergast Burial Ground are bout five miles from Mayville and about two miles from the original Chatauqua Institute, upon a farm owned by one of the sons. William's stone reads; To the memory of WILLIAM son of Thos. & Mary Prendergast BORN Ireland Kilkany Co. Feb. 5, 1727 Died Feb. 11, 1811 The homestead of the Prendergasts is shown upon the map of Quaker Hill printed in The Owl at page 1520, and a description of the place was given in The Owl at page 776. It was about one mile from Washington's headquarters while he was operating in the vicinity of the Hill in 1778. Prendergast moved from Quaker Hill to rennselaer County soon after the Revolution. He was a lumberman, and built a large saw mill at a place on the Hoosick River called "The Lick." After some years, he disposed of this property to a man named Johnson, and the place now bears the name of Johnsonville. Prendergast with his sons and daughters, their wives, husbands and children, together with his negro slave, "Tom," then set out for the West in search of a new location. It was a remarkable cavalcade, four wagons drawn by four horses each, and brought up by a carriage in which was seated Mehitable and some of the ladies of the party, 29 people in all, wended their way across the States of New York and Pennsylvania to Wheeling, West Virginia, where they purchased a flat boat and drifted down the Ohio River to the "Falls," now Louisville, where they again left the boat and drove across the country to Memphis, Tenn., or in that vicinity. After remaining here some months, they were dissatisfied, and again turned back to the North, going into Canada. Here they remained for about a year. The sons set out again upon a prospecting tour and upon the shore of Lake Chatauqua they built a village and named it "Jamestown," in honor of one of the sons. It is now a flourishing city. The story of the settlement of Jamestown is told in the "History of Chatauqua County," where the portraits of several of the sons of William and Mehitable appear. Mehitable became the heroine of a remarkable event which still lives in the tradition and history of Dutchess County and gave her the title, "The Heroine of Quaker Hill." The Anti-Rent war of 1766 greatly excited the people of Columbia and Dutchess counties. The prime cause of the trouble was the granting of large tracts of land to favored proprietors, so that actual settlers became only tenants. The popular discontent broke out in armed refusal to pay rents exacted. William Prendergast was the leader of the movement in Dutchess County. He assembled a band on Quaker Hill so formidable, that the King's forces in Poughkeepsie waited for reinforcement of 200 troopers and two field pieces before proceeding against him. After some desultory skirmishing, the sight of this small army advancing upon them was enough and Prendergast surrendered. He was taken to New York, indicted, and brought back to Poughkeepsie for trial. On the same sloop making the voyage up the river were judges, King's counsel, lawyers and prisoner. The prisoner was assisted in his defence by his wife Mehitable. So ardent was this woman advocate, that the King's counsel forgot himself and moved that she be excluded from the court room. The motion was denied, and the attorney emphatically rebuked by the court. But there was no lack of proof of treason. Prendergast was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged in six months. Then the valiant woman's energy and perseverance rose to the highest. It was a distance of seventy miles from the Prendergast home at Quaker Hill to New York. Mehitable arrayed herself in her best apparel, borrowing her sister Abigail's gown, mounted a horse and sped her way to the city for an interview with the English governor, Sir Henry Moore. She poured forth her soul in such a stream of womanly eloquence that the heart of Sir Henry was softened, and with eyes suffuged with tears, he said, "Madam, your husband shall not suffer." But it was next necessary to secure the King's pardon. It is said that Mehitable drew the petition with her own hand. After a delay of many weeks, King George's pardon finally came across the water. The day following her interview with the Governor, Mehitable again mounted her horse and returned to Poughkeepsie to give her husband the good news. She arrived there just in time, for a company of fifty mounted men had assembled to rescue Prendergast from jail. She convinced them of the folly of such action and sent them home. The King's pardon finally arrived, and Prendergast returned to his home amid great popular rejoicing Mehitable Wing and William Prendergast had the following children:
1. Matthew Prendergast, born August 5, 1756 at Quaker Hill, Dutchess Co.,
New York. Matthew married Abigail Akin. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary
War.
|