hief Burgess," or Mayor of that place,
informs the author the name of Jack (especially John, James, Charles,
and William) is of frequent occurrence; but, at the present time, not
one of the name is to be found there. One of these, (James) probably a
nephew of Patrick and Charles Jack, served five years with distinction
in the Revolutionary army, and others are traditionally spoken of as
actively engaged in the same patriotic duty. Several of the elder
members of the family are buried in the graveyard of Chambersburg,
others in Williamsport, Md., and elsewhere in western Pennsylvania.
Several years previous to the Revolution, there also came over from
the north of Ireland to America, at least two brothers of the name of
Jack, distant relatives of Patrick and Charles Jack, and settled in
western Pennsylvania. When the county town of Westmoreland
(Hannastown) was burned by the Indians in 1783, one of this family
distinguished himself by saving the lives of the women and children.
After the burning of that place, the name of the town was changed to
Greensburg, and a new location selected on land donated by William
Jack, who had become quite wealthy, and one of the Associate Judges of
Westmoreland county. He had five sons, four of whom died bachelors;
the elder married, but none of his descendants are now (1876) living,
except a grand-son, (William Jack,) who resides near Greensburg, Pa.
The only daughter of Judge William Jack, married _John Cust_, who fled
from Ireland soon after the rebellion in 1798.
About 1760, animated with the hope of more rapidly improving his
worldly condition, Patrick Jack joined the great tide of emigration to
the Southern colonies, and shortly after his arrival in North Carolina
purchased a tract of land between Grant and Second Creeks, in the
Cathey settlement (now Thyatira) in Rowan county. After remaining
there for about two years, he sold his land and moved to the adjoining
county of Mecklenburg. Here, by strict economy and industry, he was
"blest in his basket and his store," and enabled to make more enlarged
possessions. This improvement in his pecuniary condition and
prosperity may be inferred from the fact that in 1775, and a few years
subsequently, he and his eldest son, Capt. James Jack, who, about this
time united in business with his father, became the owners of some of
the finest lots, or rather blocks, in Charlotte. Among the valuable
lots they are recorded as owning, may be brief
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