William Frew, 2002: "The James Frew who died 26 Nov 1830 in Chillicothe, Ross Co., Ohio was the youngest of the three Frew brothers who arrived at the Port of Baltimore in 1774 from Randalstown, County Antrim, Ireland.He was born in 1743, but whether in Scotland or Ulster is not documented to my knowledge. However, there are two probate records pertaining to a Frew family that apparently operated a mill on the Main(e) River at Randalstown from the 1690s until sometime in the mid to late 1700s.
The three Frew brothers lived in the Harford Co., MD/York County, PA/Cecil Co., MD triangle until they moved west of the Allegheny Mountains and settled in Western PA in the mid 1780s & early 1790s.The above James Frew may have been the one in Cecil County, MD who took his Oath of Allegiance and married Grace McKnight in 1778.This marriage date for James fits with the ages of James' oldest children as indicated in the 1800 census.
The other two brothers were John Frew, the oldest, who settled in southern Allegheny County, PA in the mid 1780s (John purchased a warrant for 100 acres on Warrior's Ridge three miles from Fort Pitt in 1785).Alexander Frew, the middle brother (and my gggg-grandfather), was enumerated in Cecil County, MD in 1790 and in Beaver Co., PA in 1800.He was also on pre-1790 Cecil Co. tax lists.Alexander and two of his three sons had each purchased nearby 200 acre tracts in 1799 in what is now Slippery Rock Township, Lawrence Co., PA..
The James Frew who married Mary Houk is my ggg-grandfather.He was born 7 November 1774 in Baltimore (City or County ??) shortly after the extended family arrived in the Colonies.James was the second of Alexander's three sons and he married Mary about 1799.(Houks were neighbors at that time.)James and Mary were married but had no children in the 1800 census.At least two earlier family researchers confused the different James Frews and incorrectly named Mary Houk as the wife of James, b. 1743.There were four males named James Frew in the family at that time.James Frew, b. 1743, (the 1774 immigrant); James Frew, b. abt 1771 (son of John, the 1774 immigrant); James Frew, b. 1774, (son of Alexander, the 1774 immigrant); and James Frew, b. 1791-93, (son of James Frew, b. 1743).
James Frew, b. 1743, did have a daughter named Rachel who married Richard Boyer in Chillicothe, Ohio, but to my knowledge her birthplace is unknown.Richard and Rachel were in New Madrid, Missouri (a Mississippi River port) in 1811-12 when the New Madrid earthquake occurred.An 1863 Frew family history stated that they moved on after the earthquake "I know not where", but actually they stayed in the county...just moved to higher ground and farther from the Mississippi River."