Thomas GADDIS, born December 28, 1742

Back to Generation #2 of Descendants of Wm. GADDIS, b. 1715

Thomas GADDIS is one of the more famous members of our GADDIS family and though he is not one of my direct ancestors (being the brother of my 5x great-grandfather), I found this information very interesting and worthy of mentioning here. Most of the following information comes from the "Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1, summer 1994" and an article by Harrison Scott BAKER in "Fayette Families, vol. 2. no. 3, July 1993."

Fact Sheet

Thomas received a land warrant, dated April 3, 1769, for his 323 acre farm in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
The farm was called the "Hundred Acre Spring" and was located about two miles south of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
The house on this property was well built, later fortified with a stockade, and named "Fort Liberty," though it came to be known as "Fort Gaddis."
- Fort Gaddis is located east of Morgantown Road, at the edge of South Union Township, is the only remaining frontier fort in Fayette Couny, and is most likely the oldest standing structure in the county.
- Check out this information on the Web – Fort Gaddis
On November 8, 1770, Thomas was listed as an original member of the Great Bethel Baptist church located six miles south of Uniontown.
In 1776, aged about 34 years, Thomas joined the Monongalia County, Virginia Militia as a captain.
In 1777, Thomas was promoted to Lt. Col. by Virginia Governor Patrick Henry and put down a Tory uprising.
In 1778, Thomas was promoted to full Colonel.
Thomas' discharge was signed by General George Washington.
In May 1782, Thomas was appointed a Major in the Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Militia as third in command under Colonel William Crawford. Their subsequent campaign against the Indians in the Ohio country has come to be known as the disastrous Sandusky Expedition in which Col. Crawford was captured and burned at the stake. The surviving members of Col. Crawford's force escaped back to the Ohio River under the leadership of Majors Gaddis and Williamson.
Thomas was a member of the first Fayette County grand jury and one of the first county commissioners.
In 1791, Thomas raised a "Liberty Pole" on his land in protest of the Federal excise tax which the government had placed on whiskey, thus involving him in the Whiskey Rebellion.
- Check out this information on the Web – A Liberty Pole.
- Check out this information on the Web – Whiskey Rebellion.
In 1816, Thomas sold his land in Fayette County and moved with his wife, Hannah, and his son, Rice, to Clinton County, Ohio, where he died on June 10, 1834, at the age of 91 and is buried in the Gaddis Cemetery located just north of Wilmington, Clinton County, Ohio.

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