Joseph Ogle, 1707-1756, and Sarah Ogle, 1709-1784

Joseph Ogle was born in 1707 in Delaware near Newark, in an area which would later be called, and remains to this day, Ogletown, which was named for his brother, Thomas Ogle Junior. Joseph left Delaware before 1735 with his wife Sarah (Winters, married in 1729) and infant son John (Jehu), shortly following the death of his father, Thomas. Joseph and Sarah were joining up with Thomas Cresap in Pennsylvania where they were conducting surveys for Lord Baltimore over a boundary dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania. The boundary dispute eventually led to a conflict with other locals which became known as “Cresap's War”or the “Conojocular War”.

Joseph and Sarah left Delaware around 1734, the year his father and stepmother died. The Ogle family took up residence in the Coderus Valley in Pennsylvania where the city of York was later founded. Bad blood between Pennsylvanians and Marylanders resulted in an accusation of murder and Cresap's arrest following the burning of his house by the Sheriff of Lancaster. Joseph was nearby but was held by authorities and was not permitted to attempt to save the house.

After Cresap continued to survey and eventually started evicting Pennsylvanians from their lands in the name of Lord Baltimore, a larger conflict between the Pennsylvania and Maryland militias ensued. Thomas Cresap was ultimately arrested and brought to Philadelphia for trial. At Maryland's request, King George II of England intervened and restored order by proclamation and drew the boundary fifteen miles south of the city of Philadelphia. The border was later re-surveyed by Mason and Dixon, which has stood to the present day.

Joseph was still surveying with Cresap in 1736, but in May of 1737 he left with his family to survey in the Monocacy River Valley of Maryland. Joseph surveyed and purchased 250 acres of land along Owens Creek which he named “Peace”. Subsequent land acquisitions made him a prominent area resident.

In 1748, Captain Joseph Ogle was one of the commissioners tasked with laying out the boundaries of the proposed Frederick County, being demised from Prince George's County. Governor Samuel Ogle, a distant relation, proclaimed a court to be established for Frederick County and named Joseph Ogle as one of the justices to organize the court. Joseph and Sarah seemed to be amiable neighbors. The book “Pioneers of the Old Monocacy” notes that Moravian missionaries traveling through the Monocacy wrote that they found shelter and assistance with travel from the Ogles and other neighbors. Sarah herself contributed to the building of the Gemeinhaus (Community House) in 1749 for the nearby Moravian Church of Graceham.

Joseph's brother Benjamin had joined Joseph in Maryland around 1741. their brother Alexander followed them to the Monocacy Valley around 1763. By the time Alexander arrived Benjamin had already moved west to Washington County. Benjamin had three sons who made names for themselves in the American Revolutionary War, Thomas, Joseph, and Jacob Ogle.

For his part, Captain Jacob Ogle was at Fort Henry, where Wheeling, West Virginia is now situated. In 1777, a series of attacks by native American tribes were ongoing. The Native tribes were on the side of the British, in exchange for guns and other payments, as well as the promise that Europeans would stop moving onto their lands. The attacks culminated when outside the fort Captains Foreman and Ogle, along with twenty-one soldiers were killed in what was to become known as Foreman's Massacre.

In the Ohio valley, many native Americans and American Militias conducted raids on each others' settlements. After a Pennsylvania Militia brutally murdered peaceful natives in the Gnadenhutten, Ohio massacre, native warriors sought revenge and killed a white settler and her baby. After the Gnadenhutten killings General Washington sent General William Irvine with an expedition to make their way to Detroit and take out the British command there. Ensign Thomas Ogle accompanied the mostly volunteer Sandusky Expedition. Native American scouts had been following the expedition and after the militia emerged from the forests onto the plains of the Sandusky River, they were attacked by the native Lenape warriors. Thomas Ogle, along with many others, was killed on the battlefield.

Benjamin's other son Captain Joseph Ogle survived the seige of Fort Henry and he and his family eventually made their way to Illinois territory, finally settling in St. Clair County. It was suggested by Governor Thomas Ford that Ogle County in northern Illinois be named for Joseph Ogle in honor of his bravery in the battle of Fort Henry and for his service in the Revolutionary War.

Sarah Winters was born in New Castle, Delaware around 1709. Her parents, Richard and Jane were reported to have come from England. Joseph and Sarah raised ten children. The oldest, Jehu, was born in Delaware prior to their journey to Pennsylvania. Second child Mary was born in Pennsylvania in 1735. Sarah, born in 1739 and the remaining children were all born in Frederick County, Maryland. James and George were toddlers when Joseph died in 1756, around the start of the French and Indian War.

After Joseph's death, Sarah and son Jehu received the bulk of the property. Mary's husband, Peter Butler received 100 pounds for Mary's maintenance. Upon her death, Sarah's remaining property from Joseph's will was to be divided equally between their children, Jehu and Mary excepted.

Jehu, or John, Ogle, 1731, received 150 acres of land in his father's will. Jehu married Ruth Beall in 1752. Mary, 1735, married Captain Peter Butler. William, 1751, married Mary Cresap and he served in the Dunmore War alongside father-in-law Daniel Cresap,Thomas Cresap's son. Sarah, 1739, married her cousin Thomas Ogle and their daughter Judith married Nathaniel Livers. Benjamin Ogle, 1747, married Rebecca Stilley.

Eleanor Ogle, 1741, married Ninian Magruder Beall,and then Guy Elder. Joseph, 1741, married Martha Brawner. Thomas, 1749, married Sybilla Rebecca Schley. James, 1753, married Mary Biggs and was a Captain in the Maryland Militia during the Revolutionary War. Youngest son George, 1754, died in 1756.