For this daughter of mine was dead and has come to life again. She was lost and has been found. Adapted from Luke 15:24
In 1801 a prominent man named Thomas McClure moved his family, which consisted of himself, his wife, two sons, four daughters, and eleven-year old Elizabeth Ann Corrigan from the Nittany Valley in Pennsylvania to a sparse settlement a few miles south of Curwensville. Elizabeth had been indentured to the McClure family by her natural father David Corrigan.
One evening when Elizabeth was sixteen, Thomas sent her to retrieve a cow and some sheep that had strayed from the McClure’s land. Because the forests in those days were full of wolves, it was important to get the animals in before dark.
But on that particular day, the animals had strayed further than normal. When Elizabeth finally found them, it was nearly dark and she was in unfamiliar territory. When the animals wanted to return home in a direction that Elizabeth thought was wrong, she tried to force them to go the way she thought was right. The animals broke away from her and ran off. They eventually found their way home on their own.
When the animals returned without Elizabeth, Thomas became alarmed. Not only did wolves roam the forests, but hostile Indians also lived in the area. Elizabeth had to be found quickly. The whole community turned out and searched through the night and all the next day. No trace of her was found.
On the evening after that first day, a desperate Thomas decided to try a different tactic. He gathered all of the eligible young men from the area and gave them a challenge.
“Any worthwhile young man who can retrieve her might have her as a wife.”
For eighteen-year old Daniel McCracken, the offer was too good to pass up. The next morning, he packed enough food to last for three days and mounted his horse. He tethered another horse to his own and set out in search of the damsel in distress.
That first terrifying night Elizabeth slept by a log. In the darkness she heard an animal nosing about and lay petrifyingly still. Was it a wolf or a bear? Finally, the animal departed without harming her. Morning could not come soon enough.
For the next two days, hopelessly lost, she wandered all the way to the Susquehanna River. There in the middle of the river she saw a small island in the gathering twilight. She waded to it, having heard that wild animals did not like to wet their feet. There the lost, weary, hungry, frightened child curled up to sleep, hoping and praying for rescue.
Following a hunch Daniel’s search took him to the Susquehanna River. Near Goose Island he came upon footprints in the mire by the river that pointed to the island. Crossing to it, he found the joy of his heart. They were ten miles from home. She had been missing three days and three nights. He gave her some of the food he had brought with him, put her on his extra horse, and triumphantly brought her home.
Thomas McClure proved to be a man of his word. Daniel and Elizabeth were married in 1807. They had seven children, six boys and one girl.
Daniel lived until 1856. Elizabeth survived him by eight years, passing from this world sometime in 1864. They were my great-great-great-great grandparents. I look forward to one day meeting them face to face in heaven.
