The Journal Of Flavel Roan

 
Flavel Roan 1791-1815

"Commissioned sheriff of Northumberland County on October 18, 1791, Flavel Roan was one of the most colorful personalities of his day in this region. 

He came to these parts from Lancaster PA, where his father was a minister, likely Presbyterian, who had come from Ireland. He moved here about the same time as his sister, Mrs. William Clingan (wife the one-time Methodist, and now Baptist, preacher) settled in what is now Kelly Cross Roads, Union County.

 Roan was one of the most literate men in the territory and taught school a number of terms.
He resided at Lewisburg, or Derrsburg as it was then called, and kept an extensive diary that has been partially preserved and reprinted by various historical societies. 

One of the early members of the Buffalo Cross Roads Presbyterian Church, he died in Lewisburg and was buried in the Old Presbyterian Cemetery there – now the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Lewisburg.  

When the cemetery was cleared for the church building, Roan’s was one of the few graves that were not disturbed. His body now lies under the front steps of the present building. "

"A diary or journal kept by him, and freely quoted from by Mr. Linn in his History of The Buffalo Valley, is entertaining reading"  1881 Harrisburg Telegraph

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THE JOURNAL
From The History Of The Buffalo Valley

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This is not the entire journal, I'm still looking for that - but these are the pages Linn used in his work:

Download A PDF Of The Above Pages HERE

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READ MORE

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A Specimen of Flavel Roan's Poetry, taken from Kennedy's Gazette
of May 74, 1794.
MR. KENNEDY,
     Please to insert the following advertisement, and oblige yours, &c.
                                     FLAVEL ROAN.

        I am an old man, my case is quite common,
     I want me a wife, a likely young woman.
     I late had an old one, but three years ago,
     She sickened and died, and left me in woe;
        I whin'd J. B. preached a sermon when she was buried, 
     Wore my old wig a fort'night, then long'd to be married.
        If any one knows where a wife's to be had, 
     Such as seventy wishes when reason is dead:
     A girl that will warm my old bones in the winter, 
     Let them leave the intelligence with Mr. Printer.

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Two entries in the journal of Flavel Roan
from 1809 record the stages of this activity for a log barn in Buffalo Valley:
78
17 May Jimmy Thompson building a barn on the Haffer place, for Clingan.
7 June Raising at Hafer’s; sixty-eight feet by thirty feet wide, forty-two rounds
high. There were seventy people there. Finished before night and then
had a sumptuous entertainment.15 
From  Traditional Barn Building in Union County
by
Christopher Macneal

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Flavel Roan's Journal
Excerpts on the Comet, September 1811
(A schoolteacher in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, Roan kept this journal between 1803 and 1813.)
September 8. A blazing star, like a comet, appeared in the north for some time.
September 18. Comet still visible, going around the north star like the pointers in the bear.
 quoted in John Blair Linn, ed., Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pensylvania,

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Linn's Annals of Buffalo Valley (pg. 439) says, "February 19, Flavel Roan, Esquire, born July 31, 1760. Son of the Reverend John Roan, and brother of Mrs. Clingan. He was buried in the Presbyterian grave-yard, at Lewisburg, near the pavement, a little east of the present church. The grave being unmarked, it was lost sight of when the church was built.

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"The following curious indenture for a lot which she sold to Flavel Roan, is probably the most remarkable document on record.  It was drawn by Flavel Roan himself, who was remarkable for his eccentricities of character.  He was a an of culture, however, and wrote with a beautiful hand.  He was sheriff of Northumberland county from 1791-1794, and was afterwards one of the Commissioners of Union County." 1870 Northumberland County Democrat