Thomas Cresap Colonel Thomas Cresap ( c . 1702 – c . 1790 ) was an English - born pioneering settler in the state of Maryland , and an agent of Lord Baltimore in the ' Maryland - Pennsylvania boundary dispute ' that would be known as Cresap ' s War . He is something of a founding father from the dark side in American Colonial history , both reviled and admired . During the dispute , Cresap became a notorious figure in the Conejohela Flats areathe lower Susquehanna Valley in the area south of Wright ' s Ferry where his actions as an agent on behalf of his Patron Lord Baltimore who ' d claimed the lands made him a wanted criminal in Pennsylvania . Cresap and his men were involved in several use of force incidents resulting in deaths acting to evict men who ' d considered themselves legal settlers under Pennsylvania ' s Colonial Charter , but were to Lord Baltimore and Cresap ' s mind , just squatters . Because of the bloodshed during Cresap ' s War King George II issued an edict forcing a settlement of the Maryland - Pennsylvania boundary dispute against the claims by Lord Baltimore . Cresap was held a villain in Pennsylvania , and something of a hero in Maryland , which has municipalities named after him . Subsequently , in fear of reprisals by Pennsylvanians , Cresap moved his family west up the Potomac River drainage basin into the throat of the Cumberland Narrows mountain pass into the Monongahela River valley . The Cumberland narrows is one of only five navigable routes over the Appalachian Mountains barrier range , and there he founded what is now Oldtown , Maryland by building a trading post at the foot of the Amerindian trail over Wills Mountain ( renamed Haystack now near Cresaptown ) , in the middle of the era when colonials were petitioning the crown to obtain lands of the so called Ohio Country across the Allegheny Mountains from the Indians . The colonials wanted the crown to open these possessions for settlement , and give them out under charter in the same old way , the crown ' s ministers , re . Cresap also sent traders over the pass and explored personally in Amerindian lands along the Monongahela upriver of Redstone Old Forts , some of which ended up as his property in what is now upper West Virginia , though still claimed by the Colony of Maryland . The crown complied , the Amerindians sold ca . 1744 , and the land speculation stock company , the Ohio Company was granted a charter to in Western Pennsylvania , Ohio and West Virginia ca . 1748 . Cresap was given or would earn a large land grant from the Ohio Country in what is now West Virginia , for he was employed as commander of an expedition in 1748 – 1750 along with the Delaware Amerindian Chief Nemacolin to begin widening the Nemacolin Trail into freight wagon road from Cumberland , MD to Redstone Old Fort . George Washington and his troops would further improve the same road prior to Braddock ' s Military Expedition during the French and Indian War . Redstone , on the Monongahela River became Brownsville , Pennsylvania which dwarfed Pittsburgh in growth and vibrant industrial activities until c . 1840 - 50s , as a center for construction and outfitting various river craft ( keel boat s , flat boat s , steamboats ) settlers used to settle not only the entire Mississippi drainage basin , but the far west and Oregon Country beyond the source waters of the Missouri River . Biography . Early years . Cresap was born in Skipton , Yorkshire , England , and came to Maryland when 15 years old . In 1723 he gave his occupation as that of a carpenter . He settled at the mouth of the Susquehanna River on the $ 3 , on the lower end of an floodplain called the Conejohela Valley where he engaged in boat - building . In 1725 he married Hannah Johnson , whose father , Thomas Johnson , on 24 March 1725 had surveyed to himself Mount Johnson Island , at Peach Bottom Ferry . Cresap went to Virginia , but he was not there long before a dozen or more persons attempted to drive him away when he was engaged in hewing timber for his dwelling . He defended himself , and cleft one of his assailants with a broad - ax . He then returned to Maryland , and took out a patent for a ferry over the Susquehanna at the head of tide - water , which must have been at or near the terminus of the voyage of Capt . John Smith up the river in 1608 . While living there he visited the rich valleys farther up the right bank of the river , now in Hellam and Lower Windsor Townships . He reported the conditions to Lord Baltimore , who as early as 1721 had contemplated extending the northern boundary of Maryland on the west side of the Susquehanna to the northern limits of the fortieth degree of latitude . ( See Maryland – Pennsylvania boundary dispute ) Land disputes . Gradually a few settlers from Maryland moved to the Conojohela Valley . They were aggressive to the Pennsylvanias who settled near them . It was not Lord Baltimore ' s practice to purchase lands from the Indians ; instead the Marylanders drove them away by force . The settlers treated the Indians on the west side of the river with cruelty ; however , they had no one capable of holding the ground they had taken from the Indians or from the Pennsylvanians , who were determined to prevent Baltimore from gaining a foothold on this disputed land . Cresap came to Conojohela Valley in March , 1730 , and built a block - house on the banks of the river three and one half miles below today ' s Wrightsville , near the site of Leber ' s Mill . That same year , he took out a Maryland patent for several near the river for " Blue Rock Ferry " at same place . In 1731 Cresap was commissioned a justice of the peace for Baltimore County . After many attempts to capture him , he was finally taken on 25 November 1736 , by Sheriff Samuel Smith and 24 armed men . His wife stood by him and fought at his side . At this time he had at least two and perhaps three of his children with him , the eldest being about nine years of age . During his imprisonment , his wife and children lived with his cousin Daniel Lowe , who drove one of the German settlers from his home in Grist Valley ( Kreutz Creek ) , near Codorus . Cresap ' s education was limited , but he became a land surveyor , and was of great service to Lord Baltimore in extending the western boundary of Maryland from the source of the south branch of the Potomac due north , which added at least one third more territory to Maryland . In 1735 he took out a Maryland patent for a group of islands at Blue Rock Ferry , called the " Isles of Promise . " About 1730 Cresap again moved beyond the frontier and took up about of land in Maryland along Antietam Creek , where he established a store and Indian trading post . He accumulated a large quantity of furs and pelts and shipped them to England . The vessel was captured by the French and he lost everything . In 1739 , he was granted which he named Long Meadows . Cresap is said to have erected a stone and log fort over a spring near the Marsh Run . Cresap moved farther west to within two miles ( 3 km ) of present day Cumberland , Maryland , where he again embarked in the Indian trade until the beginning of the French and Indian War , when he raised a company of Rangers . French and Indian War . Cresap fought a number of skirmishes with the Indians and stood his ground , assisted by his sons . He was elected a representative from Frederick County , Maryland to the Maryland legislature . When the French and their allies attempted to seize the territory west of the Alleghany Mountains from the English , Cresap and his sons at their own expense raised two companies of volunteer soldiers . Later years . Cresap was a large landholder . He became totally blind a few years before his death . He married a second time , to Margaret Milburn , when he was eighty years of age . He died in ca . 1790 at his home in Allegany County , Maryland , aged eighty - eight . During " Cresap ' s war , " his first wife , Hannah Johnson , frequently mounted a horse and rode with the mounted militia with a sword by her side . When Cresap ' s stronghold was surrounded by militia from Donegal , Hannah knew how to handle a musket . She superintended the construction of a house and the building of some flatboats , in the absence of her husband , at John Hendricks ' , now the upper end of Wrightsville , where forcible possession had been taken of Hendricks ' plantation by Cresap . While there she saw a flatboat filled with armed men crossing the river . She mounted her horse , sounded a bugle , and rode rapidly to Cresap ' s fort , three miles ( 5 km ) and a half down the river . She returned at the head of the militia . Descendants . Thomas and Hannah ( Johnson ) Cresap had five children : three sons and two daughters . The oldest son , Daniel Cresap , remained in Washington County , Maryland , and became a large landholder and a celebrated hunter as well as a farmer . He was about fourteen when the family left York County . As an adult , he was colonel of militia . By his first wife he had a son , Michael . By a second wife he had seven sons and three daughters : Daniel , Joseph , Van , Robert , James , Thomas , Elizabeth , Mary and Sarah . Daniel marched in his uncle Michael ' s company to Boston in 1775 . James was for a number of years in the Maryland legislature . Thomas , the second son of Col . Cresap , was killed by an Indian – whom he killed at the same instant . He left a widow and one child . Michael , was born in Frederick County , Maryland , 29 June 1742 . He was the successor to his father in the Indian trade , and owned a large trading store at " Old Town , " a few miles east of Cumberland . He was an Indian fighter from his youth . In 1774 he employed several men and descended the Ohio River and was engaged in the business of erecting houses and clearing lands for the settlers . While thus engaged he received a letter from Dr . Connolly , the commandant at Fort Pitt , that there was danger of an Indian war . The settlers were alarmed . Michael and his party , anticipating an attack by the Indians , struck them first . Some of his men killed several Indians near Wheeling . Another group of frontiersmen , led by Daniel Greathouse , shortly afterwards killed the family of the celebrated Indian Logan and several others . Cresap was mistakenly accused of leading this action as well . Logan reacted swiftly , striking settlers on the frontier . This was followed by " Dunmore ' s War " and the Battle of Point Pleasant along the Ohio River , which brought about a treaty of peace . Michael Cresap was held in esteem by his neighbors . He was the first person in Maryland to raise a company of volunteer riflemen . He marched at their head to Boston in 1775 , where he fought with great bravery . He took sick ( tuberculosis is suspected ) and was compelled to return to New York , where he died . Michael Cresap left five children , two sons and three daughters .