Captain James McPike
1750-1825
By Helen Bradley Lindsey of Newport
From the Kentucky State Historical Society Vol. 26 No. 77 May 1928
Captain James McPike was born about 1750 to an educated Scotsman, who was a
linen merchant, who held a commission with the Stuarts. His father married
a Stuart in Edinburgh. James was educated in Edinburgh, but in his youth
went off to Dublin, under the charge of one McDonald, to acquire a thorough
military education, and was later sent to America.
According to tradition James came from England in 1772, then quite young, not more than 21, to Baltimore and served several years with Washington under Colonel Howard and General Little. He was also under the command of General Lafayette. As sergeant, he participated in he storming of Stony Point under Anthony Wayne.
He married Martha Mountain, daughter of Joseph and E (Drake) Mountain from New Jersey, in 1782 in western Maryland. The Mountain family had migrated from Hampshire England.
Children of James McPike and Martha Mountain
1. Joseph was born in
Maryland July 24 1783. He married Sarah Lindsey, daughter of Thomas Sr.
and Rebecca (Harris) Lindsey in 1808.
2. Richard was born December 6, 1791.
3. Elizabeth
4. Nancy-married Richard Lindsey, son of
Thomas Sr. and Rebecca (Harris) Lindsey, March 28, 1809 in Newport.
5. Sarah
6. John Mountain McPike was born February 5, 1795 at Wheeling Virginia.
In that same year, James and Martha traveled on a flat-boat down the Ohio River to Maysville Kentucky, where they remained for a time. They then moved to Newport. The remaining children, Haley, George, Martha, and James were born in Newport. Martha married James Dickens of Virginia in Newport.
James and his family lived the remainder of their lives in Newport. He died in May 1825, the day before Lafayette's arrival in Cincinnati. In this last illness James McPike expressed a desire to see Lafayette, who would recognize him at once and call him by name. He was buried in the Newport Cemetery.