The interest in the history of the Frampton family of Western Pennsylvania seems to have reached a peak in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s when Rev. John Spratt Wrightnour published his book “The Frampton family : with special reference to William Frampton, register general, province of Pennsylvania, 1686, and his descendants“, unknown city/publisher, 1916. Wrightnour was married to Ida Maud Frampton, daughter of Samuel and granddaughter of David Frampton and Hannah Lobaugh. David Frampton was in turn the son of Sarah Staley and William Frampton (hereafter and further on this website “William II” to avoid confusion). However, since things tend to get copied as fact, please be clear that “II” was in no way part of the name he used, just as the first William (“William I”) never used the often-seen name “Kent”.
The above photo, first shared by Roger Nale, is from the earliest known Frampton reunion in 1896. At this time, our oldest Frampton ancestor still alive was Elizabeth Jane Frampton, who had married William McCullough. Unfortunately, the resolution is so low that it is difficult to pick out family members. The newspaper report that accompanied the reunion names many of those present and gives a short family history. At this point, Wrightnour states that John Frampton was William’s son, but he corrected this prior to publishing his book.
Although strong family tradition says that our Framptons descend from William I, this has been impossible to prove so far although it is equally true that there is no evidence against this theory. Our own Frampton line descends through David to his son William (William III where necessary) who was married to Mary Williams. A clickable family tree centered on David Frampton is on our sister-site www.mixedgen.es. It was William III who appears to have been the source of much of Wrightnour’s material. He in turn would have gotten this from his father and grandfather William II.
The image above shows Mechanicsville about 1877, the same year William Frampton and Mary Williams celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. That party, a smaller version of the 1896 reunion, was described in a clipping found pasted into a book belonging to Eliza Jane McCullough and passed down through her son, grandson and great-grandson to me. The extensive land-holdings of William Frampton are shown on the map, as is the location of Eliza Jane Frampton and William McCullough’s “McCullough House” hotel, pictured on this page. The most likely location for the 1896 reunion is the house and property shown at lower right, on Frampton Run.