Dorney, Phebe (Phoebe Hill)

Wife of Abraham
Died June 28, 1878
Aged 66 years, 9 months, 25 days

Phebe (or Phoebe) lived with her husband, Abraham, and their five children just across the Conemaugh River from Hice-Pershing in the compact neighborhood of Fairfield, later St. Clair, Township, Westmoreland County, just upstream from the later village of New Florence (incorporated in 1865).

She was a daughter, perhaps the eldest child, of John and Elizabeth Hill and a granddaughter of neighborhood pioneers Gasper and Phoebe Hill, all of whom quite likely are buried in Hice-Pershing as well. A calculation based upon her age at death results in a birth date of 3 September 1811. She probably was born not far from where she died.

Census records suggest that Phoebe's marriage to Abraham Dorney, member of a pioneer Indiana County family, occurred ca. 1838. Their five children were: Isaac Dorney, born October 1839, died 1910, buried Armagh Cemetery, Indiana County; James Dorney, born ca. 1843; Benjamin F. Dorney, born October 1845, died 1913, buried Armagh Cemetery; Lavenia Dorney, born ca. 1849; and Elizabeth Dorney, born July 1854, died 1934, buried Armagh Cemetery.

Abraham Dorney still was living in the family home near New Florence when the 1880 census was taken, but has not been found in census records thereafter. He probably died during the periord 1880-1900 and was buried in Hice-Pershing Cemetery, too, but that conjecture cannot be confirmed.

Phoebe (Hill) Dorney's youngest brother, Josiah C. Hill, is buried in Salem Cemetery, Benton Township, Lucas County, Iowa.