Taken from the New Castle News Online - http://www.zwire.com/news/newslist.cfm?brd=1286 Family folklore: Scottish descendants build better life in America Mar 11 2000 2:17AM By Judy Hruska: New Castle News The McConahy-Copper clan settled in Lawrence County nearly 200 years ago. Descendants who still live in the area include Coppers, McConahys, Marshalls, Wilsons, Hogues, Houks, Boohers, Thompsons, Gibsons, Myers, Books, Mayberrys, Bootses, Maines, Piphers and Lambs. Thomas McConahy, the great-great-grandfather of District Justice J.V. Lamb, was one of the first of the clan to come to this country. Thomas and his two brothers, John and Alexander, arrived in the United States in 1817. They were of Scottish descent, but made the trip from County Antrim in northern Ireland, to which their ancestors had previously emigrated. They settled in Beaver County, somewhere near the present town of Beaver. Thomas, who was said to be a tall, powerful man with a stern, determined nature and more than ordinary physical strength, came ahead of his family - Agnes McKay McConahy and their five children, William, John, Laughlin, Matilda and Alexander. His plan was to come to America and build a better life, then send for his family. In less than two years, he had made enough money to bring his family to the United States. Later, Thomas and Agnes had another daughter, Mary Ann. The family remained in Beaver County for two years until 1821, when Thomas bought a 100-acre farm on Snake Run Road in Shenango Township. Thomas and Agnes' son, Laughlin McConahy, born in 1809, married Sarah "Sallie" Copper before he accompanied his mother and siblings to the United States. They raised six children, Thomas, Nathaniel, John, Maria, Nancy and Elizabeth, on their 120-acre farm in Slippery Rock Township. All three sons enlisted in the Civil War. "Laughlin was a big man, as the McConahys were known for being big men," J.V. Lamb said. "His children were never allowed to have cards or liquor in the house because one of his brothers was a drinker and gambler." Although there does not seem to be much information on Laughlin, J.V. Lamb's great-grandfather, family folklore has preserved some tidbits about Sallie. John B. Lamb, the district justice's late father, recorded some of his recollections of her before his death. Sallie, who only marked an X on the deed for the family farm because she could not read or write, smoked a pipe. She would have her grandchildren roll long, tight tapers of newspaper so she could dip them in the fireplace coals to light her pipe. Sallie died on April 24, 1897, at the age of 88 after complications from a broken thigh bone. By then, she was already widowed. Her obituary described her as "a woman of remarkable vitality, and but for this accident, might have lived many years. She bore her sufferings patiently and without a murmur. A large concourse of friends followed her remains to the old Slippery Rock graveyard." Sallie and Laughlin's daughter, Nancy, left the farm and went to work in the boom town of Oil City as a maid and serving girl in one of the boarding houses. On Jan. 1, 1870, she married John Lamb and they had eight children, Mary Jane, Marcella, Lizzie, Laughlin, John B., Thomas, Nathaniel and Ester. Nancy was 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed more than 200 pounds. John Lamb died in February 1907 from pneumonia at the age of 67, while Nancy died the following December at the age of 61. "Nancy supposedly died of a broken heart after my grandfather died," J.V. Lamb said. Their son, John B., married the former Veronica Cernyar after she went to keep house for him. They settled in Portersville and had six children, Frances Jurick, Mary Jane Niglio, John V. Lamb, Joseph Lamb, Nancy Hart and Amy Lamb. "We had a dairy farm until my father sold out when he was 65. Then we lived on a subsistence farm, where we raised everything and the only things we bought were eggs, butter, flour, sugar and spices," J.V. Lamb recalled. "My mother made all our clothes." Their house had burned in 1945 and they moved to Scott Township. Then tragedy struck. In September 1951, Veronica died at the age of 42. At the time, the Lamb children ranged in age from 2 to 12. J.V. was 8 years old. The family relocated to North Beaver Township three years later. "My father raised us with the advantage of never having to check with anyone else as to if his word was the law," J.V. Lamb recalled. John B. never remarried and died eight years later at the age of 77, when J.V. Lamb was 16. Marie Gleghorn, a family friend who had one son, went to live in the Lamb house and finished raising the children. J.V. Lamb, 57, married the former Rita Rychlicki, 55. They have three children. John A. is married to Dr. Joann Lamb and they live in North Beaver Township. Melinda Lamb also lives in North Beaver Township, while Brian is a student at Chatham College.