Null Family History & Genealogy

Philip Null was known as the "Old Warrior" by his family. He fought in the Revolutionary War and was with George Washington at the crossing of the Delaware, on the night before the attack on Trenton, New Jersey. As they were loading the boats, Philip saw a man in a cape but didn't recognize the man. He told him to "Get the holle out of my way!" as he was trying to get his men loaded into a boat in icy weather. The man stepped aside; only then did Philip realize it was the commander-in-chief, who did not reprimand Philip as he was only doing his duty. Later, Philip would receive land next to that of Washington in West Virginia as a reward for his service.

Before the war was over, Philip and his family moved to North Caroline, where further adventures awaited him. The Tories were fierce in the area where he settled, near present day Lincolnton, North Carolina. During a local fight, Philip's throat was cut, but his wife rescued him from the battlefield afterward and he survived to join Francis "The Swamp Fox" Marion's guerrila band. He was so impressed with Marion that he named one of his younger sons Francis Marion.

Philip was to live in North Carolina only about 15 years. The western territories were being made safe from the Indians by Mad Anthony Wayne's Legion, who defeated the Miami, Shawnee and other tribes at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Philip decided to claim his acres for fighting in the war. He sold his land around Lincolnton and headed north through Virginia until he reached western Pennsylvania about 1798. Here he rested a bit, and his children, now teenagers, got acquainted with the local people. Henry, his oldest son, settle down and married in Westmoreland County. A daughter, Gloria, married a local boy, Ludwig "Lewis" Otterman; he went with Philip's family to West Virginia.

Lewis and Gloria later moved west to Montgomery County, Indiana, and it is from these roots that I descended.

Philip's wife Margaret died in 1826. In 1834, Philip set out to visit his son, Henry, in Westmoreland County, Pa. He never reached his destination. He contacted cholera while waiting for the steamboat at Point Pleasant, West Virginia and died there.