How a lad from the shores of Lough Neagh made it big in the US of A...

WE can all dream of making our mark on the world, to look back at the end of days on a life well lived - of having made an indelible difference.

This is the story of one remarkable local man who did just that against all the odds.

Back in 1750 when Cumberland County in the US State of Pennsylvania was created, the Commissioners to carry the Act of Assembly into effect included one Benjamin Chambers.

And, yes, he hailed from Antrim!

Born in 1708 to James and Sarah Chambers, he enjoyed life by the shores of Lough Neagh.

But money was tight so when he turned 18 Benjamin and his three elder brothers hatched a plan to start a new life - and you can not fault their ambition.

They decided to emigrate to America, settling at first at a tiny frontier post called Fishing Creek in Lancaster County.

Four years later in 1730, the Chambers boys were on the move again, crossing the Susquehanna River.

Benjamin liked the place and decided to set down roots.

After securing 400 acres under licence, he showed true grit by building a sawmill and grist mill with his own hands - and set about working the inhospitable land.

The mill was powered by a 126-foot high waterfall, and this gave this new town its name - Falling Spring.

And he succeeded. As the business thrived, the settlement grew.

With his brother Joseph looking after the day-to-day running of the mills, Benjamin turned his attention to developing this new home away from home.

He built a one-storied hewed-log house which he covered with lapped cedar shingles secured by nails - an innovation which set it apart from the round log homes that dotted the landscape.

Having completed ‘the finest residence in the settlement’, he addressed himself to clearing land, erecting necessary buildings and planning the future growth of the colony.

By 1764 he had amassed a considerable fortune and earned the respect of the townsfolk, who re-named the town ‘Chambersburg’ in his honour.

Later it would become the county town of Franklin County, with its population largely comprised of immigrant Ulster-Scots. Indeed, some of them, like the Johnston family, had followed Benjamin from Antrim town!

The link to the ‘old country’ was cemented with the establishment of a Presbyterian Church by the Ulster pioneers. Benjamin provided the land - and the annual rent was a single rose.

The town still stands and is known as the ‘Queen City of the Cumberland Valley’ and is famous for its ornate houses, diverse industry and educational establishments.

“No city north of the Mason Dixon line has a more interesting history,” wrote one scribe.

“Settled in 1730 by Benjamin Chambers, a pioneer Scots-Irishman who descendants are still residents of the city, it was a frontier post in the early progress of civilisation westward.

“It sent bodies of soldiers to help fight the Indians.”

It was during the Indian wars that the Antrim man proved himself as a leader of men. In 1748 he became a Colonel of the one of the Pennsylvania regiments.

As a Justice of the Peace, he helped fix the bounds in 1750 for the new Cumberland County.

He served as a daysman, to adjudicate in squabbles between his neighbours. Later when a row broke out concerning the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, he went to England to assist, and his intervention took much of the heat out of the row.

From England he returned to Ireland and to Antrim - this time as a man of means.

He was proof of the American dream and during his visit ‘home’ he induced many acquaintances with their families to up sticks to his new settlement.

That would be enough for most - but not Benjamin Chambers.

When he arrived in America he brought with him skills as a gunsmith, and he put them to good use.

He is remembered for the Kentucky-Pennsylvania rifle, a flint lock weapon that went on to play a tremendous part in America’s struggle for Independence. Indeed, it remained in service until the turn of the 20th century.

He died at the town named in his honour in February 1788 at the grand old age of 80.

Though largely forgotten on this side of the Atlantic, he is remembered fondly in the states.

“The history of this sturdy early settler is the history of the country and of the commonwealth for more than half a century,” wrote one historian.

“From the time he landed at the Falling Spring till his declining health rendered further activity impossible, he was the acknowledged leader of the people in all civil, military, and religious movements.”

Antrim’s loss was undoubtedly Pennsylvania’s gain.