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OUNTY OF LLEGHENY C A RICH FITZGERALD COUNTY EXECUTIVE Proclamation WHEREAS, the Squirrel Hill Historical Society has been successful in its efforts to have a historical marker sited on Beechview Boulevard in the Squirrel Hill, Greenfield neighborhood; recognizing the farmstead of Simon Girty and his efforts in support of Native Americans on the western frontier, the marker is only one of 18 awarded this year in the Commonwealth – it is the only one in Allegheny County; and WHEREAS, the dedication of the historical marker will occur as part of the Ninth Annual Turner Cemetery History Walk, sponsored by Mary S. Brown Memorial-Ames United Methodist Church and the Friends of Turner Cemetery, being held on Saturday, September 30; the cemetery is a historic half-acre graveyard dating to 1785 that contains the remains of early settlers of Squirrel Hill and military veterans from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars; in addition to guided tours, historical displays and talks, reenactors from the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment will also be encamped in the cemetery; and WHEREAS, as part of the day’s festivities, a dedication ceremony of the marker for Simon Girty will be held; Girty owned 140 acres in what is now Squirrel Hill and Greenfield, including where Turner Cemetery is located; his complicated life illustrates the issues and challenges faced by the Americans, British and Native Americans during the conflicts of the time; the marker will later be installed outside the cemetery on Beechwood Boulevard; and WHEREAS, universally hated by frontier residents, Simon Girty was a former Indian captive who was adopted by the Indians during the French & Indian War; while he was distrusted and his motivations suspect, Girty was nonetheless seen as a person who used his influence with the Indians to save prisoners’ lives; while Girty continued in service with the British in their ongoing war for control of the Ohio Country, he never fully reconciled his British, American and Seneca identities and died in relative obscurity at his home near Fort Malden, Ontario in 1818. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that I, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, by virtue of the authority vested in me, do hereby congratulate the Squirrel Hill Historical Society on the occasion of receiving and dedicating this historical marker to Simon Girty, and commend them for their commitment to gathering, preserving the historical memories of the East End neighborhood. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the County of Allegheny to be affixed this 30th day of September, 2017. Rich Fitzgerald RICH FITZGERALD .

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Ed to Grow up a Good Citizen of the "Commonwealth";
Girty Contemporaries 148 Simon and Some of His SIMON GIRTY AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES T. L.Rodgers Inlooking over the history of Simon Girty, we are struck with a certain parallelism between his career and that of Benedict Arnold, another betrayer of his country. Of course, as in all parallels, it is not expedient to draw this too closely, to "point a moral or adorn a tale." Both of these enemies of their native land were born in the same year (1741), Arnold in New England, and Girty in Pennsylvania. Both of these men, while doing good service for a time for the struggling republic, were finally the victims of evil counsel acting on minds not well established in truth and right, and this evil counsel came to them after a period of irregular living, and disappoint- ed expectations. Both men were the means of untold in- jury to their country, and both, after a stormy life, died in obscurity, far from home and native land. Of the two we would be disposed on the Scriptural ground of "where much is given, of them shall much be required" to place infinitely more blame on the New Eng- lander than on the Pennsylvanian. The latter was brought up on the frontier in semi- barbarism in all his earlier years —could not read or write, and though a man of natural ability, could not be expect- ed to grow up a good citizen of the "Commonwealth"; while the former had his birth and training in the old and settled community of Connecticut, which has always been considered the "land of steady habits" and has given birth to so many of national reputation in both Church and State.
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