The Lightburns and their allied families can be found in every nook and cranny of our nation’s past. These families were involved in the early settlement of the Eastern seaboard. They took part in the American Revolution. One person was ousted from his Quaker Church for making and mending shoes for Gen. Washington’s Continental Army at Valley Forge.
The Lightburns were pioneers in western Pennsylvania and were part of the westward expansion after the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Lightbourne/Lightburn ferried other pioneers on their way west across the Youghiogheny River at Budd’s Ferry in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Around 1840, Benjamin Lightburn, son of Benjamin Lightbourne/Lightburn, moved his family from Westmoreland County to Lewis County, (West) Virginia where he engaged in farming and milling. During the Civil War his sons fought literally brother against brother — three of the brothers fought for the Union, one who became a Brigadier General, and another brother fought for the Confederacy.
Following the Civil War, many Lightburns headed west. One tried his hand at farming in Kansas until the grasshoppers ran him out. He later settled in California. Still another crossed the plains and Rockies in a covered wagon to open a general merchandise store in what is now Salt Lake City, Utah. Lightburns and their allied families were found in some of the early western mining towns — South Pass City, Leadville, Alma and Cripple Creek among others.