Lt. Col. Abraham "Keble" Cable, Esq.
Patriot, American Revolution 1776-1783

"THE FIRST JUDGE WEST OF THE ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS"

D.A.R. #113068 - Abraham "Keble" Cable, Esq., was the son of Philip [Filbs], Kobel, 1700-1780, and his wife, Maria Brede [Brady]; German speaking Swiss Pietist's who had immigrated from Switzerland to the Rhineland, most likely to avoid religious persecution.

They arrived at Philadelphia with their son, Abraham, and Daughter, Barbara on September 11, 1732 aboard the Brigantine "The Pennsylvania Merchant", John Stedman, Master.

They eventually settled in York County, where they became "Householder's" in Christian Mystic, Conrad Beissel's sabbatarian monastic society at the Ephrata Cloister in 1735 or 1736.

The Ephrata Cloister was where the Sabbatarian "Seventh Day German Baptist Church" was founded out of the Brethren, or "Dunker" Church.

Philip and Maria were also founding member's of the sabbatarian Bermudian Church in York County, an offshoot of the Cloister, where Beissel also preached until just prior to his death in 1768.

The Ephrata Cloister is mentioned in Philip's will (he requested that his son, Abraham "provide a meal to the Congregation at Ephrata"). Philip's name Is listed on the Cloisters' "Death Register", as follows:

1780 - Bro. Filbs Kobel, 16 January.

Over time, the Cloister became reknowned as a place of learning; a "Latin Academy" was established, and prominent families from Philadelphia began sending their son's to Ephrata to be educated.

Because of the Kobels' association with Beissel and the Cloister at Ephrata, their son, Abraham was able to begin his education from an early age.

Abraham Cable, Esq. was a very highly educated man for his time; could speak fluently, and could read & write in all three major European Languages; German, French and English, and it being a time when most of the English speaking settler's were illiterate, Abraham Cable became known as, and gained a reputation for being a "Scribner" or "Scribe", after which, virtually every document found with his name includes the title "Esquire".

Dr. H. Austin Cooper states in his book* that Abraham Cable, Esq. was a "Mathmatician" and "Surveyor", and that during his youth:

"He traveled far and wide among the Indians".

A petition sent to the Provincial Council, requesting that Abraham "Keble" be appointed as their Magistrate, was signed by over seventy of his neighbors; English, German's & Scots-Irish alike, (virtually the entire male population), who had settled at "The Stony Creek Glades" as the beautiful valley over the mountains was known as by the English speaker's, or conversely, as Bruedersthal [Brother's Valley], by the German speakers.

Abraham "Keble" [Cable], was appointed as a Magistrate and Justice of King George II, by Governor Richard Penn, who was present as the Executive Council met in Philadelphia, on November 23, 1771. Governor Penn signed the writ, which reads as follows:

"Abraham Keble, who is recommended as a man of property and reputation, and the best qualified of any person in that quarter to execute the duty of a magistrate".

"His Honor [Governor Penn], accordingly issued "a special commission appointing the said Keble a Justice of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace and of the County Court of Common Pleas- for the said County of Bedford."(he additionally served as a Magistrate for the County's Orphans-Court).

This legal writ, established Abraham "Keble" Cable, Esquire in 1771, as the first Magistrate and Justice, whose jurisdiction was located entirely West of the Allegheny Mountains, in Bedford,
[now Somerset], County, Brothers Valley District, Pennsylvania (Note: the next county, created after Bedford, Westmoreland wasn't created until 1773).

The "Valley of Brother's" where Abraham had settled as early as 1762, was at the extreme Western edge of the volitile Pennsylvania Frontier; where surprise attacks by the Native American Allies of the French, and later the British, were frequent and brutal with death or captivity often being the most common result.

He joined the Brother's Valley Militia in 1775, and trained at Fort Bedford and Fort Ligonier.

After serving as a Captain at Ft. Pitt, [now Pittsburgh], Abraham was commissioned by the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, as a Sub-Lieutenant (Lt. Colonel), of the Bedford County Militia of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1777, and he also served with the 1st Regiment of the Continental Army (Source: Fold 3). He was present during Washington's siege of Boston and later at Valley Forge and Yorktown.

Politically, he was a Democrat-Republican, (adherent to Thomas Jefferson, and his policies), the forerunner of today's Democratic Party.

After a suspicious tie that occurred in Bedford County during the election for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, (the House of Representatives), he was infamously denied a seat**, he was later overwhelmingly elected to the Assembly, where he served four consecutive terms, 1790-1794, which at the time was the maximum one could serve according to Pennsylvania law.

In 1795, he was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Mifflin to serve as a judge representing the Fifth Judicial District for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; a lifetime appointment, which he served with honor until his death in 1805, at the age of 76 years.

He also played a major role in the founding the Borrough of Berlin, Pennsylvania in 1788, and later Somerset County, when it was created from Bedford County, Pennsylvania in 1795.

His son's Philip (Captain), & Jonathan, both served and fought as Patriot's during the American Revolution, and Philip, like his father, became a highly respected and prominent judge in the Northwest Territory [later, Ohio], after the Revolution.

There is a prominent bend in the Ohio River, where Philip built a Block House and raised his family, after the war. By consulting older map's, this is labeled "Cable's Bend", and on the Ohio shore an area labeled as "Cable's Landing" can be found.

Ephraim Cable, the eldest son of Philip fought during the war of 1812.

If you have any questions regarding the Cable Family, (or one of the many, many spelling derivatives of the same), who settled primarily in York, Lancaster, Bedford or Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, please send an email to: [email protected]

A special word of thanks, goes out to Donna Tivener, also a descendant of this remarkable man; for her knowledge, kindness and willingness to share.

Bruce D. Cable