William McClanahan | Historical Atlas of Westmoreland County, Virginia by David Eaton

"Historical Atlas of Westmoreland County, Virginia" by David Eaton, 1942:
"Mary Marshall, born about 1738, married Reverend William McClanahan about 1758.He was a Baptist minister.The early years of their married life were spent in Westmoreland County.Their oldest son, Thomas McClanahan was born there.About the close of the century they moved to Greenville, South Carolina where he died."
"The McClanahan family was intermarried with the Marmaduke, Robinson and Rochester families of Westmoreland County, Virginia.A John McClanahan married Elizabeth P. Marmaduke, a daughter of Vincent Marmaduke. (W.D.B. 28, page 73.)"
"Reverend William McClanahan born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, about 1738, married 1758, Mary Marshall.He raised a company of Baptist Volunteers in Culpeper County during the Revolution and they were called 'The fighting Baptists.'The family removed to Greenville District, South Carolina.He had a son Thomas McClanahan who was a noted Indian fighter.His will was made May 15, 1802 and date of proof not given, but he died 1802."
"John Robinson, born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, married Susan McClanahan, daughter of Reverend William McClanahan and Mary Marshall, in Culpeper County, Virginia, and removed to the Greenville District, South Carolina, and in 1810 moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky, and finally settled in 1825 in Boone County, Missouri. (There is further information on this family.)
"John McClanahan who came to Missouri with the Robinson family, settled in Morgan County, Mo., having come from Kentucky.He married in Kentucky, Priscilla Chisholm, and in their family was born John Marshall McClanahan, November 14, 1846.He married February 28, 1871 to Nannie T. Anthony, at the home of Anderson W. Anthony, by the Rev. James Edward Sims.He died July 21, 1927.He left issue: Vallie Blanch, born August 6, 1874; Vergie Bernice, born November 13, 1879, died November 4, 1925; Harold Anthony Robinson, born January 5, 1882; Samuel Livingston, born April 19, 1884; Priscilla Lillian, born June 14, 1888.

                        

I Need to do More With My Ancestry Blog

I see it has fallen by the wayside. Mostly because I'm a scatterbrain and I don't have a good way to trace anything that has a lot of tree work. Paper just isn't going to cut it. I could make a database, but I loathe spaghetti code. I wish I could just retire and take on this adventure, but that is impossible.

Right now everything I find out will be through links and history books I suppose. I want pictures. I can find very few pictures of the Ruckers and the McClanahans. I know, we didn't have cameras then, but at least paintings? I'm getting old, but one day after my kids are all out of school I want to get in a car and just drive across the country to find these roots of mine. I want to visit museums and find gravesites. I should be saving money, but in this obama economy it has been very difficult to do so.

Perhaps the next President and Congress coming in January 2017 will make a world of difference. ANYWAY, I'm not going to get political on this board except knowing that we were a part of the Revolutionary War and on both sides of the Civil War. And to those who think I need to pay reparations, bite me. Half of my family died fighting for your freedom and the other half didn't fight to keep you enslaved, they fought to become separate from the North. In fact, it is rumored that I'm related to someone who freed all of his slaves and they fought for the South and that another one of my relatives gave his land to a slave in his will. Before you think that all "slave owners" were terrible people understand that many of them were actually just doing what everyone else was doing and they just didn't treat them like slaves. Had they gone to others then maybe they would have been mistreated. Our family supposedly comes from a long line of Baptists who treated people decently because that is what God would have wanted them to do.

I supposed I will just link to different parts of this blog where it is appropriate. I will link names and eras to other pages. If you have any information to offer about the people in these pages please feel free to comment. Thanks!

Don't Tread On Me

I found this fascinating today. Maybe Patriotism is in the bloodline? I've always felt very close to my country and being patriotic. Perhaps today I found out why.

One of my relatives has been doing a lot of research into our heritage. I found out recently that both sides of the family fought in the Revolutionary War. On my mother's side Rev. Lt. Col. William McClanahan was one of the Culpeper Minute Men and one of the first 30 Justices sworn into the United States after the peace treaty was signed in France.

Now THAT is fascinating :)

Oh, and I just found out that the DHS considers you a domestic terrorist if you fly the Gadsden flag? WTH is wrong with you people? It's your history! Also, now some ninnies are saying the flag is racist? Are they STUPID? I fly it high and proud. I am NOT racist. If it weren't for the people flying these flags they would be British and then possibly even speaking German under Hitler so don't tell me that MY family's history flag is wrong or racist. We really need to stop voting for progressives. They're a little crazy in the head.

"Don't Tread On Me"

General Adrian Northcutt

I think I'll start with the most obvious and the most known relative of my past. I didn't know I was related to General Adrian Northcutt until about 6 years ago or so. I believe it was in an email when my mother told me about this. I'm not even sure if she know. No, she must have known because it was a family name on her mother's side. According to Ancestry.com and my own findings, he is my 4th-great grandfather.

He was married to Sarah Cope Northcutt who was born on November 23, 1803. According to one site they have two children together. I've also seen where she was born in 1764. I don't know which is true.

He was born on October 13, 1799 (or some sources say 1798) in Virginia. His parents were John Northcutt and Lynchia England. I have very little information on Lynchia England other than her father was supposedly Richard England. I have a little bit more information on John Northcutt, but not much.

Being a general and a state senator of Tennessee, there is more information about Adrian Northcutt than most of my relatives that I know of. He fought in the War with Mexico and supposedly founded Northcutt's Cove and Altamont, TN. From what I've read, he owned a good portion of Tennessee. He was a Democrat (something I am NOT.) I'll add more later on in the blog as I find out facts and not rumors.

I also find it fascinating that we can find Sarah's and Adrian's tombstones. Now, I would have doubted these were the tombstones for awhile since I hadn't found it myself, but they are buried next to each other. I will need to research with my relatives to see if this is true. Many of them still live in Tennessee.

General Adrian Northcutt died on January 19, 1869 in Grundy County, Tennessee.

General Adrian Northcutt's Tombstone Before Restoration

General Adrian Northcutt's Tombstone After Restoration

Fascinated by Family History

While growing up I was never introduced to our family roots. We just carried on as a family through thick and thin but never worried about where we came from. I knew my mom was from Tennessee and my dad was from Kansas. I was born in California. That was it!

It wasn't until recently that I've learned so much more about our family history. I think a few of my relatives caught the ancestry bug and it just filtered on down through the family. Now as I start on my journey of ancestors I'm going to tell you about a few of mine that I've found as I find them. It seems we have a rich family history in Tennessee and Virginia. Our family has fought in both the Civil War and the Revolutionary War. We have fought in England and other areas of the world.

I don't know if you will follow this blog, but if you do I hope that you share if you find any relation to my kin. It would be rather fun!

I'm not sure if I will do this chronologically or just post information as I find it. Probably the latter. It would be impossible to do it on a timely basis if I relied on just information that may or may not be important or real. In fact, the database I have is from a friend of my sister so I don't even know how accurate it is! I know that my mother's tree is pretty accurate and I have found a lot of information on my dad's side based on the starting of that tree, but he has passed and I barely even know any of my relatives on his side. Where to start? Maybe I'll buy a book off of amazon to get started? Get a DNA test?

I'll just keep trying and maybe you can help out, too :)