2nd generation

 John McClure

(1725-1777)

 Mary Malcolm

(d. 1754)

           John McClure, son of Halbert and Agnes McClure, was born about 1725 in Raphoe Parish, County Donegal, Ireland, and died in 1777, in Botetourt County, Virginia.[1]

             He married, first, in about 1746, Mary Malcolm in Augusta County, VA.  She was born  in         Augusta Co., VA and died 1754 in Augusta Co., VA. (p. 295)

             John and Mary had two sons and a daughter:[2]

             i.          Samuel McClure, b. 1748 Augusta Co., VA, d. 29 Dec 1815 in Indiana; m. his cousin Hannah McClure.

             ii.          Alexander McClure, b. abt 1753 Augusta Co., VA, d. 1801 Mercer Co.,  KY.

             iii.         Mary McClure b. abt 1754 Augusta Co., VA, m. Halbert  McClure in 1770.

             John and Mary's first three children were born in the Borden Grant where John's father and brothers had settled.  Mary, however, did not survive the birth of her daughter Mary in 1754.

             After Mary's death, John married in about 1756 Mary Allen in Augusta Co., VA.  Mary was born 10 November 1741 in Augusta Co., VA, d. after Oct. 1803 in Augusta Co., VA.[3]

             John was described as the "renegade" of the family in Donegal[4] because he was the only one to settle outside of the Borden Grant.  After he married his second wife, they settled on 233 acres on the Long Bent of the Buffalo, three miles south of the Borden Grant border.  The first five of their nine children were born there.  In 1764 they moved to the southernmost part of Augusta County to a parcel of land, 186 acres, called the Long Bottom.  It would remain in the family for six generations.[5]  That section of the James River has been designated a Virginia Scenic River because of its natural beauty.[6]

             John and his second wife Mary had nine children: (pp. 336ff)

             iv.         Agnes McClure b. 1758 Augusta Co., VA, d. 1795

             v.         Jane T. McClure b. 1750 Augusta Co., VA, m. 28 March 1778 in Botetourt Co., VA, Thomas McClure

            vi.         John McClure, Jr. b. 15 Apr 1760 Augusta Co., VA, d. 24 May 1856 Habersham Co., GA, m. (first) Elizabeth, Feb. 1790 in Russell Co., VA.; (second) Margaret McClain

            vii.        Malcolm McClure, b 1762 Augusta Co., VA, d. 2 May 1791 Botetourt Co., VA

             viii.       Hannah McClure, b. abt 1764 Augusta Co., VA,  m. David Worley 1783 Botetourt Co., VA, d. 7 Jun 1829 Mercer Co., Ky.[7]

             ix.         Rebekah McClure, b. 1766 Augusta Co., VA, d. abt 1839.m. Thomas Anderson.

             x.         Halbert C. McClure b. 1770 Botetourt Co., VA, m. Mary McClure 1795 Botetourt Co., VA.

             xi.         Moses McClure b. 1772 Botetourt Co., VA, m. Eleanor McPherson 1804 Boone Co., KY

             xii.        Nathaniel McClure, b. 4 Feb 1774 Botetourt Co., VA, d. 18 Jan 1848 Boone Co., KY, m. 17 Sept 1795 in Lexington, Rockbridge Co., VA, Mary Jane Porter (b.17 Sep 1773 Rockbridge Co., VA, d. 19 Jan 1859 in Grant Co., KY. Both buried in Old Lebanon Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Grant Co., KY.[8]

             (Nathaniel's son John Allen McClure owned a considerable amount of land in Grant Co., KY.  At his death, the land was divided among his heirs, 10 children.  A nearby piece of property was deeded "by commissioner" by the heirs to T.J. (Jeff) McClure on 19 Sept 1855.[9])

              In 1767 John added 50 acres to the Long Bottom.  In 1770 Botetourt County was formed out of Augusta County. (p. 56)

             In 1774 John was a volunteer from Botetourt County in a battle called Dunsmore's War that retaliated against Indian attacks on settlers trying to settle on the west bank of the Ohio River.  According to Donegal (p. 60) "many historians consider Point Pleasant to be the first battle of the Revolutionary War and there is no disagreement that victory there stabilized the western frontier and significantly reduced the number of troops required to maintain that stability during the American Revolution, thereby freeing thousands of frontier fighters to train their energies on British forces and to suppress British Tories."

             John returned to the Long Bottom in about December 1774.  He died at age 52 in 1777.  His will was proved February 11, 1778.[10]

            When John died, his son, John Jr., had already enlisted in the Continental Army and was serving somewhere probably in New York or New Jersey. (p. 63)   He would spend the winter of 1777-78 (when he was 17 years old) at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, under General Anthony Wayne.  After the war was over, John became one of the first McClures to leave Virginia for the "west."  He served as an Indian spy between 1783 and 1790, after which he married and settled in Pendleton County, SC.  During the War of 1812 Lt. Col. John McClure, Jr., commanded a regiment of South Carolina militia.  In 1829 he married his second wife and they left South Carolina to settle in Georgia.[11] (pp. 70-73)

(Note:  Samuel is the oldest of Halbert McClure's sons, while John is the youngest.  I have placed John first because the McClure line continues through his son Samuel.  I have placed John's oldest brother Samuel second in order because the McClure line continues through his daughter Hannah--and in genealogy, the male line comes first.)

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