4th generation

 NOTE:  Researchers disagree about the fourth generation in our line of McClures.  This is one theory.

4th generation (Version 1)

James McClure

(b. about 1772-d. about 1851)

Hanna [Cloud?]

(dates unknown)

          James McClure was born probably in Botetourt County, VA, the son of Samuel McClure and Hannah McClure.  James married Hanna (Cloud?).[1] [2]

            Although no official documentation has been found, Hanna’s maiden name may have been Cloud, and she may have been half Cherokee Indian.  This speculation is based on narratives of elderly relatives provided to me by Ronald Glen Wright, a descendant of James and Hanna’s daughter Catherine.  He wrote “The old narratives describe ‘the old Indian’ (which may actually refer to Hanna’s mother, rather than her).  The story I heard, backed up at least in part by the narratives, was that she sat on the floor of the hearth, facing the fire with her legs crossed, and smoked tobacco from a clay pipe.  And, her children were absolutely terrified of Indians.  I don’t know if she passed down stories of what happened to captives, or if stories of atrocities may have been passed down by the frontier McClures (which is likely, regardless of Hanna’s ancestry) but Catherine was especially terrified.”[3]

            The names of James and Hanna are all the information the Donegal book provides on James, but it does place him as the second child in his family, after Catherine who was born in 1769 and before John C. who was born in 1775.  Therefore, it seems reasonable to believe his birth date was about 1772.  Two other sisters, Mary and Agnes, have no birth dates, and they could fit in there as well.  (However, it should be noted that the first and only time we have an age for James in the census, it is 1850 and he is 88, making his birth date 1762.)

            James is the weakest link in the direct lineage from Halbert McClure to Thomas Jefferson McClure.  From Donegal:  "James was Samuel's mysterious son.  There are no records in Botetourt County to support the birth of James, his marriage to Hannah and the birth of their first daughter, Hannah, on 19 July 1796 in Virginia as described in Our Haddon, McClure, Curry and Allied Families genealogy…. Unfortunately, Samuel did not mention James in his will, but neither did he mention his son John.  After Hannah was born, apparently James joined the westward movement and settled near Cynthiana in Grant County, Kentucky." [4]

            I sent an email to Joe McClure, one of the authors of Following the McClures--Donegal to Botetourt, asking why he chose to include James as a son of Samuel and Hannah if the records didn't support it.  This is his reply:

From:  JWMcClure@aol.com

Sent:                 Sunday, September 10, 2000 11:28 AM

To:                   janemcclure@worldnet.att.net

Subject:            Book

The reason I consider James as a "mystery son" of Samuel is that I can find no record to prove that he was.  If James had been a son of Samuel I think he would have been mentioned in Samuel's will.  The reason he was included as a son was because of his identification as such that appeared in the book "Haddon, McClure, Curry and Allied Families" by Elizabeth Haddon Brevoort and Doris Bond Wheeler that was published in Vincennes, Indiana in 1952.  That entry was based on family lore that I believe is flawed, but cannot prove.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

Joe McClure

Chester, VA

I was able to obtain copies of pertinent pages in the Haddon, McClure book.  Children of Samuel were listed as Catherine, b. 1769, d. 1837, m. 31 Jan 1797 Botetourt Co., VA, John Okiltree; John 1777-1819; Samuel (no dates); James b. VA lived in Cynthiana, KY, m. Hannah; and Mary m. Halbert McClure 1795.

According to Haddon, McClure, James and Hannah's other children were as follows:

            2.  Patsy born Aug 14, 1798

            3. Catherine (Kitty Ann) born Nov 11, 1800 in or near Cynthiana, KY, died 30 July 1871; m. 30 Nov 1820 Vincennes, Knox County, IN to William Neely Perry.   Kitty Ann went to live in Vincennes, Indiana, with her aunt (James' sister) Catherine Ockiltree in 1810 when she was 10 years old.  She is mentioned in John Ockiltree's will.

            4.  James born 4 Apr 1803.

            5.  T. Jefferson born 20 May 1805, lived near Crittenden, Grant Co., KY (had 17 children and 16 grandchildren in 1862)

            6.  Susannah born 18 Nov 1807

            7.  Samuel.  1850 census lived in Harrison Co., KY, had 4 children and 3 grandchildren in 1862.

            8.  Polly born Aug 17, 1810

            9.  Nancy, born 20 Jan 1813.  Married Fielding McDaniel, lived near Crittenden, Grant Co., KY.  (Nancy's sisters Hannah and Susannah, both unmarried, lived with her family in 1862).

The Haddon, McClure book quotes a letter written in 1862 from Susan (Susannah) McClure to her sister Catherine (Kitty Ann) in Indiana.  This is the source of much of this family history:

page 198

"Letter from Miss Susan McClure to Catherine McClure Perry

of Fairbanks, Ind.

direct you Crittenden Grant Co. Ky

Fbuary the 16 1862

or some of you   I hope the south will gain the day husa   I am still living with Nancy   She has not very good health but her children is all stout  her oldest is 18 years old and ways 182 and she is the bell of Grant (county)  Hannah is well and has her helth ver well   we are a living together  Uncle Billie is dead and has ben dead 3 years  Mr McDaniel sends his love to you and all the Children  I tell tho how the teimes is hard thire is 25 wagons going up every day  has ben 250 gone up and them hevy loded with pervision they are a fighting in kintucky but on way near   thire is a good deal if siknes a bout hear   they have the measels and the smallpox is raging prtty bad.  nacy youngest is five years old Sam has 3 grand Children  Brother T Jefferson 16 grand Children  Cister Caty you spoke of hard times shere you live the times is hard hearto   we cant get nothing for our labor   calco is 16.3 third a yards and cotton 25cts a yards coffie is high and sugar to but one good consolation we can make our sugar and that the best of all and molasas   I wish you had ritten more to   I want you to rite to me as soon as you get this   I must bring my lette to a closer   rite soon as you get this   I am your Dear cister untill death

   Susan McClure   ritten by her

    neace Miss Sue McDaniel

     (back page Sue A. McDaniel)"

NOTE: This data on McDaniels is in agreement with 1850 Census.  Susan McClure was past 50 and Hannah was 64 at the time this letter was written.  Nancy McDaniel’s children were Susan A., Wm. C., Nancy A., Maria K. and 3 others younger in 1862.

(As you might imagine, the Spellcheck on my computer had a field day with that.)

James grew up on the Long Bottom with the sons of his grandfather John McClure, Sr.  Nathaniel and Moses McClure would have been uncles to James, but they were all close together in age.  From Donegal:  "John's two youngest sons, Moses and Nathaniel, traveled together when they commenced their journey west in the fall of 1795.  They would have joined a group, which was common practice, to provide mutual protection and support over the long journey…. Moses and Nathaniel had a much better road to travel through the wilderness than did the members of their family that preceded them because when Kentucky became a state in 1792 one of its first official acts was to improve the Wilderness Road to encourage the movement of more settlers into the new state, and by 1796 horse and wagon traffic commenced." [5]

The authors of Donegal were not as interested in James McClure as we are, so we will forgive them for writing him off as just a mystery son, not mentioned in his father's will, and with no Botetourt County records to evidence his marriage or the birth of his daughter.  The 1850 Grant County census lists James’ daughter Hannah as age 54, born in Virginia, despite the lack of Botetourt County records.  (If Ronald Glen Wright is correct in his speculation that Hanna was Hanna Cloud, a half Cherokee, then possibly this marriage was the reason James was left out of his father’s will.)  If James didn't accompany his uncles to Kentucky in 1795, he certainly followed them there, and lived near them the rest of their lives.

From Donegal:  "Moses and Nathaniel eventually settled in close proximity to one another since Moses married Eleanor McPherson in Boone County on 30 August 1804, a county that Nathaniel settled next to some six years earlier [1798].  Nathaniel settled in the Lebanon Hills on Bullock Pen Creek which was located about four miles south of Richwood Station, which is now known as Richwood.  There Nathaniel built his cabin on the crest of a hill overlooking the creek that flowed some two hundred feet below.  A spring on the slope, that still runs, provided the necessary water.  This location provided a natural defense against Indian raids…. He built a two-story log cabin with a massive fireplace and a very large living room, no doubt with the idea of accommodating Sunday services.  The location and fortress-like structure worked as planned, because soon thereafter the area was targeted by the Shawnees who massacred a family that lived at the base of Nathaniel's hill, but he and his family emerged unscathed…. Nathaniel's cabin still stands and is regarded as the oldest structure in Grant County."[6] 

From Clasping Hands with Generations Past: [7]  "Nathaniel and Jean Porter McClure, newly wed, came on horseback with a party of young married people from Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1795, through the wilderness, crossing the river at a place called Cumberland Canebrake…. This company consisted of the Andersons, Carlisles, Kennedys, McClures (Nathaniel, his wife and two half brothers, Alexander and Moses), McPhersons and McCullochs." 

Mrs. Lloyd also answered a question that had been in my mind:  "It is often difficult for the modern mind to grasp the reason pioneers crossed the blue grass region of Kentucky and settled in the rough, broken hills of Boone County, when the fertile valleys of the Ohio and its tributaries were so close and were almost unoccupied.  It must be remembered, however, that the pioneer depended upon fish and game for a large part of his sustenance.  Agriculture was of secondary importance.  The hills of Boone County sheltered quantities of deer, turkeys and other food animals, while the creeks, especially Bullock Pen, teemed with fish."

When Nathaniel and his wife Mary Jane arrived, there was no church in the Lebanon Hills section, so they held meetings in their cabin. Nathaniel was a founder of the Lebanon Presbyterian Church and may have donated the land on which the church still stands. Nathaniel died in 1848 and is buried in the church's cemetery, very close to where Nathaniel settled along the Boone-Grant County line.[8]

From Clasping Hands[9] comes this poetic description of the old church:  "The present church is situated on a country road leading from Crittenden to Verona.  A large oak tree, many years past the century mark, standing on the west side of the church, spreading its branches over a large grass plot, furnished a beautiful canopy for those who, in years gone by, served basket dinners to the faithful, loyal Christians who attended all day meetings." 

And about the churchyard she wrote:  "Back of the church lies the churchyard, where sleep the pioneers of Lebanon Hills.  A beautiful, myrtle-covered spot, the restful quietude broken only by Nature's melodies, the tall old evergreens keeping ever a watchful vigil, whispering and sighing the almost forgotten tales of the past.  Few there are sleeping in this spot who are not resting among their kin.  'McClure Row' has more than local renown.  Fortunate is he who sleeps beside his very own."

We know that the records of the Old Lebanon Presbyterian Cemetery include many McClures, including Nathaniel's family, Thomas Jefferson (Jeff) McClure, his first wife Mary, his sister Susanna and his brother James E.  It is not unlikely that James and Hanna are also buried there, as well as Jeff's second wife Abigail, in some of the many unmarked graves. 

            According to Donegal[10], children of James McClure and Hanna are:

i.                     Hannah McClure, b. 19 July 1796 in Virginia[11] (living with her

ii.                               sister Nancy McDaniel in 1860

ii.          Patsy McClure, b. 14 Aug1798.

iii.         Catherine (Kitty Ann) McClure, b. 11 Nov 1800, in Cynthiana,

                                    Harrison Co., KY, d. 30 July 1871 Shelby Co., IL.,

                                    m. William Neely Perry

iv.         James E. McClure II, b. 24 Nov 1802 in Kentucky; died 5

                                    March 1878 Grant Co., KY., m. Jane McClure, b. 22

                                    Sept. 1807 Rockbridge Co., VA, d. 19 Mar 1884 Grant

                                    Co., KY; both buried in Lebanon Cemetery.[12] 

v.         Thomas Jefferson (Jeff) McClure, b. 20 May 1805 in KY, d. 27 Apr

                        1881 Grant Co., Ky. m. (first) Mary Dungan 10 Dec 1828[13]; 

                        (second) Abigail Points 1845, Grant Co., KY.  (Jeff and Mary

                        buried in Lebanon Cemetery; Abigail may be there too,                                                             unmarked.)

            vi.         Susannah McClure, b. 18 Nov 1807, d. 1871, Grant Co., KY.,

                                    buried in Lebanon Cemetery. 

            vii.        Polly (twin) McClure, b. 17 Aug 1810.

            viii.       Samuel (twin) McClure, b. 17 Aug 1810.

            ix.         Nancy McClure, b. 18 Jan 1812 in Kentucky, m. Fielding

                                    McDaniel 9 Feb 1842[14].  (Her sisters Hannah and

                                    Susannah were living with her in 1850 and 1860[15].)

                                    Moved to Lewis Co., MO.  Fielding died before 1880;

                                    Nancy died before 1900.

James McClure is found in the Harrison County, KY census of 1810, 1820, 1830, and 1840.[16] 

1850 Harrison, Ky census, p. 165, Ancestry.com image 95:  James McClure 88 VA, Hannah 54 VA, Susan 40 KY, Thomas 12 KY, living with Fielding McDaniel & Nancy and their children. [Hannah, Susan & Nancy are all daughters of James; Thomas is apparently a grandson.   If James was born in 1772, he would have been 78 in 1850.]

            James’ wife Hanna had died by 1850, and James died before 1860, probably in Harrison County.

            James’ youngest daughter Nancy and her husband Fielding McDaniel moved to Grant County and appear in the 1860 census as follows: 

            Fielden McDaniel 40 farmer KY; Nancy 40, Susan A. 17, Nancy A. 14, Mariah 11, William C. 15, Mary S. 8, Lou Belle 6, Francis J. (f) 3, Hannah McClure 62, Susan McClure 45 (these last two are Nancy's sisters who remained unmarried).

            Sometime after 1860 Fielding McDaniel, his wife Nancy and their family headed out to Missouri.  They were not found in the 1870 census, and by 1880 Nancy was a widow:

Grant County, Kentucky

            Grant County was created in 1820.  It initially consisted of the western part of Pendleton County which had been formed out of Campbell County in 1799.  Campbell County had been taken from Scott and Mason Counties in 1795.  In 1827 the Kentucky legislature added a small portion to Grant County on the southeast, taken from Harrison County.[17] 

            When the James McClure family arrived in Kentucky, there was no Grant County.  Catherine was born in 1800 in Harrison County, and that may have been part of what 27 years later became part of Grant County. In Donegal it says Thomas Jefferson (Jeff) was born in Crittenden in 1805, but when I wrote the authors about that, Joe McClure replied that it was a mistake; their source simply said he lived in Crittenden, not that he was born there.  By the way, Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States at the time of Jeff's birth.