4th generation

(about whom there was much confusion)

 NOTE:  Previously, it was believed that James McClure was the son of Samuel and Hannah, that he married Hanna, possibly a half Cherokee Indian, and they became the parents of  Thomas Jefferson McClure and his siblings.  Further research has led to the conclusion that James married Agnes, the daughter of Samuel and Hannah.  At this time, we have not been able to place James in the right family, but he was probably a cousin of Agnes.   Sources of the above information were Haddon, McClure, Curry and Allied Families by Elizabeth Haddon Brevoort and Doris Bond Wheeler, published in Vincennes, Indiana in 1952, and Following the McClures from Donegal to Botetourt by McClure, Honts & Worley.   Joseph McClure, one of the authors of Donegal, has provided the updated and documented information.

James McClure

(1762-1851)

 Agnes McClure

(d. about 1846)

                  James McClure was born probably in Botetourt County, VA, but no further information is available on him at this time.  He was probably a cousin to some degree of his wife.

                       Agnes (Nancy) McClure was the daughter of Samuel McClure and Hannah McClure.  James and Agnes were married 29 Sept. 1795 in Botetourt Co., VA. [1] [2]  The use of Agnes and Nancy interchangeably has been the cause of much confusion in the past because the Gaelic Agnes becomes Nancy when translated.

                       Sometime after the birth of their daughter Hannah on 19 Jul 1796 in Virginia, James and Agnes joined the westward movement and settled near Cynthiana in Harrison Co., KY.

                      According to Haddon, McClure, Curry and Allied Families by Elizabeth Haddon Brevoort and Doris Bond Wheeler, published in Vincennes, Indiana in 1952,  James and [Agnes]'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 (Agnes’s 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; moved to Missouri.  (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

I take the pleasure to ancer your kind letter which I receive the other day.  It found us all well and all the brothers and cisters.  I was so glad to har from you and all the rest I would like to hear whear you are and all the children we have sould out since I hear from you   we have moved down to Grant Co  we have been livinng about 3 years   I thought you were all dead   we had never heard fro you    we are living in 6 miles of Brother T J   he is the father of 17 Children and he looks like he will have that many more   he had one dead Brother Sam 4 and 2 married  Sister Nancy has 7 and there is nary one Marred yeat   all that keeps them from it they are a waiting for thire Aunts to Marry   Sister the times is hard hear and worst a coming   thire has ben no fighting yeat no teling how soon  Cister if you want to come to see us we live 28 miles from the cittie in site of the pike   come we would like to see you 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 McClure probably grew up on the Long Bottom with his McClure relatives, but so far we have not been able to place him in the correct family.  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." [3]

 James and Agnes apparently didn't accompany those relatives to Kentucky in 1795, but they certainly followed them there after a year or two, 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."[4] 

              From Clasping Hands with Generations Past: [5]  "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.[6]

             From Clasping Hands[7] 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 possible that Jeff's second wife Abigail is also buried there in one of the many unmarked graves. 

             According to Donegal[8], children of James McClure and [Agnes] are:

            i.                     Hannah McClure, b. 19 July 1796 in Virginia[9] (living with her

ii.                   sister Nancy McDaniel in 1860) d. after 1870

            ii.          Patsy McClure, b. 14 Aug 1798.

            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.[10] 

            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[11]; (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, m. Sarah, d. after 1860

             ix.         Nancy McClure, b. 18 Jan 1812 in Kentucky, m. Fielding McDaniel 9 Feb 1842[12].  (Her sisters Hannah and Susannah were living with her in 1850 and 1860[13].) 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.[14]   He is found in the Harrison County tax lists, along with Moses, Nathaniel, and Samuel McClure, in 1794 through 1810, which is as far as the tax lists have been abstracted at this time.

             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.]

              James’ wife Agnes had died by 1846, and James died about 1851, probably in Harrison County.   Joseph W. McClure,  author of Donegal, provided information about  a deed dated 1851 from Samuel McClure, son of James, to Fielding McDaniel, James' son-in-law.  In 1827 James and Nancy McClure's names appear on a deed to William Faulconer.  In a deed involving the same land made in 1846 only James' name appears.  This probably means that Nancy (Agnes) died prior to that time.  She was alive in 1840 according to census data.

             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:

             1880 Lewis Co. MO census, Lyon twp, p. 113D:  Nancy McDaniel, widow, 67, b. KY, parents b. VA, living with her son William C. McDaniel 36, b. KY, parents b. KY.  Nancy's two youngest daughters Lou B. 24 and Fannie 23 are also living with them, as well as William's wife Rosanna 25 and daughter Eva 1.

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.[15] 

               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.

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