Archive for September, 2000
Ancestry in Burned Out Counties like Lancaster County, South Carolina
Sep 20th
Inquiry:
How do you search for ancestry in burned out counties of the South like Lancaster County, South Carolina?
Heirlines Professional Genealogy Tip:
Searching for Ancestry in Lancaster County, South Carolina – Example: Searching for the Tie between William Patrick McCrory and Hugh McCrory (10 hour research and analysis family tree project conducted at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah)
McCrory is an uncommon name and is likely a derivation of another name like McCreary or McRarey, or something like that. When looking for the ancestral connection in Lancaster County, South Carolina between William Patrick McCrory and Hugh McCrory, we found that many of the early records of Lancaster County were destroyed during or before the Civil War. This necessitated spreading the search out to look for pertinent records in surrounding communities. Lancaster District, South Carolina where Hugh and Thomas McCrory lived is part of the area that was disputed by both North and South Carolina as belonging to each state at various times in the 1700s and early 1800s. This actually makes the area to search (at least) a 10 county search in both North and South Carolina records in order to get an accurate picture of what really was going on with a family that lived in that part of South Carolina.
Using the resources available in the vast FHL collection of historical and genealogical records, documents, papers, maps, histories, etc., on this area, Heirlines looked at the book, THE MECKLENBURG SIGNERS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS, by Worth S. Ray because it is a collection of records from several of the counties that were in this disputed area, searching for various spelling and possible spelling variations of the McCrory name as well. It crosses both sides of the current borders of North and South Carolina with very useful information. The Mecklenburg Signers were men from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and surrounding counties, that signed an oath or commitment, supporting the right of free choice for them and their families. This was recognized as an official break from the British Government. Capt. Thomas McCrory and his family would likely have participated in such an effort.
From this source, there were several other names that we copied just in case of poor spelling or pronunciation: McLarly, McCoy, McClure, McElroy, McCarty, McCreary (note David McCreary who had lived in this area of North Carolina had moved to Jackson Co., Georgia before 1804), McCredie, McCray, McCory, McClary, McClerry, McCord, McCorkie, McCLarey, etc. The most likely of these people kept the spelling quite close: That would be the John McCorkie and Hugh McCrorey of District No. 16 on page 366. We looked carefully at the Hugh McClure in this area. He died in 1840 and it appears that his name really never varied from McClure. It is known that the McRory name was found in Mecklenburg Co., before 1778 as Mary Moore, the daughter of David Moore, had a daughter who married a Mr. McRory.
We didn’t find the reference to Thomas McCrory, but it is possible that some of the people here may have been related to him. We did find a Hugh McCrory in Dist. 16 in Mecklenburg Co., ca. 1780. This maybe the father of your Hugh. More research will have to be done to discover the accuracy of this supposition.
Next the INDEX TO THE HEADRIGHT AND BOUNTY GRANTS OF GEORGIA 1756-1909 was searched. We looked for the Jackson family as well as the McCrorys because of their collateral connection of William’s wife, Susan Jackson. One census showed William Patrick McCrory’s wife being born in Georgia. There is a large family of Jacksons living in Jackson Co., Georgia. That county was mentioned in “THE MECKLENBURG SIGNER….” Book described above. We copied this to see where the Jacksons lived in Georgia. They lived everywhere in Georgia, but Benjamin Jackson lived in Franklin, Green, St Paul and Wilkes Cos., Georgia in the 1790’s through about 1806 getting land in these counties. The McCrorys were not nearly as numerous. Jno. McRory got land in Effingham Co., Georgia in 1798 and Greene Co., Ga. 1789. The name is also spelled McRoy and Jno again gets land in Effingham Co., Ga in 1819. Robt. McRoy gets land in Wilkes Co., Ga. in 1786. John and Robert are names similar to those who went on to Alabama. We copied all the Mc____
spellings and found Jno. (Jonathan) and Robert McCray. Robt. was in Jackson Co., Ga in 1799. Jonathan McCray was in Clark Co., Ga in 1807. These two counties border each other. Note: Greene and Franklin Cos., Ga are also close by.
GEORGIAN INTESTATE RECORDS was search for both Jacksons and McCrorys. The only one that was possibly of interest is that of John McCrory who died before September 15, 1800 in Effingham Co., Ga. His wife was named Rachel and he had a son, John McCrory who was a minor.
PASSPORTS ISSUED BY GOVERNORS OF GEORGIA, 1785 TO 1809 showed that John McCrary from the county of Putnam (Georgian) was issued a passport to travel through the Creek Nation of Indians to Alabama. This was signed Thursday 10th May 1810. Putnam Co., Georgia isn’t that far from Jackson and Clark Cos., Ga.
Also issued passports were Robert McCreary and Mathew McCreary both from Barnwell District, South Carolina. We considered both of these important since census records in Alabama give both South Carolina and Georgia as the birth place of William Patrick McCrory. Barnwell District, SC is more in central South Carolina and not in the area that was searched previously.
Putnam Co., Georgia marriage records were searched from 1803-1850. The McCrory name hardly exists in the county records. We did find a Hugh Mc____ (name unreadable) who married a Sarah Dixon June 24, 1822. Another marriage that looked possibly important was that of John MvGorwe who married Polly Gray on April 11, 1809. This marriage was transcribed in another part of the book as possibly being John McGourik, who married Polly Gray. Could this be John McCrory? Could this be the one getting the passport in 1810?
The International Genealogical Index was searched and we found Hugh McCrary and his siblings whose father was John McCrary. Their names come from a document dated November 1830 in Rowan Co., NC. We also searched the Ancestral File and found a couple of different pedigrees and descendancy charts. One charts is for the Hugh McCrary family that came from Galway, Ireland to Chester Co., Pennsylvania and then into the Rowan Co., NC area. We do not think this is the correct family.
The other is the Thomas McCrory family of Largo, Antrim, Ireland. This is the Thomas who married Hannah Crawford. They had 6 known children:
1. Thomas, who had 12 children most who are not traced;
2. Hugh, who married Jane Chipman and had 4 known children: John, Hannah, Mary and Hugh. We are hoping that this is the right family that lived in Butler Co., Alabama. We wonder if Chapman McCrory could have been named after Chipman. Also, Hugh and John McCrory fit the Butler Co., Alabama records names. This particular information shows these 4 children of Hugh and Jane Chipman McCrory being born in Bedford Co., Tennessee in 1788-1792. We know that the county name is wrong because Bedford Co., Tennessee didn’t exist until 1807-8. If these people were born in Tennessee, they would have been born in Davidson Co., Tennessee. We think that it is important to find out exactly where this family came from before being in Alabama. Davidson Co., Tennessee records should be searched. Also Guilford Co., NC records where Thomas and Hannah Crawford McCrory lived in North Carolina. The information found for Hugh McCrory and Jane Chipman needs to be confirmed.
3. John McCrory
4. Robert McCrory
5. Thomas McCrory
6. Esther McCrory
Further research is needed to establish whether Hugh McCrory and Jane Chipman are the grandparents of William Patrick McCrory, Chapman McCrory, etc. of Butler, Co., Alabama. In doing this we need to search further for documentation pertaining to this older Hugh. We need to search South Carolina land grants, and search equity court records which link family members years after probate records were initially recorded. This could be very helpful for Lancaster County research.
Submitted by Mary E. Petty, BA (History)
Ancestors are the People of History.● Do you know who yours are? ● Let the Professionals at HEIRLINES FAMILY HISTORY & GENEALOGY find your ancestry! ●1-800-570-4049 ● www.heirlines.com ● PO Box 893 ● Salt Lake City, UT 84110
Originally written by James W. Petty, AG, BA (History), BA (Genealogy) 11/06/1997
© 2000, Heirlines Family History & Genealogy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Proving or Disproving the Family Tradition: Is American Revolutionary War Captain Thomas McCory the Ancestor?
Sep 19th
Proving or Disproving the Family Tradition: “Is American Revolutionary War Captain Thomas McCory the Ancestor of William Patrick McCrory born in South Carolina in 1822?
Heirlines Professional Genealogy Tip:
Example of the Process of Client requested discovery in a 10 hour block of time conducted at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The objective of this project was to attempt to identify the parents of William Patrick McCrory, and then to extend his ancestry. According to family tradition, the client’s ancestor, William was born in South Carolina in 1822. Between 1822 and 1847 when he was married, he had moved into the area of Alabama around Butler Springs, and then on to Clarke County. It was also traditional that he was a direct descendant of Captain Thomas McCrory, who fought in the Revolutionary War.
The International Genealogical Index and the Ancestral File are two computerized indexes which contain over 200 million names of people which have been submitted to the Family History Library. These computerized indexes were first searched for any information about the client ancestor, William Patrick McCrory, but nothing concerning him was listed.
According to client records, William Patrick McCrory, was married to Susan Jackson in Clarke County, Alabama, sometime in 1847. According to marriage records from Clarke County, this marriage took place on 16 September 1847.
The early Federal Census records of Alabama were next search for information about William Patrick McCrory and his family. He was listed in the 1850 and 1870 census records, but for some reason he was not listed in the 1860 census. The 1850 Federal Census record indicated that he was living next to his father-in-law in Clarke County. It provided the following information:
1850 Federal Census, Clarke County, Alabama, p. 205
Names Color Sex Age Occupation Birthplace
McCrary, W. P. W M 25 Farm South Carolina
Susannah W F 19 Georgia
Mary W F ½ (born:8/1850) Alabama
Jackson, Benj. W M 55 Farm Georgia
Cassandra W F 45 Alabama
Caroline W F 18 Alabama
Benjamin W M 15 Farm Alabama
Alexander W M 12 Alabama
Burtle(?) W M 11 Alabama
James W M 7 Alabama
The above census record confirmed the family tradition that William Patrick McCrory was born in South Carolina, and also provided information about a previously unknown child, Mary, who may have either died or had married before the 1870 Federal Census was taken.
By 1870, the client’s McCrory ancestors were living in Butler County, Alabama, where the census provided the following:
1870 Federal Census, Tp. #7, Butler County, Alabama, p. 359
Names Color Sex Age Occupation Birthplace
McCrory, Pat W M 45 Farmer Georgia
Susan W F 35 K. House Alabama
Amanda W F 17 At Home Alabama
Charles W M 13 At Home Alabama
Aleck W M 11 At Home Alabama
William W M 7 At Home Alabama
Franklin W M 5 At Home Alabama
Callie W F 1 At home Alabama
The above census record agreed fairly well with information in the 1850 census, except for the fact that it listed “Pat” McCrory’s birthplace Georgia instead of South Carolina and “Susan” McCrory’s birthplace as Alabama instead of Georgia.
It appeared from the above census records that we might be able to find information on the parents of William Patrick McCrory either in the records of Clarke County, Alabama, or in Butler County, Alabama. Clarke County, Alabama, had a good set of records, but, most records in Butler County, Alabama, prior to 1853, had been destroyed in a courthouse fire.
One of the primary record sources in the early South is land records. We searched those of Clarke County, Alabama, and found that Chapman L McCrory and his wife, Malinda, Andrew Jackson McCrory (“Pat’s” brother) and his wife, Mary, and William P. McCrory and his wife Susan Elizabeth, all sold land in Clarke County in the 1850’s. William Patrick McCrory was the last to sell his land apparently leaving the county after this land was sold on 7 April 1859.
The deed indexes of Clarke County, Alabama, did not reveal when the McCrorys bought their land, or if it was inherited. We therefore checked the old St. Stephan’s Land Office records and found that a James McCrory, of Washington County, Alabama, and a Thomas McCrory of Tennessee, purchased land through that office in 1811, but it did not match the description of the land sold by the McCrorys in Clarke County. In addition, the client’s ancestor, William P. McCrory purchased land in Clarke County, Alabama, on 4 April 1859, just three days be fore selling it.
Family traditions held that William Patrick McCrory had moved west to Clarke County, Alabama, from the Butler Springs area. An examination of the 1840 Federal Census Index for Alabama revealed no McCrory families in the Clarke County area in 1840, however, there were three McCrory families in Butler County, headed by John, Thomas, and Hugh McCrory. An examination of the 1840 census for Butler County, Alabama, revealed that HUGH MCCRORY HAD A SON OF THE RIGHT AGE TO HAVE BEEN THE CLIENT’S ANCESTOR, WILLIAM PATRICK MCCRORY. John McCrory was of the right age to have been a brother to Hugh McCrory, and Thomas McCrory was probably Thomas Elmore McCrory, the brother of William Patrick McCrory.
An examination of the 1850 and 1860 Federal Census Records revealed that Chapman L. McCrory was of the right age (born:1818) to have been a brother to William Patrick McCrory, and that he was born in South Carolina. If this were true, the, Hugh McCrory should show up in the 1820 Federal Census for South
Carolina.
The 1820 Federal Census for South Carolina revealed that Hugh McCrory, and John McCrory, were both living in Lancast4er County at the time the census was taken. They were still there in 1930, but by 1840, they were no longer listed. It is probable, then that these were the same people who were listed in the 1840 census of Butler County, Alabama.
Hugh McCrory, who was born sometime between 1780 and 1790, was apparently dead by the year 1850. Since there were no probate records which mentioned him (due to the 1853 fire), we turned once again to the land records to see if perhaps they might prove that he was the father of William Patrick McCrory. These records listed the following McCrorys living in Butler County, Alabama, after 1853, along with the years they bought or sold land:
Thomas McCrory: 1856, 1876.
John McCrory: 1858, 1863, 1865, 1869.
William Patrick McCrory:1860, 1867, 1868, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873.
E. E. McCrory: 1864.
William M McCrory: 1867.
A. J. McCrory: 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871.
J. E. (A) McCrory: 1864, 1868.
Chapman McCrory: 1866.
It appeared from the above records, that the client’s ancestor, William Patrick McCrory, and his brother, Andrew Jackson McCrory (and probably Chapman L. McCrory), moved from Butler County to Clarke County, Alabama, in about 1845, and then in the 1850’s and 1860’s,they moved back to their old home county of Butler.
The above land records indicate that the client’s ancestor, William Patrick McCrory, moved back into Butler County, Alabama, as early as 3 October 1859 after selling his land in Clarke County, Alabama in April of 1859. It may be that he was actually on the move between the two counties when the 1860 census was taken, and this is the reason he is not listed in that record.
With regards to the theory of Thomas E. McCrory as the father of William P McCrory and the family tradition of the ancestral relationship with the American Revolutionary War Captain, Thomas McCrory : Briefly, searches for Thomas E. McCrory were made in Alabama and South Carolina resulting in conflicts with the client’s pedigree. Thomas McCrory was identified in Butler County in 1840, but he had only one son under 5, and he himself was too young. He wasn’t in Butler County in 1850. A Thomas E. McCrory appeared in Pickens County, Alabama (on the Mississippi border), with three sons under 5 in his household. He and his wife and children were still in Pickens County in 1850, and while this Thomas and his wife were born in South Carolina, as were their three eldest children, there appears to be no connection to the client’s ancestor, William P McCrory. However, this Thomas E. does appear to be the Thomas Elmore McCrory of the client family tradition with the estimated age of 1795. Census records show that this Thomas was born in 1805 or 1804.
We know that a Thomas McCrory of Tennessee obtained land in Butler County, Alabama. A pedigree that was found pertaining to the family of Thomas McCrory and Hannah Crawford, refers to Robert as having died in Tennessee.
We have identified a Robert McCrory in Spartenburg County, S.C., in 1800. He had two sons under 10. In 1810 he appears to have moved west to Pendleton /District, and in 1820 in Spartenburg County, with two sons who were under age ten. We found a listing for a marriage of a Robert McCrory to the Daughter o f Thomas Penny prior to 1809, in Spartenburg County. This could have been the Robert found in Spartenburg in 1820, but more likely it was the Robert who had moved on west, because the reference had come from the will of Thomas Penny, and referred to marriages of daughters that would have occurred years earlier.
Further searches in Spartenburg records identified wills of John McCrory in 1787 (proved in 1791), Martha McCrory, widow of John, in 1793, and the will of a Thomas McCrory in 1797. The will of Thomas McCrory, named his wife Jenny, and three youngest children as recipients of the land he currently owned in 1797, those children being Adam, William, and Mary. He also gave a shilling to three other older children, namely, Robert, Thomas Jr., and Anny McCrory Hamilton. In as much as Robert of Spartenburg in 1800 was the only Robert McCrory in South Carolina at the time when Thomas E. McCrory was born, it would appear that this lineage back to Thomas McCrory of Spartenburg District is the lineage described on the client pedigree, but it doesn’t appear to be the correct lineage.
Hugh McCrory does appear to be the father of William P McCrory. In 1820 and 1830, he was living in Lancaster Dist4ict, South Carolina and had sons that fit William. Also in 1820, he was listed in Lancaster close to the elder Thomas McCrory.
At this point, our allotted research time had expired and we had to terminate this project. Clearly, more time beyond this 10 hours must be expended to accurately determine the correct lineage and possible connection to the American Revolutionary War Captain, Thomas McCrory. However, we have been able to identify, Hugh McCrory (born: 1780-1790), probably of Lancaster County, South Carolina, as the probable father of your ancestor, William Patrick McCrory. Due to the destruction of Butler County, Alabama, records before 1853, however, we have not been able to obtain direct proof of this. Further evidence may be found in the Lancaster County, South Carolina, records, which will need to be searched during our next project. More research must be done to determine the proper ancestral links and accurately trace the McCrory ancestry.
Submitted by Mary E. Petty, BA (History)
Ancestors are the People of History.● Do you know who yours are? ● Let the Professionals at HEIRLINES FAMILY HISTORY & GENEALOGY find your ancestry! ●1-800-570-4049 ● www.heirlines.com ● PO Box 893 ● Salt Lake City, UT 84110
Written originally by James W. Petty, AG, BA (History), BA (Genealogy). 09/29/1997
© 2000, Heirlines Family History & Genealogy, Inc. All rights reserved.