Alexander Brown - A wee bit Irish

Alexander Brown - A wee bit Irish

By Teresa Martin Klaiber January 2020

Alexander Brown, was born in Ireland, according to son, Rev. Matthew Brown, family stories, and children’s census records. At least three sons were born in Ireland: Adam Brown born 8 April 1766, Samuel born about 1770, and Isaac Newton Brown born 16 April 1771.

Both Adam and Samuel migrated from Ireland to Hampshire County, Virginia, where their father  settled, then on to Ohio County, Kentucky. When Adam Brown died in Ohio County, 10 August 1853 from flux, the death register listed his father Alexander and mother as Winney Brown.  Winney is most likely short for Winifred an old English/Welsh given name.  DNA,  for this compiler, indicates that Adam is a ½ brother to later siblings, confirming, what earlier researchers suspected, that Alexander had more than one wife.

In a published sketch, it is stated that Samuel Brown immigrated to America with his father when he was twelve years old[i].  If this statement is accurate then Alexander and family migrated to America in 1782.  According to one researcher[ii] Winney Brown died in Ireland before the migration.

The first confirmed documentation of Alexander Brown is in Frederick County, Virginia on the personal property tax of 1782 with 10 white and 1 black within the household.  From experience, this compiler believes that Alexander actually arrived in America about 1781 to be established in Fredrick and paying taxes by 1782.   Historically the Irish Volunteers had organized and in December 1781 had met at a meeting place of the Presbyterian Synod of Ulster. The Brown children appear in later Presbyterian records in America.  As they settled in America they were faced with talk of the Battle of Guilford Court House in North Carolina and the surrender at Yorktown.

Conjecture repeated by some researchers say Alexander had a wife Mary Bradford. Grace Kelso Garner[iii], wrote that Nancy Caudy daughter of James Caudy, Jr. married 30 October 1781 to George Alexander Brown. She then cites the children of our Alexander Brown. In 1995, Wilmer L. Kerns wrote in Frederick County Virginia Settlement And Some First Families of Back Creek Valley that Garner was erroneous.  A deed and mortgage involving Alexander and Thomas Lewis written a year prior to Alexander’s death indicates that his wife was named Ann.[iv]  To date it is not clear who the mother of nine of Alexander’s children was.

Alexander was active in Frederick County and was witness to the will of John Buckanon in January 1789.   In 1791 Alexander Brown purchased property from William Linegar in Hampshire County, Virginia. He paid 120 pounds for 223 acres on the North River at Great Cacapon.  He settled at the mouth of the North River of the Great Cacapon on the wagon road leading from Romney (Hampshire County)  to Winchester (Frederick County).  The state road was completed from Winchester to Romney in 1786.  Brown was involved in a Chancery court case involving Isabel Feeley in 1795.[v]  By March 1792 he was established in his new home and  appears in a list of letters remaining at the post office at Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia.[vi]

Kern’s surmised that Alexander Brown was a blacksmith because he gave grandson William Day blacksmith tools in his will.  Alexander wrote his will on the fourteenth day of August 1816.  Alexander Brown stated these were the tools that he had set up William’s father with. William Day was one of the children of Alexander’s daughter Nancy Brown. Nancy had three children with Ammery Day[vii].  William’s siblings were John Day and Larkin Day.  In 1798 Thomas Henderson was cited as living in adultery with Nancy.  The Day children later utilized the Henderson surname.  Thus it is unclear, at this writing, if Brown set up blacksmith tools for Ammery Day or for Thomas Henderson.  Alexander references daughter Nancy as Day in his will so it is “assumed” the blacksmith tools were for Day.  There is documentation that Alexander Brown paid tax on a grist mill in 1814 and the property he sold to Thomas Lewis has a “merchant” mill which is mentioned further in this report.  He would be paying tax on a mill if it was on his property.  As of this report it is unclear if he is the miller.

No wife is mentioned in Alexander Brown’s will. He gave a slave each to son Adam and Samuel. Alexander then requested that his plantation be sold and the sums divided among the children. He appointed “trusty friend” George Sharf, Daniel Carmichael and John Caudy to be executors of the estate.  The appraisement was June 1817.

The estate lingered in court.  The Winchester Gazette announced a trust sale 19 Oct 1822 for 124 acres by subscriber Thomas Lewis for payment of a certain sum due to George Sharf and Daniel Carmicheal, executors of Alexander Brown.  The land was to be sold at the tavern door of said Lewis upon the premises to the highest bidder.  The land described as on the road leading from Winchester to Romney including a Merchant Mill[viii] and an excellent stand for a tavern having been occupied as such for several years.  It appears the property did not sell at that time.  Instead it was leased to John Martin & Nicholas Baker with John Brown acting as trustee prior to John’s migration to Perry County, Ohio.  They failed to make their payments.[ix] In October 1828 Matthew Brown, David Brown, John Clayton & Polly late Brown his wife, David Pugh and wife Jane late Brown, Samuel Rusk and Elizabeth nee Brown his wife appointed Isaac Brown of Perry County, Ohio to act as their attorney-in-fact.[x]  It was not until April 1834 that Adam and Samuel Brown both of Ohio County, Kentucky also appointed Isaac Brown to act as their attorney-in-fact.[xi]  Isaac Newton Brown finalized the sale of the property to John Wolford in 1837.[xii]

The will, as well as tax records, prove that Alexander Brown was a slave owner.  Son Matthew Brown was interviewed, in Bowling Green, Ohio, as the oldest man in the county. He said that when a lad he saw his father sell a woman who had two little children and saw the frantic mother begging to intercede for permission for her to come back some time and see her children.[xiii] This left a deep impression on Matthew who became a devout minister.

Children of Alexander Brown

i.  Adam Brown born 8 April 1766.  Married Marry Baldwin. Resided Ohio County, Kentucky.

ii. Samuel Brown, born about 1770  Ireland, married Hannah Taylor.  Resided in Ohio County, Kentucky.

iii. Nancy Brown birth estimated 1766-1784. M. Ammery Day, associated with Thomas Henderson. Resided in Hampshire County, Virginia.

iv. Isaac Newton Brown, born 16 April 1771 in Ireland; died 01 March 1853  Perry County Ohio; married (1) Mary Clayton 27 October 1795; born 18 February 1777 in VA; died 27 January 1822 in Perry County Ohio; married (2) Eleanor Chenoweth 27 March 1823 in Perry County Ohio.

v. Jane Brown birth estimated between 1775 – 1794.  Married David Pugh. Jane died  19 Sep. 1824 Perry County, Ohio.

vi. Mary Brown, born February 1779; died 28 August 1858 in Clayton Township, Perry County Ohio; married John Calvin Clayton Abt. 1799. Died Perry County, Ohio. She is the ancestor of this compiler.

vii. Elizabeth Brown born between 1785 & 1794. Married Samuel Rusk. Resided Perry County, Ohio.

viii. Rev Matthew Brown, born 16 June 1786 Frederick County VA; died 27 October 1884 Wood County Ohio; married Mary Constance Queen 14 April 1811.

ix.  John Brown born 1791 – 1792. Hampshire Co., Va. 1810. Said to marry 1. Polly Skinner.  John 1830 in Pike Twp., Perry Co., OH with female b 1790-1800. Marries Mary Meddleton in Perry County, Ohio in 1836.  Rev. Matthew Brown performed marriage. Migrated to Knox Co., MO between 1850 & 60.  He names a son Isaac.  (Isaac Newton Brown s/o Alexander also bore a son John Brown in 1798 Hampshire County.  Caution researchers to not confuse records). 

x. David Brown born about 1793 Hampshire County, Virginia.  Migrated to Pike Township, Perry County, Ohio.

---

[i] W. H. PERRIN. J. H. BATTLE, G. C. KNIFFIN, KENTUCKY A HISTORY OF THE STATE, EMBRACING A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY; ITS EXPANSION WESTWARD, AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FRONTIER BEYOND THE ALLEGHANIES; THE ERECTION OF KENTUCKY AS AN INDEPENDENT STATE, AND ITS SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT. , F. A. BATTEY AND COMPANY, 1888.[ii] Hal Harrocks[iii] Early Settlers of Western Frederick and Eastern Hampshire County[iv] Virginia, Hampshire dbk 19 p. 288-290 Alexander Brown and wife Ann to Thomas Lewis of Hampshire County, VA.[v] Library of Va., Chancery Record Index. Frederick 1795-014 LVA reel 175 206 329[vi] Bowen’s Centinel and Gazette. 12 March 1792[vii]Amory Day sold pp to Ransom Day for 35.83 in 1815.  The items included beds, blankets, spinning wheel…tools. Hampshire dbk 19 p 139-40.[viii] Map of Mill Sites c. 1859  shows “a” mill on the road from Romney at North River.  HistoricHampshire.org    James Caudy property was also on North river and he is known to have had a mill in 1813/14.[ix] Virginia, Hampshire dbk 26 p 360[x] Virginia, Hampshire Dbk 26 pp320-321[xi] Virginia, Hampshire Dbk 29 page 326[xii] Virginia, Hampshire dbk 41 page 124.[xiii] Wood County Sentinel, 2 April 1881.

The Disappearance of William Graham

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020

Bernice Graham, author of Graham Descendants of William and Dinah Wilson Graham, 1967 was the glue that kept Graham family members, far and wide, together.  The Graham descendants in Portsmouth, Ohio diligently filled out or wrote her yearly with  updates of family births, marriages and deaths.  Her book was published when I was a senior in high school.  On a hot summer day in the late 1980’s I paid her a visit in Marietta, Ohio.  Surrounded by stacks of newspapers, that she said she still must clip and file, we chatted about our family.  Close to 90 years of age, Bernice’s mind was bright and sharp. 

I asked who had supplied my birth information. She promptly said my grandmother.  She said my grandmother, Katherine Halderman Feyler,  would write her notes but my great aunt Eva Clayton Scott was more informative.  She also stated she had letters from my great grandmother Dessie Clayton Feyler.  Graham then directed me to go to the basement between isles, count two stacks then down three boxes and bring the box upstairs.  That box was just like Christmas morning.  Crammed full of letters from the descendants of George Graham son of William Graham.    There were several letters from my great grandmother Dessie Clayton Feyler from the 1920’s and 30’s.[i] Without hesitation she reached in and located the letter announcing my birth from my grandmother.  After getting permission to photostat some of the letters, I was prompted to take the box back to the basement and place it exactly as I had found it.

By the time of that visit, I had already worn the pages of my copy of her publication, the culmination of all those letters and questions, on the eleven children and descendants of William and Dinah Anne Wilson Graham.  As we walked to the library, that day, to make copies, I asked her if there was more to the story of the disappearance of William Graham.  She shook her head no and said that her 2^nd great grandmother, Dinah Wilson Graham, was said to have mourned and hoped he would return all the rest of her life.

The first part of her book reads more like a thought process, explaining why Bernice believed William was the son of Jared Graham.  She cites bible records and stories from various branches of the family as well as trips she and her brother, an avid McGrew researcher, made to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.  Sometimes she gave a proper deed citation and other times just descriptions. 

Over the years Graham researchers are still hoping, new technology and ease of retrieving original records, we will unravel the mystery of William Graham’s disappearance.

William Graham’s birth is given as 25 August 1793.  Bernice stated: "I have an old bible published in 1816 which William Graham wrote ...data for most of his family. His signature is also written beside the 19th chapter of Proverbs...given me a few years ago by Reba West Wilson a granddaughter of Rebecca Ross Graham."  In today’s analytical genealogy world we immediately would question if the birth date was primary (written by him from knowledge) or secondary evidence since the bible was not published until after his birth.

Bernice goes on to say that William was a farmer, storekeeper, teacher and hat maker making beaver hats especially.    In referencing William Graham as a teacher:  “ .. arithmetic book in possession of my grandfather Dickson Graham...copyright 1811...used by Wm Graham while teaching school at Youngstown, Pennsylvania...inscribed his signature...Youngstown...date Feb 19, 1814...possession of Thomas Dickson Graham of Clearwater Florida, my brother...”  William would be twenty years of age thus considered an adult able to teach.  Youngstown was developing and the first town lot was not recorded until November 1815.  Prior to that time it was often referenced as Martinsburg.  Youngstown is one of the oldest borough’s in Unity Township.

Graham mentions a deed in her book concerning Arthur O’hara, who married Sarah Jackson Graham, William’s widowed mother.   With FHL microfilm at our fingertips I located  an article of agreement 24 September 1792  between O’hara, now deceased, and Henry Furry both of Unity Township.  One of the witness’ is John Chambers.  The document was not filed until 25 May 1814, the year Bernice says the book shows William Graham as a teacher.  William Graham by oath, in 1814, says that he was well acquainted with John Chambers…resided near this deponent in the character of a schoolmaster for several years that the said John Chambers removed from this country about 12 years ago and now resides…Kentucky.[ii]  This document does not clearly state that William Graham is now, himself, a school teacher.  It does tell us that William Graham was likely schooled by John Chambers circa 1802, at about nine years of age, and resided in Unity Township. 

William married Dinah Anne Wilson 16 July 1816, we assume in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.  While not listed by name in the 1820 census, this compiler finds the “Widow Ohara” with the correct age for her along with the family of William and Dinah Wilson Graham.[iii]  William already has three children. The first daughter named Sarah, possibly after her grandmother, was born that year.

Arthur O'hara, who married Sarah Jackson Graham[iv] about 1806 died before the deed in 1814 and probate records continue thru August 1825.[v]  William Graham is cited in the partition docket. William Graham, appears in his own household in Unity Township in 1830.  By 1830 he and Dinah have nine children.

Bernice states in her publication: Some time in...& before the birth of ...youngest child, William...disappeared and was never heard from again by anyone in the family or area..”   Deborah was born 4 January 1832 and the last child Richard Wright Graham was born November 1833.

Eleven children in the household and father, William Graham disappears.  The last two children are thought to have been born in Sewickly Township, where Dinah’s father, William Wilson, resided.  It is assumed that Dinah is being helped by her father, William Wilson, until his death in June 1848.  But it was six long years before Dinah Anne Wilson Graham received three annual payments of $300.00 from her father’s will.  Eleven children being raised during the Panic of 1837 when unemployment was at it's lowest, money was devalued and banks were passing out bad loans. The recession lasted seven long  years.

Logically, Dinah would try to locate her husband. Scant newspaper scans have surfaced  for The Gazette and Farmers & Mechanic’s Register (1828-1833) or the Greensburg Gazette/Register.  This compiler has found no newspaper article, at this writing, concerning his disappearance.  Dinah Anne would need money to feed that many children.  Usually guardianships are appointed at the death of a father, even though the mother was living.  A guardian appointment was put in place to manage finances and the best interest of the child.  Orphans Court, for Westmoreland County, show no entry for any of the children. Often the sheriff and courts would intervene to aid those in need. There are no land holdings in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in William Graham’s name either.  This is a family without a breadwinner, the eldest son Wilson Graham being about 16 years old.  Bernice states that Wilson Graham felt a responsibility to help the family and family stated he rode a horse along the towpath of a canal in Pennsylvania to help make ends meet.  The Pennsylvania Canal System began in 1824 so fits nicely into the story of the family.

Bernice gave assumptions that Sarah Jackson Graham O’hara’s husband was a Jared Graham, father of William.  The trail Bernice provided was later proven by several researcher’s to be Jared Graham that married Jane Nyce and migrated to Pickaway County, Ohio.  This compiler feels there is possibly several contemporary Jared Graham’s that still need reviewed and unraveled.  There are several Scotch Irish Graham families in the vicinity.    DNA shows that this compiler does have low centimorgans to at least two issues of the Pickaway County Graham family.

Dinah Anne Wilson Graham migrated with her family to Wesley Township, Washington county, Ohio where she resided among her grown children and grandchildren.   She died in the home of grandson Thomas Graham in Bern Township, Athens County 14 March 1879 on a visit from neighboring Washington County.  Most documents call her “Ann Graham.”  She was never referenced as a widow in any documents reviewed by this writer.  Bernice Graham’s statement still holds true “William Graham disappeared.”

---

[i] 1929, Aug 2 Dessie Feyler to Bernice Graham…”…impossible for us to attend reunion…returned home from Michigan yesterday and had a nice visit with Eva.. She and I filled out the form you sent…”

[ii] Pennsylvania, Westmoreland, Deeds, Volume 10, p 631, fhl microfilm 008036029, image 72.

[iii] 1820 Federal census, M33-112 Unity, Westmoreland, PA page 174

[iv] Sarah Jackson Graham O’Hara b. 1760 was contemporary to Richard Jackson b c. 1775 m. Jane Seaton resided in Westmoreland County. Jane Seaton Jackson’s brother George was a well known hatter.

[v] Pennsylvania, Westmoreland Registers and Orphan Ct Recod Index; O’Hara Arthur acct 1 OC 182 1819 , partition 5C PN 242 1825

Clayton’s of Clayton Township, Perry County, Ohio

By Teresa Martin Klaiber Jan. 2020

Perry County was named for Oliver Hazard Perry. Ohio counties are divided into townships.   The Muskingum and Hocking River flow through Clayton Township in Perry County.  Known as, Township 16 it was named for Thomas Clayton, (Thomas, Zebulon, John, Edmund).  The road that led to Clayton Township took the Clayton’s from New Jersey to Virginia, before settling in Ohio.

John Calvin Clayton[i] was born 24 March 1773, the eldest child of Thomas (b. 1742 Monmouth County, NJ) and wife Mary. Brother, Joseph, was born in New Jersey about 1775.   The family paid their tax in Shrewsbury, Upper Freehold, Monmouth County until 1779 according to published extractions.  Thomas’ father was still living which may cause a bit of confusion with the extractions.

Thomas and Mary, with their two small sons, migrated to Hampshire County, Virginia.  According to Historic Hampshire quite a few were from the northern hills of New Jersey which resembled their new land. The tie to New Jersey was so strong that they named a mountain Jersey Mountain. Today you can still drive along Jersey Mountain Road.[ii]  Bible records indicate that John Calvin Clayton’s little sister Mary was born 18 February 1777 in Virginia. 

Thomas Clayton, already described as a resident, of Hampshire County, Virginia appears as an assignee[iii] of Jonathon Pugh for land on Tear Coat and Little Capon 26 May 1778. He received his land grant for 424 acres. The Capon River also known as the Cacapon River drew a great migration during this time frame.

Thomas is credited with a Public Service Claim in the Patriotic Service Records, at the Virginia State Library, for supplying thirty pounds of flour in 1781 “for Frederick Starkey.” Starkey was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey in 1745 and married Mary King.  Several researchers, at the time of this writing, on popular genealogy sites, state that Frederick Starkey’s parents were Thomas David Starkey born between 1781 and 1722, in New Jersey and wife Ann Clayton.  Ann Clayton was born 16 May 1689, a Quaker, in Newport Rhode Island and was the daughter of David Clayton and Amy Cooke.  This would make Thomas Clayton and Frederick Starkey cousins (third once removed).

While 1781 was the height of the Revolutionary War, the family was doing well, having been taxed for 10 cattle and 4 horses in Hampshire County. Thomas and Mary had their fourth son William the following year. Daughters Elizabeth, Martha and Rachel were born two years apart beginning in 1784.

In October 1797 Thomas and Mary sold 212 acres of land to Tunis Peterson and another 212 acres to Stephen Lee. This accounts for all 424 acres of the land grant. Thomas continues to tithe in the county and was ordered to work the North River Road in 1788.  One road survey, in the county minutes cites “Clayton’s on the Frankfort Road.”[iv]  He also served several times on county court juries.  In December 1799 he purchased a lot in the town of Springfield on Market Street.[v] Springfield is in the northwestern portion of Hampshire County in what is now West Virginia. The town was well established by the time they purchased their lot. 

The family paid taxes in Springfield until 1804 when they sold the town lot.[vi]  His daughter-in-law, Mary Brown Clayton’s brother Isaac Brown was one of the witness to the sale. They made 100% profit from this sale having purchased the lot for $50.00 and selling it for $100.00.   The next year Thomas begins making payments under the credit system for land in Muskingum County, Ohio.  Apparently doing well Clayton bought  254 more acres in 1809, on Spring Gap in Hampshire County, Virginia.

With a bit of wonder lust, and owning 254 acres in Hampshire, Thomas appears to meet up with others from Turkey Creek, Somerset County, Pennsylvania for the migration to Ohio. We assume this is how son Samuel met his wife-to-be, Phebe Rush, who was a member of the Jersey Church in Somerset County. 

Thomas and his family settled in what was then Muskingum but would become known as Clayton Township, Perry County, Ohio. Thomas is listed as an Entryman and continued to make payments at the Zanesville Land office until 1810 when his land was entered as all payments received. The township was named in his honor. His patent was registered 23 December 1811. In April the following year son William received a patent in the same area as an assignee of Thomas.  john Calvin Clayton (compiler's ancestor) received his, along with brother Joseph,  in July 1814 in Section 29. 

Thomas Clayton, at the age of 71, died in August 1813 in Clayton township while still Muskingum County, Ohio, leaving a will that was probated on August 25^th. He provided for his wife Mary leaving her bed and bedding and land of her choice. He also requested that his dwelling house and personal effects be sold and the money divided among his children. The sale was advertised in the Zanesville Express September 6, 1813. No grave has been located but it has been assumed that Thomas Clayton and possibly Mary were buried in early graves in Unity Presbyterian Church in Clayton Township.

Muskingum County, Ohio Will Book A page 224

Unity Church is one of the oldest religious organizations in the county.  The Church sat within the township on a rolling hill. Today all that remains is Unity Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Among the tombstones you will find the graves of John Calvin Clayton (Thomas, Thomas, Zebulon, John, Edmund) and wife Mary Brown Clayton.  We visited several times while residing in Muskingum County, Ohio.  My husband spent several back breaking hours up-righting John Clayton’s stone in the early 1990’s. 

We know so little about Mary. Yet she was a pioneer woman having migrated from New Jersey to Virginia, finally settling in the township that would be named in her husband’s honor. By virtue of the birth of Thomas’ known children researchers estimated the marriage circa 1772.

There is a marriage of Thomas Clayton to Mary Walker in Christ Church, Philadelphia on 16 June 1772. Because of the proximity to Monmouth County, New Jersey with Philadelphia, researchers have been quick to attribute this marriage with our Mary.  This compiler, felt researchers were not taking into consideration seven other Clayton marriages listed in Christ Church, none attributed to our direct ancestor.  None of the early researchers supplied further documentation. With extensive research, locating the diaries of Jacob Hiltzheimer, I know that the marriage is another Clayton family.   Mary Walker was sister of Hannah Walker who married Jacob Hiltzheimer.  Thomas Clayton requested permission to marry Jacob’s sister-in-law in April 1772.  Mary Walker Clayton “wife of Col. Thomas Clayton” remained in Chester county where she died, age 40, July 1790, and was buried in Friend’s Cemetery.

Even though, to date we do not know Mary’s maiden name, she like other pioneers had to be a strong woman. Sadly, women were not given the credit of men in that day.  Women of the day were often there to do the work and have children. It appears that while Mary had a choice of property she did not stay in her own "dwelling house" as it was sold according to court records. Mary is on the roll of Unity Church in 1816.  In April 1818, the 254 acres were sold on her behalf in Hampshire County, signed by all the heirs of Thomas Clayton, deceased.[vii]

She was dismissed from the rolls of Unity in March 1822. Seven months after being dismissed from church, Moses Goodin, Sr. married Mary Clayton on 24 October 1822 in Perry County. Moses was born before 1755 and had grown children. Age wise he would have been a contemporary of Mary. Moses Goodin sold Mary Clayton’s grandson property in Reading Township in 1825 and at the same time purchased property from Mary’s son, John Calvin Clayton and wife Mary Brown Clayton, in Clayton township. The land in Clayton township was described as second class with no meadow. Moses Goodin died 20 September 1836 and was buried in Hopewell Cemetery in Somerset, Perry County. Goodin researchers report no information on Mary, either unaware of this 2nd marriage or because of their age, simply not citing it. When Moses died, his will written 17 April 1831, mentions no wife only his children by his first marriage. It is assumed by this researcher that Mary must have died between 1825 and 1831.

Thomas Clayton and Mary had eight children. Thomas and Mary’s daughter Mary married Isaac Brown and through daughter Jane are direct ancestors of Past President Richard Milhous Nixon.  Thomas and Mary’s eldest son John Calvin Clayton married Mary “Polly” Brown, sister of Isaac.  Richard Nixon was their third great grandnephew.

Son, John Calvin Clayton received his grant for land in Muskingum, later Perry, the year his father died, 1813.  In 1827 the directors of school lands paid John Clayton $4.00 for one acre in the same range, section 29.  John Calvin Clayton continued to live in Clayton Township until his death 5 May 1854.  

Unity Cemetery, Clayton Township, Perry County, Ohio

Son, Joseph settled in Washington County, Ohio and died 7 May 1829.  Son William died in 1847 in Illinois.  Daughter Elizabeth born about 1784 married William Minniear and settled in Miami/ Shelby county, Ohio.  Daughter Martha married Isaac Millison and remained in Hampshire County, Virginia.  Rachel Clayton, the youngest child of Thomas and Mary married Jonathon Carroll and died in 1840 in Perry County, Ohio.

---

[i] 4^th great grandfather of compiler.
[ii] Jersey Mountain is now known as Three Churches.[iii] a person to whom a right or liability is legally transferred[iv] June 1798
[v] Virginia, Hampshire dbk 12 p. 139-40
[vi] Virginia, Hampshire dbk 13 p 181-5
[vii] Virginia, Hampshire dbk 21 - 384

Horses, Coffee, Ships, Intrigue

Horses, Coffee, Ships, Intrigue

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

I was first introduced to, teacher,  Mary Johns of Cambridge, Ohio via correspondence while we were residing in New Jersey.  Distant cousins through our mutual Mains and McGrew families, I have written before about her via my blog in an article called Mains Family Research Opens doors to Friends posted 14 April 2011.

One of her oral stories involved James Cox McGrew, a brother of a double sister line. Rebecca McGrew married James A. Mains while sister Margaret McGrew married William Wilson. They were daughters of Finley McGrew and wife Dinah Cox, Quakers from Pennsylvania.  Rebecca stayed in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Margaret’s family moved to Washington County, Ohio and brother James Cox McGrew ended up in Guernsey County, Ohio where Mary Johns lived.

On a pleasant fall afternoon in 1983 I fixed Mary a cup of tea.  We settled on her pink couch, surrounded by pink floral drapes and carpet and she began telling stories. No notes, no documents, just her memories of her own former research.  James Cox McGrew she quickly calculated would have been my fifth great grand uncle. 

“The McGrew’s lived in Pennsylvania and he was said to have raised horses.  James Cox McGrew is said to have made a goodly sum on one trip during the period of the Louisiana Purchase.  While there he met a man named Dillon who talked him into buying a ship to go to Java for coffee. On the return trip, the ship was attacked by a man-o-war and they were left on an island.  Everyone thought them dead.  It was two years before McGrew and others were rescued.  When James came home he found himself broke.  He then moved to Ohio opening a grist mill near Birmingham, Guernsey County, Ohio.  Soon the government announced compensations for loss.  After much correspondence, McGrew found that Dillon had settled in Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio.  Dillon did not tell the government that McGrew financed the ship nor that McGrew had been the captain.  Dillon received all the money.  James Cox McGrew continued to live in Birmingham until his death while Dillon prospered in Zanesville.  I saw the letters family kept between Dillon and McGrew.”

With no dates and not even a first name of Dillon, I attempted to ask who had the letters and did she keep any further information from her research.  The only answer I got was “I researched it and it is all true.”

From wonderful Quaker records, I had already gleaned that James Cox McGrew was born 1761 in York County, Pennsylvania, British America, and married 1 January 1795 Rachel Walker.  Plus, I had listened in high school history and knew the Louisiana Purchase was bought from France in 1803.

The name Dillon was well known in Muskingum County.  Our family enjoyed Dillon State Park and drove through the Dillon Falls community when out and about.  Muskingum histories all cited Moses Dillon and his son John Dillon as worthy, wealthy patrons of the county. A Quaker family,  Moses built the first iron furnace between 1805 and 1808 in Ohio.   During this same time John Dillon was still in Baltimore, Maryland where his father had empowered him to sell 275 acres including houses and a mill.[i]  By 1813 he is in Muskingum County, Ohio, next door to Guernsey County, Ohio.

The first bump in the oral story.  If John Dillon or father Moses met McGrew it may not have been in Pennsylvania.  All research on Dillon placed them in Baltimore.   John Dillon was invested as a partner in shipping with a brother-in-law Clement Brooke.  Clement Brooke was declared to be insolvent by 1808.  A genealogy of the family mentioned the cause as the “Jefferson Embargo” and mentioned a diary written by John Dillon.

Both Britain and France were plundering American Ships. The Jefferson Embargo was signed December 1807.   The embargo's were an economic failure for the government and citizens.  Like most oral stories with some validity I confirmed that Dillon was in shipping and during the right time frame.

Dillon invested in inland shipping after settling in Muskingum County, including the steamboat Indiana, in Louisville, Ky in 1822. John Dillon, Esq., one of the oldest and most enterprising citizens of Muskingum county, died at Zanesville, Aug. 17, 1862, in his 86^th year. 

I continued to question other McGrew researchers on the where-about of McGrew/Dillon letters, without success. I finally had a lead on the diary of John Dillon and received a transcription from J. H. Florea in Illinois.  It reads more like a biography:

“Zanesville, sept. 29th, 1846…according to the record of my venerable and lamented parents I am seventy years of age ...I had met with several severe and heavy losses before this Viz. one vessel and cargo worth about fifty thousand dollars entrusted to James McGrew who never returned me one cent. The Guadeloupe adventure was a desperate attempt to reinstate me in all I had ever made and would no doubt more than succeeded had the Capt. Obeyed orders and not been quite so avaricious himself. This voyage would have cleared over a million dollars had no accident happened and probably been the result the most prosperous voyage ever made. Since Adam came into the world – but so it was ... I did not suffer it to break down my adventurous spirit. At the request of my father, who was growing old and unable to attend to business of the furnace forge I was induced to move my family to the Falls…After I failed in Baltimore and gave up my property to a trustee my credit was still so good that W. Sullin(?) let me have a new Brig called the Caprius…”

At this writing the author is aware that a letter book belonging to John Dillon from 1808 to 1863 is at the William L. Clements Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The brief finding aid states that the earliest letters were to his father (1808 – 1811). Future researchers should visit and review them.

There is mention of an accident  but not of the Captain being left on an island.  During research I located one petition, with court citations beginning in 1810 from John Dillon to the Government for compensation of the Schooner Rachel seized in 1808.   John Dillon of Baltimore, Maryland’s petition stated he wished reimbursement for Rachel seized and condemned in the district court of Orleans. She was seized in the port of New Orleans for violation of law to suspend commercial intercourse between the United Sates and certain ports of the Island of St. Domingo Her furniture, apparel and tackle sold to the credit of the US. [ii] Is it coincidence that McGrew's wife was Rachel?

Another day trip in Guernsey County, Ohio to Birmingham and nearby Salt Fork State Park was pleasant but shed no light on the McGrew family.  After Mary John’s death her composition book full of notes, did not mention the oral story of James Cox McGrew.  The only mention other than cut and dry birth/death dates was an unidentified clipping, assumed out of the Cambridge newspaper, titled “Do You Remember.”  The article was submitted by Mrs. John Barton. John Barton married Grace Irene McGrew who was born 3 April 1881 in Guernsey County and died 12 April 1970.  Grace’s father was Edmund Engle McGrew and great granddaughter of James Cox McGrew.

William G. Wolfe, in a popular series of articles called Stories of Guernsey County published in the Daily Jeffersonian, wrote about Birmingham listing Finley McGrew as one of the original lot owners. Finley was the son of James Cox McGrew.  The burrs brought to the other grist mill by Finley C. McGrew were manufactured by a 2^nd cousin Nathan McGrew.

  

James Cox McGrew made his intent to marry Rachel Walker at the Redstone Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania in 1795.  Once he migrated to Ohio he never owned any property, in Guernsey County, prior to his death in 1836.  Son James Walker McGrew first appears on the Guernsey personal property tax list in 1825. James  Cox McGrew appears to have lived to see all of his children married prior to his death in 1836. One of his nine children Ebenezer pre deceased him in 1800. 

So I end this tale with a bit of dissatisfaction.  Who was the villain in the story, John Dillon of means in Muskingum County or James Cox McGrew with little to no means in Guernsey County, Ohio?  I like Mary Johns, who dangled clues before me as I learned more about my forebearers, leave future researchers to access John Dillon’s letters in the Clements Library.  Remember there is always some truth gleaned from Oral stories in your quest.

---

[i] Lancaster Intelligencer Lancaster PA 2 Sep 1808[ii] Supreme Ct of US Schooner Rachel v. United States, 6 Cranch 329 (1810)
Alexandria va gazette in 1811 states the amount requisitions was 7000 dollars