McKinsey in Virginia

Harriet, Bruce and I have chatted about the possibility that George McKinsey who is 5-gr-grandfather to both Bruce and me may have had roots in Northern Virginia.  I have made reference to this fact in the a post that I began and did not finish:

http://www.marshamoses.blogspot.com/2013/07/timeline-for-george-mckinsey-and-family.html

Every time I begin to think about the McKinsey name in Northern Virginia, I find that I have forgotten more than I know.  So this post is miscellaneous McKinsey information from that area in the right time period

In Wilmer Kerns' book:  Frederick County, Virginia: Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley 1730-1830 I find the following on page 16:

"Two pages from a Frederick County Parish record show signatures of parishioners who participated in the communion (Eucharist) during 1761-1763.  The register was found in an original book among miscellaneous Frederick County records in the Virginia State Library, Archives Division.  At the top of the register is this statement:  "I declare that I do believe there is not any transubstatiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and in the Elements of Bread and Wine, at or after the Consecration thereof by any Person Whatsoever."  This was one way of saying that the communion table was for Protestants only.

Some person who signed the parish register were:  Nicholas M_____(German), John Hite, Jacob Morgan, Thomas Caton, Mandley, James Craik, James Ireson, John Neaville, John McKensie, John Cristopher (Heintz?), James Keith, Thomas Speake, Lewis Moore, Cornelius Vansdell, Peter Hog (on June 1, 1762), Joselph Longacre (a German Signature), Joseph Glass, John Lindsey, Thomas Bryan Martin, John Sheen, Richard Paris (Pearis), John Watson, John Taylor, Edward Robinson, David Shepherd, Jeremiah Odell, John Shealy (his X mark---the only person who could not sign), Charles Smith, Gabriel Jones, Thomas Rutherford, Thomas Whitson, William Overall, Thomas Wadlington, Archibald Wager, Hunprhey Wells, Issac Russell, Thomas Lowe, John Kennedy, Joseph A____not legible, Elijah Isaacs (?), John Linsey, Daniel Bush, John Edwards, Edward Rogers, Jr, Morgan Morgan, Walter Moffett, John Waton (German), Van Swearington, John Wager, Wastley Whit, John Dark, Alex Lemen, John Jenkins, Martin _____ (German), Richard Jackman, Adam Stephen, Burr Harrison, Angus McDonald, Thomas Helm, and Henry Netherton.  With several exceptions, this list represents persons in the power structure of Frederick County in 1761-1763.  I

On page 11 Wilmer says that during the late 1740's there was a major migration of settlers from this area to the Carolinas due to disappointments over land policies of Lord Fairfax.  It has been told that some settlers paid twice for their lands.

I will add more as I have time.

Loyalists in the Bush River area of South Carolina during the Revolution

A lady by the name of Ruby Mundell Barry wrote a book that I read via fiche in my local LDS FHL many years ago.   Ruby Barry did an amazing job of naming the descendents of my 5-gr-grandfather, George McKinsey.  George moved his family from Bush River area in Newberry SC to Warren County, Ohio in the first decade of the 1800s with the mass exodus of the Quaker families out of the south and into the non-slave states of Ohio and Indiana.

Ruby explained that the family lore said that George had served in the Revolution but that she had never been able to find service records nor pension records nor anything at all that supported that family lore.  I made my own searches and had no more luck than Ruby.  Harriet Imrey and I were chatting one night via internet when she found for me the fact that the reason that I had never found anything was that George had been a loyalist!  I was expecting George to have been a patriot.  I had even hoped to find George having served with the Swamp Fox.  What a revelation it was to me to find him on the Loyalist side!  It has opened up my research in many ways!

George was not in the Quaker records of the Bush River area, but he interacted with the Quaker families and lived close to Bush River MM.  His wife was of a Quaker family and I suspect that George's ancestors may have been Quaker ....perhaps in the area around Hopewell MM in the early 1700's.  My gut feeling is that George, like many of the Quaker families, hoped to sit the Revolution out.  The Quakers did not believe in fighting.  But even more than that they felt their first allegiance to God and did not have a strong allegiance to any sort of government agency.

By July 4, 1776 the Patriots had gained control of virtually all territory in the 13 colonies, expelling all
royal officials.  However,  Ms. Clark explains in the beginning of her book, Loyalists in the Southern Campaign, Vol I,  that after Charleston fell to the British in May 12, 1780 it was necessary for the British to re-establish the Loyal Militia.  Sir Henry Clinton established guidelines that called for young men to serve six out of every twelve months.  Thus if one was living in South Carolina in the timeframe that George McKinsey served in the SC militia which was Dec 1780, you were called up by the British who were then in control.  If one did not have strong loyalties one way or the other, it would only makes sense that you would obey the law of the land.  And indeed that is just what George McKinsey did.  He showed up for militia duty from the 14th of June until the 13th of December in 1780.

The map below shows the Dutch Fork which is the area that is is between the Saluda and the Broad River where they fork together, forming the Congaree River.  George McKinsey lived in this area just south of the town of Newberry.

I find him on the pay abstract for Colonel Daniel Clary's Regiment, Dutch Fork Militia, Ninety Six Brigade for soldiers who came to Orangeburgh, SC, with Lieut Colonel John H. Cruger, for 183 days pay from 14 June-13 Dec 1780.  There is quite a long list of men on this list.  Some of the names that I recognize are:  Daniel Regan, John Pearson, John Elmore, William Wyatt, Samuel Dunken, George McKinney, William Elmore.  The Duncan family were next door neighbors to George and his family.

George is found again the next year in the same time frame (14 June- 13 Dec 1781) on Daniel Clary's Regiment, Dutch Fork Militia, Ninety Six Brigade for 183 days pay.  The other men that I recognize during this service are:  John Elmore and Samuel Duncan.

It is quite likely that George McKinsey was present for the battle of Musgrove's Mill:

Musgrove’s Mill Aug 18 or 19th 1780

Edward McCrady notes in his History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, that the camp at Musgrove’s Mill prior to August 19, 1780 was commanded by Major Fraser, and that it also included Captain Abraham DePeyster of the King’s American Regiment, the North Carolina Loyalist David Fanning, and Colonel Daniel Clary’s militia. Clary’s regiment had been ordered to be formed to support Major Patrick Ferguson according to Lambert’s South Carolina Loyalists on page 105.   The park ranger indicated that the men were camped at Musgrove’s Mill with the goal of meeting Ferguson at Kings Mountain. 

It is not absolutely clear that Col Clary’s regiment had reached Musgrove’s Mill by the 18th.  Col Cruger informs Lord Cornwallis that he has ordered Clary to support Ferguson in a letter dated Aug 4th.  It would have taken Col Clary a few days to get his regiment assembled and they they would have had to move out and move to the site.  

However, the patriot detachment was informed by a local when they had moved within a mile of the incampment that the camp had been reinforced the previous evening and that there were now in camp a number closer to 500

It has been noted that most of the wounded and prisoners mentioned were Provincials, so the militia may not have been involved as heavily as the regulars. 

and from Harriet Imrey an explanation of what George McKinsey was doing during his service in 1781:

The Dutch Fork Regiment was not involved in the defense of Fort Ninety-Six.  By Jun 1781, that was the last remaining British outpost in the backcountry.  Gen. Greene and his Continentals had besieged it, but had to retreat when Lord Rawdon brought his newly-arrived Irish regiment up from Charlestown to relieve the fort on 21 Jun 1781.  Rawdon had already decided to abandon the outpost, but his couriers carrying that instruction to Col. Cruger kept getting killed en route.  A major consequence of the retreat was that local Ninety-Six Loyalist forces (and their families) would have no protection from reprisals by the Whig neighbors.  They were all offered refuge within Charlestown, the only small area with enough Loyalist and/or British forces to shelter a large group.  Around 800 militiamen of Ninety-Six District, with families and all moveable possessions, chose evacuation.  They had to make the long march down to Charlestown via Orangeburgh Road, a process that took most of July and involved civilian casualties from illness and exhaustion.  The local militias, including the Dutch Fork Regiment, were mustered to guard the retreat.  That's what George McKinsey was doing in Orangeburgh when Col. Cruger submitted a request for his back pay for the previous year.

I have some information that Harriet Imrey sent me that is helpful that I am not posting today.  I also have a note:

There is an excellent explanation of the Revolution in the Dutch Fork in the years that George was paid for militia duty.  Pp 42-53 in book: The History of Newberry County South Carolina Volume One 1749-1860 by Thomas H. Pope.


I want to read some of the articles at:

http://www.sciway.net/hist/periods/revolwar.html
and
http://musgrovemillmilitia.blogspot.com

Craven County, SC

A question on the Bush River Mail list prompted me to answer via this post a question about Craven County, SC.

The above chart says:  South Carolina County Boundaries during the period

One of the mail list members sent the following link for more information on Craven County.

https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Craven_County,_South_Carolina

Thomas, Moore and McKinsey in Northern VA

I received the following message from Steve Moore:

Marsha,

I found Edward Thomas who, along with my Mordecai Moore, was an appraiser for the estate of James Boudler dated 24 Nov 1746 in Frederick Co., VA.  I am trying to figure out where my Mordecai was living and am assuming all of the appraisers were neighbors.  Have you found out where Edward was living?

Steve Moore

This caused me to begin looking among my "stuff" to see exactly what I DO know about this area of Virginia in this time period.  It seemed a good time to make a list of what I know and what I would like to research.  Steve has explained that he hopes eventually to prove that the Mordecai in this document was brother to my 7-gr-grandfather, Richard Moore married to Sarah Jenkins and uncle to MY 6-gr-grandfather,  Mordecai Moore married to Mary Lackey.

So the questions that I am going to address here are:  Where was Edward Thomas living in this time period and were the Moore and Thomas family friends in Pa before the move to the Hopewell MM area of Virginia.

Here is what I have in my notes about Edward Thomas:

Edward Thomas is in Old Frederick County, VIrginia in 1751/52 as indicated by land transactions between Edward Thomas and John Smith.

Edward Thomas purchased the 50-acre part of John Smith’s 420 acre 1734 patent land for 10 pounds on 13 November 1749.  On 13 April 1759, he mortgaged the 50 acres to John Bouts/Phoutz of Lancaster County, Pa for 100 pounds, payable 13 April 1763.  THe abstract says that the land was on a branch of Opechon Creek called Turkey Spring.

After they had moved to the Bush River in South Carolina (Newberry County), Thomas and his wife Sarah sold the 50 acres to Christian Fox of Pennsylvania on 10 June 1766.  See map that I copied from book.  In the abstract it says “Edward Thomas of Bush River South Carolina”

Edward Thomas first lived on a 250 acre tract that had been surveyed by James Wood on 17 Nov 1735 for Jost Hite.  Hite sold the land to William Hiatt, who then sold it to Edward Thomas.  Thomas lived there for some time, obtaining a bond from Hite assuring title to the tract.

Edward later sold the tract to Richard Fowler, who then sold it to Walter Briscoe.  This land is located on Opequon Creek About 3/4 mile west of Edward’s 182 acre Fairfax grant land.  

Edward also received a Fairfax Grant which according to Gray’s Northern Neck Grants K-129 was adj to William Hyatt, Edward Thomas, John Smith, Great Road from Potomack to Frederick Town 13 May 1760.  This would have been the road marked Philadelphia Road in O’Dell’s book.  

There is an interesting note about roads in the area in O’Dell’s book:  ......The second road branching off the “Philadelphia Road from the present-day Middleway, WV area ran south across Edward Thomas’s 182 acre tract and then southwest, crossing his property line on or near Jefferson County Highway 1/11.  It  continued here....this is on pages 496-497 of O’Dell’s book.

14 May 1744 O. S., FOB 1, p. 104

Jacob Hite Gent John Littler John Ross & Thomas Shepard having made their return on the Last

Courts Order for Viewing Marking and Laying off a Road from John Littlers to Thomas

Shepards Mill in these Words We have Viewed & laid off a Road from John Littlers late

Dwelling house by a Course of Marked Trees to the said Littlers new Design Thence to Opecken

Creek Over Abrils ford thence to the late Dwelling place of John Smiths deced thence to Jacob

Hites Thence to Thomas Shepards Mill and thereupon its Ordered that the said road be Cleared

by the Petitioners & that Jacob Hite Gent Thomas Swearingham & Edward Thomas be Overseers

of the same & its further Ordered that they cause ye. sd. Road to be Cleared according to Law --.

9 June 1744 O. S., FOB 1, p. 122

Ordered that the Tithables Two miles on each side the Road in Jacob Hites & Edward Thomas

precinct clear the Road from John Littlers to Thomas Sheppards Mill & work on the said Road --(page 6).

15 September 1744 O. S., FOB 1, p. 199

Owen Thomas is hereby Appointed Overseer of the Road from Jeremiah Smiths to William Hogs

in the Room of Joseph Edwards & its Ordered that he Keep the same in good repair According to

Law --(page 8).

Several years ago I visited the Handley Library in Winchester, Virginia.  During that visit I looked at Cecil O'Dell's book:  Pioneers of Old Frederick County, Virginia.  The below is a map that I copied during that visit with notes that I made at the time:

 On a modern map, this area would have been about:

What makes me think that the area that I have circled is correct?  I have gone by the Mill Creek and Turkey Run as landmarks.  

If you open my Blog post in a new window and go to my July 31, 2012 post, you can compare the map showing the Inwood Quadrant where we believe George McKinney to have lived and the map just above to see that Edward Thomas and George McKinney were most certainly neighbors as the information from Bruce Locken below places George McKennie in the Inwood Quad.   

The following list includes the name of each grantee, the date of the grant, number of acres, the deed book reference, the U.S. Geological Survey quad map containing the grant, and the grant number on Geertsema's map overlays.

McKennie, George. 1756, October 18; 194 acres. Volume H, p. 679 and 707 [duplicates]. Inwood Quad. #502

Here is the information from Harriet Imrey explaining her research and interpretation of the information of the land question of George McKenney:

I looked through the books and online VA sources available to me, and drew the conclusion from grants, deeds, adjacencies, etc., that the 1756 George McKinnie grant pretty much had to be located on Mill Creek west of Opequon (since that was where Richard Merchant, Patrick Dunkin, Murty Handley and Thomas & George Follis all appeared together).  Some of the original grants were not listed at the Library of VA site, but they're all at a different place:  the West Virginia GeoExplorer Project, www.wvgeohistory.org.  (Select Bibliography under Search, use last name of grantee as Author.)  The neat thing about this site is that it will show where everybody was...assuming that one understands GeoLocator technology and the GIS system.....  The Mill Creek site was in Berkeley Co VA/WV from 1772.  The WV GeoExplorer Project says that its initial coverage is Jefferson Co WV, the subdivision of Berkeley to the east of Opequon.  Mill Creek is west, so should be currently in Berkeley rather than Jefferson Co.  Well, whatever.  The overall county map shows some settlement locations that straddle Opequon Creek, so at least some of the mapped properties have a Berkeley Co WV address.

Here's the order of the grants, and the spellings used at the WV site:
1.  Murtay Handley, 300 acres, 12 Jan 1749, GeoLocator: IN509.  Handley didn't pay for his land, so it reverted to Lord Fairfax, who granted it--resurveyed at 343 acres--to Samuel Handley on 11 Aug 1770, GeoLocator IN508.
2.  Patrick Dunken, 121 acres, 28 Apr 1753, GeoLocator: IN218.  Patrick and Catherine Dunken sold it to Joseph Edwards on 30 Apr & 1 May 1759, but there's a complication:  Patrick Dunken had 242 acres surveyed (date not stated), all of which was granted to (Quaker) Thomas Folless [Fallis, Follis] on 1 Sep 1753.  Both plats were adjacent to Richard Merchant on the drains of Opequon.  GeoLocator: IN217.
3.  George McKinnie, 194 acres, adj. Richard Merchant, Patrick Dunkin, Murty Handley, 18 Oct 1756.  GeoLocator: IN502.  (Spell it McKennie for the WV search engine, but it's McKinnie on the page.)
4.  Richard Merchant (Quaker), 187 1/2 acres, adjacent to nobody, 30 Apr 1760, GeoLocator IN501.  This must be a late grant for an earlier survey, because he shows up adjacent to Duncan, McKinnie and Follis at the time of their surveys.

If you can figure out what to do with these GeoLocator references, that should produce a pretty decent plat map of the Mill Creek neighborhood just west of its mouth at Opequon.

Harriet

One more piece of information from Harriet that strengthens the argument that Edward Thomas and George McKenney may have been friends and neighbors in this northern Virginia neighborhood is this list below:

There are 20 entries for Edward Thomas in the Orange County road orders.  I also happened onto one for Isaac Thomas.  I was not searching:

14 May 1744 O. S., FOB 1, p. 104
Jacob Hite Gent John Littler John Ross & Thomas Shepard having made their return on the Last Courts Order for Viewing Marking and Laying off a Road from John Littlers to Thomas Shepards Mill in these Words We have Viewed & laid off a Road from John Littlers late Dwelling house by a Course of Marked Trees to the said Littlers new Design Thence to Opecken Creek Over Abrils ford thence to the late Dwelling place of John Smiths deced thence to Jacob Hites Thence to Thomas Shepards Mill and thereupon its Ordered that the said road be Cleared by the Petitioners & that Jacob Hite Gent Thomas Swearingham & Edward Thomas be Overseers of the same & its further Ordered that they cause ye. sd. Road to be Cleared according to Law --

9 June 1744 O. S., FOB 1, p. 122

Ordered that the Tithables Two miles on each side the Road in Jacob Hites & Edward Thomas precinct clear the Road from John Littlers to Thomas Sheppards Mill & work on the said Road --

3 June 1746 O. S., FOB 2, p. 102

Alexander Ross is hereby Appointed Overseer of the Road from his fence to the Corner of Smith’s fence in the Room of Edward Thomas And it is Ordered that he keep the said Road in good repair According to Law --

6 March 1753, FOB 4, p. 406

Edward Thomas is appointed overseer of the Road from from John Smiths Old place to Jacob Hites in the room of Jacob Brooks and it is ordered that the Tithables three miles on each side the sd Road work on the same under him as their Overseer and that he clear & keep it in Repair according to law

2 April 1755, FOB 6, p. 200

Ordered that Edward Thomas and Morgan Morgan lay off a Road from the new Bridge at Opeckon the most convenient way into the Road leading from Winchester to Henry Enochs’ and that they be overseers thereof and it is further ordered that the tithables Four miles on each side of the said Road clear and keep the same in repair according to Law

3 March 1756, FOB 7, p. 30

Evan Thomas is appointed Overseer of the Road from William Jolliffs to Mary Ballangers in the room of Edward Thomas and it is Ordered that the Tithables formerly appointed keep the same in repair according to Law

4 April 1758, FOB 8, p. 1

Ordered that John Briscoe be Overseer of the Road from Edward Thomas’s to Mr Jacob Hites in the Room of Edward Thomas and it is further Ordered that the Tithables formerly appointed Keep the same in repair according to Law.

4 August 1762, FOB 10, p. 79

It is Ordered that John Briscoe John Abril William Rankins and David Rankin or any three of them being first Sworn do view the Ground and see whether the main Road can be turned to Run upon the Line between Edward Thomas and John Smith and Make Report thereof to Court


[Note: below mentions that Isaac Thomas had lived on this road but no longer lives there]
(Alteration of) Main road to run on the line between Edward Thomas and John Smith, 112  [Note: I interpret this to mean that Edward Thomas and John Smith lived adjacent]

Sir John’s road (road called Sir John Sinclaire’s road), 96, 97, 113, 119, 127, 132 Sections:
2 From Winchester to the plantation where Isaac Thomas did live, 96
2 From the place where the road from Robert Cunningham’s falls into it to the forks
where the road leads to Winchester, 132
2 From the plantation where Isaac Thomas did live to the County line, 96
2 From the Hunting Ridge to Isaac’s Creek at Pritchet’s place, 97
2 Sir John’s road leading from the Timber Ridge to Isaac’s Creek, 113
2 From the forks to James McGill’s, 119
2 Sir John’s road from the end of the Sleepy Creek Mountain where the Warm Spring
road crosses it to James Daugherty’s, 127 Probable sections:
2 Road from Isaac’s Creek to the County line, 148

2 Road from (the top of) the Hunting Ridge to the County line, 151, 158 

In Aug 2013  am going through some piles and files and found the following:  

According to Frederick County, Virginia Wills and Inventories (abstract) p.28:

Edward Thomas witnessed the will of William Hiatt along with H.A. Rankin and Jeremiah Ham.
Will 26 Feb 1763.

Quaker ancestors

My brother was asking me yesterday about our mutual Quaker ancestors.  I will make a brief overview of the Quaker families that I have found so far on the side of my Hawkins Grandmother:  Mary Ann McGregor Hawkins.  Then I will add some information about Quakers found in the ancestry of my mother.  However, before any of that I will add a few quotes and links to information about the Quaker religion in the history of our country in case the reader wants a bit of background information.  It makes no sense for me to spend time recounting the history of the Quaker religion when there is already an abundance of information on the internet that can be found with a search engine.

This illustration is found at a very helpful site:  http://barbsnow.net/Quaker.html

For a quick history, wikipedia is always easy:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers

The Religious Society of Friends has an official website: http://www.quaker.org

The study of one's Quaker ancestors will include at some point the wonderful and amazing Encyclopedia by Hinshaw.  Mr. Hinshaw began his work in NC where his Hinshaw ancestors had lived.  The Quaker Monthly Meetings kept very careful records of everything that happened in the area among the members of the Quaker group including births, marriages, deaths, and sometimes what the group believed to be wrong doings by members of the Monthly Meeting.  Mr.  Hinshaw's six volumes are a transcription of these records.  The actual records are held in various Quaker repositories such as Guilford College Library for those that apply to NC.

If you have access to Ancestry, you can find Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy at
http://search.ancestry.com/search/CardCatalog.aspx#ccat=hc%3D25%26dbSort%3D1%26title%3DEncyclopedia%20of%20Quaker%26keyword%3D%26filter%3D0*37%26

Vol I is NC, Vol II New Jersey and Pa, Vol III is NY, Vol. IV is Ohio, Vol V is also Ohio, Vol VI is Virginia and there is a Vol I supplement available at the site as well.

My brothers and I share two separate Quaker groups in our heritage.  Interestingly enough, while one is on our mother's side and the other on our father's side, some of them lived only a few miles away from each other in the late 1700's but then these people's descendents moved away from each other and did not join again until 1946.  The Worth family which is on our mother's side attended the above Meetinghouse in the mid to late 1700's.  However I will save this family until the end of the article.

All of the Quakers on my father's side arrived first in Pennsylvania.  These families include Moore, Elliott, Jenkins, Cureton.  Some of these names I have not yet proved to have been Quaker....and I am sure as time goes on I will find more surnames to add to the list.  These families for the most part remained in Pennsylvania until the 1760's when expensive land in PA and cheap land in the Carolinas caused a migration down the Great Wagon Road.

The Moore family first stopped in Orange County, NC.  To see more about this family in Orange County, view my post dated Tuesday April 24, 2012.  Some of the Moore family members moved on to Newberry County, SC just before the Revolutionary War while others moved to Wrightsboro, GA near Augusta, GA in the same time period.  For more information about both of these groups, view posts dated Tuesday April 24, 2012 and Tuesday, May 1, 2012 as well as Thursday, May 3, 2012  or use the search engine in the top left hand corner to search for the name that you are interested in or the place that is of interest to you.

The Elliott family moved directly to Rowan County, NC from Pennsylvania.  They lived in the part of Rowan that is now Randolph County, NC. For more about this family look at my post dated Saturday Aug 25, 2012.

All of these families lived in the respective areas that I have named during the Revolution.  Some fought on the side of the patriots, some on the side of the Loyalists, while many of them tried to stay entirely out of the war because of their pacifist beliefs.  However, all of my brother and my ancestors moved out of the south in the first decade of the 1800's and into the non-slave states of Ohio and Indiana.  Their settlement there will be the subject of another post.

On our mother's side, we descend from Nantucket Quaker families.  Nantucket is a very small island off the coast of Massachusetts.

As the Colonist's desire for independence heated up in the early 1700's, the people who lived on Nantucket became very aware of the dangers to their very small island if indeed a war was fought.  Many of the inhabitants were uneasy about how vulnerable to attack Nantucket's position made them.  The Quakers being pacifists were even more concerned with that issue.    Quakers were dismissed for marrying outside of the Quaker religion and there was some fear that more intermarrying on the island would lead to inbreeding.  All of these factors led to a  large scale migration of the Quaker families on Nantucket to Guilford County, NC where they were aware that there was already a substantial Quaker population in place.

Our ancestor, Francis Worth, brought his family from Nantucket to Guilford County, NC in 1772 as evidenced by records found in the Folger Collection on Nantucket Island:

“Removed 28th, 11 Month, 1771 to New Garden, NC.  

And from records associated with New Garden MM in Guilford County, NC:

1771, 7, 27  Daniel Worth rocf Nantucket MM, Mass., dated 1771,4,25

1772, 7,25  Francis Worth rocf Nantucket MM, Mass., dated 1772,5,25

1774, 1, 29  Jonah Worth rocf Nantucket MM, New England, dated 1773,10,7

1776,8,31 Jonah gct Nantuckett MM, New England

[rocf means Received on certificate from]   It is my best guess that because Nantucket is a sea-going community, the family would have sailed from Nantucket to the Quaker area around Perquimans NC.  There was a large Quaker community there and I would guess that they would have helped these families make the overland trip to Guilford County from there.  

I descend from Francis Worth's daughter, Phebe.  There is a huge Quaker heritage before Phebe.  However, Phebe met and married in Guilford County a young man named Silas P. Wooten who was not Quaker as evidenced by the fact that he states that he fought at Guilford Court House during the Revolution when he applies for a Revolutionary War Pension many years later while living in Kentucky.

1775  Phebe Worth is dis from New Garden MM in Guilford County, NC.  No reason is given for the dis.  This is according to Hinshaw Vol I

I do not know yet why Phebe was dis.  It is not likely that it was from marrying out of unity because   Phebe and Silas's oldest children were not born until the mid 1800's and Phebe would have been only about 15 years old in 1775.  Phebe  and children born in NC moved to Kentucky with Silas by 1804 and that was the end of the Quaker connection for this family.  I will talk about the Quakers in Nantucket in another post.

1804 Silas received a land grant of 400 acres at Georges Creek on Levisa Fork of

Big Sandy River Certificate #115-- date of the Survey was Nov 6, 1804. 

(Kentucky) {another source says: April, 1, 1781 in Tazewell Co. Va.  Pension #S.40730}

George McKinsey's wife was Sarah Moore not Sarah Thomas as Ruby Mundell Wallace assumed

It appears that George McKinsey married Sarah Moore about 1780 using the first known child as a method of computing the date of marriage.  George and Sarah's oldest son was David and he was born circa 1781 according to the census of 1850.  He reports his age as 69 in 1850.

Sarah died in Newberry County after 24 September 1807.  On this date Sarah appeared in Newberry County, SC to sign a deed of sale, and to relinquish her dower rights to this land.  We do know that she had died prior to the departure of the family to Ohio and was buried in SC.  I am still unclear on where Sarah and George met and married even though Harriet Imrey has helped me with this.  Perhaps as I write more on this post I will have a better idea.  I might look to see just when George bought land in SC to see if it was before or after 1780.  I will be editing this post forever, so check back to see if I have updated information.  

Sarah was the niece of Nehemiah and Abigail  Thomas, this fact was brought out by the will of Nehemiah Thomas.  You may look at a transcription of this will in my post on this blog made Thursday, May 3, 2012.

 Nehemiah made his will 15 May, 1796 and died the same year, leaving bequests to several nephews, including a bequest to nephew, Nehemiah McKinsey, son of George and Sarah McKinsey. I believe that it is this will that caused Ruby Mundell Barry to assume that Sarah had been a Thomas before her marriage to George McKinsey.  She assumed that it was Nehemiah who was Sarah's uncle by blood rather than his wife, Abigail Moore Thomas, who was her aunt by blood.  

Nehemiah and Abigail were married in Orange County, NC sometime before 1764 as she was dismissed from Cane Creek MM at that time for marrying out of unity.  If you don't do a lot of Quaker research that means that she married someone not of the Quaker faith or in some way contrary to  Quaker discipline.  

In Vol I, Cane Creek MM North Carolina

Thomas

1764, 8, 4.  Abigail (form Moor) dis mou.

1766, 8, 2.  Abigail (form Moore) dis mou.

1770,6,2 Abigail con her mou

1770, 7,7 Abigail gct Fredericksburg MM, SC

( I am guessing that the con her mou happened because she and Nehemiah were planning to move)

Hinshaw says that no records of Fredericksburg MM are known to be in existence. Fredericksburg MM was established in 1755 or earlier.  Bush River MM was established in 1770.  Thus Fredericksburg MM may have been the MM that was known to Abigail and her friends at Cane Creek.

In Vol V of Hinshaw, Miami (OHIO) Monthly Meeting page 131:

Thomas

1809,1,14 Abigail rocf Bush River MM, S.C. dtd 1807,8,29, endorsed by West Branch MM, 10,12,17

1821,6,3 Abigail d. ae 81

I am convinced that Abigail was the daughter of Richard and Sarah Jenkins Moore who were living in Orange County, NC before the Revolution.  Look for more information on this couple in my post dated Tuesday, 24 April 2012.  Richard Moore names daughter Abigail Thomas in his will  

In a copy made from a book about Wrightsboro by Dorothy M. Jones there is an abstract of the will of Richard Moore:
s/9/20/1784--no date of pro.
Heirs, sons James and John, Mordecai, Richard, Thomas, and Jonas
Daus:  Mary Mooney, Prudence Ryan, Abigail Thomas, and Sarah Perkins
Warren County. Ga.

My good buddy Harriet Imrey has a knack for making concise clear statements that sum up what we know and I will quote her here in order to save myself some time in explaining more about the Moore family in NC:

The Moore family stayed in Berks Co PA at Exeter MM until 1755.  The certificates from Exeter were received by Cane Creek MM in Orange Co NC on 6-4, 1757, for Richard Moore, his wife Sarah (Jenkins), their son John and their daughter Prudence.  A receipt of certificate for Mordecai and Abigail Moore is not in the extant records for Cane Creek, but they had to have had one, since Cane Creek disowned both.  Abigail's dis mou was recorded on 8-4, 1764 and also on 8-2, 1766.  One of those is probably a transcription error. .. Mordecai Moore was disowned on 5-6, 1758, and Prudence Moore on 7-7, 1759.  On 11-7, 1767, Richard and wife (Sarah) and son James were granted a certificate to Fredericksburg MM, SC.  Bush River wasn't yet an MM, and Wrightsborough GA did not yet exist as a settlement, much less an MM.  The Wrightsborough plans were already in process, so the older Moores probably went straight there--they didn't stay long enough in SC to get land there (although son Mordecai did).  Fredericksburg MM was the nearest one for either the Bush River or the Wrightsborough communities as of 1767.  Son John Moore stayed in NC until 4-5, 1777, when he was granted a certificate to Wrightsborough MM (received there on 1-3, 1778).

Mordecai Moore married Mary Lackey/Leakey and Prudence Moore married a man with last name Ryan as she is named as Prudence Ryan in the will of Richard Moore.

The "icing on the cake" that caused me to adopt this Moore family was when I made a trip to Warren County, Ga.  At that time I wrote in my data base:

On a trip to Augusta, GA, I visited Warrenton, Ga and found an entry in the Warren County Court of Ordinary returns on estates 1798-1811.  on page 31 there is a list of people who were given cash in the settlement of the estate of Mordecai Moore. After cash to the administrator and cash to the widow, Mary Moore, the next entry is Geo. McKinney....it seems that the rest of the list is likely children or husbands of daughters ---although I can not be certain at this point.  I believe that George has traveled to Georgia on behalf of his wife, Sarah, to obtain her part of the inheritance.  The fact that he is given the money on her behalf indicates to me that the rest of the children recognize him as the husband of their sister, Sarah.  Certainly this seems to be a likely sign that Sarah McKinsey was Sarah Moore---daughter of Mordecai.  

If you click on the image it is shown by itself in larger format and easier to read.

Here are other facts that "shore up" my argument that Sarah was a Moore rather than a Thomas....Of course, the fact that I spent almost ten years trying to fit her into the Thomas family with no luck adds to my argument.  But George and Sarah name their second child Mordecai McKinsey.  I do not think that it is a coincidence that their second son carries the name of Sarah's father Mordecai.  The first daughter and third child is named Abigail (almost certainly after Sarah's aunt who is probably a great help in the household of the young McKinsey family).  The next child is a girl and is named Mary (almost certainly after Sarah's mother, Mary Lackey/Leaky Moore).  The next child is a boy and is named after Abigail's husband Nehemiah Thomas.  

In addition, in the 1880 census, the only child of Sarah and George McKinsey who is still living is Naomi.  Naomi reports that her father was born in Virginia and her mother in Georgia.  I think that the information about Georgia is probably in error.  That Sarah was more likely born in NC when the family was living in Orange County.  However, Naomi was likely to have known that her mother's family lived in Wrightsboro, Ga during Naomi's lifetime and would have assumed that her mother was born and raised there.  

After Sarah's death, George McKinsey moved all of his family to Ohio---taking Abigail with him as Nehemiah was also dead by then.  According to Ruby Mundell Barry, George sold Abigail a part of his farm and she lived there the rest of her life and left all that she had to George's children at her death.  After George had his family and Abigail settled in Ohio, he returned to Newberry County, SC to sell land to Jesse Palmer 21 Aug 1809.  He then traveled to Georgia to court Mary Moore Lacy.  Mary was a cousin to Sarah and was the widow of William Lacy.  George married Mary 21 Feb 1810 and moved her and all of her family to Ohio.  George was certainly not a lazy man.  

 George McKinzie

Spouse:

Mary Lacy

Marriage Date:

21 Feb 1810

County:

Columbia

State:

Georgia

Found on Ancestry July 2008

This county makes sense as in 1810 McDuffy was not yet formed from Warren and Columbia.

An interesting fact was brought up at the Newberry County gathering:  Augusta, Ga was important to early Newberry because it was easier to go to Augusta on the Great Wagon Road than to go to Charleston.  

It is quite plain to see that George had kept in close touch with the Moore family in Wrightsboro.  

Harriet Imrey just reminded me of one more great piece of evidence!  When Mary Moore Lacy McKinsey's father died in 1811, John Moore actually named George McKenzie as a son-in-law and stated that he lived in Ohio. No doubt that it is OUR George McKinsey who is in so thick with the Moore family.   John Moore died in Columbia County, Georgia.  Here is the abstract of John Moore's will:

MOORE, John s/July 1 1811.  p/July 9 1811.  Heirs: Beloved wife, Sarah.  Sons, James Moore, Hiram Moore.  Brother Richard Moore.  Sons in law Isaac Dennis, George McKenzie, in Ohio.  Enoch Jackson and John Perryman.  Grandson, John Moore, Jr., Exrs. Joseph Miller and Owen Baldwin.  Witness:  T. Tillery, William Wiley, Silas Mote.

from:  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gacolum2/earlywillsMandN.htm

  

Sarah Moore McKinsey--wife of George McKinsey

Today's entry is about George McKinsey and his wife, Sarah Moore.  It is also about the serendipity of the internet.  And the fortunate discoveries that networking can provide.

In 1998 my husband and I were preparing for a trip to Scotland with three other couples.  The men were a foursome who would play golf on as many of the famous golf courses of Scotland as they could arrange in the time period that we would be traveling.  I was trying to do as much research as possible to get ready to sightsee while the men played golf. 

The obvious choices for my research were my father's mother's people.  My grandmother's maiden name was McGregor and her mother's maiden name was McKinsey.  I knew the romantic story that was told in the family that Robert McGregor was a ship's captain who was transporting Irish passengers in the mid 1800's when he fell in love with Mary Ann Hare/O'Haire.  He married her and their first son was born in New York.  Robert then traveled to California and sent for his wife and son to join him. I descend from a later child, James McGregor, who was born while the family lived in Cherokee, CA.  

On the McKinsey side I knew very little.  But with help via internet from Tim Purdy of Susanville, CA,  I was able to discover that my grandmother's gr-grandfather's name was Andrew Jackson McKinsey and that he had moved to CA during the gold rush.  But I will save that story for another entry.

That year I was "hanging out" at my local LDS FHL and I somehow stumbled onto a fiche that I ordered that was a filming of a book by Ruby Mundell Barry:

The McKinsey's, McKensey, McKensie, McKinsey family : descendants of George K. McKinsey and his wife Sarah (Thomas) McKinsey of Newberry County, South Carolina, and Warren County, Ohio, and the migrations of their children into Indiana (fiche #6049761)

I printed out much of the book and it became my Bible on the McKinsey family for the next ten years.  My grandmother would have been amazed to find out that on her mother's side her family had been on our continent since before the Revolutionary War.  It is hard to believe that only 15 years ago I did not know these people.  I have had so much fun looking at the descendants of George and Sarah!

A new highlight in my McKinsey research was just a few years ago when Harriet Imrey who is my good friend via internet pointed out that George had been a loyalist in the Revolutionary War.  That was part of what started me on my quest to understand the Revolutionary War in the south that has been my passion ever since.  And that is a subject for another blog as well.

But back to my story.  I spent the next ten years after discovering George and Sarah McKinsey in SC looking at the Thomas family trying to figure out how Sarah was related and who of the Thomas family that were in NC and SC might have been her father.  I just couldn't seem to make her fit in.  Now, I don't want you to think that I am so dumb that it took me an entire ten years to make a breakthrough on a line.  I need to explain that I do many lines all at the same time. I am just as interested in the female lines as I am in the male lines.  Thus when I take a family back one generation, I have two lines to research:  that of the mother and that of the father of the ancestor at which  I am looking.   I am always researching ALL of my lines.  So I just chip away.

Why did Ruby Mundell Barry think that Sarah McKinsey's maiden name was Thomas?  Because of a will that she found that had been written by Nehemiah Thomas.  The transcription below of this will can be found:  

http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/Thumbnails.aspx?recordId=301869

From the evidence in the will, Ms. Barry had assumed that Sarah was the niece of Nehemiah Thomas.  However, I am now totally convinced that Sarah was the niece of Abigail Moore Thomas instead of Abigail's husband, Nehemiah.  That is that Sarah was a Moore NOT a Thomas as Ruby Mundell Barry had assumed.  I will save my arguments as to why I have adopted this Moore family as my own for another post dated Sept 1, 2012.

George McKinsey's second wife

Joseph Moore sent me a scan from a book compiled by Majorie Dickey Parsons called:  Lines and Lifestyles Dickey, Moore, Parsons and some Related Families.  My understanding of the people who are named on this page is so new and so exciting that I found myself wanting to record how it happened.  According to the notation on the front cover, Ms. Parsons is no longer alive.  Below is page 222 of Ms. Parsons' book.

Only a few years ago, I would have had no clue that Daughter Mary m. George McKinzie "in Ohio" who is listed in the above transcription of the will of John Moore was the second wife of my 5-gr-grandfather.  George was not the simple farmer that I would have believed him to be.  After the death of his first wife, Sarah Moore, George moved his entire family to Warren County, Ohio with the mass exodus of the Quaker families out of the south and into the non-slave northern states of Ohio and Indiana.  Then after getting his family settled in Ohio, he traveled back down to Newberry County, SC to finish some business and then down to Wrightsboro, Ga to marry a cousin to his first wife:  Mary Moore Lacy.  Next he proceeded to move all of her family up to Ohio.  It must have been a huge undertaking!