Will Dated Jan 11, 1702
Signer of Cumberland Pact, Nashborough, TN, May, 1780.
Granted 640 acres in Williamson Co., TN, by Pre-Emption Grant.
Thomas S. McGaugh, in Oct. 1897, wrote the following information in regard to his grand father,Wllliam McGaugh:
"My grand father was born in Ireland of Scotch descent and came to Virginia in the middle of the last centurry where during the Revolutionary War he volunteered and served as a private until the war ended. He married Ruth Hill. They had five sons and three daughters all of whom lived to be over 80 except for one daughter. . After the revolutionary war, he moved to Williamson Co., TN. "
The McGaugh name can be found in both Scotland and Ireland. The U.S. Census has been taken every ten years beginning in 1800. The first census was taken in 1789.
The early census rceords of Virginia did not survive. However, tax and tithe rolls were compiled for this period. No McGaughs were found. The Hill family, surname of William's wife, is found in Augusta County and Frederick County where Wllliam was in the Colonial Militia.
The first McGaughs on census records is in 1820 when the two of William's sons were in Lincoln County, Tennesse. By 1850-1870, there were many McGaughs and several families who were from Ireland. Some were in Ray, County Missouri and also in Tennesssee.
William McGaugh is listed In Colonel Washington's Company, Colonial Militia on August 28, 1757. He is listed as being from Ireland, 5' 7", age 30, a planter from Frederick. Frederick County, Virginia was formed in in 1738 from Augusta and Orange Counties and is at the north end of the Shenandoah Valley. Augusta Counnty where William lived when his children were born is south of Frederick in the Shenandoah.
William and his family moved to Tennessee prior to 1June 1780.
In 1776, North Carolina annexed what is now the State of Tennessee and designated it Washington County. In 1782, North Carolina declared a large portion of middle
Tennessee a Military Reservation. The purpose was to set aside the land for grants in payment of services to members of the North Carolina Continental Line.There were settlers already present in 1782 and they were concerned that veterens who had served for North Carolina would push them off their land. North Carolina sent surveyors into this area granting to those settlers 640 acres of land as their "preemption right." This was available only to those settlers on the land before 1 June 1780.
Thomas Edmiston and James Sayers, surveyors, entered the following as item # 360 on March 10, 1783:
William McGuoch obtained a preemption of 640 acres of land lying on Arrington' Creek east side of the Harpeth River about four miles from the mouth of a creek with a improvement at the head of the spring marked W M running as the law directs for quantity including improvement and spring.
The William McGaugh and the William McGouch in the preemption are the same person which can be attested by land transactions at a later date involving the same land as being the preemption right of William McGaugh. . Being from Ireland, when asked his name by the surveyors, they wrote what they heard, the "gh" sounded like "ch" or "ck".
Indenture 18 May 1802 William McGaugh and Samuel McKnight, $100 paid. tr on Arrington's creek the waters of the Big Harpeth, being part of Wm.McGaugh Senior preemption, 20 acres. Wit. Samuel Buchanan, Robert McGaugh.
"Indenture 9 April 1804 (7 June 1804) David Shannon and Robert McKnight, $125 paid, tr on waters of Arriington's Creek beg. at SW cor of William McGaugh guard right, being 50 acres. Wit: James Borland, John McKnight."
The preemption rights came from his being on the land prior to 1 June 1780. The guard rights accruing to William McGaugh came from his service for the State of North Carolina.
When the surveyors were sent into Tennessee to layout the Military District for the State of North Carolina, they required armed escort in performance of their tasks. William McGaugh served as a "Commissioner's Guard".
Preemption was granted the settlers, but in addition, North Carolina gave grants to four other classes of persons:
1. Surveyors who laid off the military reservation boundries.
2 Men who carried the chains for the surveyors.
3. Soldiers who gurarded the surveyors against Iindian attack.
4. Commissioers who dealt with the pre emptions.North Carolina granted the following:
N.C Grant to Wm McGuaioch 320 acres one of the guards to the commissioners for laying of the lands allotted to the officers and soldiers of the Continental line 320 on both sides of Arrington's Creek about 3 and 1/2 miles above the mouth. Dated October 8, 1787 Thomas Edmiston and James Sayers were the surveyors..the Harpeth River flows 118 miles through Williamson, Cheatham, and Davidson Counties before flowing into the Cumberland River near Ashland, TN. Arrington's Creek flows into it.
William was killed in an Indian raid at Hickman Station in the summer of 1789. One daughter perished with him. Hickman Station was one of several "Stattions" which were small outposts statigically placed to guard settlers in case of Indiam attack.
In the book, "History of Middle Tennessee, or Life and Times of Gen. James Robertson" by A.W. Putman, Esq.. 1859, page 315, Chapter XIX, 1789, is noted:
'In the summer of this year, Miss McGaugh was killed, near Hickman's Station, but a short distance from Nashville.".
Although William McGaugh is not listed in the quotation, it likely he died in the summer of 1789. The name of Mattie is given to the daughter killed by Indians in an article in the Williamson County Historical Quarterly. In this same article, it states William was killed near Hickman Station, west of Nashville..
In the Davidson County Court Minutes in October 1789, Susannah McGaugh was granted letters of Administration on the Estate of William MCGaugh..
His estate was appraised by Amos Heaton and Issac Drake:
Amos Heaton and Isaac Drake of the Davidson County, NC, being sworn according to law to appraise the estate of William McGaugh, deceased, do appraise as follows: 4 cows, 3 calves, and 2 two year old heifers, one black mare , one sorrell horse,and one black mare, and one black yearling colt, 2 beds and furniture, one bible,one book known by Issac Ambrose Works, one dutch oven, 6 pewter plates, 12 spoons, one brass kettle, four pails, and one cooler and chest, one bar shear plow, three axes, and grubbing hoes, 2 cheeves, one lot of triggers, four hoes and an iron wedge, one hatchet, one smoothing iron, one gun, one churn, one tub, one half bushel and three spinning wheels. The whole estate amounting to 105 pound sterling and 131 shillings.
According to the family sketch by Thomas S. McGaugh, Ruth Hill was William McGaugh's wife whom he married in "Old Virginia." Since one of his sons had reached his majority, it is ulikely that Susannah was a sister and was probably William's wife.. Thomas S. McGaugh's Sketch appears to be the source of Ruth Hill being the wife of William.
There is nothing to indicate that William had more than one wife. " Ruth" may been the given name preferred by his wife, Susanah.. Mathew McGaugh son of William named his first daughter Susannah. While names of the male children are used in every generation, the name Ruth is not used..
Division of William McGaugh's land occured in May or June of 1799. This is found in the Davidson County Tennessee Wills and Inventories, Volume One, 1783-1816. compiled by Helen and Timothy R. Marsh, page 79:
Plats of lands belonging to Thomas McGaugh, lot of 228 acres, John McGaugh lot of 201 acres, William McGaugh lot of 200 acres, Robert McGaugh lot of 200 acres, Mathew McGaugh lot of 200 acres, and Robert Edmondson's land is represented by the above figure but not number, being due by covenant from William McGaugh deceased"
According to the Thomas S. McGaugh Sketch, there were three daughters, two of whom lived to be over 80 years old. Names of his grand father's children were not given. However, the sons divided the land in 1799. The deceased daughter is known to be Mattie. The daughters who lived are most likely to be those listed as brides in Davidson County, Aggie who married George Wrenn in 3 January 1814 and Sarah who married John Weakley 10 March 1797.
The Susannah who was in charge of William's estate married Robert Roseberry and no other record could be found.
Although Ruth Hill has been accepted as the name of William McGaugh's wife, Ruth may have the name his wife used. It is not uncommon for persons to use names other than the their legal name or the one they were born with.
Susannah, who handled the estate of William McGaugh, married Robert Roseberry in 1795. On May 3, 1800, a land record in Davidson County, Tennessee, shows both Robert Roseberry and his wife Susannah. After that no record could be found of them.