Adam Clapp
The ancestor of the Clapp families who settled in Graves County, Kentucky was Adam, grandson of immigrants Jorge Valentine Clapp and Anna Barbara Steiss Clapp. Adam's parents were John Philip and Barbary Clapp. Various sources speculate that Barbara (Barbary) was his cousin, daughter of John Ludwig Clapp; however, John Ludwig's will lists his daughter Barbara's husband as Daniel May so Barbary's surname is unknown.
Adam was born on 10 Dec 1754 in Orange County, North Carolina. In an affadavit dated 13 Nov 1832 given in Union County, Illinois, he stated that he first volunteered for service during the Revolution under Capt. Henry Whitesell in the fall of 1776 or 1777. During his first tour of duty they marched to the Cherokee Nation where, along with South Carolina troops, they were engaged in a battle.
He recalls serving several more tours of duty under Capt. Whitesell and other commanders primarily in North Carolina pursuing Tories. They returned to Guilford Courthouse the day after the battle took place and were placed under the command of Gen. Nathaniel Green. They then pursued the British army which was retiring toward New Bern until they were dismissed to return home.
Sometime around 1780, Adam married Emma Ruth Marley daughter of Adam and Rosanna Marley. In his pension statement he says that he moved to Tennessee about five years after the Revolution. By around 1785, he begins to be found there in the records of Sumner and Robertson counties. At sometime during the 1790's Emma died and Adam married Ruth Lawrence.
Adam Clapp was still living in Robertson County, Tennessee in August of 1804 when he is recorded as serving on a jury there, but by 1807 he and his family had moved to Union County, Illinois. Legend has it that they moved traveling down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Illinois along with the Lawrence and Worthington families.
Many of Adam's children remained in Illinois, some migrated to Texas where they were found during the Republic of Texas but the oldest son of Adam and Emma Ruth, John Isaac Clapp, settled in Graves County, Kentucky.
Adam's Revolutionary War pension statement given in 1832 provides much information about his life and his military service also recording his death on August 15th, 1841.