Note: Our website is divided into two sections: the Database where abstracts and transcriptions
of original records are posted. Some of these were previously published in the McClung Family
Association Journal. These are referenced by volume and page. Those since our last mailing
of volume 31 are listed as "New".
The other part of the website is for family listings. We have started with the McClung
Genealogy (1904) by Rev. William McClung and have attempted to correct errors and omisions.
In some cases whole lineages have been added. We are adding the family album pages. If you
have pictures to send, everyone would like to see them.
We found Francis McClung's widow living with Micajah Harris in Blount County in 1860. Francis and Rhoda
McClung and Micajah and Mary McClendon Harris had all lived previously in St. Clair County, AL.
Have had several comments about Micajah at the RootsWeb Blount County message board. Micajah was born ca
1824 in SC. His father was Craven Buckley Harris b. 1795 in SC w/spouse Patsey. Further lineage is at
that board. Rhoda Magby was also born in South Carolina but we do not yet know what her relationship was
to Micajah, if any. Then Paulette Gilchrist wrote: There was a Rachel Magby who married James McClendon
in Madison County, Alabama in 1815. I'll bet there is a connection with your Rhoda. If Rhoda was a sister
to Rachel, Mary might be the sister-in-law.
We have abstracted the deeds from the first three deed books of Morgan Co. for
the McClung references. It was interesting that Col. Charles from Knoxville was there in January 1819
transferring property rights to a slave and her child. This was the time that Alexander Montgomery McClung
was administering the estate of the deceased William McClung, Constable.
We heard from the Madison County Records Center that they have a list of the heirs of William McClung so
we have sent for them. (10 Sep 04).
We have updated the 1850 census of Alabama for Madison County. We found this
on the RootsWeb USGenWeb Project pages for this county. They had the index to give us the page numbers,
then the transcription was at another link.
In response to a posting on Abigail McClung who md David Counts in Madison Co., AL 1818.
I have been curious about this marriage, also. My 2nd great grandfather, David Counts, was born in the early
1800s in South Carolina. I've wondered if this could have been a first marriage for him. He married
Harriet Monk in Georgia after 1840. David was about 20 years older than Harriet, so I presume he might
have been a widower when he married her. They were in Macon, GA in the1850 census. Evidently David died
before 1860, because Harriet and the children were listed in the 1860 Coffee County AL census that year.
Some of our family think that David was a son of Daniel Koontz(Koonce). Daniel moved from N. Carolina and
was in Tennessee for several years, before moving on to Rusk County, TX.
I think I've posted a query about this Abigail/David marriage previously. I'm glad to know that someone
else is interested in determining who they were.
John A. McClung died there in 1836. I do not know if the case was intestate or if there was a will. Does
anyone know if there is a listing of the probate files where we could learn this?
The McClung Family Association has published on our website all the lines from the southern states. We
are trying to wrap up this family in Alabama so we can send the files to Salt Lake to be microfilmed.
Then they can be shared via interlibrary loan all across the country. Just waiting on this one family
listing to send in this large record. We know that John A. McClung was the father of Hugh and David but
there were probably more children than this.
I went by the court house today and found about 20 listings for the estate of John McClung. The middle
initial looked to be an "H"; not an A. The records are in the loose records file so I could not access
them as they are in the process of being preserved. However, don't give up on me yet.
I also found about 10 listings or so for Hugh McClung. I think we have a jack pot on that one but as with
John his information is in the loose record files.
All this to say, I am going to need more time to find the files and copy. However, I believe that due to
the fragile nature of these files I might need to photograph them with my digital camera. I'll figure out
the best way.
My sweet husband is having surgery tomorrow to repair two tendons in his ankle. He is going to be out of
commission for a bit so I won't have much of a chance to go back for a while.
Harry McClung has posted some more pictures of McClung gravestones at his:
Homepage. These are beautiful pictures and
we have had several positive comments to thank Harry for his good work.
George Shawver has updated file 168 for the Shawver descendants of Mary McClung
(G3020). While doing this update it was discovered that the last 33 individuals in this file were
misnumbered. This has been corrected as well as the indexes.
Donna Witt has contributed her family pictures to file 178 with
Robert Orange family(G3827) with Lillie and
Lester & Irene Witt with Jim Hobbs,
Lillie McClung, Rose Morrison, Oneta and Lawrence Burns. Also a picture of the
Dorsey family with Eula, Herman, Ann and Timmy Dorsey.
These pictures were contributed by Ruth Burns Leach, daughter of Oneta McClung Burns (granddaughter of
Robert Orange and Lillie Dure McClung) and Donna scanned them in and sent them to us.
I have been doing a little research on 4th g-grandfather Thomas McClung [1-3 G0002]. McClung genealogy
states that he died at the Battle Of Point Pleasant [1774]. I have found some things that may prove
otherwise. They are:
1. 1775-Augusta Co. Claims Records [ For Battle Of Point Pleasant] Thomas McClung for the value of
one Heifer.
2. Could not find in list of killed at Point Pleasant [this does not prove anything since the list is
probably incomplete]
6. 6 January, 1783 Greenbrier Land Book--the last entry to include the place where Thomas McClung now
lives, being a survey made for Charles Lewis in the year 1774.
This seems to indicate that he was not killed in above battle. I could not find his name in any
surviving muster role--but these are incomplete.
I could not find another Thomas listed in Greenbrier during this time period. You may want to include
this under Thomas McClung (Page number was 139.)
A bit of West Virginia history sent in by Bud Pomeroy:
The Herald of Hope chapel car came into WVA with Rev. William E. Newton and his wife. They lived in the
chapel car. Many old churches had their names changed by Rev. Newton. Countless new churches were built
through his teachings. Charmco, Orient Hill, Leslie, Quinwood Baptist Churches were built on his
preachings.
My dad's sister Lucille Pomeroy Fox lives in Quinwood and still had two of the leather covered benches
from the chapel car. She also has the lantern that had hung from its entrance. The bible that Rev.
Newton gave my great grandfather is HUGE. It is dated Apr 1923 when he first arrived in Quinwood.
The "Herald Of Hope" was brought into Quinwood by the G & E railroad. It was placed on a side spur
between Quinwood and Marfrance. After the Quinwood First Baptist Church was completed in 1925, Rev.
Newton had passed away. His wife stayed in the chapel car for about two years and she returned to her
home state due to failing health. The chapel car was then moved further up the tracks to Marfrance.
The G & E railroad placed it on another side spur. They removed the inside seats and used the car for
storage. Someone finally set fire to the inside of the car and the G & E railroad moved the car to
Rainelle Lumber Yard and then points unknown.
Frank Lee McClung is a descendant of the James Jr. line. He is descended through William and then James B.
who married Mary McChesney. He will be contributing on this line to help bring it up to date.
When Rev. Wm. McClung worked on his book over a hundred years ago, he was not aware of the early McClung
family that moved into New Jersey. Just across the river into Delaware was a William McClung who married
Rebecca Linn. He put this William into the family tree as a son of William (1802-1784) in his first family.
We do not know what documentation supports this idea. William who died 1784 did not mention a son by the
name of William in his will. He seems to have only mentioned those children and grandchildren who lived
near him.
The next son after William in William Sr's family is John who was born in 1731 and died in 1817. This is the
one who married Elizabeth Alexander. Considering the William who died in 1818 in Alabama could have been
born a lot earlier than we have estimated and perhaps fits into this family. A number of McClung families
from William Sr.'s family moved to Tennessee and Alabama. In William Sr's's first family we have the grandson,
William (through James) who married Euphemia Cunningham and lived in Blount County, Tennessee. Two of
their sons went to Alabama (James to Limestone county and Rev. William who died in AL in 1827). Then
William Sr's son Matthew (who md Martha Cunningham) had a son named Hugh (1783-1830), a son Matthew who
named a son Hugh (died 1814 in Alabama) and a son, Col. Charles, who lived in Knoxville. It was so
important to Col. Charles that he have a son named Hugh, that when his little boy died, he named a subsequent
son, Hugh Lawson. Col. Charles also had a son, James White McClung who became a prominent attorney in
Madison County, Alabama.
I finally began working through the documents I copied in Salem County NJ, still wondering who Nancy's
parents were.
I found applications to run a tavern for William and Lydia McClong (spelling on docs). Mary Coates
Martin's books The House of John Johnson and 350 Years of American Ancestry list James and Agnes as
Nancy's parents, and William as her brother. Agnes would have been 54 at the time and James 67, so they
were probably her grandparents.
George Alderson Shawver writes:
Mary McClung (3020) in file 168, died sometime before 1837. Boston Shawver then married Mary (Polly)
Nelson March 23,1837.in Fayette Co.Va. They had 3 children before Boston died in Missouri Dec.1845.
My line comes thru Grandison.
Bud Pomeroy responds to the question about McClung, WV: Rev. William E. Newton is responsible for
changing the name of McClung, WV to Orient Hill WV in 1920. See Greebrier Section above for history.
I am the co-chairman for the KESSLER/KESLER/KESLAR surname DNA project with
Family Tree DNA. We had reached a brickwall with our line and there was another
Kessler branch we were sure we connected too but just couldn't find the link.
We have only had 5 men take the test but with good results. We matched 2 and
eliminated 3 from being connected to our line but 2 of the others found they
were related so they are pursuing their line.
I just looked to see if there was a McClung project started but there isn't.
You should register there. It is free and if there are McClung males out there
that want to take the test then you are on your way. I usually try and
encourage them to take the 25 marker test instead of the 12 because it is more
accurate and eliminates having to take an additional test later on if you have a
close match. The 25 marker test costs more but is worth it in the long run.
Check it out when you get a chance and see if you feel it is for you Family Tree DNA - we do genetic tests
http://www.familytreedna.com/
Karen Kessler Cottrill
WV Kessler/Kesler/Keslar Family Historian
Subsequent info from Karen:
You don't have to go to a location with the Family Tree DNA. Once you
have established a surname project and have a chairperson, the kits can be
ordered directly from Family Tree. For instance when I have someone that wants to
take the test all I need is their name, address, phone # and email address. I
notify Family Tree and they mail the kit along with instructions for the
simple mouth swab test and a return envelope and an invoice where the test can be
paid for with a check or credit card.
The subject follows the instructions and mails back the swab and payment.
Once Family Tree gets the swab it takes about 4 to 6 weeks for the results which
are sent both to the participate and to me as the co-chairperson.
The price for the 25 marker test is $169 (plus shipping & handling). I'm not
sure but I think the 12 marker test is $112 (plus shipping & handling). I have
never ordered a 12 marker kit and try and discourage our men from taking that
one since it is sometimes necessary to do further testing (at an additional
cost) if you have a near match on the 12 marker. I like to do the 25 marker
test to begin with and get it over with.
Note: If you have a curiosity about a possible Indian ancestry, they have databases established for
the different tribes. At the same time, a collection for McClung could be established. Let us know if
you are possibly interested. Also some of the other clans have databases.
Do you have a great grandmother (or one farther back) whose maiden name you do not know? You should
check out a presentation made by Judith McClung at the Sept
meeting of a local computer users group. Here are presented various ideas for tracking down your
female connections through various time periods in America.
You can e-mail me at Judith McClung if you have corrections or additions to our record.
Page begun 3 Sep 2004
Last updated 30 Sep 2004
Last updated by Judith McClung
