Friday, October 7, 2011

My Trux line (Trucks)

My 4th great grandparents were Thomas McCluer and Susannah Trucks (Trux).
I'm not sure when Susannah was born, (one family file I found says 1791) and it seems most likely she was born in Pennsylvania. She died in 1838 right after the family moved from Ohio to Jackson County, Illinois.
Susannah's parents were William J. Trux (only seen spelled Trucks a few times) and Mehitable McCoy. I'm not certain about dates of Mehitable but I'm pretty sure was was previously married to a Asahel Bucks and had a son with that husband, William, who was killed at the age of 14 in the Wyoming Valley Massacre.
William Trux  was born 1750 in Frederick, Maryland (some sources say possibly Connecticut). I believe he was the son of George Trux and Samantha (LNU). It appears he had another wife, before Mehitable, a daughter of Porter Ayres.
I found this research which has been helpful, about Mehitable and William, and includes a bit of info about the Ayers.
Although this file places Mehitable at the Battle of Wyoming Valley, I have not been able to connect William Trux to the battle (1778). This research says Mehitable's first husband died 1779, so he survived the battle and also that she married William Trux about the same year. From what I have seen, William and Mehitable's first child was born about 1780, so this sounds right to me. It has been my belief that William Trux probably arrived to the area shortly after the massacre. Which is also about the time he was finished fighting in the war.

I do know he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The link above indicated that, so I went to Ancestry and searched records there and wound up finding numerous copies of records with his name on them, both pay roll and muster records. This is, so far, what I have determined about his military service: William Trux served with the German Regiment, Maryland, Continental Army. I'm not exactly sure when he enlisted, but a record from The Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During The War of the Revolution April 1775-December 1783 (New Revised and Enlarged Edition by Francis B. Heitman) has him  listed as follows:
Trux, William (Md) Private German Regiment, 21st July, 1776; Sergeant, 1st March 1777; Ensign 25th July 1778; resigned 1st July 1779.
I have not yet figured out why he resigned. I lost record of him in muster rolls after September 9, 1778, and he was not on the payroll for October 1778 and onward. It's only my guess that he may have been injured and that's why the time lapse between his falling off the rolls and resigning. If anyone knows how I might learn the reason for him leaving I would greatly appreciate it. I found no clues in the records I have found so far.

I found William Trux in the census for the following years and places
  • 1790 Luzerne County, PA with a total of 7 members in the home
  • 1800 Kingston, Luzerne, PA with a total of 5 members in the home
  • 1810 Kingston, Luzerne, PA with a total of 10 members in the home, including 5 slaves.
  • 1830 Blooming Grove, Richland, OH. with a total of 8 members in the home. no slaves. 
He was also mentioned in a couple sources as having bought land in Kingston, PA  in 1803 "lots 21 and 22 of the Fourth Division of lots" and built a grist mill and saw mill at what is now Trucksville, on one of those lots, before 1811. He was also described as a justice of the peace and served as an overseer of the poor around the 1797-1809 time frame. It is then said he moved to Knox County, Wayne Twsp, Ohio in 1811.
This page was one I found with lots of information.


George Trux was, I believe, William's father. I have an estimated birth date of 1725 for him. It is said that the family's origin is Baden Germany, but it is not known for sure where George was born. Some have said England, some have said Frederick, Maryland. It is not known who his parents were, I speculate he may have been the immigrant ancestor for that line.
I found a George Trux on at least one census, 1790 in Frederick Maryland with 9 household members.
I found several mentions of George Trucks in This was the life: excerpts from the judgment records of Frederick County ...By Millard Milburn Rice, Maryland. County Court (Frederick County) concerning building a bridge across Little Pipe Creek near his home, and in references to building new roads, his place of home given as reference points for locations.
That's pretty much it.

    Thursday, October 6, 2011

    Ancestors of John A. McCluer

    There seems to be a strong belief that my particular line of McCluer (or McClure, and there were lots of other lines too, how they are related may never be known) came from Ireland to America and settled in the area of Rockbridge County, Virginia. Originally they were Scottish and at some point some went to Ireland for awhile before coming to America. I have found a few things about the early McClures to read and consider already, but I can tell it's going to chalk full of confusion and conflict, as far as proof and research goes. The good thing is, I can be fairly certain of at least two more generations.

    From John A. McCluer, my 3rd great grandfather, who I have written some about already, we go to his parents, Thomas McCluer and Susannah Trucks (an earlier spelling of her family surname was Trux). I found this sketch about him in the History of Richland County, Ohio.
    The same site also has a small sketch on John A. McCluer's brother James Jackson McCluer as well as a sketch on Thomas' father Samuel. I haven't known the last name of Samuel's wife Sarah for some time but I followed a clue in Samuel's sketch and it says his wife was buried in the Lexington Cemetery (Ohio I presumed) and did a search on Find A Grave. Once again, that site has come to my rescue! She is listed, though there is no photo of her grave, and it shows Allen was her last name. (I'm thinking...great, another Allen! I have two other ancestors with last name Allen, one on Grandma's side and one on Dad's side-if I remember right- both of which I know little about) But that explains where John got his middle name. I was hoping I'd find out where he got that name!
    This Find A Grave discovery not only gives me her surname, it gives a possible birth year and place! We all know what that means! More research! If anyone reading this can offer any more clues, by all means...fire away!
    What I'm not real sure about is the statement at the end of the sketch for Samuel stating;
    Evidently Samuel McCluer was interred in the Strausbaugh Baptist Cemetery shortly after his death. At some point in time, a stone was made for both him and his wife in the Lexington Cemetery."

    If anyone can shed any light on this, I would appreciate it. Does this mean he is buried at the church cemetery, but a stone for him is in the Lexington Cemetery?  I looked up the Strausbaugh Baptist Cemetery on Find A Grave and there is an entry there for Samuel too. No photo of his grave there either. The cemetery is over grown and as of 2009 it was said only 2 stones were standing, some leaning against trees, others flat on the ground, most broken or no longer readable. A photo shows it has pretty much been reclaimed by nature.

    I also found this, written by another researcher and descendant. Much of what I know about my family history I owe to this person, he blazed some trails for me, that's for sure. But his trail seems to have gone cold, I haven't seen anything written by him that is very recent. If anyone knows how to get in touch with James, it would be nice to tell him Thanks for all his help. After all...we are related! 
    Here is a page I found for the Strausbaugh Baptist Cemetery which has a different picture of the cemetery, taken when the trees were bare, and lists some of those interred there and also photos of some of the stones, including that of Samuel, which was one that was leaning against a tree. (I have so much more now than I had before I got up this morning, and it's just now noon!) 

    Most sources I've seen so far seem to agree that Samuel's father was William, but from there things get controversial, and I have more studying to do. Usually I print out the different views, and add them to my files but we all know, sometimes we just never really know for sure who was whose father, or mother and so on. One thing can be said for sure, the McCluers were true pioneers in almost every sense of the word, and were honorable, and good people. If I had a time machine, I'd like to go back and meet them. 


    Wednesday, October 5, 2011

    My Barber Line

    With a name like Thomas Barber Nase, I was almost sure that Barber was another family name. So one day I decided to see if I could find out anything about that, and I did. I dug around and dug around until I found some will abstracts from Sussex Co, NJ (1860 census for TB Nase showed he was born in New Jersey and I think I had already found clues that his father's name was George). There was this entry:
    BARBER, Thomas of Greenwich. 1492S - W. 20 Sep 1808; Filed 5 Dec 1816. Wife: Margaret. Sons: Samuel and John (dec'd). Daughters: Phebe STIVERS, Elizabeth NACE(sic) w/o George and Ann Perine MUCHLER. Others: S-n-l, John STIVERS; Thomas and Robert BARBER s/o dec'd son John. Executors: Wife, Margaret, dau Ann (Nancy) Perine MUCHLER and William KENNEDY. Witnesses: James McCARTER, James J. KENNEDY and William M. KENNEDY.

    It was the clue I needed! Later on I found this:
    File 12696 C. 
     
    1813, Sept. 20. Barber, Thomas, of Greenwich, Sussex Co.; will of. 
    Wife, Margaret, $1,333.33; also my negro girl, a cow, bed and bedding, 
    household goods for 1 room, all in lieu of dower, and to be at her 
    own disposal. Son, Samuel, $00.66. Presbyterian Congregation at 
    Harmony in Greewich Twsp., $66.66, the interest thereof for use of 
    church as long as it exists there but if dissolved, the principal sum 
    to return to my estate. Having paid for land on which my son-in- 
    law, John Stivers lives, I give out of said estate, $533.33 to children 
    of daughter, Phebe Stivers, and residue to return to my estate. Rest 
    of all estate to be sold. Residue to be divided into 5 equal shares. 
    One such share to children of my son, Samuel, who is to have interest 
    thereof for life and if his present wife survive him, she is to have 
    % of said interest during her widowhood. One share to my 2 grand- 
    sons, Thomas and Robert (sons of my son, Robert, lately dec'd), 
    when 21. Daughters, Elizabeth (wife of George Nace), Ann Perine 
    Muckler, and Phebe Stivers, each the interest of one share and at 
    their deaths, principal to their children. Executors — wife, Margaret, 
    daughter, Ann Perine Muckler and friend, William Kennedy, Esq. 
    Witnesses — James M. Carter, James J. Kennedy, William M. Kennedy. 
    Proved Dec. 5, 1816, when Margaret Barber*, Nancy Mutchler, Wm. 
    Kennedy signed as Executors. 


    It was great! Then I went to Find A Grave. I have not been able to find the death or grave of Thomas Barber Nase, it appears he passed before his wife Polly, since I found Polly in the 1880 census in Polk, Crawford Co, OH  as a widow living with her daughter and her family (Lucy Nase Overly). So it's most likely he died in Ohio. I did find Thomas Barber and his wife Margaret on find a grave. Thomas Barber was a patriot in the Revolutionary War. I checked the DAR site and sure enough, several ladies have joined under his patriotism. Here is his Find A Grave memorial:
    What seemed odd to me was that his grave, as well as his wife's, was in the basement of a church. So I contacted the person who created the memorial and he wrote back with an explanation. He explained that "the church needed to expand and the only direction they could go was out towards the parking lot. The graves were in the way, and rather than disturb them, the church addition was built over the graves. There are about 12 graves under this addition." This person has installed a Veteran's marker right outside the door that leads to the actual graves.
    This same researcher is also descended from Thomas Barber and has also tried to find out more about the family. We know that Thomas' wife's name was Margaret Perrine, but that's about it. The name Perrine sounds French to me too, does anyone know?


    So, the tree from Clarinda Nace got expanded. Her parent's were Thomas Barber Nase and Polly Montanye. Thomas Barber Nase was likely born 1799 in Luzerne Co, Pa. His parents were George Nase and Elizabeth Barber. I have seen two different dates for George's birth, and haven't yet confirmed one or the other. One is 1736 and the other is 1858.
    I also have two possible birth dates for his wife Elizabeth Barber: 1761-1765 and she may have been born in Sussex Co, NJ. It is said she died 1817 in Luzerne Co, PA. I have seen a possible wedding date for George and Elizabeth as 1782, so if that is true and looking at birth dates suggested for Elizabeth, I tend to think George's birth date to be more likely the later of the two seen. I have yet to locate anything to confirm any dates for this couple. The death dates I have for George and Elizabeth are: George 1814 in Luzerne Co, PA and 1817 for Elizabeth also in Luzerne Co, PA. What I'm not sure about with George's date is that has him having died before Elizabeth's father, Thomas Barber who died in 1816. Would he be mentioned in the will and abstract in the present tense if he had already passed away? Or am I just reading it too literally?
    According to the dates I'm seeing Elizabeth died a year after her father, but before her mother, Margaret Perrine who died in 1825.
    At any rate, I'm at a dead end with the Barber and the Perrine line, but this felt like some progress anyway.

    Tuesday, October 4, 2011

    Finding The Frenchman

    As I said in an earlier post, I had been told by an uncle that there was French in the family somewhere. It took me awhile to find it, but when I did, there was no doubt. I simply found another tree and bridged the gap. I had actually seen the tree before, and it included my mom, grandparents and other names I had already known and mentioned here already. This is that tree and this is the site it is connected to. Once I realized what I had stumbled into, I was quite surprised! I communicated with someone from the site and shared copies of the Bible records and papers I had gotten from my family, and I suppose that made it official that I am a descendant of Johannes de la Montagne! 
    The connection I had to make was through Clarinda Nace (Nase), who I mentioned and shared a photo of in an earlier post. Clarinda is my 3rd great grandmother and she was married to John A. McCluer. Clarinda's mother was Polly Montanye, who was the 4th great granddaughter of Johannes. Johannes Mousnier de La Montagne is my 10th great grandfather.
    I made a chart to help me see this better and am picturing it below. 

    My Descent from Jean Mousnier de La Montagne, aka Johannes de La Montagne, aka Doctor Johannes de La Montagne ending with my gr gr grandparents.