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. 


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