Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Researchers of the John McGown (1716-1796) line have always run into a brick wall in researching his wife. Published genealogies show Rebecca Hammond as the wife of John McGown but this fact is not true and is the result of an error first made in First Families of America (also known as Virkus' Compendium), vol. 1, pg 415. As a result of work done over the past several yrs by several McGown researchers, we belive we have uncovered the error and possibly located the correct woman. These are the facts we have uncovered-
*the Virkus material was compiled and submitted by Josephine McGown Munger to accompany the entry submitted on her husband, Sylvester Munger. The actual entry is under the name Henry Lee Munger. Josephine Munger contacted her nephew, Floyd McGown I, for help in compiling a genealogy in 1891. She had in her possession a family Bible, passed down from her mother, Maary Thompson Floyd McGown, which contained some genealogical information. Her nephew, Floyd I, had in his possession an old law book passed down from the first John McGown (1716-1796). The law book contained several loose papers, described in a letter from Floyd to his aunt Josephine dated 31 Aug 1891-a captain's commission and a writ of attachment signed by John McGown, Magistrate. The letter also mentions some family data written on the first 3 pages of the old law book. The family Bible possessed by Josephine Munger did not contain any information on early generations of McGowns, so she turned to her nephew for help in compiling a genealogy of the first generations. The old law book was the only source listing the names and birth dates of the first McGown to emigrate to America (John) as well as some of his children.
Floyd McGown copied the family information down that was written in the old law book, which was a good thing because the law book was lost about 1922. The front & back of pg 1 was copied as follows-John McGown-born July 30 1716 old style
Wednesday about 10 in the morning
Deceased Feb 24 1796 Wed. about 10 in
the morning
Margarith McGown- born Dec 4 1744
John- born Dec 25 1746
Samuel- born Dec 24 1748
David- born Nov 30 1750
Anna- born March 29 1753
Elizabeth- born Aug 21 1755
Andrew- born Oct 15 1757
(back of pg 1)-Andrew McGown born Oct 15 1757
Died Aug 10 1815
married Betsey Hammon Dec 8 1768 {her DOB}
March 9 1786 {date of marriage}
Dec 4 1826 (date of death} Monday 9 am {my explanations of the significance of the dates are in parentheses}
--After noting the marriage of Andrew & Betsey, their children are listed with their DOB and time of birth given (ie 10 am Saturday, sunrise, two hours after dark, etc)
--The content of pages 2 & 3 in the old law book contain birth and death info of descendants of Andrew &Betsey's eldest son, John J. McGown, who marriage Mary "Polly" Thompson Floyd on 16 Mar 1815.
Who mades these entries in the old law book? It seems clear that they were not made by the first John (he d. 1796) or even by Andrew or his wife Eliz/Betsey Hammons. I believe they were made by Mary "Polly" Thompson Floyd McGown for the following reasons:
(1) she seems to have been the historian in the family and was always careful to note the time of birth, which seems to have been significant to her. Even the children of Andrew * Betsey are given times of birth (this would have been her husband's generation) as well as her children and the children of her sister Sally. She was not always correct-the first John McGown was not born on a Wed but a Thursday!
(2) not all of John McGown's children are listed in the first generation-Mary & Alexander are included in his will but not named in the law book. We know that Alexander, for example, existed and was probably born about 1760 (see Henry Co, Va tax list of 1780, US census 1810, Warren Co, KY). If the entries were made by either the first John or his son Andrew, it would make no sense to leave out 2 children or 2 siblings.
(3) if the entries were made by Polly Thompson Floyd, an omission might be understandable. She would have never known the first John (he d in 1796) and she would have never gotten to know her father in law Andrew (he d in 1815, the yr she married into the McGown family). The only person she could have asked about McGown family history would have been her mother in law Betsey Hammons (who d in 1826). Betsey might not have known much about the McGown history since she was born and raised in Surry Co, NC and didn't move to Henry Co, Va until about 1783). She might have never met either Alexander or Mary or never heard her husband Andrew speak of them. As to her knowledge of the name of John's wife (and Andrew's mother) it is very possible that all she knew was a first name-possibly Rebecca.
Now-back to Virkus' Compendium. This is the entry submitted by Josephine McGown Munger-
5. John McGown (1716-1796) from Scotland; m. Rebecca Hammons;
6. Andrew (1757-1815), m Elizabeth- (1768-1826)
You can see from the entry that a mistake has been made. Rebecca is given the last name Hammons; however, this last name belongs to Elizabeth, wife of Andrew. We know that to be true from the law book records, where Hammon is given as the name of Andrew's wife.
However, since the fact that John McGown was from Scotland was later proved true, perhaps the first name Rebecca also preserves an authentic memory. On that basis, we began to search for possible Rebecca's that could be tied both by geography and by date to our John McGown.
See post II for more information and results of the search
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/mcgown/messages/10.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|