Old McCorkle Letters

Provenance of the McCorkle-Roache Papers Preserved & sent to me in West Tennessee by “Casey” Bowden Cason McCorkle of San Leandro, California:

The Roach(e) line of Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roach died out in California, to which state Addison Locke Roache, Jr., had moved from Indiana, along with some sisters—and finally toward the end the aged father, former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Addison Locke Roache, Sr., moved to California, too. Thus did Addison Locke Roache Senior make the lifetime journey from the east coast (state of NC) to California, as far westward as he could travel.

In California some of their McCorkle cousins inherited their papers. Perhaps it was Mada McCorkle Montgomery, daughter of Finis Alexander McCorkle & Finis’ 2^nd wife Mag Hart (McCorkle) --Mag Hart was the 2nd wife who the Dyer County neighbors gossiped had poisoned her stepson Gillum McCorkle, although Gillum's uncle, Hiram alias HRA McCorkle, records in his journal that Gillum had shot himself "while in bed with [his brother] Homer" ; or, more likely to me, it may have been either of Finis Alexander McCorkle's grandsons (by Finis’ 1^st wife Sarah Josephine Jackson McCorkle) living in California by the time of the end of the last McCorkle-Roaches, viz., Gentry Purviance McCorkle, Senior and Homer McCorkle, half-brothers to Mada [variously Maida] McCorkle Montgomery. Gentry Purviance McCorkle, Junior, at one point added some handwritten notations to the collection of old papers. Gentry Jr. may have turned over these papers to his uncle Homer McCorkle, or Gentry Jr. may have bypassed his uncle Homer and given the papers directly to Homer's son Bowden Cason "Casey" McCorkle.

--At any rate, I presume Homer McCorkle was at some point given the letters by the descendants of Elmira Sloan McCorkle (Roache), because it was his son Casey McCorkle who handed them down to me. –However they came into his hands, the old letters & papers came into the hands of Casey McCorkle, who preserved them and left them to me, and therefore to all who care to read them.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Children of Alexander McCorkle, born circa 1723, emigrant from Northern Ireland, who died in 1800, and his 1st wife “Nancy” Agnes Montgomery, who died in 1789…. Each was an emigrant from Northern Ireland, coming over to the colonies, some records say, on the same ship; and each is buried at Thyatira Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Rowan County, North Carolina:

-- Alexander McCorkle’s 2nd wife: After Agnes “Nancy” Montgomery McCorkle predeceased Alexander McCorkle, he married Rebecca Brandon (not the mother of his children); and Alexander died in 1800. –Evidently, from other sources, not ours in West Tennessee, Francis McCorkle may have been a brother to this Alexander. (I myself rather doubt it. ???) If so, did brothers, Francis & Alexander, marry Brandon sisters? REBECCA BRANDON was the 2nd wife of Alexander McCorkle (our ancestor); and in Rowan County, NC, Francis “McCorkel” married Elizabeth Brandon on 12 April 1789, with witnesses Matthew Brandon & B. Booth Boote. Early NC Marriage Bonds, 000127335 000887 02-280.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

I'm not certain where to place the following entries, notices of deaths placed in an early publication of the Restoration Movement (Christian Church). I believe these two people are men, because the "Mrs." title of respect was added back then if the subject was a woman, as I think it should be today. Even though an avid proponent of the "women's liberation" movement of the 1960s & 1970s, which allowed me to attend law school and become a member of the bar (in Texas and Tennessee), I think every human being, Mr. or Ms., Miss or Master, should have an honorific placed before the name.

"McCorkle, B Holland's Grove, Illinois 1836 --Could this be the reporting the death of "Blythe" Richard Blythe McCorkle, a son of "my" Robert McCorkle's brother William McCorkle, who was himself (William) a son of the immigrant Alexander McCorkle born ca. 1722. (?)

McCorkle, E. Dyersburgh, [sic] Tenn. 1832 " - - Who would this be?

More deaths reported to the Restoration Movement publication:

1. McCorkle, Richard Blythe is brother of Saml. Montgomery McCorkle (1835); Tazewell county, Illinois. Mar. 20, 1836. [Sons of Generation II. William McCorkle and grandsons of Generation I. Alexander McCorkle & Agnes Montgomery McCorkle.]

2. McCorkle, S. M. Springfield, Mo 1841; article in July 1844 issue, no place given.
3. McCorkle, Mrs., death reported by her son John McCorkle of Bloomington, Ind. She died Feb. 8, 1842, in the 75th year of her age "'without a groan or a struggle after an illness of 8 days."

_______________________________________________________

First son of Alexander & "Nancy" Agnes Montgomery McCorkle:

II.1 Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, D.D., 23 August 1746-died 21 June 1811. This is overkill, for much has been written about this Presbyterian divine. But here goes nevertheless: He

married Margaret Gillespie in 1776. Born in what was then the environs of Harris Ferry, now in Dauphin but then in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on 23 August 1746, Samuel was educated at a precursor of Princteon College, and received a Doctor of Divinity degree (honorary, I think) from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. –He founded a classics school in Rowan Co., NC, which he named Zion Parnassus, and was a founder of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Look there on the campus of U.N.C. for a memorial to him. -- Samuel's wife Margaret Gillespie McCorkle was a daughter of Elizabeth Maxwell (Gillespie)(Steele), heroine of the Revolutionary War in North Carolina, in that she is credited with having rallied Gen. Nathaniel Green at a low military point by giving him all of her coinage. Elizabeth Steele's 1^sthusband (Gillespie) had been killed at Fort Dobbs during a Cherokee Indian uprising. -- A 2004 article about Samuel Eusebius McCorkle examines his reactions to the emotionalism of the Great Revival: Peter N. Moore; Journal of Southern History, Vol. 70, 2004, entitled : Family Dynamics and the Great Revival: Religious Conversion in the South Carolina Piedmont . Also, there’s a “Steele Creek Presbyterian Church” in the vicinity of Salisbury, NC.

Early North Carolina Marriage Bonds: Samuel McOrkle [SAMUEL EUSEBIUS McCORKLE]. Elizabeth Gillaspie [Gillespie] Bond Date: 29 June 1776. Bond Number: 000127350 North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868. Image Number: 002942 Rowan County; Record Number: 02 281 Witness: Adlai Osborn . --

Another Rowan County marriage that may be of interest, but I do not know how, is that of Lewis McCorkle & Nancy Cowan in 1815. [This marriage is of perhaps a bit more interest to me as a Huie, because my direct ancestor, Benjamin Huie 1798-1879, married a Levina or Lavinia Cowan of Rowan Cowan, NC, about this time. Who was Nancy Cowan (McCorkle)?] --And I note here again that Uncle Hiram R. A. McCorkle, Civil War-era journalist for the Yorkville-Newbern area of West Tennessee, married a Margaret A. L. Cowan (M^cCorkle), who I think was living in the Yorkville area. (I deduced from his journals that he headed towards York to court Margaret; and I felt intrusive-through-the-generations figuring out the code Uncle Hiram used in his journals to denote "Margaret." Deciphering his code wasn't difficult as I knew his later-wife's name so worked from there.)

II.2 John McCorkle m. “Katy” Catherine Barr

[ "« John an elder in the church[121] and member of the Legislature, useful and much beloved, died in the prime of life leaving an only son [Joel] who walked in his father's steps and enjoyed his honors.@ --quoting Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roache, John’s niece. –Quaere: Is John's only son Joel McCorkle of Rowan County, NC, in the NC legislative records anywhere? did Joel ever stray as far as Bloomington, Indiana? (I don't think so. Some of Joel's writings are in the Robert/Agnes McCorkle Ramsay collection of papers at the UNC Archives in Chapel Hill. In his papers preserved there, Joel writes like a lawyer.)]

www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/resources/index/indexm.html : Is this John above a grandfather of the John McCorkle of Bloomington, Indiana, who reported the 1842 death of his mother, a Mrs. McCorkle, to the Christian Church Restoration Movement literature? --"McCorkle, Mrs., death reported by her son John McCorkle of Bloomington, Ind. She died Feb. 8, 1842, in the 75th year of her age, "without a groan or a struggle after an illness of 8 days." -- I really think the John who reported his mother's 1842 death was a son of Generation II. James McCorkle, but the dates of the mother's death do not jibe with what someone has placed on www.ancestry.com , id. est, that all 3 wives of Generation II. James McCorkle (brother of Robert et al.) have the 1^st name of Elizabeth ["E"]: viz., 1st Elizabeth Hall, a 2nd Elizabeth Hall, and 3rd an Elizabeth Hanna.

II.3. Joseph McCorkle m. “Peggy” Margaret Snoddy

The following is is not my work but that of Carol Snoddy Byler..and Gerald K. Byers. Her web pages are on the internet at

http://bellsouthpwp.net/c/s/csbyler/Genealogy/Snoddy/Snoddy.html

csbyler@bellsouth.net See also: www.rootsweb.com/~tnsumner/snoddy2.htm Snoddy Family Album Entry …SAMUEL SNODDY was born circa 1720 possibly in Northern Ireland. ... a few weeks later signing the marriage bond for his sister Margaret to Joseph McCORKLE. ...—Much Snoddy family information is posted on the web by by Gerald K. Byers, who wrote the following:

“On February 11, 1775, Samuel Snoddy was appointed one of the commissioners to lay off a road from the provincial road at Morrison's Mill [a mill begun by William Morrison, 1704-1771, near today's Loray in Iredell Co, NC] to the Lime Kilns on the Catawba River. On February 21, 1775, Samuel's daughter, Sarah Snoddy (age 22), married Andrew Mitchell in Rowan County, NC. Sarah took the place of her sister (Margaret) Snoddy who eloped with Joseph McCorkle after a license was issued for Margaret to marry Andrew Mitchell. This was a scandalous happening for the strict Presbyterian ideals of 1775.

“[The following is a quote from John Mantle Judah:] "The well-known story of the elopement and marriage of my grandparents is that Joseph [McCorkle] was one morning at work, roofing a house. His father came and said, 'Joe, that old fool Snoddy is going to marry his girl Margaret [Snoddy] to so-and-so tomorrow. Maybe you'd better go and see about it.' Whereupon, Joe hastily clambered down, put on his coat and galloped off several miles to the Snoddy place. That night after the stern old father was asleep, Margaret handed out her bridle and saddle through a window and herself followed. She never saw her parents again, for old Snoddy never forgave her, leaving her a shilling* in his will. The story goes on to say that a younger sister was willing to supply Margaret's place to the bereaved groom [Andrew Mitchell], so that a wedding took place nevertheless." (Samuel Snoddy's will actually left his daughter Margaret five shillings, the same amount he left his other six children.) …

JOHN SNODDY m. AGNES NIBLOCK. [Marsha Huie adds: Gracie or Gracy Niblock was a NC Huie cousin to Julius M. Huie, who migrated to West Tennessee, son of Benjamin Huie & Lavinia Cowan Huie. Gracey Niblock in NC & Julius Huie's daughter Sophronia “Fronie” Huie Thompson [in West Tennessee] regularly corresponded: ] [ WALNUT HILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH NEAR LEXINGTON, KY ]

In 1778, Samuel Snoddy's son, John Snoddy (age 20) married Agnes Niblock in North Carolina. Around 1780, John Snoddy migrated to Kentucky and in June of 1787, John and Agnes were admitted to the Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church near Lexington, Kentucky (Fayette County). Agnes died between 1792 and 1795, leaving John with six young children. He moved to Bourbon County circa 1795 and on February 22, 1796, John Snoddy married Nancy Neel/McNeel. He remained there until circa 1829-30 since he was in the 1800 census and land records show he purchased 133 acres on Rockbridge Creek on April 16, 1803. At this time, he moved to Owen County, Indiana and bought 60 acres in Wayne township, near Gosport. [Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roache, Joseph McCorkle & Margaret Snoddy McCorkle's niece through her father Robert McCorkle, at one time lived in or near Gosport, Indiana. ] He (John Snoddy) is listed in the 1830 census and [John Snoddy] died there on March 22, 1843.

“In Wilkes County, North Carolina on March 4, 1778, William Snoddy, Sr. (at age 29) entered 300 acres on the north side of the Yadkin River. On May 6, 1778, Samuel was appointed a "justice". "In November 1778, William was a chain-bearer on a survey of land in Wilkes County for his brother-in-law, Joseph McCorkle." On February 5, 1779, he entered 300 additional acres on Blue Ridge, near the head of the Buffalo and Elk Rivers. On May 6, 1779, he was appointed overseer of a road "from Kerr’s bridge on 3rd Creek through Captain [James?] Purviance's district, along with Matt Troy, Joseph Steel and James Brandon."

“On February 10, 1822 Thomas Snoddy (son of Samuel) sold 701 acres in NC to ? Alexander for $2100. (This was part of the state grant to Samuel [Snoddy] and part of a grant from Earl of Granville to Andrew Morrison in 1762.) ” [Andrew Morrison was father of Margaret Morrison McCorkle, inter alia.] Information from Heritage Book of Iredell County, North Carolina - Volume II, page 131. Item #136 – ”

[End of quoted material from Carol Snoddy Byler….]

Another useful web site: McCorkle Marriages in Ky, NC, & Virginia :

----- Joel McCorkle [son of the John McCorkle who was a brother of our Robert McCorkle] m./Polly Fauster [Forster?] [Foster?]

------John F. McCorkle / Elizabeth Brown

-----Joseph McCorkle / Margaret Snoddy.

http://www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lcgs/mcrkmarkyncva.htm

II.4. Alexander McCorkle II m. Catherine “Katy” Morrison

* Aleck was emotional in character and joined the Methodists » -- quoting his niece Elmira.

I think this Alexander McCorkle, a Jr., migrated west first to Giles County then northward to Henry County, Tenn., in or near Paris, Tennessee. [But I must check whether Henry County (northerly) was once a part of Giles County (southerly).] I think Katy Morrison (McCorkle) would have been a first cousin-once-removed, that is, a generation removed, to Margaret Morrison McCorkle (Mrs. Robert), and a first cousin to Margaret Morrison McCorkle's father, the Andrew Morrison who m. Elizabeth Sloan(e). Margaret Morrison McCorkle was Alexander McCorkle II's sister-in-law. --This Alexander McCorkle II referred to himself after the death of his father and the birth of his eponymous son as "Alexander Snr." At least one of his letters posted from Giles County, Tennessee, and addressed back home to NC lies in the Ramsay Papers in the UNC Archives at Chapel Hill. -- It is from one of Alexander II's letters in the UNC Archives under "Ramsay" that I deduced that "our" Robert, Alexander II's brother, was blind while residing in Rutherford County, Middle Tennessee, before removing westerly to Dyer County in the western district of Tennessee. Alexander wrote that brother Robert recognized him only from his, Alexander II's, voice.

III.1 Nancy McCorkle, b. circa 1780.

III.2 Mary McC , b. 4^th Oct 1781 Rowan Co, NC; d. 6^th June 1783 Rowan Co. (Thyatira Presbyterian Church Cemetery).

III.3. James Morrison McCorkle, b. 24^th Seprember 1783.

III.4. Alexander McC, III b. circa 1789 [note the 6-year hiatus. (?) ]

III.5. Lewis , b. circa 1790.

III.6. James H. , b. Abt. 1792.

III.7. John McCorkle , b. circa 1793, Rowan Co, NC; d. Oct 12, 1813, Rowan Co. (Thyatira Cemetery)

III.8. Catherine McCorkle b. circa 1794.

III.9. Samuel McCorkle , b. Jan 01, 1795.

II.5. William McCorkle m. 1^st “Peggy” Margaret Blythe, and 2^nd “Mattie” [Martha]] King [widow of John Purviance, Jr., who had been scalped in Sumner Co., Tennessee, in 1792], and 3^rd in 1800 Jane or Jennie Graham. This Margaret ‘Peggy’ Blythe was a sister to "Lizzie" Blythe the first wife of William's brother, "our" Robert McCorkle, who is listed immediately below. Robert McCorkle first married Elizabeth Blythe (“Lizzie”). [“William, following Barton Stone, set his negroes free and went to preaching.”—quoting William’s niece Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roache.]

William McCorkle died in 1818 in Rutherford County, Tennessee; so we know he did not remove to Dyer County, West Tennessee, with his brother Robert, who died westerly in 1828.

--It may be that some papers of this William McCorkle lie under his name in the archives of UNC at Chapel Hill; I've not checked yet. In a letter or two from Tennessee back to John McCorkle, John the brother who remained in Rowan County, NC, a friend of the family reports that William McCorkle was almost starving upon having removed to Tennessee. Evidently, at least immediately upon emigration from North Carolina, brother William attended to spiritual matters at the expense of practical necessity; yet it was the brother Joseph McCorkle whom niece Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roache deemed "eccentric" albeit a "man of ability."

[A Restoration Movement publication reported the following death of interest here:

McCorkle, Richard Blythe is brother of Saml. Montgomery McCorkle (1835); Tazwell County, Illinois, Mar. 20, 1836.]

William’s children by 1^st wife “Peggy” Margaret Blythe:

III.1. Samuel Montgomery McCorkle, born circa 1789.

–This must surely be the Montgomery McCorkle about whom Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roache writes; Montgomery is up in Indiana with or near to Elmira, a 1^st cousin, if Elmira’s “Montgomery” is this son of William McCorkle.

III.2. Richard Blythe McCorkle, born 1786 in Rowan County, N.C.

[A publication of the Restoration Movement reports that Blythe McCorkle died in 1836 on 20th March: "McCorkle, Richard Blythe is brother of Saml. Montgomery McCorkle (1835); Tazwell co. Ill. Mar. 20, 1836."]

III.3. Asenath McCorkle, born 27^th Oct. 1789.

William’s child by his 2^nd wife “Mattie” Martha King McCorkle:

III.4. Miles McCorkle, born circa 1796. Miles McCorkle was a physician in Lebanon, Wilson County, Middle Tennessee.

William’s children by 3^rd wife Jane “Jennie” Jane Graham, whom he married in Sumner Co, Tenn., in 1800:

III.5. John McCorkle, born circa 1802

-- I'm pretty sure this is NOT the “Cousin John McCorkle” about whom Margaret Morrison writes, saying that Cousin John McCorkle is coming to Dyer County, Tennessee, to make and crop and will probably take care of Thomas, Jr. ??? I think that "Cousin John" was a son of Margaret's brother-in-law James McCorkle. If so --that is, if Margaret referred to her brother-in-law James McCorkle's descendants-- that gives us a SLOAN family clue; Margaret Morrison McCorkle's mother was born Elizabeth SLOAN. That may just mean that Margaret's brother-in-law James McCorkle's wife Elizabeth Hall whose mother was a Sloan was kin to Margaret Morrison McCorkle's mother. = Sloan family clue...

III.6. Amelia McCorkle, born circa 1805.

III.7. Blanche Locke McCorkle, born circa 1807. --I again note that the McCorkle/Locke connection in Rowan County, North Carolina, was a strong one.

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

II.6. Robert McCorkle, 1764-1828 m. 1^st Lizzy Elizabeth Blythe, 2^nd Margaret ‘Peggy’