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Cicero Pangburn McClure and Roy Fleming McClure
(Akron, Ohio: Press of The Superior Printing Co., 1924)
Pages 7-19
"The sleepy old town of New Castle upon the Delaware was for many years the chief port of entry for the large Scotch-Irish emigration that poured into the American Colonies in the 18th Century. From it there went out for years to the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, a steady stream of thousands of Ulstermen, choosing rather to face the perils of the wilderness in the new country than the oppressions of British tyranny.
"Some of these men staid some time in the vicinity of New Castle, where the Scotch-Irish settlement occupied the northern end of Delaware, and overflowed into the adjoining counties of Chester in Pennsylvania and Cecil in Maryland, covering the neck of land that separates the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays.
"It was by this gate that the family whose history we are to follow entered America. Just how long they remained in the New Castle region we do not know, nor just where they lived while there; nor indeed do we know how many of them there were. The lapse of years has left us but little information. We have the names of but a brother and a sister, John and Jean McClure. It is possible their parents came with them to America, but we do not know...As to all these interesting questions the records are silent.
"Jean McClure, sister of John McClure, married Archibald McAllister, probably in New Castle County, Delaware, and removed to the Cumberland Valley prior to 1730, where Mr. McAllister died at West Pennsboro in 1768. They have a large number of descendants, including many people of prominence, both north and south. The history of the Descendants of Archibald McAllister and Jean McClure has been fully written by Miss Mary McAllister of Pennsylvania, and will not be treated further here.
"John McClure, born in Scotland, probably at Glasgow, about 1696, came to America in 1715, married in 1720, Janet McKnight (born in Ulster, Ireland, 1702, died Pennsylvania Jan. 30, 1780), a sister of John McKnight, Esq., the well known justice of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. There is a tradition that John McClure and the McKnight family came to America on the same vessel...
"John McClure died in 1757, aged 61 years. His wife survived him a number of years, dying January 20, 1780, aged 78."
The children of John and Janet (McKnight) McClure were: Andrew McClure (married Janet -), John McClure (married Martha Denny), Richard McClure (died without issue), Charles McClure (married first Anna Blair), Margaret McClure, Jean McClure (married Joseph Smith), Eunice McClure, Catharine McClure.
William Henry Egle, Editor
Fourth Series in Two Volumes, Volume I
Originally published in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1893
(Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970)
Page 1
John McKnight -- John McKnight was born in the year 1725 in the North of Ireland, coming to America with his parents in 1740. He took part in the French and Indian wars -- an active ranger upon the then frontiers of the Province of Pennsylvania. He served as one of the early justices of the peace of Cumberland county. He died at his residence in Middleton township in April, 1768, leaving a wife Mary, who was a daughter of Archibald McAlister, of Big Spring, and children John, David, Mary and Jean. It is from this family that General Ormsby McKnight Mitchell, the astronomer, derived part of his name.
Mary Catharine McAllister
(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Scheffer's Printing and Bookbinding
House,
1898)
Pages 9-37
"Of Archibald McAllister, the emigrant and founder of this branch of the family, very little is known, except that about 1730 he owned a large tract of land in the Cumberland Valley, and was a strict Presbyterian.
"He was one of the organizers of the First Presbyterian Church, at Carlisle, Pa.
"From whence he came in Scotland is not known. The first mention of an Archibald McAllister, in the colony, is found in the minutes of the Colonial Board of Property, when on the '12 month, 7 da, 1723,' Stephen Cornelius applies for a warrant to have surveyed a 'small vacancy of Land on Red Clay Creek' and 'desires to make over his right, to this land to Archibald McAllister, who is a Smith, and dwells upon it.'
"Red Clay Creek was in New Castle County, Pa., now in the State of Delaware. It runs parallel with the Brandywine, empties into White Clay Creek, and thence to the Delaware River. It has been found impossible to identify this Archibald McAllister with the Archibald who settled in Cumberland County, Pa.
"The grant to Archibald McAllister in Cumberland County, Pa., originally contained between eight and nine hundred acres.
"He built a grist-mill, the second one west of the Susquehanna. The foundations are still standing.
"The water on the tract, McAllister's Run, not furnishing sufficient power, he was forced to carry the water in troughs for a quarter of a mile.
"The size of the mill was about twelve by fourteen feet, and it did most of the grinding for the surrounding country. Family tradition has it that one of the farmers from Newville, Pa., seven miles distant, said, on going to have a bag of grain ground, 'that if there was not too many ahead, he might get home the next day.'
"He also built a smith-shop; the original log one has long been superseded by a more modern frame structure.
"The dwelling house was built of logs, a story and a half high, with a huge fire-place running its whole width. This house, part of which is standing to-day, is in a natural hollow, and one end against a ledge of lime-stone rocks, which completely hide the lower story. Entrance to the loft can be made from these rocks. After a hundred and sixty-six years of constant usage, it is in a fairly good state of preservation.
"The farm lays three miles west of Carlisle, Pa., on the turnpike, and is owned by James McAllister Ralston, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., a great-grandson of Archibald McAllister.
"The Turnpike Company received from the original owner a small piece of land on this farm for the purpose of building a Toll-House. This exempted forever the McAllister heirs from payment of tolls.
"The known descendants of the emigrant numbered 847 in 1898. In the male line all have marked Scottish features, with sandy hair and bright complexions, reproduced to the sixth and seventh generations. A most striking and peculiar trait is the family resemblance in all branches noticeable in the foreheads, and the eyes which are always blue.
"'In 1749 West Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, paid 28œ, 8s, 6d, tax. Archibald McAllister, Collector -- Rupp's History'
Archibald McAllister, died 1768 in West Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, Pa., buried at Meeting House Springs, two miles west of Carlisle, Pa.
He married Jean McClure, buried at Hanover, York County, Pa., and had issue ---"
Issue:
i. John McAllister, birth and death dates unknown, married Catharine McKnight of Cumberland County.
ii. Richard McAllister, born 1725 - died 7 September 1795, married Mary Dill [daughter of Ann (Crain) and Capt. Matthew Dill, Sr., of Dillsburg, Pa.], founded Hanover, Pa.
iii. James McAllister, lived before 1774 in Lurgan township, Cumberland County, moved to Virginia, married Mary McConnell and Sally Vance.
iv. Archibald McAllister.
v. Daniel McAllister, lived in West Pennsboro Township until his death in 1767, married Elizabeth (McDowell) Holliday, widow of John Holliday who was killed by Indians on his farm.
*** vi. Mary McAllister married first John McKnight, married second - Rannells. Their children were "David McKnight married Mary McClay; Polly McKnight, married - Barr, Cincinnati, O.; Jean McKnight, married - Findley, Chambersburg, Pa.; John McKnight, married - Brown."
vii. Jean (or Jane) McAllister, born 1747, died 13 June 1799 at Pittsburgh, married 1764 John Ormsby [son of Deborah (Barry) and Oliver Ormsby]. The Ormsby family was very prominent in early Pittsburgh history.
viii. David McAllister married Phanwill Rannells and died young (will in Cumberland County courthouse).
ix. Andrew McAllister married Margaret Young. They are both buried in Meeting House Spring Cemetery, and their tombstones can still be read -- 1993, JRS.
Ibid., page 93.
Mrs. Elizabeth (McDowell) Holliday, wife of Daniel McAllister, was a daughter of William and Mary McDowell. Her niece, Nancy Brownson, married Col. John Findlay, of Chambersburg, Pa., brother of Gov. William Findlay. Col. John Findlay (b. 1766; d. 1838) is presumed to have married as his second wife Jean McKnight, a daughter of Mary (McAllister) McKnight, sister of Daniel McAllister. [See v. and vi. above. - JRS]
*** This is my line -- the line covered in this Barr genealogy.