Adam Clapp, the ancestor of the Clapp families of the Jackson Purchase, was the grandson of George Valentine Clapp (Klap) and Anna Barbara Steiss who immigrated from Germany, sailing from Rotterdam on the ship James Goodwill, arriving in Philadelphia on September 27th, 1727. Thanks to the records of the German Reform church now known as the Brick Church founded by George Valentine and his brother John Ludwig Clapp in Guilford County, North Carolina (current Alamance County), this family is extremely well documented.Adam was born on 10 Dec. 1754 to John Phillip and Barbary Clapp in Orange County, North Carolina. In addition to the records of the Brick Church, Adam applied for a Revolutionary War pension on November 13th, 1832 in Union County, Illinois, providing more information regarding his life and Revolutionary War service. In his affadavit for that pension, he stated that he was living in Guilford County when he first volunteered for service during the Revolution under Capt. Henry Whitesell in the fall of 1776 or 1777. During his first tour of duty they marched to the Cherokee Nation where, along with South Carolina troops and Catawba Indians, they were engaged in a battle. After marching back to Salisbury, they were discharged.
He recalls during subsequent tours of duty, once serving again under Capt. Whitesell at the Guilford Courthouse guarding the public ammunition. When serving under several other commanders on tours after that, they were primarily pursuing the Scotch and Tories in North Carolina. It was after one of these pursuits that they returned to Guilford Courthouse because the British were located there. Joining the main army, they were placed under the command of Gen. Nathaniel Greene. Their arrival at Guilford Courthouse was on the day after the battle took place and they then pursued the British army which was retiring toward New Bern until they were dismissed to return home.Sometime around 1780, Adam married Emma Ruth Marley daughter of Adam and Rosanna Marley. In his pension statement he says that he moved to Tennessee about five years after the Revolution. By around 1785, Adam is found in the records of Sumner and Robertson counties. After the Revolution, many of North Carolina's soldiers received bounty land grants in Tennessee which was then part of North Carolina.
In Tennessee during the 1790's, Emma Ruth died after which Adam married Ruth Lawrence. He was still living in Robertson County, Tennessee in August of 1804 when he was recorded as serving on a jury there, but by 1807, he and his family had moved to Union County, Illinois. Legend has it that they traveled to Illinois on the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Adam died on August 15th, 1841 and is buried in Union County, Illinois at St. John's Lutheran Cemetery in Dongola. Many of Adam's children remained in Illinois, some migrated to Texas where they were found during the Republic of Texas but the oldest son of Adam and Emma Ruth, John Isaac Clapp, settled in Graves County, Kentucky.
Our Clapps also were in Graves Co. Sarah Clapp m John Parkhill and their daughter Julia m C B Cochran; their daughter Azilee m Charles W Wallace; their daughter Selma m Charlie Clark; their daughter Jessie m Fred Harper and they were my grandparents. Sarah Clapp's mother was Margaret Loy and Sarah's brother was Benjamin Clapp who joined the Mormon trek to Utah. Have you learned more about the proof of Eva Dryden or proof of Ruth Blount who she was and her heritage.
ReplyDeleteHi Lois, thanks for writing.
DeleteIn answer to your question, no I have never found anything to prove that Eva Dryden and John Tilghman (Tillman) were Catherine Loy's parents.
Recently I was searching through the new deed records that the Craven County NC Register of Deeds has put on line and saw several very early deeds by John Tilghman (Tillman) and his brother Stephen. Sadly, they moved on into old Dobbs County NC whose records were lost when the Lenoir County Courthouse where they were stored burned. The only thing that survived are some deed indexes and I know from searching them that these Tilghmans were definitely in Dobbs County but with such a tremendous loss of the Dobbs County records, I'm afraid we will never find any sort of probate documents. I have previously searched Orange and Chatham Counties in NC but there are no records there.
The Drydens moved to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley when they left Maryland and are recorded in Augusta County.
I hope to someday happen upon a scrap of documentation to prove Catherine's parentage but so far there's nothing.
As for Ruth Blount, her identity and lineage is proven. Have you looked for her in Wikipedia? She is listed as one of the children of Penelope Devereux - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Blount,_Countess_of_Devonshire
If I ever find indisputable proof, don't worry I'll add a really big post to this blog.
Beverly
Beverly, I did look up everything I could find on Ruth and I really could not find the proof which I am wondering what the proof is? I kept looking for the list of children and when I found it, Ruth was not listed. So I am really wondering how I can find the proof. Someone had torn the page out possibly because they were illegitimate but someone had written in the names of the children but did not list Ruth. Lois Taylor
ReplyDeleteLois, I see various sites that do not list Ruth as well as various individuals' postings that don't. The Wikipedia page for Penelope Devereux names Ruth as one of their children (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Blount,_Countess_of_Devonshire). I imagine that the only correct information would come from the will of Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, which I understand exists and in it he leaves bequests to their FIVE children in addition to a child born after his death whose identity is unknown and some think may have died young.
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