"Family legend says that the Duncans, Sharps, Laughlins, Porterfields, and others all came together to America from Belfast, Ireland. If so, they probably came at the urging of Thomas Sharp's brother-in-law, Thomas King, who came much earlier. This was the pattern for later generations. One or two families would go first, followed by the rest of the clan over later generations."
Putative Ancestry of John Laughlin
http://lawlib.samford.edu/laughlin/genealogy/maclachlan/maclachlan.html
Some of the excerpts from biographies which I have included in this blog post are a little hard to follow without a family tree to look at because of the Irish naming patterns that repeat the names generation to generation, so I am including our decendancy at both the top and the bottom. For a fuller family pedigree, see my Ancestry.com tree. I'm including more than you may want to read because they give such a wonderful picture of the people and the times. Family histories such as these are notoriously unreliable as to names, dates, and places, but they do give a starting point to begin looking for documentation in putting together a reliable family record..
How We Are Related:
John Luke Laughlin 1710-1783
John Luke Laughlin 1736-1812
Jane Laughlin McGaughey 1764-1847
Sarah McGaughey Ewing 1800-1857
Rebecca Ewing Dulaney 1820-1894
Elizabeth Buenvista Dulaney Brewer 1848-1935
Holland Nathaniel Brewer 1871-1950
Ina Beatrice Brewer Johnson 1900-1978
Marion Allan Johnson Speakman 1923-1998
The first of the Laughlins to come to America was the family of John Luke Laughlin who was born in County Down, Ireland in 1710 and died 1783 in Washington County, Virginia.
From the diary of John Laughlin:
My great grandfather John Laughlin, of the date of whose death I have no knowledge, is represented by Mr. Benjamin Sharp in his cor-respondence, who knew him well, and by my father and grandfather-all of the same name-as having been a most exemplary man. He was a native of, and came from the County Downe, Ireland. My grandfather, John, as I have him repeat often, was sixteen years old when they arrived in the United States, then colonies. My grandfather, as his father was before him, was a man of remarkable piety, benevolence, and active cheerfulness. They were both of the branch of the Presbyterian Church denominated Seceders. In the latter years of my grandfather's life, he contributed himself nearly the entire support of the Rev. Mr. Harper, a clergyman of his own sect-but his charity, as was that of his father, was universal for all sincere christians. I have a full recollection of the person and character of my excellent grandfather. Up to extreme old age, he had all the cheerfulness and vivacity of a boy. My father is of the same temperament.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=122662722
Part of the extensive writings of Samuel Hervey Laughlin are quoted below.
Samuel is my 1st cousin 6x's removed.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~varussel/families/samuelherveylaughlindiary.html
A Diary of Public Events and Notices of My Life and Family and Of My Private Transactions including Studies, Travels, Readings Correspondence, Business Anecdotes, Miscellaneous Memoranda of Men, Literature, Etc From January 1st, 1845 to August, 1845 and Sketch of my Life from Infancy by Samuel Hervey Laughlin
This diary was transcribed by Anabel Easley Tidwell, a direct descendant of Samuel Hervey Laughlin, and her daughter-in-law, Janet Malone Tidwell. It is their hope that in reading these pages their children and grandchildren, and any other interested parties, will have a greater understanding and appreciation for the life and times of this illustrious gentleman.
A Diary, Etc. for the year 1845-
These reminiscences, hastily and promiscuously inserted here, before I commence my brief journal of passing events, I have deemed it proper to enlarge by the following miscellaneous souvenirs of the same kind, mostly in relation to my own past life, and my ancestors and family, in the hope that they may hereafter not be wholly uninteresting to such of my children as may not remember, or who may, perhaps, never see my memoranda formerly made, in a less permanent diary, which has a printed title page, with names of months, days, etc. I therefore think proper here to add the following memoranda in regard to my ancestors and myself.
From my grandfathers, John Laughlin, and John Duncan(who sometimes spelled his name properly, Dunkin, being a Scottsman by descent) and from my father, my mother in her lifetime, and from my Great Uncle Benjamin Sharp, of Warren Co., Missouri, I have learned the following particulars concerning my forefathers.
John Laughlin, my great grandfather, came from Ireland, with his family, consisting of three sons, John, James, and Alexander, James being the eldest, and Alexander the youngest, and three daughters, Jane, Elizabeth and Margaret, and on arriving in the then Colonies, at Philadelphia, about the year 1740, removed first to Chester County and then to the vicinity of where Harrisburg now stands in Pennsylvania, now Dauphin County I believe. About the year 1760, as Benjamin Sharp, my great uncle believes, (see his letter to me in my books of letters of 4 January, 1845, written from Warren County, Missouri) and about the year 1764, as my father remembers from family tradition, my great grandfather and his family, and many of his connections, intermarriages with the Sharps, Duncan's, etc. having been formed, removed from Pennsylvania to Virginia. My grandfather John Laughlin had married Mary Price in Pennsylvania, removed to what is now Bote Tounte County, near the place where the town of Fincastle stands previous to the year 1766, for in that year his second son, John who is my father, was born at that place.
This diary was transcribed by Anabel Easley Tidwell, a direct descendant of Samuel Hervey Laughlin, and her daughter-in-law, Janet Malone Tidwell. It is their hope that in reading these pages their children and grandchildren, and any other interested parties, will have a greater understanding and appreciation for the life and times of this illustrious gentleman.
A Diary, Etc. for the year 1845-
These reminiscences, hastily and promiscuously inserted here, before I commence my brief journal of passing events, I have deemed it proper to enlarge by the following miscellaneous souvenirs of the same kind, mostly in relation to my own past life, and my ancestors and family, in the hope that they may hereafter not be wholly uninteresting to such of my children as may not remember, or who may, perhaps, never see my memoranda formerly made, in a less permanent diary, which has a printed title page, with names of months, days, etc. I therefore think proper here to add the following memoranda in regard to my ancestors and myself.
From my grandfathers, John Laughlin, and John Duncan(who sometimes spelled his name properly, Dunkin, being a Scottsman by descent) and from my father, my mother in her lifetime, and from my Great Uncle Benjamin Sharp, of Warren Co., Missouri, I have learned the following particulars concerning my forefathers.
John Laughlin, my great grandfather, came from Ireland, with his family, consisting of three sons, John, James, and Alexander, James being the eldest, and Alexander the youngest, and three daughters, Jane, Elizabeth and Margaret, and on arriving in the then Colonies, at Philadelphia, about the year 1740, removed first to Chester County and then to the vicinity of where Harrisburg now stands in Pennsylvania, now Dauphin County I believe. About the year 1760, as Benjamin Sharp, my great uncle believes, (see his letter to me in my books of letters of 4 January, 1845, written from Warren County, Missouri) and about the year 1764, as my father remembers from family tradition, my great grandfather and his family, and many of his connections, intermarriages with the Sharps, Duncan's, etc. having been formed, removed from Pennsylvania to Virginia. My grandfather John Laughlin had married Mary Price in Pennsylvania, removed to what is now Bote Tounte County, near the place where the town of Fincastle stands previous to the year 1766, for in that year his second son, John who is my father, was born at that place.
They must have found pristine wilderness, because Fincastle, not founded until 1772, was something of the last outpost before the Western frontier, serving as a supply station for settlers heading West. From its inception until the Revolutionary war, Fincastle oversaw a massive governmental district that stretched to the Mississippi River and included parts of modern-day Wisconsin. Town lore says that folks who lived more than 500 miles away were excused from jury duty. Fincastle's courthouse was designed by Thomas Jefferson and today still houses county government functions.
Mary Polly Price Laughlin
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All the others, on removing, settled near the same place, or went on farther west and settled in what is now Russell County. My grandfather and great grandfather afterwards also removed to what is now Russell County and before the commencement of the Revolutionary war two or three years, to what is now Washington County, Virginia near Abingdon. There my great grandfather died before I was born. My grandfather, John, finally settled on the head of a creek under the Knobs, as a chain of mountains are called, called I believe, Sharp's Creek. He lived there until his death about 1813 or latter part of 1812.
My father, John Laughlin, was born on November 4th, 1766.
My mother, Sarah Duncan, was born on Sept. 3rd. 1773 in what is now Russell County, Virginia.
My great grandfather's son, John, married Mary Price, as has been stated, and had a numerous family of children. His final residence, about nine miles southwest of Abingdon, the farm having been inherited by his youngest son, Alexander now (1845) being a citizen of Coles Co. Illinois, is now, with the old farm of 7 or 8 hundred acres the property of John Thomas of Sullivan Co. Tennessee; and on the final adjustment of the boundary lines, by Mr. Taylor and other commissioners on the part of the States of Tennessee and Virginia, was ascertained to lie in the former state. In the time of the excise taxes of Washington's and Adams' administrations, it was claimed by both states, and lay in a strip of country a few miles between different lines, run by different boards of commissioners and neither state by law having exclusive jurisdiction, and even the Acts of Congress being enforced in neither between these lines because of some defect, the whole country, and every farm where water could be procured, was the site of a distillery. The repeal of the excise laws put an end to this state of things.
*For an account of the hardships of the first settlers on Holston and Clinch, and where Abingdon now stands, see Benj. Sharp's letter of June 15th 1842, in 1 Vol. Williams ' American Pioneers, published at Cincinnati, page 333.
The sons of my grandfather were Thomas, who died in June 1844 in Whitley Co. Kentucky at an advanced age, and married my mother's elder sister, Elizabeth Duncan who is yet living. They reared a numerous family of children. Thomas, their eldest son, is a citizen of Philadelphia, Monroe County East Tennessee, who has a numerous family of sons and daughters-one of whom, his son, Marshall Ney, a graduate of East Tennessee University is now (March 1845) a student of law at my house and in my office at Hickory Hill, Warren Co. Tennessee. My uncle's second son, John Sharp, is an old batchelor of my age, and lives with his mother in Kentucky. He was a member of the Kentucky Assembly in 1823, in Old and New Court times. His other sons, Alexander, Joseph etc. live in Missouri. His eldest daughter married Andrew Craig of Knox Co. Ky. about 1808 or 1809, and is now dead. His second daughter, Jane, married Isaac King, and lives in Whitley Co., Kentucky. His daughter, Eliza, and other children, have emigrated and settled in the west after marriage, but where, I do not know.
My Uncle Thomas fought gallantly in the Revolution at Kings Mountain, and commanded a Battalion in Col. Micah Taul's Regiment of Kentucky volunteers at the Battle of the Thames in the late war.
Alexander, the third son of my grandfather, married Lavinia King, daughter of the late venerable William King of Sullivan Co., Tenn., and with a numerous family, lives in Illinois. Many letters from him will be found in my bound books of letters from friends.
My grand uncles, James and Alexander, died, the former about 1811 in Washington Co. Virginia, at the place at the mouth of Spring Creek where Jonathan King, Esq. now lives. His children married and removed West. His two sons, James and Alexander, died in Rutherford Co. Tenn. many years ago. The latter, Alexander, died in Sullivan Co. Tenn. near Paperville, about the year 1816. Of my grandfather's sisters, Jane, Elizabeth and Margaret, Jane married Richard Price of Russell, Va. (Note by Michael A. Dye: I believe this to actually be Thomas Price, brother of Richard Price. Richard Price is known to have married Priscilla Crabtree and names her in his will which can be viewed here. Thomas Price has been reported to have been married to Jane Laughlin and names his wife as Jane in his will which can be viewed here.); Margaret married Samuel Vance, a remarkable man who survived her some years, after rearing a numerous family, and died about the year 1834, aged about 90 years, near Abingdon, Virginia. His sons, Robert, Samuel and Andrew were merchants of Clarksville, Tennessee, now all dead. James, one of his sons, lives near Abingdon. John another, lives near Memphis, Tennessee.
Elizabeth, my grandfathers’ sister married John Sharp of Sullivan, Co. Tennessee. They were married early after or about the time of the removals of the families from Pennsylvania. He was a soldier of the Revolution, fought at Kings Mountain, and was with my grandfather, John Duncan (properly Dunkin), a member of the Convention of North Carolina for ratifying the Constitution of the United States in 1788. The place where they then lived, was at that day, believed to be in what is now, and which then included all East Tennessee, Washington Co. Tennessee, then North Carolina. By an honorable life of frugality and industry as a farmer, he made a large fortune. His wife, who died before him, was deranged for some years before her death. He had a number of daughters-Sally, married to Thomas McChesney of Washington, Va. now both dead; Ann, married to Dreron Longacre of Sullivan Co., Tenn., both alive and surrounded by a numerous family of married and prosperous children; Margaret, married to the late Col. George W. Craig of Knox Co. Ky.; Marianne, married to Thomas McConnel of Washington Co. Va. now dead though her husband survives and is married again; Clarrissa, married to Mr. Cowan, of Sullivan Co. Tenn, who is, I believe also dead. He had no sons.
One of my father's sisters, Hannah, the youngest, married Wm. Easley, a worthy man, who died soon after the late war, in Whitley Co. Ky., leaving his widow, still living, and a number of children. His son, James Hervey Easley, was a member of the Kentucky legislature (of the H. of R.) from Whitley in 1855-45 (see letters from him in 1844-5 in my bound collections).
My father's sister, Jane, I think, married Maj. Samuel McGaughey, of North Alabama. A lame son of his named William visited me several times while I lived in Rutherford, Tenn. His son, Maj. McGaughey, lives in Greene Co. Tenn. and has often represented that county in the Assembly. In 1832-3, I drew up for him, which he introduced and had passed, perhaps it was 1831, strong resolutions against the United States Bank, and approving General Jackson's policy.
My father's sister, Sally, married a man named Robert Boyd, also of Blount Co. Tenn. She died early, perhaps childless, and I have never hear of what became of Boyd. I can just remember to have seen him at my grandfather's when I was an infant.
Martha, another sister of my father, married Maj. George Singleton, who removed at an early time from Sullivan Co. Tenn. to Wayne Co. Ky. He lived there many years, much esteemed, and represented the District in which Wayne County was included, one term of four years in the State Senate, at, or before the close of which, about the year 1809 or 1810, he removed to Louisiana, Parish of Oppeloosas or Attakapos. He succeeded well there, on the Lafourche I think as a sugar planter, but he and his wife both died soon after the late war. He was a Philadelphian by birth, and inherited from an uncle, a batchelor of Blountville, Tennessee, who was all his days a merchant's clerk, a good property and a fine library of the best old English standard works. The uncle's name was John Williams. From this library, in those day a rare thing in Western Virginia, East Tennessee, or Kentucky south of Green River, he became a cultivated and well informed man. He left several sons, with whom I have no acquaintance. One named George, I think is still in Louisana. Another, Owen I believe to be his name, came back to Wayne, and possibly still lives there. He married a daughter of John Laughlin, a son of my father's uncle Alexander L. who married a Miss Newton in Virginia or East Tennessee and removed to Knox Co. Ky. first, and then to Wayne, and finally perhaps to Red River, Louisana.
In this tedious, desultory, and confused way, I have gone through "the books of generations" of many, but not half, the numeous kindred of my family; a matter which may, possibly, some day to some of my children, or to myself in old age, be of some interest in taking a retrospect of old things. There is a good deal more to be added, for I have not come home to my own immediate family yet- nor to some of the Kings, Porters, Berrys, McFerrins etc. who will yet be in some way noticed according to the best recollections I have.
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| Washington County, Virginia |
My father, John Laughlin, was born on November 4th, 1766.
My mother, Sarah Duncan, was born on Sept. 3rd. 1773 in what is now Russell County, Virginia.
My great grandfather's son, John, married Mary Price, as has been stated, and had a numerous family of children. His final residence, about nine miles southwest of Abingdon, the farm having been inherited by his youngest son, Alexander now (1845) being a citizen of Coles Co. Illinois, is now, with the old farm of 7 or 8 hundred acres the property of John Thomas of Sullivan Co. Tennessee; and on the final adjustment of the boundary lines, by Mr. Taylor and other commissioners on the part of the States of Tennessee and Virginia, was ascertained to lie in the former state. In the time of the excise taxes of Washington's and Adams' administrations, it was claimed by both states, and lay in a strip of country a few miles between different lines, run by different boards of commissioners and neither state by law having exclusive jurisdiction, and even the Acts of Congress being enforced in neither between these lines because of some defect, the whole country, and every farm where water could be procured, was the site of a distillery. The repeal of the excise laws put an end to this state of things.
*For an account of the hardships of the first settlers on Holston and Clinch, and where Abingdon now stands, see Benj. Sharp's letter of June 15th 1842, in 1 Vol. Williams ' American Pioneers, published at Cincinnati, page 333.
The sons of my grandfather were Thomas, who died in June 1844 in Whitley Co. Kentucky at an advanced age, and married my mother's elder sister, Elizabeth Duncan who is yet living. They reared a numerous family of children. Thomas, their eldest son, is a citizen of Philadelphia, Monroe County East Tennessee, who has a numerous family of sons and daughters-one of whom, his son, Marshall Ney, a graduate of East Tennessee University is now (March 1845) a student of law at my house and in my office at Hickory Hill, Warren Co. Tennessee. My uncle's second son, John Sharp, is an old batchelor of my age, and lives with his mother in Kentucky. He was a member of the Kentucky Assembly in 1823, in Old and New Court times. His other sons, Alexander, Joseph etc. live in Missouri. His eldest daughter married Andrew Craig of Knox Co. Ky. about 1808 or 1809, and is now dead. His second daughter, Jane, married Isaac King, and lives in Whitley Co., Kentucky. His daughter, Eliza, and other children, have emigrated and settled in the west after marriage, but where, I do not know.
My Uncle Thomas fought gallantly in the Revolution at Kings Mountain, and commanded a Battalion in Col. Micah Taul's Regiment of Kentucky volunteers at the Battle of the Thames in the late war.
Alexander, the third son of my grandfather, married Lavinia King, daughter of the late venerable William King of Sullivan Co., Tenn., and with a numerous family, lives in Illinois. Many letters from him will be found in my bound books of letters from friends.
My grand uncles, James and Alexander, died, the former about 1811 in Washington Co. Virginia, at the place at the mouth of Spring Creek where Jonathan King, Esq. now lives. His children married and removed West. His two sons, James and Alexander, died in Rutherford Co. Tenn. many years ago. The latter, Alexander, died in Sullivan Co. Tenn. near Paperville, about the year 1816. Of my grandfather's sisters, Jane, Elizabeth and Margaret, Jane married Richard Price of Russell, Va. (Note by Michael A. Dye: I believe this to actually be Thomas Price, brother of Richard Price. Richard Price is known to have married Priscilla Crabtree and names her in his will which can be viewed here. Thomas Price has been reported to have been married to Jane Laughlin and names his wife as Jane in his will which can be viewed here.); Margaret married Samuel Vance, a remarkable man who survived her some years, after rearing a numerous family, and died about the year 1834, aged about 90 years, near Abingdon, Virginia. His sons, Robert, Samuel and Andrew were merchants of Clarksville, Tennessee, now all dead. James, one of his sons, lives near Abingdon. John another, lives near Memphis, Tennessee.
Elizabeth, my grandfathers’ sister married John Sharp of Sullivan, Co. Tennessee. They were married early after or about the time of the removals of the families from Pennsylvania. He was a soldier of the Revolution, fought at Kings Mountain, and was with my grandfather, John Duncan (properly Dunkin), a member of the Convention of North Carolina for ratifying the Constitution of the United States in 1788. The place where they then lived, was at that day, believed to be in what is now, and which then included all East Tennessee, Washington Co. Tennessee, then North Carolina. By an honorable life of frugality and industry as a farmer, he made a large fortune. His wife, who died before him, was deranged for some years before her death. He had a number of daughters-Sally, married to Thomas McChesney of Washington, Va. now both dead; Ann, married to Dreron Longacre of Sullivan Co., Tenn., both alive and surrounded by a numerous family of married and prosperous children; Margaret, married to the late Col. George W. Craig of Knox Co. Ky.; Marianne, married to Thomas McConnel of Washington Co. Va. now dead though her husband survives and is married again; Clarrissa, married to Mr. Cowan, of Sullivan Co. Tenn, who is, I believe also dead. He had no sons.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
My father's sister, Jane, I think, married Maj. Samuel McGaughey, of North Alabama. A lame son of his named William visited me several times while I lived in Rutherford, Tenn. His son, Maj. McGaughey, lives in Greene Co. Tenn. and has often represented that county in the Assembly. In 1832-3, I drew up for him, which he introduced and had passed, perhaps it was 1831, strong resolutions against the United States Bank, and approving General Jackson's policy.
(Our Ancestor)
My father's sister, Sally, married a man named Robert Boyd, also of Blount Co. Tenn. She died early, perhaps childless, and I have never hear of what became of Boyd. I can just remember to have seen him at my grandfather's when I was an infant.
Martha, another sister of my father, married Maj. George Singleton, who removed at an early time from Sullivan Co. Tenn. to Wayne Co. Ky. He lived there many years, much esteemed, and represented the District in which Wayne County was included, one term of four years in the State Senate, at, or before the close of which, about the year 1809 or 1810, he removed to Louisiana, Parish of Oppeloosas or Attakapos. He succeeded well there, on the Lafourche I think as a sugar planter, but he and his wife both died soon after the late war. He was a Philadelphian by birth, and inherited from an uncle, a batchelor of Blountville, Tennessee, who was all his days a merchant's clerk, a good property and a fine library of the best old English standard works. The uncle's name was John Williams. From this library, in those day a rare thing in Western Virginia, East Tennessee, or Kentucky south of Green River, he became a cultivated and well informed man. He left several sons, with whom I have no acquaintance. One named George, I think is still in Louisana. Another, Owen I believe to be his name, came back to Wayne, and possibly still lives there. He married a daughter of John Laughlin, a son of my father's uncle Alexander L. who married a Miss Newton in Virginia or East Tennessee and removed to Knox Co. Ky. first, and then to Wayne, and finally perhaps to Red River, Louisana.
In this tedious, desultory, and confused way, I have gone through "the books of generations" of many, but not half, the numeous kindred of my family; a matter which may, possibly, some day to some of my children, or to myself in old age, be of some interest in taking a retrospect of old things. There is a good deal more to be added, for I have not come home to my own immediate family yet- nor to some of the Kings, Porters, Berrys, McFerrins etc. who will yet be in some way noticed according to the best recollections I have.
Jane Laughlin and Alexander McGaughey married in 1784 in North Carolina, and both died before the 1850 Census. More about the McGaugheys and their life in Alabama in an upcoming post.
Their daughter, Sarah married John Mose Ewing on the 12th of December 1816 in Blount County, North Carolina.
They are listed on the 1850 US Census of Itawamba County, Mississippi, with 3 sons: Henry, Moses, and Gilbert, their five older children having already left home.
Their second daughter, Rebecca, married Gilbert Dulaney in Itawamba County on the 13th of November 1838. They lived in Arkansas and Texas before returning for good to Mississippi.
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| Rebecca Ewing Dulaney |
Rebecca's daughter Elizabeth Buenvista Dulaney, who was born in Texas, married John Mead Lesir Brewer in Itawamba, Mississippi, on the 10th of October 1870, but within 5 or 6 years they uprooted their family and went to Texas, settling in Johnson County, where they are buried.
Other Resources:
Joel Hager on Rootsweb World Connect
How We Are Related:
John Luke Laughlin 1710-1783
John Luke Laughlin 1736-1812
Jane Laughlin McGaughey 1764-1847
Sarah McGaughey Ewing 1800-1857
Rebecca Ewing Dulaney 1820-1894
Elizabeth Buenvista Dulaney Brewer 1848-1935
Holland Nathaniel Brewer 1871-1950
Ina Beatrice Brewer Johnson 1900-1978
Marion Allan Johnson Speakman 1923-1998
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