McClure, Donegal

"Uncle Benny" McClure, 1812-1896
Hubby's McClure ancestors were originally from the Isle of Skye in Scotland, a sept that was part of the MacLeod clan of Harris. The clans gathered at Dunvegan Castle, a beautiful place I hope to visit one day.

Thanks to the well-researched book Following the McClures--Donegal to Botetourt, I know the 17th century McClure ancestors left Scotland for religious and economic reasons and settled in County Donegal. The most likely patriarch of hubby's line was James Andrew McClure, father of Halbert McClure(1684-1754). Halbert was hubby's 5th great grandfather and, happily for us, the journey taker who led our McClure ancestors to America in the 1730s. (For more about the exodus of people from Northern Ireland to Pennsylvania and onward to Virginia and other colonies, read about "Scots-Irish/Irish Genealogy" here.)

Halbert McClure and Agnes (Steele?) had 6 children: Samuel (b. 1709), Moses (b. 1710), Nathaniel (b. 1712), Alexander (b. 1717), Hannah (b. 1719), and John (b. 1725). Halbert's son Alexander McClure was hubby's 4th great-granddaddy. Alexander's son John McClure and his wife Ann McFall, who married in 1801, were hubby's 3rd great-grandparents. John and Ann must have had other children, and I connected with a McFall researcher who had researched Elizabeth McClure and Jane McClure, plus hubby's 2d great-granddaddy, Benjamin McClure (1812-1896), born in Adams County, OH, and a pioneer in Wabash, IN.

Knowing about these other siblings of Benjamin McClure answered a question I had about the name of one of Benjamin's children, Train C. McClure, a Civil War veteran in the Union Army. He was named for his uncle, Train Caldwell, who married Jane McClure in 1831 in Fayette, Indiana.

Benjamin McClure and Sarah Denning's children:
Susan, Theodore, Mary Ann, John N., Martha Jane, Train C., Elizabeth D., Addison D., William M., Amanda "Callie," Anna Adaline

My posts about the McClure family include:
  • The Hoosiers in our family, including a man named Train (McClure)
  • Lt. Theodore W. McClure's Civil War record
  • William Madison McClure died of typhoid fever
  • "Uncle Benny" McClure saves a coon on the Sabbath
  • Saluting Marian McClure Wood
  • William Madison McClure and Margaret Jane Larimer McClure of Wabash
  • Uncle Benny McClure sets up a Facebook page
  • Sarah Denning McClure's obit
  • Mrs. Brice Larimer McClure's obit (Floyda Mabel Steiner)
  • Mrs. Brice Larimer McClure's butterscotch brownies
  • Brice Larimer McClure's business card--with family notations!
  • What it was like when Benjamin McClure was born in 1812
  • Portraits of Brice Larimer McClure and Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure
  • Mary Ann McClure Cook, daughter of Benjamin McClure and wife of Rev. Cook
  • What happened in 1878, the year Brice Larimer McClure was born
  • What happened in 1909, the year Marian Jane McClure was born
  • The four children of Margaret Jane Larimer and Wm Madison McClure
  • Thanks to local genealogy resources, Mary Ann McClure Cook's death cert
  • Online libraries lead to Halbert McClure hints
  • The McClures in Adams County (court cases and more)
  • Marian Jane McClure and Edgar James Wood have their first baby
  • Marian and Edgar visit graves in Upper Sandusky, OH
  • Ann McFall and John McClure were married in Virginia
  • Photo of Margaret Larimer McClure, her daughter Lucy, and son-in-law John deVelde
  • Jonas Shank, husband of great-grand aunt Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank, walked 9 miles in 90 min at age 88. 
  • Train C. McClure's full name was Train Caldwell McClure and he was probably named after his father's brother-in-law (Train's uncle). 
  • Georgiana Olivette McClure was the daughter of Hugh Benjamin McClure and his young wife, Olivette van Roe. Georgiana was my hubby's 1st cousin 1x. 
  • Brice Larimer McClure is buried in Old Mission Cemetery, Upper Sandusky, OH. I found him living in Upper Sandusky, OH, in the 1950 US Census, retired and soon to be selling the home to move to Willoughby, Ohio.
  • My only photo of Margaret Jane Larimer McClure, her daughter Lucy, and son-in-law John.
  • Pioneers Benjamin McClure, Sarah Denning McClure, and the Friends of Falls Cemetery in Wabash, Indiana.
  • Marian Jane McClure's birth record from 1909 -- is where?
  • Planning a family history booklet about Marian McClure's idea to bring her three grown children and their spouses and children together in Venice, Italy. Not enough interest from descendants, so on back burner in 2022.
  • Theodore Wilson McClure married Louisa Jane Austin on April 15, 1858.
  • The McClure family tradition of decorating ancestors' graves on Decoration Day.
  • Brice Larimer McClure knew 6 generations of his family, including his grandparents on the Larimer side and his grandparents on the McClure side.
  • After 150 years in America, the McClure family evolved from pioneer farmers to city folk.
  • Maybe new clue about Halbert McClure's father, James Andrew McClure (1660-?). - Not really, just unsubstantiated detail.
  • Reading historical fiction for insight into time and place of Wabash, Indiana, where Benjamin McClure and Sarah Denning McClure lived.
  • Benjamin and wife Sarah were early settlers in Wabash, and he was involved in organizing an "early settlers" group.
  • Sarah Denning McClure's father was Job Denning Sr, an early Ohio pioneer like the settlers who had "Ohio fever" in the David McCollough book, "The Pioneers."
  • Hubby's great uncle Hugh Benjamin McClure was an inventor and an entrepreneur in Peoria, ILL. He and his wife Olivette van Roe married on Dec. 17, 1902 in Wabash, Indiana, on a cold winter day.
  • Marian Jane McClure Wood's ceramic sculptures will one day pass to her descendants, complete with the story of their creation.
  • Two McClure men worked for railroads in late 1800s/early 1900s.
  • John N. McClure married Rebecca Jane Coble on New Year's Eve of 1863 in Wabash, Indiana. His Civil War service is of interest to descendants!
  • Curating photos of Wood and McClure ancestors to post on online family trees.
  • How I learned more about the background of Ira Caldwell, whose aunt married a McClure. Ira served nearly 3 years in the Union Army.
  • Pvt Train Caldwell McClure's Find a Grave memorial now has a link to his Fold3 memorial page.
  • John McClure's father, Alexander McClure, was already on the WikiTree one-tree platform, with sources, allowing for greater collaboration.
  • Some McClure ancestors and in-laws are on WikiTree, where I'm adopting orphaned profiles.
  • Finally, a FAN club link shows how Brice Larimer McClure met Floyda Mabel Steiner.
In searching for current-day cousins from John McClure's line, I've had only a little success so far. Still looking!

14 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 06, 2014

    Hi,
    Looking for info on Benjamin McClure born 1796 in Ohio married Nancy Watts. Several McClures live by each other in Ross County, OH in 1820. A couple older than the rest. I believe my Benjamin is there. I also know that Joseph McClure married Nancy Watts sister, Kesiah Watts. They all ended up in Indiana. Benjamin is working in grocery. Can't pinpoint his parents. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Toni... tdfarm@plix.com

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  2. I descend from Moses and Eleanor (McPherson) McClure of Boone County, KY; their son, Mark McClure and Elizabeth (Leavell) McClure -Elizabeth was first married to Mark's older brother John. Mark and Elizabeth had a son, Charles W. H. McClure in Boone County, KY, then moved to Pike County, IN with him and Elizabeth's children from her first marriage.
    Charles William Henderson McClure m. 1st; Lucinda Allen, daughter of Thomas and Adeline (townsend) Allen; m. 2nd, Lucinda's sister, Martha (Allen) Barr, widow of James Barr; m.3rd: Mary Ellen (Kinman) Woodall, widow of Anderson Woodall.
    My grandmother, Sadie (Woodall) Pride was the daughter of John Cleveland Woodall (Anderson and Mary Ellen (Kinman) Woodall's son) and Jessie Lucille McClure (Charles W. H. and Martha (Allen) Barr McClure's daughter.
    There is a McClure Cemetery in Algiers, Pike County, IN. Many of the above are buried there.
    You can email me if you like. I enjoy comparing notes with cousins and would like to meet more of them at our annual Woodall/McClure reunion.
    sonyric214@hotmail.com

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  3. I have family tree on-line. Would certainly love to compare notes. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/McClure-1414

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  4. Thomas Baird RoulstoneAugust 20, 2016

    My grandmother was Eliza McClure Baird (1869-1938) married to Robert Roulston in Donegal. Eliza's mother was Anne Donaghey (married to Thomas Baird). Anne's father was David Donaghey, but we do not know her mother's name (David's wife). There is a suggestion it could be Elizabeth McClure, but we can find no documentation of a child Anne from the marriage of David Donaghey and Elizabeth McClure from St. Johnston Donegal in the 1840s. Can you help?

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    Replies
    1. Hi and thanks for writing a comment. Sorry to say I don't see Roulston or Donaghey in the McClure book that is my main source of info for the Donegal branch (see above for the link to this book online). My husband's McClure family left Donegal in the early 1700s and I haven't investigated any relatives they might have left behind. I hope you find Anne in a McClure family tree or birth record somewhere!

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  5. AnonymousJune 21, 2017

    Hello Marian,
    I am the 4th great grandson of Michael R. McClure possibly born in Rockbridge Virginia abt. 1795 and lived in Adams County Ohio. He married an Elizabeth Colter (children James C, John B, Moses M, Eliza Ann, Nancy Jane and Hannah B). I have run into a brick wall in trying to figure out who Michael's parents were. I have seen a few McClure names in Adams County but can't make a connection. If you could give me some advice on what sources to look into I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you
    -Michael
    my email is johnmichaelcovert@yahoo.com

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  6. Hi. Halbert McClure was my 5x great grandfather! I keep coming across accounts of his family being captured by Indians and some of the children were killed but I'm never clear about which children and the dates of death just don't seem to match. Do you know anything about this?

    Joyce Joyce614@hotmail.com

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  7. The father of my children was a McClure whose ancestors were from the Letterkenny area of County Donegal, but they did not leave Ireland until the 1800s. As far as I know, the most distant ancestors my kids have found is a John McClure b. 1802 Letterkenny and married Mary Margaret McLay there in 1826. Very interesting history - I've sent my two genealogically-inclined children the link to your blog.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your note, Joanne. Whether any McClure ancestors remained in Donegal, I have no idea. But perhaps your children will find an interesting clue?! Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  8. Hello; I'm looking for the father of John McClure (1630-1705) born in Raphoe Parish, County Donegal, Ireland. Father of: James Arther Andrew McClure. I have went back from by Dad, Charles McClure (1929- still living), son of Sylvertor McClure (1903-1971), son of Charles Fremont McClure (1869-1948), son of Newton Jasper McClure (1848-1920), son of Alexander McClure (1806-1862), son of Moses McClure (1760-1810), son of Nathaniel McClure (1712-1761), son of Halbert Samuel McClure (1690-1789), son of James Arthur Andrew McClure (1660-1732) son of John McClure (1630-1705)not able to find his father. Thanks

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    1. I think you can check the McClure book that I mentioned in the second paragraph, see above, but it probably doesn't go back as far as you require. I don't know the other names you listed, unfortunately. Best of luck! Thanks for reading and leaving a comment!

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  9. Hi Marian. My oldest McClure ancestor is Alexander McClure (abt 1795-1885) born in Raphoe, Donegal, Ireland, emigrated to Australia 1861, and died there 1885. He is my 4xgreat-grandfather.

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  10. Looking for information on Halbert's son, John McClure. He is my ancestor. He fathered Samuel McClure, born in VA. He apparently had 3 - 4 wives and not sure which one was the mom. Any information is appreciated.

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    Replies
    1. Have you checked the McClure book? That's the best source of genealogical info for this family. Looking at that book, Halbert's son John Sr. had two wives, One was Mary Malcolm, one was Mary Allen. Numerous children, including more than one Samuel McClure in next generations. Can't untangle this easily but perhaps you can consult the McClure book to try to trace which line is most likely your family? Best of luck.

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