Thomas Clevenger (abt. 1740 - 1810)

Born about 10 May 1740 in Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey

Ancestors

Husband of Psyche (Pitman) Clevenger — married 7 Aug 1762 in Jamestown, Shenandoah, Virginia

Descendants

Died 15 Feb 1810 at about age 69 in Newport, Cocke, Tennessee, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: William Brown [send private message]

Biography

Thomas Clevenger has English ancestors.

Thomas Clevenger lived in Appalachia, in Tennessee.

Name and Birth

Find A Grave: Memorial #47653251 gives Thomas Clevenger^[1] a birth date of 1746 and says he died at 64 years old on 1 Feb 1810.[4][6] That would be an accurate age for 1746, but there is no evidence showing that birth date. There is no other source found that says he was 64 years old when he died and no headstone to help us. He is even given a 1750 birth date by AGBI giving as reference Official Registration of Officers and men of New Jersey, edited by Will S. Stryker of Trenton, New Jersey in 1872.[5] This would be completely in error. He may have given a false age, as many young men did in order to get into the war. The Tennessee GenWeb project says "The husband of Sitchie Clevenger listed above was Thomas Clevenger who died in Feb 1810, and is probably buried here. Thomas and Sitchie migrated to Cocke County from Shenandoah County, Virginia and were the progenitors of all the Clevengers in Cocke County. They were members of the Big Pigeon Baptist Church. Sources: Minutes of the Big Pigeon baptist church and Cocke county cemetery book."

The place of birth often given as New Jersey is also problematic. His father, George settled in Fredrick County, Virginia early in the 1700's, probably coming from New Jersey at that time. There is no record of him going back to New Jersey. It would be more logical that he was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia as the Clevenger web site suggests. There is evidence that Thomas' brother Asa went back to New Jersey and then returned to Virginia where he died.

Other sources say Oct 1739 or 1740. However, there is no known headstone for him. There may be one, but there is no writing discernible to help with identity. Since his wife was born in 1743, any of the dates could be feasible, but the 1740 one is the most commonly used. If you consider the 1746 one used by the family web site, then he would have been a little younger than his wife, Psyche, which is not impossible and he would have been 18 when his first child was born. Neither is that impossible.

Military

Thomas served during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) as a Private. They lived in Jamestown, Shenandoah Virginia at this time and it is said that Psyche worked on behalf of the soldiers there while Thomas served in the Continental Army. Before he relocated to Tennessee, he was a large land owner in Virginia.[2]

Marriage

Thomas married Psyche Pitman on 7 August 1762 in Jamestown, Shenandoah, Virginia.

Children of the Clevenger-Pitman Marriage

1. Elias Clevenger
2. Jesse Clevenger
3. Samuel Clevenger
4. Else Clevenger
5. Thomas S. Clevenger
6. Richard Clevenger
7. Zachariah Clevenger
8. Bartlett Clevenger
9. Rachel Clevenger
10. John Clevenger
11. George Clevenger

He and Psyche moved to Frederick County, Virginia by about 1782. In 1783, 1785, 1796 he is shown on state enumerations and tax lists in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. Sometime in late 1795 he and Psyche migrated to Jefferson County, Tennessee. They joined the Big Pigeon Baptist Church on 2 January 1796 by a letter.[6] The reason for the two different names for this county in the following years is that Cocke County was made from Jefferson County in 1797.[6]^[2]

Death and Burial

He died probably in February of 1810. However, there is no real documentation of that. Family trees on ancestry.com agree, but they offer no proof. He is probably buried in the graveyard that has his name, The Thomas Clevenger Family Cemetery in Cocke County, Tennessee, USA. His wife's gravestone is there and it is identifiable.[4][6]

Sources

1. US and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
2. US Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783
3. Virginia Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1607-1890
4. Web: Tennessee Find A Grave Index
5. AGBI
6. O'Dell, Ruth Webb. Over the Misty Blue Hills, the Story of Cocke County, Tennessee. Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1951.

1. ↑ The name "Clevenger" is occupational and means key bearer. Therefore words like treasurer, lawyer, anything that requires one to record and/or store important things. According to the President of the Excelsior Springs, Missouri Museum and Archives, There were Clevenger family members with William the Conqueror when he came from Normandy to take over England in 1066. The name began to be seen in Wales and Ireland in the early 1400's. See link to Clevengers web site.
2. ↑ All of the Cocke County records burned when the Newport, TN court house burned down in 1876.

Acknowledgements

1. WikiTree profile Clevenger-107 created through the import of The Brown_s of Council Bluffs (1).ged on Sep 25, 2011 by William Brown.
2. WikiTree profile Clevenger-143 created through the import of The Brown_s of Council Bluffs (1).ged on Sep 25, 2011 by William Brown.
3. 5th Great Grandfather of husband Darlene Scott Kerr. Edited GEDCOMs, added bio and sources.