John McCreery (1711 - 1768)

Born 1711 in Ireland

Husband of Agnes (Crawford) McCreery — married 1730 in Dublin, Ireland

Descendants

Died 1768 at about age 57 in Bath, Virginia

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Biography

John McCreery (ca 1711 - 1768), according to some traditions, was a son of James McCreery. One story is that John was born in Scotland and came to Ireland with his brother, James. Another is that John was born in Ireland. History states that he was a carpenter and that he married Agnes Nancy Crawford. However, some say that the marriage took place in Dublin and others say that John and Nancy eloped and were married on the ship that brought them to America in 1732, along with the family of John's brother, James McCreery. They are said to have first settled in Maryland where they lived for twenty years before moving to that part of old Augusta County, Virginia that would become Bath County in 1790.

The pioneer McCreary had also several daughters. Elizabeth married Colonel George Wilson in 1750. Jane married Major Andrew Donally, a pioneer of Greenbrier and Kanawha, and whose fort near Lewisburg was the scene of a battle with the Indians in 1778. Nancy—named for her mother, Nancy Crawford, of Dublin, Ireland—married James Huston, who went to Kentucky in 1783 and died at his home near Covington in 1818, at the age of ninety-five. The wife of John McCreary, Jr., was a daughter of Wallace Estill.

Just when the McCreery family actually moved from Maryland to Virginia is uncertain. John may well have made plans to move his family to Virginia well before the move itself. This is shown by the fact that the surveying of land in what is now Bath County begin in earnest in 1745. One historical note says that, "on the last day of March, 1746,…the surveyors returned to the Cowpasture…and laid out parcels for Joseph Watson, Andrew Muldrock and William Daugherty." The next day, "they continued down the river…surveying for John Walker, James Mayse and Robert Crockett. Meanwhile a detachment of the surveying party was at work far above, laying off selections for James Scott, John McCreery, William Gillespie, William Lewis, James Jackson, James Simpson, William Black, Robert Abercrombie…."

We know that John McCreery had a survey in "the eastern sources of the Bullpasture" and that he had another, "on the Cowpasture, immediately above the mouth of the Bullpasture." In 1750 there was a minor lawsuit in which John McCreery sought to recover the cost of a survey from John Justice. This would seem to indicate that the McCreerys were living in Augusta County by 1750 if not earlier.

In the spring of 1753 John McCreery built a mill on the Cowpasture River just below Ebbing Spring. On 20 August of the same year John McCreery qualified as "Captain of the Horse", meaning that he was authorized to form a militia unit of horsemen. We know that he was a carpenter and builder and that he lived very near the current town of Williamsville.

John McCreery, a carpenter, was a settler of some means. He died on his homestead in 1768, after dividing it between his sons John and Robert, both of whom were prominent in both civil and military life in this county before moving to Kentucky.

John McCreery wrote his will on 23 May 1768. It was proved on 21 November 1769 with his sons John, Jr. and Robert as executors. These same sons, John, Jr. and Robert, both served as officers during the Revolutionary War.

The McCreerys are regarded as "Scotch Irish Pioneers". There was an influx at the time of their arrival. New Scotch Irish immigrants arrived and settled all along the east coast. The Scotch Irish of the Carolinas came from Ireland and then into Pennsylvania, then through Virginia and North Carolina to the Waxhaws in South Carolina.

Some of the noted Scotch Irish surnames are: The McCrerys (or McCreary/McCreery), Greens, Hannahs, Abernathys, Millers, Beards, Wellses, Coffees, Gishams, Bartons, Youngs, McClures, Adamses, and the McDaids who settled in Newberry between the Broad and the Saluda.

After them came the Caldwells, Thompsons, Youngs, Fairs, Carmichaels, Hunters, McClellans, Greggs, Wilsons, Conners, Neals, Camerons, Flemings, McCallas, Montgomerys, Sloans, Spencers, Wrights, Glenns, Chalmerses, McCrackenses, and Grlasgows.

It was at the Nazareth Church in Spartanburg where the Andersons, Millers, Barrys, Moores, Collinses, Thompsons, Vernons, Pearsons, Jamisons, Dodds, Eays, Pennys, McMahons, Nicols, Nesbitts, and Patons were noted as inhabitants.

In the bounds of Abbeville and Edgefield were the Meriwethers, Wardlaws, Moors, Browns, McAlasters, Logans and Calhouns.

Many of these surnames survive everywhere along the rivers and in the mountain settlements.

Sources

• McCreery, H. C. (1930). McCreery, genealogy of McCreery from the year 1700. Salt Lake City, UT: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah 1974. (Pls contact owner of this profile if you would like scanned copies of the book.)
• O'Nealls. Mills's Statistics of South Carolina, p. 639.
• O'Neall's Annals of Newberry, pp. 47, 49
• COLDHAM, PETER WILSON. The Kings Passengers to Maryland and Virginia. Westminister, MD: Family Line Publications, 1997. pages 288 and 450.
• Southern Presbyterian Review, Vol. 14, p. 482. Quoted by McCrady
• Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940
• U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970

Secondary Sources:

• http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:John_McCreary_%2816%29