Part of my ongoing series, in which I attempt to use what logic and sources are available to me to determine the relationships between the early McFatters and McPhatters in the United States.
Who is the father of William M. McPhatter (born c. 1810)?
William, a resident of Robeson co. NC, was married to Argent Harden, who's father Frederick was a Revolutionary War veteran and a bit of a colorful character. William and Argent were the parents of a large family of children, born between 1835-1858.
But who were William's parents and siblings?
Ruled out:
Archibald, as Archibald's only son (also named William) died in his youth in 1848.
Duncan seems to have had no children.
John had a son named William (born 1805) who moved to Florida.
Daniel seems to have had two sons, born between 1790-1800, who are thusly too old to have been William.
Niven and Alexander had sons named William, and it's unlikely they would've left an older son behind in NC when they moved their own families to Tennessee and then to Mississippi.
Archibald had all daughters and his will makes no mention of any son named William.
Alexander had a younger son named William.
Possibilities:
William of Horry co. SC has a son under 10 in 1820. I theorize he's the father of Daniel (founder of the McFather branch of Georgia) but it is possible that the boy is William M. instead.
Thomas D. McFatter was resident in Alabama by 1827. As no census has been found for him it's difficult to say whether he had any children at all.
Could William M. McPhatter be an out-of-wedlock son of one of the numerous McPhatter women?
Was Obedience McPhatter Harden a sister of William M. McPhatter?
Obedience (born about 1813) married Alfred Harden, who seems to be a brother of William M. McPhatter's wife Argent. Was this a double sibling marriage? She's the correct age to be a sister of William, but as mentioned before, there's no obvious candidate to be their father.
Who was James McPhatter (born about 1817)?
James appears on the 1840 census in Bladen county while William first appears in the same census in neighboring Robeson county. The name James is a novelty for the McPhatter/McFatter clan, and no one by this name predates him. He is also the patriarch of a large branch of the family. Is he a brother of Obedience and/or William? Could he be an older son of Alexander?
And lastly, who is Alexander M. McFatter?
This Alexander was born around 1807 and seems to be the same man of that name who died in the Civil War in 1863. He may have married twice; marriages are recorded to a Mary McNeil in 1838, and Dorothy Lockemier in 1842, the second of whom appears with him on the censuses. He named a son of his James. A descendant of his shares a small but still noticeable DNA match with myself, which would seem to indicate he's a close relative of my own ancestor, an older Alexander (born c. 1770) but probably not a direct descendant of him.
