Thomas McCray (1781 - 1867)

Born 2 Dec 1781 in Jonesborough, Washington, Tennessee, United States [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Moore) McCray — married about 1803 in Tennessee, United States [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 1 Aug 1867 at age 85 in Lawrence County, Missouri, USA

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Biography

He was born on 02 Dec 1781 in Jonesborough, Washington County, Tennessee, USA and his parents were Sarah (Nodding) and Daniel McCray. His parents are both buried in Cherokee Community Cemetery in Jonesborough, Washington County, Tennessee.

Thomas McCray married about 1803 in Tennessee, USA to Jane Moore.

He died on 01 Aug 1867 in Lawrence County, Missouri, USA and was buried at Rock Prarie Cemetary in Halltown Missouri, USA. ^{[1] [2]}

Research Notes

These notes were imported via World Family Tree ...

Thomas McCray served in the War of 1812, first as an orderly sergeant, later as an ensign under the company command of his brother, Capt. Henry McCray. He was mustered into service at Knoxsville, Tennessee, in January, 1814 for a term of 6 months, and was honorably discharged in May 1814; also at Knoxsville after 4 months of active service.

He received bounty land for his military service.

The McCrays moved their family to Monroe County, Tennessee, probably in 1826 as the record shows Thomas McCray purchased land there in Sep and Dec 1826. The family is listed in the 1830 USA Census for Monroe County. Then soon after March 1849, the family migrated to Lawrence County, Missouri, accompanied by other family members.

Monroe County deed book-C p71 on 23 March 1853: Thomas McCray now of Monroe County but intending shortly to move to Missouri: to son Daniel, power of attorney".

County Deed book-P p111 on 31 August 1853: Thomas McCray formerly of Monroe County, now of Lawrence County, Missouri, by atty Daniel McCray to Jacob Houts ... (land transaction)".

1850 USA Census of Lawrence County, Missouri included Thomas and Jane. Living with them is their daugther and her two children, Isabella Gilbreath, age 3, b: TN, and Charles F. Gilbreath, age 1 b: MO. Jane married Preston or (Maston) Cannon on 10 Feb. 1855 in Lawrence County but her two children were still with the McCray's in the 1860 census.

McCray died on 1 August 1867 in Lawrence County, Missouri. Letters were granted on his estate 13 Sep 1867. He left no will nor list of heirs. Jane McCray died in 1874 also in Lawrence County.

sources:

Deeds from Madisonville, Tennessee

ABC Marriage Book, Lawrence County MO;

USA Census for Monroe County TN and Lawrence County MO, 1850, 1860 & 1870.

Complied by Virginia Allen Oct 1987.

Documentation of Children and Grandchildren

Thomas McCray's land was auctioned in a public sale on the 11th of December in 1874. ^[3] The details of this sale in the Lawrence County, Missouri, deed records include a list of "the heirs at law and legal representatives of Thomas McCray, deceased".

Birth dates for many of Thomas McCray's family were recorded by descendant Sarah Literal Watson in a family history notebook as noted in the sources below.

Some confusion exists because daughter Jane McCray (Gilbreath Cannon) was enumerated as "Elizabeth" in the 1850 census in Lawrence County, Missouri, and Thomas already had a daughter of that name who married Jeremiah Duncan Love. No other source records her as "Elizabeth", so this may be a one-off census error.

Sources

1. ↑ World Family Tree v3 edition#1 tree #6299; customer pedigree on Family Archive cd by Broderbund Software Inc.; released: 09 Feb 1996; imported: 31 Dec 1997
2. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #116885580 for Thomas Daniel McCray
3. ↑ "Lawrence, Missouri, United States records, Aug 5, 2018," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C395-2977-H?view=explore : Mar 2, 2024), images 626-627 of 688; .

• 1830 USA Census of Monroe, Tennessee; on ancestry.com; #112 Thomas McCray with 0-1-1-0-1-0-1 1-1-1-1-0-0-2

• 1840 USA Census of Monroe, Tennessee; on ancestry.com; #197 Thos. McCray with 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1 0-0-1-0-0-0-0-1

• 1850 UA Census of Lawrence, Missouri; on ancestry.com; #295b Thomas McCray

• 1860 USA Census of Lawrence, Missouri; on ancestry.com; #758 Thomas McCray

• Sarah Watson Literal's Family History Notebook written in 1940, shortly before her death. She was my grandfather's aunt (sister to his mother, Lydia Rosetta Watson Ferrell). I inherited the notebook from Clarence Ferrell, my grandfather. He made occasional comments in the notebook, and those are included in brackets." (Writer's name unknown.) Site features actual images of notebook as well as transcripts.