Samuel Clevenger (abt. 1819 - 1876)

Born about 1819 in Cocke, Tennessee

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 20 Apr 1876 at about age 57 in Crystal Lakes, Ray, Missouri, United States

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Biography

Samuel was born about 1819. He fits into the family of Elias Clevenger by virtue of his birth date. His grandson, Tilmon Sisk, is stated to have been a second cousin to E. R. Clevenger in newspaper articles about the murder E. R. committed. This is also an indication that Samuel may have been Elias' son.^[1]

Samuel appears in the records of the Pleasant grove Baptist Church of Cocke Co., Tenn. (established 1840) where he was received by experience on 19 September, 1842. He was appointed as a delegate to the church in August of 1845, but does not appear again in the church records after that date.

The Pisgah Baptist Church -- Missionary Baptist, organized 12 August, 1849 ^[2] lists a Samuel Cleavenger and Mary Cleavenger as original members. For this reason it is expected that Samuel migrated to Missouri from Tennessee between those dates. He also appears on the Ray Co., Mo., census in the year 1850. Census records further show the birth of a son, Samuel L., in Missouri in 1847.

Samuel also appears on the 1860 and 1870 census, but by the 1880 census records his wife Mary is listed as a widow at age 59 with children Elias (age 21) and Rhoda (age 17).

He is mentioned in a biographical sketch of his son Elias Madison Clevenger. In this sketch it is noted that Samuel Clevenger was born in Cocke Country, Tenn. and was reared and educated in the public schools of that county. He followed farming and the carpenter trade in his native state until approx 1850, when he came to Missouri and located south of Vibbard, where he remained but a short time; he then removed to the land claim (noted as Sec. 22, Twp. 53 north, Range 29) where he improved the land and made his home until his death. His wife bore him ten children, six of whom were living [at the time of the sketch] namely: Samuel, living near Richmond; Jacob, a farmer in Kansas; Elias Madison; Mary wife of J. W. Goodman of Ray County; Letitia, wife of Lawson Sisk; and Rhoda, wife of C. W. Neal, living at Vibbard. He is noted as a member of the Baptist church and a minister in that denomination, plreaching regularly throughout his life in various churches in Ray County. The sketch continues describing Samuel: " although a cripple, was very energetic, and his zeal and piety made him hosts of friends."

He passed away 20, April 1876 in Ray County Mo., and was buried in the family cemetery on the old Jesse Clevenger farm near Vibbard.^[3]

Research Notes

All early records of Cocke County, Tennessee, before 1860, were destroyed by courthouse fires. This limits our ability to verify the names and birth dates of the Clevengers of Cocke Co., Tenn.

Sources

1. ↑ "Nehemiah Wood" by Leo Lawler
2. ↑ "History of Ray Co., Mo.,"
3. ↑ Proffitt, Barbara; Proffitt, Carol; Mills, M. Virginia. The Clevenger families of Ray County, Missouri Richmond, MO: 1991.

• Unsourced family tree handed down to Lance Martin.
• Samuel Clevanger on Find A Grave: Memorial #19013537 retrieved 22 nov 2018