Notes for DR. ARCHIBALD CURRY:

Sara McDonald’s parents came first to America when her father, James, was banished from Scotland for his part in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. The Clan MacDonald/McDonald, the largest of the Highland clans, is said to be descended from the great warrior -chief, Somerland, and was distributed throughout the Western Isles and Western Highlands. The MacDonalds evidently were in support of Prince Charles Edward Stewart’s claim to the throne of Great Britain which ended with the momentous battle of Culloden in 1746. Many MacDonalds were “cleared” in the wake of Culloden, but James and Mary apparently left before the battle.

Their daughter Sara remained behind until after her 1757 marriage to Archibald Curry, The couple came in 1759 and joined James and Sara McDonald in Kent Co. DE. Apparently Archibald was from Edinburgh.

Archibald Curry was a private in Captain Wetz’s Military Unit in PA and served under George Washington. ( His father-in-law James McDonald served in the Rev. War from PA.)

He moved with his family from Kent Co. DE to Kentucky in the fall of 1788. (GenForum entry of Linda Gillete Hudson, descendant of Archibald Curry, 4 January 2001.)

He is listed on 1800 Tax List of Scott Co. KY.

His biography names him Dr. Archibald Curry and states that he (or a close relative) was the author of a book on the poet, Robert Burns. Dr. James Currie was the first biographer of Robert Bums, but he was the only son of a Rev. James Currie. This puzzle has yet to be solved.

SOURCES: PROVENANCE, by Mildred Downing at www.lincolnminiature.com, and CULLODEN TO THE COLONIES: the collected reminiscences of a McDonald fami1y whose ancestor fought at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, by Antonio J. Jones.

Notes for JOHN DELAWARE CURRY:

The will of John Curry “being of advanced age”, written (not dated); Probated 9 July 1849, Book F, p. 171, Harrison Co. KY:

• Wife: Margaret

• Daughter: Sara Jane Whitledge

• Sons: Mandeville, Perry A., Milton

• Daughter: America Curry.

• “to Malvina Curry, daughter of my son, J.H. Curry,” 

• mentions his property in the city of Covington. 

• “my Negroes are to be sold”

• Grandson: Ira (Jno?) C. Whitledge

• “my five children( named above).

•  Executor: nephew, James R. Curry, of Cynthiana. 

•  No witnesses listed

Source: VOL.1, KENTUCKY COURT RECORDS-ABSTRACTS-PROBATE ABSTRACTS, HARRISON CO. KY, WILL BOOK D, 1836-1842, compiled by Janet K. Pease.

Margaret Curry was the second wife of John Curry. Her parents, James and Margaret McClure and her first husband, James Moore, as well as John Curry, are all buried at Old Stonermouth Cemetery in Ruddles Mills, Bourbon Co. KY. James Moore was born 25 Dec 1780 and died 4 Oct. 1822. He married Margaret McClure Feb. 25, 1808.

Nancy Clark Henderson was the mother of all of John Curry’s children. This is stated in HISTORY OF PIKE CO. MO.

Census Records indicate that John Delaware Curry was born in DE, and Nancy Clark Henderson was born in PA.

Apparently their son, John H. Curry, who witnessed marriage record of his sister, Sara Jane Curry, had died before his will was written, as his share was left to his daughter, Malvina.

More About JOHN DELAWARE CURRY:
Burial: Ruddles Mills, Bourbon Co. KY

Notes for NANCY CLARK HENDERSON:

On 1810 Census taken on” West Side of Licking River” in Harrison Co. KY, Thomas Whitledge and John Curry were listed next to each other. There were 11 people at the Curry home, two of them, a male and a female, between 50 and 60. Two were between 20 and thirty, also a male and female. Seven were children, 5 boys and 2 girls.

Nancy Clark Henderson Curry’s parents must have been the older couple living with John Curry in 1810, because his father, Dr. Archibald Curry, and his mother, Sara McDonald Curry lived, died, and were buried in Lexington, Scott Co. Also, John Delaware Curry was their youngest son.

Thomas Whitledge had a male and a female between forty and fifty, and a female under 5 in his household.

Marriage Notes for JOHN CURRY and NANCY HENDERSON:

John Curry married Margaret McClure 24 December 1840. He was 61 and she was 51. Information about here family is on record at Stonermouth Church, Ruddles Mills, Bourbon Co. KY.

Notes for MANDEVILLE D. CURRY:

1850 Census of Harrison Co. KY: Mandeville Curry age 33 was a wheelwright.

Living with him were his stepmother, Margaret, age 61; sister America, age 26; and Malvina, niece, daughter of his brother, John H. Curry, as mentioned in John Curry will. It states that he was born in KY.

US FEDERAL CENSUS MORTALITY SCHEDULES INDEX RECORD:
“Jackson Co. MO, age 44, Mandeville D. Curry, Oct. 1860, born KY, a millwright, died of typhoid.”

Notes for JAMES CURRY:

James Curry, born 1759, had as his only son, James Rolland Curry who was 60 on July 6, 1850, on the 1850 Census of District No.1 in Harrison Co. KY., wife Martha (Bracken) Curry, 50, and their children: Eliza, 24; James 21, a lawyer; Martha age 22, and Ann, ag

James Curry was born in Kent Co. Delaware and married a Miss Manlove from Edinburgh, Scotland. They moved from Delaware to Scott Co. KY where their son James R. Curry was saved from Indians when a babe by being concealed by a slave Hannah, in a sack, along with her son Dover, and smuggled into Flourney’s Station. His father had died and he was staying with his grandparents who had gone to Lexington and left him in the care of Hannah.

He died 30 September 1790 at Harmer’s Defeat at Fort Wayne, Indiana, when his only son was less than a year old. Thus James R. Curry inherited, as the oldest son, $10,000 in money, slaves, and land. He became a surveyor and owned land in Kentucky, Southern Illinois, and Mississippi. Before his death James Curry, in partnership with the industrialist, land speculator, and slave merchant, David Ross, surveyed and bought tens of thousands of acres of land in what became KY. In KY land records he is listed as James Currie.

(There was another James Curry in Cynthiana Records, unrelated to James, the oldest son of Archibald.)

John Delaware Curry taught his brother’s son, James R. Curry, to read, because his stepfather was illiterate. He named James R. Curry the executor of his estate, but he lived out of town, next to Thomas Whitledge, had slaves, and land in Covington. Was this Covington KY, near where he married Nancy Clark Henderson, or Covington KY, where he might have speculated in lands, or inherited them from his brother, John H. Curly, who left his orphaned daughter, Malvina, to be raised by John Delaware Curry? Many handwritten poems of Robert Burns were destroyed, possibly in the home of Dr. James R. Curry, which burned to the ground.

Malvina was living with Mandeville Curry and her stepmother, Margaret, in 1860 Harrison Co. Census.

Notes for MOSES ARCHIBALD YELL:

Moses was a farmer. He moved to Talbot Co. MD and then to Rockingham Co. NC. He next moved to Jefferson

Co. TN and then to Middle TN where he bought 750 acres of land near Shelbyville, Bedford Co. TN.

He had 5 slaves.

He and Jane Curry Yell had a son, A.H. Yell, the first governor of Arizona.

Notes for ALEXANDER CURRY:

Alexander Curry was a founder of the town of Mt. Sterling IL. He first purchased a tract of land on the Lexington Pike. He lived there until 1830, when he moved to IL, accompanied by his wife and children. He made a settlement in Brown Co, which was then a part of Schuyler Co. As soon as the land came into market he entered 2,000 acres, including the present site of Mt. Sterling, where he erected a double log house on the lot now occupied by the Christian Church.

This log house was used as a dwelling, a justice’s room, and a meeting house.

Alexander did not keep a hotel, but he did entertain travelers free of charge. He was the first Justice of the Peace and the first postmaster.

SOURCE: BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF CASS, SCHULER AND BROWN COUNTIES, ILLINOIS- 1892. Chicago: Bio. Review Pub. Co.

Notes for REV.JAMES ARCHIBALD MCHATTON:

Rev. James Archibald McHatton was a minister in the Baptist Christian Church. He helped in the founding of the Green Valley Church, among others. SOURCE: THE EMISON FAMILIES, REVISED by James Wade Emison, 1954. Also from McHatton Family Bible Records held by Carl Gearhart.

More About REV.JAMES ARCHIBALD MCHATTON:
Burial: Greenton Valley Cemetery

More About SUSAN H. CHINN:
Burial: Greenton Valley Cemetery

Notes for THOMAS WHITLEDGE:

Marriage Bond of Sara Jane Whitledge and John Curry. Copy obtained by Ralph E. Coppage, Cynthiana Co. Clerk, Cynthiana KY. It is dated January 9,1828. The bond agreement is hard to read, but is signed by John H. Curry and Thomas Whitledge. Permission Certificate states:
“This is to certify that the Bearer Mr. Thomas Whitledge has my permission to be united in marriage to my daughter Sara Jane. You will please therefore to grant a licence accordingly…,  arrested to by John H. Curry and James A. Curry. Proved by John Curry.”

Notes for SUSAN J. BIGGs:

Susan J. Biggs was the widow of James C. Duval. They married April 1839 in Pike Co. MO

Marriage Notes for AMERICA CURRY and THOMAS SCROGGINS:

SOURCE: Ancestry.Com, ONE WORLD TREE, names children and pedigrees of Thomas Davis Scroggins.

Notes for MAJOR JAMES ROLLAND CURRY:

James R. Curry was 91 and listed as a lawyer on 1880 Cenus, Cynthiana , Harrison Co.KY. It states that his mother and father were both born in Delaware.

According to PROVENANCE, by Mildred Downing, he was born at Bryant’s Station, Fayette Co.KY. His father moved from VA to KY, first settling in Lexington. He was saved from Indians when he was a baby by being concealed in clothing and smuggled into the fort.

He was a wealthy man in his day. His lands were in Kentucky, Southern Illinois, and in Mississippi. He was a surveyor and later studied law in order to make himself familiar with the care and conveyance of his own property.

He was described as having been very tall and slender (135 pounds) of fair complexion, with blue eyes “…not “brilliant”, but a thoroughly good man.

He received the rank of Major during the War of 1812; was in Richard Johnson’s Regiment an in the division commanded by Gen. Joseph Desha.

He was a judge when the Civil War broke out, and was arrested as a southern sympathizer and taken first to Newport Barracks, KY and then to Camp Chase MD. Although he was an old man, he was forced to march long distances, but he was quickly released, possibly by direct intercession with President Lincoln.

He was also Harrison Co. Sr. Commissioner and an elder in the Presbyterian Church.

When he was short of help at Cairo, IL, while on a trip down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers by boat, he hired a young man there who turned out to be Abraham Lincoln, according to family tradition.

More About MARY BRACKEN CURRY:
Burial: Lexington, Fayette Co. KY

Notes for DR. JOHN RANDOLPH DESHA:

Dr. John Randolph Desha received his medical degree from Transylvania College, Lexington, KY about 1828. He practiced for a time in Tennessee, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Georgetown Kentucky. When his father died he left the homestead at Georgetown KY to the doctor on condition that he would return to it and care for his mother during the remainder of her life.

Notes for WALLACE MCINTOSH:

Wallace McIntosh was a merchant in Cynthiana. He and his wife, Eliza, had no children.

Notes for DR. JAMES ROLLAND CURRY:

Dr. James Rolland Curry was in the Southern Army and stationed at Richmond VA. He was killed by a spy. Before the War he had lived in Washington D.C. After his death, Malvina lived in Eaton OH, but spent much of her time with her daughter, Martha.

Notes for WILLIAM MCCHESNEY:

William McChesney was a grain merchant in Louisville KY, then he became postmaster at Lexington KY for ten years. He was appointed postmaster by President Grover Cleveland.

Notes for GEORGE ROGERS CLARK TODD:

George Rogers Clark Todd was the brother of Mary Todd Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln said of him: “a more rabid secessionist was no where to be found. He was not a good husband to Anne and they lived with her parents until her father, John Rolland Curry, ordered him to leave Cynthiana. Dr. Desha then went to Cynthiana and outfitted Dr. Todd with a horse and funds, and drove with him all of the first night to aid him in making his escape.

He went South and during the Civil War he was an officer and a contract surgeon. He never returned to Cynthiana.

Source: PROVENANCE at www.lincolnminiature.com.

More About SAMUEL ALEXANDER TOMBS:
Burial: Tombs Family Cemetery

Our most sincere thanks go out to Pat King who graciously contributed the information on this page.