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Mini Bios of Virginia Scots
Thanks to Lu Hickey for sending these in |
James, one of
the descendants of the first named James, came into the Virginia
Valley about 1748, and there married, in 1751, Rebecca McDonald, a
granddaughter of Bryan and Mary Combs McDonald, of New Castle,
Delaware. It would seem most probable--as some of the McDonalds were
settled between 1738 and 1744 in Beverly's Manor, near to where the
present city of Staunton, Virginia, is situated--that he married his
wife, Rebecca, in that neighborhood, and thence removed to the Roanoke
section near where Salem now stands, about 1763, where he remained
until a flood in the Roanoke River drove him to and beyond the summit
of the Alleghanies, into what is now Montgomery County. He came,
probably, about 1775--at any rate he had frequently to take shelter
from the Indians in Barger's Fort, on Tom's Creek. His son, James,
married Bettie, the daughter of John Haven, of Plum Creek, in
Montgomery, about 1776, and from thence he removed to Walker's Creek
in 1793. He had a large family of children, viz: 12; Mary married John
Henderson, Howard married Miss Hickman, and a daughter of Howard
married Colonel Erastus G. Harman, of Bluestone; Colonel James married
Mary Henderson December 31st, 1801; Annie married .......Wilson, Sara
married John Carr, Rebecca married .......Burke, John married Mary
Chapman, Jesse married Jane Carr, Edward and Joseph died unmarried,
Elizabeth married William Carr, William married Sallie Snidow.
Colonel James Bane and
his wife, Mary Henderson Bane, had the following children: Sallie, who
never married; Elizabeth married Tobias Miller; Maria married Madison
Allen, John H. married Nancy Shannon, Jane S. married John Crockett
Graham, William married Jane Grayson, Nancy married Thomas Jefferson
Higginbotham, and Samuel married Lucy B. Baker. A daughter of William
Bane married John D. Snidow, and Mr. William Bane Snidow, a prominent
lawyer of Pearisburg, Virginia, is their son. All of this family of
Banes, who were in the war 1861-5, were good soldiers; a number of
them were killed and wounded. Joseph Edward Bane was killed in the
first battle of Manassas, and Major John T. Bane was a distinguished
soldier in Hood's Texas Brigade. Of this family have come some of the
very best citizens of Giles and surrounding counties. Donald Bane
succeeded Malcolm III as King of Scotland .
The Family of Black,
of Montgomery.
The Rev. Dr. Samuel Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church--of
Scotch extraction--was born in 1700; educated in Edinburg, Scotland,
and licensed to preach at Glasgow; came to America in 1735, and first
located at and had charge of the church in Brandywine Manor in Chester
County, Pennsylvania. Later he removed to Albemarle County, Virginia,
where he was Pastor of Joy and Mountain Plains Churches for the
remainder of his long and useful life.
His sons, John and William, came across the Alleghanies and settled
nearby where the town of Blacksburg, in Montgomery County, is now
situated. The year of their coming seems not definitely known, but it
was during the border Indian wars. John had married Miss Jane
Alexander, who, with an infant son, he brought with him into the
wilderness, where with the aid of a servant he erected a dwelling
house which was shortly thereafter burned by the Indians, he and his
family escaping to the woods and finally to Augusta, where he left his
family until he could erect another dwelling, which he turned into a
fort for protection against the Savages. He served in the American
Army during our War for Independence, under General William Campbell,
and was with him at the time of the treaty with the Indians, at Long
Island, Tennessee. Two of his sons were in the War of 1812, and one of
them, Matthew, died in the service. Five of his sons went to the state
of Ohio, where their descendants now live. His daughter, Susan, who
married Stephen McDonald, went to Missouri; Mary, another daughter,
married Walter Crockett, and they went to the Pacific coast; while the
son, Alexander, remained at Blacksburg. John Black lived to the age of
ninety-four years; his wife, Jane Alexander, was of the family of that
name, some of whom settled in the County of Monroe.
William Black gave the
land on which the town of Blacksburg, Virginia, now stands, and which
was incorporated by the General Assembly of Virginia, in the year of
1798. By this act George Rutledge, John Black, James P. Preston,
Edward Rutledge, William Black and John Preston were made trustees.
William Black removed to the County of Albemarle in the year of 1800.
The M'Comases and
Napiers.
In 1776 John McComas and his brother-in-law, Thomas H. Napier, came
from western Maryland to the New River Valley. McComas was of that
bold, adventurous, Scotch-Irish stock that feared no danger, and was
always anxious to get away from restraints of all kinds, and to be
free and happy. McComas and Napier first took up their abode at what
is now known as Ripplemeade, but shortly removed to the territory
where Pearisburg, Virginia, now stands, and as a protection against
the Indians, built in connection with the Halls Fort Branch on the
land lately owned by Mr. Charles D. French, and which is about
three-fourths of a mile to the southeast of Pearisburg. McComas very
soon afterward entered and surveyed some lands around or near the
location referred to; and in 1782, the land where Judge Philip W.
Strother now resides, or a part thereof, was taken up and surveyed by
Moredock O. McKensey, and afterward conveyed to Thomas H. Napier.
The first or elder David Johnston died in 1786; his will bears date in
July of that year, and John McComas is one of the subscribing
witnesses to that instrument. John McComas and his wife had a
considerable family of children; among the sons were: Elisha, David,
Jesse, John, William and Moses, and there were several daughters. John
McComas, the elder, died in Giles County, Virginia. Elisha McComas,
son of the elder John, and who is referred to as General Elisha,
obtained his title after he went to Cabell County, being commissioned
a Brigadier General of militia. He married in January, 1791, Annie
French, daughter of Matthew, of Wolf Creek, and removed to Cabell
County about 1809. His brothers, or some of them, preceded him by
seven or eight years, and settled on the Guyandotte and Mud River
waters, then in Kanawha County, Cabell not being created until 1809.It
will be noted that Elisha was there in 1810, either in Guyandotte or
vicinity, for he is made, by the act of the Legislature creating that
town, one of the trustees, as well as a trustee of Barboursville in
1813. David McComas, son of the elder John, married Miss Bailey, a
daughter of the elder Richard. David died early, leaving a widow and
one son, James, the latter the ancestor of the Mercer McComas', viz:
Archibald, Eli and others.
General Elisha McComas and his wife had sons, David, William and
James, and daughters, one of whom married John Shelton, and another
married....... Keenan, from whom descended Patrick Keenan McComas, the
eccentric lawyer of Logan County, West Virginia.
David, the son of
General Elisha, married Cynthia French, daughter of Captain David and
Mary Dingess French, and he became a distinguished Judge; was a member
of the General Court of Virginia; Judge of the Kanawha Circuit Court,
and was at one time a State Senator from the Kanawha District. He was
born about 1795 and died in Giles County, Virginia, in 1864. He was a
jolly man, full of wit and humor, but a most negligent man about his
dress. Some good stories of his life as a judge have been preserved,
and are worth relating. As has been said, he was Circuit Judge; his
circuit, was a large one, and his mode of travel was on horseback.
Before he started on his circuit his wife made up and arranged his
clothing for the trip, which often lasted for weeks, and on his return
his wife would search his saddle bags for his soiled clothes,
frequently finding none; he had simply, by his forgetfulness, left
them at his boarding houses. On one occasion, when he was about to
start off for his courts, his wife prepared for him and packed in his
saddlebags a dozen new shirts, and enjoined upon him that he should
exercise prudence in taking care of the same. On his return, on
examination by his wife of the saddlebags, she found not a single
shirt, whereupon she said: "Just as I expected, Mr. McComas, you have
brought back no (Note: line appears to be missing from book.)stop
throwing off shirts until he had unburdened himself of eleven. His
wife and himself, while he was Circuit Judge and lived in Charleston,
made a visit to his relations in Cabell County, and after they had
made the rounds, he remarked to his wife, "Well, we must go and see
old brother.........." to which his wife inquiringly said, "Mr.
McComas, isn't he in the poorhouse?" "Yes," said the Judge, "but there
is no difference between him and myself; he is on the county and I am
on the state." While Judge McComas was in the Senate of Virginia, it
is said that he made the first straight-out secession speech that up
to that time had been made in Virginia. He and his wife left no
children.
William McComas, son of General Elisha, married Miss Ward, lived for
some years at Malden, in Kanawha County, and while living there in
1832 was elected to the Congress of the United States. He was a member
of the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861. William McComas and his
wife had the following children: Elisha W., Hamilton, William Wirt,
Mat, and Benjamine Jefferson, and a daughter, Irene, who married Major
McKendree. Elisha W. was in the Virginia Convention of 1850-1, and was
also Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, afterward dying at Fort Scott,
Kansas.
Dr. William Wirt
McComas married Sarah M. French, daughter of Captain Guy D., and
Araminta Chapman French; he was an eminent physician, and at the
beginning of the Civil War raised in Giles County a company of
artillery, which he led into the service, and at the Battle of South
Mills, North Carolina, April 19th, 1862, he was slain, leaving his
widow and two small children, Guy F., and Minnie, surviving him. The
Napiers removed from Giles county to Cabell about the time of the
emigration of the McComases.
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