Person:James McClure (43)

Advisory on James McClure

This James McClure has been confused with another James McClure that was in Pennsylvania.

Estate Records of James McClure

Apparently in poor health, on 8th April 1777, James McClure made his will. There is no record yet found of his death date, but we know that it had occurred before July 1778 because when Mrs. McClure and her four children fled following the Wyoming massacre (July 3, 1778) he had died.

On September 22 1788, an Inventory of the Estate of James McClure was made and the Will was probated on October 14, 1788. Final accounting was as of 6 April 1791. An interesting item there records the charge of 19 pounds for "the four cows which were drown in the possession of the children of the testator." The will mentions McClure's wife Mary, brother-in-law George Espy, oldest daughter Margaret, daughter Presila, and sons Joseph and James.

Source: Ft. McClure D.A.R. Chapter website

Information on James McClure

From "The Boone Family: a genealogical history of the descendants of George and Mary Boone who came to America in 1717", pub. 1922, pg. 541:

THE MCCLURE FAMILY

The McClure's were a prominent pioneer family of Scotch descent. James McClure, the head of the line, went from Lancaster County, PA, to Northumberland County, PA, in 1772, and died there previous to 1778. He was several times elected member of the Committee of Safety for Wyoming Twp, Northumberland County, particularly in 1770; and was one of the three men elected to receive powder and lead and distribute them among the Captains of Cpl. Hunter's Battallion. His farm adjoined that of Samuel Boone (Benjamin4, George3), whose two daughters married sons of McClure. The homestead was called "McClure's Choice" or Beauchamp. On this property was built Fort McClure, an important outpost of Fort Augusta, which was at the junction of the two branches of the Susquehanna River, below. On the site of Fort McClure a granite marker was placed in 1907 by the Bloomburg Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The marker stands about five or six rods from the river in the front yard of the homestead, a part of which is still preserved as a section of the modern dwelling.

Mrs. James McClure, wife of the pioneer was a widow at the time of the Wyoming Massacre which occurred near here and in which her brother-in-law, Capt. Lazarus Stewart and a nephew of the same name lost their lives. The fugitive Stewarts went on a raft down the river Susquehanna to the mouth of Fishing Creek (near the McClure place), picked up the McClures and went on to Fort Augusta.

Three of the children of James McClure were:

1: Margaret McClure, married Lieut. (later Major) Moses Van Campen, an historic Indian fighter. It was he that McClure's Fort on his father-in-law's farm.

2: Josiah McClure, married 1st, Sarah Boone (Samuel5, Benjamin4, George3), who died 1805; and 2nd, Mary Clark, by whom he had a large family.

3: James McClure, born 1774; died 4 Oct. 1850, aged 76; married Susanna Boone (Samuel5, Benjamin4, George3). The D.A.R. Chapter of Bloomsburg, Pa is named for him. He was the first white child born in that section.

1. ↑ Spraker, Hazel Atterbury, and Jesse Proctor Crump. The Boone family: a genealogical history of the descendants of George and Mary Boone, who came to America in 1717; containing many unpublished bits of early Kentucky history; also a biographical sketch of Daniel Boone, the pioneer, by one of his descendants. (Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle Co., 1922).