Person:Robert McCorkle (2)

http://www.marshahuie.com/old_mccorkle_letters.htm

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II.6. Robert McCorkle, 1764-1828 m. 1st Lizzy Elizabeth Blythe, 2nd Margaret ‘Peggy’ Morrison. Robert McCorkle was born 29 Oct. 1764 & died in April, in the spring of 1828.

                   [This is my great-great-great grandfather on my father Ewing Huie's McCorkle side.]

(Parenthetically, 1828 is the date of the founding of the First Presbyterian Church of Memphis, where traces exist of Robert & Elizabeth Blythe McCorkle’s granddaughter, Martha D. Anderson Leath, alias Mrs. James T. Leath.) I first read Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roache's handwriting as "Leigh" but it is indisputable that Elmira should have written "LEATH." --Martha D. Anderson married James T. Leath in Sumner Co., Middle Tennessee, then removed to Memphis. Slaveholder James T. Leath, an attorney in Memphis, which still has a downtown Leath Street, was nevertheless named Ruling Elder for the Western District of Tennessee by 1838, before the Civil War. The following 1887 Goodspeed's History entry refers to a grandson of "Colonel" James T. Leath; but, query, is it a grandson by James T. Leath's 1st wife (Martha D. Anderson Leath, a granddaughter of Robert McCorkle & Lizzie Blythe McCorkle), or is it a grandson by James T. Leath's 2nd wife (as far as I know not McCorkle kin)?

[It's a small world:  in the early1980s, my next-door neighbor in Memphis was Wharton Jones. Evidently, this H. Leath written up in Goodspeed's (infra) had married Carrie Jones (Leath), daughter of G.W. Jones, who may have been an ancestor of my neighbor Wharton Jones, whose father himself had been noted as a leader in education in Memphis--I think the father of my neighbor had been superintendent of Memphis schools, but may have that wrong.] 

Goodspeed's History of Shelby County, Tennessee (1887) ...H. W. Leath is a native of Memphis, and grandson of Col. James T. Leath. In 1870 Mr. Leath went to Vermont, where he finished his education, afterward engaging in business for four years in New York, and later in Denver, Colorado. He returned to his native city in April, 1885, and the same year was united in marriage to Miss Carrie, daughter of G. W. Jones. www.wdbj.net/shelby/goodspeed/bio/bio5.htm [I wonder if this is the HATTON LEATH whom Uncle Hiram (HRA) McCORKLE recorded in his journal sometime after the Civil War as having just seen on the streets of Newbern. Uncle Hiram died in 1907.]

Acts of Tennessee 1831-1850 Index ...Charles A. Leath, 1841, 45; 53.1; Shelby County--Memphis City Hotel Company;James T. Leath; 1843; 47; 67.1; Shelby County--turnpike road commissioner; James F. [sic.] Leath; 1845; 48; 182.2; Shelby County--Memphis & Charleston Railroad Company. James T. Leath; 1841; 45; 53.1; Shelby County--Memphis City Hotel Company. James T. Leath, 1845; 48; 188.1 Shelby County--BOTANICO MEDICAL COLLEGE trustee. Source: www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/state/acts/tnact-l1.htm

Minutes - United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.-General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church The United States of America Anno Domini 1838 PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY THE STATED CLERK OF THE ASSEMBLY. PRINTED BY LYDIA R. BAILEY, 20 NORTH FIFTH STREET. 1838. by General Assembly, United Presbyterian Church in the USA--1838. [James T. Leath was a ruling elder from the Presbytery of the Western District of Tennessee.] http:// books.google.com/books?id=LZHJAAAAMAAJ

-- I wonder what contact if any this James T. Leath had with his brother-in-law, Robert A. Anderson, also an attorney, who had removed from Middle Tennessee down to Durant and Lexington, towns in Holmes County (and he is buried in Mizpah Cemetery of Holmes County, Mississippi). Robert A Anderson was also a grandson of Robert McCorkle by his 1st wife Lizzie Blythe McCorkle. --I really should not use the middle initial "A," for I got that only from the Mississippi census records, and census records are notoriously unreliable about the spelling of names.

Robert McCorkle moved from Rowan Co., NC, to Kentucky. According to his daughter Elmira, Robert forayed into Kentucky "in the second company" of white men making incursion into Kentucky. Carol Byler writes that Robert joined Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church’s congregation in 1789, a church also joined by Robert's brothers Joseph (who m. Margaret "Peggy" Snoddy) & William McCorkle (who had 3 wives). Our old West Tenn. records do not mention Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church. -- But in the old McCorkle papers given me in 1984 by "Casey" Bowden Cason McCorkle, I found a sheet of paper in which Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roach(e) had written the above-quoted "second company of men into Kentucky" language about her father, Robert McCorkle.

Then, Robert moved back down to northern Middle Tennessee (I think), Sumner County; or he may have gone directly from Kentucky back to his native Rowan County, North Carolina. I know Robert returned to Rowan County, North Carolina, to claim and marry his 2nd wife, Margaret Morrison (McCorkle).

       Robert and Margaret's children were born in Rowan County (please see below).  For example, their daughter Rebecca Cowden McCorkle (later Mrs. Gideon Thompson) was born 28th Dec 28 1795 in Rowan Co., NC. Then, Elmira Sloan McCorkle (later Mrs. Dr. Stephen Roache) was born 13th Feb. 1797 in Rowan Co, NC.  My own great-great grandfather, Edwin Alexander McCorkle was born the 18th  of March 1799 in Rowan County. Then, Jehiel Morrison McCorkle (often called Major J M McCorkle once grown in Dyer County, Tennessee) was born the 3rd of Jan. in 1803 in Rowan County.  I'm not sure where Margaret Permelia McCorkle (Mrs. Lemuel Locke Scott) was born, in I think 1804 or 5, but think it was Rowan County, NC.

Then, some time after this marriage, with this 2nd wife and their children, and evidently some of Margaret's Morrison relatives (such as her sister Mary Morrison Morrison), Robert removed to the area of Stone’s River, near or in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Margaret Morrison McCorkle's sister Mary Morrison Morrison (Mrs. John Morrison; Mary Morrison married her 1st cousin, a son of her uncle Patrick Morrison, Patrick a son of the "first inhabitor" William Morrison, 1704-1771) wrote toward the end of her, Mary's, life, from near Hillsboro in Coffee County, Tennessee, that she remembered with fondness little QUINCY ROACHE (Robert & Margaret McCorkle's grandson by their daughter Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roach(e) ). Mary recalled in her letter the Quincy Roache who used to play sweetly when they all lived at BRADLEY'S CREEK (presumably Rutherford Co., Middle Tennessee). Also, we know Robert's brother William McCorkle went to Stone's River too, in order to take up, jointly, their father Alexander McCorkle I ’s Revolutionary War land grant; and finally Margaret & husband Robert (but not Robert's brother William McCorkle, who died in 1818) removed farther west to Dyer County, where Robert died in April 1828.

    --Again, according to his daughter Elmira, Robert McCorkle, who began life in Rowan Co., NC, may not even have lingered in Middle Tennessee (his brother William was a Shiloh Presbyterian Church just outside today's Gallatin) upon leaving Rowan Co., but instead Robert may have forayed directly into Kentucky where he was to join Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church near today's Lexington. This latter point is unclear to me:  whether Robert lingered in Middle Tennessee before going to Kentucky, although we know his brother William did linger at Shiloh Presbyterian Church in Sumner County near Gallatin.

    We do know that other of Robert McCorkle's relatives, circa 1792, removed up to Kentucky from Middle Tennessee, from the environs of Lebanon and Gallatin, to escape Indian depredations in Sumner Co., Tennessee.  They landed particularly in Bourbon County (near Paris), Kentucky; and that is why they were at Cane Ridge meeting house in 1801-4, and attended the birth of the Christian Church / Disciples of Christ/ Church of Christ / at Cane Ridge, Bourbon County, Kentucky.  I assume William McCorkle went on up to Cane Ridge, because he married "Mattie" Martha King (Purviance) the widow of the John Purviance (a junior, a son of Mary Jane Wasson Purviance & Revolutionary War soldier in the North Carolina line, John Purviance), the son John Purviance having been scalped in Sumner County in 1792. It may be, though, that William McCorkle married Mattie King Purviance in Sumner County; records should tell us; "Mattie" was William's second wife, after the Blythe wife who was sister to Robert McCorkle's 1st wife, "Lizzie" Elizabeth Blythe (McCorkle).

    Robert McCorkle sired 2 children by his 1st wife “Lizzie” Elizabeth Blythe, viz., (1.)  infant “Aleck” Alexander McCorkle, born and died circa 1790; and (2.)  Elizabeth McCorkle (Mrs. Thomas Anderson), born 1791.  Elizabeth McCorkle Anderson at death was living in Lebanon, Wilson Co., Tennessee, I think in the home of her daughter Elizabeth C. Anderson McMurry. (The daughter Elizabeth McMurry was the wife of a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, John Mitchell McMurry).

I think Thomas Anderson had had a first wife before marrying Elizabeth McCorkle, daughter of Robert & Lizzie Blythe McCorkle.--Thomas Anderson's mother was née Mebane, and there is today a town of Mebane, North Carolina, west of Durham.

   Robert’s children by 2nd wife Margaret “Peggy” Morrison, a daughter of Elizabeth 

Sloan(e) & Andrew Morrison (and a paternal granddaughter of William Morrison, 1704-1771, & of Margaret (maiden name unknown) Morrison) were:

III.3. Rebecca Cowden McCorkle (Thompson)

born 28th Dec 28 1795 in Rowan Co., NC, & died 1829 in Middle Tennessee, some 2 years after the death of her husband Gideon Thompson. -- Rebecca & Gideon Thompson left two orphaned daughters, 1st: Jane M. Thompson (Mrs. Benjamin Williams); Jane M. Thompson Williams died in 1850 & is buried in the McCorkle Cemetery, Dyer County, Tennessee, as "Jane Williams, consort of Benj. Williams." I just recently found her name as having joined the old family church, Lemalsamac Christian Church as it was then known, in the year 1850, which was also the year of her death. Her husband Benjamin Williams then "removed" from Lemalsamac, but I know not whereto, although I think he returned to Hardeman County, Tennessee.

The 2nd daughter of Rebecca Cowden McCorkle (and husband Gideon Thompson) was Mary “Polly” Thompson (Mrs. Matthew Dickey).

III.4. Elmira Sloan(e) McCorkle (Roache) (Mrs. Dr. Stephen Roache),

Elmira was born 13th Feb. 1797 in Rowan Co, NC; and died 2nd August 1890, either in Indianapolis, Marion Co, Indiana, at the home of her oldest son Justice Addison Locke Roache, who had become president of the Indiana lines of Illinois Central Railroad; or in the town of California in the state of Missouri at the home of a younger son “Quincy” Robert Quincy Roache, who had removed northerly from living amongst Newbern McCorkle kinfolks to become president of a bank, Moniteau Bank, in the town of California, Missouri. It is mostly to Elmira and the record-keeping of her progeny that we owe this present collection of old correspondence. [Added later: "Uncle" Joseph Smith JOE McCorkle of Yorkville and his descendants retained their McCorkle-Morrison papers, also. We owe much to Uncle Joe's great-granddaughter Carol Branz of Spokane, Washington, who even has an old trunk containing locks of hair from some of the eldest generation. We suspect hair samples exist from Margaret Morrison McCorkle or at least her children. Oh, the DNA experiments we could now run, with Carol's help! ... ... ...]

III.5. Edwin Alexander McCorkle, born 18th March 1799. --This is my great-great grandfather.

Edwin was born in Rowan County, NC, and died on the 10th January 1853 in Dyer County, Tennessee. Edwin married Jane Maxwell Thomas of Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee, who died in 1855 in Dyer County, Tennessee, soon after him. Edwin is my great-great grandfather through my father [Howard] Ewing Huie, 1907-1971. We know from certain old documents that Edwin Alexander McCorkle served as one of the earliest Justices of the Peace of Dyer County. Evidently, he was traveling when his wife Jane joined Lemalsamac Christian Church; but his brother Robert A. H. McCorkle wrote after Edwin's death that the latter had been their most efficient deacon.

   I learned two personal things about Edwin Alexander McCorkle when doing this research for this Internet website, each reflecting, I thought, generosity of spirit:          one, that he had generously mailed a dollar to his mother's sisters, Mary Morrison Morrison & Rebecca Morrison, very elderly ladies living in penury near Hillsboro in Coffee County, Tennessee--and this was back when a dollar was a dollar;     and, two, that Edwin had driven a wagon from Dyer County all the way east to Coffee County in order to rescue these two elderly aunts from their penury--they lived with Mary's son or nephew or relative named James Morrison (exact relationship unknown) in what Mary's letters described as deplorable circumstances; but when Edwin arrived with his offer of escape the old ladies became afraid and refused to accompany him westerly to live with the Morrison/McCorkles.  And that's really all I know about my great-great grandfather.

III.6. Jehiel Morrison McCorkle “JEM,” born 3rd Jan. 1803, buried in the Dyer County, Tenn., McCorkle Cemetery. Born in Rowan Co., NC, he died in 1849 in Dyer County, Tennessee, too soon. Married "Betsy" Elizabeth Smith in Rowan County, NC. Member of the first Dyer County Court and in the earliest Dyer County militia; hence the honorific used for him, "Major J M McCorkle." One of Jane Maxwell Thomas McCorkle's (Jehiel's sister-in-law's) uncles (either James Thomas or Henry Thomas; I forget which one) used "Major J M McCorkle" as a character reference in his Dyer/Gibson County-written application for a Revolutionary War pension. –I have listed Jehiel Morrison McCorkle's children ; and I note elsewhere Jehiel & Betsy McCorkle’s loss of at least three sons to the Civil War, viz., Clay or H.C. McCorkle; Locke McCorkle; and Ed or Eddy or Eddie McCorkle --One of Jehiel's sister Elmira's ROACHE grandsons has written in pencil on Elmira's old records that he believed Betsy Smith (Mrs. Jehiel Morrison McCorkle) was probably a niece of his father, Dr. Stephen Roache; unfortunately, I do not know about this, but doubt it ....

Somehow--we don't know how--some of Jehiel Morrison McCorkle's papers have landed in the University of Tennessee at Martin archives in the late 20th century, in connection with records of the early Dyer County court. He was an early member of the first Dyer County militia. He died in 1849 so we know this was not Civil War-connected. And evidently Jehiel kept the minutes for the Dyer County Court, which would have made him today's equivalent, I guess, of the County Court Clerk; but the truth is hazy. -- Nor do we know how some of John Edwin McCorkle's papers arrived there.--As stated, an application made in Gibson or Dyer County, Tennessee, by a Thomas kinsman for a Revolutionary War pension for service in the North Carolina line --of either James Thomas or Henry Thomas, I can't remember which uncle it was of Jane Maxwell THOMAS McCorkle alias Mrs. Edwin Alexander McCorkle-- lists as a reference "Major J M McCorkle." That would be Jehiel Morrison McCorkle.

        III. 7.    Now, to Robert & Margaret McCorkle's daughter, Margaret Permelia McCorkle (Mrs. Lemuel Locke Scott).          Where was she born? I think she was born in 1804 (or was she born before Jehiel Morrison "JM" McCorkle?).