Person:William McClintock (14)

William McClintock immigrated from County Donegal, in Ireland. He was the son of John McClintock, a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, living in County Donegal, Ireland. John McClintock had four sons: William, John, Daniel, and Alexander. William emigrated to the United States, settling in Washington County, Pennsylvania, by 1803, and in 1804 he married Mary McGowan, the daughter of William and Mary McGowan.

John McClintock, Jr., followed his brother William to America in 1806, sailing from Londonderry to Philadelphia on the ship “Brutus,” arriving on 27 Dec 1806. On that very day he posted a letter to his father John in Ireland, and received the following response:

  DOOGHAN 
  May 27th 1807 
  Dear John
  I sit down with pleasure to write after receiving your kind epistle dated December the 27th 1806 for to let you know that I am in a tollerable state of health considering all my affliction for parting with all my family which I rared and brought up so well. I was not past a month in your sister Janes to I removed out of it and I was in John McClanes about a month and I am now in my brother David McConaugheys. I am very happy to hear that you are safe arrived at your brothers and glad to hear of you brothers humility towards you and I hope brotherly love will continue among as you never got any bad precefs from me or as you never inclined to any bad vice. I hope that you will continue so when at a distance. When you parted with your brother Daniel who went to Belfast and got some information of a great prefs being in Scotland and he returned back to Cranfield a town five miles distant from Rannelstown and I got a letter from him shortly after and he informed me that he was weaving with a man at the Calligo Businefs and as you are in a distant county, I hope that you will be mindfull of your great creator both night and morning and I hope that you will reap the Inereace ( ? ) of it at that great way. When wee shall all appear to give an a account every deed done in the body whether they are good or bad. Francis Kilpatrick is dead and he died very shortly in eight days sicknefs your uncles and aunts in one with their love to you and in particular your uncle David and your aunt Fanny I add no more but remains your ever affectionate father till death.  
  John McClintock.

William and Mary began their family and by 1810 they had five children, according to the 1810 Census. Meanwhile, a third McClintock brother, Daniel, left Ireland for the New World, joining his brothers in Washington County, probably in time for the 1810 Census.

Daniel’s trip to America prompts the following letter from a worried father. It is easy to understand his worry, considering that Daniel must have left around two years before the date of the letter, and John had written as soon as he had landed in Philadelphia. Later events show the father’s anxiety to be well-founded.

  Bicketstown. Ireland 
  April 22nd 1811 
  Dear Children
  I sit down once more to write to you, but not without great astonishment in not receiving a letter from you since Daniels departure which makes me very uneasy on account that I always got word from you before this time. And my dear children you ought not to neglect sending me word, as it is all the pleasure I can expect in this world and I do not think that my time here will be long. I am at present very unwell. And when I take a view of my former time that I spent in my own family, it makes me a little uneasy in mind as well as my bodily disease. Yet notwithstanding that I am distant from my own family, God hat raised up a friend and brother to me which I cannot and will not deny as long as I live. And as I never will be able to pay him a return I hope that he will not be forgotten for his friendship. My dear children in my former letters I have exhorted you to be mindful of your great Redeemer and while you enrich yourselves, consider that it cometh from him who is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. For the silver and the gold are mine saith the Lord. My dear children, I will address you all in general not to be so much taken in with the allurements of this world, or would hinder you from your duty to God. And the more that I am not present with you let my advice be convenient for you. Let brotherly love continue among you for such is necessary. I will daily be expecting an answer to this. Send me an account hether Daniel arrived safe or not.
  And give me a full account how you are all doing. I did not see Alexander, or get any word from him since he was up, shortly after Daniel went away. He got the remainder of Daniels money 14s. 6p. My dear children I am very glad to hear that you have fallen in conversation with a man of such unblemished character as Mr Miller, for his character in his won native country is nothing inferior to his ability at home. And from all accounts he is a man of merit. Your sister Jane is very unwell with rheumatick pains. She was for a long time very ill, but is now a little better.
  When you write give me a full account how markets are with in America and how you are all settled. You uncle and aunt McConaughy, together with the whole family join in love to you. Give my love to my new daugh- ter. Though unseen yet gratitude and love glow in my heart towards her. No more at present. 
  From your affectionate father 
  John McClintock
  William, John & Daniel (McClintock) children

On 30 Dec 1811, the Washington County Reporter carried a notice: “...died Thursday morning last, William McClintock of this borough, good Christian leaves wife and four small children.” The preceding Thursday would have been December 26. One child must have also died between the census of 1810 and the end of 1811. Three months later, on Monday, Mar. 16, 1812, the same paper reported “John McClintock died on Thursday night last, a very worthy young man of this borough.” The deaths were apparently not sudden, since each man’s will was made shortly before his death. The combination of events suggests that the McClintocks may have encountered difficulties as early as 1810 and the troubles continued to these sad ends.

I have found no record of the fate of Daniel McClintock, only the following statement in a biography of the Rev. John McClintock, who had been born in 1808 to William and Mary McClintock: "His father [William McClintock] was born in County Donegal, Ireland; but when quite a young man, came with his two brothers, to America and settled in Washington, Penn., where they spent the rest of their lives, all dying within nine months."

Several years after William’s death, in 1817, his wife Mary McGowan McClintock married Robert McKean of Washington County, also an immigrant from Ireland. Many years later later, in 1865, Robert McKean’s granddaughter, Mary Ellen McKean, married William McClintock’s grandson, John Calvin McClintock.

1. ↑ John McClintock, in Bates, Samuel Penniman. A biographical history of Greene County, Pennsylvania. (Baltimore [Maryland]: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1975)
   627-628.

   REV. JOHN McCLINTOCK, pastor of the New Providence Presbyterian Church, in Cumberland Township, Greene County, Penn., was born in Washington, Penn., November 10, 1808, and is a son of William and Mary (McGowan) McClintock. His mother was a native of Pennsylvania and of Scotch-Irish descent. His father was born in County Donegal, Ireland; but when quite a young man, came with his two brothers, to America and settled in Washington, Penn., where they spent the rest of their lives, all dying within nine months. Mr. McClintock is one of five children. He received his early education in the subscription school; then learned the weaver’s trade, serving a regular apprenticeship of five years. When he reached his majority he entered Washington College, Penn., and graduated in the regular classical course with the class of 1836, Having chosen the ministry as his profession, he subsequently entered the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny, Penn., and was licensed to preach in April, 1837. He seized every opportunity of preparing himself for the high calling which he had chosen, and accepted as his first work the cause of missions, the field being Smyrna, in Asia. In July, 1839, he came to Greene County and accepted his present charge, in which capacity he still continues, having outlived all but three members of his original congregation. By reason of his most earnest, efficient work, Rev. McClintock’s is among the largest congregations in Greene County. He has also been instrumental in doing great good outside of his own church, having baptized 251 persons and performed 207 marriage ceremonies. He was married, in Washington, Penn., April 17, 1834, to Miss Mary, daughter of James and Margaret (Hawkins) Orr. Mrs. McClintock was also a native of Washington, Penn., born December 11, 1803, and of Scotch-Irish descent. Her grandparents came from Ireland; her father was a magistrate for many years, and among the prominent men of Washington County, where he settled in 1800. Mrs. McClintock is a lady of great piety and motherly kindness, and is most highly respected by those who know her best. Few have as many friends as this aged couple who have worked side by side in the vineyard of the Lord for more than fifty years. Their union has been blessed with six children—Margaret E., Mary, John C., a minister; and Ann, living; and James and William, deceased. Their family is highly respected, and they have a prosperous, happy home near Carmichaels, Penn., where they now reside.

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Autobiography of Rev. John McClintock, in McClintock, John. Half Century Pastorate of the Rev. John McClintock at New Providence Congregation. (Washington, Pa: Observer Power Print, 1890)
   58-59, 1890.

   In the town of Washington, Pennsylvania, I was born on November the 10th, 1808. My father was a native of the North of Ireland and, after immigrating to this country, settled in the town of Washington, Pa., in 1803. One year later he was married to Miss Mary McGowan, of Scotch-Irish descent. ... On the death of my father in 1811, my mother was left in straitened circumstances with the care of five childreen.

3. ↑ Griffeth, Nancy. The McClintocks of Washington County.

   Attached as an image. Sources of the information in the personal history are discussed.

4. ↑ Private communication from Elizabeth Miller (South Haven, MI).