“On the waters of Turkey Creek, joining the South-East corner of land patented in the name of John Moore .” [3] Both grants were issued by his excellency, William Tryon, esq. Captain-General, Governor and Commander-in-Chief, and both were surveyed by William Dickson. Chain bearers were John and Thomas Garvin. As shown above, James Muskelly had already bought John Moore’s property of almost 200 acres. Thus, we must assume that James Muskelly was established in Pennsylvania , before immigrating to North Carolina . James, seeing that to purchase additional land, adjacent to his own Plantation was impossible, he possibly made the journey to Mecklenburg County by himself to see the land and to see what was available. If that was the case, he found that the land next to John Moore’s property was, as yet un-claimed. By purchasing the Moore property and filing claims for land grants of the adjoining lands, he was able to amass almost 400 acres of virgin land. Another possible reason for leaving was family. A clachan was typically a community of related families, which made the whole more self-sufficient, and also provided more security for the pioneer families. As previously noted, the chain bearers for William Dickson, the surveyor, were John and Thomas Garvin. The Garvin family also owned land on Turkey Creek and later, James Muskelly (Miskelly) bought additional property from John Garvin. James’ daughter, Jean later marries Thomas Garvin.
[4] Thomas Garvin was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and fought alongside his brothers-in-laws William And James Miskelly. Thomas and Jean moved to Pendleton District after the war, where Jean died. Thomas Garvin eventually settled in Virgo County, Indiana, where he dies. They leave a large family.
