John "Jack" McNair 1784-1852 History Sheet

 

John McNair History Sheet

Compiled by Nancy Quillin Long

March 2016

Sources:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mcnair/johnmcnair1783.html

History and Folklore of Searcy Co, Arkansas, Source Book No. 1, edited by Mary Frances             Harrell,published by New Leaf Press in Harrison, Ark, 1977.

Reminiscent History of the Ozark Region: A Condensed General History, A Brief Descriptive       History of Each County, and Numerous Biographical Sketchs of Prominent Citizens of           Such Counties. K.F. Cantrell 1894 Ramfre Press, Cape Cirardeau MO,  Reprinted in      1966, Originally Published by Goodspeed Brothers, Chicago 1894.  Digitalized 2008.

McNair, McNear, and McNeir Genealogies by James Birtley McNair. Chicago: 1929.

 

JOHN McNAIR

 

John was born in Sullivan Co., TN and said to be "a well-to-do farmer, generous in the use of his means, and proverbially kindhearted and liberal in his views."

 

During the war with the Seminole Indians in 1812, John served as a private in Capt. Samuel Bunch’s regiment of volunteers commanded by Col. John Williams. At the request of Brigadier Gen. James White in the fall of 1813, John went as a spy with Andrew Cowan to the Creek nation to examine the Indian situation. On finding the Indians preparing to attack the frontiers, they immediately notified Gov. Blount of TN and Gen. White. They were ordered to continue their observation of the hostile Indians until an army could be raised. He received his commission as Captain on 23 Nov 1813 and was honorably discharged in Dec. 1813 in Knoxville, TN.

 

John was called back into action and served from Jan 10 to May 18 in 1814 as a Capt. of a company of volunteers during the war with the Creek Indians.  His company was in the regiment commanded by Col. Samuel Bunch in Gen. Daugherty's Brigade of the East TN Militia. (John’s service in Bunch’s Regiment (1814) for the E. TENNESSEE MIL. is documented in the National Archives, Roll Box: 141 – Roll Exct: 602) It is said that John’s regiment was part of the right line of American Forces in The Battle of Horseshoe Bend.  The line of march went through Camp Ross (near present day Chattanooga), Fort Armstrong (located on Cherokee Land) and Fort Jackson. This Regiment was in General Doherty's Brigade and many of them stayed after the enlistment expiration of 17 May 1814 to guard the posts at Fort Strother and Fort Williams until June/July.  John served for four months and nine days and received pay of $171.61.  Nearly 40 years later on May 31, 1851, John applied for a military pension in Bradley Co., TN. The above information was stated on the application.

 

It is said that on December 2, 1815, John was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Commandant of the Tennessee 10^th Regiment.  I have never found documentation of this.  It is my belief that as the official military moved on, there was still a need for local militia.  To honor his service, John was placed in charge of the local volunteers, giving him this title.  There were many men called Captain or Colonel who were not a part of the true military.  It is also my belief that his focus as a young man was to be in the military.  He did not marry until he was 37 years of age and his bride, Mary Ann Sheretz, was 19 years old.

 

John’s marriage was announced in the "Knoxville Intelligencer" on 23 Jul 1822.  It read, "Married on Friday the 12th inst., by Robet Houston, Esqr., Col. John McNair and Miss Polly Sheritze."

 

As stated in my introductory history sheet for the McNair family, this was the first line that I attempted to research and with great enthusiasm after I found them listed in many documents in Knox County, I sent for and received nearly 3 envelopes of copies of legal pages from the county courthouse.  I was now trying to document for my DAR application.

 

The documents include land deeds, their witnessing of other people’s land deeds, having their lands processioned, etc.  But then there was one document that caught my eye…. a bastardy case filed against John.  This would have been shortly before his marriage to Mary Ann Sherertz.  The woman accusing him of “having begotten the said child” could not read or write.  She had to sign the document with an X.  She gave birth to this child on 27 May 1821.  It appears that in Oct 1821, John came to court again and made payment to Mabel Burnett. I would have never known this had it not been one of the court documents sent to me.

 

Here’s the hard part for me.  The old published trusted books claim that John and Mary Ann moved to Union County, Illinois, in 1851 where John died in 1852. The same documents say that Mary Ann moved to Pleasant Hill, Missouri with her children after his death.  These are very old documents dating to 1894, but the main purpose of these books was to document counties and prominent families, not necessarily family history. To make matters worse, Find A Grave has all the same information listed, but no documentation of a grave or burial. The good part is that the information links us to Mack Mannilus McNair and his brothers and sisters.  The bad part is that I feel these books have our McNairs in the wrong localities at the end of their lives.

 

I found another genealogist that questions the same and here is his statement: "The move to Union County, Illinois has been oft-repeated, but I have found nothing to support that contention. Indeed, Union County, Tennessee was formed in 1850, from Anderson, Campbell, Knox, Claiborn and Grainger, but no county court or records were kept until 1856. As the McNair's had property in Knox, as well as Bradley County, I am tempted to venture a guess that John may have ended up in Union, Tennessee, without physically moving at all." ~ Roger McNair

I, too, am going to differ from the information published in 1894 because I have found John in the southern censuses (or what I think is our John) and I have found Mary Ann, with the children correctly listed living with her after John’s death also in the Tennessee and Arkansas censuses. None of my documents match Illinois or Missouri.  For me, to follow the course of this family into Illinois for a couple of years, then to Missouri for a few years with lots of small children and then to settle at last in Arkansas seems confusing.  Even the well documented Sherertz family (Mary Ann’s parents) settled in Tennessee. I will go with my research, but I cannot discount the fact that there is contradictory information as I cannot disprove that John died in Illinois.  Mary Ann was buried in a private McNair cemetery in Searcy Co Arkansas.  No mention of John McNair’s grave.

 

Back then information was passed along by word of mouth and factual information often got lost in translation. What makes me chuckle, though, is that I found my great-great grandfather, Mack Manilus McNair (who is John’s son) in the 1870 Arkansas census working in Illinois Township, Pope Co, Arkansas, just miles from his family home.  And what makes me chuckle even more is that on Mack McNair’s death certificate, the informant, meaning well I’m sure and just pulling from memory, not knowing for certain, gave the information of Mack’s parents as: father, Jackson McNair born in Scotland, and mother Hall Scherrod born in Germany.  This is close and I feel that it substantiates the names and heritage…just wrong generations.  With that information said, I believe that John and Mary Ann may have lived in or around Illinois Township in Arkansas when John died. 

 

John's widow Mary, applied for a widow's pension while living in St. Joe, AR, declaring that John served in three campaigns. She also gave a full description of her husband at the time of his enlistment as--age 28 years, a farmer, resident of Sullivan and Knox Counties in TN, height 6 ft. 2 in., hair black, eyes dark gray, complexion dark. She also stated that they were married in Knoxville, TN on 12 July 1821 by one Robert Houston who was Justice of the Peace.