James McNair History Cont.- Military, Marriage, Family

 James McNair - Continued

Sources:

Leaves of the Family Tree by Penelope Johnson Allen, 1937.

Chalkley's Chronicles

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

Reminiscent History of the Ozark Region This Goodspeed Brothers collection of sketches was originally published in Chicago in 1864. Southern Historical Press, Inc. reprinted the book from an 1894 edition in 1978, 1984 and 1995.

Department of Cultural Resources: North Carolina. Division of archives and History. Certificates of payment for military service.

So let's take a look at the stories of this wonderful man and his legacy:
 
According to the book Leaves of the Family Tree by Penelope Allen, McNair Chapter, page 175-176 copyright @ 1937 is the following: "The McNair family of East Tennessee traces its ancestry to James McNair, a Revolutionary soldier who lived and died in Knox County, Tennessee. James McNair was one of the stalwart pioneers who braved the perils of the wilderness on the southwestern frontier, where he was one of the early white settlers of Holston Co.  Records show that this James McNair served with the militia on the western frontier of North Carolina during the Revolutionary War and he was probably of the intrepid band that followed Captain John Sevier to Kings Mountain. In 1774, he was living in Sullivan Co. Tennessee, but as the settlements were pushed further and further down the Tennessee Valley, he removed his family to Knox County where he was residing in 1794."
 
The following was written by Bryan Douglas McNair of Garland Texas
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mcnair/
Bryan states: Nothing here is 100%. Just a collection from times gone by...
"James McNair, the eldest son of Daniel and Hannah McNair.  Baptismal records of Rev. John Craig state that James Sr. was baptized on 29 Apr. 1747 at the Stone (Prebysterian) Church in Ft. Defiance, Virginia (Staunton VA).  James McNair was a pioneer of East TN and for many years a Free Mason.
James was imbued with the spirit of adventure, having begun to make explorations to the South when a youth of twenty. It is known that he made more than one trip to the "Indian Country" Tennessee, with his boyhood friend and neighbor, John Anderson, and a few other young men from Augusta Co., VA. It is of record that they made one trip as early as 1769 when they went down as far as what is now Hawkins Co., TN, where they "saw so many signs of the Indians" they "deemed it prudent to return." Among the members of the exploring expedition, who soon settled in Sullivan Co., TN, were James McNair, John Sawyers, and Gilbert Christian, while John Anderson located just across the disputed border line in Virginia. Of this adventure, The ANNALS OF TENNESSEE by Ramsey states, "The beauty and fertility of the valley of the Holston proved a temptation to some men of the regiment as a region for settlement. Gilbert Christian and William Anderson, accompanied by John Sawyers, John Anderson, Robert Christian, James McNair, and Nathan Page, shortly after the troops were disbanded, explored the valley. They crossed the North Fork at the ford and penetrated as far down as Big Creek in the present County of Hawkins, where they met a large party of Indians, and turned back."
 
James McNair served with the militia on the western frontier of NC during the Revolutionary War. He was probably one of the followers of John Anderson to King's Mountain.
Chalkley's Chronicles - Volumes I & II, JAMES MCNAIR - (p. 481)                MILITARY SERVICES.
Job Bennington's Declaration, May 5th, 1823: Aged 67; in the Pennsylvania Service; Capt. Porter, Lieut. James McNair, Colonel Proctor.
 
 
About 1773, James McNair married Martha Price. John Anderson married Rebecca Maxwell on 12 Jan 1775. These boyhood friends of the Middle River neighborhood in Augusta County now took their brides to make homes in the wilderness along the border line between VA and NC, now TN, where they continued as neighbors. Their lifelong friendship was sealed with the marriage of their son and daughter, Elizabeth (Betsy) McNair and John Anderson, Jr., a Lieutenant-Colonel in the War of 1812.
 
James acquired a considerable quantity of land in the upper counties of what is now East TN, before he finally located in Knox County. There is record of various locations of land grants in the counties of Hawkins, Green, and Sullivan where he made his home, and where his children were born. These grants were military and were from NC.
 
The McNair Family genealogy book by James Birtley McNair recalled these stories of James and Martha Price:
"James McNair was a pioneer of east Tennessee, a soldier of the Revolutionary War and for many years a Freemason.  He married a woman of Welsh extraction.  His wife was an excellent shot with a rifle.  On one occasion during the absence of her husband, she heard their dogs barking at some little distance from the house, and started out to learn the trouble.  She soon discovered that they had treed a large bear.  She returned to the house for her bun, and very soon the bear fell a victim of her marksmanship.  After skinning the animal without assistance she made meat of the bruin.
 
Mr. McNair returned home one night, after quite a protracted absence, to find that his horses had been stolen by Indians.  Early the next morning he started in pursuit, and after following their trail for three days, he came upon them in camp, the horses grazing some little distance away.  He succeeded in catching his bell-mare, muffled the bell, and led her a short distance away, then returned for vengeance.  He managed to get his rifle in range of two Indians, fired, and brought them both to the ground; the others fled, after which he captured the rest of horses and returned home with them."
 
As the settlements were pushed farther down the TN Valley, James McNair moved his family from Sullivan Co. to Knox Co. in the early 1790's. Here also he acquired much land. The minutes of Knox Co., 1792-95, show that he served as a Juryman Aug. 6, 1794. Other legal documents show that he was active in public affairs in Knox Co. until his death sometimes between Jan. 5 and Mar. 23, 1817. His will was written with his own hand January 5, 1817, and proved at the July term of the Knox Co. Court, 1818. The will in full is recorded in Knox Co. Estate Book, Vol. 2, pages 351 and 352. His wife's will (Martha Price McNair) was written March 23, 1817, and was proved at the same session of the Court. The following is included in Gerry McNair Crow's notes: "Tenn. Census taken from NC land grants 1787-1791, No. of Grant 2442, James McNair, 200 acres 1790 on the south side of Holstein (River) opposite the mouth of German Creek."