This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Carnahan, Jack, Thompson, Finley, Johnson, Johnston, McClanahan, Quigley,
Potter, Mason, Lodge, Lyons
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/WeH.2ACEB/662
Message Board Post:
I have had a few people ask for this information so I thought I would post it.
I would be happy to exchange info with anyone who descends from this family. Please let
me know if you see errors in this information that need to be corrected. :))
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Colonel John Carnahan– and Eleanor (Jack) of Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania
John Carnahan is found in the 1764 Lurgan Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Tax
Records as John Kernahan. (Cumberland Co. Tax Lists 974.843R4sc) (Lurgan became Franklin
County and is one township over from Hopewell and near Shippensburg.) Also in the tax
records of Lurgan is Clements Finley who married Col. John’s sister Elizabeth Carnahan.
(See JVT V2 p. 192 and Orphan’s Court Records of Westmoreland Co.) Col. John and his
sister Elizabeth and the Finleys were from Hopewell Twp., Cumberland County.
By 1781, John and his wife Eleanor had witnessed a deed in Huntingdon Township,
Westmoreland Co. (West. Co. Deed Book A page 210) John was also active in civic affairs
before and after the Revolution. He served as Sheriff of Westmoreland County until 1781
and then in 1781 as a representative to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. (Colonial
Records of Pennsylvania, Minutes of the Supreme Ex. Council pgs. 142, 180, 182, 212, 235,
236, 273.) In 1782/83, the Council sent him with 1500 pounds to General Irvine at Fort
Pitt to help buy supplies, packhorses etc. (Col. Rec. of Penn. Page 426) The property
owned by Col. John in Westmoreland County is apparently next to the property of John
Carnahan of Willow Tree Farm who married Rebecca Caruthers, as well as land owned by his
own son John, said to be a Captain in the Rev. War. (See Westmoreland Deed Book Vol. A pt
1 p. 317) John sold property to John Jack in 1783 (See also page 317). By 1794, John
Carnahan Sr., John Carnahan Jr.,!
and Adam Carnahan are in the tax rolls of Hardin County, Kentucky (See Hardin Co
Kentucky Census and Tax Lists 1793-1800). John Sr. can be found on the 1797 tax list of
Hardin Co. and does not appear again. Adam disappears after 1795 but is said to have gone
to Chillicothe Ohio. John Sr. and Eleanor sold their 300 acres of property in Hardin Co.
in March of 1799. Apparently John died between that time and 1804 when Eleanor went back
to Westmoreland County, Pa. Johnson descendants have said that John Carnahan died while
staying with the Johnson family in Green County, Kentucky.
Eleanor Jack died in 1805 after spending 12 months in the care of John Jack and Eleanor
Stevenson Jack. Her son William Thompson Carnahan brought Eleanor back to Westmoreland
County from Scioto County, Ohio – where she apparently went after Kentucky. (Adm. of
Eleanor Carnahan 1805 – West. Co., Pa). John Jack is presumed to be her brother since he
was not her son-in-law and Jack research has shown that Eleanor, John Jack’s wife, was not
related her. It is unlikely that anyone but a child or a siblng would take care of
someone near death. Eleanor is also a name used by the Jack family. The administration
of her estate mentions many relatives but does not mention their relationship to her with
the exception of William. The Jacks and the Carnahans have been allied families since the
1730’s in Octararo, Pennsylvania.
The known children of Col. John Carnahan and Eleanor Jack (not necessarily in birth
order)
1. John b. abt 1757 appeared in the 1783 tax records of Huntingdon Township, with father
John Sr., and cousins John and James Carnahan. He also went to Hardin County, Kentucky.
His first wife was Ann Mason with whom he had at least two children. He married second to
Mrs. Phebe Barton widow of Roger Barton (nee Phebe Johnson) in 1793 in Hardin County,
Kentucky. They moved to Hopkinsville, Christian County, Ky. and raised a family there.
It is not known at this time if Phebe Johnson is related to John Johnson below. Phebe was
married first to Roger Barton and by him had two sons, Daniel and Roger Barton, who were
under the guardianship of John Carnahan in 1807 in Christian Co., KY (Christian Co. Court
Records July 1807)
2. Elizabeth b. 14 Feb 1758 (Desc.Robt & Eliz. Lodge) married Benjamin Lodge (see
above) and died 15 Jan 1792 – the mother of 3 children. Benjamin Lodge was also in the
Rev. War and was called Captain in later documents. Col. John Carnahan and Major Michael
Huffnagle helped pay a bond for Benjamin Lodge to be made Deputy Surveyor of the Donated
Land along west side of the Allegheny River in 1785 (See Deed Book Vol. A part 2 p. 469.)
He witnessed John Johnson’s IOU in Eleanor’s estate papers. Eleanor’s estate also
mentions Martha Lodge (nee Latimer) Benjamin Lodge’s second wife. Benjamin Lodge died
about 1801 when letters of administration were granted to Martha Lodge and John Bonnet or
Bennet. Martha is shown in 1811 Orphan’s Court records of Westmoreland County to be
remarried to Joseph Lyons.
3. Margaret Sophia b. abt 1762 married John Johnson or Johnston. John left an IOU to John
Sr. dated 1793 to John Sr. “in Kentucky” that was settled in Eleanor’s estate. See also
Deed Book C Vol 2 p. 718 – Deed signed by John and Margaret Johnston. Margaret and John
Johnson went to Green County, Kentucky and raised a family there. John was the son of Ann
Finley and Thomas Johnson. Ann Finley was the sister of Clement Finley (above) and Andrew
Finley. (who was married to Ginsey Jack d/o John Jack above)
4. James C. Carnahan b. abt 1765. James married Catherine Potter and she is shown in the
administration of Eleanor’s estate as Catherine McClanahan. Catherine remarried Mathew
McClanahan.after James died in 1800. (See JVT Vlm 3 p. 78 bible records of Mathew
McClanahan) James was a surveyor and surveyed with his brother-in-law Benjamin Lodge
580,000 acres of Virginia that would become Kentucky. He was known as Capt. James
Carnahan. He bought property with Benjamin Lodge in Tyrone Township, Fayette Co;
Westmoreland County and was shown along with Benjamin Lodge as a landowner in Kanawha Co.,
Virginia (became West Virginia) in 1791. His wife, Catherine in 1800 in Westmoreland
County, administered his estate. (See Wills and Adm. Vlm A page 138) In Deed Book C page
145 Catesy Carnahan and Samuel Potter (her father) sell a piece of property that they
acknowledged they got from John Carnahan. (See also JVT Vlm. 1)
5. Adam Carnahan born before 1763 is first found witnessing a deed in 1784 in
Westmoreland County. (See Deed book A page 379 also JVT Vlm. 1) He is found with his
brother John Jr., and father John Sr., in Hardin County Kentucky in the 1794 and 1795 tax
lists. This Adam is probably the Adam who married Mary Thompson and died in Chillicothe,
Ohio in 1801, as his mother also was in that area about that time. Mary Thompson was the
daughter of John Thompson and Mary Barclay Finley (sister of Clement Finley above.). Mary
was the executor of his estate in Chillicothe.
6. William Thompson Carnahan b. 1 Nov. 1770 is found selling a piece of property in Deed
Book B p. 261 – West. Co. Deeds. (See also JVT Volume 1) His father John Carnahan is named
as his “guardian and father”. When this deed was made (1787) William was a minor and was
named as such in the deed. William Thompson also figures prominently in Eleanor’s estate
administration, as he is the one who brings her back from Scioto to live with John and
Eleanor Jack. William Thompson Carnahan married Frances Quigley (the Quigleys were next
door neighbors to the Carnahans in Westmoreland Co.) and lived in Darke County. Ohio. He
died there in 1838.
Linda Hansen