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Author: 5McGs
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.claypool/361/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
I am interested in whether any Claypool descendants/researchers have any new information and analysis concerning the father of James Claypool, b. 1701, who migrated to Brock's Gap and then Lost River in Virginia.
I am familiar with the view that his father was James, b. 1664, the son of James, the Quaker merchant of Philadelphia and with Edward Claypool's idea that the James who headed west was the son of Norton. I understand that the latter view has fallen out of favor, but have seen little convincing rationale. I have read the accounts in the Rebecca Graff and Evelyn Bracken books (but not Vol II of latter), and extracts or indexes of some relevant documents-this same material is heavily cited in most online family trees. I have not researched the primary documents myself and am trying to figure out whether this has a chance of being fruitful, compared to other genealogical puzzles I could spend my time on. Hence my interest in the extent to which anyone has looked at primary materials in the last 20 years and shed any new light on this question. I am, by the way, a descendant of James Claypool (b. 1730) and Margaret Dunbar through Abraham.
As I understand it:
James, the grandson of James the Quaker merchant/immigrant, said to be born 1701, was born in Newcastle County, Delaware but lived at some point in Sussex County, Delaware, as he was cited as living there in his Uncle George's will. Let's call him the first James.
James, the grandson of Norton, was born about 1701-1703 in Sussex County,Delaware and mortgaged land there in 1745, about the time that a James Claypool left Delaware for Virginia. Let's call him the second James.
James who headed to Virginia was from Sussex County and was a weaver. What evidence points to the Sussex County weaver being the first James and not the second?
Both of these James lost their fathers early and their mother's remarried. The first James' stepfather, Christian Steelman, was cited in one posting I saw (unsourced) as a cordwainer, not a weaver. I've never seen any trade ascribed to Nehemiah Field, the second James' stepfather. Neither James seems more likely than the other to have become a weaver.
Children of Norton's son Jeremiah went to Virginia, too. All agree that the Virginia-bound James went with Claypool cousins. Jeremiah's children were first cousins to Norton's grandson and second cousins to James the Quaker's grandson. James the Quaker merchant's heirs sued Norton's heirs over debts Norton incurred from his brother. In light of this law suit, it seems odd that a grandchild of Norton would be taking up with his second cousins (and vice versa) and more natural for Norton's first cousin grandchildren to migrate together.
It is for these reasons I haven't been able to draw a firm conclusion about which Claypool brother the Virginia James descended from. I would be deeply appreciative to learn of any relevant information or logic that I am missing.
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