Descendants of Charles Clinton The following excerpts are taken from Guy Clinton's Clintons Appearing in Early American Records.
"The index of County records in Allegheny county contains one and one-half pages of references to land transactions by Thomas and Catherine and by William and Sarah Clinton, extending from 1794 to about 1856. Their residence suggests relationship to Charles Clinton; he was at the proper age to be a son or nephew.
Scharf comments on the quality of Maryland soldiers: 'The Frederick troops were actively engaged in the campaign of 1779, and were transferred with the rest of the Maryland line in 1780 to the South where they once more illustrated the quality of Maryland courage.'"
....and also the following excerpt: "Charles Clinton became head of a committee (1775) for Cumberland Hundred (then in Frederick County) to raise funds to buy arms and ammunition which were required by the Maryland Council of Safety. In Force's American Archives we find that the Council of Safety commissioned him Captain of Militia July 27, 1776. He was said to have been from Skipton or Shipton District; this name is no longer known in that region but it was undoubtedly in the neighborhood of Cumberland. In the Pennsylvania Archives 6th. S. Vol. 5 Pages 310 and 320 we find that he had become Captain of the Eighth Company of Fayette County (Pa.) Militia 1791-1792. He had bought several tracts of land in Union Township of Fayette County in 1784-1792, and in the deeds he gave Washington County Md as his residence. This fact identifies him as the same man referred to in the records just cited."
His child was:1. THOMAS CLINTON born about 1760.
Generation II
Thomas Clinton was born about 1760 and died on January 17, 1847 probably in Cumberland, Maryland. He married CATHERINE MICHAEL/MICHEL on June 6, 1794 in Mount Zion Presbyterian Church, Mcintyre Twp, Lycoming, Pennsylvania. Catherine was the daughter of LUDWIG MICHEL and CATHERINE. (There is disagreement between Maria Clinton Schuck and me as to Catherine's parentage.) She was born on or about 17 May 1769 and baptised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Frederick, MD. For more information on Thomas read the following notes by Maria Clinton Schuck. Thomas and Catherine's children were:
1. WILLIAM CLINTON, was born 08 Oct 1794 in Cumberland, Maryland; and he died 21 Jun 1882, Cable, Champaign Co., Ohio.Notes of Maria Clinton Shuck: Thomas Clinton entered the Shuck line when his daughter Maria married Joseph Shuck (1789-1873), seventh of the nine children of George Schuck, progenitor of the Shucks of Cumberland, Maryland. Thomas was born about 1760; his parents and place of birth are not known. His ancestry almost certainly goes back to England - the genealogy books of English nobility are full of Clintons. Numerous Clintons migrated to America, leaving thousands of descendants, several of whom played prominent roles in the history of the United States
2. MARIA CLINTON was born 1797 and died in 1851
Thomas may have lived in New Jersey, for it was there in Monmouth County that he enlisted for Revolutionary War service in the 4th Maryland Regiment of the Army. That was on 1 July 1778 when he was 18 years old. He was later transferred to the 2nd Regiment. His rank was Private; his specialty, Fifer. After three years he was promoted to Drummer. Private/Fifer Clinton was in the battle of Monmouth, was at Gates's defeat in Carolina and was at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He stayed in the Army until the end of the war, when he was discharged at Frederick, Maryland, on 29 November 1783.
On 6 June 1794, Thomas married Catherine Michael at Frederick, Maryland. She was probably the daughter of Andrea and Rachel Michael (or Michel) baptized 15 May 1769 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick. The couple moved to Allegany County, for after the war the Maryland legislature had granted him a 50-acre tract west of Cumberland. Beginning in 1794, Thomas and his wife, and later their son William, were engaged in numerous land transactions, as recorded in Allegany County records. In 1813 they lived on Mechanic Street, Cumberland's main street at that time, not far from George Schuck's house.
In 1814, the War of 1812 was still in progress and Thomas joined one of the two companies of militia requisitioned from Allegany County by the Federal Government. The company, made up mostly of civilians of Cumberland, marched to Baltimore and at nearby Camp Diehl served for two months as part of the national army. Thomas was once again a fifer and with his Revolutionary War fellow-musician, Drummer Moses McKinsey, was listed in the company roster between the non-commissioned officers and the Privates. On special occasions these two patriots would come out into the streets in Cumberland and play the fife and drum.
By occupation, Thomas Clinton was a carpenter. In April 1818, he declared himself to be "in reduced circumstances" as justification for entitlement to the Federal pension that had been declared in March. His application was approved and he received eight dollars a month for 17 months. He applied for renewal in October 1820, declaring he could no longer work "by reason of his poverty and sometimes want of health, that he has a wife about fifty years of age and that his children have all left him."
Presumably the children had "left him" by reason of marriage. William (b. 1795) married Sarah Parker in 1816; Maria (b. 1797) married Joseph Shuck in 1814; Julianna (b. 1799) married William Moore in 1816; Sophia married Robert Johnson in 1817. Presumably he also had a daughter Anna, supported by the census of 1810 and mentioned in his will.
Thomas's wife Catherine died and in 1837 he married Sarah Woodin. In 1841 he executed a will, leaving his estate to be divided equally among his children, except for one dollar to his son, Thomas, who left the home for Las Vegas, New Mexico at eighteen years and Anna, to whom he bequeathed one hundred dollars. A wife is not mentioned, so presumably Sarah had died by then. He designated his son-in-law Joseph as executor. In 1843 he married Anna Gephart.
His son, Thomas, returned from Las Vegas, New Mexico before his father passed away.Page 3 of Urbana Citizen And Gazette, published in Urbana, Ohio on Thursday, November 26th 1874Wm Clinton, one of the oldest settlers of Ohio, now a resident of Cable, O., is the father of the boy that passed from under his parental roof in a fit anger and willful disobedience out into the wide world to make the visionary fortune that glitters and sparkles so brightly to boyish eyes before they have come into sterner contact with the world. Almost forty years ago Thos. Clinton, the boy of eighteen summers passed the threshold of his father’s humble cabin, the last time, to become a wanderer in the world. His father tried to pursue him, and thought that he had followed his trail as far as St. Louis, Mo., where he was informed that a boy had just died answering so nearly the description of his son that he gave up his search and mourned his son as dead. Years and the prosperity that has come with them has enabled Wm. Clinton to exchange the humble cabin in the woods for one in town more expensive and beautiful, with a fortune that permits him to spend the last years of his life in ease, if not in luxury.The Runaway Boy
Still no tidings came of the lost boy until five years ago. He had gone first to Pittsburg, Pa., making the long journey on foot, without a cent of money. After two years he became dissatisfied with Pittsburg and started for the far off West, on foot, still lured on by the hope of fortune and fanciful and romantic stories of the Aztecs with their beautiful Temple lined with its frieze of gold. He landed at last in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he spent two years in driving a dray, but having always led a country life, the love of a rural home overcome his passion for the city. So he retired into the mountains of Mexico, thenceforth to become a hermit, and by stealth and cunning amass the long wished for fortune. In the mountains he built a house of mud and elevated a little mound in its centre with a hollow in the top which served him as a stove. The frying pan was a substitute for all kinds of dishes and the ground made both bed and chair. He narrated, while at his fathers, a little (?moment-illegible?) of his wild life that occurred while he lay sick with the small pox. He had sent for a physician, hoping that he would be able to relieve his sufferings, but found that he only made them the more severe. Then he grew angry and ordered him from his rusty mansion and as he passed out of the door Thos. Jumped from his bed, and grabbing his gun, shot at him. The ball hit the cheek of the door within an inch of his head. The doctor made no charge for his call and concluded that his patient could get along without further medical aid.
His only fireside companions were two dogs and a cat. His solitude had created a disgust for women until it made him angry to be in their presence. Five years ago a letter ????? to the County Clerk, V.J. Cruthridge stating the whereabout of the wantering boy, and requesting that it should be forwarded to his friends, if still alive. The letter was answered and communication kept up between father and son until, a year ago a letter was received, saying that the prodigal was willing to return to his father’s house provided he would send him money enough to bring him and pay what he owed in Mexico. The money was sent and the boy started for home with all his baggage which consisted of one coarse blanket, a tin cup, a little package of sugar and coffee. He was taken sick on his journey home. His money became exhausted and he made the remainder of his journey on foot. On a pleasant morning of last summer he came into Cable, back to his father’s house, toot sore and weary. The boy of 18, now the old gray-headed man of 58 years, so nearly wild and Spanish that he could scarcely be understood. He spent two months visiting among his friends, during which time many amusing incidents occurred concerning him. Civilization then disgusted him, and love of solitude drove him back again into the nest of Mexico, where he has gone to die as he has lived, a wanderer and an outcast in the world.
Frank Fuson
William's probate records state that Thomas lived in Las Vegas, NM. He is there in the 1880 census, living with a "wife" who doesn't share his last name. Las Vegas was apparently one of the Lawlessest of the Lawless West! Thomas probably served in the Mexican War in the 1840s and stayed. The only records of him so far, though, are during the 1880s. He is mentioned in the local newspaper several times. He was a stonemason and grave digger. He could not read or write, and when word came of his father's death, he had trouble claiming his inheritance, so he sent a man to Ohio to see to it for him. When the money came, of $700, only $400 was sent to him, and $300 to the man he hired. Infuriated, Thomas had the man arrested, but he was exonerated just a few days later, and presumably Thomas wasn't able to get his money back.Not long after that, Thomas bought The Keg Saloon on Bridge St, but he sold his share to his partner just a few months later. When Thomas died in 1886 the papers said that he was in extreme poverty, but had chosen to continue in the trade of grave digging despite having better prospects. His friends had to pay for his coffin and shroud. I can't find any evidence of a grave for him, but it would be worth it to check with the older grave yards as not all of the records are online.
1 February 1884 Las Vegas, New Mexico Thomas Clinton buys the Bridge Street Saloon from WJ Hopkinson goes into business with Mat Reidinger who later buys out Clinton’s share.
Mr. W. J. Hopkinson today sold his Bridge Street saloon to Thomas Clinton. Mat Reidlinger will, it is said, be identified with Mr. Clinton. Mr. Hopkinson will open up a new place in the new House he lately purchased opposite the Windsor. Everything will be new and clean.
Thomas, Sr. died 7 January 1847. His burial place and that of his wives are unknown. But her is memorialized by this inscription on his daughter's gravestone:
MARIA CLINTON SHUCK 1796-1851 Daughter of Revolutionary War Soldier THOMAS AND CATHERINE MICHAEL CLINTON The stone in Rose Hill Cemetery, Cumberland, was erected by Thomas's great-great-great granddaughter, Dorothy Gerbing Kave, a Shuck descendant and a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
3. JULIANNA CLINTON, born about 1799:4. SOPHIA CLINTON, born about 1801.
5. ANNA CLINTON, born about 1803.
Generation No. III
1. THOMAS CLINTON born about 1817.2.MARY JANE CLINTON born about 1819; m. WHARTON
3. ELIZABETH CLINTON, born about 1821; m. MIDDLETON
Child of WILLIAM CLINTON and MARGARET GARNEY is:
1. MARGARET ANN CLINTON born December 6, 1826 in Cumberland, Maryland; died November 6, 1865 in Mechanicsburg, Champaign Co., Ohio, married Thomas Douglas.
By Guy Clinton (1867 . . . .)