John McGehee
John McGehee was born in Tennessee in 1810 to James and Jane McGehee. Very little is known of John's early life. We are unsure as to where he was born. John lived most of his life in Tennessee, probably Lincoln county, Tennessee. In his late teens he moved along with is parents to Illinois. We do not know if he was with them in Morgan county, but we do know that he was with them in Knox county.
On April 17,1832 John's mind was on protection when local indians began to attack the area in which he lived. He, along with his brothers in law, Corbin and Simeon Pennington signed a petition requestion arms for the settlers in the Henderson Grove area of Knox county. They were concerned with protecting themselves because the local Indians had made several raids into the area. It was here in Illinois that John had a son named Marion McGehee who was born in 1836. John married Sarah B Williams on January 13, 1834. Sarah was the daughter of Alexander Williams.
Handwritten Marriage licence, 1834.
Click here for Certificate of Marriage for John and Sarah B. Williams.
John also signed for his sister Jane McGehee to marry Hayden Hilton. The following paper indicates that for some reason James, John's father was not able to sign for himself and John signed for him.
The 1840 census of Barry county Missouri shows two young girls living with the family. A examination of the 1850 census indicates a gap in children between 1836 and 1840. It is proabable that John and Sarah had two daughters that died during this time as children. John also had two daughters. All of the children listed on his probate records and land records are accounted for, thus it is presumed therefore that these to girls died when they were just children.
The Missouri Years
In 1840 we find John living next door to his mother Jane McGehee in Lawrence county Illinois. Census records indicate that John and Sarah had a son, and two daughters. By 1850 John and Sarah are living in Carroll county Arkansas which is just over the border from Barry county Mo - which is the county south of Lawrence. The two daughters are no longer listed with the family. However, if you look at the birth order of the children that are listed, there is space for two children between the first and second child listed. It is most likely that these two children died.
On December 23, 1854, John and Sarah B. McGehee sold 40 acres of land to Richard P Anderson for the sum of $75.00 in Lawrence county. These records indicate that at that time the couple lived in Dade unty Missouri. There are several other records of the couple buying land in various places before 1858.
On the probate records of his mother, Jane McGehee, it states that John moved to Texas, but there is no other indication nor concrete evidence to indicate that he ever made it there. Probate court records for Lawrence county Missouri state that on the 2nd day of February in 1858, a court ordered the sale of the estate of John McGehee with the proceeds to go to the minor children, James McGehee, Martha McGehee, Nancy McGehee and John Wesley McGehee. Martha McGehee was one of the purchasers at this estate sale, buying a bed for $2.00. She was only 9 years old.
There is also land records on file in Lawrence county showing that his land was sold in August of 1858 to Jonathan and Melinda Hunt for the sum of $50.00 for approximately 40 acres. That would be an equivalent to $868.00 today. In John's probate records it states that he was not a current resident of Lawrence county, however this land that was sold was in Lawrence county, and also his belongings were sold in Lawrence county, therefore these items must have been in Lawrence county. Where John was is a mystery. John would have only been 48 years old in 1858.
John is never seen or heard from again in any records I have found. It is unclear whether he actually ever made it to Texas, or if he died in Arkansas. It is also unclear what happened to Sarah B. McGehee, John's wife.
It is possible that he was in Oklahoma territory at the time, but that would be an argument from silence as I have found no record available that indicate it. John's son Alexander states that he (Alexander) came to Texas in 1855, and I know that John's daughter Sidney, married in Grayson county Texas in 1859 (Grayson county Texas borders the Oklahoma-Texas line). I speculate that John and Sarah may not have gone to Texas, but instead either died before they made it to Texas, or stopped in Oklahoma and never moved on to Texas.
Click here for
Children of John and Sarah McGehee
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