General Notes

In the 1850 Census of Hancock County Alabama, page 362B, line 11, there is the following family:

Allen McLain   29   Farmer    $510 Born NC
Mary      26                      Ala
Margaret        9                      Ala
Mary       6                      Ala
William         4                      Ala
Elizabeth       2                      Ala
David          2/12                    Ala
Margaret Hewatt     50                      Va

This looks promising as the parents of James McLain if the Maragaret Hewatt is actually Margaret Hewlett, mother of Mary. The census taker's spelling and writing are not good. Two pages later there is a William Hewlett, age 26, a "Lawer", born in Alabama, with his wife Sarah and sons David and William. If there is any relationship with Mary Hewlett, he would have to be her twin brother or a cousin.

In 1860, in Winston County Alabama, the former Hancock County, Township 9, Range 10, Page 1207A. there is the following family:

Allen B. McClain       42            Farmer      $1500 Real Est.  $1200 Personal Est.  Born NC
Mary K                      39                                                                                          Ala
Margaret I.                19                                               Ala
Mary K.                     17                                         Ala
William H.       14                                     Ala
Elisabeth        11                                     Ala
David H.                     9                                         Ala
Felix D.               7                                     Ala
Rebecca           6                                     Ala
Leander           2                                     Ala
Margaret Hewlett      61                                     Va

Then in 1870, also in Winston County, Houston Township, page 511A, there is this family:

Allen McLain            52    Farmer    $800      $400                 NC
Mary C.         48                                      Ala
David           20                                      Ala
Phelis D. (Felix)        17                                       Ala
Rebeca           15                                     Ala
Adan                          12                                       Ala
Dena                          10                                       Ala
Enoch              6                                         Ala
James D.                     3                                         Ala

While these appear to all be the same family, growing in size and decreasing in prosperity, there are some problems with the ages, especially of Allen and Mary, perhaps accounted for my the census taker not actually talking to Allen and Mary in one or more of the censuses. Also, James Erastus's Obituary says that his mother's name was Mary Elizabeth Hewitt while the name here is Mary C or Mary K (Katherine or Catherine?) so the possibility exists that her middle name was not Elizabeth or that she had three names in addition to her surname. James Erastus is called James D. in the 1870 Census. According to Edna Earl McLain Dolland, James Erastus was sometimes called David. Perhaps he also had three names in addition to his surname.

In 1880, Mary appears to be widowed as she and three of her children appear as: [Winston County, Township 9, page 559B]

Mary C. McClane        56                    Ala  Va   Va
Deciann           20          daughter       Ala  NC   Ala
Eunice A.         16               daughter       Ala  NC   Ala
Erastus           12          son       Ala  NC   Ala

So, now Dena in 1870 becomes Deciann; Enoch becomes Eunice and James becomes Erastus; and it appears that the census taker in 1870 had the worst spelling.

On 21 May 1888, Mary C. McLain of Lamar County Alabama left a will in which she names 10 children or their children. The daughters are named by their married names and their husbands appear to be witnesses to the will. There is also an S.F. Pennington who witnessed the will. She left 40 acres of land in Township 9, Range 10 in Winston County to each of 9 children plus 40 total to her Underwood grandchildren. The only child left out was James D. or Erastus McLain who had married Idella Morton some 5 months earlier at the age of 22 (1870 census), 23 (1870 census), or 25 (death record). Was James being left out in any way related to his recent marriage? Had he received any other money or land prior to his father's death? According to Edna Earl McLain Dolland, James was generally regarded to have been the black sheep of the family but no one at that time seemed to know why. One thing is certain, while all of his siblings owned at least a small parcel of land, James became a share cropper.

Also in the will, the mysterious Leander or Adan becomes Leanora Ader (Rush).

Also, James McLain's obituary claims that he was the last surviving of 14 children. If so, the other three must have died young enough to have never been noted in a census.

There is an Allen McLain who purchased land in Mississippi in 1840 and who may or may not be the same Allen McLain.

In 1850, Allen was the Assistant Marshall taking the Census inWinston County, Alabama.

According to the Slave Census, Allen McLain owned eight slaves.

Ancestry.com Web Site [http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse/dll?db=gedfam&ti=0&f0=f3514&f1=2319] shows an Allen McLain and sister Katherine McLain, children of Daniel McLain and Sarah Jane Unknown; this Allen McLain was married to Naomi Bateman, possibly in South Carolina. The relationship, if any, to Allen McLain and his wife Mary Hewlett, is unknown.