General Notes

REFN: 402AN
REFN: P402
John McCreery (ca 1711 - 1768), according to some traditions, was a son
of James McCreery. One story is that John was born in Scotland and came
to Ireland with his brother, James. Another is that John was born in
Irelan d. There is agreement that he was a carpenter and that he married
Agnes Nancy Crawford. However, some say that the marriage took place in
Dublin and other s that John and Nancy eloped and were married on the ship
that brought them t o America in 1732, along with the family of John's
brother, James McCreery. T hey are said to have first settled in Maryland
where they lived for twenty ye ars before moving to that part of old
Augusta County, Virginia that would bec ome Bath County in 1790.
Just when the McCreery family actually moved from Mar yland to Virginia is
uncertain. John may well have made plans to move his fam ily to Virginia
well before the move itself. This is shown by the fact that t he surveying
of land in what is now Bath County begin in earnest in 1745. One
historical note says that, "on the last day of March, 1746,…the surveyors
returned to the Cowpasture…and laid out parcels for Joseph Watson, Andrew
Mul drock and William Daugherty." The next day, "they continued down the
river…su rveying for John Walker, James Mayse and Robert Crockett.
Meanwhile a detachm ent of the surveying party was at work far above,
laying off selections for J ames Scott, John McCreery, William Gillespie,
William Lewis, James Jackson, J ames Simpson, William Black, Robert
Abercrombie…." We know that John McCreery had a survey in "the eastern
sources of the Bullpasture" and that he had ano ther, "on the Cowpasture,
immediately above the mouth of the Bullpasture." In 1750 there was a
minor lawsuit in which John McCreery sought to recover the cost of a
survey from John Justice. This would seem to indicate that the McCr eerys
were living in Augusta County by 1750 if not earlier.
In the spring of 1753 John McCreery built a mill on the Cowpasture River
just below Ebbing Sp ring. On 20 August of the same year John McCreery
qualified as "Captain of th e Horse", meaning that he was authorized to
form a militia unit of horsemen. We know that he was a carpenter and
builder and that he lived very near the c urrent town of Wil-liamsville.
John McCreery wrote his will on 23 May 1768. I t was proved on 21 November
1769 with his sons John, Jr. and Robert as execut ors. These same sons,
John, Jr. and Robert, both served as officers during th e Revolutionary
War. Capt. Robert McCreery, our ancestor, married Mary McClan ahan
(Elijah, John). After the close of the war, Robert moved his family to
Clark County, Kentucky were he died between 1780-90.
From Annals of Bath Co., VA p. 193 by Owen H. Morton
John McCreary, a carpenter and settler of some me ans and enterprise, died
at the homestead in 1768. After dividing it between sons John and Robert,
both of whom were prominent in civil and military life before moving to
Ky.
Pioneer McCreary had several daughters. Elizabeth marri ed ? Wilson in
1750. Jane married Col. Andrew Donnally in 1766, a pioneer of Greenbrier
and Kanawha Cos. whose fort near Lewisburg was a scene of battle b y the
Indians in 1778. Nancy, named for her mother (Nancy Crawford, who came
from Dublin, Ireland), married M. Huston of Ky. John McCreary, Jr.
married a daughter of Wallace Estill.