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In John Gray's Will, Samuel was listed in order of the 7th child. Therefore I have placed him as the 7th child. No documentation support other than than.
(MCM 2014)
Samuel Gray was born 1720 in Ulster, Northern Ireland, and died 1775 in Tyrone County (now Rutherford County), NC. He married Agnes "Nancy" McClung. She died August 10, 1809.
Samuel lived in Augusta County, VA until 1765 when they sold their lands in the Borden Tract and moved southward. They were in Tryon County, N. C by 1769, when Samuel Gray entered his land grant for 300 acres on Broad River. (Tryon County was cut off from Mecklenburg County in 1762 and in 1779 was divided into present Lincoln and Rutherford Counties, the old Tryon records being placed at the courthouse in Lincolnton, N.C. The Gray lands thus fell into present Rutherford County in 1779.)
Samuel Gray made his will in Tryon County 22 Apr. 1775 proven “the next morning after 4th Tuesday of July 1775” (Tryon/Lincoln County Court Records, 1769-1782, pages unnumbered.) The will named his wife Agnes Gray and children: (1) John Gray; (2) William Gray, moved to Jefferson Co., TN; (3) James Gray (1755-1836), later known as Major James Gray, Revolutionary War officer (captain and major), serving from 1775 to the end of the war, married Jane McClure of Rutherford Co.; (4) David Gray; (5) Ann Gray; (6) “all the children” including son Joseph Gray, who was not named in the will because it appears certain that he was born after his father’s death. The executor was his son James Gray.
Samuel served in the military in 1744 in Muster Roll of Capt. John Buchanan. He died on 22 Apr 1775 in Tryon Co., NC.
Transcription of text
Name: Nancy Mcclung Gender: Female Spouse Name: Samuel Gray Spouse Birth Place: NC Marriage State: of VA
Source Citation: Source number: 1254.042; Source type: Family group sheet, FGSE, listed as parents; Number of Pages: 1; .
SAMUEL GRAY (c.1726-1775), son of John Gray above, was born in Ulster, Northern Ireland, and died in old Tryon County (now Rutherford County), N.C. He married Agnes (Nancy) McClung (d. 10 Aug. 1809). They lived in Augusta County, Va. until 1765, when they sold their lands in the Borden Tract and moved southward. They were in Tryon County, N.C by 1769, when Samuel Gray entered his land grant for 300 acres on Broad River. (Tryon County was cut off from Mecklenburg County in 1762 and in 1779 was divided into present Lincoln and Rutherford Counties, the old Tryon records being placed at the courthouse in Lincolnton, N.C. The Gray lands thus fell into present Rutherford County in 1779.)
Samuel Gray made his will in Tryon County 22 Apr. 1775 proven "the next morning after 4th Tuesday of July 1775" (Tryon/Lincoln County Court Records, 1769-1782, pages unnumbered.) The will named his wife Agnes Gray and children: (1) John Gray; (2) William Gray, moved to Jefferson Co., Tn; (3) James Gray (1755-1836), later known as Major James Gray, Revolutionary officer (captain and major), serving from 1775 to the end of the war, married Jane McClure of Rutherford Co.; (4) David Gray; (5) Ann Gray; (6) "all the children" including son Joseph Gray, who was not named in the will because it appears certain that he was born after his father's death. (His father's will was dated in April 1775; in the summer or fall of 1850, Joseph Gray stated in the Monroe Co., Ga. Census that he was age 75, suggesting that his birthday had occurred well past the month of April in 1775.) In his will Samuel Gray expressed concern for the education of his children and provided instructions and funds toward that end. The executor was his son James Gray.
Posted by: Joseph Moore (ID *****3418) Date: June 14, 2002 at 20:44:17
In Reply to: Re: Agnes (Nancy) McClung m.Samuel Gray, Augusta/Rockbridge, VA, c.1750 by G Taylor of 1299
Thank you very much. You are absolutely correct. My copy of this book came just today and Agnes (Nancy) McClung Gray is indeed a daughter of James McClung and granddaughter of the immigrant James McClung, Sr.
For the benefit of others, the reference is to the Reverend William McClung, "McClung Genealogy." Pittsburg: McClung Printing Company, 1904: p. 10. Reprinted by David E. Miles, (Dixon, Ill.: The Print Shop, Historical Division, 1983). Many thanks to David Miles (Louisville, KY) for making this splendid book again available to McClung descendants.
Children of Samuel Gray and Agnes McClung are:
i. John Gray
ii. William Gray
iii. James Gray, Major b. 25 Feb 1755, Rutherford Co., North Carolina; d. 21 Oct 1836; m. Isabel McClure, 15 Jun 1776; d. 16 Aug 1826.
Notes for James Gray, Major:
Major James Gray was a Captain and Major in the Revolutionary War, serving from 1775 to the end of the war.
iv. David Gray
v. Ann Gray
vi. Joseph Gray, b. Abt. 1775; d. 21 Aug 1857, Bolingbroke, Monroe Co., Georgia; m. Elizabeth Williams, 02 Dec 1802, Rutherford Co., North Carolina; b. Abt. 1784, Tryon/Rutherford Co., North Carolina; d. 29 Oct 1859, Monroe Co., Georgia.
Migration History:
The first Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia arrived in the 1720's primarily from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Eastern Virginia. Some were German-born or the Pennsylvania-born children of German-speaking Protestant immigrants from the Palatinate and other areas bordering the Rhine River. These were Lutheran, Reformed, or Brethren. The greatest numbers of early Augusta settlers were from the province of Ulster in the north of Ireland, or were the Pennsylvania and Maryland-born children of these Ulster Scots or Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. Many early settlers took up land on the 112,000-acre tract that the colonial government granted to William Beverley, later referred to as "Beverley Manor".
In 1739, Benjamin Borden a New Jersey Quaker, received a grant beginning at the southern boundary of Beverley Manor. Borden was promised 1,000 acres for every settler he located, amounting in all to 92,100 acres. John McDowell, a surveyor, helped Borden locate his tract and was rewarded with a large acreage. The "Borden Tract" later became Rockbridge County, VA. In addition to the Scot's Irish, English and African-Americans were also among the early settlers in the area. Many settlers were of of English descent, coming into the area from eastern Virginia. African Americans were also among the early settlers, some free-born, but most enslaved. Although initially small in number, by the Civil War they represented 20% of the population. (Source: Augusta County Historical Society, http://www.augustacountyhs.org/history.html)
Augusta County was created from Orange County in 1738. For seven years, until the population grew large enough, Augusta’s records were kept in Orange. In 1745, Augusta elected a sheriff, a vestry, a county court, a minister, and a clerk of court. A courthouse was built on the same site in Staunton (originally called Beverley’s Mill Place) as the current courthouse. The county’s records have been kept continuously at the courthouse since 1745. In that year, the county included all of present southwestern Virginia, most of present West Virginia and even stretched to the Mississippi River. As people began to settle in those western areas, new counties were formed from parts of Augusta, beginning in 1769 with Botetourt County, then Rockingham and Rockbridge in 1778.
(Sources: Augusta County Historical Society Website [1] ; "Ulster-Scots in Virginia, from Pennsylvania to Shenandoah", by Richard McMaster; "Kegley's Virginia Frontier: The Beginning of the Southwest", by E.F. Kegley; Wikipedia; Rootsweb.)
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1720 - 1775 (55 years)