Father of Thomas McClurken (1756 – 1845)
& Mathew McClurkin (1761 – 1847)
By: Roger Kemps © 2011
As to the question about the father of Thomas (and Mathew), there are three schools of the thought:
1. His father was James McClurken who died in 1795 and was on the same ship. This view is found in the Ancestry.com OneWorldTree and was my first conclusion. This is supported by the fact that James had a son, Thomas. This Thomas fought in the American Revolutionary War. However, the Thomas who died in 1845 had a brother, Matthew, and James' will does not mention Matthew. Also, James' son, John, had predeceased him, whereas, the brother, John, of the Thomas in question, did not die until 1819. Further confusion is provided by the fact that there were two Thomas McClurkens who were in South Carolina and both fought in the American Revolutionary War. A recap of James McClurkin's family as per Lois C. Meyer is worth looking reviewing. Lois Meyer did extensive research on the McClurkins and her research is well documented. It is available through LDS history centers.
2. His father was Robert McClurken. Robert was the brother of the James described in 1., above. This conclusion is presented in the early pages of Narratives of Randolph County (Illinois). Unfortunately, there is no will or much in the way of property records in the South Carolina Archives to support this conclusion. However, it is certain that Thomas had an older brother, Robert, who could have been named for his father, Robert. The author did not provide the sources for her research, so the validity is uncertain. This position was repeated in McClurkin - Smith Record, Washington County, Illinois which may have used Narratives of Randolph County as the source.
3. His father was John McClurkin who was the brother of James McClurken described in 1., above. This view is presented by Charles McLurkin in his Register Report for John McClurkin Sr. Charles is adamant that his conclusion is correct, although, he did not provide the research that supports it. Linda Branson Byrd supports this conclusion in Message 58 of the McClurkin Family Genealogy Forum. Other researchers have reached the same conclusion that John (born about 1720 in Antrim, Ireland) was the father of Thomas. They quote Lois Meyer's research to support their conclusions. If Butch Sanders (James McClurkin's family as per Lois C. Meyer) accurately transcribed Lois' research, the last section reports that Matthew was the son of John. If Matthew was the son of John, then Thomas was the son of John. Lois Meyer was a granddaughter of Hugh Park McClurkin and she died in 1982. Many researchers quote Lois Meyer, and her research is the most comprehensive and authoritative. Even the author of Narratives had contact with Lois and included a letter (see page 53) that was written to Lois, in 1941, by W. J. McClurken.
My current view is that school of thought #3 is the correct conclusion, especially if supported by the Lois Meyer research. I need to make a trip to an LDS history center and review some of the films.
Last updated 5/26/2012