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The McClain families of Huntingdon Co., Pennsylvania in the year 1800.
There are two "Head of Household" McClain named men, who lived in Springfield Township during 1800. A John, and a Azariah McClain. These two men are most likely brothers. This record does not prove they were related. However, they are listed as living near or next to each other in the census listing. Information found in later census records give support to the belief that they were brothers.
Of four McClain heads of households found in early 1800's census, William, Samuel, John, and Azariah, John McClain is the one I'm most interested in knowing more about. However, in search of John's ancestral past, it is necessary to study all of these four men's origins.
In the 1850 census John is found living next door to many of his son's
households. They lived in Todd Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Some
of the other McClain(s) are also found living in Springfield Township. Springfield
Township is a neighboring Township of Huntingdon County. Both these adjoining
townships have many of the correct McClain families pertaining to my interest.
The mid eighteen hundred's censuses indicate many of the related McClain family
members stayed in Huntingdon County, PA., some also moved to Wells Township,
Fulton County, The two counties are next to each other, and the townships
involved are very close to each other, although county lines separate them.
Separating who is the son of whom by use of these old records alone may be difficult to do. As it is, many of these four men named their sons the same as the other. And they all lived near or next to each other in both the 1800 through the 1820 census time periods. And it also appears that some that later moved to Wells Township in Fulton County may have moved back to Springfield and/or Todd Township in the later years. The John McClain that I'm interested in lived in Todd Township, Huntingdon County per the 1850 and 1860 censuses. The 1860 census indicates that his wife, Sophia, is not living in the household; one can assume she died before then, she was born in 1885. John is listed as being 87 years old, and living with another family within his household of 1860.
The question of the 87-year-old John McClain of the 1860 census, when doing the math, indicates that this John would have been born in 1773. And "My" John, in other census, indicates he would have been born in 1779. This challenges the belief of the two Johns as being the same John. This may be two different John McClain(s), although I'm confident they are related even if they are two different people. In 1800 there just were not that many McClain families in the same area that these older McClain men were living.
UPDATE:
There was no John McClain born in 1773. The
1860 census is incorrect on listing of the age of a John McClain shown in it as
being age 87. That same John McClain is also shown in the 1850 census as age
71. Age 71 is the correct age, and John would have been age 81 in 1860; he was
born in 1779, not 1773.
In both censuses John is shown as living next door to
Solomon and Elizabeth Houck. In the 1850 census John is shown as living next to
households of his sons, and also his grandson, James (born 1824).
Also in the 1850 census John’s wife, Sophia is still
living. In the 1860 census Sophia is not shown in the household; John is only
living with the Dunlap family, or rather the Dunlap family is living with John.
A. J. Dunlap is listed as being a “farm laborer” in John’s household.
By the time of the 1870 census being taken this John
McClain does not appear, and the Dunlap family of A. J. and Ruth have moved to
Illinois by that time. The 1870 census also indicates Solomon Houck and his
family continued to live in the same location, but John is not a neighbor of
him. Nor is there any other found information that indicates John was still
alive in 1870, or that he lived to be 91 years old.
The John born in 1779, and the John thought to have been born in 1773, are the same person. This is not a case of two cousins named John, but rather a mistake in the age of John listed in the 1860 census.
Another fact, supporting the assumptions about the relationship of these McClain families, is the fact that these McClain(s) all seem to have been quite "well off" in value of real estate and personal property they owned. These McClain families appear to have been well established, and it is not likely that they would not have "picked up" and moved from the area; because of the land and other valuables they would have left behind if they did so. As the McClain family grew in generations some of them moved to the nearby county of Fulton. Many of the McClain family members remained in Todd, and Springfield, Township areas of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
There is ample proof that some the McClain families of the 1850 Todd Township, Huntingdon County census are the same later found families in the later census for Wells Township of Fulton County. And they have another clue to the origins of their ancestry; they have the names of "Azariah", and "Solomon", within them. To me this would indicate that their ancestry is Jewish related. Other McClain families, of other counties in Pennsylvania around the year of 1800 have names like William, John, James, Jesse, Joseph, Samuel, Mary, and many more as this family also had. But few, if any, carried the more distinct Jewish names like Azariah and Solomon on down in their generations as the McClain(s) of the three townships that I mention did. This helps to separate this family lineage from some of the other McClain lineages of early (lower) Pennsylvania area found in historical records.
Notice I did not say that they were Jewish in their religious beliefs, only that their ancestral heritage may have been Jewish. In fact, many of this family's members are buried in Christian cemeteries of Fulton and Huntingdon counties of Pennsylvania.
(This article is not finished, and will be continued as my research continues.)