Considering John Hugh Kirkpatrick is my direct ancestor, I have amassed the most documents about him and his descendants. John Kirkpatrick and Jean Wilkins had not yet married as of May 5, 1761 as is evident by a deed selling land owned by John Wilkins' heirs.



One recent discovery is that of a court transcrip buried deep in my paper files. It is a motion of petition concerning his wife, Jane Wilkins and her father's property.




The next earlist records I have for John (Hugh) Kirkpatrick are two deeds. The first being when his father, Hugh, deeded him land in West Nottingham (Nottingham Lots) of Chester Co., PA / Cecil Co., MD (see copies on the Hugh Kirkpatrick page).

Next, I found a deed dated "the twenty sixth day of the first month in the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred & sixty nine" which, under the current calendar, is 26 March, 1869. This deed shows John Kirkpatrick and Jane (Jean) his wife selling the land he received from his father, Hugh, in 1765. (See a copy of the deed on Hugh's Page). This land is part of the Nottingham Lots originally listed as part of West Nottingham Township, Chester Co., PA.



After leaving Pennsylvaania it is believed that he and wife, Jane/Jean Wilkins, followed the "Great Wagon Road" into Virginia where they lived for as long as 20-25 years before moving on into North Carolina/Eastern Tennessee.

Family traditions held that John Hugh Kirkpatrick was a Revolutionary Soldier having served in a North Carolina unit and fighting at the Battle of King's Mountain. An earlier researcher, E. Spears McCollough, found what he believed was a pay voucher for John Hugh Kirkpatrick and helped his mother join the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) in the early 20th Century. Unfortunately, today the DAR is not allowing any new memberships under John Hugh Kirkpatrick due to there having been several John Kirkpatricks in the Western District of North Carolina, with another John also having been born in 1741. None of the Revolutionary Era rcords have a John with the middle name of Hugh. Considering there is not definitive proof that John Hugh Kirkpatrick served in the Revolutionary Army, membership of his descendants has been "frozen." In checking other records of early East Tennessee and the western portion of North Carolina, we don't find John Hugh Kirkpatrick's family until 1786 at the earliest (as documented in the family Bible with the marriage of Rachel Kirkpatrik and & Wm Stevenson in Jefferson Co., TN), plus, two early East TN Petitions; #1 Petition of the Inhabitants of Washington District (1776) #2 Petition to establish the State of Franklin (1787) have no Kirkpatrick OR none related to John Hugh and lastley,in the North Carolina and Tennessee, Early Land Records, 1753-1931 have NONE of John's family appearing before 1790. BUT there was a John Kirkpatrick who received land grants is Greene Co.,(then) NC who MAY POSSIBLY have been John Hugh Kirkpatrick:







I have recently found several deeds that may help pin-point when John Kirkpatrick established residence in East Tennessee. For this I had to look in several counties in both Tennessee and Virginia.

First, I found a Mortgage Deed file in Rockbridge Co., VA on 1 Dec 1782.




A few years later (1789) James Roddy sells John Kirkpatrick land on Bent Creek in then Greene Co, NC (later TN and even later Hawkins Co., TN)





I can only assume that the John Kirkpatrick of the 1782 Rockbridge Co., Mortgage is the same as the John Kirkpatrick "Of Greene Co and Commonwealth of North Carolina" (Later Greene Co TN the either Hawkins of Jefferson Co., TN) who is selling land in Rockbridge Co., VA













In also found a deed of the liand on Bent Creek from John Kirkpatrick to Jacob, James and Wilkins Kirkpatrick on the 5th of November, 1797 (and registered July 9, 1800).



E Spears McCollough was abble to accomplish great research feats at a time when there was no internet and research had to be done by mail or in person. Errors were bound to happen then, as they do today, and McCollough also accepted other's conclusions and family traditions as "fact." Aside from John Hugh Kirkpatrick's Revolutionary service, other errors include accepting the early (1886), but incorrect conclusion of Pennsylvania historian, Wm Henry Egle that John was the son of Wm Kirkpatrick and Margaret Waugh (click HERE TO SEE MY REASONING/DOCUMENTATION AND PROOF that his stament is incorrect). Another incorrect statement is that John Hugh Kirkpatrick was born at "Watties Neach, 'Inverness,' Scotland." He was most likely born on his father's property in Rising Sun, Cecil Co., Maryland.

Following are three articles written by E. Spears McCollough:







Here are some pictures of John Hugh Kirkpatrick's grave stone: