Monday, March 10, 2008
JAMES MCMILLAN PINKERTON
This respectable family from Sparta, Illinois, is my great-grandfather’s family. He, James McMillan Pinkerton, an expert engine mechanic, sits on the left while his wife, Nancy Boyd Pinkerton is in the center and John Everett Pinkerton, the oldest and my grandfather, sits on the right. In the back are the twins: James Ashton and Samuel Ralph Pinkerton. I think James is on the left, but they were very similar. Sam died on July 19, 1917.
The story I have is that while living in Washington, James McMillan was afflicted by arthritis. At the time the father and brothers had a construction company that built many of the big dairy barns for the dairy industry developed around the marshy and therefore grassy country surrounding Marysville, WA. James McMillan felt that if he could escape to a better climate, he’d feel a lot better, so he went down and sat at the railway depot, interviewing the drummers as they came and went. They all agreed that the driest and most windless place was Roseburg, OR, so the family moved there to grow row fruits, like strawberries. In the front yard on Deer Creek was a huge tree that had been used as a meeting tree for Indians for centuries.
But Sam stayed behind in Washington, caught some kind of fever and died. Nancy, his mother, was devastated and felt guiltily they had abandoned him. Eventually, his ghost met her in the aisle of the Presbyterian Church, glowing in the light from the stained glass windows, and told her, “Don’t worry, Mother. I’m all right.” (Nadine Hatfield said she saw this herself. She was a child.)
This family moved to the Northwest in 1899 by railroad. James had married Nancy in 1871. John Everett was born in 1880. There was an infant daughter who died in 1886 and the twins’ birthdate is also given as 1886. The spacing of these dates seems a little dubious to me. Maybe there were multiple miscarriages or maybe James was simply gone a lot.
The predecessors of James McMillan always make me think about the cosmology that says the world is on the back of an elephant standing on a giant turtle standing on an elephant on a giant turtle etc. -- and when one reaches the point of exhaustion, the storyteller says, “From there on, it’s turtles all the way down.” In this case of Pinkertons, we alternate James and John.
James Pinkerton (1741-1923) was born in or near Camden, South Carolina, York County in 1741. He was of Irish extraction, educated for the sea and served as a sea captain. In the Revolutionary War he served under Captain McColloch and Captain Barnett and was in the Battle of Briar Creek, March 3, 1779. Discharged May 13, 1785, at Charleston, S.C., after many adventures under Supter and Marion. Because he was “finely educated,” he taught after the war in South Carolina and Lincoln County, Tennessee, where he died. He had seven children and was Old School Presbyterian.
His son, John Pinkerton (1783-1847), married in 1804 to Sarah Gilmore (1785-1831). He fought in the War of 1812 and died in Tyler, Texas, at about the beginning of the Rebellion War.
His son, John Pinkerton (1811-1899) married Dovy Hughey (1805-1845). He remarried Mary McMillan McKean (1813-1873, a widow). These three were buried in Sparta, Illinois. The sibs and half-sibs were Jonathan, William, James, Samuel, Pickens, Thomas, John, Frank, Andrew, Rebecca and Sarah. I don’t know the proper order.
His son, James McMillan. is the father in the family photo above.
His oldest son, John Everett (1880-1959) my grandfather, married in 1907 Ethel Grace Cochran (d. 1948) and then in 1949 her cousin, Bertha Lois Sherer, a divorcee. He had four daughters by his first marriage. That was the end of the James/John alternation. (Lois had at least one son by her first marriage.)
This is the Pater Familias as a young man. I have no firm names for the others.
This postcard seems to be from either Jim or John. The chaffing tone is much like my grandfather John. It sounds as though Sam and his dad are between jobs.
I think this might be Sam.
Great photos and family history.
ReplyDeleteI believe that I come from the same of Pinkertons. The John that married Sarah Gilmore, I believe is John Caldwell Pinkerton. His son Pickens Caldwell Pinkerton is the father of Martha Pinkerton who married my GreatGreat Grandfather John Robertson Morris 6 Dec 1866 in Smith County Texas. I would very interested in sharing family information.
Hi Billy!
ReplyDeleteI'm barely beginning to work on the Pinkerton material for my family. Contact me at mary.scriver@gmail.com.
Prairie Mary
WOW THESE PICS ARE AMAZING MY LINE IS FROM JAMES 1741 JOHN 1783 AND SARAH GILMORE,JONATHAN 1809 AND ELIZABETH SLOAN,JOHN CURYY PINKERTON 1845 AND ELLEN ROZZELLE,LAWRENCE CURRY 1876 AND THESSIE LOREE WOULD LOVE TO HERE FROM ANYBODY CONNECTED TO ANY OF THIS LINE OR EVEN TO JAMES 1741 AND OTHER BRANCHES OF PINKERTON LINE. ELLEN AKA ANGELBABE1954@AIM.COM
ReplyDeletejohn caldwell pinkerton 1783-1851 is buried in bascom cemetery east in bascom,smith co.texas/ i have the pic of his tombstone.so dates here are correct. he died sept 7 ,1851 inn tyler,smith ,texas. i can be emailed at angelbabe1954@aim.com.
ReplyDeleteI am Joann Fleming Dowdy of near Wichita Falls, Texas. I am also descended from James Pinkerton of Camden, SC. My grt. grandfather, Thomas Urban Pinkerton, moved to Texas from Tennessee and eventually lived in the little community of Charlie which is near Wichita Falls. He is buried in the Charlie Cemetery. There is no one left here with the name Pinkerton now days, but, there are some descendents still living around the area. I am curious about Thomas' middle name, Urban. If anyone has a clue about that name, I would appreciate hearing from you, or from any one of this Pinkerton line.
ReplyDeleteJoann Dowdy
I am not sure this is still being tracked, but my husbands lineage is:
ReplyDeleteJames Pinkerton (1741-1823)
John C Pinkerton (1779-1851)
Pickens C Pinkerton (1816-1884)
Thomas A Pinkerton (1858-1921)
Pickens C Pinkerton (1890-1974)
His Dad
My Hubby
=)
Does anyone have any information that goes farther back than James in 1741?
Regards,
Anita Pinkerton
Without your email I can't send you a contact with David Pinkerton, whose dad put together a major chart of Pinkertons and who is an avid tracer of Pinkertons. You could send your email backchannel to prairiem@3rivers.net. Then I'll send it to David.
ReplyDeletePrairie Mary
Mary Scriver