About the Author

James Latinus McLemore III         
         Throughout his life, Jim practiced law in Suffolk, Virginia, during which time he was one of the principal officers of the National Bank of Suffolk.  To everyone who has researched the McLemore family, Jim was the source and resource for the clan’s ancestral information.  He was an ardent genealogist and spent many hours researching—not only the McLemore family in the United States—but the evolution of the family in Europe.  In 1991, Jim McLemore published this book entitled “B. F. McLemore: His Ancestors and Descendants” which he further entitled as “A History of the McLemore-Westbrook Family of Southside Virginia.”  The 961 hard-bound volume includes his detailed studies of the family’s origins include the Norse, Celtic, and Gaelic origins—the transformation of the surname from MacGillemhuire to McLemore.  The McLemore-Westbook families of the Suffolk area of Virginia are extensive and include many fold-out family trees.  Jim McLemore died of cancer on June 9, 2003 still actively involved in his community, Methodist Church, and family history. 

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Our Early Story
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THE EARLY MCLEMORE FAMILY IN AMERICA
 
       The following has been transcribed by William P. McLemore, for McLEMORE ARCHIVES, from James Latinus McLemore III’s now out-of-print book,  “B. F. McLemore His Ancestors and Descendants: A History of the McLemore-Westbrook Family of Southside Virginia, © 1991.”
We begin with Chapter III “The Early American Family,” p. 42. 

(Subsequent pages will be noted as they begin with the page number in brackets.)
 
          The Virginia to which the early Macklemores fled from the violence of their homeland was neither a wilderness nor peaceful.  The colony had grown to such an extent that Indians had not seriously threatened the heart of the settled areas since the second great Indian uprising under Chief Opechancanough in 1644.  But Cromwell’s Commonwealth had resulted in the removal of the royal governor, Sir William Berkeley, and the restoration of the Stewarts at home had meant a restoration of Berkeley in Virginia as well.   At first this bode well, as Berkeley had been generally liked by the colonists; he had originally worked with their leaders in developing the colony, and in so doing he had unwittingly assisted in the birth of an emerging oligarchy among the larger planters.  But Berkeley had aged in the interim, and grew older as he lingered in office.  As he did so he became intolerant, dogmatic and antagonistic to the interests of many of his former allies among the planters.
          In 1676, this antagonism erupted into violence following an Indian massacre of a settler family along the frontier in August of 1675.  Many of the colonists wanted to send out the militia against the Indians, but Governor Berkeley would have no part of it.  Despite his failure to authorize an expedition, many of the colonists banded together under the leadership of several prominent planters, including Nathaniel Bacon the Younger, and “Bacon’s Rebellion” had begun.
            When Bacon took command of his popularly supported but unauthorized military band, intending only to suppress the Indians on the frontier, Berkeley could think of nothing else but reasserting his own authority.  Although most of the population supported the “rebels” or at least were sympathetic to their cause, a handful of large planters supported Berkeley.  Among the members of this “Berkeley Fraction,” and one of the most prominent was the haughty Col. Edward Hill (Jr.) of Shirley Plantation, whose refusal to call out the Charles City County Militia had caused the colonists to take matters into their own hand in the first place.
           Hill’s Shirley Plantation was thus one of the several large manors which suffered from the passing of Bacon’s soldiers on their way to their confrontation with Berkeley at Jamestown.  They were initially successful in backing down the Governor (they were able to extort a commission from him), but after they left for the frontier to chastise the Indians, Berkeley gathered his followers and regained the upper hand.    
They eventually restored the Governor’s authority over [43] an opposition diminished by its forays against the Indians, and as the mass of the soldiery melted away to return to their homes, the leaders were hunted down and captured.
          At first Berkeley and his followers were at the height of their power, but eventually they were displaced by new colonial leaders who were descendants of their earlier opponents, and the large landowners who came to prominence thereafter held political beliefs that were products of this popular uprising in 1676, beliefs that led a century later to a second revolution, one for independence from the mother country.
          It was probably only a short time after Bacon’s Rebellion that the first Macklemore, fleeing the violence of the Covenanting Wars, arrived in Virginia amidst an aftermath of post-rebellion political retribution, and it was one of Berkeley’s staunchest henchmen, Col. Edward Hill, who may have been responsible for this Macklemore’s importation.
In addition to his close association with Berkeley, Hill served as High Sheriff of Charles City County in the post-rebellion late 1670’s, as well as having earned his title, “Col.” as leader of that country’s militia as already noted.  He also served for a time in the House of Burgesses, and then later as a member of the Council of State.  Like many of his large landowning contemporaries, he was involved in patenting large tracts of land as part of a program of speculation, and often such tracts were never “seated” (actually settled).
          This patent to Hill was issued April 13, 1681, and was for 2,200 acres in New Kent County.  At that time patents were seldom issued for cash money; usually they were issued for “headrights,” certificates issued by ships’ captains and certified by local magistrates that the issuant had paid for the passage of an immigrant into the colony.  These headright certificates were then used to purchase land from the land office at the rate of 50 acres per headright or immigrant.  Each patent would list the names of the headrights used to pay for the land being granted.  The 2,200 acres granted to Hill were thus issued to him for 44 headrights, including one “Mun. Macklemore” (Patent Book 7, page 96).  A second patent was issued October 25, 1695, to the same Col. Hill for 5,060 acres in King and Queen County for 102 headrights including a “Mary Macklemore” (Patent Book 9, page 1). 
           Just what “Mun.” stood for remains uncertain; it could have been an abbreviation for “Munroe” or “Munford,” or it could have been short for “Mungo,” the name of the patron saint of Glascow, Scotland, the [44] principal city of the Southwest Lowlands of Scotland (including
Ayrshire) where the McLemores had originated.  His relationship to Mary Macklemore is likewise unclear, but he was probably either her husband or her father, as some connection had to exist.  What their relationship, if any, was to the famous Col. Hill on the one hand, and to the McLemore brothers on the other, is still open to speculation.  However, the following theory is offered.
          Col. Hill’s Shirley Plantation was one of the old, established, prominent seats of power along the James, located opposite what later became Prince George County, but what was at that time still part of Charles City County.  Most of the large plantations, in a land where there were few towns and no cities, became trading centers with their own wharves, store, and imported skilled craftsmen and artisans a indentured servants to man their own smithies, cooperies, carpenter shops, stores and even children’s classrooms.  They would then take the headright thus earned, and together with others which they purchased, buy land from the patent office.
          Col. Edward Hill may have thus imported Mun. Macklemore as an indentured servant.  There is no other record of this Macklemore, so he may not have ever owned land in his own name  (though with the poor state of Prince George and Charles City County records, this could never be proven), and his status as an indentured servant, or skilled craftsmen or artisan on a large plantation, is not inconsistent with this fact.  Most colonists, once here and through with their indenture, would go into farming on their own land; but not all did, as many were not able to do so right away.  Many such artisans may have continued to practice their skill or trade after serving out their indenture, until earning enough to buy their own land and even thereafter as a means of earning hard currency.   In addition, many new immigrants, once free of any encumbering indenture, often began their own planting operations on a small scale on rented land; the wills of that day are replete with instances of devises to younger sons of lands which at the time were rented to or “in the possession of” other unrelated individuals.  And it should not be forgotten that tobacco cultivation was a tough and difficult occupation which not all mastered.
          It thus may be that Mun. Macklemore never established himself as an independent farmer or small planted on his own lands because he was such an artisan or craftsman (indentured or otherwise), or because he never acquired land of his own, merely rented it; or perhaps it was simply because he did not live long enough to do so.  We simply do not have any more [45] information on him.  We do not know, therefore, if he was the older brother, uncle, or father of James and Abraham Macklemore, the brothers who are generally conceded to be the founds of the family in the United States.  But some sort of relationship is probable.
            It has long been a family tradition that the family in America was founded by three immigrant brothers from whom most if not all (Caucasian) American McLemores are descended.  Family traditions should not always be give full faith and credit, but they often contain more than a grain of truth.  And as it happens, there are three likely candidates for these three immigrant brothers who appear in the records shortly after the turn of the 18th century.  Again, though there is not record of any of these three prior to 1702, it is an established part of family tradition that these early McLemores were in Southside Virginia during the 1690’s.  Judge James L. McLemore, Sr. (1866-1954) noted to his biographers in the 1907 publication, “Men of Mark in Virginia,” that he was descended from “James Mclemore, who settled about 1690 in Sussex County.”  Sussex County was formed in 1753 by splitting off the southern portion—Albermarle Parish—of Surry County.
            There are no references in the extant records to Mun. Macklemore other than the patent mentioned above, and the next McLemore references are to the three early Macklemores who are deemed by family tradition to be the founding immigrant brothers James, Abraham and Leonard Macklemore.  Whether they were Mun. Macklemore’s sons is the subject of much debate; Scottish naming traditions, as we shall shortly see, argue forcefully for their father being named William, and there are several possible candidates among the William McIlmorrows of Ayshire who died during the mid to late 17th century, particularly the William McIlmorrow of Colmonell Parish who died in 1679.  It is therefore more probable that Mun. was the older brother of James and Abraham (in which case Leonard was probably Mun.’s son), or perhaps he was uncle to the other three—a Thomas Stegg to their William Byrd, if you will.  But since no record exists which would account for the importation of either James, Abraham or Leonard, the possibility that Mun. was their father cannot be totally dismissed, even though it would necessitate moving back the date of his own importation a dozen years or more to account for their native birth under his fathership.
            The first mention of any of the three “brothers” is that of Leonard Macklemore as a tithable in Southwark Parish, Surry County, Virginia, in 1702.  In order to have been so considered, Leonard would have had to have been at least sixteen years of age in 1702, but he may have been older.  Therefore, his birth must have occurred not later than 1686, and may have been much [46] earlier.  This birth date certainly would not have precluded him being Mun. Macklemore’s son, but a likely birth date for James Macklemore of not later than about 1669 or 1670 (which we shall examine shortly) would probably preclude James’ being Mun.’s son.  In Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers by Lloyd DeWitt Bookstruck (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1988), is listed, at pages 221-222, the “Company of Foot under Capt. William Brown, December 1702” for Surry County, Virginia.  The listing is for commissioned and non-commissioned officers and at the end, on page 222, right behind “Hinta Gillam, Sgt.” is listed “Florence Macklemore, Sgt.”  This was probably a miss-transcription of the handwritten Leonard Macklemore.  However, no further mention of Leonard Macklemore has been found, and it is uncertain whether he left descendants, though he may be the founder of a branch of the family which sprang up in Augusta County, Virginia, a few decades later.
More is known about James and Abraham Macklemore, however, and both are known to have descendants who have established various branches of the American family.  In 1708 on Abraham Evans of Surry County, Virginia, made out his will, which was probated in 1712, in which he devised to Abraham Macklemore 70 acres of land on the Nottoway River (in what would later become Sussex County), but with the stipulation that the land would revert to his son John Evans if Macklemore should die without issue (Surry Deed and Will Book 6, p. 105).  This provision is generally interpreted to mean that Macklemore was married to Evans’ daughter, as devises of land in that age were not made to married women, but rather to their husbands.
            Then on December 16, 1714, a patent was issued to James Macklemore for 100 acres of new land (unpatented before) in Southwark Parish, Surry County, Virginia, adjoining the lands of Richard Washington, for the sum of ten schillings (Patent Book 10, p. 199).  Washington also had two patents issued to him on the same day, in neighboring Isle of Wight County, but the land referred to in the Macklemore patent was an earlier grant to Washington for land on the Seacock Swamp, south of the Blackwater.  This would be in the neighborhood of the modern-day community of Wakefield, in Sussex County, just west of the Southampton county line.  These same 100 acres of Macklemore’s, however, were on September 28, 1732, repatented to one Edward Scarborough “on condition of seating;” Macklemore had apparently abandoned this tract, it has escheated, and was accordingly repatented to Scarborough (Patent Book 14, p. 503).
            Though we never find mention of Leonard Macklemore again, we later find both James and Abraham Macklemore [47] settled on the banks of the Roanoke River, just across the Virginia-North Carolina line following its establishment by the Byrd Commission in 1728.  Just what had the Macklemores been doing, just where they had been located, during the period from Mun. Macklemore’s importation in 1681 to the 1732 repatent of the James Macklemore patent following his removal to North Carolina, has long been a matter of inquiry and dispute.  Without further record, we do know a little about these Macklemore associates, and this information may give us some hint of the answer.
            Clifford Dowdey, in his The Virginia Dynasties, described a relationship among the important (“FFV”) families of the time as a “web of kinship.”  He noted that where “the plantations were centers of commerce, the plantation families became the units of power, like corporations.  Alliances of interests between these families, as well as intermarriages, produced what amounted to interlocking, directorates in control” (pp.185-186).  And as we shall see, not only the Hills, Byrds, Harrisons and other prominent families who controlled the entire colony did this, but their allies among the more prominent smaller planters, those who controlled the local counties, did it as well on only a slightly smaller scale.
            To get some idea of what the early McLemores were doing during this unrecorded period of their history, it is necessary for us to examine this “web of kinship” as it applied to the smaller planters south of the James, and in particular to one key individual, Henry Briggs.  Briggs first appears in the Colonial Virginia records along with (his brother?) Gabriel Briggs as witnesses to a deed in Charles City County in 1656/7.  When the latter died, Henry was granted administration of his estate (June 3, 1662), and Col. Edward Hill of Shirley Plantation, importer of Mun. Macklemore, was security on his bond (Charles City Order Book 1655-56, p. 327).   Later Briggs was named guardian for Mary, orphan daughter of George Hill of Surry (Surry Deed & Will Book, 1645-71), p. 275). We thus have here evidence of a connection between Briggs and the Hill family.
           Henry Briggs married twice, the first time about 1661.  His first wife was born Mary Flood, the daughter of Col. John Flood of Surry County and his first wife Margaret the widow of William Finch.  Mary had been married three times before in quick succession: the first time to Richard Blunt, by whom she had one son, Thomas Blunt; the second time was to Charles Ford, by whom she had no children; and the third time was to John Washington by whom she had one son, Richard Washington (1659-1724), who was, as mentioned above, the adjoining landowner to James Macklemore’s 1714 [47] patent.
             Shortly after Richard Washington’s birth, his father John Washington died, and his mother Mary married Henry Briggs, by whom she had at least five children.  The oldest of these was Henry Briggs, Jr., who was born about 1662.  He married Elizabeth Lucas, eldest daughter of William Lucas Jr. (son of William Lucas Sr. and his wife Ann).  William Jr.’s sister Elizabeth was the wife of Abraham Evans, who owned land near Richard Washington and who devised land to Abraham Macklemore, presumably Evans’ son-in-law.  However, Evans’ daughter, the first Mrs. Abraham Macklemore, apparently died childless not too long after her father, leaving Macklemore disinherited of his 70 acre devise, but free to marry, about 1720, his second wife, Mary Young.
           This Mary Young has not yet been identified.  However, there was an identified Mary Young a generation earlier, who may have been related.  She was Mary Cary, daughter of John Cary of Surry County, Virginia, and London, England, and his wife Jane Flood, daughter of John Flood by his second wife Fortune Jordan (and hence half sister of Mary Flood Blunt Ford Washington Briggs).  This Mary Cary married first a Mr. ___Young (not yet identified), and then married second Nathaniel Harrison, son of Benjamin Harrision II, of the James River Harrisons.  This Benjamin Harrison II owned land adjoining Hinchea Gilliams (see below), the husband of Fortune Flood, who was the daughter of Walter Flood (full brother of Jane Flood Cary).
           Meanwhile, Mary Flood Briggs died by 1681, and Henry Briggs married secondly Margery Gilliam, the widow of John Gilliam of Henrico and Prince George Counties, who had died about ten years earlier in 1671.  John and Margery Gilliam were the progenitors of a family prominent between the James and Roanoke Rivers every since.  John had migrated to Virginia with his young brother Thomas about the George which sailed from Gravesend, England, on August 21, 1635, they being at the time 21 and 18 respectively.  The both appear as headrights for the patent issued to one Joseph Royal on August 20, 1642, for land in Henrico County.  John’s wife Margery’s maiden name is not known, but it is not impossible that she could have been related to the Jordans or Floods in some way.                
            Only three children have been definitely identified as the offspring of John and Margery Gilliam: John Gilliam who owned 1000 acres in Prince George County at the time it was formed from the part of Charles City County lying south of the James and who devised to his son John III a plantation on the Roanoke in North Carolina; Hinchea Gilliam, already noted above as husband of Fortune Flood (granddaughter of Fortune [49] Jordan Flood) and neighbor of Benjamin Harries, and whose son Hinchea or Hinshaw married Faith Briggs, granddaughter of Henry and Mary (Flood) Briggs; and Elizabeth Gilliam, who married first ___ West, second William Bevin, and third Francis Mayberry.  John and Hinchea Gilliam and Francis Mayberry were granted letters of administration on the estate of Margery Gilliam Briggs by the Surry County Court on October 20, 1688, by reason of their relationship to the decedent (Surry County Deed and Will Book 4, p. 53).
             Some authorities also include among John and Margery Gilliam’s children the Charles Gilliam who is know in the 1704 Quit Rents as owning 200 acres in Prince George County.  In addition to this Charles Gilliam and the known three, the writer would include two other candidates for classification as children of “Gillum” who witnessed the will of Abraham Macklemore in Bertie Precinct (later Northampton County), North Carolina in 1735/6; and the second, for various reasons, would be Fortain or Fortune, the wife of James Macklemore.
            James and Fortain (Fortune) Maclemore had six children, five boys and one girl.  The order of births for the boys is presumably known, but the place of the daughter in this sequence is not known.  The order of the births of the boys would be William, John, James, Charles and Ephraim; the daughter was Margery.  The Scotch had a rather strict custom for naming their children: the oldest son was generally named for the father’s father, the second son for the mother’s father, the third son for the father himself, and subsequent sons for other male relatives; the oldest daughter was named for the mother’s mother, the second daughter for the father’s mother, the third for the mother herself, and so on.  On this basis, James Macklemore’s father would have been named William and this is supported by the fact that William is the only name duplicated by Abraham in naming his own sons.    Further, Fortain’s parents would have had to be named John and Margery, as her second son and only daughter are so named, and of course if she were indeed a Gilliam, this would have been the case.    Additionally, both members of the Virginia and North Carolina McLemore families thereafter have male offspring named Gilliam, and Fortain Macklemore is the only common ancestor of each from whom the name could have been derived.
            Thus we have the probable situation that Henry Briggs, who was at least acquainted with Col. Edward Hill (importer of Mun. Macklemore), who married first the mother of Richard Washington by whom his own children were born, and who then married the widow of John Gilliam, raising within his household, at one time [50] or another, Richard Washington (James Macklemore’s adjoining land owner in 1714), his son Henry Jr. (whose wife’s first cousin was Abraham Mackemore’s first wife), and Fortune Gilliam (who James himself would marry).  The McLemore-Briggs tie, though indirect, is thus very strong.
Assuming Fortain (or Fortune) Maclemore was the daughter of John and Mary Gilliams, she would have had to have been one of their youngest children (if not the youngest), as she was probably born within only  a few years of the time of her father’s death in 1671.    Assuming further that James was older, the date spread of 1665-1670 for his birth would agree with that given above, and would be about right.  His brother Abraham was probably younger.  Apparently, they started out on the south side of the James River, amongst the Gilliams, Floods, Jordans, Carys, Harrisons and Washingtons, in Surry County and perhaps for a time in Prince George County.  During this time Abraham, married to Abraham Evans’ daughter, had no children, but James (who probably married circa 1690-91) began having his children while still in Virginia.  William would have thus been born about 1691-92, John not later than 1700, James about 1702-05, Charles (who was probably named for his uncle Charles Gilliam of Prince George County) around 1705-09, and Ephraim (like Abraham, a Biblical name—he was probably named for a Macklemore uncle) circa 1709-12.  Margery probably was either second or third, either just before or just after John, accounting for the long gap between William and John; however, this is not certain, and there would have been other children who, in that age, did not survive.  But it is probable that all six children were born prior to James’ 1714 patent adjoining Richard Washington.
          At what point the Macklemore brothers moved south is not now known.  Abraham had quite certainly lost his first wife, and probably married his second Mary Young around (1720-22) before moving.  James’ patent had escheated between 1714- and 1732 (the mid point between these year is 1723, which ought to be close—say 1720-1725).  They then established themselves on the north shore of the Roanoke River in the narrow strip between the river and the present Virginia-North Carolina state line; in fact the area may have been considered as being in Virginia (Prince George County before 1720, Brunswick thereafter) until the line was surveyed in 1728.  There is no record of either of them in North Carolina before that date.  There is only one local court record of James other than his will, and that is the 1735 record of his widow and executor, Fortune Macklemore, paying the delinquent taxes on James’ lands for the period from September 29, 1729 through March 1732 (which would be almost immediately after the survey of the Colonial boundary line).  It proves James’ presence [51] on the Roanoke at least from about the date of the survey on.
          However, though there are none for James Macklemore, there are some deed records in Bertie County, North Carolina (from which Northampton County was formed in 1741) for his brother Abraham.   This is further evidence that their earlier deed records may have been in Prince George and thus have not survived.  Besides all of James’ Lands, Abraham may have already owned some of his land as well (perhaps acquired while it was still a part of Virginia) by the time the first North Carolina deed involving him was recorded.  This deed, dated August 11, 1730, was from Abraham Macklemore to William Person for two acres on Stonehouse (or Beaver Dam) Creek in Northwest Parish of Bertie Precinct (Bertie Deed Book C, p. 354).  This land was probably cut from land he already owned, but he shortly thereafter acquired a sizeable tract of 625 acres from Barnabee MacKinne, a former Isle of Wight County, Virginia, resident to whom the land had originally been patented, by deed dated November 9, 1730 (Bertie Deed Book C, p. 316).  This plantation was located in Northwest Parish of Bertie County (where both men claimed residence), on the North side of the Morratock River (the Roanoke above its fall line), on the “old country (not county) line,” which formed the northern boundary line of the property.  This was obviously a reference to the old colonial boundary before the 1728 survey moved it northward.
         Five years later Abraham Mclimer purchased 100 acres on the “Pigeon Ruste Creek” on Morratock River, at “old country line,” from Anthony Gant of Edgecombe Precinct by deed dated May 8, 1734 (Bertie Deed Book D, p. 167).  Then he conveyed 100 acres of the Mackinne land, on the “country line,” on the north side of Morratock River, to William Gillum (Gilliam) who was presumably of the Virginia Gilliam family as noted above.  This deed was dated May 10, 1735 (Bertie Deed Book D, p. 154).  Two days later, Abraham Macklemore conveyed the Gant 100 acres on “Pigeon Ruse Creek,” as described above, to William Clanton (Bertie Deed Book D, p. 155). (Photo Morratock River)
         By this time, both James and Abraham Macklemore had written their wills.  James’ will was dated February 7, 1733/34; it was probated February 11, 1734/35, and Fortune qualified as his Executor thereon.  It reads (as spelled) as follows:
“In the name of God, amen.  I, James Macklemore, being Sick and weake of body but of perfect Sense and memory thanks to almighty God for the same, do make this my Last Will and Testament, that is to say first and formost , I command my Soule into the Hands of almighty God who gave it me hoping through [52] his mercy to obtain freedom of all my Sinn, and my body to the earth to be Desently buried after the discretion of my executor hereafter mentioned and for what worldly Estate it hath pleased almighty God to bestow upon me, I give and bequeath as followeth: First, I wish that my debts and funeral Expenses by paid and discharged.”
Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved Son William Macklemore the plantation formerly laid of for George Mosely to him and his heires Lawfully begotten of his body.
Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved Son James Maclemore the plantation whereon I now live to him and his heires Lawfully begotten of his body, and the land trom the line formerly laid of to Mosley up to the bent of the River.”
 Item: I give and bequeath to my well  beloved Son Charles Macklemore the Rest of the land from the bent of the River to the Head.”
Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved Son Ephraim Maclemore about Seventy or Eighty acres of Land lying on Peehill Creek the upper side, and the upper side of the first branch of the creek and I bequeath to my son William Macklemore six head of cattle namely four four steers, one cow and heifer and I bequeath to my Son James Macklemore four head of cattle, namely one cow and heifer and two yearlings.
Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved Daughter Margery Macklemore and my Son Charles Macklemore one cow and calf and heifer yearling Apiece and I give and bequeath to my Son William two sows and pigs, and to my Son Ephraim two sows and pigs, and to my Daughrer Margery Macklemore two sows and pigs.
And all the Rest of my Personel Estate I give and bequeath to my well beloved wife Fortain Macklemore for her Life and after her decease to be equally divided amongst all my Children before mentioned and I do ordain my well Beloved Wife Fortain full and sole Executor of this my last will and Testament, and I do Revoke, disannul and make void all former wills by me made or Spoken.
                  In witness Whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and Seal this Seventh day of February, 1733. [53]
                  His Mark, James Macklemore
                   Witnesses present: Abraham A. Macklemore (his mark) Thomas T Robertson (his mark)”
            His brother, Abraham Macklemore, who witnessed James’ will above, made out his own will on January 4, 1735/6, and it was admitted to probate at the November Court 1736.  It reads (as spelled) as follows:
“In the name of God amen.  I, Abraham Macklemore of Bertie Preceint Planter being weak in body but of sound & perfect memory and knowing the uncertainty of this life and that its appointed for all men once to Die, Doe therefore make this my last will & Testament, revoking all others heretofore made by me, and first I comitt my Soul to God Hoping to be Saved by the merits of my blessed Savior and as for my body I commit to the Earth to be buried in Such Decent manner as my Executors hereafter named shall see fitt, and as for my worldly Estate That it hath pleased God to bless me with I give and bequeath as follows:
Impremis: I give & bequeath unto my Son Atkins Macklemore a Negro Wench called Judy and her Increase to possess the aforesaid Negros at the age of Twentyone and not before.”
 Item: I give and bequeath to my Sons Young Macklemore & William Macklemore a Negro Wench called Joan and her increase but if either of my two youngest Sons Die before they arrive to the age of Twentyone the other to have the Wench and her Increase.”
 Item: I give and bequeath to my Son Atkin a Divident of land to contain about 200 acres belonging to that plantation Called my upper Plantation to him & his heires.
Item: I give and beqeath unto my Son Young the mannor Plantation but not till after my wife deceases.
Item: I give and bequeath all the rest of my Estate aftere just Debts and Charges are paid to the use of my Loving Wife whom I Doe Constitute and ordain my hole and Sole Executor of this my Last Will and Testament.  In Witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and Seal this Fourth Day of January 1735.  [54] Abraham Macklemore, his mark.  Signed Sealed & Delivered In presence of us: William W Gillum (his mark) William W Clanton (his mark) Joseph Brady.
Unlike James, Abraham refers to his three sons all as minors, and indeed we know that Atkins was born in 1724, and presumably Young was born about 1726 and William about 1728.  The youngest probably did not survive more than a year after probate of his father’s will, however, as William was not mentioned in the deed, dated February 8, 1736/7, from Mary Macklemore, Abraham’s widow, to her other two sons Atkins and Young.  She conveyed to Atkins (then about age 13) a feather bed and furniture, two pewter dishes and three plates, one iron pot, one young horse, nine head of cattle, one-half of the total stock of “hoggs,” and “one survey of land above the Pigeon Roost.”  Then to her son Young she gave a negro girl named “Feeby” (Phoebe?), a feather bed and furniture, one iron pot, three pewter dishes, one _?__ and three plates, eight head of cattle, the other half of the hog stock, and a “survey of land below William Gillum” and the next fold (colt or filly) to come from her mare.  This deed was admitted to record at the February Court, 1738/9 (Bertie Deed Book 4, p. 413). (Photo Feather Bed)
           This deed was the last we hear of Mary Macklemore, and it is more than a decade before her surviving sons Atkins and Young are heard from again.  During the period of their adolescence Northampton County, North Carolina, was formed from Northwest Parish of Bertie Precinct (the region north of the Roanoke River), and Edgecombe County was formed from Edgecombe Parish (the region south of the river), both in 1741.
           About a decade later we find Atkins Macklemore, now an adult, buying 320 acres on Lyons Creek, on Roanoke River, from one William Eaton, by deed dated March 16, 1749/50, and recorded in the August term of court, 1750 (Northampton Deed Book 1, p. 443).  Then Atkins sold 100 acres of his inheritance from his father to his brother Young by deed (witnessed by his cousin James Macklemore Jr.) dated May 7, 1753, and recorded May Term 1753 (Northampton Deed Book 2, p. 115).  Thereafter he sold the 320 acre Eaton plantation to one Edward Robertson on October 24, 1753 (Northampton Deed Book 2, p. 130).  By computation it appears that Atkins still had a good portion of his father’s devise to him [55] remaining and he apparently continued to live on this property for at least a few years more.
            In 1754 Atkins bought 610 acres of land on the east side of Lee’s Branch in Granville County, North Carolina; Granville County had split off from Edgecombe County (across the Roanoke River from Atkins’ Northampton holdings), and was the portion thereof west of a line starting on the Roanoke near the McLemore plantations and running slightly west of south down to the Tar River.  It is therefore possible that this land was the same general neighborhood as the other McLemore holdings, some of which may have also ended up in Granville County (see below).
           However, it appears that Atkins continued to live on the north side of the river for a year or two more; he is known to have been living in Northampton County until about 1755.  In that year he and his brother Young sold 100 acres off of the combined father’s homeplace to Edward Robertson of Brunswick County, Virginia.  This was the same man who had bought the 320 acre Eaton place adjoining in 1753.  Atkins may have moved following this sale to his new Granville County holdings, as he had already, the year previous, joined the Granville County Militia.  The Granville Militia Regiment was commanded by Col. William Eaton (who had sold Atkins the 320 acre plantation later conveyed to Robertson above), and Atkins served in the Company commanded by Capt. Sugar Jones, whose daughter Atkins would subsequently marry.  Indeed, Atkins was the executor of Sugar Jones’ estate in 1761, and in 1765 he married Sarah Jones, his captain’s daughter, and began raising a family of nine children: Abigail (born ca. 1764), Young (ca. 1767), Robert (born November 31, 1969), Atkins Jr. (ca 1770), Abraham (ca. 1772), Sarah Jane (ca. 1774), and Priscilla (ca. 1776). 
            Atkins had postponed his marriage until he was 41 years old and had became a fairly rich man.  By the time of his marriage, he owned the 610 acre plantation already mentioned, may have still owned land in Northampton County, and recently acquired another large plantation of 685 acres in Granville County described as adjoining Linches (Lynch’s) Creek, Joseph Brantley and Samuel Williams.  This gave him 1300 acres or more.
            In 1769 Bute County was cut from Granville County, and at least part of Atkins’ holdings fell into it.  He was described as “gentleman” and “planter” when he signed the “Bute County list of Oath of Allegiance” dated july 8, 1775.  In 1779, Warren County was split off from Bute, and Atkins is found there, acquiring an additional 18 and a half acres of Lee’s Branch.  Atkins died in Warren County in May of 1791, and his will, dated September 15, 1788, named his wife Sarah as [56] executrix and left bequests to all nine children named above.  He devised land on Lynch’s Creek in Warren and Franklin Counties, North Carolina.  Atkins also mentioned his brother Young and friend William Christmas, who was also named as a co-executor along with Atkins’ widow Sarah. 
           Brother Young had, after some time, followed Atkins westward.  After buying 100 acres from Atkins in 1753, then selling 100 acres to Edward Robertson with Atkin in 1755, Young also began operations in Granville County, buying 275 more acres there on both sides of Shocco Creek by deed witnessed by his brother Atkins.  He remained for a time, however, in Northampton County, serving in 1760 in that county’s militia as a private in the cavalry troop of Capt. Henry Dawson.   But, in the same year (1760) Young was granted 640 acres on both sides of Flat Creek in Granville Couinty, and from then on he apparently made his home there.  He picked up an additional 543 acres at the head of Shocco Creek, near his earlier tract, in February 1762.  This gave him about 1460 acres total.
            Within three months, in May of 1762, Young sold 200 acres on the north side of Shocco Creek, adjoining Ward and Macon.  He was joined in this deed by his wife Lucy (born 1743), the daughter of Joshua Nicholson.  Thereafter his lands seem to share a jurisdictional history similar to Atkins’, being found first in Granville County (where Young witnessed two deed in 1763), then in Bute County (where he also witnessed two deeds in 1763), then in Warren County (where he picked up four extra acres on the South side of Sandy Creek in 1779), and finally in Franklin County where he was listed as head of household in the first U.S. Census of 1790.