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 1746 - 1820 (74 years)
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| Name |
Abigail Carpenter Dickson [1] |
| Birth |
1746 |
Greenbrier County, VA  [1] |
| Gender |
Female |
| Death |
7 Nov 1820 |
Greenbrier County, VA [1] |
- William McClung first came to the Rupert area in 1766, but he made no attempt to settle down at that time. Twelve years later, he returned - this was in 1778. He took up a “Tommy Hawk Entry”, as it was then called, to about 100,000 acres of wilderness forest. He simply walked through the mountains and valleys and notched out his patent on the trees. Later, with Andrew Welch, he took another grant of 43,000 acres along Meadow River and Gauley. He erected a log cabin in the center of his grant. In 1778 there was no a mill within a hundred miles. In this cabin Joseph McClung a son of William and his wife, Abigail Dickson was born.
Captain Billie McClung and his family were soon joined by his brothers John and Edward. The first school was taught about the year 1793 by Colonel Arbuckle who came from Augusta County, Virginia. Fifteen young men (no girls) formed a class to obtain an education and then obtained the services of the Colonel as a teacher. School was taught in an old blockhouse near the mouth of Big Clear Creek on the land of William McClung. The first school building erected exclusively for education purposes was in the year 1800. It was a log structure 20x20 and stood on the banks of Page’s Run a brand of Otter Creek.
During the first few of the McClung’s residence, the Indians were very troublesome. William had to plow his fields with his rifle tied to his shoulder while his wife took the children and sought refuge in one of the dense swamps in this area, during the day. She returned to their cabin at night when William was at home to defend them.
When the Shawnee Indians raided this area on their second attack on Fort Donnally (20 miles east), two white spies got thru the lines and warned William McClung’s family of the impeding raid. He just barely was able to get across the mountain and inside the fort when the Indians attacked. This was in July 1778 and the Revolutionary War was in progress. There were over 200 Indians in this raid who were on the war-path to avenge the death of Chief Cornstalk, who was born in Greenbrier County. This was the last Indian outrage in Greenbrier County. After this raid, William McClung and his family returned to the Big Clear Creek, as Rupert was known then.
Captain Billie McClung’s descendents were very numerous. He used to say that he could stand in his doorway and blow his bugle and call two hundred of his descendents to breakfast.
In his old age, William McClung used to give 100 acre tracts of land to his grandchildren for their birthday presents. He gave 2 acres of land just east of the Rupert town limits to the Presbyterians for a church. This land came, later on, in the hands of the Baptist and the present Anwell Baptist Church is its outgrowth.
One of Captain Billie’s sons was named John. He started a blacksmith shop, so they nick-named him “Black John”. Another son was Andrew Hutchinson McClung. He was the first man to wear a broad-cloth suit in Western Greenbrier, so they called him “Cloth Andy”.
William McClung is buried at Otter Creed Cemetery-Old Amwell Cem, one mile west of Meadow Bluff, WV.
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| Person ID |
I1168 |
Crane Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
27 Apr 2018 |
| Family |
William McClung, b. Abt 1738, Christianna, PA d. 18 Jan 1833 (Age 95 years) |
| Marriage |
1766 |
Greenbrier County, VA [1] |
| Children |
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| Family ID |
F370 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
27 Apr 2018 |
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| Sources |
- [S155] Cottrill to Pavesi, #4, 17 Sep 1999, 14 Nov 1999, 41. (Reliability: 3).
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