This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: CleteRamsey Surnames: Ramsey, Brevard, McKnitt, Davidson, McWhorter, Craig, Green, McKnight, Cannon, Hunter, Henderson, Steele, Baldridge, Davison, Fleming, Bacon, Hackett, Craig, Stevenson, Huggins, Hugens, Carruth, Mellon, Stevens Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.brevard/55.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Jimmy, You mentioned Robert McKnitt Brevard. He's at the center of one tangle of southeast Missouri families I've been examining, in part to better determine when (1818 or 1819?) my late father's Ramsey family arrived in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri Territory, from Lincoln County, North Carolina. Robert M. Brevard, aged 69 years and six months, appeared before a Cape Girardeau County Court on 22 December 1832 to attest to his Revolutionary War service, when applying for a pension. His affidavit was transcribed in 2008 by Will Graves as part of the "Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements" effort. I'm sure Robert M. Brevard was Robert McKnitt Brevard. Robert M. Brevard stated that he had served in the North Carolina militia both under a Lieutenant Robert Ramsey and the lieutenant's brother, a Captain Ramsey, whose given name Robert M. Brevard apparently could not recall. Robert M. Brevard also stated he was involved in the fight at Cowan's Ford [1 February 1781, on the Catawba River in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina] under General William Lee Davidson. Gen. Davidson was shot from his horse and killed in the fight with British forces at Cowan's Ford. I don't know for certain if either Capt. Ramsey or Lt. Ramsey had a connection to my paternal Ramsey family from Lincoln County, west of the Catawba, but I expect they might have had. Robert M. Brevard appears not to have told the court that Gen. Davidson's wife was also a Brevard and his first cousin; a daughter of John Brevard and Jane (McWhorter) Brevard. If I understand the relationships correctly, Robert McKnitt Brevard was a son of Robert Brevard and Mary (Craig) Brevard. The senior Robert Brevard and Mary (Brevard) Davidson, the wife of Gen. William Lee Davidson, were brother and sister. Both were grandchildren of Jean "John" Brevard and Mary Katherine (McKnitt) Brevard. Rev. Thomas P. Green provided a supporting affidavit to Robert McKnitt Brevard's Revolutionary War pension-related affidavit. He was Thomas Parish Green, a pastor at Old Bethel Church, which was located about a mile south of Jackson, the Cape Girardeau County seat. Rev. Green, who was born in 1790 in Chatham County, North Carolina, came to Missouri from Tennessee about 1817, and is reported to have become pastor at Old Bethel soon thereafter. He died in Cape Girardeau City on 11 July 1843. In his declaration in 1832, Robert McKnitt Brevard noted that Rev. Green lived near Brevard's home in Cape Girardeau County. Rev. Green married at least twice. His second wife was Asenath McKnight. Her father was Samuel B. McKnight. I've seen Samuel B. McKnight's full name listed both as Samuel Bell McKnight (in a Sons of the American Revolution lineage book) and elsewhere as Samuel Brevard McKnight. I think it was the latter, but have no certain proof of that. The given name of Samuel B. McKnight's wife was Arabella. Accounts variously name her as the former Arabella Cannon, Arabella Hunter, and Arabella Wayne Henderson. Arabella W. McKnight is listed as an heir on the 15 September 1822 will of William Henderson of Maury County, Tennessee, along with William's wife Nancy, three sons, five daughters, and a grandson. The will makes no mention of Arabella's relationship to the deceased William Henderson. One of William Henderson's daughters named in his will was Susanna Ramsey. I don't know to which Ramsey line Susanna (Ramsey) Henderson connected, but Maury County was a Ramsey "hot spot," where I'm working through another tangle of families. In what may be a clue, a Thomas Ramsey was listed as a buyer at the 14 November 1822 sale of property from William Henderson's estate. A William S. Henderson was also a buyer. William Henderson named William S. Henderson in his will as one of his three sons. William S. Henderson very likely was William Steele Henderson, a son of William Henderson and Nancy (Baldridge) Henderson. One RootsWeb family tree names Nancy as William's second wife, noting William's first wife was a "Davison." Backing up a bit, another individual who provided a supporting affidavit to Robert M. Brevard's claim of Revolutionary War service was Mitchel Fleming. Fleming stated he had been acquainted with Robert M. Brevard for over 60 years, and that their acquaintance was made as boys in Rowan County, North Carolina. The supporting affidavits provided by Rev. Green and Mitchel Fleming were witnessed by the deputy clerk of the Cape Girardeau County Court, Benjamin Bacon. Vermont-born Benjamin Bacon had married in Missouri in 1821 Elizabeth S. Brevard, a daughter of Robert McKnitt Brevard and Nancy (Hackett) Brevard. One account reported that Elizabeth (Brevard) Bacon had been born in Iredell County, North Carolina, and had come to Missouri by wagon train in a journey taking three to four weeks. About 1835, Benjamin and Elizabeth Bacon moved their family up and across the Mississippi River to Hancock County, Illinois. As had Robert McKnitt Brevard, Mitchel Fleming appeared before the Cape Girardeau County Court on 22 December to attest to his Revolutionary War service. According to another transcript by Will Graves, Fleming, aged 71 years and eight months, was for five months in 1777 a volunteer in a company of the North Carolina militia, mustered near Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, under a Captain Craig. In 1782, he served for two months in a company of horse under a Capt. James Stevenson, mostly, it appears from his statement, rounding up Tories. Fleming told the court he had been born in Kent County, Delaware, in 1761. He did not say when or how he came to live in North Carolina, but did state that he had removed from North Carolina to Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, in 1819. Among the persons Fleming named as knowing him were Col. Samuel B. McKnight, a justice of the Cape Girardeau County Court, and Rev. Thomas P. Green. Robert McKnitt Brevard (noting his boyho! od relationship with Fleming in North Carolina), Rev. Thomas P. Green, and Samuel B. McKnight provided supporting affidavits to Fleming's claim. As in the case of Robert McKnight Brevard, Benjamin Bacon witnessed Fleming's affidavit. Mitchel Fleming is reported to have trekked by wagon train from North Carolina to Missouri Territory in 1819. All of the above is only a small part of the tangle I'm working through in Cape Girardeau County, the birthplace my father's great-grandfather, Alfred Ramsey (b. 1819), great-grandfather, Albert "Stoke" Ramsey (b.1856), and father, Clarence Paul Ramsey (b. 1890). My father's great-great-grandmother was Rebecca (Huggins) Ramsey, a daughter of William Huggins and Sarah (Mellon) Huggins, and a granddaughter of John Huggins and Mary (Carruth) Huggins. Rebecca married Samuel Ramsey in Lincoln County, North Carolina, in 1797. The record names her as Rebecca Hugens. Samuel and Rebecca moved, with as many as nine children, from North Carolina to Cape Girardeau County, Missouri Territory. In 1850, the widow Rebecca was living in Cape Girardeau County with her son, the above-mentioned Alfred, Rebecca's 10th child. This was Alfred Ramsey's household in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, in 1850: Dwelling 1546 RAMSEY, Alfred 33 Male MO Farmer RAMSEY, Emeline 26 Female TN [One of Alfred's three wives.] RAMSEY, William 2 Male MO RAMSEY, Charles F. 6/12 Male MO RAMSEY, Rebecca 68 Female VA [Alfred's mother. She disappears by the 1860 census.] Alfred's father Samuel had died in 1822. A book of probate abstracts for Cape Girardeau County from about 1808 to 1919 was published by the Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society (http//www.rootsweb.com/~mocgcgs/index.htm). The probate abstract for Samuel Ramsey (31 Dec. 1822) named his wife Rebecca and Administrator John Stevens. The probate abstract noted Samuel Ramsey had eight sons and two daughters, but named none of them. James Huggins, an older brother of Rebecca (Huggins) Ramsey's father William, married Elizabeth Brevard, a daughter of Jean "John" Brevard and Mary Katherine (McKnitt) Brevard. Margaret Brevard, an older sister of Robert McKnitt Brevard, married John Huggins, a son of James Huggins and Mary (Brevard) Huggins. John Huggins was Rebecca (Huggins) Ramsey's first cousin. I'm working on a theory that Robert McKnitt Brevard, Mitchel Fleming, and my father's great-great-grandparents, Samuel and Rebecca Ramsey, may all have traveled in the same wagon train from North Carolina to Missouri Territory in 1819. I have no proof of that. Does anyone else? Looking from the 1850 census of Cape Girardeau County forward, I've identified a number of households with connections to Robert McKnitt Brevard and Samuel B. McKnight. Some have connections to other family tangles in the Cape Girardeau area I've been investigating for over a decade. I'll post them, should anyone be interested. The more I look, the tangles keep expanding, all the way from Scotland and Ulster to California. Corrections, additions, and comments are welcomed. Regards from Virginia, Clete Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board. <br>