MARRIAGES AND FAMILY. I married Nancy McCune, the daughter of John McCune, March 26th 1816. She died January 9th 1834. Our eldest son, William, was born in Kentucky. Shortly after his birth we moved to Missouri. The Company who came to Missouri together were: My wife¹s grandfather, William McCune and family. Benjamin Gray and family. He married a daughter of William McCune, my wife¹s grandfather. William Holliday, my elder brother and his family. His wife was Rebecca Redding. William Biggs, and his family. He married Betsey, my wife¹s eldest sister. John McCune, my wife¹s father and his family. His wife was named Polly Shannon, a daughter, I think, of John Shannon. Myself and my family. I only had half of a four horse team to move in my father-in-law having the other half, beside his one other wagon. There were six families of us, and I am the only man now living of the whole company. There are but two of the women now living, Betsey Biggs, widow of William Biggs, and Rebecca, the widow of my brother William. She married a second husband named Grant, and is again a widow. She still lives in Grass Creek. In coming to Missouri, we came by Louisville, then crossed the Ohio river, thence to Smelser¹s Ferry, about two miles above Alton, Illinois, where we crossed the Mississippi River, thence to St. Charles, thence up to Ramsey¹s Creek. My wife died in 1834. I married a second time in 1837 to Elizabeth F. East, widow of Daniel East, in Monroe Co., Mo. My wife¹s maiden name was Dickerson. By my first marriage, I had nine children, the youngest dying in child-birth, eight, four boys and four girls, arrived to maturity, and are now all living except my eldest daughter Polly, who died a few years since, leaving seven children. She married Daniel Atterberry who died a few years after my daughter. He was killed by a falling of a tree, a limb flew back and killed him. My children were named William Harvey, John James, Thompson, Polly Sloan, Rebecca Jane, Martha Ann, Samuel Newton, and Elizabeth Brewer. All married and are now living except Polly Sloan, whom I have spoken of above. William married Jenetta Harper. They reside in Monroe Co., Mo. She is the niece of my present wife. John James married Lucretia Foree. They reside in St. Louis (1863) and have eight children living, two dead. Thompson married Mary Ann Gwyn. She died a few years since. He married a second time, Paulina Arnold, widow, whose maiden name was Phillips. Thompson had five children of his first marriage, and two of his last, and his present wife has four children by her first marriage. Thompson also resides in Monroe Co., Mo. Rebecca Jane was married to Samuel H. Dickerson, the nephew of my second wife. They reside in Randolph Co., Mo. and have a large family of children nine living and three dead. Marhta Ann married William Foster. They are now (1863) in Texas; they have one child named Finis Harvey. Samuel Newton married Maria F. Glasby, they reside in St. Louis and have two children. Elizabeth Brewer married Adam Gwyn, a brother of Thompson¹s first wife. They reside in Monroe Co., Mo. and have four children living and two dead. My father was a hard working, industrious, steady man. He was strictly temperate. I never heard of his being groggy in my life. My mother had four brothers, all steady religious men, to-wit; Thomas, Joseph, William, and John Patton. She had five sisters, Sally Morrow, Nancy Steele, Rosanna Mitchell, Polly Wright, and Elizabeth McCune. Elizabeth¹s first husband was named Maxwell, her second husband William McCune, my first wife¹s grandfather, by whom she had four children, William, Joseph Polly Lacy, and one other. William McCune is married and lives in Pike Co., Mo., Joseph married a Miss Edwards by whom he had one child who I think is named William. He died and his widow married a second time. My wife¹s father, John McCune, was married twice. He had nine children by his first marriage, Betsey, Susan, William, Polly, John S., Harvey T., Nancy, my wife, and Margaret. By his second marriage he had three children, Harry E., Joseph, and Rebecca. Susan, William, and Polly are now dead. Susan first married Kinkead, who only lived a few years, and afterward she married Thomas Kerr. She left three children living at the time of her death, to-wit; John J., Richard T., and Susan Kerr. John J. Kerr married Margaret Braley, and has several children. He resides in Nebraska City, Nebraska Territory. Richard T. Kerr married a daughter of James Rains. He resides in southwest Missouri. Susan married John C. McBribe, by whom she had four children. She died two or three years since, in Monroe Co., Mo. where her husband now resides. William McCune married Jane Guy. He resides in Pike Co., Mo. near Elk Springs. He died several years since leaving five children, John, Savory, Guy, William, and James. His widow is still living. John, Savory, and Guy are all married and reside in Pike Co., Mo. Polly married a Brewer and died shortly after her marriage leaving an infant child who died soon afterwards. Betsey married William Biggs. He died many years since leaving a large family, to-wit; John, George, Polly, Milton, Nancy, Emily, Susan, Elizabeth, and Marion, William K., Margaret, and Richard. Emily married Jack Briscoe. She died several years since, leaving two sons, William and James. The others are all living and married. John S. McCune married Ruth Anna Glasby, by whom he had five children. He resides in St. Louis. Harvey T. McCune married Polly Matson. He had two children living, to-wit; Enoch L. and Susan. He resides in southwest Missouri on Spring River. Margaret married Thomas Cleaver. They reside in Monroe Co., Mo. have six children, I think. I neglected to state, when I spoke of the Indians attacking our house during father¹s absence, that mother, by watching all night, became a little sleepy by daylight. She was on her knees with her axe in her hand, by the door, when she heard a noise over the door, and thinking it was the Indians, she struck her axe above the door, and cut into a roll of cloth that she had lying there, the end of it, being loose, made a noise by being blown by the wind. The preceding thirteen pages (in the original type-written document) are an exact copy of the autobiography of Joseph Holliday, copy annoted by his son Samuel Newton Holliday of St. Louis, Mo., and are in possession of Mrs. Callie Jones of Independence, Mo. This copy made September 19, 1931 by (Mrs. Leon) Kathryn H. Campbell, 1904 Armstrong Ave., Kansas City, Ks. Signed. (Mrs. Leon) Kathryn H. Campbell 1904 Armstrong Ave, Kansas City, Ks. History The Hearts of Steel Land in Ireland was not owned by individuals the way we know it to be here in America. The Crown was the sole owner of all lands, which was divided into large holdings, often of several thousand acres and title given to nobles as a reward for some service they may have provided to the crown. These lands were again divided by the nobles and leased to smaller holders. Often there were several layers of leasing and subleting between the nobles and the men who actually worked the land. The nobles and larger landholders profited from the collecting of rents and the labors of the smaller leaseholders who actually worked the land. Often the landlords did not even live in the country. In the early 1770¹s one such absentee landlord, Lord Donegal, had become enormously wealthy on the fruits of other men¹s labors but still found his income to be unequal to his yet more enormous expenditures. Many of his Antrim leases having come due at about the same time, he decided to use the event as an opportunity to add to his coffers and demanded a outrageous and unprecedented fine for their renewal-- a hundred thousand pounds. The tenants, all Protestants, offered the interest of the money in addition to the rent, but it could not be. Speculative Belfast capitalists paid the fine, and took the lands over the heads of the tenants to sublet. A precedent so tempting and so lucrative was naturally followed. Other landlords finding the trade so profitable began to serve their tenants with notices to quit until all at once thousands were driven from their homes. The sturdy Scots, who in five generations had reclaimed Antrim from the wilderness, saw the farms which they and their fathers had made valuable let by auction to the highest bidder; and when they refused to submit themselves to robbery, saw them let to others, and let in many instances to Catholics who would promise anything to recover their hold upon the soil. The farmers and peasants combined to defend themselves. Where law was the servant of oppression, force was their one resource. They called themselves Hearts of Steel and were sometimes referred to as "Steelboys." Their object was to protect themselves from universal robbery. Their resistance was not against the Government--it was against the landlords and the landlords¹ agents, and nothing else. They made a petition to the government but a corrupt Parliament (many landlords themselves) saw their demands as an invasion of the rights of landlords and reported that the increase of rents demanded was not exorbitant. Unjust laws provoke and compel resistance. Violence followed and the Hearts of Steel destroyed cattle and farmsteads of the intruding tenants. They attacked gentlemen¹s houses and lawyers¹ offices chiefly in search of deeds and leases; of theft they were never accused. One of their number being confined at Belfast, a large body of Steelboys, accompanied by many thousands of peasants, who neither before nor after took any part in the insurrection, marched upon that town and succeeded in obtaining his surrender. Soldiers were soon sent to the disturbed districts and several boys were tried at Carrickfergus, but by the supposed partiality of the juries they were acquitted. The trials were then moved out of the offenders home turf and still the feelings were so strong that they were acquitted. Eventually, however, as the insurrection subsided and after some fierce conflicts with the soldiers many insurgents were taken, tried and executed. In the two years which followed the Antrim evictions, thirty thousand Protestants left Ulster for a land where there was no legal robbery, and where those who sowed the seed could reap the harvest--America. They went with bitterness in their hearts, cursing and detesting the aristocratic system. They were soon heard of again. The ejected tenants of Lord Donegal formed a large part of the revolutionary armies which severed the New World from the British forever. Spouses _________________________________________ 1: Nancy McCUNE Birth: June 16, 1799 Bourbon County, Kentucky [1] Death: January 9, 1834 Pike County, Missouri Age: 34 Father: John McCUNE (1772-1852) Mother: Mary ³Polly² SHANNON (1773-1823) Misc. Notes \ Marriage: March 26, 1816 Bourbon County, Kentucky Marriage Memo: Officiated by the Rev. Davis Biggs. Children: William Harvey (1817->1849) John James (1819-1881) Thompson (1821-) Mary Sloan ³Polly² (1823-1851) Rebecca Jane (1825->1826) Martha Ann (1828-) Samuel Newton (1830-) Elizabeth Brewer (1831-1915) Joseph (1834-1834) _________________________________________ 2: Elizabeth DICKERSON Birth: July 5, 1795 Virginia Marriage: October 31, 1837 Monroe County, Missouri Sources 1. 16 June 1799--George Bush genealogy _________________________________________ Last Modified: May 9, 2002 Created: May 9, 2002