Joseph McMurtry, Jr.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for VIRGINIA with the rank of CAPTAIN. DAR Ancestor #: A078450

Joseph McMurtry was born about 1733 in Sussex County, New Jersey. He married Susannah Patton1 on August 27, 1759, in Bedford County, Virginia. They had children John, Susannah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Anna, James, Abraham, and George McMurtry.

Joseph died sometime after 1790 in Green County, North Carolina, which is now Tennessee.

• Notes for JOSEPH MCMURTRY:

In a battle at Chillicothe, Ohio, Joseph was shot by Indians. The following account of Captain McMurtry during the Expedition Against the Shawnee (August 2, 1780) is recorded in the Gen. George Rogers Clark papers. Henry Wilson gives a report of the wounding of Joseph, whose name is also recorded as "McMultry" in the papers.

"The indians finally retreated a hundred yards off, a couple of large oak trees which lay prostrate in a parrleel [parallel] line, on the top of these were placed chunks and poles stretched along lengthwise on their top forming a very good breast work with something like port holes between the pole & main body of the tree. Here some fifty indians posted themselves undiscovered to fire upon the advancing whites. Captain Joseph McMultry, when within thirty steps of the Indian breast work, without knowing that Indians were there, seeing some Indians quite a distance ahead, rested his rifle against a sapling & tumbled over his Indian who however immediately arose & ran on.

McMultry had his horn up filling his charger when the Indians behind the oak trees all fired nearly at the same time, & though the large body of the men were not more than 200 feet off, but a single man was hurt & that was Captain McMultry. A ball completely cut off his right hand forefinger, passing on through the top of his powder horn, shivering it to pieces, & entered his left breast. Four men - Henry Wilson among the number - remained with him. McMultry expecting he was mortally wounded began giving some directions about his affairs & some word for his wife. Wilson wished to mount him on a horse they had with them, fearing the Indians might gain their rear.

The wounded Captain desired not to be moved, as he shd [should] not live long, "about as long as a deer shot through the lights." Wilson thought they had better examine the wound & not take it for granted, without knowing that the wound was mortal - felt the bullet lodged against the breastbone. McMultry inserted his thumb & finger in the wound and flirted out the ball, which had been flattened in passing through the horn, & before entering the breast, making a large wound, it had nearly spent its force. His finger was done up with a handkerchief & then all dashed on & overtook the troops a quarter mile off..."

More About JOSEPH MCMURTRY: Note: Ran away from home as youth

More About SUSANNAH PATTON: Church Affiliation: Quaker

Children of JOSEPH MCMURTRY and SUSANNAH PATTON are:
25. i. JOHN M4 MCMURTRY, b. 1760, Craig's Creek Plantation, Augusta Co., VA; d. 1782, Gallatin, Sumner Co., TN.
ii. SUSANNAH MCMURTRY, b. 1762, Craig's Creek Plantation, Augusta Co., VA; m. ISRAEL GABLE, December 11, 1789, Greene Co., TN.
26. iii. JOSEPH P MCMURTRY, b. August 27, 1759, Craig's Creek Plantation, Augusta Co., VA; d. 1831, Washington Co., MO.
27. iv. ELIZABETH MCMURTRY, b. 1766, Craig's Creek Plantation, Augusta Co., VA; d. February 10, 1848, Sevier Co., TN.
28. v. ANNA MCMURTRY, b. 1768, Botetourt Co., VA; d. February 08, 1849, Chestnut Hill, Jefferson Co., TN.
29. vi. JAMES MCMURTRY, b. 1769, Botetourt, Bedford Co., VA; d. August 12, 1842, Caney Branch, Greene Co., TN.
vii. ABRAHAM MCMURTRY, b. Abt. 1775, Botetourt, Bedford Co., VA; d. 1835, St Clair Co., IL; m. ELIZABETH MCHANEY.
viii. GEORGE MCMURTRY, b. Abt. 1780, Greene Co., NC; d. 1832, Randolph Co., IL; m. WINNIE VERMILLION, December 21, 1810, Randolph Co., IL5. 'Marriage Notes for GEORGE MCMURTRY and WINNIE VERMILLION: Geo McMurtry Marriage Vol 1 page 9

• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jul 23 2017, 20:02:57 UTC

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GEDCOM Note

The McMurtry brothers served as sergeants in George Washington's Virginia Regiment (Militia) during the French and Indian war of 1753-1763. Joseph Jr. was a militia Captain during the revolutionary war. In the battle at Chilocothee, Ohio, he was shot by Indians in his thumb and 1st finger - he also had a bullet in his chest just under the skin. Story in book by ?Twattle and Kellogg -" A book of Rev. War incidences - first hand accounts". He had a mill on Craig's Creek in Virginia, near Roanoke - a geo-triangle/quadrangle Keagley Virginia (a surveyor) He received 176 acres on John's Creek in Botetourt County, VA.

In 1767 he was listed as the "viewer" of a road from McMurtry's mill through McAfee's gap, along the Catawba River. He reported that there was not enough "tithables" to build a wagon road, so a horse trail was all that was practable at that time. The family migrated to Green County, NC (now Tennessee). In 1778 Joseph McMurtree received a land grant for 300 acres on both sides of Camp Creek on the Nolichucky River near what is now Warrensburg Tennessee. A record of their marriage is found in Henshaw, volume 6, and records William Manley, surety.