Military Monday - A military connection comes full circle

My family has deep military roots and many connections to the state of Virginia. In fact, I have found a connection that came full circle at the marriage of my great grandparents.

My great-grandparents, Hazel McGuire and Clifton White were married January 16, 1932. Both of their families came to western Missouri from Virginia. Hazel's line came through Kentucky and Clifton's came straight from Virginia. Both lines were from the western portion of Virginia, mainly Roanoke, Augusta and Botetourt counties.

Alexander and William McClanahan were brothers. William was born in Augusta County, Virginia. I do not know much about his older brother Alexander other than his military service. He fought in the Indian Wars, the Battle of Point Pleasant and was awarded his own regiment during the Revolutionary War: 7th Regiment, Virginia Volunteers. He reached the rank of Colonel.

James McGuire was a private in Col. Alexander McClanahan's regiment. Assigned to Co. D, 7th Regiment, Virginia Volunteers upon his enlistment on March 6, 1776.

Pvt. McGuire and Col. McClanahan shared the same military experiences then 156 years later their descendants would marry. It truly is a small world.

Who is "my" Marcellus?

My search for the White family of Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia has come to a grinding halt. This is a family line where I have found next to nothing in print regarding anyone in the family. I have only several censuses to guide me in my search. And I am not even sure that some of those are for the right "Whites." It is just one of those common surnames.

There is a line of Whites that are well known in Roanoke County and the patriarch was Samuel White. He either built, or owned, a mansion and several houses called Fort Lewis. He was clearly a very wealthy man. In his will he gave the mansion house to his youngest son, Alexander. His second son, Edmund Penn White, was named executor and was given a tract of land known as the "Ned Taylor Tract" in Bedford County, Virginia, just north of New London.

Edmund P. White married Sarah (Sallie) McClanahan October 14, 1820 in Botetourt County, Virginia. They are listed on the 1850 census in Roanoke County with five children: Gay, Marcellus, Ann, Lee and Mary.

Page 2 of the 1850 Census listing for Edmund P. White, showing his son, Marcellus.

Fast forward to Ray County, Missouri. I have traced my White line from my grandmother to Hugh C. White, born March 16, 1876. According to his death certificate his parents were Marcellus F. White and Mary J. (Tosh) White, both born in Virginia. I am able to trace Marcellus and Mary back to 1870 in Ray County, Missouri. Other than his headstone and several censuses, I do not have many conclusive sources for Marcellus. A biography in a Ray County, Missouri history states that he fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. There is only one Marcellus F. White that fought for the confederates in Virginia. He was a Quartermaster sergeant and was captured by the Union army following Gettysburg and spent time in the Union prison at Fort Delaware. He enlisted in 1861 at Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia.

I have found several trees that link the Marcellus I know in Missouri to Edmund Penn White. The 1850 census I mention above does list a Marcellus, age 18, which would be the appropriate age for "my" Marcellus...as I have come to call him. But I have no conclusive link between the two. There is no death record on file for Marcellus. I cannot find an obituary for him in any of the Ray County, Missouri newspapers. There are also no probate records for him. I also have no information about Edmund Penn White's death. Roanoke County, Virginia has no record of any probate documents for him. I do know that Mary J. Tosh, "my" Marcellus' wife, was born in Roanoke County, Virginia through various documents. But I was unable to locate a marriage for Marcellus and Mary in Roanoke County. Their first child, Thomas, was born in Virginia in 1860, but there is no marriage record for his parents around that time.

I have contacted so many sources in Virginia I could not even begin to list them here. I even had a chance to visit the great Virginia Room at the Roanoke City Library, but I came up with very little. Now I must wait for all of my emails to bear fruit. Oh, where can "my" Marcellus be?