JAMES CLAYPOOL
A Brief Discussion on James Claypool the Immigrant
The Pennsylvania Branch and the Virginia Branch
James Claypool was the immigrant. He
had a large family. One of his sons was James. He lived in Newcastle
which was then part of Pennsylvania, and now is Delaware. James
didn't live too long but
did have one son and a daughter. The son
, born in 1701, was also named James. He is the one who, along with
many of his cousins, left to form a new community, the first one west
of the Appalachians. That community was at Lost River.
James Claypool (1701) wrote a little book
of poetry. He is listed in the DAR book as a hero of the Revolution.
As I heard it (read it) he served as a medic. He would have been too
old for combat.
James (1701) had many sons, among them James and William.
William was a Captain in the Virginia militia and was assigned to defend the new settlers. He was based at Fort Mathias. The Indians attacked the fort and he was killed, scalped and buried by the fort.
Norton Claypool was a brother to James the immigrant, and he too lived in Newcastle. He also had a son by the name of James . There is no record of his having any children . He also died very young.
Since James Claypool ll lived in Newcastle, early genealogists concluded that James (1701) was the son of Norton. But later genealogists concluded that James (1701) was the son of James ll and NOT the son of Norton. I concluded this from my own readings and it was verified by Evelyn Claypool Bracken and she said that the one who had made the original conclusion, later agreed that Evelyn was correct. But Evelyn still left it open as a question because some preferred to believe that James (1701) was really Norton's son. In explaining it, she alluded to an early schism in the family that , I believe had religious origins.
James ll was married to Mary Cann. When James ll died, James (1701) was only about 5 years old. Mary remarried to a Christian Steelman. Little is known of him. But James (1701) learned the trade of weaver and it may have been from his step-father. It was in keeping with the tradition of the Claypools to be lawyers or tradesmen, not weavers.
It is best to ignore the Norton line. It just confuses everyone. And it really doesn't affect the line of decent anyway.
Just to restate it, the split into two branches occurred when James (1701) and his cousins moved to Lost River. They did keep in contact with the PA branch , and there was even some inter-marriage between the branches over the years. This was not unknown among the Quakers
Last Updated April 27, 2005
