Meant to Be 

We had always known that one of Roy’s ancestors, his 3^rd great-grandfather from his Mom’s side, Francois ‘Francis’ Kerby I, had been a clockmaker on the Isle of Jersey from around probably the mid 18teens to 1853 in St. Helier’s.   He moved over to England in about 1854 and continued his trade there for a number of years, before he passed away.  Francis was born in 1793 and died in 1884.  We also knew that one of Roy’s cousins had found one of these Kerby clocks at an antique store somewhere in Southern California a few years back.  However, we had never seen one of these clocks in person ourselves.  The following are a couple of pictures we had seen of his clocks that had been posted on FamilySearch Memories for Francis.

That all changed in March of 2022 when I received a couple of emails that said the following: “I have knowledge of where one of your ancestors clock is.  Phoning me is best or an email.” They included their phone and email address, which I could see was from Utah.   They had also sent a message to another one of my email accounts that only said: “Regarding one of your heritages clock.” That is all these emails said though.  We were traveling home from California, and I almost deleted both emails, but then decided not to at the last moment.

After we got home from our trip, I was going through all my emails and making sure I had answered all that needed answering and cleaned out all the junk ones as well.  I saw those emails again and decided to answer him back.  The only clocks I even knew of were made by Francois ‘Francis’ Kerby I.  I figured if the email sender had taken the time to look and find both my email addresses maybe I should take the time to answer them.  So instead of an email I called the number they had left.  They didn’t answer their phone, so I left a message saying I had received two emails a few days before about a clock and left my number for them to call me back, this was on Monday, March 7^th.

About an hour or so later, I received a phone call from Tom Mormon, the man behind the cryptic emails. 😀  He told me he likes to collect antique clocks and he was looking around KSL Classified’s when he ran across an old grandfather clock for sale.  He was really wanting this clock, but he was trying to figure out how he could come up with the money for it.  He had about decided he could sell one of the clocks he already had and then purchase this one.  He looked at the face of the clock and could see a name and a place listed, but he had never heard of this clockmaker before.

The name on the clock was Francis Kerby and underneath the name was Jersey.  He just assumed New Jersey, having never heard of the Isle of Jersey before.  He decided to google the name and place to see when this person would have made the clock and where exactly it would have been made.  He could tell from the pictures the seller had posted online that it was old, but he wasn’t for sure how old.  He told me that the first information that came up in his google search about the clock was my post that I had done for my family history blog on 28 September 2015 about this very same Francois ‘Francis’ Kerby I, clockmaker from Jersey. 

My blog post about Francis Kerby is listed at this link: Francois 'Francis' Kerby I, 2015 post

When he realized that we lived in Utah, he said he had to track us down to see if we would want the clock.  He was going to sell one of his clocks to buy it if we didn’t want it.  He told me how to find the ad on KSL Classified’s and while I was looking at it, Roy came home.  I was so excited when Tom was telling me all about this clock and looking at the pictures posted on KSL, I just knew it had to be one of Francis Kerby’s clocks.   I told Tom that Roy had just gotten home, and I would go talk to him and then call him back in a little bit.

The rest they say is history!  I think Roy just about passed out when I told him about the clock.  While Roy was looking at the pictures on KSL, we called Tom back.  We asked Tom a number of questions about old clocks since we didn’t know anything about them ourselves.  Tom offered to go and look at the clock for us since it was just a few blocks from where he works in downtown Salt Lake City.  Tom was even more impressed with it after he saw it in person, and he said that most of the mechanical parts all looked authentic.  Only a few pieces had been replaced when the people that were selling it had it fixed so it would run again.  Tom had the sellers take a picture of himself by the clock.

The sellers had bought the clock at an estate sale in Park City, Utah three years before and had been told that it had been in the family for a number of generations.  However, no names of the previous owners were given unfortunately.  Before they bought the clock, someone had at some point started stripping the clock to refinish it.  It actually looks really cool in the color that it was stripped down to though.  You can see the mortar joints and the wood grain, and it is just beautiful.

Needless to say, after Tom went and saw the clock and called us back, we wanted the clock.  We negotiated a price and Tom offered the use of his truck to go and pick it up on Saturday, March 12^th.  We meet Tom and his wife, Laura at their home in North Salt Lake.  They showed us some of the clocks they had, as well as some old family pictures that were really cool.  Then Roy and I followed them to the house in the Avenues where the grandfather clock had been residing for the past three years.

The grandfather clock was even more impressive seeing it in person and it was hard to hold back the tears.  To think that Roy’s 3^rd great-grandfather had made this clock and it had somehow made it to Utah at some point intact is almost unbelievable.  We can only image how this clock even made it to America.  It more than likely came by ship, then across the country to Utah, but did it arrive by wagon, on a train, or by truck?  Since we don’t know when or how long the owners previous to the owners, we were buying it from actually had it, there is no way to know for certain.  However, I can tell you that it arrived by a pickup truck driven by Tom and arrived safely to our home here in Morgan.

Tom took care of this clock like it was a newborn babe.  He cleaned and polished and put all the workings back together after we got it unloaded and into our home.  While he was cleaning it his wife was holding her phone with the flash light on and saw a name engraved on the plate on the back of the clock face that said Fennimore.  I googled the name and found that a man named William Fennimore born in May 1766 of Birmingham, England was a clock dial maker who worked for himself from at least 1812 till his death in 1838.  Since it is only Fennimore listed on the plate and not Fennimore & Son, or his two sons names later on after his death, it is assumed by me that William Fennimore would have made this plate himself and thus it was made before his death in 1838 and more than likely before 1830, since two of his sons started working for him about that time.  To read more about clock dial makers and William Fennimore you can click on this link: Clock Dial Makers

Tom figures that our grandfather clock was probably made sometime between 1820 and 1830 and it is considered a longcase clock.   Tom looked through his clock books when he got home and found the styles that were used for the clock now in our possession.  The following pictures from Tom’s book show that the style of our clock is from the years 1820 and 1825.

We have been remodeling our home and our main dining room we have turned into what we call the Elfrida Room.  My husband grew up in the little Southeastern town of Elfrida, Arizona down close to the Mexican border.  The majority of the items we have in this room are from his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.  We have our new old grandfather clock on the wall adjoining my mothers-in-law side of the family since the man that made this was her 2^nd great-grandfather.  Tom also took an old picture we had scanned and cleaned it up for us and printed off an 8X10 and even framed it for us of Francis Kerby, to put beside the clock he made.  Here is that picture as well as some pictures of our clock in its new home.  Also, ones with my husband, Roy and myself and Tom and his wife, Laura.

In the following pictures, Roy and I are in the first picture and Tom and Laura are in the second picture, taken at our house.

Written by: Vickie Beard Thompson, for her blog on 16 March 2022

 The McMahan Dilemma

I am probably going to get into trouble for even daring to change a line that people have followed for many years now, including myself, therein lies the dilemma!!!

On my Dad’s, Mom’s side of the family we have a line that goes back to McMahan’s.  For the longest time I thought our James McMahan (1714-1799, wife, Susannah Hildebrandt) was a son of John McMahan and Margaret Murray of Ireland and then North Carolina.  When you look at different trees on Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, etc.  everyone else pretty much thinks the same thing as well.  I have not actively worked on this line.  It was mainly work that my Dad did many years ago while talking to old timers, who knew some of these folks.  Since I had so many other lines that didn’t go back as far as my McMahan line did, I had kind of left it to the side.

Well, I decided it was time to start working on this line and see if I could figure out who the parents of John McMahan and Margaret Murray were.  This John & Margaret were both supposed to have been born in Ireland as was their son James, before coming to America.  What I have found so far is that there were indeed two different John McMahan’s, one in Pennsylvania, and one in North Carolina, that people have intermingled.

Another thing that makes it difficult at times is the spelling of the surname.  I have found it spelled as McMahon, McMahen, McMechen, McMakin, etc. and sometimes they even leave off the Mc or make it Mac.  Even in the same document there may be more than one spelling of the name.

My John McMahan (ca. 1690-1776) left a will in Rowan County, North Carolina which was written 31 July 1776, no wife listed, and I haven't found the probate for it yet.  He named these children: James, Samuel, Jane/Jean, Katherine, Agnes & Mary.  Witnesses were William Miller & James Hayes.  The will was not administered in Rowan County, because the executors, David Kennedy & Samuel Emet living in Pennsylvania, so it was delivered to William Anderson.  I believe that William Anderson was John’s son-in-law, husband to his daughter, Agnes McMahan.  I am working on trying to figure out where in Pennsylvania, David Kennedy & Samuel Emet lived and hopefully it is the same place John was before coming to North Carolina.

The other John McMahan (ca. 1710-1767) left a will written 18 May 1767 in Leek Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania which was probated in October of 1767, also in Cumberland County.  This John had a wife named Margaret whose maiden name was probably Murray.  Their children were: James, Rachel, Sarah, Elizabeth, Agnes, John, Margaret, Benjamin who was under age 21 & Mary.  Executors: John Erwin & son, John McMahan; Witnesses: John Erwin & William Wilson.

As you can see both John’s had sons named James and daughters named Agnes.  The way their wills were written it looks like both James’ were probably the oldest sons.  I think this is how so many people confused the two men.  According to family stories both James’ were also born in Ireland before coming to America.  However, my James died in 1799 in North Carolina and the other James died in 1823 in Pennsylvania.

My John McMahan’s children and their spouses were as follows: James (1714-1799) who married Susannah Hildebrandt (1718-1802); Samuel (ca. 1716-????) I have yet to find a spouse for; Jane/Jean (ca. 1725-after 1788) who married James Pursley (ca. 1721-1788); Katherine (ca. 1727-????) who married Edward Larrimore (ca. 1722-????); Agnes (ca. 1729-????) who married William Anderson (ca. 1723-????) and Mary (ca. 1733-1789) who married James Morrison (ca. 1724-1779).  All of my John’s children were supposed to have been born in Ireland before coming to America.

The other John McMahan’s children and their spouses were as follows: James (1740-1823) who married Mary Murray (1739-1818), Rachel, Sarah, Elizabeth, Agnes, John (1750-1802) who married Jane Murray (1762-1807), Margaret, Benjamin (1754-1829) who married Sarah McClees & Mary.  All of this John’s children were supposed to have been born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania except for the oldest son James, who was supposed to have been born in Ireland.

They may possibly be related to each other, but at this time I can not say so with any certainty.  I am going to continue to work on these two families until I can figure out who their parents were and where in Ireland they came from, as well as when they came to America if possible.

Anyone with more information on either NC John or PA John and their families please let me know.

The following are the wills for both John McMahan's.  The first one is for my John McMahan in 1776 in Rowan County, North Carolina.  The second one is for the other John McMahan in 1767 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.