Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Alney McLean-was he my 4 times great grandfather

My 3 times great grandfather, Alney is a huge brick wall for me.

On his death certificate, it states that his father was Lee McLean & his mother was Harriett Silvey Hayden.

I can not find a Lee McLean, but I did run across the name Alney McLean.
Alney McLean started as the surveyor & played a significant part in laying out the town Greenville, where he died.  
He also was a captain in the War of 1812. Which is why McLean County was named after him.

He & his wife Tabitha married & had 10 children.  They did live in Muhlenberg & he did own slaves.  Unfortunately, the slave schedule doesn't name his slaves.

What are the odds that my ancestor was named after a complete stranger?


I know that being named after a president was common back then, but he wasn't president.  He was a judge until his death & he was elected to congress twice, but why would Harriett name her son after him?  If it were just the first names that they share, I probably wouldn't guess he was his father, but I wonder why my ancestor has his first & last name

Also, did they call Alney McLean Lee?  

If there are ancestors of Alney McLean out there, who may have knowledge of his slaves, I could really use some help.


No comments:

Post a Comment