Estate of John McCorkle
Abstracted by Dave Woody: Lawrence Co., Ohio Common Pleas Court Journal 1830-1839
(Term Records)
Clerk
Copy to Term Records, July 31, 1897; LDS Film 1303192
November 29, 1830 - The will of John McCorkle was produced by John Layne. “appoint John Layne my sole executor” Will witnessed by John and Samuel Layne, Sr. on October 5, 1830.
Through Solomon Beckley his attorney, Robert McCorkle questions the
interlineations and contests will. "Robt is brother to John" and “nearest of kin residing in Lawrence County". Robt declined taking Letters of Administration on the estate, therefore the Court approved John Layne administrator; Bond with Philip Forsch and Samuel Layne.
Richard Morrison, John McCrea and Isiah Crawford appointed to appraise the estate.
The case was continued so that the Court could study the evidence.
Interlineations included “one cow and all my sheep ”and “appoint John Layne executor”.
August 29, 1832 - John Layne filled papers to settle estate.
September 19, 1833 - Estate settlement continued again “in order to give administrator the opportunity of correcting is vouchers”.
I have never found the actual will of John McCorkle or the final estate settlement.
Other Related Information
On March 20, 1835, the heirs of Robert McCorkle, Sr. were named in an estate administrative proceeding. Among them were his sons Robert Jr. and John, as well as deceased son Samuel. (So John, the son of Robert Sr. was alive in 1835)
1820 Lawrence County, Ohio Census
Union Twp. John McCorkle 1,0,0,1,0,0/0,0,1,0,0.
Windsor Twp. John McCorkle 1,0,0,1,0,0/0,0,1,0,0. (Because the enumerations were
identical, I assume that John, the son of Robert Sr., was counted twice in 1820.)
1830 Personal Property Tax
Union Twp. John McCorkle: 2 horses, 1 cow;
Robert McCorkle: 1 horse, 2 cows + Property Tax on 160 acres.
Lawrence Twp. John McCorkle: 1 horse, 1 cow (This is very likely the John that died in 1830)
The first record of a McCorkle paying Lawrence County taxes was in 1822. The tax records through 1837 indicate that 1830 was the only year that two John McCorkles were taxed. In that time period, the only McCorkle recorded in Lawrence Twp. was John in 1830.
The implication of these records is very interesting. Apparently, the John that died in 1830 was the brother of Robert McCorkle Sr., son of Samuel and Sarah McCorkle of Augusta Co., Virginia. However, it has been alleged and widely published that John, the brother of Robert McCorkle, was killed May 6, 1814 while traveling from Kentucky to visit Robert in Lawrence County. I have never found any primary evidence at all to substantiate this claim. The story was included in a newspaper article about the Lawrence County McCorkles that was published in the Huntington, West Virginia Advertiser in 1934. In any event, John’s wife Lydia and her thirteen children moved from Kentucky to Missouri about 1816. If there is another way to interpret this evidence, I would like to hear it. The only genealogical significance that I can attach to this possibility is that there may be undocumented children of John McCorkle, son of Samuel Sr.
Revised Feb 20, 2009