Lines of Descent from Thomas McGallin (1776-1860s)

Updated June 9, 2023. This web page was first mounted on June 15, 2016 by Sheila Schmutz. It was moved to a different server on February 25, 2025. sheila.schmutz@usask.ca

This is a private webpage that has no "official" connection to FTDNA or the McGallin DNA Project there, or at any other such company (i.e. Ancestry DNA). Please address corrections and additions to her. If you wish to correspond with other participants whose lines are shown, she will forward your message to them.

Autosomal DNA Results

The results of the people who have had autosomal DNA testing, known as Family Finder at FTDNA (FF) or Ancestry Autosomal (AA) are shown below with red lines connecting the generations. The person with the blue line is Y DNA tested, and has Family Finder matches to this group.

When the first matches were detected in spring 2016, most of the six persons did not know they were related. This is not surprising since they are 4th, 5th, and 6th cousins and most have different last names.

In recent years many individuals match one or more of these persons through Ancestry Autosomal DNA testing. In addition to descendants of the two sons of our common ancestor Thomas, there are now descendants through his son Thomas James McGallian, who had only daughters. There are also matching descendants through two of Thomas McGallion's (born abt. 1776 ) daughters Mary Ann MaGallion and Delilah C. McGallion. Note that various spellings of his last name have been used.

Note that the names of the participants are not shown to protect the privacy of the individuals, although their initials or kit numbers are shown.

A gedcom files with notes indicating the references used was available on WorldConnect (RootsWeb). However, Ancestry took WorldConnect files offline in fall 2017 and they are not all back up yet, with those that are "locked" so they can't be edited. Nevertheless, I welcome any comments and/or additions to these data. Bruce McGallion has done fantastic geneaology on this family and has added many helpful notes to this gedcom.

Y DNA Results

It may be that there were men who were Y tested prior to 2016, but the first such man to join this project was not Y tested until the summer of 2016. He did not have any matches to other men with this last name, so if any were Y tested, they likely used a different company. His line of descent is shown with blue lines connecting him to his ancestor, Thomas McGallin.

Thomas McGallin, Our Common Ancestor

Bruce McGallion is the co-administrator of the McGallin DNA Progject at FTDNA. He is the person who contacted me some years ago to help me understand my own link to Thomas McGallin and shared the wonderful genealogy research he had done on this family.

In the 1850 census, the birth place of Thomas McGallin is shown as Kentucky. His age is listed as 70 which would put his birth year as 1780. However, the 1835 census of Texas shows him as 59 which would put his birth year as 1776. "Character Certificates in the General Land Office of Texas" by Gifford E. White (Google Books) states "Thomas McGalin is a native of Virfinia a man of family of eight persons" provided by Benjamin Lindsey Alcalde. Kentucky was part of Virginia until 1790, therefore whether his birth date is 1776 or 1780, technically his birth state at that time would have been Virginia.

None of us have information about his parents. I speculate that the following census record could pertain to him, but have no verification of this.

If the above census record does pertain to "our" Thomas McGallin, then it introduces yet another spelling of his last name. However, census takers often introduce spelling inconsistencies, so this spelling may not actually have been used by this family. This census also suggests that the lady of the house, Elizabeth, was a widow by 1810 with 3 sons. She was over 45 at the time. I have been unable to find this family in the 1800 census so can't suggest the name of the father of these boys.

Thomas McGallin's First Marriage to Elizabeth (nee Strother) Glass

By 1830, Thomas McGallin had moved to Mississippi. It is likely he had moved there some years before though because his first son Jesse McGallin was born in Mississippi in 1822. Mrs. Elizabeth Glass was living in Pike Co, MS in the 1820 census, as the widow of Frederick Glass (1780-1819), so it is likely that Thomas McGallin and she married there about 1821. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Strother. Her father, John Strother, died in 1817 but his will was not probated until 1840. She is listed as Elizabeth McGallin there. Her mother was Hannah Stroud. Mrs. Elizabeth Glass was head of the household in 1820 with a boy and 4 girls under 10, and 4 girls 10-16 years of age. We only know the names of two of the daughters who were in the household of Mr. & Mrs. Thomas McGallin on May 1, 1835 in Jasper County, Texas: Matilda Glass 18 and Elizabeth Glass 16.

Besides their son, Jesse who was born in 1821, they had another son Alandron born in 1828, a daughter Bertha or Martha Ann born in 1832, and a son Thomas H. born in 1833. All four of these children were born in Mississippi before the family moved to Texas by 1835. Their last daughter Margaret McGallin was born in 1837 in Bevil Precinct of Japer County, Texas. She later married William Spane. Martha later married Mr. Holliday.

Elizabeth Strother died by 1838 in Texas, because she is missing from the 1838 Texas Tax List of that year. Was this a result of the birth or Margaret perhaps? Since she was born in 1788, she would have been only 50.

Thomas McGallin's Second Marriage to Sarah Rachel Roberts

Sometime between 1838 and 1840, Thomas McGallin moved his family back to Pike County, Mississippi. One wonders if this was to take over the estate of his father-in-law, John Strother who died there about 1840. I suggest this because in 1840, Thomas suddenly is shown owning 11 slaves. Thomas was a brick mason his entire life it seems, so owning that number of slaves would be unlikely on his own, I would think.

But in the 1840 census Thomas has a woman 20-30 in his household, as well as 2 sons and a daughter. (I am not sure why two young daughters are not present). His young wife was Sarah Rachel Roberts, who was born in 1813 in Tennessee. They likely married in 1839. They had their first child, Mary Anna McGallin in 1840 in Pike County, Mississippi. Subsequently John Jefferson (1845), Thomas James (1846) and Delila E. (1848) were also born in Mississippi.

In 1850, the family was living in Amite County, Mississippi. It included both daughters and his son Thomas from his first wife and all four of the children with his second wife. Thomas was already 70 then (or more likely 64) but still working as a brick mason. Bruce McGallion found several land transactions during this part of Thomas's life so he may have been gaining part or much of his income from these dealings as well.

The last record of Thomas found so far is the 1860 census of Pike County, Mississippi where is he shown living with Sarah. The children do not seem to be with them so perhaps they were only visiting Pike County temporarily then.

Ancestral Country of Origin

Most of the Y matches to the McGallion man who first did Y Testing at FTDNA are from Scotland or Ireland.

However, the ancestors of Thomas McGallion have not yet been found. Some Public Family Trees on Ancestry suggest that Elizabeth McGillion in the 1810 census in Franklin Co, KY could be his widowed mother. Her maiden name being Elizabeth Mnu, and that his father was Thomas McGillion/McGillen born in 1750 in Adair Co, Ky which was likely then Virgina. But no documentation was provided.

Another person suggests that a Thomas MacGallion, Private's Rev War Record from 6 Aug 1777 in PA could pertain to his father. But others read the name as Thomas MacCallion and say this is another family.

Similar Last Names

Some members of this family use the last name McGalin or McGallion instead of McGallin. Even Thomas is recorded with two different spellings of his last name.

Useful References

Links to Other Related Sites