The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Thomas was orginially buried in the McClanahan Family Cemetery, Simpson County, KY
The stone was moved to Green Lawn Cemetery, his body was not moved
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
The cemetery is located on the east side of Green Street between Portland Avenue on the north and Cemetery Street on the south
The cemetery is owned and operated by the city of Franklin
Author: Larry Duncan McClanahan
Thomas McClanahan was born 1753 in Westmoreland County Virginia to William and Mary Marshall McClanahan. With his family he relocated to Culpeper County on Little Indian Run, a tributary to the Rappahannock River.
His McClanahan Marshall and Markham uncles and cousins relocated in Culpeper and Fauquier Counties in the early 1760’s. They were surveyors with and associates of George Washington. He established his survey headquarters in Culpeper while surveying the Northern Neck Lands of the Fairfax family.
Thomas grew up in the religious troubles between the Established Church sanctioned by the outlawed Baptist movement. His family had belonged to the Little Fork Church in Culpeper County before converting to the Baptist faith.
Thomas’ father, by then Reverend William, was pastor in 1773 of Upper Carter’s Run Baptist Church in Fauquier County. Rev. William with Nathan Sanders and William Marshall were imprisoned in the Orange County Gaol for preaching the Baptist doctrine. Thomas Marshall. Burgess and Vestryman, posted the bail for his brother in law, brother and Rev. Sanders.
When Patrick Henry dissolved the House of Burgess in 1755, he ordered the formation of Militia Regiments throughout the colony. The Culpeper Minute Men Regiment was formed by men from Culpeper, Orange and Fauquier counties.
Thomas Marshall was major. Is son, John was a lieutenant and drill master. Rev. William McClanahan raised a company from his church and was a captain when the regiment marched to Williamsburg. Thomas McClanahan was not a member.
Thomas later made his way to Williamsburg and joined his uncle, Thomas Marshall’s regiment as a private. This was the regiment of the Virginia Line under Captain Taylor. The regiment was later marched to Annapolis, Maryland where they boarded ship for New Castle, Delaware. The unit was in battles against the British in battles in Bound Brook and Bowling Brook in Pennsylvania.
In 1776 his unit went into winter camp with the Army at Valley Forge. Thomas, known as Devil Tom, was ill with camp fever and joined his unit later. He had transferred to the 2nd Virginia Line in Peter Muhlenberg’s brigade
At the end of the encampment Tom had joined a mounted infantry or dragon company under Captain Richard Taylor, Zachary Taylor’s father. He soon received furlough, went home, married Ann Green and had his brother in law replace him.
Tom and Anne Green McClanahan moved to Botetourt County Virginia where he served as a militia lieutenant at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. They later moved to Montgomery County, Virginia on the Little River. By 1787 they were in Ft. Boonesborough in Kentucky
Tom served as a scout in the Indian Wars against the Miami’s north of the Ohio River. He rescued a cousin captured by the Indians and picked up a second nickname as the Indian Fighter.
By 1800 he Anne and his children were in Logan County, Kentucky. Anne died at their home in Simpson County leaving their 12 children. He married Tabitha Williams on February 26, 1817 and had 8 more children. His death was on October 15, 1845. He is buried in Simpson County, Kentucky.
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