Benjamin McCool, d. 1805 Abbeville Co., SC

BENJAMIN McCOOL
Orange Co. NC/Abbeville Co., SC

Between 1710 and 1737, six sons of John and Olivia McCoole of Toberhead, County Londonderry/Antrim, Northern Ireland immigrated to Pennsylvania/Delaware.They were Quakers, and continued to follow that religion in PA/DE for a generation or two.Research in NIR and PA has proven their emigration from NIR, and the fact that an Archibald McCoole was there with them and remained there.From their known activities in NIR, it seems safe to assume that John and Archibald McCoole were brothers.John McCoole, Sr. died there in 1719.His birthyear is estimated to have been between 1650-1670, based on the fact that his eldest son, John McCool, Jr. arrived in PA in 1710.Adam McCool, Sr., of Union/Chester Co., SC was a son of John McCool, Jr. who died in DE in 1761.

The Colonial Census of 1779 for Orange Co., NC shows Benjamin McCool and his probable brother, Archibald McCool, were in residence on or near the Haw River at Hillsborough.Based on the ages of their children, it is estimated that they were born between 1735 and 1745. The Eno Quaker meeting and the Eno Presbyterian Church were nearby, but we have no information to date as to their church affiliations.Both Benjamin and Archibald served for a short time as wagoners for Cornwallis during the Revolutionary War.Archibald McCool and his eldest son were killed in the battle for Charleston, SC in 1781.His widow and remaining family fled to Ontario, Canada after confiscation of their property around 1793.Benjamin McCool and his fellow Tories pled for clemency from the Governor of North Carolina and apparently received it.He then removed his family to Abbeville Co., SC before 1800, probably to be near his kinsman, Adam McCool of Union/Chester counties.He died there before 1810.Benjamin and Archibald McCool have been incorrectly attached as sons of Andrew McCool of VA.DNA testing has conclusively proved that Benjamin McCool was a newcomer to America, and related to, but not a direct descendant of John McCoole of Toberhead, NIR.

The known sons of Benjamin McCool and his unknown wife are:

1. John B. McCool is seen on the 1810 Mercer Co., KY census with John Calvert.He may have gone with John Calvert to Pope Co., IL, but is back in Blount Co., TN (no census for 1820) where most of his children married in the 1820s.By 1830, he is in Monroe Co., TN; by 1840 he is in nearby Bedford Co., TN, and he died in Jackson Co., AL after 1850.That census shows him to be 87 years old and to have been born in NC.John B. McCool was the progenitor of those McCools who have helped populate the state of Tennessee.His son Jesse McCool (II), who married Jane Calvert in Bedford Co., TN about 1816, was the father of Milford McCool, alias Milford Calvert, who was adopted by his aunt Agnes Nancy Calvert and her husband, Mathias Brewer, after the death of Jane Calvert in 1821 and Jesse McCool in 1823.A 67-marker DNA sample from a descendant of Milford Calvert matches mine on all 67 markers.

2. Benjamin McCool, Jr. is first seen on the 1818 Pope Co., IL state census.He married Ellen Lawson of KY and remained in Pope Co., IL until his death in 1851. He probably left SC with his brother John B. but settled near John Calvert’s family in Pope County.

3. Jesse McCool (I) is shown on the 1810 Abbeville Co., SC census, with an elderly female in his household, most likely his mother.He is next seen on the 1818 Pope Co., IL state census with his brother Benjamin, Jr. At that time, he appeared to have one son over 21, and may have had sons under 21.He apparently died in Pope County before the 1820 census.

4. William McCool is shown on the 1800 Abbeville Co., SC census near his father, Benjamin, and his brothers, John B. and James McCool. He was listed with John B. and James McCool in the settlement papers for the estate of Robert Foster in 1802. William married Margaret Baker, daughter of John Baker, a neighbor of Benjamin McCool and his sons in Abbeville County in 1800.His cousin, Joseph McCool, Jr., grandson of Adam McCool, married Esther Baker, also a daughter of John Baker. This has created confusion (I think) as to the parentage of William McCool.Grace Smith Hall has concluded that he was a brother to Joseph McCool, Jr., as both William and Joseph, Jr. moved with the Baker family into Kentucky and later to Booneville, Warrick Co., IN, where he died in 1819.However, William McCool’s son, John B. McCool II, is shown on the 1830 Pope Co., IL census. He had remarried in Pope County in 1827 to Malinda Williams and remained there near his Uncle Benjamin for some years before returning to Booneville, Indiana.A DNA sample is needed to clear up this confusion.

These last three, and possibly all four, of Benjamin McCool’s sons were accompanied by Joseph McCool, Sr. and his wife Jean/Jane Thomas McCool in their northwesterly migration from SC.Joseph, Sr. was the eldest son of Adam McCool of SC.This couple finally settled in Gallatin Co., IL, which is adjacent to Pope County.Joseph McCool, Sr., died there in 1825.

5. James McCool, my 3rdGGF, was shown on the 1800 Abbeville Co., SC census with a wife and oneson under age 10.He was a witness to the will of Adam McCool, Sr. in 1800.He was still in Abbevillein 1810, but is not there in 1820. Records show that some of his children married in Montgomery Co., AL in 1824. The 1820 AL census was destroyed, so we don’t know when they arrived there. He was shown on the 1830 Montgomery Co., AL census with no wife.His youngest known daughter, Lydia, was born in or about 1814. After 1830, he and his sons and daughters and their families moved into Tuscaloosa Co., AL.James McCool died there in 1837, and his descendants moved into Fayette Co., adjacent to Tuscaloosa Co., before 1840.

6. Thomas McCool was never shown by name on an Abbeville Co., SC census, or any other census, for that matter. We know that he was there, as he was involved in the settlement of the estate of William Lipscomb in 1803. We also know that he was in Montgomery Co., AL with his presumed brother James McCool, as be bought from the estate sale of James Gray on November 11, 1822. He married Sarah Gentry about 1809. The family tradition is that he drowned in the Black Warrior River in the winter of 1822/23. His estate was settled in Montgomery Co., AL, according to his family researchers. Sarah Gentry McCool remarried to Isaac Lansdale and they, along with Thomas and Sarah’s three sons, came to Fayette Co., AL with the descendants of James McCool. These three sons, Benjamin Allen, John, and Thomas Calvin McCool, later removed with their families to Attala Co., MS, where they remained for the rest of their lives.

These last two sons of Benjamin McCool were later joined by close relatives of Adam McCool of SC.James Adam McCool, son of John and Jane/Jean Love McCool, first migrated from SC to Madison Co., MS by 1850. In 1860, he is found in Attala Co., MS, along with John McCool, son of Thomas.In 1840, Margaret McCool, the widow of Adam McCool, Jr., was living in Pickens Co., AL in the household of her daughter Frances and son-in-law Thomas B. Mitchell.The Mitchells divorced, but Fannie was still there in 1860.In 1840, a John McCool, now identified as John Thomas McCool, Jr., brother to James Adam McCool, was in Fayette Co., AL with the descendants of James and Thomas McCool. He had sons in his household, one of whom was of an age to be William Elbert McCool, known progenitor of the Pickens Co., AL McCools. Lastly, John Thomas McCool, Jr. and James Adam McCool had a sister named Margaret who married John Brandon.The Brandons divorced before 1850, and Margaret McCool, is shown on the 1860 Fayette Co., AL census living next door to Benjamin Allen McCool, son of Thomas and Sarah.

The primary purpose of this dissertation is to set the record straight as to the parentage of James and Thomas McCool of Abbeville Co., SC.I allowed myself to be mis-led by the will of James McCool, Jr. of Frederick Co., VA, naming sons James III and Thomas.James McCool III migrated to Newberry Co., SC, then returned to VA during the Revolutionary War, his sons never returning to live in SC as I had thought they must have done.Currently available DNA evidence has soundly trumped my paper trail.Thanks for that are due to Phillip O’Neal Taylor for urging his nephew, Timothy Benson McCool, and me to submit DNA samples. Thanks are also due to Scout Calvert, researcher for her uncle, Frank Wilson Calvert, alias Frank Wilson Howard, for arranging the submission of his DNA sample.My closer cousin, Charles McCool of Reston, VA, a descendant of my 2ndGGF Andrew J. McCool, has provided a fourth DNA sample.The DNA samples of Frank Calvert, Charles McCool, and mine match on all available markers.That of Timothy Benson McCool, a descendant of William Elbert McCool of Pickens Co., AL matches ours on only 65 of 67 markers. This proves that we four, as a group, share a common direct male ancestor who lived somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 generations ago. In his case, we know that ancestor to be the father of John McCoole, Sr. and his presumed brother, Archibald McCoole, of Northern Ireland. In the case of the other three who match perfectly, the nearest direct male common ancestor is known to have been Benjamin McCool of Abbeville Co., SC. Further research in Northern Ireland should complete the connection from our Benjamin McCool to his currently unknown father and grandfather in Toberhead, Co. Derry/Antrim, Northern Ireland.

You may have to copy and realign the following for correctalignment:

              Unknown McCoull/McCoole, 1625-1675, Scotland(?)
John McCoole, 1650-1719, NIR--------------------------Archibald McCoole, 1650-?, NIR
John McCool, Jr., 1690-1762, DE-----------------------Unknown McCoole, 1690-?, NIR
Adam McCool, Sr., 1720-1800, SC---------------------Unknown McCoole, 1720-?, NIR
John Thomas McCool, Sr., 1757-1815, SC-----------Benjamin McCool, 1740-1805, SC
John Thomas McCool, Jr., 1791-1845, AL------------James McCool, 1765-1837, AL
William E. McCool, 1826-1875, TX----------------------Andrew J. McCool, 1806-1976, AR
Francis Marion McCool, 1844-1922, AL----------------Thomas Benton McCool, 1834-1867, AL
James Wesley McCool, 1885-1957, AL----------------Thomas B. McCool, Jr., 1862-1929, AL
James Dewey McCool, 1915-1983, AL-----------------Willie Lee McCool, 1891-1968, AL
James Harold McCool---------------------------------------Thomas E. McCool
Timothy Benson McCool
Note 1: Frank Calvert, Charles McCool, and I are only 6 generations (in my case) from our MRCA, Benjamin McCool, 1740; hence three 67-67 marker matches.
Note 2: Timothy Benson is 11 generations from our collective MRCA, McCoull/McCoole, 1625; hence a 65-67 marker match with us.


May 11, 2013
Thomas E. McCool
(803) 449-3036
genemccool(at)aol(dot)com