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CHAPTER XI.
THE VIRGINIANS
There is an excellent source on the family in the United States by George Dewey Colclough of Elon College, which was published in 1969. It does have some errors in the genealogy, particularly in that compiled by Ottley & Ottley, but contains a wealth of excellent information. At some stage it is to be hoped that Mary Lou Ruth of Fremont, Ca, a most indefatigable researcher on whose work most of the following chapter is based, will write her magnum opus. These few paragraphs are merely an introduction to the vicissitudes of the descendants of Matthew of Stephney and Mary Warner.
When Matthew Colclough's son Robert died, his widow Susannah Griffith married a further two times. Firstly a man called Hillary. She then emigrated to Virginia with her 12 year old son John to Virginia, arriving on Dec 6th 1652. where she married ----Blagroe. Susan returned to England to bring over John's brother Ralph in 1655, leaving John with Griffith relations nearby. There were other Colcloughs in Virginia at the time; two were sons of George of Delph House and Elizabeth Keeling - John, a ship's captain who died unmarried and his brother George, who married twice but had no children, and Thomas the ship owner who was a son of George Colclough of Trentham and a great grandson of Matthew and Katherine Dalton. George Colclough of Westmoreland got into trouble when he persuaded Mottrom to do something concerning the inheritance of Mottrom's children. They were reported to be drinking all day before George persuaded Mottrom to make the change. When Mottrom, died George married his widow Ursula. A Richard Wright, who was the wife of one of Mottrom's daughters by his first wife, objected to the marriage. On George's death Ursula married for a fourth time the son of Jean Brewster and Isaac Allerton, who was an ancestor of Robert E Lee. His land in Lancaster Co. is now known as Sitchley
There is another John Colclough floating around, who arrives in Virginia in 1650. He might be the Susan's son, but if so he was very young to be doing the journey on his own. More research is needed
Between the York River and the Rappannock River is Colonial Gloucester County. On Chesapeake Bay, at the mouth of the Rappannock is Gwynn Island where Col Hugh Gwynn lived, who brought John Colclough as a headright in 1652. The lands on which John himself lived are now the Quantico Marine Base. Four years later Edward Prescott brought over one John Washington who settled nearby. By 1660 John was married to Mary Rivett or Partridge (whose sister was Alexander Doniphan's first wife Amy; their daughter was an ancestress of Col. Travis of The Alamo and of President Truman.) and he had three children, Benjamin, John and another son. John was a carpenter, as was his brother Benjamin, who constructed the barr in the county court house.
Benjamin's son William, who was born in 1716 married Mary Rogers and they had several children, moving to N.C. circa 1763:
Elizabeth (b. 11 Oct 1747 in Stafford Co., Va and d 1806 in Warren Co., NC) married William Shearin, son of John and Mary Shearin.
William Junior married Catherine and moved to Granville, NC. He was the ancestor of George Dewey Colclough of Elon College
John Colclough m Lucy Gregsby and had 5 sons and 4 daughters; their son Benjamin married Mary Rodwell and moved to Tennessee. A second son William married Charity Harris and moved to to Taliaferro City, Ga where their descendants still live. John jnr and his wife Salley also have descendants.
Alexander was probably one of the wealthiest Colcloughs. He originally went to South Carolina with his first wife's family. He had bad, or possibly good, luck with his wives, since several of them were wealthy widows. His old Beacon Hill plantation is now the Manchester State Park. By his six wives he had four children, whose descendants include a neuro surgeon and a sheriff - Hugh Colclough of Bishopville SC. Many of Alexander's descendants and the descendants of his slaves live around Sumter, SC. Alexander Colclough, was at one point was a vestryman, and held several officiating positions. He received Beacon Hill Plantation as a grant from King George, was a Captain in the South Carolina Militia, serving under General Francis Marion. Captured by the British at the Siege of Charleston, he was a prisoner of war for one year in St. Augustine, Florida, He is said to have served under General Morgan. His Beacon Hill Plantation was an important source of supply to the Continental Army, as witnessed by receipts on file at the South Carolina Historical Commission for beef, pork, corn and other foodstuffs supplied. He is said to have attained the rank of General He was commissioned High Sheriff of Clarendon County, SC in 1791. He died in 1817 and his heir was his son John Ashby Colclough. The estate included approximately 195 slaves, and several acres of land in Sumter County, SC. John Ashby Colclough later brought some 100's of acres from Caleb Rembert, and he owned nearly 400 slaves. The plantation cemetery still exists today, on Beacon Hill Estate, Swimming Pens Street near Pinewood, Sumter, SC. John died in 1858, & everything was entrusted to his daughter Misadora Colclough.
Going back to Benjamin and Rachel, their youngest son Robert was born in 1717. An ale house keeper, he had with his wife Rachel Sinclair a son Alexander and a daughter Charity. He was not a nice man. Charged and acquitted for the death of a black woman, he was finally hanged at Williamsburg in 1758 for the rape and incest of his daughter Charity. Alexander's descendants are probably Coakleys living in Virginia
In 1849 John Colclough, son of Beauchamp Colclough and Katherine Crawford, emigrated to Augusta., where his son Thomas died in 1904. John's cousin, James Henry Colclough emigrated to Charleston SC, where his descendants still live with the unique spelling of Colcolough. There is another family of Colcloughs who settled in Augusta, Ga, and came from Ireland, possibly via Jamaica, in the early 19th century.
Descendants of the families who arrived in the States in the 1750s also survive - those who came through Salem to North Carolina and those who came via Andros Island who ended up in Friedericksburg. Several families came into the States via Canada in the 19th century, and there are also at least a dozen individuals who came directly to the States from Ireland in the 19th century but whose families have yet to be fully traced - such families as the Cokely ancestor who came from New Ross to New York, or the "Boer War" Colcloughs.
