Will the REAL Parents of Samuel Glenn Please Stand Up?

Mary Glenn Moore, granddaughter of this blog post's subject

For many years, the Glenn branch of my tree stopped at Samuel Glenn, who died July 1, 1841, in Clermont County, Ohio.  I was never tempted by the many-times-copied trees on Ancestry that showed his line extending back to Robert the Bruce, the most awesome king Scotland ever had.

Well, maybe a little tempted. I'd love to descend from Robert the Bruce. But these trees were all lacking one key ingredient: Proof.

I decided to work on this line a bit to see if I could make a breakthrough. I've been slowly entering proven information into a Rootsmagic database, and began putting in what facts I knew about Samuel. I had the following already:

• A photocopied Bible record belonging to Samuel's son Elias Glenn, stating that "Samuel Glenn My father died on the first day of July 1841."
• U.S. Federal Census records from Clermont County, Ohio for the years 1820, 1830, and 1840. By using the age data in these records, I narrowed Samuel's birth year to somewhere between 1776 and 1780.
• From Ancestry, I also had three records from the Ohio Early Census Index for the years 1801, 1809, and 1810. The first one was for the Virginia Military District, and the other two for Clermont County.

The Virginia Military District was a part of what would later be southwest Ohio. It was bounty land set aside for veterans of the Revolutionary War, who received payment for their service in land rather than money. Why was Samuel Glenn, who was born during the revolution, paying taxes on land there?

I was able to locate the original tax record on FamilySearch¹.  

1801 Tax List for Virginia Military District, image from FamilySearch

Samuel Glen was taxed for 200 acres of 2nd rate land
No. of Warrant 4939
Date of Entry with Surveyor 19 Jul 1800
Water Course and County: lower side Trakles Creek, Ross
Amount of tax: 70 cents

According to the book Revolutionary War Land Grants by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck², 200 acres was the amount awarded to a non-commissioned officer who served a three-year term. However, if the soldier died or was killed in service, his heirs were entitled to the same amount of land. On page 202 of this book, Samuel Glen is listed as receiving 200 acres.

I knew I had to see information about this bounty warrant. Since the land was located in the Virginia Military District, it would not be located at the National Archives with federal land grants. A little sleuthing revealed these records were at the Library of Virginia on microfilm. And wonder of wonders, FamilySearch had copies of these microfilms! The particular one I wanted to see has been digitized, but must be viewed at a family history center or an affiliate library. I was off the day I discovered this, but my car was in the shop. Drat!

My next available day off, I was at the Indiana State Library first thing to check out this microfilm. The entry for Samuel Glen consisted of one index card and one handwritten document, front and back.³

Samuel Glen Bounty Warrant Index Card and Front of Supporting Document

Samuel Glen Bounty Warrant Index Card and Back of Supporting Document

The document says: 

"Corporation of Winchester, Sct May 31st 1799
   On the motion of Samuel Glen and it being proved to the satisfaction of the Court It is ordered to be certified that he is the only child and heir of Samuel Glen deceased an american soldier who was killed in the war between this country and Great Britain.
           A Copy Test,    J. Peyton CWH"

Winchester, Virginia is located in Frederick County. As of yet, I have not located any court records there that pertain to this document.

Shortly after this revelation, I found myself at the Allen County Public Library, and found this abstract from the Frederick County Minute Books⁴:

GLINN ELIZABETH WIFE OF (SOLDIER); MINUTES 1773-1780, p. 255, Elizabeth Glinn, whose husband is soldier in Morgnan Regiment in Continental Service, pension for herself and a child."

I was able to locate the Compiled Service Records for Samuel Glen on Fold3, but they did not shed any further light on his age or death date. 

In summary, Samuel Glenn b. 1776-1780, d. 1841 in Clermont County, Ohio was the only son and heir of Samuel Glen, a soldier who served from Frederick County, Virginia and died during the American Revolution, and his wife Elizabeth.

I have more information to share on Samuel Glenn (Jr.) and Samuel Glen (Sr.) in future blog posts. There is also more research to be done, and I hope to uncover more.

Sources:

¹ Tax records of Ohio, 1801-1814, "Book entries of the lands of non-residents situated between the Scioto & Little Miami Rivers commonly known by the name of the Virginia Army Lands (Virginia Military District ), v. 1, 1801," entry for Samuel Glen, image 51, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 7 Sep 2018).

² Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1998.

³ Virginia, Office of the Governor, "Bounty warrants, 1779-1860," Box 58, Given, John to Goodrum, Thomas, FHL film 008140688 Item 4

⁴ Daughter of the American Revolution, Virginia, Series 2, v. 35, Abstracts of court records, Frederick County, Virginia, 1763-1830, (Virginia: Virginia DAR, 1994).