Our feature presentation -- William McAninch of Kentucky, 1790's-to-1813

This man William McAninch was an early pioneer in Casey County, Kentucky. At this time, we don't know who his parents were, and have no information on date or place of birth, although he was born in Kentucky, according to later census records (in the 1880 census, his son Samuel states that his father [William] and his mother [Ladisha] were both born in Kentucky). If any earlier records survive, they could be someplace in Virginia, from before Kentucky became a state in 1792.

William married Ladisha Rawson, about whom we have no further information at this time; various records show her name spelled as Ladisha, Ladosha, Ladieca, and Laodieca, as best as I can read the old hand-writing. Since their second child Jonathan was born in 1799 [1793], we can estimate the date of their marriage "Abt 1796" [Abt 1790], with their first son James born 1797-1800 [Before 1793] [rev. May 2003 /Frank].

William and Ladisha had five male children, that we know of at this time (in that day and age, and observing the gaps in the birth dates of those five, very likely there were others, male and/or female, not yet found):

1. James McAninch, was born in Kentucky (1797-1800) ["Before 1793", my estimate].

2. Jonathan McAninch, born 1799-1800, Lincoln County, 1793, Casey, Kentucky [1830, 1850, and 1870 census records, ’99/fm] , and married 17 Jun 1824 in Pulaski Co., KY, Tolitha Turpin, daughter of James and Polly (maiden name unknown) Turpin, who was born 1798/1799 in KY. Jonathan and his family moved to western Missouri (Big Creek Twp., Cass County, in the 1870 census). It is likely that Jonathan died in Missouri; it is known that his wife Tolitha died in June, 1890, Jackson County (north of Cass), Missouri.

Jonathan and Tolitha had 14 children, with more information below.

3. William McAninch, was born in Kentucky, est. DOB between 1794 and 1804 [born circa 1805, per 1850 census record, ’99/fm]

4. Samuel McAninch, was born 10 April 1807 [1805] in Kentucky, and married in 1828, Margaret Myers, who was born 1812 Tennessee (no info, her parents) [her parents Charles and Rebecca (Williams) Myers, went to MO., ’99/fm] Samuel and his family also moved to Cass County, Missouri, before 1848, and is found there in the 1850, 1870, and 1880 Federal Censuses.

5. Jesse McAninch, born 1812-1813 [after 1805] in Kentucky. On May 5, 1835, in Pulaski Co., KY, a Jesse McIninch(sic) was married to Jane Stotts, by Wm. O. Brice; the current conjecture is that this is the same Jesse.

We know that William (the father) died in 1813, in Casey County, Kentucky, and we have a copy of his will, transcribed below. His wife, Ladisha, survived him, and we have no information on where or when she died later.

Credit for the bulk of this work rests with Charles Byron Bridgeforth, a descendant of Jonathan McAninch, the second son of William and Ladisha, and formerly of Raytown (Kansas City area), Jackson County, Missouri.

Kathy obtained a copy of Charles' work from Gary McAninch, in Texas, and sent it to me earlier this year. Unfortunately, Kathy says that Charles died a few years ago. We don't know what happened to his original notes; some sheets are marked "Heart of America Genealogical [?] & Library Inc", Kansas City, Missouri. Of course, additional copies of the material that I have can be made easily for anyone interested in these McAninch lines.

McAninch Family History Newsletter, Vol. I, No. 3, August 1993 pg.3      page 1993-10

[original contents (except as noted); change font for online presentation (May 2003)]

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