John Hurst1

M, (circa 1735 - 1817)

Charts Pedigree for Stanley Russell McKinney
Relationship 5th great-grandfather of James Jay McKinney.
Last Edited 1 Apr 1999
Reference MMMMMFMFC
Researcher 0
Unrelated 0

Note* John Hurst, a son of James Hurst (Margaret Hunt does not believe this), was known as "Mill-Creek John." He was born about 1735 in Orange Co., VA. He was taken for a few years to Stafford Co., but was returned to the Shenandoah River Valley when he was about ten years of age. When grown he moved up the South Branch into what is now Page County doubtless on Mill Creek, near Luray, but on the west side of the river. At the time, that area was in Frederick County.

John owned a 100-acre farm, and on April 12, 1759, he was married to Nancy Nunn, who had been born in 1740. Researchers have puzzled over her ancestry for many years and have found nothing. Since Nancy was a close relative to Wharton Nunn, there are two apparent possibilities. The most common speculation is that she was his aunt, a daughter of Elizabeth Nunn. However, Mrs. Nunn’s known children were born from 1715 through 1722, and the probability exists that she was too old to produce a child in 1740. Furthermore, there is the question of how a teen-age girl .could have gotten from King and Queen to Frederick County. As far as is known, none of Elizabeth’s children were ever in the place; and young ladies simply didn’t roam around the frontier alone.

In order to explain a second possibility, that she was Wharton’s cousin, one has to assume that Nancy was an unknown daughter of Wharton’s uncle Thomas. Thomas died when only about 32 years of age in Chesterfield County, Virginia, leaving a widow and three known children, born from 1739 to 1743. The name of their first child, a daughter, has been forgotten, although her husband’s name is known; Nancy could have been a second daughter. The youngest child, John, was bound out to learn a trade in 1757, and nothing further was ever heard of him. He could have found his master’s
rule intolerable; and there can be little doubt that Nancy’s existence at home would have been drab and depressing. Perhaps they solved their problems in flight; and as young runaways would have simply vanished from the family’s memory. This theory is somewhat reinforced, in that there was indeed a John Nunn living in Shenandoah County. He died there, and his inventory-sale was held on June 7, 1819. Then, among Nancy’s children, the names of two of her possible brothers, father and mother are all duplicated. See the Nunn Family account, paragraph-11.

Nancy Nunn Hurst had a granddaughter, Esther Hurst. When her younger brother got into trouble, she saddled up horses and they rode off together to Kentucky. Was this a romantic replay of her grandmother’s adventure?

In 1772, Dunmore County was established, consisting of the southern part of Frederick, But due to the unpopularity of Lord Dunmore, who had been the Colonial Governor, the name was changed to Shenandoah. John was a member of the Shenandoah County Militia, and in 1781 was said to have served two or more terms as a Revolutionary soldier. It is a matter of record that he did serve at least one such three-month tour as a substitute for his son, who was ill at the time. That duty was just at the close of the war, and he returned home bearing the news of the fall of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Nancy Nunn Hurst died in 1786. She was said to have been killed accidentally by falling into a well.

On August 5, 1789, after about three years, John was remarried to Elizabeth Breeding. She is believed to have been the widow of Bryant Breeding. After the death of her husband, she and her young son John probably lived in the household of “New-River-Spencer” Breeding. James Breeding witnessed the marriage-bond and Spencer was her bondsman for the occasion. This was a financially responsible position usually taken by a close relative. Also, Elizabeth’s son John and Spencer Jr. seem to have grown up together and were closely associated during their lifetimes. However, it must be said that most of those who have seen the record make out her name as Breedwell.

In 1795, Mill-Creek John sold his land in the Shenandoah River Valley and moved to Wythe County. On September 10, 1798, he purchased 170 acres on the banks of New River. He is known to have lived there. Other Wythe County properties purchased or sold by “John Hurst” are hopelessly confused with those of “Capt. John” Hurst, son of William and Judith Calfee Hurst, who had come to the area about 1782.

Although by 1804 the family was living in Claiborne County, Tennessee, John kept his Wythe County property until 1812, when he sold it to Spencer Breeding Jr.

Their place in Claiborne County was located near homes of several of his children who had previously moved to the area The land was at Elks Bend of Powell River, near the mouth of Hoop Creek, a short distance below the Hancock County line.

On May 3, 1817, Mill-Creek John Hurst was killed by a falling tree. He was buried in a country cemetery at Elks Bend.

Elizabeth moved to Putnam County, Indiana, and was received into the Deer Creek Baptist Church there in February, 1826. She died on October 3, 1840, and was buried in Deer Creek Cemetery, near Greencastle.1 
Birth*circa 1735 VA1 
Marriage*1759 VA, Principal=Nancy Nunn1 
Death*1817 1 

Family

Nancy Nunn
Marriage*1759 VA, Principal=Nancy Nunn1 
Child

Citations

  1. [S73] Paul McGowen, Breeden/Hurst Family (n.p.: n.pub., 1983).