Assuming that there was no widow living, and that one child, Robert 4, predeceased his father leaving no heirs, there may be assigned to Capt. John Looney and wife Elizabeth Renfro 7 children, tentatively as follows:

        John 4 Looney b. say 1771       See 4th Generation
        Robert 4 Looney b. say 1774
        Martin 4 Looney b. say 1776     See 4th Generation
        Moses 4 Looney b.6 Aug. 1780    See 4th Generation
        Stephen 4 Looney b. say 1782    See 4th Generation
        Daughter b. say 1784; married John Derryberry
        Daughter b. say 1787; married John Graham

Note: Among Early Marriages in Washington County, Va. (see p. 1265 of Annals of Southwest Virginia by Summers) there is listed Peter Lowny to Catherine Zimmerlie, 15 Oct. 1794 by minister Jacob Linck. If this Peter was born Looney he was perhaps a son of Capt. John and Esther Renfro Looney and either dead or unknown to John's executors in Tennessee in 1820.

Moses 3 Looney is estimated born about 1745, probably on Looney's Mill Creek in Augusta County, Va. (This birth date agrees well with information from the Knoxville Register 17 Oct. 1838, that Sarah Looney, wife of Moses Looney, was born 1749.) When Adam 2 and Hannah Looney of Mechlenburg County, North Carolina, deeded 140 acres on Looney's Creek, Augusta County, Va., to Alex Evans on Oct. 2, 1765, the witnesses were John, Looney, Moses Looney, and Christian Epshear. On Jan. 29, 1770, Moses Looney was an appraiser of the estate of Derby Shea of which David Looney was administrator. In Fincastle County records, Jan. 6, 1773, Moses Looney is mentioned as surveyor of a road from Muddy Creek to the County line. Moses 3 Looney was third of four defendants, heirs of Robert 1 Looney, sued by John May & Co. in Botetourt County, Va., 12 Feb. 1773. In the Lost State of Franklin, by Samuel Cole

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Williams, on pages 314, 315, it is said that the Court order of Fincastle County on May 3, 1774, for a lost of tithables in Capt. Looney's Company, refers to Moses Looney.

Moses 3 Looney lived in the Western Parts of Fincastle County in June 1776 and signed a petition asking for a division of the county. On Feb. 25, 1777, he was one of the appraisers of the estate of Wm. White, Washington County, Va. (David 2 Looney being surety for Anthony Bledsoe, the administrator). On August 27, 1777, Moses and David Looney were appraisers of the estate of Wm. Purvience, and on September 30, 1777, Moses Looney was mentioned as viewing a road. On May 9, 1778, Moses 3 and Samuel 3 Looney were appraisers of an estate and David Looney was a security. On November 20, 1778, Moses Looney was recommended for Lieutenant of Militia, Washington County, Va. (and Robert Looney, perhaps son of David 2 Looney was recommended for Ensign).

On February 7, 1780, at Moses Looney's house, Sullivan County, North Carolina, was organized and Court was held there. On March 10, 1780, John Snodgrass entered 200 acres adjoining the plantation of Moses Looney and Robert Gray, perhaps in what is not Sullivan county, Tennessee. (Whitley's Tennessee General Records, 4, 32.)

The Revolutionary War papers of James Anderson, S1786, show service beginning 1 August 1780 under Capt. Moses Looney in a Militia Company of Mounted Gunmen. They went from Sullivan County to Charlotte, to Camden, South Carolina, and through the Waxsaw settlement to the hills of Santee. In The Lost State of Franklin, p. 322, it is stated that Moses Looney was captured by Indians in 1781, but this was probably his brother Capt. John Looney. On 21 May 1782 Moses Looney moved, in behalf of Ann Cross administratrix of Samuel Looney, that Washington Court request Sullivan Court to choose guardians and settle with said administratrix. On October 1, 1783,

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the State of North Carolina granted to Moses Looney 383 acres in Sullivan County. Colonial records of North Carolina show that Moses Looney was Tax Collector of Sullivan County in 1784. Moses Looney was Captain of a company that served as a guard to Griffith Rutherford, Absolum Tatum, James Robertson, Archibald Lytle, and Anthony Bledsoe, Commissioners for ascertaining the bounds of the Military Reservation in 1784. On 2 October 1805 Moses Looney, Captain of the Guard to the Commissioners, certified that William Reasons was a soldier in his company and entitled to all pay and bounty. (Cert. No. 2, Capt. Looney, Box 2, Tennessee Archives. Edythe R. Whitley, Vol. 5, 31.)

In the 1784 convention at Jonesboro, Moses Looney voted in favor of a new state of Franklin, separate from North Carolina. In December 1787 he signed a petition of Inhabitants of the Western County to the General Assembly of North Carolina for separation. Later Moses Looney was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of North Carolina at Feyetteville in 1789 which ratified the Federal Constitution.

In the 1790's it seems that Moses 3 Looney removed to Knox County, Tennessee, which had been formed from Greene County and Hawkins County in 1792. In Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, p. 341, it is stated that Andre Michaux, French botanist, took lodgings, Mar 10, 1796, in the house of Captain Loune near Cumberland River. A footnote says this Looney was of the Sullivan County family and the river was really the Holston (new Tennessee), and the place was near Knoxville. The Lost State of Franklin, p. 315, says, "In 1796 David Looney was the leading Inn Keeper of Knoxville where he had removed." It seems unlikely that this was David 2 Looney, who at that time represented Sullivan County in the Tennessee Legislature and to who a higher title than Captain would have applied. It is unlikely that his son David 3 Looney had the title. If the footnote is correct the botanist lodged with

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Moses 3 Looney, but if the Cumberland River was indeed correct, then it may have been Capt. John 3 Looney (Robert 2) to whom reference is made by Michaux.

On October 14, 1800, Moses Looney of Knox County, Tennessee, gave a power of Attorney to General Daniel Smith to convey to Geo. Ridley 350 acres in Williamson County. (Deed J, 176) The will of Stephen Rentfro dated 19 Dec. 1802, proved 1804, and recorded in Knox County, Tennessee, names "Moses Looney, son of my wife," as executor. Tax list for 1806 shows Moses owned 320 acres and he was in Knox County.

When, in 1807 (Botetourt County, Va. Book 9, p.319), 218 acres on Craig's Creek, from the estate of Henry Holstein, Sr., were sold to Richard Sommerfield, it appeared that the Henry Holstein heirs included Moses Looney and wife Sarah of Tennessee. Thus Sarah, wife of Moses 3 Looney, was a daughter of Henry Holstein, Sr.

In Knox County, Tennessee, in Estate Book 4, p. 17, there is recorded the will of Moses Looney dated August 2, 1823, with codicil of June 5, 1824, as probated at the October session, 1824. Capt. Moses Looney died 12 July 1824. (Knoxville Register, 16 July 1824.) In his will he names wife Sarah, and leaves to brother John Looney's heirs $5; brother Benjamin Looney's heirs $5; brother Samuel Looney's heirs $5; sister Mary Grimes' heirs $5; nephew Samuel Looney $5; nephew Moses Looney $10; Jesse, son of my nephew Moses Looney $50; nephews Moses, Round, and Evan, sons of nephew Moses Looney, $50 to be divided; Evan (under 21 years), son of nephew Moses Looney, a new set of blacksmith's tools; Moses, son of nephew Samuel, a rifle. He also mentions John, son of Henry Stephens; Peggy, daughter of nephew Moses Looney; Absalom and Samuel Looney, sons of nephew Absalom; Eleanor, wife of nephew Absalom Looney. Absalom and Samuel, sons of nephew Absalom, are to have the home place after their father Absalom and his wife Eleanor use it. The will also provides that

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David Holstein, nephew of wife Sarah, shall have certain land, but the codicil directs that Absalom and Samuel, sons of nephew Absalom Looney, shall have same. Negro slaves are to be free after faithful service to wife Sarah during her lifetime. Executors: Absalom Looney, John Stephens, Sr., Wm. Lyon. Witnesses: Thos. Hudeburgh, Jacob Lenas, and Jesse Wells. Witnesses to codicil: Edwin Wyatt, James Colman, Benjamin Looney (perhaps nephew)

Thus Moses and Sarah Looney seem to have had not surviving children. Judge Ben F. Looney of Greenville and Dallas, Texas, says the data from the Moses Looney will is in accord with his records taken from the Bible of his grandfather, Absalom Looney, who was executor of Moses 3 Looney's will.

A brief account of the killing of a Moses Looney while engaged in the arrest of one Thomas Faulin is given by Williams on page 315 of The Lost State of Franklin. The date of the killing and the source of information is not given but one cannot reconcile this account with known data concerning Moses 3 Looney. Possibly it refers to his nephew Moses 4 of Samuel 3.

The 1830 census of Knox County shows Sarah Looney, 70 to 80 years, living with six slaves near Moses' nephew Absalom 4 of Benjamin 3. Sarah lived 14 years a widow and died 10 October 1838 near Knoxville. (Knoxville Register, 17 Oct. 1838.) Sarah's estate was administered in November 1838 by Absalom 4 Looney. (Knox County Estate Book 6, 289.)

Benjamin 3 Looney was, it is estimated, born about the year of his father's death, 1748, probably on Looney's Mill Creek, Augusta County, Va. On November 6, 1777, he lived in the lower part of Washington County, Va. and with his brothers John 3 and Samuel 3 Looney, stepfather Stephen Rentfro Sr., and others including Walter Johnson he signed a petition protesting the erection.

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