Early Looney in America, by Leroy W. Tilton

Robert Looney Jr. Branch
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census of Hawkins, Margaret Looney, b. 1795 +/-5, appears to lived alone with a girl, 10/15 years, and a boy, 5/10 years. Was this Margaret also a daughter of Jesse (4) above and an older sister who cared for the orphans? Nancy owned a family of slaves when she m. Nathan Strong in Jan. 1821 near Tusecumbia in Lauderdale County, Ala. They lived there 16 years before moving to Clark County, Ark. in 1837. Mrs. Nancy Strong was living in Clark County, near Arkadelphia, Ark., in 1880 and that census should give her parents' birthplaces.

Benjamin (4) Looney (Benjamin 3) was born about 1771, probably in Botetourt County, Va., about two years before the Looneys and Renfros moved southward toward lower Washington County where his parents were living in 1777. By 1780 his father had a "sugar camp and mill seat above Hollis' cabbin" in Sullivan County, NC. The family probably lived in Stanley Valley by Oct. 1782 on Sinking Creek, later to be included in Hawkins County. On 20 Oct. 1792 Benjamin (4) Looney m. Mary (b. 1 July 1774) daughter of Arthur and Mary (Sharp) Galbraith.

On 18 Nov. 1801 Arthur Galbraith for $200 deeded 200 acres in Carter's Valley (both sides of Valley Road), Hawkins County, to Benjamin (4) Looney. (Hawkins Deeds 3, p. 26) On 27 Nov. 1805 Banjamin Looney for $300 deeded 100 acres of this same land (adjoining Arthur Galbraith) to Joseph Galbraith. (Hawkins Deeds 4, p. 134.) On 26 Sept. 1807 Benjamin Looney witnessed a deed signed by John Looney. (Hawkins Deeds 6. p. 56) On 16 April 1808 Benjamin (4) Looney and R. (4) Looney (his youngest brother) witnessed a deed to Michael (3) Looney (Absolom 2) for land on Big Creek. (Hawkins Deeds 6, p. 190) On 5 Jan. 1816 Benjamin witnessed a deed from John Slough to John Galbraith.

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Polly (Galbraith) Looney was a widow when her father, Arthur Galbraith, died 21 Feb. 1818, leaving eleven heirs, including Polly Looney, widow of Benjamin. (Mary, wife of Arthur Galbraith, had predeceased her husband by about ten days.)

About four years later on 12 July 1822 Polly's youngest brother-in-law, Absolom (4) Looney of Hawkins County, deeded, in trust, to John F. Johnson of Hawkins and to John (4) Looney of Jackson County, Ala., certain livestock and furniture to secure Absolom's debt $214.50 to Benjamin (5) Looney, Jr. of Hawkins and $130 to Polly Looney, widow, of Franklin County, Tenn.

The will of Mary Looney, mother of Benjamin(4) Looney, 30 Nov. 1830, provided that $1.00 should be equally divided between her grandchildren, children of her son Banjamin, deceased. The 1830 census of Frankllin County, Tenn., shows that a female b. 1775 +/- 5 was living there in the household of her unmarried son Moses(4) Looney. In 1840 in Polk County, Mo., Polly was probably the older female still with Moses (4) Looney.

Information concerning the children of Benjamin(4) Looney and Mary (Galbraith) Looney has been furnished by G. W. Looney (grandson of Benjamin (5)) to his daughter May (8) Stevens and Dr. O. E. Looney of Paducah, Texas, and is here supplemented by census and pension records:

        David R. (Riley ?) Looney, b. 2 Sept. 1793.  See 5th Generation
        Arthur G. Looney, b. 9 Feb. 1795.                See 5th Generation
        Benjamin (5) Looney, b. 31 Jan. 1796 or 7   See 5th Generation
        Moses (5) Looney, b. 24 Jan. 1801              See 5th Generation
        Mary Looney, b. 11 July 1802.  Perhaps m. Dave Lyons.
                             A son was born in Tenn.
        Also to be considered in this family (chiefly because they

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        were located in Franklin County in 1830 where the mother Polly and her
sons Benjamin (4) and Moses (4) were living at that date) are:
        John (5) Looney b. say 1798 or 9     See 5th Generation
        Anthony (5) Looney, b. say 1804.     See 5th Generation

John (4) Looney (Benjamin 3) was born 10 Sept. 1774, either in Botetourt County, Va., or the lower part of Washington County. On May 29 1797 John (4) Looney purchased of Alexander Martin for $90, ---[original says L with a - imposed on top of it...I am guessing it should be a $ sign]---land on the north side of Clinch River about 2 1/2 miles below Blackwater; the witnesses were Isam (4) Looney and A. (4) Luney, younger brother of John (4), who were aged 22 and 15 respectively. (Hawkins Deeds 2, p. 308) This land was probably only 5 or 10 miles west of Looney's Gap at the head of Stanley Valley. Possibly, also, it was John (4) Looney who purchased 195 acres on the south side of Clinch River from Jas. Roberts on 1 Mar. 1801. (Hawkins Deeds 1, p. 341)

According to Miss Pauline Looney, granddaughter of John (4), his wife was Mary Garrison. It is estimated that Mary Garrison was born about 1780 and that they married about 1796. According to Miss Looney, the family probably lived "near Knoxville, Tenn." in 1801 (when their son Jesse was born). However, in Oct. 1813, with his brother Isam (4) he filed a petition in Hawkins County, Tenn., to correct error in the N.C. grant #180, 12 Oct. 1783, on Big Creek to their father Benjamin (3) Looney.

John (4) Looney was probably among the first settlers on tribal lands of the Cherkoee Indians north of the Tennessee River in southern Tennessee and northeastern Alabama. Gov. Joseph McMinn of Tennessee told the Cherokee

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Chiefs in Nov. 1818 that it was no longer possible to protect them from encroachment by the surrounding white people. In the spring of 1819 John (4) Looney sold a negro woman and 3 children to Samuel Wilson. Was John preparing to go to the Indian lands?

The instructions continued but in May or June of 1819 orders were issued for removal of the whites. Then in August the white inhabitants in the Cherokee country petitioned for and received "indulgence" for another year. Possibly some of these settlers were in what, during that year, became Jackson County, Ala., as well as those in pre-Hamilton and Marion Counties of Tenn. Among the 237 petitioners is John Looney, whose name follows those of Jesse Bond and Benjamin Bond and is near those of Joseph and David Crawford. Issac Garrison also signed with the same group. There were 3 separate petitions. The name of John Looney appears on the second. (National Genealogical Society Quarterly 23, 65 (1945).

John (4) Looney was commissioned a Justice of the Peace in Jackson County, Ala., on 4 Aug. 1820. (Civil Register County Officials, Vol. 1, p. 125) He was living there in 1822 when on 12 July his youngest brother Absolom (4) Looney of Hawkins County deeded to John F. Johnson of Hawkins and to John (4) Looney of Jackson County, Ala., in trust, certain livestock and furniture to secure Absolom's debts of $214.50 to Benjamin (5) Looney, Jr. of Hawkins and $130 to Polly Looney, widow, of Franklin County, Tenn.

John (4) Looney and family probably lived in Jackson County, Ala., at least until 16 Mar. 1827 when their son Jesse (5) Looney m. Ruby Crawford Bond. They are not found there in the 1830 census. According to the Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 32, p. 197, Jesse (5) Looney, after marriage in Ala. in 1827, went to Illinois, and was in Wisconsin in 1820 before he

End Page -34- went to Missouri. It is probable then that John (4) Looney followed a similar route, at least to Illinois, on his way to Ralls County, Mo., where he is listed in the census of 1830, aged 50/60, wife 40/50, with 2 boys 10/15, 1 female 20/30, 2 females 15/20 and 1 10/15. (It is not unlikely that John (4) Looney knew that some of his kinsmen were in Illinois. David (3) of David (2) lived in Randolph County, Ill., in 1820 and in Jackson Co., Ill. in 1830 with his son John (4) Spurgeon Looney. Later they were in Iowa County and in LaFayette County, Wisconsin.)

John (4) Looney bought land in the present Monroe County, Mo., on 10 Jan. 1829, 22 Mar. 1831, and 29 Oct. 1831, but whether John (4) or his son John (5) is not known. Isaac (5) bought land there 6 Nov. 1828 and Absolom (5) did likewise on 14 Sept. 1831. John (4) Looney and or some of his sons may have lived in present Monroe County, Mo., just west of present Ralls County, Mo. Possibly Ralls extended westward and included Monroe lands in 1830.

John (4) Looney bought 40 acres of land at auction in Greene County, near Walnut Grove, Mo., on 31 July 1838. This was the NE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of section 16. On 26 Oct. 1838, as John Looney Sr., he entered 160 acres, the SW 1/4 of Section 15. On 7 Dec. 1838 he and wife Polly sold to Benjamin Bond, both of Polk County, 100 acres for $800; all in Township 32, Range 22 North. Then on 31 Dec. 1838, again as Sr., he entered 40 acres (cert. 1302), the SW 1/4 of NW 1/4 of Section 15; also 80 acres, the W 1/2 of the SW 1/4 of Section 9. John (4) Looney also owned 40 acres, the NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 16, but no information is at hand concerning its acquisition. All or most of this land, 360 acres, seems to have been purchased for $1.25 per acre, and all was in Township 30, Range 23. On 15 Nov. 1839, with wife Polly, John Looney, Sr., for $200 conveyed to William Looney 160 acres of these lands. (Greene Deeds A., p. 238-9)

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