Robert Looney Jr. Branch
Begin pg 41
of John (4) Looney to the administrator Isaac Looney. The family of John (4) and his wife Mary Garrison Looney has been written to include as their children all those who shared in the distribution of his estate, including Isaac (5) Looney, administrator. This has been done contrary to a firm belief among some of Isaac's descendants, particularly Mrs. Julius Vanderheide, who is by far the most interested and the most active investigator of the Looneys of Missouri, that Isaac was adopted by John (4) Looney but actually a son of Absalom Looney and Perhaps Sally Martin. The records of the estate settlement are in almost perfect order, and there is no doubt that Isaac and his estate shared as a son in both the personal and real estate of John (4) Looney. Moreover, there is no available evidence of any of Absalom Looney who may have been a legitimate father of this Isaac (5) Looney.
Isam (Isham) (4) Looney (Benjamin 3) was born 26 Oct. 1775, probably in the lower part of Washington County, Va., or Tenn., shortly before his father and others, including Walter Johnson and Stephen Rentfroe, Sr., signed a petition protesting the erection of a court house. (The birth date comes from old family papers of grandson John Findley Looney) Isam's boyhood must have been spent in Stanley Valley on sinking Creek, Possum Creek and Big Creek.
Isam Looney was under age on 16 Dec. 1793, when Walter Johnson, guardian for Isam (4), Robert (4) and Absolom (4) Looney, made answer to the suit by William Gardner against their mother Mary (Johnson) Looney, widow of Benjamin (3) Looney. On 29 May 1797 he was a witness when Alexander Martin deeded to Isam's brother John (4) Looney, land on the north side of Clinch River about 2 1/2 miles below Blackwater.
End Page -41-
At about this time Isam must have met Anne (or Amy) who was born 29 Oct. 1780 in Tenn.
On 10 Aug. 1802 Isam (4) Looney deeded to Jesse Looney (his older brother?), both of Hawkins County, 92 acres in Stanley Valley on waters of Big Creek, part of the tract that the widow Looney lived on. On 9 Sept. 1809 Isam (4) Looney deeded to Absalom Looney (probably his youngest brother) 188 acres in Stanley Valley, whereon Mary Looney and Absalom Looney lived, on both sides of Big Creek, reserving to Mary her right of dower. (A David Looney witnessed this deed. Was he a minor, son of Robert (4) Looney and nephew to Isam(4)?) Isham Looney was listed in Capt. McCoy's Company in 1809 with 1 white poll and 72 acres of land. On 8 Feb 1809 he witnessed the will of Andrew Forgey. Isham was a juror in April 1812. With his brother John 4) Looney, Isam signed a petition in Oct. 1813 for correction of error in the grant No. 180 by North Carolina to their father Benjamin (3) Looney dated 12 Oct. 1783. Tennessee Grant No. 3345, dated 31 Mar. 1815, shows that Isham Looney on 12 Sept 1812 entered 100 acres on the headwaters of Big Creek in Stanley Valley, including part of the imporvement where said Looney lived. (Hawkins Grants 2, p. 119) This grant was issued 31 Mar. 1815.
Isam may have migrated southward and lived on Indian lands before it was legal to do so. His name does not, however, appear on the 1819 petition protesting of ejection of settlers from those lands, but three of his son s and several of his Stanley Valley neighbors did sign.
Isam Looney was in Jackson County, Ala., at the 1830 census with wife (several years younger) and 4 males and 4 females. He received $10.00 according to his mother's will dated 20 Nov. 1830. On 16 July of that year he paid cash for 80 acres of government land in Jackson County, Ala., in
End Page -42-
Section 21, Township 1, Range 7 East. On 11 Nov. 1831 Isam Looney of Jackson County deeded 172 acres in Stanley Valley to James Johnson of Hawkins County, Tenn., land where said Isam formerly lived, mentioning the line of Benjamin (3) Looney's old grant. (Hawkins Deeds 14, p. 391)
By 1840 Isam (4) Looney and wife of same age group, i.e. born 1785 plus 5, was of Greene County, Mo., with only 1 boy 10/15 (Janioh). A neighbor was Wm. Johnson. Then in 1850 they were in St. Clair County, Mo. Then in that same county in 1860 Anna is a widow and living alone.
Isam (4) Looney died not long after the 1850 census. He made a will which should be sought for in St. Clair County, Mo., but Jesse (5) Looney was appointed administrator. Isam had willed $100 to Allen Looney and Jesse had req uired Allen to make a bond dated 15 Mar. 1852 agreeing to assume his share of any debts that might be established against the estate.
The Bible and family papers of a grandson, John Findley Looney, show that the children of Isam (4) and Anne (or Amy) Looney were:
Allen (5) Looney b. 17/19 July 1798 See 5th Generation
William (5) J. Looney b. 15 Sept. 1800 See 5th Generation
Mary Looney b. 7 Oct. 1802 (this may be the Polly who m. on horseback
3 Aug. 1837 Gideon Ruyle, son of Aaron Ruyle.
Benjamin (5) Looney b.5 Nov. 1804 See 5th Generation
Elizabeth Looney b. 27 Jan 1807 Lived with parents in 1830 in Jackson
Co., Ala.
Jesse (5) Looney b. 27 Jan. 1807 See 5th Generation
Sally Looney b. 7 Feb. 1810 Lived with parents in 1830 in Jackson Co.,
Ala.
John (5) C. Looney b. 1 Dec. 1815 See 5th Generation
Nancy Looney b. 17 Feb. 1819
Ann Looney b. 13 Aug. 1823
Janioh Looney b. 19 Sept. 1828, Ala See 5th Generation
End Page -43-Robert Looney4 (Benjamin 3 ) was born in what was supposed the lower part of Washington County, Va., or in the Stanley Valley of pre-Tennessee about 1778. That he had children and died ante 20 Nov. 1830 is evidenced by his mother’s will of that date in which she left $1.00 to be divided equally between the children of her son Robert Looney, decd. (Margaret Looney, who was 30 to 40 at the 1830 census of Hawkins County, seems too young for Robert’s widow and too old for Robert’s daughter-in-law.)
In 1946, Prof. Rupert Taylor wrote: “ At Jasper, Marion Co, Tenn., where I expected to pick up some record of the Looneys who signed the petition of 1819, I found only deed books and a few entry books antedating 1865. From them I learned that Robert Looney was an original settler there on Looney’s Mill Creek, though I did not find the grant or deed to his larger piece of property. The register said that land had continued in the Looney family until her day. The creek was known as Looney’s as early as 1823, and I found an entry in Robert’s name in 1829 for 100 acres. Lands of John Looney were mentioned 11 Oct. 1825 in Bromley to Johnson, but no deed or grant to him was found.”
Marion County was taken from Cherokee Indian Lands in 1817. Robert4 had an older brother, Benjamin4 Looney, whose widow, Polly, lived just west of Marion County in Franklin County in 1822. Polly’s son, Arthur5 Looney, lived in Marion County at the 1840 census.
Among the children of Robert4 Looney, then, there should be listed: John5 Looney b. ca 1800 See 5th generation End Page -44-
Absalom4 (Benjamin3) was born in Stanley Valley, Hawkins County, Tenn. about 1782. (La. census 1850). In 1797, 29 May, when only 15 years of age, he and his brother Isam4 Looney, aged 22, witnessed a deed from Alexander Martin to their brother John4 Looney, who for L90 was purchasing land on the north side of Clinch River about 2 1/2 miles below Blackwater.
In 1803 he married Nancy Long, daughter of John Long, Sr. (b. 1750). (Nancy had a sister Jane b ca1775 and a sister Ruth b ca1776 who married Leeper; also a brother James Y. Long of Monroe County, Tenn., b. 1780. See papers filed in Hawkins County regarding the suit in chancery filed 25 June 1823 by McKee Meen and Greenway vs. John A. Rogers et al. (Absalom Looney & Co., S. Wilson, and S. Powel.)
On 27 Aug. 1804, Absalom4 Looney witnessed a deed made by John Looney (Hawkins Deeds 6, p. 209). On Apr. 16 1808 A. Looney with brother Benjamin4 Looney was a witness to a deed by Michael Looney for land on Big Creek. (Hawkins Deeds 6, p. 190). Either Absolom4 or Absalom3 (Absolom2) Looney was a member of a Masonic Lodge in Hawkins County, Tenn., in 1805. (Tennessee Cousins p 58.) The Absalom Looney commissioned on the 30 July 1808 at Lt. Commander of the 11th regiment of Hawkins County Militia was probably Absolom4. (Recs. of Comms of Officers ion the Tenn. Militia 1796-1811, p. 59.) Many deeds signed A. Looney, Sheriff, from 1807 to 1811 show that he was Sheriff of Hawkins County for about that period.
On Sept. 9 1809 Absalom4 purchased from his older brother Isam4 Looney, for $150.00, 177 acres in Stanley Valley on both sides of Big Creek, land whereon Mary Looney and Absalom Looney lived, reserving to Mary Looney her right of dower. The witnesses were John F. G. Johnson, and Davis Looney (could be David5 Reilly Looney), and Anthony Stewart. (Hawkins Deeds 6, p. 207.)
End Page -45-
Continue with Part 2, Robert Looney Jr. Branch (NEXT PAGE)
Return to Manuscript INDEX PAGE
Copyright © 1997, T T G