Col. John BUCHANAN

Bef 1716 - 1769  (> 53 years)

• Name	John BUCHANAN
  Title	Col.
  Birth	Bef 1716	Ireland [now Northern Ireland]
  Gender	Male
  Will	25 Jun 1769	Augusta County, VA
  Death	Between 25 Jun 1769 and 16 Aug 1769	Augusta County, VA
  Probate	16 Aug 1769	Augusta County, VA
  Notes	(1) According to a number of sources, Col. John BUCHANAN was a son of James BUCHANAN and Jane SAYERS; however, the compiler believes that the identity of Col. John BUCHANAN's parents is uncertain. See Note 2, below. (2) Buchanan, Paul C., Buchanans of Early Augusta County, Virginia, Springfield, VA: 1995, pp. 2, 9-12: The Buchanan immigrants to old Augusta Co., three of whom became county justices and another a church elder, were Col. John and sister Margaret, John and family of Beverley Manor, James and family of Walker Cr[eek], Jean and family of Moffett Creek, Samuel of Moffett Creek, and William and family of North Fork of James. . . . Col. John Buchanan, Gent, (b. by 1716, d. 1769) Col. John Buchanan lived at Anchor of Hope in present Smyth Co. in 1752 . . . and by 1756 lived at Cherry Hill (present town of Buchanan). His great-granddaughter Mrs. [Letitia] Lewis . . . stated that Col. John came with his parents "Colonel" James and Jane Sayers Buchanan, Col. James Patton, and others, from Londonderry in 1736. She states both that these Buchanans spent time in Northampton Co., PA, and that they landed near Alexandria, VA. Others . . . also state that Col. John was son of James and Jane Sayers Buchanan, but they cited no evidence. I have found no trace of Buchanans - or Sayers - in Northampton Co. or in Bucks from which it was formed in 1752. Neither is there anything regarding this James Buchanan in the items from Augusta Co. Another account . . . implies that John's mother was Jane Sayers but that his father was William, son of John. Nothing in the documents I found pertain to this William, but the source didn't state that he had come to VA. Col. John was closely associated with several Sayers in Aug[usta] Co. . . who could have been related to his mother, assuming she was Jane Sayers. One of these Sayers came from PA and another from MD . . . , suggesting they - and perhaps Col. John's parents - were from Nottingham Twsp., claimed by both PA and MD before the Mason Dixon line was drawn. I found no Sayers there, but the administration (not the will) of a James Buchanan, who could have been Col. John's father, was filed in Chester Co. in 1741. . . . [Lyman] Draper, citing John's descendent . . . , states that Col. John was son of John Buchanan, Sr., and one county document . . . shows him as John, Jr. [Col. James] Dysart . . . says his (Dysart's) father, who came from Ireland, was "remotely connected" to Col. John. In his will Col. John mentioned "my Relation Mr. James Buchanan merchant in this county". . . , but the only will I've located of a merchant James Buchanan . . . did not mention a son. Thus the only evidence that John's father was James is Mrs. Lewis' statement, and that is contradicted by Draper . . . and by an official document. The biographer of Col. James Patton of Augusta Co. . . , citing letters and shipping returns) found that Patton, a sea captain, brought 300 Presbyterians from Ireland to Lancaster Co., PA, in 1732, that one of his sixteen trips with immigrants was to Hobb's Hole near present Tappahannock, VA, where in 1737 he made an agreement with Wm. Beverley for settling Beverley's grant in Augusta Co., and that he made his last trip, with his brother-in-law Wm. Preston and their families, on the Walpole which landed at Belle Haven [now Alexandria, VA] on 8-26-1738 with 65 passengers, including 36 families, from Northern Ireland. Col. John and his parents could have been among those who came to PA in 1732, but in view of John's close association with and sponsorship by Col. Patton . . . , plus Mrs. Lewis's account, it is more likely that he came on the Walpole and went directly to Augusta Co. with Patton. Mrs. Lewis states that President Buchanan descended from Col. John's father. Other accounts . . . state that the President's father James, b. 1760, came from Donegal, Ireland, to Franklin Co., PA, in 1783, that his grandparents were John and Jane (Russell) Buchanan, that his great grandfather was unknown, and that his g-g-grandfather was Thomas Buchanan, son of George who went from Scotland to Ireland c1674. The President's unknown great-grandfather would have been about the age of Col. John, so it is very unlikely that "Colonel" James and Jane Sayers were ancestors of the president. Mrs. Lewis also stated . . . that Col. John's daughter was mother of Col. Wm. Campbell of King's Mt. (i.e., married Charles Campbell). This clearly was not the case, since Col. Wm. was born in 1745 . . . and Col. John was married in 1749. . . . It was Col. John's sister Margaret who married Charles Campbell. . . . Given his connections with James Buchanan, the merchant . . . , with Col. Patton, and with William Preston who was chief official in SW Virginia . . . , I conclude that Col. John did not stem from the Blairlusk Buchanans who went to Ireland, and was but distantly related to the other Buchanan immigrants of Augusta Co. * * * Col. John, Gent. (b. by 1717 [1716?], d. 1769) In 1742 John was captain of militia, under County Lt. Wm. Beverley and Col. James Patton. . . . In a deed dtd. 4-6/7-1743 "John Buchanan, Gent." obtained from Borden 293 acres on Moffets Cr[eek]. Witnesses: Wm Sayers, Jos. Walker, and Margaret Buchanan. . . . He left a diary begun 10-4-1745 concerning a trip he took to sell land on Woods [New] River. . . . By 1746 he had become justice and vestryman in Augusta Co., and proprietor, [deputy] surveyor and agent for Wood River Co. . . . John did not obtain a commission as surveyor from College of Wm. and Mary, as required. A letter written before 1745 by Thomas Lewis, Augusta Co. surveyor, stated that John Buchanan "Only gave a bond to me for ye due performance of Deputy, all this was done, not indeed with my approbation but at ye pressing of Colo. Patton". . . In his will, dtd. 6-26-1746, pvd. 8-20-1746, Robert Sayers "late of Pennsylvania", appointed as his executors "John Buchanan, Jos. Culton, Gent. . . . desiring Col. Patton to assist if he will grant me the favor." Teste and surety: Jno Buchanan. (Robert did not show a daughter or sister Jane. . . .) David Sayers, b. 1733, deposed in 1806 that he came from Maryland to Borden's Tract in 1740 and lived with Samuel Moffet, and that his brother (not named) settled there a year later. . . . This was before the Mason Dixon line was established, and both MD and PA claimed parts of Nottingham Tnsp. On 6-17-1749 Col. John married Margaret, dau. of Col. James Patton . . . - when John was at least age 32. All his known children were from this marriage: on 1-22-1767, as executor of the estate of James Patton, John Buchanan purchased slaves ". . . for Buchanan's oldest daughter Mary Buchanan. . . ." He qualified as "Colonel of Horse and Foot" and as coroner on 11-18-1752, and as "Lieutenent of the County" on 11-17-1758. . . . A "council of war" held at Augusta Co. Court House on 7-27-1756, under Cols. John Buchanan and David Stewart was signed by "John Buchanan, Jr.", David Stewart, et al. . . . A letter written by David Robinson from Ft. Lookout to Wm Thompson in Aug. Co. dtd. 2-18-1764 stated that "Col. Buchanan is going to London to redress his grievances.". . . . John's will was pvd. in 1769, two months after he made it. He left legacies to his wife and children, arranged that the education of his son John be continued, referred to his nephew William Campbell, and asked his executors to purchase up to 200 acres costing not more than £20 and give it "to my Relation Mr. James Buchanan merchant in this county.". . . . John's and Margaret's children were . . . : [i] Mary b. c1750, mar. Andrew Boyd. [ii] James, b. c1752, was in Fayette Co., KY c1811. [iii] William, b. c1754; killed by Indians in KY. [iv] John b. c1756; Capt., killed at Battle of Saratoga which ended in Oct., 1777. [v] Margaret, b. c1758; in 1773 mar. 1) Joseph Drake who was killed by Indians in KY in 1778; mar. 2) Wm. Jones. [vi] Anna, b. c1760; mar. Ephriam Drake in KY. [vii] Jane, b. c1767 . . . ; mar. John Floyd. The following, which also provides insight regarding them, suggests that Wm. Preston had some responsibility for Col. John's sons following John's death: in a letter dtd 9-12-1774, during Dunmore's War, Col. Wm. Christian, at Ft. Union, wrote Col. Wm Preston, county lieutenant . . . : ". . . I really think there is need of your keeping out a considerable body of men on the Frontiers of Fincastle . . . at Jamey Buchanans desire I have let him go in [to active duty?] He talks of returning soon if he is well But his health semes bad and his condition weak so that I hardly think him equal to the Task. If so he had better stay home. Billey is hardey and nothing will hurt him but Billy. . . . Johney is gone out but I doubt is a bad boy He is with Capt. Love . . . Jamey behaves well. . . ." In a letter dtd. 6-13-1879, Letitia Lewis, granddaughter of Col. John Buchanan's dau. Jane, wrote as follows . . . : ". . . Col. James Patton, who with his friends and relatives James and John Buchanan, and John Lewis and John Preston emigrated from the north of Ireland, near Londonderry, to Augusta Co, Va., in the year 1736. They had previously settled for a short time in Northampton Co., Pa. The then route of emigration and discovery was up the Valley of Virginia from Pennsylvania, though the first landing, as my mother told me, of these emigrants was near Alexandria, in Virginia, at some place known as Belle Haven [at the mouth of Cameron Run). . . . Colonel John Buchanan married Margaret [Patton], and they had three children - also daughters; one of them, Jane, was my ancestress; another, Margaret, . . . was the mother of General William Campbell, the hero of King's Mountain. . . . Colonel John Buchanan was the son of Colonel James Buchanan and his wife Jane Sayers, of Northampton Co., Pa., of whom also was descended the late James Buchanan, President of the United States. Mrs. Buchanan died in Rockbridge County, Va., and is buried near Providence meeting-house. . . ." James Patton was b. 1692, became ship captain after Naval service, and began transporting emigrants to America by 1732 when he brought 300 Presbyterians, including John Lewis, from Ireland to Lancaster Co., PA. He, Lewis, and Wm. Beverley formed a partnership to obtain settlers of Beverley Manor. On his last voyage, on the Walpole which arrived at Belle Haven on 8-26-1738, he brought 65 passengers from Ireland. . . . Colonial Dames state that Col. John born in 1699 (. . . no evidence cited). [Two sources] . . . state, without citation, that Col. John was son of James Buchanan and Jane Sayers. [Another source] . . . states that Col. John's sister Margaret married Charles Campbell; he also states that Col. John's youngest sister Martha married Capt. John Buchanan, son of James of Walker Cr[eek], that Col. John gave Martha "lands he had taken up on the Cove" [i.e., Plaster Cove in Rich Valley], and that "Captain John Buchanan settled the land . . . of his wife and he is the progenitor of most of the Buchanans in the Valley." [A source] . . . , citing statements made by VA Governor David Campbell) states that Charles Campbell, father of Gen. Wm. Campbell, came with his father Patrick and several siblings to Augusta Co. around 1738, and that Charles married Margaret "whose father, John Buchanan, Sr., had figured in the wars of Scotland" and "was progenitor of the Rich Valley Buchanans." A chart, found in an antique shop (and sent me [the author] by the librarian of Clan Campbell Society) shows the mother of Gen. William Campbell (and thus sister of Col. John Buchanan) as daughter of William Buchanan and Jane Sayers, and this William Buchanan as son of John. In an Aug[usta] Co. court case which opened in 1807 among the descendents of Col. John, a deponent listed John's children and John's "nephew, William Campbell.". . . Col. James Dysart, age 65 in 1808, stated that his father, who had lived on the New River, and Col. Buchanan "came from the same neighborhood in Ireland and were remotely connected.". . . (3) Kegley, F. B., Kegley's Virginia Frontier, Roanoke, Virginia: The Southwest Virginia Historical Society, 1938, pp. 368-371: COLONEL JOHN BUCHANAN There are several John Buchanans in the early records of Augusta County. They are usually designated in some way so that we can tell which one is meant. John Buchanan, Colonel of Militia, appears with the beginning of the county as deputy surveyor under Thomas Lewis and deputy sheriff under Col. James Patton. He was the son of James Buchanan and Jane Sayers, of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. There are frequent references to his association with his cousins, Alexander and William Sayers, of Augusta. This John Buchanan always referred to himself as "John Buchanan, Gent.", while he designated his friend and associate, another John Buchanan, as "John Buchanan, ye Little." John Buchanan ye Little is also called John Buchanan, yeoman, and Capt. John Buchanan. Both these men had extensive business interests on New River and Holston and one is often taken for the other, although their family connections were somewhat different. It was this John Buchanan, Gent. (Colonel John), who married Margaret Patton, daughter of Col. James Patton. He was neither Colonel nor son-in-law of Col. Patton when he became a member and the agent for the Wood's River Land Company. He was closely associated with Col. Patton in the affairs of the county and the company for four years before the marriage took place. After his marriage in 1749 he lived for several years at his Anchor and Hope plantation on Reed Creek and continued his surveying on the western waters. In the fall of 1755 he succeeded Col. Patton as Commander-in-chief of the Augusta County Militia, to act in the absence of Col. Lewis. In the spring of 1756 he moved to the Cherry Tree Bottom plantation at Looney's Ferry on James River, where he was visited by Col. Washington in October. In 1758 he was commissioned Lieutenant of Augusta County by Gov. Fauquier, and the next year he was collector of duties on skins and furs in the county, and still later became sheriff. Col. John Buchanan died in the summer of 1769. His will dated June 25 was proved 16th of August. The contents and spirit of the will are characteristic of the man. He desired that his funeral expenses and his debts be paid out of his personal estate and such lands or such parts as could be spared least to the disadvantage of the family. He recommended that back lands be sold first, if they could be disposed of to advantage. If possible, the debts were to be paid without selling the land on Reed Creek, called Anchor and Hope, containing 1200 acres, and a tract on the east side of New River where Adam Harman formerly dwelt, containing 500 acres, so that these lands might be reserved for the three sons, James, William and John, to be given to them in the following manner, to wit; Anchor and Hope to be divided quantity and quality and James to have his choice, William to have the remainder, and that the 500 acres formerly Harman's be given to John, all lands given with the restriction that neither of the boys sell or dispose of any part thereof until they arrive at the age of thirty years. A stock of cattle, mares and hogs was to be put on Anchor and Hope and the care given to both James and William, the profits to be divided and half given to the one who did the work and the other applied to debts, if necessary, otherwise to be given to their mother and the children that might be with her. This arrangement was to continue ten years, if it took that long to settle the affairs of the estate. The wife was to have the tract of land whereon Walter Stewart lived at the Ferry, including the mill with all the profits arriving therefrom during her natural life, and at her death to go to the eldest son then living, or to the children of the oldest son now, paying two-thirds of the value of the lands to surviving children or their wives. A decent and commodious house with office house was to be built for her at Anchor and Hope on Reed Creek, or at the place purchased from Harman at New River, or on any of the land left her by her father, Col. James Patton, whichever she might choose, so the expense did not amount to more than £100. She was to have all the household furniture and other furniture to be purchased, if necessary, and such part of the stock as she thought necessary for her support and bringing up and educating the children with her. William, or if no lawful issue, John was to have two tracts on New River at the old ferry, one on the east side, the other on the west side of the river. Mary Boyd, wife of Mr. Andrew Boyd, was to have four small tracts of land on James River, one joining and above the Cherry Tree Bottom, the second between the said Bottom and Ferry land above mentioned, the third on the south side of the river, joining and below the patent land, and the last above and joining said land and that of Looney, the patents of which four tracts were to issue in his name, said lands to be entailed on Mary and her heirs forever. All lands remaining unsold after the debts were paid were to be reserved until the three youngest daughters, or the survivors of them, were 21 years of age, or married with the consent of their mother and older brothers, then lands worth £200 were to be laid off for each of them then living, they to take their choice of the lands or the money they would bring. If other lands were still left they were to be equally divided amongst the surviving sons, as he had "an inclination" that his son, John, should get an education to fit him for any of the three learned professions that he might choose, provided that after a years trial with an approved master he had a good capacity, then he was to be kept at school until he was prepared, provided he was not extravagant. If extravagant his education was to be discontinued and he to have a tract of land at the forks of Reed Creek where one Kettering then lived. George Wilson was to have the tract on which he lived on the south side of James River joining a tract belonging to the estate of Col. James Patton, the patent to issue in his name. A tract on Craigs Creek was to be purchased for a relative, James Buchanan, a merchant of the county. The land at the James River Ferry was to be disposed of last of all. The executors were Col. Andrew Lewis, Col. William Preston and his nephew, Mr. William Campbell. The three younger children referred to in the will were Margaret, Ann and Jane. Ann was only three years old at the time of her father's death and Jane was yet a baby. The mother retained a dower interest in the Anchor and Hope plantation until September, 1773, when she came into the court of Fincastle County and "relinquished up all her right of dower unto her sons James and William in and to" this tract. Margaret Buchanan married Joseph Drake in March, 1773. Margaret Buchanan, widow of Col. John, married William Anderson soon after the marriage of her daughter, Margaret, and lived with him at James River until 1796 when they went to Kentucky. Margaret Buchanan and Joseph Drake were married at the Town House, the home of her cousin, James Thompson, about 17 miles east of Abingdon. Ann Buchanan married Ephraim Drake, brother of Joseph Drake in Kentucky. Jane Buchanan married John Floyd sometime after 1779, the year he returned from privateering against the enemy in the Revolution. The story that this marriage took place at the home of Col. Preston may be true, but since her mother was still living at her old home on James River and her older sister, Mary Boyd, was living then in Draper's Valley, it seems probable that she would have been with one of them. John Buchanan was killed at the Battle of Saratoga, and both William Buchanan and Joseph Drake were killed in Kentucky. James Buchanan was living in Fayette County, Kentucky, in 1799. (4) www.findagrave.com: Col John Floyd Buchanan Birth: 1699, Northern Ireland Death: 16 Aug 1769 (aged 69-70), Augusta County, Virginia, USA Burial: Unknown His parents were Col James Buchanan and Jane Sayers. Family Members: Spouse: Margaret Belle Patton Buchanan (1725-Unknown, m. 1749); Children: Jane Buchanan Breckinridge (1759-1812) Created by: Sue McDuffe:) Added: 3 Dec 2010 Find a Grave Memorial: 62508935
  Person ID	I47461	Frost, Gilchrist and Related Families
  Last Modified	17 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	Unknown BUCHANAN
  Family ID	F20478	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Margaret PATTON,   b. 1725, Limavady, County Londonderry, Ireland [now Northern Ireland]
  Marriage	17 Jun 1749	Augusta County, VA
  Children	1. Mary BUCHANAN,   b. Abt 1750, Augusta County, VA   2. James BUCHANAN,   b. Abt 1752, Augusta County, VA d. Aft 1811 (Age ~ 60 years)   3. William BUCHANAN,   b. Abt 1754, Augusta County, VA d. KY   4. John BUCHANAN,   b. Abt 1756, Augusta County, VA d. Abt Oct 1777, Saratoga County, NY (Age ~ 21 years)   5. Margaret BUCHANAN,   b. Abt 1758, Augusta County, VA   6. Anna BUCHANAN,   b. Abt 1760, Augusta County, VA   7. Jane BUCHANAN,   b. Abt 1767, Augusta County, VA
  Family ID	F20468	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	17 Apr 2024