Nothing is known of William and Susannah's life prior to the birth on son James "on board ship" May 1792.
R. J. Dickson in "Ulster Emigration to Colonial America 1718-1775" writes that
it was most unusual for an emigrant vessel from the north of Ireland to sail on the advertised sailing date. . . . The consequences of such delays were often serious. . . The paying passenger, especially if he was some distance from his former home . . . had to support himself till the vessel sailed. In doing so he used part or all of the money with which he had intended to pay his passage or which he had hoped would enable him to secure a footing in America.
Whether this happened to William and Susannah, we, of course, do not know, but it is quite likely, given James' birth on-board ship.
Nor do we know where they arrived or where they lived for their first sixteen years in America. Pennsylvania seems most likely. From census responses we know that Fanny Stephens, who later married their son James, was born in Pennsylvania in 1792. Mary Glover Graham, whose daughter Nancy later married their grandson William, was born in Pennsylvania in 1795. Robert McConnel (McConnell Family History) places William and Susannah in Pennsylvania at the birth of their son William in 1798 and in 1801 at the birth of their son Matthew. Matthew's descendants give his birth place as Ohio.
Whether McConnels, Stephens and Glovers knew each other in Pennsylvania is also unknown, but it was common for people to migrate in groups for aid and protection and for such families to inter-marry.
In 1798 "Zane's Trace" cut through the territory that later became Guernsey County, wide enough for a horse and rider, but not a wagon. It crossed Ohio, connecting Wheeling, West Virginia, with Maysville, Tennessee, turning south, west of present-day Guernsey County. In 1800 it was widened from Wheeling to Zaneville, in present-day Muskingum County, west of where William and Susannah settled. Steep and deeply rutted, it is probably the route McConnels traveled. (for Zane's Trace history)
Mrs. Hyde tells us -
William McConnel settled in Wills Township (T.1, R. 1, Section 3, southeast 1/4) Guernsey County, Ohio, in 1808. The patent for this land was issued to him on April 20, 1812. He owned this land at the time of his death.
Regretably we do not know her source. A check of General Land Office Records does not show this as a homestead patent. According to the legal description, the tract appears to be part of the U.S. Military District. Military District tracts were "used as payment for service in the Revolutionary War, though many veterans sold their bounties to others, and beginning in 1803 unclaimed land was sold on the open market." (see The Historical Development of Guernsey County and its Townships.)
We do not know definitively when either William or Susannah died. Mrs. Hyde places his death date as between 1830 and 1842. Since Mrs. Hyde knew what property William owned at the time of his death, presumably she saw a probate document. She makes no mention of a provision made for Susannah, so presumably Susannah predeceased William. William's and Susannah's burial place is also unknown, although Mrs. Hyde thought they were possibly buried in Coen Cemetery where their son James and his wife were buried. It was about two miles northeast of James' homestead. According to a Rootsweb posting, the Coen Cemetery was located next to a Methodist Church and many of the sandstone headstones were broken and beyond repair when the poster visited the site in the late 1990's. (see Noble County mailing list)
Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. - Thomas Jefferson
Copyright © 2009 - Sharon McConnel. All Rights Reserved.