Archibald 'Redmond' McMahan

Children

Notes

There is debate over Archibald's given name. Descendants of Sanders McMahan have always been told that the father of Saunders was 'Redmond' McMahan and they have a bible record to prove it. We now believe Archibald and Redmond are one in the same. No one knows for sure how the two names came about since they have not been found to be used together.

Smoky Mountain Historical Newsletter 1991, Volume XVII, No 4 lists the following from Dick Fox, RR 9, Box 355, Sour Lake, TX 77659:

'Redmond McMohan was apprenticed to David Stuart as a cooper to begin 9 August 1747. Redmond was listed as a white male; his mother was listed as Catherine Cole. This is from the Augusta Parish Vestry Book, 1746-1780, p 101. Catherine Cole was listed in other Augusta County, Virginia records as a servant of David Stuart.'

According to 'The South Carolina Regulators', Redmond McMahan was an outlaw in Upper South Carolina. When the Regulators or Rangers crushed the outlaw bands in the late 1760's, they scattered to other states. Maybe this explains the use of his alias.

Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. 1, Series VI?, page 15, Officers and Soldiers in Province of Pennsylvania lists 'Men in Command of Samuel Perry':

Redmand McMahan, age 20, born in Ireland, enlisted 13 July, laborer.

Included is a date (4 August 1746) that could be his birth or immigration date.

It is not clear if this is the same Redmond since the original source can not be found. The age of 20 does not match the pension application papers.

'Montgomery County Virginia: The First 100 Years' (text by Judge C. W. Crush, index by Mrs. Frances Terry Ingmire; FHL 975.5785 H2c p 47) lists Redmond McMahon as one of the members of Captain Cox's company who signed an oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia, refusing allegiance to George the third King of Britain.

On page 69 there is an abstract from Montgomery County Court Records (volume and page not cited) as follows:

'Whereas Redmond McMahon was taken Prisoner in the Battle of King's Mountain by the Virginia and Carolina Militia on the March to the Moravian Town, he had made his escape & came into Montgomery County where he surrendered himself to an Officer of the Militia. And whereas there is no Prison in Said County to confine the said McMahon untill an Exchange takes Place Therefore We the Subscribers do hereby bind ourselves Jointly & Severally our Joint & Severally our Joint & Several Heirs Exrs. & Admrs. to the Hon'ble Thomas Jefferson Esqr. Governor of Virginia or the Governor for the time being In the Just and full sum of five thousand Pounds Current Money of Virginia that the said Redmond McMahon will at any Time deliver himself up when legally called for, to the proper officer, as a prisoner of War to be exchanged or otherwise dealt with as the other Prisoners in the same Situation with him may be dealt with. As witness our hand this 6th day of February 1781.

Redmond McMahon

John Price

Dasswell Rodgers (mark)

Test

William Preston

James McGavock'

He was imprisoned for what we believe is dissertion since his pension application was denied on grounds of dissertion.

The 'Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Montgomery County, Virginia (Netti Schreiner-Yantis, Genealogical Book in Print, 1987; FHL 975.5 R4sy vol 8, p 454-455) show that Redman McMahan and George Byrd were enumerated on the same day, so they were probably neighbors. Redman's son Archibald married George's daughter Elizabeth Byrd.

Warren County, Tennessee deed book A, page 22, 4 November 1811. Redmon McMahan to Enos Holbert 100 acres in Warren County on Barren Fork of Collins river, granted to McMahan by State of Tennessee 23 Aug 1808.

Deed book C, page 125, 8 January 1816, Redmond McMahan to Nathan Randolph for $120 part of grant from State of Tennessee 25 August 1802.

In 1826, Archibald McMahan was making his home with his son Sanders in Alabama.

Redman McMahan applied for a Revolutionary War Pension from Warren County, Tennessee in 1834 at the age of 103, making his birth date 1731. Thomas Brown claimed he knew Redman McMahan before their respective arrivals in Warren County, Tennessee. As mentioned earlier, his application was denied because of dissertion.

During Archibald's lifetime he accumulated quite a bit of wealth and at the time of his death he owned seventeen slaves.

It is not clear where Archibald 'Redmond' McMahan was buried. Some say he was buried in the McMahan family graveyard in McMahan Cove near Stevenson, Alabama. Others say he was buried in McMinnville or Morrison, Tennessee.

Source: 'McMahan Family Tree', Glenn F. McMahan, 10 March 1932, p 1. T. D. W McMahan records, Johnny Scott Large, p 63. Rosa Lee Downey notes, 16 July 1983, p 1-2, 4. Ann Turner, 2 January 1995. 'Yancy County, Buncombe County Heritage'