© Karen McCann Hett All Rights Reserved 2003-2014
© Karen McCann Hett All Rights Reserved 2003-2014
Marion is enumerated in the family on the 1850 census of Monroe County, Tennessee, as a seventeen-year-old farmer.
No record has been found of his circa 1857 marriage to Sarah Eleanor Ellen Whitten.
Ellen was born 20 May 1835 in Fayette County, Tennessee, the daughter of Alfred Whitten and Bridget Graham. Upon visiting Alfred's home in Tennessee, Ellen's cousin wrote a letter to relatives saying "Ellen is a very sweet girl and quite handsome."
Sarah Eleanor was the sister of John D. G. Whitten. She was first cousin of Mary Barrett McCarley Parker, the mother of James McCarley and of Henry Parker. Sarah Ellen, or Ellen as she was called, is presumed to have moved with her parents to Montgomery County, Texas, in 1850.
Since Marion's name does not appear on Montgomery county tax rolls until 1860, we do not know when he arrived. His name is entered as M. A. McCrory in tax rolls and in all Civil War service records.
The couple is enumerated with two daughters on the 1860 census of Danville, Montgomery County. Ellen's brother, J. D. Whitten, was living with the family. M. A. McCrory and his brother-in-law, J. D. Whitten, were employed as mechanics. M. A. owned one lot in the town of Danville, and it was valued at $200.00 on the tax rolls of 1860.
M. A. enrolled in the militia unit (the Danville Mounted Riflemen) formed at Danville by Captain S. D. Wooldridge on May 4, 1861.
He was then mustered into Captain Wooldridge's company of the Second Texas Lancers the following year. This unit was to become Company B, 24th Regiment Texas Cavalry (Dismounted). M. A. McCrory was elected First Sergeant. A description of him in his records notes that he was five foot nine inches tall with blue eyes and brown hair.
M. A. is not listed in the rosters of the Federal army, nor has he been found in the 1870 census indexes under the McCrory/McRory surname. He and Ellen apparently settled in Madison County, Texas, and lived near her parents after the war, their sons Benton and William being born there . From Texas they moved to Arkansas by 1873, where a daughter was born, and on to Colorado before 1880, where another daughter was born.
They were enumerated in Rio Grande County, Colorado, in 1880, in the south central part of the state. In 1880, Marion's occupation was given as hay ranch. A daughter, age seven, was born in Arkansas, and a daughter, age three, was born in Colorado. Son Benton, age 13 and born in Texas, was also in the family.
They then moved a little farther north to Custer County, where they were enumerated in the state census of 1885, and where they were joined by a son, William, age twenty, born in Texas after the Civil War.
Marion died on December 30, 1895, and was buried in Cotopaxi Cemetery in Fremont County, where the family had presumably moved after 1885. Ellen was enumerated in the household of her daughter in Fremont County in 1900. She died February 17, 1904 and was buried near Marion. Also in Cotopaxi Cemetery is the grave of son Benton McCrory, daughter Bridgett McCrory Raper, and of at least one grandchild.
Whitten/McCrory records are from my Barrett/Whitten family research and were assembled from family, census, county, military, and other records.
Thank you to Frank Johnson of Montgomery County for locating the McCrory family in Colorado records. Thank you also to Findagrave contributor Sharren Formby for creating memorials for Marion and Ellen in Cotopaxi Cemetery and for permission to use the photos.
For further information and records of all Confederate soldiers of Montgomery County, Texas, as well as histories of the regiments they served in, see Montgomery County, Texas, CSA by Frank M. Johnson. The book may be purchased by visiting Frank's website at frankmjohnson.net or by contacting Frank at [email protected].
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© Karen McCann Hett All Rights Reserved 2003-2014
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Marion A. McCrory was born in about April, 1834, in Tennessee. It is likely that he was the son of Joel McCrary/McCreary, born Rowan Co., N. C. and his wife, Hannah.
On January 11, 1863, Marion was captured along with the others in his regiment at the Battle of Arkansas Post, at Ft. Hindman, Arkansas. He apparently saw the handwriting on the wall. He deserted the Confederate forces and pledged allegiance to the U. S. government at Camp Butler, Illinois, in May of 1863.
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