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Clagget Emigration to America from England
Col. Edward Claget (b. 1613)
Samuel Claggett III (1797-1846), the son of Dr. Samuel and Anna Jane (Ramey) Claggett, was born in New Baltimore, Fauquier, Virginia, a small farming village of about 17 dwellings 4 1/2 miles northeast of Warrenton, Virginia. He married Lucy Sanford on Oct 8, 1816, and they had three children. After Lucy died at age 31, Samuel married her 20 year old sister Julia. They had five children. He died in 1846 in Fauquier Co., Virginia.
Five of their eight children moved west to Lexington, Illinois during their lifetime:
- Sanford, arrived Illinois 1841
- Benjamin Franklin, arrived Illinois 1850-1857
- James Augustine, arrived Illinois 1860-1870 m. Catherine "Kittie" Johnson.
- Thomas, arrived Illinois 1875-1880
- Ann Elizabeth, arrived Illinois 1880-1898
Only sisters Fanny and Julia remained in Warrenton, Virginia.
Some Claggetts Move West to Illinois
Thomas died at his home near Lexington Illinois, Monday morning Feb. 4, 1901, aged fifty-nine years, eight months and three days. During the Civil War, Mr. and Mrs. Claggett lived near many of the important battle fields in Virginia and she was able to tell some thrilling tales of those bloody days. At one time a skirmish between the northern and southern forces took place in their yard and afterward Mr. Stephen Merrill, who was Chaplain of the Second Maryland, Regiment, took pictures.
His half-brothers James A. and Sanford Ramey Claggett along with their half-brothers Thomas Claggettall moved to Lexington over a period of many years. The two pairs of half-brothers had the same father, Samuel Claggett III; their mothers (Lucy and Julia Sanford, respectively) were also sisters. Their sister, Ann Elizabeth Claggett, also chose to follow them to Illinois.
James A. Claggett brought his wife Catherine Johnson, sons Randolph Tucker, Moses Johnson, and James William; daughter Matella Beasley and sister-in-law Sarah Johnson to Illinois.
arrived in Lexington on Christmas Day, 1866. His granddaughter, Ruth Matella Beasley, wrote, "My mother [who was James' daughter, Ruth Matella Claggett] came to Illinois on Christmas Day, 1866." Ruth was married on Aug 20, 1882, to Luther Sanford Beasley.
According to his obituary, Thomas Claggett and family moved to Illinois in February, 1879. Stephen Merrill apparently also moved to Lexington, Ill., as we have additional photographs of the Clagget family taken while in Lexington with his mark on them. Thomas Claggett spent the remaining years of their life in their home on North Street in Lexington.
Meanwhile, in Virgina, Ann Claggett met and married Thomas Wesley Beasley. They had 10 children.
While Ann and Thomas Beasley died one year apart, she was buried at age 62 in Illinois. According to her obirtuary, "Mrs. Ann E. Beasley died ... at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Pollard Strothers [Mary "Mollie" C. Beasley] near Lexington". Also according to her obituary, "Her husband died in Virginia in October 1897." She died three months later on Jan 24, 1898 in Lexington, Illinois.
Thomas Beasley and Ann Claggett's fourth child, Luther Sanford Beasley, was born six miles from his father's birthplace, Brandy Station, Culpeper County, Virginia. His wife, Ruth Matella "Mattie" Claggett, was James Claggett's daughter; James was his mother's half-brother, though their mothers were actually sisters. His wife was the "half-niece", if such a relation exists, of his mother Ann Elizabeth Claggett.