A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE Charles Clements family

Part 2

I have accounted for nine of the children of your Grandparents, Jesse and Jerusha Clements, but there were three or four other children born to them in Texas. I do not have their names.

Due to this fact, Mrs. Dora Clements Powell, wife of the late Charles Powell and the mother of Maurice Powell, examined Jesse Clements’ old family Bible for me several years ago. In a letter to me she stated that Jesse Clements was her uncle that lived to be very old, and that down through the years, he had kept his family record in the old family Bible, which revealed many facts concerning his family. However, several names and dates were so dimmed by age that she could not decipher some of them. She said that Jesse Clements was the father of at least 21 children and that, after the death of his first wife, Jerusha Bonner, he married a second time to a Miss Cauthen of Queen City, Texas. She was a sister to Cos Cauthen, who lived there all his life. She and Jesse reared a large family, and Jesse and his two wives are buried in the old cemetery near Queen City, Texas.

Jesse Clements and his brother, Lovick P. Clements, their wives, and children left Georgia before the Civil War and settled, as you know, in and around Queen City area. Lovick and Mahala Bonner Clements had seven children before they left Georgia. Mike, Tom, and Zadock were born in Cass Co., Texas. I have not proven it (but 1 think I could do so) that the Bonner sisters’ father was Zadock Bonner, who lived in Jackson County. Ga., and he was a soldier in the American Revolution.

The Clements, Armstrongs and Jack ancestors were truly among the early pioneers of America. Margaret Armstrong Jack, the mother of Nancy Jack Clements, lived 100 years. She was born in 1749, thence into the Carolinas and died in the home of Charles Clements in Fayette Co., Ga. in the year 1849 (all on record). The Jacks were very active in the Revolutionary War. From research I have done in Penn. and the Carolinas, it is my belief that your ancestors first landed in Perm, and the Carolinas in the early part of the 17th century, and from there they migrated into the state of Georgia. The Jacks first settled in the state of Penn., as did many of the Armstrong and Clements tribe. It’s all on record in the Archives of Penn. and North Carolina.

By research I have proof that as early as 1717, a number of above-mentioned families arrived on a ship, “The Queen Margaret” and all settled in Penn., later migrating into N.C., S.C., and thence into Georgia, with much of this being on record in Penn. and N.C., Archives. Before 1733, we find in Virginia and Maryland many Clements, Armstrong, and Jack ancestors (or pioneers) living in above states.

The Bonners first settled in N.C. and Virginia, as proven by 1790 censuses, tax digests, land grants, and Colonial and Revolutionary War records. We find Zadock Bonner in the first census of Ga. and living in Jackson Co. He is also in the first tax digests of Ga. There was a kinship between

Zadock Bonner and the Revolutionary soldier, William Bonner, who did his fighting in the 96th District of S.C.

Later, we find these men in the Wildes and Jackson Co. areas of Ga. The above counties were first settled by pioneers who migrated to Ga., from Penn., Va., and the Carolinas. You will note, also, that Mahala and Jerusha Bonner (sisters) and the wives of Lovick Sr. and James Clements, each named a son Zadock.

Therefore, from much research, it is my belief that the above named were the daughters of Zadock Bonner, who died in the Rome, Ga. area. In a letter that I have in my possession and written by Walter Clements, of Cisco, Texas, he states that he was born in Queen City, Texas, and was 20 years old when his grandfather told him that he married his wife, Mahala Bonner, near to Rome, Ga.

Next on the agenda is Margaret Armstrong Jack, who lived 100 years. She was the mother of Nancy Jack (born in S.C.) and who was the wife of Charles Clements. I have in my possession a photostatic copy to prove that a James Jack (Private) fought with S.C. soldiers during the Revolution. His superior officer was Captain High Knox.

Both these men lived in the 96th District of S.C., which was that of S.C. which saw bitter fighting during the American Revolution.

Next, we locate the above James Jack living in S.C. in 1790 censuses and in Pendleton Co., 96th District, very near to Charles Clements and his family, the same District. 1 am convinced that Margaret Armstrong was the wife of James Jack. She died in the year 1849 and at the home of Charles and Nancy Jack Clements and is buried in Fayette Co. Ga.

I find nothing whatsoever to convince me that your Clements ancestors came to America with the English General Oglethorpe and his colonists, who first arrived in America in the year 1733, which was number of years after the Clements, Jack, Armstrong, and Bonner pioneers first settled in Penn., Va., and the Carolinas. It is my contention that “Family tradition” can be taken with a “grain of salt,” whereas wills, courthouse records, pensions, census records, etc., are authentic, and that’s the only way I know to go back 200 years, and more, and bring one’s family history up to date.