William McElyea. Served as a Private in the NC troops in Capt. Alexander Brevard's Tenth Regt. until March 1783. He drew a pension in Franklin Co., IL. S-33084. He was placed on the pension list on Dec 12, 1833 at the age of 75.

On the 1840 census of pensioners he was aged 82. He drew bounty land for his services - BLW 47903-160-55. He was born c1758 and died after the 1840 census and is buried in section 22 of the Denning Cemetery located at Orient, IL, which is in Denning township. I think the Denning Cemetery might have been on the land that William McElyea owned.

His wife's name was Frances.

Shawneetown Land Records shows 18 Aug 1817 that William McElyea of Gallatin Co., IL, bought land near the line of White and Edwards Co., IL.

The 1818 census of Franklin Co. shows Wm. McEya with 2 white males in the household +21 and 10 other white inhabitants.

The 1830 Franklin Co. census shows William McElyea, aged 70 - 80 and living alone.

The 1840 census of Franklin Co. shows William McElyea, aged 82, Revolutionary War Soldier, and also Wm. McElyea aged 80 - 90 with 1 young boy aged 5 - 10, and 1 female aged 50 - 60 and 3 younger females.

Denning Cemetery was chartered 31 Aug 1911 and is recorded in misc. record I., pg. 215 in the County Clerks office of Franklin Co., IL.

From McElyea Family in America: William was born in 1758 in York Co., PA., the son of the Irish immigrants Laughlin and Mary (Powers) McElyea.

Laughlin and Mary had 6 known children: Patrick, William, John, James, and Mary.

He married 1st, Cloe, but divorced Feb 15, 1831.

He married 2nd, Frances. There is evidence that he might have been married once before his marriage to Cloe. It is not known when members of this family left NC but according to pension papers of Patrick Henry and William McElyea they lived in Virginia and several counties in Tennessee. Family tradition indicated that William was in Franklin Co., IL,by 1804. By 1820 he had 7 children under 16, and one son +16. A Franklin Co. tax list showed he owned 10,000 acres on Big Muddy (River). [Big Muddy River goes through Denning township]. According to Patrick Henry McElyea's pension application based on his Rev War service this family arrived in NC May 16, 1771 during the battle of Alamance. This was a battle between the Regulators and the Royal forces under the command of Governor Tryon. Both Patrick Henry and William McElyea said in their pension application that they enlisted from Caswell Co., NC.

Images of his pension records Page 1

Images of his pension records Page 2