So Close, Yet So Far Away - 52 Ancestors #9

David McClure was a Scottish immigrant who moved to New Hampshire after a brief time in Boston. He married another Scottish immigrant, Martha Glenn and together they braved the wilds of the colonial frontier. The book, History of Candia, paints a colorful picture of the challenges from wild animals, to Indian attack, to extreme weather. What follows is the account of the death of David McClure, the first settler in Candia. 

About the winter of 1770, while returning, an old man (David McClure), from a visit to his daughter, in Raymond, he became bewildered in a severe snow storm, and sunk exhausted but a few rods from the path he had lost. His voice, borne by the fitful gusts over the drifting hill sides, was heard at a mile's distance. Ere he was found, he had perished. A pine, at whose foot he fell, had its bark bruised off as far as an old man could reach, in the vain effort to keep off the chill which bound his aged limbs in death. 

Such was the melancholy fate of the first settler in Candia. So perish multitudes whose restless spirits send them, in advance of civilization, to encounter the dangers of the frontier, or plunge into the unexplored recesses of the wilderness. 

What seems the most tragic to me is that they could evidently hear his cries for help but couldn't get to him in time to save him! He was so close, yet so far away! 

I wrote about his wife, Martha Glenn, for the "One Tough Woman" prompt.

My Line
David McClure
Jane McClure

Elizabeth Simpson
David Philbrick
Oliver Smith Philbrick
Benjamin Perley Philbrick
Lizzie Philbrick
Ray Everett Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

Martha Glenn - One Tough Woman - 52 Ancestors #3

Martha Glenn was married on June 11, 1730 to David McClure, an immigrant from Scotland, possibly Edinburgh. They married in Boston and then moved to the frontier of Candia, New Hampshire. The History of Candia, Once Known as Charmingfare, says that Martha came from a family of Scottish Covenanters who fled from Papal persecution. The same book gives a vivid description of Martha's bravery, although I can't help but wonder how the author came by the information about the comment of the Indian spy...

About the year 1740, Mr. McClure and his wife moved to Chester, N.H., at a time when fear of Indians compelled the inhabitants to seek the security of a garrison. It so happened, on a certain occasion, that the men were obliged to be absent, leaving the women and children alone. No one among them, but the courageous Martha Glenn, dared to act as sentry. With the confidence which inspired her, when she offered up her prayer to God, among the misty mountain caves of Scotland, she kept the dangerous watch with a loaded musket. It turned out that the place was actually being reconnoitered for an attack. The spy is said to have reported, "Me see nothing but de one white squaw." A superstitious fear, or the hand of Providence kept the Indians from their design.














Martha Glenn - 8th great-grandmother
Jane McClure - 7th great-grandmother
Elizabeth Simpson - 6th great-grandmother
David Philbrick - 5th great-grandfather
Oliver Smith Philbrick - 4th great-grandfather
Benjamin Philbrick - 3rd great-grandfather
Lizzie Philbrick - 2nd great-grandmother
Ray Everett Cotton - great-grandfather
Fern Lyndell Cotton - grandmothe

History of Candia, once known as Charmingfare, accessed on Archive.org
The McClure Family, accessed on Google Books
History of Candia, accessed on Archive.org
History of the Town of Antrim, New Hampshire, accessed on Google Books