Robena Dorthula Hitch ¹

East Tennessee News, Monday, June 11, 1883

At her home near Fayetteville, Tenn., on the morning of the 28th ult., Mrs. Dorthula McClain, widow of the late Napoleon B. McClain, a former well known citizen of this county. Deceased was a daughter of the late Elias Hitch, of this county and leaves surviving her one sister, Mrs. William Goddard, Sr., and two brothers, Carrick Hitch of Illinois and Stephen K. Hitch of this county; and the late Mrs. Isaac Anderson McCully was also a sister. She leaves also one son and two daughters. She was stricken with paralysis at the breakfast table and lingered until the next morning. She was a clever, good woman and leaves a large circle of friends and kindred in this county.

-----Original Message-----
From: MICHAEL MCLAIN [mailto:mclainmic@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 12:44 PM
To: mikehitch@mikehitch.com
Subject: Hitch Research

I came across your web site today. I don't know if you are interested, but i have further information on the descendants of Napoleon Bonaparte McClain and Robena Dorthula Hitch McClain. An 1850 U.S. census (census record date was Nov. 9, 1850) that shows Napoleon at age 28, wife Dorthuler (sic), age 29, son John, age 6, daughter Elizah, age 4, and daughter Sarah Ann, age 1. By the 1860 census, it shows that son John is not listed at home at age 16, shows Elizabeth age 14, and Sarah Ann, age 10, along with James, age 3, and Nancy age 10/12 (10 months?). I have not seen the census record itself to see what the date of the record was.

I know about John Eagleton McLain (he changed the spelling of his name to drop one of the C's). In 1862, he enlisted in Thomas' Legion, which was a North Carolina CSA unit that was assigned to guard the railroad bridge at Strawberry Plains, TN. When the Civil War was over, Thomas' Legion was disbanded in Waynesville, NC, each soldier was administered the oath of allegiance to the U.S. and sent home. John wandered south into a little valley called Barkers Creek i Jackson County, NC looking for work and found work as a farm hand for Francis Posey (Frank) Allison. The family lore says that in late 1865, he announced to the Allisons that he was going to cross the mountain into East Tennessee to see his family. They advised him to wait until spring because crossing the mountain in winter was not wise. Whatever transpired after that, on Valentine's Day in 1866, he married Frank Allison's daughter, Margaret Catherine Allison. John was my great-grandfather. Not a lot is known about their life except that he served as a Jackson County Commissioner for a time and served two non-consecutive terms as Jackson County Sheriff. The family lore says that during his last term, a murder was committed in Wayne County and a change of venue to Jackson County was ordered. The defendant was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging and the Sheriff had to do the deed. After that, John had no taste for being Sheriff and did not run for the office again. He moved for a time to Asheville and worked for the Southern Railroad as a rail car inspector. In 1909, at age 65, he walked in front of a switch engine in the Asheville switch yard and was killed.

He and Margaret (she was known by everyone in Sylva, NC as "Aunt Cate") had 9 children. Only one child was a boy, Fred Napoleon McLain, who was my grandfather. I have names of his sisters and their spouses and some of their children, if you are interested in any details down that line.

I have been searching for information on Dorthula and her ancestors as well as Napoleon Bonaparte McClain. N. B. is especially mysterious. I found some info in the Blount County, TN library, but there were a bunch of Elias Hitches and at least a couple of Eleven Elias Hitches, so it gets a bit confused.

I actually did find the graves of Eleven Hitch and his wife Lucinda Harris Hitch on private property around what was at one time known as Eagleton Village, around Maryville/Alcoa, TN. I published their grave information and pictures of their gravestones on findagrave.com. By the way, I always wondered where the name John Eagleton McLain came from, until I found information that in the 1850 census, a family whose head was John Eagleton appeared on the same census sheet as Napoleon and Dorthula, usually indicating that they were neighbors. I also believe that either N. B. witnessed at least one real estate transaction for John Eagleton or John Eagleton witnessed a real estate transaction for N. B. McClain.

In any case, thanks for the work you have done on your site. I am considering publishing the data I have on my family in a similar fashion. By the way, John Eagleton McLain's wife comes from OLD Colonial Stock. In her line, I have direct ancestors who arrived in North America in 1635, 1637, 1641, and 1658. Margaret also has in her direct line, Sir John Gresham, who in the early 1500's was a member of King Henry VIII's Royal Household, served as a London Alderman for many years and served as Lord Mayor of London in 1547. He also endowed a school in his hometown of Holt, Norfolk, England in 1555. The school, known as Gresham's is still in existence as a private prep school.

Robena married Napolean Boneparte McClain. (Napolean Boneparte McClain died before 1883.)