His parents: John Gore and Jane Dodd
Her parents: Isaac Darnell and Unknown to me(1)
There is disagreement about Thomas's year of birth. His gravestone, which probably dates from around the time of his death, 10 March 1850, shows the birth as 7 January 1774. A relative(1) who is the great grandaughter of Thomas L. Jr has a manuscript written by her father from some family notes. This manuscript stated that Thomas Sr was born 7 January 1772. We do not know which birth date is correct since either Thomas Sr's children in Henry County or Thomas Jr's descendants could have forgotten what they were told by their elders. I have used the earlier date for his birth, but I may well be incorrect.
Although it's widely reported that Thomas's middle name was Levi, everyone with whom I've tried to verify it points me ultimately back to an internet listing that I made years ago saying it was possible. My original informant, who is now deceased, could provide no basis other than tales his wife had heard from older family members.
Although the 1790 census shows the parents, John and Jane, in Union County, SC, the only male other than John listed was likely Edward, if he was indeed a son. I could not find Thomas L. anywhere else in 1790 unless he was the Thomas in Spartanburg County, SC, and it appears odd that his family would have included a male under 16 and five females if he had very recently married. If Thomas was born in 1772, there could have been a child or even two, but his bible, passed down to son Isaac, did not mention children born before 1790. In 1800, he was listed as Thomas Goar, head of household, in Union County and had an older female, probably his mother in the family. The head of family listed as Thomas Gorge in Spartanburg County in 1810 was likely our Thomas L. since the profile seems to fit his family rather well if the older female was mother Jane.
Thomas Sr's wife Elizabeth died 20 September 1829 and is buried in Syler Cemetery in Franklin County although her gravestone is located in another cemetery.(3)
I have devoted a page to each for most of Thomas's and Elizabeth's children, but I know very little about their daughter Margaret, their daughter Jane, and their son John. The family-records section of the bible, which belonged to Thomas but which I will call Isaac's bible to distinguish it from Thomas Jr's bible, does not even list the birth dates of Jane and John or identify any of the three as being family members; however, the bible record includes the dates of death for all. In fact, Isaac D. may seem to eliminate Margaret as a sister by making a record entry identifying Susannah as "our oldest sister," but I suspect he meant "our oldest living sister." Although the bible of Isaac Gore doesn't mention her, there is evidence for another daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth, Sarah.
Isaac's bible identifies Margaret with the married name of Margaret Huff. Her birthday is given as 22 September 1794, and her death is listed as occurring 3 August 1822. It is likely that her marriage was to John Huff since his family is the only Huffs I found in Union County in 1820. I have found no other records for her.
The bible lists the death of Jane (Gore) McClure as occurring 22 January 1846. It was tempting to identify her as Jane McClure, the wife of Jesse McClure, but the gravestone of Jesse's Jane lists her as born 22 September 1794 and dying 17 April 1869. Find A Grave shows gravestones for Jesse McClure (31 December 1787 to 19 February 1856) and Jane McClure in Shady Grove Cemetery, Lincoln Co, TN, but, if Isaac's bible record lists her death date correctly, this Jane McClure could not be Thomas's daughter. Elijah McClure's will names his brother Jesse as administrator, and the will names Susannah as Elijah's wife.
All we have for Thomas's and Elizabeth's son John is his birth date, 5 Aug 1811, and death date, 6 Oct 1828. We can deduce that he was very unlikely to have married and that he was born in SC and died in Franklin Co, TN.
The best evidence we have that Sarah was a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Gore is the brief entry in Thomas Gore Jr's bible.(4) Sarah McClure is buried alongside Nathan McClure in Oak Grove Cemetery in Moore County, adjacent to Franklin County and Lincoln County, although there are problems to resolve if this is Sarah Gore. The Find A Grave site shows stones that give Sarah's birth and death dates as 12 December 1806 and 1 May 1876 and Nathan's as 9 July 1806 and 9 August 1890. The 1850 census, which was the first to list people by name and age, gives the ages of Sarah and Nathan as 36, meaning a birth year of 1813 or 1814. The oldest person other than the couple was age 25, and the youngest was 9. In 1840, the census, also in Lincoln County, enumerated them as between 30 and 40 with one male and one female 15 through 19, one male and one female 10 through 14, one female 5 through 9, and one female under 5. The family included a male 60 through 69 also. This would have meant birth dates between 1800 and 1810 for Jane and Nathan. The 1870 census in Lincoln lists Nathan and Jane as 64 and 63, respectively, making the birth year as 1806 plus or minus a year. If we discount the ages listed in the 1850 census, all can be reconciled.
A descendant of Sarah and Nathan, Bettie (Tripp) Waddle, contributes this information, which seems to check well with what I have found. "Nathan McClure, b. SC, 9 JUL 1806, d. 9 AUG 1890, Lincoln County, TN, married Sarah Gore, dtr of T. & E. Gore, b. SC, 9 DEC 1806, d. 1 MAY 1876, Lincoln County, TN. Children from 1850 census: Semantha Jane, Elizabeth, Thomas B., Randle, Amanda, Sarah, Louisa. S(a)mantha is my line. She married Thomas H. Tripp in 1867."
Although Thomas Gore Sr was still in Lincoln County for the 1830 census, he probably left for Henry County, TN, not extremely long after 1830. He appears to have avoided leaving records of his life Henry County until his death in 1850.
(1) Isaac Darnell had a wife named Eunice as shown by a land transaction in SC, and she is probably the mother, but I have found nothing to prove that Isaac was not married more than once. In 1800 in Union County, SC, "Isaac Darnold" was listed near the Gores.
(2) The manuscript note contributed by Vivien (Gore) Allen is posted at https://www.johnandval.org/genealogy/documents/Gore/index.html.
(3) Cousin Vivien Gore Allen tells this interesting story about the grave and the stone. "My father took me there several times and showed me where the graves were and sort of passed the responsibility on to me to look after them. They are on the top of a hill out in the middle of a cow pasture. So, after my father died, I went out there occasionally to check on them. About 50 years ago (I'm now 80!), when I got to the cemetery, I found that a storm had brought down a tree across the graves. There was an iron fence around these three graves and it protected the headstones from damage but the fence itself was bent pretty badly. Because at the time, cattle had free range through the cemetery, their stones were the only ones that had been protected and I knew with the fence damaged, they would not last very long either. SO - I dug them up and moved them. (I wonder now how I did it.)"
. . . .
"Anyway, for about 50 years, the three headstones stood here in the yard leaning up against the old smoke house. I had to explain many many times there was no cemetery here - just the stones! Anyway, after I retired and moved back here I decided it was time to do something with them. Taking them back to the Syler Cemetery was not a good option for the very reason that I moved them to begin with.
. . . .
"My solution was to place them in the cemetery close to Huntland where many of my relatives are buried. I had several lots there and so I had the stones cleaned and professionally placed on vacant lots with the rest of my family. Some of the stones are fairly fragile and here they are taken care of. The cemetery (Mt Carmel) does know what I did.
I didn't want the real graves to be unmarked, however, so I had a single stone made with all three names and dates and had it placed where the three graves really are. As I was doing this, I began thinking that if others looking for our family history went to the old cemetery, they would see that this is not the original set of three headstones. SO, I had them engrave on this stone where the original stones are located giving the latitude and longitude so they can be located and seen. My thought is that God doesn't need the latitude and longitude to know where these people are but the rest of us would need that information! So now the real graves are marked and the original stones are being taken care of. I hope our ancestors approve!!"
(4): The bible of Thomas Gore Jr and Mary (Spencer) Gore lists several births, marriages, and deaths for Spencers, Mooreheads, and Gores related to Thomas or Mary. The Moorehead data are there because of Mary's prior marriage to James L. Moorehead who died in the Civil War. The text relating to Sarah Gore states, "Sarah McClure died May the first 1876. She was the wife of Nathan McClure. Sister of Thomas Gore." Copies of the bible pages are on our website genealogy section.
1790SpSCp32: Thomas Gore, 1 male under 16, 1 male 16 or over, 5 females
(Note for Alexander-Gore readers: the McMillins, Alexanders, and Gilmores were nearby.)
1800UnSCp237a (23 penned in): Thomas Goar, 1 male 26-45, 1 male less than 10, 1 fem 45 or older, 1 fem 16-25, 1 fem 10-15, 3 fem less than 10
Isaac Darnol was on page 236a while Joshua Goar was on page 236b and Edward Gore on page237a).
1810UnSCp570: Thomas Gorge, 1 male under 10, 1 male 10-14, 1 male 26-44, 3 fem under 10, 2 fem 10-14, 1 fem 26-44, 1 fem 45 or older
1820UnSCp269: John Huff, 18-25, female, 16-25, and 1 male child are listed; only Huffs in county.
1830LincolnTNp271: Thomas Gore, 2 m 10-14, 1 m 50-59, 1 fem 20-29
00200001-00001
On the same page, Elijah McClure (0100001-212101) and John McClure (0011101-11201001) are listed.
1840LincTNp20: Nathan McClure, 30-39, female (wife?), 30-39, 1 male 15-19,1 male 10-14, one female 15-19,1 female 10-14, one female 5-9, 1 female under 5 1 male 60-69
1850LincTNp65a: Nathan McClure, 36, Sarah, 36, Thomas B., 25, Randle, 19, Amanda, 17, Sarah, 15, Louisa, 13, Elizabeth, 12, Samantha, 9
1870LincTNp188A: N. M. McClure, 64, Sallie, 63, Amanda Smith, 34, Sarah Couch, 35, plus Smith children and Couch children (Note: Amanda and Sarah are apparently married or widowed daughters living in their parents' household.)
Find A Grave (findagrave.com): Syler Cemetery, Franklin County, TN
Find A Grave (findagrave.com): Shady Grove Cemetery, Lincoln County, TN
Find A Grave (findagrave.com): Oak Grove Cemetery, Moore County, TN