The Tragic Life of John Henry McClabb

John Henry McClabb was abducted as a toddler from the side of a country road, according to family tradition, probably in the mid to late 1870's. Some recall hearing that this happened in Tennessee.

Supposedly John Henry belonged to an Irish family that had many children. The parents are said to have been either immigrants or first generation born in this country. As the old stories go, gypsies were frequent abductors of children in that era and were responsible for taking John Henry away from his birth family. Another version has it that John Henry's abductor lived somewhere within horse within horse and buggy traveling range.

However those details happen to be, some man took him and raised John Henry as his own son. Then when John Henry was still just a lad of about 16, shortly before this man died, the man revealed John Henry's true origin to him.

The dying man could not remember John Henry's exact family name, but thought it was either McCaleb or McClabb. John Henry is believed to have searched for his birth family based on the little bit of information the man had given him. He never found his true parents of siblings, but thereafter used the name McClabb.

No one seems to know just how John Henry got to Clay County, Arkansas. But on June 14, 1893, (according to official marriage records on file at the court house) this handsome 21 year old young man and the 32 year old Amanda Jane Brown McNabb (then widowed with four children and listed on the marriage license as being 23), a descendent of the Brown family that originally helped settle the area, were married in Clay County.

John Henry and Amanda Jane lived in Palatka, a small farming community about 4 miles north and 4 miles west of Corning, Arkansas. It is one of those little towns that sprang up as the area was settled, but never amounted to much ... and even less is left there today. It is located about half way between burial spots for most of the areas inhabitants: the Brown Cemetery (about a mile to the northwest) and the Black Cemetery (about a mile to the northeast). (See the FTaN Locator Map points F, G and H.)

Within a span of less than four years John Henry and Amanda Jane had two children, Rex and Inez.

John Henry got work as a paymaster for a logging company in the heavily timbered hills of Carter County, Missouri, about 40 miles to the north. He became ill and pneumonia killed him the following February. John Henry died when his daughter Inez was eight months old -- making it February 1898.

Thanks to Gail Webber, a granddaughter of John Hnery, for collecting most of the information in this story.

2011-06-05 17:07:38 RBaxter

See additional information on the Individual Data Info Page for John Henry McClabb.

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