Generation No. 1
1. JAMES "GRANDSIRE"2 PINNICK (PINNICK1)1 was born 1747 in near Philadelphia, Philadelphia Co, PA, and died 1831 in Orange Co, IN. He married (1) UNKNOWN. He married (2) ELIZABETH FARRIS January 04, 1782 in Stafford, Lincoln Co, KY.
Notes for JAMES "GRANDSIRE" PINNICK:
James was 6 feet tall, weighed 300 lbs. He was a man of vast energy and was called "Grandser" (Grandsire) by his children. No records have been found to authenticate family tradition that both James and his brother William served several years in the Revolutionary War. Later they moved to Virginia where James is believed to have married and had at least one child before the death of this wife. Records show he married Elizabeth FARIS on 4 Jan 1782, in Lincoln Co, KY, and they lived in Kentucky some 25 years.
In 1808 his oldest son, "Col" John, his wife (14 year old Sarah G. DICKERSON), sons William, Nathan, and James Jr. migrated to Orange Co, IN, to purchase government land. When Nathan returned to KY to marry his cousin, Ann PINNICK, the rest of the family journeyed back with him, except daughters Elizabeth, who had married Singleton Floyd Pinnick in 1804, and Agnes who had just married James Gooch on 28 Jan 1815. Elizabeth and Agnes remained in KY. Agnes and James did go by horseback once to visit her family in Orange Co, IN. It is not known if Elizabeth ever traveled to Orange Co.
Ralph E. Pinnick of Ft. Wayne IN in a 1971 letter to Louis Reitzammer of Jackson, TN: "Strong family tradition is that William and James were born near Philadelphia of Quaker parents but were disowned for enlisting in the Revolutionary Way, and subsequently migrated south, winding up eventually in North Carolina where we have the first data on them."
Ralph E. Pinnick of Ft. Wayne IN in a 1971 second letter to Louis Reitzammer of Jackson, TN: "It is thought William Pinnick was born ca 1736 since it is apparent from his Lincoln County will that he died in 1817 and his children understood he was 81 at the time of death. My father was convinced the family tradition of their coming from near Philadelphia was correct; for example, I find in G. Smith's "History of Delaware County Pennsylvania" that of three brothers, John, Edward and Christopher Pennick, John purchased a sizeable tract of land in 1695 in Bethel Township just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia; he married Frances Beazer whose brother John Beazer was one of the Commissioners appointed by William Penn to lay out the City of Philadelphia, etc., etc.! A property map of Delaware County shows the tract of land mentioned with owners indicated as Edward Pennick and Edward Beazer - so besides old Christopher Pennock who fathered the big Pennsylvania clan (he died in 1701), there were many of the family around Phildaelphia in early times."
The surname is rather uniformly spelled PENICK, PENICKS, or PENIX prior to the purchase of Government Land in Orange County, IN. Some other spellings are: PENNICK, PENNOCK, PINIXX, PINNIX, PINICK, PEANICK.
This information is from Ralph Emerson Pinnick, son of Rufus E. who was a great grandson of James' brother William. Rufus collected data on the family but died suddenly in the courthouse in Paoli, Orange Co, IN, before getting it all down on paper. Ralph has collected his data from some of his father's notes, and copies of letters Rufus had mailed to genealogists and others.
Some information sent to Louise KEMP by Trevor Pinnick, school teacher and preacher, also descended from William, stated that James and William were members of a Quaker colony and were forced to leave because of their participation in the Revolutionary War. He stated that they moved to North Carolina, and then to Kentucky.
From the book "Orange County Heritage:"
"On a hilltop about a mile from my dwelling stood the old meeting house. This house was the property of the Regular Baptist Church. Once each month the people assembled at this place for worship. The house was a frame, and at that time was almost new. The native forest covered the spot in all their original thrift, except a small spot that had been cleared for the burial place of their dead. The two leading preachers of the denomination lived in the neighborhood, and did most of the preaching. They were good men and true."
The book goes on to say that these men preached without money, not only at the meeting house, but at distant parts of the county. Nathan Pinnick is buried at the Baptist Cemetery and Louise KEMP visited it when attending the Pinnick Reunion July 1973. The cemetery is full of Pinnicks. In another chapter of the book there is an account of Father Nathan Pinnick being a scout. He was one of the most daring hunters of the period, etc. Nathan and many other Pinnicks were preachers.
More About JAMES "GRANDSIRE" PINNICK:
Fact 3: 1831, Log Creek Cemetery, Orange Co, IN
Fact 6: 1786, Rowan Co, NC to Lincoln Co, KY
More About ELIZABETH FARRIS:
Fact 3: Log Creek Cemetery, Orange Co, IN
Children of JAMES PINNICK and ELIZABETH FARRIS are:
2. i. ISAAC3 PINNICK, b. Lincoln Co, KY; d. Bef. 1850, Orange Co, IN.
ii. CHARLOTTE PINNICK, b. Lincoln Co, KY.
Notes for CHARLOTTE PINNICK:
Thought to be "slow" or "simple," as they called it then. She never married, instead she lived with Nathan and Ann Pinnick, helping with their children and household tasks, as a good spinster sister was expected to do in the 1800's. No record has been found of her birth or death date.
3. iii. MARY JANE PINNICK, b. 1782, Lincoln Co, KY; d. 1816.
4. iv. AGNES PINNICK, b. 1784, Lincoln Co, KY.
5. v. COL JOHN PINNICK, b. February 26, 1786, Lincoln Co, KY; d. February 05, 1862, Orange Co, IN.
6. vi. ELIZABETH PINNICK, b. 1788, Lincoln Co, KY; d. 1849.
7. vii. WILLIAM PINNICK, b. 1790, Lincoln Co, KY; d. 1844, Jackson Twnshp, Orange Co, IN.
8. viii. NATHAN PENNICK, b. November 12, 1791, Lincoln Co, KY; d. June 16, 1858, Orange Co, IN.
9. ix. JAMES MONROE "STUTTERING JIMMY" PINNICK, b. February 12, 1795, Lincoln Co, KY; d. September 11, 1861, French Lick, Orange Co, IN.
10. x. ELIJAH PINNICK, b. March 30, 1801, Lincoln Co, KY; d. January 10, 1874, Orange Co, IN.
11. xi. ROSEANNA PINNICK, b. September 01, 1802, Lincoln Co, KY; d. December 09, 1865, Orange Co, IN.
12. xii. LUCINDA PINNICK, b. 1806, Lincoln Co, KY; d. 1885.
