Clan Sinclair, Greenville, SC, USA
The Right Honorable Sir Malcolm Ian Sinclair, Member of Her majesty's Privy Council, Earl of Caithness, Chief of the Name and Arms of Sinclair appoints Melvin Sinclair, Jr. as His Commissioner for the USA, June 2007. Link to page for Commission and photos.
Photos from 2008 Gathering in Scotland. Mel could not attend but somehow was included in the trip. See photos.
Clan Sinclair was the Honored Clan for
the 2004 Grandfather Mountain (NC) Highland Games.
Click here for trip report, etc.
Click on any photo or hyperlink for a larger photo or narrative. My
family
Click on thumbnail for larger photo.
Photo (l. to r.) Kimberly and baby Liam, Michael, Lynne, Mel, Daughter Kimberly,
Kailey, Thomas and Jenna
A Brief Look at the Mel Sinclair Family Line
....
My name: Melvin Sinclair, Jr. b. 08/04/1948, married Charlotte Lynne Gregory (b. 12/1/1950). We are both from Whitmire, SC. Marriage: 07/12/70. Children: Melvin Michael Sinclair b. 09/06/1971, Thomas Gregory Sinclair b. 02/14/1976, and Kimberly Lynne Sinclair b. 02/09/1977. Grandchildren, Kailey Lynne Sinclair b. 03/17/98, daughter of Kimberly Lynne Sinclair; Michael Liam Sinclair b. May 28, 2002, son of Melvin Michael and Kimberly Luttrell Sinclair.
Charles Thomas "Tommy" Gregory, my dear father-in-law, passes on July 23, 2005. Click on this link to read about this wonderful man.
Father:
Melvin Sinclair, Sr., b. 11/11/1922, married Marian Esther Whisonant on
April 16, 1946. b.01/08/28 d. 12/29/87.
The photo was taken in July 1970 on the weekend of our wedding (Lynne and I).
Mom and Dad are both from Whitmire, SC. I also had a sister, Gayle, b. 1947 who
was born prematurely (6 months) and only lived a short time.
Melvin Sinclair's second wife Jesse Tankersley Cooper, married April 12, 1992.
Grandfather: William Frank Sinclair, 09/13/1884-09/04/1952 in Spartanburg County, SC, married Gertrude Roddy (from Lando,SC in Chester County). They had eight children, four boys and four girls. Maude, Henry Theodore, Jeannette, William, Boyd, Naomi and Melvin and Nellie who are twins. Papa Frank moved from the Brown's Creek Baptist Church Community in Union County, near Lockhart, SC (where he grew up) to Whitmire in 1907.
Great Grandfather: Nimrod "N.T." Sinclair b. 1858-1931 Married Sally Morris (1858-1897). This would be my line with his first wife. Click on this link to see an old photo of NT, his second wife Lillie Eddings (or Edwards), and his son Victor. Sorry, the photo is a little blurry. They had six children: Hugh, Esther, William Frank, Victor, Ida, and John Lawrence. Nim's second wife was Lillie Edwards or Eddings, 1875-1936.
GG Grandfather: James "Pap" Sinclair, 1811-1905 click on this link to see an old photo of James and his wife Susan or click on this link to see the same photo with two daughters. I don't have their names. Scroll down to see the daughters. Very pretty. Here is another interesting photo of James and family outside the house. James had eleven children (not necessarily in birth order): William Edd, Nimrod Thomas, Nathaniel, Jefferson, John, Leonard, Emma Line, Elizabeth, Sara Jane, Rohdia, and Susan Ann.
GGG Grandfather: John Sinclair, Abt. 1780-1844 John married Elizabeth Harris born between 1780-1795, died about 1839. John and Elizabeth’s children were-James, John, Benjamin, William, Sarah, Elizabeth, Polly, Elisah, Nancy, Anna. (May not be all of the children's names).
The Big Question:
GGGG Grandfather?: Duncan Sinclair: We speculate, due to the circumstantial evidence regarding executor records and land purchases of John Sinclair, that Duncan Sinclair may be the father of John Sinclair. There is no absolute proof that we’ve been able to locate as of January 2003. Duncan was christened 28 September, 1753 in Inverary, Glenary, Argyll, Scotland. We do not know when he came to America. He married first Isabel McIntyre. Later he married Mary Fulton. Duncan Sinclair died September 20, 1805 in York Co SC. Mary died after 1810 in York Co, SC. Mary and Duncan had 8 children. John Sinclair, our line, born about 1780, died 1844.
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The Family Line:
Thanks to (real cousin) Lisa Burns (email address) for some of the research and getting me started. Lisa has been at this for a while and has tons of information on the Sinclair's from the Brown's Creek Community in Union County, SC, where our ancestors lived and many of the original line still reside. Also, my dad, aunt, and an April 5, 1951 Whitmire News (Whitmire, Newberry County, SC, USA) contributed much of the information. Many of our relatives are buried at the Brown's Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. Lisa has provided two formats for our Sinclair line: Format 1 and Format 2.
I'll update as I have time, including the dates and marriages for Papa Frank's children. In the meantime, cousin Grady Lee Overstreet has prepared the Sinclair genealogy via this link and this Roddy link (Papa Frank's wife, Grandmother Gertrude Roddy or Roddey). I have edited it to include my children and grandchildren and also to question Duncan Sinclair as our ancestor, since this appears to be based upon circumstantial evidence (land transactions, etc.) Lisa Burns and Grady's list are somewhat different. Cousin Joyce Sinclair Lambert (Uncle Boyd's daughter) has notified me that there is much information missing relating to Grandfather Frank's children (our Aunts and Uncles) on Grady's list. We'll work on that as we can but again, thanks to Grady for the information that he has sent.
My "second cousin", Jeremiah Sinclair (uncle Boyd's grandson) was featured in the February 2004 Union Daily Times (newspaper) as possibly being the youngest Chief of Police in the state of South Carolina. Click on this link to read the story.
The courts, in the mid-1850's, seemed to document a couple of our ancestors pretty well. Court Documents, courtesy of the research of Lisa Burns. Some things you just don't want to know about ... Distilling? Peace bond? Attempted murder? Surely not! Click here for some documents from the courts in the mid-1850's. I'd rather hear about the Knights Templar or Prince Henry!
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Photos
Below are some photos from a by-gone era. To look into their eyes and wonder what their thoughts may have been, particular as young people ... their hopes and aspirations.
Melvin
Sinclair Sr., my Dad, left, with "fur model" ?, Aunt Jeannette and her husband,
Haschal Walker. They were "living it up" at the Hotel Dixie in New York
city. Aunt Jeannette lived there at the time and Aunt Nellie (Milo)
settled there and raised a family. They owned a bar and restaurant,
Milo's. This photo was taken around the latter part of 1944 or early 1945.
There's a funny story behind this photo but it will not be printed here!
Melvin
Sr. and twin sister Nellie. Dad says that Nellie is his "older" sister.
In the second photo, Dad and Nellie are pictured in front. Dad's tricycle
is on the right. Uncle Boyd claimed that it was really "his" trike, but
Dad remembers it differently. <grin>
Melvin Sr. in 1945, about 22 years old.
This
is a photo made in 1952. The family was gathered for Papa Frank's funeral.
I was 4 years old and can remember it. Papa and I "rolled in the grass"
behind his house, as we did many times the evening before his fatal heart
attack. He was a wise and well respected man. From left to right
sitting: Dad's twin, Nellie, Maude (oldest), Grandmother, Jeannette, Naomi;
Standing, Melvin Sr. (Dad behind his twin sister), Boyd, William, Theodore
(Speedy). Dad was 6' 2" tall when this photo was made. Grandfather
and a fellow worker had just moved the flag pole from the ground in front of the
plant, to atop the plant, and had just raised the flag. As he commented,
"we finally got her up where she should be" he had a massive heart attack and
died. More about him in the next paragraph.
Photo first photo was taken in 1915 when Papa Frank was about 30 years old.
He is on the front row, sitting, third from the right. Papa's two brothers
are sitting next to him, with Lawrence ("Son") sitting next to Papa on *his* left and Victor
sitting to the left of "Son" at the right end of the bench, facing the photo. Papa and Granny
are pictured in the second photo. The photo was made on Papa's birthday,
1950. Papa
(Grandfather) Frank came from the Brown's Creek area of Union County to Whitmire
in 1907, and later brought two of his brothers (Vic and Son) to Whitmire. Vic lived on
Sinclair Avenue! Wonder how it got that name. Papa was "second in
command" at the plant maintenance department and refused to be the head of the
department since he felt he didn't have the education. Formal education,
no, but did he have the knowledge? Absolutely. He was a very
remarkable man and had the respect of many, no matter their station in life.
At one time he fell off a ladder, grabbed a hot steam pipe to break his fall,
broke both feet, and he was taken in a wheel chair to the plant each day to give
the men instruction. There are lot's of stories about him and the things
he accomplished as a member of city council, electrician for the plant, the
community, he helped build the town's water works and was Water Works Commissioner for
many years, was a farmer owning over 800 acres, and owned a family run grocery store (Sinclair
Grocery) which prospered during his lifetime. He and I were best "buddies" for four years and I still think of
him often. Want to read a local newspaper article about him written in
1951? Click here.
Did we Sinclairs really come from Holland? Gee, I don't know. I
believe that there are several errors in the article. First cousin Grady
Lee Overstreet contributed this
write-up of his research of the Mill and development of the utilities in
Whitmire.
Grandmother
"Granny Sinclair" .. aaahhh, what memories. Isn't she pretty? I only
remember her with white hair and the smell of her cooking and her patience with
such a little guy as me in those days. I remember going to her house
often, of course I lived next door! She had some beautiful flowers, while Papa had a beautiful garden.
Gee, how do you cook, clean, etc. for 8 kids! Dad tells me of her milking the
cows, etc., and about life in those early years. Of course, the most
difficult part of her life may have been giving birth to the twins ... Dad and
Nellie ... at over 9.75 pounds each! The story is that she nearly died and
I don't doubt it. The children were born at home, which was customary.
"Granny" Sinclair's mother and father on their wedding day, William (1842-1902)
and Suzannah (1858-1932) Roddy.
Aunt
Maude was the eldest child and took on many of the motherly responsibilities as
7 more siblings came along. She passed away at nearly 93 years of age.
She gave all of herself for others. She was, and I'm sure is, an angel, totally
unselfish and filled with love. She loved to laugh and tell stories.
She was a super cook and seamstress. I'll have more about her and her
family posted later, but read more about her family below.
Aunt Maude and Uncle Clyde Overstreet had seven children (first photo taken
around 1936) and lost two of
their sons at a beach in Virginia (second photo). One of the sons got caught in the
undertow and the other went to save him ... both Frankie and Leon drowned. What a
tragedy. I think of the hard times that I've had but nothing that I've
gone through could compare to this. The photo at the beginning of this
paragraph is of Frankie (Navy uniform) and his brother Clyde Jr.
Photo
of Lisa's
grandfather William Thomas Sinclair, 1889-1957, on the right and his
half-brother Robert Sinclair 1898-1977- both sons of Nathaniel Sinclair, our
common ancestor.
Well, I'll continue as time (and information) is available.
If you are interested in more family old photos, go to this link and scroll to the bottom of the page.
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Court Documents, courtesy of the research of Lisa Burns. Some things you just don't want to know about ... Distilling? Peace bond? Attempted murder? Surely not! Click here for some documents from the courts in the mid-1850's. I'd rather hear about the Knights Templar or Prince Henry!
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Click here for information on our home town of Whitmire, South Carolina.