ELEVENTH GENERATION

1320. Robert LOONEY Sr. ^{(193) (174)(152) (153)(194) (154)(155) (156)(157) (158)(159) (160)(195)} was born in 1695 in Isle of Man/Eng/Ireland. He died in 1769 in Betentourt Co., VA. from internet-
In the Beginning: Robert Looney
Derived from a 1974 article appearing in "The Bulletin of North American Manx Assoc."

Little did Robert Looney, a Manx farmer from Ballagilley, Maughold realize that when he arrived in the New World about 1731, that he and his decendants would be recorded in the annals of their new land as frontiersmen and patriots. Records show that by 1734, Robert Looney and his wife, Elizabeth Llwellyn, and at least seven sons (they were to have 14 sons!) were in Philadelphia where they joined an expedition into the colony of Virginia.

The following year he settled on a patent of 291 acres - for which he was to pay the Crown land rent of one shilling a year- on the south bank of Cohongoronta (Upper Potomac) river, probably near present day Hagerstown, Maryland. By 1739-1740 Robert Looney and his family moved southward through the Shenandoah Valley, finally settling on a grant of 250 acres on the James river, in what was to become Augusta County, where another Manxman, Isreal Christian, had prospered. They later donated lands for the county seat, and became influential in colonial politics.

In 1742 Robert gained another 400 acres in grants, and became one of the most prosperous farmers in the area, with his own mill, orchards, nursery, cattle and horses, and even operated a ferry across what may still be found today not far from Natrual Bridge - Looney's Mill creek. At least three of his sons served in the Augusta County Militia.

One of these sons, Absolem, was of a true frontier spirit, trapping and hunting in the rugged southwest of the colony, Virginia's last frontier. There, while living in caves to avoid the Indians, Absolem discovered a fertile valley, rich in blue grass pastures, to which he led his family and some followers and founded a new settlement, at least four years before that noted frontier explorer, Daniel Boone, arrived in the same area to build a fort only six miles from Absolem's homestead. To this day, the quiet valley, some seventeen miles from Bluefield, Virginia, is known as "Abb's Valley" in honor of its discoverer, Absolem Looney.

Indian attacks on these frontier communities were not uncommon, but soon the Indians were to be joined by a new ally, the French, and the settlers were swept violently into the bloody conflict between the Britsh and the French known as the "Seven Years War" or "French and Indian War". General Braddock, the British commander in Cief, was mortally wounded and his regiment turned to route at the "Battle of the Wilderness". Col George Washington commander of the Virginia Militia lost some of his men in the same engagement. The picture was grim, no regular army, no militia to protect the settlers. Robert Looney's son Peter, was captured by the Indians and held prisoner at Fort Detroit for almost a year, dying three years after his release. Another son, Samuel, was killed by the Indians in 1760, and the homestead of Robert's daughter Lucy Jane, was raided and looted by the Indians. Robert Looney, mindful of his responsibilities to his family and followers, erected a fort (Fort Looney). This was one of the few Forts which withstood capture and provided provisions to the militia until the end of the war in 1763. Absolem, recalled from Abb's Valley with his family to assist his father in building the fort, was to learn that those who remained in his valley settlement had been massacred by the Indians, a fate which would later befall him at Dunkard's Spring, VA between 1791-96.

But the end of the Indian Wars was not to spare the Looney family. During the American Revolution, two of Robert Looney's sons, Absolem and David were to see duty. Absolem in patriotic service under General George Washington and David as a Major in the Notrth Carolina Militia. Three of Absolem's sons, like the offsprings of his brothers, were to serve in the Virginia Militia, with one dying of gunshot wounds in both legs after his role in the American Victory at the Battle of King's Mountain in North Carolina.

Absolem's son Michael, homesteaded after the revolution in eastern Tennessee, where his log cabin stood until 1919 and where the 1,500 acre farm he acquired at a half-shilling an acre is still held by his heirs. Others moved westward into Missouri, and is documented in LeRoy Tilton's "Early Looney's in America". Seven branches of the family founded by Robert Looney's sons have extended into more than fifteen states.

Robert and Elizabeth Looney are presumed buried near the Reed Creek area of Augusta Co. (Botetourt Co.), VA. Another of his sons, Joseph, was a Captain in the Botetort County, Virginia Militia, and is described in a following article.

1321. Elizabeth LEWELLYN (STOVER) ^{(193)(174) (152)(194) (154)(195)} was born about 1707 in Isle of Man/Eng/Ireland. Children were:

i. Adam LOONEY⁽¹⁹⁵⁾ was born WFT Est. 1713-1735.
ii. Louisa LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born WFT Est. 1715-1745.
iii. Robert LOONEY Jr.⁽⁸⁾ died in 1756 in Reed Creekl. He was born WFT Est. 1716-1744 in Isle of Man/Eng/Ireland. Moved from the Isle of Man to VA about 1740 (source Bill Landers)
iv. John LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born WFT Est. 1716-1745 in Isle of Man/Eng/Ireland.
v. Daniel LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born WFT Est. 1716-1745.
vi. Lucy Jane LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born WFT Est. 1716-1745.
vii. Moses LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born WFT Est. 1716-1745.
viii. Thomas LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born WFT Est. 1716-1745.
ix. Michael LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born WFT Est. 1717-1756.
660 x. Absalom LOONEY.
xi. Peter LOONEY^{(193) (194)} was born about 1733 in Philadefphia, PA. He died on 13 Apr 1760 in Virginia.
xii. David LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born in 1738 in Auguste Co., VA.
xiii. Joseph LOONEY⁽⁸⁾ was born in 1740 in Orange County, VA.