THE BIG SIX
Barefield/Barfield   Clay     Claypool     Henderson     McClelland     Woolfolk

 
It took 33 years for the six families to join beginning in 1888.  The first union in the Big Six began with the marriage of Coleman Woolfolk to Nannie Mcclellan on September 4, 1888.  Other early unions of these families are:

• Clay, Marcus Sr. to Mcclelland, Alice Lovie   27 Nov 1903
• Barefield, David Sr. to Woolfolk, Lessie   25 Oct 1914
• Barfield, Joe to  Henderson, Sallie   08 Apr 1917
• Claypool, Louis Jr. to Woolfolk, Clatie   22 Jan 1921
• Barefield, William to Mcclelland, Pearlie Mardell   27 Mar 1921
• Claypool, John to Henderson, Audrey   17 Dec 1921
• Claypool, George Arthur Sr. to Mcclelland, Marie   20 May 1922
• Woolfolk, Coleman Sr. to Claypool, Charity   08 May 1926  
• Barefield, David Sr. to Woolfolk, Mary Jane    1934
• Clay, Mark Jr. to Claypool, Blanche Irene   17 Jun 1941
• Claypool, John to Clay, Laura Bell   1942
• Barfield, Hobart Sr. to Clay, Delphine   04 Mar 1946

BARFIELD/BAREFIELD

 The documented Barfield/Barefield ancestry dates back to 1811 and began somewhere in North Carolina.  The earliest ancestor, Alfred Barfield was found living in Waverly, Humphries County, Tennessee in the 1870 Federal census with his wife Narcissa and four of their eight known children. 

The children of Alfred and Narcissa were:  CREAD², b. 1843, Tennessee; THOMAS, b. July 02, 1845, Bumplus, Tennessee; Riley C., b. March 1848;      SANDERS C., b. 1856;  DAVID BARFIELD, b. 1860, Tennessee; William A., b. 1866;  RACHEL B., b. 1869.and Virginia, b. 1869. Alfred also had a son named Commodore whose mother was named Alice.

Our ancestor Thomas Barfield, born July 2, 1845 in Bumpus Mills, Tennessee was one of the sons of Alfred and Narcissa Barfield.  Thomas and his wife Isabelle (Mason) Barfield migrated from their home in Barlow, Ballard County, Kentucky to Grand Chain, Pulaski County, Illinois sometime shortly after 1900.  Tom and Isabelle had the following three children:  Jasper born 1862, Sallie born in 1868 and Romulus born in 1870.  Other children of either Tom or Isabelle were Robert O’Neal born 1868, Thomas C. Coleman born 1859, and Debbie Mason born in1854.

Thomas and Isabelle both lived out the remainder of their days in Grand Chain.  Isabelle passed away July 24, 1921 leaving Tom a widow.  Tom then married Nancy Foree and lived another eight years until his death August 22, 1929.

CLAY

George Clay was born in 1850 in Kentucky.  No parents are siblings have been verified for him to date.  George migrated to Pulaski County by 1875 where he met and married Laura Washington in 1875.  Laura was the daughter of Lewis and Harriett (Bailey) Washington from Louisiana.  The Washington’s had lived in Illinois by 1875 also. 

George and Laura Clay had the following children:  Lee born 1875, Eliza born 1876, Lucy born 1878, Harriet born 1881, Marcus born 1882, Stasnirb born 1883, John born 1886 and  Aaron born 1894. 

It is believed George Clay passed away in Pulaski County sometime prior to 1900.  Laura Clay continued to make her home in Grand Chain and lived forty plus years after George’s death.  She died peacefully at home on July 3, 1940.

CLAYPOOL

The Claypool family dates back to 1829 with the birth of John Claypool.  John Claypool is known to have had three wives and eight children.  They were:  wife Charity who he fathered several children by.  The children were Fredrick Jack Claypool born in 1861, Louis  T. Claypool, Sr. born in 1863, Cora Claypool born in 1866, Maggie Claypool born in 1870,  Joseph Claypool born in 1873, and Ametta C. Claypool born in 1874; Wife, Emily Pride whom he fathered Jesse Claypool by, was born 1888. Wife, Millie whom he
fathered Samuel Claypool by, was born in 1875.

Research documents have revealed that the Claypool family migrated from Kentucky to Pulaski County, Illinois sometime between 1873 and 1874.  The first known Claypool to be born in Illinois was Ametta C. Claypool.  She was born in 1874.  The death dates of John and his three wives are yet unknown.

 HENDERSON

Henry Henderson is the direct ancestor of family members of the Big Six.  He descended from Minor Henderson and Priscilla A. Owsley.  The family roots are from Ballard County, Kentucky.  Henry Henderson having been born in 1846 was never located in any official records in the household with his parents.  Nor were either parent located living together. 

Henry Henderson married Lucy Penn daughter of Millie Penn in Ballard County, Kentucky.  They moved their family from Kentucky to Pulaski County, Illinois by 1900. 

THE MCCLELLAND

The McClelland ancestry dates back to 1839 with the birth of Richard aka. Dick McClelland.  Parentage has not been established for Richard, but his fair skin color strongly indicates one parent of caucasian descent.  It is speculated that Richard had a family connection with the Caucasian McClelland’ family also residing in Pulaski county during the same time. 

Richard married Sallie Rutledge who was from Tennessee.  They had moved their family to Pulaski County, Illinois from Tennessee as early as 1867 as evidenced by the Illinois birth of one of their children Witt McClelland.  17 children were born to the union of Richard and Sallie.  However, only 15 children have been accounted for through available records from 1870 through 1900.  Richard McClelland and Sallie Rutledge had the following known children:

• Luther McClelland was born November 11, 1859.
• ​Nannie Bell McClelland was born November 18, 1860.
• Ella McClelland was born 1861.
• Fannie S. McClelland was born 1865.
• James Witt McClelland was born December 20, 1867.
• Josephine McClelland was born April 1869.
• Flora McClelland was born in Illinois March 1873. 
• Mary Mcclelland was born April 9, 1876. Mary died November 29, 1892 at 16.
• Minnie Mcclelland was born April 1878.
• Warn Mcclelland was born in Illinois August 1880.
• John Mcclelland was born in Illinois May, 1882.
• Lula Mcclelland was born in Illinois March 1885.
• Alice Mcclelland was born in Illinois Oct 1887
• Clayta McClelland was born in Illinois January 1889
• Mark McClelland was born in Illinois (Date Unknown)

Richard McClelland was a Minister of the Gospel and performed numerous marriages in Pulaski County.  He continued to do so until his death in December of 1899.  Sallie continued to live in the area until her death in February of 1901.

WOOLFOLK

The Woolfolk ancestry dates to 1823 when Peter Woolfolk was born somewhere in Virginia.    Peter was married to Cherry E. who was also from Virginia.  Four of their six children were born in Kentucky over a span of eight years between 1853 – 1871.  Peter and Cherry moved their family to Grand Chain sometime between 1865 and 1867. We believe it was 1867.  We base this upon Albert being their first child born in Illinois.  There was unfortunately a 2-year difference in Albert's age reported in two different census records.  Therefore, until some further records are found documenting their Illinois cohabitation, we cannot be certain.

Peter and Cherry are both believed to have died in Pulaski County.  Their death dates are yet unknown.  But they were no longer listed in official records. 

The information provided is the result of extensive research by Debbie Davis, our family geneaoligist. Great job Debbie!!!