New Information on the Tennessee Ailors!

Sallie Sharp Ailor was my gggrandfather's sister.. She was the daughter of Samuel Sharp and the Ailor family lived in the Luttrell area of Union Co. Tn on Ailor Gap Road.. There is an article in the book "Our Union Co Families" by Murphy Snoderly with Phyllis Ailor George that is excellant. Have you seen this article???

Clara Smoot

Be sure to read this article as well.

From "Our Union co. Heritage.....

Ailor Gap

Recorded in the manuscript "The Ailor Family in Tennessee, 1948" is an account of some early settlers in the area. Mention is made of a John Brown who was given a grant of 100 acres on Flat Creek near Luttrell. Further, the manuscript tells of the establishment of the Ailor family in the area. James Ailor left his family in Amherst County, Va., and joined Samuel Sharp and family in the trek to Tennessee - probably about 1785. "In Tennessee, James lived with Samuel Sharp and his family on Flat Creek, in Knox County at that time..later Union Co.. The first offical record bearing James Ailor's name....was as follows:"Ailor acquires 62 acres of land on Flat Creek near Luttrell."

The land was part of the original John Brown grant. Recorded are accounts of Ailor's business dealings with Jacob Meltabarger, 1818; James Harbison in 1825;Elijah Atkins, 1847; and Orange Warwick, 1835. Part of these transactions involved property located on Bull Run Creek. James Ailor died in 1852; his wife Sallie in 1860. Both are buried in the Ailor Cemetery in Ailor Gap at the old home place. Sallies' father, Samuel Sharp is buried at old Key's cemetery near Luttrell."

****more later******

Dear Jeff:

That was from Book 1 of Our Union Co Heritage, I think..
This would be from Book 2.

Early spellings: Ohler, Eiler, Oehler, Uhler, Aylor, Oler, Ailer, Ehler.
The Ailors came from Germany in the mid 1700's and settled in Virginia.

James Ailor, when a small boy, left his home in Amherst Co., Virginia (on the James River) and accompanied Samuel Sharp and his family to North Carolina and then to Knox County, Tn. James father and a brother had been killed in the Revolutionary War. He left a brother and one or two sisters in Amherst Co. Nothing is known of his mother. (We are indebted to Coner Ailor for the above information). Efforts have been made to find a record of James' birth from officials of Amherst Co.,Augusta Co., Rockingham Co.,and also Rockbridge Co., but no record has been found.This does not mean that the record does not exist and efforts are still being made to find it.

After coming to Tennessee, James lived with Samuel Sharp and his family on Flat Creek in (then) Knox Co. Samuel married Hannah Humbert. His father was Thomas Sharp, Jr., whose parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Sharp, Sr.

It is not known where James Ailor's bible is located; consequently the date of his marriage and the names and birthdates of all the children are not known. It is known that he married Sally Sharp, daughter of Samuel Sharp, when she was quite young, probably 15 years old. To them were born 14 children. We believe that Samuel was the oldest and we know William Patton was the youngest. We know all their names but two, and another one we only know that his or her initial was N.--- The gravestone says "N. Ailor - born ? - died 1854".

The person who copied this data for me from the archives cut the page short so all I have for their children is:

Samuel , Luke, John, Tilda, Hannah, Sallie, Jo Ann, Sookie, Catherine (here's the gap) and then Houston, Unknown, and William Patton.

If you need the other children's names, I'll make a effort to get them for you the next time I go to McClung Collection... Hope this helps.

Clara