Rutherford County Flack's (Tree703J)

Descendants of John Flack (Born abt 1751- Died abt 1792) Rutherford County, North Carolina.
Spouses:- (1) Jane Porter (2) Mary McMurray.

There are many different ideas about where John Flack eminated from (depending on which book you read - or website you look at - or who you talked to last) that you could belive anything really. Did he come from Pennsylvania ??, Virginia ??, County Kerry Ireland??
The MAIN problem being that whatever book or website you read that tries to link him backwards to someone else, it offers not a shred of proof (no source information) about how they reached their conclusion on their links backward, so I just have to assume it was their 'best guess' at the time.

Ivarea Flack (one of Johns Descendants), in her now often quoted book, believed he was the son of James Flack and Ann Baxter from Pennsylvania - but unfortunately she provides no source information to base her assumption on - so its really just her 'best guess' - as their seems nobody else available in the USA at that period time to link John back to.
I have already done quite a bit of research myself on the Flack/Baxter family in Pennsylvania (See Flack/Baxter family here) and there is ZERO evidence currently available to suggest he was a son of theirs, as all their known children are (nearly) accounted - the John's anyway.
So I must personally say that "I DO NOT BELIEVE HE IS THE SON OF JAMES FLACK / ANN BAXTER IN PENNSYLVANIA"

In another Book by a 'Dr Robinson' - he writes:-
In 1769 five brothers and two cousins (names unknown) came from County Kerry, Ireland to Rutherford county, NC. The five brothers were:
1. Andrew. Moved to Guilford county, NC
2. Thomas. Moved to KY.
3. Jefferson. Stayed in Rutherford.
4. William. Stayed in Rutherford.
5. John. Stayed in Rutherford County *** THIS IS ALLEGEDLY JOHN (d.1792)
6/7 . One cousin moved to NY., the other to PA.
But yet again - unfortunately no 'source' information is available in the book to enable anyone to check if this is fact, fiction, or again just a best guess at the time the book was written

"The Forest City Lynching of 1900" is a much more recent book containing information about the Flacks of Rutherford County, written by J Timothy Cole another descendant of John Flack. The book primarily is about the killing of a prominent Flack of that time (Mills Higgins Flack) by a coloured tenant farmer (Avery Mills) and covers a lot of different aspects of the era in question - BUT - in one of the appendices (appendix VI) it does have an excellent discourse on the origins of the Flack Family in Rutherford County.
Timothy Cole discusses the 'Flack resource books' I have named above (plus a few more) and points out why they are all fundamentally flawed in some of their assumptions (in his opinion), and I have to admit I agree with everything he writes. The book itself is 'partially; available as a 'google online book - but with some pages omitted'. I wanted to read it all though and I got quite a reasonably priced second hand copy from Amazon.com - its well worth a read for any serious Flack researcher.

Finally - I know of no Flack researcher who disputes John was 1st married to 'Jane Porter' and while I have no absolute proof he married secondly Mary 'McMurray', a wife 'Mary' WAS involved in the settlement of his estate after he died (see settlement agreement here).
The 'abstract will' doesn't mention ALL his children, just the sons, but its clear that there were 2 sets of children involved, indicating to me he was at least married twice.
The settlement indicates (to me anyway) that the oldest 2 sons, Andrew and George, were sons of 1st wife Jane Porter (represented by father John's brother William - and that John and (son) William (represented by 2nd wife Mary McMurry ) were sons of Mary McMurray.

NOT to stray too far into ANOTHER North Carolina Flack Tree, but if you accept the logic of the settlement data above (John being a son of Mary McMurray's) then this disproves another theory going around that John Flack (b.1774, married to Sarah Milligan of IREDELL COUNTY) is connected into this tree.
The John in 'the Will Settlement' was the son of Mary McMurray and Mary didnt marry father John Flack until AFTER Jane Porters death in abt 1778.

I have done my uttmost to 'source' all the people I think are his descendants (and I'm still sourcing each leg downwards now) and certainly all the various census information is included in each persons data page in the main database. I also do my best to attach any documentation I find that adds extra proof that links people to each other - but here is where YOU can help me and other Flack researchers.

This ISN'T my own family tree so I have little to gain from spurious links that acheive nothing other to add to the mayhem and confusion already out there on the internet about this family. If YOU have ANY information at all that confirms OR disputes what I have online (so far) I am am more than willing to add it to (or change) the database. This website is, after all, only here to assist all Flack researchers to get quality information about their various families, so anything YOU can do to help is a HUGE BONUS.

Many thanks to Dianne Nanney and Donna Hemphill Robbins (family descendants) who have helped putting this tree together.

Jim Flack - 25 August 2009