{"id":54399,"date":"2018-06-23T11:18:16","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T15:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.pinemountainsettlement.net\/?page_id=54399"},"modified":"2020-10-08T23:18:44","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T03:18:44","slug":"nolan-family","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/staging.pinemountainsettlement.net\/?page_id=54399","title":{"rendered":"NOLAN FAMILY"},"content":{"rendered":"
Pine Mountain Settlement School
\nSeries 09: Biography – Families<\/h5>\n

NOLAN FAMILY, 1893 – 2009<\/h2>\n
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TAGS: <\/strong>Nolan Family; Pine Mountain Settlement School; Pine Mountain Community; PMSS Workers; PMSS Boarding School Students; PMSS Community School Students; Nolan Family Reunion;\u00a0Nolan Family history & genealogy; Revolutionary War; Irish immigrants; double wedding in the Chapel; Scearce Family; Metcalf Family; highlights from the PMSS Collections;\u00a0Uncle Calvin Nolan; C.A. Nolan; pioneers; Mary Wadkins; Ann Watkins; War of 1812; Wilderness Road; Cumberland Gap; John Nolan; William Nolan<\/span><\/p>\n

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Members of the Nolan Family lived in the community of Pine Mountain since very early years. The obituary* for Elhannon Nolan<\/a> records that Elhannon’s\u00a0family came to Harlan County, Kentucky, from Virginia with a land grant given to John Nolan,<\/strong> Elhannon\u2019s great-grandfather, after the Revolutionary War and which included the site of the future city of Middlesboro.\u00a0(*Lexington\u00a0Herald-Leader<\/em>, June 29, 1941. See image\u00a0in GALLERY below.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many Nolans were among the student body at Pine Mountain Settlement School.<\/p>\n

Variant spellings of the surname Nolan include Nolin, Nolen and Nowland.<\/p>\n

For additional assistance in locating histories of families in Eastern Kentucky see:<\/p>\n

Harlan County, Kentucky Genealogy – FamilySearch Wiki<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Nolan Family: HISTORY<\/h3>\n

\u201cNolan comes from<\/span> Nuall, <\/span><\/i>which means nobleman, and is a name that goes back to the mists of early Irish history,\u201d\u00a0 according to Ida Grehan, author of\u00a0\u00a0A Little Book of Irish Family Names<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nolan Family is one of the oldest families in eastern Kentucky and their annual reunion is generally held at Pine Mountain Settlement School.<\/p>\n

There are at least two versions of the story of John Nolan’s immigration from Ireland to America:\u00a0An account of an interview with one of his great-grandchildren, Calvin H. Nolan<\/a>, was published in the November 1921 issue<\/a> of Notes from the\u00a0Pine Mountain Settlement School<\/em>. The other appeared in The Harlan Daily Enterpris<\/em>e in 1976, by Mabel Collins whose resource was C.A. Nolan.<\/p>\n

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JOHN NOLAN’S IMMIGRATION FROM IRELAND – According to Calvin Nolan. Notes from the<\/em> Pine Mountain Settlement School,<\/em> November 1921, page 3.<\/h4>\n

The talk of our old neighbors, who remember when land was bartered from the Indians, and witch doctors could charm a bullet so it would go round a corner after an enemy, is the precious treasure of Pine Mountain. These pioneers of the \u201cyoung times,” whose like the world will never know again, hold you spellbound with tales told them by their grandsires.<\/em><\/p>\n

The other day Uncle Calvin (Nolan)<\/a>, as he sat on his porch in the mellow autumn sunshine, fell to talking of the Nolans, his forebears. His “great-grandpap, when he was only a chunk of a boy”, was playing on the deck of a ship in the harbor of Dublin, and was carried out to sea before he knew it. The sailing master would not turn back, and the lad was forced to work his passage to America, “as was the way for one in his fix.” He landed in Maryland and was bound out seven years to learn the potter’s trade. One day while he was molding saucers, Miss Mary Wadkins<\/strong> came along and showed such interest in his occupation that he dropped a hot saucer into the apron she daringly held outstretched. The saucer burned a hole through, and broke as it fell to the ground! “This action,” said Uncle Calvin, “led to talk, which produced an acquaintancy, out o’ which grew the intimacy of love — so to courtin’ an’ weddin<\/em>‘.”<\/p>\n

The tale has it that he became one of the first gentlemen of Maryland and one of Washington’s bodyguard. When the Revolutionary War had passed, he settled in\u00a0Mecklenburg County, Virginia, where Uncle Calvin’s grandfather was born. Then you have the picture of the pioneer going deeper into the wilds, as far as the Clinch River in Virginia. “Come along the War of 1912,” and he volunteered at Tazewell, fighting under General Gaines at Fort Erie.<\/p>\n

Later, being the “game-follerin’ kind,” he led his family along the Wilderness Road, through Cumberland Gap, and into Kentucky County, Virginia, as Kentucky was then called. Where Middlesboro is now, he found a “wild and unappropriated land,” which he and his son surveyed, and which “properly would belong to the Nolans,” had they not continued to follow the game up the Pine Mountain Valley. “Grandpap’s twelve children populated the wilderness a right smart in those days.”<\/p>\n

[For the rest of the interview, in which Calvin Nolan talks about his own life in the Pine Mountain Valley, go to CALVIN NOLAN<\/a> Biography.]<\/p>\n

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JOHN NOLAN’S IMMIGRATION FROM IRELAND – According to C.A. Nolan.\u00a0The Harlan Daily Enterprise<\/em>, August 1, 1976<\/h4>\n

The Nolans followed a settlement pattern common to eastern Kentucky. Mabel Collins, writing for the Harlan Daily Enterprise<\/em> Sunday edition, August 1, 1976, describes the early history of the family, in an article headlined “PIONEERS FOUND WAY TO COUNTY.” In a handwritten note to “Miss Nolan,” which accompanied the clipping, Mabel Collins\u00a0wrote:<\/p>\n

The info came from C.A. Nolan,<\/strong> Indiana, who was born on Pine Mt. His info is always correct I have found. I don’t question it. I have received lots of help from him.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ms. Collins tells of the two Irish brothers, John<\/strong> and William<\/strong>, who stowed away in the rigging of a large ship along with a basket of goose eggs to sustain them. They revealed themselves at sea and made enough working for the ship to sustain their voyage to America where they were sold as indentured\u00a0servants for seven years by the captain of the ship.<\/p>\n

When the Revolutionary War broke out, the two brothers fought first at Bunker Hill, then Brandywine and at Monmouth Court House and other battles. John worked through his indenture and, at the close of the Revolutionary War in 1876, he married Ann Watkins<\/strong>, who was also an immigrant from Ireland. The two moved to Yellow Creek near the present town of Middlesboro seeking to establish a homestead.<\/p>\n

Middlesboro was one of the main settlements for early pioneers coming through the Cumberland Gap and it quickly became “crowded.” The family moved on to less populated land that was divided between Harlan County and Knox County. The couple and early children appear in the 1820 census for Harlan County. In 1820 John Nolan<\/strong>‘s age is given as 67 and his lands were assessed as worth $200, an amount that signaled that his land holdings in Harlan County were significant. Other assets listed were an old mare, $35; two cows, $20; one mule, $35; 12 hogs, $12 and the holder of one debt worth $25. He was personally indebted $25. These details are according to his application for a Revolutionary War Pension following the enactment of the pensioners right of 1820. John signed an affidavit that included these details in 1820.<\/p>\n

The unfortunate side of his successful journey into land ownership was that the War Department refused him his pension, noting that “this man, on the account of his property, cannot be allotted a pension.”<\/p>\n

[See GALLERY below for image of clipping (nolan_reunion_004.jpg).]<\/p>\n

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Nolan Family: GENEALOGY, 1893-2009<\/h3>\n

[The following are excerpts from emails sent to PMSS Collections by Cora Richardson on July 3 and September 6, 2017. She is the granddaughter of Allene (Nolan) and Dillard Metcalf. The text is slightly edited.]<\/p>\n

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I am interested in seeing if PMSS would have any information of some of my family members or any other information about their families that live in that section of Pine Mountain that may have had a connection with PMSS.<\/em><\/p>\n

My grandparents were: Allene Nolan Metcalf<\/strong>, b. 04\/1905, and Dillard Metcalf,<\/strong> b. 07\/1904. Both went to PMSS. They were married at PMSS in 1925 or 1924 and came back for 50th anniversary along with her sister Hazel Nolan Shell<\/strong> and Pearl Shell.<\/strong>\u00a0They had a double wedding.<\/em><\/p>\n

Allene’s parents: Elhannon <\/strong>(other spellings:\u00a0Elhannan, Elhanon) Murphy (“E.M.”) Nolan<\/strong>, b. 02\/1862, married Sarah Jane Shell Nolan,<\/strong> b. 02\/1885. They both lived in the area and he had a general store with the post office that he named Jane, Ky (named after his wife). … This would probably have been in the 1910-1930s (not sure on dates).\u00a0Both are buried in the Nolan cemetery at Pine Mountain. Their children were: Henry,<\/strong> b. 1886 d. 1922, Kenneth,<\/strong> b. 1893 d. 1934, Blanch,<\/strong> b. 1902 d. 1921, Allene<\/strong>.<\/b>\u00a0It is said he died from an ice-skating accident. Henry, Kenneth and Blanch are buried in the Nolan Cemetery at Pine Mountain and I feel sure they went to PMSS.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t