McCants Family History

                     Some Branches of the Family Tree
                        Which Took Root in Alabama


                               Compiled by


                         William C. Stapleton, Jr.





                 Copyright© by William C. Stapleton, Jr.
  A copy may be made on a not-for-profit basis for use by an individual.
                         ALL OTHER RIGHTS RESERVED

This history is an effort to record the history of some of the McCants families who moved from South Carolina to
Alabama during the early part of the 19th century. All of the families considered in detail here are descendants of David
McCants who emigrated to South Carolina during the early years of the 18th century. A history of this family, McCants,
Wall, and Related Families by Robbie McCants Jones of Livingston, Texas, was published in 1982. It is not the purpose
of this history to replace the excellent work by Mrs. Jones, but rather to supplement it. Some brief information about early
family members is included to show the relation of the Alabama families to other descendants of the emigrant ancestor. The
reader is urged to make use of Mrs. McCants' book for a complete view of this family.

Many schemes have been used to record genealogy. All have defects and the one used here is no exception. Each
generation is grouped together. Because of the duplication of names among the various branches of the family, a numbering
system is used to distinguish the various family members. Each descendant is assigned a number. The oldest child in a family
receives his parent's number with a "1" appended. The second oldest child receives his parent's number with a "2" appended.
The earliest known family member is assigned number 1. Thus, his or her oldest child is 11, next oldest child is 12, third
oldest child is 13, etc. A similar scheme is used for succeeding generations. By eliminating the last digit in a person's
number, the number of his parent may be found.

     To take care of families where there are more than 9 children, an underscore is used to indicate that 10 is to be added
to the digit. 
     After each three digits in a family member's number a raised period " " is used to separate the digits to make them
easier to read, much as a comma is used with ordinary numbers. Note that the number of digits in a person's number is the
same as the number of his generation. Thus, number 111 257 1 belongs to the seventh generation.

     The relationship between two descendants may be determined fairly easily be examining the numbers assigned to them.
The common ancestor of the two descendants is determined by finding the sequence of numbers at the beginning of their
numbers which is the same. For example, number 156 3 and number 154 1 have a common ancestor whose number is 15.
Numbers 156 and 154 are siblings, so that numbers 156 3 and 154 1 are first cousins.

     The method used here for numbering is sometimes known as the Henry system. Hopefully, the main objections to this
system have been partially eliminated.

     Braces { } are used to enclose the former surname of a wife in the main body of the text but are omitted in the Personal
Name Index. Compiler's notes are enclosed in brackets [ ]. Superscript numbers refer to items in the Reference Section.

William C. Stapleton, Jr.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Now, on to the show ...

The McCants Family History 

and

The McCants Letters