William Currence

• Name: William Currence 
• Birth: 16 Sep 1727 in Ulster, Northern Ireland
• Death: 1780 or 1781 in Mill Creek, Randolph County, (West) Virginia 
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Idonna Nuttall Madson

William Currence, a son of Samuel Currence, was born in Ireland September 18, 1727 and was killed by Indians in Randolph County, Virginia on May 12, 1781. He came to America about 1744 when he was just seventeen years old. He married Lydia Steele about 1751. Lydia, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Smith) Steele, was born in Pennsylvania about 1725 and died in Randolph County August 29, 1820.

After the death of his mother, William's father married a wealthy and aristocratic woman who could not get along with her step children. According to local tradition, he left his home in Ireland when a disagreement arose between himself and his step-mother, while his father was not around. Believing that harmony was no longer possible, he at once entered upon his journey to America. A short distance from home, he met his father, Samuel, who enquired where he was going. The son replied "to America". After finding admonition unavailing, the father dismounted and a foot race resulted. The young man finally leaped over a ditch which the parent could not cross and eluded his fathers pursuit. I found some accounts that said he was a stowaway on the ship and others that mentioned his father paid for his passage.

He landed at a Maryland port and moved inland to western Augusta County, Virginia and later moved to Tygarts Valley in Randolph County and settled in what is now the town of Mill Creek. He and Lydia raised a large family. Our family is descended through their daughter Ann. In Mill Creek he built a tub mill, which is supposed to have been the first water mill in Randolph County. The area became known as Currence Mill Creek, later the Currence was dropped but the name is still "Mill Creek".

William built Currence Fort in 1774. He maintained it during Dunmore's War and later during the Revolutionary War until his death by Indians while on a scouting party two miles south of the fort. The fort was used by soldiers and spy rangers, who moved from fort to fort. He is listed as a signer of a 1776 petition to the Virginia Assembly in Richmond.

He was killed by an Indians on October 7, 1780 or May 12, 1781 (I found it both ways) at the age of 64. Frank Riffle (we are also related to the Riffle family) was also killed on the same day in the same area. According to one of the books I found online William Currence's family tried in vain to stop him from taking the "ill fated trip". His son was sent to the field for a horse and returned with the excuse that the animal could not be caught. But the father was persistent, and under threats of punishment the lad brought the horse to his father. William was then shot and killed by an Indian’s rifle.

Sources: 

Randolph Co., History by Bosworth; p. 334-339.
Randolph Co., History by Maxwell; p. 359.
"Warnaar Hornbeck Descendants", p 256,
'The West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia', Vol 6, p 1214. 
Vol 4, p 17, Magazine - History and Biography Published by Randolph County Historical Society. National Number 45 3703.
"The Mace Family in America, A Genealogy and History 1720-1990" by Gretchen Ann
Mace Velasco, p 15,
"Bicentennial History of Randolph County, West Virginia", by Donald L Rice, p 7