I have been searching the
Autrey line for several years and will share my information with you. I have
Cornelius Autrey born about 1720, possibly in Ireland, and died in the late 1770s in
Edgecomb County, NC. Cornelius first appeared in records in 1746 and by 1756 he was a well established planter and the one for whom
Autry Creek was named. His children scattered to
GA,
AL, TN and one remained in
Edgecomb County. The oldest child of
Cornelius was
Absalom (who retained the "e" in
Autrey). Absolom was born about 1740 and died in 1827 in
StClairr county. He was a
Tory officer and had eight children, all born in NC, but they all migrated to
GA,
AL, SC andd TN. The second child was John
Autry, b. abt 1741, d. 1778. He fathered twelve children by Elizabeth Ann. He was killed Feb. 2, 1778 by
Creek Indians at Skull
Shoals,
GA.. A record of this family may be found in
Mahan Blair Autry's book, The Family and Decendants of Captain John
Autry. James
Autry was the third child. William was the fourth. Cornelius was the fifth, etc. This
Cornelius is often confused with his father and is falsely credited to be the father of all NC Autrys. The original progenitor of the NC Autrys was
Cornelius of
Edgecomb county. The children (continued) were Theophilus, Micajah of
Alamo fame,
Drury, Isam, Martha and Sarah. Let me know of any information that you need.