The proofs of parent-chid relationships between Mathew and Martha and their off spring come from two primary sources, Mathew McCauley's 1811 will probated in 1821 and the 1837 pension application made by Martha in which the handwritten list of children made by Mathew is recited. Taking these in reverse order, we have:
The **pension application** was written by a justice of the peace of Orange County writing on behalf of the illiterate Martha McCauley, sixteen years a widow. In the course of recounting the details of Mathew's military service, the JP also documented his relationship to Martha and quoted from entries made by Mathew McCauley in the family Bible, listing the first few of their children:
>John McCauley born in January 1781
>Jinny McCauley was born in 1783
>Martha McCauley was born on 22 July 1787
>Charles McCauley was born on 3 August 1789
>William McCauley was born on 3 August 1791
>Elizabeth McCauley was born 10 September 1793
>Polly McCauley was born 2 June 1797.
The application goes on to say that "...the entries of the births in the family Bible are in the hand writing of her deceased husband and are a genuine and true account of births of all of the children of the declarant...." It is difficult to entrely reconcile that last statement with Mathew's will, and one is left to wonder whether Martha (unable to read) simply presented the Bible to the JP and told him that this was the list of their children without having it read to her.
In any case, **Mathew McCauley's will of 1811** makes it apparent that he did not continue writing the names of their children in that Bible, for in the will he sepcifies as sons and daughters:
>my son John McCauley
>my son Charles McCauley
>my son William McCauley
>my son George McCauley
>my son Matthew McCauley
>my daughter Jinny [later referred to as Jane]
>my daughter Martha [later referred to as Patsy]
>my daughter Elizabeth
>my daughter Elender
The will mentions again "my three youngest children, that is to say George & Elender & Matthew" in a discussion of what should happen should any of them die before coming of age. So we can conclude that they were minors at the time the will was written (1811). It also refers to "my four daughters" in reference to the possibility of one or more of the boys dying, thus eliminating a fifth daughter, Polly.
Notably missing from the list presented in the will is daughter Polly, who was the final entry in the Bible list. As discussion by William Burlingame of the Chapel Hill Historical Society in his blog entry of 17 October 2017, this may mean that Polly had died before the will was written. Actually, it is difficult to think that her absence could mean anything else, given the practices in every other McCauley will I have discovered in Orange County. Indeed, there are numerous cases in which a child was bequeathed $1 for whatever reason (usually because they were already independent and needed no inheritance and were included in this way to acknowledge them, or possibly to prevent them from contesting the will by including them). In no other case was a living child not mentioned in a parental will. So, it seems reasonable to conclude that Polly (probably really named Mary) was deceased by 1811. One speculation might be whether it was her death that led Mathew to write his will at that time.
What do we know about William McCauley's first years in North America? Not much, despite numerous unsourced claims to the contrary.
These comments from his sister-in-law Martha's application for a pension were made in 1837:
>"This Declarant first became acquainted with the aforesaid Mathew McCauley in the year of 1775, when the said Mathew came to New Hope in the aforesaid County and lived with his brother William McCauley, esq., who was neighbor to the Declarant's father, Charles Johnston...."
So, William McCauley established himself in the New Hope area of Orange County, North Carolina, prior to 1775, and his brother came to join him there in that year. William McCauley was a neighbor of Charles Johnston, father of Mathew McCauley's future wife, Martha.
*This statement by Martha opens some doubt on the story of how the brothers came to North America. Did they arrive together as in the Mathew-in-a-barrel story? If so, where was Mathew while William established himself in Orange County? And, if William's wife, Catrin, was a daughter of Charles and Martha Johnston, as is widely claimed, why does Martha McCauley fail to make any reference at all to her supposed sister?*
