Hugh Morton McClintick was born on 28 April 1804 in Pennsylvania.¹ He married Agnes Walker Steen on 28 April 1825 in Pennsylvania.² Hugh and Agnes had ten children, 4 girls and 6 boys. Agnes died on 27 February 1845 in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.³ Hugh then married Hannah M. Sheets on 18 January 1849 in Indiana.⁴ Hugh and Hannah had one child, Samuel Crouse McClintick. Hugh died on 24 December 1893. He was buried in Nebraska.⁵

Research Prep

Hugh Morton McClintick was a research suggestion from a viewer. The viewer’s goal is to identify Hugh’s grandparents. Before clarifying and crafting a more specific research objective, some preliminary work is needed. The research should begin with a review of the source records attached to Hugh. This review will provide information about what is known and what remains unknown. It will also highlight “facts” that are unsupported by documentation or missing information.

Here are the steps for research prep:

• Evidence Analysis
• Time Line
• Locality Research
• Research Planning

Evidence Analysis

Hugh Morton McClintick’s profile on FamilySearch had a high data quality score and appeared mostly complete. There were collaboration notes and memories attached. However, a closer examination of the attached records and linked relationships raised several questions about Hugh.

• Hugh’s profile indicated he was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. However, there were no source records to confirm the county location. Census records did support Pennsylvania.
• There are no source records for Hugh’s marriage to Agnes Walker Steen. Agnes died before the 1850 U.S. Census. This means they do not appear together in a census record. Agnes’ headstone does say she was the wife of Hugh Morton McClintick, but it would be nice to find additional documentation.⁶ For example, a marriage record would provide a location in Pennsylvania to search for additional records about Hugh and possibly show a link to his parents.
• There are no sources for Hugh from before 1849. Hugh should have been listed as a head of household in the 1830 and 1840 U.S. Censuses.
• A step-daughter, Rebecca Savannah Sheets, was attached to Hugh on FamilySearch. This could suggest Hugh’s second wife, Hannah M. Sheets, was previously married. It would be beneficial to research Hannah and determine if she was indeed married previously. Hannah is attached to a father named Henry Sheets, but one note indicated her maiden name is actually Crouse. Regardless, no sources link her to Henry Sheets, and it feels like an error.
• Census records indicate Hugh and his family moved multiple times. The family originated in Pennsylvania, relocated to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and then to Wisconsin, before finally settling in Nebraska. Most likely, Hugh bought and sold land in each location he lived. There are no land records attached to his profile.
• Hugh is linked to parents James McClintick and Jane Morton on FamilySearch. There are no source records to confirm that this parent-child connection is correct. Naming patterns suggest that these parent names are accurate. However, without evidence, the connection is in question.
• James McClintick supposedly died about 1823 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. However, the date lacks supporting documentation. Chester County is another location in Pennsylvania that warrants further research. Did James leave a will, or did his estate go through probate?

Locality research becomes much more complicated because Hugh’s family lived in multiple locations. Pennsylvania is a large state, and Hugh could have originated from anywhere in the state. Research could focus on the two possible locations of Somerset and Chester Counties, but even that is uncertain. Some additional clues will be needed to narrow down the possibilities.

Research Planning

The next step in research planning is to write a research objective. While the main goal is to identify Hugh’s grandparents, evidence analysis reveals numerous questions and conflicts about Hugh that need to be resolved. While we can keep the ultimate objective in mind, it will be helpful to focus on smaller goals first.

This is the research objective that I wrote:

The objective of this research phase is to identify source records that show the parent-child connection between Hugh Morton McClintick and his biological parents James McClintick and Jane Morton. Hugh Morton McClintick was born on 28 April 1804 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Hugh first married Agnes Walker Steen in 1825 in Pennsylvania. Hugh and Agnes had 10 children. Hugh then married Hannah M Sheets in 1849. Hugh and Hannah had one child. Hugh Morton McClintick died on 24 December 1893.

It may make more sense to spend more time researching Hugh before trying to find evidence of his connection to his parents. For example, finding land records for Hugh in the various locations he lived. But this objective gets us closer to identifying his grandparents.

With the objective in place, we can then begin identifying record collections to search for evidence of that parent-child connection. New England is renowned for its extensive church record collections and town records, which contain vital information for birth, marriage, and death dates. Pennsylvania is no exception, and there is a rich treasure trove to look through.

Use the FamilySearch Research Wiki to identify record collections that will help determine a parent-child relationship. In this case, broader collections were identified for Pennsylvania that included indexes for births, marriages, and deaths. This included the Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 index, as well as a few others. A few of the databases require payment for access, but they may save a significant amount of time. As each collection is researched, record it in a Research Log.

FamilySearch Full-Text Search

The FamilySearch Full Text search is an amazing tool that could be helpful in this case. Targeted research should remain the focus, allowing specific collections to be eliminated. However, full-text search can speed up the process. It may be tempting to conduct a broad search for Hugh Morton McClintick, but the Full Text search now has the option to search specific collections.

While a broad search is tempting, narrowing the results down to Pennsylvania within a specific range of years and record types can be helpful. A wide search, narrowed to published genealogies, yielded a book about the Steen family with a section about Agnes Walker Steen and her marriage to Hugh. The section seemed to indicate that Agnes and Hugh migrated to Indiana with her father, George Steen. If that is the case, then research could be done to find where George Steen originated in Pennsylvania. That could lead to records about Hugh. Published genealogies often lack source citations for records, but they may provide sufficient clues to guide research.⁷

Future Research

• Where in Pennsylvania was Hugh Morton McClintick born? Was it Somerset County, Pennsylvania?
• Was Hannah M. Sheets previously married?
• Are there land records for Hugh Morton McClintick in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Nebraska?

Sources

1. Hannah Sheets, Hugh Morton McClintick Photograph; date unknown. Digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/memories/K2SP-FLW : accessed 28 November 2025); submitted to FamilySearch by Robin Raye Griffis Kiser, 20 October 2018. The photograph was found in a vintage store in Libby, Montana. The back of the photo has the names and birth dates of Hannah Sheets and Hugh Morton McClintick. ↩︎
2. The marriage date is unsourced. ↩︎
3. Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 28 November 2025), memorial 14476672, Agnes Walker “Nancy” Steen McClintick, gravestone photographed by LAC, member 46486104. ↩︎
4. “Indiana, Marriages, 1811-2019,” entry for Hugh M MClintock – Hannah Sheets, 18 January 1849, Tippecanoe County, Indiana; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 November 2025). ↩︎
5. Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 28 November 2025), memorial 49029024, Hugh Morton McClintick Sr., gravestone photographed by Ann Jerome Denk, member 48201675. ↩︎
6. Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 28 November 2025), memorial 14476672, Agnes Walker “Nancy” Steen McClintick, gravestone photographed by LAC, member 46486104. ↩︎
7. The Steen Family in Europe and America : A genealogical, historical, and biographical, record of nearly three hundred years, extending from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. (Monfort & Company: Cincinnati, OH, 1917), 449-451; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 November 2025). ↩︎