Major Daniel gave a deposition in support of the military pension application of Daniel Surratt (S4661), in which he stated that he was born on 17 May 1744 in Perthshire, Scotland and that he had been brought as a very young child to North Carolina.

Daniel and his wife Mary STEPHENSON (maiden name from above deposition) were in York County, SC before 1771 and had moved to Spartanburg County before the War of the Revolution reached the South.

He enlisted as a supernumerary junior officer and horseman in the Spartan Regiment on 31 August 1780, and was promoted to Lieutenant before the Battle of Cowpens, and was a Major before the end of the war.

Major Daniel apparently never learned to be a peaceful man. He was jailed several times in Spartanburg County over disputes with his neighbors, but was always promptly released.

In 1803, the Governor of South Carolina issued two land grants to Daniel McLAREN of one thousand acres each, the first containing the property where the Battle of Cowpens was fought.

Daniel began buying tracts of land in Tennessee as early as 1800. By the time of their move to Bedford County, TN in 1805, they already owned several large tracts of Tennessee property.

One can only imagine what the trek across those mountains must have been like for a couple of their advanced years. They were on foot or on horseback since there were no roads at the time, and even with their entourage of slaves, it must have been daunting.

Perhaps their reasons for attempting their journey are explained by Major Daniel's land sales. When this researcher began looking into South Carolina land records, I found that Daniel had sold, in person in South Carolina and by power of attorney after he left, 9,918 acres of South Carolina land. Yet, the records accounted for ownership of less than 3,000 acres. A perusal of the court records provided the answer to the dilemma. Major Daniel had sold the same tract land to several owners.

He was indicted by a grand jury and apprently returned voluntarily to stand trial. Then to make matters worse, he "by force and arms" entered the courtroom and kidnapped a witness off the witness stand. In the end, he was convicted only of tampering with a witness and was sentenced to six months in jail. Based on his status as a Revolutionary hero, however, the Governor pardoned him and ordered him released upon payment of a $100 fine, which he promptly paid. He spent one night in the Spartanburg County facility and went back to Tennessee. No mention was made of any restitution to the land buyers.

Mary died in 1818 in Bedford County and Daniel moved shortly afterward to Hickman County where his sons, Reuben and Daniel Jr. were already living. At the age of 84, he built a mill on Blue Creek. When the 1820 census was taken, he was a widower, living alone.

Since Hickman County's marriage records were lost when the courthouse burned during the Civil War, we do not know when Major Daniel remarried. But, remarry, he certainly did. The second wife, Eve was apparently much younger than Daniel.

Major Daniel was judged insane (perhaps he was senile; he died at 99) a few years before his death in 1844 and Daniel Jr. was appointed his guardian.

In 1847, Eve filed suit in Hickman County, stating "Daniel McLAREN is dead, leaving Eve his widow. He died possessed of a large estate both real and personal. Daniel McLAREN, Jr. was appointed his guardian and executor and Daniel McLAREN, Jr. has wholly failed to account with me." Well, Eve got her accounting. She filed separate lawsuits in every middle Tennessee county where Daniel had owned land, and that was most of them. Daniel Jr. died before the cases were settled and another son, G.W.McLAREN was appointed administrator. By 1856, "Hurricane Eve" was raging over sums as low as eleven dollars.

Family outline of Major Daniel McLaren