Cloyd family
Biographical Note
Gen. Gordon Cloyd was a descendant of David Cloyd. In 1764, Indians attacked the homestead of David Cloyd in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife, Margaret, was killed, as well as his son, John. Another son, Joseph Cloyd was away from the house at the time of the attack and was thus spared. David Cloyd passed away in 1792; Joseph Cloyd bought land and settled in Back Creek in present day Pulaski County in 1773. During the American Revolution, Joseph Cloyd served under Col. William Preston of Montgomery County. He is credited with saving Col. Preston's life when Preston was thrown from his horse during a skirmish at Wetzell's Mill in North Carolina. Following the war, Joseph Cloyd bought up more land in Pulaski County and built a brick house on Back Creek.
Joseph Cloyd married Mary Gordon and together they had three sons, Gordon, David, and Thomas. Gordon and David married two sisters, Sallie and Elizabeth McGavock. The McGavock sisters were the daughters of James McGavock and Mary Cloyd, Joseph Cloyd's sister. James and Mary McGavock also had a third daughter, Margaret, who married Joseph Kent.
David Cloyd and Sallie McGavock had five children: Margaret, Joseph, Gordon, Cynthia, and James McGavock. James McGavock Cloyd married Frances E. McNutt on November 5, 1853, together they had on child, David, in January of 1855. Frances died on December 21, 1858. James then married Harriet J. Ernest on January 10, 1861. They had four children: Fanny Ernest, Lucy McGavock, Sally, and Harriet Gordon. James Cloyd lived at the homestead on Back Creek in Pulaski County that was originally settled by Col. Joseph Cloyd.
Gordon Cloyd commanded the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia during the War of 1812; he was later promoted to Major-General and thereafter was known as General Cloyd. He later served as a land surveyor for the Montgomery County area, and together with his brothers, purchased a tract of land along the New River know as Buchanan's Bottom. Gen. Gordon Cloyd and Elizabeth McGavock Cloyd together had six children, only two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Cloyd survived. The two sisters married two brothers, James Randal and David Fenton Kent. David and James were the sons of Joseph Kent and Margaret McGavock Kent. Gordon Cloyd left the Buchanan's Bottom land to his daughter, Mary, and her husband, James Randal Kent. Elizabeth Kent and David Fenton Kent received the land at Back Creek and the house known as Springfield.