JOSIAH1 CLAWSON was born before 1745 in Scotland. He died before 1781 in Tyrone Township,
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He married ? ?.
Notes for Josiah Clawson:
Presently, I can only trace the Clawson branch to about the middle of the eighteenth century. The
earliest Clawson I can trace is a Josiah Clawson who was on the tax list in 1763 for Tyrone
Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. From several different sources, there were 5
Clawson brothers. Two of them, Richard and Peter Clawson fought for the colonists in the
Revolutionary War as members of the Cumberland County militia. Also in the early 1780's, Peter
and Richard can be found in the tax records for Tyrone Township, Cumberland County,
Pennsylvania as well as a widow Clawson. Tyrone Township is now a part of Perry County,
Pennsylvania. This, I assume. means that Josiah Clawson has died. After this time, some or all of
the five brothers moved to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. About this time according to family
lore, these brothers got into some type of argument and the 5 brothers went to four different areas
of the state. When this argument occurred, it was also told from family lore that the brothers
changed the spellings of the last name as a final statement in this disagreement. This is probably
how the different spellings of the last name occurred. The spellings that have existed were
Clawson (supposedly the original spelling), Closson (still exists today), Clossin, and a few other
variations.
Richard and Josiah Clawson moved to Indiana County, Pennsylvania in the Blacklick Township
area. These two brothers were in the same area according to the tax and census records, their
farms were near to each other. From tax records, they must have moved into Indiana County
before 1807. Peter remained in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania and it is believed he was poor
from the legal records that exist for him. The members of this branch largely spelled their last
name Closson. There is a Peter who had lived in Washington Township, Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania around 1800 and it is now determined that he is not directly related to the Clawsons
mentioned above even though some of his descendants appeared in other parts of my family tree.
Daniel may be a brother to Peter, Richard, and Josiah but may also be a nephew to another
brother not yet found. There is also a John Clawson married to Elizabeth Wincher who I have a
similar problem. Is he a brother or a nephew to Peter, Richard, and Josiah? I have them listed as
brothers since this is what most researchers believe. Daniel and John eventually made their way
to Indiana County where Daniel went to Blacklick Township and John went to Conemaugh
Township.
Another interesting item is there was a Josiah Clawson who married Margaret Buckalew in New
Jersey and they were both born and grew up in New Jersey. According to the Buckalew
Association website, they had at least two children named Peter and Richard. Also from some
research done by others on the Clawsons as well as on the LDS website, they also have Josiah
marrying Margaret Buckalew. Josiah's parents were Thomas and Anne Clawson. Thomas'
parents were William and Mary Clawson. These families can be traced to a Claus Cornelius Van
Schouw who came to America in the mid-1600's from the Netherlands. In 2009, I submitted a DNA
sample for genealogical purposes. The results were compared to several members from the Van
Schouw line and there is no connection between my Clawson line and the Van Schouw line. In
comparing my DNA to different databases, my ancestors were Eastern European and/or
Scandinavian. My DNA is similar to the populations in Latvia, Russia, Poland, and Norway. This
fits into a Haplogroup of R1a1.
If my Clawson ancestors were of Scottish heritage and with the DNA results mentioned previously
along with some general genealogical data of the Clawson name in Scotland, the Clawson family is
of Viking descent. They may have come from the Orkneys (Islands). If one looks at the spelling
variation of Closson, this is a further variation of the surname Clouston. The Clouston family is an
old family that settled in the Orkneys around 1000 AD from Norway and had ties into the
Norwegian monarchy. Around 1400, the Orkneys were given by Norway to Scotland and these
people from the Orkneys intermixed with the native Scots. As of now, I haven't found anyone from
the Clouston family who has submitted to a DNA test.
Josiah Clawson
Born 1735 in Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey
Son of Thomas Clawson and Anne (Eastman) Clawson	
Husband of Margaret (Buckalew) Clawson — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Father of Richard Milton Clawson Sr	
Died about 1781 at about age 46 in Tyrone, Cumberland, Pennsylvania He was the son of Josiah Clawson born Scotland died bef 1781 Tyrone Twp. Cumberland co., PA
According to Clawson folklore, 5 brothers came to the U.S. and it was believed they came from
England. In the last 10 to 15 years, it is now believed that they came from Scotland. Anyway, after
they came here, there was a big argument and the 4 of the brothers went different ways and
moved to different parts of the Pennsylvania. When they did, each one changed the spelling of
their last name. Supposedly, Richard kept the original spelling. It appears that Richard and Josiah
stayed together and moved to Indiana County. It appears that Peter, James, and Alexander
appeared to stay in the Blair and Huntingdon Counties of Pennsylvania. Similar stories are told in
other distant portions of the Clawson tree.
The name Clawson was probably not the name of the ancestors who lived in Scotland. The name
might have been changed since there was a war going on in England at the time they migrated and
they wanted to protect themselves in case someone would try to track them. There was a program
on the History Channel about Scottish clans. At the time that Richard Clawson would have come
to America, the English were doing an ethnic cleansing of the Highland Scottish Clans since they
were loyal to the Stuarts (Stewarts) who were trying to take back the throne of England from King
George I. The Clawson ancestors maybe were part of these clans who were being eradicated by
the English. Many thousands of Scots fled to U.S., Canada, and Australia during this time. The
clans who were being eradicated were in allegiance to the McDonalds.
The Clawson brothers originally were living in the Tyrone Township, Cumberland County (now
Perry County) area of Pennsylvania at the time of the Revolutionary War. Later they moved to the
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania where the supposed argument occurred. Records are available
that Richard and Peter fought for the colonists in the Revolutionary War.

RICHARD1 CLAWSON was born in 1760 in Scotland. He died on Jan 31, 1826 in Black Lick
Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Mitchell, daughter of John Mitchell, in
1778. She was born about 1760 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She died on Apr 19, 1827 in Black
Lick Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.
When Richard Clawson was born in 1760, in Scotland, his father, Josiah Clawson, was 25 and his mother, Margaret Buckalew, was 20. He married Sarah Mitchell in 1778. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 8 daughters. He died on 31 January 1826, in Black Lick, Black Lick Township, Indiana, Pennsylvania, United States, at the age of 66. 

RICHARD MILTON2 CLAWSON JR. (Richard1) was born in 1788 in Frankstown Township, Huntingdon
County, Pennsylvania. He died in Jul 1858 in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. He married (1) NANCY
DONAHEY, daughter of William Donahey and Mary Caldwell, in 1817. She was born about 1795 in
Pennsylvania. She died in Oct 1859 in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. He married (2) THANKFUL
GEER.

ELLIS3 CLAWSON (Richard Milton2 Jr., Richard1) was born in 1827 in Indiana County, Pennsylvania.
He died before 1880. He married NANCY MCINTOSH. She was born in 1831 in Ohio. She died in
1896.

102. HOLLAND RICHARD4 CLAWSON (Ellis3, Richard Milton2 Jr., Richard1) was born on Mar 25, 1859 in
Blairsville, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. He died on Dec 19, 1903 in Reynoldsville, Jefferson
County, Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Ellen Silvis, daughter of Solomon. D. Silvis and Cordelia
Shaffer, in 1879. She was born on Mar 14, 1861 in Fairmount City, Clarion County, Pennsylvania.
She died on Jan 25, 1935 in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.

FRANK SILVAS5 CLAWSON (Holland Richard4, Ellis3, Richard Milton2 Jr., Richard1) was born on Feb
10, 1888 in Reynoldsville, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. He died in 1962. He married ANNA M.
LYNCH. She was born on Aug 27, 1890 in Pennsylvania. She died in May 1985 in Buffalo, Erie
County, New York.
Frank Silvas Clawson and Anna M. Lynch had the following children:
i. ?6 CLAWSON was born on Dec 10, 1907 in Ridgway, Elk County, Pennsylvania. She
died on Dec 10, 1907 in Ridgway, Elk County, Pennsylvania.
833. ii. ROBERT A. CLAWSON was born about 1909 in Pennsylvania. He married MARY NEIL.
834. iii. MARIAN H. CLAWSON was born about 1911 in Pennsylvania. She married AFTON
HOTCHKISS. He was born about 1909 in New York.
835. iv. IRVIN T. CLAWSON was born about 1913 in Pennsylvania. He married WINNIE WALSH.
836. v. HAROLD CHARLES CLAWSON was born on Aug 06, 1917 in Reynoldsville, Jefferson
County, Pennsylvania. He died on Mar 22, 1995. He married HELEN OLLARI.
837. vi. JOHN E. CLAWSON was born about 1920 in Pennsylvania. He married Marie
Christine Menton on Nov 15, 1947 in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware.
She was born about 1919.
838. vii. CATHERINE CLAWSON was born about 1922 in Pennsylvania. She married DONALD
BURNS.
viii. BETTY ANN CLAWSON was born about 1928 in New York.
839. ix. ELIZABETH CLAWSON. She married ROBERT BRIGGS.

CATHERINE6 CLAWSON (Frank Silvas5, Holland Richard4, Ellis3, Richard Milton2 Jr., Richard1) was
born about 1922 in Pennsylvania. She married DONALD BURNS.
Donald Burns and Catherine Clawson had the following children:
i. PATRICIA7 BURNS. She married WILLIAM MCCLAIN.
ii. DONA BURNS. She married WILLIAM GIBBONS.
iii. MICHAEL BURNS. He married NANETTE NATARO.
iv. SUSAN BURNS. She married (1) MARK ARENA. She married (2) RICHARD KRAWCZYK.
v. KATHRYN BURNS. She married (1) DANIEL LOCCHE. She married (2) MICHAEL
HAUVER.
vi. RICHARD BURNS. He married LINDA QUERMBACH