I just posted this query to the Newbold Family message board on Ancestry.com. In order to give it the widest possible audience and chance of a response, I am duplicating it here on my blog.
I am researching the Henderson family of Somerset County MD and as part of that, am trying to clarify their connections with the 17th-century Newbold family.
Comfort, the daughter of John Henderson, is believed to have married Francis Newbold, s/o Thomas and Jane Newbold, as early as ca 1715. I have gathered from other posts on Ancestry and online that Thomas Newbold may have been a "Merchant of London" originally from Derbyshire or Leicestershire, who emigrated to Accomack County VA ca 1674. Many online sources give his wife's name as "Jane Layfield." I don't know what proof there is of her surname, but the Layfields were in proximity at the time, and were also connected to the Hendersons.
According to online genealogies, Thomas Newbold and Jane Layfield had at least two sons, John and Francis, both said to have been mariners. There is apparently a strong seafaring tradition in the family, and the children of both of these brothers were known to have traded along the eastern seaboard and into the Caribbean. This fact, combined with the Henderson's strong connections with Onslow County NC, makes me think that the Newbolds of Onslow County NC and possibly also of the Caribbean, may trace back to these two brothers?
The Francis Newbold I am working on is found living in the Somerset Co MD household of John Henderson in 1725 (although he is found as the head of his own household in Somerset until at least 1740, after which Somerset County split and tax lists from the new county, Worcester, are not available). Wife Comfort Henderson Newbold is mentioned in John Henderson's 1743 Worcester County MD will, so we know that she was still living as late as 1743, which would mean that some or all of Francis's children belonged to *Comfort Henderson Newbold,* not to the "Mary" he was married to at the time he wrote his 1777 Sussex Co DE will (again, assuming that the Francis Newbold who d in 1777 Sussex Co DE was the same as the one in earlier Somerset Co MD). Most online genealogies I have seen so far attribute all of Francis's children (possibly an incomplete list based on those living at the time of his will) solely to Mary.
It is possible that researchers are mixing two Francis Newbolds, but it seems unlikely, unless perhaps he had a same-name, same-generation cousin in the same county at the same time (always a possibility, as any researcher knows). I believe it more likely, however, that researchers are simply unaware of Francis's first wife, and assume Mary was his only wife. If I am wrong, I hope someone will please contact me and help me sort this out. Additionally, I would like to correspond with descendants of this couple who might also be interested in the Henderson side of the family.
If any interested descendants or researchers would care to work with me on this line to help me clarify the Newbolds, or to learn more about the 17th-century Hendersons of the Eastern Shore, please contact me at info.itsallrelative@gmail.com
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Friday, October 30, 2015
The Truth About Thomas - Burying the Myth of "Thomas Henderson of Jamestown"
In my newly-appointed capacity of co-admin for Group R-B3 within the Clan Henderson DNA Project, I've been intending to create a repository of documents which may become useful to testers within that group in the future. It occurred to me that one document in particular, an article which has been printed and reprinted in Clan Henderson newsletter An Canach, should be shared with a wider audience in hopes that it will begin to help researchers correct misinformation which has been perpetuated for decades.
This article concerns the persistent myth of a Thomas Henderson who supposedly emigrated from Dumfries and arrived in Jamestown in April of 1607 (or shortly thereafter). This mythical ancestor comes complete with connections to the Fordell family line (a good example of which can be seen in the work of Lucy Henderson Horton), but that's the case with many early genealogies and loosely-documented Henderson histories both in print and online.
Now. Pay attention to this part. No documentation in support of the existence of a Thomas Henderson of Dumfries or his presence in Jamestown in 1607, or of any actual documented descendants, has ever been found. Ever. In spite of the utter and complete lack of evidence, this pernicious Henderson "founding father" has even penetrated the sacrosanct records of the DAR. It's time to bury this one so that serious researchers who have been led to believe that they descend from Thomas Henderson of Jamestown can begin searching for their actual ancestors. As long as Henderson researchers are distracted by Thomas, their real ancestors -- the ones who sacrificed and braved the wilds of the New World so that we could play on Ancestry.com today -- will never receive the recognition and acknowledgement they deserve.
To help people past the erroneous Thomas, James Henderson III (dec'd) wrote The True Thomas Henderson, an article which was originally published in An Canach in 1990, and was reprinted in 1999 and 2003. The article mentions Thomas's supposed son or grandson, Richard, who married Mary, the daughter of an Ensign Washer,* and delves into clues about an actual Thomas Henderson upon whom the mythical Thomas may have been based.
I am providing links to two versions of the article: a truncated version with editorial comments and an expanded version with full details. I recommend interested parties read both to gain the fullest understanding of the origins of the myth of Thomas Henderson. These articles are posted with permission from Russ Henderson, former editor of An Canach.
Note: In the expanded version of the article the author mentions a "proven lineage" from Gilbert Henderson of Virginia's early Eastern Shore and implies that Gilbert was connected with the early Tidewater Virginia Hendersons. Recent DNA test results indicate that Gilbert Henderson was probably unrelated to the Hendersons of the Tidewater area. The DNA signature of a tester whom we believe may trace back to Gilbert Henderson of Accomack Co VA is a nearly identical match to the DNA results of numerous descendants of James Henderson of early Somerset Co MD. Based on this, we believe that Gilbert and James, who were contemporaries in 1660's Accomack & Northampton Counties, VA, may have been brothers or cousins.
*Ensign is a military designation, not a first name.
This article concerns the persistent myth of a Thomas Henderson who supposedly emigrated from Dumfries and arrived in Jamestown in April of 1607 (or shortly thereafter). This mythical ancestor comes complete with connections to the Fordell family line (a good example of which can be seen in the work of Lucy Henderson Horton), but that's the case with many early genealogies and loosely-documented Henderson histories both in print and online.
Now. Pay attention to this part. No documentation in support of the existence of a Thomas Henderson of Dumfries or his presence in Jamestown in 1607, or of any actual documented descendants, has ever been found. Ever. In spite of the utter and complete lack of evidence, this pernicious Henderson "founding father" has even penetrated the sacrosanct records of the DAR. It's time to bury this one so that serious researchers who have been led to believe that they descend from Thomas Henderson of Jamestown can begin searching for their actual ancestors. As long as Henderson researchers are distracted by Thomas, their real ancestors -- the ones who sacrificed and braved the wilds of the New World so that we could play on Ancestry.com today -- will never receive the recognition and acknowledgement they deserve.
To help people past the erroneous Thomas, James Henderson III (dec'd) wrote The True Thomas Henderson, an article which was originally published in An Canach in 1990, and was reprinted in 1999 and 2003. The article mentions Thomas's supposed son or grandson, Richard, who married Mary, the daughter of an Ensign Washer,* and delves into clues about an actual Thomas Henderson upon whom the mythical Thomas may have been based.
I am providing links to two versions of the article: a truncated version with editorial comments and an expanded version with full details. I recommend interested parties read both to gain the fullest understanding of the origins of the myth of Thomas Henderson. These articles are posted with permission from Russ Henderson, former editor of An Canach.
Note: In the expanded version of the article the author mentions a "proven lineage" from Gilbert Henderson of Virginia's early Eastern Shore and implies that Gilbert was connected with the early Tidewater Virginia Hendersons. Recent DNA test results indicate that Gilbert Henderson was probably unrelated to the Hendersons of the Tidewater area. The DNA signature of a tester whom we believe may trace back to Gilbert Henderson of Accomack Co VA is a nearly identical match to the DNA results of numerous descendants of James Henderson of early Somerset Co MD. Based on this, we believe that Gilbert and James, who were contemporaries in 1660's Accomack & Northampton Counties, VA, may have been brothers or cousins.
*Ensign is a military designation, not a first name.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Photos and Video from Visits to the New River (Onslow Co NC) and the Pocomoke River (Somerset Co MD)
I have just uploaded a number of photos and videos of interest to the Hendersons of Somerset County, MD and Onslow County, NC.
Last month during a trip to Onslow County, Tom and I visited Sneads Ferry so that I could finally see the New River property where mariner ancestor James Henderson Sr. settled in the early 18th century. Henderson's original deed from Nathaniel Averitt was lost in the 1752 hurricane that destroyed the county courthouse, but we know that he was a neighbor to Edmond Ennett (who operated Ennett's Ferry, now known as Sneads Ferry). I believe Everett's Creek was the dividing line between the Henderson and Ennett properties. The mouth of creek can be seen in this video, and James Henderson's property is to the right (north) side. The property is now part of Camp Lejeune and access to the area is restricted due to blasting.
I took a number of photos of the New River, and also of Stump Sound, where the property of the allied Nixon family was located.
Just this past week I met with fellow-researcher Robin Henderson at the Nabb Research Center in Somerset County, Maryland. After the library closed we drove down to the ruins of Coventry Parish in Rehobeth, Maryland. Across the street is Old Rehoboth Church, the oldest Presbyterian Church in America. Both churches are located just a few hundred yards from banks of the Pocomoke River. This river, which flows through the Great Cypress Swamp, has the distinction of being the deepest river for its width in the world. The eerily still, black water served to act as a mirror in my photos and video.
Across the river is the Hickory Point Natural Area. As best we can tell from original plats and land grant records, James Henderson Senior (the original immigrant bef 1661 and progenitor of our line) probably owned property somewhere along the river in the Hickory Point Natural Area, and therefore his land is likely within range of the camera as we pan past the area. His son, John Henderson Sr., operated a ferry across the river, which likely landed near the docks where we are filming, as it would have been convenient to the church and village.
Last month during a trip to Onslow County, Tom and I visited Sneads Ferry so that I could finally see the New River property where mariner ancestor James Henderson Sr. settled in the early 18th century. Henderson's original deed from Nathaniel Averitt was lost in the 1752 hurricane that destroyed the county courthouse, but we know that he was a neighbor to Edmond Ennett (who operated Ennett's Ferry, now known as Sneads Ferry). I believe Everett's Creek was the dividing line between the Henderson and Ennett properties. The mouth of creek can be seen in this video, and James Henderson's property is to the right (north) side. The property is now part of Camp Lejeune and access to the area is restricted due to blasting.
I took a number of photos of the New River, and also of Stump Sound, where the property of the allied Nixon family was located.
Just this past week I met with fellow-researcher Robin Henderson at the Nabb Research Center in Somerset County, Maryland. After the library closed we drove down to the ruins of Coventry Parish in Rehobeth, Maryland. Across the street is Old Rehoboth Church, the oldest Presbyterian Church in America. Both churches are located just a few hundred yards from banks of the Pocomoke River. This river, which flows through the Great Cypress Swamp, has the distinction of being the deepest river for its width in the world. The eerily still, black water served to act as a mirror in my photos and video.
Across the river is the Hickory Point Natural Area. As best we can tell from original plats and land grant records, James Henderson Senior (the original immigrant bef 1661 and progenitor of our line) probably owned property somewhere along the river in the Hickory Point Natural Area, and therefore his land is likely within range of the camera as we pan past the area. His son, John Henderson Sr., operated a ferry across the river, which likely landed near the docks where we are filming, as it would have been convenient to the church and village.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
New DNA Testing and Research Answers Questions Surrounding Old Kennedy Family Traditions
This article was originally made available to descendants of David Kennedy and Elizabeth Conway Kennedy of Russell County, Virginia, in August of 2015. These important new discoveries change our understanding of many longstanding family traditions, so I am making our findings available on the public blog so that current and future researchers of this couple and their children will not waste time pursuing the now-disproven relationships which are recorded in older works of family history.
Back in January, a Brooks cousin made me aware of several Kennedy relations on Facebook, with whom I promptly connected since I was about to renew my efforts to push the Kennedy branch of my family tree a bit further back in time. My great-great-grandmother, Ibbie Kennedy Brooks, never knew her father, Wiley F. Kennedy, since he died several months prior to her birth. However, she must have had some degree of contact with his family, as fanciful tales of the Kennedys and of a great “inheritance” in Ireland were passed down from her to my grandmother, and from my grandmother to me. A bit of preliminary research in my teens led me to consider these stories highly unlikely, but until recently I had not had the time to pursue the facts of the matter. What little I knew included nothing to indicate any particular wealth or status of the family in Ireland (in fact, quite the opposite), but what did intrigue me was the great tragedy that had befallen the Kennedy family in the spring of 1800, when David Kennedy and his wife, Elizabeth Conway Kennedy, both met sudden and unexpected ends. The couple left two small orphans, one of whom, John Kennedy, was to become the progenitor of the large family of Kennedys of Russell and Wise Counties in Virginia.
Newly-discovered Kennedy cousin Laura Smith kindly took the time to bring me up to speed on the current state of our Kennedy family’s research efforts. I had recently stumbled across an online copy of The Name and Family of Kennedy and Powers, Wade P. Kennedy’s booklet of family history. Wade P. Kennedy, born 1868, is a descendant of Pleasant H. Kennedy. When I questioned Laura about sources and details to support Wade P. Kennedy’s stories, she advised me to approach the anecdotes with a degree of caution, and explained that some of them were as yet unverified. She added that cousin Curtis Wade Kennedy (1938-ca 2010) had dedicated years of his life to attempting to locate documentation which would conclusively prove Wade P. Kennedy’s assertions that our line descended from the family of Captain Joseph Kennedy of Augusta County, Virginia -- but his most earnest and concerted efforts had failed to produce such proof. Ginger (Rose) Senter, also a newly discovered Kennedy cousin, concurred with Laura’s assessment of Wade P. Kennedy’s work as well as that of Curtis Wade Kennedy.
It occurred to me that this is the very sort of conundrum that lends itself to a DNA testing solution. A simple comparison of testers from the Augusta County Kennedy line(s) and our own line would instantly settle the question once and for all. Laura set about locating volunteers from our family to test, and I contacted James “Jim” E. Kennedy, the Kennedy Surname Project administrator for Family Tree DNA to see if the project currently included any testers who could prove a lineage back to the Augusta County Kennedys. As luck would have it, Jim himself descends from that group, so half the battle was already fought. He informed me that there is a strong cluster of matching testers who had documented paper trails back to that same family, so all that remained was to secure our testers for comparison.
Laura located two volunteers from the line of Pleasant H. Kennedy (1831-1916), and a third from the line of John Fletcher Kennedy (1846-1929). After a not-unusual delay of approximately 10-12 weeks we began to see results that clearly explained why Curtis Wade Kennedy had not been successful in finding documentation to support a connection to the Augusta County Kennedy family. Simply put, we are not related to them.
I realize that this is not the outcome that a number of family members (including myself) had hoped for, although it was probably a result not entirely unexpected by some. It would have been so much easier to learn that we did indeed descend from that distinguished and well-documented group, and consequently double our efforts to find the “proof” that must be there. It is both inconvenient and unsettling to realize that a decades-old and dearly-held family tradition must be discarded as we face the fact that we must look elsewhere for our David Kennedy’s origins. However, now that we know with certainty that we should stop pursuing research of the Augusta County group, we are freed up to begin pursuing the correct group -- if only we knew what group that was!
The second disappointment dealt to our testing effort was that while our three testers are a perfect match to each other (thereby establishing a strong genetic signature for our line for future comparison purposes), we did not match any of the large number of other Kennedys who are currently participating in the surname project. I have been surprised by just how common the Kennedy surname was in early America, and as a result there are quite a few descendants of these early, unrelated men in the project who do not match us (or anyone else). This proliferation of very early Kennedys makes our own research task even more challenging.
Jim Kennedy informed me that many testers are not serious about genealogy and quite a few tested solely in the hope of gaining bragging rights to a relationship with the President John F. Kennedy family. When they didn’t match that family (and almost none did), they quickly lost interest and failed to submit their own lineage details for the benefit of the overall project. This situation makes it difficult to compare our test results to other testers in order to eliminate false leads. For example, if our paper research identifies a potential Kennedy lead in Pennsylvania, we could (in theory) check the current database of DNA testers to see if any testers claim to be descended from the target in Pennsylvania, and we could then potentially eliminate the lead if the DNA results did not match us. However, the large number of testers who have failed to provide information about their ancestry somewhat frustrates this method.
So the bottom line result of the testing as it currently stands is that 1) we do not match the Augusta County, VA Kennedy family from whom we traditionally believed that we descended, and 2) we do not currently match any other Kennedys who are participating in the official Kennedy surname project. The thing to bear in mind, however, is that new testers are continually being added, and just because we do not have any matches today does not mean that we won’t have a match tomorrow, or next week, or next month or even next year. I once waited six years for a single match to a man I tested from Kentucky, but when the match came, it provided all the information we had hoped it would. The moral of this story is do not lose hope. The match will come. One fine day, it will come.
In the mean time, we are pursuing additional leads and an upgrade called the SNP Backbone Test. That test will help us more precisely narrow down our haplogroup and will shed some light on the deep ancestry and origins of our Kennedy lineage. In other words, our Kennedy family’s “ancient history.” While the results are unlikely to be of immediate value in helping us connect our David Kennedy of Russell County to his roots in Ireland (or less likely, Scotland), it may be an important first step in that effort. One other Kennedy tester (unrelated to us) was able to use such testing to pinpoint his exact haplogroup signature (called the “SNP”), which he then cleverly used to identify matching surname clusters in a single county in Ireland. By narrowing down his search geographically he was able to pick up his ancestor’s trail in the correct Irish county and trace back several generations. I am hoping to eventually achieve similar results for our family.
So that, my friends and relations, is the current state of affairs. I would like to make clear that these results should in no way diminish the sincere and dedicated efforts made by Wade P. Kennedy (or more recently by Curtis Wade Kennedy) to trace our family’s lineage. The astonishing volume of original courthouse documentation and obscure (often out-of-print) historical writings which have recently become available online has given us an advantage that neither man enjoyed when they attempted to piece together a history for our family from precious few reliable clues. Had either one of them had access to DNA testing or to the sheer volume of readily-available documentation (including many first-hand sources and original documents) that is available to us now, I have no doubt that either or both would have reached precisely the same conclusions at which we have arrived.
Having said this, I do need to address one additional error which springs from Wade P. Kennedy’s booklet: the tradition of our connection to Captain David Kennedy and Lt. John Smith of the Augusta County militia.
Once again owing to the volume of reliable primary and secondary source information that has recently been made available online, I was able to identify the Captain David Kennedy in question and follow him through the decades of the mid-to-late 18th century. That David Kennedy, a 5’7” merchant born in 1731 in Argyll, Scotland, enlisted in Robert Stewart’s Troop of Light Horse in November 1754. He served as a Captain and Quartermaster in the British Army and can frequently be found in records of Stewart’s unit during the French and Indian War. After the war, and likely on the strength of their military acquaintance, future President George Washington agreed to rent to Kennedy a farm located on Bullskin Creek (in present-day West Virginia). Washington’s confidence in Kennedy was misplaced. Kennedy failed to pay the agreed rent and skipped out, leaving a significant debt which Washington (through a series of factors and friends), attempted to collect for over a decade. After vacating Washington’s Bullskin Creek property, Kennedy removed to Winchester, in Frederick County, VA, where Washington continued to pursue him for payment. All attempts were met with frustration as letter after letter to Washington from his collection agents explained Kennedy’s reduced circumstances and advised Washington that the money was likely never to be had. Washington must not have been the only person Kennedy owed. By July of 1790 Kennedy had been sentenced to live within Winchester’s prison bounds on account of his debts. An increasingly aggravated Washington had asked Daniel Morgan, a friend and resident of Frederick County, to attempt to collect from Kennedy, but Morgan reported that “a bad woman which [Kennedy] kept for a house keeper made such a Deep stroke at him that [it had] frustrated all [Morgan’s] designs & left the old man poor indeed.” Morgan went on to report that Kennedy had “an estate in Scotland worth about￡500 sterling which he has been offering for [sale]” -- but I have been able to find no record of the estate in Scotland, nor any sale thereof, nor any satisfaction of Washington’s debt.
A ￡500 (presumably sterling) estate was substantial money in 1790 and had Kennedy been successful in liquidating the estate, he would likely have had sufficient funds not only to pay his debts, but to establish himself as a man of means in the county. A man that I have every reason to believe is the same Captain David Kennedy was appointed first High Sheriff of Frederick County and was a mason in the Winchester Lodge in the late 1790’s, so it appears he may indeed have been able to redeem himself.
I have found no evidence that Captain David Kennedy of Stewart’s troop (later of Bullskin Creek and Winchester, Frederick County VA) ever married. The fact that he kept an unscrupulous housekeeper tends to make me think he lacked a wife (not to mention discernment concerning women). As Wade P. Kennedy stated, Captain David did in fact serve in the Revolutionary militia of the district of “West Augusta” (an area that encompassed far more territory than present day Augusta County and included parts of western Pennsylvania), and his Lieutenant was indeed John Smith. However, there is no evidence that either man ever set foot in Russell County. Their service during the Revolution is reasonably well documented, and with the exception of a couple of brief details into Ohio and Pennsylvania, was mostly confined to the area around Frederick County, VA, where Kennedy was assigned to keep the peace and to guard a contingent of Hessian prisoners of war.
Our David Kennedy first appears in Russell County VA in 1790 when he obtained 50 acres of land from one Richard Price. If you will remember, Captain David Kennedy was confined to Winchester’s prison bounds in July of 1790.
Our David married Elizabeth Conway in Russell County in 1792 (although the month and day are illegible). Captain David apparently never married (no modern-day descendants appear to be claiming his lineage).
On 25 November 1793 our David Kennedy was still in Russell County VA where he was fined for “profanely swearing 3 oaths.” In November of 1793 the formerly destitute Captain David of Frederick County had apparently made good and was serving his first term as sheriff of that county, where we find records of him being bonded and appointed to his position of public trust on the 7th and 8th of November.
Captain David is still in Frederick County in October of 1794, the same year our David Kennedy shows up on the tax lists of Russell County VA.
The records of 1790-1794 appear to rule out the possibility that the two David Kennedys were the same. While not technically impossible, it is a great deal more than highly improbable.
So unfortunately we must lay another cherished family tradition to rest. If anyone can provide additional details or records to disprove my conclusion regarding Captain David Kennedy of Frederick County, VA, who served with Lt. John Smith in the militia of the district of West Augusta, I will happily investigate them. (If anyone would like to review the records I collected regarding Capt/Col David Kennedy, my 33 pages of working notes and unedited comments and observations are available online as a Google Doc.
In the mean time, I will continue to to pursue traditional methods of research as time allows, carefully monitor new DNA matches, and attempt to advance our knowledge of our Kennedy ancestry through SNP testing. While I realize that it may take time to absorb the implications of what we have recently learned and to come to terms with the small varying degrees of disappointment I know we must all feel, I hope you will join me in feeling encouraged that we can release old errors to make way for new research that will give us a truer picture of our family’s shared history. I will make every effort to keep the family apprised of new discoveries and developments on all fronts. My most profound thanks to all of you whose generous contributions made this valuable testing possible.
Just remember, this is not the “end result” of what we’ll learn from our tests, only the beginning.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Memoirs of Susannah Brooks Johnson Provide Priceless Snapshots of late-18th Century Brooks Family
For descendants of Matthew and Elizabeth Warren Brooks of 18th-century Virginia, few resources can match the immediacy and relevance of Susannah Brooks Johnson's book Recollections of the Rev. John Johnson and his Home: An Autobiography.
Dictated to son Adam Clarke Johnson in 1869, 75-year-old Susannah's memoir paints a vivid picture of her childhood in the idyllic hamlet of Abbeville, South Carolina. She names parents (Thomas and Susannah Teague Brooks) and grandparents as well as aunts and uncles (and their spouses), describes where each lived (or moved), and relates engaging anecdotes and character sketches about many.
Her description of the incidents surrounding the Revolution (her maternal grandfather was captured and hanged by a local Tory contingent), strips the shiny patriotic gloss of the war away to reveal the hardship and terror of day-to-day life during a brutal and divisive conflict.
Hardship was to become the theme of Susannah's life, though she never descends into self pity in her narrative. Raised Quaker, Susannah fell under the spell of Methodist circuit preacher John Johnson, whom she soon married (over the objections of her parents, who correctly predicted a life of struggle and generously forbore the "I told you so's" when she occasionally had to turn to them for help). Left alone for weeks or months at a time on the frontier, Susannah faced a number of challenges resulting from isolation, illness, and loss as she attempted to cope with single-handedly tending a fledgling homestead and raising the couple's children.
Although only the first two chapters of the book deal with Susannah's ancestry and family history, her own story is captivating and the book is a must-read for anyone with ties to this Brooks family line. This would include the Quaker Brookses of NC, the Brookses of northwest SC and also those of Cocke County TN. To learn more about this Brooks family line, visit the Brooks section of my website. Susannah's book is available on Archive.org in numerous electronic formats, and hard copies can be ordered from Amazon.com.
Dictated to son Adam Clarke Johnson in 1869, 75-year-old Susannah's memoir paints a vivid picture of her childhood in the idyllic hamlet of Abbeville, South Carolina. She names parents (Thomas and Susannah Teague Brooks) and grandparents as well as aunts and uncles (and their spouses), describes where each lived (or moved), and relates engaging anecdotes and character sketches about many.
Her description of the incidents surrounding the Revolution (her maternal grandfather was captured and hanged by a local Tory contingent), strips the shiny patriotic gloss of the war away to reveal the hardship and terror of day-to-day life during a brutal and divisive conflict.
Hardship was to become the theme of Susannah's life, though she never descends into self pity in her narrative. Raised Quaker, Susannah fell under the spell of Methodist circuit preacher John Johnson, whom she soon married (over the objections of her parents, who correctly predicted a life of struggle and generously forbore the "I told you so's" when she occasionally had to turn to them for help). Left alone for weeks or months at a time on the frontier, Susannah faced a number of challenges resulting from isolation, illness, and loss as she attempted to cope with single-handedly tending a fledgling homestead and raising the couple's children.
Although only the first two chapters of the book deal with Susannah's ancestry and family history, her own story is captivating and the book is a must-read for anyone with ties to this Brooks family line. This would include the Quaker Brookses of NC, the Brookses of northwest SC and also those of Cocke County TN. To learn more about this Brooks family line, visit the Brooks section of my website. Susannah's book is available on Archive.org in numerous electronic formats, and hard copies can be ordered from Amazon.com.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
ISO A Direct-line Male Descendant of Gilbert Henderson of Northampton and/or Accomack Counties, Virginia (ca 1652+)
I am currently in search of a direct-line male descendant of Gilbert Henderson of Northampton and Accomack Counties, Virginia, to do a Y-DNA test for our Henderson family. We hope the results of the test will reveal whether or not Gilbert was related to James Henderson Sr. who can be found in records of those counties contemporaneously. We have a number of strongly-matching DNA signatures for descendants of James, but no tests for any of Gilbert's descendants.
Gilbert Henderson (frequently also spelled Gilbert Hinderson) first appears in the records of Northampton County, Virginia, in May of 1652 when Thomas Johnson Jr used him as a headright to patent 450 acres in the Pongoteague Creek area.
This does not necessarily mean that Gilbert was an indentured man of Johnson's, nor does it mean Gilbert ever lived on or near the Pongoteague Creek property, nor does it even mean that 1652 is the year Gilbert arrived in Virginia. Headright certificates could be bought, sold, traded and held for years before an owner used them to stake an actual claim to property. (Due to systemic fraud, a person could even be claimed as a headright of multiple properties for various enterprising land grabbers.) The only thing we can know for sure from this record is that Gilbert Henderson had entered the colony of Virginia sometime prior to May 1652. He may have been an indentured man to Johnson. He may have lived on the property Johnson patented. But then again, he may not have.
In 1657 Nicholas Waddelow assigned a 400 acre patent called "Gabriel's Island" to Robert King, John Watts, Gilbert Henderson and Robert Blake (the latter of whom deeded his quarter back to Waddelow's widow). It is not clear what Gilbert did with his portion of the island (now called Watts Island). The records tell that "after severall other assignments" the island was sold to Walter Taylor.
Gilbert makes his next appearance in the records of Hungars Parish (Northampton County, VA) on 25th March 1660 when he married Mary Major, daughter of William and Mary Major. Here he is called "Gilbert Hinders." In April of 1661 the couple baptized their only known daughter, Bridget (entered in the parish register as "ye daughter of Gilbert and Mary Henderson").
Sometime around 1666 (per a 1688 Northampton record) Gilbert and Mary had had their only other proven child, John. The fact that both Gilbert Henderson and James Henderson Sr named their firstborn sons John allows me to nurse the tenuous hope that the two men might have been brothers. Naming conventions of the era often saw the firstborn son named for the father's father. If one or both of these Henderson men were following the traditional naming scheme, then one or both had a father named John. Ideally, the same John. But only the DNA can tell.
By October of 1664, Gilbert Henderson was moving up in the world. Using headrights Wm. Cartright, Wm. Chamberlain, John Clark, Robert Compton, Thomas Jones, Thomas Walter, George Crooke, Edward Lenthall, Robert Dormer, and Timothy Terrill, Gilbert patented 500 acres for himself and Mary near the Makepungo River in Accomack County (which had until recently been the northern half of Northampton County). This land was neighboring that of Henry Bishop, whose daughter (or possibly granddaughter), Sarah, would marry a son of James Henderson Sr.
In 1665, Gilbert and Mary sold 250 acres of their newly-acquired tract to Edmond Joynes, in whose care the widowed Mary would leave 11yo son John upon her own untimely death. Edmond may have been connected with Mary's family in some way, as he used her maiden name, "Major," as his second son's given name in 1687. Although his wife's name was believed to be Mary, I do not think Edmond married Mary Major Henderson since he married in 1685 (per Miles Files) and the widow Henderson was dead by December 18, 1677. In the 1677 record which directs the custody of John Henderson to Joynes, John is called an orphan, so both Gilbert and Mary Major Henderson were dead. John was the only child mentioned, leading me to believe that Bridget. who would have been about sixteen in 1677, had either died in childhood, or was already married. In 1712, Gilbert Henderson the Younger (son of John Henderson, and grandson of the original Gilbert and Mary) would witness Edmond Joynes's will.
According to Whitelaw's Virginia's Eastern Shore, Gilbert Henderson the Elder died in intestate. We have no way of knowing if he and Mary had children other than Bridget and John, however, not a single record has come to light to indicate that there are descendants from Gilbert Henderson other than through his sole known surviving son, John Henderson of Accomack County, Virginia.
John Henderson, son of Gilbert the Elder and Mary Major Henderson, married twice, By his first wife (name unknown) he had three sons: Gilbert the Younger, Robert, and John Junior. By his second wife, Mary Ann Savage, he had no sons. The ideal candidate for our DNA test will be able to prove a direct-line male Henderson ancestry back to one of John's three sons or five known grandsons, as follows:
Gilbert the Younger of Northampton or Accomack County VA married Mary Green and had sons John (b ca 1710), Gilbert III (b ca 1717), and Jacob (b ca 1720). Gilbert and Mary Green Henderson also had three daughters, but their descendants do not carry the Y-chromosome.
Robert Henderson m Elizabeth _______ and sold his land in Accomack to brother Gilbert the Younger in 1725. Shortly thereafter (1727) a Robert Henderson appears in the Nanticoke Hundred of Somerset County, MD. In 1740 a dependent, Daniel, appears in the household of Robert Henderson. They will remain together in the household until 1748, when Robert disappears, presumably having passed away. Daniel will continue to appear on the Somerset County tax lists until they end in 1759, and he can be found in subsequent records of the county.
John Henderson Jr is not mentioned in the 1722 will of John Henderson Sr, however, the will of Gilbert the Younger clearly mentions his brother John Henderson. A George Henderson is mentioned in John Sr's will, and since neither Gilbert the Younger nor Robert were known to have had a son named George, we can only presume that George belonged to John Jr.
All three of these men and their descendants are believed to have lived on the Eastern Shore for at least 1-2 more generations, and descendants are doubtless still living there today. There are a number of websites that attempt to connect the Hendersons of the western shore (Virginia's Tidewater and Northern Neck) to the elder Gilbert Henderson of Accomack and Northampton Counties in Virginia. None of these sites provide any documentation or offer any proof of such a connection and I believe that earlier researchers may have simply jumped to conclusions since Gilbert is one of the earliest Hendersons to appear in America. A simple review of proven parish dates, land records and court orders for Gilbert and Mary Major Henderson quickly disprove a number of the supposed connections found in online trees.
Bearing this in mind, the DNA tester we seek will be able to provide solid documentation back to one of the three sons of John Henderson Sr of Accomack Co VA, or to one of his known grandsons, John the Younger, Gilbert III, Jacob (not to be confused with the son of Francis Henderson of Somerset Co MD), Daniel, or George.
If you believe your lineage leads back to one of these men, please contact me to discuss potential DNA testing suitability.
UPDDATE 10/30/15: An old article in the Clan Henderson newsletter An Canach mentions Gilbert Henderson and states "Gilbert and his descendants have a provable lineage down to this day..." and implies a relationship to the early Tidewater Virginia Hendersons, however, as far as I or anyone involved in the Henderson DNA project knows, there are no confirmed (or claimed) DNA testers from Gilbert's line to prove or disprove a connection with the Tidewater Hendersons. DNA test results from a tester whom we believe descends from Gilbert's line (but have not yet proved) matches the results of descendants of James Henderson of Somerset County MD.
Gilbert Henderson (frequently also spelled Gilbert Hinderson) first appears in the records of Northampton County, Virginia, in May of 1652 when Thomas Johnson Jr used him as a headright to patent 450 acres in the Pongoteague Creek area.
This does not necessarily mean that Gilbert was an indentured man of Johnson's, nor does it mean Gilbert ever lived on or near the Pongoteague Creek property, nor does it even mean that 1652 is the year Gilbert arrived in Virginia. Headright certificates could be bought, sold, traded and held for years before an owner used them to stake an actual claim to property. (Due to systemic fraud, a person could even be claimed as a headright of multiple properties for various enterprising land grabbers.) The only thing we can know for sure from this record is that Gilbert Henderson had entered the colony of Virginia sometime prior to May 1652. He may have been an indentured man to Johnson. He may have lived on the property Johnson patented. But then again, he may not have.
In 1657 Nicholas Waddelow assigned a 400 acre patent called "Gabriel's Island" to Robert King, John Watts, Gilbert Henderson and Robert Blake (the latter of whom deeded his quarter back to Waddelow's widow). It is not clear what Gilbert did with his portion of the island (now called Watts Island). The records tell that "after severall other assignments" the island was sold to Walter Taylor.
Gilbert makes his next appearance in the records of Hungars Parish (Northampton County, VA) on 25th March 1660 when he married Mary Major, daughter of William and Mary Major. Here he is called "Gilbert Hinders." In April of 1661 the couple baptized their only known daughter, Bridget (entered in the parish register as "ye daughter of Gilbert and Mary Henderson").
Sometime around 1666 (per a 1688 Northampton record) Gilbert and Mary had had their only other proven child, John. The fact that both Gilbert Henderson and James Henderson Sr named their firstborn sons John allows me to nurse the tenuous hope that the two men might have been brothers. Naming conventions of the era often saw the firstborn son named for the father's father. If one or both of these Henderson men were following the traditional naming scheme, then one or both had a father named John. Ideally, the same John. But only the DNA can tell.
By October of 1664, Gilbert Henderson was moving up in the world. Using headrights Wm. Cartright, Wm. Chamberlain, John Clark, Robert Compton, Thomas Jones, Thomas Walter, George Crooke, Edward Lenthall, Robert Dormer, and Timothy Terrill, Gilbert patented 500 acres for himself and Mary near the Makepungo River in Accomack County (which had until recently been the northern half of Northampton County). This land was neighboring that of Henry Bishop, whose daughter (or possibly granddaughter), Sarah, would marry a son of James Henderson Sr.
In 1665, Gilbert and Mary sold 250 acres of their newly-acquired tract to Edmond Joynes, in whose care the widowed Mary would leave 11yo son John upon her own untimely death. Edmond may have been connected with Mary's family in some way, as he used her maiden name, "Major," as his second son's given name in 1687. Although his wife's name was believed to be Mary, I do not think Edmond married Mary Major Henderson since he married in 1685 (per Miles Files) and the widow Henderson was dead by December 18, 1677. In the 1677 record which directs the custody of John Henderson to Joynes, John is called an orphan, so both Gilbert and Mary Major Henderson were dead. John was the only child mentioned, leading me to believe that Bridget. who would have been about sixteen in 1677, had either died in childhood, or was already married. In 1712, Gilbert Henderson the Younger (son of John Henderson, and grandson of the original Gilbert and Mary) would witness Edmond Joynes's will.
According to Whitelaw's Virginia's Eastern Shore, Gilbert Henderson the Elder died in intestate. We have no way of knowing if he and Mary had children other than Bridget and John, however, not a single record has come to light to indicate that there are descendants from Gilbert Henderson other than through his sole known surviving son, John Henderson of Accomack County, Virginia.
John Henderson, son of Gilbert the Elder and Mary Major Henderson, married twice, By his first wife (name unknown) he had three sons: Gilbert the Younger, Robert, and John Junior. By his second wife, Mary Ann Savage, he had no sons. The ideal candidate for our DNA test will be able to prove a direct-line male Henderson ancestry back to one of John's three sons or five known grandsons, as follows:
Gilbert the Younger of Northampton or Accomack County VA married Mary Green and had sons John (b ca 1710), Gilbert III (b ca 1717), and Jacob (b ca 1720). Gilbert and Mary Green Henderson also had three daughters, but their descendants do not carry the Y-chromosome.
Robert Henderson m Elizabeth _______ and sold his land in Accomack to brother Gilbert the Younger in 1725. Shortly thereafter (1727) a Robert Henderson appears in the Nanticoke Hundred of Somerset County, MD. In 1740 a dependent, Daniel, appears in the household of Robert Henderson. They will remain together in the household until 1748, when Robert disappears, presumably having passed away. Daniel will continue to appear on the Somerset County tax lists until they end in 1759, and he can be found in subsequent records of the county.
John Henderson Jr is not mentioned in the 1722 will of John Henderson Sr, however, the will of Gilbert the Younger clearly mentions his brother John Henderson. A George Henderson is mentioned in John Sr's will, and since neither Gilbert the Younger nor Robert were known to have had a son named George, we can only presume that George belonged to John Jr.
All three of these men and their descendants are believed to have lived on the Eastern Shore for at least 1-2 more generations, and descendants are doubtless still living there today. There are a number of websites that attempt to connect the Hendersons of the western shore (Virginia's Tidewater and Northern Neck) to the elder Gilbert Henderson of Accomack and Northampton Counties in Virginia. None of these sites provide any documentation or offer any proof of such a connection and I believe that earlier researchers may have simply jumped to conclusions since Gilbert is one of the earliest Hendersons to appear in America. A simple review of proven parish dates, land records and court orders for Gilbert and Mary Major Henderson quickly disprove a number of the supposed connections found in online trees.
Bearing this in mind, the DNA tester we seek will be able to provide solid documentation back to one of the three sons of John Henderson Sr of Accomack Co VA, or to one of his known grandsons, John the Younger, Gilbert III, Jacob (not to be confused with the son of Francis Henderson of Somerset Co MD), Daniel, or George.
If you believe your lineage leads back to one of these men, please contact me to discuss potential DNA testing suitability.
UPDDATE 10/30/15: An old article in the Clan Henderson newsletter An Canach mentions Gilbert Henderson and states "Gilbert and his descendants have a provable lineage down to this day..." and implies a relationship to the early Tidewater Virginia Hendersons, however, as far as I or anyone involved in the Henderson DNA project knows, there are no confirmed (or claimed) DNA testers from Gilbert's line to prove or disprove a connection with the Tidewater Hendersons. DNA test results from a tester whom we believe descends from Gilbert's line (but have not yet proved) matches the results of descendants of James Henderson of Somerset County MD.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
A Brief Introduction to Eastern Shore Justice. Grab Your Popcorn.
Last night as I was reading through Warren Billings's The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century, I came across a couple of county court records that I just had to share.
In the chapter on Self-Government, Billings offers textbook cases on various matters of civil justice. The bawdy indignity of these records is a reassuring reminder that our ancestors were no better behaved than we (in some cases, worse), and that people and things never really change. Well, no, I take that back. Some things do change, and for the better. For instance, we no longer drag people from the sterns of canoes (between cow pens, in shark-infested waters, no less) as retribution for mild insults, and only rarely do we require them stand on up-turned buckets in church aisles, wrapped in sheets and holding aloft "white wands" while repeating whatever demeaning phrases the local preacher might have scripted for them.
The players in these dramas would have been known, at least in passing, to our Henderson, Bishop and Barnaby relatives of the lower Delmarva Peninsula. So dim the lights, grab your popcorn, sit back and enjoy the appalling spectacle of 17th-century justice.
CHARACTER DEFAMATION, 1634 (Pages 95-96)
Northampton County Order Book, 1632-1640, fol. 34
At this Court Edward Drew preferred a petition against Joane Butler for caling of his wife common C*nted hoare and upon due examination, and the Deposition of John Halloway* and William Basely who affirmeath the same [on] oath to be true that the syd Joane Butler used those words. Upon due examination it is thought fit by this board that the syd Joane Butler shal be drawen over the Kings Creeke at the starne of a boat or kanew from one kow pen to the other, or else the next Sabath day in the tyme of the devyne servis betwext the first and second lesson present her selfe befor the minister and say after him as followeth, I Joane Butler doe acknowledge to have called Marie Drew hoare, and thereby I confesse I have done her manefest wronge, wherefore I desire before this congregation, that the syd Marie Drew will forgive me, and alsoe that this congregation will joyne, and praye with me, that God may for give me.
So what do you think? A good dragging from the stern of a canoe? Or a public mea culpa in church? I don't know about you, but I'm thinking the water is looking might-y fine, cow manure notwithstanding.
The second record is from across the Bay in Lower Norfolk County where we find early settler and justice Adam Thoroughgood (whose descendants would marry into connected Keeling and Woodhouse families) being brashly dismissed by the wife of William Fowler. In this case there was a single insult, but "several witnesses" gave oath that it did indeed happen as described, and the testimony of two witnesses is recorded (I only relate that of the first).
A JUSTICE SLANDERED (Page 96)
Lower Norfolk County Order Book, 1637-1646 (transcript), 1-2.
The deposition of Gilbert Guy, age 28 years or thereabouts Sworn and Examined, Sayeth That being at the house of William Fowler, discoursing with him concerning [a] certain cask found by the Servant of Capt. Adam Thorougood [one of the justices of the peace] by the Seaside, but afterwards being seized and fetched away by the aforesaid William Fowler, the aforesaid deponent told him it would vex him to have the said casks taken away from him, Thereupon the wife of the said William Fowler asked who would take them from him? The deponent answered Capt. Thorougood, upon which she, the said Anne Fowler, answered, "Let Capt. Thorougood Kiss my arse."... [William Tanner, a second witness, then affirms the conversation as related by Guy] ... Whereas it doth appear to this court by the oaths of several witnesses that Anne Fowler the wife of William Fowler of Linhaven, planter, did in a shameful uncomely and irreverent manner, bid Capt. Adam Thorougood Kiss her arse, with the assignation of many unusual terms, It is therefore ordered that the said Anne Fowler shall, for hir offense, receive twenty Stripes upon the bare shoulders and ask for forgiveness of the said Capt. Thorougood here now in Court and also the ensuing Sunday at Linhaven.
Although it's a little hard to follow, it looks like Thoroughgood's servant found a cask washed up onshore, and William Fowler took it from him (you have to wonder how that played out). Gilbert Guy fully expected that Thoroughgood would demand the return of the property found by his servant, but when he suggest that likely outcome to the Fowlers, Anne Fowler bid the good Captain (in absentia) to kiss her posterior -- and apparently unsatisfied to leave it at that, did so "with the assignation of many unusual terms." Good stuff. I expect she was wishing she could just kiss the Captain's "arse" and call it even by the time they were on about the 5th stripe.
In another case, the text of which I will not relate, Thomas Tooker (Tucker?) and Elizabeth Hauntine, also from the den of iniquity that was Lower Norfolk County, were in 1641 accused of "the foul crime of fornication" and ordered to do penance in the chapel of ease. On the next sabbath the guilty couple were to "...[stand] in the middle alley of the said church upon a stool in a white sheet and a white wand in their hands, all the time of Divine Service and shall say after the Minister such words as he shall deliver unto them before the Congregation there present..." And also to pay court costs.
Things didn't go quite according to plan. Elizabeth refused to play her assigned role when the minister "admonished hir to be sorry for hir foul crime" and then she went totally off script. "Like a most obstinate and graceless person, [she did] cut and mangle the sheet wherein she did penance."
Twenty stripes for her as well. I guess she could bandage herself up with that mangled sheet.
Ahhhh. Don't you wish we could go back to "the good old days?"
*John Holloway was an early Eastern Shore planter and physician. In 1640 James and Sarah Barnaby were listed as headrights for Holloway's Hungars Creek patent of 640a. James Barnaby was mentioned several times in Holloway's will.
Passages are taken from court records as transcribed in: Billings, Warren M. The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century: A Documentary History of Virginia, 1606-1700. Rev. ed. Chapel Hill: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, 2007.
In the chapter on Self-Government, Billings offers textbook cases on various matters of civil justice. The bawdy indignity of these records is a reassuring reminder that our ancestors were no better behaved than we (in some cases, worse), and that people and things never really change. Well, no, I take that back. Some things do change, and for the better. For instance, we no longer drag people from the sterns of canoes (between cow pens, in shark-infested waters, no less) as retribution for mild insults, and only rarely do we require them stand on up-turned buckets in church aisles, wrapped in sheets and holding aloft "white wands" while repeating whatever demeaning phrases the local preacher might have scripted for them.
The players in these dramas would have been known, at least in passing, to our Henderson, Bishop and Barnaby relatives of the lower Delmarva Peninsula. So dim the lights, grab your popcorn, sit back and enjoy the appalling spectacle of 17th-century justice.
CHARACTER DEFAMATION, 1634 (Pages 95-96)
Northampton County Order Book, 1632-1640, fol. 34
At this Court Edward Drew preferred a petition against Joane Butler for caling of his wife common C*nted hoare and upon due examination, and the Deposition of John Halloway* and William Basely who affirmeath the same [on] oath to be true that the syd Joane Butler used those words. Upon due examination it is thought fit by this board that the syd Joane Butler shal be drawen over the Kings Creeke at the starne of a boat or kanew from one kow pen to the other, or else the next Sabath day in the tyme of the devyne servis betwext the first and second lesson present her selfe befor the minister and say after him as followeth, I Joane Butler doe acknowledge to have called Marie Drew hoare, and thereby I confesse I have done her manefest wronge, wherefore I desire before this congregation, that the syd Marie Drew will forgive me, and alsoe that this congregation will joyne, and praye with me, that God may for give me.
So what do you think? A good dragging from the stern of a canoe? Or a public mea culpa in church? I don't know about you, but I'm thinking the water is looking might-y fine, cow manure notwithstanding.
The second record is from across the Bay in Lower Norfolk County where we find early settler and justice Adam Thoroughgood (whose descendants would marry into connected Keeling and Woodhouse families) being brashly dismissed by the wife of William Fowler. In this case there was a single insult, but "several witnesses" gave oath that it did indeed happen as described, and the testimony of two witnesses is recorded (I only relate that of the first).
A JUSTICE SLANDERED (Page 96)
Lower Norfolk County Order Book, 1637-1646 (transcript), 1-2.
The deposition of Gilbert Guy, age 28 years or thereabouts Sworn and Examined, Sayeth That being at the house of William Fowler, discoursing with him concerning [a] certain cask found by the Servant of Capt. Adam Thorougood [one of the justices of the peace] by the Seaside, but afterwards being seized and fetched away by the aforesaid William Fowler, the aforesaid deponent told him it would vex him to have the said casks taken away from him, Thereupon the wife of the said William Fowler asked who would take them from him? The deponent answered Capt. Thorougood, upon which she, the said Anne Fowler, answered, "Let Capt. Thorougood Kiss my arse."... [William Tanner, a second witness, then affirms the conversation as related by Guy] ... Whereas it doth appear to this court by the oaths of several witnesses that Anne Fowler the wife of William Fowler of Linhaven, planter, did in a shameful uncomely and irreverent manner, bid Capt. Adam Thorougood Kiss her arse, with the assignation of many unusual terms, It is therefore ordered that the said Anne Fowler shall, for hir offense, receive twenty Stripes upon the bare shoulders and ask for forgiveness of the said Capt. Thorougood here now in Court and also the ensuing Sunday at Linhaven.
Although it's a little hard to follow, it looks like Thoroughgood's servant found a cask washed up onshore, and William Fowler took it from him (you have to wonder how that played out). Gilbert Guy fully expected that Thoroughgood would demand the return of the property found by his servant, but when he suggest that likely outcome to the Fowlers, Anne Fowler bid the good Captain (in absentia) to kiss her posterior -- and apparently unsatisfied to leave it at that, did so "with the assignation of many unusual terms." Good stuff. I expect she was wishing she could just kiss the Captain's "arse" and call it even by the time they were on about the 5th stripe.
In another case, the text of which I will not relate, Thomas Tooker (Tucker?) and Elizabeth Hauntine, also from the den of iniquity that was Lower Norfolk County, were in 1641 accused of "the foul crime of fornication" and ordered to do penance in the chapel of ease. On the next sabbath the guilty couple were to "...[stand] in the middle alley of the said church upon a stool in a white sheet and a white wand in their hands, all the time of Divine Service and shall say after the Minister such words as he shall deliver unto them before the Congregation there present..." And also to pay court costs.
Things didn't go quite according to plan. Elizabeth refused to play her assigned role when the minister "admonished hir to be sorry for hir foul crime" and then she went totally off script. "Like a most obstinate and graceless person, [she did] cut and mangle the sheet wherein she did penance."
Twenty stripes for her as well. I guess she could bandage herself up with that mangled sheet.
Ahhhh. Don't you wish we could go back to "the good old days?"
*John Holloway was an early Eastern Shore planter and physician. In 1640 James and Sarah Barnaby were listed as headrights for Holloway's Hungars Creek patent of 640a. James Barnaby was mentioned several times in Holloway's will.
Passages are taken from court records as transcribed in: Billings, Warren M. The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century: A Documentary History of Virginia, 1606-1700. Rev. ed. Chapel Hill: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, 2007.
Friday, May 1, 2015
The Most Excellent History of Argalus and Parthenia...
...Being a Choice Flower, Gathered Out of Sir Philip Sydney's Rare Garden (no less).
From the diary of Samuel Pepys
31st Jan 1661 "To the Theatre, and there sat in the pitt among the company of fine ladys, &c.; and the house was exceeding full, to see Argalus and Parthenia, the first time that it hat been acted: and indeed it is good, though wronged by my over great expectations, as all things else are." 5th Feb 1661 "Here we saw Argalus and Parthenia, which I lately saw, but thought pleasant for the dancing and singing, I do not find good for any wit or design therein." 28th Oct 1661 "To the Theatre, and there saw 'Argalus and Parthenia' where a woman acted Parthenia, and come afterwards on the stage in men's clothes, and had the best legs that ever I saw, and I was very well pleased with it."
This afternoon cousin Robin Henderson (*1) emailed me a reminder about this 17th-century poem, the epitome of tragic chivalric romance and likely the source of our ancestor Argalus Henderson's very unusual name.(*2)
The earliest publication date I can currently find for the booklet is 1621, but if the authorship is correctly attributed to Philip Sydney,(*3) English poet and courtier, scholar and solider of the Elizabethan age -- who died in 1586! -- then it must have been written decades earlier. I was only able to find "Argalus and Parthenia" written in 1621 by one Francis Quarles, which can be read online, but I warn you, it's pretty heavy lifting. You might want to reconsider, and spend the evening doing something more exciting. Like laundry.
In 1659 John Quarles, son of Francis (and ultimately a victim of the plague) wrote a sequel, "A Continuation of the History of Argalus and Parthenia." Because the world needed that.(*4)
At one time I had believed that our ancestor's actual name may have been Hercules. His name was spelled thusly on a couple of documents, and if pronounced HURC-u-lus, it is very similar in sound to "ARG-ulus" (as it was sometimes spelled). Maybe Hercules was a semi-literate clerk's stab at a phonetic spelling?
By the time our Argalus was born, probably sometime between 1720-1730, the name had fallen out of favor, along with its equivalent for the female sex, Parthenia.
So, dear reader, I fear our unfortunate ancestor was actually named for the tragic hero of an Elizabethan-era poem rather than the extraordinarily powerful son of Zeus. I call our ancestor unfortunate because how can you go through life with a handle like Argalus? I mean, really!? Was he "Arg" for short? And how does one even pronounce it? Is it Ar-GAY-lus? ARG-uh-lus? AR-ja-lus? No wonder the county clerk made an executive decision in favor of a mythical hero.(*5) He was doing the man a favor.
I guess it could have been worse. He could have been named for the poem's villain: Dimagorus.
The second inconvenience of his name was the fact that no one ever seemed to be able to settle on a spelling for it (including me). For years I've been all over the place with it as I find it spelled so many ways in the records. Since it seems like the original name was actually supposed to be "Argalus" I've decided to standardize my own spelling of it. I will faithfully copy spelling variations when transcribing records, but when writing of the man himself, Argalus it will be. But you will find it written as Archaelaus, Arglas, Arglos, Agulus, and -- give it time -- more are certain to appear.
If you make it through Argalus and Parthenia, and A Continuation of the History of Argalus and Parthenia (assuming you can put your hands on that one), be sure not the miss the final thrilling sequel to the sequel, (this time in prose), "Parthenia's Return to Argalus."
1 Of the Ezekiel Henderson line of Greenville SC.
2 "What a beautiful name," said no one, ever! But believe it or not, I've run across a few other unfortunates who had to live a lifetime with it during the 17th and 18th centuries, so it did have its time in the sun.
3 There is scholarly debate over the authorship, because really, what other kind of debate would there be over the authorship of an obscure 17th-century equivalent of a bodice-ripper?
4 Apparently those wacky inhabitants of the 17th century just loved themselves some Argalus and Parthenia. Couldn't get enough.
5 Just to be clear, I don't know that that's what happened. I'm joking about the executive decision thing. His name really could have been "Argalus Hercules Henderson." Just sayin...
From the diary of Samuel Pepys
31st Jan 1661 "To the Theatre, and there sat in the pitt among the company of fine ladys, &c.; and the house was exceeding full, to see Argalus and Parthenia, the first time that it hat been acted: and indeed it is good, though wronged by my over great expectations, as all things else are." 5th Feb 1661 "Here we saw Argalus and Parthenia, which I lately saw, but thought pleasant for the dancing and singing, I do not find good for any wit or design therein." 28th Oct 1661 "To the Theatre, and there saw 'Argalus and Parthenia' where a woman acted Parthenia, and come afterwards on the stage in men's clothes, and had the best legs that ever I saw, and I was very well pleased with it."
This afternoon cousin Robin Henderson (*1) emailed me a reminder about this 17th-century poem, the epitome of tragic chivalric romance and likely the source of our ancestor Argalus Henderson's very unusual name.(*2)
The earliest publication date I can currently find for the booklet is 1621, but if the authorship is correctly attributed to Philip Sydney,(*3) English poet and courtier, scholar and solider of the Elizabethan age -- who died in 1586! -- then it must have been written decades earlier. I was only able to find "Argalus and Parthenia" written in 1621 by one Francis Quarles, which can be read online, but I warn you, it's pretty heavy lifting. You might want to reconsider, and spend the evening doing something more exciting. Like laundry.
In 1659 John Quarles, son of Francis (and ultimately a victim of the plague) wrote a sequel, "A Continuation of the History of Argalus and Parthenia." Because the world needed that.(*4)
At one time I had believed that our ancestor's actual name may have been Hercules. His name was spelled thusly on a couple of documents, and if pronounced HURC-u-lus, it is very similar in sound to "ARG-ulus" (as it was sometimes spelled). Maybe Hercules was a semi-literate clerk's stab at a phonetic spelling?
By the time our Argalus was born, probably sometime between 1720-1730, the name had fallen out of favor, along with its equivalent for the female sex, Parthenia.
So, dear reader, I fear our unfortunate ancestor was actually named for the tragic hero of an Elizabethan-era poem rather than the extraordinarily powerful son of Zeus. I call our ancestor unfortunate because how can you go through life with a handle like Argalus? I mean, really!? Was he "Arg" for short? And how does one even pronounce it? Is it Ar-GAY-lus? ARG-uh-lus? AR-ja-lus? No wonder the county clerk made an executive decision in favor of a mythical hero.(*5) He was doing the man a favor.
I guess it could have been worse. He could have been named for the poem's villain: Dimagorus.
The second inconvenience of his name was the fact that no one ever seemed to be able to settle on a spelling for it (including me). For years I've been all over the place with it as I find it spelled so many ways in the records. Since it seems like the original name was actually supposed to be "Argalus" I've decided to standardize my own spelling of it. I will faithfully copy spelling variations when transcribing records, but when writing of the man himself, Argalus it will be. But you will find it written as Archaelaus, Arglas, Arglos, Agulus, and -- give it time -- more are certain to appear.
If you make it through Argalus and Parthenia, and A Continuation of the History of Argalus and Parthenia (assuming you can put your hands on that one), be sure not the miss the final thrilling sequel to the sequel, (this time in prose), "Parthenia's Return to Argalus."
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| Click to enlarge. |
1 Of the Ezekiel Henderson line of Greenville SC.
2 "What a beautiful name," said no one, ever! But believe it or not, I've run across a few other unfortunates who had to live a lifetime with it during the 17th and 18th centuries, so it did have its time in the sun.
3 There is scholarly debate over the authorship, because really, what other kind of debate would there be over the authorship of an obscure 17th-century equivalent of a bodice-ripper?
4 Apparently those wacky inhabitants of the 17th century just loved themselves some Argalus and Parthenia. Couldn't get enough.
5 Just to be clear, I don't know that that's what happened. I'm joking about the executive decision thing. His name really could have been "Argalus Hercules Henderson." Just sayin...
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Update #1: Looking for the Link Between "Delmarva" James of 1661 and "Onslow" James of 1732, plus Bishops and Stokelys
If you have not yet read my original article in which I set out prove once and for all whether there is a direct lineal connection between the James Henderson Senior and Junior of early Onslow County NC and the older group of Hendersons on the Delmarva peninsula, take a moment to read that to get up to speed.
For years our two families of Hendersons have operated on the premise that each group had emigrated separately, the first arriving in the very early 1660's on the Delmarva Peninsula (Northampton and Accomack County VA), and the second Henderson family arriving roughly seventy years later, probably through the port of Wilmington, and then taking up land in what became Onslow County NC. To be fair, a couple of researchers from the Delmarva group gave the idea of a direct connection more weight than our group did, but no paper connection had ever been made between the two groups,* so we just had to shrug and wonder. Thanks to the magic of DNA testing, we've learned that not only is there a connection, but potentially a much closer one than we thought. This means we need to have another look at the paper trail.
A slight adjustment to what had been a longstanding chronology for the Onslow group (which I won't go into here, but which I believe is a correct change since it brings my work into alignment with that of Morris Meyers's) has shown several possibilities where the elusive connection might exist.
You'll see at the bottom of the first article the original version of the chart I made to help us quickly identify the places in the Delmarva tree where a direct connection with our James of Onslow might have occurred. In this article I am posting an updated version of the chart in which I believe I have eliminated two of the former candidates that were being investigated as potential ancestors.
I am not a linear researcher. I tend to be a bit like a hummingbird, flitting intensely from question to question, and person to person in the database, but at the end of the day (or week, or month), I typically arrive at a conclusion I can support with reasoning and evidence. I can't say that I'm pursuing this leg of the research in as systematic a way as I'd have liked (too many tangents lead me astray in the web of interconnected families), but I can say that my haphazard method has produced results.
As I said, I have eliminated two of the male candidates from the original chart, both of them sons of John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson. The John Henderson-Elizabeth Barnabe line is prolific and by far the best documented of the Delmarva group. John Henderson's younger brothers William (m. Sarah Bishop) and James Junior (m. Esther) are much less so, so I started with John's only two sons who might be long-shot possibilities: William b ca 1681 and Joseph (b unknown). John and Elizabeth's other sons, Charles (b ca 1687), John Junior (b ca 1689), James (b aft 1695) and Benjamin (b ca 1697) were "pedigreed" enough for me to identify and eliminate them as strong candidates to be the ancestor of our Onslow James Henderson(s). Their children didn't fit the names or dates we were targeting, and were typically too young to be our man.
If there is indeed the direct connection between our two families that we suspect, our James Henderson Senior of Onslow was most likely a grandson of the original Delmarva James of 1661 Northampton/Accomack County VA. Even so, I had a quick run through the children of John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson just to make sure there were no obvious gaps, and to satisfy myself that I had thoroughly explored every possibility before ruling them out.
Again, I realized that I had no information on that couple's eldest son, William, nor their youngest, Joseph. Subsequent research showed that both men had pre-deceased their father and William apparently died without heirs, naming only siblings in his will. This explains why there is so little about him online. No descendants to dig up bones. Joseph's will only mentioned a wife (Elizabeth) and an underage daughter, Hannah. That seems to effectively eliminate both of these men, who were already weak candidates due to their age (in other words, they obviously aren't our man, and their children would have been too young to be our James Senior, even had any previously undocumented sons of either man turned up in research).
Both of those men are now grayed out on the updated chart (at the bottom of this article, click to enlarge) with notes indicating no direct male heirs.
In another encouraging development, I believe I have identified an unaccounted-for James Henderson on the 1723 "census" information for Somerset County MD (where the Delmarva group settled after leaving Northampton and Accomack). Since we can account for the James living in 1723 who belonged to John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson (as well as John and Elizabeth's grandson James who would not have been old enough in 1723 to head up a household), AND we can account for the James Henderson Junior b 1669 who married Esther, then this third unidentified James (born sometime prior to 1703) would necessarily have had to have belonged to William and Sarah Bishop Henderson, OR to James and Ester Henderson. This is precisely what we were hoping to find. A previously unidentified James of the right age in Delmarva. But it's too soon to get excited. We can't prove he's our James Henderson Senior of Onslow, and we don't know which of the two couples he belonged to. But I'm working on that. I have my suspicions. Things are looking promising, but it's a tough row to hoe trying to find solid documentation that far back.
The third change to the chart is a very tentative (and perhaps premature) one. We know that James and Mary Henderson were the parents of John, baptized 1661 in Northampton Co VA, and also of William and sister Jane (sometimes spelled Jeane), both born before 1668. But in 1668 James has a new wife, Alice, whom he "transports" into Somerset County MD along with his three children. Obviously some time before 1668 Mary had died, leaving John with three very young children. I can just imagine how he liked that situation. He needed a wife, and fast. And as they say, proximity, proximity, proximity.
Up until this point, based on the "transportation" record of 1668, we had idly believed that James brought his children and new wife Alice from England? Scotland? But there was a problem with that. John, the eldest, was clearly baptized in Northampton County VA in 1661. James was active and well-documented in the records of the Delmarva Peninsula all through the early-to-mid 1660's so he had little opportunity to take a practically constantly pregnant Mary on a dangerous ocean voyage to England/Ireland/Scotland (and why do so?), then remarry and travel back to Virginia/Maryland in time to be there in April 1666 when he received a 400a grant for eight headrights in Accomack County VA. When I laid this out on my timeline, I realized he had only moved the family from the colony of Virginia across the (disputed) border into the colony of Maryland. That constituted "transporting" the family That meant wife Alice was likely from Virginia. Proximity, proximity, proximity.
Now, let's talk about those eight headrights in April of 1666. Like I said, I'm a research hummingbird and I dart from idea to idea, and one of the ideas I've been spending some time on is the connection between the Henderson family and the Bishop family. (Remember, James's son William married Sarah Bishop in 1685 [documented], daughter of Delmarva settler Lt. Henry Bishop, who, incidentally was a neighbor to Gilbert Henderson who was also in Hungars Parish in 1661 baptizing a daughter the same year James and Mary Henderson were baptizing their son John, but I digress. Hummingbird.). The Bishops married into the Stokely family (of early Accomack and Northampton Counties, VA, also spelled Stockley and Stoakley). The Bishops also show up in 18th-century New Hanover and Onslow County NC, and could be clue that leads us to the connection between our Onslow group and the Delmarva group. But...hummingbird.
So back to those headright settlers, now that we've established a family connection between the Hendersons and Bishops and Stoakleys, and we're talking about (or were supposed to be) James's second wife, the mysterious Alice, take a look at this record from Cavaliers and Pioneers: "JAMES HENDERSON, 400 acs. Accomack Co., on S. side of Pocomoke Riv., 5 Apr. 1666, Bounded on E. by land surveyed for Thomas Davis. Trans. of 8 pers: Jno. Long, James Collins, Edwd. Top, Eliz. White, Jno. Price, Jno. Aubry, Alice Stewkly, Florence Evans."
Alice! Stewkly! Stokely? Proximity, proximity, proximity.
*Barnaby Henderson, son of Charles & Parthenia Merrill Henderson of the Delmarva line shows up in Onslow County NC several decades after James Senior and Junior are already settled on property on the New River. This later immigration of Onslow County Hendersons is well-documented and is not the connection we are looking for, however, almost all of the Hendersons who remain in Onslow County today trace back to this line.
For years our two families of Hendersons have operated on the premise that each group had emigrated separately, the first arriving in the very early 1660's on the Delmarva Peninsula (Northampton and Accomack County VA), and the second Henderson family arriving roughly seventy years later, probably through the port of Wilmington, and then taking up land in what became Onslow County NC. To be fair, a couple of researchers from the Delmarva group gave the idea of a direct connection more weight than our group did, but no paper connection had ever been made between the two groups,* so we just had to shrug and wonder. Thanks to the magic of DNA testing, we've learned that not only is there a connection, but potentially a much closer one than we thought. This means we need to have another look at the paper trail.
A slight adjustment to what had been a longstanding chronology for the Onslow group (which I won't go into here, but which I believe is a correct change since it brings my work into alignment with that of Morris Meyers's) has shown several possibilities where the elusive connection might exist.
You'll see at the bottom of the first article the original version of the chart I made to help us quickly identify the places in the Delmarva tree where a direct connection with our James of Onslow might have occurred. In this article I am posting an updated version of the chart in which I believe I have eliminated two of the former candidates that were being investigated as potential ancestors.
I am not a linear researcher. I tend to be a bit like a hummingbird, flitting intensely from question to question, and person to person in the database, but at the end of the day (or week, or month), I typically arrive at a conclusion I can support with reasoning and evidence. I can't say that I'm pursuing this leg of the research in as systematic a way as I'd have liked (too many tangents lead me astray in the web of interconnected families), but I can say that my haphazard method has produced results.
As I said, I have eliminated two of the male candidates from the original chart, both of them sons of John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson. The John Henderson-Elizabeth Barnabe line is prolific and by far the best documented of the Delmarva group. John Henderson's younger brothers William (m. Sarah Bishop) and James Junior (m. Esther) are much less so, so I started with John's only two sons who might be long-shot possibilities: William b ca 1681 and Joseph (b unknown). John and Elizabeth's other sons, Charles (b ca 1687), John Junior (b ca 1689), James (b aft 1695) and Benjamin (b ca 1697) were "pedigreed" enough for me to identify and eliminate them as strong candidates to be the ancestor of our Onslow James Henderson(s). Their children didn't fit the names or dates we were targeting, and were typically too young to be our man.
If there is indeed the direct connection between our two families that we suspect, our James Henderson Senior of Onslow was most likely a grandson of the original Delmarva James of 1661 Northampton/Accomack County VA. Even so, I had a quick run through the children of John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson just to make sure there were no obvious gaps, and to satisfy myself that I had thoroughly explored every possibility before ruling them out.
Again, I realized that I had no information on that couple's eldest son, William, nor their youngest, Joseph. Subsequent research showed that both men had pre-deceased their father and William apparently died without heirs, naming only siblings in his will. This explains why there is so little about him online. No descendants to dig up bones. Joseph's will only mentioned a wife (Elizabeth) and an underage daughter, Hannah. That seems to effectively eliminate both of these men, who were already weak candidates due to their age (in other words, they obviously aren't our man, and their children would have been too young to be our James Senior, even had any previously undocumented sons of either man turned up in research).
Both of those men are now grayed out on the updated chart (at the bottom of this article, click to enlarge) with notes indicating no direct male heirs.
In another encouraging development, I believe I have identified an unaccounted-for James Henderson on the 1723 "census" information for Somerset County MD (where the Delmarva group settled after leaving Northampton and Accomack). Since we can account for the James living in 1723 who belonged to John and Elizabeth Barnabe Henderson (as well as John and Elizabeth's grandson James who would not have been old enough in 1723 to head up a household), AND we can account for the James Henderson Junior b 1669 who married Esther, then this third unidentified James (born sometime prior to 1703) would necessarily have had to have belonged to William and Sarah Bishop Henderson, OR to James and Ester Henderson. This is precisely what we were hoping to find. A previously unidentified James of the right age in Delmarva. But it's too soon to get excited. We can't prove he's our James Henderson Senior of Onslow, and we don't know which of the two couples he belonged to. But I'm working on that. I have my suspicions. Things are looking promising, but it's a tough row to hoe trying to find solid documentation that far back.
The third change to the chart is a very tentative (and perhaps premature) one. We know that James and Mary Henderson were the parents of John, baptized 1661 in Northampton Co VA, and also of William and sister Jane (sometimes spelled Jeane), both born before 1668. But in 1668 James has a new wife, Alice, whom he "transports" into Somerset County MD along with his three children. Obviously some time before 1668 Mary had died, leaving John with three very young children. I can just imagine how he liked that situation. He needed a wife, and fast. And as they say, proximity, proximity, proximity.
Up until this point, based on the "transportation" record of 1668, we had idly believed that James brought his children and new wife Alice from England? Scotland? But there was a problem with that. John, the eldest, was clearly baptized in Northampton County VA in 1661. James was active and well-documented in the records of the Delmarva Peninsula all through the early-to-mid 1660's so he had little opportunity to take a practically constantly pregnant Mary on a dangerous ocean voyage to England/Ireland/Scotland (and why do so?), then remarry and travel back to Virginia/Maryland in time to be there in April 1666 when he received a 400a grant for eight headrights in Accomack County VA. When I laid this out on my timeline, I realized he had only moved the family from the colony of Virginia across the (disputed) border into the colony of Maryland. That constituted "transporting" the family That meant wife Alice was likely from Virginia. Proximity, proximity, proximity.
Now, let's talk about those eight headrights in April of 1666. Like I said, I'm a research hummingbird and I dart from idea to idea, and one of the ideas I've been spending some time on is the connection between the Henderson family and the Bishop family. (Remember, James's son William married Sarah Bishop in 1685 [documented], daughter of Delmarva settler Lt. Henry Bishop, who, incidentally was a neighbor to Gilbert Henderson who was also in Hungars Parish in 1661 baptizing a daughter the same year James and Mary Henderson were baptizing their son John, but I digress. Hummingbird.). The Bishops married into the Stokely family (of early Accomack and Northampton Counties, VA, also spelled Stockley and Stoakley). The Bishops also show up in 18th-century New Hanover and Onslow County NC, and could be clue that leads us to the connection between our Onslow group and the Delmarva group. But...hummingbird.
So back to those headright settlers, now that we've established a family connection between the Hendersons and Bishops and Stoakleys, and we're talking about (or were supposed to be) James's second wife, the mysterious Alice, take a look at this record from Cavaliers and Pioneers: "JAMES HENDERSON, 400 acs. Accomack Co., on S. side of Pocomoke Riv., 5 Apr. 1666, Bounded on E. by land surveyed for Thomas Davis. Trans. of 8 pers: Jno. Long, James Collins, Edwd. Top, Eliz. White, Jno. Price, Jno. Aubry, Alice Stewkly, Florence Evans."
Alice! Stewkly! Stokely? Proximity, proximity, proximity.
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| Click chart to enlarge |
*Barnaby Henderson, son of Charles & Parthenia Merrill Henderson of the Delmarva line shows up in Onslow County NC several decades after James Senior and Junior are already settled on property on the New River. This later immigration of Onslow County Hendersons is well-documented and is not the connection we are looking for, however, almost all of the Hendersons who remain in Onslow County today trace back to this line.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Delmarva Hendersons in Revolutionary Worcester Co MD Militias
I'm going through some paperwork on loan from fellow researcher Robin Henderson and I ran across an extract of Worcester Co MD Hendersons on Revolutionary militias made by David Jones (also researching the Delmarva Hendersons).
This seems like a good thing to keep up with, although I'm not prepared to park the data anywhere specific since I don't yet have all of these men parceled into my database. Since this is likely to be of use to other researchers, I thought I'd chart it up here in my blog. I'm dividing it out by companies rather than listing the men alphabetically.
Names taken from The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War, by S. Eugene Clements and F. Edward Right.
Captain John Parramore's Company, Wicomico Battalion 1777
Brittingham Henderson 1777, 1780
Ephriam Henderson 1780
Samuel Henderson 1780
William Henderson 1780
Captain Samuel Smyly's Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Curtis Henderson 1780
Captain William Purnell's Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Curtis Henderson 1777, 1780
Captain Matthew Purnell's Company, Sinepuxen Battalion, 1780
John Henderson 1780
William Henderson 1780
Captain William Purnell's Company, Sinepuxen Battalion, 1780
Jesse Henderson 1780
Captain Layfields Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Isaac Henderson 1780
Jacob Henderson 1780
James Henderson 1780
Jenkins Henderson 1780
John Trehorn Henderson, Sgt. 1780
Joseph Henderson, Sgt. 1780
Levi Henderson 1780
Smart Henderson 1780
Thomas Henderson 1780
William Holland Henderson 1780
William Merrill Henderson 1780
Note: There is some confusion in online trees as to whether Brittingham Henderson was the son of Jesse & Rhoda Henderson, or the son of John and Rhoda "Brittingham" Henderson. I have found no satisfactory documentary evidence of either scenario at this point. (Neither have I found proof that either Rhoda was a Brittingham.) A Sally Brittingham married a James Henderson on 21 Oct 1830 in "Maryland" but that's the only documented connection between Brittinghams and Hendersons I have found. A Rhoda "Bowds" (name uncertain) made a December 1804 will and left bequests to sons Brittingham Henderson and William Henderson (one shilling each), but there is no indication of who Rhoda might have been prior to becoming a Henderson, or whether she was the wife of Jesse or John (or either).
This seems like a good thing to keep up with, although I'm not prepared to park the data anywhere specific since I don't yet have all of these men parceled into my database. Since this is likely to be of use to other researchers, I thought I'd chart it up here in my blog. I'm dividing it out by companies rather than listing the men alphabetically.
Names taken from The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War, by S. Eugene Clements and F. Edward Right.
Captain John Parramore's Company, Wicomico Battalion 1777
Brittingham Henderson 1777, 1780
Ephriam Henderson 1780
Samuel Henderson 1780
William Henderson 1780
Captain Samuel Smyly's Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Curtis Henderson 1780
Captain William Purnell's Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Curtis Henderson 1777, 1780
Captain Matthew Purnell's Company, Sinepuxen Battalion, 1780
John Henderson 1780
William Henderson 1780
Captain William Purnell's Company, Sinepuxen Battalion, 1780
Jesse Henderson 1780
Captain Layfields Company, Wicomico Battalion, 1780
Isaac Henderson 1780
Jacob Henderson 1780
James Henderson 1780
Jenkins Henderson 1780
John Trehorn Henderson, Sgt. 1780
Joseph Henderson, Sgt. 1780
Levi Henderson 1780
Smart Henderson 1780
Thomas Henderson 1780
William Holland Henderson 1780
William Merrill Henderson 1780
Note: There is some confusion in online trees as to whether Brittingham Henderson was the son of Jesse & Rhoda Henderson, or the son of John and Rhoda "Brittingham" Henderson. I have found no satisfactory documentary evidence of either scenario at this point. (Neither have I found proof that either Rhoda was a Brittingham.) A Sally Brittingham married a James Henderson on 21 Oct 1830 in "Maryland" but that's the only documented connection between Brittinghams and Hendersons I have found. A Rhoda "Bowds" (name uncertain) made a December 1804 will and left bequests to sons Brittingham Henderson and William Henderson (one shilling each), but there is no indication of who Rhoda might have been prior to becoming a Henderson, or whether she was the wife of Jesse or John (or either).
Monday, April 20, 2015
Was There Ever a "James Isaac Henderson?"
This blog article is an update of a little write-up I did back in 2006 when I realized that James Henderson who made his 1770 will in Onslow County NC (*1) was being referred to increasingly online (and without any caveats or explanation) as "James Isaac Henderson" -- as if it had been copied straight from an early 18th century parish register.
Furthermore, I realized that I might be responsible for the perpetuation of the error.
Prior to about 1985 the connection between Argalus Henderson (*2) of Chatham County and his father, James "Isaac" Henderson of Onslow County, was not widely known among researchers. Most people's research dead-ended with Argalus during much of the last century, so the connection with James Henderson of Onslow was something that only began to show up among researchers in the last 20-30 years. I realized it was likely copies of my own (sloppy) notes that were being shared during the early days of internet genealogy, so before his name became forever chiseled in stone, I thought I'd better try to undo some of the damage I'd done.
Furthermore, I realized that I might be responsible for the perpetuation of the error.
Prior to about 1985 the connection between Argalus Henderson (*2) of Chatham County and his father, James "Isaac" Henderson of Onslow County, was not widely known among researchers. Most people's research dead-ended with Argalus during much of the last century, so the connection with James Henderson of Onslow was something that only began to show up among researchers in the last 20-30 years. I realized it was likely copies of my own (sloppy) notes that were being shared during the early days of internet genealogy, so before his name became forever chiseled in stone, I thought I'd better try to undo some of the damage I'd done.
Having said that, I have updated this blog article with some additional thoughts and ideas about the use of the name "Isaac" in the Onslow family line as well as the possible earlier use among the Eastern Shore Hendersons.
Here is a slightly modified version of my original 2006 article:
Was there ever a "James Isaac Henderson"?
During over two decades of research, no single document with the name "James Isaac Henderson" has ever been found. So why is the name so widespread among internet researchers?
I May Be to Blame
I confess it's probably my fault. Over twenty years ago, long before the advent of the internet and its ability to rapidly perpetuate incorrect information, I took up research of my Henderson family where my aunt, Thelma Henderson Schoolfield, had left off. Since time was a luxury I had back in the day, I made rapid headway in courthouses and libraries across North Carolina and quickly discovered that we could push our line back one generation prior to Argalus of Chatham County NC, who until that time was our earliest known Henderson ancestor.
Colonial North Carolina records conclusively show that the father of Argalus Henderson was one James Henderson of Henderson's Landing on the New River in present-day Onslow County. I was delighted to find numerous early Onslow County records all referencing James Henderson. James Henderson was a busy man. James Henderson showed up in the records regularly. There was no question about where James Henderson was, or what he was doing, or what he was called. Notice that I keep emphasizing James Henderson, and there is no "Isaac" in between "James" and "Henderson."
James Henderson (the man I believe to be James Henderson Sr., whom I now call Mariner James Henderson) appears almost immediately in Onslow after the formation of the precinct, years before it officially became a county. Possibly he was already living in on the New River, although we have not yet been able to conclusively identify him in the records of earlier New Hanover Precinct or surrounding precincts of Bertie, Chowan, Beaufort or Carteret. (*3)
At first James appears alone, and then there is a period of years where a “James Henderson Sr.” and a “James Henderson Jr.” are mentioned in records. Then, after another period of years has passed, the records once again only reference a “James Henderson,” leading us to believe that either father or son had died. For some reason I no longer recall, I originally thought that Junior had died, but now I am more inclined to believe it was Mariner James Henderson Senior who passed away, once again leaving a single James Henderson - very likely the man we call “James ‘Isaac’ Henderson” - active in Onslow County until his death, between 1776-1780.
The latter James Henderson named the following children in his will: son Argalus, and daughters Lucy Henderson Loyd, Bethany Nixon, Elizabeth ("Betty") Jenkins, Nancy ("Nanny") Henderson. (*4) Throughout his will and in all other colonial records except for the the single reference below our James is referred to only as "James Henderson."
The Origin of Isaac
So where did "Isaac" come from?
Onslow County NC Deed Book 18 Page 44:
Apr. 16, 1792 "William Loyd and his wife, Lucy, and Archelaus Henderson of Onslow and Chatham Counties, NC, for the sum of [sixty pounds] sold to James Foy, Jr., land on Kizabel's Creek in Onslow Co. near James Henderson's Landing, 220 acres whereon Isaac Henderson lived and died, and willed to his daughter, Lucy Henderson, now Lucy Loyd, the land granted to Nathaniel Avritt and deeded by will to James Henderson, deceased. Test: James Foy Sr., William Jenkins."
This record is clearly referring to the same James Henderson of the 1770 will (who named Lucy and Argalus as his children). And yet, equally clearly, the same man, the father of Lucy and Argalus, is being called Isaac Henderson in this document eighteen years later.
Without looking at the original document, I have no way to tell if this is a transcription error, but it seems unlikely that "James" could be mistaken for "Isaac." Since Argalus would name his firstborn son Isaac, I feel certain that the record says "Isaac" and not "James." (*5)
For lack of any better ideas, I decided that the best thing to do was use “Isaac” as a possible middle name for James. These days I always try to put it in quote marks "Isaac" or parentheses (Isaac) to remind us that it may not be correct.
Curiously, there is a tiny bit of a hint that the progenitor of the Eastern Shore Henderson may also have used the name "Isaac" and in fact may have also been a James “Isaac” Henderson himself, but I base that on a single speculative clue having to do with the fact that his daughter, Jane Henderson Williams, followed the tradition of naming her eldest son after her husband’s father (John Williams) and then, instead of naming her second son “James” for her father as one might expect, she named him “Isaac.” A tenuous thread, but an intriguing one.
So there you are. For better or worse, the name "James 'Isaac' Henderson" was carelessly recorded in my notes, which soon began to circulate among online researchers. Mea culpa. Mea culpa. If anyone can provide an original source document with the full name "James Isaac Henderson", I would be happy to change my position on this and stop qualifying the name with quotes or parentheses, but until then, "Isaac" remains unconfirmed and open to debate.
Now, an additional word about the frequent use of the name Isaac among descendants of Hendersons of the Eastern Shore. In my database I currently show the following Isaac Hendersons. There may be others that I don't have in my notes.
Somerset County MD James Henderson's Descendants Named "Isaac:"
- Isaac Williams b aft 1696, s/o Jane Henderson Williams of Somerset Co MD
- Isaac Henderson b 1741 s/o Jesse & Rhoda Henderson of Somerset Co MD
- Isaac Henderson b 1790, s/o Barnaby Henderson Junior of Onslow Co NC
- Isaac Henderson b aft 1801, s/o Lemuel Henderson of Accomack Co VA (connection unidentified)
- Isaac Henderson b 1806 s/o Levin & Nancy Layfield Henderson
- Isaac Henderson b 1836, s/o James Henderson of Worcester Co MD
- Isaac Newton Henderson Sr. b 1847, s/o Henry Henderson of Duck Creek NC (connection unproven) and Isaac Newton's son, Isaac Newton Henderson Jr. b 1885, Onslow Co NC
Chatham/Onslow James "Isaac" Henderson's Descendants Named "Isaac:"
- Isaac Henderson b 1753, s/o Argaleus of Onslow & Chatham Counties, NC
- Isaac Henderson b 1822, s/o Argaleus Henderson the younger of Greenville Co SC
- Isaac R. Henderson b 1827, s/o Hezekiah Henderson of Chatham Co NC
- Isaac Henderson b 1831, s/o Obediah Henderson of Chatham Co NC
- Isaac E. Henderson b&d 1882, s/o Elwood Lindley Henderson of Chatham Co NC
- Isaac Ingram Henderson b 1886, s/o Orla Hezekiah Henderson of Chatham Co NC (Orla and Elwood were brothers, sons of Isaac R. Henderson listed above)
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| Jane Henderson Williams, daughter of James Henderson Senior of Somerset Co MD, named her eldest child "John" after her husband's father (and her husband). Traditionally the next son would have been named "James" for her own father, but instead, she called him "Isaac." |
*1 Although James "Isaac" wrote his will in October 1770, he apparently did not die as anticipated. He can still be found in Onslow records up until August of 1776. The first record that clearly indicates his demise is from 8th April, 1780.
*2 Spelled varyingly as Argulus, Argaleus, Archelaus, Hercules, etc.
*3 There are records of a James Henderson active in upper coastal NC as early as the seventeen-teens and seventeen-twenties, but I have not yet been able to conclusively prove he is Mariner James Henderson of Onslow.
*4 Also in the area during James “Isaac” Henderson's lifetime was a Joseph Henderson, and a William Henderson, but no connection has yet been established, although I am keeping an eye on William in particular as a possible relation.
*5 It was traditional up until the 19th century to name the eldest son after the father's father.
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