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.

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.

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.

Richard Barnabe, Merchant of London, Makes a Wonderfully Helpful Will

I remember former Clan Henderson genealogist Dr. Horace Loftin once telling me that he had discovered a record that caused him to speculate that his Henderson ancestor, James Barnabe (later spelled Barnaby), had been a merchant sailing to and from the East Indies. Since I wasn't working on that line of Hendersons at the time, I neglected to ask for details, which has necessitated me finding them for myself.

Although I am doubtful of a connection between my James "Isaac" Henderson of Onslow County and the family of John and Elizabeth Barnaby Henderson of Somerset & Worcester Counties MD, I was still intrigued by the idea of a 17th-century merchant family settling the wilds of the Delmarva Peninsula so I went poking around to see what I could learn.

First, a little background on the Barnaby connection to the Hendersons of the Delmarva Peninsula...

On 1 Jul 1680, in Somerset County MD, Elizabeth Barnaby (b Feb 1661), daughter of James Barnaby (the younger) and his wife Mary, married John Henderson (b May 1661), son of James Henderson and his wife, also Mary. Their numerous children and grandchildren would for the most part stay in the Worcester County MD area with the exception of grandson Barnaby Henderson, who would move to Onslow County NC circa 1765.

Elizabeth Barnaby's father, James the younger, made his will on 26 Jan 1665/66 leaving bequests to wife Mary (executrix), and his minor children James (noted as under 16), Rebecca, and Elizabeth (both noted as under 15).

After James's early death, his widow, Mary Barnaby, would marry local planter Edward Jones. Mary's health (or luck) was apparently not much better than James's and a few months after giving birth to her first child with Mr. Jones (in 1669), Mary died too, leaving her three young children and an infant in the care of her second husband. I found an interesting abstract (See footnote 1) conveying the information that "James Barnebe" was "shott with a gun in the hands of Mercy Fountaine on the plantation where Edward Jones liveth the 3rd day of March 1681 and was buried there the 4th day of the same month." James would have been about seventeen, and Fountaine was only about fifteen years old at the time. I have not been able to find any additional details on the incident, so I assume it was accidental since there are no apparent trial records.

James Barnabe, father of the unfortunate orphans (and even less fortunate son), was in turn the son of James Barnabe the elder and his wife, Sarah.  According to a deposition, James was in Northampton County, VA as early as 1637/38. In 1640 he and Sarah were headright settlers for John Holloway of Accomack County VA, and in 1651 they were the same in Northampton County VA for Roger Jones (not sure how that happened, but that's what my records say). I wonder if Roger was any relation to Edward...hmmm.

I have a notation that James Barnabe the elder was "of London" with an estimated birth date of 1610, so I decided to have a look and see if that held water. 1637 was a long time ago and there is a lot of room for error to develop in the records. I didn't really expect to find anything to connect this James Barnabe to any English merchants or shipping enterprises, but blow me down...

From the book Virginia Gleanings in England, by Lotrop Withington, page 135:

"Will of Richard Barnabe, London, Marchant, bound on a voyage by God's grace to the East Indyes with good shipp or vessell named the Mary of London of the burden of One Thousand Tunnes or thereabouts. Will 19 January 1630, proved 11 July 1636."

The will is lengthy and detailed (lucky for us all). This was obviously not an old man, and he had plenty of time to think things through and write it all down. His wife was already dead and buried (in the church of St. Katherine Colman of London, in case you are wondering), and he makes known his wish "to be buried neere late wief." He leaves "all to daughters Elizabeth Barnabe and Mary Barnabe, executrixes" but he appoints his brothers-in-law John Boulteel, Clarke and George Rookes, Marchant" as overseers to care for his goods until his daughters reach the age of 21.

In addition to naming other in-laws and outlining the relationships of several, he mentions: "To Loving brother John Barnabe (See footnote 2) resident in Virginia and Planter there 100 pounds, and my brother James Barnabe resident in Virginia 100 pounds, to be paid to them if living, or if dead to their sons and daughters. If none be living, then to the children of said brother in law George Rookes, Merchant."

George Rookes was married to the Barnabe's sister, Elizabeth, with whom he had seven children. Richard Barnabe also names sister Martha Barnabe "sometime weif of John Sargenson, vintner, dec'd and her sonn William," and another sister, Katherine Clarke and her son Robert and daughter Katherine.

Ever helpful to the future genealogist, he mentions Ann Barnabe, daughter of his brother John, married to _______ Edwards, Merchant, as well as a small bequest to servant, Elizabeth Rivers.

The rest of his estate he left to Masters and Wardens of Company of Drapers of London ("whereof I am a brother") to be used to enable "some godly and vertuous Preacher" to "preach five sermons yearly in church of St. Katherine Colman neere billeter lane, London." He's very specific about the sermons that be preached and obviously his heart lies with his dead wife and five (or six?) dead children in the churchyard.

He goes on to outline additional bequests in varying sizes to those who have served his family, as well as more distant relatives.

In April of 1635, he added an appendix to the "will made in England by me Richard Barnaby, Merchant, In good shipp Hart now bound for England," and in it he leaves bequests to friends including a "paire of Buffe gloves," and "one Capp wrought with silk and gold" and "one capp of lynnen with needle worke purles." To his nephew George Rookes he adds a bequest of an "imbroidered girdle with silver buckles." He leaves additional interesting bits and bobs to friends, servants and even the ship's surgeon and his mate. Apparently Mr. Barnabe's household was flush with treasures.

But that's all he wrote, folks. Sadly, his will was proved just over a year later on 11 July 1636. In a slightly depressing footnote to this piece, the church of St. Katherine Colman in London was demolished in 1925. No "godly and vertuous Preacher" shall evermore preach a sermon over the mortal remains of Ann and Richard Barnaby or their numerous departed children.

So it does indeed look like the Barnabes were a family of prosperous merchants of London. Richard and James's brother, John Barnabe, came to Virginia in 1621 and was "a servant in Governor George Yardley's house in Jamestown for two years" before going on to become a planter and a merchant with brother-in-law George Rookes. Although I have not been able to find any specific references to James Barnabe of Delmarva engaging in shipping or the merchant trade, it is clear that he was the third Barnaby brother in this scenario, and that he therefore very likely did come from London.

1.  Somerset Co. MD, Liber J.K.L., Court Record, 3 Mar. 1681

2. Per a footnote at the bottom of the will, "The census of Virginia, 1624-25  gives the 'muster' of  John Barnabe at Elizabeth City. It includes himself, aged 21, who came in the London Merchant in 1620 (Notten's Emigrants, p. 247.)" Additional details about John Barnaby (Barnabe) can be found in Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary, by Martha W. McCartney.

Looking for the Link Between "Delmarva" James Henderson (1661) and James "Isaac" Henderson of Onslow Co NC (1732)

Since we've had a few fresh DNA matches lately, I've resumed my efforts to discover the link between the Hendersons of the Delmarva Peninsula and their distant cousins of Onslow and Chatham Counties in North Carolina. 

As researchers of the family will likely already know, James Henderson, the progenitor of the Hendersons of the Delmarva Peninsula, arrived in Accomack County VA as early as 1661, when his son, John, was baptized in Hungar's Parish (technically in Northampton Co VA). Although one great-grandson, Barnaby, moved south to Onslow County NC in the following century, many descendants of "Delmarva James" can still be found on Maryland's eastern shore today.

The other main branch of this genetically connected family begins with James "Isaac" Henderson, who in 1732 makes his first documented appearance in the earliest records of the Onslow Precinct on the central coast of North Carolina. Although DNA testing has shown that there is a connection between Onslow James "Isaac" Henderson and the Henderson family of the Delmarva Peninsula, we cannot find anything to indicate that Onslow James was descended from Delmarva James.

For these past many years since we first discovered the DNA matches, we have been working under the assumption that their common ancestor lived prior to 1661, probably in Scotland.

For decades both lines had wondered about a possible connection with the other, but lacking any sort of paper trail linking the the two families, we had all but dismissed the possibility. Barnaby's family didn't arrive in Onslow County until 1765 - more than three decades after James "Isaac" Henderson is found living on the New River. We have uncovered no hint of interaction between the two families, so they may not have even known of their kinship themselves.

Since new documents and records come online on an almost daily basis, I have decided to try again to discover a connection between Delmarva James and Onslow James "Isaac." Given the current lack of any sort of paper trail, it is a task fraught with difficulty, made harder since we don't even have firm birth dates for the progenitor of either of the two family branches.

We know that Delmarva James died between 1691-1692, and that Onslow James "Isaac" made his will in October of 1770, so likely died shortly thereafter. Researchers have estimated that Delmarva James was probably born 1630-1640, while I estimate that James "Isaac" of Onslow was born between 1690-1710. Given those date ranges, it is probable that if there was an ancestor/descendant relationship between the two, Onslow James would most likely have been a grandson of Delmarva James.

I believe we can safely rule out a father-son relationship based on the simple fact that Delmarva James did have a son named James (with second wife Alice). That James (b 10 Jun 1669 d aft 1696) married "Ester" and had one known child, Francis (b 30 Oct 1691 d 1762). That branch of the family appears to still be in Somerset County MD well into the 1700's, making it highly unlikely that James Jr. is the same James "Isaac" Henderson who died in Onslow County 101 years later.

So let's assume then that Onslow James "Isaac" was a grandson (or possibly even a great-grandson, making him roughly a contemporary with distant cousin and future Onslow neighbor, Barnaby). Where might he fit?

A quick look through my obviously incomplete data on Delmarva James's grandsons and even great-grandsons leaves plenty of room for possibilities.

The first possibility is that Onslow James "Isaac" might have been a previously unidentified son of James Jr. of Somerset Co MD (b 1669 MD - d aft 1696 MD), and brother to Francis (1691 MD -1762 MD). Francis is the only child I currently have listed for James Jr. and his birth and death dates correspond nicely to the range we might reasonably expect to see for our James "Isaac." It seems very likely to me that Francis was probably not an only child, and that James "Isaac" might have been a grandson of Delmarva James through this namesake James's line.

A second possibility is that Onslow James "Isaac" might have belonged to William Henderson (b bef 1668 d aft 1696), second son of Delmarva James Henderson and his first wife, Mary (Mary d bef 1668). We know nothing of William at all, apart from the name of his wife, Sarah. That possibility is wide open to exploration at this point.

A third (and less likely) possibility is that our Onslow James could have been a great-grandson of Delmarva James through a son of John and Elizabeth Barnaby Henderson. John and Elizabeth had a son named James (b aft 1695 d bef Aug 1776) who married Alice Kollock (could this be "Pollock," a prominent name in early Bertie & Onslow Counties?*) but from what I can tell of him and his descendants (including another son named James who m Sarah Merrill), this family stayed in the area of Somerset and Worcester Counties in MD and is pretty well accounted for. Neither do the names of their children correspond to the names of the children of Onslow County James "Isaac."

That leaves us with the possibility that Onlsow James "Isaac" might have belonged to one of the other sons of John and Elizabeth Barnaby Henderson:

• Charles (b ca 1687 MD - d 1762 Worcester Co MD) m Parthenia Merrill and had Levina ca 1719; Jessee ca 1712; William ca 1715; Barnaby ca 1720 (moved to Onslow Co NC 1765); and Levin ca 1727. No known son named James.
• William (b ca 1681 MD - d bef 1721 MD) about whom I currently know nothing, which makes him a reasonable candidate.
• John Jr. (b ca 1689 MD d bef 1742/43 Worcester Co MD) who m Sarah Houston and had John ca 1717; Sarah ca 1719; Elizabeth ca 1723; Rebecca ca 1725; and Samuel ca 1721. No known son named James, but as a side note, there was a large family of Houstons in early Onslow County.
• Benjamin (b ca 1697 MD - d bef May 1722) m Mary (?) and had Benjamin ca 1722; Leah ca 1725; Betty ca 1727; Mary ca 1729; Rhoda ca 1731; and Lemuel ca 1735. No James, but I do not have any additional info on this line.
• Joseph (b ? MD - d ? ?) - absolutely no info at all on Joseph, so another good candidate.

Although John & Elizabeth Barnaby Henderson's line seems like the most direct and obvious connection to Onslow County, they are also the most well-documented, and they have been examined previously for this purpose and without success. The information I have on the Delmarva line was provided to me over the years by Dr. Horace Loftin, former genealogist for the Clan Henderson Society and a descendant of Barnaby Henderson of Onslow County. While the information he had may be incomplete on some lines, I have confidence that what he did provide is reliable.

So as you can see, there is a lot of investigating to do if I hope to systematically and conclusively rule out each candidates in order to eliminate once and for all a direct connection to that family. At this point, after having another look at our candidates, I confess there are more potential options than I realized and for the first time I am feeling optimistic. But it will take a considerable amount of time to run down all of the leads.

Click to enlarge chart.

One last very intriguing hint of a connection between the two familes...

Delmarva James had four children. The first three, John, William & Jeane, he had by his wife Mary. The last, his namesake, James, he had by his second wife, Alice.

I took a quick look at Jane to see what was known about her. She married John Williams Jr. of Somerset County MD and had two known sons. Traditionally the first son was often named after the father's father, while the second was then named for the mother's father. (This wasn't always the case, but was a very common practice.) True to form, the elder son of John and Jeane Henderson Williams was called John, after his father and grandfather. So naturally one might expect the second son to be called "James," after the mother's father. Instead, he was called...

Isaac!

*Note: I have since discarded "Kollock" as the surname of the wife of James Henderson. There is currently no evidence that I can find to support the idea that the wife of James Henderson of Somerset County MD was a Kollock.