Salmons/Sammons DNA--John of Cumberland matches

I wanted to begin posting some of Ruth Sammons Nassar's information on my blog.  Of course, the first thing that I did was to google Sammons DNA to remind myself of which DNA group I belong to.  Funny that the top of the list of hits that google brought up was my own post back in Nov 2008.  So I will begin this blog with a copy of that post:

I have recently paid for a participant with FTDNA for a 37 marker 
test. I expect this participant to match with the Sammons family that 
is found in Cumberland County, Virginia in the mid 1700's. I believe 
that both the new participant and I descend from several generations 
of Roland/Rowland Salmons/Sammons who lived in eastern Ky during the 
1800's.
.....

My particpant is kit #131079.  He and I are first cousins who descend from several generations of Rowland/Roland Salmons/Sammons' who lived in Eastern Kentucky.  Our first Roland Salmons moved to Floyd County, Kentucky before 1809. The Salmons' had moved to Pittsylvania County from Cumberland in the mid to late 1760's.  The part of Pittsylvania that they moved to became Henry County.  They lived on Smith River. Rowland was living there during the Revolutionary War and is found on the tax list in Henry County in 1782.  By 1787, Rowland is found deeding 120 acres to J. Breemer.  From 1790 until at least 1808 Rowland is said to have been from Montgomery County.  During this time he married Frankie Carter in Rocky Mount, Virginia.....  

Anyone reading this who would want to know my Salmons/Sammons ancestry is invited to look at:

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/41167677/family?cfpid=19587296207

Our DNA group seems to be labelled with John of Cumberland as that seems to be the earliest Salmons that we have positively identified for the first six members of our DNA group.  John Sammons is our newest participant and he does not connect to John of Cumberland County.  Instead he connects to John Salmons who was married to Naomi De Priest and died in Bedford County, Virginia with will proved in the Bedford January Court 1791.  Ruth's notes say that John and Naomi Salmons' children were christened by Rev Douglas between 1759 and 1770 as recorded in Goochland Parish Register.  I can not find a parish in Virginia named Goochland.  I think that Ruth meant St. James Parish in Goochland County.  Can anyone help me with this?

Here is the transcription of the Will of John Salmons, Sr. of Cumberland County as found among the documents in Ruth Sammons Nassar's papers:

Will of John Salmon, Sr.  Will Book 1, page 219 [Cumberland County?]  [I found this in the folder labelled documents among Ruth Sammons Nassar’s information]

In ye name of God Amen the 29 January 1761 I John Salmon Sen’r. of Cumberland and Southam Parish being very sick and Weak in Body but of perfect and sound memory Thanks be given unto God therefore calling to mind the mortalltiy of my Body and knowing it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my last will and Testament that is to say Principally and first of all I give and recommend my Soul into the hands of Almighty God that gave it and my Body I recommend to the Earth from whence it came to be buried in a decent manner Christian Burial at the discretion of my Executors nothing doubting but at the General resurrection I shall received the same again by the mighty power of God and Touching such worldly Estate wherewith it hath been Pleased God to bless me with in this life I give demise and dispose of the same in the following manner  First of all I bequeath and desire for all my Debts as I owe in right of conscience to any Body to be fully paid and satisfied by my Executors hereafter named also I give bequeath all my Household goods and stock of horses Cattle and Hoggs to my wife Elioner Salmons during Widowhood not to be interrupted and if my Wife should die my eldest son John Salmons should servive I give and bequeath it into his care to be equally divided amongst my four sons John Salmons Lewis Salmons Ezkiah Salmons and Rowland Salmons after charges being paid for my three youngest Sons Schooling and maintainance and I bequeath and desire for my three youngest sons Lewis Ezekiah and Rowland to be under their eldest Brothers care and Jurisdiction until they come of age and years of discression to take care of themselves and further I appoint my Wife Elinor Salmons and John Salmons my eldest son my whole and soly Executors whereunto I hae set my Hand Seal this 29 day of January 1761.   John Salmons Sr. L.S.

Witnesses were John Newton and John Salmons, Jr. 

At a court held for Cumberland County 22nd June 1761.  This last will and testament of John Salmons dec’d. was proved by John Newton and John Salmons the Witnesses thereto and by the Court ofdered to be recorded and on the motion of John Salmons the Executor therein named who made oath according to Law Certificate is granted him for obtaining a Probat thereof in due Form giving Security whereupon he with John Newton his Security entered into and Acknowledged their Bond with Condition according to Law and Liberty is reserved to Elenor Salmons the Executrix therein named to join in Probat.  Test Thompson Swann Clk Ct

This paragraph is then repeated for Eleanor.  The document is signed Betty R. Walton, Deputy Clerk Circuit Court, Cumberland County, Virginia  [so this is answer….this was obtained from Cumberland Court]

I asked Carol Cole for some clarification on the DNA results for John Salmons of Goochland and here was her answer:

 Participants who are descendents of two of the sons of John (son of Thomas) of Goochland have tested.  One line DOES match the DNA tests of the group who believe they descend from John Salmons of Cumberland and the other line does NOT match John Of Cumberland lines.  It is a mystery at this point.  It is hopeful that we will recruit other participants to help clarify if the two lines are indeed related.  

  In the above map you can see that Goochland County is the area smack dab in the middle labelled Go.  In the below map you can see that Goochland County was divided into Goochland on the north and Cumberland in the south in 1749.

So we will want to be aware of the fact that our John of Cumberland probably lived quite close to the John of Goochland County.

John Salmon, according to Ruth Salmons Nassar, moved up the James River to settle on acreage on Snowquarter Branch which he acquired from Benjamin Dumars about 1753.  At the time of acquisition the land lay within the bounds of Goochland County, however in  1748 as the area became more populated it was decided that a new county should be created and another log court house built so the courthouse would be more accessible to settlers.  Thus Cumberland County was created.

Ruth Sammons Nassar says that that the name of the wife of our John of Cumberland County was Eleanor.  She suspects that Eleanor's maiden name was Rowland.   The following is from Ruth's book:  Vol. I My Begetters Salmons

We know the wife of John Salmons was named Eleanor/Ellinor, and I suspect she may have been a Rowland, for the John Salmons family and the George Rowland family lived close by in Cumberland, and when young John Salmons moved his entire family to Pittsylvania, which later became Henry County,  the Rowlands moved, too.  This would explain the Christian name given the Salmons’ youngest son, Rowland, which name was handed down for all future generations, including the present generation in which Ruth was living.  Ruth says that she has searched the Rowland records, as well as Salmon, but was unable to come up with proof. 

I find that Ruth was able to prove the Salmons/Rowland Connection in the John of Bedford County line.  She lists eight children born to Nathan and Rebecca Ann Ryan Salmons including Robert De Priest Salmons and Naomi Salmons.  Rebecca is the daughter of Philip Ryan and Obedience Rowland Ryan.  Obediance is the daughter of John and Mary Rowland.  John Rowland according to Ruth's notes was born c. 1730.

James (see below) was kind enough to share the link to the site on which the LDS have digitalized all of Ruth's books:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/515348?availability=Family%20History%20Library

Salmons in Stafford County, Virginia

A Salmons/Sammons researcher contacted me today.  He kindly sent me his family line.  I didn't get very far in reading how his family comes down from John Salmons of Cumberland County before I started thinking about the research that says John married Eleanor in Stafford County.  I have never proved nor disproved this John Salmons to be our ancestor.  I want to look at that today.

Here is what I have in my data base: [the 305 source says Valentine Papers (Pleasants), Vol 2, 983, info from Ruth Nassar, (rsn 263) Rec. DB 4 p. 548 Cumberland... I am not for sure exactly what the source means...need to look.  And the source 53 says Ruth Sammons Nassar's book]

Charles Rice says that he has a copy of the will of John Salmons, SR. listing his wife as Eleanor and listing his sons.  This will is from Cumberland County, VA.  There is a record of the marriage of John Salmons and Eleanor McCarty also. He says that he does not have a copy of the record of marriage.  He received the information from Garroll Sammons.

And here is the rest of what I have in my data base:

John Salmon, according to Ruth Salmons Nassar, moved up the James River to settle on acreage on Snowquarter Branch which he acquired from Benjamin Dumars about 1753, a part of which he sold to John Pleasants April 26, 1745At the time of acquisition the land lay within the bounds of Goochland County, however in  1748 as the area became more populated it was decided that a new county should be created and another log court house built so the courthouse would be more accessible to settlers.  Thus Cumberland County was created.

Garroll Salmons says: “ We first pick up our line in Cumberland County, Virginia.  There on a small farm on the WIllis River south of Cartersville we find a poor man who apparently was having trouble paying his bills  He was John Salmons, Sr. of Southam Parish.  In 1761 we find John very sick and weak of a terminal illness.  He wrote his will naming his wife Eleanor and his four sons John, Lewis, Ezekia, and Rowland.  He died within the year.  He must have been in his forites for his sons were not grown and still needed to finish their schooling.  John Salmons, Jr. was the oldest following by Lewis, Ezekiah and Rowland in that order.  At this time I believe that Rowland was 1-5 years of age, Lewis was about 10, and John Jr. was 12-16 years of age.  This is just a guess.  It surely must have been a trying time for Eleanor with four sons and no one knows the number of daughters.  It is not known the problems that Eleanor had after John’s death, but sometime after that, between 1761 and 1770, the family moved to an area in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.  This area later became Henry County in 1777.”  [note:  I know now that we can narrow down the date of the move more as I found John Jr. in “There is an entry in the vestry record dated February 1768 which records a levy laid on the membership to pay John Salmon for serving as reader for the parish for six months, for which he was paid 50 pounds of tobacco.  In the same entry, 33 pounds of tobacco was paid to George Rowland to recompensate for expenditures (Maude Carter Clement: History of Pittsylvania County)]

Will of John Salmon, Sr.  Will Book 1, page 219 [Cumberland County?]  [I found this in the folder labelled documents among Ruth Sammons Nassar’s information]

In ye name of God Amen the 29 January 1761 I John Salmon Sen’r. of Cumberland and Southam Parish being very sick and Weak in Body but of perfect and sound memory Thanks be given unto God therefore calling to mind the mortalltiy of my Body and knowing it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my last will and Testament that is to say Principally and first of all I give and recommend my Soul into the hands of Almighty God that gave it and my Body I recommend to the Earth from whence it came to be buried in a decent manner Christian Burial at the discretion of my Executors nothing doubting but at the General resurrection I shall received the same again by the mighty power of God and Touching such worldly Estate wherewith it hath been Pleased God to bless me with in this life I give demise and dispose of the same in the following manner  First of all I bequeath and desire for all my Debts as I owe in right of conscience to any Body to be fully paid and satisfied by my Executors hereafter named also I give bequeath all my Household goods and stock of horses Cattle and Hoggs to my wife Elioner Salmons during Widowhood not to be interrupted and if my Wife should die my eldest son John Salmons should servive I give and bequeath it into his care to be equally divided amongst my four sons John Salmons Lewis Salmons Ezkiah Salmons and Rowland Salmons after charges being paid for my three youngest Sons Schooling and maintainance and I bequeath and desire for my three youngest sons Lewis Ezekiah and Rowland to be under their eldest Brothers care and Jurisdiction until they come of age and years of discression to take care of themselves and further I appoint my Wife Elinor Salmons and John Salmons my eldest son my whole and soly Executors whereunto I hae set my Hand Seal this 29 day of January 1761.   John Salmons Sr. L.S.

Witnesses were John Newton and John Salmons, Jr. 

At a court held for Cumberland County 22nd June 1761.  This last will and testament of John Salmons dec’d. was proved by John Newton and John Salmons the Witnesses thereto and by the Court ofdered to be recorded and on the motion of John Salmons the Executor therein named who made oath according to Law Certificate is granted him for obtaining a Probat thereof in due Form giving Security whereupon he with John Newton his Security entered into and Acknowledged their Bond with Condition according to Law and Liberty is reserved to Elenor Salmons the Executrix therein named to join in Probat.  Test Thompson Swann Clk Ct

This paragraph is then repeated for Eleanor.  The document is signed Betty R. Walton, Deputy Clerk Circuit Court, Cumberland County, Virginia  [so this is answer….this was obtained from Cumberland Court]

I have other blog posts that deal with information at a later date for this family.  You can find them by using the search term Salmons or Sammons in the search box.  Today, I am thinking about the marriage of John Salmons and Eleanor McCarthy in Stafford County, Virginia 10 April 1748.  Does this date make sense for this couple?  Absolutely!  If indeed John Salmons, Jr. is about 10 years old in 1761, he would have been born c. 1751 which is close to the date of the marriage.  Who was the McCarthy family in Stafford County?  What do I know about Stafford County?  Stafford County was a very old county in Virginia:

When was Stafford County, VA Created?
Stafford County was established on 1664 from Westmoreland County.

Early on the western boundaries were fuzzy.  It seems to have been mostly the land along the Potomac and Rappahannock River.  There were not yet families on the frontier that far west.  It would have been families who settled along the river banks....at least that is my guess.

By 1720 families were beginning to move up the rivers of Virginia into what was the frontier at that time.  Families who moved up the Rappahanock settled in the Fredericksburg area and in what is now Orange and Culpeper.  You can tell this by the counties that were beginning to form in these areas as they received enough families that there was a request for local government.

By 1776 Stafford was still long and skinny.....as it had been during the year (1750) in which John Salmons and Eleanor McCarty married.  I have not yet found that marriage record for myself.  

So it turns out that I have the book:



The back cover says:  Four political jurisdictions are included in this volume:  Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, Orange County, and the independent city of Fredericksburg.  The marriages, recorded here in a master alphabetical listing, were extracted from minister's returns, marriage bonds, some newspaper notices, and in the case of Stafford County, marriages implied from early land deeds, family Bible records and cemetery records as well as the marriages recorded in Overwharton and St. Paul's parishes...  The book includes an index to brides.

So for right now, I remain unconvinced of this marriage in Stafford County.

There has been some rumor that Eleanor might have been a Rowland since the Salmons family and the Rowland family may have moved together from Cumberland County to what is now Henry County.  Also the youngest son is named Rowland.....and we who research the Sammons/Salmons name know that that name was passed down for generations.  One researcher who was a buddy to Ruth Nassar said that there were so many Rowland Salmons' in the hollers of Kentucky that they had to go by nicknames.

I am not convinced of the fact that Eleanor was a Rowland either at this time.  Hopefully either I will find proof one way or the other or someone will send that proof my way.

Salmons and Goochland/Cumberland County

I pulled some books off the shelf to reshelve them in places that make sense.  One of them is Southam Parish Land Processioning 1747-2784 by Ann K. Blomquist.  There are quite a few pages on which John Salmons is listed.  There is also one page on which William Salmons is listed and he seems to be in the same neighborhood as John.

So I decided to go on-line and see if I could get a feeling for the vicinity that is being talked about when John Salmons is among those to whom the processioning refers.  Over and over the points of reference are:  Widow Dillion's Path, Ham Chapel, Muddy Creek....here are some of the references that I found about these places:

The other chapel would be between Peterville and the James River and called initially “Willis” but shortly Ham Chapel. The parish entry detailing its construction is torn but most likely stated that it was to be constructed “as the other” in size and shape, etc. Its site using the names of the time was along Pruett’s Path and Widow Dillion’s Path or today’s along Virginia Road 45 north of U.S. Highway 60 near Ashby. Ham Chapel was finished sometime in 1747, but repairs, modifications and additions were frequently needed.
from:  http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~huntergeorge/hughespg2.html

I found some information about the Dumas family that includes an explanation of the area being in district #19 on the map on page 10 of this book...oh, yes, I see now that the information is actually labelled as being in precinct #19 on page 14.  This information is found at:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cullember/otherfam/dumas.html

I have a couple of maps on one of my own posts:

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/search?q=salmons

OK....before I file the book, here are a few maps that help me understand this area of Precinct #19:

And in the below map Muddy Creek is labelled with the small marker.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the area in which the Salmons Family was living when John Salmons died.  And probably all of these families could have attended the Ham Chapel if indeed it was near present day Ashby.

Sammons in the Civil War

Kellie Oxley asked me a great question the other day.  To paraphrase her question;   in the Sammons family were there brothers who fought against each other during the Civil War and did it cause the name spelling to change from Salmons to Sammons on our line.  I have never really done this research in full.  However, I have a LOT of various clues to follow up on.  So I will put my clues down here and perhaps Kellie and PJ will help me make a more full report on this question.

Lucinda Hensley and Roland (Bud) Salmons were married in Lawrence County, Kentucky in either 29 Oct 1854.  My old data base had said 9 Oct 1854 in Louisa Kentucky.  I am not sure if I have a copy of their marriage certificate.  If I stop to follow up on that, I'll never get this post written.  I'll try to add that information later.  If you are reading this on down the road, e-mail and ask me!

It is said that the other Sammons brothers joined the army on the Union side.  But Bud was perhaps influenced by his wife and his wife's family to join on the Confederate side.  I am pretty sure that Ruth Salmons Nassar has a story about this in her book that I will share with you that speaks to this.  But for now here is what I have in my own notes:

.... in my notebook is a faded copy of proof that Roland Salmons enlistment in the Confederate ARmy from June 18 to June 30 1862 as a private in Capt. William Straton’s CO of Cavalry.  He is a Pvt.  He must have reenlisted July 1 to Nov 30, 1862 in another group.  Perhaps 1 Batt’n Va. Mtd Rifles.  In both times the place of enlistment is Logan Co. Wv.  At the bottom of the second note is a handwritten note :  “Name appears in column of names present as Roland Sammons.  So he must have changed the spelling of his name sometime during the year of 1862.

And about William Hensley's Confederate service:

William B.Hensley  joined the Confederate ARmy.  Military papers describe him as being 5'3", dark complexioned, blue eyes, dark hair, age 22 in 1863.  Perhaps he had some military training, because he was elected Captain of Company F, 45th Infantry Batalion, Virginia in October 1863 (Later his was designated Company H, same batallion).  He enlisted a namesake, William B. Hensley, into Company H late 1863 or 1864 as private.  I theorize that this was his uncle William, son of Solomon, who was 20 years older than Lucinda's brother William.  The elder Hensley appears as a prisoner of war held by the Union Army at Camp Chase, Ohio, after being captured January 18, 1865.  The older Hensley was described as being 5'10", dark complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, farmer by profession from Wayne County, Virginia (now WV).

Lucinda's brother, Capt. William B. Hensley, evidently served bravely and was seriously wounded and hospitalized near Fisherville, VA. in 1864 and was removed to a hospital at Staunton, Va where he may have remained until the war's end.

I think that I have also researched Byrd Hensley Jr.'s service but it is not close at hand.  

Next the name idea:  Salmons to Sammons:

  I am looking at the marriage certificate between Henry C. Salmonds and Sarah Wooten in 2005 while working on mom’s and my application to the Colonial Dames.  Several things are interesting.  One that Lucinda’s name appears as the person in whose presence the marriage takes place.  She is named as Mrs. Sarah Small (?) Lucinda Salmonds.  This blows up the theory of the change in spelling taking place during the Civll War.  It also adds some names to Lucinda’s list of names.

Lucinda was from Barboursville in what is now WV but was then Virginia.  The story in the family has been that she was the person who believed that the correct way to spell the name was Sammons.

 In a letter from 1431 West Sears Street, Denison, Texas 75020 dated April 26, 1967, there is mention that although Lucinda’s husband could neither read nor write, she was a schoolteacher.  And that she maintained that the correct way to write Salmons was Sammons.

I believe that Lucinda's name was spelled Sammons on her death certificate.  The information at that time was given by her son, William, with whom she was living when she died.

This is a start to the answer to the question that Kellie asked.  Perhaps we can all work on this some more.  

Ancestors in Pittsylvania County area during the Revolutionary War

The Crooked Road

I spent the day on Tuesday, September 25 in Danville, Virginia.  I was drawn there by the Virginia-North Carolina Piedmont Genealogical Society and the Danville Public Library.  My trip was via the Crooked Road.  That was a special treat in itself.  Next time I would like to have done a bit of research on the Crooked Road and do some stopping and site seeing .....and perhaps see the Crooked Road from it's beginning instead of just starting at Hillsville and driving east.

http://thecrookedroad.org

I expect to find the Salmons family in the part of Pittsylvania County that became Henry County.  And indeed I found my Rowland Salmons in a few instances.  Rowland's older brother, John Salmons, is highly visible in the records of Henry County and he is found on the Comittee of Safety:

On Thursday, January 26, 1775 the freeholders of the County of Pittsylvania convened at the courthouse and proceeded to choose a Committee for enforcing and putting into execution the Association (non-importation association), which was in violation of England’s stand on imports.  This was also recognized as rebellion against the Governor’s recent dismissal of the House of Burgesses in repsonse to rebellion in the settlements.  Among the gentlemen chosen as members of the committee were Joseph Roberts, John Payne, John Salmon and others.

The Committee of Safety for Pittsylvania proceeded to organize for military defense, as did all other colonies.  At a meeting on Wednesday, Sept 27, 1775, John Salmon was appointed Captain.

John was the first Sheriff of Henry County, which may seem insignificant to us, but in Colonial VA the office of Sheriff was the highest honor to be bestowed upon a man.That he joined with Patrick Henry, even then a colonial hero, in serving on committees and in military functions indicates that his position was one of esteem.  His appointment as Captain of the militia of Pittsylvania was also an important position.  He resigned that post in 1780, perhaps because he was no longer a resident of Pittsylvania, but of the newly formed Henry County.

I will add information about Salmons/Hensley/Morrison/Wooten lines in this spot when I get time to edit.

CT, RI, NY and RI research

Somehow my genealogy always heats up in times when my real life is extraordinarly busy.   And that seems to be the case right now.  So I am going to make this blog about research that is of great interest to me....but my hours are too limited to give it the kind of time I wish for.  

Steve Roberts stopped by to return some books and our conversation included information about his Salmon ancestor who moved to the Barboursville area just before the Civil War.....perhaps an abolitionist who hoped to help in this area?  And the possibility that while Steve's ancestor seems much more "uptown" than my Salmons ancestors, there is the possibility that they were relate in the very early days of the Colonies.  Here is information that I wrote to Steve this morning,  

I looked on Ancestry and it seems that the public trees that go back earlier than my proven John Salmons in Cumberland County Virginia place the family in NY….long Island being one of the places that a William Salmon died in 1657.  My recent research on some Rhode Island ancestors show that during the War of King Philip many of these families moved to Long Island to escape the Indian atrocities happening in Rhode Island.  I would guess that that might have been happening in other parts of New England.  This would have been around 1676.  So this William Salmon would have been living on Long Island before the King Philip war.  Almost all of the public trees on Ancestry put my John Salmons’ ancestors as having lived in Suffolk County, NY…which is Long Island….But my newest research shows that there was a great deal of interaction between RI, CT and Long Island.  My Carpenter family seemed to have moved freely between the area around Providence RI and the part of Long Island that is directly across the Long Island Sound from Stamford, CT.   So I do not rule out the possibility that my own Salmons family could be related to your own.  But they certainly were not as up town as you describe your own ancestor.  They lived in the backwoods of Virginia and Kentucky for many generations.  Greg Hawkins lives in Westport.  You will see his town on the second map between Fairfield and Norwalk.  This is certainly a very interesting part of the world.  

Other things that are popping are the fact that FTDNA has their summer sale going on and I would like to buy kits for an male to male to male descendant of Phebe Hensley of Henry County, Virginia.

And the Elliott family is on a front burner because of the information from two or three researchers.  I wrote a blog post about this just a few days ago....and we are trying to use autosomal dna to prove the identity of John and Amanda Smith Elliott.  After  wrote the blog post I received message on the blog site from another researcher.  I want to spend more time on the.

Sammons and Revolutionary War

 My cousin, Hank, who did yDNA testing for me many years ago for our mutual Sammons line, sent me a text today asking for information and suggesting he has a friend who wants to prove Revolutionary service if it exists for our line.  First I spiffed up my Ancestry tree a little bit and then sent a link to Hank.  Then I decided to address this question since I am spending crazy amounts of time proving other people's patriots.

The Roland Salmons who is our ancestor was born in 1750 and died in 1819, so he is an excellent possibility for being a patriot.  And indeed my notes say that he took the oath of allegiance in Henry County, Virginia in 1777.  He was also listed on the tax records in 1782 at Henry County, Virginia.  And he is listed in Abercrombie and Slatten Virginia Revolutionary War Public Claims, Vol2, p514 for providing bacon and supplies to the troops for which he was paid.

Roland would have been married to his first wife Elizabeth at when he signed the oath of allegiance.  He would have had young children in his home as it seems these first children were born in the 1700s.  As far as I know Roland did not actually fight in the war.  But these three things would qualify Roland/Rowland Salmons/Sammons as a patriot for the DAR or SAR.  I looked on the DAR site and he does not seem to have ever had a member prove his service which seems VERY surprising because he certainly has a great many descendants.  Perhaps I should get someone else to look for me to be sure I am not overlooking anything.

Next I looked for John Salmons (father of Rowland).  He seems to have been proven as a patriot for the SAR for his service as a private in the war in Duchess County, NY.  Again I can not find anyone who has joined the DAR as a descendant of John Salmons.  

All very interesting!  Going to work on this a bit more.   Oh, wait the information on the SAR site gave me the idea to take the s off the end of Salmon....and John does show up!  And Rowland shows up as well with that spelling....it didn't make any sense that they had never been proven before....And it is beyond interesting that John Salmon was in Duchess County, NY before he moved to Cumberland County, VA.  I have some more digging to do!  Below is a screen shot of application on the SAR site:

Leatherwood

Below is a map taken from Ruth Sammons Nassar's book, My Begetters, Salmons.  I am wondering if the Salmon and Rowland families were in the general area around the creek that is named Leatherwood 

Creek.

In Nov of 2013 I was looking something up for my closest autosomal DNA match in Ruth Salmons Nassar's book and see that Thomas Salmons who was born in 1802 to Rowland and Frankie Carter Salmons is said to have been born at Leatherwood in Henry County, Virginia.

In 1766 Pittsylvania County was created, but it was still wild, very sparsely settled.  In these early raw days the Rowland and the Salmon family settled in an area later to be cut off to form Henry County, on Smith River in a location called Leatherwood because of the tough, leather-like willows which grew on the banks of the river.  

What caused me to spend a bit of time this evening scanning the map and adding it to my blog was a note on the Granville, NC mail list about a man named John Watson who lived on the Leatherwood Creek, Horse Pasture, and Cherry Stone area of Henry and Franklin Counties.  It might be interesting to look into where the Watson and Johnson had moved from and also if they are mentioned as neighbors of the Salmon or Rowland families.  

Another thought to pursue is that Patrick Henry may have lived on land in the same general area

Family Finder Matches for Sara Ann Hawkins

I just received information on results for my mom's and my mother-in-law's FF tests.  They have been more fun that my own matches.  The three closest matches for my mother are clearly matches with Mom's Logan County, WV and Eastern Ky ancestors.  And I have filed our chats via e-mail on this in file labelled DNA my FF matches, since  all of mom's matches that are close are also matches to me.

However, I just received an e-mail from a man in Australia whose sister is a match...she is not a close match.  What is of great interest is the fact that he says that the match is on chromosome 6 which has shown to be a strong McDonald section of his sister's DNA.  As I began to answer his e-mail, I decided that I did not want to loose the ideas that he had sent nor the ideas that I was thinking about.  So here it is posted to the blog.

First I looked to see what I could find about McDonald.  First I looked at the area of Scotland from which the McDonald name is associated:

Map from:    http://www.clandonald-heritage.com

The website calls the map The Lands and Islands of Clan McDonald

Note that the lands include County Antrim in Northern Ireland as a stronghold of the McDonald Clan.

Next I looked to see what surnames are associated with Clan Donald:

http://www.clandonald.info/clandonaldnames2.html

Here is what I wrote back to Rob:

We live in West Virginia.  Mom's ancestors were on these shores very early.  They seem to have been mostly in the area of Virginia during the Revolution and then moved west into Eastern Kentucky and what is now southwestern WV just after the Revolution.  These people were very likely to have been Scotch-Irish .....Here are some of the surnames that are likely to have connected:

Salmons/Sammons
Mom's maiden name is Salmons.  A lady named Ruth Sammons Nassar who was a first cousin to my mother's father did a great deal of research on the Salmons family in the second half of the 20th C.  Ruth says in her book:  The Salmons came to America in the 17th C and were probably descendants of the Highland Scots who migrated across the North Channel into Northern Ireland as early as 1584....Ruth also suggest that it was possibly at one time McSalmon (Son of Solomon).

However, a quick look on-line tells me that the name could also be associated with England or Wales.  So while this is a possibility, it is not certain that this is the link.

Wooten

Don't know yet about origin of Wooten/Ooten name.  Websites on-line associate it with English:  The Anglo-Saxon name Wooten comes from when the family resided in the county of Kent.  Their name is derived from the Old English words  wudu meaning wood and tun meaning enclosure or settlement.  This family is first found in Kent where they had a family seat at Marley before and after the Norman Conquest in 1066.  Hensley

Hensley
  
Hensley seems to be English in derivation when one looks on-line

Osborne

I have recently been in touch with a lady named Betty Harrell Gerlack who wrote a book (that I have ordered from her) connecting my Edward and Sally Burchett Osborne to the Thomas Osborne who moved from to Virginia in 1619.  Others on-line tie this line in with an English Thomas Osborne.  I will correct this when I read the book if Betty does not agree with the English ties for this line.

Webb

Websites say that this is an English and Scottish occupational name for a Weaver.

Family History Monthly (http://www.familyhistorymonthly.com/surnames/surname-detail/10) says:
The surname Webb is England and Wales’s 79th most popular surname. This isn’t surprising as it was an occupational surname for a weaver and without weavers our ancestors wouldn’t have had clothes. Weaving required skill and also fairly complicated equipment, in the form of looms, and these were passed down in families for generations – in fact, this is how we derive the term ‘heirloom’.

Morrison

Other researchers tell me that my Morrison line moved to Pittsylvania County from County Donegal in Northern Ireland in the last half of the 1700's.  Morrison is clearly a Scots name from looking at Wikipedia and other websites.

above map from:  http://cmsna.x10host.com/public_html/clanorigin.htm and also paragraph below:

There is little in the way of historical information on the origins of Clan Morrison. It is generally accepted that the hereditary judges, or brieves, of the Isle of Lewis were chiefs of the clan until that office disappeared in the early 1600's. The seat of the brieves was at Habost in Ness, near the Butt of Lewis. One tradition is that this line of brieves were descended from a Morrison heiress of the original line and a Macdonald of Ardnamurchan who married her in the 1300's. The Morrisons of Harris claim to be of the original line.

Ward

Ward seems to be English according to casual google search.

Castle

Again a brief google search shows Castle to be a Norman-English name as well as having French and German associations. Wikipedia

Carey

Wikipedia suggests that Carey is likely to be Irish in derivation:

Carey is a surname arising from: 1) at least five distinct patronymics in Ireland,^[1] and therefore numerous;^[2] 2) a habitation/topographic name in both Somerset and Devon, and possibly also Cornwall, occurring also as Cary;^[3] 3) a habitation/topographic name in Normandy, Burgundy and Franche-Comté in France, occurring also as Carrey and Cary;^[4] 4) less frequently a habitation name from Dyfed, Wales, which normally exists in the formCarew.^[5]

and on Ancestry the Irish connection is corroborated:

Carey Name Meaning

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ciardha, a midland family name meaning ‘descendant of Ciardha’, a personal name derived from ciar ‘dark’, ‘black’.Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhiachra ‘son of Fiachra’.English: habitational name from Carey in Devon or Cary in Somerset, named for the rivers on which they stand; both river names probably derive from the Celtic root car- ‘love’, ‘liking’, perhaps with the meaning ‘pleasant stream’.English (of Norman origin): habitational name from the manor of Carrey, near Lisieux, Normandy, France, of uncertain origin.Welsh and Cornish: variant of Carew.Possibly an Americanized form of German Gehrig or Gehring.

Carter

According to Wikipedia:  

Carter is a family name, and also may be a given name. Carter is of English origin and is an occupational name given to one who transports goods by cart or wagon.^[2] It is the 64th most common surname in the United Kingdom.^[3] Within the United States, it is ranked as the 40th-most common surname.^[4]

Burchett

Quick google search shows at least three sites agreeing that Burchett is English

McNeely

Much to my disappointment McNeely is not one of the names associated with Clan McDonald.  It seems that McNeely is not Scots as one would guess with the "Mc" prefix.  Surname Database says that it is generally recorded in Ulster and translates as son of the poet to the clan.  There seem to be McNeely's named in County Down and County Antrim.  House of Names says that they are first found in Armagh and Monaghan where they held a family seat from ancient times.

Ancestry site says:

Scottish (Galloway) and northern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Fhilidh ‘son of the poet’.Irish: Anglicized form of the Connacht name Mac Conghaile ‘son of Conghal’ (see Connolly).

So it seems that the most likely connections would be with Mom's surnames of Salmons/Sammons, Morrison, and McNeely.  How to explore these ideas?

1.  we might look to see if the known McNeely, Sammons, and Morrison matches with Mom share the Chromosome #6 match that Rob's sister shares with mom.  I have to stop for today, but I'll try to look at that possibility later.

2. I might find a Morrison male to test for both yDNA and also FF while the FTDNA test is going on.

3.  I might zero in via Chromosome browser to see which of Mom's other matches might share this match by putting in Mom and Rob's sister and then checking against other matches.

Eastern Kentucky geography

I am thinking about a quick jaunt to Eastern Kentucky.  This post is just a place to "hang" a few pieces of information with some maps to go with them.  I need to fill in some "space" so that my maps won't have interference with my side "stuff"....so I am going to chat for a few paragraphs.  If you are reading this and you are really interested, feel free to skip down to the maps.  My ancestors who lived in Eastern Kentucky were the Salmons clan.  My mother's grandfather was Henry Clay Sammons.  His wife, my mom's grandmother, was Sarah Jane Wooten.  The Wooten family were also in Eastern Kentucky very early.

Roland/Rowland Salmons is said by Ruth Sammons Nassar to have been buried:

Ruth says that Rowland was buried in the small plot set aside for a cemetery on the Beaver Creek Farm.  Frankie was buried beside him.  She was about 89 at the time of her death.

 My dad (who married into the Sammons family, LOVED to tell the story that "there were so many Roland Salmons in the hollows of Eastern Kentucky that they had to go by nicknames to keep everyone straight."  Then dad would come up with a few of the nick names:  Booger man, hmmmm can't do anymore from memory tonight.

I have the following in my data base:

 Roland was a very private, but strongly patriarchal, and except for land transactions, which were numerous, he seldom appears in public records of any kind.  For one reason, the farm on Baker’s branch was located in an area isolated by Tug River on the east, Levisa Fork on the west, and mountains to the south.  The Tug and Levisa converge north of his home, at Louisa, to form the Big Sandy.  There were no bridges, no roads, and in wet seasons the rivers were not easily forded.

OK...these two pieces of information tell me that I have some land research to do.  It would seem that a farm on Beaver Creek (on atlas, look just north of the town of Martin.  I do not know how far north this Creek flows.  But I am sure that it does not flow as far north as Louisa.  So it would appear that these are two separate farms.  According to Ruth Sammons Nassar, there will be many land transactions to view.  

Then the Wootens who seemed to have settled on George's Creek on the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy....





Silas P. Wooten:

1804 Silas received a land grant of 400 acres at Georges Creek on Levisa Fork of

Big Sandy River Certificate #115-- date of the Survey was Nov 6, 1804. 

John Salmons of Cumberland County and Rowland neighbors

I just bought a book from Craig at the Virginia Genealogical Society's fall event called Southam Parish Land Processioning 1747-1784 Goochland, Cumberland, and Powhatan Counties, Virginia by Ann K. Blomquist.

And sure enough, there is John Salmon mentioned in the same neighborhood with the Rowland family:  (on page 14 of her book)

"we have processoined the lands and marked the lines except John Salmon, Rachel Farris, Nicholas Davies, Benjamin Harrison, John Blevins, John Rowland, Michael Rowland, Benjamin Dumas, Stephen Hughes"

This is not a book to be read lightly.....this is a book to be studied.  I will be adding maps and thoughts to this blog post as I study the 6 references to John and 1 to William Salmons....along with Rowland.

And very interesting there are also references to Phelps in relationship to Harris in this book.  I don't know whether I'll do those separately or if I will add them in here and change the title of the blog post to the name of the book.  You can always get back to this post however with today's date.

Hensley photos among Aunt Maes' photos

The below photo is of the Hensley home in Hensley Arkansas.  I will also add notes from my data base below the photos to explain to whom this home belonged.

Hi, to all Hensley researchers of Arkansas Hensleys:

This information is not my own research.  It will be a direct quote from a manuscript written by Ruth Salmons Nassar called My Begetters Volume II The Hensleys.  Ruth was the gr-grandchild of my Bird Hensley of Cabell County (now WV) and Clay County Illinois.  Bird's daughter, Lucinda, actually died in the household of Ruth's family.  Ruth was quite fascinated with her grandmother, Lucinda Hensley Salmons.  (If you are interested in Columbus Hensley, skip to the very end of this recital)  Here is what Ruth said about William:

Perhaps the most dashing member of the family was William B. Hensley, born in 1839 in Clay County, Illinois, who married Mary McKendree, sister of his friend George McKendree, in Cabell County.  They had one child, Willa May who married Austin Lee Wigal in Cabell County in the 1880's.  Mary my have died at the time of Willa May's birth or possibly shortly after.  William B. joined the Confederate ARmy.  Military papers describe him as being 5'3", dark complexioned, blue eyes, dark hair, age 22 in 1863.  Perhaps he had some military training, because he was elected Captain of Company F, 45th Infantry Batalion, Virginia in October 1863 (Later his was designated Company H, same batallion).  He enlisted a namesake, William B. Hensley, into Company H late 1863 or 1864 as private.  I theorize that this was his uncle William, son of Solomon, who was 20 years older than Lucinda's brother William.  The elder Hensley appears as a prisoner of war held by the Union Army at Camp Chase, Ohio, after being captured January 18, 1865.  The older Hensley was described as being 5'10", dark complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, farmer by profession from Wayne County, Virginia (now WV).

Lucinda's brother, Capt. William B. Hensley, evidently served bravely and was seriously wounded and hospitalized near Fisherville, VA. in 1864 and was removed to a hospital at Staunton, Va where he may have remained until the war's end.

......

We do not know whether Capt. William B. Hensley returned to Cabell County immediately after the war, but we do know that not long after the war's end he was settled in Pulaski County, Arkansas where he acquired a rather large plantation.  Of course, the economy of the South was in shambles and property could be purchased at distressed prices; nevertheless, one wonders how a defeated Confederate soldier happened to have enough Union dollars to make the purchase.  Perhaps he merely leased the plantation from owners who had lost their menfolks and slaves, later earned sufficient profits to purchase.  Perhaps he had some special source of good funds.  We will probably never know.  Also, we do not know how or when he met Rose Campbell, the daughter of a once-prosperous and highly respected southern family.  Nor is there a date of his marriage to Rose Campbell (I found Arkansas records to be scant), but the family Bible held by Mrs. Hilda Adams of Hensley, Arkansas, records the birth and death date of their infant son December 20, 1870.  Again the young mother was shortly to follow her infant, and Rose Campbell Hensley, who was born in 1849, died May 16, 1871.

About one year later, Capt. Hensley married Nora Dell Harris, the niece of Rose Campbell, granddaughter of William S. Campbell (Rose's father).  Her mother was Harriet Arkansas Campbell and her father was Forman Harris.  Nora's parents both died in 1863 and she was reared by her Grandmother Campbell.

William Hensley remained in contact with his Cabell County family and his father and sisters frequently visited his plantation.  His daughter by first wife Mary McKendree also was welcomed in Arkansas.  As a matter of fact, she spent most of her adult life in Arkansas with her husband, Austin Lee Wigal and their son Fred Lee Wigal who died in Arkansas in 1953.

Captain Hensley continued to acquire land as well as to manage the rather extensive plantations inherited from William Campbell.  Nora had not children, thus Willa May was his only surviving child.  He was highly regarded in Saline and Jefferson Counties, wherein much of his property was situated, and the town of Hensley, Arkansas was named in honor of him.

He died August 12, 1891 at age 51 and is buried in a bridk mausoleum on Hensley Plantation.  The plantations he had acquired he left to Norah for her lifetime then to be divided up between the heirs of his brother and sisters.  Nora lived to her late 90's dying in 1953.  The Campbell plantations which William had owned with Nora passed to her heirs.

I laud William for his loyalty to his family.  Seven daughters had been born to Byrd and Nancy Hensley.  It would have been a chore to find husbands for them even in the best of times.  The Civil War had taken its toll of the nation's manhood and Southern Sympathizers were especially ....Willam and Nora had the girls and Byrd visit the plantation, they were no doubt feted and introduced to Arkansas society, and the youngest, Tavin (Fanny) married a Dr. Lindsey and lived in Little Rock Ark.  They had two sons.

Byrd's daughters Mary Ann and Sarah remained unmarried and were quite impoverished in their old age.  Mary died in Barboursville, WV.  Both girls, of course, were heirs under William's will, however since Nora outlived them they received nothing from his estate.  Being destitute, Sarah worked out an agreement with my brother Henry to leave her share of the William Hensley estate to him in return for his purchasing a lifetime care package for her at Foster Memorial Home in Huntington, WV.  She was the only member of Byrd's family that I ever met and she was adorable old lady dresesed very properly in black who pulled from her dresser drawer an ornate perfume bottle she had saved from some long-ago extravagance.  I cherished the gift for many years.

Elizabeth, third daughter of Byrd and Nancy, married Samuel Kelley, son of Adam and Betsy Kelley of Kanawha County and had a large family.  At the time, the Bird Hensleys lived in Cabell County on Swanch (I believe this to be a mispelling) and he shot a turkey for the wedding feast, according to legend.

This is the end of Ruth's recital. I would be glad to try to clarify anything here if you have questions....Marsha in WV

Columbus Hensely, Lucinda's youngest brother, may have followed William to Arkansas and died there.  He and his wife Muscilla had a large family but I have found no record of them or their names.

There are also photocopies of documentation in Ruth’s manuscript