- This topic has 6 voices and 15 replies.
-
Posts
-
Hi, I am new here , so thanks for allowing me on the site.
My GGGGrandfather was William Harrelson, who married White Feather. It is unknown what her tribe is. William was born in Va.
Their children were all born in Tn.and spread out from there.
William was born around 1740 0r 50, and was a Longhunter in Wallen’s group.
Does anyone heard of this surname?
Thank You
wmnbybrth
Hi, and welcome to the Forum.
Was your William Harrelson’s mother Patience LEWIS?
The William whose Aunt Ann Harrelson m’d Henry (II) CHILES?
Have you ever heard this White Feather’s english name was a.k.a. Maky HAWKINS?
Bill
Hi Bill,
Yes that is the same William Harrelson.
but there is no proof anywhere of White Feathers English name, or Tribe. I have been in contact with many relatives via email, and no one has proof. Some say Mary Nancy Hawkins, some say Maky Nance Hawkins. Some say Cherokee, some say Cheraw or Sawra. But again, no proof.
Are you related? Do you have any proof? I would be ecstatic if someone had the answers.
Thanks for your reply
wmnbybrth
wmnbybrth,
Welcome!
Have you seen this site/
http://seawell.net/Whitefeather/weblodge/longhunter.html
Sue J
Also, do have info on the family of Aunt Ann Harrelson and Henry Chiles II? Did their daughter Susannah marry John Tinsley?
I have a post here if you search for Tinsley.
Sue J
Hi Sue,
Yes, I have Susannah Chiles married to John Tinsley.
That site is Serena’s site. I have visited it alot. She doesn’t have proof either. Just family stories. But she is still searching for proof as we all are. Her and i have emailed .
Thank You
wmnbybrth
The following is one of those posts of which I personally “despair”….okay, I hate’em because the specific sources will not be mentioned because there are too many of them and this is just meant as a summary. I don’t ask anyone to accept this, but I think this line of inquiry needs to be pursued once we get back into this time period….
Henry Chiles II’s family lived in the western part of New Kent Co which can only be described as “Indian Country” in 1708 (land patents), which later became Hanover Co. (Paul Harrelson’s Will was recorded in Hanover Co., NOT New Kent Co. which it was when he came there.) Henry grew-up unmolested in this area.
A very red flag.
Henry’s mother and grandmother as well as both of his wives’ maiden names have never been proven (Wills and court records mention their first names but no record exists, or survives (?), of their surnames) EVEN though his Grandfather, who held the first King’s patent to trade with the Natives of the interior (Saponi), as well as himself, had made their fortune in the fur trade and were “well to do”. This begs an obvious question.
(The proposed WEBB and PAGE maiden names of Henry (I)’s wives have been disproven by those researchers as well as the more recent Chiles researchers.)
Henry II’s (m’d Ann Harrelson) immediate descendants moved to S.W. Va and m’d mixed blood and Cherokee WARDs and TERRILL, CHAMBERS, COLEMAN, HARRIS (all probably mixed), and a few others familiar to this forum, in a period of history where this was more restricted by law than it had been earlier, throwing the parentage of Henry II into question.
(“The Quit Rent Rolls of Virginia” record Paul Harrelson as “Harrelston”. The “English Duplicates of Lost Virginia Records, Quit Rent Rolls of Virginia”, p.166, records him as “Harrellton”, then, the regional colonial spelling variations of “Harrelson” and others, set in.)
William Harrelson’s mother Patience (LEWIS) is most probably a relative of Zachary LEWIS who m’d Mary WALLEN, dau of Elisha Sr., and the sister of Elisha Jr, the LongHunter (but it’s likely that all the Wallens’ were LongHunters). Patience’s son William Harrelson, hung out with this same Wallen family. This LEWIS family is related to the Saponi Collins families of Spotsylvania and Orange Co. and a few other familes whose descendants are not white. Circumstancial? Only somewhat.
I mean no disrespect, but in the time period we’re discussing, does anyone expect to find “absolute” proof that one’s ancestor/ ancestress was NOT white? In the time period in question, “absolute proof” is often only found in the descendants’ stories, and who those descendants married, not necessarily in the records. (i.e., “Who” they married and “who” those families’s descendants were, is of equal weight.)
William Harrelson is recorded with the WALLENs in 1767 Pittsylvania Co Tax Lists per several researchers (my “link” failed) and Elisha Sr. took out a land patent there in 1745. (Henry Chiles owned land there and gave it to his granddau Susannah (m’d Martin) in his Will and her son married Rebecca Ward, “Beloved Woman” of the Cherokee.)
Pitts.Co. was the Wallens’ home-base for a generation but Pitts.Co. covered everything west of it’s present location for a time and the creeks they settled on came to be in Henry & Patrick counties (once they were formed) – far to the west of Halifax (city) and deep in Saponi territory. The Wallen kids m’d ROBERTS (several times), BLEVINS, JONES & RICE, before moving to Lee Co Va begining in 1782 (land patents, 1782-1784) – Does the “Stone Mountain” community of Lee County ring anyones’ bells??
Yes, it’s circumstancial, but all this does hang together.
Was William Harrelson based out of western “old” Pitts. Co. like the Wallens’ were? It would stand to reason that he was, if he was a part of their crews in the 1760s. Who would William Harrelson have married in this area of Va? If she were Native, the circumstancial evidence would point to her having been of Eastern Sioux origin. Might William have married a Cherokee on one of his forays? Because we’re talking about this happening in about the 1760s, there are a bunch of reasons why she probably wasn’t Cherokee.
When the “paper trail” runs out, we have to analyse the available, known facts, even if “it” can’t always be pieced back together again.
Bill
Bill, Thanks so much for your reply.
I know of 3 Books that list William Harilson as a Longhunter with Wallen and other Longhunters, but none list who he married.
As for WhiteFeather being from the same area, I have no idea.
She could have been from who knows where and went with him to TN where they settled with their children. As far as I can tell, their first child was born in 1770.
I agree with you about finding absolute proof, but any proof is better than just stories. Somewhere there is something that will tie it together, we just have to find it, and with so many records destroyed in the Civil War that might be an imposability.
I haven’t been able to get into the Pittsylvania tax lists either.
thank you for the info.
wmnbybrth
(Bev Harrelson Lyons)
Bill,
Thanks for the summary. I think it is very helpful.
Here is a link that is working.
http://www.census-online.com/links/VA/Pittsylvania/
Sue J
Thanks, Sue. Great link. Found a bunch of people on the 1793 Wythe and 1782 Montgomery Co’s tax lists.
Bill
Bev,
I didn’t find William Harrelson in Va.
What are the names of the children you referred to?
Bill
Bill,
I didn’t find William on the tax lists either.
I do have a copy of signatures from a 1785 Washington County Va religious petition that he signed.
William and WhiteFeathers children were John H,Abner,Noah W.,James Ezekiel, William(my line), Susannah,Mary,and Sarah.
I do appreciate the help. Thanks very much.
wmnbybrth
Bev Harrelson Lyons
I discussed this a little with Bill Childs off the forum, but other users have expressed Harrelson interest, so I’ll just post these Hanover County, VA backup data (with fewer typos, and a better citation, than you will find by Googling).
I’m not sure it has arisen elsewhere on the forum, so I want to point out that in colonial records prior to 1752 (such as these), dates in January and February in effect refer to the following year — that is, they were the eleventh and twelfth months, and March was the first. So, for example, January 1734 is nine months AFTER April 1734, in the records cited below. Sometimes a transcriber would “correct” the dates, but usually that is so noted, if the record is published — so I have to assume these are the dates in the original court book. For this reason I am not copying them below in the same order in which they appear in the published abstracts. The words in brackets, below, are mine.
_________________
William and Mary Quarterly, Series 1, Vol. XXI, No.1 (July, 1912), pp. 47-63. [Abstracts, made in 1910-11 by S.O. Southall, of the oldest surviving court record book of Hanover County, VA.]
Aug. 1733. — Peter Harralson (will) dated Jany 20th, 1732 [i.e. 1733], Gives wife Mary Harralson the place where Daniel Tyler lives. Sons, Paul, Burges, John and Nath: Harralson; daus. Elizabeth, Agnes and Sarah. Witness, Paul Harralson, Rolf Hunt, and James Hooper. Admtor Mary Harralson. Security, Henry Chiles and Paul Harralson.
1733. — Est. of Peter Harralson, decd, by Alex. Cock & John Jones.
April 5, 1734. — Paul Harralson (will dated 1718). Son Peter 200 acres on Crump Creek, son Paul, dau. Ann Chiles, dau. Judith Harralson, Gr. dau. Rebeckah Sims — wife and all 5 children begotten of her. Paul Harralson (Henry Childs security) executor’s bond. [Note that only three children are named in the abstract; a fourth probably was the mother of Rebeckah Sims.]
1734. — Paul Harralson of St. Mary, Caroline Co., to Joseph Woolfolk of same Parish & County.
Jan. 25, 1734 [i.e. 1735]. — Paul Harralson of St. Paul’s to Henry Power of Parish of James City in Co. of James City 150 acres (same land whereon Paul Harrelson dec’d, father of Paul Harrison lately lived).
Aug. 7, 1735. — Estate of Paul Harralson dec’d to Paul Harralson for going to York to take in his Farther’s mortgage for Mr. Nelson.
Sept. 6, 1735. — Henry Chiles, Planter, to Ambrose Hundley Southern Branch.
____________
One might wish that the abstracts gave more detail — and perhaps the originals still do; that I don’t know. The rest of the early records of this county, except for two dating after 1770, were burned by Union soldiers in 1865.
Having looked at the original documents yesterday, I want to post some corrections or additions to the published abstracts relating to these families. By way of showing how much more information is in the originals, I’ll start with a few abstracted sentences that I posted about one year ago, in the previous message on this thread. [I’ll also correct my own count, in the bracketed comment after the first one.]
April 5, 1734. — Paul Harralson (will dated 1718). Son Peter 200 acres on Crump Creek, son Paul, dau. Ann Chiles, dau. Judith Harralson, Gr. dau. Rebeckah Sims — wife and all 5 children begotten of her. Paul Harralson (Henry Childs security) executor’s bond. [Note that only four children are named in the abstract; the fifth probably was the mother of Rebeckah Sims.]
Sept. 6, 1735. — Henry Chiles, Planter, to Ambrose Hundley Southern Branch.
From the actual record book:
Paul Harrelson’s will was dated 18 August, 1718. First bequest was to his son Peter, 240 acres [not 200] “on the south side of Crump Creek, on which he now liveth,” also a Negro man, Tony. To son Paul, the plantation where he now dwells, with the land and appurtenances; Negro man Goliah, girl Betty, a feather bed and furniture. To Rebekkah Sims, a negro girl named Perthenia. To daughter Anne Chiles, a negro boy named Dennis, a feather bed and furniture. To daughter Judith Harrelson, a negro girl named Kate, a feather bed and furniture. Appoints beloved wife Rebekkah and son Peter Harrelson executrix and executor. Paul Harelson (seal). Witnesses John I S Snead his mark, John Meeks, John Snead Jun.
In 1734, “The Ex’rs herein named being dead, at the motion of Paul Harrelson son of the said dec’d and he taking the oath appointed by law to be taken by Ex’rs, Certificate was granted him for obtaining letters of Administration” of the estate, and the 14 year old will was recorded at this session (5 April, 1734). Executor’s bond, posted by Paul Harrelson and Henry Chiles, 500 pounds sterling.
I’m sorry that my notes don’t actually show Rebekkah Sims as a granddaughter; but I believe if the will had not said that she was, I’d have made a note of that (as a further disagreement with the printed abstract). I tried to find a Sims in the record book — to be her father. The only one indexed is George Sims. (The Index is pretty inadequate, however.)
July 3, 1735 — George Sims of St. Martin Parish to James Hall (of same), for 2,000 pounds of Virginia tobacco, sells 50 acres, part of 200 acres granted to Sims by patent dated 17 Aug. 1723 — adjacent roperty owners include Alexander Snead and Charles D____ck. This name may be Dimmiack or Demack — there was a John Dimmiack licensed to keep an ordinary (tavern) in this period. Anyway, as part of this sale, the right of dower was acknowledged and released by his wife Sarah Sims (who appeared at the court session, and was examined separately). She signed her name — it looks like Sarar, but is not just a mark.
I might mention that virtually all of this record book, except for marginal notes and the Index, is in the hand of one clerk — I believe his name was Augustus Graham — whose handwriting (though clear) is very archaic, even for 1735. I suspect that he was a rather mature man and had learned to write cursive not much later than the 1680s. That’s total guesswork, but I just mention it. The person who abstracted these records in 1910-12 did not understand the script very well. For instance, Harrelson is always spelled Harrelson — except that once, Paul Sr.’s signature (as transcribed by Graham) just has one r. Chiles is never spelled Childs, that I saw. If my reading of “Humphry” in the Thomas Gibson will should be “Hundley,” that would be another example, although in that case the shoe is on the other foot. Anyway, some of these old-style letters are very similar, and ambiguous.
The sketchy entry for Henry Chiles on Sept. 6, 1735 refers to a series of documents, over a couple of days. First (Sept. 6) was a sort of lease, 270 acres for five shillings (English) — which is nowhere near a purchase price. Annual rent was one peppercorn, payable on Michaelmas day, if demanded. (This pro forma “quit-rent” payment was in a lot of proprietary deeds, e.g. in Maryland. I don’t know why it’s found here.) The next day there was a “real” deed to the same land, for 60 pounds Virginia money and 1,000 pounds of tobacco. (Anne the wife of Henry Chiles appeared, and released her right of dower.) Finally, Henry Chiles posted a bond of 200 pounds sterling (payable to Hundley if he defaulted on the terms) for this pair of deeds/indentures. Witnesses to all the transactions were William Taylor, Richard Winn, and Benjamin Hawkins.
In post #6 above, Bill discussed a Lewis family somewhat, and I also looked for that. The only one I noted (but again, the Index is very sketchy) was a Robert Lewis, who was a son-in-law of Nicholas Meriwether. (I believe these would be the ancestors of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and as such they are probably not obscure. I could tell you which slaves were promised to which children of Robert and his wife, if that is of any relevance. It’s an unusual document, in its way.) Nicholas Meriwether seems to have been the most important person in Hanover county, “first justice” of the court, or something like that.
Perhaps some of you have heard of the Harrelson DNA Project through the Family Tree DNA organization. If not, our benefactor, Steven Harrell originated the project with his own funding and through member submissions by Buddy Harrelson and myself, we finally had twenty-five members from every major lineage. The project wanted to identify the origins of the Harrelson/Haralson name in the Americas.
After five months and long waits for paternal DNA testing, we have come up with what we believe to be the definitive truth on the Harrelson story.
The earliest immigration was by Paul Harralson and his son Peter with Paul coming possibly as early as 1670 to Hanover county, Virginia from Denmark via Holland. A second identified lineage occured when brothers William, Ezekiel and possibly James arrived in what is reported to be Port Royal, South Carolina in the mid 1700s from England. A third lineage was Elkanah Harrelson and possible brother Reuben who came into the same area of Caswell county, North Carolina as descendants of Paul Harralson. This migration occured circa 1760-65 again probably from England. Elkanah Harrelson married Elisheaber Harralson in 1767. She was the granddaughter of Paul Harralson. The fourth and last lineage identified as completely seperate from the others was by the ancestor of Jonathan J. Harrelson who was born 1793 in Marion county, South Carolina.
Paul Harralson’s descendants migrated west into Tennessee, south into North and South Carolina and Georgia with eventual westward migration into Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. The one most eventful thing we discovered is that most of the South Carolina Harrelsons in Horry and Marion counties descended from Paul Harralson Jr. through his son William.
The three English brothers William, Ezekiel and James migrated west into Tennessee with Ezekiel settling in Illinois and William’s descendants living in eastern and middle Tennessee before migrating into Arkansas and Missouri. This is the line of William Harrelson and Jane Anderson, William Harrelson and Maky Nancy Hawkins and Susannah Harrelson Armstrong and Sarah Sallie Harrelson Dutton. William Harrelson who married Perdenny Woodphim Kelly is in this line as well.
Elkanah Harrelson’s descendants scattered throughout the south and his brother Reuben’s lineage migrated primarily into southern Georgia.
The fourth distinct lineage is that of Jonathan J. Harrelson who moved from Marion county, South Carolina into Florida and settled eventually in Covington county, Alabama. It was thought that he was part of the South Carolina Harrelsons who descended from Paul Harralson Jr. into the residents of Marion and Horry counties of South Carolina but not so. Jonathan’s lineage is distinct and unrelated to any of the other lines discovered.
What I wanted to convey here is that the William Harrelson who is said to have married an Indian woman named Maky Nance Hawkins aka “Whitefeather” is of English origins and is totally unrelated to the family of Paul Harralson from Denmark. Danny Haralson
I have a great Aunt who was the first wife of Chiles Alando Parker/ Davie, NC Married c. 1854. He is reported to have a second wife, . I think Rebecca. I’ll check tonight and get back to you tomorrow.
I also have to find a Gen site I saw for Harrells + Powell + Daniels . etc., Edgecombe, NC.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
