Volume 2 Issue 12
December 2002
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Abstract
Through a series of logical inferences, a family, including children Sally, Elizabeth and William, is proposed for a Reuben Gentry who lived in Surry County, North Carolina, in 1809 and 1810, and for whom references are exceptionally lacking. Abednego Gentry is proposed as the father of Reuben.

Introduction
A substantial number of Gentrys of the fourth, fifth, and sixth generation lived in the Southern states at a period of time when census and other records were lost or never existed. The descendants of many of these Gentrys are known, but attempts to connect them with earlier generations of Gentrys are guesswork at best. One of these Gentrys was Reuben Gentry, who appeared briefly in Surry County, North Carolina records like a lit match flaring briefly in the darkness, and then abruptly dying out. Reuben's match may have lasted long enough to light several candles to carry his light forward in time. The purpose of this article is to try to tie Reuben to possible descendants, and to propose a possible parentage for him. To do so we use what must be the ultimate in scarcity of records. From the two documentary references to Reuben we undertake to both hypothesize a line of parentage and also a line of descendancy. The reader can judge how successful this proves to be.

Reuben Gentry in Surry County Records
The 1810 Federal census for Surry County contains a listing for Reuben with a presumed wife and three young children -- two daughters and a son -- all born between 1800 and 1810<1> Reuben and his wife are listed as being born between 1765 and 1784. Given the age of the children, it is safe to assume that Reuben and his wife were married shortly after 1800 and their own dates of birth were much closer to 1784 than to 1765. Reuben is not listed as an individual head of household in the 1800 Surry County census, nor in any other surviving census of North Carolina or neighboring state. We will consider later in this article, various possibilities as to his whereabouts in 1800 and earlier.

In addition to the census record, Reuben is mentioned in one Surry County tax listing. In 1809, he is listed as being liable for a poll tax but not for any property, in the same district as Abednego Gentry, Meshack Gentry, and Mary Gentry<3>. There are no records for 1810 or 1811 for any of these individuals, and by the time Abednego and Meshack are listed in the tax records again in 1812, there is no mention of Reuben. In fact, except for the single census and single tax listing, no other record has ever been found of Reuben. While it is possible that he left North Carolina in 1810 and moved on to some other frontier settlement where records of his move are lacking, other considerations suggest that the more likely situation is that Reuben and his wife died of disease or accident, leaving behind three orphan children. We will consider the identification and fate of these children before returning to talk further of Reuben and his own parentage.

Evidence for Orphan Children
The Surry County court records contain two references to orphan children that relate directly to the possibility of Reuben Gentry having died shortly after 1810. In August 1811, an orphan child, Betsey Gentry, was bound by action of the Court of Pleas and Quarterly Sessions, to a George Long<4>. Betsey was identified as being five years of age as of 1 Sep 1811. This may or may not have been her birthdate. More likely it was a lawyer's way of saying that she reached her fifth birthday sometime during the month preceding September 1st. In any event, this places her year of birth as 1806.

A document dated November 1822, can be found in the North Carolina State Archives in which an orphan boy, William Gentry, was bound by indenture to a Benjamin Johnson<4>. William was listed as being fourteen years of age as of 1 May of the same year. Again, this may not have been his birthday, but rather indicated that he reached the age of fourteen during the previous month. This places his year of birth as 1808.

Thus we have two confirmed orphan children -- Betsey (or Elizabeth) and William -- of an age appropriate to being possible children of a presumably dead Reuben Gentry. We will present a hypothesis for the Reuben Gentry family in which the parents were no longer living in August 1811, and three orphan, children, two daughters and a son, continued to live in Surry County. The third child, a daughter perhaps a little older than Betsey, is not identified in any record of orphans, but we can suggest a possible individual by combining Surry County marriage bond records with census data.

1820 Surry County Census Record
Despite Betsey's indenture to George Long in 1811, there are suggestions in the 1820 Surry County census records that Reuben Gentry's presumed two daughters were living with Shadrack Gentry in that year, and that his presumed son, William, was living with Shadrack's father, Abednego Gentry<2>. While there is no assurance whatsoever, that these orphan children were in fact living in the households indicated, each household has members present of the appropriate age and sex who cannot be identified as being children of either Shadrack or of Abednego.

In the case of the listing for Abednego, in addition to Abednego, there are four males present. The oldest, age 16-18, can be identified as Abednego's son Allen, who married Sally Brittain two years later, in 1822. In addition there are two males born 1810 to 1820 and one born 1804 to 1810. The two younger ones can be identified as Abednego's son William (who was born in January 1810, according to the date on his gravestone, and William's younger brother, Abednego Jr. The male born 1804 to 1810, is an extra individual and cannot be identified as a son of Abednego. His age is appropriate, however, if he was the William who was a son of Reuben Gentry.

In the case of Shadrack's family, in addition to Shadrack and his wife, Polly, there are 2 sons and 5 females listed. Given the date of Shadrack's marriage in 1810, it appears that the 2 older girls present with the family (one born 1794 to 1804, and one born 1804 to 1810) are not children of Shadrack. The younger children can be identified as Shadrack's sons Gardner and Richard, and three daughters, Lucy, Margaret, and Charity Adaline. Shadrack's marriage bond is recorded in Surry County records in 1810, and those of his daughters beginning in 1831<5>. Two other daughters, Amelia and Mary Ann were born after 1820 and so of course were not listed in the 1820 census. But the two extra girls living with Shadrack are consistent with Reuben's presumed daughter Betsey; and an older sister born in or before 1804.

Surry County Marriage Records
There is a strong probability that the orphan girl Betsey Gentry, born in 1806, is the Elizabeth Gentry who married Robert Sims in 1822 (marriage bond dated 9 June)<5>. Four Betsy or Elizabeth Gentrys are in the marriage records during the period from 1813 to 1822. Three of them were married at dates too early to be appropriate to the orphan Betsy, and the identities of two of them are fairly certain.

• 1813 - Elizabeth married William Sparkes. This is believed to be a daughter of Abednego.
• 1817 - Elizabeth married Jesse Franklin. She is known to have been a daughter of Shelton Gentry.
• 1818 - Betsy married William Brogdon. This Betsy was married at a date when the orphan Betsy would have been only twelve years old.

There is no assurance that a marriage of the orphan Betsy was recorded in a marriage bond, but there is no other potential Elizabeth belonging to a family in the 1820 census who could have been an alternate to the orphan Elizabeth as a spouse for Robert Sims. We can thus rather confidently assume that Reuben's presumed daughter did indeed marry Robert Sims.

Less certain is the possibility that the Sally Gentry who married William Gentry in 1828 (marriage bond dated 21 December) was Betsey's older sister<5>. The best evidence to this effect is that there were no unidentified girls of the appropriate age for marriage that were present in the 1820 census aside from the ones living with Shadrack Gentry. This is not conclusive, since there is always the chance of mistaken entries in the census record, but the one daughter of Abednego and the two daughters of Shelton Gentry that were of the right age in 1820, were present in those families in 1810 as well. Moreover, with the exception of the daughter of Abednego, whose name is not known, none of the Gentrys present in the 1820 census are known to have had a daughter Sally. Accordingly, we conclude that Sally was the second, older, daughter of Reuben Gentry.

There is no question that the William W. Gentry who married Cynthia Haines in 1830 (marriage bond dated 27 July) was the orphan William<5>. The William Gentry who was married in December of that same year to Lucy Myres, is known to be the son of Abednego Gentry. William White Gentry appears in the tax records beginning in 1830 as being of tithable age (born 1809 or before), whereas the second William, is not listed as being tithable until 1832, which is appropriate to his date of birth of December 1810. The fact that "William W" or his wife Cynthia appear in the tax records from 1832 through 1842 in the same tax district as Abednego (and in 1832, Cynthia was listed as living adjacent to Abednego), lends strength to the argument that "William W" was the extra boy living with Abednego in 1820.

Grandchildren of Reuben Gentry
Having identified the children of Reuben Gentry to our satisfaction, we will next consider the families of these children before returning finally to the identify of Reuben himself. For this, we must depend for the most part on the census records. In 1830, Elizabeth was listed along with her husband and three young children. In the same census, Sally was listed with a husband and two young daughters as well as a possible step-daughter. William was still living with Abednego at the time - he and his namesake William were both married within the year, but at the time of the census both were still with Abednego.

In 1840 and 1850 Sally and Elizabeth continued to appear in Surry County census records along with their respective husbands. In 1850, Sally was listed as being age 49, and born in North Carolina. Elizabeth was identified in 1850 as age 45 and born in Virginia. In 1860, she was listed as having been born in North Carolina rather than Virginia.

The last unequivocal mention of William in the Surry County records was in the 1832 tax lists<6>. Two years later, his wife Cynthia was listed as the owner of 25 acres of land, and liable for 1 poll tax (William?). Cynthia continued to appear occasionally in tax lists until 1842, after which time tax lists for most years are missing. Interestingly, William appears in no known census, although Cynthia was present in both 1840 and 1850, along with children. Inasmuch as Cynthia continued to have children, as late as 1850, in spite of William not being listed, we must conclude that for some reason William was still alive and in frequent contact with his wife, but for some reason was absent at the time of each census. Was he in the military, or in prison, or a travelling preacher, or a stagecoach driver, or what? The only apparent discrepancy, otherwise, to the census records, is the age given for Cynthia in 1850, namely 31. To have been married 20 years earlier, makes one wonder if her age should not have been listed as 41! Since she appears to have died before the 1860 census, we have no way of checking her age there.

We will not follow the children of Sally or Elizabeth further here, but leave that for members of the Chamberlain and Sims families. As for William's children, he and Cynthia are known to have had a daughter Elizabeth, who is assumed to be the Elizabeth (age 16) living with Solomon Vestal in 1850. This daughter married C. D. Hendricks and the couple lived in Yadkin County for the rest of their lives. Their daughter, Mrs. Carmen Richardson, contributed an article to the North Carolina Bicentennial historical document series, "Heritage of Yadkin County", giving brief comments on her family history and stating specifically that her mother, Elizabeth, had been the daughter of William and Cynthia Gentry<7>. Another possible daughter of William and Cynthia, who was listed in the 1840 census along with apparently this Elizabeth, had either died before 1850 or was married to some unidentified husband. A third presumed daughter in the 1840 census, is believed to be the Mary (age 11) who was present with Cynthia in 1850. Two other children, Sally (age 8) and Miles (age 2) were in the 1850 census. In 1860, a second son, Charles, can be identified, who apparently was born in 1850 after the census was taken. Miles and Charles have been specifically identified by their niece, Mrs. Carmen Richardson, as being brothers of her mother Elizabeth.

Identity of Reuben Gentry
We finally return to the question of Reuben's identity. Using the method of competing hypotheses suggested by Patricia Hatcher of Ancestry.Com, there are several possibilities for the origin of Reuben.

1. Reuben was present in Surry County in 1800 and was a member of one of the families that was present at that time.
2. Reuben was living in Virginia in 1800, before moving to Surry County.
3. Reuben was living in South Carolina in 1800, before moving to Surry County.
4. Reuben was living elsewhere in North Carolina in 1800, and moved to Surry County after that date.
5. Reuben moved to Surry County from one of the pioneer settlements such as those in Kentucky, Tennessee, or Georgia. Lacking records for these areas, we cannot eliminate this possibility. It would be very unusual, however, for Reuben to have moved to one of these pioneer areas, and then to have moved back to a more settled community. We will accordingly assume that one of the other hypotheses is much more likely.

Let us consider the first four hypotheses in turn. If we consider the first one, we can assume that Reuben was probably not married in 1800, otherwise we would expect him to be listed in the census as the head of a household. [This is not an iron-clad assumption as it is possible for him to have been missed in the enumeration of the census, but given the presence of other evidence such as tax records, the possibility of being missed in the Surry County census is quite remote.] If Reuben was indeed living in Surry County in 1800, he must have been part of one of the Gentry families listed in the 1800 census (probably in the 16 to 26 age range). Presumably he married shortly after that time, based on the ages of his children in 1810. The only Gentry families in the 1800 census with male members of the correct age that are not listed as heads of household are those of Meshack, Allen, and Arthur ("*Athe") all of whose sons can be identified. As to the neighboring counties of Stokes and Wilkes, the only Gentry listed in 1800 is Claybourn, the son of the William Gentry who died in Surry County in 1773. We would also expect that at the time of Reuben's marriage, or soon after, he would have been old enough to be liable for a poll tax, but Reuben appears in no Surry County tax lists until 1809. There appears to be no possibility that Reuben was present in Surry County before 1809.

Having disposed of hypothesis (1), what are the possibilities of hypothesis (2). Lacking census data for both 1790 and 1800 for almost all of the counties in Virginia, we can not eliminate this hypothesis based on census data. All that can be said about this possibility is that none of the families known to have been living in Virginia in Albemarle County, Louisa County, Hanover County, or Henrico County is known to have had a son named Reuben. We can also say that we know of no logical reason why one of these families should have moved to Surry County in 1809 since all the rest of the families in Surry County were a part of the extended family of Samuel-II and were not immediately related to the families still in Virginia. The one known movement in this approximate period of time was that of Richard Gentry of Louisa County who moved to Rockingham County in about 1810.

There are several possibilities for Reuben having been in South Carolina in 1790 and 1800, and there is the added circumstance that there was another Reuben who lived there in Spartanburg District, the son of Samuel Gentry the Younger. Our Reuben does not match in age any of the other Spartanburg Gentrys, nor any of the other South Carolina Gentrys. In addition, there is no census record indicating that any of Reuben's children were born in South Carolina. It appears we can safely discard this hypothesis.

We turn then to the possibility that Reuben came to Surry County from elsewhere in North Carolina. We can discard the possibility that he was part of the family of Watson Gentry who was living in Rockingham County in 1800. The other possibility is that Reuben was part of the extended family of Allen Gentry of Halifax County, Virginia, and Person County, North Carolina. Like Virginia, the North Carolina census records are missing for this area in 1790 and are deficient for 1800. Because we have the composition of Allen's family from his will of 1801, we know that Reuben could not have been a son of Allen, but could he have been a grandson, namely a son of either Shadrack or Abednego (he was not likely to have been a son of Allen's third son, Meshack, since the latter had already moved to Surry County before 1800). From all that is known of Shadrack's family, it is extremely unlikely that Reuben could have been part of that family.

While to the author's knowledge, Reuben has never previously been recognized as a member of Abednego Gentry's family, there are a number of factors that argue for this. In the first place, Abednego was living along the border between Person County, North Carolina, and Halifax County, Virginia in 1800 (despite the fact that he is not in any census record for either county). We know also that Abednego moved to Surry County in about 1807, shortly before Reuben's apparent arrival, and their names appear side-by-side in the Surry County tax record of 1809. Abednego's son, Shadrack, is mentioned by name in his grandfather, Allen's will, but is the only grandchild so mentioned and we must conclude that this was because young Shadrack (who was about eight years old at the time) was a particular favorite of his grandfather. This leaves open the possibility that Reuben was an older son of Abednego who was not mentioned in Allen's will, nor were any of Allen's other grandchildren. The most unusual aspect of this possibility is Reuben's name. While this name is found in the South Carolina Gentrys, there is no obvious reason for anyone in Allen's extended family to be so named.

Based upon what we know of Reuben, we can postulate that he was probably born between Abednego's daughters Mary (born about 1779) and Nancy (born about 1785, in both cases based on 1850 census records). This suggests that Reuben was born about 1782 which is in good agreement with the 1810 census record and his presumed date of marriage of about 1800 or possibly 1801. His presumed oldest daughter, Sally, reported in the 1850 census that her birth was in North Carolina, which leads us to the likely prospect that Reuben was married in Person County and lived there for the first years of his marriage (Abednego is thought to have lived in Person County at this same time also, although there is no proof of this.) Reuben's daughter, Elizabeth reported her place of birth as Virginia in 1850 but as North Carolina in 1860. Given the uncertainties of which state Abednego and his father Allen lived in just prior to and just after Allen's death, it is quite possible that Reuben, like his father, was living almost on the state border, and his daughter could easily have been born on the Virginia side of the line. Since there is no 1850 census record for Reuben's son, William, there is no evidence of Reuben's home when William was born. In any case, we can suppose that Reuben joined his father Abednego soon after the latter moved to Surry County and soon after the birth of Reuben's son, William.

One may ask, why go through the exercise of examining five different hypotheses in reaching the conclusion that Reuben was a son of Abednego, when his appearance in the 1809 tax record next to Abednego suggests this possibility. Is that not the obvious thought one would have on seeing the two men being listed together? This may be so, but it was not obvious to the author, because of my preconceived perceptions of the composition of Abednego's family. However obvious this may be to others, the exercise has been effective in convincing the author.

Conclusion
By considering the particular circumstances surrounding and following the two brief references to Reuben Gentry in Surry County, we have reached the conclusion that (1) he was almost certainly the oldest son of Abednego Gentry, born perhaps in about 1782; (2) that Reuben and his wife came to Surry County from Person County, North Carolina in about 1809 and died within a year or at most two thereafter; and (3) that Reuben's orphaned children were probably Sally (born about 1801, who married William Chamberlain in 1826) and almost certainly Elizabeth (born in 1806, who married Robert Sims in 1822) and William (born in 1808, who married Cynthia Haines in 1830).

Register Listing for

Abednego Gentry

References
1. 1810 Census, Surry County, North Carolina

2. 1820 Census, Surry County, North Carolina

4. NC State Archives, Indentures

5. North Carolina Marriage Bonds

6. Surry County, North Carolina, Tax Lists

7. Frances Harding Casstevens, "The Heritage of Yadkin County", publ. by The Yadkin County Historical Society, 1981, p.399. Article on Handricks Family of Boonville includes:

8. 1850 Surry County, North Carolina Census