Abstract
Proposals are presented for the parentage of several Gentrys including John, Allen and
Roland Gentry of Hall County, Georgia; two Cornelius Gentrys of Franklin County, Georgia; and
Shadrick (or Shedrick) Gentry of Tennessee and Alabama. An appendix provides a table of
proposed relationships of all known male Gentrys living in South Carolina before 1810.
Introduction
There were a number of early Gentrys who originated in South Carolina and then migrated
westward to Georgia, Texas, Missouri, and elsewhere, without leaving clear traces of their
ancestry. Frequently recurring requests to this publication, and to various Gentry family
mailing lists and forums, seek to learn the origins of for example, a group of Gentrys (as well as
related Hammonds and Gravetts) living in Hall County, Georgia, a question about two Cornelius
Gentrys, questions as to whether Rolly and Roland Gentry were one or two individuals, and
questions about a Shadrick Gentry. Documentary evidence linking these families with their
ancestors is lacking and will probably never be found. By careful analysis of the little evidence
that is available, especially by analysis of census records, we can reach conclusions that have a
moderate to high degree of probability. We propose here to add evidence to these family
relationships and to suggest how they may have connected to earlier generations of Gentrys.
John Gentry, listed with his family on page 8 of the 1810 Abbeville District, South Carolina
census, included in his family:
Entry | Born |
himself | 1765-1784 |
his wife | 1765-1784 |
2 sons | 1794-1800 |
3 sons | 1800-1810 |
2 daughters | 1800-1810 |
This family appears in no further Abbeville records, nor does John himself appear again in any census records. He is believed to have died, probably after moving to Hall County, Georgia, some time after 1817 when a sixth son was born to the family.
It will be helpful to present the data on John's proposed family in tabular form.
Name | 1810 | 1820 | 1830 | 1840 | 1850 |
John Sr |
Abbeville SC 1765-1784 |
(deceased?) | |||
sp. Sarah |
1765-1784 |
(w/John Jr) 1775-1794 |
(w/ Serena) age 70, SC | ||
– John Jr. |
1794-1800 |
Hall GA 1794-1804 + wife+ mother |
|||
– Allen |
1794-1800 |
Hall GA 1794-1804 + wife, 1 dau, sister Rachel? |
Carroll GA "Mary" + 3 dau |
||
– Roland - Nancy |
1800-1810 |
(Hall GA) married 1823 Nancy Mattocks |
Pulaski AR 1790-1800 1800-1810 |
(Nancy remarried?) | |
– Moses |
1800-1810 |
(Hall GA) married 1824 M. Hammond |
|||
– Serena |
1800-1810 |
(Hall GA) married 1822 W. Hammond |
Chattooga GA age 52, SC + husband, 3 ch + mother? | ||
– Rachel |
1800-1810 |
(Hall GA) (1804-1810) married 1825 T. Lewis |
|||
– Son | 1800-1810 | ||||
– William |
(unborn) |
(Hall GA) student 1830, 1832 (age 15) |
Floyd GA 1810-1820 + wife, 2 sons, 1 dau |
Chattooga GA age 35, SC + wife, 8 ch. (all b. GA) |
The excellent correlation in both dates of birth and sexes from one census year to another leads me believe that the Gentrys that passed through Hall County, Georgia between 1820 and 1832, with the exception of the Rolly Gentry mentioned above, were all one family, and the family was that of John Gentry of Abbeville District. If any of these assumptions prove wrong in the future, it might be that only one or two details are in error. For this and any other hypothesis, we can never prove it is right, it can only be disproved. The next step in the puzzle – the identification of the father of John Gentry – we will defer to later in the article.
Name | 1810 | 1820 | 1830 | 1840 | 1850 |
John (E) |
Edgefield SC bef. 1765 |
(deceased?) | |||
sp Susan |
1765-1784 |
Spartan. SC bef.1775 |
|||
– Ranneys ? |
1784-1794 |
Spartan. SC 1775-1794 + wife + 1 dau |
|||
– Allen ? (speculation) - sp Sarah |
1784-1794 |
McMinn TN 1800-1810 1800- 1810 + 3 son, 1 dau |
Bledsoe, TN 1790-1800 - - - + 4 sons, 5 dau |
Benton, TN age 59, GA age 48, TN + 4 sons, 3 dau | |
–John Jr ? (speculation) - spouse - Cornelius - spouse |
1784-1794 |
(with Susan) 1775-1794 1775-1794 1810-1820 |
Franklin GA 1810-1815 1800-1810 + 1 son, 1 dau |
||
– 3 dau ? | 1784-1794 | --- | |||
– Chestley (speculation) |
1794-1800 | --- | |||
– Son | 1794-1800 | --- | |||
– Margaret | 1794-1800 | (Jackson GA) married 1817 M. Hammond |
|||
– Cornelius - sp. Mary - Thomas - Uriah - Mary - Cornelius - dau ? |
1800-1810 |
1802-1804 |
Franklin GA 1800-1810 1800-1810 + 2 sons, 1 dau 1825-1830 |
Madison AL 1800-1810 --- + 2 sons, 1 dau 1825-1830 1830-1835 1830-1835 1835-1840 1835-1840 |
Tishomingo MS (died 1842) age 45, SC age 22, GA age 19, GA age 16, GA age 12, TN --- + 3 ch TN/AL |
– Acenith |
1800-1810 |
(Jackson GA) married 1819 E. Hammond |
|||
– Eliza |
1800-1810 |
1794-1804 |
(Jackson GA) married 1822 J. Gravett |
||
– son ? | 1800-1810 | 1804-1810 | |||
– dau ? | 1800-1810 | 1810-1820 |
This family complex does not have the same close correspondence of ages and sexes as in the case of the Hall County, Georgia Gentrys. We start by considering the family of Susan Gentry only. The proposal of assigning the two Cornelius Gentrys to Susan's family, in an uncle and nephew relationship, explains very well their presence together in Franklin County, Georgia in 1830. While one can find other Gentrys in the 1810 and 1820 South Carolina census records who were the same age as the two Cornelius's that have not been definitely identified, none of them have this same type of relationship or reason to be in Franklin County at the same time. Besides this relationship, their ages fit precisely with members of Susan's family. While we do not know what happened to the younger Cornelius, the family of the older Cornelius as shown in 1840 and 1850 is entirely consistent with our proposal. Of further interest is the fact that descendants of Uriah Gentry assert that he was born in Spartanburg District, South Carolina.
The identification of the father of the younger Cornelius as a John Gentry Jr. is speculation. The suggestion that Ranneys Gentry, found in the 1820 Spartanburg district was a part of the John and Susan Gentry family is also speculation, furthered by the fact that Susan and Ranneys are listed on the same page in the census.
The next step in this identification sequence, is to tie Susan Gentry's family to the John Gentry of the 1810 Edgefield District census. Two factors are involved here: (1) there were no families in Spartanburg District in the 1810 census that can be logically tied to Susan Gentry's family; and (2) the fact that the members of Susan's family still living with her in 1820, have exact matches with corresponding members who were in John's family in 1810. This is entirely circumstantial, but it is the best we can do. We assume that John died between 1810 and 1820, and for some unknown reason, his widow, Susan, moved with the remaining members of her family to Spartanburg District.
The writer at one time considered Shadrick as possibly a son of John of Edgefield, an otherwise unidentified son shown in the 1810 census for Edgefield District, 1794 to 1800. The writer curently believes that Shadrick was probably the son of Jeremiah (a part of the family of Samuel-III – see chart below). This and other issues are addressed in the 2005 article on Shadrick.
John's age severely restricts the number of possible fathers. Their identification starts with the basic premise that these potential fathers were all descendants of Samuel-II or David-II Gentry, for there are no known instances of early Gentrys who settled in the eighteenth century in South Carolina who were not a part of these two families. We can narrow it further to just the David-II Gentry family. All of the members of Samuel-II's family that first came to and remained in South Carolina did so in Spartanburg District. As described in volume 3, issue 3 of the Gentry Journal, the members of this family in that district who were of an appropriate age are (a) sufficiently known (the two Samuel families), or (b) they had left the district (Nicholas, Richard, and Nathaniel) well before 1800 so that there appears to be no reasonable way that they can be connected to either of the two Johns. In considering possibilities for tying John (E) to the David-II Gentry family, factors to keep in mind include the following:
John (A), the father of the Hall County, Georgia, Gentrys, was listed in the census for the first time in 1810 also, but in Abbeville District, South Carolina. This John was considerably younger than the other John. While the 1810 census gives his age as 26 to 45, he must have been at the younger end of the range since his two oldest children were not born until after 1794. From this we conclude that this John was married shortly before or after 1794 and that in 1790 his age would have been a few years over 16, thus born probably between 1770 and 1774. Potential choices are listed below:
To summarize these possibilities. David-III, being older, appears to be the choice for being the father of the Edgefield John, the father-in-law of Susan Gentry, and the grandfather of the elder Cornelius Gentry. If we assume this to be true, then John-III probably was the father of Abbeville John, and the grandfather of the Hall County, Georgia, Gentrys. In addition to age, the fact that the proposed father, John Sr., was living in Abbeville District in 1800 gives added weight to this choice. One basic requirement for these identifications, that the proposed father did not have another son named John, applies for both of these cases.
These two "orphan" Gentrys with South Carolina ties have just recently been described in Gentry Journal articles (JGG, vol 2, #11 for Tyre and JGG, vol 3, #4 for David). We will not, therefore, discuss them further here. Briefly, this author presently is of the opinion that Tyre Gentry's father was Nathaniel Gentry of Spartanburg District, South Carolina, and that the father of "Cherokee David" was probably Simon Gentry but could have been John-III Gentry.
Summary
We have proposed here:
1. A family of Gentrys who settled briefly in Hall County, Georgia, were children of a John and Sarah Gentry who appeared in the 1810 Abbeville District, South Carolina census, and that John in turn was probably a son of John-III Gentry (son of David-II and Sarah Brooks Gentry).
2. Two Cornelius Gentrys who appeared in the 1830 Franklin County, Georgia, the older of whom appeared again in the 1840 Madison County, Alabama census, probably had an uncle-nephew relationship. The older Cornelius, and the father of the younger Cornelius were probably sons of a John Gentry who was present in the 1810 census for Edgefield District, South Carolina, and was probably a son of David-III Gentry (a brother of the John-III above).
3. Shadrick Gentry who enlisted in the South Carolina militia in the War of 1812 and who subsequently appeared in the records of Roane and McMinn County, Tennessee, DeKalb County, Alabama, and Jackson County, Alabama, is discussed briefly. Conclusions as to his father have been revised over time and are discussed further in a later article in the Journal of Gentry Genealogy.
4. Tyre Gentry, whose life and family have been described in an earlier article was probably a son of Nathaniel Gentry.
5. David Gentry, who lived with the Cherokee Indians, and married Tiana Rogers, was probably a son of Simon Gentry.
6. The identities of a group of Allen Gentrys who probably originated in South Carolina, and ived in Tennessee between 1820 and 1850 have been tied back to proposed South Carolina parents.
Appendix
Name | 1790 | 1800 | 1810 |
Family of David-II Gentry | |||
A. Hezekiah |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1774 |
Abbeville, SC bef. 1755 |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1765 |
– Reynolds - son Reason – son ? – son ? - son ? - son Hezekiah |
(Edgefield, SC) (bef. 1774) (1774-1790) |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1755 1774-1784 1790-1800 1790-1800 |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1765 (Edgefield, SC) (1765-1784) (1800-1810) (1800-1810) ---------- (---) 1794-1800 |
– Robert - son Abel – son ? - son Levi - son Robert Jr – son ? – son ? - Hezekiah - son John - son Jesse ? |
(Edgefield, SC) (bef. 1774) (1774-1790) (1774-1790) (1774-1790) |
Abbeville, SC 1755-1774 1774-1784 1784-1790 1784-1790 1790-1800 1790-1800 |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1765 (Edgefield, SC) (1765-1784) (1800-1810) ---------- (Edgefield, SC) (1784-1794) (Edgefield, SC) (1784-1794) (1800-1810) (1800-1810) ---------- 1794-1800 1800-1810 1800-1810 |
– Thomas - son John - son William - son Hezekiah - son Nathaniel |
bef. 1774 |
Abbeville, SC 1755-1774 1790-1800 1790-1800 |
Edgefield, SC 1765-1784 1794-1800 1794-1800 1800-1810 --- |
– Hezekiah - son Reynolds |
bef. 1774 1774-1790 |
--- | --- with Hez. Sr. 1784-1794 |
(Son-in-law with Hezekiah ?) | bef. 1774 | --- | |
B. David-III |
Pendleton, SC bef. 1774 |
--- | |
– John (E) ? (Speculation) - son Ranneys - son Allen (-E) (speculation) - son John (speculation) - Chestley (speculation) - son ? - son Cornelius - son ? |
(Wilkes, GA) |
(GA) |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1765 1784-1794 1784-1794 1784-1794 1794-1800 1794-1800 1800-1810 1800-1810 |
– Joel - son Allen - son Presley |
bef. 1774 |
Laurens, SC 1755-1774 |
Laurens, SC 1765-1784 1800-1810 1800-1810 |
– Major (Speculation) - son Allen (-C) (Speculation) - son David (Speculation) |
bef. 1774 |
Abbeville SC --- with sister Nancy 1794- 1800 1800-1810 | |
– David Jr |
1774-1790 |
Greenville, SC 1774-1784 |
(to AL?) |
C. John-III |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1774 |
Abbeville, SC bef. 1755 |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1765 |
– John (A) (speculation) - son John - son Allen (-D?) - son Roland - son Moses - son ? - [son William (born 1817)] |
(GA?) |
Abbeville, SC 1765-1784 1794-1800 1794-1800 1800-1810 1800-1810 1800-1810 | |
– William - (speculation) | 1774-1790 | 1774-1784 | (to TN/GA?) |
– Son ? | 1774-1790 | 1774-1784 | --- |
– Wyatt | 1790-1800 | 1784-1794 | |
D. Allen Cain |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1774 |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1755 |
--- |
– John - son Moody - son Zachariah - son David |
(Edgefield, SC) bef. 1774 |
(Edgefield, SC) (1755-1774) (1790-1800) |
(Edgefield, SC) bef. 1765 1794-1800 1800-1810 1800-1810 |
– Matthew - son Jeremiah |
bef. 1774 |
(Edgefield, SC) (1755-1774) (1790-1800) |
(Edgefield ?) |
– David - son Archibald |
bef. 1774 |
(Edgefield, SC) (1755-1774) (1790-1800) |
(Edgefield ?) |
– William - son William |
bef. 1774 | 1755-1774 (?) 1784-1790 (?) |
(to GA ?) |
– Cain Allen | 1774-1790 | (Jackson, GA?) | (to AL) |
– Bartlett/Bartley | 1774-1790 | 1774-1784 | (Edgefield ?) |
E. Simon |
Edgefield, SC bef. 1774 |
Edgefield, SC (widow "Becky") |
Abbeville, SC (widow "Rebecker") |
– Francis |
bef. 1774 |
(Edgefield, SC) (1755-1774) |
(Edgefield, SC) (bef. 1765) |
– David ? - (Speculation) |
1774-1790 |
--- |
(to Cherokee Nation?) |
– Allen - son ? |
1774-1790 |
1774-1784 |
(Abbeville, SC) (1765-1784) (1800-1810) |
– Isaac ? | 1774-1790 | 1784-1790 | (to AL) |
– Daniel | 1790-1800 | (to AL) | |
– Lewis | 1790-1800 | 1794-1800 | |
(Others with Rebecca) – Step-son Saunders Cobb - Son-in-law ? - Grandson ? |
1774-1784 |
--- 1784-1794 1800-1810 | |
F. Elisha: Moved from SC to GA before 1790,
died 1803; no SC census records. – [Elisha] – [Elijah] – [Martin] – [David] – [Cain] – [Micajah] | |||
G. Elijah: Moved from SC to GA before 1790,
then to MS; no SC census records. – [James] – [Simon] – [Elijah] – [Josiah] | |||
Family of Nicholas - III: Moved from NC | |||
A. Nicholas: Moved from Ninety-Six Dist., SC to
Tennessee before 1780, died 1782. – [John] – [Randal] – [George] – [Samuel] – [Nicholas Jr] | |||
B. Samuel (the Younger) - grandson ? |
Spartanburg, SC bef. 1774 |
Spartanburg, SC bef. 1775 |
Spartanburg, SC bef. 1765 1800-1810 |
– Reuben - John S. |
bef. 1774 |
(Spart., SC) (1755-1774) |
Spart., SC 1765-1784 1800-1810 |
– Samuel Sr. - Miles ? - Samuel Jr. - Edward ? [born after 1810)] |
bef. 1774 |
(Spart., SC) (1774-1784) |
Spart., SC 1765-1784 1800-1810 1800-1810 |
– Richard - Richard Jr. - [Samuel (born after 1810)] - [Allen (born after 1810)] - [William (born after 1810)] |
1774-1790 |
1774-1784 |
Spart., SC 1765-1784 1800-1810 |
– Nathaniel - John N. - [Samuel (born after 1810)] |
1774-1790 |
1784-1790 |
Spart., SC "Jonathan" 1784-1794 1800-1810 |
C. Allen: Remained in NC | |||
D. Arthur – John – Elisha – Daniel – Allen |
(NC) (NC) (NC) |
(NC) (NC) (NC) (NC) |
Pendleton, SC "Athey" bef. 1765 1765-1784 1784-1794 1784-1794 1794-1800 |
E. Richard: Left SC for NC and KY
by 1790; no records exist in SC – [David] – [Martin] – [John H] – [Richard] – [Nathaniel] | |||
F. John – Samuel ? – Son ? – Son ? – Burgess – [Elias (born after 1810)] – [Wiley (born after 1810)] |
(NC) |
(NC) (NC) |
Pendleton, SC bef. 1765 1784-1794 1784-1794 1794-1800 1800-1810 |
Family of Samuel-III (the Elder) | |||
Samuel - III |
Spartanburg,SC bef. 1774 |
||
A. Allen (-A) – Son Allen (-B)? – Samuel? – Son ? – Son ? |
Spartanburg, SC bef. 1774 |
Spartanburg, SC 1755-1774 1790-1800 1790-1800 |
Spartanburg, SC (to TN?) (to TN?) (to TN?) (with "Sally") 1800-1810 1800-1810 |
B. Nicholas – Sevier – Riley |
(with Samuel) (bef. 1774) |
Spartanburg, SC 1755-1774 1800-1810 1800-1810 |
Spartanburg, SC 1765-1784 1804-1810 1810-1820 |
C. Jeremiah – Shadrick? - (Speculation) – Jeremiah Jr |
(with Samuel) (1774-1790) |
Spartanburg, SC 1755-1774 1790-1800 1790-1800 |
Spartanburg, SC 1765-1784 1794-1800 1800-1810 |
D. Samuel (Junior) – [Allen (born KY)] |
(with Samuel) (1774-1790) |
(KY) | |
Family of Nathaniel-III: | |||
Nathaniel |
Spartanburg, SC bef. 1774 |
(KY) | |
– Tyre/Tyree - (Speculation) - William - [John (born aft. 1790)] - [Samuel (born aft. 1790)] |
Spartanburg, SC bef. 1774 1774-1790 |
(GA) |
(TN) |
(With Nathaniel) – [Matthew] - (Speculation) – [Isham] - (Speculation) – [John] - (Speculation) – [Reason] - (Speculation) |
bef. 1774 1774-1790 1774-1790 1774-1790 | (KY) (KY) |
(Revised May 2003, February 2011, November 2014)
© 2014, W.M. Gentry - All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial purposes provided that proper attribution (including author and journal name) is included.