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The
Jarrells of Floyd County, Kentucky
Who were William
Jarrell's parents? |
| Who were William Jarrell's parents? |
The quick answer is that we
have no idea. We have no evidence of any kind about the ancestry of the William Jarrell who
married Susannah Parks (who will be called William of Floyd County
in this article). But the internet is full of faulty trees that
assign parents to him, often adding insult to injury by claiming
that his middle name was Richard (he didn't have a middle name,
although at least one record called him William F Jarrell, where the
"F" stood for Fitz). It's often claimed that Thomas Jarrell and Martha Kinchen
of Virginia are his parents, which is definitely wrong. It's even
more popular to claim that Henry Jarrell Senior of Craven County NC is
his father, which is probably wrong but can't actually be disproved.
Some internet trees combine Thomas and Henry into a composite father
named Henry Thomas Jarrell or Thomas Henry Jarrell. But there's no evidence that William of
Floyd County is related to either one of them. There were several unrelated Jarrell families in the
Virginia/North Carolina area
during the relevant time period. We have no documentation to link
William of Floyd County to any of them, and the available DNA evidence
doesn't point in any particular direction.
Thomas Jarrell and Martha Kinchen are easy to dismiss, since we
have strong evidence that they are NOT William's parents. The
Craven County Jarrells are a little more complicated. We have
evidence for two William Jarrells, one in eastern North Carolina
(the Craven County area) and one in western North Carolina (the
Rowan County area), who were active in their respective areas in the
same timeframe (from 1770 or earlier to 1790 or later). We don't
have death records for either of them, and both their wives were
named Susannah. But we have documentation in Burke County
(formed from Rowan County in 1777) showing family members with
distinctive names who later moved to Floyd County. In
addition, DNA testing shows strong evidence that the Floyd County family
descends from Susannah Parks of Rowan County and her father John
Parks. The existence of Parks Jarrell of Floyd County (probably
William's grandson) provides circumstantial evidence, since his first name
indicates a relationship to the Parks
family. It's clear that it was the Rowan County family that moved to
Kentucky, not the Craven County family. The documentation for William of Floyd County is presented
at the end of this article, showing his journey from Rowan County NC
to Floyd County KY.
This doesn't necessarily mean that William of Floyd's descendants
aren't related to the other Jarrell lines. Documentation tends
to be sketchy during this time period. Even when we can identify an
individual, we often have little or no information on their
children, so modern descendants can't document their lineage
back to this ancestor. Having a DNA match with
someone doesn't tell you anything if you can't identify the
common ancestor, and we don't currently have the tools to support or rule out
a connection to
any of the Jarrell families based on DNA. It's possible that he
could have a connection to the Virginia Jarrells and/or the Craven
County Jarrells. But we have no documentation for it, and so far the
DNA isn't confirming anything.
We have plenty of evidence that William of Floyd County
and his children alternated between using Jarrell and Fitzgerald as
their last name, with various spellings. It's entirely possible that
William's parents called themselves Fitzgerald, and we should be
looking for that name instead of Jarrell. And what a daunting
task that would be. Looking for a different name won't
give us the documentation and DNA evidence we need to figure it out.
There are other possibilities. Sometimes the
"official" parent is not the biological parent. Sometimes people
changed their names. Out of wedlock children used their
mother's surname, not their father's name, and the records for women
are even poorer than the records for men in this time period.
The name that we should be looking for could be very different from
what we expect.
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| The Rowan County Jarrells |
The 1768 tax list for Rowan County NC shows a Benjamin Geril living next door to Joseph Geril & father Wm.
Geril, with a John Geril living in a different part of the district.
William of Floyd got married in Rowan County and lived in the multi-county
area around Rowan for at least 30 years, so there's a high probability that these people are closely related to
him. But this is apparently the only Rowan
County tax list from the relevant time period that has survived, and we have
no further record of any of these people. We don't know when they arrived in
Rowan County or how long they stayed there. Their descendants are
unknown, so DNA isn't going to help because there's no way for anybody to
trace their ancestry back to these people.
If we assume that the William Geril in this entry is
William of Floyd County, it points toward a birthdate of 1731 or earlier.
Males 16 and older were taxable, so when a tax list suggests underage sons
in the household it's reasonable to assume that the father is at least 37
years old (assuming that the son is at least 16 and the father was at least
21 when the son was born). It's possible that this really is "our" William,
but the way this entry is written suggests that
Joseph Geril is an adult who's providing a home for his father. That isn't
what we'd expect. We can't
rule out the possibility that Joseph
is the brother or father of William of Floyd, and ditto
for John Geril and Benjamin Geril.
The first solid, "definitely the right guy" record we have
for William of Floyd is his marriage to Susannah Parks in Rowan County on
January 3, 1770 (FamilySearch).
We don't know where he was before that; it might not have been North
Carolina. There's no indication that he was underage when he married, pointing
to a birthdate before 1749. It's usually assumed that he was born
between 1745-1750, but there's no documentation for this and it could have
been earlier.
From 1770 to 1800, William and Susannah lived in several counties that were
either formed from Rowan County or close to Rowan County. They made a longer move to Floyd County KY with their children
sometime after 1800
and spent the rest of their lives there. There's a section at the end of
this article providing links to the documentation.
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| Thomas Jarrell and Martha Kinchen
of Virginia |
Thomas Jarrell of Virginia (about 1700-1753) is a desirable ancestor, so he's
often claimed as Floyd County William's father. Thomas was
prominent (a member of the House of Burgesses), wealthy, and his ancestry traces back to a grandfather who arrived in Virginia before 1658. But
unfortunately for the descendants of William of Floyd County, Thomas's children
were listed in his will (Ancestry extract;
Ancestry original)
and there isn't one named William. Thomas's children are named Thomas
Junior, John, Benjamin, Elizabeth and married daughter Ann Ricks. They are too
young to be the parents of Floyd County William, and their descendants are
documented (The Book
of Jared).
There is a William Jarrell who was closely related to
Thomas. It looks like this William was born before 1715. He is mentioned in the
will of Matthew Kinchen (Martha Kinchen's brother) dated 3/4/1735:
"And the other half of the said land [on the South side of the Nottaway River] being the upper end I give unto William Jarrell
and one Negro man called Simon and two thirds the cattle and hogs and the principle stock to him & his heirs forever he performing the
Articles of Agreement with Gilbert MacKinne that is made between me and him." (Transcript,
original on Ancestry)
It looks like the bequest is contingent upon William carrying out Matthew Kinchen's
pre-existing business agreement, which is obviously not a job for a child. The
logical conclusion is that William was at least 21 in 1735.
William died
shortly before Thomas Jarrell wrote his will on July 9, 1753. Thomas died
shortly afterwards too, and the estates of both men were probated on September 13,
1753 (Ancestry
extract). William's
estate inventory is right after
Thomas's will in the record books.
The estate inventory doesn't mention the land, and shows that William owned some
cattle and horses and not much else. The land that William inherited from Matthew Kinchen passed to Thomas
Jarrell on William's death, as the records showed when the land was sold in
1755:
"the said William[sic] Kinchen by his will bearing the date
the 4th day of March 1735 was devised to William Jarrell after whose
death the same descended to the aforesaid Thomas Jarrell as heir at
law to the said William Jarrell" (FamilySearch)
The sellers of the property were Thomas Jarrell Junior and his
wife Elizabeth. William Jarrell apparently didn't have a will, so his
property would have passed to his nearest relative, which was apparently
Thomas Senior. When Thomas Senior died shortly afterward, the land
would have passed to his heirs. Thomas Senior's will did not specifically describe
this property, which was 375 acres next to Three Creeks and the Angelican Swamp. The only land left to Thomas Junior in the will was "a
small piece of pocosin", meaning bogland. It's not clear if this
referred to the Kinchen property. But in any case Thomas Junior was an
executor of Thomas Senior's will, which would give him some authority to
deal with this land.
It looks like William never
married or had children. His relationship to Thomas is unclear; he could be Thomas's brother, or Thomas's son from an
undocumented previous marriage if Thomas was older than we think. Thomas married
Martha Kinchen in 1734 (FamilySearch).
If she was William's mother, he would have been an infant when the will of
Martha's brother Matthew put him in charge of a business deal in 1735, and less
than 20 years old (still underage) when he died in 1753. That is clearly not the
case, so Martha can't be William's mother.
This William is definitely not the same person as William of
Floyd County, and he's not a good candidate to be William of Floyd's father.
We have no reason to think that William of Floyd County is connected to the
Thomas Jarrell/Martha Kinchen
family at all. Online trees that say otherwise should be ignored.
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| The
Jarrells of Craven County |
Henry Jarrell Senior of Craven County NC seems to be the most popular
father for William of Floyd in poorly researched internet trees, probably
because he can't actually be disproved. It's not
impossible, but there's simply no reason to think that it's true. His
family relationships aren't well documented, and there's no record of Henry having a son named William. There is a William of
Craven County but he's more likely to be Henry's brother than his son.
He's definitely not the same person as William of Floyd County. This Jarrell family is
actually found in the tri-county area of Pitt, Craven and Beaufort,
but amateur genealogists tend to focus on Craven and ignore the other
counties. This area is in
eastern North Carolina, at the opposite end of the state from where William
of Floyd is known to have lived. There's no
justification for assuming that William of Floyd County is connected to this family at all.
There's a fair amount of documentation for several members of the Craven
County family
in the 1760-1790 time frame, but in most cases it doesn't explain the
relationship between the family members. We don't know anyone's birthdate or
death date, and have to guess based on the timing of events. There's
little to no documentation for anyone's children, so modern descendants
can't trace their lineage back to these people. Many of the family members
are simply absent from online trees because no one has managed to connect them to
each other in a meaningful way.
The timeline suggests that the following individuals could be brothers:
- Henry Jarrell Senior (bef 1732-aft 1794)
- William Jarrell (bef 1732-aft 1790). It's documented that he is the son
of James Jarrell, who died before 1762. We don't have a parent's name for anyone else
in this generation.
This William's presence in the Craven County area from 1762-1790 is well
documented, so he's definitely not
the same person as William of Floyd County (whose presence in other places
is well documented from 1770 onward).
- Benjamin Jarrell (bef 1739-aft 1760)
- James Jarrell (bef 1741-aft 1804 )
- Lewis Jarrell (bef 1743-aft 1804)
- David Jarrell (bef 1746-aft 1768 )
The following individuals appear to be the next generation; probably
the sons of the people listed above, but in most cases it's not clear who
their father is:
- Henry Jarrell Junior (bef 1749-aft 1790). Presumably the son of Henry Senior.
In this time period Junior and Senior just meant younger and older, not
necessarily father and son. But the two Henrys stick so close
together that father and son seems like the obvious answer.
- William Jarrell (bef 1758-aft 1786). A 1779 tax list has the word
"wicked" after his name, so maybe his nickname was Wicked William. We
know where William of Floyd County was in 1779, so this is obviously not the
same person.
- Jacob Jarrell (bef 1754-aft 1795)
- Shadrach Jarrell (bef 1762-aft 1790)
- Frederick Jarrell (bef 1765-aft 1786). Probably a son of Henry Senior.
- Elisha Jarrell (bef 1771-aft 1792)
- There were obviously more descendants than this, but we don't know their names.
It's likely that some of them were named William.
Notice that these names are pretty different from the names of Floyd
County William's sons and grandsons. In this time period it was customary to
name all your kids after close family members, so dissimilar names are a
clue that the families might not be related.
But our knowledge is limited. We don't know the names of all the Craven
County Jarrells, and we also don't know the names of all the Floyd County
Jarrells.
The documentation for Jarrells in Craven and Pitt counties during the
relevant time period is listed below. I didn't find any Jarrells on
the available tax lists for Beaufort County. Some family members flip back and
forth between Pitt and Craven counties, but it looks like the same
person moving around in a relatively small area, not two different people with the same name. The records
usually make a clear distinction between Henry Senior and Henry Junior.
That's not the case with the two Williams. I've assumed
that records for William Jarrell apply to the older William unless it's
obviously someone else; but it's possible that some of the later records
might actually be for a different William.
We don't have documentation showing that there were other cases where an
older person and a younger person had the same name; but it probably
happened.
- 1759 Craven County: Henry Jarrell Senior receives a land grant
for 100 acres in Clay Root Swamp
(Ancestry,
NC Landgrants) It appears that Clay Root Swamp
is near the boundary between Pitt and Craven Counties, and there might have
been
some confusion about which county it was in during this time period. The
internet says it's in Pitt County.
1760 Craven County: Henry Jarrell and Benjamin Jarrell witness
the will of William Peters. Henry buys goods from the estate.
(East
Carolina Roots).
1761 Beaufort County: Henry Jarrell Senior receives a land grant
for 50 acres in Clay Root Swamp
(Ancestry,
NC Landgrants) and another 50 acres in Clay Root Swamp a few
days later
(NC
Landgrants)1762 Pitt County: William Jarrell buys 100 acres in Indian Well
Swamp. He sells 100 acres of Little Conteney Creek land that he inherited
from his father James Jarrell.
(East
Carolina Roots). William and James Jarrell are in the same
household on the tax list for a total of two tithables, with no indication
of their relationship to each other.
(FamilySearch)
1763 Pitt County: William Jarrell sells 100 acres in Indian Well
Swamp
(East
Carolina Roots) William and James Jarrell are in the same
household on the tax list for a total of two tithables.
(NCDC)
1764 Craven County: Henry Jarrell sells 100 acres in Clay Root
Swamp
(East
Carolina Roots).
Henry appears in the Craven County Probate Records Wills Index (flickr).
It's not clear why; I can't locate the source document that the index refers
to, but there are no Jarrells in the Craven County probate
records on
FamilySearch. So apparently this Henry hadn't died. Maybe he was witness
to a will.
Pitt County: William Jarrell is
apparently on the tax list with one tithable (hard to read; looks like Gerald William, not to
be confused with Grist William a couple lines above). James Jarrell is
not on the tax list
(NCDC)
1767 Pitt County: William and
Susannah Jarrell of Craven County sell 161 acres of Clay Root Swamp to David
Jarrell of Beaufort County
(East
Carolina Roots). Pitt County was carved out of Beaufort in 1760,
but this apparently didn't affect the boundaries of adjoining Craven County.
That's right, this William's wife was named Susannah which certainly adds to
the confusion. But this record is for 1767 and it's well documented that William of Floyd County
married Susannah Parks in 1770, so this can't be the same couple.
1768 Pitt County: David Jarrell sells 157 acres of Clay Root
Swamp
(East
Carolina Roots)
1769 Craven County: the tax list shows Henry Senior with two white male tithables
and William with 2 or 3 (hard to read). Henry's second tithable probably isn't Henry Junior
(FamilySearch)
1774 Craven County: William Jarrell buys goods from the
estate of Ephraim Lane
(East
Carolina Roots)
1775 Craven County: William Jarrell receives two land grants of
100 acres each at Creeping Swamp
(NC
Landgrants1,
NC Landgrants2).
Jacob Jarrell receives two land grants of 200 acres
each on Swift's Creek
(NC
Landgrants1,
NC Landgrants2).1777 Craven County: Henry Jarrell is witness to the will of James Harvey
(FamilySearch)
1778 Pitt County: Henry Jarrell sells 50 acres of Clay Root
Swamp
(East
Carolina Roots)
1779 Craven County: a land tax list (not the poll tax)
shows several Jarrells in Captain Roach's district: #63 William (page
13), #98 Jacob, #99 William "Wicked", and #6 James Jarrell on the
married men poll tax (page
14). Also on page 14 in Captain Allen's district are #3 Henry Jarrell
Junior and #8 Henry Jarrell Senior
1782 Craven County: William Jarrell receives a land grant of 100 acres on Nuce River
(NC
Landgrants)1783 Craven County: William Jarrell buys 200 acres on
Swift's Creek, witnessed by Lewis Jarrell and Sabra Jarrell (they probably
mean Shadrach)
(East
Carolina Roots). Jacob Jarrell receives a land grant for 150
acres on Swift's Creek
(NC
Landgrants) Pitt County: a widow sends William
Jarrell a letter regarding Clay Root Swamp
(East
Carolina Roots)
1786 Pitt County: the tax list shows William Jarrell with 2
tithables and a second William Jarrels near the bottom of the same page
(NCDC),
with Jacob Jarrell on the following page
(NCDC). Henry Junior
with 2 tithables, Frederick Jarrell with 1 tithable, and Henry
Senior with 2 tithables are a few pages later
(NCDC).
1788 Pitt County: Jacob Jarrell sells 100 acres of Creeping Swamp
to William Jarrell in July. In December, William sells Swift
Creek/Creeping Swamp land (acreage not specified)
(East
Carolina Roots)
1790 Pitt County: Jacob Jarrell buys land at Great
Branch/Creeping Swamp
(East
Carolina Roots)
1790 Federal Census: - Henry Jarrell Senior in Pitt County with 2
males 16+, 1 female, 6 slaves
(FamilySearch,
1st column middle of page)
Henry Jarrell Junior in Pitt County with 1
male 16+, 3 males<16, 7 females, 1 slave
(FamilySearch,
1st column middle of page)
Jacob Jarrell in Pitt County with
1 male 16+, 6 males<16, 4 females
(FamilySearch,
1st column 11th from bottom)
Shadrach Jarrell in Pitt County with
1 male 16+, 1 male<16, 1 female, 1 slave
(FamilySearch,
2nd column 11th from top)
William Jarrell in Craven County with 1 male 16+, 1
male <16, 2 females
(FamilySearch,
middle of 3rd column)
Lewis Jarrell in Craven County with 1 male 16+, no
one else
(FamilySearch,
4th column about 15 down)
1792 Pitt County: Elisha Jarrell buys 50 acres of Swift
Creek/Creeping Swamp originally patented by Jacob Jarrell, with the survey
line beginning at the dividing line between William Jarrell and Jacob
Jarrell
(East
Carolina Roots)
1794 Pitt County: Jacob Jarrell sells Creeping Swamp land,
acreage not specified.
(East
Carolina Roots) Henry Jarrell receives a land grant for 150
acres on Contentnea Creek
(NC
Landgrants). It doesn't say whether this is Henry Senior or Henry
Junior.
1795 Pitt County: Jacob Jarrell sells more Creeping Swamp land,
acreage not specified.
(East
Carolina Roots)
1804 Craven County: Lewis Jarrell sells 100 acres on Great Branch
(East
Carolina Roots)
Apparently the Craven County Jarrells lived in a very swampy area.
I can't tell whether they were farming the relatively dry land next to the
swamps, or if they were actually doing something in the swamp.
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| Daniel Jarrell
of Virginia |
Daniel Jarrell is the best-known member of a family of
Jarrells that has been traced to Caroline County VA in the 1730s and 1740s.
From there, Daniel's line spread to Culpeper County VA and later Monroe
County WV. DNA indicates that this line is not related to William
of Floyd County's family, and fortunately there has not been a
problem with false connections on internet trees. But this is a major
Jarrell lineage, so it's worthwhile to acknowledge their existence.
Joanhorsley.org
is considered to be the best place for information on this branch.
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| Documentation
for William of Floyd County |
There are no confirmed records prior to 1770, although the
1768 tax list for Rowan County NC shows a William Geril in the household of his son Joseph Geril,
with Benjamin Geril next door and John Geril also in the district (not
available online; thanks to the
Jarrell Descendants Facebook Group
for the information). This may or may not be the
right person. The Parks family is not on this tax list but that's OK; they
moved from Virginia to Rowan County around 1769, and possibly hadn't arrived
yet when the tax list was made.- 1770 Rowan County NC: William married Susannah Parks on January 3 (Original,
transcript) Bonus:
Susannah's permission slip. There is an oddity with the permission
slip. At some point in time, someone decided to alphabetize the Rowan County records, which undoubtedly meant taking all the records
from where they were originally stored, and rearranging them. They seem
to have messed up the paperwork for William and Susannah. The permission
slip is in a book of marriage bonds from 1753-1868, but it doesn't belong
there because it isn't a bond. We have the signatures of the apparent bond
signers (William Jarrod/Jarrel, Thomas Bicknell, Wm Steele) but the bond itself
is missing, with the permission slip in its place. We can't actually be
sure that a bond existed; but the words "signed sealed and delivered"
with the signatures is typical language for marriage bonds, not for
permission slips. William and Susannah's paperwork is preceded in the
book by a marriage bond from 1812 and followed by one from 1834 - forty
to sixty years later. Clerks were obviously handling these documents
decades after they were originally produced, and the opportunity to
misfile or mislay something came with it.
- 1771 Surry County NC: William Fitzgerald is on the tax list (NCDC). Surry County was formed from Rowan
County in 1770. Several members of the Parks family appear on this tax
list. The Gerils/Jarrells from the 1768 Rowan tax list (Benjamin, Joseph
and John) are not present; perhaps they lived in the part of Rowan
County that did not become Surry County, or perhaps they left the area.
- 1772 Surry County NC: a William Gurrel who might or might not be the
right person is on the tax list (NCDC). The
handwriting does look like Gurrel not Garrel. William was listed under
the name Fitzgerald in other years, but there are no Fitzgeralds on this
list, and no Gurrels or Garrels in the other available years. Several members of the
Parks family appear on this tax list.
- 1774 Surry County NC: William Fitjarrell is on tax list in Benjamin Cleavland's
district (page 26 of a pdf transcript that can be accessed at
FamilySearch). There are members of the Parks family in the same
district.
- 1778 Surry County NC: The Surry County NC Land Entries 1778-1781 mentions
William Garil as having sold land improvements to Mathias Steelmon. The
book can be viewed on
FamilySearch; see
item 336 on page 37.
- 1779 Wilkes County NC: A land grant is issued to William Garrell on March
3 for 300 acres on Little Elkin Creek below Cat Tail Marsh "including
improvements whereon said Garrel now lives". (NC
Landgrants). It took seven months to issue the grant, and William
was living on the land before he received title to it. "Improvements"
probably means a house or other buildings. Wilkes County was formed from
Surry and the District of Washington TN in 1777, but this is not the
same area where William was living before.
- 1782 Wilkes County NC: Wm Jarrell is on the tax list in Captain Wm. Rennolds district (NCDC),
listed between William Carrell and Thomas Parks. Several other members of the Parks family are listed in this same district.
- 1784 Wilkes County NC: Wm Garrell is on the tax list in Captain Hardens district (NCDC),
listed right below Wm Carrell. Several members of the
Parks family are listed in this same district.
- 1787 Wilkes County NC: William Garrell sells 300 acres on Little
Elkin Creek below Cat Tail Marsh to George Parks (FamilySearch)
- 1790 Burke County NC: Wm F Jarrell is on the federal census (FamilySearch, last name in 3rd column).
The name is often transcribed as Wm F Jenell. Burke County was formed from Rowan in 1787,
so this indicates a move from Wilkes to Burke.
- 1793 Wilkes County NC: we have some non-evidence. It is sometimes said
that William Jarrell/Garrell was an executor of the will of his
father-in-law John Parks. But the handwriting in the will clearly
says Carrell. William Carrell is a well-documented individual
who married John Parks' daughter Mary and lived in Wilkes County,
appearing close to William Jarrell in the Wilkes County tax lists. (FamilySearch).
- 1795 Wilkes County NC: although William Jarrell was not an executor of John
Parks' will, he did borrow money from the executors. From John Parks'
estate files on
FamilySearch:
"Know all men by these presents that we Wm
Garrill & George Carter of Burke County and State of North Carolina
are held and firmly bound unto Benj Parks and Samuel Parks Executors
of John Parks Senior in the just and full sum of one hundred pounds
current money of the State above named to be paid unto the said Benj
Parks & Samuel Parks"... followed by more verbiage that is not
particularly interesting, culminating in the information that
William received £58..6. The
amount that William received was exactly the same amount as
Susannah's legacy. It's not entirely clear what's going on here -
was this an advance or a separate transaction? William
appears in another
statement in the estate documents witnessed by Ansel Garrell
(William's son), indicating that this is the same family
that later moved to Floyd County KY. This is one of several documents
where William signed with his name not an X, suggesting some degree of
literacy. Ansel signed with an X.
1800 Burke County NC: William Jarrell is on the federal census (FamilySearch)
about 2/3 of the way down the page. There's a name a
few lines above him that
looks like Killian Jarrel, but other records indicate that this person's name is
actually Killian Jarrett. He's apparently not related to William. There
are no known records of William in North Carolina after this date, apart
from mentions of his former property line in the deeds of other people.
1804 Floyd County KY: William's daughter Elizabeth marries Henry
Weddington on January 3 (FamilySearch).
William is not mentioned, but the document establishes that the family
was in Kentucky.
1808 Floyd County, Kentucky: the courthouse burns, destroying any
other county records for the family that may have existed before this date.
1810 Floyd County KY: the family is not identifiable in the federal
census.
1814 Floyd County KY: Thomas C. Brown is allowed credit for
the levies he has against William Fitzgerald (FamilySearch, Annals
of Floyd County page 94). William Jarrel gives permission for
Michael Crum to marry his daughter Vashti (FamilySearch,
Annals
of Floyd County page 141).
1818 Floyd County KY: during the June 15 court session, Wm
Fitzjerrald and ten others, all described as old revolutionary soldiers, swore
under
oath in open court "a statement of facts relative to their services
praying to be placed on the pension lists of the United States with
affidavits of their being in indigent circumstances... agreeable to the
provisions of the Act of Congress approved the 18th day of March 1818" (FamilySearch, Annals
of Floyd County page 167). No record of William's service has been
found, and there is no indication that he received the pension.
We have no way of knowing whether he actually served, or if he was
desperate and hoped to get lucky with the new pension law. The Revolution was fought from 1775-1783, when William was living first in Surry County NC then in Wilkes County NC. If he did serve,
it would be hard for people in Kentucky to verify it.
NCpedia describes North Carolina's part in the war. William had
young children at home during the Revolution, and may have been over 50 years old during
the war if
one accepts the hypothesis that he had a teenage or adult son in 1768.
Fighting is primarily a young man's game, but there were older men who joined
the cause.
Joseph Canterbury Senior in a different branch of my family joined
the Continental Army with his son Joseph Junior. Joseph Senior
vanished at the battle of Brandywine Creek, leaving his widow with 8
young children to raise by herself. In 1820 the widow applied for a
pension based on his war service and was quickly rejected, even though
records of his service still survive and she was still living in the
same state where he joined the army (Virginia). Page 14 of
Joan Horsley's Jarrell Report says that there was a William Jarrell of
Orange County VA who served in the Revolution, but this is obviously a
different person; the report also notes the problems that men with
documented war service faced when trying to obtain a pension. Apparently
pensions weren't all that easy to get.
1820 Floyd County KY: William Jarrell is not found on the
federal census and apparently has died.
1821 Floyd County KY: Susannah Fitzjerrald is allowed 100 acres of land under an act for the benefit of
poor widows (Annals
of Floyd County, page 196). See the
Jarrell Landholdings article for more
information on the land.
FamilySearch has the original court order, which says: " Sarah Indicut Susannah Fitzjerrald Susannah Crisp and Catharine Elkins widows
residing in this County who made satisfactory proof in open Court by
the testimony of two credible witnesses that they had not estate in
their own right to the value of one hundred dollars, which is
ordered to be recorded and certified to the Auditor of public
accounts agreeable to an act entitled "an act for the benefit of
poor widows" approved the 21st day of December 1820. Allowing them
100 acres of land warrant."
The
Jarrell Descendants Facebook Group has additional information in their
Files, including a report by a professional
genealogist titled
William
Jarrell d. 1818 Research. Join the group if you want to read it!
The
Jarrell Descendants Facebook Group is also managing several DNA
projects to increase our knowledge of all the Jarrell families and their
relationship (or not) to each other. All Jarrell descendants are encouraged
to join.
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Article by Carolyn H (a descendant of
William Jarrell of Floyd County) 2024 All rights reserved
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