Tag: Colonial

January 23, 2018 Dennis Ayers

During the 1700s the American colonies grew from a population of about 250 thousand to 2.5 million. Much of that growth in the Mid-Atlantic and southern colonies came from successful farming of cash crops with the attendant need to import more and more labor. The most favorable crop quickly became tobacco. The Tidewater region of eastern Virginia, part of the Atlantic coastal plain, is comprised of low and flat land which was ideal for growing tobacco. The area also allowed easy access to ports along the major rivers to ship large barrels of tobacco.

 

As mentioned previously, William Jackson became a successful planter near the James River. His descendants  followed after him as planters in Sussex county. With good management, a planter could use his profits to continue to grow his land holdings, acquire more workers, and accumulate considerable wealth. It appears that William’s oldest son, John Ellis Jackson born 1680, was able to do just that. He obtained a number of land patents during his lifetime, including one in 1736 for 1,704 acres located in Prince George and Amelia counties. This land was later divided and gifted to his sons in 1746.

 

John Ellis Jackson married Mary Ward around 1704, but she died in 1746 after bearing at least 9 children. John died in 1770 and in his will he bequeathed 6 slaves by name to various sons and daughters. Slaves were valued much more than land. Strangely, two sons James and Robert Jackson received only a 1 shilling each (perhaps about $5.00 in current money).

 

Not much is known about Robert Jackson, our direct ancestor, as his records are scarce. However, one might consider Robert a valuable resource in American history as he fathered 4 sons who played roles in the Revolutionary War with England. Two sons from his first wife, Amy Wyche, were Rueben and Ephraim, who married sisters, Hannah and Lucretia Tucker. Reuben enlisted for 3 years and served as a private first with the 6th Virginia Regiment, and then with the 2nd Virginia Regiment. He fought with George Washington’s army in New Jersey, and later fought in the Battle of Cowpens in the Carolinas. Rueben received a pension in 1818 of $8 per month. The older brother, Ephraim, was a planter in Brunswick County, Virginia who was a certified supplier providing material aid to the forces of the Revolution.

 

Two other sons from Robert’s second marriage to Jane Gilliam were Francis and William. Francis served as a private for several 3 month tours with the Virginia line that totaled more than 18 months, and thus received a pension of $5 per month. He fought in the famous Guilford Courthouse Battle in North Carolina. William, our direct ancestor, served as a Sargent with the 2nd Virginia Regiment, but unfortunately, there was apparently no pension application to describe his activities in the war.

 

January 13, 2018 Dennis Ayers

Immigration in America has always been controversial, even from its early days, and over the centuries it has taken many forms. In colonial America, indentured servants were, for the most part, willing adult white migrants who wanted to start a new life in the colonies and agreed to be bound to labor for a period of years. However, some poor people in England sometimes sold themselves into indenture just to survive. Others wanted more religious freedom. Four out of five who came were men who were accustomed to farming and labor back in England.

 

Treatment of the servants differed widely. Some were mistreated while others lived as members of  the family. Some did hard labor in the fields and others performed less difficult work on the farm or plantation. The servants were provided with basic necessities such as food, clothing and lodging during their term of Indenture, but they were not paid any wages. Unlike slaves, the Indentured servants from Europe could look forward to eventual release from bondage.

 

They were discouraged from marriage, but any children born while in bondage were free. There was no stigma attached to indentured servitude and their families merged easily with the general population.  After their service ended, it was commonly required to provide them with a gun, a set of clothes, and money or a small tract of land upon which to establish themselves.

January 13, 2018 Dennis Ayers

Before there was slavery in America, there was indentured servitude. The rapid growth of the colonies before 1700 created a tremendous need for labor. Without the aid of modern machinery, human sweat and blood was necessary for the planting, cultivation, and harvesting of tobacco and other cash crops. It is estimated that up to two-thirds of the European immigrants during this time were indentured servants. Gradually, however, by the late 1600s, slavery became the preferred method of obtaining cheap labor.

 

Against this backdrop, William JACKSON, arrived in Surry County, of the Virginia colony in 1679 as a 25 yr old indentured servant. Whether he came willingly or unwillingly to escape poverty or some other condition is unknown, but evidently he could not afford to pay his own passage. Instead he agreed to a 7 year contract to bind his labor in America in exchange for his passage as was customary in such cases. From lists of Tithables (taxable persons), he is listed in three different households between 1679 and 1686, so his contract was apparently sold or traded around. He was a husbandman, someone who cares after livestock. Beginning in 1687 he is listed as head of his own household, no doubt, after fulfilling his servitude contract. He is also on the roster of Surry County Militia of 1687.

 

Subsequently, William became a successful planter in Surry County, which is on the south side of the James River about halfway between the mouth of the river on the lower Chesapeake Bay, and the town that would later become Richmond, VA. It is believed his wife was Elizabeth O’hara.

 

William Jackson was born around 1654 in Hertfordshire, England, and was christened in the Anglican Church of England. This Church of England also became the religion of the Virginia colony. All colonists were to go to church twice every Sunday. William died in Jan 1710 in Surry County, VA. His will proven in Feb 1710 divides his estate between his wife and his children.

January 4, 2012 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

RW HeroAbout the time the Derryberrys were obtaining land grants in North Carolina, the Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) was being fought in the colonies and eventually it affected their area.  From available records, it seems that the only Derryberry to have actually fought as a Patriot in North Carolina was Andrew Derryberry, who was likely the second youngest son of Hans Michael, born around 1765. Perhaps the others were too old to take up arms, or didn’t speak English well enough, or perhaps they remained neutral or loyal to the English crown. The actual reasons are unknown.

 

It is known that some of the Terryberrys and relations back in New Jersey remained loyal to England, and eventually migrated to Canada through New York by the early 1800s. On the other hand, there was a John Terryberry who applied for a pension from New York state who said he fought for the colonies in New Jersey.  So it was a mixed story for the descendants of Peter Dürrenberger, as it was for all the colonists. Historians have estimated that approximately 40 to 45 percent of the colonists supported the rebellion, while 15 to 20 percent remained loyal to the British Crown. The rest attempted to remain neutral and kept a low profile.

 

According to Andrew Derryberry’s pension application filed in 1832 from Tennessee, he first volunteered his services to the Burke County, NC militia at the age of 16 in the winter of 1781. He spent several months guarding forts in the area, and occasionally fighting Indians, before returning home. Then in August of 1782 he joined the Continental Army. This time he was sent to Charleston, but never saw any major action and was finally discharged in July 1783.  Subsequently, much later when living in Tennessee, Andrew received a pension of $39.27 per year for his services, and after his death his wife, Sarah, also received a widow’s pension.

 

January 2, 2012 Dennis No comments exist

Long before English Colonists arrived in North America, the Indians traversed a hunting trail from the North to the South through the Appalachian Valley called the Great Warrior’s Path.  Much of the trail followed the river they called the Shenandoah or “Daughter of the Stars”.  After the French and Indian War in the 1750s, and as Colonists expanded into new territory to the South from Pennsylvania, they essentially followed the same route, and it became known as the Great Wagon Road.  Most of the German and Scotch-Irish settlers pushing out of Pennsylvania to find new lands followed this road southward as they could not easily scale the mountains to the West.  It was by far the most heavily traveled route to the Burke frontier in North Carolina.

The road began at the Schuylkill River Ferry in Philadelphia, and ran west to Lancaster, crossing the Susquehanna River at Harris’s Ferry and then crossing the Potomac River at Williams Ferry (Williamsport, MD). The road took settlers down through the Appalachian Valley (now called the Shenandoah Valley) essentially following Route 81 in present day Virginia. At the present location of Roanoke, the road veered eastward through a gap in the Blue Ridge Mountain and once again turned south essentially following Route 220 today, crossing the Dan River and on into North Carolina.

 

January 2, 2012 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

 

Long before English Colonists arrived in North America, the Indians traversed a hunting trail from the North to the South through the Appalachian Valley called the Great Warrior’s Path.  Much of the trail followed the river they called the Shenandoah or “Daughter of the Stars”.  After the French and Indian War in the1750s, and as Colonists expanded into new territory to the South from Pennsylvania, they essentially followed the same route, and it became known as the Great Wagon Road.  Most of the German and Scotch-Irish settlers pushing out of Pennsylvania to find new lands followed this road southward as they could not easily scale the mountains to the West.  It was by far the most heavily traveled route to the Burke frontier in North Carolina.

 

The road began at the Schuykill River Ferry in Philadelphia, and ran west to Lancaster, crossing the Susquehanna River at Harris’s Ferry and then crossing the Potomac River at Williams Ferry (Williamsport, MD). The road took settlers down through the Appalachian Valley (now called the Shenandoah Valley) essentially following Route 81 in present day Virginia. At the present location of Roanoke, the road veered eastward through a gap in the Blue Ridge Mountain and once again turned south essentially following Route 220 today, crossing the Dan River and on into North Carolina.

 

January 2, 2012 Dennis No comments exist

When Burke County was formed in 1777 at the edge of the Appalachians about 75 miles below the Virgina line, it was North Carolina’s western frontier. The early settlers were Scotch – Irish and German Palatines, also known as Pennsylvania Dutch. They were from southeastern PA and NJ, and had migrated down the Appalachians into the North Carolina back country. They came with little but the clothing on their backs and had to make everything. They built log cabins and the tables, chairs and beds that went into them. The German settler was described as “robust, law abiding, industrious and scrupulously honest”. “Their farming habits were model for others. They were good citizens, participating actively in church, family, and communal affairs, rarely questioning authority, yet due to their language barrier, taking little interest in politics or public life.”

 

The Derreberrys, as it was spelled by then, were among the first settlers to claim this new land in Burke County, make improvements to it and file for land grants.  Grants of typically 100 acres each were obtained by several Derreberry men between the years of 1778 and 1784 on Silver Creek in the area just south of Morganton, the county seat. They may have been already on the land as early as the 1750s as the grants often mentioned improvements to the land which indicates these Derreberrys were homesteaders and not newcomers on the scene. They had made improvements by clearing forests and building cabins, sheds and rail fences on their property. Those persons who had settled on the land without due title were still entitled to register their land through the grant system. In other words, squatters were allowed to register their land as much as someone who had obtained a previous grant. The early Derreberry settlers were named Michael, Adam, John Jr., and Jacob and they were probably brothers. One being named John Derryberry, Jr. leads to the assumption that there probably was a John Sr. Since the name John is Hans in the German form, John Sr. may have been the illusive Hans Michael Dürrenberger, whose wife’s name was believed to be Anna.

 

The Derreberry families firmly established themselves in Burke County and by 1790 there were six households shown in the census.  Adam, Jacob, Michael, Andrew, Anne, and Hanna. It is believed that Anne was the widow of John Sr. and Hanna was the widow of John Derreberry Jr., our ancestor.  John Derreberry Jr. and Hanna had three sons:  George William, Michael (Micah) and another John.  Everyone was a farmer.

 

December 26, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

It has been suggested by a number of researchers that the Derryberry family living in North Carolina by 1778 were descendants of Michael Dürrenberger who may have come by way of Virginia. There is also a possibility that they might have descended from Dürrenbergers who came directly from Alsace or Switzerland to the Carolinas by way of Charleston. There is no direct evidence to support which of these theories is correct.  What is definitely known, however, is that DNA evidence now exists that proves the Derryberry line originated from the Alsatian/Swiss Dürrenbergers regardless of how they arrived in North Carolina.

 

After they first appear in North Carolina, it is difficult at best to determine which of the earliest Derryberrys are descended from whom. Records are scarce and the repetition of so many given names makes it necessary to use as much circumstantial evidence as possible to reconstruct relationships up through about 1850. However, thanks to the diligent work of other researchers like Don Cross and Bob Derryberry, a most likely set of family relationships has evolved and this is what I show on the Ayers-Derrie Family Tree website, and what forms the basis for the early years on the Derrie lineage shown below.

 

As with our Ayers lineage, I have used a timeline chart to show the life spans of each Derrie ancestor over the last three centuries.  In the chart, you can see the New Jersey ancestors in green on the left side, and then the North Carolina and beyond ancestors on the right side in blue.  I show a dotted line between Michael Dürrenberger of New Jersey and John Derryberry of North Carolina to indicate there are no actual records to tie them together, only DNA test results.

 

                                      Derrie Lineage Timeline — Click for a larger view

 

Again to give a better perspective of when they lived across the three centuries, I’ve added major historical events.  As I continue to describe family stories of this lineage, you might find it useful to refer back to this chart to get a feel for the time period in which they lived.

 

December 13, 2011 Dennis Ayers 3 comments

The British encouraged Protestant groups to settle in their American colonies, and in particular, Pennsylvania and North Carolina actively sought German and Swiss Palatines who were eager to become colonists.

 

Three Dürrenberger brothers, Hans Stephan, Hans Jacob and Hans Michael arrived in America on the ship Robert and Alice which sailed from Rotterdam, Holland making a call at Dover, England and arriving at Philadelphia on 11 September 1738. On board were 159 German and Swiss Palatines. Upon disembarkation, they were required to take the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown.

 

Passenger records of that time were not very complete or accurate. There is no record proof, but it is believed that the three brother’s father, Johann Peter Dürrenberger, along with his wife, Eva Catharina, and five of his other children probably also immigrated to the colonies at the same time, since they all disappear from Alsatian records after that. Therefore, this suggests that Johann Peter Dürrenberger was perhaps the first, or “The Immigrant”, of our Derrie ancestors to come to America.

 

In old records the German naming convention was for sons to precede the given name with either Hans or Johann (both of which translate to John), and for girls to precede the given name with the mother’s name. So, Johann Peter would most likely have been called Peter. The family was from a region were the pronunciation (i.e.: D = T, and ü = erh, with silent r’s) makes “Dürrenberger” sound strangely close to “Terryberry.” Subsequently, as was common of the period, a wide variation in spelling ensued. Both family surnames, Dürrenberger and Terryberry are thus reported in colonial documents in a variety of spellings. Soon Derryberry was added to the mix. Thanks to recent DNA test data, a bloodline connection has been proven, and Derryberry, Derreberry, etc. are considered to be derivatives of Dürrenberger. Furthermore, as you will see in later posts, Derry and Derrie are also known derivatives of the bloodline.

 

After arrival in Philadelphia, the Dürrenbergers made their way up the Delaware and Musconetcong Rivers of West Jersey to the German Valley, now Morris County, New Jersey, where they settled rather than in Pennsylvania. As mentioned before for the Ayers line, records in northern New Jersey from that time period are scarce. From information available it appears that Peter probably died in Morris County sometime after 1749. Research has accounted for his son Stephen’s death in Morris County and all his descendants. Peter’s son Jacob died in New Jersey in 1794 with no children mentioned in his will. The whereabouts of the third son, Michael, after 1749 are unknown due to lack of records.

 

Other Gemans who immigrated with the Dürrenbergers in 1738 on the ship Robert and Alice, landing in Philadelphia, are known to have made their way south to western North Carolina. It is now thought by some family historians, that Michael also later made his way to western North Carolina perhaps by way of the Carolina Road (see post dated 31 March 2011), or the Great Wagon Road through the Shenandoah Valley to become the originator of the Derryberry families of Burke County.

 

Burke County, North Carolina