Burrells of Montgomery County Arkansas

The first phase of this journey will be told with respect to the individual men of our Burrell line, going back as far as I have names for them. Though we probably never will know the names of earlier men, there is still quite a story to tell of those times. The second phase will take our line back to Scotland, and how the line's Y-chromosome tells us where they came from before the advent of human civilization. The final phase will cover the rest of the family tree of Viny Burrell, my great-great grandmother, through all of her great-great grandparents. Keep in mind that most of them lived their lives before the Revolution.



Myrtle Meredith's mother was Viny Burrell, born 1852 in Union County South Carolina. Viny's father was Paschal Burrell, born 1825 in Spartanburg County South Carolina. Viny's mother died in 1868, when she was 15 years old. Then Paschal died in 1870, leaving Viny as the eldest of several children, and she was only 17. I haven't found them in the census of that year, but surely they had to have been put under the protection of another family, presumably relatives. It was another four years before Viny wed. Paschal was in the household of Amos Lee in 1850 Union County as a laborer. Amos was Paschal's father-in-law. See the Lee section in the last phase of this document for that story. Take note here of Paschal's unique name in our family tree. He had a relative named Erasmus. This is informative for an early stage in this line, so file that away and we'll come back to it.

When I first built my family tree, Paschal was a brick wall. But by analyzing South Carolina Burrells, it became clear that all of them descended from a Walter Burrell. By a process of elimination I determined that Paschal was the great-great-grandson of Walter, through his son Walter Jr, his grandson Hezekiah, and an unknown great-grandson. ThruLines confirm Walter Jr and Hezekiah as our ancestors, and support William as Paschal's father through one of Paschal's siblings. I've firmed all of this up through William's and Hezekiah's wives, using ThruLines to prove them as ancestors. William Burrell was born about 1800 in Spartanburg. Hezekiah Burrell was born in 1776. Previous research on this line placed not only Hezekiah's birth in Spartanburg, but Walter Jr and Walter Sr. In 1776 that area was part of the Ninety-Six District. Settlement of western South Carolina wasn't even available before a treaty with the Cherokee in 1753. I've seen a situation like this many times, where researchers knew a family was prominent in a location, and without other information they projected the line backward in that location for all men they had names for. Some of the cases I've seen have been utterly ridiculous, like one where men of a line were placed in Georgia into the 16th century. Maybe some of this is a mythology surrounding the family. Many ancestors left tales of migrations that never happened, and some researchers refuse to disbelieve them. If the researchers simply didn't know, I wish they would set birth places as unknown rather than entering something that's demonstrably impossible.

It's easy to make the simple mistake of not accounting for the changing boundaries of counties as the country developed, for example having Hezekiah Burrell born in Spartanburg County nine years before it existed. When I first researched this line, I even accepted that Walter Jr was born 1742 in Spartanburg. This was at a time when the land was owned by the Cherokee, 34 years before even the Ninety-Six district was formed. I didn't research that at the time. I simply thought it was remarkable that Walter Sr was such an early settler of the area, and he was also an immigrant. I thought he came to America and went directly to Spartanburg. But taking the full picture into consideration, Walter Jr was not born in western South Carolina, what I believe they call the back-country. In fact, I'm certain that Walter Jr first came to the Ninety-Six district during the Revolutionary War, like so many others of our ancestors did. The others were all soldiers, but I've found no record of Walter Jr being one. Hezekiah wasn't even born in South Carolina either.

Before I move ahead, know that our Burrell line came from Scotland. I'll come back to that, but right now I'll point out that I've seen other Scottish Presbyterian ancestors who did immigrate directly to South Carolina. Williamsburg County is known to have had a Presbyterian community. But our Burrells did not come there. They followed a more conventional path for Presbyterians, like our Scott line. I already began to believe they immigrated actually to Pennsylvania, before I learned that Hezekiah's brother Walter III Burrell was claimed to have been born in Anson County North Carolina, a common waypoint between Pennsylvania and South Carolina for Presbyterians. Walter I and Walter II get hints returned on ancestry.com for North Carolina. Walter III apparently moved back to North Carolina as an adult, and those records apply to him. There's no path for him to have lived all his life there, because Walter I and Walter II definitely went to South Carolina. I believe that Hezekiah was also born in Anson, and Walter II (Walter Jr for us), moved there to raise his family. And he didn't move there from South Carolina.

Given this evidence of the Burrells in North Carolina, it makes sense that Walter Jr was born in Pennsylvania and Walter Sr immigrated there. But I don't have any information of them in Pennsylvania. That said, consider the marriage record that ancestry.com returns for Walter Sr: he wed Elspeth Martine in Scotland, and they had a child baptized there. Elspeth, presumably Elizabeth, was long a mystery. She's outside the range of ThruLines. I don't remember when or where I found the info, but there was an Elspeth Martin born 1725 in Germany, who immigrated to Pennsylvania with her father Hans in 1731. Now, this doesn't line up with Walter Sr. The marriage record has him wed 1732 in Scotland. Elspeth immigrated to Pennsylvania when she was six years old, and would've been seven in 1732. The records must've been messed up somewhere, because I'm certain that this is the right wife for Walter. That would mean that she was 17 when Walter Jr was born, which is young but not impossible. And 1732 wasn't the right year for the wedding. I don't know how this is so garbled, but it had to be somehow.

Whatever the explanation is, I'm certain that Hans Martine was my ancestor. And I return to the names Paschal and Erasmus to add more support. These are French names. Not English names that came with the Normans, but names that were used in France at the time they were born. Hans Martine was born in Switzerland. He was from the French part, and was a Mennonite. Like other Swiss lines in our tree, he moved first to future Germany before coming to America. Elspeth's mother was also named Elspeth. Mennonites founded Germantown Pennsylvania, which is part of Philadelphia now. I presume that Walter Sr immigrated to Philadelphia. He immigrated from a city, Glenrothes in Fife Scotland. This line didn't start out rural. Reflecting on the question of whether Walter Jr fought in the Revolutionary War, Mennonites were pacifists. The War doesn't seem to be the reason why he moved to South Carolina. And though our line was there for many decades, they weren't slaveholders. Germantown was the birthplace of the antislavery movement, actually.


Depiction of old Germantown, Pennsylvania

The Burrell surname is curious because I've found two etymologies for it that are at odds. One has it being from the French bourelle which means a maker of coarse woolen cloth. That suggests a post-Norman adoption of the name. Another has Burrell being from Old English for a hill with a fort. Our Burrells are of the Celtic haplogroup R-M269, and Celts are associated with hill forts as much as anything, so it's an interesting potential connection. The name was first attested 1086 in Yorkshire England. Our line was definitely Scottish. Whether or not they come from a clothmaker, the French name might have had something to do with the Martine line being amenable to a marriage.

Viny Burrell's other Great-Great-Grandparent Lines

In the last phase of this document, I collect all that I know about the non-Burrell paternal lines of the great-great-grandparents of my great-great-grandmother, Viny Burrell. Refer to the Scott Pedigree page for a simple view of Viny's ancestors.

Nance

Viny Burrell's mother was Massie Nance, born 1828 in Union County South Carolina. Massie's father was Thomas Nance, born about 1800 in Bedford County Virginia. Thomas's father was Archibald Nance, born 1771 in Bedford. Archibald died when Thomas was very young. It looks like Archibald's father may have taken the children in. Archibald's father was Thomas Nance, born 1745 in Bedford. He served in the 1st Virginia Regiment in the Revolutionary War, registering in 1777. Of curious note, Thomas the elder named one of his sons Paschal. The Nances must also have had a French connection. Thomas's father was Richard Nance, born about 1700 in Henrico County Virginia. Richard's father was John Nance, born about 1650 in Henrico. John's father was Richard Nance, born 1604 in Cornwall England.

This line has a very interesting past. Geni.com traces it back eight more generations in Cornwall, to the early 14th century. The form was Nans before the 15th century. I've also seen it called Nanfan. Familiarity with Cornish could help to explain this, as 'nan' is at the beginning of lots of place names on the map. The family is strongly associated with Trengrove in Wales, which was also called Trengove and Trengoff. Grove seems to be a later anglicization. The Nanses were famous blacksmiths and feudal lords. Trengove means "strong smith".

The Y-DNA of the line also is interesting, which is of the haplogroup I-P37. See the map below. It looks like I-P37 was possibly the earliest haplogroup to enter Europe, among those that survive today. It looks like our Nance line came to Britain as hunter-gatherers a very very long time ago. I-P37 remains prominent in Sardinia in the Mediterranean, but mostly in the Balkans. This indicates that it used to be more prominent everywhere in Europe but was displaced for the most part, until it became quite rare in Britain. I believe a similar thing happened to the Neanderthals. Presumably this line was Anglican. They were slaveholders.

Lee

I stated in the first section of this document that Paschal Burrell himself used to be a brick wall in my family tree. Before I learned to use ThruLines to solve such problems, before ThruLines even was a feature on ancestry.com, I saw something significant in the 1850 Union County South Carolina census. Paschal was there, in the household of Amos Lee. A woman there, presumably Amos's daughter, was named Lavinia. Paschal named his own daughter Lavinia, from which the nickname Viny came. I realized that Amos Lee was Paschal's grandfather and Lavinia was his aunt. It was a long time before ThruLines confirmed this, and yet most of the Lee side of Viny's tree remained unknown, and it wasn't until recently that I figured it out.

Paschal's mother was Sarah Lee, born 1805 in Union County South Carolina. Amos was her father, born 1765 in what would become the Ninety-Six District four years later. Sarah wasn't in the 1850 census with Amos and Paschal, either because she had died or remarried. Paschal's father must also have already died. Amos's father was James Lee, born 1723 in Frederick County Maryland. James was at least the third in a row of that name in the line, so let's call him James III. James II was born 1690 in Prince George's County Maryland. James I was born 1666 in England. I don't know exactly where, but the surname Lee has a deep connection to Cheshire, so I'll guess that. Presumably they were Anglican. They were slaveholders. Descendants have been tested as Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269.

Lancaster

Massie Nance's mother was Nancy Lancaster, born 1806 in Union County South Carolina. Nancy's parents were first cousins, Larkin Lancaster and Delilah Lancaster. Larkin was born 1767 in Warren County North Carolina. Delilah was born 1779 in Warren. I don't know, but it appears that Larkin had trouble finding someone who would marry him, being 32 when he wed. Larkin's father was Samuel Lancaster, born 1745 in Surry County Virginia. Delilah's father was John Lancaster, born 1751 in Surry. Samuel and John were brothers, sons of Lawrence Lancaster born 1713 in Isle of Wight County Virginia. Lawrence's father was Samuel Lancaster, born 1678 in Isle of Wight. Samuel's father was Robert Lancaster, born 1653 in York County Virginia. Robert's father was John Lancaster, born 1607 in Bristol England. The line traces back to Cumberland in the previous few generations. The Lancasters presumably originated in Lancashire. They were slaveholders in America. I assume they were Anglican. Descendants have been tested as Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269.

Stubblefield

As described in the Burrell story, I determined that Walter Jr's son Hezekiah Burrell was my ancestor. This was before I had ThruLines lines to help, but now that I do, it confirms my research. Until recently, I didn't know who Hezekiah's wife was, or how to find out. But I finally realized that I had resources to guess who she might've been, especially her father, and ThruLines would either effectively shrug in response or confirm the man in question as my ancestor. In the case of Hezekiah's wife and her 'line', it's been quite an adventure. A lot of funny business was going on, and I don't mean that it involved comedians. We're talking non-parental events, left and right.

The first objective in identifying Hezekiah's wife, making an educated guess about who she was and who her parents were, is to find peers of Hezekiah's parents who could've had a daughter who wed him in the correct timeframe. Hezekiah was born in 1776, which means there's no census to use that he was alive for until 1790. I targeted the 1800 Spartanburg South Carolina census, where the Burrells (mostly) were at the time, looking for neighors of Walter Jr Burrell. I found neighbor surnames Trail, Smith, Morrow, Boswell, Golightly, Pool, and Crocker. None of these worked out, but in the process of investigating them, I found Obediah Howard and his wife Priscilla (maiden name Breed), who were better prospects. When I looked wider than Walter's neighbors, I found that Obediah's family was in the 1800 Spartanburg census. Without a better lead, I decided to put them in and their daughter as Ann Howard, wife of Hezekiah Burrell. I don't remember how long it took ThruLines to work it out (the matches can start at zero and then grow, or start at a large number and go down to zero, or fluctuate in some fashion one way or another). I don't know what technology they use, maybe neural networks, but it takes several days sometimes to go through the process. In the case of Obediah and Priscilla, I got lots of matches for Priscilla, but zero for Obediah, and his never went up.

It's obvious that Priscilla Breed was my ancestor, and her daughter. See the Breed section below for that story. But how could her husband Obediah Howard not have been my ancestor? There's only one way, and that is Ann Howard may have been raised by Obediah Howard and her maiden name was Howard, but he wasn't her biological father. ThruLines identified lots of cousin connections through Ann's siblings. And every single one of them were half-siblings. Ann evidently was a little 'whoops' that occurred along the way. Ann wasn't the product of another marriage, either. Priscilla was 16 when she wed Obediah, and she was 62 when he died. I was at a loss, but then I noticed something strange: one ancestry.com member had Obediah as the father of a James Chism. Then I found that two of Obediah's daughters wed Chism men. I wondered if maybe someone accidentally put a Chism boy as Obediah Howard's child. Out of curiosity I did more research on the Chisms. The father of these Chism boys who wed Howard girls, was John Chism, born 1738 in Spotsylvania County Virginia. The Chism and Howard paths crossed during his lifetime. So, as a lark I replaced Obediah Howard with John Chism as Ann Howard's father. I also put in John's son Michael via his legal wife for cousin match comparison. And sure enough, ThruLines said I was related to Michael. I now have three matches through John Chism. He was Ann Howard's biological father. It's not impossible that Obediah knew Ann was John Chism's daughter, and he adopted her as well as James Chism. Maybe Ann was actually named Ann Chism. Not only did Howard girls wed Chism men, but Breed cousins of Priscilla also wed Chism men.

As I stated at the beginning of this section, there were multiple non-parental evens in this line. And note that the title isn't Chism, but Stubblefield. This is because John Chism descended in male line from a Stubblefield man. I learned this when researching the Chisms and their Y-DNA dramas. They determined that John Chism or his father had a Stubblefield man for a father. The patriarch of the Stubblefields was Simon, who immigrated to York County Virginia from Cambridgeshire England. This line is so bewildering that I'm just leaving it as is. And it raises the question: are the paternal lines in my trees cultural or genetic? Meaning that if Obediah Howard wasn't Ann's genetic father, he evidently was her father anyway. She absorbed his culture, not John Chism's. Culturally, Ann's paternal ancestors are consistent and logical. But genetically, it's a disjointed mess. I haven't researched Obediah Howard's line. It's certainly English in origin, either from French Huard or Germanic Howard. The English tended to merge similar names like this into one. Chism/Chisum comes from Chisolm in Scotland, in Hawick which is actually Clan Scott territory. Stubblefield comes from the name Stubbe in Yorkshire. By the way I've determined Y-DNA for other lines, this one is of the J-M172 haplogroup via the Stubblefields. See the Scott document for the story of how that Middle-Eastern DNA got into Britain. I haven't seen evidence of slaveholding around Ann. Priscilla's father was a Baptist preacher, so I'm going to use that as the dominant religion, whatever any of them were upon immigration. I won't attempt to trace the migratory path of this line.

West

Amos Lee's wife was Celia West, born 1761 in Frederick County Maryland. Celia's father was Benjamin West, born 1742 in Frederick. Benjamin's father was William West, born 1695 in Calvert County Maryland. William's father was Joseph West, born 1662 in Isle of Wight County Virginia. Joseph's father was William West, born 1643 in Bristol England. Note that the elder William was also the patriarch of the West line in the Carlile tree. Benjamin moved his family to South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. He signed up as a patriot, and was killed by loyalists to the crown, i.e. Tories. The surname West means an ultimate origin in Cornwall, which was adopted in Devon, indicating that they "came from the west". This line is presumed to be Anglican, having first immigrated to Virginia. The Carlile side of it didn't go to Maryland. It's possible that they were slaveholders, but the line is too early to have records. Descendants of this line have been tested as Y-DNA haplogroup I-M253. This probably means they were Normans.

Williams

Archibald Nance's wife was Nancy Williams, born 1776 in Bedford County Virginia. Nancy's father was Roger Williams, born 1749 in Cumberland County Virginia. Now, there was a famous pirate named Roger Williams that other researchers have attempted to connect to our Roger, but I don't think there's any validity to this theory. Our Roger's father was Thomas Williams, born 1712 in Wales. This Williams line bears no relation to those in the Carlile and Draper trees, at least not in America. Given that this is a patronymic surname, they may not be related at all. Presumably this line was Anglican. Roger Williams was a considerable slaveowner. There are several Roger Williams in the Williams DNA project, but none of them is ours. Presumably this line was of Y-DNA haplopgroup R-M269.

Brown

Hezekiah Burrell's mother was Mary Brown, born in 1750. There's a lead that her father was Andrew Brown born 1729, but it's very uncertain. They're both claimed born in South Carolina, which is nonsense. It's possible that Mary is related to Abraham Brown who's a common ancestor of both my parents. I presume this line is at least similar, from Scottish Presbyterians. I have to guess that the Y-DNA is of haplogroup R-M269.

Breed

As told in the Stubblefield section above, Priscilla Breed was Hezekiah Burrell's mother-in-law. Priscilla was born 1742 in Connecticut. Now, given all the hijinx in that story, I was, before I realized what everything meant, certain there had to be a mistake. On top of everything, Ann Howard's mother couldn't have been born in Connecticut. Someone made a desperate guess because they were determined to fill this spot on their tree. But the Breed side of that equation actually makes sense. Priscilla's father was Joseph Breed, born 1708 in Stonington, New London County Connecticut. He came to the Carolinas, and he ended up dying in Kentucky, because he became ordained as a Baptist minister. There was demand for his services in the south. Joseph's father was John Breed, born 1662 in Lynn, Essex County Massachusetts. John's father was Allen Bread, born 1626 in Pulloxhill, Bedfordshire England. I don't think his name was pronounced differently. I've seen it spelled as Breade. The name originated in Cheshire. Even earlier forms were Breete and Bret. I'm not sure what the name came from, but it might be related to Britain/British. Given the momentous conversion to Baptism (assuming they had been Anglican), I'm counting Baptism as the family religion. I have no idea what the Y-DNA is, so I'll guess it's of haplogroup R-M269.

Nichols

Amos Lee's mother was Ann Nichols, born 1736 in Maryland. I don't know exactly where in Maryland, and I'm not sure who her father was. Wikitree.com has a few prospective fathers, but I don't know which to choose because ThruLines can't help this deep in the tree. Nichols is an English surname that came with the Normans. I make the usual assumptions about an English line here.

Trail

Celia West's mother was Eugenia Trail, born 1744 in Prince George's County Maryland. Eugenia's father was James Trail, born 1715 in Prince George's. James's father was David Trail, born 1672 in Angus Scotland. I don't know the origin of this surname. It might've been a Scottish placename or came with the Normans. Presumably they were Presbyterian R-M269.

Gibbs

Archibald Nance's mother was Sarah Gibbs, born 1748 in Virginia. Wikitree.com has prospective fathers, but I don't know which to chose and ThruLines can't help. Gibbs is said to be a diminutive form of Gilbert, sort of like Gilbertson I guess, or Gibson, and originated in Scotland. At least one of the wikitree Gibbs men came from England, and given that ours went to Virginia, I'm counting it as typical English.

Blair

Nancy Williams's mother was Cassie Blair, born 1755 in Amherst County Virginia. Her father may have been named William, but I'm not sure of anything about him. The name Blair comes from the placename Blair in Ayrshire Scotland, and it spread into England. I'm treating this line like Gibbs as typical English, though it could've been Presbyterian Scottish.

Langston

Larkin Lancaster's mother was Agnes Langston, born 1751 in Surry County Virginia. I believe that her line came from Isle of Wight Virginia, by way of Cheshire England, but I'm not certain. Agnes's grandmother may have been Ann Vann, born 1684 in Virginia. Ann's mother is claimed to have been Sukie Occaneechi, daughter of the Chief of the Occaneechi, who were a Siouxan tribe related to the Missouria. I'm not sure about this of course, especially since I've not heard of Mississippian tribes in early Virginia, but it is very specific. I saw an etymology of Langston that said it means "long stone", but I wonder if it means someone from Langton, i.e. from lang's town. I make the usual assumption about an English line here.

O'Sheal

Delilah Lancaster's mother was Apsley O'Sheal, born 1757 in Granville County North Carolina. Apsley's father was Daniel O'Sheal, born 1724 in Nansemond County Virginia. Daniel's father was David O'Sheal, born 1690 in London England. The first thing to notice about this line is the curious surname, and the unique name Apsley. Apsley is actually a placename in Hertfordshire England, and it could've come from an ancestor whose line was from there. Houseofnames.com claims that O'Sheal comes from O'Shields. It looks to me that O'Shields is an anglicization of a native Irish name. Certainly no English name uses the Gaelic O' prefix. I can only guess that this line left Ireland to become English at some point. I count it as typically English, and no more Catholic than the English had been before the Reformation.

Summary of Viny Burrell's Great-Great-Grandparent Lines

Four of the sixteen lines were known slaveholders. I suspect that at least half were, and we just don't have records. Viny's ancestors were about three quarters English and Anglican. They were about a quarter Scottish and Presbyterian. Joseph Breed's becoming a Baptist minister and moving from Connecticut to the south looms large. Genetically Viny's ancestors were about three quarters Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269, though some of these are guesses. Two of the sixteen lines came from the I-haplogroup and one from J.

Migration paths
Burrell: 1870 Gap, Montgomery, Arkansas - 1860 Anniston, Calhoun, Alabama - 1850 Union, Union, South Carolina - 1790 Spartanburg, Spartanburg, South Carolina - 1770 Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina - 1740 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 0 Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland
Nance: 1820 Union, Union, South Carolina - 1770 Bedford, Bedford, Virginia - 1715 Prince George, Prince George, Virginia - 1640 Henrico, Henrico, Virginia - 0 Illogan, Cornwall, England
Lee: 1755 Mitchell Creek, Ninety-Six, South Carolina - 1720 Seneca Creek, Frederick, Maryland - 1690 Chestnut Ridge, Prince Georges, Maryland - 0 Chester, Cheshire, England
Lancaster: 1800 Union, Union, South Carolina - 1760 Warrenton, Warren, North Carolina - 1740 Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight, Virginia - 1640 Yorkville, York, Virginia - 1600 Bristol, Somerset, England - 0 Lancaster, Lancashire, England
West: 1780 Camden, Camden, South Carolina - 1720 Frederick, Frederick, Maryland - 1690 Bladensburg, Calvert, Maryland - 1660 Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight, Virginia - 1600 Bristol, Somerset, England - 1100 Truro, Cornwall, England
Williams: 1770 Bedford, Bedford, Virginia - 1740 Cumberland, Cumberland, Virginia - 0 Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales
Breed: 1780 Union, Union, South Carolina - 1750 Winchester, Frederick, Virginia - 1700 Stonington, New London, Connecticut - 1660 Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts - 0 Pulloxhill, Bedfordshire, England