copyright 2024
This site contains the history and results of the Caroline
County, Virginia Daniel family DNA Project, a sub-project
of the Daniel Y DNA
Project hosted by Family Tree DNA. The Daniel Y DNA
Project was founded in 2002 and the first participant was
a descendant of Thomas Daniel 1750-1825 who was born about
1750 in Virginia and died after 1825 when he last appears
in records in Greene County, Illinois. In 2004 a match to
William Daniel 1765-1840 of Todd County, KY gave the first
support to the hypothesis that Thomas Daniel was connected
to the Daniel family of Caroline County, Virginia. This
connection was originally suggested because Thomas named
one of his sons Walker, a given name used by descendants
of William Daniel Sr. 1680-1765 of Caroline County, VA.
The first identified appearance in primary records by William Daniel Sr. 1680-1765 is in 1707 in Essex County, Virginia when he witnessed a deed between Matthew Collins and Robert Marshall on 11 February 1707/8 for land on Peumansend Swamp. Samuel Poe and William George were also witnesses. Swamp was synonymous with creek or stream. Peumansend Swamp was named for an event in which a pirate named Peuman was pursued up this creek until he was cornered and killed (Peuman's End).
William Daniel owned several pieces of
land that bounded on Beverly's Run, Peumansend Swamp and
Portobago Swamp. William's first known purchase of land
was from Thomas Tinsley in Essex
County on 17 June 1708 and was bounded by
Portobago Swamp.
The deed gives "William Daniell's plantation" as a
boundary in the land description, so William was possibly
already renting or living as a tenant on the land he was
purchasing or was residing on adjoining land that he
owned. It is possible that William owned land in King and
Queen County where most records before the Civil War are
lost or that he owned other land in Essex County, but the
deed was not recorded until after 1728 when the parts of
Essex and King and Queen Counties where William lived were
cut off into Caroline County. Probate, deed and early
court records in Caroline County before the Civil War are
also lost. William does not, however, appear on the 1704
Quit Rent rolls of Essex County, which is a list of
landowners in that county.
William was certainly married and had children by the time
the Essex Quit Rent Rolls were recorded in 1704, however,
and the marriages of his oldest children suggest he was
probably married as early as 1700. William "Daniell" is named as the son-in-law
of Robert Williams of St. Ann's Parish, Essex County
in a deed in 1710, but the first name of William's
wife is not given and is not known. This is the only
indirect reference to her in primary records.
William
Daniel, "carpenter, of St. Ann's Parish" was gifted land
on Beverly's Run in 1712, adjoining his 1708 land, in the
will of his friend Ralph Rutter, "carpenter, of St. Mary's
Parish", Richmond County, VA. Rutter purchased this land
in 1710 from Richard Davison who had originally purchased
it from Thomas Tinsley on the same day in 1708 when
William Daniel purchased his land. William Daniell and
Richard Davison witnessed each other's deeds from Tinsley
in 1708. Rutter is also identified as "carpenter of St.
Maries" Parish in Richmond County in the deed from Richard
Davison. Thomas Tinsley was married to Sarah Jackson.
Thomas Jackson, who is thought to be Sarah Tinsley's
brother, was mentioned in several deeds with William
Daniel in Essex County in the 1720s. Thomas Tinsley was
granted his land in 1704 using two
headright patents, a portion of which he
sold to Daniell and Davison, among others. Tinsley
received a certain amount of land for each headright, new
person, he brought into the county. Daniell, Rutter and
Davison are not listed as headrights in either patent,
though. Richard Davison was married to Katherine Downe in
1690 at Christ Church, Middlesex County, VA so had been in
the vicinity for some time. All of the men mentioned, so
far, with exception of Ralph Rutter and Samuel Poe, and
including William Daniel, were illiterate and signed with
their mark. In a series of deeds made in Essex County in
1726, William apparently signed his name which may
indicate that he had learned to read and write, or
perhaps, to just sign his name.
William later purchased several hundred
more acres of land in Essex and King & Queen Counties
before the region where he lived was cut off into Caroline
County in 1728. He also received a patent for 100 acres of
land in King and Queen County in 1724. William was of St.
Ann's Parish until Drysdale Parish was created after
Caroline County was created from Essex, King and Queen and
King Williams counties. Due to the loss of records in
Caroline County it is impossible to trace William Daniel's
land transactions after Caroline County was created. The loss of King and Queen
County records also makes it impossible to determine the
extent of the activity of the Daniel family in that
county.
Some of William's land was purchased ( deeds in 1715, 1720, 1722, 1724) from the Berry family of Richmond and Stafford Counties, VA and this, along with his association with Ralph Rutter, has given rise to speculation that William Daniel was originally from Richmond County. Richmond and Essex counties were created in 1692 by dividing and dissolving Rappahannock County, which is now known as Old Rappahannock by researchers, since a new Rappahannock County was created in the 19th century. It may be that William's connection is actually to Old Rappahannock County, VA, but his associates fell into both Essex and Richmond Counties after they were created. William's land in Drysdale Parish was near the Rappahannock River in the south east part of Caroline County and today is in the Fort A. P. Hill Military Reservation. An unincorporated community called Daniel's Corner is in the vicinity of the Daniel family land and may be named for the family. The Rappahannock River divided Essex and Richmond Counties and later divided parts of Caroline and Richmond Counties.
William deeded some of his Essex land
to "my son-in-law James Lindsay" in February 1719, which
suggests that William was married about 1700 and born
about 1680. No wife released her dower rights in this deed
which suggests that William Daniel's first wife was
deceased before 1719 which is supported by the fact that
no children are attributed to this marriage after 1717.
Also in 1719, in adjacent entries in Essex County court
order books, William Daniel and James Lindsay each had a
slave "adjudged" to be ten years of age.
A deed made in 1727 in Essex County from Katherine Proverb
to William Pemberton for land bounded by Peumansend Creek
was witnessed by William and Rozannah Daniel who both
signed their names. This suggests that William Daniel had
married again after the death of his first wife. Later Caroline County court records and a
land patent in Caroline County prove that William
Pemberton was a neighbor and closely associated with
the family of William Daniel 1680-1765 for many years
after the creation of Caroline County. Rozannah did
not release her dower rights to deeds mentioned in
court records made by William Daniel to his sons in
the 1740s so was apparently deceased by then. Rozannah
may have had something to do with William Daniel's
apparent attainment of literacy shown in his signing
deed records in the 1720s.
William
Daniel owned a grist mill on Beverly's Run which was
mentioned as a boundary in a deed between Richard
Coleman and James Jameson in Essex County, Virginia on
26 August 1727. The land of William
Daniel and James Lindsay, including Daniel's Mill, was in
the part of Essex County that was cut off into Caroline
County in 1728.
Most Caroline County court order books survive so it is possible to trace activity of the Daniel family in Caroline in these books. Order books for 1728-1732 are lost, however, so evidence of early activity of William's older sons may have been lost. Caroline County court order books in the early 1730s mention William Daniel's mill as Daniel's Mill or William Daniel's mill and later as John Daniel's Mill and afterwards as White's mill. William Daniel was appointed a constable in Caroline in the 1740s, though this may have been William's son, William Jr. William Daniel was taxed for three newly imported slaves under the age of 16 in the 1730s. He was named as the guardian of three of the sons of his deceased son, Thomas, in Essex County in 1739. William was a frequent member of juries in Caroline County and was mentioned in road orders, estate appraisals, recording of deeds, etc. After his son William Jr. was first mentioned in records, they were usually mentioned as William Daniel Sr. and Jr. in the order books. William Daniel Sr. deeded land to Moses Daniel, probably his son, in 1743. In 1761, a slave of William Daniel Sr. is mentioned as a witness in the trial of another slave, so William was apparently still active then.
Caroline court order books show that William Daniel's will was presented by his son William Jr. and Thomas Daniel, probably his grandson, in January of 1765, so William probably died in Drysdale Parish, south of Port Royal in Caroline County in December 1764 or early January 1765. He was called William Daniel "the Elder" in this record, as by that time, there were at least four of his adult descendants named William then living. William's will and estate inventory were lost when many Caroline County records, including deed and probate records, were burned during the American Civil War. There are no surviving primary records which prove the identities of his children. For many years, though, his was the major Daniel family in Caroline County, Virginia. Much of what is known of the Daniel family in Caroline County, VA comes from the surviving court order books. Most, if not all, of the land that William Daniel and his sons owned in Caroline County now lies within the boundaries of Fort A. P. Hill in eastern Caroline County.
Several well known researchers, in
particular Judge W. B. Newman and Ruth and Sam Sparacio,
independently concluded that William Daniel of Caroline
County was the son of William Daniell who was born about
1661 in Old Rappahannock County, VA and the grandson of Hugh Daniell, who married
Mary Billington about 1660. Hugh Daniell was imported into
Northampton County, VA by Sampson Robbins in 1653,
probably as an indentured servant. Hugh Daniell was in Old
Rappahannock by 1660. There are some notable similarities
between Hugh Daniell and William Daniel of Caroline
County. Both were illiterate carpenters, both associated
with other carpenters and both had close ties to the
Williams family of Old Rappahannock County, VA. Hugh
Daniell and his son William both resided in Old
Rappahannock County, VA where Hugh died about 1665 and the
last known mention of his son William was in 1671 in the
will of his grandfather Luke Billington. As mentioned previously, Old
Rappahannock was divided into Essex and Richmond Counties
in 1692 and William Daniel of Caroline County had
associates in both Essex and Richmond Counties.
Unfortunately, no records have been found to prove or
disprove a connection between Hugh and William Daniell of
Old Rappahannock County and William Daniel of Essex and
Caroline Counties.
Primary record research in Essex, Caroline, Spotsylvania,
Orange and Culpeper Counties, VA has shown the William
Daniel and his wife had the following children:
Because
many primary records in Caroline County, VA are lost,
it was necessary to use what records remained in
Caroline County, court order books, land tax lists,
etc., records in Essex County, from which Caroline was
created, and records in adjoining Virginia counties,
to identify the potential family of William Daniel
1680-1765 of Caroline County. The goal of the project
was to use Y DNA testing to prove whether these Daniel
lines are related and connected to William Daniel
1680-1765. Y DNA is passed only from father to son and
changes very slowly over time, so is very useful for
tracing direct male lines. In a few cases, it was
possible to trace descendants of these Daniels back to
Caroline County using primary records and in other
cases it was necessary to infer a connection to
Caroline County because these families had Virginia
origins, used given names commonly used by Caroline
County families that were connected to the Daniel
family in that county or had connections to families
that could be traced to Caroline County.
Several Daniel lines with an
ancestor who lived in the 18th century and met the
desired profile were identified for this project.
Daniel men descended from the following ancestors were
targeted:
William
Daniel Jr. 1705-1781
William Daniel 1705-1781 starts appearing in
Caroline County court order books in September 1735,
referred to as "William Daniel Jr.". Court order books for
1728-August 1732 are missing. He often appears
in the same court records with this father and
in other entries associated with the same people
as his father. William Daniel 1705-1781 married
Elizabeth Coleman, daughter of Robert Coleman.
This marriage is proved by the will of Spilsby
Coleman, Elizabeth's brother, who died in
Spotsylvania County in 1757.
Numerous members of Caroline families, including
the Daniels, Lindsays, Walkers and Colemans,
moved from Caroline County to Spotsylvania
County in the 1730s and 1740s, some parts of
which later became Orange and Culpeper counties.
"William Daniel Junior of the parish of St.
Ann's in the county of Caroline, planter"
purchased 300 acres of land in Spotsylvania
County, VA on 29 March 1734 from Richard
Mauldin, so it appears that he considered
relocating to that county, as well. "William
Daniel Junr. of the parish of Drysdale
in the county of Caroline"
sold this land, now in Orange County, to his
brother, Elijah, on 6 October 1736. A later deed
for this land provides further proof that Mary
Daniel, daughter of William Daniel 1680-1765
married Edward Walker. Note that in the first
deed, made in 1734, William Daniel Junior is
referred to as "planter" indicating that he was
already occupying and farming land by 1734.
This, along with the fact that he had money to
buy several hundred acres of land in another
county and the approximate ages of his older
children suggest that he was married and active
by the early 1720s.
William Daniel 1705-1781 had at least two sons, John 1725-1800 and William III 1734-1817 (1 March 1734 - 11 March 1817). John Daniel was a witness for his father in a court case. The given name Coleman was used in the lines of both John 1725-1800 and William 1734-1817.
John Daniel 1725-1800 appears to have remained in
Caroline County until the 1780s when he and several
of his sons migrated to Kentucky. All of John
Daniel's children are named in the probate records
of his sons Walker in Lincoln County, KY in the
1780s and Robert in Shelby County, KY in the 1790s.
John Daniel
1725-1800 was the ancestor of the large Daniel
family of Ohio County, KY which left many male
Daniel descendants.
William
Daniel III 1734-1817 married twice to 1) unknown and
had Tabitha who married Phillip Buckner and 2) Mary
Snead and had sons William Daniel IV 1765-1840 who
married Verlinda Simmons and Benjamin 1769-1843 who
married Margaret Brown. William Daniel III 1734-1817
and his sons left Caroline in the late 1780s and
early 1790s when they also moved to Kentucky.
William IV 1765-1840 resided in Jefferson, Nelson
and Todd Counties, KY and Benjamin resided in Mercer
County, KY as did William Daniel III 1734-1817.
Thomas Daniel witnessed a deed in 1800 in Jefferson
County, KY between Phillip and Tabitha Daniel
Buckner and William Daniel IV and may have been
another son of William Daniel III 1734-1817. It is
also possible that this Thomas was the son of John
1725-1800. William Daniel IV 1765-1840
had a large family and several sons with many male
Daniel descendants. No male Daniel descendants of
Benjamin Daniel have been located.
Thomas
Daniel 1708-1738
The
administration records of the estate of Thomas
1708-1738 in Essex County, VA named four children, all
sons (James 20 July 1728-?, John 24 June 1730-?,
William 1 October 1732-? and Thomas Jr. 4 January
1735-1771), but little is known of them except for
Thomas Jr. 1735-1771 who died in Caroline County,
leaving a widow and six daughters. Further confusion
is created because William Daniel 1680-1765 became the
guardian for three of the sons of Thomas 1708-1738 and
William Daniel Jr. 1705-1781 became the guardian of
the fourth son, John.
Abstract of Essex County, VA Orders: “Dec. 18, 1739. James Daniel, an orphan 11 years of age the 20th of July last past, bound to William Daniel until 21 to learn the trade of a taylor; William Daniel, the younger, an orphan 7 years old October 1 last past, bound to William Daniel until 21 to learn the trade of a taylor; Thomas Daniel, an orphan 4 years old the 4th day of January last past, apprenticed to William Daniel until 21 to learn the trade of a carpenter; John Daniel, an orphan 9 years old the 24th day of June last past, bound to William Daniel, Jr., until 21 to learn the trade of a shoemaker.”
The sons of Thomas Daniel 1708-1738, with the
exception of Thomas Jr. 1735-1771, make no
verifiable appearances in Caroline County, VA court
order books and apparently left Caroline County
shortly after reaching adulthood. There are several
entries in court order books which could mention
some of these men, but there is no way to separate
them from the sons of William Daniel 1705-1781 as
they were are all born about the same time, shared
common given names and became adults about the same
time.
James who was born
in 1728 is a good candidate to be James Daniel
1732-1799 of Russell County, VA whose birth year
is a guesstimate based on the fact that he was
exempted from paying taxes in 1792 "due to age and
bodily infirmities". William Daniel 1732-? and
John 1730-? are likely the men who owned land from
1755-1765 in Cumberland County, VA where William
1732-? was named as "William Daniel of Caroline
County" in the first deed record in which he
appears in that county. William Daniel 1732-? is a
good candidate to be the father of Spilsby Daniel
1765-1852. Thomas Daniel 1735-1771 is likely the
man who, with his uncle, William Daniel Jr.
1705-1781, presented the will of William Daniel
1680-1765 on 10 January 1765. John Daniel is
thought to be the father of Thomas Daniel
1750-1825 who named his first son John.
Thomas Daniel 1750-1825 is the ancestor of
the Daniel families of Montgomery County,
KY, Champaign County, OH, Jasper County, IN,
Hardin County, TX and Greene County, IL.
James Daniel
1732-1799 is the ancestor of the large Daniel
family of Lawrence, Floyd and Johnson Counties, KY
and Pike County, IL.
There are many
male Daniel descendants from all of these lines,
except for Thomas Daniel Jr. 1735-1771 who had six
daughters and no sons.
Elijah
Daniel 1713-1784
Of the
four sons of William Daniel 1680-1765, tracing
Elijah's line seemed most promising since Elijah lived
into the 1780s, his children were adults at the time
of his death and several of his sons and their
descendants can be easily deduced from primary records
in Caroline and Spotsylvania Counties, particularly Edmund who died in 1799
in Spotsylvania County, VA and was the administrator
of Elijah's estate in Caroline County in 1784. Elijah
married Mary Hawes, daughter of Samuel Hawes, and
there many interactions between Elijah and the Hawes
family in records, particularly Samuel Hawes Sr. and
Jr. The other three sons of William Daniel 1680-1765
are rarely mentioned in records with the Hawes family.
Edmund's brother, William, left a will in Wilkes
County, GA made in 1792 and proved in 1795, in which
he made bequests to all of his living brothers, i.e.,
Edmund, Samuel and Jonathan. Edmund Daniel made a
power of attorney in Spotsylvania County to his son
Reuben to act in his behalf to manage his inheritance.
A Y
DNA match to a descendant of Elijah, from his son
Edmund, finally provided strong primary record
support, through Elijah's connection to William Daniel
Jr. 1705-1781, for the conclusion that we have
identified the DNA of William Daniel 1680-1765. A
series deeds in Spotsylvania and Orange Counties, VA
provided the primary record evidence to link Elijah
Daniel to William Daniel 1680-1765 of Caroline County,
VA:
27-28 Oct 1736 Orange County VA Deed Record abstracts
William Daniel of Drysdale Parish, Caroline County, planter, to Elijah Daniel of St. Mark's Parish, Orange County, planter. Lease and release; for one peppercorn 300 acres, part of 18,500 acres granted by patent to Col. James Taylor and part of said tract sold to Richard Mauldin being 1200 acres ... on the south side of the River Rappadan .. corner to Mr. Nicholas Battle .. corner to Mr. Richard Thomas ... oak standing in a branch.
(signed) William Daniel, junr.
Wit: Samuel Hawes, Henry Dougun, Wm. Rucker]
When
William Daniel purchased this land from Richard
Mauldin in 1734, it was in Spotsylvania County and
that deed describes him as "William Daniel Junior of
St. Ann's Parish and County of Caroline". Drysdale
Parish was created from St. Ann's Parish so these are
also a valuable set of deeds for tracing the Daniel
family in Caroline County.
Jacob
and Mary Daniel, who were living in Caroline County in
the 1770s, had issue Frances "Fanny", Nancy and
Reuben, who all moved to Jefferson County, KY with
their mother. It seems probable that Jacob died in
Kentucky but no record of his residence or death there
has been found. As mentioned previously, Jacob is a
strong candidate to be a son of Elijah. Elijah's son,
William, made his will in Wilkes County, GA in 1792
making bequests his brothers Edmund, Samuel and
Jonathan, but did not mention Jacob. Jacob may
not have been named in the will because it appears
that he was deceased when the will was made in 1792.
Jacob Daniel was closely associated with the Hawes
family in Caroline County records. Jacob Daniel's
line, from his son Reuben, has been located and
information about his line is available here. Reuben's 1857
death record gives his place of birth as Caroline
County, VA and also names his parents. It is worth
noting that Edmund Daniel, son of Elijah 1713-1784,
also named a son Reuben. A descendant of Jacob
Daniel's son Reuben has been tested and his DNA
closely matches our group.
A
possible candidate for Elijah's son, Samuel, is the
man for whom a Revolutionary War pension application
was submitted in Culpeper County, VA. This Samuel
named a son Elijah. Several grandsons (Samuel,
William, John and James) of Samuel are named in the
pension application, but none have been traced as they
apparently left Culpeper County and have very common
given names. Reuben Daniel, son of Edmund, also lived
in Culpeper County.
Elijah's son Jonathan remains unaccounted for. He
was probably born 1745-1755 and was living in 1792
so lived to adulthood. It seems likely that he
married and had a family, but no records which can
be attributed to him have been found.
Many of Elijah's descendants settled in Dallas
County, TX and Jackson County, OK. He is probably
also the ancestor of the Daniel family of Floyd
County, IN. There are numerous male Daniel
descendants from all of these families.
Before the
Daniel DNA project was created in 2002, after
about two decades of research, I strongly
suspected that I had identified several
brothers born between 1773 and 1790 (John,
William, Thomas, Estridge, James and Walker),
likely sons of my ancestor Thomas Daniel
1750-1825, but no primary records had then, or
have since, been found to prove my
conclusions. Only very strong circumstantial
primary record evidence and the use of some
common given names in all of these lines
suggested a connection. One thing that greatly
aided in tracing the descendants of Thomas
Daniel 1750-1825 is the use of the given name
Estridge/Eastridge for at least a couple of
generations by almost all lines of Thomas'
descendants. This given name is used only in
the Daniel line that descends from Thomas
Daniel 1750-1825. The lines of probable sons
of Thomas 1750-1825; John, William, Estridge,
James and Walker all are known to have had at
least one male by that name in their lineage,
in some cases several. The name Narcissa for
female children is also common in these
families. Thomas Daniel is named as the father
of Walker Daniel in a county history of Greene
County, IL
by a close family associate who knew both
men. Attempting to resolve
this problem, I founded the Daniel DNA
Project. Y DNA tests have since proved that
the lines of William, Estridge, James and
Walker are closely related. The lines of John
and Thomas Jr. have not yet been tested
because the combination of primary records and
the use of uncommon given names provide strong
evidence for a connection of those lines to
Thomas 1750-1825 and his son Estridge Daniel
1782-1852. There are, however, numerous
autosomal DNA matches between the descendants
of John Daniel and Thomas Daniel Jr. and other
Daniels who descend from Thomas Daniel
1750-1825.
Kit #s in the Daniel DNA
project for sons of Thomas Daniel 1750-1825
are:
It was only a couple of years after the start of the
Daniel DNA project that Thomas Daniel 1750-1825 had
a 33/37 match to kit #9727 William Daniel 1765-1840
of Todd County, KY. There is very strong
circumstantial evidence from primary records that
William 1765-1840 was closely related to Tabitha
Daniel Buckner 1756-1838, who can easily be traced
to Caroline County, VA. Tabitha was the wife of
Phillip Buckner 1747-1820, who was prominent in
Caroline County, VA and later prominent in Kentucky.
This match strongly suggested that both of these
lines were connected to William Daniel
1680-1765 of Caroline County, VA, the major
Daniel line in that county for most of the 18th
century.
More Y DNA evidence from other lines that could be
traced to Caroline County was needed to validate
this hypothesis, however, since many records in
Caroline County are lost, and no direct primary
record evidence exists that can identify present day
descendants of William Sr. 1680-1765 of Caroline. I
thought it should be possible, though, to test
several Daniel lines that have Caroline County, VA
connections, and if they matched, we would likely
have identified the DNA of the line of William
Daniel 1680-1765 of Caroline County, VA. This would
not, however, prove that these Daniels were
descended from William 1680-1765, only that they
were likely connected to him in some way. Use of
common given names in these lines, for instance
Spilsby, Wyatt, Walker and Coleman, would also
support this conclusion. Sons and daughters of
William 1680-1765 are thought to have married into
families with these given names or surnames, which
were later used as given names by their descendants.
Two other major Daniel lines, William of Middlesex
and James of Essex, make appearances in Caroline
County for one or two generations, between 1770 and
1800, but their Y DNA and haplogroups have been
identified and both differ from the DNA of the
potential descendants of William 1680-1765. By 1800,
the Daniel surname representing William Daniel Sr.
1680-1765 disappeared from Caroline County as his
direct male descendants migrated to other Virginia
counties and to other states and territories.
Descendants of the direct male line of James Daniel
of Essex remained in Caroline after 1800.
Between 2008 and 2018, Thomas Daniel 1750-1825 and
William Daniel 1765-1840 had six matches to James
Daniel Sr. ca 1732-1800 of Russell County, VA. It
should be noted that the distance from myself to
Thomas Daniel 1750-1825 is only five generations,
while the distances from the descendants of James
Daniel Sr. 1732-1800 is nine or ten generations
which may, in part, account for the variation in
results noted later in this analysis. These results
were provided by five descendants of James' son,
James Jr., via his sons Thomas and Isom and by one
descendant of James' son Wyatt. Wyatt Daniel
eventually settled in Morgan and Pike Counties, IL
adjacent to Greene County, IL, where Thomas
1750-1825 had settled. It is uncertain if the two
families had contact there, but descendants of both
families lived there at the same time from the mid
1820s to the present day. Descendants of James' son,
James Jr., settled in Floyd County, KY not far from
where Thomas 1750-1825 settled when he first came to
Kentucky in the 1790s and where some of his
descendants remained. One of the descendants of
Thomas who remained in Montgomery County, KY named a
son Isom which suggests that there was contact
between these families in Kentucky.
Descendants of James 1732-1800
who took DNA tests are:
In 2013 all lines got a match to Kit #320285 John Calvin Daniels 1843-1909. We have not yet been able to tie this line to any of the other matching lines. John Calvin Daniels was born in Tennessee but later moved to Texas. The identity of his parents is not certain, but his father is thought to be a John Daniels 1791-1848 of Perry County, TN.
In
March of 2015 an unknown Daniel who is not a
member of the Daniel DNA project but has tested
with Family Tree DNA matched all of these lines.
This line tested to 111 markers and is very
closely related to a descendant of James Daniel
1732-1800 and to a descendant of Thomas Daniel
1750-1825.
In
late 2015 a second descendant of William Daniel
1765-1840 of Todd County, KY, Kit #B11177, was
located and joined our group taking the 67 marker
Y DNA test, matching our first participant from
this line exactly on 37 markers. Our first
participant from this line became inactive
several years ago and had named no
beneficiary for his DNA so no results beyond 37
markers were available for this line until the
second member of this family made them
available.
The
opportunity to further test the hypothesis that
these lines were connected to William Daniel
1680-1765 of Caroline County, VA came in 2015 when
I was able to locate a descendant of John Daniel
1725-1800 of Caroline County, VA and
Jefferson and Shelby Counties, KY, Kit #445720.
The 1792 will (proved in 1797) of John's son
Robert names his father and siblings as do earlier
deeds around the estate of John's son Walker
Daniel 1750-1784 who was the first Attorney
General of Kentucky. John's son, Thomas, married
Mary Snead/Sneed and through the estate records of
her father, Benjamin Snead, it is possible to
trace this line back to Caroline County, VA. There
are numerous primary records in Caroline County
that tie the Daniel and Snead families together
and tie earlier generations of the Snead family to
William Daniel 1680-1765 of Caroline. The probate
records also proved that John Daniel had a son
named (Samuel) Coleman Daniel. A Y DNA match
proved that John's descendants were a match to the
rest of the Daniels in our group, solidly linking
all of these lines to Caroline County, VA and
potentially to William Daniel 1680-1765 of
Caroline. A slight confusion is caused because it
appears that a descendant of James Daniel of Essex
moved to Caroline County, VA just before the
Revolutionary War and also married into the same
Snead family and his descendants later moved to
Kentucky around the same time as descendants of
William Daniel Sr. 1680-1765 did. It is easy to
separate this line from the descendants of William
Daniel 1680-1765 as most of the Daniels from
William's line had left Caroline by this time,
moving to other Virginia Counties, and other
states, notably Kentucky and Georgia.
In
early 2016 all of the members of this group had a
67 marker match to a gentleman with a non-Daniel
surname (Carpenter), #422419. The testing was
initiated by a researcher tracing the Carpenter
surname and related lines and it has been
determined that this connection is the result of
an NPE (Non-Paternity Event) that occurred in the
previous generation, in the 1960s. The match was
so close to some of our group that it seemed
certain that this match has male Daniel ancestors
and subsequent research confirmed this connection.
Although he is our Daniel cousin, his results are
added to our group results as "Carpenter". I had
originally listed him as "Unknown Daniel(s)", but
since we have another Daniel cousin who has not
disclosed his identity, even I was confused in
sorting between the two. Primary record research
tentatively suggests that he is a descendant of
Spilsby Daniel's line.
In April of 2017 we were able
to locate a documented descendant (646872)
of Spilsby Daniel 1765-1852 of Washington,
Russell and Wythe Counties, VA, Cumberland and
Clinton Counties, KY and Overton and Fentress
Counties, TN. He was a match to our group. His
connection to James Daniel 1732-1800 of Washington
and Russell Counties, VA and his given name
brought us even closer to being able to claim a
connection to William Daniel 1680-1765.
Finally, in August 2017, a descendant of Elijah
Daniel (756121) was located and we got the Y DNA
match that we needed to prove our group's
connection to William Daniel 1680-1765. There is a
strong primary record trail from the living
descendant of this line to Elijah and from Elijah
to William Daniel Jr. of Drysdale Parish, Caroline
County, VA where William Daniel Sr. 1680-1765 was
situated.
In September 2017, a descendant of Jacob Daniel
(757153) was located and he was also a DNA match
to our group. Jacob was probably a son of
Elijah, as well, but apparently died before he
was included in primary records that could have
proved this connection.
Conclusion
As a result of this project, male Daniel descendants of William Daniel Jr. 1705-1781, Thomas Daniel 1708-1738 and Elijah Daniel 1713-1784 were successfully traced and tested using Y DNA with matching results. So far (2019), Y DNA results of all Daniel men available can be traced to the descendants of William Daniel 1680-1765. Because we have successfully identified the Y DNA of William Daniel 1680-1765 it is now possible to use Y DNA testing of other potential descendants to prove or disprove their connection to this family.
Elijah Daniel
1713-1784 (William Sr. > Elijah > Edmund):
Elijah Daniel first appears in records in 1734
when he is mentioned in a road order in Orange
County, VA. In 1736, William Daniel Jr. of
Drysdale Parish, Caroline County, VA sold Elijah
Daniel of Orange County 300 acres of land for the
price of one peppercorn. Elijah was appointed a
Constable in Orange County about 1738. In 1743
Elijah and Mary Daniel, his wife, sold the land he
purchased from William Daniel Jr. to the vestry of
St.Thomas Parish in Orange County, Elijah lived in
Essex, Caroline, Orange and Culpeper Counties,
before returning to Caroline County, where he died
and his son Edmund administered his estate. Elijah
married Mary Hawes, daughter of Samuel Hawes and
Elizabeth Spencer. The names of their children are
not certain, but they likely had; Agnis married
James or John Arnold, Edmund married Peggy LNU,
William married Mary LNU, Samuel married Mary LNU,
Jonathan and Jacob married Mary Elizabeth LNU.
John 1725-1800 (John >
Coleman): John Daniel's first identifiable
appearance in records is when he was mentioned on
20 June 1790 in a deed made in Lincoln County, KY
pertaining to the estate of his son, Walker
Daniel. This deed also names all of John's
children living at the time. He was listed in the
tax lists of Shelby County, Kentucky in 1794. He
was named in the will of his son Robert in
Jefferson County, Kentucky written in 1792 and
proved in 1797. John, and his son Martin, made
Robert's estate available for inventory in 1797,
John's last appearance in records. Robert's will
names his father, John, and his siblings who are
also named in the 1790 deed. Walker Daniel,
(1750-1784) came to Kentucky in 1781 and was
killed there by Indians in 1784. He was an
attorney, Revolutionary War officer and the first
Attorney General of the Kentucky District of
Virginia. The sons of John Daniel received grants
for thousands of acres of land in Kentucky. John
settled in Jefferson County, KY. His occupation is
uncertain. He may be the John Daniel mentioned in
Caroline County, VA records who assumed control
William Daniel's 1680-1765 grist mill. John's
children, mentioned in the will of his son Robert
are; (Chloe) Clark, Betsy (Elizabeth) Meriwether,
Thomas Daniel, Sukey (Susannah) Morris, Coleman
Daniel, Walker Daniel (deceased) and Martin
Daniel. This family is linked to Caroline County,
Virginia by the marriage of John's son Thomas to
Mary Sneed, daughter of Benjamin Sneed of Caroline
County as shown in Kentucky Court of Appeals
records. Benjamin Sneed's father was John Sneed
who owned a tavern in the vicinity of Daniel's
Mill in Caroline County, VA. Daniel's Mill was
founded by William Daniel 1680-1765 by the early
1730s. There are numerous interactions between the
Daniel and Sneed families in Caroline County.
The use of the name Coleman for
one of John's sons suggests that he was the son of
William Daniel Jr. and Elizabeth Coleman and not
John Daniel born 24 June 1730, son of Thomas
Daniel and Mary Rowzee, William Jr.'s ward. John
Daniel, son of Thomas and Mary Rowzee Daniel may
be the John Daniel who purchased land from William
Daniel "of Caroline" in 1763 in Cumberland County,
VA. Among John Daniel's descendants, are the
numerous Daniel families of Ohio County, KY.
James 1728-1800 (James
> Wyatt/James Jr.): This James Daniel is
probably the son of Thomas Daniel and Mary Rowzee.
His date of birth, 20 July 1728, is given in
guardianship records in Essex County, VA which
were part of the probate of his father's estate.
Earlier estimates of his age come from tax records
in Russell County, VA. James Daniel's first
identifiable appearance in records is in 1781,
when he purchased 200 acres of land in Washington
County, Virginia. This land adjoined that of
Thomas Daniel, who settled there in 1771. James
appears in tax lists in Washington County and then
in Russell County from 1781 until 1793 when he was
exempted from paying poll tax and county levies
due to "age and bodily infirmities". He appeared
in the tax lists of 1794-95, and signed petitions
to create Tazewell County in 1795 and 1796.
He last appears in records in 1799 when James
Daniel Sr. and Sarah Daniel presented and proved
the will of James Daniel (Jr.). It is thought that
he had sons Wyatt and James and daughter Rebecca.
Thomas and Spillsby Daniel are also sometimes
listed as his sons. James Daniel Sr. resided on
the Maiden Spring Fork of Clinch River and Cove
Creek in Washington County, Virginia, later
Russell County and then Tazewell County, Virginia. He was apparently a
farmer, usually taxed for a few horses and
cattle each year. Where he resided before 1781
is not known but DNA evidence now links him to
the Daniel family of Caroline County, Virginia.
His dates of birth and death have been
approximated, based on the records available. He
is possibly the son of Thomas Daniel and Mary
Rowzee who was born on 20 July 1728 in Essex or
Caroline County, VA. His grandsons, Thomas, Isom
and George, sons of James Daniel Jr., moved to
Kentucky and are the ancestors of the numerous
Daniel(s) families of Floyd and Johnson
Counties, KY.
Thomas 1750-1825 (Thomas
> Estridge/James/Walker/William):
Thomas Daniel's first identifiable appearance in
records is in the 1789-91 tax lists of Madison
County, KY. The 1792 tax list of Clark County,
KY notes that he had removed there from Madison
County. He was in the part of Clark County that
was cut off into Montgomery County in 1799 and
appears in tax lists of both counties from
1792-1806. Tax lists show the coming of age of
his sons John (b. 26 May 1773), Thomas Jr.,
William and Estridge as each son is listed near
him as they turned 21. Thomas was not taxed for
land until 1806, and was taxed for a several
horses and a few cattle each year. He was often
taxed for a stud horse. His occupation is
uncertain. There are several mentions of land
grants for Thomas Daniel in the area, probably
for several different men, but it has not been
possible to sort them out due to lack of
records. Thomas' sons were all educated, one a
county clerk, one a teacher, another an officer
in the War of 1812 and all holding various other
positions of responsibility in their
communities. Thomas and sons Walker and William
and daughter Elizabeth moved to the Indiana
Territory in 1807 and are easily traced in
records there. He first settled just south of
present day Marion, Williamson County, IL. He
moved to Madison County, IL by 1814 and was in
the 1818 Madison and 1820 Greene County
censuses. Thomas acquired several hundred acres
of Public Domain land in the vicinity of present
day Alton in Madison County, IL and soon sold
it, appearing to have been speculating in land.
Thomas last appears in records on 24 November
1825 in Greene County, IL. There is no probate
of his estate in Greene County. He is probably
the Thomas Daniel who left records in Botetourt,
Fincastle and Washington Counties, VA and was
associated with James Daniel 1732-1800. Thomas
best fits as a son of John Daniel, brother of
James Daniel 1732-1800, who was born 24 June
1730, a son of Thomas and Mary Rowzee Daniel.
Jacob Daniel
1743-1789 (Jacob > Reuben Daniel > Richard
B.) Jacob and Elizabeth
Daniel, appear in Caroline records in the early
and mid 1770s. Jacob
and his wife's connection to the rest of these men
is partly is based on the Franklin County, KY
death record of their son, Reuben Daniel 1784-1857,
who was born in Caroline County, VA in
1784 according to his death record. The name of
Reuben's mother is given as Mary in his death
record, but that may be because she used her
middle name, Elizabeth, while her mother-in-law
was living. Jacob was a Revolutionary War
soldier from Caroline County serving under Lt.
Colonel Samuel Hawes, his grandfather or uncle,
and Colonel William Russell. Captain William
Russell Jr. commanded a company of militia in
Dunmore's War in the same county where James
1732-1800, Spilsby and Thomas 1750-1825
lived. Jacob
was likely the son of Elijah Daniel and Mary
Hawes. William Daniel of Wilkes County, GA named
his brothers Edmund, Jonathan and Samuel in his
1791 will which was proved in 1795. Jacob was
probably not named because he died before 1791.
This is consistent with Kentucky records as
Jacob's daughter Nancy Ann was married in
Jefferson County, KY in 1792, but Jacob does not
appear in any records in that county. He likely
died not long after arriving in Kentucky, before
appearing in any records there.
William
1765-1840 (William > Richard): William
Daniel first appears in records in the 1789 tax
list of Jefferson County, KY. He was listed in the
household of Nicholas Buckner, who is
believed to be a brother of Phillip Buckner
who married Tabitha Daniel in Caroline County, VA.
The land that Nicholas Buckner was living on was
entered in the name of Phillip Buckner. Phillip
and Tabitha Buckner sold land to Jefferson County,
KY in 1799. William 1765-1840 and Tabitha Daniel
1756-1738 are thought to be children of William
Daniel III 1734-1817, son of William Daniel (II)
1705-1781 and Elizabeth Coleman. William
Daniel (III) 1734-1817 is thought to have married
twice, first to an unknown spouse, mother of
Tabitha who married Phillip Buckner, and second to
Mary Sneed daughter of John Sneed of Caroline
County, VA, mother of William 1765-1840 and
Benjamin 1769-1843. The birth place, birth date
and marriage information for William Daniel
1734-1817 is given in what appears to be the
transcript of a family Bible in the Daniel file at
the Madison Public Library in Jefferson County,
Indiana. Also mentioned in this transcript are the
birth and death dates of Tabitha Daniel who
married Philip Buckner. Though this record is not
a primary record it has been in the files of the
library for many years and other information in
this transcript is supported by primary record
evidence. There are numerous
primary records that tie the Daniel, Coleman,
Buckner Sneed and Blanton families of Caroline
County, VA together. That being
said, this provides more links between the Daniel
family, and the Snead and Buckner families and
Caroline County, VA. William 1765-1840
married Verlinda Simmons in 1791 in Nelson
County, KY. They later moved to Christian and
Todd Counties, KY. William and Verlinda
Daniel had several children; Richard Mortimer,
Nancy, Horace, Lewis, Rice, Elizabeth, Mary B.,
Tabitha B. and John P.
Spilsby Daniel 1765-1852 (Spilsby > James):
Spilsby Daniel was born about 1765 in Bedford
County, VA, according to his Revolutionary War
pension file. Much of what is known about Spilsby
comes from this file. He married Sarah “Sally”
Asberry in Wythe County, VA according to the file,
probably around 1800. Spilsby is a given name used
by the Coleman family of Caroline County, VA which
has led some researchers to link him to William
Daniel who married Elizabeth Coleman. Spilsby
enlisted in the army in the spring of 1780 while
living in Washington County, VA, the part that was
later cut off into Russell County. From his pension
file: “he was verbally discharge by his said Captain
in the spring after the Battle of Kings Mountain
(October 1781) he knows not the month or date he
then continued to live in the western part of
Virginia about twenty years after the end of the war
and then moved to Cumberland (KY) staid there many
years, thence to Wayne County Kentucky staid their
several years thence to Overton County Tennessee
staid there eight or ten year’s thence to where he
now lives (Fentress County, TN) he was born in
Bedford County Virginia his parents died when he was
young”. The fact that Spilsby claims that he was
born in Bedford County, VA and that his parents died
while he was young seems to eliminate him as a son
of William Daniel who married Elizabeth Coleman or
James Daniel of Russell County, VA. He did serve
under William Bowen during the war, and the Bowens
were the neighbors of James Daniel of Russell
County. There was a William Daniel in Bedford
County, VA records around the time that Spilsby says
he was born there and a William Daniel served in the
Fincastle, VA militia in 1774 during Dunmore's War.
Marriage records in Caroline County, VA do not
survive, so it is possible that his mother may have
been a Coleman, hence his given name. All
speculation. There does not appear to be a probate
for Spilsby, so the names of his children are
deduced from various records.
The common ancestor of John, James, Thomas, William and Spilsby is probably two or three generations further back than these men. John 1725-1800 and James 1732-1800 are possibly brothers or first cousins, based on their approximated birth years and DNA marker distance between their descendants. Elijah Daniel was likely the uncle or great uncle of these men and father of Jacob. Several of these lines claim descent from an ancestor who came to America from Wales.
A comparison of the number of the
matching/non-matching DNA markers for each kit is
given below. I am eliminating the results of our
first descendant of William Daniel 1765-1840 since
he was an exact 37 marker match to our second
participant from this line, both descend from
William's son Richard and it is unlikely that this
kit will ever be upgraded to 67 markers. I have also
eliminated Daniel participants who have not taken at
least the 37 marker test or don't match anyone from
our group at 37 makers. Those are two descendants
(6647, 62623) of Thomas 1750-1825 (not taken 37
marker test), Stephen Daniel (33878) 1781-? (not
taken 37 marker test) and Edward Daniel (4014)
1765-1830 (doesn't match our group above 12
markers).
Kit
#3347 Thomas Daniel 1750-1825 > Estridge
1782-1852
Kit
#7745 Thomas Daniel 1750-1825 > William >
Nathan 1802-1836
Kit
#94729 James Daniel Sr. > James Daniel Jr. >
Thomas Daniel 1789-1868
Kit
#160425 James Daniel Sr. > James Daniel Jr.
> Thomas Daniel 1789-1868
Kit
#320285 John Calvin Daniels 1843-1909
Kit #381227 - James Daniel Sr. > James Daniel Jr. > Isom Daniel 1799-1847
Kit #B11177 William Daniel 1768-1840 > Richard
1792-1830
Kit #422419 Spilsby Daniel 1765-1852 > Spilsby Jr. (Carpenter)
Kit
#445720 John Daniel 1725-1800 > Samuel Coleman
1760-1820
Kit
#930882 Thomas Daniel 1750-1825 > James >
Aaron Kinsey