|
VIRGINIA RECORDS
ALBEMARLE COUNTY
During the 1730s and 40s the family of John Denney lived on Great Byrd Creek in Goochland County. In 1745 Goochland County was subdivided into two counties (the western portion became Albemarle County). The dividing line was only a couple of miles West of the mouth of Great Byrd Creek and during the 1740s and 50s both the Henson Family and Benjamin Denney, brother of John Denney can be found living in this area. At its creation Albemarle County also included the land that would later become Amherst and then Nelson Counties. This area was the home of Samuel Denney, now thought to have been either a brother of John and Benjamin Denney or the son of Benjamin Denney. Samuel Denney is often referred to as Old Samuel of Amherst. Samuel's home area was included in the creation of Nelson County.
DEED AND LAND RECORDS
MILITIA RECORDS
AMHERST COUNTY
Amherst County was created in 1761 with land taken from Albemarle County. The Denney records here belong to the family of Samuel Denney who is probably the brother, or possibly the nephew of the John Denney who died in 1755. If he is the nephew of John Denney then he was the son of Benjamin Denney who remained in Albemarle County when John moved to Bedford County in 1744. It is thought by many researchers that this Samuel Denney was a Quaker, and his signature on petitions circulated by dissenters may lend weight to this conclusion. The area that was inhabited by Samuel Denney's family is now in Nelson County, Virginia, but that division took place long after the Denney family had moved away.
COURT RECORDS
DEED AND LAND RECORDS
PETITIONS
WILL AND ESTATE RECORDS
BEDFORD COUNTY
When John Denney moved his family to the Southside Virginia frontier in 1744 or 1745 the land he patented was still located in what was then Brunswick County. Brunswick County was a huge land mass that included virtually every county in present day Southside Virginia. In 1746 Luneneburg County was created from the Western portion and included most of the frontier. John Denney's farm was included in this partition. In 1752 Halifax County was created and the dividing line was the Staunton River, which divided the two tracts of land that John Denney had patented. 150 acres of the land was now in Halifax County and the other 191 were in what was still Lunenburg County. Bedford County was taken from this land North of the Staunton River in the latter part of 1754, and John Denney's will was the first recorded in Bedford County. The land on which the Denney farm was located is now in two counties that were created later-the Southern part in what is now Pittsylvania county and the Northern part in what is now Campbell County. Today the Staunton River is generally known as the Little Roanoke River. The William Denney from the 1774 militia records is an unknown connection, but probably is a grandson of John Denney who died in 1755 and a son of John Denney, brother of Zachariah Denney.
COUNTY COURT RECORDS
DEED AND LAND RECORDS
MILITIA RECORDS
TAX RECORDS
WILL OF JOHN DENNEY
BRUNSWICK COUNTY
The original county of the Southside of Virginia, Brunswick once contained all of the counties of Henry, Patrick, Mecklenburg, Lunenburg, Halifax, Bedford, Pittsylvania, Campbell and parts of others. John Denney settled on his plantation astride the Staunton River sometime around 1744.
DEED AND LAND RECORDS
CAMPBELL COUNTY
Although 191 acres of the land that John Denney patented in 1748 is now part of Campbell County, there is no evidence that any part of our Denney family were still around after the creation of Campbell in 1782. Several of the Denney family neighbors, such as the Talbots, Gilberts, and Easts can be found there in its early years.
DEED AND LAND RECORDS
GOOCHLAND COUNTY
Goochland County was created from Henrico County in 1728. John Denney moved his family to this location around 1734 when he purchased land on Great Byrd Creek from Patrick Mullins. It seems that while the Denney family was located here, they formed a close connection with the powerful Lewis family, particularly with Charles Lewis of the Byrd. It would seem that several generations of Denney men may have been employed by the Lewises or have been their tenants. Benjamin Denney may have been an overseer for him.
COURT RECORDS
DEED AND LAND RECORDS
TITHE LISTS
WILL AND ESTATE RECORDS
HALIFAX COUNTY
Halifax County was created in 1752 from Lunenburg County. When the County was created the Denney family owned a farm that was now divided by the county line (the Staunton River) into both Halifax and Lunenburg Counties. In 1754 the northern part of the farm was included in the formation of Bedford County. In 1752, John Denney sold the Halifax portion of his land, but for a number of years the Denney family is still mentioned in the court records of Halifax County, most notably the celebrated case the theft of Mary (Zachariah) Denney's hat. When Pittsylvania County was created in 1767 the land where the Denney family was located was included in the new entity. Sometime around 1760, Zachariah Denney moved his family to a new farm in the Southern part of Halifax County, very near the North Carolina line on Coleman's Creek. Although he moved his family into North Carolina in the mid 1760s, no deed for the sale of Zachariah's Halifax lands have as yet been discovered, and there is some evidence that he may have moved back into Virginia around 1769 during the height of the Regulation movement. Subsequent searches into the Halifax County Records may tell us whether he spent the years between 1770 and 1780 in Virginia or North Carolina, where he definitely lived from 1780 forward.
CENSUS RECORDS
CHURCH RECORDS
COURT RECORDS
DEEDS
Isaac Johnson to Zachariah Denney
May 20, 1762
William Byrd to Zachariah Denney
May 19, 1763
TAX RECORDS
WILL AND ESTATE RECORDS
HANOVER COUNTY
PARTRIDGE STORE ACCOUNTS
LUNENBURG COUNTY
CUMBERLAND PARISH TITHE LISTS (1748 1752)
NEW KENT COUNTY
CAPTAIN KEELING'S COMPANY OF FOOT 1702
PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY
DEED AND LAND RECORDS
SURRY COUNTY
TAX RECORDS
jump to
NORTH CAROLINA
|