Il a/avait une relation avec Mary Leighton.
Enfant(s):
Ancestral File Number:CC91-52
THE ORIGIN OF THE YANCEY FAMILY
By Dennis J Yancey
19341 NW 61 Ave
Miami FL 33015
(XXXXX@XXXX.XXX)
After nearly a century of family research, the origin of the Yancey family and the Yancey name itself, for the most part, still lie in obscurity. The history ofthe Yancey family has been traced back to the early 1700's to the colony of Virginia where branches of the family were living in the counties of New Kent, Hanover, Louisa, Spotsylvania and Culpeper. Where did these families come from? When and how did they immigrate to America? How did the name itself originate? These are questions that have eluded Yancey researchers for decades, most of theanswers to which still lie undiscovered. What follows is not the discussion ofany recent major discovery concerning the origin of the family, but a generalsummary of the various theories and traditions concerning the history of the family as well as some rather general information concerning life in Virginia during the 17th century. This is given to help the reader develop some general insight as to who our early Yancey ancestors were, and what life may have been like for them in the early Virginia Colony.
Due to the fact that no Yancey family has ever been able to trace its lineage from America into the Old World andalso due to the fact that the surname does not exist among any of the records of Europe where the family is to have come from (the surname seemingly being native to America), Onomatologists (those who study the origin of names) have hadquite a hard time even theorizing the origin of the Yancey family. One noted Onomatologist states that the surname is related to the French name "l'Anglais orLangley" a name given various families in France which literally meant "Englishman". Another researcher states that the name is the Anglicized spelling of the Dutch name "Jantje" which means "Little John". Both of these theories, and various others that have been proposed, lack any serious foundation and unless evidence is found to help substantiate these claims they should not be taken tooseriously. The most credible evidence, although not documented and far from being conclusive, we obtain from early records of the family and from tradition and lore that has been handed down from generation to generation in the Yancey family to the present time.
The dominant family tradition that has been perpetuated through many generations and can be found in most branches of the familyis the story of four or five Welsh brothers who came from the Old World in 1642with Sir William Berkeley (Colonial Governor of Virginia) and settled along the James River in Virginia. According to some versions of Yancey lore their surname was originally to have been "Nanney", descending from a well-known royal family of Wales by the name whose estate was located in Merionethshire County. The name is to have been corrupted or changed to Yancey upon arrival in Virginia.There are various stories (often conflicting) concerning these Nanney/Yancey brothers. Some say that they were cousins of Sir William Berkeley; yet other stories say that they were stowaways. As to their fate - some say a few of the brothers were killed during Indian attacks on the colonists. The validity of thesestories concerning the Yanceys coming to Virginia with Sir William Berkley about 1642 is very questionable. But by any means, by 1704, a Charles Yancey, found living in King William County, was the only Yancey found listed on the Quit Rent Rolls of Virginia. (The Rent Rolls of 1704, were in essence, a census of Virginia land owners - or "freeholders" as they were called.)
One of the firstreferences to the Yancey/Nanney connection is found in a letter written in 1805 by one Samuel Shepherd of Virginia whose mother-in-law was a Yancey. The letter reads as follows:
My Dear Brother Robert:
Since I last saw you, my wifehas been very ill in the house of her cousin Char
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