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My George FamilyColonel John George (c1603-1679) and Jane Cole of England and Virginia (Charles City and Isle of Wight Counties) Introduction - A History of my research on this family My George Family - Data on my George ancestors IntroductionNote: The George family is fully documented in the author's book "George Family History" now available. Click link for details. On the current web pages I am only presenting the most interesting documentation. There is a great deal more available that is not included here. Most of the available source documentation is in the book mentioned above. There are also many acknowledgments to be made. The book contains them all. Some are listed here. The George family (as well as the Wright family) was the first family I ever researched. In the summer of 1980, my Uncle Garland S. Grant Jr took me (along with his children) on a trip to Topton, Cherokee Co, NC to visit his grandmother Della Wright George, my Great Grandmother. I had been there alot as a small child, but this time I was 14 years old and more aware of what was going on. While my cousins Sonny and Kerrie and I were playing around in Granny George's house (that is what we called Della), we noticed several old photographs on the walls. Della was in poor health at this time, and was residing next door with her daughter Marynell Lequire. We went over to talk to her about it. She said the pictures were of various family members, and she and Marynell talked about the family a little bit. The conversation suddenly made me very interested in my roots. I had a notebook with me and we asked Della about her family. She wasn't able to talk to us very much because of her health, but she did tell us a little. She told us that her father was "A. A. Wright" and that her grandfather was "Jimmy Wright". Aunt Marynell said she would write up the George and Wright family history for me, so I gave her my notepad. About an hour later (or less), she had listed all of the descendants of Thomas Jefferson George down to the present generation, or at least those she knew of. This trip was what gave me the "genealogy bug", and I've had it ever since. Later, while talking to my grandmother Luella George Grant, she gave me a copy of a George family history written in 1938 by Ida George, as told to her by her mother Mary Elizabeth Young George of Valleytown (Cherokee Co, NC). This document was not an original, and had been modified to include data on more recent parts of the family. However, it traced our George ancestry back several generations to James Jordan George and wife Elizabeth Pemberton. James Jordan George father was mentioned, but not named, and his wife was given as Elizabeth Noden. This one document took me back 9 generations! (From myself). Over the years, I have found only minor errors contained therein, so it has been a tremendous help in my research on this family. I'm thankful that my distant Aunt Mary Young George (widow of Jefferson George) took the time to tell of her husbands family. With the above document in hand, I began my own research. At first, I could add only a little data to it, and mainly on more recent parts of the family. I couldn't go back. I used the census records to trace the family. I found my George's in Graham Co, NC in 1880, and in Cherokee Co, NC in 1870 and 1860. The 1860 census taker actually recorded the county of birth of everyone (this wasn't required), and I found that my ancestor Lafayette George (1830) was born in Blount Co, TN, and that his older brother Washington (1827) was born in Carter Co, TN. This was great news. I also found that their father Charles Noden George (1791) was born in Sullivan Co, TN, and his wife Celia (1794) was born in Carter Co, TN. This was helpful, but I was far from Tennessee, and still new at researching, so I wasn't sure how to continue my research, without traveling there. I left it at this for awhile. I joined the U. S. Air Force in 1984, and about 3 years later, I met Mary George, who worked down the hall from me. She was from Western North Carolina, and we joked about being cousins. She told me that her father, Joe George, had been researching their George family for many years, and would love to get in contact with me. We soon began a correspondence, and we never found any proof that we were related, but he helped me a great deal. He shared items he had discovered on my George ancestors (while looking for his own). He had records showing my George ancestors in Sullivan Co, TN, including a document that showed the names of all of Charles Noden George's siblings (an 1824 deed). Joe George also shared with me a James Jordan George who was in Pittsylvania Co, VA in the late 1700's. He didn't know if it was the same person as mine or not, but with just a little checking, I was able to determine that it was! Records there proved that James Jordan George was a son of James George and Elizabeth George (the 1938 document mentioned this was Elizabeth Noden). So now, I was back to the earliest generation, or so I thought. The 1938 document by Aunt Mary Young George, said that James Jordan George's father (not named) married Elizabeth Noden in England. I assumed this was correct, and that they married in England, and came over to Pittsylvania Co, VA in the mid 1700's. However, evidence soon showed that they were from Caroline Co, VA, and married there. I found numerous records in Caroline Co, VA for the George family and the Noden Family. I was 100% sure that I had made another leap in the family tree. I found a John George and wife Mary Jordan who had a son named James. I was sure this was my line, and that explained my ancestors name of James Jordan George. John George (1704) was a proven son of Robert George (1666-1734), who was a proven son of Isaac George and Hester Fawdon, and Isaac was a proven son of Colonel John George and Jane Cole. I had found no published works on my George family (James George-Elizabeth Noden and more recent), but I found several that referred to the earlier George family. The first was Historical Southern Families, Volume II by John Bennett Boddie, 1958 which contained data on the first several generations of the family. It contained the family down to John George (1704 who married Mary Jordan), but brought that line no more recent. I found another reference in that same series, in Historical Southern Families, Volume XI, Edited by Mrs. John Bennett Boddie, 1967. However, this article on the George family contradicted several things in the other article, and also contained many obvious errors. Sometime in 1988, I believe, I was at the North Carolina Archives, and I discovered a book called The George-Lacy Genealogy by Austin Wheeler Smith, 1940. This book took my James George (son of John George-1704 and Mary Jordan) out of the family, and replaced him with the James George of Goochland Co, VA, who had married Agatha Watts. At first, I was heartbroken, as I thought for sure my James George was the one. I couldn't believe I had been wrong all that time. I studied the records, and after awhile, I realized that I was not wrong, but Mr. Smith was the one in error. His book (though otherwise very well done) makes a mistake in claiming James George of Goochland, as being part of the John George - Mary Jordan family. That particular James was born ca 1711-1715, and his supposed father John was born in 1704. That just doesn't work. Anyway, a few years later I found proof that his James was a son of David George of Middlesex Co, VA. After a few years on my own (not counting my initial help from close relatives, and Joe George), I finally started getting in contact with other George researchers, many who were distant cousins. Some of the first ones, turned out to be the most helpful. Then one day (I forget when, probably in 1989), I heard about a George book that had been written about our family. I was given the address of Thomas R. George of Virginia. I wrote him, and soon afterwards, he called me. He had written a book on the family back in 1978. He had come to many of the same conclusions that I had (or rather, I had come to same conclusions that he had, since he did it all first). I bought a copy of the book called The George Family Record and found it to be very nicely done. It was fairly small, and started with Colonel John George and traced his line down through the Pittsylvania Co, VA George families, which was his branch of the family. It contained several wonderful items that I had never seen, and was really wonderful. Thankfully, he and I only had a few items of disagreement, and they were minor. In the years since then, I've probably heard from 100's of George researchers, many related, many not. Just recently, in 2000, I found a not so distant cousin, Jeff George, of Texas, who has helped immensely with original documents and family materials that he has in his possession. So, mainly, I can thank my Great Grandmother Della Wright George (deceased), my Grandmother Luella George Grant (deceased), my Great Aunt Marynell George Lequire, My Great Great Aunt Laura Roberts George (deceased), Joe George of Rhodhiss, NC, Helen C. Davis, Thomas R. George, Nancy Lail Love, Marie Mills, Louie Portwood, Betsy Sullivan, C. J. (Jeff) George and several other cousins have shared bits of information here and there that helped alot. My George ancestorsColonel John George was born ca 1603 in England, possibly Writtle, Essex County. He married Jane Cole there, and by 1635 they had moved to Charles City County, Virginia. Apparently they moved to Isle of Wight Co, VA in the 1640's. Jane Cole George died at some point, and John married Ann ---, as his 2nd wife. John died in 1679 in Isle of Wight Co, VA. John George's son Isaac George was born in 1636 in Charles City County, VA. He went with the family to Isle of Wight, and there married Hester Fawdon in 1654. They apparently moved to Middlesex Co, VA in the 1680's, where they died. Isaac George's son Robert George was born in 1666. He married a widow, Sarah --- Elliott in 1687 in Middlesex Co, VA. Robert and Sarah had quite a few children. They both died in Middlesex in 1734. Robert and Sarah George's son John George was born in 1704 in Middlesex Co, VA. He moved to Essex Co, VA in the 1720's, and married Mary Jordan there by 1724. They soon moved to Caroline Co, VA where they remained. Mary died sometime, probably before 1750, and John married Ursula Dudley as his 2nd wife. John George died in1784 in Caroline Co, VA. John and Mary George's son James George was born ca 1734 in Caroline Co, VA. He married Elizabeth Noden there ca 1759. They soon moved to Pittsylvania Co, VA where they remained. James died there in 1799, Elizabeth sometime after that. James and Elizabeth George's son James Jordan George was born in 1761 in Caroline Co, VA. He went with his parents to Pittsylvania Co, VA in the 1760's. In the late 1780's he moved to Sullivan Co, TN where he married Elizabeth Pemberton in 1789. They had several children, and she died in 1802. In 1805 James Jordan George married Nancy Dugger as his 2nd wife. James Jordan George died in Sullivan Co, TN in 1824. James Jordan George and Elizabeth Pemberton's son Charles Noden George was born 1791 in Sullivan Co, TN. He married Celia Smith in 1816 in Carter Co, TN, where they lived awhile. They later moved to Blount Co, TN, and in the 1840's moved to Monroe Co, TN. In the 1850's they moved to Cherokee Co, NC (now Graham Co, NC) where Charles died in 1869. Celia died in 1885. Charles N. George and Celia Smith's son Lafayette George was born in 1830 in Blount Co, TN. He married Rachel B. Hensley in 1851 in Monroe Co, TN. They moved over to Cherokee Co, NC (now Graham County) in the 1850's. Lafayette was killed during the Civil War, in 1864 at Winchester, VA. Lafayette George and Rachel Hensley's son Thomas Jefferson George was born 1862 in Cherokee (now Graham) Co, NC. He married Sarah Elvira Carpenter in 1882 in Graham Co, NC. She died in 1939, he in 1945. Jeff and Elvira's son Charles Noten George was born in 1890 in Graham Co, NC. Noten married Della C. Wright in 1918. He died in 1952 in Cherokee Co, NC. She in 1982. I never knew him, but I knew her, though not as well as I would have liked to. Noten and Della's daughter Luella George was born in 1924 in Cherokee Co, NC. She married Garland S. Grant. They are my grandparents. Luella died in 1990. Garland is still alive and well, and remarried. For information on other George families within my area of interest (NC, TN and VA) but who are not known to be related to my George family, go to my George Families page My George Family:John George, Colonel (c1603-1679) and Jane Cole
Last Updated October 20, 2006 George Page (Main) | George Families of NC, TN, VA Home | Surnames | Search Engine | Contact Me
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