Family Legends - Part 5

Read Part 4

Our colletion of published accounts of the "three Llewellyn brothers" tradi­tion continues with the following:

Tradition: 5 ...

"The great-grandmother of Mrs. Mears was Margaret Llewelleyn (sic); her father and two of his brothers cronefrom Wales, their given names being Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego. Shadrack settled in Virginia and the other two went to Tennessee where they entered land and laid out the city of Nashville, and let it out at 'quit rents'."^[1]

In pursuit of tradition: 5

A good deal of the above tradition, as related in this county history, can be verified, but like most traditions, there are also some "facts" in this published sketch that are not true.

"Mrs. Mears" was Arminda Stewart, daughter of Mary A. Snider and Andrew Stewart, of Freeport, Ohio. She married S. T. Mears, 25 December 1866. Arminda Stewart Mears' mother, Mary A. Snider Stewart, was the daughter of Sarah Townsend McNamee and Jacob Snider, who were married in 1811 in Smithfield, Ohio. Sarah Townsend McNamee Snider was the daughter of Margaret Lewallen and Isaac McNamee.

As stated in the above biographical sketch, Arminda Stewart Mears's great grandmother, Margaret Lewallen, was a daughter of Shadrach Lewelin, who married Deborah Burson and lived in Loudoun County, Virginia, for at least the last 20 years of his life^[2].

Taking her Quaker membership certificate from Fairfax Monthly Meeting (Loudoun County, Virginia) in 1785, via Hopewell Monthly Meeting (Frederick County, Virginia), Margaret Lewallen arrived with other members of her family at Westland Meeting (Washington County, Pennsylvania), where on the 22nd day, 6th month, 1786, she married Isaac McNarnee,son of Barnabus and Mary Pearson McNamee^[3].

As stated in the sketch, Margaret Lewallen McNamee's father, Shadrach Lewelin, did settle in Virginia. For a year heleased 100 acres from Lord Fairfax^[4]. From 1763 to 1783, Shadrach's name was on various tax and rent rolls of Loudoun County. The 1783 tax list is the last recorcl of him we have located; and we assume he died shortly thereafter in Loudoun County. In 1785, when his family left Loudoun for Washington County, Pennsylvania, his name was not among the Quaker membership transfers. His daughter, Margaret, was an "adult" when her Quaker membership was transferred; we believe she was born about 1762, in Loudoun County.

To continue verification of information in the sketch: an Abednego Llewel­lyn (Lewellen) was in Nashville from l784 until his death in 1787 or 1789. (There are conflicting reports about the date and place of his death.) On 4 August 1784, he had received the deed to Lot 23, one of the original town lots of Nashville^[5].

But from here on, the facts do not support the sketch. So far as we can determine, Abednego did not play any part in laying out the city. Trustees who were the grantors of city lots were prominent men of early day Nash­ville; their number did not include Abednego or any other Llewellyn.

The deed to Lot 23 in Nashville is the only evidence we have located of property owned by Abednego Llewellyn; that was the property with which he was seized at the time of his death at the hands of Indians. It was this lot that was inherited, and subsequently sold, by Isaac, Meshach, and Shadrach (Jr.) Llewellyn (Lewellen, Lawallin) during a period extending from 1811 to 1813^[6].

Isaac, Meshach, and Shadrach, Jr. were proved sons of Shadrach of Lou­ doun County, Virginia, brothers of Margaret Lewallen McNamee. It would appear that Abednego was a fourth son, and his three brothers inherited his Nashville Lot 23. A search of the early records of Nashville and of Davidson County, Tennessee, has not turned up any records mentioning the relation­ship of these men to Abednego, nor any record of two youngsters whom we suspect were sons of Abednego. (The quitclaim deed executed by Shadrach Llewellyn [Jr.] on the Nashville lot mentions that Abednego "died without heirs" - but Isaac, Meshach and Shadrach [Jr.] must have been heirs in their own right.)

Apparently, Abednego was the father of two sons, but at the time of his death he either was not married to the sons' mother or could not prove his marriage. Davidson County Superior Court proceedings contain accusations that about 1785 a Nancy Snow was living with Abednego without benefit of marriage; records also show that Nancy Snow was fined for having at least one son born out of wedlock. No doubt she is the Nancy "Llewellyn" who presented an inventory of Abednego's estate to Davidson County court in 1791^[7].

Records of Hopkins County, Kentucky, and an historical account published by the Missouri Historical Society^[8] pieced together reveal that the Meshach and Abenego Llewellyn who are in the 1810 census of Hopkins county were brothers, sons of a Nancy Llewellyn who married John Leeper, some time after 1798. Meshach evidently was the older of the two by about two years. (The 1850 census of Hopkins County, Kentucky, shows Abednego was born ca.1787, in Tennessee.)

The mother, Nancy, married "second" John Leeper, who died in Hopkins County, Kentucky in 1812. Her son, Meshach Llewellyn, along with at least one of John Leeper's sons and a married Leeper daughter went from Ken­tucky to settle in Chariton County, Missouri, about 1820. His brother Abed­nego remained in Hopkins County, Kentucky.

We can infer that Meshach and Abednego Llewellyn of Hopkins County, Kentucky, were sons of Abednego and Nancy Snow Llewellyn, who were not legally married while living in Davidson County, Tennessee.

To date we have not located any other Llewellyns in the vicinity of Nash­ville at the time the city was established.

So, the sketch in the Harrison and Carroll county history is in part correct, but not entirely. Once again we are led up to the three original brothers with the Biblical names. If we are to believe this sketch, Shadrach of Loudoun County, Virginia, was an immigrant ancestor. Whether he had brothers named Meshach and Abednego we still do not know.

Probably the convenience of having a Shadrach, a Meshach, and an Abed­nego in a family tradition when the tradition was first passed from family to family and then from generation to generation was too good to question, correct, or verify; after all, Shadrach did have three sons with those names. Perhaps Shadrach did have two brothers - but perhaps not by the names of Meshach and Abednego. We probably will never know.

Read Part 6

Source: Llewellyn Traces, Vol. 2, No. 1, March, 1990