Four Sons for John and Jane Gregg Lewellen of Monongalia County, VA
Billie Harris - Sep 11, 2009
Following is an article appearing in Volume 6, Number 3: September 1994 "Llewellyn Traces" by Martha Abbey. It was sent to me by Mrs. Shirley Lewellen whose husband descends from John and Jane Gregg Lewellen, together with the genealogy in March 1999:
Four sons fo John and Jane Gregg Lewellen of Monongalia County, Virginia.
"Four sons of John and Jane (Gregg Lewellen, of Monongalia County, Virginia have been identified.
"Considering all the unidentified Llewellyns attached by record or tradition to Monongalia County, placing into one family even four men each of whom had descendants is good news.
"This accomplishment came about because there were enough different types of records from many sources to enable us to include these men within a single family unit. A good deal of the material about this family has come from subscribers. By working with their material and with county records, burial records, biographical sketches and the like, we now can include William G. (1815-1879), James (1820-1889), Jacob (ca 1823-after 1851), and Jeremiah (1825-1905) as sons of John (ca 1779-after 1851) and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen (1791-1852). Further research may reveal other children.
"Biographical sketches of one son (Jeremiah) name his parents as John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen. Two other sketches connect two other sons (William G. and James) with 'John of Monongalia County' which is insufficient to be proof, but when that information is examined along with other evidence, 'John of Monongalia County' becomes the John who married Jane Gregg. Other evidence links the fourth son (Jacob M.) with the other three.
"Tradition says John Lewellen, earliest known ancestor of this family, was born in Wales. Hearsay implies that John married Jane Gregg in Wales sometime before 1815, the birthdate of their seemingly eldest son. However, the 1850 census of Monongalia County, Virginia, gives 'Virginia' as John Lewellen's birthplace, ca 1779, and 'South Carolina' as Jane (Gregg Lewellen's birthplace, ca 1791.
"John likely was a descendant of one of the earlier Lewellen settlers in either (West) Virginia or Pennsylvania who might have come from Wales, but it's likely even they had roots in earlier colonial America. A biographical sketch of John's son Jeremiah places the family ancestry with early settlers 'on the eastern coast' which is entirely possible.
"Both John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen merit much more research. Their marriage record needs to be located; records of the allied Gregg Family should be pursued; tax lists and deeds need to be found. But even without these records we are reasonably sure we've identified four sons for John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen.
"Clues leading to the identification of this family unit began to appear when a biographical sketch (Llewellyn Traces 2:1) of Coleman Luellen (sic), of Greene County, Pennsylvania, a son of William G. Lewellen, linked Coleman with his uncle James Lewellen of Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
"James Lewellen was a Masontown blacksmith and Coleman Luellen was taught to be a smithy by his uncle. A series of family stories about James and some of his descendants, written by a grandson and referred to in Llewellyn Traces Query 67-89, told how James taught the art of blacksmithing to relatives known as the 'Mount Morris Lewellens.' Mount Morris was a community in Greene County, Pennsylvania. Here, without a doubt was an indication of relationship.
"Another biographical sketch (Llewellyn Traces 4:4) discussed another nephew of James Lewellen, John N. Lewellen, who also learned blacksmithing from his uncle. Cearly we were on to something.
"John N. Lewellen, an older brother of Coleman, was born in 1837 in Monongalia County, Virginia. He, too, went to Fayette County, Pennsylvania where he served as apprenticeship with his uncle James Lewellen. Following completion of his apprenticeship, he married Mary Ellen Bradley of Masontown. He worked in Morgantown for a time, then went to Mount Morris (Greene County) Pennsylvania, where he earned the carriage-making business with his brother Coleman. When this business was sold, John N. moved to Uniontown.
"An article in Llewellyn Traces 3:2, principally about biographical references to a Lewellen family published in Llewellyn, Lewallen, Luallin, etc., etc (Billie Harris, Sacramento: 1981) mentioned that brothers James Lewellen and William G. Lewellen were sons of a John Lewellen.
"In the 1850 census, Monongalia County, Virginia (page 282), we found a Lewellen household consisting of John (age 71, born in Virginia) and Jane (age 59, born in South Carolina) along with a young man, Jeremiah Lewellen (age 24, born in Virginia) living with them. Nearby was a Jacob Lewellen (age 27, born in Virginia), with wife Mary (age 26 born in Pennsylvania) and three children, evidently young sons, Aaron (6), James W (4) and John T. (3).
"A biographical sketch about an Aaron Lewellen Traces 4:4) indentified Aaron as a son of Jacob and Mary (Bell) Lewellen, and a grandson of John Lewellen who 'settled in West Virginia many years ago.' The article further identifies Aaron's father as Jacob Lewellen a native of West Virginia who moved to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, during the (Civil) war. Could Aaron of the biographical sketch in Llewellyn Traces 4:4 be the six-year old child in the family of Jacob and Mary Lewellen living, in 1850, near John and Jane Lewellen, who had Jeremiah in their household? We believe so.
"We had learned about Jeremiah Lewellen, whom we have now placed as the youngest son of record of John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen, from the genealogy of Valentin Pfost/Post (1740-1800) written in 1989 by Doris Jean Post Poinsett (Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, pages 182-183, 395).
"the Pfost/Post family history included the record of Diadema Post's marriage to C. W. (Charles William) Lewellen, identified as a son of Jeremiah and Isabella (Hastings) Lewellen. By this time, from biographical sketches, we know that Jeremiah was a son of John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen.
"The Pfost/Post genealogy very thoroughly documents Diadema (Post) Lewellen and her husband Charles William Lewellen with references to censuses, county birth and marriage records, and to family records of Velma Carpenter, whom we discovered later was an older sister of subscriber James R. Carpenter, Sevelle (Medina County), Ohio.
"Jim Carpenter recently sent to Llewellyn Traces obituaries of the family of his grandparents Charles William and diadema (Post Lewellen (Llewellyn Traces 6:1, 6:2, and in this issue.)
"Then, along came the deed (see page 52, this issue) linking Jacob with Jeremiah, Jane and John Lewellen. In the deed Jacob signed as 'Jacob M. Lewellen.'
"the material mentioned above, coupled with records from family genealogists, as well as the references which are listed following each of the articles about these Lewellens published in earlier issues of Llewellyn Traces, contribute to our confidence that four sons of John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen have been proved. We now need to continue searching for more children and grandchildren, in addition to the parents of John Lewellen and his wife Jane Gregg.
"References for John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen begin with their 1850 census listings and the dates from Jame's tombstone. no marriage record has been found, but the birthdate of their oldest son of record would indicate they were married before 1815.
"While we place the marriage of Jane and John near 1815, the birthdate of William G., it seems logical to think they may have been married several years earlier, or that John's marriage to Jane Gregg was his second marriage. In 1815, John would have been 36 years old.
"Family researchers have located the tombsonte of Jane Lewellen in the Zion chuchyard at Cheat Lake (Monongalia County) Virginia (this issue page 62). They feel that John Lewellen is buried there also, citing fragments of a Lewellen tombstone partially buried under the Zion Church.
"Jane's death date on the tombstone indicates she died about two months after property owned by Jacob M. and his wife Mary, and other property due to be inherited by Jacob and Jeremiah, had been deeded to George Beals of Preston County, (West) Virginia, in exchange for the care and the eventual burial of the sons' aged parents (deed page 52 of this issue; cemetery records, page 62).
"We have no records for George Beals but suspect he may have been a son-in-law or relative of either John Lewellen or Jane Gregg. Having copies of the earlier deeds of 1840, 1846, and 1849 referred to in the 1851 deed to George Beals would be helpful. Also have information explaining why the other sons, William G. and James, both of whom were living in 1851, were not involved with their parents' care might reveal other children and other important information.
"It is possible Jeremiah delayed his marriage to Isabella Hastings in 1852 until after both parents had died.
"Information from various records, including articles in Llewellyn Traces referenced below, show that the four known sons of John and Jane (Gregg )Lewellen were:
"WILLIAM G. LEWELLEN (8 january 1815-17 March 1879) who married Mary Norris (1811-1860) on 5 october 1836. Their known children were John N. Lewellen (1837-?); Coleman Lewellen (Luellen) (1840-1912); Samuel Lewellen (born 1842); Susanna Lewellen (18440 and Leanne Lewellen (1848).
"Another son of William G. Lewellen may have been William Franklin Lewellen (1846-1907) who is buried near members of Coleman's family in Greene County, Pennsylvania.
"Following Mary (Norris) Lewellen's death, William G. Lewellen, about 1861, married Martha ? (1837-1883). They had a family of nine children, whose births are recorded in Monongalia County, (West0 Virginia records. Those children listed their mother, then a widow, in the 1860 census, Monongalia County, West Virginia, were Mary J. Lewellen (1862); George W. Lewellen (1865); Abagail (sic) Lewellen (1866); Elisabeth (sic) C. Lewellen (1869); Benjamin B. Lewellen (1870); Sarah E. Lewellen (1871); Maggie 'Magga' H. Lewellen (1875); Laverna N. Lewellen (1876) and James W. Lewellen (1877).
"William G. Lewellen, who died in 1879 in Jackson (Monongalia County), and both of his wives are buried in Zion cemetery near his mother Jane (Gregg) Lewellen. His death is listed in the 1880 Mortality Schedule, Monongalia County.
"JAMES LEWELLEN (10 August 1820-4 January 1889) who married Susannah Wolfe (1822-1871) on 24 February 1841. their nine children all born in Masontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, were Elizabeth jane Lewellen (Ingrahm) (1842-?); Margaret A. Lewellen (Riffle) (1844 - ?) Jacob W. Lewellen (1846-1915); Lewis C. Lewellen (1848 - perhaps after 1912); John I. Lewellen (1850-1928); Susannah Lewellen (Bowman) (1855 - ?); James M. Lewellen (1857-after 1905); David Wolfe Lewellen (1859-1939); and Leroy Woods Lewellen (1864 - ?) All of these children were named in James Lewellen's Fayette County, Pennsylvania, will.
"Three of James children have been traced to Harvey County, Kansas - Jane Ingrahm, Jacob W. Lewellen and James M. Lewellen. According to other family records, son Leroy Woods Lewellen was a Presbyterian minister in Taretum (Allegheny County), Pennsylvania; other children settled in Morgantown (Monongalia County) West Virginia, and in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
"Family records show that Frank Bowman Lewellen, son of David Wolfe Lewellen, in 1909 changed the spelling of his surname to 'Llewellyn.'
"Four sons of James' son John I. Lewellen - Lester B. Lewellen, Orville M. Lewellen, Earl E. Lewellen, and Harry L. Lewellen - were named in John I. Lewellen's Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 1928 will.
"James' son Lewis C. Lewellen (born 1848) married Susan Ellen Hague (1853-1896) and their children included Almeda Lewellen, Charles L. Lewellen, Pearl Lewellen, Elizabeth Lewellen, Dana Lewellen, and Clement Gregg Lewellen.
"Susanna (Wolfe) Lewellen, mother of all of James Lewellen's children, died in 1871. James married Mary Bowman in 1873 and after her death, he married, in 1883, Elizabeth Tracy, who survived him (Llewellyn Traces :3, page 59).
"JACOB M. LEWELLEN (ca 1823 - after 18510, who married Mary Bell (1829-1868) about 1843. Their known children were Aaron Lewellen, James W. Lewellen, and John T. (or I.) Lewellen, the sons listed in the 1850 census and also daughters Laura Lewellen (born 1857) and Levina Lewellen (1860) and perhaps others.
"Jacob was born in West Virginia and migrated to Pennsylvania in the 1860's, where he settled at Belle Vista in Fayette County.
"JEREMIAH LEWELLEN (27 August 1825-17 August 1905) who married Isabella Hastings (1831-1904) on 16 May 1852. Their children were Charles William Lewellen (1853-1917); Mary Jane Lewellen (Douglas) (1855-1915); Millard Fillmore Lewellen (1857-after 1930); thomas Henry Lewellen (1859-1945) and John Wesley Lewellen (1861-after 1917).
"Born in Monongalia County, Jeremiah settled in Roane County (West) Virginia in 1861.
"There may have been other children born to John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen.
"Following, on page 58, is a list of Llewellyn Traces articles which concern the family of John and Jane (Gregg) Lewellen. Some, but not all, of these articles are discussed in the article above. By using the method of identifying the lineage by inserting the name of the father and, if appropriate, the name of the father in parehtheses, the subject of the article easily may be placed within the family group. Please see the references at the end of each article for documentation.
"Llewellyn Traces, 1:4 page 77: Query 67-89; and replies in 2:1 and 3:3 (James, John)."
(I don't have page 58 referred to....bh)