Anderson Lewellin & Desc. (Andrew L, Joel, William L, John)
Billie Harris - Jul 3, 2010
Darlene Griffin has sent me excerpts from a book "Scott County, Tennessee and Its Families". I'll be posting the articles as time permits.
"LLEWELLYN, LEWALLEN
"The original spelling of our family name was LLEWELLYN as seen in Welsh history. Because of the difficulty of the English translation of the Welsh language and the English phonic spelling of LLEWELLYN our name has evolved into several spellings as we see today.
the earliest ancesteral spelling found so far for our family name in America is that of ANDERSON GRANT LLEWELLING born ca 1764 in Virginia. He married LUCY RICE June 8, 1784 in Prince Edward County, Virginia.
The LLEWELLINGS were very predominate in early eastern Virginia, dating back to the mid 1600's.
In 1787, two years before GEORGE WASHINGTON became our first president, ANDERSON LLEWELLING sold his Virginia holdings and moved his young family to Wake County, North Carolina. There his family continued to grow and the family name continued to slowly change.
In 1811 ANDERSON LEWELLIN (the spelling at that time) moved his family to Roane County Tennessee. The area of the county then known as Wolf Creek, which is now part of Scott and Morgan Counties.
The children of ANDERSON and LUCY LEWELLIN to settle with them in their new Tennessee homestead were ANDREW L. LEWALLEN, JOEL LEWALLEN, AND WILLIAM L. LEWALLEN. JOHN LEWELLEN was born in Roane County February 12, 1812. Note the different spelling of LEWELLIN for ANDERSON and his sons LEWELLEN and LEWALLEN.
Genealogy: ANDERSON GRANT LEWELLIN
ANDERSON GRANT LEWELLIN was born ca 1764 in Virginia. He married Lucy Rice June 8, 1784, in Prince Edward County Virginia. ANDERSON died in Morgan County Tennessee circa 1825. LUCY died in Morgan County Tennessee circa 1832. CHILDREN:
1. unkn male born ca 1785 Virginia.
2. unkn male born ca 1786 Virginia
3. unkn male born circa 1788 North Carolina.
4. ANDREW L. LEWALLEN born October 7, 1793 Wake County North Carolina. Married MALINDA ELIZABETH DAVIS circa 1814. He died November 30, 1873 in Scott County, Tennessee.
5. JOEL LEWALLEN born 1800 Wake County, North Carolina. Married RACHEL TAYLORfrom North Carolina. He died circa 1885
6. WILLIAM L. LEWALLEN born August 2, 1809 Wake County North Carolina. Married NANCY WALLACE born circa 1800 Tennessee.
7. ukn female born ca 1791 Wake County North Carolina
8. ukn female born ca 1792 Wake County North Carolina
9. ukn female born circa 1794 Wake County North Carolina
10. JOHN LEWELLEN born February 12, 1812 Roane County, Tennessee. Married #1 DELILAH REED 1833 in Scott County, TN. Married #2 EMILY REED McDONALD December 9, 1865. John died November 16, 1896 in Taylor County, Texas.
11. HERROD and ZACHARIAH born 1822 & 1821 are possible sons (undocumented).
Submitted by WAYNE FRANKLIN LEWALLEN
Billie Harris - Apr 10, 2011
Something has always confused me about this genealogy. Note John Lewellen born 1812 is said to have been the son of Anderson. While I have no problem with the children 1-9 being born to Lucy, is there any documentation that would say John is a son. I'm certain there's a connection but it would seem more logical that John was a son of numbers 1, 2, 3, or perhaps number 4.
Anyone have anything stating John (the sheriff) was a son of Anderson's other than this book? I'm always leary about some of the genealogical publications such as this because, as I've told everyone before, an EARLY history book on Tennessee says my James Randolph was a descendant of Pocahontas. DNA told us otherwise.
John Carter - Apr 10, 2011
Good question, Billie.
Thank you for raising the possibility.
I am familiar with the excerpt(s) you mentioned, but I have never followed up on further research regarding the material stated. I will try to go through my file to see if I have any other sources listed for the parentage of Sheriff John.
(And I agree with you wholeheartedly regarding the reliability of some of these types of books as factual sources. I, too, have encountered many ridiculous or erroneous claims in published sources over the years).
Thanks,
John
Mary Hubbell - Apr 12, 2011
I made the same assumption once about my grandfather. My dad told me who his grandfather was but when I looked at the numbers, it didn't make sense. I determined he was incorrect and figured we were missing a generation - I later learned I was wrong, he actually knew who his grandfather was.
In the case of John, It might help to put the kids in the correct order on your list so at first glance you don't see a birth difference between 1794 (unknown female) and John (1812). I have Polly born in 1802, Joel 10 June 1803 and William 2 Aug 1809.
So, if you can accept children 1-9, why not #10 who was born 3 years after #9? Lucy, was 46 at the time of John's birth. Considering she'd been having children regularly for years, she is more likely to have children born when she's in her 40s.
I brought up my father's ancestry because I have a feeling the only proof the genealogy was based on is word of mouth. Unlike your Randolph, we aren't dealing with a book stating that that someone was a descendant of someone famous who lived a couple of hundred years before. We're dealing with someone who lived long enough to have been able to tell his children and his grandchildren who his father was. I don't think people were guessing - they were writing down what they had been told.
Could there be a missing generation? Of course! But I think if that is a fact, probably not even John was told. He could have been the child of an older unmarried sister, raised by Anderson and Lucy as their own. But I think this might be more unlikely than Lucy giving birth to John.
I'm more concerned about the gap between Andrew Lewtian and Polly. Either there were many miscarriages here or ????? I'd be more likely to assume there might have been two wives - Could that be why his wife shows up in genealogies as either Lucy or Lydia?
Now, Zachariah and Herrod??? I definitely feel that is something fishy there. That is really pushing the envelope for Lucy's fertility.
Billie Harris - Apr 13, 2011
Mary, the Randolph I brought up wasn't just in a book. That's been handed down for generations and not just in my particular line but in other lines as well. The particular reference in the book was made by James Randolph's brother-in-law and James was born in the mid 1700's. Even then, it was wrong.
If there's something written by a son or grandson of John's stating that John said his father was Anderson's, then yes, by all means, he is and I wouldn't question it. It's just that no one has bothered to post that information to date and my thought was that 28 years after Anderson and Lucy were married was a long time to be having another child. I'm not doubting it could happen because there are women who have children late in life. There are a lot of "unk" in the above genealogy and it would be good to find out who those individuals were and what happened to them.
Please, if there's something documenting John as a son of Andersons, whether it's by a son or grandson,, post it. That's all I'm asking - something to substantiate some of these genealogies.