The Trahern's in Virginia

This is probably not the right title, because the family of Nehemiah Trahern's brother, William Trahern resided in Loudon County, Virginia, and what I plan on talking about is Nehemiah's family who were in Pittsylvania county. You can find in the Loudon county probate records on Ancestry the will for James Trahern and his sister Sarah Trahern if you are from that branch.

Nehemiah and his sons are listed in the personal property tax lists of Pittsylvania which I detailed in an earlier blog. With the probate records available now, I have found a little more information on his will and his estate.  The will was first presented to the court on September 17, 1804. For some reason it was presented again on October 19, 1812 and that was when it was recorded. Since James Trahern was a non resident of Virginia (he was in Mississippi) and Samuel Hester, who was in Mecklenburg county refused to act as executor, Samuel Trahern and James Patterson were made the executors.

Oddly enough, we don't see any records until 1819 when the estate was inventoried and the sale is listed. Census records for the county are missing for 1810, but we know that in 1810 James Trahern was living in Brunswick County, VA without a family and a male who was 16-25 which is most likely his brother William. James Trahern assigned a deed September 17, 1804 from himself to Cunningham and Trahern, which is when he officially went into a business partnership with Alexander Cunningham.

Alexander Cunningham who was a trader appears to be in partnership with James until 1828. Duke University has a collection containing papers belonging to Alexander Cunningham and several family members which they indicate shows his brother Richard M. Cunningham dealt in cotton with James and William Trahern. They also have a collection of daybooks from the business of James and William Trahern. In 1811 Cunningham and Trahern were involved in a Chancery suit for a recovery of a debt. In 1828 Cunningham and Trahern sell to William Boyd the land that James Trahern sold to the company in 1804.

We know James Trahern was in Mississippi for most of the period between 1810-1819, at which time he had a son, my ancestor James N. Trahern. He is in the census of 1820 in Pittsylvania county with younger males and females, but the deeds of 1820 show no dowager, which appears to indicate that these are his nieces and nephews, and not his children. In 1820 John Trahern, Samuel Trahern, Polly Trahern, William Trahern and Ann Trahern (wife of William I believe), sell to their brother James Trahern their share in the land of their father Nehemiah Trahern. Also in 1820 James buys from the guardians of his sister's children, Elizabeth Hester and Serena Patterson more of the estate.

Although the will lists several more siblings, there is nothing to indicate that they were alive in 1820 because James goes on to sell the land purchased by his father in 1779 to Samuel Harston in 1822. In the sale of the estate of Nehemiah Trahern the purchasers are his children, William, John and Samuel, his son in law, James Patterson, a daughter in law Nancy Trahern (? wife of Samuel), and Edward Murphy, John Ware, James Smith and Stephen Beasley. Leading me to believe that Millie, Hester, and Mary Ann had died prior to 1819. We already know that Serena Trahern Patterson died by 1813, and both Elizabeth Trahern Hester and her husband, Samuel Hester were deceased by 1820.

Chancery cases in Henry county and Lynchburg indicate that John Trahern and his family moved to Tennessee in the 1820's. John Trahern has died by 1832 according to the court records. Wesley Trahern lived in Mississppi from 1808 and may have sold his share of the estate to his brother for part of the $5000 debt he had borrowed and still owed upon his death in 1825. The will of James Trahern written in 1824 and proven in 1831 leaves all of his estate to his brother William.

There is a James Trahern Jr., and a Mary Trahern (his widow), along with William Trahern and his wife Ann who show up in Hinds county, Mississippi between 1824 and 1830. There is also a Joel Trahern born around 1800 who appears in Louisiana around this time. It is quite possible that Joel and James were the sons of Samuel Trahern and his wife Nancy, as their is a complete lack of census records for him due to destruction of them, and his brother James does not have a family based on the evidence. William Trahern was not old enough to have been the father of either James or Joel.

Samuel Trahern has no estate or interstate records for Pittsylvania county. He was last living there in 1850. I have been unable to find any record of a marriage for Polly Trahern.

Jonathan Church the neighbor of Nehemiah Trahern mentioned in the deeds also came to the area from Maryland and was along with Nehemiah an early member of the Methodist Episcopalian Church on the circuit of John Asbury. I have often wondered if perhaps Jonathan is a relative of Amelia who we still have no maiden name for. 

Locating My Pittsylvania County Roots

One of the hardest things over the years has been to trace my Trahern family in Pittsylvania county. Primarily because the only way to find records was to go there in person. Yesterday while looking into the Loudon county Trahern's, I found out that records for Pittsylvania probate are online. Included in these records was deed books, which gave me a much better idea of where my family was located.

Nehemiah Trahern first purchased land in February 1779 from Richard Gritton. The land was 237 acres encompassing both sides of Bean Creek (now McGuff Creek). In 1784 he obtained a land grant for 217 acres that began at the corner of Church's (Jonathan Church) and Davis line on Mobley's mountain. So where was Mobley's mountain?

In 1803 Nehemiah and his wife Amelia sell the land on Mobley's mountain, containing all orchards and woods to Peter Wilson. I found also on a website the following deed information.

Pittsylvania Co VA DB 13

p.510 8 Nov 1803 Robert Price & Sarah his wife to Peter Wilson. 100#'s. 180 acres on Mobley's Mountain. Signed: Robert Price, Sally Price. Wit: Robt Mack, Ro. Harrison, Samuel Trahern. Wm & Ro. Harrison obtained Sally's permission on 10 Dec 1803. 19 Dec 1803, proved by witnesses.
p.541 ___ of ____ 1801 Jonathan M. Church Senr to Robert Price. 100#'s.187 acres. Wilsons & Trahern's line, Davis's line. Signed: Jonathan M. Church Wit: Saml. French, Jonathan M. Church Jr, Wm Cobbs, John Guinn. 20 Jul 1801, proved by two witness; 16 Jan 1804 proved by third.

Mobley Creek which is mentioned in other deeds on this page is now called Trotter Creek. Mcguff (Bean) Creek flows into Trotter Creek and are a tributary to the Dan River. The only mountain near Trotter (Mobley) Creek is Judy Byrd Mountain, which I assume was once named Mobley's Mountain. 

Here is a map with the landmarks for the deeds.

The highway is highway 311. Berryhill, Virginia and Buford, Virginia are the two towns about equidistant from the point where Trotter and McGuff creeks y together.

After nearly 20 years of research, and much more for some of my Trahern cousins, we now have an idea where our family resided in Virginia.

Segment groupings for the Hardy DNA

With the addition of so many testers for the Hardy family on Gedmatch,  and since it lacks the double relationships of the McCurdy family (which would make it so much more complicated), I decided to examine the frequency of matching segments within this family grouping. This comparison includes descendants from three different lines of Gardner Hardy and his wife. Aside from one sibling pair and one grandparent/grandchild relationship, no two are closer than 2nd cousins to each other. Kits not on Gedmatch (several other DNA kits at Ancestry) are excluded from table. I did not include myself (since my father’s in the matches) but did my daughter (out of curiosity). I did not include the nephew and great niece of MW, nor did I include LQ or AJ from Gedmatch. (I forgot to include their numbers in the tag group).

Relationships to Gardner Hardy and wife Harriet

GG granddaughters HH, MW and BO (2 sibling lines)

GGG grandchild CB

GGGG grandchildren AF, CP, LB, JB, and KW (2 sibling lines)
GGGGG Grandchild me (omitted) 

GGGGGG grandchild BM

	HH	BO	MW	CB	CP	KW	JB	LB	AF	BM
HH	NA	3C	3C	3C1R	2C1R	2C1R	2C1R	2C1R	3C2R	2C3R
BO	3C	NA	½ 2C	3C1R	3C2R	3C2R	3C2R	3C2R	3C2R	3C4R
MW	3C	½ 2C	NA	3C1R	3C2R	3C2R	3C2R	3C2R	3C2R	3C4R
CB	3C1R	3C1R	3C1R	NA	4C1R	4C1R	4C1R	4C1R	3C1R	4C2R
CP	2C1R	3C2R	3C2R	4C1R	NA	3C	3C	3C	5C	3C2R
KW	2C1R	3C2R	3C2R	4C1R	3C	NA	3C	3C	5C	3C2R
JB	2C1R	3C2R	3C2R	4C1R	3C	3C	NA	S	5C	G
LB	2C1R	3C2R	3C2R	4C1R	3C	3C	S	NA	5C	GA
AF	3C3R	3C2R	3C2R	3C1R	5C	5C	5C	5C	NA	4C2R
BM	2C3R	3C4R	3C4R	4C2R	3C2R	3C2R	G	GA	4C2R	NA

C COUSIN
R REMOVED
G GRANDPARENT/CHILD
GA GREAT AUNT/GREAT NIECE 

KEY

A979331 = HH

A163770= CP

A469842=CB

A479920=AF

A702878=KW

A141915=MW

A294597=LB

A317751=BO

M155722=JB

A935169=BM

Notes on the participants:

AF, LB and JB are related twice (3C1R Brunson) and MW, CP, LB and JB are related twice. (MW is 3C1R for CP and 4C1R for LB and JB Pyburn). CP, LB and JB are also 1/2 1C1R Pyburn. Some of their matches may be indicative of this. 

Because of the close relationships between LB and JB (siblings), JB and BM (grandparent/grandchild) and LB and BM (share more than normal for great Aunt relationship) I omitted their matches to each other from the table.

Segment Details:

Each chromosome block is separated. Matching triangulations are highlighted different colors if more than one per chromosome. Only segments greater than 7 cM were considered.

Chromosome 1 has two segments 1. CB, CP and HH  2. CB, AF and HH.

Chromosome 2 1 segment MW, HH and AF

Chromosome 3 1 segment HH, LB, JB and BM

Chromosome 8 1 segment CP, LB and JB

Chromosome 9 has three segments 1. HH, KW, LB, JB and BM. 2. CP, LB and JB   3. KW, JB, BM and HH

Chromosome 11 has two segments 1. MW, HH, KW and JB and 2. CP, LB and JB

Chromosome 16 has two segments 1. HH, JB, LB and BM and 2. HH, LB and JB

Chromosome 19 1 segment CP, LB, JB and BM

Chromosome 20 has two segments 1. CP, LB, JB and BM 2. CP, LB and JB

		Chromosome position				cM
Kit 1	Kit 2		From	To				Individuals
A979331	A163770	1	26253392	37188856	12.6			HH/CP
A979331	A469842	1	18395918	34210183	21.3			HH/CB
A979331	A469842	1	37098064	54532654	16.9			HH/CB
A979331	A479920	1	36762623	54857729	17.9			HH/AF
A163770	A469842	1	26399842	34179429	9.0			CP/CB
A317751	A469842	1	235929210	238829389	7.3			BO/CB
A469842	A479920	1	37022675	61739170	28.2			CB/AF
A479920	M155722	1	203145327	221229369	21.4			CB/JB
A141915	A979331	2	5529323	8562151	8.2			MW/HH
A141915	A479920	2	8674	8572032	19.2			MW/AF
A979331	A479920	2	5194520	23025601	34.8			HH/AF
A979331	M155722	3	186275138	194766213	20.8			HH/JB
A294597	A317751	3	195429228	199302161	7.8			LB/BO
A979331	A935169	3	186275138	194369555	19.9			HH/BM
A979331	A294597	3	186275138	194594559	20.4			HH/LB
A163770	M155722	4	14571594	25566249	14.8			CP/JB
A163770	M155722	4	56163242	115532764	51.7			CP/JB
A141915	A317751	4	22783024	44240138	28.1			MW/BO
A141915	A469842	4	11260654	18305690	10.5			MW/CB
A163770	A294597	4	36636831	149210445	96.3			CP/LB
A979331	A317751	4	103425175	154140029	42.1			HH/BO
A163770	A479920	4	183469264	191117403	23.0			CP/AF
A979331	A317751	5	4728355	10647061	14.7			HH/BO
A979331	A317751	5	173884149	180623543	13.0			HH/BO
A979331	A294597	5	91139	5449166	16.6			HH/LB
A141915	A163770	5	43230470	72803922	18.0			MW/CP
A163770	A702878	6	52548929	77341549	13.9			CP/KW
A979331	A163770	6	76685732	94527150	12.6			HH/CP
A141915	A702878	6	90755541	115213539	22.0			MW/KW
A294597	A469842	7	128561006	139626312	17.8			LB/CB
A294597	A469842	7	139638793	147541365	9.6			LB/CB
A979331	A469842	7	100311486	128653625	21.3			HH/CB
A979331	A317751	7	78228236	92915996	13.7			HH/BO
A163770	A294597	7	152062575	155787451	13.0			CP/LB
A979331	A317751	7	140652473	153688926	23.7			HH/BO
A141915	A979331	7	135135332	139333773	7.6			MW/HH
A141915	A317751	7	140018	12976720	22.4			MW/BO
A163770	A294597	8	154984	19761371	36.8			CP/LB
A163770	M155722	8	11837063	19754748	14.2			CP/JB
A979331	A163770	8	141272891	146255887	6.9			HH/CP
A163770	A702878	8	138342832	143900614	12.6			CP/KW
A163770	A294597	9	9820675	22174674	20.6			CP/LB
A163770	A294597	9	74236384	97358747	31.8			CP/LB
A979331	A702878	9	105245648	115447048	13.3			HH/KW
A294597	A702878	9	36787328	75093675	8.9			LB/KW
A141915	A469842	9	77481681	92767566	24.7			MW/CB
A979331	A935169	9	22954237	72864176	22.1			HH/BM
A979331	M155722	9	22933509	76200501	24.0			HH/JB
A294597	A479920	9	91230295	106219930	14.5			LB/AF
A979331	A294597	9	36708368	74710880	8.8			HH/LB
A979331	A469842	9	9691768	18506996	15.5			HH/CB
A979331	A469842	9	92763654	109372390	15.6			HH/CB
A163770	M155722	9	36587	9793954	24.6			CP/JB
A163770	M155722	9	9820675	23077926	22.0			CP/JB
A702878	M155722	9	23029269	76336288	24.1			KW/JB
A702878	M155722	9	77257922	90007008	19.8			KW/JB
A702878	M155722	9	90025409	105812580	16.4			KW/JB
A979331	A702878	9	16831628	77780489	36.5			HH/KW
A935169	A702878	9	22975180	70303655	20.4			BM/KW
A935169	A702878	9	90752686	106321200	15.6			BM/KW
A163770	A294597	9	36587	9790624	24.6			CP/LB
A979331	M155722	10	43432251	58174129	10.1			HH/JB
A141915	A317751	10	78912098	98920382	20.1			MW/BO
A163770	M155722	10	124710874	129852662	11.3			CP/JB
A979331	A317751	10	100231194	117585534	16.7			HH/BO
A979331	A294597	10	131509629	135218153	7.9			HH/LB
A141915	M155722	11	11275540	22024112	19.1			MW/JB
A163770	M155722	11	120412692	131671950	24.6			CP/JB
A141915	A979331	11	12190304	20261673	12.8			MW/HH
A141915	A702878	11	11202952	21681310	18.7			MW/KW
A979331	A702878	11	12190304	20271219	12.8			HH/KW
A702878	M155722	11	6326952	24713901	30.5			KW/JB
A979331	M155722	11	12186013	20390059	13.3			HH/JB
A163770	A294597	11	120412692	131662082	24.5			CP/LB
A141915	A163770	11	21495631	37482970	19.7			MW/CP
A979331	A163770	11	36410807	57927370	10.4			HH/CP
A979331	A469842	12	4423593	11834044	14.8			HH/CB
A163770	A294597	13	45361852	77923366	25.1			CP/LB
A979331	A469842	13	48885869	67933662	8.7			HH/CB
A163770	A317751	14	18325726	22091770	10.8			CP/BO
A141915	A702878	14	18397823	21701057	10.6			MW/KW
A141915	A317751	14	20741156	30042415	17.7			MW/BO
A979331	A702878	14	22240100	36131784	26.5			HH/KW
A141915	A317751	14	67141763	75076130	9.2			MW/BO
A979331	A479920	15	56838189	79980837	29.2			HH/AF
A163770	A294597	16	83114818	86841204	12.4			CP/LB
A979331	M155722	16	12909860	25013707	18.7			HH/JB
A979331	M155722	16	77537248	81711523	13.7			HH/JB
A979331	A935169	16	77506742	79790065	8.1			HH/BM
A979331	A294597	16	12928118	25026271	18.7			HH/LB
A979331	A294597	16	50765270	60842865	17.0			HH/LB
A979331	A294597	16	77537248	81709762	13.7			HH/LB
A141915	A702878	16	63745808	76529684	10.6			MW/KW
A702878	M155722	16	81550330	83371654	7.6			KW/JB
A317751	M155722	17	12598569	15292929	10.9			BO/JB
A163770	A469842	18	10367306	20155913	11.9			CP/CB
A979331	A294597	18	42599978	47731053	7.1			HH/LB
A163770	M155722	19	45423785	55213143	15.6			CP/JB
A163770	A294597	19	3807656	14701575	24.4			CP/LB
A163770	A294597	19	45641512	55169512	15.2			CP/LB
A979331	A317751	19	1663898	10083195	28.0			HH/BO
A163770	A935169	19	45641512	55132371	15.1			CP/BM
A163770	M155722	20	11244	4001254	11.4			CP/JB
A163770	M155722	20	46866922	55987853	19.5			CP/JB
A163770	A935169	20	11799	1860981	7.2			CP/BM
A163770	A294597	20	11799	4001254	11.4			CP/LB
A163770	A294597	20	46866922	55987853	19.5			CP/LB
A979331	A702878	22	23813921	35301903	21.8			HH/KW
A979331	A702878	22	45300798	48499088	14.3			HH/KW
A163770	A469842	23	4638697	12647622	11.8			CP/CB
A163770	A479920	23	112505390	124911727	19.9			CP/AF
A469842	A479920	23	142568145	154886292	26.8			CB/AF