Re: Chestnutt - Boone
by Daniel L. & Carolyn Sue Chesnut, Sr.
Reply To:
At 05:20 PM 11/10/1998 EST, you wrote:
Hi Dan,
I might have asked you this before, forgive me if I have! I am trying to
find the father of Charles Chesnut(t) of Sampson Co./Cumberland Co. NC. He
married Julia Driver and they had 5 children:
Robert b. 1750"s
Charles b. 1755
Jacob b. 1766
Driver b. 1763
Dorcas b. 1765 m. John Boon of Sampson Co., NC - moved to Spiceland
Co.
Thanks in advance for any info you may have. PS (I believe this family came
from Isle of Wight Co., VA)
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Reply to above letter as follows:
You are correct in the clue that has been developed by the late Homer
Jones, Colonel Gordon Walker and myself, the belief (through archive
research using process of elimination researching the early Virginia
records) that the North Carolina branch of the Chesnut Family is aligned
with the Isle of Wight and Augusta County Chesnut families.
I have checked my computer base and have not found entered (as of
11/11/1998) any information on this particular Charles Chesnutt name, when
dates are also used, matched and compared as identifiers.
I have in the data base information on thirty nine (39) Charles Chesnut's.
I have not began to enter the information I have on the Isle of Wight
Chesnut Family in the Computer. That would lead me on down to entering the
North Carolina information.
In 1998 I concentrated on entering information on the South Carolina,
Augusta County Virginia, Ohio an Kentucky Families Histories, including
information on their descendants. Just Opened up the file and checked and
report that the information in the data base on the Chesnut Family is
35,307 Identified Individuals, with 191985 Records, and measures 51 meg.
I'm sure that there are those with larger file somewhere doing research, as
I have contributed my files to Genserv, and Family Tree Broderbund, and
shared freely since their first computer database compilation of Information.
I have corrected much information from the first Genserv Data Base Search
Base, and World Family Tree disk #1 along with my other files on later
World Family Trees, and although I requested that they hold my subscriber
and contributor name information in confidentiality, I may still identify
the records by my subsequent correction of information (nickname to birth
name, added spouse and corrected parents link, corrected birth date after
gaining a better research through gaining better copies of the original
record, and new data, etc.).
I will check the Isle of Wight Family, further noting the original records
I have not been recorded.
If I may suggest that there may be some researcher that has the time to
recheck the Isle of wight records (closely with a magnifying glass, a dark
library, and an excellent microfilm reader) more closely than those of us
who have gone before, we are going to develop the information more thoroughly.
To continue: An associate of whom I was working conjointly on these records
reported the following.
Correspondence received from researcher Marilyn Brown. e-mail
dlbrown(a)icanect.net
Please note E-Mail Following Below From Marilyn.
[" The microfilms were extremely difficult to review. The Frederick Co. film
was a negative exposure and early 18th century English script. The Isle of
Wight film was about 45% illegible because of "bleed through". I wanted to
"qualify" my statement in that I could well have missed references on these
films even though I tried to be quite thorough. My findings were negative.
The Frederick Co record consisted mainly of records of aid to the poor; it
contained no marriage or baptismal records. In Virginia, until after the
Revolution, because the Episcopal Church was the established church of
England, colonists were required by law to record births, deaths and
marriages with the local parish....no luck. The only positive information
was that after the death of Alexander, Ann and children did not receive
financial aid through the church. A surprising number of Frederick Co
residents did, but they were not on the list. The Isle of Wight film was of
Newport Parish. It may not have even been the parish in which the Chestnut
lived, but the film was available and it did not hurt to check...but no
mention of the Chestnut." ]
Please notice that there are other parishes, which need to be searched, as
well as other records (court minuses, orphans court, land grants, and
subsequent land transfer records which often list individuals as a relic
(descendant) of another. We also need to check all the Chesnut land records
in the Isle of Wight, and the counties which were created from the Isle of
Wight.
Records are available at/from : The Archives Division, Virginia State
Library, Richmond, Virginia 23219. These records are available for use by
the public library, and there is no charge for viewing the records.
Events that occurred in what is now West Virginia, is located at: The
Department of Archives and History, Capitol Building, Charleston, West
Virginia 25300.
The Virginia bureau of Vital Records and Health Sciences is not equipped
to do genealogical research, any such research should be done at the
Archives Division of the Virginia State Library as indicated above. Copies
of records are known to be on file by review of the Microfilm.
Records Isle of Wight Death records are available from 1647, and other
court records from 1746
Counties Subsequently created from Isle of Wight and other counties of
interest are:
Isle of Wight Originally: Shire Territory
Frederick County Records Located: Winchester, Va. 22601
Orange County Records Located: Winchester, Va. 22601, Staunton, Va. 24401
Augusta County Records Located: Winchester, Va. 22601, Staunton, Va. 24401
Shire Territory Records located: Isle of Wight 23397
A Must for an early records search is to include the Anglican Church which
as the English custom and law was, the Agency of Government responsible for
maintaining a system of parish registers recording Vital Statistics, Very
few records have survived. Photocopies of most are available at the
Virginia State Library.
The Anglican Church of England recorded parish records and vital
statistics until 1786. All but one of the Parish Records have been
transcribed and published, however as the researcher reported in the
preceding letter, the microfilms are hard to see and read. I feel that we
need to look more deeply at these records, devoting what ever time it takes
and is necessary to carefully scrutinize each entry and notation.
As you noticed from the Virginia State library qualifier, most parish
records are available there, not all. We mus carefully check of each city
and county search.
Also Marilyn did not have the opportunity to check all the records (for
clarification, see her report above).
I spent five (5) month's reading each one of the 191,000+ notes in my
family tree, and entering another 13,000 individuals records between last
march and August 5th of 1997; So I do understand what it takes, and the
time necessary to achieve what ever modicum of success I may have achieved.
With the misspelling of Chesnut, as prevalent as it is, many of the records
have been missed, catalogued under a misspelling, or failed to be
transcribed and listed altogether.
If there are any other suggestions for records, and/or their location
please let me know.
Thank you, Respectfully,
Daniel L. Chesnut, Sr.
___________________________________________
Daniel Lawrence & Carolyn Sue Chesnut, Sr.
Mail Address (Physical Snail Ground Mail) To Oklahoma City:
Daniel L. Chesnut, Sr.
3500 South McKinley
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73109-2936
Ranch:
Daniel L. & Carolyn Sue Chesnut
Route 1, Box 51
Byars, Oklahoma 74831-9736
E-Mail Address: chesnut(a)ionet.net
URL: http://www.ionet.net/~chesnut
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