See additional surnames below.
If you have a PENLEY ancestor from Maine or Massachusetts,
you are probably a descendant of our progenitor. Please read
the information about Joseph 1 PENLY and check the known
surnames below that are connected to his descendants. A number
of our descendants made their way westward, passing thru MI
as early as before 1850. Some descendants of a gs who went to
Canada came back into the US thru MI. And some of them were
no longer PENLEY's by the time they came to MI .
Make your plans now to attend the PENLEY Reunion
at 2 PM, Sunday, 8 July 2007 at Penley Corner Church,
(South) Riverside Drive, Auburn, Maine. That is just a
few hundred feet south of the Auburn city limit sign on the
west side of state route 136 that goes from Freeport to
Auburn (3 miles south of the Court House in Auburn
and the Auburn - Lewiston bridge).
There are many descendants throughout Maine and many
other states, incl MI, today.
Be sure to read thru the list of known surnames for the
daus and gdaus that are listed below.
Two years ago, I met a PENLEY desc in the waiting room
of a car dealership in Brunswick, ME and the PENLEY
surname was several generations back.
If you have a PENLEY ancestor from Maine or MA, it is
highly probable that you are a descendant of our progenitor,
Joseph 1 PENLY b 1755 England - d 1844 Maine who arrived
in Freeport, Maine in 1770.
Joseph and his 1st wife, Esther 5 FOGG JOHNSON, had
10 children before her death in 1796. Joseph 2m 1797
Thankful MOODY with whom he had 6 children.
The following is a list of most of the surnames that the daus and
gdaus of Joseph 1 PENLY had as a result of their known marriages.
There are many other surnames by now with as many as 10 generations
in some lines.
ACKLEY / AKELEY, CROCKETT, DAKIN, DAVIS,
DINGLEY, DYER, GARCELON, HACKETT, HAINES,
HERRICK, HODGKIN, JORDAN, MARSHALL, MITCHELL,
PACKARD, RANDALL, VICKERY, WAGG,
WATERHOUSE
The first major move of the family was abt 1792 when
Joseph and Esther moved their family from Freeport to
Danville.
Many of their children lived their entire lives in the greater
Lewiston - Auburn area, but gradually over the first half
of the 1800's some moved into almost every Maine county,
including Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Franklin,
Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset,
and York counties.
The next major move involved the grandchildren and great
grandchildren that went to work in MA. We know of others
who moved to / thru NY, PA, and then on to the northwestern
areas from WI and MN through the Dakotas and on to CA.
Some went to MO or KS, then on to CO. One gs went to
Ontario and has descendants now living across Canada in
ON, SAS, AL, and BC, while some returned to the US thru MI.
One G gdau and her husband were missionaries in India
and all but one of their ch were b there. One G gs stayed in MS
after the Civil War, married, and many of his descendants now
live there. We know of descendants who lived or are now living
in AR, AZ, CA, CT, CO, FL, IL, IN, KS, OH, OR, MA, MD,
ME, MI, MN, MS, NC, NH, NY, ND, PA, TX, VA, WA, and WI.
I have had the great personal pleasure of talking by phone with
some of them and even receiving a few family pictures. One
family group was from a man in TX whose gm's sister m a
PENLEY of some KS desc. And the sender (not a PENLEY)
turned out to be a sixth cousin of my husband (who was
from TN) ! What a small world when we drop our surnames !
Family genealogists will be available both before and after the
meeting to receive information from descendants and discuss
your line with you. If you can trace your PENLEY line to New
England, especially ME or MA, the chances are very good that
you are a descendant of Joseph 1 PENLY.
If you are unable to be at the reunion on July 8th, PLEASE
contact me. And if you know of other PENLEY descendants,
please let me know how to contact them by sending an e-mail
directly to me: snibbor13at junodotcom. Please do not post
their addresses (snail or e-mail) or phone numbers on the list.
Thank you for your help.
Janice ROBBINS FREEMAN
PENLEY Family Researcher