Abstract
Proposals are presented for the parentage of several Gentrys including Allen, John, Rowland and Rolly Gentry of Hall County, Georgia; two Cornelius Gentrys of Franklin County, Georgia; and Shadrick Gentry of Tennessee and Alabama. An appendix provides a table of proposed relationships of all known male Gentrys living in South Carolina between 1790 and 1810.

Introduction
There were a number of early Gentrys who originated in South Carolina and then migrated westward to Georgia, Texas, Missouri, and elsewhere, without leaving clear traces of their ancestry. Frequently recurring requests to this publication, and to various Gentry family mailing lists and forums, seek to learn the origins of for example, Rowland and Rolly and other Gentrys of Hall County, Georgia (as well as related Hammonds), two Cornelius Gentrys and Shadrick Gentry. Documentary evidence linking these families with their ancestors is lacking and will probably never be found. By careful analysis of the little evidence that is available, especially by analysis of census records, we can reach conclusions that have a moderate to high degree of probability. We propose here to add evidence to these family relationships and to suggest how they may have connected to earlier generations of Gentrys.

A. The Gentrys of Hall County, Georgia
There are at least six Gentrys that can be identified with Hall County, Georgia, in the period from 1820 to 1832. These Gentrys include Allen and John who were listed in the 1820 Hall County census, a Rolly and a Rowland, two Gentrys who married Hammonds, and William who married Lucinda Gravett. After careful analysis of census and other records, we have quite confidently concluded that these were all a part of the family of a John Gentry who was living in Abbeville District, South Carolina, in 1810. We present our analysis and arguments below.

John Gentry, listed with his family on page 8 of the 1810 Abbeville District, South Carolina census, included in his family:
      himself       born 1765-1784
      his wife              1765-1784
      2 sons               1794-1800
      3 sons               1800-1810
      2 daughters        1800-1810

This family appears in no further Abbeville records, nor does John himself appear again in any census records. He is believed to have died, probably after moving to Hall County, Georgia, some time after 1817 when a sixth son was born to the family.

It will be helpful to present the data on John's family in tabular form.

Name	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850
John Sr	Abbeville SC 1765-1784	(deceased?)
sp. Sarah	1765-1784				(w/ Serena) age 70, SC
-- Allen	1794-1800	Hall GA 1794-1804 + wife, 1 dau, sister Rachel?
-- Roland    - Nancy	1794-1800	(Hall GA) married 1823 Nancy Mattocks		Pulaski AR 1790-1800 1800-1810	(Nancy remarried?)
-- John	1800-1810	Hall GA 1794-1804 + wife
-- Moses	1800-1810	(Hall GA) married 1824 M. Hammond
-- Serena	1800-1810	(Hall GA) married 1822 W. Hammond			Chattooga GA age 52, SC + husband, 3 ch + mother?
-- Rachel	1800-1810	(Hall GA) (1804-1810) married 1825 T. Lewis
-- Rolly      - Gilford    - William    - Martha    - Mary    - Allen	1800-1810		(Hall GA) married 1830 Elsie Gravett	Paulding GA 1800-1810 + wife, 1830-1835 1835-1840 1835-1840 1835-1840 1835-1840	Henderson TX age 37 [40+?] SC + wife (#3) age 19, GA age 17, GA age 15, GA age 12, GA age 11, GA + 3 ch GA/TX
-- William	(unborn)		(Hall GA) student 1830, 1832 (age 15)	Floyd GA 1810-1820 + wife, 2 sons, 1 dau	Chattooga GA age 35, SC + wife, 8 ch. (all b. GA)

The excellent correlation in both dates of birth and sexes from one census year to another leads me believe that the Gentrys that passed through Hall County, Georgia between 1820 and 1832 were all one family, and the family was that of John Gentry of Abbeville District. If any of these assumptions prove wrong in the future, it might be that only one or two details are in error, unless there is a serious error, in which case the hypothesis would have to be abandoned or modified. For this and any other hypothesis, we can never prove it is right, it can only be disproved. As to the next step in the puzzle -- the identification of the father of John Gentry, we will defer that question to later in the article.

Before leaving Rowland and/or Rolly Gentry, there are several points concerning them on which we may comment. The first is whether the marriage of a "Rowland Gentry" to Nancy Mattocks in 1823 in Hall County refers to the same individual as the "Rollie" who married Elsie Gravett in 1830. Even though it is somewhat unusual for a family to have two such similar names in the family, we have seen more unusual family name situations. Because of the presence of both a Rolly and a Roland in two different 1840 census listings, and because a Nancy Gentry who was married in Pulaski County, Arkansas, in 1849 appears to be the widow of Roland Gentry, this writer must assume that these were two people. The second point has to do with the age of 37 reported by Rolly in the 1850 census. This may be an error and a date of birth before 1810 would be more appropriate. If Rolly were indeed 37 in 1850, he would have been 17 when he married Elsie (Alcey) in 1830 -- possible, but an age more common for the bride than the groom. A date of birth shortly before 1810 fits with both a more-marriageable age in 1830 and also fits the presence of three sons in the 0-10 age bracket in the 1810 census. Otherwise, we could conclude that Rolly was born after 1810, but another unknown son was present with the family of John (A) in 1810 and missing thereafter.

B. The Cornelius Gentrys and Related Family
Another frequent question for Gentry mailing lists and forums is "Who was the Cornelius Gentry who lived in Franklin County, Georgia, in 1830 and Madison County, Alabama, in 1840." Again, by analysis of census records, we propose that this Cornelius Gentry and a younger Cornelius Gentry who was also living in Franklin County, Georgia in 1830, were descended from another John Gentry. This John Gentry is listed with his family in the 1810 census for Edgeville District, South Carolina. There is no apparent further record of this John, but in the 1820 census for Spartanburg District, South Carolina, there is a listing for a widow, Susan Gentry, and family. The good correspondence between John's family in 1810, and Susan's family in 1820, has led me to believe that Susan was John's widow. As before, we will use a tabular format as an aid to comparing ages and sexes of John and Susan's family.

Name	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850
John	Edgefield SC bef. 1765	(deceased?)
sp Susan	1765-1784	Spartan. SC bef.1775
-- Ranneys ?	1784-1794	Spartan. SC 1775-1794 + wife + 1 dau
--John Jr ?    (speculation)    - spouse      - Cornelius       - spouse       - son       - dau    - dau ?	1784-1794	(with Susan) 1775-1794   1775-1794   1810-1820       1810-1820	Franklin GA 1810-1820 1800-1810 1825-1830 1825-1830
-- Allen ?    (speculation)	1784-1794	---		Bledsoe, TN 1790-1800	Benton, TN age 59, GA
-- 3 dau ?	1784-1794	---
-- 2 sons ?	1794-1800	---
-- Cornelius    - sp. Mary    - son ?    - Newburn    - Susan    - Thomas    - Uriah    - Mary    - Cornelius    - dau ?	1800-1810	1802-1804	Franklin GA 1800-1810 1800-1810 1820-1825 1825-1830 1825-1830 1825-1830	Madison AL 1800-1810 --- 1820-1825 1825-1830 1825-1830 1825-1830 1830-1835 1830-1835 1835-1840 1835-1840	Tishomingo MS (died 1842) age 45, SC --- (sep family) --- age 22, GA age 19, GA age 16, GA age 12, GA --- + 3 ch TN/AL
-- son ?	1800-1810	1804-1810
-- 3 dau ?	1800-1810	---

This family complex does not have the same close correspondence of ages and sexes as in the case of the Hall County, Georgia Gentrys. We start by considering the family of Susan Gentry only. The proposal of assigning the two Cornelius Gentrys to Susan's family, in an uncle and nephew relationship, explains very well their presence together in Franklin County, Georgia in 1830. While one can find other Gentrys in the 1810 and 1820 South Carolina census records who were the same age as the two Cornelius's that have not been definitely identified, none of them have this same type of relationship or reason to be in Franklin County at the same time. Besides this relationship, their ages fit precisely with members of Susan's family. While we do not know what happened to the younger Cornelius, the family of the older Cornelius as shown in 1840 and 1850 is entirely consistent with our proposal. Of further interest is the fact that descendants of Uriah Gentry assert that he was born in Spartanburg District, South Carolina.

The identification of the father of the younger Cornelius as a John Gentry Jr. is speculation. It is quite possible that he was the John Gentry who appears in several Spartanburg District deeds between 1825 and 1827, a time when there were no other Johns of the correct age that have been clearly identified in that district. In the final deed reference in 1827, John sold land that he owned in Greenville District, perhaps representing a time when he was preparing to leave Spartanburg. The suggestion that Ranneys Gentry, found in the 1820 Spartanburg district was a part of the John and Susan Gentry family is speculation, furthered by the fact that Susan and Ranneys are listed on the same page in the census.

The next step in this identification sequence, is to tie Susan Gentry's family to the John Gentry of the 1810 Edgefield District census. Two factors are involved here: (1) there were no families in Spartanburg District in the 1810 census that can be logically tied to Susan Gentry's family; and (2) the fact that the members of Susan's family still living with her in 1820, have exact matches with corresponding members who were in John's family in 1810. This is entirely circumstantial, but it is the best we can do. We assume that John died between 1810 and 1820, and for some unknown reason, his widow, Susan, moved with the remaining members of her family to Spartanburg District.

Identifying the two unknown John Gentrys
We have tentatively connected the Gentrys of Hall County, Georgia, to one John Gentry, and the two Cornelius Gentrys of Franklin County, Georgia, to another John Gentry. The fact that both Johns coincidentally appeared with their families in the census record for the first time in 1810 complicates their identification. We will start with the older John, whose family appeared in the 1810 Edgefield District census. John's family included six children born between 1784 and 1794. With that many children, surely the oldest must have been born in 1784 or very close to it, and John must have married within a year or two before that time. John's birth date was given in the census as before 1765. The estimate of the date of marriage suggests John was born in the interval between about 1760 and 1764.

John's age severely restricts the number of possible fathers. Their identification starts with the basic premise that these potential fathers were all descendants of Samuel-II Gentry, for there are no known instances of early Gentrys who settled in the eighteenth century in South Carolina who were not a part of this family. The table of the male members of the Gentry families found in the Appendix below will be helpful in judging possible relationships. The sons of Samuel who must be considered are the following:

1. David-II: Only two of the sons of David-II need be considered as possible fathers of the Edgefield John. David's oldest son, Hezekiah, was of an appropriate age to be a father of John, but all of his family is known from Hezekiah's will, and it does not include a John. Only David-III (born about 1739), and John-III (born about 1741) were of an appropriate age to be a father of our unknown John and were present in either South Carolina or Georgia at the time. (The age of David's son Nicholas was marginal, he might be considered old enough to be the father by stretching age expectations, but he had a son John of his own.)
2. Nathaniel: While none of Nathaniel's sons could have been a father of the unknown John, Nathaniel himself ( considering age alone) could have been the father.
3. Samuel-III: Samuel arrived in Spartanburg District before 1790, but his family is defined by a deed in Surry County, North Carolina which identified Samuel's heirs. Samuel could not have been John's father, nor were any of his sons old enough to be considered.

To summarize, David-II's sons, David-III and John-III, could have been the unknown father, as could Nathaniel. We know so little about Nathaniel, it is hard to judge the likelihood of him being involved. Two factors tend to support one of David's two sons as being the unknown father. A John Gentry was in a 1790 Wilkes County, Georgia, tax list along with David-II's sons Elisha and Elijah. All three were missing from both the 1790 South Carolina census and the 1800 South Carolina census. Secondly, the fact that when John returned to South Carolina, he went to Edgefield District where all the other Gentrys were descendants of David-II rather than to Spartanburg District where the descendants of Nathaniel lived. Therefore, we conclude that the odds favor either David-III or John-III as being the father of the 1810 Edgefield John.

We will leave this John for the moment and turn to the other John, the one whom we propose as the father of the Gentrys of Hall County, Georgia. He was listed in the census for the first time in 1810 also, but in Abbeville District, South Carolina. This John was considerably younger than the other John. While the 1810 census gives his age as 26 to 45, he must have been at the younger end of the range since his two oldest children were not born until after 1794. From this we conclude that this John was married shortly before or after 1794 and that in 1790 his age would have been a few years over 16, thus born probably between 1770 and 1774. We conclude also that the chance of him being associated with the Spartanburg Gentrys was negligible, and thus he must have been a descendant (a grandson) of David-II. Potential choices are listed below:

1. Hezekiah: As indicated above, Hezekiah's family is known and did not include a John. As to Hezekiah's sons, we can account for all of their own sons in the 1790 census that would have been old enough to be John.
2. David-III: Had a son, age more than sixteen, who was in the 1790 Pendleton District census. This son has not been clearly identified and is a prime suspect for being the Abbeville John.
3. John-III: Had no sons living with him in 1790 who were of the appropriate age, but as in the case of the Edgefield John, the Abbeville John may have left home before 1790 and been living across the Savannah River in Georgia in both 1790 and 1800.
4. Simon: Had one son living with him in the 1790 census of the correct age, but this son is thought to be the Francis Gentry who is listed in the 1800 Edgefield census. As in the case with Simon's brother John, there could have been an older son who left home before 1790 and was living in Georgia in 1790 rather than South Carolina. However, Francis was older than the Abbeville John, and we would expect that if Francis was living at home, John would also have been living there. Simon is not a good prospect for being John's father.
5. Allen Cain: Cain had a son of his own by the name of John, who clearly was not connected in any way with the Abbeville John, other than as a cousin.
6. Elisha and Elijah: These brothers and their families were living in Georgia from 1790 onwards and so do not appear in any South Carolina census records. The fact that the Hall County, Georgia, Gentrys (all of whom were born after 1790) list South Carolina as their birthplace, eliminates Elisha and Elijah from consideration.

To summarize these possibilities. David-III appears to be the outstanding choice for being the father of the Abbeville John, and the grandfather of the Hall County, Georgia, Gentrys. If we assume this to be true, then John-III appears to be the choice for being the father of the Edgefield John, and the father-in-law of Susan Gentry. One basic requirement for both of these identifications, that the proposed father did not have another son named John, applies for both of these cases.

C. Shadrick Gentry
Another "orphan" Gentry for whom correspondents frequently seek parentage was Shadrick (or Shedrick) Gentry. The early history of this Gentry is very sketchy. His name appears in tax lists for McMinn County, Tennessee in 1829 and 1830, assessed for one white poll, but he does not appear in the 1830 census. He is known, from pension records, to have enlisted in the War of 1812 in the South Carolina militia (presumably living in South Carolina at the time), then enlisted in the Alabama militia in 1837. On 23 May 1823, Shadrick Gentry is recorded as marrying Rebecca Ballard in Roane County, Tennessee, and a Rebecca was living with Shadrick in Jackson County, Alabama in 1850 (Shadrick was age 54, born in South Carolina). On the other hand, the War Department pension records list a Martha J Gentry as Shadrick's surviving widow, so he may have married a second time after 1850. Besides the Jackson County census of 1850, Shadrick is listed in Alabama census records in DeKalb County, in 1840 (under the name "S.K."), in this case with a wife and a large family of ten children. The 1850 census records indicate, based on the birth places of his children, that Shadrick moved from Tennessee to Alabama by 1832. Since he is not found in any 1830 census records he may have been moving at about that time.

From these sketchy facts we can say that he was born probably in 1795 or 1796, in South Carolina, and because he enlisted in the South Carolina militia, probably was living in South Carolina at the time of the 1810 census. To find his parents, we need to look for a family with a son of the appropriate age who was present in both 1800 and 1810, then left home to join the army. With the lack of Tennessee records, it is not surprising that there is no record of him in the 1810 census, and in 1820, Roane County was one of the Tennessee counties for whom census records are missing. While the table in the Appendix below does not show census listings for 1820, the Gentry males, born between 1790 and 1800 in 1800 and between 1794 and 1800 in 1810 include the families of Reynolds, Robert and Thomas (sons of Hezekiah), Simon, John (son of Cain), and Jeremiah. In addition, the family of John of Edgefield in the 1810 census shows two sons of the right edge who presumably were with his family in 1800. We suggest that this latter family was most likely the origin of Shadrick.

Parentage of Tyre Gentry and "Cherokee" David Gentry Revisited
The identification of South Carolina Gentrys is a constantly moving process, and this author has from time to time reconsidered proposals for family relationships as later knowledge or arguments have been brought forth. In previous articles in this Journal, proposals have been made for the parentage of Tyre Gentry (JGG, vol 2, #11), and for the David Gentry who married Tiana Rogers (JGG, vol 3, #4). The current analysis of family relationships has brought new considerations for assigning parents to these latter two Gentrys. Briefly, this author presently is of the opinion that Tyre Gentry's father was Nathaniel Gentry of Spartanburg District, South Carolina, and that the father of "Cherokee" David was probably Simon Gentry but could equally well have been John-III Gentry.

The Allen Gentrys of Tennessee
Many questions have been raised about several Allen Gentrys who appeared in a number of Tennessee records in the period between 1820 and 1850. We cannot answer those questions with our present state of knowledge, but the author will attempt to skim briefly over the problem with a few suggestions. Gentry researchers working on these Allen Gentrys will be familiar with the problems, we will not go into any detail for our general readership. Firstly, we can suggest with some degree of confidence that the Allen Gentry, born in Georgia, listed as age 59 in the 1850 Benton County, Tennessee, was probably one of the sons of our John (E) Gentry of Edgefield District. This Allen also matches the Allen found in the 1840 census for Bledsoe County, Tennessee. Where he was before that time, or afterwards, is a puzzle.

Another Allen Gentry, listed in the 1840 Roane County, Tennessee census, born 1760 to 1770, matches only one Allen in the South Carolina records. That is Allen Gentry of Spartanburg District, son of Samuel-III. If this was indeed the same man, where was he in the intervening years after the 1800 census, for there is no record of him during that time. And if it was the same man, we must assume that at the time of the 1810 census listing for his supposed wife "Sally" and their younger children, Allen had not died, but was away from home, perhaps with his two older sons, and perhaps prospecting for a place to which the family could move. The Allen in the Roane County census appears in 1840 to be living with a widowed daughter or daughter-in-law and family. Given Allen's age at the time, it is not surprising that he might not appear in any 1850 census, and it would be difficult to follow the family living with him forward in time.

A third Allen Gentry, who married Sarah King in 1824 in Rhea County, is undoubtedly the Allen who moved to Taney County, Missouri, before 1840, and two of whose sons are listed in the 1850 Taney County census. This Allen does not fit the family profiles of two Allen Gentry families in McMinn County, Tennessee in the 1830 census. Why this Allen cannot be found in any other 1830 Tennessee census is not known, nor is there any clear indication of the identity of his father, although the Allen, son of Samuel-III, mentioned above, may be a possibility.

Finally, two Allen Gentrys listed in the 1830 McMinn County, Tennessee, census do not appear to be directly related, as for example father and son, but certainly must have some more distant relationship. If we assume, as is most probable, that both Allens originated in South Carolina, the birthdate of the Allen labeled as Allen Sr. in the census matches very well the possibility that he was a son of John-III of Edgefield District, South Carolina. He is probably the Allen that is included in McMinn County tax lists beginning in 1825, and the David Gentry listed with Allen in the 1830 and 1831 tax lists may be the oldest of the two marriageable sons living with Allen Sr. in 1830 (the younger one perhaps not quite old enough to be taxed). We can understand why there are no census records for either of the two McMinn Allens in 1820 for those records have been lost. But what happened to these Allens after 1830? Neither Allen matches at all the later Allens in Roane County, Bledsoe County and Benton County.

The suggestions given above depend to a considerable extent upon the ages of the Allens. The ages listed in the census records are certainly subject to error but they appear to be consistent within any single census listing. Since there are so many uncertainties connected with these various Allen Gentrys, it seems premature to try and work out a detailed analysis of how they might be related. It will suffice for the moment to simply mention the possibilities outlined above.

Summary
We have proposed here:

1. A family of Gentrys who settled briefly in Hall County, Georgia, were children of a John and Sarah Gentry who appeared in the 1810 Abbeville District, South Carolina census, and that John in turn was probably a son of David-III Gentry (son of David-II and Sarah Brooks Gentry).

2. Two Cornelius Gentrys who appeared in the 1830 Franklin County, Georgia, the older of whom appeared again in the 1840 Madison County, Alabama census, probably had an uncle-nephew relationship. The older Cornelius, and the father of the younger Cornelius were probably sons of a John Gentry who was present in the 1810 census for Edgefield District, South Carolina, and was probably a son of John-III Gentry (a brother of the David-III above).

3. A Shadrick Gentry who enlisted in the South Carolina militia in the War of 1812 and who subsequently appeared in the records of Roane and McMinn County, Tennessee, DeKalb County, Alabama, and Jackson County, Alabama, was probably the son of Robert Gentry, who in turn was a son of Hezekiah Gentry (a brother of the David-III and John-III above).

4. Tyre Gentry, whose life and family have been described in an earlier article was probably a son of Nathaniel Gentry.

5. David Gentry, who lived with the Cherokee Indians, and married Tiana Rogers, was probably a son of either John-III or Simon Gentry (still another brother of John-III and the Hezekiah and David-III above).

6. Some very tentative possibilities relating to the identity of a group of Allen Gentrys who probably originated in South Carolina, and lived in Tennessee between 1820 and 1850.

CAUTION, the parent assignments of these two Gentry family groups and of Shadrick, Tyre and David Gentry are Probabilities and by no means Certainties. Any one or all five of them could be upset by evidence that may be brought forth in the future.

Appendix

Revised 05/20/2003, 02/18/2011

© 2011, W.M. Gentry - All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial purposes provided that proper attribution (including author and journal name) is included.