[Publisher's Note. The present article contains extensive revisions of an article previous published as Volume 2, Issue #4, April 2002. The former article has been withdrawn and is replaced by this.]

INTRODUCTION
In earlier issues of the Gentry Journal, a number of "orphan" Gentrys, born in Virginia as a part of the first generations of the family, have been described in some depth. This was done in an effort to determine their relationship to the main stream of descent from Nicholas Gentry the Immigrant.

One of the Gentrys about whom little is known was a David Gentry who was a Revolutionary War veteran and who moved eventually to Overton County, Tennessee where he died. There is much uncertainty and some controversy concerning the facts relating to this David. (We will abbreviate references to him as "David-RWV" when it may be necessary to distinguish him from other David Gentrys.) We do not expect to be able to answer all the questions concerning him, but to at least have as many facts as possible together in one place to be of assistance to other Gentry family genealogists.

Time Line
We will start with a chronological listing of specific dates relating to David Gentry and his proposed sons and then build on that.

c.1743		David born, as listed in 1840 census, Jackson County, Tennessee
c.1753		David born, as testified in pension application, 1834, Jackson County, Tennessee<1a>.
c.1770		Jesse Gentry born in North Carolina, as listed in 1850 mortality schedule, Jackson County, Tennessee.
1780		David enlisted in militia in Bedford County, Virginia; according to testimony in pension application; claimed to have two years military service, but credited for six months.
May 1781		A David Gentry witnessed deed in Lunenburg County, Virginia, for land on branch of Nottaway River<2>.
c.1796		Thomas Gentry born in Tennessee, as listed in 1850 census, Jackson County, Tennessee.
1802		"Dowel" Gentry (assumed to be David) assessed for one white poll in Jackson County, Tennessee<3>.
1803		A David Gentry married to Delphy Bridgewater in Greene County, Tennessee, was probably a different David<4b>.
1806		Jesse Gentry married Elizabeth Galyon/Gallion in Grainger County, Tennessee<4a>.
1806		David signed petition in Grainger County, Tennessee<5>.
1807		David married in "Feb/May" in "Anson/Bedford County, North Carolina", to "Sarah Roberts/Johnson" - (conflict of data between 1853 testimony and 1855/56 testimony of Sarah in widow's benefits application, Jackson County, Tennessee).
1812		Sale of land on Roaring River, Jackson County, Tennessee, that included improvements bought from Jesse Gentry<6a>.
1812		Sale of land on Blackburn's Fork, Jackson County, Tennessee, including salt petre cave that had been sold to holder by Jesse Gentry and Thomas Gallion<6b>.
1813		Jesse Gentry and Thomas Gallion signed petition in Overton County, Tennessee, for establishment of militia<5>.
1820		David (age over 45 with wife and 5 children) and Jesse (age 26 to 45) listed together in census, Jackson County, Tennessee. Thomas Gentry missing from census.
1830		David missing from census. Jesse (age 40 to 50) and Thomas (age 30 to 40) both listed in Vermillion County, Illinois.
1832+/-		Sarah Gentry testified that David moved from Jackson County to Overton County where he lived for the last 15 or so years of his life.
1834		David testified in Jackson County Court in application for veteran's pension.
1840		David (age given as 97) and wife in Overton County census. David Jr. (age 30 to 40) also in Overton County census. Jesse (age 50 to 60) and Thomas (age 40 to 50) in Jackson County census.
Jul 1846/7		Sarah Gentry testified as to David's death in Overton County, giving different dates in her testimony of 1853 and that of 1855.
1850		Jackson County census listed Sarah Gentry (age 70, born in North Carolina) living with son David Jr (age 38, born in Tennessee). Jesse listed in Jackson County mortality schedule with death in May 1850 at age 70; his widow Elizabeth (age 63, born in North Carolina) living next to two sons William R. and Thomas Gentry (the younger). The elder Thomas Gentry (age 54, born in Tennessee) also in Jackson County. Thomas was living in district 1 , other families living along Blackburn Fork on south side of Roaring River in district 9.

A. DAVID GENTRY AND FAMILY
We will now try to flesh out the bare bones of these dates with proposals for a family and for other details of his life. We emphasize that these are proposals for most of what we will be suggesting is unsupported by any confirming documentary evidence. We will have to depend upon inferences gained from logical analysis of the known data.

Birth Date of David
We start with the date of David's birth. There is no direct record of where that was, but we can safely say that it was in Virginia. As to the year of his birth; the existing records are conflicting:

1. In February 1834, David's petition to the Pension Commission gave his age as 80, which would place his year of birth as probably 1753 depending upon whether he was giving his exact age, or about 1750 to 1755 if he was giving an approximate age.
2. In the 1820 census for Overton County, Tennessee, David's age is simply given as over 45, that is, born before 1775, which does not help much. In the 1840 census , David is listed in the age 90 to 100 column. Because there was a special effort to identify Revolutionary War veterans in that census, David's age is given as 97. This would place his date of birth as 1743, ten years earlier than his pension testimony.

Of these two possibilities, placing David's year of birth as 1743 appears highly unlikely. This would mean that if David enlisted in the militia at age 37 instead of age 27 and that he died at age 103 or 104 years old rather than ten years younger. While this is possible, the later birth date is far more likely. Both ages depend on imperfect memory, of which there is ample example found in the pension application testimony.

David's Early Life
One of the next questions, chronologically, is that of a first marriage for David. LDS Ancestral Files submissions^<7>, and various family trees posted on internet sites such as RootsWeb.Com/Ancestry.Com, have cited an Elizabeth Smith as being David's first wife. These sources suggest that Elizabeth was born about 1756, and a number of them give Louisa County, Virginia, as the location. The date of the marriage is sometimes listed as 1776, also in Louisa County. All of this information is without any confirmation and so needs to be considered with great caution. This writer can neither support nor deny any of these assertions. We are not ready to commit ourselves to the name of this wife nor especially the proposal that Louisa County was where he was married. As to the date of this marriage, we will see below that Jesse Gentry of Jackson County, Tennessee, is proposed as the oldest of David's children. In the chronology above, we have indicated that Jesse was born in North Carolina in about 1779 or 1780. This indicates that David must have been married in perhaps 1778 or 1779, possibly in North Carolina or possibly in southern Virginia. This fits well with the proposition that David was born in 1753-4 rather than ten years earlier.

Where did David spend his early life before his marriage and before entering military service? We will defer this question until the end of this article where we discuss the possible lineage of David, and go on to the next question as to where did he go after his discharge from the army.

Post-War Life of David Gentry
David reported that he was discharged from the militia at Shallowford, a well-known crossing of the Yadkin River in Surry County, North Carolina. This may have been after the battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781, which although a defeat for the Americans, led to the withdrawal of the British from the southern colonies. The record of a David Gentry witnessing a deed in May 1781 along the northern boundary of Lunenburg County suggests that this was the same David, and even though the final campaign at Yorktown had not been fought, he may have been either discharged or furloughed at the conclusion of the Carolinas campaign. A furlough may have accounted for the difference between the six months of army service with which he was credited for pension purposes and the two years of service to which David referred in his pension application.

It is likely that David returned to his home in Virginia or North Carolina for at least a short time after leaving the army, especially since it appears that his oldest child had been born just before he enlisted. No records have surfaced that would definitely show his presence anywhere during the next twenty years other than the case of the one possible incident of witnessing a deed mentioned above. This deed and the fact that a proposed son, Thomas, was born about 1796 in Tennessee are all that we know or can surmise about David until 1802 when a presumed David Gentry was taxed in Jackson County, Tennessee.

A substantial number of descendants of Samuel-II Gentry were living in Surry County, North Carolina, the location of David's discharge from the army. Tax records for that county are unusually complete except for the war years from 1775 to 1782. They do not show the presence of a David Gentry before 1775 or during the period from 1782 to 1800. Nor are there any land or court records pertaining to him. The counties bordering each side of Surry County, namely Wilkes County and Stokes County, do not have as complete records, but neither show the presence of any David Gentry. If David settled at all in North Carolina, he did not stay for any length of time, for he does not appear in any 1790 or 1800 census records for that state. While there are no census records for 1790 in Virginia and only a handful for 1800, the only census or tax records in that state for any David Gentry, are for a David who was taxed in Albemarle County in 1784; a David who was taxed in Caroline County in 1782; and a David who was listed in a county enumeration in Hanover County in 1782. All of these Davids are sufficiently documented that we know they have no connection to the war veteran David.

What other alternatives were there for him after the war? Did he move south to South Carolina or to Georgia, or did he move west immediately to Tennessee? There was a David Gentry who was present in Pendleton District, South Carolina in the 1790 census. This David had too many children including two sons that were born before 1774 and was obviously too old to be our David. A younger David was listed in the 1800 census for Greenville District, South Carolina. He was newly married with no children and likewise could not have been the David we are seeking.

There is no reason to suppose that David may have moved to Georgia as there are no David's in any of the fragmentary Georgia tax and land records between 1790 and 1810. The best possibility is that David moved to Tennessee not long after he was discharged from military service, especially since this eventually became his home. Fort Nashboro was established in 1780 and Davidson County (from which Jackson County was later formed) was organized in 1783, so settlement of the Tennessee territories had begun during the time period with which we are concerned. The lack of early Tennessee records is not helpful in estimating when David may have arrived there. The birth of David's son, Thomas, in about 1796 provides a clue, but the first record in Tennessee that applied directly to David was in Jackson County. In 1802 a "Dowel" Gentry (probably a misreading of "David" Gentry) was assessed there for a poll tax. This was soon after that county was formed from Smith County. This is most likely. The next possible reference was in 1803 in Greene County where a David Gentry married Delphy Bridgewater. That was followed in 1806, by a reference to a David Gentry who signed a petition in Grainger County. If these references were all for the same David, he did a lot of moving around. Was he restless and looking for new places to settle down? Or was this the nature of his occupation at the time which took him from place to place?

Most settlers of Tennessee first came to the far northeast corner of Tennessee which included Greene and Grainger Counties. Whatever his date of arrival, it is likely that David passed through one of these counties. David's proposed son, Jesse Gentry, was married in Grainger County in 1807 to Elizabeth Gallion. This suggests that the David who was there in 1806 was Jesse's father. [It is an interesting fact that Francis Mayberry, three of whose grandchildren later married children of Jesse Gentry, moved from North Carolina to Grainger County in 1792, and then on to Jackson County and the Upper Cumberland where he located in 1801. Perhaps David's move was part of a group of North Carolinians who went west together.>^<8>] David may not have been living in Grainger County in 1807 for that is the same year that David himself was married, and his marriage to Sarah Johnson almost surely was not there. The relative locations of these counties is illustrated in Map 1 below.

Map 1
Counties in Tennessee and Surrounding States Relating to David Gentry, 1807
(Virginia and North Carolina Counties as of 1780)

Whether or not the David who married Delphy Bridgewater in Greene County in 1803 was this same David is unknown. We will assume that it was not the same David. It makes no difference as far as the present article is concerned. If this did represent a second marriage after the death of his first wife, it certainly did not last very long. Several LDS Ancestral File and RootsWeb WorldTree submissions for David list the date of his first wife's death as 1801. Her place of death has been given both as North Carolina and as Overton County, Tennessee (see e.g. refr. 7). The latter was impossible since Overton County did not exist until 1806. This latter location is probably a gratuitous insertion of data arising from the fact that David himself died in that county. We really do not know when this wife died, but the location was likely in Tennessee.

David's Second Marriage
David remarried in 1807 and as indicated above there is no definitive evidence as to whether this was a second marriage or a third. The details of the 1807 marriage are described in testimony given by his widow Sarah after David's death. By act of Congress dated 3 Feb 1853, widows of Revolutionary War veterans could claim the same benefits, which their husbands might claim under any existing laws, if living. Apparently, in response to this legislation, David's widow, Sarah, applied for her share of bounty land, appearing in Jackson County court in April 1853 and again in May 1855 and in October 1856. Her testimony had many conflicting details concerning her age, her maiden name, her marriage date, and the location for her marriage to David. To summarize:

1. Sarah gave her age in 1853 as "about 80" [i.e. born about 1773] and as "about 90" [born about 1766] in 1856. Being rounded to the nearest ten years, these age estimates are obviously very approximate. The census records for Sarah report her age in 1820 as over 45 (born before 1775; in 1840 as 50-60 (born 1780-1790); and in 1850 as 70 (born about 1780). Sarah's statement of 1856 seems to be extreme, and a better estimate of her birth would be close to 1775, perhaps 1775 to 1780. There seems to be no justification from other evidence that she was born in Louisa County, Virginia, as stated in some Ancestral Files and WorldTree submissions. In fact she gave her place of birth as North Carolina in the 1850 census.
2. To establish her relationship to David, Sarah and others testified to the facts of their marriage. In April 1853, Sarah stated that her maiden name was "Sary" Johnson; she was married to David by a justice of the peace, Mr. Smith, in Bedford County, North Carolina; and the date was on or about 12 May 1807. At this hearing, Thomas Gentry and an L. C. Gentry testified as to their knowledge of the facts since they had "known David and Sarah for about 50 years". (Thomas was undoubtedly David's son by his first marriage. The L. C. Gentry has never been identified.) Incidentally Sarah is reported as testifying at this hearing that David had died 16 July 1847 in Overton County.
3. In May 1855, Sarah testified that she was married to David in Anson County, North Caroline, in February 1807 by a justice of the peace, Mr. Smith. Her maiden name this time was given as Sarah Roberts. In this hearing, Sarah gave the date of David's death as 16 July 1846.

There are three separate discrepancies here in addition to the minor differences concerning David's death.

1. The slightly differing time of the year for her marriage may be related to two separate marriages. The important part appears to be that she married David some time in 1807, and her testimony agrees upon the fact that a Justice of the Peace, Mr. Smith, married them.
2. Sarah's maiden name was given as Roberts in connection with the marriage in Anson County, North Carolina, and as Johnson in connection with the marriage in Bedford County. A possible answer is that her maiden name was Roberts, that she married for a first time in Anson County to a man named Johnson (but at a different date than Sarah indicated), and that she married a second time, as a Widow Sarah Johnson, to David in Bedford County.
3. The location for her marriage to David is difficult to completely reconcile. There is nothing in David's history that suggests he spent any time in Anson County. On the other hand, there was not and never has been a Bedford County in North Carolina. Nor was this a simple matter of naming the wrong state. Bedford County, Tennessee, did not exist at the time of their marriage, but it was in the process of forming and was completely organized by 1808. However, if Tennessee was indeed the place of marriage, it is understandable that years after it happened, Sarah might have been recalling the place of her marriage as it eventually became, namely Bedford County, regardless of whether or not it was known as such at the time of her marriage. The location of these counties is shown in Map 1 above.

David's Later Years

There is no direct record of David's movements after his marriage in 1807 other than census records and the pension application records. Sarah testified that he had lived in Overton County "for about fifteen years" before his death in 1846 or 1847 (despite the fact that his pension hearing in 1834 was in Jackson County). He is undoubtedly the David Gentry who is found in the 1820 Jackson County census, born before 1775, and with 2 young sons and 3 daughters. Jesse Gentry's family is listed in the same alphabetical grouping in that census. Paul Bain Gentry of Cookesville, Tennessee, a descendant of Jesse Gentry of Jackson County has written in a posting to Genealogy.com's Gentry Forum<6> that he "believes that the Jesse who married Elizabeth Gallion in Grainger County was this same Jesse, and that a Thomas Gallion also living in Jackson County was a brother-in-law of Jesse". "My Jesse was on Blackburn's Fork, Jackson County, Tennessee by 1812 [a branch of Roaring River which was a tributary of the Cumberland River] where he and Elizabeth's brother, Thomas Gallion, sold a salt petre cave to Elija Ewing. Jesse and Thomas signed a petition together [their names are recorded on adjoining lines] to raise a militia to fight the Creek Indians in Overton County, adjacent to Jackson County, in 1813 as per 'The History of Overton County".

Map 2

David is believed to have lived close to Jesse and Thomas on Blackburn Fork. As David grew older, he undoubtedly turned over the running of whatever farm he may have had to them. David does not appear in any 1830 Tennessee census records. Jesse and Thomas had moved from Tennessee to Vermillion County, Illinois, shortly before that census and David, who was about seventy-five years old by then, probably lived with a daughter or other relative. During this period of time, David and Sarah left Blackburn Fork and moved eastward, probably up the Roaring River, into Overton County. By 1840, his younger son, David Jr., was old enough to take care of David and Sarah, and both families are listed close together in Overton County. The rest of David's family had scattered by then, and none of them were living with him at the time of the census. Map 2 above shows the location of Blackburn Fork, Roaring River, and the Cumberland River in Jackson County. It also shows the districts into which the county was divided in 1836 in response to an act of the Tennessee legislature requiring all counties to do so.

[An interesting side note concerning the Gentrys of Jackson County lies in the fact that Tyre Gentry, of South Carolina, who was probably a younger brother of David, lived in 1811 and 1812 on Indian Creek, also a tributary of the Cumberland River, not far downstream from Roaring River and Blackburn's Fork^<5c>. He did not remain long, but moved with other members of his family to Arkansas where they settled permanently. Other Gentrys in Jackson County at the time included Bartlett Gentry and his sons Robert and Joiner. This family lived at the southern tip of Jackson County on Cane Creek. Today this creek is in Putnam County at the junction of Putnam, White and DeKalb Counties. A third group of Gentrys lived in the far north on Wolf River along the Tennessee-Kentucky border in an area that later became part of Fentress County. These were the families of Charles and William Gentry. Neither of these groups of families were closely related to David.]

As already mentioned, the 1840 census recorded the specific age of every Revolutionary War veteran in the household, and David is listed as 97 years of age. By the time of the 1850 census, David had died and Sarah was living back in district 9 of Jackson County with her son David Jr. We will have more to say about the 1850 census shortly. David died in Overton County, the date like so many other facets of David's life, being reported by his widow Sarah at two different times, once as 16 July 1846, and another time as 16 July 1847.

David's Children
We have mentioned potential children of David a number of times. It is time now to consider them in more detail. Our best guess as to David's family can be summarized as shown.

	David Gentry, born probably 1753, very likely in Louisa County, Virginia but possibly in Lunenburg County; died 16 Jul 1846 or 1847 in Overton County, Tennessee.
	-- married (1) in Virginia to a (said to be) Elizabeth Smith (reported but no known evidence), said to have died in 1801, consequently possibly in Jackson County, Tennessee.
	-- married (2), Feb or May 1807, probably in Tennessee, to Sarah (Roberts) Johnson ( a widow?). Sarah was born about 1775 to 1780, in North Carolina (based on 1850 census).
		Children of David's first marriage (proposed but not proven):
	i.	Jesse Gentry, born about 1780 in North Carolina, died May 1850 in Jackson County, Tennessee; married 28 Jan 1807, Grainger County, Tennessee to Elizabeth Gallion (born about 1780 in South Carolina).
	?	Intervening children?
	ii.	John (?) Gentry, estimated birth about 1790 to 1793 in Tennessee, died before 1830.
	iii.	Thomas Gentry, born about 1796 in Tennessee; married probably between 1825 and 1830 and probably in Jackson County, Tennessee to Mary "Polly" --?-- (born about 1803 probably in Tennessee).
		Children of David's second marriage:
	iv.	Daughter, born between 1808 and 1810 (based on census records)
	v.	David Gentry Jr. , born about 1812, probably in Jackson County, Tennessee; married between 1830 and 1835, probably in Jackson County, Tennessee to Lucretia --?-- (born about 1813 in South Carolina).
		One additional son, and two daughters born between 1810 and 1820 (based on census records), probably all in Jackson County.

Children of David's First Marriage
The case for Jesse and Thomas being sons of David depends upon an accumulation of occasions where they were living together as neighbors rather than any direct evidence linking them together.

In 1806 and 1807, David and Jesse were both in Grainger County, even if only temporarily. By 1812, Jesse had moved to Jackson County and we know David had been in that county much earlier. Beginning with the 1820 Jackson County census, David and Jesse were neighbors. Their paths diverged shortly before 1830 and during the time that David moved to Overton County. Then by 1850, David's widow and her son, David Jr., had moved back to Jackson County and were again neighbors of Jesse's family. Jesse and Thomas were closely linked during that intervening time. Thomas was missing from the 1820 census, but he and Jesse both moved briefly to Vermillion County, Illinois, where they were listed in the 1830 census. It is quite possible that Thomas preceded his brother to Illinois and then Jesse came to join him. Then both returned to Jackson County. The birthplaces of Thomas' children provides a clue to the timing of these moves. We are missing the record of the birth dates and places for two daughters that were born before 1830, but his daughter Elizabeth was born in Illinois in about 1832. Thomas' next daughter, Sally, was born in Tennessee in about 1835. We have no idea why Jesse and Thomas went to Illinois in the first place or what prompted them to return to their original home.

Continuing with their close association, both Jesse and Thomas were present again in the Roaring River area of Jackson County in 1840 and thereafter. As further evidence of a close association of Thomas with David, Thomas testified in 1853 to knowing of the marriage of David and Sarah Johnson for "over fifty years". Both Jesse and Thomas' descendants remained for many years after 1850 in the vicinity of Gainesboro, Tennessee. Jesse's widow, Elizabeth, at the age of 80, was living with her son, Thomas (the Younger to distinguish him from his uncle, Jesse's brother, Thomas) in 1860. Mary "Polly" Gentry, widow of the elder Thomas, was included in the 1860 and 1870 censuses and was living with her daughter, Polly, in 1880.

A substantial period of time separated the birth dates of Jesse and Thomas -- approximately sixteen years. There is a significant probability that at least one other son and possibly some daughters of David were born during the intervening years. In the 1850 Jackson County census, a James Gentry family was living some eight houses removed from Thomas. James' age makes it unlikely that he was a son of Thomas, but his age fits that of a boy/young man who was living with Jesse's family in 1820 and 1830 and with Thomas' family in 1840. There is a record of a John Gentry having served in the War of 1812 from Jackson County. Nothing further is known of this John. We propose the possibility that John was a brother of Jesse and Thomas, and that James was a son of this John.

Other children have been proposed in Ancestral Files and WorldConnect family trees for David for this period of time. One is a daughter, Lucinda, who married Francis Davidson in 1808, supposedly in South Carolina, and then settled in the Overton/Fentress County area of Tennessee. There is some conflict in census records as to Lucinda's place of birth, but Kentucky appears to be the most probable location. The Davidson family appeared in the 1820 Overton County census at the same time as Charles and William Gentry. Charles had been a long time resident of Jackson County (since at least 1802), living in the northern district along the Wolf River, and was a descendant of the Nicholas-II branch of the Gentry family^<9a>. When Overton County was created in 1806, the Wolf River area became a part of that county, and later still, in 1823, it became a part of Fentress County. William Gentry had been living across the Kentucky border in Wayne County in 1810 and moved to Tennessee before 1820. Both William Gentry and the Francis Davidson family continued to live in the area and appeared in the 1830 and 1840 Fentress County censuses. Lucinda Davidson has been repeatedly labeled as being a Gentry (but without any clear justification), but if so, there is far more reason to associate her with the Charles Gentry family than with David. Nor is there any evidence that she was ever in South Carolina.

This same William Gentry Sr. of Fentress County has also been linked to David-RWV. Published histories of Fentress County^<10,11>, in reporting on later Gentry families, tie them back to this William. The family histories generally name William's parents as "David and Elizabeth J. Gentry". There are a sufficient number of errors associated with various details of these histories as to render them highly suspect.

One other son has been proposed for David and Elizabeth Gentry and that is an "L. C. Gentry". This is a direct consequence of a witness identified as such testifying in support of Sarah Gentry in her 1853 application for veterans benefits. This individual has not been identified, but like Thomas, he (or she) claimed to have known of the David - Sarah Gentry marriage for many years. It is barely possible that L.C. was a woman not a man, and that this was Lucinda Gentry who was living in neighboring Smith County in 1850. She was about 26 years of age in 1853, and is thought to have been a daughter of the elder Thomas Gentry.

We can completely discount the many internet-based family trees for David that confuse him with the David Gentry who lived in Caroline County, Virginia. These family listings, when they do include any children, all list the children of the latter David, four of whom moved from Virginia to Buncombe County, North Carolina. This family is well-documented and should not be confused with the David Gentry of Tennessee.

Children of David's Second MarriageThe 1820 census listing for David Sr. included four children besides David Jr. in his family. One of these was a daughter older than David Jr. who was probably a daughter of David Sr., but who could conceivably have been a child of Sarah's first marriage and a step-daughter of David's. The other three children in the census were all born between 1810 and 1820 (two daughters and a son) and are assumed to be children of David and Sarah. David is not found in any 1830 census, so there is no clue as to how long these children may have lived if they were his, or if the daughters married, to whom. There is no record in 1840 or 1850 of any Gentry that can be logically associated with these unidentified children.

Dr. Ruth Gentry Osborne^<12>, long-time student of Tennessee Gentrys, and also a resident of Cookesville, has this to say about David:

"The land David lived on [in Overton County] was mortgaged to a Gore widow who lived adjacent. When David Jr. could not pay the mortgage after David Sr.'s death, Mrs. Gore repossessed it and David Jr. moved back to Blackburn Fork in Jackson Co., beside his half-brother, Jesse's, widow. Mrs. Gore's son then moved to Smith Co., TN and was the grandfather of our vice-president. I have wondered if Rebecca Gore was a daughter of David, who has been reported by some local people to have had a daughter named Rebecca who married Thomas Gore." [Note. Rebecca Gore reported her place of birth as Virginia and her age as 35 in the 1850 census. This effectively rules her out as a daughter of David.]

B. LINEAGE OF DAVID GENTRY
The Gentrys of Hanover and Louisa County
There is nothing more we can say about the details of the life of David-RWV. It is time now to consider his lineage and attempt to tie him to the descendants of Nicholas Gentry the Immigrant. It is understandable that there has been confusion concerning the David Gentrys who can be numbered among the Gentrys who originated in Hanover and Louisa County, Virginia. We can confidently say that the David-RWV was a fourth-generation Gentry. But we know of four documented Davids in his generation, one third-generation David of the same approximate age, and at least four hypothetical possibilities for a David, all of whom were first or second cousins. A table is presented below of these cousins and their known and potential fathers, one of whom might be the father of David-RWV. As can be seen, not only the repetition of the name David for fourth-generation cousins, but also the repetition of the name David and Nicholas for third-generation cousins is most confusing. A quotation in the April 10, 2002 issue of RootsWeb Review (vol 5, #15) is appropriate. Thanks to Thalia Brown who penned this verse.

"Davids, Davids everywhere, but none the correct link.
In this confusing research it really makes you think;
What our ancestors were thinking when they named their children fair?
Did they know in later years we would be pulling out our hair?

"'Ah ah!' you say, narrowing down names of many a dozen.
'Oh, good grief!' your reply discovering he has wed his first cousin.
So how does yet another David fit into this family group?
Figure it out later -- your brain has turned into pea-soup.

"Enumerators, as we all know, were quite a sneaky bunch.
They were crafty in their writing and you really have no hunch,
If the name that you are staring at truly belongs in your line.
Oh, my gosh, this boy's a girl! Well isn't this just fine?

"You sit and stare and laugh at the errors you've just found.
You wonder what your ancestor, long buried in the ground.
Would think of this mistake, when you know that in his life,
He took three different women to be his wedded wife.

"Our research would be easier had they stayed in just one place,
But as most of us discover, that is simply not the case.
From Connecticut to New York, and from there on to Ohio,
'Why couldn't they stay put and simply write their own bio?'"

Chart of David Gentry Cousins and Related Gentrys
[Note. We have used below, a suffix such as "-II" and "-III" to indicate the generation of the individual relative to Nicholas the Immigrant. Further, the various Davids have been coded for easy identification if needed, with a suffix indicating the father and grandfather.]

Sons of Nicholas-I	3rd-Generation Gentrys	Sons of 3rd-Generation Gentrys
Joseph-II	William-III (b. abt. 1710, Hanover Co. d. abt 1755-1760, Hanover Co.)	Make-up and even existence of family of William is in doubt<9b>. David-RWV could conceivably be a part of this family if it existed -- hypothetical David-WJ (?).
	John-III (b. abt. 1715, Hanover Co. d. 1779, Botetourt Co., VA)	We cannot rule out the existence of a first wife and children for John before he married Mary Green<9c> -- hypothetical David-JoJ (?)
Samuel-II	David-III (b. abt 1714, Hanover Co. d. abt. 1765, Lunenburg Co.)	David-DS (b. abt.1740, Louisa Co.). Frequently cited as being David-RWV.
	Nicholas-III (b. abt. 1717, Hanover Co. d. abt. 1800, Surry Co., NC)	No known children born between 1743 and about 1750. Nicholas cannot be completely ruled out as being the father of David-RWV -- hypothetical David-NiS (?).
	Nathaniel-III (b. abt. 1728, Hanover Co. d. aft. 1810, Kentucky?)	So little is known of the movements and of the children of Nathaniel that it is very plausible for Nathaniel to have had a son -- hypothetical David-NaS. The pros and cons of this David being David-RWV are discussed below.
Nicholas-II	David-III (b. abt. 1722, Hanover Co. d. abt. 1810, Madison Co., KY)	David-DN (b. 1761, Louisa Co.; d. abt.1809, Madison Co.,KY)
	Nicholas-III (b. abt.1728, Hanover Co. d. 1803, Adair Co., KY)	David-NN (b. abt.1754, Louisa Co.; moved to Caroline Co., then to Buncombe Co., NC)
	Moses-III (b. abt. 1735, Hanover Co. d. 1808, Albemarle Co., VA)	David-MN (b. abt.1784, Louisa Co.; d. abt.1839, Albemarle Co.)
James-II	David-Ja (b. abt.1742, Hanover Co. d. abt. 1815, Hanover Co.)

For the past one hundred years, identification of David-RWV has been handicapped by a mistaken identification by Richard Gentry given in his book, "The Gentry Family in America"^<13>, published in 1909. This book identifies David as David-NN in the chart above, that is, a son of Nicholas-III Gentry. This has been completely discredited as more information has become available in Virginia and North Carolina records. There is no question today that the son of Nicholas-III was the David Gentry who moved from Louisa County, Virginia to Caroline County, Virginia (see e.g. refr. 14 and other Louisa and Caroline references). His sons in turn moved from Caroline County to Buncombe County, North Carolina. Influenced by the mistaken GFA information, David-RWV is frequently identified as being David-NN in family trees that have been published in hard copy or at various internet websites,. In a sampling of forty-one family trees posted at Ancestry.Com and RootsWeb.Com, well over a third made this error. As would be expected, these same family trees identified David's wife as Elizabeth Whitlock and those that included children, listed the children of David-NN.

We can easily eliminate four other Davids as being David-RWV:

1. David-DN and David-MN were two other grandchildren of Nicholas-II. With good reason these Davids are never suggested as being our subject David. The record of their lives in Louisa and Albemarle Counties, their deaths in Madison County, Kentucky and in Albemarle County, Virginia, and knowledge of their families' composition eliminates them from consideration. They are listed here only for the sake of providing a complete record of possibilities.
    
2. David-Ja (the son of James-II) never left Hanover County and we likewise have no difficulty in eliminating him for consideration.
    
3. David-DS, and another David who is believed to have been the son of this David, have both been mentioned in connection with the identification of David-RWV. These two Davids appeared in the 1790 and 1800 Spartanburg District, South Carolina, census records respectively, and have been mentioned above. We considered these Davids in determining whether David-RWV may have spent any time in South Carolina, and came to the conclusion that neither one was David-RWV. Moreover, court records in Lunenburg County Virginia, indicate that David-DS ("David Jr.") was sued for debt along with his father ("David Sr."), in a court case in 1762^<15>. This indicates that David-DS was born before 1741, and eliminates him from our consideration. His son is the David who is sometimes mistakenly cited as coming from South Carolina to settle in Tennessee.

These are the known Davids, who have appeared in early records of some fashion. Since we have not yet identified David-RWV, the conclusion must be that his relationship was one that has not been recorded anywhere. We must depend on logical inferences to identify him, and will continue by considering those descendants of Nicholas-I who were of an appropriate age to have fathered David and whose families are not fully known or have gaps where David hypothetically could fit. In doing so, we will assume the more probable time of David's birth, namely between 1750 and 1755.

1. John-III, who died in Botetourt County, was a third-generation Gentry who was of an age that he might have fathered David-RWV. John left Louisa County in about 1740, passed through Amelia County, then moved to Augusta County, Virginia where he married Mary Green. John spent at least the last fifteen years of his life in Augusta County (from which Botetourt County was formed), and died in the latter county in 1779. His will indicated that he had several sons who were not named. At least two of these sons, Joseph and Hugh, and possibly a third son, John, moved from Virginia and settled in Tennessee. For a David-JoJ to be the same as David-RWV, one would expect that John would have had to have an early marriage between the time he left Louisa County and moved to Augusta County. There is no knowledge of a David being one of these sons, but it is a theoretical possibility and does place this hypothetical David in south-central Virginia before enlisting in the Revolutionary War. Suggesting that David was a son of John-III is really grasping at straws and we give little credence to this possibility. One additional small detail that points away from David being a son of either William or John, is the fact that no grandson of Joseph-II Gentry is known to be named David. This is in contrast to the grandsons and great-grandsons of Samuel-II and Nicholas-II where David was a very common and recurring name.
    
2. It is conceivable that David-RWV was one of several Gentrys who lived in Louisa County, Virginia, between 1740 and 1760 who can best be explained as being children of William-III. William was a son of Joseph-II for whom there are almost no records. Despite this lack, one must almost inevitably conclude that William lived in Hanover County for a significant number of years after 1835 (when his name was last included in St. Paul's Parish records). A number of "orphan" Gentrys, whose relationship cannot otherwise be explained, have been ascribed to this William^<9d>. The ages of these "orphans" are comparable to that of David-RWV, and at least one of them is thought to have moved south from Hanover County to southern Virginia and then to Tennessee. Such a David cannot be ruled out but there is no good reason for choosing this option.
    
3. Nicholas-III, who died in Surry County, North Carolina, was the second son of Samuel-II. We believe we know the children of Nicholas-III, but a gap in ages between Nicholas' oldest son, Allen, and his next son, Arthur, was sufficient that, theoretically, Nicholas could have had a son David-NiS. Nicholas had two brothers, Joseph-III and Allen-III who were also of an appropriate age, but their families are sufficiently known as to eliminate them from consideration. Nicholas moved from Lunenburg County, Virginia, to Surry County, North Carolina, before 1770. The rather extensive Surry County records suggest that all of Nicholas' children accompanied him in this move. David-RWV would have been in his middle teens at that time, and while it is theoretically possible that he could have stayed behind in Virginia when the rest of the family left, it is very unlikely. We have indicated earlier that there were no Davids found in the early North Carolina records. There is no reason to suspect that a hypothetical son David remained behind in Virginia so we reject this possibility.
    
4. A final possibility, and to this writer the most likely, is that David-RWV was a son of the Nathaniel Gentry who was living in the Spartanburg area of South Caroline from the mid-1780's to some time after 1800. We refer the reader to a Gentry Journal article concerning Nathaniel, written in October 2006^<9e> in which the few details of his life are summarized. In the interests of conserving space, they will not be repeated here. Very briefly, we can say that the article proposes that Nathaniel was a son of Samuel-II. For whatever reason, he did not happen to appear in any of the records of that family in Lunenburg County, Virginia, when they were living there (as did not John and Samuel-III, two other sons of Samuel-II). He appeared in one tax record of Surry County, North Carolina, in 1782 along with three other Gentrys who were known to be primarily residents of South Carolina, not North Carolina. [These four were obviously short-term visitors for they appeared in no other tax records and they were taxed only for their horses and had neither land or cattle.] The first references to Nathaniel in South Carolina are found in indexes to land grants which list one in 1786 and another in 1793, both in Ninety-Six District. There is no knowledge whatsoever of where Nathaniel may have been between the time the Samuel-II extended family left Lunenburg County (the last known to leave was in 1771) and the 1782 reference in Surry County.

We will consider further the possibility that one of the children hypothesized as being fathered by Nathaniel was David-RWV. Briefly, some of the arguments that suggest this probability are the following.

1. David's proposed date of birth, in the vicinity of 1753 or 1754 fits the sequence of possible children of Nathaniel. The next younger sibling proposed for Nathaniel's family was a Richard Gentry who also was a Revolutionary War veteran. In his pension application testimony^<1b>, Richard specifically gives his birthplace as Lunenburg County and the date as December 1755. Richard enlisted in 1780 in the same Ninety-six district in which Nathaniel later acquired land.
    
2. David's Revolutionary War record places him in the Virginia - North Carolina border region at the beginning and end of his military service and presumably just before and just after that service. We have twice before mentioned the possible presence of David in northern Lunenburg County in the summer of 1781.
    
3. The lack of information on Nathaniel's movements, especially in the period of time between the 1760's and his presence in South Carolina in the mid-1780's does not add to the possible movements of a son David, but more importantly, does not in any way detract from those movements. This includes the possibility of David being present in northern North Carolina or southern Virginia in the period just before and just after 1780. We suggest that the timing of David's marriage had a bearing on the proposition that David stayed behind when the rest of Nathaniel's family moved south. On the other hand, David's presence there does not detract from the probable movements of Nathaniel's other children, who presumably accompanied their father to South Carolina.

David's report that he enlisted in Bedford County, Virginia, did not necessarily indicate that he resided there. New London, the county seat of Bedford County, was a major transportation crossroads and militia center at that time. In 1780 it was a focal point for raising forces from both Virginia and North Carolina to accompany Colonel (later General) William Campbell on an expedition to South Carolina to defend the colonies against a British campaign led by General Cornwallis. This led to the battles of Kings Mountain in October 1780, Cowpens in January, and to the battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781. David probably participated in the latter, before General Cornwallis withdrew. David might have been living almost anywhere in south-central Virginia or northern North Carolina and responded to the call to arms.

To bring this argument as to the identification of David to a conclusion, we can definitely eliminate a number of the Davids who are known to have been living contemporaneously with David-RWV as being him. In order to cover all likely scenarios, we have also considered several other possibilities that might theoretically be considered for an identification of this David. We have not been able to find any family relationship that would allow us, through documented references, to tie down David to a line of descent for which there is no question. We feel reasonably confident, however, that the relationship from Nicholas the Immigrant, to Samuel-II, to Nathaniel, to David Gentry is the best explanation for the known facts of his life.

Summary
We have attempted here to collect in one place all of the known references concerning David Gentry, the Revolutionary War Veteran. We have identified children that are proposed as the product of two marriages. We have tried to distinguish between facts and fancy included in the inconsistent testimony of David's widow Sarah. Further, we have arrived at a number of possible inferences as to David's movements and those of his family. With all that, however, David remains a figure with many details of his life shrouded in uncertainty.

References

1.	"Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications", National Genealogical Society, Washington, DC, 1976
(a)	File W7511, (BLWt 31908-160-55): David GENTRY, widow Sarah, of Jackson Co. TN Credited with 6 months service as private in VA militia. "Appeared in Jackson County court, TN, 11 Feb 1834, age 80 years. Testified that he enlisted in Bedford Co, VA. Served more than 2 years in VA, NC, SC, and GA. Was in battles of Richmond, King's Mountain, Cowpens, Sand Hills SC, Mulberry Fields NC. Discharged at end of war at Shallowford, NC. Sarah Gentry appeared in Jackson County court, 7 Apr 1853, to apply for Bounty land. Her age was given as about 80 years. Stated that David died in Overton Co. TN on 16 Jul 1847. For about 15 years before his death he had lived in Overton Co. Prior to that lived in Jackson Co. NC[sic]. Sarah's maiden name was given as Sary Johnson. She was married to David by a justice of the peace, Mr. Smith, in Bedford Co. NC, on or about 12 May 1807. Facts of marriage certified by testimony of L.C. Gentry and by Thomas Gentry, both of whom had known Sarah and David for about 50 years. Testimony given at same court appearance in Apr. 1853. Additional testimony provided, 4 May 1855, by Sarah Gentry who stated that she was married to David in Anson Co. NC on or about ___ Feb 1807 by a justice of the peace, Mr. Smith. Her maiden name this time was given as Sarah Roberts, and the death of David was given as 19 Jul 1846. She applied for bounty land under the provisions of the act of 3 Mar 1853. In another court appearance, 17 Oct 1856, her age was given as about 90 years."
(b)	File W8844, (BLWt 26713-160-55): Richard Gentry, widow Justina or Gestin, [also Justin, Justiney, Gestiney] of Rockcastle Co. KY. Credited with 13 months service as a private in SC militia. "Richard Gentry appeared in Rockcastle County court, KY, 12 Sep 1832, age 77 years as of next Dec. 27th [born 27 Dec 1755]. Testified that he had first volunteered for service in SC militia from Union District, SC, near the Tyger River. Was present at battles of King's Mountain, NC, and at Cowpens, in both cases assigned to guard baggage train during the battle. On questioning, he gave his birthplace as Lunenburg Co. VA.
2.	"Lunenburg County, Virginia, Deed Book 13, 1777-1784", abstracted by June Bank Evans, Bryn Efyliaid Publications, New Orleans, LA, 1991
	1781	May 17	Book(13-389)   (p.77)
	William Puckett to son-in-law Richard Crews Jr, both of Lunenburg Co ... love/affection for sd. Puckett's daughter Esther Crews, 50 ac; Lunenburg Co., Rocky Branch Nottaway Riv, adj. John Barnes, John Nash, Zachariah Burket, John Monroe. Signed William (P) Puckett Wit: William Owen, Thomas Crymes, David Gentry, Josiah Crews Recorded: 14 Jun 1781.   [Note. The Nottaway River forms the northeastern boundary of Lunenburg Co. and was at some distance from earlier Lunenburg Co. deed locations.]
3.	"Index to Early Tennessee Tax Lists", transcribed by Byron and Barbara Sistler, Evanston, IL, 1977
	Jackson Co. Gentry, Charles Gentry, "Dowel"			1802 1802    [David?]
4.	"Early East Tennessee Marriages, Vol 1, Grooms" by Byron and Barbara Sistler, Nashville, TN, 1989
(a)	Grainger Co.
	1807>	Jan 18		Jentry, Jesse to Elizabeth Gallian
(b)	Greene Co.
	1803	Apr 26		Gentry, David to Delphy Bridgewater
5.	Paul Bain Johnson, posting #1381, 25 Jan 2000, URL: <http://genforum.genealogy.com/gentry>
6.	"Building Neighborhoods, Jackson County, Tennessee, prior to 1820", by Betty Huff Bryant, Austin, TX 1992. Betty Huff Bryant, "Building Neighborhoods, Jackson County, Tennessee Prior to 1820", (Abstractions from Record Group 50, Early Land Records, Tennessee State Library and Archives), 1992.
(a)	1812	Apr 25	Bk(27-207)      [#8018, p.78]
		John Stafford...12 ac...waters of Roaring R...including improvement that James Rankin bought of Jesse Gentry.
(b)	1812	Aug 4	Bk(27-352)      [#8573, p.82]
		John Stafford...one ac...Blackburn's fork...salt petre cave that Jentry and Galeon sold to Elijah Ewing.
(c)	[A number of 1811 and 1812 references show Tyre Gentry locating on land on Indian Creek and then assigning these claims to others.]
7.	Ancestral files from LDS sources give conflicting records, e.g. David Gentry, AFN 1T2T-TP, with information from 9 submitters:
	b. 1754, Louisa Co., VA; d. 16 Jul 1847, Buncombe Co., NC Spouse (1) AFN: NGKH-H2
		Elizabeth Smith, b. abt.1746, Louisa, VA; m. abt.1776, Louisa,VA; d. 1801, Overton, TN.
			Children: 1) Lucinda Gentry, b. 30 Nov 1792, SC; d. Overton, TN; buried, Fentress, TN 2) L. C. Gentry, b. abt.1794, SC; d. Overton, TN 3) Thomas Gentry, b. abt.1796, SC; d. Overton, TN 4) David Gentry, b. abt.1798, SC; d. Overton, TN
	Spouse (2) AFN: M5K3-3N
		Sarah Johnson, b. abt.1759, Louisa, VA; m. 12 May 1807; no children listed.
	Spouse (3) AFN:M5K3-2H
		Elizabeth Whitlock, b. abt.1750, Caroline, VA, d. abt. 1810/1820, Buncombe, NC
	Spouse (4) AFN: 1FX3-PRC
		Elizabeth Smith, b. abt 1757, of "Lunnebury", NC, no children listed
	Spouse (5) AFN: 1F3-PT1
		Sarah Johnson, no children listed
8.	"Mayberry Family", by Mitchell Judd, printed in "Siftings from Putnam County, Tennessee" by Mary Hopson, p.113-114: URL: <http://www.ajlambert.com/gentry/bibl_wrg.pdf>
	"Francis Mayberry (Maberry) (Maby) came from North Carolina, was in Grainger County, Tennessee by 1792 then moved to the 10th District of Jackson County, first appearing on the 1801 tax list ... His son, Seth ... married Rebecca and reared ten children ... Jesse [whose daughter Rhoda born 1838 married Thomas Gentry born 1817] ...Mary Polly born 1831 married William Riley Gentry, son of Jesse and Elizabeth Gentry; Francis (Frank) born 1833, married Barbara Gentry; sister of William Riley Gentry;"   [Note. This same URL also contains data from the William Riley Gentry Family Bible; pictures of William Riley Gentry and his wife Polly; pictures of the family of his son, William Campbell Gentry; genealogy of the Loftis family, several of whom married children of William Riley Gentry; and transcriptions of gravestones of three of Jesse Gentry's children in the Gentry Cemetery on Blackburn Fork.]
9.	"Journal of Gentry Genealogy", articles by Willard Gentry
(a)	Issue 2004H (Nov 2004), "Charles Gentry, Tennessee Pioneer" (see sections on Charles' sons, Charles Jr. and William) URL: <http://www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg04H.htm>
(b)	Vol 2, issue #1 (Jan 2002), "Early Orphan Gentrys - Part 2". This article includes a discussion on the possibility of William-III, son of Joseph-II Gentry, surviving to have a family and includes potential members of that family URL: <http://www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg0201.htm>
(c)	Vol 1, issue #10 (Oct 2001), "Joseph-II Gentry (and Others)". Provides a summary of the sons of Joseph-II, including William-III and John-III URL: <http://www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg0110.htm>
(d)	Vol 1, issue #12 (Dec 2001), "Early Orphan Gentrys - Part 1". This article proposes a William Gentry who moved from Hanover County, Virginia, to the Roanoke River, and then to Tennessee URL: <http://www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg0112.htm>
(e)	Issue 2006C (Oct 2006), "Speculations on the Family of Nathaniel Gentry of South Carolina and Kentucky" URL: <http://www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg06c.htm>
10.	"History of Fentress County, Tennessee", Fentress County Historical Society, 1987 (p.620, #F623) Clyde and Flora Terry Family
	"John Gentry ... was the son of William Jr (b.1816) and Sallie Gentry ... William Sr., was a veteran of the War of 1812 and the son of David and Elizabeth J. Gentry. David Gentry, born in 1754 in Louisa Co., VA died 16 Jul 1846 in Overton Co., TN. He was the son of Nicholas III [son of Nicholas Jr.] and Nancy Gentry ... David was first married to Elizabeth J Smith in 173. Elizabeth died in 1801 in NC and he married Sarah Roberts Johnson on 12 May 1807 in Bedford Co., NC."
11.	Albert Ross Hogue, "History of Fentress County, Tennessee", Williams Print Co., Nashville, TN,1916, p.110
	"John Gentry (b.1840) is a son of William and Sallie Gentry. His grandfather's name was also William Gentry, great-grandfather was David Gentry. The Gentrys came from South Carolina and settled on Wolf River in 1835, where John was born five years later.
12.	Dr. Ruth (Gentry) Osborne, personal communications.
13.	Gentry, Richard, "The Gentry Family in America", The Grafton Press, New York, 1909
	Listed under #5 (p.39), for Nicholas Gentry (Nicholas II, Nicholas I) as the first of his children by his first wife is:
		1. David (17), born 1754.
	And for #17 (p.66): David Gentry (Nicholas III, Nicholas II, Nicholas I)
		"Born in Louisa Co., VA in 1754; he was raised in Bedford Co., VA; married Sarah Johnson, May 12, 1807, and died in Overton Co., TN, July 16, 1847. He was a Revolutionary soldier, enlisted from Bedford Co., VA in 1780; served under Capt. Lewis and Col. Benjamin Cleveland, and was at the battle of "King's Mountain" and the "Cowpens." His widow drew a pension from date of his death. This data is mainly from Bureau of Pensions at Washington. [Italics by compiler]."
14.	Louisa County Deed Books
	1783	Aug 11	Book (H-322)
		David Gentry and wife Elizabeth of Caroline County, deed 70 acres on Gold Mine Creek to Nicholas Gentry of Louisa County.
15.	Lunenburg County Order Books, Book 7 (1762-1762)
	1762	Jun Court    (p.35A)
		Jonathan Patterson & Hebron vs David Gentry Jr & David Gentry Sr. Defts not appearing altho duly summoned, judgment for the Plt against Deft Gentry Jr for payment and costs. Dismissed against Gentry Sr.

9/25/07

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