In America when and how

+2 votes
297 views
Are we then to be under the impression that the father of the Henry, William L B, John and Fredrick came to America when the sons came over. I have not seen this before please explain.

Thanks,

Roy
WikiTree profile: William John Ledford
in Genealogy Help by Roy Ledford G2G Crew (530 points)

1 Answer

+2 votes

Roy, William John Ledford doesn't exist, neither do any of his ancestors in that tree. I don't mean to sound harsh. This answer is meant as a guide of what to look for when looking at other Ledford trees. One has to be very careful with any Ledford genealogy that is put out on the internet. Be skeptical of any genealogy that uses the book Generations: An American Family by John Egerton as a guide. It is pretty easy to spot. Off the top of my head:

  1. Henry Ledford, he wasn't killed in the 1755 attack. There is a complete, meticulous list of those killed in the massacre made by Patton's nephew William Preston. His diaries are kept in the Draper Manuscripts. Henry showed up in Rowan County in the 1760s with his neighbor from Augusta County, Thomas Luddington (1768 Rowan Tax List).
  2. There is no evidence that the "three brothers" came over on the Walpole with James Patton in 1738. As a matter of fact, James Patton only made one trip to the colonies in 1738, and it was with a shipful of his own family. Patton is pretty well documented.
  3. Philadelphia Ledford was a woman, not a man, and not even a Ledford. She had been married to a Ledford (James, if my memory serves me) who passed away in the late-1700s in Kentucky. She then married Francis Valuzat. Her Ledford husband wasn't even related to our Ledfords. His family was from Middlesex/Essex County, Virginia, and yDNA tests on those Ledfords show that the male lines haven't been related for millenia. Most of the Kentucky Ledfords in the 1700s were from that family, not North Carolina.
  4. All of the children lumped under John Ledford is a bit forced.
  5. Lucy Thompson...there is no primary record that names John's wife as Lucy, much less gives her a maiden name.
  6. "Three brothers" William doesn't have the initials L.B., those were made up later to help keep him straight from the other William Ledfords. Not that there were that many in the mid-1700s, but there are no primary sources that show any initials for William, and they don't even appear until the 1990s.

What is known is that "all the Ledfords" in Augusta County, Virginia were ordered to keep a road in 1746, then John purchases land in 1751, William and Henry do the same in 1753. William and Henry sign their deeds back over to Preston in 1755. Then in 1758, John, William, Nicholas and Frederick Ledford appear on the tax lists of Rowan County. Henry comes later.  William's children are known through his will and gifts of property, though they are confused at times. All the rest of the Ledfords come from Henry, John, Frederick and Nicholas, but there is virtually no evidence who was the child of whom. John Egerton put them all together for his fictional account "Aley's Story", and Ledford genealogists have taken it as gospel, but in reality, there is no basis for it.

It is better to end your tree with what is known than to create a monstrosity of a tree that has all branches of Ledfords forced into it connected by made up men and women, just to have a larger tree.

I hope this helps.

Paul

by Paul Selk G2G Crew (390 points)

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