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Gerard Robert Ellyson I (abt. 1656 - bef. 1727)

Gerard Robert "Jarrat" Ellyson I aka Ellison
Born about in James City County, Colony of Virginiamap [uncertain]
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married about 1684 in Colony of Virginiamap
Descendants descendants
Died before before about age 71 in St. Peter's Parish, New Kent County, Colony of Virginiamap
Profile last modified | Created 22 Jun 2011
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US Southern Colonies.
Gerard Ellyson I resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776.
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Biography

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This profile is part of the Ellison Name Study.

Gerard Robert Ellyson, I was born about 1656/57. His mother Elizabeth was still going by the name 'Elizabeth Gerard' in 1654 when she witnessed the will of Cuthbert Fenwick in St. Mary's Co. MD. Fenwick was brother-in-law to Jane Eltonhead who was a sister to Elizabeth Gerard. Eltonhead being an apparent son-in-law to Dr. Thomas Gerard(see book, "Cheseldine and Gerard Families of Maryland", by Beitzell). Dr. Robert Ellyson had earlier lived in St. Mary's Co. MD. In 1672 Gerard Robert Ellyson was listed as a minor and orphan of Major Ellyson in James City Co. VA. His guardian was one Thomas Viccars, therefore, both his parents seem to have died before 1672. His father Dr. Robert Ellyson did leave a will in James City Co. VA., however, it was lost during the later Civil War. We know the will once existed because it was briefly mentioned in a court record in Elizabeth City Co. VA.(see book, "Elizabeth City County, Virginia", by Neal, p. 71). The father had two known homes, one in Middletowne (now Williamsburg, VA.) before 1664, and one in nearby York Co. VA. when he acquired the Dr. Henry Waldron house in 1657 on what is today the Coast Guard Base. In May 1664 "Thomas Ballard and Robert Ellison of Middletowne...Gent." aided the estate of a Mary Temple. (see, "York County, Virginia Records 1665-1672", by Weisiger & "Virginia Colonial Abstracts Series 2, vol. 5, York County Virginia Wills, Deeds, Orders 1657-1659", by Duvall). On Apr. 20, 1680 Gerrard Robert Ellyson repatented his father's 577 ac. (Its also listed as 377 ac. ?) in New Kent Co. VA. at the narrows of York River (today near Holly Forks, VA.) and 200 ac. in James City Co. VA. on the N.E. side of a branch of Burchen Swamp (today Barnes Swamp) & Ware Creek (both near Holly Forks). The patent reads granted originally to "Capt. Robt. Ellyson...& due him(due GR)as sonn & heire" ("Cavaliers and Pioneers" 1666-1695, by Nugent). Gerard Robert Ellyson apparently made the 577 ac. tract in New Kent Co. VA. (now Holly Fork) his new home plantation because he and his family were members of St. Peter's Anglican (now Episcopal) Church in New Kent Co. The church is in what is now the Talleysville area. The present brick structure dates from 1703 so the church one visits today is the church they knew. In June 1698 "Jarrat Robert Ellison" and others were directed by St. Peter's Parish to help clear roads in his area. There is no evidence his father, Dr. Ellyson, ever lived in this area but had the property as an investment which later went to his son. The last known record for Gerard Robert Ellison is May 24, 1721 when two negro children belonging to him were born, Tamar & Turner. He was dead by June 1727 when his wife Anne (Myhill) Ellyson made her will and not mentioning him. The will names their children as John Ellyson, Gerrard Ellyson, and Thomas Ellyson. In 1658 Gerard Robert's mother Elizabeth Ellison witnessed the baptism of baby Wm. Randolph in James City Co. VA. Davis concluded in "Tidewater Virginia Families" that she was Dr. Ellyson's wife as, "...there seems to have been no other Ellyson in James Citty at that time." She goes on to speculate that perhaps Dr. Ellyson had married a sister of Dr. Thomas Gerard. This is not likely because that would make her 10-15 years older than her husband. Plus, no sister of Dr. Gerard named Elizabeth has been found at the time of this writing. Dr. Thomas Gerard was apparently married 3 times ("Evolution of Patriotic Ancestry Series II...By Maryland Society of Colonial Dames"). He had two daughters named Elizabeth by two different wives. This is virtually proven by two bible entries: The Robert Slye Bible and the Ervin Bible. One daughter Elizabeth married Dr. Robert Ellyson, another younger daughter Elizabeth married a Blakiston. Robert Slye was a son-in-law of Dr. Gerard. The Ervin Bible belonged to Ellison descendant Elizabeth (Ellison) Ervin in 1783. For details regarding these two bible records see the Wikitree profile for John Allison--6155 (Ervin Bible) & Elizabeth (Gerard) Ellyson--1379 (Slye Bible). In the Ervin Bible it names Gerard Robert Ellyson's mother as Hannah Gerard. This appears to be a misnomer as Hannah was the name of his sister who married Armistead. Dr. Ellyson and wife Elizabeth both died before Dr. Gerard, therefore, they do not appear in his will, plus Gerard had about 15 grandchildren that were not mentioned in his will. I do not know where the first Gerard Robert Ellyson is buried. His church was a bit far from his home so he may have been buried on his Holly Forks Plantation after 1721. The above written by Dennis Stewart(16676).

Research Notes

  • Needs Style Review: Biography needs formatting to make it readable. Spratlin-29 14:30, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Sources

See also:

  • "Tidewater Virginia Families", by Davis. *"Tidewater Virginia Families: Generations Beyond", (Slye Bible, pages 120 & 122), by Davis. *"Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter's Parish New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia 1684-1786", by Chamberlayne. *"Genealogies of Virginia Families", vol. II, (Ellyson Family), p. 694-701. Page 700 on G.R.'s mother.
  • Laurens Tenney Mills et al, A South Carolina Family: Mills-Smith and Related Lines, (s.p., 1960), 64; digital images, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/southcarolinafam00mill : accessed 29 Dec 2021) (Transcription of Elizabeth Allison Ervin Bible Record, obtained from Julia Ervin, Darlington S.C., 1958).
  • Family History Or Pedigree: "Virginia Biography, Volume I-II"
    Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Vol. I-II. New York, NY, USA: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6398 #229 (accessed 20 November 2022)




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Gerard by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Gerard:

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Comments: 19

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Adding US Southern Colonist Project as co-manager; please continue to manage normally. There are a lot of profile managers on this profile - please reply if you wish to remain as an active profile manager (responding to merge & trusted list requests, comments, etc.). Inactive manager will be removed but all will remain on the trusted list. Thanks everyone.
posted by Scott McClain
Hello, I'm Dennis Stewart (16676), a descendant of Gerard Robert Ellyson, I. I would like to overhaul this profile. It's -way- too long and is more of a collective worksheet than a Wikitrew profile. The narrative confuses father and son of the same name. The profile gives the -first- G.R. Ellyson as a Quaker. That is not correct. The first G.R. remained committed to St. Peter's Anglican Church in New Kent Co. VA. It was his son, the second G.R. Ellyson, who became the stalwart Quaker, joining that faction by Feb. 1700. The profile gives the death estimate of G.R. Ellyson, I as c1749. This seems not possible. When his wife made her will in 1727 it does -not- mention him indicating he was dead by 1727--not 1749. It was their son who died 1749 as proven by the Quaker records. Again, mixing up two men of the same name. Profile says the identity of the first G.R.'s mother is uncertain. Not so. She was a Gerard as proven by the Slye bible & Ervin bible. That's where he got the given name Gerard. Three of my main sources for this profile will be, "Tidewater Virginia Families", by Davis, "Tidewater Virginia Families: Generations Beyond", by Davis, "Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy", vol. VI, by Hinshaw, the Slye bible record, plus other citations. This profile as it stands now is a monstrosity and I would like to condense it into primary information.
posted by Dennis Stewart
Thank you Dennis - I agree the that the biography of this profile would benefit from a rewrite into a clean narrative biography, with all facts in the biography supported by inline citations to the specific sources being relied upon for those facts, so we can sort it out. The discussions about the various sources and/or disputed claims should be moved to a Research Notes.
posted by Scott McClain
marked Elizabeth Gerard as the mother uncertain. There is no proof that Elizabeth the daughter of Thomas married Robert Ellyson. see Gerard-896
posted by Michelle (Gerard) Hartley
edited by Michelle (Gerard) Hartley
Introduction links goes to George and not Capt Ellyson.
Father in the bio has a birth date 1659 & son birth date 1671?
Did some rearranging aft. working on Dr. Ellyson's bio, whose wife is disputed. This one still needs merge clean-up.
posted by [Living Ogle]
Hi Team of PMs:

Any chance we can give him the AKA name Gerard Robert Ellyson II to help avoid more confusion? Just a thought. Thanks, Jen

And if we do that, can we AKA his father as Gerard Robert Ellyson I? I know he went by Robert.

I know the Ellyson’s are our possible link to many Magna Carta Surety Barons, English Aristocracy, and Charlemagne; be nice to clear it up.

Prefix Captain and Suffix Sr. were probably not present at birth, so they were deleted in the merge with Elliston-310. Also, in the profile text it says that Gerard Robert died before June 7, 1727, which isn't reflected in the record.
posted by Christian Asseburg
Ellyson-47 and Elliston-310 appear to represent the same person because: clear duplicate
posted by Cindy (Modrall) Krieg
This is one of several duplicate/potential duplicate profiles for Robert/Gerrard Ellyson.

Anne Myhill's mother, Mary (Lockey) Myhill, was born 1650 (see Anne's profile). So her daughter (who married Ellyson) could not possibly have been born in 1647.

She has been detached as wife/mother of Elliston-307.

posted by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
Ellyson-73 and Ellyson-47 appear to represent the same person because: Clear duplicate
posted by [Living Daly]
Ellyson-48 and Ellyson-47 appear to represent the same person because: Clear duplicate
posted by [Living Daly]
Ellison-1146 and Ellyson-48 appear to represent the same person because: Clear Duplicate, merge direction is into Ellyson-48 this gets rid of the rename in the Ellison unsourced profile.
posted by Chris Hoult
Sarah Spence, daughter of William Spence, died by the time she was 7 years old. Susan Bush had been appointed her guardian.

Can you provide some documentation proving which Sara Spence would have married Gerrard Robert Ellyson, SR.?

This Robert is attached to the wrong generation.