William D. Linville (1708 - 1766)

Born 1708 in Winchester, Frederick, Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died Jul 1766 at about age 58 in Linville Falls, Avery, North Carolina

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Biography

The Linville family erected a historical marker honoring William Linville in Tanglewood Park, Forsyth Co, NC in Oct. 1998. William was the original land owner of all of the Tanglewood Park property via original Lord Granville Land Grants in 1753 and 1755. Dr. Alice Eichholz^[1] did considerable additional research at that time to verify as much as we could on the family history as part of the historical marker approval process.

I have copies of most of that research although there is nothing major regarding the Boone family connection. The Boone families lived across the Yadkin River from Tanglewood Park area along with a number of Linville family members. William and family owned land on both sides of the river.

William's daughter, Ann 'Nancy' Linville definitely married George Boone (Daniel Boone's brother). William's sister, Alice Linville Bryan (married Joseph Bryan) was in the area and is purported to be the mother-in-law of Daniel Boone - but no actual legal proof at this point. George Boone and other family members (probably including Daniel Boone) went to the mountains to retrieve William and son John's bodies when they were killed by Indians near Linville Gorge area.

Many of the William Linville descendants moved on to KY when the Boone's moved to KY. There are very few descendants of William Linville now in the Forsyth Co, NC area - nearly all Linville family who trace their roots to the Forsyth Co, NC area are descendants of Thomas Linville (first American born Linville) - William's brother. Thomas Linville settled in the northeast corner of Forsyth Co, NC and his descendants remained in the area (Belews Creek/Kernersville, NC).

There were a number of Linville family members that appear to have moved back and forth between the Forsyth Co, NC area and places in KY, TN and SC about the time people started pushing further west. This has complicated family research because the same name shows up in multiple locations making it very hard to determine if there are multiple family members with the same name or the same person moving around.^[2]

William Linville (aka: Linwell) was an important early settler of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. A local creek was named for him. His wife was Elinor or Elenor Linville. 1746 is associated with them and land sales. His brother Thomas Linville and wife Hannah also had land there.

Quoting Early Settlers on Linville's Creek, Augusta County, Virginia

"Linville Creek was one of the most interesting and important centers of Colonial Virginia. In the lush Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in Augusta (later Rockingham) County, it quickly became a civilized outpost. It had a history before the Swiss Germans joined the English, Quakers, and few Scotch-Irish who were among the earliest settlers. And later, Rockingham County was always a passage way too, as people landed for a while, developed what they had, and headed off to new places where they could claim twice or tripple the land for half the price or less. (Source: Iman Family.net.)"

"Linville Creek, named after an early settler William Linville, is located in what was called the "Northern Neck" of old Virginia, in current southwestern Rockingham County. On its north end, it enters the north fork of the Shenandoah River at Broadway. It was first established with the following grant of 7,009 acres by Jost Hite (the leader of the group), Robert Green, Robert McKay and William Duff, four early land speculators that had obtained orders of the Council for large tracts of land, on the condition that they settle a certain number of persons within a given time period (this deadline was extended several times, but a final order of the Council was entered on June 12th, 1734, giving "The Company" (Hite, Green, McKay and Duff) until December 25th, 1735 to "comply with terms of all former orders"."

" Page 143.--15th August, 1746. William Linwell (Linville) and Elenor, his wife, to George Bowman, of County Frederick, £100 Pennsylvania currency; 500 acres purchased of Jost Hite & Co. on Linwell's Creek; line of Joseph Bryan (in his possession) ; Wm. Linwell's mark ( ); Elinor Linwell's mark ( ). Witnesses, Gabriel Jones and Benj. Johnston. Acknowledged, 20th August, 1746."

"Page 369.— Jost Hite to George Bowman, 4th October, 1749, Linwell's Creek, lot No. 8, 545 acres. Teste: John Hite."

"Page 135.--20th August, 1746. William Linwell (Linville) to Joseph Bryan, £12; 500 acres on Linwell's Creek between William, and land in possession of Thomas Linwell, part of 1,500 acres granted by McCay & Co. . Acknowledged, and dower released by Eleanor [Linville], 20th August 1746."

"Page 56.--11th August, 1766. Samuel Stuart and Lydia ( ), of North Carolina, yeoman, to Jacob Caplin. £25, 153 acres on South Fork of Linvell's Creek, patented to Samuel, 5th September, 1749; Ralston's line; Patterson's line. Teste: Wm. Cravens, Robert Black, Magey ( ) Black."

"Page 165.--14th November, 1746. Thomas Linwell (Linville) and Hannah, his wife, to Jacob Christman (Crisman), of Frederick County, £100 currency; 500 acres. part of 1,500 acres purchased of Jost Hite on Linwell's Creek. Witnesses, Wat Ellice, G. Jones. Acknowledged, 20th November, 1746." ^[3][4]

Linville Creek Timeline from Iman Family Notes: ^[5]

1746 - William Linvell (various spellings: Linvel, Linwell), who had married Elanor Bryan, a daughter of Morgan Bryan, was granted 15,000 acres at Linville Creek. He seems to have settled around Edom and built what was called Edom Mills. The key historian of the area suggests that Winwell had probably settled prior to 1739 since there are references to his grants in a 1739 deed. Two small tributaries to the Linville Creek were named by William after his sons: Joe's Creek, and Will's Creek. Linwell put up a small grist mill which is referred to today as Edom Mills, and remains of that are still around about one half mile south of Edom.

1746 - William Lenvill, son-in-law of Morgan Bryan sold 500 acres on Linville Creek to George Bowman on the line of Joseph Bryan, who was still living in Frederick county.

1746 - Jacob Chrisman bought 500 acres from William Linville on Linville Creek.

1747 - Daniel Boone's parents had needed to apologize when his sister married a non-Quaker while visibly pregnant, and were excluded from the Meeting in 1747 when a brother of Daniel married outside of the church.

1748 - A young George Washington surveyed the valley for Lord Fairfax presuming that Joist Hige and his associates were "squatters"

1748 - John Lincolns sold their land in Pennsylvania and would have been free to move.

1748 - It's thought that Morgan Bryan was nearly 80 when he moved his family to the Yadkin Valley of what is now North Carolina where Bryan owned 5,000 acres and was close friends of Boones. Daniel married Morgan's grand-daughter in 1756 when she was 17.

1749 - Morgan Bryan and William Linvil seems to have moved to North Carolina by this time.

1766 - William and his son John were scalped in Linville Falls, North Carolina, while on a hunting trip. See: History of Linville Falls, North Carolina

Contributed by Marie Mills as a bulletin board post for William Linville on December 19, 2011. ^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ The Linville Family in America - Alice Eicholz Ph.D.
2. ↑ Mike Linville, 24 Feb 2002 GenForum
3. ↑ http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Early_Settlers_on_Linville's_Creek,_Augusta_County,_VA#Early_Settlers
4. ↑ Notes by Chet Snow, 1-30-2014
5. ↑ http://www.imanfamily.net/rock/timeline/timeline.html
6. ↑ "According to researcher Alice Eichholz, there never was a Christian Linville. She stated in a note referencing what is published on WikiTree: "there is no "Christian Linville" - never existed - an error made in the published version of Lancaster County tax records that is clear if the originals are consulted," She's been working on the Linville's for some 40 years so there is little reason to doubt her findings. " Marie Mills

• Linville, Thomas Merriam. Descendants of Dwight Solomon Priest of Massachusetts and John Henry Linville of North Carolina, Their Ancestors and Lineage. Schenectady, N.Y.: Acme Press, 1978.

• Biddle, Philip Cuthbert. Boone, the Oregon Trace. Clearfield, Utah: P.C. Biddle, 1981.

• History of Linville Falls North Carolina

• Faye Jarvis Moran, The Jarvis Family & Other Relatives, web page, (http://www.erols.com/fmoran/linville.html, March 30, 1999), "Electronic."

• Linville Family Genealogy Database

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Linville-8 was created through the import of Shortened files.ged on 30 December 2010.
• WikiTree profile Linville-83 was created through the import of Amy Mason family tree.ged on Aug 11, 2011 by Amy Ellington. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Amy and others.