Mary (Dabney) Winston (abt. 1680 - bef. 1771)

This Virginia Magazine (1937) Article says that they believe the Dabneys of Virginia were not descended from French Huguenots but instead had been in England since William the Conquerer.

Excerpts:

The Theory of Norman-English Origin When we go to the records in Virginia, as we shall next do, it will be found that not only are there no grounds for supposing that the Virginia Dabneys are descendants of any Huguenot, but that, on the contrary, there is every reason for believing they were of English origin. It will be noted that, in Mr. Dabney's book, all those reporting traditions said that the Huguenot refugees had come to America by way of England, where some had remained long enough to marry and rear children." But the insuperable difficulty in the theory of the Huguenot origin of this family is the fact that the ancestor of the Dabneys had been in Virginia at least thirty years before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which was the occasion of the dispersion of the Huguenots. Not knowing this, the advocates of the Huguenot theory claim descent from a Cornelius Dabney II who married Sarah Jennings for his second wife in 1721, when, as a matter of fact, this Cornelius II was the son of Cornelius who was in Virginia in 1664 and died in 1693.

When we come to consider traditions, we find that the Huguenot tradition was not the only one. My uncle, Captain Charles William Dabney, of Aldingham, writing to Mr. W. H. Dabney, says: "We claim to be of the same origin as the Daubeneys of England, who are descended from Sir William D'Aubigné, Knight, who came over to England with William the Conqueror." My father, Robert Lewis Dabney, wrote from the University of Texas in 1887 to Mr. W. H. Dabney: "The tradition which I heard from my parents was that the stock from which we were sprung emigrated from Cambridgeshire or Norfolk, England, and that they were of the same lineage as the Daubeneys still to be heard of there." Judge William Pope Dabney refers with pride, in writing to Mr. W. H. Dabney, to the Daubeneys who served under William the Conqueror, whose names appear on the Roll of Battle Abbey, and adds: "Among the nobles who took care that wily King John should keep the terms of Magna Carta (1215) is also found the name of Daubeney."

Mrs. William L. Dabney, of Chicago, wrote: "Three of Mr. William Winston Dabney, of King William County, Virginia, quotes the records showing that Cornelius Dabney received a grant in 1664, and Sarah Dabney a grant in 1701, etc. To explain this, Mr. W. H. Dabney can only suggest that this Cornelius must have been a man who came over earlier, perhaps an uncle! Finally, it is to be noted that the Rev. John Blair Dabney says his grandfather, William, told him "that the patriarch of the Virginia Dabneys was an English farmer, who settled in this state at an early stage of our Colonial history, and he concludes: "I have no doubt . . . that all the Dabneys

These traditions seemed worth following out. When in England in 1924, therefore, I inquired into the history of the Daubeneys of England to see if I could find anything bearing on the origin of our Virginia Dabneys. Learning that the family had for centuries had their chief seats in Somerset and Dorset, I visited the library of the Archaeological Society in The Castle at Taunton, Somerset. Mr. H. St. George Gray, the secretary, told me much about the numerous families of Daubeney in many parts of the country and suggested that I visit the South Petherton Church and search its graveyard, and see the various manor houses, King Ina's palace in South Petherton, Barrington Court, four miles away, and Wayford House, near Crewkerne—all of which were built by Daubeneys.

Conclusion With these records before us, we are prepared to accept the theory that Cornelius Dabney I belonged to the so-called Cavalier immigration that took place as a consequence of the execution of Charles I in 1649. We know from history that the Daubeneys of England were loyalists. The question may be asked: if the Dabneys who settled in Virginia were Cavaliers, why was not this claimed for them at the time? Professor T. T. Wertenbaker explains this. He says: "Although it is impossible to determine with accuracy the lineage of all the leading families of Virginia during the seventeenth century, it is definitely known that many of the most wealthy and influential houses were founded by men who could boast of no social prominence in England." He cites the Byrd family as an illustration, whose founder was a wealthy goldsmith. John Fiske says: "Much confusion has resulted from the assumption, so common with Southern writers, that the English Cavaliers were all of distinguished lineage or of high social rank. The word "Cavalier," as used in the time of Charles I, denoted not a caste, or a distinct class of people, but a political party. . . . Thus the fact that a man was a Cavalier or a Roundhead proved nothing as to his social rank

But if these Dabneys were not of the nobility, they had all the characteristics of the English aristocracy. They went to work speedily to acquire land and to build up great estates. In three generations they became great landlords and leaders of the people.

The first wife of Isaac Winston was Sarah Dabney,

a daughter of Edith and Cornelius Dabney of Hanover Co. VA.

In 1701 this Sarah Dabney received a patent for 179.5 acres in King William County (Patent book#9 p352).

Deed transcribed in "Virginia Genealogist" 1962 #6 p6-7 ...

from William Winston (son of Isaac Winston, Sr.)

conveyed the same piece of land to

his brother-in-law, Cornelius Dabney (m: Lucy Winston).

The deed states that William was the son and heir of Sarah Dabney.

Since William and Lucy were children of Isaac Winston, Sr.

and Sarah Dabney was William's mother,

therefore Sarah Dabney was Isaac Winston's first wife.

Also so listed on "Dabney Family of Early Virginia" website at ... https://www.dabney-early-virginia.info/getperson.php?personID=I109&tree=Dabney

Can you or I make the necessary corrections? Thanks for your consideration.

Mindy Silva WikiTree Mentor