no image
Privacy Level: Open (White)

John Odell Sr. (1728 - 1794)

John "Hopping John" Odell Sr. aka O'Dell
Born in Queen Anne Parish, Prince George's, Province of Marylandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 1764 in Baltimore, MDmap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 66 in Newberry, South Carolina, United Statesmap
Problems/Questions Profile managers: Sam Bowden private message [send private message] and Living Brock private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 17 Mar 2011
This page has been accessed 3,021 times.

Biography

Daughters of the American Revolution
John Odell Sr. is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A085613.
1776 Project
John Odell Sr. served with Civil Service, South Carolina during the American Revolution.
1776 American Revolution Service: South Carolina. Civil Service as a juror. [1]

John Odell, Sr., was born in 1728 in Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland. He was the son of Thomas Odell and his wife, Margaret (Beall) Odell. Although this Maryland family generally spelled their name "Odell" as one word, it was sometimes spelled "O'Dell". The earliest Odells came to America from Bedfordshire, England, but there is still some controversy over whether the Maryland-based Odell family descends from a Henry Thomas Odell of Derbyshire and Boston, Massachusetts, New England, or from a Thomas Odell, who emigrated directly to Virginia or to Maryland sometime after 1660.

John Odell Sr., was the 4th and youngest son of his parents who were substantial and influential planters in the English province of Maryland. It is possible that he had a first marriage (to "Eleanor Duckett" ?) but the earliest substantiated one is that with Eleanor "Nellie" Hendricks, b: 1744 in Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1764. [2] The couple married in Maryland and had their first 3 sons there. Then, in 1768, they moved to the 96th District of South Carolina with John's parents, following various Hendricks, Linville and Odell relatives that had settled in central South Carolina as early as 1750. [3]

Nellie and John O'Dell Sr. had seven children: [4]

  1. James Odell b: 10 Mar 1765 in Baltimore Co., Maryland
  2. Richard Odell b: 1766 in Baltimore Co., Maryland
  3. Lott Odell b: 1768 in Baltimore Co., Maryland; d. as an infant
  4. John Prather Odell Jr., b: 5 Nov 1771 in 96th Dist., South Carolina
  5. Sarah Odell b: 10 Apr 1774 in Enoree River, 96th Dist., S. C.
  6. Martha Odell b: 1779 in Enoree River, 96th Dist., South Carolina
  7. Eli Odell b: 7 Jul 1784 in Enoree River, 96th Dist., South Carolina

On November 10, 1768, John & Nellie Odell had a 200-acre plantation surveyed for them which was situated in the 96th District on land that became part of Laurens County in 1785.

Apparently, originally a "Tory," (supporter of English King George against the American colonists), John changed his mind and served as a Private in the South Carolina Militia under General Thomas Sumter during the American Revolution. "John Odell, Sr. served as a Rev. soldier from S. C., to which he migrated [from Maryland] in 1768...probably with his father."[5]

Even after the British defeat in 1783, passions between Tories and "Whigs" (Colonial supporters) ran high. It is said that John got his nickname "Hopping John Odell" by being shot in the leg. Apparently, he and a neighbor (who had remained a Tory) had adjacent cornfields on their plantations along the Enoree River. They use to steal corn from each other, which led to a gun battle. John was shot in the leg and "hopped" or limped the rest of his life, hence the nickname "Hopping John" [6]

"Hopping John" Odell died on his plantation, located on the border of Laurens and Newberry Counties, on February 5, 1794.[5] He did not have a will but the Newberry County court appointed his widow, Eleanor "Nellie" Odell and his oldest son, James Odell (this indicates that if he did have an earlier 1st marriage, there was no issue from it) as Executors on May 19, 1794. The final disbursement wasn't made until May 6, 1795. Widow Nellie (Hendricks) Odell received the standard "widows third," and the remainder was divided equally among John Odell's surviving children. [7]

Passed away at Enoree River plantation (Odell's Ford), Newberry County, South Carolina,

Sources

  1. Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 7 Feb 2018), "Record of Odell, John", Ancestor # A085613.
  2. ALL IN THE FAMILY - John Odell relates he married an "Eleanor Duckett" in 1750-1763, based on family genealogical research that goes back to the 1940s; but no confirming proof has been found. It's true that 36 was old for a 1st marriage then; and that Nellie Hendricks was 16 years his junior.
  3. Descendants of Henry Ridgley - John "Hopping John" Odell
  4. The Paraloma Tree - Eleanor Hendricks
  5. 5.0 5.1 Source: Doliante, p. 584
  6. Story told by Kathy Price Johnston from S. C.; cited on Descendants of Thomas Sprigg of Resurrection Manor - John Rogers "Hopping John" Odell
  7. Source: Jack McDonald, cited on Descendants of Henry Ridgley - John "Hopping John" Odell

See also:

  • Source: S1766 Doliante, Sharon J.: "Maryland and Virginia Colonials: Genealogies of Some Colonial Families " (Clearfield Publishing : Baltimore, Maryland 1991).
  • Source: S1 Ancestry Public Member Trees. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.: Provo, UT, USA, 2006.

Acknowledgments

  • WikiTree profile Odell-155 was created through the import of Robb Brock_2011-03-17.ged on 17 March 2011. See the Changes page for details of edits.
  • WikiTree profile Odell-369 was created through the import of Bowden-Riley Family.ged on Apr 16, 2012 by Sam Bowden. See the Changes page for details of edits by Sam and others.
  • WikiTree profile O'Dell-101 was created through the import of Foster-Volkenant.ged on May 31, 2011 by Terry Foster. See the Changes page for details of edits by Terry and others.
  • WikiTree profile Odell-462 was created through the import of My-Family-6-Feb-2013.ged on Feb 6, 2013 by Timothy Wells. See the Changes page for details of edits by Timothy and others.
  • Chet Snow researched this person's life and wrote this biographical sketch, adding sources, May 11, 2016.




Is John your ancestor? Please don't go away!
 star icon Login to collaborate or comment, or
 star icon contact private message private message a profile manager, or
 star icon ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com

DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with John 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 John:

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments: 5

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.
I acquired from the SC Archives a Ninety-Six District, SC land survey for John Odell dated 2 Oct 1748 for 500 acres which I'm glad to mail to any direct descendant of Hoppin John. If you'd like it, please PM me. Thanks! Beth
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
Unfortunately, it appears that two seperate (albeit related) men named John Odell have been conflated in this profile. According to Doliante (p. 546, see sources), John Prather Odell was born in Frederick County, Maryland between 1750 and 1755. He was the son of James and Martha (Prather) Odell and married Mary Bourland. Doliante gives their children as James, Reginald, John, Thomas, William, and three daughters of unknown name (ibid., p. 549).

John "Hopping John" Odell was born bef. 1740 in Prince George's County, the son of Thomas and Margaret (Beall) Odell, m. Eleanor "Nellie" Hendrix (ibid., p. 584). Their children were James (p. 586), Eli (p. 587), John (p. 589), Sarah (p. 595), Martha (p. 595), Ruth (p. 595)... [continued below]

posted by Fred Remus III
[continued from above]:

Both men migrated from MD to SC, according to the same source.

Though there were several marriages between the Odell and Rogers families, Doliante makes no reference to anyone named John "Rogers" Odell. I remain skeptical about a name only sourced from to someone's rootsweb message board post.

posted by Fred Remus III
Odell-2 set to rejected match because Odell-2's daughter married a man b. 1688, 40 years older than Odell-369, so different era.
posted by Fred Remus III