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John Pendergrass (bef. 1689)

Born before [location unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 9 Feb 1710 in Curles Neck, Henrico County, Virginiamap
[children unknown]
Died [date unknown] [location unknown]
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Profile last modified | Created 30 Apr 2012
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The Birth Date is a rough estimate. See the text for details.

Biography

John was a Friend (Quaker)

The only known record of John's existence is his Quaker marriage record which says:

"JOHN PENDERGRAS ye sone of Michale Pendergras and Rebecca: He being of New Kent county and Christian: the daughter of John Pleasants and Dorothy, Jane of the Henrico county did publish their marriage at a meeting of men and women friends at the hose of her father in the county aforesd on the twelfth day of the Eleventh month last past. And coming before the meeting the second time in her fathers howse they did publish their marriage againe on the ninth day of this Instant month and were married in the howse of her father on the Ninth day of the Twelft month in the yeare 1709."[1]

The marriage took place at Jane's father's house, which was the Curles Plantation on the James River in Henrico County, Virginia. Weddings were, by tradition, conducted in the home county of the bride.

John's birth and death dates and locations are not known. According to the marriage record he was, at that time, "of New Kent county."

We can infer John's birth date as before 1689 based on him being at least 21 when he married. The Quaker calendar began in March before 1752 so the marriage date of "Ninth day of the Twelft month" would be 9 February 1710 on the English calendar.

We can also infer that John was a Quaker since he married Jane Pleasants in a Quaker wedding. Marrying outside the Religious Society of Friends was grounds for expulsion and there would never have been a marriage at a Quaker meeting where the groom was not a Quaker, especially since Jane's father was a prominent Quaker. Local Friends had been read the riot act 11 years earlier by traveling minister Thomas Story because Jane's uncle Joseph was planning to marry a non-Quaker.

"and, next Day, croffing James's River, we went to our Friend Jane Pleafant's, at Curles; where we were kindly received: and there we met with my Companion, and feveral other Friends; to our mutual and general Satisfaction.

"On the 4th we had a Meeting there; which was indifferent large, and well. My Concern therein was, for the moft part, about Marriage, and the Difpleafure of God againft his own People in the old World, and all Ages of this, againft mixed Marriages between them and the World; for I had heard fome Hints that Jane Pleafant's Daughter had married one that was not a Friend, and gone quite off from the very Form of Truth; and that her Son Jofeph was then likewise about to take a Wife that did not profefs the Truth.

"This Concern I bore long in the Meeting, under Fear left it fhould arife from the hearing of the Ear only; but at length, feeing my Way clear, I difcharged my Confcience in that Matter; and the young Man was, for that Time, brought to a Senfe of his Error."[2]

Research Notes

There is also no known evidence for John and Jane's life after the marriage, including the birth of any children or residing anywhere.

However, there are two known Pendergrass men of the right age to be posssible children, who were born in Northumberland County, Virginia: Robert born 8 December 1711 and William born 14 May 1714[3].

Although there is no evidence for it, many researchers believe that Robert and William were the children of John and Jane. That is possible (with the caveat below), so they are shown here.

There is a problem, however, with the following generation. Many researchers have assumed that Robert from Northumberland married Elizabeth Manley, moved to Orange County, North Carolina, and became the patriarch of the Orange County Pendergrasses; and that William from Northumberland married Mary Unknown, moved to Granville County, North Carolina, and became the patriarch of the Warren, Wake, Wilkes, etc. county Pendergrasses.

The problem is that yDNA analysis seems to have shown that "Orange County" Robert and "Granville County" William were not brothers and are -- in fact -- from totally different families.[4] Unfortunately, none of the test-takers in the Pendergrass DNA Project seem to have profiles on WikiTree.

As of 26 Jan 2018, there are three autosomal DNA test-takers shown in the DNA Connections section on this page. One is from the Orange County line and the other two from the Granville County line. The Orange and Granville county lines have some very small matches (the largest is 5.9 cM) which are not large enough to be considered.

The yDNA results show that Robert and William both cannot be children of John and Jane; and since we do not know which -- if either -- is, the Orange and Granville County lines both remain connected here, pending further documentary or DNA clues.

Sources

[1] [2] [3] [4]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania; "Curles Meeting House Records: Banns & Marriage Book 7, 1696-1710," pg. 4.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Story, Thomas; "A journal of the life of Thomas Story...." (Newcastle upon Tyne : Printed by Isaac Thompson, 1747.) https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t3cz3gg8r?urlappend=%3Bseq=175
  3. 3.0 3.1 Fleet, Beverly. "Virginia. Colonial Abstracts." Genealogical Publishing Company, 1988., pg. 480.
  4. 4.0 4.1 https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Pendergraft-Prendergast-Pender/default.aspx?section=ycolorized




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Comments: 6

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The John Pendergrass "of New Kent County" who married in 1709/10 Henrico, son of Michael P and Rebecca unknown, was NOT a Quaker. The Quaker marriage record specifically noted that he was "CHRISTIAN", as in NOT Quaker. The bride, JANE Pleasants, was, though, and the marriage took place in the home of her parents, John and Dorothy, at a Curles meeting of Friends. The Orange County NC Pendergrasses are convinced, rightly or wrongly, that they descend from the Robt P who was born in Northumberland in 1711 athough their Robt did not appear in Orange Co NC for some forty years thereafter in 1752/5. A Wm got land near him in 1778 and is presumed to have been his son but there are holes in that and he could as easily have been the other baby brother (or not). After 50 plus years of serious research, I believe,but cannot prove that the old Granville/Bute/Warren/Wake Pendergrasses (mine) followed the Thorntons from Richmond County, Va (first provable appearance there 1697) through Spotsylvania, and Orange counties VIRGINIA before arriving in old Granville in 1755 (NOT there in 1754).

It is not possible that John of New Kent County was the same person as John of Northumberland County because Northumberland John was litigating continuously in Northumbberland County from 1699 until his death in 1715 (leaving widow ELIZABETH unknown. ) They are the PROBABLE but not provable parents of Robt b 1711 and Wm b 1714. Although there was at least one other adult male P (Peter) litigating in 1708 and 1709 Nortumberland, and who knows how many other Pendergrasses there, no further P births were registered after John died in 1715. Neither parent was listed for either of the baby boys in the St Stephen's Parish register, one of the very few times, if not the only time, this occurred. John of New Kent County and his bride JANE Pleasants were NOT the parents of the Robt and Wm borin in Northumberland Co...New Kent is a burned county and I have never been able to locate John and Jane in any record after their marriage. They were NOT part of the Richmond county group, and Micahel's wife was NOT a Bolling descendant of Pocahontas.(mathematically impossible even if her maiden name had been mentioned), James Spendergrass [SR] of Richmond Co who died in late 1704 and his wife Mary UNKNOWN had three and only three PROVABLE children: Elinor, who was married to Anthony Gilbert by 1705, James [JR] born (somewhere) in Feb 1692 and John b April 1797 and listed in N Farnham parish register, Richmond County. James [JUNIOR] married Rebecca UNKNOWN and had provable daughters Elinor and Winnefred and probable sons Robert (THIS is the Robert who married an Elizabeth, but not Manley, which is just a maiden name made up because ORANGE Co Robert had a distant descendant with that first name) and Daniel. John, younger son of James SR and Mary Unknown (NOT Henri) bought land on Totuskey Creek in 1727 and married Eliz Cribin 2 Dec 1728,, died 1733 leaving toddlers James [the TAILOR] and Mary. His will in contemplation of death is very sad and sought to protect his ittle children. I believe that James [JUNIOR], shoemaker, son of the James [SR] who died in late 1704, was the same person as James the shoemaker, servant to Colo Spotswood,and that John (S)pendergrass, Carpenter, of Orange Co VIRGINIA (not NC), was his very close relative (cared for him in his last year or two and was paid by St Mark's Parish) but there are some math issues if he was his son. There was never a Richmond Co James Spendergass who was born in 1640 and died in 1718 - this was based on a misinterpretation of the ongoing litigation about James [SR]'s estate, with which Anthony Gilbert absconded in 1707. James [SR]'s sons years later sued Gilbert's securities (Jenkins and Port) as they came of age and had standing. I believe, but cannot prove, that when James the shoemaker died in Orange Co, VA, about 1755, that John the Carpenter brought his own family (including sons "WAke" John, Spencer and Wm) into old Granville. Spencer carried a survey chain for Roger and Henry Thornton on Sandy Creek (where the Ps settled) in Dec 1755 and Spencer married Sarah Thornton, d/o Roger. Henry and Roger were both born in N Farnham Parish in the same generation as James [JR]s children, more or less. However, try as I might, I cannot find the one or two words that would connect John Pendergrass, Carpenter of Orange Co VA, to John Pendergrass of Old Granville, I have only a very strong circumstantial case built on many decades of research at the archives. Since the Orange County NC Ps and the old Granviille/Bute/Warren/Franklin Ps are absolutely NOT genetically related and have no documents or family members in common, it would be nice if everyone separated them iinto the two distinct groups that they are.

posted by Karen Pendergrass
edited by Karen Pendergrass
IF the yDNA of the Orange County NC Pendergrass family does not match that of the Granville County, NC Pendergrass family, then couldn't a hypothesis be that:

1) The Orange County, NC Pendergrass come from either Henrico or Northumberland, VA and 2) The Granville County Pendergrass come from either Henrico or Northumberland County, VA (if A then B, if B then A)

As for a further hypothesis, I would bet that the Orange County, NC family are from Henrico. Why? Because MANY Henrico Quaker families moved to Orange County, NC, even those which left the Quaker religion.

posted by Stephen Freeman
There is no record of the newlywed couple, John Pendergrass of New kent County and JANE Pleasants, Quaker from Henrico having any children or being connected with any other Pendergrass family. New Kent is a burned county.

There is no such person as "Robert" Raleigh. There was a Robert b 1711 Northumberland who may or may not have been the same person to arrive in Orange CO NC 40 years later.

posted by Karen Pendergrass
There was ONE bride who married SOME John Pendergrass "of New Kent County" son of Michael Pendergrass and Rebecca UNKNOWN (not Bolling) Dec 12 1709 in the Curles Quaker meeting in Henrico CO, Va and her name was JANE, not Anne. Her parents were John and Dorothy, not Joseph and Jane. These six people were mentioned one time on one document and then all disappeared from extant records. Folks, don't just copy other people's trees without checking the real documents to see what actually happened. Everyone copies the same mistakes over and over and they start to seem real.
posted by Karen Pendergrass
Folks, there were two baby boys whose births were registered in the St Stephens Parish register but no parents were listed for either. It has been assumed that Robert b 1711 went to Orange Co NC and his brother Wm b 1714 went to Warren CO NC. YDNA testing has shown that these two groups are NOT genetically related as far back as at least 1735, so that is NOT what happened. There were several Robert in Virginia, any one of whom could have come to orange Co, plus new people were arriving in the colonies every day. To ASSUME that a person was the same person forty years later solely because of the name is irresponsible on the part of Allen Pendergraft, who published it as fact. He made a lot of other mistakes, too, such as having one of the early Jameses dying twice....
posted by Karen Pendergrass
This is bad information taken from the bad book. There is no record of a John Pendergrass born in Northumberland County at any time, though one did die there in 1715 leaving widow ELIZABETH. The John who died in 1715 had been litigating continuously in Northumberland County from 1699 to his death and there CANNOT also be the John "of New Kent County" who married JANE, not Anne, Pleasants down in Henrico Co Va in 1709. Allen Pendergraft thought everyone with the same name was the same person and tried to make one big family out of every single person named Pendergrass who came to the colonies. Information from his 1977 book, all over the internet is mangled and not to be trusted. This is only ONE example of such mistakes. The real records are out there if you take the trouble to read them.
posted by Karen Pendergrass

Rejected matches › John Prendergast (-1784)John Prendergast