Nelson Naming Patterns - Speculation

Date: 2024 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

From PK – 3/10/2019

The more I looked at T's "Name Study" the more intrigued I became, as I realized that these names Ross, Harvey, Washington and Baker were handed down in all three of William, Ross and Jonathan Ross lines. And George William Nelson m. Jane Woods 1792 in Greene Co. TN (earliest proven ancestor of only perfect y-dna match to Susan'a father Duane Reif in Nelson study) named his two oldest sons John Harvey and William Washington Nelson as well!!!

The repeating names point to two new family names I had never even looked at before: Harvey and Baker (with John Harvey and Benjamin Baker being the most common combination). And also the preponderance of the name Washington, especially William Washington, prompts me to take another look at those Washingtons who were living next to and intermarrying with Nelsons in Berkeley Co. VA/WV. I had almost written off the possibility that Catherine Washington (1st cousin to George) who married Rev. War patriot Dr. John Nelson could have been related by marriage and living next to one of her deceased husband's relatives in 1810 Berkeley Co., namely Robert Nelson the tanner/shoemaker. Catherine came from a very wealthy line of slave-owning plantationers and Robert was only a lowly shoemaker....so my rationale went.

So I started studying the family of Dr. John Nelson and found that he had been born, raised and served in the Revolutionary War in Frederick Co. MD. It looks like he moved to Berkeley Co. VA/WV and married Catherine Washington after his Revolutionary War service. So while I was focused on studying his background, I found Harveys and Bakers also in Prince George/Frederick/Montgomery Co. MD as well. And then I realized that there are connections to Hampshire Co. VA/WV for these families as well. Wow!

It turns out that one of the factors which helped to connect many families from Frederick/Montgomery Co. MD to Hampshire Co. VA was a man named Michael Cresap, a German immigrant (I believe, or at least he and his brother had their children baptized in the German Lutheran congregations of western Maryland), who settled with his brother Thomas on the Potomac River in western Maryland prior to the French and Indian War. They both served as officers and fought against the Indians during this conflict and then became enterprising and wealthy landowners along the Potomac in later life. Michael Cresap became a land dealer, and he purchased several parcels of land in Hampshire Co. VA which he leased and sold to others from Frederick & Montgomery Co. MD over several decades. Even the nephew of the aforementioned Catherine Washington Nelson, Warner Washington Throckmorton, moved to Hampshire Co. where both he and his wife died around 1826. So Here is another Throckmorton connection from Berkeley Co. VA to Hampshire Co. VA, in addition to William Throckmorton m. Magdalena Bunn (oldest dau. of same Peter whose son Samuel m. Eliz. Nelson), as well as his two uncles Daniel and Lewis Throckmorton who settled earlier in Hampshire Co.

I have not yet mentioned the prevalence of the Ross name in all of our Nelson lines. Obviously this name was extremely important, with Jonathan Ross being the most frequently bestowed version of the name. We have corresponded about the Rosses before, and over the years I have collected a separate file for the Rosses. Before long, I should update and refine this Ross material and send it out...can't even remember now if I sent that to everyone in previous years???

But for now, I just wanted to share this material, as it motivates me to look more and more back to Frederick/Berkeley/Jefferson Co. VA and Frederick/Montgomery Co. MD in our Nelson research. If you look on Googlemaps, these two counties are just across the Potomac River from each other, so really the same region geographically...all part of the Potomac River watershed.