Month June 2014

Brick Wall of the Month: Nancy Campbell

Laura J. Jones Leave a comment

My brick wall of the month for June is Nancy Campbell.

We know very little about Nancy. We know from census information that she was born in or near Elberton, Elbert County, Georgia, about 1794.

We know she married Basil Brawner about 1810, still living in Elbert County, but by 1820 the family had moved to Blount County, Tennessee.

In 1870, Nancy was living in Kentucky, and she evidently died there, in 1876.

But who were her parents? Where did they come from? How long had this branch of the family been in America?

I’m having a particularly difficult time with researching Nancy because her name is so common. I have poked around on ancestry.com, but haven’t found anything.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts of where I might look next, please pass them along. Thanks!

Dibrell Family Genealogy II

Laura J. Jones 4 Comments

This is an update to the post Dibrell Family Genealogy I, published on February 14, 2013. When I figure out how to link to the first post, I will do so here.

This is information I was able to gather from visiting the Blount County, Tennessee, and Buckingham County, and Richmond, Virginia area during the summer of 2013.

The book “Lee of Virginia, 1642-1892, Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the Descendants of Colonel Richard Lee,” describes the descendancy from Richard through his son Charles (who married Elizabeth Medstand), and his grandson, Thomas.
Thomas’s children were: William, Thomas, Richard, Charles, John, and Elizabeth. Elizabeth Lee married Anthony Dibrell, and they had four children: Charles, Elizabeth, Judith, and Anthony.

“Marriages of some Virginia Residents, 1607-1800,” lists Ensign Charles Dibrell as married to Martha Burton. I was looking for proof of their marriage, and this is as close as I’ve come, so far.

“Genealogical Records of Buckingham County, Virginia,” describes Charles Dibrell’s exact service in the Revolutionary War, plus a list of those people who testified to Charles’s service.

Much information is already out there on the Dibrell line. These are just a few of the details obtained this past summer.

Demuth Family Genealogy

Laura J. Jones 1 Comment

This line originates from my Damewood line.

After many years of research, it has been discovered that the original family name for Damewood was in fact Demuth, from Switzerland.

Heinrich and Anna Giessler Demuth were from Buettenhardt, Switzerland, which rests on the northwest side just south of the German border.

They moved to America in the early 1700s, and had at least four children in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: John, Melchior (Malachi), Heinrich, and Sebastian (Boston). All four sons were born between 1742 and 1754.

During my trip to the Pennsylvania area this past summer I did find the birth records for the four boys in “Pennsylvania Births, Lancaster County, 1723-1777.”

I know most, if not all of the family, moved down to Botetourt County, Virginia, by the 1770s. I would like to know more about Malachi Damewood, my direct descendant. But I would also like to know where Heinrich and Anna ended up.