The Children of Gwyn Dudley - Elizabeth

Gwyn Dudley and Mary Hale's Children

The Dudley, English and Kemp family intermarried quite often. When Thomas Kemp died he did not have a will so the children went to court. The Chancery Court case lists all Thomas' children and their spouses. In some instances it named grandchildren. It isn't until 1850 that census records list anyone other than the head of the household so this court case was a lucky find. Chancery records are at the Library of Virginia. They are currently working on scanning the documents and Franklin County has been completed.

This is a part of that file:

Gwyn Dudley married twice but the children by his second wife I am not going to write about. Mary Hale is the direct ancestor for the Hunt family. 

There are two deeds that were recorded in 1797 on April 1st. One was from Thomas Welch and Polly his wife to Gwin Dudley for 67 acres on the waters of the Black Water River. This land was adjacent to Jonathan Starkey, Gwin Dudlely, William Mead and Stephen English. (Deed Bk #3 pg 406)

The second deed from Thomas and his wife is to Stephen English for 50 acres on the waters of Gills Creek. The land is adjacent to the lines of Gwin Dudley, William Mead, Jeremiah Solsberry, and Jonathan Starkey. (Deed Bk #3 pg 408)

But which Gwin and which Stephen? Sr or Jr? Any ideas?

Elizabeth Dudley

Elizabeth was born about 1763. She married Stephen English on 3 Jan 1791. Stephen was the son of Stephen English and Dinah Haynes. Elizabeth died in 1821. They had the following children:

• Henry English was born about 1796. In 1832 when the case concerning Thomas Kemp is going on he is married to Joanna Kemp, a daughter of Thomas Kemp. She is one of the youngest children of Mary and Mary would have been in her late 40's when Joanna was born. Later there appears to be a marriage to Charlotte Dudley in 1835. Charlotte was the daughter of James, James and Elizabeth were brother and sister.

• Ursula was born about 1799 and died in 1867. She never married.

• Lewis was born about 1805 and died after 1880. He never married.

• Parmenas was born in Jan of 1814. He died on 12 Apr 1869. He never married. In his grandfather's will there is a Parmenas, a son of Stephen Sr. and Dinah. This must be a family name and if the naming pattern of that time was followed then Parmenas could have been the maiden name of Stephen Sr.'s mother. At this time I have not found out exactly where the name comes from.

• Gwyn was born about 1807. He married Mary L. Lynch on 9 Dec 1865. He died in 1879. Gwyn and Mary had the following children:

1. George was married at 55 in West Virginia. Massie his wife was a widow with three young boys and 26 years old at the time of the marriage. While in West Virginia George worked as a coal miner. They moved to Pike Kentucky in 1920 where he works as a farmer.
2. James was only listed in 1880 on the Federal Census. He was 16 years old.
3. Thomas was only listed in 1880 on the Federal Census. He was 11 years old.
4. Elizabeth married George Ellis and remained in Franklin County, VA.
5. Lucy married Peter Bradley from Snow Creek. They moved to West VA where Peter worked several different jobs. He was a carpenter, a cook in a restaurant, and a care taker in a cemetery.
6. Dora married Charles Melton Hodges and also moved to West VA. He was a carpenter for the coal industry.
7. Benjamin married Myrtle Powell in West VA. He seems to have worked his way up in the coal industry. In 1900 he was a coal miner, in 1910 he was a mine foreman, in 1920 and 1930 he was a superintendent in the coal industry. In 1930 he was not working, was he able to retire?
8. Louisa is listed only in the 1880 census as being one year old.

In the 1850 and 1860 Federal Census for Franklin County, Va, Ursula, Gwin, Parmenas and Lewis were living together.

Next up: Thomas Dudley

Thanks for stopping by!

Pattie