Fearless Females: JANE born 1795-1797 Burke County North Carolina: Was She a NEILL, BALLEW, CONNELLY or HENNESSEE?

As I said in my previous post, I now have quite a bit of DNA evidence that strongly suggests an ancestral connection to the NEILL, BALLEW, CONNELLY & HENNESSEE families of Burke Co North Carolina. I believe that some or possibly all of these families were somehow in the ancestry of my great x 3 grandmother JANE, who married JOSEPH THOMPSON about 1815 in Burke Co North Carolina. Some of these families may have been in the ancestry of JOSEPH THOMPSON, also.

Right away, I was able to rule out the sons of PATRICK HENNESSEE  as likely fathers to JANE.  PATRICK, the immigrant ancestor who died in 1795,  only had two sons, JOHN HENNESSEE b 1764 and JAMES HENNESSEE b 1766, both of whom left wills which did not name a daughter JANE.

But because of the strong DNA connection to this  HENNESSEE family--which includes several different DNA matches between Burke Co NC HENNESSEE descendants and descendants of my Burke Co NC THOMPSON family-- it is my theory that my great x 4 grandfather ISAAC THOMAS THOMPSON married a daughter of PATRICK HENNESSEE , who was his neighbor on Hunting Creek in Burke Co from about 1778 onward.

Here is a compiled chart of all the DNA matches I have received from AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and FamilyTree DNA  that are descendants from these four families:

Several things pop out at me with this chart.  First of all, I am definitely related to all four of these Burke Co North Carolina families!   How I am related remains to be discovered.  Second, none of my DNA matches so far are descended from the CONNELLY family alone, but only in conjunction with the  BALLEW family, and a few in conjunction with the HENNESSEE family.

Clearly the BALLEW & CONNELLY families were deeply intermarried! 

So, JANE--who's your daddy?

I've narrowed my genealogical search down to three couples who lived in Burke Co North Carolina during the time period in question, roughly 1790-1830.

--WILLIAM BALLEW born April 7, 1750 Bedford Co VA; died about 1830 Burke Co NC; married about 1773 in Rowan Co NC  ELIZABETH CONNELLY. Some online trees show a daughter JANE born about 1795, but I am having difficulty finding out more, or finding any sources. 

--WILLIAM NEILL Sr born about 1720, died June 20, 1797 Burke Co NC; and his 2nd wife SARAH widow of Unknown ALLEN & ROBERT ARTHUR (whom she married March 1, 1773 Rowan Co NC). WILLIAM married SARAH after his first wife MARY POLLY CLINTON died in around 1779 in Rowan or Burke Co NC. There are three transcriptions of WILLIAM's 1797 will; two of the transcriptions show daughters JANE and CATHERINE plus sons and three sons-in-laws, husbands of his daughters from 1st marriage to MARY POLLY CLINTON; the other transcription shows no daughters at all, but lists the sons and three sons-in-law.  One of the transcriptions naming daughter JANE is in the book, "Revolutionary War Soldiers of Western North Carolina, Volume 2 Burke County" by Emmett White, page 234-235.

--WILLIAM CONNELLY born  June 22, 1774 Lincoln Co NC; died Dec 24, 1820 Burke Co NC; married REBECCA SHERRILL; They had a daughter JANE born about 1795 who possibly married JOHN KINCAID. Some sources show the wife of JOHN KINCAID as JANE SPENCER, and on the cemetery record where she is buried she is shown as JANE CONNELLY SPENCER KINCAID!  Very confusing.  This needs further investigation. It is possible that JANE CONNELLY married 1st to a SPENCER, but so far, I haven't seen any records to support this.

So which is the correct set of parents for my great x 3 grandmother JANE? Difficult to say. Stay Tuned!

Have a great day!

Betty

© Betty Tartas  2016