Ashe Co Penningtons - Part 1

This is probably near the original homeplace of Andrew Pennington, son of Ephraim Pennington.  The land was sold to Levi Pennington's grandson,  Isaac around 1852, before Andrew moved to Johnson Co., TN.

I have been researching the Pennington family for over 15 years and during that time, I have had to widen my focus.  So, you might wonder what I mean when I call someone an Ashe Co., NC Pennington.  I use that term for any Pennington who has come through Ashe Co. NC or the immediate counties surrounding Ashe County such as Grayson Co., VA, Johnson Co., TN, Washington Co., VA, Smyth Co., VA and Watauga Co., NC.  To someone looking at this from the outside – it might seem like a wide scope of an area, but it really isn't.  It is a small corner between Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia where there is pretty close borders and people traveled often around these areas.  Besides the geographic area that I have outlined, there are also specific families that I include in my definition.  I believe that these families are all genetically related as has been shown by DNA – we just don’t have documentary proof as to who the common ancestors are. 

The first family group that I started researching was the descendants of Micajah Pennington.  Micajah was born in 1743 probably around Rowan Co., NC.  It is believed that is father was Benajah Pennington and mother was named Elizabeth….however we have no proof of that.  Ashe Co., NC didn’t exist until it was incorporated in 1799.  Having said that, Micajah was probably one of the earliest citizens.  We know that Micajah paid taxes on land in 1800 and that he probably lived in that same area for many years preceding 1800.  He was married to Rachel Jones on 28 Jan 1761 probably in Wilkes Co., NC.  We can guess that he lived in that general area for several decades.  Two of his daughters are listed on Bible record as being born in hollow of the Yadkin River on the east side of the Blue Ridge and New River in Wilkes Co., NC in 1765.  Since Ashe Co., NC was carved out of Wilkes Co., NC – it is most likely in modern day Ashe Co., NC.  If someone knows the exact location and I am wrong…please let me know.  Micajah and Rachel were the parents of ten children including:

• ·         Elijah b. 1761 d. ?
• ·         Micajah, Jr b. 1763 d. aft 1850
• ·         Mary b. 1765 d. 1842 m. Jesse Bowling
• ·         Levi b. 1767 d. abt 1815
• ·         Edward “Neddy” b. 1769 d. 1860 m. Martha Flanary
• ·         Rachel b. 1771 d. ?
• ·         Elizabeth b. 1774 d. 1857 m. John Barton
• ·         Sarah b. 1776 d. 1817 m. Dr. Samuel Johnston
• ·         Johanna b. 1776 d. 1860 m. Douglas Dickson
• ·         Benajah b. 1782 d. ?

Of these Pennington children we know only that the descendants of Johanna stayed in Ashe Co., NC and Elizabeth Pennington Barton’s family generally lived nearby in Grayson Co., VA.  The rest of the family moved to Lee Co., VA or Kentucky. 

Here are a few blogs that I have written about the Micajah Pennington branch of the Ashe Co Penningtons.

• The Mysterious Four (Children of Micjah Pennington)
• Greenberry’s Complications
• Mary Pennington Bowling
• Johanna Pennington Dickson
• Generations of Micajah’s
• Edward Pennington & Pennington Gap
• Pennington Research Lessons
• Penningtons & Robbins

When I first started researching the Pennington family and was concentrating on the descendants of Micajah, I believed that I was descended from Levi Pennington.  My ancestor, Levi was born 1794 and d. abt 1887.  Other researchers originally believed that Levi was the son of Levi Pennington and  grandson of Micajah Pennington.  This was a a theory that I originally believed but after several years of research with several other Penningtons, we came to the conclusion that my Levi b. 1794 was not the son of Levi but rather, Ephraim Pennington b. 1769.  This has been a topic that I have written often about – probably because it is a reminder that one should always look at information closely and be open to new interpretations.  I would say that many of the Penningtons in Ashe Co., NC today are most likely descended from Ephraim Pennington through his son, Levi Pennington.  We know of three children who definitely connected with Ephraim – Levi whose family stayed in the Ashe Co., NC area for the most part, Daniel – whose family traveled to Claiborne Co., TN and Andrew whose family lived in Johnson Co., TN.  My particular branch lived in Ashe Co., NC until the 1880’s and then moved to Johnson Co., TN.  My great grandmother left Tennessee in 1910 for Oregon and later Idaho which is where I live.

 Here are more blogs that I have written about the Levi Pennington branch

• Harvey’s Long Life
• Levi Pennington Family & the Civil War
• Daniel Pennington
• Levi Pennington & Elizabeth Henson Family
• A Surprise with Hiley
• A Tale of Two Andrews
• Facts, Assumptions & Theories

In Ashe Co., Penningtons - Part 2 - I will talk about the Group 30 Penningtons and the Group 12 Penningtons.

Johanna Pennington Dickson

The Penningtons in Ashe Co., NC include several families that are separate but somehow connected by DNA.  It used to be that we in the PRA (Pennington Research Association) thought that most of these Penningtons descended from Micajah Pennington.  In actuality, almost none of them do!

Micajah Pennington and Rachel Jones had 10 children…we know all of their names and their birthdates from the bible entry that is recorded on Elizabeth Pennington Barton’s pension application for her husband’s military service.  Of those 10 children, it is unknown what happened to Elijah Pennington b. 9 Dec 1761, Levi Pennington b. 21 Dec 1767, Rachel Pennington b. 26 Dec 1771, and Benajah b. 15 Jun 1782..  Elijah likely moved away from the area and whatever happened to him is unknown.  It is likely that he owned land and paid taxes in Ashe Co., NC but there is no trace of him after 1805.  Rachel Pennington most likely died young and Levi probably moved away to Lee Co., VA – the Levi that is recorded after 1815 is a different Levi and not the son of Micajah Pennington and his wife, Rachel Jones.   It is unknown what happened to Benajah – there is a record of him that turns up in Kentucky in 1812 but he disappears from record after that.  However, there is one family member that lived in Ashe Co., NC…their daughter Johanna. 

As far as I have been able to ascertain, all of the children other than Johanna moved to Lee Co., VA, Grayson Co., VA or Kentucky (Perry Co., Harlan Co., and Breathitt Co.) Johanna  was born 24 Mar 1779 probably in modern Ashe Co., NC but at that point, it was still Wilkes Co., NC (Ashe Co., NC didn’t become a county until 1799)  She married Douglas Dickson sometime before 1804 as her first known child was born at that point.  Here is a list of their children:

• William Douglas Dickson b. 23 Jun 1804 Ashe Co., NC d. 31 May 1880 Reynolds Co., MO m. Nov 1824 Frances Cross
• David Dickson b. 4 Mar 1811 Ashe Co., NC d. 10 Nov 1888 Ashe Co., NC m. Phoebe Sullins
• Lucy Ann Dickson b. abt 1815 Ashe Co., NC d. 1883 Ashe Co., NC m. abt 1831 Daniel Blevins
• Mary J. Dickson b. abt 1818 m. abt 1844 Timothy Poe
• Emily Dickson b. 16 Sep 1822 Ashe Co., NC d. 11 May 1894 Ashe Co., NC m. 11 Nov 1854 Jefferson Adkins

There are three other children that are attributed to her but I don’t believe that she is their parent but rather their grandparent – she would have been simply too old to have them.  They are:

• Nancy Dickson b. abt 1829 Ashe Co., NC d. abt 1879 m1 21 Feb 1846 Wellborn Ray m2. 22 Oct 1857 Aswell Peter Eller
• Sarah Jane Dickson b. 14 Sep 1830 Ashe Co., NC d. 21 Mar 1890 Wyoming Co., WV m. abt 1855 John Wiggins Ray
• Caroline Dickson b. 4 Mar 1832 Ashe Co., NC d. 26 Jan 1925 Ashe Co., NC or Roane Co., TN m. 21 Nov 1848 Ashe Co., NC Calvin Eller

I’ve always suspected that I didn’t have a list of missing children born between 1804 and 1811 and have thought that they were responsible for the younger three daughters.

This family is significant in Ashe Co., NC mostly because of the marriage of Lucy Dickson and Daniel Blevins.  There are some unexpected ties between two Pennington lines and the Blevins family.  Daniel Blevins had a sister named Hester that married Andrew Pennington of the PRA Group 30 and he also had a brother named James who married Artremecia Pennington (Andrew’s sister) and their oldest sibling, Wells also married another sister of Andrew named Elizabeth.  So between the three Blevins siblings who married Pennington siblings and the younger Daniel who married a Pennington granddaughter, there are some interesting family ties.  There are several who can claim ancestry through both Group 30 and Group 7.  There is certainly a DNA tie within these families but at this point, don’t know what it is.  There is however, a lot of circumstantial evidence that these families have close ties based on the marriages alone.

The rest of Johanna’s siblings moved away, but Johanna lived her live in Ashe Co., NC and died sometime before 1860 most likely in her mid 70’s.  Her husband, Douglas died after 1860 as he is recorded in the 1860 census.  Their burial location or actual death dates are unknown.  There is a lot about their lives that seem to be mysterious to me.  Most especially that gap between  1804 and 1811…as well as three children attributed to the couple when Johanna would have been 50 plus years old.  These three are not recorded in the household in the 1850 census, but I have never found anything else that proves or disproves the fact that they had a familial relationship.  I suspect that there are a few illegitimate children that are also represented so it makes the waters somewhat murkier.

As with any research process, there is always new information that might be found.  So…sometime in the future, I need to once again attack these families and see if something new is to be found.  I, myself, find it interesting that for so long researchers have attributed the majority of Ashe Co., NC Penningtons to the descendants of Micajah Pennington – when in reality the only child of his who stayed there married a Dickson, so therefore I know of no known Micajah Pennington descendants in Ashe Co., NC with the last name of Pennington.

Intersecting Families....

The Pennington family in Ashe Co., NC intersects with a lot of families.  Possibly one of the most dominant of these families is the Blevins family.  They are present in the Micajah Pennington line (Group 7) as well as Group 30 and the children of Abram Pennington.  Trying to figure out where they fit can be a challenge.

Johanna Pennington was the youngest daughter of Micajah Pennington and Rachel Jones.  She was born on 24 Mar 1779 in Wilkes Co., NC and died before 1860 probably in Ashe Co., NC.   Johanna married Douglas Dickson sometime before 1804 probably in Ashe Co., NC.  They were the parents of eight known children and their daughter Lucy Ann Dickson married Daniel Blevins in 1831 in Ashe Co., NC and were the parents of 13 children and grandparents of at least 40 others.  Daniel Blevins siblings also had close ties to Penningtons.  Daniel was the son of James B. Blevins and Lydia Sizemore.  James Blevins and Lydia Sizemore’s had ten children and of those four were married to Penningtons. They were:

• Wells Blevins  b. 8 Oct 1795 Ashe Co., NC and d. 23 Dec 1865 Whitetop, Grayson Co., VA m abt 1820 Elizabeth Pennington b. 9 Apr 1798 Ashe Co., NC d. 13 Dec 1868 in Whitetop, Grayson Co., VA
• Hester Ann Blevins b. 8 May 1812 in Ashe Co., NC and d. 19 Oct 1890 in Konnarock, Smyth Co., VA m. abt 1835 Andrew Pennington b. 11 Oct 1809 Ashe Co., NC d. 11 Oct 1882 Konnarock, Smyth Co., VA
• James Blevins, Jr b. abt 1809 in Ashe Co., NC and d. 23 Dec 1869 in Ashe Co., NC m. abt 1831 Artemecia Pennington b. abt 1810 in Ashe Co., NC d. 27 Feb 1897 in Ashe Co., NC
• Daniel was born about 1814 in Ashe Co., NC and died 12 July 1864 probably either in Ashe Co., NC or Washington Co., VA. m. abt 1831 Lucy Ann Dickson b. abt 1815 in Ashe Co., NC and d. 1883 Ashe Co., NC

All three of the Pennington siblings were the children of Abram Pennington who was probably a cousin of Micajah Pennington and his granddaughter who married Daniel Blevins – their younger brother.

James Blevins and Lydia Sizemore had about 44 grandchildren with these Pennington siblings and cousins.  Then the Blevins and Penningtons make things even more confusing by intermarrying several times.  It seems that almost any Blevins in Ashe Co., NC is somehow connected to both the Pennington/Dickson family as well as the Blevins family.   Some of these Pennington/Blevins families stayed in Ashe Co., NC but many more lived in Smyth and Washington Co., VA as well as Grayson Co., VA.

When I am confused as to the relationship of a Blevins to the Pennington family – I refer to Ron Blevins who I think is probably the best Blevins researcher that I have come across.  There have been many times that the two of us have had to puzzle out a relationship and it has taken both of our databases and experience to figure it out. 

Now, I don’t believe that this is any different than any other county with families who have lived in the same area of generations.  In fact – I’m sure that there are many other researchers out there who have experienced the same challenges.  The Blevins family helped convince me to research not just one Pennington line but multiple Pennington lines.  These cover the Pennington Research Association groups of Group 7 (Desc. Of Micajah Pennington) Group 30 (Desc. Of Abram Pennington) and also of Douglas Pennington b. 1818 whose lineage has not yet been ascertained.  

So, if you research Penningtons – you also research Blevins and a few other family lines such as Graybeal and Osborne.  It is a tangled web with many intersecting relationships.  It is difficult enough with a computer and genealogy program – I have to wonder how genealogist who were not computer aided managed the excellent research that they accomplished.

Finder's Delight

Imagine the delight of the researcher who one day decided to get a copy of the John Barton Revolutionary pension file.  You must imagine how it might have happened.  They have been vainly searching for more information on John Barton and Elizabeth Pennington.  Perhaps they didn’t even know Elizabeth’s last name or the names of her parents and siblings.  Can you imagine the frustration?  Then one day after waiting for several weeks, you get a package in the mail from the US Archives – and there it is – spelled out in black and white – a list of their children and Elizabeth’s family!

The early Pennington researchers spent a great deal of time trying to piece together families with sometimes limited resources.  It isn’t like now when there is a wealth of information available for sometimes for little money or for free.  I can download a copy of the entire John Barton pension on my library’s website through Heritage Quest.  I know that when I ordered two Civil War pensions that they cost me about $40 a piece.  You never quite know what you are going to get when you order a military pension.  Sometimes it is a bonanza of information and other times it can be merely a curiosity.  However, this particular pension has a wealth of information in the first two pages alone.  It lists the complete list of children for John and Elizabeth Pennington Barton and then on the second page it lists her entire family. 

This second page was particularly important to a lot of Pennington researchers.  It isn’t very often that you have exact birth dates or a complete listing of family members from a family who were all born in the 1700’s.  If it wasn’t for this record – we might never know about Rachel Pennington b.25 Dec 1771 because I know of no descendants for her.  Yet Elijah, Levi, & Benajah remain enigmas.  For many years it was assumed that my ancestor Levi Pennington b. 1794 was a son of Levi b. 1767 – but other evidence has suggested otherwise.  Levi b. 1767 disappears from records after 1815 – he may have gone elsewhere or passed away.  Elijah supposedly married a Susannah Kelley and went to TN. I’ve never found trace of him after 1800 or so and I have never been sure where the marriage record came from.  We have listings of descendants of the rest of the children, but only one stayed in Ashe Co., NC.  Benajah pretty much disappears from history after a power of attorney document was found in 1812 concerning his father.  After that, there is no further trace that has yet been found.

Micajah, Jr went to Lee Co., VA and Harlan Co., KY – we don’t know the name of his wife, but we do have several children who are attributed to him.  He died sometime after the 1850 census probably in Harlan Co., KY.  Mary Pennington married Jesse Bowling and ended up in Breathitt Co., KY and died in 1842.  Edward “Neddy” Pennington married Martha “Patsy”Flanary and moved to Lee Co., VA.  Elizabeth married John Barton, Jr and lived in Grayson Co., VA.  Sarah “Sarey” Pennington married Samuel Johnston, Sr and moved to Buckhorn, Perry Co., KY and died in 1817.  Johanna married Douglas Dickson and died sometime after 1860 in Ashe Co., NC

There are a lot more details that I can include on these families…and probably will sometime in the future – but imagine the delight of discovering the proof of the kinship of these brothers and sisters with their parents.  Much of this information was first spelled out by Bee Holmes who was one of the founding members of the Pennington Research Association.  I could easily put myself in her shoes and imagine the “genealogy high” she must have experienced when she saw that document for the first time.  I think that “high” is one of the reasons that so many of us out there spend so much time in genealogy research…that kind of experience can spur you on to even more devoted research in hopes of finding another great piece of documentation.

List of Micajah Pennington Family - Pg 1

List of Micajah Pennington Family - Pg 2