1.1 Thomas Adney  |
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| Birth | England |
| Death | Adney's Gap, VA |
ETA: "Our connection with London and the English Adneys therefore rests upon several independent traditions, one of a remarkable character. First, Col. W. H. G. Adney, son of Capt. Jonathan, of Vinton, Ohio [Note: ETA's father - JWW] recorded in his Journal when a student at Ohio University on a visit home, under date [Note: not given, but W.H.G.Adney was Class of 1860 at Ohio University] 'Father was giving some reminiscences of our family this evening. Thomas Adney, my greatgrandfather came from London to North America some time previous to the Revolution and settled in North Carolina. He was a Dunkard or 'long-bearded Quaker' and hence a man of peace. During the war of Independence he was several times taken prisoner by the tories. Once they counselled to take his life, as he overheard them; but they allowed him to escape.'" [I don't know whether W.H.G.Adney's journal still exists or not - JWW] ETA continued: "More concerning this later. The first arrival, as we shall see, was at Charleston, South Carolina, and North Carolina was only a stopping place on the way to Virginia. The tradition that we can justly call remarkable and most fortunate is that written by the aged widow of Thomas's son Daniel (b. 1777) living at an advanced age of 92 in Indiana where in 1904 we visited her and a daughter [Note: Lovisa Adney Steele Harvey]. Her husband 'old Dan Adney' married at 67 for second wife a Miss Alexander, a young woman, by whom [they had] three children all living in 1904. This line, and that of a distinct branch in Tennessee and another distinct line in Arkansas, carried the tradition that Thomas was of a wealthy family, that he left a 'fortune' behind him, while Col. W. H. G. Adney used to say that his ancestor Thomas was either a younger or only son." ETA discusses in some detail the circumstances of life on the frontier, and concludes from the evidence he gathered, the following: "The lineage of the American Adneys begins, therefore, as follows: I. Thomas Adney, son of Charles Adney, a shipbuilder of London, England; abducted to America at the age of nineteen to Charleston, South Carolina, year unknown but not later than 1770 and perhaps a few years earlier. He had attended school in England for twelve years, educated as what is now known as civil engineer. First spent three years among Indians westward, then married at place unknown Elizabeth Dunn, a nurse at Charleston, daughter of Daniel Dunn, an Irish Quaker of Dublin, she born in Ireland, came to America about 1750. Thomas and wife Elizabeth resided in North Carolina probably at the Quaker settlement at Cape Fear, where eldest son John was born in 1774, and removed before 1777 to western Virginia in then Botetourte County, finally purchasing a farm at the summit of the Blue Ridge in Franklin County close to the line of what became Roanoke County, set off from Botetourte by deed dated 1798, the place still known as Adney's Gap [Note: Milepost #136 on the Blue Ridge Parkway - JWW]...So nothing is known of most dates of birth of his children nor the order of their ages, so that we have grouped their names, boys first, the daughters after as:" [see genealogical record below] |
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| Spouse | Elizabeth Dunn |
| Birth | Ireland |
| Father | Daniel Dunn |
| Children | John (1774-1847) |
| Daniel (1777-1862) | |
| William Alexander Dunn | |
| Thomas (?1780-) | |
| Mary (Polly) | |
| Elizabeth (?1777-1857) | |
| Anne |