Shadows Of Empire: The
Manley Family in Colonial
The Lloyd Manley
Genealogical Archive (LMGA)
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best fit pedigree
You can
view the master index to the LMGA here
Please
send offers for exchange of sources to [email protected]
A list of
good (and some not so good) genealogy libraries can be found here.
A
bibliography (just starting) with links to download primary sources can be
found here.
Individual
analyses of the pedigree based on the LMGA index are MOST welcomed and part of
the reason for sharing all this!
Being a novice
at this gig I personally spent over a thousand dollars and hours of work
debunking a sincerely believed myth solely because I couldn’t find the original
source of the information. After finally tracing the myth back to an anonymous,
un-sourced posting with the Church of Jesus Christ-Latter Day Saints I
confirmed what I had by then suspected; that it was indeed a myth. With good
intent but ill effect it is still being repeated on the internet ad nausea today. So, I’ve created some
ground rules for myself to protect people like me who might run into that sort
of thing. Any information that furthers my research, and for which I can
reciprocate with information of my own, is greatly appreciated. I only ask that
if you use any information I forward to you that you reference it to the LMGA
so that others may trace your steps and readily clear out any myths or fictions
before beginning serious research. I will do the same for any sources you
provide.
The main purpose of the LMGA was to determine the
origins and antecedents of a Jonathan Manley, Senior of Warren co., KY who
lived there from about 1805 to 1825. Information germane to that goal is
especially valuable. I probably cannot offer much assistance with post-colonial
genealogy. Please note that hearsay and oral family tradition is often
sufficient as evidence after 1830 or so. But before then we are totally reliant
on primary sources. This is the main reason why I’ve focused so heavily on
primary sources as I am doing colonial genealogy.
For the
reasons aforementioned, I must unfortunately decline offers of information for
which a primary source for it cannot be readily located or produced (hearsay).
I welcome offers of transcriptions of primary sources only if performed by a
duly appointed official of a legally constituted court, Church official or
government official with jurisdiction and authority to so. Unfortunately I must
decline offers of bible records, wills, accounts, etc. transcribed by
individual persons, and for which a true likeness of the original cannot be
readily produced or located and for which a public archival reference is not
supplied. For photographs please reference, if known, the photographer, place
and time the photograph was taken as well as identities of all persons in the
photograph. Please use full legal names with
maiden names if known. Please do not reference any material in exchange to
the LDS library, regardless of the nature of the evidence (complicit actors in
the mess I described above). A list of good (and some not so good) genealogy
libraries can be found here.
News:
02 September, 2006 Jonathan’s father
possibly located
A search of the
21 August, 2006 - Where we are now
After analyzing all the data we now
have I’ve summarized where we presently are in order to identify what needs to
be done, or better put, what records now need to be found. Let me start by
imagining a hypothetical document, call it Q, that is minimally sufficient to
determine the origins of Jonathan Manley, Senior of Warren co., KY in the
context of what I already have. What I already have to support the conclusions
of Q I’ll call P. I’ll add that in genealogy if we find one record of a named
person, then find another record of that same name occurring, say, two years
later in the same county or close physical proximity, barring any evidence for
another person present bearing exactly the same name, we assume that it’s the
same person. I’ve never seen a family history that does not do this somewhere
in their research. It’s usually implicit throughout. In other words, someone
finds a Gabriel Manley in Warren co., KY in 1807 and just assumes that the
Gabriel Manley found in the same county in 1820 is the same guy since no other
Gabriel Manleys were found there. Barring conflicting evidence, it’s
reasonable. Remember this example as I proceed. Extending that logic to a
person who moves over significant geographic distances, we can accomplish the
same reasonable identification by pairing in the two different locations: If a
person with a particular name is present in one place at one time and if
another person of another name is also present at the same place and time, and
if it is reasonable to assume some kind of association between them (like they
are related somehow), then finding another pair identical to that one in
another place and time, if the personal data, times and places match, is the
same thing, to a first-order approximation, as identifying one person in the
same place and two different times (like the example of Gabriel above). In
other words, if a pair of persons known to be related appears at one place and
time and that same related named pair appears in another place and time, and barring evidence to the contrary, it is
highly unlikely that these are two different pairs of people. This is the logic
used in connecting the Jonathan of WV to the Jonathan of KY. It was done by
pairing Jonathan Manley and his relative Cornelius Manley. The odds of both of
them appearing in both places, with all their known data matching, and being
two different pairs of people, is exceedingly unlikely. We could, if we chose,
extend that concept to a person paired with a correlate, not necessarily a
person. But I won’t go into that just yet. For now let’s just say we’re talking
about two pairs of people.
Now, let us imagine that we find Q.
What is it? It’s just a hypothetical primary source or collection of them. But
one example of Q would be a primary source (PS) or set of PSs
that shows the presence of:
r.) a Nancy Manley (personal data
consistent with P)
s.) Jonathan Manley (personal data
consistent with P)
t.) John or Jonathan Manley
(personal data consistent with P)
in the same close physical proximity
at about the same relevant time.
How is this Q? Because when matched
with other pairs found elsewhere this constitutes two coupled pairings. One is a pairing with the two Jonathan’s
named in the Oath of Fidelity in MD as Jonathan Manley, Junior and a John or
Jonathan Manley his father and the Jonathan and Jonathan (or John) located
wherever we found Q. The other coupled pairing is between Jonathan Manley and
Nancy Manley, the first pair appearing in WV and the other wherever we found Q.
Wherever Q is located, it shows that the Jonathan Manley there is the same one
that appeared in MD and WV and the
mystery is solved (altogether there are really 3 couplets; the third being
the one that ties the Jonathans of WV and KY together). Now, I mentioned
correlates because I would point out that if only two related things are
insufficient for someone to be convinced, we can add as many as we like until
we are all satisfied. But as a
first-order hypothesis, we need to start with the pairing described. Then we
can look for additional correlates to strengthen the case. I, personally,
am perfectly fine with a valid pairing of just 2 correlates prior to, say, 1820
(the population is small enough that oddities won’t likely emerge). If I
weren’t then I would have to seriously question just about all genealogy ever done. But I think that some people, having
little experience or understanding of probability, would feel better with 3, 4,
or, maybe, they’ll never be satisfied. To motivate what follows, I’ll just
point out that such a pair constitutes what I’ve called a putative AND
statement (abbreviated pAnd), which I mean to be that
the two things together putatively demonstrate a fact; i.e. it’s obviously
true. Otherwise all genealogy would have to be redone.
So, the first step is to find a
candidate for where Q might be found. We can do this by locating any one of the
persons supposedly mentioned by Q. One is Nancy Manley and that is the only one
found so far, the only one because by exhaustion of records - the last being
the account record in MD - we have no such candidate in MD. She is in Charles
City co., VA. She is a good candidate because we know she was not born Manley,
but was born Blanks. Therefore, we know that she is a Manley by marriage and
not birth (matches at least some of her required personal data).
A closer look at the Q document
By definition there are 3 logical
and material components to Q; call them r, s, and t. r is just the record we
have for Nancy Blanks Manley in Charles City co., VA. Material facts relevant
from that record include her being of the approximately appropriate age to be
married to Jonathan Manley, Senior of Warren co., KY. s is the hypothetical PS
or PSs that show the existence of Jonathan Manley in
Charles City co., VA whose personal data - whose material facts - shows him to
be in the approximate age frame of Jonathan Manley, Senior of Warren co., KY.
The t is the hypothetical PS or PSs that show the
existence of another Jonathan Manley or a John Manley in Charles City co., VA
whose personal data - or material facts - reflects a cohort one generation
prior to the Jonathan of s. Note that s and t are satisfied as components of Q
simply if they show the mere existence
of these two men in that county at the relevant time. This is because of P.
That is, P pAnd Q => the Jonathan Manley of Warren
co., KY; of [where Q is found], and of Prince George’s co., MD are, beyond any
reasonable doubt, one and the same. We will call this
Finally, an inventory of the
material elements of P. I’ll throw in Q at the relevant spots to make it clear
why P is crucial.
Now, we have the following records
(there are more correlates than this but I’ll be brief):
First couplet - C1
Pairing 1
1802 Cornelius Manley first appears
1805 Jonathan Manley, Senior first
appears Warren co., KY
1824 Cornelius Manley’s will is
probated indicated kinship to Jonathan Manley, Senior.
population Warren co., KY < 2’000
Pairing 2
1801 Cornelius Manley appears
1801 Jonathan Manley, Senior appears
1787 - 1802 Tax lists indicate probable
kinship between Cornelius Manley and Jonathan Manley
population Harrison co., WV <
2’000
This proves the pair match between
WV and KY (just like our example of two Gabriels
being the same guy - the odds are mathematically the same)
Quick note: this also proves that
the Jonathan Manley, Senior of Warren co., KY married Nancy Manley and not
Elizabeth Rawlings, a marriage for which there is not one scintilla of primary
source evidence. Even if he did marry her (figure the odds!), it had to be in
KY and none of the known descendents researching this are related to her
anyway. The KY land records may be indicative of a later marriage between Elizabeth and another Jonathan…just a possibility among many.
Second couplet - C2
Pairing 1 Q - Jonathan Manley,
Junior and Jonathan Manley, Senior or John Manley
Q time Jonathan Manley, Junior
appears at Q’s location
Q time Jonathan Manley, Senior OR
John Manley appears at Q’s location
population at Q probably < 2’000
Pairing 2 Prince George’s co., MD -
Jonathan Manley, Junior and Jonathan Manley, Senior or John Manley
1778 Jonathan Manley, Junior appears
Prince George’s co., MD
1778 Jonathan Manley, Senior or John
Manley appears patria nescio as father of Jonathan
Manley, Junior
population Prince George’s co., MD <
1’000
This proves the pair match between Q
and MD (just like our example of two Gabriels being
the same guy - the odds are mathematically the same)
Third couplet - C3
Pairing 1 Q - Jonathan Manley,
Junior and Nancy Manley
Q time Jonathan Manley, Junior
appears at Q’s location
Q time Nancy Manley appears at Q’s
location
population at Q probably < 2’000
Pairing 2 Q - Jonathan Manley and
Nancy Manley
1803 Jonathan Manley appears land
deed Harrison co., WV
1803 Nancy Manley appears on same
deed named as Jonathan’s wife Harrison co., WV
population Harrison co., WV <
2’000
This proves the pair match between Q
and WV (just like our example of two Gabriels being
the same guy - the odds are mathematically the same)
That is, C1 pAnd C2 pAnd C3
= P pAnd Q
=> U or
P pAnd Q
=> U
Which is what we sought to show;
Q.E.D.
Note: Once we actually do find Q the
primary sources alluded to in each couplet will be the full set of documents
necessary to trace the line back to Jonathan Manley I, the father of Jonathan
Manley, Senior of Warren co., KY. We have some of those documents now. The
remainder constitutes Q.
So, what is the take-away from that
long-winded thesis? Well, as a
first-order hypothesis, we need to start with the pairing described. Then we
can look for additional correlates to strengthen the case. As for my efforts,
all roads lead to Charles City co., VA until I learn differently.
18 August, 2006 - James Blanks,
Blanks family and ancestors had long ties to Charles City co., VA dating back
to late 1600’s
I’ve searched two genealogy
libraries since my last news piece and found, to my dismay, that there were few
if any indices on Charles City co., VA at either library (only one index
covered the relevant time period and it indexed only a tiny fraction of extant
records). If anyone has access to the library at
15 August, 2006 - Jonathan Manley,
Sr. of Warren co., KY may not have originated with
The account record of John Manley of
Prince George’s co., MD arrived yesterday from the MD State Archives. It was a
surprise and probably raises more questions than it answers. Normally an
account record lists the names of the lawful heirs to an estate. In the late
1700’s it would at least name the eldest male and widow. This account names
only the apparent widow, Elizabeth Manley. We know from the deed record that
Elizabeth Manley had an apparent eldest male child named John Manley to whom
she gave the inventoried items on 12 December, 1785. The account was done in an
orphans (orphans Judge Joseph Beall) court and she
asked for an allowance from the estate (presumably for rearing a minor thence
to avoid an orphanage). Moreover, John Manley appears to have died not in 1783
but on (27 March 1781, 27 May 1781). All this strongly suggests that John
Manley was a very young man and it seems highly unlikely that a man who had to
have been born before 1730 would be having his first male child in the 1770s.
This coupled with the locating of Nancy Blanks Manley at Charles City co., VA
is beginning to suggest a paradigm shift. A statewide trace prior to 1787 on
the combination ‘Nancy Manley’ (Nancey Manley - Nancy
Manly - Nancey Manly) in WV, VA, PA, DE, MD, NC and
SC resulted in the one hit aforementioned There was also the later hit in 1803
in which the WV court clerk unambiguously calls her Nancy Manley wife of
Jonathan Manley (“Jonathan Manley and his wife Nancy Manley”) three times. I now
have more new records (previously unknown) on Jonathan Manley, about a dozen,
than I have on any one Manley in St. Mary’s co., MD. Yet with half as many
records I can at least guess what the family connections were. With Jonathan I
can find no candidate in the area that would fit the description of father or
mother. Everyone is accounted for. Common sense and experience in colonial
records tells me that given these facts he probably was not from that area.
There are really two types of records we’re talking about here. The first is
merely the kind that shows somebody exists at a time and place (what I’m
referring to) and the second is the type that demonstrates familial relations
(which do NOT always exist). Records of the first kind DO exist and if someone
is there for at least 5 years SOMETHING will show up. This pattern holds for
Jonathan Manley quite well all the way back to 1776 at MD - I have a more or
less continuous record of where he was and when. Neither he nor his parents
were in MD prior to 1771 (1776 - 5 yrs). The John Manley who died in 1781, the
last candidate to establish that flow of evidence, was the right age to be
Jonathan’s brother, not father. I’ve turned the entire state of MD upside down
and shaken it and there is no trace of an older Jonathan Manley or other
suitable Manley there. Perhaps Jonathan and Thomas were nearest kin to John
Manley because they were brothers and perhaps these three brothers originated
from the Charles City co., VA area, went to MD to fight in the revolutionary
war, little John R. was born there, brother John was killed, brother Thomas
appeared at Warren co., KY on 1820 (only trace I’ve gotten on a Thomas Manley
of the appropriate age) and Jonathan moved on to WV. The war service would have
been through local militias (Jonathan 1776 Bladensburg - earliest MD hit) and
not the Continental Army. That fits the evidence a lot better. There are other
known Manley clans closer to Charles City co., VA that could be related.
Origins in VA may also explain why John R.s children
seemed to think he was born in VA instead of MD. John R. was twice right (USC
1850, 1860), but the children confused it with his father’s birthplace as John
R. would have been born in as little as 2 years after arriving from VA. It may
also be the case that Jonathan’s father was indeed Jonathan (he signed the Oath
of Fidelity as “Junior”), but I’ll hold out for the possibility that it was
John because of nickname similiarities. I think his
father was one or the other as no other related John or Jonathan Senior has
been found in MD at that time (1778). As
soon as I can get my hands on the indexes for Charles City co., VA I’ll update
again. The pedigree on this site was entirely dependent on what seemed like the
reasonable assumption that Jonathan Manley originated with