A Look at Family Origins:
Where
They Came From and How They Arrived in Southwest Virginia
Below is a listing of the
major surnames of the Roseberry-Keister family by national origin. Most of these have been traced to the
European immigrant although some were deduced from the name (i.e. Duncan is
considered Scottish).
The English
surnames include the families of Burnop
(Westmorland), Godbey, Hanks (Gloucester), Hinds,
Hylton (or Hilton), King, Mills, Roseberry,
Sutton, White and Whitt (or Whit). One interesting family has what appears to
be the obviously French name of DAUX but the only mention of the earliest known
ancestor refers to Richard Daux of London.
This totals 11 families, not including the Daux family.
Only a few of the
English immigrants to Virginia are known.
Here is how they arrived in southwest Virginia.
Richard Burnop
immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1858 but within a few months was in Washington
Co., Virginia. If this is correct he probably
came down the Great Wagon Trail in the Shenandoah Valley.
Thomas Godbey
arrived in Jamestown, Virginia May 23, 1610 making him the earliest of all the
Roseberry-Keister families to arrive in America. Thomas’ g-g-grandson, John Godby was in southwest Virginia by 1750. The Godbeys are one of the English settlers
who worked their way from the Tidewater across Virginia into the Shenandoah
Valley.
Thomas Hanks
emigrated from Gloucester Co., England to Virginia and was found in Richmond
Co., Virginia by 1655. Thomas’
g-g-grandson, Joshua Hanks made his way west across Virginia, probably with his
father Richard Hanks, all the way into North Carolina where Joshua
married. Joshua and his wife, Ruth
Bryant, then moved into Grayson County, Virginia and died in Carroll County,
Virginia.
The Hylton family
appears to have immigrated directly to Virginia before 1699. John Bryant Hylton was one of the family to
make his way from Goochland Parish, Virginia across the state into what was
eventually Floyd County, Virginia.
John Whitt was born
in England but by 1670 owned land in Stafford Co., Virginia. Some of his children are found in the
records of Charles City County, Virginia.
John’s son, Richard made his way across the state before dying in North
Carolina. Richard also had a son named
Richard. Richard Jr. is listed by
secondary sources as marrying and have children in southwest Virginia from
1755-1774 but the earliest land record listing him is from 1774.
What these
immigrants reflect is the first wave of English settlers in Virginia. Beginning in Jamestown they begin to move
inland approximately 50 miles throughout the 17th century. Thomas Godbey’s arrival in 1610 on the
Deliverance made him one of the earliest Virginia settlers. He survived the Indian massacre of 1622 only
to be murdered by a neighbor in 1628 in what can only be called a drunken brawl.
There are some
Scottish surnames including the families of Bane, Duncan, and
PAtton.
The Pattons are a
particularly interesting family. They
are the original Scotch-Irish. From
Ferrochie, Fifeshire in Scotland, the Pattons settled in Ireland in the early
17th century during the King James Plantation. Capt. John Patton immigrated to Pennsylvania
in about 1730. In 1745 he was the first
sheriff of Augusta Co., Virginia making him another to travel to Virginia by
way of the Shenandoah Valley.
Mordecai Bane
immigrated to America, possibly with his father James, and is found in Chester
Co., Pennsylvania in 1705 when he married Naomi Medley. Mordecai’s daughter, Mary Jane married James
Burke and came to Virginia with him by way of the Shenandoah Valley.
There is no
information on when the Duncans immigrated.
The Irish surnames include the
families of Burk and GLASGOW. James Burke immigrated from Ireland to
America between 1720-1725 and is first found in Chester Co., Pennsylvania. He was one of the earliest to come down the
Shenandoah Valley into Virginia and later North Carolina. We don’t have any information on when the
Glasgow family immigrated.
The
Germans
The German
surnames include the families of AngstaTT
(Alsace), Beck (Wurttemberg), Carper, Fillenger, Fischbach, Foster, Heimbach (Nassau-Siegen), Holtzclaw (Nassau-Siegen), ILLER, Keister (or Kuster) ,
Long (or Lang), Morricle,
Otterbach (Nassau-Siegen), Schreyer,
Solbach, Songer (or Zanger),
StuellS (Nassau-Siegen), Weaver (or
Weber), WEDDLE (or Waidele) and Wysor.
Other Germanic names are the
ShufflebargeRS (Switzerland) and the Shell family. This
totals 22 families. Four of these are
from the Nassau-Siegen are and were part of the 1714 settling of Germanna in
Virginia. Many more German families
could be included because of B. C. Holtzclaw’s intensive research of the
Germanna immigrants. He traced the ancestors
of these immigrants back many generations in Germany leading to more surnames
which have not been included. The
Nassau-Siegen Germans that did not immigrate are not included except for the
Stuell family who are personal favorites due to the burning as a witch of one
of the earliest known Stuells.
Hans Georg Angstatt
immigrated from northern Alsace in 1733 to Pennsylvania. His grandson George Songer traveled into
southwest Virginia on the Great Wagon Trail in the Shenandoah Valley.
Elizabeth Beck
immigrated to Pennsylvania in about 1754 with her father, Hans Jerg Beck. She married Adam Weiser in 1755 and they
also moved into Virginia on the Great Wagon Trail. Adam is found on a 1795 land record in Montgomery County,
Virginia but was in Virginia as early as 1765 when he and Elizabeth resided in
Frederick County, Virginia.
John Carper’s
ancestors are unknown but they apparently moved down the Great Wagon
Trail. John Carper was born in
Frederick County, Virginia and moved south into Montgomery County, Virginia
after the Revolutionary War.
Jacob Fillenger was
born in Germany, immigrated to Pennsylvania and then moved south down the
Shenandoah Valley into southwest Virginia.
The Fischbachs, Heimbachs, Holtzclaws and
Otterbachs are part of the Germanna
immigrants. This is a special group
among the German families, among the few who did not immigrate to Pennsylvania
and then later move down the Shenandoah Valley. They and others came from Nassau-Siegen in Germany to Virginia in
1714, the first organized group of German immigrants to land in Virginia. They were brought to Virginia by Governor
Spotswood because of their mining expertise.
Elizabeth Holtzclaw married John Duncan, Sr. and they moved from
Fauquier County, Virginia to Montgomery County, Virginia after the
Revolutionary War.
John Jacob Iller
was a German immigrant. He was born in
1717 and although the date of immigration is not known, by 1742 he was in York
County, Pennsylvania. Jacob’s daughter,
Anna Maria married Benjamin Weddle in Pennsylvania and they moved south down
the Shenandoah Valley settling in Montgomery County, Virginia.
Philip Keister, Sr.
was born in app. 1730 in Germany. He
immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1751. He traveled south on the Great Wagon Trail, staying a number in
Rockingham County, Virginia before settling in Montgomery County, Virginia in
1800.
Stephen Lang is
another German immigrant to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania arriving there in
1738. His son Joseph Long moved down
the Shenandoah Valley ending at Tom’s Creek (Blacksburg) in Montgomery County,
Virginia.
William Morricle, Sr. immigrated in about
1768 but is first found in America in Frederick County, Maryland where he
married and had several children. He
would have still come down the Shenandoah Valley trail, settling in Montgomery
County, Virginia in 1791 in what later became Floyd County, Virginia.
The Songer (Sanger,
Zanger) immigrant was Jacob Songer. The
date of immigration is unknown but in 1756 in was residing in Berks County,
Pennsylvania. Jacob too moved south on
the Great Wagon Trail. He settled in
Rockingham County. Jacob’s son, George,
moved further south in Virginia and died in Montgomery County, Virginia.
The details on
George Weaver, Sr. (Weber) are sketchy but he was born in about 1747 in
Germany, immigrated to Pennsylvania before 1773 and was in Montgomery County,
Virginia by 1783 in the area that became Floyd County later.
More details are
available on Michael Weddle (Waidele) who was born in 1681 in the Lorraine
region of Germany. He immigrated to
America and died in York County, Pennsylvania.
It was Michael’s son, Martin, that came down the Great Wagon Road to
southwest Virginia. Martin died in 1783
in Botetourt County, Virginia. Martin’s
son, Benjamin, is first found in the Montgomery County, Virginia land records
in 1790.
Adam Wysor (Weiser)
was born in about 1729 in Germany and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1751. Following the Revolutionary War, Adam Wysor
moved south into Virginia, again on the Great Wagon Road. He settled in Montgomery County in an area
that later became Pulaski County.
Details are again
sketchy on the Shufflebarger family.
Secondary sources say John Shufflebarger was born in Switzerland in
about 1720. John’s son, Jacob, lived in
Pennsylvania in 1762 when his son, Elias, was born. By 1800, Jacob Shufflebarger and his family had moved to
Montgomery County, Virginia, another Pennsylvania family that entered Virginia
by way of the Shenandoah Valley.
The Scots, Irish
and Germans reflect the waves of immigrants that arrived in America throughout
the 18th century. The
Roseberry-Keister family immigrants mostly arrived in Pennsylvania where some
lived 15-20 years before immigrating down the Great Indian Warpath which became
known as the Great Wagon Road. This
path or road was simply the Shenandoah Valley, a convenient way to move south
from Pennsylvania. You can follow it
today by driving up or down the Virginia portion of I-81.
Of the 39 families
listed, 56% (22 families) are German, 28% (11 families) are English, 8% (3 families)
are Scottish, 5% (2 families) are Irish and 3% (1 family) are French.
ROSEBERRY-SUTTON
/ KEISTER-FOSTER
/ HOWELL-BURNOP
Major
Surname Index / Complete
Index