The Children of John and Esther Brown Terry, Perry County, Indiana

This line is very substantiated and verified due to early work by descendants Lula Terry Elliot, New Wray, Ruth Terry Preston, Dennis Terry and others. The descendants of the Perry Co., Indiana group of younger children were especially detailed in their history.  The older children, as they often did in that time, launched off and led lives often distant to their parents in that pioneer era. Yet, they retained some connection with their extended family and friends through letters and visits.

            John TERRY (1760-1842) married Esther BROWN 2 Feb. 1781 in Botetourt Co., VA. The first two or so years of their marriage was in Botetourt County, Va. At the time of his father's death it believed that several family members were making a move (1793) and by the time the estate is being settled and all eight children are settling their shares of land circa 1804-1809, John identifies his residence as Anderson Co., Tennessee. A John Terry can be found on Hawkins County, TN records for 1789,1793,1800, and 1801 (as can records of a John Martin, who it is believed was the spouse of John's sister Rachel Terry Martin). Various other court records of the county and time reveal the presence of a John Terry.

It is believed their children were:

                a.      Josiah TERRY (b.1780-1868) (Proven via DNA; I-02). He opted to return to or remain in Tennessee. He had 13 children. He was born in Va and died in Wayne Co., Ky. He md #1 Nancy THOMAS. Apparently were living in Anderson Co., TN when they had son Joseph (1806-1863) md Minerva Stephenson; William (1808-?) md Ithema Payton and had 4 children (Josiah, Wm, Nancy J, Mildred A. . He md #2 Nancy STEVENS (d/o of Edmund Stevens), they had 11 children: Martin (1820-?) md Nancy Thompson, 2 sons; md #2 Sarah Davis and had three sons; Rachel (1821-1890) md Richard Smith and had 17 children; James (1823-?) md Tilda (Polly or Pop) Smith d/o Isaac and Matilda Elliot and had 8 children; Esther (1825-?) md Thomas L Phillips; Alsie (1827 - 1871) md Jonathan Phillips had five children with Esther; Edmund (1830-?); Milton  1834-1904) md Jane Thomas and had 10 children; Nancy (1836 - md Ely Roysden; Themie (Ithema) 1839-1909, md Jackson Smith; Josiah Jr. (1842-1911) md Johanna Roysden, and had 9 children.

               b.     William TERRY (1785-1869) md Barbara ENNIS (Proven via DNA; I-02). William  and John Jr. apparently followed the parents into Indiana, with William possibly moving into Gibson Co. on land originally purchased by Miles for his father and then later William purchased his own land, as did John. When they leave in the 1830's it appears they may have sold the land back to family.

               c.      John TERRY  Jr(1790-1848) md Nancy ENNIS (Proven via DNA:I-02). see above

               d.     George Freton TERRY (twin- 1788-c1865)

             e.     Haden TERRY ( twin-1788-?after 1809). He is listed on the 1809 tax list of Wayne Co., TN.

             f.      Elijah TERRY (1791 TN-?). Left Wayne Co., KY with brother Josiah around 1815 when their father went to Perry Co., Ind. Found on the 1850 Scott Co., TN census with a wife Sary, sons ELijah Jr., Marion, and Calvin (who became a Baptist minister). He had daughters Helen, Naomi, Emily, Easter and Serepta. According to divorce records of Wayne Co., Ky (1828) Elijah left that county one night with one Sally Rice Foster, wife of a Charles Foster. They went to Scott Co. and lived.

               g.      Daniel TERRY (1791-?)   . He was listed on the 1818 Campbell Co., TN tax list along with Josiah, Elijah and a John Jr. It is the general area of earlier Hawkins, that became Campbell Co. and contains the area where Onieda, Scott Co., now sits.      

              h.    Jasper TERRY  (b. TN/KY (some question about him; reference to notes about him being a brother but so far the text of those notes or the rationale are unclear)

                i.      Esther TERRY (John WHITE) (1798-?)

                j.      Elisha TERRY (7 Jan 1816 -?) md Salley Small.

                k.     Rachel TERRY (1804-1867) md Thomas Sandage April 15, 1821.

                l.      Elias TERRY (10 Sept 1807-?) md Eleanor Sandage, September 18, 1826.

               m.     Miles TERRY  (11 March 1809- ?) md Nancy A. Baswell.

                n.    Thomas TERRY (1814-1853) md Polly Bradshaw.

        This John TERRY during his life is in the area of Montgomery-Wythe Co., Va.; Hawkins Co., Anderson, Knox, counties in TN; Perry County, IND.   This is surmised from the presence of a John TERRY in the locales associated with various births and wills.   Also, letters from the period indicate that William TERRY (1785-1869) did indeed have brothers named John and Josiah.  In addition, William will make reference to a family named Martin living nearby being of the “old stock of Martin” – those Martins came from Hawkins Co., Tennessee (where William was born) and there were was   Aunt Rachel who married a John Martin. 

            These all tie together to provide logical areas in which to find the migrating family as they left Virginia. The family figured in areas out of which other counties were formed: Augusta into Botetourt Co. into Montgomery Co. into Wythe Co., all a southwest movement toward the Cumberland Gap and Holston Valley areas which were major entries into the wilderness. T entrance into the area William Terry, son of John, always claimed as his birthplace, the Sullivan-Hawkins Co. areas of Tennessee.  

Following known trails of the day, they would have angled back northwest heading across Kentucky toward the Louisville area and Adair Co. (where it is believed William may hay married Barbara Ennis and they had their eldest son, William.

Finally, they traveled through the area known as Anderson and Knox Counties in Tennessee into those areas when they became Indiana and then to settled in Perry Co., IND.    There is a John TERRY in Hawkins Co., Tennessee the known birthplace of William (1785-1869) in the 1790’s according to deeds of the period. [1]

              This same John TERRY was in Anderson County, Tennessee in 1792 when his father in Botetourt County, VA died.  John subsequently sold his inheritance to his brother-in-law, Thomas BROWN.  This land was in Botetourt County, Virginia, on “Murray Creek” that had been formerly known as Black Creek and was land where William TERRY “deceased” had lived.[2]  

            Earlier origins are hinted at by noting the oral history of the TERRYS of Perry Co., Ind. and those of Barry Co., Mo.     In Lula Terry ELLIOT’s work A Partial History of William Terry and his descendants, 1724-1981, one descendent, Bertha Terry BEATTY cites stories in their family that two brothers immigrated to America in the 1600’s.   One brother stayed in the New England area and the others headed south into Virginia.[3] .  

Interestingly enough, the Terry line in Bucks Co., Pennsylvania, descending through one Thomas Terry has links to a man who died in early New York State and has probable links back to three men (two brothers and a likely cousin) who came from England. The men (Thomas, Richard and Robert? arrived in 1635 aboard a ship called The James in the time of the Great Migration when people were leaving England and Europe as “dissenters” to the religious persecution and economic hardships at home.

              

[1]      Hawkins County, Tennessee Register of Deeds, vol. 1-2, 1787-1906.[microfilm].  In this and the Sullivan County Tennessee records only one TERRY is found, a John TERRY in 1792-1800 in Hawkins Co.

[2]      Botetourt County, VA, Deed Book 8, pg. 602, June 1805. I’m not sure who first proposed the possible connection between the Terry’s of Botetourt Co. and those in Indiana, Tennessee, and Missouri, but I suspect some of the earliest were Nell WRAY and Ruth Terry PRESTON.  As early as 1984, Lulla Terry ELLIOT was noting a connection between her Anderson Co., IN Terry’s and the Virginia group.

[3]       Elliot, Lula Terry. A Partial History of William Terry and his Descendants –1724-1981. (Self-published, no date): 7,9,29-30,130.

[4]       This motif appears in many family tales across a wide range of family lines and may represent the contemporary equivalent of a modern car crash or cancer as mortality factors.

SEE THE ELLIOT AND GEORGE TERRY SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION (bibliography entry this blog.)