About 20 years ago in the research into the TERRY family line of Botetourt County, Virginia came a claim that the presumed first wife of William Terry was a Keziah Hale Terry. Some mash the names of the second wife to create Keziah Rachael, Rachel Kezia, etc.
The claim is now chosen and added to trees with abandon and no citations as to the sources on which this claim is based included.
At about that same time, a claim of descent of this man from a early line of a James or John Tierry with a wife name Elizabeth Gale Pierpont and whose grave labels him a "gentleman" also appeared and the line was described as John to William I to William 2 of "Terry's Run, Orange Co., Va."and later Botetourt Co., Va. "Elmwood" (an interesting historical location in Roanoake that appears to have been settled by a distantly related eastern coastal area group of Terry's - but that is another story. The DNA reflects a large group of those coastal Terry's fall into a I-01 Haplogroup and the Roanoak groups fall into I-02/I-2a2 and one line in a G-02 group).
Once in Botetourt various legal and historic documents paint a picture of a man William Terry who arrived with a relative of some kind, Jasper Terry around 1744 in the area of Augusta County from which Botetourt County would be carved.
Further legal documents suggest his children to be eight named :
William Jr. with wife Patience Cooper. His will leaves money to son of Miles Terry
John and wife Esther Brown (descendants of this line fall within the I-2a2 haplogroup and have suggested links to William and Rachel Terry)
Mercy and husband Jonathan Harrison
Miles who married Hannah Horton (had has son by name of the child left funds by Wm Jr.)
Jasper (There are an apparent trio of Jaspers in the region at the same time ca 1793-1804: (1) a Jasper with wife Ruth ?; (2) A Jasper with a wife Margaret (based on the name of the step-daughter it is presumed to be Snidow); and (3) the family of a Jasper Terry with wife Mary [presumed Morrison] who have the G-02 group])
Susannah who married brother of Esther Brown, Thomas Brown
Rachel who married John Martin
Jemima who married Ezekiel Boucher and died barely a year later.
One document identifies his wife as "Rachel" and since no marriage records of a William Terry and Rachel in the time frame in the area have ever been found - researchers cast a wider net and found one for a William Terry and Rachel Manson in 1759 in Philadelphia. They disappear from that locale and seem to fit the bill despite the long journey. Colonial roads make a direct connection between Philadelphia and the early Roanoke area (Botetourt region).
When the claim of a Keziah Hale who married a William Terry are examined there is a paucity of records proving any such union took place. There are, apparently, no records of her existence at all! His are equally questionable. Many trees appear to have information inserted to make a match happen.
It is probable that the line of the John Tierry - found on the eastern Virginia, NC, SC and southern realms - came down the eastern seaboard and may connect to that I-01 Haplogroup. That line includes names such as James, John, Champness, Benjamin, Stephen, Nathaniel, a William or two.
The group to which William Terry of Botetourt Co., Va belongs contains a tradition across several lines and generations of names John, William, Miles, Jasper, Josiah, Martin, Thomas. All names found in the Terry's comprising the large widespread group in Bucks Co., PA. A group that has a Jasper Terry who married a Mary Hart (whose mother's maiden name is thought to be Miles). This man, along with his inlaws and other family members left Bucks Co., PA and headed down into August Co. Va.
Historical records of the 1740-1760 years reveal the presence of Harts (Thomas, Aron, Miles and others) working alongside that early Jasper and William Terry. Add to this the closer DNA grouping match and it is likely that this is the source of the William Terry as well. A cousin, orphaned child of a dead relative, a troublesome son seeking to make his mark, all provide explanations without evidence but are still viable.
According to the birth date of the Jasper Terry of Bucks Co. (abt 1716) who married Mary Hart, he was possibly a bit older than William (abt 1724). William in the 1780's is exempted from future taxes due to old age. In that time average death age was aby 40 and if born in 1724 he was mid-fifties when exempted. He dies in 1783 (based on legal documents mentioned his widow). Jasper Terry and Mary may have removed, along with Thomas Hart, to the southeast where it is assumed they died (using the same scale for Jasper as for William he might have died around 1775).
As for a Kezia Hale who is suggested as the mystery wife of William Terry. All the birthdates not supported by other records or family records are guesses (usually based on the belief a person married at a certain age window or would have first birthed a child at a certain age window). Even the "facts" carved into stone on graves is subject to being wrong.
That being said the only Keziah Hale women found are apparently all taken. They have other husbands for the time period, birth other children or simply do not exist in the right time and place. Plus, they have some documentary evidence to support those relationships, dates, etc. With this "William and Keziah" they appear to be plucked out of thin air to fill a void.
All this brings up back to a mythical William Terry who married a Keziah Hale. Myth it is until some evidence or a solid set of facts are presented to argue for the existence of him and the reality of her and the marriage.
"Show me the evidence!" should be the cry of every family historian. Evidence shared so others can interpret, apply, and mull over previous assumptions or provide counter evidence of a wrong turn in our own assumptions.
Now, with DNA cutting a swath through the forest, the trees are becoming a bit clearer.
