Who Was Cornelius Payton

WHO WAS CORNELIUS PAYTON?

When I was a young woman with my first child on the way, I did an oral history for my grandmother, Ella Frances Payton Oliver. She gave me the names of her grandparents, her parents, her siblings, her aunts and uncles and her cousins. Her grandfather was Randolph Payton who married Sarah Ann Mahaley Talton. He was born in 1822 in Madison County, Georgia. For years, this was all I had until a fellow researcher told me about The Peytons of Virginia, Vol II by the Peyton Society of Virginia. They had a whole pedigree for Randolph’s ancestors as follows:

Thomas Peyton (1580) of Horsley Parish England

Philip Peyton (1612) of Gloucester County, England

Philip Peyton (1644 England) - Westmoreland County, Virginia

Valentine Peyton (1680) of Westmoreland County, Virginia

William Peyton I (1718) of Stafford County, Virginia

William Payton II (1742) of Stafford County, Virginia

Cornelius Payton b. 1777 Va migrated to Madison County, Georgia

Randolph Payton b. 1822 Madison County, Georgia

Thomas Asbury Cleveland Payton b. 1850 DeKalb County, Georgia

Ella Frances Payton b. DeKalb County, Georgia (my grandmother)

I eagerly added this information to my genealogy database and was satisfied with it until several male descendants of this line decided to do a YDNA test. As the Payton/Peyton YDNA project grew in numbers over the years, something strange began to happen. The participants from the line of my Payton family did not match any other Peyton/Payton family, even the ones we were supposed to match according to The Peyton of Virginia Vol. II. We did not even share the same haplotype. Now, Cornelius Payton and his siblings were orphans from an unknown ancestry.

The father of siblings[1] William C, Margaret, George, Leroy, Gabriel, Elizabeth, Moses, Cornelius, and Randolph Payton has been speculated by the Peyton/Payton YDNA project coordinator as William Payton who died c. 1800 in Georgia. The birthplace of this William has been speculated as Stafford County, Virginia. Descendants of William C, Leroy, Moses and Cornelius have matching YDNA. Their YDNA does not match any of the other Peyton families in the project but they do have two Humphrey matches and two Prichard matches that are close enough in genetic distance to indicate a common ancestor. Since Humphrey and Prichard (“ap Richard”) are both Welsh names, they could be related to each other through a common Welsh ancestor who may not have been named Humphrey or Prichard. The Welsh naming system used the first name of the child and the first name of the father with “ap” between the two. Humphrey ap Hugh was the ancestor of the Humphrey family of our YDNA match. The children of his son Owen ap Hugh took the name Owens or Owings in America. Humphrey and Prichard families migrated from Wales to Chester Co, PA. See Humphrey and Prichard pedigrees for families they have in common. I had to approach this problem through the pedigrees of our YDNA matches and hope that something stuck out that would signal that I was on the right course.

I learned a lot while researching my family history. I studied books written about my ancestral families, I took genealogy seminars, I studied for the genealogy certification, I took courses on DNA and I studied the morals, customs and social lives of the colonists in early America, I went to family message boards. I learned that when the genealogy of a family like my Payton family hits a brick wall, the rules have to be bent. Sure, documentation proof is most desirable, but when it is missing due to fires, floods, wars, rodents and insects over three or four centuries, other resources must be pursued, sometimes using unorthodox methods. Hey, if it works who is to say it is unorthodox. And, during the many years of my research, I learned a few things about researching Southern families.

1. Marriages before the Civil War were really contracts between two families. The

bride and groom had little say in the process. A lot was riding on finding the “suitable” spouse[2] for a son or daughter: Land, slaves and other goods of value were at stake. Family reputation was important. Marry someone your family did not approve of and you got disinherited. I have read many wills that spell this out. Mostly Southerners married into families they were already related to. They already knew the family reputations and they would insure that the family fortune stayed in the family. First cousin marriages were common.

1. Once someone married into a family they brought all their other relations into the

family as well. The children of all the bride’s siblings and cousins would now be considered as “suitable” marriage partners for the children of all the siblings and cousins of the groom. They were not marrying a spouse, they were marrying a family. Family relationships were complicated. Sometimes they knew who they were related to but not how they were related. The term “cousin” was used very loosely. And, to make sure family relationships were honored, they named children with names of prominent families they were related to. Many families gave their children given names that were the last names of their family connections.

1. Related families moved in herds like buffalo. Siblings, cousins, in-laws, cousins of

in-laws all moved together or one family moved first and others soon followed. If you find one family in any given area you will find members of families they were related to in the previous location as well. Moving in groups of related families insured that you brought your social, financial and spiritual network with you as well. You were never alone in a strange place.

1. Both men and women, even in the upper classes, had affairs that resulted in out of

wedlock children, even in the upper classes. The Bastardy Bonds of North Carolina[3] are an eye opening volume to read. Women had to reveal the father of the child to the courts and he then had to post a bond to insure the support of the child until the age of majority. If she refused to name him, her father or brother or Uncle or another relative posted the bond for her. Bastard children (that was the term the courts used) were often bound out to other families to train for a career. Children as young as 4 and 5 were bound out.

1. Once a branch of a family wandered off to another location, all communication was not cut off with that branch by other branches who stayed put or by other branches who went the other way. They wrote to each other. I enjoy reading letters from family members who were separated by distance. They did not write a lot of letters, but they did write long chatty letters that included births, deaths, illness, financial problems, weather, crops, friends, etc. They also visited each other, especially if they were hunting for a suitable spouse for their son or daughter. Families in different locations knew a lot about each other because family is an important social/financial/spiritual institution. One member of these two families in locations separated by long distances might even name a son or daughter after the son or daughter of the other family to keep the family relationship close despite the miles between them. This proved to be a big help when trying to connect two families with the same unusual given names but living in separate states.

1. When a family name is used as a given name, there is usually some connection to that family. Our Payton family has given names of Randolph, Shelton, Jarrett, Mayfield, Chesley and Houston. How were we connected to families by those names? I checked the pedigrees of families by those names to find any connections. And, given names are carried down the centuries in the same families. When I found the same given name in two seemingly unrelated families, like Matthew Houston Patton named after his Houston grandmother and Matthew Houston Payton, a descendant of my ancestor Cornelius Payton, I want to know how the name got passed down between the two families. And, how did my great-grandfather get the name Thomas Asbury Cleveland Payton?

A.FAMILY OF William C, Leroy, Moses and Cornelius PAYTON[4]

A1. William C. Payton born C. 1762 in Virginia married Rheby (Rebecca?) Unknown.

Died between 1812 and 1819 Georgia. Children: (A10) Howard Payton (A11)

William Payton

A2. Margaret Payton born 1763 Virginia or North Carolina married John Russell, Sr.

Died circa 1808 Wilkes County, Georgia. Children: (A12) Robert Russell

(A13) William Russell (A14) Thomas Russell (A15) John Russell

A3. George Payton served in the War of 1812 married Susannah Unknown. 1805 Georgia

Land Lottery. No further information

A4. Leroy Payton born 1768 Virginia married Milly Rogers. Children: (A16) Chesley

Payton (A17) Nancy Payton (A18) Leroy Payton, Jr. (A19) James Payton (A20)

Sarah Payton (A21) Mary “Polly” Payton (A22) Lourey Payton

1805 Georgia Land Lottery

A5. Gabriel Payton born 1770 in Amherst Co, Virginia married Nancy Price (daughter of

Thomas Price and Elizabeth Ellis[5]). Died 1853 Hardin Co, Ky. Children: (A23)

Reuben Payton (A24) Amanda Payton

1805 Georgia land lottery. Census 1810 and 1820 Hardin Co, KY along with Charles Payton, Peggy Payton and William Humphrey who was probably the son of William Humphrey (YDNA MATCH FAMILY) who married Elizabeth Threlkeld from the B line below. Gabriel’s brother Moses had Archibald Payton who married Jemimah Humphrey from the same line. Gabriel’s son Reuben married Jemimah Humphrey Also from the B line in Hardin Co, KY is Alexander Bryant who married Anne Peyton, daughter of James Peyton and Susannah Threlkeld. I find it interesting that members of two separate Payton/Peyton lines would be in the same place at the same time without being related. I do not believe that they are unrelated. I believe that they are from the same line. However, there were Patton families in Hardin County, KY which gives some strength to my theory that Payton could have been Patton and changed their name because they identified with their Peyton cousins.

Southern families were close knit and tended to intermarry with each other over and over and tended to migrate to the same places together. Family was the main social, spiritual, and financial support for individuals. If more than one related family moved to another location, other related families moved with them or soon thereafter. It is known that Humphrey, Peyton, Threlkeld and Patton were related to each other and therefore it is no surprise that they, or families related to them, are found together in Hardin Co, KY as they were found together in Stafford County, Virginia prior to being in Georgia at the same time.

Gabriel Payton was in Georgia first before moving to Hardin Co, KY. Leroy Payton was in Georgia before he moved to TN. Families related to the Humphrey and Threlkeld families from Stafford Co, Va migrated to the same area of Georgia. There are Pattons from the Burke Co, NC Pattons in that area of Georgia as well. These families were also found in TN at the same time as a descendant of Leroy Payton. My view of this is that several members of the same Peyton/Payton/Patton family split up and migrated to other areas. Some moved to Georgia and then split up and one went on to TN and then Indiana. Others stayed in Georgia (Moses, Cornelius, William C) and intermarried with Threlkeld and Threlkeld related families several times. The family of Gabriel and his Threlkeld, Humphrey, Patton and Thompson relations migrated to Hardin Co, KY. Check out the State/County records to see how many of these families were in the same places at the same times. THIS IS NO COINCIDENCE

See Moses Payton A7 for more connections.

A6. Elizabeth Payton born between 1774 and 1784 in Virginia married John Bell. No

further information.

A7. Moses Payton born 1775 Virginia married Nancy Bryant. 1820 Madison County,

Georgia census, 1830, 1840 Elbert County, Georgia. Died 1850 Elbert County Georgia. Children: (A25) George Payton, (A26) William Payton (A27) John A Payton (A28) Nancy Payton (A29) Moses Payton (A30) Archibald Payton (A31) Elizabeth Payton (A32) Henry D Payton (A33) Ann Payton.

Who was the Moses Peyton in Maurey County, TN in 1811 with Robert Patton and Henry Payton?

I believe that Moses Payton was named after Moses Threlkeld who married his cousin Anne Peyton the daughter of James Peyton and Susannah Threlkeld. Anne Peyton also married Alexander Bryant who in 1780 was on the Hardin Co, KY military records in Squire Boone’s company. Moses Payton (b. 1777) married a Nancy Bryant who could have been a cousin. Anne Peyton and Alexander Bryant. had a Ruth Bryant and Jane Bryant in KY. Did they also have a Nancy or was Nancy a cousin of Alexander from the same Bryant line?

Squire Boone was the father of the famous Daniel Boone who married Rebecca Bryan from the same Bryan family as the Bryan ancestors of Milda Catherine Kelley who married Thomas Asbury Cleveland Payton, son of Randolph Payton, son of Cornelius Payton, brother of Moses.

Moses Payton’s son Archibald married Malinda Threlkeld. Cornelius’ grandson Matthew Houston Payton married Myrtie Boone (pedigree unclear). Coincidence?

See section B following and see Hardin Co, KY records.

If Moses, Cornelius, Leroy, William C and Gabriel Payton are from the Peyton line of James Peyton and Susannah Threlkeld, why does the YDNA of other descendants of this line not match with the descendants of Moses, Cornelius, Leroy and William C. There could have been an incident such as an out of wedlock birth that left us with a Payton name but the YDNA of another family. Or, there could have been an adoption where a Payton family adopted a child from another family with different YDNA.

It is interesting that William Humphrey (from the line of the Humphrey family with a descendant who matches the YDNA of descendants of Moses, Cornelius, Leroy and William C. Payton) married Elizabeth Threlkeld in 1764. Elizabeth was the niece of Susannah Threlkeld who married James Peyton. AH, that would give an opportunity for William Humphrey to have an out of wedlock child by a Peyton woman, either an unmarried woman and the child kept the Peyton name, or a Peyton wife and the Peyton husband never knew. However, William C. Payton, the oldest of the brothers was born in 1762 and I do not think that William Humphrey could have been the father of William C, Moses, Leroy and Cornelius as well as all the other Payton siblings. It would have to have happened earlier.

William Humphrey was born in 1720 and was married to Sarah Wood first. Could he have fathered the father of all the Payton brothers. Their father would have to have been born around 1742 or earlier? It is possible. The Humphrey and the Peyton families were in Stafford County, Virginia at the same time. And, then the name was changed from Peyton to Payton? Why? Because the father of the Payton brothers was illegitimate and the name change was to differentiate them from legitimate Peyton descendants?

But, there could be another YDNA match that is closer to Payton then Humphrey that has not been tested yet. We will have to wait to find out if there is.

Then, there is also the close connection of the Patton family to the Peyton family. Ruth Peyton, daughter of James and Susannah Threlkeld, married James Thompson, the son of William Thompson and Mary Patton, a descendant of Henry Patton and Sarah Lynn whose descendants migratged from Ireland to Lancaster Co, PA which is adjacent to Chester Co, PA where the Humphrey ancestors of William migrated from Wales in the late seventeenth century. There are Pattons in Stafford County Va at the same time as the Peyton and Humphrey families. These families could have known each other for many generations before the marriage of Ruth Payton to a Patton descendant. Descendants of the Peyton line intermarried with the same McInteer family that intermarried with the Patton family.

This Patton family is indirectly related to many of the same families that are related to Payton through marriage over the centuries, including the Mayfield family. The Mayfield family shares many names in common with the Payton family. Mayfield married into the Buchanan, Coffey and Boone families and these families are found in several areas where Payton migrated (see State/County records). Cornelius Payton had Randolph Payton who had Thomas Asbury Cleveland Payton. Asbury Coffey and Cleveland Coffey are both on the Mayfield pedigree, along with 8 other given names in common with Payton. This Coffey family has members who migrated to Burke Co, NC and then to Indiana where there is a descendant of Leroy Payton.

Leroy Payton, Jr. married Nancy Smith who had a Buchanan mother. Buchanan also has Patton and Neely on the pedigree. Neely is on both the Patton and Humphrey pedigrees. Leroy Payton, Jr and Nancy Smith had Isaac Mayfield Payton, a descendant of the same Mayfield line. Isaac Newton Payton, son of Cornelius, had Matthew Houston Payton. See Matthew Houston Patton in Burke County, NC.