Dear Cousin/Friends Tom, Mary, Leigh and Cousins on the list; Please print this out, otherwise I'm afraid it won't make any sense. I found the three Levi Pennington wills and other information that Bobby Pennington had posted in January to the PRA Group 6 Website Bobby maintains. I hadn't seen the wills or the SC Spartanburg information before. Nor had I known some of the other information which had Levi and Martha on Cumberland/Moore County NC deeds. Each Levi and his children are clearly identified in these wills. What isn't so clear is how other records attach to each of them, for instance the Quaker records, and here is where my own speculations/interpretations come in. 1. Have the Quaker records been misinterpreted, and/or mis-applied to Levi, Isaac, and Levi's son Levi? 2. The first assumption has been made that Martha b. 1714, d. 1800 was Levi the Quaker's wife. Let's start with an absolute fact and work outward. Instead of assigning Martha to Levi the Quaker/Levi I, let's once again rename Levi based on what we absolutely know about him: "Levi with wife Martha, who d. w/will dtd 1789, probated 1790." From his will we know this Levi had five surviving children: Isaac, Levi, Rachel, Elizabeth Beason, and Mary. The names correspond to the Quaker records for Rachel Perrry, Mary Grave, and Elizabeth. Elizabeth's certificate was withheld when Martha moved from Cane Creek MM to Center MM. From the will we know Elizabeth married a Beason, so the certificate may have been withheld because they were concerned with a proposed marriage to someone thought to be inappropriate. This could indicate Beason (or some hidden) relationships, and possibly confirm previous speculations (never indicated with reasons) that Martha was a Beason or someone closely related to the person Elizabeth was marrying. In 1780 Elizabeth is disowned, ostensibly for going through with this marriage. Which Beason did she marry? It needs to be determined. Was some Beason also disowned in 1780? We need to check and see. 3. Who was Sarah Barnes/Burns who was disowned for marrying a Pennington in Cane Creek MM records in 1774? It would seem she was a Quaker Barnes/Burns, and whatever Pennington she married was not. 4. Instead of calling the other Levi found in the Quaker records "Jr." let's also rename him as "Levi with wife Elizabeth who d. w/will in Spartanburg Co., SC in 1808. His children named in the will (undoubtedly all of his children, for he had a ton of them.) He terms some his "older children," Levi, Benjamin, Isaac Pennington, Elizabeth Robins, William, John, and Rachel. His other, younger children: Sarah, Jessey, Joseph, Sollomon, Mary, and Noah Pennington. 5. Levi (d. 1808) "appoints" Benjamin and Isaac Pennington his "trusty and well beloved friends," which seems to make them executors. It seems strange language. Why doesn't he say, "My sons?" John Pennington is a witness. 6. In 1802 a Levi is disowned. Why? And which Levi is this? This 1802 disowned Levi is still in NC, and Levi (d. 1808) has been buying property in Spartanburg Dist, SC for 4 years. 7. Hopping back, let's look at some more things in the Quaker records and make interpretations about items that stand out, and which may help to clarify various Levi and Isaac records. A. The summary about New Garden meeting in the EQG states: "In the first year, 1754, we have settlers coming in from Pennsylvania, from Hopewell and Fairfax meetings, Virginia. During 1755 nine certificates were received, representing Pennsylvania and Virginia only. According to the official minutes, which note all certificates received, there were brought in during the sixteen years, 1754-70, inclusive, eighty-six certificates in all. Of these forty-five came from Pennsylvania, thirty-five from Virginia, one from Maryland, and four from northeastern North Carolina." If we could determine which one came from Maryland, we might be able to state with absolute certainty that Levi came from Pennsylvania or Virginia. HOWEVER, we do know that the earliest arrivals were from Virginia, but even then, came from Pennsylvania families. We do know absolutely that the Backcountry people were not born in North Carolina. They came from somewhere else. (Not the same as the coastal settlers.) Remember, too, people who lived in the Nottingham tract (mostly Quakers in Nottingham MM) were often accorded either/or status -- Sometimes Maryland, and sometimes Pennsylvania. Because of border disputes this happened along Pennsylvania/Virginia borders, etc. etc. In looking up North Carolina deeds, I have found SC deeds recorded in NC, and NC deeds recorded in SC. So we have to be careful in according locations based on presentday designations. Each record should be recorded as we find it, and then expanded upon with qualifying information. Some of these records are noted within many different counties as well, simply because new counties were continuously taken from old ones. B. Next, every NC Pennington but Martha is disowned. 1770, 1, 27. Rachel Perry (form Pennington) dis mou 1771, 9, 7. Martha & dt, Mary & Elizabeth, rocf New Garden MM, dated 1771, 6, 29. 1771, 9, 7. Levi, Jr. roc. 1774, 1, 1. Sarah (form Burns) dis mou in 8th mo. 1775, 2, 4. Isaac roc. 1775, 6, 3. Isaac dis mou. 1779, 4, 3. Mary Grave (form Pennington) dis mou. 1780, 6, 3. Levi rpd mou. 1780, 7, 1. Martha gct Center MM. (cert for Elizabeth, dt Martha, withheld) 1780, 9, 2. Levi gct Center MM, N. C. 1781, 5, 5. Elizabeth dis. 1800, 6, 2. Levi rocf Center MM, dated 1800, 4, 19. (DEEP RIVER MM) 1802, 5, 3. Levi, of Belows Creek, dis. (1.) 1771 Rachel Pennington Perry is disowned (2.) BUT THEN, 1771 - 1771, 6, 29. Martha and 3 ch gct Cane Creek from New Garden. Martha and three children would not have been granted certificates if the children were Elizabeth, Mary and Rachel. So who are the three children? Possibly Levi her son, is still regarded as a child rather than being given his own certificate. (3.) BUT THEN, Levi is received on certificate at Cane Creek, so possibly he was included as Martha's child in the above reference even though he was given an individual certificate. (4.) In 1775 Levi is reported marrying out of unity (someone other than a Quaker) in Cane Creek MM records. Nothing seems to have been done about this, for there is no remonstrance recorded with him in the EQG records. Is this the marriage of Levi (d. 1708 Spartanburg) to Elizabeth, or is it a previous marriage? Nonetheless he/or some Levi is granted a certificate to Center MM. In 1802 "Levi of Belows Creek" is disowned. This is a valuable designation, for it puts a locale with the Quaker records. Belews Creek is possibly a name that comes from the surname Bilyeu, or Ballou (kinship links with my children's Barnes family in Barry County, MO, along with Smith and Harbert -- possibly Quaker Herberts?) There was a Belows/Belews Creek MM as well as a Belews Creek, and today there is a Belews Lake. This creek is west of where the four presentday corners of Stokes and Rockingham, Forsyth and Guilford Counties come together in a perfect crossroads, but is principally in Forsyth county. (5.) Who is Isaac Pennington? Is he a father, brother, or son to Levi (d. 1790)? Maybe he is all three. When we get to the heart of one puzzle we find five or ten others! There are reasons to believe that Isaac Pennington may have been Levi's (d. 1790) oldest son. He is mentioned on his own certificate, indicating he was likely older than Levi (d. 1808), the son of Levi (d. 1790). If he was the oldest son, then it is likely he was named either for the wife's father (usual) or Levi's father. Whichever, I feel there was a definite connection to the name Isaac on both sides of the family. If Levi (d. 1790) was son of an Isaac, I think it was an Isaac connected to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There are several reasons for this: Locality and Opportunity: Abraham's family was in (Old) Frederick County, Virginia, as was Hopewell MM, where the NC Quakers paused in there journey south. The Boones paused here, the Hollingsworths, Morgans, Beesons, Beals, Williams, Teagues, Largents/Sargents, etc. Kinship: The same, plus King, Casey, Pierce/Pearce, Noland. Abraham's movements parallel the Quakers' from the beginning in Cecil County, to Frederick Co., MD, to Frederick Co., VA to SC. There is no doubt in my mind that Abraham's family had Quaker ties through kinship, if not membership. Migration: Levi (d. 1808) moved to SC, as did Abraham's family. Some Strictly Circumstantial Evidence: We know the names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob associate with Abraham, but so does John. It would be strange if Abraham only left descendants from these four sons. There are several pockets of Penningtons left in the Virginia Appalachians that might tie to him -- or to his sons, who were also in northern Virginia. There is a William in Rockingham who may be connected somehow, or to the Ashe county families. This may be the William who received payments for damages done to him during the Revolutionary War. (1) There is an Abraham Pennington with a slew of children born in Virginia who ended up in Highland County, Ohio. Kinship: Keys (more another time) (2) There is an Elijah Pennington who went first to Hampshire county, VA (made from old Frederick county) and ultimately also ended up in Ohio, in Seneca County. There are also Levis in this large family. Kinship: McKeever (Delaware, McCever in Old Frederick, VA. More on him another time.) (3) There is the Litzenburger/Pennington family in Washington/Greene Counties in Pennsylvania who are supposed to descend from a Levi Pennington who married Rachel Litzenberg (ca. 1800 in Frederick Co., Virginia. Their son was named Jacob. (4) Isaac Pennington of Clinton County, OH born in Greene County, PA. (more another time.) (5) My Pemberton/Penningtons of Baltimore County, MD. John, William, Richard, Jesse, Otho, Allen. Kinship: Davis, Baker, Shepherd, Chapman, Odell, Choate, Williams. This is way too long for e-mail, but I wanted to get some of it down, and will try and get more to you via the website, soon. Once my daggone service gets fixed up! We're springing forward! Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn