At 12:01 AM 26/02/99 -0500, Jan Faulkner wrote: >Paul, > >...I guess you know >Paddy's friend Carmen Matterson, another descendant of James and Eve >DeShired Nevills. Carmen says that James was probably James Thomas Nevills >or Thomas James Nevills. Has your research led you to the same conclusion? I spoke to Carmen by phone at Christmastime and still owe her a response to a 14 page letter she sent me shortly after that. Sure wish she had an E-mail address but, unfortunately, she doesn't own a computer. She has stayed in touch with my parents for several years now, but, as their movements are so seriously restricted (both are over 80) they passed the torch to me a couple years ago. Yeah, the temptation is tremendous to speculate that his name was Thomas James. There were SOO many of them later on... The first multiple given name in his immediate family was Agnes Nancy (James' will, believe it or not, says "Agnes or Nancy"; does the ambivalence sound familiar?) followed shortly after by her brother's - William Pew Nevills - born about 1798 in Stamford Twp.(and I know some people who will take exception to the late date, but, folks, this is the only son of James and Eve who DIDN'T serve on the British side in the War of 1812-14; he was simply too young). Our James, born about 1748, has a colourful history tramping the Sussex Co. NJ countryside from about 1775 on. Although he was educated, a schoolteacher, in fact, he did survey work in northern NJ until he and Eve made the arduous trek to Ontario about 1788. He is probably the one down there printing Bible tracts for Indians at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, and almost certainly the one who got himself thrown in jail on Long Island for a couple years before they shipped him back to NJ where he was released by taking the Patriot oath (wink, wink). He petitioned the right people (my FATHER's ancestor, Nathathiel Pettit) and got himself, Eve, and their 5 (at that time) children out of there as quickly as possible. >Have you ever considered James Nevill who served in Washington Co., PA >during the Rev. War as a possibility for your James? I haven't and from the above you can see why. All of his friends were Loyalists, mostly of German descent (He liked their politics AND he liked their religion - the Warners, the Ostranders, the Youngs, the Vanderburgs and so many others), but he was no pacifist. He was probably one of the early converts to Wesleyan Methodism. I embrace the NC connection because of the Loyalist families, the Wilkersons, the Davis', the Hall's, all of Orange County, who, I believe, knew James' progenitors. James' children married these families descendants in Ontario. Moreover a child of James' oldest son Abraham (born 1780 in NJ) passed down the idea that the family was originally from Virginia from generation to generation. This man, William, born 1813, married the niece of Colonel Tom Talbot (one of the most powerful men in Upper Canada for many years), actually sought out an estate finder in London, England, and paid money to close the connection with "William Neville of York" and/or "Sir Thomas Neville" (whom I haven't found yet but is referred to on one of the more obscure Broderbund CD's implying he was in the Colonies 1700 or before; no lookups are listed for it and I don't own Familytreemaker). I have copies of that correspondence. Worst case scenario, assuming William was just another "wannabe", I still liked the James Neville, born 1849 Halifax Co NC (I have been using c1848 for MY James for almost two years now for reasons too long to go into here, but well before I read Jesse M Lawrence Jr's piece on 'William, the Immigrant'), the one of whom Jesse Lawrence says "need to research this James Neville". But I have another problem. I have discovered an entire family of "cousins" up here that nobody has even heard of much less has info on. As follows: - Andrew Nevills b 1800, didn't serve, lived and raised a family in Lambeth near London, Ontario. - Thomas Nevills Sr. b c1798, lived and raised a family in West Flamboro, near Hamilton, Ontario (including a son, Thomas Jr b 1824). - Richard Nevills b c1790, served with the 4th Lincoln out of Grimsby in the early days of the War of 1812 (not the 2nd Lincoln, like my family did). - James Nevills, Major, b 1787, served with the 1st Middlesex, lived and raised a family in St. Thomas, Ontario. (A few folks seem to know about him). NONE OF THESE ARE THE CHILDREN OF JAMES & EVE. (and Paddy doesn't claim them, either). I have, through the strongest CIRCUMSTANTIAL evidence, concluded that they are 1st cousins of James & Eve's children. In other words, James had a brother... Who was he?? A cryptic entry in the IGI might provide a clue, but I have never had any luck in getting answers from submitters. As follows: Jacob NEVELS (M).............christened 10 Jun 1796 Ba: C511241 Father: John NEVELS German Reformed Church, New York So: 534209 Mother: Sarah VAN OSTRAND Rhinebeck-cobleskill, Schoharie NY Pr: 1002782 The date is right. The place is right. The fact that Abraham, (nephew of John, above?), son of James, also married an Ostrander girl (Deborah, b 1785, daughter of Andress, granddaughter of Isaac) really makes me wonder. Jesse Lawrence Jr mentions a Thomas b 1732 as a brother of 1749James, but not a John. So what does that do to one of my theories?? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. >...Paddy has pointed out >that the Barnes surname is linked with her Nevills. Several Barneses are >buried in the same cemetery as the Nevills in Harford Co., MD where Paddy's >Nevills lived. > Try as we might Paddy and I don't really believe we are related at all, at least, not on this continent. There are no Barnes in my line and my database is over 2000 handpicked individuals and still growing. Paul Bingle Brampton, Ontario, CANADA E-mail: [email protected]