WILLCOCKSON OF ROWAN COUNTY, NC (Pt. 3): In part 2 of this study on the Willcockson family, evidence was presented to correctly identify DANIEL WILLCOCKSON of Bryan's Station, KY; Woodford Co., KY; and Shelby Co., KY as a son of Isaac and Martha (Bane) Willcockson. There has been much confusion and error made in regard to the identity of this Daniel Willcockson, who married Sarah Faulkner. In part 3 of this study, an analysis will be made of George Bryan's account to Lyman Draper as it relates to this Daniel Willcockson. In identifying DANIEL WILLCOCKSON (1755-1837), the husband of Sally Faulkner, the following pieces of information are important to consider: (1) the land records linking this Daniel with Martha (Willcockson) Wilson Whitaker in Woodford Co., KY (2) the obvious conflict between the birthdate of Samuel Willcockson and Daniel Willcockson (3) the fact that Isaac Willcockson, Sr. had a son, Daniel, who was a minor in 1771 [thus born after 1750] (4) the fact that Isaac Wilson [son of Martha (Willcockson) Wilson], in his John Shane interview, referred to this Daniel as "my UNCLE, Daniel Wilcox". Isaac Wilson knew his Uncle Daniel Wilcox quite well. In 1808, Isaac was a witness to a deed in which his uncle, "Daniel Wilcoxson" purchased land in Woodford Co., KY. Undoubtedly, Isaac Wilson had heard this story of Daniel's daring escape directly from his Uncle Daniel Willcockson. In looking at the recorded statements regarding Daniel Willcockson (died 16 June, 1837), there is ONLY ONE which conflicts with the evidence already cited that this Daniel was a son of Isaac Willcockson, Sr. This one record is the information provided by the Kentucky pioneer, George Bryan. It is therefore important and essential that an analysis and an evaluation of George Bryan's account be made. In the 1840's, John Shane interviewed George Bryan at length regarding his memories of the early settlement of Kentucky. Bryan gave Shane a long list of names of those settlers who belonged to George Bryan's group from NC to KY in 1775-76. Curiously enough, instead of first naming himself and the other Bryans, George first names DAVID and DANIEL WILCOX--both of whom he calls nephews of "Col. Boon". Later, in this same interview, George Bryan gives his account of the escape of Daniel Willcockson from the Indians at Bryan's Station. In this description, Bryan twice refers to ISRAEL and DANIEL WILCOX as COUSINS. Bryan also states that Daniel Wilcox was "a nephew of Danl. Boone". In evaluating this interview of George Bryan, the following should be taken into consideration. (1) At the time of this interview in the 1840's, George Bryan was in his mid-80's and was recalling events which had taken place over 60 years before. Certainly, this does not necessitate that his recollections were incorrect, but it could make them questionable due to the great period of time involved. (2) George Bryan was a son of Morgan Bryan, Jr. and a grandson of the famed Morgan Bryan, Sr.--patriarch of the Rowan Co., NC Bryan clan. Although, there were several intermarriages between the Boone and Bryan families, George Bryan was in no way related to the Willcockson family. (3) In his account of Daniel Willcockson's escape from the Indians in 1781, Bryan added that "this was AFTER I had gone to Boone's Station". Yet, in a 1795 deposition, this same George Bryan stated that he had left Kentucky in 1780 and did not return until after 1782. It was not until AFTER 1783 that George Bryan joined the Boone's Station settlement. Thus, Bryan's own statements are in conflict. Anyway, it is clear that George Bryan, himself, was NOT a witness to this escape of Daniel Willcockson [in fact, NO member of the Bryan family was at Bryan's Station at that time], but instead heard it at least second hand. (4) Israel Willcockson was undoubtedly a child of John and Sarah (Boone) Willcockson. In the list of John and Sarah's children given by Jeremiah F. Wilcoxen [Draper MSS 23CC49] at his mother, Charlotte (Calloway) Wilcoxen's dictation, Israel is named with the note "Israel was killed by the Indians". This list of John and Sarah's children should be considered complete and correct due to the fact that Charlotte, herself, was a great-granddaughter of John and Sarah (Boone) Willcockson AND that she had married a grandson of John and Sarah. Although, Charlotte was only 6 when John Willcockson died, she was about 23 when Sarah (Boone) Willcockson died. There should be no doubt that Charlotte knew who John and Sarah's children were. S.A. Yates, another great-grandchild of John and Sarah (Boone) Willcockson, also corresponded with Lyman Draper. In one of these letters, he mentioned the Indian's killing of Israel [whom S.A. called his grandfather, Samuel Willcockson's brother]. Accepting this, then either ISRAEL and DANIEL WILCOX were cousins [as George Bryan states] OR DANIEL was a nephew of Daniel Boone [as Bryan also states]. Both of these statements by George Bryan CANNOT be true. (5) If the statements given to John Shane by George Bryan, who was NOT a Willcockson family member, are accepted completely, then one CANNOT accept the information provided by Willcockson family members such as Isaac Wilson, Charlotte (Calloway) Willcockson, and others. The ONLY part of George Bryan's account which is in agreement with the evidences cited here and in Part 2 is that Israel and Daniel Willcockson were COUSINS. The rest of Bryan's account concerning the Willcocksons is at the very least questionable and certainly doubtful in light of the above evidence. It should also be noted that Bryan's statement is the ONLY record which states that DAVID WILLCOCKSON was a son of John Willcockson, Sr. As was shown in Part 1 of this study, this DAVID was apparently a son of Isaac Willcockson, Sr. of Rowan Co., NC. ==== WILCOX Mailing List ==== Web Archives http://lists.rootsweb.com/~archiver/lists/WILCOX-L/