Terry Family Ancestor

Terry English Ancestor
England

John Terry [records of Ruth Miller Davis]
b. 20 November, 1727 Gisbro (now Guisbrough), (North Riding) Yorkshire, England
d. ? probably Gisbro (now Guisbrough), England [records of Ruth Miller Davis]

m. Elizabeth Day
b. 1 January 1724 probably in Yorkshire, England
d.
buried: Newton, England
her father: unknown her mother: unknown

his father: unknown
his mother: unknown

Children
Thomas Terry#*	b. 31 May 1750 Newton, N. Yorkshire, England@	d. 15 Nov 1820@ buried: Nov 22, 1820, Fountain Inn, Greenville Co., S. C.#	1m. Elizabeth Harrison(sister of John Harrison) 2m. Rebecca Nancy Ann McDowell
John Terry*	b.4 March 1752 Newton, N. Yorkshire, England@	d. Aug 1807 prob. in S. C.@	m. unknown
Elizabeth Terry	b. 8 Dec 1755 Newton, N. Yorkshire, England@	d. Aug 1807 prob. in S. C.@	m. unknown
William Terry*	b.11 May 1759 Newton, N. Yorkshire, England@	d. probably in S. C.	m. unknown
Ann Terry	b. 4 July 1761 Newton, N. Yorkshire, England@	d. Aug 1788 prob. in England@	m. unknown
George Terry*	b. 4 May 1764 Gisbro, England @[records of Eunice Terry]	d. 4 Sep 1838 @ Whitewater Twp., Franklin Co., Indiana (74 years)@	1m. Elizabeth Guy d. 1800 Newton, England 2m. Mary Fair, probably Yorkshire, England

The latest information from the records of Ruth Miller Davis was discovered in papers after she died in 1998 and forwarded to me from another cousin, Susan Knight. The two pages of paper were typed and paper yellowed. The dates and places seem very specific so that I believe they came from an unknown bible record. The LDS records do not list any of these births in Yorkshire so I believe she saw an original source. We were pretty certain that Thomas and George Terry were brothers. We have finally been able to identify the father of Thomas and George Terry and are still checking the records to verify the other brothers. There are many Terry's in the Yorkshire area of England that we suspect may be the origination of the family.

According to R. Y. H. Terry, Thomas Terry's grandson, Thomas had three brothers that came to South Carolina about the same time. We are pretty certain of George Terry. [Norfleet 3/15/03]

We have not been able to find a good fit for the parents of John Terry. There are a number of choices but the legend from Ruth Davis' records says that they moved around a good deal. From the records so far the distances are within miles not across regions. They generally stayed in the area of Guisborough, North Riding, Yorkshire.

We know that this is a region of ancient Viking and Scandinavian settlements. There are numerous Scandinavian, mostly Danish, name roots still in the geographic names. Guisborough comes from "Gigr" after the name of a Viking fort. "Borough" means a fortified place. "Staithes" comes from a Viking word for "a good landing place." Because it was rather remote to the invasions of William the Conqueror, the Danish rooted Norman, English nobelman with an army of about 100,000 soldiers took refuge in the nearby forests. William's army salted the fields so that no crops could grow and consequently the English army starved into submission. [hist. of Yorkshire - wikipedia.org]

The area of Gisbro (now Guisbrough) is just to the south east of Middlesborough, the largest town of the region in North Yorkshire. It is just north of the North York Moors National Park. The region has mythically been known as a haunted area because of the fog and bogs. As a national park it is criss-crossed with trails and a few roads. It has become an area that caters to the tourist industry. The region has been realigned administratively with North Riding no longer used with duties being transferred to North Yorkshire. Middlesborough only became a city in the 1850's when iron mining was started in the area. There is a very nice brief history from earliest of times of Guisborough at this address.
History of Gisborough

North York Moors
photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photographer: Colin Grice 2006

1750 - Thomas Terry is born probably in the Yorkshire region, England, where his brother-in-law, John Harrison, claims to have been born.

1780's or '90's- Thomas first marries John Harrison's sister Elizabeth Harrison, of Yorkshire, England. I have not been able to identify any marriage for this couple or a Terry to a Harrison of the proper date.

I'm still uncertain whether I have the correct marriage records for Thomas but the dates and location fit perfectly. I hope its more than just a nice coincidence but this may take years to prove.   Searching in Yorkshire marriage records I found these marriages:
             Thomas Terry     m. Ann Harrison                      17 Sept 1779   Guisborough, Yorkshire, England.
             Elizabeth Terry     m. Christopher Sherwood        18 Dec 1775 Guiborough, England
             William Terry       m.   Jane Harrison                       10 Feb 1789    Guisborough, England

             Mary Harrison      m. John Alderson                       21 Apr 1800   Guisborough, England
             Thomas Harrison m. Elizabeth Harrison                01 Jan   1787   Guisborough, England
             Moses Harrison     m. Mary Petch                           15 May 1798   Guisborough, England
                                     [LDS Marriage Records, Yorkshire 1775-1812 file# M105372]

1790- Of the two brothers, Thomas came to the colonies shortly after the American Revolution. He seems to have come with the intent of setting up a ministry in the wilds of Fork Shoals, South Carolina. They had been introduced to Methodism through the teachings and preaching of John Wesley who came to Guisborough nine times. They probably were ordained ministers while in Guisborough and then well prepared to care on the ministry when they arrived to settle in the wilds of South Carolina.

1800 - US Census. In this record we see Thomas Terry and perhaps his brothers and their children living nearby.

Terry, John [ Laurens 16 ]	3 0 0 1 0 - 0 1 0 1 0 - 0 0
Terry, John [ Edgefield 137]	1 0 0 2 0 - 4 0 0 1 0 - 0 4
Terry, Thomas [ Greenville 274 ]	2 0 0 0 1 - 1 0 0 1 0 - 0 0
Terry, William [ Greenville 265 ]	1 0 0 0 1 - 0 0 2 1 0 - 0 0
Terry, William Jr. [ Laurens 15 ]	1 0 0 1 0 - 0 0 1 0 0 - 0 0
Terry, William Sr. [ Laurens 15 ]	0 1 2 0 1 - 0 0 1 0 1 - 0 0

1805- His apparent brother George came over with his family about this time. He settles in Greenville County until 1833 when he sells his land to move to Franklin Co., Indiana. According to R. Y. H. Terry he moved because of the slavery issue in South Carolina. R. Y. H. states, and it is because of this "It is very likely I met some blood kin on the battle field in the Civil War. " [Vance]

According to the Hopkins family records, Elizabeth Terry was the first and only child of Elizabeth Harrison Terry. Because of the birth date she must have been born in England and probably came over with her mother and uncle John Harrison. [email of 12 Mar 1999 from"Daniel Gannon" dannnan@bellsouth.net]

other probate records also support the inclusion of two other surviving children by Thomas's marriage to Elizabeth Harrison.

1788- Thomas remarries to Rebecca McDowell. She came from a prosperous family living in Charleston. She comes to South Carolina, probably with her family, from Ireland. [Holcomb 260]

R. Y. H. Terry states that she came with two brothers. She had an uncle John McDowell who was the wealthy merchant in Charleston. [Norfleet 2/15/03]

1810 - US Census, Greenville S. C. Series: M252 Roll: 62 Page: 103 All listed on the same page are a number of relations.

Thos. Terry      4    1   0   0   1    2    0 1    0 1    0 0
Wm. Paden      1    1   1   0   1            0    0    3   0   1        0   9
George Terry    0   3    0   0 1            6    0    0   1    0       0   0

Greenville Series: M252 Roll: 62 Page: 103

J. Terry 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 9
B. Terry 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Greenville Series: M252 Roll: 62 Page: 125

Lees Terry 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1

Laurens Series: M252 Roll: 61 Page: 40

John Terry 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0
Joseph Terry 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

source:

Marriages and Death Notices from the Southern Christian Advocate 1837-1860,

History of Pisgah United Methodist Church, 200th Anniversary,

Greenville So. Carolina Cemetary Survey in 5 volumes,

Terry Family Index || Elroy's Family Index || Ancestor Chart #12

______________________________________________________________________________________

All information and photos included within these pages was developed by the help of hundreds of researchers. The information here is for the express purpose of personal genealogical research and is freely offered as long as this site is listed as a source. It may not be included or used for any commercial purpose or included in any commercial site without the express permission of Elroy Christenson. Copyright Elroy Christenson 1998-2017

web pages created by Elroy Christenson- elroy@next1000.com - last updated 9/10/17