Doug Ferguson

Who am I and where did my ancestors come from?

Swiss, Welch, Scots-Irish & Native American            

 

Dent Family - Snow Creek to Breeden

        Research has traced our family back to Charles County, Maryland, c. 1690.  I will    claim Joel Dent as our key ancestor and continue working to tie other Maryland  Dents to our tree.

Descendants of Joel Dent

      My grandfather, William Lee Dent, was born on Snow Creek, Franklin County, Virginia on

28 September, 1867.  His mother died in childbirth and his father found a new wife and married less than two months after his wife's death.  His early history is unknown.  He was listed in the 1880 census as living  with his paternal grandfather, William H. Dent.  It appears that he followed the Norfolk & Western Railroad to Logan County, West Virginia.  He met and married Mary Jane Williamson on February 6, 1892.  He tried coal mining for a few years but by 1920 he was established as a merchant at Breeden, Mingo County.  He was later elected Justice of The Peace and served as postmaster of Breeden.

 

       Mary Jane Williamson was the daughter of Asa Williamson and Chloie Kirk .   Asa was the grandson of Jennie Sellards Wiley, who was captured by Indians and taken from her home in Appalachian Virginia through eastern Kentucky to the Ohio River in western Virginia.  Below is a short summary of her year-long ordeal.

 

Jennie Wiley's Ordeal

     My cousin, Timothy Marcum, of Breeden, Mingo County, West Virginia, spent several years researching the Kirk and Marcum families.  The index file must be used to find the page number of the party you're looking for. 

Descendants of John Kirk, Sr.

Index begins on page 224

 

Descendants of William Markham, Sr. 

Index begins on page 258

 

Descendants of William Lee Dent & Mary Jane Williamson