Blog Some Genealogy

The death records of Utah from the years 1905-1954, are now available on line, along with some other state and county records. Entering the surname in the search box seems to work well, giving an abstract plus a link to the actual image of the original certificate. Great work Utah and thanks!
Utah State Archives and Records

Was Amor VIA of Virginia a French Huguenot? Who says so?

I have been trying to find the original source of the family tradition that the VIA surname of Virginia is French and that the progenitor of the VIA family, Amor VIA, was a Huguenot. The earliest source of a French connection that I can locate is from George W. VIA’s “Partial Genealogy of the VIA, DeHART AND OTHER FAMILIES” which was published in 1926. The author was born in 1850, and descended from Robert VIA of Hanover County, Virginia. His publication starts out with “VIA FAMILY - FRENCH DESCENT”, then continues with a family history of the VIA and DeHart families, beginning with his grandparents, William VIA and Sallie INGRAM. That seems to be all that is said about a French connection, unless there is more to the book then I can see on-line at:
http://members.aol.com/SSprad25/ViaPages/PartialGenealogy.html

Many researchers seem to have decided that because there are so many place names in France that are similar to the VIA surname, that Amor VIA was undoubtedly French. I have found that when one is researching a name with only three letters and so many spelling variations, there are likely to be towns all over the world with one of those variations. The other day I met a man from India named “Vyas”.

The name that is found in Albemarle County, Virginia, where my family is from, is fairly standardized as VIA, however, even my great grandmother wrote a letter from Mount Fair where she signed her name as “Molly VIAR”. It is difficult researching the VIA name outside of Albemarle County, as one has to look for Viers, Veirs, Vear, Vears, Veare, Veares, Veres, Vere, Vire, Virer, Vires, Via, Vias, Ver, Veers, Veeres, Veer, Vare, Vore, Verre, Varr, Vye, Vyer, and then one has to look for all the same names replacing the beginning “V” with a “W”, and at times, even with a “U”, an “F” or even an “R”. I stumbled upon an old family history on the Turk family where the name of my ancestor, Thomas C. VIA, was written as “Thomas BIRE”.

It would be wonderful if we could find a record of our VIA ancestor, Amor VIA, in France, Holland, England or any other place name throughout the world, but so far, all we have to go on is that sometime before 1677, he was one of 14 persons transported into Virginia by John Webb and John Rea who received acreage in the “Up. Part of New Kent Co., on S. Side of land formerly taken up by Andrew Davis on Machumps Cr”.

Spelling was not standardized in the United States until the mid 1800s, yet Amor VIA, who was quite literate, did manage to keep his surname intact for a few generations. However, perhaps he had changed it a bit from what his father had used. In this same time period that Amor VIA was transported, “William VIER” was recorded relating to nearby Rappahannock County in 1675, where Major John WEIRE (Weir) had written his will in 1671. Job VEAR was imported into Maryland about the same time, 1677. Then a few years later Daniel VEARES was mentioned at Matadequin Creek (Amor’s homeplace) in New Kent County, imported by William Winston and John Engelbrecht.

So far, I am still looking for the French connection of Amor VIA. It seems that everybody talks about it, but nobody seems to know why.

The very first incarnation of the VIA surname in Virginia seems to have come from England with the first supply ship to Jamestown in 1608 (Jamestown Ancestors), with two laborers, Nicolas VEN and a VERE, on board. The following researcher gives a few of the other countries “seemingly” connected to the “VIERs” name: VIERS Roots.

“The Elusive Ancestor” by Merrell Kenworthy

I went searching for an ancestor. I cannot find him still.
He moved around from place to place and did not leave a will.
He married where a courthouse burned. He mended all his fences.
He avoided any man who came to take the U.S. Census.

He always kept his luggage packed, this man who had no fame.
And every 20 years or so, this rascal changed his name.
His parents came from Europe and should be upon some list
of passengers to the U.S.A., but somehow they got missed.

And no one else in this world is searching for this man.
So, I play genea-solitaire to find him if I can.
I’m told he’s buried in a plot, with tombstone he was blessed;
but the weather took the engraving, and some vandals took the rest.

He died before the county clerks decided to keep records.
No Family Bible has emerged, in spite of all my efforts.
To top it off this ancestor, who caused me many groans,
Just to give me one more pain, betrothed a girl named JONES!

Henry PEYTON served as a soldier of the American Revolution with the Virginia Militia. The following is from "Cabell County Annals and Families" by George Selden Wallace, 1935, page 71:

"Henry Peyton, (Payton). Born 1760 in Culpeper County, Virginia. Died 1836. Served first as a substitute at $20.00 a month, was on garrison duty at Point Pleasant, was at Guilford Court House and at Yorktown, later at Winchester guarding prisoners, a privater in the Virginia Militia. Lived about one mile west of Tom’s Creek beyond Martha where John Hash now lives. Was great-grandfather of Home Peyton and Mrs. L.L. Wilson."

More recent research has discovered that the death date given in the 1935 publication was wrong, as he was still writing letters as late as 1842. Henry Lindsey PEYTON (1760-post 1842) is a descendant of the PEYTONs Along the Aquia. He is a son of Henry PEYTON, whose lineage begins on pages 98, 99 of my Peyton book. Henry Lindsey PEYTON’s descendants begin on page 141.