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- [merrifield.FTW]
EARLY U.S. FORTNEY SETTLEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA
Most of the early Fortney families of the United States lived in either Pennsylvania--Lancaster Co. (the part that later became Lebanon and Dauphin Counties)--, in Maryland (Frederick Co.), or in West Virginia (Monongalia and Preston Cos.). They were descended from a French Huguenot Fortineux/Fortinee family of Palatine immigrants from Otterberg, Germany, to Pennsylvania in the early 1700's. They were members of the French Reformed church in Otterberg. I have collected a great deal of data on this Fortinee family in all of its spellings. There is also a book available on this Pennsylvania Fortney line, which I have purchased: THE FORTINEUX - FORTINET FAMILY (FORTNEY, FORTNA, FORDNEY, FURTNEY) IN AMERICA. It can be ordered from Howard A. Fortney, Treasurer, Fortney-Fortna Genealogy Family, Inc., 860 Sunset Lane, Port Charlotte, FL 33952. Copies were shipped to subscribers in December 1989: cost is $45.00. In 1984 the major compiler was Mr. John E. Fortna of 759 N. Jefferson Avenue, Sarasota, FL 33577 (he died in 1987). The early material concerning this family is now (1999) also on a website.
For several years, I corresponded with Evajean Fortney McKnight, who is president of the association that has sponsored the research for this genealogy: address Route 2, Box 94, 2 Ponds Drive, Coolville, Ohio 45723. They have provided me with pages and pages and pages of information on Fortineux - Fortinee, and they believe that they may have connected John and Jonas Fortney of Knox Co., Ky., onto the main family tree. In fact, they accept the connection they have made, and will present the Fortney information that I have sent to them in the spot they have chosen. I, on the other hand, remain to be convinced that this connection is correct. I have seen no documentary evidence presented--only a coincidence of names and approximate dates. When I wrote Mr. John Fortna asking for references, provided none, but stated that he was convinced of his placement.
POSSIBLE JONAS FORTNEY ANCESTRY:
Because of the known connection to Wythe Co., VA, I believe that the following family complex in the Fortney book should be examined more closely, particularly in light of the two unidentified sons:
A.C.C Jean Jacob Fortineux/Fortiner/Fortine, b. 2 November 1720, Otterberg, confirmed there 1739; arrived at Philadelphia aboard the ship Snow Thane of Fife, 7 November 1741. Possibly the Jacob Fortinet, estate filed 1761, Lancaster Co., Pa., leaving three sons. m. by 1749, Julianna __________.
A.C.C.A Jacob Fordney, b. 29 September 1748, Lancaster, PA. m. Margaret Fordney. Two daughters.
A.C.C.B Margaret Fordney, bap. 11 March 1750, Washington Co., MD. m. Jost Weyand.
A.C.C.C Elizabeth Fordney, b. 7 March 1753. m. (1) Simon Householder; m. (2) John Lydey/Leedy. To Wythe Co., Va.
A.C.C.D Mary Fordney, b. 1755--d. young.
A.C.C.E Julianna Fordney, b. 15 September 1758--d. young.
A.C.C.F Unidentified Son Fordney.
A.C.C.G Unidentified Son Fordney.
EARLY FORTNEYS OF SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA
In April 1988, I made a study of Netti Schreiner-Yantis' then-new compilation of the 1787 Tax Lists for the State of Virginia--with supplementary lists in pamphlet form for some counties. This is three large volumes, the third being a comprehensive index.
I took a look in the index, and found: Jonas Fortney, Montgomery County. Schreiner-Yantis has also done three different pamphlets on Montgomery County, along with a two-color map of "Virginia in 1787" printed in black superimposed on the contemporary counties of Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia, printed in red.
Citation 1:
Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Montgomery County, Virginia. Springfield, Virginia, Genealogical Books in Print, 1987. p. 438, Jonas Fortney on List "B" in the District of David McGavock, Esq., Commissioner. He is taxed for himself and one horse--no other white males over 16 in his household, and no slaves. Believe it or not, Christopher Horn is on List "C", same county! He's on p. 447, taxed for 4 horses and 3 cattle, but no other white males over 21 and no slaves. (List "B" didn't bother to count the cattle at all, for some reason.)
Citation 2:
Netti Schreiner-Yantis, Montgomery County, Virginia - Tax Lists - A, B. and C for the year 1788, Springfield, Va., Genealogical Books in Print, 1972. Note that this booklet has been out for some time. Please note also that neither Jonas Fortney nor Christopher Horn is listed.
Citation 3:
Netti Schreiner-Yantis, Montgomery County, Virginia - Circa 1790. A Comprehensive Study - Including the 1789 Tax Lists, Abstracts of over 800 Land Surveys and Data Concerning Migratio_, Springfield, Virginia, Genealogical Books in Print, 1972. Apparently this has also been out for quite a while, but I had never seen it before. In this book, both Jonas Fortney and Christopher Horn are listed again in Montgomery County. MOREOVER, she includes a magnificent additional map just of Montgomery Co., showing the limits of each tax district. MOREOVER, as the huge county of 1787 was being dismembered into smaller counties as the population increased, she compared the Montgomery Co. tax lists for l789 with the Wythe Co. tax lists for 1793. Guess what--Jonas was in the part of Montgomery Co. that turned into Wythe, which narrowed down where he might be.
Then, I read carefully through the section entitled "Locating the Residences of Taxpayers - List B." It seems that the man who took the tax list for Montgomery Co. described where he was, day by day. So:
p. 92. On March 31, 1790 (Both sides Reed Creek, Cedar Run): George Armbrester, Henry Armbrister, Michael Cook, John Corbin, John Cypers, Abram Davis, John Davis Sr., John Davis, Jacob Davis, John Etter, James Findley, Sr., Capt. James Fi, John Helms, Henry Helvey, Jr., Henry Helvey, Sr., John Houndshell, John Hutsell, Jacob Kettering, Michael Kettering, Daniel Kiesler, Abram Lidia, John Lidia, John Lindermood, George Louman, John McNutt, Daniel Miller, Simon Neuman, Wm. Phipps, Philip Phry, Henry Shredler, John Shreder, Charles Simmerman, Frederick Sluss, George Spangler, Samuel Thompson, Anthony Tonkry, Daniel Wiseley.
On April 1, 1790, our busy little tax commissioner headed down "both sides Reed Creek, middle to western end" and called upon: Nicholas Cloyn, Jacob Cregar, Daniel Etter, JONAS FORTNEY, Charles Fullen, John Fullen, Samuel Fullen, Duncan Gu, Peter Kitts, Peter Moirs, Philip Nipp, Jacob Plesley, Jacob Pruner, John Pruner, Jacob Reyboss, Sr., Christian Soomer, Henry Umbarger, Big Henry Umbarger, George Wyrick, Henry Wyrick, Wm. Wyrick, Godfrey Young.
On April 2, 1790, with no location specified, the tax commissioner called upon Laurance Hutcheson, Jonthan Rowland, Thomas Vanderlip.
p. 28. The militia captain Ingles reported to the tax collector that Christopher Horn had moved away in late 1787 and was not attending muster.
Now I took all of this and all the maps. From 1787-1793, Jonas Fortney [Sr.] was living on the banks of Reed Creek somewhere in about a fifteen-mile stretch between what is now the western border of Wythe County and somewhere around Fort Cll. So for further clues to Jonas Fortney, Montgomery and Wythe will be the counties we have to search now.
Where they were was just a little off the "Great Wagon Road" that came down from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, through the Shenandoah Valley, and curved through these counties before heading down into North Carolina. The road that would eventuaake people west into Knox Co., Ky., branched off it not too far away, going down into Tennessee and then north through the Cumberland Gap. Until I started studying these colonial maps, I had not realized that Barbourville in Knox Co., Ky., where the Fortneys lived, was near the location of the famous "Walker's Cabin."
Additional searching has also narrowed down the time period in which Jonas Fortney appeared in Montgomery/Wythe Cos., Va. In the 1770s and 1780s, there was a man in Montgomery Co., Va., named Lewis Fortner/Portner/Faulkner/Fourtner/Fotner. on various records. Jonas Fortney, however, is neither on the l773 list of tithables nor on the 1782 tax list, so for the time being one should probably assume that he came into Montgomery Co. some time between 1782 and 1787. There was a great deal of population mobility in the area at that date.
According to James L. Douthat, Malita Murphy, and Roberta D. Hatcher, Wythe County, Virginia Will Books 1-2 1790-1822, Signal Mountain, TN, James L. Douthat, 2504 Kell Rd. 37377, 1984, on p. 6:
Wythe Co., Va., Will Book 1, p. 72. Will of Susanna Helvey. January 27, 1794. Sons Henry, Jacob, John Carver (?). Daughters: Peggy Bragginick, Molly Davis, Susanna Hops, Christiana Helvey and Catharine Helvey. Mentioned: Elizabeth Dand land located near John McNutts. Witnesses Jonas Fortney, Kettenvent, Martin Woolford. Proven March 11, 1794.
Malita Warden Murphy and James L. Douthat, Wythe County, VA Tax List 1793-1800, Signal Mountain, TN., Mountain Press, 2504 Kell Road 37377, 1985, lists the following:
p. 12. Cortney, Micheal; 1793, 1796, 1797, 1798.
p. 19. Folkner, Daniel; 1800.
p. 20. Fortney, Aaron; 1798, 1799, 1800.
Fortner, William; 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796.
Fortney, Jonas; 1793, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799.
Unfortunately, these lists have been alphabetized and not all information was extracted, so it will be necessary to order the microfilms to extract all possible information about Jonas as he was living in this area.
Netti Schreiner-Yantis, 1800 Tax Lists and Abstracts of Deeds [1796 - 1800] of Wythe County, Virginia, Springfield, Virginia, 1971, also shows that Jonas Fortney was apparently out of Wythe County by 1800. Aron Fortner (p. 2) was on the "List A" part of the county. A Daniel Folkner was in the "List B" section (p. 7).
Schreiner-Yantis "1800 Wythe Co." shows nothing on Jonas Fortney, but it does show that some Wythe Co. people moved into Wilkes and Guilford Cos. in North Carolina. The AIS Search for Fortney to 1819 shows some Fortner/Fortney families in Wilkes Co., North Carolina, in this period and therefore might be worth pursuing. A Henry Fortner was in Stokes/Surry Co. in 1790.
LDS Microfilm Reel 034,243 (Genealogical Society of Utah) contains the Wythe Co., Va., Order Books 1790, 1795-1805. The 1790 book contains no mention of Fortney: they are missing from September 1790 until June 1795.
p. 11. The last June court, 1795. Fortney vs. Gullian contd.
p. 13. Fortney vs. Gullian. Adam Kearhart [polly phipps, crossed out] and Henry Wyrick proved 2 days each and polly phipps one day for Deft.
p. 30. Nov. court 1795. Fortney vs. Gullion. Debt. Contd.
p. 80. 15 April 1796. Fortney vs. Gullion. Debt. Contd at Defts costs.
p. 100. Fortney vs Gullion a Commission is granted the Deft. to take the deposition of John Gordon Dabe nc esse
p. 104. 16 June 1796. Fortney vs. Gullion. Office Judgment set aside payment pleaded and issue and a Jury to wit, George Wampler, Lewis Wolford, Franklin Bridgeman, John Fisher, John Davies, Abraham Lady, Daniel Pierce, John Allison, Johffith, Peter Bishop, John Tutewiler and Isaac Shepperd, being sworn to try the issue Joined returned their verdict in these words "We the Jury find by the Court that the Plt. take nothing by his Bill but for his false Clamour be in mercy and that the Deft. go hence without day and recover vs. the Plt. his Costs by him about his defense in this behalf expended.
p. 105. Fortney vs. Gullion for reasons appearing to the Court, It is Ordered that the plt pay the Costs of this trial and that a new one be had at the next quarterly term.
p. 108. Gullion ads Fortney Henry Wyrick proved two days attendance.
p. 143. 15 Sept. 1796. Fortney vs Gullion etc. Dismd each party to pay an equal share of the Costs.
p. 15. Oct. Court 1796. Gullion ads Fortney. Henry Wyrick proved 2 days at the last Sept. court as a witness.
[Have read through the end of 1797 without further mention.]
Later census indexes of Wythe Co., Va., for the period 1800-1850 indicate other Fortner/Fortney men living in the county and vicinity. So far, I have no clue if or how they might have been related to Jonas Fortney, Sr. They include: Nathaniel Fortner 1810 (p. 831 Wth); Henry Fortner 1810 (p. 708 Wtn); Aaron Fortner 1820 (p. 247A Taz); Nathaniel Fortner 1820 (p. 207A Wtn); Thomas Fortner 1820 (p. 212 Wyt); Joseph Fortne 1830 (p. 327 Wyth); Thomas Fortner 1830 (p. 327 Wyth).
The neighbors of Jonas Fortney in Wythe Co., Va., are interesting in two perspectives. One is from the tradition of the Knox Co., Ky., family to the effect that Jonas Fortney, Sr., was a "royalist." In Mary B. Kegley and F. B. Kegley, Early Adventurers On the Western Waters. Volume I. The New River of Virginia in Pioneer Days 1745-1800, Orange, VA., Green Publishers, Inc., [n.d.], Chapter XI is entitled "Disaffection and Devotion" of which the first section, beginning on p. 137, is entitled, "Disaffection on the New River."
This chapter indicates that Jacob Kettering, John Etter, Duncan Gullion, Nicholas Wyrick, Philip Meyer, Peter Kettering, Michael Kettering, Henry Wyrick, Daniel Etter, John Cook, Bernard Gullion, and other men bearing the same names as thoo would be, a few years later, the neighbors of Jonas Fortney were arrested and prosecuted as Tories during the course of the American Revolution.
The second interesting perspective on these neighbors is that some of them, the Kettering (Kettenring) and Wyrick (Weyerich) families, are documented as having been Pennsylvania Germans from the Lancaster [1785 Dauphin, 1813 Lebanon] settt who moved to Wythe Co., Va. See Annette K. Burgert, Eighteenth Century Emigrants. Volume II. The Western Palatinate, cited below for the Fortney family itself. Other suspiciously familiar names appear in her book, given Pennsylvania/Lancaster locations.
Adams, Lela C., "Patrick County Land Tax, 1791-1799," Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, vol. 24, no. 2, May 1986, pp. 19-33.
p. 27 Forkner, John 1791 50 Wm. Forkner
Forkner, Jonas 1791 050 Wm. Forkner
Falkner, Henry 1795-99 078 W. Falkner
Falkner, John 1792-1799 050 Wm. Falkner
Falkner, William 1791-1793 078
1794 078 To Henry Falkner
NOTE BY VED:
See possibly: Jo White Linn, "Lists of Taxables in Rowan County, 1768," The North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal, Vol. IX, No. 4, November 1983, pp. 194-216.
p. 197: Hallows [Surry County]
Wm. Forckner 1 taxable
Mary B. Kegley, Early Adventurers on the Western Waters. Volume III, Part 1: The New River of Virginia in Pioneer Days 1745-1805. Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Co., for Kegley Books, P.O. Box 134, Wytheville, VA 24382 , [1995].
pp. 68-69. Wythe County Entry Book 1. p. 2, July 28, 1790. Jesse Evans, assignee of Robert Adams, assignee of Samuel McCraw on treasury warrant, 1790, enters [no acres stated] on Cedar Run, branch of Reed Creek, beginning at Stophel [Chrher] Simmerman's, John Davis', and John McNut's corner and going towards George Kegley's, Daniel Etter's and Edward Murphey's to Peter Binkley's and to Charles Simmerman's and George Armbrister's and to McNutt's for quantity. Marginal note states May 30,1793, 265 acres of this entry surveyed for Susanna Helvey, Henry Helvey, and Jacob Helvey; May 30, 1793, 88 acres surveyed for John McNutt; March 10, 1796, 50 acres surveyed for Daniel Etter; balance withdrawn at different times.
p. 69. Wythe County Entry Book 1. September 1, 1790, JONAS FORTNEY, 25 acres on treasury warrant, 1790, assigned to him by Robert Adams, assigneee of Sam'l McCraw, adjoining Daniel Wysley [Wiseley], James Finley, and William Phipps.
p. 69. Wythe County Entry Book 1. p. 5, September 6, 1790, JAMES FINLEY, enters 7 acres on treasury warrant, 1790, assigned by Robert Adams, assigneee of Sam'l McCraw, adjoining William Phipps and Finley's old patent line on the south andnclude head of "Cole Pitt" Hollow.
p. 99. July 20, 1793, JAMES FORTNEY, assignee of Robert Adams, assignee of Zacheriah Stanley, treasury warrant, 100 acres on Middle Fork of Holston, adjoining Joseph Adkins, John Snabley [Snaveley] "to sun set" [west] and Thomas Crow to "sse" [east].
p. 134. [p. 344] October 4, 1793. JONAS FORTNEY, 40 acres, 1793, on part of a treasury warrant, 1781, on Middle Fork of Holston, adjoining Joseph Adkins.
Information received 20 May 1995 from Bryan T. Winter, 145 Meriam Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903:
Wythe Co., VA Survey Book 1, p. 344, #34241. Survey map (irregular isoceles triangle in shape, wider at the top, with an uneven line at the top): "Surveyed for Jonas Fortney 40 acres of land, by virtue of an entry made the 11th July 1793rt of a Treasury Warrant No. 10690 issued 29th Dec. 1781 Lying in Wyth County on the Middle fork of Hotstick River & bounded as followeth, viz, Beginning at 3 white Oaks Corner to the land of John Sneably & Joseph Adkins & with a line of the latter S 70 W 222 poles to a Corner of the land of Thomas Crow & with his line N. 53 1/2 E 205 poles to a hiccory Crows Corner S. 24 # 16 to a double hicctory S. 22 E 30 to a red oak & White Oak on a ridge & s. 80 E 28 poles to the Beginning. Robert Adams, S. Wt. Oct. 4th 1793."
"The 40ac lot in Wythe Co. VA owned by Jonas Fortney was sold in 1821 by Jonas Fortney Sr of Wythe Co, VA. If he was living there in 1821 where is he. I have not consulted the tax lists for Wythe Co, VA as the LDS has not microfilmed them
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Davis Uriah I | Born 1707
Bef 1769 - Aft 1821 (> 54 years)
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