The Wataugan

In the year of our LORD one thousand eight hundred a young man named John Francis received from the estate of Mordecai Price a deed for a tract of land situated in Washington County, Tennessee. The tract contained one hundred and four acres. The land was deeded to John Francis, "In consideration of two hundred acres of land given in exchange to the said Price before he deceased."
The name of John Francis appeared on the 1796 Washington County, Tennessee tax list. But he is not shown as possessing any land until 1797. In that year, according to the tax list, he was being taxed for one hundred and four acres of land. This was the same land which was deeded to John Francis in 1800.
The land received by John Francis was a portion of a larger four hundred acre tract Mordecai Price had received from the State of North Carolina. The grant reads, "four hundred acres of land for Mordecai Price on Brush Creek joining Talbot's former survey and lying partly on Sinking Creek. Said land entered of Matthew Talbot and transferred to said Price... given at office this tenth day of May, 1788."
Two days later, on the twelfth day of May, 1788, James Boring purchased a tract containing 526 acres from Thomas Talbot. This tract adjoined the land received by Mordecai Price two day earlier.
Mordecai Price and James Boring came to Washington County from Baltimore County, Maryland. These two names appeared in the 1790 Maryland Census. It is possible that they were still in Baltimore County, Maryland in 1790. The name of Mordecai Price appeared on the Washington County Tax List returned by E. Williams for the years 1790 and 1791. In 1792 both names appeared on the Washington County Tax List in Captain North's Company.
. The name of John Francis first appeared in Washington County records in 1780, but I do not know if this John Francis was our ancestor. If it was, he could not have been more than five years old. But his name appeared in connection with members of a Carr family, specifically Walter Carr and Mary Carr. The following minute appeared in the minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for 23 August, 1780, page 117, "Ord. that deft (blank) of John Francis and Mary Carr on behalf of Walter Carr pltf vs Hezaciah Chany, Deft."
I have no idea what this entry involved. But I mention it because there was also a Carr family in the Gunpowder Meeting of the Friends in Baltimore County, Maryland. And in Washington County the earliest appearances of the name John Francis are associated with family names which were common in Baltimore County, Maryland. I will discuss this in greater detail in another section of a later newsletter.
The Mordecai Price and James Boring families were among the earliest to settle in the section of Washington County, Tennessee which later became the home of John Francis. The land upon which they settled is located just southeast of present day Johnson City.
According to W.C. Allen, in his book The Annals Of Haywood County, North Carolina, "It is on record that some time in the early part of the eighteenth century a young man by the name of Daniel Francis left England and came to America, settling first in Pennsylvania and later establishing himself in Maryland, where he reared a family of four boys and two girls, as the record goes" (page 568).
A Daniell Francis did emigrate from Essex, England to Maryland in 1684. He was 26 years old. It is not likely that this is the man Allen referred to in his book. Allen wrote later that Daniel Francis was the father of John Francis, who settled in Washington County, Tennessee. We know John Francis was born between 1760 and 1770. There is no possible way that the Daniell Francis who came to America in 1684, age 26, could have been the father of John Francis who was born 1760-1770. Daniell Francis, who arrived in 1684, was born in 1658. For him to have been the father of John Francis who was born 1760-1770 he would had to have been 102 in 1760, and 112 in 1770. It is possible that Allen's source left out a generation. But there is no way that Daniell Francis was the father of our ancestor John Francis.
Another record states that a Daniel Francis came to America in 1806. But this arrival was obviously too late for him to have been the father of John Francis.
A third possibility was a Daniel Frantz/France, of German descent who was in Montgomery County, Penn ylvania in 1734. Most of the information I have on Daniel Frantz comes from a book entitled Pioneers Of Old Monocacy by Grace L. Tracey and John P. Dern. The balance comes from records in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
In 1734 Daniel Frantz was listed as a taxable in Frederick Township of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Montgomery County was the primary home of a group of German Christians known as Schwenckfelders (named for their founder Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig). They left Germany for Holland in April, 1734. In June of that year they left Holland for England where they remained until 29 July. On that date they left for Pennsylvania, arriving in Philadelphia 22 September. I had thought at one time that Daniel Frantz might have been a member of that group. But upon investigation I learned that he was not.
Tracey and Dern suggest that Daniel Frantz probably arrived in Pennsylvania in 1727. There is, however, no record of his arrival.
By August, 1735 Daniel France (as his surname is spelled in Maryland records for the most part) was in the portion of Prince George's County, Maryland which later became Frederick County. In November, 1736 he is listed as a planter in that county. He was settled on a tract of land known as Indian's Field, which was a part of a huge tract known as Tasker's Chance. He and five other German settlers were given the option to purchase the land upon which they were settled from Benjamin Tasker 11 June, 1737. At that time they were not able to come up with the requested amount. The land was purchased by Daniel Dulany with the understanding that he would give the Germans a chance to purchase their properties. 13 January, 1744 was the deadline. In January, 1745 Daniel France assigned his option to Daniel Dulany. The name of Daniel France does not appear in any Maryland records after that date.
Daniel Dulany also owned extensive holdings on the east side of the Monocacy River. It was on his land east of the river that Susannah Beatty settled with her family. Her land and the land of Daniel France were very close together. This is of interest because our ancestor John Francis was, as I will discuss at a later time, supposed to have married a Miss Beatty (Baity/Baily?). If John Francis was the son or grandson of Daniel France this would certainly have been possible.
No one knows what happened to Daniel France. Descendants of Joseph Francis of Frederick County, Maryland say they descend from a man and woman who drowned while their child was very young. It is, of course, possible that a child of Daniel France could have been the father of John Francis. It has been suggested that Johannes and Nicolaus France of Frederick County, Maryland were sons of Daniel France. The Johannes France could have been our John Francis. But if our ancestor was a descendant of Daniel France at all, it is more likely that he was Daniel's grandson. If Daniel died in, or around 1745 he was not the father of John Francis who was born in 1760-1770.
I have been trying for several years to prove, or to disprove the relationship of Daniel France and John Francis. The only thing I can offer at this point is conjecture. Daniel France may have been the father of Johannes France. And Johannes France may have been the father of our John Francis.

Washington County, TN Francis Family Chronology
Family Surnames
Name Index 1: France, Alvin - France, William Gene
Name Index 2: Francis, Addie Louise - Francis, Willie Jane
Name Index 3: Allmon, Elizabeth - Odell, Vayne
Name Index 4: Pate, Augustus - Williams, Wiley

Back To Main Page