Genealogical Research

There are Dants and Fenwicks in Northumberland, England, today, but we're not sure whether we are originally from Northumberland, just south of Scotland, or from the city of Dee, in Yorkshire. According to family lore, the first Dant came over with Lord Baltimore on the Ark or the Dove in 1635 and was among the first Marylanders. We don't know if that is strictly true, as the first mention we can find of a Dant is one William Dant, who patented a plantation named "Hopewell" in 1659. (We believe this is the same "Hopewell" conveyed to John Baptist Dant by John Dant's will of 1763.) We also discovered that in 1669 John Pile laid claim to 700 acres for having transported 13 people to the Maryland colony, one of whom was Thomas Dant(e). In 1680, Thomas Coverdale, another of the 13, claimed his 50 acres for working out his indentured servitude, and conveyed it to Thomas Dant. On 28 September, 1680, Thomas Dant patented 100 acres as "Peterborough". This plantation later shows up in the possession of Peter Mills.

Originally, the name was spelled "Dant", but around 1860, my great grandmother (Sara Jane Beardsley), put an "e" on the end. We don't know why, but we can come up with a number of interesting possible reasons.

During the "Great Migration" of Roman Catholics from Maryland to Kentucky around 1785, my ancestor's brother, John Baptist Dant, left St. Mary's County, and went to Kentucky. Eventually the Kentucky branch of the family opened a distillary in Bardstown, Ky and produced the J.W.Dant whiskey. My direct ancestor, Joseph Frances Xavior Dant, remained behind in Maryland and lived for a time in Charles County, where he married Martha Shercliffe. This may be a good place to mention that in the Maryland Calendar of Wills, Joseph Francis is listed as Joseph Francis Excol Dante. We have studied John Dant's original will (which was later copied into the will book), and it is clear that what was read by someone as "Excol" is actually the abbreviation for "Xavior" (pronounced "Exzavior" and also "Zavior").

Joseph Francis Xavior and Martha had four children: Thomas, William, Mary, and Joseph Francis. My family is descended from William, who had a tailor shop in Georgetown. William married Susan Fenwick in 1814, and then went off to the Battle of Bladensburg (War of 1812). They are my great-great-grandparents.

Before accessing the family trees below, please read this warning.

Some of the family names we are researching are:

Dant - From England, possibly Northumberland or Yorkshire
Fenwick - they came from Northumberland with the Dants
Scheele - they came from Saxony in the early 1800's
Murphy - this is from my mother's side - County Louth, Ireland
Stuppy - my maternal grandmother's family came through Acadia!

If you think we may be related, or if you have run into anything you suspect may be of interest, please mail me: mdante@CapAccess.org
As I search the web, I'll keep adding neat links to this page. Meanwhile, you can read about my immediate family.
One of the exciting and satisfying aspects of searching for one's roots is connecting with hitherto unknown cousins searching the same roots. Among those cousins we have found - or who have found us - who have their own websites are:

Evelyne and Denis Duvoisin, who found us from their home in Aigle, Switzerland while searching U.S. websites. They maintain their Duvoisin-Dant website in France. They also have a family tree in the US. Evelyne's Dant ancestors left England about the same time as the first Marylanders and immigrated to France to maintain their religious freedom.

Louis Gerard White of Kentucky, who is a direct descendant of John Baptist Dant and J.W. Dant. He maintains his genealogical website in the U.S., where he lives, and his personal website in France.

Katharine Elsasser is a direct descendant of Charles Dant, brother of John Baptist. She lives on Capitol Hill (Washington, DC) and maintains The Glen and Kay Elsasser Family Home Page.

Distant Cousin has many excellent genealogy resources, and from here you can also search for many surnames.

GenForum hosts many surname message boards. There is a Dant message board.
The Genealogy Home Page will launch you into other pages.

French Genealogy goes to France and links to many genealogical aids and informational tools.

Middleton is a name of interest since my great-grand-aunt, Mary Ann Dant, married Leander Baker Middleton. We have been in contact with her direct descendant, Canon Arthur Pierce Middleton of Annapolis, Md.

Some Dant Surnames in Nelson Co., Ky. - search the Gendex database.

Edward Hayden set up this site with information about Maryland Catholics on the Frontier. He also hosts the St. Mary's County GenWeb.

Another web site of interest to us is the District of Columbia GenWeb, which includes Georgetown. One can find area history here as well as genealogical resources.