THE NANCE FAMILIES

The Frederick Woodson Nance -- Rachel Leathers Family

The Frederick Woodson Nance -- Rachel Leathers Family was the first of the Versailles Nances to come to Tennessee. The family first settled in the Rover-Unionville area in a log cabin about three hundred yards east of the Nance Cemetery, where both are buried.

Frederick Woodson Nance is the sixth generation from Cornwall, England. Richard Nance was first to arrive in the new world in 1620 on the ship, Jonathan, in the Norfolk-Jamestown area. Wife, Alice, arrived later on consignment to Richard, upon arrival. Four grandsons of Richard and Alice: John, Daniel, James and William, make up the old established lineages from the Jamestown Colony. Virtually all the approximately 22,000 Nances in this country can be traced to one or the other of these prolific four. The Versailles and Middle Tennessee Nances descended from John Nance, generation three, of these four. Thus generations were (I) Richard and Alice; (II)Richard and wife; (III) John and Sarah Gookins; (IV) John and Jane _____; (V) Richard and wife; and finally to (VI) Frederick Woodson Nance and Rachel Leathers that arrived in the Rover area in 1830 with their family and a few young servants (slaves).

The route of westward migration was Jamestown, Charles City County, Henrico County, along the "Appamatuck" Ricer, Nances Neck, Prince George County, near Gravely run, Great Branch, Picture Branch, Picture Branch, and Hatchers Run, Lunenberg County at Double Bridges near Middletown (now extinct), and Mecklinburg to Granville County, North Carolina and from there to Rover, Tennessee, a part of the wide Versailles area at the time.

Brothers of Frederick Woodson Nance, all sons of Richard Nance V generation, were John, Clement, James, William and Howard. No daughters were recorded but most likely numbered as many. To dispose quickly of the five brothers of Frederick Woodson Nance: Harold an John remained in Granville County and raised a large families of migrators; Clement went to Hopkins County, Kentucky; James to Lincoln county, Tennessee; William to Davidson County in the Smyrna area. His son, William Howe Nance, is best known as an ancestor of John Nance Garner, 32nd Vice-President of the U.S.A.

Frederick Woodson Nance, born 1771 in Lunenburg County VA, a giant of a man -- 7 feet tall, 260 pounds, first married Agnes Burchett, 19 April 1793, in Granville Co., NC. Clement was supposedly their only child and came to Tennessee. The second marriage was to Rachel Leathers, 26 June 1809. Rachel, born 1782 in Granville Co., NC., was the daughter of William Leathers, who received a 2,000 acre grant in Versailles from North Carolina in 1792. Frederick Woodson and Rachel Leathers Nance had eight children, all born in Granville Co., NC.:

1 Richard (Leonidas) Nance (8 June 1810-28 Oct 1883)
2 Cyrus Frederick Nance (25 Aug 1812-19 April 1846)
3 William Buckner (Buck) Nance (7 April 1814-1896)
4 Gideon Allen Nance (12 Aug 1816-1896)
5 Agnes (Aggie) Nance (12 March 1818-July 1841)
6 (John) Wesley Nance (28 Sept-1877)
7 Prudence Nance (15 March-____)
8 James Woodson Nance (15 March 1829-4 April 1910)

Of these eight only Richard and James remained in the Versailles area. Cyrus went to Pickens, Miss.; William Buckner to Paris TN; Gideon Allen to Tarrant County TX; Agnes and John Wesley to Holmes Co., Miss. All had families except Prudence who remained a spinster.

The coat of arms for the family is "Semper Eadem", or "Always the Same", and is the same as that of the English Queen, Elizabeth. The family had been in England about 500 years before the Huguenot exodus. Name variations from Nance are Nantz, Nans, Nantes. Many large grants of land were received. David for one served under George Washington in the Revolutionary War. There were several as grants usually came for war service or from the English Crown.

Sources The Nance Register by Pete Nance, Shreveport, LA; Genealogy of the Nances by D Nance; Nance Memorial History; Notes left be Edwin Nance, Shelbyville, TN and others; Memories and hand-me-downs of living persons.


The Richard (Leonidas) Nance, Sr & Elizabeth Hill Family

The Richard (Leonidas) Nance Sr., eldest son of Frederick Woodson Nance and Rachel Leathers, married 31 Oct 1833, Elizabeth Hill, born 29 Sept 1814, daughter of Benson Hill and Sarah Mallard and the granddaughter of Thornton Mallard and Elizabeth Wright. Other Hill children were William and Margaret. Sarah Mallard Hill is best documented as "old Grandmother Smotherman", as she later, 1824, married James Smotherman. (See Hill family.) Richard, Elizabeth and Sarah are buried in the Nance Cemetery south of Versailles toward Longview.

Richard and Elizabeth acquired the 280 acre farm known today as the "Old Nance Place", in 1833, when the Hill and Leathers estates were up for settlement, which served as a catalyst for many land dealings along the West Fork Stones River-Alexander Creek-Harpeth Valley Creek area in Bedford, Rutherford and then Williamson Counties. The colonial house formerly on the "Old Nance Place" was built by Richard Nance in 1833-34, with large logs and wide cedar planks for floors and replaced a one room log cabin about half mile further back to the west. The colonial house which burned in the 1940's, became home for Richard and Elizabeth; and here all of their nine children were born. These children were eighth generation Americans and were:

1 Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Nance (18 Sept 1834-25 Aug 1869). (See family history)
2 Sarah H Nance (17 April 1836-30 Oct 1871), wife of Meade H Jackson, a Confederate Veteran and medical doctor, who later practiced in Memphis. Sarah is buried in the Nance Cemetery.
3 John Woods Nance, (30 July 1837-1 Feb 1896). (See family history.)
4 Amanda Lee Nance (10 Jan 1840-23 May 1908), married Thomas S Maddox (9 March 1836-18 March 1915). The family lived in the Versailles area as did their son, John and his wife, Kate, and are buried in the Nance Cemetery. The ten Maddox children were: John, William, Robert, Thomas, Sallie, Alvin, Finnis, Serepta, C.W., and James Nance. These Maddox children are ninth generation American, all have families and all left the Versailles area.
5 Serepta (Repsey) Nance, born 1846, married a Hix, had one child, Hezekiah Nance Hix. Both Repsey and Hezekiah were so physically abused that Amanda Nance Maddox took two year old Hezekiah and raised him as her own. The Hix surname was later dropped and Hezekiah Nance later raised a family in Boston Mass., and became president of a bank. He visited Versailles one time around the turn of the century, and died in 1949.
6 Elizabeth (Lizzie) Nance, born 1848, married Richard (Dick) Fain in 1868 in a big Versailles wedding. They lived afterwards in Shelbyville and Nashville.
7 Mary Nance, born 1849, died an infant. Grave is unmarked.
8 Mary B Nance, born 1851, buried in an unmarked grave and unknown location.
9 Richard Leonidas "Lon" Nance , Jr (5 Jan 1854-Feb 1909) left Versailles when a dead person (unknown) was found under leaves on the Versailles Knob. Proof of the handed-down story has never been attempted or confirmed. Lon migrated to Rogers, Ark., became prominent in State government. Lon and wife, Ellen Braun, born 1856 at Beech Grove, TN, became the parents of eleven children and the ancestors of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Nances.

By the time the first four children became adults, Richard had accumulated large acreage and also approximately 100 persons in slave status. Slaves were bought and sold, and deeds to them recorded as if a piece of real estate. Refer to Record Book 9, pages 338-339, in Rutherford Co. Court House for recorded loan of Negro girls, Elleanor and Haldah, valued at $1,000 each, to his daughters, Sarah and Amanda.

As the family grew, Richard anticipated that war was inevitable; purchased land in 1859 in Versailles from William G Hight, who had purchased the same acreage from Williams Jackson the year before; moved to Versailles; left, John W and wife, Julia Ann Jackson at the Old Nance Place; built the log two story store building at the present store location; closed out the old rock building store; moved the family into the new colonial house; and began slowly and systematically disposing of his slaves. The war came; the 24th Tenn Infantry regiment was organized under the big oak trees in front of the log store. Six of Richards sons and sons-in-law served. Life during the war was difficult. By letter son, Frank, advised his father of two choices, "Stay where you are and knuckle under to the Yankee Government," or "Go further west."

Richard remained in Versailles; supported the Confederacy; mortgaged all his 1234 acres; bought bonds and notes to the maximum; housed and protected the women and children in his household; and in 1868 the mortgages were foreclosed and land sold by the court appointed trustee. The Old Nance Place passed to brother James W Nance. The three tracts in Versailles were bought from the court by sons, Frank and John W, for $10,446.00 by debt assumption. In the colonial house under Richard's care all or part of the time between 1861-1868 were: Elizabeth, Sarah Mallard Hill Smotherman, Sarah Nance Jackson, Serepta Nance Hix, Hezekiah Nance (Hix), Amanda Nance Maddox, Elizabeth Nance, Mary B Nance, Lon Nance, Rachel Leathers Nance, and Hezekiah Hill. Also in Richard's care and in the house across from the store built by Williams Jackson were daughter-in-law Nannie Hight Nance and her four children: Yancy, Tabitha, Elizabeth and Fred.

Thus Richard and Elizabeth gambled on the war and lost. A shoe box full of worthless confederate notes and bonds was used by the children to play "store" until the colonial house burned in 1951. The two lived near or with son, John W Nance and family until their deaths at 63 for Elizabeth and 73 for Richard.

Sources Same as for Frederick W Nance.


The James Woodson Nance - Catherine Snell Family

The James Woodson Nance, youngest brother of Richard Nance, married 13 Dec 1859, married Catherine Snell, a sister of John Snell. The Snell family lived at the old Naron Place, south of Shelbyville. The James W Nance and Catherine are buried in the Nance Cemetery between Rover and Unionville at the first home place. He served in the 24th Infantry regiment organized in Versailles by John C Jackson, later in the 45th Infantry regiment, and still later in General Frost's Cavalry and surrendered in Selma, Ala., May 1865. James and Catherine had three children:

1 Alfred Ransom Nance (12 Nov 1860-Nov 1946) married Molly George Thompson (15 Dec 1886-20 Nov 1924). They had three children: James Frederick Nance, Edwin T Nance, and Alfred Richard "AR" Nance, Jr. Edwin and AR Jr have families and are the Shelbyville Nances.
2 Katherine (Kittie) Nance, died 3 March 1952, married J.C. Ogilvie and had three children: James Nance Ogilvie, Anna Catherine Ogilvie, and Otho Ogilvie, who has one daughter. These are the College Grove Ogilvies.
3 Anna Nance, died 6 Nov 1944, married Frank Scales and had two children: James Hugh Scales and Sarah Catherine Acales. Both had families.

When The James Woodson Nance died, daughter Kitty inherited the Old Nance Place and her son James Nance Ogilvie inherited from her.

Sources: Furnished by A.R. Nance and James Ogilvie.;


The Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Nance and Nannie Hight Family

Frank (B.F.) Nance was the first child of Richard and Elizabeth and also the first of the Versailles Nances born in Tennessee. Frank Nance married Dec 1859 to Nannie Hight, born 14 Nov 1841, one of seven children of William Hight. (See Hight Family). Frank Nance helped John C Jackson in the rock store building until the new store was built in the same location as the present one. He became the merchant in the new store until the 24th Infantry regiment was organized. Afterwards the store closed until war end.

After William H Hight swapped his Versailles land and store to Frank's father, Richard, the family moved into the house across the road from the store and remained there until 1875, after Frank died in 1868. Frank (B.F.) Nance and Nannie Hight had four children, all born in Versailles where Otho Nance now lives, two before and two after his war service. The children were:

1 Richard Yancy Nance, born 14 Aug 1860, went to Rogers Ark to live with his Uncle Lon (Richard Leonidas Nance, Jr) in 1877. Later in Stillwell, OK, he became an attorney, married Lena Crick and raised two children. The Crick family was not in sympathy with the Confederate cause and much dissension existed.
2 Elizabeth (Lizzie) Nance, born 1862, married Roberson Hoskins, had two children (one died an infant). Frankie Hoskins married a Gidrey and had one son, Leroy.
3 Tabatha Estella Nance (21 March 1864-12 Aug 1948), married 26 July 1883, Minos B Carlton, born 5 May 1855. (See the Minos B Carlton family).
4 Cyrus Frederick Nance (27 June 1866-13 Sept 1888), only one of the four buried in the Nance Cemetery.

Frank (B F) never regained health after his war service and was the first to be buried in the Nance Cemetery on the Versailles Road. Frank appeared someone undecided about the war issue, although he participated in the battles of Murfreesboro, Stones River and Missionary Ridge after which he was released due to illness.

Sources Same as for Frederick Woodson Nance

Nance Brothers