A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Catharine Yancey
I don't know much about her. The Adair Wilson family record lists Catharine Yancey as William Wilson's wife. There are three Augusta County deeds that show William's wife's name as Catharine or Catherine. A couple of listings for John Wilson in the "California Pioneer and Immigrant Files, 1790-1950" on Ancestry.com show his mother's name as Yancey.
James Hotchkiss speculated that her father might have been Robert Yancey. My impression is that the basis for this identification was the fact that Robert Wilson (son of William and Catharine) probated a Robert Yancey who died intestate in Howard Co., MO. However, "Randolph County, Missouri Administration and Will Records 1836-1858" on Ancestry.com lists three other people who died intestate and were administered by Robert Wilson, so it may be a mistake to read too much into the connection with Robert Yancey. A Yancey researcher, Dennis Yancey, thinks that this Robert is unlikely to be Catharine's father. He knew of one Yancey family in Augusta Co., VA (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dyancey&id=I13787; unfortunately, Dennis seems to have renumbered his database, so this link no longer goes to the right person), but there is no information about them having a daughter named Catharine (also, note that Adair and Ben Wilson said she was from South Carolina). It is perhaps also worth mentioning that I am an Ancestry DNA match to several descendants of John Yancey of Culpeper Co., VA (1734-1790). The matches are very weak, which is not unreasonable given how far back the connection would be, but none of the family trees lists a daughter named Catharine for John. The actual connection might be before this John Yancey.
In his family record, Adair Wilson said that Catharine Yancey was born in South Carolina and she and William were married in Charleston, South Carolina. A couple of biographies of Robert Wilson (son of William and Catharine) have some additional clues about her. First, on p. 561 of Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri by W.V.N. Bay (F. H. Thomas and Company, St. Louis, 1878; obtained from Google Books), it says “His father was a very respectable farmer of English descent, and his mother was a Yancey, and belonged to the noted family of that name in the Old Dominion.” Old Dominion refers to Virginia, which seems to be in contradiction to Adair's entry, though perhaps the family lived in Virginia before moving to South Carolina. Second, in an obituary of Robert in the New York Times on 18 May 1870, it says “His mother was a relative of the late Hon. WILLIAM L. YANCEY, of Alabama.” Unfortunately, “relative of” is too vague to clear things up very much. However, Benjamin Harrison Wilson (grandson of William and Catharine, Adair's older brother) was a little more specific in a letter written around 1895 (obtained from William and Deborah Vaughan). He said, “Grandmother Wilson was a Miss Yancey and an Aunt of Wm. L. Yancey of South Carolina – and she was a native of that State. During the early wars Grandfather was in the Army and was ordered from Virginia to South Carolina and while there he married.” This letter helps a lot by providing a reason why William happened to be married in South Carolina. The ages aren't right for Catharine Yancey to be William L. Yancey's aunt, but possibly a great aunt? The big problem with Ben’s story, though, is the long gap between the end of the war and the birth of William’s oldest child John in 1790. It is possible that there were some older children who died young or are not known for some reason. Other possibilities are that he met Catharine during the war, but went back and married her several years later or that the trip or expedition to South Carolina wasn’t part of the Revolutionary War, but several years afterward. I hope to follow up on these clues and find out more about her.
James Hotchkiss's contribution to the Ancestral File said that Catharine was born before 1757. I have no idea what basis there was for this, but it seems a bit early considering that the oldest child (John) was born in 1790. That would have made her 33 or older when John was born and 50 or older when William was born. Not impossible, but a bit on the high side. It's hard to be sure of anything with the older censuses, but in Randolph Co., MO, in the 1830 census there is a listing for Robert Wilson with a female age 60-69 in the household. It looks right for Catharine living with her son after her husband had passed away. This age range would make her born in 1761-1770. In turn, that would make her 20-29 when John was born and 37-46 when William was born. These are more reasonable ages.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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