Around the same timeframe in Wilkes Co., NC, I find John, Christopher (associated with Philip Rasbury/Raspberry/Rosborough), Moses (handled John V's estate), James (associated with William Welborn's family through marriage), and two Elizabeths (both femes covert; one somehow associated with Rubin Rowland, the other somehow associated with the Thrasher family).
John died in NC. I don't know where Christopher died. Moses and James, along with a younger John and the elder Chapleigh Denman -- all eventually wound up in Georgia. James and Chapleigh were in GA during the Revolution. Moses evidently was in NC with his father, John, at the same time. I don't know where Christopher was during that war, but probably in NC (I think the NC estate he handled occurred after the war).
It appears that James left GA after the war, evidently returning to NC, and married Claranna Welborn in NC before returning to Wilkes Co., GA (or was it Habersham?), where her father had more land. In fact, all three men (William Welborn, James Denman, John Denman) were neighbors there after the war and marriage of William's daughter with James.
Many of these early settlers had extensive portfolios of land deeds which they bought and sold as commodities, as much as they could get their hands on apparently, which makes tracking them that much more challenging.
However, we know that many from NC later (after the war) migrated southward into southern SC and northern GA. The elder Moses Denman (Baptist), "Sister" Denman (Moses' wife, Nancy Denman most likely), a Rev. William Denman (Baptist), Benjamin Cleveland (and other members of his family), Elijah Isaacs, the elder Chapleigh Denman.
Most of them eventually settled on the banks of the Tugaloo River. Later on, those who were yet living took part in the GA goldrush, then moved westward across GA into Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. And other states across the Mississippi River (Arkansas, Oklahoma, etc.) The southern Denman branches had a unique migration pattern that distinguished them from the branches which simultaneously settled the midwest and more northerly regions.
The John Denman mentioned in the Welborn's Wilkes Co., GA (or Habersham, as I must refresh my memory since I know that Blake and probably James both also owned land in Habersham), deeds, must have been a younger generation, so in fact could have been my James' brother (Claranna's brother-in-law).
According to one or more of our fellow genealogists, my James did have a brother named John (one that I disputed and suspect is actually, along with Benjamin Cleveland Denman, Elizabeth, Moses, Isaac, and Thomas Denman -- children of John V and Elizabeth of NJ and finally, NC).
In fact (and I haven't mentioned it before now although I nearly posted about it here yesterday) -- there is a record of what was likely John V's second marriage at St. John's Episcopal church in colonial Elizabeth Town, in September of 1763, to ELIZABETH "Lolloo".
While I trust the source (although I'd seek corroboration), her surname just doesn't ring a bell with me and I suspect it is a transcription error. Nevertheless, that marriage if true means that my James also could be the son of John and Elizabeth rather than of Daniel and Deborah.
And if John V and Elizabeth in fact resettled in NC -- it would explain their absence from NJ history during and after the war.
However, I and evidentally others have long been convinced that James was Daniel's son, and John V's nephew. I have to look over my data and pinpoint what it was exactly that had me convinced.
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(I think there was more on my mind, but I'm beginning to run out of steam now, so it'll have to wait. But first I'd like to attempt a brief analysis of the data you provided from the bio in Lucien Lamar Knight's book. I simply copy/pasted from what you posted earlier.)
***Doctor Fite married Sarah Denman , who was born in Franklin County, Georgia, the eldest daughter of Felix Gilbert and Nancy ( Hutcherson ) The Denmans were among the earliest settlers of Georgia, ...Yes, I agree.
***and Judge Fite's great - great- grandfather, John Denman, was an Englishman who came to America about 1760, and served as a soldier in the Revolution. After the war he removed to Franklin County , Georgia.
(This second statement is problematic unless Judge Augustus Fite's gg-grandfather was John Denman IV, who was not born in England although he might be described as having a great deal of English ancestry. His mother was French (Huguenot). And he didn't come to America in 1760. Rather, he moved as a young adult from Long Island to Westfield NJ where he was a fully documented, taxpaying, landholding original settler.
But if the statement is true and Sarah Turner Denman was as this book claims the g-granddaughter of "John Denman 1760 English immigrant, who served in the Revolutionary War", then she is not at all directly related to the NJ Denman branches. And if my James is connected with her family, rather than as I believe a son of either Daniel and Deborah Scudder or Daniel's brother, John V and Elizabeth -- then neither am I.
And I have a great deal of respect for the Georgia historian, Lucien Lamar Knight. However, other than taking his or his source's word for it -- we have no evidence proving the existence of any John Denman who moved to America from England in 1760 and 20 years later fought the Battle of Kings Mountain in NC in 1780. With John V of NJ, at least we know that he existed, and he fits the narrative based on the available facts.
I vaguely remember a John Denman immigrant who came over long (i.e. 100-150 years) after the initial group, and I think there were at least a few who did land in NY in particular. But I assumed they produced the fairly prolific NY branches that are not at all closely related to the original Denman settlers of Long Island, NJ, and Connecticut -- whose ship landed in 1635 Boston with just one very young male Denman to carry on the name.
Sure, there were other Denmans in early NC about whom we know a little bit. But the only NC John I've seen so far lived in Wilkes County. And unlike most of them, our branch has documented ties to NJ. Blake married a NJ Elston. The Cleveland and Denman families intermarried, in NJ.
Furthermore, the dedicated Denman family genealogist in 1913 published her book stating unequivocally that "Daniel" (I believe actually Daniel's son, James who fought for GA along with Chapleigh, probably James' brother or cousin) and Daniel's brother, John V (who I believe remarried while still in NJ, to Elizabeth "Lolloo") -- departed from NJ to eventually settle in Georgia. I doubt it is merely coincidental that she happened to learn about that 100 years ago. In 1913 many family members whom she contacted as part of her research would have been alive, who could have remembered a great deal about events of the 19th century at least.
So unless I see real evidence of yet another John Denman in the same region, same timeframe, who arrived from England on a ship in mid-18th century with no known ties to the family already established here in the Colonies, I'm not convinced.
And I'll be the first to admit that I am just as guilty as anyone else of repeating that rumor, even in one or more of my discussions here. Because at the time I didn't know any better. I had naively trusted that people making such bold statements had some reasonable basis to support them. I didn't realize it was all based on some hearsay in a book of brief biographies of society people. I don't know where they got that idea, because nothing has been provided to prove its validity.
What ship did the native Englishman / American Patriot arrive on? At what port? Where did he live, who did he marry, who were his kids and grandkids? Did he move around? Did he own land? How did he make a living, what occupation?)
Then it goes on to say:
***The great- grandfather, Christopher Denman (son of native Englishman John), was born about 1770, and came to Georgia with his father.
(Came to Georgia from where? They'd already lived in the colonies for a decade, but where? Any land records? If this Christopher was born in 1770 he was too young to fight in the war. But he might have been old enough to help settle the Rasbury estate in Wilkes Co. NC. We need to check the date, I don't remember it right offhand. And if the story is true, he could have been the one who died at Kings Mountain. But he seems far more shadowy than even John V of NJ and his brother, Daniel.
There was a John in Wilkes Co., NC. And a Christopher. Also a James. and a Moses. If John was a native-born Englishman I could be wrong perhaps, but I doubt Benjamin Cleveland and the other rough and rowdy patriots would have trusted him very much. He would have needed to be a proven Whig in order to fit in and get along with that Yadkin Valley crowd. Yet he got along great with them, like brothers.
Wikipedia: "Until Lord Cornwallis invaded in 1780, the fighting in North Carolina consisted of guerrilla warfare between patriots ("Whigs") and "Tories". [Benjamin] Cleveland [John Denman's neighbor in the Yadkin River valley of Wilkes County] became known as the "Terror of the Tories" for his treatment of Loyalists.")
And finally:
***Grandfather Felix G. Denman was born in 1798, in Franklin County, and was old enough to serve as a soldier in the War of 1812, and was present with General Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in January, 1815. Felix Gilbert Denman afterwards located in Bartow, then Cass County, and was a large land and slave owner. He died in 1861.
(I don't have any problem with the last statement. I believe my Blake and Felix were probably at least first cousins. The Georgians seem to have been the progeny of up to at least five brothers and/or first cousins from NC: my James, Moses, Christopher, Rev. William, and Chapleigh.
Of an older generation in Wilkes Co., I only find John of Kings Mountain. For the older James of Cumberland and Hillsborough counties, NC, I have little information. Only a court record and a land grant, so far. In the list of NC landgrants I referenced above, only one was in Wilkes County (Moses). Elizabeth Denman was on a Deed for the 89 acre tract in NC.
I just have difficulty believing John of Kings Mountain was a native-born Englishman apparently devoid of background and history, without some solid evidence.)
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