Person:Edward Elzey (1)

Notes

From Rootsweb Message Board:

My Thompson Elza was the orphanned son of Edward Elsey (b. Ca. 1753-58, somewhere in Maryland, moved with parents family to Augusta County, VA, in 1770). Edward Elsey is thought to be the son of the old Nicholas Elsey who appears in an 1787 (s/b 1778) Augusta County Court case as a witness in a murder trial. This older Nicholas Elsey, along with other neighboring land owners, also petitioned the Monongalia County Court in 1803 for certain road improvements. Time, place, and circumstances suggest that this older Nicholas was the father or grandfather of the Preston County Nicholas Elsey who was born in 1798. Additional work is needed to ascertain and verify this relationship

The father (old Nicholas Elsey ?) of my Edward Elsey is known to have had at least three children; two sons, Edward and Thomas, and a daughter, Mary Elsey. The life of Thomas Elsey is substantially documented by his Revolutionary War Pension Application Papers and, by extention, so is the early life of my Edward who is also mentioned therein. It is believed that daughter Mary married a resident of Rockingham County, VA, in 1787, but it has not yet been verified with certainty that this is the same Mary.

At any rate, the Nicholas Elsey of Morton's History of Preston County, VA (WV) is undoubtedly the Nicholas Elsey who is named in the Augusta County Court Record in 1787 (w/b 1778) murder trial because that Nicholas Elsey came from "east of the Blueridge" Mountains in 1770 just as Morton said and as indicated in the ARW Pension Apllication Papers of son Thomas Elsey. Morton went on to confuse/combine his history narrative about the Nicholas Elsey who came to Augusta County in 1770 and the younger Nicholas Elsey who was born there in 1798 because he probably didn't realize that there were two, or possibly three, generations of Nicholas Elseys who had lived or were born there prior to 1800.

This is a very condensed presentation of the circumstantial evidence pertaining to your question because it is designed to merely construct a framework of relationships that may connect you to our West Virginia Elsey History and Family. If any of this information ties into what you already know about our Elseys, please feel free to correspond with me.

Harvey in Washougal, WA

Source: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ELSEY/2003-10/1065246242

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 International Genealogical Index. ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, 1999-2008).