B1. James Gentry
-- Born in New Kent County (later Hanover County), Virginia, in approximately 1704;
-- Name of wife or wives not known.
James died probably in 1767 in Hanover County.
Until 1751, James was not included in any St. Paul's Parish records, whether they were for processioning orders, or road maintenance assignments, or any other parish responsibilities. Where was James during this time? In most cases in processioning orders, even if James was living on land which he did not own, he would still be listed among the land holders. The absence of James from any road maintenance orders, such as the one in 1735 that involved William, and one in 1743 that involved Joseph Sr., is hard to explain if James was living with Joseph. When he did finally appear in the parish records, it is apparent that he was well along in years and must have been absent from the parish for a considerable number of years. This is supported by a record of James sixteen years earlier in Hanover County Court documents for the year 1735. In that year, James witnessed a deed of sale of land in St. Martin's Parish, and an accompanying establishment of a security bond for John Tyler Jr.<2>. This reference gives a clue as to where James may have been living at least part time if not in St. Paul's Parish. There are reasons for suspecting that James Gentry was the father of the George Gentry which we will not go into here but will defer to John Reed's article. It is possible that during at least some of the years James was absent from the Totopotomoy Creek area, he was occupying Nicholas' land in the Stone Horse Creek precinct and George simply continued this occupation after his father left.
http://www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg0110.htm
