Joseph Canterbury - Joseph Canterbury birthdate, parentage and children

Started by Private User on Tuesday, July 11, 2023
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After extensive research, I believe that Joseph Canterbury, Sr. is the brother of Samuel Canterbury not his son.

They were not the sons of Samuel Canterbury, Sr. The will of Samuel “Senior” indicates strongly that he was childless. Their father must have been Samuel’s brother John Canterbury, Jr. The guy that Geni calls Samuel Junior is the guy that I call Samuel 1728.

I’ve been studying the descent of the Canterbury name, so the women have gotten short shrift unless they had an important bearing on documenting the male line. This is what I found on Joseph Senior:

Documents show that two Joseph Canterburys (Senior and Junior) served together in the Continental Army in 1777. A birthdate of 1748 is highly unrealistic for Joseph Senior; it was probably in the 1725-1740 range, and I lean toward before 1735. He would have been born in Richmond county VA if born before 1735, and in Prince William county if born after 1735. Joseph Senior was MIA and presumed dead after the battle of Brandywine Creek (Pennsylvania) in September 1777. We have documentation for his widow Joseph Canterbury, Sr. indicating that she was born around 1740, and Joseph’s death left her with 8 young children that she raised by herself. Unfortunately she did not list their names.

I do think that Joseph Senior may have had a previous wife, but there is zero documentation for this. Elizabeth Canterbury married a different Joseph Canterbury who was born in 1775. He is part of this family too, but I can’t find him on Geni.

Joseph Senior’s son Joseph Canterbury, Jr. must have been born by 1761 to be at least 16 years old at the time of his army service. He’s probably older than that, since he may have had one or more children by 1777. He survived the war, and the last identifiable record of him is in Albemarle county in 1782. He may or may not be the Joseph Canterbury who was recorded in Georgia in the early 1800s. Jospeh Junior is a shadowy figure, with no information on his wife or children. All I know about the Georgia guy is that he was probably born before 1781.

I have an article with more information and links to sources at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/chzonie/canterbury.html To skip the discussion and cut to the chase, go to the line of descent charts: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/chzonie/canterbury.html#first3

Correction, this is the link to Joseph's widow: Ruth Canterbury

This realignment of the family tree means that we have to reconsider the paternity of the children who’ve been assigned to Samuel Canterbury

Here are my thoughts on some of the other characters.

Samuel Canterbury Circumstantial evidence says that Joseph Senior was his father. I’ve seen no evidence that he was a Reverend, so I’d ditch that title. Birth and death dates look OK but the locations do not. I call him Samuel 1771, since that’s the birthdate that’s seen most often. Halifax is an improbable birthplace, I have no record of the family there. He was born in Virginia, but I don’t know where the family was in 1770. They were in Amherst in 1777. He lived in Monroe county for about 20 years, and the last record of him is the 1818 Monroe tax list. That’s apparently where he died. His wife and children moved to Giles county shortly afterward.

John Asa Carson Canterbury, Revolutionary War There’s no evidence about his paternity one way or the other. I lean toward him being a son of Joseph Senior, since he and Samuel 1771 lived in the same county for decades. The notes on his profile says that he and Samuel were brothers but I don’t know whether this is true. Samuel definitely looks like a son of Joseph. But they could have been cousins not brothers, so John could be the son of either Joseph Senior or Samuel 1728. His name was just plain John Canterbury. I don’t know where Carson came from. Asa Canterbury is a different person from the Massachusetts Canterbury family. There is no known connection between the Massachusetts and Virginia families.

Also, John “Carson” looks like the best candidate to be the father of my ancestor Ezekiel Canterbury, Sr. currently listed as his son without any documentation to support it. Ezekiel’s movements point toward him being a grandson of Joseph Senior, which gives additional support to the idea that John “Carson” is Joseph Senior’s son.

John “Carson” currently has two mothers on Geni who are basically duplicates of each other. There’s no agreement about the maiden name of Samuel 1728’s wife, but the popular choices are Jarrett, Barnes and Harper.

William Canterbury, Sr. Conflicting information, it’s hard to say who his father is. There’s a claim about a 1785 land grant that’s driving me crazy. If we can find it, it would be critical evidence in favor of him being a son of Samuel.

Rose Romine I haven’t seen any evidence that she actually existed, but I also haven’t looked very hard. There’s a Romine on the marriage bond for Samuel’s daughter Mary; so if Rose is real, I’d expect her to be Samuel’s daughter.

Mary Ann Gwin definitely Samuel’s daughter, and the only child who can actually be documented as his. He gave permission for her to marry Isham Gwin in Montgomery county in 1787. The last identifiable record of Samuel 1728 is this permission slip and his appearance on the 1787 tax list for Botetourt county. He was probably dead by 1797, when it’s reported that there was a tax delinquency on some Montgomery County land that he owned. The documentation is pretty sparse for old Samuel, and in most years I don’t know where he is.

Zachariah C. Canterbury, Sr. Probably the son of Joseph Senior. Birth and death dates look about right, but he would have been born in Virginia not Tennessee. This is a duplicate profile of Zachariah C. Canterbury, Sr.

Frances Canterbury there is zero documentation for any daughters of Joseph Senior and Ruth Simms so I can’t tell whether this is a real person. Ruth stated that she raised her 8 kids up to manhood, so I don’t know whether they actually had any daughters.

Joel Isaac Canterbury he’s a real person and definitely part of the Joseph line, but I’m not sure whether he’s the son of Joseph Senior or Joseph Junior. I lean toward Joseph Senior. Documents indicate that Joel’s date of birth is 1773-1775, although he got younger on the later census reports. He’s called Isaac on the 1860 census but this might be an error. He’s called Joel on all the other records that I’ve seen including his 1870 death record.

I’ve mentioned Joseph 1775, who doesn’t seem to be on Geni. I lean toward him being a son of Joseph Junior, since it’s not common for families to have two living children with the same first name. But I don’t know if Junior actually had any children before the war (or afterwards either). If Ruth was the second wife of Joseph Senior, she might have wanted her own son named Joseph even though her husband already had one.

@Erica Howton might be interested in this thread.

A bit of late-breaking news. Samuel 1728 is alleged to have a daughter Rose who married Layton Romine. I don't have direct documentation for her existence, but there is a Peter Romine on the marriage bond for Samuel's documented daughter Mary Ann Gwin so they must have known the family. Layton Romine moved to Sevier, TN and is listed on the 1830 census there. The overall evidence is pointing toward Samuel 1728 being the father of William Canterbury (who also moved to Sevier TN).

Private User - I’ve completed straightening out the profiles as mentioned above, I think. Please check.

Erica Howton it's looking a lot better now but there are some duplicate profiles that need to be fixed.
Joseph Canterbury, Jr. (son of Joseph Senior) is the same person as Joel Isaac Canterbury (son of Joseph Junior). I prefer Joseph Senior as his father but it could really go either way.

Joseph Canterbury, Jr. isn't currently attached to any parents. Joseph Canterbury, Jr. is probably the best choice

Zachariah C. Canterbury, Sr. (son of Joseph Senior) is the same person as Zachariah C. Canterbury, Sr. (son of Samuel 1728). I lean toward him being Joseph's son, but no one really knows.

Joseph Canterbury, Sr. (Joseph senior with the right parents) is the same as Joseph Canterbury, Sr. (Joseph senior listed as the son of Samuel 1728). The Joseph listed as Samuel's son has more accurate dates than the one that's listed under the right parents. I'll clean up some other dates and locations after everybody's in the right place.

Thank you so much for your help! This was a messy one for sure.

Aargh I linked the wrong profile for Joel. Joel Isaac Canterbury is the one that's attached as a son of Joseph Senior, and Joel Isaac Canterbury is the one that's listed as a son of Joseph Junior. It is SO easy to get mixed up!

Erica Howton thank you!

Glad to see it sorted.

Erica Howton I can't view the whole history of this profile but it looks like someone has merged Joseph Canterbury with Samuel Canterbury. Their names, wives and children are intermingled now, and he has duplicate wives named Ruth.

Private User - thanks for the alert. I believe I have it sorted - and locked. Please check.

Joseph Canterbury, Sr. married Ruth Canterbury 4-5 children (Frances Canterbury is not documented, but she’s in trees)

His brother Samuel Canterbury married Elizabeth Canterbury (moved her speculative surnames to AKA). Double checking children now.

Erica Howton It's looking good. The children are a problem. We know that Joseph had at least 8 and this number probably doesn't include Joseph Junior. But we don't know their names. Samuel has one documented daughter. There were probably more kids than that but we know nothing about them. There are several people named Canterbury floating around who must be the sons of one or the other, but we can't tell who their daddy really is. My personal assumption is that anyone associated with Giles County descends from Joseph, since that's where his widow ended up. But we don't really know for sure. We know that some of Joseph's sons moved to other states, but Samuel's sons could have done this too.

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