Freeman/Ratliff
The ancestors on this page are mainly of English origin with a small mixture from Germany (from the Mize and Quisenberry families) and Wales (Gaines). Most of these families first settled in Virginia and many migrated West to Kentucky over multiple generations.
See all links in Ratliff Family TreeThe Ratliff Family
The Ratliff family spent the 19th century in Kentucky after leaving Virginia, mainly working as farmers.
Patsy Ratliff married John Freeman in Glasgow, Kentucky on December 8, 1870.
********James Ratliff married Mary Ann Mize on October 14, 1846 in Barren County, Kentucky. Here is a contemporary description of James: "J. B. Ratliff, another consistent and honest citizen, and known as Colonel Ratliff, and the largest man who ever lived in Barren County, lived and died on Blue Spring Creek. He was a military man under the old jurisdiction (military) during the first half of the last century. He raised a large and intelligent family, all of whom are now dead."[1]
********Stephen Ratliff married Patsy Bradley in Barren County, Kentucky on August 16, 1819. Stephen was a farmer and slave holder. In his will he left "the old negro woman, Easter, boy George Henry, and girl Martha Jane, to sell, or dispose of as she may think proper." He further left to his son, James, "the remainder of my slaves."
Stephen was 21 when his father died and he may have taken over the upbringing of his four youngest siblings when his mother said she wished to be relieved of their responsibility.
********William Ratliff married Mary Hinson in Kentucky in 1794. Born in Virginia, William was among the early arrivals from the East who, during the summer and fall of 1791, established a few settlements in the valleys between Green River and Glasgow junction near Knob Lick and on the upper Blue Spring Creek and along the Little Barren River.
William was a private in Captain Daniels Trigg's Company from Montgomery County, Virginia during the Revolutionary War in 1781
In 1791 the last Indian raid to take place in Kentucky happened on William's property.
William was one of the early preachers in Green River Association. He was ordained to the Baptist ministry at Blue Spring church, in Barren county near Hiseville, Kentucky, in 1806. [2]
********His widow Mary Margaret, married Levi Blunt and they moved to Mason/Menard counties Illinois about 1834. Mary's parents are unknown.
Reuben Ratliff married Margaret (last name uncertain, possibly Hollowell) in 1752. Reuben like his sons was a member of the Montgomery County (Virginia) militia company led by Captain (later General) Abraham Trigg. In 1753 he was patented 65 acres on Little River in Augusta County, Virginia. In 1786 Reuben was exempted from payment of poll taxes on account of his age and infirmities. He was 54 years old at the time and lived to be 78. He relocated from Virginia to Green County, Kentucky sometime before 1800, possibly with his son, William, in 1791.
Reuben's parentage is unknown.
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley
The Bradley Family
The Bradley family followed the pattern of others on this page of England to Virginia to Kentucky.
Patsy Bradley married Stephen Ratliff on August 26, 1819 in Barren County, Kentucky.
********Beverly Bradley married Nancy Waggener in 1789 in Barren County, Kentucky. In the late 1780s after the death of his father, Beverly moved to Kentucky.
********Robert Bradley married Ann Williams in 1752 in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Robert is listed as a Corporal in The Revolutionary War although he would have been quite old.
Nothing is known of Ann's parents.********
John Bradley married Mary Rhodes on November 2, 1711 at Christ Church in Middlesex, Virginia.
********Robert Bradley married Ann Bradshaw in Northumberland, Virginia on July 15, 1675. Robert was apparently convicted of crimes before coming to the United States. It is unknown what the crimes were, however it is believed that they were either political or religious. Given that this was during the period that England had no king from 1649 to 1660 and any civil or religious crimes would have been against the Puritan Protectorate of Cromwell or the Puritan religious Establishment it is likely that Robert was supporting the claim of James II (James VII of Scotland) to the English throne and Cromwell's government transported him. But on February 9, 1656 he was pardoned of all crimes providing he be transported to the plantations as soon as possible and that he does not try to escape for 10 years.
After Robert's death, Ann married William Lambert. She was the daughter of Robert and Anne Bradshaw from Northumberland County, Virginia. Ann's father, Robert Bradshaw arrived from England in 1640.
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Waggener
The Waggener Family
It is possible that the Waggener family members are distant relations to the Van Wagenen family in the McKay family or at least from the same town. Some researchers report that earlier members of the Waggener family are thought to have resided in a town called Wageningen in the Province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It was the custom for families in the Netherlands to take their last name from the town where they came. Thus the name Van Wageningen became Van Waggener, and ultimately Waggener. This is the same place that the Van Wagenen family originated.
Nancy Waggener married Beverly Bradley in 1789 in Barren County, Kentucky. Nancy's brothers Richard and Reuben served in the War of 1812 in The Battle of the Thames, a decisive U.S. victory over British and Indian forces in Ontario, Canada, enabling the United States to consolidate its control over the Northwest.
********Richard Waggener married Catey Gaines on July 1, 1775 in Culpeper, Virginia. Richard Waggener was drafted during the Revolutionary War. Because he was married with children, his brother Thomas Waggener served as his alternative. Richard served out the war in Virginia Militia and he is listed as serving in the Patriotic Service in war by furnishing supplies.
Richard and Catey were the first to leave Culpeper County, moving to Kentucky in about 1785. They had joined a religious group called the Separate Baptists that grew out of the "Great Awakening" and moved to Kentucky with this "Traveling Church." They initially settled in Scott County in northern Kentucky. In about 1795, Richard and Caty apparently moved to southern Kentucky, near the present town of Glasgow, in Barren County. Caty is listed on the church minutes of the Great Crossing Church. In about 1805 a large group of family members followed them west.
Richard lived out his life in what was still very wild country described in a Barren County history book thus: "Richard Waggoner and sons lived on Beaver Creek above the Columbia Road including the sinks of Beaver. It was mentioned that panthers screamed day and nite from 1800 to 1804; persons carried their guns with them everywhere even to meeting to protect themselves against Indians and wild animals. Sinking Creek (where Richard owned land) was the law abiding place of thousands of rattlesnakes."
********James Waggener married Ann Jones on December 8, 1747 in Spotsylvania, Virginia. James moved to St. George's Parish in Spotsylvania County in the early 1740's, apparently a move up the Rappahannock River. By 1771 James and Ann had moved further up the Rapidan River, to Culpeper County. They both apparently lived there until James' death in 1803.
********Herbert Waggener married Elizabeth Garnett in Virginia. The Garnett and Waggoner families were very close. Three of Herbert and Elizabeth's grandsons married Garnett sisters. Herbert must have been born on his parent's plantation in South Farnham Parish in Essex County, Virginia (Old Rappahannock County).The plantation was apparently near the north side of Hoskins Creek, which flows almost due east into the Rappahannock River, near the town of Tappahannock. Herbert and his wife Elizabeth seem to have resided in South Farnham Parish their entire lives.
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English connection
John Waggener married Rachel Ward in 1669 in Essex, Virginia. John came to Virginia from England, probably around 1660-1665. It seems very likely that John came as an indentured servant. Since he is listed on deeds from 1668, and 1670 as a tailor, it is possible that he was some kind of apprentice. John bought land as early as 1668 and apparently was selling some the next year. In the 1668 and 1670 deeds, he made payments of 5,500 lbs. and 2,600 lbs. of tobacco as payment for the deeds. In an 1708 deposition he describes himself as a planter. The list of the property that was distributed in his will, as well as in the will of Rachel two years later, would seem to indicate that they were fairly well off.
John was a slave owner as shown in his will: "I give and bequeath to my beloved wife Rachell Waggener the plantation I now live on & after her death to goe to my son Benjamine-- Waggener & his heirs forever I give to wife three negroes Doll Martin and Jugg during her natural Life & after her death I give negro Doll to my daughter Margarit Allen wife of William Allen for her & her heirs forever. I give ye negro boy martin to my son Benjamin & his heirs forever, I give to my son Saml. Wagoner the negro girl Jugg to him and his heirs forever."
Nothing is known about Rachel's parents although she may have had a younger brother George Ward that lived nearby.
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Waggener/Garnett
The Garnett Family
The Garnett family listed here after Elizabeth is not proven.
Elizabeth Garnett married Herbert Waggener in Virginia.
********John Garnett was born in Elizabeth City, Virginia about 1650. He moved to Gloucester County in about 1669. John acquired a significant amount of land through grants, purchases and headrights.
********John Garnett married Alice Hooper in about 1647 in Virginia. He spent most of his life in Elizabeth City County Virginia.
********Thomas Garnett came to Virginia in The Swan in 1610 as an indentured servant and his wife Elizabeth came in The Neptune in 1618. Her arrival in 1618 predates that of most of the other young women in the Jamestown settlement by at least a year. On August 3, 1619 Captain William Powell of Jamestown, a burgess, made allegations against Thomas Garnett, who was one of his servants. He claimed that Garnett was lewd and treacherous and said that he had behaved wantonly with a widowed female servant. He also said that when confronted in the presence of the governor, Garnett called Powell a thief and a drunkard. Powell claimed that Garnett had caused him financial losses and had sought to have him deposed from office, even killed. Several other servants testified against Garnett in support of Powell’s allegations. Afterward, the assembly, acting as a judicial body, found Thomas Garnett guilty as charged and sentenced him to a daily public whipping for four consecutive days and to stand with his ears nailed to the pillory for the same length of time. By February 16, 1624, Thomas Garnett was a free man and household head, and was living in Elizabeth City with his wife, Elizabeth. On July 3, 1635, Thomas Garnett patented 200 acres of land in Elizabeth City near the Little Poquoson River, acquiring his acreage by means of the headright system.
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Waggener/Gaines
The Gaines Family
Many sources of data indicate that all of the early Gaines family in Virginia descended from Sir John Gaines (1559-1606), who was a descendant of Sir David Gam (Dafydd Gam), a Welsh warrior who died at the Battle of Agincourt fighting for Henry V, King of England.
Catherine Gaines married Richard Waggener on July 1, 1775 in Culpeper, Virginia. Her father's will stated " I give to my daughter Caty Waggoner two hundred dollars to her and her heirs forever."
********Henry Gaines married Ann George. They had thirteen children together. He was a foot soldier in the Culpeper County Militia in 1756. A Methodist minister for fifty years, Henry was 94 years old when he died. He married his last two wives in his old age and outlived both of them. He came to South Carolina at age 60 years, resided in Newberry District, then Abbeville District. It is said that moved to South Carolina because of a Methodist covenant in Virginia that stated no member in good standing with the church could own slaves. South Carolina had no such covenant so he moved and took his slaves with him.
********James Gaines married Mary Pendleton about 1730 in Culpeper, Virginia. James and Mary were parents of twelve children.
********Richard Gaines married Catherine Madison in 1705 in King and Queen, Virginia. On the back side of his son Henry's marker in Laurens County, SC, is this inscription: "Richard Gaines 1686-1759. Had Black Boy Servant Pompey. Married Miss Pendleton. Had 2 sons killed in Braddock Defeat about 1755. Buried in Culpeper Co., VA." The marriage information appears to be incorrect unless it was a second or third marriage.
A tradition exists that two sons of Richard were lost in the disastrous Braddock Campaign, a failed British military expedition which attempted to capture the French Fort Duquesne (now downtown Pittsburgh) in the summer of 1755, during the French and Indian War.
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Welsh connection
James Gaines married Elizabeth Lawson. James came to Old Rappahannock County, Virginia about 1653. Both James and Elizabeth were born in Wales.
********Thomas Gaines married Blanche Kemis.
A note about Middlesex County Virginia
The book A Place in Time: Explicatus describes a study of the social conditions in Middlesex County, Virginia during the period 1650-1750 when families like the Georges and the Mayos were living there and probably is also relevant for many other areas during the colonial era.
It states that 76% of children in Middlesex lost one or both parents by the time they reached eighteen. It also showed that marriages were with partners living within 1/2 mile of each other and often in the same household between orphans. Neighbors often had blood or marital ties to one another, or partnered with one another in business, and men from across the county interacted with one another in church, during militia musters and at court days. Material differences between classes, particularly in dress and housing, remained relatively small in the seventeenth century. This changed with increased slave labor that led to greater social differentiation and displacement of the poor.
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Waggener/Gaines/George
The George Family
The George family were slave owners who lived in many places in Eastern Virginia.
Ann George married Henry Gaines.
********Richard George married Elizabeth Mayo on April 20, 1734 in Christchurch, Virginia. Richard and family moved to Caroline County, VA by 1737.
********Robert George married Sarah (last name unknown, possibly Elmore) in Middlesex, Virginia on July 6, 1687. Robert George was often mentioned in the Christ Church records, he had numerous slaves entered for births, baptisms and deaths. Sarah's maiden name isn't known. She was the widow of Thomas Elliott with whom she had one child, Mary Elliott.
********Isaac George married Hester Fawdon in Middlesex, Virginia in 1654.
********Hester's father was George Fawdon, an early Virginia colonist, landowner, militia officer, county court clerk, county clerk justice and legislative representative (politician). The earliest definite official record of George Fawdon's presence in the Virginia colony is from a court in James City, Virginia on February 8, 1627. He served at least two terms as a burgess in the Virginia House of Burgesses in the 1640s and 1650s representing Isle of Wight County, Virginia. On April 10, 1654 Major George Fawdon gave 1000 acres of land to Isaac George, the son of "Major John George." The land was a deeded as a gift to Isaac. He was approximately 18 at the time of this gift to him, and, if Isaac failed to reach the age of 21, it would revert to back to Maj. Fawdon. It is a reasonable assumption that this gift was bestowed on Isaac as he was marrying the Major's daughter, Hester. No record or mention of an earlier wife of George Fawdon has been found, but since Fawdon was married to Anne Smith within a year of his death, she could not have been the mother of Hester Fawdon.
John George married Jane (last name unknown) in England and they came to Virginia by 1634. They lived near present day Smithfield, Virginia. John received a patent for transportation for 17 persons which include 900 acres in Charles County, Virginia. He moved to Isle of Wight County from Charles City County about 1642. He was a member of the House of Burgess as a representative for Isle of Wight County. He is recorded as being a Major in 1654, a Lieutenant Colonel in 1666, and a full Colonel by 1677 in the Virginia Militia. During Bacon's Rebellion (1677) John supported Governor Berkeley and didn't side with the rebels.
He was a slave owner. The chattel mentality of slave owners is exhibited in this item from John's will, "I give to my grandchild JOHN GEORGE, one negro woman called DIDO to be delivered to my son ISAAC for the child's account two years after the finishing of the present crop, and also one young mare with the whole increase both male and female of the Negro and mare to the property account and benefit of my said grandchild and his heirs forever."
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Waggener/Gaines/George /Mayo
The Mayo Family
The Mayo family is firmly rooted in Virginia.
Elizabeth Mayo married Richard George on April 20, 1734 in Christchurch, Virginia.
********Valentine Mayo married Ann Mickleborough on November 14, 1710 in Middlesex, Virginia. It is believed that Valentine was a tailor or perhaps a sailmaker or both. There is a family story that Valentine Mayo served as pirate during the late 1600's in the Caribbean and as far away as Africa. There is no agreement about the parents of Valentine but I will continue with the most likely ancestors.
Ann had been widowed twice before marrying Valentine. Ann's parents are Edmund Mickleborough and Elizabeth Minor..********
Note: There is some doubt as to whether James is the father of Valentine.
James Mayo married Mary Valentine in 1654 in Isle of Wight, Virginia.
Mary is the daughter of James Valentine who immigrated to Isle of Wight, Virginia about 1633.********
William Mayo married Isabel Hardy in Isle of Wight, Virginia. William was imported as a headright from England in 1666 by John Hardy, of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. William Mayo worked for John Hardy for two to six years.
Isabel is the daughter of the same John Hardy. On June 5, 1666, John Hardy, of Isle of Wight, was granted 1150 acres of land for importing 23 persons, including William Mayo.
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Waggener/Gaines/Madison
The Madison Family
The Madison family began in Virginia with early Jamestown arrival Isaac. President James Madison is a direct descendant.
Catherine Madison married Richard Gaines in 1705 in King and Queen, Virginia
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John Madison married Isabella (last name uncertain, possibly Minor) about 1690. Isabella's first husband may have been Thomas Todd. John continued enlarging the family estate. He was an sheriff, planter, politician, and major landowner in Colonial Virginia. They are the great grandparents of President James Madison.
********John Madison married Marie Ambrose in King and Queen County, Virginia. John, a ship's carpenter, arrived in Virginia from England in 1653. For paying the passage of twelve immigrants, including himself, he was granted six hundred acres of land through the "headright" system, a system which allowed anyone fifty acres of land for each immigrant whose passage from England he paid. Usually, those immigrants were indentured servants, who worked for a certain number of years in exchange for their passage. Madison's land was on the Mattapony River, at a place called Mantapike, and for the next thirty years, he continued acquiring land through the "headright" system. By 1683, around the time of his death, his estate consisted of nineteen hundred acres on the York and Mattapony Rivers.
********Isaac Madison married Mary Councilor in about 1618 in England. Isaac arrived at Jamestown in 1623. His gallantry in the war with the "salvages," in 1622, Capt. John Smith so highly commended in his "History of Virginia," published in London, 1629
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Waggener/Gaines/Pendleton
The Pendleton Family
The Pendleton and Taylor families were prominent in Virginia politics in the colonial era and after producing a US President and the 1st Chief Justice of Virginia.
Mary Pendleton married James Gaines in 1731 in Virginia. Mary and her sister married James and his brother.
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First Continental Congress
Henry Pendleton married Mary Taylor in 1701. Henry was 18 and Mary 13 years of age. He died in 1721, the same year his youngest son, Edmund, was born. Mary remarried Edward Watkins two years later. That son, Edmund, went on to become a Virginia planter, politician, lawyer and judge. He served in the Virginia legislature before and during the American Revolutionary War, rising to the position of Speaker. Pendleton attended the First Continental Congress as one of Virginia's delegates alongside George Washington and Patrick Henry, and led the conventions both wherein Virginia declared independence (1776) and adopted the U.S. Constitution (1788). He was the first Chief Justice of Virginia.
Mary's parents were James Taylor and Mary Gregory who married on August 10, 1682. He emigrated from Carlisle, England to Virginia between 1660-1667. He was a large landowner and he was a prominent citizen in the colony. He was a lawyer and a public official and served as a member of the House of Burgesses. James is the 2X great grandfather of President Zachary Taylor.********
Philip Pendleton married Isabella Hurt in 1682 in Virginia. Philip was a 23-year-old schoolmaster when he immigrated to Virginia in 1674. He was apprenticed for five years to Edmund Craske, Clerk of Rappahannock County, Virginia. Philip returned to England about 1680; tradition says he married a lady of high social position, but she died, and he returned to the Colony, and in 1682 married Isabella Hurt. After Philip's marriage to Isabella, they lived first in Rappahannock County, then Essex, finally moving to King and Queen County about the beginning of the century.
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Waggener/Jones
The Jones Family
The Jones, Sharpe and Waughop families were Virginia slave owners. The Waughop's may come from Scotland.
Ann Jones married James Waggener on December 8, 1747 in Spotsylvania, Virginia. In his will, her father left her "a Negro man named George."
********James Jones married Mary Sharpe in 1730 in Virginia. James was a lave owner who left at least eleven slaves to his family including to his daughter Ann, "a Negro man named George."
Mary's parents were Stephen and Elizabeth Sharpe. Elizabeth must have been a servant because the June 1700 will of Lt. Col. William Moseley showed his estate included: "...1 Negroe man named Peter, 1 Negroe Woman named Nell, 1 Negroe woman named Morkchiah, 1 English Servant called ELEZEBETH SHARP having 1 yeare to serve..." In September 1699 Stephen was taken to court by Ann Thomas accused of fathering her child.********
James Jones married Rebecca Waughop in 1694 in Virginia. Rebecca's father left her in his will 800 acres, “Piney Point”, in Pocomoke, Somerset County, when she should be of age, at fifteen years.
Rebecca's father is John Waughop. He was in Maryland as early as 1653. He was associated with William Stone, who was made Governor of Maryland in 1648. John married in 1658 the widow of John Gosse, both of whom he had received headrights for transporting to the colonies. The Waughop family is thought to be Scottish from the Wauchopes of Niddrie-Merschell (near Edinburgh) by way of Ulster.
There are many Jones possibilities for James' father.
Freeman/Ratliff/Bradley /Rhodes
The Rhodes Family
The Rhodes and Nicholls families came to Virginia from England.
Mary Rhodes married John Bradley on November 2, 1711 in Middlesex, Virginia.
********Hezekiah Rhodes married Ann Nichols on October 22, 1684 in Christ Church, Virginia. Hezekiah was born in Middlesex,Virginia in about 1662. In 1687 he served as footman (infantry) in the militia for the defense of Middlesex County.
He owned 410 acres in Middlesex county was a slave owner. He received the land for escorting two persons from the United Kingdom under the headright system.
Ann is the daughter of John and Sarah Nicholls. John Jr. owned land in Northumberland County. By 1684 John Nicholls, Jr and his daughter Elizabeth are seen in the Christ Church, Middlesex records, south of the Rappahannock River. John's father was also John Nicholls and he resided in 1645 in Lancaster County, south of Northumberland. John Sr. owned a large tract of land on the Corotoman River in the Northern Neck; a region of land between the Potomac River and the Rappahannock River.********
Christopher Rhodes, the father of Hezikiah, may have been married to Hannah Barbee. Christopher was the son John Rhodes, an immigrant from Guernsey, Channel Islands.
Freeman/Ratliff/Mize
The Mize Family
Family lore states that the Mize family emigrated from Germany to England for about two generations before immigrating to Virginia. The Mize ancestors that eventually became part of the Freeman family migrated from southern Virginia to North Carolina and finally to Kentucky.
There is a fair amount of information about the Mize males but there is frustratingly little about their wives.
Mary Ann Mize married James Ratliff on October 14, 1846 in Barren County, Kentucky. Mary was only 34 when she died. She is buried at Knob Lick, Kentucky.
********David Mize married Polly Quisenberry on February 20, 1806 in Barren County, Kentucky. David Mize took an indentured servant, George Scyree, age 7 into service as a slave. He was to teach him the business of farming and provide for his food, clothing and lodging. He also to provide for his education: reading, writing, simple arithmetic including the rule of three. When the young man turned 21, David was to give him a new suit of clothes, 3 pounds and 10 shillings.
********Benjamin Mize married Rachel Richardson on December 23, 1772 in Rowan County, North Carolina. The Mize family at this time relocated from southern Virginia to northern North Carolina. He was in Barren County, Kentucky by at least 1804.
********Rachel's father was John Richardson but nothing else is known about him.
Joshua Mize married Martha Patty (last name unknown) about 1752 in Wilkes County, North Carolina. This was about the same time that Joshua had moved from Virginia where was born. He probably moved to Granville County, North Carolina to be close to his brothers and father.
Lord Granville gave to Joshua Mize a land grant for 547 acres in Johnston County located on the north side of Little River on both sides of Julilies Branch in 1762. During the year 1783, he purchased 400 acres on Little Hunting Creek in Wilkes County which was located in the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina. This land cost Joshua 700 pounds. The land is located where Iredell, Yadkin and Wilkes counties come together near the present day town of Love Valley in Wilkes County. He purchased an additional 150 acres during November 1784 in the same region.
********Jeremiah Mize married Grace (last name unknown) about 1720 in Virginia. Jeremiah was most likely born in England and then traveled to America with his father and his brother. In the 1720s Virginia was growing and land was available if you were willing to travel west and clear the land. Jeremiah Mize and his brother James were awarded the land in a grant from King George II on September 28, 1728. The 118 acres was located on both sides of a branch of the Great Creek of the Meherrin River, SE of Lunenburg, Virginia. James and Jeremiah Mize built a mill on Stony Creek and produced lumber and wood pulp. They cleared a road to their land that ran along the ridge between Stony Creek and Aarons Creek that became known as Mize’s Road. Mize’s road traversed their land and crossed the Meherrin River. The point that the road crossed the river became known as Mize’s Ford.
Jeremiah moved to Oxford, North Carolina in Granville County and bought land there in 1773 about 40 miles southwest of Jeremiah’s land deed of 1726 in Lunenburg. By this time, Jeremiah's first wife had died and he had married Tabitha (last name possibly Edmonds).
********James Mize married Elizabeth in the late 1690s in Manchester, England [1] James Mize left England for Virginia through Liverpool about 1700 with two young sons, James and Jeremiah, but no wife.
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German connection
It seems fairly certain that two generations of James Mizes were born in England, descendants of William Mize (1555-1638) who most likely was an immigrant to England from Germany. The name Mize could have been spelled many ways in the German records, i.e. Maas, Maes, Maiss, or even Meise. William was most likely married in Germany where his son James was born.
Freeman/Ratliff/Mize /Quisenberry
The Quisenberry Family
The Quisenberry/Questenbury/Quessenbury/Questenberg name can be traced back to England and before that to Germany. They were early settlers in Virginia and remained there for 150 years before the last two generations in our family tree relocated to Kentucky.
Polly Quisenberry married David Mize on February 20, 1806 in Barren County, Kentucky.
Polly Quisenberry's parents are unknown but she is a descendant from the first Quisenberry in America, Thomas. More research is necessary to fill in the blank generations.
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Thomas Quessenbury married Joan Jesse in about 1626 in Virginia. Thomas came to Virginia in 1624 and became a planter, land owner and part time surveyors assistant. His son John stayed in Virginia when Thomas returned to England in 1650 and settled in Canterbury.
Quessenbury Family History
German connection
The Quisenberrys descended from the von Questenbergs whose roots go back many centuries to the Saxony-Anhalt region of Germany. Tielman Questenberg of Cologne Germany where the family was ennobled about 1575 was a merchant of the Hanseatic League in London as early as 1418 but retained his citizenship in Cologne. They were merchants of the Hanseatic League trading with England. His grandson Heinrich Questenberg married Catherine Cutts of Canterbury England about 1468 when he became an English citizen and the greater number of their descendants in England lived in the county of Kent. Thomas Quessenbury moved to Virginia during the early Jamestown era.