If you have seen much work on Waldrop genealogy, you know that a Michael Waldrop was seen in York Co., VA in 1672, then a Michael Waldrop was seen in King William Co., VA in 1699, then Caroline Co., VA in 1740 and Orange Co., VA in the 1750’s. You also know that the name is all anyone has to connect these Michael Waldrop’s to one another. So, we will leave that alone. You can click on the “First 100 Years” link at the left for the facts and opinions as we see them.
Here, we are concerned with a group of Waldrop males that have matching DNA, which means they are most definitely related to each other. Few of these participants know how they are related. Our objective is to connect them.
When we started the DNA project, we thought this group was descended from Luke and Christian Waldrop of Granville Co., NC and 96 District/Cravens Co., SC. However, as more participants began to show the same DNA, we decided the common ancestor had to be prior to Luke, so we renamed the group Michael.
Researchers for a long time have thought there was one common Waldrop ancestor. The main reason for this thinking is the number of Waldrop’s in the U. S. today. We are not a common surname, thus, we had few immigrants. And, we know of no Waldrop who believes his or her ancestors came from anywhere but Great Britian, and more recently, the Carolinas.
We have tried to be very careful checking the data our participants have provided concerning their heritage. Errors, of course, are possible and we will be truly indebted to and appreciate anyone pointing out any errors they encounter.
We believe Luke and Christian Waldrop had 6 sons: John, b. 1733; James, b. 1741; Joseph, b. 1744; Michael, b. 1748; Luke, Jr., b. 1750; and Jechonias, b. 1754. We have DNA participants from four of these six sons. They all match the group we now call Michael.
Two of the participants are from John and Tabitha Parrish Waldrop. One from their son Ezekiel; one from their son, Isaac.
Three of the participants are from James and Mary (Henderson) Waldrop, two through their son Elijah K. and Phebe Anderson Waldrop and their son, Achilles Darnall and Hannah Crosson Waldrop. The other participant is from Elijah’s twin brother, Elisha.
One participant is from Joseph and one from Luke, Jr. We do not have participants from Michael or Jechonias’s line, although one of our participants thought he was from the line of Jechonias before the DNA project. His DNA does not match other participants from that line.
Samuel Waldrop was born about 1750, probably in VA. He married Jane Foster in about 1773 in VA and died before 1816. Samuel wrote his will on 27 May 1809. The will was probated 14 Oct 1816. In his will he named his wife, Jane and all of his children: Thomas, William, John, Francis, Samuel, Polly, Elizabeth and Jane. One of our participants descends from Samuel’s son, Thomas; one from Samuel’s son, William. Both of our participant’s families stayed in VA through the turn of the 20th century. They suspect, but have no proof that Samuel was the son of one of the Waldrop men in Caroline Co., VA in 1730-1750.
John and James Waldrop showed up in Amelia Co., VA in 1754 as adults; went to Pittsylvania Co., VA where James died, then John went on to Sullivan Co., TN while it was still part of NC. At least some of their descendants migrated to SC and into GA, AL and MS. Some of the descendants given to this family have been documented, some have not. All of the participants in the DNA project that claim kinship to this family match the participants who claim kinship to Luke and Christian Waldrop.
We have two participants who have traced their lineage back to Major Waldrop, b. 1806 in Spartanburg Co., SC, died 1875 in Hood Co., TX. Major married Rebecca Mangrum. They had 8 children: William Green, b. 1828; Greenberry Washington, b. 1829; Mary A. T., b. 1833; George M., b. 1835; James M., b. 1838; Thomas Grear, b. 1840; Ailsey A., b. 1843 and Joseph A. B., b. 1848. One of our participants descends from Greenberry Washington; one from Joseph A. B. We believe Major’s father was Benjamin Waldrop, b. 1763, son of John of Amelia Co., VA.
We have one participant who descends from Daniel, son of Benjamin and one participant that descends from Benjamin, son of Benjamin and his second wife, Rachel. In 1850, Rachel, Benjamin’s widow was living next door to Daniel in Chickasaw Co., MS. The younger Benjamin (Junior) was living in the household of his mother, Rachel. We believe Major and Daniel were brothers, the younger Benjamin was their half brother.
One of our participants traces his ancestors back to William Waldrop who married Nancy Waldrop. Nancy was the daughter of James Waldrop who married Mary Morrison and died in Fayette Co., GA in 1846. There is a DAR Chapter named for James’s father in Fayette Co., GA. So, Nancy’s lineage is well documented, but we have no idea who William’s parents were. The DNA of our participant matches the Michael group. We believe it is entirely possible that William and Nancy didn’t know they were related when they married.
We also have a DNA participant who has traced his lineage back to James and Mary Morrison Waldrop through their son, David S. Waldrop. He, too matches the Michael Group.
We find Tilman Waldrop in Greenville Co., SC in 1850 and 1860, in Madison Co., NC in 1870 and 1880. In 1850, Alexander Pack lived on one side of Tilman with wife, Narcissa. A. Waldrop, then H. Waldrop lived on the other side of Tilman. We believe Narcissa, A., and H. were siblings of Tilman. Tilman Waldrop sold land in Spartanburg Co., SC in 1854. We can’t find evidence of how he came to own the land. We suspect that Abner Waldrop and Thomas Waldrop who married Sarah Babb were also siblings of Tilman, but we have no evidence to prove the suspicion. Many researchers have called William Waldrop who married Vianna Roberts the father of Tilman. We do not believe this to be true.
We have a participant from Tilman in the DNA project. We have a participant from A. Waldrop (through his son, Garvin) who lived next door to Tilman in 1850 in the project. Both participants match our Michael group.
Two of our participants descend from John W. and Mary Jamima Attaway Waldrop. One through their son, James Calvin, b. 1822 and one through their son, Wiley Alfred, b. 1823. They believe John was the son of James and Esther Thompson Waldrop and that James was the son of John and Elizabeth Nelson Waldrop. They take themselves back to the James Waldrop who died in Caroline Co., VA in 1747. Prior to James and Esther Thompson Waldrop is undocumented. The DNA project, however lends credence to the theory in that these two participants match what we call the Michael Group.
One participant, and the one that caused us to rename this group Michael has traced his heritage back to Shadrack Waldrop who married Martha Patsy Couch. He believes Shadrack’s father was Michael Waldrop of Spartanburg Co., SC. His DNA matches the Michael Group.
Harmon Waldrop was in Laurens Co., SC from 1800-1829, then in Newton Co., GA until after 1850. He was married to Nancy on the 1850 census and had his daughter-in-law and her children in his house. Our DNA participant from this line matches the Michael Group.
One of our participants can only get his history back to 1870 when a William Waldrop married Sarah Olivett. Sarah was from NY. She and William (who he thinks is George William) had two children and William died. The family was in Lumpkin Co., GA in 1870 and went to the Atlanta, GA area. His DNA matches our Michael Group.
One surprise in this line was descendants of Ambrose Waldrop who married Frankie Gibson. Ambrose had a son, Franklin Lafayette. Franklin married Caroline Henry and fathered at least 15 children, 9 by his wife, and 6 by her sister Catherine Henry. We have two participants from this line, one descends from Franklin and Caroline, one from Franklin and Catherine. They both match the Michael Group. Most researchers prior to DNA believed they were descendants of Eli and Frances Roberts Waldrop. DNA has proven otherwise. We other descendants from Eli and Frances with different DNA.
There was a Michael Waldrop in Maury Co., TN who married Rebecca Brown in 1810. Researchers have worked hard to try to decide who this Michael was. The missing link in all of their work that we have seen was the fact that Luke and Christian Waldrop had a son named Michael. Once this Michael is sorted through the SC Waldrops, it should be clear who this Michael’s father was. Our DNA participant from this line matches the Michael Group.
Another surprise in the project is our descendant of Dickerson Waldrop. Although there are several guesses as to who Dickerson’s father was, there is a general consensus that he somehow was related to Luke and Christian. He was surrounded by relatives of Luke and Christian in Laurens Co., SC before he went to KY. And, in KY he was surrounded by relatives of Luke and Christian, or so we thought. However, his DNA does not match the Michael or any other group. We are more inclined to believe a nonpaternal event occurred, rather than Dickerson was an immigrant.
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