Individual Details

From Journal of Gentry Genealogy, vol 2, Issue 5, May 2002.
The Sons of Nicholas I Gentry: David Gentry and Family by Willard Gentry
Revised 2008, 2011
The fact that a Nicholas Gentry appeared briefly in the records of Ninety-Six District, South Carolina, and then in about 1779 left for Tennessee where he died at the hands of Indian marauders, has led many to the conclusion that Nicholas was a member of David-II's family. This writer is convinced that this Nicholas was a son of Nicholas and Mary Brooks Gentry. The elder Nicholas was a son of Samuel-II Gentry and a nephew of David, living in Surry County, North Carolina at the time the younger Nicholas passed through South Carolina. Several facts argue for this relationship, no one of which would be conclusive, but taken together help to bolster each other.
· His apparent age was just right for being probably the oldest son of Nicholas Sr.
· His departure from South Carolina took place relatively quickly, at a time when all of David's family were settling in there.
· A very inportant point is that in addition to a son named Nicholas (which would not be surprising considering it was his own name), but also a son named Samuel. This is a name that appears nowhere else among the members of David's family. This by itself would not be cause for remarking about it, but if he was a son of Nicholas and Mary Gentry, his grandfather was named Samuel, his father had a brother named Samuel, and this writer believes his father also had a son named Samuel, all good reasons for naming his own son, Samuel.

About 1778, Nicholas Gentry moved to the Holston Settlement in Washington Co, NC (later Tennessee) where he claimed 200 acres of land at the head of Fall Creek. About 1783, Davidson County was established on Indian lands and the Cumberland Trail was blazed from Knoxville to the Cumberland River and Nicholas likely took his family over the trail. There were a number of skirmishes with the Indians and Nicholas was killed, possibly in the early part of 1782. Nicholas was one of a significant number of pioneers "killed in the settlement and defence [sic] of the said County of Davidson" who were rewarded in an Act of Assembly of 1784 by the State of North Carolina with a grant of 640 acres to their heirs. A claim was entered in Nicholas' name in 1784 for the land promised by the State, and his heirs were granted 640 acres on Browns Creek in 1794.

Founding of the Cumberland Settlements. The First Atlas 1779-1804, Data Supplement 1
By Doug Drake, Jack Masters & Bill Puryear, 2009, p. 316-7
Grant 390 Issued 26 Jun 1793 to the heirs of Nicholas Gentry, 640 acres, South Fork of Browns Creek, State of No. Carolina, Davidson County. Surveyed by John Buchanan and Dan'l Smith on 24 Aug 1784. Neighbors were Francis Armstrong and Samuel Barton. The tract was on the south side of the Cumberland River on a branch that runs into Brown's Creek on the South Road to includ a Spring and improvement about 5 miles from the French Lick, improved in the year 1780.

Birth	Ca 1743	Louisa County, Virginia
Death	1787	Davidson County, Tennessee
Marriage		Elizabeth Gibson

Spouse	Elizabeth Gibson ( - )
Child	John Gentry (1765 - 1797)
Child	Randall Gentry ( - 1787)
Child	George Gibson Gentry (1774 - 1860)
Child	Nancy Gentry (1776 - 1828)
Child	Samuel Gentry (1778 - 1816)
Child	Nicholas Gentry (1782 - 1843)

Father	Nicholas Gentry the Younger (1717 - 1797)
Mother	Mary Brooks ( - )
Sibling	John Gentry (1760 - 1836)