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THE EARLY YANCEYS OF AMERICA
by Dennis J. Yancey dyancey@miami.edu
 
Information concerning the earliest Yanceys found living in America is quite obscure and so much conflicting and inconsistent information has been published concerning the early members of the family that it has taken many years of research by various dedicated Yancey genealogists to differentiate between what is fact, what is hear-say and family tradition, and what is down right erroneous information. A summarization of the results of this extensive research follows. The dominant family tradition is that of four or five brothers coming over from Wales in 1642 with Sir William Berkeley (Colonial Governor of Virginia) and settling in the James River area of Virginia. It is often stated that all Yanceys descend from these four or five brothers. Many colonial records of Virginia have been destroyed or lost to current generations and it would seem that if any record ever did exist concerning these brothers that it has been lost or destroyed (Many researchers question these stories of the first Yanceys coming over about 1640 - because of the lack of any evidence whatsoever of Yanceys living in America in the 17th century or any connection to Gov. Berkeley) The tradition that all persons of a particular surname descend from a common immigrant (or family group of immigrants) is quite common among American families - especially those with more uncommon surnames. Genealogists, however, are often wary of such statements - as they have often proved to be erroneous. In the case of the Yancey families, even though no documentation exists proving the existence of the group of Yancey brothers coming to America in the mid-1600s, research has shown that (except for one very minor exception) that all Yanceys, do indeed, have a common ancestry - descending from a group of families living in the Hanover and Culpepper Counties of Virginia in the early 1700s. Concerning the four or five Welsh brothers, sources are somewhat inconsistent as to their names but the names: Charles, Robert, William, Joel and John are names often cited. If family lore is true, and these brothers did arrive in Virginia in the mid-1600s, we know nothing concerning their fate. It would seem that many of them had few or no descendants; as by the arrival of the 18th century, only a handful of Yanceys were to be found living in Virginia. Some reports lacking evidence claim that one or more of the brothers were killed by Indians. The earliest valid documentation of a person by surname Yancey is that of a Charles Yancey whose name is found among the list of property owners recorded on the Quit Rent Rolls of Virginia found living in King William County Virginia in 1704 and owning 100 acres. No other verified documentation has been discovered which refers to Yanceys of an earlier date. Due to the fact, however, that names were often changed, modified, and/or misspelled an extensive search was made of early colonial records of possible variant spellings of the name (example: Yancy, Yancie, Jancey, Jauncey, Yansy). The only record that could be found was that of John Jancy - found living in Lancaster County Virginia in 1666. Due to the fact that the name Jancy is pretty well nonexistent in early Virginia and an extremely uncommon surname in general, it would seem that this could possibly be an early member of the Yancey family who either used a variant spelling or more probably whose name was misspelled upon transcription.