Individual Details

Was Jane the only wife of Nicholas Gentry II? Many believe he had an earlier wife. Some have assumed she was Mary Brooks: There is NO record Nicholas Gentry was ever married to a "Mary".

Mary Brooks as the wife of Nicholas Gentry appears in the Book Gentry Family in America 1676 to 1909 by Richard Gentry, Ph. B., M. S. Kansas City, Missouri Printed for the Author by The Grafton Press New York, MCMIX. If Nicholas Gentry II was married to a Mary Brooks, she was certainly not the daughter of Richard Brooks II, who deeded his daughter and son-in-law land on Dirty Swamp in 1743. THAT Mary Brooks was married to Nicholas III Gentry, son of Samuel II Gentry. Nicholas, son of Samuel, & wife Mary later sold this land 3 years later and she is listed on the sale of deed; she did not die in 1729! She is also listed on sales of land in 1766, 1767. The Mary Brooks that was Richard's daughter & married to Nicholas III, son of Samuel Gentry,was probably born around 1725. She appears to be listed on Nicholas' census record as late as 1790, but was not on the 1800 census for any of the Gentry family. THAT Mary Brooks is thought to have died before her husband and may have died about 1792 when Nicholas, son of Samuel, sold the first portion of his lands in NC.

http://www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg0109.htm
The name Jane Brown has been more commonly accepted for a couple reasons. Denny Ellerman writes in one of his articles on Nicholas Gentry:
"The backward "B" by which Nicholas Gentry's wife Jane signs one of the deeds suggests that her maiden name may have begun with a B. Assuming this to be so, I have always considered Brown the leading candidate for the following reason. When Nicholas and his wife moved to Brown's Cove in Albemarle County, they settled among a whole group of Browns with whom they had many and close dealings for the ten years or so that they remained there. One of those Browns was named Benajah, from whence perhaps the name of one of Nicholas and Jane's sons. As was typical of so many moves west, family connections tended to guide the path. In this case, Nicholas and Jane and sons David, [Moses] and Martin did not move close to where their sons, Robert and Benajah had settled earlier in Albemarle County but in an area of the county where there were no other Gentrys at that time. I think it possible that it was her [Jane's] family that determined the direction of that particular move."

By the will of Nicholas II, his wife at the time of his will was named Jane and, from other records, she is also thought to have been Jane BROWN (but not proved either). It is possible that Nicholas may have had a previous wife, but no records have been found to indicate that.

Birth	Abt 1705	Albemarle County, Virginia
Marriage		NICHOLAS Gentry II

Spouse	NICHOLAS Gentry II ( - 1779)
Child	David Gentry (1724 - 1813)
Child	Robert Gentry (1726 - 1811)
Child	NICHOLAS GENTRY III (1728 - 1803)
Child	Elizabeth Gentry (1731 - 1820)
Child	Benajah Gentry (1733 - 1830)
Child	Moses Gentry (1735 - 1808)
Child	Nathan Gentry (1745 - 1784)
Child	Martin Gentry (1747 - 1827)
Child	[Daughter] Gentry ( - )
Child	[Daughter] Gentry ( - )
Child	Mary Gentry ( - )

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