Individual Details

Samuel Gentry first appears in the St. Peter's records in 1716 on a road clearing crew. In 1719 he was included in a processioning report with Nicholas Gentry II near Stone Horse Creek. He later received grants on Beech Creek. Samuel was probably another son of Nicholas Gentry I and likely some older than Nicholas II.

The Haggard Database gives Samuel as a son of Nicholas I, but with a too early birth year and then Samuel's children have birth dates over an impossible 40-year span. Haggard stated that Samuel married Ann Allen, and she died in 1747. Samuel's wife is given as Ann in Louisa Co deeds. Samuel is said to have died in 1762. Unfortunately, Clinton Haggard did not save his source data.
Children are said to have been the following. I consider all of this as unproved and simply pointers to possible further discovery. [Haggard spelling Surry as "Surray".]
Nicholas III, born Hanover Co, married Mary Brooks ca 1749 and died 1797, Surry Co NC
David, married Sarah Brooks, died 1760, Jackson, NC
Joseph G., married Agness Shelton, died leaving will dated 11 Nov 1804, Surry Co NC
Richard, said married about 1754, but no wife given; died c1811, Surry Co NC
Allen, married Mary ???, about 1749; his will probated in Halifax Co VA, 26 Jul 1802
Samuel III, died about 1800, Surry Co, NC
George, died in Charlottesville, Louisa Co, VA
Simon married Susannah Brown in May of 1760; died Cumberland Co VA
Ann, b. ca 1736, married French Haggard in Fredericksville, Louisa Co VA

A better reference was found from an updated article in Journal of Gentry Genealogy, Vol 1, Issue #7, July 2001; Revised 2008, 2013. "Sons of Nicholas Gentry, Immigrant: Part 1. Samuel-II Gentry and Family", by Willard Gentry. The children listed are taken from that article.

Virginia Land Patent Book 11, p.328
20 Feb 1723
Samuel Gentry, 400 acres, New Land, Hanover Co on North side the South Anna River between lines of Drumond, Scott & Taylor

Patent Book 12, p.145
22 Feb 1724
Samuel Gentry, 196 acres, New Land, Hanover Co on both sides of Beech Crd, adj Mr. Alves corner, William Harris' line & a line of Drummond & Scott.

A Merchant's Account Book, Hanover Co, 1744; from Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly,Vol. 38, No. 2, 113
1744 - Mr. Samuel Gentry in Hanover. Balance, 10 Nov.
3 Apr 1745 - charges for linen handkerchief, ginger, pepper, hatt, salt, nails
8 May 1745 - jackknife, shoe buckles
also
1744 - Mr. Nicholas Gentry, son of the above Samuel. Balance, 10 Nov
Aug 20 - bushel of salt. To Samuel Gentry's account
7 May 1745 - tobacco at Pages, by Capt Michael Holland

Louisa Co VA DB A:
p.276  20 Mar 1747.  Samuel Gentry & Nicholas Gentry of Fredricksville Parish, Louisa, planters, to Richard Walker, ordinary keeper of the same parish.  30#'s.  Tract of 125 acres part of 400 acres granted to Nicholas Gentry by patent 28 Dec 1736. 106 acres part of 700 acres granted Samuel Gentry by patent July 30, 1742.  Both sides of Dirty Swamp.  Signed Samuel Gentry, Nicholas Gentry.  wit: Danl Burford Jr., William Rice, Richd Haggard.

The patent to which must have been to Samuel & Nicholas's father is found at Library of Virginia, PB 17, p.222
The catalog card says "Grayson Co" but Hanover County is the location stated in the patent itself. The patent was for 400 acres, both sides of Dirty Swamp, Hanover Co. Begin at Richard Brookes's corner; along his line; crossing Dirty Swamp; Capt. Overton's line; Charles Barret's corner; his line; Thomas Rice's corner; his line; Richard Brookes's line to the beginning. 28 Dec 1736.
Louisa Co was formed out of Hanover Co in 1742.

The second patent to Samuel Gentry, PB 20, p.347
700 acres, both sides Dirty Swamp in Hanover Co. Begin Clark's corner, his line; Henson's corner; two of his lines; Brookses's line; his other lines. 108 acres of the Tract was formerly granted to Richard Brookes, 5 Aug 1731, and by him sold and conveyed to Samuel Gentry; the residue thereof never before granted. 30 Jul 1742.

Louisa Co VA DB A:
p.398  28 Aug 1750  Samuel Gentry of Fredericksville Parish to French Haggard of same. Affection to my son in law, all that tract where Haggard now lives, both sides of Dirty Swamp.  88 acres.  Nicholas Gentry's line, line lately Richard Wallicies.  Samuel (S) Gentry.  Ann the wife released dower.


Note of Further research by Willard Gentry as late as 2018:
http://www.gentryjournal.org/archives/jgg0107.htm
Samuel-II Gentry
- Born about 1692, in the vicinity of Totopotomoy Creek, New Kent Co. (later Hanover Co.), Virginia.
- Married about 1715 to Ann (maiden name unknown but may be Allen).
Samuel died perhaps shortly after 1779, probably in Caswell Co. (later Person Co.), North Carolina at the home of his son Allen. His wife is known from two deeds in Louisa County, Virginia, in which she is named <5b,d>.

Samuel's name is found in the St. Paul's vestry records for the first time in 1716<1a> at which time it appears he was living at the far western end of St. Paul's Parish in the vicinity of Stone Horse Creek. This was about 30 miles upstream from Totopotomoy Creek, as the crow flies, along the Pamunkey and South Anna Rivers, and probably half again that distance if traveling along the river. The 1716 reference for Samuel was one in which he was in charge of building a road. We can use this as a rough measure to estimate his age at the time--certainly he would be over twenty-one, and probably several years older than that in order to have this responsibility. This would place the latest year for his birth as 1695. We know that his sister Elizabeth was christened in 1689, and that their parents did not appear to have a large number of closely-spaced children. An approximate year of birth in 1692 seems reasonable for Samuel.

Based on the limited information available, we can infer some of the details of Samuel's life from the time he left his father's home along Totopotomoy Creek until he moved away from Dirty Swamp in Louisa County. Samuel must have moved initially about 1715, probably shortly after marrying, wanting to establish a new home for his family. He was undoubtedly attracted by the availability of new land at the far end of the parish along Stone Horse Creek, which was essentially the limit of settlement at that time, The road from Stone Horse Creek to Stony Run to which reference is made in the parish records was presumably a new land route from the west end of the parish which would link up with established roads in lower St. Paul's Parish, and minimize the need for river travel from one end of the parish to the other. This is probably the same road mentioned in 1756 as one boundary of the precinct in which Samuel (and then later Nicholas-II) was located in 1716<1g>. What may be the same road, exists to this day as a country road that passes the upper ends of Stone Horse Creek and Beech Creek and then crosses Stony Run.

Samuel's brother, Nicholas-II, also left his father's home and came to the Stone Horse Creek precinct to join Samuel sometime between 1716 and 1719 (when the latter's name is first mentioned in the parish records), at which time Nicholas would have been between 19 and 22 years old. Nicholas may have lived first with his brother, but by 1719 he apparently was living on land of his own (perhaps divided off from Samuel's), and had presumably married. Whereas Nicholas remained in that same precinct for some 15 or more years, Samuel obtained new land not far away at the mouth of Beech Creek in 1723 and 1724<2a,b>. Since he was not included in the processioning report for the original precinct when next it was filed in 1731, Samuel presumably either sold his first land, or probably turned it over to Nicholas. (Colonial land office grant documents have been preserved for Hanover County, but subsequent county deeds for the sale or purchase of those lands have all been lost.) The succeeding processioning reports which continued at intervals until 1743<1b-f> show Nicholas and Samuel living in separate precincts. This reflected Samuel's presence on his land along Beech Creek. (A major portion of this land lay on the north side of the South Anna River and became a part of St. Martin's Parish in 1726. As such, it would not be included in St. Paul's Parish records). A collateral piece of evidence shows the presence of a Gentry, undoubtedly Samuel, living on the east side of Beech Creek in 1734<2c>. One further reference to Samuel in Hanover County was in 1733 when he and his brother Nicholas served as surety for Mary Spradling who was appointed executor of the estate of her husband John Spradling<3>. This has been interpreted as suggesting that Mary was a sister of Samuel and Nicholas.

In 1742, Samuel was granted land upriver along the South Anna River on a creek by the name of Dirty Swamp in an area that became Louisa County<2d>. Samuel would necessarily have moved to his new property in order to consummate the grant by working the land. This was some 30 miles or so farther upstream along the South Anna River from where he previously lived. Louisa County was a brand-new county at that time, having been split off from Hanover County in 1742. Samuel's grant adjoined his brother Nicholas who had preceded him to Dirty Swamp in 1736. A portion of this land Samuel obtained from Richard Brooks Jr., the father-in-law of David and Nicholas-III Gentry. The remainder was new land, never before granted. A series of six deeds relating to the eventual disposition of this land are recorded in Samuel's name in Louisa County deed books during the period from 1747 to 1762<5a-f>. At the end of this time he had sold or given away all of his Louisa County land and followed his family (as well as the Richard Brooks family) to fresh settlements along the Meherrin River in Lunenburg County. In addition to the deeds, the only other Louisa County references to Samuel are two of a minor "housekeeping" nature in the records for Fredericksville Parish, the new parish which was established in Louisa County<4>.

Samuel moved to Lunenburg County between 1753 (when he sold land to John Gilbert while still in Louisa County) and 1755 (when as a resident of Lunenburg County he served as an appraisor of Richard Brooks' estate in that county<6a>. Two deeds were recorded in Louisa County in 1757 and 1762 in which Samuel was identified as "of Lunenburg Co"<5e,f>. No references to him are found in the records of Cumberland Parish, which served Lunenburg County. The only reference to Samuel in addition to these three that places him in Lunenburg County, is found in an order of the County Court in which a Joseph Gentry, orphan son of John Gentry, was bound to Samuel in 1761<6b> (see discussion below concerning Samuel's children). However, there are many references throughout the Lunenburg records to Samuel's children beginning in 1748 and continuing to 1772.

The lack of any deed references to Samuel after 1762 is surely a case of Samuel (now over seventy) living during that time of his life with one of his children rather than on land of his own. Two references for a Samuel Gentry in Caswell County, North Carolina<7>, suggest that Samuel spent the last years of his life with his son Allen, and died soon after 1779 in Caswell County, in an area that later became Person County.

As for Samuel's wife, other than her name Ann, there is no information concerning her birth, her death, nor her family. Given the relatively large number of Allens among Samuel's descendants (beginning with one son and three grandsons), a name that is found among the descendants of Samuel and his brother David, but not of his other brothers, one can speculate that "Allen" came from Ann's family. If so, she was probably related to the David Allen, William Allen and "Runnel" [Reynolds?] Allen whose names are found along with Gentrys in Lunenburg and Halifax County records in Virginia, and in Johnston County records in North Carolina.

Samuel Gentry's Children
We will begin with a listing of the names of the Gentrys whom we believe were children of Samuel. The justification for these choices will follow. All were born in what became Hanover Co. after 1720, probably in the vicinity of Stone Horse and Beech Creeks along the South Anna River.

Nicholas born about 1717
Joseph born about 1720
Allen born about 1722
Simon born about 1725
Ann born about 1728; married about 1750, Louisa County, to French Haggard.
John born about 1730
Richard born about 1732
William born about 1734
Samuel born about 1738
Nathaniel born about 1740

Birth	Abt 1691	New Kent County, Virginia
Marriage	Ca 1715	Ann Allen
Death	Abt 1780	Caswell County, North Carolina

Spouse	Ann Allen ( - )
Child	Nicholas Gentry the Younger (1717 - 1797)
Child	Joseph Gentry (1720 - 1813)
Child	Allen Gentry (1722 - )
Child	Simon Gentry (1726 - )
Child	Ann Gentry (1728 - )
Child	Richard Gentry (1732 - )
Child	William Gentry (1734 - )
Child	John Gentry (1736 - )
Child	Samuel Gentry (1737 - )

Father	NICHOLAS Gentry (1660 - 1710)
Mother	Living
Sibling	Joseph Gentry (1688 - )
Sibling	Elizabeth Gentry ( - )
Sibling	NICHOLAS Gentry II ( - 1779)
Sibling	Mabel Gentry ( - )
Sibling	James Gentry ( - )
Sibling	David Gentry (1707 - 1765)
Sibling	William Gentry (1711 - )

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Notes