Individual Details

David has usually been placed as a son of Samuel Gentry and Ann Allen. Some of the more recent research on the Gentry family indicates that David, might instead belong to the previous generation. That instead of being a son of Samuel, he was his brother.


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
A critical point in the decision of David's parentage is the date at which Hezekiah Gentry was born. ... Hezekiah was in fact a son of David and probably his oldest. A recent report of a remark in the journal of John Benjamin Carter, who lived more-or-less contemporaneously with Hezekiah (Carter's sister married a grandson of Hezekiah), gives the death date of "Hezekiah Jentry" as 4 April 1824 and states he was about 95 years of age at the time(12). If completely true, this puts some of the conjecturing concerning Hezekiah's date of birth behind us for it puts his birthdate at about 1729, significantly earlier than estimated previously from Lunenburg County, Virginia, records. Estimating further, his marriage must have been in approximately 1727 or 1728. The average age of marriage for men in Colonial Virginia ranged from say 18 to 24, which puts his approximate date of birth as about 1707. This is much earlier than would be expected for a son of Samuel-II, but does fit well within the range for being a son of Nicholas-I.
(12) "The Carter Family Ledger, by John Benjamin Carter (1799-1856)", transcribed by Donald Edwin Gross, Jr. John Benjamin Carter observed in his journal that "Hezekiah Jentry" died 4 April 1824 and that he was about 95 years of age at the time. Carter was a brother of Artemesia Carter who married a grandson of Hezekiah Gentry, Pleasant Burnett Jr., son of Anna Gentry and Pleasant Burnett Sr. Pleasant Sr. died in 1794 after which Anna remarried and lived long enough to be listed in Hezekiah's will. While John Carter's relationship was with the Burnett family not the Gentry family, initially he would have been reasonably aware, at least by reputation, of Hezekiah, but the long period between the death of Pleasant Sr. in 1790 and Hezekiah's death in 1824 may or may not have had an effect upon how well Carter still knew Hezekiah by the time he died.

First reference to David in the Virginia records has led researchers to believe he was newly married and was perhaps younger than he really was.
Louisa Co VA DB A:
p.75   13 Jun 1743   Richard Brooks of Fredricksville, Louisa Co, planter, to David Gentry and Sarah wife of said David.  For Paternal affection to my son in law David Gentry and my daughter, give over all that tract on Dirty Swamp in Parish of Fredricksville, 100 acres.  Signed:  Richard (R) Brooks.  Wit: John Venable, John Clark.  Ack. by Brooks, same day.

The Journal reconstructs what might have been David's journey. Presumably the family all lived at the Totopotomoy Creek lands when Nicholas I died. Sons Samuel, and then Nicholas II, soon moved to westernmost limists of St. Paul's Parish near Stone Horse Creek. Richard Brooks by 1719 was living nearby. It is likely that sometime during this intervening years, the widow and her two younger sons, James and David, also moved to the west. This placed David near the Brooks family and he probably married Sarah about 1727-8. Richard Brooks left St. Paul's Parish in 1731 and moved up the South Anna River to Dirty Swamp, an area which would eventually become Louisa County. Since there are no records for David Gentry in St. Paul's Parish, perhaps he had moved with his father-in-law. In 1743, Richard Brooks gave 100 acres to Nicolas III who had married his daughter, Mary, and 100 acres to David Gentry and his daughter Sarah.

By October of 1759, David was of Johnston County, NC but he seems not to have lived there very long as records for him continue in Lunenburg Co. He was frequently sued for debt. A suit brought in April 1765 is the last reference.

Sarah Gentry moved to South Carolina with her father, Richard, and brother Elisha Brooks. She was granted 450 acres in Edgefield District in 1766 as a widow. Her grant was based on 100 acres for herself and 50 acres for others in her household. She was still on her property in 1773.

There is no documentary proof for the children David & Sarah. These sons are placed here because of their residences and approximate ages. There may have been children that did not go to South Carolina - there may have been daughters.

Birth	Abt 1707	New Kent County, Virginia
Marriage	1727	Sarah Brooks
Death	Abt 1765	Lunenburg County, Virginia

Spouse	Sarah Brooks ( - 1773)
Child	Hezekiah Gentry (1729 - 1824)
Child	David Gentry (1735 - )
Child	John Gentry (1738 - 1820)
Child	Nathaniel Gentry (1740 - )
Child	Simon Gentry (1744 - 1800)
Child	Allen Cain Gentry (1747 - 1810)
Child	Elisha Gentry (1746 - 1803)
Child	Elijah Gentry (1753 - 1818)

Father	NICHOLAS Gentry (1660 - 1710)
Mother	Living
Sibling	Joseph Gentry (1688 - )
Sibling	Elizabeth Gentry ( - )
Sibling	Samuel Gentry (1691 - 1780)
Sibling	NICHOLAS Gentry II ( - 1779)
Sibling	Mabel Gentry ( - )
Sibling	James Gentry ( - )
Sibling	William Gentry (1711 - )

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