Jeff Carr has written narratives on these local families, and is offering them for sale. He has documented some of the early origins of the Thompson family and Snider family of Pendleton County. He does not descend from these families, but was lucky enough to find records that clarify their origins. Oddly enough, breakthroughs on both families came by discovering court cases that document the early generations of the family.
The Thompson family came to Pendleton from Culpeper County, which many already knew. Jeff has found the patriarch of that family, George Thompson Sr. Thus far, the earliest record found of him has been about 1739. Jeff found a court case in Madison Co., VA (made from Culpeper) in which one of George Sr.'s single daughters died intestate in old age without children, thus leaving her estate to her siblings, or siblings' children when the sibling had died. This single court document tied together many of the descendants of George Sr. into one record. At least three of George Sr.'s children left descendants in Pendleton County: David, William, and George Jr. David and William Sr. married into old families of the Culpeper-Orange County area, namely the Brockmans and Breedings, respectively; Jeff has collected a good bit of information on these families as well, and has included some of it in the narrative. David's widow and some of their children settled in Pendleton County. Most of the descendants from this line come through their oldest daughter, Frances who married James Raines, and a younger son named William. He was commonly called "William the Saddler" to distinguish him from his cousin of the same name, the William Thompson [Jr.] who married Annis Walker. George Thompson Jr. did not settle in Pendleton; however, his daughter Winifred, who married Cedar Hensely, did come there in the 1820's. She left many Thompson descendants through her daughters who married into the Snyder and Summerfield families. William Thompson Sr., son of George Sr., seems to have left the most descendants in the area. Sons John and William Jr. left many descendants in Pendleton, and son George did the same in the Lewis County area. William Sr.'s daughters married into the Wimer, Pennington, and Bennett families. Most of the Thompsons in Pendleton are followed to about 1830 in the narrative.
The breakthrough on the Snyder family came about by two points. The first was the realization that the Snyders could have been known as "Taylors," since the German word schneider refers to the occupation of tailor. The second point was found via another court case. The earliest identified ancestor of the family is Casper Schneider/Taylor, who came to Virginia from Lancaster, PA. He first settled in the Frederick/Shenandoah County area; he later settled briefly in Pendleton, then moved on to Augusta County. There, Casper Taylor had an ill-executed deed, and after his death, the grantees sued the Taylor heirs, all of whom were living in 1813. All of the Sniders of Pendleton, Highland, and Randolph Counties in the 1800's descend from his sons John and Jacob. Casper had daughters that married into the Hoover, Hammer, Crummet, Shaver, and Robertson families. The Sniders are discussed in the narrative down through Casper's grandchildren, to about 1830.
Jeff is selling the narratives for $15 each, and they are about eight pages long. Those interested in purchasing the Thompson narrative should send an ancestor chart, showing their lineage back to about 1820-30. The reason is that while Thompson descendants ultimately share the same paternal line, their maternal ancestry is different. Brockman or Breeding descendants will get the narrative that more fully discusses their particular family. Requests can be addressed to Jeff Carr, 1255 Sunset Ave. Extd., Charlottesville, VA 22903.
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