Descendants of Benjamin Stinnett 1710-1774 and the Stinnett/Calvert Conundrum

            Charles E. Stinnett

27 Nov 2017

charles.stinnett@att.net

Descendants of Benjamin Stinnett 1710-1774

and the Stinnett/Calvert Conundrum

Ancestry.com has over 1,000 public family trees that post a connection to my Benjamin Stinnett, said to have been born in Port Republic, Calvert County, MD (while still a British colony), in 1710 and to have died in Amherst County, VA, (also while still a colonial possession) on July 5, 1773.  His death is documented by a will assuming it is our same Benjamin from MD.  I am inclined to think so.

I thank Benjamin for having given me the Stinnett name even if current evidence suggests that I did not get his genes.  All participants in my subgroup (referred to as the Calvert Co., MD Stinnetts) derive our Y-DNA from a different father than others in the FamilyTree Y-DNA Stinnett Project.  Y-DNA passes from father to son largely unchanged.  From what we know thus far, descendants of Benjamin’s son Benjamin (often referred to as Benjamin Jr.) appear to be genetically different than descendants of his son William, or at least those descended from William’s son Lindsey.  My subgroup appears to be linked to a line of Calverts also from Virginia.

I am posting this in the hope that more Stinnett men will elect to have a Y-DNA test to determine whether they are “true” Stinnetts or instead, genetically Calverts.  Ideally, the testing would be done by FamilyTree DNA.  Results are transferrable from other sources although one should check to see if such transfers require an additional fee.

Here is where things stand as of this writing.  The change in patrilineal lines occurred either with Benjamin Sr.’s son William (1746-1835) or with his grandson Lindsey (1783-1854).  It could have been by adoption, indentured servant agreement, assumed alias OR by a Calvert siring a Stinnett child.  Without evidence, I am inclined to think the change occurred with William.  I will only know for certain when a male descendant from one of William’s other male children is tested.  Reportedly, William had a number of sons including Lindsey’s older brothers Joel (1770-1847), Reuben (1774-1850) and Charles A (1780-1850).  Joel and Reuben are likely the same Stinnetts who appear in the 1800 tax rolls for Mercer County, KY.  Their sisters, Lucy and Elizabeth, married Duggins brothers while in Amherst Co., VA, and Reuben’s wife (also from Amherst) was a Priscilla Duggins.  The Duggins brothers appear in Mercer County, KY, in 1800, along with Joel, Reuben, a William Stinnett and a John Stinnett as additional heads of household.

The Calvert DNA project has hit its own brick wall.  Calverts who belong to the same subgroup as I trace their lineage back to the late 1600’s via a George Calvert 1668-1739 who lived in that part of Stafford County that would later become Prince William County.  When I last looked, they were still searching for genetic evidence that would link George to the Maryland Calverts. 

It is quite possible that Benjamin and Elizabeth Stinnett knew the Calverts of Stafford County while they were migrating from Maryland to their home in Amherst Co., VA (part of Albemarle Co. when they first settled there).  They may well have known Calverts in Maryland also.

Lets begin with their Maryland roots, Benjamin in Calvert Co. and Elizabeth in adjacent Charles Co.  In his will dated 25 Aug 1731, Elizabeth’s father, William Sanders, bequeathed half of his land (named “Hazard) on Maryland Point in Charles County, MD, to “daughter Elizabeth (wife of Benjamin Stinnett).”  The land was sold by the Stinnetts to John King of Charles County in early 1733.  The record makes reference to the seller as being “..Benja Sinnit of CC, house carpenter, and -_-zabeth, his wife, one of the 3 daughters and co-heirs of Wm Sanders…. ”  The Stinnetts received 1500 lbs. of tobacco in return.  It should be noted that the other half of “Hazard” had been sold to John King by Elizabeth’s sister and her husband in 1729, also for 1500 lbs of tobacco.  John King already held the residual of a 99 year lease on the land entered into between William Sanders and a predecessor lessee in 1689, so King as current holder of the lease was a logical buyer.

The next possible reference to our Benjamin is in a land grant (Amos Janney, grantee) dated 4 December 1740 in Prince William Co., VA.  [Prince William was formed from portions of Stafford Co. and King George Co. in 1731].  If this is our Benjamin, it means that he and Elizabeth moved up the Potomac River and over to the Virginia side in an area near Bull Run and Manassas, VA.  In surveying the property, which was located on the north side of the South Fork of the Beaverdam Branch, it is described as near the path from Goose Cr. to Benjamin Stinnet’s place of abode.  No record has surfaced that Benjamin owned the land where he was residing or whether it was even a current residence.  But it is plausible they were living there at the time.

It may be of some merit that, on 7 Jul 1744, James Stinnet (sic) and Richard Kent received a land grant located on the Horsepen Branch of the Occoquon River.  This would have been further south from Benjamin’s presumed location at the time, but still close to shores of the Potomac and on the Virginia side.  Family records show James to be Benjamin’s brother (1706-1795) and their mother was said to have been Elizabeth Kent before marriage.  I have not pursued research on Richard, but my guess is that he was a cousin or uncle.  Some Kent family trees show him as a brother to Elizabeth and as having died in Virginia without heirs.

On 1 Jun 1750, Benjamin Stennet (sic) was awarded a land patent (grant) from the Virginia colony for 400 acres near Tobacco Mountain on the north branch of Huffs Creek in what was to become Amherst County.  On that same date, James Stennet (sic) was awarded 227 acres of adjacent property.  Here our record starts to improve with wills and land transfers or bequests.

How is this relevant to our Stinnett/Calvert question?  Family trees show Benjamin’s son Benjamin to have been born in 1736 and son William to have been born in 1746.  Both would have occurred in the period between their parents’ roots in MD and their later move to Amherst Co.  William’s date of birth has at least some evidence in that William was referred to as a minor in Benjamin Sr.’s 21 Oct 1764 will, or rather, it is said that he and his sister Susanna “had not come of age.”  In any case, it is probable that William was conceived while Benjamin and Elizabeth were living in Prince William Co., VA, if the 1740 “place of abode” referred to above is our Benjamin.  Since our limited Y-DNA tests thus far show Benjamin Jr. to be a “true” Stinnett, then either William was a Calvert child adopted by the Stinnetts or Benjamin Jr. and William had different fathers.

Or if not William, then William’s son Lindsey is our first Stinnett/Calvert ancestor.  Several in our sample can trace their lineage back to Lindsey and via more than one of Lindsey’s sons.  We will only know for certain if the change in patrilineal lines occurred with William by testing descendants of his other male children.

As a footnote, it may interest a few that there is a third surname in our Calvert Co., MD/Prince William County, VA subgroup, although it may have no connection to Prince William County itself.  Several men with the surname Key also match the Calvert Y-DNA and share a common ancestor with this group of Stinnetts and Calverts.  Males in that group may have gotten their Y-DNA from a Stinnett (or vice versa) and still test as a Calvert.  And there were Keys living in both Amherst County and neighboring Bedford County according to early Virgina tax records.

Periodically, FamilyTree DNA runs specials for genetic testing.  A current discount is available through December 2017.  The Y-DNA37 test is available for $149, a reduction of $20 from standard pricing.  More detailed tests are also on sale, but the 37 marker test will be sufficient for advancing our research.  If the $149 fee is a deterrent, financial assistance may be available.