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About The Extended DeSha Family Tree
Update May, 2018: After Bill passed away I renewed the subscription when it came due, and maintained the DeSha site for a couple of years, mainly to preserve the material and Bill's hard work. After a few years I let the subscription lapse. Recently I received a "Special Offer" email to renew the site. I felt I must take the opportunity to bring the site back on-line, at least long enough for myself and others to view and/or copy information. I would encourage anyone interested to order a CD or thumb drive from tribalpages.com because I'm not sure I'll renew the subscription next year. However, should anyone be interested in assisting in maintenance of the site, or taking it over, please contact me. The decision to keep the site on-line may well depend on how much interest is shown, so please let me hear from you.
F. Stovall
The Research. The Gold Standard for this research is the "Big Tan Book by Mr. Dewitt C. Nogues published in 1983 "DESHA Geneaology A Survey" and copyrighted in 1983 by Dewitt C. Nogues under Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 82- 062935. A special debt of gratitude goes to Rev. Franklin "Bill" Nogues for giving us permission to use this data and for his kind encouragement in memory for the monumental work his father has started. I have converted Dewitt C. Nogues original WordPerfect files to Microsoft Word and will gladly make it available to any researchers interested in helping make this project more complete, realizing that it will never end.
The Name
In a letter written in 1874 to Lucius Junius Brutus DeSha, Robert Desha Morris stated the Joseph '1' DeSha had told him in 1834 that the DeSha family name was originally DESHAYS. DESHA decendants touring France have be unable to locate anything on the DESHA family; but they found a lot of data on DESHAYES families. Riestrap's "Armorial General" lists six DESHAYES familes with Assemblies of ARMS.
Generally, the name has appeared in America as Desha or DeSha. Within the family of Robert '2' DeSha, some of the children and their decendants have used the spelling Desha while other children and their decendants have used the spelling Desha, DeSha, or Deshea and DeShay have appeared. The same inconsistancy holds true for official records on file in courthouses.
The family of Anthony DeSha and decenants of Northcumberland County, PA have rather consistently spelled the name DeShay; but official courthouse entries and cencus records have spelled it Desha, DeShay, Deshe and Deshea.
Some have suggested that the decendent was from the Duche' family of Philadelphia, PA who seem to have kept the DUCHE' spelling consistent since it was simpified from DUCHIER when they first came to England from France. To date, no factual data have been found to support any connection between the DUCHE' and DESHA families.
Possible alternative spellings in records may include DACHA, DACIER, DASSIER, DECHA, DECHE, DECHELLY, DECHENE, DESHAIES, DESHAT and DESHAYS.
Origin of the Family
In a letter written 1n 1874 to Lucius Junius Brutus DeSha, Robert DeSha Morris stated that Joseph '1" DeSha had told him in 1834 that the family fled fro LaRochelle, France, with other Huguenots, on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, going first to Wales, then to New Rochelle, NY, and then to the Deleware River valley above the WAter Gap between NJ and PA. He stated that the family lived there nearly 100 years.
A colony of Huguenots obtained a land grant of 1200 acres in the Peenpack Valley (Now called Huguenot) in 1697. This is about 5 miles inside NY from where the Deleware River leaves the state and divides PA and NJ. "Minisink" was a stretch of land lying west of the Shawshank Mountains, about 40 miles long, including portions of Orange and Sullivan counties, NY, and portions of northern NJ and northeast PA, extending as far south as south as the Delaware Water Gap.
In "Memorials of the Huguenots in America" Stapleton states on p. 81: The Minisink. Near the Delaware Water Gap, in Monroe County, are the Minisink Flats, the settlement of which antedates the founding of the Province by William Penn. The Minisink settlers were mostly Huguenots from Esopus, on the Hudson River. Prior to the English occupancy they had constructed a wagon road through the wilderness from Esopus to the WAter Gap on the Deleware, a distance of about 100 miles, over which they conveyed minerals and other products from the Delaware to the Hudson River.
The colony is remarkable from the fact that there are no records of its establishment. It had no connection whatever with the Colonies on the Lower Deleware, and of which the Minisink settlers are said to have had no knowledge whatever.
They were left undisturbed on their lands by the Pensylvania Proprietors until 1730 when the General Surveyor General Nicholas Scull, and his deputy, John Lukens, proceeded to the settlement to investigate its character and titles. The surveyors were not able to ascertain definitely the time of settlement, but they concluded from the appearance of the buildings, orchards, etc., that it had been made a long time ago.
On p.82, Stapleton states: In this colony also was the Decha (now Desha) family from Esopus. After the Revolution a branch of them emigrated to Kentucky. Several of this name have become eminent, of whom Joseph Desha, born in Pensylvania 1n 1768 and Governor of Kentucky 1824-1828, was perhaps the best known.
On p.149, Stapleton states: General List. Note--the dates following names indicate the time of arrival as derived from official records. The names of counties where immigrants located are abbreviated. Immigrants from Alsace and Lorraine are mostly indicated by brackets.
Dacier, Daniel. 1750. John Mich. and John Martin 1752. Paul 1753 Decha, Edward 1752
In the William Watts Hart Davis "History of Bucks County" (1876) is the following: The family of Desha, Huguenot refugees from France soon after 1685, found a home on the Minisink Flats. Here Govenor Desha, of Kentucky was born in 1768, to which state he removed, 1784. The Overfields, whose decendents are still found along the upper Deleware, were there early. Paul Overfield married Rebecca, a sister of Edward Marshall, about 1745-6. The Reverend Robert D. Morris, late pastor of the Newton Presbyterian church was a decendent of the Deshas on the mothers side.
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Getting Around There are several ways to browse the family tree. The Tree View graphically shows the relationship of selected person to their kin. The Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Above are the father and mother and below are the children. The Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The Descendant Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph and parents below. On the right are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Do you know who your second cousins are? Try the Kinship Relationships Tool. Your site can generate various Reports for each name in your family tree. You can select a name from the list on the top-right menu bar.
In addition to the charts and reports you have Photo Albums, the Events list and the Relationships tool. Family photographs are organized in the Photo Index. Each Album's photographs are accompanied by a caption. To enlarge a photograph just click on it. Keep up with the family birthdays and anniversaries in the Events list. Birthdays and Anniversaries of living persons are listed by month. Want to know how you are related to anybody ? Check out the Relationships tool. |
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