| 13. | Nancy* Ann White was born about 1770 in North Carolina (daughter of John* White and Sarah Davenport "Sally"* Gambill); died about 1834 in Duncan Woods, Orange Co, Texas (maybe). Other Events and Attributes:
Notes:
White Ana of N. Carolina (Jean & Sara Gambie of Virginia) m David Armand of SM (SM Ch)
Car, Guillaume (Joseph of Jamaca (Hugo & Marguerite Halfan) m 24 Feb 1794 Ane Wit, a widow. Fr. Carolina (SM ct hse OA - 15-75)
White, Ana, wid of Carolina (Jean & Sara Gambel) m 24 Feb 1794 Joseph Car of Jamaica (SM Ct.Hse.: OA-15-75)
White, Ane a widow; from Carolina (Jean & Sara Gambel) m 24 Feb 1794 Joseph Car of Jamaica (SM Ct. Hse: OA-15-75)
(NOTE: Widow of David Harmon? He was in TX in 1829)
White, Ana of N Carolina (Jean & Sara Gambie of Virginia) m Joseph Car of Jamaica (SM Ch)
White, Nancy, wid of Joseph Carr m George Burrell, In Succ. of Joseph Carr dated 16 Aug 1816 (SM Ct. Hse.: Succ #242)
White, Ana of N.Carolina (Jean & Sara Gambil of Virginia) m George Borel of England (SM Ch)
White, Anna, widow of Joseph Car; from North Carolina; a Catholic (John & Sarah Gambil) m 1 Apr 1801 Georges Borrel, English, born in Hardfordshire; an Anglican (Robert & Elizabeth Tompkins from Ireland) * not entered in SM registers (NI Ch.: OA-#8)
White, Anne of North Carolina, widow of Joseph Carr (John & Sara Gambil, natives of North Carolina) "Informacione de Solteria Producida" - (Marriage Investigation regarding the freedom to marry) dated 1 Apr 1801 George Borrel, Church of England, of Harfondchire, England and in this parish for 18 years (Robert & Elizabeth Tomkins native of Ireland and England) Signed: Frederic Tenholt, Louis Chemin, Peter O'Reilly, James Dunman. Fr. Michel Bernard Barriere (SM Ch: Marriage Investigation: Folio D, #33)
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NANCY WHITE'S LEGACY LIVES by Gwendolyn Wingate, staff correspondent. (Top of page is cut off but believe it appeared in an Orange, TX newspaper. (Sent by Barbara Vernon)
Lusty, lovely Nancy White was four times married, and her offspring were among Texas' first settlers. Today's descendants may number in the thousands.
There is no known picture of the enigmatic Nancy, but even from the dry, precise legal documents that record her actions, she emerges full-bodied and alluring. Desiring and desirable, strong-willed and physically hardy, she steps out faded pages and takes possession of the imagination.
Nancy, or Ann, as her name is often recorded, was born to John White and Sarah Gambel a few years before the Am. Revolution. White is said to have descended from emigrants from the Isle of Wight on the southern coast of England. The ear in early records as householders in Virginia, but in the 1770's they were involved in the Regulator troubles in Burke Co., NC that preceded the revolution. Planters in the Carolina uplands rebelled against extortionate tax collectors of Gov. William Tyron, and two of the White brothers were beaten nearly to death during a riot. One was shot in the arm during the foray and lost the use of that arm, says an old court record. Six Regulators were hung and others killed by the governor's militia.
Nancy could barely have remembered these bloody troubles, but it may have been because of them that the Whites moved on for a brief stay in Mississippi and then in the 1780's to the Attakapas dist. of Louisiana. That district, then undh rule, was made up of scattered settlements of Arcadians who had been expelled from Nova Scotia; Spanish from the Canary Islands who settled near present day New Iberia; a few Indians, some of the Attakapas tribe from which the district took its name; and trappers, traders and ranchers, some from the United States.
Life was not easy in that pioneer land, Nancy's mother was a midwife assisting at the birthing of children. She bore nine of her own. John White was probably a farmer and cattleman, perhaps branding his own wild cattle of the coastal p, remnants of stock introduced by the Avoyelles Indians trading with the Spanish in Mexico. John White registered brands for himself and his son William in 1790.
It was here in 1787 that the young Nancy fell in love with David Harmon and was married. The 1792 Spanish militia census for that post shows that Harmon, then 35, was a fusilier or infantryman. He was one of the few Americans listed amoles, Acadians and Europeans.
Nancy and David Harmon had three children, Ann, John and Sarah. Their youngest daughter was born in 1792, the same year St. Martin's Parish records list an inventory of David Harmon's estate after his death. Those precisely written documents voice neither joy nor pain, but Nancy must have remembered her first love throughout her long life. She named a later son David.
The young widow may have returned to her father's home with her children. She must have had some education, uncommon in that day for a woman, and she must have given her children some schooling, for both she and they signed their name on nts rather than making a mark. In 1804 she or her father registered brands for her children at St. Martinville.
But by that time Nancy was no longer the widow Harmon. A marriage contract penned carefully in Spanish proclaims the union on Feb 24 1794, at the Attakapas Post of "the Widow Ane Wit, elder and ligitimate daughter of Jean Wit and Sara Gamative of Carolina…and, Joseph Carr of Jamaica, elder and legitimate son of Hugo Carr and Mrs. Marguerite Halfair of Jamaica." Officiating officer was the post commandant, Francisco Cago y Luongo, and the bride's brothers, William and Jesse White were witnesses.
According to the contract the groom, who was probably of Scottish descent, brought to his marriage 1000 piastres (worth about $1 each) in notes, belongings consisting of 275 piastres, and other property commensurate with Nancy's half of thunity division from her marriage to Harmon.
Nancy bore a son, William, and a daughter, Lucy, to Joseph Carr. But perhaps it was too soon after the loss of her first love, or maybe Carr had an insatiable wanderlust. He disappeared from the scene, and subsequent documents never ro Nancy as the widow Carr. Stories passed down through the generation's hint that Carr was a freebooter and adventurer. A man by that name took part in the 1812 Gutierrez expedition that attempted to wrest Texas from Spain. The expedition failed and if indeed Carr was with them, there is no clue to what happened to him.
A few years later Nancy married George Burrell, or Borel as he sometimes appears. He and his family had been in the district as early as 1782 and were probably neighbors of the Whites. He and Maria Dunman were baptismal sponsors of Nancnger sister Sarah in 1801.
Nancy's life with George Burrell may have lacked the ecstasy she knew with David Harman, but in maturity they must have brought warmth and understanding to the marriage that lasted nearly 20 years. She named her oldest son Robert, and the younger, David.
The children of Nancy White's three marriages would play an important part of the history of Jefferson, Orange and Chambers counties. In 1830 John Harmon veteran of the War of 1812 and son of her first love David, settled near Adams Bayouat is now Orange. John's son David had come to Texas a year earlier, and Nancy's daughter Sarah, who married Absalom Gray came in 1833.
One of John Harmon's son Joshua, was the ancestor of the Harmon saddlemakers of Hankamer. His other children married Pevitos, Patillos, Blands, Coles and Means most of who were also early settlers.
William Carr was a part of Stephen F. Austin's third colony, claiming the William Carr League along Taylor's Bayou near LaBelle. He may have gotten additional land for furnishing horses to the TX. Revolutionists.
David Burrell settled near Taylors Bayou in 1828, claiming the league of land that bears his name. His nephew, George, his brother Robert's son, married Nancy French, daughter of John J. French of the trading post. Their son, J.J. Burrelrried a cousin, Alzena Carr, daughter of Nancy White's son, William Carr.
Probably all of Nancy's brothers and sisters except Jesse also settled in Texas. Her brother, James Taylor White, was in Chambers Co. before the TX Revolution and it was at his ranch that the Turtle Bayou resolutions were drawn up, an earlyfrontation of Texans and Mexicans. Nancy White Burrell herself claimed land in McLennan Co. which was later lost by her heirs in a lawsuit.
By 1824 when Nancy made a settlement with her dau. Sarah Harmon for her share of her father's estate, Nancy was again a widow. But her love life was not over. Opelousas marriage records reveal that on June 8 1828, she married Jacob Hamshire
Nancy was now past childbearing age, but Hamshire's descendants from an earlier marriage would also leave their mark on area history. His son John was one of High Island's early settlers and the town of Hamshire would take its name from the surname of his grandson, Lovan. An early Jefferson co. sheriff, David Garner married a Matilda Hamshire in 1839, who was a granddaughter of Jacob's.
Other descendants of Nancy's, to name a few, are Clubbs, Moors, Dugars (Dugats), Jetts, Abshiers, Walles, Norwoods, Harrises, Pruetts, Wilcoxes, Gatlins, Hayes, Aubeys, Hargraves, Wingates, Alexanders, Van Wormers, Hoffpauirs, Heimans, Boused many others.
When did Nancy die? And where is she buried? Some say in a half-forgotten cemetry near Duncan Woods in Orange Co. No one knows for sure.
Died:
The date of her death, or the place seems to be only conjecture, no actual records of her death appear to have been found. However, if her husband died in 1850 in St. Landry it doesn't seem likely she would be in Orange, unless his date/place of death is not accurate. Her son James Harmon settled in Orange, but have not been able to find her in his household.
Children:
- Anne Harmon was born on 21 May 1788 in St.Martin Parish, Louisiana; died after 1810.
- 6. John Aarmand Harmon, Sr was born on 28 Apr 1790 in St.Martin Parish, Louisiana; was christened on 17 Jul 1800 in St. Martinville, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana; died on 22 Feb 1871 in Orange, Orange Co, Texas.
- Sarah Margaret Harmon was born on 19 May 1792; died after 1833.
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1867 - 1947 (80 years)