References concerning
Lewis Davis Yancey of Culpeper Co., Virginia
being the son of one
Benjamin Yancey

From "Ancestors and Descendants of Capt William Layton Yancey and his wife Frances Lynn Lewis", By Rebecca L Yancey, 1977, page 4.

". . . Some descendants recalled being told, that Benjamin was the father of Lewis Davis Yancey. None remembered the name of his mother.

The Yancey section of "Earle Connections" refers to the four brothers, who came over with Sir William Berkely and to Benjamin Yancey, the father of Lewis Davis Yancey. A Lewis Davis is reported to have sailed from Bristol, England to America in 1685. Possibly it was he, who was a descendant of Sir John Dabney Davis . . .

King William County records show that in 1704, a Charles Yancey and a Lewis Davis were neighbors. In 1711 a Charles Yancey and a Lewis Davis are mentioned in the records of St Paul's Parish, New Kent County. Early town records of Culpeper Court House show a Davis Street and a Charles Yancey, property owner. Was Charles Yancey's full name Charles Benjamin Yancey, known to his family and friends as Benjamin but using Charles as his legal signature? Did he perhaps marry a sister or daughter of Lewis Davis?"

Notes by DJY:

Although the parentage of Lewis Davis Yancey is at times recorded as one Benjamin Yancey, as in the above citation, there is NO evidence whatsoever, circumstantial or otherwise, to support this. In fact there seems to be evidence to point to this being false and misleading information. The name Benjamin does NOT appear among the children, nor grandchildren of Lewis Davis Yancey of Culpeper nor Charles Yancey of Hanover/Louisa except for one exception - the son of James Yancey of South Carolina - named Benjamin Cudworth Yancey - but it seems quite evident that in such case he was named for his grandfather Benjamin Cudworth - and NOT for any Yancey ancestor.

The "Earle Connection" cited above was a book published in 1929. It contained a section concerning the Earle and Yancey families (descendants of William Lowndes Yancey and Sarah Caroline Earle) - William Lowndes being the son of Benjamin Cudworth Yancey. It is interesting to note that the well-known and comprehenmsive biography of William Lowndes Yancey published in 1892 by Dubose does not make any mention of a Benjamin Yancey. The few references to Benjamin Yancey appear to have been a mistaken confusion with Benjamin Cudworth - which mistaken information was later quoted and passed on by various sources of a later date.

There is, on the other hand, documented information to link Charles Yancey and the referenced Lewis Davis as being neighbors - and it does seem reasonable to think that there may have been some sort of relationship by blood or marriage. Un-beknownst to most Yancey researchers is the record of one Lewis Davis dying about 1747 without a will in Louisa Co., Virginia leaving a widow named Mary (Louisa Co. Order Book 1742-1748 page 227). One would think that this could probably be the same Lewis Davis.