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Preface

Many of the Breedlove families in the USA trace their ancestry to colonial Virginia and, from there, North Carolina. This web site is intended to be a compendium of the research done on John Breedlove, who was born in Virginia or North Carolina in the 1750s, and his descendants. He first appeared in the 1779 tax list of Warren County in northeastern North Carolina. Much has been published on this family in various Virginia and North Carolina historical books and family histories, some of it accurate, some not so accurate. As is often the case with family histories, once something is in print, it often is considered to be "gospel". It is my hope that this web site will facilitate a critical examination and discussion of the facts, legends, and myths surrounding this Breedlove family and to allow us Breedlove researchers and descendants to learn more about our origins and our relatives' contributions to early America. The best way to separate fact from fiction and to resolve conflicting information is to go back to the primary sources (see Documenting Your Genealogy Research - Guide to Citing Sources). These include records of marriages, births, deaths, and burials, census listings, Bible records, tax lists, probate and land records, etc. The information in the descendant listings on this web site will include documentation of the primary sources as much as possible, and transcriptions of many of those sources will be presented in links below. This is a working document and not necessarily definitive, since much of it is based upon information found on the Internet or in published secondary sources. It will be modified and (hopefully) improved as more researchers provide input and, most importantly, evidence.

Historical Narrative

The first appearance of the Breedlove surname in that part of North Carolina was in Granville County. In the court of 2 Sep 1755, Robert Jennings brought suit against Nathan Breedlove (debtor) in a continuation of a case that was originally started in King William County, Virginia. Next, in a Granville County court case on 4 Jun 1757, John Alston (agent for Nathan Breedlove) sued William Riding.  (Does anyone have any information on this case from the court records of King William County, Virginia???)

No other Breedlove records were found until 1779, when John Breedlove first appeared on a tax list in the Smiths Creek District of newly formed Warren County. (In 1764, Bute County was formed from the eastern portion of Granville County. Bute County was abolished in 1779 and Warren County was formed from its northern portion; Franklin County from its southern.) John Breedlove appeared in a Warren County tax list again in 1780, but was listed in the Nutbush District of Granville County starting in 1782.

In a state census of 1786, John Breedlove was listed in Nutbush District of Granville County. That year, the part of Granville County east of Nutbush Creek and Anderson Swamp was annexed to Warren County. John Breedlove probably lived in the part of Granville County that was annexed, since all his subsequent appearances were in Warren County. (Vance County was formed in 1881 from Granville, Warren, and Franklin Counties, including the area in which John Breedlove probably had lived.)

Who was John Breedlove's father? Nathan (who appeared in Granville County in the 1750s) is a strong possibility. In the will of a Nathan Breedlove who died in Essex County, Virginia in 1786, there is mention of Nathan's brother James, wife Mary, and sons John, Isaac, and Nathan. It is not clear that John Breedlove of Granville and Warren Counties in North Carolina is this Nathan's son, since the will (dated 6 Mar 1786) mentioned "land my brother James formerly lived on and that my son John now lives upon", presumably in or near Essex County, Virginia. We know from the tax list that John was in North Carolina by 1779. A comparison of the tax lists and contemporary records of Essex County, Virginia and Granville, Warren, and Bute Counties, North Carolina will be needed to help sort this out. (For example, did Nathan Breedlove's son John continue to appear in Essex County, Virginia records after 1786, when "our" John was clearly established in North Carolina.) Nathan's parents were Charles Breedlove and Mary Parr, who were the progenitors of most of the Breedlove families from Virginia.

The next Breedlove appearance in Warren County, North Carolina was the marriage in 1794 of Peggy Breedlove to Sherwood Wilson. Peggy may have been a daughter of John Breedlove. The bond for Nathan Breedlove's 1805 Warren County marriage to Holly Weaver was posted by Sherwood Wilson, clearly establishing a relationship between Peggy and Nathan (brother and sister?).

The 1786 and 1790 censuses showed that John Breedlove had three male children in his household, presumably his sons. Who were they? In 1799, William Breedlove began to appear in the Warren County tax lists, followed by Newman Breedlove in 1801. Then Nathan was married in 1805. I believe that these three were sons of John, since no other Breedlove men appeared in Warren or Granville Counties during that time. Who were John's daughters? Peggy was probably one. In 1810 in Warren County, Clarissa Breedlove married Joseph Wren. That same year Nancy Breedlove appeared in the Warren County census. The name of John Breedlove's wife is not known. John did not appear in the 1820 census of Warren County, but a John Breedlove was a witness to a will of William Clark, Sr. in Warren County in 1821.

Sherwood Wilson and his family appeared in the 1820 census of Warren County, near the William Breedlove household. Not much more is known about these two families, although William appeared to have had three sons and a daughter born between 1820 and 1830.

Between 1810 and 1820, Newman Breedlove and Nancy Breedlove (his sister?) moved from Warren County to Orange County, North Carolina. In 1824 in Orange County, there was a marriage of Nancy Breedlove to John Stewart. (Was it the same Nancy?) Newman had married about 1800, probably in Warren County, to Prudence Schwenk (or Swing) and had at least nine children. By the 1830s, Newman and his family had moved to Guilford County and then later to Randolph County. He died after 1860.

Nathan Breedlove and Holly Weaver moved from Warren County to Granville County between 1813 and 1818. They had sons Emanuel, Manson, Shelton, and William. Other children of this couple may have included Clementine, James, Isham, and Frances, but nothing more is known about them. Nathan died in Granville County between 1823 and 1830. Holly lived there until her death in 1870.

Descendant Listings

Here are listings of descendants of John Breedlove (through five generations).

[Note: To view the Adobe Acrobat files, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. This can be downloaded free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. You can download the files to your disk to view them, or use your web browser with the appropriate plug-ins.]

Explanation of Format of Descendant Listings

Children of John Breedlove (Adobe Acrobat document; 34 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
  Descendants of Newman Breedlove (#3) & Prudence Schwenk|Swing (Adobe Acrobat document; 149 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
  Descendants of Nathan Breedlove (#4) & Holly Weaver (Adobe Acrobat document; 227 KB; 28 Dec 2008)

There are a number of Breedloves who have not yet been placed in this Breedlove family. If you know where they belong, please let me know. [Note: The prefix for these individuals is "z".]
Unknown Breedlove Descendants (Adobe Acrobat document; 44 KB; 28 Dec 2008)

Index of Names (Adobe Acrobat document; 49 KB; 28 Dec 2008)

Documentary Sources

1790 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 8 KB; 7 Sep 2005)
1800 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 8 KB; 7 Sep 2005)
1810 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 10 KB; 7 Sep 2005)
1820 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 13 KB; 7 Sep 2005)
1830 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 15 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
1840 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 22 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
1850 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 67 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
1860 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 65 KB; 7 Sep 2005)
1870 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 67 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
1880 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 149 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
1900 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 213 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
1910 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 244 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
1920 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 268 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
1930 US Census (Adobe Acrobat document; 156 KB; 28 Dec 2008)

North Carolina Notes (Adobe Acrobat document; 571 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
  North Carolina Deaths (Adobe Acrobat document; 233 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
Virginia Notes (Adobe Acrobat document; 215 KB; 28 Dec 2008)

World War 1 Draft Registrations (Adobe Acrobat document; 32 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
World War 2 Draft Registrations (Old Man's) (Adobe Acrobat document; 11 KB; 28 Dec 2008)
Miscellaneous Notes (Adobe Acrobat document; 69 KB; 28 Dec 2008)

See my library of digital images (photos, newspaper clippings, etc.) related to this family.

Discussion Groups

GenForum - Breedlove
RootsWeb - Breedlove

If you would like to comment on any information contained within, or wish to correspond with me about this family, please send me an e-mail message at: marslan@nc.rr.com. Additions and corrections are greatly appreciated. I am especially interested in receiving information obtained from primary sources (census listings, Bibles, cemeteries, vital records, probate and land records, etc.) and photographs and digital images relating to this branch of the Breedlove family so that I can incorporate them into this page. Also, I would like to provide links to other pages on the Internet that deal with Breedlove genealogy.