Frequently Asked Questions About the Family of J42-James Jasper Lance, Sr.

Did J42-James Jasper Lance, Sr., have any brothers or sisters?
Who are the children of J4-Henry Lentz (siblings of J42-James Jasper Lance, Sr.)?

Compiled by Donald Lynn "Don" Lance, December 31, 1998
Update: February 13, 1999, after receiving more information from Edwin C. Dodd
Update: March 17, 1999, after receiving more information from Shari Cox

Present Family Line of J4-Henry Lance and Mary Heaton

How the Above Family Line Was Constructed

There has been quite a bit of confusion regarding the children of J4 - Henry Lentz and Mary Heaton. Indeed, when studying the possibilities for the family of J4 - Henry Lentz, confusion seems to be the normal state of affairs!

According to the 1800 Buncombe County NC census, there were a total of 7 children (2 sons and 5 daughters) born from circa 1790 to 1800. More were probably born after 1800. No known NC records identify the children by name -- apparently the family moved to Warren County TN before the 1810 NC census as the family of J4 - Henry doesn't appear on it. LENTZ HERITAGE reports that the last known records of J4 - Henry Lentz in North Carolina was on July 21, 1806, when he sold two tracts of land to a Daniel Garron [LENTZ HERITAGE, Chaper VII, Page 17]. Then, the first known record of J4 - Henry Lentz in Warren County TN is when he bought 100 acres of land from Sarah Elam on February 13, 1812 [LENTZ HERITAGE, Chapter VII, Page 17].

After the move of the family to Warren County TN sometime after 1806, John Paul Lentz notes: "It appears that all the Lentz/Lance people in Buncombe County following this were descendents of P - Peter Lentz/Lance, Sr., from Germany" [LENTZ HERITAGE, Chapter VII, Page 18]. This assumption implies that no other descendents of J - John Lentz, Sr. remained in Buncombe County, NC, and had probably moved to Tennessee.

As luck would have it, researchers have been told that in Tennessee all 1810 census records were destroyed with the exception of Rutherford County, and no other known copies have been located to this day. (If a copy is found, researchers would love to examine the information!) Therefore, no identity check can be made in Warren County for the children of J4 - Henry Lentz for that year using those records. In addition, the total number of children for J4 - Henry cannot be absolutely determined. The identities of the children, therefore, can only be inferred by information in Tennessee by census records dated 1830+, other recorded data such as tax lists, and other historical information.

The first attempt of creating a family line-up was in LENTZ HERITAGE using Warren County TN Lance genealogy information obtained by John E. Lance (deceased) and correlating it with North Carolina Lentz records. In the records, one son of J4 - Henry Lentz has been identified as J42 - James Jasper Lance of Warren County, TN. He was known to have been born circa 1791, when the J4 - Henry Lentz family was in Pendleton County, SC, and is no doubt one of the sons listed on the 1800 Buncombe County NC census. (See the page here for this information..)

At one time, it was thought that one of J4 - Henry's daughters was named Verlinne. The source for this information appears in LENTZ HERITAGE [Chapter VII, pages 17-18], which is from an interview with Arch Prater by John E. Lance. It is known that she was born circa 1803 in Buncombe County, NC, and eventually married a Youngblood. In addition, this information which states that Verlinne was Henry's daughter also appears by Edwin C. Dodd in a letter to John Paul Lentz on May 12, 1989, where Ed notes that it is not known if she was the last daughter so she can't be identified with a place in her family line-up.

Since this time, Edwin C. Dodd has found documentary proof that Verlinne was not originally a Lance. In a "Declaration of Surviving Soldier for Pension" dated July 3, 1871, it is established that Verlinne was originally a Prater, who married Allen Youngblood. Therefore, Verlinne is eliminated as a daughter of Henry.

Additional research has produced evidence that seems to identify the oldest child of J4 - Henry: Martin. A Martin Lance, born circa 1790 in SC, has been eliminated as a son to two of the four South Carolina Lentz families living there at that time. Either he is the son of P4 - Samuel Lince, or he is a son of J4 - Henry Lince. John Paul Lentz summarizes: "IN THE OPINION OF THE WRITER (J.P. Lentz), you will be safest to label the MARTIN LANCE, born 1790 in SC, as J41 - MARTIN LANCE, b. 1790 in SC." [Lentz Heritage Newsletter #1, March 1988, page 34] Obviously, more research will have to be done in this area, but for now he is listed as a son of J4 - Henry unless an outright contradiction is found.

John E. Lance found J4 - Henry Lance on the 1820 Warren County TN census, page 287, last line, shown as 222201/10201. At this time in history, we can determine that J4 - Henry would be around 60 years of age and his wife Mary would be between 40 - 50 years of age. This data is given in a letter from Edwin C. Dodd to John Paul Lentz on May 12, 1989. The household of J4 - Henry is listed in the 1820 Warren County TN census as (directly quoted) :

"2 males under 10 yrs. old
2 males 10-15 yrs. old
2 males 16-18 yrs. old
2 males 16-25 yrs. old
1 male over 45 - believed to be J-4 Henry Lance
1 female under 10 yrs. old
2 females 16-25 yrs. old - 1 of them could be Verlinne who married Allen Youngblood - shown as age 47 on 1850 Census of Warren Co. and as age 58 on 1860 Census of Warren Co. She was b. 1802 or 1803 in N.C.
1 female over 45 yrs. old - believed to be Mary Heaton Lance"

What can be determined from this information?

1. The "1 male over 45" and the "1 female over 45" match the known ages of J4 - Henry Lentz/Lance and Mary Heaton.
   
2. By 1820, J42 - James Jasper Lance would be approximately 29 years old, and would no longer be a part of J4 - Henry's household as it is known that J42 - James' first child was born circa 1812 (J411 - Matilda Lance). Therefore, J42 - James Jasper Lance, Sr., should not appear in this list. [Question: Does James Jasper's family appear separately in the 1820 Warren County TN census? This should be checked as I don't have a copy.]
   
3. J4 - Henry and Mary's other 6 children born circa 1790 to 1800 would now be over 20 years of age and so may no longer be a part of the household as well. As noted above, Verlinne Youngblood has been eliminated as a daughter of J-4 Henry and it is not likely that she is one of the females listed above. Therefore, the two females aged 16-25 years could be two of the daughters born between 1790 and 1800, but this is not certain. Therefore, of the five (5) daughters believed to have been born between 1790 and 1800, at least three (3) and at most all of them are not part of J4 - Henry's household in 1820. From the above census information, it appears that at least one (1) and up to three (3) daughters were born after 1800.
   
4. It can be inferred that the 2 males aged 16-25 years cannot be sons born before 1800 since they are too young to have been counted on the 1800 Buncombe County, NC, census; therefore, if they are indeed sons of J4 - Henry, they would have been born after 1800 and are under 20 years of age. However, the other category of "2 males 16-18 yrs. old" leaves only a 2-year gap for two sons to have been born. This may imply that at least one of the males in the 16-25 range is not a son of J4 - Henry. (There is an implicit mystery here -- why are there two categories to include males aged 16-18? Is this a misprint and one category should be 18-25? This should be checked.)
   
5. There are at least 7 people born after 1800 that would not have appeared on the Buncombe County NC census and there could be as much as 11 people, assuming all are children of J4 - Henry Lentz/Lance.

Little else can be determined from this information at this point, except that up to 11 children could have been born after the 1800 Buncombe County NC census (giving a possible grand total of 18 children). However, it is likely that some of the people in the household were not the children of J4 - Henry Lentz/Lance and Mary Heaton (no proof).

Some important clues that actually helps to identify the children of J4 - Henry Lentz can be found from a Scott Lance in Warren County TN. Scott Lance was a great grandson of J42 - James Jasper Lance. In a letter to a Mr. McCoy dated April 27, 1963, Scott Lance stated: "So I happened to think about my mother some thirty years ago giving out something about the Lances and my wife writing it down. And it was pasted in the back of an old bible, and it reads like this: Scott Lance's great grandfather's name was Jimmie Jasper and he went by the name of Jim. He had some brothers, namely, Pete, Charles, John, Sam and Bennett. Three sisters, one married a West, one married a Pendleton and one married a Elam. But she didn't give any of the sisters. She also states my great grandfather first married a Prater, the second time he married a Youngblood but she didn't give any names..."

From this letter we can determine the following:

1. From the information Scott gave about his great grandfather (Jimmie Jasper Lance) and great grandmothers (Prater and Youngblood), we know that he is referring to J42 - James Jasper Lance, Sr. Other records, such as Warren County TN census records, confirm that this is indeed J42 - James Jasper Lance, Sr., the son of J4 - Henry Lentz.
   
2. In genealogy, it is known that interviews are not as reliable as are other forms of recorded information. However, this appears to be the only real clue as to the actual names of the children of J4 - Henry Lentz. Note that the original source of the information is Scott's mother, who gave the information sometime during the early 1930's. This means that his mother was giving information on her grandparents and her great uncles and aunts. Because of her close relation to J42 - James Jasper Lance, this would probably lend more credibility to what she reported.

All this was summarized by Edwin C. Dodd in his letter to John Paul Lentz on May 12, 1989: "What it boils down to is that Scott Lance said James Jasper had 3 sisters, 1 married West, 1 married an Elam, and 1 married a Pendleton. John E. [Lance] found that there was another sister by the name of Verlinne who married Allen Youngblood. [Who has been eliminated by further research by Edwin.] That establishes at least 4 sisters but there is no way that I know of to list them in chronological order. Scott Lance also said James Jasper had 5 brothers, Peter, Charles, John, Sam and Bennett. Your analysis in Lentz Heritage Newsletter No. 1, Mar. 1988, p.34 indicates an additional brother named Martin. We have thus accounted for 10 brothers and sisters, and by adding James Jasper, we come up with a total of 11 children for J-4 Henry and Mary Heaton Lance. There may have been others but I have no more evidence." This number is adjusted to 10 children after eliminating Verlinne as a daughter.

Note that if we consider the 1800 Buncombe County NC census with this, there are still two (2) daughters born between 1790 and 1800 that are unaccounted for in the above total. This brings the suspected total number of children to 12 children.

Additional research by myself and Janice Price of Warren, Michigan, seems to actually identify the name of another of J4 - Henry Lentz's daughters: Elizabeth. (The evidence appears to be fairly strong.) At present, the research seems to support that Elizabeth was indeed a daughter of J4 - Henry Lentz, who married a James H. Elam from Kentucky, and will be listed as such unless future strong data contradicts it.

Also, additional research by myself and researchers Shari Cox and Janice Price also seems to actually identify the name of another daughter of J4-Henry Lentz: Leah. (The evidence is still circumstantial, but supportive.) According to the information, Leah Lance was born circa 1797 in South Carolina, and married Reubin Elam, brother to James H. Elam above. At present she will be listed as a daughter of J4-Henry until some future strong data contradicts it.

Lastly, all this information leads to the current smallest possible family lineup (in semi-chronological order):

J41 - Martin Lance, born circa 1790 in Pendleton County, SC
J42 - James Jasper Lance, Sr., born 1791 in Pendleton Co., SC
J43 - Unknown daughter - born between 1790-1800, listed in 1800 NC census
J44 - Unknown daughter - born between 1790-1800, listed in 1800 NC census
J45 - Unknown daughter - born between 1790-1800, listed in 1800 NC census
J46 - Leah Lance, born circa 1797 in Pendleton Co., SC
J47 - Elizabeth Lance, born circa 1800 in Pendleton Co., SC just before move to Buncombe Co., NC and 1800 census
J48 - Peter Lance, born after 1800 since not on 1800 NC census, listed by Scott Lance, and probably on 1820 Warren County TN census
J49 - Charles Lance, born after 1800 since not on 1800 NC census, listed by Scott Lance, and probably on 1820 Warren County TN census
J40 - John Lance, born after 1800 since not on 1800 NC census, listed by Scott Lance, and probably on 1820 Warren County TN census
J4A - Samuel Lance, born after 1800 since not on 1800 NC census, listed by Scott Lance, and probably on 1820 Warren County TN census
J4B - Bennett Lance, born after 1800 since not on 1800 NC census, listed by Scott Lance, and probably on 1820 Warren County TN census

This gives us 5 children born after the 1800 census in Buncombe County, and (as was mentioned above regarding the 1820 Warren County TN census) there could be a possible 7-11 children born after the 1800 census. This means there may be up to five (5) more children for the family of J4 - Henry Lentz/Lance.

However, we don't know if the extra children in the household in 1820 belong to J4 - Henry Lentz and therefore they can't be listed with certainty. For example, it seems unlikely that Elizabeth Lance was counted in the household of J4 - Henry in 1820: the first child of James Elam and Elizabeth Lance was born circa 1818, which indicates they were married before this time. (James and Elizabeth should be listed in the 1820 Warren County census -- someone check this.) The list above only gives what children are supported from all data known at this time.

It seems likely that a correct birth order can be determined for J41 - Martin Lance through J47 - Elizabeth Lance. The assigned number for James Jasper Lance (J42) seems certain. After J47 - Elizabeth, however, proper birth order can't be determined. For J48 - Peter Lance through J4B - Bennett Lance, we have no information on their birth dates or birth orders. These five brothers to J42 - James, given by Scott Lance, need to be identified in Warren County TN records or elsewhere.

In addition, recall that it was said by Scott Lance that two other sisters of J42 - James married a West and a Pendleton. From the data currently known, we don't know if this applies to the daughters born before 1800, unlisted daughters born after 1800, or some combination of them. A check should be made in Warren County TN records for a female West and female Pendleton that was born before 1800 in South Carolina, between 1800 and 1806 in North Carolina, or after 1806 in Tennessee. These females would be likely candidates for daughters of J4 - Henry Lance.

Regarding the sister of J42 - James that married a Pendleton, researcher Janice Price notes that the 1843 deed of James H. Elam (husband of J47 - Elizabeth Lance) mentions that his land borders a John Pendleton's land. Could his wife be one of J42 - James' sisters? This is a lead that can be examined.

Some further comments can be brought out based on speculations in LENTZ HERITAGE, Chapter VII, Page 18. Currently these are "leads" for possible children of J4 - Henry and Mary since their ages seem right. As future information becomes available over time, we may be able to know where to fit these into the Lance family tree.

1. Enderson Lance (possibly Henderson). Age from the 1830 Warren County TN census indicates his birth was between 1790 and 1800. Since only two sons were born to J4 - Henry during this time (J41 - James and J42 - Martin?), it doesn't appear that he is a son of J4 - Henry. He is probably a descendent of another Lance family (still unidentified).
   
2. Samuel Lance. Although his name matches as one of J42 - James' younger brothers, the 1830 Warren County TN census indicates he was born between 1790 and 1800. We are looking for a Samuel born after 1800. Again, he could be a descendent of another Lance family (still unidentified).
   
3. John P. Lance. As with Samuel Lance, his name matches as one of J42 - James' younger brothers but the 1830 Warren County TN census indicates he was born between 1790 and 1800. A brother named John must have been born after 1800. Again, he could be a descendent of another Lance family (still unidentified).
   
4. Henry Lance. A possible unnamed brother of J42 - James. From the 1830 and 1850 Cannon County TN (which is next to Warren County), we find that he was born circa 1802 in Buncombe County, NC. Obviously he has the name of his possible father, and his birthplace and time match what we know about the family of J4 - Henry. In addition, he fits into the household of J4 - Henry according to the 1820 Warren County TN census. All this information makes him a very likely candidate for a brother of J42 - James Jasper Lance and he should be examined more closely.
   
5. Nancy Lance. From the 1850 Warren County TN census, she was born circa 1795 in South Carolina. Like Henry Lance above, this also matches what we know about the family of J4 - Henry Lance regarding the birthplace and time. She could be one of the unnamed sisters of J42 - James born between 1790 and 1800. Since she is listed as a Lance, she could either be unmarried or a widowed sister-in-law. She will have to be examined more closely.
   
6. Peter Lance. No birthdate or birthplace is known. He appears on Tennessee land grants dated March 10, 1828, and March 15, 1836, and obviously his name matches of J42 - James' younger brothers. From the first land grant, he probably was born around 1810 or earlier. He can't be ruled out as a possible brother, but he also can't be confirmed either. He will have to be examined more closely.

Go Back to Main James Jasper Lance, Sr., Genealogy Page

These Pages Were Constructed by Donald "Don" Lynn Lance (J42363241), a Descendant of J42-James Jasper Lance, Sr.
For more information on the family of James Jasper Lance Sr., visit the main web page at http://TheLances.org/roots/jamesjasper.html.
Questions regarding the content of these pages can be directed to me at info@TheLances.org, or visit my personal web site at http://TheLances.org.