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The Chenoweths of John and Mary are a Colonial Family of Cornish roots that started in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey area about 1703 and moved to Baltimore Co., MD in the 1730s. In the 1740s the father and 3 of the sons moved to Frederick Co., VA. Two of the sons stayed in Baltimore Co. Virginia became a springboard for the westward movement and the Chenoweths a family of pioneer-settlers. At every stop they settled, parts of the family remained, while others moved on. The next immigration of anyone with the Chenoweth name did not come until 1820. Today 9 of 10 Chenoweths [by various spellings], spread across America, are descended from this one Colonial Family.
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All eight children knowned by will married and had children. Lines are known to present day for seven of these eight 2nd generation families.
John Chenoweth b: Bet. 1682 - 1683 in Cornwall, GREAT BRITAIN d: Abt. May 1746 in Frederick Co., VA
m: Mary Calvert b: December 19, 1687 in Pennsylvania? m: Abt. 1703 d: Bef. 1737 in Maryland Presumed Father: John Calvert Presumed Mother: Judith Stamper
The site has taken on a life of it's own as 1703 Chenoweth cousins have signed in and added lines to the database. The most common sign-in is from a 10th generation descendant. The next most common is 9th generation, of which I am one. The 11th generation is generally too young and too busy, but all this is relative to which line you come from: the youngest or the oldest. Though I manage the site and work on the database, I am, in part, just a conduit of the labor and research of many others. (see sources). It includes all Chenoweth names from the Cora Hiatt book, the Harris book and as well as the database of Peter Chenoweth in Georgia, the site's genealogist. It is supported by the use of the genealogy server and website of Jonathan Paul. Great support in finding cousins has also come from the reunion committee efforts and website . [Thanks: Bill, Joyce and Mike]. This is believed to be the largest database and most in depth study of Chenoweth family members in existence. Thank you all for participating.
Background: The History of the Chenoweths in America is fairly well documented. The first in depth study was done by Mrs. Cora Chenoweth Hiatt in 1925 under the title History of the Chenoweth Family. And though there are some errors and disputes over some of her facts, the family owes her an enormous debt for the sheer scope of the collection of families she put together at a time when communications were not as quick as they are now. Her framework was based on then recent discoveries of the early wills of the Chenoweths. If interested, you might also want to look at this modern presentation of the family tree as outlined by Arthur L. Keith in 1922 at the 8th Chenoweth Reunion in Elkins, WV. This was a revolution from earlier myths of the preceding century. In 1994, The Chenoweth Family in America by Shirley and Richard Harris was published. The Harris Book is a result of over 25 years of research by Rich and his late wife, Shirley Bales Harris, who was the Chenoweth descendant of the family. For the most part, the Harris book, follows the same structure laid out by Cora Hiatt with a few major corrections. It is however rich with detail, listing some 13,000 names. With the last several updates, several major alterations have been made to the Harris structure. Details of these and other corrections can be found on our Background of Chenoweth genealogy page. The complete text of introduction by Richard Harris in his book is now presented on a separate page. Details on how to obtain the book are given below. A fuller discussion of the history and evolution of Chenoweth genealogy can be found on the background page.
The database I am listing here is at present about 120,000 names. Unlike the Harris book, lines of daughters are followed wherever they lead. The seven largest family names in order are the Chenoweths, Smiths, Hales, Millers, Carters, Johnsons and Wilsons. A distant Chenoweth cousin, Bob Derryberry, whom I met on Prodigy, started it. I, at first, started to augment it with my own family and sources on the web and Mrs. Hiatt's book. I am now using the Harris book as a standard; and the descendants contained therein are now completely contained within the site database. I suspect however this is only a small portion of descendants that actually sprang from this prolific family. Peter Chenoweth of Georgia has generously supplementing the database with his material he has collected over a lifetime of genealogy work. Many other cousins have contributed their lines.
The database is presented in three tables comprising over 404 web pages: A surname summary, alphabetic listing, and descendant outlines (233). The names in the alphabetic table are linked to the appropriate descendant's table. You can return from a descendant's table to the alphabetic list by using the back button on your browser or through the links at the beginning of each page. My database is contained in a Broderbund's Family Tree maker file and the HTML linked lists are simply prepared by copying a descendant outline report into Excel and manipulating the data into HTML coding and tables. You should be able to move quite easily from one table to the other and back. If you have any trouble, find problems, have additions or corrections to add please contact me by EMail at jegge@chenowethsite.com or by snail mail at P.O. Box 1188, Woodinville, WA 98072. Please don't link directly to any of the name locations, as their indexed number will change with each update. You are more that welcome to link this page, any descendant page as a whole, or any of the variety of supporting pages; however, I would enjoy hearing about the link if you do so. There are a number of other features and pages concerning the family in addition to the database pages To appreciate the many features of the site you should vist the site introduction page. A broader discussion of the background of Chenoweth genealogy is on a separate page.
Return to contents
Genealogical Questions and Corrections: First it is important to realize that this website is a living document, under constant revision. Dates, places and relationships are subject to change as more is learned. As the database is an assembly of many sources, the quality of those sources vary. A section of the background information page has been devoted to various questions and disputes in Chenoweth genealogy. Therein the major problems contained in the Hiatt and Harris books are discussed, as well as present and unresolved controversies. Also outlined are departures in this database from the Harris book. I have avoided the thorny problem regarding the identification of the ancestry of Mary Calvert, John Chenoweth's wife, by starting with this family, which is the real start of the Chenoweths in America. John Chenoweth's own background is equally shrouded in mystery. If you want, you can view on that same page, a discussion of the background for Mary Calvert, who married John Chenoweth about 1703-5 and settled Baltimore Co., Maryland by 1830. My own belief in this matter adheres to the theory presented by J. Richard Buckey in his book The History of the Calverts who were Quakers. Chenoweth Wills: We have started the process of posting the four dozen or so early known wills of the Chenoweth family. We have about a 20 of these so far. If you have access to the full text of a will we are missing please or one we ought to include contact me. This page should serve to provide depth and support for the site genealogy.
The great grandchildren - the bridge generation is an outline of the 1st four generations of the family as defined by the current database, denoting where they lived and which lines extend to present day. This is an comprehendsive overview of the current family and the presently known lines of descent.
Blind alleys and unknowns: There are a number of Chenoweth sons born in the 1700's of whom little is known. A special page of these blind alleys is presented in hopes that someone may find the missing links. At present we also have a database of about 4,000 Chenoweth names, spouses and descendants that cannot be linked to the families of John Chenoweth and Mary Calvert. A comprehensive listing of the major branches of these unknowns, including a complete compilation of the unknown Chenoweth section of the Harris book is presented on 11 pages. All are accessible from the Main Harris Unknowns Page. These names have been indexed and included in the main database site alphabetical name listings. Also available is a list of unknown Chenoweth Marriages. If you have information on any person listed on these pages please contact me: Jon Egge. Unknown Chenoweths in the Social Security System: This page is a list, by last known location, of deceased Chenoweths and their spouses listed with the Social System that we can not identify. Perhaps you can help us. Of over 1,900 names presently listed in the SSA index, we have identified over 86% of these individuals. Of those identified, over 85% of these are in our main file, with known ties to the family of John and Mary. Moreover over half of those identified but not placed within the main file, belong to specific unknown lines that are believed to belong to the family but are unproven at this time. Less than 4% have been identified to "other lines" of later immigrations. This supports my belief that 9 out of 10 Chenoweths in America today descendant from the family of John Chenoweth and Mary Calvert.
Spellings: "Chenoweth" can be spelled in a variety of ways. Though CHENOWETH, and to a lesser extent, CHENOWITH are the most pervasive spellings today, CHINOWETH, CHENOWTH, CHINOWTH, CHENWORTH, CHINWORTH, CHINEWORTH, CHANEYWORTH, CHENEYWORTH AND CHINOUTH are found in particular, select branches. Regardless, they are all the same family. The breakdown of this names is roughly as follows:
In research of documents of earlier times there are many spellings, even for the same individual. This list is not inclusive, but they are the more common of what I have run across: CHANEYWORTH, CHENOWETH, CHENOWITH, CHINOWETH, CHENEWETH, CHINOWITH, CHENOWTH, CHINOWTH, CHENNOWETH, CHENNOWITH, CHENOWIRTH, CHINOWIRTH, CHENOWORTH, CHENNERWORTH, CHENERWETH, CHENNEYWORTH, CHENEYWORTH, CHENYWORTH, CHINNEYWORTH, CHENNEWORTH, CHENWORTH, CHINWORTH, CHINAWITH, CHINAWORTH, CHINEWORTH, CHINEWOTH, CHIENTH, CHINNETH, CHINOETH, CHINAUTH, CHINOUTH.
The one spelling that I have never found associated with the family is CHYNOWETH, though it is the same Cornish root name. Another spelling, CHENNITH, though seen in family records in earlier times, the modern usage by certain families does not appear to be part of the Chenoweth family of John and Mary. For this site all descendants with the Chenoweth-Surname have been sorted together under the spelling Chenoweth.
Given Names: Like most families, the original names of the first family were passed on in succeeding generations. Unfortunately through the first 4 generations, most middle names are unknown. This adds to identification problems. John and William, and to a lesser extent Thomas, are the most common in the family. [When known, please use middle names when inquiring about or listing information on Chenoweths.] Chenoweth is often used as a middle name. My own brother is Richard Chenoweth Egge. The Everett family has carried this down to four generations with John Chenoweth Everett, IV. There are instances of it used as a first name as in Chenoweth Hale, Chenoweth Peteet, Chenoweth Tredway, Chenoweth Ashton, and Chenoweth Stalnaker. There is even my 2nd cousin, Chenoweth Robertson, a lady.
There are the famous people names: Benjamin Franklin Chenoweth, Benjamin Harrison Chenoweth, Christopher Columbus Chenoweth, General Robert E. Lee Chenoweth, George Washington Chenoweth, Isaac Newton Chenoweth, John Wayne Chenoweth, John Wesley Chenoweth, Karl Marx Chenoweth, Martin Luther Chenoweth, Millard Filmore Chenoweth, Thomas Jefferson Chenoweth, Sherman Grant Chenoweth, Stonewall Jackson Chenoweth, Theodore Roosevelt Chenoweth, Ulysses S. Grant Chenoweth, Woodrow Wilson Chenoweth, and Zachary Taylor Chenoweth
Then there are the unusual names. Some of my favorites are: Absolum Loraine Chenoweth, Armour Benton Chenoweth, Baxter Baile Chenoweth, Beach Mead Chenoweth, Bernard Peel Chenoweth, Cyrus Pepper Chenoweth, Daisy May Chenoweth, Finis Edwin Chenoweth, Floyd Welcome Chenoweth, Grafton Whitaker Chenoweth, Hardin Tallman Chenoweth, Harry Hambleton Chenoweth, Havilah A. Chenoweth, Herr Victor Chenoweth, Hester Brisco Chenoweth, Hezekiah Stites Chenoweth, Indiana Chenoweth, Isaac Calvert Chenoweth, Jeremiah Browning Chenoweth, Joshua Gent Chenoweth, Leander Olander Chenoweth, Massalona Chenoweth, Missouri Independence Chenoweth, Misty Dawn Chenoweth, Nimrod Hunter Chenoweth, Origen H. Chenoweth, Pethas Payne Chenoweth, Philemon Cromwell Chenoweth, Reason Colony Chenoweth, Rossiter Rowley Chenoweth, Salem Chenoweth, Scioto Chenoweth, Starletta Fenwick Chenoweth, Sidney Orange Chenoweth, Stout Chenoweth, Tunie Chenoweth, Verna Sonoma Chenoweth, William Didymus Chenoweth, Xmas Carol Chenoweth, Zendorf Chenoweth, and Zue D'Etta Chenoweth
Major Ties: This file contains over 14,400 Surnames and many family ties of daughters that married into other family names. The largest and most signicant of the daughter lines found in the database are listed below. All are from distant Chenoweth cousins and make this file unique, in that it contains the tip of complexity of the weave of family lines, formed when examination is given to the lines of the daughters, who no longer carry the Chenoweth name. The sheer size of what is out there when one considers the resulting intertwining of trees is mind boggling. This is an attempt to introduce some of these daughter lines. [An ancillary study is a listing of daughter marriages not found in the Harris book]
Other important early family ties are the ALEXANDERS, BOWENS, BROOKS, FOSTERS, FRANKLINS, GISTS, GORDONS, KITTLES, MAYFIELDS, RARICKS, SKIDMORES, THOMPSONS, TAYLORS, WILSONS AND WESTROPHES. Need I say, SMITHS are everywhere. I hope you enjoy the rich mixture of names and lines in this growing data base as much as I. Largest families groups by surname (more common names listed below): Chenoweth 10,260, Hale 734, Carter 583, Ashbrook 530, Stalnaker (also Stanaker) 451, Daniels 340, Taylor 321, Casebier 309, Petro 308, Thompson 291, Whitaker 276, Simmons 274, Morgan 267, Butler 262, Sutton 247, Adams 246, Kelley 233, Downing 226, Rowan 207, Callaway 207, Tucker 200, LaRue 199, Hart 197 [based on September 22, 2003 data]
Common Named Families groups by surname: Smith 1,186, Miller 625, Johnson 609, Wilson 577, Davis 494, Brown 431, Williams 425, Jones 422, Moore 360, Scott 330, Anderson 312, Baker 311, Martin 300, Harris 282, White 265, Wright 241, Allen 236, Roberts 232. Most of these are scatterings of many groups. [based on September 22, 2003 data]
Known surnames ties through the 1st three generations. (names in 'CAPS' indicate daughters marrying into another family name that have continuing lines)
Chenoweth daughter lines not in Harris: this page attempts to outline additional Chenoweth daughter lines between the 3rd and 5th generation not found in the Harris book and their sourcing.
A question of numbers: The forest through the trees.: The Chenoweth Family is currently in the 7th through 14th generation. Figures dated Sept 22, 2003 based on total database of 119,900 and approximately 108,800 descendants and spouses. An additional numbers analysis can be found in a new discussion on the 1880 Census
Family descendants are known for 7 of the eight children of John Chenoweth and Mary Calvert. Of the 59 grandchildren of the family, 37 are known to have lines to present day. The numerical breakdown is listed below, but over 2/3 come from the oldest son John and the youngest son Thomas. In fact John(2) is over half the database and his first son William exceeds Thomas in size though a generation younger. That said, it should be noted that by 1840 the lines of John only represented roughly 40% of the male lines. So some of John's dominance comes from the strong knowledge of daughter lines from this oldest branch. This dominance, particularly over his brother, Thomas, the next closest in size, is in part a generation difference. In 1930, John's lines had 182 sons in the 9th generation and 29 in the 10th, while Thomas, the youngest of the 5 sons, had but 15 sons just starting into the 9th generation. But looking at the 6th generation, which was complete by 1930, John had a total of 172 sons born to that generation, while Thomas has 200! So which is the biggest, John or Thomas? Well that depends how you define the question. The rarest of the seven are from the 2nd son child, Richard(2). Though Ruth is smaller, her lines are in the process of being built. Descendants of Mary, who married John Watson are basically unknown.
The oldest known male line to present day The oldest known descent known line to present day The youngest known male line to present day The youngest known descent known line to present day First born males of the first 11 Generations
Males Bias: There is a built in bias tilting towards male Chenoweth lines in the first 3 generations of the family. In the 2nd generation there were 5 sons and 3 daughters. Lines from all 5 of the sons, but only 2 of the 3 daughters are presently known to modern day. Of the 5 sons, in the 3rd generation there were 29 grandsons and only 15 granddaughters. 24 of the male lines can be traced to present day, only 4 of the 6 sons of Richard(2) and one of Arthur(2) are missing. [One or some of these may account for the lost lines known to exist today in the area of Baltimore, MD.] Thus all the combined 17 sons of John, William and Thomas, 5 from Arthur and 2 from Richard are traceable to presnt day. 21 of these 24 lines still carry the Chenoweth Name in male lines. Of the 15 daughter lines only 7 of the 15 can be traced to present day. For the 2 known 2nd generation daughters, only 7 of the known 12 children are traced at present, further limiting the extent of the daughter lines. This heavy skewing towards male lines gives a has produced a strong dominance of the Chenoweth name in the database.
Continuning Males Lines: There were 29 third generation males bearing the Chenoweth name and 89 in the fourth generation. 49 of these are continuing male lines today into the 8 and 9 generations. All these fourth generation males were born before 1820, the first Census in which a 2nd migrant family appears. The oldest lines, those of John, are very strong in passing down the male name. From 6 sons there were 18 fourth generation males lines, 15 of these extend to males lines today. All six sons of John have continuing male lines to present day. Of Richard(2)'s 6 sons, only one, the line of the son John, has continuing male named lines. Five of Arthur(2)'s 6 sons result in 21 fourth generation lines, but only 8 of these are continuing male named lines to present day. Two of William(2)'s four sons resulted in 8 fourth generation male named lines and 6 of these continue through today. Thomas(2) had 7 sons. Six of these resulted in 35 fourth generation male named lines. 17 of these continue through today. The rough distribution of fourth generation lines continuing the Chenoweth name today then is 1/3 John, 1/3 Thomas and 1/3 the combined other 3 sons. The density of these lines is even more skewed to the lines of John, the oldest son. Roughly half of the 722 eighth generation Chenoweth male lines are from John, and half of these are from the oldest grandson, William. The lines of the oldest great grandson John (4th generation) are 101 of these 722 lines.
The first born Chenoweth male of the 11th generation happened in the 1940s in the line of John. No other line of the orginal sons started the 11th generation until after 1950. The lines of Thomas, the yougest son, were still producing primarily 8th generation males with a few 9th generation. No 10th generation Thomas line had started by 1950. The last 7th generation Chenoweth son for the entire family was born in 1946. There were over 802 known Chenoweth males born to the 7th generation. This generation had begun in 1833. The last survivor of the 6th generation probably died in 1988 at the age of 94. The 6th generation had begun in 1807 and spaned 180 years from the first son born until the last son had died. There were over 583 known Chenoweth males born to the 6th generation. Through 1950 the database has a total of 813 known Chenoweth males for the 8th generation which is still in formation. At present some 3314 known males being the Chenoweth name have been born of this family since inception to 1950. 1,824 of these were living in 1950. It should be noted however that the database is incomplete, particularily in the later generations.
The Forest:A family tree starts off like an upside down triangle, and is really a pedigree for all the branches that ascend upward (back in time). But though drawn upside down, this triangle is reversed; these are the roots of the trees, that dig into the soil of days past. Family researchers become involved with the trunk and branches of the tree, a normal triangle, one that starts at a single marriage and broadens with branches on the way up, that keep reaching to the sky in broader and longer formations. In reality humanity is a web of lines going up and down and interlacing each generation with a new marriage, connecting new families together. The researcher's rays of lines cross and re-cross each other. The trees become the forest. My database of Chenoweths has 275 descendants in the fourth generation, 1,125 in the fifth. With the latest update, just one of these fourth generation Chenoweths, Jonathan of William(3) John(2), will have over 4,081 descendants and 2,330 spouses (his brother John has 9,008 descendants with 4,623 spouses). Applied across the board this number would balloon to 1,400,000. Conservatively we could easily have a quarter of a million people in a descendant's outline. The Harris book contains some 13,000 names but doesn't begin to dent the full structure and variety of what is there when the lines of women are considered. Is this realistic? Would every line have been as prolific as that of Jonathan(4)? Maybe not, but consider than the bulk of Jonathan's 6,300 descendants and spouses come from 4 of his eight children. Then consider that of the three daughters in the second generation only 7 single lines are followed past the 3rd generation in my database, from just two of the daughters, accounting for 30 fourth generation children. The fourth generation of Chenoweths is bigger than the 275 in my database and Jonathan's line is greater than 6,300. I tend to believe my figures are conservative. There are an estimated 5,000 living descendants today with the name of Chenoweth [In 1930 there were 1819 males living that are in my file.]. They range from the 7th to the 14th generation. The last of the 6th generation is thought to have died in 1988. The last of the 7th generation is thought to be born in 1946. The 8th generation should be complete by now, but the data is so recent that an exact determination cannot be made.
Given for each Chenoweth surname in the 9th generation would normally be 255 other surnamed. Because of the skewing in the first 2 born generations towards male lines this figure is closer to half that, or 121 daughter lines for each male line. The 9th generation should contain about 1,000 males named Chenoweth. A estimated calculation the various rations for each generation would a total family size of about 250,000 people. Just food for thought. No one will ever really know the true figures or just how many of us are really related. In genealogy we look at trees, but do we see the forest? Coat-of-Arms: Special thanks to Jeff Swann for the great Coat-of-Arms. The Chenoweth Coat-of-Arms, belonging to the ancient and noble line is given in Harris as "SA. on a Fasse, Or. Three Griffin's heads, erased, guiles". This describes a shield of black (SA.) with a band of gold (OR.), running horizontally midway between the top and bottom, with three Griffin heads of red (gules) color, with ragged necks as if torn from their bodies (erased). The griffins are supposed to be on the band. But Hiatt and Harris both (though the picture in the Harris book has it right) say two above the gold band and one below. Hence the "coat of arms" given by Hiatt is as wrong as were her claims to nobility. I have kept the mistake as Hiatt pictured it as a fitting symbol for the family. It is a reminder to me that there are many mistakes made in genealogy. According to Connor Hugh Chenoweth, the original art work for the Coat of Arms used by Cora in her book was done by Hugh M. s/o Frederick M. Chenoweth and great grandson of William Thomas Chenoweth Beginnings - 12 generations in England: You can view a genealogy tree of 12 generations of the Chenoweth family that originated this surname from 1100 AD ? to the mid 1600s (thanks to Kathie Weigel and Peter Chenoweth). Please note that John Chenoweth b: ca. 1682 has no known tie to this family other than a common name Other Chenoweth lines: The genealogy lines of Peter Clinton Chenoweth back to William Chenoweth b: 1682 in England are presented on a separate page: William's father was John Chenoweth b:1635. What the relationship to John Chenoweth(1) b: 1682-1683 is unknown at this time.
A Little Geography: Where we live [NOTE: for a more detailed description of the early places of settlement see: The places they lived.] Tradition has it that the Chenoweth family started in Maryland, in Baltimore County. John Chenoweth immigrated from Cornwall and his wife Mary Calvert was most probably born in Pennsylvania. It is thought that they may have married in Pennsylvania at a home of one of Mary's relatives. Their eight children were probably raised in Southeast Pennsylvania or Northern Maryland. The first records of the Chenoweths in Baltimore Co., MD begin with the marriage of the oldest son, John, in 1730. Parts of the family have been there ever since. In the second generation Richard and Arthur remained in Maryland, but the other three sons, John, William and Thomas, and probably the all daughters, moved south, to Frederick Co., Virginia. It is now believed that John Chenoweth, the progenitor, also moved to Virginia before 1743. Some of this area later became Hampshire and Berkeley Counties, and still later a part of West Virginia. In the third generation most of the Carters of Hannah Chenoweth moved from Virginia to Washington County, Pennsylvania. The widow Frances Haile Chenoweth took her family to Washington Co., TN. Arthur's son Richard, relocated to Knox Co., TN about 1812.
In the 1790s "Revolutionary" John Chenoweth(4) settled in Randolph Co., Virginia. Chenoweths remain in this area today, though it is now located in the state of West Virginia. Others of the third and fourth generation went to the wilds of Kentucky as early as 1778, though until 1783, Kentucky was still considered part of Virginia. Here, the family of Richard Chenoweth was involved in the famous "Chenoweth Massacre" at the hands of Shawnee Indians in 1789. Richard and his wife, Peggy, helped found present day Louisville in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Between 1790 and 1820 many of these same Kentucky Chenoweths, and others from Maryland and Virginia, as well as their Carter cousins from Pennsylvania, pioneered into Ohio. They generally moved in family groups. A couple of siblings and their families would pioneer westward and soon be followed by others. The Thomas branch moved cohesively together in the third generation at least three times to the area of Old Town in present day Allegany Co., MD, then to Mason County, KY and then the Scioto Valley of Ohio, all before 1800. About the same time, several Arthur(2) and William(2) lines left Berekley Co., VA for Pennsylvania.
During the time leading up to the Civil War, while parts of the family stayed in Maryland and what is now present day West Virginia, the bulk of the family continued to expand into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. By 1840, the three Great Lake states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were home to over half of the Chenoweth families, a concentration that would continue past 1880. Even today these 3 states hold a heavy concentration of families. At the same time, Chenoweths, then, pushed into Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. They were in Oregon by 1849 and of course some left for the gold fields of California. In the course of 70 years from the late 1770s, they had spread west across the land to the Pacific. Often they were among the first settlers in the area. By the time of the Civil war, the 5th through 7th generations, Unlike the general movements of most of the Chenoweth family, it is now known that John Peteet (Petit), who married Ruth Chenoweth, the youngest daughter of John and Mary Calvert Chenoweth, went to North Carolina with his son Richard John Peteet. This Peteet line moved on to Wilkes Co., Georgia and then to Texas. This is the only instance of Chenoweth descendants, in early America, that I have found in the deep South.
The Midwest: Ohio, Indiana and Illinois are the heartland of the family. This area was started to be settled by 3rd and 4th generation family members just before the turn of the 19th Century. Indiana by 1850 became the most populous state for family members, a distinction carried forward through the remainder of the century. Looking back from a perspective presented by the Census studies through 1930, of the 2800 males born with the Chenoweth name to that point in time, one third of them had been birthed in the states of Ohio and Indiana. Of the two original homes of the 2nd generation, Maryland has always kept a strong presence, particularly when viewed with the staggering number of unknown lines there, known to be part of the family, and particularly thought to be descendants of Richard. As for Virginia, the focus was always what became West Virginia, and has mostly narrowed to the dominance of the Randolph Co. families of the 4th generation "Revolutionary John."
The Chenoweth surname is found today throughout the United States. Present phone listings have Chenoweth for every state in the Union. New England and the Deep South, in general, have fewer listings. In terms of numbers, the five states with the biggest listings are Illinois, Ohio, California, Maryland and Indiana. The next five are Colorado, Missouri, Texas, Florida, and West Virginia. While West Virginia is only tenth in terms of absolute numbers, this state, which saw the early migration of second generation families, has the highest density in the nation of Chenoweths when compared with it's general population. Baltimore Co., MD still contains the largest number of Chenoweth names of any individual county in the nation. A graphic of this US distribution can be viewed on the cousins page. Of course the Chenoweth surname, with the living family now in the 8th through 14th generation, is just a tip of the iceberg of descendants; so the phone listing tell only a small part of the story.
in genealogy: Part of the background of Chenoweth genealogy involved a legal pursuit of leases and land in an around Baltimore, just after the turn of the 20th century. I asked my uncle, Harry Holt Chenoweth, to examine the history and circumstances of these events. In reality no lease document was ever produced and the Cora Hiatt claim of a vast estate called Gunpowder Manor was equally a myth. It is probable that the Chenoweths descendants at the time were innocent victims in all this as explained by a recent Article by in the Rootsweb Review by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Vol. 3, No. 17, 26 April 2000:
"The bulk of estate frauds has been associated with common surnames. These scams -- many of which occurred about 75 to 100 years ago -- worked like this. Confidence men sought "missing heirs" by placing advertisements in the personal ads or legal
notices of newspapers. Then they planted stories in newspapers about huge estates that were soon to be awarded to rightful heirs. Naturally many people responded. Then these "heirs" -- at the urging of the swindlers -- would form associations as estate claimants, incorporate under the laws of their state and write letters to their cousins encouraging them to join the association, and pay the membership dues and special assessments for legal fees to fight for their "estates."
Newspaper wire services picked up dozens of such items about meetings of these various "heirs groups" in small towns.
Eventually these stories began to appear in major newspapers such as THE NEW YORK TIMES. Naturally, appearance in prestigious newspapers gave credence to the stories of the estates."
The nature of these frauds are very similar to the one that involved the Chenoweths. We now know that the Chenoweths never owned property in Maryland until 1741 when, the son, Arthur, made the first purchase, and that property was never a vast estate. We also know that the Chenoweths were not connected with the Baltimore Calverts. But those were different times and at the turn of the 20th century, little but myths was known. The name Calvert, the location of Baltimore Co. and the smell of money were enough to start the fever. But often good comes from bad. The resultant associations started the collection and documentation of the Chenoweth family tree on a broad scale that was used by Cora Hiatt in her 1925 book.
Here is Harry's report:
Some Calverts, Chenoweths, and Cromwells and their relatives began to believe that one or more of their ancestors owned large tracts of land in or around present day Baltimore, Maryland. Furthermore, they believed that the land had been leased for 99 years rather than having been sold. Some thought that this land had passed through the hands of "the Lord Baltimores". A few thought this land had been obtained by outright grants by the King of England to their relatives. In any case the land was now extremely valuable and many associations were formed to investigate the matter and to file the appropriate claims
While their were many of these associations, among the better known ones were "The Calvert Heirs Association of Kansas City, and the "Chenoweth Heirs Association" with headquarters in Ash Grove, Missouri and organized in 1911. Closely associated with this latter group was what was known as the "West Virginia Branch of the Chenoweth Heirs", organized in 1912. Each potential heir was expected to contribute six dollars to the Association. This was a considerable amount of money in the period 1911-1920. Five dollars was supposed to cover the cost of a future genealogy chart and one dollar was to cover the cost of the expenses of the Association. It is not known how the money was actually used. There is no evidence of a final genealogical chart. However, the Associations did exchange a great deal of genealogical information with the members. It is a possibility that some of the funds eventually helped finance Cora Hiatt's book. Certainly some of the genealogy information collected was turned over to her.
There were those who claimed to have seen wills and lease documents. There was even a few that claimed to possess such documents. In general, the various associations did not trust one another, and therefore were hesitant to cooperate. There was lots of bickering. Here are a few excerpts from letters written by officers of some of the Associations. While the search for people and documents went on from about 1907 to 1927, a period of about 20 years, in the end, no useful bona-fide lease documents were ever found. But in addition to searching for documents, a good deal of effort was put into genealogical searches. This, of course, is the really valuable part of the "dream". Among others, Cora Chenoweth Hiatt became involved in this search. Her work finally led to the publication in 1925 of the "History of the Chenoweth Family". While that book was somewhat incomplete and contained some errors (as would be expected), it formed the basis for later research and publications.
The opinion of two law firms are interesting. One firm gave as its reason for its unwillingness to take the case on a contingency basis the following. They claimed to have had considerable experience with 99-year leases in and around Baltimore and they said that such leases invariably contained a clause allowing for their renewal forever on the original terms. The other firm said that, "The court of Appeals in Maryland has held in cases where the leaseholder has not been disturbed by the owner for a long number of years that the owner loses his right and the leaseholder acquires a good title to the property. The court holds that it would work greater injustice to dispossess people who have improved property and held it for many years than to return it to its original owners."
In researching this paper, Harry concluded, "If I held such a lease I would want a second opinion, and maybe even a third, but I strongly suspect that I would find that this last opinion is a correct one. So much for the 'dream'" ..., [I would add to Harry's words, and the "goose chase"].
This page provides details on the over 740 Chenoweth families captured by the 1850 Census. This Census, known as the first modern Census, was the first that listed the names of everyperson in a household, and therefore is a basis of validating family genealogy. A companion page is a Family tree outline of the 1850 Census.
Presently under construction, we are going through the listing of the entire family found in the 1860 Census as a follow-on to the 1850. We believe this will number some 1,200 families. At present there are some 400 details posted to the site.
A special study of the more than 670 Chenoweth descendants and spouses found in the 1860 Indiana census is available on nine web pages. In this unique look at the State of Indiana, you can link to each Chenoweth descendant and spouse found through an abbreviated tree, the actual information on the census pages, and a short descriptive narrative of who these people were.
Three special pages are dedicated to those in the family that served our nation in its time of conflict. They are dedicated in appreciation of that sacrifice. If you have a family member who served and is not listed, please contact me. An explanation of the early genealogy of the Chenoweth family as determined by the wills of Maryland and Virginia, presented by Arthur L. Keith in a paper Presented Sept 1922, Elkins, WV at their 8th Chenoweth Reunion. This remarkably accurate account forms the formation for the family as it is now known.
The first hand account of James Chenoweth, as told to his grandchildren in 1850, of the founding of Louisville, Kentucky and the Chenoweth Massacre is now available at the site. This account was written by Alfred Pirtle, nephew to a son of James, published in 1931. (I have never been able to place Alfred in the family tree). For anyone with an interest in early American life, this story of the travails of Richard and Peggy Chenoweth and their pioneering into the wilderness of Kentucky, prior to 1780, is a delightful discovery. Another version, probably more accurate, can be found in Blaine Guthrie, Jr's account of Captain Richard Chenoweth as published by the Filson Club of Kentucky, 1972. This detail contains many historical facts about the life of Richard Chenoweth.
Genealogy, at it's core, involves family stories. This is one about the death of my great grandfather, Dr. Albert White Chenoweth, of Pineville, MO, who was shot two weeks before my grandfather was born. Dr. Albert was a veteran of the Civil War and a prominent citizen of McDonald County. This is an account of the witness testimony at the trial of Garland Mann, the saloonkeeper, who was accused of the shooting. Garland Mann was tried 3 times. During a 4th trial, a mob broke into the jail house and hung him. Cousin marriages were common in early America. In part this was due to the more limited area in which families lived, based on available transportation. Cousins were a large part of who you knew in the immediate locality. To day, though close cousin marriages are rarer, there is the surprising instances of very distant cousins uniting, often without knowledge of the relationship.
This page is a study of twins and triplets organized by generation, born in the various branches of the Chenoweth family, as produced by Peter Chenoweth. It is a personal interest of his, as his wife is a twin. So, remarkably, is my father; though it's my mother who was the Chenoweth. Peter adds so interesting comments on twins. A note: This database is comprised of numerous secondary sources. Most are very good, but some not. Whereas I can refer you to the source, I can not give you primary data. We have used our best judgement as to whether to include material. Changes will occur. This is a living document, not etched in stone. The main sources are listed below. Besides these specific sources, hundreds of cousins across the country have contributed their family trees. These can be found, by branch, on the cousins pages below. In all there have been over 800 separate sources for names in this database. A listing of the top 140 can be viewed on another page.
Bill Chinworth, with the permission of Richard Harris, has had a reprint done of 500 copies of the Harris Book, "The Chenoweth Family in America". This book is rich in detail and texture with a fine index and a comprehensive look at the male lines of the family. The price is $40 including shipping. The reprint includes the Harris Addendum. You can reserve order the book on a form at Bill's Chenoweth Website Store or order immediately by mailing your check and address directly to William C. Chinworth, 2322 East Hawthorne Street, Tucson, AZ 85719-4942. Make the check payable to Chenoweth Family Book. PS: for those interested in reprints of Cora Hiatt's book, Bill has information on how to obtain a copy on the same webpage.
Richard Harris sold out his original stock of books on "The Chenoweth family in America", pub: 1994 in the fall of 1997. The book is an absolute treasure. As I understand it, Mr. Harris has moved to St. Louis, MO. A listing of 244 genealogy libraries that have a copy of this book are presented on a separate page. Currently Bill Chinworth has a mailing out on short addendum for bookholders, completed by Richard Harris in the fall of 1998 (cost $3.50). The Introduction of the Harris Book, as well as his thoughts on John Chenoweth and Mary Calvert, and his write-ups on second generation children are now available at the site The 1st National Chenoweth Reunion was held on August 4th - 6th, 2000 in Bowling Green, KY. There were some 80 families and 200 people and much was learned and enjoyed. The event was highlighted by the attendance of Richard Harris. My compliments to the fine organization done by Bill Chinworth, Joyce Wiegand and Mike Chenoweth. The Chenoweth Family Association was organized.
The 2nd National Chenoweth Reunion was held on August 15th - 18th, 2002 in Elkins, WV. Randy Allan was the local co-ordinator and again was helped by Bill, Joyce and Mike. The star of the event was Virginia Bird Johnson of Elkins, age 93 and bright as a button. The 88th annual local Chenoweth Picnic was held that Saturday. In all sone 225 people registered in addition to local attendance at the picnic. A special thanks to the local cousins who helped with registration: Sharon Matthews, Sue Chenoweth, Sheila Washburn, Cindy and Sarah Talbott, Donna Allan
The 3rd National Chenoweth Reunion was held on August 4th - 8th, 2002 in Beaverton, OR. Albert Heller Chenoweth and his wife Delores were the local co-ordinators and again was helped by Bill, Joyce and Mike. A signicant attendee was Elmer Haile, Jr. of Baltimore Co., MD, age 94. Music was provided by Daniel Fred Chenoweth of Sonora, Mexico. The picnic was held on Mt. Hood.
The next two reunions are in Baltimore, MD in the summer of 2006 [August 2nd - 6th] and Ft Wayne, IN in the summer of 2008. The Rev William Akehurst and his wife Lois are heading up the Baltimore Reunion.
Bill has posted a fine page highlighting them [Site Temporaril off line] Local Reunions: The 25 latest cousins to sign in are listed below. In 2005, 161 cousins signed into the site out of 224 cousin contacts. To view all the cousins to have registered please go to the Cousins:John(2) or Cousins: Other children, unknown and other lines pages. There is a special descendant's table that will allow you to quickly find your closest relative as well as an alphabetical listing. To look at cousins in your state (49 of 50 represented) or country (Australia, Canada, Mexico, Japan, France and England), click here. If you are a cousin Email me, give me your name, your address and the connection. All Chenoweths and descendants welcome. The largest group of cousin contacts have been females in the 10th generation. About two thirds of all cousins that sign in are in the 9th and 10th generation of the family. I have had 4 cousins from the 7th generation and 3 from the 13th, quite a spread and quite a family!
In all, this project has contacted over 2,500 descendants of this family. Near cousins often have bits of information about your family line. The cousin listings provide an exceptional opportunity to network with not so distant family. I have removed the Email listings of contributing cousins to help protect their addresses from "spamharvesters". If you are a cousin or researcher I will try to give you a connection address on request Jonathan Paul, California, my first web cousin (in reality a 7th Chenoweth cousin), has graciously provided an alternate site to the Chenoweth Web pages done in GED2HTML for those of you who prefer this format. He is using the same database as contained here. By using this format, ancestors of spouses are included when known in the database and such additional information as full dates and places of birth, marriages and deaths where known in the database. Since that database is maintained at this site any changes or corrections should be directed to this site in care of Jon Egge. All Chenoweth cousins are requested to register here as well. Please Note! The server for this site changed in October of 2000, and previous references should be updated to the links below.
The database was cut off on September 22, 2003 at 119,878 names. The update was posted Oct 15th. This update, the first in 3 years, was based on the almost 29,000 names added for a net of 108,811 names, and includes the restructured tree as presently known. It includes 14,100 surnames and a total of 10,800 named Chenoweths. It includes data as sourced in a complete review of the 1870-1930 Censuses for Male Chenoweths, and the entire family in the 1880 Census. Descendant pages were expanded to 217 separate pages up from 135.
The update has also been up loaded to the Chenoweth GenWeb Site. This homepage, which include parents in some cases, other ancestor tie ins, can be view in another format at our Chenoweth GenWeb Site Homepage, hosted by cousin, Jonathan Paul. A background page details the progress of each successive update. To conserve space on this main page, the notes on the workings of this site and successive update information and its sources can be are now linked on a separate page for those interested. There have been Last Revision Monday, January 30, 2006
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named known Cora Hiatt's
Gen yr of birth children Chenoweth spouses total Numbers
1st: 1682 1 1 2 3 1
2nd: 1706-1722 - 8 (avg 8.0) - 8 - 8 16 8
3rd: 1731-1775 - 59 (avg 7.3) - 45 - 59 118 42
4th: 1750-1827 - 302 (avg 5.1) - 198 - 260 562 192
5th: 1779-1875 - 1,193 (avg 4.0) - 560 - 967 2,160 416
6th: 1801-1915 - 3,895 (avg 3.3) - 1,305 - 2,420 6,315 1,433
7th: 1822-1946 - 8,100 (avg 2.1) - 1,681 - 4,461 12,561 1,543
Total through 7 ------ -----------------------
generations 13,558 3,798 8,177 21,735
(based on 9/22/03 database)
John(2) 53.9%
William(3) 29.4%
John(4) 16.4%
Jonathon(4) 6.6%
William(4) 6.4%
Richard(2) 4.4%
Hannah(2) 6.4%
Arthur(2) 9.5%
William(2) 6.4%
Thomas(2) 18.3%
Ruth(2) 1.2%
KURTIS PARK11 CHENOWETH (Doral Park10, Doral Park9, Doral Park8, George Mcclellan7, Ira Stout6, Robert T.5, John4, William3, John2, John1)
LEONA KATHYRINE11 COBERLY (Edgar H.10, Lee9, Jesse Chenoweth8, William Harrison7, Margaret6 Chenoweth, Robert T.5, John4, William3, John2, John1)
JOEL RUSSELL9 CHENOWETH (Robin Russel8, Russell Arthur7, Clyde Wagner6, Joel5, Joel4, Abraham3, Thomas2, John1)
MIRIAM8 ARNOLD (David Johnson7, Robert Johnson6, Oliver Hazzard Perry Arnold5, Eunice Peteet4, Richard John Peteet3, Ruth2, John1)
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Noteworthy Chenoweths - Because I get asked a lot
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Chenoweth Heirs Association
THE DREAM OF THE HEIRS
by Harry Holt Chenoweth
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Special Pages
Chenoweths in the 1850 US Census
Chenoweths in the 1860 US Census
Chenoweths in the 1860 Indiana Census
Service in Wars - Chenoweths who served in our nation's time of need
Arthur L. Keith - an outline of the early family
Chenoweth Massacre - Richard(3) of Kentucky
The Assassination of Dr. A.W. Chenoweth - my great grandfather
Kissing Cousins - just for fun
Twins: by Peter Chenoweth
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Sources of information, with thanks
Harris Book
A List of Major sources
(Peter's genealogy tree may be viewed under William Chenoweth)
Snail Mail Cousins - Chenoweths Researchers
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Reunions
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Elkins Presentation
Email Cousins - Web Chenoweths - Notices
Looking for the first descendant of the century
Cousins #1703 (12 for 2006) - January 24, 2006
now international
.
Contributing Cousins "ad Astra"
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Chenoweth GedHTMLWeb Site
Jump Links at GenDex Site
Database and Future updates: The database is at 135,568 [plus 53 for the week and 15,690 since the current cutoff]. We now have over 48,000 marriages recorded in the database. In 2000 we added 12,571 names; 7,268 names [in 2001]; 9,482 names in 2002 ; 6,664 names in 2003 ; 6,237 names in 2004, 8,248 names in 2005. This is the largest assemblage of individuals in the Chenoweth family in existence. The site has been updated 10 times in the last eight years, and has grown to over almost 109,000 posted names.
Site Updates and Information
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Comments and Cousins appreciated - Jon Egge
You can reach me by e-mail at: jegge@chenowethsite.com
Snail Mail: PO Box 1188, Woodinville, WA 98072
Copyright c 1996-2006 by Jon D. Egge. All Rights Reserved. Any republication of this page material for personal use requires inclusion of this copyright. Any other republication of this page material requires the express consent of the author.
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to return to Egge Family Tree...
visits to this page since since Feb 2003 and an additional 110,000 + since 01/02/96 including a few construction events by me.
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