James Daniel (1747 - 1820)
and
Sarah "Sally" Cocke (1755 - <1830)
Finally! The evidence on the parentage of James Daniel has been confirmed by DNA testing!
James Daniel was born 31 December 1747. Family write-ups have proposed various identification and parentage for this James Daniel:
1. That he is descended from Governor Robert Daniel of South Carolina. However, Robert's descendants are well-traced and our James is not among them.
2. I have researched various Daniel families of Virginia, including the family of William and Ann Daniel of Brunswick County VA. William named a son James in his will of 1786 and the family of Jame's wife, the Cockes, had also been in Brunswick earlier. However, the tax lists date their children and their James was born in the 1770s.
3. That he is one and the same or the son of the James Daniel of Granville who died in 1785. This is clearly disproved by the tax lists of Granville. There is a full explanation at genforum message 1782 and at genforum message 2125 (both open in a new window, just close when done) . To further complicate this particular identification there is the issue of the marriage of this James Daniel (d. 1786). You can read an explanation of this at genforum message 2112 (also opens in a new window). However, the link to the actual marriage bond is old, here is the marriage bond of James Daniel and Salley Cocke.
After re-entry into research on the various Daniel families and a number of "aha's" from the records, I was very satisfied and convinced that James is the son of James Daniel and Jane Hicks of Albemarle county Va, son of Robert Daniel and Margaret Price, son of Capt. William Daniell of Middlesex. But the proof was always going to be clouded by the old confusions. The Daniel Surname DNA Project now has tests from descendants of Chesley and Josiah Daniel, both proven sons of James Daniel of Albemarle and Jane Hicks. And at last I found a descendant of our James to test and the match was a perfect 37/37, thus confirming the records. Read the record evidence that James is the son of James of Albemarle.
Sally Cocke was born in 1755, daughter of William Cocke and Rebecca Edwards who had married 23 July 1754 in Brunswick county VA. Extensive research has been done on this Cocke family back to Richard Cocke (1600-1665) of Henrico County Virginia: a well documented source is Cockes and Cousins, volume 2, by Virginia Webb Cocke, 1974.
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