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Descendants of James Terrill

Generation No. 1

      1. James⁴ Terrill (Maj. Edmund³, Edmund², Robert¹) was born February 03, 1791 in Kentucky, and died May 29, 1851 in Kentucky. He married Ann Smith Abt. 1817 in Rockcastle County, KY, daughter of William Smith and Elizabeth Singleton. She was born Abt. 1802 in Kentucky.

Notes for James Terrill:
James Terrill/Terrell was the son of Edmund Terrill II. His family lived in Garrard County, KY. Though it appears (according to Tax Lists) that he moved his farming operation from Garrard County to Rockcastle County, in fact, Garrard may have been the parent county for Rockcastle. Madison County may have been parent for both.
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James is buried in the Elmwood Cemetery, Mount Vernon, KY. He was born in February, 1791, making him just barely 22 when he first showed up in the tax list of 1813. He married Ann Smith somewhere around 1817. Ann's brother, Elisha, married James' sister, Lucy around the same time. James was married near her home in Rockcastle County, KY. Elisha married Lucy near her home in Garrard County. The two county share a common border.
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Though I am currently unable to prove that James Terrill was the father of William Smith Terrill (born 1818), there are several circumstantial clues that lead me to this preliminary conclusion.

1) Despite some serious searching, I have been unable to locate any other KY family to which I can attach him
2) The census records show that James and Ann Terrill did have a child under the age of 5, in 1820.
3) William would have been one of the oldest sons of this family, possibly the oldest son of James and Ann, though another older male is mention who could not have been Ann's child.
4) Ann Smith's father was named William Smith.
5) If named after the Paternal grandfather (as was the custom of the day), one of the first sons would have been named William Smith Terrill
6) William Smith Terrill named his first son, Oliver Cromwell Terrill. James' family shows a child who was born in 1840 who died young, whose name was Oliver Terrill. Also, James Terrill had a brother named Oliver (Son of Edmund II) with whom young Will would have been familiar. This uncle Oliver lived in the area until his death in 1849.
7) Unlike many other Terrill families, James' family seems to have escaped research, so William cannot be ruled out as a child. His family members have been pieced together using census information and cemetery records. No other known children were named William.
8) This family of Terrills tended to use the spelling, TERRILL, which our family still uses.
9) Family history states that William S. Terrill came from a prominent family in KY who disowned him after he married a Cherokee girl. Both the Terrills and the Smiths were very prominent in this part of KY.
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More About James Terrill:
Census (Rockcastle): 1830, Males: 011001, Females: 21001
Census(Rockcastle): 1820, Males 110010, Females: 10100
Occupation: 1820, Store keeper, rancher
Tax Lists: 1812, 80 acres, 2nd rate land, Garrard Cty, KY

Notes for Ann Smith:
Ann's father William Smith was a General in the U.S. Cavalry. Her mother, Elizabeth Singleton, daughter of Col. Richard Singleton, who served as a major with the American forces at the battle of King's Mountain. They had two children, Elisha and Ann. Ann's mother died at a young age, and her father married Ann Fish, who bore him 8 additional children (5 sons, 3 daughters).

Marriage Notes for James Terrill and Ann Smith:
The family list for James Terrill and Ann Smith Terrill is incomplete. Some children's names and birth dates were obtained from the family plot in the Elmwood Cemetery, Mt. Vernon, KY. Other names were listed in the 1850 Census records. William Smith Terrill is placed there tentatively, pending further substantiation. Other children were surely in the family, as early census records show many males and females unaccounted for in the current list.

Children of James Terrill and Ann Smith are:

Male⁵ Terrill, born Abt. 1810.

Notes for Male Terrill:
This male child may have been a child James fathered by a previous marriage. He would have been 19 in 1810, so it is a possibility. James was about ten years older than wife, Ann Smith, so that ten years may suggest that he was married before he met Ann.

However, it is also possible that this male child was a nephew of James Terrill that he and Ann finished raising. The census records in 1820 do not list the names of the children. That practice did not begin until 1850. By that time, this particular child would have been 40 years old and heading his own household. The mystery of this child will probably never be known.

More About Male Terrill:
Census (Rockcastle): 1820, Census lists male child, 10--15

+	3	ii.	William Smith Terrill, born 1818 in Kentucky; died Bet. 1880 - 1900 in Unknown, possibly Grayson Co, Texas.
	4	iii.	Miriam Terrill, born Abt. 1820.
	5	iv.	Martha G. Terrill, born October 21, 1829.
	6	v.	Lucy Terrill, born August 05, 1833.
	7	vi.	Rebecca Terrill, born March 07, 1838.
	8	vii.	David William Terrill, born 1839.
	9	viii.	Oliver Terrill, born March 1840 in Mount Vernon, KY; died August 1840.

More About Oliver Terrill:
Burial: Buried in the family plot, likely died young

ix.

James Terrill, born 1842.

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