Welcome to the Harrell Families web site.

    This web site contains a compilation and analyses of the information I have been able to gather about the first three generations of Harrell families in Hertford County. Considerable attention is also paid to their ancestors and descendants in the area. The site is divided into sections that contain the Introduction, the Table of Contents, and eleven chapters. I suggest you read the "Note to The Reader" in this section (the Home Page/HarrellFamilies) to understand the purpose of this edition of Harrell Families of Early Hertford County, and then the Introduction to get an overview of the volume contained herein. The next entry point might best be the rather lengthy Table of Contents which contains the names and, when known, birth years of the Harrells in the area--the people are grouped by families. It might be useful to print the Table of Contents (26 pages) for easy study and reference. The information contained in the Table of Contents will direct you to chapters that are of greatest interest to you. On the other hand, you might prefer to just start reading at chapter one and proceed as long as possible. Whatever approach to this site you prefer, there are "links" on which you can click and move about at the beginning and end of each section and at each chapter heading in the Table of Contents.

You are in the Home Page, if you wish to move about in this site, click on one of the following sections:

Introduction

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 (The Early Harrells in America)

Chapter 2 (Harrells in Chowan County & the Gates area)

Chapter 3 (Harrells in Bertie & the Hertford County area)

Chapter 4 (Hertford County's 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Generations)

Chapter 5 (John T., Eley, Elijah Two, Elisah, Thomas Two & their descendants)

Chapter 6 (Nathan & Elizabeth's Known Descendants)

Chapter 7 (John [b. c. 1794] & Winnifred Harrell, 3rd Generation)

Chapter 8 (Josiah & Anna Harrell, 3rd Generation)

Chapter 9 (Elizabeth Harrell & Silas Parker, 3rd Generation)

Chapter 10 (Immigrants to the 3rd Generation of Hertford County Harrells)

Chapter 11 (Immigrants to the 4th Generation of Hertford County Harrells)

 

    The following Title Page is from the printed and bound copy of this work which is available in selected libraries.

THE HARRELL FAMILIES

OF EARLY

HERTFORD COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

  by

Roger H. Harrell

phone: (310) 372-0571

email: RHHarrell@aol

fax: (310) 379-0571

  

ã 2000 by Roger H. Harrell

 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

  Printed in the United States of America

 Published in 2000

by

R & M Press

Hermosa Beach, California

 

Note to The Reader

 

            Harrells were among the first settlers in the area that became Hertford County in 1759—they were Adam Harrell Sr., John Harrell Esq., Elijah Harrell, and perhaps others. We know their names, and we know the size and location of their farms if they acquired the lands when the area was still part of Bertie County. That is all we know about the 1^st Generation of Hertford County Harrells. We know nothing of their activities after Hertford County was formed because virtually every public record of their activities was destroyed by fires—first in 1830, and then almost completely in 1862. Certainly they had wives, but we do not know who they were—not even their first names. Certainly they had children, but, with the possible exception of an Adam Jr., we do not know their names. There were eleven 2^nd Generation Harrell households in the county, and there were eighteen 3^rd Generation Harrell households in the county, but we know almost nothing about the connections among those first three generations. Like many of you, I want to know the relationships among these households—both within and across the generations. That is why I have put together this Preliminary Edition of the Harrells of Early Hertford County. It is a call for help—help that can only come from privately held family records.

           In other words, the purpose of this volume is to encourage people who might have among their family records or histories information about the first Harrell settlers in the Hertford County area, to request them to look carefully at their old family treasures and records. To invite them to ask friends and relatives if they know of anything in the hands of anyone that can add information to and understanding of the first generations of Harrells in the area. I have included information about some of the descendants of the first three generations in order to help people connect their families or the families of people they know. Hopefully these connections will stimulate interest in this project.

           It is important to note at this point, this is not a study in genealogy or family histories in the strictest sense. As indicated, my goal is to incite action. To that end, I have presented what I know as well as what I think I know, and speculation about things of which I know very little. I have written at all three levels of knowledge in part to emphasize how much more there is to know about the Harrell families in Hertford County—and in part to encourage readers to respond to some of the probable relationships I have suggested. It is my hope that the reader will think about gaps in information, and the correct and incorrect probable relationships I have presented in this work, and then search family records for any information that will make this a better and more complete record of the Harrell families in the area.

           I have made this Preliminary Edition available in local libraries and historical societies, as well as the North Carolina State Archives, in an effort to unearth information; and not necessarily, at this point, to enlighten readers about our Harrell ancestors in the Hertford County area. I hope such enlightenment will come with a more complete edition of this volume in not too many years. If by any chance in the near or distant future, you are inclined to contribute what information you have or know of, please contact me. If this volume has sat on a shelf for a number of years, and your response is best measured in “genealogical time,” please send your contribution anyway. If I am no longer around, please send your responses to my daughter, Lorie Harrell Carlson, or my grandson, Alec R. H. Carlson—both of Redondo Beach, California at this time.

           If you or some one you know has even the smallest bit of information that can be shared, please contact me.

Roger H. Harrell

Telephone: (310) 372-0571

Fax.: (310) 379-0571

Email: RHHarrell@aol.com