TENTH GENERATION

576. Jonas DENTON I was born in 1658. He died in 1717. These two Jonas Dentons don't work. They may have been the same
person or different persons with one having different parents. I'm leaving them
here for now. Merged General Note: Jonas, his family and cousin Jonathan Seaman moved west along an old trail from New York through Carlisle, PA, crossing the Potomac River near where Peter Stephens ran a ferry. Later Robert Harper established Harper's
Ferry there. From this point, the Dentons skirted over to Winchester.
Jonas bought 3,100 acres from Joist Hite on March 26, 1735. The other
Dentons probably made their settlement official by purchasing land
from the Hites. The new home was near the Great Road from the Carolinas to
Philadelphia (now U.S. Highway 11), cut out by the Indians years
before.

Jonas, John Denton and Thomas Palmer bought 3,100 acres of bottom land
along the North Fork of the Shenandoah River in the vicinity of Tom's
Brook, VA from Joist Hite for 200 pounds, March 26, 1735. (Joist Hite
of Lancaster, PA, of German descent, along with Robert McKay had taken
100,000 acres of land in the colony of Virginia, October 21, 1731.
They settled both German and Scotch-Irish families on the land.) According
to Deed Book, B, p. 544, Frederick CO Court, Winchester, VA, dated August
20, 1777, the deed to the 3,100 acres was not recorded until 1777 because
of the Joist Hite-Thomas Lord Fairfax litigation which began in 1749 and
did not end until after the Revolutionary War. It was settled in favor of
Hite in 1786 -- twenty-six years after the death of Hite, and four
years after Thomas Lord Fairfax's death. Part of the Jonas Denton land was
mentioned as being in Augusta County. However, when Jonas and Jane
Denton were in their advanced years, Jonas had turned his land over to his
sons and was "just living on the land." Evidently, the squabble between
Hite and Fairfax took its toll; both Jonas and Jane Denton were reported to
have been severely senile in their latter years.

Interestingly, Lord Halifax lived his last years alone at Greenway
Court. No women were allowed! His experience with a lost love affair in
England drove him to despair!

577. Jane SEAMAN. Children were:

child288 i. Jonas DENTON II.

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