A: William Guthrie & Eleanor Harris Abbott
Guthrie Family Group 5 · Branch A
William Guthrie & Eleanor Harris
Halifax County, North Carolina · Madison & Bourbon Counties, Kentucky
View in Guthrie Research Tree →In 1770 Sherwood Grimsley sold William Guthrie the 300 acres on which William was already living in Halifax County. In his Virginia will, Peter Harris named his daughter Eleanor, her husband William Guttery, and two grandchildren, Peter and Mary. After William’s death in Kentucky, his heirs entrusted their mother Eleanor with his affairs. Their sons’ land dealings would preserve the names of married daughters and grandchildren that a surname search can easily miss.
Researched & Curated by Ann Guthrie.
The Family at a Glance
William Guthrie
His birth year is traditionally estimated at about 1722. His parents, birthplace, and length of residence in Virginia are unknown.
His son Henry placed the family near Halifax town from 1766 to 1789. William’s death is reported in Madison County, Kentucky, about 1798. His children explicitly identified him as deceased in October 1803.
Eleanor Harris
Peter Harris of King William Parish, Cumberland County, Virginia, named Eleanor as his daughter. Family accounts place her marriage to William about 1752. The published Batterton Bible supplies no date for their wedding.
Eleanor died on 16 March 1816 and is commemorated in the Batterton family cemetery near Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky. Her reported age of 82 suggests a birth about 1734. An earlier marriage to a man named Abbott remains unverified.
Their children
Henry’s birth date comes from his father’s register as Henry recalled it. Susannah’s comes from the Batterton Bible. Several other birth years are family estimates. Henry is the child who specifically identified Hanover County, Virginia, as his birthplace.
| Child page | Birth | Marriage & later life |
|---|---|---|
| Henry Guthrie | 10 December 1754 Hanover County, Virginia |
Married Nancy Shackelford in Madison County, Kentucky, on 24 November 1796. Worked as a coppersmith and died in Davidson County, Tennessee, on 4 January 1837. |
| John Guthrie | About 1757 Virginia, reported |
Married Anna Smith. Lived in Halifax County, North Carolina, then Georgia and Buncombe County, North Carolina. His estate was before the court by October 1823. |
| Reuben Guthrie | About 1759 | Held land in North Carolina and Kentucky. His brother Peter’s heirs appointed him their attorney. Reuben died before 6 September 1813. No spouse or children have been established. |
| Samuel Guthrie | About 1761 | Included in the family reconstruction. His later residence, marriage history, and death are unknown. |
| Peter Guthrie | About 1763 | Named by his grandfather Peter Harris. Bought lot 36 in Lexington in 1799. His heirs described him as deceased in October 1803. No spouse or children have been established. |
| Jesse Guthrie | About 1765 | Married Priscilla, whose birth surname is unknown. Published an arithmetic book in Lexington in 1804. His estate was opened in Posey County, Indiana, in 1823. |
| Susannah Guthrie | 27 September 1767 North Carolina |
Married Benjamin Batterton on 11 March 1790. Their Bible records twelve children. Susannah died on 11 May 1852 in Bourbon County, Kentucky. |
| Mary Guthrie | About 1769 | Married George Marshall. Living in October 1803 and deceased by September 1813. The Kentucky records trace daughters Elizabeth, Elenor, and Mary. |
| Elizabeth Guthrie | About 1773, estimated | Married Jesse Thomas on 14 August 1806 in Madison County. Acknowledged the McBride deed in October 1813. Her identification with the Elizabeth Thomas in the Batterton Bible’s 1837 death entry remains open. |
| Anna Guthrie | 7 April 1773, reported North Carolina |
Married Henry Batterton on 23 January 1794 in Madison County. The 1813 McBride deed names their five sons and identifies Anna as deceased. |
Branch G descends through John and Anna Smith. The project follows their son Gabriel Guthrie and his wife Jane to Henry Guthrie, the Georgia shoemaker who married Manerva Lyon. Branch G has its own Family Hub for their descendants. Visit Henry and Manerva’s family →
Historical Highlights
Three generations of this family appear in the Kentucky deed books. William’s heirs appointed their mother to conduct his affairs. When Reuben and Peter died, the married surnames of their sisters appear alongside the names of children whose mothers had already died.
The earlier Halifax records place William on his own land. Henry’s account supplies details a deed seldom gives, including how far the family lived from town and which relatives worked at the armory.
Family Timeline
- 1754 Hanover County, Virginia. In his 1832 pension declaration, Henry gave his own date and place of birth from his father’s register. William’s birthplace remains unknown. Henry’s declaration, W4975
- 1766–1768 Halifax County, North Carolina. Henry recalled settling about seven miles from Halifax town. In May 1767 William witnessed Daniel Brown’s deed to David Gill. In December Levi Guthrie witnessed a sale to William Bennett. Six days later William and John Guthrie witnessed another sale to Bennett. In 1768 Wm Guthrie appears among the petitioners asking for more currency or permission to pay taxes in commodities. Colonial Records, VII, pp. 866–867
- 1770 William’s home tract. On 6 March Sherwood Grimsley sold William 300 acres for £100 Virginia money. The deed calls William “of Cumberland County in Virginia” and identifies the Halifax tract as his home. Rocky Branch, Gum Branch, and the lines of Thomas Gill, William Smith, Martin, and Burnett help locate it. John Grimsley proved the deed in August 1771. Halifax Deed Book 12, p. 12
- 1771–1775 Eleanor’s Virginia family. Peter Harris made his will on 15 February 1771. It identifies Eleanor, her husband William, Mary as Eleanor’s daughter, and grandson Peter Guttery. The will was proved on 28 August 1775. The son who challenged it was Henry Harris. The Harris Papers, Cumberland wills
- 1776–1781 The Halifax armory. Henry repaired captured firearms and later served the three or four months remaining to his uncle Levi. He also named his brother John among the scouts wounded as the British approached. John gave his own account of the wound and his work near Halifax. Henry’s pension · John’s pension
- 1789 Kentucky. Henry recalled moving with his father and working chiefly in Lexington as a tanner and coppersmith. Jesse and his brother-in-law Benjamin Batterton later advertised for old copper, brass, and pewter. The brothers’ trades give a glimpse of the family between its appearances in the deed books.
- 1803–1813 Three Guthrie estates. William’s heirs chose their mother Elenor to act for them. Peter’s heirs chose their brother Reubin. A decade later, Reuben and Peter’s heirs authorized Jesse to recover land warrants. The court clerk recorded Eleanor’s personal acknowledgment of the McBride deed on 25 October 1813. Book E, pp. 955–957 · Book I, pp. 356–360
- 1816–1817 Bourbon County. After Eleanor’s death, appraisers named George, about 47 or 48, and Hannah, about 37, two people she had enslaved. The sale return of 3 May 1817 records Henry Batterton purchasing George and Benjamin Batterton purchasing Hannah. Henry administered the estate. Inventory, p. 26 · Sale return, p. 40
How the Kentucky deeds identify the grandchildren
The authorizations for William’s and Peter’s estates were executed in October 1803 and presented in 1805. The first calls William the deceased father and Eleanor the mother. The second names Benjamin and Susannah Batterton together among Peter’s heirs. Keeping the two instruments distinct explains why a name can appear in one list and be missing from the other. William’s heirs · Peter’s heirs
The McBride deed of 6 September 1813 identifies Mary Guthrie as George Marshall’s deceased wife. George represented their minor daughters Elenor and Mary Marshall. Elizabeth Taylor, formerly Marshall, appears with her husband Samuel Taylor. The same deed identifies Anna Guthrie as Henry Batterton’s deceased wife and names their five minor sons William, Peter, Thomas, David, and George Batterton.
The power of attorney of 8 September 1813 repeats all seven minors under the same guardians. Benjamin Batterton and his wife Susannah were parties in their own right. Henry Batterton was the guardian of the five boys. McBride deed, Book I, pp. 358–360 · Power of attorney, pp. 356–358
Susannah’s Bible and the conflicting name in her death record
The published Bible transcription gives Susannah’s birth, marriage, and death dates. The 1850 census and the 1852 Bourbon County death register both give North Carolina as her birthplace. Halifax County is inferred from Henry’s account of the family’s residence.
The death entry gives her parents as “Hy & Ellen Gutherie,” read as Henry and Eleanor. That conflicts with the identification of William as her father in the family reconstruction. The earlier Kentucky estate papers connect the Battertons with William’s heirs and name Susannah alongside Benjamin in Peter’s estate. The Bible itself does not name her parents. Batterton Bible, from Ardery’s Kentucky Records, I, pp. 189–190 · Bourbon County death register transcription
Historical map. Carte de la Virginie et du Maryland (1755), Robert de Vaugondy after Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, engraved by Elisabeth Haussard. Published in the Atlas universel (Paris, 1757). David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, no. 3353.101
Explore the Research
DNA and the family lines
Kit 157554 matched the GFG5 group profile at all 37 Y-DNA markers tested. Its documented path runs through John Guthrie and Anna Smith, their son Shadrack and Florence Chambers, and Goodson McDaniel Guthrie and Matilda Caroline Howard. The result gives the family a paternal comparison for testing proposed connections to earlier Guthries.
The Branch G paternal line, kit 20261, follows Henry Guthrie and Manerva Lyon through William Franklin Guthrie and Caroline Julia Bailey. The land and estate records below explain why the project places the Georgia family under Branch A.
| Child line | Family Finder | AncestryDNA |
|---|---|---|
| Henry Guthrie | ✓ | ✓ |
| John Guthrie | ✓ | ✓ |
| Jesse Guthrie | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mary Guthrie Marshall | ✓ | — |
| Anna Guthrie Batterton | ✓ | — |
A check marks participation reported to the project. A dash means that the records reviewed give no entry for that test. Some descendants of John trace more than one path back to him.
Representative autosomal lineages and kits
- Henry. Eleanor Thurston Guthrie and Thomas Mason (13297, 129442, 189136), John Nathaniel Guthrie and Jane Wolfe (803849), and Nancy Guthrie and Shadrach Boaz (B365637). The AncestryDNA line follows Henry Clay Guthrie and Henley Sims Nevins.
- John. The Jonathan Guthrie–Sarah Emelina Arrington and Shadrack Guthrie–Florence Chambers lines are represented by 28330, 28331, 358242, 914778, B308068, 126361, 298254, 351143, 393849, and B1196327. The AncestryDNA line follows Shadrack through Goodson McDaniel Guthrie and Permelia Wyatt.
- Jesse. Family Finder lines follow Peter Guthrie and Eliza Defur (N195773) and Susan Ann Guthrie and Isaac Smith (B1147929). The AncestryDNA submission follows Peter Guthrie and Jane Bonner Senters.
- Mary. Kit 291250 follows Elizabeth Marshall and Samuel Taylor. Anna. Kit 396024 follows David Guthrie Batterton and Amanda Malvina Tilford.
Big Y and the proposed Shadrack placement
The December 2025 review placed Branches C and H together at R-FTE68872, with their common paternal ancestor’s birth estimated at about 1699. A tester provisionally associated with Branch A through Shadrack and Florence joins C and H farther back at R-FTC19905, with an estimate of about 1487. These are estimates for shared ancestors. An independently documented Branch A Big Y line would help assess the proposed placement. Project haplogroup review
Origins and family identities
Who were William’s parents?
One theory connects William to Edward Guthrey and the family of John Guthrie of King and Queen County. The 753-acre Mattapony patent of 25 October 1695 names Edward. John Guthery’s 277-acre patent dates to 16 June 1714. Neither identifies William as a son. Laurence R. Guthrie linked William tentatively with the Cumberland men Lawrence and Thomas. Joseph A. Guthrie later explored Edward as a possible father of Thomas. Descendants of Thomas Guthrey and Sarah Oakes match GFG4. William’s tested line matches GFG5.
David Guthrie and Susannah Thurston, married at Christ Church, Middlesex County, on 11 October 1723, have also been proposed. The name of William’s granddaughter Eleanor Thurston Guthrie is worth following, but the evidence connecting the households is still missing. John Guthrie and Elizabeth Baskett of Middlesex represent a different paternal family, GFG1A. Tidewater records · Laurence’s patent copies and family account, pp. 3–4, 58–59 · Joseph’s 1946 study · 1949 query
Buffalo Creek, Levi Guthrie, and the Thicketty Creek family
John Gutrey’s house on Buffalo Creek figures in two contemporary accounts of the attack of 16 September 1754. Col. John Clark and James Francis supplied no age for John. Francis described newlyweds who helped discover what had happened. Their names and John’s fate are unknown.
Ann Guthrie has proposed two placements for John. He may have been a brother to William and Levi and father to Matthew, or he may have been the father of William, Levi, and Matthew. The suggestion that Matthew and Elizabeth were the newlyweds also remains open. An age calculated by assuming that Matthew was the groom cannot independently identify him. Clark’s report, p. 140 · Francis’s letter, pp. 20–22
Henry called Levi his uncle. The Levi who married Betty Yamons in Virginia in 1764 is a candidate for that man. In Spartanburg, Matthew sold the upper half of his mill tract to Frederick in 1795 and the lower half to Joseph Price in 1800. Frederick later named Elizabeth as Matthew’s wife and Shadrack as a witness. Frederick and the local Shadrack are possible sons. A father-to-son descendant of Frederick could test the family’s GFG5 affiliation. Levi and Betty · Frederick’s deed · Price deed · Frederick and Mollie Louallen
Agness Guttray and the Abbott tradition
On 5 July 1762, William Guttray of St. Paul’s Parish, Hanover County, and his wife Agness conveyed 200 acres in Henrico County to Joseph Perrin. Agness relinquished dower that day. A later Perrin deed helps trace the land. Henrico records also identify William and Agness Gathright, with several men named William in that family. The 1762 deed supplies no evidence that Agness was a wife of Eleanor’s husband or the mother of his older children. Henrico record, pp. 733–734
Peter Harris’s will supplies Eleanor’s birth surname. Her grandson Benjamin Abbott Batterton gives us a documented family use of Abbott. An earlier Abbott husband for Eleanor still needs a record. John Abbott of Abbottstown, Pennsylvania, had a daughter Elinor who married James Mackey. Her father’s York County will and the Abbottstown lot history identify that couple. John Abbott will abstract · Eisenhart’s Abbottstown history
Two Halifax counties, two Johns, and two Reubens
John Guthrie and Anna Smith lived in Halifax County, North Carolina. A June 1784 deed links John and Ann to grantee Peter Smith Jr. John later testified in Buncombe County. John Guthrey and Betty Ann Allen had a 1785 Cumberland County marriage bond and lived in Halifax County, Virginia. That John described his Virginia birth and service in a separate pension. The witness John Guthrie in the 1767 North Carolina deed also remains unidentified. William’s son John would have been about ten on the usual estimate. John and Ann’s deed · S10776 · S8642 · The Two Halifaxes
Reuben Guthrie of Kentucky can be traced through Peter’s heirs and the McBride deed. The Reuben Guttery who married Susannah Holland in Rutherford County, North Carolina, in 1805 left a spoken will there in 1809 naming his wife Susannah. Those records belong together in Rutherford County. Reuben’s family and records
How Georgia lot 400 connects Branch G with Branch A
Gabriel Guthrie’s estate identifies Jane as his widow. In Warren County she married Aaron Osborn on 21 November 1821. The lottery listing names Gabriel Guthrie’s children. Newton County deeds by William and John identify the drawers as Jane Osburn’s orphan children. In 1833 Henry Gutrey sold his quarter of the same lot, numbered 400 in original Henry County land district 16.
The 1836 Buncombe equity notice names Henry among John Guthrie Sr.’s heirs or devisees. Neither that notice nor Henry’s deed names his father. Together the records support the project’s placement of Henry and Manerva under Gabriel and Jane. A guardianship, distribution, or equity pleading that names Henry as their son would document the link directly. William’s quarter · John’s mortgage · Henry’s deed · Buncombe equity notice
Reading & Sources
Virginia and the Harris family
Halifax County, North Carolina · deeds and indexes
Madison County, Kentucky · land and estate instruments
Grantor index · Grantee index · William’s heirs, E:955 · Peter’s heirs, E:956 · Authority to Jesse, I:356 · McBride deed, I:358 · Boonesborough quitclaim, K:57 · Heirs to Bentley, N:462
Silver Creek, D:147 · Cow Creek, D:637 · Taylors Fork, E:448 · Harris and Bennet transactions, G:346 · Moore to Jesse, L:201 · Moore to Jesse, L:203
Madison County · court indexes and case files
The case numbers are finding aids. A surname in an index still needs to be checked against the parties and relatives named in the file.
Court index catalog · 1787–1800 · 1797–1803 · 1804–1807 · 1806–1811 · 1811–1813 · 1813–1815 · 1815–1819 · 1831–1832 · 1843–1844
Plaintiff index · Hook, case 3322 · Herd, 1447 · White, 3320 · Williams, 1477 · Little B. Herd, 12589 · Reubin and Peter, 12590 · Peter, 12592
O’Hernden, 13168 · Moses Charles, 13400 · Farris, 15440 · Barnett, 12747
Bourbon County · Batterton and Guthrie estate papers
Most Wanted Documents
- A record naming William’s parents, a relative of John Gutrey of Buffalo Creek, or the relationship between William and Levi. A dated record giving John’s age would help distinguish the proposed generations.
- Peter Harris’s original will and probate endorsement, a marriage record for William and Eleanor, and any contemporary record of an earlier Abbott marriage. An image or provenance for the register cited by Henry would also help.
- The full Halifax Deed Book 17, p. 109, compared with the 300-acre Grimsley deed. Accounts differ on the later grantee, date, and acreage. The original could show whether William sold his home tract.
- Peter Smith Sr.’s will reportedly naming Anna Guthrey, and the Buncombe equity pleadings or Georgia guardianship naming Gabriel and Jane’s children.
- The Kentucky pleadings and Indiana payment vouchers for Jesse and Priscilla’s family. The Kentucky notice names Rebecca and Maryann, while the Indiana account names Peter and Elizabeth A. Identifying who received each payment would help reconcile the lists.
A drumroll indeed! And kudos! Information about GFG5 has been hard to come by. The William Guthrie (1722-1798) to son John (c1757-1812), with a son of John named Shadrack, could work for me. Could add two new generations to my lineage. My family tree has always stopped at Shadrack. The only record of Shadrack’s birth/birth place is the 1850 Census, which listed his birth year as “abt 1772” and his birth place as “S.C.” Family lore focused on Spartanburg, S.C. as the birth place. Both the birth year and birth place could be directionally true but “off.” Spartanburg not founded until about 1785. It is due south of Buncombe County, NC. As the NC-SC state line was not finally settled until 2016, Shadrack may have been from then-Buncombe County. John’s marriage to Anna (1775) does not work with the “abt 1772” birth year in the 1850 Census…but it may only be off a few years. Thanks. As I’ve told you in the past, I enjoy your posts. I especially enjoyed this one.