Sarah Midkiff and Jacob Chaney
My husband is a descendant of Sarah Midkiff and Jacob Chaney. It appears that quite a few people have researched them and cannot get any further back on the Midkiff line than Sarah. She was born about 1727. She was from Anne Arundel County Maryland. I do not know if she was actually born there. Jacob Chaney was also from Anne Arundel. Eventually, they moved to Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Some speculate that Sarah's father was Thomas Midkiff, born between 1700 and 1710. He apparently moved from Anne Arundel to Pittsylvania at some point as well. I do not know if it was after Jacob Chaney and Sarah did, or if he moved the family there before Jacob and Sarah married. Jacob's parents did not come to Pittsylvania. They died in Maryland. He may have come with Sarah and her father. It is all speculation as to who came when from MD to VA. I have seen sources that say Jacob and Sarah married about 1745 in Anne Arundel, some say in Brunswick County, VA, some say Bedford County VA, and some say they married in Pittsylvania County VA. I have seen sources that say that Jacob, Sarah, and Thomas all died in 1801. I don't know about all that. There is a specific date of death for Jacob, but the other 2 only a year, so it may have just been someone's best guess. I understand they are buried at the Chaney Burial Ground in Pittsylvania. I have not been able to make it to that part of Virginia to find it, but I really don't even know where to search for it. From what I have seen, those that have Thomas Midkiff as Sarah's father assumed that because he apparently witnessed some document OF Jacob Chaney's or witnessed some document WITH Jacob Chaney. I can't remember now. However, the document does not say that Thomas is Sarah's father. No mother has ever been identified for Sarah. I then started to notice that a lot of people have a Midkiff line of Pittsylvania County that goes back to 2 brothers, John and Joseph, both born around 1740, and they have a father named Thomas born before 1720. I have not seen where anyone can identify a spouse for Thomas, or any generation before him. Also, these same sources do NOT include a Sarah as a sister, who would be in the ball park of about 13-17 years older than John and Joseph. However, I have a theory that Sarah may be an older sister or half sister to these 2 boys for the following reasons: In neither case, can a mother be identified. In neither case, can anyone seem to go back past the father, Thomas. The father in both cases was born about the same time.
I find the coincidences to be interesting at least. But it certainly is enough to generate a theory that might help lead to finding out more about where Thomas Midkiff came from and who he married. If anyone has any information that can further prove or disprove my theory, please share with me.
More Replies:
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Re: Sarah Midkiff and Jacob Chaney
lisa monk 3/29/08
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Re: Sarah Midkiff and Jacob Chaney
lisa monk 8/12/07