James Manees - Jan 6, 2001
    The 1835 text of the "Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland," Vol. 21, on the Parish of Glenavy, Antrim, reads: "The parish of Glenavy forms a portion of the vast estates confiscated from the ancient family of the O'Neills and granted to that of Conway (now Seymour), the Marquis of Hertford, by Queen Elizabeth. On the coming of the Conways to this country, they brought with them many followers both of English, Scots and Welsh, with whom they colonized the country.... The names usually met with imply their being strangers, namely: Bell (very numerous), McNEICE, Ferris, Farr, Bickerstaff, Wickcliffe, Palmer, Gwyllan, Yarr, Killewry, CARDWELL, BREATHWAIT, Knairs, Patterson.   Except Bell, Ferris and Palmer, none of these names are particularly prevalent, but they are given to show the different countries from which the colonists came."   It is very significant that the names Cardwell and Breathwait (or Breathitt) are enumerated together, as our ancestress Ellen Cardwell had first been married to Ranney Breathitt before her 1737 marriage in PA to James McNees.   This survey supports the view of Dr. William Whitsitt that Ellen Cardwell was likewise from Ulster and not related to the Ellen Cardwell living in Richmond, VA in the early 1700s-- an individual often confused with this (our) Ellen.   It also supports the hypothesis that James McNees may have known Ellen in Antrim before their coming to PA around 1736.   Whether her English descended husband Ranney Breathitt died in Antrim before the immigration or after coming to PA is unclear, but it is most likely that James' acquaintance with Ellen, and possibly courtship, began before their appearance in southern PA in the late 1730s.   The enumeration of three surnames familiar to the descendants of James McNees all from the parish of Glenavy certainly increases the chances exponentially that we have located the correct McNees family in northern Ireland from which we came, although we have not located James' birth.   His three possible fathers in the townland of Crew, parish of Glenavy, Antrim, were the only Benjamin McNees found so far in Ireland in the early 1700s, a name most important to our family, and his relatives John McNees and Isaac William McNees.   Probably brothers, one of these is almost certainly the father of our James around 1710, and these are, of course, the most common names our early PA McNeeses used upon coming to America.

> bill mitchell

06AUG00 DESCENDANTS of MENESS, JAMES SR *

|MENESS, JAMES SR * (Abt.1710-Abt.1770)
+CALDWELL, MARTHA ELEANOR (ELLEN)
|   |MENESS, ISAAC (b.JUL1738)
|   |MENESS, JAMES JR (04SEP1741-Abt.1837)
|   +UNK, ELIZABETH
|   |   |MENESS, ELENDER (d.Bef.1833)
|   |   +COCHRAN, JOHN
|   |   |MENESS, NANCY
|   |   +McFARLAND, JOHN
|   |   |MENESS, MARGARET
|   |   +WRAY, UNK
|   |   |MENESS, SUSAN (b.Bef.1833)
|   |   +STANLEY, UNK
|   |   |MENESS, MARY (20DEC1760-08SEP1843)
|   |   +WRAY, WILLIAM
|   |   |MENESS, JOHN (Abt.1769-1846)
|   |   +COFFEE, ELIZ.
|   |   |MENESS, ELIZABETH (b.Bef.1833)
|   |   +HAM, SAMUEL
|   |   |MENESS, JANE CARDWELL (21JAN1776-10JUN1840)
|   |   +WHITSETT, JAMES 1-1-10-3 (31JAN1771-12APR1849)
|   |   |   |WHITSETT, JAMES MENEES (b.1793)
|   |MENESS, BENJAMIN SR (Abt.1743-21JAN1811)
|   +WADE, ANN
|   |   |MENESS, JAMES (31JAN1763-21SEP1848)
|   |   +WILLIAMS, REBECCA
|   |   |MENESS, JOHN (Abt.1770-JAN1842)
|   |   +GRIFFITH, UNK
|   |   +UNK, SALLY
|   |   |MENESS, ELENOR (ELLEN)
|   |   +SELLAS, UNK
|   |   |MENESS, ISAAC (d.1823/4)
|   |   +UNK, NANCY
|   |   |MENESS, BENJAMIN JR. (d.Abt.1824)
|   |   +UNK, NANCY
|   |   |MENESS, ELIZABETH (16FEB1776-Abt.1811)
|   |   +DORRIS, JOHN I
|   |   |MENESS, WILLIAM DAWSON (d.08MAY1858)
|   |   +BLACK, HENRIETTA
|   |   |MENESS, MARY ANN
|   |MENESS, ELENOR (ELLEN) (03DEC1746-13SEP1818)
|   +WHITSETT, WILLIAM THOMAS JR (20AUG1731-14JUL1811)
|   |   |WHITSETT, ELIZABETH DAWSON11-1-1 (23NOV1765-03APR1834)
|   |   +BREATHITT, WILLIAM
|   |   |WHITSETT, FRANCES 1-1-1-2 (b.1765)
|   |   +EUING, REUBEN (JUDGE)
|   |   |WHITSETT, MARGARET 1-1-1-3 (26OCT1767-25OCT1859)
|   |   +BLAKEY, GEORGE (22NOV1749-08SEP1842)
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, PAMELA
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, REUBEN
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, WILLIAM WHITSETT
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, THOMAS
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, ELIZABETH DAWSON
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, CHURCHILL
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, JAMES W (REV.) (31JAN1771-31JAN1850)
|   |   |   +CARDWELL, JANE
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, SALLEY
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, NELLIE ANN
|   |   |   |BLAKEY, GEORGE D
|   |   |WHITSETT, JANE 1-1-1-4
|   |   |WHITSETT, JAMES REV.1-1-1-5 (31JAN1771-31JAN1850)
|   |   +CARDWELL, JANE (1776-1840)
|   |   |   |WHITSETT, RUEBEN EWING (1813-FEB1853)
|   |   |   +McFARLAND, DICEY ANN
|   |   |   |   |WHITSETT, WILLIAM HEATH (b.25NOV1841)
|   |   |   |   +WALLACE, FLORENCE
|   |   |WHITSETT, ELLEN (FRANCES) (Abt.1771-MAR1816)
|   |   +EWING, REUBEN (JUDGE)
|   |   |WHITSETT, SAMUEL 1-1-1-6 (d.1792)
|   |   |WHITSETT, NANCY 1-1-1-7
|   |   |WHITSETT, WILLIAM III (MAJ. GEN. (1780-21MAR1842)
|   |   +HARDEN, EMILY
|   |   |WHITSETT, SUSAN 1-1-1-11
|   |   |WHITSETT, SARAH (SALLY)
|   |   +PORTER, REESE
|   |   +EWING, WM. J. CON
+ALLEN, MARGARET
Notes: MENESS, JAMES SR * -----------------------------------------------------
      IMIGRANT of THIS FAMILY                                                
                                                                             
      JAMES SERVED IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR FROM AMHERST, VA.                
Notes: MENESS, JAMES JR -------------------------------------------------------
      SERVED IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR                                        
Notes: McFARLAND, JOHN --------------------------------------------------------
      SERVED IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR                                        
Notes: WHITSETT, WILLIAM THOMAS JR --------------------------------------------
      WILLIAM WHITSETT (IMMIGRANT WHITSETT, WHO WE DESIGNATE SR.) b.1709 IN  
      IRELAND d.1798 CAME TO PENNSYLVANIA FROM IRELAND ON OR BEFORE 1740 WITH
      TWO BROTHERS, JOHN and JOSEPH, m.IN IRELAND TO ELIZABETH DAWSON.   HAD  
      TWO SONS BORN IN IRELAND, HENRY b.1730 and WILLIAM b.1731.              
                                                                             
      DAR PATRIOT, INDES BK, PG 3191. PVT. VA.                                
Notes: EUING, REUBEN (JUDGE) --------------------------------------------------
      FATHER: = ROBERT EWING                                                  
Notes: BLAKEY, JAMES W (REV.) -------------------------------------------------
      ESTRABLISHED THE MILL CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH;, NASHVILLE, TN.            
Notes: WHITSETT, WILLIAM III (MAJ. GEN. ---------------------------------------
      SERVED IN WAR of 1812 AS MAJ. GEN.