Gwaltneys In America: The Clearinghouse for Gwaltney Family History

 2025 Gwaltney Family Homecoming

Hello Everyone,

I am excited about the upcoming 2025 Nationwide Gwaltney Family Homecoming that we have scheduled for July 25-27, 2025 in Smithfield, VA. This will be our 16th Nationwide Homecoming event. Our theme for this 16th Gwaltney Nationwide Homecoming is “Remembering Gwaltney Family Heroes: Part 1”. For this year, we want to explore the lives of two early Gwaltney heroes….Gwalchmai ap Gwyar, a noted Welsh warrior and gentleman from around 480-538 A.D. and Gwalchmai ap Meilyr, a noted Welsh poet from around 1130-1180 A.D. Since the Gwaltney/Gaultney/Gortney/Gwatney/ Gautney/Gwartney/Guatney/Gwalthney/Galtney name is derived from Gwalchmai, we thought it good to start of with some of the earliest mentions of Gwalchmai in world history.

We will be doing an organized tour of Williamsburg on Friday, July 25 put on by Williamsburg Walking Tours. Cost is $10 per person. That tour will last from 10 to noon. Then there will be lunch and an optional sailboat ride Friday afternoon but on by the Schooner Alliance II Yorktown Sightseeing Day Sail. The cost is $48.15 per person, but we could get a discounted rate if at least 10 people reserve. On Friday evening we will have a family dinner at a place to be determined. On Saturday, July 26 we will hold our historical presentations and other Gwaltney family activities at the Mill Swamp Baptist Church Family Center. On Sunday, July 27, we will be attending Sunday morning services at Mill Swamp Baptist Church, and then we will go into Smithfield for a Sunday luncheon.

When we continued the Gwaltney Nationwide Homecoming in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to covid, we started meeting at Mill Swamp Baptist Church. Some of you who attended in the past will remember we use to meet at the Smithfield Baptist Church. Therefore, please make note that we are now meeting at Mill Swamp Baptist Church, which is out in the country in Isle of Wight County, but only about three miles from the original Gwaltney farms from the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. In fact, the Gwaltneys were instrumental in the formation of the Burleigh Baptist/Mill Swamp Baptist Church which is considered one of the oldest, if not the oldest Baptist church in Virginia, with a founding date of 1728.

Whether you descend from the Gwaltney/Gaultney /Gwartney /Gortney/Gwatney/Gautney /Guatney or Galtney lineage, you can trace your roots back to Thomas Gwaltney (1613-1666) who lived in Surry and Isle of Wight counties in Virginia and that is why we all come “home” to Smithfield in Isle of Wight County. If you have never attended a Homecoming, I believe you will enjoy yourself. You may come here wondering how you fit into all the Gwaltney family lineage, but you will leave feeling a valued part of the Nationwide Gwaltney family. Make the Homecoming part of your family vacation. The Smithfield area is full history and has easy access many historical sites in Virginia and just a short drive from Virginia Beach.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at gwaltneyhomepage@gmail.com  

 

Dr. Jeff Koonce of the Obion Co. TN Gwaltneys

Director of the Nationwide Gwaltney Family Homecoming

Find us on facebook at Gwaltney Homepage

 

 

For purposes of simplicity and ease of reading, the name GWALTNEY will be used in this website.  While early spellings of the name have been "Gwalpmey" or "Gualmey", the name GWALTNEY is the earliest Americanized form of the name that has stood the test of American history. Dr. Jack Gwaltney of Charlottesville, VA has an interesting commentary on the origins of the Welsh version of Gwaltney--the name GWALCHMAI. If you are interested in his commentary, you may contact me.

So how did the spelling variations occur? How do we also end up with GAULTNEY, GWARTNEY, GORTNEY, GALTNEY, and GWATNEY being of the same family? Primarily the variance is the result of pronunciation, dialect, and mistransciption by the census-taker's hand. However, all of these names proceed from  the name GWALTNEY.  When Thomas Gwaltney's (3rd generation) offspring began to migrate into southern Virginia and then into North Carolina, their pronunciation and dialect brought about many of the various name spellings. For example, William Gwaltney of Brunswick Co. had at least two sons...Micajah and Michael. That group of Gwaltneys pronounced their name something like "Gawatney". Micajah ended up moving into KY and IN and started spelling the name GWARTNEY. Michael ended up moving into western VA and kept the spelling GWALTNEY.

Benjamin Gwaltney of the Brunswick Co. VA area eventually moved into the state of Mississippi. His pronunciation of the name led to the spelling GALTNEY. John Gwaltney's son, Peterson, also left the southern VA counties of Brunswick and Mecklenberg and went into Alabama and eventually his offspring made it into AR and OK--they ended up spelling their name GWATNEY, leaving out the letter "L".

As these Gwaltneys migrated from southern VA into North Carolina, some kept the name GWALTNEY, while others began to spell the name GAULTNEY and GORTNEY. It is interesting to see how many families had difficulty being consistent with the name even within their own families. Margaret Gwaltney of Hiddenite NC showed me a cemetery of Gwaltneys in Banner Elk, NC and the tombstones of some family members was spelled GAULTNEY and other family members had the spelling GWALTNEY. Sarah Gwaltney Behrens of Denver CO once showed me the photocopied pages of the Henry Hudson Gwaltney family Bible, and there, in black and white, some of the offspring had their names spelled GAULTNEY and others GWALTNEY! No wonder some were confused on how to spell the name.

The Gwaltneys who stayed in VA had no problem keeping the spelling GWALTNEY. It was those who moved further south who had difficulties in determining its spelling. Oh, by the way, even those who spell their name GWALTNEY do not always pronounce it that way. Many Gwaltneys from IL, IN, TN, GA pronounce their name "Gaultney" even though they spell it GWALTNEY.

But whether you are a GWALTNEY, GAULTNEY, GORTNEY, GWATNEY, GWARTNEY, or GALTNEY, you all belong to the same family...the family of Thomas Gwaltney (1613-1666) who settled in VA sometime after 1635. 

In all honesty, this labor of love began as a spiritual journey for me. I was very curious about the spiritual heritage of--not only my immediate Gwaltney family, but the Gwaltney Family en masse. My inspiration came from God's promise in Deuteronomy 7:9:

"Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands." (NIV)

I have seen the hand of God upon my family and was curious about my past generations. Had there been a great-grandmother or a great-great grandfather who had prayed for God's grace to be upon their family and upon their generations? Thus my inquiry into the Gwaltneys was a research into who they were as a spiritual nation.

And thus I began--not just seeking to know my momma's Gwaltney family from Obion County, TN, but all the way back to the beginning--with Thomas Gwaltney, himself, the first Gwaltney in America. There is a lot I still don't know. But I've come to understand this family a lot just by talking with others, researching, and by keeping my ears open.