Gwaltneys In America: The Clearinghouse for Gwaltney Family History

 

 

2024 Nationwide Gwaltney Homecoming Information

 

The dates for the 2024 Nationwide Gwaltney Homecoming have been set for Friday, July 26 through Sunday, July 28, 2024. Our theme for this Nationwide Homecoming is “The Life of Thomas in Gwaltney in Wales, Barbados, and Virginia”

Friday, July 26, 2024

8:30 a.m.—3:00 p.m.— Join us Friday for a trip to the Jamestown Visitor Center and Museum. This is a re-created Jamestown village not far from the original Jamestown site. The day begins with a meet up at the Surry County Courthouse located on the corners of highways 10 & 31 in Surry, Virginia at 8:30 a.m. with a departure of 8:45 a.m. to the Jamestown Scotland Ferry for a leisurely ride over the James River.  The Jamestown Museum and recreated village is just to the right after we exit the ferry.

 

That afternoon around 5:00 p.m, Pete and Susan Gwaltney have invited us to their place in Surry County for some catered food from the Virginia Diner, featuring fried chicken. You will need to indicate if you plan to attend on the Registration form and there will be a $15 charge to cover the cost of food.

 

Saturday, July 27, 2024:

NOTE: We are meeting at Mill Swamp Baptist Church, 6329 Mill Swamp Road, Ivor, VA 23866.  Please put this address in your GPS while you have good cell service because Mill Swamp Baptist Church is located out in a remote region, and if you wait until then to plug the address into your GPS, you might not have signal, depending on your carrier.

 

10:30-11:45 am.—Registration

11:45-12:35 p.m.—Lunch prepared by Henry Pulley and the 3 P’s Cooking of Smithfield, VA. Menu: Pork Tender Loins, green beans, creamy mashed  potatoes, dinner rolls,  peach cobbler, sweet tea and pink lemonade.

 

12:35—1:30 p.m.---Introductions and Icebreakers

 

1:30—2:30 p.m.— Thomas Gwaltney in Wales with Jeff Koonce. Born in either late 1612 or early 1613, Thomas Gwaltney was raised in Wales and then headed to Barbados in 1635 at the age of 22 in search of a better life. We look at a brief history of Wales and the world in which Thomas Gwaltney was raised.

 

2:30-3:15 p.m.—Thomas Gwaltney and Barbados with Dudley Gwaltney. Dudley will explore what it was like to sail to Barbados and what life would have been like for Thomas Gwaltney while in Barbados in 1635.

 

3:15—3:45 p.m.—Watermelon Break

 

3:45-4:15 p.m.-Thomas Gwaltney in Virginia with Jeff Koonce. We will take a look at Thomas Gwaltney’s early days in Virginia until his death in 1666 at the age of 53.

 

4:15—5:00—Life After Thomas Gwaltney with Susan Thomas Gwaltney. Susan will explore the changes that have occurred in the U.S. and the world since Thomas Gwaltney came to Virginia.

 

5:15-6:00 p.m.—Supper provided  Henry Pulley and the 3 P’s Cooking of Smithfield, VA. Menu:  3 P’s BBQ pork,  dinner rolls, baked beans and cole slaw, apple cobbler, sweet tea and lemonade.

 

6:00-8:30 p.m.— Gwaltney Family Night with the Gwaltney Family Memorial service remembering our loved ones who have passed since July 2023, the Gwaltney Family Scholarship, music by Gwaltney cousins, and a sermon by Reverend Cliff Gwaltney of Hiddenite, North Carolina. 

 

*PLEASE NOTE: We will be having a silent auction throughout the day to raise money for the Gwaltney Family Scholarship. If you have an item you can bring, please note on the Registration form.

 

Sunday, July 28, 2024

10:30:00 a.m. to noon—Family Church Service: If you are interested, we will be attending morning worship at Mill Swamp Baptist Church. Afterwards, we can travel into Smithfield for a luncheon for anyone interested.

 

If you or someone you know needs a registration form, please email me at gwaltneyhomepage@gmail.com.

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.