ATTACHMENT II
(Rev. John Chenault Version)
MEMO: Following received from John Chenault (Jault3@aol.com on May 13, 2007. Sent to Fred
Coffey)
"Hi Fred Coffey, I am John Cabell Chenault, 93 year
old retired minister of First Christian Church, Frankfort ,Ky. Seventy-five
years ago today, I preached my first sermon as a 19 year old seminarian. I am
still rather active, in fact I was headed to the golf course in an hour when I
found your message to Donna and Gus Mellick who are working on a new
35,000 name Chenault directory. This was such an exciting e-mail that I
shall postpone the golf to get on it immediately. I shall try to forward
to you my recent letter to the Mellicks, Carolyn Sue Chenault and Christopher
Errol Shinall in which I state my theory about our Coffey connection.
"Richard Stanley Harsh of Winchester, our best
genealogist had given his views in a book on the Chenaults about eleven years
ago.(Unfortunately Stan died last June--a tremendous loss to all of us.)
He believed that our ancestor, Stephen Chenault II, son of our ancestor from
France by way of the Netherlands and from England on the Nassau in 1771, had
married Anstes, daughter of Edward and Ann Powell Coffey, and had
sons--Stephen III, William , Benjamin and John. He considered the possibility
that he might have married Ann (Annester) but ruled that out because of
Annester's base born child, James, for which cause she was called before the
court in 1736. Ann did not marry until after her mother, Ann's death in 1744.
Now we know through a Merchant's account record in King and Queen County in the
mid 1700s that "Anniester" married a "Chinault"
after her mother's death and in time to have mothered our William Chinault in
1749. So it seem more than probable that she married Stephen Chenault
II and THEY were the parents of our ancestor, William.
"I have had a DNA test a few years ago, in an attempt
to ascertain if the family tradition that our David Chenault, William's eldest
son, could have had a relationship to Thomas Jefferson. Therefore my DNA test
is the one, I suppose, that led to your inquiry about our possible connection.
My test did not show relationship to Thomas Jefferson. If it should help
to discover my relationship to the Coffey family and help us work out this
enigma, that will be greatly significant!
FOLLOWING EXTRACTED FROM THE LETTER JOHN WROTE TO SUE
CHENAULT AND OTHERS:
"We have all been wrestling with the Chenault-Coffey connection and
especially with Stephen II and William, born in 1749, who came to Kentucky in
1786. What can we put in the new Red Book? Where does William fit in the numerical order? That is
a tough one!
"I thought I would share where I am right now, until some one comes
up with other evidence.
"I am going more an more to the position-- since our former view
that William was the son of Sarah Waller and John Chenault in Caroline County
has been disproved-- that Col. Thomas Brown was correct when he said "We
know his mother was a Miss Coffey".
I believe that Stephen Chenault II and "Anniester Chinault"
were his parents. I know that she was near 40 years of age, and Stephen II was
46 or 47; but I believe that is not biologically impossible. (More below on
this)
"Regarding Anstes Coffey, genealogist say that Anstes married a
Chenault. (I am omitting the
debate over Anstes and Austin, as there is no doubt in my mind that it was
Anstes, a girl, in her fathers will, and not "Austin". I conclude
that Anstes, as the early Coffey genealogist, James Buford Coffey held, that
Anstes married a Chenault, Stan
believed it was Stephen Chenault II, which is my conclusion too. They were the parents of Stephen III,
William and Benjaman. Then I have wondered if Anstes must have died. This made
it possible and probable that her sister, Ann or "Anneister", after
the death of her sister, Anstes and her mother, Anne Powell in 1744, must have married Stephen
Chenault II. How else could 'Anniester Chinault" have appeared in the
Merchant Account book in King and Queen County in the mid 1700s? What other
Chenault could have married her? Give me any other answer you may have.
"A FEW POINTS TO BE NOTED We knew nothing about our Essex County, Coffey connection
prior to the Chenault Notes which Ann Brown Rogers of Frankfort gave to me in
the late 1980s. Ann Rogers is a great, great granddaughter of William, born in
1749-two generation closer to my 4th great grandfather than I am to him. Her
great grandmother, Nancy Chenault, was William's daughter, born in 1790. Her
son, Thomas Brown, born 1819, six years after the death of William, must have
gotten his impressions from his mother, William's own daughter. He told us that
he never heard of William having brothers and sisters. William would have had
half brothers, but he did not grown up in the home with them. Thomas Brown said Williams parents died
when William was quite young. This was probably the occasion for William's
going to Albemale where Annester's brother, thus his uncle, John Coffey and his
aunt Jane Coffey lived. John's son Thomas Coffey and his wife Elizabeth were
charter members of Lewis's Old Meeting House, the first Baptist church in the
county. They, I imagine, took William to their church. He may never have joined
there, but there is record that he contributed financially to the building of
their first meeting house. Stan Harsh noted this in his excellent life of
Andrew Tribble, and Stan told us that William and his family joined Tribble's church
when they got to Kentucky.
"The big problem with
this is that Stephen II and Anstes already had a son "William", so it
is not likely they would name another William' unless the first William had
died. I have considered that Annester was very close to her half brother,
William Doolin. William Doolin named a daughter, I think, for Ann Ester, and I
have wondered that there could be a possibility that Ann Ester named her son
for her half- brother, "William Chenault " at his birth in 1749. It is
probable that Stephen II did not live to know his son, or that he died very
soon after the child's birth. I say this on the basis that Stan did not find
him recorded in any document after 1747. Ann Ester was probably rather
dependent on William Doolin in her bereavement. Also, we have already
considered William's move at an early age to Albemarle to her brother, John and
Jane Coffey.
"Stan 's
approach was to find William's Coffey connection through John. I think that is
out. Moreover, Stephen II and Anstes had their first three sons considerably
earlier than William's birth. Ann
Ester afforded Stephen II a second chance to have been William's father. Again,
apparently he married the two sisters. Again it is possible, I believe, that
they could be William's parents. The additional evidence that Stan referred to
could be the discovery of "Anniester
Chinault".
"Regarding
the ages of Stephen II and Ann Ester, Col. Thomas Brown himself did not father
his son, Waller Chenault Brown, father of Ann Rogers, until he was 63 years of
age. That is just two generation after Stephen Chenault II.
"Well, if
this is not our answer, what next?
"(Sue)
pointed out to me one time the various consideration of the facts related to
Stephen Chenault III and Mary Rowzie. I should like to have these before me for
comparison. I cannot recall just
what you said .I am only trying to look at all the possible answers. Maybe we
want to present the various alternatives.
The Sarah Waller answer was so convincing for Stan and for me for a long
time. It evidently was wrong.
"For what it is worth, this is
where I am right now.
John C.