The Hargis Family - Part 1

By Mary DeBusk Voth, June 1981

There are many people searching for their Hargis ancestors. Many of them do not prove their records. I feel this is important. There are records of several by the name who came early. John is listed in First Families of Virginia as of 1619. George came in 1642. William and Ann came as servants in 1659 to Maryland and Thomas came in 1663. Some people say they were brothers. There is no proof. I have searched in Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washington. There is no proof of their wives' family names.

They bought land in Charles County, Maryland, in 1668. It was required that land in the colony be given a name. They called it "Hargis Hope."

William left a will in 1685. He named his wife, Ann, and three sons, John Draper, Roger, and William. Thomas left a will in 1716. He did not name his wife. He named four sons: William, Thomas, Abraham, and Francis.

Because our family was in Russell County, Virginia, I think Samuel may have been the son of John.

In 1779, Ann Hargis, in Washington County, Virginia, was made administrator of the estate of John. No children were named.

Russell County was formed from Washington in 1785. John signed a petition there to form the new county of Russell in 1785.

A will of John Hargis in Westmoreland County, Virginia in 1730, named three children: Mary, Millorit, and John; and his brother, Roger. This seems to identify him as John Draper, son of William and Ann.

Copies of wills and land records can be obtained from Maryland Archives in Annapolis, Maryland, and from counties and state archives in Richmond, Virginia.

In Russell County, John and Thomas paid taxes in 1787-1788; two Johns in 1810 and Samuel in 1797.

John and Lydia witnessed a will in 1803, and were heirs of John Counts, Sr., in 1802. They sold land on the Clinch River in 1816.

In 1820, Whitesides Hargis sold land on the Clinch, and his wife, Elizabeth, or he and he wife, Elizabeth, sold.

In 1815, John sold household and stock in Whitesides. The agreement was for $100. It is in a will book, but was not a will. One witness was Winnifred Blare Hargis.

In 1798, William Dopson, in Hampshire County, Virginia, left land to his grandson, William Dopson Hargis. This Hargis family came to Kentucky by 1810. In Christian County, Kentucky Hargis marriages: Isaac Dopson, married Malinda Reed, 1812; Thomas Hargis, married Polly Reed, 1817; Abraham Hargis, married Mary Landsford, 1806; John Hargis, married Polly Bearden, 1819; William Dopson, married Nancy Grace, 1815. Several of this family went to Missouri before 1820.

Many think that William, Samuel, Whitesides, James, John, and Benjamin were brothers and sons of John. There is no proof. The story of the brothers starting to Kentucky with Daniel Boone is not true.

Many Hargis families were in North Carolina before the Revolution. Because Samuel married there, he may have been born there. I have no proof. For searching for the early Hargis records they were in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, and the Carolinas. The DAR Patriots Index names several. In Kentucky are found land grants in different counties. In Gwathney's Historical Register of Virginians in Revolution are 11 Hargis names.