Huguenot-L Archives

Archiver > Huguenot > 2004-09 > 1094699861


From: Edgar Taylor <>
Subject: Re: More to be learned-Re: [Huguenot] Re: Chicken
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 23:18:12 -0500
In-Reply-To: <005b01c495df$c29d9790$322be144@VAIO>


Hi Ben - aThnks but I have no Taylors in Charleston in the 1700s or later.
There were lots of Taylor families - almost next to Smiths in number.
Ed T of PGH
--------
on 9/8/04 3:09 PM, Ben C. Simmons at wrote:

> Know a Jon Guerry Taylor in Charleston. Is this a coincidence?
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Edgar Taylor" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 3:12 PM
> Subject: More to be learned-Re: [Huguenot] Re: Chicken
>
>
>> Hi Ray - I am always happy to talk about the Chickens since just a few of
> us
>> have done so much research on them, not just me alone but other
> descendants.
>> But there are still open questions. For example, we still are not sure of
>> the family name of the wife, Catherine, of Col. George Chicken, though we
>> suspect it was Durham, a relative of David Durham. Only because David made
> a
>> need of gift to the Chickens' daughter, Catherine, as his God child.
>>
>> Then there are grandaughters who are untraced. Plus birth and dates of
> death
>> for some of the children of the Col. and Catherine, such as the son Thomas
>> who married Margerette Geurry. I have dates when he was a "runner" for the
>> SC Provincial body, but those published records do not go far enough to
> find
>> when he stopped that job. At least for the ones that the Clayton Gen Lib
> in
>> Houston, TX, have. There is also a John Chicken who I have never placed in
>> the family. He is possibly another son, but there is little on him in any
>> records which I have seen.
>>
>> A big question is who is the Dorothy Chicken who was a witness in a land
>> sale, too early to be one of the Col.'s children, if the record transcript
>> is correct. I think, too, we have laid to rest that the Dorothy, who was
> a
>> daughter, married Dr. Nathaniel Snow Sr, but rather she married his son of
>> the same name and title. The use of "Dr." in both cases through everyone
> off
>> for the longest time.
>>
>> Keep in touch. Ed T of PGH
>>
>> PS - I hope you saw my "Addendum" in my previous message about French
>> connections in Canada with the name Chicken. I forgot to mention in my
>> message to you that the above son of Col. George Chicken, Thomas Chicken,
>> married Margaret/Marguerite Guerry/Guerri, the daughter of Pierre Guerri
> and
>> Marguerite Rembert.
>> --------
>> on 9/8/04 8:46 AM, at wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Edgar,
>>>
>>> Every place I find the story of Col. Chicken saving Charleston from the
>>> indians, it says he was English. I need to remove the Scotland entry
>>> for his birthplace (I did not find such a claim in the Thomas Grange
>>> SIMONS book).
>>>
>>> I think you are correct that the Huguenot ties are just by association
>>> and marriage.
>>>
>>> You refreshed my memory on the Children of Catherine and Noah. You did
>>> indeed post that information in the recent past.
>>>
>>> Ray
>>> ===
>>> Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 15:12:36 -0500
>>> From: Edgar Taylor <>
>>> To:
>>> Subject: Re: Chickens, a question-Re: [Huguenot] Re: perennial search
> for
>>> ancestors...
>>>
>>> Hi Ray - That Col. George Chicken is often grouped with the Huguenots is
>>> probably because of his close association with them, politically and
>>> otherwise. If he was a buccaneer in his youth - a "Red Sea Man", before
>>> settling and marrying in SC, as I have suspician, it would follow with
> his
>>> acceptance within that society. Particularly, since he apparently came
> there
>>> with some wealth, as evidenced by the high tax he paid in the 1690s.
> Then he
>>> married a woman who came to the marriage with some wealth. [Her family
> name
>>> still remains unknown to us.]
>>>
>>> Perhaps George's daughter, Catherine, having married into the Huguenot
>>> family of Serres, leads some to think the Chickens were also Huguenots.
> Then
>>> his son, William Chicken, my ancestor, marrying as his second wife, a
>>> Robert, could also be a misdirector.
>>>
>>> I can not accept that Chicken or Chiken was Anglized from the French in
> the
>>> time period of consideration, though one writer so suggested. There is
> no
>>> question that Chicken is an English name, as I have written repeatedly
> in
>>> these forums. There were numerous families of that name in England - and
>>> today - at least as far back as the 1400s, as the English records
> support.
>>> George was probably of those early families in Northumerland and Durham,
>>> some of whom "followed the sea". There is a gentleman who is a "One
> name"
>>> researcher of the name in England. There is no connection with the
> Huguenots
>>> who came to England so far as I know.
>>>
>>> But the very early derivation of the name could be French, perhaps
> Norman.
>>> As far as I know, no one has followed up on that research. I suspect
> this
>>> would be impossible.
>>>
>>> It is probably like my middle name - Rives- which apparently came from
>>> France at a very early time to become Ryves as well as Rives. There are
>>> Rives today in Paris, one of whom has a men's shop across from the
> Louve.
>>>
>>> I have not found the name in Scotland, nor do I recall that the English
>>> researcher has ever mentioned a Scot connection. This Scot connection
> may
>>> have been "guessed" because of George Chicken taking up land early in
>>> Beaufort.
>>>
>>> Not to belabor the point, but there is alot of mis-information in print
>>> about the Chickens.
>>>
>>> The "tapes" of my memory at three-quarters of a century plus are getting
>>> "scratched", but I recall that the archives of either this message forum
> or
>>> the SCRoots, one or maybe both, have messages giving the children of
> Noah
>>> and Catherine Chicken Serre. Look for our discussion of the seversl Noah
>>> Serres. If you do not find then there, let me know and I will try to
> direct
>>> you elsewhere to better sources.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your message and questions. Ed T of PGH [the Senior Chicken
>>> Chaser]
>>> -----------
>>>
>>>
>>> ==== Huguenot Mailing List ====
>>> To leave the list, send a new email to
> and
>>> type UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line and text area
>>>
>>> (if you get the digest, replace -L with -D)
>>>
>>
>>
>> ==== Huguenot Mailing List ====
>> To leave the list, send a new email to and
> type UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line and text area
>>
>> (if you get the digest, replace -L with -D)
>>
>>
>
>
> ==== Huguenot Mailing List ====
> To leave the list, send a new email to and
> type UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line and text area
>
> (if you get the digest, replace -L with -D)
>

This thread: