Buckingham Notables: Charles Yancey
Charles Yancey
In 1927, William Shepard, who contributed several articles about Buckingham County history to William and Mary Quarterly, preserved and published an amusing and informative letter written by Samuel Shepard III to his brother, Robert, on December 10, 1805. It read in part:
Since I last wrote you my wife has been very sick at the home of her cousin, Charles Yancey . . . she was delivered of a fine boy before my coming. The boy even now resembles that old Welsh stock. Charles Yancey says he must play astrologer and prepare the horoscope of the lad, and that from the way he drinks whatever is given him believes he was born under the sign of Bacchus.
While visiting Yancey . . . we discussed Welsh stocks. He tells me Mr. William Evans, of Cumberland county, says he is Welsh and descended from some outlandish prince of that country. Mr. Evans . . . says he does not believe the Yancey name is the proper one, that it was Nanney . . . Charles Yancey has heard something of the kind from his folk, and my wife has an old arms of the family that Mr. Evans says he thinks belongs to some Nanney family.
For more about the Yancey family visit Yancey Family Genealogy.
slate river ramblings . . . . 
Dear Reader,
This remarkable child born at “Traveler’s Rest” in 1805 was born to Susannah Holman Shepard–kinswoman to Maj. Charles Yancey of Buckingham–known as the “Wheel-horse of democracy.” Susannah was born in Cumberland County about 1772–daughter of John Holman, Gent. and his wife, the former Susannah Yancey, a first cousin to Maj. Charles Yancey of Buckingham and niece of The Rev. Robert Yancey of Louisa. The Yanceys were originally from Louisa. Susannah Holman’s father, Mr. Yancey, married a Miss Wash and lived in Louisa.
Sincerely,
Harry Stuart Holman
Thanks for your comment, Harry.