DeLay Family

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DeLay, Crouch, Mustard

Eleanor DeLay, wife of George Mustard


Compiled by Judy Griffin, 2007 - email address



Henry DeLay

The family is taken from two on-line lineages, the data has not been verified.

Henry DeLay was born circa 1749 in Frederick or Hampshire County, Virginia, and died in 1810 or 1811 in Ross County, Ohio. He married Elizabeth E. Crouch in circa 1770 or 1771 in Virginia. Elizabeth was born in 1752 (or 1750-52) in Virginia, and died in 1821 or 1830 in Scioto County, Ohio. Researchers list Henry’s parents as James DeLay, James DeLay and Mary Moore, or Samuel DeLay and Sarah. Siblings of Henry are said to be Ann, born circa 1740 and John, born circa 1746.

Henry was an Indian scout and Long-hunter, said to have served during the Revolutionary War. He was listed in the 1769 Virginia militia. (1) He was said to be an early Valley Bend, Virginia settler (Tygart Valley, now West Virginia). When their daughter Sarah was born in 1772, Henry and Elizabeth were living in Monongalia, on the West Fork River (in what is now Harrison County, West Virginia). Sergeant Henry DeLay served for 32 days under Ralph Stewart’s Tygart Valley men in Dunmore’s War in 1774.

Henry DeLay and John and Andrew Crouch, among others, signed a Tygart Valley inhabitant’s petition in 1777 regarding county formation and their ability to travel to a county courthouse to transact business. This petition read, in part:

“. . . your Petitioners Labours under great Hardships from their being obliged to tend Courts at Stauntown in Order to have their necessary business done, at the distance of one hundred & eight Miles from the nearest Inhabitants in the Tigers Valley. One hundred and fifty from the nearest Settlement on the West Fork of the Monangalia and two hundred Miles from the best inhabited part of our Settlement, which great distance & exceeding badness of the Roads, and the Difficulty of Crossing eight Large Mountains, forty Miles of which Road is uninhabited Viz from the Tigers Valley Waters to Powtowmack Waters. We are informed that the old part of Augusta are petitioning to have the same Divided into Smaller Counties for the convenience of the People; We your Petitioners Humbly Pray we may not be joined to any County on the Waters of James River or the South Branch of the Potowmack, nor Monongalia County for we flatter our selves we are able to Build & Support all Public buildings necessary for a County Town - Therefore we your Petitioners humbly request your Honourable House would take their Case under your Consideration & grant them a New County including the Tigers Valley Settlement & the Settlement on the west fork of [torn] Monangalia and also Buckhannan’s Creek Settlement, which will greatly Ease your Petitioners . . .” (2)

In 1780 Henry served in the Virginia Militia. Richmond, Virginia, October 28, 1783, Harry [sic] DeLay, paid 3-8-0 for service in the Militia. The next year, 1781, Henry was named County Commissioner for Monongahela County, Virginia (West Virginia). By 1782 Henry was listed as a taxpayer in the same county, nine in household, probably his wife and seven children. This same year Henry had a Monongalia County Revolutionary War Claim for providing 35 rations for the state. By 1784 Henry received a patent for 190 acres in Tygart Valley, though he must have settled on the land there before this date. Also in 1784 Henry was appointed Justice of Peace for same county on July 20, 1784. He was also appointed Lt. Colonel in the Virginia Militia and was authorized to perform marriages. Henry was found in the Harrison County Virginia Court Minutes from 1784 to 1792 (details in Appendix). He was mentioned as taking the list of taxable property and tithables from Petty’s Fort to Joseph Crouch’s in November 1785, Harrison County.

In 1785 Henry and others sent a memorial to Congress regarding the settlement of a tract of land in what is now West Virginia or Ohio. (3) It appears that this group of men planned to form a land company.

“To the Honorable the United States in Congress Assembled. The memorial of Henry Delay of Harrison County, State of Virginia, John Holes of Essex County, State of New Jersey, Cornelius Ludlow of Harris County, State of New Jersey, Benjamin Stites and Henry Enochs, both of the County of Washington, State of Pennsylvania. Humbly showeth That whereas from various informations received of the proceedings of the Indians in the Eastern territory of the United States it is greatly to be feared that danger will arise to the said States unless justable measures are speedily adopted for counteracting the apparent design of our enemies and it is supposed that a settlement established by Congress on said frontier will officially secure to the United States equal part of that extensive territory it is therefore proposed That a tract of Country beginning at the grant given to the inhabitants of Port Vincent from thence running up both sides of the Kanawha River extending to the grant given to the Indians so as to include one hundred miles in breadth. That the tract of Country above described be given to the Settlers as an encouragement to settle in said Country on as agreeable terms as Congress may prescribe. And as the situation of the first adventurers will be an empass one that they shall be entitled to ______acres of land as reward for settling said Country. And for the better enabling the first adventurers to guard and defend themselves and their Country from the enemy and to encourage its population it is therefore petitioned that no person be allowed the privilege of purchasing any of said Country for the span of five years but those who became settlers on the land.

“That all such as are willing to become immediate Settlers in that Country shall meet together next Spring at any place that Congress may appoint as a place of rendezvous and those to come with military direction and march into the Country in a body. That Congress appoint a certain Gentleman whom they shall think proper as Commander in Chief of the Company of said adventurers also appoint such other officers under him as they shall judge expedient to conduct a plan of that importance. That the first adventurers be governed by military law until such an establishment is made upon the land as will admit of a change after which the inhabitants shall be governed by the wise laws made which is more friendly to freedom and compatible with republican principles. Whereas, one main object of the proposed settlement is to form a barrier against encroachment of the enemy and to secure to the United States the lands comprehended within those limits we therefore humbly request that Congress provide the first adventurers with one years provision ammunition and artillery justable for that purpose, all other necessary articles to be furnished by the first adventurers at their own expense. That no person be admitted to settle in said Country who cannot give satisfactory testimonials of his attachment to the American cause during the late struggle for Independence. Should it be thought wise and necessary to form a settlement in the foregoing plan may it please Congress to publish it in the papers that each State may have an equal opportunity of settling. Your memorialists apprehend that their request being granted will greatly promote the public good and answer the end proposed. Your memorialists therefore as in duty bound, shall ever pray. Mem Henry Delay, John Hole, Cornelius Ludlow, Benjamin Stites, Henry Enochs. Read 7 Dec 1785 in Continental Congress”

Henry sold his 190 acres in Tygart Valley on March 21, 1786. His wife Elizabeth’s examination for release of dower was on April 6, 1786, Harrison County, recorded in the Harrison County court records. Henry’s property in Tygart Valley was mentioned as adjacent to land in two Randolph County, Virginia deeds for 1792. The deeds are confusing, but Henry’s property in Tygart was stated, further confirming his residence at Tygart Valley. The next year, 1787, Henry was on the Fayette County, Kentucky tax list. By 1791 Henry was in Bourbon County, Kentucky (Fayette formed in 1780, Bourbon formed from Fayette in 1785). In 1792 Henry purchased 100 acres from James Wright in the Northwest Territory on Kenton’s Creek, in what became Liberty Township, Adams County, Ohio. This is 40 miles west of Columbus near the town of West Liberty, Ohio. However, he was still in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1792 when he was the bondsman in the marriage bond of his daughter Sarah and James William. On August 29, 1792 the court ordered that Henry Delay, William Barker, James More. George Harper, and John Elliot “of the State of Kentucky, County of Bourbon” take depositions from Thomas Lackey and James Prather as testimony for a suit to be tried in Randolph County. (4)

On August 19, 1794 he bought 200 acres on Hinkston Creek in Bourbon County, Kentucky, near present Jackstown, Kentucky. Sons of John Crouch Sr., Joseph and David, also had land on Hinkston Creek in 1794. He was taxed in Bourbon County in 1795 and 1796. In 1796 Henry, James and John Delay were on this tax list. On December 13, 1797 Henry sold his 200 acres of land on Hinkstan Creek, Fork of Licking, Bourbon County, Kentucky to Benjamin Snodgrass. However, the September 1798 Bourbon County, Kentucky Court record deposition stated that Henry surveyed 1000 acres for Francis Eppe Harris. It is thought that by about 1800 Henry sold his Kentucky possessions, including slaves, and moved to Ohio with his family. When John Crouch Sr. died in 1800 in Ross County, Ohio, his estate was inventoried by his son Joseph and Henry DeLay. By 1804 Henry was located on the Pickaway Plains on Sipe, south of Circleville, Ohio (now in Pickaway County, formed 1810 from Ross County). The family was listed as members of Bethel Church in this locality. On December 3, 1808 Henry recorded the deed to the land he had bought in Kentons’ or Mackachack (Mackachee) Creek in 1792 in Richmond, Virginia. He is mentioned in an Augusta County, Virginia court record referring to a deed dated 1792, a “tract in Randolph County, on West and North side of Tyger’s Valley River, adjoining Henry Delay . . .” (5) However, Henry is listed in the “first census” of Kentucky, 1790: Delay, Henry, Fayette, 12/2/1789. (6) Kentucky did not become a state until 1792, prior to that the area that was to become Kentucky was within the state of Virginia. In 1811 Henry’s estate was probated in Ross County, Ohio. After Henry’s death, Elizabeth is said to have married William Mustard (see Mustard history).

Henry DeLay and Elizabeth Crouch had 12 children: (7)


Endnotes

1 1769 militia list from the Virginia House of Burgesses records that I copied in Richmond shows him in a company with Samuel Pringle and Henry Delay, and Pringle was an early Buckhannon settler while Delay was an early Valley Bend settler. Elkins, WV 16 Aug 1994 (update 28 Nov), David Armstrong 201 Graham St Elkins, WV 26241. Kennedy, John Pendleton, ed., Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia 1766- 1769, Richmond, Va MCMVI. Note: The presence of Henry Delay and Samuel Pringle in this list.

2 Legislative Petition From Augusta County, 6 November 1777. Virginia State Library, Req. C 170.

3 Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (M247) Roll 49, Vol. II Film #1024 444, pgs. 537-539.

4 On 29 August 1792 the court ordered that Henry Delay, William Barker, James More. George Harper, and John Elliot “of the State of Kentucky. County of Bourbon” take depositions from Thomas Lackey and James Prather as testimony for a suit to be tried in Randolph County. Randolph County Order Book I, 138, Delay, Barker, and More were taxed in 1795 in Bourbon County, while Harper, Elliot and Prather were now in Clark County, Kentucky (which had been cut off from Bourbon in 1793).

5 Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County 1745-1800, Augusta County Court Records. Order Book No. XXIV, page 536. File No. 927.

6 Heinemann, Charles B. Reconstructed Federal Census of Kentucky, 1790. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1940.

7 Source: Amy Romanoski, 14 May 2001.