SORTING DAVID from the COMETS

and FURTHER TALES of the TRIBE of MUNCH  

(Author's note: This post is a straight-up genealogical analysis of two men with overlapping identities. It may not be everyone's cup of tea. You may wish to get heavily stoned before you wade into these waters, or renew your interest in Yeti sightings. Peace out.)

As always, historically, unedited.

There was no easy way to make it out. It seemed to appear out of nowhere on each portion of the horizon, and indeed, in each portion of her pedigree. I wondered: Was this possible? Well, of course, I knew that it was. I mean, it wasn't like I hadn't seen marriages between cousins before. It was, after all, pretty frickn' normal. The trouble was, this time, it just didn't make sense. I couldn't put all the pieces together. If it all held, two separate branches of the comet's tail converged on different sides of the heavens. Say what?

Yeah, I think you get what I'm trying to say. Two comets? One comet? Two separate Haley lineages converging in ancestral space?

Okay. Not exactly like they're "Smith and Jones." 

And just who the Hell was this David Haley anyway?

Before I get too far into this, let me clear up a couple of myths. Yeah, we need to do this - just so there's no confusion down the line. 

(Hang in there with me. I'll get there.)

Housekeeping: Not Related to the Rock Star or the Planet Guy

Let's start with these two: Edmond and Bill

There is no relationship between the "David(s)" in question, or any of the other Haley folks mentioned herein, to this guy's picture below, or, none at least insofar as I have been able to glean anywhere. This isn't to say that there isn't one - only that I cannot find it among the crossings back and forth over the Atlantic, or any mention of it in the journals of antiquity, or of Virginia. I suppose it would be okay to claim such a relationship by association, but in the end, no, there is no known kinsmanship to the illustrious bringer of comets, that magnanimous purveyor of celestial doom, Edmond Halley.                              

Sorry. It just ain't happening. 

You won't find any kinship to "the comets" there. I wondered too if I would find it here, in the next Haley pictured below. But try as I might, there was nothing to be found. I do suspect, though, that this kinship is a lot closer and in fact a more viable one than what is noted with the quasi-cousin comet chasing Edmond above.            

However, any possible kinship with "Bill" fades into the hills of Kentucky, BUT does make it a lot closer in terms of possible cousins; alas, those Kentucky hills are not ready to give up their secrets. Yeah, again, no comets here to be found.  

The celestial bright side of all this, though, is that we can move past all this and get onto the subject at hand. We can get onto just who the heck was David Haley, and why is he the mixed-up mess in all of these unidentified flying genealogical objects.

I think the best way to do this is to just introduce the Ye Olde Pedigree Chart pictured below.

The Chart That Tries to Kill You (With Confusion)

Now I don't expect this pedigree chart to be clear. 

Hell, it sure wasn't for me. I do hope that the name of Edith Virginia Haley will be readily apparent, and that even the most cursory glance will reveal that this particular "almost-probably-not-and-maybe-only-possibly-a-relative" of Edmond Halley and Bill Haley might actually be a cousin unto herself.

See what I mean? It does happen.

Most of the time, it doesn't happen so far back in time. You know, you get those usual second-cousin marriages of the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries and wonder why people didn't get a clue about hemophilia, or why it was so important to cement financial dynasties, but hey, sometimes it was just a means of survival, economic or otherwise. I don't judge on that sorta sh*t. However, in this case, that of Edith Virginia Haley (Mrs. Roy A. Page, Jr.) I gotta admit, the line isn't clear. Hell, both of her Haley lines aren't clear.

And we can at least blame some of that on David Haley, 1755/60-1839. Or, we can blame it on whoever totally screwed up his genealogy.

But which David do we blame that on exactly?

The Case of the Clone-Davids: Separated at Birth (and Death):

As you can see in the chart above, there are two men named David Haley right next to each other. They both were born circa 1755/60 and both died in 1839. They both, at one time or another, had wives named "Elizabeth." They both served in the Revolutionary War - AND they both lived in Roane County, Tennessee. 

Above: David Haley "of Virginia" - Notice how he states his father's grandfather was Edward Haley. Is this the same Edward Haley in Edith Virginia's line to John Haley of Rhode Island?

AND their mutual ancestries have been so blended together by folks trying to figure it out that it is hard to "tell one comet from the other." You see, the family trees were pointing me in the direction that whoever "David Haley" was, he was a descendant of John Haley, the man at the top of the Haleys in the pedigree chart above. 

       

       

Above: David Haley "of Ireland"

The trouble was that the same man (?), one David Haley, was reported born in Ireland, but the other one was born in, you guessed it, Virginia - yet more often than not, they were said to be the same person (?) or that both of them descended from that guy at the top of the chart, John Haley.

WTF?

To make matters worse, "a" David Haley appears in Edith Virginia Haley's family tree - but so does a lineage to John Haley - on the opposite side.

WTF?

So just who are you, David Haley? Which one are you?

To do this, I actually went to the DAR records to figure out "which David Haley was which." Please see the image below:

Now I will cut to the chase here and let you know that all indications are that Edith Virginia Haley descends from the David Haley who was born in Ireland, the second name on our hit parade of comets. 

               

    

Above: Emma Helms Middleton Wells'  History of Roane County, Tennessee, 1801-1870, Lookout Publishing, Chattanooga, TN 1927, pages 189-191

The other David Haley is just "the other David Haley," who lived in the same Tennessee county and died the same year as Edith Virginia's David Haley. There is no readily apparent connection.

Even Wells' History of Roane County gets them confused and "blended" together - on those very same pages.

If you don't believe me, check out the DAR records again.

   

 As you can see in the image below, John Cloud Haley was the son of "Private David Haley" - and not "Major David Haley."

 

Above: marriage record for John Cloud Haley and Elizabeth Matlock

      

                           

My question: Are the two David Haleys related?

 

It Was All a Dream! (No, Wait, Two Separate Branches Actually Rejoined.)

Setting "David of Virginia" aside for now, lo and behold, there is the other side of Edith's tree. Another comet's tail, if you will, that leads back to John Haley of Rhode Island, a seemingly completely separate branch of the same family.

Now remember, we're not talking about "Smith and Jones" here. 

We actually seem to be talking about North and South. However, while there is no known connection between David Haley of Ireland to John Haley of Rhode Island, there just might be a connection between David Haley of Virginia and John Haley of Rhode Island.

Below:  The very unverified lineage of John Haley of Rhode Island

Is it then possible that David Haley of Ireland is connected to John Haley of Rhode Island?

And they both connect to Edith Virginia Haley (1920-2003)

Did you get all that? Yeah, it makes my head hurt too.

So I'm not here to chart new planets or identify other lineages among these celestials. Really, I just wanted to "clarify the Davids" out of the Space Dust and get to know the line from John Haley of Rhode Island. Most of these inter-cousin type marriages are entertained between fairly immediate family members, and it is unusual to find two distinct and likely distantly related branches "rejoining" themselves in one individual a couple of centuries later.

Is that cool or what? 

Identifying Edith Virginia Haley as her own cousin may be taking liberty or license with the concept of genetic relationships or their relativity. However, it is a curiosity nonetheless that these two branches of the Haley family should come together again in Edith.

There are some thoughts that "David of Virginia" (listed first in the DAR record above) could be related to John of Rhode Island. While this doesn't make him necessarily directly related to Edith Virginia Haley, it certainly gives him a place among the speculative branches of her family tree.

I thought it was cool.

I thought it was a dang comet. LOL.

                 

Maybe Edith looked up that day the comet flashed overhead back in '86 and thought to herself...

               

There for the grace of God go I.

Peace.