McCallister's McAlisters (and some other good families)

The DuVal Family

My third great grandfather, Robert E. Rowley (1814-1880), married Mary Ann Duval (1821-1875) in 1843 in Union County Kentucky. The Duvals were an old, well-connected family, tracing their advent to the North American Colony of Virginia in March of 1701.

Daniel DuVal, (1675-died after 1718) a Chevalier of France, and his spouse Philadephia DuBois were both French; he a Huguenot and she a nominal Catholic, although her uncle was a Cardinal-Archbishop and later the Secretary of State of the French nation. They eloped to England, aided by her clerical uncle, where they were married and boarded the ship Nassau for the three month trip to their new home. They settled in Gloucester County Virginia and had five children.

One of their sons, Samuel (1713-1784), married Lucy Claiborne (1725-1810) whose prestigious family's Virginia roots dated back to 1629. They settled in Henrico County Virginia, near the town of Richmond. At his plantation, Mount Comfort, Samuel DuVal built the first brick house in Richmond, and there, they parented at least 8 children. The house and plantation are both long gone now, having been swallowed up by the city of Richmond.

Samuel was a civic minded individual, and served not only in the House of Burgesses (1773-1776) but on various other committees and organizations that dealt with the incipient American revolution. He was named a Colonel in the American forces. A 32 year member and vestryman of St. John's Church in Richmond, he was in the congregation when his friend and colleague Patrick Henry gave his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech. He is buried within the churchyard at St. John's in a now-unmarked grave.

Of Samuel and Lucy's 8 children, four married into the Pope family, another very early Virginia family, including my direct ancestor, Claiborne Duval (1760-1824). He took Elizabeth Pope (1760-1815) as his wife in 1780 and together they parented 9 children. The family moved to Kentucky about 1795 and finally settled on a farm near the Simpson/Logan County line. A nephew of both Claiborne and Elizabeth, William Duval, was named first United States Governor of the new Florida Territory.

Notable of Claiborne & Elizabeth's children: one was killed in a duel in Louisville; one settled on a plantation in Mississippi; and two migrated to Union County Kentucky.

Claiborne Lawson Duval (1788-1834) was ordained a Methodist Episcopal minister in 1816. After several years as a circuit rider, he founded and pastored Antioch M.E. Church about 1820 near Morganfield, making him the first Methodist pastor in that county. He married Jane Elizabeth Russell in 1816. His brother, Lucius Claiborne Duval (1789-1845) also settled near Morganfield in Union County. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 (he enlisted twice) and a farmer. He married Tabitha Adams Russell, sister of the above Jane Elizabeth in 1818. Lucius Claiborne Duval and Tabitha Adams Russell (1796-1862) had a total of eleven children, of which Mary Ann Duval was the second born.

Pictured at the top of this page is the Ware Parish Church in Gloucester County Virginia. While the parish is older, this church was built around 1701. Daniel DuVal and his family were communicants here, and it is thought that Daniel helped build this structure.