Origins of Early Settlers

This list was compiled from early census records. This should not be considered a complete comprehensive list of the early settlers in Henderson County. The surnames are those who were living in today’s Henderson County or near today’s Henderson County at the time of the censuses. Surnames were added as they appeared in the early censuses.

1790 – Rutherford County
Allen – English/Scots
Ballard – English
Barkley – Scots
Blackwell – English
Boilston – English
Bradley – English
Brittain – English
Brown – English/Scots
Camp – English
Carruth – Scots
Case – English
Clark – English/Scots
Cochran – Scots
Collins – English
Davidson – English
Dickey – English/Scots
Duncan – Scots
Earle – English
Edwards – Welsh
Enloe – English
Flack – English
Fletcher – Scots
Foster – English
Freeman – Scots
Green – English
Greenlee – Scots
Hart – Scots
Hicks – English
Hill – English
Jackson – English/Scots
Johnson – English
Jones – Welsh
Justice – English/Scots
King – English
Kuykendall – Dutch
Lankford – English
Ledbetter – English
Lewis – Welsh
Lyda – Scots/German or Polish
Lyles (Lytle?) – Scots
Maybin – Scots
McLean – Scots
McMinn – Scots
McMurray – Scots
Metcalf – English
Miller – English/Scots
Mills – English
Moore – English/Scots
Morgan – Welsh
Morris – Welsh
Morrow – Scots
Moss – English
Music or Musik – Polish and/or Czech
Nanney or Nanny – Welsh
Nix – English/Scots
Osborne – Scots
Owenby – Welsh
Owens – Welsh
Parks – Scots
Patterson – Scots
Pullam – English
Reed – English
Russell – English
Shipman – English
Stepp – English
Street – English
Stringfield – English
Tabor – English
Taylor – English/Scots
Thompson – Scots
Walker – English
Wadkins (Watkins) – English/Scots
Whiteside – Scots/English
Williams – Welsh
Young – English

1800 Census – Buncombe and Rutherford
Anderson – Scots
Bagwell – English
Ballenger – English
Blankenship – English
Blythe – English
Black – English/Scots
Baird – French
Barnwell – English
Blakely – English
Bowman – English
Braden – English
Bryson – Scots
Burnett – English
Byers – Scots
Cagle (Kegel) – German
Capps – English
Carson – English/Scots
Cathey – Scots
Clayton – English
Conner – Scots
Corn – English
Cunningham – Scots
Dalton – English
Davenport – English
Davis – Welsh/English
Dyer – English
Edney – English
Edmundson – Scots
Elliott – Scots
Erwin – Scots
Featherstone – English
Finley – Scots
Fortune – English
Fowler – English
Gash – English
Gibbs – English/Scots
Gilbert – English
Gillespie – Scots
Gilliam – English
Grant – Scots
Greer – Scots
Gudger – English
Guice – French
Hall – Scots
Hamby – English
Harden – English
Hefner – German
Henderson – Scots
Henry – Scots
Hensley – English
Hightower – English
Holbert – English
Hollingsworth – English
Holcombe – English
Hooper – English
Hyder – English
Huggins – Scots
Israel – Italian/German/Hebrew
Kimsey – English
Kilpatrick – English/Scots
Kirkpatrick – English/Scots
Lance (Lenz) – German
Laughter – English
Lindsey – Scots
Lively – English/Italian
Liverett – English
Love – English
Mahaffey – Scots
Maxwell – English/Scots
May – English/Scots
McCall – Scots
McCrary – Scots
McDowell – Scots
McFarland – Scots
McGuffy – Scots
McKinney – Scots
Merrell – English/French
Morrison – Scots
Murray – Scots
Newman – English
Nichols – English/German
Oliver – English/Scots
Orr – Scots
Page – English
Parris – English
Patton – Scots
Pilgrim – English
Pinner – English
Posey – English/French
Poteet – French
Prater – English
Ramsey – English/Scots
Revis – English
Rhodes – English
Roberts – Welsh
Robinson – English
Rogers – English
Shufford – English
Smith – English
Staton – German/English
Stroud – English
Summer/Sumner – English
Thomas – English/Welsh
Ward – English
Whitaker – English
Williamson – Scots/ English
Wilson – English/Scots

1810 Census – Buncombe
Alexander – Scots
Allison – Scots/English
Andrew – Scots/English
Arledge – Scots/English
Bennett – English
Brock – English
Brooks – English
Cantrell – English
Chastain – French
Creasman – English
Drake – English
Dryman – Scots
Dunn – Scots
Early – English
Fain – English
Frisbee – English
Garren – German/English
Glazener – German
Gordon – Scots
Grant – Scots/French
Gray – English/Scots
Gudger – English
Gurley or Gourley – Scots
Hamilton – Scots/English
Hawkins – English
Heatherly – English
Hipps – English
Hollingsworth – English
Hunter – English/Scots
Justus – Swedish
Kelly – English
Lanning – English
Ledford – English
Lynch – English
Marshall – English/French/German
Massey – French/English
McCarson – Scots
McCraw – Scots
McGraw – Scots
Moody – English
Osteen – Scots/Swedish
Pace – English
Parker – English
Penland – English
Phillips – English
Porter – English
Price – Welsh
Ray – English
Rhymer – English
Ruth – English
Sandlin – Scots
Scoggins or Scroggins – Scandinavian/English
Searcy – English
Shepherd – English
Simmons – English
Siniard – French
Sitton – English
Sizemore – English
Souther – English
Splawn – English/Welsh/Scots
Stroupe – French/Belgian
Summey – English
Surrette – French
Suttles – French/English
Tankersley – English
Townsend – English
Trammel – English
Waldrop – German
Weaver – English
Webb – English
Wood – English/Scots