The England Family: From the Blue Ridge to the Blue Grass
- Janet England
- Dec 10, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Tracing the England line is like following a map of early American ambition. While I would love to hop across the pond to find their origins in the British Isles, our solid paper trail starts in the rugged frontier of Burke County, North Carolina in the late 18th century. George Washington is in his first term, and the "United States" is still a brand-new experiment.
1790: The First Snapshot
The 1790 census was the first official population count conducted by the United States government. It provides valuable information about early settlers, including family heads, household sizes, and locations. For our England family, this census is the earliest official record that mentions John England, Jr., our ancestor who lived in Burke County, North Carolina.
John’s listing in the census confirms the family’s presence in America shortly after the Revolutionary War. It also shows the family’s role in the early development of the region. In the 1790s, Burke County was a vast, primarily frontier area encompassing much of what is now Western North Carolina. The area was primarily settled by English, Scotch-Irish, and German immigrants, who moved into lands previously inhabited by the Catawba and Cherokee Native American tribes.
Five England Families in Burke County
What’s fascinating is that John England, Jr wasn't alone. There were five England households clustered together:
John Sr. & John Jr. (The "Old" and "Young" Johns)
Daniel, Joseph, and Thomas England
"Jr." and "Sr." back then were more like nicknames for "Big John" and "Little John" to keep the tax collector from getting confused. They might have been father and son, or perhaps just uncle and nephew.
From North Carolina to Kentucky
Burke County was beautiful but tough. Around the turn of the 19th century, the "Kentucky Fever" hit. The Englands packed up their lives and followed the trails through the mountains into South Central Kentucky.
By the early 1800s, the family had traded the North Carolina wilderness for the fertile soil of Adair County, Kentucky. This wasn't just a random move; they were part of a massive wave of pioneers looking for better farmland and a fresh start. This is where the England roots really took hold—so much so that if you shout "England" in Adair County today, a dozen people might still turn around!
Grandpa Henry’s Path
The story eventually leads us to my Grandpa Henry England, born in that Kentucky heartland in Milltown, Adair County, on the banks of Russell Creek. But the "pioneer spirit" was clearly genetic. Just like his ancestors left North Carolina, Grandpa Henry and his family kept the momentum going North and West to Illinois and then Missouri.
Why This Matters
Our England family wasn't just watching history happen; we were the ones making it. They were the "boots on the ground" during the first census and the settlers who built the towns we see on the map today. From clearing North Carolina timber to farming the Missouri soil, our England family journey is a classic American success story of grit and survival.
Roots to Branches
Learn More
"United States, Census, 1790", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHKB-2H5 : Fri Mar 08 04:29:25 UTC 2024), Entry for Jno England, Jr, 1790. You can get a free membership for the FamilySearch one world tree and open and view these links.
1790 U.S. census, Burke County, North Carolina, population schedule, p. 105 (penned), line 17, Jno England, Jr.; NARA microfilm publication M637, roll 7; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5058/records/156548?tid=22465243&pid=1244527598&ssrc=pt); citing National Archives microfilm First Census of the United States, 1790, Record Group 29. Requires an ancestry.com subscription to open this link.
Barger, Robin Mace, coordinator. "Companies that made up the 1790 Morgan District Census." Burke County NCGenWeb. Last modified July 8, 2020. https://www.ncgenweb.us/burke/ncbcompa.htm.
Barger, Robin, coordinator. Burke County, NCGenWeb. https://ncgenweb.us/burke/ : 2024.