Welcome to my Candler Web Site - © Ed Marsh 2001

I began this web site in 1997. At that time I just wanted a place to share data about my Lynchburg, Virginia Candler ancestors. Nearly every source I consulted mentioned the writing of Allen Daniel Candler; Civil War veteran, Georgia politician who became Governor in the late 1890's, and descendant of Colonel William Candler of Georgia (who fought in the American Revolution). I was not sure how my people related to those in Georgia, but legend held that we were kin.

According to nearly every article and lineage chart that I came across, we American Candlers were all descended from an Englishman named William Candler (c1610-c1680) who received grant lands in Ireland after serving as an officer in Lord Cromwell's War (which ended in the 1750's).

Surely, I concluded, this story is so universally circulated that the evidence must be rock solid.

As it turns out, this is not the case. In fact, in the 100+ years since Governor Candler wrote his first book on the subject, not one single piece of documentary evidence has surfaced to prove this legendary theory.

Theory is the correct term. Now that I have studied the actual text of Governor Allen D. Candler's book, I see that he was only offering speculation. Gov. Candler assumed much in reaching his conclusions, and he advanced these with a bit of humility. Unfortunately, subsequent generations have gilded the lily.

Whereas Gov. Candler offered his research as theory, the intervening multitude has "set it in stone." This is a great discredit to Gov. Candler's original work. It has become my ambition to set the record straight.

Daniel Candler (c1700-1765) and his wife Hannah, lived at South River Settlement (present Lynchburg, VA). According to Legend Daniel and Hannah Candler came from Ireland.

Listed on Daniel's will of 1765 were Hannah, and children:

John Candler (c1730-1802) married Elizabeth Gibson in about 1750, most likely at South River Settlement.

Elizabeth Candler (c1733-c1800) married John Caffery (c1722-1790) in about 1755, most likely at South River Settlement.

William Candler (c1736-1784) married Elizabeth Anthony (1747-1803) in May or June of 1761, most likely near South River Settlement.

Elloner Candler (c1739-1790) married Byrum Ballard (1740-1817) at South River Quaker Meeting in Aug of 1763.

Zedekiah Candler (c1745-after 1820) married Anna Moorman (1756-1804) in 1772 in Bedford County.

John Candler, Elizabeth (Candler) Caffery, Elloner (Candler) Ballard, and Zed remained in the Lynchburg area and raised families. William also began his family at South River but moved to Georgia c1769. Zed moved to TN after 1805 (after his children were married and after his wife Anna Moorman passed away).

Daniel, John, William, Elizabeth, and Elloner joined the Quakers (The Society of Friends) in the 1750's. There is no evidence that Zed and Hannah ever did so.

John Candler (c1730-1802) and his wife, Elizabeth Gibson, raised 8 children - seven of whom remained in Virginia (Daniel moved to Montgomery County, MD).

All of these but Henry married and had families (there is evidence that he may have fathered a child -- notice of this exists in the Quaker records). William, James, and Jane (Guthrie) remained on Candlers Mountain (and perhaps Henry also). Douglas and Hannah (Candler) Irby moved to Botetourt County. William and Ellender (Candler) Burress moved to Montgomery County and later were into Wythe County (they may simply have lived in the part that was separated to form Wythe).

William Candler married Agnes Guthrie and James married Agnes Johnson. Each couple had seven children.

My father loved the James River where he spent lazy summer hours swimming, fishing, or generally exploring the environs. His stories of those days formed an indelible image in my mind, and a link to our ancestors who settled beside this river 250 years ago. Yet, my father actually knows little of the generations that preceded his mother. Several years ago, I asked him about the Candler family and he retrieved an old newspaper clipping from his files. It was an article from the Lynchburg News, dated 1959. Read the Article

I was misguided by that Candler article. It talked about three different Daniel Candlers as if they were one.

• The first Daniel Candler at South River I will call "Old" Daniel (c1700-1765).
• The second was his grandson, Daniel Candler of Maryland (c1753-1810). This Daniel received a grant for land on Candlers Mountain in 1779 that was signed by Governor Thomas Jefferson.
• The third was Daniel Candler the Last Quaker (1788-1860) who was the great-grandson of "Old" Daniel. He was the Candler whose descendants lie in the big Candler Cemetery on the mountain.

There were more Daniels than these three (as you can see above), but I'll stick to the Lynchburg News article for now.

That 1959 article cobbled these three men into one character presumed to be the first Candler at South River and the last Quaker. After years of struggling to untangle the confusion, I find that there were many more Candlers living in the South River area than anyone seemed to know. One reason for this confusion stems from the quality of Quaker records. They go way back and are very complete. It is relatively easy to find the early Candlers who were Quakers.

However, there were several 18th century South River Candlers who were not Quakers and their identities are much harder to draw from the scant public records of Bedford and Campbell County.

Another cause of confusion lies in the old-style usage of the word "junior - Jr." Modern usage means "named after the father -- Daniel, Sr. and his son Daniel, Jr." In the 18th and early 19th centuries this suffix did not mean what is does today. In the 18th century, the word was used to distinguish between two people with the same first and last name. William Candler and his brother James each had a son named Daniel (born in 1784 and 1788 respectively). On the 1820 federal census, the elder was called "Sr." and the younger "Jr." even though neither was the son of a "Daniel." In fact, a girl could be called "Jr." as in - Rebecca Smith and her daughter Rebecca, Jr.

A third problem with Virginia Candler research lies in the book Colonel William Candler of Georgia, His Ancestry and Progeny, by Governor Allen Daniel Candler of Georgia. This great-great-grandson of "Old" Daniel Candler publish his book in the 1890's (several editions); it is full of incorrect facts about the early Virginia Candlers. In fact, he didn't know that Col. Wm. Candler came from Virginia at all.

Gov. Candler tells a highly romanticized story (the kind of which was common in 19th century genealogical writing). A handsome young aristocrat falls in love with a forbidden Irish-Catholic peasant girl, they marry and he is disowned by his Protestant father, they sail to America to seek a new life in the new world.

This myth, based on very few facts and containing many errors, is more Hollywood than truth. For a hundred years this story has been passed along and ornamented. The definition of myth includes the idea of ancestor worship; and the embodiment of commonly held cultural ideals. Through hundreds of hours of research, I have come to recognize when the myth is being retold. Who would not want to belong to a story like that? It is truly the American Idyll. However, if this Candler legend were brought into the modern courtroom, most of it would be disallowed as evidence.

I do not know where the story of Daniel Candler's being descended from Lt. Col. William Candler of Cromwell's Irish forces originated. The earliest account I can find lies in the writings of Allen Daniel Candler (former governor of Georgia). He attributes his knowledge of the early Candlers to a document written by Ignatius Few a grandson of Colonel William Candler (one of Daniel and Hannah Candler's sons). I don't know why A. D. Candler did not simply reproduce this early essay of Few's in his books. I also wonder why no one has yet reproduced it in another book. It would surely be the most important document in American Candler history.

Additionally, if A. D. Candler had a good history of his family (from Few), how could it be that he did not even know that Col. Wm. Candler was born and raised in Virginia, that his parents were Daniel and Hannah, or that he had two brothers and sisters?

The early Virginia Candler family lived near to and married into several other families -- Johnsons, Moormans, Clarks -- and tradition holds that the Candlers were related to the Moorman clan "back in Ireland." There are many clues to suggest some truth to these old stories, but at this time it is hard to separate fact from fiction.

The Moorman family legend holds that Capt. Zachariah Moorman of Cromwells army married one Mary Candler. Many have suggested that Mary Candler was the daughter of Col. William Candler of Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. There is some scant circumstantial evidence to show that this was possible, but nothing close to a fact has been found.

However, old Moorman family letters seem to assert that the VA Candlers and Moormans knew of their Irish connection. Additionally, Daniel Candler of Virginia did live next-door to Zachariah Moorman. Daniel's son, Zedekiah, did marry Zachariah's daughter, Anna; and they named their first son Zachariah Moorman Candler (c1772-1844).

The Johnson family of Hanover/Louisa County, VA (many of them Quakers) married into the Moorman and Clark families (also some Quakers). The Adams and Lynch names also appear in intermarriages.

This general groups forms a sizable portion of the early South River Quaker roster.

Early Candlers In Brief

Daniel Candler was a Quaker from 1756 till his death in 1765. His oldest son, John Candler, Sr. (c1730-1802) was a Quaker from 1755 till 1767, and from 1782 till 1801 (it is curious that his disownment coincides with the coming and execution of the War). John's son James (c1756-1826) was a Quaker from 1782 till his death. James' sons Daniel (1788-1860), Johnson (b. 1789), James (b.1794), John (1795-1859), and Henry (b. 1797) were born Quakers, but all were disowned in the 1810's for military service.

John Candler, Sr. had two sons who were not Quakers, Daniel (c1753-1810) and William (1751-1836). They were both in the War for Independence. Daniel moved to Maryland before the war and is the founder of that branch of the family. William lived out his 85 years of life on Candlers mountain beside his Quaker brother James. The sons and daughters of William and James Candler filled the mountain that bore their name, but these are not the only Virginia Candlers.

John Candler, Sr. had a son named John, Jr. (1765-1832). He was a disowned Quaker also. He moved to Russell County, Virginia in the 1790's and is the progenitor of a very large family and many descendants.

Zedikiah Candlers son Zachariah (c1773-1844) and John (c1774-c1847) moved to North Carolina and Tennessee (respectively) around 1800. (More below)

Old Daniel's son William (1736-1784) moved to Georgia in about 1769. He may have moved there with a group of North Carolina Quakers (the history is a bit murky). By the time he settled for good, he was not living as a Quaker, but as a slave owner and militia officer. He served in the Revolutionary War as a Colonel and his eldest son Henry served as a Major. The history of this branch of the family is well chronicled by authors more able than I.

Daniel's son Zedikiah (c1746-after 1820) had two sons, John (b. c1770's) and Zachariah (c1770's-1844). John settled in Wilson County, Tennessee (later this area became DeKalb Co.). It was long said that he never married, but I have discovered strong evidence that he did. Winston Candler, b. c1800 in Virginia, was neighbor to John Candler of Wilson County and seems surely to be his son. Zack settled in Buncome County, North Carolina and his children and ancestors were numerous. By 1820, Zedikiah had moved to the Wilson County area and was living near his son John and his family.

I suppose the place to close my narrative is to say that many Candlers fought on both sides in the civil war. I recall a photograph of Major William Leonard Candler of Maryland sitting on horseback beside two other officers (Candler was an aide-de-camp of General Joseph Hooker). I also recall a receipt for blacksmithing done for Captain John Henry Candler (of Russell County, Virginia) of the 48th Virginia/Jackson's Corps. William Daniel Candler of Lynchburg, Virginia was in a union prisoner-of-war camp in Ohio where he and other rebel soldiers signed their names, ages, and hometowns inside the cover of a Bible. Kentucky Candlers, sons of Winston Candler, fought on both sides, split (like their own state) by that horrible war.

I welcome your comments and your history.

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