Anne wrote [in part]:
I was very intrigued by your discussion of the Salley/Sallee surname as I am currently invested in my own genealogy research. As far as I have been able to figure out, my great-great grandfather was named
Shiloh Salley and he was born in 1879 in
Hazard,
KY. He died there in 1946.
An additional interesting note is that, according to family legend, it was my great-grandmother (Shiloh's daughter in-law) that killed him. My main goal in the research that I have been doing is to possibly confirm/deny that story as well as to figure out from just what part of
Europe my branch of the Salley's came from and when. I have also been told that we have some Native American blood, possibly Cherokee, and I have been looking for information on that as well.
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Anne:
Shiloh Salley is the son of David Benjamin
Salley, b.1859 VA, -as you probably knew. Although Shiloh’s death certificate indicates that he was born in 1879, he was actually born in January of 1883, probably in
Perry County,
Kentucky. He was shot by a family member and died a short time afterward; his death was ruled a homicide. When I visited the
Perry County Salley’s many years ago, I did discuss the general family history with several of Shiloh’s relatives. My recollection is that it was not his daughter-in-law who shot him. I must admit that I am not now heavily involved in
Salley genealogy, so details are no longer on the tip of my tongue. It will take some time to look through what I call my notes.
The early history of this line of Salley’s remains quite incomplete. This family lived in Southwestern
Virginia as early as 1815, as I recall, and consistently used the surname “Salley”. It is very likely that descendants of this
Salley family continue to live in the Scott,
Grayson, and
Lee County,
Virginia areas. The family linage is clouded by the absence of written history and a sparseness of oral history. Several branches of the family moved into Eastern
Kentucky prior to the Civil War. David Benjamin
Salley was born in
Lee County,
Virginia in about 1859 and came to
Kentucky with his family when he was less than a year old.
The surname in all the “early” records is “Salley”. It was only in much later generations that members of this family started using “Sallee” and “sallie”; in fact, less than 10 years ago, branches of this family lived within 20 miles of each other, spelled their surnames three different ways, and had no idea that they were related.
The origin of your particular branch of Salley’s is uncertain as is many of the
Salley and
Sallee families. As I said in earlier posts, “While some of our Salley-Sallee brethren may feel comfortable, or even confident, of a
Swiss or French connection, it is far more likely that most of us have a less exotic connection to Ireland or England”, -or even Germany. Jack
Salley, a valued contributor to this forum, has mentioned the renown explorer John Peter
Salling as a possible, or likely, progenitor of the Southwestern
Virginia Salley clan. That is a tantalizing possibility. However, the individual that is most responsible for that theory (not Jack) based it on flawed data. Nevertheless, John Peter
Salling remains a greater possibility in my judgment than Heini
Salin of
Swiss fame does.
With regard to American Indian blood, perhaps your connection is through members of your family that married into the
Salley family as it is in my case. I am not aware of any data or information that strongly suggests a Salley-American Indian connection in our Salley’s.
When I started working on the Eastern
Kentucky Salley genealogy in the 1960’s, little was known beyond a generation or two. While progress has been made (-as examples, the David Benjamin
Salley family was “discovered” less than 10 years ago and I only discovered my grandfather’s middle name last year), I am beginning to have the uncomfortable feeling that the proverbial brick wall isn’t in any eminent danger of falling.
But, having new researchers like yourself enter the hunt is encouraging. I would be surprised if somewhere there isn’t a stone left unturned…
Dr. Bill
Rice,
Kentucky
