The Ancestors of Christopher Columbus Broyles

My second great grandfather, Christopher Columbus “CC” Broyles, is seated on the right next to his wife Nancy Florence Clark. Their children are standing, including my great grandmother Eva Broyles Smith (far left).

50% German

43.67% confirmed or likely to be English

4.73% Irish

1.6% Scottish

My first name (Devan) comes from my great aunt Eva Lorene Smith Dial and her mother Eva Broyles Smith. The older Eva’s father was a man named Christopher Columbus Broyles, and it’s not hard to guess where his name comes from. Apparently, he went by  “CC” and his surname comes from Germany, where it was usually recorded as “Breyel” or “Breuel”. I don’t know too much about German, but I do know that “eu” makes the English “oy” sound, so the current pronunciation must be pretty true to its origins.

Apparently, the Breuel family lived in Ofterdingen and Dußlingen - two towns just south of Stuttgart - as well as Ötisheim, a town on Stuttgart’s northwest side. It was in 1717 that Johannes Breuel and wife Ursula Ruop left Ötisheim to come to America. On the boat with them were 18 other German families, all said to be trying to avoid French persecution. Apparently, the trip got off to a slow start because there was a six-month layover in England, where the ship captain was discovered to have a debt and was forced to serve six months in prison right away.

The travelers were hoping to get to Pennsylvania, the most popular destination for early German-American immigrants, but a storm blew them off course and towards Orange County, Virginia. Apparently there, the same captain who served six months in an English prison claimed the German passengers had not paid their way for the voyage and forced the governor of Virginia to pay the amount he claimed to be owed. This resulted in the Breuels and other Germans being sold into indentured servitude at a place called Germanna Colony, a spot located between Fredericksburg and Culpeper, Virginia. After the supposed debt was worked off, the Johannes and Ursula stayed for a few generations in Culpeper County, a spot in Virginia located just southwest of Washington, DC. I believe it was in Culpeper County that the family name began to be recorded as “Broyles”.

Left: Ötisheim, Germany

Right: The Culpeper County, Virginia Courthouse in the 1860’s

Multiple genealogy websites claim that Ursula was the fourth great granddaughter of Reformation leader Martin Luther, saying her great grandmother Ruop had been born Maria Brenner in 1590. Maria’s maternal grandfather was Johannes Luther, who is Martin Luther’s oldest son. I will add, though, that some genealogy sources claim that Maria Brenner never had a daughter. So there is some doubt about the legitimacy of this Lutheran ancestry.

Far and middle left: CC Broyles’ possible 9th great grandparents, Martin and Katharina von Bora Luther

Middle and far right: CC Broyles’ possible 10th great grandparents, Johannes and Margarethe Lindemann “Luder”

The next couple of generations of Broyles following Johannes and Ursula spent time in Madison County, Virginia and Greenville, a town in Monroe County, West Virginia where CC’s grandfather John Broyles died in 1865 at the age of 92. John had fully Germanic ancestry, as did his wife Dorothy Elizabeth Tanner. The only exception to this is that the Tanner line appears to have originated in Kingston St. Michael, England before spending a few generations in Sulzfeld, Germany and then finally migrating to Orange County, Virginia in 1720.

Sulzfeld, Germany

CC’s grandparents John Broyles and Elizabeth Tanner were married in Madison County, Virginia in 1800. Then three years later, Elizabeth gave birth to CC’s father Fielding Broyles. Back in modern day West Virginia, Fielding married his first wife, Nancy Evans, in 1824. They had eight children together, most of whom were born in Lawrence County, Ohio, a spot just across the Ohio River from Huntington, West Virginia.

My brother Dylan near the top of Old Rag Mountain in Madison County, Virginia

The family arrived in Hamilton County, Illinois in about 1845, but Nancy died eight years later. She is not CC Broyles’ mother, but she is buried next to Fielding Broyles at Little Springs Cemetery, where CC and his wife are also buried.

Left: CC Broyles’ father, Fielding Broyles

Right: Fielding Broyles’ grave at Little Springs Cemetery in southern Hamilton County

Seated is my great grandmother, Eva Broyles Smith. I am directly behind her in the orange polo. My brother Jordan Faulkenberg is on the far right. My other brother Dylan Faulkenberg is in yellow. Our cousin Bria Davis Frick is in blue, and her twin sister Britani Davis Clifford is in the orange hoodie. Eva’s grandfather was Fielding Broyles. He was over 100 years older than her, and although she never met any of her grandparents, she did know his name.

Two years after the death of his first wife, Fielding Broyles married CC’s mother, Susanna W. Oglesby. Her maiden name can be traced back to Edinburgh, Scotland, where her third great grandfather Richard Oglesby was born in 1685. Probably in his late teens, he arrived in Richmond, Virginia, where he married Susanna Ware in 1717. The next few generations of Oglesbys lived in Goochland County, Virginia, which is where Susanna Oglesby Broyles’ grandfather, Constant Oglesby, Sr., was born in 1765.

Edinburgh, Scotland

It appears that Constant Oglesby and wife Nancy Ann Coursey moved down to South Carolina, where they had a few children before relocating to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. It’s not known for sure when the move to Kentucky occurred, but at least some of their children must have been adults by then. That might not include Susanna’s father, John C. Oglesby, though. He was born in South Carolina in 1794, seventeen years after his oldest brother.

My mom and me at Broyles Cemetery in Lindside, Monroe County, West Virginia

In 1816, John C. Oglesby married Sarah Knight in Hopkinsville. Her parents are CC Broyles’ oldest known Knight ancestors, and both of them were born in the Greensboro, North Carolina area. All nine of John and Sarah’s children were born back in Kentucky, but the whole family moved to Hamilton County, Illinois some time in the 1840’s.

An old picture of some farmers in the Greensboro, North Carolina area

Their sixth born child was Susanna Oglesby. She married the widowed Fielding Broyles in 1855 and eventually gave birth to two sons and two daughters. The younger son was Christopher Columbus “CC” Broyles. When CC was just three or four, his father was involved in a mill accident that didn’t end his life immediately, but did shortly thereafter. Today Fielding is buried in southern Hamilton County at Little Springs Cemetery, along with both of his wives, his second wife’s parents, and several descendants.

Among them is CC Broyles, who I assume was known to his grandchildren as “Pa Broyles”. I say that because I’ve seen pictures of his wife where his granddaughter has “Ma Broyles” written on the back, as well as pictures of his granddaughter’s other set of grandparents where she labeled them “Ma Smith” and “Pa Smith”.