Family Lineage Charts
and Resources
NOTE:
ANY
PRESSLEY/PRESLEY FAMILY MEMBERS WISHING TO OFFER THEIR LINEAGE CHART
FOR THIS PAGE, OR ALTER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US. WE WISH THIS
TO BE A JOINT PRESLEY EFFORT. IF ANY PRESLEY FAMILY MEMBERS DO NOT
WISH THEIR ANCESTRY TO BE INCLUDED ON THIS SITE, PLEASE LET US KNOW.
ALL PRESLEY FAMILY MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO SEND US PHOTOS OF YOUR CIVIL
WAR ANCESTOR FOR OUR ANCESTOR TRIBUTE.
{THE NC PRESLEY/PRESSLEY/PRESLAR
LINE ARE KINFOLK, and are also kin to the Russell County, VA Presleys.
}
We wish to be more specific
here about Mr. Jones involvement in Presley research. Never have we
ever stated that Mr. Jones did a book, or a genealogy about Elvis.
This is a total misconception, and as our remarks here have been obviously
misconstrued, we would like to clarify that while "according
to Presley research sources, Henry Z. Jones began the quest on Presley
genealogy," this was due to his genealogical studies on the Palatinate
Germans which included information on the Bressler/Preslar line. His
work was followed upon and elaborated on by the further research on
the Preslar/Presley line researched by Ed Dunn and Donald Presley
with their publication of "The Rhineland to Graceland,"
which draws upon the conclusion that the Presleys of NC, and their
descendants, are of German decent and descend further from the Valentine
Preslar line which began in the US of A in New York.
Cecil County, MD., St. Stephen Parish, begins the documentation surrounding
the descendants of Valentine Preslar through his son, Andreas Preslar
and family, and we can follow their journey through VA and on into
NC through Andrew's sons: John, Thomas, and Andreas (Andrew), Jr.
The forebears of some other Presley family lines are noted as David
Pressley from Scotland and William Presley of England. {NOTE: The
John Presley of South Carolina who served in the American Revolution
is the son of David Pressley of Scotland and not the same John Presley
from NC to TN.} These lines are not recently related to the German
Bressler/Preslar lines, however, it is documented that some Bresslers
from Germany did migrate to the UK for a time, namely in England and
Glasgow, Scotland. The goal of the Presley family is to help unravel
the mystery of all Presley origins. With many thanks owed to our Pressley/Presley/Preslar
family researchers. The goal of The Kin of Rock and Roll
is to aid in confirming and validating sources.
SO BEGINS THE STORY...
According to The Bresslers/Presslers of Niederhochstadt,
by Elizabeth Bressler Bunting Offprint from Mennonite Family History,
Volume XI, No. 1, January, 1992, two sets of Bresslers came from Germany
in 1749 and settled in the Pennsylvania counties of Berks and Lancaster.
These would be cousins of Valentine Bressler/Preslar. One Hans Valanten
Bressler married an Anna Catharina.

Regarding the sons of Valentine and Christina
Bressler /Preslar , we find the following information as given by
a Preslar descendant, Robert Allen, who defines for us that the two
sets of Preslars living in Anson County, NC, are not only the children
of Andreas and Antje Wills, but of Hans Jurie Preslar, brother of
Andreas. It appears that the descendants of Hans Jurie kept the "Preslar"
surname while the descendants of Andreas seem to have shifted over
to Pressley and Presley, perhpas to differentiate between the two
families.
Allen writes that "... Valentine Preslar, the founder of the
family in America, was born in the Palatinate, Germany, 1669 in the
village of Hochstadt (where the Preslar family was first mentioned
in 1494); Valentine was employed there as a vine dresser; he married
Christina Franse and immigrated to New York in 1710; In the early
generations of the family the German surnames were often turned into
English (in parenthesis); after the mid-1800s many menbers of the
family changed their last name to Pressley or Pressly."
John
Valentine Bressler/Preslar Line
Children of Valentine and
Christina:
Anna Elizabeth Preslar b. 1696
Anna Gertrude Preslar b. 1698
Andreas (Andrew) Preslar b. 1701 (ancestor of Elvis Presley)
Anthony Preslar b. 1705
Maria Agnes Preslar b. 1710
Hans Jurie (John) Preslar 1713-1777
Martinus Preslar b. 1716
Pieter (Peter) Preslar b. 1717
Andrew Preslar (son of Valentine) m. Antje (Ann) Wills of Staten
Island, New York, in 1727, moved through New York through PA to
Maryland and then to Anson Co. NC.
Children born and baptized in St. Stephen's
Parish, Cecil County, MD:
Christian Preslar b. 1725
John Valentine Preslar b. 1726
Sarah Preslar b. 1728
Thomas Preslar b. 1730
Andrew Preslar, Jr b. 1732

Hans Jurie (John) Preslar
(son of Valentine) m.
Mary ____.
He settled in Anson Co. NC. where he made his living as a haberdasher
and made his will when "very sick," Dec. 16, 1777.
Children:
John Preslar
Anthony Preslar
Elias Preslar
William Preslar
Levi Preslar
Elizabeth Preslar m. ____ Manness
Ann Preslar m. ____ Nunley
Morgan Preslar (fem)
Mary Preslar
Susanna Preslar
Jane Preslar

Line of Andrew Pressley, Jr.
Andrew
Presley, Jr. Line - first generation NC/SC/TN/MS
{Elvis direct line for those following this course}
Andrew Jr.,
younger brother of Thomas, was
born 1732. His children, according to existing and various documents,
were: Charles, John, Andrew, III, Peter, and Joseph. John, born in
Rowan County, NC in 1748, served in the American Revolutionary War
for his brother, Peter, born in 1756. After the war, John relocated
to Monroe County, TN, where he filed for a pension and received it
beginning 1833. He was 84 years old. John was in Monroe County, TN,
at the same time as Dunning Presley and Dunning, Jr. who was born
in Monroe in 1827. However, John, it was said, moved there to be close
to his children. Charles Presley also served in the American Revolution
along with his wife, Polly Keziah.
John Presley,
son of Andrew, Jr. is the father of Dunning (Dunnan) Pressley. We
do have Dunning, Sr. listed by himself on the 1810 Buncombe County
Census, and on the 1820 census record for Buncombe County, NC, along
with John Presley. It is now believed that John Presley may have been
married to a Casiah/Keziah, daughter of Dunning Casiah, the neighbor
of Andrew Prestley, and whose other daughter, Mary Polly Keziah, married
Andrew's eldest son, Charles. John's son, Dunning John Pressley, providing
that his mother was a Casiah, would have been, in Tuscarora tradition,
named for the maternal grandfather, in this case, DUNNING Casiah.
Interesting to note here are the census records
and applications for Rev. War pensions that show us Andrew Presley/Priestly
with Charles, John, and Anthony,and Andrew, III, born in 1754, also
a son of Andrew, Jr., also had a son named John, both of who also
moved to TN. Both Andrew
Presley and his brother John were given Bounty-Land Warrants which
is why they moved to SC and TN from NC. We have Charles Presley/Priestley
who served of his own accord but also stepped in to serve in the stead
of both Andrew and John, his brothers. John had recalled in his pension
that he had served in the stead of his brother, Peter.
Dunning
(Dunnan) Pressley, Sr.
was born 1780 in Lancaster County, South Carolina, and died at age
70 in 1850 in Polk County, Tennessee. He married (1) Mary. He married
(2) Catherine on Abt. 1808 in Lancaster County, South Carolina.
Children
of Dunning Pressley and Catherine are:
+Dunning Pressley, Jr.,
b. July 01, 1827, Monroe County, Tennessee, d. March 10, 1900 in
Mississippi.
Dunning Pressley Jr. was born on July 1, 1827 in
Monroe County, Tennessee. On November 1, 1847 at the age of 20 he
enlisted at Knoxville as a private in Captain Jno. C. Vaughn's Company
C of the 5th Regiment of Tennessee Volunteers. His regiment served
in the War with Mexico, and between February and April of 1848 he
was in San Juan, Mexico, and in May 1848 he was at National Bridge,
Mexico. By July 2, 1848 he was on board ship returning to the United
States where he was discharged at Memphis on July 20th. On November
7th he was issued a warrant for 160 acres of land based on his army
service. It was sent to him in care of Rufus Smith in Madisonville,
Tennessee.
Dunning returned home to his wife and eldest daughter
whom he had left in Tennessee. He had married Elizabeth probably
about 1845 in North Carolina or Tennessee and to this union were
finally born five children: Elvira E. in 1846, Elizabeth in 1848,
Joshua in 1851, Dunning in 1852, and Nancy Jane in 1854.
Elizabeth died about 1860, and soon thereafter,
leaving his children probably with relatives, Dunning found himself
in northeastern Mississippi. On August 15, 1861 he married a second
time in Itawamba County, Mississippi, to Martha Jane Wesson. As
in his first marriage, he soon went off to war again. On May 11,
1863 he enlisted at Grenada, Mississippi, in Company E, Hamm's Regiment,
Mississippi Cavalry. Perhaps, like many other Civil War soldiers,
he was concerned about his family back home and temporarily deserted
in order to investigate their circumstances, because from January
18 to June 30, 1864 he was listed as deserted and absent without
leave. He returned to his unit for the final roll call.
After the war, Dunning left Martha Jane and returned to his first
family in Tennessee. Martha Jane had taken up and married Steele,
and in 1868 she died in childbirth with their firstborn. Dunning
eventually found himself in Missouri where he met and married his
3rd wife, Harriet Henrietta Toy on March 18, 1882 in Benton County,
Arkansas. Harriet was born October 11, 1862 in Lawrence County,
Missouri, and died May 16, 1937.
CHILD
OF DUNNING AND HARRIET, JAMES PRESSLEY LINE
Dunning died March 10, 1900 in Barry County,
Missouri, at 73 years of age.
Children
of (Dumis) Pressley, Jr. and Martha Jane Wesson (direct line of
Elvis Presley) are:
+ Rosella Elizabeth
Pressley
b. Feb. 1862, Fulton County, Miss. d. July 30, 1924, Pineville,
Itawamba County, Mississippi. Rosella Elizabeth Pressey never married,
according to records, and some family members speculate for different
reasons. However, Rosella lived alone and was a sharecropper in
Mississippi, raising her children, most of whom could not read or
write.
Mary Jane "Rosalinda" Pressley,
b. 1865, d. date unknown.
Children of Rosella Elizabeth
Pressley are:
1. Walter G. Presley b DEC 1880 in Itawamba
Co, MS
2. Joseph Warren Presley b ABT 1886 in Itawamba Co, MS
3. Minnie Elizabeth Presley b JUL 1889 in Itawamba Co, MS
4. Noah Edward Presley b: AUG 1890 in Itawamba Co, MS - m. Susan
Izora Griffin*, 1911, Itawamba County, MS and; (2) m. Christine
Mary Houston*, 1940
5. Jessie D.McDowell Presley b: 9 APR 1897 in Itawamba Co, MS
6. Calhoun Presley b 9 MAY 1898 in Itawamba Co, MS
7. L. Presley b: BEF 1900 in Itawamba Co, MS
8. Mack Presley b: ABT 1901 in Itawamba Co, MS
9. Robbie Presley b 1 MARCH 1903 in Itawamba Co, MS
*- names associated with NC families in Anson and Mecklenburg Counties
Jessie Dunning McDowell(?) Pressley (Wallace)
was born April 09, 1896 in Itawamba County,
Mississippi, to Rosella Pressley, unmarried, and John Wallace.
Though the rightful surname should have been Wallace, Rosella gave
her children her own name, her maiden name of Presley.
Jessie D. McDowell(?) Pressley/ Presley died 19 April 1973. He married
(1) Minnie Mae Hood on July 20, 1913. She was born 17 June 1888
and died 8 May 1980. He married (2) Vera (Kinnaird) Leftwich.
More About Jessie D. McDowell (?)Presley
and *Minnie Mae Hood:
Divorce: August 03, 1954, Lee County, Mississippi.
Marriage: July 20, 1913
Children of Jessie Dunning
McDowell (?)Presley (Wallace)
and Minnie Mae Hood are:
Vester Presley b. 11 Sept. 1914 d. 18 January
1997
m. Clettis Smith
child: Patsy Presley b.
+Vernon Elvis Presley b. April 10, 1916, Fulton, Itawamba County,
Mississippi,
d. June 26, 1979.
Delta Mae Presley b. m. Biggs
Gladys Earlene Presley b. m. Morgan
Lorene Nashval (Nash) Presley b. m. Earl Pritchett
Vernon Elvis Pressley/Presley
was born April 10, 1916 in Fulton, Itawamba
County, Mississippi, and died June 26, 1979. He married (1) Gladys
Love Smith on June 17, 1933 in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. He
married (2) Davada (Dee) Mae (Elliott) Stanley.
More About Vernon Elvis Presley and Gladys
Love Smith:
Marriage: June 17, 1933, Pontotoc County, Mississippi.
Children of Vernon Elvis
Presley and Gladys Love Smith are:
+Elvis Aron Presley,
b. January 08, 1935, Tupelo, Mississippi, d. August 16, 1977, Memphis,
Tennessee.
Jessie Garon Presley,
b. January 08, 1935, d. January 08, 1935.
Elvis Aron (Aaron) Presley was born January
08, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, and died August 16, 1977 in Memphis,
Tennessee. He married Priscilla Ann Beaulieu.
Children of Elvis Aaron Presley and Priscilla
Ann Beaulieu are:
Lisa Marie Presley
Children of Lisa Marie Presley and (1) Danny Keough:
Daughter: Danielle Riley, born May 19, 1989
Son: Benjamin Storm, born Oct. 21, 1992
Children of Lisa Marie Presley and (3) Michael
Lockwood:
Twin girls born October 7, 2008:
Harper Vivienne Ann
Finley Aaron Love
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Line of Thomas Presley

Regarding the
founder of The Kin of Rock and Roll , her direct ancestor,
Thomas Presley was the second eldest son of Andrew Presley, Sr.
Andrew Presley, Jr. is the line from which Elvis Presley descended.
Aside from being descended directly from the Presley line, The Kin
of Rock and Roll's family descends down through many intermarriages
between Presley and other inter-related lines including the Harrison,
King, Edwards, Taylor, Hood, Winchester, Keziah, Crowell and Hargett
families who began in NC and settled in SC, AL, TN, and then MS
in Itawamba , Lee, and Leake Counties. From NC, members of the families
of Thomas and Andrew migrated together down through SC, TN, and
MISS, yet always remaining at least one county apart. While the
brothers Presley settled in Anson County, NC, in the early 1700's,
brother Andrew seems to have had the wanderlust about him. The Presleys
were large landowners and during the course of the Revolutionary
War it seems they were back and forth between NC and SC at frequent
intervals. We know from Revolutionary War information that during
the 1700's these areas were subject to Indian attacks, which could
explain why some of these families moved around quite a bit.
The
Mystery Surrounding Thomas Presley
Thomas
Presley's 1st wife was a Culpepper as he married a " ? Culpetter",
according to the US and International Marriage Records-1741- 1968.
There is no female Culpepper fitted into an acceptable time frame
for the wife of Thomas so it is with a guesstimate at this time
that the lady Culpepper's was a Culpepper through marriage only.
This is still under investigation.
Thomas Presley's second wife was Sarah Lee. There were two Sarah
Lee's. First, the wife of Robert Lee, Sarah, was widowed in 1766.
A copy of Robert Lee's Will (below) shows his wife as Sarah, and
Thomas Presley as one who purchased goods from the estate. It also
shows another SARAH LEE, the daughter of Robert and Sarah Lee, who
was married to William Crittendon of Anson County, NC. (source:
David Duncan for Brooks family history. Naomi Brooks married to
John Crittendon, s/o William Crittendon and Sarah Lee.)
Last Will and Testament of Robert Lee
of Anson County, NC
Sarah
Lee (Crittendon), the daughter, was born ca. 1740's and would have
been closest in age to Thomas Presley. However, according to Thomas'
Will, which he drew up shortly before his death, he mentions William
Crittendon as his "true & trusty friend."
William Crittendon is still alive at the time of Thomas' death in
1808. Sarah Lee, the elder, is the most likely candidate for the
second wife of Thomas Presley. Thomas and Sarah Lee, aside from
each first group of children had four more together; all girls:
Rebecca (Pool), Jean Presley, Mary (Thomas), and Nancy (Pool).
Thomas
Presley Line - first generation NC/SC/TN/MS

Thomas
Presley died in July of 1808. There lingers some confusion surrounding
Sarah Presley (Preslar). A Sarah Lee had been married also to William
Crittendon of Anson County, NC. (source: David Duncan for Brooks
family history. Naomi Brooks married to John Crittendon, s/o William
Crittendon and Sarah Lee.) William Crittendon, b. ca. 1765, was
the "true & trusty friend" mentioned by Thomas
Presley (Preslar) in his Will. This Sarah Lee was Sarah Lee Culpepper,
a daughter of Sarah Lee and Robert Lee Culpepper. This daughter,
Sarah Crittendon, is mentioned in Robert Lee Culpepper's Will.
Still more confusion according to Armenia Church
records and a photo of a tombstone for a Sarah Preslar buried in
Armenia Methodist Church Cemetery, Chester, SC. According to the
inscription Sarah was the "consort of Thomas Preslar."
Sarah died 9 May 1858 at 71 years of age. That would give her birth
year as 1787. Who is this Sarah Preslar?
NOTE: Two of the first settlers and
original landowners in Anson County, NC, were John Culpepper and
John Lee. Thomas seems to have known both men quite well and had
married into their families. Congressman John Culpepper was the
grandson-in-law of Sarah Lee through her daughter, Amelia, whose
daughter, Mary Yarbrough was his wife, and John Lee was a son of
Sarah and Robert Lee.
Thomas Presley, Sr. and
first wife Culpepper had the following children:
1. Susanna
Presley was born about 1754. She
married John "Blackhead" Helms b. 1756 (line of the
Kin of Rock and Roll) in 1785 in Anson County, NC. LINEAGE CHART
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
2. Sarah Presley was born about 1756.
She married George Helms, Jr., brother of John Helms.
3. Anna Presley was born about 1774.
She married Levi Preslar ca. 1820 in Mecklenburg County, NC.
4. Richard
Presley was born 15 March 1760. (married Mary
Helms, niece of John Helms) The children of Richard Presley largely
married into the Hargett family.
5. Elizabeth Presley was born about 1760.
6. Thomas Presley Jr.
was born 25 February 1766. Also a blacksmith. The line
of Thomas, Jr. descends down to TN and MS largely through the
Barney Harrison Presley line.
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1790
Lancaster County, SC Census
showing Dunnan Cashilaw {Dunning Casiah, neighbor of
Andrew and Jno Prestley} |
1 |
2 |
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1800 Kershaw County Census {showing
Anthony, Charles, and John Presley} |
Dunning Presley, Sr. Pension Record |
Dunning Presley, Sr. - War of 1812 Service
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Dunning Presley, Mexican War Service Record
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Dunning Presley Confederate Service Record
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Record of Marriage of a Dumis Presley to Martha Jane
Wesson |
NC Deeds |
Will of Thomas Presley, Sr. |
Marriage Records of Helms and Presley-Anson County,
NC |
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Trading Post Ledger Record for Kershaw County, SC, for
Andrew Pressley, Sr. and sons ~ 1776 to 1778
|
1790 Anson County Census
(shows that both Thomas Presley,
Sr. and Jr., and John Presley, Sr. and Jr. did not own
slaves. By this time, Andrew Jr. was in Rowan County,
NC.) |
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| Part
of Andrew Presley Rev. War Pension
| 2 | 3
| 4 ||
5 ||6 ||
7 | 8| |
Part
of John Presley Rev. War. Pension
2 | 3
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Pt
of Charles Presley Rev. War Pension
2 ||
3 || 4 || 5
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{Rev.
War stats source National Archives}
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Who
is this Sarah Preslar? Click on
for larger image.
The grave of Sarah Preslar at Armenia Church Cemetery
in Chester County, SC. Wording states, in part, that
Sarah Preslar was the consort of Thomas Preslar...that
she died 1858 in the 71st year of her age...
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James
George Washington Pressley and wife, Mildred.
The distinct Native American features of James Pressley
indicates that Andrew Pressley, Jr. and sons Charles and
John had married into the Dunning Casiah Tuscarora family.
Documentation on Charles Presley's connection to Dunning
Casiah has already been validated, now seeking documents
to prove the connecting links for Andrew, Jr. and son, John.
If any family members can provide further proofs, please
contact The Kin of Rock and Roll at elviscousin@comcast.net

The
photograph above is the last
photo available of Harriet Henrietta Toy Pressley, the third
wife of Dunning Pressley. She is the mother of James Pressley,
pictured above. Click
on photo to see original.
Photos
above submitted to the Kin of Rock and Roll by Mary Fletcher
of the Fletcher family and are the copyright of same.
The
Bresslers/Presslers of Niederhochstadt

AMENDED INFORMATION: I
had last year retrieved this documentation from the Palatinate
Subsistence Passenger Lists and neglected to address it
here so as to confirm information that was in error placed
here. The actual documentation lists the following information:
that in June of 1710, not 1709 as some sources depict, approx.
2,400 Germans (Palatinate) arrived in New York and New Jersey
from England. On 14 June 1710 arriving on the ship "Fame,"
Captain Walter Houxton, were the following: Johann Valentin
Bressler, 41, Anna Christiana, 36, Anna Elisabetha, 14,
Anna Gertrud, 12, Andreas, 6, Antoni, 4, and (son) 1-1/2.
Valentine Bressler did not marry Anna Christiana in Suffolk
County, New York, nor was she born in Southold, New York.
How this information came about, I am not certain. It is
obvious by this documentation that Anna Christiana came
to New York along with her husband and children. It turns
out that descendant Robert Allen is correct with his information
below, as herewith confirmed.
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