ALSTON FAMILY

New John Alston of Chowan County, NC Research

For many years, researchers have accepted the history of the ALSTONs as published in the book, "The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina", written in 1901 by Joseph Groves.  That book has long been proven to be incorrect about the origins of John Alston, the progenitor of the Alston Family in America. It was written during a time long before there was access to records which have since become more available in both the United States and in England, where there has been a huge interest in finding the origins of many American ancestors who previously relied on genealogies done before the 20th century.  One such line is that of John Alston, who left a will in 1758 Chowan County, NC, which identified the names of his nine children.  Noted genealogist, Forrest D. King, has published a paper on the ancestors of John Alston back to the 1400's in England, which includes documentation proving his research which shows that he was the son of Solomon Alston and Mary Pasfield.  Mr. King has generously contributed copies of his work to the NCGenWeb in order to share this information and hopefully to get the word out to help correct all of those trees, which have used the Groves book as their source over the years.  We hope you will enjoy reading these, and again, we thank Forrest King for all of his wonderful research. We are very grateful to get these documents with research for both the Alston and the Pasfield ancestors of John Alston, which are linked from the below brief descriptions.  (Note: the linked documents are in PDF)

Both of these works are written by  By Forrest D. King

The Parentage and Possible Wife of Colonel John Alston of Chowan County, North Carolina

Col. John Alston made his first appearance in Chowan County, North Carolina records in 1713 by purchasing a tract of land on Bennetts Creek. He became the first person with the surname of Alston to live in the area. Unfortunately, there is no information in the deed or any other document in North Carolina indicating anything about his prior background. This article will show that Col. John was the same John Alston who is found in Surry County, Virginia in 1693 living with his uncle Nicholas Pasfield. Furthermore, it will show that John came to Virginia from Essex County, England sometime after the remarriage of his father in 1684. Lastly, the possible identity of his wife Mary will be discussed.

A listing of Surnames included in this document:

ALSTON

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Ancestors of Phillip Pasfield of Wethersfield, Essex, England

A listing of Surnames included in this document:

ADDE

KING

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©2019 by Forrest D. King, Deloris Williams for the NCGenWeb Project.  No portion of this or any document appearing on this site is to be used for other than personal research.  Any republication or reposting is expressly forbidden without the written consent of the owner. Last updated 02/04/2021