Thomas Essary was born about 1755 in Pennsylvania. Thomas might have been married twice. His first five children were born to an unknown mother and were Margaret, James Leroy, Joseph, Hannah, and William. He married Elizabeth McDaniel on 28 September 1786 in Randolph County, North Carolina. He had about 13 children with Elizabeth. Thomas Essary was born about 1755 in Pennsylvania. Thomas might have been married twice. His first five children were born to an unknown mother and were Margaret, James Leroy, Joseph, Hannah, and William. He married Elizabeth McDaniel on 28 September 1786 in Randolph County, North Carolina.¹ He had about 13 children with Elizabeth. Thomas died on 23 July 1820 in Kingston, Roane, Tennessee (unsourced).

Thomas may have had as many as 18 children.² Many of his children, grandchildren and so-on had many, children. It is difficult to know how many descendants Thomas may have. It could be 180,000+ descendants today (if my math is correct) and growing!

Here is a list of the descendants profiled on the blog from Thomas’ children. Please note, this is not an official, complete list.

• James Leroy Essary, 1779-1856
  • Sampson Essary, 1799-1870
    • James Essary, 1823-1925
      • Samuel Jackson Essary, 1841-1925
        • Berry Lee Essary, 1869-1935
        • Sarah N Essary, 1870-1938
        • Willie C Essary, 1871-1959
        • Mattie Elizabeth Essary, 1871-1957
          • Willie Mae Campbell, 1898-1961
        • Savilla Essary, 1874-1950
        • Jonathan Jackson Essary, 1878-1950
        • Sena Essary, 1879-1935

1. “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-2011,” entry for Thomas Esra – Elizabeth McDaniel, 28 September 1786, Randolph County, North Carolina; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 24 July 2025). ↩︎
2. Not all of the children have been verified with documentation. ↩︎