Updated August 2, 2011
General
RHODE ISLAND
ROOTS REPORT: "Preliminary Report on the Peter LeValley Family
of Warwick:
Migrations out of Rhode Island," by Paul LeValley. Rhode Island
Roots, vol.
19, no. 4 (December 1993). pp. 102-111. (Copies available
for
$3.50 from
the treasurer of the R.I. Genealogical Society, Percival Kingsley,
2729 Elm
Street, Dighton, MA 02715.) This is the only compiled family
information
that has ever been published. Based on all of the sources below,
it traces
the migration routes of Peter LeValley's grandsons and their
descendants
through the early 20th century. It also points out unrelated
LeValley
families, and known LeValley groups whose ancestry has not yet been
connected
to any known immigrant ancestor. To read a streamlined and
updated
version,
click
here.
LEVALLEY GENEALOGY. Ten folding charts and two computer discs
containing
everything known about the descendants of Peter LeValley as
of 1999.
Paul LeValley has the originals, several relatives have copies.
This information
is available to relatives at cost ($5.00). Regular mailing
address can
be found at the bottom of the LeValley home page. (If your
computer
can't open WordPerfect 8, be sure to indicate the format you
need.)
THE LEVALLEY
FAMILY (copies in the R.I. Historical Society Library and Salt
Lake
City).
Family tree on a long scroll compiled by Paul LeValley based on what
was
known in
1971. It has since been completely superseded by the above.
SNOW MANUSCRIPT
(hand-written original in the Rhode Island Historical Society
Library,
many typed copies around). Compiled by Louis Snow around 1890,
this
is the most
comprehensive early document showing the relationship of the various
branches.
It forms the key to everything else. But it omits several
branches
descended
from John and Michael. To read it, click
here.
RHODE ISLAND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY. The library has indexed its
standard
genealogical works, as well as two huge miscellaneous local
collections--the
Bates Collection and the Briggs Collection. Useful mainly on the
branches
that stayed in Rhode Island.
LaMANCE SPECULATIONS
(in her books The Greene Family and Its Branches, and
Huguenot
Pedigrees, and papers in the R.I. Hist. Soc. Library and Salt
Lake
City).
CAUTION: Lora LaMance did a lot of sloppy guessing. She
mixed
LeValleys
with DeVolneys, Le Vallois, and de la Vals. Any LeValley
information
traceable
to her needs further proof.
THE FREEDOM QUEST TRILOGY by James F. LaValley, a descendant of
Peleg (Edgewater FL: Denlinger's
Publishers, 2003. $12.95 per volume).
This is fiction with some basis in fact.
In Freedom Voyage, the
historic
LeValley brush with pirates is here
transferred to fictional fourth and fifth
sons of the original Peter. (To sort out
the relationships, consult false
leads.) Action takes place in the
West Indies, where no LeValley is known
to have gone. Freedom Venture adds little on
actual family history.
Freedom
Valor follows Peleg to Schoharie County NY. These are
known as Christian novels.
Descendants of Peter Sr.
SPENCER COLLECTION
(in the possession of Rev. Peter LeValley Spencer, rector of
the same
church the earliest LeValleys attended). These are mostly land
evidences
over the centuries. There are letters received by descendants of
Peter Sr.--particularly
Amanda. Also the brief diary of Anna LeValley.
This is
the best
collection of original sources on the early history.
SMITH MANUSCRIPT
(several copies around). Compiled around 1890 by Benjamin
Smith, it
gives additional details on his descent from Peter Sr. In another
part,
he lists
clues that might connect the family to the Isle of Jersey.
WILLIAM F.
LEVALLEY DIARY (in the possession of Paul LeValley). Mostly
useless trivia,
but some insight into daily life in Warwick R.I. in 1901.
Descendants of John and his son Christopher
RHODE ISLAND
STATE ARCHIVES. Here are the indexed Revolutionary War
records--also
the entire guardianship dispute of John.
NIAGARA COUNTY
HISTORIAN'S COLLECTION (Lockport, NY). This collection of
newspaper
clippings and state census records is being indexed. Fire
destroyed
the early
records, and the historian rewrote some of them from memory.
Descendants
of Christopher and John Jr. are represented here.
TIBBITS MANUSCRIPT
(in the possession of Paul LeValley). Dictated in 1910 by
Marion LeValley
and written by Douglas Tibbits Jr., this is the main document on
the whole
Columbiaville, Michigan group. As it reaches back into earlier
generations,
it confirms speculations by researchers from several related
families.
To read it, click here.
LEVALLEY'S
FAMILY TREE (dozens of copies distributed). Compiled by
Rose
LeValley
in 1988, and updated annually for several years, the sheets of this
notebook
provide vital
statistics on every descendant of John Cook LeValley's grandson
William.
LAWLOR COLLECTION
(Dale Lawlor has the originals; Paul LeValley has copies).
Letters from
the group at Fairgrove, Michigan, from 1856 to 1977.
CATCH THE STAGE TO PHOENIX by Leland L. Hanchett Jr. turned up new
information on Alfred LeValley's brief
misadventures in Arizona. (He got
caught trying to steal his own horses.)
Published 1998. Paul LeValley
has a copy.
Descendants of John's son John Jr.
GLASCOCK PAPERS
(Her descendants have the originals; Paul LeValley has copies.)
From the
1930s to 1951, Ivah Peterson Glascock gathered miscellaneous Bible
records,
research notes, and reminiscences on descendants of John Jr.
CHADDOCK MEMOIRS
(in the possession of Alice Yvanovich--who published part of
them as 120° in
the Shade (And No Shade). Paul LeValley has copies of both.)
Reminiscences
of an early California raisin grower, whose mother had been a
LeValley.
LUND BOOKLET
(several copies around). In 1967, Barbara Kimball compiled family
memories
of George and Lena LeValley Lund.
Descendants of John's son Peleg
THE
BASKET LETTERS,
compiled in the 1950s by Leslie LaValley as a series of newspaper
columns, and republished
in book form. (Copies available for $28.25 from the president
of the Basket Historical
Society, John B. Niflot, POB 199, Long Eddy, NY 12760.) Though a
history of a whole
community, they give much detail on those descendants of Rhoderick
who settled on
the Basket Brook at Fernwood NY.
LESLIE
LAVALLEY
CHARTS (Paul LeValley has copies.) Charts compiled in 1992 trace
descendants of
Peleg. Additional charts from 1939 also give some otherwise
forgotten
details on descendants
of Cook. To read them,
click here.
ANDREWS PAPERS
(Genealogy Library, Salt Lake City). These miscellaneous papers
trace some
descendants of Peleg.
D.W. LEVALLEY
LETTER (in the possession of Eleanor LeValley. Paul LeValley has
a
copy.).
This 1910 letter by genealogist David Wilford LeValley traces some
descendants
of Peleg. To read it, click here.
Descendants of John's son Cook
CHURCH MANUSCRIPT
(several copies around). Dictated around 1916 by Mary
LeValley
Church, and prepared in 1956 by Herbert Church, this is the main
document
showing the relationship of families descended from Cook's sons John
and James
Nelson. To read it, click here.
PETHTEL MANUSCRIPT
(in the possession of Miller LeValley's heirs; Paul LeValley
has a copy).
Compiled around 1965 by Nellie LeValley Pethtel, this collection of
Bible records
and reminiscences gives fuller details on one group descended
from Cook's
son James Nelson.
LYNN LEVALLEY
SCRAPBOOK (in the possession of Guy LeValley; Paul LeValley has
copies of
the family pages). Many newspaper clippings on the Covington,
Pennsylvania
group--as well as his Spanish-American War journal.
Descendants of Michael
BIBLE RECORDS survive in several lines descended from Michael. To view them, click here.
COOPER DOCUMENTS.
These are mostly photostatic copies of public records
assembled
by Vonda Cooper around 1990 to trace descendants of Michael's son
Peter Jr.
through Ohio and California.
LYMAN CHAPMAN
BIOGRAPHY in Chapman Chatter No. 24 (Winter 1991). This sketch
covers
the family
of Peter Jr.'s granddaughter Catherine--compiled by her
great-great-grandson
Philip Chapman
Ellsworth. (Paul LeValley has a copy.)
GARY LAVALLEY PAPERS (in the possession of Gary LaValley; Paul LeValley
has copies). Papers
gradually being written on the early Oklahoma
branch of the family. Also some recipes--
most of which traveled down female lines.
THORSON MANUSCRIPT
(in the possession of her heirs, several copies around).
Compiled
around 1945 by Laura Thorson, this collection of Bible records and
letters traces
descendants of Michael's son Benjamin.
MINNICH COLLECTION. Mary Lovell Minnich, descended from Michael's
son Caleb, gathered
several old photographs and letters--which her
descendant Warren Welch rescued when his
cousin was about to throw them away.
DAVOL GENEALOGY. The ancestry of Nancy LeValley Davol, another
descendant of Caleb
was published in 1916 in The Encyclopedia of Massachusetts:
Biographical, Genealogical.
Because the name was misspelled, family researchers
did not find this document until nearly
a century later.
For other books by LeValley authors, click here.