Corbells first appeared in the Virginia Colony inthe 1600s. Research has been able to identify numerous people with the Corbellsurname in various documents during the colonial as well as the period soonafter the American Revolution, but it has become difficult if not impossible totrace and to prove Corbell ancestors before about 1800.

Families of Corbells migrated west during theearly 1800's but obviously, some did not, as Corbells were still living in Virginiaand North Carolina as recent as the 1980s and some are no doubt living today.

E. L Davis, who did extensive research on theCorbell families, particularly in Texas, concluded that most of the Corbells inTexas descended from two individuals, Charles A Corbell born in about 1805, andthought to have migrated from Virginia through Alabama and Mississippi arrivingin Sabine Co. Texas during the 1830s. The other was John M Corbell born inabout 1790 who with  son, MalachiWhitehall Corbell, left Currituck North Carolina in about 1834, sojourned in Illinoisand Missouri before arriving in McLennan County TX in the early 1850s.

It is likely that there are other Corbells bothin Texas and around the US who did not descend from either of these men.

To my knowledge, no paper trail has beendiscovered linking John and Charles or any other Corbells prior to about 1800. HopefullyDNA aid in helping to discover more about our ancestors.