Update from Professional Search 12/10/21

We made an exhaustive search of surviving records of Chowan County, North Carolina and Nansemond County, Virginia for the Stallings family. Records were not found that fill in the missing generations between Elias Stallings (died 1763) and immigrant Nicholas Stallings. We arranged our findings in a timeline for your review. We began a study of Stalling(s) families in Somerset, England in the 1500s and 1600s. We learned that there were many families with the surname, or similar surnames, there during the period 1550 to 1638, but by the mid-1800s, almost all of them were gone. We created an extensive timeline of surviving references to the surname in Virginia and North Carolina covering the years 1607 to 1720. We didn’t find those elusive records that state relationships for the missing generations in your pedigree, but did find several records that provide some context about your family. We found many instances of the surname in Somerset, England parish registers between 1550 and 1638, spelled in a variety of ways. Oddly, the surname was virtually extinct in Somerset a few centuries later in English census records of 1851, 1861, or 1891. We will have to dig deeper to learn if (1) the families died out, (2) migrated elsewhere, or (3) began spelling their surname differently. Once we get to the bottom of what happened to all of these families, we can begin reaching out to living people to recruit them for your Y-DNA study.

We began a search of records of Somerset, England for the period 1550 to 1638. Most local probate records were destroyed by enemy attack during World War II. We found instances of the surname (variously spelled Stalen, Staleng, Stalenge, Staling, Stalinge, Stallendge, Stalleng, Stallenge, Stallens, Stallindge, Stalling, Stallinge, Stallinges, Stallings, Stalnidge, Stealinge, Stilinge, Stilling, Stillinge, Stollings, Stylinge, Styllinge) in these Somerset parishes:

We also created an extensive Timeline for the Stallings of North Carolina and Virginia between 1607-1720 and then we've jumped across the pond to England records. Somerset now!

Our future recommendation is to trace Stallings families in Somerset, England records for the period 1638 through 1850 to determine what became of these families. We also received the communication that you are interested in trying to identify the wives of your Stallings ancestors. Records that would have identified them have already been searched, and unfortunately were unfruitful.

Cheers