An impressive number of internet genealogies identify this fictitious person as the father of Hance Hendrick. This is a classic genealogical red herring. The original source of the claim seems to have been a 1916 book, which merely mentioned the man — and did not propose any relationship to Hance Hendrick.1 Readers of the book, oblivious that no such person existed, evidently inferred a relationship that the book’s author surely did not intend.
It suffices to point out that the man’s given name was “Henrick”, not his surname. In 1916 when the book was written, patent indices were not widely available, and the author apparently misread the name. The relevant records clearly show us that this person had no connection whatsoever to the Hendrick family.
On 14 November 1666 Henrick Forsan Van Deavorack, Senr. received a patent for 214 acres in York County, Virginia.2 As Henerick Forsan Vandeavorakt he renewed that patent in 1692, and added another 270 acres adjoining.3 A 1673 patent to a neighbor named Morris Price mentions the adjoining land as belonging to Henrick Van Doverack.4 A 1693 patent to Owin Davis also calls the adjoining landowner Henderick Vandevorick.5 York County records spell his name in a variety of ways, including Henrick Vandoverick and Henrick Van Doveracke.6 Hening’s Statutes at Large also record the naturalization of this person, as Henry ffayson Vandoverage, as one of ten Huguenots who took the oath of allegiance at the Virginia General Assembly on the same day.7 He is, in fact, recognized as one of the early Huguenot immigrants to the south by the National Huguenot Society.
In short, the evidence is overwhelming that the man’s surname was not Henrick or Hendrick or anything similar.
The genealogy of this man is actually reasonably well known. Henrick (or Henry) Fayson Von Doverage Sr. and his wife, said to be Rebecca Plovier, had a son Henry Fayson Von Doverage Jr. (1656-1697) who married Ann Hickle and produced a son named James Fayson Von Doverage. Descendants eventually moved to North Carolina and adopted the surname “Faison” or “Fayson”. The genealogy of this family is covered in Our Family History, published by 1956 by Minnie Speer Boone.
- Lineage and Tradition of the Herring, Conyers, Hendrick, Boddie, Perry, Crudup, Denson, and Hilliard Families, Ree Herring Hendrick (unknown publisher, 1916), p67. [↩]
- Virginia Patent Book 6, p43. [↩]
- Virginia Patent Book 8, p230. [↩]
- Virginia Patent Book 6, p443. [↩]
- Virginia Patent Book 8, p301. [↩]
- York County Deed Book 8, p16 for example. [↩]
- The Statutes at Large of Virginia, William Waller Hening, Vol. 2, p302. [↩]