Darne Family
The family name was spelled in various ways – Darne, Darn, Darnes – with Darne being the most prevalent. Their beginnings in the US were in northern Virginia in the early 1700s. No one seems to be able to find the Darne family any earlier than Thomas, William, or John Darne in the early 1700s.
I have seen various versions of relationships between the Darne family members in the early 1700s and I fear that misinformation or undocumented information is being perpetuated in family trees. Steadman’s section on the Darne Family in his Falls Church by Fence and Fireside1 is probably the most widely cited source for information but he got it wrong in the earliest three generations he describes. He does not mention our Thomas with his original patent grant in 1730 and mixes up the George, Thomas, and John Darnes connections. Samuel Follin and Mr. Shirley Darne noted the same discrepancy. While I don’t have all the answers, I have perused a variety of documents to come up with the history in the following pages. My Darne family tree definitely begins with Thomas Darne to Henry to George to Daniel to Elizabeth.
Some researchers say that Henry Darne is the son of John Darne but deeds and land transactions show that our Henry is the son of a Thomas and Mary Darne. The first record I have of him is the 1742 deed leasing land from Samson Darrell for his lifetime and that of his sons, Henry and Allan.
The Darne history is confusing because found documents do not record relationships between many of the Johns, Thomases, Georges, and Williams. The breakthrough for me was following the land transactions and getting information from our George’s will and the other Darne families in Missouri.
The early Darne families appear to be tobacco planters and owned slaves. The Darne family was often interrelated or neighbors with the Fairfax families of Wrenn, Trammel, Crump, Scott, Broadwater, and Donoho who also eventually located in Callaway County, Missouri, in the mid 1800s.
Source Note
1. Steadman, Melvin Lee, Jr.: Falls Church by Fence and Fireside, 1964, Falls Church [Virginia]Public Library. pages 292-301.