The North Carolina VESS family are related to the early TRAVERS family of Lancashire, England (left) and Cork, Ireland (right).

Early Travers Family History

The earliest known TRAVERS family originated from Normandy.  They arrived in England with William the Conqueror in 1066. 

According to legend, they took over “Tulketh’s castle” in Lancashire, England and fought along side William the Conquerer himself. 

Tulketh’s Castle, known as Tulketh’s Hall, was originally a monastery.  It became Ashton Manor, prior to becoming Tulketh’s Hall.  Several researchers claim that the Traver’s family never actually owned Tulketh Hall directly; however, had owned land in the Ashton area (now known as Preston) near Tulketh Hall.

Travers Genealogy 

Descendants of the Norman Travers family later moved to Scotland and Ireland, before eventually, making their way across the Atlantic to America. Unfortunately, the Travers family has a lot of gaps in their family tree. It was only until just recently with Y-DNA testing that it was discovered that the Travers families of Ireland and England are related; which has been long debated among researchers. 

During the 1800’s, Samuel Smith Travers went about documenting the different Travers families and their lineages in an effort to create a complete family tree. His work was published in 1864, titled, A Collection of Pedigrees of the Family of Travers, Abstracts of Documents, Collected by S.S. Travers, Arranged by H. J. Sides.

Unfortunately, a collection of different pedigrees was the best he was able to do and researchers are still trying to piece them together. Hopefully, further Y-DNA testing among the different Travers/Travis families will help complete this ancient family tree. 

Travers Families in America 

There are several known early Travers families in America.  Y-DNA testing suggests they are related, yet arrived and settled in America at different times.

Travers from Lancashire, England Settled in Maryland

William Travers (act 1650-1701) settled in Maryland on what is known as Taylor Island in Dorchester, County, founded by his cousin Thomas Taylor. It is believed that he married Elizabeth Chapline.

Current Y-DNA testing shows that the North Carolina Vess family come from an earlier branch that contains the Travers who emigrated to Dorchester County, Maryland and those that stayed in Lancashire, England.

Travers (TRAVIS) From Cork, Ireland Settled In North Carolina

William Travers Jr. was born in Bandon Bridge County, Cork, Ireland. It is believed that his father, William Travers Sr., was born in Lancashire, England.

William Travers, Jr. settled in Pasquotank County, North Carolina. This line of Travers changed their surname to TRAVIS.  

William’s son Daniel Travis (1669) is the father of Dr. Edward Travis who settled on Goose Creek. Dr. Edward had 3 sons, John, William, and Thomas (it is believed he had a son named Charles too). John, born in 1715, established what is known as Travers Creek in Orange County, North Carolina. Descendants of this North Carolina lineage then moved to South Carolina before moving westward. 

The famous William Barret Travis, commander of the Republic of Texas during the Battle of the Alamo is a direct descendant of this Travers line.

Travers of Jamestown Island, Related to Travers (Travis) In North Carolina

Edward Champion Travers (Travis) of Jonestown Island was born in Lancashire, England. He had a tobacco plantation (Travis Plantation) on Jamestown Island and exported tobacco to his brother William Travers (Travis) who lived in Bandon Bridge, Cork, Ireland. Jamestown Island was largely owned by the Travis and Ambler families. The site of their early settlement is still being excavated by archeologists today. Edward Champion Travers (Travis) is believed to be the uncle of William Travis Jr. who settled in Pasquotank County, North Carolina.

Y-DNA Testing

More Y-DNA testing from different Travers/Travis and Vess families are needed to uncover more information about how all these families are related to one another.

If you are a direct male descendant with the Travers, Travis, or Vess surname and would like to help us further our research, please check out our Vess Family Y-DNA project.