Welcome to the Slaven Genealogy Exchange.

Welcome to the Slaven Genealogy Exchange! Our purpose is to be a central location to collect and exchange information for Slaven, Slevin, Slavin, Slavey, and other surname variations. The scope of this exchange is world wide. We hope there's something here for the beginning genealogist, the old hand, and the merely curious!

Looking for a few good men... well, one, actually.

Remember the Marines' slogan, "We're looking for a few good men"? The Slaven DNA project is looking for one good man, a fairly specific man.

We're looking for a man who is a direct male line descendant of Alexander Slaven/Slavin of North Carolina and Tennessee. That is, a man who is a Slavin, whose dad was a Slavin, grandfather a Slavin, all the way back to Alexander Slavin.

It's quite possible that the man we're looking for doesn't know he's a direct male line descendant of Alexander Slavin, so here's some background.

The Alexander Slavin we're talking about was born about 1794 in Rowan County, North Carolina, the son of William and Jane (Bailey) Slaven, NOT the Alexander born about 1815 in Tennessee, son of Richard Harve Slaven. The Alexander we're talking about was a brother to Richard Slaven, and we're hoping a Big Y-700 test will confirm the family Bible record showing this relationship.

Alexander Slaven married and raised his family in Williamson County, Tennessee. Three sons are known, all of whom relocated to Texas. One, Newton C., can be traced up to the 1880 census and apparently did not have children.

Another son, James B. Slaven, might have direct male line descendants living today. He one son who died as a toddler and another who had no children, but Charley Clyde (uncertain of spelling) had two sons, Clyde and Ryan Patrick. Clyde had a son who may still be living in Texas. "Pat" and his only son Michael have both passed away, but it appears one grandson is living in the Houston area.

Alexander's other son, George Alexander Slavin, had eight sons, but the possible pool of candidates for our DNA test isn't as large as you'd think. John R., James E., Charley, Joseph, Julian, and George had no children or died young.

George's son William Newton Slavin lived in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. He had a son George L., who had two sons, Robert L. and Ronald K., both of whom had sons and grandsons who would fit the bill for our DNA test. These men are likely living in (or are from) the Four Corners region.

George's other son, Arthur Raymond Slavin, lived in Oklahoma and Texas, and had two sons; he and son Don were killed in a car-truck accident in 1933. His other son, James Ted Slavin, had two sons, one of whom has three sons and grandsons who would be candidates for the DNA testing. They live in Oklahoma and Texas.

If you think you know one of these families— or ARE one of these families— please contact me. Sponsors are willing to cover the cost of the test due to its importance in confirming the William Slaven sons' family lines.

Update: I forgot to account for Richard Harve Slaven's other brothers, who don't appear to have living male line descendants.

Andrew Bailey Slaven was born 1789 in Rowan County, NC, and based on scant records, used Slavey rather than Slaven. He should not be confused with Richard Have Slaven's son Andrew Bailey Slaven, who was born in 1825 in Tennessee.

Andrew lived and married in southern Indiana, and likely died in the 1820's. He had one son, also named Andrew Bailey Slavey, who went to Henderson County, Kentucky, and Mississippi County, Arkansas. He had three sons with two wives. William M. Slavey went back to Henderson County, KY after the death of his father in 1862, and he may have died in the 1870's. William had a son, William Jesse Slavey, but based on census, he and his wife had no children. Andrew Jackson Slavey also went back to Kentucky, and died in 1921 without marrying. Charles A. Slavey remained in Arkansas but also appears to have not had children.

Richard Slaven's oldest brother was (yet another) William Slaven, who remained in the Rowan/Iredell County, NC area. He had a son John; the only record I can find that's likely him is a notice of sheriff's sale for unpaid taxes in 1838. It's possible he left North Carolina and is one of the unknown John Slaven's in later records in other states. I can find no record of Archibald Henderson Slaven at all, so I assume he died as a child. William's other son, Robert C., does have descendants living today, but as Robert only had daughters, there are no males available for Y-DNA testing.

Richard Slaven had two other brothers, James born 1783 and Samuel born 1791. Based on the 1790 census count James likely died as a young child. The 1800 census is consistent with Samuel still being alive, so he may have made it adulthood but is being confused with the Samuels who are descended from Richard Slaven's uncle Robert Slaven, a blacksmith who went to Georgia and Indiana. Or he too may have died young. If anyone knows about any of these families, drop me a line. Thanks!

What's New?

DNA Sales.

Wow! Wow! Wow!Ancestry has extended the sale on their AncestryDNA autosomal test for the LOWEST PRICE EVER— $29!!!!! That's $70 off the regular price. Now is the time to test those cousins, siblings, or other relatives. Price good through 6 p.m. EST December 31.

MyHeritage DNA sale price. MyHeritage has their autosomal DNA test on sale for $29! (Regularly $89.) It also includes one month of access to their genealogy databases, trees, etc., plus free shipping on the DNA kit. You just have to be sure to cancel before the end of the trial if you don't want to continue with an annual subscription. I don't see an ending date other than "ends soon" but I would guess it ends 12/31 or 1/1.

Holiday sale prices at FamilyTreeDNA. FTDNA also has sales through midnight New Year's Eve, with some great discounts!

FTDNA basically extended the sale prices from their last sale... and those were some great sale prices. As I said when sales started in November, I don't remember if their FamilyFinder autosomal DNA test has been down to $39 before, and the combo prices for FamilyFinder and Y-DNA tests are also hot! The Y-67 to Big Y-700 upgrade sale price makes this a SUPER time to upgrade! Sale runs through 11:59 p.m. PST on December 31. More sale prices below.

Test	Reg.	Sale
FamilyFinder (autosomal)	$79	$39
FamilyFinder plus Y-37	$198	$109
FamilyFinder plus Y-111	$328	$229
FamilyFinder plus Big Y-700	$528	$429
Y-37	$119	$79
Y-111	$249	$199
Big Y-700	$449	$399
Y-12 to Y-37	$79	$59
Y-12 to Y-111	$199	$159
Y-12 to Big Y-700	$399	$339
Y-25 to Y-37	$49	$39
Y-25 to Y-111	$189	$139
Y-25 to Big Y-700	$389	$339
Y-37 to Y-111	$139	$119
Y-37 to Big Y-700	$339	$319
Y-67 to Y-111	$89	$79
Y-67 to Big Y-700	$279	$199
Y-111 to Big Y-700	$239	$199

Latest Big Y DNA testing news.

UPDATE: Another Slaven DNA Project member received his Big Y-700 results recently. Like all who have tested so far, his Slevin line is Irish, and in County Westmeath for at least the more recent generations. His family line doesn't connect with the other Slaven/Slavin lines that have taken the Big Y-700 test until well before surnames came into usage. His closest matches in the Big Y test— which broke off from his line around 800 A.D.— have the surnames Morrow, Creaner, Green, Grannary, Welch, and Scollan. We encourage other Slaven/Slevin men with roots in central Ireland to join the DNA Project with a Y-37 test— which is sale priced through the end of the year! Thanks Padraic for sharing.

Previously...
In 2025 we've had a couple Slaven DNA Project members upgrade their Y-DNA tests to "the Big Y-700" test, which not only increases the number of short tandem repeats (STRs) tested to over 700, it also tests thousands of singe nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). I won't go deeply into the biology here; let's just say that STRs are helpful in grouping participants into rough family groups, like Group A is the William Slaven of North Carolina family line and others that connect in older, unknown generations, or Group B is the John Slaven of County Tyrone family and others that connect in older, unknown generations. See the Slaven DNA Project basic matches table here. STRs aren't super reliable for grouping families; they can mutate multiple times, including going back to their previous value. SNPs are permanen— once the mutation occurs, it's passed down the male line in perpetuity— and SNPs are cumulative, in that successive generations will add new SNPs to that family's DNA. Through the accumulated SNPs, we can tell approximately how long ago family lines split, be it centuries or just a few generations ago. At best, it may allow us to discern which individuals descended from which brother in one family.

One of the recent Big Y testers illustrates the "long ago" vision. A descendant of John Slavin, who was born about 1822 in Ireland (family tradition says County Tyrone) and emigrated to Oak Harbor, Ohio, upgraded to the Big Y test last winter. It showed that his family line doesn't connect with the other Slaven Project family lines who have taken the Big Y test in the time of surnames. His line split from several others about 900 AD; those surnames include Leddy, Autry, McGee, Dalbec, Lovell, and Norton.

The other Big Y test gave us exciting news— descendants of Richard Harve Slaven have a unique SNP that differentiates that family line from others that also descend from William and Isabella (Luckie) Slaven of North Carolina. The Slaven DNA Project has a goal of proving through DNA that Richard Slaven is the son of the William Slaven who was the brother of John Slaven of Gerrard County, Kentucky; hundreds of copied family trees erroneously list Richard as the son of John. (We have not been able to have someone meet with the genealogist in North Carolina that has the Bible with the William and family births, marriages, and deaths, which includes Richard's birth, to get scans or photos of the pages.)

We were hoping that by having descendants of two different sons of John of Garrard test, there would be a SNP that uniquely identifies this family line, so if the Richard Harve Slaven descendant didn't have this SNP, it would prove that John is not Richard's father. However, the two John descendants that have tested didn't share a unique SNP. This is uncommon but not rare.

Finding that descendants of Richard DO have a unique SNP means that it's still possible that DNA will prove that he is the son of William and not John. To do so, we will need to find and test a descendant of one of Richard's brothers. I've done some digging and it looks like there are living direct male line descendants of one Richard's brothers. There will be a separate post here about the search for those descendants. If we can find one and get him tested with the Big Y-700, we'll know:

if he shares the SNP with the Richard descendants, the SNP started with their father William, proving John of Garrard is not their father
if he doesn't share the SNP, then the SNP originated with Richard and we're back to square one.

Echoes in Time.

"Echoes in Time" is a newsletter from the Independent Herald, which has been mentioned here several times for stories and features about Richard Harve Slaven and his family in Scott County, Tennessee. The newsletter is currently writing about Scott County's first settlers, which includes the Slavens family. The first is an overview of the first settlers, which was followed by one specifically about Richard Harve Slaven. The next was one featured the first settlers Station Camp and No Business. You can also find the newsletters on their page on the Independent Herald's website.

Sacred Ground.

The Independent Herald of Oneida, Tennessee, has another article n their "Sacred Ground" series that will be of interest to descendants of Richard Harve Slaven/Slavey. The whole series (more information can be found below) is likely of interest, considering how long the Slaven family has been in the Big South Fork country and the many family lines they connect with.

Older News.

We have a new participant in "Cousins DNA Registry," a person who descends from an early 19th century couple from County Laois (aka Queens County), Ireland, who with their children emigrated to Waterbury, Connecticut, in the 1850's. Are you a DNA match?

New email address.

After many years of paying EarthLink to keep my old email address active, I'm phasing it out. The new address is slavens.net@gmail.com If you added me to your address book under the EarthLink address, please update it as it will be discontinued sometime in July.

Another descendant of John and Elizabeth (Stuart) Slaven, through their daughter Elizabeth, has been added to the "Cousins DNA Registry." They're working on joining the Sons of the American Revolution and are looking for DNA connections back to patriot John Slaven.

We have a new addition to the "Cousins DNA Registry," a person who descends from John and Elizabeth (Stuart) Slaven two ways, thanks to second cousins who married in 1852. Look for matches on Ancestry or GEDmatch.

The Independent Herald of Oneida, Tennessee, has continued to add stories to its Sacred Ground series on cemeteries in Scott County. (See older news below for more information on the series.) Be sure to press the "Load More" button at the bottom of the index page as there are a lot of them, and practically all of them have Slaven burials. You can also enter

"Sacred Ground" Slaven

in the search bar to only see the cemetery pages where the Slaven name appears. The latest (as of this writing May 1) is on the Davey Boyatt Cemetery.

A couple more Civil War pension files have been added to the NARA files page. If you have a relative on this list of pension files, you've had a stroke of luck-- a full pension file available for free online! The files are also available for download as pdfs.

We have a new entry in the "Cousins DNA Registry," a descendant of a Slevin family in County Longford, Ireland. He has matches with several of Slaven/Slavin/Slevin families on FamilyTreeDNA, including another member of the Slaven DNA Project. Joesph is also on GEDmatch. Are you a match?

A descendant of John and Elizabeth (Stuart) Slaven, through their daughter Elizabeth (married Abraham Ingram) has been added to the Slaven Cousins DNA Registry, a table of people who have had DNA testing done and are looking for connections. Also, Bev Jenkins, with Slavin ancestry in (Northern) Ireland and Scotland, and a few hits on descendants of John Slaven of County Tyrone/Highland County, Virigina, was added a few weeks ago. Check out the registry!

Seeking descendants.

Alexander Slaven. Looking for direct male line descendants of Alexander Slaven (born ca. 1794 in Rowan County, NC, died 1847 in Williamson County, TN) for DNA testing to help confirm the family lines descending from William and Isabel (Luckey) Slaven/Esleven/etc. of North Carolina. This would be a male Slaven/Slavin who can go through his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc. to Alexander via his sons James B., Franklin, Newton, or George. In the 19th and early 20th century descendants were mostly in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. If this describes you or a family member-- or are unsure-- contact me at slavens.net@gmail.com. Funding is available to cover most or all of the testing cost.

(This Alexander Slaven should not to be confused with the Alexander Slaven b. 1815 Campbell County, TN, died 1897 Wayne County, KY, a son of Richard Harve Slaven. And for the hundreds of Ancestry trees that have this Alexander as a son of John and Elizabeth (Stuart) Slaven— no, just no. A woman born ca. 1726 is NOT having a baby in 1795.)

Elizabeth "Betsy" Slavon/Slavey.
Update: One of Betsy's descendants has graciously allowed me to look at her AncestryDNA matches, and they're what would be expected if Betsy was a daughter of William (the saddler) Slaven: a couple dozen matches with descendants of Richard Harve Slaven, a few matches with descendants of Robert Slaven and of John Slavin. Would still like to hear from other descendants to check that the results are similar.

Looking for any descendants of Betsy Slavon of North Carolina, b. abt. 1787, who married Abraham Sharp and lived in Logan County, Kentucky-- especially descendants who have tested with AncestryDNA and can search for Slaven/Slavin matches (or will give me temporary access to their results so I may search). Betsy had at least three children who had children: Anthony (married Lourany Lyons), Elizabeth (married Abraham Lyons), and Nancy (married George Tinsley). From matches with a couple of Richard Harve Slaven's descendants I believe Betsy is a daughter of William (the saddler) and Jane Bailey Slaven... or possibly of Robert Slaven. Looking at Slaven matches from the account of one of Betsy's descendants could be enlightening. (Or, if you're a descendant of Richard Harve Slaven, John of Garrard, or Robert of Georgia/Indiana, I can give you instructions on how to look for Betsy's descendants. Or I can look myself with temporary guest access to your results.)

I've written an analysis of the first Big Y-700 test results in the Slaven DNA project. These detsiled tests show that the Robert Slaven of Georgia/Indiana line, John Slavin of Kentucky line, and the Richard Harve Slaven line have a common ancestor born ca. 1708— pretty much dead-on for it being William Slaven/Esleven/etc. of Rowan County, North Carolina. The John Slaven of Virgina line does not connect to this line until you go back approximately 1,900 years, well before surnames were used in Ireland. Looks like I'll have to update the 20-year old web pages here that thought the connection was closer!

I stumbled across a couple YouTube videos that descendants of Richard Harve Slaven could be interested in. "Big South Fork- No Business, Looking for the remains of Richard Harve Slaven’s Homesite, or a hike looking for the homesteads of Charlie, Nimrod, and Dewey Slaven. "Papaw in the Woods" has posted a ton of videos of hikes in the Big South Fork area; this should pull up the full list.

Last fall, I started working with a Richard Harve Slaven descendant to take a new look like at his life. New records have become available, older records become more accessable (like FamilySearch "filmstrips" now available online), DNA testing has becoming more popular, etc., so maybe we could get a more definitive answer on his parentage and other questions. A major discovery has been made. But first, let's cast a critical eye at Richard's "accepted" date of birth and supposed parents. Another post will follow around June 10. I've also updated the the other posts on that North Carolina Kin for clarity.

The Big Y-700 test results are in now for a descendant of John Slavin of Garrard County, KY, Richard Harve Slavey/Slaven, Robert Slaven of Georgia/Indiana, and John Slaven of Highland County, VA. It shows the first three are all closely related (as expected as descendants of William and Isabel (Luckey) Slaven of Pennsylvania/Rowan County, NC), and that the John Slaven of Virgina line split off at minimum 1,800 years ago, well before surnames were used in Ireland. So no, William of NC and John of VA are not brothers, father/son, cousins, or anything of the sort. I'll have more details later.

We've added another person to the"Cousins DNA Registry," the father of a person already in the registry. Since Dad has twice as much Slaven DNA as his son, go check your results against Thomas Sexton and see if you're a match!

Descendants of John Slavin of Garrard County, KY, of Richard Harve Slaven/Slavey, or of Robert Slaven of Georgia/Indiana who have been tested by AncestryDNA: would you please search your matches' trees for the Strange surname and let me know if you have any, especially if the match's Strange ancestor is in the 1700's or 1800's? Email me at slavens.net@gmail.com

I've added a new subsection to the site for the research that's been done the past few months on the North Carolina Slaven/Sleven/Slavin/Eslevin/etc. families. So far there's a short post explaining a naming convention to hopefully help people keep track of which person is being referred to, since there are so many instances of fathers, sons, cousin, etc. with the same name. And there's also an essay on when records confuse rather than clarify a person's life. Coming will be essays on the parentage of Richard Harve Slaven/Slavey, on the Gates County line, on what advanced DNA testing is telling us, perhaps more.

I have added a nice batch of early deeds, wills, and court minutes records for North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, the fruits of a search to learn more about the William Slaven/Esleven/etc. family of Rowan County, North Carolina, and if/how the Richard Harve Slaven/Slavey, John Slavin of Garrard County, Kentucky, and Robert Slaven of Georgia/Indiana families connect. Work is continuing. Find links to the new and updated record pages on the Courthouse page. Update: I've also added a few deeds to the Arkansas page; I suspect these gentlemen are the Rowan County, North Carolina to Georgia to Indiana line. I've also added some Kentucky marriages.

A little update...

...to the missive below: Upgrades to the "Big Y-700" test have been ordered for a descendant of Richard Harve Slaven, John Slavin of Garrard County, Robert Slaven of Georgia/Indiana, and John Slaven of County Tyrone. Results for the descendants of the two Johns are in, and the Richard descendant's results should be here any day. I'll keep giving progress reports! Further update: Through analysis of will, deed, court, and other records, I had created a working theory as to the parents of Richard Harve Slaven and of other connections in the Rowan/Iredell County family. I have found a tree on Ancestry that has those same connections; I've exchanged emails with the tree owner and confirmed that the birth/marriage/death information come from a family Bible.

Upcoming:

An update about using advanced DNA testing to more conclusively show that Richard Harve Slaven/Slavey, Robert Slaven, and John Slavin of Garrard County, KY are closely related (through William and Isabell Luckie Slaven of North Carolina?), and show that John Slaven of Highland County, VA is not closely related. There's been an explosion of family trees on Ancestry purporting that William of NC and John of VA are brothers, sons of a "Patrick and Ann Rogers Slaven." (Can someone show a source for Patrick being the father of either one that isn't just someone else's tree?)
Probably more newspaper clippings. I've got quite a backlog.

Attention descendants of John Slavin of Rowin Co., NC/Garrard Co., KY, and of Robert Slaven of Georgia/Gibson Co., IN, and Richard Harve Slaven of Tennessee.

Y-DNA testing indicates that these families are connected, possibly through William and Isabell (Luckey) Slaven of Rowin Co., NC. Let's look hard for autosomal DNA connections between the families with the Ancestry DNA test. The connection between families would be far enough back that many descendants of these family lines won't show a connection simply because so little Slaven DNA has been passed down that it can't be differentiated from random matching segments. But if enough descendants have tested (and the families truly are related) we may find matches. For example, I have many matches with descendants of Isaiah Slavens's brothers and sisters; our common ancestors (John and Elizabeth (Stuart) Slaven) would be contemporaneous with the common ancestor of the Richard/John/Robert families.

If you are a descendant of one of these family lines and have done the AncestryDNA test:

Set up a family tree at Ancestry and attach it to the DNA results. (You do not have to have an Ancestry subscription to post a tree.) It doesn't have to be a detailed tree or trace back all your family lines; getting it back to your Slaven/Slavin/Slavey ancestors is sufficient.

Make the tree public, or searchable if private, so that we can find you as we search for DNA matches.

While not necessary, dropping me a line with your Ancestry ID will also help in identifying matches. PLEASE send me this info if you don't have the time to make a tree, or have one that is private and unsearchable, but still want to help.

If you're a descendant of one of these families and haven't yet been tested, or have tested elsewhere, consider testing at Ancestry. The more descendants that have tested, the more likely we are of finding DNA matches if the families are connected.

If you have questions or suggestions, email me!

Here's a nice blog with instructions on how to download your autosomal DNA data from each of the major companies and upload it elsewhere, such as to GEDmatch.

Descendants of Richard Harve Slaven/Slavey might be interested in this newspaper story about hiking in the No Business area.

Attention Richard Harve Slaven descendants.
The Oneida (Tennessee) Independent Herald had a nice story on the (former) No Business community, and Richard Harve Slaven and a few of his descendants. It's probably not news to family who still live in the Big South Fork area, but it appears to be a good overview for the general public. You can find it here. A quick scan of used book sites don't come up with any copies of Dusty Bits of the Forgotten Past, which is mentioned in the story.

About this site

This is a private, noncommercial educational site for the free exchange of information. It is not associated with Ancestry, Rootsweb, MyFamily, or any commercial site. (That means no banner ads, no pop-up or pop-under windows, no unsolicited email!)

All content on this site is believed to be compliant with U.S. copyright law and Fair Use provisions.

Because the site is an outgrowth of my personal research, it's tilted towards the Slavens surname. But that's easily fixed-- contribute your Slavin, Slevin, etc. data for the site! Here are some of the types of information that you can share:

Census transcriptions Census returns can be a gold mine of information for both the beginning and the experienced researcher, but many people don't have easy access to films. Finding your family in a transcription here makes requesting a film or a lookup much more worthwhile, so won't you share? We need people who have access to their state's Soundex indexes and are willing to transcribe the Slaven(s), Slavin, Slevin, etc. entries! It's S415 and you'll see about 20 Sullivans for each Slaven.

Biographies and reminiscences Share the bios from county history books, reminiscences from ancestors, old family letters, your own memories, the family history that was written for a reunion decades ago...

Obituaries Transcriptions of obituaries and death notices.

Photographs Share family photos, or photos of grave sites. Photos continue to be the most popular items on the site.

Links Do you have or know of a family-related site? Does a GenWeb county site offer information on a branch of the family? Share it here!

Other help! Other information that doesn't fit the categories above is also welcome.

All corrections, suggestions, criticisms, etc. are welcome too! Be sure to put Slaven, Slavin, and something meaningful in the subject line-- I get tons of spam so an email with no subject or "Hi!" will probably be deleted unread!

Larry Slavens
7018 Airline Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50322

slavens.net@gmail.com