Binford – Surname Saturday

Howell-Pankey-Binford Line
By Don Taylor

Name Origin

Ancestry indicates that Binford is an English habitational name from Binneford in Crediton, Devon, based upon the personal name Beonna and Old English ford (ford).

Geographical

Forebears indicates there are only about 3,136 people with the Binford surname globally, with 3,115 of them living in the United States. In the United States, nearly half of the Binfords live in Texas. Virginia, where our ancestors were from, contains 92 individuals with the Binford surname. Interestingly enough, although Binford comes from Crediton, Devon, England, there are no Binfords in England.

Direct Binford Ancestors

• • 5^th Great-grandmother: 69 – Betsy Kinsey Binford(1739-ca. 1771)
  • 6^th Great-grandfather: 138 – Thomas Binford (____-bef. 1754)*
  • 7^th Great-grandfather: 276 – James Binford (____-____)*
  • 8^th Great-grandfather: 551 – Anthony Binford (____-____)*

(* = Ancestors of Betsy Kinsey Binford are tentative.)

Historical

Our Binford ancestors lived before US censuses were enumerated. Figuring about 25 years between generations, my earliest known Binford ancestor, Anthony Binford, was probably born about 1664. I don’t know which of our Binford ancestors first migrated to the Colonies.

Direct Binford Descendants

We have 284 known descendants of Anthony Binford; 50 Howell, 36 Binford, 33 Pankey, and 16 Boseman. Two hundred three of those descendants are known descendants of Betsey Kinsey Binford. I have previously written about 5 of them.

• • Grandfather:James Dallas Howell (1879-1964)
  • 1^st Great-grandfather: Peter Fletcher Howell (1842-1924)
  • 2^nd Great-grandfather:  Caroline M. A Pankey, (1810 … ?)
  • 3^rd Great-grandfather: Thomas A Pankey(c. 1760 – 1829)

Famous Binfords

Julien Binford Self Portrait – “Elizabeth Watching” Source: Julien Binford Facebook Page

Among famous Binford’s is Julien Binford (1908–1997), painter and professor of painting. Julien was born in and lived much of his life in Powhatan County, Virginia.

Our Binford family are from  Powhatan County and the counties Powhatan was descended from. So a relationship to Julien is entirely possible. It will be fun to do a “quick & dirty” tree for Julien and see if such a relationship exists.

Julien Binford has a Facebook Page “to celebrate both his life and his amazing art.”

Sources

• • Ancestry Surname Page: https://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts
  • Forebears Surnames Page: https://forebears.io/surnames
  • Ancestry – Don Taylor’s Howell-Darling-2022 tree on Ancestry, accessed 6 February 2020.