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Daniel DeJarnette and the DeJarnette Tavern

Born into one of Halifax County’s most prominent early families, Daniel DeJarnette (1768–1831) inherited both the legacy and the ambitions of his father, Captain James Pemberton DeJarnette, a Revolutionary War officer, and his great-grandfather, Jean de Jarnette, the Huguenot immigrant who established the family’s Virginia roots after fleeing France in 1685. As the DeJarnettes expanded their landholdings along Hickey’s Road—an important stagecoach route in Halifax County—Daniel emerged as the family member most closely associated with the historic DeJarnette’s Tavern, a landmark eighteenth‑century ordinary that became a center of travel, commerce, community life, and even political unrest. Through a colorful combination of inheritance, local tradition, and entrepreneurial skill, Daniel transformed the tavern into a thriving stagecoach station and gathering place, ensuring its place not only in the history of Halifax County but also in the enduring story of the DeJarnette family across six generations.


Vertical Pedigree Chart for Daniel DeJarnette 1768-1831
Vertical Pedigree Chart for Daniel DeJarnette 1768-1831

Captain James Pemberton DeJarnette (1740–1826)

The story begins with Captain James Pemberton DeJarnette, who was born in 1740 at Spring Grove Plantation in Caroline County, Virginia, the son of Joseph Latane DeJarnette Sr. (1716–1791) and grandson of Jean DeJarnette, the Huguenot immigrant who fled France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Raised within one of Virginia’s early landed families, James emerged as a prominent figure in both Caroline and Halifax Counties during the Revolutionary era and the early national period. (1)

 

By the 1760s, James had married Edna George, daughter of John George of Caroline County. Their marriage produced several children, including George, Daniel, Elizabeth, Ann, and John. After Edna’s death in 1777, James remarried twice— (2)first to Mary Walker Saunders (1) in 1778 in Essex County, and later to Elizabeth Pillar (Pillow) in 1791 in Halifax County. These marriages connected him to influential families across multiple Virginia counties and helped establish his long-term presence in Halifax. (3)

 

James’s public career was distinguished. He served as a Captain in the Halifax County Militia (1) during the Revolutionary War, a role documented in the William & Mary Quarterly and DAR records. Halifax County court minutes from the 1770s show him appointed to administer oaths to militia members and free male inhabitants, reflecting his authority and standing in the community. (6) He also served three terms as High Sheriff of Halifax County between 1774 and 1777, overseeing legal, civic, and military responsibilities during a turbulent period in Virginia’s history. (6)

By the 1780s, (8) James had become closely associated with the DeJarnette Tavern on Hickey’s Road in Halifax County. Local tradition, preserved in historical commentary, credits him—or possibly his son Thomas—with establishing the tavern as early as 1782. (5)Positioned along a well‑traveled road, the tavern offered accommodations to travelers and wagoners, with hay mattresses downstairs and living quarters upstairs. Although James himself likely did not reside in the tavern due to his wealth and extensive landholdings, his sons operated it at various times, making the establishment a recognizable landmark in Halifax County for more than two centuries. (5)

 

James died in 1826 in Halifax County (10), leaving behind nine surviving children and a complex estate. Court records from 1826–1827 document legal proceedings involving his heirs, including George, Daniel, John, Walker, Ann McAllister, Edney Betterton, Susannah Ransom, and Elizabeth Bryan. His long life bridged the colonial, Revolutionary, and early American periods, and his legacy endures through the families, properties, and public institutions shaped by his leadership. (6)

 

Biography of Daniel DeJarnette and the Historic DeJarnette Tavern

Daniel DeJarnette (1768–1831), son of Captain James Pemberton DeJarnette and grandson of Jean de Jarnette, (12) the Huguenot immigrant who fled France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, emerged as one of the most influential figures in the DeJarnette family’s long history in Virginia. (6) Born into a lineage marked by military service, landownership, and public leadership, Daniel inherited both the ambitions and responsibilities of a family that had already established deep roots in Halifax County by the late eighteenth century. His life became inseparable from the story of DeJarnette’s Tavern, one of the oldest surviving buildings in the county and a rare example of an eighteenth‑century rural ordinary that served travelers, soldiers, and local residents for more than two centuries. (5)

 

The DeJarnette family settled along Hickey’s Road, a heavily traveled corridor that later became Route 40 and historically served as Stagecoach Road. This road connected Competition Courthouse in Pittsylvania County (present‑day Chatham) with Dinwiddie County and provided access to Richmond and northern destinations. Its steady flow of travelers created an ideal environment for roadside commerce. By 1782, court records list Thomas DeJarnette, Daniel’s older brother, as a tavern owner along Hickey’s Road, marking the earliest documented appearance of the tavern in Halifax County records. Local tradition credits their father James Pemberton DeJarnette with building the tavern, though some accounts attribute its construction to Thomas. Regardless of its exact builder, the tavern became a focal point of the family’s presence in Halifax County. (5)


DeJarnette Tavern still exists on Route 40 in Halifax County
DeJarnette Tavern still exists on Route 40 in Halifax County

The building itself was a one‑and‑a‑half‑story Colonial structure, constructed of wood on a stone foundation and sheltered beneath an unusually deep gable roof. The structure was two rooms deep, with an original stone chimney anchoring the design. The first floor contained three large rooms, forming the tavern’s public space where travelers ate, drank, and slept—often on hay mattresses laid out in communal fashion. The second floor also contained three rooms, arranged more traditionally and used as private living quarters for the DeJarnette family. An enclosed stair, remarkably intact today, connected the two floors. Near the rear corner of the west side of the foundation, an exterior entrance opened into a low cellar room with rubble‑stone walls, likely used for storage of food, drink, or supplies. The building’s architectural simplicity—plain, unpainted wall sheathing, beaded joists, and the absence of baseboards, chair rails, or cornices—reflects the vernacular style of rural Chesapeake taverns of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. (6)


House, tavern, & stage coach station primarily owned by Daniel DeJarnette (1768-1831). Halifax Count, VA (16)
House, tavern, & stage coach station primarily owned by Daniel DeJarnette (1768-1831). Halifax Count, VA (16)

Although the building is commonly referred to as a tavern, its layout suggests that it may have functioned as an ordinary, a type of establishment similar to a modern bed‑and‑breakfast, where travelers lodged in a private home rather than a fully commercial tavern. The fact that the building was named after its owner—rather than adopting an English‑style tavern name such as the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston or the Tavern of the Rising Sun—further supports this interpretation. The DeJarnettes, being of French origin, may not have followed English naming customs. (5)

 

The tavern’s most famous owner was Daniel DeJarnette, who acquired the property from his brother Thomas in the early nineteenth century. Halifax County tradition preserves the colorful story that Daniel won the tavern in an arm‑wrestling match, a tale supported by a 1782 court record documenting the transfer of ownership. Under Daniel’s management, the tavern became a thriving stagecoach station, offering food, rest, and lodging to travelers moving between county seats and regional markets. Its location made it an ideal stopping point for wagoners, riders, and locals seeking hospitality, entertainment, and community.

 

Daniel’s ownership also places him at the center of one of Halifax County’s most dramatic episodes: the Easter Uprising of 1802, an attempted slave revolt. According to the 1800 census, Daniel enslaved eleven people, including a man named Sancho, who became the instigator of the planned rebellion. Sancho’s mobility—working on loan to various plantations—allowed him to spread ideas of resistance among enslaved people across the region. The tavern was intended to be the meeting place for the uprising. When the plot was discovered, several conspirators, including Sancho, Absalom, Frank, and Martin, were captured and executed. This event underscores the tavern’s role not only as a commercial hub but also as a site where enslaved people sought opportunities for resistance and collective action.

Daniel continued to operate the tavern successfully until his death in 1831. Local lore describes him as a man of extraordinary height—reportedly over seven feet—and claims that he was buried in a piano case, with a headstone inscribed “The Giant.” Upon his death, the tavern passed to his son, Daniel E. DeJarnette Sr. (1802–1884), continuing the family’s multi‑generational ownership. During the Civil War, the tavern again served as a mustering place for soldiers. A 1947 newspaper account recounts how J.D. DeJarnette, then ninety‑one years old and living in the tavern, remembered riding with his father to join soldiers gathering there—his father departing for war and never returning.


Tombstone of Daniel DeJarnette (17)
Tombstone of Daniel DeJarnette (17)

 

As stagecoach travel declined with the rise of railroads and automobiles, Route 40 lost its prominence, and the tavern’s commercial activity diminished. In the twentieth century, the DeJarnette family used the building as a community gathering place, hosting Saturday night dances with local musicians. The tavern remained occupied until 1978, when Lawrence DeJarnette died, leaving the property to his daughters. In 2001, the building was purchased by APVA Preservation Virginia, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation later recognized it as the most unchanged eighteenth‑century tavern in Virginia. The National Register of Historic Places lists the tavern as significant under Criteria A (commerce) and C (architecture), with a period of significance from 1780 to 1947.


Gracie Mae and Lawrence DeJarnette were the last members of the DeJarnette Family to call the tavern home (10)
Gracie Mae and Lawrence DeJarnette were the last members of the DeJarnette Family to call the tavern home (10)

Today, DeJarnette’s Tavern stands as one of the oldest surviving buildings in Halifax County and a rare example of an eighteenth‑century rural ordinary. Its long history—shaped by Daniel DeJarnette, his father, his brother, and six generations of descendants—reflects the evolution of transportation, commerce, slavery, war, and community life in Southside Virginia. More than a building, it is a testament to the enduring presence of the DeJarnette family and the layered history of the region they helped shape. 

Works Cited

1. DeJarnette and Allied Families in America (1699–1954). ancestry.com. [Online] Part I, pp. 165–166. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/17730/images/dvm_GenMono00352600087-1?usePUB=true&pId=170.

2. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560–1900. ancestry.com.

3. Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly. ancestry.com. [Online] “Finding Mary’s Lost Identity,” Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 81–82. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6131/images/VGS_1991_01_01_0083.

4. James Pemberton DeJarnette. Find a Grave. [Online] Memorial ID 190527963. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190527963/james-pemberton-dejarnette.

5. U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications. ancestry.com. [Online] Application 20 March 1958. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2204/records/879427.

6. Francis Morgan: An Early Virginia Burgess and Some of His Descendants. Page 83. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/20627/images/dvm_GenMono00489200044-1?usePUB=true&pId=84.

8. U.S., Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1607–1890. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3578/records/33416113.

10. Kelly. DeJarnette’s Tavern: 250 Years of History Has Passed Through These Doors. The Forgotten South. [Online] https://theforgottensouth.com/dejarnettes-tavern-history-virginia/.

12. Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652–1900. ancestry.com. [Online] Prince Edward County Will Book 1. (General Index to Devisees and Heirs, Surnames H–Z, 1974–1984.).

14. DeJarnette Memorial. “Daniel Coleman DeJarnette Jr. Find a Grave. [Online] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41754157/jean-dejarnette.

15. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: DeJarnette’s Tavern, Halifax County, Virginia. National Park Service. [Online] https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/041-0067_DeJarnettesTavern_2007_NRfinal.pdf.

16. Image of DeJarnette Tavern. Find a Grave. [Online] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66784031/daniel-dejarnette#view-photo=300610783.

17. Image of the Tombstone of Daniel DeJarnette. Find a Grave. [Online] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66784031/daniel-dejarnette#view-photo=290618416.

 

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