"A Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Olney..." By James H Olney in 1889 has long linked James Oney, (b. by 1774 Southampton Co. VA d. 4Oct1801-27Oct1801 Surry Co. VA) m. by 1795 Southampton Co. VA Mazey (BOOTH) Oney TILLOT MADDERA, to the Benjamin Oney who was the Deskin Valley by 1773. I have recently received, from another researcher a deed and a will. Taken together and adding my own research I am 99% certain this James Oney is the son of Thomas Oney who was the son of Leonard Oney. This Leonard Oney may probably had brothers John and Benjamin who were all the sons of Leonard Oney who had deed transactions in Isle of Wight Co. VA in the 1730's. You can visit my web site at:
http://home.netcom.com/~vicdlee/victorleesgenealogysite
to see more details.

More research on this family needs to be done to tie up and link the loose ends, narrow the dates and find the names of spouses. Contrary the the Olney book, this Oney family seems to havae been Patriots in the American Revolution. Some transcibed deed indexes show the name Oney and Olney used interchangeably. So the change of name is not the result of hiding Tory sympathies. The original deeds and deed entries would have to be examined to confirm this.

The bottom line is if this Oney family is descendant of Thomas Olney of Rhode Island, they would have to tie into his family at a different place. What is clear is Leonard Oney moved to Isle of Wight Co. VA from somewhere else by the 1730's. Is anyone else working on this line?