The earlier years between 1800 and 1850 provide scant hard data to link known families to certain individuals found in this time frame.  One individual, Thomas Wannall (Wannell) opened a shoe store on May 4, 1815, on F Street in Washington, DC.  By 1820 indebtedness seems to have wiped him out, but by 1827 he had a shop on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.  The 1820 Census of DC has a very brief description of his family of wife, four sons, and two daughters.  As was the case in early census records, no family names are listed.

This gives rise to the speculation as to whether four grown men, Joseph, William, Charles and Thomas appearing with the Wannall name in 1850 and beyond were the four sons in the 1820 Census.  Efforts to link any of the four to Thomas of 1820 have not been successful, even though their ages fit in the range of ages listed in 1820.  Family genealogy descendent charts list the four as sons, but there are no factual data to back it up.

Moving back through the years, the first half of the 19th Century reveals little definitive data except for the period between 1815 and 1827 when the Thomas Wannall family appeared in the records.

The family of James Wonnell appears in the Maryland Census of 1800 in Worcestor County.  Numerous marriages using the name of Wonnell are listed in this county in the early 1800's.  No records of the name have been found prior to 1800, and further research is needed to trace the descendents to determine if this is a separate branch.

In the 18th Century, it appears the Thomas Wannall was born about 1783.  This is presumed from the 1850 census of William H. Wannall, which lists a Thomas Wannall as a shoemaker, age 67 (or 64) born in Maryland (this could be the same area that became the District of Columbia by 1800.)

Early in the 18th Century the family of John Wanell lived in Beaufort County, South Carolina, in St. Helenas Parish.  John had received a Warrant for three hundred acres of land on 12 June 1697.  That's the earliest record of John in America.  Data exists on his family until the middle 1700's, at which time all records ceased.  This may be the result of fire destroying many records of the period.

Another name variation that could have the same origin appeared as Asa Warnell in the late 1700's.  This family resided in Liberty County, Georgia.  A living relative, Willis Warnell, believes his name derives from the John Wanell of South Carolina.  An examination of the Georgia/South Carolina map shows that Liberty County and the St. Helena Island area to be less than 100 miles apart.  This at least suggests that the John Wanell family name could have evolved into the Warnell name as they migrated to Georgia.

Research into the derivation of the name prior to the early 1600's when the first English colonies were established is very limited.  A significant number of names spelled Wannell appear in southwest England in the county of Devon around the towns of Exeter, Buckland, Topsham, Moreeton, etc., in the 16th and 17th Centuries.  A Richarda Wannell married Georgius at Buchland on November 23, 1560.  A George Wannall married Emily Skinner at Topsham on May 11, 1844.  There is an interesting name variation in Scotland.  Whannell and McWhannell appear in Fifteenth Century records and clan notations.  In the mid 1970's, during a trip to Scotland, the then current phone directory listed McWhannell names.

George L. Wannall, 1997