Founding subject of Baekje said to have been enfeoffed as Prince Hwanseong; the ancestor of all Jeon clans
| Era | 삼국시대(백제 건국기) |
| Clan | 정선 전씨 |
Jeon Seop (全聶; some sources write 全攝) is said to be one of the ten meritorious subjects (Sipje gongsin) who helped Onjo found Baekje in 18 BCE, and to have been enfeoffed as Prince Hwanseong (歡城君). He is the first ancestor (dosijo) honored by every Jeon (全) clan, including Jeongseon and Cheonan. His dates and offices are not recorded.
Clan accounts name him alongside Ogan and Eureum among the ten helpers of Onjo. Records of his line are said to have broken off for seven generations amid the wars of the Three Kingdoms before resuming with his eighth-generation descendant Jeon Seon.
The Jeongseon Jeon association says every Jeon descends from Jeon Seop with Jeongseon as the senior seat, even though the clan later split into some eighteen seats such as Jeongseon, Cheonan and Seongsan. Besides the Jeongseon Jeon, the Cheonan, Damyang, Okcheon and Jeonju Jeon are all described as branches of this one root.
Tradition holds that he was among the ten ministers who stood with Onjo when he founded Sipje on the Han River and that he was made Prince Hwanseong, with Hwanseong identified with the Seoul area. Hardly any contemporary record survives, so his concrete deeds are unknown. Ma-ryeo, Ogan, Han Segi, Gwak Chung, Beom Chang and Jo Seong are named among the same group of subjects.
Eight generations are counted from Jeon Seop to the seat-founding mid-founder Jeon Seon, with seven generations undocumented in between. Some Cheonan Jeon voices do not fully accept the early Jeongseon-side genealogy, so generation counts below the first ancestor vary by lineage. Always check your own genealogy.
An altar (dansoh) for the first ancestor stands at San 15-1, Imun-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul; the clan association says descendants gather there for rites each year on 3 October.
All Jeon clans share Jeon Seop as first ancestor. Jeongseon is regarded as the senior line, with Cheonan, Seongsan and others making up about eighteen seats; Jeon Rak, founder of the Cheonan Jeon, is also described as his 16th-generation descendant.