#ancestry — Public Fediverse posts

Griffith James (abt. 1725? – 1795): Sharpsburg, Maryland, Beginnings

Or, Subtitled: “I have no tradition of her parents, except their nationality, they were Welch, but Hannah was born and reared in Maryland”

“Don’t know much about history”: Sam Cooke’s song “Wonderful World” is scrolling through my head as I launch a new series of postings, this one about Griffith James (abt. 1725? – 1795). Griffith James ties into my family tree through the marriage of his daughter Hannah (1752-1842) to Thomas Leonard about 1775 in Frederick County, Maryland. I’ve just finished a series of postings about the Leonard line. This new series about Griffith James follows that Leonard series, which began with the posting I’ve just linked, about Thomas Leonard (1752-1832), Hannah James’ husband. In a posting launching a previous series about my Lauderdale family line, I offer two charts showing my line of descent from Griffith James, James Lauderdale, and Robert Leonard, family lines that tied together in my family tree when Thomas Lewis Leonard (1781-1870) married Sarah M. Lauderdale (abt. 1785 – abt. 1866) — my 4th g-grandparents. (To read the continuation of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

The reason Sam Cooke’s line “Don’t know much about history” has been playing in my head as I begin gathering and organizing my information about Griffith James is this: before I undertook this gathering and organizing process, if you’d asked me what I know about Griffith James, I’d have told you confidently that I have a considerable amount of information, and that I was fairly certain I could tell you a lot about his origins, where he came from, who his parents were.

But now, I’m not so sure about that. One of the advantages of working on postings here that gather, organize, and analyze genealogical material I’ve accumulated for over fifty years is that I have a chance to look at that material from new perspectives, to correct and expand it, and in some cases, to reframe entirely what I had thought I’d known about an ancestral figure. Griffith James is a case in point.

The Documentary Trail That Begins at Sharpsburg

I’ll illustrate this point in the following posting by talking about what I know with certainty about Griffith James from the point at which a documentary trail of him begins in the area of Sharpsburg in what eventually became Washington County, Maryland. I know nothing — not with any certainty — about Griffith James before he begins showing up in records of Frederick County, Maryland, Washington County’s parent county. Prior to that point, I have not found any reliable information about where he was born, who his parents were, or where he may have lived before he settled in Frederick County prior to September 1763.

I do not know precisely when Griffith James was born. As a previous posting has shown, the gravestone of his oldest child, his daughter Hannah, in the Leonard family cemetery near Petersburg, Tennessee, gives her birthdate as 2 November 1752. If Hannah was born to a young couple who had married not long prior to her birth, then it would appear that Griffith James and his wife, whose name appears in various records as Mary, would likely have been born in the time frame 1725-1735.[1] We’ll see later that Griffith made a will in Pendleton District, South Carolina, on 20 April 1795, which was recorded (with no probate date stated) on 12 April 1796, so he died in Pendleton District between those two dates.[2] A death date of 3 October 1795 appears in a study of the Dean family entitled Country Cousins: Descendants of Samuel Dean with no information about the source of this date.[3]

Griffith James’ wife Mary, who is named in his will as “my Dear wife Mary James,” outlived him and was still living as late as 1817 when the minutes of Mountain Creek Baptist church in Pendleton District, of which Mary was a member, document a dispute between her and her daughter Mary, wife of Harmon Cummings, that began in April and continued until it was resolved in August 1817.[4] I have not found a document that provides a good indicator of when Griffith James’ wife Mary was born, or of her maiden surname.[5] As we’ll see in a moment, Thomas Dunlap Leonard, a grandson of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, who compiled a history of the Leonard family in 1883 and who knew Thomas and Hannah personally, appears to have thought that Griffith James was married only once and that his first and only wife (i.e., Mary), whom Thomas D. Leonard does not name, was the mother of all the couple’s children.

The first absolutely certain record I’ve found for this Griffith James places him in Sharpsburg in what was then Frederick County by 4 September 1763. On 4 September 1763, Joseph Chapline made an agreement between himself and Samuel Beall, David Ross, and Richard Henderson to be partners in an ironworks to be erected in Frederick County. The agreement states that Joseph reserved to himself and his heirs his mill on the Antietam with 50 acres joining it, and that Joseph was also excluding from the land he was making available for the ironworks 215 acres he had sold to Daniel Moore and Griffith James.[6] This agreement was recorded 31 October 1765, but the agreement itself was dated 4 September 1763. (See the top of this posting for a snapshot of the section of the ironworks agreement stating that Chapline had sold 215 acres to Daniel Moore and Griffith James.)

I have searched Frederick County deeds for a deed made by Joseph Chapline to Daniel Moore and Griffith James prior to September 1763 without finding any such deed. What I do find are two separate deeds made, one to Daniel and one to Griffith, years down the road from 1763, after both men had been living with their families for years on the land that Chapline deeded to them, and which was clearly the land comprised in the 215 acres Daniel Moore and Griffith James had acquired from Joseph Chapline by September 1763.

As far as I can determine, Griffith James lived continuously on a tract of land just southeast of the town of Sharpsburg until May 1792, when he sold the Pough tract and then moved the following year to Pendleton District, South Carolina. Pough was a 75-acre tract contiguous to Hunting the Hare, one portion of which Richard Dean, whose son Samuel married Griffith James’ daughter Gwendolyn, owned, and another portion of which Daniel Moore seems to have acquired from Joseph Chapline.

Joseph Chapline patented Pough on 23 November 1761.[7] The patent record states that the tract contained 75 acres, the same amount of land that Griffith James sold on 13 May 1792 when he sold Pough (the name for the land is given in this deed) before leaving Maryland for South Carolina.[8] Though Griffith James evidently lived continuously on this land from at least September 1763, he did not receive an official deed from the Chapline family for Pough until 10 April 1787, when Joseph and James Chapline, acting as executors of their father Joseph who died in 1769, sold Griffith the Pough tract for￡5.[9] This deed specifies again that Pough was a 75-acre tract.

Note the nominal price of￡5, far less than the￡330 for which Griffith James sold Pough in May 1792. This nominal price is another indicator that though this land, for which Griffith James appears on the tax list in Washington County in 1783, was Griffith’s home tract, Joseph Chapline (and then his estate) had retained the title of it for all the years on which Griffith lived on this piece of land.[10] The ￡5 also suggests to me that Griffith James may have lived on this land all the years he was at Sharpsburg as a kind of retainer of Joseph Chapline and his family, given use of a tract of land while not holding clear title to it as he lived on it. A retainer who may have had some kinship connection to Chapline? Or a retainer doing work of some kind to Chapline while cultivating his own patch of land?

After 1761 when Chapline patented Pough until 1768, I do not find Pough showing up in the Debt Books of the Provincial Land Office of Maryland. In 1768, it is listed as 75 acres belonging to heirs of Joseph Chapline, and it continues to appear in the Debt Books for Frederick County from 1770-1773, with the name given as “Tough.” Again, these documents indicate to me that Joseph Chapline perhaps had some special arrangement with Griffith James whereby he was living on Pough as its owner in the absence of a deed prior to April 1787, when Chapline’s heirs officially deeded the land to him — though, to repeat, a 1783 tax list for Washington County shows Griffith James taxed for this tract of land.

The story of Pough and Griffith James’ ownership and occupation of it parallels the story of Daniel Moore, who owned another portion of the 215 acres that he and Griffith James had acquired from Joseph Chapline prior to September 1763. Daniel Moore’s portion of the 215 acres was a tract of 138 acres named Mores Delight, which Joseph Chapline sold him on 17 August 1754 with the deed stating that Daniel Moore was living on this land when Chapline sold it to him in 1754, and that the land was on the waters of the Antietam.[11] But though Daniel Moore lived on this piece of land up to his death in 1792, the deed for the land was not recorded until 11 May 1805.

We know that Daniel Moore lived with his wife Mary on this 138-acre tract at the time of his death because the will that he made in Washington County on 1 January 1792 states this and leaves Mary the land: “I give and bequeath unto my loving & faithfull Wife Mary the whole of my Land and Plantation on which I now live Containing One Hundred and thirty Eight Acres.”[12] Daniel Moore was taxed for this land in 1783.[13]

As we’ve seen, Griffith James’ Pough tract consisted of 75 acres. Daniel Moore’s home tract, on which he was already living prior to August 1754 and on which he continued living to the end of his life, was 138 acres. Joseph Chapline’s September 1763 ironworks agreement states that he had sold Daniel Moore and Griffith James 215 acres by that date. Put these two pieces of land owned by Griffith James and Daniel Moore together, and you have a total of 213 acres, very close to the 215 acres cited by Joseph Chapline in his ironworks agreement.

I have not been able to find Mores Delight on lists of land patents and tracts in Washington County, so I’m not certain of its precise location. There has been confusion about whether the name of this piece of land is Moses’ Delight or Mores Delight, and this adds to the difficulty of finding its location. If Joseph Chapline’s September 1763 ironworks agreement excluded 215 acres he had sold to Daniel Moore and Griffith James from this agreement, it makes sense, I think, to assume that Daniel’s and Griffith’s pieces of land were in the same vicinity and perhaps adjoining.

Daniel Moore’s will states that he had a son Richard. The 1783 tax assessment for Washington County shows Richard Moore assessed for a 50-acre tract called Hunting the Hare. As a descendant of this Moore family who maintains the West Virginia Family Tracks and Trails blog notes, the 1790 federal census for Washington County shows Richard and Daniel Moore as immediate neighbors, and on 10 April 1790, Daniel Moore and wife Mary sold 50 acres described as part of a tract called Hunting the Hare.[14] This deed suggests to me that Daniel Moore’s 138-acre home tract, Mores Delight, was likely originally part of a larger tract of 250 acres called Hunting the Hare on Antietam Creek that Joseph Chapline patented on 13 November 1747 after having claimed the land on 9 April 1744.[15]

On 22 March 1747, prior to his obtaining a patent for Hunting the Hare in November 1747, Joseph Chapline sold Richard Dean, both of Prince George’s County, 50 acres of land described as “Deans purches being part of a tract land called hunting the hair [sic].”[16] On 17 October 1747, Joseph Chapline acknowledged the deed with wife Ruhamah (née Williams) relinquishing dower rights, and on the same day, Joseph made a receipt to Richard for the £20 for which he had sold the land. The deed for this transaction is filed in Prince George’s County since the portion of Frederick County taken from Prince George’s in 1748 that became Washington County in 1776 was originally in Prince George’s.

As I stated previously, Richard Dean’s son Samuel married Griffith James’ daughter Gwendolyn about 1773 in Frederick County. We know that Richard Dean was in the location that would later become Sharpsburg along with Joseph Chapline as early as 1746, since the tax list for Antietam Hundred in Prince George’s County in that year shows both of these men taxed in that hundred.[17] This is not very long after Chapline arrived in this location around 1736, a point I’ll discuss in more detail later. Beverly Dean Peoples, the premier researcher of Richard Dean’s family, thinks that it’s entirely possible that Chapline brought Richard to the Sharpsburg area or Richard followed Chapline there due to some connection between the two men in eastern Maryland prior to Chapline’s decision to move west.

Beverly Peoples writes,[18]

When he came to this western most part of MD, Joseph brought with him men to build his home, settlers to clear the land, workers to build and work the Iron Works that he was establishing as well as men to defend the settlement from the Indians. Since this area was remote in the 1730’s and 40’s it is unlikely that many people arrived individually. Richard’s appearance in the 1740’s would possibly indicate he had contact with someone in the Chapline family in the eastern part of the state who had motivated him to [move] west.

It seems to me this is a thesis well worth considering. And given what appear to be close ties between Richard Dean, Griffith James, and Daniel Moore, I’d also suggest that it’s possible both Griffith and Daniel arrived in the Sharpsburg area not far down the road from Richard because they, too, had prior ties to Joseph Chapline and/or to Richard Dean. If Daniel Moore’s 138-acre homeplace was part of the original Hunting the Hare tract — and I think this may well have been the case — then he, Richard Dean, and Griffith Moore settled on adjoining tracts of land just southeast of Sharpsburg. Note the contiguity of Deans Purchase, Hunting the Hare, and Pough on this map of Sharpsburg that appears in Evelyn Vigdahl’s previously cited “Another Flooded River” article:[19]

Google Maps actually labels the “historic Moore farm” near the intersection of Burnside Bridge Road and Mills Road southeast of Sharpsburg as “Hunting the Hare.”[20] Both Pough and Deans Purchase are in this same location, near the intersection of Burnside Bridge Road and Mills Road.[21]

So note the following:

• By September 1763, Griffith James and Daniel Moore owned 215 acres near Antietam Creek purchased from Joseph Chapline.

• We learn from other documents that the portion of this land, 75 acres, that Griffith James owned and lived on was called Pough, and that Pough was adjacent to Chapline’s Hunting the Hare tract. Chapline’s heirs deeded this land formally to Griffith James in 1787.

• In 1747, Richard Dean bought 50 acres from Chapline’s Hunting the Hare tract; this land was given the name Deans Purchase. Deans Purchase is contiguous to both Pough and the rest of the Hunting the Hare tract.

• In 1754, Chapline deeded Daniel Moore 138 acres that appear to have been also part of the original Hunting the Hare tract, and also appear to have been contiguous to Pough and Deans Purchase. We know from a subsequent deed that Daniel Moore owned another 50 acres of Hunting the Hare on which his son Richard lived for a time.

• Griffith James’ daughter Gwendolyn married Richard Dean’s son Samuel Dean.

• The 14 February 1788 will of Richard Dean in Washington County names a daughter Mary.[22] We learn from the 7 August 1795 will of Richard’s widow Priscilla that Mary’s married name was More/Moore.[23] Noting that documents from 1761 through 1792 show Daniel Moore’s wife as Mary, and that Daniel and wife Mary named a son Richard Moore, Beverly Peoples proposes that Daniel Moore may have married another of Richard Dean’s daughters — an eminently reasonable proposal, it seems to me, even if not yet entirely proven.[24]

Joseph Chapline, Founder of Sharpsburg

Because the three interconnecting men on whom I’m focusing here — Griffith James, Richard Dean, and Daniel Moore — all acquired their adjoining pieces of land from Joseph Chapline and arrived in the Sharpsburg area in its formative period when Chapline appears to have been attracting to the area settlers with pre-existing ties to him, it’s important to take a close look at Chapline’s biography and his connection to Sharpsburg, which he founded. As John Bedell and Jason Shellenhamer note, “Of all of the early residents of Maryland’s Great Valley, Joseph Chapline was most responsible for shaping settlement along Antietam Creek in the eighteenth century.”[25]

Joseph Chapline was born 5 September 1707 in Queen Anne’s parish of Prince George’s County, the son of William Chapline (1686-1752) and Elizabeth Travers. The Chapline family, whose roots were in England and which had marital ties to the Calvert family, had been in the colonies four generations prior to Joseph, first in Virginia and then in Maryland, where family members lived in Calvert and Dorchester Counties in the eastern part of that colony.[26]

Joseph spent his formative years on his father’s plantation Forrest in the easternmost part of Prince George’s County, with his father William sending him to England for a period of time to be educated. In 1730 Joseph’s father, William, moved to the western “back-parts” on the Virginia-Maryland border, settling on the Potomac about four miles above Shepherdstown and leaving Joseph, his oldest son, in charge of the Forrest plantation and of the family’s younger children.

By 1736 Joseph had followed his father west, settling across the Potomac in what was then western Prince George’s County, and after that Frederick and finally Washington County. As Bedell and Shellenhamer note,[27]

Maryland colonial records for that period show that Chapline was an active member of a community developing west of the Monocacy River. In May 1739 Joseph Chapline was a signatory on a petition of 88 inhabitants of the “back-parts” of Maryland.

On 22 October 1741 in All Saints parish in Frederick County, Joseph married Ruhamah, daughter of Reverend William Williams and Sarah James of Carmarthenshire, Wales. Ruhamah and her sisters Sarah and Jane had come to Virginia with their father, a Presbyterian missionary, following their mother’s death in Wales. By 1739, William Williams had bought land in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in the area that would later be Frederick and then Washington County.[28]

In 1744 Joseph Chapline began patenting and buying tracts of land on Antietam Creek in the vicinity of what would soon be Sharpsburg. As Bedell and Shellenhamer indicate, one of these tracts, acquired in 1747, was the 250-acre Hunting the Hare tract.[29] It is in this period from the latter half of the 1730s into the 1740s that Beverly Peoples suggests Joseph may well have brought with him to this remote backcountry part of western Maryland men to help improve his properties, build houses and structures on them, clear and settle the land, and work his ironworks once they were established. As Beverly states, “Since this area was remote in the 1730’s and 40’s it is unlikely that many people arrived individually.”[30]

Joseph Chapline prospered and accumulated wealth and status following his settlement in the Sharpsburg area. He was a justice of Prince George’s county court from 1739-1748 and after that of the Frederick court for some years. From 1749-1768, he served in the lower house of the Maryland legislature. In 1763 Joseph founded the town of Sharps Burgh, naming it in honor of Maryland’s governor Horatio Sharpe. The town was laid out on a 200-acre tract, Hickory Tavern, that Joseph bought from Edmund Cartledge on 11 July 1763, close to his plantation Rush Bottom and adjacent to his Hunting the Hare and Resurvey on Abston’s Forest tracts. The appeal of the Hickory Tavern land for a town site was that it had a good freshwater spring and was on the wagon road to Philadelphia. In 1764, Joseph out a plan for the new town, consisting of 187 lots located around the spring, with each lot measuring 103 feet wide by 206 feet long.[31]

On 12 January 1769 the Maryland Gazette reported,[32]

Lately died in Frederick County, Capt. Joseph Chapline, who, for many Years, has been one of the Representatives for that County in the General Assembly.

Joseph was initially buried on his Elias Grove estate west of Sharpsburg, and in 1893 his great-great-niece Maria Ligget Dare had his remains along with those of his wife Ruhamah and several other family members buried in Mountain View cemetery at Sharpsburg.[33] Maria Dare indicates that Joseph died owning 12,257 acres of land.[34] According to Edward C. Papenfuse, Joseph’s landholdings at the time of his death included at least 6,385 acres in Frederick County and probably as much as 15,000 acres in Frederick County and in Virginia.[35]

I’d like to return now to the 4 September 1763 document that started this discussion of Griffith James’ early years in the Sharpsburg area. As I stated previously, the 4 September 1763 agreement that Joseph Chapline made with Samuel Beall, David Ross, and Richard Henderson to be partners in an ironworks to be erected at Sharpsburg is the first absolutely certain document I’ve found placing Griffith James in this part of Maryland.[36]

Several of my previous postings (here and here) about the Leonard family connecting to Griffith James’ family through the marriage of Thomas Leonard, son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard, to Griffith’s daughter Hannah note both not only ties between Robert and Thomas Leonard Joseph Chapline and his family, but also ties between the Leonards and the Beall family to which Joseph Chapline’s business partner Samuel Beall belonged. As these postings indicate, Joseph Chapline helped construct Fort Frederick near Hagerstown in Washington County, Maryland, in 1756, and from the time that fort was constructed, a trail of documents places Robert Leonard there as a soldier guarding the western frontier of Maryland.

Moreover, when the first military company in Washington County was organized for the Revolutionary War in Hagerstown on 6 January 1776, that company was under the command of Joseph Chapline’s a son Joseph. Serving in that military company were Griffith James’ sons-in-law Thomas Leonard and Samuel Dean, as well as Samuel’s brother Thomas Dean and Richard Moore, son of Daniel Moore. Previously, in 1755, Daniel Moore had served in the Frederick County militia company of Captain Moses Chapline, brother of the elder Joseph Chapline who founded Sharpsburg.

In addition, in the years in which Robert Leonard was stationed at Fort Frederick, he was under the immediate command of Captain Alexander Beall (1712-1759). Alexander was the son of William Beall (1684-1756), whose brother John Beall (1689-1742) was father of the Samuel Beall (1713-1778) who was Joseph Chapline’s business partner in the Antietam ironworks business. Samuel lived at Hagerstown.

As this previous posting states, Alexander Beall left a will in Frederick County dated 9 April 1759 which shows him owning part of a large tract of land in that county called King Cole.[37] The original King Cole tract consisted of 1,970 acres patented to Henry Crabb on 30 August 1754.[38] As we’ll see later, by 1783, fifty acres of the King Cole tract belonged to Griffith James’ son Joseph, who obtained it from his father-in-law James Austin.[39] In April 1791, Joseph sold this land to his father Griffith James, who then sold it along with James Austin in March 1792.[40]

None of the preceding information about Griffith James tells us exactly when and how he arrived in the Sharpsburg area or where he may have been prior to his arrival there. It does, however, give us a clear snapshot confirming his presence in the Sharpsburg area prior to September 1763 and his continuous residence on a piece of land he had acquired from Joseph Chapline prior to that date. All of the information I’ve compiled above also raises some tantalizing questions:

• Did Griffith James, Richard Dean, and Daniel Moore have some connections to each other pre-existing their arrival in the Sharpsburg area? And did all or any of these men have connections with Joseph Chapline pre-dating their arrival in the Sharpsburg area?

• Since we know that Joseph Chapline had a Welsh mother-in-law whose surname was James, is it possible that Griffith James had some kind of family connection with Joseph Chapline through Joseph’s mother-in-law Sarah James? There’s also a salient fact I haven’t yet mentioned: Daniel Moore had a daughter Nancy who married John Griffith. This family, too, lived in the Sharpsburg area. Given the vagaries of the patronymic naming system in Welsh families, whereby given names of fathers pass on as surnames of sons, it’s possible John Griffith and Griffith James were related to each other: Was that, in fact, the case?

• If Griffith James was related to Joseph Chapline through Joseph’s mother-in-law, would that explain the fact that he had acquired land from Joseph prior to September 1763 — we know this from Joseph’s own testimony — for which he was not given title until 1787, though he lived continuously on this land all those years? To repeat a question I’ve already asked earlier: If Griffith James was a relative of the Chapline family, was he a retainer of the family, living on land provided to him while the family held title to the land?

Lots of questions, no answers. I ask these questions not to suggest that any of this speculation has been proven, but to put the questions out on the board for consideration, as any researcher seeks to extend information about Griffith James back beyond September 1763 in the Sharpsburg area. Another tantalizing piece of information to place on the board now: in his 1883 manuscript about the Leonard family Thomas Dunlap Leonard says the following about the parents of his grandmother Hannah James Leonard:[41]

[Thomas Leonard, son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard,] married Miss Hannah James of Maryland about the year 1775. I have no tradition of her parents, except their nationality, they were Welch, but Hannah was born and reared in Maryland.

This statement, which evidently relies on information given to Thomas D. Leonard by his grandparents Thomas and Hannah James Leonard, seems to me to imply that Thomas D. Leonard thought Hannah James’ parents were Welsh-born. The Welsh background of the family is fairly evident in the names Griffith and James, both common Welsh surnames. The given name Gwendolyn, which Griffith James and wife Mary gave a daughter, is another Welsh cultural tag. I am also not forgetting that Pritchard, the surname of Robert Leonard’s wife, is yet another Welsh surname.

It’s possible, of course, that Thomas D. Leonard means to say here that Griffith James’ family had recent Welsh roots though it had been in the colonies a generation or two prior to Griffith himself. It seems to me, however, that Thomas thought Griffith James and wife Mary were actually Welsh-born and were the immigrant ancestors of this James family line. If that’s true, then it may also have been the case that this couple arrived in Maryland — perhaps even in the Sharpsburg area — directly from Wales. And that would mean attempts to find information about Griffith James prior to September 1763 in the vicinity of Sharpsburg need to look back to Wales for information. Perhaps to the Carmarthenshire family of Sarah James, mother-in-law of Joseph Chapline?

And then one final surprising piece of information: In updating my notes about Griffith James as I worked on this blog posting, I’ve unearthed a list of debts to the estate of Nathan Peddycoart, who died in 1759 in Frederick County, Maryland. Among the debts that Nathan’s widow Sarah Dorsey Peddycoart listed in her inventory of Nathan’s estate was a debt from one Griffith James for one shilling and sixpence due 10 January 1743.[42]

Is this the Griffith James who had bought land from Joseph Chapline by 1763? Given the Frederick County location of this estate record, that’s entirely possible. If this is “our” Griffith James, then this record would indicate that he was in Maryland, perhaps in Frederick County’s parent county, Prince George’s, by January 1743. If I’m correct in thinking that the Griffith James who lived at Pough outside Sharpsburg was born in the period 1725-1735, and if this record pertains to that same Griffith James, then he’d have been in this part of Maryland as a very young man in 1743.

Lots of questions, no answers. But it’s important to keep asking….

[1] The only federal census on which Griffith James appears, the 1790 census, shows him in Washington County, Maryland (p. 9) with a household comprised of two males aged 16 and over, one male aged under 15, and two females, information that is hardly helpful in determining Griffith’s birthdate.

[2] Anderson County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1793-8, p. 82.

[3] Era Josephine Morgan Davis, Louise S. Rourke, and Marc B. Smith, Country Cousins: Descendants of Samuel Dean (1996), p. 3. In correspondence with me in January 1997, researcher Barbara Morris of Bellaire, Texas, stated that the 3 October 1795 death of date was sent by Lucy Rebecca Dean to Louise Rourke in the 1980s. Louise Rourke, who lived in Citrus Heights, California, was the primary author of Country Cousins. Unless I’m mistaken, Lucy Rebecca Dean (1942-2023, m. John Kennemur) was a daughter of Richard Brown Dean and Joanne Richardson. Rebecca Dean Kennemur was a DAR member and active genealogist. This Dean line descends from Samuel Dean and Gwendolyn James through their son Richard P. Dean.

[4] Mountain Creek Baptist church appears to have been established in the 1790s some six miles southwest of Anderson, South Carolina. Its original minutes are held by the Special Collections and Baptist Historical Collection at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Microfilmed and digitized copies of the church minutes are available at FamilySearch. A transcription of the Mountain Creek minutes from 1798 to 1907 by Debbie Giles Harbin was published by the Anderson County Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society in 2002.

[5] Mary James does not appear as a household head on the federal census in either 1800 or 1810. The minutes of Mountain Creek Baptist church state that in 1817, she was living with her the family of her son-in-law Samuel Dean, husband of Gwendolyn Dean. The 1810 federal census shows a female aged over 45 in Samuel’s household in Pendleton District (p. 151).

[6] Frederick County, Maryland, Deed Bk. J, pp. 793-804.

[7] See Arthur G. Tracey’s patent/tract index and map locations for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties at Maryland government’s Maryland History site; and Maryland Land Office Rent Rolls 1748-1775, p. 5.

[8] See Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. G, pp. 771-2, stating that on 13 May 1792, Griffith James sold to Robert Hoffman for ￡330 his tract called Pough, 75 acres, with wife Mary releasing dower.

[9] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. E, pp. 332-3.

[10] In 1783, Griffith James is on the Washington County tax list in Lower Antietam Hundred, taxed for the Pough property, with the acreage given as 100 acres. The tax list states that this property comprised 60 acres of woods and 40 acres arable; Griffith was also taxed for four horses and eight beef cattle: see “Washington County 1783 Tax Assessment,” Western Maryland Genealogy 7,4 (October 1991), p. 171; and “Assessment of 1783, Index,” citing Lower Antietam and Sharpsburg, p. 34 (MSA S1161-11-1. 1/4/5/54) at website of Maryland State Archives.

[11] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. R, pp. 181-2.

[12] Washington County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, pp. 279-280. The will was probated 24 March 1792.

[13] See “Assessment of 1783, Index,” citing Lower Antietam and Sharpsburg, p. 35 (MSA S1161-11-1. 1/4/5/54) at website of Maryland State Archives. This transcription reads the acreage as 128 acres and gives the tract name as Moses’ Delight.

[14] Geolover, “Sarah’s Surprise, Part 2,” West Virginia Family Tracks and Trails, citing Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk.  G-7, pp. 44-46.

[15] See Arthur G. Tracey’s patent/tract index and map locations for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties at Maryland government’s Maryland History site. See also John Bedell and Jason Shellenhamer, Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of Newly Acquired Lands at Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland (2014, National Parks Service), pp. 36-7; Evelyn Vigdahl, “Another Flooded River Valley: The Deans of Huntingdon Co., Pennsylvania,” at Our Family History; and “The Farmsteads of Antietam – Jacob Avey Farm,” at the website of Jacob Rohrback Inn.

[16] Prince George’s County, Maryland, Deed Bk. BB, pp. 396-7.

[17] “Tax List, Antietam Hundred, Prince George’s County 1746,” transcribed by Karen Walker for Maryland Genealogical Society.

[18] “Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children,” at Rootsweb.

[19] See supra, n. 15.

[20] When Joseph Chapline patented Pough in November 1761 (see supra, no. 7), the tract was described as 75 acres at the head of a spring and the foot of Elk Ridge Mountain next to Keep Tryst, Boston, and Little I Thought It. Little I Thought It is the huge tract out of which the land for the Antietam ironworks was taken. On 25 July 1769, David Ross, one of Chapline’s business partners in the ironworks, had a Frederick County grant for 8,025 acres, a tract called Boston, a resurvey of Little I Thought It, part of Keep Trieste, part of Dutch Loss, and Mill Place. The survey for this land shows it bordering both Pough and Hunting the Hare. Arthur Tracey’s map for plats in Sharpsburg district shows Pough bordering Boston on the east, with Hunting the Hare bordering Boston on the north. On the Little I Thought It tract of 6,352 acres as the site for the ironworks, see Thomas J.C. Williams, A History of Washington County, Maryland, etc. (Hagerstown, 1906; reps. Baltimore: Regional Publ. Co., 1968), pp. 23-4.

[21] For photos of the Deans Purchase portion of Hunting the Hare viewed from Pough that I took in in August 2007, please see this previous posting.

[22] Washington County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, p. 168. The will spells the surname as Deane.

[23] Ibid., pp. 161-2.

[24] Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children.”

[25] John Bedell and Jason Shellenhamer, Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of Newly Acquired Lands at Antietam National Battlefield Maryland (2014, National Parks Service), p. 36.

[26] See ibid., and Edward C. Papenfuse, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979), pp. 210-211; Lee and Barbara Barron, The History of Sharpsburg, Maryland, Founded by Joseph Chapline 1763 (1972); Maria J. Liggett Dare, Chaplines from Maryland and Virginia (priv. publ., 1902); Thomas J.C. Williams, A History of Washington County, Maryland, etc., vol. 1 (Hagerstown, 1906; repr. Baltimore: Regional Publishing Company, 1968), pp. 23-4; Sharpsburg Historical Society, “Joseph Chapline – Founder of Sharpsburg, MD,” at the website of Sharpsburg Historical Society; and Peoples, “Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children.”

[27] Bedell and Shellenhamer, Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of Newly Acquired Lands at Antietam National Battlefield Maryland, pp. 36-7.

[28] Dare, Chaplines from Maryland and Virginia, pp. 6, 22; Williams, History of Washington County, Maryland, pp. 23-4; and Grace L. Tracey, Pioneers of Old Monocacy (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2002), pp. 245-7. See also Find a Grave memorial page of Ruhama Williams Chapline, Mountain View cemetery, Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, created by jrrmr910, maintained by Michael J. Chapline.

[29] Ibid.

[30] “Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children.”

[31] Bedell and Shellenhamer, Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of Newly Acquired Lands at Antietam National Battlefield Maryland, pp. 41-2.

[32] Maryland Gazette (12 January 1769), p. 3, col. 1.

[33] See Find a Grave memorial page of Col Joseph Chapline, Mountain View cemetery, Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, created by jrrmr910, maintained by Michael J. Chapline.

[34] Dare, Chaplines from Maryland and Virginia, p. 7.

[35] Papenfuse, Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789, p. 211.

[36] See supra, n. 6.

[37] Frederick County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, p. 127.

[38] See Arthur G. Tracey’s patent/tract index and map locations for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties at Maryland government’s Maryland History site.

[39] “Washington County 1783 Tax Assessment,” p. 171; and “Assessment of 1783, Index.”

[40] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. G, pp. 368, 815-6.

[41] “Biography of the Leonards,” 1883 manuscript circulated as a typescript among Leonard family members and researchers, whose current provenance is not known.

[42] Frederick County, Maryland, Inventory Bk. A1, p. 459.

Griffith James (abt. 1725? – 1795): Sharpsburg, Maryland, Beginnings

Or, Subtitled: “I have no tradition of her parents, except their nationality, they were Welch, but Hannah was born and reared in Maryland”

“Don’t know much about history”: Sam Cooke’s song “Wonderful World” is scrolling through my head as I launch a new series of postings, this one about Griffith James (abt. 1725? – 1795). Griffith James ties into my family tree through the marriage of his daughter Hannah (1752-1842) to Thomas Leonard about 1775 in Frederick County, Maryland. I’ve just finished a series of postings about the Leonard line. This new series about Griffith James follows that Leonard series, which began with the posting I’ve just linked, about Thomas Leonard (1752-1832), Hannah James’ husband. In a posting launching a previous series about my Lauderdale family line, I offer two charts showing my line of descent from Griffith James, James Lauderdale, and Robert Leonard, family lines that tied together in my family tree when Thomas Lewis Leonard (1781-1870) married Sarah M. Lauderdale (abt. 1785 – abt. 1866) — my 4th g-grandparents. (To read the continuation of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

The reason Sam Cooke’s line “Don’t know much about history” has been playing in my head as I begin gathering and organizing my information about Griffith James is this: before I undertook this gathering and organizing process, if you’d asked me what I know about Griffith James, I’d have told you confidently that I have a considerable amount of information, and that I was fairly certain I could tell you a lot about his origins, where he came from, who his parents were.

But now, I’m not so sure about that. One of the advantages of working on postings here that gather, organize, and analyze genealogical material I’ve accumulated for over fifty years is that I have a chance to look at that material from new perspectives, to correct and expand it, and in some cases, to reframe entirely what I had thought I’d known about an ancestral figure. Griffith James is a case in point.

The Documentary Trail That Begins at Sharpsburg

I’ll illustrate this point in the following posting by talking about what I know with certainty about Griffith James from the point at which a documentary trail of him begins in the area of Sharpsburg in what eventually became Washington County, Maryland. I know nothing — not with any certainty — about Griffith James before he begins showing up in records of Frederick County, Maryland, Washington County’s parent county. Prior to that point, I have not found any reliable information about where he was born, who his parents were, or where he may have lived before he settled in Frederick County prior to September 1763.

I do not know precisely when Griffith James was born. As a previous posting has shown, the gravestone of his oldest child, his daughter Hannah, in the Leonard family cemetery near Petersburg, Tennessee, gives her birthdate as 2 November 1752. If Hannah was born to a young couple who had married not long prior to her birth, then it would appear that Griffith James and his wife, whose name appears in various records as Mary, would likely have been born in the time frame 1725-1735.[1] We’ll see later that Griffith made a will in Pendleton District, South Carolina, on 20 April 1795, which was recorded (with no probate date stated) on 12 April 1796, so he died in Pendleton District between those two dates.[2] A death date of 3 October 1795 appears in a study of the Dean family entitled Country Cousins: Descendants of Samuel Dean with no information about the source of this date.[3]

Griffith James’ wife Mary, who is named in his will as “my Dear wife Mary James,” outlived him and was still living as late as 1817 when the minutes of Mountain Creek Baptist church in Pendleton District, of which Mary was a member, document a dispute between her and her daughter Mary, wife of Harmon Cummings, that began in April and continued until it was resolved in August 1817.[4] I have not found a document that provides a good indicator of when Griffith James’ wife Mary was born, or of her maiden surname.[5] As we’ll see in a moment, Thomas Dunlap Leonard, a grandson of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, who compiled a history of the Leonard family in 1883 and who knew Thomas and Hannah personally, appears to have thought that Griffith James was married only once and that his first and only wife (i.e., Mary), whom Thomas D. Leonard does not name, was the mother of all the couple’s children.

The first absolutely certain record I’ve found for this Griffith James places him in Sharpsburg in what was then Frederick County by 4 September 1763. On 4 September 1763, Joseph Chapline made an agreement between himself and Samuel Beall, David Ross, and Richard Henderson to be partners in an ironworks to be erected in Frederick County. The agreement states that Joseph reserved to himself and his heirs his mill on the Antietam with 50 acres joining it, and that Joseph was also excluding from the land he was making available for the ironworks 215 acres he had sold to Daniel Moore and Griffith James.[6] This agreement was recorded 31 October 1765, but the agreement itself was dated 4 September 1763. (See the top of this posting for a snapshot of the section of the ironworks agreement stating that Chapline had sold 215 acres to Daniel Moore and Griffith James.)

I have searched Frederick County deeds for a deed made by Joseph Chapline to Daniel Moore and Griffith James prior to September 1763 without finding any such deed. What I do find are two separate deeds made, one to Daniel and one to Griffith, years down the road from 1763, after both men had been living with their families for years on the land that Chapline deeded to them, and which was clearly the land comprised in the 215 acres Daniel Moore and Griffith James had acquired from Joseph Chapline by September 1763.

As far as I can determine, Griffith James lived continuously on a tract of land just southeast of the town of Sharpsburg until May 1792, when he sold the Pough tract and then moved the following year to Pendleton District, South Carolina. Pough was a 75-acre tract contiguous to Hunting the Hare, one portion of which Richard Dean, whose son Samuel married Griffith James’ daughter Gwendolyn, owned, and another portion of which Daniel Moore seems to have acquired from Joseph Chapline.

Joseph Chapline patented Pough on 23 November 1761.[7] The patent record states that the tract contained 75 acres, the same amount of land that Griffith James sold on 13 May 1792 when he sold Pough (the name for the land is given in this deed) before leaving Maryland for South Carolina.[8] Though Griffith James evidently lived continuously on this land from at least September 1763, he did not receive an official deed from the Chapline family for Pough until 10 April 1787, when Joseph and James Chapline, acting as executors of their father Joseph who died in 1769, sold Griffith the Pough tract for￡5.[9] This deed specifies again that Pough was a 75-acre tract.

Note the nominal price of￡5, far less than the￡330 for which Griffith James sold Pough in May 1792. This nominal price is another indicator that though this land, for which Griffith James appears on the tax list in Washington County in 1783, was Griffith’s home tract, Joseph Chapline (and then his estate) had retained the title of it for all the years on which Griffith lived on this piece of land.[10] The ￡5 also suggests to me that Griffith James may have lived on this land all the years he was at Sharpsburg as a kind of retainer of Joseph Chapline and his family, given use of a tract of land while not holding clear title to it as he lived on it. A retainer who may have had some kinship connection to Chapline? Or a retainer doing work of some kind to Chapline while cultivating his own patch of land?

After 1761 when Chapline patented Pough until 1768, I do not find Pough showing up in the Debt Books of the Provincial Land Office of Maryland. In 1768, it is listed as 75 acres belonging to heirs of Joseph Chapline, and it continues to appear in the Debt Books for Frederick County from 1770-1773, with the name given as “Tough.” Again, these documents indicate to me that Joseph Chapline perhaps had some special arrangement with Griffith James whereby he was living on Pough as its owner in the absence of a deed prior to April 1787, when Chapline’s heirs officially deeded the land to him — though, to repeat, a 1783 tax list for Washington County shows Griffith James taxed for this tract of land.

The story of Pough and Griffith James’ ownership and occupation of it parallels the story of Daniel Moore, who owned another portion of the 215 acres that he and Griffith James had acquired from Joseph Chapline prior to September 1763. Daniel Moore’s portion of the 215 acres was a tract of 138 acres named Mores Delight, which Joseph Chapline sold him on 17 August 1754 with the deed stating that Daniel Moore was living on this land when Chapline sold it to him in 1754, and that the land was on the waters of the Antietam.[11] But though Daniel Moore lived on this piece of land up to his death in 1792, the deed for the land was not recorded until 11 May 1805.

We know that Daniel Moore lived with his wife Mary on this 138-acre tract at the time of his death because the will that he made in Washington County on 1 January 1792 states this and leaves Mary the land: “I give and bequeath unto my loving & faithfull Wife Mary the whole of my Land and Plantation on which I now live Containing One Hundred and thirty Eight Acres.”[12] Daniel Moore was taxed for this land in 1783.[13]

As we’ve seen, Griffith James’ Pough tract consisted of 75 acres. Daniel Moore’s home tract, on which he was already living prior to August 1754 and on which he continued living to the end of his life, was 138 acres. Joseph Chapline’s September 1763 ironworks agreement states that he had sold Daniel Moore and Griffith James 215 acres by that date. Put these two pieces of land owned by Griffith James and Daniel Moore together, and you have a total of 213 acres, very close to the 215 acres cited by Joseph Chapline in his ironworks agreement.

I have not been able to find Mores Delight on lists of land patents and tracts in Washington County, so I’m not certain of its precise location. There has been confusion about whether the name of this piece of land is Moses’ Delight or Mores Delight, and this adds to the difficulty of finding its location. If Joseph Chapline’s September 1763 ironworks agreement excluded 215 acres he had sold to Daniel Moore and Griffith James from this agreement, it makes sense, I think, to assume that Daniel’s and Griffith’s pieces of land were in the same vicinity and perhaps adjoining.

Daniel Moore’s will states that he had a son Richard. The 1783 tax assessment for Washington County shows Richard Moore assessed for a 50-acre tract called Hunting the Hare. As a descendant of this Moore family who maintains the West Virginia Family Tracks and Trails blog notes, the 1790 federal census for Washington County shows Richard and Daniel Moore as immediate neighbors, and on 10 April 1790, Daniel Moore and wife Mary sold 50 acres described as part of a tract called Hunting the Hare.[14] This deed suggests to me that Daniel Moore’s 138-acre home tract, Mores Delight, was likely originally part of a larger tract of 250 acres called Hunting the Hare on Antietam Creek that Joseph Chapline patented on 13 November 1747 after having claimed the land on 9 April 1744.[15]

On 22 March 1747, prior to his obtaining a patent for Hunting the Hare in November 1747, Joseph Chapline sold Richard Dean, both of Prince George’s County, 50 acres of land described as “Deans purches being part of a tract land called hunting the hair [sic].”[16] On 17 October 1747, Joseph Chapline acknowledged the deed with wife Ruhamah (née Williams) relinquishing dower rights, and on the same day, Joseph made a receipt to Richard for the £20 for which he had sold the land. The deed for this transaction is filed in Prince George’s County since the portion of Frederick County taken from Prince George’s in 1748 that became Washington County in 1776 was originally in Prince George’s.

As I stated previously, Richard Dean’s son Samuel married Griffith James’ daughter Gwendolyn about 1773 in Frederick County. We know that Richard Dean was in the location that would later become Sharpsburg along with Joseph Chapline as early as 1746, since the tax list for Antietam Hundred in Prince George’s County in that year shows both of these men taxed in that hundred.[17] This is not very long after Chapline arrived in this location around 1736, a point I’ll discuss in more detail later. Beverly Dean Peoples, the premier researcher of Richard Dean’s family, thinks that it’s entirely possible that Chapline brought Richard to the Sharpsburg area or Richard followed Chapline there due to some connection between the two men in eastern Maryland prior to Chapline’s decision to move west.

Beverly Peoples writes,[18]

When he came to this western most part of MD, Joseph brought with him men to build his home, settlers to clear the land, workers to build and work the Iron Works that he was establishing as well as men to defend the settlement from the Indians. Since this area was remote in the 1730’s and 40’s it is unlikely that many people arrived individually. Richard’s appearance in the 1740’s would possibly indicate he had contact with someone in the Chapline family in the eastern part of the state who had motivated him to [move] west.

It seems to me this is a thesis well worth considering. And given what appear to be close ties between Richard Dean, Griffith James, and Daniel Moore, I’d also suggest that it’s possible both Griffith and Daniel arrived in the Sharpsburg area not far down the road from Richard because they, too, had prior ties to Joseph Chapline and/or to Richard Dean. If Daniel Moore’s 138-acre homeplace was part of the original Hunting the Hare tract — and I think this may well have been the case — then he, Richard Dean, and Griffith Moore settled on adjoining tracts of land just southeast of Sharpsburg. Note the contiguity of Deans Purchase, Hunting the Hare, and Pough on this map of Sharpsburg that appears in Evelyn Vigdahl’s previously cited “Another Flooded River” article:[19]

Google Maps actually labels the “historic Moore farm” near the intersection of Burnside Bridge Road and Mills Road southeast of Sharpsburg as “Hunting the Hare.”[20] Both Pough and Deans Purchase are in this same location, near the intersection of Burnside Bridge Road and Mills Road.[21]

So note the following:

• By September 1763, Griffith James and Daniel Moore owned 215 acres near Antietam Creek purchased from Joseph Chapline.

• We learn from other documents that the portion of this land, 75 acres, that Griffith James owned and lived on was called Pough, and that Pough was adjacent to Chapline’s Hunting the Hare tract. Chapline’s heirs deeded this land formally to Griffith James in 1787.

• In 1747, Richard Dean bought 50 acres from Chapline’s Hunting the Hare tract; this land was given the name Deans Purchase. Deans Purchase is contiguous to both Pough and the rest of the Hunting the Hare tract.

• In 1754, Chapline deeded Daniel Moore 138 acres that appear to have been also part of the original Hunting the Hare tract, and also appear to have been contiguous to Pough and Deans Purchase. We know from a subsequent deed that Daniel Moore owned another 50 acres of Hunting the Hare on which his son Richard lived for a time.

• Griffith James’ daughter Gwendolyn married Richard Dean’s son Samuel Dean.

• The 14 February 1788 will of Richard Dean in Washington County names a daughter Mary.[22] We learn from the 7 August 1795 will of Richard’s widow Priscilla that Mary’s married name was More/Moore.[23] Noting that documents from 1761 through 1792 show Daniel Moore’s wife as Mary, and that Daniel and wife Mary named a son Richard Moore, Beverly Peoples proposes that Daniel Moore may have married another of Richard Dean’s daughters — an eminently reasonable proposal, it seems to me, even if not yet entirely proven.[24]

Joseph Chapline, Founder of Sharpsburg

Because the three interconnecting men on whom I’m focusing here — Griffith James, Richard Dean, and Daniel Moore — all acquired their adjoining pieces of land from Joseph Chapline and arrived in the Sharpsburg area in its formative period when Chapline appears to have been attracting to the area settlers with pre-existing ties to him, it’s important to take a close look at Chapline’s biography and his connection to Sharpsburg, which he founded. As John Bedell and Jason Shellenhamer note, “Of all of the early residents of Maryland’s Great Valley, Joseph Chapline was most responsible for shaping settlement along Antietam Creek in the eighteenth century.”[25]

Joseph Chapline was born 5 September 1707 in Queen Anne’s parish of Prince George’s County, the son of William Chapline (1686-1752) and Elizabeth Travers. The Chapline family, whose roots were in England and which had marital ties to the Calvert family, had been in the colonies four generations prior to Joseph, first in Virginia and then in Maryland, where family members lived in Calvert and Dorchester Counties in the eastern part of that colony.[26]

Joseph spent his formative years on his father’s plantation Forrest in the easternmost part of Prince George’s County, with his father William sending him to England for a period of time to be educated. In 1730 Joseph’s father, William, moved to the western “back-parts” on the Virginia-Maryland border, settling on the Potomac about four miles above Shepherdstown and leaving Joseph, his oldest son, in charge of the Forrest plantation and of the family’s younger children.

By 1736 Joseph had followed his father west, settling across the Potomac in what was then western Prince George’s County, and after that Frederick and finally Washington County. As Bedell and Shellenhamer note,[27]

Maryland colonial records for that period show that Chapline was an active member of a community developing west of the Monocacy River. In May 1739 Joseph Chapline was a signatory on a petition of 88 inhabitants of the “back-parts” of Maryland.

On 22 October 1741 in All Saints parish in Frederick County, Joseph married Ruhamah, daughter of Reverend William Williams and Sarah James of Carmarthenshire, Wales. Ruhamah and her sisters Sarah and Jane had come to Virginia with their father, a Presbyterian missionary, following their mother’s death in Wales. By 1739, William Williams had bought land in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in the area that would later be Frederick and then Washington County.[28]

In 1744 Joseph Chapline began patenting and buying tracts of land on Antietam Creek in the vicinity of what would soon be Sharpsburg. As Bedell and Shellenhamer indicate, one of these tracts, acquired in 1747, was the 250-acre Hunting the Hare tract.[29] It is in this period from the latter half of the 1730s into the 1740s that Beverly Peoples suggests Joseph may well have brought with him to this remote backcountry part of western Maryland men to help improve his properties, build houses and structures on them, clear and settle the land, and work his ironworks once they were established. As Beverly states, “Since this area was remote in the 1730’s and 40’s it is unlikely that many people arrived individually.”[30]

Joseph Chapline prospered and accumulated wealth and status following his settlement in the Sharpsburg area. He was a justice of Prince George’s county court from 1739-1748 and after that of the Frederick court for some years. From 1749-1768, he served in the lower house of the Maryland legislature. In 1763 Joseph founded the town of Sharps Burgh, naming it in honor of Maryland’s governor Horatio Sharpe. The town was laid out on a 200-acre tract, Hickory Tavern, that Joseph bought from Edmund Cartledge on 11 July 1763, close to his plantation Rush Bottom and adjacent to his Hunting the Hare and Resurvey on Abston’s Forest tracts. The appeal of the Hickory Tavern land for a town site was that it had a good freshwater spring and was on the wagon road to Philadelphia. In 1764, Joseph out a plan for the new town, consisting of 187 lots located around the spring, with each lot measuring 103 feet wide by 206 feet long.[31]

On 12 January 1769 the Maryland Gazette reported,[32]

Lately died in Frederick County, Capt. Joseph Chapline, who, for many Years, has been one of the Representatives for that County in the General Assembly.

Joseph was initially buried on his Elias Grove estate west of Sharpsburg, and in 1893 his great-great-niece Maria Ligget Dare had his remains along with those of his wife Ruhamah and several other family members buried in Mountain View cemetery at Sharpsburg.[33] Maria Dare indicates that Joseph died owning 12,257 acres of land.[34] According to Edward C. Papenfuse, Joseph’s landholdings at the time of his death included at least 6,385 acres in Frederick County and probably as much as 15,000 acres in Frederick County and in Virginia.[35]

I’d like to return now to the 4 September 1763 document that started this discussion of Griffith James’ early years in the Sharpsburg area. As I stated previously, the 4 September 1763 agreement that Joseph Chapline made with Samuel Beall, David Ross, and Richard Henderson to be partners in an ironworks to be erected at Sharpsburg is the first absolutely certain document I’ve found placing Griffith James in this part of Maryland.[36]

Several of my previous postings (here and here) about the Leonard family connecting to Griffith James’ family through the marriage of Thomas Leonard, son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard, to Griffith’s daughter Hannah note both not only ties between Robert and Thomas Leonard Joseph Chapline and his family, but also ties between the Leonards and the Beall family to which Joseph Chapline’s business partner Samuel Beall belonged. As these postings indicate, Joseph Chapline helped construct Fort Frederick near Hagerstown in Washington County, Maryland, in 1756, and from the time that fort was constructed, a trail of documents places Robert Leonard there as a soldier guarding the western frontier of Maryland.

Moreover, when the first military company in Washington County was organized for the Revolutionary War in Hagerstown on 6 January 1776, that company was under the command of Joseph Chapline’s a son Joseph. Serving in that military company were Griffith James’ sons-in-law Thomas Leonard and Samuel Dean, as well as Samuel’s brother Thomas Dean and Richard Moore, son of Daniel Moore. Previously, in 1755, Daniel Moore had served in the Frederick County militia company of Captain Moses Chapline, brother of the elder Joseph Chapline who founded Sharpsburg.

In addition, in the years in which Robert Leonard was stationed at Fort Frederick, he was under the immediate command of Captain Alexander Beall (1712-1759). Alexander was the son of William Beall (1684-1756), whose brother John Beall (1689-1742) was father of the Samuel Beall (1713-1778) who was Joseph Chapline’s business partner in the Antietam ironworks business. Samuel lived at Hagerstown.

As this previous posting states, Alexander Beall left a will in Frederick County dated 9 April 1759 which shows him owning part of a large tract of land in that county called King Cole.[37] The original King Cole tract consisted of 1,970 acres patented to Henry Crabb on 30 August 1754.[38] As we’ll see later, by 1783, fifty acres of the King Cole tract belonged to Griffith James’ son Joseph, who obtained it from his father-in-law James Austin.[39] In April 1791, Joseph sold this land to his father Griffith James, who then sold it along with James Austin in March 1792.[40]

None of the preceding information about Griffith James tells us exactly when and how he arrived in the Sharpsburg area or where he may have been prior to his arrival there. It does, however, give us a clear snapshot confirming his presence in the Sharpsburg area prior to September 1763 and his continuous residence on a piece of land he had acquired from Joseph Chapline prior to that date. All of the information I’ve compiled above also raises some tantalizing questions:

• Did Griffith James, Richard Dean, and Daniel Moore have some connections to each other pre-existing their arrival in the Sharpsburg area? And did all or any of these men have connections with Joseph Chapline pre-dating their arrival in the Sharpsburg area?

• Since we know that Joseph Chapline had a Welsh mother-in-law whose surname was James, is it possible that Griffith James had some kind of family connection with Joseph Chapline through Joseph’s mother-in-law Sarah James? There’s also a salient fact I haven’t yet mentioned: Daniel Moore had a daughter Nancy who married John Griffith. This family, too, lived in the Sharpsburg area. Given the vagaries of the patronymic naming system in Welsh families, whereby given names of fathers pass on as surnames of sons, it’s possible John Griffith and Griffith James were related to each other: Was that, in fact, the case?

• If Griffith James was related to Joseph Chapline through Joseph’s mother-in-law, would that explain the fact that he had acquired land from Joseph prior to September 1763 — we know this from Joseph’s own testimony — for which he was not given title until 1787, though he lived continuously on this land all those years? To repeat a question I’ve already asked earlier: If Griffith James was a relative of the Chapline family, was he a retainer of the family, living on land provided to him while the family held title to the land?

Lots of questions, no answers. I ask these questions not to suggest that any of this speculation has been proven, but to put the questions out on the board for consideration, as any researcher seeks to extend information about Griffith James back beyond September 1763 in the Sharpsburg area. Another tantalizing piece of information to place on the board now: in his 1883 manuscript about the Leonard family Thomas Dunlap Leonard says the following about the parents of his grandmother Hannah James Leonard:[41]

[Thomas Leonard, son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard,] married Miss Hannah James of Maryland about the year 1775. I have no tradition of her parents, except their nationality, they were Welch, but Hannah was born and reared in Maryland.

This statement, which evidently relies on information given to Thomas D. Leonard by his grandparents Thomas and Hannah James Leonard, seems to me to imply that Thomas D. Leonard thought Hannah James’ parents were Welsh-born. The Welsh background of the family is fairly evident in the names Griffith and James, both common Welsh surnames. The given name Gwendolyn, which Griffith James and wife Mary gave a daughter, is another Welsh cultural tag. I am also not forgetting that Pritchard, the surname of Robert Leonard’s wife, is yet another Welsh surname.

It’s possible, of course, that Thomas D. Leonard means to say here that Griffith James’ family had recent Welsh roots though it had been in the colonies a generation or two prior to Griffith himself. It seems to me, however, that Thomas thought Griffith James and wife Mary were actually Welsh-born and were the immigrant ancestors of this James family line. If that’s true, then it may also have been the case that this couple arrived in Maryland — perhaps even in the Sharpsburg area — directly from Wales. And that would mean attempts to find information about Griffith James prior to September 1763 in the vicinity of Sharpsburg need to look back to Wales for information. Perhaps to the Carmarthenshire family of Sarah James, mother-in-law of Joseph Chapline?

And then one final surprising piece of information: In updating my notes about Griffith James as I worked on this blog posting, I’ve unearthed a list of debts to the estate of Nathan Peddycoart, who died in 1759 in Frederick County, Maryland. Among the debts that Nathan’s widow Sarah Dorsey Peddycoart listed in her inventory of Nathan’s estate was a debt from one Griffith James for one shilling and sixpence due 10 January 1743.[42]

Is this the Griffith James who had bought land from Joseph Chapline by 1763? Given the Frederick County location of this estate record, that’s entirely possible. If this is “our” Griffith James, then this record would indicate that he was in Maryland, perhaps in Frederick County’s parent county, Prince George’s, by January 1743. If I’m correct in thinking that the Griffith James who lived at Pough outside Sharpsburg was born in the period 1725-1735, and if this record pertains to that same Griffith James, then he’d have been in this part of Maryland as a very young man in 1743.

Lots of questions, no answers. But it’s important to keep asking….

[1] The only federal census on which Griffith James appears, the 1790 census, shows him in Washington County, Maryland (p. 9) with a household comprised of two males aged 16 and over, one male aged under 15, and two females, information that is hardly helpful in determining Griffith’s birthdate.

[2] Anderson County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1793-8, p. 82.

[3] Era Josephine Morgan Davis, Louise S. Rourke, and Marc B. Smith, Country Cousins: Descendants of Samuel Dean (1996), p. 3. In correspondence with me in January 1997, researcher Barbara Morris of Bellaire, Texas, stated that the 3 October 1795 death of date was sent by Lucy Rebecca Dean to Louise Rourke in the 1980s. Louise Rourke, who lived in Citrus Heights, California, was the primary author of Country Cousins. Unless I’m mistaken, Lucy Rebecca Dean (1942-2023, m. John Kennemur) was a daughter of Richard Brown Dean and Joanne Richardson. Rebecca Dean Kennemur was a DAR member and active genealogist. This Dean line descends from Samuel Dean and Gwendolyn James through their son Richard P. Dean.

[4] Mountain Creek Baptist church appears to have been established in the 1790s some six miles southwest of Anderson, South Carolina. Its original minutes are held by the Special Collections and Baptist Historical Collection at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Microfilmed and digitized copies of the church minutes are available at FamilySearch. A transcription of the Mountain Creek minutes from 1798 to 1907 by Debbie Giles Harbin was published by the Anderson County Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society in 2002.

[5] Mary James does not appear as a household head on the federal census in either 1800 or 1810. The minutes of Mountain Creek Baptist church state that in 1817, she was living with her the family of her son-in-law Samuel Dean, husband of Gwendolyn Dean. The 1810 federal census shows a female aged over 45 in Samuel’s household in Pendleton District (p. 151).

[6] Frederick County, Maryland, Deed Bk. J, pp. 793-804.

[7] See Arthur G. Tracey’s patent/tract index and map locations for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties at Maryland government’s Maryland History site; and Maryland Land Office Rent Rolls 1748-1775, p. 5.

[8] See Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. G, pp. 771-2, stating that on 13 May 1792, Griffith James sold to Robert Hoffman for ￡330 his tract called Pough, 75 acres, with wife Mary releasing dower.

[9] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. E, pp. 332-3.

[10] In 1783, Griffith James is on the Washington County tax list in Lower Antietam Hundred, taxed for the Pough property, with the acreage given as 100 acres. The tax list states that this property comprised 60 acres of woods and 40 acres arable; Griffith was also taxed for four horses and eight beef cattle: see “Washington County 1783 Tax Assessment,” Western Maryland Genealogy 7,4 (October 1991), p. 171; and “Assessment of 1783, Index,” citing Lower Antietam and Sharpsburg, p. 34 (MSA S1161-11-1. 1/4/5/54) at website of Maryland State Archives.

[11] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. R, pp. 181-2.

[12] Washington County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, pp. 279-280. The will was probated 24 March 1792.

[13] See “Assessment of 1783, Index,” citing Lower Antietam and Sharpsburg, p. 35 (MSA S1161-11-1. 1/4/5/54) at website of Maryland State Archives. This transcription reads the acreage as 128 acres and gives the tract name as Moses’ Delight.

[14] Geolover, “Sarah’s Surprise, Part 2,” West Virginia Family Tracks and Trails, citing Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk.  G-7, pp. 44-46.

[15] See Arthur G. Tracey’s patent/tract index and map locations for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties at Maryland government’s Maryland History site. See also John Bedell and Jason Shellenhamer, Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of Newly Acquired Lands at Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland (2014, National Parks Service), pp. 36-7; Evelyn Vigdahl, “Another Flooded River Valley: The Deans of Huntingdon Co., Pennsylvania,” at Our Family History; and “The Farmsteads of Antietam – Jacob Avey Farm,” at the website of Jacob Rohrback Inn.

[16] Prince George’s County, Maryland, Deed Bk. BB, pp. 396-7.

[17] “Tax List, Antietam Hundred, Prince George’s County 1746,” transcribed by Karen Walker for Maryland Genealogical Society.

[18] “Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children,” at Rootsweb.

[19] See supra, n. 15.

[20] When Joseph Chapline patented Pough in November 1761 (see supra, no. 7), the tract was described as 75 acres at the head of a spring and the foot of Elk Ridge Mountain next to Keep Tryst, Boston, and Little I Thought It. Little I Thought It is the huge tract out of which the land for the Antietam ironworks was taken. On 25 July 1769, David Ross, one of Chapline’s business partners in the ironworks, had a Frederick County grant for 8,025 acres, a tract called Boston, a resurvey of Little I Thought It, part of Keep Trieste, part of Dutch Loss, and Mill Place. The survey for this land shows it bordering both Pough and Hunting the Hare. Arthur Tracey’s map for plats in Sharpsburg district shows Pough bordering Boston on the east, with Hunting the Hare bordering Boston on the north. On the Little I Thought It tract of 6,352 acres as the site for the ironworks, see Thomas J.C. Williams, A History of Washington County, Maryland, etc. (Hagerstown, 1906; reps. Baltimore: Regional Publ. Co., 1968), pp. 23-4.

[21] For photos of the Deans Purchase portion of Hunting the Hare viewed from Pough that I took in in August 2007, please see this previous posting.

[22] Washington County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, p. 168. The will spells the surname as Deane.

[23] Ibid., pp. 161-2.

[24] Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children.”

[25] John Bedell and Jason Shellenhamer, Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of Newly Acquired Lands at Antietam National Battlefield Maryland (2014, National Parks Service), p. 36.

[26] See ibid., and Edward C. Papenfuse, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979), pp. 210-211; Lee and Barbara Barron, The History of Sharpsburg, Maryland, Founded by Joseph Chapline 1763 (1972); Maria J. Liggett Dare, Chaplines from Maryland and Virginia (priv. publ., 1902); Thomas J.C. Williams, A History of Washington County, Maryland, etc., vol. 1 (Hagerstown, 1906; repr. Baltimore: Regional Publishing Company, 1968), pp. 23-4; Sharpsburg Historical Society, “Joseph Chapline – Founder of Sharpsburg, MD,” at the website of Sharpsburg Historical Society; and Peoples, “Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children.”

[27] Bedell and Shellenhamer, Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of Newly Acquired Lands at Antietam National Battlefield Maryland, pp. 36-7.

[28] Dare, Chaplines from Maryland and Virginia, pp. 6, 22; Williams, History of Washington County, Maryland, pp. 23-4; and Grace L. Tracey, Pioneers of Old Monocacy (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2002), pp. 245-7. See also Find a Grave memorial page of Ruhama Williams Chapline, Mountain View cemetery, Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, created by jrrmr910, maintained by Michael J. Chapline.

[29] Ibid.

[30] “Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children.”

[31] Bedell and Shellenhamer, Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of Newly Acquired Lands at Antietam National Battlefield Maryland, pp. 41-2.

[32] Maryland Gazette (12 January 1769), p. 3, col. 1.

[33] See Find a Grave memorial page of Col Joseph Chapline, Mountain View cemetery, Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, created by jrrmr910, maintained by Michael J. Chapline.

[34] Dare, Chaplines from Maryland and Virginia, p. 7.

[35] Papenfuse, Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789, p. 211.

[36] See supra, n. 6.

[37] Frederick County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, p. 127.

[38] See Arthur G. Tracey’s patent/tract index and map locations for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties at Maryland government’s Maryland History site.

[39] “Washington County 1783 Tax Assessment,” p. 171; and “Assessment of 1783, Index.”

[40] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. G, pp. 368, 815-6.

[41] “Biography of the Leonards,” 1883 manuscript circulated as a typescript among Leonard family members and researchers, whose current provenance is not known.

[42] Frederick County, Maryland, Inventory Bk. A1, p. 459.

Wait until the editors over at JNS actually read a history book some day. :fozzie_wocka_wocka:

"Today, the #American covenant is under serious pressure from two directions simultaneously.

The left has been replacing the covenant’s universal terms with group identity. The relevant question, in this framework, is not what you accept but what you are: your #race, your #gender and your position in a hierarchy of historical grievance. From the right, #ethnonationalism defines the nation by #ancestry and #culture rather than by shared obligation. In both models, the covenant is conditional, depending on which group you belong to.

Both abandon America’s founding logic. Both make #Jewish belonging in #America contingent in ways that Washington explicitly said it never could be."

https://www.jns.org/opinion/eldad-tzioni/what-george-washington-really-said-to-the-jews-of-newport

Wait until the editors over at JNS actually read a history book some day. :fozzie_wocka_wocka:

"Today, the #American covenant is under serious pressure from two directions simultaneously.

The left has been replacing the covenant’s universal terms with group identity. The relevant question, in this framework, is not what you accept but what you are: your #race, your #gender and your position in a hierarchy of historical grievance. From the right, #ethnonationalism defines the nation by #ancestry and #culture rather than by shared obligation. In both models, the covenant is conditional, depending on which group you belong to.

Both abandon America’s founding logic. Both make #Jewish belonging in #America contingent in ways that Washington explicitly said it never could be."

https://www.jns.org/opinion/eldad-tzioni/what-george-washington-really-said-to-the-jews-of-newport

Wait until the editors over at JNS actually read a history book some day. :fozzie_wocka_wocka:

"Today, the #American covenant is under serious pressure from two directions simultaneously.

The left has been replacing the covenant’s universal terms with group identity. The relevant question, in this framework, is not what you accept but what you are: your #race, your #gender and your position in a hierarchy of historical grievance. From the right, #ethnonationalism defines the nation by #ancestry and #culture rather than by shared obligation. In both models, the covenant is conditional, depending on which group you belong to.

Both abandon America’s founding logic. Both make #Jewish belonging in #America contingent in ways that Washington explicitly said it never could be."

https://www.jns.org/opinion/eldad-tzioni/what-george-washington-really-said-to-the-jews-of-newport

Wait until the editors over at JNS actually read a history book some day. :fozzie_wocka_wocka:

"Today, the #American covenant is under serious pressure from two directions simultaneously.

The left has been replacing the covenant’s universal terms with group identity. The relevant question, in this framework, is not what you accept but what you are: your #race, your #gender and your position in a hierarchy of historical grievance. From the right, #ethnonationalism defines the nation by #ancestry and #culture rather than by shared obligation. In both models, the covenant is conditional, depending on which group you belong to.

Both abandon America’s founding logic. Both make #Jewish belonging in #America contingent in ways that Washington explicitly said it never could be."

https://www.jns.org/opinion/eldad-tzioni/what-george-washington-really-said-to-the-jews-of-newport

Wait until the editors over at JNS actually read a history book some day. :fozzie_wocka_wocka:

"Today, the #American covenant is under serious pressure from two directions simultaneously.

The left has been replacing the covenant’s universal terms with group identity. The relevant question, in this framework, is not what you accept but what you are: your #race, your #gender and your position in a hierarchy of historical grievance. From the right, #ethnonationalism defines the nation by #ancestry and #culture rather than by shared obligation. In both models, the covenant is conditional, depending on which group you belong to.

Both abandon America’s founding logic. Both make #Jewish belonging in #America contingent in ways that Washington explicitly said it never could be."

https://www.jns.org/opinion/eldad-tzioni/what-george-washington-really-said-to-the-jews-of-newport

Challenge of Tracing the Ancestry of James Brooks (bef. 1720 – 1779) of Frederick County, Virginia: A Thought-Provoking New Clue

Or, Subtitled: “The chain carriers were often kin to the person for whom the land was being surveyed” (Judy G. Russell, “A Matter of Measure,“ Legal Genealogy)

I have posted previously about an elusive ancestor named James Brooks, who died prior to 2 November 1779 in Frederick County, Virginia, when his widow Mary and son Thomas presented his will to court for probate.[1] As the posting I’ve just linked states, the court responded to Mary and Thomas’ motion to have James Brooks’ will probated by granting them a certificate “for obtaining a probate there of [sic] in due form.”

That is, the will was not probated and recorded on 2 November 1779, but Mary and Thomas were instructed to have it probated “in due form.” The court minutes state explicitly that after witness Meredith Helm proved the will, it was “Ordered to be for further proof.” One would expect this set of court minutes to be followed by another set not far down the road showing the will definitively proven with Mary and Thomas obtaining probate and having it recorded. (To read the rest of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

But sadly, this notice that James Brooks’ will was brought to Frederick County court for probate on 2 November 1779 is the last mention I can find of this will anywhere in Frederick County records. It seems never to have been probated or recorded.

James Brooks remains a very elusive ancestor. I can find almost next to no information about him. His son Thomas first appears in Frederick County records in 1767, so this family seems to have been in that county by that date. His children’s dates of birth suggest a birth date of 1720 or earlier for James and wife Mary. Mary outlived James by some ten years, leaving a will written 9 July 1786, which was probated on 4 April 1787.[2] The will names her children Mary Hollingsworth, Elizabeth Rice, Sarah Asdill (i.e., Ashdale), Susanna Haynes, and Thomas and James Brooks. A transcript of Mary Brooks’ will and an overview of what’s known about her children is found at this previous posting.

When James Brooks and wife Mary arrived in Frederick County, Virginia, where they were living prior to coming there (I’m assuming they were not born there), where they were born, what Mary’s maiden name was: I have been unable to find any scrap of information to answer those questions. I have, however, now turned up a very valuable new clue possibly pointing to James’ background that I want to discuss here.

On 22 November 1752, John Baylis surveyed 247 acres of land for Hugh Haynes on Opequon Creek in Frederick County. This was a Northern Neck survey.[3] The chain carriers for this survey were Matthew Brooks and James Brooks. The survey document states that Hugh Haynes lived on the east side of Opequon and that the land surveyed was on both sides of that creek. The land bordered Robert Hutchins, John Baylis, and Thomas Wyatt.[4]

Quite a bit of information is available about Matthew Brooks, who died in 1754 in Frederick County. I’ll discuss some of that information in a moment. But meanwhile, who is this James Brooks? Matthew Brooks had a son named James. But Matthew’s son James is not the man acting as a chain carrier in November 1752 when Hugh Haynes had land surveyed. Matthew’s son James Brooks was born in 1748.

I have found no James Brooks living in Frederick County in the period 1752-1779 other than the James Brooks who died there prior to 2 November 1779. I’m fairly confident that the James Brooks acting as a chain carrier with Matthew Brooks when Hugh Haynes’ land was surveyed in November 1752 is the man who died in November 1779 with wife Mary. 

When land was surveyed, chain carriers were frequently relatives of the person whose land was being surveyed. They were also very often relatives of each other — i.e., a chain carrier duo might be father and son or two brothers. This November 1752 survey document suggests to me some kind of connection, very likely a kinship one, between James Brooks with wife Mary and Matthew Brooks.

In a previous posting, I provided an overview of what I know about Matthew Brooks and another Brooks man, Jacob Brooks, who was living in Frederick County in the period in which Matthew and James Brooks lived there. This posting notes that there are some strong indicators that Matthew and Jacob were related to each other, and both families had some Quaker connections.

Salient information about Matthew Brooks:

• Matthew was baptized 10 February 1704 in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia, with the baptismal record stating that his mother was Sara Brooks, and Matthew was illegitimate.[5]

Though some researchers have questioned whether the Matthew Brooks who appears in Frederick County records by the 1740s and died there before 1 October 1754 is the Matthew Brooks of this baptismal record, it’s clear to me that the two Matthews are the same person. There’s a strong preponderance of evidence in favor of this conclusion. In particular, it’s important to note that Jacob Brooks, to whom the Matthew Brooks found in Frederick County records is linked, was also baptized in Christ Church parish on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[6]

In addition, as a previous posting notes (with documentation cited), before appearing in Frederick County records, both Matthew and Jacob Brooks are found in records of Spotsylvania County, Virgina, both with connections to the family of Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth married Matthew Brooks.[7]

• Matthew Brooks was in Frederick County prior to 7 May 1748, when he was appointed a constable in that county.[8]

• After a warrant was issued on 22 January 1750 for a survey of 400 acres on the east side of Opequon for John Baylis of Prince William County, Matthew Brooks and Simeon Taylor were chain carriers.[9] The land bordered Hugh Haynes, Robert Hutchins and Lewis Neale. Simeon Taylor, who was the first clerk of Hopewell Friends’ Monthly Meeting in Frederick County, witnessed the 12 December 1758 will of Matthew Brooks’ wife Elizabeth.[10]

• On 10 October 1752, Matthew Brooks witnessed a deed of Jacob Brooks to John Briscoe for 400 acres on the Opequon, with John Wilkeson as the other witness.[11]

• On 6 March 1753, Matthew Brooks was appointed overseer of the road from Ross’s to John Smith’s old place in room of John Thomas.[12]

• Matthew Brooks died by 1 October 1754 when his widow Elizabeth was given a certificate by Frederick County court for administration of his estate.[13] The court appointed as estate appraisers John Lindsey, gent., Evan Thomas Jr., William Dillon, and John Milbourn.

• On 4 March 1755, an estate appraisement by William Dillon, Evan Thomas, and John Milbourn, all Quakers, was recorded.[14]

• On 12 December 1759 (the date is written as the twelfth day of the twelfth month called December), Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth made her will in Frederick County.[15] The will was probated 6 February 1760. A digital copy of Elizabeth’s will is at this previous posting, which also has information about Matthew and Elizabeth’s ten children, noting that they included sons named James and Thomas.

• On 1 November 1768, a deed of Edmond Lindsey Jr. of Frederick County to Robert Rutherford of Winchester for land on the east side of Opequon notes that the land bordered land surveyed for Matthew Brooks.[16]

Points to note here:

1. Matthew Brooks was baptized in 1704 in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, where two years earlier Jacob Brooks was baptized.

2. Both men subsequently appear in Spotsylvania County records with ties to Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth Matthew married.

3. In the 1740s, both Matthew and Jacob then begin appearing in Frederick County records. In October 1752, Matthew witnesses a deed made by Jacob.

4. Both Matthew and Jacob had ties to the Quaker community of Frederick County, though it appears neither man was himself a Friend.

5. And not to be forgotten: on 22 November 1752, Matthew and James were chain carriers for John Baylis’ survey of land on the Opequon for Hugh Haynes.

It certainly looks to me as if Jacob, Matthew, and James Brooks may be related to each other. And if that’s the case, then it seems worth asking whether, as in the case of Jacob and Matthew, James’ roots lie in Middlesex County, Virginia, prior to his family’s appearance in Frederick County records.

Salient information about Jacob Brooks:

• Jacob was baptized in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[17]

• On 30 May 1725 in Spotsylvania County, Jacob witnessed a deed of land for love and affection by Thomas Warren to his daughter Rachel Askew.[18] This is Thomas Warren, father of Elizabeth who married Matthew Brooks, whose 13 April 1749 will in Spotsylvania County names among other children daughters Rachel Askew and Elizabeth Brooks.[19]

• Frederick County court minutes for 14 September 1744 show the court ordering Leonard Harper to pay Jacob Brooks’s wife Rosanna/Rosannah and Mary Brooks for appearing in court to testify on his behalf.[20] The court directed Harper to pay Rosannah and Mary Brooks, along with several other witnesses, 100 pounds of tobacco each for their appearance in court. Harper was sued by Francis Fowler and found guilty on 12 July 1744 of fornicating with Ann Fowler.[21]

Jacob and Rosanna Brooks had no daughter named Mary. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks had a daughter Mary, however. The birth year of that Mary Brooks has been estimated as around 1738. On 22 October 1759, she married Benjamin Thornburgh at Hopewell Friends Meeting in Frederick County.[22] On 6 April 1758, this Mary Brooks had witnessed the marriage of Henry Rees of Frederick County to Martha Thomas at the Opeckan (i.e., Opequon) Friends Meeting, under the supervision of Hopewell Meeting.[23] Martha Thomas was a daughter of the Evan Thomas who was an appraiser of the estates of both Matthew Brooks and his wife Elizabeth. He was perhaps the first minister of the Hopewell meeting.[24]

The only Mary Brooks about which I find information in Frederick County records who was of age in 1744 was Mary, wife of James Brooks. This September 1744 court record allocating payment for witnesses on behalf of Leonard Fowler links James Brooks’ wife Mary with Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna.

• By 13 October 1744, Jacob Brooks was serving as a juror in Frederick County.[25]

• As noted above, on 10 October 1752, Jacob Brooks deeded to John Briscoe 400 acres on the Opequon, with Matthew Brooks one of the two witnesses.[26]

• By September 1753, Jacob had moved to Orange County, North Carolina, and by 1768, to what would later become Newberry County, South Carolina, where he died after making his will in September 1770.[27] The will names wife Rosanna, daughter Milly and husband William Gary, with their daughter Sarah, along with sons Jacob and John Brooks.

To sum up:

1. The Matthew-James Brooks connection: On 22 November 1752 in Frederick County, Virginia, Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers for a survey of land for Hugh Haynes. This document links Matthew and James, and this James Brooks is clearly the man who died in Frederick County in 1779.

2. The Matthew-Jacob Brooks connection: There are multiple links between Matthew Brooks, who was born in 1704, and a Jacob Brooks found in Frederick County records, who was born in 1702. If Matthew and Jacob are linked, and if Matthew and James are linked, then it’s likely all three of these Brooks men are linked to each other.

3. The Middlesex County connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks were both born in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia. On 29 January 1771, while living in Frederick County, Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, married Margaret Beaumont/Beamon in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County. Middlesex is several counties east of Frederick. The marriage of a man in Frederick County to a bride in Middlesex County suggests some connection that goes beyond geographical proximity: if the two Brooks men born in Middlesex County and later living in Frederick County are connected to Matthew’s father James, then this connection may explain Thomas Brooks’ choice to marry a bride in Middlesex County.

4. The multiple kinship network connections linking these three Brooks families: When Mary and Thomas Brooks brought James Brooks’ will to Frederick County court in November 1779 to be probated, the court ordered four men (or any three of these) including John Lindsey to appraise James Brooks’ estate. When Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth obtained probate from Frederick County court in October 1754 for Matthew’s estate, the court ordered four men (or any three of them) including John Lindsey, gent., to appraise the estate.

John Lindsey, gent., who was ordered to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate is very likely the John Lindsey (abt. 1700-1786) whom Lindsey researcher Susan Grabek calls John “the patriarch.”[28] Because the name John was replicated among several interrelated Lindsey families living in the Long Marsh area of Frederick County in this period, it’s difficult to be certain which particular John Lindsey was ordered to appraise James Brooks’ estate in 1779. The likeliest candidate is, I think, a nephew of John Lindsey, gent., a son of Thomas Lindsey (abt. 1720-1769), another of the Lindsey patriarchs of the Long Marsh community.[29]

There were multiple connections between this Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County and the kinship network of James Brooks’ family. James Brooks’ daughter Elizabeth (1747/1750 – 1816) married George Rice, son of Patrick Rice and Elizabeth Decow. As a previous posting notes, on 25 April 1764, Thomas Rutherford surveyed 669 acres on the Opequon for George Rice in Frederick County, with George’s brothers Edmund and John Rice acting as chain carriers and George Rice and Edmund Lindsey as markers. Edmund Lindsey was yet another of the Lindsey brothers whom Susan Grabek calls patriarchs of the Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County: Edmund was a brother of John Lindsey, gent., and Thomas Lindsey mentioned above.

As another previous posting also shows, when Thomas Rutherford surveyed 410 acres for George Rice’s father Patrick Rice on 19 March 1761, the land plat showed the land joining Patrick’s patent line, John McCormick, George Martin, Lord Fairfax, and Edmund Lindsey, and listed the chain carriers as Patrick Rice himself and Captain John Lindsey. Captain John Lindsey was the John Lindsey, gent., ordered by the court to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate. The linked posting also notes a Long Marsh grant of 244 acres to Edmund Lindsey on 4 August 1766, with the land adjoining George Neville, Joseph Reeder, George Rice, Patrick Rice, and Edmund Lindsey.

Also noted in the posting I’ve just linked: on 2-3 March 1767, Patrick Rice sold land to his son John Rice with Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, listed as one of the witnesses to this deed. This deed shows a direct link between the Rice family and the family of James and Mary Brooks, whose daughter Elizabeth married Patrick Rice’s son George about 1769.

As stated above, Patrick Rice held land adjoining both John McCormick and Edmund Lindsey. John McCormick’s grandson William McCormick married Elizabeth, daughter of George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks. As a previous posting has noted, when John McCormick acquired 456 acres on Long Marsh Creek on 8 July 1760, the survey and grant records show the land joining Patrick Rice and Thomas Lindsey (1720-1769). A 2 April 1751 Northern Neck grant to John Lindsey, Thomas’s brother, for 750 acres in Long Marsh in Frederick County shows his tract adjoining Patrick Rice.

Note, too, that John McCormick’s son Francis McCormick was among the four men appointed by Frederick County court in November 1779 to appraise the estate of James Brooks. The posting I linked in the previous paragraph points out that a 1782 tax list for Frederick County shows that three of the four men appointed by the county court to appraise James Brooks’ estate in November 1779 — Meredith Helm, Francis McCormick, and John Lindsey (son of Thomas) — all lived in Captain Nobles’ tax district of Frederick County in 1782 along with James Brooks’ son Thomas Brooks.

5. The Haynes/Haines connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks both lived on the Opequon where Matthew and James helped survey land for Hugh Haynes in 1752. This was a few miles west of the west of the Long Marsh area in which the Lindsey and Rice families lived (though Patrick Rice had land on both Long Marsh Run and Opequon Creek).

The Haynes name deserves further attention for this reason: as noted above, James and Mary Brooks had a daughter identified in Mary’s will as Susanna Haines. I have not been able to find the name of Susanna’s husband or any further information about her. The posting I’ve just linked notes the presence of Haynes/Haines families in Frederick County in the 18th century whose roots lie in the Quaker communities of New Jersey. As I indicated above, the Hugh Haynes for whose survey Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers in 1752 moved back from Virginia to New Jersey, dying there in May 1772 as a Quaker. Was the Haines family into which James Brooks’ daughter Susanna married connected to the Haynes family to which this Hugh Haynes belonged? This seems to be a research avenue worth exploring.

6. The connection between Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna and James Brooks’ wife Mary: Another connection that shouldn’t be overlooked: James Brooks’ wife Mary and Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna both provided testimony for Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744.

Frederick County court minutes provide some additional interesting information about Leonard Harper. On 7 December 1756, administration of his estate was given by the court to William Locks or Locke.[30] Giving bond with Locks/Locke for this administration were Benjamin Grubb and John Milbourn. At the same time, the court appointed the following appraisers (or any three of them) for Harper’s estate: John Lindsey, Benjamin Grubb, Joseph [Hill?], and John McCormick (with the surname spelled McCormack here). Note the names John Milbourn, John Lindsey, and John McCormick. As we’ve seen, John Milbourn and John Lindsey were two of those appointed to appraise the estate of Matthew Brooks in October 1754. And on the connections between John McCormick and the Lindsey and Rice families and the family of James and Mary Brooks, see above.

7. The Quaker connections: Though Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks appear not to have been Quakers, the families of all these Brooks men had ties to Quakers in Frederick County and the middle colonies. The will of Matthew’s wife Elizabeth uses Quaker terminology in stating its date: twelfth day of twelfth month, and it was witnessed by Simeon Taylor, clerk of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks’ son David daughter Mary were both Quakers.

Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester note that when Rosanna and Mary Brooks affirmed the debt owed to them for testifying on behalf of Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744, both did so by solemn affirmation rather than by making an oath. Kellam and Lester take this to mean that the two women had Quaker affiliation, though neither appears in the records of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting.

When Jacob Brooks left Virginia for South Carolina, he settled among Quakers who had moved to South Carolina from Frederick County, Virginia, and appears in records linked to the Hollingsworth family, which arrived in Delaware as a Quaker family with members then appearing in minutes of Quaker meetings in Pennsylvania and Frederick County, Virginia. The family of James and Mary Brooks also connects to the Hollingsworths: Mary Brooks, the oldest daughter of James and Mary Brooks, married Jacob Hollingsworth whose parents Samuel Hollingsworth and Barbara Shewing were members of the Old Kennett Friends Monthly Meeting in Chester County, Pennsylvania. George Rice, who married Mary Brooks’ sister Elizabeth, had a sister Susannah Rice who also married a Hollingsworth spouse. George Rice’s mother Elizabeth Decow, belonged to a Quaker family that immigrated from Yorkshire, England, to Burlington County, New Jersey, where she married George Rice’s father Patrick Rice before the couple settled in Frederick County, Virginia.

7. Connections that may be suggested by naming patterns: Both Matthew and James Brooks named sons James and Thomas. And James named a daughter Elizabeth, the name of Matthew’s wife, while Matthew had a daughter Mary, the name of James’ wife. Admittedly, none of these names is particularly uncommon in Virginia in this period, and Matthew’s father-in-law was Thomas Warren, so that may account for his use of the given name Thomas as he named a son. But the possibility that overlap in given names in the two families may indicate some kind of connection between them should also not be entirely discounted, it seems to me.

In conclusion, one or two connections may be a coincidence. Multiple connections suggest more than coincidence. With Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, there are manifold connections, overlapping ones. These connections suggest to me shared roots, though since Matthew is recorded as illegitimate in his baptismal record and he has his mother’s Brooks surname, the Y-DNA of his descendants might well not match the Y-DNA of proven male descendants of other Brooks families.

[1] Frederick County, Virginia, Chancery Court Order Book 17 (1778-1781), p. 251.

[2] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 5, p. 158.

[3] Survey for Hugh Haynes, 22 November 1752, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed for this land was made 2 April 1760. On 1 October 1767, living in Salem, New Jersey, Hugh Haynes sold the 247 acres to Michael Headley of Frederick County, with wife Ann signing and releasing dower: Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, pp. 23-4, 27.

[4] The order given on 20 November 1749 for John Baylis to survey 400 acres for Thomas Wyatt states that Wyatt was living on the land and that it adjoined Lewis Neill: ibid., survey for Thomas Wyatt, 1749/1750, available digitally at FamilySearch. The survey by John Baylis shows the land joining Hugh Haynes, John Baylis, and Captain Neile.

[5] National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1897), p. 67, transcribing the original parish register.

[6] Ibid., p. 60. On Jacob Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, records as the Jacob baptized in 1702 in Christ Church parish, see Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester, Brooks and Kindred Families (priv. publ., 1950), pp. 310-313.

[7] See Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Will Bk. B, p. 56; Thomas Warren made the will on 13 April 1749 and it was probated 4 December 1750. In The Rev. John Johnson and His Home: An Autobiography (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publ. Co., 1869), pp. 10-11, Susannah Brooks Johnson, a granddaughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks, states, “My grandmother’s maiden name was Elizabeth Warren; my grandfather, Matthew Brooks, a native of Virginia, was born of English parentage, and lived near Richmond.”

[8] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 3, p. 45.

[9] Survey of John Baylis, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. No date is recorded for the survey, nor does it state the name of the surveyor.

[10] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, pp. 368-370. On Taylor as the first clerk of Hopewell, see Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia (Strausburg, Virginia: Shenandoah Publishing, 1936), pp. 181-2, noting that Simeon and his wife were issued a certificate by East Nottingham Monthly Meeting on 28th of 4th month 1738, and lived on the east side of Opequon at Yorkshireman’s Branch, now called Litler’s Run, until they obtained a certificate for removal to New Garden Monthly Meeting in North Carolina on 2nd of 4th month 1764.

[11] Survey of John Briscoe, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed is recorded as a note of Jacob Brooks wrote to Lord Fairfax deeding the land to Briscoe.

[12] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 4, p. 406.

[13] Ibid., Bk. 6, p. 107.

[14] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, p. 150.

[15] See supra, n. 10.  

[16] Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, p. 545.

[17] See supra, n. 5.

[18] Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Deed Bk. A, pp. 165-6.

[19] See supra, n. 7.

[20] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 196.

[21] Ibid., p. 130.

[22] William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 6: Virginia (Baltimore: Geneal. Publ. Co., 1973), p. 371, indexing Hopewell meeting minutes.

[23] Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History, p. 29.

[24] Ibid., p. 30.

[25] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 221.

[26] See supra, n. 11.

[27] Charleston County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1774-9, pp. 54-5.

[28] Susan Grabek, “The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia, ‘The Patriarchs,’” at Lindsay Surname DNA Project Group 2:  The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia.

[29] See ibid.

[30] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order 7, p. 156.

Challenge of Tracing the Ancestry of James Brooks (bef. 1720 – 1779) of Frederick County, Virginia: A Thought-Provoking New Clue

Or, Subtitled: “The chain carriers were often kin to the person for whom the land was being surveyed” (Judy G. Russell, “A Matter of Measure,“ Legal Genealogy)

I have posted previously about an elusive ancestor named James Brooks, who died prior to 2 November 1779 in Frederick County, Virginia, when his widow Mary and son Thomas presented his will to court for probate.[1] As the posting I’ve just linked states, the court responded to Mary and Thomas’ motion to have James Brooks’ will probated by granting them a certificate “for obtaining a probate there of [sic] in due form.”

That is, the will was not probated and recorded on 2 November 1779, but Mary and Thomas were instructed to have it probated “in due form.” The court minutes state explicitly that after witness Meredith Helm proved the will, it was “Ordered to be for further proof.” One would expect this set of court minutes to be followed by another set not far down the road showing the will definitively proven with Mary and Thomas obtaining probate and having it recorded. (To read the rest of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

But sadly, this notice that James Brooks’ will was brought to Frederick County court for probate on 2 November 1779 is the last mention I can find of this will anywhere in Frederick County records. It seems never to have been probated or recorded.

James Brooks remains a very elusive ancestor. I can find almost next to no information about him. His son Thomas first appears in Frederick County records in 1767, so this family seems to have been in that county by that date. His children’s dates of birth suggest a birth date of 1720 or earlier for James and wife Mary. Mary outlived James by some ten years, leaving a will written 9 July 1786, which was probated on 4 April 1787.[2] The will names her children Mary Hollingsworth, Elizabeth Rice, Sarah Asdill (i.e., Ashdale), Susanna Haynes, and Thomas and James Brooks. A transcript of Mary Brooks’ will and an overview of what’s known about her children is found at this previous posting.

When James Brooks and wife Mary arrived in Frederick County, Virginia, where they were living prior to coming there (I’m assuming they were not born there), where they were born, what Mary’s maiden name was: I have been unable to find any scrap of information to answer those questions. I have, however, now turned up a very valuable new clue possibly pointing to James’ background that I want to discuss here.

On 22 November 1752, John Baylis surveyed 247 acres of land for Hugh Haynes on Opequon Creek in Frederick County. This was a Northern Neck survey.[3] The chain carriers for this survey were Matthew Brooks and James Brooks. The survey document states that Hugh Haynes lived on the east side of Opequon and that the land surveyed was on both sides of that creek. The land bordered Robert Hutchins, John Baylis, and Thomas Wyatt.[4]

Quite a bit of information is available about Matthew Brooks, who died in 1754 in Frederick County. I’ll discuss some of that information in a moment. But meanwhile, who is this James Brooks? Matthew Brooks had a son named James. But Matthew’s son James is not the man acting as a chain carrier in November 1752 when Hugh Haynes had land surveyed. Matthew’s son James Brooks was born in 1748.

I have found no James Brooks living in Frederick County in the period 1752-1779 other than the James Brooks who died there prior to 2 November 1779. I’m fairly confident that the James Brooks acting as a chain carrier with Matthew Brooks when Hugh Haynes’ land was surveyed in November 1752 is the man who died in November 1779 with wife Mary. 

When land was surveyed, chain carriers were frequently relatives of the person whose land was being surveyed. They were also very often relatives of each other — i.e., a chain carrier duo might be father and son or two brothers. This November 1752 survey document suggests to me some kind of connection, very likely a kinship one, between James Brooks with wife Mary and Matthew Brooks.

In a previous posting, I provided an overview of what I know about Matthew Brooks and another Brooks man, Jacob Brooks, who was living in Frederick County in the period in which Matthew and James Brooks lived there. This posting notes that there are some strong indicators that Matthew and Jacob were related to each other, and both families had some Quaker connections.

Salient information about Matthew Brooks:

• Matthew was baptized 10 February 1704 in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia, with the baptismal record stating that his mother was Sara Brooks, and Matthew was illegitimate.[5]

Though some researchers have questioned whether the Matthew Brooks who appears in Frederick County records by the 1740s and died there before 1 October 1754 is the Matthew Brooks of this baptismal record, it’s clear to me that the two Matthews are the same person. There’s a strong preponderance of evidence in favor of this conclusion. In particular, it’s important to note that Jacob Brooks, to whom the Matthew Brooks found in Frederick County records is linked, was also baptized in Christ Church parish on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[6]

In addition, as a previous posting notes (with documentation cited), before appearing in Frederick County records, both Matthew and Jacob Brooks are found in records of Spotsylvania County, Virgina, both with connections to the family of Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth married Matthew Brooks.[7]

• Matthew Brooks was in Frederick County prior to 7 May 1748, when he was appointed a constable in that county.[8]

• After a warrant was issued on 22 January 1750 for a survey of 400 acres on the east side of Opequon for John Baylis of Prince William County, Matthew Brooks and Simeon Taylor were chain carriers.[9] The land bordered Hugh Haynes, Robert Hutchins and Lewis Neale. Simeon Taylor, who was the first clerk of Hopewell Friends’ Monthly Meeting in Frederick County, witnessed the 12 December 1758 will of Matthew Brooks’ wife Elizabeth.[10]

• On 10 October 1752, Matthew Brooks witnessed a deed of Jacob Brooks to John Briscoe for 400 acres on the Opequon, with John Wilkeson as the other witness.[11]

• On 6 March 1753, Matthew Brooks was appointed overseer of the road from Ross’s to John Smith’s old place in room of John Thomas.[12]

• Matthew Brooks died by 1 October 1754 when his widow Elizabeth was given a certificate by Frederick County court for administration of his estate.[13] The court appointed as estate appraisers John Lindsey, gent., Evan Thomas Jr., William Dillon, and John Milbourn.

• On 4 March 1755, an estate appraisement by William Dillon, Evan Thomas, and John Milbourn, all Quakers, was recorded.[14]

• On 12 December 1759 (the date is written as the twelfth day of the twelfth month called December), Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth made her will in Frederick County.[15] The will was probated 6 February 1760. A digital copy of Elizabeth’s will is at this previous posting, which also has information about Matthew and Elizabeth’s ten children, noting that they included sons named James and Thomas.

• On 1 November 1768, a deed of Edmond Lindsey Jr. of Frederick County to Robert Rutherford of Winchester for land on the east side of Opequon notes that the land bordered land surveyed for Matthew Brooks.[16]

Points to note here:

1. Matthew Brooks was baptized in 1704 in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, where two years earlier Jacob Brooks was baptized.

2. Both men subsequently appear in Spotsylvania County records with ties to Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth Matthew married.

3. In the 1740s, both Matthew and Jacob then begin appearing in Frederick County records. In October 1752, Matthew witnesses a deed made by Jacob.

4. Both Matthew and Jacob had ties to the Quaker community of Frederick County, though it appears neither man was himself a Friend.

5. And not to be forgotten: on 22 November 1752, Matthew and James were chain carriers for John Baylis’ survey of land on the Opequon for Hugh Haynes.

It certainly looks to me as if Jacob, Matthew, and James Brooks may be related to each other. And if that’s the case, then it seems worth asking whether, as in the case of Jacob and Matthew, James’ roots lie in Middlesex County, Virginia, prior to his family’s appearance in Frederick County records.

Salient information about Jacob Brooks:

• Jacob was baptized in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[17]

• On 30 May 1725 in Spotsylvania County, Jacob witnessed a deed of land for love and affection by Thomas Warren to his daughter Rachel Askew.[18] This is Thomas Warren, father of Elizabeth who married Matthew Brooks, whose 13 April 1749 will in Spotsylvania County names among other children daughters Rachel Askew and Elizabeth Brooks.[19]

• Frederick County court minutes for 14 September 1744 show the court ordering Leonard Harper to pay Jacob Brooks’s wife Rosanna/Rosannah and Mary Brooks for appearing in court to testify on his behalf.[20] The court directed Harper to pay Rosannah and Mary Brooks, along with several other witnesses, 100 pounds of tobacco each for their appearance in court. Harper was sued by Francis Fowler and found guilty on 12 July 1744 of fornicating with Ann Fowler.[21]

Jacob and Rosanna Brooks had no daughter named Mary. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks had a daughter Mary, however. The birth year of that Mary Brooks has been estimated as around 1738. On 22 October 1759, she married Benjamin Thornburgh at Hopewell Friends Meeting in Frederick County.[22] On 6 April 1758, this Mary Brooks had witnessed the marriage of Henry Rees of Frederick County to Martha Thomas at the Opeckan (i.e., Opequon) Friends Meeting, under the supervision of Hopewell Meeting.[23] Martha Thomas was a daughter of the Evan Thomas who was an appraiser of the estates of both Matthew Brooks and his wife Elizabeth. He was perhaps the first minister of the Hopewell meeting.[24]

The only Mary Brooks about which I find information in Frederick County records who was of age in 1744 was Mary, wife of James Brooks. This September 1744 court record allocating payment for witnesses on behalf of Leonard Fowler links James Brooks’ wife Mary with Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna.

• By 13 October 1744, Jacob Brooks was serving as a juror in Frederick County.[25]

• As noted above, on 10 October 1752, Jacob Brooks deeded to John Briscoe 400 acres on the Opequon, with Matthew Brooks one of the two witnesses.[26]

• By September 1753, Jacob had moved to Orange County, North Carolina, and by 1768, to what would later become Newberry County, South Carolina, where he died after making his will in September 1770.[27] The will names wife Rosanna, daughter Milly and husband William Gary, with their daughter Sarah, along with sons Jacob and John Brooks.

To sum up:

1. The Matthew-James Brooks connection: On 22 November 1752 in Frederick County, Virginia, Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers for a survey of land for Hugh Haynes. This document links Matthew and James, and this James Brooks is clearly the man who died in Frederick County in 1779.

2. The Matthew-Jacob Brooks connection: There are multiple links between Matthew Brooks, who was born in 1704, and a Jacob Brooks found in Frederick County records, who was born in 1702. If Matthew and Jacob are linked, and if Matthew and James are linked, then it’s likely all three of these Brooks men are linked to each other.

3. The Middlesex County connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks were both born in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia. On 29 January 1771, while living in Frederick County, Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, married Margaret Beaumont/Beamon in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County. Middlesex is several counties east of Frederick. The marriage of a man in Frederick County to a bride in Middlesex County suggests some connection that goes beyond geographical proximity: if the two Brooks men born in Middlesex County and later living in Frederick County are connected to Matthew’s father James, then this connection may explain Thomas Brooks’ choice to marry a bride in Middlesex County.

4. The multiple kinship network connections linking these three Brooks families: When Mary and Thomas Brooks brought James Brooks’ will to Frederick County court in November 1779 to be probated, the court ordered four men (or any three of these) including John Lindsey to appraise James Brooks’ estate. When Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth obtained probate from Frederick County court in October 1754 for Matthew’s estate, the court ordered four men (or any three of them) including John Lindsey, gent., to appraise the estate.

John Lindsey, gent., who was ordered to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate is very likely the John Lindsey (abt. 1700-1786) whom Lindsey researcher Susan Grabek calls John “the patriarch.”[28] Because the name John was replicated among several interrelated Lindsey families living in the Long Marsh area of Frederick County in this period, it’s difficult to be certain which particular John Lindsey was ordered to appraise James Brooks’ estate in 1779. The likeliest candidate is, I think, a nephew of John Lindsey, gent., a son of Thomas Lindsey (abt. 1720-1769), another of the Lindsey patriarchs of the Long Marsh community.[29]

There were multiple connections between this Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County and the kinship network of James Brooks’ family. James Brooks’ daughter Elizabeth (1747/1750 – 1816) married George Rice, son of Patrick Rice and Elizabeth Decow. As a previous posting notes, on 25 April 1764, Thomas Rutherford surveyed 669 acres on the Opequon for George Rice in Frederick County, with George’s brothers Edmund and John Rice acting as chain carriers and George Rice and Edmund Lindsey as markers. Edmund Lindsey was yet another of the Lindsey brothers whom Susan Grabek calls patriarchs of the Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County: Edmund was a brother of John Lindsey, gent., and Thomas Lindsey mentioned above.

As another previous posting also shows, when Thomas Rutherford surveyed 410 acres for George Rice’s father Patrick Rice on 19 March 1761, the land plat showed the land joining Patrick’s patent line, John McCormick, George Martin, Lord Fairfax, and Edmund Lindsey, and listed the chain carriers as Patrick Rice himself and Captain John Lindsey. Captain John Lindsey was the John Lindsey, gent., ordered by the court to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate. The linked posting also notes a Long Marsh grant of 244 acres to Edmund Lindsey on 4 August 1766, with the land adjoining George Neville, Joseph Reeder, George Rice, Patrick Rice, and Edmund Lindsey.

Also noted in the posting I’ve just linked: on 2-3 March 1767, Patrick Rice sold land to his son John Rice with Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, listed as one of the witnesses to this deed. This deed shows a direct link between the Rice family and the family of James and Mary Brooks, whose daughter Elizabeth married Patrick Rice’s son George about 1769.

As stated above, Patrick Rice held land adjoining both John McCormick and Edmund Lindsey. John McCormick’s grandson William McCormick married Elizabeth, daughter of George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks. As a previous posting has noted, when John McCormick acquired 456 acres on Long Marsh Creek on 8 July 1760, the survey and grant records show the land joining Patrick Rice and Thomas Lindsey (1720-1769). A 2 April 1751 Northern Neck grant to John Lindsey, Thomas’s brother, for 750 acres in Long Marsh in Frederick County shows his tract adjoining Patrick Rice.

Note, too, that John McCormick’s son Francis McCormick was among the four men appointed by Frederick County court in November 1779 to appraise the estate of James Brooks. The posting I linked in the previous paragraph points out that a 1782 tax list for Frederick County shows that three of the four men appointed by the county court to appraise James Brooks’ estate in November 1779 — Meredith Helm, Francis McCormick, and John Lindsey (son of Thomas) — all lived in Captain Nobles’ tax district of Frederick County in 1782 along with James Brooks’ son Thomas Brooks.

5. The Haynes/Haines connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks both lived on the Opequon where Matthew and James helped survey land for Hugh Haynes in 1752. This was a few miles west of the west of the Long Marsh area in which the Lindsey and Rice families lived (though Patrick Rice had land on both Long Marsh Run and Opequon Creek).

The Haynes name deserves further attention for this reason: as noted above, James and Mary Brooks had a daughter identified in Mary’s will as Susanna Haines. I have not been able to find the name of Susanna’s husband or any further information about her. The posting I’ve just linked notes the presence of Haynes/Haines families in Frederick County in the 18th century whose roots lie in the Quaker communities of New Jersey. As I indicated above, the Hugh Haynes for whose survey Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers in 1752 moved back from Virginia to New Jersey, dying there in May 1772 as a Quaker. Was the Haines family into which James Brooks’ daughter Susanna married connected to the Haynes family to which this Hugh Haynes belonged? This seems to be a research avenue worth exploring.

6. The connection between Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna and James Brooks’ wife Mary: Another connection that shouldn’t be overlooked: James Brooks’ wife Mary and Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna both provided testimony for Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744.

Frederick County court minutes provide some additional interesting information about Leonard Harper. On 7 December 1756, administration of his estate was given by the court to William Locks or Locke.[30] Giving bond with Locks/Locke for this administration were Benjamin Grubb and John Milbourn. At the same time, the court appointed the following appraisers (or any three of them) for Harper’s estate: John Lindsey, Benjamin Grubb, Joseph [Hill?], and John McCormick (with the surname spelled McCormack here). Note the names John Milbourn, John Lindsey, and John McCormick. As we’ve seen, John Milbourn and John Lindsey were two of those appointed to appraise the estate of Matthew Brooks in October 1754. And on the connections between John McCormick and the Lindsey and Rice families and the family of James and Mary Brooks, see above.

7. The Quaker connections: Though Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks appear not to have been Quakers, the families of all these Brooks men had ties to Quakers in Frederick County and the middle colonies. The will of Matthew’s wife Elizabeth uses Quaker terminology in stating its date: twelfth day of twelfth month, and it was witnessed by Simeon Taylor, clerk of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks’ son David daughter Mary were both Quakers.

Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester note that when Rosanna and Mary Brooks affirmed the debt owed to them for testifying on behalf of Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744, both did so by solemn affirmation rather than by making an oath. Kellam and Lester take this to mean that the two women had Quaker affiliation, though neither appears in the records of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting.

When Jacob Brooks left Virginia for South Carolina, he settled among Quakers who had moved to South Carolina from Frederick County, Virginia, and appears in records linked to the Hollingsworth family, which arrived in Delaware as a Quaker family with members then appearing in minutes of Quaker meetings in Pennsylvania and Frederick County, Virginia. The family of James and Mary Brooks also connects to the Hollingsworths: Mary Brooks, the oldest daughter of James and Mary Brooks, married Jacob Hollingsworth whose parents Samuel Hollingsworth and Barbara Shewing were members of the Old Kennett Friends Monthly Meeting in Chester County, Pennsylvania. George Rice, who married Mary Brooks’ sister Elizabeth, had a sister Susannah Rice who also married a Hollingsworth spouse. George Rice’s mother Elizabeth Decow, belonged to a Quaker family that immigrated from Yorkshire, England, to Burlington County, New Jersey, where she married George Rice’s father Patrick Rice before the couple settled in Frederick County, Virginia.

7. Connections that may be suggested by naming patterns: Both Matthew and James Brooks named sons James and Thomas. And James named a daughter Elizabeth, the name of Matthew’s wife, while Matthew had a daughter Mary, the name of James’ wife. Admittedly, none of these names is particularly uncommon in Virginia in this period, and Matthew’s father-in-law was Thomas Warren, so that may account for his use of the given name Thomas as he named a son. But the possibility that overlap in given names in the two families may indicate some kind of connection between them should also not be entirely discounted, it seems to me.

In conclusion, one or two connections may be a coincidence. Multiple connections suggest more than coincidence. With Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, there are manifold connections, overlapping ones. These connections suggest to me shared roots, though since Matthew is recorded as illegitimate in his baptismal record and he has his mother’s Brooks surname, the Y-DNA of his descendants might well not match the Y-DNA of proven male descendants of other Brooks families.

[1] Frederick County, Virginia, Chancery Court Order Book 17 (1778-1781), p. 251.

[2] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 5, p. 158.

[3] Survey for Hugh Haynes, 22 November 1752, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed for this land was made 2 April 1760. On 1 October 1767, living in Salem, New Jersey, Hugh Haynes sold the 247 acres to Michael Headley of Frederick County, with wife Ann signing and releasing dower: Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, pp. 23-4, 27.

[4] The order given on 20 November 1749 for John Baylis to survey 400 acres for Thomas Wyatt states that Wyatt was living on the land and that it adjoined Lewis Neill: ibid., survey for Thomas Wyatt, 1749/1750, available digitally at FamilySearch. The survey by John Baylis shows the land joining Hugh Haynes, John Baylis, and Captain Neile.

[5] National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1897), p. 67, transcribing the original parish register.

[6] Ibid., p. 60. On Jacob Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, records as the Jacob baptized in 1702 in Christ Church parish, see Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester, Brooks and Kindred Families (priv. publ., 1950), pp. 310-313.

[7] See Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Will Bk. B, p. 56; Thomas Warren made the will on 13 April 1749 and it was probated 4 December 1750. In The Rev. John Johnson and His Home: An Autobiography (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publ. Co., 1869), pp. 10-11, Susannah Brooks Johnson, a granddaughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks, states, “My grandmother’s maiden name was Elizabeth Warren; my grandfather, Matthew Brooks, a native of Virginia, was born of English parentage, and lived near Richmond.”

[8] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 3, p. 45.

[9] Survey of John Baylis, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. No date is recorded for the survey, nor does it state the name of the surveyor.

[10] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, pp. 368-370. On Taylor as the first clerk of Hopewell, see Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia (Strausburg, Virginia: Shenandoah Publishing, 1936), pp. 181-2, noting that Simeon and his wife were issued a certificate by East Nottingham Monthly Meeting on 28th of 4th month 1738, and lived on the east side of Opequon at Yorkshireman’s Branch, now called Litler’s Run, until they obtained a certificate for removal to New Garden Monthly Meeting in North Carolina on 2nd of 4th month 1764.

[11] Survey of John Briscoe, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed is recorded as a note of Jacob Brooks wrote to Lord Fairfax deeding the land to Briscoe.

[12] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 4, p. 406.

[13] Ibid., Bk. 6, p. 107.

[14] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, p. 150.

[15] See supra, n. 10.  

[16] Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, p. 545.

[17] See supra, n. 5.

[18] Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Deed Bk. A, pp. 165-6.

[19] See supra, n. 7.

[20] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 196.

[21] Ibid., p. 130.

[22] William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 6: Virginia (Baltimore: Geneal. Publ. Co., 1973), p. 371, indexing Hopewell meeting minutes.

[23] Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History, p. 29.

[24] Ibid., p. 30.

[25] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 221.

[26] See supra, n. 11.

[27] Charleston County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1774-9, pp. 54-5.

[28] Susan Grabek, “The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia, ‘The Patriarchs,’” at Lindsay Surname DNA Project Group 2:  The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia.

[29] See ibid.

[30] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order 7, p. 156.

Challenge of Tracing the Ancestry of James Brooks (bef. 1720 – 1779) of Frederick County, Virginia: A Thought-Provoking New Clue

Or, Subtitled: “The chain carriers were often kin to the person for whom the land was being surveyed” (Judy G. Russell, “A Matter of Measure,“ Legal Genealogy)

I have posted previously about an elusive ancestor named James Brooks, who died prior to 2 November 1779 in Frederick County, Virginia, when his widow Mary and son Thomas presented his will to court for probate.[1] As the posting I’ve just linked states, the court responded to Mary and Thomas’ motion to have James Brooks’ will probated by granting them a certificate “for obtaining a probate there of [sic] in due form.”

That is, the will was not probated and recorded on 2 November 1779, but Mary and Thomas were instructed to have it probated “in due form.” The court minutes state explicitly that after witness Meredith Helm proved the will, it was “Ordered to be for further proof.” One would expect this set of court minutes to be followed by another set not far down the road showing the will definitively proven with Mary and Thomas obtaining probate and having it recorded. (To read the rest of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

But sadly, this notice that James Brooks’ will was brought to Frederick County court for probate on 2 November 1779 is the last mention I can find of this will anywhere in Frederick County records. It seems never to have been probated or recorded.

James Brooks remains a very elusive ancestor. I can find almost next to no information about him. His son Thomas first appears in Frederick County records in 1767, so this family seems to have been in that county by that date. His children’s dates of birth suggest a birth date of 1720 or earlier for James and wife Mary. Mary outlived James by some ten years, leaving a will written 9 July 1786, which was probated on 4 April 1787.[2] The will names her children Mary Hollingsworth, Elizabeth Rice, Sarah Asdill (i.e., Ashdale), Susanna Haynes, and Thomas and James Brooks. A transcript of Mary Brooks’ will and an overview of what’s known about her children is found at this previous posting.

When James Brooks and wife Mary arrived in Frederick County, Virginia, where they were living prior to coming there (I’m assuming they were not born there), where they were born, what Mary’s maiden name was: I have been unable to find any scrap of information to answer those questions. I have, however, now turned up a very valuable new clue possibly pointing to James’ background that I want to discuss here.

On 22 November 1752, John Baylis surveyed 247 acres of land for Hugh Haynes on Opequon Creek in Frederick County. This was a Northern Neck survey.[3] The chain carriers for this survey were Matthew Brooks and James Brooks. The survey document states that Hugh Haynes lived on the east side of Opequon and that the land surveyed was on both sides of that creek. The land bordered Robert Hutchins, John Baylis, and Thomas Wyatt.[4]

Quite a bit of information is available about Matthew Brooks, who died in 1754 in Frederick County. I’ll discuss some of that information in a moment. But meanwhile, who is this James Brooks? Matthew Brooks had a son named James. But Matthew’s son James is not the man acting as a chain carrier in November 1752 when Hugh Haynes had land surveyed. Matthew’s son James Brooks was born in 1748.

I have found no James Brooks living in Frederick County in the period 1752-1779 other than the James Brooks who died there prior to 2 November 1779. I’m fairly confident that the James Brooks acting as a chain carrier with Matthew Brooks when Hugh Haynes’ land was surveyed in November 1752 is the man who died in November 1779 with wife Mary. 

When land was surveyed, chain carriers were frequently relatives of the person whose land was being surveyed. They were also very often relatives of each other — i.e., a chain carrier duo might be father and son or two brothers. This November 1752 survey document suggests to me some kind of connection, very likely a kinship one, between James Brooks with wife Mary and Matthew Brooks.

In a previous posting, I provided an overview of what I know about Matthew Brooks and another Brooks man, Jacob Brooks, who was living in Frederick County in the period in which Matthew and James Brooks lived there. This posting notes that there are some strong indicators that Matthew and Jacob were related to each other, and both families had some Quaker connections.

Salient information about Matthew Brooks:

• Matthew was baptized 10 February 1704 in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia, with the baptismal record stating that his mother was Sara Brooks, and Matthew was illegitimate.[5]

Though some researchers have questioned whether the Matthew Brooks who appears in Frederick County records by the 1740s and died there before 1 October 1754 is the Matthew Brooks of this baptismal record, it’s clear to me that the two Matthews are the same person. There’s a strong preponderance of evidence in favor of this conclusion. In particular, it’s important to note that Jacob Brooks, to whom the Matthew Brooks found in Frederick County records is linked, was also baptized in Christ Church parish on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[6]

In addition, as a previous posting notes (with documentation cited), before appearing in Frederick County records, both Matthew and Jacob Brooks are found in records of Spotsylvania County, Virgina, both with connections to the family of Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth married Matthew Brooks.[7]

• Matthew Brooks was in Frederick County prior to 7 May 1748, when he was appointed a constable in that county.[8]

• After a warrant was issued on 22 January 1750 for a survey of 400 acres on the east side of Opequon for John Baylis of Prince William County, Matthew Brooks and Simeon Taylor were chain carriers.[9] The land bordered Hugh Haynes, Robert Hutchins and Lewis Neale. Simeon Taylor, who was the first clerk of Hopewell Friends’ Monthly Meeting in Frederick County, witnessed the 12 December 1758 will of Matthew Brooks’ wife Elizabeth.[10]

• On 10 October 1752, Matthew Brooks witnessed a deed of Jacob Brooks to John Briscoe for 400 acres on the Opequon, with John Wilkeson as the other witness.[11]

• On 6 March 1753, Matthew Brooks was appointed overseer of the road from Ross’s to John Smith’s old place in room of John Thomas.[12]

• Matthew Brooks died by 1 October 1754 when his widow Elizabeth was given a certificate by Frederick County court for administration of his estate.[13] The court appointed as estate appraisers John Lindsey, gent., Evan Thomas Jr., William Dillon, and John Milbourn.

• On 4 March 1755, an estate appraisement by William Dillon, Evan Thomas, and John Milbourn, all Quakers, was recorded.[14]

• On 12 December 1759 (the date is written as the twelfth day of the twelfth month called December), Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth made her will in Frederick County.[15] The will was probated 6 February 1760. A digital copy of Elizabeth’s will is at this previous posting, which also has information about Matthew and Elizabeth’s ten children, noting that they included sons named James and Thomas.

• On 1 November 1768, a deed of Edmond Lindsey Jr. of Frederick County to Robert Rutherford of Winchester for land on the east side of Opequon notes that the land bordered land surveyed for Matthew Brooks.[16]

Points to note here:

1. Matthew Brooks was baptized in 1704 in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, where two years earlier Jacob Brooks was baptized.

2. Both men subsequently appear in Spotsylvania County records with ties to Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth Matthew married.

3. In the 1740s, both Matthew and Jacob then begin appearing in Frederick County records. In October 1752, Matthew witnesses a deed made by Jacob.

4. Both Matthew and Jacob had ties to the Quaker community of Frederick County, though it appears neither man was himself a Friend.

5. And not to be forgotten: on 22 November 1752, Matthew and James were chain carriers for John Baylis’ survey of land on the Opequon for Hugh Haynes.

It certainly looks to me as if Jacob, Matthew, and James Brooks may be related to each other. And if that’s the case, then it seems worth asking whether, as in the case of Jacob and Matthew, James’ roots lie in Middlesex County, Virginia, prior to his family’s appearance in Frederick County records.

Salient information about Jacob Brooks:

• Jacob was baptized in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[17]

• On 30 May 1725 in Spotsylvania County, Jacob witnessed a deed of land for love and affection by Thomas Warren to his daughter Rachel Askew.[18] This is Thomas Warren, father of Elizabeth who married Matthew Brooks, whose 13 April 1749 will in Spotsylvania County names among other children daughters Rachel Askew and Elizabeth Brooks.[19]

• Frederick County court minutes for 14 September 1744 show the court ordering Leonard Harper to pay Jacob Brooks’s wife Rosanna/Rosannah and Mary Brooks for appearing in court to testify on his behalf.[20] The court directed Harper to pay Rosannah and Mary Brooks, along with several other witnesses, 100 pounds of tobacco each for their appearance in court. Harper was sued by Francis Fowler and found guilty on 12 July 1744 of fornicating with Ann Fowler.[21]

Jacob and Rosanna Brooks had no daughter named Mary. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks had a daughter Mary, however. The birth year of that Mary Brooks has been estimated as around 1738. On 22 October 1759, she married Benjamin Thornburgh at Hopewell Friends Meeting in Frederick County.[22] On 6 April 1758, this Mary Brooks had witnessed the marriage of Henry Rees of Frederick County to Martha Thomas at the Opeckan (i.e., Opequon) Friends Meeting, under the supervision of Hopewell Meeting.[23] Martha Thomas was a daughter of the Evan Thomas who was an appraiser of the estates of both Matthew Brooks and his wife Elizabeth. He was perhaps the first minister of the Hopewell meeting.[24]

The only Mary Brooks about which I find information in Frederick County records who was of age in 1744 was Mary, wife of James Brooks. This September 1744 court record allocating payment for witnesses on behalf of Leonard Fowler links James Brooks’ wife Mary with Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna.

• By 13 October 1744, Jacob Brooks was serving as a juror in Frederick County.[25]

• As noted above, on 10 October 1752, Jacob Brooks deeded to John Briscoe 400 acres on the Opequon, with Matthew Brooks one of the two witnesses.[26]

• By September 1753, Jacob had moved to Orange County, North Carolina, and by 1768, to what would later become Newberry County, South Carolina, where he died after making his will in September 1770.[27] The will names wife Rosanna, daughter Milly and husband William Gary, with their daughter Sarah, along with sons Jacob and John Brooks.

To sum up:

1. The Matthew-James Brooks connection: On 22 November 1752 in Frederick County, Virginia, Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers for a survey of land for Hugh Haynes. This document links Matthew and James, and this James Brooks is clearly the man who died in Frederick County in 1779.

2. The Matthew-Jacob Brooks connection: There are multiple links between Matthew Brooks, who was born in 1704, and a Jacob Brooks found in Frederick County records, who was born in 1702. If Matthew and Jacob are linked, and if Matthew and James are linked, then it’s likely all three of these Brooks men are linked to each other.

3. The Middlesex County connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks were both born in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia. On 29 January 1771, while living in Frederick County, Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, married Margaret Beaumont/Beamon in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County. Middlesex is several counties east of Frederick. The marriage of a man in Frederick County to a bride in Middlesex County suggests some connection that goes beyond geographical proximity: if the two Brooks men born in Middlesex County and later living in Frederick County are connected to Matthew’s father James, then this connection may explain Thomas Brooks’ choice to marry a bride in Middlesex County.

4. The multiple kinship network connections linking these three Brooks families: When Mary and Thomas Brooks brought James Brooks’ will to Frederick County court in November 1779 to be probated, the court ordered four men (or any three of these) including John Lindsey to appraise James Brooks’ estate. When Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth obtained probate from Frederick County court in October 1754 for Matthew’s estate, the court ordered four men (or any three of them) including John Lindsey, gent., to appraise the estate.

John Lindsey, gent., who was ordered to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate is very likely the John Lindsey (abt. 1700-1786) whom Lindsey researcher Susan Grabek calls John “the patriarch.”[28] Because the name John was replicated among several interrelated Lindsey families living in the Long Marsh area of Frederick County in this period, it’s difficult to be certain which particular John Lindsey was ordered to appraise James Brooks’ estate in 1779. The likeliest candidate is, I think, a nephew of John Lindsey, gent., a son of Thomas Lindsey (abt. 1720-1769), another of the Lindsey patriarchs of the Long Marsh community.[29]

There were multiple connections between this Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County and the kinship network of James Brooks’ family. James Brooks’ daughter Elizabeth (1747/1750 – 1816) married George Rice, son of Patrick Rice and Elizabeth Decow. As a previous posting notes, on 25 April 1764, Thomas Rutherford surveyed 669 acres on the Opequon for George Rice in Frederick County, with George’s brothers Edmund and John Rice acting as chain carriers and George Rice and Edmund Lindsey as markers. Edmund Lindsey was yet another of the Lindsey brothers whom Susan Grabek calls patriarchs of the Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County: Edmund was a brother of John Lindsey, gent., and Thomas Lindsey mentioned above.

As another previous posting also shows, when Thomas Rutherford surveyed 410 acres for George Rice’s father Patrick Rice on 19 March 1761, the land plat showed the land joining Patrick’s patent line, John McCormick, George Martin, Lord Fairfax, and Edmund Lindsey, and listed the chain carriers as Patrick Rice himself and Captain John Lindsey. Captain John Lindsey was the John Lindsey, gent., ordered by the court to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate. The linked posting also notes a Long Marsh grant of 244 acres to Edmund Lindsey on 4 August 1766, with the land adjoining George Neville, Joseph Reeder, George Rice, Patrick Rice, and Edmund Lindsey.

Also noted in the posting I’ve just linked: on 2-3 March 1767, Patrick Rice sold land to his son John Rice with Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, listed as one of the witnesses to this deed. This deed shows a direct link between the Rice family and the family of James and Mary Brooks, whose daughter Elizabeth married Patrick Rice’s son George about 1769.

As stated above, Patrick Rice held land adjoining both John McCormick and Edmund Lindsey. John McCormick’s grandson William McCormick married Elizabeth, daughter of George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks. As a previous posting has noted, when John McCormick acquired 456 acres on Long Marsh Creek on 8 July 1760, the survey and grant records show the land joining Patrick Rice and Thomas Lindsey (1720-1769). A 2 April 1751 Northern Neck grant to John Lindsey, Thomas’s brother, for 750 acres in Long Marsh in Frederick County shows his tract adjoining Patrick Rice.

Note, too, that John McCormick’s son Francis McCormick was among the four men appointed by Frederick County court in November 1779 to appraise the estate of James Brooks. The posting I linked in the previous paragraph points out that a 1782 tax list for Frederick County shows that three of the four men appointed by the county court to appraise James Brooks’ estate in November 1779 — Meredith Helm, Francis McCormick, and John Lindsey (son of Thomas) — all lived in Captain Nobles’ tax district of Frederick County in 1782 along with James Brooks’ son Thomas Brooks.

5. The Haynes/Haines connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks both lived on the Opequon where Matthew and James helped survey land for Hugh Haynes in 1752. This was a few miles west of the west of the Long Marsh area in which the Lindsey and Rice families lived (though Patrick Rice had land on both Long Marsh Run and Opequon Creek).

The Haynes name deserves further attention for this reason: as noted above, James and Mary Brooks had a daughter identified in Mary’s will as Susanna Haines. I have not been able to find the name of Susanna’s husband or any further information about her. The posting I’ve just linked notes the presence of Haynes/Haines families in Frederick County in the 18th century whose roots lie in the Quaker communities of New Jersey. As I indicated above, the Hugh Haynes for whose survey Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers in 1752 moved back from Virginia to New Jersey, dying there in May 1772 as a Quaker. Was the Haines family into which James Brooks’ daughter Susanna married connected to the Haynes family to which this Hugh Haynes belonged? This seems to be a research avenue worth exploring.

6. The connection between Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna and James Brooks’ wife Mary: Another connection that shouldn’t be overlooked: James Brooks’ wife Mary and Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna both provided testimony for Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744.

Frederick County court minutes provide some additional interesting information about Leonard Harper. On 7 December 1756, administration of his estate was given by the court to William Locks or Locke.[30] Giving bond with Locks/Locke for this administration were Benjamin Grubb and John Milbourn. At the same time, the court appointed the following appraisers (or any three of them) for Harper’s estate: John Lindsey, Benjamin Grubb, Joseph [Hill?], and John McCormick (with the surname spelled McCormack here). Note the names John Milbourn, John Lindsey, and John McCormick. As we’ve seen, John Milbourn and John Lindsey were two of those appointed to appraise the estate of Matthew Brooks in October 1754. And on the connections between John McCormick and the Lindsey and Rice families and the family of James and Mary Brooks, see above.

7. The Quaker connections: Though Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks appear not to have been Quakers, the families of all these Brooks men had ties to Quakers in Frederick County and the middle colonies. The will of Matthew’s wife Elizabeth uses Quaker terminology in stating its date: twelfth day of twelfth month, and it was witnessed by Simeon Taylor, clerk of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks’ son David daughter Mary were both Quakers.

Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester note that when Rosanna and Mary Brooks affirmed the debt owed to them for testifying on behalf of Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744, both did so by solemn affirmation rather than by making an oath. Kellam and Lester take this to mean that the two women had Quaker affiliation, though neither appears in the records of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting.

When Jacob Brooks left Virginia for South Carolina, he settled among Quakers who had moved to South Carolina from Frederick County, Virginia, and appears in records linked to the Hollingsworth family, which arrived in Delaware as a Quaker family with members then appearing in minutes of Quaker meetings in Pennsylvania and Frederick County, Virginia. The family of James and Mary Brooks also connects to the Hollingsworths: Mary Brooks, the oldest daughter of James and Mary Brooks, married Jacob Hollingsworth whose parents Samuel Hollingsworth and Barbara Shewing were members of the Old Kennett Friends Monthly Meeting in Chester County, Pennsylvania. George Rice, who married Mary Brooks’ sister Elizabeth, had a sister Susannah Rice who also married a Hollingsworth spouse. George Rice’s mother Elizabeth Decow, belonged to a Quaker family that immigrated from Yorkshire, England, to Burlington County, New Jersey, where she married George Rice’s father Patrick Rice before the couple settled in Frederick County, Virginia.

7. Connections that may be suggested by naming patterns: Both Matthew and James Brooks named sons James and Thomas. And James named a daughter Elizabeth, the name of Matthew’s wife, while Matthew had a daughter Mary, the name of James’ wife. Admittedly, none of these names is particularly uncommon in Virginia in this period, and Matthew’s father-in-law was Thomas Warren, so that may account for his use of the given name Thomas as he named a son. But the possibility that overlap in given names in the two families may indicate some kind of connection between them should also not be entirely discounted, it seems to me.

In conclusion, one or two connections may be a coincidence. Multiple connections suggest more than coincidence. With Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, there are manifold connections, overlapping ones. These connections suggest to me shared roots, though since Matthew is recorded as illegitimate in his baptismal record and he has his mother’s Brooks surname, the Y-DNA of his descendants might well not match the Y-DNA of proven male descendants of other Brooks families.

[1] Frederick County, Virginia, Chancery Court Order Book 17 (1778-1781), p. 251.

[2] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 5, p. 158.

[3] Survey for Hugh Haynes, 22 November 1752, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed for this land was made 2 April 1760. On 1 October 1767, living in Salem, New Jersey, Hugh Haynes sold the 247 acres to Michael Headley of Frederick County, with wife Ann signing and releasing dower: Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, pp. 23-4, 27.

[4] The order given on 20 November 1749 for John Baylis to survey 400 acres for Thomas Wyatt states that Wyatt was living on the land and that it adjoined Lewis Neill: ibid., survey for Thomas Wyatt, 1749/1750, available digitally at FamilySearch. The survey by John Baylis shows the land joining Hugh Haynes, John Baylis, and Captain Neile.

[5] National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1897), p. 67, transcribing the original parish register.

[6] Ibid., p. 60. On Jacob Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, records as the Jacob baptized in 1702 in Christ Church parish, see Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester, Brooks and Kindred Families (priv. publ., 1950), pp. 310-313.

[7] See Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Will Bk. B, p. 56; Thomas Warren made the will on 13 April 1749 and it was probated 4 December 1750. In The Rev. John Johnson and His Home: An Autobiography (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publ. Co., 1869), pp. 10-11, Susannah Brooks Johnson, a granddaughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks, states, “My grandmother’s maiden name was Elizabeth Warren; my grandfather, Matthew Brooks, a native of Virginia, was born of English parentage, and lived near Richmond.”

[8] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 3, p. 45.

[9] Survey of John Baylis, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. No date is recorded for the survey, nor does it state the name of the surveyor.

[10] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, pp. 368-370. On Taylor as the first clerk of Hopewell, see Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia (Strausburg, Virginia: Shenandoah Publishing, 1936), pp. 181-2, noting that Simeon and his wife were issued a certificate by East Nottingham Monthly Meeting on 28th of 4th month 1738, and lived on the east side of Opequon at Yorkshireman’s Branch, now called Litler’s Run, until they obtained a certificate for removal to New Garden Monthly Meeting in North Carolina on 2nd of 4th month 1764.

[11] Survey of John Briscoe, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed is recorded as a note of Jacob Brooks wrote to Lord Fairfax deeding the land to Briscoe.

[12] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 4, p. 406.

[13] Ibid., Bk. 6, p. 107.

[14] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, p. 150.

[15] See supra, n. 10.  

[16] Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, p. 545.

[17] See supra, n. 5.

[18] Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Deed Bk. A, pp. 165-6.

[19] See supra, n. 7.

[20] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 196.

[21] Ibid., p. 130.

[22] William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 6: Virginia (Baltimore: Geneal. Publ. Co., 1973), p. 371, indexing Hopewell meeting minutes.

[23] Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History, p. 29.

[24] Ibid., p. 30.

[25] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 221.

[26] See supra, n. 11.

[27] Charleston County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1774-9, pp. 54-5.

[28] Susan Grabek, “The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia, ‘The Patriarchs,’” at Lindsay Surname DNA Project Group 2:  The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia.

[29] See ibid.

[30] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order 7, p. 156.

Challenge of Tracing the Ancestry of James Brooks (bef. 1720 – 1779) of Frederick County, Virginia: A Thought-Provoking New Clue

Or, Subtitled: “The chain carriers were often kin to the person for whom the land was being surveyed” (Judy G. Russell, “A Matter of Measure,“ Legal Genealogy)

I have posted previously about an elusive ancestor named James Brooks, who died prior to 2 November 1779 in Frederick County, Virginia, when his widow Mary and son Thomas presented his will to court for probate.[1] As the posting I’ve just linked states, the court responded to Mary and Thomas’ motion to have James Brooks’ will probated by granting them a certificate “for obtaining a probate there of [sic] in due form.”

That is, the will was not probated and recorded on 2 November 1779, but Mary and Thomas were instructed to have it probated “in due form.” The court minutes state explicitly that after witness Meredith Helm proved the will, it was “Ordered to be for further proof.” One would expect this set of court minutes to be followed by another set not far down the road showing the will definitively proven with Mary and Thomas obtaining probate and having it recorded. (To read the rest of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

But sadly, this notice that James Brooks’ will was brought to Frederick County court for probate on 2 November 1779 is the last mention I can find of this will anywhere in Frederick County records. It seems never to have been probated or recorded.

James Brooks remains a very elusive ancestor. I can find almost next to no information about him. His son Thomas first appears in Frederick County records in 1767, so this family seems to have been in that county by that date. His children’s dates of birth suggest a birth date of 1720 or earlier for James and wife Mary. Mary outlived James by some ten years, leaving a will written 9 July 1786, which was probated on 4 April 1787.[2] The will names her children Mary Hollingsworth, Elizabeth Rice, Sarah Asdill (i.e., Ashdale), Susanna Haynes, and Thomas and James Brooks. A transcript of Mary Brooks’ will and an overview of what’s known about her children is found at this previous posting.

When James Brooks and wife Mary arrived in Frederick County, Virginia, where they were living prior to coming there (I’m assuming they were not born there), where they were born, what Mary’s maiden name was: I have been unable to find any scrap of information to answer those questions. I have, however, now turned up a very valuable new clue possibly pointing to James’ background that I want to discuss here.

On 22 November 1752, John Baylis surveyed 247 acres of land for Hugh Haynes on Opequon Creek in Frederick County. This was a Northern Neck survey.[3] The chain carriers for this survey were Matthew Brooks and James Brooks. The survey document states that Hugh Haynes lived on the east side of Opequon and that the land surveyed was on both sides of that creek. The land bordered Robert Hutchins, John Baylis, and Thomas Wyatt.[4]

Quite a bit of information is available about Matthew Brooks, who died in 1754 in Frederick County. I’ll discuss some of that information in a moment. But meanwhile, who is this James Brooks? Matthew Brooks had a son named James. But Matthew’s son James is not the man acting as a chain carrier in November 1752 when Hugh Haynes had land surveyed. Matthew’s son James Brooks was born in 1748.

I have found no James Brooks living in Frederick County in the period 1752-1779 other than the James Brooks who died there prior to 2 November 1779. I’m fairly confident that the James Brooks acting as a chain carrier with Matthew Brooks when Hugh Haynes’ land was surveyed in November 1752 is the man who died in November 1779 with wife Mary. 

When land was surveyed, chain carriers were frequently relatives of the person whose land was being surveyed. They were also very often relatives of each other — i.e., a chain carrier duo might be father and son or two brothers. This November 1752 survey document suggests to me some kind of connection, very likely a kinship one, between James Brooks with wife Mary and Matthew Brooks.

In a previous posting, I provided an overview of what I know about Matthew Brooks and another Brooks man, Jacob Brooks, who was living in Frederick County in the period in which Matthew and James Brooks lived there. This posting notes that there are some strong indicators that Matthew and Jacob were related to each other, and both families had some Quaker connections.

Salient information about Matthew Brooks:

• Matthew was baptized 10 February 1704 in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia, with the baptismal record stating that his mother was Sara Brooks, and Matthew was illegitimate.[5]

Though some researchers have questioned whether the Matthew Brooks who appears in Frederick County records by the 1740s and died there before 1 October 1754 is the Matthew Brooks of this baptismal record, it’s clear to me that the two Matthews are the same person. There’s a strong preponderance of evidence in favor of this conclusion. In particular, it’s important to note that Jacob Brooks, to whom the Matthew Brooks found in Frederick County records is linked, was also baptized in Christ Church parish on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[6]

In addition, as a previous posting notes (with documentation cited), before appearing in Frederick County records, both Matthew and Jacob Brooks are found in records of Spotsylvania County, Virgina, both with connections to the family of Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth married Matthew Brooks.[7]

• Matthew Brooks was in Frederick County prior to 7 May 1748, when he was appointed a constable in that county.[8]

• After a warrant was issued on 22 January 1750 for a survey of 400 acres on the east side of Opequon for John Baylis of Prince William County, Matthew Brooks and Simeon Taylor were chain carriers.[9] The land bordered Hugh Haynes, Robert Hutchins and Lewis Neale. Simeon Taylor, who was the first clerk of Hopewell Friends’ Monthly Meeting in Frederick County, witnessed the 12 December 1758 will of Matthew Brooks’ wife Elizabeth.[10]

• On 10 October 1752, Matthew Brooks witnessed a deed of Jacob Brooks to John Briscoe for 400 acres on the Opequon, with John Wilkeson as the other witness.[11]

• On 6 March 1753, Matthew Brooks was appointed overseer of the road from Ross’s to John Smith’s old place in room of John Thomas.[12]

• Matthew Brooks died by 1 October 1754 when his widow Elizabeth was given a certificate by Frederick County court for administration of his estate.[13] The court appointed as estate appraisers John Lindsey, gent., Evan Thomas Jr., William Dillon, and John Milbourn.

• On 4 March 1755, an estate appraisement by William Dillon, Evan Thomas, and John Milbourn, all Quakers, was recorded.[14]

• On 12 December 1759 (the date is written as the twelfth day of the twelfth month called December), Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth made her will in Frederick County.[15] The will was probated 6 February 1760. A digital copy of Elizabeth’s will is at this previous posting, which also has information about Matthew and Elizabeth’s ten children, noting that they included sons named James and Thomas.

• On 1 November 1768, a deed of Edmond Lindsey Jr. of Frederick County to Robert Rutherford of Winchester for land on the east side of Opequon notes that the land bordered land surveyed for Matthew Brooks.[16]

Points to note here:

1. Matthew Brooks was baptized in 1704 in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, where two years earlier Jacob Brooks was baptized.

2. Both men subsequently appear in Spotsylvania County records with ties to Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth Matthew married.

3. In the 1740s, both Matthew and Jacob then begin appearing in Frederick County records. In October 1752, Matthew witnesses a deed made by Jacob.

4. Both Matthew and Jacob had ties to the Quaker community of Frederick County, though it appears neither man was himself a Friend.

5. And not to be forgotten: on 22 November 1752, Matthew and James were chain carriers for John Baylis’ survey of land on the Opequon for Hugh Haynes.

It certainly looks to me as if Jacob, Matthew, and James Brooks may be related to each other. And if that’s the case, then it seems worth asking whether, as in the case of Jacob and Matthew, James’ roots lie in Middlesex County, Virginia, prior to his family’s appearance in Frederick County records.

Salient information about Jacob Brooks:

• Jacob was baptized in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[17]

• On 30 May 1725 in Spotsylvania County, Jacob witnessed a deed of land for love and affection by Thomas Warren to his daughter Rachel Askew.[18] This is Thomas Warren, father of Elizabeth who married Matthew Brooks, whose 13 April 1749 will in Spotsylvania County names among other children daughters Rachel Askew and Elizabeth Brooks.[19]

• Frederick County court minutes for 14 September 1744 show the court ordering Leonard Harper to pay Jacob Brooks’s wife Rosanna/Rosannah and Mary Brooks for appearing in court to testify on his behalf.[20] The court directed Harper to pay Rosannah and Mary Brooks, along with several other witnesses, 100 pounds of tobacco each for their appearance in court. Harper was sued by Francis Fowler and found guilty on 12 July 1744 of fornicating with Ann Fowler.[21]

Jacob and Rosanna Brooks had no daughter named Mary. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks had a daughter Mary, however. The birth year of that Mary Brooks has been estimated as around 1738. On 22 October 1759, she married Benjamin Thornburgh at Hopewell Friends Meeting in Frederick County.[22] On 6 April 1758, this Mary Brooks had witnessed the marriage of Henry Rees of Frederick County to Martha Thomas at the Opeckan (i.e., Opequon) Friends Meeting, under the supervision of Hopewell Meeting.[23] Martha Thomas was a daughter of the Evan Thomas who was an appraiser of the estates of both Matthew Brooks and his wife Elizabeth. He was perhaps the first minister of the Hopewell meeting.[24]

The only Mary Brooks about which I find information in Frederick County records who was of age in 1744 was Mary, wife of James Brooks. This September 1744 court record allocating payment for witnesses on behalf of Leonard Fowler links James Brooks’ wife Mary with Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna.

• By 13 October 1744, Jacob Brooks was serving as a juror in Frederick County.[25]

• As noted above, on 10 October 1752, Jacob Brooks deeded to John Briscoe 400 acres on the Opequon, with Matthew Brooks one of the two witnesses.[26]

• By September 1753, Jacob had moved to Orange County, North Carolina, and by 1768, to what would later become Newberry County, South Carolina, where he died after making his will in September 1770.[27] The will names wife Rosanna, daughter Milly and husband William Gary, with their daughter Sarah, along with sons Jacob and John Brooks.

To sum up:

1. The Matthew-James Brooks connection: On 22 November 1752 in Frederick County, Virginia, Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers for a survey of land for Hugh Haynes. This document links Matthew and James, and this James Brooks is clearly the man who died in Frederick County in 1779.

2. The Matthew-Jacob Brooks connection: There are multiple links between Matthew Brooks, who was born in 1704, and a Jacob Brooks found in Frederick County records, who was born in 1702. If Matthew and Jacob are linked, and if Matthew and James are linked, then it’s likely all three of these Brooks men are linked to each other.

3. The Middlesex County connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks were both born in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia. On 29 January 1771, while living in Frederick County, Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, married Margaret Beaumont/Beamon in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County. Middlesex is several counties east of Frederick. The marriage of a man in Frederick County to a bride in Middlesex County suggests some connection that goes beyond geographical proximity: if the two Brooks men born in Middlesex County and later living in Frederick County are connected to Matthew’s father James, then this connection may explain Thomas Brooks’ choice to marry a bride in Middlesex County.

4. The multiple kinship network connections linking these three Brooks families: When Mary and Thomas Brooks brought James Brooks’ will to Frederick County court in November 1779 to be probated, the court ordered four men (or any three of these) including John Lindsey to appraise James Brooks’ estate. When Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth obtained probate from Frederick County court in October 1754 for Matthew’s estate, the court ordered four men (or any three of them) including John Lindsey, gent., to appraise the estate.

John Lindsey, gent., who was ordered to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate is very likely the John Lindsey (abt. 1700-1786) whom Lindsey researcher Susan Grabek calls John “the patriarch.”[28] Because the name John was replicated among several interrelated Lindsey families living in the Long Marsh area of Frederick County in this period, it’s difficult to be certain which particular John Lindsey was ordered to appraise James Brooks’ estate in 1779. The likeliest candidate is, I think, a nephew of John Lindsey, gent., a son of Thomas Lindsey (abt. 1720-1769), another of the Lindsey patriarchs of the Long Marsh community.[29]

There were multiple connections between this Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County and the kinship network of James Brooks’ family. James Brooks’ daughter Elizabeth (1747/1750 – 1816) married George Rice, son of Patrick Rice and Elizabeth Decow. As a previous posting notes, on 25 April 1764, Thomas Rutherford surveyed 669 acres on the Opequon for George Rice in Frederick County, with George’s brothers Edmund and John Rice acting as chain carriers and George Rice and Edmund Lindsey as markers. Edmund Lindsey was yet another of the Lindsey brothers whom Susan Grabek calls patriarchs of the Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County: Edmund was a brother of John Lindsey, gent., and Thomas Lindsey mentioned above.

As another previous posting also shows, when Thomas Rutherford surveyed 410 acres for George Rice’s father Patrick Rice on 19 March 1761, the land plat showed the land joining Patrick’s patent line, John McCormick, George Martin, Lord Fairfax, and Edmund Lindsey, and listed the chain carriers as Patrick Rice himself and Captain John Lindsey. Captain John Lindsey was the John Lindsey, gent., ordered by the court to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate. The linked posting also notes a Long Marsh grant of 244 acres to Edmund Lindsey on 4 August 1766, with the land adjoining George Neville, Joseph Reeder, George Rice, Patrick Rice, and Edmund Lindsey.

Also noted in the posting I’ve just linked: on 2-3 March 1767, Patrick Rice sold land to his son John Rice with Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, listed as one of the witnesses to this deed. This deed shows a direct link between the Rice family and the family of James and Mary Brooks, whose daughter Elizabeth married Patrick Rice’s son George about 1769.

As stated above, Patrick Rice held land adjoining both John McCormick and Edmund Lindsey. John McCormick’s grandson William McCormick married Elizabeth, daughter of George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks. As a previous posting has noted, when John McCormick acquired 456 acres on Long Marsh Creek on 8 July 1760, the survey and grant records show the land joining Patrick Rice and Thomas Lindsey (1720-1769). A 2 April 1751 Northern Neck grant to John Lindsey, Thomas’s brother, for 750 acres in Long Marsh in Frederick County shows his tract adjoining Patrick Rice.

Note, too, that John McCormick’s son Francis McCormick was among the four men appointed by Frederick County court in November 1779 to appraise the estate of James Brooks. The posting I linked in the previous paragraph points out that a 1782 tax list for Frederick County shows that three of the four men appointed by the county court to appraise James Brooks’ estate in November 1779 — Meredith Helm, Francis McCormick, and John Lindsey (son of Thomas) — all lived in Captain Nobles’ tax district of Frederick County in 1782 along with James Brooks’ son Thomas Brooks.

5. The Haynes/Haines connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks both lived on the Opequon where Matthew and James helped survey land for Hugh Haynes in 1752. This was a few miles west of the west of the Long Marsh area in which the Lindsey and Rice families lived (though Patrick Rice had land on both Long Marsh Run and Opequon Creek).

The Haynes name deserves further attention for this reason: as noted above, James and Mary Brooks had a daughter identified in Mary’s will as Susanna Haines. I have not been able to find the name of Susanna’s husband or any further information about her. The posting I’ve just linked notes the presence of Haynes/Haines families in Frederick County in the 18th century whose roots lie in the Quaker communities of New Jersey. As I indicated above, the Hugh Haynes for whose survey Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers in 1752 moved back from Virginia to New Jersey, dying there in May 1772 as a Quaker. Was the Haines family into which James Brooks’ daughter Susanna married connected to the Haynes family to which this Hugh Haynes belonged? This seems to be a research avenue worth exploring.

6. The connection between Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna and James Brooks’ wife Mary: Another connection that shouldn’t be overlooked: James Brooks’ wife Mary and Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna both provided testimony for Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744.

Frederick County court minutes provide some additional interesting information about Leonard Harper. On 7 December 1756, administration of his estate was given by the court to William Locks or Locke.[30] Giving bond with Locks/Locke for this administration were Benjamin Grubb and John Milbourn. At the same time, the court appointed the following appraisers (or any three of them) for Harper’s estate: John Lindsey, Benjamin Grubb, Joseph [Hill?], and John McCormick (with the surname spelled McCormack here). Note the names John Milbourn, John Lindsey, and John McCormick. As we’ve seen, John Milbourn and John Lindsey were two of those appointed to appraise the estate of Matthew Brooks in October 1754. And on the connections between John McCormick and the Lindsey and Rice families and the family of James and Mary Brooks, see above.

7. The Quaker connections: Though Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks appear not to have been Quakers, the families of all these Brooks men had ties to Quakers in Frederick County and the middle colonies. The will of Matthew’s wife Elizabeth uses Quaker terminology in stating its date: twelfth day of twelfth month, and it was witnessed by Simeon Taylor, clerk of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks’ son David daughter Mary were both Quakers.

Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester note that when Rosanna and Mary Brooks affirmed the debt owed to them for testifying on behalf of Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744, both did so by solemn affirmation rather than by making an oath. Kellam and Lester take this to mean that the two women had Quaker affiliation, though neither appears in the records of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting.

When Jacob Brooks left Virginia for South Carolina, he settled among Quakers who had moved to South Carolina from Frederick County, Virginia, and appears in records linked to the Hollingsworth family, which arrived in Delaware as a Quaker family with members then appearing in minutes of Quaker meetings in Pennsylvania and Frederick County, Virginia. The family of James and Mary Brooks also connects to the Hollingsworths: Mary Brooks, the oldest daughter of James and Mary Brooks, married Jacob Hollingsworth whose parents Samuel Hollingsworth and Barbara Shewing were members of the Old Kennett Friends Monthly Meeting in Chester County, Pennsylvania. George Rice, who married Mary Brooks’ sister Elizabeth, had a sister Susannah Rice who also married a Hollingsworth spouse. George Rice’s mother Elizabeth Decow, belonged to a Quaker family that immigrated from Yorkshire, England, to Burlington County, New Jersey, where she married George Rice’s father Patrick Rice before the couple settled in Frederick County, Virginia.

7. Connections that may be suggested by naming patterns: Both Matthew and James Brooks named sons James and Thomas. And James named a daughter Elizabeth, the name of Matthew’s wife, while Matthew had a daughter Mary, the name of James’ wife. Admittedly, none of these names is particularly uncommon in Virginia in this period, and Matthew’s father-in-law was Thomas Warren, so that may account for his use of the given name Thomas as he named a son. But the possibility that overlap in given names in the two families may indicate some kind of connection between them should also not be entirely discounted, it seems to me.

In conclusion, one or two connections may be a coincidence. Multiple connections suggest more than coincidence. With Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, there are manifold connections, overlapping ones. These connections suggest to me shared roots, though since Matthew is recorded as illegitimate in his baptismal record and he has his mother’s Brooks surname, the Y-DNA of his descendants might well not match the Y-DNA of proven male descendants of other Brooks families.

[1] Frederick County, Virginia, Chancery Court Order Book 17 (1778-1781), p. 251.

[2] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 5, p. 158.

[3] Survey for Hugh Haynes, 22 November 1752, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed for this land was made 2 April 1760. On 1 October 1767, living in Salem, New Jersey, Hugh Haynes sold the 247 acres to Michael Headley of Frederick County, with wife Ann signing and releasing dower: Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, pp. 23-4, 27.

[4] The order given on 20 November 1749 for John Baylis to survey 400 acres for Thomas Wyatt states that Wyatt was living on the land and that it adjoined Lewis Neill: ibid., survey for Thomas Wyatt, 1749/1750, available digitally at FamilySearch. The survey by John Baylis shows the land joining Hugh Haynes, John Baylis, and Captain Neile.

[5] National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1897), p. 67, transcribing the original parish register.

[6] Ibid., p. 60. On Jacob Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, records as the Jacob baptized in 1702 in Christ Church parish, see Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester, Brooks and Kindred Families (priv. publ., 1950), pp. 310-313.

[7] See Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Will Bk. B, p. 56; Thomas Warren made the will on 13 April 1749 and it was probated 4 December 1750. In The Rev. John Johnson and His Home: An Autobiography (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publ. Co., 1869), pp. 10-11, Susannah Brooks Johnson, a granddaughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks, states, “My grandmother’s maiden name was Elizabeth Warren; my grandfather, Matthew Brooks, a native of Virginia, was born of English parentage, and lived near Richmond.”

[8] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 3, p. 45.

[9] Survey of John Baylis, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. No date is recorded for the survey, nor does it state the name of the surveyor.

[10] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, pp. 368-370. On Taylor as the first clerk of Hopewell, see Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia (Strausburg, Virginia: Shenandoah Publishing, 1936), pp. 181-2, noting that Simeon and his wife were issued a certificate by East Nottingham Monthly Meeting on 28th of 4th month 1738, and lived on the east side of Opequon at Yorkshireman’s Branch, now called Litler’s Run, until they obtained a certificate for removal to New Garden Monthly Meeting in North Carolina on 2nd of 4th month 1764.

[11] Survey of John Briscoe, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed is recorded as a note of Jacob Brooks wrote to Lord Fairfax deeding the land to Briscoe.

[12] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 4, p. 406.

[13] Ibid., Bk. 6, p. 107.

[14] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, p. 150.

[15] See supra, n. 10.  

[16] Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, p. 545.

[17] See supra, n. 5.

[18] Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Deed Bk. A, pp. 165-6.

[19] See supra, n. 7.

[20] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 196.

[21] Ibid., p. 130.

[22] William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 6: Virginia (Baltimore: Geneal. Publ. Co., 1973), p. 371, indexing Hopewell meeting minutes.

[23] Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History, p. 29.

[24] Ibid., p. 30.

[25] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 221.

[26] See supra, n. 11.

[27] Charleston County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1774-9, pp. 54-5.

[28] Susan Grabek, “The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia, ‘The Patriarchs,’” at Lindsay Surname DNA Project Group 2:  The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia.

[29] See ibid.

[30] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order 7, p. 156.

Challenge of Tracing the Ancestry of James Brooks (bef. 1720 – 1779) of Frederick County, Virginia: A Thought-Provoking New Clue

Or, Subtitled: “The chain carriers were often kin to the person for whom the land was being surveyed” (Judy G. Russell, “A Matter of Measure,“ Legal Genealogy)

I have posted previously about an elusive ancestor named James Brooks, who died prior to 2 November 1779 in Frederick County, Virginia, when his widow Mary and son Thomas presented his will to court for probate.[1] As the posting I’ve just linked states, the court responded to Mary and Thomas’ motion to have James Brooks’ will probated by granting them a certificate “for obtaining a probate there of [sic] in due form.”

That is, the will was not probated and recorded on 2 November 1779, but Mary and Thomas were instructed to have it probated “in due form.” The court minutes state explicitly that after witness Meredith Helm proved the will, it was “Ordered to be for further proof.” One would expect this set of court minutes to be followed by another set not far down the road showing the will definitively proven with Mary and Thomas obtaining probate and having it recorded. (To read the rest of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

But sadly, this notice that James Brooks’ will was brought to Frederick County court for probate on 2 November 1779 is the last mention I can find of this will anywhere in Frederick County records. It seems never to have been probated or recorded.

James Brooks remains a very elusive ancestor. I can find almost next to no information about him. His son Thomas first appears in Frederick County records in 1767, so this family seems to have been in that county by that date. His children’s dates of birth suggest a birth date of 1720 or earlier for James and wife Mary. Mary outlived James by some ten years, leaving a will written 9 July 1786, which was probated on 4 April 1787.[2] The will names her children Mary Hollingsworth, Elizabeth Rice, Sarah Asdill (i.e., Ashdale), Susanna Haynes, and Thomas and James Brooks. A transcript of Mary Brooks’ will and an overview of what’s known about her children is found at this previous posting.

When James Brooks and wife Mary arrived in Frederick County, Virginia, where they were living prior to coming there (I’m assuming they were not born there), where they were born, what Mary’s maiden name was: I have been unable to find any scrap of information to answer those questions. I have, however, now turned up a very valuable new clue possibly pointing to James’ background that I want to discuss here.

On 22 November 1752, John Baylis surveyed 247 acres of land for Hugh Haynes on Opequon Creek in Frederick County. This was a Northern Neck survey.[3] The chain carriers for this survey were Matthew Brooks and James Brooks. The survey document states that Hugh Haynes lived on the east side of Opequon and that the land surveyed was on both sides of that creek. The land bordered Robert Hutchins, John Baylis, and Thomas Wyatt.[4]

Quite a bit of information is available about Matthew Brooks, who died in 1754 in Frederick County. I’ll discuss some of that information in a moment. But meanwhile, who is this James Brooks? Matthew Brooks had a son named James. But Matthew’s son James is not the man acting as a chain carrier in November 1752 when Hugh Haynes had land surveyed. Matthew’s son James Brooks was born in 1748.

I have found no James Brooks living in Frederick County in the period 1752-1779 other than the James Brooks who died there prior to 2 November 1779. I’m fairly confident that the James Brooks acting as a chain carrier with Matthew Brooks when Hugh Haynes’ land was surveyed in November 1752 is the man who died in November 1779 with wife Mary. 

When land was surveyed, chain carriers were frequently relatives of the person whose land was being surveyed. They were also very often relatives of each other — i.e., a chain carrier duo might be father and son or two brothers. This November 1752 survey document suggests to me some kind of connection, very likely a kinship one, between James Brooks with wife Mary and Matthew Brooks.

In a previous posting, I provided an overview of what I know about Matthew Brooks and another Brooks man, Jacob Brooks, who was living in Frederick County in the period in which Matthew and James Brooks lived there. This posting notes that there are some strong indicators that Matthew and Jacob were related to each other, and both families had some Quaker connections.

Salient information about Matthew Brooks:

• Matthew was baptized 10 February 1704 in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia, with the baptismal record stating that his mother was Sara Brooks, and Matthew was illegitimate.[5]

Though some researchers have questioned whether the Matthew Brooks who appears in Frederick County records by the 1740s and died there before 1 October 1754 is the Matthew Brooks of this baptismal record, it’s clear to me that the two Matthews are the same person. There’s a strong preponderance of evidence in favor of this conclusion. In particular, it’s important to note that Jacob Brooks, to whom the Matthew Brooks found in Frederick County records is linked, was also baptized in Christ Church parish on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[6]

In addition, as a previous posting notes (with documentation cited), before appearing in Frederick County records, both Matthew and Jacob Brooks are found in records of Spotsylvania County, Virgina, both with connections to the family of Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth married Matthew Brooks.[7]

• Matthew Brooks was in Frederick County prior to 7 May 1748, when he was appointed a constable in that county.[8]

• After a warrant was issued on 22 January 1750 for a survey of 400 acres on the east side of Opequon for John Baylis of Prince William County, Matthew Brooks and Simeon Taylor were chain carriers.[9] The land bordered Hugh Haynes, Robert Hutchins and Lewis Neale. Simeon Taylor, who was the first clerk of Hopewell Friends’ Monthly Meeting in Frederick County, witnessed the 12 December 1758 will of Matthew Brooks’ wife Elizabeth.[10]

• On 10 October 1752, Matthew Brooks witnessed a deed of Jacob Brooks to John Briscoe for 400 acres on the Opequon, with John Wilkeson as the other witness.[11]

• On 6 March 1753, Matthew Brooks was appointed overseer of the road from Ross’s to John Smith’s old place in room of John Thomas.[12]

• Matthew Brooks died by 1 October 1754 when his widow Elizabeth was given a certificate by Frederick County court for administration of his estate.[13] The court appointed as estate appraisers John Lindsey, gent., Evan Thomas Jr., William Dillon, and John Milbourn.

• On 4 March 1755, an estate appraisement by William Dillon, Evan Thomas, and John Milbourn, all Quakers, was recorded.[14]

• On 12 December 1759 (the date is written as the twelfth day of the twelfth month called December), Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth made her will in Frederick County.[15] The will was probated 6 February 1760. A digital copy of Elizabeth’s will is at this previous posting, which also has information about Matthew and Elizabeth’s ten children, noting that they included sons named James and Thomas.

• On 1 November 1768, a deed of Edmond Lindsey Jr. of Frederick County to Robert Rutherford of Winchester for land on the east side of Opequon notes that the land bordered land surveyed for Matthew Brooks.[16]

Points to note here:

1. Matthew Brooks was baptized in 1704 in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, where two years earlier Jacob Brooks was baptized.

2. Both men subsequently appear in Spotsylvania County records with ties to Thomas Warren, whose daughter Elizabeth Matthew married.

3. In the 1740s, both Matthew and Jacob then begin appearing in Frederick County records. In October 1752, Matthew witnesses a deed made by Jacob.

4. Both Matthew and Jacob had ties to the Quaker community of Frederick County, though it appears neither man was himself a Friend.

5. And not to be forgotten: on 22 November 1752, Matthew and James were chain carriers for John Baylis’ survey of land on the Opequon for Hugh Haynes.

It certainly looks to me as if Jacob, Matthew, and James Brooks may be related to each other. And if that’s the case, then it seems worth asking whether, as in the case of Jacob and Matthew, James’ roots lie in Middlesex County, Virginia, prior to his family’s appearance in Frederick County records.

Salient information about Jacob Brooks:

• Jacob was baptized in Christ Church parish, Middlesex County, Virginia, on 21 November 1702, with the parish register noting that his parents were William and Sarah Brooks.[17]

• On 30 May 1725 in Spotsylvania County, Jacob witnessed a deed of land for love and affection by Thomas Warren to his daughter Rachel Askew.[18] This is Thomas Warren, father of Elizabeth who married Matthew Brooks, whose 13 April 1749 will in Spotsylvania County names among other children daughters Rachel Askew and Elizabeth Brooks.[19]

• Frederick County court minutes for 14 September 1744 show the court ordering Leonard Harper to pay Jacob Brooks’s wife Rosanna/Rosannah and Mary Brooks for appearing in court to testify on his behalf.[20] The court directed Harper to pay Rosannah and Mary Brooks, along with several other witnesses, 100 pounds of tobacco each for their appearance in court. Harper was sued by Francis Fowler and found guilty on 12 July 1744 of fornicating with Ann Fowler.[21]

Jacob and Rosanna Brooks had no daughter named Mary. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks had a daughter Mary, however. The birth year of that Mary Brooks has been estimated as around 1738. On 22 October 1759, she married Benjamin Thornburgh at Hopewell Friends Meeting in Frederick County.[22] On 6 April 1758, this Mary Brooks had witnessed the marriage of Henry Rees of Frederick County to Martha Thomas at the Opeckan (i.e., Opequon) Friends Meeting, under the supervision of Hopewell Meeting.[23] Martha Thomas was a daughter of the Evan Thomas who was an appraiser of the estates of both Matthew Brooks and his wife Elizabeth. He was perhaps the first minister of the Hopewell meeting.[24]

The only Mary Brooks about which I find information in Frederick County records who was of age in 1744 was Mary, wife of James Brooks. This September 1744 court record allocating payment for witnesses on behalf of Leonard Fowler links James Brooks’ wife Mary with Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna.

• By 13 October 1744, Jacob Brooks was serving as a juror in Frederick County.[25]

• As noted above, on 10 October 1752, Jacob Brooks deeded to John Briscoe 400 acres on the Opequon, with Matthew Brooks one of the two witnesses.[26]

• By September 1753, Jacob had moved to Orange County, North Carolina, and by 1768, to what would later become Newberry County, South Carolina, where he died after making his will in September 1770.[27] The will names wife Rosanna, daughter Milly and husband William Gary, with their daughter Sarah, along with sons Jacob and John Brooks.

To sum up:

1. The Matthew-James Brooks connection: On 22 November 1752 in Frederick County, Virginia, Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers for a survey of land for Hugh Haynes. This document links Matthew and James, and this James Brooks is clearly the man who died in Frederick County in 1779.

2. The Matthew-Jacob Brooks connection: There are multiple links between Matthew Brooks, who was born in 1704, and a Jacob Brooks found in Frederick County records, who was born in 1702. If Matthew and Jacob are linked, and if Matthew and James are linked, then it’s likely all three of these Brooks men are linked to each other.

3. The Middlesex County connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks were both born in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County, Virginia. On 29 January 1771, while living in Frederick County, Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, married Margaret Beaumont/Beamon in Christ Church parish in Middlesex County. Middlesex is several counties east of Frederick. The marriage of a man in Frederick County to a bride in Middlesex County suggests some connection that goes beyond geographical proximity: if the two Brooks men born in Middlesex County and later living in Frederick County are connected to Matthew’s father James, then this connection may explain Thomas Brooks’ choice to marry a bride in Middlesex County.

4. The multiple kinship network connections linking these three Brooks families: When Mary and Thomas Brooks brought James Brooks’ will to Frederick County court in November 1779 to be probated, the court ordered four men (or any three of these) including John Lindsey to appraise James Brooks’ estate. When Matthew Brooks’ widow Elizabeth obtained probate from Frederick County court in October 1754 for Matthew’s estate, the court ordered four men (or any three of them) including John Lindsey, gent., to appraise the estate.

John Lindsey, gent., who was ordered to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate is very likely the John Lindsey (abt. 1700-1786) whom Lindsey researcher Susan Grabek calls John “the patriarch.”[28] Because the name John was replicated among several interrelated Lindsey families living in the Long Marsh area of Frederick County in this period, it’s difficult to be certain which particular John Lindsey was ordered to appraise James Brooks’ estate in 1779. The likeliest candidate is, I think, a nephew of John Lindsey, gent., a son of Thomas Lindsey (abt. 1720-1769), another of the Lindsey patriarchs of the Long Marsh community.[29]

There were multiple connections between this Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County and the kinship network of James Brooks’ family. James Brooks’ daughter Elizabeth (1747/1750 – 1816) married George Rice, son of Patrick Rice and Elizabeth Decow. As a previous posting notes, on 25 April 1764, Thomas Rutherford surveyed 669 acres on the Opequon for George Rice in Frederick County, with George’s brothers Edmund and John Rice acting as chain carriers and George Rice and Edmund Lindsey as markers. Edmund Lindsey was yet another of the Lindsey brothers whom Susan Grabek calls patriarchs of the Lindsey family of the Long Marsh area of Frederick County: Edmund was a brother of John Lindsey, gent., and Thomas Lindsey mentioned above.

As another previous posting also shows, when Thomas Rutherford surveyed 410 acres for George Rice’s father Patrick Rice on 19 March 1761, the land plat showed the land joining Patrick’s patent line, John McCormick, George Martin, Lord Fairfax, and Edmund Lindsey, and listed the chain carriers as Patrick Rice himself and Captain John Lindsey. Captain John Lindsey was the John Lindsey, gent., ordered by the court to appraise Matthew Brooks’ estate. The linked posting also notes a Long Marsh grant of 244 acres to Edmund Lindsey on 4 August 1766, with the land adjoining George Neville, Joseph Reeder, George Rice, Patrick Rice, and Edmund Lindsey.

Also noted in the posting I’ve just linked: on 2-3 March 1767, Patrick Rice sold land to his son John Rice with Thomas Brooks, son of James and Mary Brooks, listed as one of the witnesses to this deed. This deed shows a direct link between the Rice family and the family of James and Mary Brooks, whose daughter Elizabeth married Patrick Rice’s son George about 1769.

As stated above, Patrick Rice held land adjoining both John McCormick and Edmund Lindsey. John McCormick’s grandson William McCormick married Elizabeth, daughter of George Rice and Elizabeth Brooks. As a previous posting has noted, when John McCormick acquired 456 acres on Long Marsh Creek on 8 July 1760, the survey and grant records show the land joining Patrick Rice and Thomas Lindsey (1720-1769). A 2 April 1751 Northern Neck grant to John Lindsey, Thomas’s brother, for 750 acres in Long Marsh in Frederick County shows his tract adjoining Patrick Rice.

Note, too, that John McCormick’s son Francis McCormick was among the four men appointed by Frederick County court in November 1779 to appraise the estate of James Brooks. The posting I linked in the previous paragraph points out that a 1782 tax list for Frederick County shows that three of the four men appointed by the county court to appraise James Brooks’ estate in November 1779 — Meredith Helm, Francis McCormick, and John Lindsey (son of Thomas) — all lived in Captain Nobles’ tax district of Frederick County in 1782 along with James Brooks’ son Thomas Brooks.

5. The Haynes/Haines connection: Matthew and Jacob Brooks both lived on the Opequon where Matthew and James helped survey land for Hugh Haynes in 1752. This was a few miles west of the west of the Long Marsh area in which the Lindsey and Rice families lived (though Patrick Rice had land on both Long Marsh Run and Opequon Creek).

The Haynes name deserves further attention for this reason: as noted above, James and Mary Brooks had a daughter identified in Mary’s will as Susanna Haines. I have not been able to find the name of Susanna’s husband or any further information about her. The posting I’ve just linked notes the presence of Haynes/Haines families in Frederick County in the 18th century whose roots lie in the Quaker communities of New Jersey. As I indicated above, the Hugh Haynes for whose survey Matthew and James Brooks acted as chain carriers in 1752 moved back from Virginia to New Jersey, dying there in May 1772 as a Quaker. Was the Haines family into which James Brooks’ daughter Susanna married connected to the Haynes family to which this Hugh Haynes belonged? This seems to be a research avenue worth exploring.

6. The connection between Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna and James Brooks’ wife Mary: Another connection that shouldn’t be overlooked: James Brooks’ wife Mary and Jacob Brooks’ wife Rosanna both provided testimony for Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744.

Frederick County court minutes provide some additional interesting information about Leonard Harper. On 7 December 1756, administration of his estate was given by the court to William Locks or Locke.[30] Giving bond with Locks/Locke for this administration were Benjamin Grubb and John Milbourn. At the same time, the court appointed the following appraisers (or any three of them) for Harper’s estate: John Lindsey, Benjamin Grubb, Joseph [Hill?], and John McCormick (with the surname spelled McCormack here). Note the names John Milbourn, John Lindsey, and John McCormick. As we’ve seen, John Milbourn and John Lindsey were two of those appointed to appraise the estate of Matthew Brooks in October 1754. And on the connections between John McCormick and the Lindsey and Rice families and the family of James and Mary Brooks, see above.

7. The Quaker connections: Though Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks appear not to have been Quakers, the families of all these Brooks men had ties to Quakers in Frederick County and the middle colonies. The will of Matthew’s wife Elizabeth uses Quaker terminology in stating its date: twelfth day of twelfth month, and it was witnessed by Simeon Taylor, clerk of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting. Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks’ son David daughter Mary were both Quakers.

Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester note that when Rosanna and Mary Brooks affirmed the debt owed to them for testifying on behalf of Leonard Harper in Frederick County court in 1744, both did so by solemn affirmation rather than by making an oath. Kellam and Lester take this to mean that the two women had Quaker affiliation, though neither appears in the records of the Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting.

When Jacob Brooks left Virginia for South Carolina, he settled among Quakers who had moved to South Carolina from Frederick County, Virginia, and appears in records linked to the Hollingsworth family, which arrived in Delaware as a Quaker family with members then appearing in minutes of Quaker meetings in Pennsylvania and Frederick County, Virginia. The family of James and Mary Brooks also connects to the Hollingsworths: Mary Brooks, the oldest daughter of James and Mary Brooks, married Jacob Hollingsworth whose parents Samuel Hollingsworth and Barbara Shewing were members of the Old Kennett Friends Monthly Meeting in Chester County, Pennsylvania. George Rice, who married Mary Brooks’ sister Elizabeth, had a sister Susannah Rice who also married a Hollingsworth spouse. George Rice’s mother Elizabeth Decow, belonged to a Quaker family that immigrated from Yorkshire, England, to Burlington County, New Jersey, where she married George Rice’s father Patrick Rice before the couple settled in Frederick County, Virginia.

7. Connections that may be suggested by naming patterns: Both Matthew and James Brooks named sons James and Thomas. And James named a daughter Elizabeth, the name of Matthew’s wife, while Matthew had a daughter Mary, the name of James’ wife. Admittedly, none of these names is particularly uncommon in Virginia in this period, and Matthew’s father-in-law was Thomas Warren, so that may account for his use of the given name Thomas as he named a son. But the possibility that overlap in given names in the two families may indicate some kind of connection between them should also not be entirely discounted, it seems to me.

In conclusion, one or two connections may be a coincidence. Multiple connections suggest more than coincidence. With Matthew, Jacob, and James Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, there are manifold connections, overlapping ones. These connections suggest to me shared roots, though since Matthew is recorded as illegitimate in his baptismal record and he has his mother’s Brooks surname, the Y-DNA of his descendants might well not match the Y-DNA of proven male descendants of other Brooks families.

[1] Frederick County, Virginia, Chancery Court Order Book 17 (1778-1781), p. 251.

[2] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 5, p. 158.

[3] Survey for Hugh Haynes, 22 November 1752, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed for this land was made 2 April 1760. On 1 October 1767, living in Salem, New Jersey, Hugh Haynes sold the 247 acres to Michael Headley of Frederick County, with wife Ann signing and releasing dower: Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, pp. 23-4, 27.

[4] The order given on 20 November 1749 for John Baylis to survey 400 acres for Thomas Wyatt states that Wyatt was living on the land and that it adjoined Lewis Neill: ibid., survey for Thomas Wyatt, 1749/1750, available digitally at FamilySearch. The survey by John Baylis shows the land joining Hugh Haynes, John Baylis, and Captain Neile.

[5] National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1897), p. 67, transcribing the original parish register.

[6] Ibid., p. 60. On Jacob Brooks of Frederick County, Virginia, records as the Jacob baptized in 1702 in Christ Church parish, see Ida Brooks Kellam and Memory Aldridge Lester, Brooks and Kindred Families (priv. publ., 1950), pp. 310-313.

[7] See Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Will Bk. B, p. 56; Thomas Warren made the will on 13 April 1749 and it was probated 4 December 1750. In The Rev. John Johnson and His Home: An Autobiography (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publ. Co., 1869), pp. 10-11, Susannah Brooks Johnson, a granddaughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Brooks, states, “My grandmother’s maiden name was Elizabeth Warren; my grandfather, Matthew Brooks, a native of Virginia, was born of English parentage, and lived near Richmond.”

[8] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 3, p. 45.

[9] Survey of John Baylis, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, in loose-papers files of Northern Neck surveys, available digitally at FamilySearch. No date is recorded for the survey, nor does it state the name of the surveyor.

[10] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, pp. 368-370. On Taylor as the first clerk of Hopewell, see Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia (Strausburg, Virginia: Shenandoah Publishing, 1936), pp. 181-2, noting that Simeon and his wife were issued a certificate by East Nottingham Monthly Meeting on 28th of 4th month 1738, and lived on the east side of Opequon at Yorkshireman’s Branch, now called Litler’s Run, until they obtained a certificate for removal to New Garden Monthly Meeting in North Carolina on 2nd of 4th month 1764.

[11] Survey of John Briscoe, Northern Neck Surveys 1749-1779, available digitally at FamilySearch. The deed is recorded as a note of Jacob Brooks wrote to Lord Fairfax deeding the land to Briscoe.

[12] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 4, p. 406.

[13] Ibid., Bk. 6, p. 107.

[14] Frederick County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2, p. 150.

[15] See supra, n. 10.  

[16] Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 12, p. 545.

[17] See supra, n. 5.

[18] Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Deed Bk. A, pp. 165-6.

[19] See supra, n. 7.

[20] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 196.

[21] Ibid., p. 130.

[22] William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 6: Virginia (Baltimore: Geneal. Publ. Co., 1973), p. 371, indexing Hopewell meeting minutes.

[23] Hopewell Friends, Hopewell Friends History, p. 29.

[24] Ibid., p. 30.

[25] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1, p. 221.

[26] See supra, n. 11.

[27] Charleston County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1774-9, pp. 54-5.

[28] Susan Grabek, “The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia, ‘The Patriarchs,’” at Lindsay Surname DNA Project Group 2:  The Lindseys of the Long Marsh, Virginia.

[29] See ibid.

[30] Frederick County, Virginia, Court Order 7, p. 156.

"On Nov. 24, 1989, in #MohaveCounty, #Arizona, a woman was found dead on the side of the interstate. Over 30 years later, the woman is yet to be identified. She is known only as the “#Mohave #JaneDoe.”

Her #DNA test results revealed that she was 96% #Ashkenazi #Jew. But, they told investigators little else.

Mohave is not the only instance of Ashkenazi #Jews struggling to understand their #ancestry through #genetictesting — nor is it the only time this unique #genetic makeup has interfered with what appears to be a #murder case.

But why? Why does someone’s heritage make them harder to understand biologically?

To find out, I spoke with #HannahFeuer, a #reporter at The Forward. Feuer recently covered the Mohave Jane Doe case and new efforts to find her identity once and for all in an article entitled: “Her body has been unidentified for decades. Her Ashkenazi DNA may explain why.”

https://religionunplugged.com/news/2026/5/14/why-murder-investigations-can-be-complicated-by-ashkenazi-jewish-dna

"On Nov. 24, 1989, in #MohaveCounty, #Arizona, a woman was found dead on the side of the interstate. Over 30 years later, the woman is yet to be identified. She is known only as the “#Mohave #JaneDoe.”

Her #DNA test results revealed that she was 96% #Ashkenazi #Jew. But, they told investigators little else.

Mohave is not the only instance of Ashkenazi #Jews struggling to understand their #ancestry through #genetictesting — nor is it the only time this unique #genetic makeup has interfered with what appears to be a #murder case.

But why? Why does someone’s heritage make them harder to understand biologically?

To find out, I spoke with #HannahFeuer, a #reporter at The Forward. Feuer recently covered the Mohave Jane Doe case and new efforts to find her identity once and for all in an article entitled: “Her body has been unidentified for decades. Her Ashkenazi DNA may explain why.”

https://religionunplugged.com/news/2026/5/14/why-murder-investigations-can-be-complicated-by-ashkenazi-jewish-dna

Thomas Leonard (1752-1832) and Hannah James (1752-1842): Children Robert, Thomas, John, Hezekiah, Samuel, Griffith, Colin, and Hannah

Or, Subtitled: “Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals”

In three previous postings, I discussed the life of Thomas Leonard (1752-1832), son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard. I began with a look at the documents that chronicle his early years in Maryland, where he was born in the part of Frederick County that became Washington County in 1776, and where Thomas married Hannah, daughter of Griffith James, about 1775. I then looked at Thomas’ years in Pendleton District, South Carolina, to which he, his siblings, and their widowed mother Honor moved from Maryland by early 1786. I ended with an examination of documents following Thomas’ life in Lincoln (later Marshall) County, Tennessee, from 1808 up to his death in 1832. (Please click the numeral 2 below to read the continuation of this posting.)

In this posting, I’m going to provide a brief overview of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James. My goal is to document salient facts about each of these children, e.g., dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. There’s much more information to be found about each child. The following accounts of the children of Thomas and Hannah James Leonard are not exhaustive:

1. Robert Leonard, the first child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 14 February 1777 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 4 August 1844 at Rusk in Cherokee County, Texas. On 17 March 1807 in Abbeville County, South Carolina, Robert married Rachel Dunlap. These dates of birth, marriage, and death are provided by Robert and Rachel’s son Thomas Dunlap Leonard in his record of the family of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James written in 1883. This document, entitled “Biography of the Leonards,” has been discussed in previous postings (and here) noting that its present whereabouts are not known and that it has circulated among Leonard descendants as a typescript.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard records the following about his parents Robert Leonard and Rachel Dunlap:[1]

Robert was the oldest child, born in Maryland the 14th of Feb., 1777. Married Rachel, dau of Wm. Dunlap in Abbeville District of So Carolina on 17 Mar 1807. He moved with his father to Lincoln Co Tn and settled on Cane Creek half a mile above Petersburg. Subsequently moved to middle Alabama, settled in Perry Co where he lived from 1818 to 1824, lived there until 1840, then to Texas, settled in Cherokee Co. where he died on 4 Aug. 1844 in the 67th year of his age. He was a hatter by trade, also a farmer. His life was spent in usefulness to his neighbors, his country and his family, teaching his children the importance of industry, honesty, and truthfulness. At all times with his wife taught their children the importance of the Christian religion which all had embraced before their death, but two and they embraced since the death of their parents. Robert was truly a good man, good husband, good father, good citizen; he was my father and his wife Rachel, my mother. Language will fail me in attempting to portray her excellencies. She was brought up in the faith and membership of the Presbyterian Church and strictly adhered to their discipline in the government of her family, teaching them to observe the commandments of our Saviour.

She ruled her children in love and impressed on their minds at their earliest age those principles of love to God and love of His services, and to search his words of truth for their guide through life. She became convinced of the importance of immersion as baptism, when she was about 40 years of age, when she and her husband were buried with Christ in baptism in Flint River, Madison Co. Ala. She lived to see all of her children members of the Baptist Church, but two and they followed in her footsteps after her death. She died in Cherokee Co, Tx in the year 1862 in the 62nd year of her life and was buried by the side of her husband in the town of Rusk, Cherokee Co. Tx. after having spent a long life of usefulness, to her family, neighbors, and church. Thus ended the life of a God loving woman.

A previous posting explains why I think it’s likely that, following Thomas Leonard’s marriage to Hannah James about 1775, this couple lived at Sharpsburg in Washington County, where Hannah’s father Griffith James lived. If I’m correct in deducing this, then Thomas and Hannah’s son Robert and the three (or possibly four: see the notes below on Samuel) brothers born after him in Washington County were probably all born in Sharpsburg.

A biography of Robert’s son William R. Leonard (1822-1905) in Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas states that his father Robert Leonard was a soldier of the War of 1812 and served under Andrew Jackson at the battle of Horseshoe Bend.[2] His service papers show him serving under Colonel Robert Dyer in the Cavalry and Mounted Gunmen of Tennessee Volunteers.[3]

The biography of William R. Leonard also indicates that his father Robert Leonard moved about 1824 to Madison County, Alabama, where he lived on the Flint River nine miles east of Huntsville.[4] He then moved to Texas about 1840, according to this source, settling first in Nacogdoches County and then in Cherokee County, where he died in 1844, aged 67. A certificate for a Texas headright grant that Robert Leonard received on 4 March 1844 states that he arrived in Texas on 3 April 1840.[5] As a previous posting notes, Robert’s brother Thomas moved from Limestone County, Alabama, to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in June 1839, receiving a headright grant that fell into Cherokee County at that county’s formation in July 1845. In moving to this part of Texas in 1840, Robert Leonard was following in the footsteps of his brother Thomas.

At her “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree” at Ancestry, Peggy Strickland states,[6]

According to old hand written Leonard Family history, Rachel [Dunlap]’s Father brought Rachel and her two sisters from Ireland, their mother having died in Ireland when Rachel was three years old. Her Father had previously been to America and fought in the Revolutionary War, in which he lost one leg.

The 1850 federal census for Cherokee County, Texas, on which the widowed Rachel is shown living at Rusk, reports her birthplace as Ireland.[7]  A previous posting talks briefly about a Limestone County, Alabama, court case that ensued after Robert Leonard’s brother Thomas sold his homeplace in that county to their brother John Leonard in 1839 as Thomas prepared to move to Texas. The court case, James Birdwell, assignee, vs. John Linard, revolved around a promissory note for $500 that James Birdwell, who married Thomas Leonard’s daughter Aletha, claimed Thomas assigned to him when John paid him for his land. James alleged that the promissory note was given to Rachel, wife of Robert Leonard, for safekeeping. Robert and wife Rachel moved to Texas soon after Thomas moved his family there. John Leonard died in 1846 and James, who then died in 1849, claimed that Rachel had never delivered John’s $500 promissory note to Thomas Leonard to him.

As the first-born son of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James (and their first child), I think it’s likely Robert Leonard was given the name Robert after his paternal grandfather Robert Leonard.

2. Thomas Lewis Leonard, the second child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born in 1781 in Washington County, Maryland, and died in October 1870 in Cherokee County, Texas. About 1800 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Sarah M. Lauderdale, daughter of John Lauderdale and Milbury Mauldin. Sarah’s name is consistently written in documents with the middle initial M.; I suspect her full name was Sarah Mauldin Lauderdale, and that she was named for her grandmother Sarah, wife of John Mauldin.

Thomas is my direct ancestor, and I’ve provided extensive documentation in previous postings about his life in Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee, then about his years in Limestone County, Alabama (and here), and finally about his final years in Cherokee County, Texas.

3. John Leonard, the third child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born between 1781 and 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 14 November 1846 in Limestone County, Alabama. In 1806 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth Fowler.[8]

My reason for assigning John a birthdate of 1781-4 is as follows: in his discussion of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, Thomas Dunlap Leonard indicates that John was the third child of Thomas and Hannah, born after his brother Thomas and prior to his brother Hezekiah. We know that Thomas Lewis Leonard was born in 1781, and as I’ll discuss below, the tombstone of Hezekiah Leonard shows his date of birth as 24 June 1784. So John was born between 1781 and June 1784. The 1830 and 1840 federal censuses confirm that he was born between 1780 and 1789.[9]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard states the following about John Leonard:

John Leonard married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua Fowler of So Carolina about 1806, moved to Madison Co., Ala, where he lived until 1838, when he moved to Limestone Co., Al, where he lived until death, which occurred about 1847 or 1848. Hannah, his wife, died in Madison Co. about 1828 or 1829. Their children were born near Madison Cross Roads in Madison Co. John lived through life as he had been reared up by his parents, a lover of all the ennobling virtues that constitute good child, a good husband, father and citizen. I was intimately acquainted with him, the last 20 years of his life. He was governed in all his actions through life from the noble principles of Christian spirit, truth and honesty was his motto. When I look back at the character of old acquaintances, John Leonard stands side by side with the best of citizens of old Madison Co. When I look back from my old age, my heart swells within me of love and admiration for the excellence of John Leonard. Aunt Hannah was truly his peer in all of the excellencies of wife, companion, mother and citizen. The character of her daughters prove the excellencies of the early training of the mother. Their deportment gives a better comment on the life and character of their mother than I can give.

In the War of 1812, John Leonard served in the 16th Regiment of Burrus’ Mississippi Militia.[10] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Burrus’ regiment was comprised for the most part of men living in or near Madison County, Mississippi Territory (later Alabama), which bordered on Lincoln County, Tennessee.[11] Also serving in Burrus’ militia was Robert Leonard’s first cousin Samuel Dean, son of Robert’s aunt Gwendolyn James and husband Samuel Dean, and Moses Birdwell, father of James Birdwell who married John Leonard’s niece Aletha, daughter of Thomas Lewis Leonard. Moses also had a daughter whose given name I haven’t found, who married a Lamb, and Alfred L. Lamb, a son of that couple, married John Leonard’s daughter Hannah A.E. Leonard.

John Leonard’s date of death is stated in a will book of Limestone County, Alabama, according to his descendant Jackie Leonard of Athens, Alabama.[12]Minutes of the Limestone County circuit court case James Birdwell assignee vs. George W. Fisher admr. of John Linard dec’d. state on 2 December 1846 that “the said John Linard hath departed this life intestate as we are informed” and that George W. Fisher was estate administrator.[13] Fisher was granted administration on 6 December 1846.[14]

4. Hezekiah Leonard, the fourth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 24 June 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 27 March 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. These dates of birth and death are inscribed on his tombstone in the Leonard family cemetery at the old Thomas Leonard homestead just north of Petersburg, Marshall County, Tennessee.[15]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard says this about Hezekiah:

Hezekiah, a son of Thomas and Hannah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln Tenn. about the year 1816. He was grown not married.

Hezekiah left a nuncupative will in Lincoln County dated 27 March 1817.[16] The will, which was probated 5 May 1817, states that Hezekiah was in “his last sickness” and bequeaths Hezekiah’s property to his brother Griffith. It was witnessed by his brother Robert and cousin George, son of William Leonard.

5. Samuel Leonard, the fifth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1786 in either Washington County, Maryland, or Pendleton District, South Carolina. He died about 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. I estimate Samuel’s birthdate as about 1786 because Thomas Dunlap Leonard places him between his brother Hezekiah, who was born 24 June 1784, and his brother Griffith, who was born 26 September 1787. Since his parents moved from Maryland to Pendleton District, South Carolina, late in 1785 or early in 1786, I think he may have been born in either Maryland or South Carolina.

After having noted that Hezekiah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in about 1816, Thomas Dunlap Leonard states:

Samuel at, and near the same time, he was just about grown.

I think it’s likely that Samuel is buried in the Leonard family cemetery, but I haven’t seen any transcription of a tombstone for him.

6. Griffith James Leonard, the sixth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 26 September 1787 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 1 September 1864 in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 7 April 1836 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, he married Nancy Emmett Porter, daughter of Stephen and Mary Porter.

Griffith’s dates of birth and death are recorded on his tombstone in the family cemetery on Thomas Leonard’s old homestead just north of Petersburg, Tennessee.[17] Griffith’s date of death is also stated in an affidavit given by John Cowden and the widow Nancy in Marshall County on 22 August 1868; the affidavit is found in his War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file.[18] John Cowden was the husband of Mary Hannah Leonard, daughter of Griffith and Nancy Leonard. John and his mother-in-law Nancy state that Griffith was aged 73 when he died on 1 September 1864. Their affidavit also says that he refused to vote for secession in the vote held in Tennessee on 8 June 1861 and was consistently loyal to the Union though his son Samuel was a Confederate soldier.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers a fulsome remembrance of his uncle Griffith James Leonard and Griffith’s wife Nancy:

Griffith J. Leonard remained with his parents until their death bestowing that care on them that was essential to their happiness is old age. Having by inheritance and cultivation obtained those hightoned traits of character that fitly qualified him for the practical duties of life as a good citizen, husband and father. His neighbors can all testify to his excellencies of character with pleasure. His children proved the excellencies of their parents.  Griffith Leonard was a superior order of intellect, had no opportunities of school la early life to improve his intellect. He was a self made man and had acquired a fine degree of practical and useful knowledge. A man of high toned moral principles not capable of condescending to any low degrading act under any circumstances. He was a true patriot through life, he fell from an unerring rifle shot of an Indian warrior on the furious battlefield of Talledega, Ala. in the year 1812. It pierced his neck and passed through, from which wound he recovered and lived to marry his [wife?] and bring up an excellent family. He also accumulated a good home, a good large tract of Tennessee best land for his amiable widow and children.

He leaves them as his parents left him viz, with high toned sense of moral training to qualify them for usefulness to society, themselves and their God. He died 1a the year 1864, being In the 77th year of his age. Thus ended the long and useful life of Griffith J. Leonard, leaving his amiable wife with a large family to care for at the end of a cruel war that had devastated nearly every ordinary contort of life, and in the midst of a helpless people as herself. Yet she by inheritance and education had a good stock of industry and economies to draw from. That she has brought up her excellent family is credit to herself and to her departed husband. She has demonstrated these excellent traits of character inherited from her parents end by education that so fitly qualified her for her duties as mother to her children and her labor has been crowned with success.

Nancy Porter was a daughter of Stephen and Sary Porter, born Jan. 10, 1818. They were the best of citizens, Iived up to those excellent rules of discipline that so eminently qualified them for usefulness in life to themselves, families, neighbors and their God. Stephen Porter’s excellent example will be remembered by his acquaintances with pleasure as long as their lives last. It affords me pleasure now to look back over half a century when Stephen Porter assembled his family and visiting neighbors around the family altar for prayer night and morning. His Godly influence was felt by his neighbors during life, and after death he was missed by all. He has gone to his reward of a good man. May his posterity emulate his worthy example.

Griffith’s War of 1812 pension and bounty land file contains further detailed information about his service and injuries during that war. On 1 August 1851, Griffith filed a bounty land claim in Marshall County that is preserved in this file. This document states that Griffith was aged 64 and living in Marshall County. It also notes he was a sergeant in Captain John Porter’s 1st Regiment of the Tennessee Militia under Col. J.K Wynn in the Creek War. He was drafted at Fayetteville, Tennessee, on 1 October 1813 and discharged at Fayetteville on 1 January 1814. The affidavit was signed by Griffith.

Another affidavit Griffith gave in Marshall County on 2 June 1855 is in the pension and bounty land file. This gives his age as 69 and states that he was a resident of Marshall County.  It further indicates that he was a 1st sergeant under Colonel John Porter in the 1st regiment of Col. John K. Wynn in the War with Great Britain and the Creek Indians of 1812-1815. He had made a bounty-land application for this service on 28 September 1850. Again, this document is signed Griffith Lenard.

A 4 July 1871 affidavit of Nancy Leonard in Marshall County found in the pension and bounty land file attests to her husband’s service. Nancy notes that Griffith was severely wounded on 8 November 1813 at Talladega, Alabama. She signs the affidavit Nancy E. Lenard. 

An affidavit provided by James Luna, an ensign in Griffith’s unit, on 4 September 1845 in Marshall County says that Griffith J. Leonard was a 1st sergeant in John Porter’s Company of West Tennessee Militia and served in the action against the Creeks from October 1813 to January 1814. He received a severe wound in his neck in the battle of Talladega on 9 November 1813, Luna states.

A biography of Griffith’s grandson Dr. John Norris Cowden also speaks of his grandfather Griffith J. Leonard’s War of 1812 service.[19]  Noting that John Norris Cowden was the son of Dr. John Cowden and Mary Hannah Leonard and was born in Marshall County, the biography states:

James Griffith Leonard, the father of Mrs. Cowden, was an intimate friend of General Andrew Jackson, under whom he served throughout the War of 1812, participating in the battle of Tishomingo [sic].

As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s biography of his uncle Griffith notes, Griffith was the son who remained at home with his parents Thomas and Hannah Leonard up to their deaths, and for this reason, his father willed the family homeplace and land to his son Griffith. Thomas Leonard’s will is transcribed and discussed in a previous posting noting that the will stipulates that Griffith was to care for his mother Hannah up to her death. Griffith and wife Nancy continued living in the old Leonard house up to their deaths, with Griffith leaving the homeplace to his son William Stephen (Bud) Leonard.

In an article published in the Fayetteville Observer in August 1908, John Bright speaks of a number of early settlers of Lincoln County, Tennessee, including Griffith James Leonard.[20] Bright notes that Griffith, whose wife was Nancy Porter, came to Lincoln County at an early date, settling north of Petersburg and leaving “a character of good citizenship, worthy of imitation by his posterity.” 

Griffith James Leonard was named for his maternal grandfather Griffith James, who moved from Washington County, Maryland, to Pendleton District, South Carolina, following his children who had settled there in the 1780s. Photos of Griffith James Leonard, his wife Nancy, and their son Samuel with Samuel’s family are found at the Ancestry tree of Dawn Leonard, “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree.”[21] The photo of Griffith is found at the head of this posting.

7. Colin Campbell Leonard, the seventh child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1791 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died between 16 June 1856 and 29 November 1859 in Jackson County, Arkansas. About 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, Colin married Jean Williams. As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s brief biography of his uncle Colin states, Colin’s wife Jean died and he then married a second time. Thomas D. Leonard appears not to have known the name of Colin’s second wife.

Thomas D. Leonard states the following about Colin Campbell Leonard:

Collin Campbell Leonard son of Thos, and Hannah Leonard was born in Maryland, brought up in South Carolina, married Miss Jean Williams of Tennessee about the year 1817. I have no knowledge of the Williams family. They had only two children, a daughter and a son. I am under the impression both children are dead. Aunt Jean died and Uncle Collin moved from Lincoln County to McNairy County West Tenn. He married the second time, had seven children by her. I met with two sons on the battle field of Perryville, Ky. I have no further knowledge of his family.

Uncle Collin was dissipated (drank) in early life. He was a good soldier in the Indian war of 1812 to 14. He was a true friend to friends and bitter enemy to his enemies. He possessed noble generous principles. His latter life was a steady habits. He became a member of the Methodist church and a preacher before death. His sons informed us that their father was dead. Nothing further is known of his family.

The 1850 federal census shows Colin with a woman in his household whose name is given by the census taker as Mary A.L. (or S.?) Collins, aged 28, born in Virginia.[22] The census lists Colin as a farmer aged 59 who was born in Tennessee. Also in the household are children Colin C., 12, Thomas C., 8, William R., 6, and Levi W., aged 1, all born in Tennessee.

It appears to me that Mary is Colin’s wife, and that the census taker has inadvertently assigned her the surname Collins because her husband is named Colin C. Leonard. At some point after this census enumeration was made, the family moved to Jackson County, Arkansas, where on 20 June 1855, a circuit course case of debt, Atrides Crow v. Collin C. Leonard, was filed.[23] On 16 June 1856, Colin’s property was attached by the sheriff due to a judgment in this case.[24]

On 29 November 1859, Mary Leonard married Cyrus Black in Jackson County, Arkansas.[25] The marriage record gives Mary’s age as 37, indicating an 1822 birth year. This matches the birth year of the Mary who is found in Colin Campbell’s household on the 1850 federal census and who appears to be mother of his sons Colin C., Thomas C., William R., and Levi W.

The federal census shows Cyrus and Mary Black living at Cache in Jackson County, Jacksonport post office.[26] Mary is aged 37 and born in Virginia — a match to the Mary found in Colin C. Leonard’s household in 1850.  Also in the household are Thomas, William, and Levi from Colin’s household on the 1850 census, all now with the surname Black, and daughters Nancy and Alfy Black, aged 8 and 4, who are likely also children of Colin C. Leonard. Nancy was born in Tennessee and Alfy (who is likely Alpha) in Arkansas. 

Colin Campbell Leonard was named for his uncle Colin Campbell, who married Mary Ann Leonard, sister of Thomas Leonard. For a discussion of documents showing Colin Campbell Leonard receiving permission to keep an ordinary at his father’s house in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and being charged in that county with assault and battery, see this previous posting.

8. Hannah Leonard, the eighth child and only daughter of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 10 January 1795 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 11 December 1886 at Petersburg in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, she married William Depriest Moore, son of David Dower Moore and Jane Depriest.

These dates were inscribed on Hannah’s tombstone in the Moore family cemetery outside Petersburg.[27] The stone is now broken into pieces, though William D. Moore’s stone remains intact and legible.

The War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file of William Depriest Moore and wife Hannah contains a 23 May 1878 document stating that Hannah was aged 82, née Leonard, living near Petersburg, and had married William D. Moore on 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee.[28] William, who was a Virginia native, served during this war as a private in Captain David Elliott’s Company, Kentucky Militia.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers an extensive reminiscence of his aunt Hannah and her husband William D. Moore:

Hannah Leonard married William D. Moore of Kentucky in the year 1827. He was a house painter and cabinet workman, equal to any of his day. He was a man of superior genius of mind, his natural endowments were above the average. He cultivated it to a general usefulness in practical science. He was a good farmer, fine judge of stock, which he had a fine taste for and cultivated successfully. He was truthful, honest, and reliable in every sense of the term. He accumulated a good living, raised a family of six children, viz Angeline, Thomas D., Alpha, Alitha, William C., Margaret, and Amanda. He died in November in 1855, leaving Hannah with a competency and with her most amiable of children to take care of her in old age, which duty they here performed, to credit to themselves and satisfaction to their aged mother, who still survives and is now 89 years of age, now living with her son-in-law and daughter, Jo. J. S. and Angelina Gill.

Hannah was the only daughter of Thomas and Hannah Leonard. Language fails me to portray the excellencies of this good woman neither can her neighbors or children do her justice. She has lived for seventy five years near where she now Ilves. Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals.  Right around Petersburg and cane Creek all of her age have gone across the river. She is left as a lone tree of the forest but must soon fall, and go to join her loved ones that have gone before and must follow after. She has an Inheritance awaiting her that is far better than anything she has ever realised on earth. I rejoice to know that kindred blood course my veins, that I can say she is my aunt, my father’s sister.  I rejoice to know she has left such a noble posterity that acted well their parts in life. I rejoice to know that I as their biographers of William D. and Hannah Moore gives me such pleasure to speak of their merits without a stain on their character. I rejoice to know that the hand and heart of their daughter[s] have been sought by the noblest sons of Tenn., also that their sons sought and obtained their equals in the daughters of Tennessee.

A portrait-photograph of Hannah Leonard and William Depriest Moore appears in a number of published sources and has recently been published online as their old Marshall County homeplace and farm have gone on the market for sale.[29] The portrait is featured along with photos of the farm and the Moore house in Amy Edmiston’s Pretty Old Places blog.[30]

[1] Thomas Dunlap Leonard, “Biography of the Leonards” (1883 manuscript now circulated as typescript; present whereabouts are not known). The 14 February 1777 date of birth is also stated in a lineage provided by Sarah Johnson Berliner to DAR: See NSDAR Lineage Book, vol. 93 (1912) p. 83; and Mary Smith Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas (New Orleans, 1979; repr. Greenville, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1994), apparently citing records filed by U.S. Daughters of 1812 Descendants.

[2] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas (Chicago: Lewis, 1893), pp. 721-3. This biography gives William’s middle name as Rinualdi. The “Anderson-Monroe Family Tree” at Ancestry maintained by weblady173 has a digital image of a page from a bible that appears to have belonged to one of William R. Leonard’s children, giving his middle name as Roden. This Ancestry tree also has a copy of an undated autobiography written by William R. Leonard near the end of his life, which appears not to have been finished and was transcribed by one of his children.

[3] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815 RG 94, file of Robert Lenard, available digitally at Fold3. Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas, states that Robert served in Captain Edwin S. Moore’s Company of Tennessee Volunteers.

[4] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas, pp. 721-3.

[5] Nacogdoches District Court Returns, files 54 and 58, available digitally at the website of Texas General Land Office.

[6] PeggyStrickland55, “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree,” Ancestry.

[7] 1850 federal census, Cherokee County, Texas, town of Rusk, p. 61 (dwelling/family 412, 31 October).

[8] The marriage is indexed in Ancestry’s database entitled South Carolina Marriage Index, 1641-1965, compiled by Hunting For Bears (2005). A specific date of marriage is not given in this database; this entry appears to be citing Georgia Genealogical Magazine, no. 60-61 (spring-summer 1976). Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s “Biography of the Leonards” also states that John Leonard married Hannah Fowler “about 1806.”

[9] 1830 federal census, Madison County, Alabama, p. 72A, showing John aged 40-49 (the surname is Linard here); and 1840 federal census, Limestone County, Alabama, p. 151A, showing John aged 50-59.

[10] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815, RG 94, file of John Lenard, available digitally at Fold3.

[11] See “16th Regiment, Mississippi Militia, War of 1812,” at WikiTree.

[12] Jackie Leonard is citing Limestone County, Alabama, Will Bk. 7, p. 333, which states that John Leonard was “dec’d. 14 Nov. 1846.” Because this will book is under lock and key in the digital files available at the FamilySearch site, I haven’t been able to access the original and obtain further information about this document.

[13] Limestone County, Alabama, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. 1847-1857, p. 136.

[14] Limestone County, Alabama, County Court Record Bk. 1830-1849, p. 422 mistakenly writing the year as 1847 and not as 1846.

[15] See Find a Grave memorial page of Hezekiah Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Donna B., maintained by Prairie Mary, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[16] Lincoln County, Tennessee, Will Bk. 1, p. 156-7. See also Frances T. Ingmire, Lincoln County, Tennessee, Wills, Inventories, and Miscellaneous, March 1809 – April 1824 (St. Louis, 1984), p. 8; and Helen C. and Timothy R. Marsh, Wills and Inventories of Lincoln County, Tennessee (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1989), p. 8.

[17] See Find a Grave memorial page of Griffith J. Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Louise Jenkins, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[18] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of Griffith J. Lenard, WC 15252, widow Nancy E., WO 25978, available digitally at Fold3. Nancy’s widow’s brief has a cover page stating that her maiden name was Nancy E. Porter and that she received certificate 15252 and bounty land warrants 56760-40-50 and 79828-12055. This cover pages also says that Griffith J. Leonard and Nancy Porter married in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on 7 April 1836, and that Nancy died 18 April 1910 at Petersburg, Tennessee.

[19] John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, Tennessee, the Volunteer State, 1769-1923, vol. 3 (Chicago: S.S. Clarke, 1923), pp. 238-241. See also this previous posting about Dr. John Norris Cowden.

[20] Fayetteville Observer (27 August 1908).

[21] Ancestry tree “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree, maintained by dawnleonard818. Photo of Griffith, of wife Nancy, and of son Samuel James Leonard with his family.

[22] 1850 federal census, Rutherford County, Tennessee, Gambrill district, p. 184 (dwelling/family 483, 30 September).

[23] Jackson County, Arkansas, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. B, pp. 544-5, 561.

[24] Jackson County, Arkansas, Deed Bk. G, pp. 32-5.

[25] Jackson County, Arkansas, Marriage Bk. I.

[26] 1850 federal census, Jackson County, Arkansas, Cache, Jacksonport post office, p. 610B (dwelling/family 1069; 7 August). Cyrus Black appears to have died by 17 December 1866, when Mary E.L. Black married Ephraim L. Hughey, a South Carolinian who came to Arkansas from Fayette County, Alabama, in Jackson County. Ephraim died in Jackson County on 4 May 1874 and the 1880 federal census for Jackson County shows Mary as the widow Hughey with her son Levi W. Leonard (this is his surname now, not Black) living next to her with his wife Mary Catherine Narrimore and their children.

[27] See Helen C. Marsh, Timothy R. Marsh, and Ralph D. Whitsell, Cemetery Records of Marshall County, Tennessee (Shelbyville, Tennessee: Marsh Historical Publishing, 1981), p. 253. The 10 January 1795 birthdate for Hannah also appears in Jane Wallace Alford, Revolutionary War Patriots of Marshall County, Tennessee (Lewisburg, Tennessee: Webb, 1976); in Gail Gill Sanders, “Joseph Jonathan S. and Angelina (Moore) Gill,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln Co. Heritage Committee (Waynesville, NC: Walsworth, 2005), p. 321; and in Adelaide Moore Moss, “William Depriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517. This birthdate for Hannah Leonard is also stated in DAR lineage reports submitted by Nancy Alford of the Robert Lewis chapter of Tennessee (DAR no. 537116) and of Mary Aletha Hathaway Dorsey of the Chief John Ross chapter (DAR no. 537605), both entering DAR as descendants of David Moore, father of William Depriest Moore.

[28] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of William D. Moore, , WC pension 17127 and WO pension 31237, available digitally at Fold3.

[29] See J. Lester Wolfe, “Thomas Leonard,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln County Heritage Committee (Waynesville, North Carolina: County Heritage, 2005), p. 414; and Adelaide Moore Moss, “William DePriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517, noting that Moss notes that William DePriest Moore and Hannah Leonard belonged to Union Grove Presbyterian church in Marshall County.

[30] Amy Edmiston, “The Moore Homestead,” Pretty Old Places.

Thomas Leonard (1752-1832) and Hannah James (1752-1842): Children Robert, Thomas, John, Hezekiah, Samuel, Griffith, Colin, and Hannah

Or, Subtitled: “Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals”

In three previous postings, I discussed the life of Thomas Leonard (1752-1832), son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard. I began with a look at the documents that chronicle his early years in Maryland, where he was born in the part of Frederick County that became Washington County in 1776, and where Thomas married Hannah, daughter of Griffith James, about 1775. I then looked at Thomas’ years in Pendleton District, South Carolina, to which he, his siblings, and their widowed mother Honor moved from Maryland by early 1786. I ended with an examination of documents following Thomas’ life in Lincoln (later Marshall) County, Tennessee, from 1808 up to his death in 1832. (Please click the numeral 2 below to read the continuation of this posting.)

In this posting, I’m going to provide a brief overview of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James. My goal is to document salient facts about each of these children, e.g., dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. There’s much more information to be found about each child. The following accounts of the children of Thomas and Hannah James Leonard are not exhaustive:

1. Robert Leonard, the first child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 14 February 1777 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 4 August 1844 at Rusk in Cherokee County, Texas. On 17 March 1807 in Abbeville County, South Carolina, Robert married Rachel Dunlap. These dates of birth, marriage, and death are provided by Robert and Rachel’s son Thomas Dunlap Leonard in his record of the family of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James written in 1883. This document, entitled “Biography of the Leonards,” has been discussed in previous postings (and here) noting that its present whereabouts are not known and that it has circulated among Leonard descendants as a typescript.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard records the following about his parents Robert Leonard and Rachel Dunlap:[1]

Robert was the oldest child, born in Maryland the 14th of Feb., 1777. Married Rachel, dau of Wm. Dunlap in Abbeville District of So Carolina on 17 Mar 1807. He moved with his father to Lincoln Co Tn and settled on Cane Creek half a mile above Petersburg. Subsequently moved to middle Alabama, settled in Perry Co where he lived from 1818 to 1824, lived there until 1840, then to Texas, settled in Cherokee Co. where he died on 4 Aug. 1844 in the 67th year of his age. He was a hatter by trade, also a farmer. His life was spent in usefulness to his neighbors, his country and his family, teaching his children the importance of industry, honesty, and truthfulness. At all times with his wife taught their children the importance of the Christian religion which all had embraced before their death, but two and they embraced since the death of their parents. Robert was truly a good man, good husband, good father, good citizen; he was my father and his wife Rachel, my mother. Language will fail me in attempting to portray her excellencies. She was brought up in the faith and membership of the Presbyterian Church and strictly adhered to their discipline in the government of her family, teaching them to observe the commandments of our Saviour.

She ruled her children in love and impressed on their minds at their earliest age those principles of love to God and love of His services, and to search his words of truth for their guide through life. She became convinced of the importance of immersion as baptism, when she was about 40 years of age, when she and her husband were buried with Christ in baptism in Flint River, Madison Co. Ala. She lived to see all of her children members of the Baptist Church, but two and they followed in her footsteps after her death. She died in Cherokee Co, Tx in the year 1862 in the 62nd year of her life and was buried by the side of her husband in the town of Rusk, Cherokee Co. Tx. after having spent a long life of usefulness, to her family, neighbors, and church. Thus ended the life of a God loving woman.

A previous posting explains why I think it’s likely that, following Thomas Leonard’s marriage to Hannah James about 1775, this couple lived at Sharpsburg in Washington County, where Hannah’s father Griffith James lived. If I’m correct in deducing this, then Thomas and Hannah’s son Robert and the three (or possibly four: see the notes below on Samuel) brothers born after him in Washington County were probably all born in Sharpsburg.

A biography of Robert’s son William R. Leonard (1822-1905) in Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas states that his father Robert Leonard was a soldier of the War of 1812 and served under Andrew Jackson at the battle of Horseshoe Bend.[2] His service papers show him serving under Colonel Robert Dyer in the Cavalry and Mounted Gunmen of Tennessee Volunteers.[3]

The biography of William R. Leonard also indicates that his father Robert Leonard moved about 1824 to Madison County, Alabama, where he lived on the Flint River nine miles east of Huntsville.[4] He then moved to Texas about 1840, according to this source, settling first in Nacogdoches County and then in Cherokee County, where he died in 1844, aged 67. A certificate for a Texas headright grant that Robert Leonard received on 4 March 1844 states that he arrived in Texas on 3 April 1840.[5] As a previous posting notes, Robert’s brother Thomas moved from Limestone County, Alabama, to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in June 1839, receiving a headright grant that fell into Cherokee County at that county’s formation in July 1845. In moving to this part of Texas in 1840, Robert Leonard was following in the footsteps of his brother Thomas.

At her “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree” at Ancestry, Peggy Strickland states,[6]

According to old hand written Leonard Family history, Rachel [Dunlap]’s Father brought Rachel and her two sisters from Ireland, their mother having died in Ireland when Rachel was three years old. Her Father had previously been to America and fought in the Revolutionary War, in which he lost one leg.

The 1850 federal census for Cherokee County, Texas, on which the widowed Rachel is shown living at Rusk, reports her birthplace as Ireland.[7]  A previous posting talks briefly about a Limestone County, Alabama, court case that ensued after Robert Leonard’s brother Thomas sold his homeplace in that county to their brother John Leonard in 1839 as Thomas prepared to move to Texas. The court case, James Birdwell, assignee, vs. John Linard, revolved around a promissory note for $500 that James Birdwell, who married Thomas Leonard’s daughter Aletha, claimed Thomas assigned to him when John paid him for his land. James alleged that the promissory note was given to Rachel, wife of Robert Leonard, for safekeeping. Robert and wife Rachel moved to Texas soon after Thomas moved his family there. John Leonard died in 1846 and James, who then died in 1849, claimed that Rachel had never delivered John’s $500 promissory note to Thomas Leonard to him.

As the first-born son of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James (and their first child), I think it’s likely Robert Leonard was given the name Robert after his paternal grandfather Robert Leonard.

2. Thomas Lewis Leonard, the second child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born in 1781 in Washington County, Maryland, and died in October 1870 in Cherokee County, Texas. About 1800 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Sarah M. Lauderdale, daughter of John Lauderdale and Milbury Mauldin. Sarah’s name is consistently written in documents with the middle initial M.; I suspect her full name was Sarah Mauldin Lauderdale, and that she was named for her grandmother Sarah, wife of John Mauldin.

Thomas is my direct ancestor, and I’ve provided extensive documentation in previous postings about his life in Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee, then about his years in Limestone County, Alabama (and here), and finally about his final years in Cherokee County, Texas.

3. John Leonard, the third child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born between 1781 and 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 14 November 1846 in Limestone County, Alabama. In 1806 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth Fowler.[8]

My reason for assigning John a birthdate of 1781-4 is as follows: in his discussion of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, Thomas Dunlap Leonard indicates that John was the third child of Thomas and Hannah, born after his brother Thomas and prior to his brother Hezekiah. We know that Thomas Lewis Leonard was born in 1781, and as I’ll discuss below, the tombstone of Hezekiah Leonard shows his date of birth as 24 June 1784. So John was born between 1781 and June 1784. The 1830 and 1840 federal censuses confirm that he was born between 1780 and 1789.[9]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard states the following about John Leonard:

John Leonard married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua Fowler of So Carolina about 1806, moved to Madison Co., Ala, where he lived until 1838, when he moved to Limestone Co., Al, where he lived until death, which occurred about 1847 or 1848. Hannah, his wife, died in Madison Co. about 1828 or 1829. Their children were born near Madison Cross Roads in Madison Co. John lived through life as he had been reared up by his parents, a lover of all the ennobling virtues that constitute good child, a good husband, father and citizen. I was intimately acquainted with him, the last 20 years of his life. He was governed in all his actions through life from the noble principles of Christian spirit, truth and honesty was his motto. When I look back at the character of old acquaintances, John Leonard stands side by side with the best of citizens of old Madison Co. When I look back from my old age, my heart swells within me of love and admiration for the excellence of John Leonard. Aunt Hannah was truly his peer in all of the excellencies of wife, companion, mother and citizen. The character of her daughters prove the excellencies of the early training of the mother. Their deportment gives a better comment on the life and character of their mother than I can give.

In the War of 1812, John Leonard served in the 16th Regiment of Burrus’ Mississippi Militia.[10] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Burrus’ regiment was comprised for the most part of men living in or near Madison County, Mississippi Territory (later Alabama), which bordered on Lincoln County, Tennessee.[11] Also serving in Burrus’ militia was Robert Leonard’s first cousin Samuel Dean, son of Robert’s aunt Gwendolyn James and husband Samuel Dean, and Moses Birdwell, father of James Birdwell who married John Leonard’s niece Aletha, daughter of Thomas Lewis Leonard. Moses also had a daughter whose given name I haven’t found, who married a Lamb, and Alfred L. Lamb, a son of that couple, married John Leonard’s daughter Hannah A.E. Leonard.

John Leonard’s date of death is stated in a will book of Limestone County, Alabama, according to his descendant Jackie Leonard of Athens, Alabama.[12]Minutes of the Limestone County circuit court case James Birdwell assignee vs. George W. Fisher admr. of John Linard dec’d. state on 2 December 1846 that “the said John Linard hath departed this life intestate as we are informed” and that George W. Fisher was estate administrator.[13] Fisher was granted administration on 6 December 1846.[14]

4. Hezekiah Leonard, the fourth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 24 June 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 27 March 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. These dates of birth and death are inscribed on his tombstone in the Leonard family cemetery at the old Thomas Leonard homestead just north of Petersburg, Marshall County, Tennessee.[15]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard says this about Hezekiah:

Hezekiah, a son of Thomas and Hannah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln Tenn. about the year 1816. He was grown not married.

Hezekiah left a nuncupative will in Lincoln County dated 27 March 1817.[16] The will, which was probated 5 May 1817, states that Hezekiah was in “his last sickness” and bequeaths Hezekiah’s property to his brother Griffith. It was witnessed by his brother Robert and cousin George, son of William Leonard.

5. Samuel Leonard, the fifth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1786 in either Washington County, Maryland, or Pendleton District, South Carolina. He died about 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. I estimate Samuel’s birthdate as about 1786 because Thomas Dunlap Leonard places him between his brother Hezekiah, who was born 24 June 1784, and his brother Griffith, who was born 26 September 1787. Since his parents moved from Maryland to Pendleton District, South Carolina, late in 1785 or early in 1786, I think he may have been born in either Maryland or South Carolina.

After having noted that Hezekiah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in about 1816, Thomas Dunlap Leonard states:

Samuel at, and near the same time, he was just about grown.

I think it’s likely that Samuel is buried in the Leonard family cemetery, but I haven’t seen any transcription of a tombstone for him.

6. Griffith James Leonard, the sixth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 26 September 1787 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 1 September 1864 in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 7 April 1836 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, he married Nancy Emmett Porter, daughter of Stephen and Mary Porter.

Griffith’s dates of birth and death are recorded on his tombstone in the family cemetery on Thomas Leonard’s old homestead just north of Petersburg, Tennessee.[17] Griffith’s date of death is also stated in an affidavit given by John Cowden and the widow Nancy in Marshall County on 22 August 1868; the affidavit is found in his War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file.[18] John Cowden was the husband of Mary Hannah Leonard, daughter of Griffith and Nancy Leonard. John and his mother-in-law Nancy state that Griffith was aged 73 when he died on 1 September 1864. Their affidavit also says that he refused to vote for secession in the vote held in Tennessee on 8 June 1861 and was consistently loyal to the Union though his son Samuel was a Confederate soldier.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers a fulsome remembrance of his uncle Griffith James Leonard and Griffith’s wife Nancy:

Griffith J. Leonard remained with his parents until their death bestowing that care on them that was essential to their happiness is old age. Having by inheritance and cultivation obtained those hightoned traits of character that fitly qualified him for the practical duties of life as a good citizen, husband and father. His neighbors can all testify to his excellencies of character with pleasure. His children proved the excellencies of their parents.  Griffith Leonard was a superior order of intellect, had no opportunities of school la early life to improve his intellect. He was a self made man and had acquired a fine degree of practical and useful knowledge. A man of high toned moral principles not capable of condescending to any low degrading act under any circumstances. He was a true patriot through life, he fell from an unerring rifle shot of an Indian warrior on the furious battlefield of Talledega, Ala. in the year 1812. It pierced his neck and passed through, from which wound he recovered and lived to marry his [wife?] and bring up an excellent family. He also accumulated a good home, a good large tract of Tennessee best land for his amiable widow and children.

He leaves them as his parents left him viz, with high toned sense of moral training to qualify them for usefulness to society, themselves and their God. He died 1a the year 1864, being In the 77th year of his age. Thus ended the long and useful life of Griffith J. Leonard, leaving his amiable wife with a large family to care for at the end of a cruel war that had devastated nearly every ordinary contort of life, and in the midst of a helpless people as herself. Yet she by inheritance and education had a good stock of industry and economies to draw from. That she has brought up her excellent family is credit to herself and to her departed husband. She has demonstrated these excellent traits of character inherited from her parents end by education that so fitly qualified her for her duties as mother to her children and her labor has been crowned with success.

Nancy Porter was a daughter of Stephen and Sary Porter, born Jan. 10, 1818. They were the best of citizens, Iived up to those excellent rules of discipline that so eminently qualified them for usefulness in life to themselves, families, neighbors and their God. Stephen Porter’s excellent example will be remembered by his acquaintances with pleasure as long as their lives last. It affords me pleasure now to look back over half a century when Stephen Porter assembled his family and visiting neighbors around the family altar for prayer night and morning. His Godly influence was felt by his neighbors during life, and after death he was missed by all. He has gone to his reward of a good man. May his posterity emulate his worthy example.

Griffith’s War of 1812 pension and bounty land file contains further detailed information about his service and injuries during that war. On 1 August 1851, Griffith filed a bounty land claim in Marshall County that is preserved in this file. This document states that Griffith was aged 64 and living in Marshall County. It also notes he was a sergeant in Captain John Porter’s 1st Regiment of the Tennessee Militia under Col. J.K Wynn in the Creek War. He was drafted at Fayetteville, Tennessee, on 1 October 1813 and discharged at Fayetteville on 1 January 1814. The affidavit was signed by Griffith.

Another affidavit Griffith gave in Marshall County on 2 June 1855 is in the pension and bounty land file. This gives his age as 69 and states that he was a resident of Marshall County.  It further indicates that he was a 1st sergeant under Colonel John Porter in the 1st regiment of Col. John K. Wynn in the War with Great Britain and the Creek Indians of 1812-1815. He had made a bounty-land application for this service on 28 September 1850. Again, this document is signed Griffith Lenard.

A 4 July 1871 affidavit of Nancy Leonard in Marshall County found in the pension and bounty land file attests to her husband’s service. Nancy notes that Griffith was severely wounded on 8 November 1813 at Talladega, Alabama. She signs the affidavit Nancy E. Lenard. 

An affidavit provided by James Luna, an ensign in Griffith’s unit, on 4 September 1845 in Marshall County says that Griffith J. Leonard was a 1st sergeant in John Porter’s Company of West Tennessee Militia and served in the action against the Creeks from October 1813 to January 1814. He received a severe wound in his neck in the battle of Talladega on 9 November 1813, Luna states.

A biography of Griffith’s grandson Dr. John Norris Cowden also speaks of his grandfather Griffith J. Leonard’s War of 1812 service.[19]  Noting that John Norris Cowden was the son of Dr. John Cowden and Mary Hannah Leonard and was born in Marshall County, the biography states:

James Griffith Leonard, the father of Mrs. Cowden, was an intimate friend of General Andrew Jackson, under whom he served throughout the War of 1812, participating in the battle of Tishomingo [sic].

As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s biography of his uncle Griffith notes, Griffith was the son who remained at home with his parents Thomas and Hannah Leonard up to their deaths, and for this reason, his father willed the family homeplace and land to his son Griffith. Thomas Leonard’s will is transcribed and discussed in a previous posting noting that the will stipulates that Griffith was to care for his mother Hannah up to her death. Griffith and wife Nancy continued living in the old Leonard house up to their deaths, with Griffith leaving the homeplace to his son William Stephen (Bud) Leonard.

In an article published in the Fayetteville Observer in August 1908, John Bright speaks of a number of early settlers of Lincoln County, Tennessee, including Griffith James Leonard.[20] Bright notes that Griffith, whose wife was Nancy Porter, came to Lincoln County at an early date, settling north of Petersburg and leaving “a character of good citizenship, worthy of imitation by his posterity.” 

Griffith James Leonard was named for his maternal grandfather Griffith James, who moved from Washington County, Maryland, to Pendleton District, South Carolina, following his children who had settled there in the 1780s. Photos of Griffith James Leonard, his wife Nancy, and their son Samuel with Samuel’s family are found at the Ancestry tree of Dawn Leonard, “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree.”[21] The photo of Griffith is found at the head of this posting.

7. Colin Campbell Leonard, the seventh child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1791 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died between 16 June 1856 and 29 November 1859 in Jackson County, Arkansas. About 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, Colin married Jean Williams. As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s brief biography of his uncle Colin states, Colin’s wife Jean died and he then married a second time. Thomas D. Leonard appears not to have known the name of Colin’s second wife.

Thomas D. Leonard states the following about Colin Campbell Leonard:

Collin Campbell Leonard son of Thos, and Hannah Leonard was born in Maryland, brought up in South Carolina, married Miss Jean Williams of Tennessee about the year 1817. I have no knowledge of the Williams family. They had only two children, a daughter and a son. I am under the impression both children are dead. Aunt Jean died and Uncle Collin moved from Lincoln County to McNairy County West Tenn. He married the second time, had seven children by her. I met with two sons on the battle field of Perryville, Ky. I have no further knowledge of his family.

Uncle Collin was dissipated (drank) in early life. He was a good soldier in the Indian war of 1812 to 14. He was a true friend to friends and bitter enemy to his enemies. He possessed noble generous principles. His latter life was a steady habits. He became a member of the Methodist church and a preacher before death. His sons informed us that their father was dead. Nothing further is known of his family.

The 1850 federal census shows Colin with a woman in his household whose name is given by the census taker as Mary A.L. (or S.?) Collins, aged 28, born in Virginia.[22] The census lists Colin as a farmer aged 59 who was born in Tennessee. Also in the household are children Colin C., 12, Thomas C., 8, William R., 6, and Levi W., aged 1, all born in Tennessee.

It appears to me that Mary is Colin’s wife, and that the census taker has inadvertently assigned her the surname Collins because her husband is named Colin C. Leonard. At some point after this census enumeration was made, the family moved to Jackson County, Arkansas, where on 20 June 1855, a circuit course case of debt, Atrides Crow v. Collin C. Leonard, was filed.[23] On 16 June 1856, Colin’s property was attached by the sheriff due to a judgment in this case.[24]

On 29 November 1859, Mary Leonard married Cyrus Black in Jackson County, Arkansas.[25] The marriage record gives Mary’s age as 37, indicating an 1822 birth year. This matches the birth year of the Mary who is found in Colin Campbell’s household on the 1850 federal census and who appears to be mother of his sons Colin C., Thomas C., William R., and Levi W.

The federal census shows Cyrus and Mary Black living at Cache in Jackson County, Jacksonport post office.[26] Mary is aged 37 and born in Virginia — a match to the Mary found in Colin C. Leonard’s household in 1850.  Also in the household are Thomas, William, and Levi from Colin’s household on the 1850 census, all now with the surname Black, and daughters Nancy and Alfy Black, aged 8 and 4, who are likely also children of Colin C. Leonard. Nancy was born in Tennessee and Alfy (who is likely Alpha) in Arkansas. 

Colin Campbell Leonard was named for his uncle Colin Campbell, who married Mary Ann Leonard, sister of Thomas Leonard. For a discussion of documents showing Colin Campbell Leonard receiving permission to keep an ordinary at his father’s house in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and being charged in that county with assault and battery, see this previous posting.

8. Hannah Leonard, the eighth child and only daughter of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 10 January 1795 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 11 December 1886 at Petersburg in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, she married William Depriest Moore, son of David Dower Moore and Jane Depriest.

These dates were inscribed on Hannah’s tombstone in the Moore family cemetery outside Petersburg.[27] The stone is now broken into pieces, though William D. Moore’s stone remains intact and legible.

The War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file of William Depriest Moore and wife Hannah contains a 23 May 1878 document stating that Hannah was aged 82, née Leonard, living near Petersburg, and had married William D. Moore on 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee.[28] William, who was a Virginia native, served during this war as a private in Captain David Elliott’s Company, Kentucky Militia.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers an extensive reminiscence of his aunt Hannah and her husband William D. Moore:

Hannah Leonard married William D. Moore of Kentucky in the year 1827. He was a house painter and cabinet workman, equal to any of his day. He was a man of superior genius of mind, his natural endowments were above the average. He cultivated it to a general usefulness in practical science. He was a good farmer, fine judge of stock, which he had a fine taste for and cultivated successfully. He was truthful, honest, and reliable in every sense of the term. He accumulated a good living, raised a family of six children, viz Angeline, Thomas D., Alpha, Alitha, William C., Margaret, and Amanda. He died in November in 1855, leaving Hannah with a competency and with her most amiable of children to take care of her in old age, which duty they here performed, to credit to themselves and satisfaction to their aged mother, who still survives and is now 89 years of age, now living with her son-in-law and daughter, Jo. J. S. and Angelina Gill.

Hannah was the only daughter of Thomas and Hannah Leonard. Language fails me to portray the excellencies of this good woman neither can her neighbors or children do her justice. She has lived for seventy five years near where she now Ilves. Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals.  Right around Petersburg and cane Creek all of her age have gone across the river. She is left as a lone tree of the forest but must soon fall, and go to join her loved ones that have gone before and must follow after. She has an Inheritance awaiting her that is far better than anything she has ever realised on earth. I rejoice to know that kindred blood course my veins, that I can say she is my aunt, my father’s sister.  I rejoice to know she has left such a noble posterity that acted well their parts in life. I rejoice to know that I as their biographers of William D. and Hannah Moore gives me such pleasure to speak of their merits without a stain on their character. I rejoice to know that the hand and heart of their daughter[s] have been sought by the noblest sons of Tenn., also that their sons sought and obtained their equals in the daughters of Tennessee.

A portrait-photograph of Hannah Leonard and William Depriest Moore appears in a number of published sources and has recently been published online as their old Marshall County homeplace and farm have gone on the market for sale.[29] The portrait is featured along with photos of the farm and the Moore house in Amy Edmiston’s Pretty Old Places blog.[30]

[1] Thomas Dunlap Leonard, “Biography of the Leonards” (1883 manuscript now circulated as typescript; present whereabouts are not known). The 14 February 1777 date of birth is also stated in a lineage provided by Sarah Johnson Berliner to DAR: See NSDAR Lineage Book, vol. 93 (1912) p. 83; and Mary Smith Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas (New Orleans, 1979; repr. Greenville, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1994), apparently citing records filed by U.S. Daughters of 1812 Descendants.

[2] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas (Chicago: Lewis, 1893), pp. 721-3. This biography gives William’s middle name as Rinualdi. The “Anderson-Monroe Family Tree” at Ancestry maintained by weblady173 has a digital image of a page from a bible that appears to have belonged to one of William R. Leonard’s children, giving his middle name as Roden. This Ancestry tree also has a copy of an undated autobiography written by William R. Leonard near the end of his life, which appears not to have been finished and was transcribed by one of his children.

[3] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815 RG 94, file of Robert Lenard, available digitally at Fold3. Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas, states that Robert served in Captain Edwin S. Moore’s Company of Tennessee Volunteers.

[4] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas, pp. 721-3.

[5] Nacogdoches District Court Returns, files 54 and 58, available digitally at the website of Texas General Land Office.

[6] PeggyStrickland55, “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree,” Ancestry.

[7] 1850 federal census, Cherokee County, Texas, town of Rusk, p. 61 (dwelling/family 412, 31 October).

[8] The marriage is indexed in Ancestry’s database entitled South Carolina Marriage Index, 1641-1965, compiled by Hunting For Bears (2005). A specific date of marriage is not given in this database; this entry appears to be citing Georgia Genealogical Magazine, no. 60-61 (spring-summer 1976). Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s “Biography of the Leonards” also states that John Leonard married Hannah Fowler “about 1806.”

[9] 1830 federal census, Madison County, Alabama, p. 72A, showing John aged 40-49 (the surname is Linard here); and 1840 federal census, Limestone County, Alabama, p. 151A, showing John aged 50-59.

[10] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815, RG 94, file of John Lenard, available digitally at Fold3.

[11] See “16th Regiment, Mississippi Militia, War of 1812,” at WikiTree.

[12] Jackie Leonard is citing Limestone County, Alabama, Will Bk. 7, p. 333, which states that John Leonard was “dec’d. 14 Nov. 1846.” Because this will book is under lock and key in the digital files available at the FamilySearch site, I haven’t been able to access the original and obtain further information about this document.

[13] Limestone County, Alabama, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. 1847-1857, p. 136.

[14] Limestone County, Alabama, County Court Record Bk. 1830-1849, p. 422 mistakenly writing the year as 1847 and not as 1846.

[15] See Find a Grave memorial page of Hezekiah Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Donna B., maintained by Prairie Mary, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[16] Lincoln County, Tennessee, Will Bk. 1, p. 156-7. See also Frances T. Ingmire, Lincoln County, Tennessee, Wills, Inventories, and Miscellaneous, March 1809 – April 1824 (St. Louis, 1984), p. 8; and Helen C. and Timothy R. Marsh, Wills and Inventories of Lincoln County, Tennessee (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1989), p. 8.

[17] See Find a Grave memorial page of Griffith J. Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Louise Jenkins, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[18] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of Griffith J. Lenard, WC 15252, widow Nancy E., WO 25978, available digitally at Fold3. Nancy’s widow’s brief has a cover page stating that her maiden name was Nancy E. Porter and that she received certificate 15252 and bounty land warrants 56760-40-50 and 79828-12055. This cover pages also says that Griffith J. Leonard and Nancy Porter married in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on 7 April 1836, and that Nancy died 18 April 1910 at Petersburg, Tennessee.

[19] John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, Tennessee, the Volunteer State, 1769-1923, vol. 3 (Chicago: S.S. Clarke, 1923), pp. 238-241. See also this previous posting about Dr. John Norris Cowden.

[20] Fayetteville Observer (27 August 1908).

[21] Ancestry tree “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree, maintained by dawnleonard818. Photo of Griffith, of wife Nancy, and of son Samuel James Leonard with his family.

[22] 1850 federal census, Rutherford County, Tennessee, Gambrill district, p. 184 (dwelling/family 483, 30 September).

[23] Jackson County, Arkansas, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. B, pp. 544-5, 561.

[24] Jackson County, Arkansas, Deed Bk. G, pp. 32-5.

[25] Jackson County, Arkansas, Marriage Bk. I.

[26] 1850 federal census, Jackson County, Arkansas, Cache, Jacksonport post office, p. 610B (dwelling/family 1069; 7 August). Cyrus Black appears to have died by 17 December 1866, when Mary E.L. Black married Ephraim L. Hughey, a South Carolinian who came to Arkansas from Fayette County, Alabama, in Jackson County. Ephraim died in Jackson County on 4 May 1874 and the 1880 federal census for Jackson County shows Mary as the widow Hughey with her son Levi W. Leonard (this is his surname now, not Black) living next to her with his wife Mary Catherine Narrimore and their children.

[27] See Helen C. Marsh, Timothy R. Marsh, and Ralph D. Whitsell, Cemetery Records of Marshall County, Tennessee (Shelbyville, Tennessee: Marsh Historical Publishing, 1981), p. 253. The 10 January 1795 birthdate for Hannah also appears in Jane Wallace Alford, Revolutionary War Patriots of Marshall County, Tennessee (Lewisburg, Tennessee: Webb, 1976); in Gail Gill Sanders, “Joseph Jonathan S. and Angelina (Moore) Gill,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln Co. Heritage Committee (Waynesville, NC: Walsworth, 2005), p. 321; and in Adelaide Moore Moss, “William Depriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517. This birthdate for Hannah Leonard is also stated in DAR lineage reports submitted by Nancy Alford of the Robert Lewis chapter of Tennessee (DAR no. 537116) and of Mary Aletha Hathaway Dorsey of the Chief John Ross chapter (DAR no. 537605), both entering DAR as descendants of David Moore, father of William Depriest Moore.

[28] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of William D. Moore, , WC pension 17127 and WO pension 31237, available digitally at Fold3.

[29] See J. Lester Wolfe, “Thomas Leonard,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln County Heritage Committee (Waynesville, North Carolina: County Heritage, 2005), p. 414; and Adelaide Moore Moss, “William DePriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517, noting that Moss notes that William DePriest Moore and Hannah Leonard belonged to Union Grove Presbyterian church in Marshall County.

[30] Amy Edmiston, “The Moore Homestead,” Pretty Old Places.

Thomas Leonard (1752-1832) and Hannah James (1752-1842): Children Robert, Thomas, John, Hezekiah, Samuel, Griffith, Colin, and Hannah

Or, Subtitled: “Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals”

In three previous postings, I discussed the life of Thomas Leonard (1752-1832), son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard. I began with a look at the documents that chronicle his early years in Maryland, where he was born in the part of Frederick County that became Washington County in 1776, and where Thomas married Hannah, daughter of Griffith James, about 1775. I then looked at Thomas’ years in Pendleton District, South Carolina, to which he, his siblings, and their widowed mother Honor moved from Maryland by early 1786. I ended with an examination of documents following Thomas’ life in Lincoln (later Marshall) County, Tennessee, from 1808 up to his death in 1832. (Please click the numeral 2 below to read the continuation of this posting.)

In this posting, I’m going to provide a brief overview of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James. My goal is to document salient facts about each of these children, e.g., dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. There’s much more information to be found about each child. The following accounts of the children of Thomas and Hannah James Leonard are not exhaustive:

1. Robert Leonard, the first child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 14 February 1777 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 4 August 1844 at Rusk in Cherokee County, Texas. On 17 March 1807 in Abbeville County, South Carolina, Robert married Rachel Dunlap. These dates of birth, marriage, and death are provided by Robert and Rachel’s son Thomas Dunlap Leonard in his record of the family of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James written in 1883. This document, entitled “Biography of the Leonards,” has been discussed in previous postings (and here) noting that its present whereabouts are not known and that it has circulated among Leonard descendants as a typescript.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard records the following about his parents Robert Leonard and Rachel Dunlap:[1]

Robert was the oldest child, born in Maryland the 14th of Feb., 1777. Married Rachel, dau of Wm. Dunlap in Abbeville District of So Carolina on 17 Mar 1807. He moved with his father to Lincoln Co Tn and settled on Cane Creek half a mile above Petersburg. Subsequently moved to middle Alabama, settled in Perry Co where he lived from 1818 to 1824, lived there until 1840, then to Texas, settled in Cherokee Co. where he died on 4 Aug. 1844 in the 67th year of his age. He was a hatter by trade, also a farmer. His life was spent in usefulness to his neighbors, his country and his family, teaching his children the importance of industry, honesty, and truthfulness. At all times with his wife taught their children the importance of the Christian religion which all had embraced before their death, but two and they embraced since the death of their parents. Robert was truly a good man, good husband, good father, good citizen; he was my father and his wife Rachel, my mother. Language will fail me in attempting to portray her excellencies. She was brought up in the faith and membership of the Presbyterian Church and strictly adhered to their discipline in the government of her family, teaching them to observe the commandments of our Saviour.

She ruled her children in love and impressed on their minds at their earliest age those principles of love to God and love of His services, and to search his words of truth for their guide through life. She became convinced of the importance of immersion as baptism, when she was about 40 years of age, when she and her husband were buried with Christ in baptism in Flint River, Madison Co. Ala. She lived to see all of her children members of the Baptist Church, but two and they followed in her footsteps after her death. She died in Cherokee Co, Tx in the year 1862 in the 62nd year of her life and was buried by the side of her husband in the town of Rusk, Cherokee Co. Tx. after having spent a long life of usefulness, to her family, neighbors, and church. Thus ended the life of a God loving woman.

A previous posting explains why I think it’s likely that, following Thomas Leonard’s marriage to Hannah James about 1775, this couple lived at Sharpsburg in Washington County, where Hannah’s father Griffith James lived. If I’m correct in deducing this, then Thomas and Hannah’s son Robert and the three (or possibly four: see the notes below on Samuel) brothers born after him in Washington County were probably all born in Sharpsburg.

A biography of Robert’s son William R. Leonard (1822-1905) in Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas states that his father Robert Leonard was a soldier of the War of 1812 and served under Andrew Jackson at the battle of Horseshoe Bend.[2] His service papers show him serving under Colonel Robert Dyer in the Cavalry and Mounted Gunmen of Tennessee Volunteers.[3]

The biography of William R. Leonard also indicates that his father Robert Leonard moved about 1824 to Madison County, Alabama, where he lived on the Flint River nine miles east of Huntsville.[4] He then moved to Texas about 1840, according to this source, settling first in Nacogdoches County and then in Cherokee County, where he died in 1844, aged 67. A certificate for a Texas headright grant that Robert Leonard received on 4 March 1844 states that he arrived in Texas on 3 April 1840.[5] As a previous posting notes, Robert’s brother Thomas moved from Limestone County, Alabama, to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in June 1839, receiving a headright grant that fell into Cherokee County at that county’s formation in July 1845. In moving to this part of Texas in 1840, Robert Leonard was following in the footsteps of his brother Thomas.

At her “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree” at Ancestry, Peggy Strickland states,[6]

According to old hand written Leonard Family history, Rachel [Dunlap]’s Father brought Rachel and her two sisters from Ireland, their mother having died in Ireland when Rachel was three years old. Her Father had previously been to America and fought in the Revolutionary War, in which he lost one leg.

The 1850 federal census for Cherokee County, Texas, on which the widowed Rachel is shown living at Rusk, reports her birthplace as Ireland.[7]  A previous posting talks briefly about a Limestone County, Alabama, court case that ensued after Robert Leonard’s brother Thomas sold his homeplace in that county to their brother John Leonard in 1839 as Thomas prepared to move to Texas. The court case, James Birdwell, assignee, vs. John Linard, revolved around a promissory note for $500 that James Birdwell, who married Thomas Leonard’s daughter Aletha, claimed Thomas assigned to him when John paid him for his land. James alleged that the promissory note was given to Rachel, wife of Robert Leonard, for safekeeping. Robert and wife Rachel moved to Texas soon after Thomas moved his family there. John Leonard died in 1846 and James, who then died in 1849, claimed that Rachel had never delivered John’s $500 promissory note to Thomas Leonard to him.

As the first-born son of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James (and their first child), I think it’s likely Robert Leonard was given the name Robert after his paternal grandfather Robert Leonard.

2. Thomas Lewis Leonard, the second child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born in 1781 in Washington County, Maryland, and died in October 1870 in Cherokee County, Texas. About 1800 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Sarah M. Lauderdale, daughter of John Lauderdale and Milbury Mauldin. Sarah’s name is consistently written in documents with the middle initial M.; I suspect her full name was Sarah Mauldin Lauderdale, and that she was named for her grandmother Sarah, wife of John Mauldin.

Thomas is my direct ancestor, and I’ve provided extensive documentation in previous postings about his life in Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee, then about his years in Limestone County, Alabama (and here), and finally about his final years in Cherokee County, Texas.

3. John Leonard, the third child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born between 1781 and 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 14 November 1846 in Limestone County, Alabama. In 1806 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth Fowler.[8]

My reason for assigning John a birthdate of 1781-4 is as follows: in his discussion of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, Thomas Dunlap Leonard indicates that John was the third child of Thomas and Hannah, born after his brother Thomas and prior to his brother Hezekiah. We know that Thomas Lewis Leonard was born in 1781, and as I’ll discuss below, the tombstone of Hezekiah Leonard shows his date of birth as 24 June 1784. So John was born between 1781 and June 1784. The 1830 and 1840 federal censuses confirm that he was born between 1780 and 1789.[9]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard states the following about John Leonard:

John Leonard married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua Fowler of So Carolina about 1806, moved to Madison Co., Ala, where he lived until 1838, when he moved to Limestone Co., Al, where he lived until death, which occurred about 1847 or 1848. Hannah, his wife, died in Madison Co. about 1828 or 1829. Their children were born near Madison Cross Roads in Madison Co. John lived through life as he had been reared up by his parents, a lover of all the ennobling virtues that constitute good child, a good husband, father and citizen. I was intimately acquainted with him, the last 20 years of his life. He was governed in all his actions through life from the noble principles of Christian spirit, truth and honesty was his motto. When I look back at the character of old acquaintances, John Leonard stands side by side with the best of citizens of old Madison Co. When I look back from my old age, my heart swells within me of love and admiration for the excellence of John Leonard. Aunt Hannah was truly his peer in all of the excellencies of wife, companion, mother and citizen. The character of her daughters prove the excellencies of the early training of the mother. Their deportment gives a better comment on the life and character of their mother than I can give.

In the War of 1812, John Leonard served in the 16th Regiment of Burrus’ Mississippi Militia.[10] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Burrus’ regiment was comprised for the most part of men living in or near Madison County, Mississippi Territory (later Alabama), which bordered on Lincoln County, Tennessee.[11] Also serving in Burrus’ militia was Robert Leonard’s first cousin Samuel Dean, son of Robert’s aunt Gwendolyn James and husband Samuel Dean, and Moses Birdwell, father of James Birdwell who married John Leonard’s niece Aletha, daughter of Thomas Lewis Leonard. Moses also had a daughter whose given name I haven’t found, who married a Lamb, and Alfred L. Lamb, a son of that couple, married John Leonard’s daughter Hannah A.E. Leonard.

John Leonard’s date of death is stated in a will book of Limestone County, Alabama, according to his descendant Jackie Leonard of Athens, Alabama.[12]Minutes of the Limestone County circuit court case James Birdwell assignee vs. George W. Fisher admr. of John Linard dec’d. state on 2 December 1846 that “the said John Linard hath departed this life intestate as we are informed” and that George W. Fisher was estate administrator.[13] Fisher was granted administration on 6 December 1846.[14]

4. Hezekiah Leonard, the fourth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 24 June 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 27 March 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. These dates of birth and death are inscribed on his tombstone in the Leonard family cemetery at the old Thomas Leonard homestead just north of Petersburg, Marshall County, Tennessee.[15]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard says this about Hezekiah:

Hezekiah, a son of Thomas and Hannah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln Tenn. about the year 1816. He was grown not married.

Hezekiah left a nuncupative will in Lincoln County dated 27 March 1817.[16] The will, which was probated 5 May 1817, states that Hezekiah was in “his last sickness” and bequeaths Hezekiah’s property to his brother Griffith. It was witnessed by his brother Robert and cousin George, son of William Leonard.

5. Samuel Leonard, the fifth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1786 in either Washington County, Maryland, or Pendleton District, South Carolina. He died about 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. I estimate Samuel’s birthdate as about 1786 because Thomas Dunlap Leonard places him between his brother Hezekiah, who was born 24 June 1784, and his brother Griffith, who was born 26 September 1787. Since his parents moved from Maryland to Pendleton District, South Carolina, late in 1785 or early in 1786, I think he may have been born in either Maryland or South Carolina.

After having noted that Hezekiah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in about 1816, Thomas Dunlap Leonard states:

Samuel at, and near the same time, he was just about grown.

I think it’s likely that Samuel is buried in the Leonard family cemetery, but I haven’t seen any transcription of a tombstone for him.

6. Griffith James Leonard, the sixth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 26 September 1787 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 1 September 1864 in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 7 April 1836 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, he married Nancy Emmett Porter, daughter of Stephen and Mary Porter.

Griffith’s dates of birth and death are recorded on his tombstone in the family cemetery on Thomas Leonard’s old homestead just north of Petersburg, Tennessee.[17] Griffith’s date of death is also stated in an affidavit given by John Cowden and the widow Nancy in Marshall County on 22 August 1868; the affidavit is found in his War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file.[18] John Cowden was the husband of Mary Hannah Leonard, daughter of Griffith and Nancy Leonard. John and his mother-in-law Nancy state that Griffith was aged 73 when he died on 1 September 1864. Their affidavit also says that he refused to vote for secession in the vote held in Tennessee on 8 June 1861 and was consistently loyal to the Union though his son Samuel was a Confederate soldier.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers a fulsome remembrance of his uncle Griffith James Leonard and Griffith’s wife Nancy:

Griffith J. Leonard remained with his parents until their death bestowing that care on them that was essential to their happiness is old age. Having by inheritance and cultivation obtained those hightoned traits of character that fitly qualified him for the practical duties of life as a good citizen, husband and father. His neighbors can all testify to his excellencies of character with pleasure. His children proved the excellencies of their parents.  Griffith Leonard was a superior order of intellect, had no opportunities of school la early life to improve his intellect. He was a self made man and had acquired a fine degree of practical and useful knowledge. A man of high toned moral principles not capable of condescending to any low degrading act under any circumstances. He was a true patriot through life, he fell from an unerring rifle shot of an Indian warrior on the furious battlefield of Talledega, Ala. in the year 1812. It pierced his neck and passed through, from which wound he recovered and lived to marry his [wife?] and bring up an excellent family. He also accumulated a good home, a good large tract of Tennessee best land for his amiable widow and children.

He leaves them as his parents left him viz, with high toned sense of moral training to qualify them for usefulness to society, themselves and their God. He died 1a the year 1864, being In the 77th year of his age. Thus ended the long and useful life of Griffith J. Leonard, leaving his amiable wife with a large family to care for at the end of a cruel war that had devastated nearly every ordinary contort of life, and in the midst of a helpless people as herself. Yet she by inheritance and education had a good stock of industry and economies to draw from. That she has brought up her excellent family is credit to herself and to her departed husband. She has demonstrated these excellent traits of character inherited from her parents end by education that so fitly qualified her for her duties as mother to her children and her labor has been crowned with success.

Nancy Porter was a daughter of Stephen and Sary Porter, born Jan. 10, 1818. They were the best of citizens, Iived up to those excellent rules of discipline that so eminently qualified them for usefulness in life to themselves, families, neighbors and their God. Stephen Porter’s excellent example will be remembered by his acquaintances with pleasure as long as their lives last. It affords me pleasure now to look back over half a century when Stephen Porter assembled his family and visiting neighbors around the family altar for prayer night and morning. His Godly influence was felt by his neighbors during life, and after death he was missed by all. He has gone to his reward of a good man. May his posterity emulate his worthy example.

Griffith’s War of 1812 pension and bounty land file contains further detailed information about his service and injuries during that war. On 1 August 1851, Griffith filed a bounty land claim in Marshall County that is preserved in this file. This document states that Griffith was aged 64 and living in Marshall County. It also notes he was a sergeant in Captain John Porter’s 1st Regiment of the Tennessee Militia under Col. J.K Wynn in the Creek War. He was drafted at Fayetteville, Tennessee, on 1 October 1813 and discharged at Fayetteville on 1 January 1814. The affidavit was signed by Griffith.

Another affidavit Griffith gave in Marshall County on 2 June 1855 is in the pension and bounty land file. This gives his age as 69 and states that he was a resident of Marshall County.  It further indicates that he was a 1st sergeant under Colonel John Porter in the 1st regiment of Col. John K. Wynn in the War with Great Britain and the Creek Indians of 1812-1815. He had made a bounty-land application for this service on 28 September 1850. Again, this document is signed Griffith Lenard.

A 4 July 1871 affidavit of Nancy Leonard in Marshall County found in the pension and bounty land file attests to her husband’s service. Nancy notes that Griffith was severely wounded on 8 November 1813 at Talladega, Alabama. She signs the affidavit Nancy E. Lenard. 

An affidavit provided by James Luna, an ensign in Griffith’s unit, on 4 September 1845 in Marshall County says that Griffith J. Leonard was a 1st sergeant in John Porter’s Company of West Tennessee Militia and served in the action against the Creeks from October 1813 to January 1814. He received a severe wound in his neck in the battle of Talladega on 9 November 1813, Luna states.

A biography of Griffith’s grandson Dr. John Norris Cowden also speaks of his grandfather Griffith J. Leonard’s War of 1812 service.[19]  Noting that John Norris Cowden was the son of Dr. John Cowden and Mary Hannah Leonard and was born in Marshall County, the biography states:

James Griffith Leonard, the father of Mrs. Cowden, was an intimate friend of General Andrew Jackson, under whom he served throughout the War of 1812, participating in the battle of Tishomingo [sic].

As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s biography of his uncle Griffith notes, Griffith was the son who remained at home with his parents Thomas and Hannah Leonard up to their deaths, and for this reason, his father willed the family homeplace and land to his son Griffith. Thomas Leonard’s will is transcribed and discussed in a previous posting noting that the will stipulates that Griffith was to care for his mother Hannah up to her death. Griffith and wife Nancy continued living in the old Leonard house up to their deaths, with Griffith leaving the homeplace to his son William Stephen (Bud) Leonard.

In an article published in the Fayetteville Observer in August 1908, John Bright speaks of a number of early settlers of Lincoln County, Tennessee, including Griffith James Leonard.[20] Bright notes that Griffith, whose wife was Nancy Porter, came to Lincoln County at an early date, settling north of Petersburg and leaving “a character of good citizenship, worthy of imitation by his posterity.” 

Griffith James Leonard was named for his maternal grandfather Griffith James, who moved from Washington County, Maryland, to Pendleton District, South Carolina, following his children who had settled there in the 1780s. Photos of Griffith James Leonard, his wife Nancy, and their son Samuel with Samuel’s family are found at the Ancestry tree of Dawn Leonard, “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree.”[21] The photo of Griffith is found at the head of this posting.

7. Colin Campbell Leonard, the seventh child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1791 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died between 16 June 1856 and 29 November 1859 in Jackson County, Arkansas. About 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, Colin married Jean Williams. As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s brief biography of his uncle Colin states, Colin’s wife Jean died and he then married a second time. Thomas D. Leonard appears not to have known the name of Colin’s second wife.

Thomas D. Leonard states the following about Colin Campbell Leonard:

Collin Campbell Leonard son of Thos, and Hannah Leonard was born in Maryland, brought up in South Carolina, married Miss Jean Williams of Tennessee about the year 1817. I have no knowledge of the Williams family. They had only two children, a daughter and a son. I am under the impression both children are dead. Aunt Jean died and Uncle Collin moved from Lincoln County to McNairy County West Tenn. He married the second time, had seven children by her. I met with two sons on the battle field of Perryville, Ky. I have no further knowledge of his family.

Uncle Collin was dissipated (drank) in early life. He was a good soldier in the Indian war of 1812 to 14. He was a true friend to friends and bitter enemy to his enemies. He possessed noble generous principles. His latter life was a steady habits. He became a member of the Methodist church and a preacher before death. His sons informed us that their father was dead. Nothing further is known of his family.

The 1850 federal census shows Colin with a woman in his household whose name is given by the census taker as Mary A.L. (or S.?) Collins, aged 28, born in Virginia.[22] The census lists Colin as a farmer aged 59 who was born in Tennessee. Also in the household are children Colin C., 12, Thomas C., 8, William R., 6, and Levi W., aged 1, all born in Tennessee.

It appears to me that Mary is Colin’s wife, and that the census taker has inadvertently assigned her the surname Collins because her husband is named Colin C. Leonard. At some point after this census enumeration was made, the family moved to Jackson County, Arkansas, where on 20 June 1855, a circuit course case of debt, Atrides Crow v. Collin C. Leonard, was filed.[23] On 16 June 1856, Colin’s property was attached by the sheriff due to a judgment in this case.[24]

On 29 November 1859, Mary Leonard married Cyrus Black in Jackson County, Arkansas.[25] The marriage record gives Mary’s age as 37, indicating an 1822 birth year. This matches the birth year of the Mary who is found in Colin Campbell’s household on the 1850 federal census and who appears to be mother of his sons Colin C., Thomas C., William R., and Levi W.

The federal census shows Cyrus and Mary Black living at Cache in Jackson County, Jacksonport post office.[26] Mary is aged 37 and born in Virginia — a match to the Mary found in Colin C. Leonard’s household in 1850.  Also in the household are Thomas, William, and Levi from Colin’s household on the 1850 census, all now with the surname Black, and daughters Nancy and Alfy Black, aged 8 and 4, who are likely also children of Colin C. Leonard. Nancy was born in Tennessee and Alfy (who is likely Alpha) in Arkansas. 

Colin Campbell Leonard was named for his uncle Colin Campbell, who married Mary Ann Leonard, sister of Thomas Leonard. For a discussion of documents showing Colin Campbell Leonard receiving permission to keep an ordinary at his father’s house in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and being charged in that county with assault and battery, see this previous posting.

8. Hannah Leonard, the eighth child and only daughter of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 10 January 1795 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 11 December 1886 at Petersburg in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, she married William Depriest Moore, son of David Dower Moore and Jane Depriest.

These dates were inscribed on Hannah’s tombstone in the Moore family cemetery outside Petersburg.[27] The stone is now broken into pieces, though William D. Moore’s stone remains intact and legible.

The War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file of William Depriest Moore and wife Hannah contains a 23 May 1878 document stating that Hannah was aged 82, née Leonard, living near Petersburg, and had married William D. Moore on 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee.[28] William, who was a Virginia native, served during this war as a private in Captain David Elliott’s Company, Kentucky Militia.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers an extensive reminiscence of his aunt Hannah and her husband William D. Moore:

Hannah Leonard married William D. Moore of Kentucky in the year 1827. He was a house painter and cabinet workman, equal to any of his day. He was a man of superior genius of mind, his natural endowments were above the average. He cultivated it to a general usefulness in practical science. He was a good farmer, fine judge of stock, which he had a fine taste for and cultivated successfully. He was truthful, honest, and reliable in every sense of the term. He accumulated a good living, raised a family of six children, viz Angeline, Thomas D., Alpha, Alitha, William C., Margaret, and Amanda. He died in November in 1855, leaving Hannah with a competency and with her most amiable of children to take care of her in old age, which duty they here performed, to credit to themselves and satisfaction to their aged mother, who still survives and is now 89 years of age, now living with her son-in-law and daughter, Jo. J. S. and Angelina Gill.

Hannah was the only daughter of Thomas and Hannah Leonard. Language fails me to portray the excellencies of this good woman neither can her neighbors or children do her justice. She has lived for seventy five years near where she now Ilves. Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals.  Right around Petersburg and cane Creek all of her age have gone across the river. She is left as a lone tree of the forest but must soon fall, and go to join her loved ones that have gone before and must follow after. She has an Inheritance awaiting her that is far better than anything she has ever realised on earth. I rejoice to know that kindred blood course my veins, that I can say she is my aunt, my father’s sister.  I rejoice to know she has left such a noble posterity that acted well their parts in life. I rejoice to know that I as their biographers of William D. and Hannah Moore gives me such pleasure to speak of their merits without a stain on their character. I rejoice to know that the hand and heart of their daughter[s] have been sought by the noblest sons of Tenn., also that their sons sought and obtained their equals in the daughters of Tennessee.

A portrait-photograph of Hannah Leonard and William Depriest Moore appears in a number of published sources and has recently been published online as their old Marshall County homeplace and farm have gone on the market for sale.[29] The portrait is featured along with photos of the farm and the Moore house in Amy Edmiston’s Pretty Old Places blog.[30]

[1] Thomas Dunlap Leonard, “Biography of the Leonards” (1883 manuscript now circulated as typescript; present whereabouts are not known). The 14 February 1777 date of birth is also stated in a lineage provided by Sarah Johnson Berliner to DAR: See NSDAR Lineage Book, vol. 93 (1912) p. 83; and Mary Smith Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas (New Orleans, 1979; repr. Greenville, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1994), apparently citing records filed by U.S. Daughters of 1812 Descendants.

[2] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas (Chicago: Lewis, 1893), pp. 721-3. This biography gives William’s middle name as Rinualdi. The “Anderson-Monroe Family Tree” at Ancestry maintained by weblady173 has a digital image of a page from a bible that appears to have belonged to one of William R. Leonard’s children, giving his middle name as Roden. This Ancestry tree also has a copy of an undated autobiography written by William R. Leonard near the end of his life, which appears not to have been finished and was transcribed by one of his children.

[3] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815 RG 94, file of Robert Lenard, available digitally at Fold3. Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas, states that Robert served in Captain Edwin S. Moore’s Company of Tennessee Volunteers.

[4] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas, pp. 721-3.

[5] Nacogdoches District Court Returns, files 54 and 58, available digitally at the website of Texas General Land Office.

[6] PeggyStrickland55, “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree,” Ancestry.

[7] 1850 federal census, Cherokee County, Texas, town of Rusk, p. 61 (dwelling/family 412, 31 October).

[8] The marriage is indexed in Ancestry’s database entitled South Carolina Marriage Index, 1641-1965, compiled by Hunting For Bears (2005). A specific date of marriage is not given in this database; this entry appears to be citing Georgia Genealogical Magazine, no. 60-61 (spring-summer 1976). Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s “Biography of the Leonards” also states that John Leonard married Hannah Fowler “about 1806.”

[9] 1830 federal census, Madison County, Alabama, p. 72A, showing John aged 40-49 (the surname is Linard here); and 1840 federal census, Limestone County, Alabama, p. 151A, showing John aged 50-59.

[10] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815, RG 94, file of John Lenard, available digitally at Fold3.

[11] See “16th Regiment, Mississippi Militia, War of 1812,” at WikiTree.

[12] Jackie Leonard is citing Limestone County, Alabama, Will Bk. 7, p. 333, which states that John Leonard was “dec’d. 14 Nov. 1846.” Because this will book is under lock and key in the digital files available at the FamilySearch site, I haven’t been able to access the original and obtain further information about this document.

[13] Limestone County, Alabama, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. 1847-1857, p. 136.

[14] Limestone County, Alabama, County Court Record Bk. 1830-1849, p. 422 mistakenly writing the year as 1847 and not as 1846.

[15] See Find a Grave memorial page of Hezekiah Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Donna B., maintained by Prairie Mary, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[16] Lincoln County, Tennessee, Will Bk. 1, p. 156-7. See also Frances T. Ingmire, Lincoln County, Tennessee, Wills, Inventories, and Miscellaneous, March 1809 – April 1824 (St. Louis, 1984), p. 8; and Helen C. and Timothy R. Marsh, Wills and Inventories of Lincoln County, Tennessee (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1989), p. 8.

[17] See Find a Grave memorial page of Griffith J. Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Louise Jenkins, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[18] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of Griffith J. Lenard, WC 15252, widow Nancy E., WO 25978, available digitally at Fold3. Nancy’s widow’s brief has a cover page stating that her maiden name was Nancy E. Porter and that she received certificate 15252 and bounty land warrants 56760-40-50 and 79828-12055. This cover pages also says that Griffith J. Leonard and Nancy Porter married in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on 7 April 1836, and that Nancy died 18 April 1910 at Petersburg, Tennessee.

[19] John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, Tennessee, the Volunteer State, 1769-1923, vol. 3 (Chicago: S.S. Clarke, 1923), pp. 238-241. See also this previous posting about Dr. John Norris Cowden.

[20] Fayetteville Observer (27 August 1908).

[21] Ancestry tree “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree, maintained by dawnleonard818. Photo of Griffith, of wife Nancy, and of son Samuel James Leonard with his family.

[22] 1850 federal census, Rutherford County, Tennessee, Gambrill district, p. 184 (dwelling/family 483, 30 September).

[23] Jackson County, Arkansas, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. B, pp. 544-5, 561.

[24] Jackson County, Arkansas, Deed Bk. G, pp. 32-5.

[25] Jackson County, Arkansas, Marriage Bk. I.

[26] 1850 federal census, Jackson County, Arkansas, Cache, Jacksonport post office, p. 610B (dwelling/family 1069; 7 August). Cyrus Black appears to have died by 17 December 1866, when Mary E.L. Black married Ephraim L. Hughey, a South Carolinian who came to Arkansas from Fayette County, Alabama, in Jackson County. Ephraim died in Jackson County on 4 May 1874 and the 1880 federal census for Jackson County shows Mary as the widow Hughey with her son Levi W. Leonard (this is his surname now, not Black) living next to her with his wife Mary Catherine Narrimore and their children.

[27] See Helen C. Marsh, Timothy R. Marsh, and Ralph D. Whitsell, Cemetery Records of Marshall County, Tennessee (Shelbyville, Tennessee: Marsh Historical Publishing, 1981), p. 253. The 10 January 1795 birthdate for Hannah also appears in Jane Wallace Alford, Revolutionary War Patriots of Marshall County, Tennessee (Lewisburg, Tennessee: Webb, 1976); in Gail Gill Sanders, “Joseph Jonathan S. and Angelina (Moore) Gill,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln Co. Heritage Committee (Waynesville, NC: Walsworth, 2005), p. 321; and in Adelaide Moore Moss, “William Depriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517. This birthdate for Hannah Leonard is also stated in DAR lineage reports submitted by Nancy Alford of the Robert Lewis chapter of Tennessee (DAR no. 537116) and of Mary Aletha Hathaway Dorsey of the Chief John Ross chapter (DAR no. 537605), both entering DAR as descendants of David Moore, father of William Depriest Moore.

[28] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of William D. Moore, , WC pension 17127 and WO pension 31237, available digitally at Fold3.

[29] See J. Lester Wolfe, “Thomas Leonard,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln County Heritage Committee (Waynesville, North Carolina: County Heritage, 2005), p. 414; and Adelaide Moore Moss, “William DePriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517, noting that Moss notes that William DePriest Moore and Hannah Leonard belonged to Union Grove Presbyterian church in Marshall County.

[30] Amy Edmiston, “The Moore Homestead,” Pretty Old Places.

Thomas Leonard (1752-1832) and Hannah James (1752-1842): Children Robert, Thomas, John, Hezekiah, Samuel, Griffith, Colin, and Hannah

Or, Subtitled: “Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals”

In three previous postings, I discussed the life of Thomas Leonard (1752-1832), son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard. I began with a look at the documents that chronicle his early years in Maryland, where he was born in the part of Frederick County that became Washington County in 1776, and where Thomas married Hannah, daughter of Griffith James, about 1775. I then looked at Thomas’ years in Pendleton District, South Carolina, to which he, his siblings, and their widowed mother Honor moved from Maryland by early 1786. I ended with an examination of documents following Thomas’ life in Lincoln (later Marshall) County, Tennessee, from 1808 up to his death in 1832. (Please click the numeral 2 below to read the continuation of this posting.)

In this posting, I’m going to provide a brief overview of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James. My goal is to document salient facts about each of these children, e.g., dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. There’s much more information to be found about each child. The following accounts of the children of Thomas and Hannah James Leonard are not exhaustive:

1. Robert Leonard, the first child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 14 February 1777 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 4 August 1844 at Rusk in Cherokee County, Texas. On 17 March 1807 in Abbeville County, South Carolina, Robert married Rachel Dunlap. These dates of birth, marriage, and death are provided by Robert and Rachel’s son Thomas Dunlap Leonard in his record of the family of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James written in 1883. This document, entitled “Biography of the Leonards,” has been discussed in previous postings (and here) noting that its present whereabouts are not known and that it has circulated among Leonard descendants as a typescript.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard records the following about his parents Robert Leonard and Rachel Dunlap:[1]

Robert was the oldest child, born in Maryland the 14th of Feb., 1777. Married Rachel, dau of Wm. Dunlap in Abbeville District of So Carolina on 17 Mar 1807. He moved with his father to Lincoln Co Tn and settled on Cane Creek half a mile above Petersburg. Subsequently moved to middle Alabama, settled in Perry Co where he lived from 1818 to 1824, lived there until 1840, then to Texas, settled in Cherokee Co. where he died on 4 Aug. 1844 in the 67th year of his age. He was a hatter by trade, also a farmer. His life was spent in usefulness to his neighbors, his country and his family, teaching his children the importance of industry, honesty, and truthfulness. At all times with his wife taught their children the importance of the Christian religion which all had embraced before their death, but two and they embraced since the death of their parents. Robert was truly a good man, good husband, good father, good citizen; he was my father and his wife Rachel, my mother. Language will fail me in attempting to portray her excellencies. She was brought up in the faith and membership of the Presbyterian Church and strictly adhered to their discipline in the government of her family, teaching them to observe the commandments of our Saviour.

She ruled her children in love and impressed on their minds at their earliest age those principles of love to God and love of His services, and to search his words of truth for their guide through life. She became convinced of the importance of immersion as baptism, when she was about 40 years of age, when she and her husband were buried with Christ in baptism in Flint River, Madison Co. Ala. She lived to see all of her children members of the Baptist Church, but two and they followed in her footsteps after her death. She died in Cherokee Co, Tx in the year 1862 in the 62nd year of her life and was buried by the side of her husband in the town of Rusk, Cherokee Co. Tx. after having spent a long life of usefulness, to her family, neighbors, and church. Thus ended the life of a God loving woman.

A previous posting explains why I think it’s likely that, following Thomas Leonard’s marriage to Hannah James about 1775, this couple lived at Sharpsburg in Washington County, where Hannah’s father Griffith James lived. If I’m correct in deducing this, then Thomas and Hannah’s son Robert and the three (or possibly four: see the notes below on Samuel) brothers born after him in Washington County were probably all born in Sharpsburg.

A biography of Robert’s son William R. Leonard (1822-1905) in Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas states that his father Robert Leonard was a soldier of the War of 1812 and served under Andrew Jackson at the battle of Horseshoe Bend.[2] His service papers show him serving under Colonel Robert Dyer in the Cavalry and Mounted Gunmen of Tennessee Volunteers.[3]

The biography of William R. Leonard also indicates that his father Robert Leonard moved about 1824 to Madison County, Alabama, where he lived on the Flint River nine miles east of Huntsville.[4] He then moved to Texas about 1840, according to this source, settling first in Nacogdoches County and then in Cherokee County, where he died in 1844, aged 67. A certificate for a Texas headright grant that Robert Leonard received on 4 March 1844 states that he arrived in Texas on 3 April 1840.[5] As a previous posting notes, Robert’s brother Thomas moved from Limestone County, Alabama, to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in June 1839, receiving a headright grant that fell into Cherokee County at that county’s formation in July 1845. In moving to this part of Texas in 1840, Robert Leonard was following in the footsteps of his brother Thomas.

At her “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree” at Ancestry, Peggy Strickland states,[6]

According to old hand written Leonard Family history, Rachel [Dunlap]’s Father brought Rachel and her two sisters from Ireland, their mother having died in Ireland when Rachel was three years old. Her Father had previously been to America and fought in the Revolutionary War, in which he lost one leg.

The 1850 federal census for Cherokee County, Texas, on which the widowed Rachel is shown living at Rusk, reports her birthplace as Ireland.[7]  A previous posting talks briefly about a Limestone County, Alabama, court case that ensued after Robert Leonard’s brother Thomas sold his homeplace in that county to their brother John Leonard in 1839 as Thomas prepared to move to Texas. The court case, James Birdwell, assignee, vs. John Linard, revolved around a promissory note for $500 that James Birdwell, who married Thomas Leonard’s daughter Aletha, claimed Thomas assigned to him when John paid him for his land. James alleged that the promissory note was given to Rachel, wife of Robert Leonard, for safekeeping. Robert and wife Rachel moved to Texas soon after Thomas moved his family there. John Leonard died in 1846 and James, who then died in 1849, claimed that Rachel had never delivered John’s $500 promissory note to Thomas Leonard to him.

As the first-born son of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James (and their first child), I think it’s likely Robert Leonard was given the name Robert after his paternal grandfather Robert Leonard.

2. Thomas Lewis Leonard, the second child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born in 1781 in Washington County, Maryland, and died in October 1870 in Cherokee County, Texas. About 1800 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Sarah M. Lauderdale, daughter of John Lauderdale and Milbury Mauldin. Sarah’s name is consistently written in documents with the middle initial M.; I suspect her full name was Sarah Mauldin Lauderdale, and that she was named for her grandmother Sarah, wife of John Mauldin.

Thomas is my direct ancestor, and I’ve provided extensive documentation in previous postings about his life in Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee, then about his years in Limestone County, Alabama (and here), and finally about his final years in Cherokee County, Texas.

3. John Leonard, the third child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born between 1781 and 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 14 November 1846 in Limestone County, Alabama. In 1806 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth Fowler.[8]

My reason for assigning John a birthdate of 1781-4 is as follows: in his discussion of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, Thomas Dunlap Leonard indicates that John was the third child of Thomas and Hannah, born after his brother Thomas and prior to his brother Hezekiah. We know that Thomas Lewis Leonard was born in 1781, and as I’ll discuss below, the tombstone of Hezekiah Leonard shows his date of birth as 24 June 1784. So John was born between 1781 and June 1784. The 1830 and 1840 federal censuses confirm that he was born between 1780 and 1789.[9]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard states the following about John Leonard:

John Leonard married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua Fowler of So Carolina about 1806, moved to Madison Co., Ala, where he lived until 1838, when he moved to Limestone Co., Al, where he lived until death, which occurred about 1847 or 1848. Hannah, his wife, died in Madison Co. about 1828 or 1829. Their children were born near Madison Cross Roads in Madison Co. John lived through life as he had been reared up by his parents, a lover of all the ennobling virtues that constitute good child, a good husband, father and citizen. I was intimately acquainted with him, the last 20 years of his life. He was governed in all his actions through life from the noble principles of Christian spirit, truth and honesty was his motto. When I look back at the character of old acquaintances, John Leonard stands side by side with the best of citizens of old Madison Co. When I look back from my old age, my heart swells within me of love and admiration for the excellence of John Leonard. Aunt Hannah was truly his peer in all of the excellencies of wife, companion, mother and citizen. The character of her daughters prove the excellencies of the early training of the mother. Their deportment gives a better comment on the life and character of their mother than I can give.

In the War of 1812, John Leonard served in the 16th Regiment of Burrus’ Mississippi Militia.[10] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Burrus’ regiment was comprised for the most part of men living in or near Madison County, Mississippi Territory (later Alabama), which bordered on Lincoln County, Tennessee.[11] Also serving in Burrus’ militia was Robert Leonard’s first cousin Samuel Dean, son of Robert’s aunt Gwendolyn James and husband Samuel Dean, and Moses Birdwell, father of James Birdwell who married John Leonard’s niece Aletha, daughter of Thomas Lewis Leonard. Moses also had a daughter whose given name I haven’t found, who married a Lamb, and Alfred L. Lamb, a son of that couple, married John Leonard’s daughter Hannah A.E. Leonard.

John Leonard’s date of death is stated in a will book of Limestone County, Alabama, according to his descendant Jackie Leonard of Athens, Alabama.[12]Minutes of the Limestone County circuit court case James Birdwell assignee vs. George W. Fisher admr. of John Linard dec’d. state on 2 December 1846 that “the said John Linard hath departed this life intestate as we are informed” and that George W. Fisher was estate administrator.[13] Fisher was granted administration on 6 December 1846.[14]

4. Hezekiah Leonard, the fourth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 24 June 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 27 March 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. These dates of birth and death are inscribed on his tombstone in the Leonard family cemetery at the old Thomas Leonard homestead just north of Petersburg, Marshall County, Tennessee.[15]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard says this about Hezekiah:

Hezekiah, a son of Thomas and Hannah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln Tenn. about the year 1816. He was grown not married.

Hezekiah left a nuncupative will in Lincoln County dated 27 March 1817.[16] The will, which was probated 5 May 1817, states that Hezekiah was in “his last sickness” and bequeaths Hezekiah’s property to his brother Griffith. It was witnessed by his brother Robert and cousin George, son of William Leonard.

5. Samuel Leonard, the fifth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1786 in either Washington County, Maryland, or Pendleton District, South Carolina. He died about 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. I estimate Samuel’s birthdate as about 1786 because Thomas Dunlap Leonard places him between his brother Hezekiah, who was born 24 June 1784, and his brother Griffith, who was born 26 September 1787. Since his parents moved from Maryland to Pendleton District, South Carolina, late in 1785 or early in 1786, I think he may have been born in either Maryland or South Carolina.

After having noted that Hezekiah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in about 1816, Thomas Dunlap Leonard states:

Samuel at, and near the same time, he was just about grown.

I think it’s likely that Samuel is buried in the Leonard family cemetery, but I haven’t seen any transcription of a tombstone for him.

6. Griffith James Leonard, the sixth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 26 September 1787 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 1 September 1864 in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 7 April 1836 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, he married Nancy Emmett Porter, daughter of Stephen and Mary Porter.

Griffith’s dates of birth and death are recorded on his tombstone in the family cemetery on Thomas Leonard’s old homestead just north of Petersburg, Tennessee.[17] Griffith’s date of death is also stated in an affidavit given by John Cowden and the widow Nancy in Marshall County on 22 August 1868; the affidavit is found in his War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file.[18] John Cowden was the husband of Mary Hannah Leonard, daughter of Griffith and Nancy Leonard. John and his mother-in-law Nancy state that Griffith was aged 73 when he died on 1 September 1864. Their affidavit also says that he refused to vote for secession in the vote held in Tennessee on 8 June 1861 and was consistently loyal to the Union though his son Samuel was a Confederate soldier.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers a fulsome remembrance of his uncle Griffith James Leonard and Griffith’s wife Nancy:

Griffith J. Leonard remained with his parents until their death bestowing that care on them that was essential to their happiness is old age. Having by inheritance and cultivation obtained those hightoned traits of character that fitly qualified him for the practical duties of life as a good citizen, husband and father. His neighbors can all testify to his excellencies of character with pleasure. His children proved the excellencies of their parents.  Griffith Leonard was a superior order of intellect, had no opportunities of school la early life to improve his intellect. He was a self made man and had acquired a fine degree of practical and useful knowledge. A man of high toned moral principles not capable of condescending to any low degrading act under any circumstances. He was a true patriot through life, he fell from an unerring rifle shot of an Indian warrior on the furious battlefield of Talledega, Ala. in the year 1812. It pierced his neck and passed through, from which wound he recovered and lived to marry his [wife?] and bring up an excellent family. He also accumulated a good home, a good large tract of Tennessee best land for his amiable widow and children.

He leaves them as his parents left him viz, with high toned sense of moral training to qualify them for usefulness to society, themselves and their God. He died 1a the year 1864, being In the 77th year of his age. Thus ended the long and useful life of Griffith J. Leonard, leaving his amiable wife with a large family to care for at the end of a cruel war that had devastated nearly every ordinary contort of life, and in the midst of a helpless people as herself. Yet she by inheritance and education had a good stock of industry and economies to draw from. That she has brought up her excellent family is credit to herself and to her departed husband. She has demonstrated these excellent traits of character inherited from her parents end by education that so fitly qualified her for her duties as mother to her children and her labor has been crowned with success.

Nancy Porter was a daughter of Stephen and Sary Porter, born Jan. 10, 1818. They were the best of citizens, Iived up to those excellent rules of discipline that so eminently qualified them for usefulness in life to themselves, families, neighbors and their God. Stephen Porter’s excellent example will be remembered by his acquaintances with pleasure as long as their lives last. It affords me pleasure now to look back over half a century when Stephen Porter assembled his family and visiting neighbors around the family altar for prayer night and morning. His Godly influence was felt by his neighbors during life, and after death he was missed by all. He has gone to his reward of a good man. May his posterity emulate his worthy example.

Griffith’s War of 1812 pension and bounty land file contains further detailed information about his service and injuries during that war. On 1 August 1851, Griffith filed a bounty land claim in Marshall County that is preserved in this file. This document states that Griffith was aged 64 and living in Marshall County. It also notes he was a sergeant in Captain John Porter’s 1st Regiment of the Tennessee Militia under Col. J.K Wynn in the Creek War. He was drafted at Fayetteville, Tennessee, on 1 October 1813 and discharged at Fayetteville on 1 January 1814. The affidavit was signed by Griffith.

Another affidavit Griffith gave in Marshall County on 2 June 1855 is in the pension and bounty land file. This gives his age as 69 and states that he was a resident of Marshall County.  It further indicates that he was a 1st sergeant under Colonel John Porter in the 1st regiment of Col. John K. Wynn in the War with Great Britain and the Creek Indians of 1812-1815. He had made a bounty-land application for this service on 28 September 1850. Again, this document is signed Griffith Lenard.

A 4 July 1871 affidavit of Nancy Leonard in Marshall County found in the pension and bounty land file attests to her husband’s service. Nancy notes that Griffith was severely wounded on 8 November 1813 at Talladega, Alabama. She signs the affidavit Nancy E. Lenard. 

An affidavit provided by James Luna, an ensign in Griffith’s unit, on 4 September 1845 in Marshall County says that Griffith J. Leonard was a 1st sergeant in John Porter’s Company of West Tennessee Militia and served in the action against the Creeks from October 1813 to January 1814. He received a severe wound in his neck in the battle of Talladega on 9 November 1813, Luna states.

A biography of Griffith’s grandson Dr. John Norris Cowden also speaks of his grandfather Griffith J. Leonard’s War of 1812 service.[19]  Noting that John Norris Cowden was the son of Dr. John Cowden and Mary Hannah Leonard and was born in Marshall County, the biography states:

James Griffith Leonard, the father of Mrs. Cowden, was an intimate friend of General Andrew Jackson, under whom he served throughout the War of 1812, participating in the battle of Tishomingo [sic].

As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s biography of his uncle Griffith notes, Griffith was the son who remained at home with his parents Thomas and Hannah Leonard up to their deaths, and for this reason, his father willed the family homeplace and land to his son Griffith. Thomas Leonard’s will is transcribed and discussed in a previous posting noting that the will stipulates that Griffith was to care for his mother Hannah up to her death. Griffith and wife Nancy continued living in the old Leonard house up to their deaths, with Griffith leaving the homeplace to his son William Stephen (Bud) Leonard.

In an article published in the Fayetteville Observer in August 1908, John Bright speaks of a number of early settlers of Lincoln County, Tennessee, including Griffith James Leonard.[20] Bright notes that Griffith, whose wife was Nancy Porter, came to Lincoln County at an early date, settling north of Petersburg and leaving “a character of good citizenship, worthy of imitation by his posterity.” 

Griffith James Leonard was named for his maternal grandfather Griffith James, who moved from Washington County, Maryland, to Pendleton District, South Carolina, following his children who had settled there in the 1780s. Photos of Griffith James Leonard, his wife Nancy, and their son Samuel with Samuel’s family are found at the Ancestry tree of Dawn Leonard, “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree.”[21] The photo of Griffith is found at the head of this posting.

7. Colin Campbell Leonard, the seventh child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1791 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died between 16 June 1856 and 29 November 1859 in Jackson County, Arkansas. About 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, Colin married Jean Williams. As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s brief biography of his uncle Colin states, Colin’s wife Jean died and he then married a second time. Thomas D. Leonard appears not to have known the name of Colin’s second wife.

Thomas D. Leonard states the following about Colin Campbell Leonard:

Collin Campbell Leonard son of Thos, and Hannah Leonard was born in Maryland, brought up in South Carolina, married Miss Jean Williams of Tennessee about the year 1817. I have no knowledge of the Williams family. They had only two children, a daughter and a son. I am under the impression both children are dead. Aunt Jean died and Uncle Collin moved from Lincoln County to McNairy County West Tenn. He married the second time, had seven children by her. I met with two sons on the battle field of Perryville, Ky. I have no further knowledge of his family.

Uncle Collin was dissipated (drank) in early life. He was a good soldier in the Indian war of 1812 to 14. He was a true friend to friends and bitter enemy to his enemies. He possessed noble generous principles. His latter life was a steady habits. He became a member of the Methodist church and a preacher before death. His sons informed us that their father was dead. Nothing further is known of his family.

The 1850 federal census shows Colin with a woman in his household whose name is given by the census taker as Mary A.L. (or S.?) Collins, aged 28, born in Virginia.[22] The census lists Colin as a farmer aged 59 who was born in Tennessee. Also in the household are children Colin C., 12, Thomas C., 8, William R., 6, and Levi W., aged 1, all born in Tennessee.

It appears to me that Mary is Colin’s wife, and that the census taker has inadvertently assigned her the surname Collins because her husband is named Colin C. Leonard. At some point after this census enumeration was made, the family moved to Jackson County, Arkansas, where on 20 June 1855, a circuit course case of debt, Atrides Crow v. Collin C. Leonard, was filed.[23] On 16 June 1856, Colin’s property was attached by the sheriff due to a judgment in this case.[24]

On 29 November 1859, Mary Leonard married Cyrus Black in Jackson County, Arkansas.[25] The marriage record gives Mary’s age as 37, indicating an 1822 birth year. This matches the birth year of the Mary who is found in Colin Campbell’s household on the 1850 federal census and who appears to be mother of his sons Colin C., Thomas C., William R., and Levi W.

The federal census shows Cyrus and Mary Black living at Cache in Jackson County, Jacksonport post office.[26] Mary is aged 37 and born in Virginia — a match to the Mary found in Colin C. Leonard’s household in 1850.  Also in the household are Thomas, William, and Levi from Colin’s household on the 1850 census, all now with the surname Black, and daughters Nancy and Alfy Black, aged 8 and 4, who are likely also children of Colin C. Leonard. Nancy was born in Tennessee and Alfy (who is likely Alpha) in Arkansas. 

Colin Campbell Leonard was named for his uncle Colin Campbell, who married Mary Ann Leonard, sister of Thomas Leonard. For a discussion of documents showing Colin Campbell Leonard receiving permission to keep an ordinary at his father’s house in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and being charged in that county with assault and battery, see this previous posting.

8. Hannah Leonard, the eighth child and only daughter of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 10 January 1795 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 11 December 1886 at Petersburg in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, she married William Depriest Moore, son of David Dower Moore and Jane Depriest.

These dates were inscribed on Hannah’s tombstone in the Moore family cemetery outside Petersburg.[27] The stone is now broken into pieces, though William D. Moore’s stone remains intact and legible.

The War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file of William Depriest Moore and wife Hannah contains a 23 May 1878 document stating that Hannah was aged 82, née Leonard, living near Petersburg, and had married William D. Moore on 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee.[28] William, who was a Virginia native, served during this war as a private in Captain David Elliott’s Company, Kentucky Militia.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers an extensive reminiscence of his aunt Hannah and her husband William D. Moore:

Hannah Leonard married William D. Moore of Kentucky in the year 1827. He was a house painter and cabinet workman, equal to any of his day. He was a man of superior genius of mind, his natural endowments were above the average. He cultivated it to a general usefulness in practical science. He was a good farmer, fine judge of stock, which he had a fine taste for and cultivated successfully. He was truthful, honest, and reliable in every sense of the term. He accumulated a good living, raised a family of six children, viz Angeline, Thomas D., Alpha, Alitha, William C., Margaret, and Amanda. He died in November in 1855, leaving Hannah with a competency and with her most amiable of children to take care of her in old age, which duty they here performed, to credit to themselves and satisfaction to their aged mother, who still survives and is now 89 years of age, now living with her son-in-law and daughter, Jo. J. S. and Angelina Gill.

Hannah was the only daughter of Thomas and Hannah Leonard. Language fails me to portray the excellencies of this good woman neither can her neighbors or children do her justice. She has lived for seventy five years near where she now Ilves. Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals.  Right around Petersburg and cane Creek all of her age have gone across the river. She is left as a lone tree of the forest but must soon fall, and go to join her loved ones that have gone before and must follow after. She has an Inheritance awaiting her that is far better than anything she has ever realised on earth. I rejoice to know that kindred blood course my veins, that I can say she is my aunt, my father’s sister.  I rejoice to know she has left such a noble posterity that acted well their parts in life. I rejoice to know that I as their biographers of William D. and Hannah Moore gives me such pleasure to speak of their merits without a stain on their character. I rejoice to know that the hand and heart of their daughter[s] have been sought by the noblest sons of Tenn., also that their sons sought and obtained their equals in the daughters of Tennessee.

A portrait-photograph of Hannah Leonard and William Depriest Moore appears in a number of published sources and has recently been published online as their old Marshall County homeplace and farm have gone on the market for sale.[29] The portrait is featured along with photos of the farm and the Moore house in Amy Edmiston’s Pretty Old Places blog.[30]

[1] Thomas Dunlap Leonard, “Biography of the Leonards” (1883 manuscript now circulated as typescript; present whereabouts are not known). The 14 February 1777 date of birth is also stated in a lineage provided by Sarah Johnson Berliner to DAR: See NSDAR Lineage Book, vol. 93 (1912) p. 83; and Mary Smith Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas (New Orleans, 1979; repr. Greenville, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1994), apparently citing records filed by U.S. Daughters of 1812 Descendants.

[2] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas (Chicago: Lewis, 1893), pp. 721-3. This biography gives William’s middle name as Rinualdi. The “Anderson-Monroe Family Tree” at Ancestry maintained by weblady173 has a digital image of a page from a bible that appears to have belonged to one of William R. Leonard’s children, giving his middle name as Roden. This Ancestry tree also has a copy of an undated autobiography written by William R. Leonard near the end of his life, which appears not to have been finished and was transcribed by one of his children.

[3] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815 RG 94, file of Robert Lenard, available digitally at Fold3. Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas, states that Robert served in Captain Edwin S. Moore’s Company of Tennessee Volunteers.

[4] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas, pp. 721-3.

[5] Nacogdoches District Court Returns, files 54 and 58, available digitally at the website of Texas General Land Office.

[6] PeggyStrickland55, “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree,” Ancestry.

[7] 1850 federal census, Cherokee County, Texas, town of Rusk, p. 61 (dwelling/family 412, 31 October).

[8] The marriage is indexed in Ancestry’s database entitled South Carolina Marriage Index, 1641-1965, compiled by Hunting For Bears (2005). A specific date of marriage is not given in this database; this entry appears to be citing Georgia Genealogical Magazine, no. 60-61 (spring-summer 1976). Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s “Biography of the Leonards” also states that John Leonard married Hannah Fowler “about 1806.”

[9] 1830 federal census, Madison County, Alabama, p. 72A, showing John aged 40-49 (the surname is Linard here); and 1840 federal census, Limestone County, Alabama, p. 151A, showing John aged 50-59.

[10] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815, RG 94, file of John Lenard, available digitally at Fold3.

[11] See “16th Regiment, Mississippi Militia, War of 1812,” at WikiTree.

[12] Jackie Leonard is citing Limestone County, Alabama, Will Bk. 7, p. 333, which states that John Leonard was “dec’d. 14 Nov. 1846.” Because this will book is under lock and key in the digital files available at the FamilySearch site, I haven’t been able to access the original and obtain further information about this document.

[13] Limestone County, Alabama, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. 1847-1857, p. 136.

[14] Limestone County, Alabama, County Court Record Bk. 1830-1849, p. 422 mistakenly writing the year as 1847 and not as 1846.

[15] See Find a Grave memorial page of Hezekiah Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Donna B., maintained by Prairie Mary, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[16] Lincoln County, Tennessee, Will Bk. 1, p. 156-7. See also Frances T. Ingmire, Lincoln County, Tennessee, Wills, Inventories, and Miscellaneous, March 1809 – April 1824 (St. Louis, 1984), p. 8; and Helen C. and Timothy R. Marsh, Wills and Inventories of Lincoln County, Tennessee (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1989), p. 8.

[17] See Find a Grave memorial page of Griffith J. Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Louise Jenkins, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[18] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of Griffith J. Lenard, WC 15252, widow Nancy E., WO 25978, available digitally at Fold3. Nancy’s widow’s brief has a cover page stating that her maiden name was Nancy E. Porter and that she received certificate 15252 and bounty land warrants 56760-40-50 and 79828-12055. This cover pages also says that Griffith J. Leonard and Nancy Porter married in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on 7 April 1836, and that Nancy died 18 April 1910 at Petersburg, Tennessee.

[19] John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, Tennessee, the Volunteer State, 1769-1923, vol. 3 (Chicago: S.S. Clarke, 1923), pp. 238-241. See also this previous posting about Dr. John Norris Cowden.

[20] Fayetteville Observer (27 August 1908).

[21] Ancestry tree “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree, maintained by dawnleonard818. Photo of Griffith, of wife Nancy, and of son Samuel James Leonard with his family.

[22] 1850 federal census, Rutherford County, Tennessee, Gambrill district, p. 184 (dwelling/family 483, 30 September).

[23] Jackson County, Arkansas, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. B, pp. 544-5, 561.

[24] Jackson County, Arkansas, Deed Bk. G, pp. 32-5.

[25] Jackson County, Arkansas, Marriage Bk. I.

[26] 1850 federal census, Jackson County, Arkansas, Cache, Jacksonport post office, p. 610B (dwelling/family 1069; 7 August). Cyrus Black appears to have died by 17 December 1866, when Mary E.L. Black married Ephraim L. Hughey, a South Carolinian who came to Arkansas from Fayette County, Alabama, in Jackson County. Ephraim died in Jackson County on 4 May 1874 and the 1880 federal census for Jackson County shows Mary as the widow Hughey with her son Levi W. Leonard (this is his surname now, not Black) living next to her with his wife Mary Catherine Narrimore and their children.

[27] See Helen C. Marsh, Timothy R. Marsh, and Ralph D. Whitsell, Cemetery Records of Marshall County, Tennessee (Shelbyville, Tennessee: Marsh Historical Publishing, 1981), p. 253. The 10 January 1795 birthdate for Hannah also appears in Jane Wallace Alford, Revolutionary War Patriots of Marshall County, Tennessee (Lewisburg, Tennessee: Webb, 1976); in Gail Gill Sanders, “Joseph Jonathan S. and Angelina (Moore) Gill,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln Co. Heritage Committee (Waynesville, NC: Walsworth, 2005), p. 321; and in Adelaide Moore Moss, “William Depriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517. This birthdate for Hannah Leonard is also stated in DAR lineage reports submitted by Nancy Alford of the Robert Lewis chapter of Tennessee (DAR no. 537116) and of Mary Aletha Hathaway Dorsey of the Chief John Ross chapter (DAR no. 537605), both entering DAR as descendants of David Moore, father of William Depriest Moore.

[28] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of William D. Moore, , WC pension 17127 and WO pension 31237, available digitally at Fold3.

[29] See J. Lester Wolfe, “Thomas Leonard,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln County Heritage Committee (Waynesville, North Carolina: County Heritage, 2005), p. 414; and Adelaide Moore Moss, “William DePriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517, noting that Moss notes that William DePriest Moore and Hannah Leonard belonged to Union Grove Presbyterian church in Marshall County.

[30] Amy Edmiston, “The Moore Homestead,” Pretty Old Places.

Thomas Leonard (1752-1832) and Hannah James (1752-1842): Children Robert, Thomas, John, Hezekiah, Samuel, Griffith, Colin, and Hannah

Or, Subtitled: “Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals”

In three previous postings, I discussed the life of Thomas Leonard (1752-1832), son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard. I began with a look at the documents that chronicle his early years in Maryland, where he was born in the part of Frederick County that became Washington County in 1776, and where Thomas married Hannah, daughter of Griffith James, about 1775. I then looked at Thomas’ years in Pendleton District, South Carolina, to which he, his siblings, and their widowed mother Honor moved from Maryland by early 1786. I ended with an examination of documents following Thomas’ life in Lincoln (later Marshall) County, Tennessee, from 1808 up to his death in 1832. (Please click the numeral 2 below to read the continuation of this posting.)

In this posting, I’m going to provide a brief overview of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James. My goal is to document salient facts about each of these children, e.g., dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. There’s much more information to be found about each child. The following accounts of the children of Thomas and Hannah James Leonard are not exhaustive:

1. Robert Leonard, the first child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 14 February 1777 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 4 August 1844 at Rusk in Cherokee County, Texas. On 17 March 1807 in Abbeville County, South Carolina, Robert married Rachel Dunlap. These dates of birth, marriage, and death are provided by Robert and Rachel’s son Thomas Dunlap Leonard in his record of the family of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James written in 1883. This document, entitled “Biography of the Leonards,” has been discussed in previous postings (and here) noting that its present whereabouts are not known and that it has circulated among Leonard descendants as a typescript.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard records the following about his parents Robert Leonard and Rachel Dunlap:[1]

Robert was the oldest child, born in Maryland the 14th of Feb., 1777. Married Rachel, dau of Wm. Dunlap in Abbeville District of So Carolina on 17 Mar 1807. He moved with his father to Lincoln Co Tn and settled on Cane Creek half a mile above Petersburg. Subsequently moved to middle Alabama, settled in Perry Co where he lived from 1818 to 1824, lived there until 1840, then to Texas, settled in Cherokee Co. where he died on 4 Aug. 1844 in the 67th year of his age. He was a hatter by trade, also a farmer. His life was spent in usefulness to his neighbors, his country and his family, teaching his children the importance of industry, honesty, and truthfulness. At all times with his wife taught their children the importance of the Christian religion which all had embraced before their death, but two and they embraced since the death of their parents. Robert was truly a good man, good husband, good father, good citizen; he was my father and his wife Rachel, my mother. Language will fail me in attempting to portray her excellencies. She was brought up in the faith and membership of the Presbyterian Church and strictly adhered to their discipline in the government of her family, teaching them to observe the commandments of our Saviour.

She ruled her children in love and impressed on their minds at their earliest age those principles of love to God and love of His services, and to search his words of truth for their guide through life. She became convinced of the importance of immersion as baptism, when she was about 40 years of age, when she and her husband were buried with Christ in baptism in Flint River, Madison Co. Ala. She lived to see all of her children members of the Baptist Church, but two and they followed in her footsteps after her death. She died in Cherokee Co, Tx in the year 1862 in the 62nd year of her life and was buried by the side of her husband in the town of Rusk, Cherokee Co. Tx. after having spent a long life of usefulness, to her family, neighbors, and church. Thus ended the life of a God loving woman.

A previous posting explains why I think it’s likely that, following Thomas Leonard’s marriage to Hannah James about 1775, this couple lived at Sharpsburg in Washington County, where Hannah’s father Griffith James lived. If I’m correct in deducing this, then Thomas and Hannah’s son Robert and the three (or possibly four: see the notes below on Samuel) brothers born after him in Washington County were probably all born in Sharpsburg.

A biography of Robert’s son William R. Leonard (1822-1905) in Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas states that his father Robert Leonard was a soldier of the War of 1812 and served under Andrew Jackson at the battle of Horseshoe Bend.[2] His service papers show him serving under Colonel Robert Dyer in the Cavalry and Mounted Gunmen of Tennessee Volunteers.[3]

The biography of William R. Leonard also indicates that his father Robert Leonard moved about 1824 to Madison County, Alabama, where he lived on the Flint River nine miles east of Huntsville.[4] He then moved to Texas about 1840, according to this source, settling first in Nacogdoches County and then in Cherokee County, where he died in 1844, aged 67. A certificate for a Texas headright grant that Robert Leonard received on 4 March 1844 states that he arrived in Texas on 3 April 1840.[5] As a previous posting notes, Robert’s brother Thomas moved from Limestone County, Alabama, to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in June 1839, receiving a headright grant that fell into Cherokee County at that county’s formation in July 1845. In moving to this part of Texas in 1840, Robert Leonard was following in the footsteps of his brother Thomas.

At her “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree” at Ancestry, Peggy Strickland states,[6]

According to old hand written Leonard Family history, Rachel [Dunlap]’s Father brought Rachel and her two sisters from Ireland, their mother having died in Ireland when Rachel was three years old. Her Father had previously been to America and fought in the Revolutionary War, in which he lost one leg.

The 1850 federal census for Cherokee County, Texas, on which the widowed Rachel is shown living at Rusk, reports her birthplace as Ireland.[7]  A previous posting talks briefly about a Limestone County, Alabama, court case that ensued after Robert Leonard’s brother Thomas sold his homeplace in that county to their brother John Leonard in 1839 as Thomas prepared to move to Texas. The court case, James Birdwell, assignee, vs. John Linard, revolved around a promissory note for $500 that James Birdwell, who married Thomas Leonard’s daughter Aletha, claimed Thomas assigned to him when John paid him for his land. James alleged that the promissory note was given to Rachel, wife of Robert Leonard, for safekeeping. Robert and wife Rachel moved to Texas soon after Thomas moved his family there. John Leonard died in 1846 and James, who then died in 1849, claimed that Rachel had never delivered John’s $500 promissory note to Thomas Leonard to him.

As the first-born son of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James (and their first child), I think it’s likely Robert Leonard was given the name Robert after his paternal grandfather Robert Leonard.

2. Thomas Lewis Leonard, the second child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born in 1781 in Washington County, Maryland, and died in October 1870 in Cherokee County, Texas. About 1800 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Sarah M. Lauderdale, daughter of John Lauderdale and Milbury Mauldin. Sarah’s name is consistently written in documents with the middle initial M.; I suspect her full name was Sarah Mauldin Lauderdale, and that she was named for her grandmother Sarah, wife of John Mauldin.

Thomas is my direct ancestor, and I’ve provided extensive documentation in previous postings about his life in Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee, then about his years in Limestone County, Alabama (and here), and finally about his final years in Cherokee County, Texas.

3. John Leonard, the third child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born between 1781 and 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 14 November 1846 in Limestone County, Alabama. In 1806 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, he married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth Fowler.[8]

My reason for assigning John a birthdate of 1781-4 is as follows: in his discussion of the children of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, Thomas Dunlap Leonard indicates that John was the third child of Thomas and Hannah, born after his brother Thomas and prior to his brother Hezekiah. We know that Thomas Lewis Leonard was born in 1781, and as I’ll discuss below, the tombstone of Hezekiah Leonard shows his date of birth as 24 June 1784. So John was born between 1781 and June 1784. The 1830 and 1840 federal censuses confirm that he was born between 1780 and 1789.[9]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard states the following about John Leonard:

John Leonard married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua Fowler of So Carolina about 1806, moved to Madison Co., Ala, where he lived until 1838, when he moved to Limestone Co., Al, where he lived until death, which occurred about 1847 or 1848. Hannah, his wife, died in Madison Co. about 1828 or 1829. Their children were born near Madison Cross Roads in Madison Co. John lived through life as he had been reared up by his parents, a lover of all the ennobling virtues that constitute good child, a good husband, father and citizen. I was intimately acquainted with him, the last 20 years of his life. He was governed in all his actions through life from the noble principles of Christian spirit, truth and honesty was his motto. When I look back at the character of old acquaintances, John Leonard stands side by side with the best of citizens of old Madison Co. When I look back from my old age, my heart swells within me of love and admiration for the excellence of John Leonard. Aunt Hannah was truly his peer in all of the excellencies of wife, companion, mother and citizen. The character of her daughters prove the excellencies of the early training of the mother. Their deportment gives a better comment on the life and character of their mother than I can give.

In the War of 1812, John Leonard served in the 16th Regiment of Burrus’ Mississippi Militia.[10] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Burrus’ regiment was comprised for the most part of men living in or near Madison County, Mississippi Territory (later Alabama), which bordered on Lincoln County, Tennessee.[11] Also serving in Burrus’ militia was Robert Leonard’s first cousin Samuel Dean, son of Robert’s aunt Gwendolyn James and husband Samuel Dean, and Moses Birdwell, father of James Birdwell who married John Leonard’s niece Aletha, daughter of Thomas Lewis Leonard. Moses also had a daughter whose given name I haven’t found, who married a Lamb, and Alfred L. Lamb, a son of that couple, married John Leonard’s daughter Hannah A.E. Leonard.

John Leonard’s date of death is stated in a will book of Limestone County, Alabama, according to his descendant Jackie Leonard of Athens, Alabama.[12]Minutes of the Limestone County circuit court case James Birdwell assignee vs. George W. Fisher admr. of John Linard dec’d. state on 2 December 1846 that “the said John Linard hath departed this life intestate as we are informed” and that George W. Fisher was estate administrator.[13] Fisher was granted administration on 6 December 1846.[14]

4. Hezekiah Leonard, the fourth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 24 June 1784 in Washington County, Maryland, and died 27 March 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. These dates of birth and death are inscribed on his tombstone in the Leonard family cemetery at the old Thomas Leonard homestead just north of Petersburg, Marshall County, Tennessee.[15]

Thomas Dunlap Leonard says this about Hezekiah:

Hezekiah, a son of Thomas and Hannah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln Tenn. about the year 1816. He was grown not married.

Hezekiah left a nuncupative will in Lincoln County dated 27 March 1817.[16] The will, which was probated 5 May 1817, states that Hezekiah was in “his last sickness” and bequeaths Hezekiah’s property to his brother Griffith. It was witnessed by his brother Robert and cousin George, son of William Leonard.

5. Samuel Leonard, the fifth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1786 in either Washington County, Maryland, or Pendleton District, South Carolina. He died about 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. I estimate Samuel’s birthdate as about 1786 because Thomas Dunlap Leonard places him between his brother Hezekiah, who was born 24 June 1784, and his brother Griffith, who was born 26 September 1787. Since his parents moved from Maryland to Pendleton District, South Carolina, late in 1785 or early in 1786, I think he may have been born in either Maryland or South Carolina.

After having noted that Hezekiah Leonard died at the home of his parents in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in about 1816, Thomas Dunlap Leonard states:

Samuel at, and near the same time, he was just about grown.

I think it’s likely that Samuel is buried in the Leonard family cemetery, but I haven’t seen any transcription of a tombstone for him.

6. Griffith James Leonard, the sixth child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 26 September 1787 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 1 September 1864 in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 7 April 1836 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, he married Nancy Emmett Porter, daughter of Stephen and Mary Porter.

Griffith’s dates of birth and death are recorded on his tombstone in the family cemetery on Thomas Leonard’s old homestead just north of Petersburg, Tennessee.[17] Griffith’s date of death is also stated in an affidavit given by John Cowden and the widow Nancy in Marshall County on 22 August 1868; the affidavit is found in his War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file.[18] John Cowden was the husband of Mary Hannah Leonard, daughter of Griffith and Nancy Leonard. John and his mother-in-law Nancy state that Griffith was aged 73 when he died on 1 September 1864. Their affidavit also says that he refused to vote for secession in the vote held in Tennessee on 8 June 1861 and was consistently loyal to the Union though his son Samuel was a Confederate soldier.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers a fulsome remembrance of his uncle Griffith James Leonard and Griffith’s wife Nancy:

Griffith J. Leonard remained with his parents until their death bestowing that care on them that was essential to their happiness is old age. Having by inheritance and cultivation obtained those hightoned traits of character that fitly qualified him for the practical duties of life as a good citizen, husband and father. His neighbors can all testify to his excellencies of character with pleasure. His children proved the excellencies of their parents.  Griffith Leonard was a superior order of intellect, had no opportunities of school la early life to improve his intellect. He was a self made man and had acquired a fine degree of practical and useful knowledge. A man of high toned moral principles not capable of condescending to any low degrading act under any circumstances. He was a true patriot through life, he fell from an unerring rifle shot of an Indian warrior on the furious battlefield of Talledega, Ala. in the year 1812. It pierced his neck and passed through, from which wound he recovered and lived to marry his [wife?] and bring up an excellent family. He also accumulated a good home, a good large tract of Tennessee best land for his amiable widow and children.

He leaves them as his parents left him viz, with high toned sense of moral training to qualify them for usefulness to society, themselves and their God. He died 1a the year 1864, being In the 77th year of his age. Thus ended the long and useful life of Griffith J. Leonard, leaving his amiable wife with a large family to care for at the end of a cruel war that had devastated nearly every ordinary contort of life, and in the midst of a helpless people as herself. Yet she by inheritance and education had a good stock of industry and economies to draw from. That she has brought up her excellent family is credit to herself and to her departed husband. She has demonstrated these excellent traits of character inherited from her parents end by education that so fitly qualified her for her duties as mother to her children and her labor has been crowned with success.

Nancy Porter was a daughter of Stephen and Sary Porter, born Jan. 10, 1818. They were the best of citizens, Iived up to those excellent rules of discipline that so eminently qualified them for usefulness in life to themselves, families, neighbors and their God. Stephen Porter’s excellent example will be remembered by his acquaintances with pleasure as long as their lives last. It affords me pleasure now to look back over half a century when Stephen Porter assembled his family and visiting neighbors around the family altar for prayer night and morning. His Godly influence was felt by his neighbors during life, and after death he was missed by all. He has gone to his reward of a good man. May his posterity emulate his worthy example.

Griffith’s War of 1812 pension and bounty land file contains further detailed information about his service and injuries during that war. On 1 August 1851, Griffith filed a bounty land claim in Marshall County that is preserved in this file. This document states that Griffith was aged 64 and living in Marshall County. It also notes he was a sergeant in Captain John Porter’s 1st Regiment of the Tennessee Militia under Col. J.K Wynn in the Creek War. He was drafted at Fayetteville, Tennessee, on 1 October 1813 and discharged at Fayetteville on 1 January 1814. The affidavit was signed by Griffith.

Another affidavit Griffith gave in Marshall County on 2 June 1855 is in the pension and bounty land file. This gives his age as 69 and states that he was a resident of Marshall County.  It further indicates that he was a 1st sergeant under Colonel John Porter in the 1st regiment of Col. John K. Wynn in the War with Great Britain and the Creek Indians of 1812-1815. He had made a bounty-land application for this service on 28 September 1850. Again, this document is signed Griffith Lenard.

A 4 July 1871 affidavit of Nancy Leonard in Marshall County found in the pension and bounty land file attests to her husband’s service. Nancy notes that Griffith was severely wounded on 8 November 1813 at Talladega, Alabama. She signs the affidavit Nancy E. Lenard. 

An affidavit provided by James Luna, an ensign in Griffith’s unit, on 4 September 1845 in Marshall County says that Griffith J. Leonard was a 1st sergeant in John Porter’s Company of West Tennessee Militia and served in the action against the Creeks from October 1813 to January 1814. He received a severe wound in his neck in the battle of Talladega on 9 November 1813, Luna states.

A biography of Griffith’s grandson Dr. John Norris Cowden also speaks of his grandfather Griffith J. Leonard’s War of 1812 service.[19]  Noting that John Norris Cowden was the son of Dr. John Cowden and Mary Hannah Leonard and was born in Marshall County, the biography states:

James Griffith Leonard, the father of Mrs. Cowden, was an intimate friend of General Andrew Jackson, under whom he served throughout the War of 1812, participating in the battle of Tishomingo [sic].

As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s biography of his uncle Griffith notes, Griffith was the son who remained at home with his parents Thomas and Hannah Leonard up to their deaths, and for this reason, his father willed the family homeplace and land to his son Griffith. Thomas Leonard’s will is transcribed and discussed in a previous posting noting that the will stipulates that Griffith was to care for his mother Hannah up to her death. Griffith and wife Nancy continued living in the old Leonard house up to their deaths, with Griffith leaving the homeplace to his son William Stephen (Bud) Leonard.

In an article published in the Fayetteville Observer in August 1908, John Bright speaks of a number of early settlers of Lincoln County, Tennessee, including Griffith James Leonard.[20] Bright notes that Griffith, whose wife was Nancy Porter, came to Lincoln County at an early date, settling north of Petersburg and leaving “a character of good citizenship, worthy of imitation by his posterity.” 

Griffith James Leonard was named for his maternal grandfather Griffith James, who moved from Washington County, Maryland, to Pendleton District, South Carolina, following his children who had settled there in the 1780s. Photos of Griffith James Leonard, his wife Nancy, and their son Samuel with Samuel’s family are found at the Ancestry tree of Dawn Leonard, “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree.”[21] The photo of Griffith is found at the head of this posting.

7. Colin Campbell Leonard, the seventh child of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born about 1791 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died between 16 June 1856 and 29 November 1859 in Jackson County, Arkansas. About 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, Colin married Jean Williams. As Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s brief biography of his uncle Colin states, Colin’s wife Jean died and he then married a second time. Thomas D. Leonard appears not to have known the name of Colin’s second wife.

Thomas D. Leonard states the following about Colin Campbell Leonard:

Collin Campbell Leonard son of Thos, and Hannah Leonard was born in Maryland, brought up in South Carolina, married Miss Jean Williams of Tennessee about the year 1817. I have no knowledge of the Williams family. They had only two children, a daughter and a son. I am under the impression both children are dead. Aunt Jean died and Uncle Collin moved from Lincoln County to McNairy County West Tenn. He married the second time, had seven children by her. I met with two sons on the battle field of Perryville, Ky. I have no further knowledge of his family.

Uncle Collin was dissipated (drank) in early life. He was a good soldier in the Indian war of 1812 to 14. He was a true friend to friends and bitter enemy to his enemies. He possessed noble generous principles. His latter life was a steady habits. He became a member of the Methodist church and a preacher before death. His sons informed us that their father was dead. Nothing further is known of his family.

The 1850 federal census shows Colin with a woman in his household whose name is given by the census taker as Mary A.L. (or S.?) Collins, aged 28, born in Virginia.[22] The census lists Colin as a farmer aged 59 who was born in Tennessee. Also in the household are children Colin C., 12, Thomas C., 8, William R., 6, and Levi W., aged 1, all born in Tennessee.

It appears to me that Mary is Colin’s wife, and that the census taker has inadvertently assigned her the surname Collins because her husband is named Colin C. Leonard. At some point after this census enumeration was made, the family moved to Jackson County, Arkansas, where on 20 June 1855, a circuit course case of debt, Atrides Crow v. Collin C. Leonard, was filed.[23] On 16 June 1856, Colin’s property was attached by the sheriff due to a judgment in this case.[24]

On 29 November 1859, Mary Leonard married Cyrus Black in Jackson County, Arkansas.[25] The marriage record gives Mary’s age as 37, indicating an 1822 birth year. This matches the birth year of the Mary who is found in Colin Campbell’s household on the 1850 federal census and who appears to be mother of his sons Colin C., Thomas C., William R., and Levi W.

The federal census shows Cyrus and Mary Black living at Cache in Jackson County, Jacksonport post office.[26] Mary is aged 37 and born in Virginia — a match to the Mary found in Colin C. Leonard’s household in 1850.  Also in the household are Thomas, William, and Levi from Colin’s household on the 1850 census, all now with the surname Black, and daughters Nancy and Alfy Black, aged 8 and 4, who are likely also children of Colin C. Leonard. Nancy was born in Tennessee and Alfy (who is likely Alpha) in Arkansas. 

Colin Campbell Leonard was named for his uncle Colin Campbell, who married Mary Ann Leonard, sister of Thomas Leonard. For a discussion of documents showing Colin Campbell Leonard receiving permission to keep an ordinary at his father’s house in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and being charged in that county with assault and battery, see this previous posting.

8. Hannah Leonard, the eighth child and only daughter of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James, was born 10 January 1795 in Pendleton District, South Carolina, and died 11 December 1886 at Petersburg in Marshall County, Tennessee. On 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, she married William Depriest Moore, son of David Dower Moore and Jane Depriest.

These dates were inscribed on Hannah’s tombstone in the Moore family cemetery outside Petersburg.[27] The stone is now broken into pieces, though William D. Moore’s stone remains intact and legible.

The War of 1812 pension and bounty land application file of William Depriest Moore and wife Hannah contains a 23 May 1878 document stating that Hannah was aged 82, née Leonard, living near Petersburg, and had married William D. Moore on 1 July 1817 in Lincoln County, Tennessee.[28] William, who was a Virginia native, served during this war as a private in Captain David Elliott’s Company, Kentucky Militia.

Thomas Dunlap Leonard offers an extensive reminiscence of his aunt Hannah and her husband William D. Moore:

Hannah Leonard married William D. Moore of Kentucky in the year 1827. He was a house painter and cabinet workman, equal to any of his day. He was a man of superior genius of mind, his natural endowments were above the average. He cultivated it to a general usefulness in practical science. He was a good farmer, fine judge of stock, which he had a fine taste for and cultivated successfully. He was truthful, honest, and reliable in every sense of the term. He accumulated a good living, raised a family of six children, viz Angeline, Thomas D., Alpha, Alitha, William C., Margaret, and Amanda. He died in November in 1855, leaving Hannah with a competency and with her most amiable of children to take care of her in old age, which duty they here performed, to credit to themselves and satisfaction to their aged mother, who still survives and is now 89 years of age, now living with her son-in-law and daughter, Jo. J. S. and Angelina Gill.

Hannah was the only daughter of Thomas and Hannah Leonard. Language fails me to portray the excellencies of this good woman neither can her neighbors or children do her justice. She has lived for seventy five years near where she now Ilves. Saw Lincoln County when it was a cane brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals.  Right around Petersburg and cane Creek all of her age have gone across the river. She is left as a lone tree of the forest but must soon fall, and go to join her loved ones that have gone before and must follow after. She has an Inheritance awaiting her that is far better than anything she has ever realised on earth. I rejoice to know that kindred blood course my veins, that I can say she is my aunt, my father’s sister.  I rejoice to know she has left such a noble posterity that acted well their parts in life. I rejoice to know that I as their biographers of William D. and Hannah Moore gives me such pleasure to speak of their merits without a stain on their character. I rejoice to know that the hand and heart of their daughter[s] have been sought by the noblest sons of Tenn., also that their sons sought and obtained their equals in the daughters of Tennessee.

A portrait-photograph of Hannah Leonard and William Depriest Moore appears in a number of published sources and has recently been published online as their old Marshall County homeplace and farm have gone on the market for sale.[29] The portrait is featured along with photos of the farm and the Moore house in Amy Edmiston’s Pretty Old Places blog.[30]

[1] Thomas Dunlap Leonard, “Biography of the Leonards” (1883 manuscript now circulated as typescript; present whereabouts are not known). The 14 February 1777 date of birth is also stated in a lineage provided by Sarah Johnson Berliner to DAR: See NSDAR Lineage Book, vol. 93 (1912) p. 83; and Mary Smith Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas (New Orleans, 1979; repr. Greenville, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1994), apparently citing records filed by U.S. Daughters of 1812 Descendants.

[2] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas (Chicago: Lewis, 1893), pp. 721-3. This biography gives William’s middle name as Rinualdi. The “Anderson-Monroe Family Tree” at Ancestry maintained by weblady173 has a digital image of a page from a bible that appears to have belonged to one of William R. Leonard’s children, giving his middle name as Roden. This Ancestry tree also has a copy of an undated autobiography written by William R. Leonard near the end of his life, which appears not to have been finished and was transcribed by one of his children.

[3] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815 RG 94, file of Robert Lenard, available digitally at Fold3. Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas, states that Robert served in Captain Edwin S. Moore’s Company of Tennessee Volunteers.

[4] Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas, pp. 721-3.

[5] Nacogdoches District Court Returns, files 54 and 58, available digitally at the website of Texas General Land Office.

[6] PeggyStrickland55, “Leonard/Kellum/Hughes Family Tree,” Ancestry.

[7] 1850 federal census, Cherokee County, Texas, town of Rusk, p. 61 (dwelling/family 412, 31 October).

[8] The marriage is indexed in Ancestry’s database entitled South Carolina Marriage Index, 1641-1965, compiled by Hunting For Bears (2005). A specific date of marriage is not given in this database; this entry appears to be citing Georgia Genealogical Magazine, no. 60-61 (spring-summer 1976). Thomas Dunlap Leonard’s “Biography of the Leonards” also states that John Leonard married Hannah Fowler “about 1806.”

[9] 1830 federal census, Madison County, Alabama, p. 72A, showing John aged 40-49 (the surname is Linard here); and 1840 federal census, Limestone County, Alabama, p. 151A, showing John aged 50-59.

[10] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1812 – 1815, RG 94, file of John Lenard, available digitally at Fold3.

[11] See “16th Regiment, Mississippi Militia, War of 1812,” at WikiTree.

[12] Jackie Leonard is citing Limestone County, Alabama, Will Bk. 7, p. 333, which states that John Leonard was “dec’d. 14 Nov. 1846.” Because this will book is under lock and key in the digital files available at the FamilySearch site, I haven’t been able to access the original and obtain further information about this document.

[13] Limestone County, Alabama, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. 1847-1857, p. 136.

[14] Limestone County, Alabama, County Court Record Bk. 1830-1849, p. 422 mistakenly writing the year as 1847 and not as 1846.

[15] See Find a Grave memorial page of Hezekiah Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Donna B., maintained by Prairie Mary, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[16] Lincoln County, Tennessee, Will Bk. 1, p. 156-7. See also Frances T. Ingmire, Lincoln County, Tennessee, Wills, Inventories, and Miscellaneous, March 1809 – April 1824 (St. Louis, 1984), p. 8; and Helen C. and Timothy R. Marsh, Wills and Inventories of Lincoln County, Tennessee (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1989), p. 8.

[17] See Find a Grave memorial page of Griffith J. Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Louise Jenkins, with a tombstone photo by Jimmy Trout.

[18] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of Griffith J. Lenard, WC 15252, widow Nancy E., WO 25978, available digitally at Fold3. Nancy’s widow’s brief has a cover page stating that her maiden name was Nancy E. Porter and that she received certificate 15252 and bounty land warrants 56760-40-50 and 79828-12055. This cover pages also says that Griffith J. Leonard and Nancy Porter married in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on 7 April 1836, and that Nancy died 18 April 1910 at Petersburg, Tennessee.

[19] John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, Tennessee, the Volunteer State, 1769-1923, vol. 3 (Chicago: S.S. Clarke, 1923), pp. 238-241. See also this previous posting about Dr. John Norris Cowden.

[20] Fayetteville Observer (27 August 1908).

[21] Ancestry tree “Leonard/ Leonard/McLeod/Miller Family Tree, maintained by dawnleonard818. Photo of Griffith, of wife Nancy, and of son Samuel James Leonard with his family.

[22] 1850 federal census, Rutherford County, Tennessee, Gambrill district, p. 184 (dwelling/family 483, 30 September).

[23] Jackson County, Arkansas, Circuit Court Minutes Bk. B, pp. 544-5, 561.

[24] Jackson County, Arkansas, Deed Bk. G, pp. 32-5.

[25] Jackson County, Arkansas, Marriage Bk. I.

[26] 1850 federal census, Jackson County, Arkansas, Cache, Jacksonport post office, p. 610B (dwelling/family 1069; 7 August). Cyrus Black appears to have died by 17 December 1866, when Mary E.L. Black married Ephraim L. Hughey, a South Carolinian who came to Arkansas from Fayette County, Alabama, in Jackson County. Ephraim died in Jackson County on 4 May 1874 and the 1880 federal census for Jackson County shows Mary as the widow Hughey with her son Levi W. Leonard (this is his surname now, not Black) living next to her with his wife Mary Catherine Narrimore and their children.

[27] See Helen C. Marsh, Timothy R. Marsh, and Ralph D. Whitsell, Cemetery Records of Marshall County, Tennessee (Shelbyville, Tennessee: Marsh Historical Publishing, 1981), p. 253. The 10 January 1795 birthdate for Hannah also appears in Jane Wallace Alford, Revolutionary War Patriots of Marshall County, Tennessee (Lewisburg, Tennessee: Webb, 1976); in Gail Gill Sanders, “Joseph Jonathan S. and Angelina (Moore) Gill,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln Co. Heritage Committee (Waynesville, NC: Walsworth, 2005), p. 321; and in Adelaide Moore Moss, “William Depriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517. This birthdate for Hannah Leonard is also stated in DAR lineage reports submitted by Nancy Alford of the Robert Lewis chapter of Tennessee (DAR no. 537116) and of Mary Aletha Hathaway Dorsey of the Chief John Ross chapter (DAR no. 537605), both entering DAR as descendants of David Moore, father of William Depriest Moore.

[28] NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, compiled ca. 1871 – ca. 1900, documenting the period 1812 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of William D. Moore, , WC pension 17127 and WO pension 31237, available digitally at Fold3.

[29] See J. Lester Wolfe, “Thomas Leonard,” in Heritage of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ed. Lincoln County Heritage Committee (Waynesville, North Carolina: County Heritage, 2005), p. 414; and Adelaide Moore Moss, “William DePriest Moore,” in ibid., p. 517, noting that Moss notes that William DePriest Moore and Hannah Leonard belonged to Union Grove Presbyterian church in Marshall County.

[30] Amy Edmiston, “The Moore Homestead,” Pretty Old Places.

The Ascendents

Ancestry, Memory, Humanity, and the Upward Calling of the Living

We have been taught to say that we are descended from those who came before us.

The word is not wrong. It is genealogically useful. It traces the stream from the spring, the branch from the trunk, the child from the parent, the living from the dead. It tells us that we are not self-made, not self-originating, not isolated sparks floating in the void. We come from somewhere. We are carried into being by names, bloodlines, migrations, accidents, loves, wounds, prayers, hungers, wars, fields, fires, and forgotten hands.

Yet the word troubles me.

For to say that we are descended may also suggest a downward motion, as though we have fallen from some ancestral height. It can feel as if the past stands above us in solemn judgment, and we, the living, are merely the lower remainder: diminished copies, scattered seed, thin-blooded heirs of stronger people.

We speak of descent as if we are always coming down.

Down from the fathers.
Down from the mothers.
Down from the old country.
Down from Eden.
Down from glory.
Down from the dead.

But what if the truth is not only that we descend from them?

What if we ascend from them?

What if we are not the falling away of our ancestors, but their rising continuation?

What if we are the place where the buried become conscious, where the forgotten become remembered, where the unfinished become possible, where the dead are not merely behind us but beneath us — not as a weight dragging us downward, but as roots pressing life upward through the dark?

To be human is not simply to be descended.

To be human is to be ascendent.

Not ascendant in the arrogant sense. Not ascendant as empire is ascendant, not as a conqueror ascends a throne, not as a nation ascends by trampling another underfoot, not as wealth ascends by feeding upon the poor, not as the celebrated ascend by making the nameless disappear.

That is false ascendancy.

That is Babel.

That is the tower built upward by those who refuse to look downward at the bodies embedded in its bricks.

The ascendancy I mean is humbler, older, stranger, and holier. It is the rising of life from soil. It is the green blade through the graveyard. It is memory becoming mercy. It is grief becoming wisdom. It is ancestry becoming vocation.

We are not above our ancestors because we are better than they were.

We are above them because they are beneath us as foundation.

The child stands higher than the parent only because the parent has bent low.

The living stand higher than the dead only because the dead have become earth.

Every generation is lifted by those who are no longer visible.

This is the first doctrine of the Ascendents: we rise from what has been buried.

We rise from bodies and stories. We rise from names spoken and names erased. We rise from villages burned and fields planted. We rise from ships, cabins, kitchens, trenches, meetinghouses, reservations, prisons, refugee roads, hospital rooms, schoolhouses, barns, factories, cemeteries, and quiet beds where the dying whispered blessings no one wrote down.

We rise from all of it.

Not only from glory.
Not only from virtue.
Not only from noble sacrifice.

We rise also from sin.

This is what makes ascent morally dangerous.

For our ancestors do not hand us only wisdom. They hand us wounds. They do not give us only courage. They give us cowardice disguised as prudence, prejudice disguised as tradition, violence disguised as necessity, greed disguised as providence, silence disguised as peace.

To be ascendent is not to romanticize the past.

It is to redeem it by telling the truth.

A person who worships their ancestors remains trapped beneath them. A person who despises their ancestors cuts themselves off from their own roots. But a person who honors their ancestors truthfully becomes capable of rising.

Honor is not flattery.

Honor is not nostalgia.

Honor is the severe mercy of remembrance.

To honor those before us is to receive what was good, repent of what was evil, grieve what was broken, and carry forward what was unfinished.

We are the living edge of their becoming.

We are their unresolved sentence.

We are their prayer still traveling.

We are their question still being answered.

This means that the past is not dead in the simple way we imagine. It is not gone merely because the bodies are gone. The past continues to move through us as habit, language, land, fear, blood pressure, lullaby, recipe, doctrine, posture, accent, suspicion, hope, inheritance, and unexamined reflex.

History does not stay in books.

History enters the nervous system.

A war may end, yet its tremor continues in the children of the children of those who survived it. A displacement may be recorded as an event, yet the hunger for home may live for centuries. A massacre may be omitted from the official monument, yet the ground remembers. A church may repent in words while its architecture still faces the wrong direction. A family may never speak of grief, yet every child learns how to lower the voice around sorrow.

The dead are not silent.

They speak in us.

The question is whether we will listen.

The Ascendent is one who listens downward in order to live upward.

This is not ancestor worship. It is ancestor responsibility.

Nor is it progressivism in its shallow form. Progress, as commonly preached, often imagines time as a ladder on which the present naturally stands above the past. It assumes that because we come later, we must be wiser. This is foolishness. Chronology is not sanctification. The future can be more brutal than the past. Technology can amplify barbarism. A people may move forward in time while moving backward in soul.

No, ascent is not automatic.

Humanity does not rise merely by surviving.

We rise only when remembrance becomes transformation.

We rise when the grief of one generation becomes the compassion of the next.

We rise when the violence of one generation becomes the refusal of the next.

We rise when the silence of one generation becomes the testimony of the next.

We rise when the buried cries of the forgotten become the moral hearing of the living.

“The blood of your brother cries out from the ground.”

That ancient sentence is the foundation of all history.

The ground is not mute. The earth is not neutral. Soil is archive. Dust is witness. Every field has its dead. Every town has its omitted chapter. Every nation has its sanctified lie. Every family has its locked room. Every monument has a shadow. Every victory has a graveyard of the unnamed.

The Ascendent does not merely ask, “Who were my ancestors?”

The Ascendent asks, “Whose blood is beneath my feet?”

Not because guilt is the final word.

Guilt alone can paralyze. Shame alone can distort. Accusation alone can become another form of vanity, where the living make themselves dramatic by endlessly displaying the wounds of the dead.

The purpose of remembering is not to become impressive in our sorrow.

The purpose of remembering is to become faithful in our living.

To be ascendent is to understand that I am not an isolated self. I am a crossing point. I am a confluence. I am made of many streams, some clear, some polluted, some holy, some poisoned, all meeting in the temporary river of my life.

My task is not to pretend the waters are pure.

My task is to help them run cleaner through me.

This may be the deepest meaning of repentance: not self-hatred, but generational purification. Not the rejection of one’s people, but the healing of what one has received from them. Not a descent into despair, but an ascent into truth.

Repentance is how ancestry becomes possibility.

Without repentance, inheritance becomes repetition.

Without remembrance, repentance becomes vague.

Without love, remembrance becomes accusation.

Without courage, love becomes sentiment.

The Ascendent must hold all four together: remembrance, repentance, love, and courage.

Only then can the past become seed rather than chain.

There is also a personal meaning here.

Each of us carries within ourselves earlier selves. The child, the adolescent, the wounded one, the ambitious one, the ashamed one, the hopeful one, the foolish one, the frightened one, the one who failed, the one who survived. We often speak as if we have descended from those selves into disappointment. We look back and say, “I was once more alive. I was once more promising. I was once closer to what I might have been.”

But perhaps we also ascend from our former selves.

Perhaps every earlier self, even the embarrassed and broken ones, is part of the root system.

I rise from the child who dreamed.

I rise from the young person who misunderstood.

I rise from the failure that humbled me.

I rise from the wound that opened me.

I rise from the grief that deepened me.

I rise from the fear that taught me how much I needed grace.

Nothing is wasted if it can be transfigured.

This does not mean everything was good. Some things were evil. Some things should not have happened. Some wounds are not secret blessings. Some suffering does not ennoble; it damages. Some losses remain losses.

But even what cannot be justified may still be gathered.

Even what cannot be called good may still be refused the final word.

The Ascendent does not say, “All things were good.”

The Ascendent says, “Even here, I will rise.”

Not by denial.

By truth.

Not by domination.

By integration.

Not by forgetting.

By carrying.

This is why ascent is not escape. It is not floating away from the earth into disembodied purity. True ascent is rooted ascent. The tree rises because it goes down. The mountain ascends because it is grounded. The resurrected body still bears scars.

Any spirituality that rises by abandoning the wounded is not ascent but evasion.

Any politics that rises by erasing the poor is not ascent but conquest.

Any theology that rises by despising the body is not ascent but contempt.

Any family story that rises by silencing the inconvenient dead is not ascent but propaganda.

The true Ascendent rises with scars visible.

This is where humanity stands.

We are a species that has learned to fly but not yet learned to kneel. We have ascended into the air, into orbit, into code, into machines of astonishing power, yet our moral imagination often remains tribal, fearful, acquisitive, and easily bewitched by idols. We can split the atom and still cannot share bread. We can map the genome and still cannot honor the stranger. We can remember data forever and forget the dead almost instantly.

So the question is not whether humanity is technologically ascendant.

The question is whether humanity is morally ascendent.

Will we rise from our ancestors or merely repeat them with better tools?

Will we carry forward their wisdom or only refine their weapons?

Will we remember the forgotten or continue to build monuments to the victorious?

Will we become more human, or only more powerful?

The Ascendents are not those who dominate history.

They are those who redeem memory.

They are the ones who refuse to let the common dead remain common in the sense of disposable. They remember the foot soldier beside the general, the farmer beside the statesman, the Indigenous village beneath the colonial map, the mother beneath the family name, the enslaved beneath the plantation ledger, the child beneath the statistic, the refugee beneath the border argument, the prisoner beneath the ideology, the enemy beneath the uniform.

They understand that every human being is an ancestor of the future.

This is a terrifying thought.

How will the future ascend from us?

What soil are we becoming?

Will our lives be root or rubble?

Will those who come after us have to heal from us, or will they be strengthened by us?

Surely both.

We too will hand down contradiction. We too are mixed. We too are capable of tenderness and harm, courage and cowardice, insight and blindness. The Ascendent is not pure. The Ascendent is accountable.

Perhaps that is the most we can ask of any generation: not purity, but accountability; not perfection, but faithful transformation; not innocence, but the courage to become better ancestors.

To be an Ascendent, then, is to live with one’s face turned in two directions.

One face turns downward toward the dead and says:

I remember you.
I receive you.
I grieve you.
I forgive what can be forgiven.
I name what must be named.
I will not pretend you were gods.
I will not pretend you were monsters only.
I will carry what was holy.
I will heal what was harmed.
I will not let your suffering vanish.
I will not let your sins rule me.

The other face turns upward toward the unborn and says:

I am trying.
I am unfinished.
I am clearing what I can.
I am planting what I may never see.
I am refusing some inheritance so you need not bear it.
I am preserving some inheritance so you may be nourished by it.
I am becoming soil for your rising.

This is the holy middle place of the living.

We are between the buried and the unborn.

We are the narrow bridge of breath between memory and hope.

We are the Ascendents.

Not because we have arrived.

Because we are called upward.

Not upward away from the world, but upward into fuller humanity.

Upward into mercy.

Upward into truth.

Upward into responsibility.

Upward into reconciliation.

Upward into the difficult radiance of becoming worthy of the dead.

And perhaps this is why the dead haunt us.

They do not haunt us merely because they are restless.

They haunt us because we are.

They haunt us because something in them remains unfinished in us. They haunt us because the lie has not yet been confessed, the grave has not yet been marked, the name has not yet been spoken, the wound has not yet become wisdom, the inheritance has not yet become blessing.

The haunting is not only terror.

It is vocation.

The dead rise in us so that we may rise from them.

And if we listen closely enough, beneath every field, beneath every town, beneath every family tree, beneath every national myth, beneath every human triumph, there is a murmuring from the ground. It is not only accusation. It is not only lament. It is also invitation.

Remember us.

Tell the truth.

Rise better.

Become what we could not.

Carry us toward the light.

So let us no longer say only that we are descended.

Let us say also that we are ascended from.

Ascended from dust.
Ascended from grief.
Ascended from labor.
Ascended from women whose names were not recorded.
Ascended from men who did not know how to speak their sorrow.
Ascended from children who died too soon.
Ascended from migrants, prisoners, farmers, singers, sinners, saints, cowards, prophets, fools, and friends.
Ascended from the blood that cried out.
Ascended from the prayers that rose before us.
Ascended from the earth that holds us all.

And let us become, for those who follow, not a ceiling but a root.

Not a burden but a blessing.

Not a curse but a calling.

Not the final height, but one more living terrace on the long climb of mercy.

For humanity is not yet finished.

We are still rising.

We are still being judged by the dead.

We are still being summoned by the unborn.

We are still becoming the answer to our ancestors’ unanswered prayers.

We are The Ascendents.

Why Japan’s indigenous Jōmon women preferred “immigrant” Yayoi men

https://medium.com/@sensmedia.srl/why-japans-indigenous-j%C5%8Dmon-women-preferred-immigrant-yayoi-men-a07c039984e0
#history #ancientworld #ancienthistory #japan #languages #ancestry #migration

Why Japan’s indigenous Jōmon women preferred “immigrant” Yayoi men

https://medium.com/@sensmedia.srl/why-japans-indigenous-j%C5%8Dmon-women-preferred-immigrant-yayoi-men-a07c039984e0
#history #ancientworld #ancienthistory #japan #languages #ancestry #migration

Did you know Epstein's name & ancestors come from a town in #Germany?

It's even called Eppstein!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein

They even had "nobles" - the Lords of Eppstein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Eppstein

Wonder if they were also pedos? But I guess back then it was a common thing for nobles to be...

Just some of that #Epstein- #Etymology - #Trivia 🤷

#JeffreyEpstein #EpsteinFiles #Epstein #History #Random #Wikipedia #Wiki #Genealogy #Nobility #Ancestry #historical #weird

Did you know Epstein's name & ancestors come from a town in #Germany?

It's even called Eppstein!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein

They even had "nobles" - the Lords of Eppstein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Eppstein

Wonder if they were also pedos? But I guess back then it was a common thing for nobles to be...

Just some of that #Epstein- #Etymology - #Trivia 🤷

#JeffreyEpstein #EpsteinFiles #Epstein #History #Random #Wikipedia #Wiki #Genealogy #Nobility #Ancestry #historical #weird

Did you know Epstein's name & ancestors come from a town in #Germany?

It's even called Eppstein!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein

They even had "nobles" - the Lords of Eppstein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Eppstein

Wonder if they were also pedos? But I guess back then it was a common thing for nobles to be...

Just some of that #Epstein- #Etymology - #Trivia 🤷

#JeffreyEpstein #EpsteinFiles #Epstein #History #Random #Wikipedia #Wiki #Genealogy #Nobility #Ancestry #historical #weird

Did you know Epstein's name & ancestors come from a town in #Germany?

It's even called Eppstein!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein

They even had "nobles" - the Lords of Eppstein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Eppstein

Wonder if they were also pedos? But I guess back then it was a common thing for nobles to be...

Just some of that #Epstein- #Etymology - #Trivia 🤷

#JeffreyEpstein #EpsteinFiles #Epstein #History #Random #Wikipedia #Wiki #Genealogy #Nobility #Ancestry #historical #weird

Did you know Epstein's name & ancestors come from a town in #Germany?

It's even called Eppstein!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein

They even had "nobles" - the Lords of Eppstein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Eppstein

Wonder if they were also pedos? But I guess back then it was a common thing for nobles to be...

Just some of that #Epstein- #Etymology - #Trivia 🤷

#JeffreyEpstein #EpsteinFiles #Epstein #History #Random #Wikipedia #Wiki #Genealogy #Nobility #Ancestry #historical #weird

#geniatip : Nutze die #metasuche von genealogy.net des @blog .

Bei mir hat es gedauert, bis ich die Mächtigkeit dieses #Tool​s erkannt habe. Mit einer #Suche über alle #ofb, dazu #gedbas #grabsteinProjekt #verlustlisten #passagierlisten #sterbebilder #auswanderer #zufallsfunde - alles was das #genealogie - Herz begehrt. Sicherlich eine interessante #Alternative zu #Ahnenforschung​s-#Portal​en wie #familysearch #myheritage #ancestry #findmypast #findagrave & Co.

#Genealogy #FamilyHistory

Konferenz Wien 2025: Digitise.Transform.Inspire

https://www.compgen.de/2025/09/konferenz-wien-2025-digitise-transform-inspire/

#geniatip : #Deutsch​e #Kolonisten - die #Webseite von Jutta #Rzdadkowski über #Migranten aus #Süddeutschland:

https://deutsche-kolonisten.de/start/willkommen/

Die #Datenbank enthält #Information​en über 180.000 #Person​en zum Teil mit #Scan​s der entsprechenden Einträge im #Kirchenbuch

Lohnend auch ein Blick ins #Inhaltsverzeichnis mit Verweis auf viele interessante #Blog​beiträge über #Auswanderer nach #USA #Russland #Ukraine #Georgien #Polen

#Genealogy #Genialogie #Ahnenforschung #familyhistory #Ancestry

#geniatip : #Deutsch​e #Kolonisten - die #Webseite von Jutta #Rzdadkowski über #Migranten aus #Süddeutschland:

https://deutsche-kolonisten.de/start/willkommen/

Die #Datenbank enthält #Information​en über 180.000 #Person​en zum Teil mit #Scan​s der entsprechenden Einträge im #Kirchenbuch

Lohnend auch ein Blick ins #Inhaltsverzeichnis mit Verweis auf viele interessante #Blog​beiträge über #Auswanderer nach #USA #Russland #Ukraine #Georgien #Polen

#Genealogy #Genialogie #Ahnenforschung #familyhistory #Ancestry

#geniatip : #Deutsch​e #Kolonisten - die #Webseite von Jutta #Rzdadkowski über #Migranten aus #Süddeutschland:

https://deutsche-kolonisten.de/start/willkommen/

Die #Datenbank enthält #Information​en über 180.000 #Person​en zum Teil mit #Scan​s der entsprechenden Einträge im #Kirchenbuch

Lohnend auch ein Blick ins #Inhaltsverzeichnis mit Verweis auf viele interessante #Blog​beiträge über #Auswanderer nach #USA #Russland #Ukraine #Georgien #Polen

#Genealogy #Genialogie #Ahnenforschung #familyhistory #Ancestry

#geniatip : #Deutsch​e #Kolonisten - die #Webseite von Jutta #Rzdadkowski über #Migranten aus #Süddeutschland:

https://deutsche-kolonisten.de/start/willkommen/

Die #Datenbank enthält #Information​en über 180.000 #Person​en zum Teil mit #Scan​s der entsprechenden Einträge im #Kirchenbuch

Lohnend auch ein Blick ins #Inhaltsverzeichnis mit Verweis auf viele interessante #Blog​beiträge über #Auswanderer nach #USA #Russland #Ukraine #Georgien #Polen

#Genealogy #Genialogie #Ahnenforschung #familyhistory #Ancestry

#Ancestry has put the data from #RootsWeb Family Trees into an index collection, that's searchable for free (registration required). It contains no family connection, no sources and only years, which seems pretty useless. #GEDBAS from @CompGen is a lot more helpful, doesn't collect your personal data and sometimes even contains sources.
(thanks to @renerpho for sharing about ancestry).
#genealogy

#Ancestry has put the data from #RootsWeb Family Trees into an index collection, that's searchable for free (registration required). It contains no family connection, no sources and only years, which seems pretty useless. #GEDBAS from @CompGen is a lot more helpful, doesn't collect your personal data and sometimes even contains sources.
(thanks to @renerpho for sharing about ancestry).
#genealogy

#Rasputin was known for his affairs + #ViktorProlubshikov, claimed to be the result of one of them. "My great grandmother was Rasputin's maid. I think she sinned with him.". Viktor also claimed to have Rasputin's healing abilities. A Russian talk show organised a meeting between Laurance Solofioff, Rasputin’s great-granddaughter + her alleged half-uncle. A DNA test proved inconclusive tho there was evidence that they shared a distant relative

#russianhistory #russia #ancestry

Rasputin's Children - Dmitri + Varvara

Dmitri, his mother and his family were eventually exciled to the north where the entire family died of dysentery.

Varvara lived in poverty, unable to accumulate the funds to join her sister. She contracted tuberculosis, then typhus, passing away alone in Moscow in 1925.

1) Maria, Dimitri, + Varvara
2) Varvara
3) Dmitri with his mother, wife and maid
#rasputin #rasputinschildren #dmitrirasputin #varvararasputin #russianhistory #russia #ancestry

Rasputin's Children - Maria

Grigori #Rasputin, Russian mystic, faith healer had 3 children that survived to adulthood: Matrena (Maria), Dmitri (Mitya) + Varvara.

Maria was the only one to escape Russia, having married an admirer of her father's, the couple fled through Asia to Europe. Maria took dancing lessons in excile, becoming a cabaret performer, then a circus act + finally, a lion tamer - until an attack by a bear ended her career.
#mariarasputina #russianhistory #russia #ancestry

#Ancestry has released 58,000 #nonconformist records for #Hampshire, #England #genealogy @geneadons @genealogy #genchat

#Minnesota must put #equalrights on the #ballot. #Discrimination is not a Minnesota #value

Proposed #EqualRightsAmendment Protects regardless of #race, #color, #ancestry, #nationalorigin, #disability, or #sex — #including #reproductivefreedom and #genderexpression

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Minnesota #Politics #Progress #Conservatives #Extremism #Fascism #RepublicanParty #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Genocide #Discrimination #Transphobia #ThePartyOfHate

https://sahanjournal.com/community-voices/equal-rights-amendment-ballot-minnesota/

#Minnesota must put #equalrights on the #ballot. #Discrimination is not a Minnesota #value

Proposed #EqualRightsAmendment Protects regardless of #race, #color, #ancestry, #nationalorigin, #disability, or #sex — #including #reproductivefreedom and #genderexpression

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Minnesota #Politics #Progress #Conservatives #Extremism #Fascism #RepublicanParty #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Genocide #Discrimination #Transphobia #ThePartyOfHate

https://sahanjournal.com/community-voices/equal-rights-amendment-ballot-minnesota/

Cover image: sleeping whales.

@[email protected]

Other things: #family #altcountry #americana #bebop #carribeanmusic #hardbop #folkmusic #jazz #jazzfusion #latinjazz #R&B #rnb #Rock #rnr #R&R #russianhistory #russianliterature #comedy #disasterfilms #seriousfilms #film #demography #ethnography #archeology #asianfood #politicalphilosophy #highfidelity #coffee #whiskey #darkbeer #aperitifs #jujugum #deescalation #comparativereligion #historyofreligion #ancestry #lettingpeoplealone #nature #aesthetics

Cover image: sleeping whales.

@[email protected]

Other things: #family #altcountry #americana #bebop #carribeanmusic #hardbop #folkmusic #jazz #jazzfusion #latinjazz #R&B #rnb #Rock #rnr #R&R #russianhistory #russianliterature #comedy #disasterfilms #seriousfilms #film #demography #ethnography #archeology #asianfood #politicalphilosophy #highfidelity #coffee #whiskey #darkbeer #aperitifs #jujugum #deescalation #comparativereligion #historyofreligion #ancestry #lettingpeoplealone #nature #aesthetics

Cover image: sleeping whales.

@[email protected]

Other things: #family #altcountry #americana #bebop #carribeanmusic #hardbop #folkmusic #jazz #jazzfusion #latinjazz #R&B #rnb #Rock #rnr #R&R #russianhistory #russianliterature #comedy #disasterfilms #seriousfilms #film #demography #ethnography #archeology #asianfood #politicalphilosophy #highfidelity #coffee #whiskey #darkbeer #aperitifs #jujugum #deescalation #comparativereligion #historyofreligion #ancestry #lettingpeoplealone #nature #aesthetics

Cover image: sleeping whales.

@[email protected]

Other things: #family #altcountry #americana #bebop #carribeanmusic #hardbop #folkmusic #jazz #jazzfusion #latinjazz #R&B #rnb #Rock #rnr #R&R #russianhistory #russianliterature #comedy #disasterfilms #seriousfilms #film #demography #ethnography #archeology #asianfood #politicalphilosophy #highfidelity #coffee #whiskey #darkbeer #aperitifs #jujugum #deescalation #comparativereligion #historyofreligion #ancestry #lettingpeoplealone #nature #aesthetics

Cover image: sleeping whales.

@[email protected]

Other things: #family #altcountry #americana #bebop #carribeanmusic #hardbop #folkmusic #jazz #jazzfusion #latinjazz #R&B #rnb #Rock #rnr #R&R #russianhistory #russianliterature #comedy #disasterfilms #seriousfilms #film #demography #ethnography #archeology #asianfood #politicalphilosophy #highfidelity #coffee #whiskey #darkbeer #aperitifs #jujugum #deescalation #comparativereligion #historyofreligion #ancestry #lettingpeoplealone #nature #aesthetics

I'm inching my way toward new podcast episodes. In the meantime, please subscribe to my #YouTube channel. You'll find all of my #podcast episodes, with #captioned for the hearing impaired. If you find a video that ISN'T captioned, let me know. You'll get a surprise from my #Zazzle shop!

It's the only place to see numerous #videos that show how to complete tasks in #Ancestry & #FamilySearch. It's like having me right over your shoulder.
https://ancestorsalivegenealogy.com/youtube-please-subscribe/

#Gitanmaax Band & Tait requested #MétisCommission #clarify Mia’s connection to #RedRiver #Métis , a connection that according to Tait, was never disclosed in court. So far, neither Gitanmaax Band nor Tait have received a response.

In a letter dated February 15th, 2023 to Mitzi Dean, #MCFD , the #MétisNation #BritishColumbia stated they are “in full support” of Tait, with there being “no #verifiable #documented trace in [Mia’s] paternal line of any Métis #ancestry .”

https://indiginews.com/news/a-custody-battle-raises-the-stakes-for-indigenous-identity-claims

I visited this tiny little church at Orlestone in Kent yesterday, very rural and no village to speak of, but where some of my maternal Wood/Jenner ancestors were baptised, married and buried, before my 3xg grandmother Louisa Wood moved to Rye in Sussex in the 1850s, married James Barham and raised their family there, including my 2xg grandmother Eliza
#Photography #Genealogy #Ancestry #Kent #Sussex #RomneyMarsh #Rye

So, I wrote a bio and #introduction that was accurate but vanilla. Here’s some detail: #Family,#AltCountry,#Americana,#Bebop,#CarribeanMusic,#HardBop,#FolkMusic,#JazzFusion,#LatinJazz,#RnB,#RnR,#RussianHistory,#RussianLiterature,#Comedy,#DisasterFilms,#SeriousFilms,#Demography,#Ethnography,#Archeology,#AsianFood,#PoliticalPhilosophy,#HighFidelity,#Coffee,#Whiskey,#DarkBeer,#Aperitifs,#JujuGum,#Deescalation,#ComparativeReligion,#HistoryOfReligion,#Ancestry,#LettingPeopleAlone,#Nature,#Aesthetics