Until recently, not a great deal was known about Sarah Hickerson who married Daniel Vannoy in Wilkes County, NC, on October 2, 1779.

I always thought that it was odd that neither Sarah’s father, Charles Hickerson, nor her oldest brother, David Hickerson, signed her marriage bond. Maybe that makes more sense now.

Did her family disapprove of this marriage? Did they know something we don’t, or that she didn’t?

Was Sarah head over heels in love with Daniel, blinding her to common sense, or something else?

Were they too much alike, or a bad influence on each other?

Did Sarah have a premonition – a niggling nagging feeling that she tried to ignore and push to the back of her mind where it would eventually rear its ugly dragon head, along with the rest of its body?

Until recently, I thought the problems between Daniel and Sarah’s family began about the time her father died without a will, sometime between 1790 and 1793, when her mother, Mary Lytle Hickerson, died with a cryptic nuncupative will that did not mention Sarah by name.

Mary left some things to individuals specifically, then only says that “all the balance of my property to be equally divided amongst my daughters.”

I also thought that Sarah was pretty much a silent wallflower.

I was very, very wrong. Even quiet people, when pushed too far, eventually find their voice.

Let the Feuding Begin

Let the feuding begin. Except – it had already begun before Sarah’s marriage.

Not only was Daniel Vannoy all too familiar with the court, nearly a year before their marriage, Samuel Steward/Stewart aka Hickerson, aka Little/Lytle, aka Little D. Hickerson, Sarah’s nephew, sued Daniel in November 1778 for slander. And yes, I’m positive that all of those names are the same person because the court documents over the years say so.

I’m not surprised that Sarah’s family was opposed to their marriage, given that court documents tell us that Daniel and Samuel were still feuding in September of 1781. It makes me wonder about their attraction to each other, and the courtship, all things considered. Having said that, the Hickerson family engaged in more than their own fair share of feuding, so I’m not implying “fault” on either side here.

The pace accelerated, and the feuds and court cases came fast and furious after the deaths of Sarah’s parents – but that’s not all…

New Information Surfaces

Information about Daniel Vannoy was spotty and piecemeal until recently, when a newly-discovered document in the NC Archives, plus the new full-text AI search at FamilySearch, facilitated finding MANY previously unknown interactions, fleshing out his life substantially.

However, we knew even less about Sarah. That’s typical for the time period, because women didn’t serve on juries nor work on road crews. They were seldom in court records. Until 1850, unless they were the head of household, they weren’t recorded by name in the census either, so we must do a lot of inferring.

You might want to read the article, Sarah Hickerson (1752-1760 – before 1820), Silent Member of a Feuding Family, before moving on to our new information here. Even if you’re not particularly interested in Sarah herself, trust me on this one – Daniel and Sarah’s story puts soap operas to shame. I literally had to make a dance card to keep track of who sued who, and who testified for, or against, whom, in which trials. Sarah was only mentioned occasionally in what I had found earlier.

That’s been remedied, in spades, now.

Sarah, it turns out, was notorious in her own right! And I’m sure we’ve only discovered a tiny sliver of her story.

Based on court cases involving her husband, Daniel, it seems that life was always tense and dicey in the Hickerson family, probably stemming from a wide variety of sources. The common thread running through everything is that the Hickersons seem to fight with each other and anyone else who had the bad luck to cross them. Turns out, Sarah wasn’t silent at all. Not one bit.

In fact, Sarah had a LOT of spunk – unheard of, literally, in the day and time in which she lived. I admire her bravery.

Sarah was a VERY spicy woman!

I would not want to be on the wrong side of that equation.

Unraveling

Before these new records were unveiled, we had indirect evidence that Sarah’s life may have been unraveling. Little hints that may or may not have meant anything, at least not individually.

For example, she and Daniel moved to far western Wilkes County, the part that would eventually become Ashe County. Then, following several lawsuits, Daniel sold their land, but doesn’t purchase more. After 1795, he never appears on a tax list again.

He’s also missing on the tax list for a few years intermittently before that, which is very odd.

While I chalked all of this up to “early records,” the combination of so much that was “unusual” was beginning to be a pattern and not an anomaly.

Something was going on, but what?

Sued!!

Our spunky Sarah sued Daniel!

What courage this must have taken.

To the sheriff of Wilkes County, Greetings. You are hereby commanded to take the body of Daniel Vannoy if to be found in your county and him safely keep so that you have him before the justices of the county court of pleas and quarter sessions…on the fourth Monday of January to answer Sarah Vannoy, wife of said Daniel Vannoy in a pleas of trespass on the case. To her damage 500 pounds [illegible]…

Dated the 4^th Monday of October 1786.

What the heck is going on?

Trespass?

How could Sarah exclude Daniel from someplace where he lived and had as much right to be as she did? And this in a time and place where there was no recourse for domestic violence or other similar offenses? Married women couldn’t even own property in their own right. Women, literally, had no rights separate from their husbands, so how could she sue him? Is “trespass” here code for something else, unsaid?

Were they living separately? If so, how could she support herself and her small children? That was almost an impossible scenario, and is why newly widowed women remarried so quickly. It had little to do with love and a lot to do with survival. Plus, the new husband would own all of the goods of the former husband, so the widow came with benefits.

There’s a 1787 tax list that tells us that Daniel and Sarah were living together.

Whatever happened, it must have been quite egregious for the court to allow the 1786 suit. And the court didn’t just summon Daniel to appear, while legally rolling their eyes at Sarah, they ordered him taken into custody. If he didn’t post bond, he’d be sitting in jail for the next three months, until the next court.

Whatever Daniel did must have been something far outside the norm, because the judges or justices used their discretion in a way that indicated they took Sarah’s accusation very seriously.

I have never, in all of the years I’ve done genealogy, seen a woman sue her husband. It’s very unclear how Sarah was able to sue Daniel for trespass, and what exactly that meant? There’s clearly a LOT that we don’t know.

Women simply did not do such things! Especially not in Wilkes County, NC in 1786.

Then, Sarah dropped the suit. The only problem was that you couldn’t drop a suit without paying the costs already incurred by the court, and Sarah had no money. Either Daniel didn’t either, or he wasn’t about to pay to have the lawsuit against him dropped – which seems counterproductive.

You are hereby commanded that the goods and chattels lands and tenements of David Hickerson, in your bailiwick, you cause to be made 1 pound 70 shillings and 8 pence which lately in the county court…recovered against him on a suit brought by Sarah Vannoy against Daniel Vannoy and dismissed on David Hickerson assuming clerk and sheriff fees in open court. David Hickerson is convicted and liable as appears of record and to have the said monies before the said court at Wilkes aforesaid on the 4^th Monday of April 1787.

Here’s the case packet with the details.

Sarah’s brother, David Hickerson, agreed to pay the court costs. I can’t help but wonder is Sarah was pregnant, or something had occurred to cause her to rethink the suit.

We will never know what happened, but, based on what followed later, that household was not peaceful.

The 1790s

In 1790, Daniel and Sarah were enumerated together on the census with their children, like any typical couple, but then Daniel seemed to disappear about 1795. Daniel sold their land in November of 1794, then his two enslaved people in January of 1795 to his brother Nathaniel – although those transactions were never registered until 1802 and 1805 by the oaths of witnesses. Daniel was not present in court to swear to the transactions himself.

What happened to that money? According to 1800 court records, it was gone by then, and Daniel had nothing.

I thought Daniel had died, but recent information proved, unquestionably, otherwise.

Daniel was still in Wilkes County, feuding with various Hickersons and others in the late 1790s, including David Hickerson, who paid so his sister could drop her lawsuit against Daniel back in 1787. Daniel was also found guilty in other suits, and in April of 1799, Daniel lost a lawsuit brought by David Hickerson, with Sarah’s sister, Jane Miller, testifying on David’s behalf. The court ordered a fine and court costs against Daniel. There was also a suit involving Jane Hickerson Miller’s husband, Leonard Miller.

In April of 1800, the sheriff reported back to the court that “nothing of any value” of Daniel’s was found to settle those debts. We now know that Daniel had left. I can’t help but wonder if he took the money from those sales with him.

In the 1800 census, neither Daniel nor Sarah are found.

Sarah is listed in the 1810 census, which led to the presumption that Daniel had died.

But he hadn’t.

He had left, abandoning his wife and family, and was living as an “intruder,” a squatter inside the Cherokee Boundary in Georgia, where US laws could not reach him.

It’s unclear whether or not Sarah knew where Daniel was, whether he was alive or dead, or if she cared. Sarah was much too busy raising their children and scraping by however she could.

Sarah in the Court Records

We find Sarah in court records again, beginning in 1810.

Some of these cases overlap, so I’ve grouped everything having to do with each case together.

1810 – Sarah Vannoy vs Joel Chandler

State of North Carolina To the Sheriff of Wilkes County, Greeting you are hereby commanded to Summon Sarah Hickerson, David Hickerson Junr and Amy Hall personally to be and appear before the Justices of the County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions to be held for the County of Wilkes at the court – house in Wilkesboro on the fifth Monday of October next, then and there to testify and the truth to say in behalf of Joel Chandler in a certain matter of controversy before said court depending and then and there to be tried, wherein Sarah Vannoy is plaintiff, and Joel Chandler is defendant. And this you shall in no wise omit under the penalty by law enjoined. – — Witness Robert Martin Clerk of our said court, at Office the fifth Monday of July 1810

So, to be clear, Sarah’s nephew, David Hickerson, and Amy Hall are both summoned to testify AGAINST Sarah. I don’t know who Sarah Hickerson is.

Apparently, there is a second suit as well.

On Thursday, August 1, 1811, Sarah Vanoy filed against Joel Chandler, Plea in abatement, jury sworn, “the def sustained his plea in abatement.”

State of NC to the sheriff of Wilkes – Summons William Gilbreath Sr. personally to appear at [the court] house to give evidence on behalf of Joel Chandler in a suit depending wherein Sarah Vannoy is plaintiff and Joel Chandler deft. Signed July 31, 1811.

Sarah lost that suit. I surely wish we knew what the “matter of controversy” was.

Ordered that the goods, chattels, lands, and tenements of Sarah Vannoy to cause to be made the sum of 9 pounds 6 shillings and 6 pence, which lately in Wilkes court Joel Chandler recovered against her for costs and charges in suit expended, and have monies at the next court. August 1812.

The back of the paper has dates of November term 1811, then Feb. 1812, then May term 1812, then November term 1812. The report was that nothing was found.

This tells us that Sarah Vannoy has no assets that the sheriff can sell to pay her fines and court costs.

What an incredibly sad statement for a woman trying to raise her children, alone. This is a peek into the circumstances of Sarah’s life. She’s 50 years old and doesn’t have any livestock or produce to sell, and she certainly doesn’t own any property or “moveable assets.”

How did she manage to survive? I’m guessing by the skin of her teeth.

1810 Sarah Vannoy vs James Laws

The suits against Joel Chandler and James Laws were filed within a month of one another in the summer of 1810, which makes me wonder if there was some incident that sparked both suits.

State of North Carolina, Wilkes County

To any lawful officer…to execute a return according to law this day came James Laws before me…a justice of the peace…and maketh oath that he having the body of Mary Landtrip under execution at the suit? of Sarah Vannoy and sayeth that she[the] said Mary Lantrup did refuse to go with him and further that she did with force and arms strike beat abuse and tear the clothes of him the said James Laws on the 20^th of August against the peace and dignity of the state.

Command you to arrest the body of her the said Mary Lantrip and her as being before me or some other justice of the peace for said county to answer to this above charge and be further dealt with answering to law from under my hand and seal Aug. 20, 1810.

The way this is stated, James is complaining that Mary assaulted him – although how Sarah is involved is unclear.

James Laws prosecutor and Joshua Mitchell in State vs Mary Landtrip, acknowledges themselves indebted to the state in the following: James Laws in summon for the sum of 25 pounds and Joshua Mitchell in the sum of 10 pounds to be found of the goods and chattels, land and tenements to said on condition that they make their appearance of the defendants. [illegible] Mary Landtrip acknowledges herself bound in the sum of 50 pounds and William McGill in the sum of 20 pounds…on the condition that said Mary Landtrip appear at the next court and answer the charges and not depart the same without having acknowledged before me.

William McGill is Mary’s father. She married Amos Landtrip in 1802.

The Raleigh, NC newspaper stated that 250 acres belonging to Mary Landtrip on the waters of Warrior Creek will be sold on August 24, 1811 in Wilkesborough due to insufficient taxes for the year of 1809. This may or may not have anything to do with the situation, other than indicating that Mary had fallen on hard times.

Things Escalate

As my friend used to say, “And that’s when the fight started…”

I was going to say that Sarah had a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day on September 3, 1812, but perhaps, at this point, we should just say it was definitely “memorable.” As in an unforgettable legacy.

Sarah’s day probably wasn’t quite as bad as James Laws’, though.

Sept 4, 1812

Officer to return within 30 days.

Came before me James Laws before me a justice of the peace…under oath says that on the night of the third instant September that Sarah Vannoy thru a window threw upon him a parcel of stinking chamber lie of odorous smell which said action is against the good order of government.

Command you to take the body of said Sarah Vannoy and her to have before some justice of the peace…and answer the above charge and be further dealt with according to law. Signed Sept. 4, 1812

William Laws was bond for James Laws and possibly Joseph Laws.

Wait? What?

I had to read this three or four times. Yes, it did say what I thought it said.

Next thing you know, Sarah is sitting in jail, probably uncowed and very much unrepentant.

State of North Carolina, Wilkes County, September term 1812. Jurors for the state upon oath present that Sarah Vannoy on the fourth of September 1812 force and arms in the county aforesaid and upon one James Laws thru [document damage] there being in the peace of God and did make an assault and him James did then and there and ill treat to his great damage the peace and dignity of the state.

On the back of the verdict is written that Joseph Laws, William Laws and Susannah Rich were witnesses.

Ummm, I’d like to have been a witness. Someone please tell me what happened, and don’t leave out any details!

I would never have discovered this intriguing document without this next gem.

Plot Twist

The record that launched this marathon search for both Sarah Hickerson Vannoy and Daniel Vannoy was sent to me by Jason Duncan.

Roberta,

While searching for records to fill in the story of Nathaniel Vannoy shooting the horse of James Welborn in 1813, I stumbled upon the attached document.

I remember reading where you wrote about a Daniel Vannoy being last seen in Wilkes County in 1795, and he was never heard from again. Could this page be about him?

Maybe you’ve seen this page before, but I wanted to share it in case it’s something new!

This deposition, given by Nathaniel Vannoy, Daniel Vannoy’s brother, on Sept. 23, 1812, reads:

North Carolina, Wilkes County

Nathaniel Vannoy maketh oath that Daniel Vannoy & Sarah Vannoy lived together as man & wife for about the space of fifteen years in this county and during that time had several children. That several years ago his brother [the] said Daniel left this part of this Country & hath not returned. This deponent hath frequently heard from said Daniel by letters & otherways. Who the last time this Deponent heard from him lived in the boundary of the Cherokee Indians. This deponent heard from said Daniel last February at which time he was alive & in good health. Signed Nathaniel Vannoy.

Sworn to before me this 23st day of September 1812. [illegible signature]

Why did Nathaniel swear this deposition? Sarah and James!

By virtue of a Writ of Habeas Corpus Sarah Vannoy was brought in to open Court & ordered to be Discharged from the Custody of the Sheriff in a Case James Laws vs Sarah Vannoy, she being a feme Covert.

Sarah may have been in jail from September 4th through the 23rd.

A “feme covert” is a married woman whose rights and obligations in that time and place were mostly subsumed by those of her husband. Habeas corpus is a legal writ that demands that a person in custody be brought before a court to determine the lawfulness of their detention.

This is about to get ugly, because a writ of habeas corpus in essence questions the lawful or unlawful imprisonment, apparently based on James’ allegation that Sarah was a single woman..

Sarah’s allegation would be that she’s legally married to Daniel, and therefore cannot be held because women have no right, property, or agency outside of their husbands.

The back of this paper says Sarah Vannoy ads James Laws – Habeas Corpus. Superior court Sept. term 1812. Then at the bottom, “obsolete Sept 1812.”

It’s ironic that Daniel’s desertion of Sarah and their children has paid off this one time. It’s probably the single time in Sarah’s life that it was beneficial.

The situation, whatever it really was, is far from over – if it was ever truly “finished.”.

The top of this document is damaged:

Third Monday of September 1812.

Commanded that the goods and chattles, lands and tenements of Sarah Vanoy to cause to be made five pounds recovered of her in an indictment besides the sum of seven pounds, three shillings and 11 pence for costs and charges in the said suit where Sarah Vanoy is liable…and have the monies before the court on the third Monday in March next (1813).

There’s another date at the bottom that says October 9, 1812.

October 15, 1812

The sheriff of Wilkes County is commanded to cause the sum of one pound, 14 shillings and 3 pence be made from the goods, chattels, lands and tenements of James Laws which lately Sarah Vannoy recovered of him on a habias corpus for costs whereas the said James Laws is liable and to have the monies to the Superior Court the third Monday in March of 1813

Dates on the back of this packet show both March term 1813, then “to Sept 1813.”

So James has to pay the court’s costs for jailing Sarah illegally.

But wait, next, James is collecting from Sarah.

March 13, 1813

State of North Carolina, Wilkes County – Command you that the goods and chattels land and tenements of Sarah Vannoy to be found in your county, you cause to be made the sum of five pounds…recovered of her the said Sarah Vanoy…and have the same monies before the court on the third Monday of September.

The back of the packet shows that witnesses for Laws were Susanah Rich and James Laws, so this is the original charge having to do with Sarah dumping the contents of a chamber top onto James. .

We already know that Sarah doesn’t have any assets.

Next, on the same day, she is recovering from him, again, and the amount is different.

March 31, 1813

State of North Carolina to the sheriff of Wilkes County that of the goods, chattels, lands and tenements of James Laws to be found in your county to cause to be made the sum of one pound 18 shillings which lately Sarah Vanoy recovered of him on habeas corpus for costs and charged in said suit expended.

The back of the paper shows the September term of 1813 in the suit of Sarah Vannoy vs James Laws.

The back of the packet said that nothing was found, and another date of September 1813 exists. Witnesses are listed as Joseph Laws, Susannah Rich and James Laws.

A form dated the third Monday of March 1814 commands that:

…from the goods…of Sarah Vanoy the sum of five dollars be made on an indictment of assault and battery besides the further sum of 7 pounds 15 shillings and two pence for costs and charges in the said suit expended whereof the said Sarah Laws (I think they mean Vannoy unless there’s more we don’t know) is liable.

As much as Sarah clearly hated James Laws, if she knew her surname was erroneously recorded as Laws, she’d probably still be rolling over in her grave.

The back of the form shows that Susannah Rich, Joseph Laws, and James Laws were witnesses.

Again, nothing of any value of Sarah’s was found.

Whatever happened, it sat like a cloud over her head from the summer of 1811 until March of 1814, at which time we know that Sarah had no property to be sold to pay her debt.

Sarah probably spent her entire adult life impoverished – first by Daniel’s suits, then by virtue of trying to feed her kids.

Second Plot Twist

Because nothing is ever easy or straightforward.

On June 3, 1811, David Laws, born about 1783 in Wilkes County married Jinny (Jane) Vannoy, born in 1788, the daughter of Nathaniel Vannoy.

John Laws signed for his bond.

On April 30, 1811, David Laws, Jr., meaning “the younger” in this case, married Elisabeth Miller. A John Laws also signed for his bond, but with an X.

Another connection is that Joel Vannoy, who signed with an X, probably the son of Nathaniel Vannoy, signed as bondsman for Joseph Laws and Elizabeth Laws to marry on May 25, 1811.

The Laws family connection to the Vannoy family explains at least some of the familiarity between Sarah and that family. The Miller line may be entirely unrelated to Sarah’s sister, Jane Hickerson who married Leonard Miller.

I don’t know who the father of either David Laws was, but it may have been John. Of course, there were two John Laws involved too. Regardless, this situation was clearly awkward, whether Sarah was warring with Nathaniel’s daughter’s husband, or her niece’s husband’s family, or perhaps both. Especially given that it was thanks to Nathaniel Vannoy’s deposition that Sarah was able to dispute her imprisonment by James Laws.

Sarah never seemed to cross hairs with David Laws until 1826, but given their enmeshment with each other, the Laws family was clearly closeknit.

1816 – Summoned to Court

S. Thronburgh(?) sued Jeffry Johnson and others, and Sarah Vannoy and Jane Laws were summoned to the February term of court in 1816.

Sarah simply cannot escape the Laws family. This Jane Laws is the daughter of Nathaniel Vannoy, Daniel Vannoy’s brother, who married David Laws (Sr.) in 1811. So she would be Sarah’s husband’s niece.

1819 – Sarah Vannoy Sues Thomas Farmer and Enoch Farmer

This lawsuit sounds much more serious and makes the others appear trivial, even though they were clearly serious at the time.

I’m left with far more questions than answers.

In 1819, the State of North Carolina, Wilkes County: Sarah Vannoy before me Leonard Linaerman(?) one of the acting justices…made oath that on the 9^th day of December about 5 o’clock on the evening one Thomas Farmer and Enoch Farmer to [the] plantation where the said Sarah Vannoy lives and did by a strong hand and force of arms did rob and take away her daughter Marthea and did take away a cone? and one corn? pot all to the damage of the said Sarah Vannoy and against the peace and dignity of the state. Bring said Thomas Farmer and Enoch Farmer before me to be dealt with…

Signed the third day of December 1819.

On the back of the document, they are released on their own recognizance plus John Judd and Thomas Irvin as security of 25 (probably pounds.)

They appeared on January 31^st, 1820 where Lendeman? signed as justice of the peace, as did one J. Vannoy – probably Joel, Sarah’s son.

Sarah Vannoy made her mark

Sarah’s mark for her signature is the only personal thing, aside from DNA segments in her descendants, that remains of Sarah.

What did Thomas Farmer and Enouch Farmer do?

Unfortunately, we’ll never know what they did unless there is a case packet at the NC Archives with greater detail. The phrase “with strong hand and force of arms” is rooted in English common law and means an act taken with physical force. The “force of arms” part may well mean that a weapon was used, but not always. In this case, it sounds that way.

This is the only time we find any record of Sarah’s daughter, Marthea, by any spelling.

My blood runs cold thinking about why they broke in, robbed Sarah’s home knowing they were there, and took Marthea with them. Don’t be confused by the word, plantation, which is what any homestead was always called, regardless of how small or meager. Plantation does not mean large or wealthy. This only tells us that she lived in house that was not in town.

Sarah must have been frantic, or furious and frantic, both. I can only imagine the terror. Those men would likely not have done that with a man in residence, although, with Sarah, they were probably taking their lives in their hands. They must surprised Sarah and Marthea. They were not prepared to defend themselves. But how does one remain constantly prepared to fight off intruders?

Sarah made her way to a Justice and filed the charges the very next day – on a Saturday. Unfortunately, we don’t know if Marthea was accounted for by then, or what information Sarah does not reveal in her complaint. Given that Sarah didn’t even wait until Monday, she must have been overwrought, and perhaps panic-stricken.

What did they do with, or to, Marthea?

Did these people actually behave this way sober?

I can’t find Enoch Farmer in any records, but Thomas Farmer was assigned to several juries and seemed respectable. What happened to him? Or maybe better stated, what possessed him?

This scenario is downright bone-chilling. The things that nightmares are made of. Even AI won’t create an image of this, because it’s too violent.

How could anyone possibly justify this?

Sarah’s Children

We know very little about Sarah’s children.

Martha makes only the third child whose name we know, although Sarah gave birth to several other children.

Nathaniel Vannoy’s 1812 deposition says Sarah and Daniel had “several children” in the 15 or so years they were married, but that only takes us to about 1794/1795 when he sold his land and then his slaves to Nathaniel. Too bad that Sarah didn’t have to sign off on that sale. We know Daniel was in the county until 1799, or so.

If Sarah was 18 when she married Daniel, she would have been born about 1761, and could therefore have been expected to bear children until about 1803, give or take a couple of years in either direction. She could also have been a year or two older or younger when she married, too.

Here’s what we do, and don’t, know.

Given that Sarah and Daniel were married in October of 1779, they assuredly had a baby in 1780, and another one in 1782. We have no record of those children, and at least one died before the first accounting on the 1787 tax list.

• 1780 – Unaccounted for child born in about 1780 who has died by 1787.
• 1782 – Unknown son born before 1787 as shown on the tax list where they have two boys under 21, and 1 girl. Let’s put this unidentified boy into the 1782 slot. He was still alive in 1790.
• 1784 – Elijah Vannoy was born about 1784 and married Lois McNiel in about 1809 in Wilkes County. They removed to Claiborne County, TN about 1811 or 1812 with Lois’s family. Sarah probably enjoyed her first grandchild, a little girl, Permelia, born in February of 1810. Elijah’s second baby would have been born in 1812, but there is no record of that child. That baby may not have been born before Sarah had to say goodbye to her eldest son forever, waving as the covered wagon creaked and pulled away, headed across the mountains.
• 1786 – Unknown daughter born before 1787 according to the tax list, who was alive in 1810. We will fit her into the 1786 slot although it could just have easily have been the 1788 slot..

Sarah sued Daniel on October 4, 1786, but the suit was dismissed in late April 1787, and they clearly had more children.

• 1788 – Child probably born in 1788 who has died by 1790.

In the 1790 census, they still have 2 boys under 16, and 1 female child, which means at least two children have died.

• 1790 – Unknown child probably born in 1790.
• 1792 – Joel Vannoy, born in 1792 according to his gravestone, or about 1790 according to the 1850 census. The 1830 and 1840 census both show him born between 1791 and 1800, and the 1820 census shows his birth between 1776 and 1794. Therefore, using the overlap of all of those dates, his birth year would have been between 1790 and 1794, so we will count him in the 1792 slot. He married twice – to Elizabeth St. Clair in 1817 and Emily Suddworth in 1832, having a total of 18 children. He was the Wilkes County sheriff beginning in 1825, and died there in 1858.
• Unknown child probably born in 1794. November of this year is when Daniel sells his land and in January 1795, sold his enslaved people.
• Unknown child born in 1796. One daughter from the 1810 census is occupying this slot and may be Marthea.
• Unknown child born in 1798. One daughter from the 1810 census is occupying this slot. Possibly Susanna, even though the ages don’t fit well.

Daniel has departed Wilkes County by sometime in 1800, but that does not mean that Sarah didn’t have a baby in 1800 or even 1801 as his parting gift.

It also doesn’t mean that Daniel didn’t come back and visit from time to time. Although somehow, I doubt he would have found a warm welcome, given that Sarah had no hesitation about suing him in 1786 – although she did drop the suit.

Sarah would have reached menopause within a couple years of Daniel’s departure, so, one way or another, her childbearing years were over.

In 1800, as an abandoned wife and mother, Sarah still faced the most difficult years of her life – somehow raising a family of several children, maybe as many as 8 who were living, from newborn to about 16, without a husband.

At the close of the 18^th century and the opening years of the 19th century, I have absolutely no idea how she did it without appearing in the court records binding her children out. It’s mind-boggling, so if Sarah seems angry – I’d say she had every right to be.

The 1810 Census

The 1810 federal census shows Sarah’s household with:

• 2 females 10-15, so born between 1795 and 1800 – maybe Susanna and Marthea?
• 1 female 16-25, so born 1785 -1794 – this unknown daughter is occupying the 1786 child’s slot
• Sarah, age 26-44, which would put her birth between 1766 and 1784. If she was born in 1766, she would only have been 13 when she married, so I would assume that her age in the census is incorrect, which happens often.

Both of Sarah’s sons, Elijah and Joel, are missing in 1810. Elijah married the year before, but Joel would have been about 18 and was not married. He may have been working for another family and living there. It would seem that his mother would have needed his labor, although maybe he made enough working elsewhere to help keep them afloat. Just one more unanswered question.

Sarah’s youngest two daughters are confusing.

• One daughter shown in the 1810 census, born 1795-1800, is possibly a Susanna who Joyce Dancy McNiel, a now-deceased long-time Wilkes County genealogist, believed to have been born around 1804 and married George McNiel in 1822.

Joyce could not fit Susanna into any other Vannoy family, and she said that Susannah was thought to have lived remotely, “over there,” as she gestured with her hand, which Joyce thought was perhaps Ashe County. Joyce knew that Daniel had lived in that direction, and Elijah was said to be from “over there” or “not from around here” too, so Joyce tentatively connected Susanna to Daniel and Sarah as her parents.

It’s also possible that some of Sarah’s children were living with family members.

Granted, none of this means that Susannah is Sarah’s daughter. The dates don’t work, but we know that both birth and census dates are apt to be “off”. Additionally, Sarah had moved back to Wilkes County, probably in 1794/1795 when Daniel sold the land in what would become Ashe County. So, Sarah was not living “over there” in Ashe County, according to the 1810 census and later court records. She lived in Wilkes County.

• Thanks to that 1819 lawsuit, we now know that Sarah had a daughter named Marthea, and she fits in someplace.

The 1820 Census

The 1820 census is perplexing at best.

Sarah is listed as a head-of-household, but the oldest female is 26-44. Sarah is very clearly older than 44, which would put her birth no earlier than 1776, just three years before she married, or as late as 1794 – neither of which is possible. Did the census-taker forget or omit Sarah’s census mark in the next column, or was the form later miscopied? Probably. Something.

Is there another, younger, Sarah Vannoy living alone with a child? Possibly, but I can’t find a candidate.

Nothing about Sarah is ever “normal.”

The second female in the household is enumerated as under 10, meaning she was born between 1810 and 1820. This child cannot be Sarah’s, and it’s not Susanna either, if she was born about 1804. In fact, what’s probably more likely is that the mother of this child is the 26-44 year old female living in the household. The child’s mother could well be Sarah’s daughter, but she’s not Susanna, and if she is Marthea, she was born 1776-1794. There is no marriage for a Marthea by any spelling, nor is there a bastardry bond or court records for an illegitimate birth.

I’m striking out here with known possibilities.

It’s also possible that Sarah was taking in widows and their children, or a family member, to try to make ends meet. However, that’s generally reflected in the court records. In 1820, Sarah would have been about 65 years old, so maybe someone was helping her? 65 isn’t exactly elderly.

So far, none of this helps us unravel anything at all.

We still don’t know what happened to Marthea, who was named as the victim violently taken from her mother’s home in the 1819 suit against the Farmer men, just a year before the census.

The 1830 Census

There’s no Sarah Vannoy anyplace in the 1830 census. Sarah would have been about 75, so at that age, it’s likely that she was residing with someone else if she were still living. The most likely candidate would be her son, Joel, who was appointed Wilkes County Sheriff in 1825, but she’s not there, nor with her son Elijah Vannoy in Claiborne County, TN, nor with George McNeal and his wife, Susanna Vanoy in Wilkes County.

However, we have one last sighting of Sarah – and once again, it’s in the court records.

Final Sighting of Sarah Vannoy 

March 2, 1826

The Sheriff of Iredell County summons William Stephenson Sr., Thomas Lackey, Sr. and Sarah Vannoy for the defendant in the case of David Laws vs William Campbell to appear at the courthouse in Wilkesboro on the second Monday of March 1826.

For a brief moment, I wondered if this was actually our Sarah Vannoy, especially since it’s the neighboring county, but then I noticed that the plaintiff was Davis Laws, and Sarah is subpoenaed to testify, in Wilkesboro, for the defendant – against David. Of course it’s our Sarah.

Was Sarah living in Iredell County, or were all three people listed because one of them lived in that county, and Wilkes County wanted all their bases covered? Maybe Sarah left Wilkes after the Farmer men robbed her and took her daughter. Maybe that’s why she wasn’t present in the home where she was listed as the head-of-household in 1820.

Maybe Sarah spent her last few years living in Iredell County, but with whom?

Daniel warred with the Hickersons for two decades, until he left for the Cherokee lands, and Sarah apparently warred with the Laws family for nearly as long.

They may have lived near each other. They certainly had some ongoing connection,  because they sure seemed to know a lot about each other’s business.

Beginning in 1811, hard feelings between Sarah and at least four or five Laws family members endured until at least 1826.

By 1826, if Sarah was born in 1761, she would have been about 64 years old.

Given that the average life expectancy in this era was about 38, she lived at least another quarter century. We don’t know when Sarah died – only that it was after March of 1826.

Sarah beat the odds so many times!

Reflection

As I reflect, looking back across the landscape of Sarah’s life, I can’t help but think about the type of woman she must have been – willing to step up, step out, buck tradition and go where literally no woman had gone before.

Either she was incredibly brave, or a little bit crazy, or maybe some combination of both.

Sarah must have been known as a “difficult” woman, which I perceive as a compliment today, although I’m sure it wasn’t meant as such in her time. Of course that meant no man or men lined up to marry Sarah again – not that it mattered, because she was still married to Daniel. Legally, if nothing else. Maybe she was angry about that too.

Sarah outlived all of her siblings and most of her children. She brought at least 10 into the world, assuming a birth every other year, and buried at least five young children. She probably buried more as they grew up – all without Daniel by her side. Where was he? Off someplace in Cherokee land. He didn’t even know his children. He didn’t provide for them, or Sarah, and he didn’t shed tears, dig their graves, and bury them.

I hope Sarah didn’t have to put shovel to earth to bury her own children, but I have no doubt that she did it, with resolve, if she had to. Anger mixed with grief creates combustible energy.

We still don’t know what happened to Marthea, or when she was born.

All the rest, except Elijah and Joel, simply disappear into the ether – not found in any record – ever. The lives of Sarah and her children were unimaginably hard.

The only two that we know outlived Sarah were her two boys – one of whom moved away, which begets a different form of grief and loss altogether. Along with Elijah went her only grandchild at that time, and a son she loved and who could have helped her. A little bit of Sarah, and hope, died that day.

Sarah’s life must have been excruciatingly difficult, both from an economic perspective, as well as community humiliation and embarrassment. No one wants to be the wife whose husband absconded. People can be incredibly cruel in their judgement towards others in unfortunate circumstances. She would have seen all those sideways glances and whispers shielded behind hands as she walked by. I hope she held her head high, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t hurt. Even worse, she saw her children tarred with the same brush – something they clearly didn’t deserve.

I have no idea what happened that caused Sarah to file those lawsuits – but at least Sarah had the spunk to stand up for herself. Perhaps she had simply had ENOUGH of whatever, and that, combined with her warring Hickerson bloodline, meant that she stood up and fought.

I don’t know if she was one of the pack, or ostracized from her family. The Hickerson “family” seemed to be divided and ostracized from each other. Several of their disagreements spilled over into the courts.

I hope that one way or another, Sarah’s life was at least somewhat fulfilling. We know there were several issues, or she would not have sued Daniel for “trespass” in 1786, just 7 years after they were married. We know that’s a sign of something – we just don’t know what. Sarah’s brother, David Hickerson, paid the court costs so she could drop the suit against Daniel, yet he and Daniel filed suits against each other a few years later.

Family relations were especially rocky after the robbery and burning of Sarah’s sister’s home, abetted by another sister, followed by her parents’ deaths. Inheritance does that to families.

Sarah was certainly spicy, but the rest of the Hickerson daughters were too. Seems to have run in the family. Maybe they had little choice.

In Sarah’s case, her temperament may have been the only thing that stood between her and starvation – the ability and willingness to advocate for and fend for herself, and her children.

A bit of sass and irreverence meant survival. It probably also fueled those wagging tongues.

The Great Chamber Pot Incident of 1812

If there’s one moment where I can truly empathize with Sarah, it’s the level of exasperation that she must have felt in 1812 when she threw the contents of a chamber pot either into or out of the window, onto James Laws.

Sarah must have known that in the litigious society that defined frontier Wilkes County, that James would run straight to the courthouse. But that also meant HE had to admit, publicly, what she had managed to do to him.

I can see Sarah laughing as James stood stinking, dripping, and fuming, beneath the window. He probably heard her too. Of course, that added insult and humiliation to injury and made him even angrier.

There’s a part of me that just knows Sarah didn’t care. She literally had nothing to lose, as the court records confirm. Depending on what he had done to her, she just might have relished every moment of his stinking misery.

If you’re going to take a defiant stand and dump a chamber pot onto someone’s head, “accidentally” of course, make it memorable and do a good job. Go big or stay home. And absolutely get yourself sued so that your descendants can not only find you, but unlock the rest of the story about how your miscreant husband abandoned you with an entire passel of children.

Sarah and The Great Chamber Pot Incident of 1812 provided the key to unlock the rest.

Perhaps James Laws, and others, never allowed Sarah to forget that her husband had run off – casting ugly aspersions, or worse. Maybe that’s why Sarah “thru a window threw upon him a parcel of stinking chamber lie of odorous smell.” Perhaps he deserved it. I can’t imagine doing something like that unprovoked.

Sarah and the Laws family had a long and unpleasant history.

Sarah stood, one woman with a fiery spirit, alone, battling an entire family – perhaps an entire area.

Were it not for that well-aimed chamber pot, Nathaniel Vannoy would never have given his deposition about the fact that Daniel and Sarah were still married, even though Daniel had left years before. Daniel was still alive in the Cherokee lands, so Sarah couldn’t be imprisoned as a “femme sole.” Without that chamber pot, and resulting deposition, we would never have discovered three more decades of information, the rest of both Daniel’s and Sarah’s stories.

While I’m grateful for the chamber pot incident, my heart aches for Sarah. The circumstances we’ve simply touched upon, glimpsed through a pinhole illuminated by the court records, reveal a life no one aspires to have.

Imagine the incessant warring, and whatever caused it behind the scenes, defining your life.

Imagine desperately needing a job, but not being able to get one because you’re a woman, and women in that time and place didn’t work outside the home.

Imagine raising your children alone, in a time and place where women had no agency to do so, which would probably make you even angrier.

Imagine the cheap gossip, and perhaps worse.

Imagine wondering where your next meal, and then the next one, was coming from – for years and years.

Imagine being that vulnerable and being able to do absolutely nothing about it.

Imagine your children going hungry – and how angry you would be at the man who deserted all of you.

Imagine having your home robbed and your daughter taken.

Imagine being that woman in frontier America with little or no recourse – except for that well-aimed chamber pot in a moment of overwhelming exasperation.

Every frontier bride dreamed of her own log cabin, some chickens and livestock to feed, a garden, starting a family, and growing old with her true love. Essentially, the pioneer version of living happily ever after.

Whatever Sarah’s life was, it was none of those things.