Luremia Combs was born about 1740, probably in Amelia County, to John Combes and his first wife whose identity is unknown.  John’s wife at the time of his death was Frances Elam who he married in Amelia County on Sept. 11, 1750.

Francis would become embattled with her step-children after John’s death, although she assuredly raised at least some of those children.  Luremia would have been about 10 or 12 when her father remarried, which means, of course, that Luremia lost her mother when she was a young child.  Based on a subsequent lawsuit, and the fact that Luremia did not name a child Frances, I would hypothesize that Luremia did not enjoy a positive relationship with Frances, at least not as an adult.

Luremia was married to Moses Estes, probably in 1762, because their first child, George, was born in Amelia County on February 3, 1763 according to his Revolutionary War pension application..

In February 1767 in Lunenburg County, VA, we find a transaction where George Combs sells land to Moses Estis for £25, 300A adjoining John Combs.  Pheby, wife of George, relinquishes her dower.

It was from this land sale that previous researchers had surmised that Moses’s wife was the daughter of George Combes and Phebe, last name unknown.

On March 30, 1768, this tract of land is processioned and described as lying between “Reedy Creek, Reedy Creek old road, Coxes road and the North Meherrin River.”

Processioning of land is when, in colonial America, you got together with your neighbors once a year and everyone walked the boundaries, agreeing between themselves where the property boundaries lie.  The results of that event, and who was present, was recorded in the church vestry book.  I’d guess this became a social event of sorts as well – including spirits to stay warm of course.  Fortunately, the processioning of this area was very specific, as are some of the deeds, which allowed me to pinpoint the location of Moses’s land.

On the map below, relevant landmarks pertaining to the Estes family in Lunenburg County are shown.

X identifies the location of Moses Estes land in Lunenburg County – between the North Meherrin and Reedy Creek.  According to the local farmers, this area is where the old Meherrin Indian village stood.  They find artifacts and relics regularly.

Given that I could find this specific location, I had to visit.  My ancestral lands call to me like a moth to the flame.  And in this case, 5 of my ancestors lived here, both Moses Sr. and Moses Jr., along with their wives.  This would also have been where George Estes was born in 1763, probably on this same land when still owned by Luremia’s family.

Trinity Road appears to have been the original road through that area, forms a loop, and both begins and ends at Courthouse Road, where, of course, you find the courthouse.

The courthouse, which does not have a town around it, is shown by the upper purple arrow, on land originally owned by Robert Estes, brother of Moses Estes Sr.

The old church is also on Trinity Road, and the Estes land is just off Trinity Road.  When they lived here, they were right on the main drag, although that’s certainly not apparent today.

There is only one possible location for Moses Estes land in Lunenburg County, given the geography in question, and during my 2004 trip, I found the land.  To this day, there is only one cleared area on both sides of the road, and a very old house in the clearing.  The land is beautiful.

This house, above, is located on the east side of Reedy Creek Road.

This is the older house on the west side of Reedy Creek Road on the land that Moses Estes owned in Lunenburg County.  This could well be the house where Moses lived.  A newer house is located to the rear of the property.

This photo is of both the older house and the newer home in the background.

So this area, and maybe even this house, is where Luremia set up housekeeping and welcomed her first babies into the world.  The first of those babies, George, would one day take his father’s place in the Revolutionary War so his father didn’t have to serve.  Instead, Moses gave food, fodder and other goods to the cause.

On December 2, 1768, Moses Estes of Lunenburg County sells to Francis Combes of Amelia County, for £75, the tract that Moses Estes purchased of George Combes on February 12, 1767.  Witnesses to this transaction were Moses Estes, Sr., Elizabeth Estes and Thomas Munford.

Moses’s wife, “Susanna” Estes relinquishes dower, per one source.  June Banks Evans in her Lunenburg County Deed Books transcribed and interprets her name as Lurania.

July 13, 1769 – Susanna (or Lurania), wife of Moses Estis, came into court and relinquished dower in land conveyed to Richard Jones.  Relinquishing dower meant that the wife indicated that she understood that her husband sold that property and she gave up her right to her one third interest by law, were he to die.

It was from this record that Luremia’s name was ordained to be Susannah and is still shown that way in many trees.  Some trees have merged the two and given her two names, Susanna Luremia or vice versa.  And some have given Moses two wives, Susannah Combes and Luremia Combes, and a nice story that they were sisters to go along with the two wives.  For the record, this isn’t true.

How do we know it isn’t true?  Because there is juicy gossip – in the form of a chancery suit filed in Amelia County, VA.  I just love chancery suits.  They focus on divisions of equity, not on a determination of guilt or innocence and for the most part, in Virginia, unless the courthouse has burned, the depositions, complaints and responses in the case still exist.

Amelia Co. Va. Chancery Causes 1764 – 001

Estis et us vs Combs

Agreeable to the order here unto annexed we the subscribers have laid off and do assign unto the said Frances Combs widow of John Combs decd her dower in the lands and slaves one third part of the personal estate of said John Combs decd and have also divided the residue of the estate of the said John Combs decd in equal portions among the children of the said John Combs decd and do lay off and assign each their part in manner following viz”

To Frances Combs for her dower in the lands of the said John one hundred and fifety acres beginning in William Eggleston line on the upper side of the same Combs plantation thence down the said Eggleston’s line to his corner at the branch and from thence along Joseph Eggeleston’s line to a new dividing line and then with the said line to the beginning in William Eggleston’s line which includes the houses and plantation whereon the said Frances Combs now lives and for the said Frances dower in the slaves of the said John decd assign unto her one negro fellow named Harry and we do further assign unto the said Frances for her third part of the personal estate the sum of 52 pounds ten shillings 9 pence three farthings.

To Moses Eastis and Lurany his wife for his part of the personal estate of the said John Coombs decd the sum of 14 pounds and 17 shillings and 7 pence farthing. 

To James Bowls (could be a slightly different name) and Martha his wife for his part of the personal estate of the said John Combs decd also the sum of 14 pounds 17 and 7 pence parthing.

To George Combs for his part of the personal estate of the said John Combs decd the sum of 14 pounds 17 shillings and 7 pence farthing and being his part equal with the other children.

We also assign and allot unto Samuel Combs, Mary Combs, Clarissa Combs, John Combs each of them the sum of 14 pounds and 17 shillings and 7 pence farthing current money for their part of the personal estate of the said John Combs, decd given under our hand this 25th day of ? 1762.

Next document

Amelia court held July 22, 1762

Moses Estes, Lorana his wife vs Frances Combs wife of John Combs decd

This cause heard and answered this day and ordered that John Booker, William Eggleston and John Cooke do assign to the defendant her dower in the lands and slaves of one third part of the estate of her late husband John Combs and that they divide the residue of the estate of the said John Combs among the complainant, children of the said John in equal proportions and assign unto each of them his or her share according to law.

Next document – the legal complaint.

Humble complaining Moses Estes and Luranna his wife, James Bowlen and Martha his wife, Samuel, George, Mary, Clarissa and John Combs that one John Combs, your orators father, being in his lifetime seized and possessed of a considerable estate and on the (blank) day departed this life intestate.  Soon after the deceased on the motion of Frances Combs, the widow and relict of the said John admin. of all singular the goods and chattels rights and credits which were of the said John Combs at the time of his death.  And that said Frances then took into her possession all the estate, that by a certain act of assembly made in the year of our Lord 1705? and in the 4th year of the reign of her ?.   The orators have appealed to the said Frances Combs for their proportional part aforesaid but the said Frances refuses unless she may be ordered by the court.  Your orators show that they are in some distress in being detained form their rights above contrary to equity… beg for consideration…ask that she be compelled to deliver (writing very faint).

Last document is a summons

Summon Frances Combs, admin of John Combs decd, Samuel, Mary, Clarissa and John Combs children of the said John Combs decd to appear… to answer a bill in chancery filed by Moses Estis and Loranna his wife.

The last record of the Moses Estes family in Lunenburg County is Luremia relinquishing her dower in 1769.  Maybe the family is cleaning up loose ends before they leave.  Moses is not on the Lunenburg tax list that year, but is on a list of road hands in Halifax County, although we can’t tell which Moses, father or son.

On June 20, 1771 in Halifax County, Moses Estes Jr. buys 256 acres from John and Elizabeth Owen that abuts the William Younger land.  The transaction does not say Junior, but Moses Sr. never shows this land on the tax records and Moses Jr. still owns this land after Moses Sr. dies.  Moses Jr.’s estate shows this land after his death as well.  This is the land on present day Estes Street in South Boston, VA.  This is where Luremia would spend the rest of her life – the next 40 years.

Today, Moses and Luremia’s land is the landfill, but I was able to obtain some images from the back side of land that had not yet been disturbed – thanks to the magic of Google maps street view.

Part of the old Estes land is now the Oak Ridge Cemetery, where it’s likely that Luremia is buried.

The Estes family land lay on the main road in South Boston.  The world passed by on their way north or south, on their way to the courthouse, on their way to Boyd’s or Irwin’s Ferry, the only way to cross the Dan River.  In fact, the city of South Boston was formed at and as a result of Boyd’s Ferry.  If the Estes family had anything to sell, they certainly had a captive audience, living on the main road.  Judging from the family stories, I’m betting they sold fruit brandy.

By this time, in 1771, Luremia is about 30 and probably has 3 or 4 small children.  Before their family was complete, Luremia would have about 11 living children.

For the next decade, in Halifax County, life hummed along normally.  Men worked on the roads, went to court for the drama of court day and farmed.  Women tended to the kids, preserved food, made clothes and cooked.  And everybody went to church.  It was required and you were fined for not attending.

But life as they knew it would change in 1780 with the beginning of the Revolutionary War.  Halifax County was in the wrong place, and the war came to them.

To make matters worse, Luremia’s oldest son, George, was gone – serving in that War.  He would serve one term for his father, a second one for himself, and a third as a volunteer.  This family clearly believed in independence.

In the winter of 1780, it looked like the Americans were losing in the South after a severe defeat at Camden, SC.  General Nathaniel Greene, George Washington’s right hand man, was sent to NC to see what could be salvaged.  What greeted him was bleak.  His troops were severely outnumbered and what was left of his army was starving, poorly clothed and barely equipped.

Greene managed through what have been framed as “Hurclean efforts” to rebuild the army, and then undertook a brilliant military strategy.  Knowing he was outnumbered, he divided his army in half and sent half south as a decoy.  General Daniel Morgan allowed himself to be pursued by the British, specifically Cornwallis’s Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, known as “Bloody Ban” because he massacred surrendering American soldiers.

On January 17, 1781, Morgan turned on Tarleton and engaged at the Battle of Cowpens, decisively winning the battle, taking prisoners, weapons and supplies, and headed back for North Carolina.  The race to Carolina was on, with Cornwallis’s troops furious and in hot pursuit in an event that would become known as the “Race to the Dan,” meaning the Dan River which divided NC and VA.  Greene knew if he could cross the Dan, that he could defend that position and keep Cornwallis from crossing.  So did Cornwallis – and he was behind – but determined to recover.

Morgan advanced northward through North Carolina, pushing his prisoners as fast as possible and burning bridges, boats and ferries behind him in an attempt to slow Cornwallis.  Cornwallis was so desperate that he burned his own supply train to increase the speed of his chase.  Cornwallis was close, very close, within hours of Morgan’s men, with Morgan’s unit often just barely avoiding his clutches.  Morgan fell ill and was relieved by Col. Williams.  The two halves of the Army attempted to rendezvous for strength.  They skirmished with Cornwallis, but Greene knew that to turn and fight would be a sure loss, so he continued to race for the Dan, a location that formed a natural barrier that he could take and hold.  Cornwallis surely knew that too.

Greene’s re-united army only numbered two thousand and thirty-six men, including fourteen hundred and twenty-six regulars. Col. Edward Carrington joined the command, with the report that boats had been secured, and secreted along the Dan River in Virginia, so as to be collected on a few hours’ warning. The British army was at Salem, only twenty-five miles from Guilford. This was on the tenth of February.  The next 4 days were brutal.

To guard against Cornwallis making a detour and getting between the light troops and Greene’s army, as well as to protect his own force from surprise, Williams had to send out such numerous patrols and establish such strong pickets that half of his force was always on night duty. He halted for only six hours each night; each man got only six hours rest in every forty-eight. They never set up a tent. “The heat of the fires was the only protection from rain and sometimes snow.” They started each day at three in the morning and hastened forward to gain a distance ahead of their pursuers that would give them time for breakfast.  Breakfast, dinner, and supper in one, because this was their only meal for the day. Cornwallis came on with equal speed.  Both sides knew this was a critical juncture – a turning point – and both were desperate.

Four days later, Greene reached Boyd’s Ferry in South Boston, VA.  On this map from 1884 when South Boston was actually formed, you can see Ferry street (upper left corner) still descends to the river where Boyd’s ferry was originally located.  On this map, a railroad bridge has replaced Boyd’s ferry.

On Valentine’s Day, 1781, Greene’s troops built defensive works, and used every possible vessel to move his men and equipment, including cannons, across the Dan River at Boyd’s ferry, located at present day South Boston, and Irvine’s ferriy located just three or four miles west of Boyd’s ferry.  Boats had been gathered from Boyd’s and Dix’s ferries (In Pittsylvania County), and represented all of the boats on the river.

Cornwallis received the news in the course of the evening. The river was too high to cross without boats, and every boat for miles in either direction was on the farther shore. Greene had won the race.  Cornwallis was stuck.  An exceptional detailed and breath-holding description of this event can be found here.

Not only did Greene hold Virginia, and therefore the north, a month later he would regroup and recross the Dan to face Cornwallis again at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, and the British of course would march on to ultimate defeat at the Battle of Yorktown.  However, had the race to the Dan not been won by Greene and his men, we might well be British citizens today.

Oh, did I mention that the Estes home was between a mile and two miles from Boyd’s Ferry, on that main road, now called Main Street, where the Estes land and homestead was found?  On the south end of Main Street, the name changes and this same street is called…Ferry Street.  In fact, two of Luremia’s children would marry spouses from the Boyd family.

On the map below, you can see Estes Street, marked with the red balloon, Oak Ridge Cemetery in green, and Boyd’s Ferry is marked with the red arrow.  At that time, the main road was current day 129, also called Main Street.  As luck would have it, Moses Estes had been appointed surveyor of the road from Boyd’s ferry to the Banister River – so he was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of that dirt road – which of course meant keeping it passable.  The notes from the commanders of the army talk about how the roads turned to icy cold rivers of mud with the passing of the troops, horses, wagons and supplies.  Keep in mind that the city of South Boston, nor the town of Halifax, existed at that time.

I’d say that Moses Estes had his hands full in more ways than one.

So, whichever Army won the race and crossed the Dan River, they were headed straight for the Estes land.  Hungry, maybe bent on destruction, depending on which side crossed first.  By this time, Luremia was about 40 years old and probably had most of her children.  She could easily have been pregnant or had a newborn at the time.  She surely had a houseful of children to worry about.  What was she going to do?  Would anyplace have been safe?  A war was coming, one way or another – and there was nothing to assure it wouldn’t be fought right there, on her doorstep, literally.

It’s no wonder that her husband, Moses, after the war, submitted a receipt for supplies for the troops.  They contributed 6 bushels of Indian corn, 100 sheaves of oats, 100 pounds of fodder and 11 pounds of bacon.  This makes me wonder if they quartered some of the men at their home or on their land.  I’m sure they were EXTREMELY glad to see Greene and not Cornwallis.

We know, positively, that the entire army passed right by the Estes land, because they lived on the only road north.  On February 17^th, Greene’s troops crossed the Banister River, which would be just north of the town of Halifax today.  The only road from the Dan River to the Banister was straight through the Estes land.  Additional troops were called into Halifax County to help and reinforce Greene, including Virginia militia, North Carolina militia and a number of Catawba Indians.  Pleas for food, hundreds of cloth sacks for horse feed, 1000 of the best stallions and other supplies were sent out to local residents who provided Greene’s army with what they needed to continue to fight and ultimately win the war.  I envision the women of Halifax County, Luremia included, gathered together making sacks and clothes for soldiers. Luremia probably prayed that someone was taking care of her son, George, who was serving elsewhere, as she was taking care of these men.

There was other wartime activity in Halifax County as well, but nothing quite so stressful as Valentine’s Day in 1781.  I can see Luremia’s children clustered around her, the younger ones perhaps hiding behind her skirts, watching in awe as the soldiers  marched past and perhaps stopping to camp at the Estes plantation.  Little did they know they were seeing history unfold at a pivotal juncture in a conflict, the outcome of which formed the foundation of the country we live in today.

In 1786, three of Luremia’s children would marry, beginning the exodus of her children, leaving the nest for lives of their own.  Her first child to marry, Clarissa, married Francis Boyd in August, followed by both George marrying Mary Younger and Bartlett marrying Rachel Pounds on the same day in December.  In that time and place, married children often didn’t go far, like next door – unless they left the area entirely.  So at least initially, both George and Bartlett were living on the same land with Luremia and Moses, and Clarissa was certainly living close by, as the Boyd’s lived just down the road in South Boston.

The next we know of Luremia, she was paid to testify in a suit in 1791, Moody vs Armstrong.  Her name is in the court records, but we know nothing more than that.

Luremia’s husband, Moses, seems to get a bit rowdy as his name appears several times in the court records in the 1790s.  He was presented for a misdemeanor in 1791, seemed to be feuding with the Douglas family, and wound up in jail in 1796, although probably not for long.

In 1799, Moses Estes wrote his will and in it names Luremia as his wife and as his executor:

I, Moses Estes of the county of Halifax in the Commonwealth of Virginia being of perfect sense and memory and in good health thanks to God for the same but calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appropriate for all men once to die and not knowing when that period will arrive to me have thought it necessary and expedient to make and publish my last will and testament in manner to wit:…to George Estes my oldest son I have given a horse, saddle, bed and furniture and a cow value 40 pounds, to my daughter Clarissa who intermarried with Francis Boyd – to Bartlett Estes my son one mare and saddle, a bed and furniture and a cow value 40 pounds, – to my daughter Patience who intermarried with Peter Holt one bed and furniture value 8 pounds – to my son Laban property to the value of 30 pounds, to Winston Estis my son property to the same value, 30 pounds, – it is my will that whatsoever I may die possessed of that at the death of my beloved wife Luremia Estis and not before be equally divided amongst all my children viz George, Bartlet, Patience, Laban, Winstone, Judith, Josiah, Moses and Patsey (the said Patsey now intermarried with Robert Jackson) equally and fairly counting in the sums respectively advanced as part of their shares so that in the end the share shall be equal…Luremia Estes remain in possession of my land and plantation.  Executor Luremia, son George and friend Berryman Green, signed by Moses Estes (his mark) – pronounced by Moses to be his last will and testament in the presence of Arm. Watlington Jr, John Barksdale and H. David Greene.

I have often wondered if Moses became ill in 1799, even though his will says he is in good health, because in earlier (and later) documents he could very clearly sign his name, yet his will bears his mark.

Moses didn’t die until 1813, more than a dozen years later.  Luremia would have been about 70 at that time, maybe a bit older.  Her last child would likely have married a decade or so before.

Luremia did not accept executorship of his estate, and neither did Berryman Green.  Moses’s estate would be contested and would not be settled until 1834 and then not divided for another several years.

We know Luremia was alive in both 1815 and 1816 because there were supplies set aside for her from the estate in 1815 and she was at Moses’s estate sale in 1816.

We believe Luremia was still living in 1820, because George Estes, living on the family land, has a female in that age bracket living with him.  We know she is gone by the 1830s when she is not present in any census and George is living alone.

Luremia is either buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery, which is on the original Estes land, or she was buried in the second cemetery on the Estes land between two of the houses, and was later reburied in the Oak Ridge Cemetery on the Estes plot, shown below, when the city took the land for a landfill.  So, one way or another, all or part of her remains are, today, in the Oak Ridge Cemetery.

The Estes family graves that were moved are probably reburied in this area of unmarked graves.

Graves moved would include Moses Jr., Luremia, their son George and probably his wife, Mary Younger – in addition to any children they had that died.  And you know they probably had children that died – everyone then did.  It seems the death of children was a very sad rite of passage.

This small fieldstone and clump of flowers is all that remain in this area today.  Surely those flowers were planted by someone to mark the grave of someone they loved.

How can we learn more about Luremia?

Luremia did have several daughters, and through those daughters, if they had daughters to the current generation, we could test their DNA and in doing so, find Luremia’s mitochondrial DNA.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mothers to all of their children, but only females pass it on.  So in the current generation, testing males is fine, but they have to descend through all females back to Luremia.

Luremia’s DNA will tell us something really important – what part of the world were her matrilineal ancestors from.  We do have Native American ancestry someplace in this family line – and it’s not from any of the lines we have already tested.  Remember, Moses and Luremia bought land that the Meherrin Indians had lived on and that the Combs family owned.  Is there a connection?  We don’t know – and I’d surely like to.

Luremia’s daughters were:

• Patience Estes born before 1780, married Peter Holt, died before 1837, lived in Smith County, TN, and had at least one daughter, Cointhiana (or Cintha) Holt who married Johnson Moorefield.
• Clarissa Combs Estes born in the 1760s, married Frances Boyd in Halifax County in 1786, lived in Georgia in 1837, and had daughters May Isabel Irving Boyd, Lorany Combs Boyd, Clarice Combs Boyd and Nancy Lawson Boyd.
• Judith Estes born before 1787, married Andrew Juniel in Halifax County in 1806, died before 1837 in Henderson County, KY.  She had daughters Sally, Nancy, Luraney and Jane.
• Patsy Martha Estes, married before 1799 to Robert Jackson (also spelled Hackson) and was married in 1837 to a Lax, children unknown.
• Maga Estes married in 1792 in Halifax County to William Patrick Boyd, children unknown.  Not mentioned as a child in 1837 suit.  Either she was dead with no heirs, or perhaps she was not a child of Moses and Luremia.

If you descend from any of these daughters, please get in touch.  There is a DNA scholarship for the first person from this line willing to test.  You may be the key to solving one last mystery about Luremia.

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Mary Younger was born about 1766, give or take a few years, to Marcus Younger and his wife, probably Susanne, whose last name is believed to be Hart, but is not confirmed.  Mary was probably born in Essex or King and Queen County, VA where Marcus lived before arriving in Halifax County, VA, where he is listed on the tax list for the first time in 1785.

It wasn’t long before Mary Younger married George Estes, in 1786.  There has been some suspicion for years that there is an earlier connection between these two families in King and Queen and Essex Counties, because they were near neighbors there.  At the least, they would have known each other.  They also could have been related, because we have unknown ancestors in both family lines and a seeming familiarity with each other upon arrival in Halifax County.  Or, a really big coincidence.

In Halifax County, George Estes lived next door to a William Younger who owned the land adjacent George’s father, Moses’s, land.  Did Marcus come to visit William Younger and maybe stay with that family long enough for his daughter, Mary Younger, to meet George Estes?  Perhaps.  We’ll likely never know.  We do know that the land that Marcus purchased is not close to the Estes land, roughly ten miles distant.

William Younger had no male children, so there is no Y DNA to test to see if that line connects with the Marcus or Thomas Younger line.

The first time we actually find Mary Younger in a record is when she married George Estes on December 19, 1786, six days before Christmas.  She married George on the same day his brother, Bartlett Estes married Rachel Pounds, so that Christmas at the Estes household was one full of celebration and the richness and hope of new love.  Maybe they received gifts to help them set up housekeeping.

Like couples of that timeframe, the first baby arrived the next year and then every couple years thereafter, like clockwork.

Given that Mary’s father, Marcus Younger didn’t buy land until 1788, it’s very likely that Mary and George spent their first few years of married life on Moses Estes’s land in what is now South Boston, across from the Oak Ridge Cemetery, shown below.

In the google image above, Estes Street is the street to the left that runs beside the water plant and today, down to the landfill, behind those trees.

Below, the Estes land from the east at the recycling center today.

Below, overlooking the Estes land from the back side.

There is no 1790, 1800 or 1810 census for Halifax County, so we can’t tell anything about Mary and George’s children until the 1820 census.  By this time, Mary and George have been married 34 years and several of their children would have been born, grown up and left the nest, with families of their own.  Mary probably stopped having children about 1810 or so, when she would have been about 44 years old.  We’ve had to piece their family together from other documents.  Mary Younger and George Estes had the following children:

• John R. Estes born in 1787 who married Ann Moore in 1812 and removed to Claiborne County, TN. about 1820.
• Marcus Estes born about 1788, died 1815, married Quintenny, surname unknown, and may have had one child, Marcus.
• William Y. Estes born 1785/1786 and died 1860/1870, married Rebecca Miller in 1815.
• Susannah Y. Estes born in 1800, died in 1870, never married but had 5 children.
• Polly Estes born 1801/1808, died after 1880, married James Smith.
• Sally Estes married Thomas Estes, her first cousin, about 1819.

There may have been other children, but based on the 1842 estate settlement of Mary Younger’s sister, Susannah, to Mary’s heirs, these are the children who survive or had died but had heirs.

In 1805, Mary’s father, Marcus must have become quite ill, because he wrote his will.  That’s not something people did in that place and time in advance, which is why so many people actually died without wills.

However, Marcus Younger recovered from whatever ailed him and did not die until ten years later, in 1815.  Marcus’s wife, whose name we think was Susannah, was not mentioned in his 1805 will, which tells us that she had already died.  So, in 1815, when Marcus died, that would have been the last of Mary’s parents.  She would have been just about age 50.

Given that Mary Younger married George Estes in 1786, and Marcus Younger didn’t purchase his land on the Banister River until 1788, we don’t know if Mary actually ever lived on this land before she married.  Marcus could have been renting it before he purchased the land.

However, in the 1790s, we find George Estes along with John Younger, Mary’s brother, who owned land adjacent Marcus, assigned as road hands together among the Younger family group – so at one time it appears that George and Mary lived on Marcus’s lands, or nearby.

Given that George Estes is not individually taxed as late at 1810, and Marcus Younger is taxed with two white males, it’s certainly likely that George and Mary lived on the Younger land for several years.  This means that their children born from about 1788 through about 1815 were likely born on the Younger land on the Banister River, and not in South Boston.

We know that there were several houses on Marcus’s land.  One house would have stood by the original well, near Yellow Bank Creek.  All that is left today, are some daffodils, a stone that was either the cornerstone or the step, and the well, both shown below.

Another house on the property still stands today, or did a few years ago.

Mary’s life was probably pretty rough about that time.  In 1813, Mary’s father-in-law, Moses Estes, died and it’s very likely that the care of Luremia, her mother-in-law fell to Mary and George which may ultimately have been part of the reason they moved back to South Boston – that plus they would be inheriting part of George’s father’s land there.  In 1814, Mary’s 14 year old daughter had a baby without being married, and in 1815, Mary’s father died. Mary probably wondered what would strike next.  Sadly, it would be her son, Marcus’s, death as well.

Mary’s mother and father would be buried in the Younger Cemetery, on Marcus Younger’s land.  All of the graves are in a wooded area on private land that Marcus owned at the time, and all marked only by fieldstones.  If you didn’t know where this cemetery was, you would never, ever, find it.  It took 3 tries and I nearly didn’t – and I never would have found it had it not been for the generosity of the current landowner.

Mary may also have some children buried in this cemetery as well, including son Marcus who died in 1814 or 1815 who may be buried near his grandfather, for whom he was named.  This land may well have been very close to Mary’s heart.  In fact, it may have been Mary who lovingly planted the flowers that bloom in the spring here, in the heart of the forest wilderness, today.  The periwinkle, below, wasn’t in bloom a the time, but it covered the entire cemetery – obviously planted intentionally by someone.

By the 1820 census, the Mary Younger/George Estes household is back in South Boston and is shown with 1 male over 45 and one male under 10, which would be Mary’s grandson, Ezekiel through daughter Susannah.  There is one female under 10, 2 females 16-26 and 2 over the age of 45.  One of those older women would be Mary.  The female under 10 would be Sarah, Susannah’s second child born in 1818.  Susannah herself would be one of the females age 16-26 (although she was age 30) and the second would likely be her sister, Polly.

The other woman over the age of 45 is likely George’s mother, Luremia.  If so, that would mean 4 generations under one roof.  Depending on how well people got along, that could be a very good thing…or not.  I’m guessing that the events of 1813, 1814 and 1815 were extremely stressful for this family, and for Mary, in particular.

After Mary’s father’s death, the family moved from her father’s land to South Boston, among the Estes family.  Things didn’t calm down much either, because Susannah continued to remain unmarried and have children – a second child born in 1818.  Mary’s son, John R. Estes and Marcus would marry and then in 1814, march off to serve in the War of 1812.  John R. Estes came back.  Marcus died either during that time, or shortly thereafter, as his estate was probated in 1815.

By 1820, Mary was saying goodbye to John R. Estes, forever, as he and Ann Moore packed a wagon with what belongings they could and set out with their young family for the frontier.  I wonder if Mary’s grandchildren waved to her from the back of the wagon until they were out sight.  Did they know they would never see their grandmother again?Mary surely knew.

John R. and Ann’s house on the Estes land would have been vacant, at least for awhile, a silent reminder of the family Mary would never see again.  Perhaps it was their house that Susannah moved into before the 1830 census.

John R. wasn’t the only child who left.  Sally who married Thomas Estes moved to Tennessee as well about the same time.  Another wagon to wave goodbye to…and cry.

And then there is the mystery child – the one we know was dead by 1842 and left a son named Mark.  Given that there is only one heir mentioned, one child, Mark, it’s likely that the Estes parent died young and Mary would have buried that child as well.  Mary’s son, Marcus’s estate mentions nothing about a child, but the 1842 documents suggest that perhaps Marcus, the grandson, was the son of Marcus Estes who died in 1814/1815 after all.  I wonder if Mary raised grandson Mark after her child died.

By 1830, George Estes is shown as living alone, and Susannah is shown living in her own household, so it’s very likely that Mary and Luremia have both died.  I wonder if George is enjoying the silence or if he is lonely.  Maybe it depends on when you ask him.

There is a bit of confusion about when Mary Younger Estes actually died.  Mary’s sister, Susannah Younger had a will dated 1831; Halifax Co., Va. pg. 25–Will Bk. 15, pg. 422, which, among other things, states that she leaves her clothes to her sister, Mary Estes.  Another version says to Susannah Estes, which would be Mary’s daughter.  If Mary was dead by 1831, these clothes would not have helped her and might explain the second version, mentioning Susannah. Of course, we don’t actually know when this will was physically written, but it suggests that Mary died closer to 1830 than 1820 and perhaps not until after 1831 – although she is not accounted for in the 1830 census.  Mary is assuredly dead by 1833 when George deeds land to daughter Susannah without Mary’s signature to release her dower rights.

We don’t know if Mary Younger Estes is buried in the Younger Cemetery on her father’s land, then owned by her brother John’s heirs, or if she is buried in the Estes Cemetery in South Boston.  If she is buried in the Estes Cemetery, she could have been originally buried in what is believed to be the Estes family cemetery,  now Oak Ridge Cemetery which was originally part of the Estes land, shown below.

Or, depending on who was feuding with whom at the time, Mary could have been buried in the “new” Estes cemetery in what is now under the landfill.  If Mary was buried there, the graves were moved to the Estes plot in the Oak Ridge Cemetery.  So, you could say she might have a migrating grave.

I know that there were some terribly stressful times in Mary’s life, and that once they began, never ended.  Her daughter Susannah had to be a constant, lifelong concern for Mary.  How would Susannah ever support those children?  It became evident that Susannah was going to continue having children and wasn’t going to marry.  There is more to this story that we’ll never know.  Many women had their first child out of wedlock and went on to marry and have a family.  Why didn’t Susannah?

I hope that the difficult times did not overshadow the good times for Mary.  And surely, there were good times.  Mary did have 5 grandchildren through Susannah, 11 through William Y., at least 4 through Polly, plus the mystery grandchild Mark who may have lived in close proximity.  That’s 21 grandchildren that she got to love and interact with, at least the ones born before her passing.  She lived with some of these grandkids for many years so you know she had a special bond with them.

Mary’s other 17 or 18 grandchildren lived in Tennessee, but she did get to be with John R’s oldest children for the first few years of their lives.  The older children likely carried warm and loving memories of their grandmother, Mary, in their hearts forever.  There is just no one like a grandmother to make you feel loved and special.

Thankfully, Mary had some daughters who had some daughters.  If we can find someone who descends from Mary Younger Estes through all daughters today, we will be able to test them for Mary’s mitochondrial DNA.  From that, we may be able to tell where in the world, in a general sense, her mother’s family originated.

Women contribute their mitochondrial DNA to both genders of their children, but only females pass it on.  So, we’re looking for someone, male or female, who descends from Mary through all females to the current generation.

Mary’s daughters and their daughters who had daughters were:

1. Susannah Y. Estes born about 1800 who had two daughters who had daughters:

• Sarah Estes born in 1818 who married John Mountcastle and had at least 4 daughters, Sally, Martha, Harriett and Sallie Mountcastle

Sarah Estes Mountcastle, at left, with daughter Sarah.

• Mary Mildred Estes born in 1828 who married William Greenwood and had daughters Nannie Elizabeth and Mary Jane Greenwood.  After William Greenwood died, she remarried to Jessie Jacobs and had daughter Susan E. Jacobs.  Nannie married John Thomas Murray, Mary married James Nathaniel Murray and Susan married Samuel Carroll Miller.  All 3 daughters had daughters.

Back of photo: Mother Mary Mildred Estes Greenwood after she remarried to a Jacobs with daughters Mary Jane Greenwood Murray and Nannie Elizabeth Greenwood Murray.

2. Polly Estes born between 1801-1808 who married James Smith in 1824 and had 2 daughters:

• Elizabeth Y. Smith born 1824
• Sarah Smith born about 1839

3. Sally Estes married Thomas Estes and moved to Giles and Montgomery County, TN, having 4 daughters:

• Rachel W. Estes born about 1825
• Eliza A. Estes born about 1830
• Julia A. Estes born about 1842
• Sarah W. Estes born about 1847

If you descend from this family, please get in touch.  We’re kin.  If you descend from all women, maybe we can unravel a bit more of Mary’s life.

The lives of these pioneer women were difficult, which probably meant they appreciated their brief respites of beauty more profoundly than we do today.  You can always tell where a homestead stood, and the cemetery, by the spring wildflowers growing nearby.  This daffodil was growing in the Younger cemetery in Halifax County, and I like to think it symbolizes my family buried there – never entirely gone – not as long as we remember them.  For all we know, Mary may have planted this herself on her parents’ or her child’s grave.

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Ann Moore, or as the family affectionately called her, Nancy or Nancy Ann Moore, is one of those ancestors we only know due to the men in her life.  Were it not for the men, her father and husband, we wouldn’t know her name or who she was at all.

Nancy was born in Halifax County, Virginia in 1785 or 1786.  She was listed in the 1850 and 1860 census of Claiborne County, TN as age 65 and 74, respectively, once by the name of Nancy, and once by the name of Ann.  We also know from these records that she was older than her husband, probably by about 2 years, but maybe a little more.

Nancy was a Methodist minister’s daughter, born to the Reverend William Moore and his wife, Lucy, whose last name is unknown.  The Moore family had settled in Halifax County in about 1770 and by the time Nancy Ann was born, was well established, as was the Moore Meeting house that stood in what is today the crossroads of Mountain Road and Oak Level Road at Oak Level.

The Moore land and house stood mostly on the south (right) side of the road and the Meeting House on the north (left, above), to the right of where this house stands today, in that clump of trees in the photo below.

Beside the meeting house was a spring where the church attendees went to refresh themselves.  This is today located directly across the road from the Mt. Vernon Church which was built to replace the original Moore Meeting House.

Every Sunday and probably some evenings too, Nancy would have attended services in the Moore Meeting House from as early as she could remember.  I’m guessing that her last Sunday in Halifax County, around 1820, was also spent in this church, hearing her father preach for the last time….hearing her father’s voice for the last time.

This also tells us, by inference, that John R. Estes, the man whom she would marry, was a Methodist too, and attended her church.

How do we know that, even though his family lived miles away in South Boston?  Because there was only one Methodist Church in Halifax County at that time, and all Methodist “dissenters,” meaning those not attending the Anglican church, would have attended this church.  And the Good Reverend would never, ever have consented for his daughter to have married someone not Methodist and not a member in good standing.  John’s mother’s family, the Youngers, were also Methodist, as was his grandmother’s family, the Combs, which means that John’s parents were very likely Methodist too – forming a network of people covering at least two, if not three, generations who had intermarried.

You can’t marry someone you don’t see.  John R. Estes and Ann Moore saw each other through church and extended family.

William Moore signed for daughter Ann Moore to marry John R. Estes on November 25, 1811.  We don’t know, because there is no minister’s return still in existence, but it’s most likely that he performed the nuptials, himself, in the Moore Meeting house.

By virtue of an affidavit some years later, given by John R. Estes, we also know that the family, meaning the extended family, was together that Christmas Day as well.  Howe do we know that?  Well, Lemuel Moore was there, believed to be Anne’s brother, John R. Estes was there and John’s grandmother’s Combs family line was there too.  These people were very likely all Methodist and the Reverend William Moore likely preached on Christmas Day.  Afterwards, they probably all ate together.  It would only be later that what was discussed and who said what to whom would become part and parcel of a civil suit.

We know that Ann was having children in 1812 when their first child, William, named after her father, was born.  On April 7, 1813, their first daughter, Lucy, named for Ann’s mother, joined the family.  If you’re counting, either Nancy was pregnant when they married or William or Lucy’s birth information is incorrect.  Certainly either is possible.

Based on the tax records, I believe that the young couple had set up housekeeping by John R. Estes’s family in South Boston.

This photo is taken from the Oak Ridge Cemetery in South Boston, standing in one of the multiple (later) Estes plots but looking across the road at part of the land that was the original Estes land in South Boston, owned by Moses Estes Jr.  Moses’s son, including George, lived there and eventually, the grandchildren inherited that land.  This is the area where Nancy Ann Estes would have lived as a young bride, minus the paved road, utility poles and car of course.

John R. Estes was drafted for the War of 1812 and enlisted on September 1, 1814.  He was discharged just three months later, in Maryland.  We don’t know if he had a horse or was on foot during his service time.  One way or another, he made it back home unscathed.

We do know that Ann and John’s next son, Jechonias, was born about this time or maybe after John returned.  According to the census, Jechonias was born probably in 1814 or 1815.  I have never been able to figure out where that name came from, Jechonias, but I’m just sure there is a clue in there someplace about ancestry.  I did quite a bit of research in Halifax County surrounding the first Jechonias, which was found specifically in a couple of families, but was never able to discover any connection.

In about 1817, their daughter, Temperance was born.  Again, we don’t know who she might have been named for.

John Y. Estes was born on December 29, 1818, in Halifax County, or at least in Virginia.  Nancy, the next child would be born about 1820 and later census records indicate she was born in Virginia.  I don’t think that the family was living in Halifax County in 1820 because they are not enumerated on the census.  They could, literally, have been in transit.

About this time, Nancy Ann and John R. Estes packed their worldly belongings into a wagon and with at least 4 young children and headed west, leaving all four of their aging parents behind.  I can only imagine how difficult that parting must have been, all parties concerned knowing they would be seeing each other for the last time.

Ann’s uncles, Rice and Mackness Moore were already living in Grainger County, Tenenssee, where The Reverend Rice Moore had established the Methodist County Line church, literally on the county line between Grainger and Hawkins County.  This area was just below Claiborne County, across the Clinch River.

We don’t know exactly where Ann and John settled at first, but we do know for sure that their daughter Lucy, married Coleman Rush in Grainger County in 1833 and they lived there for at least a few years.  The County Line Church is gone today, but stood in the above location.

However, in 1830, John Estes and Nancy were living in Claiborne County and had 8 children according to the census.  They were living among the neighbors who would shape their lives and that of their children in the decades to come.  Their neighbors within 5 houses in either direction included the Cooks (John R’s second wife), the Campbell’s (John Y’s wife), the McVeys (William’s wife), the Brays (Jechonias’s wife).  Next door lived William Cunningham, a man who would sign for John R. Estes’s character in 1871, 40+ years later.

Sometimes, my ancestors reveal themselves to me in very unique ways, but when researching Ann Moore, something happened that has never, ever happened before.  I’m just going to share this image with you of the 1830 Claiborne County, TN census from ancestry.com.  I am not cropping any of the screen shot so that you can see for yourself that this is an actual screen shot.  For the record, I did not photoshop this or do anything else to it.  This is exactly how it appeared on my screen, much to my surprise.

Those of you who look at census records regularly know, positively, there are no photos, blurry or otherwise, associated with census records.  And suffice it to say, I’ve looked at this same record several times, and this image was never there before.  In fact, I’ve never seen anything like this before.

In this cropped version, John Campbell, my ancestor is at the top of the photo and John Estes, Ann Moore’s husband is at the bottom of the photo.  I’m just not going to say anything at all.

After moving to Tennessee, Ann and John had a daughter between 1820 and 1825, but she had died by the 1840 census or married very early and was never noted by P.G. Fulkerson as being one of John R. Estes and Ann Moore’s children.  I suspect she died, because she wasn’t recorded by any other family members either.  I also suspect that a second child died in this same timeframe, because George wasn’t born until 1827 and then Mary after the 1830 census, both named after John R’s parents – so there is a gap likely to represent a deceased child.

Ann’s father, William Moore, died in 1826 back in Halifax County, Virginia, but Ann may not have known that until a circuit riding minister came through the area.  Ann’s mother struggled in Halifax County and died between 1830 and 1840.  Ann’s father lost the farm to debt before he died, not long after John and Ann left Halifax County.

We don’t know much about Ann’s day to day life in Claiborne County.  John had property surveyed in 1826, but sold it immediately.  By 1850, John was a shoemaker and their only child left at home was Mary, age 19.

By 1860, John is noted as a miller, but since they owned no land, he was obviously being a miller on someone else’s land.  A few houses away, Isaac Cole is noted as a millwright, a man who would have built mills and understood the gearworks.  Perhaps these men worked together in some fashion.

The 1850 census indicates that Nancy cannot read or write, but that her husband and her daughter both can.  The 1860 census does not have a checkmark indicating that Nancy Ann can’t read and write, so we’ll never know for sure.  Since there are no documents that Nancy actually signed, we don’t know if she signed with a signature or with an X.

Nancy Ann and John spent their life in Claiborne County in or near Estes Holler on Little Sycamore Creek.  Their first child married when their youngest was just a year or so old, so Ann and John had children in their household for almost exactly 40 years.

By the 1860 census, they had a teenaged grand-daughter living with them.  It’s hard to say whether this arrangement was to help them or for them to help with a troublesome grandchild.

We know that Ann was still alive in 1860, listed as age 74, and was gone by the 1870 census by which time she would have been in her mid-80s.  Ironically, in 1871, John R. Estes completes an application for War of 1812 benefits and in it he lists his marriage to Ann Estes.  It’s appears that he was simply recording that marriage, not indicating he was at that time still married to Ann at that time.

Life in Claiborne County during the Civil War was miserable.  Not only were battles constantly waged for the coveted position of the Cumberland Gap which changed hands several times, but the soldiers from both sides were constantly foraging for food for both themselves and their animals.  Many of the local men were away, enlisted to fight either for the Union or the Confederacy, so taking food from women, children and the elderly was easy pickings – at least comparatively speaking.

If Nancy Ann had not already died before the Civil War began, she would have remained at home, worrying, while her son John Y. Estes fought for the Confederacy, was wounded, captured, held as a POW and in 1865 was finally released and walked home from north of the Ohio River, on a bum leg.  John R. and Nancy Ann probably tried to help feed his wife, Ruthy, and the children while he was gone.

Nancy Ann also agonized, I’m sure, over her daughter’s, Lucy and Tempy, whose husband’s were fighting for the north.  She must have been especially worried about her son William’s wife, now a widow in Kentucky, but with 4 sons and sons-in-law fighting for the Union.  And then there was always a question of whether Ann’s son, George, was really dead after he disappeared on his way back to Iowa from California with his gold rush proceeds, or if he was alive someplace.

Or maybe Ann was blessed and died before the Civil War and didn’t have to suffer through any of that.

We don’t know where Nancy Ann was buried, but given that in 1871, John was living 4 miles east of Tazewell, it’s very likely that she was buried on the land that was owned by her son, Jechonias Estes.  Today, that land includes the “upper Estes cemetery,” shown below with 5 Estes cousins in 2004 or 2005.  Actually, there were 6 cousins, but I was taking the picture.

This cemetery is also called the Estes Nunn Cemetery today and has more unmarked graves than marked graves.

One of the ways we could tell more about Nancy Ann Moore is through her mitochondrial DNA that she inherited from her mother.  Woman pass this DNA to both genders of their children, but only females pass it on.  So, in order to find a male or female today who carries Nancy’s mitochondrial DNA, it’s necessary to find someone who descends from her through all females to the current generation.  In the current generation, males are fine.

Nancy Ann’s daughters with their known daughters were as follows:

Lucy and Coleman Rush

• Nancy Jane Rush born May 24, 1834
• Margaret Amanda Rush born January 27, 1836

Nancy and Nathaniel Hooper

• Mary Hooper born 1853
• Malinda Hooper born 1855

Temperance and Adam Clouse

• Ann J. Clouse born 1841
• Mary M. Clouse born 1842
• Jemima Clouse born 1844/1845
• Sarah J. Clouse born about 1849
• Louisiana Clouse born about 1856
• Elizabeth Clouse born about 1858

Mary and William Hurst

• Missouri Hurst born 1854
• Marion or Mahlon Hurst born 1857
• Malissa A. Hurst born 1860

Unfortunately, there are two Hurst couples who carry the same first names, so I can’t necessarily tell which Mary Hurst is Mary Estes Hurst.

There could easily be additional children for these women.

If you descend from any of these women, through all females, please let me know.  I have a DNA testing scholarship waiting for you!!!!

Heck, if you are related to this family at all, let me hear from you.

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I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

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We thought her name was Martha.  They said her name was Martha – but it wasn’t…or if it was there is no direct evidence of that.  She never once used Martha on documents, signing deeds or in the census from 1850 through 1900.

The name Martha came to us from P. G. Fulkerson, a long-time attorney and historian in Tazewell, Tennessee who was born in 1840 and died in 1929.  He wrote about many of the early pioneer families.  His records indicated that John Y. Estes married Martha Dodson.  For all the good information he did provide, he was also wrong a non-trivial part of the time, and he might have been wrong about her name as well.

Ruthy Dodson, often called Rutha, was born in 1820, we’re not sure where, and died in 1903 in Estes Holler, in Claiborne County, Tennessee.  Martha was a family name.  One of Rutha’s daughters was named Martha as was Rutha’s aunt, Martha Campbell Jones, so Rutha’s given name could actually have been Martha, maybe Martha Ruth.

We might have Rutha’s picture too, but we’re not sure.  This photo was found in Uncle Buster’s picture box, along with the photo we think was John Y. Estes, the man once Rutha’s husband.  Uncle Buster said he thinks that he recalls being told that Rutha had red hair.

Ruthy suffered from debilitating arthritis in her later years, and the hand of the woman in the picture is disfigured, suggesting perhaps that she had arthritis.

Photo restorers have suggested that her clothes in this photo look more like the 1860s or 1870s, but of course that would assume that they clothes were contemporary.  I know that clothes were kept, passed down and used for generations, so even if her clothes were from the 1860s or 1870s, that doesn’t mean that’s when the photo was taken.  Ruthy looks to be maybe 50 or 60 in this photo, which would make the year 1870 or 1880.  The photo below is restored and colorized.  I owe a debt of gratitude to the restorer.  I can’t believe how much this brings Ruthy to life.

If this picture is Ruthy, or Rutha, she is the mother of Lazarus, George Buchanan, Elizabeth and John Reagan Estes.  Her original photo, enlarged, is shown below.

Do these people look like she could be their mother?  It’s sad that this photo had nothing to identify it except what Buster thought he could remember.

Rutha’s four children above, from top left clockwise are Elizabeth Estes Vannoy, George Buchanan Estes (hat), Lazarus Estes (bottom right) and John Reagan Estes (about 1905).  Of these, I think that both Elizabeth and Lazarus have Lazarus’s nose – which apparently continued to grow for their entire lives.  Elizabeth is age 95 in the photo and John Reagan’s nose grew as he aged too, as you can see in the photo below.

But in the younger photo of John Reagan Estes, about 1905, when he was 34, I think he looks a lot like the woman in the photo who may be Rutha.  It’s difficult to see George Buchanan under his hat, and this is the only known photo of him.

Where was Rutha Born?

Ruthy Dodson was born on March 1, 1820, possibly in Alabama, to Lazarus Dodson and Elizabeth Campbell, although her family was definitely a Claiborne County, TN family, both before and after that time, which is what made an Alabama birth seem so unusual.

This potential Alabama birth location was a bit of a surprise.  Where did that come from?  Is it true?  These families were surprisingly mobile for people without automobiles.

Lazarus Dodson, either Sr. or Jr. sold land in Claiborne County in 1819 and both Lazarus Dodson Sr. and Jr. disappeared from the records entirely until about 1826 when Lazarus Dodson reappears, about the time Lazarus Dodson Sr. died.

Alabama became a state in 1819 and the lands ceded or taken from the Indians in the War of 1812 would become available shortly.  However, many pioneer families knew this and attempted to beat the rush.  Many of the militia from Tennessee returned to Tennessee, packed up their belonging, and returned with their families in two wheel carts to “Squat” on the Indian Lands in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi until they could obtain title.

The Dodson family seems to have been involved with Indian trading in Alabama since at least 1797, so Lazarus may have simply been joining family there and he may well have gone with his father, Lazarus Dodson, Sr.

Or, Rutha may have been born in Claiborne County or elsewhere in Tennessee before they left or along the way.  She certainly would not have been the first child to be born in a wagon on the trail.  Rutha gives her birth location as Tennessee on every census from 1850 through 1910 – so you’d think if she were born in Alabama, at least one census would tell us that – but it doesn’t.

Another researcher indicates that Rutha’s brother, Lazarus Dobkins Dodson’s (say that 3 times fast) Civil War records support that he was born in Jackson County, Alabama as well.

Jackson County is located on the far northeastern border of Alabama, not far from Chattanooga, TN. and bordering both Franklin and Marion Counties in Tennessee and Dade County, in Georgia.  It was formed in 1819 from land acquired from the Cherokee Indians.

Jackson County isn’t as distant as it sounds either – just over 200 miles from Tazewell.

Lazarus Dodson returned to Claiborne County at some point, because he is on an 1833 Claiborne County tax list, but then he’s gone again in 1833 and 1834 because his taxes are unpaid.  In 1835, a Hawkins County court record relative to a lawsuit shows him to be out of the state entirely.  Was his family with him?

We don’t know when his wife, Elizabeth Campbell died, but it may have been before 1830.  In 1830, there are 4 young children living with Elizabeth Campbell’s  parents, John and Jane “Jenny” Campbell in Claiborne Co. TN.  The last surviving child born to Lazarus and Elizabeth Campbell Dodson was Lazarus, born in 1827, so I strongly suspect Elizabeth died between 1827 and 1830.

After the death of Elizabeth Campbell Dodson’s father, John Campbell, in 1838, an administrator was appointed for Elizabeth Campbell’s children who were in Claiborne County at that time.  This record actually threw me for a loop, because these children were listed as minor heirs of Lazorous Dodson, implying that he was dead, but he wasn’t.  He may well have been living out of the state though.

From “Claiborne Co., TN Will Book A / 1837-1846” by Claiborne Co. Historical Society:  June Term 1841 – Settlement application – Wiley Huffaker, Clerk & James A. Hamilton, Guardian.  Guardian’s report of minor heirs of Lazorous Dodson.  John C., Nancy, Ruth, and Lazorous Dodson, minor heirs of Lazorous Dodson.

Whether Rutha was born in Tennessee or Alabama, I think it’s probably safe to say she spent the earliest years of her childhood in Alabama, until she was at least 6 or 7.  She probably found the adventure of the ten day or so wagon ride back to Tennessee exciting…unless it was because her mother had died and Lazarus was going home to bring his children to his wife’s parents.  How does a single man raise 4 small children alone on the frontier, especially if one of the children is a nursing infant?

Rutha was probably very glad to see her grandmother, even though she likely had no prior memory of her.  You know, however, that Jenny Dobkins Campbell welcomed her granddaughter home with open arms.  Grandmothers are like that!

Rutha’s mother, Elizabeth may have died after their return to Claiborne County, and if that is the case, then she is probably buried in the Campbell family cemetery.  The Campbell family cemetery is on the hill above the homestead, in the photo below.  This is looking towards Estes Holler over the landscape.  The Campbell (now Liberty) Cemetery is on the top of a hill.

In 1839, Lazarus Dodson remarried to Rebecca Freeman and in the 1840 census, Jane Campbell, Rutha’s grandmother, is living with one female between the ages of 15 and 20 and one male between the ages of 10 and 15, so it’s very likely that both Rutha and her younger brother, Lazarus, are living with their grandmother on Little Sycamore Road.

That arrangement probably suited everyone, especially since by then, Rutha might have been being courted by John Y. Estes who lived nearby.

Rutha’s two older siblings had married in 1839 and 1840.

The John Campbell homestead still stands, within walking distance of Estes Holler – and probably a shorter distance “the back way” over the hills than down the roads.

The Campbell homestead where Rutha was raised, below, is down the hill from the cemetery.  Standing in the cemetery, you can see the roof of the house.  Literally, John Campbell, after his burial, “watched over” the house.

John Y. Estes probably walked Rutha out to the spring, shown here in front of the house in what looks like a ditch, to help her draw water for her grandmother.

He likely carried the buckets for her, showing how strong and capable he was.  Rutha was obviously smitten.

Maybe John kissed Rutha under these trees by the spring that seeps out of the ground by the rocks on the right.  Do you think her grandmother was watching from behind the curtains?  Maybe Grandma sent Rutha’s little brother, 5 years younger, out to “help,” especially if the kissing got too serious or took too long.

Married Life

On January 3, 1841, Rutha married John Y. Estes and moved just down the road into Estes Holler.  I wonder if John asked Rutha to marry him at Christmas.  I wonder if he asked her grandmother “for her hand in marriage” first.  Was Rutha’s father, Lazarus anyplace close enough to attend the wedding, or was he in already in Kentucky by this time?  Lazarus Dodson is not found in the 1840 census in Claiborne County.

One thing you know for sure, Rutha’s grandmother was right with her when she married and Rutha’s siblings probably were too.  At that time in Claiborne County, the “marriage return” was shown on the page to the right of the license.  John McNeil, a Justice of the Peace in Claiborne County married John and Ruthy.  He lived in or near Estes Holler, so would have known all parties concerned.  And besides, John McNeil was married to another Elizabeth Campbell, likely a cousin, although we’re not quite sure how.

The old Liberty Church (shown below) stands right beside the Campbell homestead but wasn’t organized until 1856, and Pleasant View church at the mouth of Estes Holler wasn’t founded until 1909, so it’s very likely that John Y. Estes and Rutha Dodson were married in a now forgotten little church on Little Sycamore Creek near where Liberty Church was organized in 1856 called Little Ridge Church.  Little Ridge Church was located on Joseph McVey’s land, and in 1850, John Y. Estes is living beside Joseph McVey.  Joseph McVey’s sister, Jennie, married John Y. Estes’s brother, William.

Truly, in these hills and hollers, everyone was related to everyone, one way or another – and often in several ways.  That “I Am My Own Grandpa” ditty is funny, quite funny actually, until you realize it’s your family they are talking about.

In 1842, John Y. Estes signed for Ruth’s final estate settlement money from her grandfather, John Campbell’s estate. From the court records, “John Y. Estes receipt dated 5th Sept. 1842 for $54.35.”

Wiley Huffaker, the court appointed guardian, goes on to tell us a bit more.

“Leaving yet in my hands, one hundred eleven dollars & fourty one cents which is each heirs share & which is due & owing to Lazarous Dotson, the youngest heir. The other three having received their whole share as appears from the vouchers on file. Which settlement was presented to the court at October term 1842 & by the court examined & ordered to be filed and recorded, being received by the court. Wiley Huffacker, Guardean.”

From this, we know that in total, Rutha received $111.41, the same as her brother Lazarus. In 1841, this would have purchased a small farm in Claiborne County.  Rutha would have been considered an attractive catch.

By 1850, both Rutha and her younger brother Lazarus had married and were both living a few houses from each other and close to their grandmother as well, who was by this time age 70.

Ruth’s brother John Campbell Dodson married Barthena Dobkins, his first cousin, in 1839.  In the 1850 census, they were living near the other siblings and John listed his birth location as Alabama and his age as 29, so the family was in Alabama in the 1820/1821 timeframe.

A land transaction in 1851 shows that John Estes is renting land in Estes Holler, which turns out to be the land that some 30 years later, Rutha would own. A lot would happen between 1851 and Rutha’s land ownership days.

Rutha’s husband John Y. Estes is listed as a laborer in 1850, as a shoemaker in 1860, just before the Civil War

Normally, in the 10 years between census records, if the family is living in the same location, one assumes that nothing much changed, but that wasn’t the case between 1860 and 1870, although both census records look relatively normal.  They don’t even begin to tell the story of the hellatious decade in-between.

The Civil War

From the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 until mid-1865, John Y. Estes was gone close to four years – four very long years, both for John and Rutha who was left in essence living in a battlefield close to Cumberland Gap.  The battles there never ended and neither did the search for food.

John fought for the Confederacy in bloody battles, marched across at least three states and was finally captured when he was probably attempting to come home after being dismissed from a hospital for his leg injury in 1864.

John was held as a POW until March of 1865 and then deposited north of the Ohio River with orders to stay there until the War was over.  When John arrived back home, his family had survived without him for four terrible years. His wife was 45 years old and yet she would have another child in 1867 and yet another in 1871, at age 51.  By 1880, they were divorced according to the census.

In October of 1865, shortly after his return, John deeded all of his worldly belongings to Lazarus, his teenage son.  I don’t know what happened, but I can hear a huge fight after he returned from the war between Rutha and John.  In the 1870 census, they have no land and no personal estate, but then, neither does Lazarus, their son, who lives two houses away.

On top of whatever the situation was with Rutha’s marriage to John and the devastation in Estes Holler, the war had also been fought on the land just beneath the Cumberland Gap where Rutha grew up when her family lived in Tennessee.  It’s the land that her grandfather, Lazarus Dodson, Revolutionary War veteran, owned and where he is buried, we think, or at least where his tombstone rests today, and she clearly would have had some sentimental attachment.  I wonder how she felt knowing that her family land was in the midst of the active fighting for three solid years – that the family homes and cemetery were assuredly destroyed.  Soldiers were encamped by the springs and cannon fire resonated, being fired from the Cumberland Gap, directly above the homestead.

Rutha was probably grateful that her father sold the last of the land in 1861 and had moved to Pulaksi Co., KY – a fortuitous move, and perhaps a farsighted one too.

This is the Cottrell Cemetery, formerly the cemetery on the land owned by Lazarus Dodson, in Claiborne County, on the Lincoln Memorial University campus today, but previously accessed off of Tipprell Road.

From the Dodson/Cottrell cemetery, overlooking the valley where Lazarus Dodson owned land.

For Rutha, her husband’s role fighting for the Confederacy wasn’t the entire story – not by a long shot.

Rutha’s sister, Nancy, married James Bray who fought for the Union, as did Rutha’s brother Lazarus.  The Bray’s were near neighbors in Estes Holler, living beside brother Lazarus Dodson in the 1850 census and one house away from sister Rutha and John Y. Estes.  Sometime between 1852 and 1860, Nancy died.

Nancy’s death must have been devastating for Rutha, especially after losing her mother, her father living elsewhere and the death of her grandfather who was raising the four Dodson children.  Did Rutha help to raise her sister’s children?  I cannot find these four children in the 1860 census.  Did they perish as well?

By 1860, all three of Rutha’s siblings were gone from Claiborne County and her beloved grandmother had passed away.

Rutha’s brother, John Campbell Dodson had moved to Pulaski County, KY and was living near his father, Lazarus Dodson.

Rutha’s brother, Lazarus was living in Trimble Co., KY in 1860 with his birth location noted at Tennessee, as it was in 1850.  However, his birth place is noted as Jackson Co., Alabama from his Civil War records.

Lazarus Dodson was a Union soldier.  He enlisted at Charlestown, Indiana on Sept. 10 1862 to serve 3 years and was described as being 6 feet tall with light complexion, blue eyes and light hair.  Because Lazarus Dobkins Dodson’s grandfather, Lazarus Dodson, was an Indian trader, there has been some question about whether or not Lazarus Dodson Sr.’s wife was Native.  Given this description of light complexion, blue eyes and light hair, it’s very unlikely that his grandmother was an Indian, unless she too was significantly admixed.

Lazarus Dobkins Dodson was discharged in August 1864 at Rock Island, Illinois, a Union Prisoner of War Camp, by reason of a surgeon’s certificate of disability on account of disease – deafness contracted in service.  Lazarus received a certificate of disability for discharge on August 2, 1864 at which time his address was Bethlehem, Clark Co., Indiana.

In 1880, Lazarus Dodson and his family were living in Fulton Co., KY at New Madrid Bend, just across the Mississippi River from New Madrid, Mo. where Lazarus and his second wife, Harriett died.

Rutha’s brother, brother-in-law and husband were all serving at the same time, fighting for opposite sides.  Rutha had to be very torn and perhaps did not pray for any specific side to win, but for the personal safety of the men in her life.

Was Rutha outcast because her husband fought for the South?  She must not have been entirely ostracized, because Lazarus Dobkins Dodson’s children later went to Claiborne County to visit their “Aunt Ruthy” according to family stories.

After the War

Life in the south, especially in the areas where fighting had occurred or that were otherwise devastated by the war, was divided permanently into two pieces – before and after.  Life changed forever.  It wasn’t so much a matter of who won, but of the effects of the conflict itself.  Everyone picked up the pieces and went on as best they could.  They had no other choice.

Beginning with the 1865 deed where John deeded all of his belongings to his son, Lazarus, we see the foreshadowing that things aren’t quite right in Estes Holler.

Starting in 1867, Rutha’s household would begin to shrink when Lazarus married Elizabeth Vannoy.  Of course, they didn’t go far, just next door.  In 1870 Elizabeth married William George Vannoy and they moved next door too.

In 1878, George Buchanan Estes married neighbor, Elizabeth King and they too would move a few doors away for the next 15 years.

In 1879, John Y. Estes signed a deed granting access across his land and by 1880, he was in living Texas, having walked the entire distance, never to return.

The 1880 census shows us that Rutha cannot read or write, and neither can her youngest daughter, but her son, 3 years younger, can both read and write.  However, this does not seem to be a gender based issue, as Rutha’s two oldest daughters, both still at home at ages 23 and 21 can read and write and her 19 year old daughter. Rutha, can read but not write.  Youngest daughter Rutha was born when her mother, Rutha, was 47 years old, so she may have had a learning impairment.

Also on the 1880 census, Rutha was noted as divorced, a status that carried a great deal of stigma in that day and time.  Today, the very fact that she was noted as divorced may signal to us that she was a very brave and self-confidant woman.  Many “divorced” women never officially divorced and claimed they were widows.  Occasionally one of those “dead husbands” would show up causing quite a ruckus!

On December 6, 1881, at 61 years of age, Rutha bought land, the land she had been living on for years. The court records show that Ruth Estes and her heirs made an indenture, to W. H. Cunningham, for $150.00 for 90 acres of land – meaning Rutha had to take a loan to purchase the land.

The property was adjoining the land of Jechonias Estes, Lazarus Estes and others; beginning on a hickory stump, an old baud ? in Houstans line of Wallins Ridge. Thence north 9, west with Harkins line 94 poles to the Buzzard Rock on top of Wallins Ridge. The debt was satisfied and the deed was filed on February 9, 1883.

Buzzard Rock, above, is a local landmark at the top of Wallin’s Ridge.  Everyone who lives there knows where it is.  Every family has a story that their grandpa is the one who named Buzzard Rock because he hunted up on the ridge and cleaned his kill there.  Of course, I didn’t tell all, or any, of those people that Buzzard Rock is mentioned in the original land grants and deeds in the early 1800s, long before their grandpa’s were a twinkle in anyone’s eye.  People love their family stories and connection to the land and there is no reason to tell them otherwise.  This way, everyone gets to share in the lore and “own a piece of the rock.”  Of course, Rutha did actually own up to Buzzard Rock, so maybe she did clean things up there.  It wouldn’t surprise me any!  She had to feed her family one way or another in the desperate days of the Civil War.

In 1884, daughter Martha, known as Nannie, married Thomas Ausban and they lived close by as well.  However, they didn’t have children, or at least none that lived.

Then, in 1888, tragedy struck.  Both Martha and her unmarried sister, Margaret Melvina, would die within two days of each other in April, on the 7^th and on the 9^th.

With John Y. Estes in Texas, I’m guessing that their brother, John Regan Estes, then age 17, dug their graves with the help of their grandfather, Lazarus, who carved their gravestones.  Their deaths two days apart suggest some type of disease or illness.  There were no death certificates at that time, so other than vague family stories about smallpox and no one other than Lazarus being willing to dig graves, we have no inkling of why or how they died.  We only know it was a tragedy.

Margaret Melvina, known as “Vina,” is buried here among the Estes stones in the Venable, now known as Pleasant View, cemetery.  At one time you could read the hand carving on her stone.  Her brother, Lazarus would have carved her stone, just like he carved the stones for the rest of the family.  Martha probably rests here too, but her husband could have buried her elsewhere.  If she is here, her grave is marked with a fieldstone that was probably carved at one time, but has since succumbed to the elements.

Rutha would have been devastated.  Her life had not quite worked out the way she anticipated in terms of her marriage and the horrible events of the Civil War.  Rutha’s children were marrying and leaving home, her husband gone permanently to Texas, her health was deteriorating and now her two daughters were suddenly dead.  It must have seemed like her world was coming to an end.  That must have been the worst week of Rutha’s life.

Rutha developed crippling arthritis.  The family in Texas tells us that she was disabled for 22 years, which would date from about 1881, right after John Y. left for Texas.

I hope John Y. Estes didn’t intentionally marry a young woman with an inheritance and leave an old woman who had a disabling disease.  I tend to think not, because several of his children joined him in Texas eventually.

The family tells that Rutha lived “up above” Lazarus Estes, and eventually her condition got so bad that the men had to go and get her and carry her down on a litter because she was too “crippled up” to walk.  The clearing on the side of the mountain in the photo below is just above Lazarus’ land.

Rutha’s three adult daughters lived with her until Margaret died in 1888, but Nancy and Rutha both lived with their mother as long as she lived.

Rutha’s youngest son, John Reagan, however, was another matter.  He married Docia Johnson in Claiborne County in 1891, but by 1893, he had Texas fever.  He told his mother goodbye and headed, on a train, unlike his father who walked, to Texas.  A few days later, he had left Tennessee behind forever and on November 1^st, John Reagan Estes stepped onto the platform at Belcherville, Texas to start a new life there, in Texas, the land of promise.

Rutha probably knew when she waved goodbye to her baby, John, on that fall day as he stepped into a wagon for someone to take him to the depot, that she would never see him again.  He was all of 22 years old.  She was 73.  I imagine she shed a lot of tears.  It seems that mothers have been doing this since the beginning of time.

Rutha must have been feeling her age, because on October 20, 1893, just before John Reagan left for Texas, Rutha deeded her 90 acres of land to daughters Nancy and Rutha for $150.  Rutha signed with her mark.

This barn is on Lazarus’s land, but it looks “up the mountain” in the direction of Buzzard Rock where Rutha lived.

In the 1900 census, we find Rutha living with her daughters Nancy and Ruthy.  Ruthy gives her birth year and month as March 1825 and her status as widowed.  John Y. Estes had died in 1895 in Texas, so if they never divorced officially, Rutha was then a widow, legitimately.

Rutha, at age 75 in the census, and more likely actually age 80, is shown as a farmer and her two daughters, 38 and 32, are shown as “farm labor.”  Rutha says she had 8 children and 6 are living, but based on the spacing of her younger children, I suspect she lost 3 if not 4 children early in her marriage, as infants.  She may have been counting children that lived past infancy.  The two who died of course would have been her two adult daughters, Margaret and Martha, in 1888.

In 1903, Ruthy passed away, at age 83.  Lazarus carved her gravestone and she rests with the rest of the Estes Family in the Venable Cemetery.

Rutha lived a long life for that place and time and saw some amazing history.  Her life certainly did not unfold the way she would have anticipated, beginning with her young mother’s death, probably followed by her father’s absence.  Rutha was most likely living with her grandparents, John and Jenny Campbell in 1838, at about age 18, when her grandfather passed as well.

The Civil War interfered with her married life, with her husband gone for years, a Confederate soldier who was a Union POW, and her brother and brother-in-law fighting for the Union forces.  To make matters even worse, Estes Holler was embroiled in the fighting with regular skirmishes, not to mention under constant threat of hungry soldiers trying to find food for themselves and their horses.  It’s a miracle the family survived at all, and they would not had it not been for Rutha and her daughter.  Rutha’s daughter, Elizabeth, stole the family cow back from the soldiers who had taken the cow during their plundering.

The grim reaper visited far too often, showing no mercy in taking Rutha’s two daughters two days apart.  Rutha probably lost 2 or 3 children when they were young, after she was first married.  She buried at least 10 and probably more than a dozen grandchildren in Estes Holler, including three other instances when there were multiple deaths within a few days.

When Rutha died, the only family left in Tennessee to bury her would have been Lazarus and her two daughters, Ruthy and Nancy.  Everyone else was dead or gone to Texas.  Soon, only Lazarus and his family would remain.

Once again, Lazarus carved a grave stone as they laid Rutha to rest in the Venable Cemetery where her daughters waited for her and Lazarus would join her in a few years.

In the 1910 census, daughter Rutha is living with Lazarus and Elizabeth, but Nancy has gone on to Texas and is living in Comanche County, Oklahoma with her brother, George Buchanan Estes.

In 1911, Lazarus Estes sold Nancy and Rutha another acre of land – probably the acre that held their mother’s house.

Just a year later, in 1912, both Rutha and Nancy appear before a notary in Montague Co., TX to sign a deed selling their land, 90+1 acres, to J.C. Estes and Charlie Estes, their nephews, Lazarus’s sons – the third generation to own this land.

By 1920, both Lazarus and Elizabeth would be dead and Nancy and Ruthy would both be living in Texas in Montague Co., enumerated under last name Easter.

And because, just because, we thought we had the mystery of where Ruth was born resolved, daughters Nancy and Ruthy say their father was born in Virginia and their mother in Alabama. So while Ruthy never claimed her birth in Alabama on her own census records, her daughters and siblings did.

The amazing thing about Rutha is that she not only survived, she triumphed over adversity.  She survived a rough start necessitating that her grandparents raise her and her siblings.  She survived the deaths of her children and grandchildren, an obviously problematic marriage, the Civil War along with the resulting starvation conditions, and being left alone to raise several children when her husband left for Texas.  I’m guessing that might have been easier than the Civil War era.

Not only did Rutha survive, she went on to purchase land in her own name, to pay a mortgage in full and register the deed, free and clear just two years later, and she was the one to leave an inheritance to her children, in spite of her chronically painful condition.  An incredible and inspirational woman.  I wish we knew more.  I hope I carry some of her admirable qualities – even if I didn’t inherit her red hair gene and I certainly don’t want to share her arthritis gene.

Missing Mitochondrial DNA Information

We don’t know anything about Rutha’s mitochondrial DNA.  We know, of course, that she inherited it from her mother, Elizabeth Campbell, and she from her mother, Jenny Dobkins, and she from her mother, Dorcas Johnson and she from her mother Mary Polly Phillips who was supposed to be from Scotland, if all the records are right.  But, those records have gotten might flimsy and unproven by the time we’re back to Mary Polly Phillips – one might say that they fall into the bailiwick of hearsay.

I’d love to have Rutha’s mitochondrial DNA tested.  With that, we’ll be able to tell a great deal about their matrilineal ancestors and where they were likely from.  Who were they?  Scots, Irish, Celts?  Where did they come from?

Ruthy only had one daughter that survived to have children, Elizabeth who married William George Vannoy.

Elizabeth Estes and William George Vannoy had two daughters who lived to adulthood and married.

Eliza Vannoy, also known as Louisa and Liza Vannoy, born in 1871 married Joe Robert Miller.  They had one daughter who married:

• Nell Lee Miller born in 1902 married William Homer Jackson.

Doshia Phoebe Vannoy born in 1875 who married James Matthew Hutson.  They had three daughters who married as well:

• Opal Hutson who was born in 1900 who married Grady Murphy.
• Lizzie “Lucille” Hutson born in 1907 who married a Luttrell.
• Audrey Hutson born in 1917 who married Alfred Long

In addition to Ruth’s daughter’s children, Ruth’s sister also carries her mitochondrial DNA and passed it to her children as well.  Nancy Dodson is reported to have had the following daughters with James Bray:

• Margaret Rhoda Bray born 1853, married Johnson Isaiah Davis and had daughter Flora Ann.
• Mary born 1848
• Carline (probably Caroline) born 1838

There could be other children whose names I don’t have.

If you descend from any of these women through all women, I have a DNA scholarship for you.  Males in the current generation are just fine – but must descend through all females.

If this is your family, contact me regardless of how you descend, because more importantly, we’re kin!  I’m guessing we might have some interesting stories to share!  Our family may be described a lot of ways, but boring is not one of them.

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Phebe is one of those ancestors that we know little about.  We have no pictures or signatures.  In fact, we’re not even positive of her surname.  Most of the information we have about Phebe comes through her husband’s Workman family, through a book, “Some Branches of the Workman Tree” by Ralph Hall Sayer, 1979.

According to Sayer, the following marriage record shows that Phoebe McMahon married Joseph Workman in Christ Lutheran Church in York County, PA. on August 4, 1761.

“Joseph Workman, son of Abraham, married ‘PHEBE M’RAY, daughter of Hugh (Juh.) Mecmeher”‘.

This suggests that Phebe was probably born around 1741, give or take a few years, although we don’t know where.  There is a christening record for one Hugh McMahon on March 26, 1699, the son of John McMahon in County Monaghan, Clones, Ireland.  But, we don’t know if this is the same Hugh, and if so, who he married and if Phebe was born in Ireland, in transit or in the colonies.

The original marriage record was in the Dutch or German Language and the transcriber suggested that the maiden name of Phebe might have been M’Meagher.  Subsequent research reveals that the church was unquestionably German.

So was her name Phebe McRay McMeher or was it McMeagher or McMahon as it has been later reported?

A study of “History of York Co., PA” by John Gibson, gave no verification of the presence of a family named McMeagher. There was a Thomas McCreary in York Co., PA as early as 1754. There is no evidence that Joseph Workman or Phoebe actually lived in York Co., and no record of baptism for children of Joseph and Phebe was found in the church records.

In fact, this begs the question of why they were married in York County at all.  Joseph Workman is known to have been in Chester Co, PA, in 1759, which is about 40 miles from Yorktown where they were married.

Joseph Workman, son of Abraham Workman, was born about 1736 in NJ.

“Pennsylvania Archives:, Series 5 Volume 1,” gives a record of a May 6, 1758 enlistment in Chester Co., PA in Captain Paul Jackson’s Company for the Pennsylvania Regiment of the following: “Joseph Workman, laborer, 5’8″ of thin visage, age 21”, and “Abraham Workman, laborer, 5’ 9″, of thin visage age 19” and both gave NJ as their birthplace.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has a record reflecting “Provincial Servie” of a Joseph Workman who enlisted as a private in Captain Charles Stewart’s Company April 22, 1759 at Chester, PA. For this enlistment he gave his age as 24 and his birthplace as NJ. Although there is a difference in age, it is probably the same Joseph Workman in both enlistments. These two enlistments would have given him knowledge of the unsettled territory to the west and experience in protecting himself from the Indians.

I also wonder why Joseph and Phoebe were married in a German-speaking Lutheran Church, given that McMahon is clearly Scottish, Irish or Scotch-Irish with a name beginning with Mc.  The Scots were generally Presbyterian, the Irish were Catholics and Joseph Workman was second generation Dutch.

The answer to that question may possibly be found in the Revolutionary War pension application of their oldest son, Abraham, submitted in September of 1834 in Tazewell Co., VA.  He reports that he was born on January 25, 1761, which would have been several months before his parents married.  He also reports that he was born in Washington Township, PA but he couldn’t remember the name of the county.

There is a Washington Township in York County, PA although it was not incorporated until 1805.  We know that Washington County, PA was not formed until taken from Westmoreland County in 1781, so Washington Township may well have been what Washington County was called in Westmoreland County before becoming a county.  Washington County was the area where current day Pittsburg is located, no place near York County which is in the eastern part of the state.  However, Abraham Workman, Phebe’s son, entered service in Monongalia Co., VA and served at Fort Pitt which is present day Pittsburg.

Joseph Workman, Phebe’s husband, also served in Washington County, PA, so Phebe may well have seen this fort up close and personal.  In that time and place, forts were often used to shelter residents in time of danger.  She, along with her younger children, may have taken refuge here from time to time.  If nothing else, she may have brought supplies to her son and husband at the fort.

Sometimes we are left with more questions than answers. What we can glean from this is that Joseph Workman and Phoebe may have spent little if any time in the York County area after their marriage.  They were next found on the frontier in Westmoreland County, the part that became Washington County in 1781.  Where they lived in-between?  We don’t know.

A study of “Virginia Court Records in Southwestern PA 1775-1780” by Boyd Crumrine reveals that in the minute Book of VA Court held for Yohogania Co., first at Augusta Town (now Washington, PA) and afterwards on the Andrew Heath Farm near West Elizabeth from 1776 to 1780: there is a record of several trials involving those of the Workman name and others of the McMahen (also spelled as McMahan and McMahon) name. The list of these trials gave only the surnames. Several of these names which appeared in the index also appeared later in the counties of Monroe, Tazewell, Logan and Boone in VA, areas in which the Workman families also settled.

Around 1776, six Workman families settled west of Fort Cumberland, MD, in the mountains near the border with Pennsylvania and current day West Virginia.

They were Andrew, Isaac, Jacob, John, Joseph and Stephen Workman and may be presumed to be brothers. Andrew, Isaac, Jacob, John and William Workman secured military land grants in what is now Allegany Co., MD in 1788.

Allegheny, Montgomery and Washington Counties in Maryland are located adjacent and abut the Pennsylvania border.

“Pennsylvania Archives”, Series 3, Volume 26, indicates that a Joseph Workman received two land patents in 1785; 400 acres in Washington County and 300 acres in Westmoreland county, which validates Abraham’s presence there in that timeframe as well.

Joseph and Phoebe Workman apparently moved to Westmoreland/Washington County before Joseph and their son, Abraham, both served in or about 1777 and moved to Montgomery County, VA between 1785 and 1787.  Joseph and Phoebe’s son, Abraham Workman, was married in Montgomery Co., VA in 1785. Joseph Workman appears on the 1787 Montgomery Co., VA tax list and in 1788 their daughter Anne Workman married Samuel Muncy, with Joseph writing a letter of permission.

Some records and family tradition indicate that all or some of Joseph and Phoebe Workman’s family migrated to NC about 1788 and independently returned to Virginia at varying times. They may have been led there by Joseph’s brother, John Workman, who according to census listings settled in Orange county, NC. If this is true, Phebe may have lived in NC for a short time as well, although we know where they were in 1785 and 1787, so they didn’t have a long time to be in North Carolina.

Indications are that some of the Workman family members came back into VA about 1789 to settle around Burkes-Garden in the part of Wythe county which later became Tazewell Co.

Joseph Workman, Sr., is on the 1800 Wythe Co., tax list and on the 1802 and 1803 Tazewell Co. tax lists. In 1805, he was listed as “exempt of taxes due to old age and infirmity”.

“Pheby Workman” was listed on the Tazewell tax records in 1815 which probably indicates that Joseph had died prior to that time.

She is not listed in the 1820 census in her own household, but by 1820, Phebe, if living, would have been age 80 or older.

Most of Phebe’s life is tracked by the records of her husband and children, with the exception of her marriage and the 1815 tax record.  She was born before the French and Indian War which lasted nine years, from 1754 to 1763.  She survived that and the Revolutionary War era on the frontier, having babies and worrying about the constant threat of Indian massacres.

She probably had children from 1761 until about 1785 or so, as the family was lumbering once again in a wagon moving them from Washington County, PA to Montgomery County, VA.

Whether the family moved, or the county line moved, or the family took a short side trip to North Carolina and settled in a different location upon returning, Phebe was found in Wythe County, VA in 1800 and in Tazewell County, VA in 1815.  After that, Phebe’s life fades to black, except for the DNA found in her descendants.

It Pays To Ask

In the article about Phebe’s daughter, Anne Workman, I asked for anyone who was descended from this line through all females to please contact me.  Indeed, one cousin, Jef, did, and glory be, his father is descended directly from this line though Agnes Muncy Clarkson’s daughter Sarah Shiflett and had already tested his mitochondrial DNA at Family Tree DNA, and at the full sequence level.  His mitochondrial DNA came directly from Agnes Muncy Clarkson, from her mother Anne Workman Muncy and from her mother Phebe McMahon Workman.  It’s ironic isn’t it that this DNA also came from Phebe’s mother, a woman whose name we don’t know, but we do know about her DNA.

Oh, Happy Day!!!

Jef’s father joined the Muncy DNA project so that I could take a look at the mitochondrial results.

So, what can we tell about Phebe?

Her haplogroup is H5a1 which is European.  There were no Indian princess stories in this line, but had there been, this would definitely dispell them.  Haplogroup H is the most common mitochondrial haplogroup in Europe.

Therefore, she has lots of matches.  She doesn’t have any really unusual mutations to form a personal genetic filter so many of her matches may reach back in time hundreds to thousands of years.  That’s alright though, because it will help tell us where Phebe’s ancestors lived.

Jef’s father has no exact full sequence matches.  In fact, his closest matches are two mutations different.  The “Matches Map,” below, shows the known European location of the oldest ancestor of the testers that Jef’s father matches.

You can see that these balloons clump rather according to mutation distance, meaning that the yellow balloons which have two mutations difference are found primarily in Ireland in the British Isles and the green balloons which are three mutations difference are found more in England and the continent and in a more scattered and wider pattern.  This make sense since more mutations generally means further back in  time to a common ancestor – so these yellow people would have shared a common ancestor more recently than the green group – and the green group has therefore had more time to disperse.

Zooming in on the UK part of the map, we can see that there is only one yellow balloon in Scotland, one in England and four in Ireland.  None of the yellow balloons in Ireland are from the Ulster Plantation area, which is where most of the Scots transplanted into Ireland from Scotland were settled.

Granted, a few yellow balloons isn’t a lot to go on, but it’s better than nothing and it does provide us with some information.  Phebe was likely Irish on her matrilineal line, at least most recently, which makes sense since her father’s surname was Mecmeher or something similar.

Looking at the Haplogroup Origins tab at Family Tree DNA, which reports academic findings, we discover that at the full sequence level, where everyone listed is H5a1, the distribution is as follows.

Looking now at the H5 project at Family Tree DNA, we can see that the administrators have grouped the H5a1 participants together in a group, which means we can see where the entire group falls on a map, so long as the participants have entered a location for the most distant ancestor.

Many of these people won’t match Phebe’s descendants today, but they certainly do share an ancestor further back in time.

Think of this as a distribution and settlement map of the descendants of Phebe’s common ancestor with these people, the woman who first had the mutation that defined H5a1.

What, you ask, is that mutation?

The defining mutation for haplogroup H5a1 is 15833T.  If you have this mutation, you are a member of H5a1, and if you don’t have it, then you are a member of the parent group, H5a, without the sub-branch.

How long ago did this mutation happen?

According to the supplemental information from the paper, “A ‘Copernican’ Reassessment of the Human Mitochondrial DNA Tree from its Root” by Behar et al, this mutation happened approximately 6567 years ago with a standard deviation of 1533 years.  Translated into non-scientific speak, this means that this mutation occurred sometime between 5034 and 8100 years ago, or 3,000-5,000 BC, and based on the distribution map, probably in Europe – although sometimes distribution maps can be tricky, especially if people have not tested at the geographic origin of the mutation.

Looking backwards in time by looking at haplogroup formation is like looking through a time periscope and peeking at our ancestors at the other end.  Let’s look a little further.

Haplogroup H5a, the mother haplogroup of H5a1 is about 3000 years older and only three examples are found in the haplogroup H5 project.  Of those, one appears to be brick-walled in the US, one is found in Belgium and one in Scandinavia.

In turn, haplogroup H5, the ancestral value with no additional mutations is only represented by two people in the project and one of those is found in Scandinavia as well.

This map from Eupedia shows the distribution of haplogroup H5.

H5 is only estimated to be about 500 years older than H5a, so these earlier haplogroup locations suggest that Phebe’s ancestors were living in Northern Europe 8,000 to 11,000 years ago.

Sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale doesn’t it…long, long ago in a place far away, where night lasts for most of the winter…before Vikings were Vikings and when snow ruled the earth…

But even though this is the stuff of fairy tales, this tale is true – it’s our ancestors history, what little we can discern through the time travel of DNA.

So, we don’t know Phebe’s mother’s name, but thanks to her DNA, we can tell that she was likely Irish, at least most recently, and before migrating to the British Isles, her ancestors likely lived in northern Europe for thousands of years.

And that, all thanks to a simple DNA swab test on a person who descends from Phebe through all females to the current generation.

I can’t thank my cousin enough!

______________________________________________________________

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I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

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Anne Workman was born sometime after her parents, Joseph Workman and Phoebe McMahen were married in 1761 in York County, PA.

Based on her marriage in 1788 to Samuel Muncy, she would likely have been born before 1768.  Later census records put the date between 1761 and 1769, although the census can be notoriously incorrect.  So, it would be safe to say she was born sometime between 1761 and 1769.

We know little about her early life, except by virtue of what was happening in the world around Anne when she was growing up.

Anne spent at least part of her youth in York County, one of the most “interesting” places to have been during the Revolutionary War.  “Interesting” of course is a matter of perspective.

Anne would have been a teenager when Yorktown, in York County, became a focal point of the War, but her family had probably moved on by then.

It’s not known exactly when the family moved from York County, at the eastern end of PA, to Washington County, near Pittsburgh, on the far western end of the state.  Washington County, PA was formed in 1781, in honor of George Washington.  It is bordered on the south by present day West. Virginia, which was at that time the state of Virginia.

Anne’s father, Joseph Workman is listed in the Pennsylvania Revolutionary War Battalions and Militia Index, 1775-1783 for Washington County, PA at the Pennsylvania State Digital archives.

Anne was one of ten children born to Joseph Workman and Phoebe McMahon.  Joseph and Phoebe started their married life in York County, PA and moved to Washington County, PA about the time of the Revolutionary War.  They did not move to Montgomery County, VA until sometime in the 1780s, probably between 1781 and 1783.  The Workman men served in the Montgomery County militia after their arrival and were on the compiled rolls that included men from 1777-1790.

These were not trivial moves.

Anne’s parents were probably in Montgomery County, VA by September 1785 when Abraham Workman, probably Anne’s brother, married Hannah Lirner, according to “Some VA Marriages: 1700-1799” compiled by Cecil D. McDonald, Jr.

We know that Anne Workman married Samuel Muncy in Montgomery County three years later, the marriage bond shown below.

Anne’s father, Joseph wrote a letter authorizing the marriage on June 16, 1788.

Based on early land grants and deeds, the Muncy family lived on Walker’s Creek in Montgomery County.  They seemed settled there, at least until the later 1790s, but the Workman family is found moving increasingly north and west.  Anne’s father, Joseph, was found by 1793 in Wythe County, after it was formed.

In 1799, Samuel Muncy  and Agnes Craven, the parents of the Samuel Muncy that Anne Workman married, moved to Lee County, Virginia.  From the information we have, Samuel Muncy and Anne Workman went along with the family.  Several of Samuel’s siblings went as well, and the family lived on the Powell River in Lee County, very near the border with Claiborne County, Tennessee for the next dozen years.  The area of Walker’s Creek in Montgomery County and the Powell River area, shown below, in Lee County are very similar.

We don’t find Samuel and Anne in the records.  It appears that the children of Samuel Muncy and Agnes Craven were fairly transparent. Some appeared on the personal tax lists, which is how we know the names of the group that left in 1811 when Samuel Muncy and Agnes Craven sold their land.

At least some of their children remained behind.

Hannah Muncey, born in 1771 to Samuel Muncy and Agnes Craven married a Bayley and remained in Lee County.

Reuben Muncy, went to Kentucky but had returned to Lee County by 1820 and had moved south in to Claiborne Co., TN by 1840.

It’s uncertain whether Francis Muncy and James were sons of Samuel Muncy and Agnes Craven or sons of their son, Samuel Muncy and Anne Workman – but regardless, it is certain that they stayed in Lee County, Virginia.

Samuel Muncy and Anne Workman remained behind in Lee County as well.

For Samuel, it must have been difficult to see his siblings and possibly his parents climb into a wagon and leave, knowing full well that he would probably never see them again.

If Samuel’s parents left for Kentucky in 1811 as well, they would have been around age 70.  It’s surmised that the sale of Samuel and Agnes’s land in 1811, the disappearance of Samuel and his sons from the Lee County tax list, and the appearance of some of these individuals in Knox (now Harlan) County, KY are connected events.

Anne Workman Muncy, however, had already said all of her good byes to her family in 1799.  She had been married for eleven years and probably had several children by that time.  To load everything you have in a wagon, including your children, and leave your entire blood family behind must have been very difficult.  She was probably about 31 or 32 years of age.  I wonder if she looked back with tears or ahead with resolve, or maybe a bit of both.

Today, that trip is 180 miles and about three and a half hours.  Then, it would have taken at least a couple of weeks, enduring whatever weather Mother Nature had to offer.

Francis Muncy and James Muncy may have been children of Samuel Muncy and Anne Workman.  They were born in 1788 and about 1790, respectively.  We don’t know of any more children until Agnes is born on January 19, 1803.  Sarah Muncy who married Jeremiah Owens was born sometime between 1801 and 1807, according to later census records.   Samuel who married Louisa Fitts was born probably between 1800 and 1805.

Anne Workman Muncy would have been able to bear children until she was about 45 years of age, so until about 1813 or so.  Surely they had more children.

In 1809, Francis Muncy married Lovey Randolph.  James married Nancy Owens about 1815 and by 1820, both Agnes and Sarah had married as well to Fairwick Claxton and Jeremiah Muncy, respectively.  In 1825, Samuel Muncy married Louisa Fitts.

We know that Sarah who married Jeremiah Owens was a Muncy, because the death certificate of James B. Owens, the youngest son of Sarah Muncy Owens gives his parents as Jerry Owens and Sallie Muncy. This is the only firm documentation we have of the maiden name of Sarah.

We also know that Sarah Muncy Owens and Agnes Clarkson/Claxton were sisters based upon testimony given in the chancery suit filed after Fairwick Clarkson/Claxton’s death.  In that suit, William and James Owens testify and William states that he is the nephew of Fairwick Claxton.  Agnes Clarkson/Claxton is the wife of Fairwick.  Fairwick’s sisters did not marry Owens men and we find both William and James Owens in the 1850 census with Jeremiah and Sarah Muncy Owens as their parents.

The 1800 and 1810 census don’t exist for either Lee County, VA or Claiborne County, TN.

Anne Workman Muncy bore witness to a second war as well, the War of 1812.  While none of the actual fighting took place in Lee or Claiborne County, the men from those locations enlisted, or were drafted, and served in other locations, often walking hundreds of miles to Alabama where the Tennessee forces clashed with the Creek Indians.

Francis Muncy, of course, was a common name within the Muncy family, being the name of the American progenitor for which someone in each generation was named.  There is a War of 1812 service record for a Francis Muncy in Virginia in Bradley’s Regiment, from in Wythe County.  This is not likely our Francis.

A Samuel Muncy served in Evan’s Virginia Militia, but I was unable to determine where that militia unit was formed.

The National Archives is in the process of digitizing the War of 1812 records, so we will hopefully, soon, be able to determine if the Samuel who served was Anne’s husband or son.

The 1820 Lee County census documents Francis, Reubin, James, Jeremiah, John, Joshua and one Nancy, over the age of 45 living alone.  Of course, this causes an entire raft of questions and provides absolutely no answers.  Nancy, of course, is a common nickname for Anne.  Nancy (Anne) Workman Muncy would have been about age 52, but we know that son Samuel was not married until 1825, so he would likely have been living with his family.  Also, if this is our Nancy, where was her husband, Samuel?  Unfortunately, the census is in semi-alpha order, so we can’t tell who is living near whom.  We really don’t know who this Nancy Muncy was and the only thing we know about her age is that she was over 45.  She could have been quite elderly.  Nancy is not found in 1830.

The 1830 census shows us several Muncy men in Lee County.

• Francis age 30-40 (born 1790-1800)
• James age 30-40 (born 1790-1800)
• James age 30-40 (born 1790-1800)
• Samuel age 20-30 (born 1800-1810)
• John age 20-30 (born 1800-1810) plus a male age 60-70 and a female age 60-70
• John age 30-40 (born 1790-1800)
• Jeremiah age 40-50 (born 1780-1790)

Samuel Muncy and Anne Workman would have been about 62 years of age and could well have been the couple with John, age 20-30.  John could have been their son.

We catch what is probably a glimpse of Anne Workman Muncy, by the name of Nancy, in the Thompson Settlement Church notes in 1833 when a Nancy Muncy joins the church by experience.  That means she would have been baptized and not joined from another church.  She would have been about 65 years old.  In Montgomery County, Virginia, the family would have been Anglican, based on early records that indicate two churches were formed; one Presbyterian church for the Scotch-Irish and the Anglican church for the balance of the population.

An entire group of Muncy and related folks joined the church within a few months, and many on the same days.  On the first Saturday of September and the first Saturday of October in 1833, a Nancy Muncy joined the church.

1^st Sept Sat 1833

• 1833 Frances Muncy received by experience (son of either Samuel and Anne Workman Muncy or Samuel Munch and Agnes Craven)
• 1833 Nancy Muncy by experience (probably Anne Workman Muncy)

1^st Sat Oct 1833

• 1833 Anny Muncy by exp (probably daughter of James Muncy)
• 1833 James Muncy by exp (possible son of Samuel and Anne Workman)
• 1833 Nancy Muncy by exp (probably Nancy Owens, wife of James)

1^st Sat November 1833

• 1833 Samuel Muncy (probably Samuel (the fourth), son of Samuel and Anne Workman Muncy)

1^st Sat Jan 1834

• Louisa Muncy (probably Lousia Fitts, wife of Samuel (the fourth))

The 1840 Lee County, census shows several Muncy families, many younger.

However, we find Samuel Muncy, age 30-40 beside Jeremiah Owens, age 30-40, 2 doors from Willoughby Muncy (son of Francis), 2 doors from Cornelius Fitts.

This is the group of people, known relatives, who signed as executor and bond for Samuel Muncy who died in 1839, probably the husband of Anne Workman Muncy.

We also find a Francis, age 50-60 and then a John age 30-40 with a male and female, ages 70-79.  We also find James, age 40-50.

In 1840, in Claiborne County, TN, across the county/state border, Fairwick Claxton has a female living in his household, age 70-80 (born 1760-1770), likely Anne Workman Muncy.

The last two pieces of information we have about Anne are pretty amazing, actually, when you think about it

In both the 1850 and the 1860 census, Nancy Munsy was living with Agnes and Fairwick Claxton in Claiborne County, TN.  They lived just a couple doors away from Sarah and Jeremiah Owens, Agnes’s sister, and James Muncy had moved close by as well.

In the 1850 census, Nancy is shown to be age 81 (born 1769) and in 1860, she is shown to be age 99 (born 1761).

Nancy was born in a time before modern medicine.  There were no antibiotics.  There were no childhood inoculations, and there was no clean, treated water supply.  Childbirth was risky for mother and child both, and many didn’t survive.  Roughly half the children died before reaching adulthood from illnesses today that we don’t even consider particularly dangerous.

Yet, Anne survived.  She survived at least three major moves by wagon, from one side of Pennsylvania to the other, likely during the Revolutionary War.  Then, just a few years later, from Pennsylvania to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where the family settled and she married.

“Shenandoah River, aerial” by La Citta Vita

In another decade, she would be loading into the wagon again, moving from Montgomery County to Lee County, VA.

Anne would have said a tearful goodbye to her parents, then in their 60s, but she would not be at their gravesides in another few years when they died.  That news, she would have received by letter or by “family grapevine,” if at all.

Anne probably lost siblings and children and she did lose her husband, yet survived another 20+ years.

In all of Hancock County, in 1860, there was only one other woman even near Anne (Nancy) Workman Muncy’s age, also named Nancy, ironically.  There were a couple within a few years in Hawkins, Scott and Lee Counties, but very few.

Anne, known as Nancy Workman Muncy beat the odds.

We don’t know how much longer she lived, only that she was not in the 1870 census.  I really hope she made it to 100 and all of her extended family visited and gathered around, and that she enjoyed her very special day with lots of visits.  After all, what else does a centenarian want?  She would have had a slew of great and great-great-grandchildren by then – more than 55 that I know of, and I’ve lost track of several lines – plus the children she assuredly had that we don’t know about today.

Anne is assuredly buried in the Clarkson/Claxton cemetery.  That cemetery figured in the land that her son-in-law Fairwick left his heirs and was described as being in the center of the land, right near the main house, where Anne would have lived for the last 20+ years of her life.

I hope Anne got to sit outside on a beautiful spring day and just soak up the warm mountain sunshine, maybe watching her great-grandchildren play on the rocks and near the barn.

I sure wish I could sit and talk with her about the century of life she saw, what changed in her lifetime and how.  She was born before the Revolutionary War.  Her father served.  I wonder what she thought – should we as a country secede and try to make it on our own, or should we remain a colony of England?  She would have been a teen when that was being decided.  And, her family was moving – two long moves within just a few years.  Why did they decide to head west at that time – to the edge of the frontier?  What she excited or frightened?  How did that affect her life?

Another 15 years later, in 1799, she herself pushed the frontier further west, homesteading in a land just surveyed and with few settlers on Wallin’s Ridge in Lee County.  She left family behind in Virginia and then, in turn, was left behind when her in-laws and Samuel Muncy’s siblings packed up for Kentucky a dozen years after settling on Wallin’s Ridge.

She saw men leave and fight, some of them not returning from the War of 1812.  Her own neighbor, James Claxton, the man who would have been her daughter, Agnes’s father-in-law, was one of those who died.  It was his land that Anne Workman Muncy lived out her life and died upon.

If the Samuel Muncy who married Louisa Fitts was her son, she stood by his grave as they buried him in 1843.  If James Muncy was her son, she buried him in 1854 and depending on when she died, she may have buried Francis Muncy in 1864.  She would have stood in the cemetery, near where her own grave would be when they buried her grandson, James Claxton, and his wife sometime between 1845 and 1850.  She probably helped raise those great-grandchildren, as they lived with Agnes and Fairwix Claxton, as did she.  They would have known their great-grandmother well.

She may have stood inside the cemetery, over and over again, as her grandsons and great-grandsons were buried as a result of the Civil War.  She would have grieved with her daughter, Agnes Muncy Claxton/Clarkson, as word came again and again of their capture and deaths.

Anne Workman Muncy was still alive as the country trembled on the brink of yet a third war in her lifetime, one that would horribly divide and not unite the country.  She could have seen the Civil War which terribly devastated Hancock County and divided the families irreparably between allegiances to the Union and the Confederacy.  Let’s hope she didn’t suffer through that catastrophe.  Let’s hope by then, Anne “Nancy” Workman Muncy was resting in peace in the Clarkson cemetery, outside the back door, with the rest of her family.

Only the two known daughters of Anne Workman Muncy would have passed her mitochondrial DNA on to future generations.  Women give their mitochondrial DNA to both genders of children, but only females pass it on.  Since it is not mixed with the DNA of the father, it gives us a periscope to peer into the past and see where her matrilineal lines originated in the world.

Sarah Muncy Owens had several daughters, according to the census, but I have had a difficult time finding them as adults.

• Nancy born in 1820
• Agness born in 1826
• Louisa born in 1828, married a David Rice in Hancock County and had two children, Sarah and Mary Ann, before dying in 1860 in childbirth, according to the census mortality schedule. Daughter Sarah married Daniel Owens.
• Mary Ann born in 1829
• Martha born in 1837
• Mildred born in 1842, married Clinton Clouse and had daughters Lorinda who married George Cole, Sarah, Coraline and Elnora. Lived in Harlan County, KY in 1900.

Agnes Muncy Claxton had only two daughters who married and had children:

• Sally Claxton born 1829, died 1900, married Robert Shiflet and had daughters Elizabeth who married William Lundy, Catherine who married Pleasant Powell, Rhoda who married John Burchfield and Agnes who married Tom Smith.
• Rebecca Claxton born in 1834, died in 1923, married Calvin Wolfe, had daughters Nancy who married a Marcum, Elizabeth who married Francis Marion Herd, Agnes, June, Sasha (Sarah) who married Charles Hobbs and Easter who married Charles Cole.

I have a DNA scholarship for anyone who descends from these daughters through all females to the current generation.  Males are fine in the current generation, because woman pass their mitochondrial DNA to both genders of children.

______________________________________________________________

Disclosure

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Transfers

• Family Tree DNA
• MyHeritage DNA only
• MyHeritage DNA plus Health
• MyHeritage FREE DNA file upload
• AncestryDNA
• 23andMe Ancestry
• 23andMe Ancestry Plus Health
• LivingDNA

Genealogy Services

• MyHeritage FREE Tree Builder
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Genealogy Research

• Legacy Tree Genealogists for genealogy research