My 5th Great Grandmother Sarah

Sarah was the grandmother of Jerman J. Wingo who settled the town of Wingo, in Graves County, Kentucky. She married Thomas Wingo, Jr. around 1757 and by 1765 she was a young widow with four small children. There are no clues to Sarah's surname and the identity of her family although they were surely neighbors of the Wingo family in Amelia County, Virginia living among the families between Flatt Creek and the Appomatox River.

Various family trees online, particularly on Ancestry.com list Sarah as Sarah Rucker, but that is incorrect as Sarah Rucker was the wife of Thomas Wingo's brother John. This is substantiated by a court case following Sarah Rucker Wingo's death around 1780. In 1791 her father, William Rucker, executed a deed of gift to the heirs of his deceased daughter. The disputed slaves Milly and her children Sam, Ben, Nan, Charles, Becky, Lewis, Rueben, Edy and Moses were still in the possession of John Wingo, Sarah's husband, as late as 1797. A settlement was finally negotiated between John Wingo and his children wherein they received the slaves given by their grandfather and agreed not to make any claims or demands against the estate of John Wingo. (Amelia Co., VA; Book 9; Page 275; Probate records; 22 Nov 1821)

Sarah is also listed as Sarah Foster in many online family trees which is probably the result of some confusion because she married John Foster the son of William Foster of the Stock's Creek area in Amelia County after Thomas Wingo, Jr.'s death. In 1779, Sarah's son Obediah was listed as a tithe of John Foster and in 1782, Thomas Wingo was. This indicates that it was Sarah and John Foster who raised Thomas Wingo, Jr.'s children, not his brother John W. Wingo as some speculate. It is not impossible that Sarah was the daughter of one of the other Foster families in the area but much research has failed to identify a family with a daughter Sarah who was of the right age and available to have been the wife of Thomas Wingo and William Foster's son John.

Over the last 30 years, I have researched many of the Amelia County neighbors of the Wingo family searching for a family that might have been Sarah's. Richard Borum's 1785 Amelia County will named a daughter Sara Foster, but no records can be found that definitely identify Sarah Borum and the Foster family she married into. Colonial Amelia County is filled with countless families like Meador, Burton, Worsham and Seay which are all names I see repeatedly in autosomal DNA matches but have no documentation of any family connection. For now I'll just keep researching each of the neighboring families as I find a DNA match and maybe someday I'll find Sarah.

A Step Forward in Beadles Research

For many years, Beadles' family researchers have been trying to find some documentation that would link our ancestor William Beadles of Louisa County, Virginia to other Beadles' families. There were numerous individuals living in Virginia in the late 18th century whose ages and geographic locations suggest that they may have been siblings but no documents to support that conclusion could ever be found.

The births of several of the older children of William Beadles and his wife, Ann Yancey, are recorded in The Douglas Register of St. James Northam Parish in the 1780's and during this same period, the births of children of James Beadles and his wife Susannah "Sukie" West are also recorded. Both William and James Beadles are listed as taxpayers in Louisa County in 1782 and in that year, another possible sibling, Revolutionary War soldier Edmond Beadles is also listed as a taxpayer in Louisa County. 1783 tax records in neighboring King William County record James Beadles and another likely brother, Joseph Beadles. It has always seemed that surely these individuals must be brothers or at the very least cousins, but in the end, the only connection between them was proximity which is never credible evidence of kinship.

As the Library of Virginia continues to add more scanned documents to their Chancery Suits Index, I occasionally return to their website and again search for Beadles in Virginia. This week to my great surprise, I found a Louisa County court case - Wm. & James Beadles vs Achilles Tandy, Admr. of Wm. Tandy dated 1804 but pertaining to events that took place during the late 1780's. As I read through the 59 pages of original documents, I finally found on the second page of an affidavit by William Thomson proof of the relationship between William and James Beadles. William Thomson stated "James Beadles informed him that his brother Wm. gave three bonds of Fifty pounds each for the purchase of Wm. Tandy's land..."

Finally there was proof of one sibling relationship between these Beadles. A statement by Lewis Yancey Beadles regarding events at his father William's plantation in Albemarle County in the late 1780's further confirmed that this was the correct Beadles family. Another small document torn from a larger one which appears to be a 1786 deed, had the signature of Edmond Beadles as a witness linking him to this court case along with William and James.

After 30 years of searching, we've finally taken a step toward finding the family of William Beadles. As with so many other genealogical mysteries, the answers are probably going to be found in the minute details of Albemarle, Hanover and any of the other adjacent counties whose records have survived wars, courthouse fires and other disasters.

DNA Matches Among My JP Families

This week the results of my recent DNA test have begun to show in Ancestry. There is currently no new information and nothing that will solve any lingering mysteries, but there have already been many matches to Jackson Purchase families where valid historical documentation already exists.

Numerous matches to Clapp descendants have already been identified including this match between William and Mary Clapp, children of John Isaac Clapp and Sarah Loy ~

Also a match to the previous generation George Loy and Mary Catherine Tillman, the parents of Sarah "Sally" Loy ~

A Wingo family match links Thomas and Sarah Wingo of Amelia County, Virginia to their sons Thomas Wingo and his brother Obediah who migrated to Spartanburg County, South Carolina after the Revolution. Thomas Wingo was the father of Jerman Jeduthan Wingo of Graves County ~

Marilla Pryor, wife of James Rodgers Cargill, of Graves County has always been considered a daughter of Jonathan Pryor and Elizabeth White although there are no historical records to confirm that relationship because of the courthouse fire that destroyed Graves County's earliest records. Now a DNA match to Eustacia "Stacy" Pryor for whom there is historical documentation, confirms that Marilla was descended from Jonathan Pryor ~

And finally, a match to Susannah Mary Pryor Newby confirms the long held belief that Jonathan Pryor and his brother James of Graves County were the children of Richard Pryor and Mourning Thomson of Virginia who migrated first to Tennessee and lastly to Logan County, Kentucky. In the past there has been much debate, discussion and some disbelief that Jonathan and James were truly the children of Richard and Mourning Pryor. Susannah Mary Pryor's husband, Henry Newby, was named among the heirs of Richard Pryor in a Logan County deed of 29 Nov 1811 wherein Richard Pryor's heirs were selling a tract of land to Jonathan Pryor whose relationship was unstated. (Logan County KY DB C:467-469)

I'm looking forward to many more interesting matches and hopefully a few new revelations as the matches continue to arrive.

Wyatt Wilkerson

Wyatt Wilkerson was the maternal grandfather of Sidney Preston Reeves and his brother William Harrison Reeves who settled in the Jackson Purchase around 1840 in the area that became Ballard County. Wyatt was born about 1740 in Virginia and his marriage to Mary Britt on 26 Dec 1765 is recorded in the Douglas Register of St. James Northam Parish, Goochland County. Mary was the daughter of William Britt and Hannah Connelly of Goochland County and is named as Mary Wilkerson in his 1787 will.

Based upon information from the 1807 will of Wyatt's brother, Joel Wilkerson, recorded in Logan County, Kentucky, Wyatt was originally from the southside of Virginia since he was described as being "of Prince George County, Virginia". Wyatt was named as the executor and primary heir in Joel's will which also mentioned possible legacies left by their father Frederick Wilkerson of Prince George County. 

Frederick Wilkerson was probably born around 1720 in Prince George County and died sometime before the 19th of November in 1803 based upon a notation on page 98 of Prince George County Surveyor's Book 1794-1824 in regard to a survey of "Frederick Wilkinson, decd., 486 A. in 2 tracts".

A Prince George County deed of 9 Jun 1789 identifies Frederick's wife as Sarah:

Frederick Wilkerson and Sarah his wife of Prince George County to William Edwards, Sr. of same, land where John Chambless's buildings formerly stood, 1 acres, bounded by the old line of John Chambless, Sr. No witnesses. Recorded June 9, 1789.

The birth of Wyatt and Mary's first child, Sally, on the 25th of October 1766 is recorded in the Douglas Register as well as the births of Hannah in 1769 and Lucy in 1771. Sometime after 1771, Wyatt and his family left Goochland County and returned to the southside of the James River where he is listed on the rent rolls of Brunswick County in 1779. It appears that in 1779, Wyatt moved just south of the state boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina. There is a deed recorded in Granville County, North Carolina from Isaac Williams and Jesse Williams administrators of James Moore of Southhampton County, Virginia to Wiatt Wilkerson of Granville County on 3 Aug 1779 (Deed Book M, Page 174-175).

Wyatt and his family moved into the Granville County area and during the next 20 years, several other Wilkerson families settled there as well. There are numerous Wilkerson deeds recorded there in those years but no known family connection between them. In 1786, Wyatt purchased a tract of land on the north side of the Neuse River at the mouth of Knap of Reeds Creek. Knap of Reeds Creek would have flowed from the north into the Neuse almost directly across the river from William Reeves' land where Ellerbe Creek joins the Neuse River on the south side. Living in such close proximity it's possible that Betsy Wilkerson became acquainted with George Reeves prior to their arrivals in Madison County, Kentucky.


Wyatt left Granville in the late 1790's and is recorded in the 1800 census of Madison County, Kentucky and is also recorded as having been a resident at Fort Boonesborough. In Madison county sometime after the 1st of January in 1802 when the marriage bond was issued, Elizabeth Wilkerson and George Reeves were married.

In the course of the next ten years, Wyatt is also recorded on the tax lists of Wilson County, Tennessee circa 1804-1809. Additionally there is an 1809 suit "Harmon Hays, Plaintiff vs Wyatt Wilkerson, Defendant" in Tennessee that is over a land transaction. Harmon Hays was a land speculator in the Sumner/Robertson County area. It appears that Wyatt may have become involved in a land deal that went wrong. The names of numerous other Madison County settlers are also listed in those Tennessee tax lists. By 1810, Wyatt is once again listed in the census of Madison County, Kentucky which may indicate that he never actually lived in Tennessee, just purchased land there.

Before 1820 Wyatt and Mary Britt Wilkerson joined their daughters and their families - George and Elizabeth Wilkerson Reeves and John and Polly Wilkerson Thompson in migrating further west to Warren County, Kentucky where they are all listed in the 1820 census. Wyatt died in Warren County in 1821 and his will recorded there names his children as Elizabeth Reeves, Polly Thompson, William Wilkerson, John Wilkerson (deceased), Sally Searcy and Jesse Wilkerson (deceased) in addition to grandson Jonathan Parker, son of deceased daughter Lucy Wilkerson Parker.

The Other Beadles - Bassett Beadles

At around the same time that Lewis Yancey Beadles arrived in the Jackson Purchase, another Beadles family came to the area. Lewis Yancey Beadles received his first land grant from the Bureau of Land Management on the 31st of May 1830. Less than a month later on the 17th of June 1830, Bassett Beadles and his son William both received grants. Many years of research has failed to reveal whether Lewis Yancey Beadles and Bassett were related or had even been acquainted in Virginia or North Carolina.



Bassett Beadles was reportedly born in Richmond, Virginia around 1775 and had married Elizabeth Cashion sometime before 1800 for they were recorded in the 1800 census of Iredell County, North Carolina. In that census Bassett and his wife were both 16-25 years old, they had one male child and one female child each under 10 years old. By the 1810 census they were living in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and had six children. They were next recorded in the 1820 census of White County, Tennessee with 7 sons and 2 daughters, before moving to the Jackson Purchase.

Bassett's first land grant in 1830 was in the area of Cuba, Kentucky to the southwest of the town of Wingo where Lewis Yancey Beadles had settled. Within the next few years he had moved further south and is recorded in Weakley County, Tennessee in 1840. The town of Dukedom in Weakley County is credited with having been named for Bassett's son Duke who served as the postmaster there from 1833 to 1846. This community is located on the state line between Kentucky and Tennessee.

Bassett Beadles is believed to have died around 1846 and in the 1850 census, Elizabeth Beadles is a 74 year old widow living in a Weakley County, Tennessee community in the midst of her children. According to the best available information, the children of Bassett and Elizabeth Beadles were Lucinda, Alfred, Duke A., William A., Franklin G. Joseph, Bassett Jr. Malinda and James.

Bassett's son William was the County Clerk in Graves County, Kentucky during the 1850's. William's two sons, Alfred and Marshal, became physicians and Dr. Alfred Beadles practiced in Wingo, Kentucky until his death in 1875.

Because Bassett named his son Duke, I have always been curious as to whether he may have been a son of Harmon Duke Beadles of Hanover County, Virginia. Hanover County is just north of the city of Richmond where Bassett is believed to have been born. Harmon Duke Beadles was a taxpayer in St. Paul's Parish of Hanover in 1786 and 1788. Few details are known of his life and there is no known record of his children. He had served as a private in an infantry regiment during the Revolution. After his death in 1813, his wife Ann received a pension on his service.

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See update with current news about Beadles' Y-DNA matches to descendants of Basset Beadles at the following post - Exciting Beadles DNA News.

Morgan Family Myths

When no documentation can be found in the historical records that verify the family histories, legends and online pedigrees of a family, I always find that troubling. As with so many other family lines, the truth of our Morgan ancestors is obscured with numerous stories and tall tales but there seems to be no historical record to support much of it. There is fairly reliable information on the majority of the children of Charles Morgan of Prince William and Fauquier Counties in Virginia, but much of the data online regarding sons Benjamin and John is suspicious. The fact that a dozen children were attributed to John Morgan and Martha Ann Settle who could not possibly have married until sometime after 1760, and only one possible child to Benjamin and Phoebe Settle Morgan is disconcerting. This has created persistent doubts regarding the accuracy of the history of this family as posted all over the web.

The legends appear to have begun in early 20th century family histories which elude to family bibles and old letters with no further documentation. The details of these bibles, letters and other documents are never available, and no scanned copies of the pages or letters are ever found online with these stories.

From the records of Fauquier County, it appears that Charles Morgan had several grandsons named for him. Charles, the son of Simon Morgan, was a Revolutionary soldier. He moved to Pennsylvania in 1804 where he died in 1808. Charles, the son of William Morgan, another soldier of the Revolution received large land grants in Kentucky. He settled in Fayette County for a time, later moving further west to Muhlenburg County where he died in 1822. Charles Morgan, who was documented as being killed in 1787 by indians during one of the many attacks on the Cumberland settlements of Middle Tennessee, has been believed to be the son of John Morgan and Martha Ann Settle. Finally, our ancestor Charles Morgan, born in Fauquier County in 1757 according to his Revolutionary War pension statement has been believed to be the son of Benjamin Morgan and Phoebe Settle although there is no evidence to support that claim. The two other sons of family patriarch Charles Morgan were Charles, Jr. who named no sons in his Culpeper County will of 1782 and James who left sons but none were named Charles.

William, Simon and Charles Morgan, Jr. all left wills so their descendants are documented. That is not the case for Benjamin Morgan or his brother John. Benjamin is documented as marrying Phoebe Settle in various sources, particularly a chancery case where they were among the plaintiffs in a suit filed against other heirs of Isaac Settle and the executors of his estate. In both a writ and a summons from that case in 1760, Phoebe's sister Martha Ann Settle who is said to have married John Morgan and been the mother of his twelve children, was unmarried and named as Martha Settle in those chancery documents.

By 1775, Benjamin Morgan was described as a resident of the "Province of Carolina" in a deed for 300 acres in Little Fork in Culpeper County. The property adjoined Anthony Strother and several other members of the Strother family who were closely related to the Morgan family. In 1779, Benjamin Morgan, Charles Morgan, John Morgan and Isaac Morgan were listed as taxpayers in Capt. Allen's District of Wilkes County, North Carolina.

There are numerous property transactions recorded in Culpeper County for Charles Morgan, Sr., Charles Morgan, Jr., Benjamin Morgan, William Morgan and John Morgan. Charles Morgan, Sr. is said to have owned land at the great fork of the Rappahannock which lies between Prince William and Culpeper Counties. The 1757 Culpeper County will of John Cole names his son-in-law John Morgan and makes a bequest to William Morgan whose relationship is unstated (Will Book A, p. 144-145). Two of the witnesses of that will were Charles Morgan and William Morgan. When John Cole's wife Susannah wrote her will in September of 1761, she mentioned her daughter Alice Morgan (Will Book A, p. 269-271). There is obviously sufficient documentation that John Morgan was married to Alice Cole until at least 1761.

Although family lore says that John Morgan and his wife Martha Ann Settle were also residents of Surry or Wilkes County which was formed from Surry in 1777, there are no records to support that assertion. John Morgan witnessed the will of Benjamin Taylor in February of 1775 in Culpeper County. The myths surrounding this family have credited John with being the Capt. John Morgan of Surry County who served during the Revolution, but that does not appear to be correct. Capt. John Morgan's wife is recorded as Elizabeth (Betty) in two 1794 deeds where they sold portions of his original Surry County 400 acre land grant and he died in Stokes County, North Carolina (formed from Surry) in 1819. He was not killed by indians in Tennessee. There is nothing found thus far in the records of Wilkes County that would lead one to believe that John Morgan and Martha Ann Settle were living there during the time Benjamin and these Morgan children were.

In searching the records of Wilkes County, North Carolina, it becomes quite clear that Benjamin Morgan was undoubtedly the father of these young Morgan family members. They were all also born before Martha Settle could have married John Morgan which would have to have been after 1761. The only John Morgan in Wilkes County was the sibling of Charles and Isaac Morgan. Charles married Ann Hall in Wilkes County on 21 Jan 1780, Charity married Henry Gambill on 6 Oct 1778 and Alice married James Gambill on 24 Jul 1785. By 1782, Benjamin, and Isaac Morgan are the only Morgans of this family listed as taxpayers in Wilkes County, an unrelated Joseph Morgan was also listed as a taxpayer that year. Charles Morgan along with Benjamin and James Gambill witnessed a Wilkes County deed from Henry Gambill to William Clark on 10 Sep 1784 (Deed Book A-1 p.483). This does not agree with the Morgan legends which state that Charles and John Morgan arrived in the Cumberland Settlements of Tennessee with their father-in-law Major William Hall. In the last transaction by Benjamin Morgan on 2 Nov 1785 which was apparently before leaving North Carolina for Tennessee, he conveyed 140 acres in Wilkes County to James Coddell (sic Caudill). That deed makes reference to improvements to the property made by Henry Gambill and was witnessed by James Gambill (Deed Book A-1, p. 452). And most illuminating of all, a deed from Benjamin Morgan to William Johnson for 300 acres in Wilkes County written 14 December 1784 includes as part of the legal description of the land that Benjamin Morgan was selling, the phrase "along a line between Benjamin Morgan and his son Charles" (Deed Book A-1, p. 504). It should also be noted that the names "Benjamin" and "Phoebe" were used for the children of Isaac Morgan, James Gambill and other descendants.

The earliest records of the Cumberland Settlements of Middle Tennessee such as Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee written in 1858 and Early Times in Middle Tennessee written by John Carr in 1857 simply state - They (the indians) killed old Mr. Morgan, the father of Esquire John Morgan, who owned the fort near that place...They killed Captain Charles Morgan and old Mr. Gibson, near where Gen. Hall now lived...They killed Armsted Morgan, a brother of Captain Charles Morgan, and a fine-humored, well-disposed young man, while he was guiding through from "South-west Point" Captain Handly and a company of men for the protection of the Cumberland settlements. It is only in much later publications written more than 100 years after these events that "old Mr. Morgan" begins to be identified as John Morgan.

Read the entire manuscript of The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century  by J. G. M. Ramsey pub. 1853 online.

Benjamin Morgan is documented as being present in Sumner County by 1787 for that year he was listed as a delinquent taxpayer as was Armistead Morgan who had also been killed that year. The only John Morgan listed in these Cumberland Settlement census records is John Morgan, the son-in-law of Maj. Hall. In December of 1804 a public sale was advertised for 320 acres on Bledsoe's Creek which belonged to Benjamin Morgan. The property was taken to satisfy a judgment obtained by Winchester and Cage.

The result of all this research is that I have made no progress in finding the parents of our Charles Morgan who died in Warrick County, Indiana. However, I am now sure that he was not the son of Benjamin and Phoebe Settle Morgan since he had been living in South Carolina since 1775, and not in Wilkes County when the 1784 deed naming Benjamin Morgan's son Charles was written. A clearer picture of Benjamin Morgan is also emerging and the evidence suggests that he was the "old Mr. Morgan" who was killed by indians in 1787 but there are still many questions. If there really are bible records and other early documents in existence, it would be wonderful if they could be shared with other researchers in order to help find the truth of this family. What is the documentation for the marriage of John Morgan to Martha Ann Settle? If John and Martha didn't go to Tennessee, then where? We still need to learn exactly who the parents of the dozen children previously attributed to them were as well as countless other missing details of their lives.

Updates to Morgan family Research

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Finally Found - our Morgan Family Ancestor
Benjamin Morgan & Phoebe Settle

Our Immigrant Morgan Ancestor

More About Anthony Morgan III

Tombstone Tuesday - Mittie A. Grace

Arminta "Mittie Ann" Grace was the daughter of Richard Grace and Lorenna Antonette Wingo of Graves County, Kentucky. She died at the age of seventeen and is buried in the Camp Beauregard Cemetery outside of Water Valley, Kentucky.

Camp Beauregard was originally a Confederate training camp during the civil war. During the six months that it was an active military installation it was decimated by diseases such as pneumonia, typhoid fever and meningitis. By the time the camp was evacuated on March 1, 1862, 1000 confederate soldiers who had never engaged in battle were dead. The United Daughters of the Confederacy placed a large memorial there at the site of a mass grave of those soldiers.

In subsequent years, it has been a public cemetery and used by the families of the community. There are local legends that the site is haunted, but I have personally never encountered any malevolent spirits there. It's a lovely quiet hilltop with a view of the surrounding countryside.