Ancestor Birthday - June 7th - Nicholas Nicholson - 1741

He was my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Nicholas Nicholson. It all sounds a little repetitive. He was born 7 Jun 1741 in Pasquotank County, North Carolina to Thomas and Mary (Hill) Nicholson. It was 17 Nov 1762 when he married Sarah White, the daughter of Thomas and Rachel (Jordan) White.

Note that the Quaker record shows his birth date as 7th day of 4th month in 1741. Remember this is before the calendar change in 1752, so the 4th month was June. It also gives his parents as "dittos." This is in a series of the children of Thomas and Mary Nicholson.

Last month, May 2017, I wrote about some of his close family. His granddaughter, Phariby Nicholson, daughter of his son Nathan, was on my blog 12 May 2017. Then his niece, Miriam Bell, the daughter of his sister Miriam appeared on 23 May 2017. On 24 May I featured Rachel Jordan, who was his mother-in-law. I enjoy seeing how these family members connect to each other.

Apparently Nicholas was active in the Quaker Pasquotank Monthly Meeting as he signed as a witness for 10 marriages there plus 2 more from neighboring Perquimans County. Of course it didn't hurt that he had a number of relatives getting married. I was able to identify the relationship for 10 of these: his father's 2nd marriage, 3 sisters, a brother, a brother-in-law, 2 nieces, and 2 daughters. A family history does state they lived in Perquimans County.

Nicholas was the 4th child of 7 born to Thomas and Mary and then he had 3 half-siblings from his father's second marriage to Sarah (Smith) Nixon, widow of Thomas. This Sarah was a 1st cousin once removed to Nicholas' wife, Sarah White. Sometimes the relationships can get confusing.

In the abstracts of deed records in Perquimans County it shows a deed from 1777 where Thomas Nicholson deeded for "love I bear my son Nicholas, do give 100a[cres]." Then again in 1784 for "love I bear my son Nicholas Nicholson of Perq. do give 100a." It is good to have a father who loves you enough to give you 200 acres.

In their 30 plus years of marriage Nicholas and Sarah had at least 9 children. Their 7th child, Nathan Nicholson, was my 4th great-grandfather. When Nathan was married in 1799, his father was not listed as one of the witnesses, but the record did not state that Nicholas was deceased. Some family researchers have given his death date as 1800. Sarah died 22 Apr 1800. I have not found a record for Nicholas.

Ancestor Birthday - May 24th - Rachel Jordan 1703-1768

Today's ancestor birthday is my 6th great-grandmother, Rachel Jordan, who was born 70 years before my ancestor from yesterday. Because she was born before the calendar change in 1752 her Quaker record would show that she was born the 24th day of the 3rd month of 1703.

Rachel became one of my northeastern North Carolina Quaker ancestors, but she was born in Virginia, the daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth (Sanbourne) Jordan. It was in Isle of Wight County Virginia on 3 Sep 1719 when she married Thomas White.

I really liked how the Quaker record shows that she promised "to be to him a true and loving wife until death." I hope she kept her promise since they were married for over 40 years until Thomas died in 1761 and Rachel died 16 Jun 1768.

From deed records it is probable that the family moved from Virginia to Perquimans County North Carolina by 1724. Their 13 children are listed in the Quaker records there, born between 1720 and 1744. My ancestor, Sarah White, was the next to the youngest and she married Nicholas Nicholson in 1762 so Rachel was still alive and probably attended their wedding.

You may recognize the name Nicholson from my post yesterday. Miriam Bell's mother was Miriam Nicholson and Miriam and Nicholas were siblings. I find it fun to see how the families are connected.

Ancestor Birthday - May 23rd - Miriam Bell 1773

I'll interrupt the Early Oregon Cousins series for a couple of days to post ancestor birthdays beginning with my 4th great-grandmother, Miriam Bell.

Miriam was one of my northeastern North Carolina Quakers. She was the daughter of Lancelot Bell and Miriam Nicholson. Her father had immigrated from England about 1758 and married Miriam Nicholson in 1759 in Pasquotank County, North Carolina. They had 7 children and Miriam was the youngest, born 23 May 1773. Miriam was not yet a year old when her mother died in January of 1774. I wonder how Lancelot, who worked as a shipwright, cared for his 7 children. I have not found a record of Bell relatives of his in North Carolina. The oldest daughter Mary had just had her 14th birthday. But there was quite a large family of Nicholsons there and they were a part of the Quaker congregation. Lancelot was chosen as an elder of the Pasquotank or Symons Creek Monthly Meeting in 1780.

It was in January of 1781 when Lancelot died. Miriam was now 7 1/2 years old. In the abstracts of the Pasquotank County Wills, Lancelot had entrusted the care of his youngest children to older ones and Miriam was in the care of her sister Sarah, who was 17.

The Quaker meeting minutes reported on 16 Sep 1797 that Miriam had married Benjamin Albertson of the Suttons Creek Monthly Meeting in neighboring Perquimans County. She and Benjamin had two children Mary in 1798 and Nathan in 1801. Miriam had died before 1810 as there is no one of the correct age in the census. Also Benjamin married for a 2nd time in 1811.

I feel a little sad that Miriam had to grow up without her mother and my ancestor Nathan also lost his mother at a rather early age.

Who Were Mary Walker's Parents?

Last week (March 25th) I wrote about my 4th great-grandmother, Mary Jane Walker. I noted that she was born in South Carolina in 1801. She died before 1880 so the census does not give a clue about where her parents were born. Since there are over 100 men named Walker in the 1800 South Carolina census that does not seem the avenue to take to try to find her parents.

A Martha Walker married Joseph England (brother to Mary's husband William) in the same county where Mary and William were married, Gibson County Tennessee, not quite a year later in 1828. It seems reasonable to me that Martha could be her sister. Martha is said to have been born in 1806 in Christian County Kentucky. So that opens up looking at Walker families in Christian County Kentucky. I believe it is very probable that the England family were living in Stewart County, Tennessee, for the 1820 census. This borders the part of Christian County that became Trigg County in 1820. A few years ago I was able to visit Trigg County and check out the genealogical materials in the public library in the county seat, Cadiz Kentucky.

William and Mary (Walker) England were living in Illinois from about 1830 to 1847. First they were in Montgomery County and then Greene County. There were several Walkers living in Greene County. There were some Walkers in their marriage records. One which interested me was Eliza Serena E Walker (born about 1817 in Kentucky) who married Thomas A. Bell in 1834. According to an England family history there was a family story that one of the England sisters married a Bell. It seems more probable that it was a sister of the Walkers (who married Englands) who married the Bell. Then in the 1850 census there is a Rachel Walker, age 70, born in South Carolina, who was living with the Thomas Bell family in Greene County. Could Rachel be Mary's mother?

If Rachel was the mother of Mary, Martha and Eliza, she should have been in Christian/Trigg County around 1810 and 1820. Of course the census in those years only listed head of household. But there were Walkers there. In 1810 in Christian County there was an Elijah, 2 James, 2 Johns, 2 Richards and a Samuel. In 1820 in Trigg County there was a James, a John and a Samuel, very likely some of the same men from the previous census. John had six daughters with ages to include Mary, Martha and Eliza. Among the publications I found at the Cadiz library were books of transcribed deed records. Among these I found a deed from John Walker and his wife Rachel in 1822. By 1830 there is a John Walker in Greene County Illinois who matches the age of the John Walker in Trigg County and there is a daughter the correct age to be Eliza.

Mary and William England named their oldest son John and their youngest daughter Rachel. I have concluded that her parents were probably John and Rachel Walker.