My goal for this family is to try to prove the children of William Sturgeon/Sturgill of Lawrence County, Ohio and to prove the children of Francis Sturgill and Rebecca Hash of Ashe County, North Carolina, who, according to David Sturgill, were the parents of William Sturgeon/Sturgill.

Now, to continue with the muddied waters – David Sturgill stated that Isaac Sturgell of Barry County, Missouri was the son of Squire Sturgeon/Sturgill of Hart County, Kentucky, but no proof was offered. He did include the fact that Isaac married a Mary and a Susan, but did not have the maiden names for either, nor did he have dates of the marriages and was not aware that Isaac married Mary Bandy in Lawrence County, Ohio. He had no further information on any Isaac in Hart County, KY.

While it is not impossible that a son of Squire Sturgill married Mary Bandy, it seems unlikely to me when there are 250 miles in between the two places and Squire remained in Hart County for the rest of his life.

Because there was a William Sturgeon living in Lawrence County and this William had a son in the age range of Isaac, it appears much more likely to me that William was Isaac’s father.

I did wonder how Isaac ended up in southwestern Missouri in 1850. He was a young married man with a wife, infant daughter and another child on the way.  Marsha Hoffman Rising, whom I heard speak at the National Genealogical Society conference in San Diego in the early 1990’s, was already speaking on the topic of First Families of Southwest Missouri and the FAN (Friends and Neighbors) club – individuals rarely moved away from friends and family by themselves or in individual family units. They migrated with family, friends and neighbors.

So, how did Isaac and Mary end up in Barry County, Missouri with no apparent family or neighbors from Ohio? After Mary left Isaac, he spent years wandering through the Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas. Well, David Sturgill shared a story with me that “someone” had shared with him. (Remember, no definitive sources are given for most of the Sturgill family histories that he published.) It seems that family lore stated that William Sturgeon/Sturgill had left Ohio and migrated to the Missouri/Arkansas area where he died in a sawmill accident a short time before 1850! A son or two (reputedly Alvin and William King Sturgill) had accompanied him, but they returned to Ohio after William’s death. Hmm. If Isaac, who married in 1844, was his son and Isaac is found in the 1850 census of Barry County, MO, which sits in the southwestern section of Missouri on the Arkansas border, he may well have migrated to the area with his father and brothers. The difference would be that Isaac chose to stay in Missouri.

Children of William Sturgion/Sturgell and Sophia King per David Sturgill:

1. Polly, born 1807, married David Greer
2. Phoebe, born 1809, married Fielding Sturgill
3. Sabra, born Dec 1811, married William Sanders
4. Rebecca, born 1813; died young
5. Alvin, born 1815; married Rachel Wray
6. Joseph, born 1818, married (1) Rosalie Wiseman (2) Susan Clark
7. William M. King, born 4 Mar 1821; married Rhoda Farrell
8. Nancy Sophia, born 1822; married George Hudson
9. John David, born 1824; married (1) Mary Gillenwater (2) Isabel Morgan

Three notes about Sophia King, per David Sturgill: Sophia was the daughter of Dr. David King of Newport, Rhode Island. However, my own investigation of Dr. David King produced a birth date of approximately 1774, so he didn’t have a daughter born about 1785. Dr. King died in Rhode Island and I found no evidence that he traveled to the frontiers of Virginia and North Carolina so I have to wonder if Sophia was his daughter, how she ended up there is a mystery. Secondly, David Sturgill stated that Sophia King died of yellow fever in Wise County, VA in 1824 when William and Sophia stopped to visit his brother John on the way to Ohio. William was in Grayson County, Virginia in 1830 and doesn’t appear in Ohio records until 1837, so something is off here. Lastly, if Sophia died in 1824, then William must have remarried soon, as there are three sons still at home in 1840, born 1826-1830.

Using the 1820, 1830 and 1840 census records and Lawrence County, OH marriage records, I have developed a tentative construction of William’s children that isn’t far off from David’s in terms of birth years, but differs in terms of possible names of children:

1. Daughter (Phebe?), born c1808; died after 1820. Phebe married cousin Fielding Sturgill. They lived in Lawrence Co., OH in 1850.
2. Daughter (Sabra?), born c1810; died after 1820. Sabra married John Sanders; they lived in Gallia Co., OH
3. Daughter (Polly?), born c1812; died after 1820. Polly apparently married David Greer. They lived in Ashe Co., NC in 1850 so did not migrate to Ohio with her family.
4. Daughter, born c1814; died after 1820. This is reportedly Rebecca, who died young. There is a female in the 1820 census, gone in 1830.
5. Son (Alvin?), born c1817; died after 1840
6. Son, born c1819; died after 1840
7. Son, born c1821; died after 1840
8. Son (Isaac?), born c1823; died after 1840
9. Daughter (Ruth?), born c1824; died after 1840. Ruth married George Yates on 30 Mar 1844, Lawrence Co., OH.
10. Son, born c1826; died after 1840
11. Son, born c1828, born c1828; died after 1840
12. Son, born c1830; died before 1840

I have never found any proof of names of the children of Francis Sturgill and Rebecca Hash, although during one trip to Salt Lake, I did look through an index to Ashe County, North Carolina land deeds. David Sturgill mentioned that deeds definitively proved their children, but they may not have been filed in Ashe County.

David Sturgill names their children as:

1. Lydia, born 25 Feb 1778; married Solomon Parsons, c1796
2. John, born 1779; married Jemima Wells, c1799
3. James, born 1781; married Mary Herin, c1802
4. Francis, born 1782; married Phoebe Weaver, c1805
5. William, born 1784; married Sophia King
6. Joel, born 20 Mar 1786; married Rachel Waters, c1810
7. David, born 1788; married Ellender Jones, c1810
8. Rebecca, born 1 Mar 1791; married William Weaver Jr., 20 Dec 1811
9. Jane, born 1793; married William Jones, c1815
10. Elizabeth, born 24 Oct 1799; married (1) Nathan Weaver, c1816 (2) Allen Stedham, c1821 (3) Daniel Jones, 1837
11. Nancy, born 1803; married Andrew Osborn
12. Daughter who married Timothy Perkins and died before her father

I would love to document ANY of this information!