James Dulworth and Elizabeth Gwinn Spear are my husband’s 3X great grandparents. I’ve been dwelling on the Dulworth family and it’s various mysteries and quirks for several weeks now.

I’ve shared family sketches of two of the four children of James’s parents – John Dulworth and Mary (MNU) Broadway. I began with their son, John Jr., because he was the oldest child. I then wrote about the family of daughter Hannah Dulworth, who married William Spear.

I thought I was finished with the family sketches because John and Mary’s second daughter, aged 15-19 in the 1830 census, hasn’t ever been identified.

I also thought – wrongly as it turns out – that I had written about James’s and Elizabeth’s family a long time ago. However, when I went looking for the sketch, I found I had many posts about Elizabeth Gwinn Spear’s maiden name, and even more about their son Abraham (my husband’s 2X great grandfather) and the goings-on with the Adams clan.

I have never actually written about the children of James and Elizabeth as a family unit.

In 1830, James Dulworth was head of the household in Cumberland County, Kentucky. He wasn’t yet married, but lived at home with his widowed mother, Mary, sister Hannah, and his unidentified second sister, both in the 15-19 age range.

James married Elizabeth Gwinn Spear about 1831, likely in Cumberland County, Kentucky. Marriage records for that time period are lost, but Elizabeth’s family also lived there.

She was born c1817, so only about 14 years old when they married. James was quite a bit older – about 26 years old. There is no evidence that he had a previous marriage.

In 1840, the young family still resided in Cumberland County and they had four sons – Benjamin, Jacob, Mathias and John – soon to be joined by a fifth son, Abraham, born in July 1840.

By 1850, the family had been completed as daughter Nancy had been born in 1843.

1870 is the last census in which Elizabeth appears. At home with his parents is Abraham Dulworth. There is also a 9 year old boy, James Dulworth, aged 9 years. Familial relationships aren’t given in this census. James might be a child of James and Elizabeth, as she would have been in her early 40s when he was born.

However, Abraham had several children born before he married and it is possible that James is a son of Abraham. The census lists Abe’s age as 26, but he was born in 1840, so 30 years old in 1870.

The third possibility, and probably the most likely, is that James is a grandson of James and Elizabeth and was the son of Mathias Dulworth and his first wife, Sarah (MNU). Mathias was a newlywed in 1860, not found in 1870, but married Nancy Jane Brewington on 19 May 1873, Clay County, Tennessee. In 1880, he has a son James, 19 years old, at home.

Elizabeth Gwinn (Spear) Dulworth died in 1878, and James married (2) Ibby Williams, before 1880, probably in Cumberland County, Kentucky.

Neither James nor Ibby is found in 1900, although it is said that James Dulworth died on 11 November 1887 in Cumberland County, Kentucky.

James and Elizabeth (Gwinn) Spear were the parents of six known children:

1. Benjamin Dulworth, born c1832, died after 1860, when he was a miner in Angels Camp, Calaveras, California, unmarried at that time. He also appears living at home in 1850, but I’ve found no evidence that he married, had a family, or what happened to him after 1860.
   

2. Jacob Dulworth, born 6 February 1835, died 11 July 1891, Adair County, Kentucky, married Hannah Willis, 6 November 1860. They were the parents of 9 children: Martha Elizabeth, born 30 June 1863, died 11 October 1933, Adair County, Kentucky, married George R. Feese, 13 December 1883, Adair County, Kentucky; James Andrew, born 17 May 1865, died 2 January 1934, Green County, Kentucky, married Sidney B. Christie, 25 October 1888, Adair County, Kentucky; Joseph M., born 12 May 1867, died 28 May 1891, Adair County, Kentucky, unmarried; Ambrose Leslie, born 6 November 1869, died 12 May 1942, married Vinnie E. Cave, 15 May 1899, Clark County, Indiana; William B., born 6 February 1871, died 14 June 1921, Adair County, Kentucky, married Bettie Jane Christie, 14 September 1892, Adair County, Kentucky; Rufus Marion, born 2 May 1873, died 11 September 1897, Adair County, Kentucky, married Louisa Louretta Riall; Janie Ann, born 28 October 1875, died 26 December 1944, married Joseph Daniel Eubank; Mary Etta, born 21 January 1880, died 4 March 1904, Adair County, Kentucky, married Mont Elliott Corbin, c1903; Rosa Belle, born October 1884, died 30 December 1917, Adair County, Kentucky, married George O. Corbin.

3. Mathias Dulworth, born 21 January 1836, died 25 March 1905, Overton County, Tennessee, married (1) Sarah (MNU), c1860 (2) Nancy Jane Brewington, 19 May 1873, Clay County, Tennessee. Mathias was a Union Civil War veteran who served as a private in Co. G, 5th Kentucky Infantry. Mathias was the parent of at least 8 children, born to both wives: James, born 9 November 1860, died 15 May 1947, Clinton County, Kentucky, married Alice Alred, 22 February 1898, Clay County, Tennessee; John, born December 1872; died after 1918, when he registered for WWI draft, no further record; Benjamin, born c1874; died 21 June 1924, Greer County, Oklahoma, married Johnie (MNU);  Daughter, born November 1877, died December 1877, Cumberland County, Kentucky; Sarah E., born November 1884, died after 1930, when she lived with her daughter’s family in Toledo, Ohio, married George Ambrose Phillips, 12 December 1908, Clay County, Tennessee. She moved to Inez, Roosevelt, New Mexico by 1910, widowed and in Overton County, Tennessee by 1930 and in Ohio by 1930; Joseph Harrison, born 18 October 1886, died after 1942, when he registered for the WWII draft in Lucas County, Ohio, married Bessie Ledbetter, 21 May 1911, Clay County, Tennessee; Bertha S., (may be Hester, born c1895?) born July 1891; John M., born January 1896, died after 1900.

4. John Dulworth, born c1837, died 22 July 1858 of fever, Cumberland County, Kentucky; no known children.

5. Abraham Dulworth, born July 1840, died before 30 April 1925, probably Cumberland County, Kentucky, married Mary Jane Adams, 1 February 1883, Clay County, Tennessee. They were the parents of 10 known children, although 5 were born before they married: Matilda Jane, born July 1869, died 1931, Greer County, Oklahoma, married Clayton Columbus Nation, 20 June 1896, Clay County, Tennessee; James, born 22 March 1872, died 7 June 1945, married Melvina Taylor, 20 October 1901, Clay County, Tennessee; John, born May 1873, died after 1930 census, possibly Washita County, Oklahoma, may have married and divorced, but no known children and wife’s name unknown; Sarah Ellen, born c1876, died after 25 April 1925, married Captain Duley, c1892; Sid W., born 24 February 1880, died 7 June 1945, Beckham County, Oklahoma, married Nancy Clary, 20 January 1908, Clay County, Tennessee; Benjamin Franklin, born c1886, died after 1900, unclear whether he or his cousin Benjamin Dulworth died in 1924 in Oklahoma; Crittenden, born between 1887-1892, died after 2 May 1927, probably Oklahoma, married Della E. Short, 9 May 1914, Greer County, Oklahoma; Jacob, born September 1889, died 17 June 1913, unmarried, shot and killed by Clay Nation, his brother-in-law, who was acquitted of murder; Martelia, born 1 January 1892, died 20 June 1968, Greer County, Oklahoma, married John Roach, 4 April 1909, Clay County, Tennessee; Elizabeth Jane, born 8 January 1894, died 13 January 1981, Lea County, New Mexico, married George Robert Roach, 4 May 1913, Clay County, Tennessee.

6. Nancy Dulworth, born January 1843, died 14 January 1934, married James Robert Coe, c1859. They were the parents of 7 children: Mary Angeline, born 19 December 1859, died 14 April 1936, Cumberland County, Kentucky, married Rufus Lollar, 21 October 1891, Monroe County, Kentucky; Isabell E. Sarah, born June 1865, died after 1900, when she lived in Monroe County, Kentucky, married James Short, 31 March 1883, Cumberland County, Kentucky; Jemima F., born 3 December 1866, died 7 June 1931, Cumberland County, Kentucky, married (1) Mr. Short (2) Mr. Graves; John Fowler, born 10 August 1867/71, died 3 July 1950, Monroe County, Kentucky, married Lucy Belle Melvin, c1897; Lela, born 12 July 1873/74, died 28 September 1929, Marion County, Indiana, married Stephen Shelby Hurd, 15 December 1894, Monroe County, Kentucky; Davada, born 11 May 1874/77, died 17 October 1958, Jackson County, Indiana, married William Milam, 27 July 1899, Monroe County, Kentucky; Laura, born 21 August 1879, died 26 March 1970, Monroe County, Kentucky, married Porter Biggerstaff, 8 January 1898, Clay County, Tennessee.

This was the smallest branch of the John Dulworth-Mary (MNU) Broadway family tree, as James and Elizabeth Dulworth had but 34 grandchildren!