While recently trying to dig up clues that might point me to Mr. Broadway who married Mary (MNU), I spent some time looking at Nicholas Broadaway of Anson County, North Carolina.

Just an aside, but when Mary (MNU) married (2) John Dulworth in Knox County, Tennessee in 1803, her surname was actually spelled Brawdeway, which would match the phonetic pronunciation of Nicholas Broadaway’s surname.

It is estimated that Nicholas Broadaway was born c1722, place unproven, but possibly Virginia, and might have died in South Carolina before 1790.

A Nicholas Broadway resided in Edgecombe County, North Carolina in 1748.

If the same man, he later removed to Anson County, North Carolina, where he had lived at least since 1763 and where he received a land grant of 250 acres on 18 April 1767. Nicholas was definitely on a path of southwestward migration, as the two counties are almost 200 miles apart.

Online family trees also seem to indicate that Nicholas might have married twice, which would not be uncommon if a spouse died.

Some say Nicholas Broadway married (1) Martha Reagan and then to a second unknown wife, while others attribute Nicholas’s wife to be Elizabeth Berry or Barry, no documentation provided. Still others indicate Gracy (MNU), who was head of household in the 1790 census of Anson County, was also his wife. Once again, no source is cited – just supposition.

However, while trolling through Anson County, North Carolina land deeds, I came across proof that Elizabeth Berry was at least one of the wives of Nicholas Broadaway.

Anson County, North Carolina
Deed Book C1:261
Source: FamilySearch

North Carolina
THIS INDENTURE Made this 28th Day of October in the year of our Lord 1755 Between Thomas Barry of Anson county & province afsd. of the one part & Elizabeth Broadaway Wife of Nicholas Broadaway Daughter of ye sd. Thomas of the Other part WITNESSETH the he the sd. Thomas for & in Consideration of ye Sum of ten pounds pres: Money Recd. of the sd. Elizabeth before ye Sealing an dDelivery of these presents ye Receipt Whereof he the sd. Thomas Doth hereby Acknowledge & him Self therewith fully paid Satisfied & Contented Hath granted Bargained Sold Aliened Infeeoffed Conveyed & Confirmed & By these presents Doth Grant Bargain Sell Alien Infeeoff Convey & Confirm Unto the sd. Elizabeth Broadaway her Heirs and assigns part of a tract of Land Lying on the So. Wt. Side of Pee Dee River on Smith Creek Granted by his Majestys Latter Patent to Joseph White & frances Mackelwean Dated April ye 13th 1749 & Conveyed by them to the above sd. Thomas Berry by Deed Dated July 18th 1752 as May Appear Begining at a White Oak being the Original Begining afsd. trace and Runing No. 87d. Et. 92 poles to a pine then No. 59d. Et. 150 pole to a pine then So. 100 pole a Crooss ye tract then So. 59d. Wt. 150 pole to a pine then So. 87d. Wt. 92 pole to a White Oak then So. 100 pole to ye first station Containing One hundred and fifty Acers be the Same More or Less TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the sd. hereby Barianed Land & premised & Every part & parcel thereof unto ye sd. Elizabeth her Heirs and assigns and to her and their only proper Use and Behoofs for Ever & the sd. Thomas Berry for for (sic) him Self his Heirs Execes. & Admines, Doth hereby Covenant and Grant to & With the sd. Elizabeth her heirs & assigns Shall and May At all times hereafter have hold & Enjoy the sd. hereby Bargained Premises With the Appurtenances free and Clear of all former & Other Giffts grants Bargains Sales [?] Judgements Executions or other incumbrances Whatsoer (the Quit rents becoming Due to his Majesty his heirs & Successors Only Excepted And further that this the sd. Thomas & his heirs and all & Every Other Person and persons his & their Heirs any thing having or Claiming in the sd. premises above Mentioned or any part thereof By from or Under him them or any of them) Except as before Exempted) Shall and Will from time to time & at all times hereafter Upon the Reasonable Request & at the Cost & Charles of the sd. Elizabeth Broadaway her Heirs shall Make Do & Execute all & Every Such further Better & More perfect Granting Conveying & assurring of all & Singluard the sd. premises Above Mentioned With ye Appurtenances Unto the sd. Elizabeth her Heirs and assigns & to her and their only proper Use and Behoofe for Ever According to ye true intent & Meaning of these presents as by the sd. Elizabeth her Heirs or assigns or her or their or their (sic) Councel Leanred in the Law Shall be [reasonably?] Advised or Required IN WITNESS Whereof the sd. Thos. Berry hath Hereby Set his jand & Seal ye Day & year Above Writen

Thos. Berry (Seal)

Signed Sealed & Delivered
IN PRESENCE of
[Morgan?] Brown
[cut off]

At this point, I have no idea if there was on Nicholas Broadaway or more than one or if he married once to this Elizabeth. Whether or not Martha Reagan and/or Gracy (MNU) were also his wives is further conjecture.

However, this deed is proof positive that, by 28 October 1755, Elizabeth Berry, daughter of Thomas Berry of Anson County, North Carolina, had married Nicholas Broadaway.

I have a long way to go before this information will be of any use to me, but for others researching Nicholas Broadaway, this indenture is the source of the name of Nicholas’s wife.

 

 

 

 

By delving into the extended FAN club of Margaret Broadway, two apparent siblings have appeared – Elizabeth Broadway, who married (1) John Andrew Smith Jr. and (2) Thomas Shelton Smith, AND purported half sister, Nancy Farmer, who married Thomas Shelton Smith before he married her widowed sibling.

First, let’s look at Elizabeth Broadway Smith. She was an apparent newlywed when John A. Smith was enumerated in Lawrence County, Indiana in 1820. As she lived until 1881, there are four censuses that give her place of birth and one that includes the birthplaces of her parents.

Elizabeth consistently gives her birthplace as Georgia, with birth years of 1798, 1796, 1800 and 1799.

Next, Nancy Farmer appears in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. In both censuses, her birthplace is given as North Carolina. Her birth year is given as 1794 in 1850 and 1793 in 1860, so she was clearly a few years older than her supposed half siblings.

Unfortunately, Nancy died in 1863, so didn’t live long enough to share her parents’ places of birth. Online data has her as a daughter of Benjamin Farmer and Elizabeth Dew of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Of course, no proof is cited and I totally don’t believe that she is their daughter for two reasons. It looks like Benjamin was born and died in Edgecombe County. Second, he left a will when he died in 1827 naming his wife and his children. He did have a daughter, Nancy, but she is called Nancy Dew, which tells me she married a cousin of some sort from her mother’s side of the family.

Our Nancy Farmer married Thomas Shelton Smith in 1817 in Blount County, Tennessee and her father would have been deceased long before that time if she had Broadway half siblings born after her.

It is disappointing that no marriage record is found in North Carolina for Mr. Farmer to Mary (MNU) except for Moses Farmer to Mary Pierson on 13 August 1788 in Guilford County. They were Quakers and lived next door in Randolph County. However, no Moses Farmer is to be found in any extant 1790 census.

Margaret Broadway is found in just two censuses – 1850 and 1870. In 1850, her birth year is 1797 and place is North Carolina. In 1870, her birth year is 1800 and place is Tennessee.

Let’s take another look at Margaret’s mother, Mary, who would also be the mother of Nancy and Elizabeth if the sibling/half sibling relationships are correct.

Mary (MNU) was born between 1770-1780, based on the 1830 census and c1775 based on the 1850 census, but in South Carolina.

Her son, James Dulworth, reported in 1880 that his father was born in Germany and his mother in South Carolina, so there is some corroboration.

Mary married (1) Mr. Farmer, by 1792, in North or South Carolina, but lived in North Carolina when daughter Nancy was born. Where he died is unknown, but he died by, say, 1796. Mary would have been around 17 years old when she married.

Nancy Farmer, born 1793-1794, North Carolina

Mary married (2) Mr. Broadway, c1796, place unknown. He might have died in North Carolina, Georgia or even in Tennessee.

Elizabeth Broadway, born 1796-1800, Georgia

Margaret Broadway, born 1797-1800, North Carolina or TN

Mary had several more children with John Dulworth, who she married on 2 December 1803 in Knox County, Tennessee. However, there is a daughter Louvina, who married John Rush, c1820, and lived near her mother when Mary and her sons moved to Cumberland County, Kentucky. She was born 1800-1801 in Tennessee and I believe she was also a Broadway. Her death certificate gives Dulworth as her maiden name, but John Dulworth has no known marriages before he married Mary in 1803. He would have been the only father she knew. One of her children’s death certificates gives her maiden name as “Tuewater” and there is a Jacob Tarwater in Knox County, Tennessee in 1806. However, if Louvina was a Tarwater, her mother apparently didn’t marry him.

Including Louvina in this list helps close gaps in Mary’s timeline, though, so she is important for that reason.

Louvina/Luvinia Broadway/Tarwater, born 1800-1801, Tennessee

In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned that I would leave the Broadways found in South Carolina in 1790 for a later time. That time has come because there are two Broadways enumerated.

First, we have Charles Broadway in Laurens County, South Carolina. Then there is John Broadaway living in Edgefield County, South Carolina. Finally, we have Jacob Bradaway, in Abbeville County, South Carolina, who received South Carolina militia pay on 17 June 1785 for service in the American Revolution, but nothing further is known about him.

All three counties – Edgefield, Laurens and Abbeville – are part of the old 96 District. Furthermore, the 96 District bordered GEORGIA. In fact, both Abbeville and Edgefield, directly abut the Georgia state line.

This presents even more of a sticky wicket, as none of these men are still in South Carolina in 1800. Charles Broadway died c1793, but his children are unknown.

John and Drury Broadway appear in the 1800 census of Edgefield County, but how or if they are related to the earlier men is unknown.

There is a Drury Broadway who served as a private in the War of 1812, specifically Bunch’s Regiment of East Tennessee in 1814. He was born c1781, South Carolina, the son of John Broadway, and died in 1857 in Wayne County, Tennessee, which is in western Tennessee, bordering the Alabama state line.

Whether or not it is significant I don’t know, but Drury had a son named Smith, born c1825 in Tennessee, still at home in Wayne County in 1850.

Could Drury perhaps be related to “my” family? Well, he was in eastern Tennessee is 1814 and the Broadway name is rare there in that era, but that isn’t any kind of proof. Just yet another possible clue.

While I have learned a lot more about this family, I am not any closer to knowing which Farmer or Broadway that Mary married, nor do I have any idea of her maiden name.

Assuming that the clues I’ve collected are accurate, it looks like Mary may have been born in a South Carolina county on the state line with North Carolina, married Mr. Farmer and lived in North Carolina long enough for Nancy to have been born there c1794.

Mr. Farmer then passed away, either in the Carolinas or Georgia, and Mary then married Mr. Broadway, say in 1795. Elizabeth Broadway was born while they lived in Georgia, probably c1796 or so, and the family moved on to eastern Tennessee, where daughter Margaret Broadway was born, about 1798.

Mr. Broadway likely died in eastern Tennessee and Mary married (3) John Dulworth in Knox County in 1803.

Do you think I’ll ever be able to finding the missing pieces of this puzzle?