With the Dr. David King story laid to rest, it was time to search for further documentation about the various King households found in the 1790, 1800 and 1810 censuses of Ashe and Wilkes Counties, North Carolina. Those results were summarized in Part 2 of this series.

Seeing how Edward King in Ashe County, North Carolina had 2 females between the ages of 10-15 and one female under 10 AND he was over 45 years old PLUS his enumeration on Page 1 was only one page away from the Sturgills on Page 2, a viable theory to pursue would be that Edward King and Feeley (Phebe) Lewis were the parents of the wife of William Sturgill, allegedly named Sophia King.

Remember, the genealogical standard of a reasonably exhaustive search is required. In this case, that is rather extensive, given that Ashe County was set off from Wilkes County in 1799 and Wilkes was formed 22 years earlier from Rowan County in 1777.

Rowan County was set off from Anson County in 1753, but no Kings were found in those early Anson county records.

Since Edward’s children mentioned in his Revolutionary War pension application that he and “Feeley” were married in Wilkes County in July 1767, checking out Rowan County is a must, too.

I’ve made a cursory attempt at the “low hanging fruit” and still needed to seriously delve into possibilities for original records to see what might be extant:

Tax lists
Land Deeds
Court minutes – nothing found and some years are missing
Probate
Military records, like militia lists
Church lists – nothing relevant found in the necessary time frame

What was found?

Probate records often yield a lot of information and are easy to search, so I began there.

In Wilkes County, North Carolina, Robert King left a 1799 will that only named wife Mary Ann, who was to be in charge of the estate. He is the man found in the DAR Patriot Index.

Land records later proved that Peggy King who married John Love in Wilkes County on 23 May 1789 was his daughter, as John Love sold Robert’s land.

No further evidence of other children of Robert and Mary Ann  has been uncovered, but that doesn’t eliminate the possibility either.

Edward King is almost as mysterious.

Edward received a land grant from the State of North Carolina in the summer of 1798, while he was a resident of Wilkes County. Remember, Ashe County was organized just one year later in November 1799.

There was also a James King who received a land grant in 1798. However, in July 1798, he immediately sold the land and does not appear in the 1800 census. Might he be another son of Edward King and, since there is no indication of probate proceedings for him, I have to wonder if the land grant was quick cash that he used to moved out of North Carolina?

James King is enumerated living next door to Edward King in 1790, with one male and two females at home. His neighbor on the other side was Frank (Francis) King with two males over 16, one under 16 and 3 females.

How these three men are related is uncertain at the moment.

James King is such a common name that I haven’t been able to track him elsewhere yet.

Recorded on exactly the same day in 1798 on the page before Edward’s grant is a grant to Robert King. His grant mentions that it borders the land of Edward King.

Now, Edward King sold 39 acres of land in Ashe County to Robert King in December 1800 (Ashe County Deed Book A:73). This Robert is clearly not the Robert who died in 1799 in Wilkes County.

I believe that this Robert King might well be a son of Edward King and one of his older children. More in a bit.

Further, Edward King was  living in February 1801, when he appeared in Ashe County Court to affirm the sale.

There is a deed from “Phebe King administrator” (of who it doesn’t say) selling 89 acres to Edward King on 3 August 1804 (Deed Book B:173).

I believe this is the same woman called Feelie King in Edward King’s children’s application for a Revolutionary War pension.

These two deeds of sale narrow Edward’s death date between February 1801 and 3 August 1804, when land was sold to son Edward King, Jr.

There is one more piece of land that needs to be mentioned here. Edward King’s Revolutionary War pension file included a document from the Secretary of State of North Carolina stating that he had received 640 acres of land for his war service.

Unfortunately, no trace of this piece of land has been found. It was common for soldiers to sell their warrants to others because the land was located in some far-off place (like Tennessee) and the soldier didn’t want to move there.

As for tax and militia records, an Edward King is on the 1759 tax list of Rowan County. An Edward King was also listed in Vannoy’s District list, Wilkes County, 1787.

At the moment, there is no proof that the 1759 Edward King is the same man as the 1787 man in Wilkes or the 1800 man in Ashe County, but given the scarcity of his name, it is certainly very possible.

Per the pension application Edward King married Feely (perhaps Phebe) Lewis in Wilkes (but at the time Rowan) County in 1767. No marriage record has been found for them, although records do exist for that era.

The pension file includes the information that Edward and Feelie were the parents of 10 children, of whom only two (John, aged 84) and Mary (aged 72) were living in 1851.

If Phebe King who sold land in 1804 to Edward King is really Feely King, then there are two more possible children’s names to add to this list – Edward and one of the witnesses, Turner King. John King was also a witness.

Possible Children:

1. John, born c1768; died after 1851 when he deposed for the Revolutionary war pension. However, I find no John King matching his age, or anything like it, in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, where the application was made.)
2. Child, born c1770
3. Child, born c1772
4. Turner, born c1774 (over 21 in 1804 when the only reference to this person is in the land deed recorded by Phebe, the administrator)
5. Edward, born c1776; died before 1850 census; married Martha (Ashley?), probably Ashe County. She was born c1787; died after 1850 census. Edward was 60-69 in the 1840 census.
6. Mary, born c1778; died after 1851; married Spencer Mullins, c1800.
7. Child, born c1780
8. Child, born c1782
9. Daughter, born c1785 (at home in 1800)
10. Sophia, born c1787; died between 1830-1840; married William Sturgill, c1806, probably Ashe County.

Although Edward’s pension file includes a note from the North Carolina Secretary of State that he received 640 acres of land for his war service in 1784, it doesn’t say where the land was located or what became of it.

Edward’s name is conspicuously absent from land records aside from the few mentions I’ve made, court minutes before 1800 (in Wilkes and Rowan Counties – Ashe County minutes don’t begin until 1806) and probate records.

There is another Edward King of Orange County, North Carolina, who died in 1807, but he was married to wife Sarah, so he is not my Edward.

In a nutshell, I found no other references to this Edward King in Ashe, Wilkes, Rowan or Anson Counties, North Carolina.

If you’ve found this project to be a bit disjointed, so have I, due to all the loose ends, of which only a few tie together and NOT to Edward King.

As I wrap up my meager findings in this series, I’d like to share the quirks and oddities of some of the miscellaneous King records I came across in my final post.

 

 

Yesterday, I reviewed the known facts and family lore associated with William Sturgill and his supposed wife, Sophia King.

Today, we will work back to their first home as a married couple – Ashe County, North Carolina.

Since Dr. David King of Baltimore has been debunked as the father of a possible young lady named Sophia King, it is worth a look to see if there are any Kings enumerated in the 1810 census of Ashe County.

There are, in fact, two King households in Ashe County in 1810:

E. King, aged 26-44, with a female 45+, a male 10-15, a female 16-25 and two females under 10 are found on Page 1.

R. King, 26-44, is with a female 26-44, male 10-15, female -10, male -10, male -10, male -10 and male -10 are found on Page 13.

Neither of these men is old enough to be the father of a daughter who had married five years earlier. However, E. King does have one female over 45, who could be his widowed mother.

Ashe County is quite small in 1810 with only 20 pages of names.

And the Sturgills? They are enumerated together on Page 2. There seems to be little doubt that the Sturgills and the Kings may well have known each other.

Jumping back to 1800, that census was taken in ABC order, so neighbors can’t be determined. However, there are two Kings enumerated, in the K section, on Page 13:

Edward King, 45+, female 26-44, male 16-25, female 10-15, female 10-15 and female -10. [One of the females 10-15 is most likely ‘Sophia” who married William Sturgill. Robert, below, has no females approaching marrying age.]

Robert King, 16-25, female 26-44, male -10 and male -10.

These entries support the idea that Edward, over 45, might be the father of Robert King, but much more research is needed to verify or disprove that theory.

In this study, dates of county formations are important to know because they affect where records are kept. In the case of Ashe County, it was set off from Wilkes County, North Carolina in November 1799, just before the 1800 census.

There might be records of interest in Wilkes County.

Ashe, and before it Wilkes, are located in the very upper northwest corner of North Carolina, bordering Tennessee and Virginia.

Therefore, any earlier Kings of interest will be found in Wilkes, if they were settled in the area before 1799.

A quick look at the 1790 census showed FIVE King families in Wilkes County:

Baker King, one male 16+, one male -16 and 3 females (p.6)
Edwd King, two males 16+, 4 females (p. 11)
Frank King, two males 16+, one male -16 and 3 females (p.11)
Robt King, one male 16+, two males -16 and 1 female (p.4)
Jas King, one male 16+, 2 females (p.11)

[Note that no further information could be found about Baker King.]

Next stop was vital records to look for marriages in Ashe and Wilkes County. Alas, Ashe has a record loss and no marriage records surviving until 1853, so there is no help there.

Wilkes County, set off from Rowan County in 1777, has extant marriages from 1778. There are only three King entries:

1.James Glover to Hannah King, 28 May 1782
2. Jacob King to Betsey Bennett, 13 January 1783
3. John Love to Peggy King, 23 May 1789

I was only able to uncover further information about John Love and his wife, Peggy. Looking for the low hanging, easy to pick fruit, I checked the DAR Patriot Index for Kings, James Glover and John Love:

It seems there were at least two men named in Wilkes County. John Love was born c1762, died 1842, Wilkes County, NC and had pension S8852, although it says problems have been found with this line. This man married Margaret. At some point, someone applied thinking he was the man who married Peggy King and who had a son Robert King Love.

However, notes do mention John who married Peggy King, had a son Robert King Love, and further digging in land records proves that Peggy King was the daughter of one Robert King, who died in 1799.

Wilkes County probate records include one entry:

Robert King died by July 1799 in Wilkes County, and left a will, but it only named wife Mary Ann, who was to be in charge of the estate. No children were mentioned.

If Peggy was 21 when she married in 1789, then she was born no later than 1768. If Robert, in turn was 21 when he married AND Peggy was his first child, then Robert would have been born no later than 1746 and possibly considerably earlier if there were children born before Peggy.

Further searching in the DAR Patriot Index brought one entry for Robert King, born c1746; died before July 1799 who had a wife, Mary Ann. That is an exact fit with the probate record. Robert took the oath of allegiance when recording a land transaction in Wilkes County in 1779. All DAR ladies in this line are descended from Peggy and John Love.

No entries were found for James Glover.

No entries were found for Jacob King.

What was found for Edward King?

Edward King is listed in the DAR Patriot Index. He was born c1746; died c1800, Ashe County, North Carolina. His heirs, John King and Mary Mullins, applied for heirs’ pensions (R5942) in 1851, but were rejected because they couldn’t prove his service. (However, Edward did fight in the war.) His wife is named as Feelie Lewis and his children said they married in July 1767 in Wilkes County [but which would have been Rowan county at the time].

I have not been able to find a marriage record for Edward.

Feelie is said to be a nickname for Felicia or Felicity, both uncommon names for the time period. Notice how closely Feelie resembles Feebe (Phebe). Remember, too, that William and Sophia supposedly had a daughter named Phebe.

Could John and Mary King’s mother have been Phebe and it was incorrectly written in the pension application? Maybe.

In 1804, there is a land sale from Phebe (as she is indexed) King  to Edward King for 89 acres (Deeds B:173), In reading the deed, the B is Phebe is not fully closed. Might she actually be Phele aka Feely or Feelie?

Here are two examples from the deed:

It could be either name, as far as I can tell.

However, the land sale does fit with the Edward King, aged 45+, in Ashe County in 1800, with a male 16-25 at home and a female aged 26-45. Then, with Edward dying between 1800-1804, his widow sold the land to Edward Jr., possibly the male 16-25 at home in 1800.

By 1810, Edward Jr.’s mother would be the female over 45, with Edward and his wife in their 20s.

We’ve just dipped our toes into the water. Stay tuned for Part 3. Let’s see what other records are available.

 

There is a bare branch on my husband’s family tree and I decided it was time to take a new look at it.

Dave’s 3X great grandparents are William Sturgill/Sturgell/Sturgeon with his wife purported to be Sophia King.

Now, the multi-spellings of the Sturgell surname aren’t the focus here. Sophia King is my target.

Today, we’ll look at the backstory and then, we’ll see what can be found about this mysterious lady and/or her family.

First, neither William nor Sophia lived to see the 1850 census. Second, they lived first in Ashe County, North Carolina, then removed to Grayson County, Virginia before William packed up and left for Lawrence County, Ohio, with his wife supposedly dying of yellow fever in western Virginia along the way.

That is likely true, given that there is a female 40-49 in the William Sturgeon home in the 1830 Grayson County, Virginia census, but William remarried in 1837 in Lawrence County. If Sophia didn’t die on the way, she didn’t live long after settling in Ohio.

William was born c1784 and Sophia, c1785, based on the fact that their eldest known child was born c1807.

What exactly is known about Sophia King?

The big HUGE problem is that there is not a single document ever found that includes her name.

How is it then that William’s wife has a name? Family lore.

A Sturgill cousin, long deceased, began collecting family stories in the 1940s when he was a very young man.  Given that two sons, Alvin and Isaac lived into the early 20th century and there were many living grandchildren, it is certainly possible that a grandchild provided the name of Sophia King as his/her grandmother.

A stumbling block here is that this family historian apparently rarely wrote down where information was found, so there is no way to try to verify a source or even figure out who the (oral) source was.

Another issue is that this cousin also stated that Sophia was the daughter of a wealthy Baltimore doctor, David King, and she met her husband while she and her father were wandering around the Virginia/North Carolina frontier around 1800 or so. Other fanciful versions of Dr. King’s life place him in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland and New York!

Several years ago, I tried to verify this unlikely sounding story. There was, indeed, a well-to-do Dr. David King who lived in Rhode Island. However, I found no evidence that he or his family ever spent anytime anywhere near the Virginia-North Carolina state line nor did I find any daughter of Dr. David King named Sophia. Therefore, I believe this family connection is a HOAX. More on this tomorrow.

Further complicating matters is the time frame in which the family lived.

Census records indicate that William had at least 12 children with his first wife . Per my own research, I only feel confident about identifying five of them:

Daughter born c1807
Daughter, born c1809
Daughter, born c1811
Daughter, born c1813
Alvin, born c1815
Elizabeth, born c1817
William King born c1821
Isaac, born c1823
Ruth, born c1825
Son, born c1826
Son, born c1828
Son, born c1830

Because the family lived in places where marriage records have not survived, until 1837, when William appears in Ohio, most of these children have remained nameless in terms of documentation.

Another complication is that William Sturgill/Sturgeon/Sturgell died before the 1850 census and left no probate in Ohio or any of the places in Missouri and Arkansas where I can place his children.

Family lore says he died in a sawmill accident in Missouri or Arkansas in the late 1840s. I tend to believe that as it would explain how Dave’s 2X great grandfather, Isaac Sturgell and wife Mary Bandy, came to be living in Barry County, Missouri on the Missouri/Arkansas state line. (FAN club)

In spite of evidence that I can’t find, this cousin did name all of William’s children and I actually tend to agree with most of them because, as adults,  they lived in LawrenceCounty, Ohio or next door in Gallia County.

William Sturgill/Stergeon/Sturgell was the only man anywhere around with that surname, so it seems very probable that those with the Sturgell surname who married in the 1830s-1850s are his children.

Here is the cousin’s list with my commentary (in red or green), plus my children:

Polly, born c1807; married David Greer; remained in Ashe County (possible, but there are several brothers of William who lived there in the same time period and could be her father, so she is a MAYBE)
Phebe, born c1809; married Fielding Sturgill, 3 October 1839, Gallia County, Ohio (very likely)
Sabra, born 1811; married John Sanders (very likely as they lived in Lawrence County, Ohio in 1850)
Rebecca, born c1813; died in childhood (possible, but can’t be proved)
Joseph, born c1813; married Rosaline Wiseman and (2) Susan Clark; lived in Hardin and Gallatin Counties, Illinois (No proof or documentation connecting this Joseph with William)
Alvin, born 1815; married Rachel Wray, 14 January 1841, Gallia County, Ohio (very likely)
Elizabeth, born c1817; married Isaiah Callehan, 8 September 1836, Lawrence County, Ohio
William King, born c1820; married Rhoda Farrell, c1840 (very likely as they lived in Gallia County, Ohio)
Nancy, born c1822; married George Hutson, c1844 (very likely as they lived in Lawrence County, Ohio in 1850)
Isaac, born c1823; married Mary Bandy, 27 June 1844, Lawrence County, Ohio (very likely)
Ruth, born c1825; married George Yates, 31 March 1844, Lawrence county, Ohio
John David, married (1) Mary Gillenwater (2) Susan Clark (unknown because aside from an undocumented tree online, I can’t find this couple in any other records.)

Note, too, that this cousin calls Nancy ‘Nancy Sophia’ but I find no primary records with a middle name or even a middle initial.

How does this match up with census records?

Daughter born c1807 (Polly)
Daughter, born c1809 (Phebe)
Daughter, born c1811 (Sabra)
Daughter, born c1813 (Rebecca)
Alvin, born c1815
Elizabeth, born c1817
William King born c1821
Isaac, born c1823
Ruth, born c1825
Son, born c1826
Son, born c1828
Son, born c1830

Well, it’s a close match, but not 100% since there is no place for Nancy. If Rebecca is wrongly counted as a daughter, it then makes room for Elizabeth to be born a bit earlier and for Nancy to fill her spot.

I have no idea what happened to the three boys born 1826-1830.

From the list above, I accept the following as children of William and his wife, possibly Sophia. The others aren’t impossible, but since I can’t place them near William or even find some of these people, they don’t make the list:

1. Phebe, married Fielding Sturgill
2. Sabra, married John Sanders
3. Alvin, married Rachel Wray
4. Elizabeth, married Isaiah Callehan
5. William King, married Rachel Wray
6. Nancy, married George Hutson
7. Isaac, married Mary Bandy
8. Ruth, married George Yates

There are few clues to be gleaned from William’s children, with the exception of William King, whose singular middle name provides a possible link to the King family.

As we will later see, Phebe is a second possible clue.

That sums up what is known or thought to be known about William and the possible Sophia King Sturgill before we jump back in time to North Carolina, where the couple likely married c1805.

Next, we’ll begin an in-depth look at the King family.