From the Robert Wilson Account Books

A key primary source collection for understanding daily life in Pittsylvania County, Virginia in the 1790s to early 1800s comes from the Robert Wilson Account Books. Three generations of Wilsons, starting with Col. John Wilson (1740-1820), kept business records from their general store at Dan's Hill (later Danville, Virginia). The general store was the primary commercial hub for the area in this time, acting as store, bank, craft workshop and community crossroads.

The collection is located at the University of North Carolina and searchable on FamilySearch, containing 80 volumes of daybooks, ledgers and shop accounts. Nicholas Free appears throughout the ledgers, and some examples are below, such as a November 1811 purchase of spectacles and a case.

FamilySearch. 4 Nov 1811.

In 1805, it looks like Nicholas sold John Wilson tobacco for the Danville store.

FamilySearch. 7 Dec 1805.

In June 1816, Wilson made three payments to Nicholas from cash for rent, again a payment in December 1816, and one in June 1817. It is unclear to me if this was cash to Nicholas so he could pay rent, or the other way around. Nicholas bought ginger in August 1816.

In May 1817, it looks like Nicholas sold Wilson a barrel of corn and two bushels of wheat.

FamilySearch. 24 May 1817.

FamilySearch. 3 Nov 1817.

On 3 November 1817, Nicholas sold a steer of beef for the store. 

Nicholas in Pittsylvania County

FamilySearch. Pittsylvania County, VA. 25 Nov 1814.

The record above was found using FamilySearch Full Text Search, showing Nicholas and Caty Free conveying 100 acres of land in November 1814. Directly above this notation mentioning Caty, is a signature mark by Nicholas. The following page shows Caty was acknowledged as the wife of Nicholas

FamilySearch. Pittsylvania County, VA.

Nicholas appears in a variety of Pittsylvania records from as early as 1796, including tax records, court records appointing him as part of a land surveyor group (1804) and responsible for roads, jury service (1803), laboring tithes and land transfers.

In 1810, he is shown with taxable property in the South District of Pittsylvania as Nicholas Free and son.

FamilySearch. Pittsylvania, VA. 1810 tax record.

Based on the headings from earlier pages (shown above), Nicholas had one son of 16 years in the household in 1810, and was taxed on owning one horse. He had no slaves.

In June 1811, Nicholas Free is listed in the Camden Parish records for the Episcopal Church in Pittsylvania County as keeping the "bastard child of Elizabeth Nelson, named Joel Nelson".

There is no marriage record for Nicholas to Caty (or Catherine), but it's possible they were married after 1811, before the 1814 entry shown at the top of the post.

On 7 November 1810, Nicholas signed a marriage bond for daughter Milly to Anguish Shaw.

FamilySearch. Pittsylvania County, VA.

My Mom and her sisters have at least 50 DNA matches descending from Milly.

A path from Virginia to Kentucky

Google Maps. Pittsylvania County, VA to Adair County, KY.

In January 1819, Nicholas Free might have made the journey from Pittsylvania County, Virginia to the developing lands of Adair County, Kentucky, along the Crocus Creek tributary of the Cumberland River. By 1819, the main route west through the mountains was well established, but at 400-450 miles it was still an arduous overland trek potentially through mud, ice, snow and freezing river crossings. This may have been a three to five week journey.

Traveling from Pittsylvania County, Nicholas and companions would have followed early local wagon trails to Big Lick (modern day Roanoke), then picking up the great wagon road heading southwest into the Great Valley of Virginia. He would have continued along the road to Abingdon, continuing into East Tennessee (the stomping grounds of my Jones family line).

LOC.gov. Abraham Bradley's 1812-1821 Post Road map.

LOC.gov. 

By this time those moving to south-central Kentucky continued on trails following along the Cumberland River.

Nicholas and family settled on a corner of Adair County, along the Crocus Creek, which later became part of Russell County, Kentucky in 1825. The copy isn't great, but the 1861 Metcalfe County marriage entry for my 3rd-great-grandmother Martha Jane Free lists her father William's birthplace as Russell County.

Ancestry. Metcalfe County, KY. 27 June 1861.

How do I know Nicholas Free came from Pittsylvania County, Virginia? I'll pick this up in the next post, thanks once again to FamilySearch Full Text Search.
 

Thrulines for Nicholas Free

Ancestry. Thrulines.

With a current hypothesis that Nicholas Free is the father of William Free, I've put this into Ancestry's Thrulines tool to see what it shows for DNA matches descending from Nicholas. There are definitely DNA matches to explore. Some of these I stumbled across while doing the hard work of digging through my network of matches descending from William Matthews and Martha Jane Free, separating off the Matthews side from the Free side, and then looking for "leftovers" or ungrouped matches who might point to the parents of William Free.

These people are low matches, in the 4th to 5th cousin range, sharing small centimorgans with my Mom and her sisters. Due to multiple relationships and endogamy among the population of settlers in this part of Kentucky and colonial Virginia, there are additional challenges and there are a lot of overlaps with the Gibson and Flatt families in Adair, Barren and Metcalfe counties.

Additional complications include:

• The 50 acres patented by Nicholas Free in 1819 in Adair County became part of Russell County when it was formed in 1825.
• There does not appear to be an estate record formally acknowledging the land transfer from Nicholas to Caty and George, but the Adair County tax records seem to indicate that happened.
• There's no guardian record in Adair or Russell County as far as I can tell, naming William after the death of Nicholas around 1822.
• William does not appear in George Free's household in 1830 or 1840.
• William is in the 1845 and 1847 Barren County tax records for his own household.
• There's no marriage record for William Free and Nancy Clark from about 1841-1842, but William does appear on the 1842 Barren County tax record.
• William's son, William Jacob Free, did not have children, so there's no possible YDNA testers to test descending from his line. I am not sure if male direct descendants of George Free exist for YDNA testing either.

This brings me back to Mary Polly Free and Milly Free, sisters (or more likely half-sisters) of William. There are at least 57 DNA matches or more descending from them, giving me some confidence I'm on the right track in pursuing Nicholas Free.

In the Adair County Tax Records

FamilySearch. Adair County, KY. 1824.

The image above shows an 1824 tax record in Adair County, Kentucky for Caty Free on 50 acres, originally patented by N. Free. She had two horses. Further down the page is an entry for George Free, who was at least 21 years old then.

In February 1819, Nicholas Free patented 50 acres of land in Adair County. He appears on the Adair County tax list for 1819 (on FamilySearch see entry) with two horses.

Nicholas appears in the 1820 US Census in Adair County, as seen below, and on the Adair tax list (see on FamilySearch here).

Ancestry. 1820 US Census. Adair County, KY.

Reading the tick marks on the entry can be a bit of a challenge, but I believe it shows Nicholas in his household as a male over 45, and with a male child between 10-16, a daughter under 10, another female in the household between 16-26, and two over 45.

George Miller and Polly Free were married in Adair County on 22 November 1819. I'll be returning to this couple in another post. I think Polly was a daughter of Nicholas Free, and I'm seeing some DNA matches descending from her.

I think Nicholas died before 1824, possibly 1822. George Free is listed on the 50 acres of land in the 14th District of Adair in 1822, but not Nicholas. George is shown with 3 horses. In 1823, Catherine Free appears on the 50 acres of land with two horses.

George and Catherine Free appear on the Russell County, Kentucky tax record for 1829. Catherine's name appears for 50 acres originally patented by N. Free on Sand Lick Creek. I think George is a son of Nicholas Free, and Catherine is Nicholas' widow. By 1837, George Free is associated with the 50 acre plot in Russell County.

In the 1830 US Census in Russell County, George Free and family are living with a woman who was between 60 and 70, this is probably Catherine. She is not listed in George's household in the 1840 US Census.

I'm not certain yet that Nicholas Free was the father of William, but I'm leaning in that direction. There are several interesting DNA matches to consider, and I'll take that up in another post.