Mappy Monday - Halifax, North Carolina

In yesterday's post on my early Tennessee ancestor, James Tucker, his Revolutionary War pension file mentioned his birth place as Halifax County, North Carolina in 1759. Halifax is a town located on the Roanoke River, not far from the northern border of the state with Virginia.

Below is a portion of the map from Thomas Jeffries' 1776 map of North and South Carolina, showing the area of Edgecombe and Halifax Counties.

Source: David Rumsey Map Collection

One Path to Membership

As I continue to look through early East Tennessee records to clear up the puzzle of the arrival date for my Jones ancestors, one path to membership in the First Families of Tennessee heritage program is clear through the line of my 5th-great-grandmother, Nancy Tucker Jones. She married Thomas Jones on 30 June 1798 in Jefferson County, Tennessee, and it is through her father, my 6th-great-grandfather, James Tucker, that the early arrival requirement is satisfied. I am still working on the Jones side, but it is nice to know the second option is there for me and my fellow Jones researchers and distant cousins.

In Land Deeds of Jefferson County, Tennessee 1792-1814, there is an entry made 12 March 1796 (filed 13 July 1796) from Zachary Isbel of Sevier County to James Tucker of Jefferson County for 190 acres.

James Tucker founded Tuckertown in Jefferson County, and it eventually became the town of New Market.

Map Source: Jefferson County, Tennessee Families and History 1792-1996

According to his 1833 request for a Revolutionary War Pension, James Tucker was born on 18 May 1759 in Halifax County, North Carolina. In 1779, James became a substitute soldier for his father, Robert Tucker, in Randolph County, North Carolina. He said that he removed from Randolph County to Jefferson County, Tennessee, lived there one year, returned to Randolph County, lived there seven years, then returned again to Jefferson County and remained there about 29 years. He later moved from Jefferson County to Monroe County, Tennessee, where James lived his final years. I will post extracts from his pension request later in the month.

James Tucker died in November 1850 in Monroe County, Tennessee.

Church Record Sunday - Baptism of Vicente Campuzano

Below is an image from the Mexico, Catholic Church collection on FamilySearch, showing the baptism of my 2nd-great-grandfather, Vicente Campuzano, as performed by Bertolome Suastegui in Altar, Sonora on 26 June 1862. Father Suastegui would later witness Vicente's marriage to Maria Jesus Vasquez on 5 February 1890.

Source: FamilySearch, Mexico, Catholic Church Records

Vicente also later served as witness in the marriage of Guillermo Dias and Conrada Olacha in February 1889, signing the papers next to the signature of Father Suastegui.

Source: FamilySearch, Image 15 of 576

The Mexico, Catholic Church record collection is an outstanding archive (one that would be made immensely easier to use with a good index). This set covers parish records from 1550 to 1908 and nearly 16.6 million images. If you had family who came from Mexico, I highly recommend searching this set.

Looking at Early Jefferson County Deeds

Building from yesterday's Progress Check on my First Families of Tennessee project, I've focused some attention on the deeds of early Jefferson County, Tennessee in the hopes of finding the connection between my Thomas Jones and a pre-December 1796 arrival in Tennessee. In February I included a reference to a Thomas Jones in Land Deeds of Jefferson County, Tennessee 1792-1814. Below is a copy of the actual deed from the Jefferson County Archives, made on 2 December 1800.

Source: Jefferson County Archives, Deed Bk F, Pp123-124

Thomas Jones entered into another deed with John Johnson on 27 September 1818 for fifty acres. On this deed, it notes that John Johnson had moved to Green County, Kentucky. The deed covered the gap of Bays Mountain and included water courses profits. Witnesses on the deed were J. and Thomas Coffee (or Caffee).

Margaret Barnes made a deed with Thomas Jones on 26 January 1807 (registered 6 October 1819) for 135 acres in Jefferson County.

Source: Jefferson County Archives, Deed Bk P, P 223-224

This deed was proven in Court in 1818. Note above that Isham Good and John Wright, original witnesses to the deed, were no longer living in Jefferson County at the time. There is a James Barnes who married Elizabeth Julias in Jefferson County, and one tree on Ancestry indicates his date of birth around 1761. I don't know who this Margaret Barnes was, or her connection to Thomas Jones.

Another deed between Hugh Henry and Thomas Jones was made 17 October 1833, for one hundred acres on Dumplin Creek in Jefferson County. This deed was registered 5 February 1834, and it covered land that was devised to Hugh Henry in the will of William Henry dated 15 September 1825. It is worth noting there is a marriage record for Hugh Henry to Elizabeth Jones in Jefferson County dated 20 September 1831, and Hugh Henry was listed next to Thomas Jones in the 1840 US Census in Jefferson County. It is very possible this Elizabeth Jones was the daughter of Thomas Jones.

There's a few more interesting early deeds to cover, and that will be in another post.

Tennessee Progress Check

Earlier in the month I wrote about using Asana for tracking family history research as I prepare my First Families of Tennessee documentation. This month I'm going to try to put the pieces together, but in all likelihood with travel and primary duties in December that's going to be a challenge. So here's an update.

At the top of my wish list is to finally connect my Jones line to the territory of present day Tennessee before 31 December 1796. If I cannot find the required documents, I do have other lines to try, but I really want to get this done on the Jones side. The challenge is that while I have documents from me to each male Jones up the line to my 5th-great-grandfather Thomas Jones, that information still doesn't get me earlier than December 1796. While Thomas' birth state was recorded as North Carolina in the 1850 US Census, and approximate birth year of 1778, I don't know if that means he was born within the boundaries of present-day North Carolina, or born in the part of East Tennessee that North Carolina controlled at the time. For background, see the description of the pre-1796 settlements in Tennessee from TNGenWeb.

My suspicion is that his family was in East Tennessee at the time and was an integral part of the formation of the new state. Suspicion doesn't qualify for membership, so I need to look at the documents.

There are two Jones men who signed the Watauga Petition in 1776 and other Jones men who signed the follow-up petition to North Carolina in 1787 as the State of Franklin (including a Thomas Jones).

Map Source: FamilySearch, FranklinCounties.png

I do have some leads, and well as a set of deed records from Cocke County and the territory that was Jefferson County for Thomas Jones.

There's also a curious Ann or Anna Jones who married Benjamin Goins (Goan) in Jefferson County, Tennessee on 15 December 1799. This Anna appears as a widow in the 1830 US Census in Jefferson County, in the 1840 Census and in the 1850 Census. Her birth year is approximately 1775 in the 1850 Census, with birth state as Virginia. It is possible that she is the older sister of the Thomas Jones I have been tracking, but I don't have proof to link the two.

Source: 1850 US Census, Jefferson County, Dist 13, Image 3

My next post will dive into the deed records.