"Billy Ram's" Children Part II

In this post, we continue the stories of our grandfather William "Billy Ram" Thomas' (4GGF) children. He had eight with his first wife, Hannah Pratt and five with our grandmother Rachel Roe (4GGM). The first three in this post are from his marriage to Hannah Pratt.

Nathan Thomas

Our uncle Nathan Thomas (3U), born in North Carolina in 1772, was Billy Ram and Hannah's sixth child. He was born in Richmond County in 1772. Ca. 1793, He married Sarah Hill. In, 1799, he purchased 100 acres of land from his father, Billy Ram, who died only a year later.

The 1800 census shows Nathan in Richmond County, NC with his wife, two children and one slave. A year later, probably wanting to follow his (and our) uncle Benjamin (4U) to Tennessee, Nathan sold the property he had purchased from his father to his second (and our first) cousin Elijah Thomas (1C5X). Elijah was the son of our cousin Daniel Thomas (1C6X) and our aunt Sarah Covington Thomas ((4A).

Note: In a rather convoluted story, Elijah had just married Nathan's stepmother, our grandmother Rachel Roe (4GGM), widow of Billy Ram. Rachel was about 15 to 20 years older than Elijah.

Nathan was in Palmyra, TN by 1803 when he purchased 65 acres of property from John Vaughan:

Deed from JOHN P. VAUGHAN to NATHAN THOMAS

Indenture made this 28th day of December 1803, between John P. Vaughan of Montgomery county, and Nathan Thomas of 'the same county, for and in consideration of the sum of one hundred dollars to him in hand paid, for a tract of land lying on the south side of Cumberland River, and containing sixty-five acres, it being part of a tract granted to John Campbell. Attest: B. Hicks S. Thornton      

Sometime before 1811, when he was listed on the tax rolls, Nathan moved 30 miles west down the Cumberland River to what was then called Bowling Green, TN. In 1860, the railway lines decided there could only be one Bowling Green and Kentucky won that battle. Bowling Green, TN became Cumberland City.

From Goodspeed's History of Stewart County:

Cumberland lies on the south bank of Cumberland River and on the Memphis branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railway, being the only railroad station in Stewart County. . .As early as 1812 Cumberland was a shipping and treading point. . .About 1815, Nathan Thomas, who owned the land, caused a town to be laid off into lots. . .He was a very early settler of Stewart County and settled in the area around Cumberland City. 

(1) Palmyra, TN (2) Cumberland City, TN

Nathan is listed in Captain James Gray's company of militia from May 19 to June 30, 1812 during the War of 1812. He was still serving in the military in August of 1814 when he was one of the inspectors for an election to choose a new captain for their company. He was also an inspector for a military election held in April of 1816.

In 1823, Nathan bought another 50 acres from the state of Tennessee for twelve and one half cents per acre. The property was adjacent to the 100 acres that he already owned.

Nathan and Sarah had seven children, two born in North Carolina and the rest in Tennessee. The 1840 census shows Nathan, age 68, and Sarah, living with their youngest daughter Barbara (1C4X) and Barbara's husband, Robert Roling. In 1850, Nathan, 78, and Sarah are living with Barbara and her three children. Barbara's husband died in 1850 before the census was taken.

Nathan died intestate in 1852 at age 80. In 1854, after an estate sale of many of the household items, county commissioners were appointed to "lay the dower and supplies of Sarah Thomas widow and relic of Nathan." Nathan, Jr. (1C4X) who was named executor of the estate sold the property in 1856.

Sarah Thomas Moorman

Our aunt Sarah Thomas (3A) was born was born in 1773 in North Carolina to Billy Ram and Hannah Pratt. She married John Moorman in 1793. John and Sarah were Quakers. The Piney Grove Monthly Meeting records show the couple with eight children in 1816. Daughter Chuza, born in 1795, had died at age three in 1798.

John died intestate sometime in 1841. Shortly afterwards, Sarah filed suit to recover $4,000 owed to her by three men, one of whom was our cousin Stephen Wall (1C5X), nephew of our grandmother, Nancy Wall Covington (4GGM).

Note: Stephen Wall, never married, fathered seven children with three of his slaves. We'll have Stephen and his children's story in a future post.

Below is the order for the sheriff, our cousin Samuel Terry (1C5X) to "take the bodies" of the three men and "them safely keep" until the next Court session. The man who signed the order was our cousin James Leak (2C5X), who descended from our aunt Mourning Raiford Pickett (5A)

Sheriff Stephen Terry attested in the form below that he was able to locate only two of the men, our cousin Stephen Wall included.

Since Stephen Wall was quite a wealthy man, it's a good bet that Sarah recovered at least part of the money owed her.

The property that John Moorman owned was 170 acres on the on east side of Peedee River bordering land owned by Stephen Wall's brother Mial (1C5X). Often times, when men died intestate, family members found it difficult to equitably settle the estate. John died in early October of 1842, "leaving his widow and relict unprovided for." The title papers to the land were "in the hands" of Sarah's oldest son Benjamin.

Luckily for Sarah, laws had been set in place to ensure that she received her just thirds of the estate. The case, however had to go before the courts. Below is a petition Sarah filed against all of her seven children to receive her fair portion. Since five of the children lived out of state, the court ordered "that publication be made in the Fayetteville Observer, for six weeks successively, notifying the said non-residents to be and appear at the next court of pleas and quarter sessions. . .then and there to plead, answer or demur to said petition, otherwise it will be heard pro confesso as to them, and an order passed for the dower to be laid off."

It appears that Sarah's children had no objections to her receiving the dower. Twelve "disinterested freeholders" were called to lay off a third part of the land, "including the dwelling house in which said husband was accustomed to dwell. . .commonly called the mansion house, together with the offices, buildings, outhouses and other improvements."

Among the "freeholders" summoned were our uncle Eli Terry (3U), our cousins Samuel Terry (1C5X) and Stephen Cole (3C4X) and Samuel Gibson, husband of our aunt Nanny Terry (3A). The whole process was taken care of fairly quickly. By the 31st of October, Sarah had been awarded 87 acres, the house and all improvements.

Also ordered by the Court in October was that a group of four freeholders including our uncle William Covington (3U) and Mial Wall, "go upon the presmises where John Moorman dec'd lived & died to lay off and allot to Sarah Moorman his widow a years support out of the personal effects of her late husband." Below is the receipt signed by Sarah showing that she received her alottment, witnessed by sheriff Samuel Terry.

Once her dower was settled, Benjamin took over the administration of the estate which was quite lengthy and involved much transferring of money. Below is just one unreadable receipt amongs dozens for something Sarah purchased from our cousin John Poythress Covington (1C5X) that Benjamin paid for out of the estate.

On November 1st, Benjamin paid ten dollars out of the estate to the attorney who filed Sarah's petition.

Because many of Sarah and John's children had spread far and wide around the country, the rest of the estate outside of Sarah's dower needed to be sold. In November, Benjamin gave notice "to all persons having claims against said Estate to present the same same duly articulated wirthin the time prescribed by law." In December, another notice went saying that Ben would have a public sale of all "personal property belonging to the estate, including both household items and farming equipment. He very generously decided to give a nine month credit for all purchases.

It appears that confirmation of Ben's due diligence in posting a notice of the sale was required. Below is a form signed by our cousin Mial Wall stating that he saw "copies of the within advertisement standing publicly posted up at the Court House door."

Purchasers of items from the estate included son John Moorman (1C4X), son-in-law Samuel Ely, son-in-law Wiley Strickland, Mial Wall, and John Wall Covington (2C4X). William Covington bought, among other things, a gray mare for $61.50 and our uncle Eli Terry bought a roan horse for $59.00.

When the estate was finally settled, Sarah was 70 years old. We have no idea how much longer she lived as we can find no death date for her.

The settling of John Moorman's estate wasn't the end of the story, however. In September of 1843, Benjamin filed suit against his brother-in-law Wiley Stricklin who had married Ben's sister Mary (1C4X). It appears that thirteen years earlier, Wiley had borrowed $293.40 from Ben's father John. Below is Wiley's note promising to pay the said amount.

John had probably never asked Wiley to repay the money and, since he died intestate, never did the usual thing which was to forgive the debt in his will. Benjamin, however, had no such scruples. He did have, however, a problem in recovering the money due to the fact that Wiley and Mary had moved to Alabama sometime before 1940.

Since "the said Wilie Striclin hath moved himself beyond the limits of the State or so absconds or conceals himself that the ordinary precept of law cannot be served on him" the judge ordered ordered the sheriff to "attach the estate of the said Wilie Stricklin if to be found in your county. . .so as to compel the said Wilie Stricklin to appear and answer the complaint of the said Benjamin Moorman."

Two properties owned by Wiley were found amounting to almost 1,500 acres. The result of the case couldn't be found in the estate file but, most probably, Wiley had to pay up.

We can find no record of our aunt Sarah's death. Since we can't find her in any further census records for her after 1840, it's possible she died not long after her husband.

Uncle George Thomas

Our uncle George (3U) was born in North Carolina in 1774. He was the last child born to Billy Ram and Hannah Pratt. He married Elizabeth Couther ca. 1796 and the couple had four children. By the 1830 census, George had moved his family to Alabama. He died intestate in 1850 at age 76.

Billy Ram's children with our grandmother Rachel Roe

Billy Ram's wife Hannah Pratt died in 1785, 11 years after the birth of her last child George. Shortly afterwards, Billy Ram married our grandmother Rachel Roe and, with her, he had five more children. It's been impossible to figure the birth order of their children so we will list them in the order Billy Ram placed them in his will.

Aunt Esther Thomas Thomas

Our aunt Esther (3A) was born ca. 1790 in Richmond County, NC. She was about 13 when her father died in 1800. Ca. 1808, she married her second (and our first) cousin Henry Thomas (1C5X). Henry's parents were our cousin Daniel Thomas (1C6X) and our aunt Sarah Covington Thomas (4A). Below is a chart showing the relationship between the families.

Henry and Esther had 12 children, the last one, Catherine (1C4X), born in 1834. Daughter Jane (1C4X) died shortly after her birth in 1817. In 1835, the family made a move to Knox County, Mississippi. Only a year after the move, Esther died at age 46. At the time of her death, Esther's children ranged in age from Daniel (1C4X) at 27 and baby Catherine who was 2. In a short family biography, Catherine, who could only have known her mother through family stories, wrote a blurb about her mother.

My father and mother, Henry and Esther Thomas, were born in North Carolina, and my mother died in Mississippi in 1836. She was the mother of twelve (12) children. She was a member of the Baptist faith and a very industrious wife and mother. She would card, spin, and weave cloth to clothe her family and others. Mother died before hearing the Gospel, but her work has been done in the St. George Temple.

Not long after Esther's death, Henry was baptized into the Mormon faith and traveled with his family to join Joseph Smith (6C5X) in Nauvoo, Ill. We'll have that story in our "Henry Thomas Family Mormons" posts.

our grandmother Jane Thomas

Our grandmother Jane Mehitable Thomas (3GGM) was born ca. 1790 in Richmond County, NC. She would have been about ten years old when her father Billy Ram died in 1800. When he died, Billy Ram left "to my wife & my five youngest children Easter, Jane & Martha Samuel & Robert as also to my daughter Mary Everette (from his first marriage) all the profits of my Griss Mill for eight years after my death share & share alike." After the eight years, ownership of the mill passed to his wife Rachel and her five children. As was common in those days, Billy Ram left some property to his children from his first marriage but he left his "dwelling plantation with all the remainders of my real personal estate to be equally divided between my wife & my five youngest children."

Jane would have been able to take her inhertance by the time she married our grandfather Thomas B. Covington (3GGF). They married ca. 1810 and their first child, John (2GU), was born ca. 1813.

The 1820 census shows Thomas living with Jane and five children: our 2nd great aunts and uncles, John, Robert, William and Martha Ann and our grandfather James Wall Covington (2GGF). James was Thomas and Jane's fourth son and would have been about three years old in 1820. Thomas owned three slaves at that time.

Jane had two more children, Thomas, Jr. and Nancy, before her untimely death in 1822 at age 35. She died the same year daughter Nancy was born so she either died in childbirth or shortly afterward.

After Jane's death, Thomas married Louisa Stancill and, with her, had six more children. The continuation of Thomas' story is in our "John Covington's Children" post.

Aunt Martha Thomas and Uncle Samuel Thomas

Our aunt Martha (3A) was born ca. 1795 in Richmond County, NC. She died young, ca. 1808. Uncle Samuel was born ca. 1795 and also died early, probably as a young teen.

Uncle Robert Thomas

Our uncle Robert (3U) was born ca. 1788 in Rockingham, NC. Information on Robert has been sketchy. The only concrete information we have for him are two census records. Until 1850, the United States census records only listed the number of people in a household and grouped them into age categories. The 1840 census shows Robert living in Pike County, Georgia. Listed are two adults between 40 and 49 and four children, two sons and two daughters.

The 1850 census lists Robert, 62, living in Henry County, Georgia with an L. Thomas, 60, apparently his (name unknown) wife. All four of his children were living still living in the household and two of his grandchildren: M. A., 28 (Mary Ann); T., 26, (Tillman); J. A., 24 (Julia Ann); L.B., 22 (name unknown), W.L., 8 (William Lawrence) and J.R., 3 (James R.).

Based on these records, it appears that Robert married ca. 1820 and had four children, all born in North Carolina, the last in 1828. Sometime before 1840, the family moved to Pike County Georgia. Sometime before 1850, they moved about 30 miles north to Henry County.

(1) Rockingham, NC (2) Pike County, GA (3) Henry County, GA

The two grandchildren listed in the census are Mary Ann's (1C4X) children. Given the fact that she still went by the surname Thomas, we can think of three scenarios that would account for that: the children were born out of wedlock, she married a man with the same surname or her husband died and she reverted back to her maiden name. Given the norms of the time, the most likely is that the children were born out of wedlock.

Mary Ann's son William (2C3X) would go on to fight in the Civil War and much has been written about him. We'll have his story in a future post.

We can't find a date for our uncle Robert's death but it was probably between the 1850 and 1860 census. He would have been about 65 or 70 years of age when he died.

The 1860 census shows Mary Ann still living in Henry, GA but on her own with her younger son James (2C3X), 12. Probably to help support his mother and brother after his grandfather's death, William left home in his mid-teens to work in a textile factory in Griffin, GA. We can find no further records on Mary Ann.

It appears that Tillman (1C4X) married at about age 35, just about the time his father died, and had eight children. The 1900 census showed him widowed and living with one of his sons in Alabama. He died in Alabama in 1903 at age 81.

After her father's death, Julia Ann (1C4X) went to live as a domestic helper in the family of carriage maker James Seward. In the 1870 census, she is 42, still unmarried and living with 70 year old John Thomas who was born in South Carolina. John is most likely a cousin from the South Carolina faction of our family. We have been unable to trace him.

Robert's son R.L. has faded into obscurity.