John Covington's Children with Nancy Wall Part II

I carry my roots with me all the time rolled up, I use them as my pilllow. ~ Francisco X. Alarcón

Ann Nancy Covington Thomas

Our aunt Ann Nancy Covington (3A) was born in 1778 near Rockingham, North Carolina. On May 21, 1800, a bond was paid for a marriage between Ann and our cousin Robert H. Thomas (1C5X). Robert was the son of our uncle Robert, Sr. (4U) and the nephew of our grandfather Billy Ram (4GGF). The bondsman was Ann's brother-in-law John Cole who was married to her sister Elizabeth (3A).

Note: a marriage bond was a legal document in which a groom and a bondsman (often a relative or friend) would pledge a sum of money to the court as a guarantee that there were no legal impediments to the marriage. The money was forfeited if anything went awry.

The couple probably married soon after the bond was filed because their first and only child, John Covington Thomas (1C4X), was born in 1801. Ann, who died young, may have died in childbirth or shortly afterwards. Robert didn't marry again until ca. 1718. He and his second wife had their first child in 1819. We'll have more on Robert in a future post.

Henry Covington

Our uncle Henry Covington was born in North Carolina in 1781. He was the sixth child born to John and Nancy. In 1797, he married Winney Stone, who was only 14 at the time.

Ca. 1810, Henry and Winney moved with their family to what is now the town of White House, Tennessee. Henry may have been encouraged to make the move by his uncle Benamin Covington who had moved to Bowling Green, KY about ten years earlier.

(1) Rockingham, NC (2) White House,TN (3) Bowling Green, KY

Henry and Winney were raising their children in Tennesse when the War of 1812 broke out. In November of 1814, Henry enlisted for a six month stint in the Tennessee militia. He traveled down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with General William Carroll's infantry to New Orleans where Andrew Jackson was mounting a defense against British attack.

The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815. The battle, an American victory was notable because it was fought fourteen days after the Treaty of Ghent, the treaty ending the war, was signed. Word from Europe had not reached either the British or American forces by January 8. The battle, though essentially needless, cemented Andrew Jackson's place as an American hero and the victory was forever held up as one of the greatest of the war.

American losses in the battle were light with only 13 killed, 39 wounded, and 19 missing or captured to reports of 291 killed, 1,262 wounded, and 484 missing for the British.

Though most of the men made it through the battle, many died of illness as the troops lingered in New Orleans afterwards. One of those to die in camp was our Uncle Henry, at age 39, leaving Winnie with 9 children, all under the age of 17. Obviously knowing his end was near, Henry wrote his will in camp two days before his death. He, or whoever wrote it out for him, wrote the date of the will as May 9, 1815 but Henry's death date was actually March 11.

Probably realizing that his remains would be interred in New Orleans, Henry asked that his body be buried "in common farm without pomp or parade. . ." He left to Winney his farm of 330 acres with "the whole of my stock of "horses, cattle, hogs, farming utensils and household furniture of every description." After Winney's death the estate was to be divided between their three sons. Because Winney was "in a state of pregnancy," Henry left the contingency that a male child should be included in the division of the estate with the other three boys. He also wanted a "certain roan mare" sold and the proceeds to be used for the education of his children "so as to enable them to transact their common business throughout life."

The slaves Nan and her two children Zack and Polly were to go to Winney and, at her death, the increase to be divided amongst his six daughters and, if the child to be born was a girl, she would be included.

. . .should the above named Nan continue to have children it is my desire that my Eldest Daughter should have the use & benefit of the first child. . .my secnd Daughter the use of the second child. . .& so on to my daughters in agreeable to age till the death of my wife and then the whole of the negroes to be brought together and equally divided between the whole of my Daughters.

Henry also mentioned the estate coming to him from his father, our grandfather John (4GGF) which Henry imagined to be about four hundred dollars. The money should be split with half going to his sons and the other half going to his daughters.

Note: It must have taken some time for John's estate to be settled as he had died in 1808, seven years prior to Henry's death.

Henry chose his wife Winney and Stephen Cole as executors of his will. Stephen Cole had been married to our aunt Nancy "Nanny" Terry (4A), daughter of our grandparents William (5GGF) and Anne Raiford Terry (5GGM). Nanny died a few years before Stephen made the move to Tennessee. We'll have more on Nanny and Stephen in a future post. Stephen's brother married Henry's sister, our aunt Elizabeth Covington (3A).

Winney was awarded by the government a half pay pension of $3.00 a month for five years.

She continued living on the farm with her children until they were grown and gone. Then it appears that son Leroy (1C4X) took over the homestead and stayed with Winney for the rest of her life.

In 1859, with her original pension lapsed, Winnie applied for another under the Pension Act of 1853. The judge she went before in her case was none other than her son, Henry Lawson Covington (1C4X).

Winnie died in 1868 at age 80 and was buried in the Covington Cemetery, probably part of the original land that Henry bought in 1810. The cemetery still exists on a plot of land next to a strip mall on Highway 76 in White House. There are 37 people buried in the cemetary. The only child of Henry and Winnie buried there is Leroy (1C4X).

Rebecca Covington Smith

Our aunt Rebecca Covington (3A) was the seventh child born to John and Nancy. She was born in 1781. In March of 1800, she married James Smith. It's been impossible to get information on James because most sites have him confused with another James Smith who moved to Mississippi.

James took out a marriage bond on 4 Mar 1800. The witness for that bond was the county clerk who at that time was our cousin Eli Terry (2C5X). It appears from records relating to a dispute after Rebecca's death that the couple had seven children, six daughters and one son.

Rebecca's husband James died in 1840. I can find no record of her after that until the 1860 slave schedule which lists her as owning 22 slaves. Given the number of slaves she owned, she was probably a fairly wealthy woman when she died 1865 at age 83. Since her only son had died two years before her death, Rebecca chose one of her sons-in-law, our cousin John W. Thomas (2C3X), to administer her will. Ca. 1845, John had married Rebecca's youngest daughter Lucinda (1C4X).

Rebecca died intestate and there was some sort of dispute between administrator John Thomas and all of Rebecca's daughters and their husbands, even the ones living in other states. John petitioned the court to have an assessment made of the estate. I can find no record of how the dispute was settled.

Thomas B. Covington

Our grandfather Thomas (3GGF) was born in 1790 in Richmond County, NC. He was the second to last child born to John and Nancy, and sometime in his life he had earned the nickname "Big Tommy." When John died in 1808, he left eighteen year old Thomas, along with brothers Henry (3U) and William (3U), 300 acres of land in Anson County on the west side of the Pee Dee River. After his mother's death, Thomas would also receive one ninth of the 50 acres that John left to Nancy.

From his father's personal estate, Thomas received "one negro by named George, also one horse, saddle and bridle. A few years after receiving his inheritance, Thomas married our grandmother Jane Thomas (3GGM), daughter of Billy Ram.

In 1810, Thomas, along with his brothers William and Henry, sold the 300 acres left to them by their father. Each of the three brothers received "one hundred and forty six Dollars and fifty one cents" for their share of the property. William and Henry both signed the sale indenture but it appears our grandfather was illiterate as he signed with his mark.

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

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

Within a year or two of Jane's death, Thomas married Louisa Stancill. The 1830 census shows the couple living with two new sons, another William (2GU) and Alexander (2GU), along with Jane's William, James and Thomas, Jr.. John and Robert were probably old enough to live on their own. The census shows no females other than Louisa so it appears that Jane's daughter Nancy, 8 at the time, had gone to live with another family. Thomas is not shown owning any slaves in this census.

By 1840, all of Jane's children were gone from the household except for 19 year old Thomas, Jr. Added were four more children for Louisa, Christopher Columbus, Elizabeth, Henry and Harriet. Again, the census shows no slaves in the household.

Family lore for Thomas Covington's family gives the following account:

Soon after their marriage, they (Thomas' son Robert and wife Elizabeth) moved with Robert's father, Thomas B. Covington, to Summerville, Noxubee, Mississippi. With the help of slave labor, the Covingtons established a large successful plantation in Summerville. Some of the Covington and Thomas families attended gospel meetings which were presented by Mormon missionaries. Robert and Elizabeth were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 3 Feb 1843 in Noxubee County, MS, by Benjamin Clapp. They were endowed in the Nauvoo Temple on 20 Jan 1846. Robert's father, brothers and sisters disapproved of their new religion and Robert was eventually disinherited.

It is true that Robert moved to Mississippi and was eventually baptized into the Mormon Church but there's no proof that his parent's also made the move. Two of Robert's sister's also joined the church but one only briefly . If our grandfather Thomas did make the move to Mississippi, which seems unlikely, his time there was would have been short-lived.

The 1850 census shows Thomas, 60 years old, living in Rockingham, NC with his 45 year old wife, 19 year old Columbus, 18 year old Elizabeth, 14 year old Henry and 12 year old Harriet. The slave schedule for that year showed Thomas with three slaves, a 60 year old male and two females, 40 and 20.

Thomas died in 1857 at age 67. I can find no will or probate records for him. It's probable that he lived on the land left to him by his father for his entire life. With 13 children, he probably had very little to leave to the family.

Our cousin Mark Esplin (5C) descends from Thomas and Jane's son Robert Dockery Covington (2GU). Robert joined the Mormon Church is 1843 and most members of that branch of the family has lived in Utah ever since. In Mark's research on the Covington family he had this to say about Thomas:

Jane and Thomas B. Covington lived at what is now called the late Ed Thomas homestead at Five Points which was then a large plantation, the land perhaps given to them by John Covington, the father. It is thought to be the original home, and many descendants have come back from Utah and other places to snap a picture of the ancestral home of Thomas B. Covington.

Mark included a map (shown below) which indicates the location of Thomas' property just outside Rockingham proper. I have not been able to find Ed Thomas or his homestead but imagine that he was probably related to our Thomas family.

James William Covington

Our uncle James Covington (3U) was the last child born to John and Nancy. He was born in 1793 in Richmond County, NC. Ca. 1825 he married Naoma Cole. Two of their children, both sons, were born in North Carolina. By the time their third child, daughter Elizabeth (1C4X)) was born in 1835, the family had moved to Carroll County, Tennessee.

The 1850 census has James living with his wife and five children, the youngest, James, Jr. (1C4X) 8 years old. James died eight years later at age 65. All his children were married by then except for James, Jr. It's possible that Naoma died before James because the 1860 census shows James, 19, living with his brother Daniel ( 1C4X).