John Covington's Siblings

(Henry's) land was on Naked Creek, east of the Pee Dee River, which was in 1769 adjacent to Thomas Dockery. ~ DaCosta E. Covington

John (5GGF) and Mary Arey Covington (5GGM) had ten children. With the exception of James (4U) who died in 1767, all of their children moved to North Carolina in the late 1760s and early 1770s. This post is about our grandfather John Jr.'s (4GGF) siblings and their lives in North Carolina and beyond.

William

Our uncle William Covington (4U) was born in Maryland in 1735. The first record of him in North Carolina is a 1771 land warrant for 300 acres at Old Morven, Anson County, on the west side of the Pee Dee River. William might have been a latecomer as most of his family had already settled near Rockingham on the east side of the river. Old Morven is about 15 miles east of Rockingham. William's land was surveyed by Robert Jarman, who was our aunt Penelope Thomas' husband. Chain men were William's uncle William Covington (5U) and his brother Benjamin Covington (4U).

Note: Penelope was our grandfather Stephen Thomas' (5GGF) sister.

William was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War. His service "was terminated by death" in 1778. We have no way of knowing whether he died in battle or of illness. Sometime before his death, he had been granted 2560 acres in what is now the state of Tennessee.

Note: In 1780, the land that became Tennessee was part of North Carolina. The U.S. government at the time was granting land to veterans of the war in the hopes of encouraging westward expansion.

(1) Rockingham, NC (2) Morven, NC

William, who was never married and had no children, died at age 43 with no heirs. Our grandfather John, as his oldest living brother, "was William’s heir-at-law, in accordance with the English Common Law that governed inheritances in N.C. in 1778." The original warrant for the land was evidently lost and a duplicate "in place of the original warrant lost in June by Robert Webb" was issued to "The Heir of William Coventon a Subaltern in the line of this State for 2560 acres ‘within the limits of the lands reserved by Law, for the Officers and Soldiers, in the continental line of this state.’"

John also inherited his William's 300 acres west of the Pee Dee. He quickly sold the land in Tennessee, but kept the 300 acres until his death in 1803. In his will, John left his brother's property to three of his sons William (3U), Henry (3U) and our grandfather Thomas (3GGF).

It appears that John's son William lived on the property before inheriting it from his father in 1803. According to Cousin Lou Poole (5C), "Old Morven, originally called Sneedsboro, began about 1800 when William Covington built a tavern at a junction on a stagecoach route.  This must have been John Covington's son who, three years later, inherited part of his uncle William's land."

The last record Lou found for John's brother William was an 1816 Richmond County Court order "that (John's son) Benjamin H. Covington (3U) be approved admr on the estate of Wm Covington who died in the Service of his country in the Revolutionary War gave Bond and Security agreeable to law." Lou theorizes that the family "were simply initiating a further check to see if additional State or Federal benefits were available to the heirs of a man who died in military service.”

Henry

Our uncle Henry Covington (4U) was born in Maryland in 1736. He married Elizabeth Sands ca. 1760. The couple had three children born in Maryland before their move to North Carolina. Lou Poole (5C) found this on Henry as part of his detailed Covington family research:

Henry and Elizabeth (Sands) Covington sold their land in Maryland in 1767 to William

Hunter, 'it being a part of the tract Providence, on the west side of the main branch of Tuckahoe Creek on the north side of Matthew Smith’s branch.' 

Note: William Hunter was the future husband of our aunt Mary Covington (4A), who was our grandfather John's sister.

Shortly after the sale, Henry and Elizabeth made the journey to North Carolina with their three children. They were probably the first of the Covingtons to arrive there. Lou Poole says that Henry was "the first Covington of record to purchise land in Anson County, North Carolina." And, according to DaCosta E. Covington (5C) in his Covingtons Remembered:

His land was on Naked Creek, east of the Pee Dee River, which was in 1769 adjacent to Thomas Dockery. This creek empties into the Pee Dee River. . .This is the oldest Covington deed in Anson County.

Note: Thomas Dockery was our grandfather John's father-in-law.

Henry's first land purchase in December of 1767 was almost two years before Thomas Dockery and our grandfather John Covington arrived in North Carolina. The deed was for 100 acres. In December of 1768, he purchased three additional tracts on Naked Creek which gave him a total of 400 acres. He also purchased 84 acres on the south prong of Cartledge creek near where his brother, our grandfather John settled a year later.

Note: According to the patent for Henry's 84 acres on Cartledge Creek, his property abutted land owned by our grandfather William Terry (5GGF). William Terry's home plantation, however, was on Hitchcock Creek, shown on the map below.

Cousin Lou provided us with a wonderful map of western Richmond County which makes it easy for us to figure out where some of our relatives were living. The distance from Naked Creek to Rockingham is about seven miles. Henry's property was situated on Naked Creek next door to Thomas Dockery who lived where the Cartledge Creek Church is now. Our grandfather John was further east at the south prong of Cartledge Creek.

Note: In addition to William Terry, some members of our Thomas family settled at Hitchcock Creek. Our grandfather Stephen Thomas (5GGF) had his property on the on the Pee Dee at the very south end of of Blewitt Falls Lake.

The list of properties purchased and sold by our uncle Henry over the years is quite lengthy. Lou Poole called him, "a very active buyer and seller of property."

When the Revolutionary War hit the South, Henry did his part serving "in Caldwells 3rd South Carolina Troops as a private. . .from 21 February 1779 to 1 February 1780. According to records of Caldwell's battles, Henry was probably at both the Siege of Savannah and the Siege of Charleston.

Henry and Elizabeth had six more children born in North Carolina for a total of nine. Three of these children, Samuel (1C5X), Sarah (1C5X) and Mary (1 C5X) would marry first cousins, all children of Henry's brother, our grandfather John.

About the time their last child was born, the couple went to court after an extremely unpleasant incident. Note that the foreman of the jury in the case was Henry's brother Benjamin (4U).

March 1782 - State vs. Phill James & James James Indt. Riot. No Bill. Benjamin Covington, Foreman. Wits. Henry & Elizabeth Covington.

A charge of assault was deliberated by a jury of twelve men chosen from a pool that included, in addition to Benjamin, our grandfather John Covington (4GGF) and several Covington close associates including Daniel Thomas (1C6X), Lawrence Everett (H5A) and John Wall (4U). In a not very surprising verdict:

The Jurors for the State of North Carolina in the county of Richmond upon their oaths present and say that Phillip James and James James late of the county aforesaid on the 5th day of January last being in the year 1782 in Richmond aforesaid did with force and arms an assault, commit and ill treat the said Henry Covington and Elizabeth Covington his wife then and there being in the peace of God and of our said State, and him did threaten to burn his house and all he had, and all other tongues to the said Henry Covington & Elizabeth Covington then despaired to his great injury and against the peace and dignity of said State. John Crawford, Attorney for State.

In 1789, Henry purchased from his brother Benjamin 180 acres, "except one acre granted by Deed by the aforesaid Benjn Covington to the heads and representatives of the Presbyterian Society and to the trustees of the Richmond Academy." We'll have more on our uncle Benjamin and the Richmond Academy in our next post.

The first census of the United States in 1790 listed only one Henry Covington In Richmond County. That year he owned 3 slaves, and was listed with 2 males and 5 females in his household.

A sad occurrence for Henry and Elizabeth happened in 1793 when their daughter Nancy (1C5X) died in childbirth. In December of 1792, Nancy married Bennett Easterling. Nine months later, she died giving birth to the couple's first child. Bennett's brother William recorded in his family records that Nancy "was taken sick with a fever about Sep 1, 1773 and delivered of a Daughter 8th Sep 1793 (who was named Nancy (2C4X) and Deceased the night of the 9th Sept.)

Then, it seems that more trouble was in store for Henry and Elizabeth in May of 1794. In a court case title "State vs. Rachael Chavis," Henry charged Racheal of stealing a comb from his house. Witnesses in the case were Rachael's relatives Cherry Chavis, John Chavis and Tempy Chavis.

Below is the warrant for her arrest sent to the constable by Thomas Dockery, our grandfather John's father-in-law.

State of North Carolina, Richmond County. Whereas Henry Covington hath made oath that on the fourth day of May he missed from out of his desk a small toothed comb which he suspected to have been feloniously taken there from the day before by the hands of a certain Rachael Chavis. You are therefore required to take the body of the said Rachael Chavis and have her before some justice of the peace for this county to be dealt with according to law, and this shall be your Warrant, given under my hand and seal this 27th day of May 1794. Thos. Dockery, J. P. To Wm. Hunter, Constable, Summon John, Cherry &, Tempey Chavis. Summon Henry Covington  in behalf of the State and Elsbeth Covington.

I can find nothing on the actual court case but the outcome of the case was, again, no surprise:

State of North Carolina, Richmond County. The Jurors for the State on their oath present and say that on the 4th day of May 1794 in the county aforesaid then and there being, Rachel Chavis, with force and arms did feloniously steal, take and carry away one comb of the goods and chattels of Henry Covington to the value of six pence to the injury of him the said Henry, to the evil example of others in like manner offending and against the peace of the State. Micajah Ganey, Foreman. J. Willis Atto.

Rachael was probably part of the Chavis family that "originated in Virginia before 1650 and in North and South Carolina before 1750." Much reseach has been done on this family in a site called Free African Americans. The Chavis family was " free and of mixed race." The 1790 census for Richmond County has a John Chavis listed with seven other free members of the household. This was probably the John Chavis called to testify in Rachael's case.

After the "small toothed comb" case, life must have settled down for Henry and Elizabeth. Other than a few land transactions, there are no further reports of them. It is beleived that Henry moved to South Carolina before he died in 1805 at age 69. His will appears to have been lost but at the time of his death he owned about 1,000 acres of land that woud have been divided in some way between his nine children.

Mary Covington Hunter

Our aunt Mary Covington was born in Maryland ca. 1741. It's unclear whether she married William Hunter in Maryland or after the move to North Carolina. According to our cousin Eleanor Pratt Covington McSwain (5C) in her book My Folk they “...came to North Carolina after 1767, and settled near her brother, Henry Covington. They bought two lots, one on the square, in the baby town of Rockingham in 1788.”

William, was a captain the Revolutionary War and led companies for the Battles at Stono Ferry, Beatti's Bridge and Little Raft Swamp.

Other than William's Revolutionary War service record, we have only two other sources that give us any information on Mary and her husband. The first is William's will which was drafted in 1800. It appears that William had been married before and had children from his first marriage. In his will, he made a definite distinction between the two families.

For some reason, it seemed a common practice for men to leave very little to the children of a first marriage and the bulk of the estate to the children of a living wife. It appears that William had six children from his first marriage and six from the second. All his heirs from the first marriage received "one shilling sterling money as a legacy." The only exception was his daughter Mary who received "fourteen Dollars current money of the United States to be paid. . .out of my Estate after the death of my wife, Mary Hunter."

Note: William's daughter Sarah married our cousin Henry Covington (1C5X), son of our uncle Henry (4U) and William's daughter Rebecca married our Uncle Benjamin Covington (3U), son of our grandfather John (4GGF).

The next part of William's will deals with his second family of six daughters. Four of Mary and William's daughters were married at the time of his death, but everhting was to be shared equally amongst them:

I give and bequeath to my Wife Mary Hunter during her natural life the plantation whereon I now live with all the adjoing land that I possess as also my two Negroes Joe & Jack together with my personal estate. . .I give and bequeath to my six youngest daughters. . . after my death all the aforesaid Legacy left to my wife to be equally divided shear & shear alike to be divided as a Majority of my children and Ext shall think proper yet so that my two Negroes may be kept in the Family.

William names all of his daughters with Mary in the will along with their married names. Their daughter Rachel (1C5X) married someone from our Thomas family but, with a plethora of Thomas cousins to choose from, I haven't been able to tie her to anyone yet.

The 1800 census shows Mary living in Fayetteville with three other females, one under 10 and two between 16 and 25. She also has the two slaves, Jack and Joe, in her household. The two females between 16 and 25 are undoubtedly her daughters and the female under 10 most likely a granddaughter.

Next up: Elizabeth, Benjamin, Simon, Rebecca and Sarah