John Covington's Siblings. . . . . .Part II
- westmohney
- Jan 13, 2025
- 12 min read
Updated: Nov 5, 2025
Twenty-five years after Daniel Boone had laid out his trail from North Carolina to Herrodstown, Kentucky, the family of Benjamin (Covington) moved to Warren County, Kentucky to find a new home. ~ Eurie White Covington
Elizabeth Covington Everett
Our aunt Elizabeth (4A) was born in Maryland ca. 1742. It's unknown whether she married her husband Thomas Everett while still in Maryland or after the move to North Carolina. We know the couple was in Anson County, NC by 1775 when he began his first militia service during the Revolutionary War.
We can find no land records for Thomas in North Carolina until 1779 when purchased 325 acres on Jones Creek, a tributary on the west side of the Pee Dee River. He purchased the property for £37 silver from Elizabeth's brother Benjamin Covington (4U). The deed was witnessed by another brother, Henry Covington (4U) and Elizabeth's brother-in-law, William Hunter.
In 1784, Thomas traded the Jones Creek property with Elizabeth's nephew, Matthew Covington (3U), son of our grandfather John (4GGF), in return for 271 acres on the Peters Branch of Cartledge Creek. This deed was witnessed Elizabeth's brother, John and her brother-in-law William Hunter. Thomas and Elizabeth lived on the Cartledge Creek property for the rest of their lives.
Elizabeth and Thomas had eight children, most, if not all of them, born in North Carolina. Elizabeth died in 1832 at about age 78. In 1832, when he was 90, Thomas applied for a pension for his war service. He declared that:
. . .his first service was as a volunteer for six months under Capt Daniel Love, that he afterward served as a volunteer for three months under Capt Hunter (H4A) in a troop of Horse that he was then drafted to go in pursuit after the Indians under Capt Hoyt in which service he was engaged for a period not less than three months. That he served six months ?? under Capt Williams & Crawford. That he served under Capt Wilson but for what length of time he does not ? attest but he thinks for three months at least; that he rendered other service but is unable to specify what from the decay of his memory making the entire times of his service as a good and true Whig at least two years.
Thomas died in 1837 at the ripe old age of 95. The announcement of his death in the North Carolina Gazette got his age wrong:
Another Revolutionary Veteran gone! -- Died, in Richmond County, N. C. near Rockingham, on Monday 6th inst. Mr. Thomas Everett, aged 90 years and 11 month.
Benjamin Covington
Our uncle Benjamin (4U) was born in Maryland ca. 1746. We have no record of when he came to North Carolina but he was there by 1777 when he married Frances "Fanny" Moorman. We also don't know when he did his part in the Revolutionary War but he is listed with the DAR as "serving as a Private from North Carolina."
We're unable to pinpoint where in the Rockingham area Benjamin lived but we do know that, at some point in time, he purchased 700 acres from our uncle Stephen Thomas (4U).
In 1780 Benjamin sold 180 acres to his brother Henry, "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."
The Richmond Academy was founded "for the further education of the children" in the area. Of the twelve trustees chosen, five were related to us by blood or marriage:
Our grandfather William Thomas (4GGF) and our uncle Matthew Covington (3U), son of our grandfather John (4GGF), were two of the trustees. The rest were all related to our grandfather John Covington by marriage. Thomas Dockery was his father-in-law. William Hunter was married to John's sister Mary (4A) and William Crawford was married to John's sister Rebecca (4A).
After donating their land for the Academy, Benjamin and Fanny lived happily in the Rockingham area of North Carolina until the early 1800s. In 1898, their son Elijah had traveled west to check out the newly formed state of Kentucky. He decided to stay and Benjamin, along with all of his children but two followed Elijah to Kentucky.
Our cousin Eurie Covington White (4C1X) recounted her version of the story in her book Covington Cousins:
Twenty-five years after Daniel Boone had laid out his trail from North Carolina to Herrodstown, Kentucky, the family of Benjamin (with exception of Benjamin, Jr. and Hannah) moved to Warren County, Kentucky to find a new home. They located in the slightly rolling country then known as ‘the Barrens,’ just outof Bowling Green. This section had been passed up by the earlier pioneers, but the Covingtons knew good soil, having lived close to the land since coming to America. The Barrens were not barren of vegetation. On the contrary, they were a land of grass and flowers, and the fields were watered with streams and springs. The Covingtons passed through the Cumberland Gap and along the Boone trail until they were on the north side of the headwaters of the Green River. Then they pursued the Trace ordinarily followed between the Kentucky settlements (Herrodsburg and Lexington) and the Cumberland settlements (Nashville) until they reached the old station of Greensburg. There they crossed the river and coming through the ‘barrens’ of Metcalf, Barren and Warren Counties, they crossed the Barren River just below the mouth of Drake’s Creek. There they found spread before their eyes what was to be the home of this Covington Clan of Kentucky for many years. . .
Benjamin died in 1814, but we do not know his age as it is omitted from his tombstone. His wife, Frances, died in 1825. Their home was typical of Kentucky pioneer days - broad acres, many slaves, a good spring walled in with stone. . .where milk and butter could be ept cool, a good orchard and a family buring ground. . .this old Covington burying ground is the oldest and best preserved in Warren County - and there, at the foot of two tall pine trees, lies the pioneer, Benjamin Covington.
Benjamin was probably around 65 to 70 when he died. On the title page of the probate papers is a notation of the property he purchased from our uncle Stephen Thomas (4U) which he still owned.
In his will Benjamin left his plantation to his wife with a special provision for his four daughters living in Kentucky:
I give and bequeath unto my loving wife Fanny Covington the Dwelling house orchard and other improvements whereon I now live. . .during her life and at her Death Should all or any of my Daughters Polly (1C5X), Milly (1C5X), Letitia (1C5X)& Rachel (1C5X) remain in a single state, then to belong equally to such of them are single during their Continuance unmarryed and if at any time any one of them should marry, then to belong to such as are single after their Death or their marriage to belong to my son Isaac Covington (1C5X).
Rachel (1C5X) was the only one of the four unmarried daughter to eventually tie the knot. The other three remained unmarried. Issac, however, probably lived to see his inheritance come to fruition. When he died 1875 at age 80, he was the longest lived off all Benjamin's children with the possible exception of Polly. We can find no death date for her but Milly (1C5X) and Letitia (1C5X) both died in 1860.
Benjamin left land to three of his five sons. His son Benjamin (1C5X), who was still living in North Carolina received "200 acres of land lying in the State of North Carolina purchased of Stephen Thomas (4U) and all my lands adjoining the said 200 acres survey by estimation about 500 acres."
The death of a slaveowner was most probably a time of extreme angst for slaves in the household. The division of their slave families was rarely a concern for the person divvying up their property. Since Benjamin left one slave each of his children with the exception of the four unmarried daughters, that meant upheaval for seven of his slaves. Benjamin didn't leave out his two children in North Carolina, Benjamin, Jr. and Nancy. That meant that two of the slaves, Will and Silva, would have to be transported almost 600 miles back to North Carolina. The slaves not divvied out to the kids went to Fanny and, at her death, to the four girls still living at home.
We'll have much more on the Benjamin Covington family in Bowling Green, Kentucky in a future post.
Rebecca Covington
Our aunt Rebecca was born ca. 1751 in Maryland. She married Thomas Crawford in 1775 after the move to North Carolina. The couple had five children before Thomas' untimely death in 1788 at about age 40. The five children were all under 16 when their father died and Rebecca was pregnant with a 6th.
Thomas was obviously unhappy with his dwelling place at the time of his death. In his will, he laid out plans to move his family from there:
My will and desire is that the land whereon I now live be sold, or exchanged for some other convenient place of a healthy situation of equal value. If it can not be exchanged for but sold, the money arising from the sale to purchase a place for my wife and children to live on until a sale or exchange to be done at the direction of my executors. . .
To Rebecca, Thomas left "two Negroes to wit a Negro woman named Barb, and one Negro boy nemed Bob." He also left her a feather bed, some furniture and a bay horse along with saddle. The rest of his estate went o his six children "to share and share alike when my son Mastin Crawford (1C5X) comes to age twenty one years"
Thomas appointed six executors, all of them related to us but one: His wife Rebecca (4A) John Wall (4U), William Wall (4U), John Covington (4GGF) and Benny Covington (4U).
Note: Our uncle William Wall had married one of Thomas' sisters.
Witnesses to the will were all women: Thomas' sister Sarah, Rebecca's sister Elizabeth Covington Everett (4A) and Rebecca's sister-in-law, our grandmother Nancy Wall Covington (4GGM.). Thomas will was "[p]roved January 1789 by the oaths of Ann and Elizabeth Covington."
Note: Ann was a nickname for our grandmother Nancy.
The first census in the United States in 1790 occurred shortly after Thomas' death. That census shows Rebecca with her son Mastin (1C5X), a male over 16, four males under 16 and two females. Also in the household were 12 slaves.
Ancestry gives a death date of 1795 for our aunt Rebecca but I can find no proof of that. If she did, in fact, die that year, she would have left four underage children between the ages of 15 and 6.
Sarah Covington
Our aunt Sarah (4A) was born ca. 1752 in Maryland. In 1769, she left Maryland as part of the Dockery party with her brother John (4GGF) and his children. Shortly after the trip began, Sarah married our cousin Daniel Thomas (1C5X). Daniel was the son of our uncle Simon Thomas (4U) who had moved to North Carolina two years earlier.
Most of the information we have on Sarah and Daniel comes from family stories handed down through the generations told by their descendants. The story of their marriage comes from Sarah and Daniel's great-great granddaughter, Harriet Thomas (4C2X). Harriet received the information from a diary kept by her grandfather, Preston Thomas (2C4X).
In search of a new land and a place to settle, the pioneers would take all their possessions with them, camping where night overtook them. Just such a company as this were camped on a little creek in Virginia, called Goose Creek. This is where we first meet the Covingtons and Thomas'. It appears that here Daniel and Sarah were married.
Note: Goose Creek was about 125 miles from Queen Anne's County in Maryland.
Later on the Covingtons with others moved on over the rolling hills, some remaining in camp, among them Daniel and his young bride Sarah. As time went by Sarah became very homesick for her poeple, and Daniel seeing how unhappy she was, decided to move on too, and try to find where they had settled.
Most probably Sarah and Daniel were able to find the Dockery party and continued the journey with them. Harriet Thomas' father, Pinckney Thomas (3C3X) relates a story of their trip down the Yadkin River in North Carolina:
When the company struck the old Yadkin River, they built them a raft and went on board with their effects and named her the Whippoorwill and mounted a cannon on a pile of coble rocks found hard by with which to shell Mr “Injun” if perchance he should make any warlike demonstrations from the shore. Old Ned, one of grandfather’s niggers, was much afraid of the “Injuns” and when the sun went down and shades of night came on, old Uncle Ned would get `powerful skeered’ and would say, “Marsa I’ve done seed an Injun. Don’t you spect we better fire that cannon?"
in April of 1771 Daniel received a land grant of 200 acres on the south fork of Cartledge Creek. One of his neighbors was our uncle John Wall (4U), brother of our grandmother Nancy Wall Covington. A year later, Daniel sold the 200 acres to Thomas Dockery and, in May of 1773, he bought from his father 150 acres closer to the Pee Dee River. Harriet Thomas continued her story about her grandparents:
Daniel Thomas and his wife Sarah, had a farm eight miles from Rockingham, NC where he lived and reared his family. They had a little island out in the river where they pastured their stock. According the the journal of Sarah and Daniel's grandson, Preston Thomas "In the 1830's uncle Dan went back to visit the place, but a dam had been built below this island, and the water blotted it out forever.
Note: Uncle Dan would have been Sarah and Daniel's son Daniel, Jr. (1C5X).
In 1774, Thomas Dockery's meeting house grew into the Cartledge Creek Church and Daniel became the first minister of that Baptist church that is till in existance today. Daniel served there from 1774 until his death in 1810. In addition to his duties at the Cartledge Creek Church, Daniel was also a traveling preacher and instrumental in founding other churches in the area.
Daniel and Sarah had eleven children altogether. Three of them had already been born when Daniel was drafted into the Revolutionary War in 1777. He served 71 days and was paid £15 for service.
One of Daniel and Sarah's great-grandson's William Thomas (3C3X) wrote a little sketch of his grandparents that I found in the "History of the Reverend Daniel Thomas Family" edited by Norma Stewart. Norma is most proabably a cousin but I have as yet been unable to trace her.
Since the first part of William's sketch is not true, we may also call into question the second, which is a little more interesting. William said that "Daniel Thomas was borned in about 1718 and died in Richmond County, North Carolina in 1828 age 100 years old." Those dates given by William would have made Daniel 110 years old when he died! Daniel was, in fact, born in 1739 and died in 1810 at age 71.
The second part of William's sketch said that Daniels's wife, our aunt Sarah "was 6 feet high and weight over 200 pounds." She was probably a big lady, but that might have been a slight exaggeration.
Daniel left a will when he died in 1810. He left his "dwelling plantation with all my land thereunto joining" jointly to his son William (1C5X) and our aunt Sarah. Sons Henry (1C5X) and Daniel (1C5X) received ten shillings each. Son John (1C5X) was granted a reprieve in the repayment of a $25.00 loan. Rebecca got a cow and calf. Susannah got two cows and calves, a bed and $75.00. Sarah got a bed. Benjamin received $100.00 and Robert $400.00, both amounts to be paid by son William out of his inheritance.
Sons William and Daniel were named executors. Witnesses were Daniel's nephew James Thomas (1C5X), his daughter Priscilla (1C5X) and Priscilla's husband, Simon (4U) who was also Daniel's brother. Yes, it appears that Priscilla married her uncle.
Our aunt Sarah lived for another 18 years after Daniel's death. She died in 1828 at age 76.
Simon Covington
We know very little about our uncle Simon Covington (4U). While the exact date of his birth isn't known, he is believed to be the youngest of John and Mary Arey Covington's children. He was born in Maryland probably between 1755 and 1760. Since he would have been underage when the family came to North Carolina, he most likely came with one of his brothers, possibly our grandfather John.
The only record of property we can find for Simon was a land grant of 200 acres in 1780. His property was "on Cattail Branch of Gum Swamp" where our uncle Robert Thomas (4U) had settled for a while. Ca. 1778, Simon married Elizabeth Bennett. The Bennetts were a prestigious family in the area who eventually settled in South Carolina.
The first United States census of 1790 shows three people in the Simon Thomas household, Simon, his wife Elizabeth and their son William (1C5X). The 1800 census shows five more children born. The last two children were born after the 1800 census. The last child may very well have been born after Simon's death.
The only record we have of Simon's death is an 1805 Anson County deed that identifies Elizabeth Covington as a widow. He would have been around 50 years of age. When Simon died, Elizabeth was left with eight children between the ages of 15 and an infant. Luckily for her, the Bennett and Covington families were large with many wealthy plantation owners in their midst. She and the children would have been well cared for.
The 1820 census lists Elizabeth with only her last child, daughter Mary (1C5X) still living with her.
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