Thomas family of Note Part III

Daniel Thomas Sr. . .and his wife Sarah Covington, lived near the Yadicon River (Pee Dee) in Richmond County in North Carolina. ~ Patricia Nordstrom Heaton

Daniel Thomas, Jr.

Our cousin Daniel Thomas (1C5X) was born in North Carolina in 1776. He was the son of our cousin Daniel Thomas, Sr. (1C6X) and our aunt Sarah Covington (4A) who was the sister of our grandfather John (4GGF). Daniel Thomas, Sr. was the reverend of the Cartledge Creek Church.

Though Daniel, Jr. spent his life in Richmond County, NC, all four of his children would eventually join the Mormon Church. They were probably heavily influenced by their uncle Henry (1C5X), Daniel's brother, who joined the Church in the early 1840s. The adventures of Daniel's Latter Day Saint children and grandchildren were captured in stories written by numerous family members over the years. We'll have the story of Henry and his Mormon nieces and nephews in future posts. The following stories about Daniel which come from tales handed down through the family are told by his grandchildren. Since we have no way of finding the facts of these stories, they must be taken with a grain of salt.

The following sketch was written by Patricia Nordstrom Heaton (5C1X), Daniel's great-great granddaughter:

Daniel Thomas Sr. . .and his wife Sarah Covington, lived near the Yadicon River in Richmond County in North Carolina. . .Here they owned a large plantation. It was on this plantation that Daniel, Jr., their second son was born. . .He married Nancy Ann Morehead, his cousin, about 1809. They moved onto a plantation of their own near his father's home. . .

Note: The Yadicon River turns into the Pee Dee River in southern North Carolina. Where our family lived the river was the Pee Dee. Also, I can find no evidence that Nancy Ann Morehead was Daniel's cousin.

Their main crop was tobacco and because thre was always a good market for it they prospered. . .He had great ambitions for his children. He was very desirous of their having a good education. . .

The family lived here until the death of Daniel Jr., November 7, 1830. He died at the early age of 54 years. . .After his death, his wife Nancy Ann Morehead sold her plantation in North Carolina and went west to her people in Tennessee.

Another sketch about Daniel was written by granddaughters Nellie E. Johnson (3C3X) and Norma Stewart (3C3X).

Daniel was six foot tall, dark complexioned and very religious, a good moral man, and was very good to the poor. He was described as having a "fine personality. He commanded the respect of all who knew him, and was tall and well built". He was born in 1776 to Daniel Thomas and Sarah Covington. His Father was a baptist preacher. Daniel was the second of eleven children.

Daniel married Nancy Ann Morehead probably around 1810. They had five children; Joseph Morehead 1811, Elizabeth 1812, Preston 1814, Daniel Claiborne 1815, and Ann 1817. All were born in Rockingham, North Carolina.

Note: Daughter Ann died the same year as that of her birth.

Daniel had a large plantation. Family tradition says the land cost him $2.24 per acre, plus the cost of surveying. It took in three thousand acres on the east side of the Yadkin or Pee Dee River, Richmond County, North Carolina. The house was placed on a hill one and one half miles from the river, and about 8 miles northwest of Rockingham. His home was a large frame house with eight rooms. Pure spring water was brought to the house by means of a force pump four hundred feet down the hill.

He owned two good orchards and a garden, which was fenced with a picket fence -- rabbit tight. They cultivated many trees and flowers. The beautiful dogwood, the moonflower and the wild crab apple, "the perfume of which is the sweetest to be found". They also had several hard wood trees; oak, chinaberry and catalpa. There was a carpenter shop and a blacksmith shop and a cotton gin. They could get salt water fish which came from the Atlantic Ocean and also the fresh water fish, which came from the Mountains. Daniel had a chad fishery on the river. There were some islands in the river where he kept his sheep.

Down the hill from the house at the edge of a patch of timber the homes of the negroes were built in a half circle. They had thirty negroes, one had cost $1,000.

Daniel took great pleasure and delight in overseeing the work on the farm. Every morning he would take a ride and survey his holdings. He often took his oldest son with him. Daniel usually wore a wide brimmed hat and a long tailed Prince Albert coat.

Daniel and his brother Henry built a school house on their property and hired a teacher, Silas Jones, from Connecticut to teach school. Many poor white families lived near and they were invited to go to school free. His boys went to Silas' school and when older, they went to Rockingham to school and later to the University of Virginia. His daughter went to Silas' school and then later was sent away to finishing school.

Note: It appears from family stories that Daniel and his brother Henry lived on the same piece of property, probably inherited from their father. Henry married his cousin (and our aunt) Esther Thomas (4A), daughter of our grandfather William "Billy Ram" Thomas (4GGF) .

Daniel died on his plantation in November 1830. He was 54. Five years after his death the plantation was sold and the family moved to Tennessee to be near his wife's brother. The plantation sold for $3,000, and the oldest son, Joseph (1C5X) and his family stayed behind to settle the affairs.

Below is an except from "A Brief sketch of the life of my great Grandfather Daniel Thomas, Jr." written by Harriet Roberta Thomas Scott (4C2X)

The Negroes had a little village near the house where they enjoyed themselves after the days work, singing, playing the banjo, and dancing. When a Negro was sold, a whole family was sold with him or exchanged or when they married Negroes not on the plantation, the same rule was followed. This was forty years before the Civil War.

Finally we have this account that was dictated by Daniel's great-grandson Joseph Harrison Thomas (4C2X) and written by Joseph's sister Estella Thomas Groutage (4C2X) in Preston, Idaho, November 2, 1931:

Our view of slavery is this: The North was as much to blame for slavery being in the United States as was the South. Some Negroes were owned by people of New York State and other States of the North. They didn’t pay as well in the manufacturing states of the north as in the cotton states of the south. In some cases no doubt the Negroes were abused but on the Thomas plantation, they were not. The Negroes were all sold in Mississippi when the farm was sold except Aunt Sue. We believe that slavery is wrong and should have been abolished but if the method suggested by the Prophet Joseph Smith had been followed, it would have been far better for our Country. His plan was that the Government should buy the Negroes and send them back to Africa as free men.

Slavery was not the cause of the Civil War, but states rights was. The Civil War began April 12, 1861. On that day, Fort Sumpter was captured by the Southern Confederacy. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation liberating the slaves was a war measure and was not issued until the war had been going on for nearly two years. George Washington had many slaves. He treated them well and made provision in his will that all his Negroes be set free. Thomas Jefferson also had many slaves. At the close of the war our histories and text books were all written or censored by people of the North and it would only be human nature to believe that they would tell their side of the story well.

The Thomas family living on the plantation in North Carolina was noted for their hospitality as many of the families of the South were. Food stuffs were plentiful, news of the world was scarce. Mode of travel was principally on horse back along the trails through forests. When a traveler or a relative would chance to call at their home, they were made very welcome and urged to stay longer.

Daniel died in North Carolina in 1830 at age 54. His wife Nancy and the children all moved to Tennessee to be closer to her family. It was in Tennessee that Daniel's children were introduced to the Mormon religion and eventually joined the Church. We'll find their stories in a future post.

Robert Dockery Thomas

Our cousin Robert (2C4X) was born about 1800 in Marlboro County, South Carolina. In 1825, he married our cousin Ann Poythress Covington (1C4X), a daughter of our uncle William "Uncle Billy" Covington (3U). The following story about Robert and Uncle Billy comes mainly from a lawsuit filed in 1848 and various property records.

Robert's family had lived in South Carolina ever since his grandfather Robert (5U), who was our grandfather Stephen Thomas' (5GGF) brother, moved there in the 1780s. When Robert took his bride Ann home to South Carolina, William graciously sent "some furniture and two negroes, Luce, a young woman, and Caroline, a small girl" to the newlyweds. Then, in May of 1829, Uncle Billy gave or sold Robert and Ann a piece of property in North Carolina.

Know all men by these presents that I William Covington, for & in consideration of the natural Love & affection which I have & bear towards my Son in law Robert D. Thomas & my Daughter, Ann, his wife do give, grant bargain sell convey & confirm unto the said Robert D. Thomas. . .the following piece or parcel of land, lying and being in the County of Richmond and valued at Four Hundred & thirty Six Dollars & fifty cents. . .

The location and history of this property is interesting:

To wit, Beginning at a Stake. . .runs with the Webb line. . .to Webb’s Ferry road (originally our uncle John Wall's (4U) property). . .to the Thomas line (originally our grandfather Stephen Thomas' (4GGF) property). . .Containing One Hundred & forty six acres. . . it being the Rachael Thomas Tract, part of the John Webb tract & part of the Old Covington Tract, & includes the Camp Ground & Zion Meeting House One acre round which is hereby reserved for the use of the Methodist Society.

The Rachel Thomas Tract consisted of 60 acres that had been sold to Uncle Billy by our grandmother Rachel Roe Thomas (4GGM). Rachel married first our grandfather William "Billy Ram" Thomas (4GGF) and second, after Billy Ram's death, Elijah Thomas (1C5X). Rachel had been twice widowed when she sold the 60 acres to Uncle Billy. The Old Covington Tract may refer to land that our uncle Benjamin Covington (4U) purchased from our grandfather Stephen Thomas (5GGF), Billy Ram's father. Benjamin eventually sold some of his property and moved to Kentucky. The Zion Meeting house is where the Zion United Methodist Church stands today. Below is a map showing the Church. Much of the land surrounding that area to the Pee Dee River belonged to Covingtons, Thomases and Walls. The mighty Pee Dee River ran along much of their property.

Not too long after receiving the gift of land, Robert and Ann moved from South Carolina onto the North Carolina property given to them by Uncle Billy. After only two years, however, they skedaddled back to South Carolina.

In 1834, Robert's father Eli (1C5X) "for the natural regard and fatherly respect I have for my son Robert D. Thomas" gave his son "seven Slave negroes named as follows to wit Julius, Loo, Rose, Judy, Alp?, Jim and Sarah. . .with their increase." The negoes were given to Robert and his heirs with no claims by Eli or any "person whatever claiming or to claim in my name."

Eli made a present of the slaves to his son according to the law of the land at the time. Robert would find that the slaves given him by his father-in-law would prove to be a different matter.

When Robert and Ann returned to South Carolina, they evidently sold the piece of property given to them by Uncle Billy "at which (Uncle Billy) Covington became offended, alleging that Thomas had agreed to reconvey it to him at a certain price if he removed from it." Then, with matters between the two men already at a heightned state, a kerfuffle between them began over the two negroes, Luce and Caroline. From the records of a lawsuit filed in 1848 we learn that Uncle Billy sent someone to get the negro Luce from Robert and bring her back to his own house. Offended, Robert sent Caroline back as well. Then the see saw between the two households began. From the court record on the case:

The girl Caroline was returned to him by Covington, but Thomas refused to take her, and came back to his former residence without either of the negroes. This was in 1830 or 1831.

Within a year after, Mrs. Thomas visited her father, and on her return brought Caroline with her. In 1840, Thomas sent (someone) with a wagon to Covington, and brought back Luce and her two children, Edmond and Harris, who had been born while she was in Covington’s possession. From that time the negroes remained in Thomas’ possession, who exercised all acts of ownership over them, and they were supposed by all the neighbors to be his, until October 1846, when they were levied on by the sheriff.

With both negroes, and their increase, then back in Robert's possession, it appears that all was calm between the two men until 1846 when Robert revealed that he was experiencing financial difficulties.

In 1838, Thomas was elected Clerk of the Court, which office he held for eight years. He owned a tract of land and five other negroes, which he sold in the beginning of October 1846, for $1450. He was in good credit and apparently prosperous, but he was, as afterwards appeared, a prodigal man, and on the winding up of his affairs, his debts amounted to near $3000 above the value of his property, excluding Luce and her children, and the 5 negroes he sold. On the 4th of May, 1846, there were executions in the sheriff’s office amounting to 8 or 900 dollars: On the 6th May he confessed other debts, for which other executions were issued, but these did not amount to more than $30. For the satisfaction of these the sheriff took a levy on the land, furniture, wagon, &c., and on the 5th of October, Thomas gave him in writing a levy of 7 negroes, viz: Caroline and her children, and Luce, Edmond and Harris, to satisfy executions in his office.

The upshot was that, to pay off his debts, Robert had agreed to sell all of his negroes, including Luce, Caroline and her children. Shortly after making these arrangements, he "privately went off to Florida, leaving the negroes at his late residence, in possession of his son." According to Ancestry records, it appears that, unfortunately, poverty stricken Robert died while in Florida at only about 44 years of age, leaving his family in dire straits.

Back in South Carolina, the contested negroes were set to be sold on the 2nd of November. Ann, now a widow and knowing that her financial fate lay with her father, placed her first loyalty with Uncle Billy.

Note: According to Uncle Billy's will, he had advanced to Ann $1,800 and, at his death, left her another $3,000.

Mrs. Thomas sent her son to let her father know the situation of her husband’s affairs, and on the proposition of William Covington, it was arranged that the negroes should be privately removed to North Carolina, which was effected by defendant, on the night of the 19th.

The officials of Marlboro County, having an obligation to see that Robert's just debts were paid, took umbrage with Uncle Billy stealthily taking back the negroes. T.C. Weatherby, sheriff of Marlborough County at the time, went to Uncle Billy's property and "succeeded in bringing off Caroline and her children." The November 2nd sales went off without a hitch with Robert's "land and other chattels" bringing in $497.00. A few days later, the sheriff sold Caroline and her children for $1190. These sales, however weren't enough to clear Robert's debt.

In the spring term of 1848, Weatherby brought suit against Uncle Billy's son, William Jr.(1C4X), to recover Luce and her children.

The sheriff had levied on sundry negroes, as the property of one Robert D. Thomas. . .These negroes were taken by the defendant out of the possession of William Thomas (2C3X) son of R. D. Thomas, in whose possession they were left, and from the plaintiff had taken a bond and security for the delivery at sale day. The defendant justified the taking under the authority of his father, William Covington, to whom he alleged they belonged.

What needed to be ascertained was "whether William Covington had given the negroes to R. D. Thomas." Uncle Billy stated that he had merely "loaned Luce to R. D. Thomas."

The examination of several members of W. Covington’s family, all of whom said their father had given to each of his children, on their marriage, but in every instance they had been accepted and held as a loan, subject to his right to resume possession, and in their opinion Thomas had received these negroes in the same way...”

I can find no record of judgment in the case but it seems likely that the negroes in question went back to Uncle Billy. As to Robert's just debts, they apparently went unpaid but his money woes had ended with his death.

Uncle Billy lived another ten years after the lawsuit was filed. He died in 1858 at age 81. Daughter Ann hopefully lived out her life comfortably with the money given to her by her father. She died in 1887 at age 83.