Posted By:	Bill Polk
	Email:
	Subject:	Re: Taylor Polk FOUND in Tennessee in 1806 (more on John Polk & Eleanor Shelby)
	Post Date:	June 11, 2009 at 11:25:02
	Message URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/polk/messages/2213.html
	Forum:	Polk Family Genealogy Forum
	Forum URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/polk/

Hi, S. C. and all I am glad to see that you found that Stewart Co., TN., info, it does make a difference in one's thinking. I found it last year, I believe, or 2007 (it was fairly recently posted), but it is not reflected in anything I have posted in my database at my website, those databases being out of date almost from the moment published. So, you could not have known that I had such info in your prior analysis of my Taylor Polk line, and I see by your last post, you are backing away from - Good; I was having a problem with that scenario, although you did give a good explanation of possibilities. I am also glad that you had a rethink of census ages, especially on Taylor Polk. I think the 1800 York Co. census is just wrong, a careless error in placement of the mark by the census taker, a rather common error for census pre-1850. The 1830 census of Arkansas for Taylor Polk shows Taylor as age 50-59, which would put him in the born range of 1770-1780. I agree that it appears that Taylor Polk was b. c1780, and probably on Clear Creek, Mecklenburg Co., NC., where John Polk/Eleanor Shelby were last found (per my records) before they seemingly moved to York Co., SC. I just do not trust Angellotti's info at all when it comes to some of these marriage of the family of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby. John Polk and wife Elizabeth Alderson, as far as I can tell from available records, did not go back to the Greenbriar area of VA., after John Sr.'s death (as Angellotti states). They went to Maury Co., TN. The family of Elizabeth Alderson did come from Virginia, but prior to 1790, and that family left records in York Co., SC., 1790 +. Taylor Polk did not go back to Virginia and there marry Jency Walker; no, he married a neighbor girl (as you suggested in a previous posting, and I do agree this is most probable scenario), I am pretty sure of that. I also do not think he went to TN., and married there, but I don't know that as fact, just seems improbable. I suppose that William Polk in Stewart (not the one with the big land amounts, that is Col. William Polk, son of Gen. Thomas Polk, of that I have no doubt; said William Polk had land all over Tennessee!) could be William (Wesley?) Polk on his way to Missouri, but I don't think so. That group went to Georgia early. I suppose they could have come through TN., but I wonder about that. I am going to wait until my 67 marker DNA results come out before I get into too much detail, because, depending on those results, I may have to retype all this, so I would rather do that just once. But I do want to get into a bit here. The Stewart Co., Polks are shown in the 1810 Stewart Co., TN., census, but you won't find that info just anywhere. I have info from a census CD that I got many years ago, and that information is seemingly from tax lists, yet the composition of the hh is shown, so is this from a tax list or from census? Below is the information as it is currently shown at Ancestry.com, but as I stated, my information came from a CD. The first bit is from the CD, the second bit is from Ancestry.com. Note page numbers are all I can see that is different between the two. Polk, Charles State: TN County: Stewart Co. Page #: 18 Census/Enumeration year: 1810 Age ranges in household: 010101-00101 Tennessee Census, 1810-91 about Charles Polk Name: Charles Polk State: TN County: Stewart County Township: 010101-00101 Year: 1810 Record Type: Tax List Page: 118 Database: TN Early Census Index Polk, John State: TN County: Stewart Co. Page #: 18 Census/Enumeration year: 1810 Age ranges in household: 200010-10100 Tennessee Census, 1810-91 about John Polk Name: John Polk State: TN County: Stewart County Township: 200010-10100 Year: 1810 Record Type: Tax List Page: 118 Database: TN Early Census Index Polk, William State: TN County: Stewart Co. Page #: 17 Census/Enumeration year: 1810 Age ranges in household: 000100-20100 Tennessee Census, 1810-91 about William Polk Name: William Polk State: TN County: Stewart County Township: 000100-20100 Year: 1810 Record Type: Tax List Page: 117 Database: TN Early Census Index I am sure that the Charles Polk of Stewart Co., TN., of the various census there and records, is Charles Polk, same man who filed the Rev. War pension app. (denied) in Texas. I am very unsure who the John Polk and William Polk of the 1810 census and early records are. And I am not sure at all who the Benjamin W. Polk and James Polk are. I have not been able to come up with anything to attach these various Polks to a line with any degree of certainty. Seems they ought to be kin to the aforementioned Charles Polk, but I cannot make kinship with available evidence. John Polk of Stewart Co., TN., cannot be John Polk, son of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby, if the Maury Co., TN., records are to be believed. John Polk, son of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby is in Maury Co., TN., 1806 (tax list) and remains there (other records), on land his Uncle Ezekiel Polk provided him (Ezekiel Polk, grandfather of President Polk). So, if that guy over in Maury is the son of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby, then who is this John Polk of stewart Co., TN., 1810 and early records? I find it difficult to remove that John Polk of Maury Co., TN., as John Polk, son of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby (much evidence). However, there is a possibility for that John Polk in Maury that my preliminary DNA evidence spotlights, and that possibility is that the John Polk of Maury is the long lost John Polk, b. 7 Nov 1766, who was a son of Capt. Charles Polk, brother of John Polk who m. Eleanor Shelby. Note that the son of Charles Polk's birth date is very close to the 1767 birth year for John Polk over in Maury Co. Coincidence? But such change brings problems in itself, so, as I stated, I am reluctant to remove that John Polk over in Maury as the son of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby absent some very good evidence (and there is a lot of evidence for keeping him just who he is) and until I get that 67 marker test results back. As an aside on your theory S. C. that there may have been an illegitimate child in my line causing the DNA kink; I doubt that, as my ancestry (per the 33 marker test) does go back to a common Pollock ancestor (with John Fleming Polk and John's first cousin once removed who was tested), so any such father of such an illegitimate child would almost certainly have had to be of the same bloodline. I do not think that such a child is the problem, and there may not even be a problem, after all (I can hope). We may have a lot of the supposed problem taken care of with a different MRCA from the 67 marker test. We shall see. For your info, the Andrew Polk who m. in 1813 in Christian Co., KY., was the son of Charles Polk/Margaret Baxter, and the wife's name is unclear. She was Martha "Patsy" Kimball OR Tindall, not sure. Andrew d. in 1856, TX., Martha d. 1863, Leon Co., TX. (secondary source info, I have never found solid records for dates of death). This William Polk, son of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby is a big pain in the patoot. One Polk researcher of good reputation (Emory Murphy, now deceased)has William Polk, son of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby, as the William Polk who left records there in York Co., SC., after the others left during 1803-1806, said William Polk who m. Elizabeth McLanahan. But, I don't see it that way; I think this William Polk was a brother of John Polk of Obion Co., TN., b. Ireland, 1770-1780, d. 1834, Obion Co., TN., and who came from Ireland c1795, both POSSIBLY being sons of one John POGE and POSSIBLE wife Mary of York Co., SC. William Polk(Elizabeth McLanahan) d. 1824, York Co., SC., leaving widow and three sons, William, John and Charles T. Polk. I tend to think that the William Polk of 1810 Stewart is the brother of Charles Polk there, both being sons of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby, but I cannot prove that. The William Polk who appears in Stewart Co., TN., 1820 census is William Knox Polk, son of Charles Polk/Baxter, that I am pretty sure about. So, where did the older William Polk go? Beats me. Enough for now. Let's hope the pending DNA test for me and for Becki B., descendant of Capt. William Polk of Accomac, will shed some light on all these puzzles. Polk descendant people reading this - Please get your DNA tested; it is to all our benefit to have as many descendants tested as possible. Bill Polk, Kansas City, MO.