Re: James SUGGS Rev War Patriot - any info out there?
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In reply to:
James SUGGS Rev War Patriot - any info out there?
Sharon Katz 1/28/13
I’m not related to any member of this family.
Check out the DAR and SAR web sites.
Maybe one of the Suggs family is a a member.
This is your problem -
Facts you should know about the early census records –
All census records [1790 – 1840] prior to the 1850 census ONLY listed the head of household; whether male or female.
NO specific age was stated for any family member
NO place of birth was stated – city, state, or country
NO city, town, or village is stated – only the county; however some census takers listed the township
NO street address was stated
NO marital status was stated – single, married, widowed, or divorced
NO family relationship was stated – brother, sister, cousin, son, daughter, wife, inlaw, etc…
NO occupation was stated
NO parental birthplaces are stated
NO race was stated [but assume “white”]
1850, 1860 & 1870 census records do not show family relationships, marital status or parental birthplaces.
Step children are not enumerated as “step” children
Adopted children are not enumerated as “adopted”
Grand children are not enumerated as “grand children”
Orphaned children were not enumerated as "orphan"
1850 is the 1st census that shows all family members
1880 is the 1st census that shows parental birthplaces and family relationships +++
1850 -
Name: James Griggs
[James Suggs]
Age: 86
Birth Year: abt 1764
Birthplace: North Carolina
Home in 1850: District 16, Sumter, Georgia
Gender: Male
Josiah Griggs 50, NC - farmer
Sarah Griggs 51, NC
Elizabeth Griggs 29, NC
Olive Griggs 20, NC
James Griggs 86, NC
I don't see Willis here!!!
James Suggs
Birth 1764 in Johnston, North Carolina
Death 1852 in Sumter, Georgia
he was married twice -
1st marriage -
Date - 1790
Location - Greene, North Carolina
to Elizabeth Best
children -
Benjamin Sugg
1791 – 1810
John Sugg
1791 – 1859
Josiah Suggs
1793 – 1859
Hardy Suggs
1794 – 1850
Nancy Suggs
1800 – 1860
Daughter Suggs
1805 –
Reuben S Suggs
1808 –
James Arick Suggs
1810 – 1904
Willis Suggs
1812 – 1854
Sarah Ann Suggs
1824 – 1855
2nd marriage -
Lucinda Hardy
Birth 17 Apr 1776 in Green, North Carolina
Death 1846 in Green, North Carolina
children -
his parents -
Absalom Suggs
1738 – 1805
Vinil Bunn
1745 – 1777
There are NO sources for this information.
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story from the Willis Suggs family tree on ancestry.com -
Willis Suggs and Didamie -Deidany Bullard
Source: Online search of Suggs Family/ Suggs Genealogy
The Suggs Family History
The Suggs family name represents a long and distinguished
heritage. The name is of British (Saxon) origin, and comes from a time when surnames generally came from one of four sources:
occupation (i.e., Smith or Cooper), location (i.e.,West or Brook),
father's name (i.e., Johnson) and personal characteristics (i.e.,
White or Golden).
The Suggs surname appears to be locational in origin. Suggs and its variations Sug, Sugg, Suges Sugger and Sugs are thought to bean early Saxon English term for "dweller at the sign of the sow."
There are other sources, however, that suggest Suggs may actually refer to a small bird such as a wren or sparrow. The Old English word "sucgra" and the Middle English "sugge," meaning a bird, and
hegesugge (a hedge-sparrow). For that reason, there is some
speculation that the Suggs family could be distantly related to > those with the last name of Byrd or Bird. BIRD is a synonym of the name and is a common surname today in England; Sugge was once very numerous but is rare today. The name, therefore, is 900 years old.
Following the invasion of Great Britain by the Normans and the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD, the famous William the Conqueror ordered a census of the newly acquired territory. This inventory would include everyone "from now until Doomsday," and is therefore referred to as the Doomsday Book. There are several Suggs, Suges
and Sugg listings in this early census.
The earliest land record is perhaps that of Hamon Sugg, owning 34 measures of land near Ripon, Yorkshire. In 1234 A.D. we findEdward Sugg, Lord of the Manor of Loughborough Co. Leicester. At Witney, Oxfordshire, Stephen Sugg in 1310 held 88 acres, and supplied 15 men-at-arms to his overlord, Baron Piercy.
In 1354 A.D., Pieter Sugg of Winchester was granted a Coat of Arms, and owned large estates. Land lists of 1400 A.D. show:
Alexander Sugg, 137 acres, Bury St. Edmunds Suffolk, 1388; Philip Sugg, 238 acres, Macclesfield, Cheshire, 1392; Willem Sugg, 129 > acres, Braintree, Essex, 1398.
Sir Richard Sugg, knighted by Richard II, was granted lands at Brecon, Wales, in 1378.
Land records show that there were Sugg branches in the Welsh counties of Carmarthen, Pembroke, Denbigh, Monmouth, Radnor, in the 1200s A.D.
In the 1500s, Gen. Hugh Sugg was famed for military successes against the Spaniards; his father had been Lord Chancellor under Elizabeth I. Ecclesiastical records show: Sarah Sugg donated 300 pounds to St. John's, Wilby, Northamptonshire; John Sugg gave 482 pounds to monastery at Leominster, Hereford, 1512. Marriage License statistics for Exeter Diocese show: Edwd. Sugg m. Isabella
Perkins, March 7, 1500; John Sugg married Elizabeth Boorman, April 14; Isaac Sugg m. Maria Trammel, Feb. 11; Edmund Sugg m. Sophia Chelders, June 24; Arthur Sugg m. Jane Mitten, Nov. 21.
Further abstracts (landed Gentry & Ecclesiast. Guides) show: Luke Sugg, Prior, Buckfast Abbey, Devon, 1529; Daniel Sugg, bishop of Wells, Somerset, 1588; Sir John Sugg created Baronet for personal and military services to King Charles II, 1660; Admiral Francis Sugg defeated Dutch Fleets on five occasions (in 1700s). From 1700-1800 Sugg branches owned a total of 899 acres in Essex, Lincoln, Gloucester, Dorset, Merioneth.
During the English Civil War of the mid 1600's, the Suggs family lived in and around Bristol, England. In 1665, William Sugg left his homeland for the American Colonies, settling in Norfolk, Virginia. Records show he came to America as an "indentured servant," a common means for obtaining transit to the New World.
Someone wishing to come to America would agree to work for a certain length of time (2-3 years) in exchange for transportation, room and board. Such servitude was recorded in public records, and the servant would be freed upon completion of the debt.
William apparently indentured himself to his father-in-law.
After working off his indenture, William Sugg started a plantation in Virginia, and became a successful landowner and planter. There are numerous records of his real estate transactions, buying and selling property. He had three sons.
There is also a possibility-- although distant and difficult to prove-- that one of William's decendants married a decendant of the actual indian Pocahontas.
Within a couple of generations, the Sugg family had moved into North Carolina, where they stayed for the next hundred years. Johnston County, NC records show James Sugg born in 1764 to Absolom Sugg and his wife Vinil Bunn. James and his wife Elizabeth Best had seven children. It was their children who added the "s" on the end, changing the surname to "Suggs."
Lt. George Suggs (1761-1825) was a 1st Lt. in the Rev. War. He was born in 1761 or earlier (possibly 1758) in Norfolk Co., VA and died 11/1/1825. He is buried in Mill Creek Cemetery, Rt. 274, York Co., SC and was married to Mary Katharine Sanders who died 7/28/1809 at the age of 43. She is also buried in Mill Creek Cemetery.
Source on this info is Colonial Records of NC, History
of Indian Territory, p. 518.
The Suggs were living in southern North Carolina in 1800, around Robeson County. Even today, maps reflect the impact of the Suggs' on the area around Fayetteville. There is, for example, a body of water named the Suggs Mill Pond, suggesting a lumber or grain processing operation.
The area around Robeson County, NC also supported a native
population of Lumbee indians. These indians were virtually
indistinguishable from european settlers. They had gray eyes, spoke english, and lived in houses, although they had native names, such as Bullard. Willis Suggs, son of James and Elizabeth, married a Lumbee indian woman named Deidany Bullard.
In 1830, there was a dispute among the congregation of the Ashpole Swamp Baptist Church in Robeson County. The church divided among itself, and decided to expell the Lumbee indian members. Willis, his bride Deidany, his father James, brother Josiah, and other family members left North Carolina for southwest Georgia.
Following the removal of the Native Americans, the former indian territory and Creek Nation land in Georgia was made available for settlement through a land lottery.
One branch of the Suggs family settled in Sumter County
(Americus), Georgia. In the 1850 census, there are nine children listed in the household of Willis and Deidany, seven boys and two girls. Several of these sons served in the Confederate Army. At least one, William, died in a Confederate hospital of his wounds. The others are listed on the surrender list at Appomatox Courthouse, Virginia, when Gen. Robert E. Lee signed a truce with Gen U.S. Grant in 1865 ending the War of Northern Agression.
There is also an indication that part of the Suggs family headed even further west, and settled first in Mississippi and then in Texas. One part of the Suggs Family oral history tells of several Suggs brothers heading west from Carolina to the area around Nashville. At that juncture, some brothers headed south to Alabama and Florida, and others headed to Texas. Author Larry McMurtry pays tribute to the notorious "Suggs Gang" in his famous novel Lonesome Dove.
One branch of the Suggs family settled in Alabama. There is small town just west of Monroeville called Suggsville in Clarke County, AL. At one time, it was an important stopover for the mail run, and was a rail terminal. There is also a rather famous fictional character named Capt Simon Suggs, a rather lovable if disreputable con-man who was created by Johnson Jones Hooper in the 1840's.
Some of the Simon Suggs stories are said to have inspired--if not stolen by-- Mark Twain in his writing of Huck Finn. The books have recently been republished by the University of Alabama Press.
The 1900 Florida Census Roll T 1039-46 Jackson County lists the following household:
Lewis Suggs, age 50, born in Alabama
Mary E. Suggs, his wife
and sons Hillard Suggs, 20, and
Willie Suggs, 15.
"Hillard" is most likely Hilliard, and Willie would have been William Everett Suggs. Perhaps his middle name Everett came from his mother, whom we know only as "Mary E." Census takers then (as now) were not highly trained, nor well educated. They were often practically illiterate, and being itinerate, often had problems understanding the "southern accent." Also, they would sometimes
simple gather census information from whoever answered the door or whoever wasn't working in the fields, which would likely be small children. Therefore, there is often a discrepancy in data, with misspellings, dates, ages, etc.
The 1910 Florida Census roll T 1262-64 Jackson County lists the
following household:
William E. Suggs age 22, born in Florida
Rebecca Suggs, his wife, age 23
Annie May
Floyd
Artie
Rex
Hillery, age 30 born in Florida
Again, given the problems with census takers, Hillery is most certainly Hilliard, and "Artie" is most certainly "Carter."
Also listed in the 1900 Census for Jackson County was the
following household:
Sam J. Suggs age 28
Allice Suggs age 21
Vassie D. Suggs age 5
Rosie, age 1
Elias Suggs, born 1839 in NC, andhis daughter Polly (born 1872 in Alabama).
It is entirely possible that Lewis and Elias are brothers. We can speculate that Elias and his parents moved from North Carolina or Georgia to Alabama between 1840 and Lewis' birth about 1850.
Lewis Suggs was settled in Florida by 1880 when Hilliard was born.
Although the documentation is not conclusive, there is some
evidence that these branches of the Suggs family remained in contact through the beginning of this century. Hilliard Suggs moved to Groveland, Texas in the 1910's to join with other relatives. Annie Mae Suggs Brookins traveled by train to visit her Uncle Hilliard there in the 1930's.
And note the further evidence of familial contact: Charles
Fletcher Suggs, born in 1867 in Terrell County, Georgia, was son of Jackson Suggs and the grandson of Willis and Deidany Suggs. (He was killed in a tragic hunting accident when apparently fell from his horse and discharged his gun into his chest.) Charles Fletcher and his wife Mollie had six children in Georgia, including Annie Mae Suggs (1891-1963).
Another of Jackson's sons, Asbery Jackson Suggs (b. 1865), had a son named-- Delmar Cecil Suggs.
To date, there is not specific evidence linking the Lewis-William Everett Suggs branch with Jackson Suggs, nor his parents Willis and Deidany Suggs. But the use of uncommon names such as Annie Mae and Delmar Cecil would suggest that there is a connection. Perhaps "our" Annie Mae and D.C. were named for these relatives, or maybe they were all named for an earlier predecessor. Perhaps Lewis was the son of one of the Suggs Brothers who left NC for
Tennessee and then Alabama, Florida, and Texas.
####
Sources:
Halbert's Inc., genealogy and coat-of-arms dealers, Bath, Ohio.
James Warren Suggs, Jr., Atlanta, GA
James Warren Suggs, III, Fairhope, AL
Gayle Bailey Suggs, Atlanta, GA
Scott T.S. Trimble, Berkley, CA
Univ of California/Berkley genealogy archives
Source: online search of Suggs genealogy/ newsarch.rootsweb.com