Re: Spencer Pendergrass family...Iredell & Buncombe Co. North Carolina
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In reply to:
Re: Spencer Pendergrass family...Iredell & Buncombe Co. North Carolina
Kim Archer 11/28/08
Kim, I think we can definitely help each other.I have lots of info on the Spencers, Sr and Junior.I'll hit the high spots here and then e-mail you directly with more detailed info.I have long believed that Spencer will prove to be the key to unlocking the mystery of where these people were living before they came into old Granville Co NC in 1757.
To orient you, three male Ps over the age of sixteen who were living independently of each other but very near each other came into what is now the corner where Franklin, Vance and Warren counties meet.The first one listed on a tax list was John P, who was added as an afterthought to a 1757 list.Shortly thereafter in 1758 there are listed Wm., Spencer, and John on a list of those who were known to have been living in (old) Granville Co in the previous year.The three are very closely associated geographically as listed on tax lists, although William and wife Mary seem to have lived in a slightly different neighborhood nearer Spencer, maybe.
To deepen the mystery, in 1761 there is a list of "haus capers" who've been warned to turn in their (tax) lists and Wm isn't on it, but Spenser , John SENIOR and John Pendergrays (sic) are, and they are only one name apart in the same small section of the same small list.One of those Johns (senior or not senior) is my gggggrandfather who lived from 1757 to 1786 in the same geographic location
as it went from Granville to Bute to Warren counties.Then in 1789 he buys 100 acres of land in nearby Wake county (right across the creek from Franklin)and lives there with family Hannah (wife), son Moses, dau Anney, and
apparent sons Benjamin and Solomon.Son Jesse, (mentioned in the will John had written for him in April 1794, knowing he was dying,)married Rachel Vigors in abt 1784 and moved around the tricounty area a bit (or the lines changed around him). John dies bet April and sept court 1794.Some other time I'll tell you what happened to the kids. So much for John for now.
William, Husband of Mary P, who may or may not have been Spencer and John's father or maybe brother, dies PROBABLY by 1785/6 but his estate inventory (such as it was) wasn't filed until 1789 in Franklin Co.Unless John and Spencer were his sons, there didn't seem to be any around him on lists while he was alive.The theory I'm developing is that John and Spencer at least when they were young, hired out as farm hands or sharecroppers in some way. Otherwise, Spencer wouldn't have been listed as an independent taxable guy over 16 prior to being married in 1763? I don't know.
Meanwhile, Spencer (we'll call him Old Spencer for i.d. purposes) buys 100 acres on the south side of Linches Creek at the Mill Creek (you can find the approximate spot on a topo map)in 1763.In the same year, he apparently marries Sarah Thornton, apparent daughter of Roger and Catherine (I think) Thornton.This is borne out by the fact that in the next generation there is in fact a Thornton Pendergrass.Jim White, a fellow enthusiast, swears that his aunt found a marriage bond for Spencer and
Sarah Thornton in 1763 with Mary and Wm P as witnesses and Roger Thornton as bondsman, but no one has been able to find an image of it and I have looked, believe me.The land was located very near Roger Thornton's land and so on, and I believe the bond existed(it makes so much sense) but I don't vouch for anything I haven't seen.
This Spencer sticks around Bute/Warren County for a while, and I can give you the last date he's found there. He lived somewhere very near Kittrell and Bobbitt probably JUST inside the Warren County line (present day).The countryside is littered with Ps up there and I have to think some of them descend from Spencer, although some may track back to Jesse, my John's son, as he too was prolific.
You gave me info I didn't have about a Spencer getting land in Buncombe county, and that is valuable info.I know that SOME Spencer was in Iredell Co for a while but haven't followed that up. Old Spencer sold his land on Linches Creek in about 1775 give or take (working from memory here).A Spencer P who is too young to be Old Spencer buys land (here's what will perhaps interest you)in ALABAMA. (I'm thinking Talladega Co but check census records for sure.He mentions that he was a military veteran and gives his exact age in one of those Ala census records, and he is clearly too young to be Old Spencer.I have the info and will get it to you.If he mentions a wife, I don't recall her name offhand but what might interest you is that living near him is a SILAS Pendergrass who looks like a son but online others tell me he's a nephew.(I hope I'm remembering this correctly)
There is an estate action for Young Spencer's apparent sister which is hard to interpret but outlines the family very clearly.Don't know if it will help or hurt your hypothesis,but I have it and will get it to you.There are lots of names and relationships and I need a good review of it myself. I don't know what ever happened to Old Spencer or which Spencer bought the land in Buncombe (there was a John P in Buncombe, too, but later)
I will write down your e-mail address and attach the Spencer info I have so i don't have to retype it all.
Thanks for the info and the query, and by all means check out Alabama and there you will find him in...1830 or 1840?
More soon,
karen