Stephen Wetherington Dilemma
My ggggg-grandfather, Stephen Wetherington, b. in Craven Cty, NC, had a son named Southey, who was born 10-22-1775 in Craven County, NC and died in 1868. According to family records, Southey's dad, Stephen, died when Southey was 7 years old, which would have been 1782-83.
Craven County NC Circuit Court records also show a Stephen Wetherington with a son named Southey and other children named Halley, Laney, Betsy, Mary, Ann, John & Nathan. The court record was a petition for distribution of the estate of Stephen who had died intestate. The petition was filed by Ebenezer Fife on behalf of his wife, Halley Wetherington Fife and her siblings and was filed against John & Nathan Wetherington, who, in 1803, had filed papers with that same court asking apparantly, to preside over their father Stephen's estate, because Stephen had died intestate. The other siblings were probably not satisfied with their handling of things and so Halley's husband Ebenezer Fife had filed a petition oh behalf of her & the other siblings. The earlier document, filed in 1803 by John & Nathan Wetherington, implies that their father, Stephen, probably, but perhaps not necessarily, died in or very near 1803. If that is the case, then he is not our Stephen who died when his son Southey was 7 yrs old, or 1782-83 but the odds of two Stephens, both with sons named Southey, seems unlikely.
Our Southey married Polly Anderson of Craven Cty, NC on June 12, 1810 and had a son named Stephen Alexander Wetherington on July 6, 1811. Stephan Alexander was born in NC. He married Arjane Smith on 4-15-1832 according to our records, but other records show that marriage on 7-25-1833, but in the latter records, Stephen Alexander's name was spelled incorrectly as Witherington.
We have a copy of the 1807 court document filed by Ebenezer Fife & wife Halley, but if you have a copy of the 1803 document filed by John & Nathan Wetherington (and referenced in the 1807 document), we would be very grateful to have a copy, because we are hoping that it would indicate the date of Stephen's death. We believe the two Stephens with sons Southey are the same but can't prove it. Our only thought is that all the children may have been fairly young (like Southy) when Stephen died in 1782-83 and the children waited until they were older (perhaps in 1803?) to file the court papers. John & Nathan may have been the two older children & took it upon themselves to file the papers.
If you can shed any light on this date discrepancy or if you can point us to a copy of the 1803 court paper filed by John & Nathan, we would be very grateful.
In addition, it appears that the Stephen who died in 1803 (?) may have been the son of John Witherington/Wetherington and Rocksolannah Carruthers and that this John may have been the son of a man by the name of Robert Widdrington/Witherington/Wetherington and his wife Elizabeth Dare but these latter two men we cannot seem to confirm. If you can shed any additional light on Stephen's parents and/or grandparents, we would very much appreciate hearing from you. please feel free to e-mail us at [email protected]. Warm regards,
Glen & Karen Wetherington
More Replies:
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Re: Stephen Wetherington Dilemma
Yvonne Bowman 9/16/03
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Re: Stephen Wetherington Dilemma
Yvonne Bowman 9/16/03
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Re: Stephen Wetherington Dilemma
Glen Wetherington 9/23/03
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Re: Stephen Wetherington Dilemma
Thomas Neely 10/30/04
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Re: Stephen Wetherington Dilemma
Yvonne Bowman 9/23/03
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Re: Stephen Wetherington Dilemma
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Re: Stephen Wetherington Dilemma