The Apple Cart: The Few Things I know about James Murray.

I just suffered the loss of a very lengthy post that I had been working on for weeks. What happened, I don't know, the hitting of the wrong key combination, a computer malfunction, who knows. I will return to it and start again, but at the moment I don't have the heart for it.

Instead, I will write briefly on James Murray, who plays a part in this research circle that I have recently begun.

James Murray was the oldest brother of my 3rd Great Grandmother, Priscilla Murray Aldridge. In theory, he's also the key on how a certain group of descendants of a particular wandering gentlemen relate to me.

James was a son of Jesse Murray, Stanly County Murray patriarch, who migrated to this area from counties east and first landed in Anson County, before settiling near the end of  Long Creek, just before its mergence into the Rocky River in Stanly County. I had known Jesse Murray to only have two sons, James and Benjamin, as mentioned in a 1845 land division, but Thrulines show that he may have had one or two more. Some may have migrated to other counties, whose descendants have linked themselves to my Jesse, and we are certainly related. 

Jesse also had a large collection of daughters, of whom my own GGGreat Grandmother was one of the youngest. 

Jesse Murray lies peacefully, now, in the Murray Family Cemetery, on top of a ridge overlooking Long Creek in the middle of a cornfield. 

There are about 20 plus graves in this small Family Plot in a little wooded circle atop a hill overlooking Prince Road, and the chances that James Murray is one of them are fairly good. The only legible stone is that of Murray family Patriarch, Jesse Murray, himself, and that is because two of his Great Grandsons erected the monument to him during a more recent era. J. C and A. G Murray (James Clark Murray and Aussie Gold Murray), sons of Annie Jane Murray, were the two, Annie Jane being the daughter of Jesse's daughter, Keziah or "Kizzy" Murray. The two Great Grandsons so honored the official head of the Murray family, they installed a more permanent marker.

From where my research now stands, James was the second eldest child of Jesse Murray, with his sister, Jane, being the oldest. Jane was a common name in the Murray clan, with Jesse's mother, Jane Pearce Murray, bearing the same name. James was born about 1802.

He appears, with his father and his younger brother, Benjamin, on a petition to divide Montgomery County into two, dated 1838. This happened in 1841. He's also on the Division of Property of the Estate of Jesse Murray, dated 1845. Jesse's widow, Elizabeth, is in the 1840 census, as Head of Household, with James on one side of her and Benjamin on the other side of her. Oldest Murray daughter, Jane, was not too far away, living near the Burris family. Elizabeth would live until 1853, and is buried, oddly, not with Jesse, but in the Rehobeth Church cemetery. 

James appears first in the 1830 census of Montgomery County, in 'West Pee Dee' , so he was living in what we now know as Stanly.  The family layout appears to be that of a husband and wife in their 20's, with 3 small children, two girls and a boy.

Name:	James Murray [James Morway]
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):	Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:	1 Son born 1825-1830
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:	1 James
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:	1 Daughter born 1825-1830
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9:	1 Daughter born 1821-1824
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:	1 James's wife
Free White Persons - Under 20:	3
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	2
Total Free White Persons:	5
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):	5

In 1830, the other two Murray households were his father, Jesse, and his sister Jane, aka "Jincy". Benjamin was not out on his own yet. Neighbors of James at this time were Jacob Efird, William Mays, William Nash, and George Tucker. James, Jane and Jesse seemed to be living in different parts of the County, although still south and west. Jincy is living next to Joshua Burris, by whom she would bear children, but not marry. Jesse was living near John and Nathan Simpson and John Colson. Jesse was probably upon the land near where he is buried, James nearer to the Saint Martin area and Jane near what is now Red Cross. 

Name:	Jas Murry [James Murry]  [Jas Murray]
Home in 1840 (City, County, State):	West Pee Dee River, Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9:	1 son born 1831-1839
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:	1 James
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:	1 Daughter born 1835 - 1840
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39:	1 Wife
Persons Employed in Agriculture:	1
No. White Persons over 20 Who Cannot Read and Write:	2
Free White Persons - Under 20:	2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	2
Total Free White Persons:	4
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:	4

The family setup has now changed. James and his wife are now in their 30's. I believe this is probably the same wife. The oldest daughter may possibly have been married. especially if she was 8 or 9 in the previous census. The younger daugther from the 1830 is MIA and probably not married. Child mortality was very high. The boy could possibly be the same one if he was an infant in the last one, and his age misjudged by a year. A new daughter born between 1835 and 1840 has joined the family. 

This is the census where James, Elizabeth and Benjamin are all living in a cluster, no doubt on the Jesse Murray lands. Benjamin would later acquire land closer to the modern community of Aquadale, as it was his land that was purchased for the building of Rehobeth Church. 

James appears in a list of people who bought Bibles from the Montgomery County, NC Bible Society Auxillary to The American Bible Society. 

James appears to have been battling an illness during the 1840's and loosing his land and his inability to work it. 

In the first tax list for the newly minted Stanly County, in 1841, Elizabeth Murray, the widow of Jesse, is said to have had 70 acres on Long Creek, that was probably her dower after Jesse's death. 

Benjamin, the younger son, was taxed for two tracts, 170 acres on Long Creek and 392 acres on Old Hickory. 

Just as a note, brother-in-law Richard Poplin, who married Rebecca Murray, one of the older sisters, had 59 acres on Long Creek and Stokes McIntyre, who married Elizabeth Murray, the second oldest sister, below Jane, had 202 acres on Coopers Creek. 

In comparison, James Murray was just taxed for one poll, himself, no property. 

Just 4 years later, in 1845, Benjamin has 174 acres on Long Creek, 592 on Old Hickory and 232 on Ugly Creek. James is no longer even taxed as a poll, which meant old age or ill health. Since James was in his mid-forties, I would guess it meant poor health. 

There exists in the NC Archives, a Vestry Claim Book for the years 1849 - 1854 in Stanly County, for Relief for the Poor. 

It listed the elderly and infirm, who were getting paid for their assistance, the term and amount, and occasionally, the reason.

In November 1849, Lee Burleson was taking care of Elizabeth Murray, and indeed, she is listed in his home in the 1850 census. I don't believe there to be any relationship there, as he was taking care of a Rachel Thomas the next year. That year, in 1850, Elizabeth Murray was in the care of Garner Aldridge, her son-in-law, husband of daugther Priscilla. 

In May of 1851, Benjamin Murray was paid $18 for taking care of James Murray, and for his funeral expenses. 

Just a continuation of this record, in 1851, Benjamin was now taking care of his mother, Elizabeth Murray, while his brother-in-law, Stokes McIntyre, was taking care of his own mother, Judith McIntyre.

In 1852, Benjamin was taking care of both Elizabeth and his sister, Keziah "Kizzie" Murray, who was by 1870 declared an "idiot" or insane, although she had been married, (in 1851 to Jesse Mills) and had born a child, Annie Jane. 

In 1853, Benjamin was still taking care of Elizabeth, but now John E. Ross was taking care of Keziah Murray.

The decline in state of James Murray can be glimpsed briefly in the Minutes for the Court of Pleas and Quarters of Stanly County, North Carolina. In May of 1842, James Murray was deemed insolvent and given an allowance of 50 cents. He was given $1.45 for an allowance in August of the same year.

In 1843, he suffered a lawsuit against his property that reads: Executions in favor of Frederick Staton to use of Jame Murray vs Jones Green, Tye L. Turner, vs same, J. F. Stone vs same, two in favor of J. B. Broadway vs same, David C. Lilly vs same, were levied on lands of said defendant, 21 Feby 1843 on which levy vendi exponas issued. Lands of defendant have been sold by Sheriff in favor of Fred Staton and money arising from sale of land in hands of Sheriff be paid prorate to said Staton and others as named above. 

CLIPPED FROM

Fayetteville Weekly Observer
Fayetteville, North Carolina
07 Jan 1851, Tue  •  Page 3

So, in thanks to the Fayetteville Observer, a newspaper out of Cumberland County, NC, we know the exact date of James Murray's death, December 16th, 1850. He was only 48 years old. I feel he must have been fairly esteemed in his youth to garner an obituary, albeit a brief one, in a state newspaper. There is no mention of a wife, and no loose Murray widow in the census records to be a possible widow, save one, but she could also have been a daughter. But what of possible children? It seems he did have some. 

The 1850 and 1860 census records for Tyson Township, there are a large number of  Murray children scattered about the neighborhood. I've spent the last 12 or 13 years trying to connect these children to a parent, as all of them were grandchildren of Jesse Murray. Some of them were in the homes of Aunts and Uncles, like Ben Murray, Phoebe Murray Turner, or Sophia Murray Whitaker. Others were in the homes of neighboring families.

Some of these children were called "mulatto". These were the children of  Mariah Murray, who died young, leaving 7 small children, named in her estate records. Green Wesley Simpson, a local Sunday School teacher and deacon of Rehobeth Church, was the Administrator. Green Wesley Simpson was Priscilla Murray Aldridge's brother-in-law, having married husband Garner's sister, Margaret. The children Albert, Lydia Adeline, Eliza, Mary Ann, William, Wesley and Benjamin, were the children of Mariah Murray and Henry Wilkerson, who was the slave of Jonathan Wilkerson. They had a long term relationship, but were not allowed to marry. 

There was Anna Jane, who was the daughter of Keziah Murray, and says so on her death certificate.

There was Solomon and Judith Wilmertha Murray/Burris who were the children of Jane Murray, who never married,  and Joshua Christian Burris. 

On a note, the Murray sisters were a bit of a wild bunch, often getting into fights and such and the three, Jane, Kesiah and Mariah, had children outside of wedlock. 

But there were these three unattributed children in the census records: William Russell Murray, born in 1842, after the 1840 census, Edmond C. Murray, born in 1838, and Mary Jane Murray, born in 1844. Mary Jane was bound out to Charles Cagle and appears in records as his 'apprentice'.  It was said in the Cagle family file and records that he was very fond of her. These 3 orphaned Murrays were white, and I believe were most likely the children of James, mother unknown. I will look more carefully at these children in future posts. One of them, I've made contact with  descendants of before, and we do share small amounts of DNA. 

There are two more: A Martha "Patsy" Murray marries Andrew Boone on May 14, 1851. Ironically, this is the same day that Keziah Murray marries Jesse Mills. Andrew Boone was a widower with children who is shown in the 1850 census with his first wife, Jane. Jane Boone is listed in the mortality schedules of that year. Andrew and Martha move to Alleghany County, NC and have several children together. Now, Martha was born about 1830. It's possible she was a daughter of Kizzy Murray, who was born around 1815. A fifteen year old mother is possible. But she also could have been a daughter of James Murray, which I believe is the most likely scenario. 

Then there is Winna Julina "Winny" Murray, who married Adam Pless and had one daughter, Elizabeth. She died in 1843 at age 21. Born in 1822, Winny could have been that older daughter of James in the 1830 census. She was also close in age to my Priscilla, so she could have also been James sister, which I believe is the most likely. She died 2 years before the 1845 land division, so would not have been mentioned. The reason I believe she was a sister is that my second Great Grandmother, Priscilla's daughter, Frances Julina Aldridge, was reportedly named for her. Julina was not a common name and Julina Aldridge Davis was my Grandfathers Grandmother. She lived to see the birth of his oldest three children. She may have even hinted for a namesake. What I do know is that she was named after an Aunt, to wit, Winna Julina Murray Pless. 

 To add to that, Winny was reportedly raised by Daniel Reap and while on her deathbed requested her daughter Elizabeth to be raised by the same. In the 1820's and 1830's, when Winny was growing up, James would have been raising his own children. Jesse died during this time, leaving his youngest children in limbo, as mothers were not usually seen as guardians. 

The short life of James Murray leaves many questions. I will explore these more soon. 

30 Mothers in 30 Days: Keziah Elizabeth

Genetic genealogy is a rather new frontier for us genealogy addicts. I'm still glogging through it like a kindergartener, but I've found some interesting things. Like a brother. In England. And when he took the Y-DNA test to help trace our father's line, we found out we descended from Richard Pace and wife Isabella Symth from Jamestown, who had came from Wapping, England, now a part of London.

When a distant Murray cousin took the same test, we found out we were descended from a John Basse, also in Virginia, who had married the daughter of a Nansemond Nation King. Yes, be jealous, I am actually descended from an Indian Princess. Two, actually, as I descend from Pocahantas through the Warrens. Both my Davis and Winfield lines go back to the Warrens.

Recently, Gedmatch.com, the best site out there as far as genetic breakdown, began study groups, like those on Family Tree DNA. You are in the group if you match up with other known descendants of which ever group or ancestors that title the group. It's dna groups, your dna gets you there, not "Grandma said".

This group is for descendants of the Nansemond Indian. Present day Tribal members descend from the Christianized Nansemond who lived in villages along the Nansemond River. The present day Tribal center is in Suffolk, Virginia, on the Nansemond River. In 1638 John Bass(e) (born 1616), an Englishman, married Elizabeth, daughter of a Nansemond Chief. The majority of the current members of the Nansemond Indian Nation are descended from Elizabeth. Please join our Facebook group which will act as our primary means of communication.


I ended up in the Nansemond Group, as did my brother, my son, and a cousin on my Dad's side. I have a known Bass ancestor, Elizabeth, who married Jesse Murray. But that's on my Mom's side.

Then I discovered through the Pace Group on Facebook that there was a group of Paces that also married into the Nansemond Bass family, so I have this ancestry on both sides of my family tree.

The story began:



Bass Family Sermon Book transcription:
“John Basse married ye dafter of ye King of ye Nansemond Nation by name Elizabeth in Holy Baptizm and in Holy Matrimonie ye 14th day of August in ye yeare of Our Blessed Lord 1638 Dyed 1699 A.D.”

When I first started researching my Aldridge family, I came across the research that had already been done by other members of the Aldridge family, including Mr. Donald Aldridge of Stanly County. In this research was the note that my 3rd Great Grandmother, Priscilla Murray Aldridge, who had married Garner Aldridge, was "rumoured to be an Indian." At that point, that was all I knew. Her father, Jesse Murray Sr., was the first to locate on Long Creek in Stanly County, not too very far from the Rocky River. He first showed up in Anson County in 1820. I trace him to Orange and Granville before that, discovered he was the son of Benjamin Murray and Jane Pearce and that he had married Elizabeth Bass. What I didn't know at that time was the Bass line or the entire Murray and Pearce line. It's pretty interesting stuff. 

The Nansemond in Virginia

virginiaplaces.org

What I did know is that the Murray's were not the typical southern white family. Most of his children married white. His daughter Mariah, did not. And Priscilla, my line, after her English-descended Aldridge husband died, had one more child, who was not white, Matilda. Today, there are both black and white descendants of this couple. 

But back to Keziah Elizabeth Tucker Bass. We do not know what her name was before she was Christened. It is thought that Keziah was her original, indigenous name and Elizabeth her Christian name given after she was baptised. There's a great deal of repetive information on the entire family line. What that states is that the colonists gave several of the Nansemond the surname Tucker. Or maybe this particular line of Nansemond had already intermarried with the English. 

John Bass wrote a book called, "The Pathway to Perfection", a book of sermons, about 1675. Within he noted those famous words that his thousands, if not millions, of descendants now treasure. 

As far as any famous Bass cousins, we can claim musician Tommy Lee of Motley Crue.

Tommy Lee's ethnicty






The Bass family has been traced all the way back to a French Huguenot, Humphrey Basse, born in 1554 in France. He relocated to London and was a shareholder of the 3rd Charter of the Virginia Company. He had married a Mary Buschier, daughter of Dominick Buschier of Italy, whose wife, Genevieve Clerke, born in Rouen, France. This couple had a son, Nathaniel, who was the Bass immigrant to America. He married Mary Jordan in 1613 and they came to America in 1619, settling in Jamestown in 1619. The couple first settled down on Lawn's Creek and then later built a plantation he called Basse's Choice on the Pagan River. These were the parents of John Bass.

Less is known about the parents of Keziah Elizabeth Tucker Bass. Only that her father was called, "Robin, King of Ye Nansemond".

Nansemond woman

John and Keziah had the following children: Elizabeth, John, Jordan, Keziah, Nathaniel, Richard, Samuel, William.There was said to be a great deal of intermarriage between the descendants of this family and that as a group, they settled in Norfolk County, near the Great Dismal Swamp. Eventually after a generation or so, another group settled into Craven County, North Carolina, and some of the grandchildren and great grandchildren made it into Anson County, including one Frederick Bass. Frederick Bass, a grandson of John Bass settled in Anson County, but some of his children moved into Robeson County and intermarried with the Indigenous people of the Lumber River, then known as the Croatan, now the Lumbee, another Native American group known to intermarry with the other ethnicities around them. Descendants of Frederick Bass are found in Robeson and Anson today.

The relations between the Viriginia Colonists and the tribe were not always pleasant. The following information (in color), is from the Library of Virginia: Encyclopedia of Virginia.

By 1607, when the first English settlers founded Jamestown, the Nansemond lived in several villages centered near Chuckatuck, in present-day Suffolk, along the Nansemond River. Their head chief lived near Dumpling Island, where the tribe's temple and sacred objects were located. The Nansemond tribe spoke a dialect of Algonquian and was among the roughly twenty-eight to thirty-two tribes of Tsenacomoco, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking tribes that was ruled by the paramount chief Powhatan.

George Percy

Like the other tribes of Tsenacomoco, the Nansemond had a tense and often hostile relationship with the English settlers. The colonists had exhausted their supplies soon after arriving in Virginia and, unaccustomed to growing their own food, sought to trade with the Indians for corn. In late 1608, Powhatan directed the tribes of Tsenacomoco to refuse to trade. In 1609, Captain John Smith sent George Percy and John Martin, along with a group of sixty colonists, to bargain with the Nansemond for an island. After two of their English messengers disappeared, Martin and Percy's men attacked a nearby Nansemond settlement, where, according to Percy, they "burned their howses ransaked their Temples, Tooke downe the Corpes of their deade kings from their Toambes, and Caryed away their pearles Copper and braceletts wherewith they doe decore their kings funeralles." The English also destroyed the Indians' crops. More than half of Martin and Percy's men were killed during the attack, an event that helped initiate the First Anglo-Powhatan War (1609–1614), one of three distinct periods of hostility between the Indian and English communities. The Nansemond towns were burned again in 1622 in retaliation for the coordinated Indian assault against English settlements on March 22, 1622, which was led by the Pamunkey chief Opechancanough and marked the start of the Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1622–1632).

Although there were members of the Bass Family in Anson County, one of the circle of counties I consider my homeland, my Elizabeth Bass does not appear to have been descended from the Anson branch, but from the Granville Branch. The below link is to an excellent blog about some of the Lumbee family lines and mentions that of Frederick Bass of Anson County.

https://nativeamericanroots.wordpress.com/tag/robeson-county/

The following descendancy is given from John and Keziah Elizabeth Tucker Bass to Elizabeth Bass Murray. Note: Important, this lineage is not one of my own research, but what has been charted by other descendants of Elizabeth Bass Murray. I have not tested it myself at this juncture for accuracy. It's merely a feasible lineage that other descendants have given.

John Bass and Keziah Elizabeth Tucker
parents of:
Richard Bass, Sr. who married Jane Bryant (1st) and Mary Burwell (2nd).
Richard and Mary Burwell Bass wer parents of:
Andrew Bass Sr. born 9 June 1698 in Norfolk who married Elizabeth Smith.
Parents of Richard Bass, born in Craven County, NC who married Sarah McKinnie in 1754 in Johnston County, North Carolina.

Anna Elizabeth Bass was born in either Franklin or Wayne County, North Carolina. Her father passed away before 14 April, 1791 in Wayne County. The widow of Richards brother, Andrew was appointed the guardian of his minor daughter. Her name was Alice Bass, so Alice is who raised Anna Elizabeth Bass. Bondsmen for the guardianship were Alice Bass, Richard McKinnie, Richard Bass and Ezekial Slocum.

Jesse Murray and Anna Elizabeth Bass were married in Granville County, North Carolina about 1798. The 1850 census of Stanly County gives her a birth year of 1785, but I believe that may have been off a few years, as that would put her at only 13 at marriage. Census ages are notoriously wrong sometimes, especially for women. 

The following book is an excellent source on Bass Family lineage, among others.

The Descendants of Francis Muncy I: With Allied Families

By Mary Edith Shaw

I have not yet determined the Pace/Bass family connection, I've only seen it discussed in the Pace Family Facebook Group.

So whether I have one or two branches back to the Nansemond Princess, Keziah Elizabeth Tucker Bass, I want to say - Happy Mother's Day Grandma Keziah!

Moriah

Moriah Murray was one of the middle daughters of Jesse Murray who died in Stanly County, North Carolina. Her exact age was not known, but she was old enough to have teenagers in 1850. Her estate was first brought to court during the August term of  the North Carolina Court of Pleas and Quarter Session in the year 1854.

The final settlement by the clerk of court was on May 2, 1857. As Moriah's children were bound out to different family members and neighbors in the 1850 census, and she is no where listed, it is most likely the case that she was deceased prior to 1850.  Moriah's is an unusual case, and some of the first entries into the court records of the newly established county of Stanly in 1841, is of her son Albert being bound out to farmer John Norwood to learn the art of farming.

Moriah was the mother of  four sons and 3 daughters: Ben, Mary Jane, Albert, Eliza, Lydia Adeline, Wesley and William. Wesley and William may have been twins as they are both shown as 6 years old in 1850 and twins ran in the Murray family.

Ben, named for his uncle, Moriah's brother Benjamin Murray and also an older ancestor, I believe was the oldest. While he is mentioned in pre-1850 records and in the estate papers, he is not listed in the census of Stanly County, and may have relocated prior to then. Several of the Murrays left for Arkansas at various times and young Ben Murray may have been one of them. I have yet to track him down with any certainty, although I have found records of Ben Murrays who may be him.

In 1850 Albert Murray was living with John Norwood, the elderly farmer he was bound to. Eliza and Wesley were living with Moriah's brother Benjamin Murray and his family: wife Martha Puett Murray and children Jesse and Rebecca. Mary Jane Murray, age 14, was living with the Watkins family: Hardy, Larry and Judith. Lydia Adeline, 8,  was living with the James Kendall family, and 6 year old William is living with his Aunt Rebecca Murray Poplin and her family.

The remarkable thing about Mariah Murray's children is that they are all listed as mulatto's in the court records and also in the 1850 and 1860 census records. Moriah Murray had chosen to co-habitate with an African-American man in the years prior to the Civil War and had 7 children. Her son Albert Murray, who married a daughter of Mariah's sister Sophia Murray Whitaker, named his father on his marriage license. Henry Wilkerson.

There was no Henry Wilkerson listed in the census records of Stanly County or Montgomery, which it was a part of prior to 1841. The only Wilkerson listed is a Jonathan Wilkerson. In 1830, Jonathan Wilkerson owns no slaves. In 1840, he owns one young adult male slave. Could this man be Henry Wilkerson?

All of  Jesse Murray's other daughters would marry or have children with Caucasian men, with the exception of Priscilla, who would have one mixed race daugther in 1867, after her husband died. Moriah, albeit tri-racial, was certainly excepted as primary as white as her siblings were. To have this relationship and these children during the late 1830's and 1840's was out of the ordinary and extremely looked down upon. As tension in the area mounted and the sparks of war in the air, I wonder the fate of Mariah Murray.

Green Wesley Simpson, the administrator of her will, was a teacher and church leader in her community, and the brother-in-law of her sister Priscilla "Prussia" Murray.

I am still researching the fates of  Moriah's children. Mary Jane married a Manuel and moved to Robeson County where the racially ambiguous Lumbee tribe are centered. Wesley Murray remained in the home of his Uncle, Ben Murray and relocated with him to Arkansas. Wesley died at age 20 of "worms" in Arkansas.
I have not discovered the fate of Ben, Eliza or William Murray, although there are faint records of a Will Murray in Cabarrus County and in Union County that could be him or his older cousin William R. Murray, son of Jane Murray, Jesse's oldest daughter and namesake of his mother.

Albert married his first cousin Mary Jane Whitaker in Cabarrus County and lived next door to her parents for awhile, where they are listed as black while her parents are listed as white. The family later locates to Chesterfield, SC and then to Florence, SC, where they are listed as white. Albert was born a mulatto child, but died a white man. His sister Lydia Adeline also moved to Cabarrus County after having 2 or 3 children by Pinkney Carpenter, a caucasian farmer. She later married a black man, Allan Faggart. Her children also married African-Americans. Her son John lived close to Mount Pleasant, North Carolina and married twice. Her daughter Jenny married a Mr. Thomas Kirk and lived near Concord in the Cold Water Community.

I have not yet located any living descendants of Albert or Lydia Adeline, though it might still be possible. I wonder about the life of Mariah Murray and more about who Henry Wilkerson was. I believe Mariah's children may have been taken from her and bound out while she was still living, as they often did with illegitimate children.

Stanly was Montgomery County until 1841 and the courthouses of Montgomery County loved to burn, and with them went a treasure trove of records. These records may have given me much more information on the Murray family, court records on Mariah's children. There may have been information on her demise. Her youngest, Wesley, was only 5 when she died, so she was not an old woman. Did she come down with a disease? Did any younger children die with her? Was her death suspicious? Even Green Wesley Simpson, in his journals and records did not let us know.

Goodbye Mariah, your secrets have gone to the grave with you.

The Will of Jane Murray

The following is the final Will and Testament of Jane Murray. It is dated August of 1798. She did not die that year as she shows up in the 1800 census. This Jane Murray was the mother of Jesse Murray. Jesse Murray was the father of Priscilla Murray mentioned in an earlier post. Priscilla was the mother of Julina Aldridge Davis, who was the mother of William Hampton Davis, who was the father of Lewis Theodore Davis, who was my grandfather. 

Jane's maiden name was Pierce or Pearce. She was multiracial and descended from the Nansemond and Delware tribes. Jesse was an adult by the 1800 census and shows up in his own household. Only Jesse shows up in the 1810 census of Chatham County, and not Jane. In 1820 Jesse is listed in the Anson County census and in 1822 he is listed in land records. Sometimes his name is spelled Jessee. In 1830, he is in the Montgomery County census, on the West PeeDee side, which became Stanly County. Stanly was his final resting place as he is buried in a patch of trees, in the middle of a cornfield, on Prince Road near Long Creek. Jesse would name his oldest daughter Jane, and had a sister Jane as well, as can be seen on the will. 

The one question I have about this will is......what did Ann do to have her mother leave her so little and ...what is a Heckle?

This is the transcription of Jane Murray's Will:




In the name of God amen, I Jane Murray of Chatham County and the state of North Carolina being of sound and perfect mind and memory blessed be God on this first day of June on the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five make and publish this, my last will and testament in manner following: That is to say: First I recommend my soul to God who gave it not doubting but he will Dispose of it as best suits his Godlike wisdom and my body to be buried in a Christianlike manner at the descretion of my Executor and as to the worldly good which it has pleased God to bless me with I will that they be disposed of in the following manner   That is to say my will and desire that the tract of land whereon I now live containing one hundred and forty acres be Equally Divided between my three children as (?) Jane Jesse and Sarah Murray. & Jesse to have his part adjoining Isaac Brooks and Baalam Thompson line & Sarah to have her part adjoining Jesse's part and Jane to have the part whereon the plantation now is & Jesse to have one cow and one horse with one half of the hogs and Sarah to have one cow and one half of the hogs. All the household furniture to be divided among my daughters Jane and Sarah. To my daughter Ann, my Heckle and spools. Further I appoint my son and daughter Jesse and Jane my sole executors of this my last Will and Testament and I do hereby Disanull and Revoke all other or former wills by me made in Witness whose of I have servants by my hand and seal the Day and Date above written.


                                                            Jane Murray


(In an aside with a dividing scribble)
signed, sealed, published and declared
by the testament as her last will and testament 
in the presence of us who have servents suspended (?)
(discolored) our names in witness as her presence and in the 
presence of each other


Baalam Thompson
William Hinson
Samuel Graves                                                                           Chatham
                                                                                             August sessions 1798
                                                                        Duly proved in open court by the oath of same 
                                                                        & in the motion ordered to be recorded. Graves. 
                                                                                     John Rummage
                                                                  Recorded in Book C page 131 132