30 Mothers in 30 Days: Leah

Leah Julian was my 8th Great Grandmother. Eight generations, can you imagine that?  Still, with that many generations back in time, we have not made it to an immigrant. Just  a few generations beyond Ava though, we would.

I have blogged about Leah before. The link is below. In that post, I was exploring the idea that her second marriage was to a Catawba Indian, a scenario with which I am not in agreement.  The whole theory  seemed to be based on the man's surname "Crow".  While many Native American names were translated to their English version, the name Crow was not neccessarily Native American.

http://www.jobschildren.com/2013/10/the-marriage-of-leah-julian-erwin-and.html

But this post is just looking at her as one of the many women who passed their dna and their heritage on to me.

Leah was born in Cecil County, Maryland to George Julian and Martha Denton in the year 1733.

To my great good fortune, much research has been done on Leah's paternal, Julian line. It's documented in history books and museums hold paintings of her, and therefore, my, ancestors. So I did not have to do any digging, but just follow casually along a well-paved path.

George Julian was actually born George De St. Julian to Pierre Rene De St. Julian II and his second wife, Mary Margaret Scotlay Bullock in 1706 at Bohemia Manor in Cecil County, Maryland. 

His father, Pierre Rene de St. Julian II was born in 1669 in Vitre, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France and died in 1745 in Winchester County, Virginia. 

Painting attributed to be Pierre Rene St. Julian

Pierre had married first to Damaris Elizabeth Le Surrurier in Berkele, South Carolina. That marriage would produce 4 children and Damaris would die young. Pierre married second to Mary Margaret Scotlay Bullock while on the Island of Bermuda. Mary Margaret was not of French stock, but was a British girl. She was born in Bradford, Devon, England and would die in Virgina about 1750.

Mary Margaret was the daughter of Captain Stephen Bullock, who was the son of William Bullock. There was a relation to a Patience Painter or Paynter, who was either the wife or the mother of Stephen Bullock and the daughter of Captain Stephen Paynter. I've been reading in Olde Englishe some of chronicles of trade in Barbados and Bermuda, in which they were involved, living, trading, sailing back and forth from the Islands to South Carolina and Massachusetts and back to England.

Needless to say, I haven't acquainted the hay of it into a tight bundle. I do know their main product of trade was tobacco. Sorry for my family contributing to tobacco addiction guys. (Info from: Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas.

However, I've found several lineages to Sea Captains in my family tree. Perhaps thats why I am fortunate enough to never get seasick and my why my daughter loves cruises. 

Mary Margaret Scotlay Bullock de St. Julian was laid to rest in the old Opequan Cemetery in Kernstown, Frederick County, Virginia on June 29, 1750. As Leah's Grandmother, she would be my 10th Great Grandmother, so I honor her here too. 

Upon looking up this old cemetery, I pleasantly discovered that she was not the only ancestor of mine who lived (and died) there.

I recently discovered, through a Y-DNA test taken by a male cousin, that we are descendants of Jost Hite. I have been working on that one and a long, incomplete post has been placed on the back burner. In this old cemetery is the oldest marked gravesite in the entire Shenandoah Valley, which sheltered many of my predecessors before they came south to Carolina.

This is the tombstone of the wife and children of Irishman, John Wilson. His wife was Mary Marquis Wilson, daughter of William Marquis and wife Margaret Colville. The unschooled Irishman scratched it into the limestone as "Marcus".

Not as much is known about Leah's mother, Martha Denton. It is known she was the daughter of James Denton and his wife, Martha Mills Thorne Denton. They were from the Maryland Colony, whether born there or not,  and later relocated to Long Island, Queens Colony, New York. They are most likely of British origins. Martha Mills Thorne Denton outlived her husband and died on Long Island in 1719.

Leah Julians first husband was Nathaniel Irwin, an Irishman born in Glencoe, Ulster. He was much older than she, which was not a rare thing in those days. Nathaniel died in Yorkville, York, South Carolina in 1794. As they were married in Cecil, Maryland when Leah was but 15, and her father also removed to the Carolinas, they probably migrated together. 

George Julian was known as a loyalist. His property was confiscated and sold in 1788. He lived on Kings Creek in Guilford County, North Carolina. George was injured in the Battle of the Fort of Dorchester and died there. A lady named Jemima Ponde had testified that she saw him departe this life in early to mid-September of 1781. He was a member of the Creek Meeting House. 

Nathaniel Irwin, however, was a Patriot, as was his and Leah's son Colonel Alexander Irwin.

Nathaniel and Leah Irwin (later Erwin) would have 6 children: Sophia, Alexander, Abigail, James Locke, Nathaniel Jr and Susannah. Some sources only list 4.

After the death of Nathaniel Erwin, she would marry to a James Crow. That story is in my other post. 

She would pass away in 1794 in York County, South Carolina at the age of 61. The children of Nathaniel and Julian would move to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and then to Morganton in Burke County, where the beautiful estate of my ancestor, Alexander Erwin still exists. 

Rest Sweetly Grandmother Leah Julian Erwin Crow, source of some of my French ancestry.

Amos Acts Out.

From the Concord Daily Tribune, Feb. 8 1911

Amos Coble was the only son of Israel S. Coble and his first wife, Sarah Murray/Coley. He is mentioned in the estate records of his grandfather, Edmund Murray (aka Coley), along with his sister, Sarah Coble Broadway.  Edmund Murray had out-lived his daughter Sarah, and her two children were nearly adults, when his estate papers were brought to court and questioned by the division of his heirs. Some believed others were not entitled to a share.  This dispute eventually led to the murder of Edmund's son John by two of his teenaged Great Grandsons. This story is featured in the post: The Murder of John Murray.

At the age of 27, Sarah, daughter of Edmund, had married a teenaged boy named Israel Coble. Both families were from Stanly County, North Carolina, located in the Southwestern Piedmont section of the state. I featured Israel in the recent post:The Six Wives of Israel Coble.

These families existed in the Victorian Era/turn of the century North Carolina. They lived in a time when suddenly travel had become quicker and easier, 'The Train Age", and industries were springing up, some relocating from the industrialized north, to take advantage of the South's abundance of cotton and displaced farm families aka 'cheap labor'.

Amos Coble's father was said to have skipped from Cotton Mill to Cotton Mill and his movements show he skipped from town to town. According to a later interview in court, Israel Coble stated that his first wife, Sarah Murray Coble, had died of 'consumption'. Consumption is what we now refer to as tuberculosis, or "TB" and it was rampant in that era.

By the time young Amos shows up in his first census, Israel has married his third wife, Angeline Furr, as his second wife, Eugenia Lee died after having her only child, Lorenzo. Amos is seen by his middle name "Ozell", here.

Name:	Ozell Coble
Age:	8
Birth Date:	abt 1892
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1900:	Johns River, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Daughter
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Name:	Israel Coble
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's name:	Angeline Coble
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Occupation:	View on Image
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Israel Coble 35 Angeline Coble 40 Sarah Coble 14 Ozell Coble 8 Lorenzo Coble 1

By 1910, young Amos has moved to Cabarrus County and working as a laborer on a farm. He was on his own and his sister Sarah Coble Broadway had already passed away after having only one child, Lillian.

Name:	Amos Cable [Amos Coble]
Age in 1910:	18
Birth Year:	abt 1892
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	Township 1, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Brother
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age William Whitley 59 Molly Whitley 53 Varchey Whitley 16 Amos Cable 18

Although the transcriber lists the relationship as "brother", that is an incorrect translation. The actual document says "boarder".

So about the time of the above incident in 1911, Amos was on his own, and his father was in a great deal of trouble legally. It seems he and his third wife Angeline had parted ways and Israel and his fourth wife, Rosa Almond Coble, were living in Charlotte. Rosa discovered that Israel had not taken the time nor trouble to divorce his third wife and went to the police. This event may have put an additional stress on young Amos, and lead to the above reported incident with the gun.

But Amos and his troubling gun were no strangers to the courts or police. Just two years prior, in 1909, he'd had other problems.

From the Concord Daily Tribune, May 2, 1909

It could have very well have been family problems that was at the source of young Amos Ozell Coble's woes. He'd lost his mother at a young age, and seemed displaced by the gypsy existence and multi-marrying existence of his father. There were orphanages about, but not a safety net for children as we have in existence today. Many fell through the cracks and several were on their own to fend for themselves and find work at young ages, especially teenagers. Intact families usually had hefty broods of their own and did not need another mouth to feed. A youngster was fortunate if they found someone to take them in.

After his first run-in with the law, Amos would be forced to mature.

Amos Coble  Event Type:Draft Registration  Event Date:1917-1918  Event Place:Charlotte City, North Carolina, United States   Gender:Male  Birth Date:08 Aug 1891   Birthplace:Stanley, North Carolina, United States Nationality:United States Affiliate Publication Title:World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards Affiliate Publication  Number: M1509GS Film number :1765627 Digital Folder Number:005152102 Image Number:05715

World War I forced a lot of young men to mature.

Amos became a painter and settled in Charlotte, Mecklengurg County. He married Carrie Leona Jordan, the daughter of Thomas and Carrie Fisher Jordan of South Carolina and became the father of 8 children, 3 whom died as infants:

1920 Roy Ozell Coble
1923 Evelyn Marjorie Coble
1926 Twin: Carroll Helen Coble (lived 1 month)
1926 Twin: Harold Amos Coble (lived 7 months)
1929 Francis Pauline Coble
1932 Patsy Ruth Coble
1934 Alvin Leon Coble (died as child)
1936 Catherine Ann Coble


Today's strict laws concerning guns and teenagers would have unfolded into an entirely different story for Amos Coble. Fortunately, he was born at the turn of the century, when he was still given a chance to grow up, become a mature, contributing member of society, have a family and live out his life.

Amos passed away on July 22, 1944, of a cerebral hemorrhage, at the age of 52. He is buried in Rock Hill, South Carolina. His death certificate states that he was the son of Israel S. Coble and Sarah Coley. Even after all of those years, no one could cement the name of Murray to the descendants of Edmund Murray (aka Coley).  His widow Carrie, lived to be 72, and is buried in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina.

Concord Daily Tribune, May 24, 1909