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Marion Hargrove's Letter to Laona Hagenstad
Marion Hargrove's Reasonable Ancestor Approach
Jernigan Special Events...Births, Marriages, Deaths, etc.
This Jernigan Connection Newsletter Issue 22 is dedicated to Samuel and Rachel Hand Jernigan, who just happens to be the fourth-great-grandparents of our editors, Dixie Clonts and Don Jernigan. For several years the knowledge of our Jernigan ancestral line stopped with Samuel Jernigan. We determined that Samuel's father was David, yet there are so many Jernigans with that name David, the search remained dead ended. Not anymore! "Marion Hargrove's Letter to Laona Hagenstad" places this issue in perspective. It identifies our David and places him into the main line of Thomas Jernigan, the immigrant and his ancestors to nearly one thousand years ago.
The Jernigan Reunion, held every other year, is scheduled for July 4-7, 2001 in Flagstaff, Arizona. This reunion began many years ago as a result of efforts of the Benjamin Harrison Jernigan immediate family of Checotah, OK. Benjamin Harrison was the great-great-grandson of Samuel and Rachel Hand Jernigan, the grandfather of Dixie Clonts, and "granduncle" of Don Jernigan (co-editors of the Jernigan Connection Newsletter). All previous reunions have actually been held in Checotah. This will be the first gathering in Arizona where Flagstaff was selected over Phoenix since the July weather in Flagstaff was preferable by reunion membership vote. The Jernigan Flagstaff Reunion will be dedicated to Samuel and Rachel Hand Jernigan as was this newsletter issue.
Wednesday, July 4th: Independence Day parade, celebrations & fireworks. Thursday, July 5th: Grand Canyon Tours, including IMAX Theater's "Grand Canyon, The Hidden Secrets". Friday, July 6th: Sedona and/or Cliff Castle Casino, Outlet mall shopping, Oak Creek Canyon & the beautiful red rock country of Sedona, and a possible Jernigan Golf Tournament. The reunion's main event of Saturday, July 7th, will be "JERNIGAN DAY @ Thorpe Park". Enjoy visiting at a beautiful grassy park nestled in the tall pines of Flagstaff. Games for kids 12 and under, volleyball, Frisbee golf, tennis, basketball, and maybe a softball game. The early dinner will be an Arizona Cookout with Chuck Wagon Burgers or 'Dogs, Cowboy beans, slaw, lemonade and ASU All American Cake.
The Econo Lodge @I17/I40 (1-800-490-6562) has been selected as our central gathering point for the reunion. To make reservations there identify yourself as with the Jernigan Reunion. There are many other hotels, motels and RV parks in and around Flagstaff, and as it is a popular summer destination, make your reservations early. The Flagstaff City's web site is www.flagguide.com and contains information from maps to facilities.
The Dunn Reunion is held each year at Stoney Run "Free Will" Pentecostal Church, located east of Dunn on Hwy 55 on the first Sunday in May (May 6, 2001).
Editors Note: This letter was written a few years ago to Laona Hagenstad of Arizona. Laona is also a descendent from Samuel and Rachel Hand and has been researching our direct lines for many years. She once wrote of difficult experiences performing genealogy research in the 1960's. Yet she is instrumental in determining that David was Samuel's father and with the persistent research work of Marion Hargrove our line now shares it's proper place as direct descendents of Thomas Jernigan, the immigrant. Now, starting with the second paragraph of the letter:
First, about your list, of which you say, "I wrote fast - did I take it down correctly?" The answer is "No!" You have:
THOMAS Jernigan, grandson of immigrant Thomas.
JOHN of Meherrin.
Old DAVID and Patience of Nansemond Indian Neck Town.
Son JESSE came from NE Bertie, moved to Wayne, down to Robeson, Wayne, Johnson and Duplin Cos.
DAVID, deed Johnston Co., became Wayne Co. west land Mill Creek Johnston.
As you may perchance have noticed, you have got two extra generations of Thomases in [first] line, while the [last two] lines start off right, they end up in utter gibberish. May I respectively suggest [to Laona Hagenstad] starting all over with just a tad of extra detail:
THOMAS Jernigan the Immigrant. Sons: Thomas of Nansemond, Henry of present Bertie, John of Meherrin Creek (present Hertford), and probably others.
JOHN of Meherrin Creek (and wife Temperance). Sons: HENRY (moved to Edgecombe, then to Johnston, then Craven Co, SC); sons: Needham, Hardy Rice. ... DAVID of "Nansemond Indian Town" in Meherrin Neck (also know as Maney's Neck), NE corner of present Hertford. Wife's name, Patience. They moved to present Wayne Co. ... THOMAS, also of Meherrin Neck, followed Henry to Edgecombe then settled in present Wayne near fork of Little River into the Neuse. Sons included John (forefather of the Jarnagins of Tennessee and probably the British royal family too if truth be known). Then, coming back to real life, namely present Wayne, there are Thomas Jr., who married his cousin Isabel, daughter of David and Patience ... and good old Lame David (often identified in legal documents as "David Jernigan (Lame)" ... and George "Senior" who married Lydia. ... The ORIGINAL GEORGE Jernigan, son of John and Temperance, died young and unmarried, apparently in the early part of 1739, since his eldest brother Henry sold George's land that summer as "heir-at-law to his brother lately deceased". ... And finally there is James of Ahoskie, who stayed and prospered and begat, amongst others, Needham of Hertford, Elisha of Duplin, Hardy of Nansemond -- and David of Hertford, father of David "Winborne" Jernigan of Northampton. [Thus far the seed of John of Meherrin Creek. And on the seventh day he rested.]
DAVID of Meherrin Neck, or "David of Craven," or "Old David" (and wife Patience) migrated to present Wayne County in the early 1740's, and settled two or three miles down the Neuse from his brother Thomas. (Both lived probably in or near the present city of Goldsboro. David's sons included "Blind Thomas" of Duplin ... probably George of Onslow (in Onslow tax list of 1769 with his son Benjamin) ... David "Senior" of Wayne (wife Alice, sons David "Jr." and Stephen, numerous daughters including Isabell Jernigan-Jernigan wife of Thomas Jr.) ... and, last but not least, Jesse.
JESSE (Sr.) of Wayne, Robeson, Horry, SC. (Not to be confused with his son Jesse of the same places, nor his nephew Jesse of Duplin, son of Blind Thomas, nor his cousin Jesse of Bertie, son of Henry ibid., nor with his probable grandson Jesse son of Benjamin of Edgefield, SC.) First mentioned 1744/5 in gift deed of Old David to well beloved son David of 200a NS Neuse after death of self and wife, with reversion to son Jesse. Numerous deeds and patents from 1754 on, 1769 Dobbs tax list for 1 poll, 1773 grand jury Dobbs, 1780 justice of the peace 1st court of Wayne Co January 1780. 3 April 1780, gift deed 200a SS Neuse to son-in-law and daughter Susannah Wingate. 7 Apr 1783, deed of sale Jesse Esq to Thomas Gray of Duplin, tracts = ca 1100a incl lands form his father deceased. 11 April 1783, deed of sale Jesse Jr. to Solomon Herring, 140a (witness incl Jesse Herring). Jesse Sr. and Jr. both move down to Bladen Co. [Apparently they have been preceded there by THOMAS Jernegan, presumably an elder son of Jesse Sr. He lived between Jesse and David on the Neuse, on land he had patented in 1761 and 1779, and in Bladen on Ashpole Swamp. There is, or was, a Jernigan Branch in that vicinity.]
Bladen deeds 5 Jan 1786, John Odom to Jesse Jernigan Jr, for £180, 320a NS Ashpole Swamp ... 6 Jan 1787, Act of NC Assembly establishing Robeson Co from western Bladen (State Records 24:838) names commission to erect a courthouse, prison and stocks, incl Jesse Jernigan Senr ... 27 Mar 1788, 2 deeds Jesse Sr. to Jesse Jr.:
A: for £1600: 14 Negroes, 4 horses, 2 cattle, 100 hogs, 10 sheep, 17 geese, furniture etc.; and
B: 200a upper side Mill Branch and Indian Swamp. ... 1790 census Robeson: Capt. Jesse Jernigan 2 6 3 / 10 ... Jesse Jernigan 1 4 2 / 6. ... Robeson deeds C:90, 16 Jul 1791: Jesse Jr to Cornelius Wingate, both Robeson, for £150, 200a Cowards Swamp -- part of Isaac Odom grant ... to Jesse Je Sr. then to Jesse Jr. -- plus 100a WS Drowning Creek ... all houses, orchards, etc. ...
And, finally: Wayne deeds 8:32. 27 Sep 1803. Jesse Jernigan of Horry district SC to Bryan Holmes. For £50. 200a on west prong of Sleepy Creek in Wayne ... patd Jesse Jornegan 9 Oct 1783.
I don't know whether that last item refers to Jesse Sr. or Jesse Jr. -- probably Jr., because by that time the old man would be either dead or well up into his 80's, because the land next door was patented by Thomas in 1761, which makes Thomas's birth 1740 at the latest. Incidentally, I recently noticed, adjoining Thomas at Sleepy Creek was a chunk of 400 acres patented by BENJAMIN Jernigan, no date.
Isaac was born in Anson County, North Carolina, to the parents of Samuel and Rachel (Hand) Jernigan. Isaac was the 2nd child in the family of eleven children and born in the 1790's, but the exact year is unknown. The siblings in order of birth are: Nancy (Jernigan) Ratliff, Isaac, (wife Sarah ?), Henry Bishop (wife, Mary Jane Watkins), Samuel Jr. (wife, Jennet McRae), Judith (Jernigan) Everett, Sarah Pinkney (Jernigan) Hainey, Clement (wife, Drusilla Terry), Manila Uniala (Jernigan) Clark, Margery (Jernigan) Terry, John Hand (wife, Johanna Terry) and Mary (Jernigan) Streater.
Isaac is on the 1830 census of Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina with a wife (which in later census records is shown as "Sarah"), a male child between the ages of 5 and 10 (which would be the great-great-grandfather of the co-editors of this newsletter, Thomas Joseph Jernigan), and one male child under the age of 5, and two females, one age 5 and under 10, which would be Nancy and a female under the age of 5.
Isaac is listed as executor of an estate for P. J. Williams and on 11 Jan 1836, he appointed his brother Henry Bishop Jernigan to "take his place" as executor since Isaac and his brother Clement and their families had moved to Sevierville, Sevier, Tennessee. (I have wondered if this P. J. Williams might possibly be the father of Isaac's wife, Sarah, but have no information to confirm this theory.) An indenture was also made on 14 Dec 1843 between Isaac Jernigan, of the State of Tennessee, and John Jernigan, of the County of Anson, North Carolina, where Isaac sold John his shares in the land his father, Samuel, had owned before his death.
The 1840 Tennessee census shows Isaac's family living in Sevierville, Sevier County. The Georgia census, dated 19 Nov 1850, lists the Isaac Jernigan family to be living in Centre Valey, Murray County, Georgia, with three daughters, Nancy, Sarah Jane and Phoebe, ages 28, 19 and 7. The Isaac family is also listed in the 1860 census, still residing in Murray County, GA., with only Isaac, Sarah and Nancy living together. Their daughter Sarah Jane had married F. E. Evans, a farmer born in Tennessee, and was living in the dwelling next to her parents with daughters: Sarah L., age 7; Nancy, age 3; and Catherine, age 1. I checked maps, but could not locate a "Centre Valey" and determined it must be near Spring Place as others of his family were located on the 1850 census living in Spring Place.
While the census of 1850 was a major occurrence in Murray County. GA, the county and Spring Place was rapidly growing. A "General System of Public Schools" was established in Murray County since the old plan where the Justice of the Inferior Court (Ordinary) was responsible for administering school funds had not worked. The legislature created the equivalent of a Board of Education whose duty was to appoint a clerk/treasurer to receive and distribute "poor school funds". The 1850's saw the first of several mining crazes spread across the county. Also in Spring Place was the JARNAGIN Tanyard, located west of the Cleveland Road in the 1850's and 1860's.
The militia company known as the "Spring Place Volunteers" was formed in 1859. Within a short time these soldiers would be involved in the Civil War for throughout this decade, the clouds were gathering. On the eve of war the 1860 Murray County Census was taken, and the county became a much smaller county with only eight districts.
The Southern States called for conventions to decide on the question of secession, and Georgia set 16 Jan 1861 as the date for the convention to open. After Georgia cast her lot with the Confederacy, the men of Murray rallied to protect their homeland. Ten full companies went to the front from Murray County. At least 1000 men enlisted in Murray County and several hundred others enlisted in surrounding counties such as Whitfield, Gilmer, and even in Tennessee.
I have found no records of my Jernigan's enlisted in the war but my great grandfather, John Jackson Jernigan, told many stories about when he was a very young boy. When all the older Jernigan men left to fight and about hardships the family suffered during the war. Many articles were written about the sad conditions in the county by 1864. In the "Civil War Diary of John Coffee Williamson", he wrote on 14 Apr 1964, "I came on into Murray ... and found many ... glad to see us ... The bushwhackers are having everything their own way, and are taking any kind of property they want ... Passed through Spring Place and found things in a very dilapidated condition."
Sarah Jernigan died sometime during the 1860's because in the 1870 census, Isaac is living with his daughter, Sarah Evans and family in Ellijay, Gilmer, GA, and is listed as a widower. Nancy and Phoebe, two of the daughters living with the family in the 1860 census, are not listed in 1870.
Isaac is still living with his daughter, Sarah Jane Evans, and her five daughters in the Ellijay, Gilmer, GA, 1880 census. He is now approximately 84 years old. I had originally thought Isaac died and was buried in Ellijay. I discovered a few years ago through contact with one of my Jernigan relatives, (James Carter of Chattanooga, TN, descendant of Nancy Jernigan Fore), that Isaac was buried in Benton, Tennessee in the same cemetery as two of his granddaughters, Nancy Jernigan Fore and Mary Jane Jernigan Payne. Nancy died 24 Apr 1890 leaving eight children, with the two youngest twin daughters at 9 years old. Mary Jane died 25 Sep 1896 leaving 9 children with her youngest only 14 months old. There is no death date available for Isaac and he has no gravestone at the cemetery.
I am still working on Isaac's family (among others) searching especially for information on his wife's (Sarah's) family and their daughter Phoebe Jernigan. If anyone has information or helpful suggestions, please contact Dixie Clonts, 1812 E. Bruce Avenue, Gilbert, AZ 85234-6108, telephone at (480) 632-5498, or email [email protected],
Editor's note: This is the fourth stage of "Marion Hargrove's Reasonable Ancestor Approach" and will begin with Henry Jernigan, Sr.'s son, John Jernigan, Jr. Henry is dead at this point and his will was described in the previous part three.
JOHN JERNIGAN "Jr." of Loosing Swamp in Bertie, son of Henry Sr., was resident there at the time, and was by then the only John Jernigan around, and his signature as witness serves as an agreeable quitclaim to the estate. (His brother Thomas was also in the neighborhood. On 16 May, a week after the will, Thomas and Jacob Jernigan witnessed a deed, Bertie: 285, in which William Speight of Chowan bought 150 acres on Beverdam Swamp, which Thomas attested to in the May session of Bertie court.)
There is a strange item in Hathaway, vol. 2, no. 4, page 625, "Miscellaneous Items, Bertie Court Records at Windsor: "Tuesday morning 14 Feb 1714/5.
John died in the spring of 1746, leaving his widow Elizabeth and son James. An "inventory" of his personal estate. filed by Elizabeth, includes among other things one Tommahawk, on Trupers pistol, two Testaments, and one Book of Common Prayer.
HENRY JERNIGAN JR., third son of Henry Sr., was born in or before 1695, since he was presumably of legal age in January 1715/6 when he bought land in Chowan Precinct as Henry "son of Henry the Elder" of Nansemond. So far as I know, he was also the only adult son to have bought land in Nansemond, and probably the only one who spent much of his adult life there, I suspect that when he married his cousin William Jernigan's daughter Ann, he was noticeable older than she, and some of his children may have been from an earlier marriage -- but neither his will nor hers makes any such distinction.
Henry Sr.'s will appointed his sons Henry and Jacob co-executors. In the probate, at the August session of the county court, Jacob qualified and was sworn as sole executor. I suspect that by that time Henry Jr. was already settled (or planning to settle) in Johnston County. In April 1738, Bertie E:233, he and his wife Ann sold the land left him by his father to Theophilus Pugh, and the following February 21, 1738/9, at New Bern:
It's like the fellow said: Go West, young man, and grow up with the country. This young man was, according to my calculations, at least 43 years old at the time. The only known children of Henry and Ann are listed in Henry's will of 5 March 1781 in the following order. Sons first: Lewis... Cary... Jacob... Jasper... and then the daughters: Belinda (Stevens)... Elizabeth (Jernigan)... Jemima (Bizzell). In Ann's will of 14 June 1793, the five surviving children, in their mother's order, are Lewis... Elizabeth (Shaw)... Belinda (Gamelion)... Jemima (Bizzell) and Jacob.
The following may seem out of place here, but it is the only damned place I can think to put it. The late great Lillian Jernigan ("Bill") Worley was known to suspect that there was yet another son, one ALEXANDER JERNIGAN, who surfaced in the Mill Creek neighborhood in the 1770's. He witnessed a deed -- 22 February 1774, Johnston deeds E-1:123 -- from Belinda's husband Jacob Stevens to her brother Lewis Jernigan for 150 acres between the two plantations. Witness: [signatures both] William Blackman (jurat), Alexander Jernigan. In a letter dated 21 Nov 1968 -- 25 years ago this very week, and enclosing a carbon copy of her newly-completed book manuscript -- she mentioned this Alexander Jernigan, who, she said, "was in New Hanover and Bladen [counties], and I do believe that he was the son of Henry and brother of Lewis. He probably died in Bladen before Henry made a will."
Bill Worley always had a fairly shrewd reason for her infrequent hunches, and I believe this one was occasioned by the fact that Alexander Jernigan had a son named Cary and that Cary son of Henry had a son named Alexander -- and neither of those names is your everyday Thomas, John or Henry. There was something about that Mill Creek neighborhood that drew Jernigan cousins like flies. Frank Jernigan surmised ... that somebody on Mill Creek must have had a still -- another shrewd hunch, since some of them showed an innate skill in the making of a wholesome and refreshing soft drink called peach brandy. Whatever the draw, Uncle Jakes's Joseph lived there, and numerous of the William Jernigan set, and at least two sons of David-and-Patience's Jesse -- namely, David of Anson and Benjamin of Edgefield Co SC. Jernigans were fond of cousins, and often married them. Henry and Ann. Their daughter Elizabeth and Jacob's Jacob. Jacob's Joseph and a daughter of Lame David. Lame David's Josiah and George-and-Liddy's Mary. Lewis's Kedar and George-and-Liddy's Elizabeth. Thomas's Thomas and David-and-Patience's Isabel. And others. All cousins. All within walking distance of each other. Talk about Togetherness!
The Alexander Jernigan who was there in 1774 may or may not have been the Alexander who in June 1775 enlisted in Captains Wise's Company of the South Carolina Rangers -- born North Carolina, it says here; 24 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall -- and had a long and distinguished military career of 30 days at £20 a month. Whether or no, our Alexander was in Wilmington as early as October 1780, when he was tapped for jury duty. He died there in 1792, leaving three young sons. His son Cary was the middle one; the other two were named David and Benjamin! If I were prone to conjecture -- which, as all of you know by now, I am not -- I would figure that this Alexander was another of Cousin Jesse's boys from Sleepy Creek. A brother of David and Benjamin, both of whom also dallied at Mill Creek on the way to somewhere else. (To Be Continued in Issue 23, September 2001)
Isaak Ray Clonts was born 28 July, 2000. He was 19" and weighed 8 # 1 oz. He is the son of Matt and Mindy Clonts, grandson of Jim and Lee Ann Clonts and the 7th great grandchild of Dixie and Franklin Clonts.
Nathaniel Dixon Ingram, born December 22, 2000, to Margo and Jeff Ingram. Margo is the daughter of Lynda Dee Dixon and granddaughter of Margaret (Jernigan) and OT Dixon. Margaret is the daughter of Benjamin Harrison Jernigan. Then on February 21, 2001, Peyton Elizabeth Glenn was born to parents Ryan and Stephanie Glenn. Ryan is the son of Lynda Dee Dixon.
Franklin DeWayne Clonts of Gibert, Arizona, passed away March 10, 2001 at home after a long bout with cancer. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Dixie Clonts; daughters Debra Jo Lane, Jacque Carolyn Holladay, and Patti Jean Kinkade; son James Franklin Clonts, 18 Grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren. Franklin was laid to rest in the City of Mesa Cemetery on March 14th. All of his children, all but one of his grandkids (Aaron Clonts was in Russia), and his 2 brothers were present.
times since March 30, 2001.