Origins of the Sneed family of Person County

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Capt. Samuel Sneed (1723-1806)

Capt. Samuel Sneed is the earliest identified ancestor of the Sneed family of Granville and Person Counties, NC. He was an early settler of Granville County, North Carolina. Presumably he came from Virginia, though there is little in the way of records to prove this; however, his wife Jane Dudley was the daughter of a Caroline County, Virginia planter.

Between 1761 and 1780, Samuel Sneed acquired 2,131 acres in Granville County. The 1767 tax list for Granville lists him as one of the largest slave owners in the area. The 1786 census records list Samuel Sneed in the Island Creek district of Granville (now Vance Co., NC). By 1800, Samuel Sneed had relocated to the St. James district of Caswell, which later became the southeastern corner of Person County, NC. Here Samuel lived along the Flat River.

By 1769, Samuel Sneed had married Jane Dudley, the daughter of Thomas Dudley of Caroline County, Virginia. Jane's first record is her signature as a witness for the marriage bond of her sister's marriage to Andrew Lea in Amelia county, Virginia where her father had settled by 1768. Jane is also identified as Thomas Dudley's daughter in the will of her brother William Dudley of Nottoway County, Virginia; this will has been misquoted many times, but a review of the original clearly shows her listed as his sister. Many researchers have mis-identified Samuel's wife as "Ruth" Dudley. The mis-identification comes from a coincidence in which a marriage record in Hanover County, Virginia records the marriage of Samuel Farrow Sneed to Ruth Dudley in 1732. Samuel's obituary indicates his birth in 1723, making that date of marriage impossible. In addition to this, numerous records and the naming patterns among Samuel's descendants indicate that Jane is the mother of at least most of his children. She is clearly the mother of Nancy Sneed Gooch, who names one of her eldest daughter "Jane Dudley". Nancy Sneed was born in 1766, further indicating that Jane was married to Samuel early enough to have borne him all his children.

Samuel Sneed died in Person County in 1806. Evidence of his death is found both by his will and by his obituary in the "Raleigh Register"; the obituary provides us with his age; "83" years old [ref: Person Will Book pg. 174 & RR 25 Aug 1806]. Despite his wealth and the numerous documents that he left behind, a full family group of his children has been difficult to form. The main reason for this is that his will names his sons, but he also mentions his "...children already married and settled...". However, through deeds, later estate papers for both Samuel and his wife Jane, and through family tradition the following chidren have been identified:

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