James Henry Francis SNODGRASS

Other Events:

• _UID: 04D237797B1A4DF185DBFD96DF463D8E3C69

Notes:

He was named in a court hearing as being the orphan child of Ann Snodgrass (Jackson). Henry Davenport was named guardian.

Other Events:

• _UID: C4D92B5F80C147ED8588747CCE0F8CD8DAE3

Notes:

He did not leave a will. Mary Ann was his Adminx.  Recorded Washington Co. VA Will Book, 16, page 32, recorded May 1, 1862.  It is suspected he is buried at Blackwell's Chapel.

James married Mary Ann WHITAKER Abt 1838. Mary (daughter of Moses X. WHITAKER and Mary (Polly) BOWMAN) was born Abt 1818, Washington Co. VA; died Bef 1870, Washington Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: D5D65667985042C686203378E091F59CAB36

Notes:

The 1840 Washington County, Virginia Census has James, David and Joseph Snodgrass all living in close proximity.

1850 Washington County, Virginia Census. HH # 488 - .James M. Snodgrass, 38, Mary Ann, 32, William, 12, Elivea (Ellen), 8, Helen, 5.

Sept. 29, 1856.. Washington County, Virginia Deed Book 23, page 346 James Snodgrass bought land for $1.00 from Joseph Worsham and wife, Nancy McNew, for a meeting house for free religious worship at the forks of the creek running from James Meadow's and I. N. Logan. This is present day Blackwell's Chapel.

1858.. Washington County, Virginia.. James and Mary Ann bought a tract of land in Washington County, Virginia on the south side of Little Mountain...bound on east by her brother, Calvin and on the west by Andrew Taylor's place.  Exact number of acres not known. This land is now owned by James & Mary Ann's great-great-great grandson, Tommy Worley.

1860 Washington County, Virginia Census...James M. Snodgrass, 48, Mary Ann, 42, William, 21, wife, Abigail(Murdock), 19, Ellen, 18, Julia 5, Henry Francis, 5 months.
 
Oct 9, 1858.. Washington County, Virginia Deed Book 24, page 210..James Poston to James M. Snodgrass - gives as collateral a small bay mare and increase. 1 cow, 2 heifers, 10 head of small hogs, 25 bushels of corn.. in trust to secure Joseph Poston payment of $100. plus interest on or before 9 Oct 1860..Deed of Trust ack'ed and adm to record 9 Oct 1858.

May 12, 1862, Mary Ann Whitaker Snodgrass held a sale of James' personal property.  The buyers were Oscar Akers, Abby F. Snodgrass, David Worley, Calvin M. Whitaker, John Taylor, Madison Holly, John D. Blackwell, I. N. Logan, Joseph Murdock and Joseph Snodgrass.
 
Feb 22, 1864, Henry Davenport, brother-in-law, was named guardian of her two youngest children, Julino O. and Henry Francis Snodgrass.

Oct 28, 1864, Washington County, Virginia Deed Book 26, page 211.....Mary Ann sold to Julina O. Snodgrass , her daughter and Henry Francis Snodgrass, her son all the real estate her late husband, James M. Snodgrass had left.  Mary Ann retains her life interest in the real estate and one half increase of the personal property (meaning livestock).
 
November 3, 1864, Mary Ann Whitaker Snodgrass married John R. Jackson, widower, age 53, born Russell County, VA., son of William Jackson and Mary Hunt.  Mary Ann was 47 years old at this time.  The minister who performed the marriage was J. T. Davenport.

May 29, 1869, Washington Co. VA Deed Book 27, page 676...A. G. Thompson, Attorney-in-fact of John Gordon Ogden and Jane C. Ogden, and heirs and legal representatives of James M. Snodgrass, deceased..a sale and conveyance made about 1858 by said Thompson, attorney...sold by him to said James M. Snodgrass lying on south side of Little River, bounded on the east by Calvin Whitaker and on the west by Andrew Taylor, formerly Mitchell Talbert.

1870 (Ref: She was not listed in the 1870 Census) Buried Blackwell Cemetery. The date of her death is gone from the stone and no exact date has been found.

July 1, 1878.. Washington Co. VA WB 20; pages 61/63 Henry Davenport, adm. of Ann Jackson, deceased...amount transferred to self as Guardian of Julino O. & Jas. H. F. Snodgrass, orphan children of Ann Snodgrass, dec...paid to F. N. Webb on his wife's distribution share of a sale note and Interest thereon against Jno. R. Jackson which was uncollected, having been referred to arbitrators who decided against the estate...submitted 01 Jul 1878; Adm. To record 30 Aug 1878.

Other Events:

• _UID: 548F4526C723482A974495202CF52424A321

Notes:

[Family Bible Record of Meek Family at Virginia State Library, 67-13 Washington  Co. Records Collected by Margaret W. Huff....Poley Snodgrass married the 24 day  of July 1809 to David Snodgrass] 

David married Mary (Polly) MEEK 24 Jul 1809, Washington Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 41945327E9BF41C891A25B6F62C5FE466850

Notes:

[Family Bible Record of Meek Family at Virginia State Library, 67-13 Washington Co. Records Collected by Margaret W. Huff....Poley Snodgrass married the 24 day of July 1809 to David Snodgrass]

Other Events:

• _UID: 2538EFF61BB54D74896391A55C88F54D1B24

Notes:

Benjamin Whitaker reported in the above report that he was from a family of nine [9] children. Five sons and four daughters. Other research by John Weldon Whiteaker states the Bible of Absalom Rufus Whitaker, son of Moses Whitaker lists in his handwriting "My grandfather, Richard Whitaker had 11 boys and three girls - Giles, Aaron, John, James, Moses, Benjamin and Thomas. [7 named] and Rachel[Catherine] who married Adam Fudge, Mary [Polly] who married Harry Webb4 and Elizabeth Whitaker who did not marry."

Nov 25, 1814 WCV [Deed Bk 6, page 21; page 319 in DB index] Richard Whitechor [Whitaker] and his son, Moses purchased two [2] tracts of land belonging to Charles Thurman and his wife, Barbara, all of Washington Co. VA for $600. containing 113 acres, patent bearing date of 10 Sept 1787 and 50 acres, patent bearing date of 5 Nov 1798, lying on both sides of the North Fork of the Holston River.  The 113 acres begins at a beech tree in an island corner to John Lee and crossing the river and a corner to John Lee on the south side of Little Mountain. p.6

Moses and his father bought the first 113 acres which lay on both sides of the North Fork of the Holston River a few miles from Hayters Gap near present-day Tumbling Creek.

CENSUS U S 1820 Washington cty VA next page as father Richard & James, same page as Aaron.

May 15, 1839...Chancery Execution Book A, Page 182, Moses Whitaker and wife and others VS Samuel Bowman and others over the estate of Mary's father Esaias Bowman. This cause came on the 15th day of May 1839 to be heard upon the bill, the answer of Uriah Bowman and the verdict of the jury rendered upon the issues to ascertain whether the paper in the bill mentioned is the last will and testament of Esaias Bowman, deceased, and was argued by counsel, and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that the specifications and conditional order has been returned executed on Samuel Bowman, Benjamin Bowman, Esaias Bowman and Aaron Bowman more than four months before the commencement of this term, and they still failing to appear and answer, the bill as to them is taken as confessed..and it also appearing to the satisfaction of the court, that the order of publication, awarded at the rules in the Clerk's office against the defendants, Absalom Bowman and George Washington Bowman, has been duly posted and published, and they still failing to appear and answer, the bill as to the, is taken for confessed..and Wm. S. Logan, Sheriff of Washington County, to whom the estate of Esaias Bowman, deceased, with the bill annexed, was committed to be administered having consented that this cause might be heard and determined at this term..it is therefore adjudged, ordered and decreed, that the paper in the bill mentioned purporting to be the last will and testament of Esaias Bowman, deceased, and which bears date on 24 Aug of 1837, and which was admitted to record in the county court of Washington County on 23 day of Oct 1837, is the true last will and testament of Esaias Bowman, deceased, and therefore, it is further ordered and decreed the plaintiffs ill be dismissed and that the defendants recover their costs by them about their defense in this behalf expended.
 
May 17, 1839..Chancery Execution Book A, page 14, Samuel, Benjamin, Uriah, Absalom, Aaron and George W. Bowman VS Moses Whitaker and Polly, wife, and Sheldon Thompson and Anny, his wife.  Decree May 1839 for $56.63 defending suit in chancery. Levied forthcoming bond taken and forfeited.

Nov 23, 1846..page 4  Minute Book 8, WASHINGTON CO. VA Moses Whitaker appointed overseer of road leading to Russell County, VA through Hayters Gap.

Aug 13, 1850 Washington Co. VA Census  67th Dist. HH 453/453  Moses Whitaker,55, Farmer, born NC, Polly, 51, born TN, Anne, 32, Wm, 28, Calvin, 26, Lydia, 24, Moses, 19, Rufus, 17, Julia, 14, Adaline, 11.

Oct 9, 1852 Deed Book 21, WASHINGTON CO. VA  Page 240/41..James C. Hayter, Tabitha, wife, one and Moses Whitaker, other..$40.00 land both sides NFHR; 95 acres, formerly belonging to James Fuller, Sr. dec. which by death willed to his children and heirs, 9 of them. Tabitha is one. 27 Dec 1852.

Moses purchased land with his father, Richard from Charles Thurman and his wife, Barbara. In 1855, Moses purchased 200 acres of land from Andrew J. Hayter, Washington County, Virginia. Deed Book 22, page 345.  This land in Poor Valley, on the south side of Clinch Mountain to the top of Piney (Little Mountain). This was land Andrew Hayter and his wife  Talitha Fullen had inherited from her father, James Fullen, Sr.

March 28, 1855 Deed Book 22, page 345 Andrew Hayter and Sally (Woodward) wife, to Moses Whitaker, $1,095...land in Poor Valley willed to him by Esau Hayter, father and mother Sarah Elizabeth Allison.

Sept 16, 1858..WASHINGTON CO. VA DB 24..Moses Whitaker and Calvin Whitaker $40.00, both sides of NFHR, 95 acres about, being a tract of land which formerly belonged to James Fullen, Sr., deceased..descended to his children and heirs, 9 of them..Land conveyed to Moses Whitaker by James C. Hayter and Tebitha, wife Oct 27, 1852. 16 Sept 1858 adm. to record.

1860 WASHINGTON CO. VA Census..HH #62.. Moses, 61, Polly, 55, Rufus, 25, Elizabeth, 20, Caroline, 4, Jane 8 months. They are living next door to daughter, Lydia Whitaker Litton.

The Whitakers lived on his property and farmed until his death on September 14, 1875. He is buried in a cemetery on his property, now called the Hayter-Litton Cemetery near Hayters Gap, Virginia. His stone is marked Moses Whitaker, "Father."  Next to Moses is buried his daughter, Lydia E. Whitaker Litton.  Her stone reads Lydia E. Litton, daughter.

March 31, 1871 Will written - Nov 1875,,WASHINGTON CO. VA Will Book 19, page 3..Will of Moses Whitaker:
 
Daughter, Lydia E. Litton to get land purchased from Andrew J. Hayter.  The land is not to be under control of Mr. Litton if he is still alive.  (Mr. Litton was a soldier and died in Utah and did not return.)
 
Deceased daughter, Julina O. Ferrell, her children who are my grandchildren; Moses and Arkansas P. and William Ferrell, a tract of land on the North Fork Holston River near David Worley's homeplace.
 
Daughter, E. A. Davenport, wife of Henry Davenport, lands on south side of Clinch Mountain purchased by me from W.Y.C. White and $400.00.

Son, Calvin, $300.00.

Granddaughter, Ellen, wife of David Worley, $100.00.
 
Granddaughter, Helen Woodward, wife of Newton, $100.00.

Granddaughter, Julina O. Webb, wife of Newton Webb, $100.00.
 
Children of my son, Moses Whitaker, Jr and his wife, Ann, now living in Washington County, Arkansas, $300.00.
 
Absolum Rufus Whitaker, my son, $100.00 All he gets of my estate. This was written in large letters and underlined.
Daughter, Lydia E. Litton, son, Calvin, and the three children of my son, Moses and his wife, Ann, now living in Arkansas what ever I am entitled to as heir of my deceased son, William, who died in the state of Illinois.  This be equally divided among them.

Lydia, Calvin and the children of Moses to have all my personal property to be divided equally.

Clementine Litton to have a bay mare called "Sal".
 
Written March 31, 1871, signed Moses X. Whitaker. Witness: Alexander Little, Branson Little, A. Little, Teste H. Davenport, W. J. Henderson. Securities for Bond $4000.00..James C. Hope, David Worley and F. N. Webb.
 
Dec 4, 1875.Sale bill of personal property of Moses Whitaker. Appraisement of the Personal property of dec...1 red cow, 1 Dun cow, 1 red & white cow and calf, 2 calves, 7 head of hogs, 1 cupboard, 2 iron kettles, 1 churn and lard can, 2 steel traps, 1 half bushel, pitcher, wash tin cup, 1 falling leaf table, 1 bureau, 1 clock and 1 book, 24 stacks of hay, two off south and half on southern, 2 bed steads at 3 each, 1 old still, 1 broad axe and old irons., 6 Windsor chairs, 2 split bottom chairs, 1 old kettle and oven, 1 old anvil, 1 small falling leaf table, 1 cupboard, 1 pot trumble, Fire dogs, 1 old vise and 17 Harrow teeth. Henry Davenport, Adm of Appraisement; Witnessed by Andrew J. Taylor, Branson Little and John C. Johnson.

Calvin Whitaker bought the chairs (all 8 of them), Lydia Litton, bought 1 bedstead, 1 old still, among other things; a Mrs. Akers bought the kettle and oven.

18 May 1876..WASHINGTON CO. VA..In the Clerk's office of this County Court of Washington County, the foregoing Appraisement of the personal property of Moses Whitaker, dec. was delivered and admitted to record.
 
Henry Davenport, Administrator of will for Moses Whitaker..In account with the estate. To amount in hands of Administrator $284.63..By amount paid L. Baugh on fees..$21.25 leaving balance of $263.38. Received from Margaret Burke debt $27.00. Paid $67.78 to attorneys, White & Buckanan for A.S. Gregg, guardian of C.H. and E.J. Whitaker. Paid attorneys $135.55 for William Whitaker. Paid $119.89 to Daniel Trigg, Trustee of William K. Heiskell. Paid $25.00 to Leonidas Baugh for claims & fees. Paid Lydia Litton and Calvin Whitaker 1/3 of amount received from Margaret Burke. Leaving a balance to the estate of $75.54.

Who is Margaret Burke? Could this have been a sister to Moses Whitaker? 

Also this estate received money from a lawsuit...from Campbell and Trigg, attorneys on debt vs H. C. Gibbons and White..$1300.00; amount received from same debt $588.81; amount received from Sheriff on same debt..$340.00. The people named in Moses Whitaker's will were paid..S.N. Honaker, Trustee for Julia O. Webb, $40.00; David Worley and wife, Newton Woodward and wife were each paid $50.00.

Buried:
Grave location:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=WHIT&GSfn=M&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=48&GScntry=4&GSsr=81&GRid=46430950&

Moses married Mary (Polly) BOWMAN. Mary (daughter of Esias BOWMAN and Ann Cawood) was born Abt 1805, TN; died 10 Feb 1870, Washington Co. VA; was buried , Esaias Bowman's Farm, Washington Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 51D04029439F4799A1AE4C2D040A5439AF77

Notes:

Buried at Bowman Farm Cemetery on her father's farm on the Holston River, Washington Co. VA below the big bridge on Logan's Road.  The cemetery was overgrown and lost for years, but appears to have been found in the 1980's.

Had a son who appears in the 1820 WASHINGTON CO. VA Census, probably died before 1830.

May 15, 1839...Chancery Execution Book A, Page 182, Moses Whitaker and wife and others VS Samuel Bowman and others over the estate of Mary's father Esaias Bowman. This cause came on the 15th day of May 1839 to be heard upon the bill, the answer of Uriah Bowman and the verdict of the jury rendered upon the issues to ascertain whether the paper in the bill mentioned is the last will and testament of Esaias Bowman, deceased, and was argued by counsel, and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that the specifications and conditional order has been returned executed on Samuel Bowman, Benjamin Bowman, Esaias Bowman and Aaron Bowman more than four months before the commencement of this term, and they still failing to appear and answer, the bill as to them is taken as confessed..and it also appearing to the satisfaction of the court, that the order of publication, awarded at the rules in the Clerk's office against the defendants, Absalom Bowman and George Washington Bowman, has been duly posted and published, and they still failing to appear and answer, the bill as to the, is taken for confessed..and Wm. S. Logan, Sheriff of Washington County, to whom the estate of Esaias Bowman, deceased, with the bill annexed, was committed to be administered having consented that this cause might be heard and determined at this term..it is therefore adjudged, ordered and decreed, that the paper in the bill mentioned purporting to be the last will and testament of Esaias Bowman, deceased, and which bears date on 24 Aug of 1837, and which was admitted to record in the county court of Washington County on 23 day of Oct 1837, is the true last will and testament of Esaias Bowman, deceased, and therefore, it is further ordered and decreed the plaintiffs ill be dismissed and that the defendants recover their costs by them about their defense in this behalf expended.


Buried:
Grave location:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Whiteaker&GSiman=1&GScnty=2893&GRid=105311837&

Other Events:

• _UID: CDFDA936E78348BFA469B23A8407826B8B7C

Notes:

Richard Whitaker of North Carolina and Washington County, Virginia by Joye Boardman

The significant portion of the information on Richard Whitaker and Rachel Bentley's descendants comes from Joye Boardman's book which is out of print. She kindly provided me her material via email with permission to post on this website.

"For a time it was thought Richard Whitaker, born 1752, was a son of Richard,Sr. and wife, Elizabeth Cary of Halifax Co., NC. After careful and extended research from many different sources,this Richard is not a son of the Halifax County Whitakers. It is possible he is a relative of the large Whitaker family from Virginia and North Carolina but that must be researched further." 

David Whitaker, son of Benjamin and grandson of Richard, tells in the History of Oregon, page 886, that "Grandfather Richard Whiteaker emigrated from Wales previous to the Revolution and settled in North Carolina, where he married Rachel Bentley and reared a family of five sons and four daughters. He was a participant in the Revolutionary war and lived to be eighty-two years of age."

Richard may be the son of either Mark Whitaker or James Whitaker whose adjoining plantations lay southeast of the Bentley plantation on Bear Creek.

Cheryl Duke's notes: The evidence is pointing in this direction for several reasons. No immigration record has been located o his coming from Wales, nor is there any record of his being an indentured servant.

Given the patterns of families and neighbors migrating from one location to another,it was unusual for a man without any ties to come into an area and be readily accepted. Especially to marry into an extended family like the Bentley's. Also, a person needed to have farming and survival skills to settle on the frontier. Coming from Wales and settling in the wilderness, a person would need friends or family to help in the process of adjustment. With the Whitaker's and the Bentley's both being from counties in Maryland that were close to each other, there would probably be a comfort and connection that would make it easier to establish communication and being neighborly.

So it is more likely that Richard is the son of James Whitaker, as the name Mark doesn't appear in the names of his son or his descendants. On the other hand, Mark Whitaker Jr.'s offspring do continue its use. Only DNA evidence will ultimately confirm what written records do not.

Continuation of Joye Boardman's research

NORTH CAROLINA COURT AND LAND RECORDS

The Rowan County North Carolina Court Minutes dated 8 Aug 1778 list those persons who "refused of neglected" to take the Oath of Allegiance to the state. Included in the list for Capt. Lyon's District is the name Daniel Bentley, and the names of Bentleys neighbors: Mesheck Davis, John Willcockson, Snr., Mark Whitacre, Adam Hall Snr., Samuel Willcoxson and Israel Willcoxson being also on the list.

From Civil Action Papers, Lincoln Co., NC Richard Whitaker vs Michael Buff. In same papers, Whitakers on a 1782 List of Rowan County property owners, summoned with regard to confiscation of their property: Alexander, Henry, James, Jiles, Richard. See Rowan County Register August 1988 by Jo White Linn.

A list dated 3 November 1782 details the names of men living in Capt. Pearson's Company who were summoned by William Butler, constable, to show why their property should not be confiscated. Included in the 1782 list are the names of Anthony Pealor [Peeler], John Wilcockson, Danul [Daniel] Lewis, and "Richard Whitaker Runaway." "Runaway" simply meant the individual was no longer in the area. This was Richard Whitaker's case as he moved with Thomas Bentley's family in 1782 to Lincoln County, North Carolina, having married Thomas Bentley's daughter, Rachel Bentley.

Note from Cheryl Duke: It appears the families were victims of claim jumping, In 1777, a confiscation act was passed during during the Revolutionary War, seizing the lands of Lord Granville for the state of North Carolina. Settlers on Granville lands had to reapply for a new state land grant to their farms, and many lost everything to claim jumpers. Also on this list were John, Henry, Alexander and James Whitaker, along with Jiles Whitaker listed as a runaway (meaning he was no longer in the area).

Rowan County, North Carolina Tax Lists 1757-1800 Annotated Transcriptions, by Jo White Linn, 1995, Preface pp. xi - xv. "Because Rowan County lay within the Granville Proprietary and because the Granville Land Office snapped shut in 1763 and never reopened, there was no way for a person to gain title to vacant land for the fifteen year period until the State Land Office opened in 1778. Because many of the settlers who flooded into the area during the period could not gain title to land, their names do not appear in the deed records and cannot readily be confirmed by other records."

"Conscientious objectors, such as Quakers, Moravians, Menonists, and Dunkers, and those who refused to swear allegiance to the State were charged a three fold tax." Mark Whitaker was listed on the list of those not taking the oath of allegiance, so if the family was percieved as being Loyalists or Tories, then they paid in money and enmity from Patriot neighbors.

In 1782 Thomas, his wife Hannah, and some of the children moved to the Indian Creek area of eastern Lincoln County, North Carolina. Accompanying Thomas and Hannah were Daniel and Nancy (Lewis) Bentley; Meshack Davis, who had married Thomas and Hannah's daughter Lydia about 1774 in Rowan County; Richard Whiteaker, and his wife Rachel Bentley; and Thomas and Hannah's daughter, Margaret, who would later marry William Yonts in Lincoln Co. NC.

Rachel's sister Mary married Aaron Freeman according to the Rowan County records. "Freeman, Aaron to Mary Bently, 17 dec 1769, Bentamin Bently, bondsman, Thomas Frohock, wit consent from Thos. Bently for his daugher Mary, 17 dec 1769, Benjamin Bently, James Freeman, wit."

Richard Whitaker was a very good friend of Aaron Freeman, and they named their sons Aaron, Benjamin & Thomas.

On 1 September 1795 the widow Hannah Bentley and her son, Daniel, sold to George Savage and Catherine Bollinger the plantation on which Hannah lived.

1 September 1795. Hannah Bentley & Daniel Bentley of Lincoln County to George Savage & Catherine Bollinger, both of Lincoln County, for 20 pounds, a tract of land that Thomas Bentley bought of Thomas Welch in Lincoln County on the waters of Indian Creek on the south side of the creek, it being the plantation she [Hannah Bentley] now lives on. It being the land [25 acres] that was accepted [excepted] in the deed that Daniel Bentley made to Jacob Bollinger [doesn't give boundaries] Signed: Hannah Bentley (her mark), Daniel Bentley. Witnesses: Benj. Moore, Richard Whiteakker, William Yonts. Lincoln Co., NC, Deed Book 18, page 146.

Richard and wife, Rachel, moved to Washington County, Virginia, from the Lincoln County area of North Carolina. This is where Richard resided until his death on 18 October 1838.

WASHINGTON COUNTY VIRGINIA RECORDS

Richard Whitaker came into Washington County, Virginia from North Carolina sometime around 1796.  [Ref: Washington County, VA Personal Property Tax Lists 1782-1840].  Listed are Giles Whiteacre and Richard Whiteacre. Richard Whitiker  is listed with various spelling of the name from 1796 until his death. The 1810 Index to the Census of Virginia lists Richard Whitaker living next door to James Whitaker.  Isaac Whitaker is listed under a different household.
 
It can only be conjectured as to why Richard and his sons came into Washington County, Virginia; perhaps they were attracted to the salt deposits on the North Fork of the Holston River.  They evidently had means as they purchased land shortly after coming in the County. Dr. Joseph E. Williams, Professor at Emory & Henry College suggested they perhaps came for the salt at Saltville, VA.

Benjamin Whitaker  stated he had 5 brothers and 4 sisters. Absalom Rufus Whitaker, grandson of Richard named seven brothers and three sisters in his Bible.  Why the others were not named remains a mystery. They could have been older or died as youngsters. 

1810 Federal Census Washington Co., VA. Richard Whitaker is listed with 1 free white male, 10-16 [Thomas}, 2 males 16-26 [Benjamin & Moses], 1 male, 45 or older, [himself], 2 free white females under 10, [Mary & Elizabeth], 1 female, 10-16, [Catherine], 1 female 26-45, [Rachel]

Nov 25, 1814 Washington Co VA [Deed Bk 6, page 21; page 319 in DB index]  Richard Whitechor  [Whitaker] and his son, Moses  purchased two [2] tracts of land belonging to Charles Thurman and his wife, Barbara, all of Washington Co VA for $600. containing 113 acres, patent bearing date of 10 Sept 1787 and 50 acres, patent bearing date of 5 Nov 1798, lying on both sides of the North Fork of the Holston River. The 113 acres begins at a beech tree in an island corner to John Lee and crossing the river and a corner to John Lee on the south side of Little Mountain. p.6

1815 SW VA Tax Assessments : Julius Davenport, one farm on the North Fork Holston River joining Richard Whitarker.

1820 Census
Name: Rickard Whitecar [Richard Whitaker]
Home in 1820 (City, County, State): Washington, Virginia
Enumeration Date: August 7, 1820
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25: 2
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over : 1
Free Colored Persons - Males - 14 thru 25: 1
Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture: 1
Free White Persons - Under 16: 1
Free White Persons - Over 25: 2
Total Free White Persons: 5
Total Free Colored Persons: 1
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other: 6

1822 Washington County VA:  Richard and John Whitaker  witnessed the will of Rev. Isaac Chapman in 1822, the year Chapman died.  Richard went bond to settle his estate which was settled in 1825.

1824  Washington County VA Deed Book 8, 1822..25, pages 300/301  between John Logan, one and William S. & John Logan, Richard Whitaker, William Apperson, Jacob Morrell, Trustees of Maiden Springs Meeting House and lot-land and tract conveyed to John Logan to Henry's corner Jan 1804.  Recorded 20 July 1824.

1830 Census
Name: Richard Whitaker
Home in 1830 (City, County, State): Washington, Virginia
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 70 thru 79: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 60 thru 69: 2
Free Colored Persons - Males - 10 thru 23: 2
Free Colored Persons - Males - 24 thru 35: 1
Free Colored Persons - Males - 36 thru 54: 2
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23: 3
Slaves - Males - 24 thru 35: 23
Slaves - Males - 36 thru 54: 8
Slaves - Males - 55 thru 99: 1
Slaves - Females - Under 10: 5
Slaves - Females - 24 thru 35: 2
Slaves - Females - 36 thru 54: 1
Free White Persons - Under 20: 3
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49: 1
Total Free White Persons: 7
Total Slaves: 43
Total Free Colored Persons: 5
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored): 55

WILL

Will Book, page 158 WASHINGTON COUNTY, VA dated Jan 13, 1834, probated May 25, 1840.... My wife, Elizabeth to have 1/3 of the land the rest of her natural life. [Elizabeth Blair Chapman married Richard in 1829 and was in his household in 1830 CV Census]
 
My three grandchildren, Ruth E. Whitaker, Mahala Whitaker and James G. Whitaker to receive the other 2/3 of said estate. [NOTE: These three grandchildren were children of his daughter Elizabeth Whitaker who did not marry.  See 1830/1840 WASHINGTON COUNTY, VA Census] p7
 
At my wife's death, the plantation is to be sold and equally divided among my three grandchildren.
 
My son, Moses, to get $1.00
 
My son, Benjamin, the $40.00 which I owe him.
 
I appoint James Whitaker my Exor.
 
Signed: Richard Whitaker  Witnesses: David Campbell, Michael S. Fleenor and John L. Taylor, Bond $1000. Security by N. Snead.

REFERENCES

The following are the references from Joye Boardman's book Richard Whitaker of North Carolina and Washington County, Virginia along with contributions from fellow Whitaker researchers and related families.

Washington County, Virginia Birth, Death, Marriage, Deed Records

1810 Index to Washington Co.Virginia Census

1810 Federal Census

Washington County, Virginia Census.

Hayter/Litton Cemetery, Washington Co.VA.

Washington Co., VA Death Register

Obiturary: Hettie Woodward, Chess F. Woodward, and Dorothy Woodward Montgomery.

Dorothy Ann Callahan Serber, Damascus, VA...Information of Callahan family.

Reserach on Callahan Family by D. B. Callahan, Saltville, VA.

Marriage Records, Smyth Co., VA.

Camp Chase, Ohio Register, Death Record, Grave # 1581.

Russell County, Virginia Census, Birth Records

Washington County, Virginia Wills

Research: On Richard Whitaker and James Whitaker by Joseph E. Williams, Emory, VA.

Marriage Records Washington Co., Virginia

Research by Thomas Colley, Hancerville, AL

Research by Jack Hockett, St. David's, PA

Marriage record research by Linda Gilley, Bristol, TN.

Research by Joye Boardman, Palm Coast, FL

Research by Charles Nelson, Alexandria, VA

Poston Research, Jack Hockett, Thomas Colley

Whitaker Cemetery, Independence, Oregon..Stones copied in 1973 by Mrs. James L. Dyal.

Pinckney's Map of Lee County, Illinois

Williamette Valley Genealogical Society

State Library, Salem, Oregon

The Oregon Argus, Oregon City, Oregon

Frank T. Gilbert, Historical Sketches of Walla Walla, Whitman, Columbia and Garfield Counties.

Hiram Ogden's Description of the Trip across the Plains (2700 Miles).

County Court House, Walla Walla, WA

Polk Co Census, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1889, 1900, 1910.

Oregon Donation Land Claims Book 1, 1241 Book V, #1241

Pacific Christian Advocate Newspaper

History of Willamette Valley, 1885   by H. O. Long

Photographs sent by Bette Hardinge, Palmdale, California

History of Oregon

Lyman's History of Walla Walla County, Vol 1, Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.

Walla Walla, WA Court record,

Polk Co., Oregon Marriage Records

Probate Records, Walla County, WA.

1870 Washington Territory, Waitsburg Township Census

Birth, Marriage, Death Records, Wills Washington Co.VA; Russell Co., VA.

Research by Betty Hardinge, a great-great-great granddaughter of Benjamin Whitaker. Bette died in Florida in 1994 from a heart attack.

J. Gareth Pearson - Information on Benjamin Whitaker line.

Research sent to me on Martha Ann Snodgrass by Mildred Elaine Wilburn Spencer, Houston, Texas.
 

Updated all along Corrections and Additions send to:
Joye Boardman
396 445-8343
7 Waldron Place
Palm Coast, Florida 32164
 

Birth:
Other possibilities are Wales according to his grandson.

Name:
In legal documents he spelled his name Whiteaker.

Richard married Rachel BENTLEY Abt 1782, North Carolina. Rachel (daughter of Thomas BENTLEY and Hannah) was born 1750, Frederick Co. MD; died Bef 1810, Washington Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: BD7EAB91C23A465891ED380F485F1AA53C07

Notes:

It is believed Rachel is also a daughter, due to Richard Whitaker signing as witness to the Bentley land deed.

About 1782 Rachel Bentley married Richard Whitaker while her parents were yet living on Bear Creek in the Forks of the Yadkin.

Rachael Bentley married Richard Whitaker. No record of this marriage has been found either in North or South Carolina, however the proof of their marriage comes from a statement made by their son, Benjamin Whitaker, taken from "The History of Oregon", where he states his parents were Richard Whitaker and Rachel Bentley. In later years, a great-great granddaughter stated Richard and Rachel were married in North Carolina about 1781. Recent research shows the marriage date is probably much earlier as the older sons would have been born by ca 1774. In this same report, Benjamin Whitaker states he was born in North Carolina.

In 1782 Thomas, his wife Hannah, and some of the children moved to the Indian Creek area of eastern Lincoln County, North Carolina. Accompanying Thomas and Hannah were Daniel and Nancy (Lewis) Bentley; Meshack Davis, who had married Thomas and Hannahâ's daughter Lydia about 1774 in Rowan County; Richard Whiteaker, and his wife Rachel Bentley; and Thomas and Hannah's daughter, Margaret, who would later marry William Yonts in Lincoln Co. NC.

Other Events:

• _UID: 8267C9137DB24CF7AB14DE5C44F5B9F1137D

Notes:

DNA testing of his descendants confirm that Esias was a free man of color based on the sub-Saharan (African) markers.

Most African Americans free in Virginia and nearby states in the colonial period were descended from relationships between indentured servants or free persons, and African or African-American indentured servants, free or slave. This reflected the fluid nature of relationships among the working classes before slave rules were made strict.

Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Delaware and Maryland, 1999-2005, Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield, 2005, found that 80 percent of the people listed as "other" or "free Negroes" and "free people of color" in North Carolina in censuses from 1790-1810 were descended from African Americans free in Virginia during the colonial period. In 1822 Virginia, a person was considered legally white with up to one-fourth African ancestry (equivalent to one grandparent) Anyone interested in the origins of free African Americans should study his work, some of which is freely available online.

http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/

Many free African Americans, along with European-American neighbors, migrated to frontier areas of Virginia, North Carolina, and then further west. Such families sometimes settled in insular groups and were the origin of some isolated settlements, which have long claimed or were said to be of Native American or Portuguese ancestry.

In the 18th, 19th and early 20th-centuries, some Americans of mixed European and African ancestry claimed Mediterranean, Arab or Native American heritage to explain skin color and features differing from northern Europeans.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, most free people went by appearance. If they looked white, were accepted by neighbors and fulfilled community obligations, they were absorbed into white or European-American society.

However, at the start of the 20th century in Virginia, Walter Ashby Plecker, the first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics from 1912-1946, drafted and lobbied for the passage of the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. It institutionalized the one drop rule, meaning any person with "one drop of black blood" was considered black. It recognized only two races, "white" and "colored" (black). This did away with the existing law, which had classified persons as white who had one-sixteenth (equivalent to one great-great-grandparent) or less black ancestry.

Because Plecker believed there were few "real" Indians left, as they had intermarried over time with other ethnic groups, he thought "colored" people were attempting to pass as "Indian." He ordered state agencies to reclassify most citizens' claiming American Indian identity as "colored," although many groups of Virginia Indians had continued in their cultural identity, practices and communities.

Plecker's policies had a devastating effect on those with Native American or mixed race ancestry. If they couldn't "pass" for white then they were considered black. No diversity allowed until the 1960's.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR SERVICE

Esaias Bowman fought at the Battle of King's Mountain in the Revolutionary War. He was one of five men of color fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain. The others were Andrew Ferguson, Primes (no last name), Ismael Titus, and John Broddy.

COURT RECORDS

He was a slave-owner. On November 9, 1814, a court document states that he had seven slaves: "Seasor, Tiller, Hannah, William, Jerry, Ruth and Joseph". In 1826, he mortgaged Hannah to one David Campbell for $130.92.

Washington County, VA Slave Importations, Washington County, VA Will Book 4 Pg. 110 [Extracted & Transcribed by Billy Markland]

A Statement of Negroes brought into this State by Isaiah Bowman moveing [sic] from the State of Tennessee viz,

Seasor a Negro man about six feet high & about 30 years of age of a dark complexion, also Tiller his wife about five feet five inches high & about 25 years of age dark complexion, Also four children Hannah a girl Eight years of age of a dark complexion, Also William a boy about six years of age of a dark complexion, Also Jerry a boy about four years of age of a dark complexion, Also Ruth a girl of about two years of age dark complexion, And Joseph a Negro man about Eighteen years of age and of a dark complexion and about five feet six inches high.

[Esaias?] Bowman

Washington Co. Va. Court Minutes Vol 2, p. 214 Moses WHITACRE for benefit of Isaiah Bowman plt. vs. John RUNNELS. Money owed from Dec. 1819.

Washington Co. VA Estray Book 1, 1813-1860, p. 107: estray steer shewn to us by HIRAM FLEENOR; white steer with red speck;¦ $4 18 Dec 1832. /s/ ESAIAS BOWMAN

WILL AND PROBATE

In his will of August 24, 1837, he freed all of his slaves upon his death, which at that time included Teller ("age about 56"), Jerry ("about 27 next Sept 3"), Ruth ("age 34 next Mar 6"), and Agnes Dinah ("age 21 May next 27").

WASHINGTON CO. Va. Chancery Order Bk. A 1831-47
p. 32 May 1843 Moses Whitaker and wife and some others say living children of ESIAS BOWMAN, deceased divided estate without dividing for dead children?s decedents.

p. 182 Moses Whitaker and wife and others vs. Samuel BOWMAN and others. p. 182 Will to be filed as last will and test. of Esaias BOWMAN, dec.

Esias married Ann Cawood. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 0723F602DC2F488AA2051E044215FBE8022A

Notes:

Name:
Also spelled Keywood.