This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: anniecrenshaw Surnames: LEWIS, NOLAND, GIBSON, WOMACK, SMITH, MILLS Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.lewis/13590/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I'm researching my ancestors Jacob LEWIS (1750 VA-1812 Wilkes Co., GA) and Sarah Avery NOLAND (1750 VA-1841 Butler Co., AL). My direct ancestor was Jacob and Sarah's daughter Mary Mariah LEWIS (1773-1855), who married Mansel WOMACK (1770-1826) in Georgia, and settled in Butler County, Alabama. I've found that people tend to mix up the same-name Lewises, especially all the different "Jacob Lewis" men. One of these is Jacob Lewis, born 1778, the son of Jacob Lewis (1750-1812) and Sarah Avery Noland. I hope these notes will help descendants of that line. All the children of Jacob Lewis (1750) are named in an 1812 Wilkes County, Georgia deed where Jacob Lewis' heirs sold some of their father's land in Wilkes County [see Wilkes Co. Deed Book YY, page 592]. Page 592 -- "... This Indenture made this twenty-third day of November in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twelve, and the Independence of America the Thirty Seventh [year] ... Sarah Lewis, David Lewis, John Lewis and Jane his wife, Pearce A. Lewis, Mansel Womack, Jacob Lewis and his wife Elizabeth, John Womack and Sarah his wife, George Lewis, John Nugent and Rosanah his wife, and Noland Lewis and Sarah his wife ... Heirs of Jacob Lewis late of County aforesaid Deceased, on one part, and Thomas Anderson of said County on the other part ... in consideration of Nine hundred dollars ... they do bargain, sell and convey until the said Thomas Anderson a certain tract of land or parcele [sic] of land situated lying and being in the State and County aforesaid..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So here we see that Jacob Lewis (1778) had a wife named Elizabeth in 1812. What was her surname? Quite a few family trees in print and on-line have this Jacob Lewis (1778) married to one or two wives: Sarah Mills or Lucy Smith, or both. He's even listed in Sons of the American Revolution lineage papers (with the earliest Jacob Lewis membership approved in the 1920s) with wife Lucy Smith, and a death "about 1850" - "near Macon, Ga." However, these S.A.R. membership applications give other erroneous information about Jacob Lewis (1778), his parents and his father's military service. Just because a lineage application was approved, it's not absolute truth. There's still a likelihood of research mistakes and human errors. The statements below are abstracted from a copy of an original S.A.R. application form: [The 1920s S.A.R. applicant was a]: Great-grandson of: John B. Lewis [who was] Born in Georgia on May 10th, 1807 Died in Alachue [sic] County, Fla. on June 19th 1884 and Elizabeth Jane Minor, his wife, born in South Carolina on July 16, 1803 and died in Cass County, Tex. on Nov. 10th, 1858 married in Georgia on 1835. Great-Great-Grandson of: Jacob Lewis Jr. [who was] Born in Berkeley County, Va. on May 25, 1778 Died in near Macon, Ga. on about 1850 and Lucy Smith, his wife, born in South Carolina on ____, died in Macon, Ga. on ______, married in 1800. Great-Great-Great-Grandson of JACOB LEWIS, Ensign to Fort Pitt [who was] Born in Berkeley County, Va on April 15th, 1755, Died in Tyler County, Va. on June 23rd, 1840, and Sarah Aubrey Noland, his wife, born in Virginia on Jan. 16, 1750, died in Butler County, Ala. on Nov. 20th, 1841, married in Fredericktown, Md. on Jan. 1st, 1769. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This lineage statement is a mix-up of a Jacob LEWIS from Berkeley Co., Va -- who DID submit a Revolutionary War service pension application saying that he was born in Berkeley County in 1755 -- with the Jacob LEWIS born 1750 (per his father John Lewis' bible record and son Noland Richard Lewis' bible record) who married Sarah Avery Noland in 1769 (bible records) and died in 1812 in Wilkes County, Georgia (probate records and bible records). The Berkeley County "Jacob Lewis" (born 1755) apparently has been confused for many decades with the Jacob Lewis (born 1750), especially in Revolutionary War research. Even the published books on Revolutionary soldiers in Georgia get some of these men mixed up. There were quite a few men named "Jacob Lewis" in early 19th century Georgia. It CAN be confusing trying to identify which man was which in those records. However, there's no doubt which Jacob Lewis died in 1812 in Wilkes County, who his heirs were, and who his wife was. Please look at original records and read the facts if you're a descendant of this family! Back to the son Jacob Lewis born 1778. He obviously wasn't married to a Sarah Mills or Lucy Smith when his father died in 1812. Who was his wife "Elizabeth" named in the 1812 deed? The Wilkes Co., GA Lewises have several connections to GIBSONS. John GIBSON wrote a will in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1826 that was probated in 1827. You can view the original will in the LDS FamilySearch probate record databases. John Gibson's heirs named in that 1826 will include his wife Mildred and, with an equal share among other children: "my Son in Law Jacob Lewis' children." This indicates that John Gibson had a daughter married to Jacob Lewis, and this daughter was deceased when John wrote his will, so John was leaving an inheritance to her children (as was frequently done). Also getting an equal share to Jacob Lewis' children was John Gibson's daughter "Sarah Lewis" -- whose name is mistakenly transcribed as "Sarah SIMS" in every typed copy of this will that I've seen. Her name is clearly "LEWIS" in the original will. And she's obviously married to another Lewis, and isn't the wife of Jacob Lewis. So we have two Gibson daughters married to Lewis husbands. John Gibson's executors were "N. Lewis" and David Allison. Noland Richard LEWIS (born 1791, son of Jacob Lewis & Sarah Avery Noland) married Sarah "Sally" GIBSON, daughter of this John Gibson of Wilkes County. So there's our "Sarah Lewis" of the 1826 will. And her husband Noland Lewis would have surely been the "N. Lewis" who was named executor of John Gibson's 1826 will. This name may appear in full as "Noland Lewis" in other records of the estate; I haven't fully researched the Gibsons and don't know if more Gibson estate papers and/or deeds have these LEWIS names. If you're a direct descendant of these people, I'd strongly suggest further research in Wilkes County records. Remember that the heirs (children) of Jacob Lewis Sr. (1750-1812) sold land in Wilkes County in November 1812 after their father' death, and among those heirs named in the 1812 deed were "Jacob Lewis and his wife Elizabeth" and "Noland Lewis and Sarah his wife." I think we can be fairly sure that brothers Jacob Lewis and Noland Richard Lewis married Gibson sisters, and although Jacob certainly may have married more than once, his wife in 1812 and the mother of his children born until 1826 (to whom John Gibson left an inheritance) was "Elizabeth Gibson." Sarah Lewis Wilson's much-cited 1952 "Lewis" chart says of Jacob Lewis (1778) that his wife was "Sarah" [no surname, and no source] and he moved "to Miss. Terr. 1816." This was the move into Alabama, although he probably didn't come to Alabama quite as early as 1816. Jacob Lewis (1778) obviously lived many years in Georgia before moving to Butler County, Alabama with a number of Lewises, Womacks and other relatives. The earliest Butler County Tract book entries for Jacob Lewis are 1830, 1832 and 1833. His 1830 land patent was the entire northeast quarter of Section 10, Township 11, Range 12. This patent was dated 10th November 1830, to "Jacob Lewis, Assignee of William Drake" who had first patented the land in 1819. Jacob Lewis was counted in Butler County in the 1830 and 1840 censuses, where there were several young males (probably his sons) and NO females in his household. This further indicates that Jacob's wife died before 1830, and if she was John Gibson's daughter, we assume she died before 1826, since her children were named as heirs in her father's will. In 1850, Jacob Lewis (1778) was living in Nacogdoches Co., Texas with his son Jacob Lewis (born 1811 Georgia). Jacob (1778) doesn't appear anywhere that we can find in the 1860 census, so he must have died by then. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's another point of interest and evidence about Jacob Lewis (1778), showing that he did NOT live and die near Macon, Georgia; in Screven County, Georgia; or in any of the several locations you may see in various family trees. In Womack papers and letters gathered from many cousins over the years, I have a copy of an 1831 letter from David Womack of Gadsden County, Florida, to his cousin Jacob Lewis Womack who was living on The Ridge in Butler County, Alabama. Jacob Lewis Womack (1806 GA-1877 Butler Co., AL), called "Lewis" by his family, was the son of Mansel Womack and Mary Mariah Lewis. He was named for his grandfather Jacob Lewis (1750-1812). Jacob Lewis Womack and his parents are my direct ancestors. David Womack's 1831 letter mentions "your uncle Jacob Lewis" -- which, to Jacob Lewis Womack, would be his mother's brother: Jacob Lewis born 1778. 10 Oct. 1831 - "... Tell your Uncle Jacob Lewis I have never heard anything of his children yet." We all know that you wouldn't write a letter to someone in the 1830s saying "tell" another person something unless the letter recipient lived near that other person. So we can safely assume that Lewis Womack lived within visiting distance of his uncle Jacob Lewis (1778) in Butler County. And, the uncle Jacob Lewis had several living children at that time. This certainly matches the 1830 and 1840 Butler County censuses. One of those children living in 1831 was a son, Jacob Lewis (whom we'll call the third: III), born 1811 in Georgia. Descendants in Texas have a great deal of information on this young "gone to Texas" emigrant, who left Alabama and went to Nacogdoches County, Texas in the fall of 1835. Jacob Lewis III (1811) was at the siege of Bexar (San Antonio), which was the first major campaign of the Texas Revolution. He survived the five-day battle and helped escort the civilians back to Nacogdoches, and received a league of land from the Texas government for his services. It would be great to identify the other children of Jacob LEWIS (1778) and his wife Elizabeth (who appears to be a GIBSON). Was his family the "Jacob Lewis" household counted in 1820 in Jones County, Georgia? A Jacob Lewis appears in several Jones Co., GA records, including being a justice of the peace. A Jacob Lewis gave an acre of land to Walnut Creek Baptist Church in Jones County in 1821. Jones County was the residence of Mansel Womack in 1817, whose wife was Mary Mariah Lewis (see Old Cahaba Land Office Records, where Mansil Womack purchased land in September 1817 with his residence then Jones Co., GA). There are quite a few children in the Jacob Lewis household of 1820 Jones Co., GA. I wish we knew who they all were! The 1830 and 1840 Butler County censuses suggest three sons born 1800-1820, including Jacob born 1811. The 1820 GA census indicates that there were probably other sons and daughters who died or married and moved out of the household before the 1830 AL census. If you're a Jacob Lewis descendant or researcher with more information, I'll be glad to hear from you and share further research notes. Annie Crenshaw Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board. <br>