Here is a thought. . . What was John "Pegleg" Whitaker's middle name? Some sources give his middle initial as "J". Pegleg is often referred to in official records as John Sr. and his son, John J. Whitaker, is often referred to as John Jr. Some sources give the younger John's middle name as Jerigan. If all these sources can be beleived than the obvious conclusion is that Pegleg's middle name was "Jerigan". But why "Jerigan". . . sounds like a surname. As it has always been common to give a son his mother's surname for a middle name we might assume that Pegleg's mother's maiden name was "Jerigan". One problem. . . try to find any records containing the surname "Jerigan", it is rather uncommon. Perhaps the name is "Jernigan" which is a more common surname. Much speculation has been made as to the true identities of the parents of John "Pegleg" and Mark Whitaker. The common belief that their parents were Marcus Whitaker, son of William Whitaker and Elizabeth Carleton, and Tabitha, of whom we do not have a surname. Other sources state that their parents names were Mark and Anne. All this came to me as I lay in bed not sleeping but thinking. If I could find a Tabitha or Anne Jerigan or Jernigan in NC in the mid 1700s, I might be on to something. What I came up with surprised me as I did not expect results. The following is an excerpt from the book, "Colonial Bertie Co." by Mary Best Bell (at DAR). Bertie Co. is in NC. *** D-275 Thomas Watson to Henry Jernigan of Bertie 5/1735 12 lbs current money of Va for 200A SS of Achaswamp (Cashie Swamp?) wit: Jacob Jernigan, Anne Jernigan, Henry Baker *** Note that there WAS an Anne Jernigan in NC at the same time we would expect John "Pegleg" and Mark's mother to be present. I'm not claiming this is Pegleg and Mark's mother but the possibility certainly exists. Donald G. Brown, a descendant of Pegleg, has done more research on the issue of John and Mark's parents than anyone I've yet encountered. He is convinced that John and Mark were the sons of Mark and Anne Whitaker and not descendants of William Whitaker and Elizabeth Carleton. Don Brown has produce a good deal of evidence to support this theory. -Robert Scott Whitaker