James Witty (abt. 1768 - 1830-40), Booth Family Tree
post from Feb. 2019, some clarification addedHe was born around 1768, and has several Quaker documents about him and his family from Guilford County, North Carolina - but no birth record. It could have been lost, or he might not have been a Quaker from birth.
The New Garden Meeting (Guildford County NC) has a beautifully penned introduction, mentioning that it would record births and deaths, and especially work around the 11 lost days in Sept. 1752 (when the calendar moved from Julian to Gregorian according to England finally changing it's calendars). But nobody is mentioned in the introduction itself. It should also be remembered that until 1752, the Western Christian Feast of the Annunciation, on March 25, also called "Lady Day" was considered the first of the new year. And since the Quakers don't use the Roman names of months or days, there was First Month, Second Month, etc. So I'm not sure (like many genealogists) of when these events actually happened which are recorded as, say, 3rd of Fourth Month, etc.
James Witty's birth is listed in an index (again hand written) with a number 240 next to it which was a page number.
His children's birth's are recorded, as well as early deaths. Only 2 of the 5 may have made it through childhood apparently (at least as far as these records provide). I know 3 died early. His wife, Mary, also died around 1792.
Updating this post in 2021, I found eldest son, William b. 1783, died in 1788. Elizabeth is the only child I don't have a date of death for yet...born in 1792, the last child of her mother Mary. Ancestry has copied again the Guilford minutes of the meeting, but gives 6 - 11 - 72 as June 11, rather than sixth day of the ll th month of 1792. And they read the handwritten year as 1791, when the typist has put it as 1792.
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| See the typed version below...with months listed as left numerals (but again, in Quaker version) |
The minutes of the New Garden monthly meeting in 1806 report that James Witty had removed with his family to the visit (?) of the Miami Meeting. (This location is unknown to me, the modern one is in Ohio.) Since he hadn't followed their proper procedure, another member was going to visit him and make sure everything was alright and report back next monthly meeting.
In the next meeting minutes, a report is made that the Friends who visited James Witty and his family gave a certificate saying all was well with them.
He apparently remarried in 1800 or so to Lucretia Wells (Witty) in Tennessee. This has no documentation however. Their first son, George Witty (1808-1865), was indicated to have been born in TN in 1805. But with the notation of the New Garden Meeting of Friends that it was 1806 when his family moved from Guilford County, NC, I question that these 2 events happened in TN. I also found that his son George had a headstone which says he was born in 1805, but there are newspaper clippings (just found on Ancestry) saying he was the first child born in Limestone County, AL in 1808.
I believe that the records saying both the marriage and the birth were in TN are due to the boundaries of the states being close to one another. It's possible the marriage was in NC or TN with or without any records, but that the birth of George Witty was in their new home along the border of TN and AL. My hunch is based on the Guildford Quaker document of 1806 about the family moving, and the newspaper clipping. But there seem to be no records saying that TN was indeed the location of these events. So we don't know where the indication of TN marriage and birth came from. And some Quakers just marry by saying they are doing so in presence and the witness of other Quakers.
Anyway, back to James. His second wife was named Lucretia not Elizabeth. Her father's will (James Wells d.1810) states "Lucretia Witty" would receive some money, as well as "her sister Elizabeth Riece." That's enough for me to put two and two together and know Elizabeth Wells Riece wouldn't have had a sister named Elizabeth Wells Witty...and so now there's correction of her first name (born in 1775 in Surry County NC.)
James Witty left Guilford NC (The New Garden Meeting) and took off for the frontier through TN, and then to Alabama, and he met and married Lucretia. His first 5 children died by 1794, except perhaps Elizabeth. But he had a land claim which is mapped. It's rather confusing, but apparently he was one of the founders of that area, on the border of Tennessee. There's a better copy of this map somewhere, showing James Witty's land.
While I was looking at Uncle George Witty's Ancestry site, I found a photo of the Witty Cemetery in Limestone County, Alabama. It was completely overrun by trees, but the photo of George's headstone looks as if someone might have cleared it out. I would imagine Grandpa James is also buried there, as well as other Witty's living and dying in that area. (Uncle George was a older brother of my 3 x great grandfather, Carroll Witty (1818-1898) who was born in Limestone, AL, then moved from Alabama to Texas.
And updating information on Feb. 25, 2021...
The 1830 Census has James Witty with the following people living in Limstone, AL. It is believed that James died in that year...or soon after this census.
Lucritia Witty was 55
After Jame's death, Lucretia Witty remarried in 1837 to Lewis Barnett, in IN. He mentions her to receive the proceeds from his property in his will in 1849. His executor is his brother. There are no children mentioned in his will.
Carroll Witty was in the 1840 census on his own (age 22)...in Limestone AL. He has several other people living with him, but he didn't marry Susan Hoke Witty until 1843. Of all the sisters/brothers in his family, I can't figure out who they are in that census...there were 7 of them, two of whom were in their 40s, male and female. But both of these Witty censuses didn't have any slaves in their household.
Lucretia's life is certainly interesting...and confusing. There were several other documents about her marrying John Ellis in the same year she married James Witty, or while she was having children in the Witty family. So it may be possible that she had Ellis as a husband somehow. I've kept a copy of a photo of a headstone for Lucretia Ellis in KY. Unfortunately it isn't clear enough to read.
She was my great times 4 grandmother.
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