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Chapter IX: Luke and Ezekiel Thomas, sons of James Thomas, I

Only two of James I and Sarah (Barnes) Thomas’ seven children — Luke and Ezekiel, the two older sons — remained in North Carolina. James, the youngest son, and two of the daughters, Laodicea and Lydia, each went to Kentucky in the early 1800’s with their families. During that same period, Selah and Sarah, the other two daughters, moved to Tennessee with their families.

EZEKIEL THOMAS

Ezekiel was about 27 years old when his father, James I, died in 1780. He married Sarah Holland, daughter of Joseph and Mary Magdalene Holland, in Bertie County, North Carolina.1 They had four children:

  1. Sarah (Sally), married Robert Henry Jr., in Bertie County.
  2. Luke, who migrated to Kentucky, later to Tennessee.
  3. Ezekiel Jr., who also went to Kentucky and Tennessee.
  4. Eli, who apparently died young.

In 1773, Ezekiel Thomas witnessed the will of his grandfather, John Barnes Sr. In 1777, he sold property to his uncle, Henry Barnes,2 and on January 20, 1792, he paid 25 silver dollars to Henry Barnes, his uncle, for 60 acres of land on the Cashie Swamp adjoining the road running to his own line by Barnes’ and Abner Eason’s property. Witnesses were Abner Eason and James Thomas II, brother of Ezekiel.

On January 28, 1795, Ezekiel sold William Morris two tracts of land. One consisted of 100 acres adjoining the land of Shadrach Dunning, Joel Holland, his brother-in-law, and John Sholar, for which he paid 100 silver dollars. The other tract contained 50 acres near land of Joel Cook and John Sholar on Daniel’s Pocoson. It was part of the patent granted Joseph Holland, his father-in-law, and which was willed Ezekiel’s wife Sarah when her father died. Both deeds were signed by Ezekiel and Sarah, and witnessed by Keziah Pritchard, Indah Harmon and William Morris Jr.

Apparently Sarah (Holland) Thomas, wife of Ezekiel Sr., died prior to 1799, as on March 2, 1799, Ezekiel Thomas married Elizabeth Weston.3 Some six weeks later, April 15, 1799, Ezekiel paid Charles King $250 for 117 acres of land on Poplar Branch, which seems to have been the last land transaction recorded involving Ezekiel. However, as agent settling the estate of Perry Standley, a cousin, Ezekiel sold to Ralph Outlaw for the sum of seven pounds 10 shillings, one Negro boy named Daniel. This deed was registered in Bertie County in 1801 with James Lawrence and James A. Gardner as witnesses.

Ezekiel Thomas Sr., died in 1809 without making a will, and in order to settle his estate, the Bertie County Court ordered a land division. This land totaled 249 acres and the division is listed in Bertie records4 with a drawing of the three surveys. It reads:

“E. Thomas, Land Division. State of North Carolina, Bertie County Court. May term, 1809, Robert Henry et al, to the court Perto for partition of land, ordered that Solomon Cherry, Jurat; George Bond, Abner Eason, Ralph Outlaw and James Tayloe be summonsed to divide the lands of Ezekiel Thomas decd, among his legal representatives and that they make return of their proceedings to the next court. Jos. Blount, Dy Clerk.

“In obedience to the annexed order, we the subscribers have met at the house of Joseph Eason, Esquire, and divided the lands of Ezekiel Thomas in the above plott. To Sally Henry, lott No. 1, seventy nine acres bounded as followed, beginning at a pine in Henry Powell’s line, thence along his line to Joseph Eason’s line, thence along his line to Henry Barn’s line, thence along his line to a pine and small sweetgum, thence along a line of new marked trees south 34 degrees East along sd line of new marked trees to the first stake; and to Luke Thomas, Lott No. 3, eighty six acres bounded as follows, beginning at a pine and small sweetgum in Henry Barn’s line Sally Henry’s corner, and running along a line of new marked trees south 15 degrees east to the main run of Cashy Swamp Henry Powell’s corner, thence along his line to Sally Henry’s new marked line, thence north 34 west to the first station; and to Ezekiel Thomas Lott No. 2, bounded as follows, beginning at the main run of Cashy Swamp at Luke Thomas’ corner, and running his line north 15 degrees west to his corner a pine and small gum in Henry Barn’s line, thence along his line to the main run of said Cashy Swamp, then down said run to the first station. Given under our hands and seals the 10th day of February 1810.

“Solo. Cherry, Jurat; Abner Eason, George H. Bond, Ralph Outlaw, James Tayloe.

“State of North Carolina, Bertie County Court, February term 1810. This return of the Division of Lands of Ezekiel Thomas, decd, was made at this term by the Commissioners and ordered to be registered. Tests, Solo. Cherry, Jurat, clerk.”

On the margin of the page on which the division was recorded in the book were these words: “Note, there is a mistake made by the Commissioners in this Division Lot No. 3 for Lot No. 2, but I must register it as I find it noted in the return. BN.”

Sally (Thomas) Henry’s husband, Robert Jr., son of Robert Sr., and Elizabeth Henry, died in Bertie County in 1835. He apparently did not leave a will as the county court ordered a land division. This division was recorded December 21, 18355 and involved over 1400 acres of land valued at $4,831. The property was divided among the following children of Robert Jr., and Sally (Thomas) Henry; Eli, Freeman, Peyton, David, Richard, Joseph, Thomas and Elizabeth Henry, and George D. Eliot and wife. Sally (Thomas) Henry is not mentioned in the division and may have died prior to the death of her husband.

The land was listed as being ” . . .near Isaac Perry’s corner, Beaver Dam, and Barnes’ line. . . ” and located in the area between the Cashie and Chowan Rivers in the Southeastern part of Bertie County.

Ezekiel Thomas’s two surviving sons, Luke and Ezekiel Jr., sold the property deeded them in the land division — Luke in 1811, who disposed of his 86 acres to Joseph Eason for 86 pounds and which was listed in the deed as “. . .my part of the land formerly belonging to my father, Ezekiel Thomas, deceased. . .near Cashie River and Eason’s Mill pond and Barnes’ line.”6 Solomon Cherry Jr., and William Thompson were witnesses. This deed was recorded just prior to the time Luke migrated to Kentucky.

Luke Thomas, son of Ezekiel Thomas Sr., was born February 25, 1790 in North Carolina. After selling his property he migrated to Kentucky about 1812. He was married to Elizabeth Burradell in Christian County, Kentucky. March 8, 1813, by Rev. Dudley Williams.7

The 1820 census of Trigg County, Ky., listed Luke Thomas along with his wife, five children — two boys and three girls—all under 10 and two slaves. They had 13 children, five, possibly six, of whom were born in Kentucky and the remainder in Tennessee. They were:8

  1. James Burradell (b. Mch. 4, 1814; d. Apr. 27, 1867) married Caroline Hallum, 1835, nine children.
  2. Calvin Pinkney (b. Oct. 31, 1815; d. Aug. 28, 1882), married: (1) Elizabeth Hallum, Feb. 5, 1840, two children. (2) Susan Jefery Hansbro, Jan. 18, 1851, six children.
  3. Sarah (Sally), married Washington Noell, Aug. 21, 1837, no children.
  4. Burnetta, married Washington Noell (widower of Sarah), Sept. 29, 1840, three children.
  5. Peachie Ann, married Gaines J. Stroud, seven children.
  6. Emeline (d. July 1898) married William H. Traywick, Oct. 19, 1852, six children.
  7. Ezekiel (b. Aug. 23, 1822; d. Mch. 18, 1873), married Rachel Elritta Sparks, Jan. 19, 1853, five children.
  8. Mary Anne (b. June 19, 1827; d. May 15, 1900), married (1) Enoch (Nuck) McAdoo, Sept. 9, 1857, two children. (2) John Conyers, Mch. 28, 1868, three children.
  9. Suphrona C., (b. 1830; d. Feb. 1910), married R. E. (Bob) McAdoo, one child.
  10. Haywood Bledsaw, (b. Oct. 1832; d. Nov. 23, 1905), married Celia Anne Roach, Nov. 1867, 10 children.
  11. Elizabeth Frances, (b. Dec. 11, 1834; d. July 9, 1905), married Pleasant G. Wright, Dec. 8, 1857, six children.
  12. Alabama Tennessee, (b. 1837; d. June 7, 1904), married: (1) Dr. William R. Dansforth, Oct. 14, 1858; d. May 8, 1867. (2) Joseph Hissong, d. Feb. 7, 1885. (3) Jack W. Striblin, d. Feb. 6, 1904 (no children by either marriage).
  13. Matthew L., (Matt), b. 1844, never married. Was killed accidentally April 6, 1862, by a Confederate soldier during the Civil War Battle of Shiloh.

Luke Thomas, oldest son of Ezekiel Thomas Sr., died December 20, 1860, at his home in Carroll County, Tenn., but for some reason, his will was not probated until the January 1863 term of court. In his will he bequeathed land and Negroes to his wife Elizabeth, and other items to his sons, Matt L., who had died in 1862 before the will was probated; James B., C. Pinkney, Ezekiel and Haywood B. Thomas; Elizabeth F. Wright, Alabama T. Dansforth; and grandchildren James C., Elizabeth F., and Mary E. Noell (children of Burnetta.) Sons James, Pinkney and Ezekiel Thomas were named as executors.9 Among the items bequeathed his family were 20 shares of Memphis & Ohio Railroad stock valued at $25 per share, and one share of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad stock at $100 per share.

In 1859 when the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad was being surveyed between Nashville, Tenn., and Hickman, Ky., the route crossed the lands of Luke Thomas, his son, and that of two sons of his brother Ezekiel. In all, five tracts were crossed. Two agreements signed by Luke Jr., son of Ezekiel, granted right of way across ” . . .part of a 1200 acre tract of land in Carroll County, Tenn., Dists 11 and 4 whereon I now live.. . ” He agreed to ask no damages from the railroad unless it changed location. The railroad was not to dig ditches or pits unless it drained them. This agreement was signed August 1, 1859.

Luke Jr’s other agreement granted right of way for a “. . .strip of land that shall be wide enough for the roadbed and embankments, it being the tract whereon I now live.” It was signed March 26, 1860.

On Feb. 2, 1860, Luke Jr., and brother Rufus signed an agreement permitting the railroad to cross a 560-acre tract “. . . allotted to us by our father E. (Ezekiel) Thomas, on the place where on we now live.” The railroad agreed to put in two cattle guards on the line fences.

Also on Feb. 2, 1860, Luke Thomas, Sr., and his son Ezekiel signed separate agreements with the railroad. Luke Sr., granted use of a strip of land necessary for road bed and its uses through part of 302 acres in Carroll County ” . . .it being part of tract of land granted me by the State of Tennessee and the place whereon I now live.” The railroad agreed to make one water pond 25 feet wide and 37 feet long and four feet deep and put in four cattle guards. Luke also reserved all rights to the timber.

Ezekiel’s agreement granted the railroad right of way across a “…strip of land through 150 acre tract purchased by me from James B. Thomas whereon I now live in Civil District 4.” The railroad also agreed to make necessary provision for the stock to pass to and from water, and install cattle guards. As did his father, Ezekiel reserved the timber rights for his own use.

All the agreements were signed by E. Culverhouse for the railroad, and witnesses included: D. H. Stephens, E. H. Martin, E. Gwin and F. W. Turner.10

Elizabeth (Burradell) Thomas, widow of Luke, died Feb. 3, 1870.

Ezekiel Thomas, Luke’s brother, did not sell all of his-North Carolina property until after he had settled in Tennessee. On Jan. 21, 1823, James Cherry of Bertie County, N. C., paid Ezekiel and Abrilla Thomas of Carroll County, Tenn., $399 for 113 acres of land on the north side of Cashie Swamp “. . .being land that formerly belonged to Perry Standley (Ezekiel’s father-in-law) which Ezekiel Thomas holds in right of his wife, Abrilla, formerly Standley, near the Mill branch by property of W. K. Miller, deceased, Jonathan Pritchard, and James Cherry.” The deed was witnessed by John House and Henry A. Powell.11

Ezekiel Thomas Jr., apparently migrated to Kentucky about the same time as his brother Luke, for on November 9, 1813 (some sources say 1812) he married Temperance Thomas, daughter of James Thomas II, in Christian County, Ky. They had one child, Clerry (also called Clarissa) born March 4, 1814. Temperance, his wife, died October 22, 1817, and was buried in the Futrell family burying ground on Donaldson Creek.12

Ezekiel’s second wife was Abrilla P. (also called Abiola, Absilla and Arabella, and spelled Absley on her gravestone) Standley, daughter of Perry Standley, and niece of Mary (Standley) Thomas, wife of James II, whom he married January 1, 1818, on Donaldson Creek, Christian County, Ky. The 1820 census of Trigg County listed Ezekiel as living in the newly formed county with two daughters under 10, apparently one by Abrilla (Standley) Thomas, his second wife, and one, Clerry, by Temperance (Thomas) Thomas, his first wife. He was also listed as owning three slaves.

Both Luke and Ezekiel Thomas were active in the affairs of Trigg County, but in a few years the pioneer spirit struck them for a second time. When Andrew Jackson negotiated for the Jackson Purchase in 1818, the closing of this deal with the Indians opened to settlers all the lands west of the Tennessee River in both Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1822, Luke and Ezekiel and their families left Kentucky and moved to Carroll County, Tenn., which had been formed in 1821. They settled permanently at a community called Hico, a few miles south of present day McKenzie, and later acquired additional land through grants from the State of Tennessee.13 Both are listed in Carroll County minute books as having served on the jury and participated in other affairs of their newly adopted county. Ezekiel is on record as having sold 184 acres of land in 1824 to Robert E. C. Daugherty who, some 10 years earlier, had lived near his aunt, Sarah (Thomas) Greer in Smith County, Tennessee. (See Chapter 10). Two other deeds recorded at Huntingdon, Tenn., seat of Carroll County, concerns sale of 250 acres of land by R. E. C. Daugherty to Ezekiel Thomas for $775. It was dated June 7, 1824. The other, dated Feb. 16, 1825, listed deed from Daugherty for sale of 116 acres to Luke Thomas for the sum of $696.

Ezekiel and Abrilla (Standley) Thomas had eight, perhaps nine, children, most of whom were born in Tennessee. They were:14

  1. Matt, married Bill McCracken, of Huntingdon, Tenn.
  2. Arabella (Bell), married Jim Thompson.
  3. Louise Anna, married Thomas W. Coleman, Jan. 19, 1846.
  4. Amanda, married W. S. Gardner, July 20, 1840.
  5. Alta Zary, married Richard L. Pate, March 10, 1840.
  6. Luke, moved to Arkansas; had at least one child.
  7. Frank, no data.
  8. Rufus (Rufe), no data except that he was living in 1860.
  9. Fulton, drowned in Gwin mill pond near Hico, Tenn.

There is no record of the names of the wives of Ezekiel’s sons. However, a family source says all the son’s children were girls, thus the Ezekiel Thomas Jr., name died with that generation.

Ezekiel Thomas Jr., died January 3, 1850. According to his gravestone he was 58 years old, making his birth year 1792. There is no record in Carroll County that he left a will or that his estate was inventoried and it is very likely that his children simply divided the property among themselves. Neither does a search of the Carroll County records reveal any trace of Ezekiel’s daughter Clerry, the only child by his first wife, Temperance (Thomas) Thomas.

In July 1971, Robert Meredith Thomas, Salem, Virginia, a descendant of Luke, wrote:

” . . .In 1967 my father (Robert Ezekiel Thomas) and I found the burying grounds. . .(in Carroll County, Tenn.) Ezekiel was buried approximately one and a half miles south of Hico station (now only a rail siding) and approximately 125 feet east of the L&N railroad (the old N&NW) tracks. . .There were four stones (1) engraved EZEKIEL THOMAS, departed this life Jan. 3, 1850, AE 58 y’s. (2) engraved ABSLEY P. THOMAS, departed this life April 25, 1852, AE 51 y’rs 4 ms. The other two stones engraved E.T. and A.P.T., were probably foot markers. ”

. . .Luke my ancestor was buried approximately three fourths of a mile north of Hico station and approximately 100 yards east of the railroad tracks. . .There is only one remaining broken tombstone which is engraved: LUKE THOMAS, born Feb. 25, 1790, died Dec. 20, 1860.

GRAVE MARKERS of Luke and Ezekiel Thomas, near Hico, Carroll County, Tenn., where they migrated from Trigg County, Ky., about 1823. Pictures made in 1971 by Robert Meredith Thomas, descendant of Luke.

LUKE THOMAS SR.

Luke, brother of Ezekiel Sr., and uncle of Luke and Ezekiel Thomas Jr., and second son of James Thomas I, was involved in a few land transactions in Bertie County, N. C., before he moved to another part of the state to live. On April 2, 1774, he paid James McDaniel 35 pounds for 128 acres of land on the south side of the Cashie Swamp ” . . .being land whereon Kaleb Spivey, father of Kaleb Spivey, Jr., lived, part of tract granted Thomas Jones May 1, 1768.” Witnesses were James Thomas I, father of Luke; Joshua Spivey, and Herbert Pritchard.15

Later in 1774 Luke Thomas begain to dispose of his land. First parcel. 80 acres, was bought by his brother Ezekiel, Sept. 20, 1774,16 and about four months later, January 30, 1775, he sold the 128-acre “Spivey Tract” to Abner Eason. On December 30, 1777, he apparently closed out his entire estate of land in Bertie County, selling his half interest in the 80 acres he and his brother Ezekiel had bought from their father in 1774, and moved to Sampson County, North Carolina.

The 1790 census listed Luke Thomas as living in Sampson County, with one son under 16, a wife, three daughters and one slave. Luke Thomas made his will April 12, 180117, naming his wife Susanna (probably Susanna Darden, descendant of Joseph Darden of Bertie County); sons William Thomas, Darden Thomas, and Harry Snell, probably a grandson. Executors were his wife Susanna Thomas, William Darden and Joseph Darden. Witnesses to the will were: Stephen King, Ann Darden and Tempy Darden.

“Ezekiel Thomas is my name, with this pen I rite the same, January 17, 1796.”

(See Chapter III)

  1. This is deductible from the will of Joseph Holland, dated Nov. 17, 1790, Bertie County Will Book B, page 168, in which he bequeathed property to his daughter, Sarah Thomas. Ezekiel Thomas was named in the will as one of the executors.↩︎

  2. Bertie County Deed Book P, page 309.↩︎

  3. North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, by J.R.B. Hathaway, editor, 1903. Bertie marriage bonds Vol. 2, No. 3, page 373.↩︎

  4. Bertie County Will Book V, page 43.↩︎

  5. Bertie County Deed Book DD, pages 356, 363, 365, 367.↩︎

  6. Ibid Book V, page 473.↩︎

  7. Marriage records, Christian County, Ky.↩︎

  8. From records of Robert M. Thomas, compiled in 1933 by Mrs. Etta Kirk Crowder King, great granddaughter of Luke Thomas Jr.↩︎

  9. Carroll County, Tenn., Will Book One, Indexed.↩︎

  10. Original agreements on file in real estate department, L&N Railroad, Louisville, Ky., under NC&StL Nos. 3307, 3308, 3309, 3311, and 3312. However, Luke Thomas did not live to see the railroad built across his land. It reached McKenzie from Hickman in 1861, a year after Luke died, and was not completed between McKenzie and Nashville through Hico until 1867, two years after the Civil War.↩︎

  11. Bertie County Deed Book BB, page 74.↩︎

  12. G. A. Bridges History, 1928.↩︎

  13. Ezekiel’s grants recorded in “Lands West of the Tennessee River,” State Archives, Nashville, Tenn., Included: No. 1620, March 15, 1846, Book 2, page 712; No. 4330, Oct. 1, 1847, Book 6, page 231. Luke’s grants: No. 4302, Oct. 1, 1847, Book 6, page 204; No. 12080, May 1, 1851, no book or page number.↩︎

  14. Carroll County records; notes by Thomas E. Thomas, McKenzie, Tenn., 1928, and Robert M. Thomas, 1971. One family information source names Matt as a daughter among the eight children, but omits Amanda (Mandy). Another source lists Amanda but omits Matt, thus today it Isn’t clear whether or not there were eight or nine children, or whether one may have been Ezekiel’s daughter by his first wife.↩︎

  15. Bertie County Deed Book M, page 111.↩︎

  16. Ibid, Book M, page 190; Book M, page 156; Book M, page 367.↩︎

  17. “Abstracts of Sampson County, N. C. Wills, 1784-1895,” by Cora Bass, Bass Publishing Co., 201 Chestnut St., Clinton, N. C., page 112.↩︎