BLACKWELL > SUDDUTH > LEWIS > NANCE (N*)  
Kit # 4450. Sarah (mnu) b. by 1734 + William Blackwell of Albemarle Co, VA > Sarah " Sally" Blackwell, b. c.1775 +2 James Sudduth 1802 Madison Co, KY, d 1827 Henry Co, KY > Lewery Sudduth b. c.1803 KY, d. c.1826 + Isaac Lewis 1821 Henry Co, KY > Mary Lewis b. 1823 Henry Co, KY, d. 1909 Moniteau Co, MO + Ivy Nance, Sr. 1842 Cape Girardo Co, MO HVR1 Haplogroup W  
HVR1 Mutations 16066G
16223T
16286T
16519C
HVR2 Mutations 73G
143A
189G
192C
194T
195C
196C
204C
207A
263G
309.1C
315.1C


BLACKWELL > SUDDUTH > LEWIS > NANCE
Copyright © August 2004, Revised 2006, 2013
Mary Fern Souder

Generation 1: Sarah, maiden name unknown and born by 1734, was the wife of William Blackwell, who made his will on 23 November 1774 in Albemarle County, VA. The will left everything to Sarah, as long as she remained a widow, and afterwards the property was to be divided equally among the living children (names not mentioned). Sons, Armistead and William Blackwell, were named as administrators. Dabney Harris, Philip Thurman, and James Gardner witnessed the will. Sarah and her son, Armistead Blackwell, sold 225 acres to John Blackwell in 1785, and within a few years the family had moved to Madison County, KY.

Generation 2: We would not know that Sarah "Sally" Blackwell, born ca. 1774, was the daughter of the above William and Sarah Blackwell if there had not been a dispute over the settlement of her inheritance. Sally Blackwell first married Solomon Davis on 22 December 1791 in Madison County, KY. Solomon and his brother, Nathaniel Davis, were slave traders, and in May 1801 they purchased slaves in Baltimore, MD, intending to take them to sell in Spanish Louisiana. They marched overland through Maryland and part of Pennsylvania, where they boarded flatboats to float down the Ohio River. Near Smithland, Livingston County, KY, some of the slaves revolted, killed Solomon and Nathaniel Davis and then escaped. Extensive court documents in Fayette, Clark, Livingston and Madison Counties, KY, record the capture of the escaped slaves, their trial and execution, and Sally’s financial restitution for her loss of the executed slaves, which was granted by the Kentucky legislature.

Sally and Solomon Davis had five children, Polly, Peggy, John, Richard, and Spicy Davis, before his death in 1801, and Sally was named the legal guardian of the children after Solomon’s death. On 22 September 1801 Sally appointed Samuel Kelley as her legal representative to recover six slaves that were part of Solomon Davis’ estate. On 20 April 1802 Sally married her second husband, James Sudduth, in Madison County, KY.

In 1819 Sally’s children by Solomon Davis sued Sally and her second husband, James Suddith in Madison County, KY, court. In Case # 10955 the suit, summarized here, stated that their “Grandfather William Blackwell made his last will and testament in Albemarle, VA, that it was proved in March 1775, and that he left a considerable amount of property and Negroes to his wife Sarah during her widowhood, then to be equally divided among his children. It further stated that their father, Solomon Davis and their mother, Sarah (daughter of William and Sarah Blackell) were living together as man and wife on the 8th day of February 1798 when the act of assembly of Kentucky passed, vesting all right, property, and interest of (the property of a married woman). . . (including) slaves in her husband absolutely, as his own property. . . Sarah's interest in the slaves bequeathed by her father became on her intermarriage, by virtue of the Statute of Kentucky, absolutely vested to Solomon Davis, deceased. The children also asked for the slaves that had been owned by their father in his own right because according to Kentucky law slaves could only be inherited through a male. The names of seven slaves were mentioned in the suit, and it further alleged that all these slaves should rightfully belong to the Davis children, rather than to their mother, Sarah “Sally,” now married to James Sudduth.” The suit was settled in 1825 when the Court decided that Sarah and James Suddith were legally entitled to three slaves, Simon, Phillis and Stephen.

At the time of the 1810 Henry County, KY, census, James and Sally Blackwell Sudduth were the parents of one son and four daughters, all under the age of ten. Based on the birthdates of Sally's Davis children, only the son and one of the daughters could have come from Sally's first marriage. Therefore Sally had at least three minor children from her first marriage that were living elsewhere.

In this 1810 census, Sally and James Sudduth were both listed as age 26 - 45, and lived between Henry Sudduth and wife, both over age 45, and Lewis Sudduth and wife, both aged 26 - 45. There are no marriage or census records for any other Sudduths (of any spelling) in Madison County, KY, but there are several in Clark and Fayette Counties, which adjoin Madison County, KY. Perhaps James Sudduth was related to these nearby families.

By the 1820 census, James and Sally had two sons under the age of 10, and James was over age 45. Females in the household included two under age 10, two aged 10-16, one age 16-25, and Sally was between age 26 - 45.

Based on census records, and accounting for the children Sally had by her first marriage, it appears that James and Sally Sudduth were the parents of two sons and five daughters. This family had a very high death rate, and their son, Rodham Sudduth, was the only child who lived past the age of 30. The names of only five of the children of James and Sally Sudduth have been reconstructed from probate and guardianship records in Henry County, KY. It appears that two of their daughters died before their names were put on any legal records.

The known children of James and Sally Blackwell Sudduth were Lewery, Sally, Serilda, Rodham, and James Sudduth. Three of these children lived long enough to marry: Lewery, Serilda, and Rodham Sudduth.

Generation 3: Lewery Sudduth,* born ca. 1805, and probably the oldest child of James and Sally, became the second wife of Isaac Lewis on 14 April 1821 in Henry County, KY. Lewery's father, James Sudduth, signed her marriage bond. Lewery lived less than seven years after her marriage, and was dead by the time she was 25 years of age. She left two very small daughters, Sarah "Sally" Lewis (my ancestor), born 28 July 1822, and Mary Lewis, born 17 July 1823.

*The only place where Lewery's name has been found is on her marriage license, and the handwriting of the bondsman is very difficult to transcribe. This may not be even a close rendering of her actual name. Other possibilities for her name are Loureny, Loreny, and Louviney.

Since Lewery died before her father, she was not mentioned in his will. However, when Lewery's closest sister, Sally Sudduth died as an unmarried young woman in 1831, she named her two nieces in her will: Sarah and Mary Lewis (daughters of Lewery Sudduth and Isaac Lewis). They were each to receive one of their aunt's dresses, worth five dollars apiece.

In addition to giving the dresses to her nieces, Sally Sudduth left her property to be divided equally between her siblings, "Cerilda" McPike and Rodham Sudduth, except Serilda was to have the household goods and remainder of her clothing. The inventory of Sally Sudduth's estate included one Negro boy named Green.

Serilda Sudduth married James McPike in 1827, and Rodham Sudduth married Ann E. Bowen in 1837. James McPike inherited the Bible of his parents, Edward McPike and Sarah VanCleve. It was in this Bible that James McPike recorded the deaths of Serilda's parents, two of her siblings, and finally his wife, Serilda. Note that the spelling is inconsistent, although it was all written by the same hand:

Sally Suduth Died Sept 5, 1831
Jas. Sudduth Deceased August 1831
Jas. Sudduth Sen. Died January 11th, 1828 (1828 stricken and made into 1829)
Sally Suddith the wife of Jas. Sudduth Died 12th of June 1827
Serilda McPike Died 20 of August 1837 wife of Jas. McPike

James Sudduth's will, written in 1828, named his son-in-law, James McPike as executor. He left instructions to divide his money equally between his children, except his daughter Serilda was to have $100 more than the others, and daughter Sarah "Sally" was to have a sorrel horse. His sons, Rodham and James, were minors, and not mentioned in the will, but guardians were appointed in 1829 for them in Henry County, KY, court. Rodham Sudduth's guardian was James McPike, and the guardian of James Sudduth (Jr.) was John Rodman (note spelling of Rodman, not Rodham, relationship unknown, age 40-50 on the 1830 Henry County, KY, census).

James Sudduth's will further states "Above all my desire and will is to set, liberate and emancipate my old black slave woman, Leah . . . within three years . . . or as soon after my death as is lawful." He gave her one cow and calf, and money was to be set aside, in case she needed to post security or bail. If she had additional children, they were not to be freed. (Leah already had three sons).

The pronunciation of this surname is Suh'deth. The spellings of Suddith, Suddeth, and Suddath were used interchangeably with Sudduth on court documents.

Generation 4: When Sally and Mary Lewis were five and four years of age, respectively, their father, Isaac Lewis, married his third wife, Elizabeth Neves, in 1828 in Henry County, KY. The girls must have loved this woman who raised them because they each named their second daughter for her.

Isaac and Elizabeth Neves Lewis left Henry County, KY, between 1838-1840 and moved to Cole County, MO. Isaac and Elizabeth eventually had nine children of their own and this family of 13 persons seemingly left behind the illness that had plagued them in Kentucky. All eleven of the Lewis children survived and lived well past mid-life.

While in Cole County, MO, the daughters of Isaac and Lewery Sudduth Lewis, Sarah and Mary Lewis, met their future husbands. Sarah married George Henry VanPool, Sr., in 1841. Although Mary met Ivy Nance, Sr., in Cole County, the marriage occurred in 1842 in Cape Girardeau County, MO. The given names chosen for the firstborn sons of Sally and Mary Lewis were Isaac Lewis VanPool and Isaac Lewis Nance.

Mary and Ivy Nance returned to the area of Cole and Moniteau Counties, MO. Her obituary, dated 10 June 1909, was published in a Moniteau County, MO, newspaper, "The California Democrat." Original spelling was preserved:

Death of Mrs. Nance

"Mrs. Mary Nance died at High Point last week, aged 85 years and 10 months. Mrs. Nance was a good old time Baptist lady well known all over this county and has resided in the vicinity where she died about 60 years. Her husband Ivy Nance died some ten years ago.

For many years Mr. and Mrs. Nance kept the tavern or an old fashioned Inn at HighPoint, a popular resort for the weary traveller and local politicians during campaign years all were royally treated and was certain of a first class meal whenever under the roof of the Nance home--Mrs. Nance being a first class old fashioned cook, and both she and her husband were good and pleasant entertainers.

Mr. Nance was a native of North Carlonia and Mrs. Nance a native of Kentucky. The good old people of the old school are necessarily rapidly passing away. Mrs. Nance is survived by five daughters and two sons--the youngest being Mrs. Herbert Smith of St. Louis, who is past 40 years--several children in the sixties--they were all present at the funeral of their good Mother. "

I deeply appreciate the collaboration of cousins Sterling Berry, Jerri Thompson, Linda Dell McPike Burner, Phil Embree, Anita McPike Gorman and Clyde P. Davis, descendent of Solomon Davis and Sally Blackwell, who authored “finding fathers, Lost. Found. Remembered. A Family History,” 2011, published by Clyde P. Davis. Professional assistance was provided by Marie Winburn, past president of the Henry County, KY, Historical Society, who has carefully copied original documents for the Lewis and Sudduth families; Debbie Huff Bledsoe, historian, who has copied original records from Moniteau and Cole Counties, MO, and Alice Henson of Cole County, MO, professional genealogist who has shared her research on the Davis family of Kentucky.

The results of the mitochondrial DNA of the descendent of Sally, wife of William Blackwell, appear above. Participant # 4450 tested in 2002, and at that time this particular configuration had not previously been recorded in the Cambridge Reference Sequence. Participant # 4450 was placed in Haplogroup N*, which dates to approximately 65,000 years ago. The asterisk indicated that this was a very uncommon signature, and that it did not belong to any sub-clade of N haplogroup that had yet been identified.

Nine years have now lapsed since Participant # 4450 tested, and during that time additional research shows that the participant is now a member of Haplogroup W, which dates to approximately 25,000 years ago and is derived from the N Superhaplogroup. The number of matches for this participant is small, compared to many other haplogroups, and only six participants know the country of origin of their maternal ancestor. Four place their earliest maternal ancestor in England, and two place their earliest maternal ancestor in the United Kingdom.

There were eight transmission events from Sarah, wife of William Blackwell, to Participant # 4450.

Matches as of March 2013:




Last Updated on 4/3/2013
By Wallace W. Souder