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 was a slave trader who was murdered by slaves as he was transporting them up the Ohio River to Kentucky. Sally and Solomon Davis had five children, Polly, Peggy, John, Richard, and Spicy Davis, before his death in 1801. Sally married second James Sudduth on 20 April 1802 in Madison County, KY.

In Case # 10955, filed in 1819, Madison County, KY, Sally's Davis children by her first marriage sued Sally and her second husband, James Sudduth. 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 8 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]. . . 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 names of seven slaves were mentioned in the suit, and it further alleged that these slaves should rightfully belong to the Davis children, rather than to their mother, Sarah "Sally," now married to James Sudduth."

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 surviving 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. They had nine children together 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:

"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, and Anita Gorman; Marie Winburn, past president of the Henry County, KY, Historical Society, who has carefully copied original documents for the Lewis and Sudduth families for me; Alice Henson of Cole County, MO, professional genealogist who has shared her research the Davis family of Kentucky; and Debbie Huff Bledsoe, historian, who has copied original records from Moniteau and Cole Counties, MO.

The results of the mitochondrial DNA of the descendent of Sally, wife of William Blackwell appear above. This configuration had not previously been recorded in the Cambridge Reference Sequence, and additional research revealed that this participant belongs to Haplogroup N*. The asterisk indicates that this is a very uncommon signature, and that it does not belong to any sub-clade of N haplogroup that has yet been identified. It dates to approximately 65,000 years ago, and is one of the two major trunks emerging from the original African root.

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

Matches as of July 2007:

• HVR-1 = 16
• HVR-2 = 8