[3]
To differentiate this Thomas Gillenwaters from his father, his
son, a nephew and a grandson (none of whom apparently had middle
names), I have chosen to designate him by the appelage [BO:Thomas of
Amherst:BO] since he spent all his known life in Amherst County,
Virginia.
The main proof of the kernel of this family is Thomas' last will
and testament[CI:101:?3:CI]. [FN:This will was copied into the
probate records of the Monroe County Courthouse, Tompkinville,
Kentucky, when a great-grandson Joel Fletcher Gillenwaters certified
that the original had been destroyed in a fire. A copy of the will is
also on file in the Family History Center of the Church of the Latter
Day Saints, Salt Lake City, UT. William Luther Brown and Barbara Rose
Brown, q.v. reproduced the will in their books.:FN]
WILL OF THOMAS OF AMHERST
[IT:In the name of God Amen. I Thomas Gillenwaters of the Amherst
county being in a low condition of health, but in good and
perfect
memory do make this my last will and testament in manner and form
following. Firstly I give my soul to Almighty God and my body
to
be buried in such decency as my Executors hereafter shall think
proper. As to my worldly estate after discharging my true debts,
I
dispose of it in manner and form following. Items: I give my
sons
Elijah and Joell my land as follows a straight line run from the
old line where it crosses Duck Bill the upper part of which when
so
divided is to be equally divided so as the advantages of each may
be as equal as possible. Elijah is to take his choice and Joell
the
other part of that subdivision. I give to Elijah one two year old
heifer. I give Joell the first colt my horse Blaze brings,
provided
he shall stay on the year and work and behave on his place as
usual.
Item: I give to my beloved wife the remainder of my land and
plantation during the remainder of her natural life and then I
give
it to my son Thomas. As to the remainder of my stock, household
furniture, shop tools and other advantages I leave them to my
wife
to raise her children on, by me begotten, during her widowhood.
Provided she should marry, my desire is that what part of my
estate
should rest then in her hands should be the support of my young
children, such of them as are incapable of maintaining
themselves.
Last of all I leave my beloved wife Martha Gilllenwaters & Elijah
Gillenwaters executors to this my last will and testament. In
witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal this seventh
day of August one thousand seven hundred & seventy nine.
Thomas Gillenwaters {his
seal}
In presence of
Thomas Wright
Snelling Johnson
John Merrit:IT]t
[UL:AN EXTENDED FAMILY:UL]
The extended family structure has not been proved; there is very
little evidence to substantiate the family in its entirety. In his
will, Thomas included his wife, Martha; three sons Joel, Elijah, and
Thomas; and an unknown number of "young" children with neither sex nor
ages given.
The 1783 tax list of Virginia includes a Martha Gillenwaters with
six dependants. Assuming there were no deaths of minor children
between Thomas' death and the time the tax list was compiled, there
were apparently three minor children. Furthermore, since the will
included no minor son except Thomas, we can probably assume that the
three unknown minors were daughters. The "young" members of this
family have been further defined from circumstantial evidence.
First, there was a William Gillenwaters who died in the
Revolutionary War. [CI:108:?2:CI]. He has been tentatively included
in Thomas' family because the only other potential father in the area,
John Gillenwaters, had children of his own born in this time frame.
Secondly, Elizabeth was included as a daughter because of her
marriage to James Simmons who had a long and close association with
this Gillenwaters family, especially the son Thomas. This
Elizabethwas almost certainly a daughter of Thomas and Martha.
The unnamed third daughter is included in the family because of
the marriage between Robert Cross and a "daughter of Thomas
Gillenwaters" at the right time and place. [CI:104:?2:CI][FN:Barbara
Brown attributes this information to Mrs. J.T. Moore, nee Mary
Elizabeth Gillenwaters of Bulls Gap, Hawkins, TN. Mary Elizabeth was a
grandaughter of Joel.:FN] Since there was no other known Thomas in
the Amherst area at that time with a daughter of marriageable age,
Robert's bride was probably a daughter of Thomas and Martha.
The inclusion of Sarah as a daughter is more tentative. A
Stubblefield family researcher found a child born in Hawkins County,
Tennessee with the middle name Gillenwaters. This family had come out
of Virginia by way of Spartanburg District, South Carolina and
settled into Hawkins County about the time of Elijah's and Joel's
arrival. The circumstantial evidence is weak and this daughter can be
considered no more than possible. If this Sarah Stubblefield should
prove to be a Gillenwaters, then the last suspected minor child will
have been identified.
With the exception of the son, Thomas, none of the birth dates of
the children are known and can only be estimated. I have estimated
the children's birth dates based upon a best guess of all the known
events, rate of child birth, and statements in the will. When Thomas
wrote this will in the summer of 1779, his "known" children would have
been about 21 (Elijah b. est 1758), (Joel b. est 1762), 16 (Elizabeth
b. est 1763), 13 (Sarah b. est 1765), 11 (unk fem b. est 1768), and 8
(Thomas b. 3 Feb 1771). William had already died.
These estimated dates of birth correlate with the events that
occurred in the lives of the children and the scant details provided
in Thomas' will. Two statements in the will lead me to believe that
Elijah was older than Joel. Thomas wrote "I give my sons Elijah and
Joel...." stating that Elijah is to choose first. He next gives Joel
a colt "providing he shall stay on another year and work and behave in
his place as usual." I interpret this to imply a lack of maturity on
Joel's part. One can only conjecture why Joel was so anxious to leave
the farm. Did he wish to join the Revoluntionary army or was he
anxious to move into the frontier?
[UL:ANOTHER THOMAS?:UL]
Martha, the relict, received her dower rights to the remaining
land to be held until she re-married or died. Upon her marriage or
death, the balance of the plantation was to go to Thomas, the son.
Since this son was eight years old at the time, such stipulation was
normal. The minor children would be maintained from the farm
produce. The girls would be expected to marry and be provided for by
their husbands eventually. As long as the widow remained single, she
would have an income. If Martha were to re-marry, all the income from
the farm was to be for the support of any and all remaining minor
children with the land going to the son Thomas. Certainly, the elder
Thomas' will implies no other living males.
One Gillenwater researcher, Barbara Gillenwater Brown, believes
that Thomas, the son of [BO:Thomas of Amherst:BO], was born about 1752
and was, therefore, the eldest of the children. She further
postulates that it was this Thomas (1752) who moved into the
Spartanburgh District and that he in turn had a son Thomas born in
1771. Mrs. Brown bases her theory on the autobiography of Thomas
Jefferson Gillenwater in which he stated that both his grandfathers
(Gillenwaters and Wilkins) had served in the Revolutionary War. Since
the ages of Thomas of Amherst and Thomas (born 1771) preclude military
service, Mrs. Brown theorized an intermediate Thomas. Other family
researchers agree that the Thomas Gillenwaters who migrated to Hawkins
County, Tennessee, came out of Spartanburgh but do not accept the
intermediate Thomas.
In her book [UL: Gillenwaters and Related Families :UL] Barbara
Brown reports that Martha was on the 1783 Virginia tax lists with six
other persons in her household. Let us assume that her son Thomas (b.
1752) was living with her, had married in 1770, had one son, Thomas
born in 1771. Thomas would have been but eighteen at the time of his
marriage if we accept his date of birth as 1752 (it could have been
earlier). This is a young age for a male to be married. Given this
assumption, Martha's household in 1783 could have consisted of
herself, her son Thomas (aged 31), a daughter-in-law (aged over 21),
her granson Thomas (aged 12). This would account for four people.
Since there is no evidence of any other [IT:unclaimed:IT]
Gillenwaters children of this time and place, the other three persons
most likely have would been Martha's daughters.
The theory of an intermediate Thomas is further dispelled by his
seeming disappearance from the records. After Thomas (1771) emigrated
from the Spartanburg area, no further evidence of a Thomas
Gillenwaters exists in South Carolina.
[UL:THE FAMILY REVISTED:UL]
The six people living with Martha in 1783 were probably her three
sons and three daughters. Surprisingly, neither Elijah nor Joel are
included in the tax roll as landowners or as tithables, white males
over 21. Even though they had inherited land from their father,
Elijah and Joel are not listed as owing taxes. Neither of them appear
to have been married at this time so we might surmise that they were
sharing their time between the Amherst farm and the Holston River
Valley. Elijah had been granted 10 acres in Carter Valley in what is
now Hawkins County, Tennessee, but had yet to move permanently.
Since Elijah never established himself permanently in Hawkins County,
he may have been exploring the valley further north in southwest
Virginia where he eventually settled. Vera Ross Boyatt reported that
Joel bought 200 acres of land in Hawkins county in December of 1882 on
John Davis Creek. Since he had not yet sold the land he had
inherited, Joel must have used the cash he received from his crop that
year for a down payment and secured the purchase with a promisary note
for the balance.
Two years later in 1785 Martha's household has been reduced to
herself and one other person. She is left with one dependant. Elijah
and Joel have sold their inheritance and emigrated to the southwest
Virginia territory. Sallie now 22 had married a neighbor, James
Simmons. Sarah is now 21 and married to the Stubblefield boy. Who
remains - the youngest daughter who is only 17 or Thomas? The
daughter could have married Robert Cross or Thomas has left with his
sister Elizabeth and brother-in-law James Simmons for South Carolina.
After 1785, Martha no longer appears on the tax list. Has she gone to
live with Thomas?
[UL:BLACK TOM:UL]
In 1790 the Thomas Gillenwaters who came to be known as Black Tom
in Hawkins County, appears on the South Carolina tax rolls as the head
of household with two other males and three females over the age of
16. The birth dates of everyone in this home would have been 1774 or
earlier. One can only speculate who was living in the house. Since Tom
had yet to marry, the census cannot include his wife. It is possible
the household includes his mother, his sister Sarah and her husband
Wyett Stubblefield, his unnamed sister and her husband, Robert Cross.
Thomas' older sister, Elizabeth Simmons, and brother-in-law, James
Simmons, were living in Spartanburg District but now had two infants.
Coincidence in family research is frequent and most always
inviting. There were always those family members who set out for a
new territory knowing no one in that place; but, most frequently, the
immigrants were following a path created by other family members or
friends. Shortly after 1790, Black Tom married into the Wilkins
family who had traveled west from Culpepper County, Virginia and
settled in District 76 from which the Spartanburg District was
spawned. Tom's sister married a Stubblefield whose family also came
out of Culpepper County with some of them settling in the Spartanburg
area. Did the Stubblefields know the Wilkins?
The land left to Martha and Black Tom was sold in 1791 by a Thomas
Gilenwater who was residing in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Undoubtedly, the seller was Black Tom. The sale implies that Martha
must have died by this time and that the land had passed onto Black
Tom as his inheritance. If Tom's year of birth were correctly
recorded on his headstone, he would not have reached his majority
until the following year. Was the sale quasi-illegal or was Tom born
before 1771?
William Luther Brown also included the following in his book,
[UL:MY ANCESTORS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS:UL].
[IT: At a court held for Amherst County the sixth day of March
1780, the last will & testament of Thomas Gillenwaters, deceased,
was this day presented to court by Martha Gillenwaters one of the
executors herein named who made oath according to law and proved
by the oath of Snelling Johnson & John Merritt two of the
witnesses
thereto, and the said Executrix with Benjamin Rucker and John
Merritt,
her securitys, acknowledged bond in the penalty of Ten Thousand
Pounds,
with the condition required by law and ordered to be recorded.
Test.
Edward Wilson, clerk
Know all men by these presents that we Martha Gillenwaters,
Benjamin Rucker and John Merritt are held and firmly bound to
William
Cabell, James Dillard, David Crawford and William Horsley,
Gent.
Justices of the Court of Amherst County now sitting in the sum of
Ten
Thousand Pounds to the payment whereof well and truly to be made
to
the said Justices and their successors we bind ourselves and each
of
us and our and each of us our heirs, Executors and Admrs.,
jointly
and severally firmly by these presents. Sealed with our seals
this
sixth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred
and eighty, and in the fourth year of our Commonwealth. The
Condition
of this obligation is such that if the above bound Martha
Gillenwaters,
Executrix of the Last Will and Testament of Thomas Gillenwaters,
decd
do make or cause to be made a true and perfect inventory of all
and
singular the goods chattels and credits of the said deceased,
which
have or shall come to the hands possession or knowledge of the
said
Martha Gillenwaters, or into the hands or possession of any other
person or persons for her, and the same so made do exhibit in the
County Court of Amherst at such time as she shall be thereunto
required
by the said Court, and the same goods chattels and credits and
all
other the goods chattels and credits of the said deceased which
at
any time after shall come into the hands, possession or knowledge
of the said Martha or into the hands or possession of any other
person or persons for her do well and truly administer according
to
law , and futher do make a just and true account of her actings
and
doings therein when thereto required by the said Court and also
shall
well and truly pay and deliver all the legacies contained in and
specified in the said testament, as far as the said goods
chattels
and credits will thereunto extend, and the law shall charge, then
this obligation to be void and of none effect or else to remain
in
full force and virtue.
Martha Gillenwaters {seal}
Benjamin Rucker
{seal}
Jno Merritt
{seal}
At a Court held for Amherst County the Sixth day of May, 1780.
This bond was aknowledged and ordered to be recorded.
Test. Edmd. Wilcox ,
Clk
:IT]