On March 3, 1802, ELIZABETH JONES married THOMAS SCOTT, as per a marriage record from Pulaski County, Kentucky. On the marriage record there is a note from her parents, NICHOLAS & PATSY JONES, indicating that their daughter "was of age".
These three families, SCOTT, MOORE & JONES, have been fairly difficult to research & trace, partly owing to their very common surnames, and the fact that they moved around a lot, their migration path being from Bertie Co NC to Granville Co NC, which part became Orange Co NC, which part became Caswell Co NC, which part became Person Co NC; then on to Madison Co KY(1789) for several years, then through Pulaski Co KY(1800), to Rutherford Co TN (1810), Lincoln Co TN (JONES & SCOTT family, 1820), Franklin Co TN (MOORE family, 1820) and McNairy Co TN (SCOTT family, 1830-1840). The only saving grace is that they seemed to move together, can be found in census records together, and a few had unusual names, making them at least a little more traceable.
I verified this marriage with the marriage record mentioned above, census records, and a biography of WILLIAM WARD SCOTT of Christian Co Missouri in the book "A Reminiscent History of the Ozark Region", by Goodspeed. WILLIAM was the son of THOMAS SCOTT & ELIZABETH JONES who married 1802 in Pulaski Co KY; the bio lists all the eight children of that couple--including my gg grandmother LAVINA SCOTT who married THOMAS BRUTON in McNairy Co TN.
Then, recently, I discovered a couple of records & sources indicating that a THOMAS MAYFIELD of Rutherford Co TN married an ELIZABETH JONES. I have not found a marriage record, but the marriage may have taken place in Rutherford County Tennessee, where the MAYFIELD family lived, and where the family of NICHOLAS JONES was living in 1810.
Information on this THOMAS MAYFIELD & ELIZABETH JONES family and their children can be found in the book "The Millers of Millersburg and Their Descendants" by John Bailey Calvert Nicklin, self-published in 1923. Their nine children included NICHOLAS JONES MAYFIELD b abt 1820, who married ELIZABETH McCLUNG; and MARTHA MAYFIELD birthdate unknown, who married WILLIAM TANNAHILL.
And then, in the book "Land Deed Genealogy of Lincoln Co TN 1818-1828" page 27, I found the following deed, dated Sept 16, 1818:
"THOMAS MAYFIELD of Rutherford Co TN to RHEUBEN WASHBURN of Lincoln Co TN; a tract of land...containing 10 acres, being entered by THOMAS MAYFIELD and surveyed by WILLIAM RAY. Witnessed: NICHOLAS JONES and PATSY JONES. Registered 7th Jan, 1819."
In the following census (1820 Lincoln Co TN) REUBEN WASHBURN lived right next door to NICHOLAS JONES & MARTHA PATSY (MOORE) JONES. So the tract of land that THOMAS MAYFIELD originally purchased was right next to them.
The evidence seems to suggest that ELIZABETH JONES who married THOMAS MAYFIELD of Rutherford Co TN was the daughter of NICHOLAS JONES & MARTH PATSY (MOORE) JONES.
And yet in 1802, their daughter ELIZABETH JONES, my ggg grandmother, married THOMAS SCOTT and produced my gg grandmother LAVINA SCOTT in around 1815. And the census records for THOMAS SCOTT in 1810 Rutherford Co TN, 1820 Lincoln Co TN, and 1830 McNairy Co TN show the exact number of children & correct boy/girl ratio, as listed in the bio of WILLIAM WARD SCOTT, the son of THOMAS SCOTT & ELIZABETH JONES.
So what's going on here? I see three distinct possibilities.
1) ELIZABETH JONES who married THOMAS MAYFIELD was the granddaughter of NICHOLAS JONES & MARTHA PATSY MOORE, possibly the daughter of WILLIAM JONES, who I have been researching as a possible eldest son of NICHOLAS & MARTHA.
2) ELIZABETH JONES, my ggg grandmother, married both men. She could have separated/divorced from THOMAS SCOTT in around 1815, after the birth of my gg grandmother LAVINA SCOTT, and married THOMAS MAYFIELD (there's little info on the birthdates of their children, but it looks like they were all born in the 1820s.). THOMAS SCOTT could have also remarried, thus showing a couple in the census records. However, I have not yet found any court records to support this theory.
3) The JONES woman who married THOMAS MAYFIELD was a daughter of NICHOLAS JONES & MARTHA PATSY (MOORE) JONES, but her name was not ELIZABETH. The only source I have found so far naming THOMAS MAYFIELD's wife as "ELIZABETH JONES" is the self-published book by John Bailey Calvert Nicklin. The 1810 Rutherford Co TN census does show that NICHOLAS & MARTHA JONES had a second daughter born 1790-1800, plus 7 sons. So it is entirely possible that the woman who married THOMAS MAYFIELD was indeed their daughter, but a different daughter from their eldest daughter ELIZABETH who married THOMAS SCOTT in 1802.
Death info on both women, if they are two different women, is sketchy.
The Nicklin book says that "ELIZABETH died on the day of THOMAS MAYFIELD's death"--but she is not at all mentioned in his will--which was definitely written before his death--so I'm thinking that's unlikely. She must have died before 1846.
Here is a transcription of the will of THOMAS MAYFIELD, written Sept 22,1846 Rutherford Co TN; proved Nov Court 1846 Rutherford Co TN:
"In the name of God, I, THOMAS MAYFIELD....do make this my Last Will & Testament as follows: 1) first to my four sons and daughter, to wit: JESSE W MAYFIELD, JOHN A MAYFIELD, NICHOLAS MAYFIELD, RICHARD MAYFIELD and ELIZABETH MILLER two negroes WAKE and HAGAR; 2) to my three daughters to wit: MARY HUTSON, JANE SMITH, and MARTHA and their bodily heirs: to my daughter MARY, one girl named MARY; to my daughter JANE, one girl named MANDY; to my daughter MARTHA one girl named HAGAR. 3) to my (son) THOMAS, one boy WESTLY, and 30 acres of land; to JOHN one house and lot in the state of Alabama, Blountsville. And all the remaining part equally amongst my children. THOMAS MAYFIELD X his mark
ELIZABETH my ggg grandmother, who married THOMAS SCOTT in 1802, seems to disappear off census after 1830 in McNairy Co TN. So it is possible she died between 1830-1840. THOMAS SCOTT did not remarry, apparently, and is possibly listed in the 1840 McNairy Co TN census with the family of his son THOMAS SCOTT Jr. THOMAS SCOTT Sr died 1849 in Scott Spring, Greene Co Missouri, as per the bio of his son WILLIAM WARD SCOTT.
Have a great day!
Betty
© Betty Tartas 2012
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