Saturday, January 31, 2015

Marriage of Spencer and Betsy Marshall in Culpeper County, Virginia

In the book Culpeper County, Virginia Marriages, 1780-1853 by John Vogt and T. William Kethley, Jr.  on page 86:

Pinckard, Spencer and Betsy Marshall   30 Aug 1799;  min--William Mason (Baptist)

I believe it very likely that this is my 4-gr-grandparents.  Here are the reasons:

My Dollarhide book tells me that the census records for all counties in Virginia are lost for 1790.  The only counties in Virginia that have extant census records for 1800 are Accommack and Louisa.     In the census of 1810 on Ancestry Spencer Pinckard is found living in Culpeper with a household of 13 people.  Five of them are slaves.  The two adults are both between the ages of 26 and 44.  There are five males under the age of 10 and one female under the age of 10.  These are perfect ages for a marriage in 1799.

By 1820 Spencer has already died as I find Elizabeth listed as head of the household.  She still has the five slaves.  She is still between the ages of 26 and 44. She has 3 male children under 10 and 2 male children 16 thru 25.  She has 2 female children under 10 and 1 female 16-25.  That adds up to 8 children still in the home.

Also in the 1820 census are two more Pinckard males:  Marshall Pinckard with 15 persons in his household.  5 are slaves.  There is one white male 26-44 and 1 white female 26-44,  4 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-18,  2 females under 10, 1 female 16-25.  The only way that this can be Marshall Pinckard who is the son of Spencer and Elizabeth is if some of his siblings are living with him  hmmmm....the only way that this can make any sense for this to be the son of Elizabeth and Spencer is Somehow Elizabeth did not count Marshall but Marshall reported himself to be the head of the household in which  his mother and siblings lived.

However, the fact that Spencer and Elizabeth named a son Marshall is the second reason that I give in the argument that the marriage above is that of my 4-gr-grandparents.

In 1830 Census on ancestry there is a very large household headed by Charles Pinckard (A Charles had been in Fauquier County in 1820)  this household is not children nor grandchildren of Spencer and Elizabeth judging by the wealth and ages of the people who live there.  Elizabeth is still the head of a household.  She is now 40-49 with 4 children still in the house and 6 slaves.  The other two males in Culpeper are Jas and Jno neither of which are children of Elizabeth and Spencer (perhaps they belong to Charles).  My best guess is that Robert, Thomas and Edward and perhaps one more son have moved to TN.  The three girls have married and moved away.  There are 3 males in the home

The 1840 census find Chs, Eliz, Jas and Jno Pinckard in Culpeper.  Elizabeth is still not 50.  She now has 2 females and two males younger than 20 in her home.

In 1850 Charles Pinckard is still in Culpeper with wife Sarah and children Sarah, Catherine and Alfred.
Elizabeth is now 72 and only has one daughter living with her:  Mary who is now 32.

In the 1860 census Elizabeth is 87 and she and Mary are still living together.  Mary's age is hard to read.  However one big surprise:  Elizabeth says she was born in Albemarle while Mary says she is born in Culpeper.  Elizabeth died before 1866 so we do not expect to find her in any further censuses.

Spencer was still alive in 1815.  Checking the 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners Culpeper County by Roger G. Ward (extracted from Land Tax Records in the Library of Virginia), we find Spencer's land to be 5 miles south of the Courthouse.  This would put him in the area shown below:

Gotta learn how to use my scanner this week!


No comments: