Month: July 2019

Will the Real Strawhorn Monk Please Stand Up? Documenting the Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860), Son of Nottingham Monk and Rachel Strachan (4)

William D. LindseyLeave a comment
Monk, Nottingham Receipt, Estate File of John Pender, Bertie
28 December 1802 promissory note by John Pender and Nottingham Monk for a payment to the orphans of James Leggett, from loose-papers estate file of John Pender, Bertie County, North Carolina.

In this posting documenting the ancestry of Strachan/Strahon Monk (1787-abt. 1858), son of Nottingham Monk (abt. 1755-1818) and Rachel Strachan, I’ll begin winding up my account of the life of Nottingham Monk, which I began in two previous postings (here and here). Those discussed his birth about 1755 in Northampton County, Virginia, his Revolutionary service in North Carolina, and his marriage to Rachel, daughter of George and Elizabeth Strachan of Bertie County, North Carolina, between 22 February and 23 November 1786. Rachel had previously married 1) George Kittrell and 2) Benjamin Ward, both of whom died before she married Nottingham Monk. My previous postings also discuss Nottingham Monk’s involvement in the administration of the estate of his father Nottingham Monk elder, who died in Bertie County between 1790 and 20 July 1793. Continue reading “Will the Real Strawhorn Monk Please Stand Up? Documenting the Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860), Son of Nottingham Monk and Rachel Strachan (4)” →

Elishe Monk, Her Son Thomas, and His Father Thomas Speller: Some Questions These Stories Pose

William D. LindseyLeave a comment
Speller, Thomas Will Martin Co., NC, WB 2, p..jpg
Will of Thomas Speller, Martin County, North Carolina, Will Book 2, p. 11

The story of Elishe Monk and her son Thomas Monk raises interesting questions, doesn’t it? In cultures that stigmatize out-of-wedlock children — especially for the mother of those children, but also for the children themselves — why do some couples who have such children choose not to marry? Why did Elishe Monk and Thomas Speller never marry?

Continue reading “Elishe Monk, Her Son Thomas, and His Father Thomas Speller: Some Questions These Stories Pose” →

Will the Real Strawhorn Monk Please Stand Up? Documenting the Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860), Son of Nottingham Monk and Rachel Strachan (3)

William D. LindseyLeave a comment

Purrington Monk Family Bible Births.png

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley: life has gotten in the way of my fulfilling my plans to spend time sharing my family history materials on this blog. When I fell silent about a year ago without having finished my series about the ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860), I hadn’t yet fulfilled my promise to trace his ancestry through his father Nottingham Monk (abt. 1755 – 28 Jan.-10 Feb. 1818) and Nottingham’s father Nottingham Monk elder (bef. 1720 – bef. 20 July 1793). In my previous two postings (here and here), I did focus on the story of the younger Nottingham, but without carrying his story or that of his ancestry — such that I have been able to trace it — to its conclusion. Continue reading “Will the Real Strawhorn Monk Please Stand Up? Documenting the Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860), Son of Nottingham Monk and Rachel Strachan (3)” →