The Nottingham Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787-1850/1860): William Nottingham (1669-1719)

Nottingham in Jennings Cropper Wise, Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke Or the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the 17th Century, p. 71
Jennings Cropper Wise, Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke Or the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the 17th Century (Richmond: Bell, Book, and Stationery Co., 1911), p. 71

Or, Subtitled: Silver Clasps, Sidor Presses, and Cows Named Clove

I’ve now posted eleven postings* tracking the ancestry of Strachan/Strahon Monk, who was born about 1787 in Bertie County, North Carolina, and who died between 1850-1858 in Hardin County, Tennessee. About 1805, Strachan Monk married Talitha, daughter of Jesse Cherry (1749-1808) and Elizabeth Gainer (abt. 1761-1836) of Martin County, North Carolina. Between 1810-1820, this couple moved to Tennessee, joining a number of Talitha’s brothers there, who were early land speculators in the daughter state of their native North Carolina.

Two of Talitha’s brothers — Jesse and Isham — settled in Hardin County, as Strachan and Talitha Cherry Monk did, while other of her brothers — Lawrence and Darling, who remained in Martin County, and Daniel, who settled in Haywood County, Tennessee — owned land there. As a previous series of postings about Strachan and Talitha Monk’s years in Hardin County demonstrated, they lived there on land on the Tennessee River loaned to them by Talitha’s brother Daniel (see herehere, and here).

Continue reading “The Nottingham Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787-1850/1860): William Nottingham (1669-1719)”

Tracing the Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860) to Northampton County, Virginia: Nottingham Monk Sr. (bef. 1720 – 1793) (1)

Monk, William, Northampton Co., Va., Wills and Inventories 27-R, #19, 1740-50, p. 531 (1)
Will of William Monk, Northampton County, Virginia (Wills and Inventories 27-R, #19, 1740-50, p. 531) (first half)

Or, Subtitled: So That’s Why the Name Sorrowful Margaret Pops Up in My Monk Research!

In my series tracing the ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860), I’ve now told you almost all that I know about his parents Nottingham Monk (abt. 1755 – 1818) and Rachel Strachan (abt. 1755 – 1816). In this posting, I’m going to move on to the story of the older Nottingham Monk (bef. 1720 – 1793) who was father of the Nottingham Monk who married Rachel Strachan.

Continue reading “Tracing the Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860) to Northampton County, Virginia: Nottingham Monk Sr. (bef. 1720 – 1793) (1)”

Select Documents from the Estate File of Nottingham Monk, Jr. , Bertie County, North Carolina — The Estate Inventory, Complaint of Amos Rayner, and Answer of William Anderson Transcribed

Monk, Nottingham Estate File, Amos Rayner Complaint
Complaint of Amos Rayner to Bertie County, North Carolina, Equity Court , re: estate of Nottingham Monk, 17 January 1825 (opening paragraphs), from loose-papers estate file of Nottingham Monk held by North Carolina archives.

The following are select documents from the loose-papers estate file of Nottingham Monk Jr., Bertie County, North Carolina, which I have transcribed and which were cited in the previous posting, to which I’m attaching these transcriptions. In addition to these documents from the estate file, I’ve transcribed the account William Anderson made as estate administrator on 9 March 1830, the various store accounts of Nottingham Monk discussed in the previous posting linked above, the widow’s allotment to Nancy Monk, and the accounts of the sale and hire of enslaved people belonging to the estate in 1818, 1819, 1820. I am not publishing those other transcripts here, because the resulting posting would be very lengthy. But if any reader of this posting would want copies of the transcripts, I would gladly provide them, if you’d contact me via the messaging system of this blog. Continue reading “Select Documents from the Estate File of Nottingham Monk, Jr. , Bertie County, North Carolina — The Estate Inventory, Complaint of Amos Rayner, and Answer of William Anderson Transcribed”

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)

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)”

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)

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)”

Will the Real Strawhorn Monk Please Stand Up? Documenting the Ancestry of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860), Son of Nottingham Monk and Rachel Strachan (2)

Strachan, Rachel Monk, 17 Dec. 1818 Land Division, Estate File (2)
Division of land of Rachel Strachan Monk, Bertie County, North Carolina 17 December 1818, from her loose-papers estate file held by North Carolina Archives.

Strachan, Rachel Monk, 17 Dec. 1818 Land Division, Estate File (1)

I ended my previous posting about Nottingham Monk (1755/1760 – Feb. 1818) with an account of his Revolutionary War service and the documents this generated. I promised that I’d then tell you about his life from that point to his death, which occurred in Bertie County, North Carolina, between 28 January and 10 February 1818, and I’d then conclude my series about him with a posting examining some key documents from his extensive loose-papers estate file held by the North Carolina Archives. My previous posting was the first in a series building on an initial posting showing you that Strachan (or Strahon and Strawhorn) Monk (1787 – 1850/1860) of Martin County, North Carolina, and Hardin County, Tennessee, was the son of Nottingham Monk and Rachel Strachan. My intent in this series is to trace Strachan Monk’s ancestry, about which quite a bit of totally incorrect information has long been circulated.  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 (2)”

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

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 3.41.54 PM
William Anderson’s answer, as administrator of Nottingham Monk, to complaint of Amos Raynor,* Bertie County, North Carolina Court of Equity, 23 March 1825, listing heirs of Nottingham Monk; from loose-papers estate file of Nottingham Monk held by North Carolina Archives.

In the three-part series of postings I did recently about Daniel Cherry, his sister Talitha, and Talitha’s husband Strachan/Strahon/Strawhorn Monk of Martin County, North Carolina, and Tennessee, I noted that P.M. Harbert’s “Early History of Hardin County, Tennessee” has the following to say about Strachan (“Strawhorn”) Monk: Continue reading “Will the Real Strawhorn Monk Please Stand Up? Documenting the Life of Strachan Monk (1787 – 1850/1860), Son of Nottingham Monk and Rachel Strachan”

“In Consideration of the Love and Good Will I Have and Do Bear Towards My Sister Telitha Monk”: Daniel Cherry, Strachan and Talitha Cherry Monk, and What Land Records Can Teach Us (2)

Cherry, Daniel, 274 Acre Survey, Hardin County Entry Bk.1 Feb. 1820-June 1835, pp. 191 copy
Hardin County, Tennessee, Entry Bk. 1, Feb. 1820-June 1835, pp. 191-2.

Cherry, Daniel, 274 Acre Survey, Hardin County Entry Bk.1 Feb. 1820-June 1835, p192 copy

In my previous posting with this title, I told you I’d continue the story I began with it, which is about how, when I obtained a copy of the 1837 deed in which Daniel Cherry, a brother of my 3-great-grandmother Talitha Cherry Monk (1790-1860), loaned a piece of land to Talitha and her husband Strachan Monk (1787-abt. 1858), I then did a search of 19th-century land records in Hardin County, Tennessee. As I noted in my last posting, what I found when I did that search has provided me with illuminating information about an eastern North Carolina kinship network that settled on the Tennessee River in southwest Hardin County, Tennessee, soon after 1820. Continue reading ““In Consideration of the Love and Good Will I Have and Do Bear Towards My Sister Telitha Monk”: Daniel Cherry, Strachan and Talitha Cherry Monk, and What Land Records Can Teach Us (2)”

“In Consideration of the Love and Good Will I Have and Do Bear Towards My Sister Telitha Monk”: Daniel Cherry, Strachan and Talitha Cherry Monk, and What Land Records Can Teach Us (1)

Cherry, Daniel, 25 Sept 1837, Hardin TN DB H, 13
Hardin County, Tennessee, DB H, pp. 13-14.

Cherry, Daniel, 25 Sept 1837, Hardin TN DB H, 14 (2)

This is a story about a bit of genealogical housekeeping, and how tidying up your notes and filling in gaps as you do that can lead to unexpected genealogical discoveries, as one new piece of information attaches to another new piece of information, providing you a richer snapshot of a family than you had before you did your housekeeping. It’s a story that begins with the simple task of my obtaining a copy of a deed — of the original deed — and reading it, which then led to an investigation of the history of a tract of land, which, in turn, provided illuminating information about an eastern North Carolina kinship network living on the banks of the Tennessee River in Hardin County, Tennessee, from the 1820s forward. Continue reading ““In Consideration of the Love and Good Will I Have and Do Bear Towards My Sister Telitha Monk”: Daniel Cherry, Strachan and Talitha Cherry Monk, and What Land Records Can Teach Us (1)”

Prob. Died Young, Or How Pat Ryan Lost His Eye (As a Union Soldier) (9)

Mendelsohn The Lost

This will be my final posting in this series about Patrick Ryan (1846-1893) and his Civil War pension file. If you’re just discovering this blog, you may want to read the whole series of which this is the final piece. What I want to do now is provide some footnotes to  previous postings in the series. Continue reading “Prob. Died Young, Or How Pat Ryan Lost His Eye (As a Union Soldier) (9)”