James Wyatt Jr. (1752-c.1818), a native of Northumberland County, Virginia, migrated with his documented parents, James (c.1726-c.1795) and Bethlehem Wyatt to Tryon County, North Carolina, where his father was granted 392 acres in October 1767. The family seems to have moved to Spartanburg District, South Carolina by 1788, when James Jr. appears in a juror list.
James Wyatt Jr.'s wife is called Mary or Molly in various deeds beginning in June 1790, with her final appearance in a September 1795 sale to Job Sosbree in Spartanburg District. She doesn't seem to appear in any wills and there don't seem to be any strong clues as to her parents.
Some genealogists believe her father was Thomas Massingale, who named a daughter Mary in a deed witnessed by James Wyatt on January 2, 1794 in Spartanburg District. While this is certainly possible, the evidence is thin. Just because James Wyatt witnessed the deed doesn't mean Massingale was his father-in-law. Massingale doesn't give last names for any of his children, so it isn't clear if his daughter Mary was Mary Wyatt. Furthermore, there are no Massingales in the deed books of Tryon and Lincoln County, North Carolina in the 1770s and 1780s, when the Wyatts and Massingales should have been acquainted.
Often overlooked is a marriage bond in Lincoln County, North Carolina between James Wyatt and Mary "Wyrim" (possibly Wyman), dated March 19, 1787. James Wyatt's wife isn't named in deeds prior to 1790 and there doesn't seem to be any other James Wyatt in this generation in either Lincoln County, North Carolina or Spartanburg District, South Carolina, so this is almost certainly the same James and Mary Wyatt.
Census records indicate however that James Wyatt Jr. married and had children long before 1787... and so he must have had a wife before Mary Wyrim.
Interestingly, the identity of this first wife may have been hinted at in a deed from James Wyatt Jr. to his son, dated March 29, 1815. James Wyatt "to son Elisha Jones Wyatt... for love and affection... give... at James death and not before...", 200 acres, border Peg's Old Field (in Lincoln County, NC).
That name "Elisha Jones Wyatt" is pretty specific. He was almost certainly named in honor of someone named Elisha Jones.
Fortunately, its no mystery who Elisha Jones (c.1765-aft.1830) was. He was constable of Lincoln County, North Carolina, where the Wyatts lived from 1779 (when the county was formed from old Tryon County) to 1788. He didn't migrated into South Carolina with the Wyatts, but remained in Lincoln County through at least the 1830 US census and likely died there.
While its possible Elisha Jones was simply a beloved family friend, there is a strong possibility that he was a younger brother of Mary Wyatt. The fact that the Wyatts left the state while Elisha Jones was still very young, possibly a teenager, and named a child after him years later strongly suggests he was a relative.
There is no question that the Wyatts knew him. In fact, James Wyatt and his son John Wyatt were buyers at the estate sale of Thomas Hawkins in Lincoln County, North Carolina in February 1793, which was administered by none other than Elisha Jones.
While it doesn't prove Jones was Wyatt's brother-in-law, it may be the best clue we have to the identity of his wife.
So who were Elisha Jones's parents? A thorough analysis of the Joneses of Tryon and Lincoln Counties don't reveal any relevant deeds or wills that might shed light on this question. But we do have a couple of decent clues:
1. Elisha Jones appears next door to a Charles Jones (born before 1755) in the 1800 US census of Lincoln County, North Carolina. Charles is at least a decade older than Elisha (who married in 1794, and was probably born in the late 1760s or early 1770s) and could be either his father or older brother.
2. Elisha Jones's papers for the estate of Thomas Hawkins reveal a note dated October 8, 1795 where Jones informs the court that he could not locate an important account book pertaining to a John Whiteford but noted he believed Benjamin Jones of Maryland also had the right of administration.
3. Zachariah Spencer granted security for Elisha Jones for the administration of the Hawkins estate.
Zachariah Spencer (1761-1835) of Lincoln County, North Carolina, was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, the son of a senior Zachariah Spencer (1732-1789), who also migrated to Lincoln County; this Zachariah was the son of another Zachariah Spencer (c.1705-c.1783) and his wife Christina Cobb of Maryland.
Christina Cobb was sister-in-law to Charles Jones of Baltimore County (1703-1767), who had sons Benjamin Jones (1728-1797), likely the Benjamin Jones mentioned in the above note; and Charles Jones (1731-aft.1752), who disappears from Maryland records after 1752, and is likely father of the Lincoln and Rutherford County Jones families, which may include Benjamin Jones (bef.1755-1809), Charles Jones Jr. (d. aft.1830), James Lee Jones (d.bef.1790) and Littleberry Jones (d. aft.1810), all of Rutherford County, North Carolina.
The Hawkins family likewise migrated with the Spencer and Jones families from Baltimore County, Maryland to North Carolina and the families show repeated intermarriages through the generations.
This makes Elisha Jones of North Carolina a second cousin of Zachariah Spencer, and a nephew of "Benjamin Jones of Maryland."
Interestingly, "Zechariah Spencer of Delaware County, Maryland" was deeded land by James Wyatt Sr. in Tryon County, North Carolina in a deed dated December 26, 1772, showing another link between the Wyatts and this Jones-Spencer-Hawkins family group.
So if Elisha Jones was a younger son of Charles Jones and Hannah Nichols of Baltimore County, Maryland who married on December 26, 1752, it seems possible that James Wyatt's first wife was one of their older children, born c.1753-54.
Research and documentation by Jason M. Farrell
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