Who Were the Parents of Polly Capshaw Splawn?

Death certificate of Margaret Elizabeth Splawn Ponder, 1914.

William Splawn (1806-1884) and Polly Capshaw of Rutherford County, North Carolina were named as the parents of Margaret Elizabeth Ponder (1831-1914) and Sarah Lithia Davis (1844-1914) in their respective death certificates. A Splawn family bible referenced online gives their mother's name as Mary Capshaw and her date of birth as January 4, 1806. For the sake of this post, we'll assume that date is correct.

Mary Capshaw's father is widely believed to be James Capshaw (c.1773-aft.1830) and his wife Margaret Tabor, but this is improbable. Rutherford County, North Carolina deeds show James Capshaw left the state in 1814 or 1815 and relocated to Tennessee, when Mary would have only been eight or nine years old. Because the 1810 and 1820 census show James Capshaw had the same number of daughters born after 1800, it isn't possible that he left a pre-teen daughter behind in North Carolina, which would be absurd anyway.

James Capshaw's brothers, Josiah, William W., David and Daniel Capshaw had also all left North Carolina by 1815. William W. can be eliminated entirely as a possible father because he had no daughters under age 10 in the 1810 US census. Josiah has 4 girls under age 10, but deeds and grant records show Josiah was already living in Warren County, Tennessee by November 1815. She cannot be a daughter of David Capshaw, who is said by a family account written in the 1880s to have had a daughter named Mary in 1823. And Daniel Capshaw was born in the 1790s according to the 1830 census and seems to be far too young to have had a daughter in 1806. Thomas Capshaw, whose father is unknown, was out of North Carolina by 1813; Essex Capshaw (bef.1748-1827), uncle of the above James, was gone by 1796. Records are clear that the entire Capshaw clan was out of the state of North Carolina by 1815.

This is confounding because we have reliable documentation that Mary was a Capshaw and we know she married in North Carolina around 1820 and lived there until her death, so there MUST have been a Capshaw to remain behind in North Carolina after 1815. To find him, we have to examine post-1815 deeds.

First, in 1822, the sheriff of Rutherford County, North Carolina seized land in the county owned by James Capshaw and sold it at auction to pay off debts Capshaw left when he moved to Tennessee. It is clear that James did not returned to the state for this event and his name never again appears in North Carolina records.

Second, on August 31, 1831, Alexander Capshaw was named in a Rutherford County survey order for Christopher Huntington and Jonathan Blackwell on the waters of White Oak Creek as an adjoining landowner along with Benjamin Edwards and Daniel Edwards.

This tract was referenced again in a deed of January 13, 1844 when Elizabeth Muster, relict of George Jones, bought 330 acres including a "mansion house on the south bank of the north fork of White Oak Creek... to Daniel Edwards corner... corner of John Webb's tract... to Neiles gap to a pine knot, also now William Splawn's corner... to Watson Abrams line... to the old... line of the Blackwell or Capshaw tract of 300 acres to their line..."

Note that both the 1844 deed and the 1831 survey order indicate that Daniel Edwards, Jonathan Blackwell and Alexander Capshaw are neighbors on White Oak Creek, but shows that William Splawn lives there as well. This leaves zero doubt that William Splawn lived in close proximity to Alexander Capshaw.

There are two further references to Capshaws in North Carolina records after 1815, one of which also involves the above William Splawn, husband of Mary Capshaw.

A North Carolina Supreme Court case dated November 11, 1850 records that a 278-acre tract in Rutherford (later Polk) County was "on both sides of the middle fork of White Oak Creek in two surveys joining the William Capshaw land" and "including the Jinkins improvement" and running to "Sharp's line" was claimed title to by William Splawn according to a notice sent to Splawn to enter himself as defendant in the ejectment suit of Fanny Blalock and others v. William Splawn.

So who was this William Capshaw? The above referenced tract, with the exact same metes and bounds, appears in a memorial from William Capshaw to Benjamin Jenkins written December 3, 1791 and recorded May 23, 1795 in Rutherford County, whereby Jenkins' heirs claimed the original deed dated June 1779 had never been recorded and was destroyed in a house fire in 1780.

Given the 1779 sale date, this William Capshaw referenced in 1850 can only be William Capshaw Sr. (c.1740-aft.1813), who was long dead by 1850. Mary Capshaw Splawn cannot be his daughter because the 1810 census shows his final daughters were born in the 1790s. Even assuming the Splawn family bible birth date was wrong, Mary Capshaw Splawn could not have been born that early if, as census records show, she had her last child in 1848.

There are no further references to Capshaws owning land in Rutherford County after 1815. So by process of elimination, Alexander Capshaw is the likeliest father of Polly Capshaw Splawn.

Alexander Capshaw seems to have only been documented in two records, the second being the above 1831 survey order. In fact, he may have only been recorded in the 1799 tax list of Christian County, Kentucky; it is possible he died a few years later, leaving his widow to return to Rutherford County, North Carolina so that her family could help raise her children. 

It would make sense then, that the Alexander Capshaw who appears in the 1831 survey order may have actually been a younger Alexander Capshaw (1804-aft.1860) who census records show was the last Capshaw in North Carolina, with his twin sons having been born there in 1832 and his daughter Sarah being born in Alabama in 1834, per the 1850 U.S. census. Being the last Capshaw in North Carolina, only two years older than Mary Capshaw Splawn and living nearly adjacent to William Splawn on White Oak Creek, its virtually certain that Alexander was her brother.

This theory could explain why one of Mary Capshaw Splawn's sons was named Alexander; this would be in honor of her likely father and brother.

It remains possible that her son Alexander was only named in honor of her brother Alexander, and that they are not the children of Alexander Capshaw of the 1799 tax list in Kentucky; the only other possible fathers in the entire Capshaw clan would be William Capshaw (bef.1776-aft.1825), who was adjudged insane by a Kentucky court in 1810 and left to the care of his father, Essex Capshaw Sr.; and Essex Capshaw Jr., who was last confirmed living in 1796 but may have been alive in Missouri as late as 1817. All other documented Capshaw men of this generation seem to have lived beyond 1830 and remained in Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri or Mississippi. As a final note, Polly cannot be a daughter of Essex Capshaw Sr. (d.1827) because he reported no daughters born after 1800 in the 1810 US census.

There seems to be no evidence that the insane William Capshaw mentioned above married or had children. He never appears in a census record and evidently lived with his parents his whole life. After his father became too infirm to take care of him in 1824, he was left in the charge of his brother-in-law, Peyton Tucker. Family lore written in the 1880s claims Essex Capshaw Jr. died shortly after his marriage. In both cases, there seems to be no contemporary or later census evidence that they had children. By elimination, the evidence points back to Alexander Capshaw as the father of Alexander and Mary "Polly" Capshaw.

So who was Alexander Capshaw? He had only two possible fathers. Family lore from the 19th century indicates that only two of the Capshaw men who migrated to North Carolina in the 1760s had children: William Capshaw (c.1740-aft.1813) and Essex Capshaw (bef.1748-1827). William Capshaw's children were listed by his grandson, Dr. Preston Capshaw, in his book Concerning the Origin of the Capshaw Family in America in the 1880s. There is no Alexander. Therefore, Alexander can only be the son of Essex Capshaw, whose children have never been fully documented.

Research by Jason M. Farrell

The Parents of William Splawn (1806-1884) of Rutherford County, North Carolina

William Splawn (May 27, 1806 - July 10, 1884) was a farmer in Rutherford and (after 1855) Polk County, North Carolina, where he lived on White Oak Creek. Marriage bonds show he married Jane Waldrop in December 1850, but census records show he had numerous children before then; death certificates of two of his older children show their mother was named Polly Capshaw.

William Splawn was granted a 125-acre tract in Rutherford County on June 20, 1829 on the head waters of Nancy Wilson's fork, adjoining an older woman, Margaret "Peggy" Splawn. Peggy had herself bought land in the county in November 1815. William and Peggy Splawn appeared in court together when they were sued for trespass along with an Anna Mase in July 1833. The close association and significant age difference suggests that Peggy was likely his mother.

Peggy appeared in Rutherford County the 1810 census and had one male in her household, a boy under 10 who was exactly the right age to be William. She is no longer a head of household in the 1830 census and is likely the woman in William Splawn's household who was born in the 1760s. Peggy Splawn appears to have died before the 1840 census.

So its clear that Peggy was William's mother, and we know she was widowed at some point before 1810. Knowing her origins can help us identify her late husband. Peggy came from Fairfield District, South Carolina, where she was named in a court case of 1791 as "Margaret Splawn" and was clearly related to the Splawn family there, as some of them are known to have co-migrated to Rutherford County and there is only one other Splawn family in the entire South at this time, that of Thomas Splawn who came from Prince William County, Virginia and shows no relation to North Carolina.

Peggy and William Splawn's deeds both name an adjoining neighbor as Aspasio Earle (1785-1874). Aspasio Earle's father, Baylis Earle (1734-1823) a prominent judge, was next door neighbor to John Splawn of Spartanburg District, South Carolina in the 1800 US census. Splawn also witnessed a deed for Earle in October 1800. John Splawn appears in no further records in either North or South Carolina and Peggy begins showing up as a head of household in the very next census. This shows sufficient connection to suggest that John Splawn of Spartanburg District who evidently died before 1810 was the father of William.

The 1800, 1810 and 1820 census shows John and Peggy seem to have had several daughters in the 1790s but only one son, evidently William Splawn of Rutherford County. William had children named John and Margaret but none named Moses, James, Stephen or others that would imply he was a son of one of the other sons of John Splawn Sr. (c.1740-1794) of Fairfield County, South Carolina. The evidence is circumstantial, but points firmly toward John and Margaret Splawn being his parents.

Note: The above photo of William Splawn's gravestone appears to show his birth date as May 27, 1800. However, the 1860, 1870 and 1880 census as well as his 1884 obituary all agree that he was born in 1806. I think its more likely that the gravestone was incorrectly carved than that every record from his lifetime was consistently wrong by six years, so I'll be referring to his birth date as May 27, 1806 in my blog posts.

 

Research by Jason M. Farrell