The Wyatts of Tryon County, North Carolina and Spartanburg County, South Carolina

In Tryon County, North Carolina during the 1760s, a small family of Wyatts first started appearing in records. James Wyatt Sr. was granted 392 acres on the Catawba River in October 1767; in April 1769 he sold part of that tract to Daniel Wyatt. In 1771, James Wyatt appeared in a Tryon County militia roll; by 1777, Edmund Wyatt and Vincent Wyatt began appearing in deeds. When Tryon was subsumed by the newly formed Lincoln County in 1779, the Wyatts began appearing in Lincoln county court and by 1784 migrated into South Carolina, where many of their descendants continued to appear in records for decades thereafter. Other names appearing in these first two generations in North Carolina were John, William, Jeremiah, Leonard, Abraham, Thomas, Elizabeth, Susannah, Rachel and Lillian Wyatt.

While it is widely known among genealogists that James Wyatt Sr. (c.1722-c.1795) and wife Bethlehem had migrated from Northumberland County, Virginia (where several of their oldest children were born and baptized in 1746-52), it seems no one as yet has been able to figure out who James's father was, or arrange a comprehensive theory of how the Wyatt clan was likely structured. A deep dive into the deed and order books of several counties in Virginia and North Carolina, as well as certain parish registers, sheds light on this family and its Virginia origins.

Both James Wyatt and Daniel Wyatt who appear in Tryon County, North Carolina in the 1760s first entered the historical record in Richmond County, Virginia. Daniel Wyatt witnessed a deed in Richmond County in 1740; James Wyatt first appeared in court in 1744. They also appeared in Northumberland County court records around the same time, Daniel Wyatt having witnessed a deed in Northumberland in 1744 and James Wyatt having children baptized there in 1746, 1749 and 1752. So its clear that their father might be found in either county.

The only Wyatts who appear in Northumberland County records who are old enough to be father to James or Daniel are Edward Wyatt of Gloucester County (c.1705-bef.1771), son-in-law and executor of John Keene's will in October 1740; and William Wyatt, who was named debtor to Mathew Quill in Northumberland court on Aug. 28, 1740. This is likely William Wyatt, mariner of Gloucester County (d. aft. June 2, 1747), brother to the above Edward Wyatt. William is not otherwise known to have lived in Northumberland and he is known by old family letters now in the British Archives to have married and raised children in Liverpool, England through at least the 1750s so he can be ruled out as father to James and Daniel. It seems neither Edward nor William ever lived in Northumberland, but only appeared in court as they had business. John Wyatt, merchant of Gloucester, mentioned having an estate in Northumberland in a letter of 1756, but he was a young man then and cannot be father of James Wyatt or his siblings.

It is known that Edward Wyatt was a son-in-law of John Keene (1671-1740) by the latter's 1740 will in Northumberland County. The will mentions his daughter Eleanor Wyatt and two of her children, John and Elizabeth Wyatt. John appeared in court in 1754 to sell the inherited land and disappears from county records. Decades later in Lincoln County, North Carolina, an Elizabeth Wyatt was deeded land by John Wyatt adjacent James Wyatt on June 21, 1783. This may be the same John and Elizabeth Wyatt named grandchildren in the will of John Keene; if so, this would affirm James and Daniel Wyatt sons of Edward Wyatt and Eleanor Keene. Of course, the names John and Elizabeth are two of the most common in the English-speaking world and appear across several Wyatt clans in this time period, so caution should be exercised.

The will, deed, order and account books of Northumberland show no other Wyatt families in these early years. Edward Wyatt appears in the will books to handle John Keene's estate in 1740-43; then John Wyatt witnessed a deed in 1744; James Wyatt's childrens' births were recorded 1746-52. John Wyatt, son of Edward, sold land given to him by John Keene in 1754. The Wyatts then vanish from Northumberland.

It is tempting to theorize that Edward Wyatt of Gloucester, a descendant of the wealthy Boxley Wyatts of Kent, is father to the Wyatts who immigrated to Tryon County, North Carolina in the 1760s. But this is problematic at best. 

First, Edward is documented to have married Eleanor Keene, daughter of John Keene, who we know by parish records was born September 29, 1710. It does not seem likely that she could have given birth to men who started having children and appearing in court in 1740. There also seems to be no evidence Edward was married twice. Second, Edward was a coastal merchant and spent much of his time overseas, in particular, in Barbados. It seems odd that all of his children would have moved inland to become farmers. Third, Edward is documented to have had children named Edward, John and Elizabeth but no others.

As previously noted, both James and Daniel Wyatt of North Carolina first appeared in court not in Northumberland, but in Richmond County, Virginia. Daniel and wife Susannah had a son named Edmund in 1740 (Overwharton Parish Register) and its worth noting an Edmund Wyatt appeared in records with them in North Carolina in the 1760s-1780s. Its probably not a coincidence then, that the only Wyatt who appears in Richmond County records before James and Daniel was an Edmund Wyatt who died intestate and whose widow Mary Wyatt appeared in court on July 4, 1737 to receive letters of administration on his estate. This Edmund Wyatt is known from other records to have come from Westmoreland County, the son of a senior Edmund Wyatt, and had documented siblings named Sarah, James and William. His brother William also had a documented son named Vincent Wyatt, which is unique a name we see being appearing in the 1770s in Tryon County, North Carolina.

Further association is shown in a court record of 1739, whereby Susannah Wyatt who we know by several other records to be the wife of Daniel Wyatt, was a witness for Mary Wyatt, administrator of Edmund Wyatt in Richmond County, Virginia. This shows a firm association between James and Daniel and the late Edmund Wyatt of Richmond County.

Because of these documents and the uniqueness of some of these names, the circumstantial evidence is strong that the Edmund Wyatt who died in 1737 was the father of the Wyatts who immigrated to Tryon County, North Carolina.

This is the case that I make in my latest e-book, The Descendants of Edmund Wyatt of Westmoreland County, Virginia, available for free at archive.org. You can access it now by clicking here.

 

Research by Jason M. Farrell

Identifying the Lost Suttons of Albemarle County, North Carolina, Part II

In Part I, I laid out the case that Samuel Sutton (c.1722-1764) of Perquimans County, North Carolina was an undocumented son of Nathaniel Sutton (1681-c.1743) by an unknown first wife. Samuel is one of four Sutton men of his generation who seem likely to be brothers. The other three are:

John Sutton (c.1702-aft.1741) appears in Bertie County 1723-1741, wife Mary;

James Sutton (c.1712-1770) married Anne Penrice (Perquimans, Granville & Bertie County 1753-1770);

Ephraim Sutton (c.1720-bef.1772) was a neighbor of James Sutton in Perquimans County.

There is further circumstantial evidence that these men are potentially brothers, and further evidence that James's descendants migrated west into what is now Rutherford County, North Carolina.

JOHN SUTTON (c.1702-aft.1741)

An unidentified John Sutton was the Clerk of Court in Bertie County, North Carolina from at least August 1723 and was a witness to about a third of the deed written over the next two decades. John was himself  recorded buying land in Bertie County in 1725, 1726 and 1739. A 1737 deed identifies his wife as Mary. 

Not much else is known about this John Sutton, who disappears from Bertie County after 1741. Given his status as a local clerk, it seems unlikely that he died around then with no mention in court records. It seems more likely that he simply moved away, though where to isn't clear.

He could be the John Sutton who appears in the records of Dobbs County, North Carolina in 1748 and died there in 1773. No wife was recorded, but he had three documented sons: Benjamin Sutton (born about 1752; died 1837); John Sutton, Jr. (born about 1758; died 1820-1830); and William Sutton (born about 1760; died 1813-1820). All three sons were born and lived in Bucklesberry, which is about 100 miles southwest of Perquimans County. 

There were four other possible sons living in the county as well: Thomas Sutton (born before 1758; death year unknown); James Sutton (born 1755-1767; death year unknown); Richard Sutton (born 1755-1773; died 1800-1810); and Simon Sutton (born 1765-1767; died before 1813). John likely had daughters, too, but no document evidence to date has emerged to identify their names.

Given the age difference between John Sutton of Bertie County and the children born to John Sutton of Dobbs, it is possible that John of Bertie was the father of John of Dobbs; or they may be unrelated. For further information on the Dobbs County John Sutton, see https://suttonancestry.com/john-sutton-first-in-bucklesberry/

JAMES SUTTON (c.1712-1770)

James was extensively documented in Perquimans County, beginning with a deed of 100 acres from Francis Penrice in April 1753.

The following year, James appears in tax list of Perquimans County, with just 1 tithable (himself). On this same list are Samuel Sutton (5), Joseph Sutton Esq., Joseph Sutton Jr. and Edward Penrice, indicating they lived in the same part of the county.

Sometime during that year, James seems to have moved to Granville County, North Carolina, being named along with a John Sutton in a muster roll of the Granville County militia in October 1754. The following year he appears in the Granville County tax rolls, again claiming only himself as tithable. James disappears from Granville County after 1755, but appears in Bertie County beginning in the tax census of 1757.

While these could be different men named James Sutton, the scarcity of the name in this Sutton clan suggest they are the same man. Also, Robert Allen appears with James Sutton in the Granville County 1755 tax census just 11 households away from Sutton. In the 1757 tax list of Bertie County, James Sutton shared a household with Robert Allen, indicating co-migration among these eastern counties.

James Sutton seems to appear in no further records until April 15, 1770, when his estate entered into probate in Perquimans County. Samuel Penrice, his brother-in-law, was administrator and a James Sutton was the only Sutton at his estate sale. This is his son. Evidently there was a will but it doesn't seem to have been recorded.

James Sutton Jr. appears in a 1771 deed clarifying some of the relationships in this family:

Oct. 21, 1771 - James Sutton to Benj Scarbrough - 15 pds for 30 acres - NW Yeopin Creek near bend of a swamp out of Franks Creek - sd land given by my grandfather Francis Penrice to my father James Sutton Sr and by his will to me. (Perquimans Co. NC deeds, Book H, #183)

And in a further deed he shows a relation to the late Ephraim Sutton, probable brother of James Sr.:

Feb. 6, 1772 - James Sutton to Joshua Skinner - 25 pds for 50 acres - NS Yeopim Creek adj to land belonging to orphans of Ephraim Sutton to a branch issuing out of Albemarle Sounty. Witnesses Samuel Penrice, Elizabeth Penrice. (Perquimans Co. NC deeds, Book H #198)

James Sutton and Ann Penrice (named daughter in the will of Francis Penrice of Perquimans County, in April 1756) had four likely sons who migrated into western North Carolina:

1. John Sutton (c.1734-1817), who appears in the Granville County militia rolls in 1754 and was noted "absent" in rolls of 1771. He appears in court in Granville County in 1755 and 1757. He is likely the same John Sutton who begins appearing in deeds in Anson County, North Carolina in 1768 and evidently married Eleanor Ashley, daughter of John Ashley of Anson County, who names a daughter "Elianer Sutton" in his 1759 will. In 1772, John Sutton was a witness for John Ashley (Jr., son of above John Ashley) in a deed in Tryon County, North Carolina; by 1779, he had been granted 50 acres on Floyd's Creek in Rutherford County, North Carolina, where he would remain the rest of his life. He sealed his will in March 1814 naming children Elizabeth Sutton, Robert Sutton, William Sutton, John Sutton, Sarah Sutton and James Sutton, among other legatees. His will was recorded July 6, 1817.

2. James Sutton (1751-aft.1834), a Revolutionary War veteran who self-reported being born in Granville County, North Carolina in April 1751 in his veteran's pension application. In 1771-1772, he sold off his father's property and (by his own account) removed to Halifax County, North Carolina where he lived until 1780, though contemporary records actually place him back in Granville County during this period, serving under Capt. William Gill during the Revolutionary War. James reported living in Rutherford County, North Carolina from 1780 to 1805, when he finally settled in Lincoln County, North Carolina. He reported being poor and illiterate and evidently wrote no will. No wife is known, but he seems to be father to James Sutton, William Sutton, Colby Sutton and others who later migrated from Rutherford County, North Carolina to Smith County, Tennessee. Colby was named legatee in the will of the above John Sutton.

3. Samuel Sutton (1750s-aft.1800), about whom little is known. In 1788 he appears with John Sutton in a suit against James Kincaid in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Samuel, who was likely named for Samuel Sutton (d.1764) of Perquimans County, North Carolina, appears in census records of Lincoln County through 1800. He may be the father of William and James Sutton who appear in Lincoln County marriage bonds in 1818 and 1832, respectively.

4. Dempsey Sutton (bef.1765-aft.1820), another brother about whom little is known. He does appear to have initially migrated with the other Suttons to Lincoln County, North Carolina where he appears as "Densy Sutton" in a suit by the state of North Carolina in January 1788. After being found guilty, he seems to have returned to Granville County where he was sold property near Low Ground Creek by David Blalock in 1801. He last appears in the 1820 census of Granville County. No name found for his wife. He may be the father of Edward Sutton, a War of 1812 veteran who also appears in Granville County in the 1820 census.

EPHRAIM SUTTON (c.1720-c.1772)

Ephraim Sutton is only mentioned in three deeds between 1757 and 1772, the earliest of these confirming he was more likely to be a brother than a son of James Sutton (c.1712-1770). In February 1757, Ephraim bought 100 acres in Perquimans County on Franks Creek, "adjacent James Sutton." In a final deed of October 1772 the "orphans of Ephraim Sutton" were mentioned, but there appears to be no record of their names. It is possible he is the father or grandfather of another Ephraim Sutton (1768-1819) who genealogists believe was from Chowan County, North Carolina.

Research and documentation by Jason M. Farrell