Who is Thomas West, Sr. (abt. 1718-1808) of North Carolina?

Looking for the family of Thomas West, Sr. who:
died in Chatham Co., NC in 1808

Yesterday I posted a blog "The 1876 Journal of James W. Crewdson" that I made an additional comment about us searching the surrounding counties of NC that the Thomas West, Sr. (b. bef. 1718 - d. 1808 Chatham Co., NC) family lived to attempt to identify all of the West families in hopes to put together a better, clearer profile of questions we have of this branch of the family DNA group #5.  What follows is some background and some of the counties surrounding Thomas in both NC & Virginia [thanks, Joy for pointing out that Virginia bordered many of the NC counties listed -JGW]

We are looking for any documentation of any and all West families in NC & those of the border counties of VA during the period of about 1735 thru 1770.  We have discovered quite a few men named West in the same county as Thomas lived, but most have not been sorted out as to who they are.  Anyone interested in working on this research project is more than welcome.  Any findings sent to us will be posted here and on our web site.

The West family history begins with Thomas West, Sr. born about 1718 or earlier, place of birth is unknown. The first record of this Thomas West is [since then I have found 2 deeds listed with the deeds I submitted with this category for 4 Mar 1754 and 5 Mar 1754] the muster roll of a regiment of militia under the command of Colonel William Eaton on 8 Oct 1754. Under Capt. Benjamin Simm's Company is listed Thomas West. Under Captain Andrew Hampton's Company is listed Francis West (relation to Thomas is unknown). This latter two muster rolls were endorsed by Col. Wm. Eaton on 6 Dec. 1754 Granville Co., NC (Source: "Colonial Granville County and Its People" by Worth S. Ray, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1979, p.294. As shown in the North Carolina State Records, Vol. 22, Pp.370-380.). He was a land owner by 1755, as evidenced by the listing of "Thomas West and son, Richard," both taxable on the 1755 tax list of Granville Co., NC. [The land that was being taxed included (there could be other unknown lands) the 350 acres bought on 5 Mar 1754 from Lodowick Alford in Granville Co. formerly in Edgecombe Co., NC on the east side of Bear Swamp.]

From the Earl of Granville, by his agent Thomas Child, "Thomas West, planter of Granville Co." received a land grant of 386 acres, dated 29 Jul 1761. This grant was in Granville Co. on "Cyprus Swamp," adjoining Brinkley and Simmons (DB A, p. 316). Bute County was formed in 1764 from Granville Co. and included this land. "Thomas West of Orange Co." sold this land on 1 Dec 1766 to Samuel Eley of Bute Co., "386 acres in Bute Co. on the Cypress Swamp, a Lord Granville Grant of 29 Jul 1761" (DB B-1, p. 347). These deeds show that Thomas West moved from land that was formerly in Edgecombe Co., NC on Bear Swamp to land that was on Cypress Swamp (formerly in Granville, then Bute, and today in Warren Co., NC) and then into Orange Co. by 1766 (a distance of perhaps 70 miles from Cypress Swamp).  Later Thomas West, Sr. and family moved to the adjoining county of Chatham by 1774.  JGW

The following is a list of counties that were formed (organized) around the counties Thomas West, Sr. lived during that time:

Virginia Counties -
1720  Brunswick
1746  Lunenburg from Brunswick
1752  Halifax from Lunenburg
1764  Mecklenburg from Lunenburg
1766  Pittsylvania from Halifax
1776  Henry from Pittsylvania

North Carolina Counties -
1741  Edgecombe from Bertie + North Hampton from Bertie
1746  Granville from Edgecombe
1752  Orange from Bladen, Granville & Johnston
1758  Halifax from Edgecombe
1764  Bute from Granville
1770  Chatham from Orange + Guilford from Rowan & Orange
1779  Bute (discontinued) divided into Warren & Franklin

At one time I had strongly thought that Thomas West, Sr. was a part of the West family that lived in Edgecombe & Bertie Counties of NC back to 1724.  But Ben West and others have led me to believe that he comes from the area around Stafford & Louisa Counties of Virginia.  But we have not been able to prove the VA connection.

Graves County, Kentucky

I have often wondered about Graves Co., KY that attracted some of Ben West's ancestors and some of my ancestors.  Ben's family were concentrated in the Logan & Simpson Co. area while my family were in Christian Co & western Todd Co.  But, for some reason about 1840 or so, some of the children of my direct ancestor Charles H. West removed to Graves County that was to the west of Christian County as can be seen in the following transcription of the 1848 indenture of Charles H. West (who died in 1845):

Christian Co., KY Deed Book 32, pp. 177-179

This Indenture made and entered into on the 26th. day of August in the year 1848 Between William E. West of the County of Christian & State of Kentucky, Moses Austin & his wife Aquilla Mahala late Aquilla Mahala West of the County of Weakley and State of Tennessee, Frederick F. Williams and Martha A. his wife late Martha A. West of the County of Henry and State of Tennessee, William Stroud and Mary S. his wife late Mary S. West of the County of Calloway & State of Kentucky, Charles B. West of Graves County Kentucky, Thomas A. West of Holt County Missouri and the following named children of Jesse West Dec'd. Viz Harmon R. S. W. West of Warren County Illinois, John M. West of Weakley County Tennessee, Amos S. West of Graves County Kentucky, William E. West and Sarah West of Todd County Kentucky and Susan C. West of Christian County Kentucky  Children and heirs of Charles West deceased of the first part and Orran A. West of the County of Christian and State of Kentucky of the second part.

Charles B. West & his nephew Amos S. West were in Graves County at the time of the above indenture.

In a great photo posted by Ben West on Nov. 27, 1999 on the West, Fike & Affiliate Families page of MyFamily.com shows the West family members of West Plains, Grave Co., KY.  Ben states: "The family members depicted in this photograph (taken Ca. 1903) are descendants of Amos West (1766-1819) and Frances Herndon of Sulphur Spring, Simpson County, Kentucky."

Simpson County is east of Christian Co. with Christian Co. being close to the middle of Simpson & Graves counties.  Here is some information that Ben West posted on MyFamily site sometime back for me on Amos S. West:

From the West/Fike MyFamily Web Site:  Ben West - Jan 5, 2003   Viewers | Reply to this item     John,

I appreciate your posting this information to the web site.   Since you mentioned Amos S. West as an heir of Jesse West, I thought that I would share some of my Graves and Calloway Counties, Kentucky research findings with you.

From CEMETERIES OF CALLOWAY COUNTY "HEART OF THE JACKSON PURCHASE" by Judith Ann Maupin, June 1981, P. O. Box 954, Murray, KY 42071:

pp. 158-159 -- Lassiter Cemetery

p. 158  West M. L., 1878 - - ____

p. 159  West S. M., 1876- -1905

West Amos S., June 18, 1821- - Feb. 6, 1904

West Sarah J., wife of A S, Jan. 13, 1835- - Jan. 26, 1919

West Benjamin, son of M L & S M, died Sept. 25, 1900, age 2, 19 days

West Samuel, Nov. 3-16, 1873

West Austin E., Sept. 8-18, 1877

West Sally, Jan. 12, 1876- - Dec. 12, 1911, no stone

From GRAVES COUNTY, KY. BIRTH RECORDS 1852 TO 1859 by Don Simmons, Simmons Historical Publications, P. O. Box 66, Melber, Ky. 42069, 1991:

p. 24  625 West, F. M. A. (m) Amos West and Mary Brown 3-22-1853

p. 39  1041 West, C. J. R. (m) A. West & M. A. Brown 4-30-1855

p. 46  1265 West, H. A. D. (m) A. West & M. A. Brown 5-30-1857

p. 74  2074 West, Mathew S.  Amos West & Mary Ann Brown 6-16-1859.

From GRAVES CO., KY NEWSPAPER GENEALOGICAL ABSTRACTS VOLUME 10, Simmons Historical Publications, Melber, Ky. 42069, 1984:

Thur. 2-25-1904

p. 10  Uncle Amos West, an old man of Calloway Co., died Sat. morning and was buried Sun. at the Lassiter Graveyard near Swan.   He died of paralysis.

Until Ben's family DNA matched my DNA (and that of Hal Beumer's cousin) we wondered, but did not know at all if our ancestors were related.  This blog was written by me to point out that these two branches of the West family lived in Graves County back in the 1800's.  Did they know that they were related?  Were they aware of a relationship when they came to Kentucky around 1800?

If you have some information to add to this blog, please post it to the comments for this blog or send to me directly at:  jgw.mylines@gmail.com  

Written & submitted by John G. West

Links to Connections to Families with Ties to the Family of Thomas West, Sr.

NC Secretary of State Land Grant Office

[This information was previously posted on the MyFamily.com web site "West, Fike & Affiliate Families" on Dec 9, 2000 by John G. West.]

Land grants are excellent records of where a family owned land.  The neighbors (adjoining lands) are generally listed to describe the land borders.  The chainmen listed were trusted neighbors, friends or family... since they provided the measurements.  The person given the grant wanted his full measurement and would ensure that the chainmen were trust worthy and well-known to him.

The following records were transcribed from the NC Secretary of State Land Grant Office in Raliegh, NC as compiled by John G. West on 4 Aug 1981. Taken within one hour of the office closing for the day - hopefully there are no errors - there were other West family land grants not copied due to the time constraint!

West, Thomas #1216 Chatham Co. 100 Acres
Grant # 1121 Issued 7 Jul 1794
Entry # 1 Entered 16 Feb 1791
Book # 82 Page # 345
Chainmen: Ignatius West & Richard West
Beginning at a black jack... Lutterloh's corner & James Simmon's line... Baker's corner...

West, Phillip #1792 Chatham Co. 2 3/16 acres
Grant # 1698 Issued 7 Dec 1803
Entry # 639 Entered 10 Feb 1801
Book # 117 Page # 242
Chainmen: John Hackney, Sr. & John Hackney, Jr.
Waters of Dry Creek, along Thomas West's line & Lutterloh's line from his own corner...
(Comptroller's Office 15 Dec 1802 states "10 Acres Entry # 639" ???)

West, Jeptha #1693 Chatham Co. 74 Acres
Grant # 1620 Issued 14 Nov 1801
Entry # 569 Entered 19 Feb 1800
Book # 111 Page # 162
Chainmen: Hezekiah Henderson & Quintin Millekin
On the Waters of Robertson's Creek...

West, George #66 Chatham Co. 300 acres
Grant # 65 Issued 1 Jul 1779
Entry # 147 Entered 19 Oct 1778
Book # 30 Page # 65
Chainmen: Jeremiah Melton & John Harrison
On the head of the Wattery Branch the Watters of Indian Cr. and Deep River. Beginning near the Quaker Road (including the Millstone Glade)...

(The following Ignatius West records were copied by me as "Ig" to save time. The records had various spellings for this name - "Egnasus," "Ignasus," "Ignatious," plus a few others. Time was of essence, since the clerk called out that they would be closing in 20 minutes!)

Ig # 210 Chatham Co. 400 acres
Grant # 341 Issued 31 Mar 1780
Entry # 139 Entered 30 Aug 1779
Book # 32 Page # 195
Chainmen: Ignatious West, Jr. & William West
On the SS of Haw River & NS of Dry Creek...

Ig # 302 Chatham Co. 381 acres
Grant # 433 Issued 31 Mar 1780
Entry # 239 Entered 15 Aug 1779
Book # 32 Page # 287
Chainmen: Ignatious West, Jr. & William West
On both sides of Dry Creek...

Ig # 1145 Chatham Co. 40 acres
Grant # 1045 Issued 16 Nov 1790
Entry # 180 Entered 6 Oct 1788
Book # 77 Page # 97
Chainmen: William Pilkinton & James Davis
An Island in Haw River...

Ig # 1246 Chatham Co. 100 acres
Grant # 1151 Issued 7 Jul 1794
Entry # 273 Entered 12 May 1789
Book # 82 Page # 354
Chainmen: John Meacham & Nat Brewer
Both sides of Terrells Creek beginning on Wm. Meacham's line...

Ig # 1115 Chatham Co. 20 acres
Grant # 1015 Issued 16 Nov 1790
Entry # 184 Entered 14 Nov 1788
Book # 77 Page # 88
Chainmen: Richard West & James Mutin
On the waters of Dry Creek... James Henderson's line...

Ig # 1135 Chatham Co. 30 acres
Grant # 1035 Issued 16 Nov 1790
Entry # 204 Entered 6 Mar 1789
Book # 77 Page # 94
Chainmen: William Pilkinton & James Davis
On Haw River (an Island known as "Big Island")...

Ig # 1039 Chatham Co. 75 acres
Grant # 963 Issued 26 Nov 1789
Entry # 77 Entered 27 Oct 1787
Book # 71 Page # 358
Chainmen: Henry Brewer & Nathaniel Brewer
On the waters of Dry Creek...

Family Branches and Lines

The West DNA Family Project was started in an attempt to help us connect the branches of the family and to attempt to move each branch further back in time.  I recently discovered that we can do the same within each branch.  I was asked to present a program about DNA at the SAR meeting in Christian County, KY.  Christian County is where my SAR Patriot Thomas West moved from Chatham Co., NC before 1809.  This Thomas West is the son of Thomas West, Sr. born before 1718 and died in Chatham County in 1808.  My father was born in Christian County, KY in 1918.    Many of Thomas West, Junior’s descendants still live in the same area he moved just over 200 years ago.

At this SAR meeting, Tommy Henderson introduced me as the speaker, but first he introduced my cousins that were members of the chapter.  Counting Tommy, there were a total of 5 cousins present with 5 more members that were not able to attend.  I have 10 cousins that are members of that SAR chapter.  Tommy pointed out that they were either fourth thru sixth cousins depending on the line we were connected.  Five cousins were descendants of Thomas West, Jr.

My point is that except from Tommy and two others, I did not know anything about the other seven.  I could develop the same project that I have developed for our DNA Family Group #5 for the descendants of Thomas West, Sr.  who have lines in Christian County, KY, Logan County, KY and Hendricks County, IN.  These three locations would account for about 5 or 6 of the 14 children of Thomas West, Sr.  We could attempt to merge the connections between branches of the family with the lines within each branch.  The computer and the Internet can make this a reasonable project that can be of help to all that are members of our West DNA Group #5.

With the FTDNA West Surname Project, we have learned that we (FG #5) are less that 10% of the West that have tested to date.  This means that 90% of people named West are not related to us.  On the other hand of that 10% that is related, we actually only know of a very small number of our living cousins.  How many are lost in their quest to find their ancestors?  How many might live within one hundred miles of where we live OR just down the road from us?  How many of these unknown cousins might be able to bridge our branches?

I keep finding people named West and wonder are they related?  Are they from my branch or one of the other branches in our FG #5?  Ever since, I was a kid, I knew of a few lines of Dad’s family living in Evansville, but none were descended from Thomas West.  The few cousins in Evansville descended from my grandmother’s side of the family.  About one year ago, I learned that the man that owned West Tax Service (William West) not far from my house is a cousin that was born in Christian County, KY.  A young man became a member of the Evansville chapter of SAR about one year ago – Bart Burke.  We soon learned that he descends from Thomas West, Jr.

Tommy Henderson has compiled many of the descendants of Thomas West, Jr. in a very well documented book of 1,000 pages.  I know that Ben West and several others have compiled info on the descendants of Richard West and that the Ignatius West family has compiled many of that line.  This is three of the 14 children of Thomas West, Jr.  We have a great start for some of Thomas West, Sr’s branch of the FG #5.  We should be able to do the same for the other branches of our West DNA Family Project – FG #5.

Written by John G. West

West Families with Quaker Connections

Joy Ikelman posted on the West, Fike MyFamily.com site 31 Aug 2013 [paraphrased]:

David West (Susanna Hoag) -- he was a Quaker, which seems to be unusual for the WEST Surname Project of the FTDNA Group #5.  I responded (shortly afterwards) with the following comments:

Thanks, Joy. I want to point out that there may be more Quakers than you think among the WEST family. Our Thomas West, Sr. family records can be found (in order) Granville, Bute (later discontinued into Warren & Franklin Cos.), Orange and then Chatham County before the family went into many separate directions.

Now, a little geographical history of early NC county formation. In 1752 Orange County was formed from 3 counties: Bladen, Granville & Johnston. In 1752 Thomas West was recorded in Granville Co. to the east of newly formed Orange Co. In 1764, Bute Co. was formed from the eastern 1/2 of Granville Co. where we can find records of Thomas West. In 1770, Guilford is formed out of the west 1/3 of Orange county (along with a near equal size of land from Rowan County resulting in Orange & Guilford being about the same size, side by side; except in the same year, Chatham County is formed from the S.E. 1/6 part of Orange County. Therefore in 1770, Guilford adjoined the entire western borders of Orange & Chatham County. In 1777 Caswell Co. took the N. 1/2 of Orange Co. reducing its size to nearly the same as Chatham Co. In 1778, Randolph was formed from the 1/3 S. part of Guilford making Randolph and Chatham sharing the exact same border between them, while the new S. half of Guilford's eastern border is shared with Orange County. Then, in 1785, Rockingham County was formed out of Guilford Co. reducing it to the same size as Orange Co. The result being that Guilford & Orange are at the top of a near square group of 4 counties with Randolph and Chatham being at the bottom. All four counties are about the same size, as well. This remained that way until 1849 when Alamance was formed out of the eastern 1/2 of Orange County squeezing in between Guilford & Orange, now making it into a 5-county square with 3 across the top!

I suspect that for many reading this the geography above is confusing... it is not to me; however, remember, I have been studying these county formations for about 35 years! The part to remember is that the area that became Guilford County was in very close proximity (actually was part of) the counties that Thomas West and family were. This whole area of North Carolina was the home of many Quaker families leaving Virginia with Guilford County becoming heavily inhabited by Quakers. Thomas West, Sr. son Ignatius West had a son William who married a woman by the name of Cook... she died quite young and William left little Abram with the Cook family of Guilford Co. while William decided to travel to Christian County, where his Uncle Thomas West had moved. He married a Lacy woman from Chatham County - they had twins that were born just after William had died! They grew up and were known as the West Brothers Gunsmiths. They were the half brothers of Abram. Now Abram married Sina Hadley, and they migrated with the Hadley's to Hendricks County, Indiana just east of Marion Co. which is Indianapolis (the state capital). I discovered last year that Hendricks Co. had a township known as Guilford Township... I thought that was interesting. At the library, I soon discovered that the Quakers who settled there were from Guilford Co., NC led by Abram West's father-in-law Hadley! Now, without any proof, I suspect that William West named his son Abram as a good Quaker name because his in-laws the Cook family were Quakers. A few generations later in Hendricks County, IN, Abram and his family became Methodists or Baptists... I will have to verify which denomination they became.

- Sumitted by John G. West

Estate Records for Thomas West b. 1718

From CHATHAM COUNTY COURT MINUTES 1805-1811, North Carolina Department of Archives and History,  North Carolina State Archives, 109 East Jones Street, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27601-2807: p. 193 [Ben West sent this to me on 19 Feb 2005]

Wednesday February Sessions 1808

The last Will and Testament of Thomas West Senr. was duly proved in open Court by the Oaths of Robert Richerson and Elizabeth Richerson witness thereto and ordered to be Record[ed].  Whereupon Administration of the Estate of the said Thomas West senr is granted to Ignatious West with the Will annexed, he having entered into Bond in the sum of One hundred and Twenty pounds with Robert Richerson and Obed Powell his Securities and was duly qualified.