52 Ancestors: #6 - Sophia JOLLETT Norman

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a challenge:  write one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.  It can be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem – anything that focuses on one ancestor.

In the ever-growing saga of my “imagined” family – the ones whose connection to the family tree is still unsettled – I am proud to introduce Sophia Jollett.  Why proud?  Because I actually know some stuff. 

I believe Sophia is my 4^th great grandaunt.  She was born about 1771 in Culpeper County, Virginia and married Cuthbert Norman August 2, 1791 in Orange County.  Marriage records indicate Mary was her mother and James Jollett was bondsman.  Therefore, it would be just lovely if Sophia turned out to be James’s sister.

One little wish that always punctuates my family research is to find where my ancestors actually lived, walk where they walked, see the view they woke to every day.  With Sophia, that wish has come true.  In 2004, the Greene County (Virginia) Historical Society magazine carried an article about the Powell-McMullan house.  Sophia and Cuthbert were one of the families that passed through as owners of this house, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.  They owned the house and 1 ¾ acres at the foot of Saddleback Mountain along the South River from 1819 to 1842 when they sold the property for $71.73. 

image courtesy Greene County Historical Society
Powell-McMullan House built around 1800
Additions in 1842

I suspect the sale indicates a date of death for ol’ Cuthbert. 

Cuthbert Norman didn’t have much luck with census takers, I guess.  Perhaps he and Sophia began their married life in the household of his or her parents.  Cuthbert was not indexed as Head of Household until 1820 when he was indexed as “Cadbush Norman.”  In 1830 it was “Cathbert Werman,” which reflects poorly on the indexer because it’s an alphabetized list and there he was among the “N’s.”  Then in 1840, he was indexed as “Cuthlert Newman.”  Getting closer. 

At any rate, he was gone after 1840 and the aging and blind Sophia was living with her only known daughter Julia Ann and son-in-law James Taylor when the next census takers came around in both 1850 and 1860.  Sophia died sometime after 1860.

“Only known daughter” implies there may have been other children.  The 1820 census in Orange County, Virginia suggests there were three more children.  In the Norman household were Cuthbert and Sophia who were 45+, 2 males 16-25, 1 female under 10 (that would be Julia Ann), and 1 female 10-15. In the 1830 census, only Julia Ann was still at home.  If the other three were not dead, they were likely married and in their own homes somewhere else.  

While I have not performed an exhaustive search of Sophia’s line, it seems that for at least several generations the descendants remained close to Greene County, Virginia.  They seem also to have stayed close to their Taylor cousins and to the Lambs – lots of those marriages.

Three Generations

Sophia Jollett (Abt 1771 – After 1860) & Cuthbert Norman (Abt 1770 – About 1842) married 2 Aug 1791 Orange County, VA

1. Julia Ann NORMAN (Abt 1818 – After 1880) & James S. TAYLOR (Abt 1815 – After 1880) married 31 July 1834 Orange County, VA

• Nancy E. TAYLOR (1833 - )
• Andy TAYLOR (1837 - ) & Narcissus TAYLOR (May 1855 - ) married 9 Apr 1898 Greene County, VA
• Larkin TAYLOR (1838 - )
• Mary TAYLOR (1841 - )
• Joseph TAYLOR (1843 - )
• Martha S. TAYLOR (1845 - ) & Samuel LAMB (1853 - ) married 21 Jan 1871 Greene County, VA
• Eliza Jane TAYLOR (1847 - ) & Jeremiah LAMB (1841 - ) married 14 Jul 1874 Greene County, VA
• Henrietta TAYLOR (1850 - ) & Zachariah Jack TAYLOR (Sep 1846 - ) married 28 Aug 1873 Greene County, VA
• Tyreeta TAYLOR (1852 - )

To do:

1. Look for wills for Cuthbert Norman and Sophia Jollett Norman
2. Research Larkin Norman of Rockingham County (Julia Ann had a son named Larkin, so maybe there is a connection)

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors: #3 - Thomas Jollett

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a challenge:  write one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.  It can be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem – anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Last week I discussed William Jollett who purchased land in Orange County in 1736.  Here is where I stumble in my effort to connect the dots to my known ancestor James Jollett.  I am maybe a generation or two away.  Of course, it’s also possible the names I’ve found are collateral lines rather than direct.  But in the meantime I’ll amuse myself by believing I’m on the right track.  So let’s move on.

My James’s father COULD be Thomas Jollett who COULD be William’s son.  Here is why I think so:

First of all, Thomas was in the right neighborhood.  In 1745, he was listed on the receipts from an estate sale in Orange County.

In 1750 he was paid at least twice as a witness for the plaintiff in a court case:

Orange County Order Book 5:228
1750 -- On the motion of Thomas Jollett a witness for Thomas Houison Plaintiff against Henry Elly Defendant. It is ordered that the said Thomas Houison pay him one hundred & forty pounds of Tobacco for two days attendance and for coming thirty miles from Spotsylvania County & returning according to law.

Orange County Order Book 5:272
1750 -- On the motion of Thomas Jollett a witness for Thomas Houison Plaintiff against Henry Elly Defendent. It is ordered that the said Houison pay him forty-nine pounds of Tobacco for one days attendance & coming over eight miles from Culpeper County according to Law.

Secondly, there’s the 100 acres William purchased in Orange in 1736.  In 1786, Thomas alienated 150 acres to James Jolley/Jollett in Culpeper County.  Culpeper was carved out of Orange in 1749, so MAYBE this is the same land. 

Finally, the absence of Thomas Jollett in tax records after 1788, both land and personal, provides a strong argument for his being older than James and therefore, possibly James’s father.  For several years, James and Mary were side by side paying personal property taxes in Orange.  Mary is most likely his mother.  

Fortunately I have better evidence for that conclusion:  marriage records.  In several documents she is listed as mother of the bride and James as Bondsman.  See – no father. 

Using marriage records alone, I have constructed this POSSIBLE family of my known 4G grandfather:

Thomas JOLLETT (about 1725 -about 1788) and Mary UNKNOWN

1. Susannah JOLLETT (about 1762 - ) married James BRIANT 1782 Culpeper County, Virginia
2. James JOLLETT (about 1765 – before 1850) married Nancy WALKER 1787 Culpeper County, Virginia
3. Sophia JOLLETT (about 1771 - ) married Cuthbert NORMAN 1791 Culpeper County, Virginia
4. Judy JOLLETT (about 1772 - ) married William CAVE 1791 Orange County, Virginia
5. Elizabeth JOLLETT (about 1773 - ) married William EATON 1793 Orange County, Virginia 

While I want to feel good about this little constellation, there is another Jollett family out there, James and Gracey.  “Gracey” doesn’t fit with the marriage records though, so possibly this James is Thomas’s brother.  Maybe?  And then there’s a Mary Jollett who at age 18 married John Dodgens Forrester in 1768, making her too old to have been a sibling in my imagined family.  A cousin?  A sister to Thomas? 

Sigh – more work to be done!

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.