JAMES LEA KILGORES BRANCH DEATH DATE
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde
I no longer support a death date of 1788 for James Lea of Kilgore’s Branch. I could not find a source for the death date, so I began extensive research to discover the origin of the date. There is no evidence of ANY James Lea dying in 1788, ANYWHERE. The earliest record discovered for the 1788 date uncovered gross misinformation, beginning with a Sons of the American Revolution membership application dated 1910, as transcribed exactly below. The original application was perhaps devoid of dates since there was no room on the form for dates of ancestors and the dates that are on the application appear in small print as annotations and appear to have been added after the application was received by the SAR. In The History of Amity County, Albert Eugene Casey assigned that 1788 death date to James Lea of Kilgore’s Branch without any justification and changed the location of his death from TN to Caswell County, NC... ! Apparently since so many people had used that date, he couldn’t bring himself to throw it away, even though it is entirely without merit. Herewith the research report:
SAR MEMBERSHIP # 21244
James Everett Lea, Jr. a student from Huron, Mississippi, filed an application for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution on 12 May1910 based on the military record of James Lea, Jr. of Orange County, North Carolina. His application was approved on 12 May 1910. The petition sent to the Mississippi Registrar General May 18,1910. Certificate of Membership #21244 was delivered 25 July 1910. The file was transferred to D.C. #9080 (1934).
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP
TO THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF
MISSISSIPPI SOCIETY
…OF THE…
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
I, James E. Lea, Jr, being of the age of twenty-one-years and upwards, to wit, of the age of (twenty-one) hereby apply for membership in the society by right of lineal descent in the following line from James Lea, Jr. who was born in North Carolina on the 21 May 1752, (replaced by 1718). And died in Tennessee on the 18 Jan 1790 (replaced by June 1788) and who assisted in obtaining American Independence.
I was born in Huron in the County of Amite, State of Mississippi on the 23 day of Jan 1888.
I am the son of James E. Lea and
Maggie Tate Lea his wife, and
Grandson of James E. Lea b. 7/28/1819 d. 4/25/1878 m. 1826 and
Frances Powell Lea b. 8/22/1827 d. 2/12/1886 his wife, and
Great-grandson of Zachariah Lea b. 1/15/1776 d. 2/5/1815 m. 1/19/1802 and
Sabrina Muse Day Lea b. 1/14/1783 d. 8 his wife, and
Great-great grandson of Luke Lea b. 12/26/1739 d. m. and
Elizabeth Wilson Lea b. 11/26/1739 his wife, and
Great-great-great grandson of James Lea, Jr. (1718-1788) and
No record
Great-great- great-great grandson of James Lea, Sr. and
No record
And he, the said ancestor, James Lea, Jr is the ancestor who assisted in establishing American Independence, while acting as a private soldier in the North Carolina Militia
Ancestors Service
My ancestor’s services in assisting in the establishment of American Independence during the War of the Revolution were as follows:
Served under his brother Gabriel Lea who was captain of a company from Orange County, North Carolina. They watched the enemy and aided Americans by getting supplies. Served under General Griffith Rutherford after July 23 1776 against the Cherokee Indians of East Tennessee. In the valley of the Tennessee River they burned the Indian towns of Natauga, Ellajay, and Estakoe, and routed the Indians at where Franklin, NC now stands, with the aid of General Williamsons troops from South Carolina subdued the Indians and returned home in October 1776. James Lea fought again with General Rutherford on the 20th of June, 1780 at Ramsours Mill against the Tories. Two of the officers were Col. Francis Locke and Major David Wilson of NC. Later James served as a private under Capt. Robert Raiford and Col. Abraham Shepherd of the 10th Continental NC Regiment enlisting Sept 18, 1780 for eighteen months and served throughout the siege of Yorktown, VA. For another record of the services of James Lea see North Carolina Records by Justice Walter Clark, Vol. XVI, p. 1106. It is also said that James fought in some of the battles of South Carolina, but we have no record of service. The surname in some instances is written Lee.
In getting the above data, I have consulted my older relatives, family records, and a genealogist. My ancestor, James Lea, Sr came from England to Virginia after 1708. His son lived in North Carolina and his grandson in Tennessee. Zachariah Lea came from Tenn in 1802 and settled the plantation where we live, which makes this about the only place in Miss where ancestors for over 100 yrs. have lived.
The following are references for the above statements:
Mrs. Chas. Fairfax-Henley, Miss, Tenn
Mr. James Everett Lea, Sr Huron, Miss
Mr. Winchester Everett, Glading, Miss
Mr. Chas Jefferson Thomas, Peoria Miss
Signed James Everett Lea, Jr.
Mississippi, Amite County
National Society, Sons of the American Revolution
According to Dennis Simpson, an official researcher at the DAR Library in Washington, D.C., the first application to the DAR naming James Lea as a patriot was accepted on 15 April 1911.
The second DAR applicant was Frances Powell Otken, probably a first cousin of James Everett Lea, that first SAR applicant.
The DAR has had 105 applications for membership based on the service of James Lea. The first 65 were descendants of his son Luke Lea, and the first 85 declared the service to be as a private and the death date to be 1788, according to a printout found among the two hundred sixty-five pages of data provided by the DAR as the entirety of their files concerning James Lea. All 105 applications were for descendants of James Lea of Country Line Creek, the father of Luke Lea as proved by his will and probate record in 1792. The inventory was recorded in 1792, proving that his death occurred in 1792, not 1788.
About eighty-five of the one hundred and five DAR applicants cite the SAR military record for James Lea, Jr. who died in Tennessee in 1788 for their Revolutionary War Patriot. We believe that the only contemporary James Lea who named a son James Lea was the James Lea who lived on Kilgore's Branch in Caswell County, NC. The one DAR application for James Lea, Sr. of Kilgore’s Branch was rejected.
In 1777 a petition was circulated for the formation of Caswell County. Four of the signers were named James Lea. There were James Lea of Country Line Creek whose father is unknown, James Lea son of William Lea of Cobbs Creek, and James Lea of Kilgore’s Branch and his son James Lea. No wonder that descendants in Mississippi, and their genealogist, one hundred and thirty years later were confused and mistook the James Lea who performed military service for their ancestor. Bear in mind that Luke Lea was born in 1739, so James Lea of Country Line Creek would have been born no later than 1718 and therefore be 60 plus years old in 1778. It is hard to imagine that a 60-year-old would survive service as a private in the war. The DAR now accepts James Lea of Country Line Creek as an approved patriot based on supplies that he provided to the American cause, and his service as a Grand Juror in 1769.
In The History of Amity County, Albert Eugene Casey assigned that 1788 death date to James Lea of Kilgore’s Branch without any justification and changed the location of his death from TN to Caswell County, NC... ! Apparently since so many people had used that date, he couldn’t bring himself to throw it away, even though it is entirely without merit. We still know nothing about the son of James Lea of Kilgore’s Branch who was named James Lea and moved to Tennessee early according to Lorenzo Lea’s Genealogy of the Lea Family (never published).
In summary, we still don’t know the origin of that 2 Jun 1788 death date and now we also don’t know the origin of the birth date of 21 May 1752 and death date of 18 Jan 1790 as recorded on the original SAR application.
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde
PO Box 598
Hempstead, Texas 77445
[1] Source Citation
Volume: 107
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data: Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970. Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Microfilm, 508 rolls.
Warning: The following may not apply to James Lea of Kilgore's Branch, but the records may indicate he was still living post 1788]:
[note: While James Lea, Jr. was known to be living in Tennessee, the following transactions occurred)
25 Jun 1792: James Lea sold to Samuel Nealey 200 acres on South Hico adjacent Samuel Johnston and James Johnston, Cooper, Huston. [James Lea, Jr. was living in Tennessee.]
1 Feb 1793: James Lea sold to Richard Hamblet 148 acres on Kilgore’s Branch of North Hico, adjacent Kilgore. Gabriel Lea witnessed.
24 Nov 1795: Gloucester County Records: James Lea, a neighbor to Baylor Bird, who sold land to James Sargent, Sr. Other neighbors were William Stewart, Joseph Neeley, John Wisdom, Henry Fuller, Jr., Thomas Phelps. [Last mention of James Lea in Gloucester County area; Gabriel, William, and Lawrence Lea continued to appear in land records there.]
In Gloucester District, there were two James Leas mentioned in the deeds in 1782, 1783 and 1784, designated Jr. and Sr., which does not necessarily mean they were father and son. These may have been the same two James Leas mentioned in St. Lawrence District, as these areas were very close. Cobb’s Creek of St. Lawrence District appears from the map to have been just a ‘stone’s throw’ from the Kilgore Creek area of Gloucester District.
1790 U.S. Federal Census, Gloucester District, Caswell County, NC
Appearing on this list: James Lea, Gabriel Lea, Thomas Kilgore [The James Lea who lived near Gabriel Lee in 1800 was also between twenty-six and forty-five, too young to be the same who gave the deposition; James Lea, son of “Kilgore” was living in Tennessee.
1798: Alexander Rose Bible, Inscription: Jas Lea, died. April 6, 179? We have hired forensic handwriting analysts to decipher the last digit of that date. The numbers that cannot fit into the space are 1, 2, 4, 7, 9. We believe it is is the digit 8, thereby making that date 1798.
Sources:
[1] Documents: Betty Fitzgerald, The Descendants of James Lea of Kilgore's Branch, Research Report.
[2] Katherine Kerr Kendall, "Caswell County "Heritage", by K. K. Kendall, #437 & #437A
[3] Document 3: Raquel Lindaas, Lea Family Research, 2005, 2006, The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Vold Forde
[4] Caswell County Historical Society Website, E-mail communication with Rick Fredrick. [http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=caswellcounty&id=I01641]
[5] Ben L. Rose, Report of Research on the Lea Family in Virginia & North Carolina Before 1800, [1984] at 124-125.
[6] Document 14: Dr. A. B. Pruitt, Abstracts of Land Entries: Caswell Co., NC, 1778-1795, 1841-1863, and Person Co., NC, 1792-1795 [Raleigh: p. p., 1990].
[7] Document 8: Ben Lacy Rose, Alexander Rose of Person County, North Carolina and His Descendants [Richmond: Carter Composition, 1979].
