B.5.a. John Nesbit {B.5.a.}
John Nesbit was born in Augusta County Virginia probably about 1766, and most likely grew up on the family farm in the northern part of the Borden tract in Augusta County (Figure 10). He married his neighbor, Sarah Hunter, a daughter of William and Mary Hunter, in the spring of 1787, with the marriage most likely taking place in Augusta County, Virginia. Sarah was probably born in Augusta County, Virginia, around the same time as her future husband, and most likely grew up on the Hunter farm, which was located not far from the Nesbits (Figures 8 and 10). Her family had been in the area at least since 1742, since her father appeared on the Augusta County militia list that year. Since parental consent was required for both of them, it is clear that John Nesbit and Sarah Hunter were minors when they got married, which, from a legal standpoint, means they were under the age of 21 and possibly younger than 16. Shortly thereafter, the extended Nesbit clan picked up stakes and moved to the western side of the Appalachian Mountains, eventually coming to rest in Fayette County, Virginia. The easiest access to Fayette County would have been along the road following the great valley to southwestern Virginia, thence along the Wilderness Trail to the Kentucky River. Other Berry family members could be found in Washington County, so it is probably a safe bet that this was their route of travel. The family originally removed to Fayette County in 1787, then moved to an unknown location several years later, probably Woodford or Scott County, and by 1794 were living in Harrison County, Kentucky. Sarah passed away after 1830, probably in Harrison County. John remained in Harrison County, probably on the family farm, until his death in late February or early March of 1834. The location of their final resting places are not known, but it seems likely that they could have been buried on their property along Grays Run.21 |
Timeline of John Nesbit and Sarah Hunter
Fayette County, Virginia/Kentucky Tax Books, 1787 –
1804 |
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Fayette County, Virginia/Kentucky Tax Books, 1787 –
1804 |
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10 Oct. 1770221 |
Augusta County, Virginia Will Book 4, page 404
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23 May 178636 |
Land Office Patents and Grants, Virginia Digital
Library Land Office Grants Z, 1785 – 1786, page 733, Reel 66 |
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15 Nov 178621 |
Augusta County, Virginia Marriage Bonds page 282 |
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Augusta County Virginia, Marriage Bonds, Consent, No
87-50 |
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Virginia Historic Marriage Register: Augusta County 1748-1850
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13 Dec. 1787617 |
Fayette County, Virginia/Kentucky Tax Books |
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~1788765 |
1850 Federal Census Boone County, Missouri |
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~1789617 |
Fayette County, Virginia/Kentucky Tax Books |
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1790617 |
Fayette County, Virginia/Kentucky Tax Books |
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~1790766 |
Tombstone Inscription, Brierly Cemetery, Vermilion County, Illinois |
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1791617 |
Fayette County, Virginia/Kentucky Tax Books |
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1791807 |
Harrison Woodford County Kentucky Taxpayers 1790
thru 1799 |
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~1791-1794767 |
Harrison County, Kentucky, Will Book C, pages 265,
266 |
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1794808 |
Scott County Kentucky Taxpayers 1790 thru 1799 |
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1795808 |
Scott County Kentucky Taxpayers 1790 thru 1799 |
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~1795768 |
1860 Federal Census, Harrison County, Kentucky |
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1796808 |
Scott County Kentucky Taxpayers 1790 thru 1799 |
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Harrison County, Kentucky Will Book C, pages 265,
266 |
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1799808 |
Scott County Kentucky Taxpayers 1790 thru 1799 |
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1800769 |
1800 Tax List Scott County, Kentucky |
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~1800 - 1802767 |
Harrison County, Kentucky, Will Book C, pages 265,
266 |
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1803770 |
1850 Federal Census, Bracken County, Kentucky |
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4 Sept 1805771 |
Scott County, Kentucky, Will Book A, pages 392-393 |
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Harrison County, Kentucky, Will Book C, pages 265,
266 |
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30 Apr 1806282 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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~1807773 |
Tombstone Inscription, New Salem Cemetery, Boone County, Indiana |
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1 Apr 1807282 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 36, pages 12-16, LDS Microfilm # 30355 This Indenture made the sixth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand and nine between John Nisbet & Sarah, his wife, of the County of Harrison in the State of Kentucky, Samuel Utter & Catherine, his wife, of the County of Dearborn in the ------?---- Territory, James McCutchion & Elizabeth, his wife of the County of Scott in the said State of Kentucky, James Crawford & Eleanor, his wife, Andrew Crawford & Rachel, his wife, & Mary Hunter (widow and relict of William Hunter, decd.) of the County of Giles & State of Virginia, William Benson and Margaret his wife & William Hunter of the County of Augusta in the aforesaid State of Virginia of the one part & John Burford of the said County of Augusta in the said State of Virignia of the other part. Witnesseth, that the said John Nisbet & Sarah, his wife, Samuel Utter & Catherine, his wife, James McCutechion & Elizabeth, his wife, James Crawford & Eleanor, his wife, Andrew Crawford & Rachel, his wife, Mary Hunter, William Benson & Margaret, his wife, & William Hunter ( ---?—said Mary is the widow and relict & the said Sarah, Catherine, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Rachel, Margaret & William were the children & have --?—representatives of William Hunter late of the County of Augusta, deceased) for and in consideration of the sum of three hundred & seventy three pounds Virginia currency to them in hand paid or secured to be paid, receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have granted, bargained & sold & by these presents do grant, bargain & sell unto the said John Burford his heirs and assigns, a certain tract or parcel of land situate in the aforesaid County of Augusta on a branch of the Middle river containing by estimation two hundred & forty acres be the same more or less & bounded as follows, to wit: Beginning at three hickories on a spur of the North Mountain & running thence South thirty eight degrees West, one hundred and forty poles to a white oak & hickory thence South sixty degrees East one hundred & forty poles to a white oak in a valley, thence North thirty five degrees East one hundred & fourteen poles crossing a branch to two red oaks and a white oak, thence North sixty one degrees West two hundred & six to two chestnut oaks, thence North fifty four degrees East one hundred poles to a forked white hickory, thence North fifty one degrees West Eighty poles to a black oak & chesnut oak corner to James Hunters land (now Abram Miller’s) thence South thirty degrees West Eight poles to the beinning, being the same tract or parcel of
land that was granted to the said William Hunter dec’d by patent bearing the
date the 20th day of September 1751 & which the parties now conveying claim as
the heirs and representatives of the said William Hunter dec’d together will
said singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging, as many wise appertaining
to have and to hold the aforesaid tract or parcel of land with its
appurtenances, unto the said John Burford’s his heirs and assigns, to the only
proper use & behoof him the said John Burford his heirs and assigns forever. And
the said John Nesbit and Sarah, his wife, Samuel Utter &
Catherine, his wife, James McCutcheon & Elizabeth, his wife, James Crawford &
Eleanor his wife, Andrew Crawford & Rachel, his wife, Mary Hunter, William
Benson and Margaret, his wife, & William Hunter, for themselves, their heirs,
executors & administrators do covenant with the said John Burford his heirs and
assigns that they will warrant and foever defend by these presents, their rights
and title in and to the said or parcel of land with its appurtenances, unto the
said John Burford his heirs & assigns, against the claim or claims of them &
their heirs, and of all and every person or persons whatsoever. In Testimony
whereof the said John Nesbitt & Sarah, his wife, Samuel Utter &
Catherine, his wife, James McCutcheon & Elizabeth, his wife, James Crawford &
Eleanor his wife, Andrew Crawford & Rachel, his wife, Mary Hunter, William
Benson & Margaret, his wife, & William Hunter have hereunto set their hands and
seals the day and year first above written. |
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4 July 1809618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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30 July 1810618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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28 May 1810842 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 36, page 12-16, LDS Microfilm # 30355 |
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30 August 1811618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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Harrison County, Kentucky Marriage Bonds, 1809 – 1812 |
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1812618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1813618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1814618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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7 Mar. 1814276 |
Harrison County, Kentucky, Will Book A, page 244 |
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1815618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1816618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1817618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1818618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1819618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1820488 |
Federal Census, Harrison County, Kentucky
|
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1821618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1822618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1823618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1825618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1826618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1827618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1828618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1829618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1829618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1830618 |
Harrison County, Kentucky Tax Books |
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1830489 |
Federal Census, Harrison County, Kentucky (Western Division)
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Federal Census, Harrison County, Kentucky (Western Division) |
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26 Feb. 1834767 |
Harrison County, Kentucky, Will Book C, pages 265,
266 |
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11 March 1834767 |
Harrison County, Kentucky, Will Book C, pages 265,
266 |
Analysis of the Timeline
Both John Nesbit and his future wife, Sarah Hunter, were born in Augusta County, Virginia in the mid to late 1760s. Although no specific documentation for John or Sarah’s place of birth has been found in available primary source records, it can be demonstrated through deed, probate, tax and other court-related data that both of their parents lived in the northern part of the Borden Grant in Augusta County, Virginia at the time they were born. Samuel Nesbit, John’s father had probably been living in the Borden Grant area since the early 1760s and his mother, Mary Berry, had most likely been living there since the early 1750s. William Hunter, Sarah’s father, lived near the Nesbit family along the headwaters of the Middle Shenandoah River, near the upper reaches of Cathey’s and Moffet’s Creek where the Beverley and Borden Grants share a common boundary, and had been in the vicinity at least since 1742. Two lines of evidence allow a somewhat accurate determination of John’s date of birth – his grandfather’s will and his (John Nesbit’s) marriage record. John Nesbit was discretely identified in the October 1770 will of his grandfather, the elder John Berry, which places an upper bracket on his birth date - sometime before October 1770. The record of his 1787 marriage to Sarah Hunter, however, sheds much more light on the subject. Both he and his wife were required to obtain the written consent of their parents before they were married, which quite clearly demonstrates that they were minors at the time. If we assume that they were both about the same age, maybe about 16 years old when they got married, then their birth dates can be calculated as occurring about 1766 or 1767. Their age ranges from the 1820 and 1830 federal census records bracket their births as having occurred between 1760 and 1770, which fits quite well with the interpretation of their age from the marriage data.21
When John’s maternal grandfather passed away in the fall of 1770, John, who was probably about four years old at the time, was mentioned in the will, and that was his first documentation in source records. Sarah Hunter first appears in the records in the fall of 1786 when she served as one of the witnesses in the marriage of her sister Elizabeth to James McCutchen, another northern Borden Grant neighbor. The following summer, Sarah married her neighbor, John Nesbit, in Augusta County, Virginia, and James McCutchen, her new brother in law, served as a witness for the marriage bond. Several months later, in the late fall of 1787, John Nesbit was taxed in Fayette County, Virginia, so sometime between August and December of 1787 the Nesbit clan moved from the Shenadoah Valley on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains, to the Kentucky River valley in Fayette County, Virginia, on the western side of the mountains.
John and Sarah’s first child, Mary (probably named for both of John and Sarah’s mothers), was born about 1788, not long after the family had settled into their new western homestead, and, several years later, another daughter, Elizabeth, was born. From 1788 through 1790, John and Sarah lived in Fayette County, which can be documented through the record of the personal property taxes they paid in that county, but in 1791 the family was taxed in Woodford County, Virginia. Woodford County had been carved from Fayette County in 1788 (Figure 59), but, with John and Sarah still being taxed in Fayette County for several years after that, they do not appear to have lived in that part of Fayette County. In 1791, however, their payment of personal property taxes in Woodford County indicates that they must have moved there in late 1790 or early 1791. By 1794, however, they were taxed in Scott County, Kentucky. Scott County had been formed from Woodford County in 1792 (Figure 60), the same year that Virginia split off its western territories to form the state of Kentucky, so, either the family moved again or, in their 1790/1791 move, they had settled in the part of Woodford County that was used to form Scott County. The latter alternative sounds much more simple and logical, since that interpretation does not require the occurrence of another move for the family. From this time (1790/1791) until 1804 or early 1805, the family resided in Scott County. Five more children, specifically, two boys, Samuel and Robert, and three girls, Nancy, Sarah and Hester, were born during this time period, most, if not all, being born in Scott County, Kentucky. The youngest of these kids could have been born in Harrison County, depending, of course, on the actual date of their move and the actual birth date. In the late summer of 1805, John served as a witness in the will of John Risk, who was probably a Scott County neighbor. The Risk family was another Borden/Beverley Grant family from back in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia that had made the westward migration to Kentucky after the Revolutionary War.190
By the spring of 1806, the Nesbit family was living in Harrison County, Kentucky on 100 acres of land that was originally part of a 2,000 acre land parcel located along Woods Run purchased by John Hinkson, Thomas Allen and William Smith. These land speculators had been granted a warrant for the property from the Virginia Land Office in the fall of 1779, had the property surveyed in the spring of 1784 and received clear title to the acreage via a land patent in the late spring of 1786. Virginia and Kentucky tax and land records clearly demonstrate that a 5% chunk of that 2,000 acres was purchased by John and Sarah Nesbit sometime between the spring of 1786 and the spring of 1805/1806. From 1806 through 1830 the Harrison County Personal Property Tax records variously described this 100 acre Nesbit homestead as being along Grays Run, Woods Run and the South Licking River, and, although these tax records usually identified John Hinkson as the original owner, there was one occurrence where Smith was listed as the original patent holder. Grays Run is a north-flowing tributary of the South Licking River located in Harrison County, Kentucky, but a stream by the name of Woods Run does not appear on the USGS maps of the area, so its location cannot be verified from modern maps. An investigation of adjacent land patents, however, allows a more detailed understanding of the location of Woods Run. One side of John Hinkson's 2000 acre Woods Run parcel adjoins a 1575 acre parcel patented by Grant Allen, which was described in the patent records as being located along Greys Run. In addition, it also borders a 500 acre plot owned by Benjamin Harrison, which is important, because Benjamin Harrison’s acreage also borders the 1220 acres of land obtained by Samuel Haws, who sold the land on Grays Run to John’s father, Samuel Nesbit. The bottom line is that Virginia patent records clearly show a Woods Run acreage immediately adjacent to several Grays Run acreages, and the Kentucky Personal Property tax records consistently used the names of both watercourses to describe the location of John and Sarah Nesbit’s land, so the streams are, quite clearly, very close to each other. Woods Run may go by another name today or could possibly be an unnamed tributary of Grays Run. It could even be an “out of use” name for Grays Run. Without a doubt, it is certainly in the vicinity of the modern day Harrison County stream known as Grays Run. Furthermore, John and Sarah’s family farm was probably not far from the home of John’s parents, who, most assuredly, lived along Grays Run. John was taxed on this acreage until his death, so, at least during his lifetime, the family made no more moves.36,282,618,832
In 1810 or 1811, Sarah’s father, William Hunter, passed away in Augusta County, Virginia and John and Sarah, as well as some other of Sarah’s siblings, inherited an Augusta County land parcel her father had owned. Later in 1811, John and Sarah’s second oldest daughter, Betsy, was married, and John signed the marriage bond. Several years later, in 1814, John’s father, Samuel Nesbit, passed away, and John received a monetary award in the estate settlement. Both Sarah and John were recorded in the 1830 federal census, but Sarah passed away after that, sometime between 1830 and the winter of 1834. John wrote his will in the winter of 1834, and passed away in late February or early March of 1834. The burial location for Sarah and John are not known, but they were most likely laid to rest somewhere in Harrison County, Kentucky, either on the family farm or in a local cemetery.
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Last Revised: 02/26/2009