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Descendants of William Ledford
13.JOHN3 LEDFORD, JR. (JOHN2, WILLIAM1)12 was born 1752 in Rowan County, North Carolina, or Montgomery, Virginia, and died April 1802 in Cumberland Gap, Kentucky.He married ELIZABETH BRYANT12.She was born Abt. 1752, and died April 1802 in Cumberland Gap, Kentucky.
Children of JOHN LEDFORD and ELIZABETH BRYANT are:
i. | JOSEPH4 LEDFORD. | ||
ii. | OBEDIAH LEDFORD, m. DEBORAH POLLY LYDIA; b. Virginia and or North Carolina. | ||
iii. | SAMUEL LEDFORD, d. Kentucky. | ||
27. | iv. | FREDERICK C. LEDFORD, b. Abt. 1770, Roanoke River Valley, Augusta County, Virginia; d. Aft. 1860. | |
v. | THOMAS LEDFORD, b. Abt. 1771, Rowan County, North Carolina. | ||
28. | vi. | BETTY LEDFORD, b. Abt. 1773, Caraway Creek, Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Abt. 1853, Harlan County, Kentucky. | |
29. | vii. | JOHN LEDFORD III, b. Abt. 1775, Burke County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1802, Clay County, North Carolina. | |
viii. | PETER LEDFORD, b. Abt. 1786. | ||
30. | ix. | WILLIAM ALEXANDER LEDFORD, SR., b. May 02, 1789, Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. April 24, 1873, Cranks Creek, Harlan County, Kentucky. |
14.PETER G.3 LEDFORD, SR. (JOHN2, WILLIAM1) was born March 04, 1758 in Carraway Creek, Rowan County, North Carolina, and died May 22, 1848 in Scrougetown, Clay County, North Carolina.He married MARTHA YOUNG THOMAS Abt. 1790 in Randolph County, North Carolina.She was born Abt. 1760 in Maryland???, and died June 24, 1844 in Scrougetown, Clay County, North Carolina.
Notes for PETER G. LEDFORD, SR.:
Peter G. Ledford, Sr. served as a private in the continental line of the American Revolution. His Pension #S7146 was granted for service in the American Revolution.
The first mention of Peter in public records is in the year 1779, in the Randolph county, NC tax list.He is listed with thirteen acres improved land, two hogs, and six head of cattle, for a total of 460 pounds taxable.The fact that Peter was living in his own house in 1779 leads me to believe that he had married by this time.Peter's wife is another name which is not definitely known.Her tombstone in the old Ledford's cemetery reads either N.Y. or M.Y. One source gives her name as Martha Y. Thomas, daughter of Richard Thomas though I find no proof of this.I, perhaps mistakenly, took the "Y." as being her maiden name, there being Yount families in close proximity to the Ledfords since 1755.Then I came across some depositions made by some Ledfords in 1908. One made by Margaret Williamson, born 1847, claimed that her mother was the daughter of Levi Ledford, and her father was the son of Eli Ledford, both being sons of Peter G. Ledford and his wife Annie Conseene. Levi was born in 1797, and Eli about 1784.Then another deposition by William Pressfield Ledford, born 1838, claimed to be the son of Levi Ledford and his wife Jerusha Pittman, Levi being the son of Peter Ledford and Annie Tucker.Another deposition by Elbert Burton Ledford, born in 1824, states that he is the son of Levi and Jerusha Ledford, Levi being the son of Peter Ledford and Annie Tucker, then at a later date, he filed an affidavit claiming his grandmother's name to be Annie Conacene, though this document was signed with a mark, where the earlier application was signed with a full name.There were Tuckers living near the Ledfords since 1755 also, and in light of this evidence, it seems logical to say that Peter's wife was Annie Tucker. In 1768, in the Carraway Creek area of Rowan
county, there were three Ledford families listed in the tax list:
Nicholas Ledford, John Ledford with his son John, and William
Ledford living with Samuel Tucker. There were also three Tucker
families: the Samuel named above, Robert Tucker (living near
Jacob Yount), and George Tucker with his sons William and Nathan.
This George Tucker was listed in the 1759 Rowan taxes, and most
likely, Robert and Samuel are his sons.
The next reference I find for Peter is a land deed in 1789, in Randolph County, for the purchase of forty acres from John Ledford, Sr. on Big Carraway creek bordering his other land to Little Carraway.He later sold this same tract to Elizabeth Fouts in August 1792.This deed shows that Peter and John were living on land bordering each other, which may be a good reason to assume that John senior was his father, as often a man would divide his land among his children.
He is then listed in the 1790 census for Randolph County living in the same community as Frederick Ledford, John Ledford Senior and Junior, another Frederick and several Younts.Living in Peter's household were his wife and two daughters, two sons, both under the age of sixteen, and another male over the age of sixteen.
In 1793, Peter applied for 320 acres of land in Burke county, North Carolina. this land was located on the head of the North Cove of the North Fork of the Catawba River.In 1805, the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions ordered that Peter would oversee the road from the forks of the Pleasant Garden to the Pigeon River.Generally, only men of importance were assigned this duty.Between 1805 and 1820, he appeared often in the Burke county jurors lists.The 1805 Burke county tax list,has Peter with 200 acres and just himself taxable, and listed next to him is another Peter Ledford with no acres and just himself as taxable [taxables were only the males over sixteen.]The 1815 Burke county tax list has Peter along with Eli and Samuel Ledford all living on Tom's Creek.This 100 acres on Tom's Creek was purchased in 1813, with Levi Ledford as a chain-bearer.Later that same year Edward Ledford purchased fifty acres on Tom's creek with Eli Ledford as a chain-bearer.
In February of 1823, Peter purchased fifty-six acres on the Little Tennessee River in Macon county, and then in 1838, he bought seventy-six acres in district #3 of Cherokee county for forty dollars.This tract of land is the same on which he later died.Family history passed down through the generations states that he was living with his son, Jason D. Ledford, when he died.He is buried at the old Ledford's chapel cemetery, which was also on his land.The land on which the church and cemetery are was donated by Samuel Ledford.
Peter's grave stone reads:
96Y.OALD
PETER:LD
E:DE:MAY
22DA:1848
REVOLUTIONER
This appears to say that Peter died 22 May 1848 at the age of 96 years. Something is wrong here, either his age, which would have been ninety in 1848, or the date of his death.A much more recent stone gives his birth date and death dates as 4 March 1758 and 13 Oct 1854, respectively.How these dates were arrived at is unknown.His wife's original stone reads:
M.Y. LEDFORD
JUN 24 184-
The year appears to be 1844, though the stone is very worn.The newer stone gives her date of death as June 24, 1828.In June of 1833, Peter applied for a pension for service in the Revolutionary War.His application named him as Peter Ledford, Senior of Macon county, North Carolina, about seventy-four years old.It stated that he entered service on the first day of March, 1781 as a trooper in the Company of Cavalry, and served his entire six months as a private.Most of his service was spent in pursuit of a Tory colonel named Thomas Fanning in Randolph and adjoining counties, along the River PeeDee, and along the border of South Carolina.Following his application was a questionnaire which was filled out by him, in which he gives the statement
"I was born in Randolph County North Carolina some time in the year 1758," and that he had no record of his age "nor never had."This questionnaire was followed by a statement from Rev. Amos Curtis and John Howard affirming the above information.He was given a back payment of $66.30 and an allowance of $26.52 per year for his service.
Now comes the issue of Peter's children.A reconstruction arrived at by the censuses shows that his family would have looked something like this:
None of the daughters' names are known for sure, but it has been proposed that he had a daughter named Semantha born in 1776, and that she died in 1860.There may also be other children, as I don't have the 1810 census at my disposal, this leaves a gap of twenty years in which a couple children may have been born and been married before the 1820 census.I will now list those men who are claimed to have been Peter's sons.
I. Peter G. Ledford, Jr: born between 1784-1796. He
married Anna M.
II. William H. Ledford: born about 1796?
III. Jason D. Ledford: born 11 Oct 1798. He married
Nancy Elizabeth Bradley on 22 Jan 1824, in
Haywood county, North Carolina. She was the
daughter of James and Elizabeth Bradley. Both
died after 1880 in Clay county, NC.
IV. Eli Ledford: born about 1784. He married Hannah,
who may have been a Cherokee, about 1809/10.
He died sometime between 1840 and 1850 in
Cherokee county, NC. Hannah was still living
in 1850.
V. Levi Ledford: born about 1797. He married Jerusha
Pittman and moved to Gilmer county, Georgia
sometime after 1840.
Peter Ledford, Jr. is an obvious candidate for Peter's son.William H. is not so obvious.According to the 1850 census of Cherokee county, NC, there was a William Ledford, age 56 living there with his wife Ellender.I'm not sure who associated him with this family, or how he came to be placed as a son of Peter.
A long standing oral tradition states that Jason D. is the son of Peter, and that Peter was living with Jason when he died.Peter and Jason were also buried near each other, with only Jason's wife between them.In the 1920's, Elizabeth Crumley, the daughter of Jason, wrote to the U.S. War Dept. to inquire about her grandfather's Pension, and named Peter as her grandpa.
Thomas has been claimed to be both the son of Peter by some people, and the son of John Ledford by others.In 1936, Ellis Smith, who was 78 years old at the time, made the following statement-- that John Ledford came to Cherokee county from Buncombe county sometime before the Indians left (in 1838) and settled on Licklog creek.John's children as well as Ellis could remember were
William Ledford who married a Sanderson,
John Ledford who married Sallie Israel,
Amos Ledford who settled on Shooting Creek,
Thomas Ledford who married Eliza Tanner,
Samuel Ledford who married Phoebe Dunn,
Center Ledford who settled on Sweetwater,
Benjamin Ledford,
Elizabeth Ledford who married William Leatherwood,
and another daughter who married William Spring.
Eli and Levi are attested as children of Peter's by their grandchildren and two of Levi's Sons, Elbert and William P.In 1908, Elbert, William, and about thirty other descendants of Eli and Levi's filled out applications to obtain allotments for having Cherokee blood. In these applications Eli and Levi are named as sons of Peter Ledford and Annie Tucker (or Conseene).There were three Peter Ledfords mentioned in early records.This Peter, born in 1758, his son Peter, Jr., who would have been too young to father either Eli or Levi, and the third Peter, nephew of our Peter, was born about 1775/6.He may have been old enough to be the father of Levi, born in 1796, but Eli was born about 1785. Besides, this Peter wasn't married until about 1804, and then he moved up to Yancey County.Eli and Levi were always associated closely with Peter G Ledford where ever he went.
In 1829, Macon County, North Carolina Peter G. Ledford was selected for jury duty in the June 1829 Court Session. It was customary that only prominent land owners were called for such duty.
Buried at Ledford's Chappel Cemetery, Scrougetown, Clay County, North Carolina.
Notes for MARTHA YOUNG THOMAS:
Buried at Ledford's Chappel Cemetery, Scrougetown, Clay County, North Carolina.
Children of PETER LEDFORD and MARTHA THOMAS are:
i. | SAMANTHA4 LEDFORD, b. 1776; d. Bet. 1784 - 1860. | ||
31. | ii. | ELI LEDFORD, b. Bet. 1784 - 1790, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1840 - 1850, Cherokee County, North Carolina. | |
32. | iii. | PETER G. LEDFORD, JR., b. Bet. 1784 - 1796, Burke or Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1860, North Carolina. | |
iv. | WILLIAM H. LEDFORD, b. Bet. 1785 - 1796, Randolph County, North Carolina. | ||
33. | v. | LEVI LEDFORD, b. Bet. 1787 - 1788, Burke or Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1850, Gilmer County, Georgia. | |
34. | vi. | JASON DAVID LEDFORD, b. October 11, 1798, Burke County, North Carolina; d. Abt. 1889, Scrougetown, Clay County, North Carolina. |
15.OBEDIAH3 LEDFORD (JOHN2, WILLIAM1) was born 1761 in Rowan County, North Carolina or Randolph County, and died January 09, 1841 in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina.He married MOLLY UNKNOWN.
Children of OBEDIAH LEDFORD and MOLLY UNKNOWN are:
i. | ENOCH4 LEDFORD. | ||
ii. | SOLOMAN LEDFORD. | ||
iii. | POLLY LEDFORD. | ||
iv. | OBIDIAH LEDFORD. | ||
35. | v. | ANDREW LEDFORD, b. Abt. 1785, Kentucky and North Carolina. |