Genealogy Report: Descendants of Michael Sizemore
Descendants of Michael Sizemore
4.EPHRAIM3 SIZEMORE (WILLIAM2, MICHAEL1) was born Abt. 1696 in Henrico Co., Va., and died Abt. 1743 in Brunswick Co., Va..He married (1) MARY -------------.She was born Abt. 1700 in Henrico Co., Va., and died Aft. 1746 in Lunenberg Co., Va..He married (2) MARY Abt. 1717 in ,Henrico, Virginia.She was born Abt. 1700 in of, Henrico, Virginia, and died Aft. 1746 in ,,Virginia.
Notes for EPHRAIM SIZEMORE:
From Alan Lerwick
Email: [email protected]
Ephraim Sizemore died abt 1740 in Henrico Co, VA
his widow, Mary appears on the 1741 Tax List Brunswick Co, VA and on the 1746 Tax List Lunenburg Co, VA
In the land records of Brunswick Co, VA appears this record:
1743 Mary Sizemore (by assignment from Thomas Franklin) enters 200 acres on both sides of the north fork of Wynne's Creek.
And in the land records of Lunenburg Co, VA appears this record:
16 Mar 1746 George Sizemore enters 200 acres on lower side of his mother Mary Sizemore's survey on Wynne's Creek.
It would appear that George Sizemore was born abt 1724 not 1729.Which would also move all the dates of birth that you've got to earlier.
What I have is this:
Ephraim Sizemore b.abt 1693 Henrico Co, VA d.abt 1740 Henrico Co, VA
wife Mary b.abt 1699 Henrico Co, VA d.aft 1746 Lunenburg Co, VA
Ephraim Sizemore b.abt 1716 Henrico Co, VA
William Sizemore b.abt 1718 Henrico Co, VA
Edward Sizemore b.abt 1720 Henrico Co, VA
James Sizemore b.abt 1722 Henrico Co, VA
George Sizemore b.abt 1724 Henrico Co, VA; d.bef 1791 Stokes Co, NC
Some or all of the children listed for Ephraim may be those of his brother (?) Henry Sizemore. The Pittsylvania Co. line of Sizemores tested R1b and may have been the original lineage, with American Indian Q entering in the Ephraim and Old Ned lines through a captivity/rape episode as handed down in stories.
The first Sizemore in America was a Portuguese Jew in Barbados. Sizemore is cognate with Cismor and similar Jewish surnames. It does not occur in England. A William Sismor and wife Martha were counted among the Living and the Dead in Virginia, 1623.Famous members of the family have been George Goldenhawk Sizemore, George Chief of All Sizemore, John Gourd Sizemore, an Indian doctor, and Old Ned Sizemore. The Sizemores filed over 2,200 applications for the Eastern Cherokee Band in 1907, representing over 7,000 persons and filling the entire vol. 10 in the Guion Miller depositions.
In the late 1830's, Sizemores are said to have taken in Cherokees who escaped the Trail of Tears. This is the point at which many may have literally become Cherokee. Momfeather, Chief Elder of the Southern Band of Cherokees informed me that Sizemore is a well-known Cherokee name and that the Sizemores and other Indian families in Eastern Kentucky were known as the Stick People. This name was given, according to legend because large piles of sticks high in the Appalachian ridges were used by Sizemores to hide numbers of Cherokees who escaped the horrible Trail of Tears in the 1800's. Evidently they later mixed with these Cherokees, which may have been the founding of the Whitetop Laurel Band of Cherokees.
This legend is evidenced by the fact that many of our family stories and trees trace back to a 2,000 member "Whitetop Laurel Band of Cherokees", which existed for at least a decade. The band was founded sixty years after the Trail of Tears, and nine years before the Eastern Band of Cherokees in 1905. The same number of Sizemores, 2,000, applied en masse for membership in the Eastern Band of Cherokees in the early 1900's but were denied for various reasons. Those who made the decision to reject the Sizemore claims were clear in their statement that Sizemores were Indians, but since none of their ancestors had willingly registered in any Cherokee census, they were not accepted.
The multi-volume book series, Cherokee By Blood documents this story which appears to be the primary source of the "White Top Cherokee" oral tradition in our family. Vol 1 page 171 bears the testimony of Whitetop Chief William H. Blevins:
"The word 'Chief' in my application, means that I am chief of the White Top Band of Cherokee Indians, an organization of the principal Cherokee Indians living about White Top, and was perfected about ten years ago. We organized so as to demand our rights in a body. We thought we had not been getting them before. In 1896, we wanted to go to the Indian Territory, and organized for that purpose. When the band was first organized there were about 2175, I believe. They were all Sizemore descendants. No one else was allowed to become a member if it was known. I have read the Decree of the Supreme Court of the United States referred to in my application, and have it at home. My father, Armstrong Blevins, I do not think was a party to the treaty of 1836 and 1846. I am putting my own interpretation on the decree."
(Thanks to our relation Bill Fields, editor of Under One Sky, the Melungeon information magazine for contributing this)
This documentation does not however, explain the later infusion of the word "Laurel" into our modern Sizemore family trees. But we do know that the Whitetop Laurel Creek runs off of Whitetop Mountain, and is a favorite recreational spot of fly fishermen and kayakers.
One claim for membership in the Eastern Band of Cherokees stated that Sizemores were their own tribe in and of themselves, known as "Sixemore" - probably due to the Whitetop membership requirement that one should be of Sizemore relation. Another said that "Old Ned" Sizemore came from the Catawba Nation, a claim that would not preclude his descendants from later becoming Cherokees, as Cherokees took in the remnants of many defeated bands and tribes. Another family tradition in one of our lines says that the surname was created due to poor translation (or anglicization)of the Cherokee word "Esiyah", which means literally "large child". The name was given to a Cherokee man who was very good with children, and is reportedly found on the Dawes Rolls. The same family line is related to Sizemores in South-Central Ohio, near the town of Pedro, that still speak fluent Cherokee and take part in the traditional corn dance.
Some family trees indicate Whitetop Cherokee roots as early as the time of Chief Redbird (whom Redbird Creek and the Redbird Mission is named after), George "All" Sizemore, Aggy Shepherd, Rhoda Sizemore, and "Old Ned" Edward Sizemore, all of who lived in the 1800's in Leslie, Maggofin and Clay County, Kentucky. These Sizemores migrated from Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina prior to this time, and many lived in the Whitetop Mountain border area of Virginia/North Carolina. But for the most part the time period in which they lived does not coincide with the stated lifespan of the Whitetop band.
Following is an excerpt from an article on the George All Sizemore and Aggy Shepard connection to the Creeks and the Whitetop Laurel Band of Cherokees. "The marriage of George "ALL" Sizemore to Aggy Shepard originated from a raid of Indiams on the white mans camp where they captured a white girl. In retaliation, the white men followed and rescued the girl and captured an Indian girl who was later given to a white family to raise (Aggy). Aggy is thought to have been a Creek Indian. George lived in both the white man's world, and the Whitetop Cherokee tribe throughout his life."
"The Indian Chief for whom Red Bird Creek in Clay County was named is known as member of the Whitetop Laurel Band of Cherokees from North Carolina. He was a great hunter and allured by the game in this remote region. He finally took up residence on the creek that bears his name at the mouth of Jacks Creek in this county. He came to his death by the avarice of the "pale face". There lived with him a crippled Indian named Willie. This man dressed the skins which Red Bird brought to their wigwam and looked after the culinary department of their house. Some hunters from North Carolina, greedy and unscrupulous, came to the wigwam and murdered Willie. Then they secreted themselves and awaited the return of the brave chief who had long before buried his tomahawk and for years had been living in peace with the white man, and as he approached his crude castle the bullet of an assasin laid him in the dust. They threw his body into a hole of water nearby which is still called "Willie Hole", and from which John Gilbert and others took him and buried him. One tradition is that he was sitting on the bank of a creek fishing when he was shot and that he fell into the creek."
(Reprinted in Kentucky Explorer, Volume 11, March 1997. Recorded in the 1870s.)
William Sizemore witnessed Henry Green's will in 1761:223. Green, Henry 2-23-1761; 5-5-1761; W.B. 2/8
Mentions: Sister: Darcus Jackson
Relationship of following not stated: John Owen (son of
Joseph Owen), Henry Jackson (son of William Jackson)
Wife: Doesn't mention her name
Executors: William Sizemore, John Green
Witnesses: George Moore, Stephen Green, Frederick Green.[Sizemore.FTW]
!family records of Donald PANTHER-YATES
!appears in a Court record of Henrico Co, VA dated 1741 as does his
father William SIZEMORE.
More About EPHRAIM SIZEMORE:
Fact: 1748, Tax list, Lunenburg Co., Va.
More About MARY -------------:
Ethnicity: Probably an Indian or part Indian for son to be called Mulatto and another to marry a mixed breed woman (Winnifred Green)
Notes for MARY:
[Sizemore.FTW]
!1741 Tax List Brunswick Co, VA (as widow)
1746 Tax List Lunenburg Co, VA (as widow)
!Entry Record Book 1737-1770 (Land entries in the present Virginia
Counties of Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin & Patrick)FHLbook
1743 Mary SIZEMORE (by assignment from Thomas FRANKLIN)
200 acres on both sides the north fork of Wynne's Creek.
(Land recorded in Brunswick Co, VA)
!Entry Record Book 1737-1770 (Land entries in the present Virginia
Counties of Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin & Patrick)FHLbook
16 Mar 1746 George SIZEMORE
200 acres on lower side of his mother Mary SIZEMORE's survey on
Wynne's Creek.(Land recorded in Lunenburg Co, VA)
Children of EPHRAIM SIZEMORE and MARY ------------- are:
i. | EPHRAIM ("MULATTO")4 SIZEMORE, b. Abt. 1718. |
More About EPHRAIM ("MULATTO") SIZEMORE: Fact: 1748, Banister River, Lunenburg, now Pittsylvania Co., Va. |
6. | ii. | WILLIAM SIZEMORE, b. Abt. 1720, ,Henrico, Virginia; d. Aft. 1774, ,Mecklenburg, Virginia. | |
7. | iii. | GEORGE SIZEMORE, b. Abt. 1722; d. Bef. 1791, Stokes Co., N.C.. |
Child of EPHRAIM SIZEMORE and MARY is:
iv. | EPHRAIM4 SIZEMORE, b. Abt. 1718, ,Henrico, Virginia. |
Notes for EPHRAIM SIZEMORE: [Sizemore.FTW] !Entry Record Book 1737-1770 (Land entries in the present Virginia Counties of Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin & Patrick)FHLbook 1746 Ephraim SIZEMORE 200 acres on Beaver Pond Branch of Wynne's Creek beginning at a black walnut tree near a beaver pond.(Land recorded in Lunenburg Co, VA) !Entry Record Book 1737-1770 (Land entries in the present Virginia Counties of Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin & Patrick)FHLbook 1746 Ephraim SIZEMORE 400 acres on both sides of Peter MITCHELL's Creek beginning at the roads running up and down.(Land recorded in Lunenburg Co, VA) !Entry Record Book 1737-1770 (Land entries in the present Virginia Counties of Halifax. Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin & Patrick)FHLbook 24 Mar 1748 Edward POWELL 400 acres beginning on Ephraim SIZEMORE's upper line and joining his own upper line also when run.(Land recored in Lunenburg Co, VA) |