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Stokes in the Carolinas
This section of the Stokes web ring is under the direction of Don Raney,  to whom all questions and additional genealogical information on Stokes in the Carolinas should be addressed, and who has provided the following thoughtful genealogical puzzle for your consideration.

Please review this new speculation on Jacob Stokes ancestors and advise of any additions or corrections.  Known Facts and Speculations about the ancestors of Jacob Stokes b. 17 Feb 1769 in NC

1. The will of Sylvanus Stokes, b. ca. 1688 VA, dated 23 May 1758,proved 19 Jun 1766 in Sussex Co, VA, lists his children as follows: 
 1. Marcus Stokes, b. ca. 1722
 2. Sylvanus Stokes, b. ca. 1724
 3. Drury Stokes, b. ca. 1726
 4. Micajah Stokes, b. ca. 1728
 5. Pheba Stokes, b. ca. 1732
 6. Susannah Stokes, b. ca. 1734
 7. Elizabeth Stokes, b. 20 Aug 1740
 8. Lucy Stokes, b. 13 May 1742
 9. Agnes Stokes, b. 8 Oct 1845
 10. Ledia Stokes, b. 27 Jan 1747/8

2. No further record has been found for Marcus and Micajah Stokes until the 1790 Census for Claremont Co, SC (now Sumter Co, SC) where we find on page 17:
 1.William Stokes   3-1-3-0-0
 2. Heartwell Stokes 1-2-0-0-0
 3. Micajah Stokes  1-0-2-0-0
 4. Marcus Stokes  1-2-1-0-1

3. Hartwell Stokes submitted a Rev. War Public Service Claim in Court Booklet 1, page 11, Sussex Co,VA.  Micajah and Marcus Stokes do not appear in the 1800 Census for Sumter Co, SC, but the following Stokes
are found on page 931 and 932:
 1. Jacob Stokes 3-0-0-1-0  2-0-0-1-0
 2. Joel Stokes 2-2-0-1-0  0-2-1-0-0
 3. Wm. Stokes Sr 2-1-0-1-1   0-0-0-2-1
 4. Wm. Stokes Jr 3-1-0-1-0  2-2-0-1-0

4. An analysis of the ages of the males in the above Census records indicates that the following speculation about the ancestors of Jacob Stokes is possible:  
 It is speculated that the Micajah Stokes (ca. age 62) and Marcus Stokes (ca. age 68) found in the 1790 Census for Claremont Co, SC are the sons of Sylvanus Stokes who died ca. 1766 in Sussex Co, VA.  It is
 also speculated that the William Stokes (ca. age 43) found in the 1790 Census for Claremont Co, SC, is the son of either Marcus or Micajah Stokes.  Micajah is the most likely candidate because one of
 Jacob Stokes grandsons was named Micajah.

5. Jacob Stokes (age 21) could be in William Stokes, Sr.'s household in the 1790 Census because three males over the age of sixteen are listed in William Stokes household.
 It is speculated that William Stokes, Sr. is the father of Jacob, Joel and William Stokes, Jr. The 1800 Census for Sumter Co, SC, is consistent because only one of the four has a male over 45 in the
 household, (William Stokes, Sr. age 53) and  has the remaining three, Jacob (age 31), Joel and William Stokes, Jr., all three listed with one male between 26 and 45 in the household.

6. One inconsistency with this reasoning is that the 1850 Census for East Feliciana Parish, LA, lists Jacob Stokes, his wife, Mary, and his son Jacob, Jr. as all being born in NC. Many researchers have been
unsuccessful in their search for Jacob Stokes in NC. It is possible that Jacob Stokes' father lived in NC in 1769 before migrating to Sumter Co, SC.

7. Additional research is required to verify that this speculation is valid.  All Stokes researchers are invited to comment on these speculations. If this connection can be proved, it provides a link to
the our immigrant Stokes ancestor as follows:
 1. Christopher Stokes, b. Gloucester, Eng. before 1600, d. before
 1648 York Co, VA. 
2. William Stokes, b. ca. 1619, d. after 1654, VA.
3. Sylvanus Stokes, b. ca. 1654, VA d. 6 Feb 1747, Surry Co, VA. 
4. Sylvanus Stokes, b. ca. 1688 VA, married Celia Walker, ca. 1710, d. 1766 Surry Co, VA. 
5. Micajah Stokes,b. ca. 1722 VA 
6. William Stokes, b. ca. 1747 VA 
7. Jacob Stokes, b. 17 Feb 1769 SC

 8. Jacob Stokes SC residence was  discovered while searching for Jacob Stokes neighbor, Revolutionary War veteran, Thomas Jackson, in the "High Hills of Santee" in Sumter Co, SC. Jacob Stokes and his
 wife Mary are buried in the Dunn Family Cemetery near Felixville, LA, and several Stokes researchers had speculated that his wife was Mary Dunn. 

9. In addition to the Stokes listed in paragraph 2, the following names are found in the 1790 Census for Claremont Co, SC:
 1. Thomas Jackson 2-4-6-0-0
 2. F. Richardson  1-2-4-0-0
 3. Sylvester Dunn  2-4-3-0-0
 4. Timothy Dunn  3-2-2-0-0
 5. Sylvester Dunn  1-2-3-0-32
 6. Billington Taylor 2-1-4-0-5

10. All of these names are later found as residents of East Feliciana Par, LA, or Amite Co, MS. This reinforces the speculation that Jacob Stokes wife was Mary Dunn and that they were married about 1800 in Sumter Co, SC. It is probable that the Stokes, Dunn, and Taylor families traveled together from Sumpter Co, SC to Amite Co, MS. All of this evidence supports the fact that the Jacob Stokes found in
 the Sumter Co, SC,1800 Census, is the same Jacob Stokes that is found in Amite Co, MS, in 1806.

11. The minutes of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Amite Co, MS, indicated that Thomas Jackson, Jacob Stokes and Timothy Dunn were admitted on July 25, 1806 and dismissed on 6 Nov 1813.  (Probably to
move to East Feliciana Parish, LA where they were neighbors in the 1820 Census.)

12. Jacob Stokes daughter, Mary Stokes, was married to Thomas Jackson's son, Eslaphan Jackson, on 2 Jan 1817 in Amite Co, MS.

13. Jacob Stokes, Thomas Jackson, Timothy Dunn and Billington Taylor all settled in the same neighborhood north of Clinton, East Felicaina Parish, LA. 

14. A review of the 1790 to 1850 Census data indicates the following facts:  
 Sylvester Dunn, Sr. was born before 1755
 Sylvester Dunn, Jr. was born in 1775
 Timothy Dunn was born 1760-1770
 Mary Dunn? Stokes was born in 1771.
Therefore, it is speculated that Sylvester Dunn, Sr. could be the father of Timothy, Mary Stokes and Sylvester Dunn, Jr.

15. A passport from the Governor of Georgia was required to travel across the Creek Indian Nation between 1785 and 1809. A passport was not found for the Stokes, Dunn or Taylor families.   Therefore, it is assumed that they followed the alternate route that had been used by many of the earlier South Carolina settlers. They traveled north to the head waters of the Tennessee River, near Knoxville, where they built flatboats and floated down the Tennessee River past the treacherous rapids at Muscle Shoals to the Ohio River and down the Ohio to the Mississippi and down the Mississippi to Natchez. From Natchez, they traveled on foot and in wagons to Amite  County.

Don Raney
 
 
 
 mod. 12/10/99 cgs; author's email address (above) updated 5/2/2003 cgs