Solving the Pharoah Puzzle - James Somers 1752-1820

Acknowledgement

All the information on Samuel and his descendants, was researched and compiled by Bob and Dannye Wilson. The information connecting James and his sons, Phary and Zera, came from a letter which is in Dannye's possesion. For more information on Samuel's family, visit their web page at Rooted in Texas

Solving the Puzzle

My research into the Somers/Summers line began in earnest in 1999. I was very fortunate to find Sandy Summers Jensen who had done extensive research into the family, along with several other excellent researchers. However, a large mystery remained: Pharoah's parents. After working for about three years and still not being able to identify them, I became convinced that the information that would show who they were was not in the public record. I concluded this not based just on my own inability to find the clue, but also on the efforts of the many Somers reseachers who had run into this brick wall. Further, I felt that eventually someone would open a family trunk or family bible and some sort of document would surface. This happened in the summer of 2002.

During that summer, I met another Summers researcher, Bob Wilson, on the Rootsweb Summers list who was researching his wife's line. Dannye is a descendant of Pharoah and had, among other family memorabilia, a letter, mailed in July, 1962, from Albert H. (Bert) Summers) to a cousin in Texas, apparently exhanging family information. The exciting part about the letter and Bob's and Dannye's research was that there were "new" names asssociated with Pharoah, specifically, a son of Pharoah, Samuel, who to my knowledge had not before been previously tied to Pharoah. The letter contained, among other things, the following excerpt that is pertinent to the search for Pharoah's parents:

"...As to the Summers let us go away back. Jim Summers was in the revolutionary war. I have a photostat copy of one of his pay checks from the Army Nov 3rd 1791 for 4 pounds 7 shillings Jim had 2 sons that is all I know of Phary and Azariah. Whether Phary went to Tennessee or not I do not know (all the above were in North Carolina).

"Phary had 2 sons. Sam & Zera I have tax receipts of theirs paid in Tenn in 1843. Sam had one sister she married Garland key in Tenn Sam had 3 sons. Will - Lawson and Francis.

"Will married K.V. Galloway our Grand Father & Grand Mother Will as you probably know died and was buried in Upshur Co Tex Sam (His Father) not knowing of his death started to Texas to bring the family back to Tenn. On Red River at Rachels or Ray Shells wood yard he was killed for his money. The family when they investigated were told he committed suicide but they did not believe it. Even if he had got there it was too late as Grand Father was dead and Grandma already moved to South West Texas."

Although the writing of the letter was relatively recent, the content is tenable since Albert H. Summers' father, John Francis Marion Summers, lived in close proximity to his grandmother, Rebecca Key Summers, before her death in the late 1800's. He should have had access to her to discuss the family history and could have easily passed the information on to his son, Albert.

Taking the letter at face value, we see that Jim (James) Summers was a Revolutionary War soldier from North Carolina. The only James Summers from North Carolina mentioned in Abstracts of Rev. War Pension Files (Page 3389) is James Summers (W2192, BLW #61059-160-44) who married Levina Gillespie in Caswell County, NC. Further, we learn that he had two sons, Phary (Pharoah) and Azariah (Zera). So, are these two young men the same that appear in Caswell County, NC court reacords in July of 1799 as ten year old Pharis and twelve year old Zeri orphans? In this court record, the two orphans were indentured to George Summers.

There were two George Summerses in Caswell County about this time. (See 1800 census for Caswell County, NC.) The elder George had three children, John, m. Catharine Arden; Sythe Blake Somers, m. James Landman; and James, m. 1. unknown, 2. Levinia Gillespie. The second George was probably the elder George's nephew, (son of Daniel), George Jr., m. Mary Pressgrave. After George Jr. died, 1 Sept 1838, she appeared in court, declaring herself his widow, age 70 and was granted his pension. George was known as George, Jr., she said. At the least, it appears that the George Summerses in Caswell County in 1800 were probably related to Capt. John and James. There is some lack of concensus on George, Jr.'s relationship. In a document outlining research by Mrs. Emma Reeves and reorganized by L.C. Lemons, he states that George was presumably the brother of Capt. John Summmers and James Summers. The document states:

"George Somers, b. 1763, presumably was the brother of Captain John and Sgt. James (This has not yet been proved. JBS)who were proved brothers (Capt. John's will, 1803, Caswell County, NC). All three are on the tax rolls of Caswell Co., beginning in 1780. John and George had from 500 - 900 acres of land each, but James seemed not to have owned land until he paid tax on 250 acres in 1801. In 1804, the year after John died George appears for the last time in Caswell County. He moved back to Fairfax, Virginia where he appears in court 15 June 1818 making Pension Application."
Further:
"On 6 Feb, 1803, Sgt. James Somers married his second wife: Lavinia Gillespie. They moved to Wilson Co. Tenn ca. 1812, where he died in 1820."
In the reconciliation of Capt. John's will, census records, and "family charts", the document states,
"From my own grandparents, I learned the custom of relatives taking in children of other relatives in case of loss of a mother or father, or some other hardship. She (Ms. Reeves) reports that John's brother James married before 1780 and did not remarry until 6 Feb 1803. Is it possible that the 2 extra males and one female might be James' children whom he was unable to care for properly without a wife? Somewhere along the way James lost his wife who probably had borne him children."

Note: Caswell County North Carolina Marriage Records 1778-1876 indicate James Somers married Viney Gillespie 1 Jan 1806.

This situation would explain how the children, Pharoah and Zera were indentured as orphans to George. The letter mentions another tantalizing point: Pharaoh had another son, Samuel! We know he had two sons by Susan Sartin, Phary and Zeary James, who weren't born until 1818 and 1816 respectively. However, there is another unexplained fact in the 1810 Federal Census of Caswell County, North Carolina. Fary Somers is listed as a 16-26 year old male head of household. Living with him are two male children under the age of ten years and a female age 26-45 years. Pharoah would have been 21 years old in 1810, but who is the woman? And more importantly, the children? We know from Pharoah's second wife's (Nancy Smithy) application for his pension that he only had two wives, Susan Sartin and Nancy Smithy. Since Pharoah was only 21 years old with two sons living with him, the children must have been very young to appear in the 1810 census. In all likelihood, one of the children was probably less than an year old and the other probably slightly more than a year.

The first question, "who is the woman?" Let's take a closer look at Susan Sartin. From the Heritage of Caswell County, North Carolina 1985 Jeanine D. Whitlow, Editor, we find " Elisha's four girls were Betsy, who married Thomas Sartin, just after the Revolutionary War, Ruby, Jerusha, and Rachel."
From Elisha Paschall Family Genealogy Born 1735, Revolutionary War Patriot, compiled by Mrs. Mary E. Johnston, P.O. Box, Katy, Texas, mimeographed 1973. Chart 8: "Elisha Paschall, b. 1735, Father: William Paschall, Mother: Reliance Dennis. Children"...Elizabeth, b. 1761..." Page 9, Note 3. Elizabeth, m. Thomas Sartain - NFI (No further informaton).
And finally, from N. Carolina Marriages Early to 1800, a Research Tool compiled, extracted and transcribed by Liahona Research, Inc. Edited by Jordan R. Dodd. Precision Indexing Publishers: "Page 342: Paschael, Elizabeth - Cartain, Thomas MD 25 Jan 1782 Warren, NC."

Thomas and Betsy lived in Warren County as evidenced by the Warren Co., NC 1790 Federal Census which listed three white females in the household. Apparently, the family moved to Rockingham County, North Carolina, between the 1790 census and the 1800 census as evidenced by the 1800 Federal Census for Rockingham Co., NC, which listed Thomas as head of household, two other males, two females under the age of ten, two females between 10 and 16, and one female beteen 26 and 45, presumably, Betsy.

From the information in the Caswell Co., NC 1810 census above, it is possible that one of the two females in Thomas Sartain's household, between the ages of 10 and 16 could have been the woman as they would have been born between 1784 and 1790. The woman in Fary's (Pharoah) household would have been born between 1765 and 1784.

We know that Pharoah's first wife was Susan Sartin from Nancy Smithy's request for Pharoah's pension.

Based on the above information, one could conclude the following: Considering the number of Sartin/Certain/Cartain families in the area at the time, the fact that Pharoah was married to Susan Sartin, and the relative dates, it appears that the woman in Pharoah's home was Susan Sartin and, further, that she was born in 1784.

The next question: "Who are the children?" At this point we are only interested in Samuel. If we assume that one of the boys was indeed Samuel, he probably would have been born between 1808 and early to mid 1810. The 1830 Caswell County, NC Federal Census shows the following:

1830 Caswell Co., NC 1830 Census,
Summers, Samuel, Page 295
1 Free white male under the age of 5 years
1 Free white male betwen 20 and 30 years
1 Free white female between 20 and 30 years
Samuel would have been about 22 at this time. The child would have been Will(iam) mentioned in the letter written by A.H. Summers. The woman was probably Samuel's wife, Rebecca Key.

Samuel moved to Henry County, Tennessee sometime after 1830, probably around 1831 (Son John was 19 in Tennessee's 1850 census) Samuel appears in the Henry County tax rolls in 1835, listed as having no land, no slaves, and 1 poll.

Next we have the 1850 Federal Census for Henry County, Tennessee:
Summers, Saml. 41, Carpenter, 250 Real Estate, b. NC
Rebecca 45 b. NC
John 19, Farmer, b. TN
Azariah 15, b. TN
Thany 12, b. TN (The census record could be read Phary which we later learn is his name.)
Francis 9, b. TN
So now, as mentioned in Albert Summers' letter, we have a Samuel Summers, born about 1809 with sons named Thany (Phary) and Azariah. Samuel must have been one of the two sons mentioned in the 1810 census of Caswell County. The other son has not yet been accounted for.

In summary, it appears that James Summers (Somers) married an unknown woman before 1780 (L.C. Lemons document) and had a family with her. I have seen another set of research that presents that the woman's name was Unknown Cantrell and that James had several other sons (Alexander, b. c. 1775, d. 1830, Wilson Co., TN; Mathew, b. c. 1785, NC, d. c. 1836, Wilson Co.; Anthony, b.1790, Caswell Co., d.1856, Cannon Co., TN; James B. Summers, b. April 13, 1792, Caswell Co., d., May 19, 1855, Cannon Co. TN). It appears that two of the children, according to Albert Summers' letter, Phary (Pharoah) and Azariah (Zere) were his sons.

In 1799, it appears that James' first wife either died or was otherwise incapacitated, leaving him two young sons, Pharis (Pharoah), age ten and Zeri, age twelve. James, for unknown reasons, was either unable or unwilling to keep the sons and indentured them to his cousin, George Jr. in Caswell Co., NC court in July 1799. When George left Caswell County sometime after 1804, he released Pharoah from his indenture. Pharoah and Susan married and immediately started their family. They must have married two or more years before 1810 in order to have two male childen, under the age of ten, as listed in the 1810 census for Caswell County. In 1812, Pharoah left for the War of 1812 and did not return until 1814. Zeary James was born in 1816 and Phary in 1818.

John B. Summers March 21, 2003