Susannah Needham, Walter Plant, Sarah Bright and Ezekiel Everington

Becky Sumrell@bsumrell

47 Posts

Researchers

#1 · January 4, 2019, 11:12 am

In Craven County Deed Book 14, page 174 is a deed in which Ezekiel Everington (and various other spellings) and his wife, Sarah, sell a tract of land to Anne Gaskins. Here's the portion giving the history of the tract:

...granted by Patent Dated 23 Feby. 1764 to John Davis Gentl. decd. and by his last Will & Testament devised in trust to John Starkey, and by Deed dated 14 Novembr. 1755 Granted by the aforesd. John Starkey unto Fisher Gaskins...and since that time conveyed unto Susannah Needham by Deed on Record, and since that time Granted by Deed on Record unto Susannah Plant Daughter of the afsd. Susannah & Walter Plant and now Wife of the aforesaid Ezekiel Everton...

The deed from Davis/Starkey to Fisher Gaskins can found on page 115 of Deed Book 9/10 and the one from Fisher and Ann Gaskins to Susannah Needham on page 232 of the same book. What I can't find is the deed from Susannah Needham to her daughter. It is not indexed. However, two Deeds of Gift from Susanna Needham to Sarah Bright were proven in Court by Edward Gatling on the 9 and 10 of November 1757.

I'm confused! Has anyone come across either Deed of Gift in the deed books?

I am also looking for the parents of Ezekiel Everington. I know he was ordered to be bound to John Edmondson (I think, it was hard to make out) with the consent of his mother to learn to be a cooper 14 May 1755. His age was given as 14. Scattered among various records of the county, I've found a John Everton in 1749, and in the mid 1750s James, Thomas and Solomon. How they all relate to each other, if at all, I don't know.

Becky Sumrell@bsumrell

47 PostsTopic Author

Researchers

#2 · January 10, 2019, 5:54 am

Quite by accident last night, I actually found a couple of deeds witnessed by Walter Plant! This is the first evidence that I've found that he was actually physically here in Craven County. On 20 March 1743 he witnessed two land transactions between John Robinson and Joseph James (Craven County Deed Book 2, pages 418 and 419).

I also found one of the Deeds of Gift from Susannah Needham to Sarah Bright, also in Deed Book 2, on page 325. It's dated 8 January 1756/7 and witnessed by Edward Gatlin, Hannah Gaskins and Elizabeth Gatlin. It didn't mention anything about Walter Plant, though.

Sara Whitford@sara

69 Posts

#3 · January 11, 2019, 9:21 pm

Quote from Becky Sumrell on January 10, 2019, 5:54 am

Quite by accident last night, I actually found a couple of deeds witnessed by Walter Plant!

Don't you love it when something like that happens!?

I wish I could help you find that missing Susannah (mother) to Susannah (daughter) deed, but in going through all of the deed abstract books I have in PDF, I had no luck. Then again, I definitely think it's possible that the deed wasn't indexed.

Becky Sumrell@bsumrell

47 PostsTopic Author

Researchers

#4 · March 24, 2019, 7:59 am

Quote from Becky Sumrell on March 24, 2019, 7:59 am
And the mystery deepens. I found another deed, Craven County Deed Book 9/10, page 182, dated 11 May 1756, wherein Daniel West sells to Sarah Bright, for 20 pounds proc. money, 50 acres north side of Neuse River b/w the land of William Bright and Daniel Shine lying on Poplar Branch and part of Andrew Morgan's patent bearing date 1748. The witnesses were Thomas Coor, Thomas Sitgreaves, and Susanna Needham.

Reading William Bright's name got me thinking. I've read his will before because I'm descended from him through which ever daughter was the first wife of Thomas Gaskins (I think of her as Elizabeth because that was William's mother's name), but I decided to give it another look. He names son Stockwell Bright and daughters Susannah Bright, Ann Nelson (the first time he mentions her, he writes "bright" then scribbles it out and writes "Nelson" so I think this marriage may have been recent), Elenor Bright and Mary Bright. He goes on to mention three grandchildren: Sarah Bright, Harmon Gaskins and Mary Bright. In the second to last paragraph, he says:

and to my Dear and well bloved wife I give all my parsonall Estate both in Doors and out During her Life and then to be Equally and after her Decease to be Equally Devided between four of my Daughters that is to Say hannah Elenor mary & Sarah gran dtr. and it is my desier that my Daughter Ann Nelson Should take my gran Daughter Sarah bright into her cear till she Shall arive at the age of sixteen

That sentence about four of his daughters is confusing. Is Hannah the same person as Susannah? And who were the parents of Sarah?

And the bafflement got even worse when, on a whim, I took a look at the 1782 estate file for William Bright on FamilySearch. Most of this folder is devoted to a court case that took place in the 1820s involving another William Bright (a grandson, maybe), but the first few pages are about this William's Estate. His wife, Ann, died in 1782 and that's when everything was sold and the money divided as follows: No. 2 Thos. Gaskins, No. 1 Elenor Bright, No. 3 Mary Niclos, and No. 4 Zekiel Everton. All received £5.15.4.

I know from his own will that Thomas's second wife was named Hannah, so his second wife was definitely William's daughter, Hannah Bright. As far as I know, Elenor never married, and Mary's husband was Francis Nichols. This leaves Sarah Bright, granddaughter of William Bright, marrying Ezekiel Everton. How did Walter Plant fit into all this, because Sarah's last name was Bright before she married Ezekiel, not Plant. And Susannah, William's daughter, was unmarried as of 12 January 1754 when William wrote his will.

As you can see, I'm even more confused now than I was before! My current theory is that Susannah had an illegitimate child with Walter Plant. Sometime between 12 January 1754 and August 1756, she married a Needham, who, in that same time period, died, leaving her a widow and able to conduct her own business. If Susannah and Hannah were the same person, then she could have married Thomas Gaskins after 1757. One question, though, is how Sarah Bright, who was not yet 16 in January 1754 old enough to by land in her own right in 1756? What do y'all think?

And the mystery deepens. I found another deed, Craven County Deed Book 9/10, page 182, dated 11 May 1756, wherein Daniel West sells to Sarah Bright, for 20 pounds proc. money, 50 acres north side of Neuse River b/w the land of William Bright and Daniel Shine lying on Poplar Branch and part of Andrew Morgan's patent bearing date 1748. The witnesses were Thomas Coor, Thomas Sitgreaves, and Susanna Needham.

Reading William Bright's name got me thinking. I've read his will before because I'm descended from him through which ever daughter was the first wife of Thomas Gaskins (I think of her as Elizabeth because that was William's mother's name), but I decided to give it another look. He names son Stockwell Bright and daughters Susannah Bright, Ann Nelson (the first time he mentions her, he writes "bright" then scribbles it out and writes "Nelson" so I think this marriage may have been recent), Elenor Bright and Mary Bright. He goes on to mention three grandchildren: Sarah Bright, Harmon Gaskins and Mary Bright. In the second to last paragraph, he says:

and to my Dear and well bloved wife I give all my parsonall Estate both in Doors and out During her Life and then to be Equally and after her Decease to be Equally Devided between four of my Daughters that is to Say hannah Elenor mary & Sarah gran dtr. and it is my desier that my Daughter Ann Nelson Should take my gran Daughter Sarah bright into her cear till she Shall arive at the age of sixteen

That sentence about four of his daughters is confusing. Is Hannah the same person as Susannah? And who were the parents of Sarah?

And the bafflement got even worse when, on a whim, I took a look at the 1782 estate file for William Bright on FamilySearch. Most of this folder is devoted to a court case that took place in the 1820s involving another William Bright (a grandson, maybe), but the first few pages are about this William's Estate. His wife, Ann, died in 1782 and that's when everything was sold and the money divided as follows: No. 2 Thos. Gaskins, No. 1 Elenor Bright, No. 3 Mary Niclos, and No. 4 Zekiel Everton. All received £5.15.4.

I know from his own will that Thomas's second wife was named Hannah, so his second wife was definitely William's daughter, Hannah Bright. As far as I know, Elenor never married, and Mary's husband was Francis Nichols. This leaves Sarah Bright, granddaughter of William Bright, marrying Ezekiel Everton. How did Walter Plant fit into all this, because Sarah's last name was Bright before she married Ezekiel, not Plant. And Susannah, William's daughter, was unmarried as of 12 January 1754 when William wrote his will.

As you can see, I'm even more confused now than I was before! My current theory is that Susannah had an illegitimate child with Walter Plant. Sometime between 12 January 1754 and August 1756, she married a Needham, who, in that same time period, died, leaving her a widow and able to conduct her own business. If Susannah and Hannah were the same person, then she could have married Thomas Gaskins after 1757. One question, though, is how Sarah Bright, who was not yet 16 in January 1754 old enough to by land in her own right in 1756? What do y'all think?

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