I’ve posted about the recently revised identification of great-grandmother Sara Eugenia Loftin, who married Edmon Douglas Givens. Sara’s great-grandfather John Loftin married Sarah Giles. Including Sarah, we can trace five generations of Gileses in the family tree.
It’s a classic tale: three prosperous generations of English settlers; a younger son in the fourth generation, landless, left to make his way in the wilderness, while his older twin brothers engage in tragicomic litigation over which one popped out first, and thus is entitled to inherit the property.
William Giles (c.1640-c.1700) and Dorcas Phoebus (?) Giles. My eighth great-grandparents William and Dorcas, evidently natives of England, arrived in Somerset County, Maryland, in 1673 or thereabouts. In that year they established their legal right to 100 acres of land, in exchange for having transported themselves from the mother country. That same year, together with a George Phoebus, who may have been Dorcas’s father, they bought a 200 acre spread, previously owned by a man named Hudson, who had christened it “Hudson’s Folly.”
William apparently had a musical streak, for there is a record of a payment, in tobacco, for services as a “trumpiter” in the Maryland militia.
Maryland is known to history as a haven for English Catholics in the seventeenth century, but many of its settlers were not Catholic. The Giles family appear to have been adherents of the Church of England.
William Giles, Jr. (1665-1749) and Margaret Haddin Giles (1665-1720). William Junior appears to have been senior’s only offspring. Junior and Margaret made the most of his prosperous upbringing. According to one source he “purchased ‘Turkey Cock Hill’ on the south side of Quantico Creek off the Nanticoke River in 1694, patented 450 acre ‘Giles Lott’ in 1695, and later purchased 2250 acre ‘Sallop’ and 300 acre ‘Parramore’s First Choice.’”
After Margaret’s death William Jr. remarried, to a woman named Arabella. An interesting incident in the life of William and Arabella occurred in 1734 but wasn’t recorded until a lawsuit in 1776. (See Family Troubles, at the end of this post, after the asterisks.)
Thomas Giles (1700-1769) and Ann Harris Giles (1710-1786). Thomas was the sixth of seven children of William and Margaret. He inherited the “Giles Lott” estate, so he didn’t do badly. He evidently lived a life of quiet prosperity. According to one source,
Thomas Giles lived throughout his life on the “Giles Lott” Plantation near Quantico and on the road leading from Upper Ferry to Broad Creek Bridge. His will was written on October 6, 1769 and probated November 22, 1769. “Giles Lott” was divided between sons Isaac, Jacob, William, and Thomas with daughters Ann and Sarah Giles, identified as single, and son John Giles [my ancestor] receiving personal property. John’s legacy was dependent on his returning home to claim it (he was possibly living in Bladen County, NC) . This he obviously did as the property was distributed to him. Wife Ann received her one-third dower life estate and died around 1785, as we see son Isaac sell some of the dower property at that time.
John Giles (1746-1823) and Elizabeth Davis Giles (1746-1813). John, the youngest of six children, received no land as his inheritance, and had to strike out on his own. He moved to North Carolina, but returned to Maryland, as indicated in the previous quotation, to receive the personal property he had inherited. A source indicates,
It appears John had interests With Turner Davis, formerly of Worchester County, MD, who had moved to Bladon County, NC. John returned to MD by 1770, as he received the distribution from his father’s will. It is likely that he remained in Worchester County, MD living near the Turner’s in Snow Hill until about 1785 when he relocated to Georgia, and finally moving late in life to Alabama.
It’s likely that Elizabeth was the daughter of, or otherwise related to, Turner Davis.
John fought in the American Revolution as a private in the Second Maryland Regiment, serving under Captains Price and Handy. John’s move to Georgia was prompted by the distribution, in 1806, to war veterans, of lands left by the Creek Indians, forced to leave the region around the Ocmulgee River.
While John was off fighting the Revolution, his older brothers and other members of his family were having a litigious time of it, back in Maryland. See Family Troubles, below
Sarah Giles (1775-1856), John and Elizabeth’s oldest child, married John Loftin (1768-1844). They married in Georgia in 1791. John served in North Carolina during the War of 1812. Later–it isn’t clear exactly when–they joined others taking the Old Federal Road to Clarke County, Alabama. Certainly, they arrived in time for the 1830 census, but it’s likely that they came some years earlier, as some sources indicate that Sarah’s father John died in Clarke County in 1823.
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Family Troubles
As noted above, William Jr., my seventh great-grandfather, owned several large properties. He left two of these properties, Sallop and Paramore’s First Choice, in “fee tail” to his son, also named William (a brother of my sixth great-grandfather, Thomas Giles).
The younger William died, childless, in 1773. He wrote a will purporting to leave the two estates to his sister and his nephew, respectively, but other members of the family challenged the will, on the ground that William, as the holder of the estates in “fee tail,” could only sell or devise them to “heirs of his body.”
But William had no living children–no heirs of his body–so, under Maryland law, the estates went to his brother Thomas. And, since Thomas was already dead, under Maryland’s “primogeniture” law, the estates fell to Thomas’s oldest son.
But that raised a question: who was Thomas’s oldest son? Clearly it wasn’t fifth great-grandfather John, who was away fighting the British and the Indians, and trying to carve out a place for himself in the wilderness. But it might be John’s older brother Isaac. Or it might be Isaac’s twin brother Jacob. And thus the question arose: who popped out first? Isaac or Jacob?
Each one claimed to be the rightful heir. Isaac, claiming ownership, purported to lease the land to someone who proceeded to give the bum’s rush to Isaac’s aunt Mary, who was occupying the property. Jacob then purported to sell the same property to a man named John Leatherbury. I’m sure that my readers will be shocked to learn that Mr. Leatherbury was a local lawyer.
Everyone sued everyone else. As to the central question in the litigation–was Isaac first, or was it Jacob?–a second-hand account of the testimony provides the following story about their birth, in 1734. According to this source, the twins’ father, Thomas, had rushed out to fetch the midwife, leaving his wife, Ann, in the care of his father, William Jr., and William’s second wife, Arabella.
These witnesses stated that William loved to relate the story of the birth of his grandchildren in that the delivery came early and he and Arrabella had to quickly deliver the twins. Arrabella attempted to assist Ann down the stairs to be near the fire, but made it only as far as the second step when Ann gave birth. William wrapped them in his great coat until suitable clothing could be found. He also named the twins, Isaac and Jacob and marked the first born Isaac, so that he would retain his birthright and distinguished them later in life by differences in complexion.
Sources available to me don’t indicate the manner in which William Jr. is supposed to have “marked” his oldest grandson, Isaac–maybe a slit in his left earlobe, or something of that nature.
Nor do I know whether any of this touching tale is true. But I do think the twins would have more appropriately been named Esau and Jacob.
davisduncangivensandhare 