Bertie County NcArchives Biographies.....Sowell/Sewell Ezekial, Ann Layton/Leighton (aka Laughton) 1797 - 1840 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Kristina Simms ktina1@windstream.net January 2, 2008, 3:26 pm Author: Kristina Simms S0WELL & LAYTON [Prepared by Kristina Simms, 200 Bristol Street, Perry GA 31069—June, 2004] These two surnames are spelled in various ways. I have chosen the spellings in the title because that is the way the names are spelled in the marriage record of Ezekiel Sowell and Ann Layton.# In Georgia Ezekiel’s name is sometimes spelled Sewell. You can also find Sowel, Sewall, Seawell, Showel, and so on. I have seen Ann’s family surname spelled as Laughton, Loughton, Leighton, Laden, Laten, and more. At one point, early on, when I was researching MOORE and MICKLEJOHN, I saw in some family records, shared I think, by Dr. Floride Moore Gardner of Milledgeville that the father of Mary Jane Sewell (who married Robert Micklejohn in 1823) was named Ezekiel. He was from North Carolina and possibly a soldier in the American Revolution. That was all I had to go on. Finding a copy of the D.A.R. magazine in the Perry, GA, library, I decided to take out a little ad in the "Queries" section. In a month or so I got a letter from another researcher who provided me with the information that Ezekiel Sowell had married Ann Layton in Bertie County, NC. On 23 December 1797. Now Ezekiel had a wife, a wedding, and a home county. From then on it was "up the tree," so to speak. With the help of a number of other researchers, including Linda Rosenblatt, Linda Luther, Pat Curtis, Bob Burden, Bettie Young and others, I have managed to piece together some information about the Sowell, Layton, Cake, and Filgo families. These were all big clans and I have not tried to put all the puzzle pieces in place because it would be a lifetime project. Let’s start with a look at Bertie (pronounced ber-TEE’) County, North Carolina. Originally (1664-1668) there was a LARGE area called Albemarle County or Province. In 1668, Albemarle was divided into Shaftesbury, Carteret, and Berkeley. In 1681 there was another division and the resulting four counties reverted to the original Native American names: Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, and Perquimans. In 1722 Bertie County was formed from part of Chowan. Between 1729 and 1759, four more counties were formed out of Bertie County. They were Tyrrell, Edgecomb, Northhampton, and Hertford.# The result is that different generations of an ancestral family may show up in different counties even if they were still plowing the same fields in the same place. Anyone looking for a Bertie County family had better look in the records for Chowan and a few other places as well, and they had better be prepared for certain favorite names to be repeated from generation to generation. Our Bertie County, NC, ancestors were farming folks. Most of their ancestors came from England to farm the land which had been granted to absentee English lords by the Crown. Let us start way back with a farmer named Anthony Filgo. He is our ancestor as well as an ancestor of former Vice President Al Gore and probably thousands more. Anthony died in 1777 in Bertie County, NC. Here is an excerpt from his will, which was written on October 24, 1776: "I give and Bequeath unto my dear and well-beloved wife Ann [nee Cake, dau. Of John Cake, Sr.# and Mary Burkett#] all my household goods during her life Except marriage and then to have her thirds and the remainder to my son William and Likewise I give to my son William the Plantation whereon I now live with two hundred acres of the said Land and my Will is that the stock of Cattle and hogs be divided at my Wifes pleasure at her death and give to Daughter Mary Laughton ten shillings and to my daughter Ann Todd ten shillings and likewise I appoint and ordain my ____ly well beloved son in Law James Loughton [sic] and Thomas Slatter to be my Executors of this my Las Will and Testaments Ratifying and confirming this my las Will and no other to be my Last Will and testament in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal this day and year above Written I also give my son David Filgo Ten Shillings. Anthy Filgo"# From this will we know that Anthony and Ann Filgo had at least two married daughters, Mary Laughton (married to James) and Ann Todd. They also had sons William Filgo and David Filgo. In old wills, it is not unusual to see nominal amounts like "ten shillings" bequeathed to sons and daughters. Often land and other goods had already been given before the making of the will. The date of James Laughton’s will is October 31, 1807. "Unto Mary my loving wife my manor plantation and all my household goods and stock of all kinds that is on this said plantation during her life or widowhood…." Sons Thomas and James and daughter Elizabeth were each left a featherbed for them and their "heirs and assigns forever." (None seems to have come down to any of us.) James had nine children. The sons were James, Thomas and William. The daughters, all married except Elizabeth, were Ann Sowell, Zelpha Morris, Polly Mizelle, Esther Hughes, Sally Hughes and Elizabeth Laughton. The executors were son William and son-in-law Zidock Morris.# Ann Laughton aka Layton had been married to Ezekiel Sowell since 1797. Sometime in the 1820s they migrated to Georgia, where more land was available. The (first) Treaty of Indian Springs was signed January 8, 1821, opening up land in Georgia between the Ocmulgee and the Muscogee Rivers. Macon would be surveyed and laid out in 1823. Ezekiel and Ann had at least four children: Leighton, Mary Jane, James, and Delilah. (Will explain how we figured this out later!) To the best of my knowledge all were born in Bertie County before the family moved to Georgia. Now, let us back up and take a look at the Sowells. We know that Ezekiel’s father was named Obediah, because Ezekiel appears in Obediah’s will, which was probated at the February Court term, 1803, in Bertie County, North Carolina. According to Sowell researchers with whom I have corresponded, Obediah’s father was also named Obediah. Before that, supposedly two Richard Sowells preceded Obediah II and Obediah I. I have not seen wills to support this ancestry, so I am not including it here, even though I have no reason to believe it to be false. Also I have seen an Obediah Sowell is listed as a Revolutionary soldier, but which Obediah was it? Junior or Senior? From the Will of Obadiah Sowell ( II ): "In the name of God amen November the twenty second one thousand eight hundred and two I Obediah Sowell am week in body and health but sound in mind and memory blefsed by God and do make and ordain this my last [will] and Testament. "First of all I recommend my Sole in the hand of Almighty God to deal as he sees fit my body to the dust of the earth to be buried in a Christian like manner by the care of my Executors." To Mary Daniel, Obediah [ III] Sowell, and Sarah Cowand he left five shillings sterling. To Nancy Sowell and Winifred Sowell, he left each a featherbed and furniture. To Ezekiel. "fifty acres of land on which he now lives." To "my two younger sons John Sowell and Isaac…sixty acres after their mother’s death. "All my lands, household Goods and chattels" to wife Ann for her lifetime and upon her death to be divided between John, Isaac and Winifred, described as the three youngest of the children. Other Sowell researchers state that Obediah II was married first to Mary Raynor (mother of Sarah (Sally), Nancy, Winnefred, Obediah III, Ezekiel and Mary. Then he was married to Ann______, named in the will, and their children were Isaac Sowell and John Sowell. The descendants of these prolific Sowells are legion. Some of them ended up in Henry County, GA. It’s tricky to figure out exactly how they are related to Ezekiel, but they are of the same clan. Ezekiel was still in Bertie County in 1812. He and Jonathan Cowand (likely his brother-in-law) witnessed the will of Benjamin Stone on 4 April 1812.# By 1823 the Sowells were in Georgia. Their daughter Mary Jane Sewell married Robert Micklejohn that year. Ezekiel Sowell is on the 1840 census of Baldwin County,Georgia. Larry and Linda Rosenblatt (descendant of James and Millie Sowell) gathered this information on a trip to the Milledgeville Courthouse in 2001. Ezekiel Sowell is on written page No. 100 and James Sowell is on written page No. 102.# Robert Micklejohn is on written page No. 84. The Enumerator District was #320. Members of the Ezekiel Sowell household were one male between sixty and seventy, and one female between fifty and sixty. Their children were grown and living on their own now. Son James, b. 1801 in Bertie County, married Millie Rape or Reeb about 1828.# Son Leighton Sewall, b. 1811 in Bertie County, married Lucy Ann Hughes on July 7, 1836, in Bibb County, GA.# "Leighton" is the spelling chosen by Ezekiel and Ann Sowell, and it is the form that has persisted in the Moore family for several generations. Delilah Sowell married Frederick Hodges, date unsure, but probably around 1835 in Baldwin County. In the 1840s James Sowell, Robert Micklejohn and Frederick Hodges and their families had all moved to Lowndes County. Linda Luther, descendant of James Sowell cites material from the Huxford Library at Homerville, GA, as stating that James Sowell, Robert Micklejohn, and Frederick Hodges were all brothers-in-law that had moved down to Lowndes, now Echols County, from Middle Georgia. This confirmed the relationship of these families for us. [Echols was formed from Lowndes.] Frederick Hodges is listed in Lowndes County in the 1850 Census. James and Millie Sowell moved on to Florida, to Bellville, in Hamilton County.# Leighton Sewall and his family lived in Bibb County, GA. Robert and Mary Jane Micklejohn returned to Milledgeville, Baldwin County, GA where they spent the remainder of their lives. The death dates and burial places of Ezekiel and Ann Sowell are not known. FOOTNOTES: #1 North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868 #2 NCGenWeb Project Page, Bertie County, www.rootsweb.com~ncbertie/history.htm #3 A John Cake is listed in Pierce’s Register (p. 313) as a sergeant in the Continental Army from North Carolina in the American Revolution. He was granted 255 acres. I don’t know if this was John Cake Sr. or Junior. #4 The information that Anthony Filgo was married to Ann Cake, dau. of John, Sr. was provided to me by Betty Young, citing "The North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register," Vol. 2, #3. p. 453. #5 Bertie County, May Court, 1777. "Proved by Thomas Slatter & Olive Oxly" #6 Bertie County, NC will. Transcript sent to me my Tommy White of that county. #7 Bertie County Wills F/212 [Gammon extract] #8 A transcription error lists Ezekiel and James Sowell as "Lowell" on Ancestry.com #9 From Linda Luther, descendant of James and Millie Sowell. #10 From Pat Curtis, descendant of both Leighton Sewall and Mary Jane Sewell Micklejohn through different lines. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/bertie/bios/sowellse31gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 11.5 Kb