Sources state that Joseph Jordan was born in Edgecomb County, North Carolina, around about 1756 to 1761. He died in Anson County, North Carolina, where he had a 100 acre farm.
In the 1800 census of Anson County, there were 3 listings for Joseph Jordan. One is clearly listed for Joseph Jordan, Jr. I have still to try to discern any possibly relation between the other two.
Joseph Jordan was a descendant of a Richard Jordan who had settled around the Isle of Wight and Surry counties in Virginia.
I fully believe it is through this line and group of families who migrated into Anson County that Richard Howell, the first husband of my 4th Great-Grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Winfield Howell Davis, and his brother, Jordan Howell are descended. Richard had a son named Jordan and Jordan had a son named Richard. The two names crisscross through the family line.
Name:
JosephJordan
Home in 1800 (City, County, State):
Fayetteville, Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:
1
Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over:
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over:
1
Number of Household Members Under 16:
4
Number of Household Members Over 25:
2
Number of Household Members:
6
Joseph Jordan Number One has a household of 6 members. One male and one female over 45. Probably he and his wife. They have 4 children, one son and one daughter between 10 and 15 and one son and one daughter under 10.
Name:
JosephJordan
Home in 1800 (City, County, State):
Fayetteville, Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:
2
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44:
2
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over:
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:
3
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over:
1
Number of Household Members Under 16:
5
Number of Household Members Over 25:
6
Number of Household Members:
13
Joseph Jordan Number Two had a much larger household of 13 people. It shows one Male over 45 and one Female over 45. This may have been a married couple. There were two males and two females between 26 and 44. This could have been children, children and their spouses combinations, or employees or a combination of children and employees. There were 2 females aged 16 to 25. These were most likely daughters, but possibly not. The two males under 10 and 3 females under 10 could be children, but probably grandchildren, as there are no individuals listed in the 10 to 15 age gap, the continuity is lost.
Name:
JosephJordan Jr [JosephJordan Junior]
Home in 1800 (City, County, State):
Fayetteville, Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:
1
Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44:
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44:
1
Number of Household Members Under 16:
4
Number of Household Members Over 25:
2
Number of Household Members:
6
The third Joseph Jordan is designated as a "Junior", most likely a son of one of the older Jordans, but not necessarily so. He also has a family of four, One adult male and one adult female between the ages of 26 and 44, one boy 10 to 14, one boy under 10 and 2 females under 10.
ame:
JosephJordan
Home in 1820 (City, County, State):
Bennet, Anson, North Carolina
Enumeration Date:
August 7, 1820
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over :
1
Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture:
3
Free White Persons - Under 16:
1
Free White Persons - Over 25:
2
Total Free White Persons:
5
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other:
5
There was no 1810 census available. By 1820, only one Joseph Jordan remained. Most likely, this was Joseph Jordan, Jr.
There was a thriving family group of Jordans in Montgomery County, NC as well, that was a part of Anson until 1799. It was highly likely that they were all related.
The above document is from July of 1835. Joseph Jordan did not leave a will, therefore, his property was divided among his surviving heirs.
Names and areas mentioned in the division are: John Jordan, Robert Tanner's line, bank of Lick Creek, lot 2 allotted to Seth Butts and wife Polly Butts, Robert Tanner's line, Richard Jordan, William Howell in right of his mother, Hannah Howell, Edmund Lilly's line. Given under our respective hands and seals this 6th day of May, 1835.
Edmund Lilly is the key to where this property was located, as his holdings have been solidly researched and located.
The property was where modern Anson, Montgomery and Stanly counties all come together. As Peter Winfield, Sarah Howell's father, settled on the Rocky River (both Stanly and Anson sides), near the fork of the Rocky and PeeDee, and this same area was not far from the known lands of Edmund Lilly, there is no doubt this set of Jordans and Howells were mostly likely the family of Richard Howell and his brother Jordan. Jordan married Martha Randall (of the Randalls Church Randalls). They had sons Richard, John Randall and James G. Howell.
Hardy Creek was historically known as "Ugly Creek" and the land on the Stanly County side of the Rocky River in the "boot" between Jacks Branch and Ugly Creek was where the lands of Job Davis, Sarah's second husband lived. Some of it was a grant to Job, other parts of it were Sarah's portion of her father Peter Winfield's lands, other parts, still Job purchased of neighbors.
While no direct evidence may ever be found due to Courthouse fires and documents being lost to time. Circumstantial evidence and commonality of locale can often point to a reasonable assumption of familial connections. And that may be as good as it ever gets.
While many of my ancient ancestors landed in the Northern Colonies, and then drifted south, I am intrinsincly a Southern gal. My ancestors, both Native and Imported, all took root below the Mason-Dixon line. Anything that pertains to the history and origins of the Southern states fascinates me.
One legend that keeps me haunted is that of the Lost Colony. Having discovered that one branch of my family tree goes back to a group of people referred to as "Croatans" in the mid-1800's, who are what we now know as Lumbee, a tribe of North Carolina Native Americans, described by Scots coming in to the area of the Lumber River from the Cumberland area as "mixt", some with 'gray' eyes and the appearance of a mixed heritage, using building styles and methods more in common with the English than other Native Americans the Scots had encountered and even having names and some words that were of English origin.
The long-held story, passed down from generation to generation, through the Lumbee Tribe, was that they were descended from the 'Lost Colony" and the Croatan, Hatteras and Roanoke area ancient tribes. And it all makes sense.
Over time, while holding their culture and Native American inheritance at its core, the tribe intermarried and exchanged genes with the peoples surrounding them, and attempted to 'go with the flow' of the American and European lifestyles. They intermarried with the Scots who settled the Sandhills areas, and with freed, escaped and former slaves and also with remnants of other decimated Native American tribes, the Creek and Tuscarora in particular.
Recently, in a study of old maps, historians and archeologists believe they have found evidence of an inland fort where the colonists may have settled.
I find this terribly exciting. At the fork of the two rivers, to the left of the western-most ship in the illustration, is a 'patched' area. Forensics show that the patch covered the location and illustration of a fort, and that this fort could have been the settlement of the Lost Colony.
Could it have been that the surviving colonists and the friendly tribe escaped warring tribes by locating inland and building a fort? That they did not disappear, but intermix with the tribe and later migrate futher inland still, further away from colonization and activity on the coast?
While it would be a difficult task, considering their historic multi-racial heritage, could not some institution or university undertake the task of genetic testing of not only the modern Lumbee, but also known English or American of the same family lines that took part in the Colony. Was the daughter of Captain White, to whom the first English child "Virginia Dare", was born in America, his only child? Did not any of the colonists leave siblings and other blood relatives in England whose descendants either remained there, or migrated at a latter date, on which DNA testing could be done?
Map prepared by John Herbert
In 1754, explorers and settlers report a settlement of 50 families living on Drowning Creek, which is now known as the Lumber River. This is in the area of Robeson and Sampson Counties where the greatest concentration of Lumbee still remain.
But the Lost Colony is not the only area of the South in which modern technology in comparison to the study of old maps is making discoveries of previously unrecognized settlement.
French maps and studies have also revealed an English fort that existed in the 1600's in Georgia, pre-dating Jamestown, in which a "handful of survivors of the Roanoke Colony arrived in 1591" and also that a ship of English colonists bound for Virginia, but who instead sailed south, due to smallpox and hostile natives, arrived in 1621.
The above links explain this lost history of Georgia, but this isn't the only tale of early British settlers in America being forgotten. There is the whole story of the Welsh Prince Madoc, his arrival with a colony to Alabama, and the history of the Mandan Indians. Will DNA help solve some of our History Mysteries? Only time will tell.
Motlina, or Magdalena Starnes, was the widow of Frederick Starnes, "Junior" as some have him pegged, but he also had cousins named Frederick Starnes, predecessors named Frederick Starnes and a son and grandson and great-grandsons named Frederick Starnes. To designate the correct Frederick Starnes, we have to insinuate his birth and death dates, his location, and also his wife.
This particular Frederick Starnes was born probably in Mecklenburg County, possibly in the section that became Cabarrus, in about 1772. He was the son of Captain John Starnes, a Revolutionary War soldier, who is honored with a monument at St. John's Lutheran Church, near Mount Pleasant, in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. St. John's has a long and very German history.
Frederick Starnes married Madeline "Motlina" Kline or Cline in Cabarrus County on July 3, 1794.
Name:
Frederick Starnes
Gender:
Male
Spouse:
Madlene Kline
Spouse Gender:
Female
Bond Date:
3 Jul 1794
Bond #:
000010208
Level Info:
North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868
ImageNum:
004551
County:
Cabarrus
Record #:
02 187
Bondsman:
Joseph X Starns; Herman Myer Ger
Witness:
John Simianer
The below is their actual marriage bond.
Motlina appears in only one census, the 1850 census, as this is the first one to name women, children and those other than Heads of Household. It was also her and her husband's last census, due to their advanced age.
She was the daughter of Michael Cline and Anna Catherine Schuffert Cline. Michael Cline was born in May, 1725 in Alace, Germany. His wife, Anna Catherine was from Lorraine, Germany. They were married on Beiber Creek, Rockland Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania in 1750. The couple made their way to the ColdWater area of Cabarrus County, North Carolina and are buried at Coldwater Lutheran Church.
Frederick Starnes and Motlina Cline Starnes had 10 to 12 children. This is still being researched. They raised their family in Union County, North Carolina, which was part of Mecklenburg unitl 1842, and a Starnes enclave.
There are no known portraits of Frederick Starnes, but the above is a photo of John Starnes, brother of Frederick.
Frederick's predated his wife's by three years, she passing in 1855. The session of court determining her dower, or share of her husbands estate, meant to maintain her for a short period of time, was held in Union County, North Carolina, during the January term of 1852.
"On the petition of Motlina Starnes, widow of Fred Starnes, dec'd.....ordered by the court...John Stewart, esq. , Alexander M. Nisbet, Eli O. Richardson, and James E. Irby, Freeholders, ...lay off and alot to the said widow and her family." October Term 1852 "We.....proceded to view the estate of Frederick Starnes...to Motlena Stares, widow + relict..."12 bushes of corn, 1 pr ve $900 , 1 Barrel flower or $600, five dollars worth of sugar and coffee, one bushel salt, $5 for molasses and 'sprang', choice cow and calf, 140 lb pork, one bed and furniture, one wheel and one pair of cards, as her absolute property, all of which is respectfully submitted, under our hands and seals, this 16 September, 1852. John Stewart, JP A M Nesbet J E Irby Eli D Richardson
Third Page:
State of North Carolina, Union County The petition of Motlena (alias Mary) Starnes, widow and relict of Frederich Starnes, decd. ...that about the First of year 1851, Frederick Starnes departed this life intestate, leaving your petitioner his widow unprovided for...S H Walkup, attny for petitioner...
Motlina would pass in 1855 and be buried with her husband at the Starnes family cemetery in Union County, NC.
In my previous post, titled "Ephraim Starnes", my focus was his connection to a William Byram, who might be my ancestor, but I neglected to explain much about the descendants of Ephraim Starnes, for the benefit of those who are descended from him.
To have been someone who perished in the Civil War, Ephraim really does not have that many descendants, not as many as others of his era.
Ephraim Starnes was born about 1822 in the section of Mecklenburg County, NC, that became Union County in 1842. Family researchers have him pegged as being the son of Charles and Elizabeth Starnes, however, this is something I've not looked into, so I can't testify as to it's authenticity.
Indeed, the Rev. Charles Starnes was the ministered who performed the ceremony to marry Ephraim Starnes and his wife Nancy E. Holden, daughter of Samuel Holden.
1) August 22, 1855 John Robertson Starnes
2) January 25, 1857 Doctor Franklin Starnes (Doctor being the name, not a title. Sometimes seen as David.
3) April 12, 1864 Susan Jane Starnes
4) December, 1865 Sarah Ardine "Denie" Starnes
Ephraim Starnes passed away on January 12, 1865 at Elmira Prison Camp in New York. The tale of his widow and fatherless children echo of many of the times.
Residence: Union Co,NC. Enlistment age-43
Enlisted: Sep 24,1863 at Union Co,NC.
Mustered into Co "H" 30th NC Infantry. Died of disease while a POW at Elmira Prison,NY.
Listed: POW May 12,1864 at Spotsylvania C.H.,VA. Confined May 18,1864 at Point Lookout,MD. Transferred Aug 10,1864 to Elmira Prison,NY.
Above information from "Find-a-Grave.com"
John Robertson Starnes
Born 1855 and shows up first in the 1860 census with his parents and younger brother.
The family is not to be found in the 1870 census and in 1871, Sixteen year old "Bob" marries Hannah Melton, age 18, daughter of John and Emmaline Montgomery Melton.
By 1900, the family has relocated to Gill's Creek in Lancaster County, South Carolina. In additon to Bob and Hannah, chidren Thomas, Maggie, Blanch, and Bob Lee Starnes, along with oldest daughter Mary A. and her husband Joe Knight. Andrew Bowers is a boarder.
By 1920, the family had moved from Gill's Creek in Lancaster County, SC to Rock Hill in York County, SC. Bob is working in the card room of a Cotton Mill and only Lillian is left at home.
The 1930 census was Bob's last. The family has returned to Gill's Creek by 1935 and Bob's profession is listed as "farmer" and his family as farm labor. His son-in-law, John Carpenter and daughter Lillian are in the household. According to the records, Bob died in Rock Hill, York County, NC and was taken back to Gill's Creek to be buried. He died on March 23, 1936 at the age of 86.
John and Hannah Melton Starnes had 7 children:
1) Mary Almetta Starnes Knight (1879-1962) Married Joseph Cecil Knigth. Died in Morganton, Burke County, NC of bronchiopnuemonia. Buried in Gill's Creek, Lancaster, SC. 3 sons, Carlton B., Joseph Cecil, and James.
2) William Phillip Starnes (1880-1949) Married Floy Morrow. 9 Children: Connie Lewis, Irene Leclair, Helen Inez, Virginia Lee, Floy Morrow, Mary, Harry Pratt, Talmadge, Elizabeth.
3) Thomas Frank Starnes (1882-1949) Died of TB. Spouse unknown.
4)Margaret "Maggie" Starnes Threatt (1887-1965) Married Oscar H. Threatt. 8 Children: Theodore Roosevelt, Velma E. , Katie Lee, Clyborn, Maybelle, Ruth, Robert Lloyd and Margaret Elizabeth "Bettie".
5) Blanche Starnes Knight (1890-1979) Married James Hunter Knight. 8 Children: J. Edgar, Callie E (a son), Cletus Britton, Hazel H (also a son), Bertha, O V (a son, died as an infant), Dorothy Doris Lee, James Blanche (a son).
6) Robert "Bob Lee" Starnes (1894-1980) Married Lula Mae McManus. 5 Children: Ruth Aretta (died young), Lucille, Hubert Ordway, Sybil, Robert Lawton.
7) Lillian Oneda Starnes Carpenter (1901-1994) Married John William Carpenter. 3 Children: Robert Ray, Nancy, Jerry Ann (son).
Doctor (or David) Franklin Starnes
Born in 1857 and first shows up in the 1860 census with his parents and older brother. "Or" is a transcription error. The actual document shows "Dr". Doctor was a common Christian or first name in the later half of the 19th century as children were named for the doctor who aided in their delivery, oftentimes saving their lives, and sometimes with little or no compensation. Not certain who Doctor Franklin, the original, may have been.
He married Margaret Louise Plyler in 1880 and shows up with her in the 1880 census. Maggie was the daughter of Doctor Henderson "Doc B" Plyer and Mary Isabella Caskey Plyler.
The 1910 census leads to a bit of confusion. Son John Robert Craig is listed twice, once ahead of his brothers, then again, ahead of his wife and daughter.
By 1930, Sarah Ardene was living in the home of her son Hazel. Hazel was a very common name for sons amongst this family. I have not tracked the source of the first Hazel. There is a Hazeltine Starnes in the Starnes family tree, born on 1858 in Rowan County. Perhaps there is a connection to an earlier male Hazel or Hazeltine Starnes in this family line.
Sarah Ardene Starnes died on Feb 23, 1936 in York County, South Carolina. She and George W. Craig had 4 sons.
1)Judson (or Judge) Allen Craig (1886-1956)
2) John Robert Craig (named for uncle?) (1888-1962) Married Perine "Perry" Adams
3) Lonnie Lee Craig (1890-1917) Died at age 26 of pellagra.
4) Thomas Hazel Craig (1894-1950)
Susan Jane Starnes
Susan or "Susie" was the most difficult of the family to trace. She was born on April 12, 1864. The dates of birth of both Starnes daughters are a bit of a mystery. According to the military records of Ephraim Starnes, he was imprisoned a month after the birth of Susie, having enlisted on September 24, 1863, he left Nancy just a few months pregnant with Susan Jane. Her younger sister, Sarah Ardene Starnes was born 11 months after Ephraims death.
Her first appearance was in the 1880 census, listed above in her siblings profiles as a teenager.
By 1900, she has had two children, her only two, and is living with her mother Nancy, the last census that Nancy appears in. A mystery couple are also listed in the home, possibly boarders.
Hoy is her son Hoyt Edgar Starnes, Nettie is his wife Jeanetta and Pearl is their oldest daughter and this group were Starnse. David is not a son, but a son-in-law and his last name was Deese. Nannie is daughter Nannie Helen Starnes and their oldest son J D Dees. J D became and important tool in linking this family altogether.
I don't believe I would have been able to find either Susan or Hoyt in the 1920 census if it were not for J D Dees and his sisters. In finding him, and his two younger sisters, I looked up and noticed that the names of the children in the "Thomas" family matched the names of their first cousins, their Uncle Hoyt Edgar Starnes, and his wife Nettie. And certainly, their mother was named Nettie. Then, J D and his sibling were listed as grandchildren of "Susie Thomas"...could it be Susan? So, I went directly to the original document. And there it was, it said "Starnes" and "Otis" was actually "Hoyt". The census taker had overlined the "T" and "A" in Starnes, and nearly obliterated the "S". The only clear part of the name was the "nes" at the end, and in the barely legible script, the transcriber must have thought he or she saw "Thomas". The transcribers are not from the area and thus, not familiar with the common names of the locality. It's always a benefit to help correct these errors if you are sifting through the scanned originals and know the local family names are incorrect, like "Belt" for "Belk" or "Stames" for "Starnes". It doesn't change them completely, it just gives the next researcher another option and if they are searching for the name in its correct spelling, it will pop up as a possibiltiy.
So, in 1920, Susan J Starnes is living in the community of Cane Creek on Midway Road. She is listed as a widow despite having never married. This must be confusing to those trying to climb up the family tree. Families often bent the truth in order to save face in those days. The truth is that nowhere are the names of her children's father or father listed in documents. She can read and write and she is taking in boarders, as well as raising her daughters 3 children. Hoyt and his wife Nettie are working in the Cotton Mill. Their children Pearl, Foster and Louise, along with his sister Nannie Helen's two older children, J D and Maybelle, are attending school. Margie is only 3 and Lonnie only a year old, and the youngest Deese, Helen, only 2.
Of the boarders, Emil Bullman is a Carpenter, while his wife does not work. Dexter Rhodes is a Contractor, building homes, and Ada Green works in the cotton mill.
In fact, nearly the entirety of Ephraim Starnes descendant were Cotton Mill workers between the late 1800's and the 1940's. This industry sustained them, and in the case of many of them, may also have shorten their lives.
Cane Creek was in and about the city of Lancaster and Midway dead south of it.
Susan Jane Starnes would not live long past this last census. She died on July 12, 1924 of pulminary TB. Her son, H. E. Starnes was the informant, and had the names of his grandparents correct. She was 60 years, 7 months and 10 days old. Bass Furniture Company was the undertaker. It was not unusual for those who built househole furniture to also build caskets in those days, and they went all the way into undertaking at the same time.
The above is just a few examples of this trade that would be considered bizarre today.
Hoyt Edgar Starnes, only son of Susan, married Jeanetty Estelle Rorie, daughter of Robert James and Laura Miller Rorie, of Chesterfield, South Carolina.
His 1918 Draft Registration shows him as being Short in stature, of medium build, with dark hair and dark eyes, having a wife, 4 children and a mother in his care.
Hoyt and Nettie had the following children:
1) 1908 - 2002 Pearl Lee Starnes, Married Earnest George Ivey.
2) 1911 - 1997 Willie Foster Starnes. Married Lillian Mae Culberson
3) 1913 - 1997 Louise Janie Starnes. Married Elva Easton Thomas
4) 1917-1910 Marjorie Helen Starnes aka "Margie". Married 1st: Thomas C. Dixon. Married 2nd Harvey Keller.
5) Lonnie Lee Starnes 1918 - 1997. Married 1st Nannie Doris Holemsback. Married 2nd Tiny Florence Tew.
Hoyt Edgar Starnes relocated to Burlington in Alamance County, NC and raised his family there. He passed away on January 11, 1961 at the age of 73. His death certificate gives his father as H. E. Starnes and his mother as Susie Cole. The informant was daughter, Mrs. T. C. Dixon (Margie). This was incorrect, Susan was never married and never a Cole, and there was never a Hoyt E. Starnes, Sr. However, could this have been a hint to the truth? Was Hoyt's father a Cole? Was H. E. his fathers initials? There was a Cole family in the area at the time.
I skipped the 1930 census for one reason, to backtrack. Hoyt E. Starnes raised not only his own 6 children, but his sisters 3 children. What happened to Nannie Helen Starnes?
Nannie Helen Starnes died on October 26, 1918 at the age of 23 of pnuemonia and influenza. Those two diseases were terribly deadly at that time. She was a cotton mill worker and her mother was given as Susie Starnes and her father as unknown. The informant was her cousin Hazel Craig.
Nannie Helen Starnes married an orphan, David L. Deese. David Deese turned his 3 children over to his wife's family and went on about his life. He remarried, likely twice, and was a Car repairer. Born in Chester, he returned to Chester and died in 1937 of TB.
Name:
David L Deese
Birth Date:
1885
Gender:
Male
Race:
White
Death Date:
2 Apr 1937
Age at Death:
52
Death Place:
Chester, South Carolina
Cause of Death:
231
Certificate Number:
005053
Volume Number:
11
The three children of Nannie and David were:
1) James D Deese 1908-1939, never married. He died a young man of ulcerated colitis, and had to be hospitalized at the Sanitorium in Black Mountain, NC. Also a textile worker, he was only 31 years old.
2) Maybelle Deese, 1912 - 1987 married Johnie Monroe Staley, daughter Helen Marie Staley
3) Helen Grace Deese 1917 - 1990 married Henry Clayton McCaskill 4 children: Donald, David Lee, William Paul and Deborah Leigh McCaskill.
The property was where modern Anson, Montgomery and Stanly counties all come together. As Peter Winfield, Sarah Howell's father, settled on the Rocky River (both Stanly and Anson sides), near the fork of the Rocky and PeeDee, and this same area was not far from the known lands of Edmund Lilly, there is no doubt this set of Jordans and Howells were mostly likely the family of Richard Howell and his brother Jordan. Jordan married Martha Randall (of the Randalls Church Randalls). They had sons Richard, John Randall and James G. Howell. 
