So, Who was Lucy Ingram

 From the Fayetteville Observer, November 28, 1848

Tuesday, November 28, 1848, Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.)-Married: In Stanly county on the 7th, Benjamin MAULDEN to Miss Elizabeth COLEY, daughter of John COLEY.-Married: In Anson county on the 19th, Rev. S. P. MORTON of Stanly to Miss Lucy INGRAM, of Anson.  Also, on the same evening, John C. CAUDLE to Miss Judith PARKER, all of Anson. -Died: In Stanly county on the 6th, Jonathan WILKERSON aged 61….

-Died: On the 12th, at Rocky River Springs, Stanly county, Wade GREEN, returned volunteer

Lucy Ingram Morton was my 4th Step-Great Grandmother. Now that is a relationship. As they both were well into middle age, and she was long past childbearing years when they married, no one has really put much energy into trying to determine exactly who Lucy was, as their are no descendants of that union. The above tombstone is that of Vashti Calloway Morton, the first wife of Rev. S. P. Morton.

Now, several family trees have too young boys as products of the marriage, Lewis and James Wesley, my theory is that they were not Mortons, as they can't be located as Mortons past the 1850 census when they were babies, but the sons of an Anson County family of Griggs, as I have explained in my previous post, Who Were The Griggs Boys, which you can find at the link below. 

Who Were the Griggs Boys?

But who really was Lucy? Let's look at a few clues. 

The newspaper article has her named Miss Lucy Ingram. A quick search revealed a Lucy Martin, daughter of Kinchen Martin and Chloe Hough Martin, who some had down as having married an Ingram, but "Miss" implies this Lucy had never married. 

Name:	Lucy Morton
Gender:	Female
Age:	52
Birth Year:	abt 1798
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1850:	Diamond Hill, Anson, North Carolina, USA
Line Number:	5
Dwelling Number:	805
Family Number:	805
Household Members Age Samuel Morton 44 Lucy Morton 52 Elizabeth W Morton 12 George A Morton 10 Sarah Morton 6 Lewis Morton 3 James W Morton 1

The first census after Sammy and Lucys wedding shows them living in Diamond Hill, which is not far from the Red Hill Church area where they are buried. In the Red Hill area, Martins are a dominant family, especially that of John Martin. Red Hill is where Sammy and Lucy are buried, where his daughter Wincy Elizabeth and her husband, George Washington Turner are buried, my third, Great Grandparents, and their son, William A. Turner and his wife, Sarah Frances Faulkner Turner, my second Great Grandparents are buried. Three Generations of the same family in one cemetery. My Great Grandmother, Penny Wayne Turner Davis, who lived into my lifetime and memory, had moved to Stanly County and settled in Albemarle, where we remain.

The census shows she was some years older than Rev. S. P. Morton, her husband, and that she was born in North Carolina. The chances were good that she was from Anson County, where they were married and where they made a home, even if his evangelism took him far and wide. If she was in Anson in 1848, when they married, there was a good chance she had been there in 1840. The 1840 census did not list people by name, except for the head of household, usually a man, unless the woman was a widow. So I began to look for an Ingram family in Anson County in 1840 who had a woman in the home in the age group Lucy would have been in 1840. 

Red Hill Baptist Church, my own photo

There were no shortage of Ingrams in Anson County in 1840. They were a large, prolific, and primarily wealthy family. I found 18 households led by Ingrams: Isham, Joseph B., Eben, George W., John W., Jeremiah, Jer (which I believe may have been just the plantation of the previous Jeremiah, who may have kep a separate house in a town, as there were a huge number of people in this household, primarily slaves.), another Joseph, Malachai, Thomas, Dixon, Armstead L., John M., John, yet another Joseph, Joshua, Benjamin, and W. P. Ingram, whom I discovered was William Pines Ingram. One of the Josephs would marry into my Davis family and move to Mississippi. The Ingrams wove in and out of my family tree in multiple ways. 

An Overshot of Ingram Mountain in Anson

Looking for a woman the age of Lucy in the household narrowed the 18 down to 7:  Isham, George W., Thomas, John M., John, Joshua, and William Pines. I checked both Thomas and W. P. as the most likely places to look, as they had multiple women of multiple ages in the home, just a perfect spot for an aging maiden aunt to be living with the family. Unfortunately, neither of those panned out. So I just started at the top of the list, with Isham.

Name:	Isam Ingram
Home in 1840 (City, County, State):	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49:	1
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23:	1
Slaves - Females - 10 thru 23:	1
Persons Employed in Agriculture:	3
No. White Persons over 20 Who Cannot Read and Write:	2
Free White Persons - Under 20:	2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	2
Total Free White Persons:	4
Total Slaves:	2
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:	6

 Isham Ingram was probably born in Anson County, North Carolina. There is an older Isham Ingram in the records who served in the Revolutionary War, who married a Martha Turner. Now, I have to research them to see if Martha Turner may have been connected to James Turner, my ancestor who was the Grandfather of George W. Turner who married the daughter of Rev. S. P. Morton. They lived in the same part of the county. 

Isham Ingram, the younger, was most likely the Isham who fought in the War of 1812. He shows up in the census in 1810, 1820, 1830 and 1840. In 1840, he heads a household of 6 people, a man and women in their 40's, 2 young girls, one between 5 and 9, and another between 15 and 19, and two slaves, a boy and girl in their teens or early twenties. 

Isham died in 1846, allow his probate records are dated 1858, it just took that long to settle the estate.

And there it was...the smoking gun. 

His "beloved wife, Lucy Ingram". I found a Lucy.

The Will was dated August 22, 1846. He may have become ill and known death was at his door. 

Several people besides his wife Lucy are mentioned in the Will. He states; "I give all my seat and personal estate to my beloved wife Lucy Ingram during her natural life and to dispose of Hannah, (I presume he is speaking of the female slave), as she pleases. After my wife's death for Martha Newton to have one fourth of what is left, 1/4 to Lucy Martin, and one fourth to my sister Sarah in Alabama and all of her children. And the other fourth to my sister Pathenia Thomas. I appoint Christopher Watkins my lawful executor. I give my brother Joseph Ingram my fine overcoat and $4 to buy him a Bible."

The document was witnessed by Chris Watkins and William Carpenter. (Perhaps the William Carpenter whose daughter married George D. Morton? This is all taking place in the same general area). 

So all seems well and good, Isham Ingram had a wife named Lucy and she was widowed about the same time as Rev. S. P. Morton. That doesn't prove that this was the Lucy Ingram that married Sammy. There was the matter of that "Miss" Lucy Ingram in the newspaper. But attached to the will was a lawsuit. Now, you know with Isham leaving his brother Joseph nothing but a coat and $4 with the suggestion he buy a Bible, that there was going to be a lawsuit. 

So, what do we know about Isham now? He married a Lucy. He had a brother named Joseph Ingram, a sister named Parthenia Ingram Thomas and another sister named Sarah who lived in Alabama and was a mother. We know Martha Newton and a Lucy Martin are connected to him somehow, but not how. And another Lucy, and she's a Martin.

It's in the lawsuit that we find gold. This is several years after the death of Isham Ingram, and if you notice above, it states "Samuel P. Morton + wife Lucy + others vs Joseph Ingram + others." I found her. Lucy Ingram, widow of Isham Ingram had remarried to Rev. Samuel P. Morton. The newspaper had it wrong, she was Mrs. Lucy Ingram.

Samuel P. Morton had become the administrator of the Estate of Isham Ingram, as he had become the executor of the estate of Job Calloway. In fact, Sammy was the executor of several estates and actually acted as an attorney in several instances. The truth was, Rev. Samuel P. Morton was not the impovershed, wandering emphatic evangelist that the sketch of him written by a Rev. Wilhoit in the early part of the 1900's painted him to be. Humble and an emotional orator, I'm sure he was, but the more I get a closer and more personal look at him, the more I discover that he was not poor, and he was not uneducated, and he was most definately not simple. 

Samuel P. Morton was the first Clerk of Court of Stanly County. His name is everywhere. He performed many legal functions in several different counties,  as well as a great number of marriages. Sam was smart, Sam was educated, and while not exceptionally wealthy, he did ok. He bought land, he provided for his family, and other people, as well. I can tell he had went to school and achieved a higher degree of education than most. Sam was multi-faceted. 

The adendum read, "Ordered by the court that this suit stand in the name of Samuel P. Morton and wife Lucy and others against Joseph Ingram and others. ....that S. P. Morton, Thomas Newton, Lucy Martin, Parthenia Thomas, William Ingram, Calvin Ingram, Benjamin Ingram and Sarah Ingram pay all of the costs of the suit. 

Now to find out who all those people were. First of all, Thomas Newton was the husband of Martha Newton, mentioned in the will. Martha was Martha Martin Newton and Lucy was her unmarried sister. Lucy would eventually marry a Miller and migrate to Mississippi. They were nieces of Lucy Ingram (Morton). They were daughters of William Hough Martin and his wife, Temperance Parker Martin. Two Martin brothers had married two Parker sisters, and they were the sons of Kinchen Martin and Chloe Hough. Lucy Ingram Morton was Lucy Martin. 

Another interesting tidbit I found was the name of Peter May mentioned in a list of Revolutionary War soldiers that listed Kinchen Martin. This list was full of other of my ancestors, like James Marshall and Solomon Burris.

Rev. Samuel P. Morton is listed in the Will of Peter May as being his 'good friend'. 

The jury assembled to hear the lawsuit was a who's who of Uppper Anson, including one of my kith and kin, John Winfield.  Others were Jesse Seagoe, Joseph Jowers, Alexander A. McRae, Luther Teal, William P. Kendall, Thomas Swink, Langford Hair, John W. Jarman, Robert  Redfern, Richmond Lee and Dennis Grady. Well, some of them were not so well known. 

The Probate papers were just as interesting and informational for me. They are dated 1858, which has a few people giving that as his death date, although it doesn't seem too many people were very interested in him, as he had no descendants upon his death. Those two little girls living with them in 1840? That was neices Martha and Lucy Martin, why, I don't know, but there was a deed of trust that gave the suggestion that they had been wards of Isham and Lucy. As for the date, not one, but two newpapers reported the death of Isham Ingram, ESQ. The one above was from Wilmington and dated September 25, 1846,which gives his date of death as "the 23rd Ult", meaning he died on August 23, 1846, the day after he wrote the Will! Dude knew his days were measured. 

18 Sep 1846

Charlotte, North Carolina

Written in a beautifully legible and orderly script, I was proud of the penmanship of GGGGreat Grandpa.

"Samule P. Morton admr of Isham Ingram decd.

To amount reported by N D Boggan former clerk and confirmed by the Oct 1853 term of court...

N D Boggons report Dec 1853...

A J Dargons report 14 July 1857....

Amount to be divided among 9 Distributees:

Keep in mind Isham Ingram had no living children at his decease. No children were named in his will, only his wife, Lucy, Martha Newton and Lucy Martin, her nieces, his sister Sarah and her children in Alabama, his sister Parthenia Thomas and his brother, Joseph Ingram, whom he chided by leaving him a fine coat and $4.00 to buy a Bible, suggesting he needed to get in church by my guess. Isham may not have approved of Joseph's lifestyle, because Joseph was in no way needy. 

Each of the 9 heirs of Isham recieved an equal amount of $370.28. Some of them I know were siblings. Others may have been nieces or nephews, I will have to look closer into this branch of the Ingram tree to detect. Isham having no descendants, this can not be googled. The only thing that comes up on google is he as a son of Isham Ingram Sr. and Martha Turner Ingram, the Isham who served in the Revolution. The 9 distributees were:

1) Joseph Ingram ( Thomas Ashe report April 1853, Wm G Smith att for E. Nelms, Joseph Ingram Dec 7 1855)

2) Hezekiah Ingram

3) Trecy Turner ( Wlm Hite report, Burwell Braswell exec for Trecy Turnner) Trecy Turner I know off the top of my head was his sister. I looked into Trecy and her family when I was researchng my Turner line, which Samuel P. Mortons daughter Wincy married into. Trecy and her family lived in very close proximity to G. W. Turner, Wincy's future husband, and his mother, Mary, in 1850. I've not found the connection yet, but G. W's Grandfather, James Turner, could very well have been related to Trecy's husband. 

In her will, she mentions four children, her sons William and Jesse Turner and daughters Sarah Ballard and Milly Braswell, the wife of Burwell Braswell, her Executor, and her grandson, Alexander Turner, Milly's son by Jackson Trull, who claimed the boy as his son in a deed. She mentions her share of the estate of her brother, Isham Ingram, and wills it to Milly after her own decease. 

4) Rhoda Porter (who is living very near Isham Ingram in the 1840 census.

5) Sally Ingram (his sister in Alabama who married an Ingram. Cousin marriage) William E. Tyson reports.

6) Parthenia Thomas, sister mentioned in will, Isham Thomas reports

7) John Ingram, A. S. Ingram reports.

8) Mathew Ingram, Alec Moore reports.

9) Wiley Ingram, John Tyson reports. 

So I've now determined that Samuel P. Morton married Lucy Martin Ingram, daughter of Kinchen and Chloe Hough Martin and widow of Isham Ingram.  Her father was also a Revolutionary War Patriot. Below is an excerpt from her mother, Chloe's pension application that mentions Lucy.