They can be viewed by copying and pasting this link in your browser: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0XNtXv2dBFpOFJLQ0hXV24xWjQ/edit?usp=sharing. Now I will share what I believe this all means. I am biased because I have been searching for my 4th great grandfather for about 15 years. I was certainly excited when I found a copy of Diane Whitehurst Collins' book, The Whitehurst Family of Princess Anne County, Virginia and Pitt County, North Carolina and it stated that John Whitehurst is the father of Willoughby, Pelatiah, and John Wesley Whitehurst.
The first document is the 11 March 1775 deed in which John Whitehurst sells his land in Martin County, North Carolina to William Maye for 50 pounds. The second document is the 20 February 1777 deed in which James Maye, Jr. sold John Whitehurst 160 acres in Pitt County, North Carolina for 72 pounds. John and Batson Whitis (Whitehurst ) are shown on the 1775 tax list of Pitt County. John is shown as having a white male <16 in his household and a white female youngster in the household. I do not have a copy of the third document that Diane Collins Whitehurst mentions in her book in which John Whitehurst sells the 160 acres that he bought from James Maye, Jr. to Reuben Manning on 23 December 1782 for 130 pounds. I do see it listed in Volume II (1782-1801) Index and Abstracts of Deeds of Record of Pitt County, North, Carolina by Judith DuPree Ellison.
Diane Whitehurst Collins loses the paper trail on John Whitehurst until 1809 in Hancock County. I started searching for additional records in Georgia for John Whitehurst and found the third document, a listing for John Whitehurst in the 1788 Tax Digest showing he had 200 acres in Greene County, Georgia. This is consistent with him selling his land in North Carolina in 1782.He is also listed in the 1789 Tax Digest showing he had 200 acres in Greene County. The next document shows that John, Ann, and Naomi Whitehurst sold 200 acres on 24 September 1792 to John Roe, Junior for 60 pounds. If John is the brothers father, Elizabeth would probably be on the sale of the 200 acres in Georgia. I believe Ann is his wife and that Naomi is his daughter. According to Hancock County, Georgia Deed Books, John Whitehurst purchased 50 acres from John Tripp on 10 August 1793. John Wesley Whitehurst was born 10 March 1793. This would mean John Wesley Whitehurst was only 5 months old when John Whitehurst purchased the 50 acres from John Tripp. We do know that Willoughby, Pelatiah, and John Wesley were all born in North Carolina. If John is the father that would suggest that although John owned land in Georgia from 1788, he would have to return to North Carolina to possibly marry Elizabeth and have his three sons and then return to Georgia to live out his life. This is not a likely scenario. The most likely scenario is that the young man on the 1775 Pitt County tax list is John’s son and that he not John is the father of Willoughby, Pelatiah, and John Wesley Whitehurst. The next document shows John on the 1793 tax list with the 50 acres that he purchased from John Tripp. He apparently formed a close relationship with Tripp family. According to Diane Whitehurst Collins, he and Henry Tripp appraised one sow and five pigs for James Savage, which is listed in the Hancock County Estuary book dated 14 October 1809. I like the next document that I found in Hancock County where John registers his mark as a swallow fork in the left ear and a slit in the right. This was apparently the way, he would mark his animals.
The last three documents that I list deal with the 1805 Georgia Land Lottery. The 1805 Land Lottery distributed lands that the Creek Indians gave up to the citizens of Georgia.The citizens of Georgia could pay 12.5 cents for a chance in the land lottery. John purchased his ticket and was a fortunate drawer (he won!). He was awarded 202 1/2 acres in the second land district of Baldwin County (part of which would become Putnam County). John payed an additional $8.10 for his 202 1/2 acres (see the last document). The document just before the land lottery documents shows that John was still listed on the 1812 tax digest with his 50 acres in Hancock County. I am not sure what he did with the 202 1/2 acres in Putnam County; however, we do find Pelatiah Whitehurst in Putnam County in 1818 and know that he married his wife Sally Pounds in 1812 in Putnam County. I believe that John died in Hancock County during 1812 based on a 1812 power of attorney in which Batson Whitehurst, John's brother, represented John Wesley Whitehurst, who was still a minor. Pelatiah Whitehurst will be my focal point in my next post.
