Sarah Jane Gholson^{[1, 2, 3]}

Abt 1740 - 1834  (~ 94 years)

• Name	Sarah Jane Gholson
  Born	Abt 1740	Halifax Co., Virginia
  Gender	Female
  Died	Oct 1834	Mercer County, Kentucky
  Person ID	I14102	My Reynolds Line
  Last Modified	8 Jun 2016

  
  

  Father	Anthony Gholson, Jr.,   b. Abt 1707, Spotsylvania County, Virginia ,   d. 1779, Halifax County, Virginia  (Age ~ 72 years)
  Mother	Mary Sandridge,   b. 1722, Spotsylvania County, Virginia ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Married	1764	Virginia
  Family ID	F518495695	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Charles Powell,   b. Abt 1740, Colonial Virginia ,   d. 1810, Mercer Co., Kentucky  (Age ~ 70 years)
  Married	Children of Charles Powel, Sr. [Agatha] Agathy Powel was born November 3, 1765 [Lucy] Lewsey Powel was born September 26, 1767 [Anthony] Anthoney Powel was born November 19, 1769 Rhoda Powel was born march 9, 1772 Charles Powel was born July 5, 1774 Lewis Powel was born October 29, 1776 Mary Ann Powel was born July 30, 1779 Sarah Powel was born February 1, 1782
  Children	+ 1. Agatha Powell,   b. 3 Nov 1765, Spotsylvania County, Virginia ,   d. Yes, date unknown + 2. Lucy Powell,   b. 26 Sep 1767, Spotsylvania County, Virginia ,   d. 18 Nov 1859, Halifax County, Virginia  (Age 92 years)   3. Anthony Powell,   b. 19 Nov 1769, Spotsylvania County, Virginia ,   d. 9 Jun 1819, Halifax Co., Virginia  (Age 49 years)   4. Charles to Kentucky Powell, Jr.,   b. 5 Jul 1774, Spotsylvania Co., Virginia ,   d. 5 Jun 1819, Kentucky  (Age 44 years)
  Last Modified	10 Jun 2017
  Family ID	F4409	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/g/h/o/Linda-K-Gholsonhoffine/GENE1-0003.html SARAH3 GHOLSON (ANTHONY2, ANTHONY1) was born 1745, and died Aft. 1779. She married CHARLES POWELL 1765 in Spotsylvania Co., Virginia. Notes for SARAH GHOLSON: Sarah"s father was Anthony Gholson, Jr. and his wife Jane. Her mother was Mary Sandrifge the daughter of William and Ann Sandridge of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Sarah was named for her grandmother, Sarah Jane Gholson. Anthony Gholson, JR. married Mary Sandridge probably around 1744. Sarah grew up in St. George's Parish, in Spotsylvania County, next to the Sandridge family. Her father kept this land until June 4,1764, when he sold it to Peter Marye, so Sarah probably spent most of her childhood in this area. Her father, Anthony Gholson, Jr. was not a wealthy plantation owner but rather a moderatlely well off planter. He owned several slaves, research indicates his wife's family was somewhat better situated financially. Spotyslvania County was still back country when Sarah was growing up and raising her own children there. The fall line ran through this piedmont county, distinguishing it from the tidewater counties in Virginia. In general, piedmont country was more sparsly settled than the coastal areas, with more wilderness, fewer less well-maintained roads, and less ready access to commodity markets. Sarah Gholson married Charles Powell by early 1765, if not before. Her first child, a daughter named Agatha, was born Novemeber 3, 1765. Sarah says Charles Powell owned only a horse and wearing apparel when they were married. As she owned the 100 acres of farmland William Sandridge willed her, it seems likely Charles and Sarah lived on this land when they were first married. Her father probably moved to Louisa County after he sold his land in 1764, but since Louisa is a bordering county to Spotyslvania. I doubt they lived far from each other. Sarah gave birth to five more children at this Spotsylvania homestead: Lucy in 1767, Anthony, her first son which she names for her father, in 1769, Rhoda in 1772, Charles, Jr. in 1774, and Lewis in 1776. Charles and Sarah sold this landon July 22, 1776. Charles served in Captain Stubblefield's company of the Spotsylvania Militia and signed a petition to the legislature on November 14, 1776 with this company. Anthony Gholson, Jr. bought 225 acres of land in Halifax County on February 10,1777. They must have moved to Halifax County between these two dates. By the time of this move, Sarah had two daughters old enough to help with the household. Agatha, twelve years old, and Lucy, ten years old. Anthony, at eight years old , was probably just beginning to help his father in the fields. If Charles and Sarah did noy already own slaves, it is likely her father's slaves helped Sarah with her work. In Halifax County, Charles and Sarah may have lieved with her parents. Her Father died in 1779, leaving his land to his wife durning her lifetime, and to his youngest son, Dabney after her death. Dabney would have been only about 10 years old at theis time and Charles Powell may have managed the land for the widow Mary Gholson. From the early tax lists of Halifax County, it is evident that Charles at least lived close to Mary Gholson. From recourds found in james M. Black's book, I believe Mary Gholson's land bordered the south side of the Dan River in the western part of Halifax County. Halifax County was also piedmont land and was even more primitive tha Spotsylvania County. Since Anthony and Charles were surely tobacco farmers, and tobacco wore out the land so quickly, they likely moved to Halifax to obtain fresh tobacco farming land. It could be that they moved to distance themselves from the intense action of the Revolutionary War. It seems significate to me that we find so many names of Spotyslvania families in Halifax County with our family. Several families must have made this move together for some reason. Spotsylvania was first settled in the early 1700's, but Halifax although it had been inhabited by colonist for over 25 years, was still thinly populated in 1777. A HISTORY OF HALIFAX COUNTY GIVES THIS ACCOUNT OF LIVING __CONDITIONS ______________________________________________________________ "This was "back Country", remote from Tidewater, in a day of difficult travel. Our planters lived of necessity on the simple scale. All mercantile goods had to come overland from Petersburg, some seventy miles or more away, and all tobacco had to find it's way back there. many large tracts of land had been taken up years before by great landowners of Tidewater. The land was rich in promise; there were broad and fertile river lowgrounds, and creek bottoms , as well. But the problem of the planter was to get his produce to market, and this was always to be a determining factor in the history of our economy. A traveler who visited Mecklenburg County on the eve of the Revolution, Dr. John F. D. Symthe, wrote of the back country people: A planter raises his own meats, beef, and bacon, his own corn and bread, his drink, cider, and brandy, his fruit, apples, peaches, ect. and great part of his clothing, which is cotton. He has no market to repair but the nearest store;which chiefly supplies him with finery,articles for agriculture, and what else may be his staple produce, and is always in arrears. The houses here are almost always all of wood, covered with the same; the roof with shingles, the sides and ends with thin boards, and not always lathed and plastered within; only those of the better sort are finished in that manner, and painted on the outside. The chimneys are sometimes of brick, but more commonly of wood, coated on the inside with clay. The windows of the best sort have windows in them, the rest have none, and only wooden shutters". ______________________________________________________________ These were the conditions Charles and Sarah lived under in Halifax County. It was probably a fairly comfortable life for them, with few real hardships other than the hazards of failed crops always faced by farmers until war exploded into their world. Charles served in the Halifax Militia durning the Revolution. We do not know how much service he actually saw. If he did not serve in the regular Continental Army, he probably was at home much of the time. After the destruction of Norfolk in 1775, Virginia saw very little military action until 1779 when the British started a campaign of destruction against Virginia becasue she was such an important supplier of men, materials, and financial backing for the Rebel cause. There was much action in the Southern theatre after this time, and the Virginia Militia was called on again and again to support this cause. Units from the southwest Virginia were at Kings Mountain, South Carolina and at Guilfords Court House, North Carolina in 1780. Such was the nature of this war, that the same men who marched the torturous miles and fought the awful battles also had to sow and reap the cropsto feed them selves and their families. It was imperative for the men of the Malitia tobe home to tend the crops but the enemy would not wait for the harvest. Durning this time Sarah had two more children;Mary Ann (Polly) in 1779, and Sarah Jane,in 1782, just after the end of the Revolutionary War. /She may have had to do a man's work while Charles was fighting. She and Charles probably endured many hardships durning the War. The next move for Charles and Sarah, I believe in the winter of 1789, was a giant step into a different world, the wilderness of Kentucky. Sarah probably was excited about going into a new land even in view of the hardships she must have known she and her family would face. Her sister, Susanna Gholson Prewitt, almost 20 years her junior, the wife of Anthony Prewitt, either made the journey with her or was waiting in Mercer County, Kentucky, but died shortly after the move. Possibly, her sister, Mary, wife of James Jones, and her sister, Elizabeth, wife of David Jones, also accompanied the Pwell family to Kentucky. Many families from Halifax County can be found in the early records of Mercer County and surrounding areas. Sarah had many neighbors and friends in Kentucky that she already knew from Virginia. Sarah was leaving three married children, Agatha, Lucy and Anthony, behind in Virginia. She was surely aware she would most likely never see them again, and possibly never hear from them again. It is possible word of family members was carried back and forth between Halifax County and Kentucky by frontier parties returning for supplies, but it is doubtful if she had much contact with these three children, after she moved to Kentucky. Over the years, she must have wondered many times how they and their families were faring. By the time Sarah Powell started down the Wilderness Road for a new life in the Kentucky wilderness, she would have been about 45 years old. Just imagine, starting over in the wilderness society at 45. Charles Jr. and Lewis were old enough to do a man's work as well as provide food for the table by hunting and fishing. Seventeen year old Rhoda and ten year old Polly were of an age to be skilled in weaving, sewing and other household skills. Sarah Jane would have been able to do some household chores. On March 11,1790 Rhoda married George Cole, and left her mother to handle the household on Doctors Fork with only the aid of her slaves and the two young sisters. Sarah probably had a rough time the first few years in the wilderness, trying to make a home for her family with onlythe bare essentials of housekeeping. Still she preserved, and to the best of our knowledge, raised all her children to adulthood. That in itself was no small feat in the era in which she lived. In 1807, after all her children had married and left the home , she and Charles seperated. She accused him of several indignities, including beating her. I believe she went to live with her youngest child, Sarah Jane Bottom and her husband Edmund Bottom, who lived close by Charles and Sarah on Chaplain River. A female, over 45, is listed with Edmund Bottom on the Mercer County census in 1810, and in 1830 a female 90 to 100. This would mean Sarah was born by 1740. She lived with her daughter 27 years, helping her to raise Sarah's eight children. Sarah secured a separation agreement with Charles Powell ( see copy attached) that gave her an income for life. In 1807 it was uncommon for a woman in Sarah's position to leave her husband. It was equally uncommon for her to pursue a settlement with her husband in the courts, and it was almost unheard of for a womanto win in such a suit. Sarah had to be made of stern stuff. Sarah Gholson Powell died sometime before October 4,1834, when her estate was appraised in Mercer County, Will Book 10, page 243. The only asset listed is one bond on Jeremiah Briscoe for $1000, plus interest $26288.33 1/8, minus subdry credits of $1560.00, balance due $1068.331/8. This would be an estate of considerable value for a 90 year old woman in 1834, but it has not been determined if her heirs collected the balance on this note. Although Charles referred to her as old and infirm in 1807, she outlived him by 24 years. Sarah Gholson Powell participated in the colonization of a new world, the founding opf a new nation, and the settlement of a wilderness state. Although the part she played in all this might be considered small by some people, we who are numbered amoung her descendants, owe her a great deal. If you a Powell woman, sometimes feel the fire of the Powell temper raising within you, maybe it is Sarah's will of Steel flowing through your veins. She was a woman of uncommon courage and valor. References: Taken directly from "the Powell Times and Lines" The life and Times of Charles Powell Sr. and Sarah Gholson Powell, Mercer County, Kentucky. Volume 1, No. 2 Winter of 1993 Published by Three Sisters Publications Route 1, Box 201 Green Forest Ar. 72638

  
  

• Sources

  [S84] Rootsweb, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=fletaaday&id=I1103. Name: Sarah Gholson Sex: F Birth: Abt 1745 in Spotsylvania Co., VA. Death: 11 Oct 1834 in Mercer Co., KY. Father: Anthony Gholson b: Bet 1707 and 1708 in Spotsylvania Co., VA. Mother: Mary Sandridge b: Bet 1720 and 1722 Marriage 1 Charles Powell b: 26 May 1740 in Stafford Co. VA Married: 1764 in VA 1 Children Has Children Agatha Powell b: 3 Nov 1765 in Spotsylvania Co, VA Has Children Lucy Powell b: 26 Sep 1767 in Spotsylvania Co, VA Has Children Anthony Powell b: 19 Nov 1769 in Spotsylvania Co, VA Has Children Rhoda Powell b: 9 Mar 1772 in Spotsylvania Co., Virginia Has Children Charles Powell b: 5 Jul 1774 in Spotsylvania Co, VA Has Children Lewis Powell b: 29 Oct 1776 in Spotsylvania Co, VA Has Children Mary Ann Polly Powell b: 30 Jul 1779 in Halifax Co. VA Has Children Sarah Jane Powell b: 1 Feb 1782 in Halifax Co., Virginia [S126] United States Archives, http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/halifax/wills/earlywills-a-g.txt. GHOLSTON. March 13, 1779?Will of Anthony Gholston. Wife, Mary; sons, John, Joseph and Dabney; daughters, Eunecy, Sucky, Sarah Powell, Ann Flemin, Mary Jones, Betty Jones. "Anthony Gholston." Wife Mary, John and Joseph Gholston, executors. Witnesses: Edward Garlington, Richard (his?X? mark) Hatter, Susannah (her?X?mark) Hatter. [S107] Family Histories, http://reynoldspatova.org/relationship.php?altprimarypersonID=I14102&savedpersonID=I7114&secondpersonID=&maxrels=1&disallowspouses=0&generations=15&tree=reynolds1&primarypersonID=I14102. Sarah Jane Gholson is the 5 x great grandmother of Mary Frances Reynolds