For a while now, I’ve been trying to sort out the tangle of the ancestry of my third great-grandmother, Ann “Annie” W. Sherrod Yelverton (1834-1880). She was the mother of my second great-grandmother Nancy Jane Yelverton Lovelace (1861-1936), who was the mother of my great-grandfather James Luther Lovelace (1885-1968), who was the father of my maternal grandfather Guy Lovelace (1916-1997).
It has proven difficult because the Forrest, Yelverton and Sherrod families used many of the same first names and migrated from Wayne and Pitt Counties, N.C., to Haywood County, Tenn., around the same time.
Annie W. Sherrod first shows up in the 1850 census as Ann W., a 17-year-old living in the home of 53-year-old Zilpha Sherrod Forrest (1797-1870) and Zilpha’s husband, 55-year-old Samuel W. Forrest (1795-1860).
While an easy assumption would be Ann was the daughter of Samuel and Zilpha Forrest, the death certiicates of several of her children prove her maiden name was Sherrod.
Also residing in the home in 1850 was Samuel’s 22-year-old nephew Samuel W. Yelverton (1828-1876), the son of the older Samuel’s sister Mary A. Forrest Yelverton.
Samuel Yelverton and Annie Sherrod
By November 11, 1851, Ann and Samuel had become the parents of their first child, Polly Whitney Yelverton (1851-1927). It is unproven if or when Samuel and Ann legally married. They would go on to have ten more children who all lived to adulthood. Their second child was also a daughter: Margaret “Maggie” Yelverton Marbury (1853-1884), the grandmother of my maternal grandmother, Virginia Brantley Lovelance.
Samuel and Annie’s fifth child was Nancy Jane Yelverton Lovelace (1861-1936), the grandmother of my maternal grandfather, Guy Lovelance. Nancy and Maggie were sisters, which means my maternal grandparents were second cousins once removed. Since Maggie died at age 31 in 1884, long before my grandprents were born, that’s something I don’t believe they knew, but would laugh about if they were alive today.
Samuel and Annie’s last was Effie G. Yelverton (1875-1939) who was born in 1875. Samuel died that year at age 51. Annie died in 1880 at age 46 leaving behind a large family of young children.
From a genealogical standpoint, its important to figure out the actual parents of Ann Sherrod since they would be my ancestors, not Zilpha and Samuel Forrest. I hit a brick wall until the discovery of a will that has provided a few clues.
Obviously, since Zilpha’s maiden name was Sherrod, its logical Zilpha and Ann were related, so I began looking there first.
Zilpha Sherrod Forrest
Zilpha was born in North Carolina, most likely in Wayne County, into the Sherard/Sherrod family. Their name appears in both ways in records but, for the sake of simplicity, I am going to use the Sherrod spelling here. That is what appears most frequently for Zilpah, Annie and other Haywood County kin.
Zilpha married Samuel William Forrest (1794-1860), also of Wayne County. Samuel was the son of George Forrest (1760-1827) and Winifred Joyner Forrest (c. 1760-1835), part of a large, landholding Forrest family with deep roots in eastern North Carolina.
| Mary A. Forrest Yelverton Ancestry Sidenote: This just muddies the water, but I am going to include it here anyway. Samuel’s 22-year-old nephew, Samuel W. Yelverton, who was “with” Annie W. Sherrod and living with Samuel and Zilpha in 1850, was the son of Samuel’s sister, Mary A. Forrest Yelverton (1791-1862). Mary is my fourth great-grandmother. She was the daughter of George Forrest (1760-1827), the son of Etheldred Yelverton (1784-1851), the son of Hardy Yelverton (1745-1823), the son of John Yelverton (1720-1795), the son of John Yelverton (1685-1750) of Edenton, N.C. I plan to do more research on this family line later. |
For years, I knew Zilpha belonged somewhere in the Wayne County Sherrod family, but I could not pinpoint exactly where. I knew if I could figure that out, it could lead to the identity of Ann’s parents.
The Will of William Sherrod
A breakthrough came with the discovery of an 1841 Wayne County will of William Sherrod (before 1765-before November 1841). In that will, William names “my daughter Zelpha Forest.” That was almost certainly my Zilpha Sherrod Forrest.
This means William Sherrod was Zilpha’s father. William’s wife at the time of the will was Smithy Sherrod. She may have been Zilpha’s mother, but the will does not prove that. William could have had an earlier wife, so Smithy remains a possible mother of Zilpha until additional records can confirm the relationship.
The will also identifies several of Zilpha’s sisters and other family members. Her likely sisters included Mary Sherrod Fields/Sales/Sails (before 1821-after 1841), Nancy Sherrod (before 1821-after 1841) and Penelope Sherrod Barden/Bardin (c. 1790-after 1841). The will also names several of William’s grandchildren, who would have been Zilpha’s nieces and nephews, including members of the Barden, Hanes/Haines and Sherrod families.
The Barden grandchildren were children of Zilpha’s sister Penelope. The Hanes/Haines grandchildren suggest another Sherrod sister married into the Hanes or Haines family, while William B. Sherard was likely the son of one of Zilpha’s Sherrod brothers. Those names show that Zilpha was one of several children in a large Wayne County family whose descendants were already spreading into other households and surnames by the time William wrote his will.
William’s will also shows he was a landholding and slaveholding Wayne County planter of some means. He owned land, livestock, crops, household goods, enslaved people and property associated with a mill. His will followed the pattern of many eastern North Carolina wills of the period: he provided for his wife, divided property among children and grandchildren and used life estates to protect certain family members.
These discoveries also led to the introduction into my family line of potential ancestors to explore further back. William Sherrod appears to have been the son of Robert Sherrard (1735-1782). Robert’s other sons included Benjamin Sherrod (before 1765-1826) and James Sherrod (1770-1852).
It’s certainly plausible that Annie Sherrod comes from any of these families.
Robert served in the Dobbs County militia in 1774 under Col. Richard Caswell (1729-1789) and was listed as an ensign in Company No. 13. Wayne County was later created from part of Dobbs County, placing Robert in the right region at the right time to be the patriarch of this Sherrod family.
Robert married Sarah Fort Sherrard (dates unknown-1792). After Robert’s death, an estate record refers to Polly Sherrod (probably after 1778-after 1799) and Sally Sherrod (probably after 1778-after 1799) as orphans.
Since Samuel and Annie Sherrod Yelverton named their first daughter “Polly,” this family is one to look at more closley.
In that period, “orphan” usually meant the father had died, not necessarily that both parents were dead. That record suggests Robert left younger minor children in addition to the older sons who later appear in Wayne County records.
So among all these Sherrods are likley Annie W. Sherrod Yelverton’s parents.
Dickinsons, Forrests and Musgraves
It is likley Samuel and Zilpha Forrest were among the large group that migrated to Haywood County in 1826. Samuel would have been 24 at the time. Samuel’s brother, Thomas Joiner Forrest (1792-1847), was with that group along with the family of his wife, Charlotte Brown Forrest (1793-1862). Charlotte was a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Brown. A one-mile-square tract of land, or 640 acres, had been given to Samuel Brown for service in the Revolutionary War. Samuel died and left the land to his wife.
According to the Brown Family Bible, they “left North Carolina on Thursday March 16, 1826.” Their journey ended “in the Forkodeer Hinterland 11 May which was 8 weeks on the road.” The family traveled with a number of families in covered wagons to their new home in the adjoining Tennessee counties of Madison and Haywood. Included in the group were members of the Dickinsons, Forrests and Musgraves.
Samuel and Zilpha made their home in Haywood County. They do not appear to have had any biological children, but the census records indicate they were willing to take in family members in need.
Another Sherrod connection appears in Samuel and Zilpha’s household in 1860. Susan Sherrod (c. 1844-1923) was living with them as a 14-year-old born in Tennessee. She appears to have been part of a younger group of Sherrod children scattered among Haywood County households by 1860, likely after the death of their parents.
Current clues lead me to believe Susan may have been the daughter of William K. Sherrod (c. 1818-c. 1858) and Priscilla Winifred Howell Sherrod (dates unknown). William was born in Wayne County and died in Haywood County. Susan later married James Edward Sumler (1844-1920) in Haywood County in 1866. The marriage record appears under the spelling Sumner, but later family and cemetery records use Sumler.
Samuel Forrest died Dec. 30, 1860, in Haywood County or Madison County, Tennessee and was buried in the “old” Forrest cemetery. Zilpha died a decade later, at age 73, on June 24, 1870, and was buried next to her husband.
The cemetery where they were buried was not maintained and was eventually destroyed by loggers. Thankfully, a group of individuals, including author and historian Billy King, relocated the headstones of Samuel, Zilpha and others that remained to the Forrest Cemetery off Rice Road in Madison County, Tennessee.
For now, I have answered a few questions about this family line, but have so many more that remain. I will share any updates here.
For more of my genealogy research, visit rscottwilliams.info.
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