Matrilineal Descendants of Patience (WHITAKER) MARLOW of Iredell County, North Carolina

This article is a follow-up to “Were Mary (WHITAKER) JOHNSON and Patience (WHITAKER) MARLOW Sisters?” In it, I laid out some circumstantial evidence that has led me to believe that Patience WHITAKER and Mary WHITAKER were related and even may have been sisters. You can review that short article for a refresher. Also, please see the endnotes [a] and [b] at the bottom of this page.

In today’s article, I would like to focus on finding living descendants of Patience (WHITAKER) MARLOW, specifically matrilineal descendants. These descendants should have the same mitochondrial DNA as Patience, which can be determined through mitochondrial DNA testing (mtDNA testing) at Family Tree DNA, the only company to provide this type of test. Mitochondrial DNA testing of matrilineal descendants of Patience could prove or disprove that she and Mary were maternal relatives, e.g., that their mothers were siblings, that they had the same mother, or other scenarios.

Attempts at finding a paper trail for the parents of either of these women have yielded nothing concrete. There are candidates for a father, and discussion of this is out of scope of this article. As with so many situations in colonial and early America, many records do not have wives listed, and if they do, the wives are given without their maiden surnames.

Fortitude Book Release – Guest Post by Dale R. Spaulding

Fortitude: Preserving 400 Years of an American Family’s Faith, Patriotism, Grit and Determination

Book Release

Guest Post by Dale R. Spaulding

NOTE by Elizabeth Wilson Ballard: Dale Spaulding is my 4th cousin. We are both descended from Absalom Renfro and Elizabeth (Cormack) Renfro, our 3rd-great-grandparents. I encourge you to read this post, purchase the book Fortitude, and follow Dale’s blog. I want to thank Dale for being gracious with his writing, and for sharing a bit about Fortitude and his writing process with us.

I’m thrilled to be a guest blogger on Diggin’ Up Graves today. I appreciate Elizabeth Ballard’s many years of dedication to preserve history through genealogy.

My name is Dale Spaulding, and I’m also a lifelong student of history and passionate about genealogy. I descend from William Sidney Spaulding and Mary Esther (Renfro) Spaulding who were my 2nd great-grandparents. William Sidney and Mary Esther’s oldest child was my great-grandfather, Arthur Addison Spaulding, who was a railroad engineer in Belvidere, Illinois. I’ve been researching my family history off and on for 30+ years now. Since I retired a couple of years ago, I finally had time to pull all the data together and publish a book.

Were Mary (WHITAKER) JOHNSON and Patience (WHITAKER) MARLOW Sisters?

Patience WHITAKER was the wife of Elijah MARLOW. Their marriage bond was obtained in Rowan County, North Carolina, by Elijah and bondsman William PARKE on 14 July 1795.

Mary WHITAKER was the wife of Strangeman JOHNSON. Their marriage bond was obtained in Rowan County, North Carolina, by Strangeman and bondsman Elijah MARLOW on 6 March 1798. Strangeman and Mary (WHITAKER) JOHNSON were my 4th great-grandparents.

John JUDGE – Ohio Timeline: c. 1812 to c. 1839 – 52 Ancestors (Ancestor 114)

Researched by Myrle Lea “Micki” DeFrance Jacobson (1951–2020), Elizabeth Wilson Ballard, and Christopher A. Mosher

Written by Elizabeth Wilson Ballard

NOTE: Surnames are in ALL CAPS, and introduced names are in boldface type.

The introductory article about John JUDGE, originally Hans REICHTER, is “John JUDGE (d. 1846).” If you haven’t read it, you may wish to go there first, or you may find it easier to read this one first. Your choice.

We have evidence that John was probably born in Pennsylvania¹ circa 1781–1790,² and that he enlisted in the U.S. Army in Ohio for the War of 1812.³ This enlistment is the first we see of him in Ohio. At that time, he would have been age 22–31.

This article is a timeline summation of John JUDGE’s activities in Ohio, with dates and locations. We have more information about his living in this state than anywhere else.

John JUDGE (d. 1846) – 52 Ancestors (Ancestor 114)

Researched by Myrle Lea “Micki” DeFrance Jacobson (1951–2020), Elizabeth Wilson Ballard, and Christopher A. Mosher

Written by Elizabeth Wilson Ballard

NOTE: Surnames are in ALL CAPS, and introduced names are in boldface type.

This is a story of the life of John JUDGE as derived from decades of research performed by Micki Jacobson, a fellow descendant. I asked Micki if I could continue the research and then share the information on this blog, and she graciously agreed. I began this article in 2016. Micki passed away last year. She was a determined, thorough, and humble genealogist. I miss having her to bounce things off of. I just miss her in general.

Micki had solved the puzzle of the John JUDGE Ohio brick wall, and before she died, she was well on her way to solving the puzzle of his parentage. Before her original work, attempts at finding anything about him were difficult because it was as if he appeared in Ohio from out of nowhere.

Micki’s ancestor, Henry JUDGE, and my ancestor, Phebe (JUDGE) VAN DUYN, were siblings and both children of John JUDGE and Mary DRAKE. Micki and I were third cousins, twice removed. We never met or spoke on the phone. But we helped each other on our common goals of solving ancestral origins. I helped her a bit on a line unrelated to me, and she did the same for me.

So I tell this story with a combination of sadness and gratitude, with content from Micki’s research and mine, some of her words, and some of mine, and with much regret that I wasn’t able to get it published before she left us. I have found sources and cited them for ancestral facts, confirming and adding to what I received from Micki.

I hope I can do this story justice. Please come along.