The following timeline is based on research and deductions made from limited information available about my fifth-great grandfather, Alston Wiggins b 1775. There is surprisingly little information to be found on Alston Wiggins of North Carolina / Whitley, Kentucky, on the internet or elsewhere. There are a couple of avenues I continue to explore in hopes of unearthing more clues. One is that perhaps "Alston" was his mother's maiden name and maybe somewhere in North Carolina in the mid to late 1700s there were allied Alston and Wiggins families. Another is to try and find out more about how Alston Wiggins came by his three Kentucky land grants. Was he a War of 1812 military veteran? Did he take advantage of free land offered to bring settlers out to the Kentucky wilderness? Was it unusual to get three land grants?
By compiling likely events about Alston's life into a cohesive list, the hope is that other pieces of the puzzle may eventually fall into place - particularly regarding the area of North Carolina he was from and, ultimately, which Wiggins family he is descended from. What we know now, primarily based on census information, is that Alston married a woman, Mary, 20 years his junior, and that he outlived most if not all of his children. He was also probably well-loved by his children as some named their own sons after him. - Nancy Early Byron
Alston Wiggins Timeline
1775 Alston Wiggins is born in North Carolina.
1800? Alston probably marries a first wife in North Carolina. There are two reasons to believe he may have been married before Mary (last name unknown). #1: Alston was twenty years older than Mary; #2 in the 1830 census, there are two grown children (m 15-19 and f 20-29) residing in Alston and Mary’s household when Mary is only 33.
1812? Alston possibly serves in the War of 1812, subsequently earning the government land grants he claims ten years later in Kentucky.
1814 At age 39, Alston marries 17-year-old Mary (last name unknown) who hails from the state of South Carolina. Between 1814 and 1817, Alston and Mary become the parents of three girls, Rosanna, Margaret, and Elizabeth.
1820 Alston and Mary's first son and fourth child arrives. They name him John. (Possibly two more sons, Henry and Lamont, arrive later.)
1825 Alston, Mary, and their young family travel most likely by covered wagon from somewhere in North Carolina to what is then known as Knox County, KY (later portioned off into Laurel County).
1826 Alston receives the first of three Kentucky land grants. Between 1826 and 1840, he acquires a total of 200 acres in Knox/Whitley County: 150 acres near the Little Laurel River and 50 acres near Ivy Bridge.
1838 His second daughter Margaret, now married to John Clark, names a son Alston after her father.
1842 His third daughter, Elizabeth, married to George Earley, names her second son William Alston. They call the boy Alston, and he grows up to be my 3rd great-grandfather.
1856 Daughter Elizabeth Wiggins Earley dies of cancer one day after giving birth to a stillborn daughter. She leaves behind husband George and their eight children, ages 3 to 18.
1858 Alston and Mary’s third daughter Rosanna, called “Rosa,” dies of a fever at the age of 44, leaving her husband, John Adams, and five children between the ages of four and fourteen.
1860 Alston’s son John dies, leaving a wife and six daughters between the ages of three and seventeen.
1860 The same year, daughter Margaret also dies, leaving behind a husband and eleven children ages 2 to 26.
1860 The same year, Alston and wife Mary are listed on the 1860 Laurel County census, the last U.S. census on which Alston's name appears.
1865? Alston Wiggins, nearing the age of 90 and having lived through the deaths of all of his known children, dies sometime after 1860.
1880 Alston’s widow Mary resides with her grandson-in-law, James Farmer. James and his second wife Jemima have taken in Mary Wiggins, grandmother of James' deceased first wife Emily Adams (daughter of Rosa Wiggins Adams).
"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M658-LK3 : 12 April 2016), E. Adams in household of John C Adams, Laurel county, part of, Laurel, Kentucky, United States; citing family 430, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
Original data - 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records
"Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/Q28L-1MC8 : accessed 21 May 2018), James Farmer and Emily Adams, 8 Sep 1864; citing Laurel, Kentucky, United States, Madison County Courthouse, Richmond; FHL microfilm 1,689,783.
"United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MXWN-VHT : 12 April 2016), Emily Farmes in household of James Farmes, Kentucky, United States; citing p. 24, family 179, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 545,979.
"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCZW-R68 : 12 August 2017), Jemima Farmer in household of James Farmer, Magisterial District 1, Laurel, Kentucky, United States; citing enumeration district ED 55, sheet 218D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0427; FHL microfilm 1,254,427.
"Kentucky Marriages, 1785-1979," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F49P-BV1 : 11 February 2018), Emily J. Farmer in entry for Joseph M. Gingwish and Mary Ann Irwin, 25 Nov 1914; citing Knox, Kentucky, reference 107; FHL microfilm 1,904,185.
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Emily by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Emily:
~0.78%Clint Allen :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch T813003[compare], yourDNAportal CLIaed5ecaf, Ancestry member clintallen2112
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Family Tree DNA Family Finder, GEDmatch T813003[compare], yourDNAportal CLIaed5ecaf, FTDNA kit #231332