Sarah (Meador) Huntley (abt. 1747 - abt. 1812)

Born about 1747 in Essex, Caroline County, Virginia

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas S. Huntley — married about 1761 in Bedford, Virginia

Descendants

Died about 1812 at about age 65 in Gulledge Township, Anson County, North Carolina

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Randy Williamson [send private message] and Heather Brown [send private message]

Conflicting Information

Readily available information about the wife of Thomas Huntley contains several conflicts, particularly regarding her name(s) and her parents.

Given Name

Many online family trees and other poorly documented sources give ”Zilphia” or “Zilphia Sarah” as the given name for Thomas Huntley's wife. None have citations to original sources. Attempting to trace derivative source information back to it’s origins suggests that “Zilphia” as the name of Thomas Huntley’s wife is at best speculative, and may be in error.

One of the earliest known sources for “Zilphia”’s name appears to be a tenuous and speculative “memory” four generations later from a person not even related to the family.^[1]

Another early source for “Zilphia”’s name is from membership applications to the Daughters of the American Revolution.^[2] It was picked up by Major Perkins Nunnally,^[3] and from Nunnally by Victor Meador.^[4] Nunnally speculates that "Zilphia" might have been the daughter of Job Meador, while Meador may have been relying on information in land records, one of his preferred sources. In any event, these records need to be researched.

One such original record, Thomas Huntley’s will,^[5] names his wife Sarah, not Zilphia (although he had a daughter named Zilphia). There are three possible explanations for the difference:

• The original DAR applications are wrong. That this is a very real possibility is suggested by other errors noted in the early applications by the DAR. If the early DAR membership applications can be shown to depend on the early speculative “memory”, then the argument against “Zilphia” is even more compelling.

• That Thomas Huntley’s wife was actually Zilphia Sarah. This is extremely unlikely, since most people at this time period did not have two given names, and a report of someone with two given names is almost always a flag that someone has confused two different people in early research. In this instance, one suspects that the compound given name was someone’s attempt to reconcile two different sets of information without reference to original records.

• That Thomas had two wives. There is currently little to indicate that Thomas had two wives. If the early speculative “memory” and the early DAR membership applications can be seen to be independent, however, then the possibility of Thomas having two wives becomes more credible.^[6] In either event, the conflict over his wife’s name creates the need to either prove or disprove such a possibility.

Parents

Many online family trees lacking citations to original sources also list Jason Meador as the father of Thomas Huntley’s wife. Where that originated is not clear. Early and late DAR membership applications do not name “Zilphia”’s father. The early speculative “memory” of “Zilphia” names Obediah Meadows as her brother, but Obediah Meador was the grandson of Jason Meador, making the “Zilphia” of memory more likely Thomas Huntley’s daughter, not his wife.

Neither a “Zilphia” nor a Sarah is named in Jason Meador’s will,^[7] making it highly unlikely that he is the father. Nunnally, based on a DAR membership application that stated “Zilphia” was born in Bladen County, North Carolina (mother county of Anson County), speculated that she was the daughter of Job. Meador, again, followed Nunnally.

Family Name

The final question is whether or not Thomas Huntley’s wife was even a Meador.

Assuming that Huntley’s dates of birth for Thomas Huntley’s children are correct, then Thomas most likely married before he came to Anson County, and before Job Meador came to Anson County.

Huntley gives Thomas' oldest son, Thomas, a birth date of 1756 or earlier. Susannah's birth date is given as in the early 1750s. This implies a marriage date of about 1755 or perhaps a bit earlier for Thomas. Thomas did not arrived in Anson County, North Carolina until sometime between 1763 and 1769. (In 1763 he is presumed to be in Sampson/Duplin County, North Carolina. In 1769 he received a grant of land in Anson County.^[8]

According to Nunnally, Job Meador was in Lunenburg County, Virginia, but moved to Anson County sometime before September 1761. Jason and his family left what had become Bedford County, Virginia late in 1761, joining Job in Anson County. ^[9]

In other words, Thomas was most likely married before he met anyone from the Meador families. Unless Thomas Huntley can be shown to be in reasonable proximity to a Meador family at the time of his marriage, his wife (first wife?) was not a Meador. If Thomas had a second wife, she and her parentage need to be documented, not guessed.

Research Notes

On 11 Dec 1796, Jason Meador was named as a friend and executor in the will of Peter Lowry, of Anson County, North Carolina. Suffiah Meador was one of the witnesses to the will.^[10]

Biography

Sarah was the wife of Thomas Huntley at the time of his death, about 1802, in Anson County, North Carolina. She apparently outlived him -- according to family tradition, she died in 1812, although there is no record of the death.^[11] She is probably buried with her husband in the Huntley Cemetery in Anson County.^[12] Beyond that, virtually everything about Sarah is open to question and in need of supporting evidence.

Notes

The last names Mead/Meador/Meadors/Meadow/Meadows are used interchangeably in reporting this family line. Based on original records, the earliest documented ancestor used the name Meads. His son Thomas, grandson John, and great-grandson Jason all used the name Meador. Some of Jason's descendants, as well as descendants in other branches of the family, changed the family name to Meadows. Many present day researchers, for reasons of consistency, prefer to use the same family name for all members of a lineage, irrespective of what name a particular ancestor actually used. Needless to say, the name used depends on the name the researcher is familiar with, which creates confusion in the reporting.

Sources

• Huntley, Virgil W., Thomas Huntley Sr. of Anson County, North Carolina: his descendants in the Carolinas and elsewhere. (Mystic, Connecticut: V.W. Huntley, c1988 (Dallas, Tex. : Taylor Publishing Company).Available On-line

• Nunnally, Perkins, “The Descendants of Jonas and Frances Meador of Essex, Caroline and Cumberland Counties, Virginia”. (Pine Bluff, Arkansas: P. Nunnally, 1968 Available on-line
  '.. Transcribed with additions by Audrey J. Lambert bef Aug 2008 (http://www.ajlambert.com/robinson/desc_jfm.pdf )

• Huntley, Thomas, Ancestor #: A060808 Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogy Research. Accessed 28 Nov 2015

Text References

1. ↑ Huntley, Virgil W. Thomas Huntley Sr. of Anson County, North Carolina: his descendants in the Carolinas and elsewhere. (Mystic, Connecticut: V.W. Huntley, c1988 (Dallas, Tex. : Taylor Publishing Company), pp. 5, 8
2. ↑ Huntley, Thomas, Ancestor #: A060808 Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogy Research. Accessed 28 Nov 2015
3. ↑ Nunnally, Perkins, “The Descendants of Jonas and Frances Meador of Essex, Caroline and Cumberland Counties, Virginia”. (Pine Bluff, Arkansas: P. Nunnally, 1968) pp. 3, 8.
4. ↑ Meador, Victor P. (Victor Paul), and Bernal M. Meador. Our Meador families in colonial America: as found in the records of Isle of Wight, Lancaster, (old) Rappahannock, Richmond, Essex and Caroline Counties, Virginia. (Independence, Missouri: V.P. Meador, 1983)
5. ↑ Anson County Wills, 1802-1812, North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970, Vol 2, p. 69
6. ↑ The one hint that Thomas may have two wives is from the earliest DAR membership applications, which give Thomas' wife's name as Mrs. Zilphia Huntley, not Zilphia Meadows.
7. ↑ Anson County Wills, 1751-1779, Vol. 1, in North Carolina, United States. North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970, p. 16
8. ↑ Huntley, Virgil W., Thomas Huntley Sr. of Anson County, North Carolina: his descendants in the Carolinas and elsewhere. (Mystic, Connecticut: V.W. Huntley, c1988 (Dallas, Tex. : Taylor Publishing Company). pp. 2-4
9. ↑ Nunnally, Perkins, “The Descendants of Jonas and Frances Meador of Essex, Caroline and Cumberland Counties, Virginia”. (Pine Bluff, Arkansas: P. Nunnally, 1968. pp. 4-5
10. ↑ McBee, Mary Wilson, compiler, Anson County, North Carolina abstracts of early records. (Greenwood, Mississippi, 1950), p. 123. (Available on-line in local Family History Centres.)
    Original source: Anson County, North Carolina, Will Book A, p. 47
11. ↑ Huntley, Virgil W., Thomas Huntley Sr. of Anson County, North Carolina: his descendants in the Carolinas and elsewhere. (Mystic, Connecticut: V.W. Huntley, c1988 (Dallas, Tex. : Taylor Publishing Company). p. 2
12. ↑ Zilphia Sarah Meadows Huntley, Memorial# 15732495, Find A Grave. Created by Shirley Overholser/Huntley Dobson, Sep 14, 2006. Accessed 28 Nov 2015

Acknowledgements

This profile is possible due to the collaborative efforts of the following Wikitree members:

• Grant Meadors.
• Heather Brown.
• David Robinson.
• Robin Lee.
• Edward Huntley

This person was created through the import of DR fam 9.ged on 14 September 2010.