Elizabeth (Robertson) Fowlkes (1752 - aft. 1831)

Born 7 Feb 1752 in near Deep Creek, Amelia County, Virginia

Ancestors

Wife of Thompson B. Fowlkes — married 21 Jul 1774 in Virginia

Descendants

Died after 1831 after age 78 in Hickman County, Tennessee, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Lori Thornton [send private message]

Biography

Elizabeth Robertson was born 7 February 1752 in Amelia County, Virginia, near Deep Creek ^[1] to Nathaniel Robertson and his wife Anne Elizabeth.</p>

Elizabeth married Thompson B. Fowlkes 21 July 1774 in Virginia.^[2]

Family tradition places Elizabeth in Middle Tennessee with her children in the early 1790s.^[3] The account reads like a work of fiction with conversation between Elizabeth and her children. The account places her at Fort Donelson around 1792. Because of this account which claims she was widowed, many researchers place a date of death of 1791 on her husband Thompson B. Fowlkes. It is, however, clear that he inherited the property on which he lived from his father in 1793.^[4] He also served as sheriff of Mecklenburg County in 1801^[5] and gave consent for his daughter Elizabeth to wed in 1814.^[6] It is unknown if Elizabeth accompanied her children to middle Tennessee without her husband or not, but the daughter's wedding in Mecklenburg County suggests that if so, she stayed only a short time or left her younger children behind which seems unlikely.

Elizabeth did eventually move to Tennessee and died in Hickman County sometime after 1831. She is believed to be buried in Fowlkes Cemetery in that county.^[7][8]

Sources

1. ↑ Stephen Fowlkes, Just Plain Fowlkes: Our Lineage from Gabriel I. (s.l.: s.n., about 2001), p. 25.
2. ↑ Stephen Fowlkes, Just Plain Fowlkes: Our Lineage from Gabriel. s.l.: s.n., about 2001, p. 25. The author asserts that the marriage took place in Hanover County, but it seems more likely the marriage took place in Amelia County since both the Fowlkes and Robertson families resided there. Some sources say that her surname was Robinson. One of these is in an entry in a DAR lineage book, somewhere between volumes 128 and 148, probably near the middle of that range, for an application filed by Mrs. Ruby Fowlkes Michael (no. 136715) which claims the couple was married in Lunenberg County. Her actual application does not contain the marriage information, but an additional paper for Thompson is supposedly on file which was not in the photocopy found in the files and copied at Evans Memorial Library in Aberdeen, Mississippi. A Bible record recorded but not fully cited in Beatrice Mackey Doughtie, Documented Notes on Jennings and Allied Families (Decatur, GA: The author, 1961), p. 525 records “the children of Elizabeth Robertson and Thompson Fowlkes” which seems to support the surname Robertson.
3. ↑ Guy S. Mayberry, The Fowlkes Saga (s.l.: s.n., n.d.); photocopy in possession of Lori Thornton.
4. ↑ “Gabriel Fowlks, Senr.” Nottoway County, Virginia, Will Book 1, USGenWeb Archives (http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nottoway/wills/willbk1.txt : 10 March 2016), citing Will Book 1, p.102, submitted and presumably transcribed by Linda Schmehl <abc(at)texas.net>.
5. ↑ Stephen Fowlkes, Just Plain Fowlkes: Our Lineage from Gabriel. s.l.: s.n., about 2001, p. 25.
6. ↑ Prestwould Chapter DAR, Marriage Records, 1811-1853, Mecklenburg County, Virginia (South Hill, VA: The Chapter, 1962), p. 133.
7. ↑ Personal research of Lori Thornton. Seeking better documentation for this.
8. ↑ Elizabeth Robinson Fowlkes, Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169954028/elizabeth-fowlkes