Looking for help with a 15+ year brick wall- Thomas Beckett

Question

I'm trying to determine who Thomas' parents are. Some folks have it as Samuel Beckett and Prudence Wallingford. However they married in 1804 and he was born in 1800.(yes, I know his birth year could be wrong!) Others have him as the son of Humphrey Beckett (d. 1836 in Ohio) and Susannah Cross. This was disproved by the pedigree I found on the DAR website. So, just who were his parents?? Anyone well versed in early 1800 North East Kentucky research? Suggestion would be most welcomed!

Thanks!

Lori

Beckett-454 

Comments

Definitely not Humphrey. In his will he leaves his property to grandsons George and Samuel.

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Thanks! Been fighting that battle with various people for YEARS!!

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Will can be viewed, handwritten original, ancestry dot com but my android couldn't"t grab it.

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Can some one search for a will?

 

Source Information

Title

1840 Marion County, Missouri John Beckett Probate, Name Of Person: John Beckett

Publisher

August 1840

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From AGBI  so only a clue

Thomas may have been John Thomas.

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I have a 

Thomas W Beckett

1804–

BIRTH 1804 • Montgomery, Virginia, United States

in my family history. He is my great-grandmother's grandfather. His mother is Barbara Lean Sowder

Answer 1

Josiah Beckett

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=BEC&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=19&GScntry=4&GSsr=1281&GRid=23977113&

Comments

Josiah on page 46

http://Century of Wayne County, Kentucky: 1800-1900 Front Cover Augusta Phillips Johnson Unigraphic, Incorporated, 1939 - Kentucky - 281 pages 0 Reviews

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Where is Wayne in relation to Lewis? That is where he was born. Plus Josiah isn't mentioned in the post I have on the page from the book by Reagan.

Thomas also had a brother, William who is not mentioned in the Find A Grave Post.

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Given the naming conventions back then, neither Thomas or William named a son Josiah. However, they both have sons named John and William. I have been working under the theory that their father could be named John but I haven't proven that yet. Then again, their sons named John could be named after the father-in-law John May since they married sisters.

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Can't find copy of book online. Anyways Josiah was War of 1812 hero and received huge land grants in Kentucky. Josiah was the only consistent name in ancestry for a Kentucky Thomas born 1800-1805. Can look some more tomorrow.

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Thank you!! You have no idea how long my cousin and I have been beating our heads against this wall and getting nowhere. I can tell you who it wasn't but can't figure out who it is with any certainty.

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I have 32 brickwalls since I can't trace any of my peeps prior to 1870. :-)

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That sucks in a major way!! Guess that puts my two in perspective. LOL

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@Eddie, don't give up.  I had several major brick walls for many years, had to take some time off for a few years and when I got back to it last year, I guess the mortar had crumbled in some of those walls. Several lines are moving again with better access to sources.  Good luck.

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My ancestors were slaves on Alabama plantations. And sometimes when they got sold away, the new master gave them new names.

Answer 2

Some things of note-

There were two Humphreys in Lewis, KY, the one that moved to Ohio and died in 1836 who's in the DAR registry and is not Thomas' father. The other stayed in Lewis, KY. I have him in the 1830 census with what looks like two sons living with him and two boys also on the census, Jeremiah and Reason, who may also be Humphrey's sons.

It's possible this Humphrey is the father of Thomas but I have no proof.

Answer 3

John(? Samuel ?) Beckett(1760?? -1824 Harrison KY) and Nancy Fry(1775-1844 ?) Nancy died in Missouri.

I searched 1810 Kentucky census for a man !listing 2 sons under ten years old and followed them, concentrating on names John and William.

I can maybe help look for documents when I get back home later.

Hope these are yours.

Answer 4

Ok, you made me break out  my Beckett research book because I've looked into every Beckett that was in Kentucky around the time of Thomas' birth. The marriage between John Beckett and Nancy Frye was Oct. 1798 and I have this John in Bourbon Co. in the 1790, 1800 and 1810 census. They are very possible parents, but no proof yet.

The John in Harrison Co. married Jenny Fleming in Sept. of 1798 and I have a note that Harrison county was too far west to make them possible parents plus they were in Harrison Co. in the 1800, 1810 and 1820 census.

There was a Benjamin in Clark Co (1800) and Estill Co. (1810) which again is too far west to be possible.

The second Humphrey that stayed in KY was born 1761 and died in 1839. He married Mary Shreeves in Feb 1786 in MD. He appears in the 1800, 1810 and 1820 census for Fleming Co. KY and the 1830 Census for Lewis Co. KY. Possible but probable given ages of parents??

There was a Samuel in the 1810 census of Mason Co. with two sons under the age of 10, so he's a definite possibility.

Answer 5

Found the will of John Beckett on Ancestry. It lists a Nancy Beckett as the administrator of the will and a Robert Beckett and Stephen Turner are mentioned but I don't know how they are related. Would this be Nancy Fry, do you think?

Comments

Re Nancy :Probably her. Also seen her name Frye and Frey. Same woman.

And location location location  ;-)

County lines shifted in the early days. To reset Congressional Districts and of course, through geology. During the Great New Madrid Earthquake, the riverbeds of tributaries feeding the Ohio-Mississippi-Missouri River System shifted. And when counties marked their borders at the rivers, borders had to be changed. You could be born in one county, die in another and you never left the family farm!