John Taylor Duke (1695 - 1787)

Born 1695 in Prince George County, Virginia Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Stewart) Duke — married 1730 in Brunswick, Virginia Colony

Descendants

Died 15 Jul 1787 at about age 92 in Wilkes County, Georgia, United States

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John Taylor Duke resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies

Biography

John Taylor Duke Sr. is the son of Captain Henry Duke Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of Captain John Taylor. He was born about 1695 in Virginia. He died in Georgia in 1787. It is believed that he married Jane Anderson , the daughter of Thomas Anderson II. ^[1] Primary documents confirm that John Taylor Duke's wife was named Jane. The inference that she was Jane Anderson remains unproven.

Like his half-brother Maj. John Duke, Gent., John Taylor Duke purchased land in the Three Creeks area (later Greensville Co VA) in 1733.^[2] In 1738 he made an additional purchase. In 1741 he had moved on to land on Old Field Branch.^[3] He sold that tract as well as a previous grant on 4 Feb 1733 to Richard Lanier and James Cocke.^[4]

John Taylor Duke and his wife Jane of Lunenburg County, Virginia, sold on March 18, 1747, one hundred acres of the 450 acre tract to Edward Goodrich of Brunswick County. Witnessed by John Duke and Rejoice Duke. This was John Duke, Gent., [John Duke, heir at law to Capt. Henry Duke] and his wife Rejoice. Jane Duke, wife of John Taylor Duke relinquished her right of dower^[5]

John Taylor Duke in Lunenburg County in 1748, was listed in a single entry with his son John Duke, Jr. on the List of Tythables taken by William Howard in 1749. In 1752 and 1753 John Taylor Duke was on the List taken by Field Jefferson in that part of the county south of the Roanoke River. In 1757 John Taylor Duke, James Duke, and Edmund Duke were listed as a unit with three tythes and two slaves by John Speed in the district south of the Roanoke River. Their having been listed as a single household should constitute proof that James Duke and Edmund Duke were sons of John Taylor Duke.^[6]

By 1769 John Taylor Duke had left Virginia and gone to South Carolina. In 1773 a plat was filed for his son Edward (aka Edmund) Duke on Beaver Creek of the Broad River, adjacent John Taylor Duke.^[7]

John Taylor Duke and most of his sons were later in Georgia. Most of them served in either the State Militia or the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Known to be sons of John Taylor Duke and his wife Jane were Robert Duke, Henry Duke, Thomas Duke, James Duke, Edmund Duke, and John (Taylor) Duke. Robert Duke died in South Carolina in 1784/5. John (Taylor) Duke was in Orange County, North Carolina, just below Mecklenburg County, Virginia, by 1764.^[8]

Children

• John Taylor Duke Jr. (1723-1803)
• Edmund Duke (1726-1785)
• Charles Duke (1728-1729)
• William Green Duke (1730-1787)
• Thomas Duke Sr. Esq. (1734-1827)
• Henry Duke (1736-1780)

Research Notes

An Amy Duke previously was appended here. There is no known documentary evidence that JTD had a daughter named Amy. Further, this Amy Duke seems to have spent her life in Hanover, Virginia -- which is not where JTD raised his children. He moved on to Brunswick Co VA and then to South Carolina quite rapidly. She is very probably a daughter of Marston Duke, who lived in Hanover County, VA.

Descendants of John Taylor Duke are associated with Group 4 in the yDNA study at Family Tree DNA. Group 4 represents the descendants of Thomas Duke who settled in James City County, VA, in the 17th century. It includes the lineage of Washington Duke, founder of American Tobacco Company.

Sources

1. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 05 November 2020), memorial page for John Taylor Duke Sr. (1695–15 Jul 1787), Find A Grave: Memorial #137546898, citing Resthaven Cemetery, Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, USA
2. ↑ Brunswick Co VA Deed Bk 1: 106.
3. ↑ Library of Virginia, Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck Grants and Surveys, Index of Patents No.20 1741-1743 (VOL.1 & VOL.2) pp135-137; database with images (http://image.lva.virginia.gov/LONN/LO-1/018/018_0149.tif).
4. ↑ Brunswick Co VA Deed Bk 2: 277-279 and 281.
5. ↑ (Lunenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 1, page 312).
6. ↑ Parish Vestry Book
7. ↑ Duke, Edward. Plat for 250 acres in Craven County. Colonial Plat Books (Copy Series) S213184. Vol. 21, P. 237, Item 1. 1 Feb 1773.
8. ↑ THE DUKE FAMILY, II by Evelyn Duke Brandenberg.

See also:

• U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
• Unsourced family tree handed down to Linda Peterson.