The Ancestry of Elizabeth Lythcoe wife of John Bowman

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

THE LYTHCOE FAMILY

In 1942 the Office of State Registrar of Vital Statistics of Virginia sent a warning letter to county registrars concerned that mixed race people were trying to pass as white or Indian and that would violate Virginia’s Miscegenation Laws forbidding interracial marriages. He sent out a list of family names from every county of Virginia families “striving to pass as Indian and/or white. Names from Washington County included “Beverly, Barlow, Thomas, Hughes, Lethcoe, and Worley.”

             Elizabeth Lethcoe who married John Bowman in Washington County was the elder sister of Archibald Lethcoe who lived with an African America woman named Julia Bannister who was listed as a “Mulatto” or a mixed race person. Whether Elizabeth and Archibald were also descended from a mixed race union is not known for certain although Archibald in the 1840 census was listed as “Mulatto”. The 1830 census listed the entire family of John Bowman as “persons of color” all but one female who was probably Susannah Rosenbaum. Elizabeth Lythcoe Bowman’s sister, Nancy Lethcoe was what was considered a “lewd” woman in the 19th century. She never married but had several children by different men including a son Henry Lethcoe who married 27 November 1856 “Delitha Bowman”, born 1838 and the daughter of Mathias & Susanah Bowman. Mathias and Susannah Bowman are listed in various census as “mulattoes”.

                Free people of color are documented as migrating with European-American neighbors in the first half of the 18th century to the frontiers of Virginia and North Carolina, where they received land grants like their neighbors.

              Beginning about 1767, some of the ancestors of the Melungeons reached the frontier area of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where they are listed on tax lists. The Collins and Gibson families (identified as Melungeon ancestors) were recorded in 1813 as members of the Stony Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Scott County, Virginia, that was created from Washington and Wythe Counties. They appeared to have been treated as social equals of the white members. The earliest documented use of the term "Melungeon" is found in the minutes of this church.

Contemporary accounts documented that Melungeon ancestors were considered to be mixed race by appearance. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, census enumerators designated them as "mulatto", "other free", or as "free persons of color". Sometimes they were listed as "white", sometimes as "black" or "negro", but almost never as "Indian". At the time, as in Virginia, if a free person was mostly white (one-eighth or less black), he was considered legally white and a citizen of the state:

Elizabeth and Archibald Lethcoe were the children of James Austin Lethcoe, a War of 1812 Veteran. He was said to be the son of Joseph Fresno Lethco born circa 1745 probably in Virginia before settling in North Carolina. He had four sons who all to be in the Yadkin River area of Rowan County at one time or another. They were James Austin Lethco, Larken Lethco, Joseph Lethco, and Archibald Lethco.

James Austin Lethco was said to have been circa 1777 and moved to Wythe County, Virginia adjacent to Washington County and the North Carolina border. The county is intersected by the New River. The land is mostly an elevated plateau, lying between Iron Mountain on the south and Walker's Mountain on the northwest.

James Lethco brother Larkin Lethcoe according to family tradition in 1805 who was then about 21 years of age, went to work for a William Ball, whose plantation was near the present site of Washington DC. “Larkins Leathco” wooed, won, eloped and wed Lavina Ball daughter of William Ball and went to North Carolina and settled down. Mr. Ball was greatly distressed over the loss of his daughterAfter a long search, he found Larkins and Lavina living on a farm in North Carolina. Mr Ball bought a tract of land adjoining that of his daughter and lived there the remainder of his life.

Another brother Joseph Lethco left Rowan County, North Carolina for the Midwest and was in Richland County, Illinois by 1837. From there he moved to Green County, Missouri where he died about 1850.

The youngest brother was Archibald Lethco who was in Harrison County, Indiana not long after it became a state. Harrison County borders the Ohio River. He married a as his 2nd wife widow named Sarah Terry who was half Indian. He died in Harrison County circa 1840.

A marriage for James Lethco cannot be located if even one exists. Some researchers seem to think he was married to a woman named Elizabeth. However a marriage license of his youngest daughter Anna Ritta Lethcoe dated 1880 stated that she said her parents were James and Henrietta Lethcoe. She may have been the daughter of John and Henrietta Fuller. A Henrietta Fuller is listed as an 88 year old woman in the household of Peter David Lethcoe who was a son of James Austin and Henrietta Lethcoe. She certainly could have been Peter’s grandmother.

The only census in which he can be located is the 1810 census of Wythe County, Virginia

Free White Male age 26 thru 44 [1766-1784] James Lethco born 1777

Free White Female age- 26 thru 44 [1766-1784] Henrietta

Free White Male age under 10 [1800-1809] Alfred "Nelson" Lethco born1801

Free White Male age Under 10 [1800-1809] James Austin Lethco jr 1803

Free White Female age Under 10 [1800-1809] Nancy Lethcoe 1805

Free White Females age Under 10 [1800-1809] Elizabeth Lethcoe 1807-

During the War of 1812 James Lethcoe enlisted as a private in Capt Saunders Company: 7th Regiment under in the Virginia Militia. He would have been about 35 years old when he served.

James A. Lethcoe continued to live in southwestern Virginia where he had five more children between 1813 and 1825, Dorcus Riddie Lethcoe 1813–1880, Archibald Lethcoe 1815–1880, David Peter Lethco 1820–1859, John Fuller Lethco 1822–1891 and Anna Retta Lithcoe 1825–unknown.

There are no more records to be found by this researcher regarding James Lethcoe. Some suggest he died before 1840. He may have moved to Johnson County, Tennessee as many of his sons are found there as well as in Sevier and Jefferson Counties. These counties are adjacent to Virginia and North Carolina and with the Blue Ridge Mountain Range. Johnson County was created in 1836 from parts of Carter County. Johnson is very remote and situated entirely within the Blue Ridge Mountains and is relatively rugged and hilly.

Children of James Lethcoe

1. Alfred "Nelson" Lethco was born circa 1801 in North Carolina probably Rowan County and died 1867 in Washington County, Virginia. He was married to Susan McCracken 29 November 1829 in Washington County. By 1840 he was Sevier County, Tennessee but had moved to Johnson County by 1850 probably after the death or separation from Susan. The 185O census showed that he was married to a woman named Phoebe. He moved back to Virginia where he died.

Sevier County was formed from part of neighboring Jefferson County, and has retained its original boundaries ever since. Sevier County's economy, and society—relied primarily on subsistence agriculture. With the creation of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in the early 1930s, which is thirty percent of the total area of the county the economy today is supported by tourism.

2. James Austin Lethco jr was born circa 1803. In the 1830 census of Washington County he was listed as between 20 and 29 years old with a wife and child. There are at least three men named James Austin Lethco which can be confusing. His sister Nancy Lethcoe had a son also named James Austin Lethcoe but he mainly went by Austin.

3. Nancy Lethcoe was born about 1804 in Wythe County and died 1873 in Washington County, Virginia. Nancy Lethco never married but she had the following children by different men: Henry Lethco, John Fuller Lethco, James Austin Lethco, Louisa Jane Lethco and Mary Ann Lethco. According to a deposition by a daughter in law Emma Blalock, Nancy told each of her children who its father was when "they were big enough to keep it to themselves". She had told Henry that his father was a Davis. John had been known as John "Fuller" Lethco. In her deposition, Emma Blalock called John Lethco the "half brother" of Henry. She also called David Peter Lethco "my husband's mother's brother". This deposition made in 1915 thus stated that Nancy Lethcoe had sons Henry Lethcoe and John Fuller Lethcoe by different fathers and she had a brother named David Peter Lethcoe.

Emma Blalock’s husband was Henry Lethcoe and his mother was Nancy Lethco and she was the “daughter of old James Letcho; thus, David Peter was the son of old James Lethco and an uncle of John Fuller Lethco.”

Emma Blalock's deposition in the Civil War pension hearings also indicated that Martha, Dorcas and Ann Lethco were sisters of Nancy Lethco, making them daughters of old James Lethco. Only two brothers were mentioned directly. They were Nelson and David Peter Lethco. These depositions were made in 1915.

• John Fuller Lethco, born 3 June 1822

• James Austin born 24 September 1826 married Margaret Pickle

• Mary Lethcoe born circa 1824

• Louisa Jane Lethco 11 Aug 1828

• Henry Lethco,15 July 1830 married Emma Blalock

4. Elizabeth Lethcoe 1806–1880 married John Bowman the son of John Bowman and Susannah Rosenbaum. She moved with her husbands family to Indiana in the 1830’s and then to Wisconsin in the 1840’s. By 1860 they had moved to Iowa and in 1862 pioneered in Dakota Territory. In her old age she and her husband returned to Washington County with their daughter Sally Worley where she died sometime after 1880.

• Isaiah Bowman married Esther Matteson

• Josiah died without issue

• Sally Bowman married John Worley

5. Martha Lethco 1808– nothing further known

6. Dorcas Riddie Lethcoe born circa 1813 was the common law wife of Robert Bowman son of John Bowman and Susannah Rosenbaum. They had four daughters and obe son none whom took the name of Bowman. She died prior to 1880 when Robert Bowman remarried her youngest sister Anna Ritta Lethcoe. Her children and her sister Elizabeth Lethcoe Bowman’s children were double cousins sharing the same set of Grandparents

• Emeline Lethcoe 1839–1910 married Frank Bumgardner

• Isaiah Franklin Lethcoe 1841–1862 married Mary Rudy and died about 2 months after joining the Confederate Army at Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia

• Martha J Lethco 1846–1884 married Simon Peter Bumgardner

• Dorcus Caroline Lethcoe 1849–1895 married David A Rosenbaum

• Rebecca Ann Lethco 1851-1914 married Simon Peter Bumgardner

7. Archibald Lethcoe was born circa 1815 in Washington County and he married a “mulatto” woman named Julia F Bannister born 1817 in Virginia. Julia’s surname is confirmed in the death certificate of her son Ike Lethco, “colored male” born 20 Mar 1858” and who died of paralysis on 2 May 1917. The certificate stated he was the son of “Archable Lethco” amd Julie Banester” (Bannister. He was interred in the Mock Grave yard.

Archibald Lethcoe is mentioned as a property purchaser in a deed in 1858 and also as working on roads. However the 1860 census of Washington County, showed Archibald Lethcoe in the county jail along with David Lethcoe and Henry Lethcoe. A Washington County court document dated 22 August 1859 stated that Constable Robert Edmondson Senior submitted a bill of $7.35 for arresting Archibald and David Lethco, “charged with felony, summoning witnesses for commonwealth and conveying them to jail.”

On 29 March 1860, the jailer for Washington County, Virginia made a motion to the courts on behalf of Archibald and David Lethco: “On motion of Wm. W. Barker, …, and it appearing to court that Archibald and David Lethco, prisoners confined in jail, are almost destitute of clothing, ordered that said. Wm. W. Barker, be… authorized to procure necessary clothing for said Lethco, provided he does not expend more than $10; same be levied in next Court levy.

Julia Lethco was listed as of 25 July 1860 in Washington County Post Office Laurel. She was nearly destitute as her personal estate was worth only $50. Her occupation was keeping house and her daughter Margaret age 16 was listed as a washer woman. At home were her children Margaret, Joseph, John, Isaac, and Robert.

The 48th Infantry Regiment was fully organized at Big Spring, near Abingdon, Washington County, Virginia by September, 1861. So Archibald was one of the earliest volunteers. Company F was made up of men mostly from Washington County and were known as the Holston Foresters. The 48th later was assigned to General J.R. Jones' and W. Terry's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. Archibald Lethcoe was at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania and was at Surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Appomattox Court House, Virginia. April 9, 1865. When Archibald Lethco returned home to Washington County he had two more children, Debbie and Emmanuel Bates.

In the 1870 Census Archibald Lethco and his entire family are listed as Mulattoes. And in the 1880 census he is enumerated within the family of John Bowman and Elizabeth Bowman where he is listed as “brother.”

• William L Lethcoe born 1838

• David W Lethcoe born 1841

• Susannah E Lethcoe born 1843

• Margaret Lethcoe1844-

• Andrew H Lethcoe born 1846

• Joseph W Lethcoe born 1848-49

• John Lethcoe born 1852

• Isaac B. Lethcoe born 1855 married Sarah Monk daughter of

• Robert Lethcoe born 1857

• Debby Lethcoe born 1865

• Emmanuel Lethcoe born 1870

In a depositon by Isaac B. Lethco (colored). Isaac stated : "Henry Lethco was a full first cousin to me, as his mother (Nancy) was my father's sister. Henry Lethco was a full blooded white man. Henry Lethco's mother and my father were brother and sister, and my father married a colored woman.

8. Peter David Lethco was born circa 1820 in Washington County. He was in Jefferson County, Tennessee by 1844 when he married Susan Kitrell. The 1850 census of Jefferson County shows that he was a laborer and included in his household was an 88 year old woman named Henrietta Fuller. She is not a relative of Susan Kitrell there for certainly a grandparent.

• Ritta Lethco 1844– before 1860

• William Atchley Lethco 1849–1907 married Sarah Layman and Olive Farr

• Delitha Deliverance Lethco 1850–1919 married Thomas Walker

• Darcus Dorthula Lethco 1853–1891 died unmarried

• Colonel Bunch Lethco 1854–1930 married Amanda Parker and Mary Susannah Strange.

9. John Fuller Lethco 1822–1891. He moved to Sevier County, Tennessee. He married Nancy Fox and raised a large family there.

• Henry Harrison Lethco 1852–1922

• William Lethco 1853–1867

• Amanda Lethco 1856–1925

• James Lethco 1857–1908

• Bates Lethco 1859–1930

• Melvina V. Lethco 1861–1881

• Hulda Lethco 1863–1888

• Emily Altimiah Lethco 1865–1928

• Dicie E Lethco 1868–1938

• Mary C. Lethco 1868–1913

• Elizabeth Emaline Lethco 1869–1972

• Nathaniel M. Lethco 1870–1926

10. Anna Ritta Lethco married her brother in law Robert Bowman after the death of her sister.