Sturgills in America

Sturgill, William

Events

Parents

Families

Narrative

It is difficult at best ro pick up the tracks of pioneer ancestors who lived almost two centuries ago and this is compounded by the fact that so many of the same family group gave their children the same names and by the fact that after the revolutionary war many of them kept moving from one place to another in search of a better home and a better life. William Sturgill was among the wanderers.

Family traditions which have become garbled by time also confuse the search. There is a romantic family tradition that William met his bride to be while on a horse trading trip to NY. The story says that Sophia was the thirteen year old daughter of a prominent Doctor named David King and that she eloped with William. As the story continues, Dr King is said to have disinherited Sophia but later relented and made a trip to Ashe Co, NC where he bought a farm for William and Sophia. This story is interesting but it can not be supported by any public records in Ashe Co, NC or elsewhere and the well documented family of Dr. King does not mention a daughter Sophia. It is true that during that period of time the Sturgill family did raise and train matched teams of fine carriage horses which were sold in the northern markets but no known records associate the Sturgill family of NC with the King family of NY or RI.

The birth date of their first child indicates that William and Sophia were married about 1806 but no record has been found. After marriage they probably lived with Sophia's father, Edward King, until he bought an adjoining farm in 1809. In 1813 they received a grant and in 1815 Edward sold them 100 acres of his farm for a token sum, in effect this was a gift. In 1823 William sold part of the Ashe Co. farm and moved his family to Grayson Co., VA where he is listed in the census if 1830 but not later. They apparently leased the farm they occupied in Grayson.

In 1830 three of William's brothers went to Scott Co. VA (area now Wise County) and some were enumerated in the 1830 census records of both Ashe Co, NC and Scott Co, VA. These brothers were James, Francis Jr., and Joel. William may have gone with them but neither he nor Joel were listed in the census there. James soon returned to NC, Francis returned in 1834 and Joel went on to MO in 1841. If William did not go with his brothers he followed them soon thereafter. He stopped in Wise Co. to visit with another brother, John Sturgill, and while they were there Sophia became ill with what was said to be yellow fever but was probably typhoid. She did not survive this illness and is said to have been buried at the foot of Big black Mtn, another says it was Stone Mtn. No grave is now known.

It is not known how long William remained in Wise Co. after the death od Sophia before he moved on toward Ohio. KY land records show that in 1833 William and Alvin Sturgill were both granted land on the little Sandy River in Lawrence Co. KY (area now Elliot Co near Bruin). For several years I and others thought that this was William and his son Alvin but further research shows that these two were brothers and sons of Lewis Sturgill and Sarah Hanks. thus first cousins of the Grayson Co. William. The records of Lawrence Co. OH show that WIlliam Sturgill married Katherine Brown there in 1839 and the 1840 census of that county when compared to the 1830 census of William i Grayson Co, VA leaves no doubt that this was the same family. No further record.

There is another family story that about 1845 William and his son Alvin went to Arkansas to cut timber and that William was killed in a sawmill accident there and buried in Arkansas. No record of any kind have been found to support this story. In the census of 1860 William's son Alvin was found in Nodway MO and he was still there in 1870. These records show that Alvin did not leave OH until after 1854 so the entire story about the trip to Arkansas is questionable.

The wealthy Dr. David King of RI and NY died about 1895 in NY and soon thereafter descendants of William and Sophia then living in OH, KY, and MO, who apparently believed the romantic story above, filed a joint law suit in an attempt to obtain a share of the fortune. The case dragged through the courts until 1903 when the legitimate heirs presented sworn statements made in Ashe Co, NC that Sophia was a daughter of Edward King of that county so the Sturgill suit was dismissed. - DAS pg 51

WILLIAM STURGILL was born on a farm at the mouth of Potato Creek in present Grayson Co, VA. What is known of his life has been outlined above but perhaps a bit more can be said about his wife Sophia King. The 1830 census of Grayson Co., VA shows that she was born between 1780 and 1790 and the 1810 census of Ashe Co. NC shows her born between 1784 and 1794 which establishes her date as 1784-90. The 1800 census of Ashe Co. shows that Edward King did have a daughter born in that period. She was not named in his will but this was to be expected as he had already given Sophia and William part of his farm. Note also that two of their sons named a son Edward. These facts leave no doubt about the identity of Sophia King who was the mother of all of William's children. DAS pg 52.

Ancestors