Parents of Mary “Polly” Singleton: Benjamin Singleton & Mary Elizabeth Shumate

Benjamin Singleton and His Ancestors

 

Benjamin Singleton was born about 1780 in Fauquier County, Virginia. Fauquier County is about 20 miles west of Washington D.C. I have found evidence [1] that his father was Stanley Singleton, born 2 October 1731 in North Farnham Parish, Richmond County, Virginia.

 

There is some disagreement among researchers concerning the wife of Stanley Singleton. Some claim she was Mary (unknown), others Nancy Winn. They agree he was orphaned at an early age and that he eventually ended up in Kentucky. One researchers tells:

 

Stanley Singleton was born 2 Oct 1731 in North Farnham Parish of Richmond County, Virginia, the youngest son of Joshua and Ann (McCarty) Singleton. Stanley's father died when he was only a few months old and his mother died just two years later. He was reared by his mother's cousin, Mary Thornton.    

Stanley, and his brother Robert, moved to Prince William County (now Fairfax County, VA) where their father had left them his 300 acre tract of land on the Occaquan River. From that county, Stanley served in the Colonial Militia and was paid for service on 21 April 1756.    

Prince William County Court Order Book 1755-1757, page 236 shows that on 25 Oct 1756 Stanley Singleton purchased land from Jesse and Mary Carter. Marriage records for several years of Prince William County's history are missing and it was probably during this time that Stanley was married.

His children were:  
1. JOHN  
2. WILLIAM, m. 8 Nov 1785, Susannah Floweree
3. SAMUEL, m. 26 Aug 1782, Mary Ann Connley  
4. JOSHUA, m. 19 Feb 1786, Nancy Withers Winn  
5. CATY, m. 15 May 1790, Thomas Mason  
6. ELIZABETH, m. 9 Feb 1788, John Young

All of the children, except John, were married in Fauquier County (pronounced Falk-ear), Virginia. Fauquier County had been formed out of Prince William County in 1759.    

A history of the Winn family states that Minor Winn, father of Nancy Withers Winn Singleton, had twice visited Kentucky and purchased large and valuable tracts of land in Fayette County. And that two of his daughters married Singletons and one moved to Kentucky, settling near Paducah. [2]

Stanley Singleton died about 1793.

 

Stanley Singleton’s father, Joshua Singleton, born about 1692 in Gloucester Co., VA, left a will in Richmond County dated 28 December 1732, and recorded 5 February 1732/3. Stanley would have been one or two years old at the time of his father’s death. In part:

 

. . . three sons to be kept at school til they are perfect readers in the Holy Bible and capable of writing a good, legibile [sic] hand and proficient in arithmatic as far as the rule of three; dau. Sarah to have one whole year’s schooling; ex: wife Anne; requests fr. Benjamin Rust to take care of chil. est; wits: John Spendergrass, Thomas Dickenson, Mary Thornton. [3]

 

Another source has Joshua Singleton’s children as:

 

Elizabeth Singleton. She married John Young.
Sarah Singleton. She married William Young.
Joshua Singleton, born 1752. He married Nancy W. Winn in Farquier County, Virginia.
John Singleton, born 1756. He married Nancy Bayley 1795 in Frederick County, Virginia.
William Singleton, born 1758. He married Sarah K. Allen 1785 in Farquier County, Kentucky.
Samuel Singleton, born 1762; died 1829. He married Mary Connelly 1782 in Farquier County, Kentucky.
Agnes Singleton, born 1771; died 1838. She married Presley Ge? 1790 in Nelson County, Kentucky. [4]

 

Since Agnes Singleton was married in Nelson Co. KY (where Benjamin Singleton and Mary Shumate resided) in 1790 it is reasonable to assume she got there with her family headed by Stanley Singleton. Also it is reasonable that Stanley had more children than listed above, most likely including Benjamin Singleton; he would then have been in Nelson Co., KY in 1790. Note: Benjamin Singleton married Mary Shumate in 1796 in Nelson Co., KY.

Stanley Singleton served in the military in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and is included in a list of claims which “ought to be allowed. . . trooper(s) for 93 days service.”

The Virginia House of Burgesses Journal, dated April 21, 1756: "Order, That the following Claims from the County of Prince William, ought to be paid by the Public, viz: . . . 20 lbs. of Tobacco per Day . . . trooper(s) for 93 days service. . . . Standley Singleton. [5]

Shortly after the death of Samuel Singleton in 1829, son of Stanley Singleton, a deed transfer is registered in Loudon Co.,VA (Loudon Co., VA was formed from Fairfax Co., VA in 1757 and lies next to Fauquiere Co., VA, where Stanley Singleton died abt. 1793), viz. :

3T:259 Date: Feb 1830 RtCt” 19 March 1830: Benjamine Singleton and wife Mary of Hardin Co Ky to William Ldn with mansion house in Fqr on AShby’s Gap Turnpide road nr Goose Creek bridge, where Samuel Singleton dec’d resided, subject to widow’s dower. Delf. pr order filed 14 May 1830, DBk SSS:355

3T:261 Date: 6 Dec 1829 RtCt” 19 March 1830: Benjamine Singleton of Hardin Co Ky to William Ldn with mansion house in Fqr on Ashby’s Gap Turnpide road nr Goose Creek bridge, where Samuel SINGLETON dec’d resided, subject to widow’s dower. Delf. pr order filed 14 May 1830, DBk SSS:333 (335?) [6]

This seems to indicate that Benjamin Singleton and Mary deeded land where Samuel Singleton had resided. More evidence that Benjamin Singleton was related to Samuel, and thus son of Joshua Singleton.

The will of Samuel Singleton, son of Stanley Singleton, indicates his siblings:

1829: Each of Samuel's sibling received a 1/7th share of his estate. The living siblings were Benjamin Singleton, Joshua Singleton and Elizabeth Young Singleton. Deceased siblings were William Singleton, Sarah Singleton Young, Agnes Singleton Gray, and John Singleton -- their children received their shares. [7]

Benjamin Singleton descends from a long line of Singletons, starting, as far as we know with Robert Singleton who was born about 1590 in England, who was “a subscriber and charter member of the second Virginia Land Company that arrived at Jamestown in 1608, whose son Henry Singleton arrived in America in 1637 and prospered in Mobjack Bay, Gloucester County, Virginia, whose son Robert Singleton also prospered in Gloucester County, whose son Joshua Singleton, born about 1692, was the father of Stanley Singleton, father of Benjamin Singleton.

Mary Elizabeth Shumate and Her Ancestors

 

Mary Elizabeth Shumate was born 14 January 1780 in Virginia. Her father was John Shumate, born 1751 in Fauquier County, Virginia, married to Margaret Snapp, and died 11 November 1794 in Nelson County, Kentucky. We know her father was John Shumate because the marriage bond between Mary Shumate and Benjamin Singleton issued on 12 Jan 1796 lists her mother as Margaret (Shumate) McKay, and her father as Richard McKay. John Shumate had married Margaret (possibly Snapp); after he passed away Margaret married Richard McKay. Thus Richard McKay became Mary Shumate's stepfather and Margaret (Shumate) McKay was mother. (Richard McKay and Margaret McKay both signed the marriage bond for their daughter.)

John Shumate is documented in a family history:

The writer estimates he was born circa 1751 in Prince William County, Virginia, and died most likely in 1792. The writer believes he married twice, because his name appears in the 1787 Personal Property Tax List of Fauquier County, Virginia, along with that of his son Nimrod [I]. In all likelihood, he had returned to Fauquier County from Kentucky only for a visit in that year. Moreover, the surviving marriage records of Lincoln County, Kentucky, indicate he married Margaret Snapp in that county on 24 December 1785. Since the 1787 tax list includes both the names of John [V] and his son Nimrod [I], the writer finds it unusual that Nimrod [I] would have been entered in the tax list because he was underage. According to the Bardstown, Kentucky, obituary when he died in 1861, Nimrod was supposedly 87 years old. If true, then he would have been only 13 years old in 1787, having been born in 1774. Assuming that Nimrod was born in 1774 and knowing that his father John [V] married Margaret Snapp in Lincoln County, Kentucky, in 1785, then John [V] had to have been married previously, probably circa 1773. The name of John [V]'s first wife is unknown.

Probably by 1788 John [V] and Nimrod [I] returned to Kentucky, and perhaps some other members of the Shumate family accompanied them. However, the Personal Property Tax Lists of Nelson County, Kentucky, contain no Shumate entries until 1792 when the names of Nimrod [I] and the widow Margaret begin to appear (See pages H-27 and H-28, Appendix H). As mentioned, John [V] left his will in Nelson County, and it identifies his son Nimrod [I] and his wife Margaret. Also, the wording of the will indicates he had other children, but they are not identified (See page H-36, Appendix H). The writer suspects that John [V] probably married his first wife in Fauquier County, Virginia; he and his family migrated to Kentucky circa 1780; and his first wife died circa 1784 in Kentucky. The first White settlers did not begin to arrive in Nelson County, Kentucky, until about 1778-1780. No doubt, John Shumate [V] and his family were among the first pioneers to Central Kentucky, settling first perhaps in Lincoln and then moving to Nelson County. After the death of her husband John [V], Margaret (Snapp) Shumate married second Richard McKay on 9 December 1794 in Nelson County. (See the Extracts of Marriages, Nelson County, Kentucky, Appendix J). [8]

Mary Elizabeth Shumate descends from a long line of Chaumette and then Shumate, starting as far as we know with Francois de la Chaumette, who was born in France about 1500, whose son was Estienne de la Chaumette, butcher and pastor of the reformed church of Rochechouart, who died in 1604, whose son was Jean de la Chaumette, Avocat Barrister-Notary, and served as consul of Rochechouart, France, whose son was Jean de la Chaumette, barrister and notary in France and Elder in 1602 of the Protestant Church Rochechouart, France, whose son was Daniel de la Chaumette, born about 1619, a barrister, whose son was Jean Baptiste de la Chaumette, who left France as a Huguenot, was married in London, and after went to Martinique and eventually to Prince William County, Virginia, whose son was Daniel de la Shumate, born in 1712 in Martinique, French West Indies, and died in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1784, was the father of John Shumate, father of Mary Elizabeth Shumate (wife of Benjamin Singleton).

Benjamin Singleton and Mary Elizabeth Shumate

Benjamin Singleton and Mary Shumate were married 12 January 1796 in Nelson Co., KY. Benjamin Singleton and Mary Elizabeth Shumate lived near Vertrees, Hardin County, Kentucky (which separated from Nelson County in 1792), near the mouth of Rough Creek, where they worked at farming. (See chapter on Joseph Hartley)

The couple had at least nine children. The 1820 Census for Hardin County, Kentucky show Ben Singleton with two males less than 10 years old, one male between 10 and 16 years old, three females less than 10 years old, two females between 10 and 16 years old, and one female between 16 and 26 years old with himself, his wife; no slaves. That seems to indicate that in 1820 they had three boys and six girls as children.

We know the names of only three of their children: Mary “Polly” Singleton (1803-1879), wife of Joseph Hartley, John Shumate Singleton (1808-1879) and Eliza Singleton (~1805 -).  A Washington George Singleton (1821 – 1902) is found in the census in Hardin Co., KY and is most likely, but not proved, another son. 

Caroline Robers tells us that,

Mary Elizabeth Shumate that married Benjamin Singleton, wrote a poem about the American Revolution that has been passed down to our Family through 7 Female generations. It is called "My Great Grandmother's Gift", This poem was written by Mary E. Shumate Singleton in 1857, she was 77 years old.

My Great Grandmother's Gift

The mystic tree of liberty~ Our Fathers planted here;
And did bequeath, to all their sons, To cultivate with care.
Behold her stately standing now, All dressed in living green,
Amongst the noble of the earth, She stands - a noted queen.
Her boughs are spreading far and wide, Ladened with choice fruit,
To gladden the hearts of mortal men, And make his mind acute.
Thanks to the Sons of Liberty, Who guard the root so well,
And on her boughs they will not let, the little vermin dwell.
She holds the scepter in her hand, No king can enter there~
No mitered head can ever breathe, Her sweet salubrious air.
Great Washington who drew his sword, And marched into the field,
He fought the battles for his land, And made Cornwallis yield.
Columbia's sons in triumph praised, While Britain stood aghast,
And did behold the hand of God, That made the great contrast.
Look on your tree when I am gone, And resting in my grave!
A memorial of your fathers works, The noble and the brave.

She also made a Quilt Block to go with the poem that I have a photo of and can send you if would like. It is because of this poem that I thought that her father or someone close to her fought in the Revolution. [9]

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