Generations of Micajah's

Micajah is a common name in Pennington research and almost all of them are related.  There are three generations of Micajah and they have been confused by researchers for decades.  When I first started researching Micajah Pennington – I reached the same conclusions that many other researchers had made. 

The first generation of Micajah’s starts with Micajah, Sr who was born in 28 Aor 1743 probably in Rowan Co.,  NC and probably died sometime after 1815 in either Ashe Co., NC, Grayson Co., VA or Lee Co., VA.  Since Ashe Co. NC didn’t become a county until 1799, Micajah’s children were born probably in Wilkes Co., NC.  Micajah worked for many years as a surveyor and owned many parcels of property.  His signature is on many land documents so it is also very likely that he was fairly well educated.  He is recorded on the tax list in 1815 and may have lived as late as 1817.  I suspect that Micajah, Sr. probably died around Grayson Co., VA because that was the location of his land parcels; however his son Micajah, Jr. is even more mysterious.

Micajah, Jr. was born 13 Dec 1763 probably around the Wilkes Co., /Ashe Co., NC area as the second son of Micajah Pennington and Rachel Jones.  His wife’s name was unknown.  It is apparent that he was married to a woman of a similar age from at least 1790 until 1840.  We know this because he is recorded in the census in every year with another woman of a similar age.  It wasn’t until the 1850 census when all the members of the household were recorded in the census.  So, therefore the name of his wife is unknown.  Now…this hasn’t stopped researchers from claiming that the Micajah Pennington who married Linthey “Cynthia”  Jones in 1822 was Micajah, Jr and therefore claiming that Cynthia was the mother of Micajah, Jr.’s children.  There was also a record of a marriage to a Nancy Baker in 1812.  The supposition was the Micajah, Jr’s wife died and he married Nancy Baker.  She died sometime before the marriage to Cynthia Jones.  In fact, we don’t know who Micajah, Jr’s wife was and probably will never know her identity unless someone has a magic document in hiding.

Marriage record with Nancy Baker

Now Micajah, Jr had a son named Micajah III.  Micajah III was born about 1794 and was probably the second or third son of Micajah, Jr.   It is Micajah III who married Nancy Baker on 13 Aug 1812 in Madison Co., KY.  Nancy was the daughter of Rezin Baker and Eleanor Roberts.  She was born about 1797 and died around 1821 in Lee Co., VA.  Micajah Pennington III then married a Cynthia Williams on 8 Dec 1822 in Clay Co., KY.  Cynthia was the widow of William Jones.  The Cynthia Jones that everyone assumed was Micajah’s  wife was mistakenly listed as Cynthia Corey and she was married to another William Jones in 1818 and was actually was recorded with her husband in the 1850 census.

 

Micajah III and his wife Cynthia probably died sometime before 1850.  The exact date or location is at this point unknown.  However, they left behind three children:  twins Phebe and Nancy and yes…another Micajah Pennington.  All three were probably born in Kentucky and all three married had families of their own.  Micajah C. was born 6 Apr 1825 in either IN or KY and married a widow named Jane Robertson Parnell on 29 Oct 1848 in Jackson Co., MO.  They had two children…and they finally broke the Micajah streak…this time they gave their youngest son the middle of Micajah.  Micajah C. died 23 July 1892 in Christian Co., MO.

Marriage record with Cynthia Williams aka Linthey Jones

This entire tangled skein was unraveled several years ago with a genealogy partnership between me and several other researchers.  The documents that we have were provided by the research and persistence of Rosalie Graham.  I’m sure that there will be more insights into these Micajahs…perhaps someday; someone will discover what happened to Micajah III and his wife Cynthia and perhaps the name of Micajah, Jr.’s mysterious wife.  I would be happy to be able to do a search on Micajah Pennington, Jr and not find him married to Cynthia Corey.  It is harder to correct misinformation than to spread it.