N Y Ledford

Burial record:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187419246/annie-ledford

Grave marker carved by her husband Peter Ledford. TVA reinterment records document death date 1844. The homeplace in Cherokee County became part of Clay County after her death. It is difficult to document her maiden name.

Some secondary sources state that Peter's wife was Martha Young Thomas, sister of the advisor for the Cherokee Indians, WIlliam Holland Thomas (5 Feb 1805 - 10 May 1893), but this cannot be true. Richard Thomas, the father of William Holland Thomas died in Jan 1805 in Virginia, accidentally drowned, and his only child was born posthumously.

Formerly called "Martha Young Thomas"

Eli and Levi are attested as children of Peter's by their grandchildren and two of Levi's Sons, Elbert and William P. In 1908, Elbert, William, and about thirty other descendants of Eli and Levi's filled out applications to obtain allotments for having Cherokee blood. In these applications Eli and Levi are named as sons of Peter Ledford and Annie Tucker (or Conseene).

There were three Peter Ledfords mentioned in early records. This Peter, born in 1758, his son Peter, Jr., who would have been too young to father either Eli or Levi, and the third Peter, nephew of our Peter, was born about 1775/6. He may have been old enough to be the father of Levi, born in 1796, but Eli was born about 1785. Besides, this Peter wasn't married until about 1804, and then he moved up to Yancey County. Eli and Levi were always associated closely with Peter G Ledford where ever he went.

Disputed identity

“Peter G. Ledford b.Mar. 4 1758-d.Oct.13 1854 who was married twice

• 1:Anna (Annie) Tucker b.1760-d.?
• 2:Martha Young Thomas. Not sure who was first ...,”

Seen in trees as a child of George Tucker

From http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/l/e/d/James-W-Ledford/GENE2-0004.html#...

Peter's wife is another name which is not definitely known. Her tombstone in the old Ledford's cemetery reads either N.Y. or M.Y. One source gives her name as Martha Y. Thomas, daughter of Richard Thomas though I find no proof of this. I, perhaps mistakenly, took the "Y." as being her maiden name, there being Young families in close proximity to the Ledfords since 1755.

Then I came across some depositions made by some Ledfords in 1908. One made by Margaret Williamson, born 1847, claimed that her mother was the daughter of Levi Ledford, and her father was the son of Eli Ledford, both being sons of Peter G. Ledford and his wife Annie Conseene.

Then another deposition by William Pressfield Ledford, born 1838, claimed to be the son of Levi Ledford and his wife Jerusha Pittman, Levi being the son of Peter Ledford and Annie Tucker.Another deposition by Elbert Burton Ledford, born in 1824, states that he is the son of Levi and Jerusha Ledford, Levi being the son of Peter Ledford and Annie Tucker, then at a later date, he filed an affidavit claiming his grandmother's name to be Annie Conacene, though this document was signed with a mark, where the earlier application was signed with a full name. There were Tuckers living near the Ledfords since 1755 also, and in light of this evidence, it seems logical to say that Peter's wife was Annie Tucker.

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Tucker-2506

At this time the agents at the Bureau of Indian Affairs noted that evidence suggested that Peter's wife was actually Anne Tucker, since the oldest applicant, Elbert Burton Ledford, would have been at least 16 years old when Anne died and would have personal knowledge of his grandmother.

The NY on her gravestone is believed by me (Paul Selk) to be a contraction of 'Nancy'. Nancy is a form of the name Anne, and whoever was making the stones for Anne and her husband apparently didn't worry too much about abbreviating names. viz Peter Ledford's original stone in Ledford Chapel Cemetery in which the name Ledford is abbreviated to LD[2].

The other name for Peter's wife, Martha Y. Thomas, should represent the same woman. There is no evidence that Peter was married twice.

Ref: Jerry Wright Jordan, CHEROKEE BY BLOOD: RECORDS OF THE EASTERN CHEROKEE ANCESTRY IN THE U.S. COURT OF CLAIMS, 1906-1910, Bowie, MD.: Heritage Books, Inc. 1987

Links

• http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofcheroke00lcstar/historyofche...
• http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/l/e/d/James-W-Ledford/GENE2-0001.html
• http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/ledford/908/
• http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/tucker/10330/
• http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Tucker-2506
• https://www.fold3.com/image/222497581
• https://www.fold3.com/image/61854952
• "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVV6-BBJC : accessed 4 December 2015), Martha Young Thomas Ledford, 1828; Burial, Hayesville, Clay, North Carolina, United States of America, Old Ledford Chapel Cemetery; citing record ID 16431078, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16431078