Jacob Anthony

Though there is no actual record, the following incident seems to have been handed down through the generations. It is said that our first ancestor on record, Jacob Anthony born 1745, came to America from Holland as a stow-away on a ship. Discovered enroute, he had to work out his passage upon arrival in America. He married Magdalena Shofner in 1772, and they lived at a Dutch Settlement in Orange County, NC. (Magdalena was born in Germandy in 1756. Her parents came with her to America in her first year.) About 1806 the couple came from NC and first settled in Lincoln County, TN. In 1812 they came to Bedford County, TN where the majority of their descendents have lived.

http://www.genfiles.com/anthony/anthonyjacob.htm#_ftn26

Jacob Anthony

(1 May 1745 ‑ 1835)

Where Jacob Anthony came from, and exactly when he arrived in Orange County, North Carolina is unknown. He was certainly there by the 1779 tax list for Orange County, when he is the only Anthony listed. The next earlier tax list, for 1755, has no Anthonys. However, we know he must have been in the area by about 1776, since he married a woman whose family was already living in Orange County. Although his marriage date is unknown, his second child was born in late 1777 or early 1778, suggesting the marriage probably took place in 1775 or 1776. He could have come from any of the more northern colonies, or emigrated directly from the Palatinate. All we know for certain is that he arrived in Orange County alone, unmarried, and aged about 30.

Orange County had been formed in 1752, covering an area of more than six present-day counties, at a time when there were just a few hundred settlers in the area. Land was plentiful and relatively cheaply granted by the Carolina Proprietors, and by 1767 it had become the most populous county in North Carolina with about 16,000 residents. Unfortunately, nearly all its records prior to 1779 were lost during the Revolution, though many court records still exist.

Jacob Anthony’s original purchase of land is among those lost deeds, but his land is referenced in other records. A North Carolina grant dated 30 September 1779 to Frederick Kimrow [Kimbro?] for 200 acres on Stinking Creek is described as bordering Henry Eustace McCulloch, John Spoon, and Jacob Anthony.[1] A few years later, on 13 December 1782, when 270 acres belonging to McCulloch, a Loyalist, were confiscated and sold to James Williams, that land was also described as bordering Jacob Anthony. Another North Carolina grant, dated 5 June 1784, to the same James Williams for 220 acres on Stinking Quarter Creek adjoining Peter Welton, Jacob Anthony, and McCulloch refers to the same Jacob Anthony land.[2] When James Williams sold those adjoining tracts on Stinking Quarter Creek on 9 October 1786, the land was described as bordering “Jacob Antony’s field”[3].

Stinking Quarter Creek is a lengthy tributary of the Alamance Creek of the Haw River, running westerly across what is now central Alamance County and into Guilford County. The western reaches of the creek were in Guilford County when it was created in 1770, and the eastern part of the creek fell into Alamance County at its creation in 1849. Jacob Anthony’s land was located in what became Alamance County, a few miles east of the Guilford County line, and near the farm of Michael Holt on which the famous battle of Alamance was fought in 1771. The Alamance Creek and Stinking Quarter Creek area of old Orange County, near the present town of Burlington, was settled almost exclusively by German Lutheran and Reformed families, beginning in the 1750s.

On 22 February 1788 Jacob Councilman sold to “Jacob Antony” of Orange County, for 105 pounds, 230 acres bordering John Albright, Moser, and Fogelman.[4] As Jacob Antony of Orange County, he then sold 100 acres of this land, for 40 pounds, to Malachi Fogelman on 28 March 1791, describing it as cornering with “Fogelman's old land” and “Albright's corner.”[5] The deed was signed by Jacob Anthony in German.

I have not looked at Orange County deed books after 1800, but I found no record of his acquiring the original land on Stinking Creek, nor any record of its disposition. The land mentioned in his will was apparently the balance of the land he purchased in 1788 from Councilman.

Jacob Anthony is mentioned once more in pre‑1800 records of Orange County. The 27 February 1793 will of Philip Snoterly, proved November 1793, named his "trusty friends Peter Foust and Jacob Anthony" as executors.[6]

There are other Anthonys mentioned in the Orange County records, the first being a sale by a John Anthony of 300 acres to Henry Eustace McCulloch on 14 May 1765. Although this coincidence is tempting, it does appear to be merely a coincidence. McCulloch was by far the largest landowner in central North Carolina. John Anthony (who died in 1786) and his sons John, Jonathan, Elijah, William and Joseph lived in that part of Orange which became Caswell County, and appear to have been English rather than German. A James Anthony, possibly related to John, was appointed to a road jury to lay out a road from the Caswell County line on 26 February 1790. Perhaps the same James Anthony was witness to a deed on 7 August 1795 and again on 7 August 1798.[7] He was apparently the James Anthony who died 1799 in Guilford County leaving sons Jonathan and Obediah.[8] Both families appear to be unrelated to Jacob Anthony, other than being located in the same general area of North Carolina. I suspect some of the Orange County marriage records refer to members of all three of these Anthony families.

Jacob Anthony married Mary Magdalena Shofner, daughter of Michael Shofner. Michael Shofner’s will, dated 27 September 1810, mentions his four sons but only one daughter, Magdalena, and calls Jacob Anthony his “well beloved son in law”. [9] The will named Jacob Anthony and Mallica (sic) Fogelman as executors. All of the people mentioned in the will are buried at St. Paul’s Lutheran church a couple miles west of the Anthony land. [10] Among the gravestones, written in German, is an old one for "Molly Anthony wife of Jacob Anthony" who died 23 March 1827 “aged 70 years.” Although her father’s will calls her Magdelena, she was apparently “Mary Magdalena” which explains the “Molly”. Jacob Anthony and his wife “Mary Magdalene” were recorded as baptismal sponsors in the records of the Stoner Lutheran Church in Alamance County in 1806.[11]

A letter written by Ephraim M. Anthony (1836‑1908), a son of Adam Anthony and grandson of Jacob Anthony, on 30 July 1902 to Thomas Shofner, and published in the Shoffner Family History, confirms the marriage and lists some of the children. [12]

My grandmother was Magdalena Shofner, married to my grandfather Jacob Anthony in North Carolina. She was a full sister to Martin and Peter Shofner. The children were Henry Anthony, Jacob Anthony, Nicholas Anthony, Adam Anthony, and Paul Anthony. Henry Anthony remained in North Carolina, Jacob settled in Lincoln County, Tennessee; Nicholas lived on a large farm where Chris Shofner now lives. Adam Anthony lived on a big farm on which brother Peter S. Anthony now lives. Paul Anthony lived in Nordaway County, Mo. In my grandfather's family there were five sisters who remained in North Carolina.

Jacob Anthony's will, dated 31 July 1828 and proved May 1835 in Orange County, North Carolina, states “I was born the first day of May 1745”.[13] He gave "to my daughter Mary Moser my plantation where I now live on containing 145 acres...subject to the following condition, to wit, by my daughter Mary Moser paying to each of my other twelve children, them or their heirs, the sum of fifty dollars apiece, paying the first payment within one year after my death to my eldest son Jacob, then each in succession according to seniority annually until the whole of my twelve children receive the sum of fifty dollars apiece.” He appointed his son Henry Anthony and Adam Wrightsel executors. He further stated he wished his household and stock be “sold and divided equally amongst my thirteen children.” The will was signed by Jacob Anthony with his mark, with A. W. Albright the only witness. I found no further reference to the administration of the estate.

The children of Jacob Anthony and Magdalena Shofner are not entirely certain. His will speaks of thirteen living children but names only three. The abovementioned letter by his grandson mentions only five sons and five unnamed daughters. The Shofner history identifies one of the five daughters as “Magdalena”, but it lists a total of seven sons (adding a George and a Peter).[14] To confuse matters more, in 1950 a Mrs. Glenn P. McPherson supplied the author of a Bedford County, Tennessee book with a list of eleven children of Jacob Anthony and Magdalena Shofner, along with their spouses.[15] She listed only three sons: Henry, Adam, and Nicholas but gave the names of eight daughters: Dorothy, Margaret, Sallie, Betsy, Eve, Katie, Mary, and Barbara – omitting her evidence in each case.

It seems clear from the census records that Jacob Anthony had five or six sons. By 1790 he was the only Anthony in Orange County, so that subsequent Anthonys in the area are likely to be his children. The lack of an 1800 census record for Jacob is a problem, but we can work around it. Henry and Jacob Jr., the eldest sons, were maintaining separate households by 1800, so the remaining sons (save perhaps Nicholas) were presumably living with Jacob. By 1810 Jacob Jr. and Nicholas were already in Tennessee, Henry Anthony still maintaining a separate household in Orange County, and Jacob had one male under 10 and two males 10-16 in his own household. That totals six apparent sons. Who were the three younger sons? By 1820 two were out of the household. Of these two, we can identify only Adam Anthony, who had married in 1819 and had his own household in 1820. The other was probably Powell Anthony, not found in 1820 but present in 1830 and 1840 and the right age to have been the second male aged 10-16 in 1810. The sixth son is unknown – he would have been the male aged under 10 in 1810, and aged 16-18 in 1820[16], but no candidates appear later in either North Carolina or Tennessee. There are two possibilities: He may have died young, or this “son” may actually have been his grandson Young Anthony. Note that Young Anthony was in Orange County to marry about 1823, and was living there as late as 1840. The fact that Ephraim M. Anthony mentioned only the other five sons support either possibility.

If there were six sons, the other seven children living in 1828 must have been daughters – possibly eight daughters if that sixth son died before 1828. Under the assumption that all the Anthony females married in Orange County were his daughters, we can tentatively identify five of them. The remaining three children, all evidently daughters, are unidentified.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 12 2023, 21:16:39 UTC