James Lea, of Country Line

Not the son of William Lea, IV
The parents of James Country Line Lea are unproven. Do not connect him as the orphan of John Lea and Ann Taylor until Ydna results are finalized by Cynthia Forde and Caswell County Project.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for NORTH CAROLINA. DAR Ancestor #: A067574

William, Nancy, Isabella, Adelphia, Luke, Major, John, Lucinda.

• from Caswell County Family Tree

There is much speculation about who was the father of James Lea of Country Line Creek, but, in the documents available to us at the present time, there is not one substantial clue as to who he was. We know from his will that his wife's name was Ann and it is believed that her surname was Herndon, although there are those who question this. Except for his children, we do not know with any degree of certainty how James Lea (CL) was kin to any of the other Leas of Caswell County NC. From his will and from the records of the settlement of his estate, we have what we believe is a complete roll of his children. . . . Regarding his grandchildren, however, there is disagreement. We have some verifiable information about many of them but here are still unanswered questions. 

One thing certain about James Lea of Country Line Creek is that he has a large number of descendants who are interested in genealogy.

1. William (Country Line) Lea b: ABT 1735 in King and Queen County, Virginia. 
2. Nancy Lea b: 1737.  Married Paul Haralson.
3. Isabella Lea b: 1738 in King and Queen County, Virginia.  Married John Graves. 
4. Adelphia Lea b: ABT 1738 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.  Married Joseph Henderson.
5. Luke Lea b: DEC 1739 in St. Georges Parish, Spotsylvania County, Virginia
6. Major Lea b: 1742 in St. Georges Parish, Spotsylvania County, Virginia.   
7. John (Country Line) Lea b: ABT 1744 in St. Georges Parish, Spotsylvania County, Virginia.  Married Winifred Kavanaugh.
8. Lucinda Lea b: ABT 1746 in St. Georges Parish, Spotsylvania County, Virginia.  Married Joseph Peterson.

Sources:

• Report of Research on the Lea Family in Virginia & North Carolina Before 1800, Ben L. Rose (1984) at 123 and 143
• Bible of Solomon Graves (1784-1861) (1817 Entries
• James (Kilgore's Branch) Lea Research by Betty Fitzgerald (July 2008)
• The Spirit in the South: Stories of Our Grandmothers' Spirit, Rev. Dr. Cynthia Vold Forde and Anne Curtis Terry, J.D. (2009) at 341
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 13 2019, 18:11:44 UTC
• Reference :https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lea-27
• Summary of Lea Research from various sources https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/117534/I1420/jamescountryline-lea/ind...
• Gresham, Robinson & Allied Families https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/6989691/person/-11...

  ---

http://records.ancestry.com/James_Lea_records.ashx?pid=7920770

Taken from Caswell County Historical Society

family

Based upon the estate records set forth below, James (Country Line) Lea was married to Ann. Other sources suggest that this may have been Ann Herndon, but without reference to supporting documentation. It seems reasonable to conclude that James (Country Line) and Ann Lea had the following eight children, realizing that ascribing Luke Lea as a son is based, not upon the will of James (Country Line) Lea, but upon the estate settlement records:

• 1. Delphia Lee married Joseph Henderson
• 2. John (Country Line) Lea married Winiferd/Winifred Kavanaugh
• 3. Lucinda Lea married Joseph Peterson
• 4. Luke Lea
• 5. Major Lea
• 6. William (Country Line) Lea
• 7. Isabella Lea married John Graves
• 8. Nancy Lea married Paul Haralson

biography

James Lea of Country Line Creek was among the first Leas to settle in the area [that became Caswell County], having entered in March 1752 one of the earliest claims for land. From the fact that his son, Major Lea, declared in an affidavit that he (Major) was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in 1742, we deduce that this James Lea was in that county at that time and came to North Carolina from there. He became one of the larger land owners and quite prominent in the affairs of Caswell County, and as a result there are numerous references to him in the records of that county.

notes

James Lea, the orphan, who in 1731 is identified in the records of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, as one of three orphans of John Lea of King & Queen County, Virginia (The other two orphans were William and Betty.). In 1731, John Key was appointed by the court as guardian of this James Lea, which means that at the time James was under fourteen years of age. James's brother and sister, William and Betty, were allowed by the court to choose their guardian, which means that they were over fourteen but not yet twenty-one years of age. In 1754, this James Lea was a witness to the sale of a small parcel of land by Thomas White and his wife, Betty (whom we believe was James's sister), to the church wardens for the new church on East North East. Four years before this, in 1750, the vestry of St George's Parish had ordered that a church be built "on William Lea's old field" on East North East Creek. In 1766, James Lee (Lea) and his wife Ann of Orange County, Virginia, sold one-hundred acres of land in Orange County, Virginia (Orange County had been formed from Spotsylvania County in 1734), on "a branch of the Pamunkey River called Arseforemost." This was almost certainly the one-hundred acres that James Lea, the orphan, had inherited from his father, John Lea (KQ). Although no deed for this has been found, James's brother William received one-hundred acres from his father's estate, so we assume that James received the same since Creathers, the administrator of John Lea's estate, reported to the court that he had paid two of the orphans and was "ready to give security for the payment of the third."

Source: Lea Families in Caswell & Person Counties North Carolina and in Virginia Before 1800, Ben L. Rose (1995) at 135-136.

ancestry

There is much speculation about who was the father of James Lea of Country Line Creek, but, in the documents available to us at the present time, there is not one substantial clue as to who he was.

Based upon The Heritage of Caswell County, North Carolina, Jeannine D. Whitlow, Editor (1985) cited above, James (Country Line) Lea was a brother of Captain William (South Hico) Lea. However, respected Lea family researcher Ben L. Rose reaches the following conclusion (repeated from above), with which most Lea researchers do not agree:

"In my opinion, James Lea of Country Line was not brother to Capt William Lea of South Hico. the fact that James Lea left his will in the keeping of Capt William Lea proves that there was a trusting relationship between the two, but does not prove that there was a blood relationship between them. Capt. William Lea left his own will in the keeping of Lloyd Vanhook who was no kin to him." Source: Report of Research on The Lea Family in Virginia & North Carolina Before 1800, Ben L. Rose (1984) at 125.

Note that one researcher gives his place of birth as St. Stephen's Parish, King and Queen County, Virginia. Source: Yadkin County and Caswell County, North Carolina.

One researcher uses 1707-1713 as the possible range of birth years for James (Country Line) Lea, and gives the birth location as King and Queen County, Virginia. See The Spirit in the South (Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde).

descent

We know from his will that his wife's name was Ann and it is believed that her surname was Herndon, although there are those who question this. Except for his children, we do not know with any degree of certainty how James Lea (CL) was kin to any of the other Leas of Caswell County NC. From his will and from the records of the settlement of his estate, we have what we believe is a complete roll of his children. . . . Regarding his grandchildren, however, there is disagreement. We have some verifiable information about many of them but here are still unanswered questions. One thing certain about James Lea of Country Line Creek is that he has a large number of descendants who are interested in genealogy.

Links

• http://jacquelifinley.familytreeguide.com/getperson.php?personID=I1...
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jhlawr5&i...
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=grantpinn...

  ---

GEDCOM Note

The Virginia-North Carolina-Tennessee family of Lea is of
English extraction. The date assigned for coming to the
United States is 1740. The emigrants consisted of two brothers.
James and William Lea, and a near relation, John C. Lea The exact
relationship of John C. Lea to William and James Lea is not certain,
some of the descendants claiming the three as brothers. In any
case, they all traced to John Lea, of Lea Hall, Cheshire, England.
The three Leas settled first in Virginia, going in a few years,
however, to a point in North Carolina, afterwards called for them,
Leasburg. This movement was made in 1749 or 1750. There they
established and built an English Church but afterwards became
converts to the Baptist denomination. Tradition is authority too,
for the statement that the three emigrants decided to adopt each a
different spelling of his name, one spelling his name Lee, one Leigh,
while the eldest brother retained Lea as they had spelled the name
in England.
The Leas of Tennessee are descended from the oldest of the
three Emigrants, James Lea. He was born in 1718. He emigrated
to America about 1740. His will was made in Orange County,
North Carolina. It mentions wife Anne and appoints his three sons,
William, John and Major Lea as executors. The will was proved in
Caswell County Court, North Carolina March, 1792.