Lewis Vick

pp 125-127

34. LEWIS" VlCK (William3, Richarcf, Joseph') was born about 1748 in Southampton County, Virginia. He died in Nash County, North Carolina before 1 August 1801.

Lewis apparently married not long after attaining his maj ority. His wife, TABITHA [ ], was probably the daughter of Richard Vick [#9]. On 16, 2nd month 1771, the Rich Square meeting refused to receive Richard's daughter Tabitha, although the reason was not stated. On 19, 11th month 1774, Richard and his wife Ann condemned their daughters' marrying out of unity in their own home, but the daughters' names were not given.l Those events, combined with Lewis and Tabitha naming a daughter Achsah after Richard's daughter, and Richard's son John witnessing Lewis' will, strongly suggest that Tabitha was Richard's daughter.

Lewis first appears in the records of Southampton County in October 1783, when he purchased land from his father.2 When his father died the following year, he and his brother Pilgrim were named executors along with John Chitty and Lewis inherited a plantation that adjoined his brother-in- law Robert Newsom on the north side of Cypress Swamp.3On 14 October 1784, he and his wife Tabitha sold land on Cypress Swamp to William Whitehead Jr.4

Lewis was active in North Carolina as early as 18 March 1781, when he witnessed a deed between his brother Joshua and David Strickland.s However, he was taxed in Southampton County as late as 1785 and, possibly influenced by his wife's Quaker family, he freed his slaves there in 1788.6 His first recorded land purchase in North Carolina was on 29 October 1783 when he purchased 150 acres on Beaver Dam Branch from Hartwell and Sarah Hart.7 He purchased another 100 acres from David and Magdalene Daniel on 24 February 1784.8

Although he does not appear in the 1790 federal census, legal records establish that he was living in Nash County. He witnessed numerous deeds there throughout the 1790s. On 29 December 1795, he bought a single acre of land on the north side of Hartwell's Spring Branch from Thomas Hart.9 He may have built a mill on this site.

In 1800, Lewis was recorded in Nash County in a household comprised of a male 16-26, a male (himself) over 45, a female 10-16, and two females 16-26.10 He made his will on 6 March 1801. In it, he left his son Jacob the 150 acre tract "whereon I live, purchased from Hartwell and Thomas Hart". Also named were daughters Achsah, Blender and Mary, the three to share equally the 150 acres Lewis had purchased from David Daniel. Executors were Jacob Vick and Constable James Williams; John Vick and Joshua Vick were witnesses. The will was probated on 1 August 1801.1J

Children, proved by Lewis' will, probably born in Virginia:

i. JACOB5, b. ca. 1773; d. possibly before 1820 in Nash County, North Carolina. It is difficult to distinguish him from his cousin Jacob (son ofRobert, #14), who also lived in Nash County and who appears in the 1800 census. At that time this Jacob was probably the male 16-26 living in his father Lewis' household. He probably is the Jacob Vick shown in the 1810 census. He definitely is the Jacob Vick who sold land to John Vick in 1802, for it was the land he inherited from his father. While there are no other records, it is possible that he is the father of William Vick who was apprenticed to Jerman Mann on l3 August
1821.12 (see discussion under Joseph, #87).

ii. ACHSAH, b. ca. 1774-1780; d. before 4 December 1813 in Nash County, North Carolina. Unmarried. An inventory ofher estate, administered by her brother Jacob, was filed on 4 December 18l3; William Burt and Jacob, Nathan and Elijah Vick were amongthose buyingatthesaleofherpossessions.13

iii. ELENDER, b. ca. 1780; d. after her father's death in 1801; no further record.

iv. MARY, b. ca. 1782; d. after her father's death in 1801. In May 1804, Mary Vick, daughter of Lewis Vick "came into Court & Chose John Vick her Guard[ia]n, who entered into a bond of £100". She may have been the wife ofLodrick F. Ellen, but this cannot be proved. Ellen died intestate in Nash County before 9 October 1823 with wife Mary F. Ellen as administratrix. She petitioned for a year's provisions in November 1823 and died intestate before February 1842; Isaac B. Hurton administered her estate.14

• Notes
• I William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia ofAmerican Quaker Genealogy [Ann Arbor, MI:
• Edwards Bros., 1936] 1:259.
• 2 Southampton Co. Deed Book 6:181, County Clerk's Office, Courtland, VA.
• 3 William Vick will (1784) Southampton Co. Will Book 4:80, County Clerk's Office, Courtland, VA.
• 4 Southampton Co. Deed Book 6:530.
• 5 Nash Co. Deed Book 4:126, Register of Deeds, Nashville, NC.
• 6 Southampton Co. Deed Book 7:257.
• 7 Nash Co. Deed Book 1:285.
• 8 Ibid. 1:268.
• 9 Ibid. 6:209.
• 10 Lewis Vick household, 1800 U.S. Census, Nash Co., NC, page 125, line 11, National Archives micro publication M-32, roll 32.
• II Lewis Vick will (1801), Nash Co. Will Book 1:230, Clerk of the Superior Court, Nashville, NC.
• 12 Jacob Vick household, 1800 U.S. Census, Nash Co., NC, page 125, line 5, National Archives micro publication M-32, roll 32; Lewis Vick household, Ibid., line 11; Jacob Vick household, 1810 U.S. Census, Nash Co., NC, page 84, line 7, National Archives micro publicationM 252, roll 41 ; Nash Co. Deed Book 7:56; Nash Co. Court Records (1821-1823) 10: 170, Clerk o f the Superior Court, Nashville, NC.
• 13 Joseph W. Watson, Abstracts ofEarly Records ofNash County, North Carolina 1777- 1854 [Rocky Mount, NC: The Author, 1963]:261.
• 14 Nash Co. Court Minutes 1804-1807:45; Watson, cited above, 184, 185.

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