Mary Sewell

Identity

Evidence needed to support Mary Tompkins, wife of Joseph Sewell, as the daughter of James Tompkins, Sr. and his first wife, seen as Frances Elizabeth Coleman.

Disputed origins

https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Mary_Tompkins_(42)

Find a Grave and other genealogical sites identify her with the Mary Tompkins, daughter of James Tompkins, baptized in Morristown, New Jersey in 1744. However, this appears to be due to a consolidation of at least two different James Tompkins, and it is unlikely that this is true.

https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Joseph_Sewell_%281%29

Tennessee Cousins, pg 92: “The first settler in (what is now) Johnson county (but was still Carter County in 1798), TN was Hunnicutt, who lived on Roane Creek near the mouth at Watauga River in 1770. On his first visit James Robertson stopped with Hunnicutt. Neighbors included Jesse Hoskins. Before 1798 settlers on Roane Creek and Little Doe River included Joseph Tompkins, Leonard Shoun and Joseph Sewell.”

Family

https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/s/e/w/James-R-Sewell-Jr/GENE2-0003.html

The following is an excerpt from, "Goodspeeds' History of Tennessee - Johnson County - 1887".

....Among the settlers on the Laurel were James Keys, Charles Anderson and the Wills. Of the remaining settlers of the county prior to 1800 many have been forgotten, while the names of others' are'perpetuated by their descendauts. A few only can be enumerated here. These were Peter and John Cain, Benjamin and Daniel Cuthbert, Peter Snyder, Abraham, Dorson and Joseph Sewell, Joseph, John and Garland Wilson, Robert and John Walters, William Woodby (now Widby), William Netherly and Anthony and William Fisher......

Children of JOSEPH SEWELL and MARY TOMPKINS are:

• 6. i. Benjamin4 Sewell, b. 1781, Caswell County, North Carolina; d. February 26, 1848, Clairborne County, Tennessee.
• 7. ii. Stephen Sewell, b. 1783, North Carolina; d. 1878.
• 8. iii. James Albert Sewell, b. 1785, North Carolina; d. 1865.
• 9. iv. John C. Sewell, b. 1790, Russell County, Virginia; d. 1846, Clairborne County, Tennessee.
• 10. v. William Dawson Sewell, b. July 14, 1797, Carter County, Tennessee; d. June 30, 1881, Cumberland County, Kentucky.
• 11. vi. Joseph P. Sewell, b. 1800, Wilkes County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1850.
• 12. vii. Jesse D. Sewell, b. August 13, 1800, Carter County, Tennessee; d. November 20, 1884, Fentress County, Tennessee.
• viii. Nancy Sewell, b. Abt. 1801, Carter County, Tennessee; m. White [ ].
• 13. ix. Jonathon Abraham Sewell, b. May 08, 1804, Carter County, Tennessee; d. October 06, 1879.

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Notes

https://www.quiltedfamilytrees.com/getperson.php?personID=P17&tree=001

Later: I have found a rootsweb chart by Melvin Morris who gives the information on James' first wife and their child, Mary Gardiner Tompkins. She apparently was taken as a child with James and Elizabeth when they traveled to the Carolinas where she married Joseph Sewell. Joseph Sewell is mentioned in various documents pertaining to North Carolina.

North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868
Bride: Mary Tompkins
Groom: Joseph Sewell
Bond Date: 10 Dec 1779
County: Wilkes
Record #: 02 220
Bondsman: Benjamin Hamric; George Sheffield
Witness: Wm Lenoir
Bond #: 000167300

Origins?

Children of James Tompkins and his first wife were:

1. Mary Gardiner (twin) Tompkins, b. 1744, d. 18 May 1828, Cumberland Co., Kentucky (Age 84 years). Married Joseph Sewall.
2. Thomas (twin) Tompkins, b. 1744.

'The Record' History of the First Presbyterian Church, Morristown, New Jersey, (http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/), Vol 1, No. 1; Jan 1880, pg 6. The record mentions that they are twins. Baptised by Timothy Jones

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References

1. Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Sep 12 2020, 0:16:51 UTC
2. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106800074/mary-gardner-sewell
3. https://www.quiltedfamilytrees.com/getperson.php?personID=P157&tree... cites
   1. [S347984715] 'The Record' History of the First Presbyterian Church, Morristown, New Jersey, (http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/), Vol 1, No. 1; Jan 1880, pg 6. The record mentions that they are twins. Baptised by Timothy Jones.
   2. [S347985581] Research of James R. Sewell, Jr., (http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/e/w/James-R-Sewell-Jr/...).
   3. [S347985581] Research of James R. Sewell, Jr., (http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/e/w/James-R-Sewell-Jr/...).
   4. North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011 Name: Joseph Sewell Gender: Male Bond Date: 10 Dec 1779 Bond Place: Wilkes, North Carolina, USA Spouse: Mary Tompkins Spouse Gender: Female Event Type: Bond
   5. [S347986428] North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011, (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60548).
4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106799975/joseph-sewell
5. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sewell-1476
6. https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/s/e/w/James-R-Sewell-Jr/GENE2-0003.html