Sophia Pope Runnels

Life Sketch

Sophia Pope Muse had a union with William Seale, Sr., resulting in the birth of her son William Seale Muse.
It is not clear when the relationship with William Seale, Sr. occurred, nor why they did not marry.
William Seale, Sr. had sons born about 1755, so unless his affair with Sophia was adulterous, it must have been earlier than that.
Since William, Sr. remained in Virginia when the Muses and his brother Charles left for North Carolina, the union between William and Sophia probably occurred prior to mid-1753.
By 1758 Sophia was married to a Mr. Runnels.
It seems practically certain that her husband was Dudley Runnels.
He was on the 1755 tax list of Orange County and lived there at least until 1770.
He was listed on the 1777 and 1784 Caswell County tax lists.
In August 1785 he filed suit in Guilford County NC against the estate of James Muse, and won a substantial amount of money. This was undoubtedly the estate of Dudley’s brother-in-law, James Muse, Jr., who had died in 1781.
Harmon Runnels, whom many believe is a son of Dudley Runnels, Sr., was granted land in Guilford County in 1782.
Harmon apparently sold this land in September 1783, and in August 1784 he and his wife swore to this deed before the Guilford County court.
Later that year, Harmon was granted land in Wilkes County Georgia.
In 1785, Harmon and Spencer Runnels and William Seale Muse were all living near each other in Wilkes County; William Seale Muse and Spencer Runnels even paid their taxes together.
In 1786, William Seale Muse and Dudley Runnels were living in the same district in Wilkes, but it is unclear if this is Dudley Sr. or Jr.
It is not entirely clear where Dudley Sr. and Sophia lived between 1786 and 1807, but certainly a portion of this period was spent in Wilkes County.
Sophia Runnels bought property at an estate sale in Wilkes County on 1 July 1794.
In 1796, Dudley Runnels was on the tax list of Hancock County Georgia.
Since it seems that Dudley Runnels, Jr. remained in Wilkes between 1786 and his death in 1799, I believe this indicates that Dudley and Sophia followed their children William Seale Muse and Harmon Runnels to Hancock County.
Dudley Runnels’ will was probated in 1807, Clarke County Georgia; in it, he named Sophia Runnels as his wife, but he did not name his children.
Sophia was on the 1809 Clarke County tax list, and in 1819 she lived in Jasper County with Preston Runnels when they registered for the 1820 land lottery.
That is the last record I have for her.

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• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 9 2022, 19:17:36 UTC

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