Zachariah Hester

Zachariah Hester (c1761 – 1837?) He was apparently the Zachariah Hester who married Elizabeth Frazer, sister of Sowell Frazer, by bond dated 11 September 1782.31 He was granted 300 acres on Belews Creek in Surry (later Stokes) County on 3 November 1784.32 His brothers-in-law Claiborn Watson and Sowell Frazier later bought land on the same creek in Stokes County. It is not clear whether Zachariah ever lived on that land, for in 1795, Zachariah Hester, was still “of Granville County” when he sold the 300 acre grant to his brother John Hester with brothers-in-law Claiborn Watson and Sowell Frazier witnesses.33

His wife Elizabeth may have died around 1810, as he seems to be the same Zachariah Hester who married again to a middle-aged widow named Druscilla Padgett on 1 June 1814 in Granville County.34 (Druscilla Hester was age 82 in the 1850 census, so she would have been about 46 at the time of the marriage.) His children by Elizabeth Frazer were: Nancy Hester, John Hester, Jeremiah Hester, Benjamin Hester, Faithy Hester, Elizabeth Hester, Mary Hester Affire Hester, and Hamilton Hester.

Five of the nine children — all five residing in Tennessee — were called out in the will of his brother Benjamin Hester, which specifically denied any share of his estate to “John Hester, Jeremiah Hester, & Benjamin Hester suns of Zachariah Hester, & Patrick O’Briant [husband of Faith] & John Bats [husband of Elizabeth] for they are good for nothing”. They were the only relatives denied bequests in Benjamin Hester’s will.

Faith Hester married Patrick O’Brian(t) in Granville by bond dated 19 March 1808. They remained in Granville County, where Faith was enumerated as age 60 in the 1850 household of her brother Hamilton Hester. John Hester married Frankey Bates in Granville by bond dated 6 June 1812. Although his uncle left him no legacy, he was listed among the children of Zachariah Hester in the settlement papers, his residence given as “Tennessee”. Jeremiah Hester was listed among the children of Zachariah Hester, his residence also given as “Tennessee”. Hamilton Hester (c1806 – 4 July 1860) was married three times. He first married Francis Hunt, the widow of Michael Hunt, by bond dated 25 October 1821. She died in 1832 and he remarried by bond of 28 March 1837 to Theresa M. Badgett. She died in 1849 and he married for the final time on 4 May 1854 to Sarah E. Whitmore in Person County. He was residing in Granville County when his uncle’s estate was distributed. Benjamin Hester was listed as “of Tennessee” in his uncle’s estate papers but was not further traced. Nancy Hester married Willis Curry by bond dated 21 February 1806. Her uncle’s estate papers refer to her as the widow of Willis Curry residing in South Carolina. Affire Hester married Isaac Dunkin by bond dated 19 June 1821 and was living in Granville County in 1843. Elizabeth Hester was married to John Bates and was residing in Tennessee in 1843. Mary Hester married John Gordon in Granville by bond dated 2 November 1813 and was living in Granville as late as 1843.

When Zachariah Hester was born about 1761, in Lunenburg, Lunenburg, Virginia, British Colonial America, his father, James Robert Hester, was 48 and his mother, Mary Frances Cook, was 52. He married Elizabeth Frazier on 11 September 1782, in Granville, North Carolina, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 5 daughters. He died on 5 June 1837, in Granville, North Carolina, United States, at the age of 77.

References

• https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/M7Z9-L4T/zachariah-hester-176...