Bailey Sutton's Connection

Many years ago, the journey into my Sutton ancestry research began. I learned of the connection between my third great-grandfather, Thomas Sutton, and a man living in the same area (Claiborne County, Tennessee) named Bailey Sutton. It was assumed these men were brothers who descended from John Sutton and Nancy Coleman (I've also seen Mary Coleman), but the documentation was lacking. In 2008, I learned that Family Tree DNA offered Y-DNA testing and after much grumpiness, my father swabbed his cheek and mailed off the kit. I was so excited as I had visions of matches to many Suttons with documented family trees but when the results came in, I was shocked. Not one match to another Sutton and a mention by another researcher in the Sutton Group Surname Project that perhaps there had been a NPE (non-paternity event) in my dad’s line. Groan! My quest for the elusive Suttons continued. One thing I did learn was the Sutton Project did not have a large number of Sutton males who had tested. Note to self and others – don’t assume that all men with the same last name descend from the same ancestor and share the same haplogroup, etc.. 

A few years later, while reading Roberta Estes’ DNAeXplained blog, I learned that a man named Smith Sutton lived in Lee County, Virginia in 1806 and was a member of the Thompson Settlement Church.  Thomas had also been a member of that church.  Lee County shares a border with Claiborne County, Tennessee and that find was worth further investigation. I began scouring the internet for more information on Smith and stumbled on some old messages about him posted by Greg Clark. We exchanged information and he provided me with some old Lee County, Virginia court documents. We recruited one of his male Sutton cousins for Y-DNA testing. Greg and his cousin descend from Zacheus Sutton who has been proven to be the son of Smith Sutton through Lee County, Virginia court documents dated February 28, 1815, "...John Mark one of the constables of this county having made return that he had executed the said attachment in the hands of James Gilbert and summoned him as a garnishee this day came as well one the plaintiff by their attorney as the said garnishee in his proper person to ho being sworn declared that he was indebted to the said Smith Sutton some time past in the sum of one hundred dollars and that at the request of the said Smith Sutton he executed his note for the said sum of one hundred dollars to Zachariah Sutton, son of the said Smith Sutton payable in good trade on the first day of January next...."   Zacheus and his wife, Susannah Applegate, left Lee County, Virginia in 1820 and settled in Scott County, Indiana. The DNA results arrived, and his cousin was a close match to my dad. Progress! Greg and I began to look for a male Sutton descendant of Bailey to participate in the Y-DNA testing to prove that Thomas, Zacheus, and Bailey were most likely brothers and the sons of Smith Sutton and Mary unknown. Finally, that day arrived (after several years of waiting) when his fourth great-grandson, through John Sutton and Sarah Pridemore, agreed to test. The results are in, and he is closely related to my dad and Greg’s cousin at 37 markers. 

Now I want to share with our new match what is known about Bailey’s connection to Smith and Thomas through the paper trail. The first record that connects Bailey to another Sutton is found in Lee County, Virginia’s 1813 Personal Property Tax List. The older man is Smith Sutton who is first recorded in Caswell County, North Carolina. We estimate that he was born about 1767 so he is old enough to be his father or uncle.

On March 30, 1815, in Lee County, Virginia a lawsuit was on the docket naming Joab Matlock, Smith Sutton, and Bailey Sutton as defendants and the plaintiff was Dennis Burnes.  The lawsuit appears to have been dismissed since Mr. Burnes was not a resident of the state.  

Bailey purchased 50 acres of land in Claiborne County, Tennessee on March 26, 1827.  This was very interesting to me since the assignee was Drury Lawson (Thomas’s father-in-law) and the chain carriers were Diadamma Sutton and James Dooley.  This discovery was a few months ago as I perused the Claiborne County, Tennessee land deeds on Familysearch.org.  It not only shows a connection to Thomas, but also introduces another Sutton, Diadamma!  Who is she?  Could she be a first wife as it is known from later records that Bailey’s wife was Sarah (she is believed to be Sarah Worley or Sarah Petitt).  Perhaps Diadamma is a sister?  Sworn chain carriers had to be of legal age (males had to be 21 years of age) so I assume she was at least 21 years old.  Also, who is James Dooley?  Further investigation or documents revealed he lived in Claiborne County for several years. His first land entry was recorded in 1815.  James Dooley continued to live near Thomas and Bailey until the 1850 census where he was enumerated as an 88 years old White male born in Virginia.  It is assumed he died before 1860 since he is not found on that census.  That is all to be discovered on the chain carriers.

Back to Bailey.  He is enumerated in Lee County, Virginia in the 1830 and 1840 census records and on the personal property tax there in 1831-1834, 1836, and 1837.  He was appointed as the Mulberry Road overseer from the Crocket Works to the Powell River in Claiborne County in 1834.  Two hundred acres was purchased by him in 1845 in Claiborne County from William Roark.  Bailey was enumerated in Subdivision 7, Claiborne County in 1850 along with his wife, Sally, and 10 children (he is believed to have had 14 children).  We also learn from this census that he was born in North Carolina (Thomas and Zacheus were also born in North Carolina) around 1795, his occupation is farmer, and his real estate property is valued at $400.00.  Bailey and the family aren’t found on the 1860 census, but he is taxed on 160 acres in Claiborne County in 1862.

 

In 1868, Bailey purchased a tract of land (196 acres) in Laurel County, Kentucky on the Laurel River for $125 from Jarvis and Francis Jackson.  Bailey and the family are enumerated in Laurel County in 1870. His household consists of his wife, Sally, and daughters Mary Jane (unmarried) and Mahala and her husband James Sulfridge and their five children.  Bailey’s real estate is valued at $100, and his occupation was wheelwright.  The 1880 Laurel County census would be the final enumeration for Bailey and Sally who are living in the household of his daughter Mahala Sulfridge and family.  

 

Sarah passed away in May 1886 and her obituary was published on May 7, 1886, in The Mountain Echo, London Kentucky, “Died on last Tuesday evening at the residence of H.C. Sutton, of general debilities, Mrs. Sarah Sutton, wife of Uncle Bailey Sutton. Mrs. Sutton was between 80 and 85 years of age and leaves quite a number of children and grandchildren to mourn her death.”  Soon after his wife passed away, Bailey sold his Laurel County land on October 18, 1886, to his son and daughter-in-law, Harvey C. Sutton and Mary Sutton (Justice), for $300.

Bailey’s obituary was published in The Mountain Echo on May 10, 1889, as follows “The funeral sermon of Uncle Bailey Sutton will be preached at Slate Hill Church on the first Sunday in June by Elders Ewell and Cheek.  Everybody is invited to attend.”  Both were buried in Breastworks Hill Cemetery, which is also known as Cemetery Hill in Laurel County, Kentucky.

It is amazing to think that we now have three descendants of Smith Sutton connected from the states of Oklahoma, Indiana, and Tennessee. Thomas' grandson, Noah Sutton, left Tennessee around 1890 for Fannin County, Texas and his Y-DNA representative was my father who lived near Oklahoma City. Zacheus' Y-DNA descendant lived in Jackson County, Indiana.   Bailey's Y-DNA descendant still lives near where I began researching records in Claiborne County, Tennessee. 

 

If at first you don’t succeed, search, search again. That is why we call it re-search.

--Mary Harrell-Sesniak, Genealogy Humor