The children of Aaron Simpson-4 & Charlotte Wisheart Simpson
John Simpson-1; Richard-2; George-3; Aaron-4
Bible records taken from Revolutionary Pension of Aaron
Moses Simpson-5, born March 17, 1784, died November 18, 1818, Boone County, Kentucky.
Kitty [Katherine] Simpson-5 born April 27, 1786, died before 1826, in North Carolina.
Roger Simpson-5, born November 2, 1788, died August 31, 1870, Giles County, Tennessee. Married Peggy Williamson December 27, 1808, with Oliver Simpson, Bondsman, and Alexander Murphy, Witness.
Hayden [Hatin] Simpson-5, born September 10, 1790, died 1838, Boone County, Kentucky.
Penelope [Peney] Simpson-5, born August 28, 1793, died April 15, 1860, Sumner County, Tennessee.
Priscilla [Prasilla] Simpson-5, born August, 1795 [may have been born in North Carolina.]
ENOCH [Eanoch] SIMPSON-5, born November 1, 1797 [may have been born in North Carolina.]
Susannah Simpson-5, born July 18, 1799, probably in North Carolina, died October 2, 1805, North Carolina.
Baley Simpson-5, born October, 1801, in North Carolina, died June 18, 1803 in North Carolina.
Nancy Simpson-5, born July 28, 1803, North Carolina, possibly died 1836, North Carolina. Nancy married James Boswell December 11, 1823, and possibly moved to Tennessee. Erick Montgomery says he thinks she died in North Carolina in 1836.
Joseph Simpson-5, born April 7, 1805, North Carolina, died June 1, 1855, Orange County, North Carolina. Joseph married Susan Byrd Anderson in 1843 and inherited the “home plantation” and remained in Caswell County. He was one of the few, if not the only one, of the children of AARON-4 and CHARLOTTE who remained in North Carolina.
AARON and CHARLOTTE SIMPSON moved into North Carolina sometime in the last part of the 1790s. AARON may have moved from Fairfax to Orange County, North Carolina, into a part that became Caswell when the two counties were split apart, or he may have moved into Orange County near the county line, and then moved again. Most researchers tend to think that since his land was on the county line area that he was in one area and did not actually move, but his “address changed.” He was not found on the 1800 Fairfax census, so probably he had moved by then. He settled in an area called “Country Line Creek.” This creek is frequently seen as “County Line Creek” but this is an error in transcription. A deed in 1811, which documented a sale by AARON “of Caswell County” to Nathan Williams, for lands located in Caswell and Orange Counties on the west side of Stony Creek [Caswell County Deed Book B, pg. 112 & 226.] would indicate that his early lands straddled the county line.
AARON’s mother, SUSANNAH WHEELER SIMPSON, died sometime after 1787, probably in the Fairfax area. [Maybe as late as 1820!] In 1787, she was listed on the tax rolls in Fairfax as owning three slaves over 16 years old, and two under age 16, three horses, and 13-head of cattle. All her sons, and many of her grandsons, owned from two to eight slaves per household. From reading her husband’s will, and the fact that his estate was not fully settled until after 1820, it leads one to conclude that SUSANNAH may not have died until nearly 1820. If this date is correct for her death, she would have been nearly 100 years old!
AARON-4 bought 197 acres of land in Orange/Caswell, North Carolina, very near the county line in November of 1797. The land was located on the banks of Stoney Creek in the northern part of the state. [These are probably the lands sold in 1811]. He paid 215 pounds, 2 shillings and 7 pence for the land. In 1800, he added another 120 acres of land for $150, and another 24 ¾ acres for $46. Though we do not know the relative value of the money, we know the exact figures he paid.
AARON’s brothers, James Simpson-4 and William Simpson-4, from Fairfax also bought land along this creek in the winter of 1797 or 1798 from their cousin, Colonel Richard Simpson-4, of Caswell/Orange, and from Nathaniel Dickerson. Colonel Simpson’s father, Captain Richard Simpson-3, was a brother of GEORGE-3 SIMPSON’s, and had come there about 1751, almost 50 years before AARON and his brothers arrived. The area was no longer completely a wilderness, but had been inhabited for over 50 years when AARON and the others arrived. The courts and county seat were already well established. Even though the separations had been long, the family connections probably assisted the Simpsons when they arrived in the new area.
Captain Richard Simpson-3, GEORGE’s brother, left Fairfax and received a large land grant from the Earl of Granville and purchased additional land in Orange County. On Stoney Creek, where he became a planter, he built a huge log house with at least two, and maybe three, stories. Supposedly, the first story had no windows or doors, but was entered by a ladder that could be withdrawn at night, and had a cat-walk around the second floor where he could walk around and over-see his laborers and keep an eye out for Indians. [“Captain Richard Simpson,” Caswell County Heritage, article by Vance E. Swift, #643.]
The 1800 North Carolina Census lists AARON-4 living in Orange County. It states that he has two males under age 10; one male in each of the other categories of 10-16, 16-26, and 26-45 years old. There were three girls below age 10, one each in the previously mentioned age categories. He also owned nine slaves. From available deed records, it appears likely he did actually live in Orange, and then move the few miles into Caswell.
Richard Simpson, Jr., AARON’s cousin, was shown on the same census with a large house full of people. He had, besides himself, eight males, and four females, along with six slaves.
In addition to the many upstanding and prominent members of the Simpson families of Caswell County, there was one member known as “Devil Dick [Richard]” Simpson. He drank to excess and was an embarrassment to his family. We don’t know which one of the men named Richard Simpson that he was, but he may have been Colonel Richard, himself. In any case, “Devil Dick” was tired of hearing his relatives encourage him to give up the bottle and go to church, so one day when he was well into his cups, he mounted his horse and rode it into the church shouting “Well, you wanted me to come to church, and here I am!” Supposedly, he moved to Kentucky and got out of the family’s hair. Colonel Dick [Richard] Simpson is also supposed to have moved to Kentucky. Kentucky, at that time, was called Kentucky County, Virginia. [Caswell County Heritage.]
After living in Caswell County, North Carolina, for 30 or more years, AARON died December 11, 1832, leaving a will dated December 6, 1832, which left CHARLOTTE all his estate until her death, then it was to be sold, except the land, and divided between the children. By that time, most of the children had large families of their own, and some of them had moved to other areas. ENOCH SIMPSON and the CARTER family of his wife had long-since departed for Tennessee.
AARON SIMPSON’s son, Moses Simpson-5, was deceased by the time his father died, but Moses left children, including a son, John- Simpson-, who were included in AARON’s estate for one-ninth part. Moses’ wife was Delphey Florence, whom he married October 22, 1804, in Caswell, North Carolina.
Kitty Simpson-5 married John Boswell, October 5, 1805. Theda Womack reports that Kitty and her husband moved to Tennessee with several other family members in the 1820s. She died in 1826 in Giles County, Tennessee. ENOCH had also lived in Giles County for a while about this time, before he and his wife, and her CARTER relatives, moved to Sumner County about 1825.
Roger Simpson-5 married Margaret Williamson on December 23, 1808. He and his family lived in Giles County, Tennessee, where he moved about 1819. He died in Giles County, Tennessee, August 31, 1870.
Hayden Simpson-5 married Mary Ann Marshall [“Polly”] in Fayette County, Kentucky. She was his first cousin, the daughter of Robert and Mary Ann Simpson-5 Marshall. Hayden-5 died in 1838 in Boone County, Kentucky, according to data submitted by Erick Montgomery.
Penelope Simpson-5 married Azariah Graves, son of Thomas and Hannah Simmons Graves, and they moved to Henderson County, Tennessee. There were several men in Caswell named Azariah Graves, including Thomas Graves’ brother, Azariah; and a third was Azariah Graves, son of Azariah. They were all descended from a John Herndon Graves and his wife, Hannah. With the families usually numbering from six to ten children each, it did not take long before the proliferation of family-heirloom names became a problem for genealogists. Penelope died in Henderson County, Tennessee, July 18, 1856. She had moved there in 1838.
In his will, AARON SIMPSON also left $100 to his “niece,” Surbina Graves-6. At the time his will was written, this was the term used to denote a grandchild [female] and not the offspring of a sibling. She was Penelope’s child.
CHARLOTTE WISHEART SIMPSON survived her husband by several years. The pension application for her was still being actively pursued in November of 1843. She would have been quite an elderly woman at this time. We can estimate her birth at around 1760 to 1765, so she was nearly 80 years old when the pension applications were made.
Priscilla Simpson-5 married Francis L. Simpson December 16, 1815, in North Carolina. He was the son of Moses Simpson, of Guilford County, who wrote the affidavit for CHARLOTTE’s pension application. He was the Moses who had fought with AARON during the Revolution. Moses was from Fairfax County and had been raised with or near AARON. We do know this Moses was not AARON’s brother, but may have been a cousin. Priscilla died April 15, 1865, in High Rock, Rockingham County, North Carolina, and is buried in the Simpson Cemetery, Guilford County, North Carolina.
ENOCH SIMPSON-5 married ELIZABETH CARTER, the daughter of JOSEPH CARTER and his wife, ANN MALLORY CARTER, on December 29, 1818. Probably within the year, the families departed for Tennessee.
The author’s thanks go to Erick Montgomery for his research giving many of the death dates and places for this sibling group. Erick is the “resident expert” on the Simpson line.
The executors of the estate of AARON were his son, Joseph, and son-in-law, Francis L. Simpson.