Robert L. Witt, one of the earliest settlers of Hamilton County, Illinois was nowhere to be found prior to his appearance in Illinois. His same-named cousin was exclusively attributed to be the lone youth named Robert Witt in Logan County, Kentucky. Distinguishing between the two Roberts and their fathers’ path from Virginia is the key in finding Robert L. prior to his migration to Illinois. 

     First cousins, Robert Witt Jr. and Robert L. Witt were born to Robert and Nancy Reese Witt and John and Kesiah Witt respectively. Robert and Nancy’s marriage took place in Bedford County, Virginia in 1790[1] but no marriage record has been found for John and Kesiah. The 1816 probated will and 1820 inventory settlement will of Ann (Mills) Witt identifies Robert and John Witt as brothers entitled to a portion of their mother’s Bedford County estate.[2] A map of Ann’s homestead location drawn by Warren C. Pratt shows her proximity to Robert’s land before his removal to Logan County, Kentucky.[3]

     The John Witt family migrated to Logan County by 1807.[4] His brother Robert and family followed before 1810.[5] Robert and John continued to appear in records there confirming their Logan County presence. The relationship between John and Robert as brothers is emphasized by their land proximity and roles as co-defendants in an 1816 suit for trespassing and stolen timber lodged by the heirs of Micajah Rowland, another migrant from Bedford.[6]  Their divergence took place when John and wife, Kesiah sold their property on February of 1818.[7] Thereafter, no further mention of Robert’s brother John is found in Logan County’s records. Robert and his wife Nancy remained until their deaths and are buried on their Logan County farm.[8]

     The crux of this paper is to identify the early years of Robert L. Witt before his settlement in Hamilton County, Illinois by distinguishing the birth years and lives of the two Roberts that lived their youth in Logan County, Kentucky, before they, too, went separate ways.

     An authoritative guide to Kentucky tax records provides a foundation for analysis of those records: “As census information is collected decennially (every 10 years), data derived from the annual collection of taxes provides a better insight into the household of the taxpayer and his/her acquisition of property, both real and personal.”[9]

 

LOGAN COUNTY ROLLS & “ROBERT WITT JR.”

     The 1815–16 Logan tax lists ambiguously present a “Robert Witt Jr.,” who could be either “Robert” or “Robert L.” Given that the designations “Sr.” and “Jr.” in that era meant only “the older one of that name in this region” vs. “the younger one of that name in this region,” the 1815 “Jr.” does not have to be son of that year’s “Sr.”[10]

     Logan’s 1815 tax entry for “Robert Witt Jr.” presents him as a white male over the age of twenty–one years with one horse. This would place his birth about 1793–1794. At this first appearance, he and three other Witts are listed in the following cluster of taxpayers attributed to “Browning’s Company.”[11]

Wilson, Thomas     100 acres, 3d class, Logan Co., Muddy River …

Witt, John               100 acres, 3d class, Logan Co., Elk Fork …

Witt, Robt. Senr.    265 acres, 3d class, Logan Co., d^o …

Wilson, John          —

Witt, Robt. Jr.         —

Wilson, Richd.         120 acres, 2d class, Logan Co., Muddy River …

 As “Robert Jr,” he is listed again in 1816.[12] For the next nine years, the tax rolls do not carry the name “Robert Jr.”

     In 1825, a landless Robert Witt Jr. with one horse, again appears with the older landowner “Robert Witt.” His inclusion in the column for white male over 21 years would place his birth year as 1803–4:

Wimpey, Obed     210 acres, 2^nd  class, Logan Co., Elklick

Witt, Robert Jr.      __

Ward, Conrad       255 acres, 3^rd class, do , Elklick …

Witt, Robert          175 acres, 3^rd class, do, do,  not known …

Webb, Benjamin   210 acres, 3^rd class, do, Whipw, not known …

     By 1833, he would be taxed on two parcels of land—100 acres on Elk Lick (the site of Robert Sr.) and another 125 acres on Clifty Creek in adjacent Todd County. The 1834 tax list credits him with a total of 225 acres.[13]

     There were indeed, two different men called Robert Witt Jr.

• Robert born 1793–94, who (as this paper will show) relocated to Hamilton County, Illinois;

• Robert born 1803–4, who remained in Logan and Todd Counties until he migrated to Missouri.

     A trail of evidence supports this separation of the two Roberts, verifying their independent ages and locations.

 

ROBERT L. WITT & DORCUS WILLIS

IN KENTUCKY AND ILLINOIS

     The unidentified author of a late-nineteenth-century mug book for Hamilton County, Illinois, reports that “either Robert Witt or Solomon Collins was the first blacksmith in the town of McLeansboro.” The author also discusses Robert Witt’s contemporary from Logan County, a tailor named Samuel Deets.[14] Samuel had married Barbara Epley in Logan County on 26 September 1816,[15] prior to relocating to Illinois.[16] Robert and Samuel further cemented their neighborly relationship by purchasing land just one half-mile from each other. Robert Witt bought forty acres in NE¼ NE¼ Section 14, Township 5 South, Range 6 East.[17] while Samuel Deets owned forty acres in the NE¼ of SW¼ of the same section, township, and range. ^[18]

     John Willis, another neighbor in that same section (W½ SW¼) had a daughter Dorcus Willis.[19] Robert Witt has been attributed as marrying Dorcus in 1825.[20] Hamilton County’s federal census of 1830 tallies Robert L. in the column “Of thirty and under forty years” along with a female (presumably Dorcus), as “of twenty and under thirty years.” In addition, a male (presumably their son John Wesley) and a female child (presumably their daughter Ann) under the age of five years are listed.[21] This census age bracket for Robert L. fits the first appearance of a Robert Witt Jr. in the Logan County tax list of 1815.

     Robert L. Witt continued to live in the McLeansboro community, often appearing in Circuit Court records. As Table 1 shows, from November 1822 to March 1836, he was repeatedly in court as a defendant and one year (March 1825–March 1826) for jury duty when he was not a defendant himself.[22]

 

 

 

     These incidences provide a continuity of residence that clearly establishes Robert L.’s permanent residency in Illinois—and clearly separates him from the “Robert Jr.” who remained in Logan as son and neighbor of Robert Sr. In 1832, Robert’s local militia unit was called up by Illinois’ governor. As “Sergeant Robert Witt,” he served two months (16 June 1832–13 August 1831) in the Black Hawk War with the 1^st Company, 2^nd Battalion, 3^rd Regiment, 1^st Brigade, a mounted-volunteer unit under Captain James Hall. The only notes in his file state that he was absent on furlough (no dates given) and that one mare belonging to him had been stolen, valued at one hundred dollars.[23]

 

Black Hawk War Map. By courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., copyright 2018; used with permission

     Robert L.’s last court appearance in the Circuit records were at the 1836 March Term when he defended himself against charges brought by several members of a nearby family. He most likely died in 1836 but no death record or murder trial can be found at this time to give a definitive death date on his reported killing by a broad ax to the back.[24]

 

ROBERT WITT JR. & ELIZABETH GORRELL

IN KENTUCKY AND MISSOURI

     While the Robert L. Witt who moved to Illinois was making court appearances, blacksmithing, and defending Illinois in the Black Hawk War, the Robert Witt Jr., who remained in Kentucky was involved in family affairs, acquiring property, and farming his land.

     Robert Witt Jr., son of Robert Sr., had married Elizabeth Gorrell in Logan County, Kentucky before 1824 and flourished with the support of his nearby parents and in-laws, James and Nancy (Boley) Gorrell, born about 1778 in probably the area of Virginia that became West Virginia.[25] The Gorrells’ land was considered to be in Logan County until 1819 when Todd County was created from part of Logan.[26] A record of Robert’s marriage to Elizabeth Gorrell has not been found; but the Missouri death certificate of their first child, Nancy cites a birth of 22 June 1824, in Logan County, Kentucky.[27] We can surmise that Robert and Elizabeth’s marriage was prior to that date as there were no bastardy claims found in court records. Robert Witt, first cousin of Robert L. appears in the 1830 census of Todd County as a male “Of twenty and under thirty,” along with a female (presumably Elizabeth) of the same age, and a female child (presumably their daughter Nancy) under the age of five years.[28] This age bracket in the census correlates with the appearance of Robert Witt Jr. in 1825 as a first-time listed male over the age of twenty-one in Logan County.

     Logan’s deeds offer four documents that connect Robert Witt Jr. to family members and close out his life in Kentucky. In the first, dated 22 September 1831, Robert acted as trustee for furniture that his father Robert Sr. conveyed to his sister Elizabeth (Witt) Young.[29] By the second document, dated 25 October 1835, Robert and Elizabeth Witt agreed with her father James Gorrell, as her trustee, that part of the land and property Robert and Elizabeth owned would remain with Elizabeth and their children if Robert died or left her.[30] A third document filed by Robert in 1838 provided a neighbor with a clear title to a piece of land whose ownership had been muddled by credit sales to, by, and from Robert’s brother Caleb E. Witt and brother-in-law Reuben Willard.[31] In the final document, dated 4 March 1842, in preparation for their move from Kentucky, Robert and “Betsy,” together with S. L. Coleman and wife Nancy (“formerly Witt”), sold their jointly owned land “on the dividing ground between the duck & Elk lick creeks and the waters of the big Whippoorwill.”[32]  The following day, Elizabeth’s father relinquished his interest in Elizabeth’s rights, as her trustee (for one dollar, paid by the purchaser) stating, “Mrs. Witt & her four children and I hereby surrender all claim to sd. Land.”

     Robert and Elizabeth (Gorrell) Witt are next found on the 1850 census of Lincoln County, Missouri. He died there between 1870 and 1880, surrounded by his children, as shown in Table II.[33]

 

Table II

 

CONCLUSION

     Two Roberts, first cousins, were born in Bedford County, Virginia, and grew up in Logan County, Kentucky. First one, then the other, was called “Robert Jr.” on Logan’s tax rolls. However, they were two very different men.

     Robert L. Witt was born about 1793–94 as evidenced by the 1815 Logan tax list in which he first appears as Robert, Jr. The 1810 census of his father John Witt’s household and Robert’s 1830 census entry confirm his birth year within that time frame.[34] Robert L. who spent his childhood in Logan County then migrated to Illinois, was a blacksmith by trade, married in 1825 to Dorcus Willis, had three children with her, and appeared to be a man who feared no fight, judging by his role as a sergeant in the Black Hawk War and the numerous times he appeared as a defendant in the Circuit Court of Hamilton County, Illinois. His marriage date, service record, and court appearances attest that Robert L. Witt was not the Robert Witt Jr., who appeared in the tax list of 1825 in Logan County, Kentucky.

     Robert Witt, Jr., by contrast, had an occupation as a farmer and a life of responsibility as shown by his role as a trustee for his sister in Logan and Todd Counties, Kentucky. The tax lists of 1825 suggest this Robert, Jr.’s birth year was about 1803–4.  The 1850 and 1870 censuses support that tax-list suggestion. (The 1860 census’ age data is problematic for many in the household).

     A birth year “about 1794” for Robert L. Witt, son of John and Kisiah Witt, and “about 1803” for Robert Witt Jr., son of Robert Sr. and Nancy (Reese) Witt, would be appropriate to distinguish between the two Roberts.

 

 

 

     [1] Bedford County, Virginia, “General Index to Marriage Bonds, A-Z, Husbands, 1754–1870,” W section, p. 45, line 2, 18 August 1790, “Witt, Robert,” wife Nancy Reese, Isaac Wade surety; imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BK-RQMS-X : accessed 22 June 2022) > digital film 7725159 > image 310 of 607.

     [2] Bedford County, Virginia, Will Book 4, 1811–1817, pp. 276–77,  Ancestry(https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62347/images/007643952_00149 : accessed 4 April 2022) > Bedford > Will Books, Vo 4 1811–1817 > images 149-50 of 656. Also, Will Book 5, 1817–1823, pp. 195–97; imaged in “Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652–1900,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1676814:62347 : accessed 4 April 2022) > Bedford > Will Books, Vo 5–6 1817-1828 > images 118–19 of 511.

     [3] Warren C. Pratt, “Finding the Father of Henry Pratt of Southeastern Kentucky,” p. 101, National Genealogical Society Quarterly 100 (June 2012): 85–103, map on p. 101. Also, Bedford County, Virginia, Deed Book 11, 1799–1806, pp. 1178–79, Robert and Nancy Witt; imaged at FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQN-Y9HX : accessed April 2022) > digital film 7846228 > image 88 of 466. Also, Deed Book 13, 1809–1813, p. 456, Robert and Nancy Witt; imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQN-Y8TW : accessed April 2022) > digital film 7846229 >image 38 of 514.

     [4] Logan County, Kentucky, “Personal Property, 1807,”p. 24, line 34, John Witt, August, 1807; imaged at FamilySearch ( https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-C9XG-F : accessed 19 June 2022) > digital film 7834476 > image 508 of 1024. Logan County, Kentucky, Deed Book B, 1806–1813, pp. 238–39; John Witt, imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4T-MSWQ-W : accessed 14 April 2022) > digital film 7900780 > image 134.

     [5] Logan County, Kentucky, “Personal Property, 1810,”p. 39, line 34, Robert Witt, January 1811; imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-C9NS-P : accessed 19 June 2022) > digital film 7834476 > image 685 of 1024. Logan County, Kentucky, Deed Book C, 1806–1813, pp. 240–41, Robert Witt; imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q,9M-CS4T-MSWJ-T: accessed 14 April 2022) > digital film 7900780 > images 465-66.

     [6] Logan County, Kentucky, Ordinary Cases:  1817-1820, Plaintiffs, Urbin Ewing, Wm. Johns, Micajah Rowland, Reuben Rowland, Sidney Rowland, Andrew Caldwell, Griffin Ingram, George L. Browning and Defendants John and Robert Witt, regarding stolen timber; hard copies provided by Logan County Archives, Russellville, Kentucky, 6 June 2022, citing #430-006, 1–11, 2–11, 3–1, 5–11, 6–11,7–11, 8–11, 9–11, 10–11, 11–11.

     [7] Logan County, Kentucky, Deed Book F, 1817–1819, pp. 168–69; John and Kesiah Witt; imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLX-2SM3-Y : accessed 14 April 2022) > digital film 8192734 > image 90.

     [8] Find A Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101815645/robert-witt : accessed 4 April 2022), “Robert Witt” memorial created 6 December 2012 by “Norma Witt Blair.” The page states (without documentation) that the Robert Witt (1765–1849) and Nancy (Reece) Witt (1771–1836) burials are on the Robert Witt Farm.

     [9] Kandie Adkinson, “Tax Lists (1792–1840: An Overlooked Resource for Kentucky History & Land Title,” p. 1; downloadable from Office of the Kentucky Secretary of State, Articles. (https://www.sos.ky.gov/land/resources/articles/Documents/Tax%20Lists%201792-1840%20(rev).pdf : accessed 30 June 2022).

     [10] Barbara Vines Little, “Tax Lists: A Goldmine of Information,” OnBoard 12 (September 2006): 17–18; archived online at (https://bcgcertification.org/skillbuilding-tax-lists-a-goldmine-of-information/ : accessed 9 August 2022).

     [11] Logan County, Kentucky, “Personal Property, 1815,” p. 57, Browning’s Company (completed by December 1815; corrected 2 May 1816); imaged at FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-C96Z-H : accessed 19 June 2022) >  digital film 7834476 > image 1004 of 1024.

     [12] Logan County, Kentucky, “Personal Property, 1816,” p. 78, Latham’s Comp. (certified 10 November 1816, corrected 10 May 1817); imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-FSY2-X : accessed 19 June 2022) > digital film 7834476 > image 84 of 1334.

     [13] Logan County, Kentucky, “Personal Property, 1825,” p. 67, 1833 p. 67 (certified 21 July 1833) and 1834 p. 72 (certified 28 August 1835); imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-FSY2-Z : accessed 19 June 2022) > digital film 7834477 > images 1086, 1162 of 1334.  Note that the two parcels on which Robert Jr. were taxed in 1825, said then to be in different counties, were combined into one tract in 1833, suggesting that he owned one tract that straddled both counties.

     [14] History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887),  293; imaged at Internet Archive(https://archive.org/details/historyofgallati00chic/page/n335/mode/2up : accessed 28 June 2022), images 244, 249, 293.

     [15] Mrs. W. T. Fowler & Mary Prince Fowler, “Caldwell & Logan Counties Marriages, 1792–1850” (MS, Kentucky Genealogical Records Committee, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, n.d.), Logan Co. section, p. 5, Samuel Deats and Barbary Epley, 26 September 1816; imaged from FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L981-999D) digital film 005261077 > image 303. Note that marriage list was copied from Marriage Register 1 by Mr. Richard Nourse and Mr. John Orndorff prior to original record destroyed in 1951 when age made them indecipherable.

     [16] 1830 U.S. census, Hamilton County, Illinois, p. 233, line 10, Samuel Deats.

     [17] U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records,(https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=IL0080__.131&docClass=STA&sid=zloy4ows.zrq#patentDetailsTabIndex=1 : accessed 28 April 2022), Robert Witt patent, NE ¼ NE ¼ Section 14, Township 5S Range 6E, citing Accession IL0080__.131.

     [18] U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records,(https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=IL1840__.295&docClass=STA&sid=3ww2f5p5.va1#patentDetailsTabIndex=1 : accessed 28 April 2022), Samuel Deets patent, NE ¼ SW ¼ Section 14, Township 5S Range 6E, citing Accession IL1840__.295.

     [19] U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records,(https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=IL0050__.042&docClass=STA&sid=w52rbn02.zco#patentDetailsTabIndex=1 : accessed 28 April 2022), John Willis patent, W ½ SW ¼ Section 14, Township 5S Range 6E, citing Accession IL0050__.042. Also, “Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848, database, Ancestry(https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/100019:5333 : accessed 14 August 2022, entry for “Dorcus Willis.”

     [20] Index to Register of Marriages, Hamilton County, Illinois, Book A, p 598, serial No. 54, Darcus Willis, Robert Witt, 27 February 1825; copy provided by Hamilton County clerk and recorder, Mary Anne Hopfinger, to Elaine Perryman by email on 8 September 2022. No more-detailed record of the marriage survives.

     [21] 1830 U.S. census, Hamilton County, Illinois, p. 236, line 25, Robert L. Witt.

     [22] Hamilton County, Illinois, Circuit Court, Record A, 1821–1832, pp. 13, 75, 111, 134, 137, 138, 180, 182, 206, 299, 372 and Record B, 1832–1839: 143, 171, 190, imaged at FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/439368 : accessed 17 May 2022), images 14, 63, 74, 76, 77, 95, 98, 99, 111, 157, 194, 278, 292, 302.

     [23] Isaac H. Elliott, Record of the Services of Illinois Soldiers in the Black Hawk War 1831-1832, and in the Mexican War, 1846–8 (Springfield, Illinois: Illinois Adjutant General’s Office, 1882), p. 18, Sergeant Robert Witt in Captain James Hall’s Company, 13 August 1832 to 15 May 1832.

     [24] “Biographical Sketch of the Life and Adventures of George Washington Gill Averett,” MSS B 289, Works Progress Administration (Utah Section) series, Biographical Sketches (Typescript, 1837), p. 4 ; imaged at Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement  (https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278
/s67w8hct/699474 : accessed 16 August 2022), image 8.

     [25] Samuel Gordon Smyth, A Genealogy of the Duke–Shepherd–Van Metre Family (Lancaster, PA: New Era Printing Co., 1909), 107, entry 48 (James Gorrell and daughter Elizabeth who m. Witt); imaged “North America, Family Histories, 1500–2000,” database, Ancestry(https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61157 : accessed 17 June 2022) > D > Duke, Shepherd, Van Metre > image 157.

     [26] Logan County, Kentucky, “Personal Property, 1810,” p. 14, James Gorrel; imaged at FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-C9NS-P : accessed 10 September 2022) > digital film 7834476 > image 660 of 1024. Todd County, Kentucky, “Personal Property, 1822,” p. 21 imaged at FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKW-5S8B-F : accessed 10 September 2022) > digital film 8140982 > image 130 of 1470.

     [27] Missouri, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death, no. 19441 (1912), Bates County, Nancy Coleman, b. 22 June 1824, d. 4 June 1912; imaged, Missouri Secretary of State, Missouri Digital Heritage(https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1912/1912_00019535.PDF: accessed 20 June 2022).

     [28] 1830 U.S. census, Todd County, Kentucky, p. 320, line 1, Robert Witt

     [29] Logan County, Kentucky, Deed Book R, 1831–1833, p. 10; imaged at FamilySearch  (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37F-Q32G-T : accessed 17 May 2022) > digital film 8579386 > image 10.

     [30] Logan County, Kentucky, Deed Book U, 1834–1837, pp. 110–11; imaged at FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37X-PFN2 : accessed 17 May 2022) > digital film 8579387 > image 60.

     [31] Logan County, Kentucky, Deed Book W, 1838–1842, pp. 96–97; imaged at FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QG-HSC7-G : accessed 17 May 2022) >  digital film 8,579387 > image 54. Also, Logan County, Kentucky, Equity Case: 12 Aug 1858, Plaintiff Mills Witt and Defendants Patsy Stroud and others; hard copies provided by Logan County Archives, Russellville, Kentucky, 6 June 2022, citing #2217-EC-87 p. 14 of 19 Note: Regarding Est. Settlement, Robert Witt. 

     [32] Logan County, Kentucky, Deed Book Y, 1842–1845, pp. 14–17; imaged at FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37F-QSNL-M : accessed 17 May 2022) >  digital film 8579387 > images 10, 11.  

     [33] 1850 U.S. census, Lincoln County, Missouri, population schedule, District 49, p. 34, dwelling 242, family 242. 1860 U.S. census, Lincoln County, Missouri, population schedule, Bedford Township, p. 36, dwelling 268, family 244. 1870 U.S. census, Bates County, Missouri, population schedule, Spruce Township, p. 19, dwelling 145, family 141. 1880 U.S. census, Bates County, Missouri, population schedule, Deep Water Township, Enumeration District 156, p. 34, dwelling 158, family 158.

     [34] 1810 U.S. census, Logan County, Kentucky, District “Not Stated,” p. 193, line 22, John Witt.