Tompkins
of Laurel County
by Casey Meshbesher
Originally published January 2005, revision January 2006
Introduction
There has been much discussion regarding the ancestry and descendants
of Eli Tompkins, his two known wives, Elizabeth Wilborn and Mary Jane
Godsey, and whether or not there may have been another spouse after
Elizabeth, named Martha Beatty, or even an additional spouse before
Elizabeth, named Sarah.
This overview is meant to be a step
towards clarifying what has become a very tangled web. I am a
descendant of Mary Jane Godsey and Eli via their two sons Reece
Tompkins and Daniel Huseton Tompkins.
This article consists of 3 parts:
Part 1:
An
overview of the current research, including my own and the research of
Gail and Mel Tompkins and Lynn Krowczyk, which has been very helpful in
writing this article.
Part 1 is in 3 sections:
* Eli’s parents
* Martha Beatty, Elizabeth Wilborn, and Sarah
* Mary Jane Godsey
Part
2:
A
genealogy report generated by Family Tree Makers software, showing 2
generations of descendants of Eli, Mary Jane, and Elizabeth. Whenever I
refer in Part 1 to “the data notes,” these are always to be found
in Part 2, the data portion of the article.
Part
3:
A
transcription of the article “Traces of Laurel: Tompkins of Laurel Co.”
from the Sentinel Echo Sept. 1987. It was prepared by Geneva Pope of
the Laurel County Historical Society for a descendant of Eli, Doris
Robertson of Indiana. Footnotes have now been added to the original
article to answer some of the questions the article poses and expand on
some of its details.
Part 1: The Overview
Eli's Parents
Eli is often said to be the son of J. Benjamin Tompkins and Elizabeth Polly Hampton of Lee and Russell counties Virginia, based on circumstantial evidence. I do not include this data on my website, but am beginning to think there may be some truth to it. The circumstantial evidence, as I have understood it, has been merely based on the mention of an Eli Thompkins of Kentucky in the will of Benjamin Tompkins. I have a copy of this will from Schuyler Co., Missouri, which mentions an Eli but does not mention Kentucky.
As circumstantial
evidence goes, basing
this connection solely on the mention of an Eli Tompkins in
Benjamin’s will seems insufficient. Further
investigation reveals a few more pieces of circumstantial
evidence. 1) Eli’s son Charles Storm Tompkins named his own
son William Hampton Tompkins, perhaps after the Polly Hampton
side. 2) The 1850 census gives Eli’s birth
state as
Tennessee, this would match up with the birth of Matilda
Tompkins, a child of Polly and Benjamin, said to have been born
in Carter county Tennessee 1810; Polly and Benjamin’s other
children were born later in Russell county Virginia.
And 3)
Matilda did name one son Eli. So, these
small pieces, even
taken together, are still not enough to convince me that this is
the correct line, but am leaning toward it now more than before.
I have more documentation on the Tompkins/Hampton line, and none
of this points to Eli. If you would like
copies, please
email.
If a thorough
investigation into the
marriage records of Lee, Russell and surrounding counties in
Virginia has been made concerning Eli and Elizabeth Wilborn, I am
not aware of it. A preliminary check of
the online marriage
databases concerning those counties, shows plenty of Wilborns of
various spellings in the area, but none marrying a Tompkins, and
no mention of Eli Tompkins in the online databases for these
counties.
Many interviews with other researchers and relatives have uncovered just about every story imaginable about Eli and his origins. He was a native of Scotland, England, Ireland, Holland, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and a descendant of the famous Native American Tecumseh, to name a few.
Martha Beatty,
Elizabeth Wilborn, and
Sarah
Was there a Martha Beatty?
I believe
that the most likely answer is no, that there was no Martha
Beatty, and that Elizabeth aka Betty Wilborn was the mother of
all the Tompkins children before Mary Jane Godsey. The basis for
this conclusion will hopefully be made clear by this article.
There is no known
marriage date for Eli
and Elizabeth Wilborn, but one can assume it was sometime in the
1820s. Martha Beatty has also at times been called Elizabeth, and
some people have come up only with the name Beatty. Note that the
Elizabeth’s will refers to her as Betty, and this easily
could have been mistranscribed somewhere as Beatty.
One family group sheet that was sent to me has actually got the name Beaty typed in, then crossed out and written over it is Elizabeth Wilbourne, then that’s crossed out and Beaty is written again! This is just an example of some of the confusion that has ensued! This same family group sheet gives Beaty a birth date of 1810 in Carter county Tennessee - this may be just an assumption based on the Tompkins/Hampton connection. This family group sheet was sent to me by Gail Tompkins, researching the Jarvis Jackson Tompkins line, who originally got it from Judith Thompkins of Indiana, working on the Andy Tompkins line. Have checked, and Judith is no longer at the address given on the family group sheet.
Some notes on Tompkins
children
Charles Storm Tompkins, Pheby Dinah Godsey, and Andy Tompkins
Data has circulated listing Charles Storm Tompkins, Pheby Tompkins, and William Andrew Tompkins as children of Eli Tompkins and “Beatty.” This data further suggests that Eli and Martha were married sometime after Eli and Elizabeth divorced. The only one of these Tompkins children that could, in my opinion, be a child of Eli and a spouse after Elizabeth Wilborn would be William Andrew aka Andy Tompkins.
Charles
In her will, Elizabeth names four daughters: Nancy Morgan, Malinda Adams, Mary Tompkins, Burnetta Turner; and one grandson, W. S. Turner. Since Nancy was born in 1827, and Burnetta was born in 1841, this rules out Charles Storm being a son of Martha Beatty, as he was born in between Nancy and Burnetta in 1836. Barring an extramarital affair on Eli’s part, Charles would have to be the son of Elizabeth Wilborn. These birth dates are all derived from consistent documentation.
One note about Charles, his middle name suggests that one of his parents is connected in some way to the Storm family. Could it be that Elizabeth was first a Storm, then married Wilborn? Or could it be that her maternal line was Storm? Or, perhaps the someone named Storm was just a close family friend.
Pheby
Pheby Dinah Godsey aka Tompkins is ruled out first of all by the fact that she was born in 1845, and further by the fact that she is by all appearances not a Tompkins at all, but a Godsey, as discussed in the data notes for Pheby.
Andy
The exact divorce
date
for Elizabeth and
Eli is not known, if someone has the date please email it.
However, the divorce record for Eli and Elizabeth refers to their
marriage as having lasted “some 20 years.” This
would coincide nicely with the known children’s birth dates,
all those who were not Mary Jane Godsey’s children. The
birth dates for all children from Nancy through Andy range from
1827-1849, making it look likely that Elizabeth is the mother of
all.
There remains some
question as to whether
Andy is indeed the son of Eli, he may have been his grandson.
However, if he is Eli’s son, then his mother may have
been someone other than Elizabeth Wilborn. There is a lag of 8
years between the birth of Elizabeth’s daughter Burnetta in
1841, and Andy’s birth in 1849. Therefore, it is possible
that Eli could have remarried sometime during the 1840s,
given
that Eli and Elizabeth’s exact divorce
date is not
known. So Andy could have been a
child of someone
other than Elizabeth.
One further point is brought to my attention by researcher Carol Wyatt, Andrew is a Storm name. Another Storm connection.
Elizabeth does not mention Andy in her will, but then, neither does she mention sons Benjamin H. or Charles Storm. We know that Charles was in Russell county Kentucky in 1870, but just where B.H. was about this time, if living, is not known. See full transcription of Elizabeth’s will in the data notes.
Where are Elizabeth and
her children
in the 1850 census?
One important question remains: Where are Elizabeth and her children Malinda, Burnetta, Mary J., and Andy in the 1850 census? They are absent from Laurel county, and checking surrounding counties has turned up no results. Finding any one of them in the 1850 may help to settle the questions of whether there was a Martha Beatty, and who Andy’s mother was.
M. E. Tompkins
married Dudley Faris in Laurel Co. in 1859, the date is given is
February 29, 1859, although it was a leap year and the date cannot be
correct. Witnesses were Burnetta Tompkins and Mary Tompkins,
clearly Elizabeth's daughters. We find the Faris family in Laurel
County in 1860, with Elizabeth age 55, Dudley age 60, and daughter
Burnetty (last name given as Faris,) age 18. Burnetty and
Elizabeth are the right ages, this is further evidence that Elizabeth
Wilborn Tompkins was the M. E. Tompkins who married Dudley Faris in
1859.
July 20, 1860,
Laurel county Kentucky, Page 102
Dudley Farris m 60 ky farm laborer
Elizabeth Farris f 55 ky
Viva Farris f 11 ky
Bernetty Farris f 18 ky
One interesting note
- Elizabeth did go back to Tompkins later on, on her daughter’s
marriage record of
1866, and in
her will of 1873.
Though her children
do
turn up by the
1860 census - Elizabeth herself is not found in the census
years 1850 or 1870, quite a puzzle. Looking at the 1860 and 1870
census years, we now find Elizabeth’s children Malinda
Tompkins Adams, and Mary Tompkins, still unmarried, and Andy
Tompkins living with his sister Mary. In the 1870 Burnetta Tompkins is
now found living with spouse
Wilburn Turner and family.
The possibility has
been suggested that
Elizabeth may have migrated east for a time with her children Nancy
Morgan and Andy Tompkins, who, along with their half-brother Jarvis
Jackson
Tompkins, moved to Arkansas during this time. Perhaps she was
traveling
and spent only a short time there or elsewhere and this
explains her absence from the 1870. Points to consider for anyone
wishing to pursue this question further.
Was there a Sarah?
One researcher believes that the eldest child, Nancy W. Tompkins, was the daughter of Eli and Sarah Unknown. However no evidence has come to light, and I no longer have contact information for that person, so I merely mention it. As no marriage date exists for Eli and Elizabeth, it is possible that Eli had married once before, and that one or more of the early children could have been a child of this union. But note that Nancy, the oldest known child, is listed in Elizabeth’s will. Both Nancy and Burnetta Tompkins had the middle initial W., likely Wilborn.
Mary Jane Godsey
Some data corrections:
Some misinformation has circulated about Mary Jane and her sister Mary Frances Godsey. Some sources have assumed that they are one and the same person, this has been proven incorrect. Mary Frances Godsey married Epam Elam in 1842 in Laurel county. Mary Frances and Epam had 9 known children and migrated in the 1870s to Madison county Arkansas, where they were in the 1880 census. It is not known exactly what happened to Mary Frances and Epam after that, but several of their children stayed on in Arkansas.
Another piece
of false
information about
Mary Jane that has circulated is a death date of June 24, 1903,
Laurel county. This date has also been given by various sources
to Mary Jane’s sisters Nancy Blankenship and Mary Frances
Elam. None of these are correct. This date is that of Nancy
Chestnut Godsey, who married Mary Jane’s brother Jacob Ammon
Godsey. Nancy’s obituary may be found in the archives of
the Laurel Co. mailing list.
One other data
correction about Mary
Jane’s Tompkins children is that there is no Rosey E.
Tompkins b. abt. 1865, this is an error from the 1870 census and
it really refers to Reece Ellis Tompkins b. 1865.
Where is Mary Jane in the 1850 census?
It is not known
where
Mary Jane, her
parents Phoebe and Thomas, her brother Ammon, or the 4 year old
Pheby Godsey aka Tompkins are in the 1850 census. Finding
some of these
could go a long way toward proving the parents of Pheby Dinah
Godsey. Mary Jane’s siblings Lavina
Farmer, Nancy
Blankenship, John Thomas Godsey, Elly Godsey, Edward Samuel
Godsey, and Mary Frances Elam were all already in Laurel county
by the 1850 census. The 4 eldest siblings
remained in
Virginia, and never migrated to Laurel county. Mary
Jane’s father Thomas was in Laurel county in the 1860,
living with his son Elly Godsey.
Some points about Mary Jane and her children:
The will of Mary
Jane
Godsey and some of
the census years raise a few questions about some of the children
normally attributed to Mary Jane. Of particular interest here are
Jarvis Jackson Tompkins, Pheby Dinah Godsey, and William J.
Tompkins. Pheby is discussed in her data notes, and here are a
few points about William and Jarvis.
First, a little background information:
There is a family in
the years 1860 and 1870, Laurel county that needs to be considered. The
following is
from the 1860 Laurel county census, page 91, Eli and Mary Jane
are on page 98:
1860 Census, Laurel Co.
Kentucky
Mary J. Tompkins 30 f ky
Sarah 13 f ky
Andrew W. 10 m ky
Charles J. 5 m ky
This family was found
again in the 1870,
this time living right next door to Eli and Mary Jane, without
Sarah:
Tompkins, Mary 40 f w
keeping house ky
Andrew 20 m w farmer ky
Charles 15 m w ky
Malinda 5 f w ky
It would seem clear that the head of household in 1860 and 1870 is Mary J. Tompkins, daughter of Elizabeth Wilborn and Eli. However, who Sarah, Charles, and Malinda are is a mystery. Note that Mary is still referred to as Mary Tompkins in the 1873 will of Elizabeth. This implies that Mary may never have married. It may be that some of these children are Mary’s own, and it’s also possible that some are the children of one or more of her siblings, who may have passed away before 1860.
Could it be that
some
are the children of
Benjamin H. Tompkins, son of Elizabeth and Eli? Benjamin is found
in the same household with Eli in the 1850 census, we lose track
of him after that. He could have married
in 1850 or later,
had Charles and Malinda, and died by 1860. This
would not
explain Sarah. Perhaps she is Sarah Morgan, daughter of Malinda
Tompkins and Daniel Morgan, yet Sarah is enumerated in the
household of her aunt Nancy Tompkins Morgan in the 1850. It is
possible to find someone enumerated in two census households, yet
Sarah Morgan was born about 1850. It seems most likely that the
parent of Malinda and Charles is one of the children of Elizabeth
Wilborn, as they appear to be named after Elizabeth’s
children Malinda Tompkins Adams and Charles Storm Tompkins.
Which Mary J. is in the 1880 census?
We find in the 1880 census apparently the same Malinda Tompkins as that of the 1860 and 1870 households above. And as before she is living with a Mary J. Tompkins as head of household. And here Malinda is enumerated as daughter of Mary J.:
Tompkins, Mary J.
head
housekeeper ky nc
va
Malinda 14 dau
housekeeper ky ky ky
Jarvis J. 8 son ky ky ky
The question is, is
this Mary Jane Godsey
Tompkins, or is it Mary J. Tompkins, daughter of Elizabeth
Wilborn and Eli? Given the fact that Malinda always lived with
the Mary who was Eli’s daughter before, and since both Marys
are born about 1828 in Virginia, I must question the previous
assumption that this 1880 head of household is definitely Mary
Jane Godsey Tompkins. And therefore, question the assumption that
Mary Jane Godsey and Eli Tompkins are the parents of Jarvis
Jackson Tompkins. Malinda is not mentioned
in the will of
Mary Jane Godsey, neither is Jarvis Jackson Tompkins, who would
have been a child of 2 at the time, but they are listed as
children of this 1880 Mary. Therefore I think it is possible that
Malinda, Charles, Sarah, and Jarvis J. were the kids of either
Mary Tompkins, daughter of Eli, or of one or more of her
siblings.
Looking closely at the
1880 census, we
find those minor children who are Mary Jane Godsey’s
children all living elsewhere in Laurel county. Reece is living
with uncle Elly Godsey. Melissa with sister Nancy Morgan. Eliza
with aunt Lavina Farmer. David is not found in 1880. If this were
Mary Jane Godsey in 1880, then that leaves her living with one
child not her own, or perhaps both are not her own, having
shipped out all those minors that were hers. Doesn’t seem
too likely, does it? Therefore I postulate that Mary Jane Godsey
was no longer living by the time of the 1880 census, and that
this head of household is instead Mary J. Tompkins, daughter of
Eli and Elizabeth Wilborn.
Jarvis Jackson Tompkins
and Andy Tompkins
migrated together to Arkansas, according to Gail Tompkins, and
Jarvis was running away from someone his mother had left him
with. Jarvis always referred to Andy as his brother, but then,
Andy himself may also have been a grandson of Eli. It may be that
they referred to each other as “brothers” either
because they were raised together in the same household (of Mary
J. Tompkins) and were first cousins, or that they were brothers
and that Mary J. was their mother. In either case, if the theory
that Eli’s daughter Mary J. is the head of household in the
1880 census is correct, then it was she who raised both
Jarvis and Andy. It is clear that she did raise Andy at
least, whoever his parents were, as he was with her in the 1860
and the 1870 census.
According to Gail, Jarvis’ mother died of tuberculosis when he was about 9, this would be about 1880. No will or obituary has been found for Eli’s daughter Mary J. Tompkins, and no death date or obituary for Mary Godsey. But note that Mary Godsey’s will is dated 1873 and does not mention Jarvis, could be she died close to this year, and not close to 1880 as one would suspect if she were the mother of Jarvis. One interesting point is that the will of Mary Jane Godsey and that of Elizabeth Wilborn are dated only a few weeks apart.
Gail states that
Jarvis
was left with a
sibling of his mother, and that no first or last name for this
sibling was ever mentioned, and in fact Jarvis did not mention
the names of his parents to his children. So if Mary Tompkins was
his mother, and not Mary Godsey, then it was one of her Tompkins
siblings that Jarvis was left with.
Reading the will of
Mary Jane Godsey in her data notes, one notes that Jarvis is not
included among the list of children, which I do find peculiar
since he was a two-year-old child, who would be in need of a
legal guardian, and all of the other minor children are left to
Mary’s brother Elly Godsey. I do not conclude that Jarvis is
definitely not the child of Eli and Mary Jane, but simply that we
lack sufficient evidence to conclude that he was, and that there
remains the possibility that he was the grandson and not the son
of Eli.
William J. aka John W.
Tompkins
William J. Tompkins, age 12, born Virginia, is living with Mary Jane and Eli in the 1860 census. This looks to be the same person as the John W. Tompkins referred to as a son in Mary Jane’s will. Yet of course, Mary Jane did not marry Eli until 1851, so if William J. was born in 1847, then he could have been a son of Eli and Elizabeth Wilborn. Or he may have been a son of Mary Jane before her marriage to Eli, or perhaps he was another Godsey like Pheby or a Tompkins who got taken in along the way. Mary Jane raised him and referred to him as her son, more than that we may not know.