The Wayne Co Miracle

  Hopefully, I've done enough so far to convince you that the two Ward lines in Wayne Co. Mo. aren't related.  However....

   Recently, I was going back through Wayne Co census records to see if we could pinpoint any other family members from Orange Co who moved there (a few were discovered).  One name jammed in there one page between the two Ward clans was Perkins.  I started 'crunching' that name backwards.  When I saw online that this family started out from Baltimore Co MD, I cracked a wry smile, laughed, and decided to trace them back 'just for kicks.'
   An hour later I was left stunned and speechless.
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   After all, it was the Perkins who first led the way into Wayne Co from Lincoln Co.
   It was the Perkins who intermarried with the Wards of Lincoln Co a number of times.
   And...it was the Perkins who came to Lincoln Co from Baltimore--namely Richard Perkins Jr.

    Although it was most certainly time to make public all the recent findings about the heritage of John Ward of Orange Co. NC, the astute reader will discern that absolutely every posting so far on this website has all been leading up to this moment:

   Richard Perkins was born in 1713 in Baltimore Co.  Certainly by 1765 he starts showing up in NC records.  Eventually settling in Lincoln Co, he died in at the age of 76 in 1789, when in a drunken state he was defenestrated from the second floor of the county court house.
   The Perkins line continued on in Lincoln Co, eventually intermarrying with the Wards there a number of times.  For example, Jesse Perkins daughter, Rebecca, would go on to marry John Ward in that county.

   Stunningly, the connection we're discussing begins all the way back in 1702!  Note the following document.  This is the very end of a deed where Richard Perkins Sr is selling some land in Baltimore. Be sure to look at the signature in the very bottom left corner:

                                                 

                 


   Before Richard Jr left Baltimore he married Elizabeth Cutchin/Gudgeon.   We've already seen that name.  In this case, she turns out to be the daughter of Robert Cutchin.  And, as we have seen:
   Robert Cutchin is the brother-in-law of Samuel Sicklemore
   This means that Elizabeth Cutchin Perkins is the first cousin of Samuel's son, Sutton Sicklemore
   ....and Sutton Sicklemore is the father-in-law of John Ward, the man who starts the line in Orange Co. NC.

    But, the Wards were involved with these Cutchins back then, as well.  Elizabeth Cutchin Perkins' father had a debt to settle with Joseph Ward, himself!

                                               

  And so, if anything drew the Orange Co Wards to Wayne Co. Mo it wasn't another set of Wards--rather it was the Perkins family, who were close relations of  Hannah Sicklemore Ward (John Ward Jr's wife).  As we can further see, Richard Perkins Jr's father-in-law had financial dealings with John Ward Jr's grandfather back in Baltimore Co.

   The Wards of Orange Co are related to the Perkins....and the Perkins intermarried with another faction of Wards in Lincoln Co.  It could just as easily have been any other surname, but in a 10,000 to 1 shot, the Perkins just happened to intermarry with a family named Ward.
    Add to that Meshach Ward's dubious assertion of his parents' names in his biography and you can see why we genealogists have been left chasing our tails ever since.

   My desire is that the foregoing posts begin to dissolve all the fog around Wayne Co genealogy.  I'm certainly open to any questions, comments, corrections, additions....you name it.  In fact, I'm asking for them.
   Hopefully, what's been written so far on this website can be a new start...
                                                                                               (Kevin)