So what about Mary Acres Huggins?

I'm going to start with the 1810 census here.  It doesn't matter which of the double-count entries you wish to look at--the one next to the Wards (which we know is where Jacob lived), or the one showing him by the young Leeroy Acres.  In both cases Jacob shows to be over 45 and so does his wife.

We know that Jacob made out his will on 7 Oct 1809, but clearly he lived on for a time as the will wasn't proven until Nov 1813.  Hence we still see him alive (if not so well) in the 1810 census.  And we also know that his wife, Mary, was alive since he leaves half of his estate to her.

The main thing here, though, is that the census tells us that Mary was over 45 years old and thus, born before 1765.
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Moving backwards to the 1800 census, we find the following entry for Jacob Huggins:

1 male   45+  (born before 1755) Obviously Jacob
2 males  10-16 (born 1784-1790)
1 male under 10 (born 1791-1800) Quite likely Jacob Douglas Huggins Jr

1 female 45+  (born before 1755)
1 female 16-26 (born 1774-1784)

And this is why I decided to start with the 1810 census.  I wanted to rule out any chance that Jacob was 'robbing the cradle'--that is to say, the female showing 16-26 was clearly not Mary Acres Huggins.  She's way too young.  The 1810 census showed us Mary had to be born before 1765. Now the 1800 census helps narrow that down a bit more.  Here we see that Mary had to be born prior to 1755.

As we have seen, Leroy Akers was born in 1786. (So we can figure he was one of the two males showing born between 1784-1790).
Mary is at least 31 years older than him.
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  Here's what Leeroy is showing us:  Since he's at least 31 years younger than Mary,  we have 3 options (remember, the only people named in Jacob's will are Mary and son, Jacob Jr).

1)  Mary was single when she married Jacob and Leeroy is her younger brother.  Not highly likely at all given the age discrepancy.
2)  Mary was single and had several bastard children over the years, Leeroy being one of them.   The other two are living with them--or, at least one of them could be someone 'bound' to Jacob.  Certainly possible. But how probable is it?
3)  Mary was a widow who had several children while living in VA.  Sometime between 1786 or so and 1793, her husband died.  She somehow ended up meeting and marrying Jacob Huggins.  This is by far the most likely scenario.
   If nothing else, all of this tells us where to begin to look for Mary.

The will of Jacob Huggins certainly seems to strongly infer that Jacob Jr was the son of he and Mary.  But it never actually says that from what I can see.  This means there is a small 'window'--if you will--where it's possible (but not very likely) that Jacob Jr was born to a previous wife of Jacob's.  Although it's not likely, the best thing Huggins researchers can do is to gather every bit of census information--and any other documents/data--that help show Jacob Douglas Huggins' exact birth year.  That will certainly help 'nail things down.'

  For now, the working model is this:  Jacob Huggins Sr, marries the widow from VA, Mary Akers.  She brings several children with her.  She and Jacob then have Jacob Jr together.  The likely reason the two don't have anymore children is because Mary enters menopause.  Recall: she had to be born prior to 1755.  This means that by the time she and Jacob married in 1793, she had to be 38-39 years old--at a minimum.
  So, everything is starting to 'fit' together and we have a working model. But that's all it is--a model. It's looking like Mary Acres was a widow who brought some children with her into her marriage with Jacob Huggins Sr.  One of these clearly looks to be Leeroy Akers. 
  And this would mean that the deed I mentioned would be Jacob Huggins Sr selling to his stepson--Leeroy Akers.  It would also mean that Leeroy was the step-brother of Jacob Douglas Huggins.
   But where do we go next?
   We'll deal with that in the following post....