Cliveures Duke - Misattribution of Elizabeth (Duke) Lumsden being a daughter of Clevears Chisholm Duke

Started by Joseph E Crouch on Monday, September 21, 2020
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9/21/2020 at 11:37 AM

Since at least 1909 genealogy researchers have attributed the Elizabeth Duke who married George Lumsden as the daughter of Clevears Chisholm Duke Sr. 1718-1784, but that has now been disproved based upon the following:

1. - Clevears Chisholm Duke’s will states his son John Duke was deceased

2. - John Duke (son of Marrey) witnessed Clevears Chisholm Duke’s 1784 will and per the will was a nephew.

3. - George Lumsden was one of the Executors of Clevears Chisholm Duke’s 1784 Louisa Co., VA. will,

4. – There are no Lumsden grandchildren referenced in the 1800 Louisa Co. VA Chancery court case among Clevears Chisholm Dukes nineteen grandchildren.

5. - John Duke of Louisa County, VA., the nephew of Clevears Chisholm Duke, wrote his will in 1807 (probated in 1819), stated his sister was Elizabeth Lumsden, this was 23 years after Clevears Chisholm Duke listed his son John Duke as deceased.

6. - per Louisa County, VA tax records there was only one John Duke in Louisa Co., VA between 1784 and 1800 when the tax records stop. That was Clevears Chisholm Duke’s nephew John Duke, brother of Elizabeth Lumdsen and son of Marston Duke Jr. (aka Marrey).

You can find research on this myth here that includes a transcription of his nephew John Duke’s will, a transcription of Clevears Chisholm Dukes 1784 will, a list of his nineteen grandchildren, a 54 page PDF link to the 1800 Lousia County, VA Chancery court case, and the 1784 to 1800 Louisa Co., VA Duke tax records here:

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~theduffypapers/family/duke/george_lu...

Joe Crouch – Lexington, KY

9/21/2020 at 4:40 PM

Here are some notes I have under the name of Clevears Duke in my old FTM file on my computer:
-- from Sally Phillips...
BTW, don't ignore the Dukes. There is a lot of information out there on them. Henry even sat in judgment on a witch!!! Maybe you read about it last summer. Virginia governor Tim Kaine formally pardoned the witch. (I try to include information like this in my history to interest younger family members.) Clevears Chisholm Duke was called "the king of Louisa County" because he owned so much land and so many slaves.

Have you seen the book Henry Duke Councilor with all the information on the Swifts? It's on Heritage Quest. If you haven't, I see if I can figure out a way to send some of it to you.
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Biography

Clevears Chisholm Duke was born in 1717 and passed away in 1785. In official documents recorded in Louisa County, VA., he uniformly spelled his name as "Clevears", perhaps a phonetic rendering of Cluverius, stated by some writers to have been his mother's family name. However it is thought best to use the spelling used in the will and deeds on record in Louisa County, VA. He is described in old documents as of Little River in the Parish of St Martin's, Louisa County, VA. and was given the soubriquet "King of Little River" because of his large ownership of land. He acquired by grant and purchase many thousands of acres, but prior to his death had by gifts to his children and grandchildren and by sale disposed of a large part of his possessions in land.

His cattle roamed freely over broad tracts of grazing land and the branding iron used by him, with the name "Duke" in plain Gothic letters an inch high or more and his private number below, was in recent years dug up from a field and is now in the possession of Mrs Ilma Duke Perkins, of Apple Grove, Louisa County, VA and has been seen by the compiler of the book "Henry Duke, Councilor, his descendants and connections"

Clevears Duke married five or six times and built a new house for each new wife, some of them still standing. The first child of Clevears Duke's first wife, Amy Cosby [John] was born 1738, and she bore him three other sons, the fourth son, Cosby Duke [named for his mother.s family], being born in 1745., Elizabeth Duke [who married George Lumsden] was born in 1753 and Clevears Duke Jr., was born in 1747.

Clevears Duke settled in that portion of Hanover County, VA., which in 1742 became Louisa County, VA., and in 1779 was living on Indian Creek on land adjoining his brother, Henry Duke. Soon after the Revolution, Henry Duke sold his land to his brother, Clevears Duke and Henry Duke moved to KY.

[2]

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources
1.? Entered by David Talley.
2.? First-hand information as remembered by John Lumsden, Sunday, February 2, 2014. Replace this citation if there is another source.

9/22/2020 at 8:39 AM

I am familiar with the 1909 book 'A Genealogy of the Duke-Shppard-Van Metre Family: From Civil, Military... by Samuel Gordon Smyth found here:

https://archive.org/details/agenealogydukes00smytgoog/page/n320/mod...

Walter Gardland Duke's 1949 Henry Duke Councilor and His Descendants and Connections found here:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89062873914&view=1up&...

And The Duke Family Vol. 1, 1979 by Evelyn Duke Brandenberger and an updated The Duke Family Vol. 2 1995 by Evelyn Duke Brandenberger of which I have a hard copy of the 1979 version.

I also have web pages with profiles on my ancestor John Duke (son of Clevears Chisholm Duke) whose daughter Elizabeth Duke married Reuben Smith in 1792 Louisa Co., VA found here:

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~theduffypapers/family/duke/1738_john...

A web page profile on Clevears Chisholm Duke found here:

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~theduffypapers/family/duke/1717_clev...

I am not a newby to the Louisa Co., VA. Duke line. It was in transcribing the 1874 will for Clevears Chisholm Duke and his nephew John Duke 1807 will, plus reviewing the 1800 Louisa Co., VA Chancery court case that lists the grandchildren of Clevears Chisholm Duke that I caught the miss-attribution of the Elizabeth Duke who married George Lumsden. As another Duke researcher whom I shared a link to my web page referenced in my initial post said 'It's rock solid proof' Please review!

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