Jacob Troxel’s 1st wife - Jacob Troxel’s children

Copying over an email from Leslie Willard Blevins Jr.

Jacob “Big Jake” Troxel was born in 1758 in Frederick Co MD where he lived until the age of 13 when his family moved to Loudoun Co Va. They moved on to Sullivan Co TN, then to Sevier Co TN, then to Pulaski Co., KY, and then to Wayne Co. KY where he met Chief Doublehead’s family and their daughter Pawalin who Jacob married and after about 20 years in Wayne County they moved to Jackson Co Al then to Marion Co. TN. Pawalin reportedly died in 1810. Jacob died about 1843 in DeKalb Co Alabama.

Jacob Troxel and Cornblossom’s children are mentioned in the book “Jonathan Blevins Sr. of Virginia and His Descendants” by Laccie W. and Ray E. Blevins who listed what little information they had found on the Troxel’s children which this author has added to.

Peter “Little Jake” b. 1781 m. Saleechie “Standing Fern” abt. 1801 d, 1810
Catherine “Katy” b. 1783 m.Jonathan Blevins Jr. April 7, 1803 d. 1813
Sarah “Sary” b. 1785–1787 m. (1) William Blevins #8 (2) Thomas Bell ca. 1830
Mary “Polly” b. 1788 m.Talton Blevins on Nov. 21, 1807
Margaret “Peggy” b. 1789 m. James Bell ca. July 5th 1809
Elizabeth “Lizzy” b. 1792 m.James Vaughn d. after 1850
William “Willy” b. 1795-1800 m. unknown

Between the tax lists taken in 1802 and 1803 William #8 and his cousin Talton appeared in Wayne Co., Kentucky along with Daniel Jr. and by about 1808 William met Jacob Troxel and Cornblossom’s family and their daughter Sarah Troxel. William and Sarah’s first child, Elisha was born by about 1809 when William #8 was about 23 and Sarah Troxel was about 24. Sarah was a daughter of Jacob Troxel and his wife “Pawalin” whose Indian name translates to “Blossom of the Corn.” William and his father Nathan and Nathan’s brother Daniel Jr., and Daniel Jr.’s, eldest son Levi are next all found on the Lee and Russell Co, Va tax lists in 1810 along with William’s grandfather Daniel #2 who was Daniel Jr. and Nathan’s father. Rachel Skaggs is thought to be a daughter of Henry Skaggs. (see page 116). William #8 and Sarah Troxel parted about 1820 and William #8 became involved with Ava “Avey” Collins about 1815. By then William had fathered several children with Sarah. William #8 was fathering children with Sara Troxel between about 1805 and 1818 and by 1820 he was with Ava Collins in Russell Co.,Va. It appears he was in Lawrence Co., Ky with Ava in 1830, while Levi remained in the area of Tomahawk and Stidham NC. William fathered his second son (Elisha) in 1809 with Sarah Troxel but William was also being involved with Ava Collins at times by around 1816 while also maintaining his relationship with Sarah Troxel, and was perhaps with Sarah again in Morgan Co., KY in 1840 as a William age 50-59 is in the 1840 Morgan Co, KY census who is the right age and has three children that match ages of those of William and Ava, but the wife’s listed age is too old to be Ava, yet three children are there in the home who match the ages of William and Ava’s children.

More pertinent facts;

William, along with Sarah Troxel and her children James b. ca 1809, Rebecca b. 1813, William b. 1815, Riley b. 1817 and Rachel b. about 1818 and his family can be found in Lee Co., VA in 1809 and in Russell Co., VA in 1810 and 1820 and in Lawrence Co., Ky by 1822, and they were still in Lawrence County, KY by 1830. About 1830 they moved to Carter Co., Ky, and William was apparently in Sullivan Co., TN in 1840 Johnson, Co., KY in 1850 and 1860, and in Madison Co., Arkansas by around 1870. Sarah Troxel married Thomas Bell and they had three daughters Eliza, Malinda and Litha Bell in the 1830s. Some say Sarah died about 1854 in Wayne Co., KY but Carolyn Wilson Dyer says she died after 1860 in Carter Co. KY. (See page 252) All information indicates William Blevins #8 had between 1809 and 1818 been fathering children in Kentucky and/or North Carolina with Sarah Troxel without the benefit of marriage and by 1818 in Lee Co., Virginia with Ava Collins who he later married. William died in 1872 in Madison Co., Arkansas. Ava died ca 1874 in Missouri. The descendants of William #8 and Sara ‘Sary’ Troxel didn’t acknowledge their illegitimate ancestry. This family disassociation caused much difficulty among Blevins researchers of this branch of the family tree. The author recalls his father’s cousin and William’s gg-granddaughter Frances Nichols-Eckert reported that in the 1930s through the 1960s she visited on several occasions with Blevins elders and learned many details about the lives of Nathan #2, William #8, and William’s wives Sarah and Ava and their children in their early years.

Note;: the story that William #8 met Sarah Troxel and had children with her forming the basis of an Indian style marriage is based on family tradition passed down by Blevins family elders to my father’s aunt Frances Nichols-Eckert and other indicators including; (a) William was in Wayne Co., Ky prior to 1810 living in the area of Jacob Troxel’s family and both William #8 and his younger brother Elisha were in company with two of William’s cousins, (Jonathan Jr. and his brother Richard), and (b) lack of any record to indicate that any other husband of Sarah existed until the late 1820s when Sarah married Thomas Bell ca. 1828, and began a family. and (c) William #8’s relative Jonathan Blevins Jr. married Katy Troxel on April 7th, 1803, and (d) William #8’s cousin Talton Blevins, a son of Daniel Jr., married Mary “Polly” Troxel on Nov. 21, 1807, and (e) the 1820 Russell Co., VA census, listed William Blevins and Sarah Troxel as:

William Blevins 26-44 (William #8 was about 34)
1 female 26-44 (Sarah Troxel was abt. 30 and Ava was about 20)
1 male 16-17 (James was b. ca 1804 to 1805 and thus was abt. 16 or 17)
2 males 0-9 (William and Riley b. ca 1815 & 1816 thus were 5 & 4)
3 females 0-9 (Mary, Julia and Rebecca b. ca 1811, 1812 & 1813)