The Bizzell Family of North Carolina & Virginia

Stony Creek ~ Nash County, NC

(formerly Edgecombe County)

I thought I might take a break from the Jones family for a short bit and focus on a few of the families that married pretty heavily into the Isaac Jones clan. With at least two marriages to their credit, first up is the Bizzell family from North Carolina, and more specifically the family of Hardy Bizzell.

Hardy Bizzell was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina in the year 1769 and was one of 10 children born unto William and Hannah Bizzell. I have yet to discover much information on Hardy's mother Hannah, but his father William was born circa 1730 in Nansemond County, Virginia and eventually relocated to Edgecombe County, North Carolina at some point prior to October 12, 1763. On this day William can be found in the county records purchasing 400 acres on the north side of Stony Creek from David Braswell and his wife Nancy for the amount of 120 pounds. It is here where William and Hannah would spend the next nine years, until ultimately selling it all to a man named Richard Vick on January 6, 1772 for 160 pounds. A second deed from the year prior involving this same Richard Vick indicates that William Bizzell owned and most likely operated a gristmill during his time in Edgecombe County. Dated January 31, 1771 and involving Richard Vick purchasing 100 acres of land from Thomas Willis, the land is described as "beginning at the mouth of Bizzle's Mill Branch."

The Goshen Swamp ~ Duplin County, NC

By September 25, 1772, William and Hannah had moved to Duplin County where William can be found purchasing 470 acres on the north side of Goshen Swamp and east of  the White Oak Branch from a man named George Miller for the amount of 140 pounds. Five months later, William purchases another 40 adjoining acres from George Norris on February 17, 1773. In 1774 he receives a 90 acre land grant located on the White Oak Branch (Grant # 1570), rounding out his total acreage now to 600. A large portion of this 90 acre land grant lay between the fork of White Oak Branch and Hooppole Branch, which today can be viewed looking southeast from the intersection of Farrior Road and Albritton Road.

According to the book Revolutionary War Records of Duplin & Sampson Counties by Virginia and Oscar Bizzell, William served as a private with the minutemen of Duplin County and as a volunteer  in the Bladen County militia during the American Revolution. Ten years after his last Duplin County land purchase, William Bizzell is mentioned once again in Duplin County land records in a deed dated February 11, 1784 between Baker Bowden of Hanover County and John Bradley of Duplin County. The deed states that the particular piece of land in question lay in the vicinity of White Oak Swamp and bordered property belonging to William Bizzell. This location is confirmed even further a year later in a land deed dated July 19, 1785 between William Bizzell and Elisha Jernagan, in which William is selling 80 acres of land on the north side of White Oak Branch for the amount of 100 pounds. In 1791 William receives a second land grant on the White Oak Branch (Grant # 3167), this time for 100 acres located just south of the Wayne County line. The following year on March 24, 1792, William Bizzell purchases another 100 acres on the White Oak Branch from the same John Bradley mentioned earlier for the sum of 15 pounds. William would eventually sell this piece of land and a separate 110 acre tract to his son James on  August 29, 1795.

White Oak Branch (or Swamp) ~ Duplin County, NC

(where it crosses William Bizzell's 1791 land grant.)

Despite all of these land purchases and sales, Duplin County court records indicate that William Bizzell was not only a planter but a shoemaker as well. On October 23, 1793 the county court ordered that an 11 year old orphan named James Denmark be "bound apprentice to William Bizzell till age 21 to learn trade of shoe maker." This same James Denmark would later act as a witness to the writing of William Bizzell's will in 1800. While the more common definition of the word orphan would imply the child had lost both parents, the term was and is also used to describe a child who has only lost one parent. Although I can't say this with 100% certainty, based on the date of the court order I think there's a pretty good chance that this James Denmark was the son of William Batchelor Denmark and Mary Moye, which would also make him the brother of Margaret Denmark who later married William Bizzell's son Hardy. The reason I believe this to be a possibility is because it's commonly believed that Mary Moye Denmark died in 1793 and her husband William left the area, ultimately ending up in Warren County, Tennessee.  

William Bizzell would pass away in Duplin County, NC at some point between the writing of his will on August 6, 1800 and the date it was probated in court during the October term that same year. William had named his sons Hardy and Isaac the executors of his estate, the bulk of which was left to his surviving wife Hannah and the rest parceled out to his 10 children: Isaac, Hardy, James, Arthur, Rachel, Patte, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, and Nancy. Of these 10 children it would be Hardy Bizzell who would later cross paths with Isaac Jones in Williamson and Maury County, Tennessee. Hardy's mother Hannah would live at least another 10 years after her husband William's death as evidenced by her 1810 listing as head of household on the Wayne County, NC census.

As I mentioned earlier, Hardy Bizzell was born in Edgecombe County, NC in 1769. Hardy's first appearance in the Duplin County, NC records is on July 21, 1795 when he shows up in the county court records being charged with "begetting a bastard child of Zilphah Winders." Interestingly enough, court records also show on the very following day Hardy was appointed constable after having qualified and posted bond. Unfortunately I have yet to find anything further concerning this bastard child accusation except the interesting appearance of a Zilpha Bizzell on the 1860 Census for Wayne County, NC which is right next door to Duplin County. She can be found living in the household of Lewis Cogdill and although her stated age of 55 is about 10 years off from what it should be, I find this very intriguing and definitely merits a future closer look. Eventually Hardy would go on to marry Margaret Denmark in Duplin County on February 1, 1800. Three years earlier, Hardy made his one and only known Duplin County land purchase, buying 135 acres on Thunder Swamp from John Bradley in 1797. Based on later descriptions, this was most likely the northwest portion of the 300 acre tract that John Bradley had purchased from Baker Bowden in 1784 as witnessed by Hardy's father William.

1800 Duplin County, NC Marriage Bond

Hardy Bizzel to Margaret Denmark

Hardy Bizzell's new wife Margaret Denmark was born in Craven County, NC in 1784 to William Batchelor Denmark and Mary Moye. Her father William is thought to have been born circa 1735 in Hyde County, North Carolina and her mother Mary was born circa 1745 and also most likely in North Carolina. I think that William Batchelor was actually born no earlier than 1738, which is something I'll be discussing further later in this post. William Batchelor was the son of a blacksmith originally from Virginia named William Denmark who was born circa 1706. Little is known of William Batchelor's mother Mourning Moye, but interestingly enough she shared the last name of her son's wife. William and Mourning are generally believed to have relocated to Hyde County, NC sometime prior to 1735, but the earliest mention of them in county records that I've been able to find is a deed dated March 6, 1738 between John Barrow and James Barrow in which William Denmark acts as a witness. Three years later on June 3, 1741, William can be found once again acting as a witness for a land transaction between Deliverance Weeks and James Arthur.

The earliest deed I've been able to locate where William Denmark or his wife were a primary participant was on March 25, 1747 when William can be found purchasing 270 acres along Matchapongo Creek from Littleton Eborn for the amount of 250 pounds. Three years later they would sell 15 acres of land known as "Denmark's Point" to a man named Richard Leirmont for 14 pounds sterling on May 15, 1750. I would imagine this "Denmark's Point" was separate from their 1747 270 acre land purchase because the entire 270 acres eventually ended up in the hands of their son William Batchelor as seen in a Hyde County deed dated August 27, 1766. By this point in time William Batchelor is living in Pitt County, NC and the deed shows both he and his wife Mary selling the 270 acres to a man from Hyde County named Stephen MackDowell. The deed further states that "at Denmark's decease it fell to his son said William Batchelor Denmark as heir at law." Although the exact date of William Denmark's death is unknown to me, I do know that it occurred prior to June of 1758 based on a series of Hyde County court minutes from their "orphan book." They involve a man named Edward McSwain petitioning the court to grant him the ability to build a mill on Broad Creek (also listed as Deep Creek) on land owned by William Denmark's orphans and Isaac Sabanas orphans. The court grants his request and appoints three commissioners, one of which happened to be a Thomas Barrow, to lay off two acres of land for McSwain's mill and set a price on the land. With that being said, if one were to go with the 1735 birth date for William Batchelor Denmark, that would make him 23 at this point in time and would thus disqualify him for the legal definition of the term orphan which was reserved for children under 21.

Exactly when William Batchelor Denmark and his wife Mary ended up in Duplin County is unknown to me, but as I mentioned before, it is here where it is generally believed Mary Moye Denmark passed in the year 1793. In later years William Batchelor Denmark would end up in Warren County, Tennessee, coincidentally around the very same time Isaac Jones' sons Thomas and Burrel were in the area.

Following Margaret's marriage to Hardy Bizzell in 1800 the couple would have 10 children: John (1800-NC), Stephen (1801-NC), James (1804-NC), William (1805-NC), Michy (1808-NC), Henry (1811-NC?), Sarah C. (1812-TN), Betsy (1813-TN), Lucy (1815-TN), and Thomas G. (1817-TN). On February 25, 1811, Hardy would sell his 550 acre plantation on the east side of White Oak Swamp in Duplin County to his brother James Bizzell for $700 and pack his family up for the move to Williamson County, Tennessee. By 1840, the family had relocated just to the south to Maury County, TN and it could have been at any point between 1827 and the 1830 marriage of his daughter Sarah to Joshua Douglas Jones that the two families came into contact. Many of the Bizzells from this family would leave the area for western Kentucky with the Isaac Jones clan. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hardy's son Thomas G. Bizzell would later marry Isaac Jones' granddaughter Nancy Caroline Sparks in Calloway County, KY on March 29, 1836.

Despite once owning a 550 acre plantation back in North Carolina, it would appear that by the time of Hardy Bizzell's death in Maury County, TN in 1848 he had fallen on hard times. The book Maury County Cousins: Family and Bible Records Vol. 2 written and published by the Maury County Historical Society contains a list of people in the county who were supplied "pauper coffins" and Hardy Bizzell ends up making the list. Court records indicate that a man named John C. Ware was reimbursed $5 "for one walnut coffin for Hardy Bizzell" and that "the coffin was 6 1/2 feet long and had a raised lid." Very strange situation considering he still had children living in the area. Having not been able to locate his wife Margaret on the 1850 Census I would assume that she had most likely died prior to Hardy's passing.

1738 Bath County, NC Deed ~ John Barrow to James Barrow (William Denmark as witness) page 1

1738 Bath County, NC Deed ~ John Barrow to James Barrow (William Denmark as witness) page 2

1738 Bath County, NC Deed ~ John Barrow to James Barrow (William Denmark as witness) page 3

1741 Hyde County, NC Deed ~ Deliverance Weeks to James Arthur (William Denmark as witness) page 1

1741 Hyde County, NC Deed ~ Deliverance Weeks to James Arthur (William Denmark as witness) page 2

1747 Hyde County, NC Deed ~ Littleton Eborn to William Denmark (page 1)

1747 Hyde County, NC Deed ~ Littleton Eborn to William Denmark (page 2)

1750 Hyde County, NC Deed ~ William Denmark & wife Mourning to Richard Leirmont (page 1)

1750 Hyde County, NC Deed ~ William Denmark & wife Mourning to Richard Leirmont (page 2)

1763 Edgecombe County, NC Deed ~ David and Nancy Braswell to William Bizzell (page 1)

1763 Edgecombe County, NC Deed ~ David and Nancy Braswell to William Bizzell (page 2)

1766 Hyde County, NC Deed ~ William Batchelor Denmark & wife Mary to Stephen MackDowell (page 1)

1766 Hyde County, NC Deed ~ William Batchelor Denmark & wife Mary to Stephen MackDowell (page 2)

1771 Edgecombe County, NC Deed ~ Thomas Willis to Richard Vick

1772 Edgecombe County, NC Deed ~ William and Hannah Bizzell to Richard Vick (page 1)

1772 Edgecombe County, NC Deed ~ William and Hannah Bizzell to Richard Vick (page 2)

1772 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ George Miller to William Bizzell (page 1)

1772 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ George Miller to William Bizzell (page 2)

1773 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ George Norris to William Bizzell (page 1)

1773 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ George Norris to William Bizzell (page 2)

1792 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ J. Bradley to William Bizzell

1795 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ William Bizzell to James Bizzell (page 1)

1795 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ William Bizzell to James Bizzell (page 2)

1797 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ John Bradley to Hardy Bizzell (page 1)

1797 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ John Bradley to Hardy Bizzell (page 2)

1800 Duplin County, NC Will ~ William Bizzell (page 1)

1800 Duplin County, NC Will ~ William Bizzell (page 2)

1811 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ Hardy Bizzell to James Bizzell (page 1)

1811 Duplin County, NC Deed ~ Hardy Bizzell to James Bizzell (page 2)