Relationship of the Simmons and Watson Families to the Hewitt Family in Early Jones County

The family of Emanuel Simmons owned several tracts of land east of the Whiteoak River in Craven and Jones County. The known children of Emanuel include Needham, who at the time of his death had considerable real assets, John, Amos, and a daughter suspected to be Miriam. Another child of Emanuel, who is not explicitly stated in the records of this family, must have been Elijah Simmons. In Emanuel's will of 1806, he mentions Needham and children of John, husbands of his two daughters and their children, and also grandchildren Prudence Hewitt and Sarah Oldfield (Fisher, p. 366). He does not mention Amos. The father of the Prudence and Sarah is not stated in the will, so it likely that he predeceased Emanuel.

Elijah Simmons' name appears many times in the records of Onslow and Jones Counties, often in connection with the Henry and Martha Simmons family. This has confused the identity of these persons named Elijah Simmons. Two key records that help to clarify matters are land sales of Prudy Simmons and Elizabeth Mundine on Sept. 11, 1798 (Jones Co. Deed Book H, p. 623-4; Gwynn, p. 221), and of Richard and Sarah Oldfield on July 8, 1802 (Jones Co. Deed Book J, p. 136-8; Gwynn, p. 265). Each party sold their half of land inherited from the estate of Elijah Simmons that was originally granted to him in 1782. Elijah Simmons died intestate, so his wife and children would inherit his land. From this it is apparent that Elijah Simmons had daughters Prudence and Sarah, and wife Elizabeth. Furthermore, Emanuel Simmons in 1786 gave land to his son John that was adjacent to the land "owned formerly by Elijah Simmons, deceased" (Gwynn, p. 122 entry 178-179). The facts that Emanuel had grandchildren Prudence (Hewitt) and Sarah (Oldfield), that Elijah Simmons had children by the same name, and that Emanuel owned land next to Elijah, are enough to hypothesize that Elijah Simmons was the son of Emanuel.

The will of Jeremiah Watson also makes a claim on the children Prudence and Sarah Simmons in 1792 (Fisher, p. 363). He states them as his grandchildren, and like Emanuel, he does not name their parents. This suggests that their father was deceased by the time Jeremiah wrote his will. Which Watson daughter was the mother of Prudence and Sarah? P.W. Fisher's detailed work on these families claims that it was Jeremiah's first daughter Mary, who was married at least once before Micajah Frazar, because she wrote a will in which she mentioned grandson Urbane Oldfield. Sarah Simmons, sister of Prudence, married Richard Oldfield. He assumed Urbane to belong to that family. The fact is that Urbane did not come from Sarah, but rather from Louisa, Mary's last child. What Fisher did not apparently see was the will of Pitts Oldfield of 1809, who mentioned his wife Louisa and son Urbane Oldfield. He states that the last child of Mary Frazer was Levisey, which can be easily mistaken from her will. Levisey is really Louisa. Therefore, Mary need not be the mother of Prudence and Sarah from a marriage before Micajah Frazar.

Furthermore, Mary is not likely to be the mother of Sarah and Prudence, since Mary had children of Micajah Frazar by the early 1770s, which was the approximate time that Sarah and Prudence were born. According to Fisher, Elizabeth Watson, a younger daughter of Jeremiah Watson, married Francis Mundine (Fisher, p. 416) before 1791. As implied by the land sale records mentioned above, the mother of Prudence Simmons and co-heir of Elijah Simmons' land was named Elizabeth Mundine. Therefore, Elizabeth Watson was first married to Elijah Simmons, and then remarried to Francis Mundine.

The 1786 census records of Jones Co. further makes the point that Elizabeth was married to Elijah, by listing a family headed by Elizabeth Simmons, which is to imply that her husband was deceased. The previously mentioned land transfer of Emanuel to John in the same year confirms that Elijah Simmons had indeed died.

These facts combine to form little doubt that Elijah was the name of the Emanuel Simmons' son who fathered Prudence and Sarah.

The inventory of the estate of Emanuel Simmons in 1809 clarifies that Prudence was married to Rigdon Hewitt, since Rigdon was named as receiving a payment from the estate along with Richard Oldfield and others (Gwynn, p. 398 entry 33). Rigdon was named guardian to the children of Francis and Elizabeth (Watson) Mundine in 1807, after Elizabeth remarried to Alexander Hicks and his subsequent death (Fisher, p. 417).

Now that we have asserted that Elijah Simmons and Elizabeth Watson bore Prudence and Sarah Simmons, we need to clarify the relation between the Watson family and the Hewitt family of Onslow County. Fisher claims that Rigdon Hewitt, son of John and Hannah (Pitts) Hewitt, married Jeremiah's daughter Nancy Watson Williamson, a widow of David Williamson. He says this because of the will of Nancy Hewitt of 1807 who names the Williamson children. Fisher did not have the opportunity to see the marriage bond of Wilet Hewitt to Nancy Williamson of 1796. Had he done so, he would not have assumed that Rigdon was the Hewitt who married Nancy. Wilet was likely a brother to Rigdon Hewitt, who probably died by 1798 when Nancy Hewitt gave certain legal rights to other parties, something she would not have been allowed to do if she was married. Furthermore, she would not have been allowed to write a will in 1807 if she was married to Rigdon.

We know that Rigdon had a son John in late 1798, and the deed sale of Prudy Simmons that year tells us that she was not Rigdon's first wife. Rather, they appear to have married about 1802, as their child Elijah, named after her father, was born the following year. Rigdon is known to have remarried to Nancy Pitts about 1820.

It also appears that Rigdon obtained the lot of his wealth from his spouse Prudence. She was an heir to Elijah Simmons, Jeremiah Watson, and Emanuel Simmons, each of whom left slaves or land. Rigdon moved from his father's homestead in Onslow County, near Ashe's Creek (now Webb Creek) and the west side of the Whiteoak River, to lands on Black Swamp and Mirey Branch about ten miles to the North on the other side of the river. By the time of his death in 1842, he had 28 slaves and several hundred acres of land that was divided among the children.