The Trivettes of Western North Carolina

This website is copyrighted 2004

|||||     Introduction     |||||     The Earliest Trivettes     |||||     North Carolina Political Boundaries     |||||     Whose Child Is Whose?     |||||

|||||     How Do You Spell Trivette?     |||||     Sorting Out the William Trivettes     |||||     Trivettes in the Civil War     |||||

|||||     Descendants of John and Richard Trivette     |||||     What Was It Like As An Early Trivette?     |||||

||||     What Happened To Nathaniel C. Tribet?     ||||     Works Cited     ||||

 

Whose Child Is Whose?

 

John and Richard Trivette, sons of Elizabeth Jones and stepsons of Solomon Jones, had several children.  This was determined from records of churches they attended, the proximity of their homes, and their ages.  Many have been identified, but there is no documentation that answers the question of who belongs to whom.

 

Each person’s age was supposed to be as of June 1st of the year of enumeration.  But the instructions to enumerators were not always uniform and some performed their duties more accurately than others.  So it is assumed in every case that each stated person has already had his or her birthday by June 1st.  

 

These are the children, their sexes, the years of their births, and the sources of that information.  The 1830 Ashe County, North Carolina U.S. Census actually lists John Tribit Sr. and John Tribit Jr.  So to avoid confusion here I will use these suffixes to distinguish between them.

 

Unknown (F)                1791-1794      

The 1810 Ashe County, North Carolina Census shows John’s household’s oldest inhabitant after him and Elizabeth as a female child in the 16-26 age range.  In the 1840 Wilkes County Census she is in the 40-50 age range.  She is also noted in that Census entry as over 25 years old and deaf and dumb.  It was not uncommon for someone unrelated to live in your household, but it is assumed that this person was a daughter.

                                   

Thomas (M)                 1799

The 1850 Wilkes County, North Carolina Census lists him as 51 years old.

 

William (M)                  1797

The 1850 Ashe County, North Carolina Census lists him as 53 years old.

 

Fanny (F)                     1798

The 1860 Greene County, Illinois Census lists Fannie Johnisee as 62 years old.

 

John Jr. (M)                 1801

The 1850 Watauga County, North Carolina Census lists him as 49 years old.

 

Lyddy (F)                     probably between 1801 and 1808

I have found no documentation of Lyddy’s existence other than her marriage record to Barea Ray in 1822 in Rowan County, North Carolina.

 

Solomon (M)       1800-1810

The 1840 Ashe County, North Carolina Census lists him as 30-40 years old.   A household headed by Elizabeth Tribit is shown in the 1850 Watauga census, and is probably his widow.

 

Honor (F)                     1805

The 1850 Surry County, North Carolina Census lists her as 45 years old.

 

Lazarus (M)                 1803

The 1860 Iredell County, North Carolina Census lists him as 57 years old.

 

David (M)                    1808

The 1860 Ashe County, North Carolina Census lists him as 52 years old.

 

Owen (M)                    1809

The 1850 Ashe County, North Carolina Census lists him as 41 years old.

 

Patsey  (F)                   1812

The 1860 Ashe County, North Carolina Census lists her as 48 years old.

 

Samuel (M)                  1815

The 1850 Watauga County, North Carolina Census lists him as 35 years old.

 

The following shows information for John and Richard from the U.S. Census on the composition of their households.

 

 

Boys

Girls

John

<10

10-16

16-26

26-45

>=45

<10

10-16

16-26

26-45

>=45

1810

4

2

 

1

 

1

1

1

1

 

1820

2

1

1

 

1

1

1

 

1

1

 

 

Boys

Girls

Richard

<10

10-16

16-26

26-45

>=45

<10

10-16

16-26

26-45

>=45

1800

 

 

 

1

 

2

 

 

1

 

1810

1

 

 

 

1

1

2

 

1

 

1820

 

1

 

 

1

 

1

 

 

1

 

The 1820 Census also had an age column for 16-18 for boys only.  There was a ‘1’ in it for John, so the son in the 16-26 column was actually from 16 to 18 years old.

 

In the 1830 Ashe County, North Carolina U.S. Census, Richard’s household is shown with one male, 10-15.  It is unlikely this is his biological child since his wife is 62 years old in 1830.  It’s probably a grandchild.

 

These charts show John had at least 12 children, eight boys and four girls.  Richard had at least four children, one boy and three girls, producing a grand total 16 children between them, nine boys and seven girls.  There are only 13 children specifically listed above, eight boys and five girls:

 

Boys:  William, Thomas, John Jr., Solomon, Lazarus, David, Owen, Samuel

Girls:  Unknown, Fanny, Lyddy, Honor, Patsey

 

Now, these 13 people are assigned to the age/sex groups in the Census:

 

Boys,1794-1800(2) – William, Thomas

Boys,1801-1810(5) – John Jr., Solomon, Lazarus, David, Owen

Boys,1811-1820(2) – Samuel, ?

Girls,1791-1794(1) – Unknown

Girls,1794-1800(3) – Fanny, ?, ?

Girls,1801-1810(2) – Honor, Lyddy

Girls,1811-1820(1) - Patsey                                   

         

So by the process of deduction:

 

William and Thomas were sons of John, since only he had sons in that age range.

 

Since John had only four boys born between 1801 and 1810, one of the five listed above in that age range was the son of Richard.

 

John had only one girl born between 1801 and 1810, so either Honor or Lyddy was a daughter of Richard.

 

Samuel and an unknown boy were sons of John.

 

Patsey was a daughter of John.