John Tate, Jr. was born in 1769, the son of Col. John Tate and Mary Bracken. His parents migrated to Moccasin Creek in what is today Russell Co., Va in 1772, therefore John Jr. most likely was born in North Carolina as that is where his mother’s family was living at the time she would have married Col. John..
Little is known of John Jr.’s early life. We know he married a woman named Sarah and in May 1794 they had a child, who they named John. John Jr. first appears on the Russell Co., Virginia tax rolls in 1795. That year, he is annotated as John Jr. and his father is listed as John Sr. The other John Tate on the 1795 tax roll is his cousin, the son of Robert Tate Sr. This John, who married Dicey Hogg in 1807 and moved to Tennessee before 1812, was annotated specifically in 1795 as “son of Robert” to distinguish him from his uncle Col. John and his cousin John Jr. John Jr. had a series of run-ins with the law, which are documented in the Russell County, Virginia Law Order Book (1792-1799). In its September 1795 term, the court ordered the Sheriff of Russell Co. “… to take the child that he (John Jr.) forcibly took away from Sarah Tate his wife -- the mother of said child -- and deliver it to its mother…” and the court ordered John Jr. to “… pay for the maintenance of Sarah during the time.” The child in question is undoubtedly John Jr.’s son John who would have been about 16 months old at the time. In the April term of 1797, John Jr. undertook for the defense in a case of detinue, which is a legal term of the times for an action involving the wrongful detention of goods. In a declaration, the plaintiff indicated “…sundry articles of household furniture … came to the hands of the defendant without stating in what manner they came to his hands whether legally or not.” The Order Book doesn’t expound on John Jr.’s role in the wrongful detention of goods. In the June term of 1797, the court ordered the sheriff to “… immediately put John Tate, Jr. in jail to remain for 10 minutes.” After his jail sentence, the court ordered “John Tate, Jr. to be of good behavior to all citizens and particularly towards Isaac Tate for 12 months and 1 day.” Robert Tate, either his uncle or his brother, then posted a recognizance bond. Isaac Tate is most likely John Jr.’s younger brother. Nothing further was recorded on the nature of the problem between John Jr. and his brother or what John Jr. did to cause the judge to order a ten minute jail “time out.” In the May term of 1798, John Tate, Jr. and another man were fined “for misbehavior.” In the September term of 1798, on behalf of Sarah Tate, the court orders that “… John Tate appear to show cause why a suit in chancery should not be commenced against him by his wife Sarah for a separate maintenance.” Separate maintenance is a legal term of the time for an allowance made to a wife by her husband under a deed of separation. A deed of separation outlines the provision of a legal separation in which the couple remains married but the husband is commanded by the court to provide support, or maintenance, to his wife and children. Little is known of John Jr. after this date. He continues to appear on the tax roles until 1802. In February of 1829 a John Tate witnessed the inventory of Col. John Tate’s estate. This is probably John Jr. as the other John Tate of the time was John Jr.’s cousin, the son of Robert Tate Sr. John Tate the cousin, though had moved to Tennessee sometime before 1812 and, although possible, probably wouldn’t have returned to Virginia just for his uncle’s estate inventory.
Sarah and son John apparently departed Russell Co. after the legal separation. In 1814, John married a young girl from a family residing in Claiborne Co., Tennessee and their first four children were born in Tennessee. Sarah apparently moved with John to Indiana in 1822 as she was buried next to her son in the Knights of Pythias cemetery in Monroe Co., Indiana. Her gravestone reads “Sarah Darity, wife of John Tate” and indicates dates of 1768 to 1836. We don’t know if “Darity” is her maiden name or a subsequent married name but if she received separate maintenance as she requested from the court then she and John Jr. remained legally married, which would explain the stone annotation as “wife of John Tate.” Therefore, we can assume that Darity is most likely Sarah’s maiden name.
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/11966300/person/13866164312/media/2?pgnum=1&pg=0&pgpl=pid%7cpgNum
