MySource:Samples 59/Everett Family, Earliest Arrivals in North Carolina

Everett Family, Earliest Arrivals in North Carolina

• NORTH CAROLINA: The Earliest Everett Arrivals and Researched Family Lines

The colony of North Carolina was establishment in 1663. When these lands were opened for settlement, many families began to migrate from southeastern Virginia, and to some extent from Maryland, into Eastern North Carolina. By 1675 nearly 4000 pioneers had followed the waterways that flow from Virginia into the Albemarle Sound. Many of the early settlements were along the Roanoke, Pamlico and Neuse Rivers.

I. The earliest Everetts, particularly one family, began to arrive by about 1700. A Thomas Everett (c1659-c1728) is found in land records in Chowan County in 1700 and a Nathaniel Everett is identified on a Colonel Moseley’s plantation by 1707. (One source, Alvereta Register, put Nathaniel in North Carolina as early as 1683 but the documentation for this is believed in error.) The Chowan Precinct encompassed most of the region from the northwestern corner of the colony westward, taking in the Albemarle Sound. Also living in this precinct, near Edenton, by 1700, was another Thomas Everett – possibly the father or son of the initial Thomas. Their link to Nathaniel Everett (c1678-1749) has never been documented but it is probable that they were related. By 1712 an Alexander Everett was living in the Hyde Precinct south of the Albemarle Sound.

II. Nathaniel Everett (c1678-1749) and his wife Mary (Mitchell) Harrison had three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Sarah who married, respectively, a Stubbs, a Blount, and a Gerkin. His only son, Nathaniel Jr., (1707-1782) and his wife Elizabeth Bell had eleven children, including a third Nathaniel. The early generations of this family line remained in eastern North Carolina in the areas that would become Tyrrell, Martin, Washington, and Beaufort counties North Carolina. This family and its origins have been researched thoroughly and the data appear in the Stubbs/Everett book listed in the resources. It has also been speculated, but not proven, that the original Nathaniel was the son of a John Everett (c1645-1696), a lawyer in Charles City County, Virginia.

III. Another Nathaniel Everett/Averett (c1690-1756) is identified in land records as early as 1726 in Perquimans Precinct. By 1733 he had sold this land and relocated to New River, Onslow County, North Carolina. The Stubbs/Everett work documents his three wives and children from his will. Apparently this family began spelling their surname with an “A” after their arrival in Onslow County, North Carolina. He is clearly linked to the Nathaniel Everett (c1678-1749), above, since he is mentioned in that Nathaniel’s 1749 will. EVEN MORE INTRIGUING, is another Nathaniel Everett in “Maryland” was also MENTIONED IN THE SAME 1749 WILL of Nathaniel Everett (c1678-1749). It was suggested that the origins of this family may have been in Maryland. However, extensive research by Jane Bailey and ourselves has been unable to prove that connection.

IV. Another Everett family, which based on our DNA data is distinctly different from the above Nathaniel’s family, were and continue to be neighbors in Martin County. This family line arrived in North Carolina somewhat later and was led by a Simon Everett. He migrated from the areas of Nansmond and Isle of Wight Counties, Virginia into Eastern North Carolina by 1749 and purchased 500 acres in Edgecombe County. This land would eventually lie in Herford County. He later recorded land purchases in Pitt County and Martin County. His sons were Simon Turner Everett (1766-1827) and James Everett. This family has been researched extensively by Robert L. Everett (See the resources.)

Other early Everetts in the records include

• Thomas Everett/Avera and Alexander Everett/Avera lived in Beaufort County between 1709-1712 (See Bailey/Everett)

• Edmon and Thomas Everett were in Craven County by 1717 and 1720, respectively

• An Henry Averit (c1700-1772) was in Bertie Precinct by 1732

• A William Everett and a John Everett were in Martin County by 1729 and 1734, respectively

• John, William and James Everett were in Edgecombe Precinct between 1734-1737

• A Henry Everett (c1715-c1799) appears in Beaufort County in 1738

• A Joshua Everett b.1789 appears in Edgecombe County

• A Walter Evett (c1728-1775) was in Beaufort County by 1749

The records indicate that most of these Everett pioneers in Eastern North Carolina were planters with small to moderate size farms. While some of their children and grandchildren migrated through Georgia (See Alvatretta Register reference) and into the early Mississippi Territory, and a few westward into Tennessee, many remained and their descendents still farm some of these areas today.

Shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, another Everett family arrived in Anson County, North Carolina in South Central North Carolina. Thomas Everett (1742-1837) was born in Queen Annes County, Maryland and served for two years in the Revolutionary war. His first tour was in Anson County, North Carolina, where he arrived in 1775. Richmond County, North Carolina was cut out of Anson County, North Carolina in 1779, the year that Thomas first appears in land records. Thomas’ two brothers also migrated to Anson County, North Carolina / Richmond County, North Carolina after the war: Lawrence Everett had arrived and bought land in 1780 and Benjamin Everett had bought land in 1786. The origins of these brothers in Queen Annes County has not been clearly proven. However, in North Carolina, these Everetts were closely tied to the Covington family, also from Queen Annes County. Thomas married an Elizabeth Covington and the families bought and sold land together over several generatons. Thomas applied for a pension in 1832, at the age of 91 years.

These Everetts had considerable land holdings, including slaves. Arlene Everett has traced her husband’s family origins back to a slave family on the plantation of Lawrence Covington Everett, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth’s. In 1845 three of this Lawrence’s sons left North Carolina and migrated with their families and slaves to Drew County, Arkansas. A young slave boy named Lewis Everett (1833-1905), belonging to William T. Everett (1809-1873), traveled to Arkansas with the family and was sold in 1849. Arlene found Lewis, after the Civil War, as a land holder in 1873 in Titus County, Texas. Many of Lewis’ descendents still reside in East Texas (See reference for Arlene Everett in Resources).

The DNA Project Data

The data from our DNA Project provides specific DNA profiles of descendants of early progenitors in certain geographical locations. The DNA volunteers and/or their family member researchers have provided the data on their family lines. In some cases, based on the paper research, there are disagreements as to whom was the earliest progenitor and how the family lines are connected.

For North Carolina we have DNA profiles on the following family lines:

Nathaniel Everett, Chowan/Tyrrell Counties, b.c.1678

Dempsey Averett b.1780

Joshua Everett, Edgecombe County, b.1789

Keton Everett, Edgecombe County, land records 1794

Quinton Everett, b.1804

Edwin Everett, Martin County, land deed 1810

Simon Everett, Pitt/Martin Counties, d.1818

Lewis Everett, Richmond County, North Carolina, b.1833 and d.1905

Cad M. Dawson Everett, Martin County, b.c.1840 and d.1908

Resources

1. Register, Alvaretta Kenan (Main Author); May Ainsworth Walton; and David M. Foley. Everett/Everitt family: a genealogical history. (Statesboro, Georgia: Estate of Alvaretta Kenan Register, 1987). Traces the descendants of the early Nathaniel Everett’s grandson, John Everett, through his migration to eastern Georgia. Ms. Register was a certified genealogist and, herself, a descendent of this family line. The book was first published in 1987 but is now available from the Statesboro Georgia public library where Ms. Register’s research papers are located.

2. Bailey, Jane Stubbs, and Vernon L. Everett. Nathaniel and Mary (Mitchell) Harrison Everett: of Tyrrell (now Washington) County, North Carolina and some of their descendants and related families. (Plymouth, North Carolina: Beacon Printing, c2001). Is the most comprehensive work, not only on the Nathaniel Everett line, but other Everett lines in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.