First posted 01/09/1998. Revised and reposted 02/17/2021.  Updates and additions from time to time.  Last update 1/23/2022.  See What's New.

The Southern Family in North Carolina

. 1998 photo along Hewins Creek, Stokes County, N.C., where William and Magdalen Southern settled about 1775. More photos

Hosted by Michael Tesh Southern Raleigh, North Carolina

Hello. This simple site is a source for information about the history of the Southern family in North Carolina.

The "kernel" of this site is the story of one couple -- William and Magdalen Southern, who founded the family in what is now Stokes County, North Carolina, about 1775. William and Magdalen are the ancestors of most North Carolina Southerns and of many Southerns in other states. Even those Southerns who do not descend from William and Magdalen might find the material concerning their origins in Virginia useful to their own investigations.

The principal offering is the narrative history of William and Magdalen and their children and relatives. Other items are transcriptions of research materials that support the narrative and that are linked to it. I will add additional materials over time, and try to bring the family history forward another generation or two. Corrections, suggestions, and information about other sources will be greatly appreciated. My email is below.

All items are in HTML format, which you can read on screen or print locally. Or you can capture the text and load it into your own word processor to edit and format as you wish before printing. Maps and photos may be downloaded.

William and Magdalen Southern of Stokes County, North Carolina. This is a narrative of the early history of the Southern family in Virginia and North Carolina, with footnotes citing sources of information. .

The following materials supplement the narrative and are linked within it, or can be viewed on their own:

• Map Showing Early Distribution of the Southern Family in the Eastern United States
  

• Southern Families of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Virginia, in the Early 18th Century. Middlesex was probably the point of origin of many Southern families in the United States.

• Southerns in Surry and Stokes County Tax Lists, 1775-1801. Tax lists show the first appearance of William Southern in N.C. in 1775 and the emergence of younger family members as they established their own households through the last quarter of the 18th century.

• Annotated North Carolina Census Records:
  The State Census of 1784-1787
  The U.S. Census of 1790
  The U.S. Census of 1800
  The U.S. Census of 1810
  The U.S. Census of 1820
  The U.S. Census of 1830
  The U.S. Census of 1840
  The U.S. Census of 1850
  The U.S. Census of 1860
  

• William Southern's Will of 1794.

• Southern Family Marriages in North Carolina to 1868. Arranged chronologically and annotated.

• Map of the original Southern family farms on Hewins Creek.
  Photographs taken in 1998 along Hewins Creek.
  The original 1778 survey of the land grant to Joshua Tillery that became the Southern farms.
  

• Chart showing the first four generations of Southerns in N.C. This is a jpeg file converted from an illustration software document, and it will be difficult to read on small screens. I did this many years ago and it needs revision in a better format.

• The Bible record of John and Elizabeth Duncan Southern. John and Elizabeth Duncan Southern raised 15 children in Giles County, Virginia, in the early 19th century. This John appears to be the youngest son of William and Magdalen Southern, who left NC in 1817. This is a transcription of John and Elizabeth's Bible record listing their children.

• Revolutionary War Service of William Southern II. William Southern II was an older son (or possibly nephew or other relation) of William Southern. Though this William is not believed to have any Southern descendants, the story of his military service is of interest, with a wonderful description of how his unit received the news that Cornwallis had surrendered to Washington at Yorktown.
• Revolutionary War Service of Gibson/Gipson Southern. Gibson Southern (also spelled Gipson) is also believed to have been an older son of William Southern, but their relationship is not documented. He lived among the North Carolina Southerns for a few years in the 1780s and moved to Greenville County, South Carolina by 1790.
  
• The Slaves of William Southern II. William Southern II was the only Southern in North Carolina ever to have owned slaves. William and his wife had one slave by 1783. Between 1810 and 1830 there were three slaves in their household -- a mother and two sons.  What became of them?
• The Murder of Reuben Southern, April 1854. Sometimes in family history research you discover things you wish you hadn't seen. This is a sad story, and may cause some discomfort to readers who would prefer not to know about darker aspects of family history.

Links to other Southern family, Stokes County, and northwestern N.C. sites

About the author of this website. You can reach me at msouthern47@yahoo.com. Corrections, new information, and suggestions for improvements will be greatly appreciated!

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