SOUTHERNS IN NORTH CAROLINA IN THE 1850 FEDERAL CENSUS:
STOKES, FORSYTH, AND ROCKINGHAM COUNTIES
The 1850 U.S. census is the first to give the names and ages of all members of a household, which begins to make it possible to conclusively (or at least more certainly) identify parent-child relationships, and follow the lives of individuals though the census over the course of their lifetimes.
1850 finds households of several of the grandchildren of William I and Magdalen still living in the state. Those include three sons of Reuben I (Joshua, Reuben II, and Stephen), Ford's probable son Reuben III, and the widow of Ford's son William III, Frances Southern. As the family expands, things start to get more complicated with the addition of households of great-grandchildren. About 80 persons named Southern were living in these three counties in 1850.
The birthplace of all persons is North Carolina unless otherwise stated in the "Notes" column. The 1850 census noted persons "over 20 years of age" who cannot read and write.
STOKES COUNTY
Township: Shores Reed
Dwelling/Family #s: 285-286
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Reuben
M
46
Farmer
"
Martha
F
46
b. VA, Cannot read/write
"
Thena M.
F
16
"
William B.
M
13
"
Reuben D.
M
10
This Reuben ("Reuben III"), with wife Martha Burton (m. 6/18/1823), appears consistently in almost every census from 1830 through 1880. Born about 1804, he falls in the gap between Reuben I's sons and grandsons and is thus believed to be a son of Ford Southern, though he is not positively identified. Another researcher, Mrs. W.O. Absher, reported that Ford had a son named Reuben, and this seems to be him.
Township: Shores Reed
Dwelling/Family #s: 306-307
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Landon
M
38
Farmer
"
Mary A.
F
27
"
George W.
M
10
Attended School
"
Mary E.
F
8
Attended School
"
Julia A.
F
6
"
John A.
M
4
"
Joshua C.
M
2
"
Lucy C.
F
7/12
Lawson
Anna
F
26
Joshua's second eldest son, with Mary Ann Carroll and their growing family. Anna Lawson appears to be a helper living in the household.
Township: Shores Reed
Dwelling/Family #s: 323-324
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern William C.
M
30
Farmer
"
Sally M.
F
24
Cannot read/write
"
Polly E.
F
7
"
James W.
M
5
"
Martha E.
F
2
"
Sarah A.
F
8/12
Joshua's youngest son, with wife Sarah M. (Sally) Joyce (m. 1/18/1842) and their young famly.
Township: Shores Reed
Dwelling/Family #s: 325-326
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Joshua
M
76
Farmer
"
Mary
F
67
b. VA
"
Margaret
F
23
Cannot read/write "
Elizabeth
F
19
The elderly Joshua, son of old Reuben I, with wife Mary Carter, and two daughters at home. This places Joshua's birth at 1774, which may be too early; census years 1830 and 1840 suggest a birth date after 1780. Also, Mary's age indicates she had Elizabeth at age 48, which is possible, but getting on in years for childbirth.
Township: Shores Reed
Dwelling/Family #s: 328-329
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern James C.
M
40
Farmer
"
Biddy
F
33
Cannot read/write "
Genetta S.
F
15
Attended School
"
John W.
M
13
Attended School
"
James F.
M
11
"
Sarah M.
F
9
"
Mary C.
F
6
"
Mahala E.
F
3
Hicks
Lewis
M
23
Farmer
Cannot read/write
Joshua's eldest son with wife Biddy Joyce (m. 1/15/1834) and a growing family. Lewis Hicks appears to be a helper on the farm. In 1851 Lewis Hicks married Martha Elizabeth Southern, the 19 year old Elizabeth in the household of Joshua and Mary above.
Township: Shores Reed
Dwelling/Family #s: 335-336
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Reuben V.
M
36
Farmer
"
Nancy
F
32
Cannot read/write "
Eliza J.
F
16
Attended School
"
William W.
M
12
Attended School
"
Thursey A.
F
11
Attended School
"
Sarah E.
F
9
Attended School
"
Salima
F
5
("Salena" in 1860)
"
Moriah
F
2
Joshua's third eldest son, with wife Nancy Joyce (m. 1/15/34 in a double brothers-sisters wedding with James and Biddy above), and one son and five daughters.
Township: Buck Island
Dwelling/Family #s 395-396
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Reubin
M
62
Farmer
"
Dotia
F
50
"
Louisiania
F
25
Cannot read/write "
Malory
M
24
Farmer
Flincham
Samuel
M
16
Farmer
*Born in 1788 according to this figure (1784 according to the 1860 census), this must be Reuben II, one of the four sons of Reuben I. Two of his brothers -- Joshua and Stephen -- are also in this census. Son Malory married Theny Jane Bennett in 1851, but she died before the 1860 census after having three children. Malory married a second time to Sarah E. Grogan in 1867.
Township: Sauratown
Dwelling/Family #s 1063-1093
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Frances
F
59
Cannot read/write "
William
M
26
Farmer
Cannot read/write "
James
M
17
This is Frances "Fanny" Banks Southern, widow of the William Southern who died intestate in 1846, and whose estate records are found in the State Archives. William and Fanny Banks were married in 1815, with Ford Southern as bondsman. Ford gave "his son" William 25 acres on Blackies Branch in 1820. William's estate papers name wife Frances and minor children James Osborn, seen here, and Louisa. The William seen here and the couple's two other older sons, John H. (b. 1820) and Thomas Simpson (b. about 1816) would not have been minors in 1846. Another daughter of William and Frances was Elizabeth Ann (or Eliza Ann), would have still been a minor in 1846 and may in fact be the "Louisa" seen in the estate records. Eliza Ann married Andrew Steel in 1849, and so is not in Frances's household this year. Frances apparently died before 1860; that year James O. is head of his own household. William married Charlotte Robertson Lybass (her second marriage) in 1858, but died about the time their son John William was born in 1860.
Township: Sauratown
Dwelling/Family #s 1068-1098
Household of William Matthews
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern James
M
27
Miller
Cannot read/write This James Southern, a miller in the household of William Matthews, is not positively identified. He is possibly the James H. Southern of the 1880 census (then age 58), and/or the James H. who was bondsman in the 1846 marriage of George W. Southern and Mina Westmoreland. The later association suggests a link to Stephen Southern.
Township: Beaver Island
Dwelling/Family #s 1219-1256
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Alexander
M
25
Farmer
Cannot read/write "
Elizabeth
F
20
"
William
M
1
Alexander's parents are not conclusively identified, but it is possible he was a son of William (III) and Frances (Fanny) Banks Southern. This is surely Alexander Southern and Elizabeth Tumlin who married in Stokes County 1/17/1848. The infant William seen here is surely the W.H. Southern buried at Bethesda Church in Stokes, born 12/24/1848 and died 5/11/1858. William is not seen in subsequent censuses for this couple. Buried near young William is J.H. Southern, born 5/15/1851 and died 5/12/1858, probably James H., another child of Alexander and Elizabeth who died one day after his brother from a shared disease or accident. Alexander and Elizabeth (or Bettie) appear again in the 1860 Stokes census with later children, and after that appear to have moved to Mount Airy in Surry County. This couple's presence in Beaver Island township, and the burials of their suspected children at Bethesda Church, where descendants of William (III) and Frances Southern are buried, suggests a relationship to William and Frances.
FORSYTH COUNTY
Township: None stated
Dwelling/Family #s -1522
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern William
M
38
Farmer
"
Malinda
F
40
"
John F.
M
11
Attended school
"
Amanda L.
F
9
Attended school
"
Nancy E.
F
7
Attended school
"
Martin W.
M
3
"
Mary E.
F
1
This William is most likely as son of Stephen and Rachel (see below), with Malinda Marshall, married 1/11/1837. William's parents are nearby, as is his brother George. Several Marshall households are neighbors to Southerns and Westmorelands in this section of Forsyth.
Township: None stated
Dwelling/Family #s -1602
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Westmoreland David S.
M
22
Chair maker
"
Julian (Julina)
F
24
"
William J.P.
M
3
"
David S.
M
1
Southern
Reuben
M
22
Laborer
This Reuben Southern ("Reuben IV") in the household of chair maker David S. Westmoreland was an assistant in the Westmoreland furniture business. By 1860 David Westmoreland moved to Thomasville in Davidson County NC and became founder of the furniture industry there. Julina Southern married David Westmoreland 1/19/1846, and was Reuben's sister. Reuben and Julina were children of Stephen and Rachel Southern (see below). Within a year or two of this census, Reuben would marry Delany Westmoreland, David's sister. Reuben and Delany would have two daughters by 1854, Rachel and Charity (called "Chissie"), named for Reuben and Delany's mothers. Reuben was murdered in 1854 by a man named Reuben Samuel for alleged infidelity with Samuel's wife. Delany remarried to a Mr. Petree in 1863. Two years after Julina's death in 1863, David S. Westmoreland married Nancy, a sister of Julina and Reuben who appears in their parents' census this year (see below).
Township: None stated
Dwelling/Family #s -1604
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Stephen
M
60
Farmer
"
Rachel
F
60
b. VA, Cannot read/write "
Mary
F
39
"
Martha
F
37
"
Sarah
F
35
Eliza
F
33
Nancy
F
21
Stephen, son of Reuben I and brother of Joshua and Reuben II above, with four unmarried daughters over 30 from his first family with Rachel. Daughter Nancy, here age 21, would marry David S. Westmoreland in 1865 when she was 36 after the death of David's first wife Julina Southern, also a daughter of this household. Sons of Stephen and Rachel are William, George, and Reuben IV, all nearby in this census, and probably also James in the household of William Matthews in Stokes County. Stephen's wife Rachel in this census died by late 1853, as on 1/3/1854 Stephen married Harriet Chaffin, who was about half his age and younger than most of his daughters with Rachel, and he began a second family. None of the unmarried daughters are seen in Stephen's household in subsequent censuses, and it isn't known what became of them, though Sarah seen here is likely to be the Sally Southern in David and Julina Westmoreland's household in the 1860 Davidson County census.
Township: None stated
Dwelling/Family #s:
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern George
M
27
Laborer
Cannot read/write "
Jemima
F
27
"
Louisa
F
2
"
John M.
M
4/12
Westmoreland
Leah
F
28
George is another son of Stephen and Rachel, and the older of the two sons seen in Stephen's 1840 census. George married "Mina" Westmoreland 11/30/1846, another case of intermarriages of Southerns and Westmorelands. Bondsman for their marriage, James H. Southern, may be the James seen this year in the household of William Matthews in Stokes County, though his age is also given as 27. Leah Westmoreland here is likely a sister of Jemima helping with the small children.
1850 finds two Southern households across the Stokes County line in western Rockingham County -- the brothers John H. and Thomas Simpson Southern.
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
Township: Western Division
Dwelling/Family #s: 718/718
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern John
M
30
Laborer
Cannot read/write "
Rebecca
F
25
"
William
M
2
"
Sarah F.
F
1
Though listed as John "Southard," the names and ages of all four family members indicate that this is John H. Southern (b. 6/28/1820), son of William and Frances Southern, with Rebecca Angel (b. 8/11/1824), daughter of Samuel and Agness Freeman Angel. The couple married in Stokes 6/11/1846. Their first two children were William S. (b. 10/16/1847) and Sarah F. (b. 3/4/1849). Though this and subsequent censuses show that John could not read and write, Rebecca was fully literate, and their children were all relatively well educated.
Township: Western Division
Dwelling/Family #s: 872/872
Last Name
First Name Sex
Age
Occupation
Notes
Southern Thomas S.
M
33
Laborer
Cannot read/write
"
Elizabeth
F
30
"
William P.
M
12
"
James H.
M
10
"
John S.
M
7
Susan H.
F
5
Samuel F.
M
6/12
Like his brother, Thomas Simpson Southern (most often called "Simpson") was listed as "Southard" this year, but there is no doubt that he is John's brother and the oldest son of William (son of Ford) and Frances Banks Southern, born 1816/17. Elizabeth is Elizabeth Foy, whom Simpson married in Stokes in 1836. Simpson is likely the mysterious "D.F." Southern seen in Rockingham in 1840 with Elizabeth and the two oldest boys seen here.