Key Facts

Snapshot:	moved from North Carolina to Georgia; owned slaves
Parents:	932William Douthit 933Sarah Job
Born:	10 November 1776 in/near the English-speaking settlement of the Wachovia Tract, North Carolina
Died:	26 March 1859 Cass County, Georgia
Buried:	Douthit family cemetery, Bartow County, Georgia Coordinates: N34.1161 W84.8205

466William Douthit, son of 932William Douthit1,2 and 467Sarah Job,* was born on 10 November 17761,3 and was baptized on a rainy day on 23 November 1776 in a newly built school-house in the English-speaking settlement of the Wachovia Tract, North Carolina.1 (Although not named, this is probably the same settlement later named Hope, which became the main English-speaking settlement in Wachovia.) The baptism record reads (translated), "[932]William Douthed, one of the friends there [at the new school-house], had brought his son for baptism. He had been born on the 10th of this month, and Br. Graff baptised him with the name [466]William." 1

A marriage bond issued in Stokes County, North Carolina on 29 January 1797 shows that 466William married 467Lovey Cooper.4

The 1820 census shows his household in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. The numbers below represent: 2 boys age 0-9, 3 men age 16-25, 1 man age 26-44, 2 girls age 0-9, 1 girl age 10-15, 1 woman age 16-25, 1 woman age 26-44, 1 woman age 45+, 5 people doing agricultural work, 1 male slave age 0-13, 1 male slave age 26-44, 2 female slaves age 0-13, and 1 female slave age 26-44.5

1820: 466William's family in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. Full page.5

466William seems to have stayed in North Carolina through most of the 1820's, since he's mentioned in a few court records there: (1) In September 1823, a court in Stokes County, North Carolina appointed 466William guardian for George and Ann Douthit, orphans of Philip.6 (2) A November 1826 court record from Surry County shows that 466William sold two slaves (Nat and Linda) to Nathan Craft for $489.69.7

1826: 466William sold two of his slaves.7

By 1830, though, 466William had left North Carolina. The abovementioned sale of two slaves apparently went awry, since the purchaser sued 466William. A newspaper notice regarding the lawsuit mentions that 466William no longer resided in North Carolina.8

1830: 466William gets sued, but no longer lives in North Carolina.8

The 1830 census reveals that 466William had relocated to Fayette County, Georgia. The numbers below represent: 1 boy age 10-14, 1 boy age 15-19, 1 man age 20-29, 1 man age 50-59, 1 girl age 10-14, 1 girl age 15-19, 1 woman age 20-29, and 1 woman age 50-59. A second page (not copied below) shows that 466William had one female slave age 0-9.9

1830: 466William's family in Fayette County, Georgia. Full page.9

The 1850 census shows he had moved again, this time to Cass County, Georgia.10

1850: 466William's family in Cass County, Georgia. Full page.10

A historian of Cass/Bartow County mentions 466William (but sadly fails to cite a source): She states that 466William had moved to Cass County in 1838 and that "James Douthit, a bachelor, and his father operated a chartered ferry on the Etowah river and acquired a plantation on the old Dallas and Alabama roads. The original home was burned. James, who died in 1881, and the older Douthits are buried on the home place." 11

466William's will, dated 30 July 1855 and proved 2 May 1859, mentions that he owned a plantation and describes the property on which it lay; this property is traced on the master map. The will also names his wife 467Lovey; children James, Paulina, Ann, Sarah Cleghorn (wife of James Cleghorn), and N. C. W. Douthit; grandsons William D. and John T. Cleghorn; and a slave woman named Ailsey.12

The first paragraph of 466William's will. Full page.12

466William is buried in a small, brick-walled Douthit family cemetery atop a steep hill at coordinates N34.1161 W84.8205. Sadly, the cemetery is quite overgrown (despite my occasional visits to clean it up), and as a result 466William's grave is barely visible most of the time, obscured by branches, vines, and muddy clay. Around 2012 I washed away enough of the mud to reveal the full inscription, which reads:

S A C R E D
to the memory of
WILLIAM DOUTHIT,
who departed this life
March the 26th in
the year of our Lord 1859
aged 83 years
—·—
Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord
Blessed are they that do his commandments
that they may have right
to the tree of life and may enter
in through the gates
into the city.

A few photos of his grave are below. In the bottom two photos, his grave is highlighted yellow to help you easily find his grave in relation to the rest of the cemetery.13

Footnote:

*	932William Douthit married 467Sarah Job in 1772,14 and they were still married in 1786.15 Since 466William, son of 932William,1,2 was born in 1776,1,3 his mother therefore must be 467Sarah Job.

Sources Cited:

1: Adelaide L. Fries, ed., Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, Volume III: 1776-1779 (Edwards & Broughton Company, Raleigh, 1926), page 1080.

2: Rowan County, North Carolina. Original wills, folder for [932]William Douthit (1799), whose will is dated 26 September 1798. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9G4-3YJK?i=502&cat=457207>, accessed 13 March 2021.

3: The Bible of William Gilbreth Douthit, published in The St. Louis Genealogical Society Quarterly, volume 15, page 83. The article contains a little more information about the Bible's provenance.

4: Stokes County, North Carolina. Marriage bond abstracts, volume I (1790-1868), page 75, entry for William Douthit and Lovey Cooper, bond dated 29 January 1797. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSZJ-D21M?cc=1726957&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQ211-54SN>, accessed 18 March 2021. The original bonds are on microfilm, but for some strange reason the reel only includes an image of the back of 466William's marriage bond (See here). Perhaps the archivist accidentally forgot to copy the front side.

5: 1820 U.S. Federal Census. Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. Page 292, line 2, entry for William Douthit. NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 81. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYY1-BYX?i=7&cc=1803955&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXHLQ-9Q1>, accessed 1 March 2021.

6: Stokes County, North Carolina. Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, n.p., minutes from the court meeting held on 8 September 1823, pages 1 and 5. Copied from microfilm C.090.30003 at the North Carolina Archives.

7: Surry County, North Carolina. Deed Book T, pages 415 and 442. Copied from microfilm C.092.40003 at the North Carolina Archives.

8: "North-Carolina, Surry County, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, May Sessions, 1830, Nathan Craft vs. William Douthet," Yadkin and Catawba Journal (Salisbury, North Carolina), 22 June 1830, page 1, column 1, about ¾ of the way down the page. Copied from microfilm SaYCJ-1 in the newspaper section at the North Carolina Archives, circa 2011.

9: 1830 U.S. Federal Census. Fayette County, Georgia. Page 206, entry for William Douthit. NARA microfilm publication M19, roll 17. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YTL-9QBW?i=50&wc=35Y4-WQN%3A1588469703%2C1588470405%2C1588469601&cc=1803958&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXHGL-P36> and <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YTL-97CF?i=51&wc=35Y4-WQN%3A1588469703%2C1588470405%2C1588469601&cc=1803958>, accessed 17 March 2021.

10: 1850 U.S. Federal Census. Division 12, Cass County, Georgia. Page 117A, William Douthit's household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 63. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DBBQ-9G8?i=34&cc=1401638&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMZYJ-7LR>, accessed 18 March 2021.

11: Lucy Josephine Cunyus, The History of Bartow County, Formerly Cass (Tribune Publishing Company, 1933), page 55.

12: Cass/Bartow County, Georgia. Wills book A, pages 182-184. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93R-683T?i=136&cc=1999178&cat=241214> et seq., accessed 19 March 2021.

13: The grave of William Douthit (died 26 March 1859), Douthit family cemetery, Bartow County, Georgia, at coordinates N34.1161 W84.8205. Photos taken by 1Bryant Knight circa 2012 (the top two photos and the bottom right [i.e., 4th photo]) and on 6 February 2021 (the bottom left [i.e., 3rd] photo).

14: Rowan County, North Carolina. Marriage bonds, volume D. A document dated 31 January 1772 pertaining to the marriage of William Douthet and Sarah Job. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6QY1-DT?i=240&cc=1726957&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXF9F-ZQY>, accessed 13 March 2021.

15: Rowan County, North Carolina. Wills book F, pages 39-40, the will of Thomas Job, dated 16 May 1786. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:37SQ-298B-GT9?i=751&cc=1867501&cat=353379>.