The Family › Temple–Catchings › (no surname)
Keturah
–c. 1837
✦ direct ancestor — Owen's 4×-great-grandmother · Temple line
✎ This person appears in a case file: № 5 — The father who would have been three years old — The tree gave Thomas Jones of Essex County a birth year that made him three when his first daughter was born, and a wife who never existed. Two courthouse books put both right.
Life
- Died
- between 1 Jan 1837 and 18 Sep 1837
Marriage & children
Records behind this page
Essex County, Virginia, Chancery Cause 057-1837-013 — Dorothe Jones &c. v. Susan Jones &c., bill filed 18 September 1837 (estate of Thomas M. Jones)
Cause 057-1837-013, bill filed 18 Sep 1837
read the transcript
"...the said THOMAS JONES and KETURAH HIS WIFE, that the said Hoskins & Carlton should deliver up the said property and the increase thereof to the children of the said THOMAS M. JONES & KETURAH HIS WIFE, both those now in being and those hereafter to be born..." "...are the ONLY CHILDREN of the said Thomas M. Jones and <struck: Susan> KETURAH HIS WIFE..." [the clerk eye-skipped "Susan" from two lines above, STRUCK IT, and wrote Keturah] "...that the said KETURAH the wife of the said Thomas M. Jones SURVIVED HIM AND DIED DURING THE PRESENT YEAR - and they now sue for a division..." "...and that their GRANDFATHER THE SAID JOHN JONES, who has been duly appointed their GUARDIAN, has all the property..." "...the following property to wit SEVEN NEGRO SLAVES NAMED CARTER, SUKEY AND THEIR CHILDREN ANDREW, PATRICK, TURNER, BAYLOR AND VIOLET and the future increase of the females..." ⛔ THIS REFUTES THE NAME 'SELENA', which stood uncited in this tree for years. The wife of Thomas M. Jones was KETURAH. The letter is a capital K with its two diagonal arms; the same pages show what this scribe's S looks like. She SURVIVED Thomas and died in 1837. ◎ AND IT SOURCES [866] THOMAS M. JONES TO [2121] JOHN JONES DIRECTLY: the orphans' guardian, 'John Jones (B)' of the 1834 bond, is stated here to be their GRANDFATHER. ⚠ The four children are all INFANTS (under 21) in 1837, so all were born after 1816. ⚠ Keturah's maiden name is NOT in this cause, and that is a settled negative rather than an unread page: the 1827 deed has NO 'Whereas' recitals at all and is signed by John Jones and Thomas M. Jones ONLY. It is a father-and-son settlement, not a marriage settlement, so there is no recital block where a bride's family could sit.
Research notes
Working notes from the research, kept verbatim — what was read, what it proved, what stays open. Many open with a line grading the parentage; what the grades mean.
Research note · 1 Aug 2026
AUDITED 1 Aug 2026 — THIS PERSON'S NAME WAS WRONG. She was recorded here for years as 'SELENA', uncited. Her name was KETURAH. Essex Co., Va. chancery cause 057-1837-013, read from the images: 'the said THOMAS JONES and KETURAH HIS WIFE'; 'the children of the said THOMAS M. JONES & KETURAH HIS WIFE, both those now in being and those hereafter to be born'; and, with the clerk's own correction, '...are the ONLY CHILDREN of the said Thomas M. Jones and <struck: Susan> KETURAH his wife' — he eye-skipped 'Susan' from two lines above, struck it, and wrote the right name. The letter is a capital K with its two diagonal arms; the same pages show this scribe's S for comparison. ⛔ DEATH ADDED FROM THE RECORD: 'that the said Keturah the wife of the said Thomas M. Jones SURVIVED HIM AND DIED DURING THE PRESENT YEAR'. The bill was filed 18 Sept 1837, so her death is entered as BETWEEN 1 JAN 1837 AND 18 SEP 1837 — a bound taken from the document, deliberately not 'abt 1837'. NOTE THE ORDER: she was Thomas's WIDOW, not a predeceasing wife. ⭐ WHY 'SELENA' SURVIVED SO LONG, AND WHY IT IS SAFE TO REPLACE IT: 'Selena' had taken FIVE controlled zero-result searches by 1 Aug 2026, the last of them in the Essex Marriage Bonds 1804-1861 index itself — the one record class in which she would have to appear. KETURAH explains every one of those zeros. She was renamed, NOT deleted: the person is real, the name was not. ⚠ STILL UNKNOWN: her MAIDEN NAME. That is a settled negative for this cause, not an unread page — the governing 1827 deed has NO 'Whereas' recitals at all and was signed by John Jones and Thomas M. Jones ONLY, i.e. a father-and-son settlement with no bride's-side party. The remaining routes are the Essex marriage bonds (LVA Reel 114, original loose bonds) and any bond, tax or church record naming her before 1827. ⚠ Also unknown: her death DAY and her burial. And no maiden surname is invented here — the blank is deliberate. Memo: ancestry/c1837-transcription-p27-p35.md
Elsewhere
This person on Ancestry (sign-in required)