The
articles available on this site are excerpts of a book that I
[Stewart Estes] published in 2009, tracing the ancestry of my Estes family. David
Powell has graciously offered to host a good deal of the book on his
website in separate files or chapters, divided primarily by
generation. I am a sixteenth generation Estes, descending from our
earliest known ancestor. Click on the link above (or here) to go to the contents page with links to the individual chapters.
The
book focuses on those in my direct line. But if known, it includes as
much data on their wives, and siblings and their children as
practical. It is in no way meant to be a scholarly work, and contains
little original material. Its principle contribution, if any, was to
collect every scrap of information known about those in my line and
organize them into a readable product, with as many references
(almost 400 footnotes) to secondary or even primary material as
possible to allow for future research. (A CD-ROM containing a PDF
version of the entire 849 page book and appendix is available, see
below)
Our
Estes ancestors were Englishmen who arrived in the Virginia colony as
early as 1673. The line can be traced to Nicholas
“Ewstas” (my 12th
great grandfather) who was born in 1495 in Deal, county Kent, on the
southeast English coast. His will has been located and is reproduced
and transcribed. The path of our ancestry prior to Nicholas’
birth is faded; there is no clear record prior to that time. The
family name was variously written as Ewstas, Eastes, Estridge, and
perhaps East or Eustace. There are four theories as to the origin of
the name. One theory even traces the name back to the royal D’Este
family of Italy, though this is disputed. We
do know that four generations of Estes after Nicholas remained in
England. His descendants remained in the Kent area, in towns such as
Deal, Ringwould, Sholden and Sandwich, working at first as fishermen,
and later weavers.
Abraham
Estes (1640-1720), the 13th
child of Sylvester
Eastes and Ellin Martin is our immigrant ancestor. He was a linen
weaver in Sandwich. In 1673, Abraham sailed from England to Virginia
aboard the Dutch flyship the Martha,
and settled in King & Queen County, where he raised many children
with Barbara (perhaps Brock), whom he married in America. David
Powell, Leroy Eastes, Jim Estes, and Larry D. Duke have written
extensively on these matters, and the chapters of the book summarize
their research. An
examination of this family’s later movements is a reflection of
the history of America. The Estes family followed the opening of new
territories and better or cheaper land, drifting from coastal
Virginia to Orange County, North Carolina -- near the present city of
Chapel Hill -- and thence westward to Tennessee, before settling in
the northeastern hills of the newly-created State of Arkansas in the
1840’s, where many cousins remain today. Abraham’s
eldest child, American born Sylvester
Estes/Estice (1684 Virginia – aft. 1754 NC) took his children to
North Carolina by 1734, where the line remained for almost a century. At
least a dozen Estes men fought in the Revolutionary War. Abraham’s
grandson, Thomas Estes
I, was a loyal Tory who was captured and condemned to death. Despite
his politics, his neighbors thought well enough of him to petition
for clemency. He was spared death, on condition that he join the
fight for independence. This he did, and it is thought that he died
in battle soon thereafter.
Burroughs
“Burris” Estes (1769 NC —1829 Tenn.) received his
Uncle Moses Estes’ Revolutionary War bounty land grant in
northwestern Tennessee in 1820. He and Martha Lloyd took most of
their nine children there from North Carolina soon after. In
1860, Burris’ son sixty year old Thomas Estes (1799 NC – 1886 W.T.),
picked up and moved his second wife most of his 18 children to the
newly opened Washington Territory. Several of his sons, sons-in-law,
and nephews had gone to California during the 1849 Gold Rush and
beginning in 1853, were inspired to return west with their families
to California, Oregon and Washington. A large population of Estes’
reside in Washington and Oregon today (Thomas had 118 grandchildren). Interestingly,
not all of Thomas’ children moved to Washington. Thomas’
second eldest child James Estes
stayed behind in Arkansas, and was murdered by Confederate soldiers
within two years after his family departed. His widow Rebecca Nolan
(from the Creek tribe) fled to Iowa but returned after the war and
raised the children in Sharp County. Their son James Madison Estes had a large family that included my great-grandfather, John
Franklin Estes (1871–1937). Many of this name populate northeastern
Arkansas today.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I
would like to express my gratitude to my father’s brother,
Louis Franklin Estes of Arizona for starting me down this interesting
and sometimes arduous path. His sharing of family stories,
information and photographs was instrumental to both the initiation
and the completion of this work. Australian
Estes descendant, David Powell, has researched and collected much of
the earliest records known on this family, for which we are all
deeply indebted. Likewise, Leroy Eastes has contributed a great deal,
including a breakthrough discovery regarding the exact date and
vessel on which Abraham Estes sailed in 1672. Larry
Duke of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma (noted Estes researcher, and editor of
Estes Trails
since 1995) has done a remarkable job of collecting and disseminating
the basic tools for all of us to trace our Estes roots. Larry took
over for Mary Estes Beckham who started the newsletter in 1980. But
beyond that he has been a mentor and a voice of encouragement. Jim
Estes, a William
Marlden Estes descendant, created a
website that is one of the most comprehensive collections of Estes
descendant reports and photographs known -- The
Estes Group on Yahoo. In addition, he
has performed years of his own exhaustive research into various
lines. Harriett
Hart Beach of Eatonville, Washington, a descendant of Nancy Emily
Estes has done extensive research on the Washington Estes branches,
and has been exceedingly generous with her time and information. The
Fort Walla Walla Museum and the Walla Walla Valley Genealogical
Society were extremely generous in providing information and records. The
family coat of arms on the cover is taken from the cover of May Folk
Webb and Patrick Mann Estes, Cary-Estes
Genealogy (published in 1939, reissued
1979).
Stewart
A. Estes Bainbridge,
Island, Washington, November 7, 2009
PURCHASING
THE BOOK
The
chapters posted here are excerpts of a 701 page book that was
published in 2009. The book contains the material posted on this
site, plus other information concerning the ancestry of the two wives
of Thomas Estes (1799-1868), and more recent generations closer
connected to the author. The book is available for purchase in PDF
format on a CD-ROM. The CD includes directions on how to have it made
into a book at your local print shop, and also a 148 page Appendix
containing numerous US Census forms from 1840-1930, petitions, wills,
land records, Daughters of the American Revolution applications,
newspaper articles, Oregon Trail stories, birth, death and marriage
records, letters, and other documents. COST:
Please forward the amount (US 1st
Class $US4, US Priority $US8, Foreign $US15) to Stewart Estes, 5801 Ward Ave. NE., Bainbridge
Island, WA, 98110-3183, USA. This is only to reimburse for materials, and
shipping costs. Direct any questions (or new information and corrections) to
saestes@msn.com.