andVirginia Elmira Lunsford .(1799-1855)
« return to database listJoseph is the father of Jesse Anderson Lunsford, who is the father of Burwell students Elizabeth Frances Lunsford andVirginia Elmira Lunsford .
Joseph was married twice. His first marriage was to Elizabeth “Betsey” Howard. According to the NC Marriage Index 1741-2004, their marriage license was issued in Granville County, NC, on 29 Dec 1816; and according to Joseph’s gravestone, their marriage took place on 2 Jan 1817. Betsey’s gravestone – and US Census records of 1830, 1840 and 1850 – show that Joseph and Betsey had four children: Jesse Anderson, born 1819; Rebecca Jones, born about 1820; Allen Howard, born about 1823; and Mary Ann, born about 1830.
Betsey was born on 1 April 1797 and died 7 June 1834. She is buried in the Joseph Lunsford Cemetery in Person County, NC. The names of her four children are listed on her gravestone.
After Betsey’s death in 1834, Joseph married Rebecca Jones on 4 Nov 1837. Rebecca is not a direct ancestor of Burwell School student Elizabeth Frances Lunsford, as she is her grandfather’s second wife.
It is interesting to note that the first and middle names of one of Joseph and Betsey’s DAUGHTERS was Rebecca Jones. And note that after Betsey’s death, Joseph took “Rebecca Jones” as his second wife. This leads one to speculate that Betsey named one of her daughters after her own sister (Rebecca Jones) – and that after Betsey’s death, Joseph married Betsey’s sister, Rebecca Jones. It was not unusual in those times for a widower to marry one of his wife’s sisters.
The 1850 census shows that Joseph was 70 years old and owned real estate with a value of $1,800. In that census, members of Joseph’s household included his wife Rebecca, age 65, and another female, Sarah Vaughan (sp?), age 75. Of note is that a female between the ages of 60 and 69 is shown as a member of his household ten years earlier in the 1840 census; so this could also be Sarah. There is no indication of the relationship of Sarah to Joseph and/or Rebecca; but it is worth noting that spinster or widowed sisters of the time often lived with their siblings.
Joseph died 20 Dec 1855 and is buried in the cemetery that bears his name in Person County, NC.
SOURCES:
US Census records
NC Marriage Index 1741-2004
ancestry.com
findagrave.com
Gravestones in Joseph Lunsford Cemetery, Person County, NC (photos in Burwell files)
Family genealogical information provided by Minnie Sue Howard Wilkerson
Joseph Lunsford Jr was born on April 8, 1799, in Person County, NC. He died on December 20, 1855, and was buried in Joseph Lunsford Cemetery.
(granddaughter, 1844-1919), Joseph Addison Lunsford (grandson, b. 1846), Virginia Elmira Lunsford (granddaughter, 1848-1881), Ira Thomas Lunsford (grandson, b. 1851), George Allen Lunsford (grandson, b. 1853), Jesse Jones Lunsford (grandson, 1856-1947), Rebecca Ella Lunsford (granddaughter, b. 1858), John Calvin Calhoon [sic] Lunsford (grandson, b. 1863) and Elmira or Elmyra Trotter (daughter-in-law, 1821-1863).