Research by Jane Stubbs Bailey
ZACHARIAH GERKIN; SON OF ZACHARIAH AND HANNAH HARRISON BANKS GERKIN BORN CIRCA 1725? DISAPPEARS FROM TYRRELL/BEAUFORT/MARTIN RECORDS IN 1765 NO KNOWN DESCENDANTS
Zachariah Girken. Private. Muster Roll of Captain Evan Jones' Company of Soldiers from Tyrrel County, North Carolina, for the district between the Bark Poplar Swamp and Welches Creek, Jan 17, 1747. [page 647, Clark, Colonial Soldiers of the South]
1755. Zachia Girking on Tyrrell County Tax List. [Ralcliffe, 77] Brother Joshua Girking on same tax list
1758 Aug 9. William Swinson, carpenter. Will. Probate Sept Ct 1758 [Wm Swinson's daughter Elizabeth married John Harrison of the 1766 will. She was widow of Samuel Durrance] Dau Eliz Harrison, grandsons Welcom Williams & Franses Durrence Exec William Collins. Wit: Nath Everitt, Zachariah Girkins, Armit X Hollis. [Bradley, Tyr Wills, #330]
1759 March Court. Issued a subpoena for Nathaniel Everett Jr and Zachariah Girkin at the instant of William Collings to prove the will of William Swinson dec'd and the ---appeared and [Burr, Tyr Ct Min, Bk 2, #128]
1762 June 21. Thomas Everit. 32 acres in Tyrrell County joining a Branch, a Swamp and Everits line. Wits: Fr Ward, Ann Davenport, examined by Jno Savage and W. Churton. Surveyed 16 October 1761. Chain Cariers Zachariah Girkin, Jas Adams. John Hardison, Surveyor. [Hofmann, Granville Grants, Pat Bk 12, #2347, p 74]
June 1765 Court. Case of John Johnston vs Zachariah Girkin. no further information. [Microfilm C.096.30001, Tyrrell County Minutes of Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions, 1761-1770, p 168]
What happened to Zachariah Girkin? Did he die soon after 1765. Did he move to another county? He seems to have signed his name without a mark in the 1757 will of William Swinson. That would indicate an ability to write. The Zachariah Jerken/Gerken who applied for a Revolutionary War Pension in Leon County, Florida in 1833 stated that he had come from Halifax, North Carolina and that he could not read or write. The Revolutionary War Pensioner was 77 years old in 1833 and would have been born in 1756. Our Zachariah Gerkin was an older man than the Revolutionary War Pensioner.
Further research has shown that the Leon County family kept the Jerkins spelling for their name.
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