My husband descends from Bright Jernigan (1792-1860) and Esther (Bulls) Watson (c. 1786-1828) of Johnston County, North Carolina through their daughter Esther A. A. Jernigan who married Charles Henderson Graham.
Last night's search through probate records led to a closer look at their land holdings and yielded a theory on where Bright Jernigan and wife Esther Bulls were buried.
In Bright Jernigan's probate packet there was a map of his property. I instantly recognized that piece of land because I had been looking at the same map in the estate settlement of Bright's son-in-law Henderson Graham.
Bright Jernigan's probate packet is a lengthy 40 some odd pages because his widow Jerusha (Lindsey) Jernigan was striving to receive her dower right in opposition to the claims of his daughters Chloe (Jernigan) Holt and Esther (Jernigan) Graham.
Here is that map:
A closer look at the revealed the location of Bright Jernigan's house. Take a look at this little blob on the map:
It's a house:
Use the tools feature to rotate it, and it looks more like a house:
It's a two-story house with four windows on the front, two over two. Surrounded by trees and a low fence!
That got me started thinking about something I had read years ago about Bright Jernigan's "discarded" tombstone being found in the woods in Johnston County. That sent me back to my notes...
On 4 August 2000, Talton reported on a message board now controlled by Ancestry that he had been on a research trip in Johnston County, North Carolina and saw Bright Jernigan's tombstone leaning against the side of house that was located on land once owned by the Jernigan family, but that had come to them through a wife: "Bright Jernigan gravestone is located in Boonhill Township Johnston County N. of Route: 1007 the Old Goldsboro Smithfield R. onto the (south) Loop\ Road (it is a road that loops and you go all the way around it and come out to #1007 headed to Smithfield."
In another note, this information from 2011 was posted in Genforum (now owned by Ancestry and defunct) by Guy Baker who wrote "I received the Johnston County Heritage Center Update, Vol 4, No 1, Fall 2005, the other day. On page 3 there was the following article - Unclaimed Tombstone: 'Frankie Norris is a present-day Smithfield resident who grew up in the Brogden community where he found this (shows a picture of him and the tombstone) discarded 1860 tombstone in woods near a field off Neuse Bend Road. Unable to locate a close relative of Bright Jernigan (the name on the stone), he brought it to the Heritage Center in hopes we could help find a member of the Jernigan family to determine a suitable resting place for it. According to the tombstone's inscription, Bright Jernigan was born March 22, 1792, and died April 5, 1860."
That led me to wonder where Neuse Bend Road was in Johnston County. I was wondering if I could tell how far Bright Jernigan's tombstone might have wandered. I entered Neuse Bend Road in Google, which offered me the address 100 Neuse Bend Road. I tried that, and look what I found--
Well, well, well, not much has changed! The course of the Neuse River has changed very little in the last 150 some odd years. It takes little imagination to see that Bright Jernigan's house, although not at 100 Neuse Bend Rd., was not far off of present-day Neuse Bend Rd. Since Brogden Rd. is also route #1007, it seems likely the "loop rd" referred to by Talton is actually Neuse Bend Rd.
In a deed of 1827 in Johnston County, North Carolina, Ester Jernigan gave land to her two children by her first husband, Willis Watson. That land was hers after the division of her father Barnabus Bulls' estate. Of the land that went to her Jernigan daughters, the deed states she gives them estate land known "by the name of Langford lands, where I now live, which is also in possession of husband Bright Jernigan and also for my two surviving children by Bright Jernigan, Cloe and Esther Jernigan."
It seems likely that the tombstone that Frankie Norris found "discarded in the woods off of Neuse Bend Rd." was either marking the gravesite of Bright Jernigan or had been put there in clearing a field for planting. It also seems likely that Bright was not buried there alone. It is reasonable to think that Ester was buried nearby along with any children who had not survived. The Bulls family may also have been buried there. If Bright Jernigan's tombstone had fallen over, then the same thing may have happened to the other stones. They may be just a few inches under the surface of the dirt. It is a shame that Frankie Norris removed the stone before considering the possibility that it was marking a gravesite rather than merely being discarded in the woods.
My next steps should be track down a copy of the Johnston County Heritage Center Update, Vol 4, No 1, Fall 2005, track down information on Barnabas Bulls' property, and ask the Heritage Center what they did with Bright Jernigan's tombstone.
Updated: December 23, 2018
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