RICHARD STUBBS OF HYDE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

It is our current speculation that Richard Stubbs, who signed an undated (ca 1709) petition in Hyde County, North Carolina, came to North Carolina from Cheshire, England rather than from Gloucester County, Virginia as William Carter Stubbs stated in his 1902 publication The Descendants of John Stubbs of Cappahosic, Gloucester County, Virginia, 1652. Our DNA discoveries have caused us to abandon the Gloucester County, Virginia Stubbs family as our immediate ancestors, but we are not abandoning Richard Stubbs of Hyde County, North Carolina as our early ancestor. He was probably the father of our Thomas Stubbs (I) who first appeared in North Carolina records in 1720 and the father of John Stubbs who first appeared in Bladen County, North Carolina in 1749 and who sold Stubbs Hyde County land in 1759.

The only appearance we have of Richard Stubbs in Hyde County, North Carolina is his signature on an undated petition made there around 1709. Other signers left behind records of themselves through land deeds, wills, and court records. Richard Stubbs did not. From 1711 to 1713 Eastern North Carolina suffered through the bloody and destructive Tuscarora Indian War. Richard Stubbs may have died in that conflict.

In 1729 James Fortner of Hyde County, North Carolina left to Joanna Stubbs of Hyde County, 100 acres of land near Durins Point. In 1736 Joanna Stubbs administered the estate of her deceased son Richard Tayler. This gives us the information that Joanna had been married to a Tayler prior to her marriage to a Stubbs. In 1759 John Stubbs of Bladen County, North Carolina, came to Hyde County and sold the land James Fortner had left Joanna Stubbs in his 1729 will. John Stubbs had to be Joanna’s closest living relative to sell her land. He was probably her son.

Some coincidences occur that could be significant around the circa 1709 petition and the Fortner/Stubbs land. John Sullivant, a signer of the Hyde Petition along with Richard Stubbs, sold James Fortner his land in 1728. Robert Green was a signer of the 1709 petition. John Stubbs’ first appearance among the fragmented remains of early Bladen County records is as a witness to the will of John Green who had a son named Robert Green. Had the Greens and John Stubbs gone to Bladen County together?

A 2007 DNA comparison between descendants of John Stubbs of Bladen County, North Carolina and of Thomas Stubbs (I) of Tyrrell County, North Carolina shows a very close match. Both Thomas Stubbs (I) and John Stubbs of Bladen County, NC named sons Richard. This adds support to our theory that Richard Stubbs of Hyde County was father of Thomas Stubbs (I) of Tyrrell County, North Carolina and of John Stubbs of Hyde and Bladen Counties, North Carolina.