Hi Joe,
Actually, the man that originally found
these documents was researching the John Millikin family (not john Milligan
of Berkeley Co., Virginia) as he himself is a descendant of the Millikin
family. He claims that John Millikin and Isabella Doak are buried Side-by-Side
in an old cemetery in Lincoln County, Tennessee, Fayetteville I think he
said. Now this is the Isabella Doak that is a daughter of Samuel Doak. I
am sure we are talking about the same person.
Evidently, as I have understood this story,
There were two women, Odessa McGowan and Eunice Baker both of Bono, Arkansas
and both descendants of John Milli-GAN of Strawberry, Arkansas, that wrote
and published a book in late 1984 titled, "Our Milligan Heritage." It was
a genealogy of one of John 1 Milligan's (of Triadelphia, West Virginia)
sons who's name is also John 2 Milligan. They did not have the luxury
of computerized research and did everything the old way by searching libraries
and county records by going to these places and actually doing their research.
They ran across the Marriage certificate of John Milli-Kin and Isabella Doak
in the County Clerks office in Breckenridge or Bridgeport (?) County,
W. Virginia and thought it was the record for their ascendant, John Milli-GAN
primarily because they knew that some of the MilliKin Family use to change
the spelling of their last name to Milligan after they got to America. So
without researching any deeper into the real John Milli-gan, they used this
marriage document of Isabella's and claimed that in deed it was THE
John Milli-GAN of Berkeley County, not thinking that there could have been
two John's living in the same area at the same time. They used this marriage
certificate with the claim that John Milligan had married Isabella
Doak and created the story that she birthed all of John Milligan's children
except for the very last few who were suppose to be birthed by a woman name
of Sarah Robinson.
Remember now this was some 24 years ago
that this mistake had been injected into both the Doak and Milligan Families.
They printed their book and distributed it among the Milligan and Doak Families
and after a while, this book became the "Bible" of Milligan Family Ancestry.
Most of the Milligan Family never questioned the validity of their research
or realized that this mistake had been perpetuated, unwittingly, by them.
I'm sure they believed that their research was as good as it could be not
even realizing themselves that there were mistakes in the research. The Book
went out to many people and the story of the Isabella Doak / John Milligan
marriage spread. Then with the advent of Computerization into genealogy study,
this story of Isabella Doak and John Milligan was "Old News" and considered
to be accurate by everyone and got used and put into the Family Trees
of both the Milligan and Doak Families.
It wasn't until the mid to late 1990's
that a John Milligan descendant, Bessie Milligan, from Oklahoma pieced
together this mistake. She realized that the first 4 or 5 children born to
John Milligan and Isabella Doak occurred BEFORE their Marriage date.
She thought it odd and decided to start a research of the Isabella Doak family.
She must have seen the marriage certificate of John Milli-Kin and Isabella
Doak and got even more suspicious when she saw that the name Milli-Kin was
on the document and not Milli-Gan. Then she looked into the Milli-Kin Families
and actually claimed at some point that John Milli-kin and Isabella Doak
were married in Virginia and moved to Tennessee and settled in the Lincoln
County area to remain close to her family (Samuel Doak) and even stated
that she had found their graves in Lincoln County.
Since then, much has been discovered. The
man that actually found these documents, Bryce Milli-Kin, claimed that he
had seen mistakes in genealogies before but went on to say that this story
of John Milligan and Isabella Doak was the most prolific mis-direction
in Family genealogy he had ever come across.
I guess you can't blame him, the REAL Milli-Kin
Family that married into the good name of the Doaks was being left out of
the picture all together and the legacy of this marriage was actually theirs
to begin with. How could they proceed with the research of this Branch of
the John Millikin name and family when it was being monopolized by the John
Milli-GAN to Isabella Doak Story?
Well, since then, these documents have
been re-discovered sitting in the Lincoln County Courthouse all of these
years, waiting for this moment in time to make their re-appearance. They
had not seen the light of day since they were created in the 1800's. They
even survived the Civil War years of Tennessee.
There have also been other supporting documents
found on the Milli-GAN side of the issue with John Milligan's Revolutionary
War Declaration to the War Department so he could acquire a pension. He
also had a will that was found that never mentioned Isabella Doak as his
statements were of all of his children by Sarah Robinson, who was his
"Life-Long" wife. He and Sarah Robinson are buried Side-by-Side in
the Stone Church Cemetery in West Virginia just like John Milli-Kin and Isabella
Doak are buried Side-by-Side in Lincoln County, Tennessee close to Fayetteville
I believe it is. I don't remember exactly any more and Bessie Milligan who
claimed to have found these graves is no longer alive. Maybe Bryce Millikin
has had a chance to find them as part of his own research.
At any Rate, These documents in their entirety
will allow anyone to see that DNA Testing is not necessary or even an issue.
I was hoping that you may be able to help
with this Joe and clear the John Milli-Kin Name so that proper research
into his and Isabella's family can remain pure and "Accurate". The Doak Family,
good as their family name is, will also be able to benefit by the real
branch of Isabella's family and their legacy. It's their children and descendants
that will thank you for centuries to come.
I am going to attach as many of these documents
as I can to this E-mail. There may need to be subsequent e-mails to follow.
There are 5 documents in total. If some do not make it to you, please let
me know and I will send them to you separately. These documents came from
the Courthouse in Lincoln County, Tenn. and It may be easier for you to
get "Certified" copies of them right from the County Clerk's Office for
your own records since you also live in Tennessee.
Letter
written by Otillie Milliken (Mrs. Spencer R. Milliken) 97 W. River
Rd, Rumson, NJ 07760. Letter
written Nov. 11,
1986.
"There is one member of my Milliken family who is said to have married
a Needham Sorrels. She was Mary ("Polly") Milliken, daughter of John Milliken
and Isabella Doak. She was born about 1803 and would probably have married
to him in Lincoln Co. TN. I have a photocopy of a letter written by Needham and Polly
Sorrels to her relatives in 1847 or 40. It was Polly's nephew who was the
recipient of this letter, a son of her sister Virginia Milliken and Samuel
Lynch. It was sent to me by Charlotte Settlemires, a descendant of Samuel
and Virginia Lynch. Her address: Box 166, Rt.
3, Walnut , MS 38683. My husband
is descended from Polly's brother Samuel Doak Milliken. "
It is
possible that this Mary was previously married to the MORTON, and that her
maiden name was Milliken. (I have a copy of a letter written to John Milliken
Lynch (son of Samuel & Virginia "Jennie" Milliken Lynch) and was dated
February 4, 1849 from "Polly" written from Lincoln Co., TN sent to me
by Thelma Prince.)
Her widow's
pension was witnessed by a J.A. Milliken who was age 41 years, 24 Apr
1828.
The
book is "TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF OUR BARNES, HALBERT & DENHAM FAMILIES"
by Delpha Weatherson,
1979. It may be the same book, because all of the families were in Lincoln
Co., TN, but I don't know for sure. The book states:
"Samuel Doak Milliken b 2 June
1789 the
son of John Miliken (died 26 Dec
1814) and
Isabella ( d 26 Jan
1803). He
md 3 April
1817 to Peggy
Porch who was b 29 Apr
1801. Samuel
was in the Civil War and died 1864. According to family records, during
the Civil War the Yankees came for Samuel Doak, they were marching him
to Tullahoma, Tenn. but
he died before he there. I'm sure there are more sad facts to this story.
They had nine children. 1. Henry Poarch Milliken
b 29 Apr
1818 died
3 Apr
1823 2. John
Doak Milliken b 18 Oct
1819 died
19 Oct
1841 3. George
Washington Milliken b 1821 died 15 Oct
1858 md 15 Sept
1855 to Caroline
Reed 4. Polly Ann Milliken b 10 Nov
1823 died
6 Sept
1874 md 9 Dec
1841 to John
Marion Barnes 5. William Louis Monroe Milliken b 6 Jan
1826 6. Augustine
Lawrence Milliken b 13 Aug
1828 Died
27 Aug
1829 7. Louisa
Adaline Milliken b 5 Nov
1833 died
27 Apr
1877 md 27 Apr
1869 to Henry
James Barnes 8. James Alexander Cathey Milliken
b 3 Apr
1836 died
20 Sept
1920 md 10 Aug
1857 To Margaret
Barnes 9. Elizabeth Sophronia Milliken b 30 July
1830 d 20
Aug 1843" There is a little more about the Milliken family in the book
but mainly as connected to the Barnes family
Best Regards to you,
