The Five Dudley Sneeds

The Five Dudley Sneeds

by Deloris Williams

DUDLEY SNEED: A story about how a name shared by 5 different men have been constantly misidentified as the same person by Researchers. The surname is also sometimes spelled SNEAD. So I'm hoping that those researching the names will do a little extra work and come across this page explaining about the 5 different individuals.

1) The original DUDLEY SNEED, b. ca 1755, d. 1806, was the son of SAMUEL SNEED (1723-1806) & JANE DUDLEY (ca 1733-1823) who had lived most of their lives in Granville County, NC, although SAMUEL and JANE were in Person Co. in their later years. DUDLEY's wife is Unknown, she is NOT mentioned in any records found so far.

DUDLEY left home to serve in the Revolutionary War for Georgia, he was counted in the 1786 North Carolina State Census, in Granville Co, Ragland District and was last in Granville in 1788 in the Island Creek District (the 1790 Census showing him in that location was actually the 1788 Tax List since the Granville Co. Census has been lost). He was in the Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia, in Burke County. He appears in many Georgia records and in October 1806, there is record of his Administrators collecting on debts, as was necessary as part of their duties for the settlement of his estate upon his death which would be prior to that date. His children are named in several 1818 Deeds in Granville County where they were selling off land that he had owned there. They were his daughter NANCY, wife of FLOYD JARVIS; sons LEASTON, SAMUEL and DUDLEY, as well as a daughter, SOPHIA, wife of ALFRED INMAN. DUDLEY Jr. was a minor, so his brother LEASTON was appointed his guardian. DUDLEY SNEED (1755-1806) has been erroneously identified in many trees as any or all of his following relatives:

2) DUDLEY SNEED (1800-1863 Lee Co, Georgia) the youngest son of DUDLEY (1755-1806). He's in many records in Lee Co, GA, but he first shows in the 1820 Burke Co, GA Census, in Waynesboro, alongside brothers, SAMUEL, and LEASTON nearby. By 1840, he and his wife, DAMARIS (b. abt 1804), were living in Lee County, where they remained. He's in many of the records in Lee Co. being a prominent landowner, including as a witness in an 1856 Georgia Supreme Court case (Doe et al. vs. Roe et al.) in which he is identified as being a brother of LEASTON SNEED, deceased, with detailed information on LEASTON's wife and her previous husband and child. DUDLEY died August 5, 1863, and while he didn't have any children of his own; among his heirs were his wife, DAMARIS, his adopted son, JOHN NEEDHAM MASSEY (the subject of an extensive court case in 1858), LUCINDA HAYSLIP (no relationship known), GARNETT A. SNEED (LEASTON's son), JAMES BENTON COCK (a grandson of SAMUEL), and if they died, his estate was to go to the grandchildren of his brother SAMUEL M. SNEED (1794-1823). DUDLEY' birth & death dates are included on his tombstone.

3) DUDLEY SNEED (1798-1827 Person Co, NC) the son of THOMAS SNEED (1772-1825) & NANCY ANN PARKER (1774-1811) lived most of his life in & around Person Co. He was married in 1825 to JACOBINA PARKER (daughter of John Parker and Mary Milner). He only appears in the 1820 Person County Census, and a couple of Tax Records for that County. DUDLEY had no children. He left no will, but there is an extensive Estate which gives his death as June 1827, and which identifies his family: his wife JACOBINA, his deceased father, THOMAS SNEED, as well as his siblings, JONATHAN P. SNEED and SALLY, and her husband THOMAS V. HARGIS. They are all the same heirs identified in his father's 1825 Estate. THOMAS SNEED was a brother of DUDLEY SNEED (1755-1806)

4) DUDLEY M. SNEED (1804-1830 Burke County, North Carolina) son of PHILIP SNEED (abt 1754-1823) and JEMIMAH ANN MITCHELL (ca 1765-1822; daughter of Abraham Mitchell & Messeniah Davis) of Granville County. I suspect DUDLEY's middle initial was for his mother's surname. DUDLEY lived mostly in Granville Co. and was in very few records, and there are at least a couple of deeds with his brother, JOSEPH P. SNEED, and JOSEPH's wife, EDNEY SATTERWHITE. This DUDLEY SNEED was not married. His age (26) and his death (Sept. 19, 1830) ran in a newspaper article, which also states that he was of Granville County, died at "Brindle's mine" in Burke Co. NC. He also left a will in Granville written on his death bed, the same date that he died. It doesn't name them, but it bequeaths everything to his brothers children. It then names WILLIAM SNEED as his executor, which has led many researchers to assume that was one of his brothers. That however was actually his cousin, WILLIAM MORGAN SNEED (1780-1849) a well-known lawyer of the time, who handled legal matters for many family members. (WILLIAM's middle name came from his father, STEPHEN SNEED's, service in the Revolutionary War). PHILIP SNEED was a brother of DUDLEY SNEED (1755-1806)

5) DUDLEY SNEED (1819-1848 Troup Co, Georgia) the son of SAMUEL M. SNEED (ca 1794-1823) and REBECCA H. (1793-1865). Known as a doctor, he is first listed in his father's Estate Record in Pike County, Georgia, in the Guardianship papers filed by his step-father, WILLIAM J. ELLIS, which names the children- DUDLY[sic], ELIZABETH ANN, LEROY and SARAH ANN SNEED. DUDLEY is never in a Census, he was married in 1845 to SARAH ANN CULBERSON (1821-1893 Atlanta, GA, daughter of James Culberson & Sarah Wilkinson). They had one daughter, MARY DUDLEY SNEED. Dr. DUDLEY SNEED's death on Oct. 9, 1848 in LaGrange, is noted in a newspaper obituary, which stated that he'd died of congestive fever (malaria) "in his 29th year of age". SAMUEL M. SNEED (1794-1823) was a son of DUDLEY SNEED (1755-1806)

There is also additional work done on the Family of Dudley Sneed (1755-1806) for those who want to know more about him and his various family members, which can be reached by clicking onto the above link.