Charles Rountree (c1780-1816) was surely related to Thomas Rountree of Orange County, North Carolina in some way. Thomas Rountree’s son Joseph stated in his 1867 document that his brother William did not “raise a family” but William was the only one of Thomas Rountree’s sons who could have fathered this Charles Rountree. How he fits into the family is a mystery.
He may have been, probably was, the other male aged 26-45 in Thomas Rountree’s household in the 1810 census of Orange County.
Sometime about 1814 he bought a 300-acre plot from the estate of Micajah Nichols. Micajah Nichols had died in November 1812 owing a 300-acre plantation. His will, which was witnessed by Joseph Rountree, directed his executors to sell the land if his wife remarried. 1
On 1 November 1814 he executed a marriage bond to marry Mary Anne Bowers, with Jesse Evans his bondsman. Three months later on 25 January 1815 he executed a deed of trust for 300 acres to Thomas Sneed with Joseph Rountree witnessing. 2. The instrument declared that he had given Mathias Nichols (who was executor of Micajah Nichols) two bonds totaling $450 for which Jesse Evans was security, and the purpose of the deed was to indemnify Jesse Evans.
Charles Rountree was referred to as “junior” in this instrument, presumably to differentiate him from the other Charles Rountree who was living in Person County. (See this page.) However, that other Charles Rountree was called “junior” in his own deed in 1814 and again in the 1815 and 1816 tax lists and there is reason to think this was a clerical error.3.
He died in December 1816. In February 1817 “Mary Anne Rountree, widow and Relict of Charles Rountree dec’d…” petitioned for a year’s provisions, the court noting that “Charles Rountree her late husband departed this life intestate in the month of December last leaving your Petitioner his relict and widow, tho leaving no crop nor stock of provisions… ” and noting that Jesse Evans has taken out letters of administration…” 4
An inventory and estate sale were held the same month by Jesse Evans. The inventory was modest, consisting of two horses, three cows, 3,500 shingles and planks, a shotgun, two beds, two tables, six chairs, a note on Hugh Woods for $72.83, an account on William Hannah for $6 and a few other items. The estate sale yielded just $278.62. 5 After collecting debts and paying bills, the estate was valued at roughly $354.6
With no means of paying the mortgage, Thomas Sneed quickly sold the 300 acres to Elias Fort on 10 March 1817, noting that sd. Charles Rountree did not pay to the satisfaction of Mathias Nichols or Jesse Evans…. 7
The other Charles Rountree, several times referred to as “junior” was born in 1783, meaning that this Charles Rountree, (if we ignore the anomaly of the 1814 deed, must have been born earlier than 1783. Indeed, if he was in a Rountree household in 1810, he must have been the otherwise unknown second male aged 26-44 in the Orange County household of Thomas Rountree. That would make him roughly the same age as Joseph Rountree, the youngest son of Thomas Rountree. The only son of Thomas Rountree who could have fathered him was William Rountree, who died in or about 1790. But Joseph Rountree’s 1869 letter said that William did not “raise a family” and he surely would have remembered the Charles Rountree for whom he stood witness and who lived next door in 1810. Therefore it seems possible, if not likely, that this Charles Rountree was also a relative who immigrated from Ireland.
- Person County Willis, Inventories & Taxables 1811-1815, p114. [↩]
- Person County Deed Book D, p427. [↩]
- The clerk had copied a deed by Charles Rountree Jr. on page 411 and here on page 427 was copying a deed by a newly arrived Charles Rountree who he may plausibly have mis-referenced as “junior.” [↩]
- Person County Loose Estate Files, FHL Film 005515414, image 104 of 1983. [↩]
- Person County Wills, Inventories & Taxables 1815-1817, p299. [↩]
- Person County Wills, Inventories Etc. Book 1818-1820, p248. [↩]
- Person County Deed Book D, p147. [↩]