Individual Details

Said to have married Mary E. Sibley/Silbey in many online trees. This is very much wrong - she has been confused with the wife of a completely different Thomas Walters. And her name was most likely Elizabeth Siveley. Please read my analysis that follows.

Some databases state that this Thomas Walters Jr. died during the Revolution but that cannot be true if the date of death as often seen as 25 Aug 1795 is correct - but then this date is actually the date of his father's Will which seems very unlikely to have been his death! Ages and order of births of the children of Thomas & Lucy are not known so he could have been old enough to serve in the Revolution. He was definitely deceased before Aug of 1795 because his father's will itemizes a gift to "John Walters, son and heir of my son Thomas Walters, deceased, 200 acres & plantation that joins McMurrey, it being the land where the said Thomas, dec'd, formerly lived and a horse. Also the bond that is against me for his fathers effects." Apparently the date of the father's will has somehow become the accepted date of death for Thomas Jr.

Here is one deed that is probably witnessed by Thomas, Jr. since it is his father's deed.
Pittsylvania Co VA DB 4
p.313 21 Feb 1777 Thomas Walters, planter, to Robert Walters Jr, planter, 200 acres both sides of the lower Double Crk of Dan R, bounded by low grounds of the creek, the old plantation, Griffins Tract, Watkins's line near Wynne's old road, Walters old line, John Walters, said Thomas Walters old line. Signed: Thomas (T) Walters. Wit: John Walters, Thomas Mading, Thomas Walters. Rec. 27 Mar 1777
Most of the time the records of Pittsylvania Co refer to Robert "Jr" as Robert, the sons of Robert Walters. The two first cousins of the same name were very close to the same age. However, in this case "Robert Jr" is definitely Thomas' son as he later passes 150 acres of this tract on to his son Jackson and states how he got the tract. The Thomas that witnesses this recordl is most likely Thomas Walters Jr since one cannot witness his own document - if so, it's practically the only record of him except mention of him as deceased in his father's will.


The fact that so few records can be found referring to Thomas Walters Jr is additional proof that he likely died as a young man. The fact that he apparently left only one child, the boy John born in 1779, is further substantiation that Thomas Jr had died sometime prior to his father, perhaps even several years earlier. Perhaps even in the Revolutionary War.

The Pittsylvania Co Land Tax lists of 1782 show a John Walters with 200 acres. Thomas Jr.'s father restated in his will that 200 acres had been given to John as the child of the deceased Thomas Jr. There was another John Walters in Pittsylvania at that time, but he was called Capt John in the tax list. I suspect that Thomas Jr was already deceased by 1782, since he does not appear on the tax list. That narrows his probable death between 1779 and 1782.

Although Mary E. Sibley has been said to be the wife of Thomas Walters Jr, It's a case of mistaken identity and that was not her name at all. I have found no record of the name of the wife of this Thomas Jr. Whoever that lady was, and if she was living, she may have remarried after his death as she was likely quite young.

Parents of Mary E. Sibley are said to be Robert Sibley and Jerusa Chandler in the file of Bob Walters, researcher of this line of Walters. However the book THE SIBLEY FAMILY IN AMERICA by James Scarborough Sidney is quoted as saying Mary, daughter of Robert & Jerusha Chandler married James Dauston in South Carolina about 1784. So that identification was incorrect.

Other references indicate this wife was Elizabeth Sievely, daughter of Joseph & Catherine Sievely of Shenandoah Co, VA. The Thomas Walters that married this Elizabeth appears to be a completely different man - one who lived in Shenandoah Co VA and then Jefferson Co, TN and lived until about September of 1827 - he died in Madison Co, Alabama.

File found on WorldConnect (no longer available) has additional information about the Thomas Walters that married Elizabeth Sively/Sievely. Some of the information about this couple has come from an early DAR file that had several errors and seems to be the "source" for the information about the wife of Thomas Walters Jr of Pittsylvania and certainly is an example of mistaken identity. The papers give his birth date as 1757, in England. He's said to have died in 1837 in Huntsville, Madison Co AL. His wife's name is given as "Mary E. Sibley" [note that this name is identical to the supposed wife of Thomas Walters Jr of Pittsylvania Co VA proved incorrect] This lineage has since been discredited by the DAR and any applicants must furnish new proof. The following is known.
a. There is no additional proof of his birth date or place
b. He died in Madison Co AL but his will was dated July 10, 1826, filed for probate on Sept 15, 1826, not 1837. It did name his wife as Elizabeth and named sons Thomas, John, and Daniel. Unnamed were another son William and a daughter Sarah. A son George had died as a small child.
c. Researchers of the Sibley family have no record of any Mary E., Mary Elizabeth, or Elizabeth that ever married a Thomas Walters.
d. Another researcher has found a Military Pay Record for a Thomas Walters who enlisted in 1775 at age 18, serving in the Virginia Infantry. He was living in Shenandoah County.
e. Thomas Walters of Shenandoah married Elizabeth Sievely, daughter of a German immigrant who leased land from Lord Fairfax [in Shenandoah] as early as 1761. This was Joseph Sievely whose wife was Catherine, sometimes seen as Catherine Rush - there's no proof of her surname.

This Thomas Walters from Shenandoah had a brother John who married Elizabeth Sivley's sister Sarah. These two couples as well as two of the Sivley brothers left Virginia for Jefferson Co TN about 1786-1788. About 1820, Thomas & Elizabeth moved to Madison Co AL where he died. Their surviving children all moved to Fulton Co Illinois.
NOTE that the estate settlement of Joseph Sievely in Shenandoah names money paid to John Walters, married the deceased's daughter Sarah, and money paid to Thomas Walters who married the deceased's daughter Elizabeth, among others.

The will of Joseph Sieveley, 20 May 1782, lists the following children: Jacob, Joseph, Peter, John, George, Barbara, Sara, Elizabeth, Margarette, Magdelene, Mary, Betty, Adam, Eve Brown, and Ann. Will Book A, p.392, Shenandoah Co.
Note: there is no daughter Catherine listed in this abstract but apparently there was a daughter by that name as shown by the following documents.

28 Nov 1782, letters of administration were granted Catherine, widow of Joseph Sivley and among the heirs named were Eve Brown, Catheine Will, Barbara Avrey, Sarah Walters, Peter, and Elizabeth Walters.

A settlement of Joseph Sievely in 1785 named:
Catherine, widow of Joseph with one-third interest, 156£
Each of the following received just over 27£
Eve Brown, widow, one of daughters
Mathias Will, married daughter Catherine
Cullip Arey married to daughter Barbara
John Walters, married to daughter Sarah
Peter Siveley, son
Thomas Walters, married to daughter Elisabeth

Death	Bef Aug 1795
Marriage

Child

John Walters (1779 - 1860)

Father	THOMAS WALTERS (1727 - 1796)
Mother	LUCY ?Clement or Walker (1731 - )
Sibling	ROBERT Walters (1750 - 1834)
Sibling	Capt John Walters (1753 - 1836)
Sibling	Wilmoth Walters ( - 1830)
Sibling	Agatha Walters (1760 - )
Sibling	Lucy Walters ( - )
Sibling	Clement Walters (1762 - 1835)
Sibling	Obediah Walters (1765 - 1836)
Sibling	Archibald "Archer" Walters (1768 - )
Sibling	William Walters (1775 - 1839)
Sibling	Margaret Walters (1778 - 1843)
Sibling	Abraham Walters (1781 - 1847)