Individual Details

The Comstock book gives her birth year as 1742; her grave marked as 1740.

There exists a persistent story that Elizabeth Pledge was part Cherokee. Traditionally her mother Elizabeth was the daughter of Chief Donohoo and a white woman named Mary Wentworth. William Pledge, father of Elizabeth did marry Ann Redford, but the possibility that he had an earlier marriage to the first wife named Elizabeth cannot be ruled out. Other children ascribed to this earlier and illusive Elizabeth include Francis "Frank" Pledge, John Ayers and Junalusky. [John Ayers & Junalusky seem to have been made up...] Eventually some 1500 individuals attempted to claim Cherokee bloodlines from these four "children" of Elizabeth, daughter of Donohoo & Mary Wentworth - Case #664 in the Guion Miller Cherokee Rolls. All claims were rejected as no one could prove Chief Donohoo was actually Cherokee or ever lived with that tribe.

I have also found evidence that suggests perhaps William Pledge had daughters older than Elizabeth & Frank, who do not carry the Indian tradition. This would also cast doubt that they were children of any sort of Indian relationship. At the time William Pledge was having children, he was living in Goochland Co VA, a relatively settled area no longer under threat of Indian attack.

An interesting version of this story is in the Dec 1989 "Yadkin County Historical & Genealogical Society Journal" titled "Chief Donnahoo, My Indian Ancestor" compiled by Ruby Bray Canipe. These stories are so persistent that the Pettitts concluded in their book that there was possibly Indian blood but perhaps from an earlier generation. Likely this problem will never be solved. The truth is that the Poindexters had a ferry that crossed the Yadkin at a settlement known as Donnaha. There was living nearby a Donnaha family - white, not Indian. I have often wondered if bedtime stories were told about the name "Donnaha" adding certain Indian flavor ...stories that later took on a life of their own.

Another version of the tale is in The Heritage of Yadkin County, 1980, Frances H. Casstevens, Editor, Article 184. It says in part, " Donnahoo ...was a Cherokee Chief and that he married a white woman, Elizabeth Wentworth" and is from a manuscript written by A. H. Jarratt Sr. about the stories handed down in several Yadkin Co families. In reading this fanciful tale about a young Donnahoo rescuing a young English woman from hostile Indians there are some serious discrepancies. First of all Jarratt describes an Elizabeth Wentworth - in other versions she is Mary Wentworth that was rescued, Elizabeth being the daughter who would marry Pledge. The most disturbing part about the story is the presence of William "Bill" Pledge in the area near Edenton, North Carolina at a time he was instead living in Goochland, Virginia. I simply do not believe he was in North Carolina to meet Elizabeth Wentworth - and it's just as unlikely the incident related took place back where William Pledge was in Virginia, as it was a relatively settled area. Jarratt calls Bill Pledge a trapper - nothing in the records of Goochland indicate William Pledge was anything other than landed gentry, or that he made early hunting forays into North Carolina. In fact, William Pledge died in Goochland Co VA never living in North Carolina at all.

The Poindexter family was fond of using family names and the name Wentworth is used among the children of Elizabeth Pledge and Thomas Poindexter. There are other possibilities. Wentworth could very well have been the surname of Dorothy, mother of William Pledge and Elizabeth Pledge's grandmother, as her surname has never been discovered. Wentworth could have been a surname in the family of Thomas Poindexter's first wife. William Pledge could have been married more than once, and Ann Radford his second wife.

The Supplemental DAR application of Martha Eileen Duffy Douglas, National #617278 who is a descendant of William Arche Poindexter & Rebecca Flynn [makes her my double cousin - Poindexter & Flynn] has Elizabeth Pledge Poindexter as a Patriot in the Revolution. Here is her summary of her ancestor's service taken from the DAR Patriot Service Index:
"Elizabeth Pledge Poindexter performed Patriotic Service in NC during the Revolutionary War. Elizabeth is listed as a Patriot as a result of sewing letters to her daughter's petticoats and the daughter went through the lines delivering letters to proper parties. [DAR #494459]"
Then she cites the DAR Patriot Service Index, p.539 as her authority.
However, the person checking the applications usually adds notes/corrections and the following had been written in:
"In Data File:
Notarized Statement by Great Granddaughter [of Elizabeth Pledge Poindexter] given in 1916. She was the Granddaughter of Mary Poindexter Ridings - who was the little girl who delivered the letters. She was told the story by her grandmother."
So apparently at some time this notarized statement was in the DAR files and had been accepted as proof. Someone visiting the DAR library could get copies of the statement if it existed, but it apparently does not.
Dar application #494459, Copy sent by email from Richard Elliott. Application for #617278 is also in my files. No one is allowed to join DAR on this line any longer. The line has been closed if you cannot furnish new proof.

1810 Census, Surry Co NC
Elizabeth Poindexter. No males in household. One female age 26-45, 1female over age 45.

Elizabeth Poindexter is also listed in Capt. Stow's District, 1812 Surry Co tax list with 247 acres. Daughter Dorothy, sons John G., Robert, Archibald, and Thomas P. W. are on the same list, as is John (Stray) Poindexter believed to be a nephew.

From the Surry Co NC book of Inventories, Bonds, etc. dated 1809-1818 and digitized on FamilySearch.org.
p.172-174
An account of the property sold of the Estate of Elizabeth Poindexter deceased by William Poindexter and Robert A. Poindexter, the 7th and 8th of June 1806. (this date is surely a mistake - the sale was in 1816)
Thomas W. P. Poindexter bought a plow, coffee mill, hogshead of cider, a bee hive, 6 head of cattle, pot & hooks, bacon, a table, rye in the field for a total of £66.6.8
Robert a Poindexter bought potatoes, log chain, cider, bee hive, bedstead, piece of leather, an apple mill & utensils, other small items. £31.1.7
William Poindexter bought a plow, fodder, pot & skillet, chair, soap, looking glass, etc. for £10.13.5
William Pratter bought 5 barrel of corn and a crock of fat
Matthew Taylor bought one pair of gears.
Isaac McCammon bought a plow, 5 bars of iron, a cupboard, a scythe. £18.7
John G. Poindexter bought an axe, a hogshead of cider, a table, a counterpane, 5 chairs, a wheel, a tablecloth. £9.12.2
William Scott bought rye, 5 barrels of corn, and then another lot of 7 1/2 barrel of corn for a total of £22.16
Anne Scott bought a flax wheet, 10 gallons of vinegar, a chest, sheet & towels, salt cellar, counter pane [bedspread]. £7.2.5
Edward Lovill bought 80 gallons of cider and a smoothing iron. £3.15.11
Jesse Ridings bought a hogshead, candle snuffers, a Testament, and three Negroes for a total of £401.15.9
Laughlin Flyn bought 5 barrels of corn 6sh 7p.
Edmond Kerby bought a cow & calf.
Joshua Prim bought the hogs for just over £20.
Dorothy A. Poindexter bought a bedstead 7 furniture, table. £18.0.6
James Hammons bought an umbrella, shears, harness, scythe
William Logan bought crocks, pewter, knives & forks bid off by Hammon Miller
John Kelly bough candle moulds
Leonard Scott bought the loom
Patrick Logan bought a seive
Anne Petitt bought an oven
There were several small items not sold.
August Term 1816. Sale of the Estate of Elizabeth Poindexter deceased was returned and ordered recorded. Jo.Williams, CC

p.198
Inventory of the property of Elizabeth Poindexter deceased sold to William & Robert Poindexter, 7 Sep 1816. [appears to be just the last of her estate and the items left over from the first sale as divided among the sons]
Robert A. Poindexter bought spice mortar, bits of iron, oat stack.
Thomas W. P. Poindexter bought a meal bag, tray & skillet.
William Poindexter - 10 1/2 bushels of oats, a tub
John G. Poindexter, half bushel, flax brake.
The toal was about 11sh
Feb Term 1817. Returned & recorded.

p.269
29 Jul 1818. Agreeable to your order to us directed we have proceeded the perform the duties assigned us. We from the amount of sales find the Estate of Elizabeth Poindexter decd. to be worth $1279.51 1/2 cents. We allow the Admrs of the within Estate pd upon the whole amount by us. Edward Sweatt, JP. Thos Dugless< JP
Aug Term 1818. Settlement with admrs. of Elizabeth Poindexter dec'd. returned and ordered to be recorded. Jo.Williams, CC

Winston-Salem Journal, Winston-Salem, NC - Saturday, 5 Aug 1911, p.5
NOTE: This article has multiple errors! See [ ] quotes
WHO WAS BETTIE PLEDGE?
Tradition says that her name before marriage was Bettie Donnoah, that shw was the daughter of an Indian chief of the Cherokee nation and that her mother was white. Bettie Donnoha married William Pledge and was the mother of two children, Elizabeth Pledge who married Thos. Poindexter, and Francis Pledge, who married Thos. Poindexter's sister. [NOTE: William Pledge was married to Ann Redford - a perfectly white lady, not and such Bettie Donnoha...this is part of the very wrong story that led to so many of the Poindexters trying to prove Indian descent and they could not because it simply was not true.]
Elizabeth was the mother of Francis, Archibald, [Thomas] Pledge, William, John G. and R. A. Poindexter, Mrs. Mary Wentworth Ridens [Ridings], Mrs. Elizabeth McCammons, Mrs. Martha Pettitt, Mrs. Ann R. Scott, Mrs. Sarah Lovill, and Mrs. Dorothy Randolph. Her husband served as captain in the Revolutionary War. He was born in the year 1733, and died Jan 1, 1807. They have two grandsons now living, John H. Poindexter, 82 years old and P. H. Poindexter, 74 years old.
Nancy Pledge, daughter of Francis Pledge, married Isham Vest. She was the mother of Isham Vest Jr., Mrs. Telitha Apperson, Mrs. Lucy Apperson, Mrs. Henderson Poindexter, and Nancy Kirk. She has eight grandchildren now living: Thos. Henderson Poindexter, Mrs. Anderson Poindexter, Mrs. J. W. Shore, James Kirk, Mrs. Monroe Henter, Capt. T. V. Apperson and Alvis Apperson. The ages of these grandchildren will average about seventy years.
The white woman referred to above was Mary Wentworth [earlier I noted several possibilities for the name Wentworth used for at least two of Elizabeth Pledge Poindexter's children] It is said that she belonged to a family of nobles in England. [If so, she would never have had an alliance with an Indian - and the Indians had been removed from the place in Virginia where she supposedly lived.] It seems that her family came to virginia in the seventeenth century and settled in what is now Louisa Co. At about the same time the Poindexters migrated to the same place. [But no Wentworth family is found near the Poindexters in that place.] At a later date Thos. Poindexter and wife Elizabeth Pledge, moved to Old Richmond,Surry County, NC and located in the bend of the Yadkin River one mile west of Donnaha. Around Donnaha are many descendants of Bettie Donnaha [NOTE: The Donnahas, neighbors of the Poindexters, were a very white family, also from Virginia - nothing was named there for an Indian chief!]
The above genealogy was told to me when I was five or six years old, by my uncle John G. Poindexter, who was born Aug. 8, 1778 and died Oct. 4, 1863.
P. H. POINDEXTER
[NOTE: This is Pleasant Henderson Poindexter who wrote letters to many Poindexter descendants encouraging them to join in the attempt to prove Cherokee lineage in order to get land in Oklahoma. Most of them couldn't even get the story straight that he remembered from a very young age.]

Birth	Abt 1740	Goochland County, Virginia
Marriage	13 Feb 1760	Goochland County, Virginia - [Capt] THOMAS POINDEXTER
Death	9 Feb 1816	Surry County, North Carolina

Spouse	[Capt] THOMAS POINDEXTER (1733 - 1807)
Child	Ann Radford Poindexter (1760 - 1835)
Child	Francis Anderson Poindexter (1764 - 1802)
Child	William Pledge "Wag" Poindexter (1766 - 1844)
Child	Martha Milner "Patty" Poindexter (1768 - 1853)
Child	Thomas Wentworth Pledge Poindexter (1771 - 1838)
Child	Elizabeth Carolina Pledge Poindexter (1772 - )
Child	Mary Wentworth "Polly" Poindexter (1775 - 1863)
Child	John George W. "Stumpy" "Jack" Poindexter (1778 - 1863)
Child	ARCHIBALD PLEDGE POINDEXTER (1780 - 1842)
Child	Sarah Redford "Sally" Poindexter (1784 - 1862)
Child	Robert Alexander Poindexter (1788 - 1842)
Child	Dorothy "Dolly" Poindexter (1790 - )

Father	WILLIAM PLEDGE ( - 1779)
Mother	ANN REDFORD (1716 - )
Sibling	Dorothy PLEDGE (1736 - 1796)
Sibling	Martha Pledge (1739 - )
Sibling	William Pledge Jr. ( - 1781)
Sibling	Francis "Frank" Pledge (1744 - 1784)
Sibling	Archer Pledge (1747 - 1806)