Edwin Jefferson Railey
1812 – 1888
- Born
- abt 1812
Southampton, Virginia - Died
- 1888
Maneys Neck, Hertford, North Carolina - Married
- 09 Oct 1843, Southampton, Virginia
to Julia Ann Beale
The man who married as Robertson
Edwin Jefferson Railey is the earliest Railey we can document on this line. He was born about 1812 to 1814 in Southampton County, Virginia, and could not read or write. On 9 October 1843 he put his mark to a marriage bond in Southampton County to marry Julia Ann Beale, and her father, J. M. Beal, signed a written consent. Every paper in the bundle gives the groom's name as Edwin Robertson, not Railey.
The 1850 census, taken in St Luke's Parish, lists 'Edwin Robinson', 30, farmer, with Julia and two small children: Rosa, and a baby of three months who is almost certainly John Wesley Railey. By 1860 the family was across the state line in Hertford County, North Carolina, where Edwin, 45, was an overseer, and the surname was Railey. In 1870 they were back near Boykins Depot, Virginia. Edwin died in 1888 at Maneys Neck, North Carolina.
Something lies behind the changing names. In 1820 and again in 1840 a woman named Sally Railey headed a household in Southampton County, with a boy under ten in the first year and a young man in his twenties in the second. We think that boy was Edwin, that Sally was his mother, and that his father was a Robertson or Robinson. That is our best guess, not a proven fact.
His son's 1939 obituary names his parents as 'Edward and Julian Ann Railey' of Southampton County, a garbled version of the same couple's names.
How we know
- 1843 marriage bond and written consent, Southampton County, Virginia
- Census records for 1820, 1840, 1850, 1860 and 1870
- Obituary of John Wesley Railey, The Herald, Ahoskie, 30 March 1939
Confidence: probable – the 1843 marriage is fully documented, but his parents are a best guess drawn from census households
Open question: Who were Edwin Railey's parents?
Edwin Jefferson Railey, born about 1812 to 1814 in Southampton County, Virginia, married in 1843 under the name Edwin Robertson, and appears as Robinson in the 1850 census before settling into the name Railey. A woman named Sally Railey headed a Southampton household in 1820 and 1840 with a boy and then a young man who fit his age, so we think she was his mother and that his father was a Robertson or Robinson. We have found nothing that says so.
Timeline
- 1812Born in Southampton, Virginia
- 1850Lived in St Lukes Parish, Southampton, Virginia
- 1860Lived in Murfreesboro, Hertford, North Carolina
- 1870Lived in Boykins Depot, Jerusalem, Southampton, Virginia
- 1880Lived in Kirby, Northampton, North Carolina
- 1888Died in Maneys Neck, Hertford, North Carolina