Luke Tippitt 1768-1826 (52 Ancestor's #46)

This week’s theme is “Changes”.  I have been doing some research on the Luke Tippitt family and thought that he would make a good subject for this topic.  He had three wives and lived/moved to three states.  That seems like a lot of changes to me!

Luke Tippitt was born about 1768 in North Carolina.  It is believed that his parents were John and Susannah Tippitt, but I have not seen proof of that.  When he was about twenty-four years old, Luke married Mary Vincent in 1792 in Granville County, North Carolina.  The 1800 census from Granville County indicates that they had five children at that time: three daughters and two sons. Mary died around 1807.

Sometime between 1800 and 1808, Luke moved to Tennessee.  I would assume that whatever living children he had would have gone with him as none of them would be over fifteen years old.  In 1808, Luke married Jenny Cooksey in Wilson County, Tennessee.  Sadly she died the following year.

Luke married Nancy Adamson around 1810 in Tennessee.  By then Luke was about forty-three years old, and Nancy was about twenty-one years old. Luke Tippitt was listed in the 1812 Warren County, Tennessee Tax List.  There is also a William Tippitt on this Tax List who is listed next to “Aron Adamson”.  Luke and Nancy’s daughter Malinda was born in 1812 in Wilson County, Tennessee.  Their son William Tippitt was born in 1815 in Tennessee and their son Matthew Lovell Tippitt was also born in Tennessee in 1817.

By 1820, Luke Tippitt was living in Edwards County, Illinois.  He is listed there with his wife (Nancy) and four children under the age of ten.  Another child was born before the 1825 Edwards County, Illinois census where Luke is found listed. 

From the “History of Richland County” it is stated that Luke’s son, Matthew Lovell Tippitt, was four or five years old when his father died.  Since Luke Tippitt was listed in the 1825 census, I am guessing that he must have died about 1826.  Luke would have been around fifty-eight years old at the time of his death.  He left his wife Nancy and five children when he died.

It’s unknown what became of Luke’s wife, Nancy.  One source states that she moved to Richland County, Illinois after Luke died.  I have been unable to locate any records on her.  I suspect that she remarried (she was about thirty-six years old when Luke died).  Luke and Nancy’s daughter Malinda (Milly) married in 1829 in Edwards County, Illinois.  Malinda and her husband are listed in Lawrence County, Illinois in 1830. Son Matthew Lovell Tippitt and his family were listed in Lawrence County, Illinois in 1840.  Son William Tippitt settled in Morgan County, Illinois where, interestingly, is where Luke Tippitt’s son Elijah (by Mary Vincent) also settled.