The First Known Sykes Family

of Smith County, Tennessee

Researched and Written by James M. (Jim) Sykes
This is a work in progress and is being provided at this time to assist other researchers.

The first known Sikes/Sykes family to reside in Smith County is believed to have been Joshua Sykes, Senior, his wife Anne Morris Sykes and some of their children. Joshua, Sr. was born about 1749, probably in Norfolk County, Virginia and died on February 10, 1823 in Smith County. His Will was probated at the February 1823 term of the Smith County Court. Anne was born about 1760, probably in Halifax County, North Carolina and died about 1818 in Smith County. Joshua, Sr. and Anne had at least six children who were named in Joshua, Sr’s Will. They were William Sykes, Terrell Sykes, Joshua Sykes, Jr., Rebecca Sykes Waggoner, Ann Sykes Nelms and Elizabeth Sykes Parker. Major Lewis Sykes was listed in the Will as his grandson, a son of Elizabeth Parker and Nancy Waggoner was listed in the Will as his granddaughter. He appointed Joshua Sykes, Jr. and Daniel Waggoner as Executors of his Will.

It is believed that this family moved from Halifax County, North Carolina to Tennessee in about 1807 when Joshua sold his land in Halifax County to James Walston, as shown in Halifax County Deed Book 21, Page 135.

William Sykes was originally believed to have moved to Benton County, Tennessee and was believed to have married Nancy Moore. Additional research indicates that the William Sykes who lived in Benton County was too young to have been the son of Joshua Sikes, Sr. and Anne Morris Sykes. Additional research is continuing in an attempt to locate this William Sikes. Vicky Sykes, one of the descendants of the Sykes family of Benton County was very helpful in eliminating their William Sikes as the son of Joshua and Anne. The Benton County William and Nancy had several children and their descendants can be traced through the Benton County Web site.

Terrell Sykes’ first known appearance in the records of Tennessee was when he was listed in the tax records of Davidson County in 1811. His first known appearance in Smith County was in 1816 when he served as an administrator of an estate. He is believed to have moved to Obion County before the 1820 Smith County census. Terrell does not appear in any known census enumeration. No records have been located on Terrell after the late 1830’s where he appears as a defendant in a lawsuit in Obion County and no records have been located to indicate that Terrell ever married or had children. Some records show that he participated in the war of 1812.

Joshua Sykes, Jr’s first known appearance in the records in Tennessee was when he was listed in the tax records of Davidson County in 1811. His first known appearance in Smith County records was in the 1820 Smith County census. Leodicia Mangum first appeared in the Smith County records as the wife of Elias Gwaltney in the 1820 Smith County census (although she is not identified by name in these census records). Leodicia and Elias Gwaltney are believed to have been born and married in Isle of Wight County, Virginia and moved to Smith County sometime in the early 1800’s. There are some researchers who believe that the Elias Gwaltney family was the first Gwaltney family to settle in Smith County. The first records in Smith County on this family that have been located to date are the 1820 census. Elias Gwaltney died on July 31, 1827 in Smith County. Joshua, Jr. and Leodicia Mangum are believed to have married in late 1830 after the 1830 census was taken and had two known children, William Elias Sykes and Carna F. (Carney) Sykes. William Elias was born on December 16, 1831 and Carna was born in about 1836. Carna was shown at the age of 14 in the 1850 census. Carna married William S. Kinman on February 7, 1858 in Smith County. Carna and William moved to Crittendon County, Kentucky and had two children, John Wesley who was born on May 24, 1859 in Tennessee and William L. who was born in 1861 in Kentucky. Carna's husband William enlisted in the Union Army as a private on September 14, 1861 at Camp Butler, Illinois. He died as the result of gunshot wounds on February 13, 1862. Carna then married William H. Morris and they had two children, R. H. Morris, born in 1864 and S. I. Morris, born in 1867. Carna died in Crittendon County, Kentucky on December 12, 1870. There was also a Dicy A. Sykes who married Daniel M. Justice in Smith County on April 13, 1852. Leland Bradley, a long time resident of Smith County, believed that Dicy was the sister of William and the daughter of Joshua, Jr. and Leodicia. Dicy was never listed by that name in any known Smith County census. Another resident of Smith County, Major Lewis Sykes, the grandson of Joshua, Sr. is believed by the writer to be the father of Dicy A. Sykes. The 1850 census listed one of his children as Ann and this child is the right age to have been the unnamed child listed in a Sykes Bible that initially belonged to Major’s wife and will be described later. The Dicy A. Sykes who married Daniel M. Justice in Smith County and a Dicy A. Justice at the right age to have been Dicy A. (Ann) Sykes was located in the 1880 Arkansas Census in the Daniel Justice household.

Rebecca Sykes is believed to have married Daniel Waggoner in Davidson County, Tennessee in 1810. They lived in Smith County at the time of Joshua, Sr’s death but later are believed to have moved to Humphreys County and then to Missouri. Extensive research on this part of the family has been conducted by John Waggoner, Brenda Waggoner Kerns and Ramona Ward who are descendants of Rebecca Sykes and Daniel Waggoner and details of this family can be found on this web site under "Other Related Families". There was also a lawsuit filed in Smith County to settle the estate of Mary Waggoner Morris and is shown on the Smith County web site. This lawsuit lists many Waggoner family members. John Waggoner, one of the local Smith County Waggoner family members has visited the graves of Rebecca and Daniel Waggoner in the Pippenger Cemetery in Dade Co, Missouri.

Ann (Anna) Sykes married William Nelms and extensive research on this family is being conducted by Lawrence Nelms, a direct descendant. The following was extracted from Goodspeed. Anna (Sykes) Nelms married William Nelms who was born in Northumberland County, Virginia in 1775. They married in Anna’s home state of North Carolina and moved to Davidson County, Tennessee where they remained until 1821. They then moved to Obion County, locating four miles east of Troy, there being but three families in the county at that time. William died in 1851 and Anna died in 1855. They had nine children, four of whom lived. One of their sons, Andrew J. enlisted in the Forty-Seventh Tennessee Infantry and served until February, 1863 when he returned home and married Elisa Whitesides in November of that year. He followed agricultural pursuits and owned a farm of 416 acres near the old homestead. He and his wife were the parents of eight children: William J., James H., Margaret Ann, Thomas M., Nancy Ann, Elizabeth, Belle and Andrew J. Details of this family can be found on the Internet and Lawrence Nelms has an e-mail address on the Obion County web site surname page.

Elizabeth Sykes is believed to have married John Parker and they are believed to have lived in Smith County until sometime after the death of Elizabeth’s parents. They are believed to have had several children but no additional information is available on Elizabeth and her husband or any of their children at this time. There were numerous Parkers living in Smith County and DeKalb County after John and Elizabeth no longer appear in the census records but no connection to any of these later residents has been located. In Joshua, Sr's Will, he lists Major Lewis Sykes as his grandson, the son of Elizabeth Parker. Recent DNA test results on one of the descendants of Major Lewis Sykes indicate that Joshua, Sr's daughter Elizabeth is probably Major Lewis Sykes' mother.

Major Lewis Sykes, the grandson of Joshua, Sr., is shown living in Smith County during the 1830, 1840 and 1850 census and appears in other Smith County records until the early 1850’s. Some confusion was created by the incorrect spelling of his surname in the 1850 census. Some typed copies have the surname spelled Silkes and others have the surname spelled Silker or Selker. Major married Elizabeth (Betsy) Shores and they had at least six children. Betsy had a family Bible that has been microfilmed by the Mormon Church and is available for viewing on this web site or the microfilm can be ordered for viewing at one of the local LDS churches. The Bible records indicate that Major’s name might actually have been Robert Allen Sykes. Betsy’s husband is shown as Robert Allen Sykes in the introduction to her Bible records microfilmed by the Mormon Church but there is no indication who wrote this introduction or where the name Robert Allen Sykes originated. Elizabeth Shores Sykes who lived in Smith County was always shown in the census records as living in the household of Major Lewis Sykes. Betsy was the daughter of Wiley and Didama Shores. She was born on April 13, 1800 in Georgia and died on July 29, 1852 in Smith County. Betsy is buried in the Prichard Cemetery in Smith County. Their known children from Betsy’s Bible are, Levander M. Sykes, Catherine Haldane Sykes, Mayer Allen Sykes (used the name Robert M.), Margret Elizabeth Sykes, Rhody Sykes and Yetman W. Sykes. Another child listed in Betsy’s Bible records is Mandy Elizabeth Sykes but it is not clear if she is the child of Major and Betsy. Additionally, there is an indication in Betsy’s Bible records that there was another child who was born in October 1833 but no name is shown in the Bible records. This is the child that the writer believes is Dicy A. Sykes who married Daniel Justice on April 13, 1852 in Smith County. One of the main reasons for this belief is that there is a female child by the name of Ann listed in the 1850 census at the age of 16 living with Major and Elizabeth.

Residents with the surname of Sykes (or Sikes) who have been located in the Smith County records but require additional research are: Dicy A. Sykes, Walter Sykes, and Walter Ward Sykes. The only known record that shows the name Dicy A. Sykes is her marriage to Daniel M. Justice on April 13, 1852. We have located a Daniel Justice and wife, Dicy A. Justice (who appear to be the right ages to be this couple) living in Bradshaw, Clay County, Arkansas when the 1880 census was recorded and they are believed to have had a son, Ozias J. (Oscar) Justice born on April 4, 1853 in Hickman, Kentucky. We have not yet located any additional information on this couple. Walter Sykes and Walter Ward Sykes are buried in the Rucks Cemetery in Smith County. The only additional information that has been located on these two individuals to date indicates that Walter Sykes was born in Davidson County, Tennessee and married Lula Lee Ward in Davidson County on November 19, 1890. Lula Lee Ward is believed to be the daughter of William Walker Ward and Elizabeth "Betty" Rucks of Smith County. On page 78 of "Smith County History" (Sponsored by Smith County Homecoming '86, Heritage Committee) Lula Ward Sykes is listed as the only child of William Walker Ward and in Smith County Deed Book 18, page 183, W. D. Sykes and wife, Lula W. Sykes sell property that is described therein as being inherited by the said Lula W. Sykes from her mother, Elizabeth R. Ward. We believe that the Walter Ward Sykes buried in the Rucks cemetery to be the child of Walter and Lula Ward Sykes and the Walter Sykes buried there to be the husband of Lula Ward Sykes. Lula Ward Sykes is shown in Davidson County, Tennessee with two daughters in the a later census. It is believed that Lula died in Putnam County, Tennessee. Additional information will be added to this presentation from time to time as it becomes available. If the reader has any additional information or would like to discuss the information contained herein, please contact the writer.

Additional information that has been collected on the children of Major L. and Betsy Sykes indicate that Mayer Allen Sykes (who used the name Robert M.) and his wife, Elizabeth and their daughter Elizabeth (later listed as Sarah E.) lived in Smith County when the 1850 census was taken. Major's sons Levander and Robert (Mayer) lived in DeKalb County with their families when the 1860 census was taken. They then moved to Kentucky and from there moved to Arkansas between the 1860 DeKalb County census and the 1870 Arkansas census. Mike Sykes, John Sykes and Sandra DeHart who are descendants have extensively researched this part of the family. The writer of this presentation is not aware of any detailed information on all of the members of this family that is currently available on the Internet but the writer is currently attempting to obtain permission from one of their descendants to add his information on this family to this web site. However, all information on this family that is available to the writer can be obtained by contacting the writer. John Sykes who is a descendant of Major Sykes' son, Levander Sykes and lived in London, Arkansas, at the time of this writing has a web site that details the descendants of his part of this family. John Sykes and Sandra DeHart have an email address shown in the “Surname” section of the Smith County web page.

Rhody Sykes and Yeatman Sykes appear in the 1860 DeKalb County census in the home of Catherine Sykes Baker and William Baker, Catherine’s husband. We believe that Rhody, Yeatman and the Baker family moved to Kentucky before the 1870 census was recorded. The writer is not aware of anyone who is currently researching this part of the family. In some papers that were discovered after his father’s death, the writer learned that Rhoda (or Rhody) Sykes married a Belcher. One of their sons, Richard Calvin Belcher, had a daughter named Anzo Magdalen Belcher who married a Moore. They had a daughter named Elizabeth Ann Moore who married a Sullivan. This information was shown on an undated piece of paper and the information was provided to the writer’s father by Elizabeth Ann Moore Sullivan, named above, who signed the document as “your 6th cousin, Betty”. All of the writer’s efforts to locate this individual have not been successful as of this writing. If the reader has any information on Betty (Elizabeth Ann Moore) Sullivan or any other information on this part of our family, please contact the writer. We have located a Richard F. Belcher and wife, Rhoda with four children, one of whom is named Richard C. Belcher, living in Londons, Butler, Kentucky in the 1880 census and a Yateman Sikes and wife, Nancy with five children living in Hadley, Warren, Kentucky in the 1880 census. These individuals were the right ages to be the Rhoda and Yateman Sykes who appear in the 1860 DeKalb County census. Catherine Baker and her husband William Baker have also been located in the later census data living in Kentucky.

My great grandfather, William Elias Sykes, is the first known resident of Smith County, Tennessee with the surname of Sykes who lived his entire life as a resident of Smith County. He was married twice, fought in the Confederate Army in the Civil War, owned a general store, secured a post office for his community, donated land and helped build a school for his community and was the father of ten (10) children. The community of Sykes in Smith County is named after him.

Questions or Comments: Jim Sykes.
Last Updated May 2008