The Ancestors of Laura Jane Estes Graddy

My second great grandparents, Laura Jane Estes and George Frank Graddy

94.6% confirmed English or likely to be English

4.7% Irish

0.5% Scottish

0.2% Dutch

0.03% Italian

Laura Jane Estes, whose first name is said with a short “o” sound and not a long one, is my grandpa Graddy’s grandmother. According to the writings of her husband, George Frank Graddy, the origins of the Estes family of southern Illinois are found in Italy - and the Mormon genealogy website agrees. It appears that after the Esteses left Ferrara, Italy, they passed through France and arrived in Kent, England around 1500. Then around 1675, Abraham Estes, Sr. made the voyage to King and Queen County, Virginia, an area not too far from Yorktown. He had several sons, and our Estes line remained there for a few generations before continuing west to Tennessee and Kentucky.

A sketch of the fort where the Estes family lived alongside the Jordans and two other families

Along with the Jordan, Barbrey, and Browning families, the Esteses were the first white settlers in modern day Franklin County, Illinois. My understanding is that the original Mrs. Estes, Mrs. Barbrey, and Mrs. Browning of Franklin County were all Jordan girls, and in 1804 the clan built a fort large enough to fit all four households near modern day Thompsonville. Since there were only four families living at the fort and no other white families in the area, it might not come as a shock that Laura Jane’s grandfather William Estes has Jordans in his ancestry. Nor should it be shocking that Nancy Jordan, the grandmother of Laura’s husband, had ancestors who were Esteses.

At this point, it’s probably worth noting a couple of things. First, the amount of actual DNA you share with anyone beyond your first cousins is miniscule, which probably explains why my grandmother Thelma Smith Graddy was almost a foot and a half shorter than her fourth cousin Jerry Sloan. Also, keep in mind that the Jordans and Esteses were truly Illinois pioneers, and due to the nature of that word, it’s probably not too uncommon for the descendants of pioneers to end up marrying a distant cousin. Laura Jane Estes and George Frank Graddy’s most recent common ancestors were their second great grandparents, William Joshua Jordan and Sarah Caldwell, making the two of them third cousins.

Laura Jane’s great grandfather, John Estes II, left Illinois to move to Missouri. But her grandfather, William Estes, moved back east to Hamilton County, Illinois, where he married a local girl named Elizabeth Warfield.

At least two of John Warfield’s daughters are buried in Rawls Cemetery on this hill in Crouch Township

The oldest known member of this Warfield family is a man named John, who was born in Kentucky in 1800 and is listed as one of the first settlers of Crouch Township in Hamilton County, Illinois. He and wife Nancy Ward started having children in Illinois in 1821, so they probably arrived a little before then. The two of them have several daughters on record, but Laura Jane’s grandmother Elizabeth is not listed among them.

Nancy Ward Warfield gave birth in 1821, 1823, 1827, 1829, and 1831. Elizabeth Warfield was born in 1825, and her parents’ names are officially unknown. All things considered, she is probably one of John and Nancy’s daughters - definitely nothing more distant than a niece. Regardless, Elizabeth Warfield married William Estes in Hamilton County in 1841 and gave birth to William Estes, Jr. six years later. This younger William is Laura Jane’s father.

Laura’s mother, Elizabeth Evelyn Shirley, was born in 1843 in Hamilton County, Illinois. Her first husband was a man named Jefferson Williams. He died in 1865, and four years later, Elizabeth married William Estes. Elizabeth Shirley’s parents are Reuben Shirley and Martha Anderson. Before ending up in Illinois, they were born in Kentucky and Tennessee respectively, but nothing more about their origins is known. I have found references to a man “with a large family” named Nimrod Shirley who is described as a Hamilton County pioneer. But that appears to be a reference to Reuben Shirley’s son. And though it’s possible Reuben’s father was also named Nimrod, I don’t think he would be described as a Hamilton County pioneer if Reuben was born in Kentucky.

Three years after William Estes, Jr. and Elizabeth Evelyn Shirley were married in 1869, Laura Jane Estes was born in Hamilton County.