Thomas Pack of Jackson, Dickson and Davidson Counties in Tennessee

 Below are notes I made to send to Pam Vick about a chancery court case that I found at Metro  Archives in Nashville that confirms the above Thomas Pack is the father of Martha the wife of Abner Vick.

Chancery Court case Rule # 1525 B. L. Pack vs. Mary Pack. At one point Abner Vick and wife Martha Pack Vick and Jane Pack, mother of Martha enter the suit. There is a deposition in the file from a man named B. D. Pack. He says he is very distantly related to Thomas maybe a fourth or fifth cousin. In the deposition he says that Thomas Pack was convicted of murder in Jackson Co., Tn, branded and spent about 3 years in jail. That Thomas came to Dickson Co. when he was released from jail. He says Thomas lived in Dickson Co., near the Davidson Co., line in that part of Dickson Co., that became Cheatham. He stated that about 3 years before Thomas came to Dickson Co., Jane came with her child Martha. When Thomas died in 1855, Martha Pack his daughter was the wife of Abner Vick. I did not find anywhere in the file how long she had been married to Abner.

The case was about Thomas died 16 Feb. 1855 in Davidson Co., TN at his home on a 600 acre tract on the Harpeth River that he owned. At the time he died he was living with his wife Mary and had children Thomas and Lousianne who were minors when he died, and daughter Nancy. After Thomas died Nancy who had three children died in October of 1855. Her children were Benjamin, Angeline and William Pack. Apparenty Nancy was unmarried.

Martha Pack Vick and her husband Abner Vick made the claim that Thomas Pack had married in Jackson Co., TN to Jane Waldon and that Martha was the only child of the couple. Sometime after Martha was born Thomas moved to Davidson Co. Several years later Jane and Martha also moved to Davidson Co. and by this time Thomas was living with Mary (Brown). According to the Vicks Thomas had never divorced Jane and was not married to Mary. Martha lived for several years with Thomas and Mary and then married Abner Vick. Jane married at some point a man named Page and moved to Illinois. Abner, Martha and Martha's mother Jane were making a claim against Thomas Pack's estate saying the he was not legally married to Mary Brown and that her children were illegitimate. They were also claiming Jane was his widow even though it appeared she had many years before married someone else.

The other side, Mary and some of Thomas Pack's relatives were saying that Thomas had never been married to Jane but that they believed that Martha was probably his daughter. Testimony was given about Jane's bad "character", one man even going so far as to say she was a prostitute.

This website has scans of some of the documents from Davidson County Chancery Rule # 1525.