March the 23, 1938 I spent in this interesting section of our County and have recorded in Grace Moore Chapter my interview with Jehu Stokely of Nough, who is said to be well named and a direct descendant of the First Jehu Stokely who came to America. If it is true that a young man’s fancy turns to love in the springtime, it must be true that the fancy of an old man at such a season is oft wrap in his memory of such experiences. At any rate Jehu Stokely was in a reminiscent state of mind on this particular spring day that I visited with him to see if I could find out what he knew of the traditions of the Stokely family. The Stokely story glows, and glitters and sparkles from their earliest records on down to the present day and time, and runs along thusly, according to the information passed down from generation to generation. Jehu Stokely the First, was born in Wales in 1747. He grew to man hood there and had been told from childhood of the wonderful deeds of his forefathers, one of whom was an Admiral by the name of Samuel G. Stokely. or was a member of the Admiral’s fleet which destroyed the Spanish Armada. So pleased was the “Good Queen Bess” with the Seamanship of this Sanmuel C. Stokely that she made him a Baron. This gave to him the rank of nobility next below that of a viscount and above that of a Knight or baronet. Barons were originally the proprietors of land held in honorable service. Anyway, this young Jehu, the First, liked to think that his ancestor the Samuel C. Stokely was on hand when, “The Armada came to anchor off Calais to await the Duke of Parma and his Veterans. That he was present when “Queen Elizabeth had assembled her troops at Tilbury.” When she. “clad in armor and mounted on a white horse, rode among them and made a speech which stirred their loyalty, ‘Let tyrants fear,’ she said, ‘my strength and safety are in the loyal hearts of my people. I know I am a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a KING OF ENGLAND’.” (Niver’s History of England, page 193.) Queen Elizabeth not only made of Samuel G. Stokely a baron but she gave to him in marriage, her First Cousin. Henceforth from then on, in the Stokely bloodstream flowed ROYAL blood and from then on down the line to the present day, each family names a son “ROYAL” Stokely to keep ever fresh in the minds of the family the above story. This First Jehu that grew to manhood in his native country of Wales very near the English line was a great lover of horses, so the story goes, and one day while riding with a friend, they came to a stream of rather deep water. Young Stokely’s horse refused to ford the stream. The other horse walked bravely across. Its rider taunted young Stokely about his poor horsemanship which of course hurt his pride somewhat because he was proud of his ability to manage horses. After much patience and considerable coaxing of the animal, all to no avail, Young Jehu decided to break off a switch from an over hanging bough near the water and with it persuade his stubborn charge into the stream. It worked admirably and he joined his laughing friend on the opposite bank and they rode on their way. However, someone reported him to the King for what was termed, “Malicious Trespassing” and for this act, Jehu Stokely was “BOUND TO THE SEA” for a period of SEVEN YEARS. This of course, enraged and humiliated the young man tremendously and he never forgave England for the punishment “meted out” to him. The more he thought about it, the madder he got, but he “bided” his time as best he could. During these seven years of his servitude he visited every known port in the world and became familiar with naval activities. At the end of his SEVEN YEARS, Jehu Stokely landed in Charleston, South Carolina. As soon as he could be discharged from the English Navy, be cast his lot with one, JOHN PAUL JONES. who was commanding the American Vessel, Bon Homme Richard. This was Young Stokely’s dream come true, this was his chance to show England what he thought of the treatment meted out to one of ROYAL BLOOD. It is quite easy to imagine how he enjoyed the attack of the much superior British Ship Serapis, off the Coast of England, where a terrible battle raged for hours. These vessels being so close that their cannon muzzles touched and when the American ship began to sink, Jones lashed the two ships together, and the fight went on more furiously than ever. The decks were scenes of fear. ful carnage, the British commander was forced to surrender and John Paul Jones and his men took possession of the British ship. I imagine that young Jehu thought that his ancestor Samuel G. Stokely had nothing much on him so far as seamanship was concerned, and that he wished the King of England could have witnessed the battle. Young Jehu Stokely didn’t feel that he had yet repaid England for his years of “servitude” on the sea. He enlisted next with the American soldiers in the Revolutionary War and became an ardent soldier in the Department of Heavy Artillery. At the Battle of Kings Mountain young Stokely was so thrilled with the “backwoods” fighters from the region of the Watauga in the over mountain country, that he made up his mind he would like to cast his lot among such brave people.
Sometime after the close of the Revolutionary War, Jehu Stokely, with his young Irish wife, Nancy Neal, whom he had wed in Charleston, South Carolina, “set out” for the wilderness country, the Land of Promise, beyond the great mountains. It is not known exactly how long they were in finally reaching the Del Rio Valley, where they entered land. It is known that in 1802 Jehu Stokely bought from Captain Waddle a tract of land alongside that which he had entered, about three miles East of Del Rio. Here the home was established and three boys and five girls were born to Jehu and Nancy Neal Stokely. Here he died in 1816 and is buried on the farm now owned by James Burnett.

The children of this first Stokely family were as follows