Thomas Edmund DUKES

                   This document is in possession of Andrea Stevenson of Laguna Beach, CA

NOTE:
      Thomas E. Duke settled on the Dukes Plantation near Branchville, SC and raised a large family there. In the Abraham Samuel Dukes lineage a brother Isaac and a sister, Elizabeth, were noted. Thomas Dukes met his wife, Ann Ailer, while visiting cousins in North Carolina. The actual legend of Thomas Dukes related that he went to North Carolina to visit his father, Taylor Duke, and that he met and married his wife, Ann Ailer, while there. He supposedly remained on his father's farm and raised a large family there. The legend also states that his sister, Elizabeth and her husband, Frederick Syfrett, joined him there as did his brother, Isaac, who was not married. No Taylor Duke has been found in North Carolina with a son, Thomas, and it is known that his children were born in Branchville, SC. So it is apparent that this legend is more fiction than fact. The only true part is that he did make a trip to North Carolina for whatever reason and he did marry a wife, Ann Ailer. Most researchers believe that he may have gone to North Carolina to visit a cousin, and this seems to be the most likely explanation, although no connection has been found between Dukes of South Carolina and the Duke Family of North Carolina as yet. But this leads to some speculation that Joseph Duke may have come from North Carolina rather than Charleston, SC. However, nothing has been found to substantiate this.

The Duke Family Cemetery is located 4 miles from Branchville, SC.  In 1956 it was on the estate of Mrs. James B. Henderson.