Their other children had relatively simple and traditional names like Martha, Grace, Timothy, and Lucy...so how and why Zilpha? Several of their children had names found in the Bible like John, Sarah, and Mary, which was not surprising as John and Mary Polly were devout and passionate Baptist Seperatists and naming their seventh daughter a Biblical name followed the established trend.
In the Bible, Zilpha was the handmaid of Leah and the concubine of Jacob. Her sons Gad and Asher were the founders of two of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is Hebrew in origin and means dropping or sprinkling.
Zilpha was born January 16, 1762 in Amelia, Virginia. She was a young girl during the American Revolution. Her father and brothers were soldiers and Virginia Patriots. Zilpha was with her mother when the Tories raided their home and threw Mary Polly off the porch leaving her with a broken hip and a cripple for the rest of her life.
Zilpha's first marriage was to Blanton Nobles from Edgefield County, South Carolina, with one child, a son, Theodore, born to the marriage. She is named as Zilpha Nobles in her father John's will written and sealed on April 19, 1782 which casts some doubt on the date of her second marriage to Simon Peacock and puts into perspective the following account of Blanton Nobles.
In 1780, Blanton Nobles, age 18, was listed in the service of Loyalist Colonel John Fisher's Regiment, Orangeburgh Militia, under the command of Captain Joseph Nobles Company. Captain Nobles was killed in action that same year leaving his son Joshua and nephew (?) Blanton without their leader. The following year in September 1781, Blanton and Joshua defected from the Loyalists Ninety-Six Brigade/Stevensen's Creek Militia of South Carolina over to the rebels also known as the Sons of Liberty, of which Zilpha's father John and brothers Buckner, John, James and Phillip were active members.
After the birth of their son Theodore, Blanton disappeared...according to Nobles Family History documentation. It is thought that he re-invented himself as Beland Nobles and started a new life in Orangeburgh, South Carolina. Dates are not included here as they are highly speculative and in direct conflict with dates from the Pittman Family history that are historically documented and correct. In summary, it is probable that Zilpha and Blanton were married sometime in 1781 after his defection from from the Loyalist. The birth and subsequent history of their son Theodore is not documented in Zilpha's history...unless...he became Barnabas T. Peacock born in 1782.
Zilpha and Simon Peacock had 10 sons and 4 daughters. The last child, son Washington born in 1801 would have been just two years old when his mother died at the age of 41. Simon lived until 1831 and died in Wayne County, North Carolina at the age of 78. He and Zilpha Pittman Peacock are the Patriarch/Matriarch's of a long and well documented line of Peacock descendants in North and South Carolina.
As it turned out Zilpha's parents were prophetic in the naming of their seventh daughter.
Like her namesake, whose sons became the founders of Two Tribes of Israel,
Zilpha's sons became the founders of Ten Tribes of Peacocks.
