Good to hear from you and glad you are back into genealogy. Jonathan Esham's wife was Unitia, also known as Eunice or Nicey. There is no proof of her maiden name. It was ASSUMED it must be Stoker because Edward Stoker was security (along with William Esham) for Eunice Esham to serve as Administratrix of the Estate of Jonathan Esham ca 1810. [Bourbon Co KY Order Book D, p 264, 477] No other connection to Stoker has been found. It is anybody's guess what her maiden name might be however there perhaps is a clue among the slaves connected to the Eshams. In the estate settlement of Jonathan Esham the following slaves were listed:
Linda b abt 1785 [mother of all the slaves]
Moses ba 1803
Peter ba 1808
Jesse --DIED c 1810-1820
Mariah ba 1813
Rosa ba 1816
Joshua ba 1820
The slaves were divided as property between Unitia (or Eunice) and her children in 1826.
Eunice, Elijah and Edward received: Linda, Moses and Peter
Henrietta and Henry Bethers received: Mariah
Elizabeth and Charles O'Neal received Rose and Joshua
Eunice and Eliza Esham were witnesses to the will of Jesse Whittington (A free black man) in 1840 in Nicholas Co. KY They probably did this because Jesse or his wife had been a family slave. In the 1880 census of Woodford Co KY (town of Versailles) there is a Mariah Whittington, black, age 75 born KY who is listed as mother in the household of Mose Jackson and his wife Cresy Jackson, age 50. In the 1880 census of Bourbon Co KY (town of MIllersburg) there is a black family -- Alex Whittington age 53, b KY and his wife Elisabeth age 49 b KY and a Susan Whittington, age 80 b MD "mother" in the household along with a Jerry Jackson age 8, relationship "other" working as a farm laborer. I think all these families are related to Jesse Whittington and some were former Esham slaves. It is possible Eunice had a slave as her dowry when she married Jonathan Esham. Perhaps if we knew more about Jesse Whittington and his connection to Eunice we might find her maiden name.