929.2 M288C 1573225 REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION ALLEN COUNTY PUBUC L|BRA';',T| 3 1833 01411 1568 Fiction BOOKS BY MR. CABELL Genealogy : THE MAJORS AND THEIR MARRIAGES BRANCH OF ABINGDON BRANCHIANA Fiction : THE RI\^T IN GRANDFATHER'S NECK THE SOUL OF MELICENT CHIVALRY THE CORDS OF VANITY GALLANTRY THE LINE OF LOVE THE EAGLE'S SHADOW f^ :' i' ^■"'■"^'1 ■y^rj \ This, the Burlington Edition of "The cTVlajors and Their cTVlarriagcs, " is Limited to One Hundred Copies, of which this Book is Number 3 7" - With C " JT , .., _ ,- V I ' - The Majors and Their Marriages BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL With Collateral Accounts of the Allied Families of Aston, Ballard, Christian, Danc3% Hartwell, Hubard, Macon, Mar- able, Mason, Patteson, Piersey, SeaweU, Stephens, Waddill, and Others. "Fortuna non muiat genus" THE W. C. HILL PRINTING CO., RICHMOND, VA. i^ s aiofB^vfi f r-fi I i r ■"-< '''y (,^i^^'. ?.*'.aV ^«:^^^ -:-'5VV;c ^ ^/> A" .' ^ r>' I" 15732ii5 Copyright, December, 1915, BT JAMES BRANCH CABELL. i05^ 1 9 J'r.l' TO BALLARD HARTWELL CABELL In Commemoration op His Christening Acknowledgment at Large MATERIAL for this volume has, for the most part, been dra^^-n firsthand from the original Virginia county records, notably those of Charles City and York and Chesterfield. Equity demands, however, that the compiler confess his obhgation to divers stray items in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and, especially, in the William and Mary College Quarterly, for verj' often indicating the most remunerative lines of investigation. Among other volumes consulted and freely used should in particular be specified Mr. Lyon G. Tyler's Cradle of the Republic, Mr. W. G. Stanard's Colonial Virginia Register, Hotten's Original Lists of Emigrants, Hening's Statutes at Large, Neill's Virginia Carolorum, and Mr. Philip Alexander Bruce's monumental books, the Institutional History, the Economic History, and the Social Life, of Virginia during the seventeenth centurj'. To the last-named three histories in particular the compiler stands so deep in debt that it seems hideously ungracious to point out in Mr. Bruce's account of the Stephens-Harrison duel, as given on page 245 of the Social History, a curious misprint, whereby the wrong participant is killed; but, thus embalmed in a work of such perdurable worth, the error is of grave weight to all descendants of Captain Richard Stephens, since it untimeously bereaves them of their progenitor an awkwardly long while before his marriage. Yet — be it repeated, — it is only the splendor and the finality of Mr. Bruce's achievement which lends importance to any mistake therein, such as elsewhere might be trivial. In conclusion, the compiler is under no little personal obligation to Mr. :Morgan P. Robertson, for facilitating access to the Virginia State Archives; to Mr. Daniel M. Patterson, for assistance in investigating the Virginia Land ■ o ^. l» .' .,:< I'i .: U ■)■ '>" ■■'"'. -^.,: ..V- -': •:,;.'. • . '^ :V- ..V'^. . . \ ^/ij .;/-'^^''.. >. > ■^■'wvr.:v\ - I; ■ .i' ; ' 1/;: :•■;• i>i: . ,: -'--;.; j Ori: ■...■ ■•:.' ,■.-'■; .'r : \ ,i<y..^i. ^j r . r.. /.-'r, " rl ■^i^^ ,*,••. U " ■'•■ ■ • ' • I'i.;. M.;q 'f ^-irr. .,.;r,; • , ri n\ >:<:- > ■■' •d- • •' '- ;'ji';i '^^-L^^•>l iiii ^f'' ■»- ' , .. 'I : • / J) i!: ■ ;■.)■/ < ''-. '■! iv •■ '•• ■ ■ \ -'■ \.\. ■ ■■■'''. •)i'j • ■> ■, M; u::'! i^'.' 'I'V'i}] '■>', ,i.K." "'•—■' ''■> i.'"'" 'H'rur-. ;[ i"^--):;;- '.i.' :-!-*0''' ij "^ f'-Mn'i- in:'' If'Xii 'i ::'u'\i ■-r/:!'V!M,! ;- )j 'i;«ai-; ,,;r|yii<-r>J-'. n ! ■'. • ; ;. :■] .-i »-; lTi3 lOJ tn^i'io I< ! '.'••■ " ■■■'.!i:.ho<ji;ii 'hri-.! il'.ifl.r -in ivi ■ / ,;n jk ^ T-m.'? .tl/'' '!■> ' ■ Tlj M.l Jiipi'. ; >; -ii/rji-j', ;;u li'jli-. :''U)' '•' w: ,', ./;.i-M'. ttji.ir. .'Uiiii;'.! / ii> o? ^-yyt' ACKNOWLEDGMENT AT LARGE Grants and Bounty Warrants; to Mrs. Kate Pleasants Minor of the Virginia State Library, and to Mr. W.G. Stanard of the Virginia Historical Society, for innumerable helpful courtesies; to Mr. Reginald S. ALijor, for much verj- patient guidance and aid among the Charles City records, as to Mr. T. T. Hudgins for similar pilotage among those of York; also, to Mrs. Beverley B. ]\Iunford, for placing her excellent library of Virginiana at the compiler's disposal, however unintentionally: and above all, to ]\Irs. John R. Waddill, "vsathout whose invaluable co-operation in every line of research this book would never have been possible. Dumbarton Grange August 25th, 1915 : /;< '/ •. >A ;!:»•'. I;"!"!- ■ • CONTENTS PAGE Edward Major of Naxsemond 13 Aston of Charles City 26 Note on Major of Accomac: and of King William . . 28 William Major of York 34 Mason of Norfolk: with Seawell of Elizabeth City . . 46 Note on Macon of New Kent: and Christian of Charles City 50 John Major of York and Charles City 56 Hubard of York 68 Supplementary Note as to Ballard of York 71 James Major of Charles City 77 Ballard of Charles City: with Dancy of Charles City . 86 Supplementary Note as to Ballard of James City ... 90 John Major of Charles City 102 Marable of James City ' . . . -113 Note on Piersey, Stephens and Hartwell of James City . 118 Descendants of John Major 133 Note on Waddill of N'ew Kent and Charles City . . . 139 Appendix — Patteson of New Kent and Chesterfield 154 Note on Waddill of Amherst 186 ^'. [TVIC U .iu. .)■•..■,''- >)>J_ '■■:-, I . *}' '1 i\ .' /. I, '''■■' J"' ^ ■'' 'J''!* ^•■•' -s-.Al vnol 1^ :-' .1 i'i 'I'--. M . -..;t, J H.-^,. ; ,/ ~yj ..',■■'; .^> ,•- . :T^^'' ■ -XT',: .' M-!M^. Edward Major of Nansemond T LEAST four persons sumamed Major came to Virginia early in the seven- teenth century, and left descendants there in the male hne. An Edward Ma- jor was living in Old Accomack before 1635, and died before 1646, lea%-ing a son, Thomas Major, who married Eliza- beth Pierce, and had issue. John Major, who according to a deposition was bom in 1607, seemingly another son of Edward Major, was lj\dng in Accomack in 1634, where he married, first, ^Maudlin , and, second, in 1640, Jany Lorrimer; and he too left issue. The descendimts of John Alajor and Thomas IMajor, however, appear all to have made their homes upon the Eastern Shore. Upon the mainland a Richard Major patented land ui Charles River, afterward York, county, 12 ]\lay 163S; and eventually acquired by further patents and purchases a considerable plantation in the present King William county. He died circa 1670, lea\ang four sons, John, Richard, George and Francis Major, of whom all save Richard certauily had issue. Many circumstances indicate the probabihty of this elder Richard ^Major's ha\'ing been another son of the Edward Major who settled in Old Accomack, although of this there is no positive proof. For a more detailed notice of these IMajor immigrants compare page 28. Another Edward Major — who despite the similarity of name appears to have had no connection with either the Accomack or King William county Majors — ^^^'as bom in England in 101.5, and came to Virginia in the Bonavcnture, arriving in the January of 1634-5. He is named as a head- [13] ' r.u.- ■■:: r.] ■ 'r.sj .:j'k .yrr , ■■); ,' :'f. jjf X V-N.- '. I, ■ ■:< ,r •• -. ..y in] 1;. ■■■;:. -'-nivil :i- ;'J ihrtrrr •.♦"-.Tri i ■•■J ' • '..! vjaroi .W7o7 'irh' ' ' - ' ;: ■:'^>.:irL!.\ '■.'., ■ ;.'■'■:■• 'joilt'iij^ vrj 01; ■:'rj:;' V.a' JtO,, .. 1'^ 111 iiT'd ;-.rv; Yic-iii/^ x'^"'''"^' mcilliV/' sr/i'/I 'lo A-'HiiiC'-^h FA 14 EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND right in Robert Bennett's land-patent of 26 June 1635. A headright, it may jjermissibly be premised, was a person of sixteen or upward whose passage to the Colony had been paid for by the patentee, whereby the latter became en- titled to fifty acres of land. This Robert Bemiett was brother to the Richard Bennett who was Governor of Mrginia in 1652-1655, and there was perhaps some tie of blood between the families of Bennett and of Edward Major. There was certainly a close friend- ship; and the vrWl of Anthony Barham of Mulberry Island, Richard Bennett's brother-in-law, (dated and proved in the September of 1641), leaves a bequest of £10 — the equivalent then of S250 — to "my friend Edward Major," and "50 shilUngs, to make her a ring" to "Martha Alajor, wife of my loving friend"; and appoints Edward Major as one of the two executors in Virginia, with an additional legacy of £3, to purchase a mourning ring. Edward Major seems to have hved for a while in Charles River county, (the name of which as has been said was afterward changed to York), where he witnessed a deed given by Captain John Utie of "Utimaria", 20 November 1635. He eventually settled, however, in Norfolk, in that part of the county from which Nansemond was formed a little later, where, on IS ^lay 1637, Edward IMajor patented 450 acres, in the upper county of New Norfolk, on Nanse- mond river, and adjoining the land of Da:iiel Gookin. The land was claimed as due for the transportation of nine persons, who are enumerated as Ed^vard Major, Thomas Terrell, William Beates, William Young, Arthur Pumell, John Ripple, Richard Grigson, Jane Grigson, and John Griffith. The inclusion of his own name as a headright suggests that Edward ]VIajor had revisited England in 1636, after having a glimpse of the Colony; and returning perma- nently, had paid his own passage over, with that of eight other persons. This patent was renewed 4 October 1644, and again on 10 February 1645-6, with fifty additional acres of marsh land added for the transport of one more headright. Edward ■ Ir'M.t' -.-..:•. c •: -'-■•.. -f^-v ^■^^-. T -'--.J'. ' , -. _: '\ I rd tp ■■'■ ■■■.'•; . - . -, :i:' !,_. ■--_:: '■■:. ,.•.;;; , .' .. '•' \^---yKi:i>* !■ '-:!■»' ''in;:!'"' •. . \.:.L- ». -I-.-J i. ■ i :■ ;j f ':|i}' o' I. '. •■ ' '. ■• : (•■•V, -7 ;• 1 --:.■>- 'i. ;_:,:■ i >.,a;- i :: a. ... ! -''. • ■''-■'■: ,'.i^}\'>^\-- v i?Sfi:'j":'.>'0 'jH ^ : ••i-- o"; •-..'•' .,-■:■■•' -Z fLiilv' ;;■•!} vt-i-,,'; ■■;,-(: \. . . . . ; ' ■■'['Ar ',. .-.'.'t jrol XiAf. ^y i:< ., ~\ ff 1 JO? ^h. •■I'l i .iT-iivi,.) ! ..ret-! ^0 ! I.):' -''h ;^i' m;.^^:*., ijiu ,^'jvn !ui(.>!;i .•.";• • I ' i*- '' n\'.i'^^il '-'lis •!>.'] ..'lif' -"•: i>}Vir'o --ivt; bitul EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOXD 15 Major had meanwhile also patented 300 acres in "\Var\Yick county, 24 September 1645. Edward ^lajor was evidently a Puritan, one of the many whom the Beimetts brought to Virginia; and it was most natural he should have made his home in Xansemond, which was then a stronghold of the non-conformists. It was this Xansemond colony of dissenters from the Church of England which in 1642 sent letters to Boston requesting that Puritan clergymen be assigned them, to minister to their spiritual wants. John Winthrop, then Governor of Massachusetts, sent in reply three eminent divines; and Sir William Berkeley, then Governor of Virginia, and whatever his other virtues a staunch churchman, caused the Assembly forthwith to decree: "FFOR the preservation of the puritie of doctrine & \Tiitie of the church, It is enacted that all ministers whatsoever which shall reside in the collony are to be conformable to the orders and constitutions of the church of England, and the laws therein established, and not otherwise to be ad- mitted to teach or preach publickly or privatly; And that the Gov. and Counsel do take care that all nonconformists, vpon notice of them, shall be compelled to depart the collony with all conveniencie." An appalling massacre of the colonists by the Indians followed hard upon the putting into efTect of this law, in 1644: and was heralded by the Puritans as an e\Tncement of Heaven's indignation at the persecutions to wliich they were being subjected. Thomas Harrison, Governor Berke- ley's own chaplain and spiritual adviser, was converted to Puritanism by the manifest miracle. But other churchmen moralized with a difference, and in the massacre divined an evidence of the Deity's condemnation of their sin in ever having permitted \'irginia to be contaminated by the admittance of Puritans. In Xansemond — the county was formed from X^orfolk in 1646 — Edward Major was for many years a justice of the peace, remaining in commission until his death. The county justices, it may be specified, were appointed by the c '■/' Tj^ZAX i^ ' uoi/.i/' nnAYm J Vi.if.t '■..; ' '•■> -.i:" : i ;I', f 'tilM fit ■It I . •' • V- .':.■ ,\i(yj ilf :.;:.v -n ' .= • •-' 1 ;■:! ,-:)',; I oil--' .••il U-' -fM. '•:;;j .;.!•<•. ' ; ; \,>. >r) .r.-,M •.■•!'.' : .■: r.- -iTf!ii-<i ■! ••■>:]) Yi! ! - ■■.;■ r^; r-i- -■•i-^'»[ ..^' : ; •;'; ■. ■- i..^! tii] )a .'.r ;i L/rT!! --' .■ - •-( ...;/..;> ,c;.;v.';i:.t;ii ■^i^ui- ;.; L' .h'» f ^-j.ii't^i ^:: ■,' •: ■ .• (>J Iv ; 'svt;, V: .-•^■'' .'Vt-.i/hii !::,'ti 'in;-; liii;. I/.m:;'i [ijii') ! ■ ,-./>] rfv' t',;' .-ilv.n-iiii li' V'i : : -Inni'-ii'^-i ilf; . ■ -.i.r: ■d] :if l/iVj . . ' t:. C }\ ■' ^ ■ • \ 'ir. "f'l r>/9 i. .;:-. -i-jiit I, noMo i-..,i., . ■. .j' li •.i!) {> s-..--.;. /• ■^''IT ,• t i '■.((iiilr;! )"0 •>■! oi iiilUi'M •' ^ !'.i/ )• "; ' '.ur ■■.J! •/).•:»■> >ir .■•;,:.!: ■ ^". •' .:! 16 EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND Governor from among the "most able, honest, and judicious" citizens of their respective counties: in addition to requiring these quahties, a poUtic governor most naturally sought to place the laws' achninist ration in the hands of persons of sufficient fortunes to render them inmiune to bribery, and of enough influence, in one way or another, to render their goodwill of importance to himself. The dignity, following the English precedent, was honorary', and carried no salary in any strict sense of the term; somewhat later, by an act passed in 1661-2, it was ordered that thirty pounds of tobacco be paid toward the maintenance of the county judges by every Utigant in their respective courts who failed to uin his suit. Edward Major was hkewise long an officer of the Nanse- mond militia, being named Lieutenant-Colonel thereof in 1653. Membership in the militia was not in those days of continual Indian warfare a gaud}' matter of marching in a parade; all freemen between sixteen and sixty were liable to ser\'ice; and officership therein was so highly esteemed that the honor and responsibility were awarded, by the Governor, to each county's most prominent men, and to such alone. To abridge from Mr. Bruce's invaluable Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century: "The reason for this is quite simple — serving as officers in the militia did not merely create an opportunity for personal display on occasions when an entire county's inhabitants were present to take part in the muster drill; it meant far more even than the gratification of a taste for military' exercises, for in the end, every officer was certain to have an experience of warfare in its harshest forms . . . The most ordinary- foresight, therefore, dictated that, when the appointment of these officers was to be made, the most capable men whom each county could furnish should be chosen, if for no other reason, to strengthen the confidence of the common soldiers, when the hour for fighting arrived . . . The prospect of personal peril must in itself have been a powerful induce- ment to the yomiger members of the principal families to seek a position higher than the file . . . The appalling •1 \ii r 01 n)7on io i*,::fi*T )*] ic? '"ij. :ii ::•:!■: '-■.-J li] .-b ...^ 1' v; .-Mf !, •.,,! ^ -I-'' •> - ■• tl .!.-], >fU ai Ir":-r({ i:^:f :Vf' -:m: ;;/. '.u.^ ;.;,.{ iTxJt a; f rff. . ;:( -•■' • I .V ■ .•■; -.(J ; • " ■ .. IK i ru /■ii:)iiifif -!■>! T;..-t ;> K. i,Oit!^:/Ltiifr::i ^ib Mvil •J -'in -c) •■• i: 'it ;v ■'r-';i-vi'- «>i .lu- vti EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND 17 features of warfare with a foe regardless of all the amenities of civilized combat must also have had its effect in stimulat- ing that patriotic feeling which was no small factor among the motives causing the foremost citizens to apply for positions of command in the militia. And appointments to such a position as involving the defence of every fireside, tended also to enhance that general influence in the com- munit}^ at large already enjoyed by the man filhng it." Then, too, in the Virginia House of Burgesses — correspond- ing roughly to our modem Legislature, and modeled upon the English House of Parliament — Edward Major served five terms. He represented Upper Norfolk for the sessions beginning 20 November 1645 and 1 March 1645-6; and Nansemond county for the sessions beginning 5 October 1646, and 26 April 1652, and 5 July 1653, being Speaker of the House in 1652. It is noticeable that he was made Speaker coincidently with Richard Bennett's accession to the governorship, 30 April 1652. This, of course, marked the reluctant surrender of Virginia, in March 1652, to the Commonwealth and Puritan supremacy. Through this momentous turn of affairs was Richard Bennett — who received the surrender, as the Commonwealth's commissioner and representative — made Governor of Virginia, and his friend Edward Major promoted to the most important position within the gift of the House of Burgesses. In passing, the speakership was an office no less lucrative than influential: and the Speaker's salary was obtained in the same way as the Governor's, every county being required to contribute thereto in pro- portion to the number of tithables. The Speaker elected for the next Assembly, that of 25 November 1652, was Colonel Thomas Dew, the other burgess from Nansemond: and the following session, that of 5 July 1653, was inaugurated with perhaps the sohtary instance of a governor's attempt to interfere with the choice of the Burgesses for Speaker. Bennett's curious letter to the House (given in Hening, I, 377) to protest against the election of Walter Chiles, is at least capable of being con- ... -; f,sT^-.. ,-..■-.■■_ .... _..:..... .- ^ ■-■.■. -rfl In ■■ •:''.'I i :.,:i 'W .;!^ a! ■'.(": - 't'- ■'-^■, oHi iItlV7 18 EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOXD strued as a suggestion that Bennett would be glad to see, instead of Chiles, the Governor's friend Edward Major, again a member of the House, re-elected to the Speakership. But this is of necessity guess-work; and at all events, the Burgesses chose William Whitby of Warwick. Edward Major was during this session named for the important office of one of the commissioners to be sent to Northampton, to suppress the discontent there against Parliamentary rule. The appointments of the Assembly are hereinafter quoted; and this seems to have been his last appearance in pubhc hfe. Colonel Edward Major died either in the latter part of 1654 or in the January of 1655: he was, according to the Norfolk records, among the justices of the peace sitting at a court held in Nansemond 24 April 1654, and among the Charles City records is a deed, dated 24 April 1655, from "Susanna Major, relict of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Major", confirming her deceased husband's gift of "a mare fole, that fell last August, of a bay CoUor, unto my brother Mr. Walter Aston," which document was recorded 21 April 1656. Edward Major had married twice: first, circa 1635, Martha, probably a daughter of William Butler; and, second, very probably in November 1652, Susanna, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Aston of Charles City. In Charles City county is recorded a deed by Edward IMajor, dated 17 November 1652, releasing Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Aston from all past, present or futurely incurred indebtedness touching the estate of Humphrey Leisher: this puzzling document, hereinafter given, seems to mark a relinquishment of dower rights on the occasion of Edward Major's second marriage; and it was endorsed by Susanna Major, 23 April 1655, and recorded 16 February' 1655-6. By this second wife, who as has been seen survived him, he appears to have had no children. By his first marriage Edward Major had issue: I. Edward Major of Nansemond, who married Sarah , but died in 1661 without issue. .i>:oi/:-i^;:Av: '10 J^^o - vj^ikxa 8i ■■rft n1 :,. ',■ i;i i •■{<; .r.'mr .> 'tM.'.'.i!) O" : fi . ^^t .; :o -;,.; in Mil ■; ."f .-..;;. . ' i.v;t io ■ ■'. ft: •.[■•IrtdCi^ Y'fV t:- ff. 'J.'-IX'I ' )tli"l i. i'M?'- •t'^T .'Jr.*'? TO'iu! -/i* ' Vi U'>jflf> ■■- .'f^ '. J " ^tii.tiioi- '<: -V: • :'^ fV (K.^ja^ Or.lfc^. L''«. J / .1' *:i<i' M EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND 19 II. William ^L\jor of York, of whom an account is for the present deferred. III. Robert Major to whom his father left land in Warwick county, possibly the land patented 24 September 1645. A Robert Major serv^ed on the jury in Surr}' 15 November 1652, but Edward Major's son of that name could hardly then have been of age. Robert Major, prob- ably a godson of Robert Bennett, seems to have left no issue. IV. MARTHA Major, who had married before 1654 Buckner. All record as to her descendants has been lost. Notes made circa 1842 from the records of Nansemond by a descendant of Edward Major state that Edward Major's will was then on record there — "recorded in Febru- ary' 1654-1655" — and that "he left to his son Edward his lands in Nansemond, and to Robt some land in Warwick, and to Wm his land in York Co." These notes are herein- after quoted verbatim. ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS TO ALL TO whome these p'sents shall come, I, Sr John ILa.rvey, Lft. Govem'r, See, send &c, Whereas &c, Now Ivnow ye &c. That I, the said Sr John Harvey, Kt, doe, wth the consent of the Counsell of State, accordingly give and grannt unto Edward Major fower hundred and fiftie acres of land, scituate, lying and being in the upper Countie of New Norfolk, at Nansamund river: North East Joyning to the land of Daniell Gookin, gent; South west, upon a Creeke running into the woods; South East, upon the said Nansamund river; North west, into the woods: The saide fower hundred and fiftie acres of land being due unto him, the said Edward Major, by and for the transportacon, at his own p'per coste and charges, of nine p'sons into this Colony, whose names are in the records menconed under this pattent : JiTol il-JW .,^.. : ;,:n' ! jJ :-;' ^.'. bvT-'^T !:/- .'-rt-^nuy ; ,,.-- ,.,v^. ■■ 1 : ■■ - .-: sM^ '•■.-^' '-^ ■■- ;■•-;■> ••^^■^ii ^-ito/: . : , : ■ ' : '/ : , •' ' ■'. . ' ;'ji ' •■■ ::- ' ori: ; -u.3J tm: ■ ■fl ■-//■ : ■: ( - ^^ - :- , • •■••..•: '>'J .tlJ t)1iti; jftili-.'-.i .'•''. I ■•[§ •, . . .i(\ A I ■'.■<■■ ■> (■ ;. 'o<3v.-e nnit bim 20 EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND To have and to hold, &c: dated this ISth of May 1637. Ut in aliis. Edward Major, Tho: Terrell, William Boates, William Young, Arthur Pumell, John Ripple, Richard Grigson, Jane Grigson, & John Griffith. (Headrights.) — ViRGiNL^ Land Patents. TO ALL &c. Whereas &c, Now Know yee that I, the said Richard Kemp, Esqre, doe, with the ad\dee and Consent of the Councill of State, Accordingly give, grant and confirm unto Edward ]Ma.jor four hun- dred and fifty acres of Land, Scituate, lying and being in the County of Upper Norfolk, att Nansimond river: South west upon a Creeke Commonly Called Major's Creeke; South East and by South upon Nansimond river; North west and by North unto ye Woods; and North East adjojniing to Land Claimed by Olliver Sprye: The said four hundred and fifty acres of Land being by Patent (but misbounded), bearing Date the 18th of May, Anno Dom'o 1637, granted to the Said Edward ]NLa.jor by Sr John Harv'ey, the then Govemr, and Councill; and being due unto the said Edward ]\L\jor by and for the Trans- portation, at his own proper Cost and Charges, of nine persons into the Colony, Whose Names are Mentioned in the records Under the Patent: To have and to hold &c, to be held &c, Yeilding and paying unto our Said Sovereign Lord the King, his heires and Success'rs for Ever, or to his or their rent gath'ers, for Every fifty acres of Land herein and by these presents given and granted, yearly at the feast of St. Michaell the Archangell, begining Seven yeares after the Date of the form'r Patent above Specified, the fee rent of one Shilling, to his Majestie's Use: Dated the 4th Day of October 1644. — Virginia Land Patents. "r.ni G /■/ 'iOHoiAiyrafTA'/Vaa 02 ,...;.ii'i.Y I !:'<■:' ',,' .1 ^^/Tij i - - ' ". .... I I ■■■'•{ .^ ' :i; •■:! n.r:, i 10 ^sT'ii. ...... > • :i tpo'j ivfOiq LTtTQ -All 12. ;^as.' '. i .• " :•'. ?m w >i'n' ttaSL qka i ."'MDHfY- , V I . . 1 IT" EDWARD ^lAJOR OF NANSEMOND 21 TO ALL &c, Whereas &c, Now Know yea that I, the said Sr Willum Berkely, ICnt, doe, with the Ad\ice and Consent of the Councill of State, Accordingly give, grant and confirm unto j\Ir. Edward Major three hundred acres of Land, Scituate, lyeing and being in the County of Warvvick: and bounding westerly on the Land of John Salford, Now in the Occupation of Thomas ffulkener; and thence Extending along the bank of the Maine river Easterly one hundred and fifty poles, and there bound- ing on the Land of Thomas Godby Southerly, upon the bank of the Maine river; and thence running into the Woods Northerley three hundred and twenty poles: the said three hundred acres of Land being due unto him, the said Edward ]\L\.jor, by and for the Transportation of Six persons into this Colony, all whose names are in the records Mentioned under this Patent: which said three hundred acres of Land was form'ly granted to several persons, — Vizt., one hundred and fifty acres to Pharaoh fThnten, one hundred to Giles Allington, and fifty to William Bentley, — but being by them Deserted, is now granted to the Said Edward Ma.jor: According to the Custome of the Coun- trey. To have and to hold &c, to bee held &c, Yeilding and paying unto our Said Sovereign Lord the King his heires and success'rs for Ever, or to his or their Treasurer ffor Every fifty acres of Land herein by these presents given and granted, year'ly at the feast of St. Michaell the Arch- angell, the fee rent of one shilling, to his Majestie's Use: — Provided &c: Dated September ye 24th 1645. — ^Virginia Land Patents. TO ALL &c, Whereas &c, Now Know yee that I, the said Sr WiLLLA.>f Berkeley, Knt, doe, "with the advice and Consent of the Councill of State, Ac- cordingly give and grant unto Edward Major, Gent, four hundred and fifty Acres of Land, together -with fifty acres of Marsh thereunto AdjojTiing, Scituate and being in the County of Nansimum, and being on the Northward re ] -'r J ■1-ii "'-4 (■ ^>' A 1 » : : •^n> .p;: >../i "0 - • ' ' '. ! -..: :.:^r iv'.. iJ ' «!". :a1.'„ ^ ' i;l. :..?■. J ./J "! ■ ■ - ^ ( vi.'!* lo Ana J T 1 ■-■'aj io i' bvj-ft':'!':' ■'! f ..-■ '-',," nil?^:iJ ! (■-:> f ■ ■'■ '/ ; •5vL ■ v! ■■■•.■..' b^El V-j --no A i ."li/i -«n ; Ir.o ; am. i i/uH Li.''. Tao t>jjnf ;■.',": -'.q bffr • / , •»:<.:•-. 'lo 'Ai\r[.:' J .»!.: to ir •-.loC) h/ip. '»::>ivbii ij: •j'w' :••...' /;.;' r {r[!..'. •' lU ■ 'Mi? 22 EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND side of Nansimum river: and bcgining at a Marked red oake Standing on a point of the Eastward side of the Mouth of a Crceke Called Major's Creeke, and Nigh unto a Small Island; and runing upon the Eastward side of the said Creeke unto a Marked red oake Standing by the Creeke side; and 6oe nniing North East two hundred thirty-one poles unto a Marke Hicker}-; and South East by South three hundred and twenty poles, adjoyning on the Land of Mr. Oliver Spry, unto a Marked Post Standing in a Marsh; and so by, by or nigh, the Maine river side unto the first Mentioned Marked tree, Including or bounding the Said quantity of Land: The said five hundred Acres of Land being due unto the said Edward Major as fTolloweth: (Vizt.), four hundred and fifty acres, part thereof, by Vertue of a former patent granted unto him, bearing Date the 4th Day of October 1644; and fifty acres of the residue thereof, by and for the Transport of one person into this Colony, whose names (sic) are in the records ^Mentioned under this Patent: To have and to hold &c, to be held &c, Yeilding and paying &c, which payment is to be made Seven yeares after the Date of these presents, and not before &c, Provided <fcc, Dated this 10th of ffebruary 1645. — ^Virginia Land Patents. WHEREAS the paper subscribed by name of the inhabitants of Northampton countie is scandalous and seditious, and hath caused much disturbance in the peace and government of that county. It is therefore ordered by this present Grand Assembly, That all the sub- scribers of the said paper bee disabled from bearing any office in this countrey, and that Leift. Edmund Scarbrough, who hath been an assistant and instrument concemeing the subscribeing of the same, bee also disabled from bearing any office \Titill he hath answered there\'nto, and the honour- able Govemour & Secretarie be intreated to go over to Accomack, with such assistants as the house shall think fitt, /."■- 'iO ^'t'^'L^V'/; Q 2S 1 irV,r •t,.,l J.;-; i ■7,-i^!j:_ ^ i{ !;i ;r; -v;tv ■: ■ >' ■■■. . ■ ' _,;'.• ,•, ,/\]"i -,-■ V' -■■:.; /.;. :,..; :].i:)[ ■ :- !x''.-.^-'l 'I.:; ■.:'■.■! 1..;. ! : 0 '1 , ■ ■■.'ivi ■'-■^■:U io • ' ' :. 'J '■ ' ■' > .^i;i . ■ ■ ■;i: (■.;', '.: /i/.'-l av.:. 1 Arv:i;">KiY--- i 'iLi; ,'-:ijt.j:.riiV)* Iinv, ■y.f' rMiJ-.q ;.;',, . ' :'f ^^ ■_-{'.' 1 n'Vi UiV- • (i V) •;.; ..;|:y^;h/-. ■>d) ■ll ^'If'lj lIjlM-v.': 'W 1 -I ,t ;. ;^1 .- : .!■).<; rlii',/ , J-; :"'I0'»')A EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND 23 for the settlement of the peace of that countie, and punishinge delinquents. According to an order of this Assembly, vpon the petition of Ck)ll. Nathaniel Littleton, Coll. Argoll Yarley, Major William Andrews, and some other commissioners of North- ampton county, Master Speaker {Williaiyi Whitby of War- vnck), Left. Coll. Edward Major, Left. Coll. Geo. Fletcher, Coll. Thomas Dew and Left. Coll. Rob't Pitt are nomina- ted as assistants to attend the Governour and Secretarie for the settlement of the peace of that county, and the punishment of delinquents there according to their de- merrits, the appointment of all ofHcers both for peace and warr, the division of that county, and the hearing and determineing of the businesse of damages between Capt. Daniel How and Left. Coll. Edm'd Scarbrough. As also between Capt. John Jacob and the said Edmund Scarbrough, with all other matters and tilings necessary and incident for the preservation of the peace of that place, ffor which this shall be their commission. The charges which the said com- missioners shall be at, both in goeing, stayinge there & returninge, to be levied vpon those persons that occasioned their repair thither. — Hexing 's Statutes at Large, I, 380, 384. BE IT KNOVv'NE unto all men by these p'sents, that I, Lt: Coll: Ed. Major, have remised, released & quit-Claymed, & alwayes for me, my heires, ex'ors, Adm'rs & ass'gns, do by these p'sents remise, release & quitt-Claime Lt: Coll: Walter Aston of & from all & all manner of avowe, as well ye reall as ye p'sonal debts & reckonings, & debts or demands ensuing, that I, the s'd Lt: Coll: ISLajor, my heires, ex'ors, adm'rs & assigns, or any of us, had, now have, or we shall or may hereafter have ag'st the s'd Lt: Coll: Aston, his heires, ex'rs, adm'rs, or Assigns, for, touching or concemeing the estate of Humfrey Leisher, dec'ed, or any p'rt or parcell thereof, from ye be- i^' 't; I' 11:4 r.!^-5i .;!v:' .--.i, i,,-;; ; iiJ ;'i>i; ,/^r;;r'0'> jt;') Ij ::>': T '' ' ''.■ .iO'^r^'i " "i-" :''vl) 10^ •: i. ;ti. _ . . :. r:'i,\\i'.i rn.--, -■.: >; . ,: , .. , ,^ ..■ 1. "! , rj,^ ! ' ■•■ft "i.) t»':>..:''i -•■"' '■' ■'' ''"^ '-'T -'-"i ^r!j ,. .n. ■',r--(-t (' 1. I'Wl Ltc-Qfi? .'i>fr'.'' i'!.>i''Tf ^J Ot , "(. .l,n^;{j ..?.-:'. u;)..A Y/:i; n> ■*> j'-i',ft].<;- •.^•su'x'j /(''•xi'Mj Y'" ,>;('Ia1/. rfioO A «•■) ■/OT'^.A j::irjA7/ :IIo'I) ;}.l j.nij;{0-l+'i»p J i.' vJ:i •. M.; ■ 24 EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND gimiing of ye worlde to ye p'sent day. In witnesse whereof I have hereunto Sett my hande & Scale, ye 17th day of November, An'o D'm 1652. pVEDW: MAJOR Signed, Sealed & DeHver'd in ye p'sence of: (Signed) Edw. Hill. Rec: fYebr: 16: 1656. — Charles City County Records. This document was endorsed by "Susanna Major, ye reUct of Lt: Coll: Edd. "SLkjor" 23 April 1655, with an acknowledgment of ha\dng "rec'd of my father, Lt: Coll: Walter Aston full & reall satisfacon for all debts, dues & Demands" touching the estate concerned, amounting in all to some 5,8S0 pounds of tobacco: and this endorsement likewise was recorded in Charies City 16 February' 1656. KNOW ALL MEN by these p'sents that I, Susanna ^L\jor, ye Rehct of Lt: Coll: Edd. ?^Iajor, do ratifie & Conhrme ye guifte of my dec'd husband, (that is to say, one mare fole, that fell Last August, of a bay Collor), unto my brother, Mr. Walter Aston; And do dis- Claime all my Claime of ye s'd fole: As witness my hand, this 24th day of Aprill 1655. SUSANNA ^L\JOR Rec: 21 Apr: 1656. Test: (Signed) Matthew Edlow, Eklward Smith. — Charles City County Records. AT NANSEMOND C. H. is a copy of the w-iUs of three members of the Major family, beginning with an Edward Major, which was recorded in February 16.54-1655, and shows he had three sons, named Edward and Robert and William, and a dater named Martha Buckner. His wife had name Susanna. He left to his son Edward his lands in Nansemond, and to Robt some land in Warwick, and to Wm his land m York Co. His wife Susannah died eight years after him, and her will names It > 'jj: .■ :' ts K 'v-iT vrx 'u'^ Y■:^..; ^:ijji:i,}:'> t> ! '. '^.•'..I I' 1 Jjrft .siol ^i-fi'u r-no ,V6S! 0) fi -t.'-'ijj) J'riqA !<> V:;b m;!- ^f'j .fc.v.''i'.'..>.l/I ?l>: .'.>.) 77).' . •!;i:Ti;t -I ■ ■■'/T A 7 oJ i>£Xii 4 EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEIVIOND 25 her nephews, John Cox and Thomas Binns, and her neice Susan Binns, and her son in law William ]VIaior. There is the will of an Edward Major recorded in 1661, I think in June, which only mentions his uife Sarah and two friends. In an old book of law I saw once that an Edward Major was member of the old house of Burgesses in 1650, I think. Mr Major's grandfather came from York to Chas C, long before they lived at Burlington, as I have heard Pres Jno Tyler say. They had Ballard kin there. There is also a bond for five hundred pounds given by Thos Cocke on marr}dng the Relict of Wm Major in 168- (the last digit may be either 2 or 4) -vsith her father Lemuel Mason and Jas Thelebault as his securities. This was the founder of the Cockes of Malvern Hill with whom the Majors are thus closely connected through their joint ancestress. The foregoing notes were made by a descendant of Edward Major in the end fly-leaves of a copy of Cooper's Homeward Bound printed by Carey, Lea & Blanchard, in Philadelphia, 1838: though as the reference to "Pres Jno Tyler" shows, the memoranda could not have been written therein before 1841. The records of Nansemond were partially destroyed by fire in the April of 1734, which fact may account for the notes' bre\'ity, without palHating their woeful looseness of expression: but as the Nansemond records were destroyed in toto shortly after the War between the States, it is now impossible to amplify these notes, such as they are. The "old book of law" was probably Hening's Statutes at Large, and the date should be, not 1650, but 1652 or 1653. "Maior" is, of course, only a variant spelling of "Major," frequently encountered; and "son-in-law" often means, as here, "step-son." The writer, too, was mistaken in stating that the Cockes of Malvern Hill descend from Thomas Cocke and Elizabeth Mason, (who married, first, William Major, son of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Major of Nanse- mond), as Thomas Cocke left issue only two daughters. The family in question traces instead from Richard Cocke, who married Mary Aston, the sister of Colonel Edward s'ti'^a ifff bar. ■"•' ti ef.rnoiJ'"" hn^i xoO xuloL .awadoon istf Of.l. 8iT'^ '■•r::9ri • 'fJli I ; i; ■ : 1 '■ ■■ .'r j'iT .?r-]r:-;i .■' r{ ..,r t ':;..: '.jMrH' <^il DAS -■■^ *.; ■,. • rr.'.'-.v ''-r.v i'.'F- t;' ,.,:.^ 'o ^e>l-, •■...' cd* k) ■■■.'■\'j- hi.'ijv' :.' '•'-'7 n-y-to ..'' --'-'i .;' ... .... ... .on 77uH -.; Jl .""I T; , , . ... .a d Oy' ■ " f.. ' ■'>■ nc\r.''' tlUi ;: '-.l ( ■-, s. - .-'>..•'!! 1;;: !,> i cai.li i r 26 EDWARD MAJOR OF NANSEMOND Major's second wife, as is hereinafter explained: there was thus in reaUty some connection between the famihes of Ck)cke and Major, but none such as is asserted above. ASTON OF CHARLES CITY GOLOXEL EDWARD IVIAJOR married, first, circa 1636 Martha, supposed to have been a daughter of Wilham Butler. She was probably the mother of all his children. He married, second, certainly after 1641, and presumably in 1G52, Susaima, daughter of Lieutenant- Colonel Walter Aston of Charles City county. "QIR WALTER ASTON of Tixall in Com. Staff. /^ Knight, had issue: Leonard Aston borne in Tixall, second son; he was of Longdon; who had issue: Walter Aston of Longdon in Com. Staff. Gent, who married Joyce, daughter of Nason of Rougham in Co. Warwick, and had issue: (1) Thomas Aston, eldest son, liveth at Kilbarry in Ireland; (2) Simon Aston of London, grocer, A'o 1634, who married EHzabeth, daughter of John Wheeler of London, merchant, and hath issue, William and Anne; (3) Robert Aston of London, grocer, A'o 1634, who married Sarah, daughter of John Stourton of Stourton in Com. Nottingham, gent, and hath issue, Simon and Robert; and (4) Walter Aston, now in the West Indies." The Visitation of London, 1634, gives this pedigree. Virginia at that time, be it noted, was often spoken of as the West Indies. The immigrant to Virginia was thus cousin to Sir Walter Aston, Ambassador to Spain 1620-25 and 1635-38, who was created a baronet in 1611, and Lord Aston of Forfar in the Scottish Peerage, 28 November 1627. Lord Aston was descended in the following line: Sir Walter Aston of Tixall in Com. Staff, knighted in 1560, who had with other issue: Sir Edward Aston, knighted in 1570, who had issue: Sir Walter (afterward Lord) Aston, bom 9 July 1584, died 13 August 1639. The arms of Aston are: Argent a fess and in chief three 92 YTl > J 10 VIOTaA. ^'■^•"ifi;, • ' •■/ •> .fl ■! ;/. ■ioctv'. ''^j riijij'/il iii < '■ ,^^. • • ' k T,":i. •:^ .rtob-ToJ lo iioJp.A iv^doH f:'i i ^ri:*,i;.i.'v,:i'.' . ,'T ".^9i-"nl jge'A' ^.'r ni .7 .fi .no^r-Aisila^' (P, •i =f'ni '^^nr/ ;r '. ; ?!:•■■' i /J[ ^'H.^ ■ :<i .-; :rt!»3iA ASTON OF CHARLES CITY 27 lozenges sable. Crest, A bull's head couped sable. Motto, Numini et patriae asto. Walter Aston, the immigrant, was bom in England 1C06 and came to Virginia circa 1628. He represented Shirley- Hundred Island in the Virginia House of Burgesses 1629-30; both Shirley Hundreds, ^Mr. Farrar's and Chaplain's, in February 1631-2; Shirley Hundred Maine and "Cawsey's Care" m September 1632, and February 1632-3; and Charles City county in 1642-3. He was for years a justice of the peace and miUtia oflBcer for Charles City county, being named as heutenant-colonel 17 September 1655. On 26 July 1638 he patented 590 acres in Charles City coimty — "near Shirley Hundreds", on Kimage's Creek, of which land 200 acres, known as "Cawsey's Care", were purchased by a deed dated 7 February 1634, from John Causey, as heir of Nathaniel Causey. The rest of this land was due Aston for the transportation into Virginia of ten persons, named as "James Jefferson, Wilham Ward, Thomas Shorte, Richard Williams, Wm Johnes, Jon Williams, John Hobbs, John Esquire, Jon Roberts, & John Maroy." Aston patented an additional 250 acres in Charles City 10 April 1643, due by an order of the Court dated 15 October 1641 : this tract is described as bordering the lands of Captain Epps and Robert Martyn. The entire grant, of 1,040 acres, was confirmed to Aston 12 August 1646. Walter Aston died 6 April 1656, being then aged forty- nine, and hav-ing lived in Virginia twenty-eight years, according to his tombstone, which still stands at Westover. He had married, first, Narbow , (or Warbow), and, second, Hannah Jordan, who survived him, and married, second, Colonel Edward Hill. Permission to probate the will of Lieutenant Colonel Walter Aston was granted to "Mrs. Hanna Aston, his Rehct", in Charles City, 25 January 1656-7. Walter Aston left issue: Susannah Aston, who married Edward Major; Walter Aston, whose will, dated 21 Decem- ber 1666, proved 4 February 1666-7, is preserved in Byrd's [■y "'" -'I. v'/yi'i'l af/7 .i '\\i^^'\''^l xnuiX'y.Vx ,!^'-.'''. ::i ;ii*:: .'['i.'ivr jSi.-n.. -.f;noJ eid o) ^iiibToc^f; »jil 9j;;'.it)iq oi .■i«;j,'-v--.:f'T'M'{ ; ■'! Iv.'Toio',,) ,bn'- • ■ 28 ASTON OF CHARLES CITY Book of Title Deeds, and whose tomb, likewise at Westover, shows he died (unmarried) on 29 January 1666-7, aged "27 Years and 7 Monthes"; Mary Aston, who married and left issue by Richard Cocke; and EUzabeth Aston, who married and left issue by Thomas Binns. The will of Captain Thomas Pawlett, dated 12 January 1643-4, shows that Walter Aston had also a son, Thomas Aston, Pawlett's godson, who probably died in infancy: to this child the will leaves "one -silver spoon and one sow shote"; to Mr. Walter Aston, "my gun", and he, ^-ith Captain Francis Epps, is named as overseer; to Mrs. Aston the testator gives forty shillings, and to Walter Aston, the younger, five pounds. The plantation known as "Cawsey's Care" was first patented, 10 December 1620, by Nathaniel Causey, an old soldier, who came in the First Supply in January 1608, and from whose son, John Causey, Colonel Walter Aston pur- chased the place in 1634. Walter Aston, the younger, inherited and, in 1666, devised the estate to Mr. George Harris of Westover, merchant. The latter died without issue, and "Cawsey's Care" fell to his brother, Thomas Harris of London, merchant. Thomas Harris sold the plantation to Colonel Thomas Grendon, Jr., who by his will, proved 3 December 1684, devised the same to WilUam Byrd, Jr., son of William Byrd, whereupon it became absorbed in the Byrd estate. NOTE ON MAJOR OF ACCOMAC; AND OF KING WTLLIAM JOHN AL\JOR was brought to Virginia by Lieutenant Thomas Flint, being named as a headright in the latter's land-patent granted 20 September 1628. John Major, aged "27 or thereabouts" when he gave a deposition In April 1634, was U\Tng in Old Accomack as early as 1632, in which year a suit was brought against him by the administrators of William Harminson. He was one of the viewers of tobacco there in 1639. He patented 400 8S ."; Hi-W oi:;-^' e;: nv/cr^>! ;iKJ /Iv^:■^J'i : •■*,•- l'->^!' \-}r\.A -y^l yJ.// ..ih ,11' K) MAJOR OF ACCOMAC 29 acres in Accomack in September 1640, by virtue of a certifi- cate, granted in Accomack 3 August 1640, that he had im- ported eight persons into Virginia; and this patent was renewed 4 September 1643. He patented 400 acres in Northampton, 10 November 1643, by a patent dated 30 January 1640; and 400 acres more in Northampton, 24 October 1650, due for the transportation of eight persons. His wife in May 1634, as shown in a suit brought against him for midwdfe fees, was Maudlin Major. But he married, second, in 1640, "Jany, daughter of Henry Lorrj-mer", who is so named as a headright in the certificate granted 3 August 1640, and figures among the headrights as "Jany Major" in the patent as granted in September 1640. In Accomack, 4 December 1644, a certificate was granted Thomas Major for the transportation of Edward Major (his father), Francis Major, Elizabeth ^Major, John Major, Thomas Major, Christopher Pierce, Stephen Pierce, Henry Morgan, Edward Rouse, and Mary Sayer. York records . shows that later, 6 November 1647, this Thomas Major was attempting to collect from John Broch an alleged indebtedness of 1,200 pounds of tobacco. The debt was originally due to Edward Major, dead in 1647, father to Thomas Major, by a bill dated 16 September 1635, for goods dehvered 17 March 1635; and the claim had been transferred by Edward Major to his son. Broch asserted the 1,200 pounds to be included in a later bill, for 3,000 pounds, dated 3 April 1636, which claim had been transferred by Edward Major to Lieutenant Richard Poopley, and discharged. In Northampton, 27 December 1646, Thomas Major had attached tobacco due to Broch from Rondell Ronnalds (?Revell) and Thomas Leatherbury. Mary Sayer is mentioned as a witness to Edward Major's bill. The affair was arbitrated. As has been said, both John Major and Thomas Major left descendants on the Eastern Shore, but there is nothing to show they settled elsewhere during the seventeenth century. ') G_ '^li .-'Jill \ri noitv .ilOb ?. ')u-I -/J j,if.'s;.l oJ lOifiM b-!swl>a •<{d 1. .■•nirtiTSo ■^:*"l . -'■.^lal/L ^l\•clp:■r^ .{'jdisl Kiri) T 1 30 MAJOR OF KING WILLIAM In the mainlEind a John Major was dead at Flower de Hundred, 16 Februarj' 1623, killed in the Indian Massacre. He left no descendants, or at any event, none in Vir- ginia. Richard Major patented 300 acres in Charles River coun- ty, 12 May 1638, due for the transportation of six persons, namely, "George Gaton, Ann Drake, James Holding, Thomas Breamer, Richard Miller, & Ann Miller." The land is described as "butting upon Queene's Creeke south." Richard Major of Queen's Creek sold to Thomas Bowen of Cheiscake, Cooper, twenty-five acres "on the western side of West Creek, bordering the land of Wm Barber", by a deed dated 1 October 1638, and recorded in York. Richard Major patented 150 acres in Charles River county, 5 Novem- ber 1639, being land purchased of Joseph Croshaw, "fronting west upon the land formerly granted the said Major." He patented 350 acres in Charles River county, "XVII January 1642", due for the transportation of seven persons, namely, "Robert Wherrj', Wm Sey, Charles fTield, Perrigrin Palene, Tho: Parker, Tho: Smith, & Martin Shorte"— this tract being "north east of his first division". He patented 300 acres in York, 17 February 1649 — "at the verry mouth of the Mattapony river, on the east side thereof, and on nonh side of York, being a neck of land in York county, bounded vi^t., on the West by the river, on the south and East by a Creeke called Major's Creeke, and on the North by another Creek." This patent is annotated ''Renewed in Edward Simpson's after the court". Some of his land Richard Major shortly afterw^ard sold, as is shown by a deed from "Richard Major of the County of York in Virginia, Boot- wright" to Daniel Parke of Martin's Hundreds of "a certain parcell of land situate on Queene's Creek in the county of York, contayning 200 acres due to the said Major by a patent dated 17 January 1650; and again, by a deed from Richard Major and Richard Miller to Edward S^Tnpson — compare annotation of the 1649 patent — of 150 acres, being "one Pattent of land, whereof 100 acres is sold to Thomas Holman, and the other ffifty to Edward Sympson, with the house 'J Ij It ■t > I it oe Tiev ■-^r^^ ij, MAJOR OF KING TV^LLIA]M 31 thereon." Both deeds have been preserved in the York county records. Richard Major, in addition, patented 1,000 acres in Gloucester, 25 March 1653: "north of Charles river, fronting on John Major's land, Perringe's Creek, the land of Ashwell Batten, the land of Thomas Bell, and another di\-ision of Richard Major's": 400 acres thereof ha\'ing been purchased from John Perrin (patented by Perrin 3 April 1655); 150 acres being the remaining part of the 350 acres granted Richard Major 17 January 1642; and 450 acres being due for the transportation of nine persons, "\azt, Tho: Parker, Robt "W'herrj', Jon Garret, Jane Bowden, Jane Moss, Ann Hingshaw, Kath: Goodman, & Mary Hingshaw." Richard Major patented 1,350 acres in New Kent, 30 June 1656: "north of York river, fronting on Perrin's creek, on the land of Ashwell Batten, of Thomas Bell, on another di\'ision of Richard Major's, southwest upon John Major's land, on the head of Perries creek, on the land of James Holden, and on Sympson's swamp"; 1,000 acres being due by the earher patent of 25 March 1653, and the 350 additional acres by the transportation of seven persons, whose names are not given. And finall}^ "Richard Major, Senior", patented 350 acres in New Kent, 29 April 1659, due for the transportation of seven persons, whose names are not recorded. This tract is described as bordering his former grant, and the patent was renewed by Richard Major 9 February 1663. Richard Major, thus, was bom before 1610, and died later than 1663. He hved in that part of Charles River, after- ward York, county which in 1652 became Gloucester, in 1654 became New Kent, in 1691 King and Queen, and in 1701 the present King William county. He must have had a son Richard Major h\nng and of age in 1659, as otherwise he would scarcely be described as "Richard Major, Senior" in the patent granted that year. None of his grandchildren could then have been of age. He had also a son John Major, who was bom in October 1634, as is shown by a deed of gift of cattle, by John Brooke, Chirurgeon, dated 12 June 1638, and preserved in the IS l^AIJJIW OmA ^ '' ^'AM m < ! x'.l/' ',':s\' ymA, .: ;.i i'o .\\r:j 5 ■:nr'i 'lo ^i:.r-:v^l :vy. ■» »a ■;■; •;■' .:l -i.Oii-ff .feJ .^T JOu '-.H 5eiTI;i£f 980dw 32 MAJOR OF KING WILLIAM Virginia Land Patent Office, to his "godson, John Major, the son of Richard Major of Queen's creek, boateright", — wherein the child is described as then being "three and three quarters" years of age. This John Major patented 300 acres bordering his father's plantation, 28 December 1657 — "on the north side of York river, bordering the river, and the land of Joseph Haies and John Perrine": 200 acres thereof being land purchased from Thomas Bell (patented by Bell 3 April 1651) — clearly the land mentioned in Richard Major's grants of 1653 and 1656 as belonging to John Major — and 100 acres being due for the transportation of two persons. This patent was renewed by John Major 9 February 1663. John Major patented 1,245 acres in King and Queen county, 6 October 1705, the land being part of a tract patented as 1,400 acres by John Ascough, 20 April 1685, and deserted: the land is described in Ascough's grant as 1,400 acres in New Kent, bordering on the hne of Captain William Smith, the Town branch, and the south east side of Mattapony creek; in John Major's grant, as on the south of Chappell Run in St. Stephen's parish in King and Queen county, bordering on Todd's hne, on Captain Smith's line, the Mattapony swamp, a branch of Moratica, and the run of the Mattapony creek; and due to John Major for the trans- portation of twenty-five persons — "vizt, John Major, Mary- Major, Tho: Jones, Tho: Davis, Frauncs Adams, John. White, Dunkan Cameron, Thomas Morris, Mary Farmen, Saml Coates, Thomas Watkins, Susan Bond, Danl Nash, Margtt Oldham, Danl Marlow, John Fisher, John Ash, Joseph Humphrey, John Robertson, Hanna Kerbby, Henry Kerby, John Davis, Dunking Robertson, Leroy Armeffeilded, & John Lane." Richard Major, the immigrant, had also a son George Major, who patented 250 acres in New Kent, 16 April 1683, adjoming land already owned by him — evidently inherited from his deceased father: this 250 acres "north of York river" being due for the transportation of four persons. George Major was living in 1694, as is shown by the will of Edward Porteous of Gloucester; and had, with possibly ,fo\i'l,i iiicL . ;^^ 07 .'r.friO U f-OC : '■ :.v^-v/l nrfni h bn.ij Sooi 1.' 8:^!in:s{ k'"\o[s.\/l y'lA /:' -^^I'vr r-*'2,I i vi:i' Ti^H lort^M n-i''^ .5'c''r ";io/.. :d{/^ • r ■ <: • ^ "'f.^S r 1. rri ;?f?9T:> V :ofiT ,?oi-rol rodlT :nk'l, ,woIii;i/. iniJ'I ,>frTf.c-!l)fO ^^lisM ''.'Jilbd adoL i» )« ■'//;" '1." f ^?i MAJOR OF KING WILLIAM 33 other issue, a son, George Major, who married Ironmonger, and had issue: Richard, James, Samuel, George and Francis Major, all under age in 1722. Richard Major, the immigrant, had also a son Francis Major who patented 590 acres in King and Queen county, 24 August 1703— "on Major's creek, and bordering George Major's land": 100 acres thereof being described as originally- patented by Richard Major, and by him bequeathed to his son Francis. Francis Major patented an additional 180 acres in King and Queen, 23 October 1703, due for the transportation of four persons. ■ Of t' ;.•!> ,c:Ou William Major of York ^ILLIAjM major, the second son of Colonel Edward Major of Nansemond, must have been bom not later than 1639, smce he was of age in 1660. He had at this period established his home in York county, where, as has been recorded previously, his father had left him a plantation. About a decade afterward, circa 1670, he added to the duties of a tobacco planter those of an at- torney at law. Nor is it strange that William Major did not enter the profession in early manhood. There had been a deal of trouble with, and consequent prejudice against, attorneys at law in his Majesty's Colony and Dominion of Virginia. And in the upshot, just before WilHam IMajor came of age, the Assembly had decreed, at the session of March 1657-8: "WHEREAS there doth much charge and trouble arise by the admittance of attorneys and lawyers through plead- ing of causes thereby to maintain suites in law, to the greate prejudice and charge of the inhabitants of this collony, for prevention thereof be it enacted by the authoritie of this present Grand Assembly that noe person or persons whatsoever within this colloney, either lawyers or any other, shall pleade in any courte of judicature within this colloney, or give council] in any cause or controversie whatsoever for any kind of reward or profitt whatsoever, either directly or indirectly; vpon the penalty of ffive thousand pounds of tobacco vpon every breach thereof." This law was for a number of years enforced, in the face of its patent absurdity. When William Major came of age there were thus no practising attorneys in Virginia, and, certainly, no young men entering a profession thus stripped JlO I TO 1' ' o !i:.>^ .V/e.i lii V5;;i"OT 4 -. 'to r t;-^'':,- .ir!; (e .b .0 .7/ -0.1 iU (J'^kl;- i; io norijq ooa i lo- Tj .^'OrJj:.'.-./ •jj'.i'ivoijiio'! n<' £• ill:'? Tiii ai WILLIAM INIAJOR OF YORK 35 of any possible emolument and beset with very positive dangers. His first experience with legal intricacies would seem to have been when, in January 1660-1, he brought suit on his own account against Richard Thompson in York county for 400 pounds of tobacco, and was awarded judg- ment at the next April Court: whereafter, whatever his natural predilection, WiUiam Major was contented for a decade to remain a tobacco planter. But by 1670 the law just quoted had begun to fall into disuse; it was not ever ofiBcially repealed, but lawj-ers a little by a little had again commenced to practise their profession, and to charge their chents pretty s^-ingeing bills; and among the practitioners at least was WiUiam Major.- Thus in February 1671-2 he was attorney for James Pore, m a suit against the estate of Jonathan Newell, deceased, and secured a judgment of £11, os, due for forty-five bushels of malt; and as security for Samuel Dowse he was at the November Court of 1672 assessed 115 pounds of tobacco. Among other cases before the contemporaneous York courts wherein William IVIajor was more or less concerned, the following may be briefly cited: September 1674 — Reference to the next court of the difference between Mr. Richard Finney and William Major, as entrusted ^ith the estate of Mr, James Pore, deceased, that "the said M.\jor may heare from the dec'ed's widow, having writt to her ab't the money due to the s'd Finney." The diflaculty seems to have been settled privately, as no further reference thereto occurs. William Major also at this court was foreman of a jurj- impanelled to try the difference between Nicholas Toope and George Freeman ''concerning the said ffreeman's making of Tann vatts & other things for the said Toope." The jury's decision is recorded. "Verdict, wee fine for the p'te five hundred pounds of tobacco & caske — Wm Major, foreman." March 1674-5 — A suit was tried between Wilham Major and John Scarsbrooke, "ab't 3 barrells of come bought by as c>!^I>CVcl -. V'^r- .) ! If i > bCW 0-'-. 1.-1 \ .'; /i-fi'-iaaa n. ^uii i ..rtK ■1 "•: ti"; ■'■■fi ".fi'ir -a: o' 36 WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK the said ^L\jor of a servant free from the said Major Scars- brooke." August 1675 — A suit between William Major and Captain William Diggs, "about the Exchange of two servants," was referred to the next General Court, for the decision of the Governor and Council. December 1675 — ]Mr. WilUam IVIajor and Mandiford Kerby gave security for Morgan Baptist, as guardian to his brother Edward Baptist. Alandiford Kerby and Charles Marisby gave security for Barbara Baptist, stepmother to Edward Baptist, as guardian to his sister. At the same court WilHam Major brought suit against Richard Awbome, administrator to the estate of Anthony Melton, deceased, for 2,000 pounds of tobacco. A number of other such suits might be enumerated were they not too tedious and trivial-sounding to justify their inclusion. But in connection with these items it should be remembered that money had then rather more than five times its present purchasing power. A pound sterling was equivalent to twenty-five dollars, so that the suit against the Newell estate, for instance, resulted in an actual verdict of $275. Tobacco, the ordinary- standard of Virginian values by reason of the great scarcity of specie, was then worth two pence a pound, or in present day currency twenty cents : and the suit against Richard Thompson was thus, in reality, over a debt of S80, and the sum awarded Nicholas Toope somewhat over SI 00. In York county 27 Februarj^ 1671-2— "A Certificate is granted to Mr William Major for 300 acres of land for the importacon of Isaiah Trill, Mary Gony, James Stringfellowe, John White, John Arnold & Roger Dale into this Country'." William ^lajor seems, however, never to have made applica- tion for the land due him by this certificate; and it was not until after his death that 130 acres in York were granted, by a patent dated 20 November 1678, to his oldest son, another William Major — "as son and heir to Wm. Major, Dec'd, & due by & for ye transfer of three p'sons, namely Isak Trill, Mary Gony & Jas. Stringfellow." .v/i'jcna >; ij- i:' ;; b* i:a/i ■;'t.Lb'.'J '>0J .;'U'r-j A 'H / V- h'^i'.hnjl? •—' rij V WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK 37 For William Major, the elder, had died intestate in 1677; and an appraisement of his estate was ordered in York county 14 January 1677-8. The appraisers named by the court were John Hathersoll, Isaac CoUier, John Duke and Robert Morris— "or any three of them." The inventory of WiUiam Major's personal belongings, hereinafter given, is of rather unusual length; and the total value fixed on them is £85, 6s, od — equal, as has been seen, to more than S2,000. This inventory offers several points of interest. It shows, as the times went, a comfortable estate, for there were as yet few luxuries in Virginia. William ]Major, it develops, had three indentured servants, one of whom, Roger Dale, he had imported into the Colony as a headright; the James Stringfellow who owed him 110 pair of shoe-heels was also brought over by William Major. Some little silverware too — very sparsely found at this date in Virginia — is men- tioned: it was almost certainly of the heirlooms brought over from England by William Major's father: and there is a sufficiency of brass- and pewter-ware and even three dozen of the then much admired "alchemy spoons " plated to resemble gold. There are no table-forks mentioned for the adequate reason they were practically unknown; but the absence of knives of any sort from the list is strange. A curiosity-provoking item is "One trunke of writtings": in view of the extreme improbabihty of WiUiam Major's having been an unpublished author, the chances are the chest contained law papers pertaining to suits wherein he had figured. The item "3 pr of Damnified Shoes" is of course more startling to the eye than incomprehensible. For the rest, it will be noted that WiUiam Major had in his possession at the time of his death 3,000 fourpenny nails, 1,500 hobnails, and 3.000 sixpenny nails, which requires some explanation. The fact does not necessarily signify that WiUiam Major was a carpenter, but instead that he could afford one of the possessions most prized by the colonists. For nails were imported articles and woefully expensive: so hard to come by were they that it was custo- mary- on abandoning a house, to bum it to the ground in & si .7 o C>.lf= ff.r a ■■.«: > lit; \70 { \'iv,- 8 'J 0 B Ir.Jc: ■d 1 0 cti rt ' : I fDi a- 38 WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK order to collect the nails from the ashes. In fact, a special law was eventually enacted, in 1645, to prevent the practise: "That it shall not be lawfuU for any person so deserting his plantation as aforesaid to bume anj' necessar>' houseing that are scituated therevpon, but (he) shall receive so many nailes as may be computed by 2 indifferent men were ex- pended about the building thereof for full satisfaction, reservinge to the King all such rent as did accrew by vertue of the former grants or planting of the same from the expira- tion of the first seaven years." The hst of debts owed to WilUam Major, as appended to the inventor^' by his widow, would show that, on various grounds, some S6,000 in present day values was due his estate, several of these accounts being evidently unpaid bills for his services as attorney. WiUiam Major had married, circa 1665, EHzabeth, daughter of Colonel Lemuel Mason of Norfolk county. She survived her husband, and was appointed his ad- ministratrix, 24 April 1678, gi\'ing bond -^-ith her attorney, Gideon Macon, for £500, as guardian to her three sons. A note as to Gideon Macon is given on page 50. In her capacity of administratrix, Eliz.a3eth Major figured in divers suits in the York courts, attendant upon the settlement of her husband's estate: thus, in 1678 she brought suit against John Seaborne, for 1,309 pounds of tobacco, which claim was dismissed; Richard Awbome con- fessed a judgment of 1,099 pounds of tobacco due to her as administratrix, at the January- court 1678-9, as did Ralph Flowers, for 2,055 pounds of tobacco, at the Februar>' court; and again, at the October court 1680, judgment was granted to Mr. Gideon Macon, assignee of Mrs. Elizabeth Major, against Ralph Flowers, for £8, Is. Elizabeth Major had thus remained a widow for at least three years, it may be observed, and probably for five. This was a rather unusual record for seventeenth century Virginia; a striking feature of the period, as will be fre- quently manifested hereinafter, was the celeritj'' with which a deceased ^\-ife or husband was provnded with a successor, :,i;.,J 8S r i: ]'iL-c\':n£: ■^. :■ >' r'^' '. ?:-=(;;!*.'• .■■;>:■. h j^ni orrr •;i:) •[t'-ohr/M :;j'i.'>- •'■Oj, •;i^'->;i.r if; i, ■■■'■,;,?--. , -"iKlse vT;t;fo- :,[L'i^y. V . • .;!/. ,': (,i:(. ) ; t 'T ')ri^?>^l.') ■■- :^T ■■-:,' Of i.i.-i!:-ii'u ;'■?,:. .(ni^^* ^'^1 ,ai.,>;;M iv.:i»I>it) • ■;ir.;-J?t; .>■■,. ;o..' :»'joY 'J? •]! ?;.ta;n .-..''^vih ai b-JiU^fi -;:'>■, Mnod/rA ni/ul'-'fJI ,: in\v.\:< Ao'uif: .0'^j».Joj t'1 ',ai ja ,- : i<rt ,K-":''.7o''»J t ,>:i Ki". iV.'- JOJ I-'.iJ,'(>V WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK 39 and not infrequently for the fourth or fifth occasion. For girls were marriageable at twelve, Tor all that cautious John Evelyn, in 1681, estimated that a young lady was not "capable of disposing of herself judiciously till she was sixteen": and the young wife, after bearing some dozen children in rapid succession, was apt to break in health and die, leaving her husband, almost as a matter of course, to re-marrj' in the prime of life. To the other side, the position of a widow, through the necessities of plantation life, was profoundly unenviable: she was left pecuharly alone, without any neighbors of her own station in Ufe within miles, and was left in precarious authority over a horde of semi-barbar- ous blacks newly brought from the wilds of Africa, and of white servants who in many cases were transported criminals. Lacking grown sons, she re-married, if not through motives of personal sentiment, through those of conveniency and self-preservation. So, upon whatever grounds, the widow of William Major eventually took another husband — her second choice being fixed, circa 1682-4, on Captain Thomas Cocke of Norfolk county; and she died in 1696, lea\'ing issue by him two daughters, ^Slary Cocke and Anne Cocke. As has been said previously, the descendants of these daughters, if indeed they left any, cannot now be traced; but information as to theii father will be found in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume V, page 182. Wilham Major and EHzabeth Mason had issue: I. WiLLiAJi M\J0R, in whose name, as has been recorded, 130 acres were patented in York 20 November 1678. He afterward sold this land, for 3,500 pounds of tobacco, to Thomas Powell and Seamos Powell of St. Martin's Hundred in New Kent, by a deed dated 1 February 1686-7, and re- corded in York 24 February 1686-7. William Major is in this deed described as "of the parish of St. Peeters in New Kent, son and heir of William Major, late in the county of York deceased." The younger William ]Major patented 150 acres in New Kent county, 7 November 1700, (the land being a tract deserted by Gideon Macon), as due for the transpor- et _..;^.., >^M^A -.» .,'+-,..> r,W* •:/^'l i-f Krr^ rK:»\'ji' ..-■Ai. ■ '^tin.^..iv ". I ."U,; •..u: '-.■..^;hm iiifi;^r/,' 'jiii ^i' .("!(.>■•"/;■■> rr7/<j 'ion v.j hzv^iau.' ^^-i- ■. .! >.i ^A ;J->Ji:3-'5'', 1: -i i1. .0 iLi:.. .S'51 '^■^CT '• I -V! r .>* - ;1 .i':> ^.■. ,\ 40 WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK tation of four persons, and another tract of 150 acres in the same county, 2 May 1705. He likewse patented 376 acres in Essex county, 15 August 1715, this being a tract patented in 1703 (when Essex was a part of Old Rappahannock) by his younger brother John Major, and deserted by the latter. WilUam Major, as is sho^-n by the records of St. Peter's parish, died 4 October 1716, ha\ing had issue: Frances Major, baptized 19 November 1699; John Major, baptized 17 May 1702; and Thomas Major, baptized 28 November 1703, died 19 November 1722. II. Lemuel ]M.\jor, whose name figures frequently in the York records until as late as 1714, he in that year winning a suit against WilHam Pegram, for £2, 6s, at the August court. Subsequently is to be found no mention of Lemuel Major in York, nor apparently in any of the other survi\Tng county records of the period. It is therefore not known whether or no he left descendants; but it is tolerably certain that, in or shortly after 1714, he removed from York and made his home elsewhere, just as his two brothers had done earlier. III. John M.uor of whom an account will be given hereafter. It is more than likely there was another son Edward Major, who died before his father, since elsewhere this particular Christian name is prodigally represented in every generation of the Major family. ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS ATT A COURT Holden for Yorke County, Jan'y 14 An'o D'm 1677 — A commission of Adminocon of the estate of Air Wm Major, dec'ed, is granted to Elizabeth, the dec'ed Relict & Adm'r; putting in security to save the Court harmless, & for performance of the said Adminacon; & ord'ed that on the 29th day of this instant the dec'ed'nt estate be appraised by Mr John Hathersall, Mr John Duke, Mr Isaac Collier, & Owen Morris, or any I'^'-Ai ii;!ii .-tOiii!/; mfol -ivi'Mid -■i, c-j c: ,-. ,:)t,fcJVi, ;;.;ci. ;*^.':-i --^tiitievoVI ^f bg-i^jr^.*;' ^wir^Iii .W i f£.0 'i: ': •■•:./ i;';'^ .j*. n^:: i;T(in-.7 to ^^'^^l/ .-iii:-' .ill WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK 41 three of them, being first swome by the next Magistrate; the appraism'nt to be returned to the next court for con- firmation. — ^YoRK County Records. IN OBEDIENCE to an order of Yorke County Court, bearing test at York, January- ye 14th 1677-8, wee the subscribed have accordinge to ye best of understanding and consiunces appraised ye estate of Mr Willlvm ]M.\jor, dec'ed, being first swome by Mr Edward Mosse, one of his Ma'ties Justices -for ye said County. Imprimis, one new feather bed, 2 pillows, 1 bolster, £ s. d. 1 Cloth beding Covering, 1 Blankett, bedstead 05 00 00 1 sett of striped curtains & vallons, one feather bed, striped curtains & vallons, two bolsters, 1 pillow, 2 blanketts, 1 wosted rugg, & bedstead 06 00 00 1 flocke bed, 2 fiocke bolsters, 1 old, & 1 old white wosted rugg - 01 15 03 1 old flocke bed, 1 old bolster, 2 old Blanketts, 1 green rugg.__ 01 00 00 1 ft bed, 1 old bolster, 2 old Blanketts, 1 red rugg 01 01 00 One hamocke, cotton.__ — 00 01 00 49 £ of new pewter, at 12d pound.. _ - 02 09 00 23 pounds of old puter, at 9d p. poimd _ — 00 17 03 3 Pewter Tankerdds.___ _ 00 07 00 1 fine pinte pott.__ _ - 00 03 00 2 pewter Candlesticks _ -- — 00 05 00 2 Brasse Candlestickes _ _ - 00 03 00 6 plates- _ - 00 06 00 1 Salt _.„ _-- - 00 01 00 1 old porringer, 2 old pols, & an old pewter Catle.— . 00 02 00 3 New porringers - 00 03 00 One Cubboard & Spice box 01 10 00 4 Chests & One Trunke 01 U 00 A warming pan, & small looking Glass 00 07 00 Pr small Andirons, 2 pr of Tongues, 1 spitt, one old Gridiron, 1 old fireshov'U, 1 old chafing dish 00 12 00 2 Brass Kettles, & 2 SmaU Skillits _ 03 00 00 3 Iron potts & pr pott racks — 01 04 00 2 pestles, & a frying pann.— 00 07 00 1 small brass skimer, & 1 small brass ladle, 1 Iron one 00 02 06 6 old tin spoons, 1 tin fender, 2 tin funnells 00 04 00 I :-LMOY ;.... :,t "r 7--iO '^^ }> -:'. '.aii.v )• t MB -J •• •-; (.' i.v,.<,l 1 ' ' •(-• i/' ;Xi «)(/ (<• •>! •^) ; <• k' cA m <X) Oii £0 11 ■ \ • TO ."»'. "^ (•0 >■( I'i K'' fVi r.^ 0,1 I-' 00 f'l Oo i: tt' TT^ f\' 11 <Xj Uj 00 m l-w ■: .••. ,. • ,' . - •■:.; ;.,.qiv.. :,-.■' ..:■ .. ■' ! .rt'iu.'zUl- i i.'i.'" j^'Mi i y> ,;.'ii ' .:■.-'--' J :.• •i>:-''"'_.;i '.' ,;>.';] --itj.'n ■ ■ ' ?;-j'i rs's-O'* '"••;.■•-:(_•■ Ji'.'Ui bk:^'. ji .[oi.' ! (■- f '■ iJ- >!: -hi^ic r 1'^ >iair kJ^' . . ''. ''.:'} -.1 i ■; jj"- 'V. _ . ■ ._ . ;■ A: . . . _ i"' ^ '■ •""■^ ,..'.^..-.. , .. . -, ...---1.^ Wl .... '• !< I ^*i - Ai/:' ' 1 >: .^q h!*' (IS, ' : U> y,j('. '> i"> - . ' N «XJ . ,^-r,;,> • .;v,-!;c'.' A .I'.O ■.!•.,.) . ■ ■'^i ^■■' . . i i 42 WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK A pestle, of wooden ware . 00 14 00 3 doz of Alcamy spoones 00 06 00 15 Gross of Thread & hair buttons, at Is 6d p. Gross 01 02 06 18 Yds of Kersey, at 2| p. yd 01 16 00 3 pr of Children boddies 00 05 00 3 m of 4d nailes, at 2| p. m .__ _ 00 06 00 Six sifter bottoms, at 4d 00 02 00 One pece of filliting 00 02 07 2 pece of tape, at 9 p. peace _ - 00 01 06 i pece of blue tape 00 00 04 3 doz yds of Cotton ribbon 00 03 00 2 peces & 1 of 3d ribbon „„ 00 15 00 1,500 hob nails _ 00 01 09 3 Ink homes _ 00 00 06 1 paper of Clasps & eyes .. _ 00 01 02 1 doz thred lases._ 00 00 04 2 pounds of russett Col'd Thred....„ _ „.. 00 04 06 A remenant of Whited brown Thred— 00 01 00 A pr of Childrens woosted Stockings- _. 00 01 06 25 Ells of Canvas, at 12d p. Ell _ 01 05 00 16 yds of Cotton, at Is 2d p. yd 00 18 00 5 yds & ^ of pure Linsey_ 00 10 06 3 straw caps.- _ _ 00 04 10 3 fine Straw hats, lined in ye head 00 06 06 6 worser Straw hatts, at Is 6d...._ 00 09 00 6 Felts, at 4s.___ _ 01 04 00 6 course feltes, at 2 ',6 - 00 15 00 3 old Chamb' potts -.- 00 04 00 1 doz of new spoones _ _ 00 03 00 Plate, 2 dram cupps & 2 old silver spoones (3 oz ^) .. 00 18 00 Linnen, s'x pr of shoes, something course _ 02 . 00 00 5 pr of old wome shoes _ 01 00 00 1 dicper table cloth, 12 napkins, 1 Cubbord Cloath, & one towell, old.___ _._ 00 14 00 A parsell of old table Linnen. 00 10 00 7 Towells -..._ _ 00 02 06 4 pillow Cases -. 00 04 00 One painted Callico Carpet. 00 02 06 3 pr of Drawers, 1 wascoat, 3 shirts, much wome 00 12 00 1 pr of Drawers & Jackett of Norwich stufTe._ 00 12 00 A Cloth Coat of Cloth, & pr breaches, & striped Lin- nin Jackett _ __ — 00 12 00 2 old coats, 2 old wascoats, 1 old pr breaches, all old.. 00 10 00 One old Caster _ 00 04 00 1 sute printed Curtains & vallons 00 18 00 2rH0Y ^o a .. ,/ cft ::::.z::z:::'.. •^l •(! (V? , ("Hi W - — - -"-■'* m c>*.. \ ?o (J i .'0 fxi „, c. , A(» ;rj •- - - (Hj ■- - (•■I', . „ tii.-yi ■%■,, m bofi' , . . Ui i:' fc. . in . . _ •>-i - - — - ■ -■ »«) ki so ■ .'J •V :ij ,rl. •y) i .i- . UolJc .; nl 00 ._... WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK 43 One table and Ch'r 00 08 00 14 square table & 8 jojTite Stooles^ 00 16 00 6 Wooden Chairs, 2 old leather Cbairs_ 00 14 00 2 fixt Guns, being one carbine & 1 fouling Gun 01 00 00 2 pr of old stiliards _ 00 10 00 1 small Table._ _ _._ _ - 00 02 00 A pr of Scales & weights _ 00 05 00 5 h'd brads, at 19d p. h'de._ 00 07 11 1 Shilling Saw 00 01 00 Six Axes _„ _ 00 09 06 3,000 six peny nailes, at 3| p. m - - 00 09 00 1 small deale bo:c _ - 00 02 00 5 pr of Childrens first shoes 00 02 06 3 pr of Damnified Shoes _ 00 05 00 2 Straw Steeple Crowned hats _ 00 02 06 2doz;i fishhooks & i adoz; of boxCombs _... 00 03 06 3 horse hamesse, old, 1 old Saddle, & an old pad 00 15 00 Due upon a bill from James Stringfellow 110 pr of men's & women's shoes' leather heales, w'ch when rec'd ye Adm'r'x to be Ace' table, & they valued at three 8. pr, besides four shillings more due One trunke of writtings Roger Dale to serve till ye 6th of 7br next William Mansfield to serve till 8 monts, 1 yr Peter Jobe, free ye 15th of June, & because of Come & Clothes to be paid him by ye Adm'r'x, valued at Nothing _ A grindstone, with an Iron winch One Cart & wheeles _ £44 11 06 Cattle belonging to ye dec'ed Estate, 8 Cowes, 3 heifers, 2 year old, 2 two yeare old Steare yearlings, 2 Cow 5'earlings & one Cow Calfe, in all 20 head; Horses & Mares, 1 Croped Ear horse, 1 old mare, & a two yeare old mare _ ~— 41 04 09 £85 16 05 The within and above appraisement, amounting to Eighty five pounds, sixteene shillings and five pence, besides ye debts due to ye estate & ye Cropp, wee present to ye court of York for there Oprobation and Confirmation. Witness our hands: — (Signed) John Hathersoll, Isaake CoUier, John Duke, Robert Morris. 16 14 00 00 03 00 02 10 00 07 00 00 . 00 00 00 . 00 05 00 . 02 00 00 Ek 00 ^ ')a 00 di (;0 ■ n . ;>•! ,„■ ■*) 00 2G ' ^'J (X) .^,0 Al r; "\7 fA- 'V't fi^ j;/i '&' 0«'j ;>" 'A' i^J '/' ' ^. ' '."(« Cv ■' 'K ,- \ '':j <K' f. . . - .f; ,j . . ^.>0 1-. OiJ (Hi .. <'0 20 Tk- (r. -;».'» ^'■j ..ji'TU'// rif-i: »' fl Ui tu W J r ^ i\ r» ,i^ ,:f',; ;i/d1rv7 6;J i it -xoi jhvi lu ,T".' 44 WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK A LIST OF YE Tobacco and debts due to ye Estate of Mr. Wm Major, dec'ed: Impr, 11 hhds & a parcell, of 1st quality neat. — 5991 Thos Gateman, per acc't — 0389, Richard Albritton, per acc't_ — — - 0040 Morgan Baptist, per acc't - 0050 Henry Charles, per acc't - — 0047 Edward King, per acc't _ - — OOoO Wm Allen, per bill _ 0160 Wm Swinerton, Bill — 0050 Wm Chantry, Bill _ ~ 0660 Wm Woodland, Bill - 0580 Anthony HajTies, per Note - — 0200 George Abbott, per Order of Court — 0750 George Abbott, per Bill — _ - 0440 Mand Kirby, per bill 0185 Benjamin Cotton, per Bill ~ -- 0040 Robt Penrice, per Bill.__ _ — 0520 Thos Vines, per Bill — 0798 Jno WjTie, per Bill and acc't - 0342 Thomas Spilman, per Bill — OoOO Clothier Lewis, per Acc't 0887 ITios demons, per Bill _- - — 2661 John Hawkins, per Bill _ — 7500 Robt Harrington, per Bill — 1000 Richard Awbome, per Bill and Acc't 1435 Mr. John Baskerv\le, per Acc't — — 0927 Ralph Flowers, per Bill _ ^ - — 2055 A LIST OF MONEY DEBTS: 28,257, Thos Gatman, per Bill _ - £6 00 00 James Miller, per Bill.. 1 04 00 Mrs. Reade, per Note 0 16 00 Clother Leawes, per Order of Court 1 18 00 Jno Hawkins, per Bill - — - 0 03 00 Wm Swinerton, per Bill - 0 13 06 Mr. Isacke Clayton, per Bill 1 08 00 Richard Mare, per Bill 4 08 00 Rec'edof Mr. Leawes, 5 Ell &^ of Canvas at 0 05 06 Ralph Flowers, per BilL... 8 14 06 £25 10 06 E. M.— ELIZABETH MAJOR, her marke. — York Couxty Records, April 1678. H5I0V 10 .T'U/.l/ r j^ HO :■rrA■.p:^ sf or auo 'xaiu a'^> .' <'; > •::''() ciiit OJL ■■f ^00^- - )a\.. V ,':.• T-) 'rf \c i,''i;n«<' •• ■>. ^h-id J i .-iqml = '-^oO .... .-.- • ,HH IJ'^^ --;.., .r. )J. '•'•::. iliij r..:i ,?j; ... ? -At ~ :[■._ ■-... . ^-TSTO YSV^f:: 'it. r?-" ^,. . > .3 WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK 45 KNOW ALL MEN by these presents that wee, Eliza- beth Major widdow, and Gideon Macon, both of Yorke County, are holden & firmly bound unto ye Worsh'p'll his Ma'ties Justices of the Peace for Yorke County in ye sum of five hundred pound sterl, money of England, to be paid upon demand; to the w'ch paj-ment, well and truely to be made, wee bind ourselves joyntly and sevearlly our and either of our heirs, Exec'rs & Adm'rs firmly by these presents. Witness our hands and seles, dated in Virginia, j-e 24th of Aprilis 1678. The Condicon of the obhgation is such: that if the above bounden Elizabeth ^L\jor, Guardian to ye three orphans of Mr WiLLL\M Major, dec'ed, doe save, defend & keep harmless and Indempnified the said Court & Every of them & their heirs, relatinge to or conceminge the Estate of ye said three orphans & every of them, that then these presents to be void & of none effect; otherwise, to remain in full force, virtue and Efficacy. ELIZABETH MAJOR, her E. M. marke. GIDEON MACON Signed, Sealed & Delivered in the presents of: (Signed) Samuel Toplady, John Baskervyle — York County Records TO ALL &c, Whereas &c. Now Know yee that I, yee sd Herbt Jeffreys, Esq, Govemr, &c, give and grant unto ("Thomas" cancelled) Willm Major one hundred and thirty Acres of Land lying in Yorke County and in ye p'ish of York: begining at a m'ked white oake by a swamp side that parts this land from ye land of owen Morris; and Tuning from thence S: 20 ds. Ea: 108 po. to a Spanish oake; from thence so: 15 ds. Ea: 70 poles, along Mr Henry Clarke's land, to a Spanish Oak; from thence E: 90 poles to another m'ked oak; from thence So: 15 ds. Ea: 40 po.; from thence W: 27 ds. S: 52 po.; from thence S: 10 ds W: 47 po.; from thence W: 15ds. S: 60 po. to a white Gum & white oake; from thence So: 58 po.; from thence E: 98. po. to ye 5^ io ;- lAl/ If. VJ.i ■A\r ,rjA T/'OZ'V'S' . . ' ■ - . .' i :'TJv. ,,-,.;,_,,: ];ii;. .?.;:■ Mv? ";•• '/!»>■ uv ii; /t.-rrtnO '•■.- u^U' iMi!'.' ■'■J ; .-'i ;"; ■'> • - ■ ai I ■''or .li ■' '" ' ' '. ■! : j^^Qirjv ;u:n\ ;,ocr -. ■-■■ -i 46 WILLIAM MAJOR OF YORK land of John Hill, dec'ed; & from thenn, along ye sd Hill's m'ked trees, N : 85 po. to two small m'ked white oakes in ye swamp whence was began; from thence, down ye sd Runn or Swamp, N: 16 po. to ye place first Specified. The sd Land is due mito ye sd {"Tho:" cancelled) Wm Major as being sonn & heir to Wm Major, Dec'ed, & due by & for ye transfer of three p'sons &c. To have & to hold &c. To be held &c, yeilding & pa}-ing &c, provided &c, dated ye 20th day of November 1678. Isak Trill, Mary Gony & Jas Stringfellow. ( Headrights.) — Virginia Land Patents MASON OF NORFOLK: WITH SEAWELL OF ELIZA- BETH CITY WILLIAM MAJOR of York married circa 1665 Elizabeth Mason, who survived her husband and married, second, Captain Thomas Cocke of Norfolk. She was the daughter, and probably the oldest child, of Colonel Lemuel Mason of Norfolk, and grand- daughter of Lieutenant Francis Mason. Francis ]VL\son of EHzabeth City and Norfolk comities was bom in 1594, and came to Virginia in 1613, ■^ith his wife Marj' and their daughter Anne. On 11 July 1637 he sat as a justice of the peace for Lower Norfolk; on 15 July 1640 he was appointed a churchwarden; and Lieutenant Francis Mason is named again as a sitting justice 16 July 1642. He patented 1,250 acres in Lower Norfolk, ''at hoggpon point", on the last of August 1642; and 200 ad- ditional acres, 29 September 1643, renewing the latter patent 22 March 1645. He quahfied as high-sheriff 5 March 1646. He was dead by 7 November 1648, the date of an agreement between Mrs. Alice IMason, reUct of Mr. Francis Mason, deceased, and Mr. Lemuel Mason, on the first part, and Mr. James Thelaball, on the second part, conveying certain lands to the last-named. On 15 November '. ,.';>. !i-;hi;/(.7q ,'■:•, j<^' /,:u J. t, •'.a . .1 MASON OF NORFOLK 47 1648 his widow and his son, Lemuel Mason petitioned to administer his estate; and on 22 November 16-48 the court gave an order stating that Francis Mason had died intestate. He had married, first, Mary , by whom he had issue: Anne Mason, bom before 1613; and Francis Mason, bom circa 1623. Both of these children seem to have died before their father. Lieutenant Francis Mason married, second, circa 1625, Ahce , who survived him, and by her had issue: Lemuel Mason, bom in 1628; and Eliza- beth Mason, who married James Thelaball of Lower Norfolk. Lemuel ^L^son, the second son of Lieutenant Francis Mason, was bom in 1628, according to a deposition made by him in 1653, wherein he gives his age as "twenty-five or thereabouts". He was a justice of the peace for Lower Norfolk from 1650 until his death in 1702; was presiding justice after 1669, and major of the mihtia in 1658, and colonel from 1665 onward. He represented Lower Norfolk in the Virginia House of Burgesses for the sessons beginning 20 November 1654, 10 March 16.54-5, 1 December 1656, 13 March 1657-8, 1 March 1658-9, 13 March 1659-60, 10 September 1663, 9 June 1680, 10 November 1683, 2 Novem- ber 1685, and 20 October 1686, and Norfolk county for the sessions beginning 2 Alarch 1692-3 and 10 October 1693. His will, dated 17 June 1695, was recorded in Norfolk 15 September 1702. Colonel Lemuel !Mason married Ann, daughter of Henry Seawell of Ehzabeth City and Lower Norfolk counties. They had issue: I. Elizabeth M\son, who, as already recorded, married, first, William Major, and, second. Captain Thomas Cocke. She was almost certainly the oldest child of Colonel Lemuel Mason. II. Lemitel Ma.son, h\'ing in 1705. There seems to be no record of his descendants. III. George Mason, whose will, dated 13 January 1710, was recorded 16 March 1710. He married Phillis , and had issue: Thomas Mason, who married Mary Newton; George Mason; Abigail Mason; and Frances Mason. i i f>. il d-^iTil'. Ol 1 - ■• i-K!iil0"/O»^ Oil ' ':!^ i-il':: ^HvH j^mJ .lov: - ■ M 48 MASON OF NORFOLK IV. Thomas ;Mason, a justice for Lower Norfolk, and burgess in October 1696. His ^vill, dated 9 Januar>' 1710-11, was recorded 15 June 1711. He married Elizabeth , (who sur\'ived him, and married, second, Captain Richard Sanderson), and had issue: Lemuel ^Mason, who died without issue in 1712; Ann Mason, who married Captain Thomas Willoughby; Mary Mason, who married William Ellison; and Margaret Mason. V. Frances Mason, who married, first, George Newton, and, second, Saj^er. VI. Alice IVL^son, who married, first, Robert Hodge, and, second, Samuel Boush. VII. ;^L\RY Mason, who married, first, Walton, and, second, Cocke. VIII. Dinah Mason, who married Thoroughgood. IX. Margaret Mason. X. Anne ^L^.son. The last-named two daughters are known to have married, but their husbands' names have not been preserved. Colonel Lemuel Mason, as recorded, married Ann Seawell, who survived him. Her will, dated 30 October 1705, was recorded in Norfolk 13 March 1705-6, and shows that, besides her three sons, her daughters, Frances Sayer, Alice Boush, Mary Cocke, and Dinah Thoroughgood were then surviving. Henry Seawell, bom circa 1610, was living in Elizabeth City county in 1630. He represented "the Upper Parish of Ehzabeth-City" in the Virginia House of Burgesses for the session begiiming 4 September 1632, and Lower Norfolk for the session beginning 6 Januarj' 1639. He died circa 1644, as is shown by the settlement of his estate at an Orphans Court, hereinafter quoted, held 25 February 1649. He had married Alice , (who survived him, and married, second, Matthew Phillips; Phillips after her death marrying, second, Anne , who survived him, and dying before 1649), and had issue: Henry Seawell, bom :0 ySYrjkV. i\t o [ T;.;- ^r^v/ -rji .■ -:^^^ - -- .t-'TT- ; ■ //im'^ '.m.;; ,;V''t"T' ^h7,cl7l til iiioho/^ .n i^a^io jot '• 'G?.:;- 'Tf MiM HD 1) i;m>; ,K.v.vd_---, n.ii'^tl ofii fxjSif Si, . o.i-dl noYn) gravb SEAWELL OF ELIZABETH CITY 49 1639, died 1672; and Ann Seawell, bom circa 1634, who married Colonel Lemuel Mason. This son Henry was bom 1 May 1639, according to a deposition; and another deposition, made 16 August 1672, mentions Henry Seawell the younger as "lately deceased", and states that his sister and heir, "now the vnie of Colonel Lemuel Mason", was bora about thirty-seven or thirty-eight years before. Seawell's Point, at the mouth of the Elizabeth river, was named in honor of Henrj^ Seawell. It is not knowTi that he was in any way connected with the Thomas Seawell who in 1635 patented 400 acres on Pocoson river in York, and from whom the Seawells of Virginia trace their descent. The entry, before referred to, of 25 Febmary 1649, reads in part: <<T TAVING METT Concerning the Estate of Hen: I 1 Sel\well, deceased, by the opinion of the Cort and Consent of Jno Holmes, Overseer, and Mr. Lemuel Mason, who hath Intermarried with Anne, the daughter of the said seawell. It was agreed as follows: The estate of Mr. Matthew phillipps, late dec'd, to be responsible for estate of said Hen: Seawell as it was left at the decease of Ahce, ye wife of ye said Henry Seawell, by Inventory, &c, and differences to be decided by 4 indifferent men, chosen on ye behalfe of ye Orphants of ye said Seawoll, & Mrs. Anne Philhps afsd, Administratrix of said Mr. Mathew Phillips". The arbitrators selected were "Mr Jno Hill, Mr Theo: Lambard, Jno Holmes, & Tho: Ivy." It was proposed to send the young Henry Seawell to Holland, where he would be put in the charge of "his kinsman, Mr Tho: Lee"; but he was eventually turned over to Wilham Scapes of Yarmouth, England, a merchant to whom, 22 March 1654, Henry Seawell was bound apprentice for four years and seven years service. d)> /Tn ;n.n.; .<:•-: '■■.:■}< •'i'i' .'■ -'Jfi'''. t>v' i^'/n '11-..J:; .iJ. V'""' \' M'lXj;:. '-J: ;;v .■ : „q iii ! . •- -v::.. ,:::'"-H-t^- , ; , ,.,,.. -• I'A ''O . •.!.'.r>'j'> -^^ ;., ,.' ^i: -v .ji -;• ['■)%■ ; • , .-.J- :.■-',' . ,!!••( ' V. •"-'.'■ ..n ^ /.. . . jj O? r- •>c , v'j.i :<.'■ X ^^>■^^■.■ in-i't iv/' ':•■- 50 MACON OF NEW KENT NOTE ON MACON OF NEW KENT: AND CHRISTIAN OF CHARLES CITY GIDEON MACON and subsequently his descendants were so closely identified ^\dth the Major family as to merit a word of special mention, and a brief notice of them is in consequence appended. Gideon Macon bom circa 1650, was living in York county, an attorney at law, prior to 1672. He was by tradition at one time an Indian interpreter and secretary to Sir William Berkeley. He was named under-sheriff of York, under Daniel Wild, his brother-in-law, 3 April 1672, Richard James being his security. His name thereafter frequently figures in the York records for the next decade; he lived for a while in James City county, and was a vestr>'- man of Bruton parish in 167S; but about 1682 he removed to New Kent, where he made his permanent home. St. Peter's parish records show that Gideon Macon was vestry- man and churchwarden before 1684 and until his death. The vestrj-, be it said in passing, was then a prodigiously important body. Its duties, roughly speaking, were triform: first, to appoint the clerg^Tnan of the parish; secondly, to investigate cases of suspected moral delinquency, such as are hereafter described, and to present them, if the suspicion proved well founded, to the county court; and thirdly, to lay and collect the parish le\'y, wherewith to cover current parochial expenses. For this last purpose the vestr}- met es- pecially in October, when the tobacco crop was safely cured and housed, tobacco being, as has been said, the usual form of Virginian currency. The expenses for the year were calculated, with an added percentage to defray the cost of collection, and the total divided by the number of tithables residing in the parish; and the tax due from each person was thus fixed. Two churchwardens were selected aimually, the members of the vestry holding this office in rotation in order to share equally the burden of it. For these churchwardens were the active representatives of the vestry, the men who did V' ■-.!:■■. ■■'! .:..-:' V-! ■':-■"■! -■".:'. .:■. •'/'iv.:-:, iJii .■Mrr/.f.VO J .'I'i: L::':;i. ■% ,v.':,i-,i'- ■ :'''--:v i' .'. -'^V 1 in •' i t ■;:.■) ft; ,A~.' \ i; . ■ .■; a r. ■■>:■}/. :■'■ '■ i';-- ■ '.■ / - !■ /•: ■ , .V:,;.i. ;• li) ioO-t ''rii (.::•';■:-'.' <>-. !'i.'fi*jr:o;-jq b;>bi'i. flij dit'/;'- ,Ij,'vU;luo{i;? .1 )Kii audi MACON OF NEW KENT 51 the actual work, and few persons went about more onerous or varied tasks. It was their duty, apart from seeing the church was retained in proper repair and equipment, and keeping all the church accounts, personally to collect and pay the minister's dues. It was their part, also, to look to it that illegitimate children were provided for, (and in deahng with such cases they were vested with ver>' great and absolute powers) ; that indigent orphans were indentured, and not too harshly treated; and that the aged and infirm poor were lodged and boarded at the parish's expense. And finally, they were required, as representative of the vestrj' in its judicial capacity, twice every year "to deliver a true presentment in writing of such misdemeanors as to their knowledge, or by comon fame, have beene comitted whilst they have beene churchwardens; namely, swearing, pro- faneing God's holy name, or sabbath abuseing, or con- temning his holy word or sacraments, or absenting them- selves from the exercises thereof. As alsoe of those foule and abominable sins of drunkennesse, fornication and adultery, and of all malitious and envious slandering and backbiting; for the better manifestation whereof the said churchwardens are impowered to cause all such persons upon whose reports they ground their presentments, to appeare at the next county courts to which the present- ments are made, to give their evadences concerning the same." This much in passing, as to the former powers of vestrj'- men. For the rest, Gideon ^Iacon occupied other positions of at least equal responsibility, since he was chosen to represent New Kent in the Virginia House of Burgesses for the sessions beginning 10 October 1693 and 24 September 1696. Land-patents by Gideon Macon include grants of 148 acres in Henrico County, 15 October 1698, due for the transportation of three persons; 545 acres in New Kent, 7 November 1700, for the transportation of eleven; and two grants in King and Queen, 25 April 1701, of 172 and 425 acres respectively, for the transportation of thirteen persons. St. Peter's records show that he was living 8 December 9dj :,!!;■ :■'■. ir.-r?i J-j>:'^; .•-•■/!. ~;^3:M .'vrn ll .?>< = ,, j t^'-'-rfiv lo ■■.A ,., ;-::2u :;ii."l j,:j:' nr:. ■;'■•.;. :--iT ■_ ■.;.:■; ;'.■■,. ,. . J v_ v-^rivo J')^^•t ,Yt:-i;.',_i>-. ■':.-j;^'_f, _:jj; -.»; ■i^' jj .J' -i. H-j„:.i;:!m''';>:!i; iiii^ii '■: ■•■,•' ?'-.v^ .^^ :^r;-^n:?>::-S!;s'-q 1;,.. ' i', v.U'i^; o:f Pv^e/^oqu;: ■Y\i: •-.. •»L:J,vriioii.t(io , .Vrjy' •■'"• i!< ' '"-.t '.i-<'. 'enO'-Tf)': -Mifi-t ;0 :: :• i -ru.jt'.x.T.aiJ 52 MACON OF NEW KENT 1701, a vestr>' meeting being held on that date at his home, and was "lately decest" 4 ]\Iarch 1702, when his successor as vestn'man was elected. Gideon Macon and his vdfe, Martha Wild, had issue: I. Gideon Macon, bom 20 June 1682. II. Anne Macon, bom 15 December 1685, living in 1728, w^ho married James Christian of Charles City county. III. Martha Macon, bom 1687, who married Orlando Jones of King William county. IV. William ^Macon, bom 12 November 1693, who married ]\Iar\', daughter of William Hartwell. V. John Macon, bom 17 December 1695, Uving 1729 in Goochland county, who had with other issue a son Henry Macon. VI. James Macon, bom 28 October 1701, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Augustine Moore, and had, with other issue, a daughter, ^Nlary Macon, who married WilUam Aylett. Gideon Macon's 'v\'idow had re-married by 24 June 1703, on which date there was a suit in York between Nathan West and ^lartha, his wife, the relict and executrix of Gideon Macon, and Richard Packe of London. By this second marriage with Nathaniel West, she had issue: Unity West, who mnrried William Dandridge, and had: Nathaniel West Dandridge, who married and left issue by Dorothea Spots- wood. The wife of Gideon Macon married, third, Bigger. The descendants of Gideon Macon through his sons are elsewhere recorded: for valuable data concerning them, compare the William and Mary College Quarterly, Volumes VI, X, XII, and XIV. Of his daughters, Martha Macon, bom in 1687, died 4 May 1716, married Orlando Jones (who survived her, and married, second, Marj', daughter of James WilHams), and had issue: Lane Jones; and Frances Jones, who married Colonel John Dandridge, and was the mother of Martha Dandridge, who married, first, John Custis, and, second, George Washington. .2851 on: .11-' ■<•' ».</ ■.'ifi!f%i;»!b . h :. r:, .1371 "lO.-.f ,/. /i .III I /A " oriw '" 'J jiia CHRISTIAN OF CHARLES CITY 53 The elder daughter of Gideon Macon, as has been said, married James Christian. He was a son of the Thom.vs Christian, bom circa 1635, Hvnng in 1695, who, on 15 Janu- ary 1657, patented 100 acres on the north side of the James river and the east side of the Chickahominy ; took out another patent, 9 December 1662; patented 1,080 acres in Charies City county, 21 October 1687; and, as "Thomas Christian, Sen", patented 193 acres south of Chickahominy swamp, 26 October 1694. Thomas Christian had issue: Thomas Christian, ^-ill proved in Goochland in 1736, who married Rebecca , {and had issue, Thomas, Robert, William, James, Constant, Ann, and Mourning); Charles Christian, living as late as 1768, who married Susanna , (and had issue, Edmund, Turner Hunt, Susanna, Elizabeth, and William Brown Christian); John Christian, dead in 1768, (who had, ivith probably other issue, John and Mary Christian); and James Christian. James Christian was bom in Charies City county circa 1680. He patented 382 acres in the present Goochland, then included in Henrico, county, 26 June 1714: on the north side of James river, on the west branch of Beaver Dam creek, and bordering the line of land pre^-iously patented by his brother Thomas Christian. He patented 368 acres in the same part of Henrico, 20 Febmary 1719, due for the transportation of five persons, the tract being described as lying on the west branch of Beaver Dam creek, and bordering the land of Joseph Pleasants and Thomas Christian: and a third tract, of 100 acres, on the same date, due for trans- porting seven persons (as the patent reads, oddly), in Henrico county, north of James river, and bordering the lands of Edward Baze and Tariton Wood. He seems to have made his home in Charies City county after 1727, but took out one more patent, 1 December 1740, in Goochland, for 200 acres, lying on Beaver Dam creek, and bordering the land of Peter Baze, deceased. He was certainly hving m Charies City August 1739, (when he brought suit against Ann Lamport, administratrix of Benjamin Harrison), and for eleven years thereafter. On the first Wednesday in YTIO iO 10 :3 Jo s\ ' I t u ~.rv 1«fiJ.ia»; 'fi ■i.-U':''i>!lv. ■'■.-> 'T. .;0 Oi>ii< 3>ri..^ .t^;r:ytf^ \iij cv. ,.■■■- -I ■ » .;' ■ -/■ -•■ -w, it^T- , <'u '• Of^;)CleH I,.;': ,(\\=i('. A\'j.i^\\.- ' ''. ircl. biiii "ViMKI ,-rrH:TI JT n-v/dr; )-:n y/i.; ii?) .i'4h:'>iOitJ S'sia; fl 54 CHRISTIAN OF CHARLES CITY February' 1750 the will of James Christian was presented for probate in Charles City, by James Christian, Richard Christian and Joel Christian, the executors named therein, who, with Charles Christian and Turner Hunt Christian, gave bond for £1,000. James Christian, as previously recorded, had married Anne iMacon, who was h\'ing in 1728, but died before her husband. They had issue: I. Richard Christian, bom circa 1700, died in 1769, who married Eliza Eppes, and had issue: Samuel Christian, who married ]Mar>^ ; Richard Christian; Benjamin Christian; Isham Christian; Elizabeth Christian, who married Jonathan Patteson (compare page 160); Lucy Chris- tian, who married, first, Samuel Waddill, and, second, Gideon Bradley (compare page 146); and Sarah Christian, who married Philip Charles. II. James Christian, who settled in New Kent, and had, with probably other issue: Joseph Christian. III. JuDiTHCHRiSTiAN,boml711, who married James Ladd of Charles City county, and had issue: Jesse Ladd; James Ladd; WiUiam Ladd; Lydia Ladd, who married Thomas Charles; Elizabeth Ladd; Anna Ladd; and Alargrett Ladd. IV. WiLLL\M Christian, died in Charles City in 1771, who married, first, Collier, and, second, Susan Browne, and left issue by both wives. V. Joel Christian, liv-ing in 1772, dead in 1786, who had issue: Sarah Christian; and Elizabeth Christian. Yl. Gideon Christian, bom 1728, died 1796, who married Susan Bro"wne, and had issue: Eaton Christian; Francis Christian; Patrick Christian; William Allen Christian, who married Lucy ; Anne Christian, who married Isaac Hill; Alice Christian, who married Samuel Tower; and Susanna Christian, who married John Timberlake. Sarah Christian, daughter of James Christian's oldest son, Richard, as recorded, married Philip Charles of Charles City county. They had issue, according to his will, dated 29 January- 1792, and recorded 25 June 1792: William I \o III- JNJ . r/r- irv:- - /^.4T . .^-.' :.~o'i^' i / ! J. :•.!!, :'■', •-.:L . rtrntvfr vM':"'/ ,ni;i: .-■ ' l.itjnii'.iu ,hp..i ?:"?;: ,tn-jyl / . ■■' rr' h'l'ttHS; orfvr .y 5. ,TJ •'. ><,■■>■'•(• ;(. -'Tf-vr - 1 ~) V ) ff .^M'n 71 .1. V v,ilA -JIiH CHRISTIAN OF CHARLES CITY 55 Charles; Edmond Charles; Elizabeth Charles, who married Hyllard; Lucy Charles; ]\Iar}' Charles; and Sarah Charles, bom 176S, died 1S33. Of these children, Sarah married Richard ^Yaddill of Charles City county, and had issue: Susan Waddill, who married Littlebury Eppes (com- pare page 146) ; and George Christian Waddill, who married Rebecca Priscilla Major. The children of this last marriage are hereinafter enumerated, on page 135. For information concerning other descendants of Thomas Christian the emigrant, compare the William and Mary College Quarterly, Volumes I, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XV. > 10 * •_") -rn<i;),i ;-'K}.|.-t fio .h'->iLV:-ui\ji:i'-^ -i-:- John Major of York and Charles City )OHX MAJOR, the third son of William ]Maior of York, was bom about 1677, shortly before his father's death. He and his two brothers were ver\' probably reared in Norfolk county; their mother, as has been said, married in 1682-4 Captain Thomas Cocke, who patented land in Lower Norfolk in 1687, and resided there until his death ten years afterward. John Major, some few years after coming of age, as has been prevnously recorded, patented 376 acres in Old Rappa- haimock, 24 October 1701 ; the land being due for his personal adventure and the transportation into Virginia of ''Joseph Young, William Mack-daniell, Joseph ffox, George Reding & Susannah Netherway." He never, however, seated this land: and, as also has been said, it was subsequently taken up by his elder brother William ^Vlajor of New Kent, by a patent dated 15 August 1715; the land then being claimed by Wilham jNIajor by right of the importation of "Thomas Perre, Eliza Alebee, John Thome, George Madby, Chas Hallett, James Johns, John Spring & Ehza Harv^e." These patents are hereinafter quoted in full. After relinquishing the land in Old Rappahannock, John Major, as well as his brother Lemuel, made his home for some seven or eight years in York, where the two were bom; and in York, circa 1705, John Major married Anna, the daughter of Colonel Thomas Ballard of that county. The last-named worthy was a person of sufficient importance to warrant the introduction here of some brief dissertation concerning his career. 1^ ^^ 9dX C'li /^ ,m;I.k.''> >'ii'-<>i:\T nn-.iqi:'. ': '.■J Jr.- f»)bie-i.ri biiB ,7861'- ' * - ^ t/i ';(!• yiJD li;ii '»i if^Y'V/vofl .ij:^n eH i iTiHl .r: J- 1 THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK 57 Thomas Ballard was the second son of Colonel Thomas Ballard of James City county, as to whom a note is given on page 90. The younger Thomas Ballard was, therefore, probably bora in York county circa 165.5, and reared at his father's home at Middle Plantation, which more lately became WiUiamsburg. That he eventually returned to York county was due to his parents' wise choice of his godfather in ]Major Robert Baldrey. Baldrey had come to Virginia in 1635, being then aged eighteen, had married, and had acquired a considerable plantation in York, where he was for years a justice of the peace. He married, as has been said, but had no children: and in his vtlW, (dated 1 May 1668, recorded in York 30 December 1676), he bequeathed, ^vith the exception of 130 acres left outright to Thomas Greene, a Ufe interest in all the testator's property to his wife, Elizabeth, vnih reversion at her death to Baldrey's godson, Thomas Ballard. Baldrey's widow seems to have died before 1684, at latest, as in that year Thomas Ballard, Junior, removed to York and took possession of his god- father's estate. He was certainly still hving in James City 28 March 1683-4, vrhen he witnessed a power of at- torney from John Suckell to Joseph Topping; but he was a member of the grand jury in York in November 1684. He married about this time Katherine, daughter of John Hubard of York (then deceased); the marriage must have taken place at all events before 9 ]May 1685, as Ballard and his wife were witnesses on that date to a deed given by Thomas and Sarah Aylett to Thomas Wade. Ballard's succint power of attorney to represent IVIrs. Aylett on this occasion is likewise preserv^ed in ths York records. "CouzEN Ballard — After my service to yo'rself and Lady, this is to request the favo'r of you in my behalfe to acknowledge the land to Mr Wade w'ch he hath bought of my husband, and this shall discharge me from any Right or tytle any more. I am yo'r Servant & Kinswoman — Sarah Aylett." Among the York records for these years is also to be found an entrj' which, omitted here as without genealogical ' -[uY "iO G r .'Jon /: .'nvM'.v/ ot s.c , -<//• i'-"If.,a : 7 :^.itf - ■. <■■ . , , ..iT .,: i-v. ■r.'hi TO ■;:'>'!•■ '.»•-'■'/ 'c. ^r/nrCJ ^fn r.i rMC". . • • , ! ' '■>-•■■' -r ■ K , . -?->■-',■. ■ ^ ^ , - - I -' \ . , ,. ,- . ( N.. Jl'. ;ric";>''»! tL^iV.iX . n: ;_?;'.v: • ■ . t<. T • i . -: •• ri .-. •■ fT'" " 9" 1'. (Tf ! •T? biiiJ 'Jf?/^i't>v 03 ". 'visr: V; ■" it Miti / riCi t V (^ UliJ i. 58 THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK significance, affords a sufficiently vivid glimpse of the young couple's menage and the immemorial liability to have trouble with servants, common to all young couples, even then, to warrant its citation on page 67. The death of Thomas Ballard's older brother, John Ballard of Nansemond, without is<;ue, and the death in 1689 of his father, Colonel Thomas Ballard of James City, had presently made Thomas Ballard the head of his promi- nent and wealthy family. He was appointed a justice of the peace for York, and retained that honorable position until his death: and figures extensively in the contemporaneous York records as the Foeffee in trust, with Joseph Ring, under the Act for Ports, passed by the Assembly in April 1691 — through which important law Thomas Ballard became, with Ring, the founder of historic Yorktown. The statement demands a word of explanation. In Vir- ginia at this period there was nothing anj^-here resembling a city, with the solitary exception of Jamesto"VNTi ; and it required some stretch of the conscience to describe James- to'^Ti as anything more than a village. The exigencies of their life, and in particular the fact that the colonists were for the most part dependent upon tobacco raising for their sustenance, tended inevitably toward the estabhshment inst »ad of innumerable "widely scattered plantations. There was no need of harbor towns, since each plantation adjoined a navigable stream; the planter shipped his tobacco and unloaded his foreign supplies at his own wharf; and such articles as were not imported from abroad were manu- factured by his own servants on his own land. The authori- ties in England could not, however, \'iew wdth equanimity the spectacle of a vast colony wherein, after nearh' a century of existence, there was nowhere to be found a town; it was so un-English; and they had made numerous efforts, all unsuccessful, to remedy the defect. By this Act for Ports — which nominally, and with a deal of beclouding verbiage, aimed merely to increase the facili- ties for storing and shipping tobacco — fifty acres were set aside in each county as a site for the county port. In York y^ •'' .3*-.inj id '■-^•j'?Mr'-{ •••1)1 p;n »ib'j<i'>-;i :-I"! .'".' I THO!^IAS BALLARD OF YORK 59 the Read plantation was selected, and laid off into eighty- five lots. By the Feoffees (Ballard and Ring) these lots were granted to such persons as requested it, in fee simple, but "under such consideration, that such grantee, his heires and assignes shall within the space of four months next ensueing such grant, begin and MN-ithout delay proceed to Build and finish on each halfe acre granted to him one good house, to containe twenty foot square at the least." The experiment, while it failed in most of the counties, proved in York a success, very largely through the number of mechanics who chanced to acquire lots there, whereon they set up shops; the Feoffees reserved for themselves two of the most desirable plots in numbers 16 and 10, fronting on the river; several persons had presently opened inns for the entertain- ment of \isitors to the new to"^!!; and in the outcome York- town was in 1705 formally incorporated. Of its former glories there sur\'ivcs to-day only its admirable \'iew of the river; but Thomas Ballard is entitled, none the less, to the credit of ha\'ing had the chief part in the town's establish- ment. Ballard meanwhile had been chosen to represent York county in the Virginia House of Burgesses for the sessions beginning 1 April 1692 and 2 March 1692-3. -\nd in the last-mentioned year he had a hand in founding yet another famous and enduring institution, when Thomas Ballard sold to the trustees of the proposed College of William and Mar>' a tract of land, inherited from his father, whereon the college buildings were afterward erected, and stand to-day. The original deed from Ballard was long presen'ed, but mysteriously disappeared from the college archives some twenty years ago. The first expense accounts of the college, from its opening in 1693 to April 1697, sent by Governor Andros to England and still to be seen there, contain under the heading The College of William & Mary is D'r, 1694 the item: "To C.\pt Thom.vs B.\llard, for 330 acres of land, whereon ye CoUedge is built £170." The college has since sold, at various times, all save some thirty acres of this land, which, purchased for £110 by Colonel -<T -'ft Mu :ih;i^>.:a vij'-'i 'o m-j^ 43 '■ill lII ■ .J; tocr Tino-r:' .in'j'Xi It-. .r.-"."'ji ti. >■',;(/: ■; f)i It;: ,a::A^M I'- v. :.1 h■.,'^. 60 THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK Thomas Ballard of James City in 1674-5, and sold for £170 by Captain Thomas Ballard of York in 1693, was thus owned by the Ballards not quite twenty years. In 1694 Captain Thomas Ballard was chosen High Sheriff of York. His commission, given in full in the York records, was dated 27 April 1694, and granted by Edmund Andros, who as has just been said, was then Governor of Virginia. In consequence, as is duly narrat-ed hkewise in the York records for the edification of posterity, "C.apt Tho: Ballard, aduceing his Ex'lly ye Govemour's Comision to this Court appojmting him High Sherr: of this Countie this present year, which being accordingly swome, entered mto bond, wdth seecurity, for ye due p'formance of his Office therein accorcUng to Law." He selected his brother, probably his only sur\'i\'ing brother, as sub-sheriff; and "Mr Frauxcis Ballard, p. appojmtm't of ye High Sherr: was accordingly swome sub. sherr: as afores'd." The Governor by ordinary chose the sheriff, even,' year, from among the justices of each county, who filled the of&ce in turn, as it was not found equitable to impose its burdens on any one magistrate for more than a twelvemonth. Yet it was a ver>' remunerative position. In consequence, the justice whose proper year it was to be sheriff would not infrequently cede his right to a fellow magistrate who chanced at the time to be financially embarrassed, — as when in 1665 the York justices unanimously requested that Colonel Ralph Langley be nominated sheriff of that county, out of his turn, on the grounds that he had recently lost his house by fire. Some of the sheriff's fees, as fixed by a law enacted in 1661-2, amounted to five pounds of tobacco for dehvering a summons to court or for issuing a bond to keep the peace; ten pounds for ever>' arrest he made, for every subpoena served, and for even-' commitment to prison or release therefrom; twelve pounds for impanelling a jury; and twenty for placing a culprit in the pillor\' or for whipping him. In ser\'ing an execution the sheriff worked on a commission basis, according to the amount of the judgment: if the lattt^r was less than a hundred pounds of :t.^i< Y '^o aa/jJAG ; ..^ oa ..j'5/{^7; V :'■',■'} '\fu.:i K.i: A :.,.;.;iJ;';: /f i ■ 'j:j:r; !;.f:i. l^'iK li^r^A 71 it'0/:b &LW :;: ;7 rrj"- - ,t'l1: :L'. -jfij v^iOf"-:. 7iiinii,io "{d iGfnT-'oI) odT III ...o'.fc'O'; • ..i-.c:' j;:;i: 'lO HH':.:''? lr:'7,rjjifn!on sci voLinfiJ i^'J ■ :• -^f-aiioq 'jvii ot baJnuoniR ,%-tiS'Oil V1JV1 -;,yi l-,;i .,5^ v-tov9. 'M ti, ..11" ■i/--. a<>, Tjt rn s- ;:I THOIMAS BALLARD OF YORK 61 tobacco, his fee was ten pounds; if between one hundred and five hundred, twenty pounds; if between five hundred and a thousand, forty pounds; and if more than a thousand, sixty pounds; and so on. These fees in a locahty hke seventeenth century Virginia, where everj'one appears to have been more or less htigiously incHned, added up at the year's end to a tidy sum; and Captain Thomas Ballard, as will be seen, was ready enough to resume the office when his turn came about once more. Ballard returned to the House of Burgesses for the session of 1696-7, and again for the sessions of 28 September 1698, of 27 April 1699, and of 5 December 1700, which last was proroged to 30 May-14 August 1702. He was again High Sheriff of York in 1699; was for years one of the leading lawyers of Virginia, and was long an officer of the York mihtia, ranking as captain in 1693, and being commissioned Heutenant-colonel on 3 June 1699, — Edmimd Jennings being then made colonel and commander-in-chief, and WiUiam Buckner, afterward Ballard's son-in-law, major. John Major, thus, married circa 1705 the daughter of one of the Colony's most prominent men. John Major and his wife appear to have hved near her father's big plantation for some five years after their marriage, and then to have removed from York to Charles City county, just as Colonel Thomas Ballard was preparing, after seven years retirement, to return to the House of Burgesses. It is noticeable that Ballard's will, hereinafter given, drawTi up in 1706, states that he was then "weak of body"; and he probably never recovered robust health, as for the ensuing four years, beyond occasionally sitting as justice of the peace, he seems to have held no pubhc office. Now, however, he was elected to represent York county once more as burgess, for the session beginning 25 October 1710, but died in the pre- ceding September, A note as to his death, will and de- scendants is given on page 71, HHOY T' VlitliO >d 62 JOHN MAJOR OF YORK John Major's name, meanwhile, had figured off and on in the York county records, in divers entries of no particular importance beyond the fact that they establish his residence during these years. On reaching the records for 1709, however, he of a sudden begins to be concerned in a sur- prising number of small law suits. It is also noteworthy that these petty litigations end after the November court of 1709, at which John Major brought suit against the estate of Thomas Stare, deceased, for £1, 16s, 2d, which was adjudged due him; a suit against Joseph Lemon, which was dismissed; and a suit against Thomas Hix, administrator of Thomas Hix, deceased, over an acknowledgment of in- debtedness to the amount of £2, 16s, 2d, signed by the last-named 26 May 1707, upon which John Major asserted £1, 16s, 2d was still unpaid, and was awarded a favorable verdict. John Major's name thereafter abruptly and finally dis- appears from the York records. There can be little doubt, therefore, that these legal transactions mark the winding-up of his affairs in York, and that 1710 was the date of his settling in Charles City county, where he had pre\'iously acquired lands and other financial interests. His brother Lemuel Major, as has been said, continued to reside in York until at least as late as 1714, when his name also disappears from the records. Nothing definite seems ascertainable as to what afterward became of Lemuel Major; there is a tradition existent that he went west — "to Ken- tucky," the legend says, which was in 1714 a manifest impossibility. That he emigrated from York and made his home elsewhere appears at all events to be certain; and his descendants, if he left any, have not been traced. The remainder of John Major's life — after his removal to Charles City — is wrapped in wellnigh equal obscurity. 'The records of that county covering the eighteenth century- were for the most part destroyed during the War between the States. Many stray odds and ends of documents have, however, been preserved, which with two Books of Orders, from 1736 to 1750, and from 1751 to 1757, and Books of /'•.:•;<•- :;r -vyr'h r > Afo { 9Ai /■.sr-ov ■••; O' ^nE;i-;':5 ii')!';''!!-, j; 10 'iii .I'JVdV/OlJ ;v:. VMVo J.--'.--h ,7:11 -■ ■ ■! ;:,!'.»(. Joii'.'.' :T' ■ . .. .'■■■^■'• ■';.!'' oL: i,-ji;'!t;n-J-.irJ eiiti Vi ';T.:ij ■;:!):. SCW OITi ii.iij lu'L .il70 i III ^^ j^::: y.uX lo ,b(f' r'>-;; ti;d Z:\ 'vr:/;-^l; •J T<- t Mfvw' tr.Yi o? rc»i rnoil biiis ,U-\1 oJ dbvl aioii AND OF CHARLES CITY 63 Wills dating from 1767 to 1774, and from 1790 onward, with Deed Books from 1789, illuminate the period with a sort of fitful twilight. It is apparent thereby that Jolm Major died in Charles City prior to 1737, leaving issue at least four sons, herein- after named, with it may be a daughter or two, of whom no record is obtainable. His wife, Anna Major, survived him, acting as his administratrix until as late as 1743. John Major and Anna Ballard had, with possibly other issue : I. John Major, who in Charles City county was reported "for not frequenting the church" and acquitted, in January- 1741; he was convicted on the same charge, however, in 1752 and fijied five shillings, or fifty pounds of tobacco. This w^as under the quaint Act for the Effectual Suppression of Vice, &c (enacted in 1706, and directed against dissenters from the Church of England), of which Section VII reads: "Be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if any person, being of the age of twenty-one years, or upwards, shall willfully absent him or herself from divine service at his or her parish church or chapel, the space of one month, he or she, being lawfully convicted, by confession, or otherwise, before one or more justice or justices of the peace of the county wherein the offence shall be committed, .... shall forfeit and pay, for every such offence, the sum of five shillings, or fifty pounds of tobacco." There was also offered the delinquent an alternative penalty of receiving "on his or her bare back, ten lashes, well laid on." All this points strongly toward a survival among Colonel Edward Major's descendants of his non-conformist opinions; yet divers circumstances indicate that both WilHam Major of York and John Major of York and Charles City were members of the Church of England; and it is probable that this John Major evolved, rather than inherited, his rehgious behefs. His brothers nowhere figure in such a pickle. John Alajor died without issue in 1768. His will — wherein he describes himself as "John Major, Senior, of Westover" — dated 5 April 1768, was recorded in T^J'o ,'>* " -'il* :3>.' •_n^ .'U: •'■'.'7 10 ore 'XI T ')• ■ : tn /.'i; 'ii JtrfT .hJi^r^^-io'ti? !u} vAi Sili ' ..J'..^ 1i.> -M'i . .... ^iiiilOUJ onO lo 'JO'.r.a TO -.'li (lo .' lo v}J«;T'^q •>■■ 64 JOHN MAJOR OF YORK Charles City 4 May 176S, and is hereinafter given in full, on page 82. An inventory of his estate was taken, 4 June 1768, by Thomas Ballard, Freeman Walker and William Finch, the total valuation being £36, Is, 3d. II. Edward Major, who with his first wife Sarah ac- knowledged a deed to William Acrill in Charles City county in June 1737. Edward Major received six day's pay as a witness in April 1740; and was living as late as 1756 — by which time he had married, second, Elizabeth . In 1756 he brought an action for assault and batter>' against William Beadles, as well as a suit against Ann Johnson, the latter ending rather disastrously; for the jury dismissed the case and recommended that the plaintiff be prosecuted for hbel. Edward Major, as has been said, was twice married, and left, with possibly other issue, a son: WilHam Major, of age in 1756, w'ho made his home near Williamsburg. The latter married Garland, and had William G. Major, who married Martha, daughter of John Emery, and was living in Charles City as late as 1816. III. Bernard Major, who was a juror in Charles City in November 1737; and was appointed, with Walter Vernon and John IMinge, in September 1739, to appraise the estate of James Middleton, deceased. Bernard Major petitioned for a new road in April 1740, that which he had been using having been stopped by Mr John iMinge; and, with his son Bernard ^lajor. Junior, appraised the estate of Temperance Harwood in Januarj^ 1757; and witnessed the will of George Minge, dated 4 December 1781, and proved 2 January 1781. Bernard Major hved to a considerable age, dying intestate in 1793. An inventory of his estate was taken 28 January 1794, but not recorded until 15 December 1796. He left issue: Joyce Major, who married Harwood; Bernard Major, living in 1794; and Samuel Major, died 1784. Of the two sons, Bernard Major, Junior, of age in 1757, hving in 1794, perhaps left no descendants; but Samuel Major, who died before his father, in February 1784, left issue another Samuel Major, (bom 1754, died 1785), who married Anne, daughter of Samuel Timson of York, and had : Samuel K' - :r '• V":-;' " J.; "OJ .'^'''i*' . . :'f.. .■'■^ ' '- -'1,. -i.j ':0J /;>-.:;.'. ^<.'[^'u .0 fi-iiijil. :'''■' ivtiri tan .baRi-iCi-.i - ■- byi'nisni I33v,el '' •■ :' . -,-.;•;,:: '^ n' totl'i j; ?^'':v7 oriv- .iiC'i.'l/ apiYnyAi .III >Jjir.-» OC H — — - h- :53'^ol :9tf?.8i AND OF CHARLES CITY 65 Major, who died without issue; Mary Major, who also died unmarried; and Anne Major, who married Richard Garrett. IV. James Major, of whom an account will be given hereafter. V. A daughter, who married Harman Wilcox. ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS TO ALL &c, WTiereas &c, Now Know yee that I, the said Ffrancis Nicholson, Esqr, Govem'r, &c, do, with the advice & Consent of the Councill of State, accordingly give and grant unto John Major three hundred Seventy Six acres of Land, lying in Rappahanock County upon the branches of Gelson's runn and Hoskin's: begin- ing at a great white Oake by an Indian path, some three quarters of a mile from John Roberts'; King from thence Southerly, and Extending South South West one hundred & Eight poles to a small white Oake in a small valley; thence South twenty five poles; thence South west two hundred forty & six poles, crossing a main branch of Hoskin's, to a white Oake some three outs Distant from the said Ruim, on the South west side thereof; thence South East one hundred Sixty two poles to a white Oake at ye head of a small valley; thence North East, Crossing the said run againe, three hund'd Sixty one poles to a small white Oake upon a hill on the North side of a branch of Gilson's run; thence North west by West one hund'd & one pole to a white Oake upon a hill by an other branch; thence North west by North ninety two poles to a white Oake on a Levell; thence North forty two deg's westerly thirty eight poles to the first white Oake. The said Land was formerly granted unto Philhp May and Thomas Bells, by patent dated ye 21st day of October 1687, and by them deserted; and since granted to ye said John Major by order of the Gener'll Court, bearing Date ye 24th day of Aprill 1701: and is, further, due unto the said John Major by and for the Transportation of Eight persons into this Colony, whose names are to be in ye records mentioned under this patent: To have & to '!:"■:: ■ nrj to a via , .i. ;:; _ .-...:^^ .. ■...■/: .:. | • .--...T .!. ..Mi- ;:■•■,■ :,-Tivi -, ..■^: ■■ •.-./." iiiv'.' ,. ,1 ' . 'r:ii\?''.','/i ;.;''>) UTCil a'iiU fi k^ .-ivll^ii'i* i"H-f>i:;;:i t:.'0 '-.•'. ■AU:*'-: rtiK^''^ A;':*}:n \:L\'i bnjr; .yi'onu ;' ■; '.■,:^ ii".. ,1' ,.'.;',.. '-ijir-v/ JblXJlir i QJ .; '-_ .v- .v3..'-'- >;.ii-iir^ >.'3iv>q yvrl /Jn:!//' ,!-'!;■ ! ; j-,' ■'!.; ? > ■•-0 ■:■ ' hie 1 J ?*'>; d ^-v K) ebig d:ho".1 ydj no Hid ,1.: r. v,.b iU2 v/ b''!i:b .r::..:a yd ,; ' M>a yalA ) " ^ .'fi -to} 66 JOHN MAJOR OF YORK hold etc, to be held etc, Yeilding & paj-ing etc, pro\'ided etc. Given under my hand & ye Seale of ye Colony this 24th day of October Anno Dom 1701. FFR: NICHOLSON John Major his patent for 376 acres of Land in Rapp'a County — E: Jennings. Joseph Young, William Mack-daniell, Joseph ffox, George Reding & Susannah Netherway. (Headrights.) — ^Virginia Land Patents GEORGE &c, To all &c, Whereas, by one Patent under the great Seal of this our Colony and Dominion of Virginia, bearing date the 24th day of October Anno Dom: 1701, there was grante to John Major one certain tract or parcel of Land, containing three hundred and seventy six acres, lying and being in the County of Essex, formerly part of Rappahannock, upon the branches of Gelson's run and Hoskin's, and bounded as followeth: to wit, begining at a great white Oake by an Indian path, some three quarters of a mile from John Roberts'; lying from thence Southerly, and Extending South South West one hundred & Eight poles to a small white Oake in a small valley; thence South twenty five poles; thence South west two hundred forty & six poles, crossing a main branch of Hoskin's, to a white Oake some three outs Distant from the said Runn, on the South west side thereof; thence South East one hundred Sixty two poles to a white Oake at ye head of a small valley; thence North East, Crossing the said run againe, three hund'd Sixty one poles to a small white Oake upon a hill on the North side of a branch of Gilson's run; thence North west by West one hund'd & one pole to a white Oake upon a hill by an other branch ; thence North west by North ninety two poles to a white Oake on a Levell; thence North forty two deg's westerly thirty eight poles to the first white Oake: which sd Tract or parcel of Land was granted on Condicon of seating or planting, as in the sd Patent expressed: And Whereas the sd John ^Iajor hath :iHOY "iO oe ..•m; o1'">CI f'--.,/. t''}0\f.j\j it.f i,.iA> djr^ ., ., \n ■;^.->:^J> f; .'c- A>\ -.S'V'S^T r.'-A HOU.M KHoL -jr-'^f) d^.'iaT.^.S; <1/^lS .MV^:0;l!7 fl«»'^^ :^<.> lo ,'i- -."til: iir!,; ■^jnh :^niTf:;5H ,s\;iP2^ ..^■■ 'i' ^^ai'.'-; ijr'r; :in/Y; .•v-'Tny zi:; v;-:^'j7''=*e bna •^ j;:ii-.:I a;, vd 9-!l.O '^fhi^r JK'Jt^ ,-^W n^iia^ *,_. i': '^:l;iO -^vir'/r Ilsm: ;» oj e A b-f:^'iifii JUO 99'm[) "DOT J?. / A Ot 4 io f»tiiiv,' ii '.^i •iiuo. 'jiio yj jS ■':.'[.'ij ■flioVT 3')n')iii aiii ' ( YtJoi iijio«4 i\iii!i :^'-)u.l- :^<A, ]>•■■ »,ij gi, AND OF CHARLES CITY 67 failed to make such seating or planting; and William Major of the County of King & Queen hath made humble suit to our Lt Govem'r of our sd Colony and Dominion, and hath obtained a grant of the same Lands: Therefore know ye that, for divers good Causes and Consideracons, but more especially for and in Consideracon of the Im- port aeon of eight persons to dwell within this our Colonj'' of Virginia, whose names are Thomas Perre, Eliza Alebee, John Thome, George Madby, Chas Hallett, James Johns, John Spring, & Eliza Harve, We have Given, Granted and Confinned, and by these p'sents for us, our heirs and Suc- cess'rs do Give, Grant and Confirme, unto the sd Willla.m Major and to his heirs and assigns forever, all and every part and parcel of the sd Tract or parcel of Land: With all &c. To have, hold &c, To be held &c, Yeilding and pajdng &c, Pro^^ded &c. In Witness &c. Witness our Trusty and Wellbeloved Alexander Spotswood, our Lt Govem'r &c, at Williamsburgh, under the seal of our sd Colony, the six- teenth day of August, one thousand, seven hundred & fifteen, in the second year of our Reign. A: SPOTSWOOD Wm Major — 376 — Lapsed Land — form in Aih page. — Virginia Land Patents WHEREAS Mr Thomas Ballard, Jun'r, brought before us a woman serv't, named Katherine Phillips; and by his peticon declareinge that She ran away from her Service, and chd take Severall peeces of her Mistr's Linnen alonge with her; And yt he was att twenty shiUings charge att ye least, besides loose of time in Lookeing after and bringing her whome Againe; and ji; not long after the s'*d Katherine Phillips did most wilfully and Mallishously Conveye some fire into her IM'r's Trunck Amongst her Cloaths, (which did appear to be tme by her owne Confession), & did there burne and Consume Soe much Silke and other fine Linnen, (to the value of fourteene pounds Ster.) — Itt is therefore ordered that the Vd Yxr -,/:i ■ i ))iiL ^ ^UiiO h.y.'jj, --r^•;■f(•^ -lOi Jijnj ^v H.rxi '/: ^1n^'^,\v '''?" ■■'■;'! ill"' .:,.:(;..M^V jv .... l).t.4. 'IK/ J AlJ-'IOsr;]"/ — I ..arf.j.iAii SKUGu'J iT/i ; •?/'■ .:./ M'Tor'/; t .lOOU. £U l>;r) .l^:- }-'.vcu'>r\A \f :rn.i v.s'.^iX:';-^ >^t\'(' a: -'.s ;M. 68 JOHN MAJOR OF YORK s'd Phillips serve her s'd Mast'r three years after her time by Indenture-to be expired, for the great loss and Damages her s'd Mast'r hath Sustained by her Evill and Mallishious Contriveances. — ^YoRK County Records 24 January 1686-7 YORK COUNTY, February ye 9th 1690— Received then of Capt James Archer the sum of one hundred, eighty and two pounds and sixteen shillings sterl. and Nine thousand and three hundred and eighteene pounds of tobacco and cask; being the full portion of my Wife Katherine, the Daughter of Mr John Hubbard, Dec'ed; & received pr me THO: BALLARD Teste: (Signed) E. Jennings, Peter Temple. Recorded 25 May 1691. — York County Records These two domestic items must be permitted to suffice, concerning Colonel Thomas Ballard of York, since the records of that count}' show that during the quarter-centurj"" between 1685 and 1710 hardly a court was held whereat he did not figure in a dozen cases, either on his o^vn behalf, or in one of his multifarious official capacities, or as attorney for someone else. There is no beginning to pick from such a wealth of material; and besides, the curious \sill find fair copies of these records, as far as 1702, readily accessible at the Virginia State Library. HUBARD OF YORK JOHN MAJOR of York and Charles City counties married Anna, daughter of Colonel Thomas Ballard of York and Katherine Hubard. An account of Colonel Thomas Ballard has been given previously; and it seems well here to speak briefly of his %\-ife's family, the Hubards. The Hubard arms, as borne by them during the seven- teenth centur>', still exist in a bookplate then used by a member of the family. They are: sable an estoile of six ! ^'iii; edTi:,^ ,':-;r'"- ■.- ■ (.j-'-in i:i»f'rii yd ■ •.. - .i .c'j ■ ,■ i ' r; ;■•>!. o ■''!^ ''0 "■.'■■■:-;,. "■-■CI >!;; ,•. r' '.' r:jL 'ilCtf ',U,'^ -'■1 \. ■ , !', ■' ;i ,:,;,ir;-!;b JL!!) '• jH.: ".':;. i.'>;;i .j^'[ V' )j"^0't->"! T'-- 'jsrr."; ,/■'..,; r ; ■o^uM^x;,-.^ on ai ji3fi'r /j-i * ■^no;>rnr!-; •^jl ■'■,'••, :■<•:■:. v-'^T '.'■liu'ifi' 'i.-'t 'o T9(fmooa HUBARD OF YORK 69 points, in chief a crescent argent, between two flaunches ermine. Crest, a Sagittarius. The arms are in the book- plate impaled with an unknown coat, blazoned as: argent on a chevron between three pheons gules, three mullets of the field. Matthew Hubard and Jolm Hubard were brothers living in York by 1650. Matthew Hubard patented 595 acres in York county, IS August 1655: due for the importation of twelve persons, namely ''\Vm Parke, Sen'r, Wm Parke, Jun'r, et uxor, Sarah Park, Wm Swinburne, Edward Harris, Wm Beamont, Rice a Welchman, ffra Taylor, & Ann fflower." He was justice of the peace for York for several years, and died in 1667, his will being proved 4 April 1667. His inventory shows a hbrarj- remarkable for size and quality. Matthew Hubard left issue: John Hubard, who died unmarried; Rebecca Hubard, who married John Edloe; and Matthew Hubard of James City county, who married Ellen . Matthew Hubard's -wife, Sibella, sur\dved him, and married, second, Jerome Ham (a burgess for York 1657-8), and, third, Wilham Aylett. John Hubard the younger brother, probably died in the January of 1667-8, as his inventor^' was ordered to be taken 24 February 1667-8. His estate was valued, 8 ^lay 1668, at £784, Is, 9d, which was notable wealth for the time and neighborhood. His widow, Katherine Hubard, was not long in finding consolation, inasmuch as James Besouth gave security for £500 on marrying her by a deed dated 14 July 1668, recorded in York 12 April 1669. John Hubard left issue: I. Eliz.\beth Hubard, who in 1677 married Captain James Archer, and died 13 December 1727, leaving issue. II. ^La.tthew Hubard, mariner, dead in 1694, who left issue: James Hubard. The \vill of this James Hubard, dated 12 January' 1719, recorded in York 15 Februars' 1719, shows that he married Elizabeth , and left issue: James Hubard; and Matthew Hubard. III. Katherine Hubard, bom circa 1660, who in 1684 married Colonel Thomas Ballard of York. t:>d'ia'jh?i o'/r* a'30v/j.',»>J .:;.yyx'z in-rfj^yrj £; ••<.•"' ■^^:-^i-i-< .1 i;'i;}i ■■;Tr':''-l. ,')JJu""t- ,l--;ijTj^ n i>fl£/ .'^iliA^ -t i • " .-/ I'':: l;jl,v/ '-■ji;';!;'}'! Oiin^dti:}! ,\'7o.brAr aiH J■•o•'.■■^^ ,;.-2J'»i n'r.*'i:;'> i. "nam TT^iJ nl od/f ,f .1 Wo\ : ! .. (iv ,?>o^;! ^-o-u: r.r..A .Jl 70 HUBARD OF YORK Colonel Thomas Ballard of James City, father to Colonel Thomas Ballard of York, was appointed guardian to Mat- thew Hubard, the two girls being entrusted to their mother, now remarried. Colonel John Page was adminis- trator of John Hubard's estate, as is shown by an acknowledg- ment from Matthew Hubard, recorded in York 8 May 1682, of having received his share therein — 9,318 pounds of to- bacco and £182, 15s. Ehzabeth Hubard had received her portion when she married in 1677: and Page relinquished his responsibility as to Katherine Hubard's inheritance by a deed dated 5 j\Iay 1679, recorded 26 June 1682, to James Archer (her brother-in-law) and Mrs. Katherine Besouth (her mother), who became thereby joint trustees. As has been seen, Katherine Hubard's portion was not deHvered her husband until 1691; she must, however, have been of age in 1682, as she witnessed a power of attorney from John Taton to James Archer, dated 15 August 1682. She married Colonel Thomas Ballard, as has been said, in 1684. James Besouth, her mother's second husband, died in 1681. His will, dated 10 November 1677, was recorded in York 24 October 1681 : his whole estate is left to his wife for life, with reversion at her death to Elizabeth, -^^dfe of Bridges Freeman. Freeman and his wife sold their interest in 176 acres, a part of the land involved, to ^Matthew Hubard the elder (the son of John Hubard, as distinguished from John Hubard's nephew, also named Matthew), by a deed dated 4 October 1683, recorded 14 October 1683. Katherine Besouth survived her second husband by more than twelve years, dying 19 March 1693-4: her will, dated 28 February 1693-4, was recorded in York 26 March 1694. Much material as to descendants of the two Hubard emi- grants will be found in the William and Mary College Quarterly Volumes I, III, IV, V, and VI. -■■. .-.'V ^O '1 OX l.^..,.f,■.• I . , ^r. (^,-> ,-■-■'. -^.-.CT-. T. ■;■.■. r\ ■.r.d\iil ,l;)trd<isii^ .rxA .i:>?fl f- .r'rj;-!r'; .inu; :--.i- • ■■•V'/i!'^!- ■■'■/.I -".'.v r'/'ii-f'-.iq ^-'Ln-JL^h? sn.-i-.. ..^ .i /rKi' cisod J 'f M,ii t'ioj ')^rw aui bus ri£.xn';)^i''!l .nf;^'>--i;^*rl v>i ,(•. j;oi7 a'bliJfiiiH ■;;u THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK 71 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE AS TO BALLARD OF YORK COLONEL THO:VL\S BALLARD of York, Jolin Major's father-in-law, was among the magistrates who sat at a court held in York 24 June 1710: he did not sit at the July court, nor after: but at a court held 5 October 1710, "Matthew Ballard, as executor of the last will and testament of Lt: Coll: Thos Ballard, deceased, presenting a Certificate under the hand of Wm Barbar, Gent, for the said Ballard's takeing up a runaway Indian Woman, & it appeareing by the sd Certificate that the sd Lidian Woman was apprehended twenty miles distant from her Master's dwelhng, it is ordered to be transmitted to the Assembly for allowance." This entry shows that Colonel Thomas Ballard was dead by October 1710; yet, rather curiously, his will, dated 26 September 1706, was not re- corded until 18 June 1711. On the same date Edward Powers, WilHam Lee and Bassett Wagstaff were named to appraise the estate. Their inventorj', returned and recorded 16 July 1711, amounts in all to £603, 12s, Sd. It includes eighteen negroes, ^ix horses, fifty-one head of cattle, seventy ounces of plate, and "a parcell of Bookes, val'd at £2, 10s." The inventor}^ is not unlike, in the general nature of its contents, the inventor^' of William Major, pre^•iously given, although of course Colonel Ballard was by far the wealthier of the two. Indeed, it should be borne in mind that Colonel Ballard was one of the wealthiest men of his time and neighborhood. For that reason his will is especially worthy of careful con- sideration, and a copy is in consequence appended. IN THE NA:ME OF GOD, .\men: I, Thomas Ballard of the parish of in the county of York, Gentle- men, being weak of body, but of Perfect mind & memor>', thanks be to almighty God, do hereby Revoke all former wills & Testaments by me hitherto made, and make & ordain this my last will & Testament, in manner & form ollowing, my Just debts being first paid — IT y HT f li.i. aoJ rnr.'Wrlf ,a-j^iv.'o'J ij'ic7;i','a otr.b .:;;'55 i)rii jrrl> nr^'.^. ^^ :^/.vohT T :-?mA .GOO "^O 'H'-'y r^Tr'" ^'T 72 THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK Imp's, I freely resign up mj' pretious Soul into the hands of my most gratious redeemer & mercifull Saviour, on whom alwaj's I trust for Justification & Salvation, and my body for Xtian buriall according to the discretion of of (sic) my Executors hereafter named, in hope of a glorious Resurec- tion: and as for my worldly Estate which God hath lent me, I dispose of as followeth: Imp's, I give & devise the plantacon or tract of Land I now live on, — begining its bounds on York River, runing up the North west side of the Creek that parts it from the Land late of one Walner to a Spring called Oxespring, and from thence North west to the great Road, down to the marked white oake near the Road that devides it from the Land of Colo: Diggs, so from thence along the line of the said Diggs doT\'n to a pasetur on the River Side, & so along by the said River to the Comer where it begun, — unto my son Matthew & to the heirs of his body Lawfully begotten; and in case my said son IVIatthew dye without issue, I give it to my son Thomas & to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten; and if my son Thomas dye \\ithout issue, then I give it to my son Robert & to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten; and if Robert dj-e without issue, I give it to my son John & the heirs of his body lawfully begotten; and if he leave no issue, then to remain to my son William & his heirs forever. Item, I give & devise my tract of Land whereon one John Brookes now Lives, — begining its bounds at the deviding line of one John Potter from the Land once of Major Robert Baldrey, & now mine, so dowTi the main Road toward the said Colo: Diggs' to the aforemenconed white oake, so from thence up into the woods along the said Diggs' line near South west, & so along mj^ line bounding the land of Charles Colleir untill it come to the land of Thomas Jefferson, and along the said Jefferson's line to the main Road where it begun, — unto my son Thomas & to the heirs of his body; and if he, my son Thomas, dye without issue, then I give it to my son Robert & the heirs of his body; and if Robert - dye without issue, then to my son John & the heirs of his :■■■{ t oil J o" THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK 73 body; and if John dye without issue, then to my son William & his heirs forever: and my will & meaning further is, if my tract of land above dexnsed to my son Matthew shall descend or come to my son Thomas or his heirs, that then & from thenceforth the tract of Land herein-menconed to be devised to my son Thomas shall be & remain unto my son WiUiam & the heirs of his body Lawfully begotten, anything above s'd to the Contrary notwithstanding. Item, I give & devise the tract of Land on w'h I formerly dwelt, — and begining its bounds at the main Road & runing along the line of the abovenamed Potter to the head of a Swamp called "White ]\Iarsh, so along the Swamp to the line of the Land late belonging to one Walners, and along the said Line to a Creek, and up the Same to the Spring called Oxespring, and thence Northwest to the great road that leads from Colo: Diggs's to Williamsburgh, and thence up to Potter's Comer where it begun, — to my son Robert & the heirs of his body La^\'fully begotten; and if Robert dye ■without issue, then I give it to my son William & to his heirs forever. Item, I give & devise unto my son John all my Land on the South side of the Swamp called Whitemarsh. to him & to his heirs forever. Item, I give to my daughter Ehzabeth, the wife of WilUam Smith, twenty shillings to buy her a Ring, I haveing given her her portion already in marrj'age. Item, I give unto my daughter Anna, the v^-ife of John M.vjoR, my negro Sue and the boy Larence, or fifteen pounds Sterling in Lieu of the said Larence, at the Choice of my Executors, to be delivered or paid within six months after my decease. Item, I give unto my daughter Katherine Molotto Susanna & her Increase, twenty pounds Sterhng, the negro boy Tom Puding, my Second best featherbed. Bedstead, bolster, " Pillows, blankets, Sheets, Covering, Curtams, Vallens thereto appertaining, & the young horse now breaking called Ring. Item, I give to my son Thomas Negro frank, four young r.Y i.!0' /ii ■.>: i:'.-f'- . .^. -■- ^t.r,. i/.' i ■. ' 'I'V.^ >j tiJ/? .'-'bod .1 [i-^';jL pMid'yr:;, ,rf'.f^g.,;j .i'j}-'.:.I ,•••;■ i • m •'.?,■:• --i, 7 ;..r '^"/ o.'- ■vj.,1': ;. ii'^r;-' T^.-;:i7'jj| i .i:!;:'' ■■ f-J vud oi .-^itfiiii^^ ■,;(.!^-v,'- ./i^rrari ;f-:,0. - .V]i., ■i:<<; ,.:,,:;i/. ^ '•: ■ . , .1 >•■'';:! ■. •>■.>;••,•'; .^ V i v''"'.? bar; ftU-B o-in:?;-' \u ,;;o:^.M )' ! 1 ; .jo^'^r-: ■..n j'/Ti'iLi*! ;jniy"-: ij/^r' .;^,;i.r L'-i:i^.r' 74 THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK cows & a Steer of four or five years old, a featherbed, bolster, Pillows, Blanketts, Sheets, Covering, & bedstead, three pewter dishes worth eighteen shillings, six plates, & four Cain Chairs, to be paid & dehvered to him when he comes of age. Item, I give to my son Robert negro Jane T\*ith her in- crease, ten pounds Sterling, three young Cows & a Steer of four years old, to be paid & delivered to him when he comes of age. Item, I give unto my son John negro Madge & her In- crease, ten pounds Sterling, & three young Cows, to be delivered him when he comes of age. Item, I give unto my son Wilham negro Giles, Molatto Kate wath her Increase, & ten pounds Sterling, to be de- livered & paid when he comes of age. Item, I give unto my daughter Mar>' my two Molattoes called Betty & Anne & their Increase, & a good featherbed performed as the beds above-menconed ; and my vnll further is, that if any of my said five Children dye before they come to the age of one & twenty years, & not marr\'ed, that this & their portions be Equally divided amongst the sur\nvors of them. Item, I give to my three sons Robert, John & Wilham, to every of them, a young horse, to be delivered when they come of age. Item, my mind & will is, that my Exec'r shall have the Benefitt of the Labour of all the negroes & Molattos given to my last named five Children, (Vizt:) To Thomas, Robert, John, William & Mary: he therefore to give & allow them a Sufficien & proper Maintenance & Educacon, the s'd Mary till She come to age or be marry ed, and the boys till they come of age or be by him putt to Lawfull Callings, as apprentices, w'ch I hereby Impower him to doe. Item, all the rest of my goods & Chatties not before given nor disposed of I give unto my son Matthew, whom I make & appoint whole & sole Exec'r of this my last will & Testa- ment ; and I hereby request my trusty & well beloved friends Mr Lawrence Smith & Major Wilham Buckner to direct, i: '■:■':■.. -,^i t.-^i! 'h ■<,.'' '■'.';■■. .: J (2 i. i;.fl. rfi--^ '{'ff .i*',;. ■.•\, -•.■ij! •■! ■•■ .'iff',.' ■•. i^' ?:.:ii);0'.J :!■' '.■ .' .-<.,■■■: ■- '"^'S iitr-J/ '"•jiivl > ■ 1. .4- 1 THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK 75 assist & advise my said Exec'r in the Execution of this my will. In Witness & Confirmacon of all which I have here- imto set my hand & seal, this 26th day of Septem'r 1706. THOS: BALLARD (Seal) Attested in the presence of the Testator: (Signed) Jer: Ham, John Brooke, Solomon Harmon (the mark of), Sam'l Seldon. This will & Testam't was presented in Court by Matthew Ballard, the Exec'r therein named, who made Oath to it, and the same being proved by the Oaths of John Brook & Sam'l Selden, is admitted to Record; and on the mocon of the said Matthew, & his performing what is usuall in such Cases, Certificate is granted him for obtaining Probate thereof in due form. Test, Phi: Lightfoot, C: Cur. Truely Recorded. Colonel Thomas B.axlard had married, as previously recorded, Katherine Hubard, who died before her husband's will was drawn up in 1706. They had issue: I. Matthew B.allard, bom 1685, who married Jane , and died in 1720 without issue. His widow married, second, in 1726, Matthew Hubard, for years clerk of York county, who died in 1745. II. Elizabeth Ballard, bom 1687, who married and left issue by William Smith of York. III. Anna B.\llard, bom 1689, who married John Major of York and Charles City counties. IV. Katherine B.u,lard, who married and left issue by William Buckner of York. V. Thomas Ballard, who settled in Charles City county, and of whom an account is more conveniently deferred to page 86. VI. Robert Ballard, who married Jane . Robert Ballard, Carpenter, and his wife Jane Ballard conveyed Plot 24 in Yorkto-s^Ti to Vincent Pearse of the Kingdom of Great Britain, Gentleman, by a deed dated 15 October 1725, recorded in York county 15 November 1725. Robert Ballard died intestate, accordmg to the petition to adminis- P:'h■lu■^^c■^.'y :■-■:' -Mo'/- ' '■'-' • • .j. ■•^' .OOi i r' ' hf'H u'ii-n.iU.';. Oii,w A'B9I - ■■ •■ ' - ■ ' ■ ■ _.. HI" '{!.< ■JUaSf jHi b:7S D if il.,.:rl • Vf .^.•f 76 THOMAS BALLARD OF YORK ter his estate, presented by his w-idow 19 May 1735: and records of the Orphans Courts in York show he left issue: Henrietta Ballard; and Charlotte Ballard. VIL John B.^llard, who died in Yorktown in 1745. He had married Elizabeth , and left issue: Thomas Ballard; John Ballard; Robert Ballard; William Ballard; Catherine Ballard; Elizabeth Ballard; and Anne Ballard. VIII. WiLLi.oi Ballard, who seems to have died un- married. IX. Mary Ballard, of whose marriage or descendants no record has been preserved. It is probable that she, as well as her brother William, died before reaching maturity. :'r.H .:,r>0';' .hv.■^•^ :•)'!,-.:., ;^;-'no.:.-. : ilv-id ':.;.Ax James Major of Charles City ^AAIES MAJOR, the youngest son of John Major of York and Charles City, was bom circa 1720, or possibly even later. Living as he did from first to last in Charles City county, the paucity of con- temporaneous records there renders it difficult to obtain accurate information as to the facts of his earlier hfe. It is apparent, however, that he married, circa 1745, his first cousin jMary, daughter of Thomas Ballard of Charles City; his oldest son another John Major, was bom not later than 1748. It is also certain that, in spite of his comparatively ad- vanced age, James Major served as a soldier in the Revolu- tion. A family tradition, to the effect that he was wounded in a battle fought in the North, returned to Charles City, and died there of his injuries before the conclusion of hostiU- ties, is strikingly supported by recent investigation of Revolutionary records. These disclose that a James Major served in Captain Stephen Ashby's company in the Twelfth Virginia Regiment from March 1777 to June 1778; was transferred in July 1778 to Captain John Neville's company in the Fourth Virginia, and was one of the fifteen men honorably discharged therefrom 10 October 1778. It was at this time the Virginia troops were being reorganized, among other changes the Eight Regiment being combined with the Fourth. James Major's former regiment, the Twelfth, was now designated the Eighth; and he re-entered it in November 1778, as a member of Captain Wood's com- pany. He was transferred to Captain Robert Gamble's company in the same regiment, in May 1779, and remained in service until July 1779, after which month his name 7:iK-' 3i ^Gfu.) to -fOv:' ' 'i :\0'. to p'''' *'-'\.i,)o .rlj ;.'''/J^ 7;;''? ■•"i'-i' : .■ •"';iE :nvji \o iv 'i9ii:!£j ^-,'. "Iv' s)*^>>i _'iij :>i tJi ; JO/I ai.j'- .'-r'vv ,~i:o:J;. ^,6<A Y^iiKi-.r vo^ i39t)!f^ r'ji ;'{J'iU / /« -'i.) : : ■[■jii: Aj'^ i- ■'■i h-)'ri3^ IcifiM .-jtJ-^l .'^^jS bdOfl^V :! -: noiHUJjrroo of*i •^T/i-id :^snjj[nt ?,:n lo n-vmi bsib bos ili YiirqiCfO i;'7;ifl:.A ri )>J'/-roJ3 i-ro^>J «;]] 1" r;iIO ;i--Mr ;.;-^.--:!. '.do le '.) pnoinii ' •i').!(n-./o'/i m ii jii ai£J tliirorxj n .d. liifjj oDrvisa td 78 JAMES MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY disappears from the payrolls. There can be little doubt this was James Major of Charles City. Major was one of the men draughted in the early spring of 1777, and presumably joined the Twelfth Virginia at MorristowTi, New Jersey, where Washington was then reorganizing the Continental arm}'. Alajor must have taken part in the defeats at Brand^-^-ine, 11 September 1777, and Gemianto'^Ti, 4 October 1777, and have passed thence to the terrible winter of 1777-8, at Valley Forge. The Twelfth Virginia was likewise present at the battle of Monmouth, 28 June 1778; and it was evidently through the readjustments following this battle that James IMajor was transferred for a while to the Fourth Virginia. There appears to be no record as to the movements of the Fourth Virginia during the summer of 1778; but these troops were probably with Washington at White Plains, where they took part at most in unimportant skirmishing. But, as has been said, in September 1778 the Virginia regiments were thoroughly reorganized; and through these changes James Major became a member of the Eighth Virginia (formerly the Twelfth, his original regiment), and by May 1779 was a member of Captain Robert Gamble's company therein. This circumstance would seem to identify the battle wherein James Major received the injuries from which he eventually died. It must have been the night attack on Stony Point, 16 July 1779, where the especial company to which James Major belonged — Captain Gamble's — is known to have played an eminent, and indeed the leading, part. As has been seen, James Major's name disappears from the payrolls immediately after the date of this engagement, when he had served httle over two years, out of the three for which he must have enlisted. Stony Point, overlooking the Hudson, and then held by the British, was considered almost impregnable. General Anthony Wa\Tie was, none the less, empowered by Wash- ington to take the fortress, if possible; and retorted with "Mad Anthony's" tolerably famous remark — "General, I will storm hell if you will only plan it." '-:• I ,11 .- ; ^ .. •- ,:'.■ - y, hfiK v.T"! '):^;i'. /■!£; .it ■ti.u'TiioM J •. ,;, ^ mJ; ":.. 1 . 'mp- vo.i; ^/;' -.< ^f. '■•;•;■; ;• » -d O) cli'-) j^e .,-;.yv , ',;;!, i^^n ,-:.'.::.xi7 'ir-T 6VTI rrf ,I>i,5o ") ?:<'!' -TO JAMES MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 79 An interesting account of how WajTie carried out the less ambitious undertaking will be found in the Virginia His- torical Collections, Volume XL It suffices for the present that the Americans attacked the fort simultaneously from the nori;h and south; and in the face of a terrible storm of grape-shot forced their way, at the point of the bayonet, through every obstacle, without firing a musket, until the van of each colunm met in the centre of the fortress. It was perhaps the most brilhant exhibition of courage that even the Revolution produced; though it may reasonably be questioned whether the whole affair was not a useless waste of hfe and ammunition, inasmuch as the British retook the fort within two days. Waddell, in his Annals of Augusta County, relates how Captain Gamble led one of the assaihng parties, as well as how "Captain Gamble with his men mounted the wall in immediate vicinity of a cannon, and seeing the match about to be applied, barely had time to lower his head and order his men to fall flat before the gun was discharged. He was, however, permanently deafened by the concussion. His company immediately moved on, and were the first to enter the fort. Being busily engaged in securing prisoners, the British flag was overlooked imtil Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury observed it and pulled it down." There was thus afterward a dispute between Fleur\' and Gamble as to who was entitled to the leading honors: and Washington, after frankly conceding the pre-eminence of Gamble's claim, induced him to withdraw it, for fear of antagonising the French auxiliaries. James Major, then, it may safely be assumed was wounded in this assault; and returning to Charles City, died there at latest before the Januarj^ of 1780. It will be observ^ed, by the settlement of his estate, hereinafter quoted, that his coffin was paid for in the month just mentioned: tradition apart, this would indicate that he was not killed at Stony Point, since in that event he would have been buried there, at the public expense. The item in itself would tend to show that James Major died in Charles City; the circumstance iifT fl"iZ> ) 'JU .^''l. /. Vjai;!-jJ to /CIO"; ;:^■i7■'^; ' -■ . :^: ■ vv r.i i-jiJ; .■• I- i .i - ;■ ' ' ,. • ;\ -fit -■ ■:,{ ;, j J!-' ...: .rMi: " . ■;;■ 1 ; -. . ■.. -..!''■ ■ ■• •■■--■ ^-r.- ' ,■ . », ,. - ■J .»'. in ,- v; 1 1" mfi"=,', Ui '11 1.. .jr'joi 80 JAMES MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY of his coffin's having been paid for in the January of 1780 would not of course be incongruous with his death's having taken place some while earher: so that, all in all, as far as the existent e\'idence goes, James Major may have died any time between the August and December of 1779. It is likewise apparent that he left a will, which was duly proved in Charles City, and named Fumea Southall as his executor; but the text of this will has perished, with the other county records. The final settlement of James Major's estate, aforetime mentioned, was not made, however, until 20 April 1793, and recorded 16 May 1793; so that this sur- vives to make clear, at worst, the names of his children and the approximate date of his quitting this hfe. His children eleven years after his death attempted to secure some substantial recognition of their father's services to his country', as happens to be sho^\^^ by a stray item in the Journal of the Virginia House of Delegates. Among other petitions considered by the House, 20 November 1790, is enumerated : "Also, a petition of Ballard Major, in behalf of himself and others, representatives of J.uies Major, deceased, who served as a soldier during the late war, praying that certifi- cates may be granted to them for the arrears of the pay and depreciation due to the said James Major." No record seems to exist as to whether or no this petition was granted. The State of Virginia, at all events, was, then as afterward, sadly strapped for want of ready money; and any remuneration collected by the heirs of James Major was of necessity a pitiable affair of shilhngs. James Major, as has been said, had married circa 1745 his first cousin Marj', daughter of Thomas Ballard of Charles City; and he appears to have survived her, as in the settlement of his estate there is no mention of her share. In conclusion, this settlement contains a peculiarly characteristic item in: "To paid John Edloe for Rum and sugar to Bury dec'd, £26, 10s." Virginian funerals of the day were in effect social festivities. People in the sparsely settled neighborhood were compelled to come considerable D 'iO :T«.'^.''- 08 r'7Cj.:i ■ - 'i:u ; h/ u'^j-ixiy TO ix^; ; . vi: ,:/:•-. ■••'7 n^i 'C ,'.,L's'".iJ ^/jf ■ .1 i:)y1'ibj»frOj i:'.o:"!j''jq ': = ..-^tii.t :• .•7,>,^.. . .: l.'iiJiiiJI to aoi^ij-: ,i!:'.,'.ivi firiiif.i- ijfjif -ni (^T 'A I' a-^ih h**;Tfi.;a h-;i: biii^: n'^-'i f*i;ri >-i- .■:o^::l/. J'yjrxi* ■^.V• K> ^Itr::..!} JAMES MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 81 distances in order to attend; and hospitality demanded these people should not go away either hungry- or thirsty. To prevent this, as is amply shown by surviving records, the relatives of the deceased verj' often went to rather excessive lengths: it is estimated that for a moderately attended interment "it required, for the assuagement of the mourners' *■ grief, twenty-two gallons of cider, twenty-four of beer, and ' five of brandy; and to sweeten the drinks, twelve pounds of sugar." There is no doubting that this sort of consolation sometimes led to indecorous results; and many wills of the I period contain the strange sounding request that there be "no drinking immoderately nor shooting sutTered" at the t burial of the testator. The "shooting," it is fair to specify, referred to the custom of firing volleys over the grave. There •• is thus no reason to suppose that James ISIajor's funeral ^ was in any way an extraordinary' affair. James Major and Mary Ballard had issue: J I. John ]Major, apparently the oldest son, of whom an account will be given hereafter. II. Sarah Major, who married Wilcox. She seems ^ to have been the second child. III. Ballard Major, who in 1797 married Ann Hilliard, but left no issue. He sold his lands in Charles City to William Graves, in 1797-8, by three deeds hereinafter described, and appears then to have qi.itted the county. IV. James ]M.uor, li\dng in 1793, of whose issue likewise there is no record. He, as well as his father, served in the Revolution, and concerning his military career a word follows. V. Elizabeth Major, who married Gill. VI. Mary Dancy Major, immarried in 1780. VII. Martha M.uor, unmarried in 1792, when she gave Fumea Southall a receipt, hereinafter quoted, for her share in her father's estate. VIII. Another daughter. Christian name unknown, who married Stephen West, and died in or before 1779, leaving issue: John West; Sarah West; and Ehzabeth West. As has been said, James Major's son of the same name i- 3ii r»n.t.; :hn:'tii; 0' ; o' t-H ■■:' f rr* ,, r , ,,,„, . "j^ ,,, ,ar- iJto''V''" T- till' .'lO -Hi (jrv 1n\^\:ii')0, .lilKj . If I V OiiW aa/iif iii-.hyr.'') I»( ^ J*'!' . :l. tA 82 JAMES ^L\JOR OF CILIRLES CITY was a Revolutionarj"" soldier, and it is a thought difficult to disentangle the two records. The younger James Major, however,, some five years after his . father's death, was granted a Bounty Warrant, as follows: "Council Chamber, April 29th, 1785. "No. 3833 — James Major is entitled to the proportion of Land allowed a Private of the Continental hne, who inlisted for the War and served to the end thereof. THOMAS MERIWEATHER "A Warrant for 200 Acres Issued to James IVL^jor, April 29th, 1785." And in the Virginia State Library'-, among the Bounty Warrant manuscripts, is still preserved a certificate that James Major enhsted pre-vious to January- 1777 in the Eighth Virginia, for three years; and aftens-ard re-enUsted for the war — e\'idently in the First Virginia, as there is an ac- companj-ing certificate that James Major was furloughed from that regiment, at Charles Town, 2 July 1783, and never again called on. The Eighth Virginia, it should again be said, was in September 1778 absorbed by the Fourth, as was the Ninth by the First. These two certificates were copied by Philip Southall, a justice of the peace for Charles City, and with them is filed the following note: "Gentlem'n Auditors — I request Capt. Nath'l Ashby to settle my acc't with you: please to send my Land Warrant and Depreciation by him, as I served a Land time for it, and have a just right to it. I am yours &c, JAMES MAJOR— A copy, Ph'p Southali:' A manuscript volume among the archives — known as War 4 — shows that on 28 April 1785 Nathaniel Ashby was paid, for James Major, £57, 7s. ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS IN THE NAME OF GOD, Amen: I, John Major, Senior, of Westover Parrish in the County of Charles City, being sick and weak, but of perfect Sence & Memory, do make this my last will and Testament, as followeth: iO "iO S-B T^ ,y\ \^,,,^\ 'i'fi,':\\_ V. fj-. c'iJM, " ' "':v<'. 'V -./'f'T ' ■*TcVJ\. ■nu^i ::].^ >-,;M';i. t'^dt •y'S'^fl;T';'V' ^^.iiv i-,,1 ■ :i • I • ^'wetci'j^ j!,.( -'•..••• ,biBa ■7 '^;:t'- lY-i<j\ r\ nor-l rij'"7 h~i. vjf) ,\v.i 1 li ob JAMES MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 83 Imprimus, I give to my brother James's son John Major one feather Bed, one Read and white heifer, and sow, and three shoats. Item, I give to ray brother James's daughter Sarah Major Ten pound Cash. And lastly, I give to my Brother James Major, after all my Legacies Abovementioned, all the residue of my "Estate, whom I constitute and apoint whole & Sole Executor of this my last "Will and Testament ; Revoking all other Wills by me heretofore made; as Witness my hand and Seal, this 5th Day of April, In the Year of our Lord one thousand, Seven hundred and Sixty eight. JOHN MAJOR, his + mark Sign'd, Seal'd, Publish'd and Deliver'd in the Presence of: {Signed) William Parrish, Jun; Thomas Ballard; Elizabeth Ballard, her 7nark. At A Court held in Charles City County, the ith day of May 1768, — This last will & Testament of John ^L\jor, deceas'd, was Presented in Court by James IMajor, the Executor therein named. Sworn to by the said Executor; & being proved by the Oath of Wm Parish & Thomas Ballard, two of the Witnesses thereto, & ordered to be recorded, Certifi- cate is granted the said Executor for Obtaining a Probate thereof in due form; he having made Oath, *fc Entering into bond according to Law. Teste, Mord: Debnam, C. C. C. J — Chapxes City County Records AMES MAJOR'S ESTATE SETTLED: Dr, the estate o/ J.^mes ]M.\jor, dec'ed, in account with Furnea Southall, executor: 1780 Jan'y 7 To paid for a Coffin for the deceased.... £54 00 00 To paid John Edloe for Rum and sugar to Bury dec'd — 26 To Crying the deceased's estate..- .— 50 To levies, taxes &c for the year 1779- 3S To ditto for the year 17S0 „ 36 To paid Clerk's tickets.. 99 10 00 00 00 IS 09 00 06 09 00 e8 ..■ ->L >rMrnM-ri :.r-. !'//; ,;.,:! vu! -r{,: - , rr J, yi:<{M?;i n-r'^^ir: ^.1.'^ '-' U' >! ,,v-, ■ M, •'S fTi :.'}:iv:t!i:i AV ur-v V 00 r- •:; t;'^ ri r-i ■■*' '.V"' *k! ''0 -V' N- '■■■','. ' . .. t .■ . 84 JAMES MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY To John Major's Legacy left him by the dec'ed's Will 10 00 00 To Sarah Willcox ditto 10 00 00 To Mary D. Major ditto _ 10 00 00 £334 18 03 To paid James Major 14 05 00 £349 03 03 Cr: 1780 March By amo't of sales of the dec'ed's es- tate, due Jan'y 1781 £2905 10 00 Oct'r 20th '81 By interest Rec'ed on Henry Duke's & Cowles' bonds for their purchase at the sale 76 15 00 £2982 05 00 Amount Debt 349 03 03 Divided amongst the Legatees as follows — £2633 02 09 £383, 2s, 9d — Between the Legatees liquidated by the scale of 50 for one, {With interest from Jan'y 1781) : Sarah Willcox £76, 12s, 6H, at fifty for one, as above Mary D. Major the same sum, at ditto Martha Major the same, at ditto Elizabeth Gill— Do Ballard Major— Do Elizabeth Gill, also £452, 15s, in a Certificate for Money funded at 1000 for 1 Ballard Major, also £1797, 5s in the said Certificate at the said fate — which said sums amount to the Ballance above, £2633, 2s, 9d. Charles City County — In obedience to an order of the worshipful Court of the said County to us directed, we have examined, Stated, Settled and divided the estate of James Major, deceased, as above. Given under our hands, this 20th day of April 1793: (Signed) Wm Southall, Henry Duke, Wm Graves. At a Court held for Charles City County, on Thursday, the IQth day of May 1793— The within written settlement and 7T] • ^JdyilM"^ '-^O HOIJIJI "I CKj IK) SO '-;.' ^"> BO :» -Ji 0(1 o: TO'-. ;' . V ; 'IStif. o'.r ;■;.:: i:l/; ,:-i;:.,.,M.. b'«q oT . , . I.' - , - ' . ■ . ifj. ■ (1 ,.;,,.. .. •-.'7',.;;*/i ; j<;;va<-n. .; ;;: O; y.i; '£. . •ill'- >l'10.:; itf- ' "■ t '■■' •\U:^\\'.:\}j «i m jsfi ::i.t-l ;>..:. ,. ' ■ '■'•".'I JAMES MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 85 division of the estate of J.\mes M.\jor, deceased, was this day returned and ordered to be recorded. Teste, Otway Byrd, C. C. — Charles Cfty County Records MAJOR TO SOUTHALL, REC'T October 1st, 1792— Rec'd of Furn'ea South.axl the sum of one Hundred and eighty-two pounds, in full of my part of the personal estate due me from my deceased Father James Major's estate that he had in his hands, as guardian to me. MARTHA her + mark MAJOR Witness: (Signed) John Southall. At a Monthly Court, held for the County of Charles City, on Thursday the 18th day of October 1792.— The aforewritten Receipt from Martha Major, of the one part, to Furxea Southall, of the other part, was presented to the Court, and ordered to be recorded. Teste, Otway Byrd, C. C. — Charles Cnv County Records Considerations of space prevent the giving in full of the three deeds, pre\aoush' mentioned, whereby Ballard Major c isposed of his share in his father's estate, to William Graves. Ballard Major and Ann Hilliard deeded their interest in twelve and three-quarters acres, for £15, 6s, on 23 February 1797; he and his wife, Ann Major, deeded fifteen adjoining acres, for £18, on 14 December 1797; and Ballard Major alone (being now a widower) deeded forty more acres, for £22, 10s, on 21 Febmarj- 1798. The land transferred by the last deed is described as "a tract or parcel of land situate in the said County of Charles City, and bounded as follows: by the land of Ingraham Gill on the East, and by the land of the said Graves on the North, West and South: containing forty acres of land, be the same more or less: it being all that balance of the tract of land that the said Major lately lived on, and devised to him by his Father James Major, deceased." o ■ 'TIO rl].':>n^''^ ■l^'■ >U;' ':''T.; '5 ' ■ •' .' "• 1 /jji !r<^l ■^!\^ nj.: ,.. 'T l!y '•r- ..-: ._ ■KT-/.I.: --:;• Jq<.-,i; rr.^- ■ ---'O-.^ :,.1T .0 /^ .v,^^'^ >u»ri}!,0 vvi;'/] lo T' » ,-"' 1"-' b 'f'\ ■)■' :■'._, ,-v), , ^■■'■'. odj ;-.';'-■ .'/ 86 BALLARD OF CHARLES CITY BALLARD OF CHARLES CITY: WITH DANCY OF CHARLES CITY JAMES MAJOR of Charles City, as has been said, married his first cousin Man.', daughter of Thomas Ballard of Charles City. This Thomas Ballard, as also has been recorded, on page 75, was the second son of Colonel Thomas Ballard of York. The younger Thomas Ballard was bom circa 1695, and was in consequence fifteen or sixteen years old at the time of his father's death. He seems to have been bound appren- tice, under the terms of Colonel Ballard's will, to his brother- in-law John Alajor, and to have been reared in the latter's household in Charles City. He was at all events married and living in Charles City in 1737, prior to which year, as has been said, there are no coherent records pertaining to that county. A deed from John Side and his wife Sarah to Thomas Ballard was acknowledged at the August court 1739. Thomas Ballard and his ^-ife Mary had a suit against Francis Dancy in April 1742, which was prolonged until December 1742. The verdict in this case, (hereinafter given), shows that Ballard's wife was the elder daughter of Francis Dancy and his wife Amy, who had left issue: Francis Dancy, the eldest son, defendant in the suit; Man,' Dancy, the elder daughter, married to Thomas Ballard, and, with her husband, one of the complainants; Samuel Dancy, dead without issue in 1742; Aim Dancy, dead without issue in 1742; and Edward Dancy. William Dancy, and Benjamin Dancy, these last-named three being plaintiffs with Mary Ballard. The older Francis Dancy had by his will left certain slaves to his wife, to be divided at her death among his children equally, excluding his eldest son, Francis, and his elder daughter, Mar}*: and the main question at issue was. Amy Dancy being dead, what disposition was to be made of these slaves, now that two of the younger children had died intestate. It was ruled that the limitation held, excluding Marj' Ballard and Francis Dancy from any (.. d3 » ■r^vij.a HT i; ,^ai,.';iJ'i ,-:'■:! •■.■;^ J ;o ■yj- y r'\':M <^-;a' ufl/.JJ/.^i :.A ■::. ■■■; i^lo •!:->•; : n'-^M/l '•■■■. i;! -:' '••Ji ■'•' .'' ;:'•■ :■;': nr;''^ ■ ■ , "' .'1 !.•; ".:.',;/. ;ii'i;:v. /^.-^i-ri ' '" 'J- il:^:-.'. .:^i^ - : J ^'i;!; ^.'I a/!'.''., m.'o'i ?'.:'<>■ A 7-;-, ; .' •■:h r - '■..!t>rv;| ,7,.,fl:,|',r; -..r/, hMi]:):;H .1^ ,■"'):. u:^ '■ ?-i'a-v ■•.IT .^^TJ V)-Uii-yr)-A ;iT^- _!■>.- f'f^ '-(it -J(f III Pt!V/ , ■/:: !!]• BALLARD OF CHARLES CITY 87 interest in the slaves; but that, none the less, Francis Dancy, as the heir at law, inherited after Samuel and Ann, and so was entitled to their two shares in the di\'ision. Thomas Ballard was appointed inspector at Kennon's Warehouse in August 1742. At the IMay court 1743, "On the petition of Thomas Ballard, he is permitted to keep an ordinary' at his house, he having given bond as the law directs." The license was renewed 14 March 1743-4, and several times aftenvard; and Thomas Ballard appears to have maintained this inn until the close of his Ufe. At a court held the first Wednesday in September 1750 he brought suit "on behalfe of himself & our Lord the King" against Daniel Boyce, for retailing liquor illegally — an infringement of the law which touched Ballard professionally. The outcome is not recorded. Thomas Ballard died not ver>' long aften^-ard, as in March 1756, and again in June 1756, his administratrix, Elizabeth Ballard, was bringing a Chancery suit against Richard Weir. He had married, first, Mary, daughter of Francis Dancy, and, second, Elizabeth , by whom he had no children. By his first marriage Thomas Ballard of Charles City had issue: L Eliz.abeth B.\llard, who married Henr\' Talman, n. Mary B.allard, who, as previously recorded, circa 1740 married James Major of Charles City. IIL Thomas Ballard, died in Charles City November 1790, who married Sarah , and had issue: William Talbot Ballard, \vi\\ dated 6 August 179S, recorded in Charles City 21 February' 1799, who died unmarried; John Ballard, u-ill dated 18 May 1809, recorded in Charies City 21 April 1814, who likewise died unmarried; Francis Dancy Ballard, li\'ing in 1804, mentioned in the 'will of liis brother Thomas; Thomas Ballard, will dated 13 August 1804, recorded in Charles City 20 September 1804; Lucy Ballard, who married Peter Eppes; Ehzabeth Ballard, who married Moses Fontaine; and Sarah Ballard, who married Abraham Fontaine. :.! [-u f ?:\) •]:) ' -j!/.:..'.'l -^7 ).:; .-T-1' to-H; Jii.. , -lij t.'- ■•''r;ij i'j7<:iV'j!!i .iI;'j7 i)7.f 'i''"r; !^'( :•.•}■• :iij;v Y-.:-;iji;iU 'if-ri [>.;Ari '..i: - — d^-\n'< iv^j;..:j ',.i{w ,O0VI i^i I •■.;•:.->•. .-. ,t?(;^] .;,.T.' ^? •■-utel. i!i'/v ,M' ''- ^ ••.-(Ol ^i^.ir,,,:.' ■" •J*"u^J01'!l . ; i'' <.' *'f,' . ' ■;.,;,._ '.}. rii'':^ 88 DANCY OF CHARLES CITY The first wife of Thomas Ballard of Charles City, as has been said, was Mary Daney, whom he married before 1725. Little data is available concerning the Dancy family, but she was a descendant of the John Da.vsey who patented 100 acres near Checkroes Neck, 4 June 1636, described as adjoining land granted him by an earlier patent; and on the same date patented 350 acres in James City county — "A mile up Chickahomon}- river, on the north side, and bounded by a creek called Tanks Pasby haves creek. Due, 50 acres for the personal adventure of his wife Alice Dansey, and 300 for the Transportacon of six p'sons," whose names are given. He patented another 100 acres in James City county, 25 May 1637— ''on Tanks Pasbye hayes Creeke" The second grant comprised what was then kno"WTi as Dansey's Point, to-day called Dancing Point, on the Chicka- hominy river. On Fry and Jefferson's map of Virginia the place is called Dance's Point, which was readily corrupted into Dancing Point, and the well-known storj- invented to explain its name, of how the de\'il and Mr Lightfoot of Sandy Point once held a dancing contest there, with a quantity of marsh land as the stake. Mr Lightfoot, as is notorious, is reputed to have outdanced the de\'il, and thus to have won the Lightfoot plantation, Francis Dancey, or Dancy, son to the preceding, patented 282 acres in James City county, 30 October 16S6, and left, with other issue, a son Francis Dancy. The latter, as has been seen, married Amy , and died in Charles City ante 1742, having had issue: I. Francis Dancy, sheriff of Charles City County, 1741, living in 1771, who had issue: William Dancy; Benjamin Dancy; John Dancy; Francis Dancy; Edward Dancy; Hardyman Dancy; and Mary Dancy, who married Davidson. IL Samuel Dancy, who died without issue before 1742. IIL William Dancy, who likewise seems to have died unmarried. IV. Edward Dancy, will dated 11 February 1771, recorded >; rin 1.0 > :>4i .' •;;; ..:.::jC; 'dj lol :-■:■ '■^, ..;• -'-/qsi ;.■■'? v.. :fi.[-'.iy:' ■•J7 ^: 1... ,,...'; ■'; 4'-;- •!' ( 1 v;;m '■ .V- /■>•, ^/iVHrr^i^ •; A:h\ -o-o :n:o'T /bn/:h •A ■i.<'~^''/Ky-"i ii'.v I: ,HU'^.i: ^-<•^:^l: lijiw •_,.,, ,,^^ , , , , , - ■. " • - ■ • ■!.■,; -I ii".':-10- '•: jTTI ,-f/!.'Hfi\ ■ '. >i-»Ki. l!i\r/ .YnV. -I f.5'/ DANCY OF CHARLES CITY 89 in Charles City 3 April 1771, who married Rebecca but had no issue. V. Benjamin Dancy, will dated 1 Februar\' 1771, recorded in Charles City 6 March 1771, who died unmarried. VI. Mary Dancy, who as previously recorded, was the first wife of Thomas Ballard of Charles City. VII. Ann Dancy, who died unmarried before 17-42. The verdict in Chancery in the Ballard-Dancy suit ' aforetime mentioned, is appended verbatim: THOMAS BALLARD and Mary, his wife, et als, complainant ag't Fr.\ncis Dancy, Respondent, in Chancery: on hearing the bill, answer, & other pleading &tc. It is Decreed by the Court, that the remainder of the Slaves, in the will of Fran: Dancy (Namely, Jone, Betty & Bristow) De\ased to Amey Dancy for life, & after her death to be equally divided amongst his Children, his eldest Son & Daughter excepted, is a good hmitation to those in remainder, & that Mar>-, the wife of Tho>l^s Ballard, the complain't, hath not any right to any part of the dis- tribution of Such Slaves; & it is also further decreed, that the complain'ts have not any right to any of the Slaves of Sam'l or Ann Dancy, dec'ed, & that the property of Such Slaves were absolutely Vested in the respondent, Francis Dancy, as heir at law to the s'd Sam'l & Aim. Therefore it is ordered, that Capt Sam'l Harwood, Capt Edward Brodnax, Mr Richard Kennon & ]Mr John Williams, or any three of them, doe audit & Settle the Several personal es- tates of Amey Dancy, Sam'l Dancy & Ann Dancy, & doe ascertain & adjust what part of the said personal estates is due unto the Complainants (Vizt, Thomas Ball.\rd and Mar}', his wife, Edward, "William & Benjamin Dancy), & make their report to the Next Court." — Charles City Cocnty Records, 1742 Mr -ir^ ,^-.. . •;-!■-.-■.:- ^j- ■,-:■.. .V3V- IV ■-y z.: ..f? • &..vjI "io -/.r-i v- -.: "'h- .^T .r^ n.'.-.f -, ■ (- :i'-.(-><T » 90 BALLARD OF JAMES CITY ^^ SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE AS TO BALLARD OF JAMES CITY IT HAS SEEMED expedient to defer until this the giving of an account of the founder of the Ballard family in Virginia. As is the case with most families of distinction, the founder was by no means the least notable member thereof. Thomas Ball.\rd of James City county, bom in 1630, was in all hkelihood a son of the Henry Ballard who is named as a headright in Captain Christopher Calthropp's land-patent of 1,000 acres in Charies River county, dated 6 May 1636, and who himself patented fifty acres in War- wick county, 31 October 1642. There are divers other circumstances, here irrelevant, which indicate that Thomas Ballard had interests in WanWck, and was presumably bom there. It is certain, at all events, that he was in 1652 clerk of York county, and retained this office for eleven years after- ward. Ballard was thus already upon the road to prefer- ment. To quote once more from Mr. Bruce's Institutional History of Virginia: "There are numerous indications that the clerks of the county courts were frequently men be- longing to families of conspicuous influence. ... As it was permissible to combine the office with other positions perhaps more lucrative, it was not considered even by men of good estates and of great pohtical importance to be unworthy of their acceptance. It shows how far this com- bination of other offices with a clerkship was carried during the years preceding the Insurrection of 1676 that one man was allowed to perform, in addition to its duties, the duties of county surveyor, escheat master, and public notarj', all places of decided profit. The office of clerk by itself must have been the source of a large income to the incumbents." At this time they were authorized to practise as attomeys in their respective courts — "and independently of these services, the fees which they were permitted by Act of Assembly to charge for their ordinary duties as clerks TVV:^ -.^lAAi 'Tn aJIivJJAa «>? ...; 1;^...: 'ii'^L'h-.i ti'i,L>I ■;.!/ t.;:j; hit Oii '/•■^ >.;; ...:-.:,' I odl !.•.,' ' • 1. • J:. !.•.•' >'A".-' a'-- .,: • ; '!" ."r.::L, _ j-vi^.i- :::■ ."• 1 'u: .■■jl.-'-- •■•■';.! .';j-:5^ii ••:';■' ;^'. "'/O ■V, :.;; .vroii ••-;;., .■■::■. ■ n '•/■■:•. 'r...'! -■•■'tJo '' >oia ,1/. ij.'..!*: •,..'.,;. ■. >(M' '^i'jifi:* u'l .i/i'3'i"i ^ '> MO.i';i.ntHr ri iii •l.ik'a ti/ny 'io Luo i:--**.'.:!'- ,.ori,2 lo ^Hi\\ TTM "to ■ •;' •^'•■:;>fiil Old .i:r!- v'Tt ^::'^v :«{* ,--U /I ?It (Ici'i !'-'ii^j!j \'- 'r'<■^:^q ff'^Imi i>ijT/' — ^lT.Li(-j mv I *'-»■>(;>■'■: -ii-.^dt or !m !• . BALLARD OF JAMES CITY 91 assured them an ample return for their labor." For the clerk's fees at this time compare Hening, I, 266; and, as altered during Ballard's tenure of the office, I, 464. On 16 July 1655 Thomas Ballard patented 1,000 acres in "Gloucester county, now called Kent", his tract lying east of the jSIattapony river, bordering William Wyatt's land, and being due for the importation of twenty persons. He seems, however, never to have seated this land; and indeed, a marginal note is appended to the land-grant, "This Patient is relenqueshed for ye right to make good a pattent of 1,300 Acres of the said Ballard's Dated ye Qth: October 1658." He a Uttle later, on 15 October 1657, patented 600 acres "on South Peanketanke", assigned to Ballard by Abraham Moon (who had patented the land 1 November 1634), but this tract Ballard sold shortly aftenvard to Major Da\-id Cant. He then patented. 6 October 1658, some 1,300 acres "on ^^'horecock swamp" in New Kent county, due for the importation of twenty-six persons, and 290 acres in York, 13 January 1661; but these lands Ballard also sold, and, apparently m 1663, removed to James City county, where for the remainder of his Hfe he made his home. While a resident of York Ballard had married .\nna, daughter of William Thomas of that county, this event taking place probably circa 1650, and at least as early as 1658, as is shown by a deed of gift by William Thomas, conveying to "Jane Hillier, wife of John Hillier" — daughter to Thomas's wife by an earUer marriage — a heifer, "named Tittymouse," wherein Thomas mentions his "son-in-law Thomas Ballard": the deed being dated 20 March 1658-9, and recorded in York 24 June 1659. There is also recorded in York a deed from Thomas Ballard and Anna Ballard, his wife, convening to :Matthew Hubard the land Ballard patented in 1661; which deed Anna Ballard signed on 28 March 1662, her witnesses being John HiUier and Jane Hillier. Thoma^ Ballard, then, removed to James City circa 1663, and was chosen to represent that county in the Virginia House of Burgesses for the session begirming 5 June 1666 7 nj -vima;, -hj G )•> ■•>■>!.;;:■;' ,T)-/ii v'„ •■.■i:i fO , : \y ■'.■ -V:.,., , :■,:,, .■.,,,. u! \v'-/» -.• -v*;^. ■ - ' - -.-: .. ■.::-. .':<-■:,■ ■ r '} <; .]y.-u'"::'i j: -^M .'11 ■".■;'^^' i;i'Tj;i:ri ■I'ij.rij'^ /ii^ /ii s'^r// ? ■,an/ 92 BALLARD OF JAMES CITY and proroged to 23 October 1666. He seems from the outset to have played no inconspicuous part in the Assembly. He was appointed, 31 October 1666, one of the "Committee to regulate the price of Ordinary- Keepers", for in those days the rates charged by innkeepers was not a matter beyond the dehberation of the lower house. On 2 November Ballard was named one of the committee "to attend the Governor about a treaty with Maryland and the Incident Instruc- tions", and, 6 November 1666, to "attend the Honourable Governor for drawing the Instruments for Wm Drum {Drwnviond), Governor of Carolina, and the Instructions for the Commissioners for Marj-land, and to treat also with his Honour concerning his Satisfaction for the Silk presented to this Country by his Sacred Majesty." This marks almost the last gasp of the long-continued effort to make silk in Virginia profitably. On the same date Ballard was also one of the committee to attend the Governor "to request his Honour to consider some Hon'ble persons that might be fit and would please to accept the Managing the Affairs of the Country in England." In the same year Ballard was named a member of the Council by Sir William Berkeley, then Governor of Virginia, with whose turbulent fortunes all Ballard's future was henceforward linked. Ballard seems to have served only one term in the House of Burgesses, just now; but he re- mained a member of the Governor's Council for thirteen years. It is difficult to overestimate the dignity of this position, and its importance justifies another (abridged) citation from Mr. Bruce. "Members of the Governor's Council were invariably chosen from the wealthiest, most capable and most in- fluential citizens of Virginia. This discrimination as to wealth did not have its origin in such a purely sentimental cause as the desire to maintain the extraordinary dignity of the ofl&ce by choosing to fill it only men enjoying the highest consideration in the community; the care in selecting mem- bers of the Board among persons of property was attributable ■; •,i f;.;-r ■ ^i>^l^■.■,'^(\i]J^ >»:.■' '.:i '>rtJ rf;i:-"tij,! ■:, ; •1.,:; ,-■ M jf:t <^ (II lo ;■ -ij BALLARD OF JA:MES CITY 93 to the verj' practical fact that the Councillor served both as naval officer and as collector of customs for the district in which he resided; that as such he had the custody of very large sums of money; and that unless he o\\'ned a competent estate, any default on his part would entail a permanent loss to the Colony. Should he, however, possess a large property, any deficit in his accounts could soon be covered by its sale. "Wealthy and prominent both socially and pohtically as the citizen must be to become a member of the Council, his nomination to that office at once greatly enhanced his importance. Appointment to the Board was one of the surest means of trebling and quadrupling a fortune, owing to the large salaries of the numerous very lucrative offices that went wath it. The Councillors constituted the Upper House of the General Assembly, and in the various powers exercised by them in that character closely resembled the Enghsh House of Lords; in association with the Governor, they formed the General Court, which concentrated in itself the several jurisdictions of the Chancer}', King's Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer, Admiralty and Ecclesi- atical Courts of England; they served as commanders-in- chief or colonels of their respective groups of counties, and as such possessed privileges closely analogous to those of the EngUsh Lords-Lieutenants; they acted as naval officers, ard in that capacity were called on to enforce all laws passed by Parliament and the General Assembly for the advancement of trade and navigation, and as naval officers, they also entered and cleared all vessels; they were the collectors of the export duty of two shillings a hogshead and of all other duties of the like nature, such, for instance, as the one penny a pound imposed on tobacco shipped from Virginia to another Enghsh Colony in America; they were the farmers of the quitrents, which they obtained from the Auditor on verj- low bids; and they acted as escheators, an office very lucrative in itself and offering unusual oppor- tunities for profitable investment. "It is not going too far to say that the members of the Council appropriated to themselves all those higher offices .•>!j>^. *ii'! ■■ 'J ■.y'> iK'xj • li'ic'!- wJiJO" ■■ iTji J- .'It' ".'i'^;■■■ •'. /•!!•• _?« vOifto ♦j;,;;^ 01 ■:^r'\-; > ':m ,t/;; .!'.'r>X-i ii. /Oih-i'l;;' '•■ i'^ ,•(.•: '^'Ij ^lO'J? j:(j iiOu'/-^ t;Vir)r'>as ' "i'iii? i/ r!'^/loio•^ lo 'eiiio ;/,! Hl --.ii,., :- ■■) ■:,^, i)'>!i;-'' >)"i3// .'if'-.;...' 'jM ;;i b "U> j: 'n-)7' -'yd" : -:i':ir>:'j/ El; b}7vMl> hne {•>-;•:•.,.■ C:..c vsai' no od^ mO t..' t./A «f il" 94 BALLARD OF JAMES CITY of the Colony which were attended with the largest salaries, or presented the most numerous chances for money-getting. They deliberately disregarded the fact that the concentra- tion of these offices in so few hands brought about serious damage to the public interests whenever the Councillor was required by his incumbency of two separate positions to perform two sets of duties really in conflict vnth. each other: a Councillor, for instance, was called upon to pass upon the cor- rectness of his o^vn accounts as collector; as collector, he was obliged, for his own enlightenment as a judge of the General Court, to inform himself of all violations of the Navigation Acts; as farmer of the quitrents, he practically owed the success of his bid to himself as Councillor; as escheator, who was a ministerial officer, he took and returned the inquisi- tions of escheats to himself as a judicial officer, and as such, passed upon points of law coming up in his own inquisitions. It is no cause for surprise that Bacon denoimced the Council- lors as 'sponges to suck up the public treasury', as a 'powerful cabal' full of wiles for their own enrichment, and as traitors to the people in their greedy determination to appropriate to themselves all the official fat of the unhappy Colony." So much for Thomas Ballard's new responsibilities and opportunities. Meanwhile, he was named as one of the Virginia Commissioners appointed by Berkeley to treat with the Commissioners of Maryland and Carolina on 8 November 1666, about the proposed scheme to force up the price of tobacco by refraining from planting any during the year 1667. The articles of agreement, binding all three colonies to raise no tobacco whatever during this twelve- month, had been signed at James City, 12 July 1666, by all the commissioners save Ballard alone, who evidently had no faith in the makeshift. His scepticism was shared by the more powerful Lord Baltimore, then Governor of Marj'land, who eventually persuaded the Privy Council to declare the agreement of no effect. As a member of the Council, Ballard now made his home at Middle Plantation, afterward Williamsburg, where he was living certainly as early as 1668; and where on 28 {'\ i ) ,-MV:i. ■\){'^ ■:> ; . A / . I 1+,-: ' ■.:';i;v '■'. ii'J io ao vv iin<;'r;3a .o 'i^^-, ■..'/. ■-■■ , ■'.,.;;■•'•_'■; .•:;':;■ '' ' ^ ■ ' '•'.•'va ■■■: ,.h';:C^ '■-^r ■■•■ I:,': l^idi^y V ■ '.) -'cr^:.;; i. •; : ' 1 ;"! iJ. t: ill.,' '^/It I;: ^ ^ ■! . ':.-i'} V I ,'j ■/».'" ) • '■.irtfi uii'V mK'F -lO-iY ;. . ■'ilii':,-', >-rni. r.T<;i •;;'J IJi'tV :/ ,l>r.:', . ■-■(•:>■ • /i:«-< «i. BALLARD OF JAMES CITY 95 January' 1674-5 he purchased from Thomas Ludwell a considerable tract of land, including, as has been said, all the ground whereon stands the present College of William and IMarj'. Ballard's home seems to have been just east of the College, at the western end of Francis Street. In York, 24 April 1673, Thomas Ballard was appointed guardian of Aime Broomfield, the daughter of Mrs. Mary- Marsh, deceased; and it is possible that this ]Mary Marsh was his sister. She had married, first, Thomas Broomfield, and, second, Joseph Croshaw (being his fifth wife), and, third, Clement jNIarsh. The outbreak of Bacon's Rebellion, in 1676, found Ballard high in Governor Berkeley's grace and counsel. In 1673 he had been among the nine signers of the remarkable letter "on behalfe of Sr Wilham Berkeley", sent by members of the Council to Iving Charles II, defending the Governor against responsibility for the recent captures of many- merchantmen off the Virginia coasts by the Dutch; and Berkeley, in a letter to Thomas Ludwell, dated 1 April 1676, when trouble wdth Bacon was plainly imminent, writes of "Coll: Bacon (cousin to the rebel), Mr Ballard, your brother (Phihp Ludwell), and Mr Bray" as "al I have left to assist me. It is impossible to give any intelligible account of Thomas Ballard without mtroducing therein some account of Bacon's Rebellion. This miniature civil war was brought on, pri- marily, by troubles with the Indians, some of whom uncivilly objected to making a present of their native land to English- men, and committed many murders on the frontiers of the settlements. Nathaniel Bacon, Junior, of Curies, in Henrico comity, petitioned the Governor for a commission to fight against them, and, not recei\dng it, marched with a company of other malcontents up Roanoke river, attacked a camp of unprepared and hitherto friendly Indians, killed a hundred and fifty of them, and returned home. The inhabitants of Henrico, at least, were so well pleased by this rather dubious exploit that they elected Bacon to represent them in the next Assembly, which convened at Jamestown 5 June 1676. ^ ■ j *J '* I -.-■... - • ' .'..■.::. 1 ■■.'.: ;-!• '■ ;.:!...■;. j-n'i-.;-! ,J(.-''^: .i>;;B ... . . '. •• • -,.'■ , ■■•..r.i: V-..- ■'■ :. ■• :. :• '' i..:. \j --: ;.:, - •: .:-■-- . ,',<T ^:^.:^f. // '- ,0 OV;-..!'^^ :,!.,- n^;.^' ■ ■. C" it ...: . ■-j.::x! .;.-.::■ rj' / : ' "■■• '■.;■!,♦:. m . •; --..:•*■•'''.)■ ::r ;■.■•-..•■:■;' i ;^ ;'■ -. 5;jxn !i.- '■:- P ■ "■• .i !f. -3 ■■■• t.!/;;;-:'! ^.-:;-- •;•••■ ];.;•;- -:f .-Lnr';^ =!;fi'l i;-. :i.J'.iH .l(.. '.■ ■ - i ■:. ■ ,- • ■ ii i' ..i"!./.jl ■,'■•' ■'..■...' -T :.i (in I n 1. _-!-;-■; r .1 1- iL.«- '•( 96 BALLARD OF JAMES CITY Bacon came to take his seat, and was arrested for high treason; but his friends were powerful, and a concihation was patched up, whereby Bacon professed repentance for his late violations of the law and implored forgiveness of the Governor, which formally was granted. In this arrange- ment Thomas Ballard was one of the prime movers; and he was among the members of the Council who endorsed Bacon's application for a pardon, dated 9 June 1676. Yet, in passing, Ballard had been explicitly denounced by Bacon in his proclamations, as the Governor's "wicked and pemi- tious Counsellor." Ver>' shortly, however. Bacon declared his life to be in danger if he remained in Jamestown, and fled by night to his home ui Henrico. Here he gathered together five hund- red adherents and at their head marched back into James- town, unresisted. The Governor was for defying him even then, for all that Berkeley had scarcely a hundred men to back him against Bacon's half-thousand; but the Governor was overruled by the Council — Ballard being a leader in this also, — and, yielding to force, gave Bacon his long-sought commission to fight IncUans. Ballard, for one, e\adently thought they were well rid of Bacon on almost any terms. The English Commissioners, who afterward investigated this rebellion, record: "The Assembly also did passe orders to raise or presse 1,000 men, and to raise Provisions &c, for this intended service ag't the Indians, wherein severell of the councell and assembly members were conceme'd and acted in the promoting this designe, encouraging others to list themselves into Bacon's service, and particularly one Ballard, who endeavoured to perswade some (who scrupled the Legahty of Bacon's commission) that it was fairly and freely granted by the Governor, Councill and Burgesses, this B.^XLARD being one of the councill, and of those that both tooke and administered Bacon's Oath." Of the later clause an explanation x^ill be made later. Bacon now returned to Henrico, and was on the eve of going out a second time against the Indians, when news arrived that Berkeley was in Gloucester county endeavoring ^■; i e> "-.i !(£>:' b::'. .:rv' 'V-- m :.:,'. ;:? ;"^;'-.:-;',i:--m ■ li l.; rr^fint .c !: -M V.;.,. ■^'■av:'ii r<' tuSXid i.) L'T" 'bv? e'l')''' '^'>!lv HVJ .\}'ii^:-"i' ■:.' 'i' rrj I.- \--nr. BALLARD OF JAMES CITY 97 to raise forces wherewith to uphold his authority as Gover- nor. This caused Bacon to give up his expedition, and to direct his march into Gloucester, where he found the harried Governor had fled to Accomac. Bacon, thus left supreme, summoned the leading men of the Colony to Middle Planta- tion, and there, 1 August 1676, made them swear to stand by him, even against soldiers sent from England. His next move was really to lead his troops against an unfriendly tribe of Indians — some Pamunkeys, whom he discovered and seems to have had little difficulty in killing off, in the recesses of the Dragon Swamp, in King and Queen county. He returned to the settlement, and found the Governor once more estabhshed at Jamesto^Ti. Now the charge of ha^^ng been among those who at Middle Plantation swore to support Bacon against the Governor or, if need be, against troops sent from England, is elsewhere laid against Thomas Ballard. In "A List of the names of those worthy persons, whose services and sufferings by the late Rebell Nathaniel Bacon, Junior, & his party, have been Reported to us most signal and Eminent, during the late unhappy troubles in Virginia^' — this hst being dra"v\'n up by the aforementioned Commissioners — are enumerated "Col. Thomas B.\llard & Lt-Col Edward Hill, both which fas wee have heard) lost considerable by the Rebell party. The first of whom, both took and gave Bacon's unlawful! Oath." It is, in fact, indisputable that, when Berkeley fled to Accomac; Ballard was captured by Bacon's men, when they assembled at ]\Iiddle Plantation — where Ballard's home was, — and cheerfully took the oath required of him, without any ver>' earnest intention of keeping it. At all events, the moment Berkeley returned to Jamestown, Ballard rejoined him. Bacon made straight for Jamestown also, and, having arrived in "Paspahegh Old Fields," across from the Island, found that Berkeley had fortified the isthmus on the Island side. Bacon caused his men to throw up some earth- works, and fortified them, as is well known, under shelter of a pre-eminently unchivalrous trick, that pecuHarly touched YTIJ 'I l'". ' '! * Mi'^. M/a v^v' lU ::■.( ••^-! !.; ni "/,?!;■ ^r'lir' •'.,,■, l.^.i' •■ ,, • ^:\: ■■-if'fx:.. ii>:^ci \-'-r.y^L.-. ■:^t -n^yr^ .':■' . ■ i'l ■Mb:j;l/. .<^ •;'=i;( \:A^-\<;!.v -*t.<-Vl Vo ^j::»i><EJ\ ^Ai V .:iL); ;yd ^ifii ■ ■■',i,«ji,^\i'\,:'l ■;<■, ? >.4.;;i"i > \ ^.^^-astu /oj. •:j:i<'i ijo'j.'-U ^•. 'i J o:t 'y)i;r\ . ilu:-'. Liiaial 98 BALLARD OF JAMES CITY Ballard. For Bacon had somehow managed to capture the wives of the leading Councillors — "Madam Elizabeth Bacon, wife of (his cousin) Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Senior; Madam Anna Ballard, wife of Colonel Thomas Ballard; Madam AngeUca Bray, wife of Colonel James Bray; & Madam EUzabeth Page, wife of Colonel John Page" — dressed them in white aprons, and stationed them under guard on his breastworks, so that he might not be molested by shots from the opposing forces, commanded by these ladies' husbands, while Bacon was getting his cannon mounted to attack Jamesto"UTi. After a brief engagement, wherein Berkeley's forces were worsted and Wilham Hartwell, the captain of his personal bodyguard, was wounded, the Governor took ship and abandoned Jamestown; and Bacon, as is notorious, then entered and burned the city. He had matters his own way for a few weeks. But by October he was dead, smitten by a mysterious and horrible disease, wherein his opponents did not hesitate to find the judgment of heaven. The RebelUon collapsed Tvdth its leader's death; and the followers of Berkeley exacted a prodigal retaliation from Bacon's former adherents. It does not appear that Ballard showed any especial leniency; and, his con\'ictions apart, Colonel Ballard had the purely personal grievance that, beside the discomfort able treatment of Ballard's vnie already recorded, Bacon had just previous to the Rebellion bought lands and cattle from Colonel Ballard, for which Bacon had not paid anything save a proniissor}- note for £500; and for which, now Bacon was dead and Bacon's estate was confiscated by the Crown, Ballard was not likely ever to get reparation. Ballard had thus been hurt both in pride and in pocket, when he sat as judge at the courts martial held 11 and 12 January 1676-7 "on board Captain John ^Martin's shipp, in York River" and "att the house of James Bray, Esq" 20 January 1676-7 — where they con-victed and hanged out of hand Ballard's former fellow-commissioner, William Drummond, — and at Green Spring, the Governor's residence, 24 January' 1676-7: YTl . HO dii , VJ/13 •' !0 'jr<'f7 'to -y.- J I, .V.' • --.t n-f^ :i£>.- 'f. •Oi' ji \v iii'JLViUTit A :i a /> .;'^! <oc! ii' jiTJ ^.'ino .'ii ',y .'i ■L I'iJI 71 BALLARD OF JAMES CITY 99 and Ballard, -^nth the other judges, voted death to all the adherents of Bacon they could lay hands on. He sat too at the courts held at Green Spring, 1, 3 and 15 March 1676-7, at which many other victims were either sent to the scaffold or heavily assessed. Curiously enough, he absented himself from the trial of Giles Bland on 8 March 1676-7. This can hardly have been by accident: and as Ballard sat at all the other trials, before and after, the conclusion is irresistible he had some personal reason for wishing to take no part in Bland's formal condemnation. It does not appear, on the other hand, that Ballard hfted a finger to save him. Hard upon these "bloody assizes" followed the removal of Governor Berkeley from office, 27 April 1677, Ballard, in passing, was one of the witnesses to Berkeley's will, dated 2 May 1676, but witnessed 20 ^larch 1676-7, less than a month before the old knight's downfall. Berkeley left for England 5 'Sla.y 1677, Colonel Herbert Jeffreys succeeding him as Governor: and now the three Commissioners — Jeffreys, with Colonel Francis ]Mor>'son and Sir John Bern.% — set about investigating the causes of the recent disturb- ances. The counties sent in their several "grievances"; and there was no lack therein of lurid verbal dehneation of the tyraimous conduct of Captain William Hartwell, who as has been said commanded Berkeley's bodyguard, and of the misdoings of the deposed Governor's chief adherents, Thomas Ballard, Philip Ludwell, Robert Beverley and Edward Hill. These men were presently, in consequence, at daggers drawn with the Commissioners: but in the mean- while, hardly had the "grievances" been handed in, before the Commissioners were generally considered to have exceeded reasonable limits in meddling at all with Virginian affairs, so touchy had the settlers grown in matters affecting their independence; and popular opinion, suddenly veering, now looked to Ballard and Ludwell and the others whom only yesterday popular opinion had stigmatized as Virginia's oppressors, to defend outraged colonial rights against un- warrantable EngUsh aggression. <M /TjO ^^M/r, •••{'> (j;i' UAd '•■^'') ■'-.: J;. J •'jKioy i).J) Jb 'i ^J;^\aui; M n-j':.! . ; •.,ti; ,; ■ / !, '':\s ^■•TO^S'i ,?;;.r,l-iT ■ . '..•_•'/ .srn-'-'.iji ■■ 4' • li'-"-'' • ,".' ■•'; •■'. .'jT ryr.'.'^.Tl ' .' '''.,1 " "• ■ ,• ■' "" '7' • ' i • ■.W: Oy :i,v.j ,r". ' >: ; •' " :•■•■ i.iii '^y.-! '.o]l ; - h ,: ■ti n TO... .' 'ti» toiibiiO'i ut'oaji'j .'t 'jiit l>u,. .■^i'-7-,:i. rT'><i(.}l ,!i->-^:j:;J c -^'-i ,b-i;;'-;;} ^"^.ciCi f L l^v;.' ;: Mfi "•'..■M^isvoJiii" 9ri:t twjii .;.'i>7^i 1 .•^J..'^;-^ 'i li'ii.i ■■ii V/.j'l 100 BALLARD OF JAMES CITY Thus, as a result of the Commissioners' reports, the Lords of Trade and Plantation, on 10 February 167S-9, ordered Philip Ludwell and Thomas Ballard to be excluded from the Council, and this was done: but public dissatisfaction in Virginia speedily forced Lord Culpeper (who followed Jeffreys' successor Chicheley as Governor, in 1680) to re-instate Ludwell; and the people had meanwhile given Ballard the highest office in their power, by electing him burgess for James City county, for the session beginning 6 June 1680, and making him Speaker of the House. Ballard was re-elected burgess for the sessions of November 1682, 10 November 1683, 16 April 1684, 2 November 1685, and 20 October 1686; and was Speaker in 1680, 1682, 1683 and 1684. He thus retired from pubhc Ufe, rather irrationally con- verted into a popular hero, at what was then considered the ripe age of fifty-six; and of the remaining two years of his life appears no record. Colonel Thomas Ballard was buried in James City county, where he had long been a vestr>-man of Bruton parish, 24 March 1689. In 1686 his ten-year-old claim against the forfeited estate of Nathaniel Bacon was taken up, and Ballard's case as creditor was represented to the King by the Council. No record exists as to whether or no Ballard was ever paid: but in the Virginia State Archives is still preserved Ballard's unreceipted bill and Bacon's uncancelled promissory' note. Ballard's first wife, Anna Thomas, had died some years before him, on 26 September 1678. He had e\ddently re- married, as in York was recorded, 24 July 1691, "An order ag't Mr Thomas Barbar, High Sheriff, is granted Mr Tho: Ballard, Assigne Ahce Ballard, Ex'c'r'x of Coll: Tho: Ballard, Assigne Henry Waring, being for ye non-appearance of Jno Eaton." This suit was dismissed 24 September 1691, the case being dropped. The entry, in connection with the hereinafter mentioned suit brought by William Ballard at the last-named court, would indicate that Colonel Ballard married, second, Alice , who survived him and acted as his executrix. By this second marriage there were no children. YTIj ''.:lxiJ.\, ivj U :r»i J . ' --y;j;:7:» ;;"' • to iijri« m u e;; ,2i:'d[T nOlT-.;;!', /: " -; >:■' l.Xtfi ^['^il■,i{).'' Ai q/. i;.;r^( T-'-iii;'! y .'r;^' ;i':''i i/T;V ■-,<:[.] -jT! "■ ;t j-HJ ;(.i.,/ . o,i '.. •jVJ;i-fr .i-i..:--' ""'' ' : '•;;ti^ u. lO'fn^l h-'/^iiJiiVl. I. •:■ . in;;:';''-: '. j: .'Ti :i ■ a.:;' ■..,. > i •I 'iH a'^ol v.'iin^rK.'r! OV ri'.' .uiid m:!- vi ,,,^-^- ;i;,'1 to vVn'rH ,i ^d< .-r V ac-'3-><ii:;<" ' >i< /v ^ "v Oil T .l>Mq()ojl' ::ii!;:'d v<t,o BALLARD OF JAMES CITY 101 Colonel Thomas Ballard and his first ^ife, Anna Thomas, had issue: I. John Ballard, who settled in Nansemond county, where he patented 300 acres, 2 June 1673. It is stated on excellent authority that he died uathout issue before 1694: yet it would be interesting to know who were the Joseph, Elisha and Elias Ballard who patented 250 acres in Nanse- mond, 20 April 1694, and took out other land-grants in that county later. II. Colonel Thomas Ballard of York, of whom an account has been given elsewhere, on page 57. III. Lydl^ Ballard, who married Thomas Harwood. He survived her, and married, second, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Read, and died in 1700, without issue by either marriage. IV. Eliz.\beth B.allard, who married Ladd, and had, with other issue: James Ladd of Charles City county, who married Judith Christian. Compare page 54. V. Martha Ballard, who married John Collier, but left no issue. VI. WiLLLvM Ballard, of whom very little is known. He figured in the York records, shortly after his father's death, in a suit he brought against James Harrison, William Ballard being then described as "assignee of Benj : Good- rich, Attorney of Alice Ballard, Exorx Coll: Tho. Ballard, dec'ed": this suit, begun at a court held 24 September 1691, was dismissed at a court held 24 November 1691, the defendant making oath the debt had been paid through Jerome Ham. VII. Francis B.allard, sub-sheriff of York in 1694, and sheriff of Elizabeth City county in 1705. He married Mary, daughter of Bertrand Servant, and died 12 March 1719, leaving issue: Francis Ballard; Servant Ballard; Frances Ballard; Mary Ballard; Lucy Ballard; and Anne Ballard. ••' prion ] t-' J-'J .il3t/:; •.■I l-i*.. 'ff H .-i - , ..lAa'..:!:. ..•:- i MI • . .fi - -.mor'T r. : . '. .O '.>iAJ.>/.H «>J. Jr// .-1/ .117 .1 .b-iK'.UH Yli.l/ I'TCi'^iG John Major of Charles City )OHN MAJOR, the eldest son as far as ascertainable of James Major of Charles City, was bom before 1748, as he wit- nessed a deed by Francis Tyree dated 30 Januarys 1769, and recorded in Charles City. Upon the other side, John Major could scarcely have been bom before 1745. He was thus in the neighborhood of thirty at the out- break of the Revolution, and was one of the first to enlist — or to speak to the foot of the letter, one of the first to be enlisted, — in Charles City. John Major's name is therefore to be found in the unique manuscript list, discovered in the Capitol in 1852, and now to be seen in the Virginia State Library, of ''Militia draughted from Charles City on 25 Nov'b'r, & put under the command of Benj. Harrismi Ju'r." John Major's autograph likewise is preserved in this docu- ment, signed to two receipts. "We the Subscribers have received of Capt Benj Harrison Ju'r the several sums mentioned next to our names, & dated on the day Received, in WiUiamsburg. . . . Received 2 Dec'r, Ten Shillings— JOHN MAJOR." "John Major, Cr. 1776 Dec 19 By 19 days Service in the Militia 16d pr & 5 Rations at 7^d £1 8 "John Major, Dr. 1776 Dec'r 2d To Cash p. Rec't — - 0 10 0 ToBal.due. 0 18 5\ Rec'd Jan'ry 5th of Capt Harrison the above Acc't in full —JOHN MAJOR." ^4 -,-r . ^iii ;: ■ :;oofi^cc.ui;ij;.';>f: --'IT /it £. .'- - j . .. ■ ^ ; .^ j.;ir: ■ ' ' ■• - -■■-■'-- '^ . -„vi 3ii •:>; ■t'Tli yl • "'w . .•:!0 ; Ol "O } f'rfL r''i"/i"»')6;i ^:. i la 0 0! o JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 103 The roster of this company is hereinafter given, on page 106. As \\ill be seen, the company consisted of forty-four men and nine officers, and embraced among its membership representatives of practically all the oldest and best-known families of Charles City. The fifty-three men, to all ap- pearances, were equipped with twelve muskets and six borrowed guns, which scarcely constituted a formidable armament : but it does not seem they saw anything of actual warfare for a year or two. The movements of the Charles City militia, however, between 1776 and 1780 have not been preserved on record. There is a family tradition that John Major took part in the battle of Monmouth, ser\'ing in one of the Virginia regiments; but research, unluckily, affords no proof of this. There was verj' certainly a John ^lajor who enlisted 15 Februar}' 1777 in Captain James Quarles' company in the Second Virginia State Regiment, for three years, and was a member of Captain "William Long's company therein as late as November 1779; and as such, he must have been present at Monmouth and under fire of General Washington's historical profanity. But for the services of this John Major, Bounty Warrant No. 3830 (for 100 acres) and £57, 7s, was granted, in April 1785, to William Bigger, as assignee of WiUiam ]\Iajor, then the heir and legal representative of John Major, deceased. So that this was e\idently one of the King William county Majors, several of whom were in the Revolution, and of whom at least two (compare the Journal of the Virginia House of Delegates, for 11 December 1779) died in service: and could not possibly have been John Major of Charles City, since the latter had no son named William, and survived, as will be seen, until 1810. John Major of Charles City, however, took the field again when the Charles City militia was ordered south, on 25 June 1780. They were among the troops put under the command of General Gates in South Carolina, whose forces for the most part consisted of mihtia. Gates risked in this campaign only one battle — on 16 August 1780, at Camden; and it cannot be asserted that the Virginia miUtia won there i-f'f r, 10 <i ''-'AIL' i'j :iou.u y.uoi ;;! f>ii ..■ .'U'j <^',..;i.U-« Ji^ ?;;'J:iJUl ": ' -yr hi'ii,. •■ .- / -r^idi - ■'' i:-..-7-:'5n ^i^;;;-^ ??■;.,>■■•■;,"/ !;-iov>-. '-3 ).. ■.'■ ■■ ■ v:--' ■.^■ -:• -u ..i'j.r^ ^ {.?; ; :OTT: f^' .-■■ •^■'^ ■-' s '■ '-'.i: ■ . ,v,.-;.^ ^-I, -ol ,-;^' . O. •■--M^ . :■■■.;--■' ■' ' ;•'.,' :■ ".O:-! !/•-■■ ■ ' •'■^-. "'ill /;.:f;il^ ,;: " ' '' ' ■':".';rnoo) O'a . ; ::' •;!. ii-^;'! '<•■} ::i , IJ ,?'-'oq JO ! Dij'-'/ i'':.^ .'■'.><■' rr-rt .1: ;.r«)ii» (^tj.'ii b--.;;:.n ,-. . .. ■ — ■■''K-i > bl'i! 'r ■■■■ - . t'7:H :1 /- r.'.) ■ i'f;:i'; ;o !•'(' ^^ «-f''^'- >• --^-M''; ',.-.•:•■.'/ •,, l.'-ij ; { \:; )'-^. iji r.yr^i) k-'-xT'^^ io '.nrriwn(<t> • (' , ■ ■,,. -. ..,::,••) .■;■■■ :.. > ;y! i;^'[ •■. 104 JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY much glory, however undoubtedly they at first showed bravery. But in the end, as one historian has left recorded, "after holding their ground stubbornly and successfully, the untrained undisciplined mihtia, outnumbered and out- flanked, gallantly rallying twice in the midst of their enemies, finally threw away their arms and fled, panic-stricken and pursued by the British, who cut down eight hundred of them on the field. . . . Never had an American army suffered such a disastrous defeat; it was utterly broken and dis- persed." It does not appear that John Major was either wounded or captured in the debacle, in which the British took about a thousand prisoners. He seems to have escaped unhurt, made his way home, and thereafter to have eschewed mihtary hfe; there is no record thai he took part in La- fayette's Virginian manoeuvres in 1681 or in the siege of Yorktown, as did so many of the mihtia. But John ]Major was later remunerated for his part in Gates' southern expedition, on the moderate scale of sixteen pence a day, as may be seen by the Auditor's Accounts for Virginia, under date of 17 April 17S4, when was issued a "Warrant to John Major, for his ser\'ices in the mihtia of this State. £3, 9s, 4d." John Major thereafter made his home in Charles City, where for the next thirty years his life seems to have been unmarked by any stirring incidents. The county records afiford nothing of any interest concerning him, with the possible exception of his meticulous accounts as guardian to his nephew and nieces, the children of his dead sister, who had married Stephen West, also deceased. Manifold pages are devoted to these accounts, presented to the court by John Major at irregular intervals between 1790 and the estate's final settlement in the August of 1803: and those for 1790 are hereinafter given, wdth a word of explanation, as sufiiciently curious to merit preservation. John Major died in 1810; and his will, dated 28 ]March 1807, was recorded in Charles City county 21 June 1810. This document, hereafter given in full, on page 109, throws '. i ;;.. . '.-. /'..■r.,d ,-'-;';)i:'5 fi')i;cii .d)i:v lr/-;r v^ij .&■' ;-i^i^i -,-rJ r-. ^7r!f7 i:J ■■■' .M'j a'> ■ -^.rjccnj '' .■..'. },■:.' .■.:■'.■:. ■ ^' ■■■: •I'l-^r^v- :..!■•>?; .'i .r..\ ' io7' "M .?^'' ,S:; . . . . . : >■; -m! .)1 I'Ui^. ■TIT .f:*nL'o;^->Ji ^^> j.^? o1 h'^vVc/yh one ; ■'■ ■ ■ ' . ' U'.i'» .<• ;•(<'■ ■!, -' r ■ " -m' .! ■ ; ■ • , tr JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 105 little light upon the extent of his worldly possessions; but the fact that he devised some fifteen slaves or more to his various children would indicate a comfortable estate. The opening bequest, to h's son Edward, would seem to indicate some family compHcation, to which the key is lost. The will of John Marable is not on record in Charles City, among the survi\'ing records, so the mysterj' is likely never to be unraveled; but it seems undeniable that John Major, who had kept such painstaking accounts as guardian to his nephew and nieces, had somehow muddled those he kept as guardian of his son. He had married in or before 1776, before the outbreak of the Revolution, and his departure from Charles City to take a hand therein, Martha, daughter of George Marable; she survived him, and as is shown by the will of his son Edward, hereinafter given, was living in 1818. Martha Marable must have been by much the junior of her husband, as her last child, George Bernard Major, was bom in 1804, when John Major was at best nearing sixty. John Major and Martha Marable had issue: I. Edward Major, whose descendants for conveniency's sake are grouped hereafter. II. Katherine M.ajor, who married and left issue by Drewrj' Birchett. Her descendants have not been traced. III. Anne Finch M.\jor, who married George Moody, and had issue: John S. Moody, who married Lowt\-; George Moody, who married and left issue; Eliza Moody, died unmarried; and Laura Moody, who likewise died unmarried. IV. Eliz.abeth ^LAJOR,who married her first cousin Edward Marable, and had issue: John Marable; and Maria Marable, who married and had issue by her first cousin John E. S. Major, son of George Bernard Major. V. Maria Major, who shortly after her father's death in 1810, married William Allen, and had issue: William Allen; James Allen; Marj- Alleti, who died unmarried; Katherine Allen; Maria Allen; and Margaret Allen, who married Dr. Palmer. 01 / ! ; • i^.i I; V.;-l' ■ i' ■ ir 9lfT ■■*•. :• ',. u . , :i_. [V -IK, ,- '.'1 i:'.Kliiii •. !-:>r:«^ : :i ■ i:-:./;?]'.! .ii-^ -.'A uj . ■■ r ■;•; ) Si '.= ) ■'. 1 -h .. -" ■>"' V.I i.' - . '•-- ' ■ '■ ■ ■{.- ;'M r --\ '■■-i :>' iv: ' -.•.s^ -.ij ^M..^ ■< '-- . :i'jj..j;l/ ''•■:;■'•■^:■■ • ' . :. .';:^'.'.-;r .ioi'-'K;.' > ■ .- ' !--! ^.): . .,;:..■■. .: •(•■,.1 1^ ,, -iiii '"'^ f-'f--' ■ ■- :^^-f' i-''^ ..'".■ ■ ■""; .'III ;• ^Jbjll ■')'.i"i'i3. ■>ii -'^i'.)-^r.t ,h; •;«J ')^i:^x.:i: 106 JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY VI. George Bernard \Luor. whose descendants for conveniency's sake are grouped hereafter. The exact locality of John Major's home in Charles City, it should be said in conclusion, appears indeterminate, but it probably adjoined the "Burlington" estate of some 294 acres o\Mied by his son Edward Major, within two miles of the Courthouse. The house now standing at "Burlington" was in process of construction at the time of Edward Major's death in 1818. The residence was completed by his executor John Tyler (afterward President), and, at the request of Edward Major's %v-idow, upon a considerably more modest scale than Edward Major had planned. The place, passing to Edward Major's son Edward Glarster Major, was sold to John M. Gregory (aften\^ard Governor of Virginia), who made considerable alterations and additions, and left the house much as it stands to-day — apart, that is, from many sorrj' dilapidations of time. The house has, moreover, of late years been tenantless, the estate ha\ing passed into the hands of a lumber company. M' ILLUSTRATIVE D0CU:MENTS ILITIA draughted from Charles City on 25 Nov'b'r, & PUT under the command of Benj. Har- rison, Ju'r: Benj. Harrison, Capt.: Will'm Edloe, Ju'r, Lieut.: John Harwood, Ensign: Henry Vaughn, Fumea Southall, John Nibb, Serjeants: Tom Morecocke, John Redwood, Edmond Christian, Coup's. Lewis Crutchfield, 1 Country's Musketl; Thomas Gill; Benjamin Hughes, 1 Parish gun £4, Blankett 12; Charles Carter; John Major; John Atkinson; WiUiam Burton; John Wilcox; Henry Finch; Samuel Butler, T. Stagg's Gun, Val'd £4; William Harrison; John New; John Stubblefield; Henry Roach; David Wilkinson; Thomas Butler, D. Roper's Gun, Val'd £4; John Colgin, 1 Country's Muskett; Benja Apperson, J. Knibbs' gun, Val'd £3; Charles Holdsworth, l>^^i J ;* -• .r tm J.;! . ,!ti:cfi;.o >'»v^a.- r- _■ ;]•;:■' ;(5 o_':J;>,!^je V/O.r' -1.1, :j ' ^^I'j .':.- ;.f:.)iV -.'■■.J C'^iJ I'"> ■ ■,,-.br ••/!/, -J. h^'-'b o'-'j .0:..: '.O:. *M.S\ .;■ v- ;j,.! '■;*! .•••q'' '^ K'h;'i. \,-^':l;i' •{1:08 M :•!»'' f^vfori'V ■'ibvviiiV. t.,j-;"^ijoO J ,hi'»r;iri'' ;-'0 -iwi^J I' ;■! ^ /. , !fj' •!■> • "^*> I'M ' .<i.:.\\\xs\ ,rv».v^^ •.'.•'<A>i\A .v. ,»[iv^T.>qqA JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 107 Blankett 12; Edward Clark; William Wilson; Richard Cole, 1 Muskett (Country's); Allen McBrown; Harrison Pearmon; William Phillips, 1 musket (Country's); John Smith, 1 muskett (Country's); Samuel Christian, F. Durfey's gun, Val'd £2, 10s; Gideon Bradley, 1 muskett (Country's); Henry Wills, 1 muskett (Country's) ; William Walker; Richard Gill; William Terril; Alexander McBrown; Benjamin Buck; John Royster, TT'. Folk's gun, Val'd £3; Henry Harvey; Richard Barnes, 1 tyiuskett (Country's); William Hardiman, 1 muskett (Country's); Thomas Warburton, 1 muskett (Country's); John Warburton, 1 muskett (Country's); Robert Maj-nard; John Nance; George Baker; Wilham Floyd, 1 muskett (Country's). — Manuscript in Virginl\ State Library OHN MAJOR'S ACCOUNT as Guardla.n to West's Orphans ^ John West, Orphan of Stephen West, deceased, in Account with John Major. Guardian — Dr. 17S2 To paid Ed Marrable for Board and Schooling £6 00 00 17S3Tofour months board, at £8 p. year 2 03 04 To seven yards of Cotton Cloth, at 3 1 01 00 1784 To one pair of Shoes 5 1 G yards sheeting 1519 ._. 1 00 09 1785 To 1 Hatt 4| 2-^ yards of Broad Cloth 2716 But- tons 1|8J 1 13 02i To Twist |8d Silk 1 1 shaloon3| buckram ll..._. 0 05 08 1787 To two pair of Stockings 51 7 yards Oznabrigs 71 3Jydsditto3|6 _ „ „ 15 06 01 £12 19 05i Sally West, Orphan of Stephen West, in account as afore- said: 1784 May, To paid William Wright for Board £01 09 00 1785 To your Board till Christmas 4 00 00 1786 To 31 yards of Linen 101 3i yds Shalon 1113 4 yds Oznab's4| _ 1 05 03 To 3 yds Sheeting 1019 4yds Durants 131 sheeting 117^ silk If __ 1 06 (Mi TO I ^ .f-/;it :--•-, ) l^jifrn-:^ lia'v-^V '^^ '>! vv^-vtva ■:";:-7' fulfil ;(^- ' ?• •■,-.- : - T :y. - ^,'0 ..^^ :-: '--r I ■.;.-!. r'^1.' V3 'i^qoTWiTf '; f ..- vr .. ■ M jr tii ,'^:.:^J(!.^,,,v ^^: i"o '!! ^a Cv'- . --.t . • .' ■ lit ' ^ *ii"^< irj'; 108 JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY To 1 pair of Shoes 7|8 Board for one year, Vizt. 17S6, £S _ 8 07 08 To Board for this year „ _ 8 00 00 To 1 Yard of linen. __ _ 0 02 06 £27 10 09^ Elizabeth West, Orphan of Stephen West, in account as aforesaid, Dr: May 1784 To 1 pair of Shoes o\ 4 lbs Cotton 6| 2Bar; Com30|._ £2 01 00 Nov. 1785 To 7 yards of Linen 21 1 Thread 116 Tammy 9ill 1 12 05 To 5 yards of Callico 2ll8Linen2| silk 1 1 1 04 08 January 1787 To 20 lbs Cotton, at 4di p. pound, 7|6: 1789, to 6 yds linen 15| 1 02 06 £6 00 07 The orphans of Stephen West, in account as aforesaid, Dr 1787 To keeping two small Negroes _ 3 12 00 1788 To keeping two small Negroes 3 12 00 1789 To keeping two small Negroes „ 3 12 00 £10 16 00 Their estate — Cr: By a bond for _.. £12 00 00 By a bond for _„ 2 01 00 By a bond for _ 6 00 00 By a bond for 15 03 00 1787 By hire of Nanny..._ „ 1 02 00 By hire of Mille.._ 1 00 00 1788 By hire of Nanny. „ „ 1 15 00 By ditto of Mille 1 00 00 1789 By hire of Nanny. _.... 1 03 00 By ditto of Mille 1 00 00 £42 14 00 Ballance due Jonx Major £14 12 09 — Charles City County Records, 1790 ^Oi >V) r. L«0 IX! C. 1*9, a.- ^-i ,111. 1 0(> ) (*> Ai 1 iX.f t.G 1 0" ') ^•J o» 'Tr : --. - \l Ail. i .- 'o: i;''.-.i >Lv ri o< ,i>}ivi •;>!? ; 'i , , 6 .... .? r ■ ^v (. i i> I*; ••ia 1 p £ "...M.r".z.._..T .i •"^ .-. . i:-\ L.JO*.! ^; vfl Af ^ , .i ' --.- , ... I 1 _ ' .. .( ,, , , - »'f3L , . ii,.i,U ■■ JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 109 These accounts, for their entire comprehension, require a sUght glossary. A "twnst" was a skein of cotton yam for stockings. "Shalloon", derived from Chalons in France, was a hght loosely-woven woolen stuff used for women's dresses and coat-linings. "Osnaburg", first manufactured in the city of Osnaburg in Germany, was a coarse linen made of flax and tow. "Durant" was a generic term for any very durable material for garments, such as buff-leather or an imitation thereof. "Tammy", or properly "tamin," was a thin highly glazed worsted or woolen fabric. IN THE NAME OF GOD, Amen: I, John Major of the County of Charles City, being weak in body, but of usual mind and memory, do make this my last Will and testament, in manner and form following, to wit: My Soul to God, who gave it me; and my worldly goods which it has pleased him to bless me with, I chspose of as follows: V'zt, I give and bequeath to my Son Edward Major, and his heirs forever, George and Ceha (and her increase), which Negroes are now in possession of the said Edward; and I also give unto my said Son Edward all my lands after the death of my much loved Wife, to him and his heirs forever, provided the said Edward \\ill fully discharge and release me from a claim which he has against me as his Guardian for a sim[i of money received by me of the representatives of his late Uncle John Marable; but in case of his refusal, I then subject the said lands, or a necessary part thereof, to discharge the said claim, with the interest that may be due thereon. 2nd, I lend my dear and much loved wife Martha all my lands during her natural life, and ever}' article of property I may die possessed of, except that which may be necessary to pay my just debts, and which I may give to my respective Children by this instrument of writing. 3rd, To my Daughter Caty Burchett I give Cloe and her increase, which Negroes are now in possession of her Husband Drewry Burchett, to her and her heirs forever; and I also 'I .i^)'j ' '•";; ftif>'<J" >;. hii^ii KOrtasth ^:jl-.iiji:i' '%4 rl>u^ -..';i:'')»ni.''4 "lot >oi"9iiji)7 jJJi tf;i} v-i-jv ;T/,r'' t If nnur> ',]' ■' j^iu viTi .-^iii' r.^::';':! .'{J ,v;(on^ui> '.'i-M ..-iiiiT; ij^ii^^'i; i:l,v\'^ /- •■'Ul (* ■' .^: :■-■■■'• .;'ol.» ■■■' ''. :::'■■• -X^L ;.'• •;.!.!.: . ■■■'. ■/;■■ '-•» .[;/:-;■; 'Jif f:i-j -y:). . . '■■'•' ■ 'V-: ■ <M ni ■'-' n : ■•.^' ■ 7 J-'-' --:v! ^'n Lrv '^sid CM ^ii/' iBV^'i ir\.;.- . ': I<.) iije9]> ' :ir.7 ^^- ■ ■ ''■~r/;.;.'- ; : .-.:n|..7 ^^jj? V- ten ;;1 oj to rnu'i *^ toI -■. xi'.:n iniV. ii.r' 'n'l ':>r^ .it^vr .xciiiij ba^y ofU • ■ 'uT ;T.SV'--Tot ?1.bi't* •. :l'bU: Vjtl OI (JTmu'v::)*-! /T^'ri'.Ji 110 JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY give her the bed and furniture which I lent her at her marriage. 4th, To my Daughter Nancy Finch Moody I lend Hannah and her Children and their increase, and after her death I give and bequeath the same to her child or Children, and their heirs forever; and I also give and bequeath to her the Bed and furniture lent her at her marriage. 5th, To my Daughter Betsey Marrable I lend Anaka, Sylvia and La\'inia and their increase; and after her death I then give and bequeath the same to her Child or Children and their heirs forever. 6th, To my Daughter Maria Major I give Nanny and her three Children and their increase, when she shall reach the age of twenty-one years or marry, to her and her heirs for- ever. 7th, To my Son George Bernard, after the death of my dear Wife, I give all the property (my lands excepted) of every kind lent to my said wife Martha during her natural Life, to him and his heirs forever. 8th, My just debts, it is my will and desire, may be paid by my executrix and Executor hereafter named, out of that Portion of my personal estate lent my Wife during her life; and it is my hope that they -^ill consult, and agree as to the property which can be best spared for that purpose. 9th, To my Daughter Betsey IMarrable mentioned in the 5th Item, I give the feather bed and furniture lent her at her marriage; and it is also my \snll that my Wife give to my Daughter ^laria, mentioned in the 6th Item, a feather Bed and furniture out of that which I may have before assigned my Son George at her death. And lastly, I constitute and appoint as Executrix and Executor of this my last will and testament, my dear Wife Martha and my Son Edward Major. In testimony whereof I have here set my hand, and had my seal affixed, this twenty-eighth day of March one thousand, eight himdred and seven. JOHN MAJOR YTIO ^1JJ/.H''> 'lO viOi.AM ZTIOl on I'j'j Ic -t*ii *i>'i ' ' i ' " •ni'^fr.iii'i bxiij b.cf ?)fij 9ilT /i.! f'; :""-iT--<' ''''A. '' ' '■-''■i-- ^- '■''■^'"- :'^:'"''&Ti;^ ii-ii:)(i ';i';yj.j ■1 '■ J -; .;:•,/! -:-ix> I 'I.:,' -I/C :::-.:',: "■■•■;.>;-;-/-! vf? ^'T ,i'; ' .. ,, ■. ..,: .:■ .: -;■•.:; ;;;,; ..'•■Mir:';, >.,,(,; . '■_■ /■? 'O I ^' ••.;( T ;.; f.'; ;/:.' bn.^. yn:'t'^-r/.:> '■/fc yd - .d ^.J iiir. -:-.: ■,*'■! '3 ■r.-' '■■ ■yd .Ti!'-! ■; ■ ■ .■' ^ .-'T ','jh 'y\ J r:n n;iij ; fv,- 'a; r.^!-' ^i ii hat. ;-»grmam .£■1;; jL 'V.)ti If -P^^OOiJ i^O€' \iil i >H-;:r// v:K'ri.*'"*t !.I "J ^aiv; i •../.■fi'i no^ Via h;;fe ;:•i;^i^^'|. .ri^'.'t>5 bxiii Huv.-'-'/ / il'-l. JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 111 Signed and acknowledged, and the seal affixed thereto, in presence of (Signed) C. Harrison, M. Willcox. G. Drinkard. At a Monthly Court held for Charles City County at the Courthouse, on thursday the twenty-first day of June 1810: The aforewTitten last -will and testament of John Major, dec'ed, was this day presented in Court, and being proved by the Oaths of the subscribing Witnesses thereto, is ordered to be recorded, and is truly recorded. Teste, Wyatt Walker C.C. — Charles City County Records I, EDWARD MAJOR, of the County of Charles City, do make and ordain this writing as and for my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all other wills hereto- fore made by me. Imprimis, It is my will and desire that all my just debts be paid, to accompHsh which I subject such part of my estate as will be sufficient for that purpose. Item, It is my will and desire that at the end of the present year, or as soon thereafter as practicable or convenient, my executors make sale of the perishable part of my estate, together ^nth the crops of all kind; and the proceeds of said sale, or the balance thereof remaining in the hands of my executors after the pajment of my debts, to be applied to the support of my wife and children and the education of my children. Item, It is mj' will and desire that my wdfe be supported out of the profits of my estate as long as she remains my widow or stands to the provision made her by this will; but on her marrj-ing again or renouncing the pro\asions made her hereby, that she have such part of my estate as the laws of the Countrj' entitle her to. Item, I give and bequeath to my son Edward G. Major all the lands I am entitled to under the ^nll of my father at the death of my mother, and my tract of land called Burling- ton, to him my said son Edward G. and his heirs forever: and direct that the said tract called Burlington be leased or rented out till the death of my mother, and the money arising Ill YTi ) cZ.l}i/M ':•') H« !, ik;\\ -v. ■■ •,...v : -i:' • --.••'••n.> ^' ;i._ '-.r^r.^ q .• r-iiiX- i' /:•-''"' YTjD »iJJflAEO-- .^ /O .-MXi -, 01 i-' ' ' 'j:rji -'il- L'/-'': ,i^iiiJ'' ' ({ -i'lUr •,•;;! li. :i Tif'/A) ] >;«i''l .■-' '/^ /r: ;.J 111 V'.i 7 : 112 JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY \iy from said lease or rent to be the benefit of my said son Edward G., to him and his heirs forever. Item, It is my will and desire that as soon after decease as practicable my executors carry into effect the Trust deed executed to Henry Finch by Jolm M. Gregory- to secure the pajTn't of a sum of money due me from the said Gregory-; and the money arising from the sale of said land I direct may be placed at interest for the benefit of all my daughters; and should the profits of the other part of my estate not be sufficient for the support of my vaie and children and the education of my children, I direct the interest of said money to be applied for that purpose. I also direct that the land I purchased from Richmond Finch in this county be sold at the discretion of my executors, and the money arising from said sale to be applied as directed in the case of the money due from John M. Gregory. Item, It is my will and desire that my negroes be not devided till my said son Edward G. arrives to the age of twenty-one years, at which time I direct a di\'ision may take place amongst all my children, to them and their heirs forever. Item, In case either of my daughters should die under age unmarried and without issue, I direct the whole of the estate hereby given them, to be equally divided between the survivors, to them and their heirs forever. Item, I direct my executors to pay to Miss Agnes Perry out of the money arising from the sales of my estate Two hundred dollars. Item, I give and bequeath to my wife Sarah her choice bedstead and cord, to her and her heirs forever. Lastly, I nominate, constitute and appoint Mr Fielding Lewis, Mr John Minge, sen'r, Jno Minge, Jr, Jno Tyler and Samuel M. Harwood executors of this my la^t will and testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal, this 14th day of May one thousand, eight hundred and eighteen. EDWARD MAJOR (Seal) -■'.^y''r>L> *iO ' :. . ' -f'- ,'C.J ■ *;•■ ':"'/' .'fj,; ■:■'" 'i:''. ••''..' •■;!■". r>''.^ :■;;?! '."'•a ju'i jO ■ ■"' v-'i lo ;-ri.a " :i:"j ,?r{T io -jI ■:■■' 'di b) ...'( ■■' ''o ■;•; '.■; -' -, ivrrr.'- .t;- l'--';;v;/'i nor; hfitri v/ji '!(-■ ■ . . i^i: V'' .'iVf/iJ ',;ij !',/< i>, I .• 1: O-y/i.) il'H.A::./ . la JOHN MAJOR OF CHARLES CITY 113 Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said Edw'd AIajor as and for his last Will and testament. In the presence of (Signed) Ro. W. Christian, Wat H. Tyler, Wm G. Major. A Codicil to the foregoing Will — I give to my son Edw'd G. Major my Gun and case, to him and his heirs forever. EDWARD MAJOR (Seal) Ro. W. Christian, Wat H. Tyler, Wm G. Major. (Wit- nesses.) At a Court held for Charles City County, at the Courthouse, the ISih day of June 1818 — The aforewritten last Will and Testament of Edward IMajor, dec'd, and the codicil there- after written, was produced in Court, and proved by the Oaths of all the witnesses to the same, and ordered to be recorded. And on the motion of John Tyler, one of the executors therein named, who made oath thereto according to law, and together with William Tyler, William Douglass and Wyatt Walker, his securities, entered into and acknow- ledged a bond in the penalty of Twenty thousand dollars, conditioned as the law directs, certificate is granted the said Tyler for obtaining a probate of the said Will in due form: Liberty being reserved other executors named therein to join in the probate when they may think fit. Teste^ Ro. W. Christian, CI. Cur. — Charles City County Records MARABLE OF JAMES CITY JOHN MAJOR of Charles City, as has been said, married Martha Marable, who died before her husband. Captain George Mar.\ble, the founder of this family in Virginia, patented a half-acre of land on Jamestown .Island, by purchase from Ann Talbott, 25 February 1663. The tract — "beg'g at a comer stake, at high water mark^ near the mulberry, & formerly belong'g to Thomas Wood- house, by a patent dated Oct'r 17, 1655" — is furthermore described as adjoining a dwelling-house already owned by "George Marble", as he is here called. This was a brick house on the shore near the present ruins of the Ambler ?.ll YT';. ci.;::/ VV'> '■'I' 5rO:-/.'-' ■';?;. 7/1:1 \.a:: VI, '. ■fw '\: \v '.vl^r^'V^T> v^^^O v;'>V\v>A' ;■ -kA W?iA VimO v JA HHi :•) -^;K5 ,iO- ■ lu' I. 'v- — ... ..jT , . ,.<■; I... ' . -I ■'.■ " nijjor ;■:;;: .... . .u: ^ '■'■ -1 7/ ';"•■■ •;■- -o •:''is.:v<(,, K, _. ...^-' k> ^ 'i-'fiLioi ifij ,^T«'." Tij.r,V.T ii?ih» .lii j"-JM;-lt 9dT Vr- !■ ;fV'.-> vh/:-), 114 MAR ABLE OF JAMES CITY house, and seems to have remained the city residence of the Marables until 1G96, when the lot was sold by INIajor George Marable, son to the immigrant. Destruction of the James City county records makes it necessarj' to rely on the records of other counties for such stray items concerning Captain George Marable as have been preserved. These are, unfortunately, not numerous; but they are sufficient, all in all, to show hira a person of position and some wealth. And in passing, it was by the narrowest margin he escaped being identified wdth one of Virginia's most famous relics of colonial days: for in June 1679 George ]Marable was given the contract to build the original Bruton Parish Church, in Williamsburg. But a dispute arose, which ended in a law-suit between him and the vestrj-; and the contract was transferred, in 1681, to Captain Francis Page. Earher, George Marable made William Edwards his at- torney in Surry by a deed dated 26 October 1675, and recorded 8 July 1676. York records show a suit by George Marable versus Charles Hansford, executor of John Rowan, for 2C0 pounds of tobacco, 27 January 1679-80; and Marable's power of attorney to Matthew Jacobs, to represent him in this action, was recorded 26 January 1679-80. George Marable was appointed, with three other gentleman, in York, 18 June 1681, to view the house and lands of Mr Robert Spring, which were to be valued and sold to dis- charge their owTier's debts. The will of William Shenvood, dated 18 August 1687, proved in James City 7 February 1687-8, mentions Captain George Marable, and appoints him overseer, with William Edwards and Mr John Wright. Transactions of the Council (in the Randolph Manuscript) record, under 6 May 1691, "A Master of a Ship Sum.mon'd up from Norfolk to give his Deposition concerning persons being carried out of the Country who was indebted to Geo Marable." In York is recorded a deed to John Doswell by George Marable and his wife, Marj' Marable, dated 4 November 1691, disposing of a tract in York "called the Ridge", comprising some fifty acres, and described as "last £"i" '■ ■' ^i.^--.'. ') .r^i\JM/.U I - < i'l- - ;;7. toi ^';i ■ i.ln.^.' :j' .-'I •u'.■'a;^■■ • •■! ' • •- ■-•■■■■ -'' iiv 'o'r ■: -. -r// :r. ,U^-^r.. ^ ': ..-J. ■ ;i. - s'--.. ].!■:. --:>...., I.;l. '!■ . " .■/;.,■ ].;;:■ '. . .<. -'■'IvT :-;(.,), ilxj '■: :n ^^t^bv^.yil'/ -' '.':. , ■ '■■,:..- • ■: ■ '1 ■:.■,,: ^1,7 :'[..'.•: iKj..'! Vip;.i>'l ^i.rT T!j^- .;:'- 1;^'-. :. ■:-'.' ": .nv<:K'~> ,\'--^-/l ft.Mir'l '^ii^'r; .l;'.' ;; ' . '^ :'.t.^ '■'.nf Ti. .'.•■.■ i ; T.i". '._.:.-■■; '■■ ■J. -^^ •! T-.'!-;.. ■ '-C ;:Vjj ■!.! ^'■•^ ^: .- ' ;Tf;i^ ui ",[•.^ TlO^ •' ..-^ ' n.- ;'''^ : . ■-: -ir. ..":■'. f'' '■..,>;. -.^uJ 1u ^.['.'(i - 0 J; l'^'' , - ■- VI r ,■ ;.i .,',',; //-.i. }';''■ Ou {'?rr;<, .'l.^ N) - .:; r :■•:'> ' ':-''^.\'*'. :<."<>■■ ^ '■:'. :\'>'.''-> : ::■,'( ,Kiv\-\-.: -ill' ( \> ^'MiJ h.t- ',-;t!^.:' - ij V. >-.. ,.♦ ,I-:.r •..ff', >;f .>!',;. -.7 >: ■■•... ' ;ir:,ii)^ 11 ;<.> I'iv/ 'y.\T .--. iv'* :^- ''v/r/'o 'J-'jiJ '.•l;':..o ^ 1 : '. ■ ■'->..;: '■ ;:..,; ri..r. -1./. r»nt :>^'^ - ■ n,',; 1 ■ ■•: .. - ''■■■« '"i ■:'. ' ■•■■•ii; . ,-\~::\. .;; MARABLE OF JAMES CITY 115 owned by Gozen Dclony" by virtue of a patent dated 19 October 1G64; and previously owned by Edward Wright, by a patent dated 3 July 1652. This Gatien de Loney was living in York 167S. with his wife ^lary. And furthermore, York records show that in 16S6 and after George Marable was captain of the James City militia, and in 1G94 and presumably in other years, a justice of the peace for that county, and in 1695 High Sheriff. He died, apparently, in the latter part of 1696, having married Mary , and lea\'ing, with possibly other issue, a son who was like- wise named George ^Marable. Major George ]Mar\ble was bom circa 1675, and had recently come of age at the time of his father's death. He sold, as already recorded, his half-acre of city property in Jamesto%\Ti in 169G, and 26 October 1699 patented 135 acres in James City county, this tract being described as escheat from John Wright. There was evidently, in passing, some close cormection at this time between the families of Wright and Marable. George Marable was a justice of the peace for James City in 1700 and after, at least as late as 1709, when he was associated with Philip Ludwell in taking the examination of slaves suspected of being concerned in an apprehended negro uprising. He was also captain of the James City militia before 1703, and major by 1709 and after: thus, the ^-ill of William Broadribb of James City county, dated 3 May 1703, proved 7 June 1703, appoints "my three Lovcing friends, Mr'Wm Dniraond, Capt'n George Marable & Mr Benj Eggleston, or either two of them, with my Loveing wife, trustees to sell & dispose of my land & Planta- con," and in 1709 his executors, "Major George Marable, Mr Benjamin Eggleston and Mrs Lydia Smith" (Broad- ribb's widow, remarried to Christopher Smith, clerk of Jamesto^Ti church) sold a portion of the lands to William Brodnax. In the Virginia House of Burgesses George Marable represented James City county for the sessions of 1700 (beginning 5 December 1700, and proroged to 30 May 1702, then to 14 August 1702) and 1714, 1718 and 1720. .0' ■U. ; !'. ■ 1''. •T . :'>> I,-., -,:-;:• L-'i .-:i^l -\ ' •/. !■;>;, ■,-,r; I:/ f^--^';'; ., (.>'<' o J .1 i»-^ • '•ft'" ' 1, ! >'^i ' ^ •:•'■•','. ,:i ■"! ! , -^! J..)!!"!'!''/ '•J'.' i'' ». ''■.i' ifi 116 MARABLE OF JAMES CITY The Journal of the House records, under 30 November 1714, "Mr George ]Mar-\ble, the member from James City comity, questioned for abusing members. Excused on his declaring no ill intent." Major George jNIarable had married, apparently in the latter part of 1699, Marj', daughter of Captain WiUiam Hartwell of James City county. They had issue: I. George jMar.\ble of Charles City county, whose descendants for conveniency's sake are grouped hereafter. II. Henry Hartwell Mar.\ble of Sussex county, who apparently had no issue. His wife ^Nlary died 23 December 1770, and he on 17 September 1774. His will, dated 1764, was recorded in Surry in 1774, and mentions only his ^vife (who had predeceased him), his brothers George and Ben- jamin, and his nephews, Hartwell, son of George IMarable, and Hartwell, son of Benjamin Marable. III. William j\Iar.vble, who represented James City county in the Virginia House of Burgesses 1736-40. He was hving at least as late as 1749, as in the April of that year he brought suit in York against John Taylor. He had, with probably other issue: John jNIarable, Hving in 1786; and Matthew IMarable of ^Mecklenburg, also in his day a burgess, who ched in 1786, lea\ang issue, Matthew Marable, Richard ]Marable, Champion ]\Iarable, John Marable, and one daughter, Ehzabeth Marable, who married Da\'id Stokes. IV. Benjajiin AL\rable, who, with his brother George, settled in Charles City county, and died there in 1773, leaving issue: Hartwell Marable. The estate of Benjamin Marable was appraised in Charles City 22 April 1773, by Bernard Major, Jr, John Major and James Bullivant, and their inventory- recorded 2 June 1773. George AL^rable, the eldest son of Major George Marable, had settled in Charles City county prior to Februar>' 1739, when Benjamin Harris brought suit against him for, £6, lis, lOd. Thereafter the Charles City records show a number of unimportant mentions of George Marable, up to the -;._ "0, ''!i .;- ■' .,, i ' y. r, : , ;-,-,/, '\ \- r . ■>:. i -;•>■ ,0771 ' 1 < ' . < ■ - - ■7/ '••/;:> jir!u •:^- :v i/ "■'/ ''^J . : i .' ,.; j: ^r .■:-'. ; :.... -J •. ■^: •■:.i:^'^\ tj; •i;' to ^IPJ?.'^ '■■'.i' r^\C)-.VilL [li\-r>~.'d M:r -.: ••; ^cJ dtU ''^t ai! .'MLiiitK '?3{T(ijiJ io fuioimjui J u \o MARABLE OF CHARLES CITY 117 June court of 1773, when George Marable, James Bullivant and Francis Austin presented their inventory of the estate of Philemon Da\ndson, deceased, taken 22 May 1773. The \\nll of George Marable "of AVestover parish" was drawn up on the momentous 4 July 1776, and recorded in Charles City 4 November 1778. It appoints as his executors his wife and his friends William Edloe and Henry- Southall; and is witnessed by William Holdcroft, James Bulhvant and Littlebury Perr>'. George Marable of Charles City had issue: I. George ]Mar.\ble, who married a daughter of William Griffeth, and died in Charles City 1795. His inventory was taken 17 October 1795, and valued at £145, 4s, 6d. He left issue a daughter, Ehiora Catherine Griffeth Marable, who married George Bernard Major. II. Benjamin Mar.\ble, who died before 1828, leaving issue: Benjamin Marable; and ]Martha Marable, who died unmarried. Her will, dated 4 February 1828, was recorded in Charles City IS October 1828. III. William Mailable, who in 1772 married Susannah, daughter of Joseph Weaver of Charles City, but sur\aved her and died A\-ithout issue. His -R-ill, dated 24 July 1790, was recorded in Charles City 19 August 1790. IV. H.\RTWELL Marable, who was living in Sussex, xs-ith a son Edward, in 1772. V. John Mar.able, who died without issue before 1776. VI. Edward Mar.\ble, who served as lieutenant in the Charles City militia in the Revolution. The Virginia Gazette, of 16 September 1775, records that "Mr Fumea Southall is Captain of one of the companies to be raised in Charles City; Mr Edward Marable, Lieutenant; and Mr John Bell, Ensign." Accounts of the Committee of Public Safety, under 16 May 1776, contain the item: "To amount paid Lieutenants Marable and Perry, for pay & pro\isions for Sandy point Guard of MiHtia £11, 7s, lis." The will of Lieutenant Edward Marable, dated 9 June 1805, was recorded in Charles City 19 December 1805. He left issue: George Marable; Edward Marable, who married ■^.]>I/ iKl* '■■"'• '■'.j 'no-.M ) !.:'\ ■'Vn . .0 ,;; !/. " ' -.:.J '--a' ■: i;,. _: ;.-■, '" ■ ; ' I '.i'* j' :U'. */. ■' -. r <:" ; ,-M '■' " .'■"■''} if'T .:■ '-,Vi.[ .,dT .. - ,: ^.'■' ,■ ■ t.' !;r.; ;::r;i^f'^i-;i->;_| , ,,1, ;;,<•■ .,, fo iirv/ '^li'i' 118 MAR ABLE OF CHARLES CITY Elizabeth jNIajor; ^lajov Marable; Benjamin IVLarable; and Martha Marable. VIL Abraham Marable, hving in 1776. He appears to have left no descendants, or at all events none in Charles City county. VIIL Amy ]\L\r.\ble, who before 1776 married George Drinkard. IX. Agnes Marable, who, also before 1776, married CoUier. X. Martha ]\L\rable, who, as previously recorded, married Jolm ]Major of Charles City county. NOTE ON PIERSEY, STEPHENS AND HARTWELL OF JAMES CITY AS HAS BEEN said, page 116,:vIajor George Marable of James City married, apparently in 1699, Mar>% daughter of Captain William Hartwell. She was a descendant of at least two of the most prominent of Vir- ginia's original settlers. Captain Abraham Piersey and Captain Richard Stephens, concerning whom an account is appended. Abr-aham Piersey, was bom in England circa 1585, and married circa 1608 Elizabeth, daughter of Vincent Draper of London, by whom he had issue two daughters, bom in 1609 and 1613. It appears probable that his wife died before 1616, in which year Piersey came to Virginia in the Susan. His commercial transactions seem to have been extensive, and proved so successful that contemporary' records state him to have amassed "the best estate that was ever yet known in Virginia." He was by 1618, and as late as 1622, Cape-Merchant or Treasurer of the Colony; and was, on 15 November 1619, presented ^nth 200 acres of land by the London Company. He was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1622, and in 1624 was named a member of the Council, which cUgnity he retained until his death. 81 1 .-.'SJiiJO'y vj .> t'^TooO i'^:-i-;':im 0\r{ -v-o*;,;! vilw .:iJHAi!fl/I i-;.'A .111'/ ii;rii?»b PIERSEY OF JAMES CITY 119 Piersey's land-holdings, in all, were enormous. Thus, on 5 October 1624, he purchased from Sir George Yeardley the largest two plantations on James river, Flowerdieu Hundred (1,000 acres) and Vreyanoke (2,200 acres), and b\' lG2u had acquired in addition 1,150 acres "uppon Apmatucke." These two well known plantations, as once o';\-ned by Abraham Piersey, would seem to merit a word of description. In IGIS Sir George Yeardley obtained a grant of 1,CC0 acres on the west side of a creek opposite YVeyanoke, and called both creek and plantation "Flov.'er dew Hundred". In 1619 the plantation was represented in the first General Assembly by Yeardlej^'s nephew Edward Rossingham and by John Jefferson, the ancestor of Thom.as Jefferson. In 1624, when Piersey purchased this land, which included Windmill Point, there stood thereon tvv'elve dwellings, three storehouses, four tobacco houses, and one windmill. Wind- mill Point, known in earlier records as Tobacco Point, received its present name from this win'^^hnill, the first in the United States, and established before 1621, by Sir George Y'eardley. The Indians called the place "Weyanoke Point. Weyanoke, on the opposite side of the river, vras termed by the Indians "Tanks Vreyanoke", that is, "Little Wey- anoke", to distinguish it from the territory from Appomattox river down to Povrell's creek on the south side of James river, which was "Great Weyanoke." In 1G17 Opechan- canough presented to Yeardley a large tract of land at "Tanks Weyanoke", and in 1619 the London Company confirmed the gift. In this deed of confirmation the tract is described as containing "twenty-two hundred acres, all that piece of marsh ground called Weyanoke, and also one other piece and parcell of land, adjoining to the said marsh, called by the natives Kenican; one parcell thereof abutteth upon a creek called Mapsock, to the east, and the other parcell thereof toward a creek, there called Queen's creek, on the west; and extendeth in breadth to landward from the head of said creek called Mapsock up to the head of said creek called Queen's Creek (which creek, called Queen's Creek, is oppo- site to the point which is nov/ called Tobacco Point), and i;u >:/:; .;•.,: ,:-4 .vo-. •:;:,■; .--ri; ';^;i-I.u.:f ■ v-,: .'^l h :;.-^ 1 =■ ,.;i_. '■ ;• ••' ^ . ■-. ,. : ■ :■ ; ■.: '»■- . -. --;-vV, ;■ V: :- :. :: ^-■:-\-'.,: -. ■ -■: :7.' xiij:..-; ' -. : ' 'm ! t l?I^f , ;•■;''■•■, r..f:'v; P '1,1 -i;'.,. : .. .'■ .;;'0;r;;. :Tvl u yd '-,'/! ■.■■ -.'l ■!' -, >'•■;::■; v: .. •:: ;';■':;; r;' •.-'^I fl."f ■-,.■.■■■> ■:■ v^ .A^I ■ ■■!•... :,. :^->P,,:. . ;.;!:: ,-.:',:•' f^-iiiij ■■- :\\.i>:-r. ■'.a'' 11.) .; /j ^ M-^ ,7(.<'' <'i nv/o;^ ■.''■/rr 120 PIERSEY OF JAMES CITY abutteth south upon the river, and north to the landward." Piersey kept mounted ten pieces of ordnance to defend these plantations from any possible invasion by way of James nver. The colonists were always expecting some such molestation from the Dutch. Abraham Piersey, as has been said, was Cape Merchant of the Colony, and as such, returning to England, came back to Mrginia in charge of the goods brought over on the Susan, the first magazine ship. These goods were exchanged by him, as factor for the English owners, for sassafras and tobacco, the only commodities then produced in the Colony which could be sold in England profitably. Piersey again returned to England in the Susan, and made his third -"•oyage to Virginia the following year, in the George, the second magazine ship sent over. The vessel was delayed no less than five months in the outward voyage, by un- favorable weather, so that most of the cargo arrived in bad condition. Landing, Piersey was presently embroiled in trouble with Governor ArgoU, the two having been given equal authority in the matter of disposing of the goods: but that is here irrelevant. Piersey seems to have made no more voyages thereafter, save one trip to Newfoundland to ex- change tobacco for fish; and, for the rest, devoted his talents to cultivating tobacco on his vast land-holdings, as well as to conducting a store at Jamestown. As has been said, Abraham Piersey was a widower, prob- ably by the time he first went to Virginia. His daughters, Elizabeth and Mar\', came to to the Colony in the South- ampton, in 1623, being then about thirteen and nine years old respectively. Piersey remarried in 1625, his second ■u-ife being Frances, daughter to Sir Thomas Hinton, and widow of Nathaniel West, Lord Delaware's brother. His mother-in-law died in the same year. The will of EUzabeth Draper of London, Widow, dated 17 August 1625, proved 3 September 1625, (P. P. C: Clarke, 93), bequeaths: "To my grandchildren Elizabeth and Mary Piersey, daught- ers of my sonne-in-law Abraham Piersey, merchaunte, resident in Virginia, £100 apiece when 18 or married." — "iTj...; t ■!1/_: :- ■ . . ■ / ' > IZ^H r<A ,■' : ■ a^i. !■'■!■ ■ .:- L.t£ .- -■■ ■-::■ !.;!(>' '{^.t1r^d'^ ■: '/; ,' ..*■/. ax',:' ■:- : .7'^ '■ '• : ■'' -■'-!!;;. !i. ( ■•■ -' r\yll>: y^ :■ . - ■ ' • ' y_ . , 1 ' ■;::'■/ ,' "''•-" ■• '"' - •■■'■ ■ ' •. ;- Im / '<; h'. ■■! ?' :". t l';; :^.>' , : ■;.. ,7' .:.; 'Vil 7. -. ! 7.- •• i • . . 7 . ■ ■ • ■' ":7 " ■•, ■ •- -.'■;;- :.. ■ ■. - -•'• r.:-':.,r-.l ■ ... -- - : I77::;. :7:.- ■• ;-.) .i; 1 '^ '7 ' ■■m,tm[_, ]'j ■.•;; + .; rrr f^fil ni /"'iLol^ ■ i>7.;i\' •., 'j; ., • • ;'■ i' •'J.77^7j 7. J.iu /" ' '7 t 7 • i'fli 71 1 >i;j J ■ >"• I . ■: i ■ ";■' , "I i> ■■ ~>"'?J.f ■' *t f-.f. /!'■ '. ; , _ '. .: • . ■ - ■. ,iL- .-.■ ./'■ ; ;;■.! ■.•'J1i;'.> CJ ir,v .' 7. 71. ^(- ■■■.o '. :: ./;. ■':i/h7'-- » .xJ ,* ••- - .; ' ' .■ -r' ■•-7-> :jlj;;7- ■■:/,_ ,|M;> fVi'X: «fii| ?/i -, i : --.'7 .:.!7-;. , t.; in^v- j--ii{ jii i;u;1 -7 i ' ' ' '■ .1 ..,, .^, ;•''.') Mi-f-; i-\3 ot -JUJ/r* ,7^7 7 t~l'fi :7,..>7L^ - '■: ,r,^:-; r; ' :.: - ■ --:^ - ^ . r , .. ' 7, ! ii'" n 1 ' - ; ^ .;•:.' 7 ' ? ■-!:;"-j7' ' 1 j'v^-l ..-".-7 lOLfT.adJii/;: to ••,■■■,:■ 7 ' 5 ■', . (.' i • '.-•,'- ■'71 - -n^ PIERSEY OF JA:MES CITY 121 **To my daughter Elizabeth Piersey one dyamond Ringe." — *'To Mary Piersoy one Dyamond Ringe set after the Duch fashion." It is apparent the testator had a son Vincent Draper, with issue Dorcas, and a daughter Sarah, married to Thurston SjTnons — the "\'ile and lewd courses" of this son-in-law being feelingly deprecated. To Abraham Piersey, on the contrary, is left "a ring of value of 30s." Abraham Piersey himself died in the October of 1628. His '^-ill, dated 1 :^Iarch 1626-7, proved 10 May 1633, (P. P. C: Russell, 41) is given in full in Xeill's Virginia Carolorum. The testator directs that his body "be buried in the garden plot where my new frame doth stand." He appends a schedule of his just debts in full as well as of the persons imported by him into Virginia since March 1620, with directions that the land due thereby be patented. He appoints his wife executrix: and names as overseers of his estates in Virginia and assistants to his wife, his well- beloved friends 'Sir Gre\al Pooly, Minister, and Mr Richard Kingsmill of James City Island, Gentleman; and for business in England, his well-beloved friend ^Ir Delionell Russell of London, Merchant. He chrects that all his estate, of every kind, be disposed of "to the profitt it can be sould for." Legacies are bequeathed to Pooly, Kingsmill and Russell, as well as to Piersey's brother and sister, John Piersey and Judith Smithson of London, and to Piersey's stepson, Nathaniel West: and the distribution of his remaining property is suflBciently curious to be quoted in full. FURTHER, I bequeath unto my dearhe beloved wife (being my sole executrix), my debts and legacies paid, one-third part and one-twelfth part out of my estate aforesaid: the other one-third part, one-sixth part and one- twelfth part of my estate rema\Tiinge, I bequeath it to EUzabeth Piersey and Mary Piersey, my daughters, equally to be devised betwixt them, within one year and a halfe after my decease to be consigned to Mr. Russell, merchant, as aforesaid, or else my executrix to make the same some good, as aforesaid, in the best tobacco, out of her owne I'^i .u.y-: i: I ■•'■ H'-'Oi 1 '3l.'T -ir.y.-'.o'.J-fljO 1 / ■;Ii< ^::aU.O; :i:r::::i >;Ki<t1')q -:sT gill io noijudh^ il' -vh bfts t^goV^ ^ l.t.-.T r>i■x^ rlTV -!-.i!v7 .)faf! •lyriJO MfU ta fcfi tWjog 122 PIERSEY OF JAMES CITY estate: and that my two daughters aforesaid shall have sufficient diett, lodgeinge, washinge and apparell unto theire portcons aforesaide be paid over unto :Mr Russell and they shipped carefully for England, and to Mr Russell, the charges to goe out of their porcons: and if either of my foresaid daughters doth marry without the consent of their Mother- in-lawe and the consent of Mr Delionell Russell, (both had together, if it be possible to be had then), for such account the other sister shall enjoy halfe the porcon soe not ofitending, for better preferement: but and if they both shall soe offend in that kinde, then my \\ill is that they shall have but halfe of the porcons before resited, and the other to goe to my brother John Piersey: if any of my daughters should die before they atta^ne to be married, m.y will is that the one should be heire to the other. My ^\-iil is that my children shall rema\Tie in the custody of my deare friend Mr Russell till they be married, and that theire porcons to be put forth to good men for their maytenaunce." There was endless trouble over the estate later. Mean- while a copy of the will was sent to England bv the Council, in 1633. Piersey 's second wife sur\-ived him, and in 1629 married Captain Samuel ^Matthews, aftenvard Governor of Virginia from 16oS until his death in 1660. By her marriage '«\'ith Piersey Frances Hinton had no children. Abraham Piersey and Elizabeth Draper had issue: I. Eliz.\beth Piersey, born 1609, who married, first, Captain Richard Stephens, and. second, Sir John Har\-ey. II. Mary Piersey, bom 1613, who married, first, Captain Thomas Hill, and, second, Thomas Bushrod. The elder daughter of Abraham Piersey, as has been said, married Captain Richard Stephens, who was born in England circa 1600. He came to Virginia in the George, accompanied by two servants, in thesam^e year that EHzabeth Piersey joined her father there — 1623 — and promptly signalized his arrival by taking part in the first duel fought in the Enghsh Colonies. a' ri -iO SSI ■-■':(' t; f '.T/wi liEii:- '/''di ■:tjj:it :y: l!r/7 -'in n -A: ,-\iiiA JariJ ni : '\ .■■'• . V* /:..-! ■ .ji' 1' • ,'?><»,. uv <''■*■ ' .v)'.ui.'jiJi!vTv/;in TioriJ lo'j ai>m hoo3 ot »« ■ ■-■;'; V-.' 1 ii.ivi.ii o; ,t:rM- rr;-/; i'i,; ;d> io '/<Tv.> .: sHiw .8P.dI ni .u-n! .';..■,) on b;5ri r.-!)1nii^ i-r'ai-i"*! '{'«<n9(H r ■ 'TI >a"L''j ..' ■ :;: ■ -<i .'. l .u ( \s,q g; :;{j3.1 '(d STEPHENS OF JA:MES CITY 123 His opponent was George Harrison, whom Stephens wounded so severely, in the knee, that Harrison died within a fort- night, though it was contended death did not result from the wound. Captain Richard Stephens also received the first land-grant preserved on record at the Virginia Land Patent Office. It was made in 1623, and comprised sixty roods at James- to\\T)., adjoining a dwelling-house already o\Mied by him; the land being donated "that others may he encouraged by his example to enclose some ground for gardens." He was a burgess for the session beginning 5 2^Iarch 1623-4; and in a letter dated 29 May 1630, the newly arrived Governor, Sir John Harvey, includes "Captaine Rich'd Stephens"' among "the underwritten, whom I have swome to be of the Counsell since my cominge." Stephens had meanwhile married Elizabeth Piersey, a great heiress as the times went, apparently by 1629 at latest. He had patented 500 acres on V\'ater's Creek in Warwick county, by right of ten persons transported into Virginia by his father-in-law, Piersey, who died as has been said, in 1628; but Stephens seem.s never to have seated this land, and 22 November 1631, he exchanged it with Richard James (who was acting as attorney for Captain William Claiboume in the transaction) for another tract of 500 acres in Warwick county, described as lying "toward the head of Blunt Point river, abutting .southerly on the land of John Bainham, and running 250 poles toward the head of said river." He like^\^se patented, 27 April 1030, some 2,000 acres in Elizabeth City county, "being a neck of land, bounded on the east by the main bay of Chesapeian, on south by Harris' creek, and north by Back river, adjoining the land in the tenure of Vv'alter Hodgskins." Stephens, as has been said, was made a member of the Council by Sir John Harvey, who became Governor of Virginia in 1630. The latter, for divers reasons here irrele- vant, was before long cordially detested by the colonists; with Captain Stephens in particular he had a personal altercation, wherein the Governor beat the Councillor with a 851 YTi:^ cU-J.i. -^0 ,n ;!if.T3-f>ii:;i - ^i v/it Ivv/J-y; 1 oiia rn^;ic ') ;;■■:.''; ill' ■^::iO':-r"':/- ,'.h f^ ;-?;"•. fi;'.'t^£ ,.iv»oJ '.■'i7':ii'ii').. '\:ylj:u','i -.fli xi;.r vf ;"c5 + ri..,> iinwllsicf^ I, J !a in"! d; ui bncl difJ 'TJ.-fi '-i!ftKC'j>7 ■r/i'>%\; 'i Ii'.': •:<)lil- '.■.'.>■) Mr 1 124 STEPHENS OF JAMES CITY cudgel and knocked out several of Stephens' teeth. The two men could hardly have been on very cordial terms thereafter, but Stephens remained a member of the Council. The general discontent reached its height in April 1G35, when the Governor came to fisticuffs with his Council at large; who forth^nth deposed him as Governor, irrespective of their legal inability to do so, and shipped him to England in the custody of Francis Pott and Thomas Hanvood. Captain Richard Stephens had perhaps no part in this. At all events, he died about this time, apparently, in the summer of 1636; the last meeting of the Council which he is positively known to have attended vras held in September 1632. Shortly before his death, he had paid for the importa- tion of forty persons into the Colony, but did not live long enough to make application for the 2,000 acres due him thereby, so that this land was subsequently patented in the name of his elder son. Captain Richard Stephens' two land-patents, previously described, were reaffirmed in the name of this boy, Samuel Stephens, on 20 September 1636, conditionally that Captain Stephens' widow retain a third interest in the land; but, on 23 September 1637, the tract in Wanvick county was confirmed to her alone, by right of descent from her father, Abraham Piersey. Meanwhile Captain Stephens' former patron. Sir John Harvey, had told his side of the story to King Charles II, and in consequence had been sent back to govern the Vir- ginians whether they would or no. He resumed office in the January of 1637. Captain Stephens' widow, besides being an heiress in her own right, was still in her twenties, and one of Harvey's most characteristic acts after his return was circa 1638 to marry her. There is existent e\'idence that this second marriage of Elizabeth Piersey led to no little family dissension. Har\^ey, it should be premised, remained Governor until November 1639. Wliile Captain Samuel Matthews, who had married Piersey's widow, was in England in 1638-9, Matthew's estate in Virginia was seized by order of the Virginia authorities, under pretence that Matthews was largely indebted to Piersey's children. Matthews Im';' .'':■': 'U r;uu 'jir o'i.ri:nsq r :.r: ?miiqiT', j.TifjoiH aifiqiiv/ . . • • -I- : f J ■ >.. *■■; "J -,v; , -^((^r: tci: no .?;:! :i .on T inis STEPHENS OF JAMES CITY 125 appealed to the Pri\y Council, and after an investigation, obtained judgment in his favor, the Council directing that all his estate of every kind be returned to him. Now Harvey, as has been said, was at this time Governor of Virginia and the husband of Piersey's daughter; and, though his claim nowhere appears, it has been charitably suggested that the whole proceeding was a job of his, and another evidence of his infinite capacity for rascality. Then, too, a marginal note to Samuel Stephens' patent of the land in Warsvick, 20 September 1636, states that this grant was confirmed and 750 acres added thereto, 24 Novem- ber 1644, by Richard Kemp (acting Governor for a year during Sir WiUiam Berkeley's absence in Europe): but there is no such grant recorded in 1644 or afterward: and, as has been seen, this land had meanwhile been granted, 23 September 1637 — by Har\'ey — to Ehzabeth Stephens unconditionally. The whole aft'air is rather incomprehensi- ble. But Kemp was always hand in glove with Harvey, and almost the one person in Virginia not likely to act against Harvey's interests. Ehzabeth Harvey quite cer- tainly retained the land in Warwick, and willed it to her younger son; that much is certain. And that there was in the upshot no bad blood between Kemp and the Harveys seems to be shown by the fact that in the General Court, 20 Ja^iuary 1644-5, Dame Ehzabeth Harvey petitioned to have, of all persons, Richard Kemp and Captain Wilham Pierce substituted in place of Captain Samuel ^Matthews, Captain Daniel Gookin, George Ludlow and Captain Thomas Bernard, "former trustees under a feofment by her for use of Saml. Stephens." Thus, in one way or another, Harvey and Kemp in 1645 controlled all the Stephens estate, which of course included about a third of Piersey's fortune. Captain Richard Stephens and Ehzabeth Piersey had issue: I. Captain Samuel Stephens, bom circa 1629, in whose name, as previously recorded, was patented, 20 September 1636, some 500 acres in Warwick, and 2,000 in Ehzabeth yjficD^ui •ji'.T t;,".. ai;u/i r!'V3V/i:.r adj tjnn qmo>i Dii^rioiJi .iji i'.: .'t:^^/!-l -ii: uuu.^ 126 STEPHENS OF JAMES CITY City county; and to whom, 20 July 1639, a third grant was made, of 2,000 acres "in the upper part of Xew Norfolk, in Nansamund, on both sides of a Creeke called dumpling Island Creeke, bounding easterly into the woods into a great Arrow^vood," due for the previously mentioned im- portation of forty persons by his father. Samuel Stephens in 1652 married Frances Culpeper, and in 1667 was com- missioned Governor of Albemarle — that is, North Carolina — which office he retained until his death in 1670. In the General Court, 20 April 1670, was presented the petition of Mrs Frances Stephens, ^^•idow of Captain Samuel Stephens, for lands and personal estate at Baldrux, in Warwick county, where John Hill, her husband's cousin, then lived. Samuel Stephens' "w'TII^w^as recorded the following day. Captain Samuel Stephens had left no children; and his widow in the ensuing June married Sir William Berkeley, then Governor of Virginia. She survived her second husband likewise, and married, third, Colonel Philip Ludwell. II. WILLLA.M Stephens. William Stephens, the younger son, was bom circa 1631. He inherited from his mother land in Wan%ick county, certainly 470 of, and probably all, the 500 acres previously in dispute between Elizabeth Harvey and her elder son, Samuel. On reaching manhood, William Stephens entered what was possibly the most profitable trade followed in Virginia, by becoming a cooper. To the tobacco planter — and the Colony was mainly important as a tobacco planta- tion— no other article manufactured was as indispensable as the hogsheads in which the cured tobacco was stored and exported. It was the cooper's business to make these hogsheads; and in \new of the huge demand therefor, it is not surprising that coopers rapidly accumulated a deal of money, and that recorded wills show many of them to have left large estates. William Stephens, however, did not live long enough to prosper unreasonably, as he died before reaching twenty-seven; his will was dra-wn up 6 April 1656, and, living in November 1656, he was dead by April 1657. -■i!! :^--;' ,/■ ^' -'i! 'ririi'oi : ■'\ti 'lU ".<■: hj'I"« 'M'n(.>//v;co'iy. ■:"•■■'" .'• Ml .('\;' • I'u:: •^/v^.^^i '■; , .f:):fl ! ri-r.--'^: r'd b^;'-' r::.- y^d'::, .ij; ".0 ■ •/ :ii . . . . sH 11) h^woIU.'' oi'.fj-;. .n* !ii yiij yldii!*!t)a '^fyu indvr ,'■ ^v;.in.I I>. ::■.:■, = ; ••:j,!;< 9I1' it ; ■;. j, •> .T' .' >v.'U!l ,''f; inao)^ niiillir//' .(■ • . •}■ '-!'..!/ i:.-*.-^ STEPHENS OF JAMES CITY 127 Shortly before his death "William Stephens had made application for a land-patent, for 570 additional acres in Warwick, which was eventually granted, 1 Ma}- 1657, to his only son, another William Stephens — "as son & heire to WiLLLAJki Stephens, Cooper, deceased." This tract, although in Warw'ick, does not seem to have adjoined the lands pre\'iously o^\'ned by the elder William Stephens, which latter, as has been said, faced on Blunt Point river, now Warwick river. The land patented in 1657 is described as being in three tracts: two of these tracts being due by purchase from John Walker, assignee of William Bullock; of these one '"begining on the north side of Black Swamp, and so between York path and the pond till one hundred Acres be measured", and the other, consisting of 150 acres, "lying upon the pond against Captain Brown's land." The remaining 320 acres, first patented 18 November 1650, w^ere "on the north side of Black Swamp, bordering land formerly Mr Bullocks, the bounds rmming southerly 125 poles, west of Humphrey Gibbs' land, to the Bushy ponds, by York path, and touching Colonel Ludlow's line." William Stephens had married circa 1650 Margaret Vaulx, by whom he had two children; and shortly after his death his -uidow married Daniel Wild of York county. Thus, at an Orj^hans Court held in York, 10 September 1658, "Uppon ye motine of Daniel Wyld, Guardyan of Wnxi.^i Stephens, sonne & heyre of William Stephens, late of Wonvncke County, Dece'd, (whose ReHct the said Wild married), that he may be accomptable to ye said orphan when hee comes of age for the Cattle, horses ct mares (ac- cording to his Accompt to ye Court this Day on Oath), according to numbers & ages — Itt is soe ordered accordingly, he putting in good security to p'forme ye same. But that att ye said orphan's age hee deliver him the negroes with their whole Increase, male & female, belonging to him; for which he is also to be put in security." Philip Chesley, Wild's brother-in-law, gave the required security, of 30,000 pounds of tobacco. But the follo^\'ing year, at an Orphans Court held 10 September 1659, Thomas Ballard of James ,r , , ' -. ..I., alii I rJt')b y'A av' : ;,^ ,- ■"::■;*■''' <■' ''i'' ' ' 'r-r'-j -Hit v<i , , . [ ' ■ .K : '■ '■ *\i;. '.' ' ^'i >'■' ' ^i' I . . . ■■'-.. -r. \'.\ ■,. . '^..; i- <!r -.-it .ro -■.i.l vrf.';. .,- -J.:':..: in ' ■-.->i;:i'.J i'l < •,,■.!.!'_) >i(rfi'"»i.ti,j hi\f. .d'!B<i -AioY vcf .. ; ■;,. ■ ■.■■■'i i:ri. ■ ctA'.ilhh <y.. ... . . ^ .■ ,■ . '•. .:..//' io lli'ff i'ti/iiiQ b'^inuija wobi// ^fd dkr^h -; i i I''. ?//.ij.':i // ')" ','rr':>:i 3L' ^rtnas .'WIS.'..- , ' •'■:'j ■>! '■ <»7 i . .'.'fliJ')!.**, fU Ji- ..'k^: ..'i/^: ."] 128 STEPHENS OF JAMES CITY I City, one of the executors of William Stephens' will, pro- duced that document in court, to be entered among the York records, "to show the cattle & negroes were given to said hey re", and Wild was ordered to render his accounts to the court yearly. Now by this will Stephens had bequeathed to his son Stephens' inherited portion of the land patented by his mother in Warwick county in 1637; but the younger William Stephens died a minor in 1668, the land thus passing out- right to his mother, now the wife of Daniel Wild: and mean- while, the widow of the elder William Stephens had borne Daniel Wild a daughter, to whom ^Margaret Wild at her death, on 12 February 1675-6, in turn left this land. The daughter, another Margaret Wild, married Captain John Martin, the master of a ship in the Virginia trade, and died in England circa 1680, leaving one child, ^^largaret Martin. Martin inherited after his wife, and remarried; but the will of "John Martin of Stepney, County ]Middlesex^ Marriner" (P. P. C: Hare, 128), dated 20 October 1684, and proved 23 October 1684, bequeathed to his daughter by his first marriage the estate in Virginia, upon her reaching eighteen or marrjnng. This daughter, as yet unmarried — described as "Margaret ]\Iartin, spinster, of Cheshunt Parish, Herts, England" — in 1703 sold this much-disputed plot of ground, also fully described in her deed of sale, which thus passed finally from the possession of anyone even remotely connected with Abraham Piersey. Wilham Stephens of Warwick and Margaret Vaulx had issue: I. Mary Stephens, bom circa 1650. II. W^iLLL^^i Stephens, bom circa 1652, to whom, as already recorded Daniel Wild was appointed guardian in 1658. This WiUiam Stephens died a minor, 6 Febmary 1668. Mary Stephens, the daughter, married, first, Gerard, or as the name was more frequently written Jarrett, Haw- thorne of York county, being possibly his second wife. Hawthorne, at all events, was by many years her senior. .^hmr ,1 .") b^riZf.r'. ,bl'7/ ,■ .'iiu; i; , rt(j-,i / '-;^ .!,l.i:, » •■• :^. :;•>■_.; .0:;.il j;:^:(--,. Iii!:.:vnc3 '-' . i i" T'"'0 ^> •'?''^7: .' jiJ yJ<;w''Jf3 ?j\ I •n i noOX -I-'*': -t);! Ku;-. STEPHENS OF JAMES CITY 129 since he came to Virginia in 1647, as an indentured servant to her uncle Thomas Vaulx, under an agreement whereby Hawthorne agreed to serve for three years as carpenter and joiner, on condition that all necessary tools and expenses be furnished him for one year after the conclusion of his service, and fifty acres of land be then given him outright. The will of Jarrett Hawthorne of ^Marston Parish, in York county, dated 30 January 1670-1, and recorded 25 February 1671-2, shows that he and Mary Stephens had issue, certain- ly, Anne, Jerome and Elizabeth Hawthorne, and, possibly, Robert and Mary Hawthorne, although the last-named two children were perhaps Jarrett Hawthorne's offspring by an earher marriage. Hawthorne's inventory was recorded 2 April 1675, by which time his daughter Ehzabeth was dead. The widow of Jarrett Hawthorne had meanwhile married and buried Richard Barnes of York, by whom she had no issue, and was now on the point of marrying, as her third husband, Captain William Hartwell of James City county. An acknowledgment from Mary, wife of Richard Barnes, deceased, of property in her possession belonging to her children, Mary, Anne, Robert and Jerome Hawthorne when they shall come of age, and mentioning her dead daughter Ehzabeth Hawthorne, dated 20 April 1675, was recorded in York 26 April 1675. On the latter date also, "]Mr Willl^m Hartwtell, as intermarrying with the Relict of ]Mr Richard Barnes, dece'd, late Guardyan to Wm Graves, orphan, promising to produce to the next Court for the said Graves his Estate, is ord'ed to continue his possession of the same until that time, & then Captain Thomas Whalley, former security, is discharged." Hawthorne's children, it should be explained, had already their respective guardians, named by their father's will, in Mrs Ann Hurd, Mr James Bray, Mrs Margaret Wild, Mr Humphrey Vaulx and 'Mr James Vaulx. William Graves was one of the pathetic orphans "inherited by marriage", such as were common enough in those days of short lives and brief bereavements. Prior to 1656 Ralph Graves, Senior, of York county, had married Rachel Cros- ■ ", \ ,-'■■■ loliflU .. ; (I,: .1 vj \^A.'< '■ ■>f: It, ;r..!i d''' j;iT-' v :» i;"/'i n.r M:q rod) vd . .. . ..*. .:- mod"// vri .■>^-:oi'^ :■■ ^'i:]",.-! bTZ-ji-'f'! '.■■ "'.' : f.'Ti? b . id -.jv'i -. .11.".'- 1 i'iiii 130 HARTWELL OF JAMES CITY haw, by whom he had issue, Anne, Ralph, "William and Mary Graves. Ralph Graves, Senior, died in 1667, and his widow married Richard Banies, who was duly named guardian to WiUiam Graves. The boy's mother died in 1669, and his stepfather Richard Barnes married, second, as previously recorded, the widow of Jarrett Hawthorne. After the death of Richard Barnes his widow married, as likewise has been recorded, Captain William Hartwell; so that Hartwell naturally succeeded to the guardianship; and William Graves was duly entrusted to the keeping of the third husband of the second vriie of his mother's second husband. Captain Willlvm Hartwell, the third husband of Mar>' Stephens, was in his day a person of considerable note. He was seemingly a sen to the Johx Hartwell who patented 650 acres in Charles River county, 18 February 1638, was one of the viewers of tobacco for York county in 1639, and was hving in York in 1644 and after. This John Hartwell appears to have left issue: I. Henry Hartwell, best known nowadays as the co-author, ■with Blair and Chilton, of that once famous production The Present State of Virginia. He patented 736 acres in James City, 30 May 1679, and afterward by purchase and other patents acquired in Virginia a considerable estate. His material fortunes, in passing, were decidedly aided by his marriage circa 1683 with Jane White, the widow of Colonel William AVhite, and a sister of Nicholas Meriwether. It is a pity the scheme of this book does not accord with gi\nng a detailed account of Henry Hartwell's hfe and personahty, for no Virginian of the day offers a more tempting target to the biographer. Henrj' Hartwell represented Jamesto^\^l in the Virginia House of Burgesses for the session beginning 16 April 1684, and was for years a member and clerk of the Council. He died without issue, in England, in 1699. The will of Henr>' Hartwell, late of Virginia, Esquire, now of the parish of Stepney, dated 3 and 4 July 1699, was proved 2 August 1699 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury- (Pett, '^A) J. oei ■■.■•iT ^ ^ ••vj:H fiJL>' KJiiT .r-iJiji: biiK itO' /r ' ■ i;i,'' :> ■■•tj Vl ^'■^ V : »( ^0 y/. HARTWELL OF JAMES CITY 131 134) : a copy will be found in Volume 43 of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. II. William Hartwell. Captain Willlam Hartwell of James City county, was bom circa 1645, and in April 1675, as already recorded, married ^Nlary Stephens, then the widow of Richard Barnes, and pre\aously the widow of Jarrett Hawthorne. It was during the following year that William Hartwell rose to notoriety as the captain of Governor Berkeley's body-guard during Bacon's Rebellion, and played in particular a con- spicuous part at the siege of JamestowTi, where "'Hartwell was wounded in the Legg", as Bacon himself recorded, with evident satisfaction. This injur}', however, was no disabling matter if one judges by the energetic measures and oppressive conduct in quieting this brief civil war subsequently attributed to Captain Hartwell in the several ''grievances" sent to the Enghsh Commissioners deputed to investigate the causes of disturbance. Exaggeration apart, it seems unquestionable that, the fighting over, Hartwell was guilty of more or less high-handed if petty blackmail. It is recorded he said, light-heartedly, that when others were plundering he must plunder too; but that it was by order of his Colonel, — Thomas Ballard of James City. Thus James Barrow and Jolin Johnson of James City recite that Hartwell imprisoned them, and received a bribe of 10,000 shingles to let them go. Andrew Goldeon of James City asserts that Hartwell imprisoned him ten days, until Goldeon passed an obligation for five months work. Thomas Lushington tells how Hartwell took papers from him and even stripped the clothes from his back. -And Nicholas Toope of York, Tanner, according to his deposition, was imprisoned by Hartwell for five weeks, and forced to pur- chase his liberty with twenty pairs of shoes. Such are a few among the many charges lodged against Captain Hartwell by those he disciplined; but it does not appear the Commissioners found Hartwell's conduct to have been in reality especially outrageous. At all events, as has 181 Y ^I -nui' .c ■■tu^'''-:i , - :■-'■ ^w,, ,,. .iOv'r:;! li;»8;uir{ novyM -.i. , j:;'v I :;''? .-r •01/3 i'':'A 'to ivbio '{(i .-:a/7 '^i .:fiii(b Jud ;.>(>!' leluiiilq :t .V.fJ.i-:-. r i> \\ViV.. •- ; B :.Ofi rfooS 132 HARTWELL OF JAMES CITY been said, the Commissioners were soon at loggerheads with Virgmians at large, and it was toward Berkeley's adherents —the Ballards, Ludwells, Beverleys, Hills and Hartwells— that Virginians looked to support colonial rights: so that Hartwell retained his rank as captain of the James City miUtia in 16S0 and after, and as justice of the peace for that county from 1680 until at least as late as 1687. He was dead in 1699, ha\'ing survived his first wife, and having married shortly before his death Elizabeth , by whom he had no children. This second v,iie outlived Hartwell, and married, second, before 1713, Benjamin Eggleston. It would be interesting to know if this was the same Benjamin Eggleston who m 1673, in James City, was by Hartwcll's order fined and whipped for vilifjdng Governor Berkeley. By his first marriage, with Mary- Stephens, Captain WiUiam Hartwell had issue: I. WiLLL\.M Hartutll, who married and had issue: Mary Hartwell, who married "William Macon, as recorded on page 52, and left numerous descendants. XL Hexry Hartwell, who died -^-ithout issue. It was to this son that Henrj^ Hartwell, of the Council, left the greater portion of his estates in Surn,-. III. JoHx Hartwtll, whose will, dated 9 Februarj- 1713, was recorded in Surrj^ 19 May 1714. He had married Ehzabeth Rogers, (who su^^^ved him, and married, second, Stith Boiling of Surr>0, and had issue: Elizabeth Hartwell, who married Richard Cocke, and left many descendants. IV. M.KRY Harttn-ell, bom circa 1682, who in 1699, or very shortly aften\'ard, married Major George Marable of James City county. It will be noticed that these three distinguished famihes of Piersey, Stephens and Hartwell thus became extinct in the male line: and all representatives of the last-named two families trace their descent through Macon, Cocke or Marable. It is possible the Hawthorne intermarriage also is represented by li\'ing progeny, but of this there seems to have survived no proof. '.. ■[•''•r>io'.--.< '.i- ,iK\..-^I/C i.(_(i;r!ir7^ icn'iiria! orfv? ).ru:i'ii ji..' -^ll .nil '{t;K CI '{IIUS <H ?,3-w Descendants of John Major )OHN :MAJ0R of Charles City, as pre\n- Jfe^ ously recorded, had two sons: Edward "^ Major of "Burlington", in Charles City; W^ and George Bernard Major. ^^'' Edward Major of ''Burlington'', the elder son, bom circa 1780, died in 1818, mar- ried Sarah Glarster, daughter of Glar- ster Hunnicutt of Sussex. The will of Edward Major has been given pre\'iously, on page 111. Exigencies of space prevent a recording of the Hunnicutt genealogy; but the wife of Edward Major was a descendant of Augustine Hunnicutt, who was hving in Surry as early as 1653, and whose will, dated 30 May 1682, was recorded in that county 16 April 1683. Edward :Major of "Burlington" and Sarah Glarster Hunnicutt had issue: I. Martha Ann Catherine Major, bom 18 October 1805, who died unmarried in 1867. II. Edward Glarster Major, born 13 December 1807, died in 1849, who married Eliza Ann Eppes, and had issue. III. Rebecca Priscilla Major, bom 20 September 1814, died in 1881, who married George Christian Waddill, and had issue. EDWARD GLARSTER :MAJ0R, the second child of Edward :Major of "Buriington", bom 13 December 1807, died in 1849, married Eliza Ann Eppes, and had issue : 1. Anna Martha Major, born 17 October 1840, died 9 January 1908, who jnarried Littlebury A. Marston, and had issue: (1) Edward Marston, who married Ehzabeth Parkin- !0[;:T/ lAiNN. io ?Jl•f.bn^':)^'iLl y^r: ^Zk"^^: ■J/ 'I :^ 1/. V, ' /T^ vf.i fr^ ■/.■:-.-■. , ;;; ■<-,\^i\\.'. ' i T V/ 1 ' { I.J -jllV/ I .. . ■ ■ r '. ■ ■ L ! . I ' - u '■ ^ i ' - . ' I "^ ■, 'J . :;.••■ ■ ■ .' .'. i^ :-. ■ ' 1 . '...ri co;a'-'' •• I i- _a:...i7 .III OUiji b.Kll J." . : .; - > -hl^ bin-^KT (I) 134 DESCENDANTS OF JOHN IMAJOR son, and has issue: Edward Marston; Hannah Marston; and Randolph Marston. (2) George Marston, who married Mollie Parkinson, and has issue: Park Marston; Buxton Marston; and Joseph Marston. (3) Leonard Marston, who married Belle Lynne, and has issue: Dorothy Marston. (4) Allen Marston, unmarried. (5) Robert Lee Marston, unmarried. (6) Waverley ^Marston, who died unmarried. (7) Irene Marston, who married Stoddard. (8) Rebecca Marston. (9) Sarah Marston. (10) Martha Marston. IL Sarah Glarsier Major, horn 15 March 1845, who married, first, Benjamin Nance, and had issue: (1) Major Nance, who married Margaret Bagby, and has issue: Margaret Nance; Grace Nance; and Benjamin Nance. (2) Electra Nance, who married Allen P. Walker, and has issue: Frances Walker. (3) Susan Nance, who married her first cousin George Major, and has issue: Benjamin Major. (4) Gertrude Nance, who married her first cousin William Major, and has issue: Elizabeth Major; William Major; and Charles Major. Sarah Glarster Major married, second, Edward Nance, brother of her first husband, and had issue : (1) Charles Ed-^in Nance, who married Alice Letitia Stagg. HI. Edward Major, born 14 February 1847, who married Julia Nance, and had issue: (1) Glarster Major, who died unmarried. (2) Virgil Major, who likewise died without issue. (3) Bernard Major, who married Lillie Roberts, and has issue: Josephine Major; and Gladys Major. / ;. • • 'c' :.: yriLiV, imiO ^of>'^E>C :tvi;::^7i.]''- "yiJ^^r =:".? i^;..- .;^i ,"' \. ■;.'• l-y.iih'i'i vCn ,soa.£/l fnjy^lH (?) .! • ■'' ■ " ■ -ii &Rd ::>](«>.■ *■ ■ ■ oiifT ,9am :i;;'..r ' i-:A bo''!: ,• (>ri\w ,<>f)i7£'./l xiiv/ftj fnnjifl^ Vi| \...Wm>,',,'. i.vi-.v .M-/.! '^-.iH! '.d*! i-j -to -III DESCENDANTS OF JOHN MAJOR 135 (4) George Major, who married his first cousin Susan Nance, and has issue: Benjamin Major. (5) Edward Major, who married Jane Warren Walker, (compare page 149), and has issue: JuUa Ann Major. (6) JuHan Major, umnarried. (7) Walter Major, unmarried. (8) William Major, who married his first cousin Gertrude Nance, and has issue: Elizabeth iMajor; William Major; and Charles Major. (9) Susan Major, who married Gordon Christian, and has issue: Julia Christian; Thomas Cunningham Christian; Gordon Christian; and Grace Christian. REBECCA PRISCILLA MAJOR, the third child of Edward Major of "Burlington", (compare page 133), as has been said, was bom 20 September 1814, and died in 1881. She married George Christian Waddill, 8 December 1835, and had issue: /. Richard Edward Waddill, born 18 October 1836, died 7 July 1897, who married Margaret Gregory, and had issue: (1) Gregory Waddill, who married Annie Wilson, and had issue: Margaret Wilson Waddill. (2) Richard W^addill, who married Kate Antes, and had issue: Richard Waddill; and John Marius Waddill, (3) Christie Waddill, who married Hugh Jenkins, but had no issue. //. George Major Waddill, born 3 May 1838, died 14 March 1885, who married Margaret E. Cabell, and had issue: (1) George Cabell Waddill, who died without issue. (2) Ehzabeth Avery Waddill, who married Edmund Thomas Waddill; for their issue, compare page 148. (3) Isabella Goggin Waddill, who married Samuel E. Atkinson, and had issue: Robert Thomhill Atkinson: and Isabelle Atkinson. (4) Sarah Syme Waddill, who married William P. Lawton, and had issue: Ellen Courthope Lawton; and George Cabell Lawton, who married Mary Ruth Wells. ir-r .u{. , .cfi;!/; ::•:.;.■ ^. I ji * J • ■ . ; ;■:.■:. 1/' •y :.r. :i3 ^ui ^j't:'; • ; // r-. ::>;!•■,!'..; ■;*!:')C.t)) ]")"-.mj;!a - 1 .)*-■ ,-iii.MJ.i*. fv v;K-'g3ir..) u; o»r-'' ,i.:!.'j>f // r.-d •-viai tJi b;id 13G DESCENDANTS OF JOHN MAJOR (5) Thompson Burroughs Waddill, who married Bemiett Echols, and has issue: Heland Waddill; Burroughs Waddill; Page Waddill; and Robert V.'addill. (6) Eninia Csbell Waddill, who married Joseph Floyd Huxtcr, and had issue: Joseph Floyd Huxter; Man,- Huxter; Ludwell Huxter; George ^lajor Huxter; Margaret Huxter; and Pierce Huxter. (7) IMargaret Heath Waddill, who married John W^estly Yoiuig, but has no issue. (8) Martha Redwood Waddill. ///. Sarah Jorden Waddill, born 31 March 1840, died 24 February 1908, who married Captain Frank Guy, and had issue : (1) Benjamin Harrison Guy, who married Caroline Moore, and had issue: Leonard Harrison Guy, who died without issue; Walter Guy; and Harrison Guy. (2) Martha Guy, who married Allen Sutherland, and had issue: Guy Sutherland; Allen Sutherland; Hugh Suther- land; Grace Sutherland; Mary Sutherland; Leonard Suther- land; and Eva Sutherland. (3) Frank Guy, who married Palmer, and has issue. (4) Edv.-ard Guy, who married Blanche Terry, and had issue: Sarah Guy, who died unmarried; and a son, who likewise died without issue. IV. Littlebury Allen Waddill, born 29 April 1842, died 15 January 1912, who married Mary Louise Apperson, and had issue: (1) Rebecca Waddill, who died unmarried. (2) Allen A. Waddill, who married Gladys Tuttle, and has issue: Allen Waddill. (3) Amanda Waddill, who married WiUiam M. Wagner, and had issue: Mary Wagner. (4) Henry C. Waddill, unmarried. (5) Lily Waddill, who married Frank W. Lewis, and had issue: Elizabeth Lewis. '40 ri' ;■;•>* .: '1 .;; i/. .x^viiit -v-j 1 H4'.'..v .vo-.'-' h.-r! i)iir .1.,... " vv ,f; /I '•, • M to ir:<j'i ."'ibV;/:* .u;.-.', \ :>~-'i'c< W^ .1 !^,h}'. [,.[£ Til .'I b'Kr.nr,: b.M!) ,Si^i; Viv^K fiS* mod ^IVtbholT J^V;L^ \n»i^!:>V-: ^ 'T 1 .Inir'-^iuu; both ojivr .!!:!>! r''^ (1) bi::>; .•"»!■} <ijT >i._L'.t;.'' > J.'aiT.j;.!! ••){// (£) erf ,:.,:. lit: 7/ \L niiiiliiV/ i.^miin. ■.' DESCENDANTS OF JOHN MAJOR 137 (6) ^Minnie Waddill, who married Frank W. McKinney, but had no issue. (7) Littleton Waddill, who died unmarried. (8) Martha Waddill, who likev.ise died unmarried. V. Thom-pson Fletcher Waddill, born 6 April 1844, who died unmarried 18 November 1862. VI. Martha Ann Catherine Waddill, born 28 January 1846, icho married John Redwood Waddill; for their issue, compare page 149. VII. Henry Sherman Waddill, born 3 November 1849, uho married Sarah Atkinson, and had issue: (1) Conway Waddill, who married Ashton C. Gray, and had issue: Sarah Gray, who died in infancy; and Conway Gray. (2) George Waddill, unmarried. VIII. Mary Susan Waddill, born 25 September 1852, who married William Joseph Bradley, and had issue: (1) Edgar Bradley, who died unmarried. (2) George Allen Bradley, who married Mary Harris, and has issue: George Bradley; Eva Bradley; and William Bradley. (3) Priscilla Bradley, who married, first, Emmett A. Shepherd, and had issue: Isabelle Mary Shepherd; Priscilla Macon Shepherd; Grace Guerrant Shepherd; Virginia Waddill Shepherd; and Emmett Albin Shepherd. Priscilla Bradley married, second, James Branch Cabell, and has issue: Ballard Hartwell Cabell. (4) Grace Christian Bradley, who married Edgar B. Walters, but has no issue. (5) Richard Coleman Bradley, who married and has issue: Richard Coleman Bradley. IX. William Lamb Waddill, born 1 February 1855, died 1901, who married Lena Bowers, but had no issue. i (T; • .-.. 1 /: (<■; O -^-aL V)i^.h»V .W v;.M. V- W'Uuit'iU .. ^'. i>-\. ..,u">^ V'V^d ViRn ri,'> ,; '^!. '^;'■.,•:' vvv'',\'^'. Ol^^i '"5 '^' a'J i.H; ;/--;i/;'j"' •;' ^"^;c :>nv^ ■"{'■';' ^ lixa^^ ;-.'A;r;.^i b«H .v.-^' (■--v,;;.;>. rr .'-,'-Ki ,C,r.l>^:;( ;^»xm?. v^<-^' Al"^'^ .A .r'..ir,t.! ■! r^T;> '^''-i-^fffT .r..<-.v V'-^lbfnH sHior it') \; '■j.ii iirj.'.; ,iifidc-J I'.'i/ILia fe^'>i^n;l ,I)UO0'Vrt 138 DESCENDANTS OF JOHN :MAJ0R GEORGE BERNARD AIAJOR, the younger son of John Major of Charles City (compare page 106), was bom 1 March 1S04, and died 11 February 1S72 — "at the age of G7 years, 11 months and 11 days", as it is recorded. He married, in 1828, Ehiora Catherine Griffeth, daughter of George Marable of Charles City (as is stated on page 117), whose ancestr>' has previously been given. George Bernard Major and Elnora Catherine Griffeth Marable had issue: I. Amanda M. Major, bom 13 June 1829, died 18 July 1907, who married William H. Manley, but had no issue. II. GE0RGLA.XA C. AIajor, who in 1855 married Captain Robert R. Ferguson, and had issue: Ernest S. Ferguson. III. James Major, bom 30 November 1842, died in December 1842. IV. John E. S. Major, of whose descendants an account follows . JOHN E. S. MAJOR, the fourth child of George Bernard Major, was bom 30 November 1842, and died 25 Febmarj' 1907. He married his first cousin Maria L. Marable, (for whose ancestrj', compare page 105), and had- issue : 7. Edward Hartwell Major, horn 15 February 1867, who married Ode Martin, and has issue: (1) Eugene Hartwell Major. II. George Bernard Major, born 26 September 1869, unmarried. III. Reginald Stanley Major, horn 13 June 1873, who married Etta Grove Ladd, and has issue: (1) John Reginald Major. IV. Elnora Beatres Major, born 8 May 1875, died 28 October 1880. 10 g D rlT-flnt' .•;'!■. :;!*::> J £1or:i-! .K-;-'.J ■:; Ji'jii'ix:!!! ic:; ■J :'i;:* *-i.d .-.M'-rrK .II if'riilJj//' b'^ma/Ti oilvy .COG'" txwtt • .lO'/il/T Ih/zti-fifJ onj^uOr (I) (i; •''■ '.v^ ,".T;'I ^oX/. ?( r\->«d ,-to\,rA/i, ftstio'^SL DtnnrA 7\\ DESCENDANTS OF JOHN MAJOR 139 V. William B. Major, horn 30 October 187G, died 18 July 1877. VI. John Major, born March 1881, died 8 November 1882. VII. Malcolm Griffeth Major, born 25 July 1882, who married Nina Carr, and has issue: (1) Louise N. ]Major. (2) Dorice Major. NOTE ON WADDILL OF NEW KENT AND CHARLES CITY IT IS proposed herewith to give some brief account, necessarily imperfect, of the Waddill family, members of which so frequently intermarried with the Majors and their descendants. The survi\'ing records of St Peter's parish show that John Waddill was hving in New Kent county as early as 1689. He died 20 December 1709, ha\-ing married Agnes , (who died 8 February 171G), and left issue: I. W1LLLA.M Waddill, an account of "whom is more con- veniently deferred. II. John Waddill, who married Mary , and had issue: John Waddill, bom 27 October 1697, who removed from New Kent to Ameha, patenting 188 acres in the latter county, 20 August 1747; Frances Waddill, bom 8 Fobmar>' 1696; Thomas Waddill, baptized 27 July 1701, who seems to have settled in Augusta; James Waddill, baptized 25 June 1710, died 3 September 1720; and Mary Waddill, baptized 27 September 1713. III. Charles Waddill, who died 9 April 1720, having had issue: Anne Waddill, baptized 22 September 1700; Sarah Waddill, baptized 5 April 1702; Charles Waddill, baptized 14 May 1704, died 3 April 1720; Joseph Waddill, baptized 16 Febmary 1706-7, who married Judith , {and had issue, Charles, born 9 May 1737, and Turner Thomas and Judith, twins, born 1 March 1755); Frances Waddill, QZl ^OILIA YAiOl 10 SrVTAG- • .i I f'i bash .OT'^' •v'vv.O OS n--d ,tc.^„uU .?i .'T --•^:;vi-. r.V >: VjvVx 1*381 tv.-ti>V; vm.<\ .t^\fi\L r\\'\ .l^^T <HiVij .l^X: ,;h.\, Gi: irs.^ ,-\y:-^K.Ak fM^yiru} j«iooiD\(i Alt NT (0 . . (S) b/;(< biui .- 'r\-;lf h'fin/ifn ofiw ,.i. jn , ^ .1 ri h .-nod ll:f;IiL- // L'lii^ .o::"'! T>i 'icryci .d ' -'-Wli. 140 WADDILL OF NEW KENT baptized 18 April 1712; and Elizabeth Waddill, bom 31 March 1715. IV. James Waddill, died 28 December 1721, who married Rebecca , (she dying 3 March 1721-2), and had issue: George Waddill, baptized 20 July 1707, who married Susanna , {and had issue, Anne, born 25 February 1735, James, born 12 September 1737, George, born 8 February 1738-9, and Noel, born 29 September 1753); John Waddill, baptized 1 July 1711, died 13 July 1720; and Charles Waddill bom IS July 1720, patented 400 acres in Lunenburg, 15 July 1760, v.ho married Mar}' , {and had issue, Benjamin, born 13 August 1756, Martha, born 2 October 1758, and William Dennis, born 9 June 1771). James Waddill, the son of George, married T^Iary , and had issue, George, bom 2 December 1758. WILLLA.M Waddill, the oldest son, was elected vestryman of St. Peter's, 1 June 1704, and served for no less a period than thirty-five years, being churchwarden from 9 ^March 1708-9 to 22 April 1711: for some account of the former responsibilities of these offices, compare page 50. There is a wealth of scattered material conceming William Waddill to be found in the vestr\--books and registers of St. Peter's parish: but these items need not be herein cited, inasmuch as the records of St. Peter's have been printed and are readily accessible in book form. Wilham Waddill patented thirteen acres in New Kent county, 18 Febmary 1722 — "between the lines of Amold and Hughes", and furthermore described as adjoining land already owned by the patentee. He was dead by 6 October 1739, according to the vestry books, his successor as vestrv^nan being elected on that date. William Waddill had married Susanna ■, who died 7 March 1720-1, and had issue: I. Ann*e Waddill, bom 9 June 1691. II. Elizabeth Waddill, bom 24 Febmary 1692-3, w^ho married John Saunders, on 7 August 1709. III. Willlam Waddill, an account of whom is post- poned. TK3>i 77:rA 10 j.iiaaAW om ■'^: '^'y' ,jv' '. /.vv, bn>\ 'rut:.; , • ..:. : ,^1?, I' [' •■■;j''. iK.'J- ,,1. ■■ !:''>Mo -^'iii .JiiGifAY/ WAI.lJlW ,\yjih iva-ind sd ton !;■ >n './rioJi :rl?iiuq ' -"/roZ ni s:»:»"X3i; r.v':vv .V.-i.'t'<tI VIC J' ■loq WADDILL OF NEW KENT 141 IV. John Waddill, bom 24 August 1G97, who married Mary , and had issue: John Waddill, bom 20 Novem- ber 1722, who married Hannah , (and had Noel, born 6 August 1754); Agnes Waddill, bom 1 February 1724-5; Dennis Waddill, bom 11 May 1727; Mary Waddill, born 27 November 1729; Elizabeth Waddill, bom 22 Janu- ary 1734; and Martha Waddill, bom April 1736. V. Hann.\h Waddill, bom 16 August 1699. VI. Pridgen Waddill, bom 4 July 1704, living in Charles City county 1737 and after, as is shoAXTi by various suits wherein he figured, begiiming with that year. He married, before 1737, ]Martha , but left no descendants in Charles City. VII. Frances Waddill, bom 2 May 1706. VIII. Noel Waddill, bom 1 June 1709, li\'ing in St. Peter's parish in 1757, seemingly unmarried. He patented thirty acres in New Kent county, 13 June 1755. IX. Jacob Waddill, baptized 7 November 1711, living in Charles City county IVIarch 1745, at which date he took out a license to keep an ordinary there; renewing this license in April 1747 and February- 1748. He left no descend- ants in Charles City. Willl^m Waddill, the third child and oldest son, was baptized 28 April 1694, and spent the earlier years of his life in New Kent. He served as churchwarden of St. Peter's from 10 May 1721 to 30 July 1722. He would seem to have removed to Charles City county about the time of his father's death, patenting 413 acres there, 12 March 1739-40. His brother Pridgen, as has been said, was already hving in Charles City: and their brother Jacob joined them within five years. The legend of the Waddills' descent from "three brothers who came from the south to Charles City, in the eighteenth centurj'" has always been preserv-ed in the family; and there can be no doubt these were the three brothers of tradition. The idea that they came from the south, is an easily e.xplainable error, hereinafter accounted f-b'iir.T ■ '•'/ .T».';'[ j'i'7!;'A t'. /nod ,j.iioaA7/" -/rHol .'/I ..''T] .-i^A r-^O!^ ;:.f'.'v;yV i;iiji:ET/; bxiA ;^<:Tj --{-ift .0.".:' ■ .:; . .:: .vJirr-v- ■ . ytiiilJ .-.' ,iu--' .'-^iilo bra i iido *-i-!:dt 'iiiJ .jjioqaV/ vailhW •: li 10 ri£jy T^jihi;:.* •-:;♦ intj<ts ban ,14!BI Inq/. ^'■11 i'uiJq/id 142 WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY for. It is here necessary merely to point out that of these brothers Wilham alone left issue in Charles City. Exigencies of space prevent the citation of other Waddill documents, but William Waddill's land-patent, fixing as it does the establishment of the family in Charles City, cannot well be omitted, despite its rather inordinate length. " X*^ EORGE the second, by the Grace of God of Great I m Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of ^"^^ the Faith, <kc, To all to whom these Presents shall come Greeting: Know ye that for divers good Causes and Considerations, but more Especially for and in Consideration of the Sum of Twenty Shillings of good and lawiul :Money for our Use paid to our Receiver General of our Revenue in this our Colony and Dominion of Vir- ginia, We have Given, Granted and Confirmed, and by these Presents for us, our Heirs and Successors do Give, Grant and Confirm, unto WiLLL\ir Waddill one cer- tain Tract or Parcel of Land containing Four hundred and thirteen Acres, lying and being in the Parish of Westover in the County of Charles City, and bounded as followeth: to wit, Beginning at a corner white Oak upon Chicka- hominy Swamp belonging to John Cocke, Thence along the said Cocke's Line South twenty-eight Degrees West three hundred and thirty-four poles to a comer Shrub Oak of Edward Dayes', Thence along the said Dayes' line East twenty and an half Degrees South two hundred and seventy-six Poles to a comer Gum upon Stoney branch in Colonel Carter's line, Thence along the said Carter's line North twenty-seven Degrees East one hundred and ninety- six Poles to a comer Cypress tree upon Chickahominy Swamp, & Thence up the said Swamp as it ^Meanders to the begin- ning: Two hundred and fifty Acres part of the said Tract being part of a larger Tract Formerly Granted unto Thomas Spencer, Thomas Brookes and William Hickman, ^^'hich by divers Mesne Conveyances is become Vested in the said WiLLLvM Waddill, and one hundred and sixty-three Acres, the Residue, being surplus Land found within the ■; "<! ,];..;■>•.■.< ... ^--x '> ' ' ,-v . h . > . , ■ . ■ -; : :.•:.»■ ' .' ill ' ■ ■ ■ ' ■ ' - ' ■' ■ ■ ■' "'S . .;: •'ii'. • ; :i •;; ' " i,<:u:.\ 'v\- '"■i:':^ jo ioii'i ii'sii •.•.' '.iT'-f,-: iij/trc/-^ i, 'J :■.; (, -'?■,.••-■■ }-irfit has. b-/fb(;ud onfit .;'- a. .,-.... ,-...,,... ^''T>/l v. ,. JXt .:> i' ■'.: ' / ■ ■!.••- .: : . - . • ' i .' '/^ .j'.T>i;.jii ■^,\^:• [mm, .Ht-JUA'.V i/a1.T uY/ buEf? WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY 143 bounds aforesaid: With all "Woods, Underwoods, Swamps, Marslies, Lowgrounds, ^Vleadows, Feedings, and his due Share of all Veins, Mines and Quarries, as well discovered as not discovered, within the bounds aforesaid and being part of the said Quantity of four hundred and thirteen Acres of Land, and the Rivers, Waters and Water Courses therein contained, together with the Privileges of Hunting, Hawking, Fishing, Fowling and all other Profits, Commodi- ties and Hereditaments whatsoever to the same or any part thereof belonging or in any wise Appertaining: To have, HOLD, Possess and Enjoy the said Tract or Parcel of Land and all other the before Granted Premises and every part thereof, with all their and everj'- of their Appurts, unto the said WrLLL\M Waddill and to his Heirs and Assigns forever. To the only Use and behoof of him the said Willl\m Waddill, his Heirs and Assigns for- ever; To BE HELD of US, our Hcirs and Successors as of our jNIannor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent, in free and common Soccage, and not in Capite or by Ejiight's Service, Yielding axd paying unto us, our Heirs and Successors for every fifty Acres of Land, and so pro- portionably for a lesser or greater Quantity than fifty Acres, the Fee Rent of one Shilling Yearly, to be paid upon the Feast of Saint Michael the Arch Angel: And also Culti- vating and Improving three Acres part of ever\' fifty of the Tract abovementioned within three 3'ears after the date of these Presents (Excepting for so much of the said Land as hath been Already Cultivated and Improved according to the Condition of the said former Patent) : Provided always that if three Years of the said Fee Rent shall at any time be in Arrear and Upward, or if the said William Waddill, his Heirs or Assigns do not within the Space of three Years next coming the date of these Presents Cultivate and Improve three Acres part of ever}' fifty of the Tract abovementioned (Except as before is Excepted), Then the Estate hereby Granted shall Cease and be Utterly Determined, and thereafter it shall and may be lawful to and for us, our Hell's and Successors to Grant the same ..-:•.--!, v.ri. 0,f'. - •. a" "i if;-;d ■-•;!:' '.-.'.^ :>U--' ''iO c.T ."j-jv-.^o^ .ii-ui •.•% 'v V.> >•.'.: ^TM j'lji,-: fit:;, :r::Vi Tuo .in to o 'uii! rt3 o7^ :i-jV9 .,,; ''o ;im;'m'" •-! ■ ■ .-rj ff--- -,;■.: _ - ... ... v^ ^^^ ■.'>! ;'.■ y] ;;."' .!U '••'^ bnti ■•.•!^ ni -.^•q ; -. 'i'l fil' ,'■ ' ^ I'-'i '■ ' ■ - ■/•i, ,; I '; '■ ' . 70 19"=!'^! " I <,'... f. .:!' -jd o; .vhfio'f -^niiUif?-: '.hU- - ? i-.*H^; ^ir.v/ 39iflt iiirlJr//- bo^ cna; '051*1 ':'?;Tr.--! mjj;-: 9. ••(il»;»' j:^^ iinV:.' m! ;■• ;,.^>"^-r^;!:'^ ' ■> ,".1' lOi bna 144 WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY Lands and Premises with the Appurts unto such other Person or Persons as we, our Heirs and Successors shall think fit. In Witness whereof we have Caused these our Letters Patent to be made. Witness our Trusty and Wel- beloved Willl\m Gooch, Esq, our Lieutenant Governor and Comander in Chief of our said Colony and Dominion, at Williamsburgh, L'nder the Seal of our said Colony, the Twelfth Day of March, one thousand, seven hundred and thirty-nine, In the Thirteenth Year of our Reign. WILLIA^I GOOCH" WiLLLAM Waddill married Sarah , and pre\'ious to his settlement in Charles City had issue: I. Anne Waddill, baptized 24 January- 1713. II. Sar.ah Waddill, bom 13 September 1718. III. AVilll\m Waddill, bom 2 August 1720. An. account of him and his descendants is given hereinafter: compare page 146. IV. Elizabeth Waddill, bom 4 January' 1722-3. V. Richard Waddill, bora 29 March 1727. An account of his descendants follows hereinafter. VI. Martha Waddill, bom 28 Febmar>- 1728-9. VII. Noel Waddill, bom 17 August 1730, who removed to Albemarle county, where he patented 400 acres, 23 May 1763, and died before 1773, Iea\-ing issue: John Waddill;. Abel Waddill; Pridgen Waddill; William Waddill; and a daughter, married to Richard Adams. VIII. Pridgen Waddill, bom 173- {date torn), who- seems to have died in infancy. IX. Shadr.\ch Waddill, bom 6 September 1738, wha likewise appears to have died in infancy. Richard Waddill, second son of the foregoing, bom 2^ March 1727, is more conveniently dealt with by affording him precedence to his older brother. Richard Waddill, on reaching manhood, settled in South Carolina, and spent the remainder of his life in that colony. His three sons, after their father's death, just prior to or during the Revolu- •i.i'i:. (i'iiiM r,':i^i -^nii' !"'' 'ull ff'iw ' y>hr:t\\ I. '.It; .1, . Ln); 7::!U'0' ^ ' ' ■ ■ " :.^. ■:':\k >::•:-.;/, '^ ^i .^o ..i\':-.- '' uu.'Ji'ff .Til f'.-'V. .' .'••r.r:'.- i- ' "'';^'t'i ..tjiT'T/- 7/ v //X -id }o <■/.>• ,(>.-;oJ <i\jji>> -oTf rnoii , •".•n,;..ii r (.^ ., .( 1 i 1 1 : J . rif i» WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY .145 tion, returned to Virginia, making their home at first in New Kent, whei^ce two of them at all events removed to Charles City. This affords, of course, a close parallel to the three Waddill brothers of a preceding generation; and confusion of the two events may have led, naturally enough, to the previously mentioned tradition of all the Charles City Waddills' descent from "three brothers who came from the south to Charles City, early in the eighteenth century." The parallel holds also in that in each case only one of the three brothers left descendants in Charles City. Richard Waddill had issue: I. Noel Waddill, who, accorcUng to a rather inexplicable legend, was an officer of the Dinwiddle militia during the Revolution. He afterward returned to South Carolina, where he became a school-teacher; and where, it is said, he was yet later connected uith the Yv'illington School, founded in 1S04 by Dr. Moses Waddell. This of course re-opens the vexed question as to whether the Waddills of Charles City and the Waddells of North Carolina are of the same stock; but as the progenitors of the latter immigrated as late as 1750, from Ireland, the relationship at best could be but slight. II. Nathaniel Waddill, who served as a dragoon in the Fourteenth Virginia during the Revolution. He aftenvard lived for a-while in Charles City county, at least as late as 1794, when he was tutor in the family of Gideon Christian. The manuscript Arithmetic he in that year prepared for the use of young William Allen Christian (compare page 54) is still in existence. Nathaniel Waddill eventually settled in Nottoway. He was placed on the pension rolls in Februarj' 1829, being allotted SlOO annually; and was hving in 1835. He seems to have left no issue. III. Richard Waddill, bom in 1760, who ■v\ath his brother Nathaniel went to Charles City circa 1790. He was the only one of the brothers to remain in that county permanently. The eariiest preserved mention of him in the county records seems to have been made 18 January 1798, when he presented his accounts as guardian of another .■')•!) ?:5J;-;:^^J ni ''il^;) ;. I' ■• - '' \ri[ ^l-id told jOlJi ; ..:., A^r-' -d-.T .OOTI ai 'J. I. 81 rji-n.i; il^Tid 3V/!it vJ' 146 WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY Richard Waddill, the son of his first cousin, Samuel Waddill; but thereafter his name occurs with frequency. He married Sarah, daughter of PhiUp Charles, as recorded on page 55, his vriie being born in 1768, and dying 1 November 1833. Richard Waddill himself died 1 February 1836, leaving issue : (1) George Christian Waddill, born 5 September 1804, died 1 March 1889, who, as pre\aously recorded, married Rebecca Priscilla Major: their issue has been given on page 135. (2) Susan Waddill, who married Littlebury Eppes, and had issue: Susan Carter Eppes, who died unmarried: and Sarah Eppes, who married James Flaines, and had James Haines (who married Nellie Rathburn), and Sarah Haines (who married George Guy, and has issue Nellie Lawton Guy). 'ILLIAM WADDUX, bom 2 August 1720, (com- pare page 144), was reared in Charles City, and was hving in that county as late as 1757. His name is often found in the records, but in no entry of sufficient import to warrant its quotation. He married, before 1744, Ann , (as is sho^-n by a deed from them to Edward Miller given in the May of that year), and seems to have had only one son who reached maturity, — Samuel Waddill. • Saaiuel Waddill, bom circa 1745, married, as has been said earlier, upon page 54, Lucy Christian; and was executor to his brother-in-law, Samuel Christian, in 1780. The name of Samuel Waddill does not occur verj- frequently in the surviving county records, but it is apparent that he died before 1785: his funeral expenses were paid 10 October 1785, according to the settlement of his estate, recorded 18 June 1795. His wife married, second, Gideon Bradley: her "widow's third" was assigned her in 1796, but she had married Bradley some while before this, being possibly his second wife. The will of Gideon Bradley, dated 11 Febmary 1801, recorded 20 August 1801, shows that she died before 1801. YTi:) 10 J d^t :r'. ?/> -?i'>* ■■^■. 1 I [f-fl;'-' v;. ...i iv'oi, WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY 147 Samuel Waddill and Lucy Christian had issue: L Edmund Waddill, Senior — as he is preferably called for the sake of clearness, — who seemingly was bom circa 1775. His will, dated 19 October 1833. recorded 29 Febru- ary' 1834, names his "relation and friend, George C. Waddill" as guardian of his children. Edmund Waddill, Senior, married, first, Christian, who died in or before 1809, and by whom he had issue: Christian Waddill, bom circa 1808, who seems to have left one or more daughters, of whom no record is available. Edmund Waddill, Senior, married, second, Mary Ma^nard, by whom he had issue: Samuel Waddill, who married, first, Sarah Irby Stagg, and, second, Henrietta Bradley Clay; Edmund Waddill, who married, first, Mary Louisa Redwood, and, second, Annie L. Wight; Richard Waddill, who married Isabella Jordon, and removed to Amherst county; William Waddill, who never married; ]Mary Waddill, who married James Allen Ladd; Elizabeth Waddill, who married, first, Bowr>', and, second, James H. Christian, but left no issue by either husband; and Lucy Waddill, who married Robert Maddox, but had no children. II. Richard Waddill, who, as has been said, was entmsted to the guardianship of his cousin, Richard Waddill. He was a, minor in 1798, and of age in 1801, which fixes his birth-year as 1778 or 1779. Richard Waddill died before 1819, as is shown by the accounts of his orphans' guardian, Edward Roper, as recorded 20 April 1825. He had issue: Rebecca Waddill; Lucy Waddill; and William H. Wadchll. This son William left Charles City, and made his home near Danville: his descendants (if, as is believed, he left issue), have not been traced. SAMUEL WADDILL, the second son of Edmund Wad- dill, Senior, died 16 June 1886. He married, first, on 9 March 1843, Sarah Irby Stagg, (who died 1 July 1864), and had issue: /. Edmund Thomas Waddill, horn 19 September 1844, T^r TlIO r,v .^HAHO -JO J J /jH'.i ■'< .ill'' I. ;"m r- ^ i aO -,;■ ,('(V-; .'iVOj ■■■/ '■'. .-7 .-^ , , ;,i. '♦'.> . ■'• Ti's-;.!.' .••OKI >-• 'ifio J'*'! ''V-'' o '■'■>•: ■-■('■.'> , -;( : ,-!'■:., 1 •'-. ,.:.'/." rrhr*: ■^>!' ';;:•■•.• j. ^ i..i.'.>/i . n fi:i..j./ ■•';■-,<.! i-: ii v-'l I.:-.:.:' '-'J .b'LLniH^f[ 'n. '/. ^^r-,--'..- J:ji"{ijrrfr ..i.:v. .ilili. .:''".' L'Ti.uj.-'Oi' ; ■/■.r' ■r^'■.n'i /;t)-..-;,j-i.; S .i.fu.v .. .,i ^.;-t;/ ■■ .,_-'■')■= iM r , wO»' ':■-■>! i;'.;i''.-.i . ■!;/''- ,"■ "< .["•vivArrT .-..■^■. L ■,>^".-i :-.':-.•.- ■-:'■.>• -;;..!^.: .' .;■• r jn-r:' ■;i-' V.-:- - - .,■;^'T!"{ .h-^miun od.'f .'^"'i).: /■' ;:;•"*<:! .^il'i ;L!'" .D'."l]..illb '-'i( ' ..-/ JiJi.! f 7'nr !'<■:] 't'd ri; .Mi:- ,)i!a<;''.7/ (iMAii.jiH .11 :. // Ij-^^'MvJJ" "i^ijw'j ::;;! 'i'.. ;;;.v-.:.,7'-:n:r;: ^dt o^ l':-.,t. ;nJn9 - /^. !>.»;.'' .l.'ol ■;, '-uv 'ic. !)fjL ,8CTr li. tOnfiti ./■ '' ■ I L:"!i'^ !!i;^h. '( l:-\i.ii-:)l^i 7lT"i 10 '''^ v7 ^ii T.i;oX -^ I'.ir. '-u'^'Cti''^ kiJ u) : iiMi.rjnj;! uiil x*^ rr/zod- si ?:n ,0(81 .G->' I I. ;■' iC^yi ^c. ,"?'' ' .'» bj?j! '' ;l hiXQ ,• 7 no- r -i . ; S.'i'r luj /; ,i3:^fil^ vciii di; 0 no L,...i .U<)81 /Jul :,'•':' ^.iwv:,/-^ r»! jA-r.\o .HjV>Hi>"U w)t.w>^t b^jjmblJi A 148 ' WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY and according to the laws of primogeniture the present head of the Waddill family, being the lineal male representative in the eighth generation of John Waddill, the immigrant. Edmund Thomas Waddill, as previously recorded on page 135, married Elizabeth Avery Waddill, on 19 January 1881, and had issue: (1) Samuel Cabell Waddill, bom 29 November 1882, who married Elizabeth Staples, on 11 November 1909, and has issue: Virginia Cabell Waddill; and Samuel Cary Waddill. (2) John Lamb Waddill, bom 12 November 1884, who married Rhoda Brennan, on 9 August 1912, and has issue: L Virginia Louise Waddill. (3) Ehna Leigh Waddill, bom 21 September 1887, who married Lewis B. Adams, on 18 November 1909, and has issue: Martha Elizabeth Adams; Elma Louise Adams; and Lewis B. Adams. (4) George jMajor Waddill, unmarried, bom 25 -March /- 1890. (5) Edmund Thomas Waddill, unmarried, bom 22 December 1892. (6) Julien Aver>' Waddill, bom 26 June 1895. (7) Patrick Henr>' Waddill, bom 17 March 1898. (8) Irby Stagg Waddill, bom 17 May 1901, who died 18 August 1902. (9) Sarah Ahce Waddill, bom 31 October 1902. II. Mary Alice Waddill, born 22 March 1849, died 28 June 1875, uho married George H. Ladd, on 23 July 1874, hut had no issue. III. Sarah Waddill, born 21 October 1855, who married George T. Hubbard, on 15 Jidy 1874, and has issue: (1) Marj' Waddill Hubbard, who married Thomas N. Hubbard, on 7 October 1903, but has no issue. (2) Martha Ann Hubbard, bom 22 May 1878. (3) Ethel Bradley Hubbard, bom 27 November 1880, who married R. A. Ladd, on 23 June 1915. ■.,'s\ ■.: ysAuV rv;>'l-, . ■■A '■■■:'' '•\-' 0.>'''.il, .\: ■ ,\S 1 /t. VViV'\>'i' U '>Ai ■.oc?r •-vt^^f.'j ^.i.A \.\x> '<~'^' 7>-'. r. ( ito ,V■^^'^»W\n .'V jrjMvjv) ''. ■■m-.nod i' .r.u:i v':i': Ci mod 1 (S; WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY 149 IV. Samuel Waddill, born 15 May 1851, who died in November 1852. V. William Waddill, born 28 February 1854, died 7 June 1910, u-ho married, on 12 April 1893, Jaiie Warren Walker, (who survived him, and married, second, as recorded on page 135, Edward Major), and had issue: (1) William Freeman Waddill, born 9 January 1894, who married iMjTtha Apperson, on 9 August 1915. (2) Samuel Edmund Waddill, born 12 November 1895. (3) Louise Hanvood Waddill, born 5 January 1899. (4) Graham Walker Waddill, born 19 August 1900. Samuel Waddill married, second, in 1865, Henrietta Bradley Clay, widow of Henry M. Clay, (and daughter of Colonel John Bradley), and had issue: /. Aimie Virginia Waddill, unmarried, born 23 April 1871. EDMUND WADDILL, the third son of Edmund Waddill, Senior, was bom 23 May 1814, and died 10 September 1890. He married, first, Mary Louisa Redwood (who died 8 April 1860), and had issue: /. Elizabeth Redwood Waddill, who died unmarried in 1852. //. John Redwood Waddill, born 25 June 1850, who, as previously recorded, page 137, married Martha Ann Catherine Waddill, on 21 July 1875, and had issue: (1} George Edmund Waddill, born 6 December 1877, who married Ella Ditman, on 21 November 1903, but has no issue. (2) Elizabeth Christian Waddill, bom 23 November 1884, who married Louis Christian, on 20 December 1905, and has issue: John Coleman Christian, born 6 October 1906; Catherine Waddill Christian, bom 2 October 1908; Clara .1T8' . , . a..— i ..; V'ii,-.' ,>:,vn ;.,;i M,V .!VjV.i-*n"i] booovh^ft !^J.>0'>:.iVA A .158 [ •. ,ii(«'-; ,OC^.f 0^T^;\, 61: r v-^ ,\! An -j' W \>nu •.'v^H .(Aa. Al T; ■ ' .Villi \y:\"^ .i'.v>^; {'H /noci ,ii;biJi-V/' /miJgnri') iil'^<':{xU:i {\) 150 WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY Christian, bom 16 June 1910; Nannie Gordon Christian, bom 6 January 1912; Louis Coleman Christian, born 12 August 1913; and Elizabeth Waddill Christian, bom 24 April 1914. (3) Alary Rebecca Waddill, bom 10 October 1879, who died 23 May 1883. ///. Sajnuel Pearman Waddill, horn 15 December 1852, who married Frafices E. Henley, on 16 May 1882, and had iss^iie: (1) Emily Wight Waddill, unmarried, bom 4 March 1883. (2) J. Temple Waddill, unmarried, bom 17 Febmary 1884. (3) Samuel Pearman Waddill, unmarried, bom 23 May 1885. (4) John Young Waddill, mmiarried, bom 6 December 1886. (5) Fanny Peachey Waddill, bom 4 September 1888, who died 4 May 1892. IV. Edmund Waddill, horn 22 May 1855, who married Alma Conuoy Mitchell, on 19 December 1878, and had issue: (1) Juliet Winder Waddill, bom 21 September 1879, who married Arthur M. Cannon, on 31 July 1902, and has 'issue: Alma "\^'addill Caimon, bom 16 July 1903; Margaret Blair Cannon, bom 8 June 1906; and Henry Gibbon Cannon, bom 23 Alarch 1909. (2) Mar>' Lamb Waddill, bom 7 May 1881, who married Richard Fumival, on 2 December 1913. (3) Edmund Clivious Waddill, unmarried, bom 11 July 1883. (4) Nancy Garland Waddill, bom 19 June 1886, who married Menalcus Lankford, on 14 April 1909, but has no issue. (5) Mitchell Waddill, bom 27 September 1889, who married Gladys Cease, on 26 August 1910, but has no issue. :? ;r...Ki ^k-i;.V'- ' ,...u. -v"; -i'-'r'.: Ml'i ,\ii:unii\. ft fnod )[i/ ';T<'i T>''i>j.<» ■)[ !!•''>' ,liL';bx;7/' KOV'^ff-iT: -".51/1 (ci; -<^%,(^-.'.t'/ •-. "i 1-:.-.^ ^'V^Ksiv']! s^r.unmH i'.uinio'A .\\\ ,4iiJ. Li mod tba- .DIf8?J WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY 151 V. Lucy Tabitha Waddill, born 5 May 1858, died 10 January 1894, who married Reverend Louis B. Betty, and had issue: (1) A child, bom 19 August 1881, who died 20 August 1881. (2) Catherine Irby Betty, bom 29 September 1882, who married Henry Lee Ames, on 28 June 1911, and has issue: John Lewis Ames, bom 15 July 1912. (3) Blanche Redwood Betty, bom 14 June 1884, who died 5 January 1901. (4) LeTvis Christian Betty, bom 7 August 1885, who died 8 August 1889. (5) Leha Gilmer Betty, unmarried, bom 27 August 1888. (6) George IMarvdn Betty, unmarried, born 12 Septem- ber 1889. (7) Edmund Christian Betty, bom 15 September 1893, who died 30 June 1894. • VI. Mary Louisa Waddill, born 28 March 1860, who married James Henry Christian, on 9 November 1881, and had iss^ie: (1) Grace Sherman Christian, bom 13 October 1882, who married Henrj^ E. Tumer, on 28 March 1905, and has issue: Edmund Christian Tumer, bom 18 January- 1906; Ann Harrison Turner; and Louisa Waddill Tumer, bom 29 March 1915. (2) Annie Louisa Christian, bom 10 Januar>^ 1884, who married William Walter Eames, on 21 June 1905, and has issue: Wilham Walter Eames, bom Febmarj^ 1911; and Elnora Christian Eames, bom October 1909. (3) Isaac Hill Christian, bom 1 May 1886, who married Emily Christian Huxter. on 7 January' 1915. (4) Edmund Waddill Christian, bom 31 May 1887, who married Ellen Carter Gregory', on 9 April 1914. (5) Marshall Christian, bom 12 January 1889, who died 8 July 1889. (6) Sherman Christian, bom 12 January 1889, who died 18 May 1889. r."5 T.'io 'e'A.\:ikUD 'io J ■'■:;! -r^li' no ,■- 'ii 1^. '^"A r:. .r;i) clvi .^';*7' -/I'ji., -'I ir'.c>v.I .-'/■■t/^ «r?7'">J A:iol r-'tre^i :'^i vv: ■"•" '''J "^'''.Mvy,\o'A 0 j'io jnio'ii'^stAO \rtj\;>>\ vi'^t'.^:^'., ^ijVrrDSvt .cter ri;^i8M nor !'.):.n'.j.(n Oiiv ii^rC •• .;i!jt]l T at- ,-!:>}/i;l! ;-;■ ;T'hr!' * v!ff;i!J 152 WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY (7) Sarah Vaughan Christian, bom 12 June 1890, who married Richard Edloe ISIountcastle, on 14 November 1912, and has issue: Richard Edloe Mountcastle, bom 12 January 1914. (8) James Henr\- Christian, bom 18 ^lay 1892, who married Phoebe L. Potts, on 12 October 1915. (9) Mar>' Susan Christian, bom 2 August 1894, who died 2 September 1894. (10) Warren Christian, bom 2 September 1895. (11) John Redwood Christian, bom 13 August 1898. (12) Mary' Kemp Christian, born 9 September 1900. VII. Nannie Waddill, horn 28 March 1860, who married James Walter Barnes, on 29 April 1890, and had issue: (1) Edmund Walter Barnes, bom IS Febmarj' 1891, who married Josephine Barthel, on 11 October 1911. Edmund Waddill, Senior, married, second, on 18 June 1862, Annie L. Wight, (who died 14 Febmary 1890), and had issue: /. William M. Waddill, born 5 April 1863, who married Ellen Meeker Compton, bid has no issue. II. Margaret V. Waddill, unmarried, horn 16 June 1865. III. Charles C. Waddill, horn 27 February 1868, who married Margaret Franklin, on 30 November 1898, and has issue: (1) Franklin Waddill, bom 8 August 1905. IV. Emily W. Waddill, born 6 April 1871, who married Dr. Harry M. Bennett, on 8 October 1901, and has issue: (1) Mary Bennett, bom 18 November 1904. V. Julia Leeds Waddill, unmarried, horn 5 July 1876. VI. Leonora Wight Waddill, born 11 January 1879, who married Robert H. Talley, on 15 October 1903, and has issue: YTi? ^jHj.iV') 'lo : / jrar Vf/^iCi '. '. 1 ;'!', . .■■11- c/'-*:iiV' '. -^o'jVI if'uujwl :o:y'..>tA ■•\n:i t)fU3 •^'"'..i-- f ; !.'.; .xtjv'-': .!;-r'.-::i7 ."ici/ioH ,.i.n'7 1/ ^/ m 'rii/aLii :a»raw ,.::■-; • /'■, ^ r- .: 7'": ^■"V ^'^'-.^ (I) . I'Kii'lflVuZ rl ^■5n(»J ,;■:<■■: '\ ,'^ :.,.■_ (,1) WADDILL OF CHARLES CITY 153 (1) William Graves Talley, bom 13 June 1907. (2) Robert H. Talley, born 30 July 1910. THE PRECEDING enumeration, while of necessity incomplete, includes all the descendants of Edmund Waddill, Senior, doTNTi to the present day, as far as any list thereof appears procurable, — with the sole excep- tion of the descendants of his son Richard Waddill (com- pare page 147), Information as to these last was received too late for insertion here, and is in consequence deferred to page 185. William Waddill, the youngest son of Edmund Waddill, Senior, (again compare page 147), as has been said, died unmarried, in June 1909. For the rest, it was believed that the oldest daughter, Mar>' Waddill, bom 1817, who married James Allen Ladd, and died 20 February' 1849 (according to the Waddill family Bible) had left descendants; but inquirv' among latter-day representatives of the Ladd family has brought forth only a denial of ability to furnish any information on this point. Of the other daughters, Elizabeth Waddill, bom 1826, who married, first, Dowry, and, second, James H. Chris- tian, died -v^nthout any issue, 18 July 188G. Lucy Waddill, who in Febmary 1848 married Robert Maddox, died June 1850; and she too left no children. 8cl roc • ■■-'':-- ■■ ■■• . > (1) ' ^i T . ..':-; ,''\l\ vi5':q ^'i' ,. ■ jZ-S ujiul h^iib jXobbfil/i J Appendix Patteson of New Kent and Chesterfield )HE PATTESON family, whose connection with the Majors through the Christian and Macon Hnes has previously been exi^lained (compare page 54), is by tra- dition of Scotch origin. It is said, more- over, that the first Patteson settling in America had formerly lived in Wales; that he made his home in New Kent county, where his plantation was kno-wn as "Roxbury", or "Roxboro", in honor of which the present towTi of that name, on the border line of Charles City and New Kent counties, was christened; and that his Christian name was Thomas. He seems to have had, with possibly other issue: Thomas Patteson, died 1725; Edward Patteson, died 1719; David Patteson, of whom hereafter; Alexander Patteson, died 1726; smd George Patteson. All these were living in New Kent county in 1700 and after, and left descendants there. David Patteson, the progenitor of the Pattesons of Chesterfield, as has been said, was living in New Kent in 1700, and must have been bom circa 1680. His first land- grant, however, was taken out, in 1714, in Henrico county, in that part of Henrico from which Goochland was sub- sequently formed. A copy is appended: " A NNE etc, to all etc. Know ye, that for diverse good /-\ causes and Consideracons, but more especially for & in consideracon of the sum of two pounds of good & la-^v'ful money, for our use paid to our Receiver General of our Revenues in this our s'd Colony and Dominion of Virginia, We have given, granted and Confirmed, & by ■? ^-■,':.lK v'it li'il:/ .1 . W--I ,1, ..•^^^ ■:' '■ -' i- •-' ■ fO .■ ..' '-^--if * '■'■■ ■'■ '- =-^ .^T -• ii ''.'•' '■[ 'j no 3U'''-' -v, ,.[t fn nv/;,)/ .;x!.jt-o-i;t y;; ii<::i.7' Vu •lonoil ; ;'• = ■;:•/•? '.vm'm'T -oL-vf T^^ilo /!' i:2oq W];y/ ,bai{ ■^ • . . ilO^if '"'74.(1 .l?Ui.. - 1 4 aiiorr o"y/j ^' .r.:n. o;'"; lo iic . ni:h A X ■•,J v> i.orf tf'.'K.v.) baii L)».)MJi'»3 ,n'*vh!| PATTESON OF NEW KENT 155 these presents for us, our heirs & successors, do Give, Grant and Confirm, unto David Pattesox one certain Tract or parcel of land, containing four hundred acres, lying and being on the north side of James River, in the County of Henrico, and bounded as followeth: to wit, beginning at a small Comer pine standing on the east side of licking hole Creek; thence crossing the s'd Creek west twenty-five degrees north two hundred and seventy poles to a small Comer elm standing by a small branch; thence south twenty- five degrees west two hundred and forty poles to a small corner white oak & black walnutt standing on the west side of a small branch; thence East twenty-five degrees south, crossing licking hole Creek, two hundred and fifty- four poles to a Comer butter^'ood white oak, hickorj' & black oak stancUng on Capt. John Boiling's hne; thence north twenty-nine and a half degrees East two hundred and fifty-six poles to the place begun at: with all etc: To have, hold etc: To be held etc: Provided etc: in Witness etc: Witness our trusty & wellbeloved Alexander Spotswood, our. Lieut. Govern, etc, at Wilhamsburgh, under the seal of our s'd Colony, the sixteenth day of June, one thousand seven hundred & fourteen, in the thirteenth year of our Reign, A. SPOTSWOOD" David Patteson subsequently took out six other land patents in the same neighborhood. These were, severally: 337 acres, on 2 June 1722, adjoining the land previously patented; 342 acres, on 8 September 1730, also on Licking Hole Creek, and at the date of this patent in Goochland county, which was formed in 1727; 350 acres in Goochland, 1 June 1741, on Rock Fish River; 350 acres in Goochland, on Rock Fish River, 6 July 1741; 350 additional acres on Rock Fish River, on the same date, 6 July 1741; and 1600 acres in Goochland, on Rock Fish River, 30 August 1743. This constituted a tidy estate in Goochland; but Da\'id Patteson continued, none the less, to make his home in New Kent. Owing to the loss of the county records, one .^ :. ;l,'.; '^i'.; !'j .'i^- ■"! • .-"^ .y/.j'l'. i -•: J ■■;..!i;o i i-U'v .ovijno ■! ' jj; ':.^ ;.. O': -,;•,■! ■._.l.; ■.•■■•■:: :■.'.; i)^:j') .''' v./j lb-!0i1 c") >-'g'>i> I •■ .;f 7/ " I :.»■'■;-' "'■;: ;'• , '"!^;;:r.J j,:;.:!:r z. [■' :_^Mr!i;:;^ !'• rn! ; TOv';'. ' ' "; ';',';.• ;; •.•! :■'<■'.{ ^V|.,i ■,,•;; I-.-;:.'. A-i '^■^^;-.: .:■;// ;-: ^■.■.:, *h T'^rf | T -.".v -fi'- J-:, 'lirF; i';. '.• :?i.;i.l'..v .47^i''^ j- -!■■-'• "j ' ; '■' r' •I'mjov ^ • ••;:;//■ u; roJ- !,.-:l r/Oi^I ::>3o bJ^rl oci (/I :o:)^ Mod ■ ■':- ■ ,/• ,')iuA, l'> -T.;. {;■ ■ ■■.) Ira -ryo \ TT "V;/aiX)q3 .A .li^i^H ilj ill ajnjiaq vi- iir--iV'; ' "T no .-•■'•nfl Tr.8 ^ ic^ .,'■-■■' -T ■ :vj/ui 1 ... :[rVI .. uo - viui 'J '^^'.'L sn >l.'iofl' 156 PATTESOX OF NEW KENT finds few mentions of him save in the registers and vestrj' books of St Peter's parish, where he served as vestryman for fourteen years: from 29 September 1729 — under which date is recorded ''Mr David Pattesox hath this day taken the Oath of a vestr}-man and alibscribed to the test" — to 24 September 1743 — "Ordered the presenting of Mr David Patteson's Resignation of the office of a Vestryman by the Rev'd Da\id Mossom to the Vestry; & Mr Mossom informing the Vestry- that when Mr Patteson Resign'd, he desired him to acquaint the Vestr}' that it was his Request Capt. WJlHam Massie might Succeed him, it is the unanimous vote of the Vestrv- that Capt. ^Massie be a Vestryman, & he is accordingly chosen." For some account as to the powers and responsibihties of vestrj'men at this period, compare page 50. The parish registers of St Peter's also show that Da\ad Patteson had issue: I. Sar.\h Pattesox, baptized 24 March 1700. II. AxNE Pattesox, baptized 2 November 1701. III. David Pattesox, bom 14 October 1705. IV. Thomas Pattesox, bom 13 December 1708. V. Cpl\rles Pattesox, bom 6 May 1711. VI. Jonathan Patteson, bom 6 June 1713. VII. Fr.\xces Pattesox, bom 19 December 1715. VIII. Obedlah Patteson, bom 30 Uic) Febmarj' 1717. IX. Gideon Patteson, bom 7 July 1720. X. jAifES Pattesox, bom 10 February' 1722-3, XI. AxxE Pattesox, bom 15 March 1724-5. Jonathan Patteson, the sixth child of the foregoing, bom 1713, also made his home in New Kent; and he Uke- wise was a vestryman of St Peter's. Thus, under date of 20 November 1752, it was "Ordered that Mr Edmund Bacon, Capt. Jesse Scott and Mr Jonathan Pattesox, be appointed Vestrj-men in the Room of Colo. Joseph Forster & Mr Joseph Marston, Dec'd, and Maj'r William Gray, who is Removed out of this Colony; And that the Clerk do give them Notice to attend at the Next Vestry to be held ,> . , , ..h ■•:i .';'r:v').''.V .. .h) '■"?: .< iii^/vyi/ 7:.' V. •mS'jV yift ot r;«)P^(,.)/ I.r.r'fj T-'v^H •^/",? ^i3lip-^/5 Hi;! -i": .' , . . ■':(}■.. ■ .2 -.:f;'i!"T:'i;>j;ii.i Mf* ^; J: .rri;"' i^-'^- '•':>" ::! '^ rn/-:' . ;'^/ .T<';ft'^ '■ ..■:..rn''')'7 L- :> : ■<' :■'.'' .i"-... -ir' , -;r!. -i''' '>i'j M r'-v --:''■ ^ ■ f ,l'!JJO ■' :■ ■ '-- ''■.i'l. ".ilj.'0'f ■ ;;,2'; = i"«T0'; 'S: '! :^ii '''_•' L ;-::i';r:i/' l\: hi>sijq.3d . ' J :■■■''; •;■ 'U.v.-vZ C n->v:,tqi,d ,.. . ... II i':i V rioci ,v. J- . T mo;i ;■) .XI .. -.. , .. ^J i. A '.^"Cl .o.V^' > ^-j lv:<A ').J or V PATTESON OF NEW KENT 157 for this Parish." Jonathan Patteson was later advanced to the dignity of churchwarden: thus, an entry, dated 29 September 1755, reads: "Ordered that the Vestr}-, with the consent of the Minister, proceed to the Choice of Church Wardens in the Place of Colo. 'William Macon and Mr William Hopkins, whose ofhce Expires at this Vestr}-; And accordingly Mr Edmmid Bacon and Mr Jonathan Patteson Chosen Church Wardens, and have Qualified themselves by taking the Oaths Requir'd by Law, before Colo. Daniel Parke Custis, in the presence of the ]Minister and Vestry." Although he made his home in New Kent, Jonathan Patteson o^sTied lands in Charles City, so that his name is occasionally to be found in the survi\'ing records of the latter county. Thus, he brought suit there, for £4, against Samuel Crutchfield at the March court 1756; against Jef- frey Murrell for £3, 175, 6d, at the June court 1756; and against William Shields Vaughan for £8, 12s, at the Nov- ember court 1755. Somewhat later, by a deed dated 10 Febniar\' 1768, he sold to Joel Christian, for £225, a tract of 225 acres in Charles City, on the Chickahominy river: the deed is wt- nessed by William Christian, David Oshng, David Quigin and John Crew. He sold to James Quigin, by a deed dated 7 June 1769, a tract of seventy-five acres in Charles City, at £5 an acre; and had, it develops, previously sold to Quigin an adjoining tract of ninety acres, by a deed dated 5 November 1766. His \N'ife's endorsement of these three deeds shows that she and her husband were in 1768, and after, h\ing in Lunenburg, probably -ss-ith their eldest son, Jonathan Patteson, who was in 1771 a justice of the peace for that county, and as such took his mother's acknowledgments of these deeds of sale. It is probable that the elder Jonathan Patteson spent the last eight years of his hfe for the most part in Lunenburg, where his -^ill is recorded. Jonathan Patteson died in 1774. A copy of his will, recorded 12 May 1774 in Lunenburg, is appended: v?.r r/ijid V/-.I/; ■10 ; ;/ ..;,.. fiMO';'/; .;7-.;';^ //' ,o!...; b> •,. •../:!■■ 'uir ti. ,i,v-/i/iW ,^vf-',', .'•■'■- ■'i:;Mi..;.' _./ . '■.:r^r ■.; •■;i: "■■.■ 5'-Jjji,v li.T.' j/iii) hv^'.Hfr' ;i>n£>b 3?'rn! s •.(['■ lo .inom'?/it/'jn;.< i ■iOnAip. '/li/dioia -.ai AO(.)i mup. h/i br./i , ■}nuoo .bj-ri^-^joyi >t 1 ']"/?■ fii i-?iiq If/? ftin 158 PATTESON OF NEW KENT IN THE NAME OF GOD, amen. I, Jonathan Patteson, of the County of New Kent and Parish of N. Peters- burg, being in perfect mind and memory, but knowmg it is appointed For all man once to die, do institute and or-- dain this to be my last will and testament: "First, I bequeath my soul to God, who gave it, and my body to 'be buried at the discretion of my executors; and after my just debts and funeral charges are paid, I give and . dispose of my estate in manner and form as followeth: "1st, Item: I give and bequeath to my son, Richard Pattesin, that part of my land which I shall mention, with the place called Merchoes: begiiming at the Comer Oaks ■ of my land, Wm Rangerfields', and Absolun 's; from thence to mn across southerly, along a branch, to the place called the ^leadow, till it comes opposite to May Patteson's plantation, so to join her hne; and thence up the line to Joel Christian's; thence to Bahss Howel's, and so to the beginning; and one bed and furniture. "I give and bequeath to my son Jonathan five shillings. "Item: I give and bequeath to my son DaN-id two hundred pounds in mv son Jonathan's hands; but if my son: Jonathan, had rather make David a right to the land and plantation where he now lives, containing four hundred acres, then my- desire is that he shall discharge my son Jonathan from pave- ments of the money: also one negro man, George. "Item: I give and bequeath to my son, Charles Patteson, two hundred pounds in my son Jonathan's hands;- but if in case my son Jonathan had rather make my son Ctiarles a good right to my tracts of land Ipng in Lunenburg, conta'mg. four hundred acres, each one lying to the of the Courthouse Road (one purchased of John Colvm, and another purchased of .\nthony Street), and the hundred, acres of his own adjoining, then my desire is my son Jonathan may be discharged from the payment of the money. Also I give and bequeath to my son Charles one negro man, Robin, one bed and furniture, and a young horse. "I give and bequeath to my son Samuel all the remainder: of the tract of land I now hve on, after the death of his T. ^M CTvn .1' I r.' ■ I -:- - •' '".lii v-vij^ 1 .... . -{T- 'U} ~^.r,n \..:u .,\vi >i;s*I -:<■/■■' '.mi n. i ■■ •ofit-i^T-C hyilc^ ioalq bi'f • '! t;;-. .-.ni; ;.;? <.i..[ <_■] Or ■ ■ '' .•>! :'ij''-ii bjiii bod ti/io biiJi f ■■: ii, r:o« vm uJ d" • jja /-i- ■.H vni J; lo PATTESON OF NEW KENT 159 mother, to him and his heirs forever; also one young horse, saddle and bridle; and one feather bed and furniture; and fifty pounds current money, -with interest from this date. "Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter Frances five shillings. "Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter Martha Christian one negro woman named Beck and her two child- ren (Nan and Moses), and one feather bed and furniture. "Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter Sarah one negro boy named Peter and one negro girl named Rachel; one horse, saddle and bridle; and one feather bed and furni- ture: to her and her heirs. "Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter Ann one negro girl named Nairn and negro girl Hanah ; and one horse, saddle and bridle; one feather bed and furniture: to her and her heirs. "Also my wish and desire is that m}' loving wife Elizabeth may have free and peaceful possession of the land and plantation I now live on, with all the remainder of my estate not mentioned, during her hfe, to bargain, sell and rent out any part for the payments of debts; and if the selling of my estate should not hold out to discharge the debts by the half, my personal estate and negro man Jim may be sold. My desire is that an equal part, of each child's legacy may be taken for that purpose. "Also I constitute and appoint my lo\ing wife my exe- cutrix, with my two sons Jonathan and Da\id executors, of this my last will and testament; and I revoke all other former wills made by me. As witness my hand and seal this nineteenth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven. JONATHAN PATTESON. Seal. "Signed and sealed in the presence of: (Signed) James New, David Squerin, his 7)iark, Henrj' Christian." The bequest to his wife, it should be noted, .shows not only that Jonathan Patteson died in debt, but suggests in Oft I ban 1, o"t •"ifltoiTr -^O'l i^nf; I'j ; c .:•;;•]!. rii:} I:m'*: b^j .■jd'>ii')'\ •avb , 'i'-i-fd ^' , ,..0 J.;' bus ii'w ,/iii^3^"ii!d -^3 .oiu •' ■ .1'.. /tifu v:>i5^oI -. i)liiio fbjiO lo lie >I Yill "'.luiitfhilO V1/X' firrg NormfJiJ'* n' >-*i^iij:u!s -ti.'ti ,M:1:» ni ' 9dT 160 PATTESON OF NEW KENT addition either a be-^ilderingly muddled estate or else a lack of any talent for business affairs, by the testator's e\'ident innocence of even an approximate idea as to how his liabiUties and assets balanced. Jonathan Patteson, as recorded on page 54, had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Richard Christian, and as his will shows, she survived him. They had issue: I. Fr.\n'Ces Pattesox, bom 19 October 1736. II. Richard Patteson, bom 2S January- 1737-8, who died without issue. III. Jonathan Patteson, a justice of the peace for Lunen- burg, who represented Lunenburg in the Convention of 1788, and died ■without issue. IV. AIartha Patteson, who married Henry Christian of Amherst. They had issue: Henr\^ Asburj' Christian, who married, first, Lucy Wood Dunscombe, and, second, Susan Palmer; Jonathan Christian, who married Sarah Nowlin; Samuel Patteson Christian, who married Nancy Patteson; John Christian, who died without issue; Martha Christian, who married Reuben Palmer; Mary Christian, who married Rucker; Susan Christian, who married William Duval; Elizabeth Christian, who married Philip Duval; and Frances Christian, who died unmarried. V. David Patteson, an account of whom is for the present postponed. VI. Charles Patteson, who represented Buckingham county in the Convention of 1788. He married Regina, daughter of Tschamer de Graff enreid, and had issue: Eliza- beth Patteson; Samuel Patteson; Richard Patteson; Lewis Tschamer Patteson; Jonathan Patteson; and Allen de Graffenreid Patteson. All this branch of the family re- moved to Kentucky. VII. Saml-el Patteson, who died without issue. VIII. Sar.ah Patteson, bom June 1754. IX. Anne Patteson, living in 1767. .David Patteson, the fifth child of the foregoing, was .bom circa 1745. He at some, period prior to 1767 removed T :/. '>I0 Odi \:f ,..■■;■• .:'■ -'j^fJ^ lo l:\:lno'j:'-'. nP.. .nr,-:.-iV.), rii bi.s. ,x.^..:']:d'i f. '''j^':'tl' '■':: •;•».! <;^:';;b boib v''.! ;i^-TK7i \ifii(r.;I. '-;!: j: -i .r ,r;:n t,,'i. ^ ., . .- ..il • £ ,V';o^:'.;/I 5',y-,>l/A.:oI, 111 ... , :.,, . ' .!n..i;i..J ..- ; j.^r'-.';qj; Otfvr .j.;T<.af ■/., r ■; /;('■', ,'.U>)1J l''f.:\}Mn O'V^ ,y-.'"}:'^ r'i •■}{!>3/.i.':. //I :..,. -:;■::'{ VM.fj, .■■ I. .■ rL: .: oJ ' ■ • -■'f!".' i>. Si" I.: "i;./ aii :..;t(0 -nj.M ;"i»iuii; i 0""' / ;n/,.''' .■ ' oil-' ,ii/'firtin''- ii^^'i.'? ^. .. .-. .- ... , !■>':-;! ie,.n "..uiv/ .fi:£!ij?.,nJO ff!-*.ff.:an iLivuCC .:,:iv'V!'.l ■jf'-' •JO-; :-.i xncrlw "lo Jauo">i)j^ iiis, ,< •- - • > or.'''.' A .n - .i)*'^ { PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD 161 to Chesterfield county, where his uncle James Patteson had already settled, and for the rest of his life made his home there. David Patteson was an officer of the Chesterfield miUtia, and served against the British during the War of the Revo- lution. He was appointed, and took the oath as, first lieutenant in Captain Robert Goode's company, at the October Court 1777. He was made captain at the October Court 1778 — "John Fowler to be his first lieutenant, James Branch his second lieutenant, and Thomas Howlett his ensign." He took the oath as captain at the March Court 1779, and held this office until the conclusion of the war. The Chesterfield militia does not appear to have seen any fighting during the earlier years of the Revolution. These troops, however, were ordered south in the June of 1780, and remained in South Carolina in actual service until the disastrous battle of Camden (16 August 1780), where, as has been narrated, on page 104, they were badly beaten. The Chesterfield militia was again called to the field in the February- of 1781, to join General Greene's army in North Carolina, but was halted at Dinwiddie Courthouse, and did not reach Guilford in time for the battle fought there on 15 March 1781. Thereafter Captain Patteson's company, at all events, and probably all the Chesterfield troops, were put under Lafayette's command in Virginia, this transfer being made in April 1781. Captain's Patteson's company was in the retreat from Petersburg in the following May, took part in the skirmishing about Richmond during June and July, and in August followed Lafayette to Malvern Hill in pursuit of Comwallis: and remained as an active parti- cipant in the siege of Yorktown until the town's surrender in the October of 1781. Just four years aftenvard, in passing, David Patteson was called upon, as a recognized authority in the matter, to testify before the Virginia House of Dele- gates concerning divers operations of the Virginia militia during this siege, as may be seen by comparing the Journal of the House for 17 November 1785. There seems to have been some sort of reorganization of TO 10 ^ ^■1M^10>1 il/9-{ ' y:ui: ,.-•;■• ;;;i.--^: ii; jirr'io'-"*:;' ,' 'Ji;<'- iii L-::iv^f'<-^ una .- . . .J ■.I i 162 PATTESOX OF CHESTERFIELD the Chesterfield militia after the Revolution, so that at the July Court 17S5 David Patteson again took the oath as cap- tain. He was yet again named as captain at the June Court 1787, there then being evidently another readjustment of the Chesterfield militia, as all the Chesterfield officers are enum- . erated in the county records, for ever}' company; and Dav-id Patteson took the oath at the September Court 1787. He continued an officer of these troops for the remainder of his life; and in the October of 1793 was commissioned lieutenant- colonel and made commandant, succeeding Archibald Walthall, who had resigned. David Patteson was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates for the years 1785-86-92-93-94; and with Stephen Pankey, Jr, represented Chesterfield in the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788, which met in Richmond in the June of that year, and ratified in the name and behalf of the people of Virginia, the present Federal Constitution. In passing, two of his brothers were members of the same convention: Jonathan Patteson represented Lunenburg county; and Charles Patteson, Buckingham: and David Patteson was one of the narrow majority of ten which decided that the State accept the Constitution, both of his brothers voting against it. David Patteson died in the April of 1821. His will, dated 30 December 1819, but containing codicils added 2 April 1821, was recorded at Chesterfield Courthouse 14 ]May 1821: and a list of baptisms by the Reverend William H. Hart, then rector of St. Jolm's Church, shows that David Patteson was dead 4 !May 1821, on which date several of his grand- children were baptized. A copy of this will, v\ith the re- corded inventor}' of his personal estate, is appended. "TN THE NAME OF GOD, Amen: I, David Pattesox, I of Chesterfield County, being of perfect sence and sound mind, but knowing the uncertainty of this fife, and that it is appointed for all men to die, do make this writing, to be my last Will and Testament, in manner and form following : a " rra IT^TiHO '^0 Ya SOI ":a-7 -..^ ■^a Jii'j-oir; oi\} .arrimrJY 1o ] ."^•vn ^■:.-J;-;,;i;,T ; 4i t.ai/ign J-^ M ':*>.j.oK)-j'i>'"'' i>i'Mivjv- •»!<'.) tis b':iln:>'>OT '^fJvy.ISSI ~.'>ur. '-^j ..I'n •■ijrJ:- dt>ldv/ no ,f:7.8I : uM ^ bftob ,)t,i'.7V .-■'1^ :i i r.i'.U }(.' /;ir>.n'«'»)-; f '•■•'] ■gl' \ ':5:;.v/o I!ol cmo\ PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD 163 "My soul I give to God my Maker, hoping and trusting to receive remission and pardon of all my offences, and to inherit life everlasting; my body, to be decently buried at the discretion of my Executors, whom I shall hereafter appoint. "I give and bequeath to my beloved wife Eliza Ann and to her heirs and assigns forever, a negro Girl named Grace and her increase; also my riding Carriage and harness, together with a pair of Horses now used with it; also the Crop of Com, Fodder and Oats which may be on hand at the time of my Death. I also lend her during her natural Hfe the use of six hundred acres of land and plantation whereon I now live (except about six acres on which my son Samuel hath built and resides, inclucUng his new enclosures, and so on to his spring); also the following slaves: Vizt, George, Sue, Orson, Rachel, Joe, Abbey, Yellow Aron, Dianah and her children, Harrey, Aaron, Elce, and Judey and her three children (Vizt, Randolph, Charles and Nancey); together with two mules or work Horses, Twenty head of Sheep, ten head of good Cattle, a pair of the best oxen, and the Stock of Hogs, the plantation utencils of everj' description what- soever, and all the Household and Kitchen furniture. "I give and bequeath to my son Samuel (after the death of his mother) the six hundred acres of land before mentioned, being the whole of the tract I now o^vn, to him and his heirs forever, condition ex-pressly, that half an acie including the burial ground is reserved for that purpose, to all my Family at all times forever. I also give him my library' of Books. I also give to my said son all the interest which I now hold in lands in Kentucky, with my brother Charles, which has fallen to me as a Joint Heir of my Brothers Richard, John- athan (sic) and Samuel: to him and his heirs forever. "I give and bequeath to my Daughter Ehza S. Austin two hundred dollars, to her and her heirs forever. "I give and bequeath to my daughter Francis Gilliam the negro Girl named Pattey, expressl}^ for the purpose of taking care of my poor little Grandaughter Eliza Ann: to her and her heirs forever. "I give and bequeath to my Grandaughter Betsj' Ann tot «. '''iOYi^ L •-D .)::i-' :- .,',:'^ y . r' -t ... f,, if.!/., 'xs. nrlT ,a- ^ ■''■!') 'T'^.l .i:.:v) j.ii'-i ,'.'0!T I i\v:{-f) •^'-')nt:ii 'vJl ilii ;:o> blfci-: vrrt o? <-)•/;;:{ a^-ifi I tti;/. .'-'* ,!1 3'>(i!j.TUf2l-»jr,,;l i vru oJ 164 PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD Branch a Negro Girl named Hanah; and to my Grandson Estopher Branch two hundred dollars, which shall be paid to him when he comes of Age or is Married ; but the interest is to be ammally paid toward his schooling; but in case of his death before he comes of Age, then the said Legacy is to pass to his Sisters, to them and their heirs forever. "I give to my Grandaughter Martha ^L Friend a negro girl named Lucy (daughter of MarjO, to her and her heirs forever; but in case of her death before she comes of Age or is married, then the said Girl is to return to my estate. "I give and bequeath to my Grandaughter Lucy F. Branch one hundred dollars, w'ch is to be taken out of such portion of my estate which shall be allotted to her mother: to her and her heirs forever. "My Will and desire is that my three lots in the To-smi of Manchester be sold to the best advantage: out of which sale I do direct seventy-five dollars to be paid to each of my daughters Lucy Winfree and Francis Gilliam; the balance to be applied to the payment of my Debts and Legacys; and further, that my two men Emanuel and John be hired out for two years, or longer if necessary, in aid as aforesaid provided, that they keep the Houses on my plantation in comfortable repair so long. "My Will and Desire is that all the residue of my estate not already disposed of, consisting of slaves or any description whatever, be equally divided between my son Samuel and my Daughters !Mary Branch, Martha Patteson. Lucey Winfree and Francis Gilliam, to them and their heirs forever: but in making a di\ision it is my wish that my old people be kept together as Husband and Wife: and that my estate be not appraised. "Lastily, I appoint my son Samuel, and My Friends Jas. W. Winfree and Richard Gilliam, ex'rs of this my last Will. In Witness whereof I have set my hand and seal December 30th 1819. DAVID PATTESON (Seal) "April 12, 1820. In addition to the Executors heretofore ■ « "- ' 'f-L> Mi r. ■: \1 ct .:. 1 ' ■;-;.. i ^rf^l '^-^ i ,.: , v; •';':>0j '!. ' 'o ' ■ ■■ '■::; ,n : " -li ;!/■,/ .^iniio') J- ... ■lv:- ' ■ -'■' i hr ;; ' u^ ■:_: ": .. li-yf^f p.n >nt . *i ■-^ ^f\tt (o: It «-. . t>;^;fv) . ui f nl PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD 165 named, I do hereby appoint my respected Grandson William A. Patteson with them. "Having determined to make sale of the woman Hanah, heretofore given to my Grandaughter Betsy Ann Branch, I now bequeath to her two hundred dollars in lieu thereof: Aug'st 22, 1820. "My will and desire is, I give to my grandaughter Martha M. Friend the sum of two hundred dollars, and not the negro Girl Lucy as before directed; conditioned as aforesaid: Novem'r 15. "My Will and desire is that my Executors before named may not give security for their administration to this my Will. DAVID PATTESON Ap'l 2, 1821. "/n Chesterfield county court, May the 14th 1821: This last Will and Testament of Da\id Patteson, dec'd, together with the memorandum thereon endorsed, was proven by the oath of A. S. Wooldridge and Allan McRae to be written wholly by the said Patteson ; whereupon the same was ordered to be recorded to be recorded (sic) ; and on the motion of Samuel Patteson and Richard C. Gilliam, the executors therein named, who entered into bond without security (none being required), and took the oath required, a certificate is granted them for having obtained probat thereof in due form. Teste, Parke Poindexter, C." Although no security was required, James W. Winfree gave bond for S50,000, as executor, 11 June 1821; as Samuel Patteson and Richard C. GilHam had done for S20,000, on 14 May 1821. An inventory- was recorded in October: A MEMORANDUM of the perishable property of which the late Colo: David Patteson died pos- sessed:— To Wit, Slaves: George, Sue, Peter, Molly, Joe, Abby, Aaron, Eke, Phoebe, Sam — being Old men and Women; Marj- and her four children, Letty, Randolph, Charles and Nanny; Dianna and her two Children, Elijah ■.'.} . •!■ ^f<_>:j'^'JXjI -- ;/:.: ■: ■' i-.;:^ ini;^ iti/^ vlV;'' UY/^"' L.:;:- .?;)r 'ii!£ iiiW :;-.--' vi-!t ,fr:.i!;.0 .0 bu;!')!)'! hat . . . _ •^^:i.- 7 .'>^ -.iij.:! '■jui'ityj • :;:il'^: ■■ n: /y^ f •f /■'-.■■n- .V ,r^ »r,;<,.-,; > ■ •->■. .,'r, ,,117/ V'T- A' '-A oii>: ';ii'r'. i''-T ;v (.!'.(.; "/ f>nr i-..t]-i£dD IGG PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD aiid Isaac; Elce and her child Peter; Blind Betty and her Child Milton; Grace and her two children, Mercy and Albert; Harry, Orson, Yellow Aaron, Elliok, Comehus, and Jacob; Emanuel and Jolm, Cari^enters; Rachel, Wager, Patty and Fanny; 3 Horses and two Mules; 23 Head of Sheep, 3 Work Steers, 10 Head of Cattle and 3 Calves; 38 Head of Hogs, including all sizes. "A variety of Plantation Utensils, consisting of Ploughs, One Richng Carriage, One Waggon, One Ox, and one house cart. "About 5 Barrels Com, and from 1,000 to 1,500 lbs Fodder; One Tan Mill, 5 beds. Bedsteads and furniture; a variety of Table Cloths, Towels, &c; One Desk and Bookcase; Two Dining and one tea table; Two pine Tables, One Side Board, 15 Chairs, One Chest of Drawers, Two Looking Glasses, One Set of Table China. A variety of Kitchen furniture, together with Butter pots. Jugs, &c ; M Table and 1 1 Silver tea Spoons, and one Ladle; a few knives and forks. One man and one Ladies' Riding Saddle. "Chesterfield county, August 29th 1821: {Signed) Saml Patteson, R. C. GiUiam. "In Chesterfield county court, October Sth 1821: This Inventory- and appraisement of the personal estate of Da\'id Patteson, dec'd, was returned and ordered to be recorded. Teste, Parke Poindexter." David Patteson had married, in 1769, Ehza Ann . One family tradition gives her maiden name as Anderson; another, and seemingly the more Hkely, states that she was a Miss Bro^^'ne of James City county. She survived her husband, d\-ing in 1824, and her will also is on record in Chesterfield. A copy is appended: IN THE NAME OF GOD, .\men: I, Elizabeth Axn Patteson of the county of Chesterfield, being of sound mind and memors-, but kno-\nng the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death, do make, constitute and publish this my last will and testament, in manner following: a. <{}]':> 10 / ma ;duO.:l i)/ic ,c:.i '^^oO ,J-^\UA nonaA va !!'-; / .rn.>-:TU /nirtl !i ; • ^ r.>; ; I'w i t<.< J' ; -^fi ''i . •■(•"'Vt^ .. .■ .'^ ■•:■ ■' ■::'■) .-■/.'■.i^'i '_\ ;''<■//! •.• , i ^ ■ . (■; •'.'^,;iM''J — uc./ /ria:>I ,(.'t)TL i'l Jrji-itrjrd haA fU'- .'<ts'i' hivi-Cf. ;ij \i.\n'i': ire ^j f''''. Ii''.v •/¥" ■;/.r''Viri:; -u ^'^ /.■( r.-.-i ii'^J ,7 Ti;n PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD 167 "To wit, my soul I recommend to God, the bountiful giver thereof, and mj' body to be decently intered in a Christian like manner. "Item, I Give unto my beloved daughter EUzabeth S. Austin at my death my negro woman Grace and her daughter Mercy, them and their increase, to the said Elizabeth and her heirs forever. "Item, I Give unto my Grandson Richard H. Gilliam one small negro boy named Albert, to him and his heirs forever, "It is my -vvnll and desire that my executors hereinafter named, sell my carriage and horses, and di\'ide the money equally between Sarah Ann Patteson, Sarah Patteson Branch and Susan Elizabeth Patteson. "It is my further will and desire that my grandaughter Ehzabeth Ann Branch have a mourning suit, not to exceed in costs twenty dollars, and to be paid for by Elizabeth S. Austin; and also my little granddaughter Elizabeth ]M. Winfree to have a mourning ring, not to exceed in costs seven dollars, to be paid for by EUzabeth S. Austin. "I hereby give all the residue of my estate that I may die possessed of, after the pa>inent of my just debts, to my daughter Ehzabeth S. Austin. "I do hereby appoint my friends Richard C. Gilliam and James Johnson my executors, to carry into effect this my last will and testament. "In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and aflSxed my seal, the tenth day of February eighteen hundred and twenty-two. ELIZA ANN PATTESON (Seal) "Signed, sealed and dehvered in the presence of us: {Signed) Elliott Chiles, Charles Latham. "My will and desire is that my Executors to this my will shall not be compelled to give security, and that my estate may not be appraised. ELIZABETH ANN PATTESON "Tcsf: Sam' Patteson. "In Chesterfield county court, November Sth 1824: The last ,< j-.j>3v.;h t '»<»vr.|'nirj •/(?•« i'lJni, ;r: -•■'■ ^,1 i ; : ' I ■ •i --/i^d 1 J ''fV7 v'ji -ill; (•• '. . jJ^ Jc.;:) '^m li.iii ban /niivrjt ovij :Cnr?/ITT/.-f Y'/J- UTAH t I .,,rr 168 PATl^ESON OF CHESTERFIELD ydW and testament of Elizabetli Ann Patteson, dec'd, was presented in court and proven by the oath of Elliott Chiles and Charles Latham, witnesses thereto, and ordered to be recorded. On the motion of James i\L Johnson, one of the Q Executors therein named, who entered into bond -uithout security (none being required), and took the oath prescribed -, by law, a certificate is granted him for obtaining probate •ji thereof in due form. Teste P. Poindexter. Colonel David Patteson had issue: L Mary Patteson, the oldest child, bom 28 September " 1770, who in 1787 married Thomas Branch of "Willow Hill", in Chesterfield county, and died 20 August 1825, ha\ang had issue: Elizabeth Branch, who died in infancy; Mary Branch, who married William Lithgow; Benjamin Branch, who died *; in infancy; David Henry Branch, who married Mary Branch, his first cousin; ]Martha Branch, who married John R. Walke; Obedience Branch, who married Edward W. Anderson; Thomas Turpin Branch, who died in infancy ; Thomas Branch who married, first Sarah Pride Read, and, second, Anne Adams Wheelwright; John Wilkinson Branch, who died in infancy; Lucy Frances Branch, who died unmarried; Jordan Branch, who married, first, Lucy Winfree (his first cousin), and, second, Caroline Davidson; Juhus Caesar Branch, who married ^laria Hinton; Sarah Branch, who died in infancy; and Sarah Patteson Branch, who died immarried. For the descendants of this marriage, compare Branchiana. XL David Patteson, who died without issue in 1806. The will of David Patteson, Junior, dated 1 June 1803, recorded in Chesterfield 13 January- 1806, mentions his sister Frances Gilham, his brother Samuel Patteson, the testator's friend Reverend Needier Robinson, the testator's wife Elizabeth Patteson, and the testator's father Dav-id Patteson. HI. Martha Patteson, who married James A. Patteson, and whose descendants will be spoken of hereafter. IV. Lucy Patteson, who married James Wiley Winfree, and had issue: Lucy Aim Winfree, who married Jordan Branch; David C. Winfree; and Martha Elizabeth Winfree. '■ • ..'• ; ■ .' ■: ■■' ^''';> i''.c , i.LoiiUj'/y. .. . ■ • :>-^ .^:. :, ' !5y f,-:v ■.-;: .-_'. ,',;■) hk.h, "....r ■ J ■••i...! ,', ■•_ ■/'■r,y.:i,' '[l [.'i[': (.,•-•.- .('.,;. ; S^ 'i,:;i:.:Ki :-r-^;i - i I... ,:,:(, ixiwJj. oon'i /uru?'^ jr.ia ,':iorn2fO on'W -li.:* i-iiL) oil'..' .'-iiti-jH i-r.i\ ,j; '; [:-•!. on. 7 .ir''jrf;-'a no^-'M./i rtuir.r bri.e ;'{jui;h;f ;jt P'it/j on .v PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD 169 V. Samuel Patteson, who married Elizabeth Darracott. His will, dated 30 June 1S30, recorded at Chesterfield Court- house 13 September 1830, mentions his son David Jordan Patteson and his daughter Susan Elizabeth Patteson, neither of whom left issue. VI. Frances Patteson, who married Richard C. Gilliam, and had issue: Richard H. GiUiam; Eliza Ann Gilliam; and Mary Gilliam, who married her first cousin Da\nd Nelson Patteson. VII. Sarah PATTESON,who married Major Edward Branch, and had issue: David Benjamin Estopher Branch; Mary Branch, who married her first cousin Da\'id Henry Branch; and Elizabeth Ami Branch. VIII. Nancy Patteson, who married William Friend, and had issue: Martha M. Friend, who married, first, J. M. Johnston, and, second, T. U. Dudley. IX. Eliza Patteson, who married Samuel Austin, but left no issue. COLONEL DAVID PATTESON thus left no des- cendants in the male line. The family name was, however, perpetuated among his descendants by the marriage of his daughter Martha with James A. Patteson, her first cousin once removed. He was the younger son of James Patteson, the son of David — compare page 156. This James Patteson, as has been said, was bom in New Kent county 10 February 1722-3. He eventually settled in Chesterfield county, where he resided until his death in 1707. As his will shows, he also owned lands in Amherst and Cumberland counties. The will of James Patteson, dated 23 Februan,- 1767, was recorded in Chesterfield in the May of the same year. It will be noted that David Patteson, Jr — afterward Colonel David Patteson — is a witness to the document, showing that he had by this settled in Chesterfield, and was in all probabiUty living with his uncle, the testator. A copy of the will is appended : i . . ■ • , —■,,!'{ h'-'- ■ . . ^ • > - ■ ■ ■<'! ■ . ■ -> '•.".'.' f' i • t / .v-;^ '. hr^fjCI I'^i'.vJo'^ J ,a: r'fl i .'.-nan: ^'df/ .■:>!:/;•]?> vrrT-tn i:!,'T"ii jit'iii^o i-ic :: i.fu:"-*:';; ■ ' ■.^' ..!';u;icl .ri •;. ;;^ ._;... .. '- ,M;:rK'} hj-^ :'' .n:{;i-Mi^ i'^v:\'■' r-ni-'f^f od/? ,. .'iiJ-J'a on JI'jI ^"O -• -— . .- >.)! • i • ' TO Vi. 1/ -HI • 170 PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD IN TPIE NAME OF GOD, .Ajnen: I, James Patteson of the County of Chesterfield, being in perfect sence and memory, but knowing the uncertainty of this life, do make this my last Will and Testament, in manner and form following: "I give my Soul into the Arms of Jesus Christ my Redeem- er, and my Body to the Earth, to be buried at the direction of my Ex'rs, whom I shall herein after mention; and as for what worldly Estate God hath been pleased to bless me with, I give in maimer and form f ollo\\'ing : "I lend unto my well belov'd -wife Marj', during her hfe, all that Tract of Land on James River that I purchased of Wm BjTd, Esq; and after her decease I give and bequeath unto mj-- son Nelson Patteson the said Tract of Land, con- ta'ing seven hundred and thirty-five acres, more or less, to him and his heirs forever. "Item, I give and bequeath unto my son Nelson Patteson all that Tract of Land on Appamatox River, containing four hundred Acres more or less, which I purchased of Hutchens Burton, (known by the name of let alone), to him and his heirs and Assigns forever. "Item, I give and bequeath unto my son Nelson Patteson all that Tract of Land on James River, containing four hundred acres more or less, in Cumberland County, that I purchased of Da\id Patteson, to him and his heirs forever. "Item, I give and bequeath to my son Nelson Patteson all that Tract of Land on James River, containing four hundred acres more or less, in Amherst County, that I purchased of Hutchens Burton and Robert WiUiamson, to him and his heirs forever. "Item, I give to my daughter Sarah Patteson one negro Girl named Judey and her Increase, to her and her heirs forever. "My will and desire is that, after all my just debts are paid, that the remainder part of my Estate be kept together by my Ex'rs, to be made the most of during my "wife's widowhood; that then in case my wife should marry, my will and desire is that all my slaves. Stock and Household OTI ^ -^•f i" ■. ■: ■ .''tii ..; "c- .if!. 'J .T-^/ivl xoJBiiiiqq/. no J»rsJ to JOi:i 1 ?€j1j ii« 4 '<v '.r''.!;!! od-t vd if.',' \'-.i) > J ml ,r:-,9l lO ): t£l no bnfivi to Ytnoi 9fj OJ PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD 171 furniture, with the profits and increase of my estate, after maintaining my wife and Children to that time, shall be equally divided among my wife and two children, Sarah and Nelson, and their heirs forever; except my wife's part, which she shall only Inherit during her life; and after her decease I give her part of my Estate to be equally divided among my two children Sarah and Nelson. "My will and desire is that, in Case either of my Children shou'd come of Age or married, and my ^vife remaining a Widow or being deceas'd, that then my Estate as before mentioned shall be equally divided between my Wife and two Children, or an^ong my said two Children Sarah and Nelson (as the Case shall so happen) and their Heirs forever. "My Wife ]Mar>' now behe\'ing herself to be with Child, my will and desire is: that if she brings forth a Boy, he shall have an equal part of all my Estate; but if a Girl, she share an equal part of ever\'thing except my Land. "My will and desire is that my Estate shall not be ap- prais'd. "^ "And Lastly, I do declare this to be my last will and Testament, revoking all other wills by me made; and do appoint and ordain my well belov'd wife Mar)- Executrix, and my friend Thomas Prosser and Charles Patteson (son of David Patteson) Executors, of this my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I have affixed my hand and seal, the twenty-third day of February One thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven. JAMES PATTESON (Seal) "Signed, Seal'd and Acknowledged to be the last Will and Testament of James Patteson in presence off: (Signed) James Ball, Da\'id Patteson, Jun'r, George Rowland." James Patteson and his wdfe, Marj' Nelson, had issue: I. Sarah Pattesox, of whose marriage and issue no record has been preserved. II. Nelson Patteson, bom 8 January 17G2, died 4 March 1824, who married Rebecca, daughter of Colonel Bernard in 1 '-'/''jw . . '. . .;_- ,...i /..; .i^it't , ''■;"■■':<** • :. • ., 'lt-->(UU].i) . -. -;;,..■ t^!; -T; u.'-r"!^)/! ,i''i;i J fi>; ■ Oi.» </? lio^.ioi- ij'^i '.■■■>< ■■.<'( v/o { .'i;'i/! M".i77 7lvi" ■y ■ c- ^Jv, ,hil> j: i, ... ,i • '" ■■ " '^"^m .'■>ft.':./' "^r _^ • 1 V'- Ujn !is((> 'j^i;:!5:.'J ^jn jijuJ tn sih'ju baa iirw ^M" "*' .h'fchnq f 1'^ 'liv/ ?^';' ni k{ oS k\d*. '^ifib^b ob [ ,\[i)^j?.T f-nA*- hi F b, . - Al a. ■ 172 PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD Markhara, and removed to Tennessee, li\'ing near the present Pulaski, and left issue there. His children subsequently went west, and record of them has been lost. III. Ja.mes a. Patteson, bom just after his father's death, 10 August 17G7. James A. Patteson, as has been previously said, married his cousin Martha Patteson — on 13 -March 1794. His will, dated 28 September 1815, was recorded in Chester- field 14 April 1817. A copy is appended: IN THE NAME OF GOD, Amen: I, James A. Patteson of Chesterfield County, being sick and weak of body, but of perfect sence and sound memory, and knowing that this life is verj' uncertain, and that all men are bom to die, do make and ordain this writing to be my last will and testament, in manner and form following: "My soul I give to God my maker, hoping and tmsting to receive remission of my offences and to inherit life ever- lasting; my body to be decently buried at the discretion of my executrix, whom I shall hereafter appoint. "I give unto my beloved wife Martha two negroes, viz't, Nancy and her son Minor; three horses, which she may choose; the riding carriage and harness; one half the stock of cattle, hoggs and sheep, as also one half the household and kitchen furniture of every description whatever: to her and her heirs forever; conditions however, that she do give to some one or more of our children the slaves aforenamed. "I also lend unto my said wife, during her natural life, the tract of land whereon I now Uve, together -uith five negroes, which she may choose; however, five acres of land are to be reserved out of said tract adjoining the same quantity convey'd to me by the late Wm Bro^\^le, deceased; which same ten ac's is to remain as a seat for mills or other works: one half the interest in the same I do hereby direct my executrix and executors shall convey to the heirs and repre- sentatives of the late Joseph Browne, dec'd ; the afore mention- ed five acres of land it is meant should be laid off by running ST I • I ,ll,ie'»h -:' (>dT'''l .'■i-'J Ui-: I 'Ol! \' t' :*'';i iij" :/<-'? :;•;.': ,()'■■• :'.>ULj '^>:jV ■;v ;.:.' , . vui i.. . uJ : /;■■■■'_!) 'j-it tij I::r'u.=d vljii*3v')h 9<; oi Yt)od vn: ;a.'Ti,tp.flJ v ;; ^1'^ iltiiJvc .H^jr^-^jd 'j-^iiiii riOiul/: ;to'r. led bnfi voa^VI i'.ir.< viii o?Ki.' ijjt'jl o-ila r' I d-. I j.t Vifid 9no [>i.,i -kJ bJrvih. ). PATTESON OF CHESTERFIELD 173 a paralel line with the five acres laid out by BrowTie for me. "It is my will and desire that all the remaining part of my estate of ever}- description, both real and personal shall be sold on such terms as my Executrix and Ex't's shall deem most advantageous: out of such sales I give to each of my five young Children (Vizt, Henr>-, Da\'id, Samuel, John and o= Sary Ann) the sum of one thousand dollars: after these legacies the remaining part of my estate I do will and direct to be di\'ided between my six Children, Vizt., Wilham, Henr>', David, Samuel, John and Saiy Ann. "My -will and desire is that the legacy of one thousand dollars each, and all other moneys which may fall to my five young children, shall be, as soon as may be, laid out in bank stock for their use: that said Legacies be paid them when they shall arrive at lawful age or be married; but in case }, of the death of either of my said five children before they are entitled to their di\adends, that such shares shall be equally di\'ided between the survivors. "It now is my particular injunction that particular at- tention be paid to the education of my children. "Lastly, I leave my beloved wife ^Martha executrix, and my son WilUam and friend David Patteson executors, of this my last will and testament, revoking all others. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 28th of September, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, JAMES A. PATTESON (Seal) "Witness: {No Signature) "In Chesterfield county court 1817, A-pril the 14th: This writing, purpo'ting to be the last will and testament of James A. Patteson, deceased, was presented; and it being proved by the testimonj- of James W. Winfree and Samuel Patteson that the signature to the same is in the hand writing of the said James A. Patteson, deceased, — It was thereupon ordered that the same be recorded as the last will and testament of the said decedent. Martha Patteson, executrix named, by writing under her hand duly attested, and William A. Pat- 871 ' ;"T-' ■,' ;,■.<■■