New Kent County, VA - Some History from Vol. 4, No. 2, William and Mary Quarterly ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 2. (Oct., 1895), pp. 115-116. Page 115 NEW KENT COUNTY. 115 sd countys there to pporcon the Billets for each house according to their capacity of entertainemt & in such pte of ye sd two counties as may be most for ye convenience of ye Souldiers & care of ye inhabi- tants to whome I have ordered two shillings A week for each Souldiers accommodacon & the officers to pay any other pte of ye country And yt this his Ma'ties cervice may be the better & more effectually pformed doe hereby desire & require Coll Joseph Bridger to meet ye Justices & to assist in ye more speedy dispatch of ye sd service And hereof they are not to fayle att their perill Given under my hand this 14th July 1677 HERBt JEFFRYES To coll Jos Bridger & any four or more of his Ma'ties Justices of each county of Nansamond & Isle of Wight This warrt was prsented by Capt Tounge to be ye honoble Governr Act ye 19th July 1677 & ordered to be Recorded Test JNo BROMFIELD Clr. ____________________ NEW KENT COUNTY. [Extract from the Register of St. Peter's Parish] A STRANGE STORY OF THE FIRING OF THE COURTHOUSE. The office and Prison burnt the night of the 15th of July 1787. August the 7th Sauney (?) a negro boy belonging to Mr Wm Cham- berlayne was condemned to be hanged by our court for being a partie in the said firing. The same day Mr Thos Green confessed he was an assistant likewise and the whole executed by a Mr John Price Posey who came with Mr John P. Custis into this county as his steward. The same day the said Posey was comited to the care of a strong guard to be carefully kept till Wednesday the 15th when a call'd court is order'd by Wm H. Macon Gent, a Justice for the county, to inquire and have a full hearing of said Posey's burning said Prison and Office. August 15th 1787 being the day appointed for the above exami- nation. Present eight members and the examination began about 12 o'clock and continued till near sunset when the question was put and the court was of opinion that the said Posey should have a further hearing. Accordingly was sent to the Great Gaol the next day being the 16th. The first of Octr his tryal came on in the Gen'l Court and found guilty--when he appealed to the High Court of Chancery and be- ing found Guilty appealed to the Court of Appeals, when there was nine out of ten found him guilty After which Judge Lyons, after Page 116 116 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY. a most learned speech, which drew tears from near all present, ask'd the dreadful question (To wit) if he could shew cause why sentence of death should not pass upon him, which so shocked the prisoner, that for some time the organs of speech had left him till at length he spoke to this effect, that he was guilty of the charge and pray'd mercy. Jan'y 18th 1788 was then appointed for the execution. The time arriving he pray'd a week which was granted, and on Jan'y 25 he was executed at the Gallows in Richmond and buried in this county. Tis to be noted that the above Posey served in this county as a Magistrate sometime and once represented it in the General As- sembly. ___________________ THE THRUSTON FAMILY OF VIRGINIA. (Continued from Page 23.) The following, in correction of the article published in last number, is suggested by R. C. Ballard Thruston, of Louisville, Ky.: "1st. Malachias Thurston, instead of Thruston. He lived at West Buck- land, near Wellington, and his old home is still standing. On the tombstones and tablets in the church there the name is spelled both ways, and there, as at Bristol, both with and without a terminal e, though the record book was without this e. "2nd. The only town in Wilts County, which could have been referred to, is Heytesburg, so far as the maps show. "3rd. John Thruston had sixteen children by his first wife, Thomasine Rich, and eight by his second. Your article would indicate twenty-four by the first, unless the reader were to count them from the following copy of the record. "4th. Your list of those who arrived at the age of 21 is wrong. Justian died at the age of 11, and the names of (19) Grace, (20) Rachael, and (24) Sara were omitted, their deaths, as well as those of (7) Ann, (8) Malachy, (16) Justian, and (24) James, not being recorded." After the death of John Thruston, the chamberlain, the book came to the hands of his son, Dr. Edward Thruston. In the Nor- folk county records there is a power of attorney from "Edward Thruston, of Long Ashton, in the county of Somersett, Chyrurgeon," to Walter Bayley, of Long Ashton aforesaid, shipwright, to dis- pose of his interest by courtesy in "the plantation at Martin's Hundred in James River, which I hold by right of my former wife, Anne, the daughter of Mr. Thomas Loveing, of Martin's Hun- dred, merchant, now deceased." To this power is an addition by