Historical Notes; Wm. and Mary Qrtly., Vol. 3, No. 1 Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ 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 *********************************************************************** Historical Notes William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 1. (Jul., 1894), pp. 68-74. HISTORICAL NOTES. LIGHTFOOT. The genealogy of this family will be concluded in the next issue. FITZHUGH - COOK - BEALE. Mr. Douglas H. Thomas, of Baltimore, Md., writes as follows: "Referring to page 30, No. 1, Vol. II [Mr. Brock's paper on Virginia's Past Portraiture], regarding consecutive series of family portraits, I have something quite unique myself. I allude to the portraits of the Fitzhugh family and de- scendants, direct male and female in line, from 1643 to date, embracing por- traits of nine generations in direct line, broken only by the absence of the portrait of the fourth generation, to wit: 1. Henry Fitzhugh, of Bedford, England, born 1614. (Son of William Fitzhugh). 2. Col. William Fitzhugh, of Bedford, King George County, Va. born 1651, died 1751. 3. Capt. Henry Fitzhugh, of Bedford, King George County, Va., born 1687, died 1758. 4. Thomas Fitzhugh, of "Boscobel", born 1725, died 1768 (Missing). 5. Susanna Fitzhugh, of "Boscobel", born 1751, died 1823; Wife of Wm. Knox of Windsor Lodge, Va. 6. Annie Campbell Knox, of Windsor Lodge, Va. born 1784, died 1867. Wife of Basil Gordon, of Falmouth, Va. 7. Annie Campbell Gordon, of Falmouth, Va., born 1819, died 1886. Wife of Dr. John Hanson Thomas. 8. Myself. 9. My children. Capt. Henry Fitzhugh married Susanna Cooke (1693-1749). She was the daughter of Mordecai Cooke, of "Mordecai Mount", Gloucester County, Va. He was High Sheriff of Gloucester County 1698, and Justice of the Peace, and Burgess 1702- 14. I am very anxious to ascertain the name of his wife. Can you help me? The John and Mordicai Cooke mentioned in the Quarterly, I think in number 4, Vol. II were evidently his son and grandson. Can you give me the family name of the wife of Thomas Beale? See Quarterly Vol. II, No. 1, page 25. Her Christian Page 69. name was Ann, and she married William Colston, as I find, among the records of Rappahannock Co., the following: "At a Court held for Rappahannock County August 7, 1689, upon the humble petition of William Colston who married, and for and on behalf of Mrs. Anne Beale, relict of Mr. Thomas Beale, deceased, etc."' [Capt. Thomas Beal's tomb (1679) at 'Chestnut Hill', Richmond County, states that he married 'Anne, daughter of William Gouge', In the York Records 27 Feb, 1671-2., Thomas Beale jr. is mentioned as "intermarrying Mrs. Anne Gooch." The tombstone, 1655, of Major William Gooch (pronounced Gouge), of the Council is in the old York Church ruins at Temple Farm, York County.] - EDITOR. FOX - COCKERILL - ROBERTSON. "Thebie Fox, of Va., whose mother was an Alison, married John Cockerill (said to have been an English Emigrant) and had one son John, born Dec. 19, 1757; she 2ndly married David Collinsworth (said to have been an Irish Emigrant), and had another son, Edmund; she 3rdly married ----- Kells, and died, without any Kells issue, at the home of her son, Edmund Collinsworth, near Nashville, Tenn. She was kin to the Claibornes, Balls, and Daingerfields. She came of an aristocratic Ca. Fox family. Can any one give me a clue to her genealogy? Her son, John Cockerill, Jr., served in the Va. Militia in the relief of Ft. Watango 1776, and next year under Mackintosh. In 1779-80, he went with James Robertson's colony to the Cumberland River; he married Robertson's sister, Mrs. Ann Johnson, and died in Nashville, Tenn., April 11, 1837. James Robertson was born in Brunswick Co., Va., June 28, 1742, moved to Wake Co., N.C., with his father, about 1750, was one of the 'Regulators' of 1771, was Captain at the Battle of Pt. Pleasant, Va., Sept. 1774, settled Nashville, Tenn. 1769-79 - made Brigadier General by Washington 1792, died at Chickasaw Bluff, (Memphis), Sept. 1, 1814. These facts about him cam be found in any good Dictionary of American Biography. He is said to have been de- scended from the Yorkshire Gowers, of whom the Duke of Sutherland is now chief. Who can give me any light on his genealogy?" - Granville Goodloe, Arkadelphia, Arkansas. KEMPE. "Richard Kempe's will (at Somerset House, England), is dated 1649, and proved 1656. His legatees are his Page 70. wife Elizabeth, daughter Elizabeth, 'Uncle' Ralph Wormeley, brother Edward Kemp, and nephew Edmund Kemp (who, from the gift of servants or to come in, was evidently in Va.) and various friends. When the will was proved the daughter (an infant) was dead, as was the Uncle Ralph Wormeley, and the will was proved by the widow who was then Elizabeth Lunsford. You can find out a good deed about R. Kempe from Hening and Neill, R. Wormeley, who died between 1649 and 1656, was the first Ralph Wormeley (perhaps he was the wife's uncle, and she a daughter of Christopher Wormeley). From the Visitation of Suffolk it appears that Robert Kempe, Esq., of Gissing, had issue (1) Robert, (2) Edward, (3) Richard, (4) Edmund. The eldest son Robert was created a baronet in 1614, and the title is still extant". - W. G. Stanard. WASHINGTON. "One of your numbers, Vol. II, No. 2, October, 1893, page 113, makes Wm. Augustine Washington a brother of the General; it is a mistake, he was the son of the General's halfbrother, Augustine; being my great-grandfather I can speak with authority. Wm. Aug. Washington married Jane, daughter of the General's own brother John Aug. Washington, and much confusion is often occasioned by the many Augustines." Mary Washington Keyser, 104 West Monument Street, Washington. PORTRAITS. "It may interest you, perhaps, to know that my mother, Mrs. James Speyers, has an oil painting of her ancestor Samuel Vatch (the 1st Governor of Nova Scotia) and one of his wife and child - He married the daughter of Robert Livingston in 1700. The child married Nicholas Bayard of N.Y. Both pictures are by Sir Peter Lely - (See Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography - page 284, Vol. 6th). She has his Commission from William and Mary, Queen Anne, and George 1st. She has also a picture of her uncle, Hugh Bayard, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, son of Genl. Wm. Bayard, who owned Hoboken and a great part of Wall St., all con- fiscated on account of his loyalty to his King - George III. Should you pass through our city, we will be happy to show you the pictures, if you care to see them". Albert G.P. Speyers, 415 West 23d St., New York. (Grandson of Admir- Page 71. al George Pigot (R. Navy), who married a daughter of Wm. Bayard, of N.Y. THORNTON. "William Thornton of 'The Cottage', in King George County, married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of George Mason, of Gunston. She was born at 'Gunston Hall' in 1768, and baptized by the Rev. Lee Massey, rector of Truro Parish, Mr. Martin Cockburn standing godfather, and Mrs. Ann Cockburn and Mrs. Elizabeth Bronaugh godmothers. Wililam and Elizabeth Mason Thornton had two sons, George and William, who were at William and Mary College with their cousins, George and William Mason, of 'Mattawoman'. One of these young Thorntons committed suicide, while at college, from dpression of spirits at his failure in his studies, according to family tradition. The other son died young and unmarried. Mrs. Thornton died before her husband. 'Blessed' surveyed for Rowland Thornbury - 31, uly 1694. north east branch of Jones's Falls - 'possr sd Thornbury is orpn, born into Virginia' [1703 or about that time.] 'Barbadoes' - 75 acres, yearly rent 0-3-0, 29th April, 1682 for Randolph Brand, being an Island in Potomac near the falls, over against Rock Creek, commonly called Anacostin Island. Possessor Rand Brand in Virginia. These two entries are from the Calvert Rent Rolls, Historical Society - Baltimore Maryland." Kate Mason Rowland. LANIER - WASHINGTON - BALL. "It is well known that Welles' 'Washington family', and the 'Sketch of J.F.D. Lanier', 1877, claim that the Lanier family of Virginia and North Carolina are of Washington and Ball descent. Welles, p. 112, marries 'Elizbeth Washington, 3d child of Col. John Washington, Bridge Creek, Va 1665, to Thomas Lanier, son of Lewis Lanier, of France, 1687. Of their five children Sampson, b. Va 1700, had Lewis Lanier, b. Bridge Creek 1736, who m. 'Miss Ball, sister of General Washington's mother'. From this Lewis he deduces a long list of descendants, not one of whom appears to bear a Washington or Ball name. In the 'Sketch of J.F.D. Lanier', p. 82, this deduction from Elizabeth, daughter of Col John Washington, is given on the authority of G.W.P. Custis Esq. Page 72. The chart there given is so erroneous that it contradicts itself. It is thus: Col. John Washington = | | | Elizabeth=Thomas Lanier Augustine=Mary Ball. | | | George Sampson= | | Lewis=Miss Ball, sister of Mary Ball, the mother of Washington. In 'Virginia Genealogies', p. 43, I show the impossibility of such a Ball marriage, and the above chart, by omitting one generation of Washingtons, (that of Lawrence, father of Augustine), shows its worthlessness. The entire ab- sence of the name of Lanier from the Washington wills published by Ford and Toner, and from the correspondence of Washington; the absence of an Elizabeth Washington from the Washington records of such a date as that given to Mrs. Thomas Lanier is strong presumptive proof against the claim that the Laniers have any Washington blood in their Virginia line. Having lately given some special attention to this matter, I venture the present effort at a solution of this Washington-Ball tradition, so long held by the Laniers. This tradition is thus stated in the Lanier book p. 5-6 and 78-84. 1. 'Thomas Lanier, of Bordeau, France, went to England, thence with John Washington to this country, where he subsequently married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Washington, and settled in North Carolina. 2. His grandson, Lewis Lanier, son of Sampson 'married a Miss Ball, a sister of the mother of General Washington', * * 'The marriage of my great grandfather with a SISTER OF THE MOTHER OF GENERAL WASHINGTON is a well established tra- dition in our family, but I POSSESS NO AUTHENTIC RECORD OF THE FACT'. The italics are mine. [For the purpose of this transcription, the quote is capitalized]. - klm On p. 84, the poet Sidney Lanier adds to the tradition thus: 'In a letter from Mrs. A.K.L. Bryson, great-great-grandchild of Thomas Lanier I find the following paragraph, 'Lewis Lanier married a very interesting woman in North Carolina; Page 73. if I mistake not she was a Miss Ball. I think she was a sister of General George Washington's mother, as my grandmother called Mrs. Washington aunt.' As to tradition No. 1, it is in evidence from the Lanier book that Thomas Lanier was not the contemporary with Col. John Washington. Col. John Washington was born cir 1633-4; Lewis Lanier, grandson of Thomas, who 'came to Va. with Col. John Washington', was born 1707. The Lanier book, p. 78, states on the authority of another branch of the family that Thomas Lanier came to Va. from Great Britain somewhere between 1691 and 1716. On p. 80, it says that he had a grant of Crown lands in Va. 1747, adjoining one Shepherd Lanier. Other grants to him are noted, given in 1751-1760, and 1768, all of which contradicts the assertion that he was a contemporary with Col. John Washington, who, b. 1633-4, came here 1677. On p. 77, it also claims that this Thomas was a lineal descendant of Sir John Lanier of King William's army 1690. This contradictory tradition, with a failure to discover any Elizabeth Washington among the children of the emigrant Washington, disposes of the Lanier-Washington claim. As to tradition No. 2, It is very probably true that a Lanier did marry the sister of Mary Washington, and that Mrs. Bryson was right in her statement that her grandmother called Mrs. Washington 'aunt'. I take it that Lewis Lanier, the grandson, b. 1736, was son of Sampson Lanier, b. circa 1712-13, who was the son of a Thomas Lanier, b. circa 1680-90, came to Virginia circa 1709-10, married 1712, Eliza Johnson, the stepdaughter of Col. Joseph Ball, Lancaster Co., Va., and the halfsister of Mary Ball, the mother of Washington, and that the latter was thus the 'aunt' of Sampson and Lewis Lanier. As I show in 'Virginia Genealogies' p. 58, and especially in my paper en- titled 'Mary Washington', published in the Magazine of American History, July 1893, Col. Joseph Ball had only one child by his second wife, who was Mrs. Mary Johnson, a widow; that child was Mary, the mother of Washington. He had no daughter who could correspond with the wife of Lewis Lanier, b. 1736. His daughter Elizabeth (Mrs. Carnegie), died before 1711. It is known however that he did have a stepdaughter, Eliza Johnson, to whom in 1711 he by will devised 100 acres in Lancaster Co., Va. She was the daughter of Mrs. Mary Johnson, he 2d wife, by a former hus- Page 74. band, and thus halfsister to Mary Ball. Mary was born 1708, not as is per- sistently asserted by careless writers - Nov. 30, 1706, a year before her parents wre married! Of the history of Eliza Johnson subsequent to Col. Ball's death I have learned nothing definite. There is not a word of evidence that her mother with her children went to England, as is stated by Marian Harland, Hon. Jno. W. Daniel at the monument of Mrs. Washington May, 1894, and others. Mary Ball was probably never in England, certainly was never married there. Col. Ball gave his wife a part of his estate during her natural life, with stock, slaves, etc.; to his daughter Mary, he gave 400 acres in Richmond Co.; to Eliza Johnson, 100 acres in Lancaster Co. The Lancaster Co. records could show what dis- position she made of this land. She was probably 15 or 18 years old when Col. ball died, born say 1695, and of suitable age to have married Thomas Lanier. On no other hypothesis can I explain the tradition repeated by Mrs. Bryson that her grandmother called Mrs. Washington 'aunt', and the tradition thus accounted for that a Lanier married a sister of the mother of General Washington, that this. - i.e: Thomas Lanier b. say 1680-90, came to Va. about 1700 to 1710, m. about 1711-12 Eliza or Elizabeth Johnson, halfsister to the mother of Washington, had Sampson Lanier, b. say 1712-13, who had Lewis Lanie b 1736. Eliza and Elizabeth are the same name, and were so used in the 18th century. The close association of rs. Lanier with the Washingtons, through the marriage of her halfsister Mary, will easily account for the introduction of the name Washington into the herein tradition. I will be glad if any one can corroborate or disprove the above hypothesis." Horance Edwin Hayden. WIATT. [See page 35] John Wiatt born May 15, 1732, (O.S.), and died January 5, 1805, married Mary, daughter of Christian and Elizabeth Todd, of Toddsbury, on North River. One son, issue of this marriage, Dr. W.E. Wiatt, born 1762, and died Dec. 26, 1802, married to Mary, daughter of John and Elizabeth Graham, Feb.8th, 1781. Children: John Wiatt married Carolina Dabney. Dr. W.E. Wiatt married Louisa Stubbs, daughter of Jno. S. Stubbs, Eleanor married Col. Scott, Eliza Maria married Walker Jones, Cols. Thomas Todd and Hawte who never married [From the family record of Dr. Walker Jones].