On Tuesday, 30 January 1649, Charles I took his last breaths. His head was separated from his body around 2 p.m., and those who had supported his cause scattered. Some royalist, as they were called, retired to the continent of Europe. Some came to Virginia. Richard Jones (JS-165) , the father of Cadwallader Jones (JT-143), came to Virginia.
On page 190, Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. I, is recorded 13 March 1649:
"Thomas Dale, son of Nicholas Dale, dec'd, 800 acs. on S. side of Rappa. Riv., some 8 mi. up lyeing E.N.E. upon sd. river from the mouth of Wadeing Cr. to mouth of Marsh Cr. 13 Mar. 1649, p. 211. Trans. of 16 pers: ...Richd. Jones,....". [along with 15 others].
Richard Jones (JS-165) has a story all his own. He is titled "of Eastcheap" in a few documents, thus identified with that part of London busy with markets [Especially the butcher's market.] By 20 March 1653, he had died, leaving his land to his wife Francis Jones (JS-166). This land was identified as "abutting" Col. Richard Lee upon the north side of York River in Glocester Co. On page 241, Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. I, it states:
"Col. Richard Lee, 300 acs. Glocester Co., 20 Mar. 1653, p. 27. Upon the N. side of York Riv. abutting upon land of Richard Jones dec'd, now in possession of Francis Jones, relict of sd. Richard Jones, & E.S.E. upon land of Robert Todd."
It would take a number of years to sort through all this genealogy. The ping-pong balls were flying. [see post: "Ping-Pong Genealogy", Friday, December 17, 2010.]
References are:
"Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants 1623-66", by Nell Nugent, Volume One, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969.
"The Last Days of Charles I", by Graham Edwards, Sutton Publishing, 1999.
"Virginia Under Charles I and Cromwell, 1625-1660", by Wilcomb Washburn, Clearfield Co., 1993.
"London, the biography of a city", by Christopher Hibbert, William Morrow & Co., NY, 1969.
Showing posts with label Virginia history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virginia history. Show all posts
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Virginia Land Laws after 1713 (Part II)
The failure to seat and plant the lands granted according to prescribed conditions, or to pay the quit-rent reserved, was declared to be a forfeiture both of the grant and the rights on which it was founded. In case of a petition for lapsed land, the patentee was required to appear and make sufficient proof that he had sufficiently seated and planted the land.
Surveyors for the frontier counties were required to reside in their respective counties, in order to be acquainted with the territory and avoid conflicting entries and mistakes in the surveys.
Certain steps were necessary in order to secure a title, or patent, to a tract of vacant land, and unless those necessary steps were taken, the claimant would eventually find himself dispossessed of his holdings. These steps were as follows:
1) A definite tract needed to be selected.
2) Some marks showing the intended boundaries needed to be established, either in designating natural objects such as springs, forks of streams, points of hills, cliffs, piles of stones; or the setting up of stakes, marking trees or planting stones.
3) Some improvement needed to be made to show signs of occupation.
4) A report of intention needed to be made to the county surveyor, and assurances that he understood the intention and made an entry of the same in his entry book needed to be fixed.
5) The entry and quit-rent fees had to be paid by someone (back taxes), either by the prospective owners or by the settlement promoter.
6) The surveyor needed to make a survey of the land and record the survey with a plat.
7) The surveyors report needed to be filed with the secretary for the colony.
8) The report needed to lie two years to see whether a conflicting claim would be filed.
9) The petition for the grant needed to be considered by the Governor and Council in executive session and an order made for the patent to be issued.
10) The patent itself was a grant from the King for the certain tract or parcel of land described in the survey written on parchment by the secretary and signed by the then acting Governor of the Colony.
11) The complete description in duplicate was then recorded in a patent book and the parchment delivered to the person named in the grant.
Every tract of land whether large or small had its patent, which in the Colony of Virginia was a grant from the King. While the King personally had no hand in the ordinary procedure, these original papers were important documents. In case of an inclusive survey, the patents to the smaller individual tracts were supposed to be surrendered for the larger one.
Surveyors for the frontier counties were required to reside in their respective counties, in order to be acquainted with the territory and avoid conflicting entries and mistakes in the surveys.
Certain steps were necessary in order to secure a title, or patent, to a tract of vacant land, and unless those necessary steps were taken, the claimant would eventually find himself dispossessed of his holdings. These steps were as follows:
1) A definite tract needed to be selected.
2) Some marks showing the intended boundaries needed to be established, either in designating natural objects such as springs, forks of streams, points of hills, cliffs, piles of stones; or the setting up of stakes, marking trees or planting stones.
3) Some improvement needed to be made to show signs of occupation.
4) A report of intention needed to be made to the county surveyor, and assurances that he understood the intention and made an entry of the same in his entry book needed to be fixed.
5) The entry and quit-rent fees had to be paid by someone (back taxes), either by the prospective owners or by the settlement promoter.
6) The surveyor needed to make a survey of the land and record the survey with a plat.
7) The surveyors report needed to be filed with the secretary for the colony.
8) The report needed to lie two years to see whether a conflicting claim would be filed.
9) The petition for the grant needed to be considered by the Governor and Council in executive session and an order made for the patent to be issued.
10) The patent itself was a grant from the King for the certain tract or parcel of land described in the survey written on parchment by the secretary and signed by the then acting Governor of the Colony.
11) The complete description in duplicate was then recorded in a patent book and the parchment delivered to the person named in the grant.
Every tract of land whether large or small had its patent, which in the Colony of Virginia was a grant from the King. While the King personally had no hand in the ordinary procedure, these original papers were important documents. In case of an inclusive survey, the patents to the smaller individual tracts were supposed to be surrendered for the larger one.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Virginia Land Laws (Part IV) Escheated Lands
Titles to lands previously granted [before 1704] were confirmed, whether duly recorded or not, but after that time all patents and the rights on which they were founded were required to be recorded. Patentees were required to seat [settle] and plant the granted lands within three years. Seating and planting meant the building of one acre. A failure to so seat and plant a grant within the prescribed three years meant a forfeiture of the grant and of the right on which it was founded. Time was extended to three more years in case of the death of the grantee. If lands were forfeited (escheated), they might not be patented to another for three years after the date of the first patent, and not then without an order of the general court. If any patented tract was found to contain more than the patent expressed, the patentee might obtain a patent for the surplus.
Every form (patent) contained a reservation of a fee rent (tax) of one shillings for every fifty acres and a requirement that the premises should be seated and planted within three years from the date of the grant. This fee rent (tax) for each fifty acres was the so-called quit rent. This "rent" was often waived for the benefit of the early settlers into an area which the Governor or Council felt beneficial to the colony. A Rent Roll of Virginia 1704 - 1705 was taken and described as : " A True and Perfect Rent Roll of all the Lands held by her Majesty in...(each county listed)" This account gives the owners and their acres of land patented in each county of Virginia for 1704. This reference is published in a book entitled :
"The Planters of Colonial Virginia", by Thomas Wertenbaker, Princeton University Press, 1922. It is a tax record and land record of all Virginia that had been settled up to this point. This record is an invaluable resource for the genealogist who has reached this date in their family tree climbing.
Escheated lands were forfeited or lapsed lands. This term appears in many of the records during this period.
Every form (patent) contained a reservation of a fee rent (tax) of one shillings for every fifty acres and a requirement that the premises should be seated and planted within three years from the date of the grant. This fee rent (tax) for each fifty acres was the so-called quit rent. This "rent" was often waived for the benefit of the early settlers into an area which the Governor or Council felt beneficial to the colony. A Rent Roll of Virginia 1704 - 1705 was taken and described as : " A True and Perfect Rent Roll of all the Lands held by her Majesty in...(each county listed)" This account gives the owners and their acres of land patented in each county of Virginia for 1704. This reference is published in a book entitled :
"The Planters of Colonial Virginia", by Thomas Wertenbaker, Princeton University Press, 1922. It is a tax record and land record of all Virginia that had been settled up to this point. This record is an invaluable resource for the genealogist who has reached this date in their family tree climbing.
Escheated lands were forfeited or lapsed lands. This term appears in many of the records during this period.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Virginia Land Laws (Part II) Importation Rights
Under Queen Anne (1702) the Crown took a new interest in the land laws of the colonies. By 1705, there was completed a general revival of the laws, with three acts passed prescribing the forms of patents.
The first was called "importation rights". Every free immigrant to the Colony, other than transient persons, had an importation right to fifty acres of land. It allowed that every imported servant, after the term of service expired, had the right to fifty acres. Every immigrant, bringing with him a wife and children, to fifty acres for his wife and each child. It clarified that the immigrant only, or those to whom he should assign his rights in the presence of two witnesses, should be entitled to such rights, or certificate. The proof of such importation rights should be made, on oath, before the general or a county court. A certificate was to be produced in the secretary's office; upon which the secretary should grant the claimant a certificate. Based upon this certificate, any surveyor might lay off the quantity expressed, on any vacant land. The survey was then to be returned to the secretary's office, and a patent could be issued.
This first "right" would certainly encourage those to come to the colonies.
The first was called "importation rights". Every free immigrant to the Colony, other than transient persons, had an importation right to fifty acres of land. It allowed that every imported servant, after the term of service expired, had the right to fifty acres. Every immigrant, bringing with him a wife and children, to fifty acres for his wife and each child. It clarified that the immigrant only, or those to whom he should assign his rights in the presence of two witnesses, should be entitled to such rights, or certificate. The proof of such importation rights should be made, on oath, before the general or a county court. A certificate was to be produced in the secretary's office; upon which the secretary should grant the claimant a certificate. Based upon this certificate, any surveyor might lay off the quantity expressed, on any vacant land. The survey was then to be returned to the secretary's office, and a patent could be issued.
This first "right" would certainly encourage those to come to the colonies.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Pioneers to Cavaliers
My family to Kentucky were some of the first to settle in this new territory, thus pioneers. My family to Virginia were some of those who fled England at the close of the English Civil War, thus Cavaliers. [Cavaliers were those who had supported Charles I of England in his struggles with the Puritans and Parliament.]
For the colony of Virginia, one of the best historical record of this time period is called of all things "Cavaliers and Pioneers"! What a deal, my family in reverse! My first book in the series of records was obtained just out of high school, and as I type this post I have the copy in front of me. The publisher's introduction reads:
"The first printing of Cavaliers and Pioneers in 1934, undoubtedly represented one of the greatest contributions ever made to facilitate the study of early Virginia genealogy and history."
The Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, Maryland reprinted copies in 1963, and in 1969. My copy is of course the 1969 edition. As time went on, the Virginia State Library, Richmond, started publishing the documents beginning in 1977. What followed was a series of Virginia land patent documents right up to the firing of George III, July 1776! This series has become the root of colonial Virginia tree climbing. The following gives an outline of this remarkable series:
Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants...
Volume I, 1623 - 1666, abstracted and indexed by Nell Marion Nugent, 1934.
Volume II, 1666 - 1695, abstracted and indexed by Nell Marion Nugent, 1977.
[Nell Marion Nugent was the custodian of the Virginia Land Office from 1925 - 1958]
Volume III, 1695 - 1732, abstracted and indexed by Neill Marion Nugent, 1979.
Volume IV, 1732 - 1741, edited by Denis Hudgins, 1994.
Volume V, 1741 - 1749, edited by Denis Hudgins, 1994.
Volume VI, 1749 - 1762, edited by Denis Hudgins, 1998.
Volume VII, 1762 - 1776, edited by Denis Hudgins, 1999.
Standing upon the shoulders of these giants of genealogy, you can begin to explore the history and geography of your ancestors in colonial Virginia.
For the colony of Virginia, one of the best historical record of this time period is called of all things "Cavaliers and Pioneers"! What a deal, my family in reverse! My first book in the series of records was obtained just out of high school, and as I type this post I have the copy in front of me. The publisher's introduction reads:
"The first printing of Cavaliers and Pioneers in 1934, undoubtedly represented one of the greatest contributions ever made to facilitate the study of early Virginia genealogy and history."
The Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, Maryland reprinted copies in 1963, and in 1969. My copy is of course the 1969 edition. As time went on, the Virginia State Library, Richmond, started publishing the documents beginning in 1977. What followed was a series of Virginia land patent documents right up to the firing of George III, July 1776! This series has become the root of colonial Virginia tree climbing. The following gives an outline of this remarkable series:
Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants...
Volume I, 1623 - 1666, abstracted and indexed by Nell Marion Nugent, 1934.
Volume II, 1666 - 1695, abstracted and indexed by Nell Marion Nugent, 1977.
[Nell Marion Nugent was the custodian of the Virginia Land Office from 1925 - 1958]
Volume III, 1695 - 1732, abstracted and indexed by Neill Marion Nugent, 1979.
Volume IV, 1732 - 1741, edited by Denis Hudgins, 1994.
Volume V, 1741 - 1749, edited by Denis Hudgins, 1994.
Volume VI, 1749 - 1762, edited by Denis Hudgins, 1998.
Volume VII, 1762 - 1776, edited by Denis Hudgins, 1999.
Standing upon the shoulders of these giants of genealogy, you can begin to explore the history and geography of your ancestors in colonial Virginia.
Friday, July 23, 2010
A New River
While the Shawnee, Cherokee, and Iroquois were fighting over this land they all seemed to want to claim, the colony of Virginia was trying to find its way around. Taking less than 32 years, they had settled the coastal areas and were wondering what was beyond the mountains to the west. Exploration to the head waters of the rivers that flowed to the Ocean [called The Tidewater] had only shown other mountains to the west, and only rivers that flowed to the eastern Atlantic coast. The Virginia Assembly in June 1641 encouraged individuals to undertake the discovery of a new river or unknown land with a river that would flow to the west. To the explorer this would mean reaching the other side of the mountains and perhaps being the first to discover a waterway to the long sought after route to China. The Assembly allowed those who discovered such a river to have exclusive right to the discovery for fourteen years. Their heirs, executors or administrators or assigns could enjoy all profit whatsoever. Wow, what a deal! You only had to get there first.
The first to get there and record their accomplishment were Edward Bland, merchant; Abraham Wood, Captain; Sackford Brewster, gentleman; and Elias Pennant, gentleman. Writing August 27, 1650, they describe the "...firft River in New Brittaine, which runneth Weft; being 120. Mile South-west, between 35. & 37 degrees, (a pleafant Country,)..." Imagine the excitement that this discovery produced, offering fame and wealth to those who could explore and settle this "new river". Now, for a genealogist, imagine the excitement this produced when you realized that two of these folks were family members!
To those who know early Virginia history, they know that Abraham Wood was the founder of Fort Henry (1646); and he was the first to open many doors to these western mountains. He arrived in Virginia at the young age of 8, and was 10 years of age in 1623 when the "Musters of The Inhabitants In Virginia" were recorded. His second wife was Margaret Jones, a widow who already had some Jones boys---Abraham, Richard, Peter, and William. These Jones boys had a lot to do with the naming and settlement of Petersburg, Virginia. Now, Elias Pennant seemed to be one of the backers [money lenders who were usually other family members] and he carried the same Jones blood that my Jones family carried from Wales. Both the Pennant and Jones families were descendants of Tudor Trevor, the founder of many Welsh and English surnames. But, that's another story.
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