On 22 Oct 1667 Thomas Duke
in the Parish of Chucktuck, Nansemond County, gave power of attorney to William
Epam [Exum] to receive cattle belonging to his wife Margaret that were in the
care of Silvester
Thacker in Rappahannoch (Old Rappahannock Co VA Deeds Bk 3: 345). Thatcher or
Thacker as first granted land in 1643 on Pagan Point in Isle of Wight Co VA,
with Anthony Fulliam.[i] However, he soon moved on.
In 1650 Thacker was granted a thousand
acres on the Rappananock.[ii] In 1656 Thacker acquired
1000 acres on the Rappahanock,[iii] and again in 1660.[iv] In
her history of the Duke family (actually covering several unrelated families) Brandenberger speculates that Thacker was holding
an inheritance for Margaret
Duke.
The Exums were also from
Isle of Wight Co VA. William Exum was the son of immigrant Thomas Exum.
WilliamÕs son, William Exum Jr., obtained land on the south side of the main
Blackwater Swamp at Round Hill in 1723.[v] His grandson Joseph Exum
married Elizabeth
Kinchen, daughter of William Kinchen and sister of Patience Kinchen who married
Ethelred Taylor II. JosephÕs brother Robert Exum married Patience Williamson,
daughter of George Williamson and Hester Bridger, and was party to a 1737 deed
for land north of the
Blackwater Swamp, also signed by various Williamsons and Elizabeth Joyner and
witnessed by John Clayton. Thomas Hardyman (of the Surry Co family that
intermarried with the family of Elizabeth Taylor Duke), and Thomas Morein.[vi]
All of these connections indicate that
Thomas Duke of Nansemond County had his closest ties in neighboring Isle of
Wight Co VA, in the same local areas where both Elizabeth Duke Taylor and John
Duke of Isle of Wight lived and with families closely associated with the Duke and Taylor families.
In 1702 Thomas Duke was
granted 350 acres at Barham in Nansemond County adjoning Peter Phalus, a atree
in the line fo Richard Barfield to a branch on the side of Barham Swamp (VPB
19: 479).
Chuckatuck was the site of
a substantial Quaker
settlement.[vii]
In 1678 the following
patent is of interest: Ò10 Nov 1678. 176 acres part therof patented 10 Nov 1678
to Wm. Speight Òat a place called BarbicueÓ . . . adj. Humphry Griffin . . . to
an island in Cross Swamp, to the land of James Duke.Ó[viii]
John Duke, son of Thomas,
had 400 acres by patent in 1703, and on 8 Apr 1711 Thomas Duke, son of Thomas,
and John Duke acquired a grant along the line of Thomas Duke next to Francis
Mace (VPB 10:397).
William Duke was assigned 600 acres of land
on Chippokes Creek between Surry and Prince George Counties, later identified
as escheated and claimed by his widow Hannah Grendon and her fourth husband,
William Archer. William Duke was referred to asÒof MartinÕs Brandon.Ó MartinÕs Brandon is immediately
east of Flowerdew Hundred in Prince George Co. VA, and immediately west of
Upper Chippokes Creek. This may have been the same individual for whom
Justinian Cooper claimed credit for transport in 1639.[ix] Cooper received land at the head of Lawnes Creek in
eastern Surry Co, but this would not necessarily dictate where William Duke
settled, and the distance between the two locations is not great in any case.
In 1671 William Bird, agent
for Sadler and Quiney in the colony, purchased a grist mill at the head of Chippokes Creek, which
divides Prince George and Surry counties (Surry Co VA Deed Bk 1, p. 387). Bird
was married to Hannah Grendon, widow of Thomas Jennings. By 29 Sep 1672 records
show that his son Thomas Bird had inherited the mill.
(Thomas Bird died by 5 Jan
1688, when his widow Mary had remarried to George Nicholson. He left three
daughters, among them Elizabeth, wife of John Lanier, who with her sisters
inherited BirdÕs land on the South Branch of Upper Chippokes Creek. The
Lanier connection will later be of interest.)
By 1772 William Duke had married the widow of
William Byrd, Hannah Grendon:[x]
Abstract. William Duke and
Hannah his wife, relict and admrx of William Bird, decÕd., to put in security
for sd administration, exhibit
inventory, etc. Also appointed guardian of her daughter Elizabeth one of the
orphans of Thomas Bird decd and ordered to put in security for her part of the
estate. Also that Nevet Wheeler guardian of Thomas Bird one of the orphans of
Thomas Bird put in
security.
Duke was further involved in settling the affairs
of ByrdÕs estate:[xi]
Ordered -- Robert Wynne and
Nicho Wyatt to meet at Martins Brandon, examinek, witness, and prepare for
trial the case of John Sadlier and Thomas Quiney by Tho Blayton their atty against Wm. Duke &
Hannah his wife, admx of Wm. Bird decd.
And further:
[xii]
20th Aug. 1672
"Mr. Sherwood: Pray
appear and Prosecute an Action agt (against) Mr. Richd Welback att my Suitt on
Marring ye relict of Mr. Bird, dec'd, at ye Next Court to be held for Surry County &
what ye doe therein shall be allow by"
yr friend
Wm. Duke
25th 9br 1672
"At a Court held at
Southwark for the County of Surry 25th 9br 1672 Judgment granted Wm Duke as
Maringe ye Relict of Wm Burd agt: Thos. Busby for paymt: of one hundred and fifty fox skins due by bill
& fifteene shillings sterling with costs. alias Exec: but Liberty granted
ye sd Busby to discount what he can make apeare befoe Capt. Wyat that he hath
satisfied out of ye sd Debt."
And another transaction:[xiii]
At a Court held June 3,
1673, William Duke and Hannah his wife Administrix of William Bird decd being
an action of debt against Thomas Meriton on a bill of 454 pounds of tobacco
etc.
Boddie described the family
of Hannah Grendon.[xiv] She was the daughter of Thomas Grendon, Sr., a
London merchant who often lived in Virginia. He married Elizabeth Stegge, widow
of Col. Thomas Stegge, Puritan Commissioner to Virginia. The Stegges were the
parents of Grace Stegge who married John Byrd, goldsmith of London, father of the first Col. William
Byrd of Westover.
Hannah Grendon married
first Thomas Jennings of London, Merchant, by whom she had a son, Thomas, also
a London merchant, said to have become a distiller in Isle of Wight Co VA. She
married second William Bird of MartinÕs
Brandon in Charles City, on the south side of the James, now in Prince George
County. This William Bird represented the London merchants John Sadler and
Thomas Quincey in Virginia, and was probably closely related to John Bird of
London.
The will of Thomas Grendon, Jr., of
Staffordshire, proved in the Principal Court of Canterbury on 29 Oct 1680,
provides for sister Rebekah Grendon Symonds, for Hannah (as Hannah Archer) and
for HannahÕs child with her first husband, Thomas Jennings. Thomas Jennings is listed in the records
of the Company of Drapers, London, as living at Isle of Wight Co, VA, from
1616-1620, and a note in the records indicates that he died there. However,
Hannah Grendon also had Thomas Byrd and Elizabeth Byrd, children of her marriage to William Byrd.
GrendonÕs will mentions William Byrd Jr., son of William Byrd Sr. of Henrico Co
VA, but does not mention HannahÕs children with the other (third) William Byrd,
of MartinÕs Brandon, VA.
Elizabeth Byrd is said in
Murphy family oral tradition
to have married Richard Murphy. I have no evidence in
support of this or subsequent parts of their family oral traditioneither for or against this. It is interesting, and has
multiple points of intersection with the Byrd and Duke families, but is very unlikely to be completely
accurate.
William Duke served on a
jury that found William Caswell, mariner, guilty of defaming Anthony Wyatt.
John Stith was foreman of the jury (Charles City County Court Order Book
1664-1696, p.610).[xv] Legal resolution of some of William DukeÕs business
affairs are also reflected in the Charles City County Court Order Book
1664-1696, for example pp. 513, 543, 595).[xvi] Duke was found to be
concealing five titheables, presumably to avoid taxes.[xvii]
The
Virginia Colonial Records Project
includes references to a William Duke, merchant, in a list of exports from the
Port of London. Duke shipped goods in the Recovery, John Wood master, in 1674.[xviii]
Wm. Duke ind.; 400 ells
nar. Ger. llinen, per Peter Causton, 2 June last; 18 ells linen per
William Jarrett; 3
June last; 2 pos. lockrams per William Berry, 16 April last; 75 ells Vittry
canvas per David Conyard, 15 April last; late etc. dat. 8
Sept.
The individuals for whom
Duke was shipping have not been specifically identified. However, the Jarrett family owned land near
the Sunken Marsh Path in Lawnes Creek Parish, Surry Co, VA, near William
Newsum, Robert Ruffin, William Harris, William Gray, William Carter, and
Matthew Swan.[xix]
In 1676 William became involved with Nathaniel
Bacon, Jr., in his uprising
against the Virginia governor. (If William was one of the Suffolk Duke family,
then Bacon was his brother-in-law.) William and others presented a petition of
complaint against a colonel in the governor's militia.
[xx]
Besides of the unlawful
proceedings of the
s'd Hill, about the estate of Thomas Grendon, of which yo' honors are already
partly informed, and besides the s'd Hill's placeing and constituteing the s'd
Grendon's House a Prison, keeping therein (guard and all) about thirty persons
for the space of
three weeks, killing of his stock and destroying his provisions and coverting
other of to the use of himselfe and family to the great wrong and oppression of
the s'd Grendon, Hee the s'd Hill unlawfully and unwarrantably seized the
goods, etc. Signed May
10, 1677.
Bern'd Sykes
James Minge
Tho. Blayton
N. Wyatt
Wm. Duke
Thos. Grendon
James Biss
Hill responded to the charges:
[xxi]
Edward Hill in answer to
diverse false scandalous article draune (drawn) up against him my the (above)
hands...as from the hands of the people of Charles City County humbly
answearith: . . . Mr. Duke was one of Bacons good Justices in hastening
forwarding, taking and giving of Bacons oathe, and because Bacons captain, Newt
Wheeler should not
want force to fight & destroy the Governrs soldiers, (Duke) sends two of
his own servants that shed the first Christian blood and also before that sent
one to go with Bacon on the Occaneechee march... As for Mr. Grendon, although
he was not in the country,
yet his good wife was & therefore is engaged, but I shall be silent . . .
Duke
died in 1678 and on 28 Nov 1681 HannahÕs fourth husband, William Archer, was
granted 600 acres of land that had been due his predecessor, William Duke.[xxii] The sale of a slave girl to William Duke was
also dealt with: [xxiii]
To all People to whom these
presents shall come, Greetings Whereas upon the one & twentieth day of June
in ye yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred Seaventy & Seven, I Tho.
Busby of Surry Co. did barguaine &
Sell unto mr wm. Duke of Martin Brandon, one Indyan Girle of about Nine yeares
of age as a Slave for her life & did covenant to & with the sd Mr Duke
to make full firme & good assurance of the sd girlle unto ye sd mr Duke,
his heirs, Exors (executors), Admrs
(administrator), & etc. And whereas by the hand of Almighty ye sd mr Duke
departed this life before ye same was affected & whereas Wm. Archer has
marryed ye relict & Administratrix of the sd Mr Duke, Know yee That I the
said Thos. Busby haveing reced full
and valuable Consideration doe hereby bargauine & Sell & firmely make
over ye abovementioned Indian Girle call Bess, as a Slave for life unto sd Wm
Archer...& doo hereby promise for me my heires Exors Admrs to asknowledge
this bill of sale in County Cort
of Charles Citty or Surry when therto required by ye said Wm. Archer.
In Witness whereof I have
hereunto Sett my hand & Seal this 25th day of Janry 1678 & in ye 30th
yeare of his Majties Reigne whoe God Preserve.
A William Archer served on
a jury in Henrico
County in 1736.[xxiv] A later William Archer,
possibly a descendant, was conspicuous in the Revolutionary War affairs of
Amelia County VA, which was made from Prince George in 1734.[xxv]
Although
it is unlikely that Hannah Grendon Duke was the mother, various authors have
considered William Duke the
father of a later member of the Duke family in the same area, Capt. Henry Duke.
Others trace Capt. Henry DukeÕs parentage to Col. Henry Duke.
Henry Duke is not mentioned
in any Virginia settlement of the estate of William Duke. The only reference
that appears in the
records is William Archer, third husband of Hannah Grendon, taking possession
of a grant that was in process to William Duke before his death. There is no
mention of orphans of William Duke, so the probability of minor children at the
time of his death
seems low. Hannah certainly attended to those legal niceties when Thomas Bird
died. However, Henry could have been an adult when William died, and could have
been elsewhere rather than in Virginia, making it sensible for Hannah to
administer the Virginia
estate. Given the relatively short time that William Duke seems to have been in
Virginia, and the relatively advanced age of Hannah (her third marriage, after
all) and presumably William as well, this makes sense. However, this would make
Henry fairly old to
be the father of John, John Taylor, and Henry Duke of Prince George Co VA.
Capt. Henry Duke of
MartinÕs Brandon, died in about 1718. There is ample documentation that this
Henry Duke married Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of Capt. John Taylor of Flowerdew Hundred, son of
Richard Taylor and his wife Sarah Barker, who was in turn daughter of William
Barker and Elizabeth Langhorne. In a message from Janet Washbon dated 8 May 2008
she points out that evidence suggests this William Barker was the individual, identified as a
mariner, who married Mary Goulding on 6 Feb 1622 at St. DunstanÕs Parish, London. The parish records document the
birth of a child, Sarah, about 18 Oct 1638, the death of Mary Barker, and
subsequently the birth of a daughter, Sarah, to William Barker and his wife Frances. This Sarah
Barker appears to be the individual who married into the Duke family in
Virginia. After the death of
Richard Taylor his widow Sarah
married Robert Lucy. (St. DunstanÕs has many familiar Virginia names
in its parish
register.)
Captain
John Taylor was a member of the House of Burgesses from Charles City County in
1692-99 and clerk of the county in 1699. He was captain of the ship MerchantÕs Hope. John Taylor married
Henrietta Maria, commonly believed to have been Henrietta Maria Lucy. This is supported by the
inheritance of land granted to Robert Lucy by Taylor, and subsequently by his
daughter Henrietta Maria.[xxvi]
John
and Henrietta Maria Taylor had four daughters. Frances Taylor married a Mr.
Greenhill. Elizabeth Taylor
married Capt. Henry Duke and died after Oct 1732. Henrietta Maria Taylor
married John Hardyman, and Sarah Taylor married Francis Hardyman. The two
Hardymans were sons of John Hardyman Sr. and Mary Eppes, daughter of Francis
Eppes and Elizabeth Worsham.
It
is the family of William Barker, grandfather of Elizabeth Taylor Duke, that
most closely links William Duke of MartinÕs Brandon with Capt. Henry Duke.
Barker was one of the original persons patenting the land of Flowerdew Hundred,
in company with John
Sadler and Richard Quinney or Quiney, London merchants.[xxvii] It will be remembered that
these were the merchants for whom William Byrd, who married Hannah Grendon, was
agent in Virginia.
Capt. Henry DukeÕs estate
was appraised in Prince George Co VA on 22
Jul 1718 at £ 202/11/5 by John Poythress, John Hatch, and Gilbert Hay. The
inventory was presented to the court by Elizabeth Duke, administrator. At the
same time, she attempted to separate slaves inherited from her father from her
husbandÕs estate.[xxviii]
Elizabeth must have had a good head for business. On 4
Dec 1722 John Woofe of London, merchant, appointed Elizabeth Duke of Flowerdew
Hundred his attorney in Virginia.[xxix] She was also busy with her
own affairs and those of her family. On 10 Oct 1721 Elizabeth Duke witnessed a deed for
land on PowellÕs Creek for her sister Henrietta Maria and her husband John
Hardyman. This deed includes a later memo dated 21 Oct 1721 and witnessed by
William Jackson, among others.[xxx] On 7 May 1725 Elizabeth
Duke sold land on the north
side of Blackwater Swamp, bounded by William Harris, to Robert Hall.[xxxi] On 9 Jul 1725 Henrietta
Maria and John Hardyman sold 300 acres at Flowerdew Hundred bounded on the west
by Elizabeth DukeÕs land to John Poythress.[xxxii] On 8 Apr 1726 Elizabeth
Duke sold the
remainder of her land on the north side of Blackwater Swamp to Robert Hall.[xxxiii]
It is said that Elizabeth
Taylor Duke used the seal of the Duke family of Otterton, Devon, as her seal on
the conveyance of her portion of her fatherÕs estate at Flowerdew Hundred.[xxxiv] The original has
apparently been lost:[xxxv]
On 6 Oct 1732, Elizabeth
Duke of the County of Prince George, widow, sold to Joshua Poythres, merchant,
of the same county, Òthat Messauge Tenement Plantation and Tract of Land
commonly known by the name fflower
de hundred Containing by estimation two hundred and fifty Acres. Situate and
being in the Parish of MartinÕs Brandon and County aforesaid . . . Land of the
said Joshua Poythres and the Line of Frances Greenhill . . . to the James River
. . . heretofore in
the Possession of one John Taylor Gent late of said County Deceased and Devised
by his last Will and Testament unto the said Elizabeth Duke and her Heirs, etc.
Ò Signed by Elizabeth Duke and signed and sealed and delivered in the presence
of Daniel Eelbank,
John Duke, John Taylor Duke, and Henry Duke (from a copy of the original in the
possession of Va., Hist. Society Library, Richmond, VA.,).
D.
W. Duke presented the following evidence that Capt.
Henry was the son of Col. Henry Duke in a Genforum listing:
ÒPosted by: D.W. Duke
(ID *****3988) Date: November 02, 2003 at
15:29:47
Because this issue has been
raised, I wanted to briefly post some notes from a rough draft of a project I
am working on for the Duke family. Note that it is rough and not all sources are cited. However, I
believe it is important enough to share it now since several family members are
writing books on this family and we really don't need any more mistakes.
Captain Henry Duke (Henry
Duke Jr.)
There has been much
controversy concerning
the first generation descendant of Col. Henry Duke, Henry Duke Jr. and whether
he was one and the same as Capt. Henry Duke. This researcher is of the belief
that there is no question that Henry Duke Jr., son of Col. Henry Duke, and
Capt. Henry Duke were
one and the same. The sequence of events is as follows:
1. Col. Henry Duke appears
on the scene in James City County Virginia in 1680 where he is listed as a
justice. (A land patent in 1682 refers to an assignment of land in 1670 that
may refer to Capt. Henry
Duke at that time. The record is unclear due to the language of the patent.)
2. Henry Duke Jr. appears
in the quit rent roles on 1000 acres of land, apparently the one thousand acres
of land owned by Col. Henry Duke.
3. In 1704 Col. Henry Duke
and Henry Duke Jr.
both witnessed a will of Col. William Byrd. (This will be discussed more fully
below.)
4. There are no further
references to Henry Duke Jr. in the records.
5. However, land records
make numerous references to a Capt. Henry Duke.
6. There is no other Henry Duke in the
vicinity who could be construed to be Henry Duke Jr.
Based upon the above
records alone, there is a rebuttal presumption that Capt. Henry Duke is one and
the same as Henry Duke Jr. and that they are the son of Col. Henry Duke. However, there exists much more
corroborating evidence that must be considered. That evidence is as follows:
On January 12, 1704, the
will of Col. William Byrd is witnessed by five persons including: Henry Duke,
Fr. Nicholson, Littlebury Epps, Henry Duke, Jr., Joshua Wynn. The identity of these witnesses is
very important in showing that Henry Duke Jr. and Capt. Henry Duke were one and
the same.
It is important to
recognize that each and every person who witnessed the will of Col. William
Byrd, with the exception
of Littlebury Eppes (Epps) had a familial relationship to William Byrd in some
manner. Typically, whenever possible, family members were used to witness a
will because it was very important that the witness know the testator very
well. It was very important
when witnessing a will that the witness know the testator very well for two
reasons: 1) He should know the testator very well so that he can identify that
the person who signed the will is indeed the person he purports to be; and 2)
He should be able to
assert, if the will is challenged, that he knows that the language of the will
is consistent with the intent of the testator.
Of the five witnesses to
the will of William Byrd, four of the five had a familial relationship with
William Byrd. However, Littlebury
Eppes lacked that familial relationship with William Byrd unless it can be
shown that he has that relationship through one of the other four witnesses. It
is the position of this researcher that Littlebury Eppes did indeed have that
relationship through
Henry Duke Jr. because Henry Duke Jr. was none other than Capt. Henry Duke who
was married to the nephew of Littlebury Eppes, Elizabeth Taylor. Lets briefly
look at the relationship of each of the witnesses to the will of William Byrd:
Col. Henry Duke
The relationship between
Col. Henry Duke and the others is that Henry DukeÕs son, James, married the
daughter of William Byrd, Mary Byrd. Additionally, Col. Henry DukeÕs son Henry
Duke Jr. witnessed the will.
Henry Duke Jr.
Thus, Henry Duke Jr. was
also related to
William Byrd in that his brother James was married William ByrdÕs daughter Mary
Byrd. As will be seen below, Henry Duke Jr. was also related to Littlebury
Epps.
Francis Nicholson:
Hannah Grendon married
first Thomas Jennings, a merchant of London
1685. After Jennings dies, she married William Byrd. They had a child named
Thomas Byrd who married a Mary (unknown). Thomas Byrd died and left a will.
Mary, his widow, married a second husband named George Nicholson. Thomas was
the cousin of William Byrd,
whose will was witnessed in 1704 (above). By her marriage to George Nicholson,
Mary the widow of Thomas Byrd, connected the Nicholson and Byrd families.
William had no doubt become fond of his cousinÕs wife, such that her new
husband Francis Nicholson, was
welcomed into the family. This created the relationship between the Nicholsons
and the Byrds. Francis Nicholson, who witnessed the will of William Byrd was
governor of Virginia.
As a footnote, it should be
noted that Hannah GrendonÕs third husband was the William Duke, who was no doubt an older brother
or cousin of Col. Henry Duke. William Duke was justice of Charles City County
in 1677. Thus, Col. Henry had a second connection to William Byrd in addition
to his son James.
Wynne:
Joshua Wynne also witnessed the will of William
Byrd. Robert WynneÕs widow married William Byrd and Minor Wynne, son of John
Wynne and Elizabeth Minor, married Martha Ann Byrd, the wife of William Byrd.
Thus, the Byrds and the Wynnes had a relationship.
Epps:
Littlebury Epps also witnessed the will of
William Byrd in 1704. Unlike the other witnesses to William ByrdÕs will,
Littlebury Epps had no independent familial relationship to William Byrd. Or
did he?
Capt. Henry DukeÕs second
wife was Elizabeth Taylor. It is by this connection to Elizabeth Taylor that we see the
significance of Henry Duke Jr. at the witnessing the will along with Littlebury
Epps. Elizabeth Taylor, Francis Taylor, Sarah Taylor and Henrietta Maria Taylor
were the daughters of John Taylor and his wife Henrietta Maria. They had no sons.
Elizabeth Taylor married
Capt. Henry Duke. Francis Taylor married a Mr. Greenhill, Sarah Taylor married
Francis Hardiman and Henrietta Maria Taylor married John Hardiman the brother
of John Hardiman. The mother of Francis and John Hardiman was Mary Epps, the wife of Lt. Col. John
Hardiman and sister of Littlebury Epps who witnessed the will of William Byrd.
It is particularly
important to recognize the close relationship of these families. The
descendants of Capt. Henry Duke, through
William Duke the elder, used the names Eppes, Hardiman and Taylor as first
names for their children. This shows that William the elder was indeed the son
of Capt. Henry. Additionally, the descendants of Cleavers Duke used the name
Taylor in their line, in
honor of the woman who raised Cleavers, Elizabeth Taylor (Duke).
Evidence that Henry Duke
Jr. and Capt. Henry Duke were one and the same:
As set forth above the
importance sequence of events is as follows:
1. Col. Henry Duke appears
on the scene in James
City County Virginia in 1680 where he is listed as a justice. (A land patent in
1682 refers to an assignment of land in 1670 that may refer to Capt. Henry Duke
at that time. The record is unclear due to the language of the patent.)
2. Henry Duke Jr. appears in the quit rent roles
on 1000 acres of land, apparently the one thousand acres of land owned by Col.
Henry Duke.
3. In 1704 Col. Henry Duke
and Henry Duke Jr. both witnessed a will of Col. William Byrd. (This will be
discussed more fully below.)
4. There are no further
references to Henry Duke Jr. in the records.
5. However, land records
make numerous references to a Capt. Henry Duke.
6. There is no other Henry
Duke in the vicinity who could be construed to be Henry Duke Jr.
Add the additional piece of
evidence, that Henry
Duke Jr. (Capt. Henry Duke) witnessed the will of William Byrd, thus providing
a relationship between William Byrd and a fifth unrelated witness, Littlebury
Eppes, and the evidence clearly shows that Henry Duke Jr. and Capt. Henry Duke were one and the same.
Still Further Evidence that Henry
Duke Jr = Capt. Henry Duke
Posted by: D.W.
Duke (ID *****3988) Date:
December 01, 2003 at 20:19:17
Once again, my research has turned up
still further evidence that Henry Duke Jr is one and the same as Capt. Henry
Duke. I post this for others who are researching and writing on this topic.
Ludwells MSS, in 1724
refers to Elizabeth, widow of Henry Duke, and James Duke, Gent., as the
surviving executors of Henry Duke, Esq.
Strangely EDB
misinterpreted this
to mean that the widow of Col. Henry Duke was someone named Elizabeth.
Morris' interpretation is
even a little stranger. She concluded that this is referring to yet another
Henry Duke married to an Elizabeth Duke.
What neither EDB nor Morris
recognized (I didn't
bother to check Walter on this one) is that the following occurred:
Col. Henry Duke died in
1713. At that time, his son Capt. Henry Duke and his other son James Duke,
became the executors of his estate. Capt. Henry Duke died in 1717. At that point, Capt. Henry's wife
Elizabeth (Taylor) Duke became the executor of Col. Henry's estate in place of
her deceased husband. The estate of Col. Henry was still in probate in 1724.
Thus, the surviving executors of his estate were Elizabeth (Taylor) Duke and her brother in law James
Duke.Ó
In 1723 Elizabeth Taylor
Duke joined with her sisters to sell land on Pigeon Swamp, south of the
Blackwater River and west of Cypress Swamp, left to them by their father, Capt.
John Taylor:[xxxvi]
Òp. 123 (p.493) 17 Dec
1723...John Hardyman
and wife Henrietta Maria Hardyman, Francis Hardyman and wife Sarah Hardyman,
Elizabeth Duke and Frances Greenhill to Nicholas Partridge . . . 262 acres on
east side of Pidgeon Swamp and bounded by the Underground Branch and Richard
Bland, decd. Wit:
John Mason, John (X) Freeman and William (X) Raynes
p. 125-126 (p.529) 17 Dec
1723...John Hardyman and wife Henritta Maria Hardyman, Francis Hardyman and
wife Sarah Hardyman, Elizabeth Duke and Frances Greenhill to John Mason...223
acres on east side of
Pidgeon Swamp and bounded by Cattail Branch and Richard Bland, decd. Wit: Nicholas Partridge, John (X) Freeman, Jr. and
William (X) Rayne
Rec: 18 Dec 1723 and 15 Apr
1724
p. 126 (p.532) 17 Dec
1723...John Hardyman and wife Henrietta Maria Hardyman, Francis Hardyman and wife
Sarah Hardyman, Elizabeth Duke and Frances Greenhill to Nicholas
Partridge...262 acres on east side of Pigeon Swamp and bounded by Underground
Branch and Richard Bland, decd. Wit: John Mason, John (X) Freeman, Jr. and William
(X) Rayne Rec: 18 Dec 1723 and 15 Apr 1724Ó
It will later be seen that
the witnesses to these documents are
important in reconstructing
aspects of Duke family history in Virginia and in South Carolina.
On 6 Oct 1732 Elizabeth
Duke of Prince George Co sold to Joshua
Poythress, merchant, her share of the Flowerdew estate, inherited from her
father John Taylor (copy of the original, Virginia Historical Society Library,
Richmond, VA). Daniel Eelbanks, John Duke, John Taylor Duke, and Henry Duke
were witnesses. Daniel
Eubanks had married a daughter of Capt. Henry Duke. Shortly after this time,
Capt. Henry DukeÕs sons began to acquire their own land and live elsewhere.
Elizabeth Duke also had
time for a lively social life, perhaps as a means of recovering from the death of her husband. The
diaries of William Byrd II of Westover document her frequent appearances at
Westover for dinner, some times accompanied by her attorney, John Poythress,
and other times by other friends and family members, especially members of the Hardyman and Eppes families.[xxxvii] She took the ferry across
the James River from her home at Flowerdew. These frequent visits appear to
have begun in 1719, following the death of Capt. Henry Duke, and continued at
least through 1721. Robert Munford and members of the Randolph, Bolling, Anderson and Harrison
families were also frequent visitors at Westover.
One of the persistent
questions surrounding Capt. Henry Duke is the identity of his sons. John Duke
was his heir at law,[xxxviii] and was a son of his first
wife, who has never
been identified. John Taylor Duke and Henry Duke were certainly his sons with
Elizabeth Taylor Duke. It is also possiblehas been suggested that William Duke, who first appears in the
records of Brunswick Co VA in 1728, was his son. There
may have been others.
DNA studies have shown this to be incorrect, and associate this William Duke with the family
of John Duke of Isle of Wight County, VA (see Group 2 in http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dukedna/dukedna.html).
The sons of Capt. Henry
Duke were apparently living on his Prince George and Surry county properties
until about 1733. They appear elsewhere with their own lands, principally in
Greensville Co VA, after the sale of the TaylorÕs
Flowerdew estate in 1732.
On 5 Apr 1733 John Duke
bought 285 acres of land on the north side of Three Creeks (Brunswick Co VA
Deed Bk 1: 36-37).
On 24 Mar 1734 John Duke
received land on Three Creeks, Rocky Run, adjacent William Raines, Col. [Benjamin] Harrison, and Thomas
Jackson (VPB 15: 481-482). A deed dated 1 June 1750 shows John Duke adjacent
Hinchee (Hinshaw or Hinchea) Mabry, John Pettaway, Charles Trunballs, and
Thomas Deens on Rocky Run (VPB 29: 107-109). Others with land on Three Creeks were Jehu Peoples, Peter
Simmons, Thomas Sissums, Whitmore, Richard Cocke, Richard Pace, Hambleton,
Tapley, Charles Kimball, Thomas House, Isaac House, James Wyche, Robert Hix,
William Batte, John Peterson, John Davis, Ralph Jackson, William Collier, John Raines, Sampson Lanier, and
Richard Ransom. Specifically on Rocky Run we find land belonging to Hinchea
Mabry, George Mabry, Charles Trunball, Thomas Deans, William Smith, Thomas
Cocke, John Freeman Jr. (but he was still living in Sussex County in1760), Henry Freeman, Benjamin
Harrison, Col. Nathaniel Harrison, William Raines, Thomas Jackson, John Cumbow,
John Pettaway, John Williamson, William Collier, Hugh Drysdale, and James
Washington.
John Duke had many
additional land transactions in the Three Creeks area (Brunswick Co VA Deed Bk 1: 455; Bk 1: 418;
Bk 1: 442; Bk 18: 434; Bk 2: 78; Bk 2:249; Bk 3: 325-327; VPB 18:434).
The House family is well
represented in Three Creeks grants. Lucy House became the first wife of Maj.
John Duke, as the will of James Fletcher
in 1733 and the will of her father, Thomas House, show.[xxxix] A grant in 1724/25 to John
Davis Òthe WelchmanÓ (VPB 12:165) is to the father of Rejoice Davis, who
married John Duke after the death of his first wife. John Davis had come to
Brunswick Co from
Isle of Wight Co VA.
On 5 May 1743 John Duke
purchased from John Taylor Duke 504 acres on MooreÕs Swamp (Brunswick Co VA
Deed Bk 1: 277). On 6 Nov 1747 John Duke sold this land to Major Pryor
(Brunswick Co VA Deed Bk 3: 425-426).
On 8 Oct 1750 John Duke received 500 acres in
Lunenburg (now Mecklenburg) Co VA adjoining John Taylor Duke on Flatt Creek
(VLP Bk 30: 229). In 1748 John Duke and his son, also John Duke, were on the
list of tithables for that part of Lunenburg Co. that became Mecklenburg Co, on the North Carolina
border. William Taylor, Thomas Lanier, John Freeman, John Davis, Thomas
Jarrett, William Tucker, Owen Myrick, and Nicholas Major were neighbors there.
In 1757 Thomas Taylor
acquired land on Flat Creek in what is now Mecklenburg Co VA, adjacent that of John Duke
(VPB33p368-369). In 1780 John Williamson acquired land adjacent William Taylor
in Mecklenburg (MC# CGB A p598-599).
In 1752 Maj. John Duke is
identified as a resident of Dinwiddie Co VA when he sold to Ephraim Mabry land
on Flatt Creek in
Lunenburg Co (Lunenburg Co VA Deed Bk 4: 19). The appearance of the name
Charles Duke as a witness to this deed represents the first evidence of this
son of John Duke. John DukeÕs sons may have moved to South Carolina.
In Aug 1753 Edward Goodrich (who may have married a
daughter of Maj. John Duke) petitioned Brunswick Co Court for time to render an
account of the estate of Susanna Duke, daughter of John Duke, deceased
(Brunswick Co VA Order Book1: 171). The account was rendered on 26 Aug 1756. (Brunswick, Co VA Orphans
Account Bk 5: 28).
John Taylor Duke was the
son of Capt. Henry Duke and his second wife, Elizabeth Taylor Duke, and was
named for his maternal grandfather. It has been proposed by Patrick Anderson to the Duke list
on Rootsweb that his wife was Jane Anderson. His argument is as follows:
Descendants of Jane
Anderson
Generation No. 1
1. JANE5 ANDERSON (Thomas4,
Thomas3, Thomas2, RICHARD1)1 was born Abt. 1705 in "The Cattails",
Charles City County,
Virginia. She married John TAYLOR Duke, son of HENRY Duke and ELIZABETH TAYLOR.
He was born 1705 in Prince George County, Virginia, and died 1790 in Wilkes
County, Georgia.
Notes for JANE ANDERSON:
My current theory is that
Jane married John Taylor Duke.
The connection is unproven but substantiated by the fact that she is born
within a few years of John Taylor DukeÕs birth date and is a contemporary of
his and her brother.
Charles witnessed the 1727
sale of Richard Taylor's 1673 patent which descended to Elizabeth (Taylor) Duke wife of Henry Duke.
John Taylor Duke and Jane Anderson definitely knew each other as teenagers but
I am still seeking proof that she is his wife Jane.
Jane Anderson was the
daughter of Sarah BarkerÕs last child by her 2nd husband Robert Lucy and Elizabeth (Taylor) Duke was a
daughter of John Taylor, Sarah Barker's first child by her 1st husband Richard
Taylor. John Taylor, father of Elizabeth was the guardian for Mary Lucy the
mother of Jane Anderson in 1694.
Richard Taylor and Robert Lucy obtained side by
side patents along the Blackwater River in 1673 and in 1683 Thomas Anderson
patented the land above them along Cattail Creek.
________________________________________________
Prince George County,
Virginia, Wills & Deeds 1710-1713,
page 161 Inventory of all Jean Anderson, daughter to Thomas Anderson, dec'd,
her estate, bequeathed to her by the said Andreson in his last will &
testament. One featherbed in the trundle bedstead with the furniture thereunto
belonging, one cow with calf
& heifer of Two years old, one chest, one silver tumbler, one small iron
pott and pott hooks, two pewter dishes. Pr. Geo County Court the day of [?]
1712.
This above written acctt of
estate of Jean Anderson was presented into court by Cornelius Cargill her guardian and ordererd
by the justices to be truly recorded - Edward Goodrich
More About JANE ANDERSON:
Living: 1712, Prince George
County, Virginia
Linda L. Clements
<clements@sierra.net>
John Taylor Duke was born
between 1705 and 1710 in Prince George
County, Virginia, and was named after his maternal grandfather. He married
Jane. He owned land and live in several different counties in Virginia. He
seemed to move quite often. Before 1769 he had left Virginia and lived in both
North and South Carolina. By
the end of the Revolutionary War John Taylor Duke was living in Georgia. (from
Duke web site (www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Market/4071/Duke.html presumably
taken from a Duke family history book, accessed 7-99)
Endnotes
1. Thomas Anderson, 1711
Will of Thomas
Anderson, (1710-1713 Will Book, Page 36, Prince George County, Virginia).
Patrick J. Anderson
http://members.aol.com/patander73/home.html
Like his brother John, John
Taylor Duke purchased land
in the Three Creeks area (later Greensville Co VA) in 1733.[xl] In 1738 he made an
additional purchase.[xli] In 1741 he had moved on to
land on Old Field Branch (VPB 20: 135). He sold that tract as well as a
previous grant on 4 Feb 1733 to Richard Lanier and James Cocke.[xlii]
John Taylor Duke then moved
on to Lunenburg (later Mecklenburg) Co VA near the North Carolina boundary,
purchasing land on Flatt Creek, a tributary of the Roanoke River.[xliii] His brothers John and
Henry joined him there. It was here that long-standing connections with the
Crenshaw and McKee families were formed.
By 1769 John Taylor Duke
had moved to Camden District, South Carolina. Evelyn Duke Brandenberger has
identified the sons of John Taylor Duke as Robert, Henry, Thomas, James,
Edmund, and John.[xliv] Eventually he and many of
his descendants moved on to Georgia.
Page 90, Will Book 1,
Mecklenburg County, Virginia: Thomas Duke lived in Brunswick County, Virginia
in September of 1773 as an overseer for Henry Delony's lands.
The descendants of Ethelred Taylor owned
land on Three Creeks, Greensville Co, near the sons of Capt.
Henry Duke, through inheritance.
William Kinchen purchased 750 acres on the lower side of Three Creeks from
Christopher Hill, and left that land to his son Matthew Kinchen, who in turn left it to
William Taylor, his cousin.[xlv] This appears to have been
transferred to Ethelred Taylor II, and in 1775 Henry Taylor bought out his
brothersÕ shares of this property. HenryÕs son Ethelred sold much of this land
in 1786. All of these
individuals seem to have continued to live in Southampton Co VA rather than
moving to this property.
In 1731 Daniel Taylor of
Brunswick Co VA acquired land in Lunenburg Co VA on Shining Creek
(VPB14p346-347). He sold it in 1754 (BRDBk5p569-571). In 1750 Joseph Duke owned land on
Shining Creek (VPB34p537).
A daughter of Henry and
Elizabeth Duke
married Daniel Eubanks or Eelbanks. Daniel Eelbanks had witnessed the sale of
Elizabeth Taylor DukeÕs property at Flowerdew Hundred to Joshua Poythress in
1732, as previously noted. On 9 Nov 1724 Daniel Eelbank witnessed the will of
Richard Washington,
recorded in Surry Co Will Bk 7, p. 583..[xlvi] Richard Washington was the
father of Elizabeth Washington, who married Sampson Lanier, Sr.
An individual named James
Duke appears in Surry Co and Brunswick Co VA records. Who was he?
James Duke appeared in 1727
in Surry Co VA records, as a witness with Dasey Southall and John Ellerbee for
a deed from William Rainey to Francis Lightfoot for 100 acres on the south side of the main Blackwater
Swamp (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. Bk 7, p. 759). Dasey
Southall was from Charles City County where he wsa inspector of tobacco.
In 1723 William (x) Rayne
was a witness with Nicholas Partridge and John Freeman to a deed from Elizabeth Duke and her
sisters for 223 acres on the east side of Pigeon Swamp. The property was
bounded by the mouth of Cattail Branch, Richard Bland, decd., and the
Underground Branch, and was sold to John Mason (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. Bk 7, p. 491 and
p. 529). The Raines family was also closely related to the Myricks. Mary Myrick
later married John, son of William Duke. The Myricks were from an area on the
boundary of Surry and Isle of Wight counties.[xlvii] The 1727 Surry County reference to the deed from
William Rainey to Francis Lightfoot therefore places James Duke in the company
of associates of the family of Capt. Henry Duke and his wife Elizabeth Taylor
Duke.
Note that the land Elizabeth Taylor Duke sold in 1723 was bounded by
that of Richard Bland. The Will of Theodorick Bland in 1783 refers to
land purchased from Peter Duke, James Moore, and Henry Batte in Prince George
Co VA (Virginia
Will Records, Will Fragments: James Blakemore's Will and Wills of Theodorick
Bland, Thaddeus
Kosciuszkio and ..., Page 646).
.
Raines or Rainey also owned
land near the Greensville Co area where John Duke, Henry Duke, and John Taylor
Duke settled for several decades. His land was on the south side of Three
Creeks and the north side of Little Creek
in Lawnes Creek Parish, bounding land sold by James Washington to Nathaniel
Harrison on 14 Jun 1725, with Sampson Lanier a witness (Surry County Deeds,
Wills, Etc. Bk 7, p.591). Raney also bought 150 acres on the south side of the
main Blackwater Swamp
bounded by William Jones and Henry Jones from George Pasamore (Surry County
Deeds, Wills, Etc. Bk 7, p.76). Robert Wynne, Burrell Green and William Green
were witnesses. George PasamoreÕs land bounded that of Thomas House Jr., and
William House on Three Creeks
(Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. Bk 7, p.714).
In 1732 the following is
found in the Brunswick Order Book I, page 3:
ÒJohn Ross is appointed
Surveyor of the Road from Reedy Creek to the courthouse and is ordered that he
with male Laboring Fit persons
belonging to Joseph Warborton, John Evans, James Arnato, James Duke and William
Duke, John Edwards, . . .Ó
EDB (Vol.II:13) interprets
this James as the son of Col. Henry Duke, in keeping with her theory that
William Duke was the son of James Duke and his
wife Mary Byrd Duke of James County Parish. However, it seems more likely that
this is the James Duke who appeared a few years earlier in Surry County with
associates of the Capt. Henry Duke family.
An alternative possibility
is that this James Duke is
a son of John Duke of York County, VA, who in turn was probably a son of Thomas
Duke who settled in that area with Thomas Hampton. A 6 Jun 1651 deed recorded
by William Byrd in his title book documents this:[xlviii] ÒPatent to Mr. Thomas
Hampton, Clerk, and Thomas
Duke for 430 acres containing two necks of land lying on Warreny Creek on the
east side of the Chickahominy River, James City County, bounded NW and SSE on a
swamp dividing it from land of Edward Cole; ENE upon land of Mr. SoaneÕs; and
due said Hampton and
Duke by assignment of rights of transportation of nine persons into the colony
by Mr. William Barret. Dated June 6, 1641.Ó Thomas DukeÕs widow subsequently
married, after his death, a Wade. A patent was issued to Mrs. Mary Wade for 463
acres on a branch of
Tiaskun Swamp, formerly patented to Thomas Hampton who assigned his patent to
her (VPB 7: 174). It is likely that Mary Duke Wade was a daughter of Thomas
Hampton, to receive hundreds of acres of land from him. (It is said that Thomas
Hampton IÕs tombstone
is on the land of Nathaniel Bacon I on the York River.) In ÒThe HamptonsÓ, Chapter
12, from Tidewater Virginia
Families—A Social History, by Virginia Lee
Hutchinson Davis, Urbanna, VA, 1989, it is said that the children of Rev.
Thomas Hampton were John
(marr. 1. Mary Mann, 2. ___ Cary), Mary (marr. 1. ___ Duke, 2. ___ Wade),
Thomas (marr. Elizabeth Bridle).
A probable son of Thomas
Duke and Mary Hampton Duke, John Duke, received land on Tyaskon Swamp in 1673.
This was on the line dividing New Kent and James
City counties. On 15 Dec 1673 he received an additional 136 acres in the same
area bounded in part by Joseph Wade (VPB 6:504).
On
19 Jul 1670/71 John Duke received 107 acres in York County VA on the east side
of Otter Dam. This was witnessed by Thomas
Bushrod and John Scarsbrook (York Co VA Records 1664-1672: 436). John DukeÕs
wife was Jane Scarsbrook. When the will of John Scarsbrooke was proved in York
County Court, John Duke Sr. was already dead, and his widow had remarried, to
Thomas Mountfort (York
Co VA Probate & Adm. Bonds beginning 1679, p. 174). The will mentioned
minor children of John and Jane Duke, but not by name.
On 24 Jan 1692/93, John
Duke, son of John Duke of York Co., decÕd, age 21 years of thereabouts,
provided a deposition for York
County courts (York Co VA 1690-1694, p. 196). John Duke Jr., married Susanna
Goodwin, daughter of Maj. James Goodwin. In 1694 a Henry Duke was witness for a
document relating to John Duke Jr., suggesting that he might be another son of
John Duke Sr. (York
Co VA 1693-94, p. 272).
James Duke and Susanna
Duke, children of John Duke and Susanna Duke, were mentioned in the will of
Rachel Porter Goodwin, second wife of Maj. James Goodwin, father of Susanna
(WMQ ). Although Henry Duke continues to appear in York County records for many years, there is no
further record of this James Duke in York Co. VA, or of his father John Duke
Jr. The James Duke of Surry could be this James Duke of York Co VA.
Elizabeth Duke has been
identified by EDB as the sister of Capt. Henry Duke of Prince George County,
VA. She married first James Mason of Matthews Mount in Surry County.
James Mason was the son of Francis Mason, who was born in 1594 and died about
1648, and who came to
Virginia in 1613. Francis Mason was a magistrate, vestryman, and sheriff in
Lower Norfolk.[xlix] He received a grant in
Lynhaven, Lower Norfolk, in 1745.[l] This was very near the
area where Thomas Duke of Nansemond County lived. In 1678 Francis Mason received land on
Tappahanock or Crouches Creek, in Surry Co.[li] The Petway family was on
Crouches Creek from at least 1652.[lii] In 1682 Richard Bennett
was granted land on Polantink Swamp adjacent Francis Mason and William Edwards,[liii] Elizabeth DukeÕs first father-in-law and her
third husband.
James Mason of Southwark
Parish, Surry County, and Elizabeth Duke had a son James Mason Jr., who married
Mary Petway, daughter of Robert Petway Sr. and Ruth Gwaltney.[liv] They
also had sons Francis and John Mason. James Mason
Jr. became prominent in Greensville Co VA affairs; Greensville Co Order Book 1
contains numerous references to his public functions and offices. James Mason died in about 1701. Elizabeth probated
his estate on 18 Jul 1701.[lv] (A message to me dated 5 Jun 2008 from Carolyn Mason Anderson points out that
there has been considerable confusion between two
apparently unrelated Mason families in early Virginia. James Mason of Surry County was not related to
John Mason of Greensville Co, VA.
Furher information is
available at http://www.ncroots.com/DNA-Mason-Worldwide/.)
Elizabeth then married
Ethelred Taylor. [lvi] On 2 Mar 1702 Ethelred and
Elizabeth Taylor presented an inventory of the estate of James Mason, deceased.
Ethelred was a first-generation English emigrant,
appearing in the Surry Co VA records in 1702. In 1714 he purchased 332 acres in
Lawnes Creek Parish from Nathaniel Harrison, William Robinson, and Nathaniel
Ridley. William Edwards witnessed the deed.[lvii] Nathaniel HarrisonÕs
grants were in the upper parish
adjacent Owen Myrick and William Simons (VPB 9 p496) and near Charles Jordan on
Stony Run (VPB 10 p152-153).
Elizabeth and Ethelred
Taylor had sons Ethelred, Henry, William, and Samuel. Ethelred Taylor owned
many hundreds of acres of land in both Surry
and Isle of Wight counties. In 1710 he posted bond as sheriff of Surry County.[lviii] He was frequently called
upon for public functions.[lix] With Robert Lancaster he
witnessed a deed for land on the south side of Blackwater Swamp (Surry County
Deed & Will Book 7
p. 685).
He died in 1716. His will
gave lands on Poketank or Pohatink Swamp and the same side of CokerÕs branch,
purchased from the trustees of Joseph John Jackman, to son Samuel. He gave land
on CokerÕs Branch adjoining John Bruton and Samuel Cornwell to son Henry, and to Ethelred
Taylor II he gave land on Lightwood Swamp (south of the Blackwater River, on
the boundary between Surry and Isle of Wight Co VA), and other locations (Surry
Co VA Wills and Administrations Book 7, p. 19).[lx]
All of these place names have not been
relocated. However, Jackman bought his property from William Butler in 1713
(Surry Deed & Will Book 6 p155). William Butler obtained his grant in 1643
adjacent William Lawrence at the head of LawnesÕ Creek (VPB 1 p900). On 6 Apr
1647 William Lawrence
had been granted Ò300 acres. On south of Mr. Thomas Stamp, north towards
Shippeaks Creek. Lying on Hogg Island main.Ó[lxi] This places the Ethelred
Taylor family very near Silvester Thacker (who cared for the cattle of Thomas
Duke of NansemondÕs wife),
Justinian Cooper, Anthony Ffulgham, and other familiar names. In 1641 Richard
Jackson received land on Seawards Creek adjacent Justinian Cooper, in part by
assignment from Thomas Stamp and John Sweete.[lxii] John Coker, who may have
given his name to CokerÕs
Branch, was listed in 1635 as transported by Justinian Cooper in exchange for
land at the head of LawnesÕ Creek.[lxiii] We shall see that this was
also very close to John Duke of Isle of Wight Co VA.
Ethelred Taylor II lived on
Lightwood Swamp in Southampton
Co and married Patience Kinchen, daughter of William Kinchen and Elizabeth
Joyner. In 1735 he was granted land on the Nottoway (IW DBk 4 p476-477). They
had numerous children: Ethelred, Henry (married Temperance Peterson), William,
John, Kinchen, Jane, James,
Mary (m. Batte Peterson), Sarah, Elizabeth (m. Miles Cary), and Richard. These
children and their descendants are subsequently found in close proximity to the
Duke family in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Ethelred
Taylor II served in
the House of Burgesses from Southampton Co in 1753, 54, 55, and 1756-58. His
son Henry Taylor served there in later years.
The Kinchen connection is
particularly interesting. The children of William Kinchen married families with
other Duke family ties.
Patience Kinchen TaylorÕs sister Elizabeth married Joseph Exum, son of William
Exum Sr. who was entrusted with the cattle due to Margaret Duke, wife of Thomas
Duke of Nansemond Co VA.
Patience KinchenÕs brother,
William, married Sarah House, daughter
of Robert House who was the earliest founder member of the House family in the
area.[lxiv] Thomas House Jr. of Surry
County was the father of Lucy House who married Maj. John Duke, eldest son of
Capt. Henry Duke. His (gr?) nephew Isaac House married Mary, daughter of William Duke. Jr.
and Mary Green. The following references relate to these early Houses. Robert
House was the earliest founder member of the family in the area. He was granted
land on Johnchecohunk
Swamp.[lxv]
10 Sep 1695...Robert Howse
(House), Sr of
Southwarke Parish to Bartholomew Andrews of the same...250 acres on east side
of Johnshohoun Swamp adjoining Robert Owins (Owen?) old line, Richard Jordan,
Sr. and the Hickory Branch. (Margrett Howse wife of Robert Howse, relinquished
her Right of Dower.)
Robert
(X) Howse
Margrett
(X) Howse
Rec:
10 Sep 1695
Thomas House Sr. was the
father of Isaac House Sr., whose son Isaac House Jr. married Mary Duke. In 1723
he gave Isaac House Sr. land on Three Creeks in what became Greensville Co VA:[lxvi]
7 Nov 1723 . . . Thomas House, Sr to
Isaac House . . . 60 acres on south side of Nottoway River in Lawnes Creek
Parish and bounded by Three Creeks, said House, said Isaac House and Nicholas
Hatch (land is the upper part of a patent granted to said Thomas House for 120
acres in 1719).
Thomas
(X) House
Wit:
James Washington, Lawrence (X) House and John (X) Bartholomew.
Rec.
15 Jan 1723
Thomas House Jr. was the
father of Lucy House, who married Capt. John Duke, son of Capt. Henry Duke, in
Greensville Co VA. Catherine House and
Capt. John Duke were executors of his16 Feb 1734 will, witnessed by John Taylor
Duke and David Case, and proved 4 Sep 1734.[lxvii] William Duke of Warren Co
NC later married a Bartholomew. Joseph House was listed in the 1790 federal
census of Dobbs/Lenoir Co.
Finally, Elizabeth married
William Edwards. On 23 Mar 1715/16 William Edwards had been granted land on the
Nottoway River in Isle of Wight County for transporting ElizabethÕs previous
husband, Ethelred Taylor, to Virginia (VPB 10 p270). William Edwards, husband of Elizabeth Duke
Mason Taylor Edwards, was granted land on Pigeon Swamp on 20 Apr 1684 (VPB
7:368).
There is no recordNo record has been found of William Edwards and Elizabeth having had
children; both were older at the time of their marriage. William Edwards represented
Surry Co in the House of Burgesses in 1706. He married first Elizabeth, a
daughter of Col. Benjamin Harrison, a member of the Royal Council of Virginia.
She died at the age of 17. Edwards apparently married a second time, perhaps to a daughter of Micajah
Lowe, nephew of the prominent London merchant Micajah Perry.[lxviii] With her he had William,
Micajah, Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, and Sarah. Elizabeth was apparently a third
wife. His will dated 9 Jan 1722 was proved in Surry Co on 25 Feb 1722 (Surry County VA Deeds,
Wills, etc. Book 9, p. 389.).[lxix] He left lands throughout
Surry County in many locations, including Pigeon Creek where Elizabeth Taylor
Duke inherited lands from her father Capt. John Taylor. John Edwards and
Nathaniel Edwards were among
the witnesses to his will.
George
Duke was transported by John Seward of Isle of Wight Co VA, who was granted
land on the Blackwater branch of the Roanoke on 15 Apr 1648 (Cavaliers and
Pioneers, Patent Book 2, Page 171).
The Isle of Wight Duke
family was supposedly (EDB) begun by William Ducke, who was imported by
Justinian Cooper in 1639, in exchange for land at the head of Lawnes Creek (VA
Land Patents Book 1, part 2, p. 681). This is probably untrue. There is no
further mention of
him in Isle of Wight Co VA records. The next William Duke reference known in
the area is that of William Duke who married Hannah Grendon, appearing in the
records in 1674, 35 years later.
John Duke appears in the deed records in 1665,
when Jeremiah Rutter sold 300 acres on the Cypress Swamp in what was then
Nansemond Co VA to John Duke (VA Land Patent Bk. 5, p. 265). Capt. Thomas
Goodwyn received a grant adjoining John Dukes, Chuckatuck Parish, Isle of Wight
Co (VA Land Patent
Bk. 6, p. 6 and p.111). They were living on the boundary of Isle of Wight and
Nansemond counties.
In short, within two years
of the first land grant to Thomas Duke in the same parish on the same river,
within a few miles of one another, John
Duke received his first land grant. This John Duke is very likely the brother
or other close relative of Thomas Duke of Nansemond. It seems unlikely that
John Duke Jr. was the only child of John Duke and Elizabeth Duke (Mercer), but
others have not been
identified.
On
23 Sep 1689 John Duke of Isle of Wight County sold to John Burnet, shoemaker,
of the same county, Òa parcel of land . . . containing fifty acres thereabouts,
which land my father John Duke, deceased, formerly bought of Jeremiah Rutter of
Chuckatuck then in
Nansemond County, being out of a patent of three hundred acres lying and
bounded by the land of John Goseling (Goslin) and the house of my father John
Duke where he was situated, etc.Ó Witnessed by William Bradshaw and Richard
Beale and signed by
the marks of John Duke, Bridgett Duke (wife of John Duke, Jr.) and Elizabeth
Mercer (Isle of Wight Deed Bk 1, p. 25).
Elizabeth
Mercer was John DukeÕs widow, remarried after his death to Robert Mercer.
Robert Mercer was granted land on the Myery
Branch on the south side of the Main Blackwater Swamp adjacent John Holliman
and William Edwards (VPB 12 p217-218). HollimanÕs land was on the boundary of
Surry Co and Southampton Co (VPB 33 p611-612). In 1724/25 a William Edwards
owned land adjacent Robert
Mercer and John Halliman on Myery Branch on the south side of the main
Blackwater Swamp (VPB 12 p217-218; VPB 15 p192-193). In 1717 James Mercer had acquired land adjacent
William Kinchen and George Williamson on the south side of the main Blackwater
Swamp (VPB 10 p371).
His will was dated 1734. There are Southampton Co VA wills for a John and
Robert Mercer in 1775, and another for a John Mercer in 1789.
William
Boddie and his wife Elizabeth on June 9 1694 sold to Nicholas Carey land on
Cypress Swamp adjacent
land formerly sold to John Duke and formerly called JacksonÕs Plantation.Ó
(Isle of Wight Co VA DB 1, p.111). George Breen and William Greene witnessed
the deed.
William Boddie and his wife
Elizabeth Boddie of Isle of Wight County then sold to John Duke Òthat plantation which
Henry Kinge lately lived on. The said plantation and woodland ground is bounded
thus . . . over against John JacksonÕs ould plantation . . . whether the
plantattion be one hundred acres or two hundred acres . . . we do not know.Ó The deed was witnessed by
Anthony Davis, William Fowler and Walter Howell and proved 21 Oct 1689 (Isle of
Wight Co VA Deed Bk 1, p. 21). [lxxiv]
In 1641/42 Richard Jackson
received a grant for 450 acres near Justinian Cooper, through assignment of
rights from Thomas
Stamp and John Sweet. CooperÕs lands were principally at the head of Lawnes
Creek (VPB 1 pp. 454, 772, 874), although he owned numerous parcels in Isle of
Wight County. Henry Kinge had received an 18 Apr 1688 grant for Ò1000 acres on
the first branch of
the Blackwater &c. 750 acres of this land being formerly gtd. by patt. to
John Sweet dated 26th of Septr. 1643.Ó John Sweet received 650 acres adjacent
Justinian Cooper and Francis English on the blackwater in 1642 (VPB 1 p858).
[The term Òthe blackwaterÓ
was not confined to the Blackwater River at this time; that is usually
referenced more specifically as Òthe main Blackwater Swamp.Ó) This suggests
that John Duke and his family moved toward the head of Lawnes Creek in Surry Co
VA. This location is very
interesting, placing John Duke and his family virtually next door to Ethelred
Taylor I and his wife Elizabeth Duke Mason Taylor.
In 1693 William Duke and
Mary Duke witnessed a deed of gift of Thomas Mann to Sarah Mann of 100 acres on
Curawaok Swamp (Isle
of Wight Deed Book). This William Duke may be William Duche, Dutch founder of
an Isle of Wight family. That family frequently spelled their name
ÒDuck.ÓWilliam Duck is listed in the 1704 quit rent rolls for Isle of Wight
County.
On 15 Apr 1704 John Duke of Isle of Wight Co
witnessed a will including a bequest for land purchased from Edmond Palmer,
John Portis, Sr., and Henry Martin, subsequently probated 9 Jan 1706[lxxv]:
"Jones, Ann: Leg. son
John the 300 A. purchased of Edmond Palmer, John Portis, Sr. and Henry Martin; son Abraham;
son John's three children, Joseph, John and Ann; Daughter Ann Barnes. Capt.
Arthur Smith and Henry Applewhite, Overseers. D. April 15, 1704. R. January 9,
1706/7. Witnesses: John Watts, John Duke, Henry Applewhite." Page 477
On
5 Feb 1672 Edmund
Palmer received a grant for land in Isle of Wight Co near John Portis, Arthur
Smith, Anthony Matthews and ÒMr. BodiesÓ [Boddie] (VPB 6 p443). John Portis and
Henry West were granted 900 acres in 1673, situated on Òsome of the Blackwater
branches.Ó[lxxvi] In 1684 PalmerÕs land
adjoined a 3350 acre grant to William Boddie between the western branch of the
Nansemond and the Cypress Swamp (VPB 7 p394-395). On 28 Oct 1643 Henry Watts
received 157 acres on Pagan Point Creek.[lxxvii] In 1674 Henry Applewhite
was granted 300 acres
in Isle of Wight county adjacent Robert Edwards and William Bodie.[lxxviii] It is likely that this
property was close to Cypress Swamp, probably on the western side. [Robert
Edwards was, with his brother James, founder of a large Isle of Wight Edwards family without a
known connection to the family of William Edwards who was the third husband of
Elizabeth Duke Mason Taylor.]
A later deed indicates a
Seacock and Lightwood Swamp area location for a descendant of the original John
Portis:[lxxix]
John
Phillips of Surry
County, Virginia to Benjamin Holden dated 7 Nov 1751. 20 acres on the south
side of Seacock Swamp adj. Lightwood Swamp, Bartholomew Andrews, John Portis,
Joseph John Ravells, and Long Branch (patent to sd. John on 29 Aug 1757), S:
John Phillips, W: no witnesses
In 1713 Richard Jackson
acquired land on the Blackwater Swamp near Edward Boykin (VPB 10 p99-100). A
later deed to Thomas Moore shows that this grant was near Terrapin Swamp, a
tributary of the Blackwater near the Surry County boundary (VPB 12 p451). In 1734
Joseph Turner was granted land adjacent William Kinchen and Edward Boykin on
Tuckers Swamp (VPB 15 p344). On 25 Sep 1750 Thomas Joyner was granted land on
the south side of the Blackwater Swamp adjacent Edward Kinchen and Joseph Turner (VPB 33 p963-964).
In 1725 a John Jackson with later Duke family ties lived near
William Kinchen on Meadow Branch, Isle of Wight Co, VA, and consequently near
Robert Mercer and Elizabeth Duke Mercer:
ref
VPB 12 p448-449
dat
24 Mar 1725/26
frm
Hugh Drysdale
to
John Jackson of Isle of Wight County
con
15 Shill.
re
145a on the S side of the Main Blackwater Swamp in sd Co.
loc
127080 -39560 F127 L0 P255
pt
A) pine on the E side of the Meadow branch a Corner Tree
!of
William Kinchins Land
!thence
Crossing the Branch
by Kinchins Line
ln
S75W; 86P; William Kinchin Cross Meadow Br.
.
. .
And also near Robert
Harris:
typ
patent
ID
eSN#
ref
VPB 26 p579-581
dat
20 Aug 1748
to
Thomas Atkinson
con
35 Shill.
re
350a Isle of Wight Co. on the S side of the Main Blackwater Sw.
loc
127094 -39721 F127 L0 P255
pt
A) pine on the E side of the Meadow Branch a Corner of
!William
Kinchin's and James Atkinson's Lands
ln
N75E; 22P; James Atkinson, frm Wm Kinchin's c.
pt
B) red oak
ln
S60E; 98P;
pt
C) Lightwood post
ln
NExE; 144P;
pt
D) pine
ln
N; 174P;
pt
E) pine a line tree of Robert Harris's Land
ln
S70W; 176P; Robert Harris
.
. .
pt
I) maple on the side of the Meadow Branch
!a
Corner Tree of John Jacksons Land
!and
down the Run of sd Branch to the beginning
lm
;; down Meadow Br. fm
John Jackson's c.
end
And
Southampton Co Deed Book.
Pages 86-88: John and William Jackson to John Clayton, joiner, dated 8 Jan 1756
145 acres on the north side
of the main Blackwater Swamp adj. The east side of Meadow Branch and William
Kinchen (land taken
up by John Jackson), S: John (I) Jackson and William (I) Jackson, W: Richard
(signed) Kello, Thomas (signed) Williamson, and Richard (signed) Baker
Ethelred Taylor, husband of
Elizabeth Duke Taylor, left land on Lightwood Swamp to his son Ethelred Taylor II, who
married Patience Kinchen.[lxxx] Lightwood Swamp is
immediately south of the Blackwater along the Surry Co border. Thomas
Williamson was the son of George Williamson Sr. and Hester Bridger, daughter of
Joseph Bridger and Hester Pitt. George
Williamson was the son of Robert Williamson and Joan Allen. George WilliamsonÕs
land was adajcent that of William Kinchen and the Mercer family (VPB 10 p371).
In 1725 John Jackson received land adjacent William Kinchen (VPB 12: 448-449).
Richard Jackson also
owned land on Tarapin Branch (VPB 12 p451).
John Duke Jr. and his wife
Bridget had sons James, John and Robert Duke. His daughtersÕ names are unknown.
His will was recorded on 3 Aug 1720 (Isle of Wight Co VA Great Book p. 53, part
2). An inventory of his
estate was returned by Bridgett Dukes, Administratrix, and recorded on 27 Feb
1720/21 (Isle of Wight Co VA Wills, Deeds, etc. Great Book 147- 1800, part 2,
page 67.) Given the location of John DukeÕs land and also of Elizabeth Duke
Mercer, he would have
been well acquainted with the families of Ethelred Taylor and Elizabeth Duke
Taylor, of the Kinchens, Jacksons, Williamsons, Harris, Claytons and so forth.
John Duke and his mother
Bridgett Duke were in Brunswick Co VA by 1728, where he was an adjoining landholder to John Jackson
and also to William Duke. John Duke obtained a grant Sep 28, 1728 (VPB14p59),
as did William Duke. William Reynolds Òof Brunswick CoÓ obtained a grant
adjacent Ralph Jackson the same day (VPB 14:34-35). Ralph JacksonÕs grant was 7 Jul 1726 (VPB12p520).
Thomas Jackson received a grant the same day (VPB12p520). John Jackson may have
been in the area earlier.
William Kimball of Surry Co
received land on Rocky Creek adjacent James Baker and Col. Harrison on 28 Sep
1728 (VPB14p27-28).
Nathaniel Green of Surry Co received land on Reedy Creek on the same day
(VPB14p67). Peter Tatum Òof Prince GeorgeÓ received land on Reedy Creek
adjacent the Jacksons (VPB14p76). Peter Tatum was originally from Sussex Co.
Ephraim Parham received land on Reedy
Creek (VPB13p358-359). The Parhams owned land in Sussex Co adajcent on
Southwestern Swamp adajcent William Rainey, Joseph Tucker, and James Cain (CGB
N p1). John Hicks of Surry was granted land on the north side of the Maherrin
on the same day (28 Sep1728),
as did Henry Harrison (PB14p535).
A
grant to Ralph Jackson Òof Surry CountyÓ on Reedy Creek was dated 1726
(VPB12p520), as was one to Thomas Jackson (VPB12p520). Ralph Jackson seems to
have been associated with the Eppes family. Ralph Jackson received a land grant in
Bristol Parish, Charles City County, with grant in 1692. John Dugles and Joseph
Maddox, on 29 Apr 1692 (Land Office Patents No. 8, 1689-1695, p. 244, Reel 8.).
In 1713 he received land from John and Rebecca Jackson of Prince George Co VA (Prince George County VA
Record Book B 1693-1713, p. 244):
JACKSON,
Ralph
From
John JACKSON &
Rebecca
JACKSON
100
acres ( formerly Henry KING) adj.
To
George WILLIAMS line
Oct
12, 1713
Ralph Jackson died in
Brunswick Co and his will of 4 Apr 1744 was witnessed
by Bridget Duke, John Douglas, and James Robinson and proved by the oaths of
John Duke and Bridget Duke (Brunswick Co VA Will Bk 2, pp. 100-101). Note that
John Douglas shared his Bristol parish land grant in 1692.
John Jackson grants on
Reedy Creek in
Brunswick Co VA are well documented (VPB13p358-359, VPB19p671-672). John Duke
witnessed some of his land transactions:
Indenture made the 1st day
of October, 1747, between John Jackson, Sr., and Mary Jackson, his wife, of
Albemarle Parrish, County of
Surry, and John Jackson, Jr., of St. Andrews Parrish,
County of Brunswick, for 5
pounds, conveying 195 acres, located on East side of Reedy Branch, corner of
Edward Accols land, and also adjoining land of Thomas Wilson. Witnesses were
John Duke, Thomas Embry,
and John Mabry. Acknowledged in Court on October 1, 1747. Deed Book 3, page
346.
Indenture made the 1st day
of October, 1747, between Edward Accollo and Mary Accollo, his wife, of
Albemarle Parrish, County of Surry, and John Jackson, Jr., for 5 pounds, conveying 400 acres, on
Reedy Branch. Witnesses were John Duke, Thomas Embry, and John Mabry.
Acknowledged in Court on October 1, 1747. Deed Book 3, page 347.
Peter Tatum of Surry County
also obtained a grant on Reedy Creek on 28 Sep 1728, adjacent Thomas Jackson (VPB14p76), and
another in 1748 (VPB26p562-563). One genforum posting suggests Thomas may have
been a son of John Jackson, and that a younger Ralph Jackson was another son.
John Duke was also
associated with the Perry family in Brunswick Co VA:
Indenture made 27 July
1745, between Francis Price of Brunswick County and John Butts of same, £25,
land whereon John Bush now lives, 447a, being a moiety of a larger tract of
land granted to John Duke by Letters Patent dated 24 March 1734 & by the sd,.
John Duke sold and
conveyed to Thomas Collier & by the sd. Collier sold & conveyed to the
sd. Francis Price. Signed Francis Price. Witnesses: Thomas Lanier, Micajah
Perry, Peter Adams (bhm). Court August 1, 1745, Indenture proved by oaths of
Thomas Lanier, Gent.
& Micajah Perry. Court May 6, 1747, Indenture acknowledged by Francis
Price. Deed Book 3, Page 314.
In 1789 Benjamin Perry was
associated with the Duke family in Fairfield Co SC (Kershaw District, SC
Probate, Apartment 56, Package 1858).
DNA studies have placed this
William Duke in the family of John Duke of Isle of Wight County, VA.[lxxxi]
William Duke was in Brunswick Co VA on Reedy
Creek, near the modern town of Lawrenceville and the historical Fort Christiana, in 1728. The
earliest mention is in a deed to Capt. James Baker of Isle of Wight County, on
the north side of the Maherrin River on Rocky Creek, adajcent William Duke (VPB
13:187).
A James Baker was an original trustee of
Smithfield.[lxxxii] In 1740 James
Baker was an executor, with Charles Binns and John Ruffin, of the estate of
James Ransom.[lxxxiii] In 1739 James Baker acquired land in Isle of
Wight County on the Circular Tract adajcent Benjamin Ruffin. In 1747 ÒJames
Baker Gent.Ó surveyed a parcel in the Circular Tract, Assamasook Swamp, Southampton Co, VA,
sold by the Nottoway Indians to Thomas Cocke, John Simmons, and Benjamin
Edwards, and by them sold to William Bailey (IW Deed Bk 7: 244-245). Ethelred
Taylor II owned land on Assamasoon Swamp, Circular Tract, by 1740/41 (IW Deed Bk 5:3-5).
On 28 Sep 1728 William Duke acquired land adjacent
Nathaniel Green on Reedy Creek (VPB14p31). John Duke acquired land adjacent
William Duke and James Baker on the same day (VPB14p59). John Duke sold this
property to Sterling
Clack in 1745 (Brunswick Co VA Deed book 3:96-98).
In 1747 Sterling Clack obtained addition land
adjacent John Duke, John Edwards, and Robert Munford (VPB 28:155-156). In 1756
Charles Edwards obtained land on Reedy Creek adjacent John Edwards (VPB33p261-262). In 1762 John
Edwards obtained land adjacent Charles Edwards (VPB34p1053-1054). Edward Tatum
acquired land on Reedy Creek in 1756, near Robert MunfordÕs line and adjacent
Peter Tatum (VPB33p105-106). George Standback (VPB18p168-169), Sterling Clack (VPB28p155-156), and Capt.
James Baker of Isle of Wight Co (VPB13p187) also owned land in the immediate
vicinity.
In 1774 Robert Ruffin was granted land on Reedy
Creek previously granted to William Duke in 1728, John Duke in 1728, and Samuel
Duke in 1747 (VPB42p735-737).
At this time the land was adjacent Morris, Herbert, and Edwards. It is
interesting that the property was being sold as one parcel.
Other relevant Brunwick Co grants: Edward Freeman
received 300 acres near Thomas Eave on Buck Quarter Branch in 1768 (VPB 38:458-569).
He had land near Sexton, John Knotts, John Wall as early as 23 Dec 1754 on the
road to Fort Christianna (PB32p430-431). The town of Freeman, named for the
family, is the only town on Reedy Creek, about 4 miles east of the present town of Lawrenceville.
William DukeÕs first wife is unknown. His second
wife was Elizabeth Bartholomew, widow of John Bartholomew who died in 1735
(Brunswick Co VA Deeds, Wills, Etc. Bk 1, PP. 234-235, inv. & appr.
recorded 2 Oct. 1735). John Bartholomew left one son, Charles. The
Bartholomews were from Prince George Co VA, as listings for an earlier Charles
Bartholomew, apparently JohnÕs father, show. The records also show that JohnÕs
mother, Rebecca Bartholomew, was an Eppes (Prince George Co, Virginia Record
Book B 1693-1713):
Bartholomew,
Ann
From
Charles & Rebecca Bartholomew
200
acres, formerly Rebecca EPES
Deed
(lease) Sep 4, 1711 Page 69
Deed
(release) Sep 10, 1711
Bartholomew, Charles & Rebecca
To
Anne Bartholomew,
dau.
Granted
Rebecca by patent Apr
29, 1690
(formerly
Epes)
Deed
(lease) Sep 4, 1711 Page 74
Deed
(release) Sep 10, 1711
200
acres
Bartholomew, Charles & Rebecca
To
Anne Bartholomew,
dau
200
acres, part of land granted Rebecca (Epes)
during
her widowhood, patent Apr 29, 1690
Deed
(lease) Sep 4, 1711
Page 69
Deed
(release) Sep 10, 1711 Page 74
Charles Barthlomew was listed on the 1704 quit
rent rolls for Charles City County, VA. In 1715 he inventoried the estate of
Edward Bolling, along with Gilbert Hay (Prince George County Records, 1713-1728, p. 55).[lxxxiv] Hay also inventoried the estate of Capt. Henry
Duke. In 1718 a deed from John Roberts and Thomas Winningham to Darrel Young
Jr. of Prince George County identifies WnninghamÕs land as bounded by that of
Charles Bartholomew, John Young, and
Capt. John Poythress (Prince George County Records, 1713-1728, p.220).[lxxxv]
The sons of John Duke the
Elder include John Duke Jr., who married Mary Duggar (Brunswick Co VA Will Book
7, p. 467). John Duke Jr. did not leave
Virginia until 1774, He appears on the 1776 tax list of Bute County. John Duke
the Elder and his wife Ruth left Burnswick Co VA and moved to Bute Co NC. On 1
mar 1762 John Duke bought from William Duke 500 acres of land in Bute County.
This was witnessed by
Benjamin Duke and Bed. Green (Bute Co NC Deed Bk 2, p. 211).
In Feb 1775 the hands of
Benjamin and Jacob Duke were ordered to work on the road from Hawtree to Robert
Caller (Bute Co Minute Book). Samuel Duke(s) Jr. left a will in Muhlenburg
County KY in which he
identifies sons John, Sampson, Jacob, William, and Benjamin and daughters
Elizabeth Groves and Pashence Williams.[lxxxvi]
In 1779 John Duke the Elder
sold land in Bute Co NC to Lewis Scarbrough, with witnesses Simon, Benjamin,
and Joel Duke (Warren Co
NC Deed Bk 7, p. 228). These were sons of John Duke the Elder.
James and Robert Duke, sons
of John Duke of Isle of Wight Co VA, were in Bertie Precinct NC in 1739. This James Duke is almost certainly the one who was in Surry Co and
Brunswick Co VA in the interim.
On 1 Nov 1730 Bartholomew
Shavers deeded 200 acres of land on the Roanoke (Marrotoch) River to Benjamin
Duke and Henry Wooten (Bertie CO NC Deed Book C, p. 293). A Robert Duke grant
in Bertie County NC
followed in 1737:
13 Feb. 1737, Bertie County
Grants E, 202
Richard Pace, Jr. to Robert
Dukes 200 acres (part of a patent to John Green of 640 acres on northside of
Yawmehoke Swamp on 1 March 1719, part of patent sole to Ralph Mason and from
Mason to Richard
Pace, Sr. and part sold to Bartholomew Chavas then from Chavas to Barnaby
Mackinne, Sr. and this part from John Green to Richard Pace, Jr. for 200 acres;
then to Robert Dukes so that all Robert DukeÕs part of patent is on the
northside of Yawmehoke Swamp.
(The Yawmehoke Swamp is the bonds between Richard Pace, Sr. and Barnabe
Mackinne.)
The 1739/40 list of jurymen
for Bertie Precinct, North Carolina contains the names of Benjamin Duke, Robert
Duke, and James Duke. Robert and James were the brothers of John Duke the Elder of
Brunswick Co VA, and Benjamin Duke was a son of Robert Duke.
After 1741 Robert DukeÕs
land was in Northampton Co NC. On 4 Aug 1761 Robert Duke Sr. sold to Robert
Duke Jr., 100 aces adjoining the land of John Thomas (Northampton Co NC Deed Book 3, p. 84).
Robert Duke Sr. married Isabel Vinson, daughter of Thomas Vinson.
The 1763 will of Robert
Duke of Northampton County NC provided for sons Samuel, Benjamin, John, and
Robert and daughters Elizabeth Fullen, Monen, and Mille. [lxxxvii]
James Duke of Stanley
County, NC was a Revolutionary War soldier who in his pension application noted that he was born in
1764 in Northampton Co NC, and that his father died when he was about 18 months
of age. This conforms to the death of Robert Duke Sr.[lxxxviii]
Benjamin Duke disappeared
from North Carolina records and might be the Benjamin Duke found in the Georgetown SC area in
1745.
Samuel Duke appears in the
early Bertie County records, witnessing a deed from William Baldwin to John
Williams on 12 Jan 1735.[lxxxix] This individual is too
early to be a son of William Duke of Brunswick Co VA and Warren Co NC. A Samuel Duke was on the Tax
List of Halifax Co NC (adjoining Northampton) in 1781; this may be the same
individual or a son. William and Matthew Kinchen were also present in early
Bertie County, acquiring land with James Turner. J.Edwards was witness.[xc]
(Samuel Duke who EDB
believed to be the son of William Duke was on the Granville Co list of
titheables for 1750 and 1755, and on the muster roll for the militia in 1754.
EDB states that a court paper from Granville Co. identifies William Duke as security for a debt
by Samuel Duke.[xci] SamuelÕs sons names were
Britain, Burwell, Starling, and Harrell, as well as descendants with the given
name Green. Samuel may have married a daughter of William or Nathaniel Green,
since the name Green is common
in his line. )
DNA Studies
Important information on these families has been obtained
through yDNA studies. Details are available at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dukedna/dukedna.htm
[i] Isle of Wight County VA Records. William and Mary College Historical Quarterly Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 4, P. 291.
[ii] Land Office Patents No. 2, 1643-1651, p. 263 (Reel 2).
[iii] Land Office Patents No. 3, 1652-1655, p. 388 (Reel 2).
[iv] Land Office Patents No. 4, 1655-1664, p. 601 (Reel 4).
[v] Land Office Patents No. 11, 1719-1724, p. 248 (Reel 10).
[vi] Isle of Wight Co VA Deed Bk 5, p. 203.
[vii] Chuckatuck, Virginia Friend Meeting. Early Quaker Records in Virginia. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977.
[viii] Virginia Genealogical Society pq 101, Norfleet Riddick Papers, Nugent II 193-194.
[ix] VA Land Patents Book 1, part 2, p. 681.
[x] Genealogy.com. Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Volume III, Charles City County Court Orders and Fragments, 1664-1696, Page 351.
[xi] Colonial Abstracts. Fleet, Vol. 13, Charles City County, 1664-1696, p. 89. Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Volume III, Charles City County Court Orders and Fragments, 1664-1696, Page 330, 352.
[xii] Surry County, Virginia Record Book, Bk 2, p. 19.
Morris, Jane. Surry County Order Book, 1671-1692, p. 16.
[xiii] Morris, Jane. Surry County Order Book, 1671-1692, p. 515.
[xiv] Boddie, John B. 2000. Colonial Surry. Baltimore: Clearfield Publishing Company. Pages 91-92.
[xv] Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Volume III, Charles City County Court Orders and Fragments, 1664-1696, Page 335, 347, 352.
[xvi] Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Volume III, Charles City County Court Orders and Fragments, 1664-1696, Page 330, 352.
[xvii] Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Volume III, Charles City County Court Orders and Fragments, 1664-1696, Page 352.
[xviii] S. R. Number SR 03775b. Reel Number 448. Repository Public Records Office Class E 190/62/5. Title Port Books; Port of London; Searcher; Exports from London by English Merchants. Dates 1674-1675. Name Duke, Wm. -- 1675, SR 03775b, p. 66.
[xix] Surry Co VA Deed and Will Book 3:10, 3:43.
[xx] Jane Morris, Virginia Magazine of History, Vol. 4, October, 1896, "Narrative of Bacon's Rebellion", pp 5-13.
[xxi] "Defense of Colonel Edward Hill", Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, June 1896, Vol. IV, pp. 248-249
[xxii] VPB 7:110.
[xxiii] Jane Morris, op. cit. Surry County, Virginia, Record Book 2, page 238, 1679.
[xxiv] Genealogy.com. Virginia Colonial Abstracts. Vol. III, Henrico County – Southside, 1736, p.380.
[xxv] Genealogy.com. Historical Collections of Virginia. Amelia county, page 173.
[xxvi] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III. 1994. Prince George County Virginia Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Company. Page 100.
[xxvii] Historical Southern Families, Vol. IV, Duke of Durham County, North Carolina, Page 174
[xxviii] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III. 1994. Prince George County Virginia Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Company. Page 52.
[xxix] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III. 1994. Prince George County Virginia Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Company. Page 99.
[xxx] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III. 1994. Prince George County Virginia Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Company. Page 76.
[xxxi] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III. 1994. Prince George County Virginia Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Company. Page 130.
[xxxii] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III. 1994. Prince George County Virginia Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Company. Page 136.
[xxxiii] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III. 1994. Prince George County Virginia Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Company. Page 143-144.
[xxxiv] Duke, Walter Garland. Henry Duke, Councillor. Page 269.
[xxxv] Brandenberger, Evelyn Duke. The Duke Family. Houston: EDB. Page 295.
[xxxvi] Davis, Eliza Timberlake. 1980. Surry County records: Surry County, Virginia, 1652-1684. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.
[xxxvii] Wright, Louis B. and Marion Tinling,eds. 1958. William Byrd of Virginia: The London Diary (1717-1721) and Other Writings. New York: Oxford University Press. Pages 378, 382, 388, 389, 393, 404, 405, 408, 414, 416, 425, 426, 434, 435, 443, 444, 445, 448, 449, 450, 452, 460, 500, 03, 505, 508, 516, and 517.
[xxxviii] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III. 1994. Prince George County Virginia Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Company. Page 173.
[xxxix] Brunswick Co VA Will Bk 1: 74. Brunswick Co., VA., Will Bk 1: 185.
[xl] Brunswick Co VA Deed Bk 1: 106.
[xli] VPB 20: 135.
[xlii] Brunswick Co VA Deed Bk 2: 277-279 and 281.
[xliii] Brunswick Co VA Deed Bk 2: 251.
[xliv] Brandenberger, Evelyn Duke. The Duke Family. Houston: EDB. Page 305.
[xlv] Hollowak, Thomas L.,ed. Taylor of Southampton. Genealogies of Virginia Families from The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. V: Randolph-Zouch. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. Pp 386-397.
[xlvi] Davis, Eliza Timberlake. 1980. Surry County records: Surry County, Virginia, 1652-1684. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. Page 137.
[xlvii] Brandenberger, Evelyn Duke. The Duke Family. Houston: EDB. Page 430-431.
[xlviii] Brandenberger, Evelyn Duke. The Duke Family. Houston: EDB. Page 18.
[xlix] Duke, Walter Garland. Henry Duke, Councillor. Page 44.
[l] Land Office Patents No. 2, 1643-1651, p. 88 (Reel 2).
[li] Land Office Patents No. 6, 1666-1679 (pt.1 & 2 p.1-692), p. 653 (Reel 6).
[lii] VPB 5 p.378, VPB 6 p107, VPB 7 p576.
[liii] Land Office Patents No. 7, 1679-1689 (v.1 & 2 p.1-719), p. 183 (Reel 7).
[liv] Boddie, Southside Virginia Families, Vol. II. Page 123.
[lv] Surry Co VA Wills and Administrations Book 6, p. 93.
[lvi] Hollowak, Thomas L.,ed. Taylor of Southampton. Genealogies of Virginia Families from The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. V: Randolph-Zouch. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. P. 386-387.
[lvii] Hollowak, Thomas L.,ed. Taylor of Southampton. Genealogies of Virginia Families from The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. V: Randolph-Zouch. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. P. 386.
[lviii] Surry County VA Deeds, Wills, etc. Book 6, p.16.
[lix] Boddie, John B. 2000. Colonial Surry. Baltimore: Clearfield Publishing Company.
[lx] Davis, Eliza Timberlake. 1980. Surry County records: Surry County, Virginia, 1652-1684. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. Pages 127-128.
[lxi] Patents Issued during the Regal Government. 1901. William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. Vol. 10, Issue 2. P. 94.
[lxii] VPB 1 p772.
[lxiii] VPB 1 p380-381
[lxiv] Hopkins, William Lindsay. 1994. Surry County Virginia Deeds, 1684-1733 and other Court Papers. Athens: Iberian. P. 128.
[lxv] Hopkins, William Lindsay. 1994. Surry County Virginia Deeds, 1684-1733 and other Court Papers. Athens: Iberian. P. 46.
[lxvi] Hopkins, William Lindsay. 1994. Surry County Virginia Deeds, 1684-1733 and other Court Papers. Athens: Iberian. P. 123.
[lxvii] Brunswick Co VA Will Bk 1, p. 185.
[lxviii] Edwards Family. In William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 15, Issue 2 (Oct 1906). Pages 79-83.
[lxix] Davis, Eliza Timberlake. 1980. Surry County records: Surry County, Virginia, 1652-1684. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. Pages 46-47.
[lxx] Isle of Wight County VA Records; William and Mary College Historical Quarterly Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 4, P.215.
[lxxi] Ransom Family. Oct 1905. William and Mary College Historical Quarterly Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 2, P.129-130.
[lxxii] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III ed. 1994. Prince George County VA Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Co. P. 8.
[lxxiii] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III ed. 1994. Prince George County VA Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Co. P. 33.
[lxxiv] Land Office Patents No. 6, 1666-1679 (pt.1 & 2 p.1-692), p. 117 (Reel 6).
[lxxv] Isle of Wight County Wills Bk 2, page 477. (Genealogical Records: Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850).
[lxxvi] Isle of Wight County VA Records. Apr 1899. William and Mary College Historical Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 4, P. 303.
[lxxvii] Isle of Wight County VA Records. Apr 1899. William and Mary College Historical Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 4, P.295.
[lxxviii] Isle of Wight County VA Records. Apr 1899. William and Mary College Historical Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 4, P. 303.
[lxxix] Southampton Co VA Deed Book 2: Pages 191-193
[lxxx] Davis, Eliza Timberlake. 1980. Surry County records: Surry County, Virginia, 1652-1684. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. Pages 127-128.
[lxxxi] Duke/Dukes Surname Study. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dukedna/dukedna.html
[lxxxii] Isle of Wight County VA Records; William and Mary College Historical Quarterly Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 4, P.215.
[lxxxiii] Ransom Family. Oct 1905. William and Mary College Historical Quarterly Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 2, P.129-130.
[lxxxiv] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III ed. 1994. Prince George County VA Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Co. P. 8.
[lxxxv] Weisinger, Benjamin B. III ed. 1994. Prince George County VA Wills and Deeds 1713-1728. Athens: Iberian Publishing Co. P. 33.
[lxxxvi] Brandenberger, Evelyn Duke. 1979. The Duke Family. Houston: EDB. Page143.
[lxxxvii] Northampton Co NC Will Bk A, part 1, p. 35.
[lxxxviii] Brandenberger, Evelyn Duke. 1979. The Duke Family. Houston: EDB. Page 403.
[lxxxix] Bertie Co NC Deed Book E 1736-39, Pt. 1, p. 22.
[xc] Bertie Co NC Deed Book E 1736-39 Pt. 1. P. 39.
[xci] Brandenberger, Evelyn Duke. 1979. The Duke Family. Houston: EDB. Page 51.