Archive for October 2016
To the mystery commenter…
Two points…
- I have revised my theory of Elizabeth Pitman of the will of Elizabeth Anderson d.1733. I now think she was knocked up by a Brantley (unknown) and most likely married a Pitman… which is why I asked if you had proof to that effect. It seems likely to be James Pitman but I have found nothing but circumstantial evidence to confirm it.
- I hold to my opinion that Joseph “the Quaker” did not die in 1763 but went on to live until 1780ish… my presentation of my “proof” to that involves an ERROR made by the Court scribe (in my opinion). I do not challenge a historical document lightly. I am completely serious when I make the accusation. (Note in the comments that 2 Certified Genealogists “defer” to my theory… they cannot agree with it because it is a theory. Nor would I ask them to.)
You folks are obviously deep in the weeds of the Pitmans… this guy is possibly the missing link to the “mystery” Pitmans of Edgecombe… (by that I mean the progenitor of James Pitman).
He was within spitting distance of the Meherrin River Pitmans and also, as a major point I wish to make, there is a Wrey (Ray) not too far away (near the Robert Hicks property at Emporia, VA. That Wrey/Ray, in my opinion, ties directly to the William Pitman who hailed from Surry County/Isle of Wight (Newport Parish). There is no patent that I can find but he is identified by surrounding him with other patents. He probably “purchased” his land and any records lost. Follow the trail of my notes and you will find he moved to Edgecombe County mid 1740s… winding up near my ancestors… and Elizabeth Pitman of whom we are obviously concerned. No one, to my knowledge can explain him. The mystery James Pitman/Elizabeth Anderson connection may be in the mix.
I also noted him in my most recent map in the post just below…
… and are you “Guy” by any chance?
Brantley blood…Anderson veins…
Apparently a son or grandson of Edward Brantley (of lower Isle of Wight) left a deposit in the Anderson Bank but failed to leave a forwarding address…
Out of 2,000+ cousin DNA hits I had one 67 step match… Benjamin Hall, 1773-1843, Chatham Co., NC . His ancestry seems similarly undetermined but a “purported” link is a Brantley.
The common link, in my opinion, likely happened some years before 1732 when Elizabeth Anderson (Sr) composed her will. She noted an illegitimate grandson by her daughter Elizabeth.
(excerpt from will of Elizabeth Anderson 1733)
Item
I give to my Daughter Elisebeth Pitman, one paire of Small Mill Stones
Item
I give my Daughter Elisebeth Pitmans Son William Anderson one Hiefer.
My assumption is that Grandma would not give a cow to a baby… perhaps a teenager or near teen…
Love was in the air… 1720ish…
Who was the masked marauder?
Nobody knows the trubble I’ve seen…
Nobody knows my sorrow…. sung to the tune of the olde slave song… (I remember singing it as a third or fourth grader in Snyder, Texas… my home town until I was 16 and moved to Florida).
So I’ve been doing some considerable re-working of my Isle of Wight map… a commenter has got me all fired up and re-interested in the Robert Coleman of IOW. He showed up around 1665 or so and that period never makes for a dull moment when attempting to map those early patents. Here is a real jewel which I had left off my map for obvious reasons… The problem is that you cannot dismiss a patent just because it can’t be read or it just makes no sense… you have to “deal” with it.
I seriously don’t think I’ve seen a more UN-descriptive description than this… normally these patents are remarkably accurate… even by modern standards.
To carry on with my rant…
This is Leift (or Leist?) … oh hell, Lieutenant John Upton in 1638…
“IOW…”beginning at the outside of Ambrose Bennetts Land lying Northerly upon the said branch and 500ac of Land more on the other side of the sd. branch opposite against the foresaid Land running Easterly into the woods beginning at an Indian path which goeth over the head of that branch and runneth Southerly upwards from the head of the said branch…” (no name of the said branch is mentioned)
Like I said… Nobody knows the trubble I’ve seen… (smiling). About the only hard clue in that diatribe is the mention of Ambrose Bennett and using the full extent of my vivid imagination, that it “seems” to be northerly of said Bennett’s patent… I think?
This is how I am dealing with it (for now)… I have added the Ambrose Bennett patent which absolutely corroborates the Robert Coleman purchase… (but then in actuality the Upton patent is LARGER than Bennett’s… so it has to be added… somehow. I try to fill up any missing patents with an “explanation” of why it is missing… make sense?
I am still shuffling around patents because I had formerly thought that “Cypress Creek” was the branch just above the Lt John Upton blurb… evidently NOT. On modern maps (including this base map from the early 1900s) it is named “Champion Swamp”. Cypress Swamp is to the east and called such on modern maps. But I am still left scratching my head because I do not recall running across any mention of Champion Swamp in the early records? Someone find an early reference to settle this? My hunch is that it was named such in the 1800s. Other issues that confuse me is the William Body (Boddie) patent clearly does not represent 3,350 acres. Note that Boddie’s patent references “Cypress Creek”… it has to be close to it. I am going to have to decide which of the early patents to delete and replace with newer ones as the old guys die off and are replaced with sons or simply escheat to new patentees. Perhaps an early and later map.
Hmmm… I think I just answered my own question about the Swamps… I also found another patent for William Boddie’s “way too small” patent of 3350 acres. Apparently it was re-surveyed in 1684 (which is a beast to figure out but it can be done). Here is the summary:
Boddie, William. grantee.
Land grant 26 April 1684.
Summary Location: Isle of Wight County.
Description: 3350 acres between and on both sides of the two great swamps of ye Cypress and the western branch of Nanzemond.
Source: Land Office Patents No. 7, 1679-1689 (v.1 & 2 p.1-719), p. 394 (Reel 7).
The telling part which seems to clarify the question of the Swamps (quoting verbatim from the patent):
“between & on both sides of the two great Swamps of ye Cypress and the Western branch of Nansemond in the lower pish of Isle of Wight”
If I am interpreting this correctly… and note his patent is HUGE… my assumption is there are 2 branches of the Cypress. And the Western branch of Nansemond is a different “swamp”. Please comment if you disagree. The patent below clearly has Boddie’s land extending to and crossing the Western branch.
Here is my latest attempt to figure out the conundrum… it just does not fit… (and yes… I have considered that it has been 300 years…) Perhaps the RED creek once connected to the PURPLE creek? If it did then Boddie’s patent would have connected to BOTH the Cypress and Western Branch creeks. And I can feel confident to proceed with the map with another anchor point. But I do not feel comfortable yet.
OK… I have re-thunk it… now it makes sense… If I may be bold and somewhat arrogant… I feel confident enough of this map that (in my humble opinion) it can now be considered Primary Proof. That is not to say any of my other map work stands up to this grouping of patents. This fits like a glove… hence my confidence.
I have a “clean” base map of these creeks if you wish to study it…
I also found another 500ac patent for Boddie which needs to be included… [update: it was included in his later 1684 patent]
Robert Coleman’s several patents are beginning to make some sense now… maybe a beer will help me sort things out…