Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

No, seriously, a damn pond has me all in a mental turmoil… the question with myself is could a “particular” pond be 400 years old?  Bear with me – I’ll get to it.

Hugh Campbell… who the hell was this guy?  He shows up around 1685 or so? and starts buying up more damn property than Rush Limbaugh has sponsors on his radio show.

A nice guy… he gives away land in 3 counties for “schools”.   The counties were IOW, Nansemond and maybe “Norfolk” wherever that was “officially”? Say around 1700.

But back to the damn pond… later.

Several years ago I “mapped” Robert Pitts patent… and dutifully wrote all my words of wisdom about his doings and the aftermath of all his doings and his descendants.  Little did I realize that I was talking out of my ass. (for lack of a better terminology… I’m a ground to earth kind of guy).

This Hugh Campbell guy swoops in and buys ALL the land of Robert Pitt.  Coll Pitt was a hotshot from England with entangling alliances which leave his descendants all aquiver with “stuff” which is just plain fun genealogically.

But I draw maps.  I get distraught and upset when  some interloper comes in and messes up my damn maps.

Here… just look at the proof…

See that 1200 acres that the good Coll Pitt acquired?  I worked my ass off to figure out where that nifty little curved arrow DEFINED where this land actually was.  This patent, in my opinion, can be considered a first proof.  Go ahead… bring up an expert to refute me.  I dare you.

And now I confront this… Mr Campbell buys the said property.  What 1699? 98?… I don’t give a damn… he bought the whole damn property!  (45 YEARS later)

Look at it!

So every thing that you and I thought about this particular patent (‘land’ in common terms) is brought into QUESTION.  What we thought we know ain’t necessarily so. (Considering his descendants.)

The damn POND will be the proof of where Giles Driver and Ambrose Bennet had their land.

Like I stated…I’m a mapper… south of here is a pond I think is 400 years old which will tell the tale…

If I can do it…  I will map Ambrose Bennett, Giles Driver and Robert Bracewell… it all depends on the “pond”.  If my hunch is correct.

Oh…  here is the pond… use Google maps to find it…

My simple reason for thinking it may be 400+ years old is the feeder creek leading to it…   from Cypress Creek

Oh… and no one to my knowledge has ever been able to do what I am attempting here,,,  so I have that going for me…

My IOW map is “not ready for prime time” and I am still revising away.  But I just got this comment and have a few things to say…

In my research of the Jolly family I found a land grant in Bertie Co., NC issued to Thomas Goodson 150 acres south of the Maherrin River Dec. 1, 1727. ………”Beginning at a pine Thomas Boons corner tree standing in the Wild Cat Swamp……..” Thomas Goodson married Elizabeth Jolly who was the daughter of James Jolly of Isle of Wight Co., my 6th great grandfather. When Thomas Goodson died in 1761 he and his family lived in Tarboro, NC. His will stated that he left half of his lot No. 57 in Tarboro to his daughter Winne and the other half to his wife Elizabeth.

William Jolly of IOW just happens to be on my radar, along with some other folks. And they are all centered around The Pond.  The Pond is noted by the asterisk:

The base map is dated about 1920 or so… making those ponds at least 100 years old.

If I can “accurately place” Ambrose Bennet’s 1641 patent then all the other landowners will fall in place and I can merrily proceed with my mapping.  My ranting about Robert Pitt’s 1654 patent is another milestone.  Hugh Campbell purchased his land in 1698/9.  So that is accurate… the metes and bounds of his freshly minted patent 45 years later is verbatim .

Robert Coleman purchased 300 acres of Ambrose Bennet’s land in 1667… and you can see it represented above.  Coleman’s patent noted The Pond. Likewise with Hugh Campbell’s later purchase of the same land in 1699.  Likewise William Jolly’s patent mentions it in 1704.

A major difference to Campbell’s later patent can be seen (I have both patents shown on the map above).   And the difference is purchases which involved Giles Driver.  Hugh Campbell also purchased part of Giles Driver’s land.  Just as with a jig saw puzzle, I need to have those “anchor points” to connect the other pieces.

So these are the hoops I am jumping through to sort out the map.  Good Grief.  But a good thing about all these mysteries is the tantalizing revelations which are revealed… as to my commenter, just look at William Jolly and his neighbors after 1700. Note Mary Jolly (Corne Swamp) and the earlier John Jolly.  Good clues…