Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

I just never find time to Post these important things…

My Sidekick, Jennifer from California, amazed me a while back with her awesome common sense. In our emails we readily admitted we were both OCD…(obsessive compulsive disorder). I now think it is a requirement for genealogists… (admit it Forrest King)… smiling… and you too David Gammon… and also my friend Tracy the Librarian.

I got stuck in my searches at the Library of Virginia for the original patents of the Olde Pharts… long dead.

The problem was that many of the damn patents were unreadable…. but let me explain…

Back in the day, photography was 35mm, you remember, “film”. A particular film used was called “Ortho”… it was for high contrast black and white. That was what the Lib of Virginia used. The problem was the volume of images they shot. Ortho was great and cheap… the problem was the “photographer” when he got bored… he did not adjust the “details” to get a good shot… he just flipped the pages and ‘clicked”.

So many “unreadable” images found themselves online.

Then… Jennifer from California clued me in that those very same images were available at Familysearch.org. Evidently they did not get bored… must be a Mormon thing?

I did not know that… DUH!

Here ya go… no charge…

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/584564?availability=Family%20History%20Library

Here is an example… note the horrendous dark image vs the crisp one… (it is dark because I tried every trick I know to ‘fix’ it in Photoshop… it was hopeless).

Kudos to Jennifer. I am updating many of my files…you know… now that I can read them.

Note that you can still use the Library of Virginia “search engine”… then use the Deed Book and page to pull up the better image on Familysearch.

https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/land-grants

Laughing out loud…

I did not follow my own advice… again…. Occam’s Razor… the simplest answer is the best (or thereabouts).

With all my fretting about to figure out where Thomas Boon’s property was at with Mathew Strickland’s property… it was right there in plain site… don’t I feel stupid again! smiling

Whew! I would never have lived that down.

This is directly on the Blackwater River and Isle of Wight county Virginia. Note the Horse Swamp. I am attempting to find the historic boundaries as accurately as I can of Strickland’s patent of of 1803 acres in 1680. Since 1680 until about 1910 or so, when this base map was printed, I suspect that the Horse Swamp “today” is not exactly where it was then. This modern topo map depicts three ponds which apparently date back to the 1600s. With that in mind see my notes:

It is important that I get this patent accurate because every patent to the right of it will be based on it’s “correctness”. It is what I call an “anchor patent”.

So I invite anyone to take a crack at pond naming… which pond is which and which creek is which… there seem to be several… smiling

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So… with the addition of Thomas Boon’s 1702 deed… (in the above Post)… I am confident that Strickland’s original patent began at the “mouth” of Horse Swamp. However… read the metes and bounds carefully…

“begin at the mouth”…then up the Blackwater

then to the mouth of First Branch

I do not see a “First Branch”… or any branch off the Blackwate for that matter (remember this is only 300 acres) So I still have questions.

Ask yourself… is Arthur Whitehead’s property on the west side or right side of Horse Swamp? My guess is the right side… So where is the mouth of First Branch? (another deed references a “second branch” Good Grief).

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My other objective is to depict the other deeds “inside” the large patent of 1803 acres… there are several, including Thomas Boons.

Related notes…

some answers to Jennifer concerning the Boons

Click to access 235412966.pdf

A daughter of Rev. Robert Bracewell, Jane, married the unfortunate rebel with the stretched neck. (Full disclosure, I would have been on his side). I have been perplexed and bewildered for years attempting to map where the property was. So I shall omit any whining on my part and just simply lay out the clues as I have amassed over the years…

This is very “roughly” where I think it was… but I am busily re-working this area…

…as usual, don’t click this image…click the blue filename below to open a better view…

I’m presently nitpicking these clues and particularly am intrigued with the last one (which I have only recently dug up)…

If I can somehow get a coherent grasp of how James Long’s property adjoined the Braswell (et al) property then perhaps that will help to make some sense… and perhaps I can make better sense of the Robert Scott connection. This has been a tough nut to crack…

An aside… a Braswell commenter just rattled my cage… it seems this is my best guess of where the original preacher may have lived:

https://andersonnc.com/?s=when+you+see+it

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an Update:

There may be more details in this article…

I don’t know what to do with this…it is one of those “rabbit hole” paths that I just don’t have time for right now… but don’t want to just throw away. So if one of you want to pursue it then by all means do it… It is particularly interesting because it has an actual “will” involved… for one John Watkins d.1648.

The area is roughly NE (or NW) of the Western Branch… my usual routine is to find some neighbors… by hook or crook or bribes or threats…. then try to join the puzzle pieces…

The nitty gritty details…

So… who the hell was Thomas Hodgis? Hodges?

Jennifer from California aka (Thornton) has been busy on her blog…

Her THORNTON line seems to be some of those “quiet” types who just make their way thru life with no fuss or muss… and darnit!… very few records are left behind. Its like a blind man trying to find paintings on a cave wall! Perhaps that is why I am so fond of horse thieves and women of ill repute… at least they leave ‘some’ records.

Jennifer has scored a few points lately in one of my more baffling areas of study… the Meherrin River near the VA / NC border. This area is a Rouge’s Gallery of characters… in no particular order:

Boons, Pitmans, Brownes, Bryans, Braswells, Kinchins, Andersons, Forts, Sims, Stricklands… and on and on… now some Thorntons added to the mix. And mapping the place is proving to be a challenge. So stop by her place and say hello…

Joseph Strickland and Ann Thornton

Oh… and I think she has a bank robber tucked away in the family records just to lend some spice… I’m jealous. My grandfather was named Bart Brock… has a touch of the Old West donch’a think? Didn’t rob any banks I know of tho’.

I have hopelessly lost track of where this began and where it will end…I have been tracking this gentleman for about twenty years or so… the only advice to new readers I can give is to avail yourself of my “search” box… but be forewarned, I have totally lost control and I have made numerous Posts and a rather confusing Page… all of which I have never written a coherent summary… my apology… my only excuse is that this is still ‘ongoing’ research. Which is the excuse everyone uses.

Oddly enough, Forrest King rather inadvertently on his part, unveiled to me the stark reality that I had missed, that John Browne signed with his signature ‘mark’ of “TTT”. Lo’ these many years, I was blithefully in the dark of that obvious fact! Thank you Mr. King.

In my last few Posts I have been tracking the lovely and gracious Bridgett Lewis… his wife. It seems they had what is referred to as one of those ‘winter’ marriages… which is to say… rather ‘late’ in life. I reckon they married sometime between say, 1695 and 1706. If someone can better pinpoint a date, please inform me. She, as best I can figure, never married but had at least three sons. My best reckoning is that John Browne died about 1713… Mrs Browne died after he did at an unknown date (two of her sons close by).

Here are some pertinent details to validate my theory… although, frankly, I am thinking I have actually proved my case?

My last name is Anderson. I am a Brantley by blood, DNA proven. A Big Y 700 match to me is another Brantley from the Brantley DNA group.

My good friend, Ken Brantley who wrote the book… and is the head of the Brantley Association.. has welcomed me in as an Ambassador… that is because of my mapping skills.

I will not mention my match to the particular Brantley I “match” to simply because I cannot reach him thru email… I suspect his ‘old’ address has probably expired. So I respect his privacy.

But I can lay out some facts from ‘my’ perspective.

Note here that my “rather rare” Big Y match @ 700 (not named) has speculated all on his own with absolutely no input from me that this is his ancestor…

Note that this is not ‘my’ theory… it is my ‘match’ to the Brantley group. And it is a BigY 700 match.

Also note that the mystery Brantley match to me thinks he may have a “Lumbee” Indian in his past. I do not think so.

My friend Ken Brantley of the Brantley Association recently did a recent check on my genealogy track…which is online … and found by his reckoning that I had more than 50 matches to the BASS family of, lets say, the Southside Virginia… (the Bass family dates to Jamestown).

So… without much ado… I am very interested in this.

Curious folks may note that I have recently explored the mysterious Joyce Lewis mentioned above who married, who I suspect, is my direct ancestor, Philip Brantley.

I am also curious how friendly Philip Brantley was with his wife’s close friend Susanna Braswell?

I discuss Ms Braswell in Posts below…

(a sidenote… being a bastard is not a matter of pride with me, to the contrary, it is a matter of curiosity that circumstances were as they were in the past… but as I had nothing to do with those circumstances, I take the attitude that I will accept and correct, and laugh in the face of Fate, or try at least to improve the circumstances that true love is involved with the birth of every child born in the future… therefore I support the institution of marriage between a man and woman who at least “try” to stay together. And if I may be frank… did not God Himself re-birth himself as a bastard? So I toast all my bastard cousins! And perhaps we are in good company…)

This would include me of course, Marc Anderson aka Brantley… it seems my DNA leads directly to Edward Brantley d. 1688 of Isle of Wight.

It seems I can now add James Braswell, son of Susanna (Burgess) Braswell, the occasional wife of Robert Braswell Jr., son of the Rev Robert Bracewell of Isle of Wight.

My friend David Boyett, administrator of the Boyett DNA Group,(and others) has noticed that James Braswell does not match with his half brother Richard… both sons of Susanna.

David asked if I might know ‘about’ where Susanna Braswell might have been living at the time that James Braswell is estimated to have been born about 1676.

An article written by Carey Bracewell in 2007 gives this account:

Susannah Burgess Braswell’s 100 acres

It appears Susanna got the 100 acres she left in her will to her sons Richard and William – from her Mother who had inherited it from her sister Joyce England Cripps who had inherited it from her husband Francis England.

http://braswellgenealogy.blogspot.com/2007/10/susannah-braswells-100-acres.html

Further… the deeds were researched a bit more…

Susannah Burgess Braswell’s 100 acres, more

A few more records have surfaced from the Isle of Wight deed books which seem to confirm the identity of Susannah’s 100 acres she bequeathed unto sons Richard & William in her 1714 will which was witnesed by RICHARD JONES & RICHARD JORDAN.

(p. 275, IOW Deed Book 4) 28 Mar 1733….SAMUEL GAINER and wife, ANN GAINER, of Albemarle County in North Carolina to JOHN MILLER of Isle of Wight County…..100 acres in the upper parish adjoining RICHARD JONES, PHILIP BRANTLEY, FRANCIS ENGLAND, Maj. WILLIAM BRIDGER and FRANCIS WRENN. Wit: JOHN HODGES, JAMES EVEARD, RICHARD JORDAN and EDWARD MILLER. Rec: 27 Aug 1733 SAMUEL (X) GAINER, ANN (X) GAINER. NOTE: ANN GAINER appoints GEORGE BELL, Sr. of the upper parish as her attorney. Wit: JOHN NAIRNE, WILLIAM BELL and JOHN (X) BELL.

(p. 209, IOW Deed Book 8) 8 Mar 1748….JOHN MILLER and wife ANN MILLER to SETH HUNTER…….100 acres in Newport Parish (being land bought by said MILLER from SAMUEL GAINER on 27 Aug 1733) adjoining the Cart Path from RICHARD JONES to PHILLIP BRANTLEY, FRANCIS ENGLAND and Major WILLIAM BRIDGER. Rec: 9 Mar 1748 JOHN MILLER, ANN MILLER

http://braswellgenealogy.blogspot.com/2007/10/more-about-susannah-braswells-100-acres.html

Note the above clues mention Philip Brantley. I have fairly accurately (in my mind) mapped the Brantley land in Isle of Wight which Philip Brantley inherited a piece from his father Edward Brantley.

I discuss it at great length here:

early_iow_2_dec16

And per the name references noted… it seems Susanna Braswell lived near the Brantley property. Which is counter to my first thought that she probably lived somewhere near the old church where the preacher preached.

So perhaps that answered David Boyett’s question.

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A bit more intrigue…

The bastard sons of Bridgett (Lewis) Browne… a good friend of Susanna Braswell…

Anthony Lewis…that orphant boy

Morgan Lewis… Come on Down!

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Is it just me or does anyone else notice this whiplashishly circuitous route that seems to backtrack to my Brantleys? There seems to have been a huge meeting of cousins near Anthony’s Delight plantation in Southampton county, VA, around about 1702.

A “new” Bryan showed up on my radar… he is noted on the map below:

This area is the Roanoke River near Bridger’s Creek

A commenter claims he descends from a Robert Bryan who moved into NC prior to 1725. I was a bit skeptical, having not ran across the name, but my friend Jennifer from California promptly emailed a grant… as noted above.

The commenter also claims “in 1652 John (Bryan) received the land ‘twix’ the IOW and Nansemond cos. being old for the time John needed more help and 7 yrs. later brought a Robert (age 27) and Lewis Bryan as well as John Ballard from Bitton Eng. “

So with a little math, considering Robert Bryan was 27 in 1659, that would make his birthdate 1632 and his age in 1721 about 89… which is highly unlikely.

Another Robert Bryan to ponder is shown here near the Blackwater River straddling IOW and Nansemond. He also has a son Robert. But these guys seem to stay in Southampton into the 1740s as shown by later patents.

I am a bit bewildered by it all. My friend David Boyett has provided some data to back up the claim:

http://www.virtualjamestown.org/indentures/search_indentures.html
Agent: John Brian
Aug 15, 1659 Lewes Brian of Bitton, Gloucestershire
Aug 15, 1659 John Ballard of Bitton
Aug 24, 1659 John Boulton of Bitton

15 Aug 1659 (p. 432)
following bound to John Brian, Planter, to serve in Virginia:
Lewes Brian of Bitton, Glos., yeoman
Robert Brian of Bitton, Glos.,
John Ballard of Bitton
—-Bristol Records Office

24 Aug 1659 (p.433)
John Boulton of Bitton, Glos., bound to John Brian, Planter, to serve 4 years in Virginia
—-Bristol Records Office

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Jennifer also found this reference to a Robert Brian in 1690:

Patents, v. 8, 1689-1695; Film # 008422927

121/464 (p. 92)

23 Oct 1690, Hodges Council the younger and Thomas Man, grant 200 ac, IOW county, beginning at Jno (Brown) corner, Kingsale Swamp. Transport of four persons: Thomas White, Jno Wator_, Robt Brian, Jno Barnard.

Earlier comments can be found here:

John Bryan 1672, a curious patent

David Boyett (the DNA guru)… is doing his research and Posting as we speak… and I, as I mentioned am still bewildered by it all.