Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

Let’s call this a “study” because I am not convinced I have it nailed down. Gee researchers can do no better than to go to the website “GeesnMore” by Kathryn Gearhart.

In attempting to map this area, I have found Moseley to be “accurate” with his general placement of “people”… but ‘not so much’ with his accuracy of the terrain (this is forgivable because they did not have the technology to map, as we do today… they were ignorant of many things… but again, understandably). Plus it would have been nice to have aerial photography… not to mention satellites.

In my research, so far, I have found the placement of ALL of these people to be accurate… including the Indians. My problem is the old adage… “the devil is in the details”. I will try to update this Post as I progress…

In the meantime here are some of my present notes..

Some questions I am entertaining…

Was Charles Gee involved in the Indian Trade? He seems to have been very interested in Occoneechee Neck. ( having patented three tracts of land there, but letting them lapse).

Why did Moseley completely ignore the presence of the Boons along the Meherrin River?

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To be honest… I am not at all “pleased” with this map… I think it has major errors I need to fix… I just think the GEE patent is a good starting point.

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Update:

Not to sound “whiney” or complain… this is my hobby… I enjoy the hunt and the intrigue. But this is twisted, backtracking and generally difficult to follow. So I am getting back to somewhat of a starting point… in this case I made a new map…

As usual, do not click on this image… click on the blue filename below for a better image you can zoom in…

I am now ‘almost’ certain this is where the James Gee patent of 1706 actually was. My main reason for thinking so is the adjoining deed for 150 acres issued to Matthew Rushing in 1718. Rushing would later sell this property to William Bridgers. Bridger’s wife Sarah, would again sell this property (as his Executrix in 1730) to Abraham Bagget.

The “takeaway” point I am making is that each of the deeds I mentioned also mentioned the term “the mouth of the Dividing Run“.

Another point to make is that (if you look closely at the Matthew Rushing property) you will note the underlying creek. I contend that that this will become known as “Rushin’s Branch” and it will lead all the way up past the Virginia border and into Southampton County. It will also later be lost to history… poof, it is gone.

I offer this map as supporting evidence…

Indeed, and as further evidence, I offer this deed and analysis to note that this “branch” was known for a period in time as “Rushins Branch“. And I think I can now conclude that Dividing Run is the same as Rushins Branch. The term Dividing Run was very short-lived and was replaced with Rushins Branch and lasting at least until the 1750s as noted in later deeds…

Trying not to be misunderstood, I am not starting a Boon timeline… this is just a suggestion to anyone who may. This ‘issue’ simply has to be dealt with at some point… I am just ‘dealing’ with it up front.

Firstly, there is no way in hell that a Boon… any Boon, ever was in NC in 1668…. period. Here is the deed that started that nonsense:

[6 Feb 1754] Nicholas Boon to John Braswell, both of Northampton for 41.1.6 pds VA, 490 acres in sd Co., part of a pat. granted to Mr. Thomas Boon, decd, May 1, 1668, beginning at the mouth of a branch known by the name of Know Bottom, so up the sd branch bending on George Seller’s line to ye head line of the patent so then bending on the sd patent line to the first station. Wit: Thomas Boon, Wm. Murfree. Ackd. February Court 1754.

But wait! you say… that is exactly what the damn deed says… you ignorant dumbass! (meaning me, the author of that outrage). And sure enough that is “exactly” what the deed says.

“it being part of a patent granted to Mr. Thomas Boon Deceased bearing date of first day of May Anno Domino 1668”

I certainly do not want to cast any aspersions on the good clerks, scribes and grandmotherly bespeckled county court folks who painstakedly rewrote the constantly bug infested and rotting written pages of the records from the 1660s. Oh wait… there does not seem to be any… or an extremely small amount which was reasonably protected from the weather’s vississitudes.. All of them seem to be rewrites or copies, as we say now. Those in the know, well, know that there has to be a certain “type” of paper to hold up over time. And that type of paper is and was expensive. This is not to mention that the inks had to also be weather-resistent over time, else they would fade away to nothing. A good quality India Ink was preferred and not always readily available. (Particularly in the boondocks of Colonial North Carolina in the 1660s).

So, in my humble opinion, the date of the patent of 1668 was an error. In 1668 a “landmark” decision was made and conveyed from England that was referred to afterwards in many deeds. (It saved the colonists money so it was important to be noted).

Which begs the question… where is the original patent to compare it to for…you know… actual, factual, details. The patent above refers to to a date of 1754… and I note that Mr. Boon is quite dead. It might also be observed that a ‘reasonable’ person in 1754 might note and call out the date of 1668 as an error… but let us also realize that most of the observers then were illiterate and left such details to the clerks. Personally I think some of those clerks drank a bit… if you catch my drift.

I discuss this more in detail here if you are interested:

Mathew Strickland / Thomas Boon…IOW

So here is my next question… if not in 1668, then when did the Boons arrive in North Carolina. My thought is that they all migrated from the Mathew Strickland property in Isle of Wight, VA. Thomas Boon, Sr. simply moved to the Meherrin River with all his sons… excepting his youngest son Ratcliffe, who stayed on the old property on Horse Swamp. So my answer is that they arrived sometime after 1700 when the land was “officially” opened for settlement.

In 1704 or thereabouts, Thomas Boon (et al, I assume with his sons) had relocated to near modern Franklin, VA on the Blackwater. So it is likely after this that the Boons set their eyes on North Carolina.

I find it particularly interesting that in 1704 the Boons were just across the Blackwater River from James Bryan(t). James Bryant also relocated to NC about 1708. He was conveyed property from his son in law Richard Braswell on the NS of Meherrin River. The Boons and Bryan(t)s had numerous dealings found in the records.

Allow me to be a bit personal… my genealogy led me to suspect that a guy by the name of George Anderson in 1695 was granted a patent in Isle of Wight, Va. … he being who I suspect is my DNA ancestor. He can’t be… because my DNA can be proven to be ‘Brantley’ from Isle of Wight, VA. I am a bastard by that simple fact (I have a Brantley bloodline but Anderson as a surname). Oddly enough, I have done what is seemingly impossible in genealogy, I have found where a purported (by me) daughter of that George Anderson had a bastard son. So… gee whiz… that simply cannot be proven. Well guess what… it can be proven through DNA.

About 1725 or so…Elizabeth Pitman had a bastard son named William Anderson. (At a point after his birth she married a Pitman). That son had Brantley DNA. That Elizabeth Pitman was the daughter of a woman named Elizabeth Anderson… who left a will in 1732. Are things beginning to click? I purport that that woman who died in 1733 was the wife of George Anderson who left Isle of Wight in 1710 and disappeared (and obviously died because his widow left a will… and a will could only be left by a ‘widow’) Got that?. That ‘Anderson’ woman’s daughter, also named Elizabeth, hooked up with a Brantley male and had a child… per the standards of the time a ‘bastard child’ took the name of the mother… hence, Anderson. The ‘records’ of the period and time of say 1700 to 1741 of the ‘area’ of where these events took place were burned by a delusional man who thought he could hide his inability to meet his obligations by burning down the courthouse and the records held within. A sad occurrence for history. And a great perturbation for people like me researching the now nonexistent early Northampton Hertford County, NC records.

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With that background being stated… let me establish some of the neighbors of that George Anderson who had 150 acres in Isle of Wight from 1695 to 1710… this is where things get interesting… and is also the entire basis of my website. Careful observers will recognize the names. The takeaway point that I am trying to make is that many of this second generation “grew up” together, or at least became acquainted.

Boon Braswell Mandue Fort… and others which I may bring up.

The genesis of the BOONS was only a few miles from George Anderson… easy walking distance for the time. It was on the property of Mathew Strickland… Thomas Boon married his daughter. Strickland set up his son in law with some land and Thomas began his family, having numerous sons and I suppose daughters.

Note on the map at Braswell… the little red circle denotes a neighbor of Thomas Underwood. That neighbor was Richard Braswell (the son of the preacher Robert Bracewell of Isle of Wight). That Richard Braswell would die in 1724 somewhat south of here but still on the Blackwater River… he had several sons and daughters. A notable ‘aside’ here is that the son of this Richard Braswell, also named Richard would become involved with one Ann Carver who was a daughter, or very young wife of William Carver also shown on the map above. (I included that for those of you with prurient interests…you know who you are, smiling).

Thomas Mandue had a son, also named Thomas, who also moved south and at one point had some land he bought of Richard Braswell on the Blackwater (called Mandue’s Landing). He also had other holdings in what is now Southampton County, VA. (But then known as Isle of Wight until about 1749). Mandue shows up numerous times in documents (wills and deeds) of several of these folks. Which is why I would love to identify his wife’s maiden name. (A Boon or Braswell perhaps)? His will of 1736 mentions daughters and such but no clues to his wife or perhaps an earlier wife.

Across the Blackwater River was the plantation of George Fort at Round Hill. George and his son Elias would move to NC to the same area the Boons and Andersons would settle near the Meherrin River. Elias Fort would sign the will of Elizabeth Anderson in 1733. As I stated before, I think that woman was the widow of George Anderson of isle of Wight. I know very little of any early interactions of the Forts and Andersons.

Not mentioned is William Browne; he was the son of John Browne of Kingsale Swamp more southerly in Nansemond. This William Browne ‘wrangled’ his way into these clans, for lack of a better word. He married a daughter of Richard Braswell d. 1724. Voila! he is in the group. This makes him a brother in law of Richard Braswell the son of above. An aside is that the brother of this younger Richard Braswell was William Braswell who died in 1721 and was not mentioned in the will of his father who died 1724… which causes much confusion. (update) I stumbled upon this in my notes:

According to Hugh B. Johnston in a report in 1961 in regard to the Stricklands of IOW… “There does not appear to be reliable documentary evidence of his presence in Isle of Wight county earlier than 1678.”

His reference is evidently the patent on Kingsale Swamp.
Mathew Strickland received 2 large patents… one for 902 acres near Kingsale Swamp in 1678… another several miles north on the Blackwater River for 1802 acres in 1680.

“Matthew STRICKLAND appears to have settled about 1678 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, where he passed the rest of his life. On June 6, 1687, Matthew (M) STRICKLAND gave a power of attorney to John BROWN to execute a deed to William EVANS “by reason of my nonability to travel to court held for this County the 9th of this Instant June” in Isle of Wight County, witnessed by Richard (RB) BOOTH and Elizabeth (S) STRICKLAND.”

On June 6, 1687, Mathew (x) and Elizabeth (E) STRICKLAND of the Lower Parish deeded to William EVANS of the Upper Parish for 4,000 pounds of tobacco in cask 800 acres in the Lower Parish between the Main Swamp of King Sail and Beaver Dam Branch adjoining William COLLINS (from a tract of 902 acres patented by the said STRICKLAND on September 26, 1678, of which 102 acres had been leased to Thomas JONES for ninety-nine years on November 6, 1682, witnessed by John BROWN, Richard (RB) BOOTH, and Robert ® LAWRENCE.

Richard Booth and John Brown had nearby property at Kingsale Swamp.  This is just north of the Nansemond County line. The UPPER patent on the Blackwater River is where Thomas Boon was located. I have no idea WHEN he settled there? (So this pretty much explains how William Browne, son of John Browne, became friends with the Boons and Braswells).

William Browne became ‘tight’ with William Boon… Boon was left property in the will of Browne in 1718. Some have claimed he was his brother in law… I disagree and have proved such elsewhere. But, I would like to know the maiden name of Boon’s wife.

Matthew Strickland Jr, brother in law of Thomas Boon, Sr married Ann Braswell, daughter of Richard Braswell d 1724.

All of which serves to explain my interest in these folks and my search for clues. This also explains my present ‘fixation’ with the area of what I call Meherrin Neck,NC.

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With that background, again accounted for, it seems to me that all the ingredients are available for many of these folks to intermarry and become “kinfolk” as we Southerners are so fond of saying. I know how hormones and the scent of pheromones react when close together.

I suspect the wife of Carolus Anderson was a Boon… I just cannot prove it. His will in 1752 was witnessed by two Boons. Perhaps the father of those two Boons was also the father of his wife or an uncle?

I could go on all day…