Nansemond and IOW… a map …
Just after 1700 is when Colonial British settlers began crossing the Blackwater River. Then it begins to get really crowded… just ask the Indians. The royal toadies, lackeys, crooks and pervs in Williamsburg and English trading houses had to basically give up their monopoly of the Indian Trade. The French and Spanish just kept pumping rum, running guns and generally fomenting trouble with the Indians… they were good at it… well not so much the Spanish… they were more comfortable abusing the pre-Mexicans. “Not a joke”… as Biden the Dumbfounded is fond of saying.
Click the “filename” below this image for a bigger pic to zoom… (don’t click Download ..this is too big to print)
Below are some clues I have found to locate and identify the many Creeks, Branches, Swamps and mosquito laden Pocosons…
This little jewel is a favorite of mine… I forget the source but it is 1600s…note near the word NANTEMOND is subnamed a creek called INDIAN BRANCH. As far as I have found, this is the only map reference I have ever found for Indian Creek (other than the many mentions in the patents referencing it).
Also it seems to me that this explains why the old boys referred to Nansemond as “Upper” and “Lower”… also the county known as Norfolk. My assumption is that they displayed these maps “as they would arrive on ships from England”. I t makes perfect sense from that perspective that Nansemond at the Blackwater River say, would be “upper”.
This map is purported to be dated about 1834… it clearly depicts Bennets Creek as beginning low in the Chowan River of NC and extending to just north of the State Line into Nansemond County. Also of interest is Cypress Swamp, Mossey Swamp and Middle Branch. All of which I have dutifully labeled on my map above.
Many “lost” creeks and such are mentioned in the patents… I try to note them when appropriate. (you never know when a clue may pop up… I know how you nitpicky genealogists are).
The below map is by “the process of elimination”. I have never found a map showing Barbique Swamp in Nansemond. If you carefully study the patents and compare the neighbors the creeks will reveal themselves.
See William Thompson and his patent being “at the head of Mossey Swamp”
See his neighbor Humphry Griffin and Abraham Reddick “on Cypress Creek”.
And since we are in Humphry Griffin’s neighborhood, see his patent “on Crosse Swamp” that “goes out of Barbique”.
Dragon Swamp is shown on modern maps.
And lest we forget about the western part of Nansemond that existed up until 1749 when Southampton was carved out of Nansemond and Isle of Wight.
Below is an example of how I tackle tracking down info on someone I am attempting to map. In this case a lady (Donna) contacted me questioning if I could help her unravel a “John White” in the area of Nansemond or NC… which in this time span would include Chowan “precinct”. I think it is pretty self explanitory where I looked.
But don’t forget the NC Archives online.
https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/master_index.php
See the above map under the words Chowan Indians… I am trying to locate a “Sandy Run”…
Oh… and if you have any info on John White please comment…smiling
We have largely documented the John White d.1719 that is the father of the Quaker line that moves into Perquimans and Chowan in the early 1700s. (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/White-484). Y-DNA tells us this line comes from South Petherton, Somerset, England and is closely related to the John White of Lancaster, MA (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/White-145). We have been searching for the father of John d.1719 for a decade.
Love your site and have gained tremendous information from it. Based on some of your research I think my John White d. 1719’s father may have been from Chuckatuck (https://andersonnc.com/?s=Chuckatuck ). His son appears to be tied to the Quakers, his son’s Will is witnessed by Thomas Copeland, Humphrey Marshal, William West, and Henry Pitt —- all land owners in region. His son-in-law is William Scott – maybe (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Scott-36473) who marries his daughter Elizabeth White. (I notice you have identified a William Scott land tract in this area in your Chuckatuck research).
There was a land grant to a John White (of course the records are lost) however a grant to John Styles in 1642 (“1642, Nov 17: Styles, John. grantee. Isle of Wight County. 200 acres Nov. 17, 1642, 200 acres in Warresquicke, adjoining the land of Henry Heardes. adj. Henry Heardes 50 acres by assignment from John White and 150 acres for trans. 3 per) references him. I think he could be the missing father to my John White d.1719.
I think he may also be the “Lower Norfolk” John White that marries Eddy Lewellan documented in a property dispute in 1664 (IOW Will and Deed Book, page 17, Brayton). This John White references his beloved friend Anthony Beuford/Bendord of Chuckatuck and is witnessed my Thomas Browne, John Hill, and John Pitt. (Sadly the wikitree for John White/Eady is filled with undocumented inaccuracies that has thrown off any serious research.)
You are a master of these maps, puzzles, and people. Any efforts in filling this one in would be greatly appreciated.
Thx
Charles White
cpwchowangmailcom
April 13, 2024 at 8:09 am
https://andersonnc.com/2024/05/04/chasing-white-bryan-and-ballard-shadows/
anderson1951
May 4, 2024 at 10:25 pm
Hello Anderson1951,
I am from the Isle of Wight County Historical Society. More than 15 years ago I contacted the late Dennis Hutchins, former Surry Co Clerk of Court, who sent his floppy disc/CDRom with an extraordinarily researched and plotted map of reconstructed 17th and early 18th century IoWC patents . Did you know Dennis, get his CDRom, and explore his research which may still may be available on an old computer in the back room of the Surry Co Historical Society ?
We are establishing both physical and digital archives of all old local private documents in the IoWC Old Clerk’s Office to complement the public archives in the Courthouse. We greatly respect your research and would be very interested in your visiting us sometime in the next months, perhaps for a seminar on the earliest archival map research. Could you possibly directly email to me your own direct email so that that we could explore the possibility of such a visit ?
williamvgarner
August 7, 2024 at 5:15 pm
Mr Garner,
Thank you for your comment, I did not know or am I familiar with Mr. Hutchins of whom you speak… but he seems to be someone I would have loved to have been in contact with.
I do know people ( my grandson) being one , who know how to access old computer files. But then, as you state, you need someone, such as myself, who can interpret what Mr. Hutchins was trying to say.
I can entertain the idea of visiting your old town. And thank you for the comment and interest in my research.
marcanderson1951@gmail.com
anderson1951
August 9, 2024 at 12:19 am
There are in fact 2 Bennett(s) Creeks in the area.
One is a brackish water tributary of the Nansemond River & the other is a freshwater tributary of the Chowan River.
Current maps use an S on the Carolina one but not the Virginia one.
Ed Hobbs
February 24, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Also as you likely know, Geo. Washington mentioned Cypress, Moss(y), & Orapeake Swamps in his journal as he traveled down the western edge of the Dismal.
Also by 1728 when the “Dismalites” emerged from the swamp on the 1st surveying trek through, they went to the home of a Brinkley on the NC side of the dividing line, quite possibly our farm was a part of his & parts of it remained in Brinkley hands until the 20th century.
Ed Hobbs
February 24, 2025 at 4:49 pm