Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

I’m in the back seat of a 1957 Chevy… Mom is in the passenger seat… Dad is driving. I was born in 1951 so I figure this must be about ’58 or’59 (Dad was a used car kind of guy)… I must have been 8 or 9. I slide over with my arms on the seatback by my Dad’s right ear. Dad! how far is a mile?, I ask, peering down the two lane blacktop. He ponders the question (and how to explain it to an 8 year old). About as far as you can see, he answers. And so it came to be in my head. Needless to say, that is why old timers always say- “down the road a piece” or “down the road a bit“. Old Timers ain’t zackly stupid.

So I came up with a little visualization “tool”. I came up with ’50 acres’ just because it was the same as a patent I was researching that had no ‘measurements’ included to determine it’s actual size. So I had to guess. And I wanted to be somewhat accurate at a scale of 1 mile = 640 acres when I put it on a map… note that a football field is “about” an acre. (work with me here… the idea is to keep it simple).

So now you and I can wrap our heads around about where Henry Snaile had a grant of land in 1637… his near neighbor was Peter Hayes. Many, if not most, of these very early patents are described in these imprecise metes and bounds. My circumstance being that while I cannot be precise… I can be reasonably accurate. I want to “map” these unmappable patents to the point a reasonable person can visualize, in a fairly accurate manner, where these grants, you know, ‘actually’ were.

I keep in my mind, while dissecting these early patents, that the olde boyse “meant what they said, and said what they meant”… I merely listen to them as best I can.

Oh… here is Henry Snaile in 1637… and Moon’s Creeke… Moone was the other neighbor.

Some mystery folks… mystery, shadowy times… the Indian uprising in 1622 left this whole area of Virginia a bit edgy… for lack of a better word.

I’ve ventured back into researching the early history of Isle of Wight… and this area of where Basse’s Choice was located has always intrigued me…

The term Mister /Mr was supposed to note a class distinction. Not being all that particularly interested, I’m not sure if it was a bigger deal to be a Mister or a Gentleman. In any event Peter Hall is forever noted in Virginia history as “officially” a Mister.

Who was he?

I ran across him here in 1643… but that triggered a memory of him earlier…

remember to click the blue filename (as above) for a better page view…

Here in this “Reynolds” file is the first time I ran across Peter Hall or is it Hull? in 1634… no need to read the entire Reynolds Study… my point was to question who Peter Hall was?

Finally Peter Hull shows up in 1663 owning 400 acres over on modern Stallings Creek on the IOW/Surry County boundary. I’m just curious… i’ve never seen a write up on the guy.

I have been confused by the early records of Isle of Wight. I think the early folks who created the records were also a bit confused (understandably)… to the point that I think I can identify some of their mistakes. My point in this Post is that some records insinuate that the identification of “New Towne Haven River” is misidentified as Pagan Creek. I think this is where all the confusion started… and it started with some big shot shooting his mouth off with demands about what things should be named … whatever it was before be damned.

typical aristocratic BS… the Court scribes were kept busy trying to satisfy the whims of big shots and their hot air…

Here it is ironed out in 1636 in a patent that seems to have never came to be. Looks to me like Capt. Hobson (aged 25 in 1635) sailed back to England and died in a drunken bar fight for all I know.

What I have come to realize is that New Towne Haven River never was and never has been a part of the Pagan River /Creeke of Isle of Wight. New Towne Haven River is and always has been in Nansemond.

In 1721 you were either soon to be dead from the Indians or running for your life.

Does anyone have a clue what happened to John Hobson? The Indian massacre of 1622 must be considered… but it seems he survived and returned to England.

This document declares with certitude that “A tract of land” bounded from Pagan point Creeke was awarded to Capt John Hobson “Esqr’. I think the term “esquire” is the elephant in the room.

…click the blue filename for a better page view…

Other than pointing out the error… I don’t think this patent was ever acted upon…. perhaps forgotten.

With that background… I am presently researching Pagan River… some random notes…

Forest King remarked in an comment to me that I struck him as a “back of the envelope” type of researcher. I figure he “nailed” me perfectly… I just share my ‘envelopes’ with you…

I’m presently engrossed with the boundary between IOW and Nansemond. So here is how I jot down notes… I’m thinking my style as I publish the stuff is more like a Comic Book… I can even throw in a Light Bulb! if needed…

Anyway… I’m curious if this makes sense to you folks? Or should I use another approach? (you know…like with normal ‘pages’ and stuff).

…as usual click the blue filename below the graphic for a better view…

Some further notes as I try to figure out where the Richard Hayes property was…

These files are huge… be patient to load…

So I would very much like to get my eyes on the digital original images of these early Isle of Wight files. In this case 1649. I cannot get back this early through Familysearch.org… any of you sneaks figured out a path? I have “some” files (sent to me by email) so I know they exist… I just need to get to the mother stash (you know…to like research n stuff).

My interest in this guy is where his Colonial property was in Nansemond circa 1640s. As I researched the area and studied this Davis and his neighbors… this Thomas emerged as two different guys… one in Isle of Wight and the other in Nansemond. The deeds tell the tale…

The patent of 1633 (County Location not given) is a treat to read… this is one of the most fact filled historical documents I have ever read from the eyes of a genealogist.

I just thought I would share… and perhaps someone can explain who Uncle Walter Davis was?

…click on the blue filename under the graphic for a better view…

Cue B Movie suspense music, thunder, lightning and a harrowing chilly wind…

Paraketo Point the Nansemond Fort Newgate

Thar be dragons here…

Down the River a couple miles and on the southern shore… there it is! Paraketo Point. And yeah… the colonist is named John Parrott. But to bring it up again… an adjoining patent to Robert Newman also uses the expression Paraketo Point. So explain this bit of feathery mysteriousness to me… what does it mean?

I hear tell of now extinct East Coast “parakeets”. Supposedly they swarmed in the millions but eventually got wiped out (were the parakeets around in the 1600s?) Was this area of Virginia once known for it’s noisy chirping?

I can just visualize a Colonist standing on the shore of the Nansemond River shaking his fist and shouting “We shall call this area of land after the pretty birds!” Naw… it fails to make me timbers shiver…

https://www.geni.com/people/John-Parrott-of-Paraketo-Point/6000000026284175672

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The Nansemond Fort. The nice man wrote a Master’s Thesis on it… very helpful

It seems reasonable to me that the colonists were a bit nervous around the locals. Anyway, the “fort” was in the general area.

I would have built the fort closer to the parakeets… but that is probably why I am not known for building forts.

I still cannot figure out exactly where Mr. Pecoraro was digging close enough to put a little star on my map…

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Newgate

Newgate prison door

At least one of the settlers of Nansemond was known for having passed through the lovely Newgate prison before finding his way to Virginia.

But then… what does the infamous prison have to do with this patch of ground in Virginia?

What the heck was this Newgate in Nansemond in the 1640s?

Below are the patents what got my feathers all ruffled…

Making sense of the numerous patents for George White has so far proven elusive to me… but he seems to be ground zero and bullseye for all this intrigue… has it all something to do with him? I dunno…

A hat tip to Forrest King for highlighting this record that he found in the Isle of Wight Deed Book 1, p 182: I am having trouble interpreting the specifics of the translation if you care to help…

Click the blue filename below the image for a new (larger) view…

The gist of the note in the records according to Mr. King goes thusly: [Thomas Boon’s] house is mentioned as the location for a payment between William Jolly and Robert Coleman about 7 Oct 1695.

Now for my theory… note where Robert Coleman had property in 1697. (It was surveyed and recorded in 1697 and likely he was living there earlier in 1695). I suspect the Elizabeth Browne also mentioned in the deposition was possibly related to John Browne of Kingsale… however, if she was 56 in 1695 that would have her born in 1639. (That is quite early). I got overly excited when I first thought this may have been the wife of John Browne, however her name was Bridgett. John Browne Junior’s wife’s name is unknown to me.

Connect the dots… I find it very compelling that Thomas Boon’s “house” was in Nansemond somewhere near Robert Coleman. Remember that there are no “County” records for the burned county. My map is a reconstruction from the “colony” records found elsewhere in the Library of Virginia “patent” books and some scattered Chowan “precinct” deed books.

Further, to extrapolate on the theory, I find it equally plausible that the mystery “Nich” or Nicholas Boon mentioned in the Isle of Wight records as early as 1676 was quite possibly fully documented in the Nansemond records and today burned to a crisp in the multiple courthouse fires.

All I need for proof is to find an undiscovered patent with a “BOON” mentioned as an adjoining neighbor on one of the patents from the Library of Virginia.

And as is well known and proven, Thomas Boon married the daughter of Mathew Strickland.

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an Update…

Troublemakers and rabblerowsers… such as myself, who “theorize” about long dead folks run the risk of starting rumors. (GASP!). So I wish to sternly! advise absolutely no one to take me seriously other than to listen to my hunch/guess/speculation!… and decide for yourself.

Be it known that I do NOT take headrights as gospel. I am highly suspicious of them. Furthermore, it may have been years before a headright was even used…. they are utterly unreliable… almost, but not always most of the time. Except when they are reliable… maybe.

Is Thomas Bones a reasonable bastardization of Thomas Boon? This is merely a ‘stab’ at identifying an early Boon in the area of Nansemond.

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a bit more updating…

Note that this is the first of my attempts to chronicle just 1 (one) of the BOONs. I have begun this with somewhat of an open mind… I think.

This is the Thomas Boon who had the signature mark “T” with the added “B” on the shank of the T. I think he is the one designated as “the Virginian” in a NC document. Within two years after acquiring over 300 acres from his brother in law Mathew Strickland in Isle of Wight from Strickland’s patent of 1803 acres in 1702 on the Blackwater, he then acquires land from William Williams near modern Franklin, VA in 1704. He was the first to move and shake his way towards NC on the Meherrin River he was active with land deals. He was alive in 1728 when he signed the will of Joseph Boon in 1728.

This graphic is not ready for prime time. I will probably use it for a template… meaning I hope to come back and fill in the gaps between the dates with “my” notes and remarks in blue type. (I credit that style to Bob Baird, where I first saw it used. )

as usual, click the blue filename under the graphic to get a better view…

I hasten to mention that I think it was pretty much impossible to do what I am attempting to do with my maps until the last few years. The ‘means’ to do so has only become available with the advent of the digitized records such as Familysearch.org and the NC Land Grants Online.

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.