Chipping away at the Gideon Gibson brick wall…
I’ve become wary of “coincidences”. I’ve found two people living beside each other of the same last name who are of completely different families- unrelated… it happens. But when a LOT of coincidences take place, I pay attention… such is this case. Genealogy buffs carry a ton of useless information in their head… its a product of the pastime. Names of obscure folks will settle in to some crevice of the gray matter and just sit there until suddenly a RED FLAG will pop up and out comes names of long dead folks demanding to be reckoned with. So I’m pondering who the wife might be of one Thomas Browne of Nansemond; other researchers have suggested her maiden name was Maule but I just get irritated at the suggestion… it just can’t be… I’ve totally debunked the idea (in my mind at least). My hunch was that she may have been a HOWELL. So I check my Surry/IOW map and sure enough there is a close neighbor Howell… almost next door. Since I am a grandfather, I know how that romancin’ stuff works… a sultry little smile and BAM! kids all over the place.
A liitle digging into this Howell character and up pops a GIBSON… my RED FLAG pops up. The brother of this Thomas Brown had a daughter that married the notorious Gideon Gibson and they hightailed it to South Carolina and started the Gideon clan. Is this all a coincidence?
I think Thomas Brown married the daughter of William Howell, only son of Edmond Howell of Surry County whose godson just happened to be a Gibson. Not much information to go on… I don’t think this William Howell has been dissected from the other Howells of Nansemond before now. There is also a Henry Baker who may have came from Surry to Nansemond.
Oh, and Thomas and Christian Brown named a son Howell. Brown’s children were all underage at his death in 1718 so I suspect he married around 1700 which, coincidentally, is when he obtained his patent near William Howell.
map of Howell and Shivers property in Nansemond
This is merely a hunch but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gideon Gibson is “somehow” connected to these folks… before he moved to Occoneehee Neck at the Roanoke River… and then on to South Carolina.
28 March 1672 Elizabeth Chavis made petition to the General Court of Virginia to release her son, Gibson Gibson, who had been unlawfully bound by Berr. Mercer to Thomas Barber who had gone to England leaving the boy with Samuel Austin [McIlwaine, Minutes of the Council, 302-3 [Elizabeth Chavis, dau of Thomas Chavis/Shavers etc., bound apprentice to Robert Cartwright on 13 April 1664-See Chavis Notes Below]
http://www.historical-melungeons.com/gibsontl.html
1676 List of the Names and some of the Residences of the Rebel Participants in Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 in Colonial Virginia
Baker, Henry – Surry – Southwark Parish – owned 350 acreees in 1684 – wife and ten kids in 1697 – owned 350 acre in Essex and 375 acres in Nansemond in 1704
Howell, Edmund – Surry – Southwark Parish
Gibson Thomas – Surry – Southwark Parish
23 Dec. 1679 -Edmund Howell:
To my only son, William Howell my whole estate with some exceptions. to my godson Gibson, son of Thomas Gibson To godson Henry Baker. Makes George Foster Exec. and gives him the care of son until he is 21 years old, If son die, his inheritance to Henry Baker, George Foster Thomas Ironmonger his children.
Wit: Thos Pittan, Sr., John Moring.
Prob. 9 Oct. 1679.(2:240)
My theory is that a common link to connect these folks may be the Indian Trade. I am almost certain Gideon Gibson was a trader at Occoneechee Neck and that likely was his motivation to move to South Carolina (Note the Gibsons at Saxe Gotha…a John Gibson and G. Gibson can be seen in the lower left).
17 Sep 1739, Edgecombe Co, NC – Philip RAIFORD (II) & Martha RAIFORD to William KINCHEN, Jr., 425a—SS Morratuck—part of a patent to Raiford 10 Aug 1720…..Wit: Thomas HOWELL, Philip RAIFORD (III), Jr. (Source: Abstracts of Deeds – Edgecombe Precinct, Edgecombe Co., NC, 1732-1758; Margaret Hofmann)
Philip and his wife Martha migrated to the fork of Congaree and Wateree Rivers and settled on the creek named for them, “Raiford Creek”, now Mill Creek. They were among the very first settlers in Richland County. Philip II came soon after his father’s death in North Carolina and on January 6, 1740 Certified 450 acres on Mill Creek below Bluff Road.
I do not know if these Howells are even connected to the Nansemond Howell…?
23 Feb 1747/48, Craven Co, SC Bk R-R, pg 535. PHILIP RAIFORD (II) Sr., planter, of Craven Co., to his beloved son, WILLIAM HOWELL, 50a. Wit: Even Rees, John Myrick, John Handysid. (My note, by Bill Miller of Bay Minette, Alabama: This Deed of Gift shows that William Howell married a daughter of Philip Raiford…Martha) (Source: South Carolina Deed Abstracts 1719-1772, Vol III (SC 929.3757), by Langley)
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More puzzle pieces… I’ve shown the Thomas Shivers above (there before 1717 as he is noted in two adjoining deeds)… but also in 1725 a William Shivers is shown deeding his son Thomas property near “South Key”…
The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from …
By Virginia, William Waller Hening
1725
William Shivers, by deed of gift, recorded in Nansemond county court, gave to his son Thomas Shivers. a parecl of land. lying at a place commonly called South ‘ Key. in the county of Nansemond aforesaid; being the land whereon the said Shivers now lives.
So… is this Joseph Shivers in 1780 related?
1780 Joseph Shivers and Mary, Administrators of Thomas Howell, Suit brought by Thomas Johnson and Sally his wife. order book 5 page 81-1780 1782 Virginia Census, Isle of Wight, County, Va. Joseph Shivers Whites 2, Blacks 1 1776 Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly; Vol XXVI, number 4 (01 Nov 1988); Isle of Wight Orphans and Other Children. 7 March 1776 Joseph, Peter, Mourning Shivers, orphans of Jonas, are to be bound out. p. 349 1779 Witmess to deed between Tom Dixon and William Shivers Aug 5 1779, Isle of Wight, Va. 1790 Virginia Census, Isle of Wight county, Va. Joseph Shivers 2 in family 1798 Lease Cat-Pond from Willis Wilkinson of Nansemond County, Va.
Blanche A. Chapman – 1933 – Reference
W. B. 5, p. 141. SHIVERS, JOSEPH and MRS. MARY HOWELL, relict of Thomas Howell. 1782.
Is there a Howell / Shivers connection from Surry County?
a tidbit on Benj. Rogers of Nansemond…
2 North Carolina patents screwing up the works of my pristine Virginia patents…
3022 pg. 203 John Brown 1 March 1719/20 286 acres in Chowan precint, joining Richard Molpus, ye Beech swamp, John Barefield, Benjamin Rogers, and a branch of Beech Swamp Witnesses: Cha. Eden, Thos. Pollock, Fre. Jones, Richd. Sanderson, John Hecklefield
3272 pg. 275 Benjamin Rogers this — day of — 1716 166 acres near Summerton, joining a Swamp and John Barfield Witnesses: (not given)
(this is in VA near the state line at Somerton creek… the “Beech” swamp mentioned seems to be the modern “Mill” swamp…it seems to be working with the patents.)
These 2 references are in Hofmann, 1663-1729
I’ve added a few patents on my big Surry/IOW map… unfortunately the Benjamin Rogers land just doesn’t make sense… another problem is there are simply too many people emerging for the Somerton Creek area. My head is about to explode so I may just put this aside for a while and regroup later… I have no way to obtain any patent descriptions and cannot plot the North Carolina deeds…
It may be that some of the original patents and owners are dying and the younger guys are overlapping… I have no way to know that unless it is mentioned in the newer patents. A real problem in this area is the squabble between VA and NC over the boundary which wasn’t settled until 1728… Both governments were issuing patents. The castletrash big wigs in Williamsburg did not have a clue about details of what they were issuing; it was left up to the local surveyors to describe the deeds… I figure they were pretty secretive about it all so the competition between the VA surveyors and NC surveyors does not help the situation with us trying to make sense of it all 300 years later.
This is a new John Brown character… the Indian Trader of Chowan is surely dead by 1719 so I’m not sure if this guy is even connected? My newest theory is that the Indian Trader had a son also named John who dies by 1727… could this be him? If so, then he also had his father’s land still near Wiccacon Creek in NC…
Explain yourself young lady…
Minutes of the General Court of North Carolina
North Carolina. General Court
August 02, 1716
Wee the body of the Grand Jury for Albemarle County in the Province of North Carolina do present Charity Brown for that she hath a Bastard Child at the House of Mr Thoss Rogers in this Precinct of Chowan
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3 years later…
#1789 pgs. 53-55 (Hofmann) Chowan- Att a Court held for the sd. Prect. at the house of William Branch the 21 Apr.1719…..
… Ordered that Charity Brown appear at the Next Court and answer an Information against her for having a bastard Child.
———-
…21 July 1719… ( same court house)
Thomas Rogers Indemnifys Aaron Oliver from all Manner of Troubles etc, and any further charges that may accrue by reason of a Complaint made before Edward Howard, Esquire by Charity Brown.
So… who knocked up Charity Brown around 1715? Who was she and what the hell did Thomas Rogers know about it?
Thomas and William Brown each leave wills around 1718 and neither mention a daughter Charity… I suspect another father John Brown in the neighborhood who may have been a brother to these guys…
John Rogers will 1686… of a sorts
…actually an “allusion” to a will… which is good for a “burned records” county…
This is a remarkable deed… genealogy gold as it were… the devil’s in the details. I’ll put it on my Surry/IOW map when I get a chance.
partial transcript…
Anne_To all_etc… Three pounds five shillings… We have given granted… Thomas Godwin of the County of Nansemond…[878] acres… Southeast side of a swamp called the Short Swamp of Sumerton Creek [metes & bounds described]… [878] acres… formerly granted to William Howell by Patent bearing date the 20th of April 1685 for three hundred acres and by him the sd. Howell sold & assigned to Jno. Rogers dec’d as by his Deed dated the 20th of feby 1686/7 doth may appear & two hundred acres part thereof since made over by Deed from the sd. Jno. Rogers unto Wm Rogers and by the sd. Wm Rogers conveyed to the sd. Capt. Thos. Godwin by deed dated the 12th of October 1703 fifty acres another part was by the last Will & Testament of the said John Rogers Devised to his son Thomas Rogers and by him the sd. Thomas sold & Conveyed to the aforesd. Godwin by Deed bearing date the 25th day of November 1709 as by the Records of Nansemond County Court may appear, six hundred twenty acres another part thereof is apart of the Overplus land found when the ancient & known bounds of the aforesd Patent for three hundred acres granted as aforesd withall… To have hold etc… 1714
Now go to Familysearch.org and check the Bertie County records (Civil Actions) 1737 group…
check these images…
247, 294, 336, and in particular 340 and a keeper… 349
Enjoy…. Marc
oops… missed Benjamin Rogers on Somerton Creek…
————
This is interesting … found it on the NC Archives site- unfortunately I get an error and cannot open it…
Title
Rogers, William
Years:c.1690
Creator: Office of Secretary of State
Office of the Secretary
Languages:
Call Number: SS 839 – SS 861
Location: 2A ( Archive Stacks)
MARS Id: 12.96.21.99 (Folder)
Dammit! This is confusing…
Bennetts Creek is in Nansemond… or so I thought… well it is of course … but…
http://chowanoke.webs.com/chowanhistory.htm
In the year 1643 a military expedition was launched from Virginia to subdue the natives of Carolina. The expedition met the Chowan at Weynock Creek where battle was made. We know of no details of this battle except that one white man was killed, an unknown number of Chowanoke. After this, the Chowans gave up title to all their land west of the Chowan River, though it wasn’t until much later it was settled by whites.
Settlers trickled into Carolina and a tenuous government was established. In the early years, the Chowanoke were protected by the fact that they lived in disputed territory, a tug of war between Virginia and Carolina that would last into the next century. The result was that settlements on the Chowan didn’t spring up (except individual settlers) until the 1660s.
The next turning point was the year 1675, when the Chowans attacked the surrounding settlements. We know of few details, only that several whites were murdered and property destroyed. while enjoying initial success due to the disorganization and lack of arms of the settlers, eventually a militia was formed and the Chowanoc were defeated. They gave up all title to land and lived upon the very first Indian Reservation in North Carolina, at Bennett’s Creek.
…………………….
I think the Bennett’s Creek they are talking about is not where everyone thinks it is… I think it is at the mouth of Meherrin River… 1663:
……………………..
This is what got me on this track…
Benjamin Hill bought 640 acres of land on the south side of the Meherrin
River in 1727 from Anthony Lewis. The price was 30 barrells of pitch. Lewis
had received a patent for the land in 1721. At the same time, Hill bought
cattle, hogs and household furniture from John Smith and David Vincent.
Included in the deal was a parcel of land for which Smith had received
patent in 1717.
…note that pesky Anthony Lewis… he is “supposed” to be in Southampton County, VA… and he WAS!… and died there; perhaps it was his son who sold to Hill in 1727. And that irritating Benjamin Hill guy (according to the historian Dr. Parramore) became wealthy “from the Indian Trade”. All of which leads me to Tracking The Traders once again… So was Henry Hill the daddy of Benjamin Hill?
Seems to me traders were thick as flies around Meherrin for 50 years before Benjamin Hill… they would carry a musket in one hand and money in the other to trade or fight…whichever the case called for. Such is the history.
See the lower map here:
And not to forget my old buddy Arthur Kavanaugh…
11 Apr 1709 Chowan County, NC. Jacob COLSON witnesses a deed from Robert Hicks to Arthur Kavanaugh of Meherrin River, 1280 acres (Note from Doug Tucker – Kavanaugh and Jacob COLSON were Indian Traders. Kavanaugh lived among the Meherrin Indians at a site near the mouth of the Meherrin River and Jacob COLSON was his close neighbor. This was before Jacob COLSON moved his family, including son John, south to the Roanoke River – then called the Marrotock River.)
I have yet to actually track Kavanaugh with a deed to the area at the mouth of the Meherrin… but it all adds up that he would “visit”there… Kavanaugh had property near Robert Hicks* on the Meherrin River at modern Emporia, VA. It seems apparent that they would send their hides down the Maherrin to the mouth and Chowan River and thence to ports unknown. ‘Course Kavanaugh was also active around the Roanoke (Morattock) River area (had some property there also). Traders thick as flies around Occoneechee Neck…
*there were 2 Robert Hicks… one the trader in Emporia, the other a clerk in Chowan/Bertie
My odd take on housing…
A post from the History Blog…
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/25292
I get easily distracted with stuff… looks like 2×4 studs and 1″ clapboard… must have had a sawmill to mill the lumber, I figure. Pretty luxurious actually when compared to 100 years before that. Freshly in my mind is a will from 1736 of one Patrick Maule who left a bequest for his widow that a dwelling should be constructed 16′ x 20′ if I recall correctly. Pretty much the same as this rickety cabin. Maule was a “fat cat”… rich guy, ya know.
A decade or two before that folks were content with a “logg” dwelling complete with a dirt floor. (I’m thinking North Carolina here…).
‘Course Maule did not have to deal with the crap that slaves did… housing… not so much.
………….
more Turpentine history…
Its my understanding that 300 years ago “long leaf” pines were common… this is East Texas but you get my drift. I’ve seen references to North Carolina pines being 5 feet in diameter (Dr Parramore discussing Meherrin River area… early 1700s). Also, if I understand correctly, these forests actually “need” to be burned occasionally to stay healthy. The Indians seemed to understand that perfectly as they regularly burned the forests.
I don’t care about the Rogers genealogy…
Gotcha didn’t I… actually I care about history and genealogy in general… the deal with Rogers researchers is that I am totally objective… I don’t have an axe to grind… capish? I can talk trash.
So… I’m digging into some records at Familyserach.org and I ran across some Rogers around 1746 or so… (remember I don’t care so you can dig up your own dirt).
pick Bertie County… the 1737 era…
These are “Civil Action” suits… no “big deal” genealogy groundbreakers… BUT… it proves where they were and when… write your own damn Rogers history…
This record group has over 900 pages and I am looking for clues to any ANDERSONS (its why I created this site)… I’m at about “image” 550, still a bit to go…
See image:
247, 294, 336, and in particular 340 and a keeper… 349…. no charge… Marc
Image 20 has a reference to Carolus Anderson but it just bores me…….
Anthony Lewis… a pain in my uh…genealogy…
or… Looking for a wife for an Indian Trader…
by 1680… Mary Skinner, widow, had married John Collins, Sr. Mary’s first husband was John Burgess… a daughter of that marriage was Susannah. Susannah Burgess is purported to have married Robert Bracewell, Jr. The step-daughter of Collins is aka… Susan Braswell.
1681…
Bettell, Robert: Leg.- wife and children. Overseers, John Collins and John Story.
D. January 12, 1679. R. October 10, 1681.
Wit. Edmund Barker, John Story. Page 219, Ibid, Chapman
1689…
Whitaker, John: Nuncupative, proven by Mary Collins, age 50 years, by James Briggs, age 21 years, by John Riggs, Leg.- the child of Peter Fiveash, to whom he was Godfather, one-half of his estate; the other half to be divided between the people, who looked after him.
R. January 9, 1689. Wills and administration Bk 1 1647-1719, Chapman
1694…
John Collins Sr is hauled into court charged with beating his wife Mary … testfying against him are his step-daughter and one Bridget Lewis:
Octob.r 1694
Upon the petn of BRIDGET LEWIS, she has order ag.st JN. COLLINS sen.r for 500.lb of tobo: for the care & pains taken by the sd LEWIS in the cure of the sd COLLINS his wife with Costs ats Ex.o
Octob.r 1694
Order is granted SUSANNA BRASEWELL ag.st JOHN COLLINS sen.r for foure hundred pounds of tobo: for looking after the sd COLLINS his wife in her late extemity when she was beaten by the sd COLLINS with costs ats Ex.o
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Mary Collins was born about 1639… by supposition her daughter Susan Braswell may have been born about 1659. If Bridget Lewis was a contemporary of Susan then her birth was possibly 1660 or so.
Another possible connection of a Lewis… from the sister of Mary Collins…
Cripps, Joyce: Leg.- husband George Cripps the lands and tenements given me by my former husband, Francis England; to the son of Francis England’s brother, if he comes to Virginia and makes claim to the said land within seven years; my sister Skinner; Nicholas Davis the plantation on which he lives; Sarah Lupo; Mr. George Branch’s three children, Francis, John and Ann; orphan boy that liveth with me, named Anthony Lewis; Margaret wife of Peter Vasser; Susan Braswell, my sister’s daughter; my three Goddaughters, Elizabeth Hayes, Joyce Butler and Joyce Womble; my three Godsons, James Bennett, Nicholas Davis and William Phillips; my Mother Flake. My husband Ex.
D. April 18, 1679 R. June 9, 1678.
Wit. John Gutridge, Rebecca davis, Will Evans Page 202 Ibid, Chapman
…from her will…
“It is my will that that Orphant boy that now liveth with me by name of ANTHONY LEWIS do live with my husband Untill he attains to the age of One and Twenty Years if my husband and he shall live So long that my husband give him two Suites of Apparell Three Barrells of COrne One heifer with Calve One Couch bed a SMall Iron POtt One PEwter dish One Tray and One Spoone if it shall Soe happen my husabnd should die beofre the boy doth attain e to the age of One and Twenty Yeares that it is my will that the aboved named things shall bee delivered to the s’d ANTHONY LEWIS.”
Anthony Lewis was under age 21 in1678… shall we guess his birth at say, 1660/65…
Before my guesswork, my hunch was Bridgett Lewis may be the mother of Anthony… now perhaps brother and sister? But, if Bridgett Lewis was of contemporary age to the mother of Susan Braswell (Mary Collins) then she would be of the same generation as John Browne (Indian Trader).
by 1706… John Browne and wife Bridgett
9 Aug 1706…. John Browne and wife, Bridgett Browne, to Samuel Canidy…. 220 acres (being a patent dated 29 Apr 1692 in the lower parish on the south side of Kingsale Swamp and bounded by Jonathan Robinson and William Stott (Scott?).
Wit: Richard Exum and William Murray.
John (X) Browne
Rec: 10 Jun 1706
If I am correct with my theory that William Browne and Thomas Browne were sons of the above John Browne then…
William Browne married Martha Braswell
Willam Browne and Richard Braswell had intimate property deals…
Anthony Lewis and Wm Browne had intimate property deals…
Anthony Lewis had dealings with Daniel McDaniel (son-in-law of Thomas Browne)
Bridgett Brown, widow, may have moved near Thomas Browne…
Are these clues to a relationship or just another example of my wayward rambling rationalizations?
Comments are welcome… the conundrum is here…
Its probably nothing…
http://www.naturalnews.com/040214_seeds_European_Commission_registration.html
I saw a T-shirt the other day… “Our forefathers would be shooting by now”.
OK… OK… I’ll stop it… I have to keep this a genealogy site.