Card Carrying Member of the FFV

I spent a good chunk of Sunday in the suck hole that is Genealogy.
I got past one of my brick walls and found some rather interesting(to me at least!)peoples there.

I also worked on your tree Sonya Ann and found some interesting folks related to you by marriage on your mother's side(not direct ancestors).  Yeah, I even get worked up about OTHER PEOPLE'S ANCESTORS and Allied Family.  I guess I'm a genealogy geek.  8-)

Anyway, back to my find.

It was thought that my 5x GGrandfather, John Mason 1742-1802 of the Southside Virginia Mason line had married an Elizabeth Gee 1741-1763.

Well he DID marry her in 1760......but she died 3 years into that marriage around age 22.

Up until recently it was thought that Elizabeth was the mother of all of this John Mason's children.
John is purported to have had 10 children so unless she was the original OCTOMOM this isn't correct. lolz

This was all brought up to me by someone I have connected with through my DNA testing.  She and her brother matched my autosomal results and we found that we are related genetically through the Mason line. 

She is the one who tracked down an old family record in a Sons of the American Revolution application that some of John Mason's issue were from another wife, Jane Thweatt.

This marriage to John Mason was Jane's second, as she was the widow of William Thweatt previous to John.  Jane's maiden name has been uncovered as being PARHAM.
Jane Parham 1741-1803.

Jane married William Thweatt in Sussex County, VA(west of present day Suffolk, VA-it was formed in 1753/4) in the year of 1755.
Jane married again as a widow to John Mason in Southampton County, VA(south of present day Petersburg, VA which is northwest/adjoining Sussex Co.) in the year of 1764.

Southampton County was formed in 1749 from a piece of Isle of Wight County, which was formed in 1637 from one of the original 8 shires, Warrosquyoake Shire, which had been formed in 1634, made up the Virginia Colony that had been founded at Jamestown in 1607.

Confused yet? ;-)

**Interesting tidbit about Southampton County to use at your next cocktail party--The Nat Turner Slave Rebellion in August 1831 took place in Southampton County, thus it is also known as the "Southampton Insurrection", mostly by Confederate sympathizers and Southerners though.

"Discovery of Nat Turner", Woodcut print of the capture of Nat Turner by farmer Benjamin Phipps, William Henry Shelton(1840-1932).

Back to Jane and John.....
William Thweatt died the same year as Elizabeth Gee Mason and by the following year in 1764 their respective widow/widower had married each other.

So this makes my direct ancestor Jane Parham, not Elizabeth Gee.

Tracing back from Jane, her parents were:
Ephraim Stith PARHAM (1723-1793)born Sussex County, of Sussex County, VA
Elizabeth thought to be RAGSDALE(dates unknown at this time)

Ephraim's parents were:
William PARHAM(1697-1756)born Charles Citie County, of Sussex County, VA
Ann Stith(1700-? sometime after 1723)born Charles Citie County, of Sussex County, VA

This STITH Family Line discovery connects me to the Stiths of Virginia, one of the FFVs, or First Families of Virginia.

The progenitor of the line in America is John Stith from Kirkham, Lancashire, England.  He was baptized in the Lancashire Parish in 1642, came to the Virginia colony before 1656, settling in Charles Citie County, VA.  He was an attorney, a merchant and a justice of the peace.  He served in the VA milita for at least 24 years and ranked out as a Captain.
In 1691, he was High Sheriff of Charles Citie.  During Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 he sided with Colonial Governor Sir William Berkley.
(I discussed Bacon's Rebellion in the blog posts HERE *in reference to my Sneed/Snead line* and HERE *in reference to my Hunt line*. Both of these ancestors sided with the rebels in that conflict, whereas John Stith was part of the political machine of the time.)

Among John's children was Drury Stith(1670-1740)who married Susannah BATHURST(1674-1745).
Ann Stith is their daughter, making her the granddaughter of John Stith.
John Stith is my 9x GGrandfather.

This all makes me a card carrying member of the FFVs of Virginia and John Stith gives me yet another qualifiying member to join the Jamestowne Society.
Yeah, I am discovering pedigrees up the yahoo.

More on my Stith Ancestors later as this has gotten long.

In tribute to my FFVs, I'll leave y'all with this EARWORM.....By the way.....Richard Henry Lee is my 2nd cousin too.  ;-)





What's that I hear you say?
Thanks a lot for the earworm??
Your welcomed! lolz

Sluggy

Back to the Bacon

So let me ask.....did I have you at "Bacon"?!?
I thought that would get some of you to open up this post. lolz

More genealogy today, but just a quickie.

You may want to go read this old post from 2012 first, located HERE.
In it I talked about my Snead/Sneed ancestor.....the first one to come to Virginia, Samuel Sneed and his son, Henry Sneed who is my 9th great grandfather.
Henry got caught up in the infamous Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.

You can go read up on what this was HERE.
It was one of the first revolts in the Virginia colony that foreshadowed the fight for independence from British rule 100 years later.

See?  I am not going on and on regurgitating history lessons this time and am trying to get to the pertinent meat of things.

Bacon?
Meat?
See what I did there? ;-)

I find that I have yet another ancestor who took part in that Rebellion.

Through my maternal grandfather's mother, I have a 9 x great grandfather named William Hunt.
Some say he was born in France about 1599.
Yes, another Huguenot ancestor fleeing to the British colony in Virginia?
Perhaps.
We do know he was living in England at the time of his immigration to America, arriving in Virginia aboard the Abraham in either 1635 or 1638....there is some disagreement on the year.

Well it seems from what I've read that old Bill aided and abetted Nathaniel Bacon and was known to be a "Baconite".

Though he was elderly by those day's standards(in 1676 he would have been close to 77 years), he sided with those that opposed the Royal Governor of Virginia, William Berkley.

Not sure what kind of "help" he lent but he was a planter and a merchant, shipping goods from England to sell to fellow colonists in Virginia.

For his trouble backing Bacon's allies, he was thrown into jail and died there in November of 1676 before they got around to bringing him to trial and hanging him for his crimes against the British crown.

After William died, his widow, Anne filed a grievance before the King of England, Charles II, for the return of her husband's property.  Seems property that was still onboard a ship from England when William was thrown into the pokey was seized.  Since he was never convicted of a crime, thus he was not actually a criminal, Anne put forth that it's appropriation was illegal and petitioned for it's return to her, the owner's widow.

Taken from Samuel Wiseman's Book of Record: The Official Account of Bacon's Rebellion--here is the actual wording of the petition put forth to the Assembly in 1677......

"By petition of Anne Hunt widow and relict of William Hunt of Charles City County, deceased on behalfe of herselfe and two children.

Complaining that the honorable Governor, being falsely informed that the said Hunt the Petitioners husband had bin actually in the late rebellion did after his death and without any indictment, tryall or conviction seize the estate of the Petitioner and her children, which had bin getting 25 yeares by the onest pains & hard labbour of the decedent and the aged petition and the same removed and caryed to green Springe. (Green Spring was the name of William Berkley's estate so the cargo was confiscated by the Governor and taken to his home.)

That the Better to Color the said doeings the Governor hath caused a Bill of Attainder to pass the last grand Assembly, whereby the Petitioners Estate without soe much as having the Petitioner or any other for her is adjudged forfeited to his Majestie.

Now for as much as the said William Hunt was never in armes against his Majestie or authority nor ever encourgage, aided or abeted the same; and ever a peaceable and good Subject of his Majestie.

And for that by the laws of England a man slaine or otherwise dyinge in open Rebellion before attainder forfeits noe part of his Estate: And the Petitioner beinge informed that this plantation of Virginia cannot or ought not to make any laws repugnant to those of his Majesties Realme of England.

The Poor Petitioner humbly Implores his Majestie would be pleased to putt a stop to or cause the said act of attainder to be taken of as to your Petitioners said Estate, and that his Majestie in his Royall Mercy will be gratiously please to permit her and her children to enjoye the same for their Support and Maintenance and without which they are most Miserable."

Goods William Hunt had brought to Virginia to sell were still aboard Nicholas Prynee's ship the Richard and Elizabeth, at the time of William's death.  Prynne also petitioned that Assembly that the goods in question be returned to Prynne....possibly because they weren't paid for?

The "Grand Assembly",  referred to above in February 1677, that attainted Nathaniel Bacon specifically identified William Hunt as a "principal ayder and abetter of the said Nathaniel Bacon" who, like the rebel, "dyed alsoe before the rebells were reduced to their allegiance to his majestie by which said meanes the said Nathaniell Bacon, junr...and William Hunt have escaped their due and just demerits for their wicked and unheard of treasons and rebellions."

Then Nicholas Prynne petitioned to keep the goods.....

"Settinge forth that Alderman Booth of London and Company beinge owners of the said ship, consigned to one William Hunt their factor in Virginia a cargoe of goods to the value of 265lb sterling to make sale and returne of for their proper account; for which goods the Petitioner Mr. Prynne gave bill of lading and is thereby accountable for the same.

Prayes restitution of the goods and Redress of the wrong and damage."

Nathaniel Bacon died of the Bloody Flux and Lousey Disease(aka typhus, dysentery and body lice)in October 1676 yet the rebellion continued even after his demise.

Before this incident was all over, Jamestown had been burnt to the ground and Governor Berkley had been recalled to England, where he died in 1677.
William Hunt lived a month past Bacon but neither lived long enough to hang for their part in the revolt as 23 other men had.

See?  Just more and more agitators and rebels in my family!

William Hunt was buried at Bachelor's Point on the banks of the James River in Charles Citie County Va near where the Kennon Creek empties into the James.  Today this area lies between Sherwood Forest Plantation and the Chickahominy Wilderness Management Area, off of State Route 5(also known as the John Tyler Memorial Highway).

William Hunt's granddaughter is my 7th Great Grandmother, Mary Hunt Minge Allen Jefferson.
She's the one who was the second wife of Thomas Jefferson's Uncle, Field Jefferson, that I've mentioned before.

I've got lots more notables connected with my Hunt and Allen lines to write about, all in the due course time.


Sluggy

 

Today's History Lesson a la Sluggy's Ancestral Peeps

Well I've traced another ancestral line back to another "1st one in the New World" peeps.
In my mother's side of the family I am finding it is chocked full of very deep immigrant roots in the US.
And up until WW2 not many of them left Virginia for other states and beyond!  Roots that stay put are far easier to dig up.......*snort*

Since many of these ancestors are of English extraction and came over very early in the history of the settling of the New World, I have lots of published genealogical research already mapped out I can tap into once I get back to about the mid 1800's in some lines.

First a little mood music through the streets of Colonial Willamsburg.....


So today we look back at my 10 x Great Grandparents.....Samuel and Alice Sneed(Snead).

These ancestors were right at the center of some lively times in the new colonies.

Samuel and Co. sailed to the Virginia colony in 1635 from England.  The Land Grant Office shows he received a tract of 200 acres from Charles I, in James City county(now York county), on the James River in Virginia.  He moved up river to new lands eventually and by 1664 was living on land on the Pamunkey River.  Though it sounds really far away, by today's standards, it isn't.

Migrating to America with his parents was Willian Sneed.  Two more sons were born in Virginia, Samuel and my progenitor, Henry Sneed.

Henry moved to the Pamunkey River land with his father and probably did much of the clearing of the land for his father as his father was of an advanced age by that time.
Henry married and had two sons, John and Thomas.  One of their neighbors, Gideon Macon employed Thomas, who in 1677 was coming into his prime adulthood, as one of the builders of the Bruton Parish Church.  This was the Church of England parish founded in James county.  The church was completed in 1683.
The church was nearby and served the residents of Middle Plantation, which over time was renamed......Williamsburg.  Very nice Georgian architecture.

Famous folks who worshiped there include Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, George Mason, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry.

Thomas, who helped build the church, is NOT my ancestor.  Mine is his brother John....he was probably off playing hooky and drinking rum instead.

Henry Sneed, Samuel's son/Thomas' father,  was also involved in Bacon's Rebellion.  Oh, to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.....lol

Bacon's Rebellion, to simplify it, was a group of frontier dwellers rebelling against the colonial governor and his ilk because he didn't provide protection against the hostile native Americans, who were only hostile because they were being pushed out of their ancestral lands by the expanding colonies.  Gov. Berkley held a friendly policy toward the native peoples, even in the face of their raids against the planters and refused to do anything to safeguard the farms, as his crowd was the hoity toity city dwellers and ruling class.

 There were lots of raids back and forth between the Europeans and the Native peoples, looting, pillaging, setting fire to buildings, shooting, killing, etc.  Nathanial Bacon said "enough!" and together with a group of ex-indentured servants, poor whites and free blacks and other planters, led a rebellion against Gov. Berkeley and chased him from Williamsburg.

The only thing the Rebellion accomplished in the long run was to send Berkley back to England and caused the ruling class in the colony to harden their racial caste system stance.  The "elites" were disturbed by the "regular people" forming an alliance against the Government, so they took steps to tighten up the societal laws so that the unwashed masses couldn't revolt in the future and put laws in place to divide the white and black in the serving classes.
This political move affected how slavery in the South progressed and developed, in a negative way.
Ya see what I was saying about being from the South and the whole slavery as an economic model being complicated?

Ruling class oppressing the masses?
Hmmmm......sounds eerily familiar, does it not?  ;-)

I was delighted to see that my ancestor Henry was on the side of the rebels in that affair.   "On Jan. 29, 1677, after the Rebellion, he was one of the signers of the petition of grievances to the English Commissioners, stating the reason for the revolt."
But we find Henry, shortly after this, selling his lands on the Pamunkey River anyway, and moving to the opposite shore.  I guess he figured, he was a marked man as far as the government was concerned(a troublemaker)and after the new government attacked the peaceful and friendly Pamunkey Indians in his area in retaliation after the Rebellion, he'd be sure to have problems from the natives as well.
A no win situation, so it's time to leave the county! lol

Anyway, Henry's grandson, Samuel......let's use some new names already!.....moved further inland up various rivers into south central Virginia and the rest is rather boring history.....unitl you get to ME! ;-)

Here's my 4 x Great Grandfather John Strong Snead 1802-1874.  What a hottie, huh?

His son, Lewellyn Snead was a private in Captain Wright's Virginia Heavy Artillery Company.  He saw action at the Siege of Petersburg, VA near the end of the war and was at Appomattox for the surrender.

Old rebelling Henry and his rebel 6 x grandson Lewellyn.
I guess I come by the non-conformist label honestly.......

Sluggy