Robert K. Headley is our foremost authority on the genealogical records of Virginia’s Northern Neck counties: Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland, and Lancaster. For his book, Married Well and Often: Marriages for the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800, Mr. Headley gathered up all references to marriages in these counties not only from conventional sources (bonds, licenses, ministers’ returns) but also nuptial mentions in wills, deeds, order books, and Bible records. It is a reference book unlikely ever to be superseded.
This remarkable collection refers to no fewer than 30,000 persons with Northern Neck connections during the first quarter of the 19th-century. Since Mr. Headley here concerned himself with the records associated with someone’s death, the overwhelming number of testators, family members, and others mentioned in the name index at the back of the volume will have ties to the 18th century. As indicated in the book’s subtitle—and consistent with the author’s penchant for leaving no stone unturned--Headley took his transcriptions from more or less direct records of inheritance (wills, inventories, and division of estates) but also court order books, guardianship records, and chancery suits. Since the contents of these rich sources have almost entirely eluded publication until now, they both open a trove of buried Northern Neck family connections and spare researchers countless of hours that would have been required to comb through the unindexed records on their own.
In addition to nearly 500 pages of record abstracts themselves, the front matter and appendices to Northern Neck Wills, Inventories & Other Records, 1800-1825 convey much about the historical idiosyncrasies of the records and Northern Neck research itself. For example, as excerpted below, Mr. Headley’s introduction illustrates each kind of record group and how matters of inheritance altered the course of events in people’s lives. The appendices are equally interesting. One discusses the major Virginia statutes affecting estates. Another collects the surnames of families most associated with each of the four Northern Neck counties. Still other appendices rank the frequency of White surnames, slave given names, slave surnames, and slave manumissions.
To quote the author, “Probate records are a rich source of genealogical, social, historical, and even linguistic data. They can illuminate family relationships and attitude. They can provide windows on the times when they were produced. Sometimes they can even suggest the ways the people of that time spoke.” In Robert Headley’s capable hands, they do that and even more.
Northern Neck Probate Records—A Sampler, by Robert Headley
(Excerpted from p. xii—xiii of Northern Neck Wills, Inventories & Other Records, 1800-1825)
1. Will: name of testator; date will was written; date will was probated; parish of residence [if given];county of probate; details of will; witnesses; codicil [if any]; additional information such as relinquishments [if any];source; notes.
Example: DOULIN, Joseph. [m], 12 Aug 1822. NC; all est. to wife as long as she remains my wid. for her use & the use of my children until they arrive to the age of 21 or marry; at wife's death or marriage, son Joseph DOULIN to have land and Negro boy Solomon; rest of est. to be eq. div. among sons Thomas & William and daus. Elizabeth L. DOULIN & Lucy C. DOULIN and a newborn baby not yet named; wife & Richard COCKARILL to have management of est.; WITS: Chas. L. BELL, Jn. FLYNT, Linezey DAVIS, Elisha H. GILL, Jos. WALKER; [court believed that the exors. named would not qualify as such & appointed the sheriff Sam. DOWNING to be administrator with the will annexed]
2. Inventory: name of deceased; date of court order for inventory, date inventory was made or presented in court; date inventory was recorded; county of inventory; value of inventory [if given]; names of any persons mentioned; any interesting items included in inventory.
Example: NEWTON, Willoughby, PO 1812, T 3 Jan 1813; 24 Apr 1815. WC, INV, [m], includes a large number of books (among which are Cicero's Life, 15-vol History of England, Fuller's Pharmacopoeia, Love's Art of Surveying, a French dictionary, Elements of Agriculture, Dictionary of English & Latin Phrases) and Negroes Billy Blundell (aged 45), Ned (35), Dick (30), Marquis (30), [Oaks] Billy (40), Charles (45), [ ? ]ey (70), Winney (55), Zara (55), Betty (65), Dinah (55, disabled), Rachel (50), Nancey (13), Winney (11), Cordelia (10), Rose (9), Franky (6), Becky (22), James (13), Ellick (9), Letty (1), Lucy (22), George (12), John (10), Margaret (4), Jeffrey (2), Letty (35), Winney (6), James (5), [Akey] (4), Charles (2), Betty (27), Sam (21), Felicia (4), Joe (2).
3. Division of Estate: name of deceased; date of court order for division, date division was made; date division was recorded; names of heirs and certain specific legacies such as slaves, land, ships, and books.
Example: HULL, John; PO 13Mar 1820, T 14 Oct 1822; [m]. NC; DIV of est., after allotting to Martha HULL her dower & thirds (152 ac & slaves Ben, Judy & child Lewis, Charlotte), amongst the heirs Paul HULL (55 ac & Anthony), Samuel S. HULL (60 ac & Ezekiel), John HULL (53 ac & Eliza), Peter HULL (54 ac & Willoughby), Broadie S. HULL (53 ac & Young Judy & Adam) & Thomas HULL (53 ac & Joseph).
4. Court Orders: county court orders can confirm the identities of heirs or provide the names of missing children or spouses:
Example 1: NC, 13 Feb 1809;Itappears to the court that Sarah E. BALL wife of the Rev. David BALL, James EWELL son of Ann EWELL deceased, Alice P. MONCURE wife of John MONCURE, Thomas GASKINS, Richard H. GASKINS, Martha HULL wife of John HULL, John E. GASKINS, and Mary HULL the wife of Thomas G. HULL are the children, grandchild, and legal representatives of Col. Thomas GASKINS deceased.
Example 2: RC, Oct 1809; Ordered that John DUDLEY and Sarah G. his wife and Griffin and Thomas DUDLEY, children of Mary G. DUDLEY deceased daughter of said Griffin and first wife of said John DUDLEY, and Jeremiah GARLAND which said Sarah and Jeremiah are children of said Griffin GARLAND and who together with the plaintiffs and Griffin and Thomas DUDLEY constitute the heirs of Griffin GARLAND.
5. Guardianship Records: these may identify spouses and children who are not named in wills or other records. These may also give dues to subsequent spouses or relatives as in the cases of Ann POPE the wid. of Elijah POPE married (2) Charles DAMERON in 1819 and that same year Charles DAMERON was appointed guardian of Ann POPE the orphan of Elijah and James BARTLETT orphan of Elisha BARTLETT who chose his brother Joel as his guardian. It also often happened that a young woman would marry her guardian. Since an orphan older than 14 could choose his or her guardian, but one under 14 had a guardian appointed by the court, these records can provide rough guides to the ages of the orphans.
Example 1: RC, 5 Jun 1820; Fanny DUDLEY orphan of John DUDLEY chose Fleet B. PLUMMER as her guardian and PLUMMER was appointed guardian of William DUDLEY orphan of John DUDLEY. Here we can surmise that Fanny was over 14 and that William was younger.
Example 2 : RC, 5 Aug 1810; Ann BISPHAM widow of Robert BISPHAM and Thomas STOWERS are appointed guardians of Maria and Ann BISPHAM orphans of Robert BISPHAM
6. Chancery Court Cases: cases in chancery court involve disputes usually over money, land, or slaves. Many cases were suits to obtain payment of debts. The more interesting ones were between sets of heirs in disputes over an inheritance. These often recited chains of land ownership or named heirs of persons who died intestate. A few chancery cases involved women who asked for relief from their husbands' cruel treatment. A chancery case file might contain as few as three documents or as many as several hundred. Some of the documents that may be included in chancery case files are statements of the complainants and the answers of the defendants, orders to appear in court, wills, deeds, receipts, accounts, court orders, and plats. The chancery cases for Lancaster, Westmoreland, and Northumberland counties have been scanned and are available online from the Library of Virginia website. Sadly, the Richmond County cases have only been microfilmed and are not available online.
Example1: 1: NC; 1808. William CONNOLLY d. intest. leaving a wid. Hannah, who mar. (2) Rich. LITTRELL, and the following children: Sally (who mar. Francis VANLANDINGHAM), Milly (who mar. John MOTHERSHEAD), Betsy
(who mar. Jeremiah JONES), Peggy (who mar. HALL and had four children: Fanny, Ann, William & unknown), and George.
Example 2: NC; Hiram CORBELL d. intest. in 1826 leaving as his only heirs and next of kin: Judith SHEARMAN, Martin and Peter CORBELL (bros.) and Gawin and Eliz. CORBELL inf. children of John CORBELL the dee'd bro. of Hiram.
Example 3: LC; William DAVIS d. intest. leaving a wid., Amy, and three children: Elizabeth (who mar. Andrew CHILTON, LC, bond 23 Dec 1788),Judith (who mar. George DOGGETT, LC, bond 19Jan 1795), and Richard; his wid., Amy, mar. (2) Joseph KEM (LC, before 19 Aug 1785) and had three children by him: Burgess Kirk, Susanna (d.s.p. 1806) and Molly Thompson (d.s.p. 1808); William DAVIS was entitled to a considerable est. under the will of Elizabeth YERBY who d. in 1772; Amy the wid. of William DAVIS was the grdau. of George and Elizabeth WOODBRIDGE) YERBY and prob. the dau. of George YERBY; Judith (DAVIS) DOGGETT brought suit against her husband George saying that she had lived with him for about two years but that he treated her badly and she was obliged to separate herself and her two young children from her husband.
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