The Entangled John Whites of St. Paul's Parish

Many conflicting genealogies exist involving the John Whites of St. Paul’s Parish, Hanover County, Virginia.  These clashing White family histories have formed an entangled web on the internet.  And during my several years of researching these Whites, I viewed this web as a snare to be avoided.  Without the aid of straight forward wills or Bible records, the John White connections of St. Paul’s Parish seemed lost in history.  

Recently, I had an awakening.  I could no longer continue to ignore the John White quagmire.  I had to sort the John Whites of St. Paul’s Parish out for my own peace of mind.  Why?  Because YDNA tells me that I am a relative to the descendants of these John Whites, although we have different surnames.  With the necessary grit, I began an investigation of the precincts where John White was listed as a land owner.  The land proceedings of the St. Paul’s Vestry Record proved allowed me to see the transfer of ownership from one John White to the next.  Interlacing the results of the land proceeding analysis with available records, allowed the John Whites of St. Paul’s Parish to visibly emerge. 

This undertaking would not have been possible without the help of several other White surname researchers.  Specifically, sharing research with Frederick M. Sorrell Jr., Elizabeth Ann Edmonds, Michael Talley, Michael Lynn White, Laurel Durham, Sydni Thurmond-Hamill, Robert Ashlin White III, Ward H. Oliver, Don White Jr., and Welford M. Jones has been invaluable to this effort.    And, although I never corresponded with the following researchers, their publications and studies provided significant insight and detail; Family of John White of Charlotte County, Virginia (2000) by Thomas E. Marshall III, John White of Hanover County, Virginia and Some of His Descendants (1995) by Jack J. White, and JOHN WHITE OF HANOVER COUNTY, VIRGINIA (2007 @Rootsweb.com) by Richard Beaver.  It should be noted that since the publication of some of these works, an important record was found by Robert White and Elizabeth Edmonds which certainly would have influenced the previous mentioned authors’ analyses.  Robert White and Elizabeth Edmonds located a family owned book entitled Confessions of Faith dated 1745 which had been donated to the Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.  Within the book is a hand written recording of some White family members which will be discussed at greater length in a later entry.    

Everyone mentioned above, and probably more, have contributed to the findings in this summary.

Background and Summary

Four important categories of sources were used as the foundation of this analysis:

1) the early records for St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s parishes
2) land patents issued prior to 1779 by the Crown
3) a number of extant deeds, surveys, and wills that have been found in court case files
4) the 1704 and 1763 Quit Rent Rolls

The first step of the analysis was the most important (determining the lands held by Mr. John White in St. Paul’s Parish and then following those lands in subsequent processions through 1763).  Although the precinct numbers may have changed from year to year, a grouping of surrounding property owners were determined for each John White parcel to ensure that the same piece of land was being followed from year to year.  Sometimes the procession record made mention of how the various John Whites obtained new land.  The results of the precinct procession analysis was then compared to the sources listed in source categories 2 thru 4 above.  The result provided a visible transfer of land between three different John Whites in St. Paul’s Parish of Hanover County, Virginia between the years of 1704 and 1763 – a period of almost 5o years.  The three John Whites were:

Mr. John White                 born 1674 or earlier and died between March 29 and April 1, 1744

John White Jr.                   born about 1695 and died December 27, 1758

John White III                    born 1734 or before

The next few entries to this blog provide a detailed analysis for each John White which illustrates how all three men were connected through land ownership in St. Paul’s Parish.

copyright@2018 Deborah Thurman Parks