Serendipitous Land Research
White is not the only Hanover County surname that I research. And sometimes, researching multiple surnames can lead to unexpected surprises. Such was the case while researching my Wade family connection with friend and fellow researcher Sydni Thurmond-Hamill.
I searched for "the road leading from Old Church to Black Creek Church" and couldn't believe my eyes. Sydni had circled the name "White", just east of the road. And right below "White", was "Alexander". The 1869 deed had described the land owner to the south of the 97 acres as William Alexander! But there was no "Wade" listed north of "Alexander", west of "White", or east of the road. However, there was a single black dot, with no adjacent surname, in just the right place! We know from the Hanover County Chancery Court case involving Edmund D. Wade's estate that Wade's "Old Place" was rented out to others to farm as a source of income to the Wade family. Since the "Old Place" was not the "family seat" so to speak, the black dot west of "White" and east of the road could very well have represented a home on the "Old Place" that was rented out.
Using the roads and geographic features of the above civil war era map, it became possible to locate this general area on the Hanover County GIS website and search for a possible existing 97 acre parcel. And what do you know? There is an existing parcel in the right location which is bounded on the west by McClellan Road, traversed by a branch of Matadequin Creek, and located just south of Old Church for a total of 99 acres (map below). The additional two acres could be the result of improved survey and measurement tools, such as geographic information systems, which are available to us today. And what do you know? There's one parcel that extends along the northern and eastern boundaries of the property which could have been the Whites' property.
Summary
The Wade and White families were neighbors for over a hundred years in this location. To have maintained a shared boundary for so long, there were probably many connections between the families. And I find myself asking the question, "Did the Wades and Whites know one another before settling along the banks of this Matadequin Creek branch?" That too is possible as James White has been connected to the White family of early King William County through records. And James and Mary Waid are listed in the 1782 King William County tax list owning 220 and 525 acres respectively. In fact, the Wade and White family connection may go back even further than Virginia. One White researcher, who has conducted extensive research on early Hanover County families and their origins in Great Britain, has found some intriguing White/Wade connections! Fodder for a future post. But meanwhile, I thank Sydni for taking me on this wonderful serendipitous land research adventure!
ⁱ Cononfederate States Of America. Army. Dept. Of Northern Virginia. Chief Engineer's Office & Alexander, E. P. (1864) Map of the counties of Charles City, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, King William, New Kent, and part of the counties of Caroline and Louisa, Virginia. [S.l.: Chief Engineer's Office, D.N.V] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00354/.
Copyright © 2018 Deborah Thurman Parks
Sydni has a very lively and well connected Instagram presence. A great passion of hers is to follow historic architecture and landscapes. One of her favorite Instagram architectural historians is Gray O'Dell who one day posted a photo of Quietude, a historic home in Hanover County off McClellan Road. In the post, O'Dell mentioned Edmond Wade/Waid (herein after Wade) and his possible lineage. Knowing of my Wade family interest, Sydni excitedly texted me and we were off and running in trying to determine Edmond Wade's ancestors by taking the "follow the land" approach.
Sydni began identifying Wade properties that were labeled on various Civil War era maps. Using these old maps retrieved from the Library of Congress website, she created a visual of the physical relatedness of various Wade properties, and their neighbors along McClellan Road, for that time period. Then we scoured the Hanover County Chancery Court Cases that were uploaded to the Virginia Memory website, focusing on the cases which contained the surname of Wade. One of these court cases involved the estate of Edmund D. Wade. It was among those records that we learned Edmund D. Wade died owning two tracts of land near the Hanover community of Old Church; 1) 170 acres and 2) 97 acres.
Fortunately, the court case involving Edmund D. Wade's estate included the below court ordered sale advertisement. The ad told us that Edmund D. Wade made his home upon the 170 acres. So, we were pretty sure that the "handsome residence" was the Quietude property.
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| Retrieved from J. Thomas Elam etc vs. Exr of Edmund D. Wade |
The court case also told us that Edmund D. Wade's parents were Dabney and Polly Wade who died in 1823 and 1844, respectively. With this information, we began research of the Hanover County land tax records. Sure enough, five years after Dabney Wade's death, Polly Wade was recorded as owning "for life" not only the 170 acres for Quietude, but the earlier mentioned 97 acres plus 3 additional acres. Below is a snippet of that record:
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| 1828 Hanover Co VA Land Tax Record |
This tax record really caught my attention. Here's why. Notice the reference to the 97 acres being adjacent to "Moses White & others". The White surname, a twinkling object, was shining in the dark. I couldn't help myself. I had to follow the twinkle and took a side road from Quietude. My goal - to learn as much as I could about the 97 acre Wade tract in hopes of pinpointing the location of Moses White's land. The remainder of this blog entry is all about the serendipity of taking that side road and following the twinkling object.
Wade's Old Place
From the chancery court case, Sydni and I also learned that the 97 acre tract was referred to by the Wade family as the "Old Place". An amazingly helpful document found in the case files was an unrecorded 1869 deed between Edmund D. and Wealthy A. Wade and their son, James D. Wade. This deed not only referred to the 97 acres as the "Old Place" but provided an excellent property boundary description. A snippet of this deed is provided below.
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| Retrieved from J. Thomas Elam etc vs Exr of Edmund D. Wade, http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/default.asp |
According to the deed description, Wade's "Old Place", or the 97 acres, had the following boundaries in 1869:
north - by legatees of Moses White dec'd
east - by legatees of Moses White dec'd
south - by William Alexander
west - by the road leading from Old Church to Black Creek Church
Bingo! Moses White again! The 1828 tax record told us that Moses White was an adjacent land owner to the 97 acres, but the 1869 deed provided us with greater specificity. White's property bounded the "Old Place" along the north and east property lines!
So why were the 97 acres referred to as the "Old Place"? A search of the extant Hanover County tax records held the answer. It really was an "Old Place" for the Wade family. The path following the 97 acres back in time to 1782 was very clear. From 1782 back to 1763 is a little vague, but a possibility exists. Ownership of the 97 acres overtime:
Notice that four names below Zachariah Wade is James White taxed for 300 acres. An analysis of James White's 300 acres is shown below and note that in 1787 James White sold land to Charles Talley (also in the 1782 tax list between Zachariah Wade and James White).
Year Owner Acreage
1763 James White 463
1782-1785 James White 300
1787 James White 285
sold to Charles Talley 15
1788-1795 James White 285
1796-1799 James White estate 285
1800 conveyed to Moses White 285
1801-1812 Moses White 285
1813-1833 Moses White 288
Access to Hanover County, Virginia land tax records beyond 1833 is not easily obtainable. Without seeing these records, its difficult to determine when ownership left Moses White. But we do know that Moses White left a will dated 1842 (Library of Virginia Misc. Reel No 4609). Moses left the 318 acre tract of land where he resided to his wife, Anne. This means, that sometime between 1833 and 1842, Moses added 30 acres to the long held 288 acre parcel. Moses also stated in his will, "It is also my wish and desire that at the death of my wife the profits arriving from the meadows attached to the land on which I at present reside should be equally divided between my said son Elisha and his unmarried sisters for and during the term of twelve years." The implication being that Moses' son Elisha had an interest in the tract where Moses and his wife lived.
We also have the 1850 Hanover County census which shows Moses' widow, Anne, living with her son Elisha, unmarried daughters, and other relatives. Note that Elisha White is listed as possessing $10,000 worth of real estate, compared to Anne's $1,000 worth.
Another great location clue from the previously mentioned 1869 deed for the Wade "Old Place" is the western boundary to the 97 acres - "the road leading from Old Church to Black Creek Church". Today, this road is known as McClellan Road or State Route 628. Since the deed with all these great property boundary clues was prepared in 1869 (a few years after the Civil War), I decided to take a new look at Sydni's civil war era "Wade and Neighbors" map (below).
Bingo! Moses White again! The 1828 tax record told us that Moses White was an adjacent land owner to the 97 acres, but the 1869 deed provided us with greater specificity. White's property bounded the "Old Place" along the north and east property lines!
So why were the 97 acres referred to as the "Old Place"? A search of the extant Hanover County tax records held the answer. It really was an "Old Place" for the Wade family. The path following the 97 acres back in time to 1782 was very clear. From 1782 back to 1763 is a little vague, but a possibility exists. Ownership of the 97 acres overtime:
Year Owner Acreage
1763 William Wade 597 (possible connection)
1782-1795 Zachariah Wade 97
1796-1800 Zachariah Wade est 97
1801 conveyed to Elizabeth Wade 97
1802-1802 Elizabeth Wade 97
1804 conveyed to Dabney Wade 97
The tax records and the chancery court case told us that the "Old Place" stayed in the Wade family for over 100 years! And since the 97 acres were listed in the 1782 tax list, special attention needed to be given to this record. The 1782 St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County tax list is an invaluable resource in determining neighbors and neighborhoods for that year. The person who recorded the tax list walked from house to house, recording the names of property owners, the number of parcels they owned, and acreage. The end result is something like a census, as the census taker recorded names as he walked from house to house. A very handy record compared to an alphabetically arranged tax record. Below is a snippet from the neighborhood for Zachariah Wade and his 97 acres recorded on April 24, 1782. 1782-1795 Zachariah Wade 97
1796-1800 Zachariah Wade est 97
1801 conveyed to Elizabeth Wade 97
1802-1802 Elizabeth Wade 97
1804 conveyed to Dabney Wade 97
Notice that four names below Zachariah Wade is James White taxed for 300 acres. An analysis of James White's 300 acres is shown below and note that in 1787 James White sold land to Charles Talley (also in the 1782 tax list between Zachariah Wade and James White).
Year Owner Acreage
1763 James White 463
1782-1785 James White 300
1787 James White 285
sold to Charles Talley 15
1788-1795 James White 285
1796-1799 James White estate 285
1800 conveyed to Moses White 285
1801-1812 Moses White 285
1813-1833 Moses White 288
Access to Hanover County, Virginia land tax records beyond 1833 is not easily obtainable. Without seeing these records, its difficult to determine when ownership left Moses White. But we do know that Moses White left a will dated 1842 (Library of Virginia Misc. Reel No 4609). Moses left the 318 acre tract of land where he resided to his wife, Anne. This means, that sometime between 1833 and 1842, Moses added 30 acres to the long held 288 acre parcel. Moses also stated in his will, "It is also my wish and desire that at the death of my wife the profits arriving from the meadows attached to the land on which I at present reside should be equally divided between my said son Elisha and his unmarried sisters for and during the term of twelve years." The implication being that Moses' son Elisha had an interest in the tract where Moses and his wife lived.
We also have the 1850 Hanover County census which shows Moses' widow, Anne, living with her son Elisha, unmarried daughters, and other relatives. Note that Elisha White is listed as possessing $10,000 worth of real estate, compared to Anne's $1,000 worth.
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| Retrieved on 5/9/2018 from Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line] |
Another great location clue from the previously mentioned 1869 deed for the Wade "Old Place" is the western boundary to the 97 acres - "the road leading from Old Church to Black Creek Church". Today, this road is known as McClellan Road or State Route 628. Since the deed with all these great property boundary clues was prepared in 1869 (a few years after the Civil War), I decided to take a new look at Sydni's civil war era "Wade and Neighbors" map (below).
 |
| Sydni's "Wade and Neighbors Map" |
Using the roads and geographic features of the above civil war era map, it became possible to locate this general area on the Hanover County GIS website and search for a possible existing 97 acre parcel. And what do you know? There is an existing parcel in the right location which is bounded on the west by McClellan Road, traversed by a branch of Matadequin Creek, and located just south of Old Church for a total of 99 acres (map below). The additional two acres could be the result of improved survey and measurement tools, such as geographic information systems, which are available to us today. And what do you know? There's one parcel that extends along the northern and eastern boundaries of the property which could have been the Whites' property.
Summary
The Wade and White families were neighbors for over a hundred years in this location. To have maintained a shared boundary for so long, there were probably many connections between the families. And I find myself asking the question, "Did the Wades and Whites know one another before settling along the banks of this Matadequin Creek branch?" That too is possible as James White has been connected to the White family of early King William County through records. And James and Mary Waid are listed in the 1782 King William County tax list owning 220 and 525 acres respectively. In fact, the Wade and White family connection may go back even further than Virginia. One White researcher, who has conducted extensive research on early Hanover County families and their origins in Great Britain, has found some intriguing White/Wade connections! Fodder for a future post. But meanwhile, I thank Sydni for taking me on this wonderful serendipitous land research adventure!
ⁱ Cononfederate States Of America. Army. Dept. Of Northern Virginia. Chief Engineer's Office & Alexander, E. P. (1864) Map of the counties of Charles City, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, King William, New Kent, and part of the counties of Caroline and Louisa, Virginia. [S.l.: Chief Engineer's Office, D.N.V] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00354/.
Copyright © 2018 Deborah Thurman Parks
