Whence I Came

Mr. John White of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia had seven children with two different wives. Unfortunately, the name of Mr. John White's first wife is unknown, but she was most likely born about 1675 or earlier based upon the birth year of about 1695 for her son, also named John White. Fortunately, John White b. about 1695 left behind records and YDNA evidence which help us piece together a general outline of his life. Baptism Record for John White b. abt 1695 The St. Peter's Parish, New Kent County Vestry Book includes a baptism record which has been transcribed as: John son of John White baptis. the 30th May 1697 The below image is the actual page from the Vestry Book which was downloaded from Family Search with the John White entry noted by a red star on the left: As you can see, the year is very difficult to read. Do you think it reads 1697? When processing this record, one of the first questions that comes to mind is who was the father, John White?  Alth...

We already learned that William Stone's widow, Lucy, remarried to John White .  Their marriage took place about three years after Stone's death.  Their domestic life together comes alive on the below, third page of William Stone's estate settlement. Entries for Mr. and Mrs. White began just three months after their marriage in August 1784 and included: November 1, 1784 "To an order on Robert Gilbert in favor of Mrs. White" £5.0 January 18, 1785 "To ditto Joseph Binns for work done upon Mr. White's house" £2.18 January 20, 1785 "To 759 # pork for the use of Mrs. White's family" £8.13 April 12, 1785 "To ditto paid Lucy White for the use of her family" £3.3 January 25, 1786 "To ditto received by Mr. White for a still" £18.4 Henrico County VA Vol 2 Page 143 William Stone's Estate Settlement But the really SURPRISING White surname entry in William Stone's estate settlement is shown in the below image. ...

In an earlier post , we found that Mr. John White owned two pieces of land, 320 and 190 acres, according to the 1704 New Kent County Quit Rent roll.  And yet, there is no known record of how he obtained these properties.  The first known record of Mr. John White obtaining land was a 1705 land patent for 211 acres in New Kent County, on the east side of Beaverdam Creek.  It is probable that these 211 acres were across the creek from one of his other tracts (320 or 190 acres) that included the White Mill.  The only known existing records to track the ownership of Mr. John White's properties at Beaverdam Creek are the precinct processions of the St. Paul's Parish Vestry Record .  Although the precinct numbers changed over time, the surrounding land owners of Mr. John White's Beaverdam property stayed the same, allowing us to follow ownership changes .     Below is a visual chronology of the procession years and the responsible parties for the Beaverdam...