Whence I Came

The men and women who settled in early Hanover County were an adventurous breed.  Life was full of challenges, as well as opportunities.  Neighbors were indispensable and often times became kin through the marriage of children.  One such marriage was the union between John R. Thurman and Judith Hooper. Thurmans and Hoopers The Thurmans and Hoopers lived in an area of Hanover County that fell within the boundaries of St. Paul's Parish.  Although the parish was connected to the Church of England and provided worship services for the parish's inhabitants, the parish was also charged with many civil duties, such as holding regular land processions to maintain an ongoing record of ever changing property boundaries.  It is from one such procession record that we learn the Thurman and Hooper families lived near, if not adjacent, to one another. The Thurman family had been processioning land in the same area of St. Paul's Parish, with the same surrounding land own...

Between 1715 and 1719, Mr. John White obtained another tract of land in St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County.  As with the Yellow and Green Communities, the precinct numbering for this property changed over time.  In order to follow this particular piece of land in the St. Paul's Parish processioning record, it has been color coded in the Blue Community.   Mr. John White's Lands in St. Paul's Parish Procession Record W here was Mr. John White's land in the Blue Community located?  Once again, this is a really difficult question to answer as there is no record of how Mr. John White obtained this land.  The location of this property can be best determined by researching the lands of the large number of surrounding property owners which included: John Shelton, Edward and Richard Bullock, John Philips, William, Henry, and John Talley, James Whitlock, Francis and Robert Hester, Widow and Nathaniel Anderson, William Eake, Nicholas Mills, Anthony Hughes, ...

Since we now know the Green Community was located along the Chickahominy River loosely bounded by Beaverdam and Powhite Creeks, we should be able to find the general location of the Yellow Community.   If we look at the below table which shows the St. Paul's Parish procession precinct information for Mr. John White's lands, we can see from the precinct numbering pattern from 1711 to 1719, that the Green and Yellow Communities were adjacent or very near to one another.  And since there is no known record for how Mr. John White obtained land in the Green Community or a description of the land, the key to narrowing in on a more specific location is the available property information for the other landowners listed in the precinct processions. Neighboring  Land Owners As mentioned in a previous entry , the early neighboring land owners for Mr. John White's property in the Yellow Community were  T hurmond/Thurman, Jerrard/Garrett, Trotman, Woody, Howard, M...