Whence I Came

Burnett family members have long been pioneers in the truest sense, always pushing the "civilization envelope", in search of better lands and living. They migrated throughout Virginia, south to the Carolinas, and west to Kentucky and Tennessee. Then, in 1825 when the United States signed a treaty with the Choctaw Nation of Indians, lands in south Mississippi became available for purchase which contained level prairies and timbered areas filled with valuable woods. These lands were an inducement to one Burnett family to make their way south to the area we know today as Hinds County, Mississippi.   1842, July 29 South-Western Farmer, at Raymond, Mississippi The above 1842 advertisement in the South-Western Farmer  tells us the story of a Burnett family which was living in Raymond, Mississippi (located just west of Jackson in Hinds County) and one of their family members, Levi Ingraham Burnett, who had gone missing. Levi had left Henrico County, Virginia in 1832 and had not ...

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...

Although the Stone family had a surprising connection to the Barrett White estate , another piece of Stone/White wonder was uncovered with a little more record digging. While searching for deeds involving the Stone family in Henrico County, the below record surfaced.  In 1771, Thomas Stone (brother to William Stone) purchased 65 acres in Henrico County from John Robinson of Orange County, North Carolina.  According to the below deed, John Robinson was the son of Thomas Robinson, and the description of the land included mention of a creek and branches, but unfortunately, the name of the creek and branches were not provided.  However, previously, we learned that part of Thomas Stone's land included 100 acres on Gilleys Creek .  So, it is very possible that the 65 acres mentioned in the below deed were also in the same area.  The Robinson to Stone deed begins halfway down the page. Henrico County VA Deed Book 1767-1774 pages 387-388 Look who witn...

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. ...

What a BIG SURPRISE it was to learn that the Lucy Stone who married John White in 1784 Henrico County was the widow of William Stone!  Of course, this new information prompted lots of new questions and curiosity.  In hopes of finding more pieces to the Stone/White puzzle, I turned to William Stone's estate settlement.  I was not disappointed. On April 10, 1781, one of Stone's executors, Smith Blakey, began an accounting for Stone's estate settlement which continued for nine more years.  In all, Stone's estate settlement is comprised of 5 pages which provide a bounty of information.  The first page (shown below) is so rich in material to be analyzed for genealogical purposes that it will be the focus of this entry.  Some of the names and entries from this page are addressed below to help provide a broader image of the Stone's family circle of acquaintances. Henrico County VA Wills and Settlements Vol 2 page 142 Lucy Stone William Stone did not leav...

In the previous blog entry , we explored the 1790 Henrico County deed where John and Lucy White sold the 100 acres of land that she was entitled to per the will of William Stone.  And, I'd been fruitless in trying to locate William Stone's will.  But since then, guess what happened?  My fellow researcher, Welford Jones, came through once again.  On his next trip to the Library of Virginia, he was able to obtain William Stone's will which provided a fresh new look at understanding who Lucy Stone was.  The will was obtained from the library's microfilm collection on Henrico County, Virginia Wills 1774 - 1783, reel 10.  Below are the four pages to the will. In his wishes, William Stone mentioned: "my loving wife" but no name sons William, Daniel, and Osborne Stone daughters Elizabeth, Martha, and Nancy Stone "the child that my wife is now pregnant with" None of the daughters listed were named Lucy!  In fact, Lucy Stone wasn't...

On August 10, 1784, the below bond for marriage between John White and Lucy Stone was posted in Henrico County.  The books containing information on Henrico County marriages had variations on Lucy's first and last name.  So, I asked my research friend, Welford Jones, to retrieve a copy of the original bond during his next visit to the Library of Virginia.  Welford came through!  The bond tells us that a marriage between John White and Lucy Stone was planned, but not that one actually took place.  In addition, the bond identifies a Jacob Lockett as being close to the couple, as he was willing to sign the obligation and post money for their marriage license.  Unfortunately, the date of the bond is only provided one time and as you can see, it is at the location of a fold, blurred over time.  This helps explain why some of the transcriptions for this bond listed the marriage in 1784 and others in 1786. Assuming that John White and Lucy Stone did ...