McKinney and Geertsema Map

Today's project takes me to the WV archives in the Capital complex in Charleston, WV.  Harriet, Bruce and I have been chatting about the hopes that finding where the McKinney land was and who lived in the same neighborhood might lead to some clues on finding out if there is a possible link to our George McKinsey in Newberry SC and the McKinney family found in the area around Hopewell MM.

Much to my disappointment, the only Geertsema map available at the WV archives is Glengary Quadrangle.  Harriet has told me that the one that we want to look at is Inwood Quadrangle.

(If you have trouble viewing the below, double click the image or go to the link)

http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eespteam/Karst/tasks/Shenandoah/geologic_maps/inwood.html

You can see from the above map that a person residing in the Inwood Quadrant could have lived in areas that are now Berkeley WV, Jefferson WV, or Frederick County, Va.   Frederick County came into existence as a political subdivision of Orange County, Va on December 21, 1738.  Over time, Old Frederick County was subdivided into Twelve counties.  There is a good map of this subdivision with dates in Wilmer Kerns' Historical Records of Old Frederick and Hampshire Counties, Virginia (revised) that is in the armoire in my living room.  Berkeley was created in 1772 and Jefferson was created out of Berkeley in 1801.  According to the map, George and Margaret McKenny would have been living in Old Frederick County when they originally bought their land and when they sold the land in 1771. Berkeley County was not created until the year after they sold the land to Thomas Campbell.

Harriet sent me a link to directlinesoftware.com with pages that are Deed Mapper deed data Pool for Old Frederick County.  The McKinsey/McKenney names that are mentioned are Tully and George.  I will try to get my Deed Mapper up and running and take a look at the plats that have been mapped and add it here.  

At the WV archives I looked at a book with title of  Frederick County Deeds 1771-1775 abstracted and compiled by Amelia C. Gilreath.  Here is the abstraction found for George McKinney on page 17 of this book:

Bk 15, P 92-6 Aug 1771

    [Lease]  Between George McKenny of the County of Frederick [to] Thomas Campbell of the said county.....consideration of five shillings.....Tract of Land of Musty Handley....Containing one hundred and ninety four Acres Granted to said George McKenny by Deed from the Hand and Seal of the Right Honorable Thomas Lord Fairfax the 18th Oct 1756....Yielding and Paying rent of one pepper corn on Lady day next.....

Wit: Jacob Sowers, Jun                     George (O) McKennie

      Thos. Wood

Recorded:  7 Aug 1771

Bk. 15, p. 93--7 Aug 1771

    [Release] Between George McKennie and Margaret his wife of County of Frederick [to] Thomas Campbell of the said county .....consideration of one hundred and thirty pounds....194 acres (same as above)....

Wit: same as above              George (O) McKennie

This date of sale would work very well with the date of purchase of George McKinsey in SC:

 George McKinsey settled in SC on 8 Jan 1773 as evidenced by a land deed.  It reads in part, George McKinsey of Craven County in the Province of South Carolina, paid 250 pounds to Thomas Shaw for 150 acres of land more or less, 8 January 1773.  This land was bought in the 13th year of the Reign of King George III.  Note: In 1683 Craven County as shown on the deed was one of the first couties extablished  in SC.  All three couties were later abolished.  This area was made District Ninety Six in 1769.  In 1798 it became the present county of Newberry, SC.

In Feb 2013, Bruce Locken sent me the Geertsema map of Inwood Quadrant.  Below is a portion of Mr. Geertsema's map that is in Inwood Quadrant.  Bruce wrote in some of the names of the neighbors of the McKinnie family.  It is clear from what Bruce has sent me that George McKinsey's land adjoined that of Richard Marchant and that another very close neighbor was Patrick Duncan.  Other neighbors that I recognize from my research on the families in Newberry County are Reason Reagan and Evan Thomas.  

We do not know yet if Patrick Duncan is a father to Nelson Duncan or other relative.  Nelson Duncan is the man who lives next door to George McKinsey in Newberry County, South Carolina.  We do know for sure that  Reason Reagan is a neighbor to George McKinsey in South Carolina.  George's son, Mordecai marries Reason's daughter Catherine.  

There is no doubt that we are accumulating very good information that would indicate that our George in South Carolina is most probably the son of the George and Margaret McKinney who are living on this land in Virginia in the mid 1700's.  The date of the sale of the land in Virginia is EXCELLENT for the selling of land for a man who then buys land in SC in 1773.   George McKinsey and Nelson Duncan each buy portions of land from Thomas Shaw in Newberry County.  Nelson Duncan is said to have bought the SW portion of Thomas Shaw's land while George McKinsey bought the remaining portion.  It remains to be seen for absolute sure that Nelson Duncan is related to Patrick Duncan, but I believe that we have enough evidence to spend some time researching this area trying to prove parents for the George McKinsey who married Sarah Moore.  Could Patrick/Nelson and George moved with their families from Frederick County together?  

I believe that we have enough clues to continue to look for connections between Frederick County, Va and Newberry County, SC for our McKinsey line.

Bruce sent me the following information about the original grant to this George McKennie:

Bruce also reminded me of the information that Harriet had sent previously about George McKennie in Virginia and his neighborhood:  

The neighborhood of "Virginia George" had a remarkable number of SC connections.  Edward Thomas purchased or was granted four separate tracts around Turkey Run (Jefferson Co WV side of Opequon).  He and wife Sarah sold 3 of them while living in VA, and the last one on 10 Jun 1766 after having moved to Bush River (Frederick Co VA Deed Book 5, p. 246).  Richard Merchant/Marchant lived adjacent to George McKennie, on the north side of Mill Creek.  His will was proven in Frederick Co VA on 1 Sep 1752.  His daughter Mary B. Merchant married Jonathon Taylor at Hopewell MM; they moved their certificate from Hopewell to Bush River on 6 Jun 1768 (not in the Bush River minutes, because it wasn't a MM yet, but their family record is included).  Hopewell MM issued 8 certificates of removal in 1768-9 for family groups (Hollingsworth, Pugh, Barrett, Ruble, etc.) heading for Bush River, despite its being unsettled as an MM by then.  They probably had to present the certificates at Camden/Wateree MM in order to get accepted as constituent members of Bush River MM.  The certificates from Hopewell to Bush River continued throughout the 1770's, just not so many families together as in 1768.

Richard Merchant Jr. was disowned by Hopewell on 3 Jan 1763 for "training in militia and fighting".  He sold his VA land in 1771 and headed for the Saluda River after that.  He turned up in the Edgefield Co SC records after the war, and it's not clear when he got there.  Thomas Anderson also lived along Mill Creek from 1734, died there in 1747.  His son James sold his VA lands (granted and inherited) on 28 Nov 1763 from his new residence in Berkeley Co SC--he was on the Saluda River, but at Ninety-Six (Edgefield Co from 1785, now Greenwood Co).

Certainly it is very interesting that neighbr Richard Merchant, Jr. sold his land the very same year that George and Margaret McKinsey sold their land in Virginia.

See my blog entry dated 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2012

for more information about Edward Thomas's land in Virginia.  

William, Joseph Hawkins of Campbell County, Virginia

The newest issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly (vol 100, No 2, June 2012) was in my pile of things to read last night.  In an article titled  Finding the Father of Henry Pratt of Southeastern Kentucky written by Warren C. Pratt, Ph.D (page 95) is a paragraph that I will not quote as I would like to include the footnotes and explanatory material in the paragraph since I don't quite know how to do footnotes in the blog.  The section of the article is labelled James Pratt.

James Pratt lived in the same Campbell County community as Mary Pratt, his uncle James' widow.  In 1793 Mary and Bartlett Wiley witnessed the will of William Hawkins, whose son was Joseph Hawkins. [information from Campbell County Will Book I:25253, William Hawkins].   The preceding year William Hawkins, Sr, Joseph Hawkins, Bartlett Wiley, and James Pratt lived near each other on Beaver  Creek.  [Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, Personal Property Tax Lists, Campbell Co., 1792, Talbot's district, pp. 16FHL microfilm 2,204,501.  For Beaver Creek see Campbell Co. Deed Book 4:491, Hawkins to Ross, 5 Dec 1798, FHL microfilm 31,023)]....

It interesting to note that the beginning of this section contains information that James Pratt had lived in Culpeper County before his move to Campbell County.  That makes me wonder if the Pratts and the Hawkins family had been friends before the move to Campbell and perhaps even moved there together.  Could there even have been a family relationship?  A Hawkins son or daughter married to a Pratt spouse?

The below map shows where Beaver Creek is located in Campbell County.  I believe that it flows into the James River just northwest of the marker on the below map.

What else do I know about Campbell and Bedford Counties in Virginia and the Hawkins family?

Littleberry Hawkins married Jane Shearer, dt. James.  Richard W. Hicks Surety 18 June 1794 Campbell County marriage bonds found in Hinshaw Vol VI

The next Information comes from Elaine Campbell....she reminded me that:   

The only daughter named in Littleberry Hawkins will was Milly Hicks. Mildred Hawkins married Richard W. Hicks (source Wulfeck.) So was the above marriage between Littleberry and Jane Shearer a second marriage with son-in-law serving as surety?  I don't have dates for Littleberry right at hand...need to work on this when I have time.

Our  Hawkins DNA group #1 has a participant who descends from Benjamin Hawkins married to Hannah who lived on land that is now part of the Biltmore estate.  This Benjamin Hawkins had both a son and a grandson named Littleberry.  Dot Hawkins whose husband and son are descendants of this Benjamin has told me in the past that William Hawkins who is found in the part of Bedford County that became Campbell County in 1781 named sons Littleberry, Robert, Benjamin and James in his will.

Hawkins DNA group #1 has 2 more participants who descend from John and Winnie Hawkins.  This couple have children who seemed to have lived in Bedford County at some point.  

Elaine Campbell gave me the below information that lets us know that Littleberry Hawkins is still living in Bedford County in 1816:
Green County, KY  Deed Book 7 pages 308-310....9 july 1816 

Benjamin Gaddy and wife Susannah of Green County to Littleberry Hawkins of Bedford Virginia....selling 184 acres. This is Virginia land recorded in Green County ...the Gaddy's are selling land that is in Bedford County, Virginia to Littleberry Hawkins.....but they are recording it in Green County, Kentucky.  The land is described as being "to a Hawkins Corner".

Dot Hawkins has shared the next information.  Her Benjamin is married to Hannah and lived on land that is now a part of the Biltmore Estate in NC:

This is the William (William of Bedford/Campbell County, VA)
 that we believe is the father of our Benjamin.  If one reads
the full will including the condicils it is almost certain because of the names
of Robert and Littleberry occuring in Benjamin's family as well as
William, James and Joseph.

Since Robert was listed as an exedutor of the will, when his father named him in
the codicil to receive only a token amount it really indicates that he had
already received a patrimony and that Benjamin and James, also named in the
codicil had received theirs.  That being the case they were the oldest of the
sons and that Littleberry was the youngest and under age to receive property in
his own name.

I haven't been able to get to Bedford/Campbell County for further research, yet,
but all who have looked at the evidence we have to date are in agreement that
this is or family.

With the evidence we do have we know Benjamin and James had already left VA and
were well settled in Buncombe County, NC by the date of this will.  At this time
Benjamin already had 2 children, Mary and John and was very active in the
government of the county.  We know that Benjamin was in the area for the 1790
census and there is evidence from a court case that they were there in the late
1780's.  In the family Bible of Benjamin's youngest son we have Benjamin's birth
year as 1762 which would fit in with the age of William and his birth date of
1733.