Land at Mallory's Ford between Orange and Louisa Counties

I am going through some of my Hawkins files.  I have a piece of information from the Diary of Robert Rose that I am trying to figure.  Of course, I can not find my copy of the book this morning to double check that I have copied the information correctly....but it is on my mind and I want to start a blog entry with what I have.  Rev Robert Rose seemed to have moved between  the Northern Neck of Virginia and his home in Albemarle County frequently.  

THE REVEREND ROBERT ROSE DIARY, 1746-1751

MS 1941.9
part of 1 vol., [116] pp.

Diary of the Rev. Robert Rose (1704-1751), minister of St. Anne's Parish, Essex County, Va., 1727-1748, where he succeeded the Rev. John Bagge, and of St. Anne's Parish, Albemarle County, Va., 1748-1751. The fact that Rose was named an executor of his estate by lieutenant governor Alexander Spotswood adds to the impression that Rose was a friend, and perhaps a protégé, of the governor.

The diary reveals Rose as a planter, businessman, surveyor, doctor, and lawyer, as well as a minister and a frequent traveler between Albemarle and Essex counties. In making these trips he passed through Stafford, Spotsylvania, Louisa, Orange, and Culpeper counties, visiting the leading families and sometimes preaching, performing marriages, or baptizing. He visited
friends in western Virginia, going as far as the Cow Pasture River, sleeping out in cold weather, and drinking "wretched" whiskey for want of something better. There are three entries for visits to Williamsburg. Most of the entries are brief, but there is a long exposition, dated August 28, 1750, on the curing of tobacco.

The diary fills the second half of the volume which also contains the Edmund Bagge Account Book.

Ralph Emmet Fall, ed. The Diary of Robert Rose: A View of Virginia by a Scottish Colonial Parson, 1746-1751 (Verona, Va., 1977).

Microfilm (M-47), photostat (PH/02/10), and transcript (TR/26) copies available.

From the Colonial Williamsburg site:

http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Special_Collections/SpecialCollectionsDocs/RobertRoseDiary.cfm

The next information is from an old e-mail I had sent to the Hawkins mail list in 2006:

Milly Farmer in her book Bits and Pieces of the Hawkins Puzzle

mentions the Diary of Robert Rose in her bibliography.

At the bottom of page 46 she says:



There were several men named Nicholas Hawkins in early Virginia.

One owned an Ordinary on the Orange County side of Mallory's Ford

where a road crossed the North Anna River.  The road cleared between

the Orange Court House and the Green Springs area of Lousia

County, Virginia.  The Hawkins Tavern was still recorded in 1860.  This 

information from the Diary of Robert Rose.  



Milly Farmer adds to this information:  One of Thomas Hawkins' 

daughters said that she was born near Springfield which is located 

close to the Edwards family.  This was the granddaughter of Nicholas

Hawkins, Jr. [a note later:  This may have been Springfield near Louisville, Ky that was the boyhood home of Zachary Taylor and have nothing to do with the Mallory Ford land]

What makes this particularly interesting to me is that my 2-gr-grandfather, Thomas R. Hawkins lived on Mallory's Ford, . You can see on map above Izard map from Library of Congress Collection where Thomas and Martha Bibb Hawkins lived in Orange County as it is marked as Hawkin's tannery.  Thomas R. Hawkins was a tanner as is shown in census enumerations.  This map is circa Civil War in time period.  This land

T.R.Hawkins' second wife, Martha Bibb, used money that she had inherited from her father to obtain land that I believe would have been just where Nicholas Hawkins' ordinary would have been.  If you read the below do you interpret this to mean that MY Thomas Hawkins had used land that he owned as collateral for a loan and not repaid?  Thomas and family were living near Barboursville before the death of Matilda Pinkard Hawkins (first wife).  After his marriage to Martha Bibb (second wife) he and his family lived at Mallory's Ford.  Martha Hawkins paid property taxes on the land until she sold the land to Thomas after many years of marriage. 

Deed Book 47 page 245 [This land transaction describes very well where they live];

This deed made this twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three between 

Martha P. Hawkins formerly Martha P. Bibb of the first part, Robert Collins who by an order of the County Court of Louisa County has been appointed a substitute as trustee in the place of John Ellis in a deed of marriage settlement between the

Said Martha P. and Thomas R. Hawkins her present husband bearing date the 21st day of February 1839 and recorded in 

the Clerks Office of the County court of Louisa County of the second part and Thomas R. Hawkins of the third part.  Where

as the said Martha P. Hawkins with the approval and consent of the said Robert Collins trustee as aforesaid has agreed to sell and convey to the said Thomas R. Hawkins a tract of land lying and being in the Counties of Orange and Louisa near

Mallory's Ford on both sides of the North anna River on which the said Thomas R. Hawkins and Martha P. his wife now 

reside containing about one hundred acres, seventy of which lies in the County of Louisa and the residue in the County of Orange, it being the same tract or parcel of land sold under a deed of Trust executed by the said Thomas R. Hawkins to 

John Scott to secure a debt to the late John Heaston and purchased by John Ellis as trustee under the said marriage 

settlement for the benefit of the said Martha P. Hawkins and conveyed by deed bearing the date the 18th day of March 

1847 duly recorded in the Clerk's office of Orange County Court by John Scott trustee as aforesaid the said John Ellis for

the use and benefit of the said Martha P. Hawkins and paid for out of the funds secured to her, by the said settlement.  

Now this deed witneseth that the said Martha P. Hawkins by virtue of the power retained and vested in her by the said

marriage settlement and the said Robert Collins the acting trustee therein at her instance and request for and in 

consideration of the sum of five hundred dollars to be paid to her trustee personal representative or assigns after

the death of the survivor of the said Thomas R. hawkins and Martha P. Hawkins, without interest on the sum of one dollar paid to the said Martha P. Hawkins and Robert Collins trustee as far said by the said Thomas R. Hawkins the receipt 

whereof is hereby acknowledged have granted bargained and convey all their right title and interest both at law

and in equity in the said tract or parcel of land under the said deeds of marriage settlement and from John Scott as 

trustee and the order of the County of Louisa aforesaid appointing Robert Collins as trustee in the place and stead of 

John Ellis to him the said Thomas R. Hwkins his heirs and assigns forever, reserving to the said Martha P. Hawkins a life

estate therein for her use and benefit and the power to dispose of the said sum of five hundred dollars for the purchase 

of said land either by deed or will, as is given and reserved to her under the provision of the said marriage 

settlement.





This land is located on the below modern map.  It would have been where Mallorys Ford Road crosses the North Anna River:  






There is a bridge located at Mallory's Ford now.  However, I have chatted with a man on a mail list who remembers no bridge in his lifetime.  It was just a place in the river that was shallow enough to cross.  He remembered that in his young days people would drive their car into the ford to wash the car. However, it has always been a crossing for the road that ran from Orange Courthouse to Louisa County and beyond.


To put this in better perspective, I add a modern map below showing Mallory's Ford Road, and Doctor's Road in relationship to Gordonsville and to the Forest Hill Baptist Church whose location is shown by red marker.  This is the church that Thomas R. Hawkins and his son, Edward Pinkard Hawkins were involved with for much of their lives.  You may need to click on the map to see it better.  Mallorys Ford Road will be in the top right quadrant of the map while Forest Hill Baptist Church will be in the middle and Gordonsville in the upper left quadrant.  The town of Louisa would be off the map from the bottom right quadrant. 






I will add photos of Forest Hill Baptist Church and also photos of E.P and T.R. but I want to get back to the subject that I began on. 




Deed book M. Spotsylvania Jan 1, 1790.  Nicholas Hawkins, Sr. Deed of gift to his son, Thos.  Hawkins 133 a in Spts. Co. whereon sd Nicholas Hawkins now lives, etc.  Geo. Cammack, Henry Gatewood,sr. Richd Todd  July 6, 179



Here is the what I found about Springfield notation by Milly Farmer:



Oh, wait, I see another possibility for Springfield:

Boyhood Home, Springfield, Louisville, Kentucky
As an infant, Zachary Taylor first came with his family to “Springfield,” the 400 acre Taylor family farm, in the Beargrass Creek region near Louisville, Kentucky, in the spring of 1785. His father, Colonel, Richard Taylor, originally came to this region in the late fall of 1784. The Springfield property was located in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and was east of the Louisville city limits.

Don't know....need to give it up for the day.  Maybe someone who has more ideas 

can add to my thoughts.  contact me at mosesm@earthlink.net