On 21 Sep 1674, the Grand Assembly, held at James City, Virginia, enacted Act I – An act for the safeguard and defense of the country against the Indians. [2] to defend the northern frontier of the colony against the Susquehannocks and other Indian groups. The act provides for 8 garrisons and specifies the number of men each county is to provide. Ammunition, provisions, tools, surgeons, medicines, horses, pay to footmen and horsemen, compensation for families of those slain, and compensation for owners of horses killed are all specified. Rules of engagement and articles, rules and orders to be observed (26 in all) by the men are specified.
Act I specifies that 34 men out of Northumberland County, 25 men out of Lancaster County, and 25 men out of Middlesex County be garrisoned at one fort or place of defense on the Potomac River at or near John Mathew’s land in the county of Stafford (now Fairfax County), of which fort Captain Peter Knight is to be captain or chief commander.
Virginia Historical Highway Marker E-70, Colonial Fort, stands near this site at 38° 46.763′ N, 77° 3.111′ W, next to the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Belle Haven, Virginia. [1]
CPT Peter Knight (1620–1705) is 10th great-grandfather of MKS in the Knight branch.
References: [1] Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Historical Highway Markers, database search > E-70 > Colonial Fort, Fairfax (County). Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 1999 (photograph). [2] William Waller Hening (editor), The statutes at large; being a collection of all the laws of Virginia, from the first session of the legislature, in the year 1619; …, Vol II (New York: R. & W. & G. Bartow (printer), 1823), pp326-336; digital images, Hathitrust.org (https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112104867892).
In Sisley Jordan Farrar—Ancient Planter, we met Sisley’s husband William Farrar I. William is a descendant of an Angevin (i.e. Plantagenet) King of England—King Edward I of England. [1]
Portrait in Westminster Abbey, thought to be of Edward I.
Here is the line from King Edward I of England to William Farrar I:
13. Edward I of England, King of England (1239–1307) > m. Alianore de Castille
12. Joan of England [of Acre] > m. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Glouchester
11. Alianor de Clare > m. Hugh le Despenser, 2nd Lord Despenser
10. Edward Despenser, Knight > m. Anne de Ferrers
9. Edward Despenser, 4th Lord le Despenser > m. Elizabeth de Burghersh
8. Anne Despenser > m. Hugh Hastings, Knight
7. Edward Hastings, Knight > m. Muriel de Dinham
6. John Hastings, 9th Lord Hastings > m. Anne Morley
5. Elizabeth Hastings > m. Robert Hildyard
4. Katherine Hildyard > m. William Girlington
3. Isabel Girlington > m. Christopher Kelke
2. William Kelke > m. Thomasine Skerne
1. Cecily Kelke > m. John Farrar
0. William Farrar I (1583–1637) > m. Sisley NN (Bayley) (Jordan) (Farrar)
Sisley NN (1600–1637) is 11th great-grandmother of MKS in the Knight branch.
William Farrar I (1583–1637) is 11th great-grandfather of MKS in the Knight branch.
King Edward I of England (1239–1307) is 10th great-grandfather of William Farrar I, and 24th great-grandfather of MKS in the Knight branch.
References: [1] David Faros, Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth-Century Colonists (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996).
Today we celebrate the 81st anniversary of the birth of Jacqueline Anne Knight.
This photo is one of several in a batch all labeled First Picture, each with Jackie and her mother Marion in basically the same pose.
The handwritten notation on verso is:
1940 Marion Elizabeth Chapman Knight Jacqueline Anne Knight First Picture 563 Woodlawn Ave N. Augusta S. C.
Levi and Marion Chapman Knight roomed at 56 Woodlawn Avenue in North Augusta, South Carolina, from before 22 Oct 1939 (Jackie’s birth) through at least 30 Apr 1940 (1940 US Census).
Woodlawn Avenue was later split into East Woodlawn and West Woodlawn, and the houses were renumbered. Today, 56 Woodlawn Avenue is 214 West Woodlawn Avenue. The house there was built in 1902.
But this photo does not look like that house. The house in the photo is clearly numbered 53. And the address notation on the photo has been changed from 56 to 53 Woodlawn Ave.
Levi and Marion actually roomed in the cottage behind the main house, and the cottage had a number at the time. Here is another photo taken a few months later in front of the main house.
Jacqueline Anne Knight, 5 and a half months.
The house and cottage are both still there, and look virtually identical to these photos from 1940.
Left to right: Grady Chapman, Marion Chapman, and Archie Chapman; 15 Jul 1920.
This is one of three photographs in our collection taken on this date of Grady and Archie Chapman, and their daughter Marion. The other two photographs include another as-of-yet unidentified family.
William Grady Chapman (1890–1947) is 2nd great-grandfather of MKS in the Knight branch.
Archie June Williams (1890–1965) is 2nd great-grandmother of MKS in the Knight branch.
Marion Elizabeth Chapman (1917–1963) is great-grandmother of MKS in the Knight branch.
References: [1] KMS Family Genealogy Digital Archive, Jacqueline Anne Knight Spratlin collection (photograph).
In Finding Alpheus Adams’ Mother : Part V, we learned that Alpheus’ maternal line, the Strains, emigrated from Ireland to Pennylvania (about 1750), and then removed to Virginia (before 1762), South Carolina (before 1765), and Ohio (about 1808).
In South Carolina, the Strains lived in Ninety-Six District, and served in the American Revolutionary War alongside the Tutt, Martin, and Key families from our Knight branch.
Stockade Fort, Ninety Six, South Carolina.
We recently bumped into someone else who followed the same path. In Who Do You Think You Are?, Season 10, Episode 4 (aired 17 Dec 2018 on TLC), Matthew Morrison, actor on Broadway and the television show Glee, learns about his 6th great-grandfather James Lindley.
James Lindley (1735–1779) was born in London Grove, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Lindleys had emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania (about 1713), and then removed to Orange County, North Carolina (by 1759), and Ninety-Six District (early 1768) before the American Revolutionary War.
In this episode, Matthew Morrison visits the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston, South Carolina. From there, he visits the Kettle Creek Battlefield in Wilkes County, Georgia, and the Ninety Six National Historic Site in Greenwood County, South Carolina.
Star Fort, Ninety Six, South Carolina.
William Strain, Benjamin Tutt, and Gabriel Tutt served in the Upper Ninety-Six District Regiment of the South Carolina Patriot Militia, and that regiment was at the Battle of Kettle Creek on 14 Feb 1779. We do not know if they were actually at the battle, or in Ninety Six during the events of Apr 1779 described in the episode. We do know that James Lindley was there.
Ninety Six was a small settlement on the edge of the frontier in 1779. It is likely the Strains, Tutts, Martins, and Keys knew or knew of James Lindley.
For an interesting look into life in Ninety-Six District during the American Revolutionary War, we highly recommend you watch this episode.
Alpheus Adams (1845-1910) is 3rd great-grandfather of MKS in the Watne branch.
In Part V, we meet the family of John Strain, probable 2nd great-grandfather of Alpheus.
John Strain and his family emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania around 1750. That is 90 years before the Porters, Gallaghers, Hannahs, Virtues, and associated families (all the other families represented in the cluster diagrams) emigrated from Donegal, Ireland, to Ontario, Canada, in the 1840’s.
John had at least seven children including six sons (John Jr., David, William, Thomas, James, Samuel) and one daughter (Sarah).
Before 1762, John and his family removed from Pennsylvania. John’s son Samuel was born in 1762 in Augusta County, Virginia. We do not know if they settled there, or Samuel was born there while they journeyed south.
Before 1765, they settled in what is now Abbeville County, South Carolina. In 1765, the counties of Tryon and Mecklenburg, North Carolina, exercised some jurisdiction over this northern area of present-day South Carolina. In 1769, the area became part of Ninety-Six District, one of the seven original Judicial Districts of South Carolina.
The Strains resided in the Long Cane Settlement, which was near the Long Cane River and Little River. There they learned to love grits and say Y’all with a proper accent. It’s documented. Trust us.
The South \ thə ‘sau’th\, noun
The place where … 1) Tea is sweet and accents are sweeter. 2) Summer starts in April. 3) Macaroni & Cheese is a vegetable. 4) Front porches are wide and words are long. 5) Pecan pie is a staple. 6) Y’all is the only proper noun. 7) Chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy. 8) Everything is Darlin’. 9) Someone’s heart is always being blessed.
Unknown; displayed in the dining room of a member of the Spratlin family, in the South
[faint sound of author chuckling]
John passed away there in 1766, and is buried there.
The first major battle of the American Revolutionary War in the South was fought at a fort named Ninety Six in Ninety-Six District.
All six of John’s sons served in the war, but we don’t have all the details for each. Son James was killed in a battle at Thicketty Fort, South Carolina, in 1780, and son Thomas is said to have been killed in 1781.
Son William served as a lieutanant and captain in the Upper Ninety-Six District Regiment. Private James Watts served under him. Son Samuel Strain married Hannah Watts in 1782.
Ok, this is where things gets weird.
[sound of author chuckling louder]
Also serving in the Upper Ninety-Six District Regiment are Major Benjamin Tutt, who was Justice of the Peace in Ninety-Six District in 1776, and Ensign Gabriel Tutt.
In the Lower Ninety-Six District Regiment, we find more members of the Tutt family, and several members of the Martin and Key families.
Liberty flag, the standard of the South Carolina militia during the American Revolutionary War.
These families are living on the edge of South Carolina’s sparsely populated frontier, members of the families serving together for several years in two regiments of the South Carolina Patriot Militia. They must have known each other.
“Tutt, Martin, Key; who are they?” you ask. You haven’t been reading our blog.
They are family.
They are members of our Knight branch. Major Benjamin Tutt is the 7th great-grandfather of MKS in the Knight branch. The Martins and Keys are in this branch as well.
Where is Ninety-Six District, South Carolina? Across the river from Georgia, where this author grew up.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, Ninety-Six District was on the western frontier of the United States. Large numbers of soldiers were awarded land grants, and headed farther west.
Son Samuel Strain and his family remained in South Carolina until the early 1800’s.
Before 1808, they removed to Highland County, Ohio. In 1833, Samuel applied for his Revolutionary War pension while residing in Ohio. He passed away on 29 Apr 1845, and is buried in Rocky Spring Cemetery in Highland County.
Samuel’s son Thomas McCartney Strain was born in Abbeville County, South Carolina. He also headed west with the family, but did not go immediately to Ohio.
We find Thomas McCartney Strain in:
Barren County, Kentucky, before 1810
North Carolina, before 1815
Fayette County, Ohio, before 1820
Highland County, Ohio, before 1823
Montgomery County, Indiana, about 1829
Boone County, Indiana, Feb 1860
The families of John Strain’s son David and daughter Sarah also removed west to Ohio and Indiana with their brother Samuel. John is also believed to have siblings who removed with him from Pennsylvania to South Carolina. And some of these families also then removed west to Ohio and Indiana at the same time as Samuel.
By 1844, we find too many Strains living in Ohio and Indiana to count.
From 1814 to 1871, Reverend Ezra Adams was a Methodist Episcopal circuit rider. In a prior post, we detailed his circuit assignments across Ontario, Canada.
In 1844, he is preacher in the Newmarket circuit, York County, Ontario, Canada West. Ezra’s son Henry Proctor Adams is living nearby, by today’s standards, in Halton County, Ontario.
It is 569 miles from Halton County, Ontario, to Montgomery County, Indiana. In 1844, it would have taken days or weeks to travel this distance. It would have involved boat travel across Lake Erie, or railway travel around Lake Erie.
We now know the Strain family, but we haven’t put the Adams and Strain families together in the same place at the same time. They are not even in the same country.
Will this mystery ever end?
Benjamin Tutt (1739–1790) and Maria Barbara Stalnaker (1743–1799) are 7th great-grandparents of MKS in the Knight branch.
John Strain (1730–1766) is probably 7th great-grandparent of MKS in the Watne branch.
Samuel Strain (1762–1845) and Hannah Watts (1762–1798) are probably 6th great-grandparents of MKS in the Watne branch.
Ezra Adams (1788) and Isa Proctor (1797–1832) are 5th great-grandparents of MKS in the Watne branch.
Henry Proctor Adams (1822–1882) is probably 4th great-grandfather of MKS in the Watne branch.
Alpheus Adams (1845-1910) is 3rd great-grandfather of MKS in the Watne branch.
While climbing our family tree, we meet our ancestors and relatives in many varied ways. We met Lucian Lamar Knight on the cover of the book Georgia’s Roster of the Revolution (a list of the state’s soldiers of the American Revolution)—he is its author [1]. It took only minutes to confirm he is one of our Knights, but not through our Knight branch. It took a few days to understand the role he played and continues to play in Georgia’s history—in preserving it.
Lucian Lamar Knight, State Historian Emeritus of Georgia. [2]
Lucian was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1868. He earned the degree of A.B. at the University of Georgia, where he was class valedictorian, and the degree of A.M. at Princeton where he studied theology. He was on the editorial staff of the Atlanta Constitution (1892–1902), and was editor of the Atlanta Georgian (1908–1910). [2]
In 1913, Lucian was appointed compiler of state records for the state of Georgia. He found Georgia’s historical records were not being preserved—and some were literally being burned in the basement of the state capital as fuel. General Sherman’s army never did as much damage.
Lucian personally began a five year campaign to convince the Georgia General Assembly and the Governor to create the first Georgia Department of Archives.
I am not an alarmist, but I come to sound an alarm. If the perishing records of Georgia are to be saved from destruction, the most vital need of our state at this time is a Department of Archives …
Lucian Lamar Knight, 30 Jun 1917 [3]
Careful what you wish for! Lucian was appointed the first head of the department and served for six years until his retirement in 1925, when he was designated state historian emeritus for life.
The State Department of Archives and History was created by an act signed by Governor Hugh Dorsey in 1918. In 1931, oversight of the Georgia archives was transferred to the Secretary of State. In 2013, it was transferred again, to the University System of Georgia.
The Georgia Archives moved to its current home in Morrow, Georgia, in 2003. The Southeast Regional Branch of the National Archives opened next door in 2004.
Georgia Archives in Morrow, Georgia.
Lucian was not content to just create a place to preserve Georgia’s history. He was a prolific author, co-author, editor, and co-editor; his more than twenty works include:
Reminiscences of Famous Georgians (two volumes)
editor with Joel Chandler Harris (author of the Uncle Remus stories) of the Library of Southern Literature series
first publication of the Statistical Register of Georgia
Georgia’s Colonial Records (volumes 22-26)
Georgia’s Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends
A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians (six volumes)
Lucian’s biography appeared in Men of Mark in Georgia, …, Volume VI [2]. His obituary appeared on the front page of the Atlanta Constitution, and Evelyn Ward Gay wrote an account of his life [4].
Scholar, Historian, Orator, Poet, First State Historian of Georgia, Founder of the State’s Department of History, and Author of Many Important Works Relating to the History of the Commonwealth. … Here lies one who loved Georgia, every page of her history, and every foot of her soil.
Gravesite tablet of Lucian Lamar Knight, St. Simons Island, Georgia
Lucian Lamar Knight (1868–1933) is 5th cousin 5x removed of MKS in the Spratlin branch.
A fragment of a gold finger ring (top) and the decorated end of a silver bodkin, both from Jordan’s Journey. [1]
Sisley (NN) Jordan Farrar is our family’s earliest known arrival in America—Aug 1611, Jamestowne, Colony of Virginia.
Below is Sisley’s biography from Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607–1635: A Biographical Dictionary [2], interspersed with additional context and discussion of the original sources for her biography.
In the original sources, Sisley’s given name is spelled several ways including Cecily, Sisley, and Sysley. We use Sisley, the variant listed in two censuses taken during her adulthood, unless quoting a source.
The gold finger ring and silver bodkin above were recovered during excavation within the palisade fortification at Jordan’s Journey—archaeological site 44PG302—Sisley’s home. The ring was found within feature F-431 indicated on the artifacts map.
On January 21, 1625, Cisley Jordan (Jordain, Jorden, Jerden), an ancient planter, reported that she had arrived in Virginia in August 1610 on the Swan. As she was 24 years old in 1625, she would have been around 9 or 10 years old when she came to the colony.
Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607–1635
The Swan, a vessel in Sir Thomas Gates’ fleet, sailed from England in May 1611 via the West Indies, and actually arrived in Aug 1611, not Aug 1610. [3] More than 13 years later, Sisley is reporting her arrival in “Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia, 1624/5” [4], which explains the mistake in the reported year.
“She may have been accompanied by her parents, for Gates’ ships brought some 300 men, women, and children to the colony.” [1] Her maiden name and parents are lost to us.
Gate’s fleet was the 6th group of colonists to arrive in Jamestowne. Sisley had the good fortune of not traveling in the first four groups. Of the 600–700 colonists in these four groups arriving between 1607–1609, only about 60 were still living after the Starving Time in the winter of 1609–1610. The group that included Sisley increased the population of colonists in America above 1,000 for the first time. [3]
Cisley may have wed ancient planter John Bayley and produced a daughter, Temperance, who was age 7 in January 1625 and living in her home. It is certain that Cisley married ancient planter Samuel Jordan sometime prior to December 21, 1620, when he received his first dividend of land, which also included her entitlement as an ancient planter.
The Jordans took up residence on the lower side of the James River at a plantation they called Jordan’s Journey. After the March 22, 1622, Indian attack, the Jordan plantation was strengthened and became a rallying point for the area’s survivors.
Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607–1635
Samuel and Cecily Jordan are listed as ancient planters in a 10 Dec 1620 land grant for 450 acres. [6]
Ancient planter is a term applied by the Virginia Company of London to colonists who arrived in Virginia prior to 1616, remained three years, and paid their own passage. After 1618, these colonists received a dividend of 100 acres of land each, the first land grants in Virginia. [7]
Sisley is listed in both “A List of Names; of the Living in Virginia; february the 16 1623[/4]” [5] and “Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia, 1624/5” [4] at Jordan’s Journey with Mary Jordan, Margery/Margrett Jordan, and Temperance Baylife/Baley. Mary and Margaret are Samuel and Sisley’s daughters. From this, it is inferred that Sisley married a Baley (Bailey, Bayley), and was widowed, before marrying Samuel Jordan. Interestingly, Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607–1635, does not mention this marriage between John Bayley and Sisley in its biographies for John Bailey and Temperance Bayley.
Cisley Jordan was widowed sometime after April 1623, and on November 19, 1623, she was authorized to settle her late husband’s estate, with the help of William Farrar. Farrar, who at the time of the Indian attack had been occupying a plantation on the east side of the Appomattox River, somewhat inland from Bermuda Hundred, may have taken refuge at Jordan’s Journey and stayed on. … On January 21, 1625, when a muster was made of Jordans Journey’s inhabitants, Cisley Jordan and William Farrar were listed as jointly heading a Jordan’s Journey household that included her daughters Mary and Margaret Jordan, Temperance Bayley, and 10 male servants.
By May 1625 Cisley and William Farrar had wed. Probate records indicate that they produced at least three children: Cecily, William, and John.
Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607–1635
William Farrar died before 1637. Sisley is believed to have died after William, but the year is unknown.
Sisley is our Jamestowne Society Qualifying Ancestor (A9447). [8] The Jamestowne Society application lineage data is available in the membership only area.
What roles did Samuel Jordan and William Farrar play in the Colony of Virginia?
In July-August 1619 Samuel Jordan was one of two men who represented the corporation of Charles City in Virginia’s first legislative assembly.
In March 1626 William Farrar was named to the Council of State, and later in the year he was designated a commissioner of the monthly courts for the ‘Upper Parts,’ held at Jordan’s Journey and Shirley Hundred, to settle petty disputes in the communities west of Flowerdew Hundred.
Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607–1635
Sisley NN (1600–1637) is 11th great-grandmother of MKS in the Knight branch.
Samuel Jordan (1578–1623) is husband of 11th great-grandmother of MKS in the Knight branch.
William Farrar (1583–1637) is 11th great-grandfather of MKS in the Knight branch.
References: [1] Martha W. McCartney, Jordan’s Point, Virginia, Archaeology in Perspective, Prehistoric to Modern Times (Richmond, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 2011). [2] Martha W. McCartney, Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 433-434. [3] Wikipedia, “Jamestown supply missions.” [4] John Camden Hotten, “Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia, 1624/5,” The Original Lists of Persons of Quality (London: John Camden Hotten, 1874), 209-210. [5] John Camden Hotten, “A List of Names; of the Living in Virginia; february the 16 1623[/4],” The Original Lists of Persons of Quality (London: John Camden Hotten, 1874), 171. [6] “Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants Index,” Patents No. 8, 1689-1695, 125-127. [7] Wikipedia, “Ancient planter.” [8] “Qualifying Ancestors, Sisley ( ) Jordan,” jamestowne.org.
As our genealogy skills have developed, particularly over the last year, we are more often documenting our level of confidence in the facts and events we add to our family tree, or discuss in our posts here or in other documents we author.
There are many terms we could use to express our level of confidence, and many schemes to rank these terms relative to each other. No point in reinventing the wheel, though.
After purchasing a copy of Elizabeth Shown Mills’ Evidence Explained [1], we chose to adopt the hierarchy of terms presented there in Section 1.6 Levels of Confidence.
Certainly: The author has no reasonable doubt about the assertion, based upon sound research and good evidence.
Probably: The author feels the assertion is more likely than not, based upon sound research and good evidence.
Likely: The author feels some evidence supports the assertion, but the assertion is far from proved.
Possibly: The author feels the odds weight at least slightly in favor of the assertion.
Apparently: The author has formed an impression or presumption, typically based upon common experience, but has not tested the matter.
Perhaps: The author suggests that an idea is plausible, although it remains to be tested.
Being more mathematically and visually inclined, here is how we tend to apply these terms in our own use.
We usually keep possibly and apparently to ourselves until we have done a little more research.
When we estimate an individual’s birth year, based on a parent’s, spouse’s, or child’s birth year, we indicate this with, for example, “Estimate based on her mother’s Birth.”
We assume the mother is 3 years younger than the father, and the mother is 22, 31, and 40 years old at the birth of their first, middle, and last child. These average ages were found in a reference that we unfortunately failed to record at the time. The reference though was for 1600–1900 America when the economy was largely agriculture-based.
And, if we copy something from someone else’s tree to preserve it until we have time to look at it, we now attach a source entitled “(copied from the internet; no source provided)”—copy these at your own risk!
References: [1] Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained, Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, Third Edition, Revised (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2017), 19-20.
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s signature exhibition The Story of Virginia includes a display of artifacts recovered at Jordan’s Journey.
The Story of Virginia exhibition; Jordan’s Journey, 1621-1640 display; Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 2019.
The display description reads:
Jordan’s Journey, 1621-1640
Excavations at this site in the 1980s yielded information about the architecture of early settlements, lifestyles and standards of living, and the extent of trade in early Virginia.
Survivors of the 1622 Powhatan attacks relocated at eight Virginia settlements; one was Jordan’s Journey. Four complexes were built there to house fifty-five people in fifteen households. Six buildings provided housing; sixteen were agricultural. The largest complex—Samuel Jordan’s—was the size of a football field. Its principle residence was a “longhouse,” 55 x 16 feet, wooden and built on posts set into the ground.
Virginia Museum of History & Culture
Most of the artifacts on display can be found in Artifact Images from Jordan’s Journey [1].
Samuel Jordan (1578–1623) is husband of 11th great-grandmother of MKS in the Knight branch.
Sisley NN (1600-1637) is 11th great-grandmother of MKS in the Knight branch.
William Farrar (1583-1637) is 11th great-grandfather of MKS in the Knight branch.
