Blog Some Genealogy

I published “So Obscure A Person”, today 13 March 2007. It is a story of a man who wanted too much, and his Virginia descendants, who were the beneficiaries of his quests. He was ALEXANDER STINSON Senior of Williamsburg and Buckingham County, Virginia and his lifetime spanned almost the entire eighteenth century of Colonial Virginia.He first appeared in the court records of Virginia as a bound servant boy, “a slave without shackles.” The title of this book comes from the reply of the Virginia Council at Williamsburg in May of 1741, when, as an overly ambitious young man, he made an official petition for land to fulfill his dream of becoming a Virginia planter. After years in bondage, his hopes must have seemed shattered when President JAMES BLAIR and the Council denied his plea, explaining that it was “too much land for so obscure a person.”

As his childhood had been passed being owned by tavern keepers along Williamsburg’s Duke of Gloucester Street, young SAWNEY seemed not easily discouraged. He allied himself with some of Virginia’s finest families, and went on to win his Virginia land and much, much more.

Eighteenth century Virginians muddled through life much as we do today. They lived each day, one at a time, the same as do we, but they did so much more during those one hundred years of history. Alexander STINSON moved upcountry from Tidewater Virginia to a place called Willis’s on the branches of Cattail, in what is now the center of Virginia, Buckingham County. He saw the land when it was a wilderness, and he settled it, and built a home for himself and his family. His dream of working the land he had won came true, as he became a Virginia planter. He cleared and built his own roadways, he taught his children, and he helped create a society where there had been no community at all. He and his children rebelled against a tyrannical government, fought a war, and created a brand new nation. While living through it all, he kept intact the faith of his fathers. After having accomplished all that he did, his children moved on to new places to pioneer as he had done.

Photo from Flickr.

From “Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files”, by Virgil D. White, are the following Thomas men from Buckingham County, Virginia who were veterans of the Revolutionary War:

John Thomas - Virginia Line, S46515, BLW1769-300:
Soldier applied for pension 8 September 1828, in Buckingham County, Virginia. In 1836, Soldier was aged 74. In 1855, Soldier’s son Schuyler W. Thomas of Buckingham County, Virginia, was aged 54 and he stated his father John Thomas had died 13 September 1849, and his mother Susan Thomas died 17 February 1842.

Edward Thomas - Virginia Line, S17147:
Soldier was born 19 February 1758, in Buckingham County, Virginia, and lived there at enlistment and after his services he settled in Albemarle County, Virginia, and in December 1820, he moved to Washington County, Missouri, where he applied 4 November 1834. Soldier died 11 May 1847.

Joseph Thomas - Virginia Line, Wife; Rebecca, W6277:
Soldier was born 3 August 1759, in Buckingham County, Virginia, and he lived in Amherst County, Virginia, at enlistment and later returned to Buckingham County, Virginia, and lived there until 1796, then moved to Kanawha County, Virginia, where he applied 21 October 1833, and Soldier died there 1 August 1839. Soldier had married Rebecca (THOMAS) in Buckingham County, Virginia, where she was born (no marriage date given and no relationship prior to marriage given). Widow applied 12 September 1846, Kanawha County, Virginia, aged 85. Soldier and wife had 11 or 12 children but the only names given were; Lewis Thomas the oldest son, Polly Thomas, Washington Thomas, Henry Thomas and Matthew Thomas. Soldier’s brother James Thomas was of Kanawha County, Virginia, in 1801. One Reuben Thomas was recruiting Sergeant early in the Revolution. A John Thomas of Buckingham County, Virginia, in 1846, stated widow was his second cousin and that Soldier was his first cousin. Nancy Hudson daughter of Soldier’s brother James Thomas was aged 54 in 1846, a resident of Kanawha County, Virginia.