Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745 – 1830) of Louisa and Wythe Counties, Virginia, and Cumberland County, Kentucky: The Case of Jonathan Jennings

Botetourt County, Virginia, Deed Bk. 1, pp. 310-2

Or, Subtitled: When the name you ignore in a document turns out to be the key to the problem you’re trying to solve

In my penultimate posting, I told you that, having recounted Thomas Whitlock’s (abt. 1745 – 1830) story up to the point that he and wife Hannah Phillips Whitlock sold their land in Wythe County, Virginia, and moved to Kentucky in 1805, I’d proceed with a chronicle of their life in Cumberland County, Kentucky. Before I do that, however, I’d like to share some important information I’ve now unearthed about Jonathan Jennings.

Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745 – 1830) of Louisa and Wythe Counties, Virginia, and Cumberland County, Kentucky: Whitlock vs. Whitlock Chancery Court Case, 1799 – 1805

Undated [1804] survey of Thomas Whitlock’s land, Wythe County, Virginia, in Augusta County, Virginia, Chancery Court case, Whitlock vs. Whitlock, box 10, file 38 (1803-4), available digitally via Library of Virginia’s Virginia Memory chancery records collection

Or, Subtitled: In Which I Read the Fusty Old Documents and Summarize Them, Saving You the Trouble

As the previous posting tells you, in this posting I’m going to discuss the lawsuit filed in September 1799 by William Davies, guardian of Agnes and Hannah Whitlock, the orphan daughters of Thomas Whitlock’s son Charles, which ended with Thomas’s sale of his land in Wythe County, Virginia, in 1805 and with his and wife Hannah’s move to Cumberland County, Kentucky.

Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745 – 1830) of Louisa and Wythe Counties, Virginia, and Cumberland County, Kentucky: Wythe County, Virginia, Records, 1790 – 1805

Wythe County, Virginia, Survey Bk. 1, p. 262

Or, Subtitled: Road Orders, Estate Appraisals, and Dams Interfering with Fishing for Catfish

I’m now picking up the story of Thomas Whitlock’s life in 1790, when Wythe County was formed from Montgomery, where Thomas was living from before March 1776. If you click the “previous post” link beneath this posting, that will take you to the posting that precedes this one, and if you want to read the entire series of postings I’ve now written about Thomas Whitlock, simply click “previous posting” at the bottom of each new posting you open in the series.

Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745 – 1830) of Louisa and Wythe Counties, Virginia, and Cumberland County, Kentucky: Montgomery County, Virginia, Records, 1777 – 1781

Mary B. Kegley, Early Adventurers on the Western Waters, vol. 3 (Wytheville: Kegley Books, 1995), pp. 334-5

As the previous posting told you, I’ll now begin sharing the information I have about Thomas Whitlock’s years in Montgomery and Wythe Counties, Virginia, from 1776 to 1805, when he and wife Hannah moved to Cumberland County, Kentucky, from Wythe County, Virginia. Wythe was formed from Montgomery in 1790, and Thomas’s land fell into Wythe County at that point.

Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745 – 1830) of Louisa and Wythe Counties, Virginia, and Cumberland County, Kentucky: First Appearance in Montgomery County, March 1776

NARA, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, Virginia, 7th Regiment, #2577, RG 93, available digitally at Fold3

Or, Subtitled: What a Close Reading of an Historical Document Might Reveal

In this posting, I’ll begin my documentation of the life of Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745 – May 1830) after he arrived in Montgomery County, Virginia, by 1776: in previous postings, I’ve discussed his probable date of birth, and the sparse documentation I have for him prior to his appearance in Montgomery County records (and here). I noted that, after his appearance in the estate settlement of his father James Whitlock in Louisa County, Virginia, in November 1757,[1] the first solid record I have for Thomas — other than a July 1769 Bedford County, Virginia, court record and the statement of the bible of his daughter Sarah Whitlock and her husband Thomas Brooks that Sarah was born in Bedford on 9 June 1774 — is a 1 March 1776 deed in Montgomery County to which he was a witness.[2]

Thomas Whitlock (abt. 1745 – 1830) of Louisa and Wythe Counties, Virginia, and Cumberland County, Kentucky: His Early Life and Marriage (to 1776)

Montgomery County, Virginia, Deed Bk. A, pp. 160-1

Or, Subtitled: When Phillips appears to mean Whitlock

I ended my first posting about Thomas Whitlock telling you that in my next posting, I’d discuss Thomas’s marriage to Hannah Phillips, and would look at what we know of him (this is very little) prior to his settling on Little Reed Island Creek in what would later (i.e., in 1790) become Wythe County, Virginia. Aside from some valuable clues (to be discussed below) that Thomas and his wife Hannah were living in Bedford County, Virginia, by July 1769 and were still there when their daughter Sarah was born on 9 June 1774, I have no certain information about his whereabouts from November 1757, when his father’s estate was divided, until 1 March 1776, when he witnessed a deed in Montgomery County, from which Wythe was formed — a document that indicates to me he had settled by that date in what would become Wythe and was probably already living on Little Reed Island Creek, where he’d remain until his and Hannah’s relocation to Kentucky in 1805.

Children of Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747 – 1805) and Wife Margaret: Jesse Brooks (1783/1786 – 1860)

Kentucky State Archives, Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records (1852-1910), microfilm #994063, available digitally at Ancestry in the database Kentucky, U.S., Death Records, 1852-1965 (Edmonson County Deaths 1859-1860)

Or, Subtitled: “Sir, this is to let you no that you may let robert humprey hav mareg lisons”

Jesse Brooks, son of Thomas Brooks and Margaret Beaumont/Beamon, was born in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1783-1786. His death listing in the 1860 death register of Edmonson County, Kentucky, shows him dying in that county on 30 January 1860, aged 75.[1] A digital image of the death listing is above. This document states that Jesse’s parents were Thomas and Margaret Brooks and that he was born in Virginia. 

Children of Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747 – 1805) and Wife Margaret: Margaret Brooks (1772 – 1857) and Husband Joseph Day

Kentucky State Historical Society and State Archives, Grayson County, Kentucky, Registry of Deaths 1857, in Kentucky Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1852-1910digitized at the Family Search site

Or, Subtitled: “Joseph Day Junr hath been Guilty of unneceſsary frequenting places of divertion & dancing”

In this posting, I’m returning to my ongoing project of tracking family lines stemming from Mary Brooks, who died in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1787. In previous postings, I’ve tracked the following children of Mary and their descendants: Mary (1745/1750 – abt. 1815), who married Jacob Hollingsworth; Elizabeth (1747/1750 – 1816), who married George Rice; Sarah (1750/1755 – 1810/1820), who married an Ashdale/Asdale/Asdell; and James, who did not marry. As I’ve also noted in this series of postings about the children of Mary Brooks, I know nothing about her daughter Susanna except that Mary’s will identifies Susanna as Susanna Haynes. 

Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747-1805): Wythe County, Virginia Years, 1793-1805 — Brief Addendum

Wythe County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 1805-1808, 13 September 1808, p. 330

Or, Subtitled: Estates, Chancery Cases, and Unresolved Questions about Land Disposition

This is a brief addendum to my previous posting about the Wythe County, Virginia, years (1793-1805) of Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747-1805). As that posting indicates, on 13 February 1804, Thomas bought 300 acres of land along Poplar Camp Creek south of the New River from Thomas and Sarah Herbert.[1] This is the only land record for Thomas I have found in Wythe County records, though statements in the county court order books prior to 1804 make me think that Thomas was living on this land before he bought it, and possibly even from the time he came to Wythe County in 1793 — see the previous posting for information about this.

Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747-1805): Wythe County, Virginia Years, 1793-1805

Will of Thomas Brooks, 4 November 1804, Wythe County, Virginia, Wythe County, Virginia, Will Bk. 1, pp. 308-9

Or, Subtitled: Fertile New Land, Lead Mines, Shot Towers and Forges, and Movement from the Middle Colonies into the Valley of Virginia

With my first posting about Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747-1805), I shared my information about Thomas’s life in Frederick County, Virginia, up to 1792, when he moved his family to Wythe County, Virginia. My account begins with a March 1767 deed of Patrick Rice to his son John, which Thomas witnessed, the first certain record I have of him in Frederick County. Since, as my posting indicates, I have not found information about Thomas’s father, I haven’t been able to track this family line sufficiently to say with any certainty where Thomas Brooks was born — a point to which I’ll return when I discuss in more detail the information I have about Thomas’s mother Mary, who made her will in Frederick County on 9 July 1786, with the will being probated on 4 April 1787.