Friday, February 24, 2012

John Read Jr

I have previously posted on Samuel Read and John Read Sr. Between them both was my 6th-great-grandfather, John Read Jr. He was born in the area of northern Culpeper County, Virginia (when it was still part of Orange County, Virginia) in 1734, and died in Culpeper County on 21 September 1819.

John married Elizabeth Perkins on 20 October 1761 in Culpeper. She was the daughter of Griffin Perkins and Lucy Coleman. John and Elizabeth had at least the following eleven children:
1.     Winifred Read (b. 1756, Culpeper, VA), married Spillman
2.     Lucy Read (b. 1757, Culpeper, VA)
3.     Elizabeth Read – born 12 February 1760, died 4 January 1828
4.     Samuel Read [my 5th-great-grandfather] – born 1763, died before 8 February 1806 in Culpeper, Virginia
5.     Mary Read
6.     Griffin Read (1766-19 Aug 1843)
7.     Tabitha Read (1768)
8.     Rebecca Read (19 Feb 1771 – 19 Feb 1849)
9.     Theophilus Read (21 Feb 1775 in Culpeper, VA – 3 Oct 1821 in Warren County, Kentucky)
10.  Robert Coleman Read (1777)
      11. Ann Read (4 Apr 1779 – Apr 1849)  
  In November 1759, John Read Jr. paid off the debts of his son-in-law Stephen Jett. The Culpeper County record shows the following entry:
Pages 312-313. 12 Nov. 1759. Stephen Jett of Culpeper County to Messrs. John Latham, John Shakelford and William Robertson. As security to James Pendleton, late Sheriff, for my collection of all tobacco fees due and payable within the Parish of Saint Mark, also land and poll tax, as by my bond to Pendleton.
Levys, poll tax and sundry other accounts to the amount of near £3058 current money, also two Negroes Pompey and Sue, two horses, Merry Boy and Buck, bed household goods, &c
After Latham, Shakelford and Robertson have discharged all claims incombent on them as securities, the slaves, goods and chattels and the remainder (if any) be returned to my own use.
                                                            Stephen Jett
Wit: John Read Jr., John Favour Junr., Theophilus Read.
17 April 1760. This bill of sale by way of mortgage proved by John Read Jr.
            17 April 1760. Proved by John Favour Jr.

In December 1768, John Read leased 100 acres to Daniel Clerk in exchange for 500 pounds of tobacco per year.
            Pages 673-674. 6 Dec. 1768. John Read of Culpeper County to Daniel Clerk of same.
Lease of 100 acres whereon Daniel now lives, being part of the tract of land whereon John Read lives…a corner of Read and Huffman…near Willis’ old line… to Indian Run the dividing line of John Read and Hankerson Read…at the great rocks on the east side of the run…
For lives of Daniel Clerk and William and George his sons.
Yearly Rent on 25 December, 500 pounds of tobacco, the first rent due for 1770.
                                                            John Read
                                                            Daniel Clerk
Wit: James Pendleton, Catherine Pendleton, Oliver Clerk
18 May 1769. Acknowledged by the parties.
A deed entry in 1771 shows a division of slaves between John Read and Richard Philips.
Page 335. 21 March 1771. Articles of agreement between John Read of Culpeper County and Richard Phillips of Essex County who intermarried with Elizabeth and Tabitha Perkins’s [sic], daughters and cooheirs of Griffin Perkins, late of Essex, decd, concerning the division of sundry slaves which have become their joint property by the death of their mother.
John Read to have one Negroe man London, one woman Urilla and her oldest child Armstrong, paying to Richard £30 current money before 1 Octr. Next. Richard to have one Negroe man George and two Negroe girls Elizabeth and Sarah, daughters of Urilla, and receive from John Read £30.
                                                            John Read
                                                            Richard Philips
Wit: James Pendleton, Wineyfred (X) Shackelford, Hankinson Read. [No entry of proving or recording.]
John's wife Elizabeth Perkins Read died in 1780.

Revolutionary War Service
Like his son Samuel, John Read Jr served in Captain John Roberts' Company in Virginia. I am looking for more information on this. 

John Read and family appears in the 1810 US Census in Culpeper County, Virginia (age in brackets).

Read, Griffin (btw 27-45), 4 slaves
Read, Jas. (45+), 5 slaves
Read, Jno. (45+), 11 slaves
Read, Julanes, 1 slave
Read, Not
Read, Robt. C. (27-45)
Read, Theophilus (27-45), 8 slaves

Will of John Read Jr.
John Read Jr. died on 21 September 1819 in Culpeper County. His first will was written in 1814. The will was revoked and replaced by a second will probated on 19 June 1820.

Second Will of John Read, 19 June 1820, recorded in Culpeper Will Book "H", page 198 as follows:
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN. I, John Read, of Culpeper county, being of perfect mind and memory do hereby make my last will and testament in manner and form following that is to say:
First. To my daughter Winifred Spilman I give one old negro woman Uriller and also one woman Kate both of which women have been a considerable time in her possession all their increase.

2ndly. To my grand children viz: the children of my deceased son Samuel Read namely John, Elizabeth, William & Harris, I give one dollar each.

3rdly. To my daughter Elizabeth Corbin I give one hundred pounds Virginia currency.

4thly. To  my daughter Mary Huffman I give eighty pounds Virginia currency.

5thly. To my son Griffin Read I give the sole benefit of a bond I had on Bazil Gordon of Falmouth for the sum of one hundred and eleven pounds, nine shillings and four pence which bond has been delivered to my son Griffin.

6thly. To my daughter Tabitha Chowning I give one hundred pounds Virginia currency.

7thly. To my daughter Rebecca Freeman I give one hundred pounds Virginia currency.

8thly. To my son Theophilus Read I give one negro woman Hannah now in his possession.

9thly. To my son Robert Coleman Read I give the sum of fifty dollars which sum was loaned him in the year 1813.

10thly. To my daughter Ann Robson I lend the use and profits of all the tract or parcel of land on the east side of Indian Run whereon I now live except that part under lease whereon Mrs. Amy Clerk now lives, also one negro woman Winifred and all her increase which negroes are now in her possession (reserving to myself the use of one boy Edmund oldest child of the said woman during my life) which land and negroes as aforesaid are to be used and enjoyed by my said daughter Ann Robson during her natural life and after decease I give the said land and negroes to be equally divided among all her children.

11thly. My will and desire is that my land purchased of Robert Clerk on the west side of Indian Run containing fifty acres as soon as convenient after my decease together with all the rest and residue of my estate not heretofore bequeathed except the land under lease as before mentioned be sold by my executors hereinafter named and of the monies arising from such sales in the first place pay and satisfy all just debts and then the legacies hereinbefore mentioned and the residue of the monies so arising if any be equally divided among my three sons, Griffin Read, Theophilus Read and Robert Coleman Read and their heirs or legal representatives.

12thly. To my grandson William R. Robson, son of my daughter Ann Robson, I give the land under lease whereon Mrs. Amy Clerk now lives according to the boundaries of the said lease, the annual rents of the said land during the term of said lease to be received by his father and appropriated to the education of my said grandson William R. Robson until e shall arrive at the age of eighteen years at which time the said William R. Robson is to have the full possession of the said land with all of its appurtenances.

Lastly. I hereby constitute and appoint my friends Thomas Spillman, Martin Fishback and Benjamin Ferguson executors of this my last will and testament, and I do hereby utterly disallow, revoke, and disannul all and every wills and testaments heretofore by me made and ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament.

In witness whereof I have hereunto st my hand and seal this twenty-first day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen.

John Read (LS)
Signed, sealed, and declared as and for the last will & testament of John Read in the presence of Thomas Corbin, George W. Ward, Thomas Luckett.

Jas Pendleton and Exor Culpeper County Deed Book W, page 237

From the Culpeper County Marriage Book:
Additional Thoughts
A fascinating aspect for me has been to learn how many ancestors from both sides of my family tree I had in Culpeper (and nearby Fauquier County) in the 1700s. On my Dad's side, the Thornhills were in Culpeper at the same time as the Read and Wheatley families from my Mom's side (families that did not join until my great-grandfather Alvin Read married my great-grandmother Elizabeth Lois Whitley in Indianapolis on 8 February 1919).

I only learned about the Culpeper connection a few years ago. I now travel back to Culpeper for work several times per year, as the NAP of the Capital Region datacenter is located in the county, not too far from the land owned by the Read family over 200 years ago.  

2 comments:

  1. Where was Stephen Jett's land?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think this was near Jeffersonton, north of Culpeper. You can see the Read land on the map at http://jonesandrelated.blogspot.com/2012/05/visit-to-culpeper.html.

    ReplyDelete

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