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Onacock, Accomack County, Virginia Atlas 1895
By Richard A. Colbert Calvert Genealogy Group
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The history of Benjamin Colvard Jr’s family in America begins with his 2nd GG grandparents Christopher Calvert and Elinor Odait of Accomack county, Virginia.
Christopher Calvert was a Quaker, he was born between 1610-1615 and was transported to Accomack county, Virginia in 1635 by William Bibby. [ Susie Ames, “Accomack -Northampton County, Virginia, Court Records, 1632-1640” p 85.]
Christopher’s wife Elinor Odait, was transported to Accomack county, fourteen years later on Oct, 5, 1649 along with 16 other passengers by Ralph Barlowe of Southampton, England. Included in the list of passengers were John Elzy, George Parker (married to Abigail Barlowe), George’s siblings Anne Parker, Robert Parker. [Nell Marion Nugent, “Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1800 Vol 1, Patent Book No. 2,” p. 185.]
The courtship between Christopher and Elinor was short and they married soon after Elinor arrived. A year later the newlyweds acquired land adjacent to George Parker and his wife Abigail.
“A32. 1652 Patent to Thomas Teagle [Teackle] for 350 acres sold to George Parker and John Elzey and by Elzey assigned to said Parker.” [ Parker and Elzey were half brothers. Their mother Joan Rishton, married Edward Barlowe of Southampton.]
“A32. 1653. Patent to Sampson Robins for 700 acres...sold to Teagle [Teackle], who was assigned to Christopher Calvert, who later received the patent in his own name.” [Ralph T. Whitelaw, “Virginia’s Eastern Shore: A History of Northampton and Accomack Counties, Vol 1,” pp. 695-696.]
In 1655 Christopher Calvert acquired another patent for 800 acres at section A71 where the town of Onancock is now located. His neighbors were Colonel John West and Daniel Jenifer. Five years later Christopher had the patent reissued in the names of his two children Charles and Mary. ( His two youngest children John and George, had not yet been born.) Apparently Christopher intended giving the 700 acres he acquired in 1653 to his eldest son, Christopher Jr. and 400 acres each to Charles and Mary on Onancock Creek from section A71. [Ralph T. Whitelaw, VES, Vol 1, pp. 903-934.]
Between 1650 and 1665 Christopher and Elinor became the parents of five children: Christopher Jr., Charles, Mary, John, and George.
Christopher’s son John Calvert was born 1661 and was recorded as the “godson” of Mr Anthony Hodgkins on 4 Sept 1661. John grew up on the Eastern Shore and made his living, not as a landowner like his older brothers and sister, but as a carpenter. [Dr Howard Mackey and Marlene A Groves, “Northampton County, Virginia Record Book, Court Cases, Vol 8, 1657-1664, “p182, and JoAnn Riley McKey, “Accomack County, Virginia Court Order Abstracts, 1682-1690, Vol 7,” pp2 53,260,263,]
John’s name is also recorded in the last will and testament of George Parker [son of George Parker, A32] dated 1708 and probated on 7 July 1713. In Parker’s will, John Calvert was given a three-year-old heifer and a calf, just what a father needed for a growing family. {Stratton-Nottingham, Accomack ,County, Virginia, Wills & Administrations, 1663-1800,” p 49 (Will of George Parker Sr),]
John Calvert’s younger brother George, was also trained as a carpenter. He was indentured to Thomas Hook, a boatright/carpenter on Oct 20, 1680 for five years. [Descendants of Virginia Calvert’s , Ella Foy O’Gorman Book IV, Christopher Calvert of Accomack County, Virginia, p 587.] What became of George Calvert after October 20, 1680 is unknown.
John Calvert and his wife had a son named William who became a blacksmith. [George Parker Sr. and George Parker Jr. were both blacksmiths.]
Around 1725, William Calvert became friends with a mariner (sailor) who had jumped ship in the Onancock harbor in 1724 and was living in the home of Jonathan Chambers. His name was John Butterworth.
Why William Calvert and John Butterworth became friends is up for speculation. May be it was a case of opposites attract. Whatever the reason, they chose to remain close friends and William named one of his sons after him.
In 1689 Colonel John West, George Parker Sr and Christopher Calvert’s neighbor, leased an unspecified acreage for 99 years to Mrs Frances Chambers and her children John, Jonathan, Annabella and Fillechar. Jonathan had survived his other siblings and by the early 1720s lived on the land alone. [Ralph T. Whitelaw, “VES, Vol 2,” p 956]
After jumping ship John Butterworth met Jonathan Chambers, perhaps at a local tavern, and moved into his house.
On 4 January 1725 both John Butterworth and Jonathan Chambers were sued by Thomas English for non-payment of a loan for 50 shillings. The court ordered that Chamber’s home be attached for payment of the debt and court cost. [ Accomack County, Virginia Court Order Abstracts, 1724-1731, Vol 15 p 91, by JoAnn Riley McKey.]
In 1725 John Butterworth was also sued by John West, the son of Colonel John West who had leased the land to Jonathan Chamber’s mother in 1689, for non-payment of a debt, [ACVCOA, Vol 15, p 67.]
At the same time John Butterworth was being sued in Accomack county, Thomas Robins married Temperance LNU (Davis?) in York county. Soon after they married Thomas Robins wrote his last will and testament on August 5, 1725, and nine months later after that on May 15, 1726, records show that Thomas and Temperance had been issued a license to operate an ordinary/tavern in York county. One month later on June 20, 1726, Thomas and Temperance Robins became the guardians of John Davis, orphan of William Davis. [ Margaret Colvard Simpson & Margaret Lee Lindsey, “The History of William Colvard...and their Descendants in America,” p 3.]
Thomas Robins died three years later. In his will, probated June 16, 1729, Thomas gave to his brother Richard, one shilling, to brother John, one shilling, to brother William, one shilling, to brother George, one shilling; to his sister Ann, one shilling and to his:
“Dear and loving wife, Temperance Robins, all my estate real and personal and she to be the sole executrix.” [York county, Virginia Wills Book, 16 June 1729, #0034409 Part 2, p 604.]
On that same day, June 16, 1729, Temperance Robins was granted a license to operate an ordinary/ inn in York Town. [Ibid. p 600]
Two months later Elizabeth Davis, orphan of William Davis and the sister of John Davis, asked to be bound to Temperance Robins until she reached the age of eighteen. In exchange for Elizabeth Davis’ servitude, the widow Temperance LNU Robins was to give Elizabeth a violin.
[Could Temperance be the oldest daughter of William Davis and sister of both John and Elizabeth Davis?]
Sometime after June 16, 1729 but before November 16, 1730, William Calvert of Accomack county, Virginia sailed to York county to see his friend John Butterworth. Butterworth had previously married a woman named Demaris in Accomack county, and afterwards moved to York county, where they operated an ordinary/tavern.
There, William Calvert met the widow Temperance Robins, and after a whirlwind romance, they married. We know they married before November 16, 1730 because both William Calvert and his wife Temperance were sued on that date by Robert Bovis of York county, for money that Temperance’s late husband, Thomas Robins, owed him.
“In the action upon the case between Robert Bovis plt and William Colvert and Temperance his wife and executrix of Thomas Robins deceased…” The jury found for the plaintiff Robert Bovis, and fined William and Temperance Robins Calvert L5 plus court cost. [ York county, Virginia, Book 17, p 98.]
It was also around this time, 1730 that William and Temperance Calvert’s first son was born Benjamin Calvert/Colvard, was born.
In November of 1732 John Butterworth and his wife Demaris returned to Accomack county. It is possible that William and Temperance Calvert returned with them.
On November 7, 1732, in Accomack county, courthouse, John Butterworth ”of York Hampshire parish in the town of York” appointed his lawyer John Snead of Accomack county, to collect any monies owed him from “several persons inhabiting in the county of Northampton and Accomack, on the Eastern Shore.” [JoAnn Riley McKey, “Accomack County, Virginia Court Order Abstracts, 1724-1732, Vol 16,” pp 8, 80, 123, 268, 276, and 285.]
Addendum further information of John Butterworths relationship to the Calvert family. Joseph Calvert who purchased land on Plumtree Island in North Carolina in 1720 Was an Indian trader and the father of James Colbert of the Chickasaw Colberts’. Joseph died ca 1731 . His wife Dorothy Calvert, traveled to York county, Virginia with her son James in 1732 to sue John Gibbs for money he owed Joseph. It turns out that John Gibbs lived at the tavern/ inn of JOHN BUTTERWORTH and his wife Demaris. During the trial John Gibbs died and John Butterworth became the executor of his estate. John Butterworth paid Dorothy Calvert the money John Gibbs owed Joseph Calvert.
Between 1732 and 1736, William and Temperance Calvert/Colvard had two more sons born in York county: William Jr. and Thomas.
Records also show that sometime before December 1736, William and Temperance Calvert decided to leave York town and settle in Henrico county, Virginia.
On June 12, 1737, William Calvert, blacksmith, was hired by Michael Holland to work for him . [Fleet, Beverly, Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Henrico County, Southside. Reprint Ed. Vol 3, pp 287 and 371.]
Twenty years later William and Temperance’s son William Colvard Jr married Mercy Holland, daughter of Michael Holland and Elizabeth Pleasants, in 1757. [Both the Holland and Pleasants families were Quakers.]
William and Temperance’s fourth son was born ca 1744 and named after their friend John Butterworth. Sadly John Butterworth Calvert/Colvard was born about the sametime his father William Calvert died. Temperance was granted administration of her husband’s estate in Henrico court in May 1744 and Archibald Cary was her security. [Archibald Cary was Thomas Jefferson’s close friend and a distant cousin.]
In November 1745 the court of Henrico county, granted a license to Temperance Calvert to keep an ordinary at “Col Richard Randolph’s ferry at Warwick.” [Richard Randolph was also a close friend and distant cousin of Thomas Jefferson’s.]
John Robins, the brother of Temperance’s first husband Thomas Robins, also had a license to operate an ordinary in Warwick. In addition, the court had appointed him to be the legal guardian of Temperance’s son Thomas Calvert. Robins raised Thomas as his own son and when Thomas became 21 in 1756, John Robins paid his poll tax in Chesterfield county, Virginia. Soon afterwards both John Robins and Thomas Calvert disappeared from Virginia but reappeared in 1757 in Edgecombe/Halifax county, North Carolina.
Apparently, William and Temperance’s son Thomas Calvert/Colvard was my 4th Great-grandfather. [ I have an exact Y-DNA 67 marker match with the male descendants of both John Butterworth Colvard and William Colvard Jr. I also have autosomal dna matches with the descendants of their older brother Benjamin Colvard Sr.]
The Calvert surname Y-DNA project has five participants for this Calvert/Colbert/Colvard subgroup. There are two more matches to non surname carrying FTDNA Y-DNA participants who aren’t members of our Calvert surname group who also match these five participants. One of those matches list their oldest known ancestor William Calvert born ca 1782 died 1848, 0 distance match at 37 markers. These Calvert’s haplogroup R-M269. Richard A Colbert refined his test haplogroup R- Z16502 is 4100 years to 3700 years old.
The Calvert Genealogy Group Website HERE, The Calvert Genealogy Facebook Group HERE, The Calvert FTDNA Surname YDNA project HERE.
1 comment:
William Colvard of Chesterfield had daughter Damaris. I wonder if Damaris or Demaris is a namesake in the family? Also not that the Children of William, b 1737 are remarkably similar to the Children of Alexander Calvert of Pokomoke and Annamessex Hundred in Somerset Co MD, whom I found from Coventry Parish and Nicolite(Quaker) Records for Somerset - Neal is the Neal of Census data and listed as Alexander, Alexander Neal and so on. The same is true for William Calvert.
The Children found for Alexander Calvert and wife, Mary Wheeler(dau. of Isaac Wheeler) in Somerset County were:
A son Alexander is born, perhaps William Alexander circa 1720ish, who marries Mary Wheeler at Coventry PE in 1744. Alexander and Mary have issue:
William WHeeler Calvert 1744/5 (Colbert in Census)
Isaac Calvert b 1747/8 (Colbert in Census)
Alexander Neal b 1751 (Neal in Census of SOmerset)
Daughters: Dol()y, Betty, Mary, Jane, Elizabeth & Demaris
Betty and Elizabeth are two different births.
These recorded children were in Coventry PE or Nicolite(Quaker) records for Somerset.
Here is the list of Children that I have for William Colvard(Not traced by myself or my own research. Note the similarity to the Children of Alexander and Mary Wheeler and this blog confirms the use of Damaris or Demaris.
Elizabeth Colbard, born June 2, 1759, Neil Colbert, born Oct. 12, 1760, William Colbert, born Nov. 1, 1762, Betty Colbert, born May 25, 1765, Nancy Colvard, born April 6, 1767, Damaris Colvard, born Mar. 25, 1769 and Jesse.
Supposedly from this early purusal of this William Colvard, he ends up in Wilkes Co, NC.
Cordially,
David Bell.
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