1. Nathaniel Bradford of Accomack County, Virginia - Lower ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

In Adventures of Purse and Person, it is suggested that Nathaniel was Richard Smith’s step-son based on Richard’s will, in which he mentions Nathaniel as his son-in-law while referring to Alice by her maiden name 37 . The theory is that Richard had Alice by an earlier wife and, after that wife’s death, Richard remarried another woman who was the widow of Nathaniel’s natural father. Aside from the fact that in the seventeenth century the term son-in-law was sometimes used to indicate a step relationship, this argument rests entirely on Richard Smith’s use of Alice’s maiden name in his will. In fact, further interpretation suggests that Alice and Nathaniel were already married when Richard Smith wrote his will. Richard gave his 500-acre home plantation to Nathaniel, but stipulated that the inheritance was to run in the line of Alice Smith and her children. In case Alice died without issue, the plantation was to be held by Nathaniel during his lifetime but then to go to Richard’s other daughter Susan. One wonders why Richard would have granted the land to Nathaniel if it was destined to be owned by the heirs of Alice by some other man, heirs who would have to wait until Nathaniel’s death to claim their inheritance. Furthermore, Richard Smith did not fail to provide for his daughter Susan, who received 450 acres; it is hard to imagine him not providing for his other daughter. But the critical factor undermining the theory found in Purse and Person is the fact that Richard Smith does not provide for Alice, only for her heirs, and that he provides for her heirs out of the very same land he granted to Nathaniel. The fact that Nathaniel and Alice’s first known child was baptized a little over a year after the will’s proving makes it seem even more likely that they were married when it was written, though they probably wed not long before. Richard Smith of Occahannock, the father of Alice and Susan Smith, is identified in Purse and Person as the Richard Smith who came to Virginia aboard the London Merchant in March 1620 38 and who was at James City in both the census of 1623/4 and the muster of 1624/5. 39 He must have lived through the massacre of 1622, and appears to have moved in the 1630s to Accomack, 40 where he served as sheriff in 1641 41 and as churchwarden in 1648. 42 As late as May 1642 he does not seem to have been married or had any children, if he may be identified as the same Richard Smith who told Luke Stubbins that he would leave his entire estate to William Fisher. 43 If this latter man is Richard Smith of Occahannock, it means his daughters were born after 1642. Since Alice was probably at least 16 when she married Nathaniel in 1659 or 1660, this may mean she was born between 1642 and 1644. It is at least clear that Richard was married by November 1648, when his wife Susanna Smith appeared in court to grant a calf to her godson. 44 I must emphasize that the conclusion about Alice’s birth year rests entirely on her father being the same man whose deathbed bequests were witnessed by Luke Stubbins in 1642. In fact, there were at least two Richard Smiths in Accomack in the 1640s and 1650s and it is not always clear which records are referring to the man who would become Nathaniel’s father-in-law. 45 In 1652, Richard’s wife Susanna was in court over an altercation. Mary Cornelius, a witness, described the scene for the court: “. . . about the month of April last past the wife of Elias Hartrey and Susanna the wife of Rich. Smyth (being at the house) Jane the wife of the said Elias Hatrey asked [me] (if [I] had any money to lend her to pay the turnip woman) where upon Susanna Smyth (having a jug with beer in her hand) did throw the beer in her face, then the said Jane Hatrey did draw her knife, but they were kept asunder by the people in the house, as namely Henry Armitradeing and his wife, and this dep’t never the less (as they were keeping them from harming each other) Richard Smyth’s wife did reach over their shoulders and strike Elias Hatrey’s wife over the face, and having persuaded them for the space of half an hour (or there abouts) the wife of Elias Hatrey going forth, did suddenly strike Susanna Smyth . . . over the face and then for quietness sake we did persuade Susanna Smyth to depart the house. . .” 46 Another witness, Jane Safforde, provided the additional detail that Susanna, after hurling the beer in Jane Hatrey’s face, called her a “porky whore,” and that “thou hadest rotted long ago had it not been for Clarke the surgeon.” Clearly the “turnip woman” comment struck a nerve with Susanna, and it is unfortunate that we have little idea as to the nature of the insult or why it aroused such a violent reaction. Richard Smith’s other daughter, Susan, married Robert Richardson by 1666 and they moved to Maryland in the early 1670s. 47 Some of their descendants may be found under the Richard Smith chapter in Volume III of Adventures of Purse and Person. Page 10 of 74 Copyright 2008 Adam M. Bradford
Nathaniel as Constable & Birth of Nathaniel Bradford Jr. In 1660, Nathaniel Bradford was appointed a constable for Northampton County. 48 As constable, he would have functioned as a local law enforcement officer, called upon to prevent or punish any breach of the peace. Constables worked under and with the sheriff, who was typically a once and future justice of the peace, to arrest lawbreakers, deliver warrants, notify the militia of the muster, assist grand and petit juries and act as an arm of the County Commission. On court days one or more of the constables might be present to enforce orderliness, and to administer physical punishments if called for. But the job of the constable was not entirely that of a proto-policeman: in his capacity as an assistant to the court, the constable was tasked with administrative duties over and above those involved with keeping the peace. In 1661, when the court ordered a list to be taken of all sheep owned in the county, it was Nathaniel and the other constables who collected the list from owners in their districts. And when it came time to assess the taxes owed by the county’s inhabitants, it was the constables who would alert residents to whom they should bring their list of tithables and when. Unlike the positions of county clerk, justice of the peace, and sheriff, the office of constable was generally considered a burden rather than a privilege, since it carried with it no financial remuneration and little prospect for advancement. Other than compiling the list of sheep owned in his district, there is no other record of any specific duties Nathaniel carried out as constable, though presumably he notified the inhabitants when the tax list was due for that year and performed some if not all of the other duties associated with the office. It appears from the list of sheep returned for Nathaniel’s district early in 1661 that he had chosen by then to take up his residence on Richard Smith’s land rather than on his own land farther south, as he is found listed among his neighbors at Occahannock: Colonel Scarburgh, Jno Waltom, Rich: Kellum, Rob t Richison, W m Thorne and W m Taylor, among others. 49 Coll Edm: Scarburgh 162 Mr Jno Nuthall 10 Henry Bishop 3 Edw: Smith 2 Georg Johnson 12 Robt Clark 1 James Jackson 8 James Jones at Geo: Johnsons house 3 Jno Paramore 1 Edward Moor 5 Allexander Adisson 6 Wm Taylor 6 Jno Waltom 60 Rich: Kellum 8 Wm Thorne 1 Robt Richison 4 Nathaniell Bradford 7 It was during Nathaniel’s brief period of residence at Occahannock, and possibly during his tenure as constable, that he and Alice had their first son, Nathaniel Bradford, Jr., who was baptized on 23 June 1661 49 . Page 11 of 74 Copyright 2008 Adam M. Bradford
Page 1 and 2: 1. Nathaniel 1 Bradford of Accomack
Page 3 and 4: Sketch of Nathaniel Bradford Nathan
Page 5 and 6: in London that “no question . . .
Page 7 and 8: Nathaniel’s Early Years to Settle
Page 9: to tender our Cause; that (if ye sd
Page 13 and 14: Alice sold the Occahannock plantati
Page 15 and 16: The occupation of currier no longer
Page 17 and 18: approve the appointment of the King
Page 19 and 20: The fundamental division within the
Page 21 and 22: ecompense for their services. The m
Page 23 and 24: Nathaniel in the Late 1660’s: 166
Page 25 and 26: practice that another of Nathaniel
Page 27 and 28: man were the father of Nathaniel Jr
Page 29 and 30: Nathaniel as Grand Juror and Repres
Page 31 and 32: court’s reputation. Since the acc
Page 33 and 34: Nathaniel Bradford During the 1670s
Page 35 and 36: 2800 acres. In that same year Natha
Page 37 and 38: household. A Thomas Williams was a
Page 39 and 40: In 17 th century Virginia slavery w
Page 41 and 42: Mathews’ lack of payment for cert
Page 43 and 44: Governor Berkeley used the eastern
Page 45 and 46: Though tobacco was the staple of Vi
Page 47 and 48: himself was probably not in Sussex
Page 49 and 50: Now that all of Nathaniel’s land
Page 51 and 52: * * * * * Nathaniel as Attorney On
Page 53 and 54: Nathaniel’s tithables remained co
Page 55 and 56: towels, a small chest, a small brok
Page 57 and 58: Citations Introduction 1.Nathaniel
Page 59 and 60: early 1640s, Richard Smith Jr. is a
Page 61 and 62:
122.McKey, 7: 232. For knowingly co
Page 63 and 64:
219.Wesley Frank Craven, The Coloni
Page 65 and 66:
298.McKey, 7: 73. 299.McKey, 8: 49.
Page 67 and 68:
Appendix A: Timeline of Events in N
Page 69 and 70:
Apr 20 verbal bargain with Mathew S
Page 71 and 72:
1692 Feb 19 Robert Watson’s estat
Page 73 and 74:
3) Henry Bradford of the Muster Per
show all

1. Nathaniel Bradford of Accomack County, Virginia - Lower ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?