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

219.Wesley Frank Craven, The Colonies in Transition 1660-1713 (New York & Evanston: Harper
Torchbooks, 1968), 295.
220.Wise, 285.
221.Cravey, Colonies in Transition, 294.
222.McKey, 5: 7. The record does not state the name of the woman. She may have been the Judee or
Bess enumerated in the inventory of Nathaniel’s estate, or the Joan listed as headright on Nathaniel’s 1672
patent.
223.McKey, 7: 97.
224.McKey, 5: 12.
225.McKey, 5: 26.
226.McKey, 3: 62.
227.Hotten, 224.
228.H. R. McIlwaine, editor, Minutes of the Council & General Court of Colonial Virginia 1622-1632,
1670-1676 (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1924), 268.
229.H. R. McIlwaine, editor, Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1659/60-1693
(Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1914), 82.
230.McKey, 5: 44.
231.McKey, 5: 50.
232.McKey, 5: 51.
233.McKey, 5: 56.
234.McKey, 5: 69.
235.McKey, 5: 96.
236.McKey, 5: 85.
237.McKey, 5: 56.
238.McKey, 5: 91.
239.A well-known quote of Nathaniel Bacon. Sources for the historical background include Craven,
The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century 1607-1689; and Wise for those parts touching
specifically on the Eastern Shore.
240.McKey, 5: 56.
241.Wise, 215.
242.McKey, 6: 100.
243.Northumberland County, Virginia Record Book 1710-1713: Deeds Wills Inventories Etc., FHL
microfilm 32639, folio 336.
244.That Joan’s marriage to Nathaniel occurred in 1677 or before is deduced from the probable birth
year of their son John and is arrived at by assuming that Joan gave birth to John after her marriage to
Nathaniel. For evidence of John Bradford’s birth year, see McKey, 8: 66 (19 Feb 1691/92 court), where it
is recorded that John chose Thomas Budd as his guardian. Children were allowed to choose their guardians
upon arriving at the age of 15, so 1677 should be a reliable upper limit to the possible range of years in
which John was born. See also McKey, 9: 38 (8 Oct 1698 court), where John’s release to his brother
William for the lands at Bradford’s Neck is noted. To sign a legal instrument, one had to be at least 21,
which again gives 1677 as a reliable limit to John’s probable birth year. If it is certain that John was not
born after 1677, his release to William hints that he was probably not born much before 1677. William’s
need for a release from his brother John would have been operative ever since their father’s death in 1691
and it is likely that William was only waiting until John turned 21 to actually obtain the release. For further
support for a birth year of 1677 see McKey, 9: 24 (7 April 1698 court), in which it is mentioned that Capt.
Thomas Welburne brought a suit at the complaint of John Bradford. Since, one could not sue or be sued
until one reached the age of 21 (for which see McKee, 8: 107), it is likely that John was not 21 when the
suit was brought. It therefore seems likely that John turned 21 at some point after Welbourne’s suit, but
before John’s release to his brother William. This might indicate that his birth fell sometime between April
and October of 1677, but it is unclear when precisely Welbourne initiated the suit.
245.Based on search of Nugent, Vols. 1-2.
246.Nugent, 2: 158.
247.Bruce, Social Life, 115.
248.McKey, 6: 49.
249.McKey, 1: 96.
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1678-1690
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