Champion Travis Traylor Sr to current Rogers family

Champion Travis Traylor Sr. 

1770

- February 6 birthday... 
born in Dinwiddie, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, an unincorporated township in a rural county about halfway from Richmond south to the North Carolina border.  His parents were William Michael Traylor who fought in the Revolutionary War, and Priscilla Nanny Perkinson Traylor.

Spanish moss growing on Live Oak trees.

How is he related to me?  Glad you asked.

My generation is 1
My father George is 2
His father George is 3
His mother Betty Bass Rogers is 4
Her mother Mary Ann Elizabeth Powell Bass is 5
Her mother Nancy Jones Traylor Powell is 6
and her father Champion Travis Traylor Sr. is generation 7 from mine, or my 4 times great grandfather.

Champion married 15 Aug 1797 in Wilkes County, Georgia, to the beautiful (of course) Sarah Jones (daughter of Susanna (Sukey) Claiborne (Clairborne) and Frederick Jones.  Since her family was also from Virginia, it seems probable that they were also immigrating elsewhere at that time, and may have settled in Georgia.

At age 42, in 1812, Champion Travis Traylor (Sr.) fought against the British in the War of 1812.  He received a land grant of 169 acres as a result of this service, in Cahabu, Perry County, Alabama, where he moved before the actual deed was granted.  This is known because his death in Perry County, Alabama occurred in 1832, and the deed was signed by the secretary to President Andrew Jackson in November, 1833.

  From US Archives.

Possibly the Cahaba River near it's intersection with the Alabama River

Now Cahabu is known as Cahawba, the first capitol of Alabama, which has virtually vanished.  Here's a link to information on it...and it's a few miles south of Selma, Alabama, of which you may have heard. 

The Traylors have 12 children listed on Ancestry.com.  My ancestor, Mary Jones Traylor Powell was their third child, born in Oglethorpe County, GA in 1804. They lived there where 6 more brothers and sisters were born, until her little brother, Josiah, was born in 1817 in Selma, Dallas County Alabama. By 1819 the last 2 Traylor children were born in Perry County, AL, which might have been that the county was formed and they were living in the same place.  There are 2 family Bibles available apparently, which list important life events, mostly in agreement. They state the family moved from Georgia to Alabama in 1820.

By April of 1820, Champion was a Justice in Perry County, AL.

And our ancestress, Nancy, married Sept. 19, 1822 to James Moore Powell in that county.  Nancy died June 27, 1881, in Old Waverly, Walker County, TX.

Historic St. Luke Episcopal Church, Cahawba, Alabama

Champion Travis Traylor died on April 4, 1832 at age 62.  I don't know where he is buried.
Many of my ancestors received land in Alabama, and most of them moved on to Louisiana then to Texas.

All photos shared on this post are from .cahawba.com/index.
This is an update of an old post from "When I Was 69" that I published about Sukey Jones Traylor's husband, on Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The Jones to Rogers connection

Yesterday we went through 5 generations from Stith to Jones, rather quickly I'm afraid.

Today let's go down those branches until we connect to more modern Rogers folks.
I'll first re-post an older blog from Friday, November 29, 2013

Oh Susanna!

Susanna Claiborne, what a melodic name.
She was a grandmother of mine, times five greats.  She actually had the nickname "Sukey."

I invite you to walk into her life.  None of the "intellectual way" of looking at her dates and places.
Let's just imagine when she lived, raised her family, and made her mark on lives to come (including mine).

She lived in the18th Century in rural Virginia.  She was probably a farmer's wife, since Surry and Sussex County, VA have historically been farm country.  She was born Nov. 29, 1751.  She married in Sussex County, but I don't think she had to move far.  The new county was just created out of Surry County about the time Susanna was 3 years old. 

Interesting reading HERE about Sussex history, or HERE.  I'll let you go see it if you're interested. 

(1) Susanna Claiborne married  Frederick Jones (1756-1791) when she was 22 years old.

Since she died in 1810 in Dinwiddie County, (the county to the west of Sussex), I have that link HERE.

She had 6 children, and the one that became my ancestor was Sarah Jones, born also in Sussex County, VA on 2 Feb 1780, who died 4 Aprl 1847 in Union Parish, Louisiana.  That's not only a long way from Virginia, there were Alabama connections as well...and Georgia, then finally Texas!

Sarah Jones (2) married Champion Travis Traylor, Sr. (2) who had been born in Dinwiddie County, VA. (Speaking of names, I think his is my favorite ancestor male name) They married in Alabama, and he died 4 Apr 1832 in Perry Alabama.

Their daughter, (3) Nancy Jones Traylor Powell was born 16 May 1804 in Oglethorpe County, GA.  She died 27 June, 1881 in Old Waverly, Walker County, Texas.

So when following my maternal genealogy, it's really interesting to see how these women traveled all across the south.  In the latter 18th Century and then into the 19th Century, you can imagine what life must have been like.  I always like to do that...think of a household full of children, servants perhaps, slaves if there was farming in the south, and husbands, brothers, uncles and sons working to keep everything running smoothly.  Of course the household was run by the oldest wife...which changed as households aged.  By the time each of these women had stopped bearing children, they were often in their 40's.  Only a few of them lived to go through menopause...it was a hard life not only with frequent childbirth, but the rigors of moving from one frontier to another.  These were true pioneers.

Nancy Jones Traylor Powell (3) married James Moore Powell,(3) and his dates are interesting because apparently he died on his birthday, 27 Feb. born in 1791, b. in Bertie County, NC, died same date in 1886 in Waverly, Walker County, TX.

Not yet having a Rogers child.  My father's father is where we're going.  George Elmore Rogers, Sr. born in Texas in 1877 in Willis,  Walker County, TX.

Where oh where is the connection  though?
 Their daughter, Mary Ann Elizabeth Powell (5) married none other than Col. Richard Bass (5).  Where and when were her dates?  (I've struggled, and we're still following the data rather than the actual lives, aren't we?)  Born 21 Feb, 1825 in Perry AL, and died 12 Oct 1871 in Old Waverly, TX.

And finally, their daughter, Elizabeth "Bettie" Bass, (6) was born either in Feb or March 1860 in Old Waverly, San Jacinto County, TX, and died 17 July 1924 in Galveston, TX.

She was married to...
William Sandford (W. Sam) Rogers, (6) born 9 Feb 1850 in Huntsville, Walker County, TX, who died in the same town 29 May 1879.

And they were my grandfather's parents. George Rogers Sr. would be generation (7), my father would be (8) and I'm (9) generations removed from Oh Susanna!

And a post script is in order here.  The Claibornes had an old name from Europe, and the name referred to living near clay deposits on a stream.  As you may already know, I am a potter.  So clay is important to me in both ways, my ancestors and my avocation.

From the Stiths to the Jones in 4 generations

The Randolph connection to my Rogers family is through one Mary Randolph (name's Mary of course) who married William Stith, our great times 8 uncle, while his sister and brother are our great times 8 grandparents.

Family Crest of the Stiths

Lt. Col. Drury Stith 1670-1741 (great times 8 grandfather)
married
Susanna Bathurst Stith 1674-1745 (I noticed her will and probate are indexed as 1810 and 1811, which is strange if she'd died 50 years before then.)

Their daughter was
Mary Stith Herbert, who died Aug 17, 1801.  The date of her birth is given as 1701.  If this is incorrect, there's nothing to prove or disprove it at this time.  She married twice, and second husband was Charles Fisher.  But her first husband, Buller Herbert, is our ancestor.

Their daughter, Mary Herbert (1726-1784) married in 1740 or 1744 to
Col. Augustine Claiborne (1720-1787).
They had around 14 children.

Our ancestor was their daughter,
Susanna "Sukey" Claiborne Jones (1751-1810) who married about Aug 18, 1774 to
Frederick Jones (1741-1791)

I'm going to stop here at the Jones, our great times five grandparents on the George Rogers family tree.  All of these families lived in Virginia colony, and some through the Revolutionary war.

I'm hoping somehow to find out that Mary Stith who was born in 1701 might have been mixed up with a daughter or granddaughter who died in 1801.  Otherwise that 7 times great-grandmother lived a hundred years!  Pretty amazing!

Sorry to zip through these generations so quickly.  I guess it's part of the patriarchal problem of having little data about daughters.  However, I do know where they lived, so can add more details later.

Lucinda Benson Gibbs

Today is the 200th birth anniversary of this interesting ancestor...here's the post from last year, focusing on the Rogers and Gibbs homes in Huntsville TX.

Luci was born on March 28, 1818. In Union District, South Carolina.

She moved with her family (though not all of them) to northwest Louisiana (Mount Lebanon, Bienville Parish) by 1846.  Somehow at that time she and other family members met the Rogers family which was traveling from Sevier County TN to Huntsville TX.  She met a young man, George W. Rogers, who went to war in Mexico, then came back and married her and they moved to Huntsville TX.

Even though they lived in a huge home, and were noted to be among the most well-to-do in town, when Luci was ready to give birth to all her children except the first one, she went back to Bieneville Parish, LA, perhaps because her older brother was a doctor.  Her first child was born in the frontier town of Huntsville.  Her father-in-law, Micajah C. Rogers had been appointed postmaster in 1850 in Huntsville, and later would hold a high position at the prison that was formed there.  He was also a founding member of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville.

I have tried to determine if Luci's mother Sabra Anne Wilbourne Gibbs was in Mount Lebanon, as part of the support for her giving birth there. In 1850 there was a female W.S. Gibbs, age 58 (Sabra Anne Wilbourne Gibbs was born in South Carolina in 1792) living with Jasper's family. However she died in 1864 in Huntsville, and I don't know who she lived with (perhaps Luci)...but there are many gaps in her life. (Sabra Ann Wilbourne Gibbs was topic of my blog Here.)

And more background - Wikepedia said:

"In the 1830s, Ruben Drake moved his family from South Carolina to what he named Mount Lebanon, the first permanent settlement in the parish. As the Drakes were devout Baptists, they established a church and school, which evolved into Mount Lebanon University, the forerunner of Louisiana Collegein Pineville in Rapides Parish in Central Louisiana.^[4]

"On March 14, 1848, the Louisiana State Legislature created Bienville Parish from the lower portion of Claiborne Parish."

Ruben Drake's brother had a daughter Laura Jane Drake, who married (drum roll please) Dr. Jasper Gibbs, Luci's brother.  Ruben Drake's brother died early in Mount Lebanon.  I am guessing that the Gibbs and Rogers families who settled there must have been attracted by the religious and educational community formed by the Drakes.

Gibbsland LA, Bienville Parish, was another small settlement, named after Dr. Jasper Gibbs, Luci's older brother.  I finally looked up the distance between Gibbsland and Huntsville, and its around 240 miles.  When people traveled by horseback or wagons on roads that were just tracks through the woods or swamps, with fords across streams and rivers, it probably took a couple of days to get back and forth.  But  Luci chose to go back to Gibbsland for each of those 5 births.   Since only 2 of those children lived past their first year, she must have needed some special care that her brother could offer, though he couldn't provide whatever these children needed to live. She was 42 when she gave birth the last time.

Bienville Parish Louisiana

Walker County TX (where Huntsville is)

Laura Drake was Dr. Jasper Gibbs first wife, with whom he had 5 children. He remarried following her death in 1855, and had another 6 children.  But any descendants of Jasper and Laura would be cousins of mine, going back to Luci and Jaspar's parents (Hiram and Sabra Gibbs) as my great times three grandparents.

I've mentioned elsewhere that Luci's husband George W. Rogers, died when still in his 40s in 1864.  Luci, who had married at age 30, became a widow at 45.  That meant she had to have some assistance (probably relatives) to raise her children. Her mother lived only until 1864.
 
She herself lived until she was 66, and died and was buried in Huntsville TX in 1884.  She also outlived her oldest son, William Sandford Rogers, my grandfather's father, who died in 1879.  I wonder if she ever saw my grandfather George Elmore Rogers, who was born in 1877.

That really brings this woman's life into my own, that she might have held her grandson, a man who  I knew and loved when he'd grown into an old man.

Stagecoach Inn, Mount Lebanon, Bienville Parish, LA

Here's a bit of information about the Stagecoach Inn and Mount Lebanon...from Ancestry member Donna Sutton, posted in 2010 as follows:
Stage Coach Inn 

Description: Largest residence in the area, this two-story, five-bay, frame clapboard house has a central hall double parlor plan on both floors and a front colossal gallery. House has original interior with original staircase and simple mantels. Front balcony and simple molded pillars are original. Structure is hewn.

Significance: This building is a local landmark, being the largest house in the area and having the only colossal order gallery in the parish. Built in 1847 by Reuben Drake, one of the founders of the town. In 1869 it was purchased by Jesse Smith and is still in the hands of his descendants. The house was used as a stagecoach stop for the regular stagecoach runs between Shreveport and Monroe.  

Mount Lebanon is an old community of approximately thirty buildings which vary in age from 140 years to 3 years. They are spread out along approximately three miles of La. Rt. 154 and La. Rt. 517, two roads which converge to form the center of the community. There is no potential district in Mount Lebanon. The buildings are widely spaced amid rolling countryside, in some cases as much as a quarter mile apart.

The town of Mt. Lebanon began in 1836 when a group of prosperous farmers from Edgefield District in South Carolina settled in the area. During 1836-1837 they established homes, cleared land, opened a post office and several stores, and organized a Baptist church. There were about twelve families in the original group, and at first the settlement was known as the Carolina Colony. Many persons of these original families were related to each other directly or by marriage, and this situation made for a close-knit community with a high degree of shared values. 

The community prospered and during the 1840's, other persons were attracted to Mt. Lebanon and its nice homes, expanding trade center, strong church, and congenial society. The village eventually numbered about fifty families, most of which were from South Carolina.

In 1851 a New Orleans newspaper predicted that Mt. Lebanon would become one of the most important towns in north Louisiana. The article said the town was pretty, healthy, and pleasant. In 1860, journalist J.W. Door gave the following description of the town:

It is a delightful town of about three or four hundred inhabitants. It is famous for health, wealth, educational institutions, and good people of South Carolina stock.

The town is well built with everything to indicate wealth and refinement. One is likely to want to prolong his stay indefinitely and if spurred by inevitable necessity leaves it with regret.

Mt. Lebanon has significance in the areas of religion and education, because it was a major center of Baptist activity in north Louisiana from the 1840's through the 1860's. It was under the leadership of Reverend George W. Bains in the 1840's that this period of religious significance began. Several other churches were established in the area due to the efforts of Bains and his congregation. In 1847 the Baptists in Mt. Lebanon began to take an interest in education. In 1848, the town hosted a large meeting of Baptists from many areas of the state which resulted in the formation of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, which had as its primary goal the promotion of Baptist education. In 1853 the Convention established Mt. Lebanon University, and an associated Female College, both of which functioned successfully until the coming of the Civil War. But neither institution ever really recovered its viability after the war. The Female College burned shortly after the war and went out of existence. The university struggled along for many years, eventually becoming coeducational, before it expired in the early twentieth century. Mt. Lebanon University was one of the direct ancestors of Louisiana College in Pineville. The town enjoyed a brief return to prosperity after the war, but this economic well-being faded after 1884 when the railroad by-passed it.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Cook, Philip C., "Mt. Lebanon University in Peace and War," North Louisiana Historical Association Journal, Vol. 9 (Spring 1978), 55-64.

Files of Virginia Yardley and Mt. Lebanon Historical Society concerning history of Mt. Lebanon.

Martin, F. Lestar, "Mt. Lebanon's Historic Houses: A Presentation by Louisiana Tech University’s School of Architecture," North Louisiana Historical Association Journal, Vol. 9 (Spring 1978), 115-124.

The first Randolphs in America as cousins

I've been bogged down because the Stith information is woven tightly with the Randolph information, living and intermarrying in early Virginia.

It's fun to see how many fine Virginia families must have made decisions of whom was a good choice for marriage.  But it's surprising that a Randolph offspring could marry a Randolph cousin, even though Stith was the other family name involved.  And it's not hidden very well, however, the trees over in Ancestry sure have trouble showing a son marrying his mother's brother's daughter.

So quickly (I hope) to review the Randolph founding fathers.  First my great times 8 uncle and aunt -
William Randolph (Lt. Col.) b. 1651 England

William Randolph (1651-1711)

arrived in the Virginia Colony in 1662 (but traveled back and forth maybe 2-3 other times)
Married in 1680 Mary Isham b. 1660 (may have been born in England)

Mary Isham Randolph (1659-1735)

Each of their male children is known by his property, becoming the significant plantation land-owners of the colony.

Elizabeth Bland Randolph Vaughan 1680-1720

William II 1681-1720or42 of Turkey Island

Thomas 1683-1729 of Tuckahoe Creek

Isham 1685-1742 of Dungeness

Elizabeth (died infancy 1685-1685) actually this date or this child are in question, since her older sister Elizabeth would have been 5 years old when she was born, and people didn't name another daughter the same name unless the FIRST one had died.  My guess is, with the poor records in VA, the first daughter had been born in 1680 and died, and the second one was the one who married Mr. Bland.  Just my own guess.

Edward 1690-1737 of Breno

Mary Randolph Stith 1692-1742 (she married into the line of Stith's, my ancestors)

Sir John 1693-1737or 42 of Tagelwell

There are several other people that sometimes are listed as Randolphs as well...but I keep having to remove them for some reason or another (listed as being born before their parents, etc.)

The main problem is that the records in the capital of Jamestown were burned with Bacon's Rebellion, so they say.  But those were just the earliest records, probably about land more than anything else.   Church records also seem very few and far between in the earliest years.
But since the following years might have had better record keeping, it's amazing how convoluted these families are!  I'm looking not at primary sources, but at historians who have the most integrity.

I miss the details of early Puritans of my ancestors who lived in New England, though they also are fraught with confusion!

Happy birthday Mataley Rogers 1917-2003

Born March 26, 1917, San Antonio, TX

Baby portraits, Mataley Mozelle Webb, 1917

Her Grandma Eugenia Booth Miller and Mataley and 2 playmates, San Antonio, TX 1922

Her mother, Mozelle Miller Webb and Mataley, 1924, the year Mozelle remarried Fred Munhall

Fairy princess, probably the same year as pictures above, thought it is marked 1926

1929 House on Lafayette, San Antonio (Mataley was around 12 but looks much older to me.)

Jefferson High School, San Antonio, TX 1934

Don't you love the kids peeking out the window!

Mataley with her two younger cousins Patsy Rodgers and Robert Rodgers, San Antonio, TX 1934

Bridesmaid before 1936

Wedding Announcement, 1936

Nov 21, 1936 San Antonio, Texas

That's probably the San Antonio River.

Probably a photo that she wished had been destroyed, but somehow survived through the years.

Newlyweds and Mother in Law at shared Rogers home

George and Mataley (notice his hair at this time)

A hunting we will go, trip with in-laws in Feb. 1937

My mother, Mataley, George Sr., Uncle Chauncey standing, Ada kneeling, my Dad, George Jr. sitting in front, at tent for camping trip 1937

Living on their own, on Washington Ave, Beeville Tx, sometime before 1941 (notice his hair is thinner)

Mataley in swing, (pregnant with Barbara,) while Ada and George Rogers Sr are cutting up, Dallas, TX 1942

Mataley, George holding Mary Beth, Barbara in front, 1946, Dallas, TX

Barbara, Mary Beth and Mataley, 1947 Easter Houston, TX

St. Louis, 11/23/50 first snow

Mary Beth, Mataley, Barbara at chapel of Principia College, Elsah IL, 1951 probably

My parents moved to St. Louis to enroll me and my sister in Principia, the Christian Science school.  We both attended through our 3rd years of college.

Mataley, Mary Beth and Barbara with Studebaker, Forest Park St. Louis, Mo 1952 perhaps

Mataley and her mother, Mozelle Munhall with Mary Beth in front, 1954 St. Louis, MO

Mataley, my cousin Claudette Rogers and Barbara, St. Louis, 1954

 

George Sr, Mataley in back, Barbara, George JR, Ada and James Rogers, St. Anne MO 1957?

Ada, George and Mataley, St. Anne MO, around 1957

Mary Beth, Mataley and Barbara, St. Anne MO, 19589-60 perhaps

George, Mary and Mataley in front of home they built in Clayton, MO, 1961

Family regathering at San Jacinto monument and restaurant.  Barbara on left, Mary (back) Russell Heym, Mataley with hand raised, Lisa Miller on right, Zachery Miller climbing steps, probably 1978

Home in Houston, TX

Mataley and Barb at Disney World Epcot Center 1981

I haven't copied many other pictures of my mother that were taken during my adult years, while she became a grandmother.  So there are lots of images in my mind that I don't have here to share.  I hope you enjoy this glimpse into her life, which ended in 2003.

Mary Stith, left an amazing legacy for her time

Going back to the Stith tree, let's review who's on first...and so we had Major John Stith (posted on Mar 24) who lived from about 1630 to 1694.  His wife was Jane Moseby Gregory Parson Stith, who lived from 1624-1694.

I've been able to (almost certainly) confirm they had three children:

i. Capt. John Stith, 1658-1724
ii. Lt. Col. Drury Stith 1617-1741
iii. Anne Meriwether Stith Bolling 1660-1709

At this point, I pause to remember that Anne Stith Bolling and her brother Lt. Col. Drury Stith, are both listed as eight times great grandparents of mine through their various separate descendants.

But today I wanted to let you know who Mary Stith was - the one who was the daughter of a President of William and Mary College in Williamsburg, VA.

So she isn't directly in my line, but is a descendant of Capt. John Stith (the one who is just a great uncle).

Capt. John (1658-1724) had a son Rev. William Stith, 1707-1755, who became the President of Wm&Mary. (See yesterday's post).

Rev. William Stith had a daughter, Mary "Polly" Stith.

Mary Stith Shop Historical Report, Block 10 Building 21 Lot 17 Originally entitled: "Mary Stith Shop Block 10 Colonial Lot 17"

Mary A. Stephenson

1948 

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series - 1216
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library

Williamsburg, Virginia

1990
----------
According to Ancestry she was born in 1744, as I mentioned yesterday, and lived until 1816.  But further research shows a possible birth date of 1739.

"Mary Stith was the daughter of William Stith, the historian and president of William and Mary College from 1752 to 1755, and Judith Randolph of Tuckahoe. Mary Stith never married. A sister, Elizabeth Stith, married Dr. William Pasteur who was, a prominent apothecary and surgeon of Williamsburg. 

Her house still stands in Williamsburg, VA - the Mary Stith house.

"A small, reconstructed building on Duke of Gloucester Street, the Mary Stith Shop is a one-story brick structure with a bay window and three dormers, and a charming, almost dollhouse appearance. Here visitors might encounter a Colonial Williamsburg character interpreter – Martha Washington, Mary Stith herself, various ladies of the town, the gentlemen's gentlemen, etc. Interpretive programs at the Mary Stith House vary from week to week.

"Mary Stith lived to see independence and the establishment of the Republic. She wrote her will in 1813. Among its beneficiaries were her African American servants, to whom she left her shop. Her will shows her depth of feeling for them:

"All the coloured people in my family being born my slaves, but now liberated, I think it my duty not to leave them destitute nor to leave them unrecompensed for past services rendered to me. As in the cause of humanity I can do but little for so many, and that little my conscience requires me to do, therefore I subject the whole of my estate to the payment of my just debts, and to the provision which I herein make for them."

"Will left most property to freed black servants

"With the exception of few small legacies to white friends, Stith left most of her considerable estate, including three buildings and the ground on which they stood, to her freedmen. To Jenny, "the mother of the family," she left her dwelling house and lot, some furniture, clothing, and £100, as well as £5 a year for each of her two granddaughters, Jenny and Patty Gillett. These two jointly received the second building on Stith's town lot, which she described as "my house in the yard called the tin shop." Each of them also received clothing, items of furniture, and £25. The third structure Stith bequeathed to Nelly Bolling and "her two sisters Eve and Sally." This building she described as "my house on the main street called Woods shop." Each of these three women also received cash legacies, as did Peter Gillett, Benjamin White, Beverley Rowsay, Rachel White, and Fanny White.

A good link about the house, here.

Then there was about a 48 hour period when I had a married Mary Smith, who had children.  Some Mary Stith did marry twice, first to Daniel Parke Wilkinson.  They had 5 sons.  It looks like there was one set of twins.  I don't have Mr. Wilkinson's date of death, but it was while all those little boys were very young, as was Mary herself.

She remarried to Jeremiah Early 9 years later, in 1773.  He had been married previously as well, and he is known to have had 9 of his 11 children listed in his will when he died at age 49, in 1779, after just 6 years of marriage to Marty Stith Wilkinson Early.

I didn't see his will, just the list of the 9 children that he left something to.  Since Mary outlived him, I wonder what happened with her 5 sons, as she didn't leave them anything in her own will. The obvious reason (not proved at this point) is that she outlived them all.

When I started looking at all the historic documents, I discovered the Mary Stith of the house in Williamsburg, had never married.  So I've just removed the husbands and children, which means someone's ancestors are no longer on that Stith family tree...

These are cousins a few times removed.  I'll get back to my own ancestors soon...but this was an interesting story.

Diving into ancestry history

Remember how I did not want to spend a lot of time on Anne Meriwether Stith Bolling's siblings? At one point there looked to be 10 of them, and yet some might have been adopted from her mother's previous marriage.  And yet someone or another was the ancestor of a William and Mary College president.

So I just thought trailing down the tree would be easy to find someone who wasn't controversial.  And I found Anne Stith Bolling's (1660-1709) brother Lt. Col. Drury Stith Sr. (1670-1741) was ancestor to another line in the Rogers family.  Oh my, many cousins removed they were both my eight times great grandparents!  But there they were.

Following Drury's descendants:
His wife was Susanna Bathurst Stith (though there's some controversy about her maiden name) 1674-1745
AND THEN...
their daughter Mary Stith (unbelievable dates given at Ancestry 1701-1801) Oh pishaw...she's considered the daughter of President of William and Mary College. WHICH IS NOT TRUE!

I've got to find out which Stith it really was...now Drury is in consideration, as well as John and William...all probably brothers of Anne!

Rev William Stith 1707-1755

Rev. William Stith was the 3rd president of William and Mary from 1752-1755, who was a historian! So he should know the ancestry of his own family, and hopefully it is also published! YES!
He was "the author of one of the earliest histories of Virginia, The History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia: being an Essay towards a General History of this Colony, published in Williamsburg by William Parks in 1747.^[2][3]" 

He was born in 1707.  Died in office in 1755.  There's no way he would have been a brother of Anne, or Drury Sr. or even father of the centragenarian, Mary, who was supposedly born in 1701.  But maybe I can change that unbelievable birth day with some better resources.

William Stith was "the son of Captain John Stith and Mary Randolph, daughter of William Randolph I.^[1][5] Around 1744, he married his first cousin, Judith Randolph, the daughter of Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe.^[1][5] They had three daughters: Judith, Elizabeth, and Mary.^[1] Stith was educated at The College of William & Mary and The Queen's College, Oxford."
 Source: Wikepedia with footnotes.

And his daughter Mary,  was born in 1744 died in 1816, so she did not live 100 years, so that is corrected on my ancestry trees now.

There's even a copy of  a William and Mary Quarterly published with 9 pages of the Stith family. Of course it could have been changed, but I think it agrees with most of what the other trees say.  After all, these are the genealogists of this time!

So I've redone my ancestry tree for the Stith family...now to go back over it, and copy the details here!

Did you notice I never told you how the Rogers tree came from the Stiths to my line? I'll keep working on it.

This is how genealogy will suck you into many links, which are fortunately available at my finger tips now, and I don't have to go to research libraries like I used to.

I've learned more about Mary Stith...but will post it tomorrow where maybe I'll be a bit more clear-headed.  Was anyone a centragenarian? Or what do you call someone who lives a hundred years, anyway?

Major John Drury Stith

Stith, John, (Major) came to Virginia before 1656 and settled in Charles City county. In 1656 he was a lieutenant of militia, in 1676 a captain, and in 1680 a major. He was also a merchant, a lawyer and a justice of the peace. He was a prominent supporter of Sir William Berkeley during Bacon's rebellion in 1676. In 1686 he was a burgess for Charles City county. He left issue— John Stith, Drury Stith, Anne, (who) married Colonel Robert Bolling.

That's the beginning of a list of his descendants.   I'm not sure who compiled it, but it's available over at Ancestry Dot Com.  And it seems to have mostly accurate information.

Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 is mentioned in his biography.  Do you remember about that in those early American History classes?  Here're some sources of information. 

 

Bacon arriving in Jamestown, VA, painting by Pyle

 

Bacon's rebellion, burning the Virginia colony's capital of Jamestown 1676

The Wikepedia article seems pretty biased (a bit unusual).  The Encyclopedia article has some factual information and a good timeline of all the events, and many participants. 

Bacon before the Virginia Council

Nathaniel Bacon 1646-1676

I was impressed how the telling of the history of this event changed, as mentioned that before 1950 it reflected one opinion, and afterward another.  I think I learned the 1950 version actually...so am glad I've reviewed the different possible conclusions.  The way history is written is often so intriguing. One person says this event led to laws which eventually created the slave economy of the south.  Another says this rebellion was a precursor of the American Revolution a hundred years later.  Then the author says that neither of these things can be attributed to Bacon's Rebellion.

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Back to the Stith family...

I am not going further into the sons/daughters of Major John Drury Stith and Jane Mosby Gregory Parson Stith today.  That's because of confusing ancestry trees...one saying their firstborn was WIlliam who married Jane Randolph, and the other saying firstborn was John who married Jane Randolph.

I can live a lot longer if I don't waste my grey cells on who these people married, and thus had a legacy of presidents of the College of William and Mary, which I attended (summer school session anyway!)

My ancestor (eight times great grandmother) was the daughter of John and Jane Stith, Anne Meriwether Stith who married Col. Robert Bolling. I've blogged about them HERE, and here!

Today's quote:

Jealousy is a common human feeling and usually stems from a place of lack in our own lives. Madisyn Taylor