Pamunkey Davenports of Martin of Hanover descent and Others Interested: In an earlier report setting the scene for record research in Hanover and Louisa counties, Virginia, for the Eighteenth Century, I cited the loss of records of both Hanover County (except two books) and St. Martin's Parish, which included the upper half of Hanover County--in the Forks of the North and South Anna rivers--and a portion of Louisa County from three and one-half miles above the Hanover line on the North Anna (Spotsylvania County boundary) at the mouth of Elk Creek (now under Lake Anna) in a straight line southwards to two miles above Hanover line on the Goochland County line. This awkward slice of Louisa County in St. Martin's Parish was divided into two districts for Louisa County taxing purposes, with Little River of the South Anna (otherwise the Second Fork of the Pamunkey River) being the dividing line. The district north of Little River from the mouth of Big Rocky Creek (Hanover line) to Elk Creek on the North Anna included that portion of St. Martin's Parish wherein the Davenports and their in-laws resided (excepting those with Jouett connections, who were on Jouett land in Trinity Parish seven miles to the southwest--of whom we have written in the previous report). For a period beginning in 1767 (if not before, but if so the records have not survived) until 1784, Samuel Ragland, Esquire, a resident large land owner living on waters of Elk Creek, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa, either took the Tithables or was the Squire overseeing the taking of Tithables (Taxables) for the Upper District. Ragland retained copies of his work, and his descendants preserved and protected those records and subsequently made them available to the public. Hence between the saved files of Samuel Ragland and the tithables/taxables records of Louisa County, we today have a sustained view, albeit limited to white males of age 16 and older and slaves of all ages, of what the constituency was in that Davenport-interest corner of Louisa County from 1767 through 1784. When we triangulate the Ragland Louisa tithables data with what is available in Spotsylvania County (almost complete record preservation) and the few scraps remaining of Hanover County records, we are able to fill in a few of the blanks in our knowledge of who the persons were and what transpired around the plantation of Martin Davenport in Hanover County during the Eighteenth Century, developing thereby family history which contributes to genealogical identification. Before getting into the data, perhaps it would be useful to explain how the Tithables/Taxables lists were compiled. The County Court assigned a Justice of the Peace (Squire) to each district, and the constable of that district warned all master's and mistresses therein to prepare their lists and deliver them to their Squire. Each master and mistress (heads of households) listed all white males of age 16 and older, and all Negroes, regardless of age, by name. Full names were required of all whites. Slaves had only a given name. Each list also contained the number of acres the master or mistress held, and if a carriage was owned. The acreage was for the purposes of determining the King's Quit Rents owed. There was a luxury tax of a sort on carriages. Submitting a short list in regard to tithables, acreage, or carriages was a felony, indictable by a Grand Jury, and if found guilty subject to severe penalties--although Virginia Courts were more zealous in collecting local taxes than they were in collecting the King's Quit Rents. (All of the large landowners, who were identical in most parts with the constituency of the County Court, fudged on their Quit Rents. The King, after all, was in England.) There were no standards nor specifications as to how the Squires should prepare their Lists other than that the lists should be complete, and should identify those masters and mistresses who did not turn in lists as well as those who did. Hence, there is variety from Squire to Squire as to how they compiled and collated the lists given in. Sometimes the Squires scrupulously identified each tithable, white male and slave, by name. Sometimes only totals were given in. Sometimes, land was omitted or put on a separate list (which did not survive). Then too, there was a lack of consistency from year-to-year by a given Squire, either due to his or his clerk's penmanship problems or distraction by other matters, etc. In Louisa County last month, we worked with Photostat copies of Samuel Ragland's and surviving Louisa County lists collated by years into a bound book by the DAR and now in the Clerk of Courts archives. Ragland reported only a total for Tithables, did not discriminate between white males and slaves. Here's what we found: 1767 - Samuel Ragland's Report: "A List of Tithes, Land & Wheel Carriages in St. Martin's Parish for the Year 1767" Included were (none having carriages): George Lumsden, 1 Tithe, 30 acres Wm Pettus, 4 Tithes, 214 acres Samuel Temple, 8 Tithes, 900 acres John Pettus, 10 Tithes, 960 acres Thomas Graves, 2 Tithes, 300 acres Charles Kennedy, 3 Tithes, 175 acres There was Davenport land here (Richard Davenport of Albemarle had 128 acres that he had apparently received from his father Martin of Hanover before Louisa was struck off from Hanover), but it was either leased or rented with the occupier being obligated for whatever taxes were due. Of those listed above: George Lumsden is yet an enigma, for he was very much involved in Davenport affairs in both Louisa and Spotsylvania County. He stood with John Davenport, son of Martin, as his security during the worst of John's financial troubles in the late 1760s and early 1770s. He bonded Mary Kennedy when she became administrix of the Estate of Davenport Kennedy in 1784. He was James Davenport, Jr.'s bondsman for James' marriage to Dicey Kennedy in 1785. He served as security for William Davenport of Spotsylvania when William assumed guardianship of Davenport Kennedy orphans. There were other equally important services he performed for the Davenports. Yet by the date of appearance of his sons on the tithable rolls (see below), Lumsden was younger than John Davenport (whose sons appeared on tithe/tax rolls more than ten years before Lumsden's), and did not own more than 50 acres before the Revolution (the minimum for freeholder qualification). Why a young man of small land holdings would be an acceptable security for John Davenport, whose debts were relatively large, indicates that there was something substantive about Lumsden that we do not yet know. He was so supportive of the Davenports and their in-laws in their various venture before the Law that he just had to be a relative of some degree. The Pettuses were already intermarried with Davenports and the double Arnold in-laws of the Spotsylvania Davenports. Samuel Temple's mother was Ann Arnold, an aunt to Ann Arnold, wife of William Davenport of Spotsylvania, son of Martin of Hanover. Thomas Graves [Sr.] was married to Ann Davenport, daughter of Davis Davenport. Graves lived in Spotsylvania County on the north side of the North Anna from his Louisa plantation. His tithables were whoever was farming his Louisa land. Charles Kennedy was married to Crotia Davenport, daughter of Martin Davenport. The land he was charged with was bought in 1751 from Henry Gambill, wife Mary Davenport, and bounded Martin Davenport's plantation in Hanover. (A 1799 deed disclosed that the tract straddled the Hanover-Louisa line.) 1768 - Samuel Ragland's "List of Tythes, Land & Wheel Carriages for St. Martin's Parish" included: Charles Kennedy, 3 Tithes, 175 acres Thomas Graves, Decd., 496 acres Thomas Graves, Sr., had died in Spotsylvania County. Full records of estate exist there. (Some masters and mistresses disappeared from listing for a year or two and then reappeared. We follow only those of particular Davenport interest. George Lumsden, for example, was not on the 1768 list.) 1769 - "A List of Tithes, Land and Wheel Carriages in St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." [No identification of list taker, but apparently Samuel Ragland.] Among those included: Charles Kennedy, 2 Tithes, 175 acres George Lumsden, 1 Tithe, 50 acres. 1770 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: George Lumsden, 3 Tithes, 50 acres Samuel Temple, 10 Tithes, 1,040 acres, 1 carriage. 1771 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: Martin Davenport, 6 Tithes, 0 land Davenport Kennedy, 0 Tithes, 150 acres Charles Kennedy, 2 Tithes, 175 acres George Lumsden, 3 Tithes, 50 acres John Smith, 3 Tithes, 166 acres Samuel Temple, 10 Tithes, 693 acres Martin Davenport was surely Martin, son of Martin of Hanover. He was living on the Old Martin Davenport plantation in Hanover in 1765, but had been displaced when James Davenport, son of Martin and a coheir to the land, returned from Albemarle County and reclaimed his inheritance in 1770. In 1782, Martin Davenport still landless, was living in Hanover County with a household of 11 white persons, no slaves. Davenport Kennedy, very much a Davenport relative by associations in Spotsylvania and Louisa records, is enigmatic for the moment, there being a difference of opinion among the Pamunkey Davenports as to whether he was the son of Charles Kennedy and Crotia Davenport, or was of Davenport blood by another line. There was a Patrick Kennedy in Hanover who had Davenport connections, being particularly known for having stabbed Thomas Graves during an altercation in Spotsylvania County in 1765 and having been bailed out of jail by Martin Davenport, who signed Patrick's peace bond. John Smith was either the John Smith for whom Jack Smith Davenport was named or his son. The Davenport-Smith connection needs to be sorted out. Samuel Temple was divesting himself of land, preparatory to moving elsewhere. 1772 - "Samuel Ragland's St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: John Davenport, 5 Tithes, 0 land Charles Kennedy, 3 Tithes, 175 acres George Lumsden, 4 Tithes, 50 acres Samuel Temple, 8 Tithes, 0 land. There are four possible candidates for the identification of John Davenport, but the most logical one, given the number of tithes, was John Davenport, son of Martin, a bankrupt who had lost everything in Spotsyslvania County during the preceding years and disappeared from Spotsylvania records after 1772, apparently leaving his eldest son William Davenport, Jr., who had married well, to clean up whatever matters remained. If this was John of Martin, it is the last mention of him we find in Virginia records. Either he died in Louisa this year and having no estate was not probated, or he moved elsewhere. John's youngest son Richard, born in 1750, in applying for a Revolutionary War pension, said he was living in Buckingham County before he moved to Charlotte County before the Revolution. If John of Martin moved to Buckingham County after 1772 and died there before 1782 (the first extant tax list), he is likely lost, for Buckingham County is notable for having had four courthouse fires. Samuel Temple disappears from St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County, records hereafter. 1773 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish." Among those included: Charles Kennedy, 2 Tithes, 175 acres George Lumsden, 1 Tithe, 0 land 1774 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: Charles Kennedy, 3 Tithes, 0 land George Lumsden, 2 Tithes, 0 land 1775 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: Charles Kennedy, 3 Tithes, 175 acres George Lumsden, 2 Tithes, 50 acres 1776 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: Charles Kennedy, 4 Tithes, 175 acres George Lumsden, 3 Tithes, 50 acres, 1 carriage 1777 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: Charles Kennedy, 2 Tithes, 175 acres George Lumsden, 3 Tithes, 110 acres, 1 carriage 1778 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: George Lumsden, 3 Taxables, 0 land. 1779 - No List 1780 - "Nathaniel Garland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: George Lumsden, 7 Taxables 1781 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: Davenport Kennedy, 4 Taxables George Lumsden, 4 Taxables 1782 - No List. 1783 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those listed: Charles Kennedy [living in] Hanover, 3 Taxables Captain George Lumsden, William Lumsden, Thomas Lumsden, and two slaves, a total of 5 Taxables 1784 - "Samuel Ragland's List, St. Martin's Parish, Louisa County." Among those included: Charles Kennedy, 2 Taxables George Lumsden, 8 Taxables End of Book. The Anglican Church was formerly disestablished in 1785, although it had lost all of its authority and state support at the beginning of the Revolution. A few traditionalists continued to use Parish designation in land description for another decade, but by 1795 parish acknowledgment was a thing of the past. Between 1784 and 1791, John Davenport, son of Richard Davenport of Albemale, one of the elder sons of Martin of Hanover, was on the 128 acres adjoining Charles Kennedy in St. Martin's Parish, Louisa. Charles Kennedy died over the line in Hanover County in 1787. There was much Kennedy activity on or adjacent to the old Martin Davenport land in St. Martin's Parish, Louisa, in the last two decades of the Eighteenth Century. Thomas Eads, wife Sarah Davenport, daughter of William Davenport of Spotsylvania, son of Martin, lived there until William died in 1798, when he and Sarah sold out to Joseph Kennedy and bought the home place across the North Anna and moved there. Delphia Davenport, youngest daughter of William, married Garret Kennedy, son of Charles Kennedy and Crotia Davenport, and apparently lived out her life in that corner of Louisa County, for after Garret Kennedy died in 1807, she married Dickerson Wash--and the Washes are still very much in Louisa County. She was still holding a slave for her brother James Davenport of Fayette County, Kentucky, in 1823. [A Wash is currently (October 1999) running for Sheriff of Louisa.] Garret Kennedy and Delphia Davenport had a childless marriage. Garret's LW&T, made in 1795, devised to his wife Delphia, his brother Charles' son William, his brother Martin's son Lancelot, and his brother James' son Albert. Of these, only Martin Kennedy remained in the Old St. Martin's Parish environs. All four--namely Garret, Charles, Martin, and James Kennedy were surely sons of Charles Kennedy and Crotia Davenport--with the deceased Davenport Kennedy possibly being the eldest brother. Crosha Cassidy Kennedy married Tarlton Brown Luck, a neighbor to the Old Martin Davenport plantation, in 1789 with Crosha Kennedy giving permission. Both Luck and his bride were apparently dead by 1796, when a deed by Charles Davenport and John Davenport of Abbeville County, SC, conveyed their interest in 128 acres in Louisa County (Old St. Martin's Parish) to the Heirs of Tarlton Brown Luck--none of which were Crosha. Letters of Administration for Tarlton Brown Luck were granted Crosha "X" Luck on 12Jan1795, with her bond for L100 signed by James Kennedy and William Wash. There remains much straightening out to be done from the Davenport side of the Kennedy connection. In 1782, Virginia instituted a personal property tax system, requiring taxables and land in each county to be reported annually to the Commonwealth. You will find Kennedy and Davenport personal property tax data relating to the corners of Louisa and Hanover discussed here in the large data files that Nancy Royce transmitted last week George Lumsden's involvement with the Davenports is traceable in Louisa and Spotsylvania records from 1768 through 1800 (when I quit looking). Ident-ifying him is a personal goal of nagging necessity. Next, we'll discuss circumstantial evidences of Pamunkey family connections in various Virginia counties. John Scott Davenport Holmdel, NJ Food for thought.