THE GARRETT FAMILY OF MISSOURI *Joseph Luther 2004 Permission to copy with due attribution WILLIAM GARRETT, SR. ca 1715-ca 1799 Although the Garrett line America commences with William Garrett and the first Jamestown Colony in 1607, the clearly documented lineage beings with a later WILLIAM GARRETT, SR.. He was a large landowner in Gloucester, Louisa, Spotsylvania, and Albemarle counties in Virginia and a planter in Louisa County in the middle of the 18th century (1761). He was born around 1715, probably the son of John Garrett, Jr. Documentation supports the belief that the line is descended from the William Garrett of the Jamestown Colony, but no clear connection may be proven. About 1735, William Garrett, Sr. married Elizabeth Ashton. See the Ashton group. There had been much intermarriage among the Garretts and Ashtons in England prior to 1700. The home of William Garrett, Sr., from 1767, was Trinity Parish in Louisa County. He was sworn in as Justice of the Peace in Louisa County on 15 April 1771. A substantial portion of William Garrett Sr.'s land holdings were on the North Fork of the Pamunkey River, in the vicinity of other family relations including the Winstons, Carrs, Meriwethers, Crenshaws, Crawfords, and Beazleys. The extent of his land holdings can perhaps be better measured by the monetary bond for £100,000 required of the executors of his will. The children of William and Elizabeth (Ashton) Garrett, as named in his will of 3 February 1779, were as follows: 1. William Garrett, Jr., born ca 1740, died 1817, lived most of his life in Louisa County. He married Ann Johnson on 10 December 1770. Their son, William Garrett III served as a private in Captain William Taylor's Company of the 2nd Virginia Regiment commanded by Col. Alexander Spottswood. The descendants of this line moved to Maryland and lived in Baltimore and Rockville. 2. John Garrett, born ca 1745, died without issue in 1770. 3. HENRY GARRETT, father of Peter R. Garrett of Cape Girardeau, was born about 1745 and died in 1815 in Kentucky. He married Mary Johnson, daughter of Major Thomas Johnson of Roundabout Castle where the family lived for many years. Ancestor - see later. 4. Ann Garrett married William Johnson of Roundabout Castle in Louisa County. 5. Elizabeth Garrett married Thomas Terrell. 6. Susanna Garrett married Richard Johnson, son of Nicholas Johnson and Elizabeth Hudson. HENRY GARRETT 1745-1815 CAPTAIN HENRY GARRETT, son of William Garrett, Sr., and the father of Peter R. Garrett, lived in Louisa County and Albemarle, Virginia. He was a close friend was Patrick Henry. Henry Garrett owned large tracts of land, held public office, and served in the Revolutionary War. Henry Garrett has left many records of his career in Virginia and Kentucky. In 1770, Captain Henry Garrett is recorded as a member of the Virginia Militia, as part of the Virginia Association of Burgesses, Merchants and Citizens. Henry Garrett appears as Clerk of the Committee of Safety of Louisa County on 4 December 1774. The qualified voters of each county elected these committee members. Henry Garrett also appears as a Private in Captain John Blackwells' Company, No. 4, as it stood on 1 April 1778. This was part of the 3rd Virginia Regiment commanded by Col. William Heth. The Adjutant General of the War Department further states that Henry Garrett also enlisted in February 1778 for one year and discharged 28 February 1779. Family records, as noted in the Gardner genealogy of the Garrett family, state that Henry Garrett finished his military career fighting as a Captain of a Louisa Company in the Battle of Yorktown and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis in 1781. Captain Henry Garrett qualified as Sheriff of Louisa County on 12 August 1800. In 1810, he moved to Kentucky and settled in Fayette County, near Lexington. Some of his sons had preceded him in this move. Henry Garrett died in testate in Kentucky in 1815. The children of Henry and Mary Garrett included the following: 1. Ira Garrett, born 1772 and died in 1870. He married Elizabeth Watson, daughter of John Watson and Jane Price of Charlottesville, Virginia. Ira Garrett commenced his life in Albemarle County after leaving Louisa, by serving as a Sheriff. He was a Deputy from 1815 to 1817. Soon after, he became Deputy County Clerk under his brother, Alexander Garrett, and in 1831 succeeded him as County Clerk. 2. Alexander Garrett, born 1775 and died in 1860. He married first Elizabeth Minor, daughter of James Minor. He married second Evelina Bolling, daughter of John Bolling and Mary Kennon. He was a close friend of Thomas Jefferson and had a distinguished public career. He was County Clerk in Albemarle County; first Proctor and Treasurer of Central College; and first Bursar of the University of Virginia, which he helped found. He was named a trustee of Thomas Jefferson's will and was with Jefferson at his death. He placed Thomas Jefferson in his death shroud. 3. Thomas Johnson Garrett, born 1777 and died in 1855. He married first Lucinda Terrell and second Nancy Thomson of Georgetown, Kentucky. He lived in Lexington, Mt. Sterling, and Greenup, Kentucky. Descendants of this line included the Marshall Field III family of Chicago, whose daughter, Ethel, married Captain David Beatty of the British Navy, hero of the Battle of Jutland, and later to be named as an Earl. 4. Henry Garrett, Jr. 5. Francis Garrett. 6. Peter R. Garrett, later of Cape Girardeau, born 11 June 1787 and died in Jackson, Missouri on 7 December 1840. He moved to Kentucky prior to his father and is shown on the 1800 Census of Kentucky in Lexington, Fayette County. Peter R. Garrett later moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri in 1821, where he married Mary Jane Whitelaw. Ancestor - see later. 7. Clarissa Garrett married Thomas Millam who moved to Palmyra, Missouri. 8. Captain Ashton Garrett moved to Kentucky with his father and brothers. In 1817, Ashton Garrett deeded 1,000 acres on Highland Creek and various lots in Frankfort. On 6 March 1828, he married Nancy M. Spangler in Lexington. After Ashton Garrett's death, his widow, Nancy, married Thomas Millam, a widower, who had previously been married to Clarissa Garrett. They raised a substantial family in Palmyra, Missouri. 9. Susan Garrett married a Mr. Davenport in Richmond, Virginia. 10. William Garrett also moved to Kentucky where he married Ann McConathy in Lexington in May 1822. 11. Mary Garrett. 12. Elizabeth Garrett. 13. Richard Garrett. PETER R. GARRETT 1787-1840 Peter R. Garrett was an attorney and Clerk of the County Court in Cape Girardeau from 1824 to 1840. He was descended from families that were among the first to settle in Virginia and included many relations and friends important in American history. The Garrett family of Virginia played important roles in the formation of Jamestown, Williamsburg, Charlottesville, the University of Virginia, and in the administration of Thomas Jefferson. Born in Albemarle County, Virginia on 11 June 1787, Peter R. Garrett moved first to Kentucky around 1800 and then to Cape Girardeau County about 1821. He married Mary Ann Whitelaw, daughter of Nicholas Whitelaw and Elizabeth Beazley, on 29 July 1827 in Cape Girardeau. He died on 7 December 1840 and was buried in Jackson (?). His widow, Mary Ann Whitelaw Garrett later married Fred Ehrman on 23 March 1845 in Cape Girardeau and died on 20 May 1874 in Cape Girardeau. An extensive genealogy of the Whitelaw family has been prepared by Rodney Whitelaw Jueneman and was presented to the Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society. Peter and Mary Garrett had six children. She had one additional child by her second marriage to Frederick Burkman Ehrman in 1845. 1. Mary Elizabeth Garrett, born 16 July 1828, married Charles Davis on 10 Jan 1846. He was Mayor of Cape Girardeau in 1849. After the death of Charles Davis, Mary married Charles Wall. Charles and Elizabeth (Garrett) Wall lived in Charleston, Mississippi County. Children included Ella Wall, David Wall, Mary Wall, Addie Wall, and Josephine (Phenie) Wall. 2. William Gayoso Garrett, born 14 April 1830 and died in 1887 in Cape Girardeau. He apparently was married at one time, but his wife's name is unknown. He was a business partner with James N. Whitelaw, his uncle. 3. Paul Alexander Garrett, born 25 May 1830 and died Feb 1904 in Virginia City, Montana where he had mining claims. He was married prior to moving to the Colorado Territories around 1850, but his wife's name is also unknown. 4. CLARA JOSEPHINE GARRETT, born 15 Sep 1835 and married to John W. Ramsey. Ancestor. See the Ramsey group previously posted on this site. 5. Thomas Franklin Van Buren Garrett, born 21 Mar 1837, married Susan M. Dean on 26 Oct 1865. She was the daughter of Edwin B. Deane and Susan Emeline Block. Thomas Franklin Garrett died 8 AUG 1885 in Brooklyn, New York but is buried in Cape Girardeau. One child, Dean Garrett. 6. Henry Ashton Garrett, born Aug 1839 and died in 1841 in Cape Girardeau. Will of Peter R. Garrett, filed 2 March 1842, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri: Box 75, Bundle 1418. David H. Davis, Administrator. Heirs: wife, Mary; Elizabeth, William, Paul Alexander, Franklin VanBuren, Henry and Josephine - an infant child. QUESTION: Where is Peter R. Garrett buried? ------------------------------------------------------------------- GARRETT FAMILY REFERENCES Census of Missouri for 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1876, 1880. Census of Tennessee for 1850, 1860 and 1870. Census of Virginia for 1810. Clark, Colonial Soldiers of the South, pp. 582. Dabney, William Minor "Jefferson's Albemarle: 1727-1819." Dissertation. Gardner, Lester Durand (1932) The Garrett Family of Louisa County, Virginia. Williamsburg. Garrett Family Papers and Diary, compiled by William Gayoso Garrett. (1858). Garrett Family Notes, Letters, and Documents, compiled by Iska W. Carmack and Rodney W. Jueneman. Garrett Family Notes, Letters, and Documents, compiled by Joseph Luther. Garrett Family Papers, deposited at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Garrett Family Papers, deposited at the University of Virginia. Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701. pp. 9. Index for Old Kentucky Surveys and Grants (1974). Kentucky Historical Society. Kentucky Obituaries, 1787-1854. (1979) Malone, D. (1981) Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 256, 257, 300, 447, 488. McAlister. Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War. pp. 213. Saffell. Officers and Privates of the Revolutionary War. pp. 276-278. Valentine Papers. pp. 97, 109, 215, 331, 370, 472, 819, 821, 872, 891, 955, 1300, 1535, 1686, 1691, 1961. Virginia Colonial Abstracts (1961). Vol. XI: Charles City Court Orders 1658-1661. pp. 246. Vol. XIII. pp. 580. Virginia County Records I - Spotsylvania County 1721-1800. pp. 61, 63, 76, 222- 226, 247, 256, 268, 275, 313, 338, 340, 360, 386. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 5V101, 5V341, 5V441, 10V97-98, 20V109, 25V203, 26V101, 28V220, 32V71, 32V136, 32V149, 33V370, 35V46, 37V329. Watts, C.W. "Colonial; Albemarle, 1727-1775." Thesis. William and Mary Quarterly. Vol. 5, pp. 106.and 2nd Series, Vol. XII, No. 1. Woods, E. (1901) Albemarle County in Virginia. pages 201-203. Joe Joseph Luther, Ph.D. 9101 Whispering Wind Road Lincoln, Nebraska 68502 402.423.4161 jluther@neb.rr.com