This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/YZ5.2ACIB/1074 Message Board Post: "For some years I have been gathering material for a history of the PAXTONS. For this purpose I have examind the records of several counties in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and through the kindness of friends have been able to obtain extracts from Irish records in Dublin. I also have had extensive correspondence with members of the family both in Ireland and the United States. This sketch of the Rockbridge Co., Va., PAXTONS is sent out in the hope that those having family records, or traditions, will send them to me. I especially desire to obtain dates of births, marriages, and deaths, places of residence, and any other facts interesting to the family. Any one desiring to add in this undertaking will please address W. P. Houston, Lexington, Rockbridge Co., Virginia. Nov. 1st, 1894." "TRADITIONS. Among all the families of this name in Rockbridge, it is stated, that three brothers of the name came from Ireland to America between 1730 and 1740, and that the families of two of them came to Virginia, and that the other brother remained in Pennsylvania. I find the same tradition among the Paxton family to which the Rev. W. M. Paxton, D.D. of Princeton, NJ, belongs. Rev. John R. Paxton, D.D. of New York city, says that the tradition in his family is that a Paxton came about the time of the Penns; prospered and sent for his three brothers, and from these all the Paxtons are descended. There is a large family of Paxsons in Pennsylvania, descended from three brothers of the name of Paxton, who came to Pennsylvania from Buckingham county, England. They were Quakers, and no relationship can be traced, although some generations back, I am informed, it was claimed. The Paxtons who came to America from Ireland were of English origin, as was stated by Joseph Paxton, son of William Paxton, to his granddaughter, the late Isabella Cummins, from whom I had the statement. I have had much correspondence with the Paxtons of Ireland, but have not been able to trace this family certainly. A Mr. John Paxton living in Montreal, Canada, sent me a copy of a paper prepared by his father, James Paxton, who came from Ireland to Canada in 1830, and died there in 1862, in which he says that the Irish Paxtons are descended from a Paxton who having fought under Cromwell in England, came with him to Ireland as Colonel of one of three regiments, and to whom Cromwell granted lands in County Fermanagh. There he was killed in the insurrection preceding the siege of Londonderry, and his widow and three sons fled to the sea coast. One son settled in County Louth, and his family afterwards came to America. These, he says, are the ancestors of the Pennsylvania and Virginia Paxtons. I have found much to confirm this tradition. FACTS. There were three Paxton brothers who came from Ireland to Pennsylvania between 1730 and 1740. Of these John remained, and Thomas and the widow of the other brother, with her five sons, came to Augusta county, Va. Thomas and his son Thomas settled in the Borden grant, both receiving deeds from the Bordens --Thomas Paxton, Sr., 500 acres adjoining Archibalk Alexander, and Thomas Paxton, Jr., 670 acres. Boith of these deeds are dated May 16th, 1748, but recite the fact that they were purchased in the lifetime of Ben Borden, Sr., who died in 1742. Samuel Paxton, a son of Thomas Paxton, Sr., in a deposition given in the "Borden suit, April 5, 1806 when he was "seventy years old and upwards," says his father, "Thomas Paxton, Sr.," came "to purchase" a year or more after Captain John McDowell was killed. We knowhe was killed Christmas day 1742. At any rate the "South River Paxtons" came as early as 1743. The widow with her five sons, I think, came at a later date, probably in 1746, and settled south of North river, and are known as "The North River Paxtons.""