York

York County Genealogy, Wills, Estates, Marriages, 1781 War Losses

York County was formed in 1634 as one of the eight original shires (counties) of the Virginia Colony and is one of the oldest counties in the United States. Yorktown is one of the three points of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia. It is the site of the last battle and surrender of Lord Cornwallis, commander of the British forces in 1781 at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War when the patriots gained independence from Great Britain. The county seat is Yorktown.

General Records of York County Virginia

Public Losses in York County from the Invasions of the Enemy in 1781
Andrews, Blair, LWT, transcript
York County Marriages to 1699
Index to York County Wills and Deeds, Bk 2, 1645-1649

Images of Will Bk No. 1, 1633-1657

Images of Wills 1740 to 1746

Images of Deeds, Wills, Orders 1633 to 1694

Images of Deeds, Orders and Wills, Bk. 19, 1740 to 1746

Images of Deeds, Orders, Wills, Bk No. 20, 1745 to 1759

Miscellaneous

1704 Quit Rent Rolls
List of Williamsburg Apothecaries 1765 to 1808

Traced genealogies and family histories of York County available to Members !

Clopton	Davis	Franklin	Graves	Marot
Prentis

Made in Williamsburg

Venetian blinds were widely made and used in both the Old World and the New. This how-to-do-it illustration also comes from Diderot Encyclopedia. In two of the bedrooms at the Brush-Everard House in Williamsburg and in one at the Raleigh Tavern stand commodious pieces of furniture that today would probably have to be called cupboards. The eighteenth-century housewife called them clothes presses, and they served her as a place to keep the family bedding and clothing. Samuel Galt was a watchmaking and silversmithing craftsman from 1750 until his death. His older son, James, was also a silversmith until 1770 when he was appointed the first keeper of the ” Lunatick Hospital” in Williamsburg. The younger son, John Minson Galt, acquired a medical education in Edinburgh and London and was later a partner in the apothecary and liturgical establishment of Dr. James Pasteur. Dickinson, an apprentice in the cabinet shop of Anthony Hall on Nicholson Street, was well equipped to make better furniture than any of these three clothes presses. During the Revolutionary War, he served as an officer and was killed at the Battle of Monmouth. The appraisers of the estate of Mr. Dickinson mentioned a Bucktrout, valued his possessions at #164. Also, the library of some forty volumes was valued at #20.

During 1647 there were a number of English Traders who Resided in the Colony

The English traders who resided in the Colony were Francis Lee, John Chew, Thomas Burbage, Robert Vaulx, and John Greene. In some instances, they returned to England (Robert Vaulx, John Greene, Francis Lee). The participation in commercial exchange with the Virginians does not appear to have been the direct means of acquiring vast fortunes on the part of the merchants who resided in the mother country, although it is known that many persons engaged in this trade were men of affluent circumstances. Lee, towards the latter part of the century, referred to himself as ” of London, formerly of Virginia.” Source: Records of York Company, vol. 1684-1687, p. 163; Rappahannock Records, vol. 1663-1668 (concerning Greene); Records of Middlesex County, vol. 1673-1685, p. 103.

The Wythe House

George Wythe was a true patriot and Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress and its first signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Wythe house served as the headquarters of General George Washington prior to the siege of Yorktown by the British. Also, French General Rochambeau made the home his headquarters after the victory at Yorktown. Then, in 1776, Thomas Jefferson and his family resided in the house.

1781 Map Drawn by the British of the Seige of Yorktown

The British also retained records of the American Revolutionary War, such as names of American prisoners taken and remunerations requested by Loyalists of seized American estates. Using records found at the UK Archives will help to trace the loyalist escapees. After the war, loyalists in the northern colonies quickly escaped to Nova Scotia while those near Charleston and Savannah went to the West Indies. Because it was popular to ship sugar from Barbados and other West Indies locations, the lucrative crop was shipped into the colonies, and Great Britain and some of the more prominent loyalists owned their own sugar plantations. That is how people of Scottish descent already had a settlement in (Scots Town) Barbados during the war and after the loyalist found themselves listed as traitors, a good reason to remove to their sugar plantations.