Gloucester

Names of Families in Gloucester County Genealogy, Wills, Estates, Marriages

Gloucester County was created in 1651 but Indian activity dominated the scene. The fortress of Chief Powhatan was located on the north side of the river in Gloucester and Powhatan had built his home Werowocomoco on land that is now in Gloucester County. This location is where Princess Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powatan, saved the life of Captain John Smith, earning both of them prominent places in our nation’s history books. Apparently an order was given in the colony to erect brick courthouses because there is a menton the Middlesex County Orders (1680-94) that the Gloucester court-house building was of brick and that the Middlesex Court House should be at least of equal goodness and dimensions ” as ye brick court-house lately built in Gloucester County.”
Marriages
  • Gloucester County Marriages to 1699
  • Licenses 1777 to 1778
Revolutionary War
  • Roster for Gloucester County
    Surveyor Records
    • 1704 Quit Rent Rolls
    • Surveyor Book 1773-1806
    • List of Surveyors 1670-1866
    Miscellaneous Wills and Estates
    Bernard, Robert
    Blacknell, Charles
    Leavit, Thomas
    Roane, Alexander
    Singleton, Robert, LWT

Digital Images of Wills 1862 to 1896

Testators: Allen, David ; Andrews, William ; Backhouse, John W. ; Baytop, Sarah A. ; Blake, James ; Bland, Archer ; Bland, Delilah Ann Elizabeth ; Bland, Scuyler ; Bohannon, John ; Bray, Thomas; Bristow, William; Bristow, William L.; Broaddus, Edwin; Brown, George Washington ; Brown, Randall; Bryan, Catharine A.; Bryan, Lucretia ; Bryan, Julia ; Burwell, Beverly; Cary, John R.; Catlett, John W. ; Cattell, Powell ; Catlett, Temple ; Chapman, Mary; Chapman, William ; Clarke, Colin ; Clayton, Lucy M.; Cooke, Peyton; Cooke, Thomas S. ; Cooke, Washington ; Curtis, Charles C. ; Cutler, Emily; Dabney, James K.; Daniel, Susan ; Davenport, James ; Dean, Gains; Deans, Josiah Herbert; Dews, Zachariah ; Dobson, John; Driver, Samuel; Duer, Isaac J. ;Duncan, Mary Frances ;Dunford, John W.; Dunn, Washington; Dutton, Elijah ;Eaves, Mary Harwood; Enos, Susan; Fambrose, Elizabeth ;Field, Humphrey ;Field, Lucy ;Field, William ;Fletcher, William R. ;Flowers, Lucy; Folkes, L. E., Mrs.; Fox, Eleanor ;Fox, Thomas Booth ;Foxwell, Nancy ;Freeman, Mark ;Freeman, William ;Gayle, Robin ;Graves, James C. ;Green, Randol ;Grissill, Lucy Ann; Guest, James; Gussett, Martha W.; Gussitt, William W.; Guthrie, Essex ;Hall, H. P. ; Hall, William F. ;Harwood, Thomas S. ;Hau, Robert ;Haynes, George ;Haywood, James C. ;Haywood, William B. ;Hiatt, Thomas ;Hibble, John L. ;Hibble, Letty R.; Hibble, William ;Hinkle, Catherine ;Hinman, Martha ;Hobday, William ;Hogg, John;Hogg, John (2) ;Howard, Lucy ;Hughes, George ; Hughes, John ; Hughes, Johnnie F. ;Jackman, Francis A. ; Jenkins, John ;Jones, Catesby; Jones, Fanny E.; Jones, John H.; Jones, William Catesby ; Kemp, Gregory ;Kemp, Sarah; Kilee, Thomas; Lambeth, Elizabeth ;Lambeth, William M. ;Landis, John ; Lewis, John T.; Mann, Charles ;Marchant, Thomas ;Marshall, Samuel Washington ;Massey, Edward Y.;Massey, William C. ;Massey, William Y.; Mason, Philip F. ;Mathias, Britton ;Medlicott, Joseph ;Medlicott, Samuel ; Mitchell, Rachel W. ; Monroe, Betsy ;Monroe, Elijah ;Moore, Henry M. ;Munford, George W. ;Nelson, Mary Augusta ;Page, Lucy Ann ;Page, P. R. ;Patterson, Charles; Pearce, George C. ;Pearce, John H. ;Penos, Samuel ;Perrin, William K. ;Perrin, Willis;Pointer, Seth ; Pointer, Thomas W.; Pointer, William D. ;Pratt, Benjamin ;Preben, Henry ;Proctor, Elizabeth ;Proctor, James H. ;Rayfield, William ;Richardson, Carlton ;Richeson, Leonard ;Roane, E. P. ;Roane, George A. ;Roane, Henry ;Roane, Samuel F. ;Robins, Elizabeth P. ;Robins, Thomas C. ;Rowe, Benjamin ;Rowe, Catherine ;Rowe, Robert R. ;Rowe, Robert S. ;Rowe, Thomas W. ;Roy, Martha ;Royston, Maria ;Sears, Edward ;Sears, Lucy A. ;Seawell, John H. ;Seawell, John T. ;Seawell, Thomas M.; Sedgwick, William; Selden, Robert ;Shackelford, George W. ;Sheldon, Harriett ;Shepard, Chancy B. ;Sinclair, John ;Singleton, Dorothy ;Smith, Frances ;Smith, Johnson ;Smith, Judith ;Smith, Peyton; Smith, Rachell ;Smith, Sally Kerr ;Smith, Sarah ;Smith, Thomas F. ;Smith, William ;Smither, John W. ;Smither, William T. ;Stewart, Robert H. ;Stubblefield, Julia A. ;Tabb, Evelina M. C. ;Tabb, John ;Tabb, John Prosser ;Taliaferro, Edwin ;Taliaferro, Fanny ; Taliaferro, Leah ;Taliaferro, William ;Tazewell, Frank; Thomas, William Sr.; Thornton, Thomas ;Thruston, Emanuel ;Thruston, John M. ; Thruston, Robert ;Thruston, William ;Tompkins, Evalina; Tyler, James ;Van Antwerk, Zoe ;Vandegriff, Henry ; Vaughan, Hetty ; Vaughan, William; Walker, John H. ;Walker, William S.; Walter, Margaret ;Ware, Ella S. ;Ware, James B. ;Watlington, Frances ; Wells, Moses E.; Wiggins, Maria ;Williams, Thomas ;Willis, John ; Withers, Alfred Dunham ;Wood, Randall

Miscellaneous

A Silver Beaker from the Past

In 1662, the following new towns were approved to be built: Varina in Henrico, Fleur de Hundred in Charles City, Smith’s Fort in Surry, Jamestown in James City, Batesville in Isle of Wight, Huff’s Point in Nansemond, the mouth of Deep Creek in Warwick, the Jervise Plantation in Elizabeth City, the Wise Plantation in Lower Norfolk, the Read Plantation in York, the Brick House in New Kent, Tyndall Point in Gloucester, the Wormsley Plantation in Middlesex, Hubb’s Hole in Rappahannock, Pearce Point in Stafford, Calverts Neck in Accomac, the plantation of the Secretary located on Kings Creek in Northampton, Corotoman in Lancaster and Chickacony in Northumberland.

How Tobacco was Grown in 1620

“In spring red seed, in preference to the white, is put into a clean pot; milk or stale beer is poured over it, and it is left for two or three days in this state; it is then mixed with a quantity of fine fat earth, and set aside in a hot chamber, till the seeds begin to put out shoots. They are then sown in a hot-bed. When the young spring plants have grown to a (the length of) a finger, they are taken up between the fifteenth and twenty-second of May, and planted in ground that has been previously well manured with the dung of doves or swine. They are placed at square distances of one and a half-foot from one another. In dry weather, they are now to be watered with lukewarm water softly showered upon them, between sunset and twilight. When these plants are full two feet high, the top of the stems are broken off, to make the leaves grow thicker and broader. Here and there are left a few plants having their tops broken off, in order that they may afford seeds for another year. Throughout the summer the other plants are from time to time, pruned at the top, and the whole field is carefully weeded to make the growth of the leaf so much more vigorous. In the month of September, from the sixteenth day, and between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon, the best leaves are to be taken off. It is more advantageous to pluck the leaves when they are dry than when they are moist. When plucked they are to be immediately brought home, and hung upon cords within the house to dry, in as full exposure as is possible to the influence of the sun and air; but as to receive no rain. In this exposure they remain till the months of March and April following; when they are to be put up in bundles, and conveyed to the storehouse, in which they may be kept, that they may be there till more perfectly dried by a moderate heat. Within eight days they must be removed to a different place where they are to be sparingly sprinkled with salt water, and left till the leaves shall be no longer warm to the feeling of the hand. A barrel of water with six handfuls of salt are the proportions. After this the tobacco leaves may be laid aside for commercial exploration. They will remain fresh for three years.” Source: Tobacco, Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce by E. R. Billings (1873).

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