Thursday, December 13, 2012

Catherine PAYTON and Alander PAYTON of Overwharton Parish

In 1740, there are two PEYTON (PAYTON) women, born circa 1722, whose marriages were documented in the Overwharton Parish Register of Stafford County, Virginia. The first was CATHERINE PAYTON who married WILLIAM SCROGGING on 18 February 1740. The second woman was ALANDER PAYTON who married JAMES HEFFERNON on 20 May 1740. I have found no records which reveal the parentage of these two PAYTON women, but preponderance of evidence can be employed to claim them as granddaughters of either VALENTINE PEYTON or PHILIP PEYTON who appear on pages 28 through 32 of PEYTONs Along the Aquia.

Because the two women married within a few months of each other is a good indication that they may have been sisters. The possible parentage of CATHERINE PAYTON is mentioned on pages 45, 46. Although we cannot document their parents, it can be presumed that their PEYTON ancestors were HENRY and Ellen PEYTON, pages 19 through 22, who immigrated from England to Aquia Creek, Virginia in the early seventeenth century, and whose British lineage is well established.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Stafford County Order Book 1749-1755

Most of the battles of the War Between the States were fought on the terrain of Virginia, resulting in great losses to courthouse records. This further compounded the losses already suffered during the American Revolution. Many Virginia records were stolen by Yankee soldiers and shipped North to their homes for safekeeping.

It is indeed a joyous occasion when these stolen records are discovered extant and returned to Virginia. An eighteenth century court order book from Stafford County was recently found in New Jersey. It had been taken by Captain William Augustus Treadwell of the 4th New York Infantry, and his misdeed was documented in his own handwriting inside the front cover of said volume. He wrote that it had been prepared in October 1791, being a transcription of court records covering 1749 to 1755. The Order Book is currently undergoing conservation, and when that is completed, it will be available at both the Stafford County Courthouse and the Library of Virginia.

The above information is from the "Mount Vernon Genealogical Society Newsletter," November 2012, written by Sharon B. Hodges, page 13.

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