Government Island, Aquia Creek

"The picks and mauls are silent now at Government Island. Gone are the muscled laborers who quarried the rock. Gone, too, are the masted ships that carried it north. Government Island is quiet now Overgrown with oaks and maples and sticker bushes. Only the silent stones say that This was once the nation’s most famous quarry." – Jim Hall, Journalist, July 6, 1992; The Free Lance-Star

Government Island in Stafford County, Virginia, now a 17-acre historic site, was an early American quarry named Brent’s Island or Wiggington’s Island. Since 1694, stone was quarried from this site for use as architectural trim in Colonial America. The quarry’s fine-grained sandstone was called Aquia Stone, due to its location along the Aquia Creek, or Freestone, for its ability to be freely carved without splitting. It was a desirable building material for its composition as well as its fine grain and brilliant white color. In 1791, George Washington sent Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant to find the best supply of sandstone to build the new federal city. L'Enfant purchased the island on December 2, 1791, which afterwards became known as Government Island. Extensive quantities of Aquia Stone (sandstone) were extracted from this site from L'Enfant's date of purchase through the 1820s, loaded onto sailing ships and carried up the Potomac River to the Federal City.

Library of Congress Blog

Brent family members were cousins of the Peytons in Westmoreland County, and along Aquia Creek. In fact the real properties of the two families seem to border each other's on the Aquia. The Peytons had early real estate dealings with the Wiggingtons. The genealogy book PEYTONs Along the Aquia, covers these families on pages 9, 26, 46.

PEYTON of Gloucester County

Arms: Sable a cross engrailed or. 

Crest: A griffin sejant or.

Motto: Patior potior. 

Major Robert Peyton of Rongham, Norfolk, and of Isleham, Gloucester county, Virginia, was born in 1640 and died 1694. He was a son of Thomas Peyton and Elizabeth Yelverton, a daughter of Sir William Yelverton, Bart., of Rougham, Norfolk. He married in 1668 and was in Virginia before 1679. He was Major of the Gloucester County Militia. 

The Peytons of Westmoreland county are of kin to those of Gloucester county and use the same arms, with the addition of "a mullet argent, in the second quarter, and a bordure ermine" for a difference. Henry Peyton of Lincoln Inn died in London in 1656 and was a cadet of the Peytons of Isleham. He had issue, Robert born 1624; Valentine, Henry, Laurence, Catherine, Margaret, Henry, John, Charles and Mary. Of these, Valentine, Lawrence, Henry and John came to Virginia. Valentine died in Westmoreland county in 1665 at his estate of Nominy. Henry, his brother, died in 1659, and from these two brothers came a numerous progeny whose descendants are found through Virginia and the South.

"VIRGINIA HERALDICA - A Registry of Virginia Gentry Entitled to Coat Armor WITH GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF THE FAMILIES," edited by WILLIAM ARMSTRONG CROZIER, 1908, from the "Virginia County Record Series" Volume V, page 92.

The genealogy book PEYTONs Along the Aquia, covers the PEYTON family of Westmoreland County, Virginia.

The Genealogy of the PEYTON family of Gloucester County, Virginia is covered in Reverend Horace Edwin Hayden's 1891 genealogy, "PEYTON, of England and Virginia," on pages 468 through 479.

JEMIMA PEYTON of Culpepper, Virginia

Updated research reveals that the JEMIMA PEYTON on pages 91 and 253 of PEYTONs Along the Aquia did not marry Benjamin WASH who went to Anderson County, Kentucky. I don't know what happened to JEMIMA after the mention in her grandfather's will. BENJAMIN WASH is a proven Revolutionary War soldier and in previous DAR records his wife was named as JEMIMA PEYTON. Recently, DAR has changed her name to "JEMIMA." From my recent research in Amherst County, Virginia records it appears that the "JEMIMA PAYTON" living there in 1784, was the widow of an unknown PAYTON. It is believed that she is the JEMIMA PAYTON who married secondly to BENJAMIN WASH and went with him to Kentucky.

Gloucester County PEYTONs

This is from "SELDON and Kindred of Virginia" by Edna Mae Seldon, 1941, page 133: "Dr. Valentine PEYTON ... daughter, Elizabeth Washington PEYTON ..." when PEYTON researchers believed that the PEYTON family of Northern Virginia was descended from the Gloucester County, Virginia PEYTONs. Later genealogical research has discounted that theory.

The Genealogy of the PEYTON family of Gloucester County, Virginia is included in Reverend Horace Edwin Hayden's 1891 genealogy, "PEYTON, of England and Virginia," on pages 468 through 479.

Dr. Valentine PEYTON and his family appear on page 45 of PEYTONs Along the Aquia. According to recent genealogies, the father-in-law of Elizabeth Washington PEYTON was Governor Patrick HENRY. Elizabeth's second husband was Reverend George PATTERSON.

Mary Howe PEYTON, her father John PEYTON, and their PEYTON family appear on page 60, of PEYTONs Along the Aquia.

Jeremiah Peyton

I received the following information from a reader of both of my PEYTON family books. She discovered that we are related through my fifth great grandmother Nancy PEYTON born 1751, who was the sister of her third great grandfather Jeremiah PEYTON born 1753. She descends through Jeremiah's grandson, Henry "Harvey" PEYTON, born about 1834.

"Jeremiah had Jeremiah, Jr. in 1791, Jeremiah, Jr. had Henry (sometimes referred to as Harvey) in 1832, Henry/Harvey had Adolphus in 1874, Adolphus had Edgar Carl Peyton, my father, in 1914. My father was one of 18 children, obviously all Peytons!! ... In addition to John W. and Adolphus, my records show there was a brother named James Henry born in 1861, a brother Amos born in 1864, a brother Howard Franklin born in 1866, a brother Walter Robert born in 1884 and a sister Luemma S. born in 1876."

Her research accounts for the following children to Henry "Harvey" PEYTON who appears on page 159 of  PEYTONs Along the Aquia.

• James Henry PEYTON born in 1861.


• John W. PEYTON born about 1863 in Virginia.


• Amos PEYTON born in 1864.


• Howard Franklin PEYTON born in 1866.


• Adolphus PEYTON born 1874, had 18 PEYTON children, including her father Edgar Carl PEYTON.


• Luemma S. PEYTON born in 1876.


• Walter Robert PEYTON born in 1884.

Overwharton Parish Register

The Register of Overwharton Parish, Stafford County, Virginia

In 1961, noted Virginian genealogist George Harrison Sanford King made a transcription of Stafford County, Virginia's Overwharton Parish Register, pages 92, 93, containing PEYTON - PAYTON names. All of the names appearing on this snipped view are documented in the genealogy book, PEYTONs Along the Aquia where their lineage is traced back to 16th century England and before.

• RACHEL PAYTON - see pages 91 of  PEYTONs Along the Aquia.
• CHARLES PAYTON - see - pages 91, 126.
• ANNE PEYTON - see pages 42, 64, 66, 76, 79, 81, 108.
• ELEANOR PEYTON - see pages 43, 207.
• ELIZABETH PEYTON - see page 43.
• PHILIP PEYTON - see pages 92 - 95.
• VALENTINE PEYTON - see pages 93, 130 - 132.
• JEREMIAH PEYTON - see pages 91, 127, 128.
• NANCY PAYTON - see pages 91, 129, 130.
• JOHN PEYTON - see pages 28, 41 - 45.

Note: Nancy PAYTON and John and Ureth PAYTON are my ancestors. Image snipped from Ancestry.com.

John Rowzee Peyton of Montgomery County

HISTORY OF BECKLEY AND RALEIGH COUNTY - Early Settlers of Raleigh County, West Virginia: The following by Judge W. A. Riffe appeared in the Beckley Post-Herald Centennial Edition on August 26, 1950.

PEYTON, John Rowzee - A native of Montgomery County, Va., he settled in the Marshes in 1845. He was related to the Madison, Preston, Breckinridge, and Floyd families. A large man weighing over 300 pounds, he was well educated and an original and entertaining conversationalist of humorous temperament. He owned fine farms in Trap Hill District and engaged in farming, stock raising and trading. He entered the Confederate service in 1861 and was attached to a regiment of the Stonewall Brigade. He participated in the Battle of First Manassas and later was detailed for recruiting service in Southwest Virginia. Peyton was murdered from ambush in 1862 by some Confederate deserters on Bent Mountain in Roanoke County, Va. while on his way to Floyd County.

According to Reverend Horace Edwin Hayden's 1891 genealogy, "PEYTON, of England and Virginia," on pages 552, 553, John Rowzee PEYTON was born 6 December 1806, in Montgomery County, Virginia. John Rowzee PEYTON appears with his parents on page 122, of "Peytons Along the Aquia", where his descent from the PEYTONs of early Colonial Virginia and England is documented. Reverend Hayden described his war service and his death and reported that, although married, he left no descendants.