Elizabeth Buford

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Elizabeth Buford (unknown)

Birthdate:
Birthplace: England (United Kingdom)
Death: 1774 (85-86)
Middlesex County, Virginia, USA
Immediate Family:

Wife of Thomas Buford, Jr.
Mother of Agatha Twyman Warwick Lee (Buford); John Buford, Sr.; Elizabeth Early; Sarah Wisdom; Mary "Polly" Lee and 1 other

Managed by: N Twyman
Last Updated:

About Elizabeth Buford

Not the same as Elizabeth Medstand Howson


Family

1. Thomas Beauford, Jr. b. May 21, 1682 Lancaster County, VA, d. July 7, 1762 Middlesex, VA; m 1704 Elizabeth Johnson Lee [SIC], b. 1688 VA, d. 1774 VA:

  • 1) Agatha Buford, b. August 13, 1705, m. July 16, 1724, Mr. Lee; m #2 George Twyman, July 16, 1724; m #3 John Warwick March 8, 1735;
  • 2) John Buford, b. September 1,1701 Lancaster County, VA; m. 1735 Judieth Phillippe Early
  • 3) Elizabeth Buford b. 1709, m. October 16, 1728, Jeremiah Early, Sr. b. December, 1705 Middlesex County, VA; d. February 19, 1787 Orange County, VA;
  • 4) Sarah Buford, b. April 6, 1712, Lancaster County, VA; m. Mr. Wisdom;
  • 5) Mary Buford, m. George Lee, December 4, 1737, Middlesex County, VA
  • 6) Ann Buford, b. August 10, 1718 Lancaster County, VA; m. Thomas Duckworth;

Disputed Origins

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Buford-87#_note-George

Much modern hearsay claims she was either Virginia native Elizabeth Medstand Lee or Virginia native Elizabeth Perrott, but these unfounded, unexplained claims are refuted by Elizabeth's grandson, who asserted in his autobiography that she was "a native of England."[5]

5. A handwritten complete copy of George Twyman III’s 12 Feb 1811 autobiography, in the papers of George Twyman collection, MSS 38-153, Library of Virginia Special Collections: "My father Geo. Twyman married a woman by the name of Aggatha Buford, daughter of Thos. Buford, a native of Va., whose wife was a native of England."


”... there is literally no evidence anywhere that Thomas Buford married Elizabeth Lee or Elizabeth Perrot. It looks to me like someone accidentally conflated two Lee families who lived near each other, then someone accidentally filled in--or guessed--which Elizabeth Thomas married. Others saw it, loved the idea that a blank maiden name was filled in, and voila! the tsunami of hearsay propagates eternally across the internet. ...”

N Twyman Notes:

A kind user offered the History of Iowa as a source and noted additional conversations or notes she had that a Ms. Hickman once claimed Elizabeth was Elizabeth Medstand Lee. The book claims that a Letitia (Buford) Edwards was a daughter of a Thomas Buford, and the user suggested that additional notes exist somewhere from the same person who offered data for that book that claim Thomas Buford's wife was Elizabeth Medstand Lee. Here are the things that need to be addressed to help solidify that claim.
1. If Ms. Hickman's claims are interpreted correctly, they contradict an 1811 claim by Elizabeth Buford's grandson that Elizabeth was "a native of England." The Lee family of Northampton had been in Virginia for longer than a generation. Should a hearsay claim from about 1902 or thereabouts trump Elizabeth Buford's own grandson's claim from 1811? In some cases the answer is yes, but we will need to look at the source and decide if and how it does do that.
2. The narrative about Thomas Buford in the book you shared claims that Thomas "served through the entire war of the Revolution and died at its close." But church records show he would have been over 90 years old when that war broke out. More importantly, Thomas's probate records show he was dead by 1761. The hearsay source from Ms. Hickman will need to overrule these direct records somehow if she is the source of these Revolutionary war claims about Thomas. That will be a challenge, but doable if (for instance) she proves a mixup in or misinterpretation of the existing government records.
3. It appears Ms. Hickman claims that Letitia (Edward) Buford was a daughter of Thomas Buford, but neither Letitia nor her husband nor children are mentioned in Thomas's will, even though all of Thomas's other daughters were directly mentioned, by their married names. The claims from Ms. Hickman will be bolstered if they give a reason for why Thomas left Letitia out of his will.
There is no problem believing everything Ms. Hickman may have claimed regardless of evidence to the contrary. But if we can resolve these and related concerns satisfactorily, we can also convince a lot of other people who believe the evidence points a different direction.

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Elizabeth Buford's Timeline

1688
1688
England (United Kingdom)
1705
August 13, 1705
Middlesex, Accomack, Virginia, United States
1707
September 21, 1707
Christchurch Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia
1709
1709
Middlesex County, VA
1710
1710
birth date estimated, Middlesex County, Virginia
1716
August 20, 1716
Lancaster County, Virginia, United States
1718
July 4, 1718
Middlesex County, Virginia, USA
1774
1774
Age 86
Middlesex County, Virginia, USA
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