Elizabeth Ravencroft

John Hamlin married Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of Richard and Sarah (Barker) Taylor about 1685 in Charles City County, Virginia. (It is known they were married before August 1688 when John represented his wife in court concerning her father's estate.) Known children include:[3]

Elizabeth Hamlin, m. Thomas Ravenscroft.

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hamlin-92

Elizabeth Hamlin was born in Charles City County, Virginia, about 1690, the daughter of Capt. John Hamlin (abt.1655-bef.1699) and Elizabeth (Taylor) Hamlin (abt.1664-1720). Her father was a merchant, Captain in the Militia, and a Justice of the Charles City County court from 1691 to at least 1696. In 1696, he purchased a plantation named Maycox (or Maycocks), directly across the James River from William Byrd I's Westover Plantation.[1]Captain John Hamlin died in 1699 and left Maycox to his wife Elizabeth.[2] She also became a partner in shipping merchandise, and possibly slaves, among England, Barbados and Virginia.

In 1704, a year after Prince George County was carved out the portion of Charles City County south of the James River, Elizabeth's mother and brothers John and Richard were charged taxes on 250 acres, 1484-1/2 acres, and 240 acres of land, respectively.[3]

About 1710, Elizabeth married Thomas Ravenscroft (1688-bef.1736). Thomas had come from Boston to Virginia as a child with his father, Samuel Ravenscoft, who owned a sloop that traded in Virginia. Samuel had been imprisoned in Boston in connection with Edmund Andros and then settled in Virginia about 1692, when Andros was named Governor of Virginia.[4] Having your own sloop and good connections to the Governor proved useful. Samuel obtained authorization from the House of Burgesses to bring "some Beere & Syder . . . on Shoare without payment of the Imposition according to Law . . . for his families use."[5]

Samuel Ravenscroft died in 1695 and Andros was removed as Governor in 1698 for impeding the establishment of the College of William and Mary. He was defended in London, unsuccessfully, by recently–admitted attorney William Byrd II. Byrd did not return to live in the Virginia colony until after death of his father, William Byrd I, in 1705.[6]

Elizabeth and her husband Thomas Ravenscroft initially lived in James City County. Thomas had probably been raised there; his mother had married as her second husband, Thomas Hadley, the contractor who had built the Main Building of the College of William and Mary in 1695. Elizabeth's husband, Thomas Ravencroft, had attained the position of sheriff of James City County in 1722, the year before the family moved to the Maycox plantation on the south shore of the James River in Prince George County.[7] By that time, two of Elizabeth's older brothers had died and a third would die within a couple of years.[8] This left only one son, William Hamlin, who was the Clerk of the Prince George Court. Thomas Ravenscroft appears to have been in a position to assume some of the shipping interests that had previously filled by the Hamlin family. He had attained the position of a Burgess for Prince George County in January 1736, when the Virginia Gazette, announced his death.[9]

Elizabeth and Thomas's only known child was John Ravenscroft (abt.1710-bef.1772). Although Thomas's will has not been found, the Court minutes for 4 July 1739 show that John was appointed his father's executor and that he assigned a debt to Elizabeth Ravenscroft, for which she obtained a judgment.[10] This appears to be the Elizaabeth who is the subject of this profile.

References

1. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hamlin-92
   1. Indenture from Roger Drayton to John Hamlin, dated 13 Dec 1796; Charles City County Order Book 1694–1700, 303; accessed on 15 Jun 2022 at digital collections of the Library of Virginia, http://digitool1.lva.lib.va.us : image 17_0498_0123.tif.
   2. Will of John Hamelin, dated 5 Jan 1798/9 & proved 3 Oct 1699; Charles City County Order Book 1694–1700, 428; accessed on 15 Jun 2022 at digital collections of the Library of Virginia, http://digitool1.lva.lib.va.us : image 17_0498_0238.tif.
   3. Thomas J. Wertenbaker, The Planters of Colonial Virginia (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1922) 188; https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044011263761?urlappend=%3Bseq=194...
   4. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. I, 312; https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044021203278?urlappend=%3Bseq=346...
   5. Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1659-1693, Vol. I, 403 (26 Apr 1692); https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c109598813?urlappend=%3Bseq=495%3Bo...
   6. Wikipedia contributors, "William Byrd II," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Byrd_II&oldid=10... (accessed May 29, 2022).
   7. Leon Gardiner Tyler, Encylopedia of Virginia Biography (New York: Lewis historical publishing co., 1915), Vol. 1, 312; https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044021203278?urlappend=%3Bseq=346...
   8. Will of John Hamlin, Prince George, Virginia, Deeds, etc. 1713-1728, Part 3, 802-804 (Dated 11 Nov 1724; proved 11 May 1725; assigns division of property among his sons to "my brothers Thomas Ravenscroft and William Hamlin"); images, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99PX-X4X4 : June 17, 2022), image 92 of 408; Virginia. County Court (Prince George County).
   9. "Letters of William Byrd, 2d, of Westover, VA," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,, Vol. 9, 241-44 (January 1902); http://books.google.com/books?id=kDXBpQL5VQUC&pg=PA242&dq=ravenscro...
   10. Prince George, Virginia, Court Minute Book 1737–1740 (4 Jul 1739) 306; images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4X-W1JP : May 29, 2022), image 324 of 359; Virginia. County Court (Prince George County).