John Armistead

John Armistead

• Birth: Circa 1742 - Hesse, Gloucester County, Virginia
• Death: Circa 1788 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
• Parents: William Armistead, Mary Bowles
• Wife: Lucy Page Baylor

Family

http://www.ancestraltrackers.net/va/resources/family-armistead-virg...

24. V. John Armistead, of Caroline County, of College of William and Mary 1755 ; m. 17 March, 1764, Lucy, daughter of John Baylor of Newmarket.

Children:

• i. John Baylor. 41
• ii. Mary, m. Landon Carter of Richmond County.
• iii. William. 42
• iv. Frances, m. Gillis of Alexandria.
• V. Addison Bowles. 43
• vi. George, b. at Newmarket 10 April, 1779. 44
• vii. Lewis Gustavus Adolphus, Captain U. S. A., killed in the sortie from Fort Erie, Canada, 17 September, 1814.
• viii. Walker Keith, b. in 1783. 45
• ix. Eleanor Bowles, m. Col. John Dangeriield of Essex County.

notes

John Bowles Armistead: Contest of Will
, Virginia

Virginia Reports 1730-1880 by Thomas Johnson Michie, Thomas Jefferson, Supreme Court of Appeals, Peachy Ridgway, pp. 609- (books.google.com)

John Armistead, of the county of Caroline, by his last will, dated June 25th, and proved July 21st, 1788, after sundry devises of his lands to his widow and sons, directed the slaves which should remain after paying his debts, to be equally divided between his widow and 'children,' share and share alike, but to be kept together, and worked on his lands, or part hired out, at the discretion of his executors, for the general support and maintenance of his widow and 'children ;' and that, as his sons respectively came of age, and his daughters married or came of age, his or her share or proportion thereof be allotted and given up to them, and the residue to be considered as undivided, until his son Addison arrived of age, when he desired a division of his slaves to be made between his widow, and such of the children as had not had their dividend or proportion of them.

Item, hegave to his children his personal estates (slaves not included) in the counties of Prince William and Loudoun, equally, and to be kept together, and allotted, as directed in the case of his slaves; except that, when his son Addison should come of age, and had taken his share thereof, the residue be sold, and the money divided equally between those 'children' who had not had a share of the personal estate."

At the time of making this will, the testator had six sons, and two daughters, namely, John Baylor, William, Addison, George, Lewis, Walker, Frances, and Mary, of whom, Mary was not mentioned by name, in the will. He had also a daughter in ventre sa mere, who was born after his death, baptized by the name of Eleanor, and became the wife of John Dangerfield, who, thereupon, filed his bill, in her right, in the Superior Court of Chancery for the Richmond District, against Lucy Armistead, the widow and executrix, John B. Armistead, and others, devisees and legatees, of the said testator, and William Herndon, and others, purchasers, of sundry lands from the said devisees; claiming, by virtue of the act of assembly in favour of posthumous children, (a) as for a child pretermitted in the will, such portion of the real and personal estate of the decedent as she would have been entitled to if her father had died intestate. The prayer of the bill was that … a division and partition be made, "so as to compel each legatee and devisee to abate proportionably for the purpose of making up the portion of the plaintiff."

Lucy Armistead, the widow, in her answer, averred, that "her late husband was not informed that she was enseint of that child, at the time of making his will." Her deposition was also taken, in which she swore that he left home in an extreme bad state of health, in March, 1788, for Philadelphia, accompanied by their son, John B. Armistead: that the account of his funeral expenses, transmitted to her from Philadelphia, was dated, June 27th, 1788; and that, on the 3d day of September, 1788, the plaintiff Eleanor was born.

John B. Armistead. in his answer, said, that he accompanied his father to Philadelphia, and was with him at the time of his death ; and, from what was said by him during the journey, and in Philadelphia, "this defendant is certain his father was acquainted with the pregnant state of this defendant's mother, at the time he published and declared his last will and testament." The respondent also swore that he was himself a duly certificated bankrupt, and, therefore, had no interest in the event of the present suit. In the answers of William Herndon and others, purchasers of lands of which the testator died seised, it was alleged, that they severally purchased without notice of the plaintiff's claim. Thomas Newman, one of them, said, that "he had been advised that the said Eleanor had no right to any share of the said lands under the last will of her said father, whose intention appears to have been to devise his landed property to his sons, in exclusion of his daughters, and to provide for all his daughters out of his other estate, being possessed of many slaves and other personal estate. At the time of making his said last will, this defendant believes, and so he alleges, that the said testator well knew that his wife Lucy was far advanced in pregnancy, and, in case a daughter should be born, that the expressions used in his will did include her, as well as his daughter Mary, who is not named therein; but, in case a son should be born, that he would share, under the law of Virginia, a part of his lands, with his brothers." The cause came on to be heard the 12th of February, 1811, when Chancellor Taylor was of opinion, that "this case presents the naked question of a posthumous child, who was neither provided for, nor disinherited, but only pretermitted by the testator's will…

The plain question is, whether Mrs. Dangerfield was provided for by the will at all. If she took any thing under the will, she can take nothing under the statute. November 12th, 1812. JUDGE ROANE pronounced the following opinion of the court.

The court is of opinion that there is no error in so much of the decree, rendered in this case, as considers the female appellee to have been a pretermitted child of the testator, John Armistead, according to the true construction of the act in such case made and provided; nor in so much thereof as decrees to the appellee, John Dangerfield, in right of his wife, one ninth part of the real and personal estate (after the payment of his debts) of which the said testator died seised and possessed, together with the rents and profits of the said real estate; but that the same is erroneous in not having provided that the said portion, or ninth part, should be raised by a proportionable contribution by the devisees and legatees in the said testator's will mentioned, and those claiming under them.

Outcome: decree reversed, without costs, and remanded to the Court of Chancery.

BGTalcottadded this on 27 Apr 2009 gwendygb1originally submitted this to Gore_Bachman on 15 Sep 2008

Will proved 1788. Appeal decided 1812.

GEDCOM Note

From Daughters of the American Revolution membership genealogy

Colonel John Armistead is the ancestor who assisted in establishing American Independcne, while acting in the capacity of Colonel in theRevolutionary Army. He was Colonel in the continental Army. He married Lucy, daughter of Colonel John Baylor, March 17, 1764. "All the sons ofthis marriage where inbued with martial spirit. One of the sons, my grandfather, Gen. Walker Keith Armistead, was one of the first graduates of West Point; passed successfully through all gradation of office from Lieutenant to that of General, was commanding General during part of the Seminole War;- Commanded at Fortress Monroe during the war of 1812, and would have been the commanding General in the Mexican War but for his death, which occurred the night he received his appointment. His death passed the rank to Gen. Taylor."

"The above mentioned Armisteads are of the"Armisteads of Hesse," who, according to Bishop Meade, and the old Vestry books were in Virginia from before the year 1677."

FROM http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db...

John Armistead was a member of the Committee of Observation of Caroline county, Virginia.Colonel in Continental Army. He inherited all of his father's lands in Prince William Co. Six of his sons served in the War of 1812. "Colonial Families . " Vol 1. Four of John and Lucinda's sons served in the War of 1812. John inherited large properties in Caroline from Henry Armistead, first Burgess from Caroline.

References

• The Family of Armistead of Virginia (1899). By William S. Appleton. link “William Armistead with wife Anne was undoubtedly in Virginia soon after 1635. They had 4 children: William, John, Anthony, Frances.”
• “Armistead Family.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 3, 1898, pp. 164–171. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1914603. Accessed 21 Aug. 2021.
• The Armistead Family: 1635-1910, By Virginia Armistead Garber GoogleBooks
• “Colonial Families of the United States.” Page 12. link
• Periodical William & Mary Quarterly Armistead Family Mr. C.P. Keith in "Descendants of Benjamin Harrison" & Berkeley Manuscripts William & Mary Quarterly Vol ! Y Y Pg 105
• Armistead Family 1635-1910 The Armistead Family Virginia Armsitead Garber Richmond, Virginia Whittet and Shepperson printers 1910 Y Y Pg 19
• https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0551... has errors
• Dorman, John Frederick. 2004. Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5. Genealogical Pub. Co. 4th edition. Vol 1, Page 279, book lookup by Hill, C. [03/05/2024]