John Beazley

Does not seem to be related to William Beasley, Immigrant, of Old Rappahannock & Essex County, Virginia

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Beazley-185

BEAZLEY FAMILY OF BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA

Buckingham County is located in central Virginia and was home to John Beazley, whose ties to other Virginia families of this name are not known. The deeds and other records of this burned county are largely destroyed, though some wills, including those of John and his wife Bridget survive.

JOHN BEAZLEY was born at an unknown location say 1730 of unknown parents. He died in Buckingham County, Virginia, before 13 May 1782, testate.557 He married BRIDGET FUQUA, daughter of Joseph and Anna (Sampson) Fuqua.558 She was born say 1730-35, apparently in Charles City County, Virginia, and died in Buckingham County before 9 April 1793, testate.559 Her father is proved by a deed in Cumberland County, Virginia, dated 21 October 1782, in which Joseph Fuqua deeded slaves to his children Joseph Fuqua Jr., William Fuqua, John Fuqua, Jane Sampson and husband William Sampson, “Bridge Beasley,” Margaret Weatherford and husband William Weatherford, Elizabeth Hill and husband John Hill, and Sara McGehee and husband Jacob McGehee, “in consideration that the said Joseph Fuqua is now advanced in age and for some time past inform so as not to able to look after his own business.”560

As early as 1764, John Beazley resided in Buckingham County, and his name appears with that of Sarah Daubings on a tithable list being taxed on two tithes, 325 acres, and no wheel carriages.561 The reason for his pairing with Sarah Daubings is unexplained; she may have been his mother who had remarried or perhaps a sister who co-owned the land with him. Sarah was also taxed on her own 200 acres on the same list.562 In 1773 and again in 1774, John was listed with his sons Jonathan and William, assessed on five tithes in 1773 and six in 1774.563

On 17 May 1779, John signed his name to a petition with others living in Tillotson Parish, Buckingham County, who complained that “in [the] above half of the said Parish & County there is no church nor vestry man.”564 The petitioners hoped that the old vestry of the present church in the lower part of the county would be dissolved and a new one created that would offer them representation.

John Beazley wrote his will in Buckingham County on 18 November 1781, and a copy survives among loose papers in the Library of Virginia.565 He left to his wife Bridget “the plantation and manor place whereon I now live. He also left to her his slaves and stock, afterward they would be divided equally to all of his children. He left to his four sons, Charles, William, John, and Jonathan “all my lands on the Brown Mountain in Amherst County also all my lands on Rock Island Creek, also all my land on muddy Creek also all my land I hold or claim on Arthur Creek” to be sold and the monies equally divided. To his four daughters, Winney, Mary, Salley, and Nancy, he left each 150 acres “of the back land of the Tract whereon I now live.” If any of them should die without an heir of their body, the land was to return to the estate. He left to three other sons, James, Fuqua, and Hiram, “all my River Land not before bequeathed and plantations whereon I now dwell” to be equally divided at the discretion of his executors and possessed by them when they attain 21 years of age. The stock was to be sold and equally divided, except for a horse, which he gave to his son John. He appointed his wife Bridget, his sons Charles and William, and David Walker as joint executors. He signed his name as “John Beazley,” suggesting that he was literate and was preserving a spelling of the name often associated with the Caroline and Orange County Beazleys. Witnesses included Benjamin Hurt, Judith Hurt, and Thomas Wood. The will was proven on 13 May 1782.

Bridget’s will was written in Buckingham County on 1 April 1792 and named her sons Fuqua and Hiram Beazley; daughter Mary Palmer and Mary’s daughter Nancy; Susanna Robertson, whose relationship was not stated; sons William, John, and James Beazley; and daughters Winny Hurt and Sally Cason. Her son William Beazley and Nixon Palmer were appointed co-executors.566

Family

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Beazley-185

BEAZLEY FAMILY OF BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA

Buckingham County is located in central Virginia and was home to John Beazley, whose ties to other Virginia families of this name are not known. The deeds and other records of this burned county are largely destroyed, though some wills, including those of John and his wife Bridget survive.

Children of John Beazley and Bridget (Fuqua), born in Virginia, order uncertain:

i. CHARLES BEAZLEY, b. say 1749; he signed a petition from Tillotson Parish on 17 October 1787, together with his brother, John, opposing an act by the House of Delegates to seize the property of the former established Anglican Church and to request that the glebe be distributed evenly to the community.567 He may have lived as late as 1814, and his land was located at Rock Island Creek.568

ii. WILLIAM BEAZLEY, b. say 1750-52. His name appears on a list of tithables with his father and brother Jonathan in 1773 and 1774, indicating that he was likely of majority age at that time.569 He was recorded on a tax list there in 1800, being taxed on one white male and two horses.570 He was alive as late as 1814 with land adjacent to William Davis on the Appomattox River in Buckingham County.571

iii. JOHN BEAZLEY, b. say 1750-55. On 17 October 1787, he signed a petition with his brother, Charles requesting that the former glebe land of the Anglican Church be distributed evenly to parishioners.572 He continued to advocate for their sale on another petition dated 15 November 1794.573 He owned land on Fishpond Creek adjoining Thomas Hall and James S. Webb.574

iv. JONATHAN BEAZLEY, b. say 1750-52. His name appears on a list of tithables with his father and his brother William in 1773 and 1774, indicating that he was of majority age at that time.575

v. WINNEY BEAZLEY, m. in Prince Edward County, Virginia, on 19 May 1783, OBADIAH HURT.576

vi. MARY BEAZLEY, b. say 1753-60; d. before October 1803; she m. say 1780 NIXON PALMER.

vii. SALLEY BEAZLEY, b. say 1764; she m. in Buckingham County on 14 October 1782, WILLIAM CASON.577

viii. NANCY BEAZLEY, m. in Prince Edward County on 4 December 1784, ZACHARIAH ARNOLD.578

ix. JAMES BEAZLEY, under 21 in 1781. He moved to Prince Edward County, Virginia, and from there initiated a chancery suit against Floyd Hurt and others.579

x. FUQUA BEAZLEY, under 21 in 1781; he married in Prince Edward County, Virginia, on 6 October 1792, RACHEL HURT.580

xi. HIRAM BEAZLEY, under 21 in 1781; he married in Prince Edward County, Virginia, on 17 December 1798, ELIZABETH FORE.581

Notes

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fuqua-538

Powhatan County Virginia Deed: Joseph Fuqua to Joseph Fuqua Jnr and Jacob McGehee, Powhatan Co to William Fuqua, John Fuqua, sons of Joseph; Willliam & Jane Sampson, Bridget Beasley, William & Margaret Weatherford, John & Elizabeth Hill, Sara & Jacob McGehee, daughters of Joseph. "in consideration that the said Joseph Fuqua is now advanced in age and for some time past infirm so as not to be able to look after his own business," slaves to be held in trust for his children, Rec 18 Oct 1782.[3] For unknown reasons, Joseph seems to have rescinded this trust three years later. DB VI, 340, ____ 1785. Joseph (x) Fuqua Sr. to son Joseph and son-in-law Jacob McGehee, all the slaves in the preceding deed of trust. Rec. 24 Oct. 1785. One son, Stephen, was omitted from the trust, presumably because he was dead by then.

John Beazley wrote his will in Buckingham County on 18 November 1781, and a copy survives among loose papers in the Library of Virginia. He left to his wife Bridget “the plantation and manor place whereon I now live. He also left to her his slaves and stock, afterward they would be divided equally to all of his children. He left to his four sons, Charles, William, John, and Jonathan “all my lands on the Brown Mountain in Amherst County also all my lands on Rock Island Creek, also all my land on muddy Creek also all my land I hold or claim on Arthur Creek” to be sold and the monies equally divided. To his four daughters, Winney, Mary, Salley, and Nancy, he left each 150 acres “of the back land of the Tract whereon I now live.” If any of them should die without an heir of their body, the land was to return to the estate. He left to three other sons, James, Fuqua, and Hiram, “all my River Land not before bequeathed and plantations whereon I now dwell” to be equally divided at the discretion of his executors and possessed by them when they attain 21 years of age. The stock was to be sold and equally divided, except for a horse, which he gave to his son John. He appointed his wife Bridget, his sons Charles and William, and David Walker as joint executors. [4] He signed his name as “John Beazley,” suggesting that he was literate and was preserving a spelling of the name often associated with the Caroline and Orange County Beazleys. Witnesses included Benjamin Hurt, Judith Hurt, and Thomas Wood. The will was proven on 13 May 1782.

Bridget’s will was written in Buckingham County on 1 April 1792 and named her sons Fuqua and Hiram Beazley; daughter Mary Palmer and Mary’s daughter Nancy; Susanna Robertson, whose relationship was not stated; sons William, John, and James Beazley; and daughters Winny Hurt and Sally Cason. Her son William Beazley and Nixon Palmer were appointed co-executors.[5]

Footnotes

557 “Notes from Burned Counties – Buckingham,” Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly, volume 5 (July 1967): 66.

558 Alya Dean (Smith) Irwin, Fuqua – A Flight for Freedom, Allied Families (Houston, Texas: Alya Dean (Smith) Irwin, 1974), 12. Francis Sampson left a will in Goochland County, Virginia, dated 16 January 1738, in which Joseph Fuquay [sic] signed as a witness. The will was recorded in Goochland County, Virginia, Will Book 4: 499. His widow, Bridget, left a will dated 3 March 1757, in which she left one shilling to Joseph Fuqua, who was not specifically named as her son-in-law (Goochland County, Virginia, Deed Book 7: 157).

559 “Notes from Burned Counties – Buckingham,” Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly, volume 5 (July 1967): 66.

560 Cumberland County, Virginia, Deed Book 6: 132, Joseph Fuqua to Joseph Fuqua Jr. et al., 21 October 1783; transcribed on Rootsweb (http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fuqua/Main%20Database/mdb02...: accessed 19 November 2014).

561 “A List of All the Tithes, Lands and Wheel-Carriages in Buckingham County for the Year Anno Domini 1764,” transcribed in Edythe Rucker Whitley, Genealogical Records of Buckingham County, Virginia (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984), 4.

562 Ibid, 5.

563 Ibid, 9.

564 Mary Bondurant Warren, Buckingham County, Virginia, Church and Marriage Records, 1764-1822 (Athens, GA: Heritage Papers, 1993),, 16.

565 John Beazley will (1782), transcribed in Jeanne Stinson, comp., Early Buckingham County, Virginia, Legal Papers, Volume 1: 1765-1806 (Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Co., 1993), 2-3.

566 Bridget Beazley will (1792) abstracted briefly in “Notes from Burned Counties – Buckingham,” Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly, volume 5 (July 1966): 66.

567 Warren, Buckingham County, Virginia, Church and Marriage Records, 1764-1822, 25.

568 Roger G. Ward, Buckingham County, Virginia Records, Land Tax Summaries & Implied Deeds, 1782-1814 (Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Co., 1993), 1: 28.

569 Whitley, Genealogical Records of Buckingham County, Virginia, 9.

570 Ibid, 32.

571 Ward, Buckingham County, Virginia Records, Land Tax Summaries & Implied Deeds, 1782-1814, 1: 28.

572 Warren, Buckingham County, Virginia, Church and Marriage Records, 1764-1822, 25.

573 Ibid, 28.

574 Ward, Buckingham County, Virginia Records, Land Tax Summaries & Implied Deeds, 1782-1814, 1: 28.

575 Whitley, Genealogical Records of Buckingham County, Virginia, 9.

576 Catherine Lindsay Knorr, Marriage Bonds and Ministers’ Returns of Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1754-1810 (No place: Catherine Lindsay Knorr, 1950), 40.

577 Randy Kidd and Jeanne Stinson, Lost Marriages of Buckingham County, Virginia (Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Co., 1992), 110.

578 Knorr, Marriage Bonds and Ministers’ Returns of Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1754-1810, 3.

579 http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/full_case_detail.asp?CFN=147-1...: accessed 19 November 2014.

580 Knorr, Marriage Bonds and Ministers’ Returns of Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1754-1810, 6.

581 Ibid.

Sources

• “SOME BEASLEY FAMILIES OF THE COLONIAL SOUTH” By John D. Beatty, CG. This Document, was last updated Oct 2015. Significant new information and corrections are available. Please use this ONLY as a general guide. For questions or comments, contact Doug Beezley, Beasley Name Study: administrator AT Beasley genealogy.net < PDF >