Captain John Dabney Strother

A Patriot of the American Revolution for VIRGINIA with the rank of Captain. DAR Ancestor # A111748

John was one of the 11 children of Francis and Suzanne Dabney Strother, who lived on a Rapidan River farm near Lignum. In 1741, he married Mary Wade, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah Wade, and they raised 9 children at Wadefield. His life was one of patriotic service. He served as a captain in the French and Indian War, was one of the 16 Culpeper justices who signed the 1765 Stamp Act Protest (21 Oct), was a member of the Committee of Safety for Culpeper County in 1775, and at various times was a justice and sheriff of the county. (Mary Stevens Jones, An 18th Century Perspective: Culpeper County, 1976).

The following is an extract from a letter written by John Armistead Browning of "Greenfield" Rappahannock Co. VA.. to Mrs Nettie Browning Danforth Kinnison.

"The Strother family from whom we are descended in our line was a remarkably talented people. Some of the most prominent statemen of our country, from Presidents on down, and also military men had Strother blood in their veins. I also enclose an exact copy of an old patent or deed which is on parchment, the original being in my posession, for a certain tract of land deeded to our ancestors by Lord Fairfax in the Colonial days, On these very lands your great-grand-mother first saw the light of day. Here she was reared, married and afterward went west. The old patent which is written on parchment (sheep-skin ) is somewhat injured from age and insects getting into it, so I had several copies typed with a view of sending you one, thinking that you would prize it as a souvenir of your ancestors.

Cousin Nettie, I may have told you before, but I will repeat it our Francis Browning, Sr., married a Maryland Lloyd of a high, family. Captain John Strother's wife was Miss Wade and his mother was a Miss Dabney. Both the Wades and the Dabneys were noted for their respectable and high social position and the Dabneys particularly for being a very talented family.

I may have told you before that President Zachary Taylor's mother was a Strother, a very near relation to Mary Strother Browning. So was General Gaines' mother a Strother and the same relation. My father, in his young days, visited General Taylor's home in Kentucky, as a relation, General Gaines being at that time in Florida fighting Indians.

I will now tell you a funny tradition of our ancestor John Strother, and it is Iiterally true, All of the prominent people of his time and he among them were not only true and loyal to the British Crown and government but also to the Church of England. The people in those days were taxed to pay their parson's ( as they were called ) salary. Well , our old ancestor heard of a Baptist Preacher who had come into the neighborhood to preach and inculcate his doctrine among them. Well, our ancestor felt that as he was the leading man in his locality, that it was his duty to put a stop to such things. So he had the man arrested and locked up in his meat house and had him smoked for preaching what our ancestor honestly considered heresy and in violation of England and her Church."

1795 WILL: Culpeper Co, VA, WB D-154, dtd 29 Mar, probated 20 Apr 1795. Bequeathed to his wife, Mary, 1/3 part of all lands and Negroes for her natural life and 1/3 of personal property. George & John Strother sons of my daughter, Ann Strother, and unto Michael Lawler, son of my daughter, Susanna Lawler, 25 pounds. My daughters Mary Browning, Sarah Hughes, Lucy Covington, Elizabeth Browning, and Mildred Covington that each of them who have not received 300 pounds shall have that amount made up to them. Son Joseph all debts due; in the recording it says that "they believe Mary Strother, widow and relict of the decedent did not wish to administer on the estate but wished John Strother, Jr., to administer on it."

1799 DEED: 5 Apr, Charles Lewis Yates bought 110 acres in Culpeper on Fork Mountain and Thornton River from John Strother who was acting as attorney for Joseph Strother, Charles Browning and Mary his wife, William Hughes and Sarah his wife, Frances Covington and Mildred his wife "joint heirs and devisees of John Strother the Elder, deceased." (Culpeper Deeds, Liber U, folio 360).

NSDAR # 149192, Mrs. Evelyn Ann Joslyn Shepard, # 151402, DAR Patriot Index, Vol. 152, 1919. John Strother (1721-1795) served as captain in the Culpeper Co., VA militia. He was born in Hanover Co, Va; died in Culpeper Co, VA. NSDAR: 120952, Mrs. Virginia Yates Weatherhead, DAR Patriot Index , Vol. 121, p.295, 1918. John Strother was a member of the Committee of Safety of Culpeper, VA. Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett (Browning) Smith, ibid., Vol. 92, pp. 111-112, 1912; also #77463, ibid., Vol. 78, p. 179, 1910, Mrs. Jennye D. (Anderson) Brown.

More About John Dabney Strother: Date born 2: 31 December 1721, Hanover Co., Va.1244 Burial: 17951244 Died 2: April 1795, Wadefield, Rappahannock, Va.1244

More About John Dabney Strother and Mary Willis Wade: Marriage 1: 17411245 Marriage 2: Abt. 1741, Wakefield, Culpepper, Virginia.1246

Children of John Dabney Strother and Mary Willis Wade are: +Elizabeth Strother, b. Abt. 1753, Culpeper, VA, d. Abt. 1823. Joseph Strother, b. Abt. 17421246, d. date unknown. Susannah Strother, b. Abt. 1745, Wakefield, Culpepper, Virginia1246, d. date unknown, Nc1246. Mildred Strother, b. Abt. 17461246, d. date unknown. Sarah Strother, b. Abt. 17481246, d. date unknown. Annie Strother, b. Abt. 1750, Wakefield, Culpepper, Virginia1246, d. Abt. 1788, Wakefield, Culpepper, Virginia1246. Lucy Strother, b. Abt. 1752, Culpepper Co., Va1246, d. 14 January 18361246. Mildred Strother, b. Abt. 1760, Wakefield, Culpeper, Va1246, d. November 1827, Culpeper, Va1246. John Strother, b. Abt. 1762, Wakefield, Hanover, Virginia1246, d. 22 September 1818, Sperryville, Rappahannock, Va1246. Mary Strother, b. 29 January 1751/52, Wakefield, Culpepper, Virginia1246, d. Abt. 1847, "greenfield", Rappahannock, Va1246.

• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Apr 12 2024, 18:23:42 UTC