Reverend William Stith

REV. WILLIAM STITH (John2, John1) was born in 1707, and died 19th September, 1755. He matriculated, 21st May, 1724, at Queen's College, Oxford and is entered in the register as 17 years old and the son of "John Stith of the Virgin Islands" (Foster's Alumni Oxonienses). He received the degree of B.A., 27th February, 1727/8, and that of M.A., 20th November, 1730 (ibid.). After his return to Virginia, he was elected, in 1731, Master of the grammar school of William and Mary College and Chaplain to the House of Burgesses. In June, 1738, he was called to the parish of Henrico, in Henrico County, and while residing at the parsonage there, near Varian, he wrote his History-of-Virginia which was printed and bound in the city of Williamsburg. In August, 1752, he was elected President of William and Mary College over which he presided until his death. A sketch of his will will be found in The -Vestry Book of Henrico-Parish, editor, R. A. Brock (p.180). See also Old Churches and Families of Virginia: Campbell's History of Virginia; WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY, I., 136; V., 244; V1., 127, etc. He married, 13th July, 1738, his cousin, Judith Randolph, daughter of Thomas Randolph, of Tuckahoe. They had issue: (See Genealogical Charts.)

William Stith (1707 – September 19, 1755) was an early American historian. He is the author of one of the earliest histories of Virginia, The History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia: being an Essay towards a General History of this Colony, published in Williamsburg by William Parks in 1747. He was also the College of William & Mary's third president (1752–1755) and is the namesake for Stith Hall on the College's campus.

Stith was the son of Captain John Stith and Mary Randolph, a daughter of William Randolph I. Around 1744, he married his first cousin, Judith Randolph, the daughter of Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe. They had three daughters: Judith, Elizabeth, and Mary. Stith was educated at The College of William & Mary and The Queen's College, Oxford.

After studying theology, he was ordained in the Church of England. In 1731 he became master of the grammar school at William & Mary. In 1738 he was chaplain of the House of Burgesses. In 1752-1755 he was Rector of Henrico Parish and President of the College of William & Mary.

His historical works include History of Virginia from the First Settlement to the Dissolution of the London Company, (Williamsburg, 1747). This work contained so much detail that people found it unreadable, and no subsequent volumes were written.

WILLIAM STITH: William Stith, son of the first Colonel John Stith and Jane Parsons, married Mary Randolph, eldest daughter of William Randolph of Turkey Island per Supplement to Tuckahoe and the Tuckahoe Randolphs by Jefferson Randolph Anderson, Savannah, Georgia published in Volume V, Genealogies of Virginia Families from Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, page 33. It also shows: Conflicting views have been expressed as to whether this Mary Rnadolph married William Stith or John Stith, both being sons of Captain John Stith of Charles City County who was disfranchised by the Bacon General Assembly of 1676. Some genealogists apparently suggest that he was this Captain John Stith himself but that is impossible because of certain basic facts. One of these is that this original Captain John Stith came to Virginia circa 1655 and at that time the "father" of Mary Randolph was only a small boy of five years of age in Warwickshire, England. Another of these basic facts is that the old Charles City Records show that this Captain John Stith was married in 1656 to Jane Parsons, the widow of Joseph Parsons. (See Charles City Records, Book 1, 1655 to 1665, pp. 70, 81 and 433, in Archive Division, Virginia State Library.)

The Page Family Book, accepted and followed apparently without inquiry by Du Bellet (Vol. 11, p. 132) and by Colonel isham Randolph's very recent book (p. 11 and P. 249) ust published this year (actual year in the past and not known) says that this Mary Randolph married about 1712, Captain "John" Stith and that their "only" son, Reverend William Stith was the Historian and the President of William and Mary College. This is also followed by an article in the Richmond Times=Dispatch of 4 October 1908; author not given.

The great weight of authority, however, seems to be conclusive that the statement in our original narrative is correct, and that Mar Randolph, daughter of William and Mary Randolph of Turkey Island, was married to "William Stith, son of the original Captain John Stith; and that both the Page Book and Du Bellet were also in error in stating that the Historian William Stith was their only son. The statement in our original narrative is based on the record shown in the Edgehill Roll of the Randolphs and many well recognized authorities. Slaughter, in the History of Bristol Parish, p. 214, says she married "William" Stith. Mr. R. A. Brock in his Notes to the Vestry Book of Henrico Parish, Note 14, p. 180, says, "The Reverand William Stith was the son of "William" Stith and Mary, the daughter of William Randolph of Turkey Island". Mr. Brock further says that his information was from a M/s. Mem. Book of John Randolph of Roanoke. The Richmond Critic of 10 September 1888, in Genealogical Letter XIII, and in Note L to Genealogical Letter XIV says that Captain John Stith was Sheriff of Charles City in 1691; Burgess in 1693 and that his second son "William" married Mary Randolph, daughter of William Randolph of Turkey Island. Judge U. J. Turnbull, a descendant of the Stith family, in a genealogical letter on that family in the Richmond Times-Dispatch of 24 April 1904, says "The Rev. William Stith, historian and president of William and Mary College was son of "William" Stith, who was oldest son of Colonel John Stith of Charles City County, 1688. His "mother" was Mary Randolph, daughter of William P. (sic) Randolph of Turkey Island. Mr. R. S. Brent, Commissioner of Revenue, Northumberland County, Virginia, in a letter to the Times-Dispatch 17 September 1905, says that the second son of Colonel John Stith, "William" Stith, married Mary, daughter of William P. (sic) Randolph of Turkey Island and was the father of Reverend William Stith.

Children: 1. John Stith married Elizabeth Anderson, daughter of Reverend Charles Anderson, Rector of old Westover Church 2. William Stith, Jr. married Judith Randolph 3. Mary Stith married William Dawson

The Stith Family by Armistead C. Gordon published in William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vo. 22, No. 1. (July 1913, pp. 44-51, transcribed on Rootsweb.com archives shows Captain John Stith, son of Major John Stith and Jane, widow of Joseph Parsons, married Mary Randolph and had issue: 1. Rev. William Stith, born 1707, died 19 September 1755, married Judith Randolph, his first cousin (7 Quarterly, p. 99) 2. Lieutenant Colonel John Stith (erroneously stated by Dr. Johnston to have been a son of Lieut. Col. Druty Stith)(21 Quarterly, p. 187), married Elizabeth Anderson, daughter of Reverend Charles Anderson of Estover, died circa 1758 3. Mary Randolph Stith married (first wife of) Commissary William Dawson

Rev. William Stith 1752-1755- President of College of William and Mary

Educated in the grammar school at William and Mary; graduate of Queen's College, Oxford. Anglican clergyman, historian, and author; rector of Henrico and York-Hampton parishes; chaplain of the House of Burgesses; master of the grammar school at William and Mary; historian and author.

http://www.wm.edu/about/administration/president/history/eighteen/i...

Mary Randolph was born in 1692.1 She was the daughter of William Randolph and Mary Isham.1 Mary Randolph married Capt John Stith. Child of Mary Randolph and Capt John Stith

   William Stith1 b. 1707, d. 19 Sep 1755