When Genealogy Worlds Collide

Sometime last winter someone sent me this story. Several interesting things about the story involved the people:  Henry Franklin alias Harry Long and Mary Curtis. Henry Franklin/Long has causes a lot of problems in that he was a Long who changed his name to Franklin, causing all sorts of problems when DNA found that his descendants only matched Longs. Click here for more information on him.

The other issue is Mary Curtis, my husband's ancestress who was 11 years old! (Dave's 6 g-grandmother on the Fry side)

The court case is on page 8.4 Spotsylvania Co. March 1737/38

Spotsylvania County Court March 1737/8In the action of Trespass between Mary Curtis, an infant by Rice Curtis, Jr., Gent., her next friend, against Henry Franklyn alias Harry Long Deft. for 10 pounds sterling damage, issue being joyned and a jury sworn by name Edward Herndon, Jr and who having heard the evidences and arguments on behalf of each party retired and after some time returned the following verdict.  We find the day and yr aforesaid at the parish and county aforesaid the sd deft did ride ye gelding aforesaid and that he then and there knew him to be the Plts (plantiffs) and borrowed him of one John King to ride as aforesaid.  And if the law be for the Plt. we find for him 15 shillings current money damage; other wise we find for the deft.(defendant) Edward Herndon, Jr. foreman, which verdict is admitted to record and the matter of law arising therefrom is referred to the next court for argument.
Rice Curtis, Jr, Gent. (House of Burgess) came into court and accepted of the commissions of the peach and took the oaths and signed the Test and as the law directs which oaths were administered to him by John Taliaferro and Henry Goodloe Gentlemen.

Spotsylvania County Court 6th of December 1737In the action of trespass between Mary Curtis, an infant by Rice Curtis, Jr, Gent, her next friend, Plt agst. (against) Henry Franklin Alias Harry Long, Deft for 10 pounds sterling damage at the motion of the deft an imparlance is granted him.

As far as we know Henry Franklin was the only Henry Franklin in Spotsylvania in 1737.  We have records which track him in Orange and Amherst and he uses Henry Franklin, Sr. in Amherst Co., VA on March 4, 1771 as a witness.  

So, my relative stole the horse of an 11 year old neighbor who is my husband's ancestor.  Who said genealogy is dry and boring?

Thanks to Sherry Cruise and Leigh Taylor for helping me with this story.

DNA Ethnicities

Mary(Polly) Sollis Reasons

Mary Ann Sollis Dickerson

As some of you know Jim and I have had our DNA sliced and diced several different ways. We have achieved our goals for the most part---we know where our Long family is from in Virginia (Culpeper), we located Grandma Vennie Wicker's mother's family (Sollis not Silas), we matched with the Wicker family I always felt we were related to  (There was a political writer Tom Wicker that I thought looked like Grandpa Wes).

My latest quest was to find out if we were part Indian which is what my grandmother and mother always said.  At first we didn't find anything (but we did find 1% African---definitely slave from 1700's---so I thought, "someone was dark, didn't want to admit African so called it Indian"?) 

I had received a photo of the SISTER of one of our ancestors (see photo) Mary Ann Sollis (b. 1834). Her descendants have no African but when examined on GEDmatch, they did show American Indian.   

I also saw a note someone left on Ancestry.com

 "I have been looking into the link that my father maintains is fact, that we have Cherokee blood in our family line. I found that Mary (Polly) Sollis,wife of John Rhodes Reasons (see photo ablove) was half Cherokee, her father, Abraham Sollis married into the Cherokee tribe and renamed his Indian wife Martha. This backs up my father's claim and puts the Indian question to rest. 

So, I put Jim's DNA and mine on GEDmatch to see if we could find that American Indian DNA.  On the Eurogenes K-13 test, we found it.  Jim has 1.1% and I have .51%.  Yes that is a very small amount.  Click here if you want to find out more about American Indian DNA and why Jim and I have differing amounts.

So, yes, we probably do have American Indian in addition to the African, but both are probably back in the 1700's.  We are primarily  North Atlantic (English, Scottish, French, Irish,  German) with around 50%.  Then, another 25% is Viking (they settled in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Germany).  That leaves about 25% Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Red Seas, African, American Indian.  If you want to know more about the Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Red Seas, Click here to learn about our very unusual J2 on the Williams line. To get a refresher course on my DNA journey, click here.

Maupins in Williamsburg, Part II

Taliaferro-Cole Home

Hi Maupin family,

Yesterday I received a reply from the Colonial Williamsburg Historian. I
am currently crafting a response to Ms. Rowe's email since there is a
discrepancy in Ms. Rowe's response about the ownership of the
Taliaferro-Cole home by Crease and what an article in the current magazine
of Colonial Williamsburg reveals.

If any of you have copies of documents that show the ownership of Lot #352
by Gabriel and Marie (Mary) Maupin I would appreciate a copy of the
documentation to show that the home was owned by the Maupin's and Crease's
ownership was through his marriage to the widow of Gabriel.

Also, Ms. Rowe did not address my question about Mary Maupin Crease's
burial location in the Burton Parrish Church yard so any documentation
pertaining to her burial would be helpful as well. 

 Yesterday I also received the Spring 2016  Tradition - The Magazine
of Colonial Williamsburg. The magazine includes two articles pertaining to
the Taliaferro-Cole house
1. Tending a Changing Landscape by Ben Swenson which includes a photo of
the garden described as 'a garden 300 years in the making'.
The article says:

'*Gardening happened to be the profession of Thomas Crease, who for
more than three decades owned what's now the Taliaferro-Cole property.
Crease was the gardener for both the College of William & Mary and for Lt.
Gov. Hugh Drysdale, who acted as Virginia's governor from 1722 until his
death in 1726. This was an uncommon livelihood in the 18th century because
only the gentry had the means or the inclination to pay for such services.
Nevertheless, Crease seemed to be a booster for the food and pleasure a
garden afforded when he offered for sale in the 1717.....*

*Though it's hard to say exactly how Crease's garden appeared, the terraces
remained through several later owners (including Charles Taliaferro and
Jesse Cole, for whom the house is named), and research and archaeology have
revealed contemporary walkways and fences, allowing guests the opportunity
to follow a path made and maintained by so many hands through the years.*

*Today, Colonial Wiliamsburg's gardeners carry Crease's mantle at the
Taliaferro-Cole Home garden and numerous other sites around town.'*


2. A Lamb's Tale (no author) which shows sheep grazing in the back pasture
of the Taliaferro-Cole house.

Thanks,
Donna Maupin

 *Email from Ms. Rowe:*

Dear Ms. Maupin:

Wendy Sumerlin forwarded your questions and comments about lots and houses
associated with the Maupin family in Williamsburg to me. I think it is
about time we’re in direct contact!


I assure you that Colonial Williamsburg has not written generations of the
Maupin family out of Williamsburg’s colonial history. Not only were there
three generations of Gabriel Maupins in Williamsburg, Gabriel Maupin III
had an important responsibility at a critical time in Virginia’s and
America’s history. In 1775, after British sailors, under orders from the
last royal governor of Virginia (Lord Dunmore), broke into the Magazine in
Williamsburg and removed a large amount of gunpowder belonging to the
Virginia militia, Gabriel Maupin III was appointed Keeper of the Magazine.
Under his watch, he was responsible for more than five thousand muskets and
rifles—as well as many other types of weapons—that went through the
Magazine’s doors as the new government of Virginia tried to ready the
people of Williamsburg to defend themselves against Great Britain. His name
appears in three sections of the current guidebook.

 As for the house names in Williamsburg, it may be helpful to keep in mind
that the Custis-Maupin House (Lot 355) and the Taliaferro-Cole House (Lot
352) are two different houses with separate and distinct histories.


The Taliaferro-Cole House on Lot 352 stands on the south side of Duke of
Gloucester Street at the southeast corner of Nassau Street. See image here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2775/4263414312_37d22c0a06.jpg


The Custis-Maupin House on Lot 355 that you saw in the 1960s stands on the
south side of Duke of Gloucester Street across from Bruton Parish Church.
See image here:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1c/5a/a3/1c5aa37de950e5320b7f73c8073c6d11.jpg


Both of the houses appear in Colonial Williamsburg guidebooks from the
1960s (see attached pages).

Colonial Williamsburg’s naming practices for houses in its historic area
changed over the course of the 20th-century. Initially, several houses
carried hyphenated names for different reasons, sometimes to commemorate
both an 18th- and 19th-century person or family. Because Colonial
Williamsburg obtained Lot 355 from Maupin descendants in 1939, it is likely
that was part of the decision to include both the Custis and Maupin names
early on.


In the 1980s, house naming standards at Colonial Williamsburg changed. It
was deemed important that names for houses in the historic area coincide as
closely as possible with the period from about 1760 to the American
Revolution presented in the colonial setting. Consequently, in 1984, the
Custis-Maupin House on Lot 355 was renamed the Custis Tenement. A Maupin
family connection with it did not begin until John M. Maupin’s ownership in
1838, well beyond the 18th-century history that Colonial Williamsburg
presents in its daily programs and historical interpretation. John Custis
owned Lot 355 from 1715 and it remained in Custis family hands until 1782.
During that period, members of the Custis family owned the house and lot
but never lived in it. They rented the dwelling to a succession of tenants,
not an uncommon practice in 18th-century Williamsburg and quite respectable.


At this time, I cannot confirm the construction of a brick house on Lot
355. It is clear, however, that John M. Maupin had a large addition built
onto what was already on Lot 355 in 1838. 

 The history of Lot 352 where the Taliaferro-Cole House stands is
problematic. Lot 352 was located on the James City County side of
Williamsburg in the eighteenth century. That is important because the
county line between York County and James City County bisected
Williamsburg. While the York County court records (deeds, wills,
inventories, etc.) are mostly extant, records for the James City County
side of Williamsburg were destroyed during the Civil War. Gabriel Maupin I
(the immigrant) arrived in Virginia about 1700. From that time until after
his death (1719 or 1720), he was described as living in York County,
including on January 19, 1719, when the York County Court granted him a
license “to keep an ordinary at his now dwelling house in Williamsburgh in
this county [i. e. York County] for the next year ensuing.” The 1724 deed
of trust for Lot 352 executed by Thomas Creas and his wife, Mary Creas
(widow of Gabriel I), is recorded in the York County records even though
Lot 352 was on the James City County side of Williamsburg. This is baffling
and bears further investigation. Note that the ownership of Lot 352 is
undocumented from Thomas Creas’s death in 1756 until Charles Taliaferro
owned it by the 1770s. Blank periods of this nature are quite common for
dwellings and lots on the James City side of Williamsburg due to the loss
of records mentioned above.


I am in hopes that the information above is helpful. I’d be happy to hear
any comment or further questions you may have. Colonial Williamsburg is
always happy to know of records family members have preserved. This is
especially true for the Maupin family associated as it was with three
properties in the eighteenth century (Taliaferro-Cole House, Alexander
Craig House, and Market Square Tavern) and five in the nineteenth century
(Custis Tenement, Raleigh Tavern, Peter Scott House Site, James City
Courthouse Site, and the Archibald Blair Storehouse Site.


Kind regards,

Linda


Linda H. Rowe
Historian
Research and Interpretive Education
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
757-220-7443

See note below from Donna Maupin on the matter---thanks for your response.

Maupins in Williamsburg, Part I

Governor's Palace

Some people have great memories, some have huge file cabinets, but I use this blog to keep track of information.  Recently there was a flurry of e-mail activity on the Maupins in Williamsburg which I didn't want to lose.

E-mail #1  If you look at the Indenture of 1724 made by Thomas Crease and Mary Maupin

Crease, it mentions the lot (352), showing that Gabriel owned the lot when
he died around 1719 or 1720. It also allows that Thomas and Mary Crease
may live in the house on that lot until they die. Mary Maupin Crease died
in 1748 and Thomas Crease in 1756. Upon the death of Thomas Crease, the
indenture stipulated that Keith and Ferguson would sell the property
dividing the proceeds between the two sons of Gabriel the emigrant: Gabriel
II and Daniel. Because Gabriel II had died by this time, his part went to
his son, Gabriel III. The indenture goes on to say that at the death of
Mary Crease, Daniel and Gabriel are to release any executors or
administrators hired by Mary and pay the lawful expenses of the estate from
the legacy of fifty pounds left to Mary, their sister, in the original
will. The indenture states that Mary, the older sister had died without
progeny.


In the Taliaferro-Cole House and Shop Historical Report, Block 13-1
Building 35-40 Lot 352 Originally entitled: "Taliaferro-Cole House and Shop
Block 13, Colonial Lot 352" by Mary E. McWilliams in 1940, the author
credits Charles Taliaferro building the house named after him in 1750. The
house was sold to Jesse Cole in 1804, thus the double name of
Taliaferro-Cole House.

Since Crease died in 1756 and the Taliaferro-Cole House was apparently
build in 1750, there seems to be a mistake somewhere. If these dates are
correct, it would seem that the Taliaferro-Cole House and the Gabriel
Maupin House are two different buildings. In some of the house reports, I
see reference made to a part of a lot being sold. Perhaps this is what
happened. If that is the case what happened to the house Thomas Crease was
living in in 1756? Did if fall down and as a consequence, not known to Ms.
McWilliams when she compiled her report in 1940? At any rate, I agree with
you that this is a research mystery which I would like to see the Colonial
Williamsburg Research Department look into further.

I assume that you know Gabriel Maupin III, the grandson of the emigrant,
owned the Market Square Tavern before and during Revolutionary War time,
and you can now rent out rooms and stay there. There is a marker on the
house. Gabriel III's sister, Mary Maupin, was married to Alexander Craig
who owned The Alexander Craig House (also marked with a plaque), and while
it is not open to the public, you can view it and its lovely gardens from
the road. A later Maupin, I believe John, owned the Custis-Maupin House
which is also marked with a plaque. He was mayor of Williamsburg during
the Civil War. So, there are a few monuments to the Maupin family in
Williamsburg, but I agree with you in wishing to know more about this
family and its founding role in Virginia.

Hope this helps a little. I would be interested in knowing anything else
you learn about this subject.

Sincerely,
Watts Schwab

E-mail #2

Hi All,

Hope all the Maupin Family is doing well.

I am in the throes of downsizing from my large home to an over 55 gated
community this fall. In other words, my home is a MESS and I am not too
well organized. I have a lot of filing of records to accomplish over the
summer. I do have information regarding the Cole-Taliferro home from the
Frenchmans Map; the Maupin markers in back of one of the homes. Sometime I
feel like Bill A. did..what to do withal this...I have collected so much
over the years---I will join back in this conversation after May and I have
time to get reorganized. 

I will be in Williamsburg for 10 days in May for the Jamestowne Society and
continued research. A couple of friends and I are also taking the cruise
over to Tangier Island which is, sadly to report, disappearing 10-12 feet a
year. I am hoping the Mid-West Library can finish cataloging all of
Bill's documents before we all pass into the great beyond.

Carolyn Farmer

Email #3

Carolyn, Gail, Watts, and other cousins:
It is good to hear from all of you and especially on Gabriel and Marie's pubs.  I didn't have the details that you have provided only the fact that Marie and her second husband had sold it with a proviso that they would run it until their death.
I have only visited Williamsburg once and considered myself fortunate at that time.  It was in 1975.  I had no knowledge then that my mother's ancestors had lived there and owned pubs or homes.  I was extatic in  1999 to learn of the wonderful information via the internet.  I had time to share with my two sisters and a brother before they died.
I will be forever gratful for that knowledge and the fact that I could pass it on to my sons, nieces and nephews.
Your Maupin cousin,
Norma J. Sears

Email #4
In the Official Guidebook & Map of Colonial Williamsburg, printed in 1972.  (purchased for .50 cents).  They describe the Custis-Maupin house as being a tenement owned by John Custis.  A tenement was a house for rent.  Then about 1840 John M Maupin built a "handsome house on the site of an old ruinous building opposite the lower corner of the churchyard."  So the house that is standing is actually the Maupin house.  I have visited Williamsburg at least a half a dozen times over the years.  In my opinion they have destroyed a lot of historical information as they transformed Williamsburg into a tourist attraction.  I swear I saw a bronze plaque marking the burial spot of Marie Maupin Creas next to the church, which has now been covered up by walkways for the tourists.  When I inquired about this inside the church they said they think she is buried in the churchyard but they don't know where.  I also have seen a headstone lying on the ground, in the garden behind the Maupin house that was inscribed "John Maupin"    I sent e-mails to the historical society, which I received no response.  I wish I had taken a picture. Terry Maupin






Re: [MAUPIN] Gabriel and Marie Maupin and lot #352 i