old tombstones in new kent county

Old Tombstones in New Kent CountyAuthor(s): Lyon G. TylerSource: The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Oct., 1896), pp. 77-81Published by: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and CultureStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1914896 .

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tLi1titam anb art Cvo lege Quarterl lbistorical MD)3a3ine.

VOL. V. OCTOBER, 1896. No. 2.

OLD TOMBSTONES IN NEW KENT COUNTY. COLLECTED BY THE EDITOR.

I.

ST. PETER'S CHIURCH.1

Here Lyeth the Body of Ann Clopton

the wife of William Clopton2 of the County of New Kent. She departed

this Life ye 4: day of March Anno Domini 1716 In the 70th year of her Age.

She left three Sons & two Daughters By Her said Husband, viz:

Robert, William, Walter, Ann & Elizabeth. [Arms.]

Here Lie Interred the Bodies of

Thomas & Robert Sons of the Rev' Mr David Mfossom2 Rector

of this Parish: Thomas Departed this Life March the 29th 1739

Aged 20 yeares. RobertiDeparted this Life December the 17th 1744

Aged 7 months.

Here Lyeth the Body of Mr Daniel Farrell3 Of this Parish who departed

this Life 8th of May 1736 Aged 42 yeares.



78 WMLUM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY.

Reverendus David Mossom4 prope Jacet, Collegii St. Joannis Cantabrigiae obiti, Alumnus, Hujus Parochia3 Rector Annos Quadraginta, Omnibus Ecclesim Anglicanae Presbyteriis Inter Americanos Ordine Presbyteratus Primus; Literatura Paucis secundus, Qui tandem senis et Moerore coufectus Ex variis Rebus arduis quas in hac vita perpessus est Mortisq: in dies memor, ideo virens et valens Sibi hunc sepulturm locum posuit et elegit Uxoribus Elizabetha et Maria quidem juxta sepultis Ubi requiescat, donec resuscitatus ad vitam Eternam Per Jesum Christum salvatorem nostrum Qualis erat, indicant illi quibus benenotus Superstiles Non hoc sepulchrale saxum

Londini Natus 25 Martii 1690 Obiit 40 Jan"! 1767.

II.

CUMBMRLAND.

[Skull and cross bones.] Here Lyeth Inter'd the Body of

Frances the Daughter of Mr Willm 4 and Mr- Elizath Chamberlayne

who Departed this Life the 17th day of November 1722 Aged 30 days

Also the Body of Ann Chamberlayne who departed this Life the 8th day of

October 1725 Aged one year 6 months and 25 days.

Here lieth the Body of Sarah y0 wife of Richard Littlepage ' who Departed this life

the 21st of January 1734 Aged 23 Years.



OLD TOMBSTONES IN NEW KENT COUNTY. 79

Here Lies the Body of John Watkins Esq.

late of New Kent county now deceased who departed this Life the 10th day

of March 1785. Aged 53 years. He married Betty Claiborne

the Eldest Daughter of Philip Whitehead Claiborne Esq.

of the county of King William By whom he had 3 children One Son and two Daughters

John Dandridge Watkins Elizabeth ? Watkins

and Ann Dandridge Watkins.

Here Lyeth Interred the Body of

MrS Frances Littlepage Widow of Capt Richard Littlepage

She Departed this Life The 21st day of February

Anno Domini 1732 In the 55th Year of Her Age.

* * * dyof * * lepage who * * ober 1732. * * * years.

Here Lyeth the Body of Judith Littlepage

Who was born the 2d of August 1715 and departed this Life

the 17th of June 1723.

* * page 169-.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

'New Kent county was formed out of York county in 1654. St. Peter's parish originally occupied the territory now known as New Kent. From this tract Blissland parish was formed about 1684. There is an old vestry-book



80 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY.

and'register of St. Peter's, beginning about 1683. The present St. Peter's Church is of brick, and was built in 1703, at a cost of 146,000 weight of tobacco. The steeple was built twelve years later. (See Meade.)

2 The Clopton family first settled in Hampton parish, York county. The register of the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Canterbury shows that a license was issued June 4, 1668, to Isaac Clopton, of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, citizen and haberdasher, bachelor, about 24 [years], to marry Miss Martha Hill, of the same, spinster, about 21 [years]; consent of her guardian, Thomas Hill, of Cambridge University, gent (her parents being dead), to be married at Brant- ford, Middlesex. Was this Isaac Clopton the one sworn "according to R% hon'ble the Governor's order," justice of York county, Va., January 24, 1675-'76? He married in Virginia, Mary , who married, first, Thomas Bassett, who died before 1660, leaving a son William (probably by an earlier marriage) under 18 years. This son moved to New Kent. She married, secondly, William Fellgate, skinner of London, brother of Capt. Robert Fell- gate, of York county, Va. William Fellgate died on Fellgate's Creek, York county, in 1660, and his widow married, thirdly, Capt. John Underhill, formerly of Worcester, England. His will was proved October 24, 1672, and he had, by his wife Mary, John, Nathaniel, Jane, and Mary. His widow then married Dr. Isaac Clopton, by whom no issue; they were both dead by Janu- ary 25, 1678, when her will was proved.

"Mr. William Clopton" was constable of York-Hampton parish in 1682. January 23, 1682, he executed a deed of gift to his daughters Anne and Elizabeth. The following from the records of York shows that he was born in 1655:

The deposition of William Clopton aged about thirty Yeares sayth That coming to the ffrench Ordinary in the Nynth of March last he hap-

pened to meet wth Mr Thos: Watkinson who asked yor Depont to give him a morning's draught. I told him if he had no money I would. In drinking of which hee asked yor Depont why he was so unkinde to attach his wife's silver Cup I answered I had done nothing but what I did by the court's order; then he Ed the court had done more then they could answer and that he would Justifie and further yor Depont sayth not WM CLOPTON

Aprill ye 24th 1685 Sworne to in York Court and is Recorded

Test WM MALTYWARD c F ord. cur.

Mr. Clopton turns up next in New Kent, where he was one of the justices. There is an original deed dated July 22, 1710, from " John Bacon of St. Peter's Parish and New Kent Co yeoman to Wm. Clopton jun of same parish and co. yeoman," with arms of Clopton on a wax seal opposite the name of John Bacon. These arms are the same as on the tomb of Anne Clopton and agree in Burke with arms of Clopton, of co. Suffolk, 1586: Sa. a bend erm. betw. two cotises dancettee or. Crest-A wolf's head per pale or and az. On the tomb the bend has a mullet for difference, indicating a third son. More will be said of the Cloptons in next issue.

dCapt. Hubert Farrell married Dorothy, daughter of Col. Thomas Drew, of Charles City. (QuARTEnRLY, Vol. IV., p. 5.) He was wounded in the defence of Jamestown in 1676, and was killed in the fight at King's Creek shortly



DANDRIDGES OF VYnRGMIN. 81

after. Daniel Farrell, who was born in 1694, and died May 8, 1736 (Parish Register), aged 42, was probably connected. Issue of the last by Elizabeth his wife: Joseph, born October 8, 1725; Richard, born November 28, 1727.

4David Mossom (see QUARTERLY, IV., p. 66) became minister of St. Peter's Church in 1727. There is proof that he was married three times. Bishop Meade says he was married four times. He was the person who oficiated at the nuptials of George Washington, and continued in the ministry 40 years. According to his epitaph he was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, and was the first native American admitted to the office of presbyter in the church of England. In his autobiography the Rev. Devereux Jarratt attri- butes a poor character to morals and religion in New Kent. But it is so much easier to overdraw than to give an exact representation. Jarratt says that Mossom was a poor preacher, very near-sighted, and, reading his sermons closely, kept his eyes fixed on the paper, and his remarks "seemed rather addressed to the cushion than to the congregation. " As illustrative of the life- less condition of religion, he mentions a quarrel between Mr. Mossom and his clerk, in which the former assailed the latter from the pulpit in his sermon, and the latter, to avenge himself, gave out from the desk the psalm in which were these lines:

" With restless and ungoverned rage, Why do the heathen storm?

Why in such rash attempts engage As they can ne'er perform ? "

His daughter Elizabeth married Capt. William Reynolds. 4 St. Peter's Parish Register has the following: Ann dau to mr Wm Chamberlayne b. March 14, 1723, died Oct 8, 1725. Edward Pey, sone of Wm & Elizth Chamberlaine born Janr 20th 1725 Ann Kidley, dau. of Eliza Chamberlayne, widow, born April 10, 1737. Wm Chamberlayne died Aug 2, 1736. Edward Pye son of Richard and Mary Chamberlayne born Jan. 1768. Wm. Chamberlayne made his will Oct. 1, 1735, and had by Elizabeth, his

wife, Edward Pye, Richard, Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth. Frances, Anne, and Anne Kidley. The widow married William Gray, of New Kent. (Eaening, V., p. 117.) Of these, Richard had by Mary, his wife, Edward Pye, born January, 1768. Thomas married Wilhelmina, daughter of William Byrd and Lucy Parke. (Hening, VI., p. 319.)

5For an account of the Littlepage family, see Hayden's Virginia Genealogies.

DANDRIDGES OF VIRGINIA. (Seepage 30.)

The following entries are from an old Bible in the possession of Mrs. Mildred Spotswood Mathes, of Memphis, Tenn. This Bible was printed by "Thomas Baskett, printer to the king's most excel- lent majesty, 1751."

"Nathaniel West Dandridge, married to Dorothea Spotswood, June 18, 1747.

"Martha Dandridge, born September 20, 1748.



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