_Hildebert (Eldegaire) DE LIMOGES _+
| (0835 - ....)
_Hildegar (Eldegaire) DE LIMOGES _|
| (0864 - 0937) |
| |_Aldatrude ________________________
|
|
|--Geraud DE LIMOGES
|
| _Geraud DE BOURGES ________________
| |
|_Tietberga (Tetrisca) DE BOURGES _|
|
|_Rothilde DE BROSSE _______________+
_Emanuel Philiberto DE SAVOIE _+
| (1528 - 1580)
_Carlo Emanuele I DE SAVOIE _____|
| (1562 - 1630) |
| |_Marguerite DE VALOIS _________+
| (1523 - 1574)
|
|--Vittorio Amadeo I DE SAVOIE
| (1587 - 1637)
| _Felipe II VON HABSBURG _______
| |
|_Catherine Micaela VON HABSBURG _|
|
|_Elizabeth DE VALOIS __________+
_Michael HAIER ______+
| (1618 - 1675)
_Michael HAIER ______|
| (1640 - 1693) |
| |_Dorothea DANN ______
|
|
|--Michael HAIER
| (1669 - 1728)
| _____________________
| |
|_Appolonia RATH _____|
|
|_____________________
_John KNIGHT ________+
| (1668 - ....)
_John KNIGHT ________|
| (1680 - 1762) m 1729|
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Sarah Ann KNIGHT
|
| _Daniel EPPS ________
| | m 1681
|_Elizabeth EPPS _____|
(1712 - 1863) m 1729|
|_Elizabeth JORDAN ___+
(1690 - ....) m 1681
__
|
_Thomas "The Elder" MEADES _|
| (1612 - 1658) |
| |__
|
|
|--Thomas MEADOR
| (1638 - 1664)
| __
| |
|_Sarah _____________________|
(1600 - 1655) |
|__
[189]
From "Our Colonial Meador Ancestors" by Victor Paul Meadors
"Thomas Meador (called orphan) apparently was close to legal
age at the death of his father, (1) Thomas Meads, in 1655,
because he was able to make a legal deed in 1658 . Much
heretofore has been made of his having to be between 14 and
17 years of age to choose his own guardian, but under
English common law, 21 was generally considered to be the
age responsibility. Thus. it must be considered that
Thomas, the son, was born as early as 1636 or 1637 to have
attained 21 years of age by 1658. This also would appear
likely in view of his marriage, which must have occurred
about this time.
"In the deed mentioned above, Thomas Meador contracted the
sell to James Haire "25 acres of land, being part of the
land that was given unto me by my father, Thomas Meades
deceased, and to my brother (name missing)." This confirms
his parentage and that he had a brother, who is given in the
father's will as John Meador. This 1658 deed was signed by
Thomas with a unique mark, a cross with barred ends, a
signature found nowhere else in the county records.
"Records of the distribution of the estate of the senior
Thomas Meades are missing, so one cannot say just how the
lands willed to Thomas and his brother John ended up in the
possession of their sister Mary. One could speculate that
the lands were traded to Mary for the rights to the two
grants on Hoskins Creek, on the south side of the
Rappahannock River, of which Thomas Meador (orphan) became
possessed.
"Of these two grants, the first one recorded was made to the
younger Thomas Meador, of 320 acres for the transportation
of seven persons to the colony, recorded June 3,1663 .
Sufficient data survives to permit the plotting of this
tract. The grant shows a peculiar characteristic, in that
it requires a southeasterly flowing section of Hoskins Creek
roughly 181 poles (2986 feet) long, whereas the major
portion of Hoskins Creek flows easterly. Of three possible
locations along the creek where it flows southeasterly for
that length, one would eliminate by its location two near
the mouth of the creek, whereas the grant specified that it
was toward the head of the creek. Another is eliminated by
its encroachment upon property granted to Henry Awbrey
further upstream, which also requires a similar-flowing
southeast section. The area best fitting the requirements
lies at what is known today as "Cheatwood Millpond". This
location is just southeast of Rexburg, Virginia, and seven
miles west of Tappahannock, county seat of Essex County.
"The 320 acre grant later became the property of (3) John
Meador, who sold it to Ebenezer Stanfield in 1679 . The
deed states that the grant was to Thomas Meador, father of
the said John Meador, thus confirming this parentage.
Stanfield devised the property to his daughter, Rebecca, who
married John Williams, Jr., and they later disposed of the
property, which never again returned to the ownership of
Meador descendants.
"The second of the two grants was for 450 acres, also near
the head of Hoskins Creek . It was first granted to Thomas
Browning on November 30,1657. It was then assigned to John
Cooke in 1659, and he in turn assigned it to Thomas Meader
(senior). Before this series of transactions was finally
recorded on April 9,1664, Thomas Sr. had died and the
property descended to his son, Thomas Meader, orphan. The
above series of actions is recorded in the wording of the
grant (see copy). As noted in the previous chapter on (1)
Thomas Meads, this 450 acre tract was not mentioned in the
will of Thomas Meads, probably because the above actions had
not been finalized and the grant issued.
"By plotting these two grants (see map), it can be seen that
they lay side by side on the south side of Hoskins Creek,
with the 450 acre grant upstream (west) of the 320 acre
grant, and that they shared a common boundary. Both grants
were recorded after the apparent death of (2) Thomas Meador,
orphan.
"The 450 acre grant (made to Thomas Meador, orphan) clearly
became the property of (3) John Meador, who divided it among
the children of his first wife. Portions were also divided
among the children of his second wife through the terms of
John's will. A descendant, (5) William Meador, in a deed in
1728 and another in 1734 , continued the lineage from his
great-grandfather Thomas Meador through John, Richard, and
himself, making the descent of the property and lineage
involved unquestionable. The genealogy of the Meador family
from (1) Thomas Meads is thus established to that point.
"No documentation has been found to show explicitly that
Thomas Meader, orphan, was also known as Thomas Meador, the
younger. Nevertheless, the only other Thomas Meador found
in the area at that time was Thomas, the son of Ambrose
Meador, as discussed in the previous chapter. It would
appear that the known facts fit more logically with the
conclusion that Thomas, orphan, and Thomas the younger were
one and the same. Particularly, Thomas, orphan, is the only
one who was also the son of an elder Thomas, thus requiring
the description, "the younger".
"This latter phrase is found in two documents made by a Sarah
Meador, in which, describing herself as the widow of Thomas
Meador the Younger, she declared her obligation to her three
children in April, 1662. Such declarations were commonly
made by those contemplating remarriage. In the first
document , Sarah provided for the maintenance and education
of her children, promising them four years of schooling
apiece. (At this period, most children received only a
year.) In the second , Sarah gave her son John Meador a
yoke of oxen and "one gun, seven foot by the barrel", to be
delivered to him when he came of age. To her daughter
Susannah she gave a red cow called "Cherry" and her
increase. To her daughter Mary she gave a black heifer
called "Slippery". We learn also that Susannah was several
years less than 11 years old, and that Mary was less than 9
years old. Since the marriage of Thomas Meador the Younger
(or orphan) took place no earlier than 1657 or 1658, all
three children would have been infants at that time.
"No documentation has thus far been found to specify who
Sarah Meador then married. Nonetheless, it should be noted
that a very prominent, highly influential and prosperous
settler of the same area, Henry Awbrey, about this time took
a wife named Sarah, who may well have been Sarah Meador,
widow. Further discussion on this point will be made in
this chapter. Perhaps older than Sarah, Henry Awbrey is
rumored to have married in England; however, no trace of
such wife of surviving children of such a marriage has been
found in Virginia records. Sarah is first mentioned as his
wife in 1664 , when Henry appointed her his attorney to
collect debts due him in his absence. She again appears in
1670 as party to a sale of Henry Awbrey and herself of a
tract of 300 acres on land on the north side of the
Rappahannock River .
"Her name again appears in 1672 as party to another deed ,
but no further reference to her has been found. When Henry
Awbrey made his will in 1694 , he named his wife as Mary.
"The above mentioned deed for 300 acres north of the
Rappahannock has caused considerable confusion among
researchers. While it is true that a Thomas Meador once
owned this property as stated in the deed, this was Thomas,
the son of Ambrose Meador, instead of Thomas (orphan), son
of Thomas Meads. After Ambrose purchased 1000 acres from
James Williamson in 1656 , he sold 300 acres from that
tract to his son, Thomas . This 300 acres was then divided
in half by Thomas, who sold 150 acres to Richard Tomlinson
in 1657 and 150 acres to Lambert Lambertson in 1658 .
Lambertson further divided his tract into 75 acre plots,
which were then further sold. While it may seem unlikely
that these various small plots could have bee reassembled
back into a single 300 acre tract, the evidence points to
that event. The remaining 700 acres of the 1000 acres
purchase by Ambrose Meador can be fully accounted for.
There is no indication that Ambrose purchased additional
land from Williamson, nor that he sold more to his son,
Thomas. Yet the deed from Henry and Sarah Awbrey states
that the property was from the purchase by Ambrose Meador
out of the grant to James Williamson, and from the portion
sold by Ambrose to his son Thomas.
"Regardless of the subdivision and the further sales, this
deed could easily lead one to believe that Sarah had
inherited the property as the widow of Thomas, the son of
Ambrose. But a more likely explanation is that the property
was reassembled by Henry Awbrey into a single tract, for
which no records remain. Several instances have been noted
in which property reverted to the original owner, evidently
when the purchaser had defaulted in paying the purchase
price. But in this case reversion to Thomas, the son of
Ambrose, would appear quite unlikely in view of the many
subsequent continuing sales by several individuals. In any
case, it should be noted that Thomas, son of Ambrose, and
Thomas, son of Thomas, both must have died about the same
time, which certainly adds to the possible confusion between
the two men.
_William PEARCE _____+
| (1713 - 1762) m 1752
_John PEARCE ________|
| (1760 - 1828) |
| |_Ann ROBBERTS _______
| (1713 - ....) m 1752
|
|--Sarah "Sallie" (a twin) PEARCE
| (1815 - ....)
| _James CAIN _________+
| | (1732 - 1826)
|_Ann CAIN ___________|
(1775 - 1850) |
|_Elizabeth __________
_Samuel WIMBISH _____+
| (.... - 1790) m 1763
_John D. WIMBISH ______|
| (1790 - 1863) m 1809 |
| |_Mildred MARTIN _____+
| m 1763
|
|--Miles M. WIMBISH
| (1814 - ....)
| _David BRIDGES ______
| |
|_Anna Jane C. BRIDGES _|
m 1809 |
|_Martha _____________