Mabry, John

The precise date of the birth John Mabry is unknown. Two newspaperaccounts which mention him briefly could lead to the assumption that hewas born about 1713, at the age of 102:Died in Warren County latelyJohn Mabry at the advanced age of 102. So well did this venerable plantersupport his great age that a few years ago he frequently partook of thepleasures of the chase and actually shot a Deer since he was turned of90. Let it not be said hereafter that we have no instances of longevityin the Southern States. Three years later, following a current deathnotice, the same newspaper published a list of people in the area who hadalso lived a long time. On the list was this item: Upper end of Halifax:John Mabry, who lived in this neighborhood died at 102 years old.Assuming that John Mabry was born about 1713, he had to have been a childof George2 Mabry’s first marriage to Sarah Williamson, daughter of JohnWilliamson. However, this would not be correct. Papers relating to theestate of John Williamson include a sale of land by his heirs to George2Mabry. One of these is a Brunswick County, Virginia deed dated 2 November1742. Signers of the deed which transferred 280 acres of land to GeorgeMabry were all daughters and sons-in-law of John Williamson, along withWilliamson’s granddaughter, Sarah Mabry, “daughter of Sarah Mabry, latewife of George Mabry”. This document proves several things. The first isthat John Williamson’s daughter, Sarah, was the first wife of GeorgeMabry. The second is that George Mabry and Sarah Williamson had adaughter, Sarah Mabry, who is named in this document as John Williamson’sgranddaughter. The law under which John Williamson’s property was sold byhis heirs provided that share which would have gone to his deceaseddaughter, Sarah Williamson Mabry, went to any child who survived her. Forus it is significant that Sarah Mabry is the only grandchild named. Thismeans that John Mabry was not George Mabry’s son by his first wife but byhis second wife, Martha Bradley.