Maybury, Francis

Francis Maybury (ca 1650 - 1712) was almost certainly born in Englandalthough our research has yet to discover the exact place of his birth orthe names of his parents. We only know that he was in Virginia at leastas early as 1 October 1679 when John Pleasants and Jno. Haddelsey weregranted 548 acres on "the maine brook of 4 Mile Creek, adjoining Capt.Matthews, etc." on the north side of the James River for their havingtransported eleven persons into the Colony. These persons are named inthe patent book as: Melch. Richardson, Math. Mock, Fra. Mawbury, MaryClarke, Samll. Anderson, Hen. Turney (or Turner), Jos. Wells, SusanPerrott, Jno. Kempton, and Abra. Goff. There can be little doubt that the"Fra. Mawbury" listed is Francis Maybury whose records are found inHenrico, Charles City, and Surry Counties over the next thirty fiveyears. Because the headright grants were made to encourage immigrantsfrom England, it is almost certain that England was the place of FrancisMaybury''s origin. It is entirely possible that he may have come toVirginia several months or even years prior to October 1, 1679"headrights" were very often bought and sold. The earliest records tolocate Francis Maybury in a specific area suggest that he lived inHenrico County just west of the present city of Hopewell, Virginia, orabout four or five miles west, southwest of the point where theAppomattox River empties into the James. We believe he lived on SwiftCreek which flows into the Appomattox. Surely it is no coincidence thatdirectly opposite the mouth of Swift Creek is "Gilliam''s Island", almostcertainly named three hundred years ago for the family of FrancisMaybury''s wife, Elizabeth Gilliam. This location is confirmed by the factthat the other families known to have been neighbors and associates ofthe Mayburys and the Gilliams also received grants of land in the samearea, often called "the Curles of the James", an apt description of themeandering James River. The Jordans and Bollings were on the north sideof the James a short distance away. The Walthalls were south of theJames, perhaps only a mile or two from the Gilliams and Mayburys. Othernearby families include the Cockes, the Brownes, and the Wynnes. HenryWalthall and John Bolling were two of the three witnesses when ElizabethGilliam Maybury wrote her will in 1713. John Bolling (1676-1729) was thegreat grandson of John Rolfe and Pocahontas, whose families a centuryearlier had lived along the James, not far away. By far the best knownof the neighbors of the Mayburys and Gilliams was the Randolph family.Henry Randolph, a half brother of the English poet, Thomas Randolph, wasborn in England in 1623 and came to Virginia in 1642, about the time SirWilliam Berkeley came to be the Colony''s Governor. Henry married JudithSoane, daughter of Henry Soane, speaker of the House of Burgesses.Randolph was also Clerk of Henrico County from about 1656 and of theHouse of Burgesses from 1660 until shortly before his death in 1673. Hewent back to England in 1669, but became homesick for Virginia andreturned to spend his last days there. However, the real founder of theVirginia Randolphs was not Henry, but his nephew, "William Randolph ofTurkey Island", who probably came to Virginia when his uncle returnedfrom England in 1670. Both Henry Randolph and his nephew, William, ownedland along Swift Creek. In 1655 Henry acquired a 1000 acre tract on thenorth side of Swift Creek at its Falls in the Bermuda Hundred. Thisconsisted of two separate tracts of 850 acres and 150 acres previouslypatented in 1637 and 1638 by Wm. Hatcher and which Hatcher laterabandoned. It is believed that Henry Randolph built his home on this landshortly after acquiring it and that he maintained it until his death in1672. On January 29, 1663 Henry Randolph received another patent for 800acres along both sides of Swift Creek, but mostly on the north. As wewill see below, Henry Randolph''s nephew, William also owned land on SwiftCreek. While it is clear that the Randolphs and the Gilliams wereneighbors, there exists the possibility that they were more closelyrelated. This is suggested by several land transactions which involveboth families. Henry Randolph and Eliza Repps were the witnesses on July21, 1664 when Edward Hill sold a 1,300 acre tract to John Gilliam. OnSeptember 21, 1671 Henry Randolph applied for a patent for another 244acres on the south side of the Appomattox in Bristol Parish, Charles CityCounty. This was a tract of land that had been patented ten yearsearlier, in 1663, to John Guillam, who later deserted it. Nineteen monthslater, on April 17, 1673, Randolph received the patent. Some mightsuggest that Randolph, as Clerk of the County, was simply takingadvantage of the opportunity to acquire additional land. It seems clear,however, that his real purpose in gaining possession of the 244 acres wasto return it to John Gilliam''s widow, Margery because two months later,on July 16th, he assigned the patent to her. Then, a few weeks later,before he could acknowledge the assignment in court, Henry Randolph died.His reason for returning the land to the Gilliams was probably stated inhis will which, unfortunately, has been lost. That he had a will isproved by another court record in which Judith Randolph, his widow, isnamed and qualified as his Executrix. Some of the provisions of the willwere delayed until 1687 when Henry Randolph II, only eight years old atthe time of his father''s death, reached the age of majority. Thus it wasHenry Randolph II who, by means of a deed executed in 1687, finallyaccomplished the actual transfer of the 244 acres to Margery Gilliam. Inthe meantime Margery had remarried to Henry Briggs. "To all who whomthese presents shall come Greetings; Whereas Henry Randolph, late of thiscounty of Henrico, deceased, did, by virtue of the General Court bearingdate ye 21 of September 1671, make out and patent a tract formerlydeserted by Mr. John Guillam as by ye patent for ye same dated at JamesCitty ye May 17, 1673 may plainly appear; and the said Randolph didassign over ye said land unto Mrs. Margery Guyllam, relict of ye saidJohn, her hairs and assigns forever on 16 July 1673, but before ye samewas acknowledged in court or ratified accordingly did depart this life.,Now I, Henry Randolph, son and hair of ye before mentioned deceased HenryRandolph, out of filial duty and reverence I bear to ye memory of my saiddeceased father, do grant unto Margery Briggs, late relict of yeaforesaid John Guilliam and assignee of Mr. Henry Randolph and assignforever that piece, parcel and tract of land situated, lying or being inBristol Parish in ye county of Charles Citty on ye southside ofAppomattox river as in contained herein ye bounds in ye before mentionedpatent granted ye said Henry Randolph."
It may be that Henry Randolph''s gift to Margery Gilliam Briggs of the244 acres, previously owned by her late husband and William Randolph''ssale of 591 acres to Margery''s son-in-law, William Bevin were simplytransactions common among neighbors and friends. However, it still seemslikely that there was some family connection between Elizabeth Gilliamand the Randolph family. It may well be that the connection will be foundwhen we learn more about Elizabeth Gilliam''s first husband who was aWest. It may be no coincidence that the parents of the elder HenryRandolph (1623-1673) were William Randolph (1572-1660) and his secondwife, Dorothy Lane, who when she married William, was the widow of ThomasWest.Francis Maybury married Elizabeth Gilliam sometime in the latesummer or early fall of 1685 in Henrico County. This is documented by acourt record, "Whereas Wm. Bevin late of this county of Henrico inVirginia, dec''d, did by his last will and test. make and app''t Eliz., hiswife his whole and sole Exr., who has since married unto FrancisMaybury…". The same record goes on to name Francis Maybury the newexecutor, "as marrying ye relict (widow) of Will. Bevin, dec.". It maybe that after their marriage, he and Elizabeth continued to live on theSwift Creek land that Elizabeth inherited from William Bevin. In 1692Francis Maybury received his own headright grant of land on Swift Creek,adjoining Henry Randolph, Sam''l Newman, & Wm. Pride. This land was sold afew years later to Ralph Jackson. The seven children of Francis andElizabeth Maybury were born in Henrico or Charles City County. Then,sometime around 1700, the family moved to nearby Surry County whereFrancis is shown on the 1704 Rent Roll with 347 acres.