SOME of theBUZBEES and THEIR BESTFRIENDS

COMPILED BY Richard E. Buzbee Some of The Buzbees and Their Best Friends was first published in a single volume for the family at Christmas 1967. The Second Edition was published for the family, 25 December 1983. Since that time, the increase in family data discovered or created, as well as the increase in the family, have allowed the expansion into multiple volumes. The original volume is now Volume 1, though it, too, has been rewritten and enlarged. This is Volume 1, Going West: Beyond the Old World: 1180-1930.

Volume 1 is set in 12 pt. Palatino, using a Power Macintosh 7600/120 computer.

Published at 4 Crescent Boulevard, Hutchinson, Kansas 25 December 1997 1 August 1998

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 2 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Buzbees, Darlings, Palmers, Cauthorns, In Old, New Worlds (Many arrived early and most headed west in first 300 years)

THIS IS A COLLECTION of stories about good friends. It also is a collection of dates that influenced their lives. It tells of some men and women who carried the names of Buzbee, Darling, Koester or Saunders, and of families who were to become best friends, such as Palmer, Cauthorn, Thomas, January, Cooper, Van Anglen and Gautier.

This is a copy from a Third Edition in a printing of 6 copies. The First Edition was published 25 December 1967 in 30 pages. The Second Edition was published 25 December 1983 in 196 pages. The Third Edition, in 10 volumes, is published 25 December 1997 and 1 August 1998, specifically for my best friends, with acknowledgement that much of the work was by others. These volumes reflect research and careful preservation of family history for more than 100 years within the family and among friends, as well as historians for many years.

Richard E. Buzbee 4 Crescent Boulevard Hutchinson, Kansas 67502

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 3 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD THE SERIES

Some of the Buzbees and Their Best Friends

VOLUME 1: Going West Beyond the Old World: 1180-1930 VOLUME 2: Redbug Country The Darlings, Buzbees and Fordyce, Ark., in the 1900s VOLUME 3: Box 493 Beyond the Great Depression: 1931-1957 VOLUME 4: Olathe! Chanute, Burlington, Olathe: 1957-1979 VOLUME 5: Home Base Hutchinson: 1979-1993 VOLUME 6: Mostly Page 4 Dick’s Editorials, Essays and Columns (Parts 1 through 6) VOLUME 7: Mostly Page 4 Dick’s Editorials, Essays and Columns (Parts 7 through 14) VOLUME 8: Going East Beyond the Old Deadlines: 1994 onward

Some of the Palmers and Their Best Friends

VOLUME 9: Apple Country They Planted a Town as well as Trees in Waverly, Mo. VOLUME 10: Family Recipes Marie’s Letters, Notes & Ideas: 1932-1993

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 4 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD SOME OF THE BUZBEES and THEIR BEST FRIENDS

From our Ship art collection: Artist is unknown

GOING WEST

VOLUME 1: Beyond the Old World: 1180-1930

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 5 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD GOING WEST

The Buzbees They escaped the Black Death---but not the Tax Collectors...... 8 Dr. Richard Busby---one of England’s distinguished teachers...... 12 Edward Busby got out of prison---to be deported to the Colonies in 1620...... 22 Other early Virginians...... 24 Virginia’s first Thomas Busbys...... 27 Thomas Busby, interpreter to the Indians for the Crown...... 47 Lt. Thomas Busby tears up the jail...... 63 Bacon’s Rebellion: Where was Lt. Thomas Busby?...... 73 Thomas Busby serves as land expert in Virginia dispute...... 120 Colonial Thoms Busbys: How many were there?...... 139 William Busby (ca. 1700-ca. 1800), John Buzbee (ca. 1737-ca. 1778)...... 144 Jacob (ca. 1760-1839), Joshua (1806-1875), and Edgar Farrior (1869-1951)...... 165 Purmelia Fry (1841-1912)...... 186 Edgar Andrew Buzbee (1906-1978)...... 248

The Saunders A martyr, an admiral, and a couple of young pirates...... 192 The Sanders in Colonial America...... 195 Joel Sanders (ca. 1720-1782)...... 204 Benjamin Sanders (1746-1822)...... 205 Thomas Saunders (ca. 1780-1848)...... 205 Lindsey Saunders (1806-1865)...... 208 Lindsey Saunders, Jr. (1836-1897) & Mary Elizabeth Justice (1841-1898)...... 211 Jennie Justice Saunders (1880-1964)...... 219 Poems by Mama Buzbee: “The Buzbees,” and others...... 221

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 6 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 5 May 1674: Tho: Busby records a crop mark for his daughter, Jane Busby Documents, Illustrations and Art

1. Colonial documents from Surry Reproductions of colonial court records from Surry County are of the original copies made at the time by Surry County clerks, mostly by Clerk William Edwards in the late 1600s. The transcriptions of Thomas Busby’s signatures show Edwards’ elegant penmanship, and signify that Busby had signed the original documents.

2. Colonial engravings and other illustrations Colonial-period engravings are part of the Catchpenny prints, popular in 18th century England. Prints are used with permission from Dover Pictorial Archive Service, “Catchpenny Prints,” published by Dover, 1970. The sources of other illustrations are identified as used. Illustrations include woodcuts from a 1557 copy of Lycosthenes’ Chronicon Prodigiorum, which Bill Buzbee added to his rare book collection; oils, lithographs and engravings in the Buzbee collection at 4 Crescent; and original drawings and watercolors specifically for this series of books, by Pat Potucek, Hutchinson.

3. Timelines and genealogical hypotheses Timelines of the families are designed to show life spans and comparable generations in England and America, and not always direct heritage. Dr. Busby did not have children. A direct link with Capt. Thomas Busby, Thomas Busby, Thomas Busby the Indian, Jeffrey Busby and William Busby has not been established, though they were certainly in the neighborhood.

PART 1 France, England, and The Colonies

They escaped the Black Death-----but not the Tax Collectors Some survived the Hundred Years Wars Grocer Ralphe Busby bought stock in Virginia Company Dr. Richard Busby, England’s great school master A flight from ‘The Great Plague’ ‘Spiriting’ and chains in England Early arrivals in the Colonies The Thomas Busbys in Virginia Back in England: The London merchants

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 7 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD They escaped the Black Death..... but not the king’s Tax Collectors

HUGH DE BUSBEE lived in Normandy in 1180. It was the time of Henry II and 23-year-old Richard who would become Richard the Lionheart. Henry and Richard were Plantagenets who would rule England and as much of France as they could manhandle as the 12th century came to a close. On the Normandy side of the nation, Hugh de Busbee would have lived at least relatively close to the relatively-new Bayeaux Tapestry. The historic tapestry then was hanging in Bayeaux Cathedral, 114 years after Busbee’s fellow Norman, William (the Bastard) had managed to change his name into William (the Conqueror) by defeating Saxon English King Harold at Hastings. Within the next few generations, Busbys were recorded on the English side of the channel.

1273 John Busseby was listed in Oxfordshire’s “Hundred Rolls.” That was 58 years after the English barons had forced the 7th Norman king (John) to surrender some of his absolute power, and sign the Magna Charta, on a field at Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines.

The follies and vices (of John) were his salvation. Had John inherited the great qualities of his father, or Henry Beauclerc, or of the Conqueror, or of Richard, and had the King of France at the time been as incapable as all the other successors of Hugh Capet had been, the House of Plantagenet must have risen to unrivaled ascendancy in Europe. But, just at this juncture, France, for the first time since the death of Charlemagne, was governed by a prince of great firmness and ability. John was kicked out of Normandy---and the Normans (in control of England) were forced to make a choice between the island or the continent. They chose the island.....” (The History of England, Macauley, p. 11)

It had taken 200 years, but by the time John Busseby had been recorded in 1273, the Normans and Saxons had reconciled. In his History of England, Macauley wrote that when John had succeeded Richard the Lionheart as King of England, the Saxons and Normans were separate; by the end of the reign of King John’s grandson, “ the distinction had disappeared.”

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 8 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

The wars and pestilence of the Middle Ages were illustrated in 1557, using these woodcuts of the time. These are from Bill’s rare-books collection. The volume is Lycosthenes’ Chronicon Prodigiorum.

1379 Richard de Busby and Adam de Buskeby were recorded in Yorkshire’s “Poll Tax Returns.” Thus, while they didn’t escape the tax collectors of the 14th century, they had been lucky about two other calamities: 1. They had escaped at least the first half of the Hundred Years War between England and France. 2. They had escaped the first Black Death plague, which had swept Europe beginning in 1348. A third of the Busbys’ fellow citizens had died in the preceding 30 years. The English population around Richard and Adam was to continue to decline throughout their lives and for the next 70 years.

Here are two other scenes from Bill’s copy of Chronicon Prodigiorum, displaying a Medieval city and the arrival, left, of a comet.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 9 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1584 Thomas Busby, of Meyford, Staffordshire, disposed of his properties in a will. He named his kinsman, Geoffrey Busby, as his executor.

THOMAS BUSBY of Meyford, Staffordshire, gent., proved 19 November 1584. Wife Isabell Busby shall enjoy, during her natural life, the revenues &c. of my farms, messuages &c. in Keybulston and Meyford, lying in the Lordship of Keybulston (and other property). Agnes Haste als Harrison als Busby shall have the issues revenues &c. of those farms &c. during the residue of the term of years, during the life of the said Agnes, my daughter, and she keeping herself unmarried. My son in law Gabriel Mermyon gent. My brother in law John Bradshaw. My kinsman Geoffrey Busby. To my Lady Margaret Standley and Mr. Mather two gilt silver spoons, besides their “herriates” due to them. To Mr. Edward Standley, her son, my silver cup, gilt. To Isabell my wife my best silver salt, parcel gilt, and one dozen of silver spoons lately bought of her son Mr. Mermyon. My daughter in law Ellen Thacker. Oliver Thacker. Mr. Robert Thacker. Christopher Thacker. My daughter in law and her husband my cousin Calwell. My cousin John Clerke, gent., and his wife. Every child which my son in law Richard Holland had, before his decease, by my daughter in law Margaret, his wife, besides my godson Thomas Holland. My brother in law William Bradshaw. My cousin John Sarson and his wife. My cousin Robert Quernby of Nottingham and his wife. To my cousin William Boylston three pounds six shillings eight pence. Ann Ames, my wife’s kinswoman. My kinswoman Mary Busby (her father dead). Henry Waters, if he continue with my wife until his years be expired. My executors to be Isabell Busby, my wife, Richard Winnington of London gent., and Geoffrey Busby, my kinsman and servant. My overseer to be Mr. Doctor Goodman, Dean of Westminster. To each of them three “Ryalls” apiece, of fifteen shillings apiece, to make them rings. Lands &c. in counties of Derby, Stafford, Leicester and Rutland. Watson, 34 (Genealogical Gleanings in England, pp. 802-803).

1586 Ralphe Busby, a grocer, was admitted a freeman of the Grocers’ Company in England. In 1605, however, he was reproved by the court of assistants and excluded from all office of authority in the company. He was not allowed to be of the court of assistants because of “unjust conduct to the clerk, and defiance of the authority of the court.” He was admitted to the livery 22 May 1613, and occupied a house in Wood Street in 1614.

He was a member of the East India Company, and the North West Passage Company. Ralphe Busby was also a stockholder in The Virginia Company, by its Second Charter, of 23 May 1609. He was among about 713 lords, knights, doctors, captains, companies of tradesmen, and individual investors. (Genesis of the U.S., Brown, Vol. 2, p. 836)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 10 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD To that group, James (by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, etc.) on 23 May 1609 in the Charter, stated: We greatlie affectinge the effectual prosecucion and happie successe of the said plantacion and comendinge their good desires theirin, for their further encouragement in accomplishinge so excellent a worke, much pleasinge to God and profitable to our Kingdomes, doe, of our speciall grace and certeine knowledge and meere motion, for us, oure heires and successors, give, graunt and confirme to oure trustie and well beloved subjects, And to such and so manie as they doe or shall hereafter admitt to be joyned with them, in forme hereafter in theis presents expressed, whether they goe in their persons to be planteres there in the said plantacion, or whether they goe not, but doe adventure their monyes, goods or chattels, that they shall be one bodie or communalties perpetuall and shall have perpetual succession and one common seale to serve for the saide bodie or communaltie; and that they and their successors shall be knowne, called and incorporated by the name of The Tresorer and Companie of Adventures and Planters of the Citty of London for the Firste Collonie in Virginia.

THUS, RALPHE BUSBY became an “adventurer and planter” by direction of the King, even though he had substantial troubles, and a clearly reduced social status, with his fellow grocers. His subscription to the Virginia Company also rated a footnote to history: His name was transcribed twice in the Chancery Rolls of the Public Record Office, London. Among the other Virginia Company stockholders were William Crosley (Crosby), John Grey (Gray), George Proctor, Ralphe Hamer, Thomas Bayley (a vintener), and two Bennetts, William, a fishmonger, and George. These names were soon familiar in the new colony, just as the Busby name was. A few years later, Michael Busby was listed as a member of the French Company.

THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE: From the trip to the Cotswolds in 1994 by Bill, Marie, Dorothy and Dick.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 11 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Visscher’s View of London, 1616, showing the Bridge and traffic on the Thames. Shakespeare’s Globe Theater is slightly left, in the full reproduction of this 1885 etching.

1606 On 22 September 1606, the second son of the Richard Busbys of Lutton, England, was born. He was named Richard. His older brother had been named Timothy. Richard and Timothy Busby were in a poor family, their father being one of the church wardens of Lutton, but moving to Westminster soon after Richard’s birth. The mother was a sister of Henry Robinson in Westminster, and aunt of Thomas Robinson, who was created baronet in 1681. In later life, Richard Busby the younger assumed the arms of the Busbys of Addington, but there is no record the arms belonged to his immediate family. (Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606-1695), etc., by G. F. Russell Barker

As a youth he received money from the parish to earn first his bachelor’s degree, and then his master of arts degree. He put the help given him toward creating a rich profession. He became one of the most celebrated of all the Busbys.

“Busby was undoubtedly one of the greatest school-masters that this or any other country has ever produced. He guided the destinies of the School (Westminster) with a firm hand and an unerring eye for nearly 57 years, retaining his post through the Civil War, the Commonwealth, the Restoration, and the Revolution, thus serving three dynasties, and witnessing three changes of worship. To him alone is the credit due for the extraordinary success of the School during his long and eventful reign. The best testimonial of a

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 12 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD head-master is the success of his scholars, and no master perhaps ever had had so many successful scholars as Busby. He is said to have boasted, that at one time 16 out of the whole bench of Bishops had been educated by him.” ....

“Once in a large company he sat at table between Mrs. South and Mrs. Sherlock, when the conversation turned upon wives. Busby, being asked his opinion, said that he believed wives in general were good, though, to be sure, there might be a bad one here and a bad one there.”..

“’Will you permit me, giant, to pass to my seat?” said an Irish baronet to Busby one day in a coffee-house. ‘Certainly, pigmy,’ said the Doctor. ‘Sir,’ foamed the Irishman, ‘ I alluded to the vastness of your intellect.’ ‘And I, sir,’ quietly replied Busby, ‘to the size of your own.’” (Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606-1695), etc., by G. F. Russell Barker, p. 51)

“One hot afternoon, as Busby was correcting themes in the school room, there was a great noise of juniors playing in Little Dean’s Yard. Busby twice sent down the monitor to stop the riot, but as this had no effect he dispatched several big boys with orders to bring up the chief culprits. A lean Frenchman happened to be standing in Dean’s Yard, enjoying the view of the Abbey, and smiling at the games of the boys. Him, Busby’s emissaries seized, and dragged, frantically resisting, up the school-room steps.

“’Horse him,’ said Busby quietly, when the young rogues had declared that ‘this was the man who had made all the noise,’ and to the unspeakable delight of the whole school, the Frenchman was well whipped, and then hustled out.

“Boiling with rage, he hastened to the nearest coffeehouse, and there wrote out a challenge, which he sent to Busby by a street porter. The Doctor had no sooner read the paper than he said, ‘Fetch me a rod, and horse this man,’ and the porter was forthwith (whipped). (The porter) returned to the coffee-house with starting eyes to tell what had happened to him, and this time the Frenchman, fairly vanquished, could only exclaim, ‘C’est un diable.’” (Memoir of Richard Busby, by G. F. Russell Barker, p. 54)

Dr. Busby whipped and taught them all.

“Readers of the Spectator will remember the account of Sir Roger de Coverley’s visit to Westminster Abbey, and the reverential awe with which he stood up before Busby’s monument exclaiming, ‘Dr. Busby, a great Man! he whipp’d my grandfather; a very Great Man! I should have gone to him myself if I had not been a Blockhead; a very great man!” (Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606-1695), etc., by G. F. Russell Barker, p. 1)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 13 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD During the Civil War (1641-1647), Dr. Busby earned a reputation as being especially stubborn. At the conclusion of the war, and victory by Cromwell over Charles I, every clergyman and schoolmaster was required to take the “Covenant” of the victorious Puritans.

“...... not all had consciences elastic enough to enable them to do so. Since the introduction of the new Directory of Worship, the use of the Prayer Book was no longer permitted, and any minister who would not discard his surplice, substitute extempore prayer and long preaching for the regulated catechism and formal services of old was in danger of expulsion. Even if he committed no serious crime against the new order, ill-wishing parishioners might turn informers and a man might be slandered out of his living for a private grudge. Signatures and support for groundless complaints could be got easily enough in the ale-house from unsteady hands and fuddled heads.

“Since it was not desirable to precipitate too many people in penury, some provision was made out of the tithes for the wives and children of expelled clergy, but the single man could expect nothing, and even the wretched relief allotted to the others was difficult to secure. The wife of the Dean of Bristol was reduced to hawking bunches of rosemary in the street; a learned cleric in Norfolk was found by a friend supporting life on a diet of cold oatmeal dumplings, having no fire to boil a pot or warm his hands.

“Schoolmasters and scholars who failed to take the Covenant were liable for the same penalties. The Cambridge colleges had been ruthlessly purged early in the war. The headmaster of the Charterhouse School in London, a notoriously Royalist establishment, was removed from his post. But even Parliamentary authority quailed before the redoubtable Dr. Busby of Westminster, who continued to direct the secular and religious education of his boys without the least concession to the rogues and rebels who sat in power three minutes’ walk from his desk. Richard Busby was a remarkable exception. Other scholars and clerics who had defied the orders of Parliament were imprisoned in Ely House and Lambeth Palace, where in spite of cramped quarters several of them contrived to hold classes for pupils sent to them by Royalist parents.

“The persecution left the church disordered and desolate and caused intense suffering to many innocent, and some guilty, men. For the older clergy, death was often hastened by the shock and hardship of rejection. While Puritan pamphleteers magnified the crimes of the evicted, Royalist writers listed their undeserved sufferings --- how one was ‘molested, silenced, dead,’ another ‘vexed to death,’ others ‘assaulted in church,’ ‘reviled, abused and dead.’” (The King’s War, C. V. Wedgwood, pp. 510-511)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 14 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

The Black Death returned as the Great Plague of 1665-1666, and Dr. Busby and students fled. Dr. Busby, with a student, Hall of Christ Church, Oxford, from Barker’s Memoir of Richard Busby, 1895.

DR. BUSBY AND HIS STUDENT BODY were forced to flee for their lives in the Great Plague of 1665-66. That flight was recorded by one of the students, William Taswell, who had been studying under Dr. Busby for five years when the Plague hit. Taswell put his reminiscences into Latin, and his story was later translated:

“ABOUT THE END of the year 1660, about nine years (of age), I was admitted into the lowest class of Westminster School...... In 1665 when the Plague commenced in town Dr. Busby removed his scholars to Chiswick. But it spread its baneful influence even to this place. Upon this, Dr. Busby called his scholars together and in an excellent oration acquainted them that he had presided as Head Master of the school twenty-five years, in which time he never deserted it till now; but that the exigency of affairs required every person should go to his respective home. I very greedily laid hold of the opportunity of going to Greenwich where I remained ten months. It was a custom peculiar to this unhappy time to fasten up the doors of every house in which any person had died, and after having marked it with a red cross to set up this inscription: “The Lord have mercy on them!”

“The Plague at last reached our house. And we sent two maid servants to the public pest house at the time my father and mother lay sick in different beds, and my eldest brother troubled with a

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 15 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD tumour in his thigh. But no one of our family dying, I was soon set at liberty. In the month of September, when a thousand were swept away each week, my father commanded me to carry some letters to town. It was not without reluctance I obeyed. But at last my duty got the better of my inclinations, and after he had provided me with the herb called Angelica and some aromatics, besides eatables in a bag-- my kind and indulgent mother giving me, too, some Spanish wine--I made the best of my way to town. There a variety of distressed objects presented themselves to me, some under direct influence of the Plague, others lame through swellings. Others again beckoning to me, and some carrying away upon biers to be buried. In short, nothing but death stared me in the face. But it pleased God to extricate me from the danger which threatened me.” (History Today, December 1977)

Though the turbulent times kept all public officials uneasy, as the fortunes of war and power shifted, Dr. Busby proceeded straightforwardly through all contestants: He was in the order of procession to the funeral of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, and at the coronation of Charles II of 23 April 1661, he carried the ampulla of the new regalia. He took part in the coronation of James II on 23 April 1685, a bearer of the orb with Cross. He showed no favors:

“Everyone knows the familiar story of his apologizing to Charles II, whom he was escorting over the school, for keeping on his hat in the royal presence, on the ground that it would never do to let the boys believe there was a greater man in the world than himself.”

His business sense must have been adequate for the job, but it may not have been nearly so spectacular a success as his educational efforts. His record-keeping was confusing, and he clearly never got tough enough on those who owed him money for the education of the children they had sent him.

“Unhappily for Busby it sometimes made but little difference what fee he imagined himself to charge, for there were some parents who seldom paid, and some who did not pay at all. The most conspicuous defaulters were two members of a family, which in that and the succeeding generation supplied many high officers in the State. They were Heneage Finch, second Earl of Winchelsea, and his cousin-german Sir Heneage Finch, afterwards first Earl of Nottingham, who had been at Westminster (under a predecessor to Busby). When Lord Winchelsea’s eldest son checked out and left the school, he left behind him used furniture, which was a poor equivalent for his unpaid fees:

‘I. Maddeston left 2 beds and furniture of (Chamber), but paid nothing for himself or man either entrance board school or attendance in time of sickness at Nursery.’ (Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606-1695), G. F. Russell Barker, p. 115)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 16 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD In 1672, an elderly friend lay dying, but as he made out his will, he remembered Dr. Busby. Herbert Thorndyke, a writer on ecclesiastical subjects, left his books and his telescope to Busby. (Genealogical Gleanings in England, Waters, p. 1271)

“Busby died at Westminster on 5 April 1695, in the 89th year of his age. Sir Charles Lyttelton relates ‘an odd story, that the people in the street, when he was expiring, saw flashes and sparks of fire come out of his window, which made them run into the house to put it out, but when they were there saw none, nor did they of the house.’” (Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606-1695), etc., by G. F. Russell Barker, p. 21)

Dr. Busby was buried in Westminster Abbey, “under the black and white marble pavement of the Choir in front of the steps leading to the Sacrarium. The exact spot where the great School-master lies is marked on one of the small marble slabs with the simple inscription: ‘Rd. B. 1695.’

His monument by Francis Bird stands against the wainscot of the choir, opposite the South Transept. He is represented by the Sculptor in a reclining position, robed in his clerical vestments, holding in one hand a pen, and in the other an open book, and apparently looking at the following inscription recorded on the tablet behind: En infra positam, qualis hominum Oculis obversabatur BUSBEII Imaginem! Si cam quae in Animis altius insedit...... In front of the monument several open books are scattered about, others are piled up in heaps; between these the following particulars are inscribed:

RICHARDUS BUSBY, LINCOLNIENSIS S.T.P. Natus est Luttoniae 1606. Sept. 22nd Scholae Westmonst, praefectus est. 1640. Dec 23. Sedem in Eccles.: Westmonst. prebendarius obtinuit. Anno Domini 1600 Wellensi Thesaurarius Aug. 12. Obijt. 1695 April 5.

The Westminster Abbey Official Guide (1986) states: “On the north side backing the tomb of Queen Anne of Cleves is the fine monument executed by F. Bird of Dr. Richard Busby, born 1606, died 1695, Prebendary of Westminster and head master of Westminster School. He was a most celebrated school master of the time and held the post for fifty-five years. ‘He used to declare that the rod was his sieve and that whoever could not pass through that was no boy for him.’

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 17 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Sir Roger de Coverley says, standing before his tomb: ‘Dr. Busby was a great man! Whipped my grandfather -- a very great man! I should have gone to him myself if I had not been a blockhead. A very great man.’ He was buried beneath the black and white pavement which he presented to the choir.”

IN HIS LENGTHY WILL of 10 July 1693, Dr. Busby had described as his “worthy friends,” his trustees, who included dignitaries starting with the Earl of Nottingham and Viscount Lanesborough, and including William Busby of Gray’s Inn, Esq., brother to Sir John Busby. In one of the many codicils to the will, he bequeathed 20 pounds to Sir Thomas Robinson, Baronet, and his sister “my only near relations now living” so that they could buy mourning outfits for his funeral.

William Busby, Esq., was identified by G. F. Russell Barker as being: “Son of Robert Busby, of Addington, Bucks, a Bencher of Gray’s Inn, by his wife Abigail, daughter of Sir John Gore, Kt., Alderman of London. He was admitted to Gray’s Inn on 26th November 1660. (Foster’s Register of Admissions to Gray’s Inn, 1889, p. 290.) His nephew, Dick Busby, the second son of Sir John Busby, is described as “being a very idle youth. Dr. Busby is his godfather, and was his master, but he was aweary of slashing him.” (Historical MSS. Commission, Seventh Report, app. I. p.481). In about 1647, a student had identified John Busby at the time as being “nephew to Mr. Busby” upon the admission of John Busby to Oxford. (Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606-1695), etc., by G. F. Russell Barker, p.149 and p. 85)

Dr. Busby left an estate at Willen with a net yearly income in the year 1695 of 501, and personal property valued at slightly more than 5,565, with its uses directed to continuing and extensive charities (by way of the Busby will and its five codicils). But not everyone was pleased with the disposition of the estate:

“In a letter to Lord Lexington, dated 9th April, 1695, Mr. Vernon says, “Dr. Busby is at last dead, but has not left so great an estate as was expected.....What he had is chiefly given to the augmentation of several poor Vicarages, but he has tacked so many lectures to his gifts they will be dearly earned; he could not forbear being a pedant in his will, imposing exercises to the world’s end.” (The Lexington Papers, 1854, p. 74, as cited in Memoir of Richard Busby, p. 141.)

William Busby was succeeded as a trustee of the Busby will on 27 February 1705. Over the years, a procession of trustees has been appointed from the ranks of the earls, bishops, dukes, and lords of England. By the year 1887, the “Busby Trust” included 628 acres in the parish of Willen, 364 acres in the parish of Stoke Goldington, and slightly more than 1,316, all of which generated charitable gifts annually of some 1,100.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 18 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

DR. BUSBY USED THE ARMS from the family in Addington. Illustrated are Westminster Abbey (left) and St. Paul’s Cathedral (right), both of which had been operational, in various buildings for centuries during and before Dr. Busby’s time. Center panel is detail from one of our Hogart engravings of English life, in which a successful politician is treated somewhat as is a modern-day winning football coach...... though sometimes our fans don’t get quite so boisterous. (Photos by Marie on our trip to London, October 1996.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 19 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Hogarth showed life in the mid 1700s in England, as the troops head to the latest war, leaving urban life, its temptations and follies. (Detail from “The March to Finchley,” one of our engravings.)

NOT ALL THE BUSBYS were so well-regarded as Dr. Richard Busby, either in England, or en route to the new world. At least one Busby was somewhat connected with a vile practice of the late 1600s, the “spiriting” of youngsters in England for subsequent sale as slave labor in America. And, during the 1600s and 1700s in England, several Busbys were transported to America as, themselves, virtual slaves as convicts.

The “spiriting” business, as it related tangentially to a Busby, was recorded in 1683: John Busby of Shadwell, Middlesex, a victualler, and William Peaseley of Ratcliffe of Stepney, Middlesex, gave recognizances of 40 pounds each for the appearance at the Next Sessions of Thomas Ford of Shadwell, a water man. Shadwell was to answer the complaint of Stephan Pheasey and Edward Deane that he confederated with William Kemphorne and Charles Carter in the trepanning and spiriting of John Deane and Clement Tallis on board the Ship “Assistance,” intending to send them beyond the sea 1 May 23 Charles II (ca. 1683). (Virginia Mazagine of History, No. 83, 1975, p. 280)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 20 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The details of this ugly business:

“THE SESSION BOOKS and Sessions Rolls of Middlesex, England, cryptic though they often are, record enough detail of individual cases coming for trial before the justices to give rise to a suspicion that from the time of the earliest plantations in Virginia, a thriving and ugly trade was taking place to sell children as slave labor. Contemporary conditions in the London area undoubtedly favored this trade as they did other social evils, for the environs of the City, then as later, acted as a magnet to the dispossessed, vagrants, and riff-raff from the most distant parts of the country. Public opinion, already conditioned to accepting transportation to the colonies as a condign punishment for the trivial offences of the poor, could take in its stride this nefarious trade in children. In his introduction of Volume IV of Middlesex Sessions Records, the editor, John Cordy Jeaffreson, remarked on the striking absence of annotations, verdicts, and sentences in cases of kidnapping. He suggested that kidnappers were often not tried but allowed by the Court to compensate their prosecutors with money.

When fines are recorded, they tend to be laughably trivial, sometimes a mere shilling. It is a reasonable inference the offence of kidnapping children for labor in the colonies was not regarded by the justices as a particularly serious offence----certainly less heinous than the theft of a horse. “The practice of ‘spiriting,’ as this trade was called, was sufficiently widespread by the middle of the seventeenth century for an ordinance to be enacted on May 9, 1645: “Wherease the Houses of Parliament are informed that divers lewd Persons do go up and down the City of London, and elsewhere and in a most barbarous and wicked Manner steal away many little children,” justices were ordered to be very diligent in apprehending the culprits who were to be imprisoned and given exemplary punishment. The ordinance required a search to be made of ships on the River (Thames) and at anchor round the coast. It was to be read in all the churches ‘that it may appear to the World how careful the Parliament is to prevent such Mischiefs and how far they do detest a Crime of so much villany.” (Virginia Magazine of History, No. 83, 1975, p. 280)

SOME OF THE BUSBYS reached the New World after having been kicked out of the Old World. Edward Busby was one. He made one of the earliest lists, and was probably the first Busby in the Americas: He was dispatched to Virginia in the Spring of 1620, having been cast out of Newgate Prison.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 21 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Visscher’s View of London, 1616, showing The Tower (upper left), and ocean-going traffic on the Thames. This is from an 1885 etching of the original, and is a portion of the right-hand section. Edward Busby gets out of prison..... to be deported to Virginia in 1620

EDWARD BUSBY was “brought in from Newgate (prison) to be sent to Virginia” on 26 February 1620. The details of the order were included in the minutes of the Court of Governors of Bridewell. The order was by the Lord Chief Justice, and included others who were deported from England “for vagrancy, roguery, or non-conformity” as well as for other political, religious or economic reasons. Busby’s February deportation order was filed at the same time that other to-be- transported felons and miscreants from Newgate prison included: “Mathew Allin; Robert Lambert; Thomas Anderson; John Innes; Henry Huff; William Legine; Henry Smoote; John Ellies; Humfrey Hewes; Hull Roffe; Mary Martin; Elizabeth Stayner. Also for Virginia: Richard Edwards; Edward Norington; Nathaniell Gould; and Anne Same.” (The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1660, Coldham, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. p. 19, 35, 38, 39.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 22 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The details of Edward Busby’s transfer from Newgate Prison to the ship for his deportation to Virginia are not known, but one report of the techniques of such transfers stated: “Three or four times a year, the convicts to be transported were marched in irons through the streets of London from Newgate Prison to Blackfriars. This procession provided, like hangings, a popular form of entertainment for the citizenry who would hoot at the convicts, and, when the convicts replied with obscene epithets, sometimes pelt them with mud and stones. The more prosperous convicts could buy special privileges.” (“They Weren’t All Puritans!”, Page Smith, for People’s Bicentennial Commission, Washington, D. C., 1976)

19 May 1620 Edward Busby departed London en route to York River, Va., 19 May 1620. He was one of 60 on a ship commanded by Capt. Rich. Langley. (Emigrants in Bondage, p. 157-8) The length of the voyage to America depended upon the prevailing winds, and required at least four or five weeks. Occasionally the trip could take as much as five months, in bad situations. “On many voyages epidemics carried off a number of passengers,” Page Smith wrote for the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, in 1976. “In 1738, in 15 ships reaching Philadelphia, 1,600 passengers had died en route. The heaviest year of German immigration prior to the Revolution was 1742, and it was estimated that 2,000 Germans died at sea in that one year; on one ship only 19 out of 200 immigrants survived.”

16 February 1624 Edward Busby survived the ocean voyage to the new world, and in 1624 was living on the mainland in Virginia. He was recorded in a 16 February 1624 census of the area, showing “Edward Busbee” “In the Main.”

Nearby at the time were men and women with names that were to be linked with other Busbys in colonial Virginia. Those names, from the 1624 census, were: “Captain Raph Hamor; Mrs. Hamor; Jerome Clement; Elizabeth Clement”.....who may have been linked with the Thomas Busby family. Family names of 1624 residents that later were associated with the Busbys included: “Thomas Graye and wife; Jone Graye; William Graye...... John Bayly...... Richard Atkins; Atkins’ wife...... David Ellis; Ellis’ wife...... Thomas Osbourn...... Thomas Jordan...... William Clemens.” (The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1660, Coldham, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. p. 19, 35, 38, 39.)

YEARS LATER IN ENGLAND, John Bushby was sentenced in October and quickly transported in the same month, 1730, to Virginia. John was carried in the “Forward,” under the command of Capt. George Buckeridge.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 23 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD At the Middlesex Quarter Sessions, 20 years later, John Busby was sentenced in February and put aboard the “Tryal” in March for transportation to America. The “Tryal” was under the command of Capt. John Johnstoun. Twenty years yet further on, Christopher Busby was ordered transported for life. Though the record suggests some sort of reprieve, the transportation was stated to have been in the “Thornton,” commanded by Capt. Douglas McDougal. The date was April 1770.

Christopher Busby, John Busby and John Bushby were all processed through Middlesex. They were among 30,000 persons deported from 1615 to 1775. (English Convicts in Colonial America, Vol. 1, p. 43)

OTHER EARLY VIRGINIANS (a) Ann Busby and Elizabeth Bussy (who arrived prior to 1635). They were among 14 persons transported to Virginia before 1635. Transportation was paid by Robert Bennett, who received 700 acres near the mouth of the Nansamund River. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 1, p. 23)

(b) Thomas Busby (1) Thomas Busby (b. 1616), who took passage at age 19, on the “Speedwell” in 1635, in a passenger list that also included a “John Beeby,” age 17. (2) Thomas Busby (b. 1632), who married Susannah Grey before 1671. (3) Thomas Busby (b. ca 1654?), who married Mary Simon in or before 1688.

(c) Robert Busby (brother of Thomas Busby, who arrived prior to 1662)

(d) James Busby (brother of Thomas?), who arrived prior to 1660 and leased tobacco house from Thomas Busby’s in laws

(e) Walter Busby (who arrived prior to 1641) Walter Busby was one of 12 persons transported to America by Capt. Thomas Davis, prior to Davis’ patenting of land in 1651. Others transported by Davis included Davis himself, Susan Sheeres, Jacob Port, Fra. Armes, Edward Harris, An Akerhill, And. Graham, John R. Rapwell, Ann. Turner, Richard Parker, Walt. Belcher, Jno. Treveman, John Cooke. Davis’ land was in Northumberland County. 600 acres. Patent date was 26 January 1651. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 224.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 24 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD (f) Nicholas Busbie and Bridgett Busbie (who brought their children to New England in 1637) These people went to New England: with William: Andrewes: of Ipswich, Master of the: “John: and Dorethey:” of Ipswich and With William Andrewes his Sone, Master of the “Rose:” of Yarmouth. Aprill the 8th 1637. The examinaction of Nicho: Busbie: of Norwch in Norff / Weaver / aged 50 yeares and / Bridgett: his Wife / aged / 53 yeares with / 4 / Children. Nicho: John: Abraham: and Sarath: ar desirous to goe to boston in New England to inhabitt//// (Register of Persons About to Pass into Foreign Parts, 1637. p. 37) Nicholas Busby lived 20 years in the new world. As he lay dying, he wrote: “Nicholas Busby -----Being sicke, doe make this my last Testament. I doe appointe my three sonns that are here in New England, that is to say my Sonne Abraham Busby, my Sonne William Nickerson & my Sonne John Grout to gather up all my debts mentioned in my debt books, to make them of a true account, & to deliver it as they shall receive it...... Unto John Busby, my Eldest Sonne, seaventy pounds more then that I sent him the Last year, which was thirtie pounds, & this Seaventy pounds to be payd in such goods as are gathered in by the Brethren, within Seaven monthes after my demise. Unto Abraham Busby, my Sonne, sixtie pounds. And after his mother’s decease, this my new dwelling house, with the garden & fruit trees, being in Boston. Unto Anne Nickerson, my Eldest daughter fiftie pounds; unto my daughter, Katherine Savory, fortie pounds (more then that I sent her the Last yeare.) Unto Sarah Grout, my youngest daughter, Sixtie & five pounds; unto my two Sonns John Busby & Abraham, my printed bookes...... ” (The will was recorded 14 October 1657)

(g) Joane Busby (who arrived prior to 1672....if the record of the time has been accurately transcribed.) Joane Busby is recorded as having witnessed a court transaction 4 November 1672, on behalf of Thos. Busby.

(h) John Busby (who arrived prior to 1662) (Was it 1635?) John Beeby, 17, was listed as a passenger along with Thomas Busby, 19, in the voyage to America of the “Speedwell,” on 28 May 1635. (Could this have been John Busby?) John Basbies (or Busbies) owned 350 acres in New Kent County, Va. When John Adams patented his 220 acres, 16 February 1662, Jno. Busby was one of 40 persons transported by Mr. Jno. Buckner & Mr. Thomas Royston, prior to 2 May 1671. Jno. Busby was one of 71 persons whose transportation to America was used by Mr. John Buckner, Mr. Robert Bryan and Mr. Thomas Royston to justify their claim for 3,553.5 acres in Rappahanock county 19 September 1671. (Royston? Could this have been “Boyston,” a Busby relative cited in Thomas Busby’s 1584 will in Staffordshire, England?) (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, pp. 52, 89,149)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 25 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The Abington Parish Register (1677-1780) of Gloucester County, Va., shows that John and Mary Busbie had at least four children. They were Mary, born 3 Sept. 1681, died 12 October 1729; John, baptized 8 June 1684, married (to Grace Dews) January 1738; Edward, baptized 12 August 1688; and Thomas, baptized 10 April 1698, who had two daughters in Abington Parish, Gloucester County: Mary, baptized 29 October 1721, and Elizabeth, baptized 8 March 1723.

John Busby died in Bertie County, North Carolina. Inventory of his estate is recorded in North Carolina State Wills, 1712-1722, pp. 208-09. In Bertie County, N. C., Thomas Busby was a land owner as early as 1719, though he did not get to keep the 640-acre tract which was granted in that year.

“Read the Petition of John Bond Shewing That Thomas Busby in the year 1719-20 obtained a Patent for 640 Acres of Land which is not seated & Therefore prays a Lapse patent may be granted him for the same. Ordered that a patent Issue as prayed for.” (Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 2, p. 772)

Various records refer to Thomas Busby’s land in Bertie County in the early 1700s. They include the 1725 purchase of 174 acres on the east side of Cashi Swamp from Henry Roades. On 6 August 1728, Thomas Busby gave 170 acres to John Page, Jr., for “...... love, good will, and affection I have and do bare toward my loving son in law, John Page, Jun...... ” The land was on the east side of Cashi Swamp. Witnesses were John Duffield, John Page, Sr., 6 August 1728. The will of George Clement, proven in May Court 1730, was witnessed by Thomas Busby, George French, William Smith. The will of Catherine Busbey, proven in court in Bertie Precinct in February 1738, left “my plantation being on the North side of Roenoke River, to Theophilus Williams, husband of my daughter, Hester.” Catherine may have been the daughter of Needham Bryan, and probably the wife of Thomas Busbey. (Abstract of Bertie County Deeds, Vol. 2, p. 77) (Abstract of Bertie County Deeds, 1690-1760, p. 74)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 26 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD VIRGINIA’S FIRST THOMAS BUSBYS

Even in the 1600s, the Thomas Busbys were abundant in Virginia. Court records suggest that between 1635 and 1674, there were, or had been, four in the small area of Surry, Prince George, and Charles City counties:

1. Thomas Busby (b. 1616), who took passage on the “Speedwell” in 1635, and left London and England, at the age of 19.

2. Thomas Busby (b. 1632), who married Susannah Grey before 1671. Thomas and Susannah were large landholders and executed many land sales before 1689, when Susannah may have died. During the 1600s, Thomas Busby was described in the many court records in Surry, Prince George and Charles City counties as “Capt.” (1667, when he would have been 35 years old), “Gentleman” (1671), then “Lt.” from 1674 through most of 1679. In 1679, Lt. Busby apparently was promoted. Beginning with the court documents in late November of 1679, Thomas Busby was frequently referred to as Capt. Busby, as well as Mr. Busby, or Busby. He died in or before the year 1717, probably in Charles City County.

3. Thomas Busby (b. ca 1654?), who married Mary Simon in or before 1688. Several records identify him with Mary, and as the junior Thomas Busby in Prince George and Charles City counties, and possibly also in Surry. His will shows that the children were Simon, Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth and Lucy. The 1704 Rent Roll of Prince George County lists him as Thomas Busby. Also listed was Capt. Thomas Busby. He died in Prince George County, ca. 1723, the year his will was probated.

4. Thomas Busby (b. 1674), who was an Indian. Court records identify him as being 10 years old in 1684, and six years later, as a 16-year-old “tithable” in 1690.

The number of times at least one of the Thomas Busbys traveled between Virginia and England is not known. However, Thomas Busby is listed in various land patent records as having been “transported” seven times between 1635 and 1705, as claims were made for the 50-acre land credit for each trip. “Business travel” for the Busbys could have been called for then, as in later generations. Tobacco was a key Virginia export. Thomas Busby was a Virginia planter. And there were merchant Busbys in the tobacco business, in London.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 27 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD BACK IN LONDON in the late 1600s, merchants Jn. Busby and Jas. Busby imported tobacco from Virginia and re-sold it (on at least one occasion, by exporting it to Scotland). Incomplete records of 1672-1678 show the London Busbys bought from 58 to 3,000 pound lots of tobacco, paying (?) 11 pounds, 17 s., 6 d. “subsidy,” with additional duty of 6 pounds, 10 s., 19 d. on the 3,000 pounds. Imported from Virginia to London:

1672 Jn. Busby, 1,200 pounds, the subsidy 4 pounds, 15 shillings 0 pence, the additional duty, 4 pounds, 7 shillings, 10 pence. Jas. Busby (ship’s master was Jn. Griffiths), 260 pounds, the subsidy, 1.0.7, additional duty, 0.19. 1.2 14 Aug. 1672: Jn. Busby (ship’s master was Jn. Goff), 470 pounds, the subsidy 1.17.2 1/2, the additional duty 1.14.5 (Virginia Colonial Records Project, from Port Books, Port of London; Controller; Imports to London of Denizen (English) Merchants, 29 Dec. 1671-28 Dec. 1672)

1677: September Jn. Busby (in the warehouse), 58 pounds, the subsidy 0.4.6, additional duty 0.4. (Virginia Colonial Records Project, from Port Books, Port of London; Controller of the Subsidies of Tonnage and Poundage; imports of Denizen (English) Merchants, 29 Dec. 1676-28 Dec. 1677)

1678 6 June 1678: Jn. Busby (ship’s master was W. Forster), 750 pounds, the subsidy, 2 pounds 19 shillings 4 1/2 d. Additional duties were put at 2 pounds 14 shillings. 12 July 1678: Jn. Busby (ship’s master was Jn. Browne, 3000 pounds. The subsidy, 11.17.6, with additional duties 10.19 15 July 1678: Jn. Busby (ship’s master was Jn. Browne), 440 pounds, the subsidy, 1.14.10, with additional duties 1.12. 9 Sept. 1678: Jn. Busby (ship’s master was Wm. Jeffryes), 400 pounds, the subsidy, 1.11.8, with additional duties 1.9. 10 Sept. 1678: Jn. Busby (ship’s master was Wm. Jeffryes), 70 pounds, the subsidy, 0.5.6 1/2, with additional duties, 0.5. (Virginia Colonial Records Project, from Port of London; English merchants’ imports to London. Record made by the Controller of Tunnage and Poundage, 29 Dec. 1677-28 Dec. 1678)

Exported from London to Scotland: 23 December 1675: Jos. Busby shipped 700 lbs. “Virginian tobacco” aboard the Lyon, Thomas Lysle, master, to Scotland from London, 23 Dec 1675. (Virginia Colonial Records Project, Port Books, London; Searcher; Exports from London by English Merchants, 29 Dec 1674-28 Dec 1675) (Whether a “subsidy” was a tax or a credit to the merchant is not known. The head of the Virginia Project did not know when John queried him in August 1996).

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 28 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 29 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

TIMELINE: SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS Timelines of the families are designed to show life spans and comparable generations in England and America, and not always direct heritage. Dr. Busby did not have children. A direct link with Capt. Thomas Busby, Thomas Busby, Thomas Busby the Indian, Jeffrey Busby and William Busby has not been established, though they were certainly in the neighborhood.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 30 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD PART 2

Thomas Busby

Thomas Busby (b. 1616) embarks on the “Speedwell” in 1635 That “Third-rate frigate” the “Speedwell” Thomas Busby (b. 1632) earns estate prior to 1656 Auctioneer, and Indian Interpreter for the Crown Sale of poor Weetoppin Lt. Busby tears up the jail Thomas Busby m. Susannah Grey before 1671 Thomas Busby skips church Bacon’s Rebellion Thomas Busby: Spokesman for aggrieved colonists “Not Guilty” of stealing hogs An old neighbor’s estate Thomas Busby---an Indian (b. 1616) Thomas Busby testifies for Virginia Thomas Busby d. in or before 1718 Thomas Busby (b. ca. 1654?), m. Mary Simon in or prior to 1688, d. ca. 1723 Many reported ‘Transportations’ Thomas Busby: How many were there?

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 31 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD THOMAS BUSBY (of ‘Speedwell’) ( born 1616)

EN ROUTE TO A NEW WORLD and a new life, Thomas Busby was 19 years old when he stepped aboard the “Speedwell,” in mid-May 1635. He was examined by the Minister at Gravesend for “conformitie to orders and discipline of the Church of England” and took the oath of allegiance. Thomas was among 48 men (most of whom were, as he was, young), 9 women, a girl of 10, and a boy who was six months old. The ship’s master was Jo: Chappell.

On 28 May 1635, the “Speedwell” sailed for the new world. Thomas officially was a “servant” to merchant Arthur Bayly. Thereafter, Arthur Bayly and his associate, Thomas Crosby, received 50 acres of land in Henrico County as part payment for transporting Thomas Busby to the new world. The Bayly-Crosby land transaction was for a total of 800 acres, they having paid the way for 15 other persons as well as for Thomas. As “servant” to Bayly, Thomas acquired some other obligations to complete the one-way transportation transaction. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 1, p. 78)

The rules of the colonization had changed somewhat in the 26 years since Ralphe Busby put up cash to become a stockholder in the Virginia Company.

“In 1624, King James I, with the help of his privy council and attorney general, took control away from the Virginia Company and made it a royal province. Over the outcries of the stockholders, the king thereafter appointed his own governor,” because of the economically promising outlook of the Virginia operation, historian Parke Rouse, Jr., said in a study for the Jamestown Foundation.

A somewhat contrary view of the takeover by James I was given in another State of Virginia history:

“Failure of the colony to thrive economically, the poor financial condition of the company, political differences, internal dissentions, the extremely high death rate in the colony, and the impact of the Indian massacre of 1622----all contributed in varying degrees of importance to the dissolution.” (Mother Earth--Land Grants in Virginia, 1607-1699, Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corp., 1957)

And so, even if the investment of Ralphe Busby and the other 712 investors had not been confiscated, it certainly had been changed. Charles had succeeded James I, and was in royal control of the colonization, when Thomas Busby agreed to the new rules in 1635. Though the practice continued that 50 acres of land would be granted to the person who financed the transportation of the immigrant, that grant alone was proving an insufficient inducement. Inflation had caught up with this program,

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 32 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD too! The immigrant had to pay his transportation costs also by agreeing to a specified term of indentured service to the “master.” The indentured servant was not a slave, by any means, and the laws made this point clear. The “servants” did, however, have to work for 3 to 7 years or so to pay the claim against them.

In becoming an indentured servant to Arthur Bayly as part payment for his transportation to the new world, Thomas Busby was in a great majority of the new colonists. About 75% of his fellow colonists paid the same price for their new life in Virginia. Bayly’s business partner, Crosby, had initially come to the new world as a servant. Thomas Busby would have paid his obligations by around 1640, at which time he would have been about 24 years old.

There could have been another Thomas Busby in Virginia at the same time. The “other” Thomas Busby may, in fact, have been born in Virginia in 1632. (A son of the 1620-deported Edward Busbee?) Thomas Busby (born 1632) was interpreter for the Crown, to the Indians, as early as 1661, at the age of 29. Had he acquired the language skill by that age because he had lived with them, or near them, for a long time? The earliest record of his home site was a patent of 14 January 1656, in which the names of his neighbors are recorded. All link him to future records of land sales, Indian activities and public service.

THE ‘SPEEDWELL’ may have recorded other significant contributions to history, if not to the Busby family, though there may be a curious link of the Busby family to the royal court of Charles II. The date is 1660. After tumultuous years in Civil War, the English parliament asked the son of the beheaded Charles I to come back to England and take the crown. Charles II was only too glad to oblige, and arranged a royal return from exile on the continent to England. Here is the way one of the participants in the enormous traveling entourage of Charles II described it: Upon the king’s restoration, the Duke of York (King Charles II’s brother and future King James II), then made Admiral, appointed ships to carry over the company and servants of the king, which was very great. His Highness appointed for my husband (Ann Fanshawe’s husband) and his family a third-rate frigate, called the Speedwell; but his Majesty commanded my husband to wait on him in his own ship. We had, by the States’ orders sent on board to the king’s most eminent servants, great store of provisions: for our family, we had sent on board the Speedwell, a tierce of claret, a hogshead of Rhenish wine, six dozen of fowls, a dozen of gammons of bacon, a great basket of bread, and six sheep, two dozen of neats’ tongues, and a great box of sweetmeats...... we went on board the 23rd of May, about two o’clock in the afternoon. The king embarked at four of the clock, upon which we set sail, the shore being covered with people, and shouts from all places of a

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 33 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD good voyage, which was seconded with many volleys of shot interchanged...... But who can sufficiently express the joy and gallantry of that voyage, to see so many great ships, the best in the world, to hear the trumpets and all other music, to see near a hundred brave ships sail before the wind with the vast cloths and streamers, the neatness and cleanness of the ships, the strength and jollity of the mariners, the gallantry of the commanders, the vast plenty of all sorts of provisions...... ” The “Speedwell” and King Charles II’s entourage reached Dover on 25 May 1660. (The Grand Quarrel, Civil War Memories, Hudson, as published by The Folio Society, London, 1993, p. 229)

THE “THIRD-RATE FRIGATE CALLED THE SPEEDWELL” that transported royal courtiers across the Channel in 1660 may have been the “Speedwell” that had transported young Thomas Busby to Virginia in 1635. A “Speedwell” was still in service in the 1660s. It was recorded as having transported other felons, etc., to the colonies 31 March 1660. Earlier crossings were recorded on 22 April 1637 (to New England), and 8-15 July 1636 (to New England). On 4 February 1723, a “Speedwell” carried a cargo from Poole to South Carolina. And there was still a “Speedwell” in service in 1752: A “Speedwell” transported 59 “Foreign Protestant” families to Nova Scotia 16 May. Joseph Wilson was master.

But if the “Speedwell” back in 1660 had shifted from transporting common folk, to transporting royal courtiers, one thing can be reasonably deduced: Young Busby did not eat nearly so well aboard the “Speedwell” in 1635 as did the exuberant but whining Ann Fanshawe in 1660. She was able to select among claret, bacon, fowls, bread, mutton, neats’ tongues, sweetmeats and Rhenish wine on her two-day triumphant excursion.

THORNBURY CASTLE was old by the time of Thomas Busby’s departure for America in 1635. Henry VIII had confiscated it for himself a century earlier. It had been built in 1511 by, at the time, one of the king’s friends. From the Cotswolds trip of 1994 by Bill, Marie, Dorothy and Dick.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 34 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD CAPT. THOMAS BUSBY (born 1632, married Susannah Grey before 1671, died ca. 1717)

T HOMAS BUSBY was born in 1632, and by the time he was 24, he had earned a 400-acre estate in Surry County. He officially paid his own way and that of seven other persons from England to Virginia. The patent was dated 14 January 1656. The land was “on the south side of the Western branch of the head of upper Chippoakes creek, beginning on Mr. Moseley’s line near the path that goes to Mr. Barker’s, etc., to John Barrowes Line.” The seven whose passage earned Thomas his land were: Peeter Spicer, Eliza. Paine, Wm. Gray, Jane Barker, Anth. Hulbunt, Rich. Ballard, Cicely More. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 1, p. 335)

By then, Thomas Busby was engaged in other than farming activities:

“I, Henrye Jarvard doe by these presents authorize my Lo” friend Tho: Busbye my lawfull Attor: to answere the suite of John Harvye & what hee doeth therein shall be as authenticke as if I were present my selfe. Witt: my hand 2nd March 1656

(s) Henerye Jarvard Teste: Ro: Moseley” (Surry County Orders, Deeds, Wills, 1645-1672, p. 100)

Robert Moseley was Thomas Busby’s neighbor. Thomas Busby may have been a recent traveler, too. At about this time, Ralph Dunston paid for Thomas Busby’s passage to Virginia from England. Dunston received 50 acres of a 350-acre tract in Surry County for Busby’s part in the transaction.

RALPH DUNSTON, 350 acs. Surrey Co., 27 Feb. 1656, p. 72, (105). S. side James Riv., Nly. from Major Sheapards plantation about 3 mi., on a branch of Blackwater & N. W. from the Indian path. Trans. of 7 pers: Ralph Dunston, Ester Clarke, Robt. Wells, Johanna Mathews, Grace Harly, Tho. Busby, Ester Clarke. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 1, p. 340)

On 10 March 1656, Thomas Busby paid 450 pounds of tobacco to Will Thomas, possibly as some sort of tax to the crown:

10th of March 1656 Received of Thom: Busby foure hundred & fifty lb of tobackoe & caske ffor ye (?) of King. I say received by me. (s) Will Thomas (Surry County Orders, 1645-1672, p. 114)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 35 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1657 A year later, in 1657, Thomas Busby (then 25 years old) used his skills as an auctioneer, during the temporary absence of the county sheriff, to help his neighbor sell his possessions.

The neighbor was Robert Moseley. On his behalf, Auctioneer Busby sold 1,100 acres to Arthur Jordan for 10,000 pounds of tobacco. Quickly thereafter, however, a longtime friend, William Short, bought the property rights from Jordan, giving the successful bidder “some advantage for the bargain.” Soon after the auction, Moseley went down to the house of Arthur Allen and died. Within two or three years, Short, too, was to die, and Thomas Busby assisted the widow Short in paying for the land. The first payment made by Thomas Busby on behalf of the widow Short was 2,000 - 2,500 pounds of pork. Two years thereafter, the second payment was made. It was 600 or 800 pounds of tobacco, Thomas Busby recalled in later years.

“The Deposition of Mr. Thomas Busby, aged fifty nine yeares or theireabouts, being Examined & Sworne, Saith: That thirty foure yeares agoe, or thereabouts, Robert Moseley, then liveing on the plantacon now in Possession of Edward Green in the uper End of Surry County made an Outcry of his whole Estate as well (as) Lands and other things & that the Sheriffe of the County being absent, this Deponent was Cryer at the said Outcry and that Mr. Arther Jordan then bought about Eleavon hundred acres of Land, the said Land being that tract whereon the said Green now liveth, for which the said Jordan was to give tenn thousand pounds of tobacco & that one W. Short, then an Inhabitant in Charles City County being at the said Outcry, gave the said Jordan some advantage for his bargain, and Discharged the said Jordan, and gave the said Moseley Caution (Security) for the said land: and that the said Moseley in a very short time after the said Outcry, went down to the house of Mr. Arther Allen and their sickened and dyd, and further this Deponent saith that about two or three yeares after, Mrs. Short, her husband being then dead, sent down to Cabbin point about two thousand or two thousand five hundred pounds of porke which this Deponent delivered by her order as part of payment for the said Land, and further this Deponent Deposith that about two years after the payment of the said porke this Deponent paid about Six or Eight hundred pounds of tobacco for the use of the said Mrs. Short, which to the best of his Remembrances was the Last payment for the said Land. And further, this Deponent Deposith not.

Tho: Busby September 1st 1691 Sworne to in Court Test: J. Edwards Dp. C.C. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Book 4, 1687-1694, p. 228)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 36 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 37 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

Arthur Allen’s fine mansion had been built shortly before Robert Moseley went down to it, “and there sickened and dyd,” after Thomas Busby had auctioned his property. Allen had built the home in 1655. In later years, it came to be known (and is known today) as “Bacon’s Castle” merely because it was occupied during the Rebellion by the rebel leader. Dick and Bill pose outside the building, July 1977, after examining the publicity brochure provided at the time (left).

Thomas Busby’s good friend, William Short, was born in 1613 and died about 1659. His age is recorded in a deposition of 3 March 1655. (Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 10, p. 41)

In mid-July 1659, Thomas Busby assisted the widow, Elizabeth Short, in making her first payment on the land acquired from the late Robert Moseley. Later, Thomas Busby helped her in another matter. Mrs. Short bought an Indian boy from the King of the Wameookes. The boy was named, Weetoppin. Thomas Busby witnessed the transaction, in which the King received a one-year-old horse in payment. Widow Short received Weetoppin. Luckless Weetoppin was to receive a lifetime of slavery:

“Know all men by these p’sents that I Kinge of the Wameookes doe firmely bargaine and make sale unto Eliz: Short, her heires, Executors or Assignes a boy of my nacon named Weetoppin from the day and date hereof untill the full time of his life. In Consideration whereof I the said Eliz: Short doth for my selfe my heires Executors or Assignes ingage to deliv: and make sale unto the abovesaid Kinge, a younge horse foall aged one yeare in full satisfacon for the abovesaid boy to enjoy for his p’per use for ever. In witness thereof, wee the above specified have set our hands Dated the 20 July 1659. Testi George Marshall The marke of E Eliz: Short Tho: Busby The marke of K Kinge Wameooke Fra: Selo: (Surry County Deeds, Book 1, 1652-1672, p. 137)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 38 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Weetoppin may have escaped a lifetime of slavery, however. The deed later was set aside by the Virginia House of Burgesses, though the reason was far from humanitarian. The House of Burgesses ruled that the King of the Wameookes had no power to sell Weetoppin, as the lad was Powhatan, and not a Weyanoke Indian. He also spoke the English tongue perfectly and was desirous of baptism. (Hening, 1, p. 155)

Later on the conversion virtue in baptism was to diminish in the state. In 1667, the legislature decided that mere baptism was not to exempt slaves already in bondage (possibly on the same grounds that both Indians and Negroes were heathen, and thus slavery was justified.)

The Busbys and Shorts were to remain good friends. The widow Short outlived at least one of her sons, William, whose will was probated 28 March 1676. In that will, William Short described Mr. Thomas Busby as his friend, and made Busby one of the overseers of the estate. Thomas Busby also was one of the witnesses of the document, along with Jno. Salway and Dan. Roome. As overseer of the William Short estate, Thomas Busby was directed to provide the maintenance for life of William’s mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Short. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Book 2, p. 106)

A few months before, Thomas Busby had designated Francis Selo to represent him in the legal details of a purchase from Thomas Pittman.

Bee it knowne unto all Men by theis presents that I, Thomas Busby of the County of Surry have Constituted and in my Place ordeyned ffrancis Selo my true and lawfull Attorney for to Confess a Judgment to Thomas Pittman. In witness whereof, I have hereunto sett my hand 17th January 1659. Tho: Busby Teste Paul PER byrd (Surry County Deeds, Book No. 1, 1652-1672, p. 146)

1660 In mid-June 1660 Thomas Busby agreed with some of his (or soon to be) relatives to a deal whereby Peter Grey got a 300-acre farm from Thomas, as well as the use of Thomas’ tobacco house for a year. Peter also got the use of a steer for four years, “the use and privilege of my Pasture for Cattell, and the use of my Cart.” However, if that four-year-old steer “comes to any casualty in the foure years, the said Peter Gray is to make it good with the said Thomas Busby.” Thomas further agreed to help Peter Grey build “a Dwelling house, the said Grey paying the worke against in convenient time.” Peter also was allowed to plant 5,000 (of something that can’t be deciphered from the record) in “the said Busbys orchards the first yeare.” What Thomas Busby received in the bargain was not mentioned. Thomas did acknowledge, however, that he was “fully satisfied and currently paid for.”

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 39 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD (Surry County Deeds, Book No. 1, 1652-1672, p. 162)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 40 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The document:

I, Thomas Busby doe binde my Selfe my executors and administrators unto Peter Grey or his assignes---upon an agreement made and confirmed between us that the said Peter Grey shall have the use of my tobacco house for one yeare; also the use of a steere of Three yeares old for fower years; the use and privilege of my Pasture for Cattell and the use of my Cart.

But in case the steer comes to any Casualty in the foure years, the said Peter Grey is to make it good with the said Thomas Busby. Further, the said Busby is to help the said Grey to build him a Dwelling house---the said Grey paying the worke against in convenient time.

Further the said Grey is to have liberty to plant 5,000 (?) the said Busby’s orchard the first yeare. To all whireof abovesaid, I the said Thomas Busby have hereunto sett my hand this 10th day of June Anno. Dom: 1660.

Tho: Busby Test: Fra: Grey

Anthony A Allen his mke Acknowledged in Court by the said Busby & Recorded 10th November 1660

Six days later, the land transaction was made formal:

Knowe all men by these presents that I Tho: Busby of Virg: Planter have bargained, Sold & made and delivered & Doe by these presents for me, my heires ap(pointees) ad(ministrators) & assigns--- freely cleerely & absolutely Sell & Deliver as abovesaid unto Peter Grey his heires ap(pointees) ad(ministrators) & assigns: to Say 800 Acres of Land Lying and being on the Southerne Run of Chippoakes Creeke in ye County of Surry, adjoyning to the Land now in the possession of Jno. Barker for the ...... Quantity of three hundred acres of Land I the said Tho: Busby doe now acknowledge my Selfe as this present to be, fully satisfied and Currently paid for. And now be it here confirmed by me the said Tho: Busby that I doe for me my heires, ap(pointees) & ad(ministrators) promise & binde us and either of us unto Peter Grey his heires ap(pointees), ad(ministrators) or assignes to Save & keep harmless; warrant & defend the propper right & title of ye abovesaid Land for and against any person or persons whatsoever & and from all maner of incumbrances presented or that may hereafter intend, and in

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 41 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD performance of all & singular ye promises abovesaid, I the said Tho: Busby have hereunto put my hand & Seale the 16th day of June 1660.

Tho: Busby Signed Sealed & Delivered in ye presence of

Fran: Grey

Antho: A Allen his mke Acknowledged in Surry Court by ye said Busby & recorded 10 November 1660

They were all kin folks, or soon to be. Francis Grey is later identified as Capt. Francis Grey of Surry County, and was the father of Susannah Grey Busby, wife of Thomas Busby. Peter Grey was the eldest son of Capt. Francis Grey and his wife, Grace.

Anthony Allen married either a sister of Thomas Busby, or a sister of Susannah Grey Busby. It was more likely a sister of Susannah (and Peter). Later documents identify Anthony Allen’s son (Francis Allen) as being Thomas Busby’s nephew. (If the younger Allen had been named after his grandfather, Francis Grey, the relationship would have come by way of Susannah.) (Surry County Deeds, No. 1, 1652-1672, p. 162

Anthony Allen was born in 1631. He testified in Charles City County court 3 October 1657 that he was “aged 26 years or thereabouts.” The testimony was in a case about the will of William Radaway. Allen said that Radaway had made the will “about 5 days before he dyed.” (Charles City County Orders, 1655-1658, p. 122, as listed in Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 10, p. 95)

Peter Grey later sued Francis Hogwood alleging Hogwood’s responsibility for the death of Peter’s wife, Mary Grey. Other details about Peter Grey’s (and, presumably, Susannah Grey Busby’s) father have been detailed in Historical Southern Families, vol. XVII, Boddie, pp. 100-102:

“Francis Grey (his name is frequently spelled Grey rather than Gray in the old records) was granted 750 acres in Charles City Co., Nov. 24, 1653 (Nugent, p. 231). “A Grace Singleton whom he claimed as one of his transportees in this grant was probably his wife, Grace. Capt. Francis Gray appears a number of times in the surviving Charles City Co. Order Book, 1655-66, and was a prominent man, being a Justice of the County and several times a Burgess.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 42 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD “In 1665, Mrs. Grace Gray appealed to the Charles City Co. Court about her husband’s (Capt. Francis Gray’s) treatment of her. According to her testimony, she had been married to Francis Gray for 24 years, had brought him a good dower at the time, though he was poor, and had borne him six living children, names not given, of whom three were married in 1665. “Capt. Francis Gray does not appear in the scanty Charles City County records after 1666, and probably died before 1677, the next records extant. Two of his and Grace Gray’s children are known and two other are very probable. “On April 3, 1663, Capt. Francis Gray of Martin’s Brandon, Gent., leased 100 acres to Thomas Mudgett for 21 years, and “if Thomas has issue by his wife, daughter of Capt. Francis Gray,” the land is to become Mudgett’s (O. B. 1655-66, p. 381). “The daughter was probably Ann Mudgett or Muggett, widow of Thomas. “On Aug. 3, 1664, Capt. Francis Gray and Mrs. Grace Gray testified in regard to the property of Shelby Sparrow, decd.”

Some years later, Thomas Busby signed as witness to a land sale by two brothers in the Gray family. On 15 November 1677, Thomas Busby witnessed the sale of 100 acres by William Gray and John Gray to Col. Thomas Swann, Esq., for 4,000 pounds of tobacco. William Gray and John Gray identified themselves as brothers to, and heirs of, the late Thomas Gray. The land was described as being betwixt the land on which Col. Swann “now lives,” and the mouth of a “Creeke formerly called Smith’s Fort Creeke, but now comonly called Gray’s Creeke.” (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. No. 2, 1671-1684, pp. 145, 145a)

James Busby----another brother of Thomas Busby?

On 10 November 1660, an agreement by which James Busby leased a Tobacco house for one year was filed in the Surry County court.

10 Nov. 1660. James Busby’s agreement with Peter Gray to have Tob. house for one year. (Surry County Records, Surry County, Va., Book 1, 1652-1672, p. 162, as abstracted by Eliza Timberlake Davis, p.36)

In about 1660, Thomas Busby failed to keep a court appointment in Charles City County, in a suit brought by Mr. Steph: Hamelin. Martin Quelch had agreed to put up bond for Busby’s appearance, and that bond required Quelch to pay 10 pounds of beaver pelt, and 500 pounds of pork. The court ordered Quelch to pay up, since Busby didn’t show. (Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 11, Charles City County, 1658-1661, p. 80) (This could not have been a matter of lasting discontent between Thomas Busby

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 43 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD and Martin Quelch. Quelch was a witness for Thomas in at least one other civil court case, in Surry County, 19 years later. Quelch also was a juror in a Charles City County defamation case brought in 1664 against Thomas Busby’s brother, Robert Busby. Quelch and his fellow jurors brought in a verdict for Robert Busby---but that didn’t quite settle that particular case, as the record later will show.) (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Book No. 2, 1671-1684, p. 220, as cited in Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 13, p. 13.)

This copy of an early print, “Tobacco Ships in the James River,” shows tobacco in hogsheads at a dock in the James River, for shipment to England.

Later on in 1660 Thomas Busby bought a young grey horse:

I, Mathew Battell, Cooper, in the county of Surry.....sold unto Tho: Buzby, Planter in the county aforesaid.....one young horse grey colored. July 3 1660 With: Thos. Pittman Barth. Owen. (Surry County Orders 1645-1672, p. 157)

The big news of the times, officially, however, was not in the sale of horses: Soon after the clerk had recorded the Buzby-Battell horse sale, he recorded the flattering words of Royal Gov. William Berkeley about the new boss:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 44 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD We the freemen & Inhabitants of the County now present doe Accordinge to our Dutye & Allegeances Heartily Joyfully & Unanimously Acknowledge & Proclaim That Immediately upon the decease of ye late Sovereign Lord King Charles the Imperiall Crowne of the Realme of England & of all the Kingdomes Dominions & Rights belonging to the same did by Inherent Birthright & lawful & undoubted succession descend & come to his most excellent Majestye Charles the Second being Lineally Justly & Lawfully next heire of the Blood Royall of the Realme and that by the goodnesse & Providence of Almighty God Hee is of England, Scottland, France & Ireland, the most potent, mighty undoubted King---and thereunto wee most humbly & faithfully doe submitt & oblige Ourselves, our Heires & Posteritye forever.

God Save the King.

These Proclamations were Proclaimed at Southwarke in the Countye of Surry in Virginia with the Acclamation of a great part of the county there Present & Recorded the leventh day of 8ber being Thursday anno 1660-1. Per: Ro: Stanton, Cl. of ye Countye. (Surry County Records, Surry County, Va., Book 1, 1652-1672, p. 157, as abstracted by Eliza Timberlake Davis, p. 35) (Charles II illustrations were from an exhibit at The Folger Shakespeare Library, April-September 1991, featuring “Royal Autographs” of The Tudor and Stuart Monarchs of England.)

Then Thomas bought a grey mare:

These presents shall engage us, Wm: Lea & Alice Lea our heires Executors & Administrators & assignes to deliver to Thomas Busby one grey mare presently downe, for him to posess & his heires, greatly to enjoy for ever, And wee the said William & Alice Lea doe rattifie & confirme, by the virtue of this our act & deed, peaceable possession of the said Mare with her increase unto the said Busby & his heires

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 45 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD as aforesaid. Further wee doe bind ourselves & our heires to warrant the sale of the said Mare to defend forever in Law, & to acknowledge the sale to be lawfull in Surry County Court, witnesse our hande this one and thirtieth day of October, Anno Domini 1660.

William Lea Alice Lea (Surry County Deeds, No. 1, 1652-1672, p. 162)

Six weeks later, Thomas Busby aided the Leas as they sold their Surry County plantation: Bee it knowne unto all men by these presents that I, William Lea, with the Consent of my wife of Surry County, doe sell & Make over all my right, title & interest in a plantation first sold by Richard Hide of the above said County unto Christopher Greenfeild & purchased by me from the said Greenfeild unto Tho: Adams of the Isle of Weight County for a valluable Consideration allredy in hand received warrant the sale thereof from the Claime or pretence of any person or persons whatsoever. Witness our hands this 5th: December 1660. William Lea Alice Lea Signed & delivered in the presence of us

Tho: Busby William M Coopland (Surry County Deeds, No. 1, 1652-1672, p. 262)

Christiana Campbell’s Tavern, established in Williamsburg in 1771, reflected the popularity of the good eating, especially from the sea. This menu was a souvenir of the family’s first trip to Williamsburg, where we learned that the original Mrs. Campbell was “a little woman, about four feet high; & equally thick, a little turn up Pug nose, a mouth screw’d up to one side.....” (We don’t remember much about the food in the 20th century, however.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 46 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1661 Thomas Busby was an Indian interpreter for the crown. One of the Busby excursions was recalled by Francis Tomes, Gent.:

(The year was 1661 or 1662. Under the command of Capt. Potter, Tomes and company had been ordered to bring the Wyanoak Indians back in amongst the English, after the Wyanoak King had been murdered by the Nansemond Indians.)

...... ”And that the Company in their march from Busby’s at the head of Upper Chipoaks Creek passed a great Swamp, after that they passed another much larger, then a third a little before they came to Nottoway Indian town, the Names of which Swamps he knew not or at least has forgot. And when they came to Nottoway Town he saw no River but heard Busby or Floud (who were the two Interpreters) Say that the Swamp or branch whereon the Nottoway Town stood was a branch of Wyanoak River. After that they travelled about six or seven miles to the best of his memory, near a southwest course & then came in sight of the Wyanoak Indian Town which was on the South Side of Wyanoak River where they forded over to the Town wherein stood an English built house, in which the King had been shott & an apple Orchard.

From thence they went about two or three miles to the Westward where in an elbow of a swamp stood a Fort near which in the Swamp the murdered King was laid on a scaffold & covered with Skins & matts, which I saw. And he further saith that they came back again & crost the River at the Wyanoak Indian Town aforesaid which he did not understand was called by any other name than the Wyanoak Town.

And he further Saith that they then brought the Wyanoaks as farr among the English as Busby’s, where he left them, & that some time after, he can not exactly remember how long, he was appointed one of the persons to see them safe to their Town aforesaid on Wyanoak River, which they did: Nor doth he remember that the River on the banks of which the Town stood was called by any other name than Wyanoak, as he ever understood or heard during the time of the travells aforesaid, neither did he either before or during the time of the aforesaid Expeditions ever hear any mention made of Nottoway River.

And he further Saith that in the year 1664 or thereabouts, he came to live in North Carolina & that in his Journey from Wareneck aforesaid he passed over a Swamp on the other side of which was the Coppahaunk Indian Town, which Town he passed through, & afterwards before they came to the Nansemond Indian Town they crossed the mouth of the aforesaid Swamp as they were informed by the Indians on a large Cyprus tree as they had done before at the Coppahaunk Town, which Swamp at the Coppahaunk Town was called Coppahaunk Swamp, but lower down at their Second crossing it, before they came to Nansemond Indian Town it

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 47 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD was called Blackwater. And he also Saith That about five years after his arrivall in North Carolina to the best of his Remembrance, was the first time he heard the name of Nottoway River, but knew not where it was.

FRANCIS TOMES, SEN’R September the 27, 1710 Declared before me Edw’d Moseley and in the presence of the Commissioners for Virginia. A Copy examined pr.: Edwd Moseley. (Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. 8, 1900-1901, pp. 2-4)

By then, Thomas was also in the business of selling Indians, as well a communicating with them.

In Charles City County 4 March 1661 or 1662, he sold to William Rollinson, “one Indian boy about the age of five yeares.” Thomas was listed as a “planter” in Surry County. In later years, he would sell an “Endon” woman named Ann to Richard Pace, and a nine-year-old child, Bess, to William Archer, both in Surry County.

In Charles City County, Lt. Col. Thomas Drewe acknowledged in court to have received 2,500 pounds of pork from Thomas Busby in payment of a bond, in the early 1660s. On 13 July 1662, Thos. Busby was listed (as a debtor?) in the estate of the late Richard Stanton. On 7 July 1663, in Surry County, Thos. Busby acquired a horse that John Looke earlier had paid Ro. Stanton 1050 pounds of tobacco for. (Charles City County Orders, 1661-6664, p. 375) (Surry County Records, Surry County , Va., Book 1, 1652-1672, p. 211, as abstracted by Eliza Timberlake Davis, p. 45)

The young Busby in law, Peter Gray, was then soon to have problems with Lt. Col. Drewe: For in about 1664, Peter had to hand over those 300 acres of the once- Busby land on the Chippoaks as partial payment on a debt of 760 pounds of tobacco, to Drewe. (Charles City County Orders, 1661-1664, p. 327) Thomas Busby also owned a house in Charles City County, which he rented to his brother, Robert Busby. Robert was a surgeon, whose services to the Hux family at one point were far from appreciated. In 1664, Thomas Hux sued Robert Busby for defamation. Then, Robert Busby counter-sued Hux for defamation. The case went to a jury: The difference of defamacon depending betweene Tho Huxe plt and Robt Busby deft is referred to the exaiacon of a Jury Jury Mr Daniell Clarke foreman Mr Robt Nicholson Mr Tho: Douglas Mr Cornel: Clemance Mr Silvanus Stokes Mr Richd Baker Mr John Marshall Mr James Blamore Mr Martin Quelch

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 48 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Mr Walter Holdsworth Mr John Turner Mr James Wallace Verdict: Wee find for the deft Judgemt is granted to the deft upon this Verdict for 40 lb. tobbo, charges to be pd by the plt Hux w’th all Costs hereof als exec The difference of defamacon between Robt Busby plt and Thomas Huxe deft is referred to the exai’acon of a Jury.

The same Jury Verdict: Wee finde for the def’t Judgemt is granted to the deft upon this verdict for 40 lb of tobbo, charges to be pd by the plt Busby w’th all Costs hereof als exec. (Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 13, p. 13, Charles City County records, p. 506)

With those two verdicts, it was one for two for the Busbys (and for the Huxes). And that was just the start. At the same court, Thomas Hux was ordered to pay Robert Busby 500 pounds of tobacco to settle his account. But the snarling between the Busbys and Huxes was far from over.

In no time, another resident of the area complained to the Court that he had lost a gold ring at the house of Thomas Hux, and that Robert Busby “hath been knowned to wear the same Ring.” Robert Taylor, who complained, asked the Court to order Robert Busby to declare upon oath how he got the ring. Robert Busby did. He said he got the ring from Barbara Hux, the wife of Thomas Hux, as payment for a cure of her hand or arm.

That satisfied Taylor and the Court. His suit was dismissed.

It didn’t satisfy Barbara Hux. (She was not inexperienced, either in litigation or the Law: In 1658, she had been ordered to “personally appeare at James City to give evidence on behalfe of his highnesse the Lord Protector against one Thomas Till, a person then and there to be tryed for the suspicion of a felony.” In another criminal action, she was the defendant (and not the witness.) Being witness would have been far better: She was found guilty of having made “severall uncivill carriages.” She was ordered by the Court forthwith to be conveyed “by the Sheriffs office to the whipping post and there punished with 20 lashes on her bare back”).

Whereas John Taylor complayned to the Court to have lost a gold ring out of the house of Tho: Hux, and alledgeing that Robt Busby hath beene knowne to weare the same Ring hath prayed in his peticon that the sd Busby may declare upon oath how he came by the sd Ring, whereupon the sd Busby haveing accordingly made Oath in Court that he rec’d the sd Ring of Barbara the wife of the sd Huxe for a cure of her hand and arme, is therefore of the suite dismist with Costs. (Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 13, p. 23, Charles City County Orders, p. 524)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 49 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The Busbys and the Huxes continued to wrangle in court. Before adjournment, Robert Busby received a default judgment against Thomas Hux, and in the 8 December 1664 session, Hux was formally ordered to pay Robert Busby 200 of the 700 pounds of tobacco due him. (Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 13, pp. 28, 31, Charles City County Orders, pp. 535, 542)

By the time of the Westover court on 3 June 1665, the Huxes had dug up proof, however, to show that the bill for Barbara (Goody) Hux had been paid, not once, but twice, by the Huxes. They’d paid the bill to Thomas Busby (owner of the house) as well as to Robert Busby (the surgeon). And so, Robert Busby had to give the judgment back, and Goody Hux scored the final (recorded) victory:

Whereas Robt Busby charging Tho: Hux two hundred pounds of tobbo and cask, in acco’t for his wifes accomodacon at his brothers house, in the time of her cure, recovered Judgemt for the same. And whereas it appereth that the sd Hux paid to Tho. Busby the owner of the house and sd accomodaccon, the sd 200 lb. tobbo. It is therefore ordered that the sd Robt. Busby render and repay to the sd Hux the sd 200 lb tobbo with cask w’th costs this suite als exec. (Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 13, p. 35, Charles City County Orders, p. 551)

But it still wasn’t the last word. The two families continued to argue.

At the Westover court 4 December 1665, a Busby-Hux argument was first on the agenda when Theoderick Bland, Esq., opened the proceedings. The other jurors were Lt. Coll Tho: Drew, Mr. Anthony Wyatt, Capt. Robt: Wynne, Mr. John Holmwood, Capt. Otho Southcott, and Mr. William Bird.

They assigned Lt. Coll. Geo: Jordan and Ho: Pryse to examine the cases as respectively presented by Robert Busby, plaintiff, and Thomas Hux, defendant. The hearing was to be at the home of Mr. William Bird, who was ordered to be the umpire and to settle the dispute. (Charles City County Orders, 1665, p. 609, as recorded in Virginia Colonial Abstracts, C-13, p. 59)

In other bill-collection problems in Charles City County in the mid-1660s, Robert Busby had to go to court to get a judgment of 350 pounds of tobacco against Wm. Dollin (Darling?). In another case, Wm: Rollinson was awarded judgment for 1,600 pounds of tobacco against Mr. Robt Busby. (Rollinson had purchased the Indian boy from Thomas Busby about 3 years earlier). (Charles City County Orders, 1664, p. 519, as recorded in Virginia Colonial Abstracts, C-13, p. 18)

Dr. Robert Busby’s passage to America had been paid for by his brother, Thomas Busby, well before 16 April 1669. On that date, Thomas filed a patent for land based on his claim that he had paid for Robert Busby’s and Wm. Emons’ (Emms?) transportation. For having done so, he received part of a 194-acre tract “by

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 50 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD the rim of the Western Br. of Upper Chipokes creek.” A 95-acre part of the tract had been formerly granted to Jno. Rawlins and Mich. Mittaine, and they sold it to Thomas Busby. (Dr. Busby had arrived in Virginia at least five years earlier, by 1664, since he and the Huxes had already begun to wrangle in court that year.) (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 69)

1665 On 7 September 1665, Thomas Busby aided Mr. John Corker and his son, William Corker, of James City County, in the sale of Corker land to Major William Marriott. Witnesses to the transaction in court were Thomas Busby and Nathaniel Stanton. (Surry County Deeds, Book 1, 1652-1672, p. 263)

On 26 March 1666, William Knott patented 312 acres in Surry County, using the boundaries of Thomas Busby’s land to describe his own. Knott’s description also disclosed some of the adjacent landowners. One of them was the Jeremiah Clements family----a family that may have been linked in succeeding generations with similar generations of Busbys. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 1, p. 549)

The Clements were old timers in the colony in the mid 1660s. Widow Elizabeth Clements had packed up her 4 children and come over on the “George,” in 1617. Mrs. Clements was related by marriage to the captain of the “George.” He was Capt. William Ewen, who by 1626 was the largest landowner in Surry. He had 1,000 acres “planted” and 400 other acres.

Capt. Ewen is described in the book, “Colonial Surry:”

“Ewen was a bold sea captain in his early days and brought many settlers to Virginia but evidently quit the sea in his later years and became a merchant and ship owner. From the records of the Public Record office in London we can reconstruct his life. His career well illustrates the hardihood of the navigators of those days and the great opportunities offered them for the making of fortunes. “He was captain and owner of the good ship, “George,” in its voyage to Virginia in 1617 and it seems to have been a “good ship” indeed, for during the course of its voyages it was entrusted with the safety of two of Virginia’s new governors. “Among the 1617 arrivals were Mrs. Elizabeth Clements and her four children who were the captain’s relatives by marriage. (C.P. 17) Mrs. Clements was the widow of Jeffry Clements of Oxford, a shareholder of the London Company, who died in 1609, and the niece of Sir Nicholas Fuller, another company member. “On February 9th, 1613-14, “William Ewen of Stepney, Middlesex, mariner, and Margery Clement of same, widow of John

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 51 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Clements were married.” John Clements and Jeffrey Clements were brothers. “John Clements, Jr., son of Margery Clements-Ewen, died in 1620. His will was probated 17 May of that year. He bequeathed legacies to his father, William Ewen; mother, Margaret Ewen, and gave his uncle Clements’ daughter (not named, but evidently Mrs. Elizabeth Clements) his interest in the ship, “George.”

Widow Clements married a sea captain also. He was the skipper of the “Sea Flower,” Ralph Hamor. They settled in Jamestown, but owned a plantation on Hog Island, tilled by 7 servants. He died in 1626. Elizabeth probably died soon thereafter. The Clements and the Busbys were soon to be intimately linked in a struggle other than marriage. But for the moment, the fortunes of Thomas Busby continued to mount.

1667 On 10 May 1667, Capt. Thomas Busby patented 1,170 acres located in both Surry and Charles City counties. The Charles City County land was described as including 650 acres on both sides of the Southern Branch of Upper Chipoakes creek. (Busby’s rank is interesting. While in 1667, he was cited as a Captain in Charles City County, in the next few years in Surry County, he was a Lieutenant. In the 1680s, he resumed being a Captain.) (Charles City County Book 6, p. 59, as listed in William & Mary Quarterly, Series 1, 12-13, p. 116.)

The document:

CAPT. THO: BUSBY FROM Sir William Berkeley, Knight

I the said Sir William Berkeley give and grant unto Capt. Thomas Busby one thousand one hundred and Seventy acres of Land Lying in Surry and Charles City County (650 acres of which were on both sides of the upper Chipoakes Creek, Adjacent to land of George Burchard and Thomas Madgett’s land which was patented in December of 1663 and then assigned by Madgett to Capt. Busby).

Other 650 acres the service being due the transportation of 13 persons.

Dated the 10th of May 1667.

Wm (Cartright?) Wm Lee Jno (?) Tom Cardish Tho. Garrett Mary Cardish Wm. Copman Stephen (?) Morgan Osborne Jno. Dawson Tho. Bliss Mary Dawson (Charles City County Patents 6, 1666-79, p. 59)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 52 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD In 1668, the Thomas Busby family was among about 45 households in their parish (Southwark) in Surry County. When the census of that year was taken by Mr. George Jordan, there were 104 tithables in Southwark. In the county there were 434. Generally, the total population was about four times the number of tithables. (Tithables were all male natives and imported free persons over the age of 16, all male white servants, and all female white servants who worked the ground, and all male and female Negro and Indian servants of any age.)

Thus, in 1668, the parish population in which the Thomas Busbys lived was about 416, the county population about 1,736. Here is the way the Busbys’ neighbors were listed, when Mr. George Jordan took his tax census of 1668:

A list of the Tythables in South Warke p’ish Anno 1668 ffrom Coll. Jordans upwards as they have been given to him & he Informed June the 10 1668.

Mr. John Barker...... 06 John Rogers & Atkins...... 02 Wm Shorte...... 02 Wm Carpenter...... 02 Tho. Stephens...... 01 Mr Wm Rookings...... 03 Wm. Heath...... 02 ffran. Howgood...... 01 Tho. Greene...... 01 Mr Wm Norwood...... 02 Mr. Tho. Busby...... 03 Joh: Kipping...... 02 Tho. Bentley...... 01 Tho. Hux...... 02 Jerremy Ellis...... 01 Maurice Burchen...... 01 Henry ffrancis...... 03 Robt Burges...... 01 Richard Rogers...... 02 Mr. Nath Knt wth Dick and Geo. Midleton...... 01 Dankes...... 03 Ralph Rachell...... 01 Mr John Cary...... 04 Mr Tho. Clarke saith 2, his Mr Arthur Jordan...... 04 neighbors saith...... 03 Capt Tho. fflood...... 04 Marmaduke Beckwith....01 Lt Coll. Jordan...... 03 Mathew Rolfe...... 01 John Emerson...... 01 John Rawlinger...... 01 Michaell Mischanny...... 01 Mr Barkers Plantation.....01 Hezekiah Bunell saith 1, his Mr Ben Harrison...... 05 Neighbors...... 02 Mr Hen Brigs...... 02 Ralph Creed...... 02 John King...... 01 Mr Nicholas Meriwether...06 John Legrand...... 01 ____ Wm. Scarbrough...... 01 102 Robt Dennis...... 01 Robt House...... 02 Edwd Ellis & Mr Moulson, Mr Wm Simmons...... 06 to P’ish Levy...... 02 Robrt Carthrage...... 04 Taken by Mr. George Jordan Wm Newit and Orchard..02 (William & Mary Quarterly, Series 1, Vol. 8-9, or 1899-1901, pp. 162, 163)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 53 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1669 Thomas Busby and a longtime friend, Elias Osbourne, were legal witnesses 21 February 1669 for James Watkins, as Watkins closed out details of a transaction with Thomas Stevens.

Know all men by these presents that I, James Watkins, doe for my selfe, my heirs, executors or Administrators fully acquit & discharge Tho: Stevens, his heirs, executors, Administrators or assigns from all Manner of Claime, debts, dues & demands that Conserveth the estate of Judith Morsely, alias Watkins. In Witness hereof I have hereunto sett my hand this one & twentieth day of ffebruary in the yeare of our Lord one thousand Six hundred sixty Nine. 1669. James I Watkins his Marke Teste: Tho: Busby Elias Osbourne (Surry County Deeds, Book No. 1, 1652-1672, p. 364)

Thomas Busby added 194 acres of land on 16 August 1669, because of his transportation of his brother, Robert Busby, and William Emms. The patent, in Charles City County, was formally a grant from Sir William Berkeley. (Charles City County Patents, Book No. 6, p. 273)

Jeremiah Ellis and Thomas Busby disputed a debt in late 1669, and Ellis thereupon filed suit. Thomas Busby hired Mr. Richard Welbeck “in my Name & steade to Answeare the suite of Jeremiah Ellis.” Busby’s hiring of Welbeck was recorded 8 November 1669. William Browne witnessed the transaction. (Surry County Deeds, Book No. 1, 1652-1672, p. 351)

1670 The Surry County Tithable List for 1670 shows:

Mr. Tho. Busby 04 Tho: Bousby 01 (17 persons away from the Mr. Tho. Busby listing) (Surry County Deeds, Book No. 1, also listed as Will Book No. 1, 1652-1672)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 54 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1671 On 4 July 1671, long before the day became an American holiday, Thomas Busby completed the sale of his grist mill “with the appurtenances thereunto” to William Bird, of Marton Brandon. Thomas Busby also sold Bird 150 acres of land adjoining, and “one dwelling house of fower lengths of bords now in the possession of one Daniell Williams.” In a separate transaction, Thomas Busby sold an additional 300 acres to Bird. The documents:

To all Christian people to whome these presents shall come, etc..: Know ye that I, Thomas Busby, have for my selfe, my heirs Executors, Administrators, Sold & delivered unto Mr. Wm. Bird of Marton Brandon, his heirs, Executors, Administrators or assigns my grist Mill with the Appurtenances thereunto belonginge, being Situeated lying & being at the head of Chhippoaks Creeke in the County of Surry as also One hundred & fifty Acres of Land adjoyneinge unto the said Mill parts of with Land beinge Now in the possession of one Thomas Hayward as alsoe one dwelling house of fower lengths of bords now in the possession of one Daniell Williams whose land is parte of a divident of lands held by patten by Michell Michane & John Rawlings & the said John Rawlings his quarter of the said pattent being assigned over to Me with all rights & privileges thereunto belonginge for the said Wm: Bird, his heirs, executors, administrators or assignes to have and to hold the said Mill & Appurtenances thereunto belonginge as alsoe the said one hundred & fifty Acres of Land for Ever, Also I doe for my Selfe, my heirs, executors, Administrators, Acknowledge I have Received full Satisfaction for the said Mill & Land & doe warrant the Sale thereof unto William Bird, his heirs, executors, Administrators & assigns forever against the opposition of any person or persons whatsoever. In witness hereof I have here unto Sett my hand & Seale this third day of July in the yeare of our Lord one thousand Six hundred seventy one......

Signed, Sealed & delivered Tho: Busby in the presence of us Elias Osborne Seale Wm. Shorte red wax Acknowledged in Surry County Courte by the Subscribed Tho: Busby the 4th July 1671 (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Vol. 1, 1652-1672, p. 387)

To all Christian People to whome these presents shall come: Know ye that I, Tho: Busby, have for my Selfe, my heirs, Executors or Administrators, Sold unto Mr. William Bird of Marton Brandon, his heirs, executors, Administrators or assigns one parcell or tract of

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 55 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Land containeinge three hundred Acres Situeate lying & being in the County of Surry & bounded, viz: Upon the west side of the Southern run that cometh to the Mill in Lengths & beginning att Michaell Michane bounds & from thense to the said Run & from the said run unto the comon path that goeth to William Shorte’s, being the breadth of the said Lands for he, the said Wm: Bird, his heirs, Executors, Administrators or assigns, to have & to hold the said parcell of Lands (with) all rights & priviledges thereunto belonginge forever. I doe for my Selfe, my heirs, executors or administrators Acknowledge I have received full Satisfaction for the said Land & I doe warrant the Sale of the said Land unto Mr. William Bird, his heirs, Executors, Administrators or assignes for Ever against the opposition of any person or persons whatsoever. In witness hereof I have hereunto Set my hand & Seale this third day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand Six hundred & Seventy one......

Signed, sealed & delivered in the presence of us Tho: Busby

Seale Elias Osborne red Wm: Shorte wax Acknowledged in Courte by the Subscribed Tho: Busby the 4th July 1671 (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Vol 1, 1652-1672, p. 387)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 56 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Two and a half weeks later, Thomas Busby entered a deed in court, in which he gave a mare filly to his daughter, Grace Busby, when the child became 10 years of age. If Grace were to die before reaching the age of 10, the mare would go to Thomas Busby’s nephew, Francis Allen, son of the late Anthony Allen. And if young Francis, too, were to die before he reached the age of 10, then the mare would revert to Thomas Busby and his then-existing heirs.

The gift by Thomas Busby was in payment of a “certaine bill” of 150 pounds of beans “which I did owe to Capt. Gray, deceased.” (This Busby-Gray-Allen connection seems to suggest that Capt. (Francis) Gray, deceased, was the father of Susannah Busby, and that Thomas’ debt to the captain was to be repaid on Susannah’s side of the family. This would suggest that Susannah would have been a sister to the wife of Anthony Allen.) The document:

Know all men by these presents that I, Tho: Busby, in Consideration of the delivery to me of a Certaine bill for payment of one hundred & fifty pounds of beanes which I did owe to Capt. Gray, deceased, & for the Naturall Love I have & doe beare to my loveing daughter, Grace Busby, doe hereby oblige me, my heirs, executors & administrators to record att the next County Court to be held for Surry one Mare filly to be delivered & Marked for her, my said Daughter at the age of tenn years with said Mare filly & her increase shall be to her my said daughter & her heirs & assigns for ever & if the said Grace my Daughter dye before she comes to (ten) are or to be Married, then the said filly & increase to come to my Nephew FFrancis Allen, Son of Anth: Allen, deceased, & in case he dye before age, then to reverte to me & my heirs. Witness my hand this 22nd July 1671.

Tho: Busbye

This deed was acknowledged in Surry County Court the 5th of September 1671. I doe hereby appoynt my loveinge friend, Wm Sherwood to Acknowledge this within writing at the next County Court, to be held for Surry. Witness my hand this 30th Aug. 1671.

Tho: Busbye Teste: Wm. Rookings Roger Potter R P (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Vol 1, 1652-1672, p. 389)

Thomas Busby and Roger Potter had other business to complete that day in court, too. Busby sold Potter 100 acres of land. Busby designated “trusty friend” William Sherwood to handle the transaction. The other old Busby friends, William Rookings and Elias Osborne, were there to witness the legal proceedings, too.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 57 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD That document:

To all Christian people to whome these presents shall come: Know yee that I Tho: Busby in the County of Surry in Virginia, gentleman, have for my selfe, my heirs, executors, administrators or assigns Sold unto Roger Potter, his heirs, executors administrators or assignes one parcell or tract of Land Containeinge one hundred Acres or thereabouts situate lyeing & being in the County of Surry att the head of Chhippoaks Creeke in Virginia: & bounding, viz: Upon the Eastern side of the Southern run & soe easterly viz the said Runn unto John Barker’s Land & from thense down the said Run northerly to the branch that runs by the path that goeth to Mr. Stevens Mill on the South side of the said path & soe easterly by the said Branch unto Mr. Barker’s Line for the said Roger Potter, his heirs, executors, administrators, & assigns to have & to hold the said parcell or tract of Land with all titles & privilidges thereunto belonginge for ever to the said land & doe for my Selfe, my heirs, executors & administrators warrant the Sale of the said land unto Roger Potter, his heirs, executors & administrators or assignes for ever against the opposition of any person or persons whatsoever. In witness hereof I have hereunto Sett my hand & Seale this Seventeenth day of June in the yeare of our Lord One thousand Six hundred Seventy & one.

Tho: Busbye Seale red wax Sealed, Signed & delivered in the presence of us Wm Rookings Elias Osborne

Acknowledged in Court by Wm Sherwood, attor: for that purpose the 5th September 1671 & Recorded the 16th September 1671

Know all men by these presents that I, Tho: Busby doe hereby nominate, ordaine & appoynt my trusty friend, Wm. Sherwood, to acknowledge for Me & in my name a certaine deed of Bargaine & Saile of a parcell of Land which I Sold to Roger Potter & his heirs the same deed to be Acknowledged att the Next County Court to be held for Surry, witness my hand this 30th day of August 1671.

Tho: Busby Witnessed by: Daniell Williams & Geo: Lee (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Vol. 1, 1652-1672, pp. 389, 391)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 58 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD On 16 September 1671, Thomas Busby sent a bond to the county clerk, apparently as a guarantee that he would properly house those (Indians?) whom he had housed in the line of duty. Delivered to the county clerk at the same time, and presumably from Thomas Busby, was a claim for 250 barrels of corn, resulting from a crop failure, and grievous mistreatment of “my people.”

Inclosed comes a bond of Mr. Tho: Busbyes for 60.00 pounds tobacco & Caske & 200 pounds of beanes with 6 of the best otter skins for all who would request...... to house the said Busby arrested & likewise is a bill of 250 barrells of Corne for which I was to allow him 2,500 pounds of the bond of which hath? failed though ...... all times throw who want have been forced to give 200 300 & 50 ye? barrell besides grate loss of time in getting of itt. parte of the Corne have received, viz: 4 or 5 barrells or thereabouts. att fetching of which my people was forced att one time to pay 11 dayes for 4 bushells Meale & att another time 12 or 13 days for 5 bushells with boate & two hands which time was More work than the Corne or Meale. Now my request is will be pleased to gett him arrested at my suite & ...... him in which will oblige your assured friend.

Rowland Place Teste: George Procter received 16 September 71 (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Vol. 1, 1652-1672, p. 389)

The disposition of this request by Rowland Place against Thomas Busby is not known. However, three years later, Place secured a judgment of 772 pounds of tobacco and 2 otter skins against Busby:

Judgment is granted Doctor Geo: Lee, attorney of Rowland Place, against Lt. Tho: Busby for Seaven hundred Seaventy two pounds tobacco & Caske, & two Otter Skins, this being the ballance of a bill...... (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691), p. 66)

Thomas Busby received formal title to 760 acres in the main Blackwater Swamp area in Surry County, in 1672, for the transportation of 16 persons to Virginia. The 16 included Peter Phillips, No. Huson, Elianor Gorton, Alex. Dunbarr, Jennet Davison, Mary Briggs, Cesar Briggs, and Ann Armitage. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 112)

By the time he had received the title, however, he had already constructed a new plantation in the Blackwater Swamp area in Surry County. On the first day of the year, 1672, he sold the “new plantacon” and 100 acres, to Edward Greene.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 59 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Know all men by these presents that I, Tho: Busby, of the County of Surry doe for diverse very good reasons & Considerations me thereunto moveing, have bargained & Sold, & doe by these presents for me, my heirs & Executors or Administrators, lett and make Sale over unto Edward Greene, his heires, Executors, Administrators or Assignes, one parcell of Land lying & being upon the Northside of the maine Blackwater Swamp in the County of Surry & bounding, viz: Upon the maine Blackwater Swamp beginning at a marked ash tree, & soe bounding up along the said Swamp westerly to the first reedy branch, & soe bounding up along the said reedy branch to the very head of the line northerly & soe along the head line north north east to a line of marked trees, & soe along the said line of marked trees returning back againe to the first said marked ash tree, upon the maine Swamp, the aforesaid parcell of Land Containing the said Tho: Busby’s New plantacon that is cleared at the Black Water, & likewise the said parcell of Land one hundred acres of Land or thereabouts by Estimation to have to hold, the said parcell of Land with all & singular the rights, profits, priviledges and Comodytyes, & appurtenances in any Kind whatsoever, unto him the said Edward Greene, his heires, Executors, Administrators, or Assignes for ever, in as large & ample manner as the said Tho: Busby’s Pattent Expresses to all intente & purposes, & further, I the said Tho: Busby doe oblidge me, my heires, Executors or Administrators to defend and mainteyne the sale of the aforesaid land from the molestation of any person or persons whatsoever, as witness my hand & Seale this first of January 1672. Signed Tho: Busby

Acknowledged in Court March 28th 1676 by Tho: Busby, & recorded Aprill 17th 1676 W. E. County Clerk (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Book No. 2, 1671-1684, p. 110a)

Five days later, on 6 January 1672, he sold 100 acres in Surry County to Tho. Hyard:

6 Jan. 1672. 24th year of Lord King Chas. II, Thos. Busby sold Tho. Hyard 100 acres in Surry Co. bounding on Reedy Branch to Mr. Joh. Barker’s line, thence down to the Southern Run along by Michell Micane’s etc. to mouth of Reedy Branch begun.....as by my pattent. Ackn. in court on 6 May 1673 Wit.: Thos. Parker, Wm. Shorte, Tho. Bird. (Surry County Records, Surry County, Va., Book II, 1671-1684, p. 26, as abstracted by Eliza Timberlake Davis, p. 84)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 60 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Joane Busby signs as a witness in 1672

THOMAS BUSBY once again acted as the “lawful attorney” for a fellow resident in late 1672, and one of the witnesses was a Busby: Joane Busby:

Know all men by these presents that William Hoop(er) doe make my friend Mr. Thos. Busby my Lawfull Attorney in any Action that is or shall be in the county of Surry...... 4th 9br (November) 1672 the mark Wm. Hoop(er) Witness: Tho: Bird, Joane Busby, John Thomas (Surry County Wills, Vol. 2, 1671-1684, p. 19)

1674 On 2 September 1674, Lt. Thomas Busby convinced the Surry Court that an earlier order of the court against the Indians should be renewed. There was no indication of what the order was. On 15 December 1674, Thomas Busby sold 70 more acres to Stephen Coleman, at the head of Upper Chipoaks Creek:

TO ALL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE to whom these presents shall come: Know ye that I, Tho: Busby, have, for me, my heirs, Executors and others, sold unto Stephen Coleman, his heirs, Executors or assigns, one parcel of land containing Seaventy acres or thereabouts situate lyeing and being in Southwarke parish at the head of upper Chipoaks Creeke in the county of Surry in Virginia; bounded (viz.) westerly upon the land formerly belonging to Michaell Mittaney and now in the possession of Adam Heath, and northerly adjoyneing to a parcell of land contayning about three hundred acres formerly purchased by the said Stephen Coleman of the aforesaid Tho: Busby as by a bill of sale bearing the 14th day of January, Anno Dom: 1669 may appeare; And easterly upon the common path or Roade that cometh from Wm. Short, his plantacion to the mill, which formerly belonged to Geo: Stephens, for he the said Stephen Coleman, his heirs, Executors, Administrators or assigns to have and to hold the said parcell of Land with all rights and privileges as thereunto belonging as fully as is granted by Virtue of any patent forever affords I the said Tho: Busby doe for my heirs and Executors and Administrators warrant the said sale of the said Land unto the said Stephen Coleman, his heirs, Executors, administrators and assigns forever, against the opposition of any person or persons whatsoever, Acknowledgeing for the said Land, I have received of the said Stephen Coleman full Satisfaction. In witness hereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seale the

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 61 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD fifteenth day of December in the yeare of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Seaventy Fower and in the 26th year of the Reigne of our Sovereigne Lord, Charles, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, etc.

Five years later, Lt. Thomas Busby appeared in Surry Court to acknowledge the 1674 contract to have been “his Reall Act and deede.” That record was verified 29 September 1679.

(William Charleton, who put “his marke” to the 1674 document as a witness, was a member of the Thomas Busby household, and died in 1679, leaving behind a son. The Busbys agreed in 1679 and 1680 to look after the younger William Charleton. Martin Quelch, the other witness, was the friend who had had to pay the pork and beaver bond, which he had put up for Thomas Busby’s court non-appearance back in Charles City County in 1660.) (Surry County Deeds, Will, Etc., Book 2, 1671-1684, p. 220a)

What a night 3 November 1674 must have been for Lt. Thomas Busby! The next day, Lt. Busby dragged himself to court to confess to all the offenses he inflicted against Capt. Lawrence Baker and Capt. Samuel Swann. He was then ordered to pay Mr. Jno. Salway 200 pounds of tobacco to repair all the damage that he had caused at the county jail in what was admitted as Busby’s “misbehaviour” and “disorder.” On top of all that, Lt. Busby was ordered to put a new lock on the door of the jail, and pay all the court costs. The record:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 62 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Lt. Busby Tears Up The Jail

Lt. Tho: Busby humbly Submitting himselfe to this Worshipful Court for the Offenses he comitted the last night, and Especially to Capt. Law: Baker and Capt. Sam: Swann who upon his humble Submission doe remitt his misbehaviour to them,

and he the said Busby is Ordered to pay Mr. Jno: Salway two hundred pounds tobacco & Caske, he the said Salway finishing soe much of the prison as the said Busby did disorder,

he the said Busby findeing a lock for the door & paying Costs.”

(Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 77)

The next few months had their problems, too:

Lt. Busby paid a rather substantial price to Mr. George Procter in court on 4 May 1675---and Busby got only “a broken Candlestick & two broaken Joynt stooles if they be extant” for his troubles. Busby was ordered to pay Procter 36 buck and doe skins, 1,575 pounds of tobacco, and other costs, though exactly for what cause is not recorded:

Judgment is granted Mr. George Procter against Lt. Tho: Busby for thirty six buck & doe skins equally, fiveteene hundred seaventy five pounds tobacco & Caske & twenty pounds of thatt, with Costs. And the said Busby is to have of the said Mr. Procter, a broken candlestick, & two Joynt stools if they be extant. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 92)

There also were wolves to contend with in Surry County. In 1674, the bounty was 200 pounds of tobacco for each wolf’s head brought in by a citizen. When the members of the court assembled 4 November 1674 to set the tax levy, and make out the payments of those taxes, the Court allocated 200 pounds of tobacco “to Lt. Busby” for 2 heads. Apparently the payment to Busby was made on behalf of the Indians, since it was half that paid the citizens (except for Col. Swann, who also had acted as agent for the Indians, in bringing in 1 head.) (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 79)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 63 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD OTHER ANIMALS, however, were represented more in the financial structure of Virginia in the late 1600s, and Lt. Thomas Busby left much on the record (as well as some things he admitted he should not have left on the record).

Pigs figured prominently in several court cases for Thomas Busby in 1673, 1674, 1675, and 1691. In one, a debt of 600 pounds of dressed porke “to be paid between this, and Christmas next,” was entered against Lt. Thomas Busby in favor of Capt. William Rawlinson in the 4 May 1675 court. In another, Lt. Thomas Busby pursued a continuing argument with Lt. Roger Potter, and took him to court “to have a re- hearing of the orders the said Potter obtained against him at the last Court.” In the 1674 episode, Potter was to receive “one good Sow, big with pig.” Thomas Busby was also charged court costs (“being in full of the last Court ordered.”) (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 50)

Thomas was soon to lose more than a single sow, even one “big with pig.” The nearby Wayonoke Indians were proving anything but neighborly. They began to kill and drive off the hogs belonging to Busby and the other settlers, so much so that the settlers had to appeal to the court for help. Thomas Busby and Arthur Jordan led the delegation:

Upon the Complaint of Mr. Ar: Jordan, Lt. Tho: Busby & other English Inhabitants on the Blackwater who have made it appeare that they have suffered very greatly by the WaeNoake Indyans Killing & Driveing away their Hoggs, It is ordered that they, the Waenoak Indyans doe forthwith Kill all the doggs that can hurt a Hog, & that they bring in remains of the Hoggs not yet killed, or Else...... (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, P. 55)

THE COURT THAT DAY was headed by “The Honorable Col. Tho: Swann, Esquire; Lt. Col. Geo: Jordan; Capt. Cha. Barham; Mr. Robt. Caufield; Capt. Robt. Sponcer.” Swann was also a member of the Governor’s Council. Jordan was attorney general of Virginia. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 55)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 64 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 65 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Being so important a part of the commerce then (as today) the animals had to be identified by their owners. Brands (or “markes”) were the obvious way, with the official record of types of brands recorded at the county courthouses.

On 5 May 1674, Lt. Thomas Busby recorded the brands he was using, and the brands that he was using for his daughter, Jane Busby. The two Busby “markes:”

This day Came Lt. Tho: Busby to me, the Subscribed & declared that his marke for Cattle, Hoggs & Sheepe, etc., was a Crop on the Right Eare, with a Slitte in the Crop, & a halfe Moone on the Left Eare. This day Came Lt. Tho: Busby to me and declared that his daughter Jane Busby’s marke was, a Crop on the Left Eare & two Slitts in the Crop, & a halfe moone on the right Eare, & desired me to record it. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Vol 2, 1671-1684, p. 55a)

Surry County Clerk William Edwards recorded the marks 9 May 1674.

It was not to be long before Lt. Thomas Busby was to demonstrate just why those brands or “markes” were so important. In the very next year, Lt. Busby was talking when he should have been listening, in a discussion of sorts with Richard Atkins. At the very least, Lt. Busby failed to pay sufficient attention to the identification of a certain hog, or hogs.

Lt. Thomas Busby called Richard Atkins a “hog-stealer,” and that is not the sort of thing that normally leads to calm reflection. What else it led to was the Surry County Courthouse, where Atkins promptly hauled Lt. Busby into court, and where Lt. Busby just as promptly said he should not have said what he did.

Rich. Atkins petitioning against Lt. Tho: Busby for calling him a hog-stealer, which the said Busby to this Court cannot prove, but does in Court humbly acknowledge his fault, and desires that the said Atkins will pass it by; such is by the said Atkins granted, and ordered that the said Busby pay costs. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 94)

Col. Swann came late to court that day, and may have just missed hearing Lt. Thomas Busby promise to be more diplomatic in the future. But when Col. Swann joined his fellow members of the Court, there was still a hog problem facing the county. They issued an order:

It is ordered that noe inhabitant of this county shall goe to the Blackwater to kill any Hogs without Carrying English Company with them, nor that they shall procure any Indyans to hunt with them unless they carrie such English with them for proofe as shall be

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 66 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD subject to Testimony to this Court, as they will answere the contrary at their perill. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 94)

The court was 4 May 1675. The other members of the court that day were Lt. Col. Jordan, Major Browne, Capt. Barham, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Meriwether, and Capt. Swann.

The importance of hogs was underscored by yet another court appearance by Lt. Busby in 1674. At that time, judgment was granted “Mr. William Sherwood against Lt. Tho: Busby for three thousand three hundred ninety & seavon pounds tob., and porke, being all due for a loan, and quittrented Except six hundred pounds, tobacco, which is by a sealed bond.” (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 76)

One hog solution: Thomas Busby hires a hit man Thomas Busby, Senr., admitted to the court that he’d hired a hit man to kill a hog belonging to Jno. Freeman in 1691, and had to pay the price. The price was 2090 pounds of tobacco. And, to add further insult, the court didn’t believe Thomas Busby’s counter-claim that Freeman had stolen one of Busby’s hogs:

1691: Suit of Jno. Freeman agst Tho. Busby, Senr., claiming deft. killed a hog. At Jury trial Busby confesses in court that he bid a man to kill a boar belonging to Freeman. Jury finds for plt. and grants award of 2090 lbs tobacco. Busby appeals to Gen’ll Court and enters Jno. Weaver and Hen. Wyche his security. Mr. Edwd Chilton is security for appellee.

Later in Court: Case of Tho. Busby, Sen’r. agst Jno. Freeman referred to jury, the deft. pleading not guilty to hog stealing, and jury finds for deft. A non suit granted deft.

Later in Court: Wife of Henry Wyche hath an order for 1 day attendance at ct. as evidence for Tho. Busby, Sen’r. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, pp. 378, 385 and 386,as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, pp. 117, 120, 121)

Within the next few years, Lt. Busby was to become Capt. Busby, but there was no change in the, at least, occasional, argument over pork (as a measure of currency). On 4 March 1694, Capt. Thomas Busby lost a painful argument because he was late making a payment in pork, and the court held him to the common law.

The common law at the time imposed a huge penalty on late debt payments:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 67 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Roger Jones agst Thomas Busby, action of debt, for 5000 lbs pork due by obligation under a bill by deft’s hand 10 March 1689, with statement that if not paid by last of January 1690, it is void. As it was paid, a non suit is granted. In case of Roger Jones agst Joseph Perry, who was bail for payment of pork by Busby, a non suit granted also.

Rec’d 14 Dec. 1693 of Capt. Thomas Busby, 400 lbs drest pork. Signed: Peter Perry Capt. Busby, I just now received per your Indian, 4 shotes, which weighed in all 393 lbs Jan. 9, 1692 Signed: Peter Perry Capt. Busby makes oath these two receipts were paid on account of Capt. Roger Jones.

Judgement awarded Roger Jones agst Thomas Busby for 4000 lbs drest pork, being the penal sum of an obligation entered by deft. for payment of 2300 lbs drest pork by last of January 1691, which he hath failed to pay.

Thomas Busby prays to be relieved in equity agst severity of the common law on above judgement. Injunction out of chancery accorded until he can be heard in equity. John Jane is security for Thomas Busby.

Roger Jones vs Joseph Perry, debt, on his bond with Thomas Busby for 4000 lbs drest pork to be paid on default of paying 2300 lbs drest pork by January 1691. Plt. to take nothing as he recovered it from Busby. Plt. appeals judgement to 4th day of General Court. Thomas Hamlin is security for appealer, John Scott for appellee.

Later: At a Court Holden at Westover 3rd April 1695: Thomas Busby obtained injunction to stay a penal judgement of 4000 lbs drest pork obtained by Roger Jones, plt. as he had paid 297 lbs. Court says he has to pay the remaining 2003 lbs drest pork. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, pp. 560, 561, and 564, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, pp. 201, 202, 203.)

1675 There were religious problems, as well as pork problems. And in 1675, a religious problem could be cause for court action: The first General Assembly of Virginia had required that every citizen attend divine services on Sunday. Violators were to be fined.

On 9 July 1675, a Grand Jury of seven Surry Countians brought in formal

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 68 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD charges that certain “Important persons” had not been “frequenting the Church.” One of those “Important persons” was Thomas Busby. Another, the Grand Jury stated, was one of the Jurors himself, Thomas Clarke:

Wee Subscribed of the Grand Jury doe present as followeth Important persons not frequenting the Church:

I, Tho: Clarke present myselfe for not comeing to Church duely Nathaniel Knight for Not comeing to Church Henry Briggs Jno: Orchard James Watkins Wm. Rookeings --- Symonds Adam Heath Bartho: Owen Wm: Short Jno: Miniard Wm: Nance alsoe Wm: Harvy Tho: Busby Rich: Parker Wm: Draper alsoe Rich: Rogers Geo: Midleton Edward Greene Tho: Buirde Jno: Most Long Jno: Phillips Danll: Williams Rich: Tias Jno: Hunicutt Jno: Skinner Tho: Senior Edmond Howell

Alsoe wee present David Andrews for ffornication.

Alsoe we present the Surveyors of the highwaies for the upper end of Surry parish for their Neglect.

Likewise Rich: Welbeck for Selling drinck by retaile as wee are informed. Signed Jno: Moreing, Tho: Clarke, Robt: Burgess, A. Long, Tho. T. Sowerby, Jno: King, Fra: Hogwood. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. No. 2, 1671-1684, p. 83)

Later on that year, the matter came to a conclusion in County Court. By then, however, Lt. Busby had made the matter right, though the record is a trifle ambiguous as to whether or not he got off scot-free, or got off by paying the fine (or did he simply begin going to church?):

These persons whose names are under written being presented by the Jury for presentments for Not comeing to Church, and having for their soe doeing not shewne any Lawfull cause are fined as follows:

Rich: Rogers...... 050 Mr. Barker Junr...... 050 Adam Heath...... 050 Nat. Knight...... 200 Wm. Harvey...... 050 Jno. Minidard.....100 Geo: Middleton...050 Wm. Draper...... 050 Tho: Birde...... 100 Jno. Most...... 050 Edwd. Greene...... 050 Danll. Williams Rich: Tias...... 100 Jno.Hunicutt...... 050 ...... 050 Tho: Senior...... 100 James Watkins...... 050 Jno. Skinner...... 050 ______Sume: 550 Sume: 850 Sume: 1200

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 69 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Lt. Thomas Busby thus escaped the penalties. He had his day in court: These persons whose Names follow being presented by the Jury for presentments are discharged from their presentments, paying theire Charges, viz: Jno. Ovehard, Mr. Briggs Henry, and Wm: Rookings for not coming to Church, Edmond Howell, Mr. Simonds, Wm. Shorte & Lt. Tho: Busby. The date was 7 September 1675. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 102)

Lt. Thomas Busby seems to have conformed thereafter, and subsequently was found where he was required to be on the Sabbath. When the grand jury made its presentations in 1678, there was no mention of Thomas Busby. Lt. Busby was most Christian in 1675: He promised the Court he would ensure Jno: Thomas would never be an expense to the county. Jno: Thomas, being a very Important man, is upon his peticon discharged (from the) public & County Levy, Lt. Tho: Busby ingageing himself in Court to keepe him from being any Charge to the parish during his, the said Thomas’, his life. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 102)

IT WAS A BUSY SESSION of Court for Lt. Busby. He also appeared as attorney for Mr. William Duke (in a suit against Henry Briggs), and for Duke (in a suit against Roger Potter.) Both suits were put off until the next Court. (The delay came just before George Procter and Mr. William Seward’s argument about a horse race was dismissed, with Seward being assessed the costs of the action.) (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, pp. 99, 100; also Surry County Deeds, No. 2, Part 1, 25 August 1675)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 70 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Lt. Busby’s assistance to William Duke came in response to a letter, which Busby filed with the court, 25 August 1675:

Mr. Tho: Busby Sir: I would desire you to doe me the favor to appeare at Surry Court in my behalfe, to Crave Orders against Mr. Roger Potter and Mr. Henry Briggs, both which I gave orders to be arrested, by a Noate Sent to the high Sherife by the hands of Mr. Thompson’s Sonn from the house of Mr. William Rookeings at his Wife’s funerall; both Mr. Potter’s bill & Mr. Briggs account I have heere Sent you.

I doe hereby impower you as my true & Lawfull Attorny in as ample manner as if I myself were personally present; be pleased to give me an accounte of this by the first Oppertunity after the Court not Else at present but remaine

Your Loving friend to Comand,

Wm: Duke August the 25th, 1675

Recorded the 13th September 1675 (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., No. 2, 1671-1684, p. 90a)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 71 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD By then, the family of Thomas and Susannah Busby included the daughters Grace and Jane, and the (presumed) son Jeffrey. The dates of the births of Grace, Jeffrey and Jane may have been:

1670...... Grace Busby. In 1671, Thomas made a deed to his daughter Grace, giving her a mare filly when she became 10 years of age. A further suggestion that Grace was the first, or only surviving child at the time, comes with the details of the 22 July 1671 deed: By the deed, the mare filly was to go to nephew Francis Allen, if Grace were to die before reaching the age of 10. (Surry County Deeds, Book No. 2, p. 56)

1671...... Jeffrey Busby. His name appears as a Tithable in the Thomas Busby household for the first time in 1687. Jeffrey deeded a heifer to Sarah Osborne, in court action 3 October 1688. In court action 5 August 1695, Jeffery Busby was listed as being in possession of 5s 6d in a disagreement over disposition of assets in the estate of the late John Eldrige. At the same time, Jeffery Busby and Tho: Busby were cited as having witnessed the sale of a cow, calf and horse colt by Eldrige to Richard Gord. The court, however, declared that the “sale was fraudulent” and ruled for John Scott:

1688 At a Court holden At Westover 3rd October 1688: Whereas Jeffrey Busby has deeded a heifer to Sarah Osborne, and said heifer is in custody of Elias Osborne to deliver as law directs. William Sandbourne gives security for same. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 156, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 29)

1694 November 9, 1694: Order to Jeffery Busby agst Robert Hathorn for 2 days attendance as witness granted for 80 lbs tobacco. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 535, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 191)

1695 At a Court Holden at Westover 5th August 1695 Upon a non inventus last court by the sheriff agst John Eldrige, at suit of John Scott, action was granted agst estate of deft. Sheriff has attached 1 iron gray horse colt 1 year old, 1 black cow, 1 brown bull calf in possession of Richard Gord, and that with horse colt and cow claimed by Gord, 1 iron kettle, 1 roap, 1 gun, 1 barrs skin, 1 broad ax, a parcel of feathers in possession of Gord, 5s 6d in hands of Jeffery Busby (Signed Joshua Wynn, Sub-Sherr.) Deft. doth not appear to replevy this action, but Richard Gord, by Benjamin Harrison, his attorney, appears, and by virtue of a deed of sale from deft, dated 1 April 1695, Witnessed by Tho: Busby and Jeffery Busby, claims cow, calf, and horse colt. Court says the sale was fraudulent and does not bar attachment. The plt. by his attorney Barth. Fowler, shows bill dated 5 Nov. 1694 for 1080 lbs in well drest pork. Judgement granted to plt. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, pp 584, 585, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 211)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 72 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Jeffrey Busby died in or prior to 1709. His death was noted in a civil suit disposed of in Surry County court, in November 1709:

November 1709 In an Action of the Case brought by Nath. Perry plt. against John Unitt deft. for a certain Bed & furniture given & bequeathed to the said Perry by Jeffrey Busby, deceased, the same appearing not to be due, the suit is therefore dismist with Costs, And at the motion of Jno. Giles, the defts. Attorney a Nonsuit is granted against the said Perry damage according to Law with Costs als. Exo. (Surry County Virginia Court Records, 1701-1711, Book VI, p. 125-332, as abstracted by Weynette Parks Haun, 243 Argonne Drive, Durham, N. C. 27704, p. 89)

1673...... Jane Busby. Her mark for cattle was handed in along with that of her father in 1674.

Over the years, the number of tithable persons fluctuated in the Thomas Busby household. In 1668 there were 3. In 1669: 6. In 1670 and 1671: 4. In 1674: 2. And in 1675: 3. White women and white males under the age of 16 were not included on the tithable lists (which determined the amount of taxes paid.) Many households of the time included white servants or hired laborers. There was no listing of the tithables for Surry County in 1676. The reason: Surry County had gone to war.

1676 Exactly 100 years before the Revolution itself, the Thomas Busby family was an active participant in one of America’s earliest revolutionary wars, a distant rumble to the events which were to occur ten decades later with quite- different results.

Bacon’s Rebellion: The Royalists win one The war of 1676 was Bacon’s Rebellion. And in 1676, the Royalists won.

Thomas Busby, planter, interpreter to the Southern Indians, Indian trader, land dealer, financier to his brother, ocean traveler, and chastened conversationalist, added a new responsibility. Already a lieutenant in the Royal Militia, Thomas Busby went to war. Right at home.

However, one history of this tumultuous period suggests a philosophical ambiguity by Lt. Thomas Busby during the conflict, if, indeed, he got involved in the shooting at all. At one critical point in the fighting, Busby and his troops were not where they were supposed to have been when they were sorely needed to come to

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 73 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD the rescue of the royal colonel. And after the war was over, the losers (the rebels) were all hauled into court in a series of civil lawsuits in which each rebel loser had to agree to pay damages to the loyalist winners.

Thomas Busby was among the losers in one of those court listings, and thus may have been a rebel at heart, even if he were leading the royal troops in defense of the King. However, after the war, Lt. Thomas Busby was still on the royal payroll----an accomplishment which suggests diplomatic skill of enormous proportions, if he really had been a rebel back in 1676. The open rebellion began in 1676, though its roots extended far back into the colonial government of Virginia:

“The deepest rooted causes of the rebellion were the long- standing economic, social and political grievances of the common people of Virginia,” “Colonial Surry” stated. “The English Navigation Acts of 1651 and 1660, restricting colonial trade to English vessels, had for many years forced the planters of Virginia to sell their products to home monopolists at the latter's own prices. This had depressed the price of tobacco, Virginia’s chief export, till in the 1670s, according to one writer, it had become almost worthless.

“With this lowering of income there was a steady increase in taxation, which was assessed upon the common people without their advice or consent. Government had become more and more a close oligarchy in Virginia, concentrated in the hands of Sir William Berkeley, the royal governor, for the benefit of himself, his favorites, and the small ruling cliques in the various counties. The governor had kept the Assembly of 1662, which was strongly royalist, in office for many years by adjourning the meetings from year to year and preventing new elections.

“Judging from the tithables, as well as other records, the wealthiest men in Southwark Parish appear to have been Lieut.-Col. George Jordan, Attorney-General of Virginia, with 7 tithable servants; Rev. William Thompson, the minister, with 6 white servants; Col. Thomas Swann, Member of the Council, with 3 white servants and 2 Negro slaves; and Francis Mason, with 6 white servants and 7 negroes in Southwark, and 2 negroes in Lawnes Creek. Capt. Robert Spencer had 4 white tithable servants, and Nicholas Meriwether had four also, one white and 3 negroes.

“Other rather prosperous people appear to have been Christopher Foster (nephew of Col. Jordan), Drs. Nathaniel Knight and George Lee, Lt. Thomas Busby, William Rookings (later to meet a tragic fate in the Rebellion), Benjamin Harrison and his mother Mrs. Mary Sidway, William Simmons and his mother Mary Simmons (he also being later involved in the Rebellion), William Edwards (who held the lucrative position of Clerk of the County Court since the death of Capt. George Watkins in 1673), Major William Browne with 3 negro slaves, John Pulistone (also involved in

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 74 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD the Rebellion), and John Solway, who owned the Warren or “Rolfe” House. On the whole, there appears to have been no vast wealth in the county in 1676, though the above figures for tithables in the various households must be augmented by fairly numerous female servants in the wealthier families, as well as white servant boys under 16...... It was the class of small planters on whom the burden of taxation rested most heavily and in whom the seeds of rebellion found a most fertile planting ground...... The real rulers in the county in 1676 were practically identical with its wealthier men.”

A series of Indian raids on outlying settlements in 1675 precipitated the revolt: Gov. Berkeley was basking in a profitable fur-trade monopoly with the Indians and refused to allow the angry settlers to retaliate against the Indian incursions. Berkeley raised the tobacco tax to 2,000,000 pounds for the purpose of building forts to protect the settlers, but the settlers believed such forts to be useless. At that point, Nathaniel Bacon arrived from Henrico County. He raised an army to go after the Indians. Berkeley then raised an army to go after Bacon and his army.

“Early in September, when Bacon and his wearied troops returned from the expedition against the Pamunkey Indians in the swamps of what is now King and Queen County, he found that Berkeley had by ruse captured the small fleet sent against him, and himself embarking with troops on a number of ships, has reentered and seized Jamestown on September 7th or 8th. Bacon hastened to the capital city and laid siege to it. Between September 15th and 18th, Berkeley’s troops finally sallied out of town, and attacked Bacon’s forces, but were defeated and withdrew in confusion......

“In Surry County we are told that ‘all the great ones’ went away with Berkeley on this second flight, leaving the county to Bacon’s men, with the exception of Col. Thomas Swann, who apparently remained calmly at his home at ‘Swann’s Point.’...... One rather admires Col. Swann’s calmness and level-headedness, which is also illustrated by the following testimony of Christopher Foster, Col. Jordan’s nephew, given Nov. 15, 1677, when he was 27 years of age. (Book 2, p. 149):

‘That being at Coll Swanns house about ye same day ye late Governor Sr Wm Berkeley Sallied out of Towne, Coll. Swann thinking ye County being in some danger of ye upland men did desire yr. deponent to goe up to Mr. Busby’s & see whether there was any guard kept there or noe & withall to tell Mr. Busby he would speake with him, but when yr. depont. Came there he found noe body at Mr. Busby’s home but Mrs. Busby a woman or two more, & Wm Pickerall a lame man, and further saith not.’

“One wonders from the above deposition what had happened to Lieut Busby and the guard at his house.” (Colonial Surry, by J. B. Boddie; emphasis added)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 75 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Bacon and his forces were in control of the county for three months. After his victory over the governor, he had planned to organize the colony and go ahead with the Indian War. On 26 October 1676, however, Bacon died. Without his leadership, the rebellion collapsed. Royal power was reestablished. Berkeley returned with a vengeance. After his summary courts-martial, 20 rebels were hanged, others were held prisoner, rebel property was seized, and the settlers terrorized. At that point, commissioners appointed by the King arrived from England with 11 ships and a regiment of 1,000 men. The King offered generous peace terms to the rebels, but the haughty Berkeley resisted, refusing the commissioners’ suggestion that he resign.

Commissioners Sir John Berry, Col. Herbert Jeffreys, and Francis Moryson sought to discover the colonists’ grievances despite the terror caused by Berkeley, nevertheless. Surry County had plenty of grievances.

The Surry Countians assembled to make known their grievances, and selected Lt. Thomas Busby as one of their spokesmen, along with George Proctor, and (in another transcript), John Moring. When the petition of grievances was completed, Busby signed it.

1. That ye last assembly continued many yeares and by their ffrequent meeting being once every yeare hath been a continuall charge and burthen to the poor Inhabitants of this Collony; and that the burgesses of the sd Assembly had 150 lb tobacco per day for each member they usually continueing for three or 4 weeks together did arise to a great some. And that the said assembly did give to severall gentlemen (for what purpose we know not) great somes of tobacco, all which with the publique nessessary charge did Raise the Levy to a very great & excessive heith.

2. That great quantities of tobacco was levyed upon ye poore Inhabitants of this Collony for the building of houses at James City which were not habitable by reason yt were not finished.

3. That great quantityes of tobacco has been Raised for the building of fforts & yett no place of defence in ye Country sufficient to secure his Majesties poore subjects from the ffury of fforaine Invaders.

4. That notwithstanding the great quantities of ammunition by the ships for ffort dutyes for the Countryes service & considerable somes of tobacco

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 76 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD raised to maintain a magazine yett upon all occasions wee are forced to provide powder and shott at our owne perticuler charge or else fyned;

5. That upon any fforaine Invation wee his Majestyees poore subjects are called to James Citty a place of vast expence and extortion upon his Majestyes service and the defence of his Majestyes Collony, in which service if we be maimed wee are utterly ruined as to or ffurther subsistence, we are forced not onely to pay or owne expences but ye expences of or Commanders and thene also for their service.

6. That the 2 s per hhd Imposed by ye 128th Act for the payment of his majestyes officers & other publique debts thereby to ease his majestyes poore subjects of their great taxes: we humbly desire that an account may be given thereof.

7. That severall persons estates are seized and part of them taken away before ye owner is convict of any crime notwithstanding they laid hold of the honnorable Governor his Acts of Indemnity and were admitted to take the oath of allegiance to his gratious Majesty & fydelity to his majestyes Honnorable Governor.

8. That by the assembly in June last wee were Injoyned (upon a great penalty) to send armes & provisions to that laste rebell Nathaniel Bacon Junr (the Honnorable Governor not contradicting itt altho itt was some tyme after the sd Rebell had Rebelliously fforced his Commission) to or great losse and dammage: Wee humbly pray that as wee expect no redresse for or (obedience to the sd assembly) for or damage then reced, that that assembly may not Increase our sufferings by being chargeable to us.

9. That the erecting of fforts together with the slackness of prosecuting ye Indian warr as also the subtle Insinuations of Nathaniel Bacon, Junor, his pretences has been the cheefe cause of the late & unhappy warr.

10. That it has been the custome of County Courts att the laying of the Levy to withdraw into a private

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 77 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Roome by wch meanes the poor people not knowing for what they paid their levy did allways admire how their taxes could bee so high.

We most humbly pray that for the future that County Levy may be laid publickly in the Court house.

11. That we have been under great exactions of sherifs and Clarks ffees for these severall yeares. The assembly having assertained but some fees and left the rest to the breast of the County Corts wee most humbly pray that for the future all clarkes and sherifs fees may be assertained and a great penalty laid upon such as shall exact.

12. That contrary to the lawes of England and this country high sheriffs have usually continued two yeares and undersheriffs 3 or 4 yeares together: we humbly pray that for the future that no person may continue sheriffe above one year.

13. That severall small debts bring in great proffitts to the Clarks & sheriffs by reason men are forced to sue for very small debts to the some of 200 lb tobacco to the great expence of all poore debtor and creditor. Wee humbly desire that a Justice of peace of the quorum or who else may be thought fitt may have power to grant order for any some under 450 lb. tobacco & caske and like wise execution with further troble to the Court.

14. That we have not had liberty to choose vestrymen wee humbly desire that the wholle parish may have a free election.

15. That since his most Gratious Majesty hath been most mercifully pleased to pardon or late disloallty wee most earnestly and humbly pray that this present grand assembly would make an Act of Oblivion that no person may be Injured by the provoking names of Rebell Traitor & Rogue.

16. That the assembly did levy 60 lb. tobacco per pole for two years together wee know not for what advantage to us did so heithen the Levy that the poore

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 78 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD people did sink under their burdens not being able to pay their great taxes & utterly despairing of any release from their Greeivous taxes and burthens for the future have beene for a long tyme much discontented and greeved, but being Informed by the honnorable ffrancis Morrison Esqr one of his majestyes commissioners that his most gratious majesty has been most gratiously pleased to return us or money againe by the honnorable Mr. Secretary Ludwell, our greeved harts are exceedingly rejoyced & Inlivened and wee yield his most gratious and sacred majesty all possible and humble and harty thanks ffor his Royal mercyes Humbly praying the honnorable Mr. Secretary may give Royal mercyes Humbly praying the honnorable Mr. Secretary may give a just account to the assembly of what money is due to the county in his hands.

17. That the reson of the late and unhappy warr the Inhabitants of this County may not been able to ffollow their callings do humblely desire that they may not be sued to the Cort nor laid under execution but be forborne their present debts till the next Cropp.

18. That severall men are likely to loose sevall somes of tobacco wch are just debts out of sevrall condemned persons & other seazed estates.We humbly pray that all just debts may be payd out of the said estates so seazed.

19. That ye Indians taken in ye late warr may be made slaves. Wee ye subscribed being chosen to present yr Greevances of Surry County do testifye that ye perticulers afforewritten are the Greevances of the said County. Tho: Busby George Proctor

(Virginia Magazine, II, p. 170-173; emphasis added)

THE PETITION by Thomas Busby and George Proctor failed to provide relief. Under the direction of the autocratic Berkeley, the Assembly promptly told Busby, Proctor, and their fellow citizens to obey the law, unless they wanted to be prosecuted as “Rebells”:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 79 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD To the proposall in Surry County Grievances Complaining against the taxes laid by the Grand Assembly Answeared All people ought to acquiesse with that lawes that are made by the Grand Assembly And whoever shall oppose them in hostile manner to bee deemed Rebells and psecuted accordingly

To the proposall about the seizing of severall mens Estates Answeared That psons that finde themselves agrieved may come and petition to the Grand Assembly for redresse during this Session and afterwards to the Governr and Councell. (Virginia Magazine, II. pp 170-173)

The civil trials against the rebels began in May 1677. Numerous orders were entered against the Rebels, and among suits filed against known Rebels was a “difference” between Mr. Arthur Allen, plaintiff, and Mr. Thomas Busby, defendant.

At the time that the wealthy Allen was suing Busby, he also was suing Busby’s neighbor, Jonathan Barker. In this session of court also, Robert Caufield was lodging claims against Jonathan Rogers, Robert Burgess and Jonathan Clement, in three suits similar except for the specific damages sought.

In each case, Caufield’s claim was based on the defendant’s alleged actions in “the most Horrid Rebellion, who with others of the like Evill temper had plundered and carried away the plaintiff’s household and marketable goods, who was damaged (in Clement’s case) above 500 pounds tobacco.” Caufield asked for a jury to confirm his damages and award satisfaction.

The jury did just that in all three cases. The foreman of that jury was Jonathan Moring, who may have been a co-signer with Thomas Busby of the list of 19 “greevances” of Surry County that were presented to the Assembly. Another juror was William Gray. Then the court turned to Allen’s complaint against Thomas Busby and Jonathan Barker: The difference between Mr. Arthur Allen, plaintiff, and Mr. Tho: Busby--defendant, is by the Court referred to the Next Court.

The difference between Mr. Ar: Allen, plt., and Jno. Barker, deft., is by the Court referred to the Next Court. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 165)

Before the next court, however, Busby and Allen reached an out-of-court settlement: Mr. Ar: Allen & Lt. Tho: Busby doe in Court declare that they have agreed (viz.) that the said Busby doth acknowledge that he is to pay the said Allen twelve good, well-drest Buck & doe skinns, and costs of the suite, in full Satisfaction of his Trespasses against the said Allen. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 172)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 80 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Allen was one of the wealthy members of the county who had fled with Gov. Berkeley. Allen’s property had been damaged during the revolt, and Allen was later successful in several civil suits against men other than Lt. Busby. Allen was, in fact, a member of the Court which assessed the charges. He was present 16 November 1677, when the settlement between him and Busby was recorded.

Others who had to pay Allen were known Baconians. One was John Clements, who had been one of the Baconians who took over Allen’s house and plundered it of more than 500 pounds sterling. Clements was described as “captain of the rebels at his house.” Clements also had to pay 400 pounds of tobacco in October 1677 to the county because of his continuing “scandalous” petitions of grievance.

When the shootings had stopped, and the investigations began, a series of depositions was made about the events. On 9 September 1677, Alice Marriott, 32; Katherine Witherington, 31; and Lawrence Meazle, 26, reported:

That about ye middle of febry last had yor depont being at ye house of Wm Foreman, in ye company of Wm fforeman & his wife, Lawrence Meazle, Katherine Witherington & Thomas High, ye said Thomas High began a discourse about ye late Rebellion & plundering, Katherine Witherington made answere the great one went all away & left ye poor ones & they were forced to doe what they did, noe said Thomas High ye great Toad tarried behinde & one of ye company asked ye sd Thomas High who he meant by ye great Toad, he replied he meant Coll Swann that old Rebell or Traytor yor depont knows not which, to that yor Depont made answere that shee never heard that Coll Swann did medle or make in ye late troubles, noe said he when Coll Swann sent a note to Mr. Busby by Christopher ffoster to rase men & come down with them to stop ye Governors men, & that ye Horses bridles & sadles of ours had not beene taken, had it not bin for Coll Swann, Katherine Witherington made answere againe that hee might hold his tongue for his sadle was saved by her sister & further yor depont did heare ye said Thomas High say that ye said Col Swann did send for a boate loade of Apples from Mr Masons for that he thought Mr Mason would never come again, with severall other base expressions which yor depont cannot remember, further your depont doe very well call to remembrance that ye sd Thomas High did say that Coll Swann did sitt in ye council of war for burneing ye town & when ye Governor went away from towne he sent to Coll Swann but he would not come to him, but as soone Bacon came to town he could take a boate & goe over to him, & that he hoped & believed that Coll Swann would be pulled bare. Her Signed Alice A Marriot. mark.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 81 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Katherine Witherington aged about 31 years Sworne said ye same wth Alice Marriott in every pticular. signed Kate K. Witherington. Lawrence Meazle aged 26 years or thereabouts sworne said ye same with ye above said Alice Marriott & Katherine Witherington in every pticular. signed Lawrence I M Meazle. Vera record Xber 1st 1677 (In this document, I recorded “ye” as ye, though as originally written by hand, the “t” and “h” in “the” were simply abbreviated into a unique letter that was copied by later typesetters as “y.” In transcriptions, I have sometimes used abbreviations as written, other times I have recorded the abbreviated words in full, for clarity.) In the wake of the rebellion, reprisals, and retribution, the king recalled the once-popular, and later despised Gov. Berkeley, in 1677.

SOON THEREAFTER the county clerk started tidying up the accounts of the war materiel. First, the court clerk made a charge against Lt. Busby’s salary for various “Pistolls, Holsters & Swords.” The deduction, which also applied to Capt. Barham, amounted to 2,286 pounds of tobacco.

But that still didn’t account for all the war materiel, and Capt. Barham and Lt. Busby were still responsible:

The Sherrife is hereby authorized and Impowered to Collect and receive of the Severall Inhabitants of this County two hundred & three pounds tobacco.....for the Satisfyeing and dischargeing the publick & County Ingagements, and upon Non payments, to make distress and Sale of the goods and Chattells of any person delinquent, as also to Collect & receive of the Severall persons to whom the Pistolls, Holsters & Swords were disposed of as: Capt. Charles Barham & Lt. Tho: Busby, and to appeare the Severall times they there stand Charged with, and in Case of Non payment, to make distress and Sale of the goods and Chattells of any person delinquent for which his soe doeing this shall be his Sufficient Warrant. Test: W. E County Clerk (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 183)

These first orders to collect all those missing pistols, holsters and swords went out on 19 November 1677. If the court expected a speedy discovery or delivery of the weapons, the court was disappointed. A year later, the weapons were still missing. On 6 November 1678, the Surry County Court showed some exasperation

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 82 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD when it ordered Lt. Busby to show some diligence in returning the weapons. The court that day was comprised of Lt. Col. Browne, Capt. Barham (who, presumably, had returned his weapons), Mr. Harrison, Mr. Mason, Mr. Goring, and Mr. Lee. Their order:

Lt. Tho. Busby, haveing failed to appeare, this Court...... or returne the bills for the Pistolls, Holsters & Swords in his possession, of the County’s, It is therefore ordered that the Sheriffe Sumon the said Busby to appeare at next Court and deliver the bills by him taken, to the Court, for the use of the County. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 230)

By mid 1679, at least some of the county’s officers were upset by the fact that Lt. Busby still had not returned “the County’s Pistolls, Holsters and Swords.” Accordingly, on 6 May 1679, the Surry County Court ordered Lt. Busby to account for the county’s arsenal or else. The “or else” would be a levy against the Busby estate for the value of the weapons:

It is Ordered that the Sheriffe Sumon Lt. Tho: Busby to appeare at next Court, and returne the bill by him taken for the County’s Pistolls, Holsters and Swords to the Court, where if he faile to appeare, Orders will pass against his Estate for the whole due. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 253)

The next Court was set for 1 July 1679. Lt. Thomas Busby appeared as ordered, though all the county’s swords entrusted to him did not. Lt. Busby could account for only 3 of the 8 swords of the county. He satisfied the Court with his accounting for ‘’the County’s pistolls & Holsters” and the Court allowed him more time to find the missing 5 swords. If he still could not discover where they were, he would have to pay for them:

Lt. Tho: Busby haveing received Eight of the County’s Swords, & now in Court discharged three of them by Order of Lt. Coll. Jordan, deceased; he hath liberty to the next Court to make appeare what is become of the other five; which if he then fayleth to doe, Judgment will pass against his Estate for them, & haveing in Court delivered an account of the County’s pistolls & Holsters, he is discharged from them. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 259)

LT. BUSBY PICKED UP ANOTHER JOB at the same session of the court that day. It involved an old neighbor in Southwarke Parish, William Rookings, who had been a witness for Busby in the 1671 sale of Busby’s home and 100 acres on Upper Chippoaks Creek. Busby, Mr. Thomas Clarke, Mr. Jno: King, and Henry Francis

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 83 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD were ordered to appraise the estate of the unfortunate Mr. Rookings, who had picked the wrong side in the Rebellion.

Rookings was one of the Rebel leaders, and survived the conflict only to be captured and thrown in jail by the Royal governor. Rookings cheated the gallows only by dying in jail. The order:

It is Ordered that Mr. Tho: Clarke, Mr. Jno: King, Lt. Tho: Busby, & Henry Francis, or any three of them, doe make & apprayse the Estate of Wm: Rookings, deceased, being Sworne before the next Commissioner, and that Capt. Wyat doe present the said Inventory to the next Court and make oath thereto. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 259)

The appraisers completed their task in time for the next court, as ordered. They didn’t have a great deal of property to appraise. By their reckoning, the value of two “crazy” Negroes accounted for more than a third of the estate of the longtime neighbor to the Busbys.

THE BULK OF THE ESTATE in fact, was in the property values of the servants: the two “Very Crasie” old Negroes, Marie and Tony; a boy, 3; and girls, 6 and 11. They even found that the frying pan of the unfortunate man was “full of holes.” On 11 August 1679, they presented their appraisal, putting the property values (presumably) in pounds of tobacco:

One old table & 3 joynt stooles...... 0075 One pair tongs; 2 small potts...... 70 Old pewter, old couch, 1 old chaire...... 90 1 old gunn, old skimer, old spire morter & pestle old handsaw, ironing table, old duck Axe, 1 round shave...... 150 A parcell of Rubbish for the Negroes bed...... 50 3 old Chests, 1 bedsted...... 200 1 pair stilliards, 3 wedges, 1 pincher, frying pan full of holes...... 120

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 84 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 4 Cows, 2 yearelings, 1 bull...... 1,900 1 old Horse, sore back...... 500 2 old Negroes--Marie & Tony--both very Crasie...... 5,500 1 ------Negro Girle 11 yeares...... 2,700 1 Negro girle Marie 6 years old...... 2,500 1 Negro boy about 3 years old, Cockoe...... 1,500 one feather bed bolster & Coverlid, old...... 700 old Chest, 1 pillowbeene, old dish, 2 looking Glasses, pewter and dishes...... 120 8 pewter plates...... 50 1 pair of waites & scales, one pair tongs, one froe, 1 old Coopers axe, old Andirons...... 150 3 joynts tools; ---- 4 old leather chairs, 1 torne...... 70 1 large iron pott, 4 gall...... 60 ______16,505

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 85 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD THE TURMOIL during the Rebellion may also have led to the attempted escape of one of Thomas Busby’s indentured servants, Joseph Beale. Joseph ran away from Thomas’ household during, or near, the time of the Rebellion, and was recaptured only after Thomas Busby went to considerable cost.

Thomas figured that it cost him 400 pounds of tobacco to get Joseph back. (At that time, 400 pounds of tobacco was worth about 600 pence.) In court, 1 November 1678, the recaptured Beale consented to pay his master the 105 days he had been gone, the 400 pounds of tobacco, and the remaining years of service owed to Busby:

Joseph Beale having run away from his master Lt. Tho: Busby one hundred and five days, and the said Busby having expended fower hundred pounds of tobacco and caske in recovering of him, the said Beale doth in Court consent to serve his said master in full payment of the said tobacco and one hundred and five days, and compleate (years of service?) which is by the Court ordered the said Beale to perform. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 225)

In the midst of the post-war reconstruction, Thomas Busby agreed to sell two Indians. One was a 9-year-old girl, Bess. The other was a 25-year-old woman, Ann. Thomas agreed to the sale of the girl, 21 June 1677, to William Duke. Before delivery of the child, however, Duke died. Thomas Busby then sold the child to William Archer, who had married the widow Duke.

The Archer transaction was completed 25 January 1678 “in the 30th yeare of his Majestys Reigne whome God preserve.” More than a year later, Thomas Busby went to court to confirm the sale. The confirmation was 4 November 1679. The sale of the woman to Richard Pace was completed 6 July 1677. The document:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 86 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD “To all Christian People to whom these presents shall come, Greeting

“Whereas upon the one & twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand Six hundred seaventy & seavon, I, Tho: Busby of Surry County, did bargaine & sell unto Wm: Duke of Martin Brandon one Indyan Girle of about nine years of age as a Slave for her life & did covenant to & with the said Mr. Duke to make full, firm & good assurances of the said Girle unto the said Mr: Duke, his heires, executors, administrators & assigns And whereas by the hand of Almighty the said Mr. Duke departed this life before the same was effected, Whereas Wm. Archer has marryed the rellict & administratrix of the said Mr. Wm. Duke, Know yee that I the said Tho: Busby haveing received full & valuable Consideracion doe hereby bargaine & Sell & firmely make over the abovementioned Indian Girle called Bess as a slave for life unto the said Wm. Archer, his heires, Executors, administrators or assigns. & have in the presence of the wittnesses to this Instrument given, ...... & made delivery thereof unto the said Wm: Archer for his owne proper use & behalfe, & doe hereby for me, my heires, Executors, administrators firmely binde the same & quit claime all and all manner of rights, title or Interest in or to the same forever. And doe further covenant for me, my heires, Executors, administrators to assure, confirme & Warrant the aforesaid sale & delivery to be Legall, firme & good in Law according to the true Intent & meaneing hereof, & that the said Wm: Archer, his heires, executors & administrators or assignes, Have & hold the sd Indyan in manner aforesaid without the least hindrance of or Mollestacion of me, Tho: Busby or my heires Executors or administrators & to save & keepe harmeless the said Wm: Archer from all manner of Incumbrance, disturbance or sute or sutes of Law that may or shall happen for or by Reason of this present sale & delivery & doe hereby promise for me, my heires, Executors, administrators to acknowledge this bill of sail in County Court of Charles Citty or Surry when thereto required by the said Wm: Archer, his heires, Executors, administrators or assignes. In wittness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand & seale this 25th day of January 1678 in the 30th year of his Majesty’s Reigne whome God preserve. Sealed & delivered in presence of us Signed John Tirrey Tho: Busby Dorothy Tirrey

Seale red wafer covered

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 87 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Att a court held for Surry County November 4th 1679, This day appeared in open Court Lt. Tho: Busby and did acknowledge the above specified to be his Reall Act & deede to Mr. Elias Osborne, Attorney of Mr. Wm: Archer. Test: William Edwards, county clerk (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., No. 2, Part 2, 1671-1684, p. 238)

The sale of Bess was also recorded in the county’s Order Book of the day:

Tho: Busby, acknowledgeing a deede of Sale of an Indyan Girle to Elias Osborne, Attorney of Wm: Archer, It is therefore Admitted to Record. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 274)

Sale of Ann was completed 6 July 1677. The document:

Know all men by these presents that I, Thomas Busby, hath bargained & sould unto Richard Pace one Endon Woman called Ann, aged about 25 yeares. the which Endon woman I doe warrant from the claime of any person or persons whatsoever for her lifetime to the said Pace, his heires, executors, or assignes, and doe further promise to acknowledge this deede of sale at the next Court in Surry County as witness my hand this 6th day of July 1677. Signed Tho: Busby Test: George Lee John Moring

Att a Court held for Surry County Sept. 4: 1677. This day appeared in Court Tho Busby and acknowledged the abovementioned to be his Reale Act & deede. Teste: W. E., C. Clerk (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., No. 2, Part 1, 1671-1684, p. 141)

1678 Lt. Thomas Busby obviously was not impoverished by the Rebellion, or the reconstruction thereafter. By mid 1678, he was trying to build a home---and having trouble with his contractor:

In the difference between Lt. Tho: Busby and Jno. Miniard. It is Ordered that the said Miniard doe immediately go aboute and finish a house for the said Busby according to agreement as appears under the hand of the said Miniard, and pay costs. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 225)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 88 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Thomas Turner made a claim against Lt. Busby in late winter 1678, but Lt. Busby didn’t get around to answering the claim when it came to court. As a result, the court approved Turner’s claim “for soe much as Tho: Turner shall make appeare due” when next the Court was to meet:

Tho: Turner hath Judgment against the sheriffe for the non- appearance of Lt. Tho: Busby for what he shall make appeare due at Next Court. Attachment is granted the sheriffe against the Estate of Lt. Thomas Busby for soe much as Tho: Turner shall make appeare due at the next Court, the said Busby haveing failed to appeare to answere the said Turner’s actions..... (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 242)

1679 Two months later, Lt. Busby contracted for a substantial debt with Mr. Benjamin Harrison, the debt remaining a year later. At that time, there was a balance due of 5,466 pounds of tobacco, and Lt. Busby confirmed the amount in court, 6 May 1679:

Lt. Tho: Busby Conffesseth Judgment to Mr. Benj: Harrison for five thousand fower hundred Sixty & Six pounds of tobacco & Caske due upon ballance of a bill dated the 4 day of May 1678, with hand & Seale, with costs..... (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 251)

(Immediately after Lt. Busby’s confirmation of the debt to the court, Capt. Roger Potter entered his debt confirmation to Harrison for 10 1/4 pounds of Winter Beaver.) In the same court, Lt. Busby affirmed his debt for 790 pounds of tobacco to the estate of the late Nathaniel Knight:

Lt. Tho: Busby Conffesseth Judgment to Lt. Coll. Wm.: Browne & Mr. Benja: Harrison, Executors of the Estate of Nath: Knight, deceased, for Seaven hundred & Ninety pounds of tobacco & Caske, with costs...... (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 251)

Lt. Thomas Busby’s “trusty friend” and attorney, William Sherwood, got the year 1679 off to a good start by filing in court, 13 January, a List of all the debts due him. Lt. Busby led the list, and accounted for a hefty percentage of Sherwood’s receivables:

A List of debts due to Wm: Sherwood in Surry County, Anno Dom 1679

Tho: Busby bill...... 1000 Lt. Coll: Browns bill...... 3000

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 89 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Tho: Huxes bill...... 0350 Tho: Bentlys bill...... 0190 Wm: Lucases bill...... 0033 James Murrys bill...... 0400 Mr. Wm. Thompsons bill rests...... 0464 ffra: Sorsbyes bill to be delivered to Owen Merrick & taken in my note for...... 0200 Order against Rookings estate...... 0502 Order against Tho: Jordan...... 2612 James Elsons bill...... 0296 _____ 9051 Capt: Potters bill rests 126 pounds tobacco & a buck & 3 years rent

Debts due to Capt. Otho Thorpe: Mr. Busby’s bill rests...... 1264 besides Wilkinsons debt of 800 pounds porke Jno: Floods bill to him for ...... 1000

I do hereby authorize & impower Wm: Foremanny, Attorney to demand & receive the severall debts abovemensoned & to doe & Act therein as if I was present & to make the tobacco he receives for me thus: W/S: beginning No: be & soe forward. & I am to allow him ten percent Sallery: Wittness my hand the 15th November 1679. Vera record: January 13th: 1679 Wm: Sherwood (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Part 2, 1671-1684, p. 244)

The extensive court-filings of debt was shown the same year, in the inventory of the estate of the late Mr. George Procter. There were 109 persons named in the listing of “all the debts belonging to the Estate.” Among them was the listing:

Capt. Tho: Busby...... 0138

The inventory was by John Moring, at a court held 4 November 1679. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Part 2, 1671-1684, p. 240)

Thomas Busby had several business dealings with lawyer William Sherwood. When Busby sold his house and 100 acres at the head of Upper Chippoaks Creek to fellow officer Roger Potter in 1671, Thomas Busby had described his lawyer, William Sherwood, as a “trusty friend.” Sherwood was to be prominent in colonial affairs for years to come.

Sherwood had been an ardent follower of the tyrant Berkeley, but had balked at the old man’s excesses at the end of the Rebellion. Sherwood told the investigating Royal Commissioner Morrison much the same things that Thomas Busby had

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 90 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD written in the list of grievances presented by Busby and Proctor for Surry County. Sherwood continued to be regarded as one of the more effective Virginians in the House of Burgesses during the struggle with a variety of Royal governors in the late 1600s. (Struggle Against Tyranny, Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corp. booklet)

HOGS CAME BACK to give Lt. Thomas Busby trouble in 1679. Four years after Lt. Busby had hauled a neighbor into court on a charge of stealing hogs, Lt. Busby was hauled into court on a charge that Busby was stealing hogs! Henry Wych made the charge, and the case was referred to a jury in Surry County on 2 September 1679.

After due deliberation, the jury of 12 discharged Lt. Busby, but did not exactly find him “not guilty.” The jurors reported that the charge was “not sufficiently proved according as the Law requires.” The record:

The Informacon of Henry Wych, plaintiff, against Lt. Thomas Busby, defendant, for Hogstealing is referred to a Jury Mr. Rob. Ruffin, foreman Mr. Wm. Simons Mr. Rob. Burgess Mr. Tho: Jordan Mr. Jno. Price Mr. Jno. Barnes Mr. Jno. Moring Mr. Pasfield Mr. Tho: Sowerby Mr. Henry Briggs Mr. Rog. Delk Mr. Wm. Newsum Jurors Theire Verdict: Wee finde that this Information is not Sufficiently proved according as the Law requires & therefore noe cause of action. Upon the peticon of Lt. Tho: Busby, defendant, an Nonsuite is granted him against the said Henry Wych, plaintiff, Damadge according to Law, with Costs. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 267)

Soon thereafter that day, Mr. William Simons left the jury box and joined Lt. Thomas Busby as sureties for Thomas Tias for Tias’ administration of the estate of William Scarboro. On the same day, Lt. Thomas Busby appeared in court to acknowledge a deed of sale to Elias Osborne, attorney for Stephen Coleman. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 267)

About mid-year, 1679, William Charleton died in Surry County, leaving behind a young son, William Charleton, Jr. On 1 July 1679, Lt. Thomas Busby and Mr. Robert Burgess agreed to handle the affairs of the orphan. The court agreed: Mr. Robert Burgess Enters himselfe in Court, Security with Lt. Tho: Busby for the Estate of Wm: Charleton, Orphan of Wm: Charleton, deceased, who is accepted & the Clerke Ordered to take bond. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 259)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 91 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Then, or soon thereafter, the young Charleton came to be a member of the Busby household. Thomas and Susanna agreed “to bring up the said orphan with Education, and teach him the Rudiments of Christian Religion & during his non-age finde him with sufficient meate, drink, apparrell & lodging. “ The young Charleton was apparently about 17 years old, as he was listed as a tithable in the Busby household for that, and the two succeeding years.

1680 Thomas Busby formally assumed responsibility of orphan Charleton with an agreement between him and “the Rt. Worshipfull Court” of Surry County on 2 November 1680. Joining with Busby in agreeing to put up a bond (of 20,000 pounds of tobacco) were Jno: Moring and Wm: Simons. The text of the agreement:

Know all men by these presents that wee Tho: Busby, Jno: Moring & Wm: Simons of Surry County are bound & firmly obliged unto the Rt. Worshipfull Court of the sd. county in the sume or penalty of twenty thousand pds. of Legall tobacco & caske for which payment well & truely to be made & done unto the said Court or theire successors Upon demand (rendered?) in the said County wee binde us & every of us our & Every of our heires, Executors & Administrators Joyntly, severally, firmely by these presents. In witness hereof, wee have hereunto set our hands & Seales this 2nd day of November Anno Dom: 1680. The condition of this above obligation is such that if the abovebound Thomas Busby his heires or Ex(ecutors) doe pay & deliver or cause to be paid & delivered unto Wm: Charleton his portion or childe’s parte of the goods & chattles of his late Father, deceased, as shall appeare upon Record to be his due when he shall come of Lawfull age, & also honestly according to his degree bring up the said orphan with Education and teach him the Rudiments of Christian Religion, & during his non-age finde him with sufficient meate, drink, apparrell & lodging & if it shall happen that the said orphan shall dye before he comes of age, then if the said Tho: Busby doe consent & pay the portion or other rights of the said orphan to whome the Law shall appoynt the same to be paid or to whom by proximity of blood ought to have it & also save and keep harmless the abovesaid Court & all other their officers from all troubles & damages that shall or may arise aboute the said Estate, these the above obligations to be void, null & of none effect. Otherwise to stand & remaine in full force, power & Virtue. Signed Sealed & Delivered in Tho: Busby presence of Rob Ruffin Jno: Moring Wm: Simons (Seales all red wax) (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., No. 2, Part 2, 1671-1685, pp. 699, 700)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 92 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD During the 1670s and the 1680s, as Thomas and Susannah Busby lived in the Sunken Marsh area in Surry County, their household changed frequently. Though the annual Surry County Tithables lists omit Susannah and the daughters (at any age) and the sons under the age of 16, the lists do show the others who were a part of the household:

1677: Mr. Tho: Busby, Humphry Felpes, Henry an Indyan, Tho: Kite, Bartho: Figers, Joseph a Servt...... 6

(Humfrey Felpes (Phellps) and Bartho: Figers remained in the area after they left the Thomas Busby household. Both are listed separately in the 1690 tithables list taken 10 June. Phellps is listed next to the lame Wm: Pickerell, who had been assured by Thomas Busby he could retain his home on the Busby land.)

1678: Mr. Tho: Busby, Jos. Beale, Tho: Kite, Corne Hall & an Indyan...... 5

(Though Joseph Beale had run away from his master, Thomas Busby, for 105 days, Thomas still had to pay the taxes on him apparently. When recaptured, Beale promised to work off all the obligations, and apparently he did: Beale is included in the tithables listing also of 1679 and 1680.

Cornelius Hall, who also was a part of the Busby household in 1678 (also an indentured servant?) may have died that year----or perhaps he ran away, too. Lt. Busby went to court to claim judgment against Hall’s estate. The court allowed the Busby claim:

Judgment is granted Lt. Tho: Busby against the Estate of Cornelius Hall, returned attached by the Sheriffe, for ffower Thousand one hundred fivety Six pounds tobacco & Caske, he haveing made oath that soe much is Justly due to him from the said Hall upon ballance, with Costs, etc. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 226)

In the same session of court that day 5 November 1678, the old Busby friend, Elias Osborne, represented his client Mr. Richard Hill in a dispute with Mr. William Thompson. Osborne (and his client) lost the case. Osborne served notice of appeal to the next General Court. Thomas Busby and Robert Burgess thereupon entered themselves as security for Osborne:

Mr. Elias Osborne, Attorney of Mr. Richard Hill, doth appeale to the fiveth day of the next General Court, & Lt. Tho: Busby and Robt: Burgess Enter themselves Security for the said Osborne, which are Accepted, and Sheriffe Ordered to take Bond. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 226)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 93 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1670: Mr. Tho. Busby...... 04 Tho: Bousby...... 01 (Surry County Deeds, Book No. 1, (Also listed as Will Book No. 1), 1652-1672, p. 374)

1679: Mr. Tho: Busby, Jno. Wilkinson, Wm. Charleton, Joseph Beale, Henry an Indyan...... 5

(In the 1690 list, Jno: Wilkinson is recorded as living near the Busbys)

1680: Tho: Busby, Edwd Farned, Jos. Beale, Wm. Charlton...... 4

1681: Mr. Tho: Busby, Tho: Wooder, Wm. Charlton...... 4

1682: Mr. Tho: Busby & Jno. Rivers...... 2

1683: Mr. Tho: Busby, Rich: Bullock & Abell Morgan...... 3 (Rich: Bullock is listed with Edwd: Greene in the 1690 tithables, near the Busbys) 1684: Mr. Tho: Busby, Peter Gibson, Con & Ann two Indyans...... 4

1685: Mr. Tho: Busby, Tho. Hopkins, Jno: Barton & Con an Indyan Boy...... 4

1686: Mr. Tho: Busby, Wm. Harrison, Wm. Temple, Joseph, a Negro wo, an Indyan Con...... 6

1687: Mr. Tho: Busby, Jeffery Busby, Nath. Halles, Con an Indian and Jone a Negro...... 5

1688: Mr. Tho: & Jeffrey Busby, Nath: Hales, Con an Indian and Jone a negro wo...... 5

1689: Mr. Tho: & Jeffrey Busby, Con an Indian, one Negro wo ...... 4

1690: Tho. Busby Senr...... 1 Jeffry Busby...... 1 (25 names later in the list)

And in the lower precincts of Lawnes Creek Parish:

Tho. Busby, an indian, Sam Dick Cacer Chomndo, Harry, Mary and 2 new Negro men...... 11 (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., No. 4, 1687-1694, p. 149)

Thomas Busby’s debts were not always paid in tobacco or pork. In 1680, he left notes to two Surry County lawyers, Elias Osborne and Thomas Jordan, which

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 94 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD conveyed to them 8 deer skins, 2 Indian baskets, and 15 sheep (with their offspring):

Att a court held at Southwarke for the County of Surry, January 4, 1680: Attachment is granted Elias Osborne against the Estate of Tho: Busby for Eight Deere skins and two Indyan Basketts, (the said Busby being returned arrested by noate left, and faileing to appeare.

Attachment is granted Tho: Jordan against the Estate of Mr. Tho: Busby for fiveteene Sheepe and theire Increase (the said Busby being returned arrested by note left and faileing to appeare. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 328)

The first item on the agenda 1 March 1680, for justices Lt. Col. Browne, Major Swann, and Messrs. Harrison, Malden and Ruffin, was an ordered attachment against Mr. Thomas Busby. Busby, once again, had failed to keep a date in court, on a suit brought against him by Capt. Lawrence Baker. The attachment was for 400 pounds of tobacco.

Attachment is granted the Sheriff against the Estate of Mr. Tho: Busby for ffower hundred pounds of tobaco & Caske, with costs, etc., the said Busby haveing failed to appeare & answere the Suite of Capt. Law: Baker. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 334)

At the same session of the 1 March 1680 court, Susanna Busby’s attorney, Charles Gardner, appeared to report that Mrs. Busby had relinquished her rights of dower in connection with two land sales by the Busbys. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 334, 335)

When the land sales were completed soon thereafter, Mr. and Mrs. Busby had sold Daniel Room 100 acres for 2,500 pounds of tobacco; and Thomas Bird 300 acres for 3,000 pounds of tobacco.

This indenture made the 20th day of Aprill in the 22nd year of the Reigne of our Soveraegne Lord Charles the 2nd by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France & Ireland, defender of the Faith & in the yeare of our Lord God 1680, betweene Tho: Busby of Surry County of the one party & Dan: Room on the other party, Witnesseth, That the said Tho: Busby with the approbation of Susanna, his wife, & by her Consent have aliened, bargained & Sold & doe by these presents bargaine, Sell & Sett over unto the said Daniell Room, his heires, Executors, Administrators or assignes forever a certaine tract or parcell of Land lyeing above the head of upper Chipoaks Creeke bounding as followeth: viz:

to begin at a oake being Corner tree of Tho: Busby & Wm: Short. North to a little branch being the outbounds of the said Land, & soe

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 95 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD along the said Branch Easterly to the Nine Springs & then up the said Swamp Southerly to a branch called the Gravelly Runn & up the said Run into the woods westerly being one hundred Acres of Land more or less, the said Dan: Room to possess the said Land with all manner of privileges thereunto belonging his heires, executors, Administrators or assignes &

that the said Busby doth warrant the said Land to be Cleare from all manner of Incumberances & that the said Dan: Roome, his heires, Executors, administrators, or assigns shall quietly possess & enjoy the same without the Mollestacion of any person or persons whatsoever & lastly I the said Tho: Busby doe owne to be fully satisfied for the said Land by receiving of Dan: Room the value of two thousand five hundred pounds of tobacco & Caske, hath fully Consented, Satisfied & & paid me for the said Land

in witness whereof wee have hereunto sett our hands & seales the day and year above written.

Signed & Sealed in presence of Benja: Harrison Charles Gardner Att a Court held at Southwarke for the county of Surry 9br 2d, 1680, This day appeared in Court the abovenamed Tho: Busby & did acknowledge the abovesaid to be his Reall Act and deede. Vera record: December 3rd 1680. William Edwards, C. Clk (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Part 2, 1671-1684, p. 273a)

The sale by the Busbys to Thomas Bird:

This Indenture made the 10th day of 7br in the yeare of our Lord 1680 & in the 32nd year of the Reigne of our Soveraigne Lord Charles the 2nd over England, Scottland, France & Ireland, defender of the ffaith & betweene Tho: Busby of Surry County in Virg., on the one party & Tho: Bird of the Same County and the other party wittnesseth

That the said Tho: Busby with the Approbacion & Consent of Susana his Wife have aliened, bargained & Sold & doe by these presents bargaine, sell & sett over until the said Tho: Bird, his heires or assignes forever, all the land I have on the Easterly side of a Swamp, being a branch of upper Chipoaks Creeke in Surry County, being in quantity three hundred Acres more or less bounding

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 96 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Northerly upon Thomas Ayard’s Land, Easterly upon Benja: Harrison; Southerly on Geo: Midleton’s Land & westerly upon the said Swamp called the Southern Rim.

The said three hundred Acres of Land to be held by the said Tho: Bird, his heires & assignes forever with all the appurtinances whatsoever & I the said Tho: Busby doe hereby Indent, Bargaine & Confirme unto the said Tho: Bird & his heires forever, that at the Sale & Ensealeing hereof I doe hold and possess the said three hundred Acres of Land & appurtinances by a good able warrantable & Indefeaseable title in the Law & that it & Every part thereof is & is to Continue unto the said Thomas Bird, his heirs, or assignes forever a good & lawfull fee Simple

& that the said Bird his heirs & assignes shall peaceably & quietly Enjoy the same forever without the least troubles or Mollestacion of me, the said Tho: Busby, or my heirs & any other person or persons claimeing by or under me or by my power or assignment to them heretofore given or derived & that the said three hundred Acres of Land with the appurtinances is at this day free & Cleare from all Mortgages, Dowers, Leases, Sales, Judgments or Executions hereby bindeing myself, & my heires forever to save & keep harmless & indeminfied the said Tho: Bird & his heres forever from all or any other person or persons who by any former grant or other cause or pretense, shall lay any claime any part or parcell of the said three hundred Acres of Land & the said appurtinances with a Gen: warranty to him the said Tho: Bird & his heires forever & that I will, as alsoe the said Susana my wife, make public acknowledgement of this Indenture in the next Court to be held for the County of Surry,

And lastly, I the said Tho: Busby, doe for me & my heires forever doe Confess to have received of the said Tho: Bird a full and valuable Consideration for the said Land, by three thousand pounds of good tobacco & Caske, being paid in hand before the Ensealeing hereof with which I doe acknowledge my selfe to be fully & Lawfully satisfied Contented and paid & in witness & Confirmacion of all & Singular the promises, I, the said Tho: Busby & Susana my wife, have hereunto put our hands & Seales the day & yeare above written ----(the word Creeke interlined between the 7th and 8th lines before signeing)

Signed, Sealed & delivered Tho: Busby

the marke of Susana Busby

in presence of Benja: Harrison Charles Gardner (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Part 2, 1671-1684, pp. 274, 275)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 97 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Bee it knowne unto all by these presents that I, Susanna Busby, wife to Tho: Busby doe hereby Constitute & appoynt my Loving ffriend Mr. Charles Gardner, my true & Lawfull Attorney for me & in my name to acknowledge my ffree Consent to two Conveyances, viz: one to Mr. Dan: Roome, the other to Thomas Bird, granting & allowing my said my whole power soe that whatsoever my said Attorney shall lawfully doe in or about the premises to be as Effectuall as if I myselfe were personally present, witnesseth my hand this 1st of 9br 1680

Test: Tho: Woades Wm: Kelley

Vera record: March 11th 1680. WE (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Part 2, 1671-1684, p. 279)

Thomas and Susanna Busby sold 200 acres of land to Edward Greene for 3,500 pounds of tobacco, in the closing days of 1680. The sale was completed “the 20th day of December in the 33rd yeare of the Reigne of our Sovereigne Lord Charles the 2nd, over England, Scotland, Ffrance & Ireland, King defender of the ffaith & and in the year of our Lord 1680.” The land was bounded by the remaining Busby property, land of James Jones, the Blackwater Swamp, and the Green plantation. Benjamin Harrison and Robert Wyatt witnessed the transaction. Details of the transaction were completed in Surry Court 3 January 1681. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Part 2, 1671-1684, pp. 300a, 301

AS INTERPRETER TO THE SOUTHERN INDIANS, Thomas Busby was paid by order of the House of Burgesses. The General Assembly began at James City, 8 June 1680, and approved payments in Surry County of 54,520 pounds of tobacco. The expenditure was neatly matched with anticipated revenues of 54,520 pounds. The Surry County clerk put the number of tithables at 470, with each tithable obligated for 116 pounds of taxes.

Thomas Busby received about 20 percent of the Surry County tax income that year, though he had to pay 464 pounds of tobacco as his own tax bill. (In 1680, Thomas Busby reported 4 tithables in his household.) The disbursements to Busby:

to Coll. Swann for account of Capt: Busby...... 4500 to Capt. Tho: Busby...... 2200 to ditto...... 3030

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 98 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD and to Tho: Busby for ferrage...... 350 to ditto for Services...... 1320 (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 321)

At the same time, the General Assembly paid 350 pounds to Dr. Lee, who had “accomodated” some of Thomas Busby’s Indian charges. In 1681, the House of Burgesses paid Thomas Busby for 2 1/2 years as interpreter, and reimbursed him for certain expenses as well:

to Thomas Busby, Interpreter for 2 yeares & halfe...... 10000 to ditto for Indians accomodation att Dr. Lees...... 1170 to ditto for Indians accomodation att Mr. Rablyes with Cask for both...... 1000 to ditto for 4 Matchcoates paid Indians by the Gouervrs order...... 430 ______12602 (Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1659/60-1693, p. 171)

Thomas Busby subsequently received an order for 11,602 pounds of tobacco for claims approved by the General Assembly which sat at James City from the 8th of June in 1680 until 15 February 1681. When the session ended, Surry County was reporting 486 tithables, with the tax obligation at 89 pounds for each. Thomas Busby received the largest single payment --- which was about 25 percent of the total Surry County budget. Col. Byrd came in a close second, with 10,385 pounds. Lt. Col. Milner got 5,600 pounds and Col. Wm. Browne, 4,860. (Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1659/60-1693, p. 177)

The same General Assembly also allowed Thomas Busby 1,000 pounds for his assignment to Maj. Thorpe, in York County. (Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1659/60-1693, p. 179)

Part of the duties of Lt. Thomas Busby lay in “keepeing a true Intelligence with the Indyans,” and in hiring some of them for “Rangeing upon the ffronteer’s of this County.” In 1679, Lt. Thomas Busby led 15 men to an 11-day expedition at the Nottaway Towne, on orders from the lieutenant governor of Virginia. Later on, Lt. Busby was paid for those expenses, as well as for “ferrage & provitions for Sundry Indyans goeing too and ffrom the Governor.” Busby was instructed to pay each of his soldiers 275 pounds of tobacco & Caske.

Certificate is granted Lt. Tho: Busby to the next Assembly for Six thousand fower hundred & sixty pounds of tobacco & Caske, being due for the attendance of fiveteen Men & Horses

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 99 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD with himself Eleven days at the Nottaway Towne, by Order of the Lt. Governor, & Sundry other Expenses by him, the said Busby, Expended in keepeing a true Intelligence with the Indyans, & paid by him to Severall Indyans for Rangeing upon the ffronteer’s of this County & for fferriage & provitions for Sundry Indyans goeing too and ffrom the Governor; Hee, the said Busby paying to Each of the Souldiers that were at the Nottaway Towne two hundred Seaventy five pounds of tobacco & Caske for themselfes and Horses. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 269)

Thomas Busby entertains the ‘Empress’ son’ The duties as Interpreter to the Southern Indians also included diplomatic functions, which bordered on the imperial. In 1682, Thomas Busby and his household entertained the heir-apparent to the leadership of the Tuskerorers Indians, and his attendants.

The Indian was described in Court Records as being the “Empresses’ Son,” and he travelled with “Busby’s man” to the Virginia Assembly at James City by “Speciall Order” of the Governor.

The record:

Certificate is granted Mr. Tho: Busby to the next Assembly for one thousand pounds of tobacco & Caske for his charge of Sending for the Empresses’ Son of the Tuskerores Indyans and accomodation at his house of him & his Attendants & the said Busby’s man’s going with them to James Citty by the Rt. Honorable Governor’s Speciall Order. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 392)

In 1685, he was paid 6,480 pounds for 1 1/2 years salary as Interpreter to the Southern Indians in Surry County. A record of his petition, 28 April 1688, was filed with the House of Burgesses and committed to its committee of claims.

COINCIDENTALLY, on the day that the House of Burgesses received Thomas Busby’s request for payment of his salary, the House considered a Day of Humiliation. The times were clearly bad. Death and drouth had stalked the colonists throughout the dominion for the previous two years, and aid from the Almighty was sought. (Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1659/60-1693, pp. 254,297)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 100 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD On Thursday the 23rd of April 1691, the House mett. The petition of Thomas Busbey for the allowance and Sallary due to him as Interpreter of the Southern Indians was read & referred. (Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1659/60-1693, p. 341)

Munday the 27th of Aprill 1691. Post Meridiem: The house mett. The petition of Thomas Busbey referred to his house by ye Lt Governor & Councell & praying for his allowance as interpreter to the Southern Indians to be levyed Soe as noe deduction be made for Casq & convenience was read & referred to the Comittee of claimes. (Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1659/60-1693, p. 343)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 101 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Thomas Busby (an Indian) born, 1674

In addition to interpreting for the Indians, and selling a few of them, Lt. Thomas Busby also provided the complete name for one.

Thomas Busby, “an Indian boy,” was adjudged 10 years old in a court order affirming his indenture to Mr. Robert Caufield, 1 July 1684:

(Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 444)

Six years later, at the age of 16, the Indian Thomas Busby became eligible to be listed as a tithable in the annual tax census of Surry County. He was still in the Caufield household. The listing:

Mr. Robert Caufeild, Geo. Long, Tho. Busby an indian & Sam, Dick Cacer, Cherrimoe, Harry Mary and 2 new negroe men ...... 11 (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Book 4, 1687-1694, p. 151)

1681 Confirmation of a land sale to Edward Greene by Thomas and Susanna Busby was made in court 3 January 1681.

Mr. Tho: Busby appeareing in Court & acknowledgeing a Deede of Sale of a parcell of Land to Edward Greene, It is Admitted to Record. Wm: Foreman, Attorney of Susanna Busby, wife to Mr. Tho: Busby, appeareing in Court & relinquishing the said Susanna’s Rights of Dower in a parcell of Land Sould by her husband to Edwd: Greene, It is Admitted to Record. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 359)

A disagreement between Mr. John Everett and Thomas Busby was acknowledged in Surry Court, 3 January 1681, as the case was referred to the next court. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 361)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 102 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Over in Gloucester County, in Abington Parish, another part of the Busby family was expanding.

On 3 September 1681, Mary Busbie, daughter of John and Mary Busbie, was baptized. She was the first of what was appears to have been four children of John and Mary Busbie in Gloucester County: John (Jr.) was baptized 8 June 1684; Edward, 12 August 1688; and Thomas Busbie, 10 April 1698. In other register records of the period (1677-1780), it appears that Thomas Busbie stayed at home, grew up, married, and had two daughters: Mary (baptized 29 October 1721, died October 1729) and Elizabeth (baptized 8 March 1723). John and Grace Busbie were married January 1738, and had three children: John, baptized 25 April 1742; Thomas, 28 December 1744; and Edward, 25 October 1747. The baptisms of three other children of John Busbie were recorded: Mary, 16 February 1716; James, 15 December 1723; and John, 15 November 1713. Did John (baptized 8 June 1684) marry twice, the second marriage being to Grace? At the same time in Gloucester County, Va., Robert and Sarah Busby took their children to be baptized: Adam, 24 January 1742; and John, 4 June 1738. (Abington Parish Register 1677-1780 (Gloucester Co., Va.), by Robert Robins, data copied and provided by Robert L. Busby, Rt. 1, Earlysville, Va., 22936)

1682 Back in Surry County, on 5 September 1682, a disagreement between Mr. Richard Clarke and Mr. Thomas Busby “by joynt Consent” was referred to the next general court.

The difference between Mr. Rich: Clarke & Mr. Tho: Busby by Joynt Consent is referred to the next Generall Court. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 382)

At the same time, an argument between William Pittman and Mr. Thomas Busby was “dismist.” (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 383)

When the estate of the late Lt. Col. George Jordan was finally accounted for in Surry County, four years after the colonel’s death, the value was placed at 103 pounds, 5 shillings, 11 pence. There were about 50 men who owed money to the estate. One of them was Mr. Thomas Busby. The Busby debt was listed as 01083. (10 shillings, 83 pence?) (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., Part 2, 1671-1684, pp. 321a, 322, 322a)

Soon thereafter, Thomas Busby added another large chunk of land to his Surry County holdings: THO BUSBY, 475 acs., Surry Co., on NW side of the S. run of Upper Chippoaks Cr., 22 Dec. 1682, p. 216. Beg. in Mr. Benj.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 103 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Harrison’s line; by Heath Br., &. Trans. of 10 persons: Jon. Williams, Eliz. Hobson, Robt. Atkins, Tho. Broadway, Eliz. Bond, Jon. Harris, Geo. Sheeres, Jon. Handle, Robt. West, Wm. West. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol 2, p. 250)

(They subsequently sold part of their land in this area to Timothy Ezell and Mr. and Mrs. William Pickerell. Then, in a well-documented transaction, they sold the balance of the 475 estate in late 1689 to Roger Jones.)

Throughout the period of the residency in Surry County, Capt. Thomas Busby owned land also in Charles City County, which was adjacent to Surry. In 1682, “Capt. Busbies line to the said Busbies Corner standing upon the Maine sw.” was used to describe the bounds of a tract of land patented by Joshua Meatcham. (Charles City County Patents Book No. 7, p. 122, Duvall, p. 10)

1683 On 29 May 1683, a neighbor, George Loveday, patented 100 acres adjacent to the land of Mr. Busbie in Surry County.

GEORGE LOVEDAY, 100 acs., Surry Co., on bra. of Up. Chippoakes Cr., 29 May 1683, p. 297. Adj Mr. Busbie; the land he lives on; Trans. of 2 pers: Fra. Spencer, Wm. Reeves. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 264)

On 3 July 1683, Mr. Thomas Busby agreed in court that he owed 1,067 pounds of tobacco, as the balance of a bill dating back to 18 November 1682.

Mr. Tho: Busby Confesseth Judgment to Wm: Edwards for payment of One thousand Sixty Seaven pounds of tobacco and Caske due upon ballance of a bill dated November 18th 1682. It is therefore Ordered that the said Busby pay the said Edwards the said One thousand Sixty Seaven pounds of tobacco & Caske, with costs...... (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 408)

Mr. Thomas Busby failed to keep a date in court 6 November 1683. George Foster had demanded that Busby appear to discuss a dispute, and so the sheriff, once again, was sent out to look for Busby.

Judgment is granted Geo: Foster against the Sheriffe for the non-appearance of Mr. Tho: Busby, for soe much as he shall make appeare due at the next Court, with costs....

Three days later:

Attachment is granted the Sheriffe against the Estate of Mr.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 104 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Thomas Busby for soe much as Geo: Foster shall recover at the next Court against the said Sheriffe for the said Busby’s non-appearance, with costs, etc. (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 419)

1684 In September court of 1684, Thomas Busby was assessed a judgment of 100 pounds sterling, in favor of Mr. Benja: Harrison. The judgment was based on what the court ruled was a bond dated the 27th of July, back in 1680.

Judgment is granted Mr. Benja: Harrison against Mr. Tho: Busby for one hundred pounds Sterling, being the penalty of a bond dated the 27th day of July 1680, with Costs...... (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 449)

Busby took an immediate, and strong, exception to the large judgment against him. He quickly came back to court. When Busby came to court to ask for further discussion, the first case on the docket that day was a disagreement between Nicholas Sessums and Tho: Mathar. Sessums had accused Mathar of using “severall abusive words” against Sessums and his wife. Their disagreement ended quickly in court, for Mathar not only told the court he had spoken falsely, but that “he was Sorry for it.” Thereupon, the court moved to Busby’s request, and agreed with him:

Upon the Peticon of Mr. Tho: Busby, all the proceedings of an Order obtayned this day by Mr. Benja: Harrison against him are Stopt untell the Cause be heard in Equity at the next Court, to which Court the same is referred to be heared. (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 453)

“Capt.” Busby’s Land is referred to in a transaction by William Harrington in Charles City County. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 282)

William Harrington, 250 Acres. Bounded: at a corner pine belonging to the Land of Capt. Thomas Busby --- to Joshua Meachams corner --- on Myry Meadow. The sd. land was due by the Trans. of 5 (not named), 21 October 1684. (Virginia Colonial Abstracts, 2, Vol. 6, Charles City County, p. 407)

The title of Captain was mentioned again in court action two years later, when Susanna Busby appointed Eliot Osborne her attorney, 19 February 1686. (Surry County Deeds, No. 3, p. 70)

Major Swann stepped out of a Surry court meeting briefly on 3 March 1684, but returned in time to join in a ruling that Ann Woodward, one of Mr. Thomas Busby’s

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 105 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD servants, was 15 years old. The court ordered Ann to provide service according to the laws of the land:

Ann Woodward, Servant to Mr. Tho: Busby, who came into this Country in the “Jno. & William,” Capt. Dell, master, is adjudged fiveteene years old and ordered to serve according to acts. (Surry County Orders, Part 1, 1671-1691, p. 472)

At this time, Thomas and Susannah Busby (as well as Ann Woodward and the other servants) may have been living on a 475-acre plantation on the “northwest side of the southern run of Upper Chipoakes Creeke.” The Busbys acquired the land 22 December 1682, on the basis that Thomas had paid for the transportation of 10 persons to America. The 10 were: Jon. Williams, Eliz. Hobson, Robt. Atkins, Tho. Broadway, Eliz. Bond, Jon Harris, Geo. Sheeres, Jon. Handle, Robert West and Wm. West. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 250)

Though Thomas and Susannah Busby in 1686 sold land, where they were then living, to Timothy Ezell and to Richard Smith, they made many improvements on their large farm. (By 1689, they had built “a fair Brick House, and other out- Houses.” They also had “tenements, barns, gardens, orchards, woods, and appurtenances” with fishing and hunting on the premises. They rented a tract to Mr. and Mrs. William Pickerell. And, when Thomas and Susannah decided to sell the 475-acre tract in 1689, they protected the Pickerells, by reserving their rights to their home as long as they lived.)

1685 Thomas Busby didn’t get to court on time in early 1685, and judgment for 600 pounds of tobacco was taken against him.

Judgment is granted Mr. Wm. Carpinter, assignee of Mr. Geo: Lee against the sheriffe for the Non-appearance of Mr. Tho: Busby for Six hundred pounds of tobaco & Caske, with Costs, etc.

Attachment is granted the Sheriffe against the Estate of Mr. Tho: Busby for Six hundred pounds of tobacco & Caske, the said Busby haveing failed to appeare and answere the Suite of Wm: Carpinter, with Costs, etc. (Surry County Orders, 1671-1691, p. 505)

1686 The action worked both ways, however. Thomas Busby put in claims against Richard Williamson and George Loveday in late 1686, but Williamson and Loveday were not to be found by court day, 9 September 1686:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 106 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Richard Williamson being returned Non Est Inventus at the Suite of Mr. Tho: Busby and not appeareing, An Attachment is therefore granted the said Busby against the said Williamson’s Estate for soe much as he shall make appeare due at the next Court, with Costs, etc. Geo: Loveday being returned Non Est Inventus at the Suite of Mr. Tho: Busby and not appeareing, an attachment is therefore granted the said Busby against the said Loveday’s Estate for soe much as he shall make appeare due at the next Court, with Costs, etc. (Surry County Orders, 1671-1691, p. 532)

Later, the court recorded a debt to Thomas Busby by the Richard Williamson estate for 902 pounds of tobacco.

Judgment is granted Mr. Tho: Busby against the Estate of Richard Williamson (returned attached) for Nine Hundred & two pounds of tobacco & Caske (he haveing made oath to his account, with Costs, etc.) (Surry County Orders, 1671-1691, p. 555)

However, Busby and his good friend Adam Heath had themselves posted bond for Richard Williamson. The two were left holding the bag when Williamson didn’t get to court. Final action against Busby and Heath was, as a result of a lack of a quorum, postponed from November court until the next Levy court.

Mr. Benjamin Harrison at the last Court obetyneing Judgment against Mr. Tho: Busby and Adam Heath, Security for the Appearance of Richard Williamson, and there being at this Court not Justices to make a Court besides the said Harrison, It is referred to the Levy Court for Confirmation. (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 544)

It wasn’t long, however, before the Levy Court caught up with this detail. On 23 November 1686, the court assembled. Six Justices were Major Swann, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Mason, Mr. Malden, Mr. Ruffin, and Mr. Randall.

The Court promptly agreed that its fellow member, Mr. Harrison, was owed 734 pounds of tobacco by Williamson. Busby and Heath had put up bond that Williamson would come to court and argue his side of the case. But Williamson didn’t show. And the Court’s final ruling was that consequently, Busby and Heath were to pay the 734 pounds of tobacco to Harrison.

The Court did, however, attach a judgment to Williamson’s estate on behalf of Busby and Heath for the 734 pounds. The records: Mr. Benja: Harrison at September Court last obteyneing an Order against Mr. Tho: Busby & Adam Heath (Security for the

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 107 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD appeareance of Rich: Williamson, who failed to appeare) for soe much as he should make appeare the said Williamson was indebted to him in November Court last, and the same being referred from November Court to this Court and the said Harrison now makeing oath in Court that the said Williamson was justly indebted to him Seaven hundred thirty fower pounds of tobacco & Caske, Judgment is granted the said Mr. Benja: Harrison against the said Mr. Tho: Busby & Adam Heath for the said Seaven hundred thirty fower pounds of tobacco & Caske, And ordered that they pay the Same with Costs......

Judgment is granted Mr. Tho: Busby & Adam Heath against the Estate of Richard Williamson (returned Attached) for Seaven hundred thirty fower pounds of tobacco & Caske (it being soe much Mr. Benja: Harrison obetyned Judgment for against the said Busby & Heath, they being Security for the said Williamson’s appearance who failed to answere the said Harrison’s Suite, with the Costs thereof also of this Judgment...... (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 547)

In Court, 2 November 1686, various details were completed in the sale by Susannah and Thomas Busby of “Certaine Lands” to Richard Smith:

Mr. Elias Osborne produceing a power from Susanna, the wife of Tho: Busby, to relinquish her Right of Dower in Certaine Lands Sould by her husband and proveing the Same by the oaths of Wm: Haugood & Wm: Temple, it is admitted to Record.

Mr. Tho: Busby appeareing in Court & acknowledgeing a Deede of Sale of a parcell of Land to Richard Smith, it is Admitted to Record. (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 540)

(William Temple was a member of the Busby household, and a tithable. Thirty one years later, Mr. and Mrs. William Smith sold Hooper’s Neck to John Holloway, who then also lived in the Wyanoke parish, of Prince George County. Holloway paid Smith 1,200 pounds of tobacco and 8 pounds, 9 shillings of money for the 100 acres of the onetime Busby land holdings.) (Abstract, Prince George County Wills & deeds, Weisinger, p. 21)

THE OTHER MAJOR LAND SALE BY THE BUSBYS in 1686 was to Timothy Ezell, the land “where Tho. Busby is now living,” 7 July 1686. Presumably, Thomas and Susannah continued to live nearby, since as late as 1690, neighbors were listed as Edward Green, Tomo. Ezell, Richard Atkins and Peter Bayles. (Surry County Deeds, No. 3, p. 63)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 108 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD In the mid-1680s, Thomas Busbye assisted the traveling Richard Bullock:

“I doe hereby certify that Richard Bullock is by God’s grace designed for London this present shipping, and if any have a just claim against him, they may be satisfied by him at Mr. Thos Busbye’s, as he affirms to Wm. Edwards, Clerk of Court.” (Tyler’s Quarterly, Magazine 23, 1941-41, p. 264)

1687 Militia in Surry County

This Court having considered the Capacitie and abilities of the severall Freeholders and Inhabitants of this county doe most humbly present his Excellency the following persons for horse and ffoott as they are here severall set downe. (Ordr. of Council dated 8 br. ye 24th, 1687.

For Horse

Col. Phill. Ludwell, a Wm. Simons Tho. Jarrett man and horse Tim. Essell, Junr. Tim. Walker John Thompson Tho. Bentley, Junr. Ni. Sessorms Tho. Collier Tho. Jolly Wm. Gwathney Walter Flood Wm. Carpinter Math. Swann Tho. Flood Jno. Barker Wm. Chambers John Watkins, Capt. Tho. Tias Wm. Gray Roger Potter Wm. Hunt Wm. Newsume Wm. Foreman Wm. Rose Wm. Newit Tho. Binns Tho. Bage Jno. Holt Tho. Warren Xto. Foster Wm. Hancock Geo. Williams Ni. Meriwether Rogr. Delke Tho. High Antho. Hardwicke Charles Jarrett Samll. Thompson Tho. Busby Wm. Seward, Quaker Jno. Edwards Jos. Ford Tho. Partridge, Q. James Jordan Hen. Tucker Walter Bartlett, Q. River Jordan Tho. Drew Jno. Barnes, Quaker Jno. King Robert Lancaster

For Foot.

Jeoffry Busby (and 263 others).

(Virginia Colonial Militia, Crozier, pp. 101-103, (Emphasis added))

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 109 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1689 Though Susannah was unable to travel to court in late 1869 to sign the documents of sale, Susannah and Thomas agreed to sell their “plantacion” 11 September 1689, in one of the longest legal documents of the period in Surry County. The transaction extended for 10 pages in the official record, as title was conveyed from Busby to Roger Jones:

This Indenture made the Eleventh day of Sept., Anno. Dom., 1689, between Tho: Busby of the parish of Southwarke in the county of Surry in Virga., of the one part; and Roger Jones of the parish of Bruton in James City County......

The “plantacion” had been acquired “according to the bounds exprest in the pattent thereof, dated the twenty second day of December, Anno. Dom. 1682, under the hand of the Honorable Sir Henry Chicheley, Knight, then deputy governor of Virginia: and the Seale of the Colony, as by the said pattent on Record in the Secretaries office may appeare.” Jones paid 80 pounds sterling to the Busbys for the property. So that he could take possession immediately (there apparently being some delay before the land transaction could be considered legally completed) Jones was also to pay, if required, “one ear of Indyan corne on the last day of the year” to Thomas. Technically, during that year, Jones was a renter of the estate.

To complete the legal formalities, it was necessary for both Thomas and Susannah to appear, or be represented, in court. Thomas made the required personal appearances, but Susannah said she “was unable to travell to Court” and selected Court Clerk W. Edwards and the old lawyer friend William Sherwood to represent her:

To all People to whom this present writing shall come, I, Susanna, the wife of Tho: Busby of the County of Surry, send greetings, and whereas my said husband hath bargained, sold, and conveyed to Capt. Roger Jones a plantacion with the houses and appurtenances thereunto belonging, situate at the head of upper Chipokes Creeke in the said county of Surry, containing four hundred seventy five acres of land, be the same more or less, as by Deede under my said husband’s hand & seale dated the twelfth day of September last, may appeare,

Know ye that I the said Susanna for good considerations hereto moveing, doe hereby voluntarily, freely & without any compulsion or force used to me, release, relinquish, & disclaim all my Rights or Claims of dower, thirds, or other Interest, of, in, or to the said Land-- --conveyed as aforesaid to the said Roger Jones, so that I the said Susanna am by virtue hereof utterly barred & excluded from any dower in or to the said Land or any parte thereof,

And for that I am unable to Travell to Court to Confess &

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 110 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Acknowledge this, my release & relinquishment, I do hereby nominate, ordeyne & appoint my Loving friends Wm. Sherwood of James City, Gent., & Wm. Edwards of Surry County, Gent., or either of them my Attorney or attorneys to appeare either in the General Court or Surry County Court & acknowledge this as my Act & Deede, which shall be as Effectuall as if I was personally present. Witness my hand & Seale the 7th day of October 1689.

her Susannah XX Busby (Seale) marke

Sarah and Adam Heath put their “markes” to the 7 October 1689 transaction, and then both the Heaths appeared in court, 5 November 1689, to affirm that they had, indeed, witnessed the signing by Susannah. The court accepted their statement. In court that day, too, Thomas appeared also to give bond of 160 pounds sterling as surety that he would “observe, perform, fulfill and keepe all & every the covenant & agreement...... ” made in the complicated transaction. (Surry County Deeds, No. 4, 1687-1694, pp. 125aa through 129b)

The final legal words in the lengthy transaction came in five other Court orders, each reaffirming a part of the technicalities. (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 714)

Prior to the sale of their plantation in late 1689, other financial transactions that led to court actions included confirmation of two of Busby’s debts:

Thomas Busby confesseth Judgment to Mr. Benja: Harrison for twenty eight pounds, five shillings and ten pounds sterling to be paid according to his obligation under his hand and seale dated the 18th day of May 1689, as also for two thousand four hundred sixty seven pounds of tobacco & caske to be paid according to his bill dated the 13th of June 1687, the said sums being the ballance of ye said bill, It is therefore ordered that the said Busby pay the aforesaid Money & tobacco, according to his aforesaid obligations to the said Harrison. (Surry County Orders, 1671-1691, p. 715)

Thomas’ debt to Mr. Harrison had no sooner been recorded that day than Thomas picked up a part-time job with the county: He became a juror in a defamation case brought by Charles Holdsworth against Daniel Wade, whose mind was “Evil & Wicked,” Holdsworth alleged. After the trial was completed, Thomas Busby and his fellow jurors agreed with Holdsworth, but they scaled down somewhat the measured extent of Wade’s “evill.” Charles Holdsworth Complains against Danl: Wade for that being on his Lawfull occasion at Capt. Roger Jones’ in James Citty

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 111 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD County in September last, the said Wade, out of an Evill & Wicked mind, and on purpose to Ruin him did falsely alleadge, publish & declare that he was Runaway, and hath since laid a Wager with Roger Williams that he (Holdsworth) would run away before Christmas next, By which the said Wade’s false & Scandalous report he hath lost his imploy of several persons & particularly of Edward Booky, who before alwaies imployed him to Farm to a very considerable value, but hath now put his worke to another, And having noe other way to get a livelyhood thereby his Trade is by the said Wade’s false & Scandilous Reprte damnified at least tenn thousand pounds of Tobacco & Caske for which he humbly prayed Judgment against the said Wade, with Costs, To which the said Wade appeared and pleaded ‘Not Guilty,’ & for tryal put himself upon his County; soe likewise the plaintiff. A Jury was therefore Impanelled and Sworne, who were namely: Mr. Ja: Jones; Mr. William Newton; Mr. James Jordan; Mr. Tho: Burris; Mr. Tho: Busby; Mr. Samuell Thompson; Mr. Ar: Jordan; Mr. Jno: Duer; Mr. Geo: Branch; & Mr. Geo: Blow. Return for Verdict: Wee find for the plaintiff fifteene hundred pounds of tobacco and Caske. Upon the plaintiff’s motion, the Jury’s Verdict is Confirmed. It is therefore ordered that the said Wade pay the said Holdsworth fifteene hundred pounds of Tobacco & Caske, with all Costs...... (Surry County Orders, 1671-1691, pp. 715, 716)

1690 Thomas Busby missed another court appearance in 1690, and this left George Branch holding the bag for 3,370 pounds of tobacco which he had put up as security for Busby’s appearance. The best that Branch could get at the time was an order against the Busby estate for 3,370 pounds.

Mr. Tho: Busby being returned arrested to this Court at the Suit of Wm: Edwards & being called to come forth & answere the same made no appeareance, & Geo: Branch being returned his Security, Judgment is granted the said Wm: Edwards against the said Geo: Branch for three thousand three hundred and Seventy pounds of tobacco & Caske, with costs, provided the said Busby doe not appeare at the next Court and answere the Same. Mr. Tho: Busby faileing to appeare and answere the Suit of Wm: Edwards, Judgment was granted the said Edwards against Geo: Branch Security for the said Busby’s appearance for three thousand three hundred & Seventy pounds of tobacco & Caske with Costs, upon the said Branch, his motion, An Attachment is therefore granted him against the Estate of the said Busby for the aforesaid Sum of three thousand three hundred & Seventy pounds of tobacco & Caske, with Costs returneable to the next Court for Judgment. (Surry County Orders, Part 2, 1671-1691, p. 728)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 112 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Capt. Tho. Busbie’s land in Surry County was used by John Wilkinson to establish the boundaries of Wilkinson’s 189-acre tract:

JOHN WILKINSON, 189 acs., Surry Co., 23 Oct. 1690, p. 89. Adj. Edward Greene; Capt. Tho. Busbie; Timo. Essell; Richd. Atkins; & Peter Baglie. Imp. of 4 Pers: Jno. Turner; Robin, Grace, Judy, Negroes. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 351)

By 1690, there were 632 tithables in the two parishes (Southwarke and Lawnes Creek) in Surry County. When the list was compiled on 10 June 1690 in Southwarke, three men were in charge. They were Mr. Benjamin Harrison, Major Swann, and Mr. Francis Mason.

Harrison reported 20 tithables in his household, which gave him the distinction of being one of the largest taxpayers. Others that day in that larger-than-average category were Lt. Coll. Wm Browne (12), Mr. Tho: Swann (5), Mr. Ira: Clements (5), Mr. Wm. Edwards (the county clerk) (11), Mr. Rob. Caufeild (11) in one location and 7 in two other locations, Major Ar: Allen (12), Jos: Rogers (5), Coll. Ludwell (10), Mr. Wm. Newsom (9), and Rob. Ruffin (10).

Thomas Busby listed 5 in his household: “Mr. Tho: Busby, Nat: Hales, Jno: Knight, Con an Indian & Jane a Negro...... 5

Jeffry Busby was listed separately as 1 tithable, though still in Southwarke parish. In all, the 6 Busby listings made them the second largest taxpaying family in their precinct, with 6/140th of the total. In the county, their tithables listing made them 8th from the top.

Thomas Busby---the Indian---was in the Caufield household in Surry County’s other parish in 1690.

However, an abstract published of Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc., No. 4, of 1687-1694, p. 149, shows:

Tho. Busby Senr...... 1 Jeffry Busby...... 1 (25 names later in the listing)

and in Lower Precincts of Lawnes Creek Parish:

Tho. Busby, an indian, Sam Dick Cacer Chomndo, Harry, Mary and 2 new Negro men...... 11

Later on, in the 1690s, the family changed:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 113 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1691: Mr. Thos. Busby, Jeffrey Busby, Ed Taylor, Con an Indian...... 4

1692: Tho & Jeffry Busby, George Peters Con Indian...... 4

1693: Tho & Jeffrey Busby, Jas. Kimball, Con Indian...... 4

1694: Mr. Tho & Jeffry Busby...... 2

1691 Capt. Wm Soan accused Capt. Thomas Busby of trespassing, and both took the argument to a Charles City County court jury in 1691. Busby won.

At a Court Holden at Westopher, 10th November 1691 Capt Wm. Soan vs Capt. Tho. Busby referred to next court. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 367, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 113) LATER: The action of trespass commenced by Capt. Wm Soan agst Capt. Tho. Busby referred to jury who find for the deft. A non suit granted the deft., with costs. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 116) Busby won another argument in court the same year. This time, it was a disagreement with Joshua Mechem.

Suit of Joshua Mechem vs. Tho. Busby referred to jury, who find for the deft. (At the same time, witnesses from the earlier Busby court victory were recognized:) Henry Wyche has an order for 3 days attendance at court as evidence agst Tho. Busby, being sworn to by Capt. Wm Soane Richard Major attended as evidence one day for Capt. Randolph, 1 day for Jo. Mechem and 1 day for Tho. Busby and 1 day for Jno. Freeman. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 377, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 117)

Capt. Tho: Busby posted in court his deposition about a parcel of land sold by Robert Moseley to William Short, and also was the beneficiary in court of 300 pounds of tobacco bounty for bringing in a wolf’s head:

Capt. Tho: Busby and Mr. Arthur Jordans depositions about a P:cell of Land formerly sold by Robert Moseley to William Short are admitted to Record adperpetuam Rei memoriam. (Surry County, Virginia Court Records, Pt. 1691-1700, Book V, page 8, as abstracted by Weynette Parks Haun, 243 Argonne Drive, Durham, N. C. 27704)

Capt. Busby was rewarded with 300 pounds of tobacco for bringing in a

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 114 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD “wolves head” that had been “killed in a Pitt,” as determined by the Surry County court, 7 November 1691:

“to Capt: Tho: Busby for a wolves head killed in a Pitt...... 0300”

In the court that day also, the officers directed that on 23 November of 1691 that the county’s surveyor should lay out the “Town Land into Lotts or halfe acres according to the Law relateing thereto and all P:sons desirous to take up any Lotts are desired then to be present and doe the same.” (Surry County, Virginia Court Records, Pt. 1691-1700, Book V, page 12, as abstracted by Weynette Parks Haun, 243 Argonne Drive, Durham, N. C. 27704, p. 5)

Capt. Busby borrows a horse.....and doesn’t return it Timothy Redding accused Capt. Thomas Busby of borrowing a horse...... and keeping it for nearly a year. Redding wanted 2,000 pounds of tobacco as damages, and took the claim to Charles City County Court in late 1693. Capt. Busby didn’t get around to appearing at an early sitting of the court, but did make it to court on 5 December 1693, after the sheriff had been told that if the sheriff couldn’t get Busby to court, the sheriff would have to pay the 2,000 pounds.

Busby’s attorney, William Harryson, told the court that Busby didn’t borrow the horse, but the jury didn’t buy his story. The jury assessed 1,200 pounds of tobacco as the judgment against Capt. Busby:

1693 In case of Tymothy Redding agst Thomas Busby for 2000 lbs tobacco, and deft. not appearing, judgement is granted agst sheriff unless he bring deft. to next court. Later: Attachment awarded sheriff agst Tho: Busby with costs. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, pp. 472, 473, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 162)

December 5, 1693 The court sits PRESENT: CAPT. PERRY, MR. BLAND, CAPT. LUELLIN, CAPT. TAYLOR Timothy Redding brings action agst Capt. Thomas Busby, setting forth that on 20th December last past, deft. borrowed of him a horse and had not restored it to this day and desires 2000 lbs tobacco damages. The deft, by William Harryson, denies borrowing it and puts himself on the country, and plt. by Bartholomew Fowler, his attorney, likewise. Jury is impanelled: Joseph Harwood, Charles Gee, Joseph Cooper, Edward Redish, John Lymbry, Jos. Bradly, Alex: Davison, James Batty, John Woodlif, Rober Harwood, Robert Williams and Tho: Smith. They find for the plt. 1200 lbs tobacco, and judgement granted. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 477, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 165)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 115 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1693: another case:

Judgement granted Thomas Busby agst Roger Jones for 4000 6 penny nails and 4000 4 penny nails due by bill, and for 10 bucksins. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 490, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 173)

1694: another case:

Thomas Busby vs Robert Hathorn for debt, for bill of 50 shillings and cow and calf, which was to be delivered to plt. in April 1693. Benjamin Harrison, attorney for deft. begs abatement. This is overruled. Deft. then prays an imparlance, which is denyed. Plt, by Wm Harrison his attorney, prays judgement, which is granted. Deft. by his attorney then says he has a matter in chancery agst plt. and prays injunction for a stay, and this is awarded, and deft. ordered to exhibit his bill at next court. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 526, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 187) Later: At a Court Holden at Westover 8th November 1694 At last court a judgment was obtained by Thomas Busby agst Robert Hathorn, but deft, by his attorney Benjamin Harrison, obtained injunction. Deft. exhibits his bill and says he became bound 17 Oct. 1692 to pay Busby a cow & calf and 50 shillings following November. On 17 Oct 1692 he bought of Busby 100 acres of land. Thomas Busby promised to give deed before payment and has not. (Long arguments follow, but court affirms judgement.---Ed.) (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 531, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 189)

1694 Non suit granted Thomas Busby agst Charles Goodrich, assignee of Edward Chilton. Non suit granted Thomas Busby agst James Batty (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 526, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 187)

The Sheriff has to bring Capt. Busby to court, again:

At a Court Holden at Westover 4th February 1694 Thomas Harnison agst Thomas Busby on a plea on the case on an assumpsit for payment of 348 lbs tobacco. Sheriff hath not brought deft. or bail and judgement granted agst sheriff unless he bring deft to next court. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 556, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 199)

At a Court Holden at Westover 4th March 1694 Capt. Thomas Busby confesses judgment to Thomas Harnison for 300 lbs tobacco. Thomas Busby, the deft, is brought in by sheriff to answer suit of Thomas Harnison and vacates judgement agst sheriff. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 560, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 201)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 116 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1696 Capt. Henry Tooker didn’t appear in Surry court 2 March 1696/1697 to prosecute his claim against Capt. Tho. Busby and so the suit was “dismist”:

Capt. Henry Tooker haveing brought an accon to this Court against Capt. Tho. Busby, and not appeareing to prosecute, the sute is dismist. (Surry County, Virginia Court Records, Pt. 1691-1700, Book V, p. 175, as abstracted by Weynette Parks Haun, 243 Argonne Drive, Durham, N. C. 27704, p. 82)

1699 The Virginia General Assembly tried to stave off lawsuits and arguments about claims for land in the area where the Busbys had located:

William the third by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France & Ireland Defender of the faith &c. To Phillip Ludwell junr. Michaell Sherman, James Bray, Bartholomew Fowler, David Bray, Thomas Cowles, Hugh Norrell, William Drummond and William Broadribb Gent. Greeting, Whereas it was concluded and agreed at a Generall Assembly held at James Citty the 27th. day of Aprill 1699 that the most proper and effectuall meanes to prevent law suits and controvers that may arise between party and party in the severall Claimes that are made to land in Pamunkey Neck and on the South side of the Blackwater Swamp where the said Claimes may happen to Clash or interfere are by appointeing and impowreing the Courts of the Severall Counties where the Land lyes or soe many of them as are noe wayes interested or concerned and such others as wee shall thinke fitt to joyne in Comission for that purpose to examine the same Claimes and all others that shall come before them relateing to the said lands and according to the preference or priority of the severall claimes to them apearing (and observing such rules and orders as were agreed on at the said Assembly) to order the Surveyr. to lay out the same......

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 117 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Thomas Busby put in his claim for 7,400 acres:

Thomas Busby claiming 7400 acres of land by entry Survey and quiett and uninterrupted possession thereof had but not being able to make either Entry or Survey appear the same is therefore referred to the next meeting appointed to bee held on the first Munday in Octr. next.

When October next arrived (it was 2 October 1699), Thomas Busby renewed his claim for 7,400 acres, but could only produce documents that showed he was due 924 acres. It is therefore ordered that the Surveyr. of the County survey and lay out the said nine hundred twenty four acres for the said Busby some time after the 6th. day of the next genll. Court hee produceing such rights as shall be allowed by the Honble Genll. Court and that the Survey thereof bee returned on the first Tuesday in Aprill next. (Surry County, Virginia Court Records, Pt. 1691-1700, Book V, pp. 240, 244, as abstracted by Weynette Parks Haun, 243 Argonne Drive, Durham, N. C. 27704) (Illustration of King William III, who reigned from 1689-1702, from “Royal Autographs,” an exhibition April-September 1991, at The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington)

RIGHTS FOR 5,400 ACRES of land were awarded to Thomas Busby by His Excellency, and stated in an order of the General Court, 21 October 1699. The patent for the large tract in Charles City County was filed 25 April 1701. The land was given on the basis that Thomas Busby had imported 108 persons to Virginia. The patent did not list the names. Thomas Busby, 5400 Acs., C. C. Co., be w. Joseph’s Sw, & Jones hole otherwise called Barle Thorpe Cr. in new rutland on the N. side of Nottaway Riv. about a mile or 1 1/2 mi. from the same beginning at 2 pines in a Br. called Parting Br., which parts this land & the land of Mr. James Minge Sen. & runing W. 42 deg. 1/2 & 1/8 N. 109 p. to an heap of marked trees, then S. W. 95 p. & 1/2 to a white oake & a gum by a Br. called Tim: Readings Br. in sight of the plantation where King lives, thence N. 24 deg. & 1/8 w. 103 po. to a white oak & a black oake, thence W. 24 eeg. & 1/8 S. 60 po. to a Little Br. near a black scrubbed oake, thence N. 35 deg. & 3/8 W. 72 p. to a red oake, a black oake & a white oake, thence W. 1 deg. 1/2 & 1/8 W. 83 po. & 1/4 to an hiccory sapling thence N. 9 deg. & 3/4 E. 84 pl. & 3/4 to a red oake & a hiccory and 2 sapling blackoakes, thence S. 72 deg. & 1/4 W..... The lengthy document concludes with a description of land touching that of Richard Gourd, “to an Hiccory in the Line of College standing by Joseph’s Sw., etc. (Charles City County Patents, Book 9, p. 337, 338, 339, as abstracted by DuvalL in Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Series 2, Vol. 6, p. 36)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 118 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Gourd soon thereafter used Thomas Busby’s land to describe his own. Capt. Thomas Busby’s land was also used at the time to describe the bounds of a 1,000- acre patent filed by three members of the Epps family. And at the same time, the transportation of Tho. Busby to the New World was used by John Butler to justify part of the Butler claim to 930 acres. The Butler claim was filed 24 October 1701. Many reported “transportations” Thomas Busby was listed as having been transported to Virginia from England at least seven times between 1635 and 1705. The seven dates, and men who received the 50-acre credit for each of the Busby transportations, were:

1635---Arthur Bayly and Thomas Crosby, 400 acres in Henrico County. Thomas Busby was one of 16 persons transported.

1656---Ralph Dunston, 350 acres, Surry County. Thomas Busby was one of seven persons. Others were Dunston, Ester Clarke, Robt. Wells, Johanna Mathews, Grace Harly and Ester Clarke.

1683---John Stallenge, Elias Stallenge, 280 acres, Nanzimund county. Other transportees: John Sergeant, James Johnson, Tho. Symons, Tho. Barwicke and Jon. Meekes.

1701---John Butler, 930 acres in Charles City County. The 18 other transportees were Nich. Seale, Mary Calcutt, Wm. Ball, Edward Mitchell, John Perry, Jeffery Hawkes, Sarah Honnor, John English, Tho. Brockes, Jos. Read, John Brumfeild, Tho. Chapman, John Kenyse, Vinc. Gotterple, Wm. West, Step. Hix.

1702---Thomas Chamberlaine, 509 acres, Henrico County. Other transportees were Edward Hall, George Wall, Wm. Ball, Jno. Brumfeild, Jos. Smith, Thomas Chapman, John English, Sarah Honer, Mary Calcott and Wm. Samson.

1705---Allenson Clarke & Charles Russell, 945 acres named Windsor Forest in Henrico County. Eighteen other transportees were Edwd. Hall, Geo. Wall, Will. Ball, John Brumfeild, Jos. Smith, Tho. Chapman, John English, Wm. West, Mill Michill, Mary Collett, Sara Honor, Wm. Sampson, Nicho. Marsh, Jos. Prichard, Constant Bembridg, Tho. Bembridg, Wm. Samson, Nicho. Suttle.

1705---Capt. John Bolling, Edward Bowman & John Bowman, 1,146 acres in Henrico County. Twenty-two other transportees were Edwd. Paine, John Dugar, Tho. Foreskin, Tho. Fairchild, Eliza. Brown, James Quarles, Dennis Scandon, Edwd. Flagett, John Weeden, Mich. Rasley, John Meyler, Henry Foster, John Muckabing, Tho. Gooding, Geo Worley, James Alderson, Rice Jones, John Ferryman, James Lennykee, Anne Barrell, Wm. Taiphook, John Walker.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 119 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1704 Virginia Quit Rent Rolls of 1704:

A Rent Roll of all the Lands held in the County of Prince George for the year 1704:

Tho Busby Capt...... 300 Tho Busby...... 200

1706 As an expert in land boundaries, the elderly Thomas Busby was called upon by Virginia to help solve a boundary dispute with the aggressive (and privately-owned) government of the Carolinas.

The dispute had been previously outlined by the President and Council of Virginia in a letter to the Lords of Trade back in London, 30 August 1706:

President & Council of Virginia to the Lords of Trade

30 August 1706

May it please Your Lordships,

It is the misfortune of this Country to be bounded on the Southward by a Proprietary Government and those concerned therein are always watching opportunitys of extending there bounds to the prejudice of this Her Majestys Colony. The bounds of Carolina has for a long time been contested and

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 120 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD some endeavors used from time to time to bring that matter to an accommodation but no progress yet been made therein. The fresh encroachments made by that Government obliged the Burgesses of the last Assembly to address the late Governor to have the bounds laid out which had he lived we believe he would have endeavored to oblige the Government of Carolina to agree to and to bear their proportion of that charge that must necessarily accrue thereon. All that could be done in the meantime was to write to the Governor of Carolina to prohibit the like encroachments for the future untill the bounds be settled as Your Lordships will see in the Council Journals pag. 16 & 57. We shall only observe to your Lordships that while a restriction continues on her Maj. land and at the same time the Proprietors have land so near to be taken up on easier terms they will draw to them many of the inhabitants of this Colony who would otherwise be rather desirous to take land of Her Majesty.

Yr Lordps most humble & obedient Servants E. JENNINGS, Presidt JAMES BLAIR DUDLEY DIGGES. PHILL LUDWELL BENJ. HARRISON. WM BASSETT ROBERT CARTER HENRY DUKE (Colonial Records of North Carolina, pp. 645-647) (Illustration of Queen Anne, who reigned 1702-1714, from “Royal Autographs,” an exhibition April-September 1991, at The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington)

Six weeks later, the President and the Council met at the Virginia capitol to designate Thomas Busby (from Prince George County) and Henry Plumpton (from Nansemond County) as Virginia’s experts in the boundary dispute: At a Council held at the Capitol the 17th Oct 1706 Present The Honoble the President of the Council.

Whereas the Government of North Carolina do daily continue to make encroachments in the Colony by surveying Lands far within the Reputed bounds thereof. And whereas this Board are informed that Thomas Bushby of the County of Prince George, and Henry Plumpton of the County of Nansomond being men of great age and long acquainted with those bounds can give a particular account of that Creek called Weyanock which bounds that Government. It is ordered that a Commission be prepared Directed to Major Arthur Allen Mr Francis Milner Lieut Coll Thomas Milner, Capt. James Lockhart and Mr. Henry Jenkins, or any three of them to take examination upon oath of the said Plumpton at his House on

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 121 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD the last Thursday of November and also to take the Examinations of such other persons as can give any evidence in Relation to the said bounds And that a Commission do also issue to Benja Harrison, Charles Goodrich, John Haman, Robert Bolling junr and Frances Clements Gentlemen or any three of them to take the examinations or oaths of the said Thomas Busby at his house upon the first Tuesday in December and also the Depositions of any other persons they shall think proper evidences in Relation to the matter aforesaid and that notice thereof be sent to the Deputy Governor of North Carolina that he may appoint such as he shall think fitt to be present at the said examination on the part of the Government. (Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 1, pp. 746,747)

That having been decided by the Virginia Council, the governor of North Carolina was officially notified:

Letter to the Governor of North Carolina Virginia October 26th 1707 (6?) Sr:

The frequent complaints made to the late Governor of this Colony and to the Councel since his death, of encroachments made by the Officers of your Government on the Inhabitants here, have induced us to think of some measures for ascertaining the boundarys between us and having lately received Information of some aged men who have been long Inhabitants in the southern parts of This Colony and may thereby be presumed to be well acquainted with the bounds of both Governments the Council have appointed Commrs to take the Examinations of those persons upon Oath, who will meet in order thereto at the House of Henry Plumpton in Nansimond County on the last Thursday of November and at Mr. Thomas Busby at Prince Georges County on the first Tuesday of December next and as nothing more is intended by this Examination than that the true bounds may be discovered in order to prevent Dispute for the future I am to give you Notice hereof that if you think proper you may appoint some Gentleman to be present on behalf of the proprietors. After which this Government will lay the whole matter before the Right Honorable her Majestys principal Secretary of State and Lords Commissioners for trade for further Signification of Her Majestys pleasure therein in the meantime as nothing will be acted on the part of this Government prejudicial to the propriety of Carolina so we expect the like candour and

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 122 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD fairness from you and that any your Officers may not be permitted to disturb any that hold Lands by Virginia patents, nor your Surveyors to run pretended Dividing lines or make Surveys in the contraverted bounds until the said bounds be by her Majestys Directions and the mutual agreement of both Governments finally adjusted and settled

Your most humble servant E. JENINGS (Colonial Records of North Carolina, pp. 645-647)

The Governor of North Carolina was sorely distressed that there would be any suggestion his province was encroaching on the rights of Virginia:

North Carolina ye 18th November 1706

Honorable Sir:

Yours of the 26th of October came to my hand by the Bearer late last night. I assure you there is no thing less intended by this Government than to make any encroachment on her Majestys Government of Virginia so that if any Error hath been committed by any of the Officers It is without either our Knowledge or Direction. I will speedily lay the matter before her Majestys Council for that Province and with their advice will take all necessary care in this affair whereof you shall have account with all speed from

Sir you most humble servant

W GLOVER

North Carolina December 10th 1706 Honorable Sir:

The shortness of the time between the receipt of your Letter and the Time appointed for the Examining of the Evidence therein mentioned together with the badness of the weather hindered our having some persons at the times and places; I therefore desire you to favour me with Copys of the Depositions that were taken in that matter. I have also with the Advice of the Council thought necessary to examine some of our ancient Inhabitants on the same questions and have appointed the 8th of January next at the House of Edward Moseley Esq in Chowan where if you think fitt to appoint any persons to be present they shall be very kindly received. If not I will carefully send you copies of the depositions.

I am Sir your humble servant W GLOVER

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 123 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD When the investigation was completed, however, the Virginians made it clear that they didn’t think highly of the Carolinians or their actions. Though the Virginia commissioners were firm that the Virginia experts (presumably Thomas Busby and Henry Plumpton) were “men of good Credit, and agree very well” on the issues in question, they found that the Carolina “experts” were “all very ignorant men.”

In fact, the Virginia commissioners found that the Carolina witnesses were mostly “men of ill fame that have run away from Virginia.” They also had conflicts of interest, “did not understand what they swore in their Affidavits & we observe that all of them contradict themselves or one another.”

To the Honorable Alexander Spotswood, Esq., Her Majesty Lieutenant Governor of Virginia--- May it please your Honor

Having in the preceding Journal given your Honor a full account of our proceedings hitherto in this affair, We humbly beg leave to offer your Honor our Thoughts upon the state of the Case, which from the best observations we have made appears to us to stand thus.

On the Part of Virginia

1st There are two positive Evidences of good fame to the place & name of Weyano-ake Creek. 2nd Several Evidences corroborating the Indians account of the Weyanoak Indians having bought land & lived upon the said Creek and very near it for several years, not long before the Grant of the Carolina Charter: from whence probably the Creek took its name, having no name before that we heard of. 3rd All our Evidences are unanimous as to the name of Nottoway River which with the Indians account, corroborated by English Evidences of the Weyanoaks paying an acknowledement to the Nottoways (who lived there long before) for living on that River, makes it seem improbable the name of that River should be changed from their living a few years upon it, at least twenty five miles from the mouth, when they lived much longer upon Blackwater without altering the name of it. 4th The Evidences on the part of Virginia are all men of good Credit and agree very well in their relation. 5th The Latitude of Weyanoak or Weycocon Creek appears to agree very near with the Carolina Grant whereas Nottoway River appears to be thirty minutes to the Northward of it.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 124 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD On the part of Carolina

1st They have no Evidence that speak to the name of Weyanoak or Weycocon Creek at the time of their Grant. 2nd All their Evidence runs to the name of Weyanoak River & not one calls it a Creek & indeed Nottoway River seems to be the main branch of Chowan River, & it is Navigable (if it were cleared) as high as the head of Blackwater Swamp, whereas their Charter runs expressly to Weyanoak Creek & that is called a Creek to this day. 3rd Their Witnesses are all very ignorant men & most of them men of ill fame that have run away from Virginia & some of them concerned in Interest & we plainly discover several of them did not understand what they swore in their Affidavits & we observe that all of them contradict themselves or one another.

Upon consideration of the whole Case as the Circumstances have appeared to be in the whole Course of our Progress, we are clearly convinced that the place call’d Weycocon is the place called Weyanoak Creek in the Carolina Charter, & from the backwardness of the Carolina Commissioners to meet us & to bring this business to a conclusion, together with the frivolous objections they make upon all occasions to retard our proceedings, & some other Observations we have made, which are too tedious to insert here, we cannot choose but believe that they or one of them at least is convinced of this in his own Judgment (if he would be so ingenuous as to own it) but either for private interest or some other reason to themselves best known they hope to put off the Decision for some time. Signed. PHILIP LUDWELL. N. HARRISON. Vera Copia Wil: Robertson St. Com. (Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 1, pp. 746-747)

1710 In formal council session, 24 October 1710, the report of Messrs. Ludwell and Harrison was affirmed:

...... It is necessary for her Majestys Service, to transmit to the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners for Trade & plantations, a Copy of the sd Journall & report, & likewise represent to their Lordships the difficulties which the Commissioners appointed for this Colony have encountered in order to bring those of Carolina, to joyne in the necessary measures for accomplishing this work...... That the whole behaviour of the Carolina Commissioners hath tended visibly to no other end than to protract & Defeat the

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 125 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Settling this Affair; & particularly Mr. Moseley has used so many Shifts & excuses to disappoint all Conference with the Commissioners of Virginia as plainly show his Aversion to proceed in a business that tends so manifestly to his disadvantage. His prevaricatting on this occasion hath been so indiscreet & unguarded, as to be discovered in the presence of her Majestys Lieutenant Governor He started so many Captious objections, to the powers granted to Commissioners of Virginia wth designe to render their Conferences ineffectuall, that his owne Colleague could hardly find an Excuse for him.

But there was a final, official commendation for the Virginia experts (Thomas Busby and Henry Plumpton, presumably): ...... Whereas on the other hand, the witnesses for proving her Majesty’s rights are persons of clear fame & eminent figure in this Country, likewise their knowledge of those parts is more ancient than any of the witnesses of Carolina, & their Evidence fully corroborated by the Concurrant testimony of the Tributary Indians......

The final recommendation by Virginia in the dispute was that “a state of the Case be drawne up & signed by both partys, according to the truth of the facts proved, in order to be layed before her Majesty for her Royall pleasure & final Determination therein.” (Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 1, pp. 747-749)

22 May 1711 Nevertheless, the wrangling must have continued. On 22 May 1711, Mr. Edward Moseley and Mr. John Lawson, commissioners appointed for the settlement of boundaries between Virginia and Carolina, took the deposition of Francis Tomes in North Carolina. It was Tomes who related the story of how Thomas Busby had led the Company into Indian territory in either 1661 or 1662 to rescue the Wyanoak tribe. (The Virginia Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 1,2)

CAPT. BUSBY’S land, as well as that recorded for Thomas Busby, was (or were) used in the early to mid 1700s, to describe the location of other properties:

18 February 1706...Thomas Thrower and wife, Mary Thrower, of Southwarke Parish in Surry County to Lewis Green of Prince George County for 30 pounds sterling....250 acres in Southwarke Parish (200 acres came in a deed from Thomas Busby in Charles City County and the other 50 acres was given to Thomas Thrower by the will of his father). (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #5, 1694-1709, p. 364, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 70)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 126 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 30 August 1707...Charles Gee to Timothy Reading for 15 pounds sterling.....125 acres on north side of Josephs Swamp and bounded by John Young, Mr. Thomas Busby and Edward Teatam (Tatum?). (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #5, 1694-1704, p. 375, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 71)

28 April 1708....James Mathews and wife, Jeane Mathews, of Surry County to Timothy Rives of Prince George County...... 100 acres adjoining John Mitchell and Freemans Branch. Land is part of a tract marked out by Thomas Busby for William Cobbett. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #5, 1694-1709, p. 390, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 72)

6 March 1709....Humphrey Felps (Phelps?) and wife, Helen Felps, of Southwarke Parish to William Land of the same for 5000 pounds tobacco.....100 acres (bought from Thomas Busby by Capt. Roger Potter who sold it to George Middleton on 16 Oct. 1674. Land then descended to Thomas Middleton, son and heir of George Middleton, who sold it to Humphrey Felps on 17 Sep 1688). Land is on east side of Southern Run adjoining John Lanier. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #5, 1694-1709, p. 444, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 76)

5 March 1709...Timothy Reading, Sr. to Edward Tatam for 13 pounds current money.....125 acres on north side of Josephs Swamp bounded by Dorrell Young (formerly belonging to John Young), Mr. Thomas Busby and said Edward Tatam. (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #6, 1709-1715, p. 1, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733)

Richard Bland, Gent., of Pr. Geo. Co.; 800 acs. (N. L), Surry Co; on S. side of the main Blackwater Sw; beg. where the line bet. Pr. Geo. & Surry counties cross; by Cotteshoraw Br; to Capt. Busby’s land; 1 Apr 1717, p. 311. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3, p. 188)

Capt. Thomas Busby dies before January 1718 Capt. Thomas Busby died in or before January 1718, apparently in Charles City County. Two Surry County court documents recorded 21 January 1718, and 15 February 1720, refer to him as “late of Charles City County, decd.” and Thomas Busby, decd., late of Charles City County):

18 (January?) 1718....James Sammon of Isle of Wight County to John Hawthorne of Surry County for 5 shillings...... 477 acres on Nottaway River in Southwarke Parish (part of a patent granted Thomas Busby, late of Charles City County, decd.) and bounded by

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 127 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Richard Goard, decd., Owens Branch, the College Line, Robert Hawthorne and Jones Hole Branch. Wit: Thomas Collier, John Allen and Thomas Eldridge. James (X) Sammon Rec: 21 Jan 1718 (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #7, 1715-1730, p. 152, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 102)

7 October 1720....John Rottenbery to Francis Maybury for 5 shillings.....100 acres on north side of Nottoway River in Southwarke parish (part of a tract taken up by Thomas Busby, decd., late of Charles City County) bounded by Thomas Thrower, Sr. Rec: 15 Feb 1720 Wit: John Simmons and Richard Lewis John (X) Rottenbery (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #7, 1715-1730, p.304, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 110)

Other land sales in which the Busby land was used to define the bounds of the other land: 8 January 1719....George Ivie sold 150 acres in Prince George County to William Hobbs, and in so doing, used the land of Thomas Busby to describe his boundaries. (Prince George Wills, 1713-1728, p. 388)

8 January 1722...Hugh Lee, Sr., of Bristol Parish in Prince George County to Henry Lee, son of said Hugh Lee, of Southwarke Parish in Surry County for Love and Affection...... 148 acres in Southwarke Parish near Joseph Swamp and bounded by Cook, Porch (?) and Busby. Rec: 20 Nov 1723 Wit: Thomas Eldridge. Hugh Lee

8 January 1722....Hugh Lee, Sr., of Bristol Parish in Prince George County to his son, Henry Lee of Southwarke Parish in Surry County, for Love and Affection....116 acres in Southwarke Parish adjoining Matthew Stusvans (?), the Pine Swamp and Capt. Busby. Rec: 20 Nov 1723 Wit: Thomas Eldridge. Hugh Lee (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #7, 1715-1730, p. 483, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 122)

21 January 1722...Timothy Redding to Nathaniel Harrison, Esq.....60 acres on north side of Josephs Swamp in Southwarke Parish (being part of 127 acres bought by said Redding from Thomas Busby) and bounded by the Parting Branch, William Shands and Dorrel Young. Wit: Henry Beadingfield, William Shands and Thomas Eldridge Rec: 20 Feb 1722

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 128 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Timothy Redding (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #7, 1715-1730, p. 440, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 119)

John Weaver, Junr., 75 acs (N.L.) Surry Co; on NE side of Joans Hole Sw; on W. side of the Oven branch, in line of Thomas Busby; cor. of James Sammon; & by ---- Gourd’s line; 20 Feb. 1723. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3, p. 258) (Jones hole and Gourd’s line are referenced in the 21 October 1699 awarding of 5,400 acres to Thomas Busby and his 25 April 1701 filing of patent rights on the property. It was in Charles City County.)

17 December 1723....Jarvis Winfield and wife, Hannah Winfield, to Stephen Housman....100 acres on south side of Josephs Swamp and bounded by John Doby, Sr., Nathaniel Tatum, Sr., and Thomas Busby. Wit: Robert Wynne, Richard Huson and Thomas Wynne. Rec: 18 Dec 1723 Jarvis (X) Winfield Hannah (X) Winfield (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #7, 1715-1730, p. 490, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 148)

17 February 1728....John Davis to Henry Mitchell, Jr...... 100 acres in Southwarke Parish and bounded by Cottasurra Branch (being part of a patent taken up by Thomas Busby and bounded by Henry Mitchell, Thomas Busby and John Brooks). Land was formerly bought by Thomas Gent from Thomas Busby and by the said Gent assigned to Christopher Davis who willed it to his son, the said John Davis. Wit: Howell Briggs and Thomas Eldridge. John (X) Davis Rec: 21 May 1729 (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #7, 1715-1730, p. 942, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 148)

14 October 1729....Peter Tatum and wife, Mary Tatum, of Brunswick County to Christopher Tatum of Surry County.....152 1/2 acres (being part of two tracts of land, one of which was bought by Nathaniel Tatum, father of the aforesaid Peter Tatum and Christopher Tatum, from Thomas Busby and the other was granted to said Nathaniel Tatum. These lands were devised to said Peter Tatum by the will of Nathaniel Tatum, decd., dated 24 Aug 1714.) 52 1/2 acres is on the south side of Josephs Swamp and bounded by Stephen Houseman, the Miry Meadow Branch and the said Christopher Tatum and the other 100 acres adjoins Stephen Houseman, Christopher Tatum, Robert Doby and Samuel Tatum, Jr. Wit: Thomas Avent and John Paynter Rec: 15 Oct 1729 Peter Tatum Mary (X) Tatum (Surry County Deeds, Wills, Etc. #7, 1715-1730, p. 984, as abstracted by William Hopkins.....Surry County Virginia Deeds and other Court Papers, 1684-1733, p. 149)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 129 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD THOMAS BUSBY (b. ca. 1654?, m. Mary Simon in or before 1688, d. ca. 1723)

1688 Thomas Busby married Mary Simon, the daughter of Simon Simons, Jr., and the granddaughter of Simon Simons, Sr., prior to 1688. The following year, Thomas and Mary Busby patented 539 acres on the south side of the James River. Part of the tract was in Winoak, and part in Westover, parishes in Charles City County.

Thomas Busby & Mary his wife, daughter & heire of Simon Simons, 539 Acres, on the S. side of Jas. River., part in Winoak & part in Westover Parrishes, Chas. City Co., & bounded: at the Branch of Powell’s Cr. called Reedy Bottom Br. ---- it crosseth a branch of fllowerdy hundred Cr. --- dividing the sd. land from lands now or late of William Harryson, thence along the Lands now or late of John Hobbs --- thence along John Poythres West --- to the Reedy Bottom Br. ---. The s. land was due the sd. Thomas & Mary: 359 Acres thereof are within the ancient bounds possessed by Simon Simons, grandfather of the sd. Mary, and 150 Acres, the deserted lands late of James Ward dec’d., & the residue, 30 Acres, between the aforesd. line of Hobbs & Poythres & 359 Acres for the Trans. of 11 psons., 26 April 1688.

John Rogers Francis Pitt John Lake Andrew Cob: Patrick Johnson Thomas Leech Anthony Holder Robert Long Jeffry Cond Adus Strong Roger Gras (Charles City County Book No. 7, p. 657, as abstracted in Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol 6, Series 2, p. 20)

1694 Thomas Busby and Mary acknowledged a deed of land to Thomas Smith, in a Charles City County court action, 4 March 1694:

1694 At a Court Holden at Westover 4th March 1694 Thomas Busby and Mary his wife acknowledge deed of land to Thomas Smith (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 558, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 200)

Thomas Busby was mentioned in several other Charles City County court cases in and around 1695:

At a Court Holden at Westover 5th August 1695 Thomas Busby acknowledged deed to Benjam: Foster

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 130 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Thomas Busby acknowledged deed to Robt. Hathorn (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 579, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 209)

Non suit granted in case of John Doby vs Thomas Busby (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 584, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 211)

Suits dismissed: William Harrison vs Thomas Busby (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 588, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 212)

In case of Thomas Busby vs John Freeman, a non suit granted. (Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, p. 592, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, p. 214)

1723 Thomas Busby’s will was recorded 9 April 1723 in Waynoke Parish, Prince George County:

In the Name of God. Amen. I, Thomas Busby of the county of Prince George & Parrish of Waynoke, being weak in Body but of perfect sense and memory, do make ....ordain and appoint this my Last Will and Testament, makeing void by these presents all other Wills by me formerly made or declared and this only to be taken to be my Last Will and Testament in form and maner follow. ------1st. I bequeath my Soul to God that gave it. 2ly. My body to the Earth to be Decently entered therein after my decease, by my Executor hereafter name. 3ly. I give to my son, Simon Busby, my Land Lying on the Piney Swamp, to him and his heirs for ever. 4ly. I give to my Daughter Mary Mallone one Shilling Sterling 5ly. I give to my Daughter Sarah Jones one Shilling Sterling 6ly. I give my Daughter, Elizabeth Brewer, a Heifer 7ly. I give my Daughter, Lucy, a Bed and a Table 8ly. All the remainder part of my Estate, I leave to my wife, Mary Busby, under the Care of Henry Peebles for her to live on during her life, and if there be any of it left at her Death, to be Equally divided amongst my children, and I do appoint my wife, Mary Busby and Henry Peebles my Executors, to see this my Last will & Testament truly fulfilled.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 131 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD At a Court held at Merchants Hope for Prince George County on the Second Tuesday in April being the Ninth Day of the said Month Anno Dom 1723 --- The above written Last Will and Testament of Thomas Busby, decedent, was presented into Court by Mary Busby, an executrix named in the said will, who made oath thereto, and it being proved by the oaths of William Peebles .... of the witnesses thereto is by order of this court truly Recorded and on the motion of the said Mary Busby & her giving security for her just and faithfull Executorship of the said will, certificate is granted her for obtaining a Probate in due form.

Test: Wm. Hamlin C. C. (Prince George County Deeds, Part 2, 1713-1728, p. 595)

Imprimis, Two featherbeds, two Bolsters, two ruggs, two Blanketts, two parcels of Sheets, two pillows. Item. One cattail Bed, one Rugg, two Iron potts with hooks, two Tables, Six pewter Dishes.-- Item. One pewter Salt Seller, One chest, one couch, six wooden chairs, three woodenposts Item. Three bedsteads and bedcords, one Well Rope, one brass Skillet, two earthen Chamberpotts It. Two earthen butterpotts, one earthrn mustard cup, one earthan creampot It. One stone Jugg, ten glass bottles, one woolen

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 132 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD wheel, one Linen wheel, one... It. One Iron...... , one box Smoothin Irons, one pair fire tongs, three iron hooks It. One frying pan, two sickles, one broad Ax, one narrow Ax, one handsaw It. One ...... knife, five augors, two Chisells, one Tennant Saw, one plane It. One jointer, two gimblets, two pair Compasses, one Adze, two gouges It. One grindstone, two auls, one file, one stone bottle, one spade, four old hoox It. One washing Tubb, two corn barrells, one meal barrell, one meal barrell It. One very old cart and wheels, one wheel barrow, two beer carts (?), two round (?) It. Six bread trays, one Sope tubb, two old flax breaks, one hair cloth Cyder bagg. It. One hominy Sifter, two meal Sifters, three basketts, One flask, One Soft (?) It. Two benches, one stool, one Trowell, one pair of Scissors, two horn combs It. One (?), Ten pewter spoons, one pewter cup, one Fine funnell It. Two Iron wedges, one (?), one pepper box, one Looking glass, One Cart sadle It. One straw Horse Collar (?), One old Snassle (?) bridle, one black shafted knife It. One Mair and filly, three Cows, One calf, two heifers, one Steer, two yearlings It. Five ewe, three Lambs, One weather (?), One ram, four sows, twelve piggs It. Seventeen small Hoggs, one pair of wool cards, one Iron Pestle, one Sack bagg It. One Course table cloth, two Napkins, three pillow cases, One broadcloth Coat, one old Drug (?) Coat It. Two (?) Cooth waistcoats, one pair of Leather breeches, one pair of Saggathy (?) breeches It. Two olde felt hatts, two pair of yarn stockings, one pair of shoes, one pair of old boots, one (?)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 133 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD At a Court held at Merchants Hope for Prince George County this thirteenth day of November, Anno Domini 1723------

The above written Inventory of the Estate of Thomas Busby, decd: --- was presented into Court by Mary Busby, one of the Executors of the Last Will and Testament of the sd: Decd: and by Order of the court, the same is truly recorded. (Prince George County Deeds, Part 2, 1713-1728, p. 595, of 13 Nov. 1723)

Simon Busby, the son of Thomas Busby, married Martha Soane, the daughter of William Soane (b. 1651 in Virginia, d. ca. 1714), and the granddaughter of Col. Henry Soane. Upon her father’s death, Martha had received (along with the widow Mary) “all the iron and pewter she brought with her.” The three Soane sons, John, Henry, and Samuel, received “the land where I live on and at the great swamp.” Samuel Soane died in 1731, remembering his sister Martha:

...... to Able and Eliner Turner, the plantation I live on during said Eliner’s life, and to the said Eliner 10 pounds in goods from the estate; to George Renyer, son of Eliner, printed books land and livestock; to Edward Maye, a cow and a calf...... All the rest to said George Renyer. If he die without heirs, then to the children of sisters Judith Thweatt and Martha Buzby of Prince George County. Dated 6 Dec 1730. Recorded December 1731. (Colonial Wills of Henrico Co., Virginia, Weisinger, p. 325) 1725 After the birth of Anne Busby, on 28 January 1725, Simon and Martha Busby sold 150 acres to William Hobbs, who also lived in Prince George County. (Prince George County Wills, 1725, p. 868)

1726 Simon Busby was granted 195 acres in Prince George County on 31 October 1726. He paid 20 shillings for the land.

Simon Bussby, 195 acs. (N.L.) Pr. Geo. Co; on N. side of Hatcher’s Run; beg. on Mr. John Banister’s line, where William Mayes’ line joins; & on Francis West’s land; 31 Oct. 1726, p. 38. 20 Shill. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3, p. 320)

1729 Elizabeth Busby was born 7 January 1729. Twins Drury Busby and Miles Busby were born 11 December 1731 in Henrico County, Va., indicating that the family had moved north to the Richmond and the Soane family’s home area, at least at the time of birth.

Drury and Miles Buzbee were reported to have been in Capt. John Walker’s Company in Granville County, North Carolina, militia in 1771.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 134 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1742 Simon Busby received 261 acres, Prince George County, 12 February 1742: George the Second by the grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland; King, Defender of the faith, etc. To all of whom these presents shall come: Greeting:

Know ye that for divers and good causes and considerations but more especially for and in consideration of the sum of Thirty Shillings of good and lawful money for our use, paid to our Receiver General of our Revenues in this our Colony and Dominion of Virginia. We have given granted and confirmed and by these Presents for us, our Heirs and Successors do give, grant and Confirm unto Simon Busby one certain tract or parcel of land containing 261 acres lying and being in the County of Prince George on the upper Side of Wigg Island and Branch and bounded as follows ...... Paying unto us, our Heirs, successors for every 50 acres of Land ..... the Fee Rent of one shilling yearly to be paid upon the Feast of Saint Michael, the Arch Angel, and also cultivating and Improving three acres part of every 50 of the tract abovementioned within three years after the date of these Presents.

(If the Busbys were to fail to cultivate and improve 3 acres out of each 50 within the three years) the Estate hereby granted shall cease and be utterly determined.

William Gooch, Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Colony and Dominion at Williamsburgh (Prince George Patents, 21, 1742, p. 199)

THE BUSBYS were still expanding in Gloucester County:

On 29 October 1721, the Thomas Busbys took Mary Busby to be baptized. In March 1723/24, Elizabeth Busbie, daughter of Thomas Busbie, was baptized. On 12 October 1729, Mary Busbey was buried. John Busby, son of Robert and Sarah Busby, was baptized 4 June 1738, a few months before his uncle? John married Grace Dews, 10 January 1738/39. John Busby, son of John and Grace Busby, was born 25 April 1742. Thomas Busby, son of John and Grace Busby was born 28 December 1744. Edward, son of John and Grace Busbie was baptized 25 October 1747. Adam Busby, another son of Robert and Sarah Busby, was born 24 January 1742/43. (Abington Parish Register 1677-1780 (Gloucester Co. Va.,) by Robert Robins, as provided by Robert L. Busby, Rt. 1, Earlysville, Va. 22936)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 135 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Thomas Busby sells 400 acres on 3 November 1732 Although Capt. Thomas Busby and Thomas Busby (who m. Mary) had died before 1718, a Thomas Busby still lived in Charles City County in 1732. He was recorded as having sold Timothy Reading 400 acres on 3 November 1732. The land, on Josephs Swamp and “bounded by the Coledge Land” could be part of the large 5,400-acre Busby tract in Charles City County:

15 Apr 1738 William Cook and wife, Rebecca Cook, to Thomas Adkins....200 acres (being 1/2 of a tract of 400 acres sold by Thomas Busby of Charles City County on 3 Nov 1732 to Timothy Reading of the same county and the aforesaid 200 acres were conveyed to John Weaver of the said county on 2 Nov 1734. John Weaver conveyed the 200 acres to William Cook of Surry County on 11 Aug (1735?). The land lies on Josephs Swamp and is bounded by the Coledge Land. Wit: Edward Pettway, Sloman Wynne and John Mason, Jr.

William (X) Cook Rebecca (X) Cook Rec: 17 May 1738

The Busby land was referred to in describing other land transactions:

10 December 1739..... Theodoric Bland, Gent., of Prince George County to George Rieves of Surry County.....two tracts of land on the south side of main Blackwater Swamp in Albemarle Parish (one tract is 200 acres on a branch of Nottoway River called Joanes Hole Swamp being part of a larger tract granted Thomas Thrower and George Pasmore on 24 Oct 1702 and bounded by Cotteshoran Branch, George Pasmore and James Thweat. This land was sold by said Thrower and Pasmore to Richard Bland, decd., late of Prince George County the father of the said Theodorick Bland.....the other tract of 800 acres ajoins the said Richard Bland, decd., the line between Prince George County and Surry County and Capt. Busby. This 800 acres was granted to the said Richard Bland, decd., on 1 Apr 1717.). Wit: William Eppes, Thomas Eldridge, William Green and Thomas Eldridge, Jr. Rec: 21 May 1740 Theodorick Bland

16 December 1740....John Weaver and wife, Marget Weaver, to William Moss.....180 acres on northeast side of Jones Hole Swamp in Albemarle Parish and bounded by Gilbert Weaver, James Tayler, the Oven Branch, Thomas Busby and James Sammons. Wit: John Curtis, Edward Pettway and William Pettway. John (X) Weaver Rec: 21 Jan 1740 Marget (X) Weaver

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 136 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 15 September 1742.....Mathew Wilkison of Albemarle Parish to Thomas Cocke of Southwarke Parish for 20 pounds current money...... 130 acres in Southwarke Parish bounded by William Short, Thomas Busby (now Thomas Cocke’s), Ezell, Richard Atkins and Peter Bagley (being part of a patent granted John Wilkison for 189 acres on 23 Oct 1690 and from him it descended to his son, the said Mathew Wilkison).

Wit: Thomas Avent and George (X) Ezell. Mathew (X) Wilkison

Rec: 15 Sep 1742

19 November 1745.....Henry Lee and wife, Ann Lee, to his son, Edward Lee, for Love and Affection.....148 acres in Albemarle Parish on south side of Josephs Swamp and bounded by Thomas Atkinson (formerly Cookes), James Porch and Busby. Rec: 20 Nov 1745 Henry (X) Lee

19 February 1750....William Dobie and wife, Hannah Dobie, of Albemarle Parish to John Edwards of the same for 50 pounds current money...... 140 acres in Albemarle Parish bounded by Nathaniel Bedingfield, Robert Dobie, Busby, Mabry, Widow Rieves, Browns Pond and the College Line. Rec: 19 Feb 1750 William (X) Dobie Hannah (X) Dobie

16 April 1751....John Edwards and wife, Elizabeth Edwards, of Albemarle Parish in Surry County to their Son in Law Robert Glover and his wife, Mary Glover, of Prince George County for Love and Affection...... 140 acres in Albemarle Parish and bounded by Nathaniel Bedingfield, Robert Doby, Busby, Mabry (now Widow Rieves), Brownes Pond and the College Line (being all of the tract of land that John Edwards bought from William Doby and wife, Hannah Doby, on 19 Feb 1750). Rec: 16 Apr 1751 John Edwards Elizabeth Edwards

(Surry County, Virginia Deeds and Estate Accounts, 1734-1755, pp. 835, 161, 262, 52, 358, 154, and 192, as abstracted by William Hopkins) pp. 84, 126, 128 (Busby), 35 (Capt.), 22, 41, 61 (Thomas)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 137 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1733 A Thomas Busby was living in Brunswick County. Thomas Busby was ordered to assist in clearing a road from Capt. Poytres’ plantation to a ford over the Meherrin. (The Poytres family’s land had been noted in the 1688 patent, when Thomas Busby located his 539 acres in Prince George County. Brunswick County had been carved from Prince George County in 1721.) The record:

7 June 1733 --- Henry Cook is appointed Surveyor of a Road from Capt. Poytres Plantation on Foutain’s Creek to Henry Wyth’s ford over Meherrin and that all the Male Labouring tyths between the Cane branch and the great swamp and that James Parham, John Clyburn, John Walker, Thomas Busby, Thomas Barnett and Francis Steed assist in clearing the same. (Brunswick County Court Orders, Book 1, p. 26)

1757 Nearly a generation later in Brunswick County, the Justices, Field Officers and Captains met at the Courthouse and agreed to order into colonial service various soldiers. The purpose was to “aid his Majesty for the better protection of this colony.”

On 21 June 1757, 34 men were so summoned. One was John Busby. He must not have been overwhelmed by the honor. Three days later, the following report was made: June 24, 1757 ---- Richard Wills listed into his Majesty’s Service and took reward. John Brown same reward. James Edmunds and Danl Bagwell failed to appear were deemed to serve.

Thos. Whitmore took reward and listed into his Majesty’s service. Francis Bell made excuse. Not sufficient and deemed to serve. Fred Cook made excuse. Not sufficient and deemed to serve. Michl Singleton made excuse. Judge sufficient and discharged. John Stogner (Hogner?), Wm. Smith, Geo. Pearson and Geo. Carrell to serve. Jacob Mosley made his excuse. Insufficient to serve.

John Busby failed to appear. Deemed to serve. Wm. Short. Excuse insufficient. Deemed to Serve. John Short. Under age. Discharged. Spence Prescot. Failing to appear. Deemed to serve. Lawrence Kelly. Excuse insufficient. Deemed to serve. Moses Johnson. Excuse sufficient and discharged. John Powell failing to appear. Deemed to serve.

John Mitchell, James Mitchell, Henry Clark, Mathew Smith, Richd. Vaughan, jr., Ralph Dunkley, Jos. Chambers, Elijah McCoy, Burwell Green, Wm. Riley, all listed into His Majesty’s services. John Wall was taken in Din(widdie Co) to serve. (Brunswick County Records, Deed Book 6, pp. 249-251, as published in Virginia Historical Magazine, 50, 1941, pp. 360-361)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 138 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD COLONIAL THOMAS BUSBYS LOTS OF THEM

WHILE TIME AND THE ELEMENTS have eaten great chunks out of the official records of Colonial America, there are many references to Thomas Busby. It is difficult to determine how many Thomas Busbys there were. Published, and original, data indicate several Thomas Busbys lived in Colonial Virginia and nearby Bertie County, N. C., in the 1600s or early 1700s. They include: (a) Thomas Busby (born 1616) of the “Speedwell.” Published record of the original documents states that Thomas Busby was 19 years old when he boarded the ship for his voyage to America. Since the voyage was in 1635, this would indicate a birth date of 1616. (b) Thomas Busby (b. 1632, m. Susannah Grey before 1671, d. ca. 1717) Variously identified as Lieutenant (from 1674 through 1679), and then Captain for the rest of his life, Planter, Mr., and Attorney, Thomas Busby was the Indian interpreter for the crown. He received a patent in 1656 for 400 acres at head of Upper Chippoakes creek. He and Susannah presided over many land sales, and were parents of Jane, Grace, and (probably) Jeffrey. Thomas Busby was a brother to Robert Busby (identified as such in Surry County). Robert Busby rented one of Thomas Busby’s houses. Thomas Busby could have been a brother also of James Busby. James Busby leased a tobacco house in 1660 from Peter Gray, one of Thomas Busby’s inlaws. Thomas Busby also could have been a brother of John Busby (b. ca. 1656, with baptism records of his children in Abington Parish, Gloucester County), or Walter Busby, who arrived from England prior to 1651, transported by Capt. Thomas Davis. John Busby named his youngest son, Thomas, in Gloucester County. A John Busby died in Bertie County, N. C., in 1715. Inventory of his estate is recorded in North Carolina state wills 1712- 1722, Book 2, pp. 209-09. Among Thomas and Susannah’s land transactions were large sales dated 1689. In 1701, Capt. Thomas Busby patented 5,400 acres in Charles City County on Joseph’s Swamp and Jones’ Hole, otherwise known as Barlethorp Creek. On 24 October 1701, three members of the Epps family patented 1,000 acres of land in Charles City County on the north side of Joseph Swamp, as adjacent to land of Capt. Thomas Busby. In 1706, Thomas Busby was called upon by the Virginia Council to help as an expert from the colony (and Prince George County) on a border dispute with North Carolina.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 139 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD (c) Thomas Busby (b. ca. 1654?, m. Mary Simon in or before 1688, d. ca. 1723) Thomas and Mary Busby patented land in 1688 that previously had been owned by the Simons in Winoak and Westover parishes. This was in what later came to be Prince George County. Thomas and Mary had a son, Simon, and daughters Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth and Lucy. He is mentioned several times in court records as being the junior Thomas Busby. The 1704 Rent Rolls of Prince George County lists him as Thomas Busby, along with Capt. Thomas Busby. He died in Prince George County, in or before 1723, the year his will was probated.

(d) Thomas Busby an Indian (born 1674) He was identified in 1684 as being 10 years old. In 1690, he was identified as being a tithable for the first time, which was precisely on time, since he then was 16 years old.

(e) Thomas Busby (b. ca. 1685?; died in North Carolina ca. 1738) He and his wife (presumably Catherine (Bryan?)) had at least one daughter, who married John Page, Jr., prior to 1728. Another presumed daughter, Hester, married Theophilus Williams. Numerous land transactions in Bertie County court included the name of Thomas Busby in the period, ca. 1720-1738. Thomas Busby witnessed the drawing of George Clements’ will in 1729.

(f) Thomas Busby (born prior to 1710 or so) Brunswick county record lists him for road work in 1733. Surry County court record shows Thomas Busby, of Charles City County, selling 400 acres in Surry County to Timothy Reading, 3 November 1732.

(g) Thomas Busby (born ca. March 1698) Abington Parish Register 1677-1780 (Gloucester Co., Virginia) lists the baptism 10 April 1698 of Thomas Busby, son of John and Mary Busbie. He must have been the youngest child of John and Mary: Their daughter, Mary, was baptized 3 September 1681; John, baptized 8 June 1684, married January 1738; and Edward, baptized 12 August 1688. Thomas Busby (born ca. March 1698) of Gloucester Co., may have grown up and lived there. On 29 October 1721, Mary, daughter of Thomas Busby, was baptized. She lived only a few years. On 12 October 1729, she was buried. On 8 March 1723/24, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Busbie, was baptized.

Another generation, another Thomas: On 28 December 1744, Thomas Busby, son of John and Grace (Dews) Busby, was born. Other children of John and Grace appear to have been: Edward, baptized 25 October 1747, and John, baptized 25 April 1742.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 140 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD THOUGH THERE WAS AN ABUNDANCE of Thomas Busbys in the late 1600s, the number did not seem to confuse the court clerks in Colonial times. The clerks did not use elaborate descriptions to distinguish among various Busbys, though they did include titles such as Lt., Capt., Mr., Planter, Gentleman, and Indian in their records. Separate entries of Capt. Busby and Thomas Busby were made on other occasions.

It does appear there were three Thomas Busbys in the relatively small area of Surry, Charles City, and Prince George counties at the same time in the late 1600s:

1. CAPT. THOMAS BUSBY, the Indian interpreter (who m. Susannah and died in or before 1717). He was described as “Capt.” on 10 May 1667, as he patented 1,170 acres located in both Surry and Charles City counties. Prior to 1667 he had been identified as Planter, Mr. and Gentleman. From 1674 to late 1679, he was described as “Lt.” Then, beginning in late 1679, he was described as “Capt.” In 1691, three records described him as “Sen’r.” The Quit Rents of Virginia, 1704, lists him as Capt. Tho Busby, separate from Tho Busby. The Tithables survey of Surry County in 1690 lists him as Tho: Busby Senr. A deed in 1681 in which he and Susannah sell land to Edward Green lists him as Thomas Busby Sr. The 1670 Tithables List in Surry County lists “Mr. Tho. Busby,” and “Tho: Bousby.” (Charles City County Book 6, p. 59, as listed in William & Mary Quarterly, Series 1, 12-13, p. 116; Charles City Co., Va., Court Orders, 1687-1695, pp. 378, 385 and 386, as abstracted and compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, pp. 117, 120, 121); Surry County Deeds Book #1, for 1670; Surry County Deeds, Wills, etc., No. 4, of 1687-1694, p. 4; Cavaliers and Pioneers, vol. 3, pp. 26, 188)

By his own deposition, Thomas Busby was born in 1632. He was Interpreter for the Crown by the year 1661, at the age of 28 or 29. How rapidly could he have learned this skill if he had emigrated from England? Earliest land patents show he got the 400 acres on Upper Chipoakes Creek in 1656 (at the age of 24) and got it because he paid his own transportation....and that of seven other persons. He wasn’t broke, when he make that trip to America.

He could have traveled to England and back again to get the head rights. He also could have emigrated well before 1656 and picked up the language in a few years, though he also could have picked up the language in the 4 to 5 years between the time he acquired the 400-acre Upper Chipoakes Creek land and the time of his work as Indian interpreter.

Could he have been born in Virginia, and lived near or among the Indians, to acquire the language skills?

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 141 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Could he have been a son of Edward Busbie (who was deported from England in 1620 and recorded living in Virginia in 1623?) Could he have been a nephew of Thomas Busby (of the “Speedwell”)? Could he have been the Thomas Busby of the “Speedwell”, with an inaccurate recording of his age? He died, probably, in Charles City County, in or before 1717. By then, Jeffrey was dead.

2. THOMAS BUSBY (who married Mary Simon and died in about 1723.) He was identified as the junior Thomas Busby in Prince George and Charles City counties, and possibly also in Surry County. The 1704 Rent Roll of Prince George County lists him as Thomas Busby, along with Capt. Thomas Busby. He died in Prince George County, in or before 1723, the year his Will was probated. The 1723 Will provided for the known family of Thomas and Mary (Simon, Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth and Lucy.

Thomas Busby (the junior) could not have been the Thomas Busby of the “Speedwell”...... unless he lived to be about 107. (This cannot be ruled out: By the time Thomas Busby (the junior) died in 1723, William Busby was alive....and he lived to be more than 100.) Was Thomas Busby (the junior) a son of Thomas Busby of the Speedwell? Or a nephew of Capt. Thomas Busby?

3. THOMAS BUSBY THE INDIAN (b. 1674). He could have been an orphan that Capt. Busby befriended in his capacity as Indian interpreter; and sold or gave to the Caufields.

Could Thomas Busby the Indian have been Thomas Busby who died in North Carolina about 1738? Or was Thomas Busby who died in North Carolina about 1738 another nephew of Capt. Thomas Busby? Later research may reveal more clues, and more intriguing questions.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 142 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD PART 3

William: He lived beyond 100

Possible fathers The move to South Carolina from Virginia Possible sons North Carolina Busbys John Buzbee Jacob Buzbee Joshua Buzbee Permelia Fry Edgar Farrior Busby.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 143 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD WILLIAM BUSBY (born ca. 1700, died after 1800)

1700 William Busby was born about 1700, possibly in Virginia. Names of his father and mother are not known, but potential fathers or grandfathers include:

(1) Jeffrey Busby (born 1671, Surry County, probable son of Capt. Thomas Busby, d. ca. 1709), who would have been 29 years old at the estimated time of William’s birth. Jeffrey was living with “Mr. Tho. Busby” in Surry County, when he was 23, in 1694. He died in or before 1709.

(2) Thomas Busby an Indian (born 1674). Last record found so far of Thomas Busby an Indian showed him at age 16 living in the Caulfield household in Surry County. He would have been 26 years old at the estimated time of William Busby’s birth.

(3) A Busby son of Dr. Robert Busby (born ca. 1640?) who was a surgeon and brother of Capt. Thomas Busby. Robert Busby’s arguments with the Hux family generated many court records. A son of Robert (and nephew of Capt. Thomas Busby), if he existed, could have been in his 20s at the estimated time of William Busby’s birth.

(4) A Busby son of John Busby who was possibly a brother of Capt. Thomas Busby. A possible son of John Busby (and nephew of Capt. Thomas Busby), if he existed, could have been in his 20s at the estimated time of William Busby’s birth. In 1715 in Bertie County, N. C., two counties south of Surry County, Va., John Busby died. The inventory of his will is in North Carolina State Wills 1712-1722, Book 2, pp. 208-209.

(5) A Busby son of Walter Busby who was possibly a brother of Capt. Thomas Busby. Walter was transported to America by Capt. Thomas Davis prior to 1651. Were he to have had a son, the son could have been aged 35-45 at the estimated time of William Busby’s birth.

(6) A Busby son of James Busby, who was possibly a brother of Capt. Thomas Busby. James Busby leased a tobacco house in 1660 from one of Thomas Busby’s inlaws, Peter Gray. If he existed, a son of James could have been aged about 40 at the estimated time of William Busby’s birth.

In any event, by the year 1748, William Busby was about 48 years old. He was married. He had a family of 10 children. He was living in Virginia. At that time, they were getting ready to move to what presented itself as a better opportunity: South Carolina. (William’s age is estimated (1) by testimony in a South Carolina court case (“Robert Starke vs. the Province of South Carolina”) in about 1800 and a later record about the case stating that William lived to be “greatly above 100,” and (2) the fact that by 1748, he had a family of 10 living children.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 144 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1748 In 1748, the William Busby family decided to make its move. It would be to South Carolina:

20 December 1748 Having brought his large family to the Santee River, William Busby posted with the office of the Governor and His Majesty’s Council, in South Carolina his formal plea for 600 acres,:

Read the Petition of William Busby to his Excellency the Governor and the Honorable Members of His Majestys Council setting forth that the Petitioner came from Virginia and has settled himself and a large Family on the North side of Santee River in hopes of having a good Land & has a wife and Ten Children & never had any Land granted him. Therefore humbly prayed his Excellency and their Honors order to the Surveyor General to run out six hundred Acres of Land below Jackson Creek and that he may have a Grant for the same free of charge and the Bounty of Provisions and as he in duty bound would pray, etc. The Petitioner appearing and being sworn and examined to the truth of what is set forth in the above Petition was ordered that the Deputy secretary prepare a warrant to the Surveyor General for administering & laying out to the Petitioner Six Hundred Acres of Land, below Jackson Creek, & that Mr. Commissary General do pay the charges thereof. Mr. Commissary Dart having applied to the Board for Money to Reimburse him out of the Township fund on which he was in advance it was ordered That a Warrant be drawn for Five hundred Pounds/payable to the said Commissary Dart on the Public Treasurer which was done and signed accordingly, and is as follows, that is to day.

In the Council Chamber December the 20, 1748

You are hereby directed to pay to Mr. Commissary Dart Five hundred Pounds, and place the same to the Account of the township Fund, and this shall be your warrant. JAMES GLEN JOHN COLLETON

(Council Journal, Dec. 1748-Dec. 1749, Vol. 17, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1430 Senate St., Columbia, S. C. 29211)

William’s plea for land was successful, though he ended up with less than his requested 600 acres. He received a land grant from King George II for 500 acres, 5 June 1749, on the Santee River, Saxe-Gotha district, in South Carolina. It was not to take him long to decide, however, that his big family did not require him to keep that land. By early January of 1751, he had completed arrangements to sell the first 100 acres.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 145 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD This indenture made the sixteenth Day of January in the twenty fifth year of His Majesty’s Reign KING GEORGE the second, By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith, &c and Anno Domini 1751/2, between William Busbee of the Congaree in South Carolina of the one Part and John George Lix of the same Place, Shoemaker, WITNESSETH that for and in consideration of the sum of Ten Pound Sterling by the said John George Lix, to the said William Busbee in hand paid, at or before the sealing and Delivery of these Presents, The Receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, The said William Busby HATH bargained and sold, and by these Presents DOTH Bargain and sell unto the said John George Lix ALL that Parcell or TRACT of Land containing One Hundred Acres, situate, lying and being, on the north side of Santee River and butting and bounding to the West on the said River, On the North East by Land belonging to said John George Lix, to the East on Land belonging to Anthony Cutler and Arthur Howell and to the south on Land belonging to the said William Busby TOGETHER with all and singular the Woods and Underwoods, Timber and Timber Trees, Lakes, Ponds and Fishing Waters, Water Courses, Profits, Commodities, Appurtenances & Hereditaments whatsoever thereunto

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 146 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD belonging, or in any wise belonging or appertaining, and the Reversion and Reversions, Remainder & Remainders, thereof, being part and parcell of a tract of Five Hundred Acres of Land granted to the said William Busby by his Majesty’s Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the said Province, bearing date the eighteenth Day of May 1751, and tested by His Excellency James Glen, Esquire, Governour, TO HAVE & TO HOLD the said Parcell or Tract of Land containing One Hundred (acres) with all and singular other the Premisses herein before mentioned and intended to be hereby bargained and sold with their and every of their appurtenances unto the said John George Lix, His Heirs and Assigns from the day next before the Day of the Date of these Presents for and during and unto the full End and Term of one whole year from thence next ensuing and fully to be compleated and ended YIELDING AND PAYING therefore unto the said William Busby, the Rent of one Pepper Corn at the End of the said Term, if the same shall be Lawfully demanded, To the Intent and Purpose that by virtue of these Presents and of the Statute for transferring of Uses into Possession He the said John George Lix may be in the actual Possession of all and singular the Premises hereby bargained and sold, and be hereby enabled to accept and take a Grant and Release of the Reversion and Inheritance of the same Premises to him the said John George Lix His Heirs and Assigns forever, Subject, in proportion, nevertheless, to the Payment of the Quit-Rents, the Provisoes for cultivating the said Land and all other the Reservations Provisoes and Limitations, which in the original Grant, made of the said Tract of five Hundred Acres of Land as to the said William Busby was mentioned, limited, and reserved, and as in certain Indentures of Release, intended to bear date, the Day next, after the Day of the Date of these Presents and to be made Between the said William Busby of the one Part and the said John George Lix of the other Part is likewise declared IN WITNESS whereof the said Parties to these Presents have hereunto set their Hands and Seals, the Day and Year first above written.

SIGNED SEALED & DELIVERED his in the presence of me, one of William Busby His Majesty’s Justices of the mark Peace for County John Hamilton Gilbert Gilder Francis Hamilton Subscribed their names as Witness thereto at the same time.

The 17th Day of February 1752 appeared before me Roger Gibson, one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for Craven

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 147 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD County in South Carolina, John Hamilton, and declared on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God that he Busby sign, seal and as His Act and Deed deliver for the use within mentioned; Lease or Instrument of writing and saw him sign the Receipt of the condition Money and at the same time He signed His Name as Witness and saw Gilbert Gilder and Francis Hamilton sign their names as Witnesses. Sworn before me Roger Gibson The subsequent release of the land was filed, and then, on 25 August 1758, the transaction was recorded by Wm. Hopton, public registrar.

1758 William Busby sold another 100 acres (of the original 500-acre tract) in 1758. This time, however, he got a better price. The earlier site had netted him 50 pounds for 100 acres, but when he sold the 100 acres to the county’s Deputy Surveyor, he did so for 100 pounds.

THIS INDENTURE made the sixteenth Day of March in the thirty first year of the reigne of our Sovereign Lord George the second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith and so forth, and in the year of our Lord Christ, One Thousand seven Hundred and fifty eight, Between William Busbee of Craven County and said Province, Planter and so forth, of one part & Joseph Curry, Deputy Surveyor of the said County and Province of the other Part. Witnesseth, That in and for the consideration of the sum of five Pounds current lawfull money of the said Province, in hand, well & truly paid by the said Joseph Curry unto the said William Busbee, the receipt whereof He the said William Busbee doth hereby confess and acknowledge and for divers other good causes him thereunto moving, He the said William Busbee doth Grant, Bargain and Sell and by these presents hath granted and Bargained and sold unto the said Joseph Curry all that Messuage or Tract of Land containing One Hundred Acres less or more in said County, being and is, scituate in the low Ground of Santee opposite the Mine Hills run from the South East Corner of Christian Blivers Land, South eighty five Degrees west to Santee river, shaped and formed as by a Platt thereof hereunto annexed doth appear, named the Island and the reversion and reversions, Remainder and Remainders Rents and Services of the Premisses and of every part and Parcell thereof with appurtenances To Have, Hold, Occupy and Enjoy the said Messuage or Tenement, Land, Hereditament and Premisses above mentioned and every Part and Parcel thereof with the appurtenances unto the said Joseph Curry, His Executors, Administrators and Assigns, from the Day next before the Day of the Date hereof, for and during and unto the full End and Term of one whole year from thence next ensuing and

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 148 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD following fully to be compleat and ended, Yielding and Paying therefore, One pepper Corn, in and upon the feast of St. Michael the Archangel if lawfully demanded To the Intent and that by virtue of these Presents and by force of the Statue for transferring of uses into Possession. He the said Joseph Curry may be in the actual possession of all and singular the above Premisses with the appurtenances and be thereby enabled to accept and take a Grant of the Reversion and Reversions by release, intended to be made the Day next after the Day of the Date of these presents By and Between the said Parties, of the said Premisses and Appurtenances forever. To the only proper use and behoof of him the said Joseph Curry, His Heirs and Assigns for evermore. In Witness whereof, the said Parties to these presents hath put their Hands and Seals the Day and Date first above written. The within Lease was William Busbee (s) signed, sealed & delivered in presence of Andrew Kirsh John Martin Fridig

Subsequently, the land was released to Curry upon the payment of the 100 pounds. At that time, the tract was more fully described:

...... being in the low Ground of Santee in Craven County opposite the Minchills or late Dwelling Captain Daniel Shyder, beginning at a Gum at the Southeast Corner of Christian Bliver’s Lands, running directly from said tree south eighty five degrees west to said river South on Land of William Moor and James Weston, North East on Christian Bliver, called the Island & so forth and also the reversion and reversions remainder and remainders, Rents and Services of all and singular the Premises above mentioned and of every Part and Parcel thereof with the appurtenances......

The document was presented to Peter Crim, Justice of the Peace, 18 March 1758.

1764 On 7 February 1764, William Busby (or his son, William, Jr.) acquired 100 acres on Little River in Craven district; and an additional 150 acres in 1767. William Busby still owned land in the area in 1768. In a document recorded 15 September 1768, John Loarman used the Moor and Busby land to identify his:

JOHN LOARMAN, 50 acres in Craven County on N side of Santee (and in part of a tract of 250 acres) originally granted 10-7-1755 to WILLIAM MORE, bounding the N on HARIS BROTHERS, SW by Santee River, W. by WILLIAM BUSBY. Sold and conveyed by ELIZABETH MOORE widow and executrix or administratrix to WILLIAM MOORE, dec., by lease and release bearing date 10-8 and 10-9-1767, to JOHN LOARMAN, the memorialist. Quit Rent would be immediately due. Recorded 9-15-1768. JOHN (I) LOARMAN. Certified by R. Lambton, Dy. Auditor. (Citizens and Immigrants, South Carolina, 1760 p. 214)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 149 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD (Various part of the Buzbee data from the Carolinas were provided by Herrell F. Miller, 2825 Hardwicke Road, Columbia, S. C.; and by Pat Murray, Des Moines, Iowa) (Courthouse, RMC, Plat SS 352, Charleston)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 150 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Of the (at least 10) children, the names of five likely sons are known, based on the land records of the period. The names of the daughters are not known. The names and approximate birth dates of the (probable) sons may be:

1. William Busby II, (b. ca. 1728?, d. 1795) William Busby took title to 100 acres in Craven County, S. C., in 1764, and 150 acres more in 1767.

An old family legend that there was an Indian princess in the Busby ancestry may have been reflected in South Carolina court arguments in 1773 and 1774. If there were an Indian princess in the family, however, the family apparently went to some lengths to expunge the thought at the time. The court action centered on William’s mother-in-law, the mother of William’s wife, Elizabeth. Was she white?

South Carolina Personally appeared John Buzby and Declared on his Oathe and saith that he knows Simon Buzby & Miles Buzby from Children that they were allways counted White People also knowed Their Grand Mother named Tabethey ...... she being a white woman & always counted by her Neighbors as such & further This Deponent sayeth not. his John X Buzby mark

Also appeared Bedon Buzby & declared on her Oath and saith That she knowed the Grandmother of Simon Buzby & Miles Buzby That according to her eyesight she the said Grandmother of the above mentioned Buzby as White a Woman as any. Never has heard in the Neighborhood to the contrary But allways counted a Real White Woman. her Bedon X Buzby mark

Sworn to Before me this 11 of December 1773 Michl. Dickert, J. P.

(The testimony of John Buzby was that he had known Simon and Miles since they were children. That suggests to me that the relationship more likely was uncle-nephew, rather than brother-brother. (John also knew their grandmother, which also suggests that he was at least one generation older than the two boys. Therefore, I postulate that Simon and Miles were sons of Elizabeth and William, Jr., rather than sons of William, Sr. The court action was close to the time that Simon received title to 100 acres in Craven County, and within two years of the time that Miles got land in the county. (Was land available only to non-Indians?)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 151 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD South Carolina, Orangeburgh Dist.

I the Subscribed Ann Pike do hereby Certify that I have been very well acquainted with William Busby & his wife Elizabeth the Reputed father and mother of Simon Busby which was always reputed to be White People & never was called any otherwise but by Malicious People speak in a Passionate Manner & do further certify that I had a Perfect knowledge of Wm Busby Wife’s Father & Mother the Father being Reputed to be Portege & his Wife Tobitha being a very fair skin Woman which I am Ready to Declare on Oath if Required. her Ann t Pike mark Certified this 10th Day of July 1774 in the presence of John Fairchild

Whatever the immediate outcome, the suspicion or fear about the Indian heritage was not eradicated over the next few generations. Some 49 years later, the issue resurfaced:

South Carolina, Charleston District

Betsy Busby being duly sworn deposith that William Bozzard about 21, Jane Bozzard, about 15, Malsey Bozzard about 12, Eliza Bozzard about 8 & Nancy Bozzard about 26 are her children and by referring to an affadavit of Mrs. Elizabeth Peak taken the 3rd Day of November 1819 it will appear that she the deponent was descended from an Indian Woman.

Betsy X Busby signed Aug. 18, 1823 (South Carolina Dept. of Archives and History, Misc. Book RR)

William II died before 1795, as Elizabeth is recorded as having taken title to 371 acres of land in 96 District that year. The two sons:

a. Miles Busby (b. ca. 1750?) received title to 100 acres and then, 200 acres, Craven County, S. C., in 1775. (Index to Memorials & Ext., S. C. Gen., Vol. 12, p. 172)

Miles Busby was paid for militia duty in 1781, and in 1782. “Issued 4th May 1785 to Mr. Miles Busby for seventeen pounds, 8/6 and 3/4 Sterling for 142 days militia Duty in 1781, 1782.”

b. Simon Busby (b. ca. 1750?) received title to 100 acres in Craven County in 1773. The land was located on “Buzbee’s Creek, a branch of the Little River.”

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 152 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 2. Benjamin Busby (b. ca. 1730?, d. 1815) Benjamin Busbee sold “a certain negroe wench, Chloe, a slave,” to Joseph Curry, Esq., on 20 June 1763. (Curry, presumably, was still the colony’s deputy surveyor.) The document of sale:

“Know all men by these presents that Benjamin Busbee of the county and province aforesaid, for and in consideration of the sum of One hundred and twenty five pounds current lawful money to me in hand paid by the said Joseph Curry, Esq., of the county aforesaid the Receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge and myself therewith fully and intirely sattisfied have Bargained and sold and by these presents do bargain and sell and as she runs or may be found, do hereby deliver to the said Curry one certain negroe wench Chloe a slave to have and to hold the said negroe wench slave to the said Joseph Curry his Heirs Exors administrators of assigns and I the said Benjamin Busbee do for my self my Executors administrators the above negroe slave hereby to the said Joseph Curry his heirs & assigns shall and will warrant and forever defend. IN WITNESS whereof I do hereby put my hand and seal this 20th June 1763 and third year of His Majesty’s Reign.

Witness his Edward Jones Benjamin X Busbee John Handasyde mark

The document was confirmed by John Hamilton, “one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for Craven county.” (Craven County, S. C., Miscellaneous Records, Book 86B, p. 1004, Charleston County Courthouse)

Land title records show Benjamin Busby received 150 acres Craven County, 1767; 150 acres, Berley County, 1767; 400 acres, Broad River, 1772. Benjamin died in 1815. Probate records of Edgefield County, S. C., filed 4 October 1815, show sons Benjamin, Reese and Miles; and mention Philip Buzbee, Druciliar Buzbee, William Buzbee and others.

a. Benjamin (b. 1765 to 1775). In 1820, he was living in Orangeburg Co., S. C. in a household that included 3 slaves, 3 sons (aged 10-16), 1 son (16-26) 2 daughters (10-16) 1 daughter (16-26) and wife? (26-45). b. Reese c. Miles (b. 1760-1765). In 1810, M. Busbey was living in Orangeburg Co., S. C., with a family that included his wife? (aged 26-45), 2 sons (0-10), 2 sons (10-16), 1 son (16-26) and a daughter (10-16). In 1830, Miles Busby was living alone in Orangeburg County. He died in 1831.

Probate papers filed 7 November 1831 listed Susannah Busbee, with administration to John Busbee. Perhaps Miles Buzbee (b. 1806) was his son. The 1850 census in Orangeburg Co. showed Miles Buzbee (b. 1806) and Prudence (b.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 153 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1803) along with Nancy (the mother/mother-in-law?) b 1778; and children: James (b. 1830), Susannah (b. 1832), John (b. 1834), Jackson (b. 1836), Tillman (b. 1839), Lavina (b. 1841), Pleasant (b. 1845) and Norris (b. 1838). The oldest son, William (b. 1827) had married Jerush Garvin (b. 1823) and they were living also in Orangeburg Co., in 1850. In 1860, the William Buzzbee family included Wesley, 9; Levina, 7; John, 5; Jerush, 3; and Bennett, 1. William was wounded in, and died after, the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., in the Civil War, 17 December 1862.

3. Nathaniel Busby (b. ca. 1732?, d. 1803) Nathan Busby received 100 acres, Craven County, in 1769. In 1785, “Thomas Herbert, Frances Summer, Nathan Busby, John Love, George Sergart, William Balentine, John Edwards, William Woodward, John Sweetingburgh, John Ammons, Victor Harriss, Micheal Mints, John Adam Summer are Appointed to Lay of a Road from or near Hoggs Branch on the Charleston Road to Harberts Ferry on Broad River with the least Prejudice to private Individuals.” (Newberry, S. C. Court Record, 1746-85, p. 1)

In 1786, Nathan Busby bought 100 acres of land adjacent to his existing property in Newberry county. The land was purchased from Francis Sommers and his wife Christiana, in a transaction witnessed by George Ruff, David Edwards, and Michael Mintz. The formal papers were filed in Newberry county court 7 June 1787.

In what appears to have been the same general area, two years later, Micajah Busby was ordered to assist in road development and repair. The Edwards and the Love (Lowe) families were again represented:

“March Court 1787: Ordered that John Lowe be appointed Overseer of the Road Leading from John Ammons Ferry on Broad River to Charleston Road down to Red Hill & the following persons he is to order to assist in keeping s’d road in repair (viz) James Brown, John Edwards, James Edwards, James Dailey, Henry Sitz, Tobias Easly, George Bone, Adam Amick, Micajah Busby, George Presley, John Friday & Godfrey Friday.” (Newberry, S. C. Records, 1746-1785, pp. 29, 30)

Probate records in Fairfield County, S. C., show the estate of Nathaniel Busby was handled 4 October 1803. Administration by Charity Busby.

4. Henry Busby (b. ca. 1734? m. Mary) Henry received a deed for land, Craven County, Broad River, Camden District, in 1774. William Buzbee signed as witness in the formal transaction. Henry’s wife was Mary. Other land grants showed a transaction 24 August 1770. 24 Feb 1774: Ulrick Busser of Berkley Co for 5 shillings sells to Henry Buzbee of Craven Co; 150 acres on N. side of Broad River, granted to John Frazer 21 Nov 1749 surveyed; granted 7 June 1751;

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 154 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD signed Ulrich Busser (in German script); Wit: Wm Frazer, Jacob Cufris, Frederich Busser. (South Carolina Index to Deeds, 1719-1785, Vol. x4, p. 93)

25 Feb 1774: Ulrich Busser of Berkley Co. sells to Henry Buzbe of Craven Co. for 500 pounds; Land on Broad River adj. lands layed out to John Frazer surveyed 21 Nov 1749, granted 7 June 1751. (South Carolina Index to Deeds, 1719-1785, Vol. x4, p. 94)

5. John Busby, (b. ca. 1736?, d. ca. 1778?)

THE OTHER FIVE SONS OR DAUGHTERS of William Busby, Sr., are not known. However, prior to 1778, William Busby sold land on the Congaree River, Camden District, to William Tucker. The Busby land had been originally granted to Robert Wright, Jr., Esq., bounded on the northeast by a swamp. (Abstract of Wills of South Carolina, 1760-1784, p. 325)

This was about the time that William’s presumed son, John, died, and also about the time William (who then was about 80 years old) moved to Edgefield County in South Carolina.

Edgefield was the home county then of Jeremiah, Zachariah and Needham Busby. Jeremiah and Zachariah lived close to each other and later seem to have moved to the same county in Mississippi. Zachariah was born 1760 to 1765; Jeremiah, 1765. Needham was born in 1753 in North Carolina, and thereby could not have been a son of William Busby, Sr. (ca. 1700-ca. 1800) since William Sr. arrived in South Carolina in 1758 with his family of 10. Needham, however, might have been a grandson of Thomas Busby of North Carolina (b. ca.1685? d. ca. 1738), since some intriguing family names link several generations, in records of Bertie and Wake counties in North Carolina and Newberry county in South Carolian:

Two counties south of Surry County, Virginia, is Bertie County, North Carolina. Busbys were there in the early years of the 1700s:

1715 John Busby died in Bertie County, N. C., in 1715. Inventory of his estate is recorded in North Carolina State Wills 1712-1722, Book 2, pp. 208-09.

1712 to 1722: Richard Falk, Chowan precinct, made a will which was witnessed by Thomas Busbe. (Later on, in South Carolina, Falk and Busby families lived in the same section. Benjamin Clement Busby married Eve Falk.) (Abstract of Wills, Grimes, 1690-1760, p. 117)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 155 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1725: Thomas Busby bought 174 acres on the east side of Cashi Swamp, from Henry Roades, of Bertie Precinct. (Abstract of Bertie County Deeds, Vol. 2, p. 53)

“Busby’s line” was used to describe a land grant to John Dew by the Lords Proprietors. Another adjacent property owner was John Bond. 1 February 1725 Thomas Busby’s land was adjacent to 640 acres sold by Richard Milton to Francis Parker (for 15 pounds). Other neighbor was John Blount. 3 January 1725. Thomas Busby, Nedham Bryan and John Protis witnessed the sale of 320 acres on Horse Pasture Creek and Dogwood Neck by John Page and his wife Hanner to Samuel Garland. 9 November 1725.

Thomas Busbie and George Smith witnessed the sale of 640 acres on NS Roduis, a branch of Casia, adjacent to Martin Gardner, John Edwards and Theo. Williams. 25 October 1725. Thomas Busby’s land was used to describe the sale of land by Henry Roads and wife Elizabeth to James Blount. 6 August 1725. In the same sitting of the court, Roads sold 170 acres to Thomas Busby (for 10 pounds) on the east side Cashie Swamp. Owen O’Daniel and James Murry witnessed. And still in the same court, Henry Roads sold 150 acres on the same swamp to Peter Parker, using Henry Roads’ and Thomas Busby’s land for descriptive purposes. (Ibid., pp. 32, 33, 35)

1726: Thomas Busby’s land was used to describe land sold by William Ricks and wife Esther to Thomas Kirby, Sr., 2 May 1726.

1728: Busbes line was mentioned in the sale of land by Henry Roads and wife of Chowan Precinct to John Page. February court, 1728. Thomas Busby’s land on the branch of Casiey River was mentioned as a boundary in the sale of 640 acres by Jacob Oldham of Nansemond County to Richard Meadling. 14 May 1728. Also in 1728: Thomas Busby gave 170 acres to John Page, Jr., for “.....love good will and affection I have and do bare toward my loving son in law John Page, Jun.....” The land was ES Cashie Swamp. Witnesses: John Duffield, John Page, Sr. 6 August 1728. (Ibid., p. 43, p. 86, p. 68, p. 77)

1729: The will of George Clement, proven in May Court, 1730, was witnessed by Thomas Busby, George French, William Smith. The sons of George Clements were Benjamin and George. (Later on, a (presumed) grandson of Thomas Busby, John Jacob Busby, in South Carolina, was to name his son Benjamin Clement Busby; and another in that generation was to be named Clem. Busby). (Abstract of Wills, 1690-1760, p. 74)

1734: The land of Thomas Busby and John Blunt were used to described the sale of 640 acres on the north side of Morattock River by Francis Parker (“of fishing creek in Edgecombe precinct”) to Henry Everard. 12 February 1735). The Everards

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 156 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD apparently didn’t keep the land long. They sold it to Joseph Thomas for 92 pounds, 10 shillings, 12 May 1735. (Bertie County Deeds, Abstracts, vol. 3, p. 153)

The will of Thomas Mann made Thomas Busbey and George Williams, Sr., the executors of the Mann estate in Bertie County. George Williams, Jr., was listed in the will as a grandson. (Abstract of Wills, 1690-1760, Grimes, p. 236)

1736: Thomas Busby’s land was used to describe the sale of 200 acres at Jumping Run and Flagg Run by Owen McDaniel to Edward Toole. 1 August 1736.

1738: Thomas Busby’s land was used to describe the sale of 220 acres on NS Norrattock River by Littleton Spivey to Ealee Thomas. 13 November 1738. (Bertie County Deeds, Vol. 3, Abstract, p. 169, p. 198)

1738: The will of Catherine Busbey, proven in court in Bertie Precinct in February 1738, left “my plantation being on the North side of Roenoke River, to Theophilus Williams, husband of my daughter, Hester.” (An abstract of this will by Grimes is confusing: To Theophilus Williams (“my plantation liing on the North side of Roneoake River”). Hester Williams (daughter of Theophilus), Jesse Page (1 cow and calf). Executor: Theophilus Williams. Witnesses: Needham Bryan, H. Bate, Susan Bryan.) January 22, 1738-9. Catherine may have been the daughter of Needham Bryan, and probably the wife of Thomas Busbey. Thomas Busby’s sons (if any) are not known, but a researcher in the Prince family speculates that one of Thomas’ grandsons was Needham Busby (born 1752 in Johnston County, N. C.) (Abstract of Wills, 1690-1760, Grimes, p. 57)

Wake County, N. C., records disclose the presence of Thomas, Sr., Thomas, Jr., Henry, Isham, James, Jessee, and William Busby during the period 1771-1784.

1765 Thomas Busby (born ca. 1720) made his mark on marriage licenses issued 29 May 1765 between Winnowfred Busby (b. ca. 1745?) and Robert Thomas; and 14 May 1782 between Thomas Busbey, Jr. (b. ca. 1740?, d. 1815), and Winney Prince. In the earlier wedding, the others who signed on the bond were Jeremiah Hendrick and Robert Rowan. In the bond with Thomas, Jr., the other signer was Nicholas Atkins.

1815 The date of death of Thomas, Sr., is not indicated. However, the will of Thomas, Jr., was filed 29 September 1815 in Wake County. The wife, Winifred, was listed, as were the sons: Johnson Busbee, Jonathan Busbee, Wilson Busbee, Kinchen Busbee and James Busbee. A daughter was Cedy Smith. Grandson: Edwin Smith. Johnson Busbee was executor. The widow, Winifred, died a year later. Her will, however, also mentioned her son, John Prince, from her earlier marriage. (John

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 157 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Prince would have been about 32 years old at the time, if he had been an infant at the time his (presumably) widowed mother married Thomas Busby, Jr., on 14 May 1782. Thomas Busby, Jr., however, did not mention the boy in his will.) (Johnson Busbee, Esq., died 2 June 1859 in Wake County, N. C., about 13 years after his wife, Christiana, died.)

(Also included among the North Carolina data of the mid 1700s in North Carolina is a Warrant for 665 acres of land to Nathaniel Busby, Planter, in Johnson County, on 13 January 1761. Parish of St. Patrick on a branch of Swift Creek, called White Oak. (Some of this data was compiled by Mrs. Mary Cloninger Boggs, Charleston, S. C.)

1780 In the area in South Carolina into which the about-80-year-old William Sr. moved about 1780, other Busbys were nearby. Some may have been his sons, but others seem unlikely as sons. They include:

George Busby (d. before 1768) Assignee of Mary Terrell Executrix of the last Will and Testament of George Busby, a plantation or Tract of Land containing 30 acres on Savannah River lately possessed by the said Busby notwithstanding a former survey. (Citizens and Immigrants in South Carolina, 1768, p. 30)

Micajah Busby (b. ca. 1750-1760) “March Court 1787: Ordered that John Lowe be appointed Overseer of the Road Leading from John Ammons Ferry on Broad River to Charleston Road down to Red Hill & the following persons he is to order to assist in keeping s’d road in repair (viz) James Brown, John Edwards, James Dailey, Henry Sitz, Tobias Easly, George Bone, Adam Amick, Micajah Busby, George Presley, John Friday & Godfrey Friday. (Newberry, South Carolina County Records, 1746-1785, pp. 28, 29, 30 of March Court 1787)

Jeremiah Busby (b. 1764, d. after 1825) Jeremiah Busby was pursued by ill fortune: He lost his home in 1800. His wife went blind for years in her later life. He was bedridden for two years in his late 50s, crippled, and virtually destitute in his old age.

He also was refused government benefits for his Revolutionary War service. At the age of 60, (on 7 March 1824) living again in Edgefield, he made his plea for government help. In his plea, he said he had enlisted for three years in October 1781 in the South Carolina state troops. He said he was discharged in August 1783, having been in the battles of St. John’s Island, where they took a British ship of war. Jeremiah said he had been bedridden for two years in 1822 and 1823, “not able to cut a fire of wood, was by occupation a farmer, but since he had been so afflicted, has done something at the shoemaking trade.” His wife was then 70 years old and had been blind for nine years. His plea for help was desperate, as he was “now compelled to

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 158 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD look to the bounty of his country for a pittance to support on the remainder of his days on earth.” He itemized all his assets: Two sows & seven shoats valued at...... $10.00 2 Pots and one oven...... 5.00 Total...... 15.00 In a supporting statement, Miles Buzbee (Busby) said that he had known Jeremiah since 1781, that Jeremiah had enlisted under Captain Marby, and served his country faithfully until August 1783. He said Jeremiah’s home had burned in 1800. Unfortunately for Jeremiah, however, when he was “compelled to look to the bounty of his country,” his country looked the other way. Jeremiah’s plea was rejected 5 October 1825. In the 1790 census, Jeremiah had reported a son then under 16 years of age. If this boy were also named Jeremiah (Jr.) then he would have been born ca. 1774, which would conform to other data which shows that a Jeremiah Busby settled among other Busby families in Newberry County. The other Busby families there were headed by Jacob, Thomas, Isaac, and John --- all generally about the same age as Jeremiah (Jr.?). Jeremiah (Jr.?) married Margaret and by 1800 their family had grown to include a young son and a young daughter. On 13 October 1802, Jeremiah and Margaret bought a farm in Newberry County from Thomas and Mary Smith. They paid $40 for 50 acres of a tract originally granted to John Swigart on bounty, 9 January 1755. The balance of the farm was part of a tract granted George Lever 2 October 1786, lying on the north side of Camping Creek, a branch of Saluda River. (Family researcher Ida Reno’s data shows that Margaret’s maiden name was Stephenson.) At the same time, Jeremiah and Margaret sold part (and possibly all) of the farm to Frederick Pasinger for $425. On 16 January 1804, Jeremiah and Margaret sold 130 acres on Big Creek, a branch of the Saluda, to Charles Lester. Lester paid them $500. The 1804 transaction was recorded 8 September 1806. The 1802 transaction was not recorded until 1 June 1812. Jeremiah may have traveled west during 1810. When the census taker called at the Busby home that year, the only ones home were Margite Busby and two young daughters. In 1850, Jeremiah and Margaret Busby were living in Ouachita County, Marion Township, in south Arkansas. The ages reported were 76 for Jeremiah, 79 for Margaret. Living in the same county in 1850 were Jacob Busby’s family. Jacob (b. 1805) in South Carolina) and his wife, Lucinda (b. 1831 in Georgia), Jacob (b. 1836 in Georgia), Tilman (b. in Alabama) and Jackson (b. in Alabama or Arkansas). (If Jacob had been a son of Jeremiah and Margaret, it would appear that the family’s travels had taken the three generations from South Carolina, to Georgia, to Alabama, before reaching south Arkansas.) (Family researcher Ida Reno believes that Jeremiah (Jr.?) was a son of Nathaniel Busby (b. 1735, d. 1826). My data on p. 154 shows a Nathaniel Busby born ca. 1732, but that his estate was settled in 1803.)

Zachariah Busby (b. ca. 1760-1765, d. after 1840) is recorded in the 1820 census, in Wayne County, Miss. Both Zachariah and Jeremiah are recorded in the county in 1830. Jeremiah is recorded there in 1840.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 159 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Needham Busby (b. 1753, d. after 1835) was born in Johnston Co., N. C. and was a private in the South Carolina militia during the Revolutionary War. He later received a pension of $43.33 per year, beginning 19 April 1834. He was listed as being 82 years old in a statement made in 1835. He had married an Ellisor (Ellison?), a sister of John Ellisor, Sr., and they had these known children: a. North Hampton Busby, b. 1775, m. Rebecca. Known children: Wade O. Busby and Rebecca J. b. John Jacob Busby, b. 28 November 1779, m. Mary Rawl, d. 8 March 1841. Heirs of Jacob’s estate (which was comprised of “a large real estate consisting of several tracts of land, situated in the Lexington District, State of South Carolina, bounded by Stoudemire, Jacob Swygert, Michael Stuck and others.....said Jacob Busby departed this life intestate about the month of March in the year 1841...... ”) brought a partition suit 10 May 1841. The heirs were the widow, Mary, 11 grandchildren, and nine children: (1) Harriet Busby, wife of Adam Epting (2) Nathan Busby (b. 1811, d. after 1870), m. Elizabeth --. At least one son: Jacob Nathan Busby (15 August 1836-1884), m. Margaret Ann Pullig (1842-1917). At least one daughter: Beulah Inez Busby (1872-1944) m. William Henry Thrasher (1867-1937). (3) Mary Busby, who m. Rutherford (4) Rutha Busby who m. Jacob Bundrick (5) Elizabeth Busby who m. Nathan Lyles (6) Martha M. Busby who m. Tolivar G. Oxner (7) Celinda Busby who m. Spencer Davis (8) Benjamin Clement Busby 1818-1891) m. Eve Folk (1821-1904) Their entire family was born in South Carolina: (a) M. Cornelia Busby (3 February 1839-4 January 1915) (b) James Wesley Busby (27 October 1840-20 June 1860) (c) Jacob John Busby (b. 1844, d. 1862 in Civil War, and is buried at Battlefield, Va. (d) Catharine Busby (1844-1912) (e) David Busby (b. 1850) (f) Levi Enoch Busby (5 September 1849-1903) m. Sallie Goode. He was a Lutheran pastor. (g) ---- Busby (1852-185e) (h) Caspers Busby (1854-1856) (i) Marion Busby (1856-1856) (j) Mary E. P. Busby

A GIFT OF TWO NEGRO SLAVES On 15 December 1840, Eve’s father, John Folk, because of his “love for my daughter Eve Busby” presented her a deed of trust for two negroes, as he disposed that day of at least 7 negroes. The deed of trust was to be administered by John Folk, Eve’s presumed brother, because in 1840 she would have been only 17 years old. (The record is in Deed Book AA, Newberry County) (9) Jacob John Busby, b. 1813. c. Nathaniel Busby, b. 1782. d. Needham Busby II. e. Dempsey Busby, b. 1780, married Jennet Boyd. The 1830 census of Lexington County, S. C., shows all six families except for Needham, Jr.; plus that of Samuel. (Benjamin Clement Busby information compiled by Mrs. Dorothy Rudy Busby, Salisbury, N.C., and provided by John C. Busby, Penndel, Pa. 19047-7174; Nathan Busby data provided by Mary Cloninger Boggs, 894 Regatta Rd., Charleston, S. C. 29412, of 28 August 1979))

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 160 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1800 The elder William lived on in Edgefield until after 1800, and was called upon to testify in a land dispute concerning Saxe-Gotha and the then-under- 50-year-old settlement. The land dispute was filed as “Robert Starke vs. the Province of South Carolina.” William’s involvement in the early settlement (now vanished, but apparently near Lexington, S. C.) was recorded in “The Annals of Newberry,” a history of the area:

“Busby, who died in Edgefield at an age said to be greatly above 100, was another of the witnesses (at the trial) and proved on the trial the building of the fort for the protection of the settlers. He was also, I suppose, a Palatine.” (State v. Starke, 3rd Brev., 106, circa 1800)

The presumption of the historian that William Busby was a “Palatine” (German) was based on the fact that the settlement was, essentially, German. Another explanation is that William’s land happened to have been granted among the Germans at Saxe-Gotha. (Could William’s wife have been a German?)

JOHN BUZBEE (born ca. 1736?, died ca. 1778)

1759 John Busby is listed as a member of an expedition to Ft. Prince George, October 1759 to January 1760. Also listed are Burriel, Isam, Simon, and William Buzby. Officers are: Col. Richardson and Capt. Pearson (for John and Isam), and Capt. Leslie (for Burriel, Simon and William.)

A land plat shows that John had acquired 200 acres 5 May 1772 on the north side of the Broad River, Craven District. (At present, this is Lexington County).

Land of John Busby admeasured 200 acres on Patricks Branch N Side of Broad River in Craven Co., bounded by Philip Shavers land and Richard Gradicks land and vacant land. 12 May 1772. (South Carolina General Index to Grants, Vol. 13, p. 450)

The 1772 record suggests that John Busby’s registration was made at the same time that two other Busbys registered their land. The three documents were

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 161 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD recorded in order, for Benjamin Busby, John Busby, and Miles Busby. Land of Benjamin Busby admeasured layed out to Benj. Busby 400 acres on the E. side of Broad River on the Branches thereof, bounded by land of William Busby and Enoch Anderson and Willi Acry and Jacob Frasher. (South Carolina General Index to Grants, Vol. 13, p. 450)

Land of Miles Busby admeasured 200 acres in Craven Co. N. E. side of Broad River upon the Drains thereof; bounded by lands of Robert Hawthorn and David Jackson and James Hawthorn. 28 May 1773. (South Carolina General Index to Grants, Vol. 13, p. 450)

1778 John Buzbee died in about 1778, in 96 District in South Carolina. His will was dated 26 March 1778, and appears to have been written by him. It states:

In the name of God, Amen. I, John Buzbee, of South Carolina, in ninety six District, being weak in body, but of a sound and disposing mind and memory do ordain, constitute this to be my last will and testament.

I will that all my just debts be paid.

Item. I give to my eldest son, John, one hundred pounds currency to be paid so soon as conveniently it may be raised out of my estate.

Item. I lend to my loving wife the land and plantation whereon I now dwell, with all of singulary my goods, chattles, stocks, and in support of her and my younger children and after the decease of my said wife, Jane Buzbee, my will is that my land other estate be then sold to best advantage and the money raised to be duly divided between my eight children, viz., John, Jesse, Jacob, Moses, Benjamin, Mary, Stephen, and Jane, and as my desire is that their fortunes shall be equally, and some of which hath already received part that there be --- a deduction made from, viz., John fifty pounds; Jesse seventy five pounds; Jacob thirty pounds and I do hereby appoint my wife Jane Executor; my son John Buzbee executor of this my will and testament, as witness my hand and seal this 26 day of March in the year 1778.

John Buzbee

(Abstract of Old Wills, Abbeville District, South Carolina General, 9293-Y, p. 380, Box 105, Pack 2561)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 162 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 26 March 1778: John Buzbee writes his will in 96 District, South Carolina

THE FACT THAT JOHN, JESSE AND JACOB BUZBEE had each received substantial help from their father before he wrote his will in 1778 suggests that each son was old enough to have used the money properly before 1778. This could indicate that the eldest son, John, could have been about 24 years old in 1778 (and thus born in 1754), that Jesse was about 20 years old (born in 1758), and Jacob about 18 (born in 1760). Years later, Jacob Buzbee stated that he was born about 1760.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 163 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The children and their approximate birthdays: 1. John Busby, Jr. (b. ca. 1754?) John Busby made his mark (X) on the pay roll of Capt. George Liddell’s Company for August, September and October of 1779. The company was included in the regiments of the South Carolina line. John Bussby was a private, number 31 on the payroll, and seems to have received pay of $44.80. (South Carolina Hist. and Gen. Magazine, 1904, pp. 155, 156) John Buzbee died in Newberry County, S. C., in late 1808. On November 2, the widow Nancy Buzbee certified in court that she could not put up the security deposit required for her to administer the estate of her late husband. David Williams, John Caldwell, and Francis McKibben put up the $100 bond. (Newberry, South Carolina Administration Bonds, 2 Nov. 1808) 2. Jesse Busby (b. ca. 1758?) The will of Jesse Busby was signed 2 January 1810 and recorded in Book E, p. 69, Record of Wills, Richland Co., South Carolina., Vol. 1. Wife: Christena. Oldest daughter, Keziah; second daughter, Harriet; third daughter, Damaris. 3. Jacob Busby (b. ca. 1760, married ca. 1795, died 1839) 4. Moses Busby (b. ca. 1762?) 5. Benjamin Busby (b. ca. 1764?) 6. Mary Busby (b. ca. 1766?) 7. Stephen Busby (b. ca. 1768?) Stephen Busby’s estate was administered 7 March 1812, with the estate sale 24 March 1812. Buyers were listed as Elizabeth Busby, Jno. Sample, Sr., Obediah Wilson, etc. “On Nov. 1, 1813, Elizabeth Buzbee, John Jackson bound unto Taliaferro Livingston Ord. Abbeville Dist. sum $1,000.00 Elizabeth Buzbee made guardian of Melinda, Benjamin, Stephen, Micajah, John, Lewis, Buzbee minors under 14 years., Jane Buzbee a minor over 14 yrs.” (Abstracts of Old 96, Box 105, Pack 2598) Elizabeth died in 1828. Among the buyers at the estate sale were Benjamin, Jno., Stephen, Jane and Micajah Busby. Young Stephen died in 1836, Micajah in 1844. 8. Jane Busby (b. ca. 1770?)

AT THE START of the Revolution, the Buzbees were living in Orangeburg district, South Carolina, at the head waters of Edisto River. Soon thereafter, and after death of his father John (ca. 1778), teenager Jacob Buzbee was thrust into action:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 164 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Great Adventures in the Revolutionary War

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 165 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD JACOB BUZBEE (born ca. 1760, died 22 August 1839)

1760 Jacob Buzbee was born in South Carolina in about 1760, and, as a young man, found himself in the midst of the Revolutionary War. It is this time of high adventure that he recalled, years later, as an old man seeking for the first time, compensation as a result of that service.

Here is the way the court clerk of St. Clair County, Alabama, recorded Jacob’s recollections of the late 1770s and early 1780s, as the Revolutionary War continued:

ON THIS 20th day of January in the year of Our Lord, Eighteen hundred and thirty four, personally appeared in open court, before James Rogan, judge of the county court of St. Clair county now sitting, Jacob Buzbee, a resident of the county and state aforesaid, Aged about Seventy Four years, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his Oath make the following declaration, in order to obtain the benefit of an Act of Congress passed June 7th 1832.

That he is a native of South Carolina and that

Between the ages of fourteen and fifteen, he was keeping stock for his father on the headwaters of Edisto River in the District of Orangeburgh in South Carolina, when he was made prisoner by one Kit Neeley, a Tory Major, and detained as such for the space of three weeks, when he made his escape. Being afflicted with the smallpox, he reached the house of a Whig, the Lady furnished him with provisions and sent for a Captain William Watson, a Militia Whig officer, who came and kept a scouting party around him untill he recovered; and with whom, as soon as well, for the first time, he joined and took an active part against (as a Volunteer Soldier) the Tories and British, and continued with Capt. W. Watson for three months, keeping the Tories

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 166 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD somewhat in awe, & defeating a party of them under F. Williams near boggy Gulley in Orangeburg dist. He then left Watson and joined one Captain Tyler, who was Killed in a skirmish with the Tories at Greggs ford on Broad river, then he joined under Captain Jacob Frazier whose company acted in concert with Tyler’s and continued with Frazier a month & until called off to meet the British at Stono being taken sick. He did not reach in time for the action.

Upon his recovery he joined General Francis Marion and with him they attacked and defeated a parcel of British cavalry, commanded by one Campbell as Goos Creek(;) in a short time thereafter we attacked one William Cunningham, a Tory Captain on the same Goos Creek and defeated him with great loss on his side. This fight took place in the night; having left Marion he rejoined Frazier after staying two months, with Marion. After rejoining Frazier we had one other skirmish with the Tories between Broad and Little Rivers & thence followed another Tory party to the Blue Ridge, but did not come up with them, thence returning to the old Schouting ground.

..... (He) served under said Frazier at the Battle of the Eutaw Springs when he was placed under the immediate command of Col. Washington, who commanded the American Force. After this battle, he remained with Frazier for four months, and during that time, often visited General Lincoln who was stationed on Beach Island in the Savannah River. He then left Frazier and joined one Capt. James Turner, with whome he remained four months; then being disabled by his horse dashing him against a tree & breaking his leg which caused both it and his thigh to perish away, he was compelled to abandon the Service.

He further declares that the time of his actual Service under the above-named commissioned officers including the months herein specified were Nineteen in all. That himself, with others, who were to receive Eight dollars per month, were to have received that amount in what was then called indents. That when Captain Frazier returned after the War he made out for this declarant his account, and estimated the time of service to be 19 months. That said amount was sent to the proper authority for the Indents. That one Col. Walker has through mistake drawn them out of office, that he informed this Declarant (Jacob) he, Walker, had sent them back; but that the Indents never reached the office, so that he this affiant (Buzbee) never got anything for his services.

He declares his name is not on the pension Roll of any state or the

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 167 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD agencies thereof, and relinquishes every claim to any pension Except the present.

He further declares he does not know of any living witness by whom he can establish any facts relative to his service as a Volunteer Militia Soldier, believing all to be dead or removed beyond his reach. That he has written frequently to South Carolina and tried to find some aiding testimony but has been able to obtain no satisfactory information.

Sworn to and subscribed this day and year aforesaid in court Test: Joshua W. Hooper, Clk

His minister put in a good word for him:

I, James L. Lewis, an ordained clergyman residing in the town of Ashville, St. Clair County and State of Alabama, do hereby certify that I have been well acquainted with Jacob Buzbee who has subscribed and sworn to the foregoing declaration, that I believe him to be about the age of Seventy years or upwards, and that he is believed in the neighborhood to have been a Militia soldier in the Revolution. January 20, 1834 J. L. Lewis Judge James Rogan agreed:

And the said court do hereby declare their opinion after the investigation of the matters and putting the interrogatives prescribed by the War department that the above applicant was a soldier of the revolution and served as he states; and the court further states and certifies that it appears to them that James L. Lewis, who has signed the preceeding certificate is a clergyman resident in the county of St. Clair, State of Alabama, and is a credible person & that his statement is entitled to credit.

Two other friends substantiated Jacob Buzbee’s petition:

Appeared in open court Archibald Sloan and Polydon Naylor and certified that have been some years acquainted with Jacob Buzbee and know him to be a man of honesty and

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 168 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD that they believe him to have been a Volunteer Soldier of the revolutionary war in the Militia of South Carolina and that he is reported as such in the neighborhood and that they concur in that opinion.

From the courthouse at Ashville, the petition went to Washington, D. C., where Alabama Rep. C. C. Clay added this notation, 28 February 1834:

I am acquainted with Arch. Sloan & Polydon Naylor, Esquires, personally, and by character. They are both men of good moral standing, and well entitled to credit --- and have no doubt their statement is, in all respects, true.

A certificate of pension was issued within the week by the War department. The War department order read: War Department Revolutionary Claim

I certify that in conformity with the law of the United States of the 7th June, 1832, Jacob Buzbee or Busbee of the State of Alabama, who was a private during the revolutionary war is entitled to receive sixty three dollars and thirty three cents per annum during his natural life, commencing on the 4th of March 1831, and payable Semiannually on the 4th of March and 4th of September in every year. Given at the War office of the United States this 6th day of March, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Four.

LEWIS CASS Secretary of War

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 169 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Sent to the Hon. C. C. Clay, at the U. S. House of Representatives, the certificate ordered that Jacob Buzbee receive a payment of $190 for his pension, in arrears, from the time of the passage of the act, and $31.665 of his current allowance, or $221.66. Thereafter, he was to receive $63.33 per year. Jacob had lived in Alabama about 14 years prior to making his statement in court about his Revolutionary War experiences. Up until that time, he had lived in South Carolina, his home during the conflict.

(Jacob Buzbee’s rifle was handed down in the family from generation to generation, and in the mid 1900s was owned by B. A. Buzbee, Mineral Wells, Tex. B. A. Buzbee stated that “My father, Wesley Meredith Buzbee, told me before his death in 1918 that his grandfather and my great grandfather served during the Revolutionary War. If he told me his given name, I do not remember it, but I do have parts of the rifle which my father told me was used by his grandfather in the Revolutionary War.” Wesley Meredith Buzbee was a half-brother of Edgar F. Buzbee, both sons of Joshua Buzbee, grandsons of Jacob Buzbee). The ‘Swamp Fox’ and the Battle of Eutaw Springs General Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” and one of the greatest heroes of the American Revolution, led a group of troopers whose exploits read more like fiction than history. Marion took the field against the British and Tories first in 1775, and after a number of engagement, by 1780 and a brigadier-general, had to take refuge in the swamps. It presumably is this 1780-1781 period in which Jacob Buzbee was a trooper with Marion.

From his swamp outpost, Marion’s scouts kept close watch of the enemy movements, and detachments of the brigade struck blow after blow, surprising and capturing small parties of soldier. At times they united with larger bodies of troops for important engagements. “HE JOINED with Col. Henry Lee in reducing Fort Watson (April 1781,” the Encyclopedia Americana states. “After raiding 200 miles of country, he commanded the first line in the battle of Eutaw Springs and took many prisoners. “The battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina was fought to a tactical draw, but to a strategic victory for the American forces, Sept. 8, 1781. It was the object of Gen. Nathaniel Greene’s campaign, as the British shortly thereafter abandoned interior South Carolina, retiring to Charleston.” The battle, as reported by the Encyclopedia Americana: “Greene, having captured 96 men, stole on the British, some 2,500, under Col. Alexander Stuart, at Eutaw, 50 miles northwest of Charleston, and attacked suddenly at 4 a.m. “He had about 2,000 men, part militia, but with Francis Marion and Andrew Pickens for commanders; while the regulars were the famous Marylanders under John Eager, Virginians under William Campbell, North Carolinians under Jethro Sumner, and the remnant of the brave Delaware

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 170 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD men; with William Washington, Henry Lee and Pleasant Henderson for cavalry leaders. The British had one line; the right on Eutaw Creek, the left in the air. The Americans had two, besides the reserves; the militia in front, who fought desperately and fired in some cases 17 rounds before giving way. “Then the regulars rushed forward and swept the British from the strong positions they had taken. In assailing a brick house, Greene’s guns were captured and he lost many of his best men; and a charge of Colonel Washington’s was repulsed and himself taken prisoner. Greene was obliged to retreat; but Stuart decamped in the night. The American loss was 408 regulars killed and wounded, militia probably at least 150; British, 453 killed and wounded, 257.”

JACOB BUZBEE’S BIRTHDAY: The date of the battle of Eutaw Springs suggests that Jacob’s age may be slightly different from that placed in the court records. Court records stated that Jacob recalled he was “14 to 15” years old at the start of hostilities and that within 19 months he was engaged in the Battle of Eutaw Springs. That battle took place 8 September 1781. That would suggest he would have been 15 to 17 in 1781, or born 1764-1766. Jacob, however, believed that he was born in about 1760: In court records in July of 1833, he put his age as 73 (i. e., born in 1760), and in 1834, he put his age at “about 74” (i. e., born in 1760). In the same court documents that day, Buzbee’s pastor put his age at “70 or upwards,” indicating the pastor’s belief Jacob had been born in 1764 or earlier.

BACK in England: One of our paintings is an English primitive, ca. 1800: It depicts excitement at the Lion Inn and the countryside at Rye, in Sussex. It was displayed for many years at the tavern itself. Marie saw it at the Barn Gallery, in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, and brought it home immediately. Bob said, “Buy it.” John remembered that it arrived on Halloween, 1972. It is oil, on linen, on wood.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 171 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1780 The Revolutionary success with which Jacob Buzbee served his country in 1780-1781, and the honors and pension which his country returned to him in old age in the 1830s were not shared by another Busby, then back in Goochland County, Virginia, in October of 1780:

Petition of members of the Goochland County militia, lately marched to Hillsborough in division, with shame and sorrow acknowledging the disgraceful rout. Being raw and ignorant of discipline and under officers (generally) as undisciplined as they, they were ordered not to fire until they had the word and then to advance with charged bayonets, which occasioned the confusion which followed. When they arrived at Hillsborough destitute of money and even clothes to wear, they applied to their officers for leave to procure such supplies as their poor families could furnish. Although such permission was not obtained, with the connivance of several of their officers they came in and were returning when they met their old companions who said they would not be received at headquarters but were deemed Continental soldiers for eight months. Having no intention of desertion, they delivered themselves up to the County Lieutenant and are now under marching orders. Most of them are very poor men with families of small children. They ask that the additional service be remitted.

John Gilliam Robert George William Utley Nathan Wingfield David England Rubin Thaucher Benjamin Wadda James Busby David Mitchel Eleazer Williams Aron Wash Archer Keogh Thomas Morland William Cosby Robert Groom Bucer Carrel John Askew Humphrey Parrish

John Woodson, County Lieutenant, states they, as soon as they came into the county, delivered themselves up to him. Jno. Hopkins, Jolley Parrish and John Curd, jr., state the petition is reasonable. David Mitchell, John Askew, Humphry Parrish and Robert Groom of the Goochland militia lately returned from Hillsborough depose that being almost naked after the loss of their clothes in the rout in South Carolina, and desirous to come in for others, Capt. Edmund Curd told them he would do so, was he in their places. Soon after, Capt. Ballew came along the ranks and said publicly the soldiers were damned fools if they did not come in.

Thomas Jefferson gave the final ruling.

On 7 October 1780, he stated he had no power to remit the sentence of the law. (The Virginia Genealogist, Virginia Executive Papers, Vol. 16, 1972, pp. 252, 253)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 172 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1790 Soon after the formation of the government under the new Constitution, the first census of the United States was taken. Though Virginia records are incomplete, the 1790 census lists a total of 50 Busby families, and a total of 302 Busbys in the nation. The 50 families owned a total of 33 slaves. Most of the Busbys lived in North Carolina and South Carolina.

The state totals:

State Families Total Slaves

North Carolina 19 108 19 South Carolina 14 88 3 Virginia (incomplete) 3 23 1 Pennsylvania 9 44 0 Connecticut 1 3 0 Maine Maryland 2 23 10 Massachusetts New Hampshire New York 2 13 Rhode Island Vermont TOTAL 50 302 33

The heads of households in North Carolina were:

Benjamin Busby Isaac Busby Jno. Busby Ezekel Busby Ephraim Buzby Henry Buzby Henry Busby Isham Buzby Jesse Buzby Phindull Buzby Phindull Buzby William Buzby William Buzby Edmond Buzby Federick Buzby Henry Buzby James Buzby John Buzby Thomas Jeremiah Buzby

The heads of households in South Carolina were:

Mary Buzby Mark Busby Nathaniel Busby Zach Busby Jeremeah Busby Thomas Busby Kneadom Busby John Busby Nathaniel Busby Benjamin Busby Henry Busby Nathan Busby Sherod Busby Robert Busby

The heads of households in Virginia were:

John Buzby (1782/84) Adam Buzby (1782) Edward Busbie (1790)

1790 Jacob Buzbee’s absence from the 1780 census indicates that he was not married, and was living with one of the Busbys in South Carolina after the death of his (presumed) father John Busby in 1778.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 173 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1792 Jacob was having financial problems, however. In the July term of court in Newberry County, this action occurred:

James Ward, Indorsee of Benjamin Adkins, Plaintiff vs. Jacob Buzbee, Defendant, In debt: This day came the plaintiff by William Nibbs, gent’l, his attorney into court and defend’t being solemnly called, came not. Upon Motion Ordered that a decree be entered against the said Jacob Buzbee & for the same Ben’j Atkins & the said Defendants in mercy. (Newberry Minutes, 1785-1798, July term, 1792, p. 473)

1795 Jacob Buzbee and J ANE probably were married about 1795. When the 1800 census was taken, Jacob and Jane were living in Newberry district, with two girls under 10 and a son under 10. When the 1810 census was taken, the Jacob Buzbees had four sons under 10; two daughters under 10; and daughter 10-16. The census also shows that the family had moved from Newberry district to Abbeville County, where Jacob’s younger brother, Stephen, and his family had located.

Stephan died in 1812. His estate showed the sale, 24 March 1812. Buyers included Elizabeth Busby (wife). Nov. 1, 1813, Elizabeth Buzbee was made guardian of Melina, Benjamin, Stephen, Micajah, John, Lewis --- all minors under 14; and Jane Buzbee, a minor over 14. Elizabeth died in 1828; Micajah, 1844; Stephen, Jr., 1836.

1810 The only other Buzbee in the county at the time was Isaac (b. 1756). In 1810, he listed his household as including a son (aged 10-16), and a daughter (aged 0-10), as well as wife (aged more than 45).

1816 On 4 December 1816, Jacob Busby sold two tracts of land in Lexington County to Thomas Burket. Burket paid $400 for 66 1/2 acres on Broad River, and $217.50 for 82 acres on Busby branch of Broad River. In the same county on 18 March 1822, Mary A. Buzby recorded her gift of livestock to Jacob Buzby. Jacob Buzby paid $1,000 to Daniel S. Russell for 75 acres on Broad River in November 1823. (The boundary lines of Lexington County and Newberry County were switched back and forth at the time. Residents in Dutch Fork are listed in both Newberry and Lexington records.)

1820 There is no record in the 1820 census of the Jacob Buzbee family, either in South Carolina or Alabama. His war record, however, states that they moved about this time to Alabama from South Carolina.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 174 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The children of Jane and Jacob Buzbee, Sr.: 1. William Buzbee (b. ca. 1802), married Elizabeth Rey, 11 July 1821 in St. Clair County, Ala. The marriage occurred about one year after the Jacob Buzbee family moved to the county.

2. Jane Buzbee (b. 1804), married Claiborn May (b. 1789 in S. C.) Jane and Claiborn May lived in St. Clair County, Ala., in 1830; Talladega County in 1840; and Coosa County in 1850. By this time, the Mays were believed to have had 12 or 13 children, and Claiborn abandoned them (to remarry and father yet another large family). Jane Buzbee May lived on in Coosa County during the Civil War, and in the 1860 census was shown living next door to Jeremiah Buzbee, and close to Jacob Buzbee, her brothers. (Family data provided by Mrs. R. Lonon, 411 N. Hawkins, Waxachacie, Texas, 1978)

3. Joshua Buzbee (b. 1806), m. (1st) Susan Moore, 28 August 1829, St. Clair County, Ala., then m. (2nd) Purmelia Fry in 1866., d. 1875, Hunt County, Tex.

4. Jacob Buzbee (b. 1810), married Lurena Allman, 14 March 1831, St. Clair County, Ala. , d. 1860, buried Macedonia Cem., Cleburn, Ark. Children included: a. Ellender (Ellen) Buzbee (b. 1832 in Alabama) m. John Taft, October 1857 b. William Buzbee (b. 1834 in Alabama), m. Charlotte Hope on 14 August 1856. (BROTHERS MARRIED SISTERS the same day: Charlotte Hope’s brother William Hope married Charlotte Buzbee on 14 August 1856.) c. Thomas Buzbee (b. 1836 in Alabama, d., Cleburne Co., Ark.) d. Charlotte Buzbee (b. 1838 in Alabama) m. William Hope 14 August 1856, in St. Clair County, Ala. “William Hope served in the 2nd Alabama Cavalry for the War. The muster roll for Company ‘G’, formed in Coosa County, also indicated several Buzbees in this same company. He died sometime after the birth of the other two sons (not cited in the 1860 census), and Charlotte moved with other Buzbees to Arkansas with the children. Two of them are listed in the Census (as nephews living with Joshua Memory Buzbee)” (William Squires, 1467 Brookvalley Lane, N.E., Atlanta, Ga. 30324) Their children: (1) Abner Wilson Hope (b. 6 November 1858) (2) Jacob Lawson Hope (4 October 1861-28 October 1944) (3) Johnny A. Hope (1866-1892) (4) William Ellison Hope (1 August 1869-24 July 1955) “William Ellison Hope told me on several occasions that his mother (Charlotte Buzbee Hope) married a schoolmaster in Arkansas. The man whipped a child in school on one particular day. That night, as the family kneeled in front of the fireplace for prayer, the child’s father broke into the house and shot the stepfather. Charlotte had to go several miles to get assistance. “In 1953, I graduated from high school here in Atlanta. My Grandfather and I went on a 2-week trip to Arkansas and other places in that part of the country. I remember that we stayed for several nights in Batesville, Ark. We went to a small backwoods church with a cemetery at the back. My grandfather selected a spot where he felt that Charlotte, his mother, was buried. No marker was ever placed at her grave....My Grandfather was a fine, Christian man, and meant more to me than I can describe. I suppose that this is one reason I am so interested in finding out more about his part of my family. So far, it has been a long, mostly fruitless search.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 175 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD “I find it interesting that the Buzbees seem to have picked up everything and everybody and moved to Arkansas. I am still curious as to why they made that move. It is also interesting that they seem to be scattered in different areas of that part of Arkansas.” (Letter to Richard E. Buzbee 8 October 1991, from William H. Squires, 1467 Brookvalley Lane, N. E. Atlanta, Ga. 30324)

William Ellison Hope married Martha Ann Smith on 22 February 1900. Their children: (a) Frank Benson Hope (b. 20 January 1901) (b) Mary Elizabeth Hope (b. 29 October 1903). Mary Elizabeth Hope m. Herbert Elwin Squires. Their son: William Herbert Squires (b. 2 June 1935) m. Marjorie Elizabeth Perkins 10 April 1965; they were living at 1467 Brookvalley Lane, N. E. Atlanta, Ga. 30324 in early 1990s. e. Isom Buzbee (b. 1840 in Alabama) f. John T. Buzbee (b. 27 November 1842 in Alabama) m. Susan Carlton John T. Buzbee was wounded in Civil War. Member of Co. G., 1st Regiment, Alabama Cavalry. Pension application approved 8 August 1918. g. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Buzbee (b. 1843 in Alabama) m. Newberry h. James (Jim) Buzbee (b. 2 Dec. 1845 in Alabama) m. (2) Lucinda Cates. i. Emeline Buzbee (b. 1846 in Alabama) m. Wade Hampton Smith. She died 30 August 1922; buried Old Lula cemetery, Pontotoc, Okla. j. Carter Kelly Buzbee (b. 1848 in Alabama, d. 13 April 1878) k. Joshua Memory Buzbee (13 October 1849-11 November 1902) married (1st) Sara Jane Trease 6 October 1872. Their children: (1) Rhoda Nancy Buzbee (5 June 1875-15 Aug. 1957) m. George W. Sisemore (2) William Edward Buzbee (b. 30 January 1876) m. Jane Sisemore (3) Roland Webster Buzbee (18 Aug. 1879-1 January 1972) m. Annie Parlee Norick. Their children and members of the family: (a) Dallas Paul Buzbee (3 December 1902-29 April 1968) m. Golden Stephens (b) Vernon Vance Buzbee (b. 24 October 1904) m. Laura Mae Compton (c) Clarence Otis Buzbee (b. 19 November 1907) m. Velva Rose Mott (d) Walter Arnold Buzbee (b. 5 December 1910) m. Lessie Hart (e) Nellie Mae Buzbee & Ellie Rae Buzbee (b. 3 March 1913-d., 8, 17 March1913) (f) Berlin Wilson Buzbee (b. 1916) m. Marie Ivy Eubanks on 3 September 1936 Their children: Lessie Colene Buzbee (b. 20 August 1937); Bessie Daphene Buzbee (b. 20 August 1937); Billy Gene Buzbee (b. 6 January 1940); Emmelene Buzbee (b. 6 January 1940); Larry Don Buzbee (b. 11 January 1944) (g) Ralph W. Buzbee (22 January 1920-6 June 1937) (h) Foster daughter: Naomi Alpha Bankston (b. 22 August 1917) (i) Niece of Parlee Norick Buzbee: Daisy Latine Evans (b. 2 April 1914) (4) Mary Lorana Buzbee (b. 28 August 1881) m. Robert L. Henderson (5) Carter Kelly Buzbee (b. 14 February 1886-13 April 1978) m. (1st) Nerva Hawkins (2nd) Nettie Stockton (3rd) Dora Cannon (6) Susan Elizabeth Buzbee (b. 8 February 1887) m. Walter Jeff Hester Joshua Memory Buzbee married (2nd) Jenny Barneycastle 24 April 1900. Their children: (a) Willie Buzbee (b) Memory Buzbee l. Mary Jane Buzbee (b. 25 September 1853 in Alabama, d. 11 July 1926), m. Joseph Martin Morgan. Son William Kellie Morgan m. Stella Plummer. m. Jerry Buzbee (b. Alabama) n. Jacob Buzbee (b. Alabama) o. Pink Buzbee (b. Alabama) m. Nancy J. Confederate veteran. Co. B., 12rth Regiment, Alabama Infantry. Widow’s pension approved 12 August 1902. (Family data provided by William Squires, Atlanta; Marie and Berlin Buzbee, Marlow, Okla., and others)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 176 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 5. Jeremiah (Jerry) M. Buzbee (b. 1813), married 3 times, died 3 May 1902 Of the four sons of Jane and Jacob Buzbee, Sr., most is known about Jeremiah M. Buzbee, their youngest. ✯ Jeremiah served in two American wars, the Creek Indian Wars, and the Civil War. ✯ He secured the highest rank of any of the Buzbees recorded in the 19th century (though not the 17th, 18th, or 20th). ✯ He became a father for the 22nd time at age 73. He outlived two of his three wives, and in his old age, on 8 February 1893, wrote about his family: This is as correct a statement as I can give, unless you want to no (know) how menney children I have in all, living and dead, I have not menney--- only 22 in round numbers...... Yours with respect,

Jeremiah was born in 1813 in Abbyville District, S. C.. Twenty years later, on 22 December 1833, he married Alla T. A. Ellison in St. Clair County before Justice of the Peace Samuel Banks. On 30 May 1836, Jeremiah enlisted in Capt. Patrick’s company, of the Alabama Volunteers for the Creek Indian War. He signed up for three years, and described himself then as having grey eyes, auburn hair, florid complexion, and a farmer by trade. Height was 5’8”. He was mustered in as a private, 19 June 1836, 18 miles below Ft. Mitchell. He was discharged the next month, on 31 July, at Montgomery, Ala.. From 1836 to 1842, he lived in St. Clair County, Ala.; from 1842 until 1844, at Talladega, Ala.; and from 1844 on, at Hissop, in Coosa County, Ala. Their children included: a. Hall Hudson Buzbee (3 Oct. 1834-June 1913) m. Mary Elizabeth Arnold At least 3 children (from 1860 census, Coosa County, Ala.): (1) William B. Buzbee (b. 1854) (2) Lewis L. Buzbee (b. 1856) (3) Elley Buzbee (b. 1858) b. Joshua Buzbee (b. 1835 in Alabama) c. Mary Buzbee (b. 1837 in Alabama, d. 17 March 1912.) Buried in Austin. d. John E. Buzbee (b. 1838 in Alabama, d. 17 March 912). Confederate veteran. 2nd Georgia Cavalry. Children: (1) Fannie Buzbee m. Lewis (2) James Andrew Buzbee (28 December 1864-14 April 1902), m. (1st) ?, one son: James Buzbee, m. (2nd) Mattie Jane Arnold (17 June 1872-16 February 1945). Their children: (a) Lela Mae Buzbee (30 April 1894-10 July 1976) m. Wm. Trimble Spratling (15 January 1892-6 December 1975). Their children: 1. Laris Nell Spratling (b. 10 September 1921) m. Henry E. Priesmeyer (17 February 1922-16 July 1971). Their children: a. Carol Priesmeyer (b. 14 February 1948) m. Roland L. Bronstad. Their children: (1) Amanda Suzanne Bronstad (b. 30 January 1975) and (2) Darin Michael Bronstad (b. 21 April 1977) b. Henry Richard Priesmeyer (b. 22 January 1951) m. Margaret Marion. Their children: (1) Matthew Harris Priesmeyer (b. 6 September 1977) (2) Meredith Lee Priesmeyer (b. 24 February 1984) 2. William T. Spratling, Jr. (9 August 1922-11 December 1940) (b) Maggie Lee Buzbee (b., d., 1895)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 177 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD (c) Robert Otho Buzbee (11 August 1896-27 November 1962) m. Jessie Tatem (24 February 1891-10 July 1984). Their son: 1. Robert Owen Buzbee (b. 26 June 1924) m. Evelyn Pollock. Their son: a. Kenneth Robert Buzbee (b. 5 November 1958) (d) William Russell Buzbee (3 January 1898-5 October 1981) m. Inez Jenkins (8 February 1902-18 July 1986). Their children: 1. Jocelyn Buzbee (b. 23 June 1922) m. Randolph H. Lewis. Their children: a. Lynne Lewis (b. 8 March 1949) m. Charles P. Goertz b. Lauren Lewis (b. 18 June 1951) m. (1st) Darrell Barker, (2nd) Gunar Mezaraups 2. Jack Russell Buzbee (b. 15 June 1925) (e) Grace Obero Buzbee (7 January 1899-30 April 1982) m. (1st) Earl Sessions and (2nd) Clarence Adams (1 January 1905-20 December 1985). Children: 1. Clyde Earl Sessions (b. 10 May 1921) 2. Carolyn Sessions (b. 25 October 1922) m. Alfred Kimbell 3. Joe Bob Sessions (b. 17 October 1925) m. (1st) Phyllis Wariner, (2nd) Anne Mertze. (f) Ouida Caroline Buzbee (b. 16 March 1900). e. Sarah Buzbee (b. 1840 in Alabama) f. Josephine Buzbee (b. 1842 in Alabama) g. Susan (Sue) Buzbee (b. 1844, Alabama) m. Johnson, lived, Romney, Tex. h. Martha Buzbee (b. 1846 in Alabama) i. Lote Buzbee (b. 1850 in Alabama) Jeremiah’s first wife, Alla, died in November of 1852. One of his records which was later to be filed in government search for his Indian War pension, showed that Alla Ellison Buzbee died in Calhoun County, Arkansas. (This is the area to which his brother, Joshua Buzbee and his wife Susan Moore Buzbee, had taken their six children only two years before, when Joshua and Susan sold property in Alabama and moved to Calhoun-Dallas county area., Arkansas.)

JEREMIAH MARRIED again, in 1854. His second wife was Martha Ann Scott. A dim record in Jeremiah’s handwriting indicates that Martha Ann and his children included: a. S. (Samuel) W. H. Buzbee (7 August 1856-5 May 1945), m. Eliza Pinson b. T. (Thompson) J. Buzbee and c. Ellie P. Buzbee (6 December 1859) d. J. C. (Jeremiah Clements) Buzbee (b. 11 January 1861) m. Lucy Ida White (b. 13 October 1861) in 1884 in Alabama. A farmer. He died 26 January 1936, of broncho-pneumonia, heart disease, senility and hypertension, in El Paso. Widow, Lucy Ida White Buzbee, died 13 November 1948, Brady, Tex., at age 87. Their children included: (1) Huie L. Buzbee (b. 1886 in Alabama) m. Willie May --. Their children: (a) Cecil Buzbee (b. 1908 in Texas) (b) Lillian Buzbee (b. 1909 in Texas) (c) Inez Buzbee (b. 1911 in Texas) (d) Corine Buzbee (b. 1913 in Texas) (e) Jerome Buzbee (b. 1915 in Texas) (f) Jewell Buzbee (b. 1918 in Texas) (2) Martha J. (Jenny) Buzbee (b. 1893 in Alabama) (3) Evie Buzbee (b. 1896 in Alabama) (4) Zebulum Buzbee (b. 1897 in Alabama) (5) Robert Clarence Busby (b. 1899 in Jewett, Tex.) m. Ruby T. Wilkerson (1915- 1993). He changed the spelling of his name. He died 12 July 1971, age 71. Children: (a) Ida Maude Busby (b. 1941) m. (1st) James Lloyd Lamp. Their children: 1. Dawn Lee Lamp (b. 1962) 2. Jeri Lynn Lamp (b. 1964) who m. Doug Gonzales in 1985 3. Lloyd Lamp, Jr., (b. 1970) Ida Maude Busby m. (2nd) Norman Olson (b. 1944). Son:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 178 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1. Erik Bradley Olson (b. 1974). (b) Coy Lee Busby (b. 1944) (c) Jerry Clifford Busby (b. 1946, d. 1993) (6) Otis (Otdes) Buzbee (b. 1904 in Texas) e. W. M. Buzbee, and f. J. M. Buzbee (b. 10 August 1863) g. W. S. Buzbee (b. 2 September 1867).

DURING THE TIME Jeremiah and Martha Ann Scott were married, Jeremiah began his duty in his second American war. He enlisted, 26 March 1862, in Coosa County, in 2nd Regiment, Alabama Cavalry, for a 3-year period in Capt. Ashley’s company. At the time, he was 48 years old, and was promptly elected a Second Lieutenant, who brought along a horse that was worth $325. Jeremiah resigned, 24 October 1862, and was succeeded by F. M. Allison (a relative of his then-deceased first wife, Allie Ellison?) Jeremiah’s name appears on a roster of the regiment as late as 12 November 1864, however. Martha Ann Scott Buzbee died 15 May 1884. A YEAR LATER, on 12 July 1885, Jeremiah married a 31-year-old widow, Susan Louvinie (May) Turner (b. 1854) at Hissop. Her first husband had died on 1 May 1883. Susan Louvinie and Jeremiah Buzbee had a daughter: a. Elsie (Elcey, as Jeremiah spelled it) V. Buzbee (b. 29 October 1886 --- when Jeremiah was 73 years old!) Jeremiah then was described as being a farrier and a blacksmith, with blue eyes, dark hair, and a height of 5’ 8”. He died, 3 May 1902, at Hissop in Coosa County, having been a recipient for more than nine years of his $8 a month pension for his Indian War services. Susan Louvinie, 48, filed her Indian War widow’s pension request 5 June 1902. Her lawyer was John S. Duffie (A relative or close friend?), Washington, D. C. She lived on for 31 years, and died at the age of 79 at Alpine, Ark., 30 November 1933. At that time, she had been receiving $27 a month widow’s pension for Jeremiah’s Indian War service of nearly a century before. In addition, the state of Arkansas paid her a widow’s pension for his Confederate service. That pension was approved 14 August 1902.

(Many Jeremiah Buzbee family lineage details were compiled by Ida Reno, 1007 Manor Dr., Victoria, Tex. 77901; and Berlin and Marie Buzbee, Rt. 3, Box 224, Marlow, Oklahoma, and provided to kin at their Buzbee reunions. Other data was generated by research into Department of the Interior, bureau of pensions, 19 January 1893, for Jeremiah’s handwritten application; the Indian War pension application by Louvinie Buzbee 5 June 1902; and the National Archives, for Civil War data on 2nd Lt. Jeremiah Buzbee, 2nd Alabama Cavalry.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 179 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1833: BUREAUCRACY doesn’t change: Jacob Buzbee’s first claim papers were returned to him: “you will readily perceive that objections exist, which must be removed.....(etc., etc.)...... You will, by compling with this request, greatly facilitate the investigation of your claim.” WAR DEPARTMENT, July 1833.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 180 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1824 On 10 December 1824, Jacob Buzbee gave personal property to his sons Jacob and Jeremiah Buzbee. (St. Clair County Book A, p. 55).

1829 Justice of the Peace Henry Carter presided at the wedding of Joshua Buzbee and Susan Moore 28 August 1829.

1830 The 1830 census shows the composition of the Jacob Buzbee family. In that census, Jacob is listed as being 60-70 years old; Jane, his wife, 50-60. There is a boy 15-20 (this would have been Jeremiah, who was 16 at the time, and who was to marry Allie Ellison, 22 December 1833, at the age of 19). There is a man 20-30 living with them (this would have been Jacob, who had been born in 1800, and who was to marry Lurena Allman, 14 March 1831). The 1830 census also discloses that living next door to the Jacob Buzbees was James Langford (aged 80-90) and his wife (50- 60). A number of other Langfords live nearby. This family will figure in court hearings in the coming years, when Jane, the widow, seeks a pension for Jacob’s Revolutionary services. James Langford will tell the court that he has known the family since their marriage.

Langford, at age 80 to 90 in 1830, is old enough to be Jane Buzbee’s father; and Joshua has the middle initial, “L.” Langford? Could Jane have been one of the older daughters of Mr. and Mrs. William Langford? (From a study of the 1800 census, in which in Newberry District, William (26-45), his wife (26-45), three sons under 10 and three daughters, (10-16), are listed). The only other Langford family listed in Newberry District at that time was Joab Langford, (26-45); wife (26-45); and daughter, presumably aged 16-25. The only Buzbee families included in the 1830 census for St. Clair, Ala., were the families of Jacob and Joshua (keeping in mind that Jeremiah and Jacob (Jr.), the younger sons, were still at home with Jacob.

1833 Jacob, Sr., filed his Revolutionary War pension claim in July of 1833, and then appeared before the court in St. Clair County in 1834 to complete the process that would lead to his $63.33 per year pension, beginning 4 March 1834. He collected his pension for five years, and died in St. Clair County, 22 August 1839, at the age of 79. He is buried in Ashville Cemetery, St. Clair County, Alabama.

1840 Further records from St. Clair County court, in which Judge James Rogan was still presiding, show that on 6 January 1840, Jacob’s widow, Jane, appeared before the judge to certify her claim under the Congressional act for widow’s benefits. The amount is not specified, though there is a receipt noted by her attorney, for $29.59, in Mobile, Ala., 1 May 1840:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 181 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The State of Alabama, St. Clair County: At a Regular Orphans Court, began and held in the Town of Ashville in the County and State aforesaid, on the first Monday in January 1840, it being the 6th day of the month. Be it Known, that before James Rogan, Judge of the County Court in and for Said County, Personally appeared Jane Buzbee and made oath in the form of Law that she is the widow of Jacob Buzbee, a Revolutionary Pensioner who departed this life on the 22nd day of August 1839. Also Personally appeared in Court, James Langard and made oath in due form of Law, That he has known the above named Jane Buzbee for the Space of thirty five Years and that she during that time and up to the 22nd day of August did live with and was the lawful wedded wife of Jacob Buzbee a Revolutionary Pensioner, who departed this life on the aforesaid 22nd day of August 1839. Sworn and Subscribed to the day and date above written. James Rogan, Judge of C. C.

James Langard, who may have been a relative, signed the document:

The clerk who certified the document was Joshua W. Hooper. In an entry to Special Orphan Court, 18 November 1842, in Birmingham, Ala., p. 434, it is recorded that Elbert J. Gibson, Sheriff, was appointed administrator of the estate of Jacob Buzbee. Joshua W. Hooper was one of the creditors of the estate.

1842 Jane Buzbee died in the fall of 1842. She is buried in Ashville Cemetery, St. Clair County, with her husband, Jacob Buzbee.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 182 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD JOSHUA L. BUZBEE (born 1806, died 1875)

1806 Joshua Buzbee and Susan Moore, were born in St. Clair County, in 1806 and 1807 respectively. They were married in St. Clair County, Ala., 28 August 1829. In about 1850, they moved to Dallas County, Ark. On 1 July 1859, under the name of President James Buchanan, Joshua L. Buzbee was granted 40 acres in Calhoun County, which had been created in 1850 from Dallas County. Three years earlier, Stephen Buzbee of Saline County had been granted 160 acres 10-12 miles south of Benton, in Grant County, Ark., under the name of President Franklin Pierce.

The children of Joshua and Susan Moore Buzbee were:

1. William J. Buzbee (b. 24 October 1830 in Alabama) William J. Buzbee traveled 450 miles to join the action of the Civil War in 1861, as indicated on a Company Muster-in Roll. He was 31 years old, then living with the family in Arkansas. He was mustered in 17 August 1861 at a camp near Mount Vernon, Mo. His rank was private, Capt. McColloch’s company, South Arkansas regiment. A muster roll for 17 August to 1 November 1861 noted that he was sick at Camp Jackson, Ark., but had been appointed 4th Sergeant --- which was a rank higher than any of his brothers got, and also higher than his grandfather got in the Revolutionary War. His name appears on a company muster roll for 17 August to 31 December 1861, and that he was discharged at that time, having been paid “at no time” during 1861. A muster roll for Co. A, 4th Reg’t, Arkansas Infantry, 28 February to 30 June 1862, however, shows he had been paid to 31 October by Capt. Walker. The pay was $40. His name appeared on the muster rolls from February through October 1862, despite the continued notation that he had been “discharged Dec. 4, 1861 in Benton County, Ark.” In South Arkansas after the war, he married Martha J. Oliver (3 January 1846-3 March 1917). Her widow’s pension was approved 11 August 1905 by the state of Arkansas. Their children included: a. Susan E. Buzbee (27 July 1866-29 August 1871) b. Mary C. Buzbee (24 December 1870-18 November 1872) c. Frances Burr Buzbee (1871- ) d. John Duffie Buzbee (31 March 1872-10 April 1921)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 183 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD John Duffie Buzbee married Clara Ritchie (1878-1944). Land grant: 30 March 1904, under name of Pres. T. Roosevelt, 80 acres, Calhoun County. They had three sons: (1) William Jack Buzbee (6 October 1899-20 January 1950) m. Ruth Mae Watson (30 September 1899-3 March 1971) Their children: (a) Joseph Gerald (1924); (b) Charles Ray (1926); (c) John Duffie (1927); (d) Mary Lou (1929); (e) Billy Joe, Sr. (1932); (f) William Tom (1935); and (g) Lillie Mae (1940). Daughter (27 August 1928-16 September 1928). Billy Joe Buzbee, Sr. (b. 18 October 1932) m. Joan Carol Brown 2 February 1956. Their children: Kathy Darlene Buzbee (1959); Patty Charlene (1959); Michael Gregory (1963-1963); Billy Joe Buzbee, Jr. (1968) (2) John Carl Buzbee (25 August 1903-26 November 1943) m. Nettie Tomlinson (2 May 1911-25 January 1998) and lived in Hampton. Nettie Tomlinson Buzbee died at Dallas County Nursing Home, Fordyce. (Helen Buzbee had moved into the home three weeks earlier. Nettie, however, had been ill with pneumonia the period.) Nettie was survived by two sons, Neal Buzbee, Hampton, and Carlton Buzbee, Baton Rouge, La.; three daughters, Juanita Shoalmire, Converse, La.; Joyce Gresham, Chambersville; Doris Looney, Bryant; 15 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren. Buried at Campground Cemetery. (3) Troy Edward Buzbee (18 January 1906-6 December 1988) lived near Hampton e. Martha Pearl Buzbee (1875) f. Jeptha L. Buzbee (14 March1879-26 November 1943) The elder William Buzbee died 16 February 1887. Martha J. Buzbee recorded 40 acres in Calhoun county, 10 August 1894, granted under the name of President Grover Cleveland. Martha Buzbee died 3 March 1917. She, William, and the children are buried in the Campground Cemetery near Fordyce, Ark. 2. Francis F. Buzbee (b. 1832 in Alabama) 3. John Duff Buzbee (b. 1836 in Alabama) John D. Buzbee received a patent for 80 acres in Calhoun County, Ark., on 1 April 1861, in a federal grant under the name of President Lincoln. However, within a year, John Duff was fighting the federal government. John D. Buzbee enlisted 5 July 1862 with Col. Grinsted at Camden, and became a private in Company G, 24th Regiment, Arkansas Infantry. The enlistment was noted for 3 years, and he was reported present for July and August, 1863, stationed near Little Rock. At that time, he had been paid last, by Capt. McGee to April 30, 1863 (and thus was presumably four months underpaid at the time.) Another roll for Company F of Dawson’s Regiment, Arkansas Infantry, of January- February 1864, show that same enlistment and pay data, but that Duff “deserted, Sept. 10, 1863.” However, his name appears on a list dated 27 January 1864 at Camp Bragg, of men attached to Company E, Dawson’s Regiment, Arkansas Infantry, but “now in the cavalry service without authority.” He was with Company E, Wright’s Battalion, Arkansas Cavalry. (Was there a Buzbee connection to the Duffies? In 1902, Washington attorney John Duffie was Susan Louvinie Buzbee’s lawyer as she filed a claim for her widow’s pension from Jeremiah Buzbee’s Indian War services. Within the Joshua Buzbee family, three sons were named John Duff or John Duffie between 1837 and 1927. In 1837, Joshua and Susan Moore Buzbee named their third son, John Duff. Their second son, William Buzbee, named one of his sons, John Duffie in 1872. One of John Duffie’s grandsons, in 1927, was named John Duffie.)

4. Safronia Buzbee (b. 1837 in Alabama)

5. Mary J. Buzbee (b. 1840 in Alabama)

6. Catherine Buzbee (b. 1841 in Alabama) Catherine Buzbee was born 27 November 1841. She married a Drummond, and lived near the Buzbees in the Thornton area of Dallas-

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 184 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Calhoun counties. She died 18 December 1892, and is buried at Mean Cemetery near Hampton, Ark.

7. Susan A. (Clementine) Buzbee, (b. 4 September 1844, d. 4 June 1912) Susan A. (Clementine) Buzbee was born 4 September 1844, and lived near her sister, Catherine, and other relatives in South Arkansas. She married James Sullivan. Their children included: a. James Sullivan (1868-1887) b. Thomas Sullivan (1870-1887) c. James Andrew Sullivan (1872-1912) (Upon his birth in 1906, Edgar Andrew Buzbee was named after James Andrew Sullivan.) Clem Buzbee Sullivan died 4 June 1912, having survived her husband 28 years. All are buried in Mean Cemetery, near Hampton, Ark. d. Leona C. Sullivan (1874-1891)

8. Wesley M. Buzbee, (b. 12 January 1850 in Dallas County, Ark. On 19 February 1890, Wesley M. Buzbee married Josephine Roberts in Hunt County, Tex. Before his death, he told his son, Bluford Aubra Buzbee that his (Wesley’s) grandfather had served during the Revolutionary War. He also gave B. A. Buzbee parts of a rifle which he said had been used by the grandfather in the War. (Wesley Buzbee’s grandfather was Jacob Buzbee.) Wesley M. Buzbee died 18 January 1918, in Denton County, Tex. (a) B. A. and Clara Cantrell Buzbee had two sons: (1) James Meredith Buzbee (b. 3 February 1930) (2) Charles Aubra Buzbee (b. 25 October 1933.), Mineral Wells, Tex.

1864 During the Civil War, in 1864, Susan Moore Buzbee, the first wife of Joshua Buzbee, died. In 1866, Joshua L. Buzbee married again. He was 60 years old, and chose a widow, whose husband had died about the time that Joshua’s first wife, Susan, had died. Joshua’s second wife was Purmelia J. Fry.

Illustrations from “The Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee,” Williamson, 1895, a book Mother Darling kept in her library. She signed it, “Mrs. H. H. Darling,” and appears to have paid 45 cents for it.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 185 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Purmelia Fry Buzbee, ca. 1898

PURMELIA FRY (born 1841, died 1912)

HER STORY: “Permelia J. Fry was born in North Carolina in Stokes County. Was carried to Arkansas at the age of Seven (7) years in Calhoun County, near a country Town called Chambersville; married a man at the age of Sixteen (16) years by the name of M. V. Ratcliff (Ratliff). He departed this life in the year 1864. Left me with one little girl, and in the year 1866 I was married to J. L. Buzbee. He departed this life in the year of 1875, leaving me with four (4) children. I raised them the best I could and the nearest to God I could.

“She and her husband were faithful Episcopal Methodists until the last. She is now living in a Town called Thornton, in Calhoun County, Arkansas, in three miles of the place she was raised. Joined the Episcopal Methodist Church at the age of Thirteen (13) years, and joined the Masonic Lodge at the age of Twenty-Two (22)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 186 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD years. She will be Fifty-six (56) years of age in June 20th, 1896. All her children are grown and married. This is the life so far of “Permelia J. Buzbee”

Purmelia had several brothers, and at least one sister, Sarah C., who was born 16 May 1826. Sarah married John F. Ellis (28 May 1828-4 January 1919), and died 10 August 1870. Sarah, John Ellis, and several of Purmelia’s brothers are buried in unmarked graves in the Chambersville, Ark., cemetery. Her daughter, Delia Ratcliff, married George Wilman. They had three sons, Bell, Carl, and Dee.

Ratcliff dies in midst of Civil War No details are known of the death in 1864 of her first husband, M. V. Ratcliff. However, the only significant Civil War action in South Arkansas took place that year. In March of 1864, seven weeks before the Union authorities launched their massive “win the war” offense against the Confederate armies in Virginia and Georgia, they inaugurated the Red River campaign, part of which involved the convergence of two Federal columns, one an amphibious force, the other a land force commanded by Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele, which was to go from Little Rock to Shreveport. Steele didn’t get very far. And the reason he didn’t centers on South Arkansas, and the area where Purmelia and M. V. Ratcliff lived. A diary of one of the invading Union troops had this entry: “(The country) is poor low & flat, mostly covered with a pine & cyprees the ground is verry sandy ..... & no improvements to amount to anything; & nearly all the women claim to be widows a fiew acknowledge their husbands are in the rebel army, & when their Negroes want to follow our train they sometimes cry aloud & say that if they go away, that them & their children will be left to starve but their tears & intreatys have but little impression on the Negroes, they seem to have a thirst for freedom...... ” And another diarist in the 36th Iowa reported: “The rebs robbed nearly every man of us even to our Chaplain & many of our dead they striped of every stitch of clothes even their shirts & socks and left them unburyed & the woods on fire & many of the wounded they jurked of their boots, blouses, pants & hats, & as they would plead to have their garments left they would damn them for abolitionests or niger thieves, & they also took from many of the prisoners some of the garments they had on some they took their boots, some blouses, some pants & some hats & they had no respect for persons rank or age. Old Capt. Moss of the 43rd Indiana Infantry they took his hat & marched him bareheaded with his bald head & white locks and beard in the burning sun.” Another side of the story, however, was recalled by residents of the area. Purmelia Fry Ratliff and the daughter, Delia Ratcliff, continued to live at their home near Chambersville.

Purmelia gets her blankets back In later years, Permelia told her family of the desperate days after the Yankee soldiers stole their property...... and how she got some of her blankets back: She followed them, and after nearby skirmishes and battles, retrieved blankets from the dead soldiers. At the end of the war, she had no money to pay the post-war taxes, and the property was lost to carpetbaggers, according to family legend.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 187 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD IN 1866, Purmelia Fry Ratcliff married the widower, Joshua L. Buzbee. She was 25. He was 60. Their children:

1. Ida Buzbee (b. 12 April 1867) m. Lawrence Draher, and lived in Detroit. They had three sons, including Paul, Otto. After Ida’s death, Draher went to Texarkana, and married the then-widowed Mattie Buzbee Carroll. But the two later separated, and he returned to Detroit.

2. Edgar Farrior Buzbee (b. 22 August 1869)

3. Mattie Buzbee m. (1st) William Carroll, and (2nd) Lawrence Draher. Mattie and William Carroll lived and died, at Texarkana, Ark. The Carrolls had five children, including Don, Johnnie, Verna, Ferrell. (The Edgar Buzbee family visited “Aunt Mattie” in Texarkana several times during the ‘40s. On one visit, Edgar’s car broke down, and he, Helen and the rest camped out on “pallets” that night on the living room floor of a helpful family near the breakdown spot.)

After Mattie Buzbee’s birth, the family of Joshua L., Purmelia, Ida, Edgar Farrior, and Mattie, moved to Greenville, Tex., where some of Joshua’s sons by the earlier marriage were living. Joshua died in 1875 in Hunt County, Tex. With the assistance of her brothers who had remained in South Arkansas, Purmelia returned to Calhoun County, Ark., with the three children. On 8 August 1876, she bought 40 acres, a tract that would stay in the family more than a century, and ultimately be owned by her son, Edgar F.; her grandson, Edgar A.; and her great-grandsons, Bobby Dale and Richard E.

As her family would do for decades, she used the 40 acres as security for loans. On 16 February 1883, she mortgaged it for $110. She renewed the note 26 January 1884 for $110; 2 April 1886 for $100; and 2 March 1887 for $100, all at @10% interest rates. She sold 1 acre to the Primitive Baptist Church on 4 June 1886. The church paid her $10. On 10 March 1892, she transferred the farm to the 23-year-old Edgar Farrior, who would live there with his young bride, Mary, then 21. He bought her a home in nearby Thornton, where she would live until shortly before her death. At that time, she returned to the farm to be assisted by her son and his family.

1912 Purmelia Fry Ratliff Buzbee died 19 December 1912, and is buried in the Chambersville, Ark., cemetery adjacent to unmarked graves of her brothers, and the marked grave of her sister, Sarah. Her name is spelled, Permelia, on the stone.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 188 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

Edgar Farrior Buzbee, ca. 1880, and ca. 1898. This drawing is similar to one made of Lindsey and Mary Saunders at about the time that Edgar Farrior met Jennie Justice Saunders.

EDGAR FARRIOR BUZBEE (born 1869, died 1951)

YOUNG EDGAR FARRIOR (FARRAR) BUZBEE fought more than the elements in the poor, sandy soil of South Arkansas before the turn of the century. One of his favorite stories about his early days near Thornton disclosed that he had chased wolves from the house, using hot pokers as his weapons. He had been born 22 August 1869, and had lived briefly in Texas before coming back to Thornton in about 1875, on the death of his 69-year-old father, Joshua. Edgar Farrior Buzbee was 6 in 1875.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 189 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD MARY L. (EVANS?) and Edgar Farrior Buzbee were married in 1890. She was 19. He was 21. Mary was the step-daughter of a Capt. Evans, in Hampton. On 10 March 1892, with agreement from her daughters, Ida (Draher), Mattie (Carroll), and Delia Ratcliff Wilman), Purmelia transferred to Edgar Farrior her 40- acre homestead, where the young couple would make their home. Edgar F. bought Purmelia a home in Thornton, where he worked as a lumber checker in the planer mill, Stout Lumber Co. On 23 April 1892, Edgar F. conveyed 2 acres to Pilgrim’s Rest Church. The transfer included the earlier 1-acre purchase by the Primitive Baptist Church, and provided space for a cemetery adjacent to the church. The price for the second acre was the same as the first: $10. 25 February 1894 Their daughter, Ida M. Buzbee, was born, and then within six weeks, Edgar F. added to the Buzbee farm. On 11 April 1894, he bought 30 adjacent acres from Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Easterling. He paid $75.

Ida M. Buzbee lived only three more months. She died 22 July 1894. Her mother, Mary L. Buzbee (b. 12 April 1871), died the following year, shortly after her 24th birthday, on 29 April 1895. Mary and Ida are buried in the Mean cemetery, near Hampton. Their graves are adjacent to that of Capt. Evans (1818-1904). On 29 June 1898, at the age of 29, Edgar F. Buzbee married again. This time to Jennie Justice Saunders, who had lived in Arkansas six months. She was 18.

JENNIE JUSTICE SAUNDERS was born 26 March 1880 in McNairy County, Tenn., where the Sanders had once been the county’s largest family. The family traced its roots to a Baptist preacher, Laurence Sanders, who was burned at the stake in 1555 as a heretic in the reign of Queen Mary of England (Bloody Mary).

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 190 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD PART 4

Saunders, Rooke, Stanford, Landreth & Justice

Burned at the Stake Admiral Sir George Rooke The Saunders in Colonial America A ‘Notorious Pyrate’ at age 15 A price on John Sanders’ head Joel Sanders Benjamin Sanders Thomas Saunders Lindsey Saunders Lindsey Saunders, Jr. Jennie Justice Saunders Her poems: The Buzbees The Dear Old Home No room for whining A Jittery Tale

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 191 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

Victims being burned at the stake were illustrated by woodcut in the 1557 edition of Lycosthenes’ Chronicon Prodigiorum. This reproduction is from Bill’s rare-book collection. The arms are Sanders.

LAURENCE SAUNDERS was one of about 300 persons sent to the stake during the last three years of the queen’s reign. The victims were considered not so much victims of Bloody Mary, as victims of the return of old laws against heresy.

Three quarters of a century later (early 1600s) descendants of Laurence Saunders emigrated from England. Richard Sanders was living in Virginia in 1623; Thomas Saunders (b. Amsterdam, Holland) emigrated to New Amsterdam in 1636. He has been identified in one published record as a great grandson of the Rev. Lawrence Saunders, the Martyr, burned at Coventry, 1555. Many members of the Sanders family emigrated to Virginia in the period 1663-1678, and in about 1785, Thomas Sanders (great-grandson of Joel Sanders (born ca. 1720, died 2 February 1782) married Elizabeth Rooke. (Thomas Sanders data: Complete American Army & Blue Book, Matthews, p. 67)

Though Elizabeth Rooke was an orphan at the time of her marriage, she, too had a traceable ancestry which included, on her mother’s side (Stanford) descent from a younger brother of the English Lord Stanford, and Marie Wills, of Germany; and on her father’s side, direct descent from Admiral Sir George Rooke. History hasn’t treated Admiral Sir George Rooke too kindly. In fact, one eminent historian, Sir Winston Churchill, said that Admiral Rooke was rather gutless, on occasion. The Encyclopedia Americana is somewhat more gentle.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 192 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Admiral Sir George Rooke Admiral Sir George Rooke, Royal Navy

“At an early age, he entered the Royal Navy and in 1689 commanded a squadron at the siege of Londonderry, was knighted for his burning of six French ships at Barfleur in 1692, and in 1694, became one of the lords commissioners of the admiralty, and an admiral.” The encyclopedia adds that “he distinguished himself in the fight between the French and Spanish fleets in Vigo Bay (1702), and at the capture of Gibraltar in July, 1704. (Encyclopedia America) But Churchill, in his “History of English Speaking Peoples,” (vol. 3) is more descriptive. He relates:

“William III had realized the importance to England of the Mediterranean and the harbors guarding its entrance. English trade with Levant was seriously threatened by French ambition, and the French enthronement in Spain jeopardized English commercial interests. A powerful fleet and army sailed for Cadiz at the end of July under the Duke of Ormonde and Admiral Sir George Rooke. The commanders lacked the nerve to force the harbour upon the first surprise, and yielded themselves to what seemed the easier course.

“Troops were landed to capture the forts on the shore, and a prolonged series of desultory operations ensued, accompanied by pillage and sacrilege, tales of which spread far and wide throughout Spain. Meanwhile, the defence grew continually stronger. A boom was placed across the entrance and ships were sunk in the channel by the enemy. After a month it was decided to reembark the soldiers and sail for home.

“The ignominy was relieved by a lucky windfall. As Rooke and Ormonde, on the worst of terms, and each blaming the other, were

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 193 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD returning disconsolately home, news was brought that the Spanish Treasure Fleet with millions from the Indies aboard had run into Vigo Bay. Excited councils of war ensued. It was decided to raid the harbour. The lure of gold and the sting of Cadiz inspired the leaders, and at last they let loose their brave men, who fought with indomitable fury.

“By sundown they were masters of Vigo Bay. The entire fleet was sunk, burned or captured. Not one ship escaped. The treasures of the Indies were frantically carried inland on mules before the action, but enough remained for the victors to bear home a million sterling to sustain the Treasury and appease Parliament.

“In spite of this, a searching inquiry was ordered into the conduct of Rooke and Ormonde at Cadiz. Marlborough, who had approved the expedition, and had looked upon the capture of Cadiz as a stepping stone to the entry of the Mediterranean and the seizure of Minorca, intervened to protect the impugned commanders.

“Had they shown at Cadiz one-half of the spirit of Vigo Bay, the sea-Powers would have been the masters of the Mediterranean in 1703.”

However, 1704 was better for the admiral, Churchill wrote:

“In May, 1704, a powerful Anglo-Dutch fleet under Admiral Rooke entered the inland sea. This was the prelude to a lasting naval triumph. Reinforced by a squadron under Sir Cloudesley Shovell, Rooke turned his attention in July to the Rock of Gibraltar. This fortress was then little more than a roadstead, but the possibilities of its commanding position at the gateway of the Mediterranean were already recognized. After bombardment, the Rock was taken on August 4.”

On 13 August 1704, Rooke’s fleet fell in with a French fleet of equal strength, under the Comte de Toulous, off Malaga, and a nearly day-long battle ensued. Both fleets suffered severe losses of men and ships in inconclusive action. News of the Malaga “victory” reached England during the celebration over Blenheim, and Rooke’s name was put forward for honors with Marlborough’s. But being a Tory, he suffered from jealousies of the dominant Whigs. (History of English Speaking Peoples, Churchill, vol. 3)

1784 About 80 years later, his descendant Elizabeth Rooke was born. At the age of 18, she married Thomas Saunders. Thomas was the great-grandson of Joel Sanders (born ca. 1720, died 2 February 1782). Joel moved his family to South Carolina in 1762 from Virginia, and an area to which many members of the Sanders family had been living since their arrival in America in the mid 1600s.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 194 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD THE SANDERS IN COLONIAL AMERICA

1623 Richard Sanders was living in Virginia in 1623. Thomas Saunders (b. Amsterdam, Holland) came to New Amsterdam in 1636. At least 17 members of the Sanders family emigrated to Virginia, or were born in Virginia in the mid-1600s. They and the date by which they are known to have been in Virginia, were: Dr. Edward Sanders...... 1662 Thomas Sanders...... 1668 George Sanders...... 1663 Elizabeth Sanders...... 1668 William Sanders...... 1666 Mary Sanders...... 1668 Francis Sanders...... 1666 John Sanders...... 1669 Henry (Han) Sanders...... 1666 Jane Sanders...... 1678 Hugh Sanders...... 1667 Richard Sanders...... 1679 James Sanders...... 1667 Ann Sanders...... 1671 Mark Sanders...... 1667 Isaih Sanders...... 1684 Robert Sanders...... 1667

Ann and Thomas Sanders were transported to America by Daniel Jennifer and his wife, Ann; Francis and Henry by Francis Triplett; Edward and William by Henry Pewe; John and Richard by Jno. Grimes, and by Robt. Bolling as well. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2)

1668 By 28 August 1668, Dr. Edward Sanders was a large landowner in Lancaster and Northumberland counties.

MR. EDWARD SANDERS, 206 acs., N’umberland Co., S. side Gr. Wiccocomico Riv., 28 Aug. 1668, p. 164. On N. side of a br. dividing this & land of Thomas Sallisbury, on S. side of a br.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 195 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD dividing this & land of Tho. Lane. &c. Trans. of 4 pers: Mary Morgan, Mary Walker, Kno. Brookes, Leo. Sotherby. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 43)

MR. EDWARD SANDERS, 3747 acs. bet. Lancaster & N’umberland Co.’s upon Dameron’s Cr., 14 Dec 1669, p. 270. Adj. land sold by John Hopper to sd. Sanders; on a br. of Coretoman Riv., E’wd from Machotick foot path, &c; 207 acs. on N. side of a br. dividing this from land of Thomas Salisbury, Tho. Lane & his own; 640 acs. on S. side of Gr. Wiccocomico Riv. 2900 acs granted him 5 Mar. 1662; 207 acs. granted him 28 Aug. 1668; 640 acs. for trans. of 13 pers; Jno. Richard, Jno. Brookes, Susan Wheritt, Edwd. Jacob, Wm. Batts, Eliz. Couchanshaw (?), Rich. Otter, James Allen, Tho. Walterman, Tho. Harris, Sara ---- , Eliz. Jermin, Tho. Prescott. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 69)

Francis Sanders owned at least 130 acres by June of 1669.

MR. FRANCIS SANDERS, 130 acs., James Citty Co., at the head of Jones Cr. of Chickahominy Riv; a little above the Mill. June 1669, p. 246. 100 acs. part sold by Honable. Sir Wm. Berkeley unto Wm. Dubosse, who assigned to Mr. Edward Gannell & by him to sd. Sanders; 30 acs. for trans. of: Hen. Muston. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 62)

And by 1683, Francis Sanders had added 600 acres in Nansemond.

FRANCIS SANDERS, 600 acs., Up. Par. of Nansimund, att King Sale, 16 Apr. 1683, p. 260. Beg. at Thomas Titus & Nicholas Dixon; to Reedy Br; crossing Cabbin Sw; adj. Jonathan Robinson & Richard Thomas. Trans. of 12 pers: Cha. Colket, Jos. Bennet, Jon. Coffer, Jon. Butler, Robt. Owen, Edwd. Pickery, Jon. Walker, Tho. Ross, Margart. Clerk, Richd. Hill, Joan Hill, Tho. Hill. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 258)

George Sanders (in partnership with William Peawde) received 1000 acres in James City County, 11 February 1663. George Sanders died before 26 September 1678, as Peawde patented the land in his name, as the survivor at that time. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 229)

John Sanders and his wife, Susanna (Ravenett), owned 650 acres in Warwick County by 5 July 1669.

MR. JOHN SANDERS, 650 acs. Warwick Co., Mulberry Is. Par. on Skiffes Cr., 5 July 1669. p. 282. On E. side of a Spring called Jacob’s Well, a gutt dividing this from land of Capt. Robt. Pyland, adj. Mr. Holy Alsupp’s fence near the Cart path., &c. 500 acs. part leased to Jacob Avery 2 Feb. 1630 for 21 yrs., afterwards granted to Wm. Ravenett by 3 pattents; 150 acs. 21 Nov. 1635; 250 acs. 23 Sept.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 196 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1636; 100 acs 20 Feb. 1638, who gave to his daughter Susanna now wife of sd. Sanders by his will dated 20 Mar. 1656; 150 acs. for trans. of 3 pers: Tho. Dowin, Edw. Hoard (or Heard), Cisley Jorden. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 71)

John Sanders was in partnership with Jonathan Robinson and Richard Thomas, in assembling a 1,650-acre tract in Isle of Wight and Nansemond Counties in 1681.

JONATHAN ROBINSON, RICHARD THOMAS & JOHN SANDERS. 1650 acs. in Is. of W. & Nanzemond Co.’s; S. side King Saile Sw; adj. Tho. Titus & Nico. Dickson; 23 Apr. 1681, p. 72. Trans. of 33 pers; Rand. Hill, Richd. Allen, Jno. Golley (or Gollry), Math. Foster, Bar. Holland, Ja. Gilfred, Wm. Taylor, Kno. Rossier, Jos. Wigmore, Peter Stone, Wm. Mansfeild, Jno. Simons, Jno. Taylor, Ja. Perry, Marg. Curtell, An. Thorne, Ja. Evins, Jno. Bevin, Wm. Nash, Wm. Nodedge, Jno. Ford, Ian. Plumer, Robt. Relph, Cha. Alden, Phill. Pope, Jeffry Pittman, Jno. Critchell, Godf. Davis, Simon Collier, Hugh Edwards, Ja. Peacock, Tho. Blith, Wm. Nash. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 217)

John Sanders patented a small tract thanks to his wife, Sarah:

JOHN SANDERS & ROBERT ROBERTS, 7 1/2 acs. of marsh land, on E. side of King’s Cr; adj. 50 acs. belonging to them in right of their wives Sarah & Mary; 20 Apr. 1694, p. 380. Imp. of 1 pers. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 394)

Richard Sanders patented 300 acres in Nansemond County, 10 July 1680.

RICHARD SANDERS, 300 acs., in the Up. Par. of Nanzemund; at the head of Capt. John Mason, in the W’n br; adj. Michaell Hill, now sd. Sanders’ land; John Wallis; & Thomas Garnygan; etc; 10 July 1680, p. 39. Trans. of 6 pers. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 210)

Thomas Sanders patented 165 acres in Nansemond County, 30 October 1686, the same day that William Sanders patented another 165-acre tract alongside.

THOMAS SANDERS, 165 acs., Up. Par. of Nanzemond Co., 30 Oct. 1686, p. 526. Adj. Gresham Copbell; & Wm. Sanders; by Dumplin Island Cr; down Nanzemond River, to mouth of Hollyday’s Cr. 100 acs. part of 200 acs. granted to Epaphraditus Lawson, 1 Nov. 1637, which, after severall surrenders & descents, is in possession of sd. Sanders; 65 acs for tran. of 2 pers: Richard Bonner, Charles Hoggett. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 301)

William Sanders had patented 175 acres in Nansemond County on 30 April 1679. WM. SANDERS, 175 acs., in the Up. Par. of Nansemond Co., by

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 197 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Dumplin Island Cr., at the head of Mr. Jno. Wright’s land; neere the Ridge; by the John Murdah; &c; 30 Apr. 1679, p. 678. Being part of 500 acs. granted to Argall Yardley, Esqr., 6 Feb. 1637, which, after severall sales, &c., from diverse persons, descended to & is in possession of sd. Sanders. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 196)

William Sanders’ 165-acre tract in Nansemond County, 30 October 1686:

WILLIAM SANDERS, 165 acs., Up. Par. of Nanzemond Co., 30 Oct. 1686, p. 527. Beg. on Dumpling Is. Creek, cor. of Capt. Jossy; to Thomas Sanders, &c. 100 acs. part of patt. granted to Epaphraditus Lawson, 1 Nov. 1637, which, after severall surrenders, is in fee possest by sd. Sanders; 65 acs. for trans. of 2 pers: Wm. Nickolls, John Read. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 2, p. 301)

1678 Benjamin Sanders was granted a ticket to New York 18 March 1678 in the ketch, “Begining,” William Play, commander.

William Sanders (b. 1663) emigrated to Maryland with a 4-year indenture to Capt. Phineas Hide. The indenture was signed 26 July 1684, and witnessed by William Daniell. William Sanders signed the document. (Some Early Immigrants to America, Vol. 1, p. 377)

1691 Henry Sanders’ land in Isle of Wight Co., was used to describe an adjacent tract, 20 October 1691. In 1698, he patented 118 acres in the county.

HENRY SANDERS, 118 acs. Low. Par. of Is. of Wight Co., near King Sale, 26 Apr. 1698, p. 148. Adj. Thomas Parker; Edward Felwell; John Bryant; & John Roberts. Trans. of 3 pers: Wm. Woodnot, Jno. Didall, Tho. Spoylet. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3, p. 21)

John Sanders was identified as a merchant of London in an indenture in which George Mason emigrated to Barbados. The indenture was signed 3 March 1683. (Some Early Immigrants to America, Vol. 1, p. 357)

1696 John Saunders was master of the brigantine “Cocke” of Virginia in 1696. The ship was presumably owned by Thomas Cocke, who was listed as security for the performance bond in compliance with the acts of Navigation for the colony, 3 July 1699. (Executive Journals, Councils of Colonial Virginia, p. 53)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 198 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD ‘NOTORIOUS PYRATES’ in VIRGINIA WILLIAM SANDERS, 15, IS SOUGHT

SOME OF THE SAUNDERS family had a distinctive nautical flavor after the leadership of Master John Saunders on the “Cocke.” But the flavor changed:

Young William Saunders (b. 1684) was 15 years old in 1699, and fell in with what the Governor of Virginia clearly thought was foul and despicable company. On 20 December 1699, the Governor issued a Proclamation that declared young William was a “Notorious Pyrate” who had participated in seizing the ship, “Adventure,” and her cargo worth 13,000 pounds sterling. The governor put a price of 20 pounds sterling on young William’s head for his part in the (alleged) seizure of the ship, and described young William as having ordinary stature, black hair, and “well sett.” The rest of William’s piratical colleagues, however, were a rum lot, described as being “remarkably deformed,” “swarthy,” “sickly complexion,” “rawboned,” or “squint-eyed.” All, alas, were described as horrible and heinous offenders:

By His Excellency A Proclamation Whereas several Notorious Pyrates that forcibly and pyratically carried away the ship Adventure of London & her Cargo of the value of thirteen thousand pounds Sterling or thereabouts may be suspected to lurk about upon the coast of his Majesty’s Colony and Dominion of Virginia and may endeavor to conceal themselves by privily coming on Shore in this his Majesty’s Colony and Dominion in hopes of being harboured by wicked and ill disposed Persons and so to avoid the just punishment due by Law unto such horrible and hainous Offenders, Therefore, I, Francis Nicholson, Esqr., his Majesty’s Lieutenant and Governor Generall of Virginia by and with the advice and consent of his Majesty’s honorable Council of State Do hereby

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 199 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD straitly charge, command, and require all his Majesty’s Officers in Chief of the Militia and all Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Constables, and all and every his Majesty’s good and Loving Subjects whatsoever to use their utmost endeavor to seize, take, and apprehend all or any of the persons hereafter named & described who were some of those that pyratically carried away the aforesd Ship Adventure of London,

To witt, John Loyd of ordinary stature rawboned very pale Complexion dark hair remarkably deformed by an attraction of the Lower Eyelid about thirty years of age. Thomas Hughs tall Lusty Rawboned, Long Visage swarthy about twenty eight years of age. Thomas Simpson, short and small black much squint eyed about ten years of age, James Vanner short very well sett fresh coloured pock fretten about twenty years of age. Tee Wetherly, short, very small black blind of one Eye about eighteen years of age. Thomas Jameson Cooper a Scott Tall Meagre sickly complexion large black eyes about thirty years of age. Wm Griffith, short, well sett, broad faced darkish hair about thirty years of age. Thomas Davis short small sharp chinned reddish hair about two & twenty years of age. Francis Reade short an small reddish hair about Eighteen years of age. Wm Saunders of ordinary Stature well sett fresh coloured black hair about fifteen years of age.

And the sd Person or Persons or any of them having apprehended and taken to carry before some one of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace in the County where such Person or Persons are taken who are hereby required and Commanded to commit such Person or Persons well guarded to the Common Gaol of the County and to give me or some one in his Majesty’s honorable Council immediate notice thereof in order to their being brought to Just and condign Punishment.

And for the better encouragement of all and every person & Persons to be dilligent in their search after all and every the aforesd Persons I do promise as a Reward that I will cause to be paid to such Persons as shall take & apprehend all or any of the aforenamed Pyrates the sum of Twenty pounds sterl: for every Person that shall be apprehended and taken and delivered up to me or some one of his Matys Justices of the Peace as aforesd.

And I do also by and with the advice & consent of his Matys honble Council of State Charge & Command all and every his Matys good & Loving Subjects strictly to observe & give due obedience to one Act of Assembly made at James City the 27th day of April 1699 Entituled An Act for the restraining and punishing of Pyrates and Privateers, And I do also command all Officers in Chief of the Militia Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Constables and all and every Person and Persons whom it doth or may concern to cause the sd Law to be put in effectual execution according to the purport thereof as they will answer the neglect thereof at their perills.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 200 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD And I do likewise command all his Matys Officers Civil & Military and all others whom it doth or may concern to give due Observance and Obedience to a former Proclamation dated the 26th day of October 1699 against Pyrates & Privateers & two orders of Council relating thereto Viz: One dated the 18th of April and the other the 8th of June Last past as they will answer the contrary at their perills, and I command and require all Masters of Ships and Vessells that they do not presume to take on board their sd Ships or Vessells any of the aforenamed Person or Persons or any other Person or Persons suspected of Pyracy as they will answer the doing thereof at their perills. And I command all Sheriffs to cause this Proclamation to be published in all Churches, Chappells, Courthouse and other publick places in their respective Countys. Given under my hand and his Matys Seal of the Colony this 20th day of December 1699 in the Eleventh year of his Matys reign.

Fr: Nicholson

A Proclamation for the apprehending of Pyrates & Privateers GOD SAVE THE KING (Executive Journals, Councils of Colonial Virginia, Vol. 2, pp. 38, 39) (Some of the abbreviations in the Proclamation have been written in full for easier reading. Most of the abbreviations are represented, however, in some parts of the Proclamation. Most commonly, “th’” is abbreviated as “y”.)

The price on John Sanders’ head is 20 pounds sterling

SHORTLY AFTERWARD, another Sanders was accused of piracy: On 9 July 1700, the Governor of Virginia declared officially that John Sanders was a “Pyrate.” The Governor put a price on his head, and ordered that the Proclamation of Piracy be published “in all churches, chappels, Court Houses and other publick places.” The price on John Sanders’ head, as on William Sanders’ head, was 20 pounds sterling (quite a price for those days).

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 201 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD By His Excellency A Proclamation

WHEREAS I have received an Order fro ye Right Honourable ye Lords of ye Council of Trade & Plantations dated at White Hall ye 21st day of February 1699-1700, yt some time in ye moneth of November last a Merchant Ship called ye John Hopewell of London whereof one Henry Munday was Commander was plundered by a Pyrate named Henry King who formerly used ye Pensylvania trade, and yt nine of he sd Mundays men voluntarily forsook him and ran away with ye said Pyrate upon is Pyratical designs, therefore, I, Francis Nicholson, Esqr., his Majesty Lieutenant and Governor Generall of Virginia by and with ye Advice and Consent of his Majestys Honorable Council of State doe straitly charge and command all his Majestys Officers, Civil & Military, and all other his good and loving Subjects whatsoever to use their utmost endeavor to take, seize, and apprehend all and every ye said Pyrats so as they may be brought to condigne Punishment, whose names are Henry King ye grand Pyrat, Nicholas Gellibrand, John Burton, Leonard Rawlings, Edwrd Atterbury, Emanuel, a Portugese, John Sanders, William Barker of Sunderland, John Harris of London, Francis Bacon, a Negro, being those who deserted ye sd Monday. And I doe promise as a reward to any Person or Persons that shall take, seize and apprehend all or any ye sd Pyrat or Pyrats so as such Pyrat or Pyrats be brought to justice for ye sd offences, such Person or Persons shall have and receive ye Sume of twenty Pounds Sterling for every Pyrat so taken & brought to condign Punishment. And I likewise straitly charge all Sherrifs to cause this Proclamation to be published in all Churches Chappels Court House and other publick places in their respective Countys. Given under my hand and his Majestys seale of ye Colony at James Town this 9th day of July 1700 in ye twelfth year of his Majesty’s Reign.

A Proclamation for ye Apprehending of Pyrats F. Nicholson.

GOD SAVE THE KING (Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia, pp. 100-101)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 202 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1717 By 1 April 1717, John, Richard, and Robert Sanders owned land adjacent to each other in the upper part of Nansemond County.

ROBERT SANDERS, of Is. of Wight Co., 150 acs. (N. L.), Up. Par. of Nansemond Co., near place called King Sale; adj. his own, Richard Sanders; & Land of John Sanders; 1 April 1717, p. 314 15 Shillings. ROBERT SANDERS, 18 acs. (N. L.), Up. Par. of Nansemond Co; on N. side of a br. of Cabin Sw. of Sumerton Cr; 1 Apr 1717, p. 313. 15 Shill. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3, pp. 188, 189)

Also on 1 April 1717, Richard Sanders patented 121 acres in the same area.

RICHARD SANDERS, 121 acs. (N. L.). Up. Par. of Nansemond Co; near the Cypruss Sw. of Sumerton Cr; adj. cor. of John Lee, in line of patent granted his father, John Lee; & Paul Pinder’s land; 1 Apr. 1717, p. 311. Imp. of 3 pers: Dennis Drishill, Edward Daubert, & Richard Hampton. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3, p. 188)

Richard had patented 127 acres in the upper part of Nansemond County.

RICHARD SANDERS, 127 acs., Up. Par. of Nansemond Co; SW side of the W. br. of Nansemond River; adj. Maj. Henry Baker; on head of Ellis’ Creek; 24 Apr. 1703, p. 537. Trans. of 3 pers: Margtt. Harve, David Bevin, Mary Williams. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3, p. 72) Christopher Sanders patented 176 acres in Nansemond County 12 July 1718.

CHRISTOPHER SANDERS, 176 acs. (N. L.), Up. Par. of Nansemond Co; adj. Michael King’s land; 12 July 1718, p. 388. Imp. of 4 pers: James Monrow, Nicholas Smith, Grace Thomas, & John Standard. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3, p. 205)

JOEL SANDERS would have been born about this time (1720). He was a member of the Nansemond Monthly Meeting by 1762 when, he, his wife, Charity, and son, Joel (Jr.) moved to South Carolina. During his youth, other Sanders’ land acquisitions in Virginia included: John Sanders, Essex County, Henrico County, Hanover County, and Goochland County, in 1715, 1725, 1727, and 1730. Benjamin Sanders in Hanover County, 1724; Nathaniel Sanders, Spotsylvania County, 1728; Hugh Sanders, Spotsylvania County, 1728; William Sanders, Surry County, 1723; Edward Sanders, Prince George County, 1730; and Thomas Sanders, Henrico County, 1725. (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 203 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

JOEL SANDERS (born ca. 1720, died 1782)

1720 Joel Sanders was born about 1720. In about 1762, he traveled with his son, Joel, Jr., to Cane Creek, South Carolina. In that year also, Joel, Sr., and his wife, CHARITY, were received on certificate from Nansemond Monthly Meeting (Virginia). In 1775, Joel and his family were granted certificate to Wrightborough Monthly Meeting, Georgia, and received from Nansemond.

The children and their dates of birth were: 1. Miriam Sanders (b. 1744 (O.S.) 2. Benjamin Sanders (b. 1746 (O.S.) 3. John Sanders (b. 1748 (O.S.) 4. Joel Sanders, Jr. (b. 1751 (O.S.) 5. Dempsey Sanders, (b. 1753) 6. Lydia Sanders (b. 1753) 7. Hollowell Sanders (b. 1755) 8. Ferribe Sanders (b. 1756) 9. Thomas Sanders (b. 1759) 10. Josiah Sanders (b. 1761) 11. Abraham Sanders (b. 1763) 12. Mordecai Sanders (b. 1764) 13. Sarah Sanders (b. 1767) Joel Sanders, Sr., died 2 February 1782.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 204 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD BENJAMIN SANDERS (born 1746, died 1822)

1746 Benjamin Sanders was born 10 June 1746 (Old Style), and married LEAH SMITH 19 May 1768, according to Cane Creek Monthly Meeting (Orange, now Alamance, County in North Carolina.) The names of the children were not recorded as such, but can be presumed since they comprised the only Sanders family in Cane Creek, M. M. They are:

1. Thomas Sanders (b. ca. 1779) 2. Mary Sanders (m. 1789) 3. Sarah Sanders (m. 1792) 4. John Sanders (m. 1792) 5. Miriam Sanders 6. Joel Sanders 7. Lydia Sanders 8. Benjamin Sander 9. Rachel Sanders

Benjamin Sanders died in 1822. His will, recorded in Chatham County, N. C., names only his wife, Leah. It was witnessed by two Phillips.

THOMAS SAUNDERS (born ca. 1780, died 1848)

“Thomas Saunders, who emigrated to McNairy county, Tennessee was of a very ancient family in England, having descended from Laurence Saunders, who suffered martyrdom in Queen Mary’s reign, for preaching the gospel,” William C. Saunders wrote in an early 1900s history of McNairy County. He continued:

“Thomas’ great, great-grandparents were Huguenots, emigrated from England in 1659 to South Carolina and settled about where Charleston now stands. They died in Savannah, Georgia, before the Revolutionary war.

“He married Elizabeth Rook in his 18th year; she was in her 16th year. She was also of English descent; her mother was a Stanford, related to Lord

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 205 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Stanford of London. She was born in Maryland. Their offspring were 17 children --- 9 sons and 8 daughters --- 16 raised families. They emigrated from Chatham county, N. C., in 1816 to Granger county, East Tennessee; settled on Clinch River; emigrated to West Tennessee in 1826.”

Further details and comments about the Thomas Saunders family were made in an essay, “A Pioneer Family,” by their granddaughter, Mrs. Jennie S. Perkins:

“NEAR THE CLOSE of the eighteenth century, Thomas Saunders and Elizabeth Rook were married and settled in Chatham county, North Carolina. The young husband was the son of Benjamin Saunders, a staunch Quaker; the wife was a lineal descendant, on the father’s side, of Admiral Rook, of the English Navy; on her mother’s side, of a younger brother of Lord Stanford and Marie Wills, of Germany. Thomas had violated the rules of his society by uniting himself with one of a different faith, and was promptly excluded and denied its temporal benefits as well. “Elizabeth was an orphan whose only dower was industry, intellect and great personal beauty. With only youthful strength and energy to rely upon, they began the arduous task of rearing a family on the worn-out soil of their native State. Their children increasing faster than their means, they removed to Tennessee, whose natural advantages gave superior promise to the unrequited toilers in the older States. “They stopped for a while amid the wild mountain scenery and rich valleys of the eastern division, but the climate being rigorous they sought further, and finally decided upon McNairy county as their permanent home. This was about the year 1825. Their family had increased to 17 children, 16 of whom were living; sons and daughters were married, and with their growing families were settled near them. Here a most encouraging prospect opened before them. “A virgin soil of great fertility, landscapes of marvelous beauty made up the green savannas and towering forests of the finest timber, in whose coverts game was swarming, affording the hunter delightful pastime; while the streams teemed with fish tempting the angler to while away a pleasant hour on the green mossy banks beneath the spreading beeches that hung over the bright water. The hardy sons of the toil-worn family began to look about them, and build up homes and reputations for themselves. Although their early opportunities had been very meager, the “Old Field School” of former times being the only institution of learning ever open to them, they had most assiduously tried to educate themselves, their excellent mother sparing no pains to impress upon their minds the necessity of self-culture. “They succeeded so well in overcoming their early defects, that they were called to fill many positions of honor and trust, which they did in a creditable manner. Meanwhile their families increased with health, and competence smiled on the pleasant homes they had reared in this land of promise. The gifted mother had passed away; but the aged father sat in the midst of his numerous descendants, like a patriarch of old. A few years

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 206 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD before his death, which occurred in 1848, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren numbered 120. As a family, their traits were strongly marked, being ambitious, proud spirited, energetic, deeply devotional and strongly attached to each other and home. Their personal likeness was very striking, so much so that the most unobserving stranger rarely failed to perceive it. In religious faith, the whole family were Baptists, and all were believers. In politics, the father and six of his sons were Democrats, the other two sons were Whigs. “During the war, the surviving brothers were divided, three espousing the cause of the South, and three remaining loyal to the United States Government. They were unyielding in their principles, and vehement in their advocacy, and were ready to make great personal sacrifice for their belief. Few families have added so much to the population of the section of their choice, or have sent out so many representatives to other states; and fewer still retain through so many generations the mental and physical characteristics of their forefathers, as the descendants of these pioneers of McNairy county.” (Mrs. Jennie S. Perkins was the aunt of Jennie Justice Saunders Buzbee, who married Edgar Farrior Buzbee. Jennie Saunders Buzbee had been named after the aunt, Jennie.)

Elizabeth Rook had been born in 1781. She died in 1828. The children: 1. Stanford L. Sanders (b. 1799) married Martha Lebo 2. Benjamin F. Sanders (b. 1802) married Catherine Lebo 3. Hezekiah Sanders (b. 1803) married Polly Lebo 4. Joel K. Sanders (b. 1805) married Mahala Thornhill 5. Lindsey Sanders (b. 1806) married Martha Ann Landreth (b. 1810) 6. Thomas Sanders (b. 1809) married Olivia Lebo 7. Aaron A. Sanders (b. 1815) married Elizabeth McKee 8. William C. Sanders (b. 1817) married ---- Moore 9. John Sanders (killed by a horse when small) 10. Leah Sanders (b. 1810) married James Cardwell. 11. Ellen Sanders, married -- Ingraham. 12. Elizabeth Sanders, married --- Ramsey 13. Nancy Sanders, married --- Anderson 14. Sarah Sanders, married --- Cardwell 15. Katherine Sanders, married John McGraw. 16. Rachel Sanders, married --- Tennyson 17. Polly Sanders, married --- Maness 18. Mahala Sanders

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 207 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD LINDSEY SAUNDERS (born 1806, died 1865)

Lindsey Saunders, who had been born in North Carolina in 1806, came with the family to Tennessee when he was 10. According to an account written by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, he was “endowed by nature of sound judgment and indomitable will. He had a feeble frame, but began holding public office as soon as eligible, and was in various positions of official trust until increasing infirmities compelled him to retire.”

His daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth (Jennie) S. Perkins, continued:

“HAVING BY SHEER FORCE OF WILL and untiring energy wrested fortune from an adverse fate, he had little charity for the failure of others. He possessed great

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 208 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD sincerity of character, and a stern, unyielding temper, was a devoted friend, and decided enemy, inclined to befriend the weak and oppose the strong, and like his Quaker ancestry, opposed to slavery. Before the war, he was an ‘old line Whig’ and during the Civil War, a staunch adherent of the Union, and was ready to make any sacrifice for the principles he conscientiously believed to be right.

“He was neat and methodical in all he did, and very careful of his dress. In person, tall and commanding, very dignified in manner and conversation, of august presence, the face and expression indicating the man. He was strictly temperate; and by exercising great care prolonged his life to his 59th year, then quietly passing away, leaving an example of truth and integrity worthy to be emulated by the rising generation.” IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HIS BROTHER He was associated with his brother, Aaron, in business (as a merchant), as well as in political belief. Each resembled the other. Aaron was longtime county clerk, as well as minister. However, he was for the South in the war. (The last name in the family continued to be spelled differently, even within immediate family groups in the 20th century. It appears as if later generations adopted the Saunders spelling to conform with the (Southern) pronunciation.)

1831 Lindsey Saunders and MARTHA ANN LANDRETH (b. 1810, in Guilford County, N. C.) were married in 1831. The children of Martha Ann Landreth and Lindsey Saunders: 1. Elizabeth Jane Saunders Perkins (b. 8 April 1832) 2. Byron Lafayette Saunders (b. 4 August 1834) 3. Lindsey Saunders, Jr., (b. 3 June 1836, d. 3 December 1897) 4. Stanford Landreth Saunders (b. 27 November 1837) 5. Martha Ann Saunders (b. September 1839) m. Bradley 6. William Clark Lamare Saunders (b. March 1841) 7. Arion Latimore Saunders (b. April 1843) 8. Mary Frances Isabelle Saunders (b. April 1845) 9. Griffin Wright Lorenza Saunders (b. 1 February 1847) 10. Thomas Lamertene Saunders (b. 3 February 1849) 11. John Jessie Saunders (b. 3 June 1851) 12. Sarah Catherine Elinor Saunders (b. April 1855) “Notice the ‘L’ in the name of each boy,” an account possibly written by Mrs. Annie Saunders Wilkins relates: “The new home grandpa (Lindsey, Sr.) built along about 1846 had an ell to it, that he had built. He moved it into the new home when Aunt Mary was a baby, and (after) she had cried nearly all the first night wanting to go home.”

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 209 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD THE STRONG BAPTIST religious interests of the family continued in the occupations of at least two of the Saunders. H. C. Saunders, a son of W. C. L. and Amanda Saunders was a doctor and minister in McNairy county in the early 1900s. He visited the Baptist World Alliance in Stockholm in 1924, and from there continued on through Europe, Palestine, India, China, Japan, visiting and seeing the fields and activities of the church’s missionary work. He later sold his car and had his telephone taken out, trying to leave off his heavy medical practice, but people still came to him for medicine and treatment. He still made calls over the country on horseback. “He had an uncompromising dislike for drugs, tobacco, intoxicants, and like,” his pastor wrote about him. “He considered it an inexcusable sin for a preacher to use tobacco, and many times, he took his pastor and preacher friends to task for using it.”

J. R. Saunders, son of Stanford Saunders, in 1901 went to China as a missionary under the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. J. R. (Roscoe) was among the first missionaries to be sent to the Hak Ka section of southern China. He learned the dialect, and later translated the New Testament into it, a task that took two years. When forced to leave the station, Shin Chow, because of the war, he was president of Hak Ka seminary, the training school for Chinese preachers. He was acquainted with Gen. Sun Yat Sen and other leaders. Other than the translation of the New Testament, he was author of “The Cross and the Reconstruction of the World,” “Men and Methods that Win in Foreign Fields,” “The Chinese as They Are,” and “China’s Children.”

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 210 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

Lindsey Saunders, Jr., and Mary E. Justice Saunders (From a drawing, date unknown)

MARY ELIZABETH JUSTICE (born 1841, died 1898)

LINDSEY SANDERS, JR. (born 1836, died 1897)

1836 Lindsey Saunders, Jr., was the third child and second son of Lindsey and Martha Ann Landreth Saunders, and was born near Purdy, McNairy County, west Tennessee, 3 June 1836. A family record indicates that he was born “to affluent parents, and in his youth was called the handsomest young man of his native county.” He was remembered as being popular. He was educated at Madison college, west Tennessee, and became a teacher. In the Civil War, he was a federal

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 211 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD scout (spy), and was shot in the leg, 31 December 1862. Although severely wounded, he recovered without amputation, and was able to walk without a cane. The injury was lasting. It may have proved fatal.

1865 On 1 September 1865, Lindsey married MARY ELIZABETH JUSTICE, who was a native of Hardeman county, Tenn., having been born there 11 October 1841. She was the daughter of WILLIAM JUSTICE (1808-1854) and MARY E.---- (1809-1844). Other children in the family of William and Mary Justice were Martha Ann, born in 1828; James W., 1830; William, 1833; Isabella M., 1835; Alexander, 1839; and Nannie, 1844. At the time of the marriage, she was living with the family of a Doctor Brown in the Tenth Civil District of McNairy County, her father having died when she was 12, her mother when she was 3.

“She was slender and delicate, with a dainty prettiness and modesty very attractive,” a family account states. Also included in a list of relatives is a Rev. Obadiah Dodson, described as a noted evangelist and home missionary. Soon after the marriage, he resumed teaching and later was superintendent of public instruction for several years. (A memorial written 5 January 1900 by Mrs. Jennie Saunders Perkins, 408 Rhode Island Ave., N. W., Washington, DC., “In memory of Lindsey Saunders, Jr., and of his wife, Mary Elizabeth Justice Saunders.” Jennie Saunders Perkins was the older sister of Lindsey Saunders, Jr. In 1900, she was 68.)

Jennie Justice Saunders Buzbee kept this photo (now faded and heavily damaged) in her family collection, but the family was not identified. If it shows her Saunders family, it could have been taken in about 1874. If so, the family, left to right, may have been: Egbert Saunders, Thomas L. M. Justice Saunders, William S. Saunders, Lindsey Saunders, Jr., Annie E. Justice Saunders, Mary E. Justice Saunders, and the young Mary N. J. Saunders. Later arrivals would be the twins, Jennie Justice Saunders and R. S. Saunders; and Aubrey Saunders.

1871 When the Lindsey Saunders family included the parents and three children in 1871, Lindsey resumed an effort which he apparently had terminated several years before, to receive a pension for his continuing disability as a result of the Civil War injury. On 20 June 1871, Lindsey came to his county court with two friends, and made an application. He was 35 at the time, and reported to the county clerk that he had continued to be a resident of McNairy County all those years. His statement:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 212 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD “BEING DULY SWORN according to law (he) declares that he is the identical Lindsay Sanders who was wounded while voluntarily serving the United States as a Scout under orders from Post Headquarters of Bethel, Tenn., Col. I. N. Haynie, commanding, in an engagement with Rebels on the 31st day of December AD 1862. “In the line of duty as a Scout under orders as referred to above, he was wounded by a gun shot from the enemy on the 31st day of December 1862 in the county of Hardin the state of Tennessee about three miles from Hamburgh in said county. “The bullet took effect in the upper third of my thigh, passed through, and fractured the bone. My leg is about two inches too short and my foot turns out too much Makes it difficult to walk. That since leaving the said service the applicant has Resided in the County of McNairy in the State of Tennessee from the time I was able to travel from said (wound?) I lived in Kentucky & Tennessee inside of Federal lines, traveled around, had no permanent home during the War. Have lived in said County since the Surrender of the Rebel Army. It was my home before, and is now, having been born and Raised in said county. “That Prior to his entry in the Service above named, he was a man of Good Sound physical health, being a farmer, that now he is two-thirds Disabled from attaining his subsistence from Manual Labor in consequence of his above injuries Received in the service of the United States. “He makes this declaration for the purpose of being placed on the Invalid Pension Roll of the United States by reason of the disabilities above stated.” Lindsey named a Washington, D. C. lawyer, A. Hart, Esq., to represent him and “prosecute his demand.”

But Lindsey never got his pension. This 1871 petition was rejected by the Army, because U. S. Army records of 1888---17 years later---show that apparently another request for the pension had been studied, beginning 22 March 1888. Referred by the War Department to the Quartermaster General’s office, the request received this finding by the quartermaster general:

The records of this office show that on July 16, 1867, an account certified by Lt. Col. Owen Haney, 2nd Tenn. Mt’d Inf., in favor of Lindsey Sanders for services as Scout at, and near Clifton, Tenn., from May 1 to June 4, 1864, amounting to $160 was filed by Wolf, Hart & Co., attorneys, to whom it was returned on August 30, 1867, by authority of the Secretary of War, at their request, and upon their statement that the case was filed in this office through error. No other information concerning this matter is found.

And so the matter stood.

Lindsey’s family by then had been completed and they still lived in McNairy County. Four years later, however, they moved to Arkansas. It was 1892. He continued teaching, still with the grievous injury which, according to family records, was painful.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 213 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1892 On 8 May 1892, Mary E. Justice Saunders transferred her membership in Tennessee’s Good Hope Baptist church to Arkansas:

We the Baptist Church Worshiping at Good Hope do certify that our Beloved sister Mary E. Sanders is a Member with us an in full fellowship and is hear By dismissed from us when joined to another church of the same faith, an order done in conference and Signed By order of Church. May the 8th 1892 M. C. Parker Modr pro tem Thos. Inman C. Clk pro tem (The document was preserved over the years by Mary Elizabeth Justice Saunders; her daughter, Jennie Justice Saunders; her grandson, Edgar Andrew Buzbee; and her great grandson, Richard E. Buzbee.)

1896 In either 1896 or 1897, the family moved to Thornton, Ark. In 1897, Lindsey made yet another attempt to secure the pension. This time his request went to the Department of the Interior, bureau of pensions. The answer:

“The name Lindsey Sanders has not been found on rolls of any Co. 7 Tennessee Cavalry.”

1897 The final rejection was dated 22 June 1897, in Washington. In less than six months, Lindsey was gone. He died 3 December 1897, and was buried in Temperance Hill cemetery, about three miles from Thornton. Mary Elizabeth died the following year at the home of her daughter, Annie, in Benton, Ark. The date was 10 December 1898.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 214 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1898 In the autumn of 1898, Mary Saunders traveled by train from Thornton to Benton, to live with her daughter, Annie and her husband, the Rev. R. F. Wilkins. Rev. Wilkins was pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Benton; he and Annie were parents of two children, one of whom was O. L. Wilkins.

After her arrival in Benton, on 10 November 1898, Mary wrote to Jennie and Edgar F. Buzbee, at their Fordyce address, and to her son, Lucius, wherever he was. In the two letters, she told of the trip, the tonic she was taking for a “cold,” her love for the family she left behind, and her concerns about Lucius and his activities. She also ardently hoped they would all come see her next month, the Christmas of 1898:

Dear Jennie and Edd I will write to you (as) I know you are anxious to know how I got along on my trip. I made it all right. I lay over at Pine Bluff about an hour and a half. Got to Little Rock at five. I stade at a hotel that night. Left Little Rock fifteen minutes after nine next morning. I was considerably weared, but I never let on that I felt bad. I am still puney but I think I will get to feeling better. I am taking a tonic. I found Annie’s folks well. I can’t tell you how glad I was when I got there. Tongue can not express my glad feelings. I can’t say how I like Benton, for I have been in the house ever since I got hear. I have seen but little of Benton so far. The children look like they did when you last seen them, only larger.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 215 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Annie looks very well. She is fleasher than she was when you seen her last. Bob looks just the same. He is the picture of health. People look so much healthier here than they do there. You can see red in their cheeks here. I hope you and Edd are well, and also, Lucius, have you got Eclo. If you have, be good to him. I intend to get him when I can. Jennie, I will send you what I owe you when I can. I hope it won’t be long until I can. I was (drained?) of cash when I got hear; having to pay my hotel bill set me back, but I had enough left to get to Benton. I don’t want you to fail to come at Chrismas. I want you try and get Lucian to come too. I want to see you all now. I will write Lucian a letter. You can give it to him. I don’t know where he is. Talk to him and get him to save his money and come with you. That is a bad place for a boy to be (Xmas?). You know what I mean. (---) W-. Give my love to Miss Prost. I seen Mrs. Pefie, she got on the train at Rison. They are living at Elexander, the next station from Rison. She seemed glad to see me. Give my love to Mrs. Bush and Delia and Mattie. Be good to your self. Have you quilted any yet. I have helpt Annie with her carpet some. She is done tacking, got it to the weaver. I am writing and Annie is geting dinner. She is baking sweet cakes, you know. I am geting hungry. Linis(?) is a grate big sweet boy, but he is distant toward me yet. Give my love to Edd and exsept a hand full your self. Visit just as soon as you get this. I want to hear how you all are. Let me know where Lucian is and how he is geting along. I will close, and wish a mother’s love to you and Edd. M.L.S.

Tell Edd to write to me. The children want to (tell) Aunt Jennie and Uncle Edd goodby. May God bless you both till we meet again in my prayer. I like to forget to tell you that Bob got me and Annie pair of shoes, a peace old lady’s comfort, mine is lined inside with flanel. You know they are warm. I was real proud of them. Annie is framing her a quilt. We have done eat dinner. by by M. L. Saunders

Dear Lucian: I will write you a few (---). I think I am improving. I am taking a tonic, my mouth is not well yet. I taken cold and it got worse, but it is better than it was a few days ago. I made the trip all right. I got with a lady at Pine Bluff going to Little Rock so I passed on the time nicely with her. At the hotel at Little Rock I met another Lady going to Hot Springs for her health. She was from Kansas so I had compney to Benton. My money just did hold out. I am thankful I got all so well. The Conductor on the train got off, went into the depot with me, seen that I got to a hotel. A young man that belong to the hotel promised to see me on the train next morning. So he did.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 216 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD I hope you are well and doing well. My thoughts are on you often. I want you to be a good boy, be Sober in all things and save your money and come to see me Christmas with Jennie and Edd. Write to me and let me know what you are doing. Go to see Jennie. I will send this in Jennie’s letter, as I don’t know where you are. Take care of yourself, quit begin out of nights. Did you go home with Jennie that day I left. If you come Chrismas I want you to bring Eclo. Bob says it won’t cost but little bring him if (---) to changing him. There would be but two changes. Be sure to write and let me hear from you. The children want to see you. They are quite big children now. Be a good boy for my sake, for I love you. With love in my boy, I am, your mother, Mary L. Saunders

(Mary’s letters were carefully preserved by her daughter Jennie Saunders Buzbee; then by her grandson, Edgar F. Buzbee; and then by her great- grandson Bobby Dale Buzbee. It appears, however, that the letters were preserved inside envelopes different from the one originally used in November 1898. The letters about her move to Benton were preserved in envelopes in which she had addressed letters to Jennie when she was still living in Thornton. The postmarks were 28 July 1898, and 12 August 1898. In each case, the envelopes had been mailed at Thornton, and then received in Fordyce on the same day.)

There was to be no family Christmas celebration in 1898. Mary died 10 December 1898, exactly one month after writing her letters to Jennie. She was 57.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 217 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Mary E. Justice and Lindsey Saunders, Jr., had eight children: 1. Annie E. Justice Saunders (b. 23 June 1866, d. 17 January 1939) 2. Thomas L. M. Justice Saunders (b. 7 December 1868, d. 1909) 3. Egbert C. Saunders ( b. 23 May 1870) 4. William S. Saunders (b. August 1872) 5. Mary N. J. Saunders (b. 26 April 1874, d. August 1881) 6. R. S. Saunders (b. 26 March 1880, d. 6 May 1909) 7. Jennie Justice Saunders (b. 26 March 1880 , d. 9 June 1964) 8. Aubrey Saunders (b. 3 March 1885, d. August 1893)

At the time of the deaths of Lindsey and Mary, the surviving sons were: 1. Egbert Saunders (b. 23 May 1870) 2. Lucius (Thomas L. M. Justice) Saunders (b. 7 December 1868). Lucius was recalled by his nephew, Edgar Andrew Buzbee: Uncle Lucius was a drifter “I remember one time Pappa and I were down in the woods in front of the old house (near Thornton). I wasn’t over 4 or 5 years old and we sat down on a log. Pappa was telling me about Uncle Lucius--and I believe he was at our house, then--down with TB which he had contracted in the Arkansas River bottoms. He was more or less a drifter, didn’t stay anywhere long at a time. I have got some old letters in my box at the bank, of Mamma’s, that grandma wrote Mamma before she died asking Mamma to be sure and watch after Uncle Lucius, as she said she wasn’t able to take care of him any more.”

Lucius (Thomas L. M. Justice) Saunders died at the Buzbee home in 1909, and was buried at Chambersville near the graves of other members of the Buzbee family. The relatively modern gravestone reads: “W. L. Saunders 1868-1909.” The two surviving daughters at the time of the death of their parents:

1. Annie Elizabeth Justice Saunders who married the Rev. Robert Wilkins, a Presbyterian minister 2. Jennie Justice Saunders (26 March 1880-9 June 1964)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 218 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 26 March 1898: Jennie Justice Saunders is 18

JENNIE JUSTICE SAUNDERS (born 1880, died 1964)

1880 Jennie Justice Saunders was born 26 March 1880 in McNairy County, Tenn., and lived most of her school days in and around Adamsville, Tenn. She completed as much high school study as was offered. With her parents, she came to Arkansas at the age of 12 (in 1892), and later with her father, taught school at Lonoke. She later told her family that she had taught grown men to read and write. In either 1896 or 1897, they moved to Thornton, where, on 3 December 1897, her

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 219 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD father died. She was married, 29 June 1898, to the widower, Edgar Farrior Buzbee, in Thornton, and less than six months later, her mother, too, had died. Six months thereafter, the first child of Edgar Farrior and Jennie Saunders Buzbee was born. It was a son, stillborn, 20 June 1899. A year later, their first daughter was born. Maudina E. Buzbee arrived 30 August 1900. She died, 4 June 1902, 12 days before the birth of Mary Buzbee, 16 June 1902.

About 1900: Edgar Farrior, Purmelia Buzbee Edgar Farrior, Jennie and Mary moved from Thornton to what the family came to know as the Old Home Place, 2 1/2 miles southeast of Thornton (or 4 1/2 miles southwest of Fordyce), in 1903. There, Edgar Farrior began farming 68 acres (of the original 70-acre tract. He and his mother had sold the other 2 acres to Pilgrim’s Rest Church for church purposes and cemetery.) Cash crops were corn and cotton. He also worked at the Stout Lumber Co., in Thornton, near where his mother lived.

Shortly before her death, she came to live with her son and family; and at the home, which was three miles from where she had been raised, she died, in 1912.

“ONE of the funniest things I can remember was on a cold, winter day, when Pappa (Edgar Farrior ) decided to kill a hog,” Ruth Buzbee Yeager recalled. “Edgar always helped. I was about 5 or 6 years old. Pappa had shot the hog, stabbed him, and was scalding it. He and Edgar pulled the pig out of the scalding barrel, then they proceeded to scrape the hair off. The old cats were standing around, of course, to get a share of blood or fresh meat, whichever came their way.

“Pappa’s fingers were cold, and he couldn’t use the knife too well. The knife slipped, and cut his finger pretty bad. He said not a cuss word, but a little nasty one. Mamma came running with the Iodine bottle. She poured the medicine on the cut; knowing Iodine, it really can set you on fire. Pappa grabbed his hand and began to dance a jig. The oldest and biggest cat was in his way --- and he kicked that cat over the fence!

“We kids were afraid to laugh, so we ran every way to get out of sight where we could laugh.”

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 220 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1911: Edgar Farrior Buzbee holds Doris, and Jennie Saunders Buzbee holds Ruth in this early photo of the family, before the birth of Bonnie Mae. Others are Edgar Andrew, Mary, and Annie. Jennie mailed a copy of the post card “To my dear aunt, Mrs. Jennie Perkins, from her loving niece, Mrs. Jennie Buzbee: Dear Aunt Jennie, I am sending this picture of myself and family. It is not a very good picture, but I will send it. I am just up from a bad spell of sickness. Hope you and family are well.” (Elizabeth Jane Saunders Perkins was her father’s sister. She was the oldest child of Lindsey and Martha Ann Landreth Saunders, b. 8 April 1832.)

THE BUZBEES By Jennie Justice Saunders Buzbee (Written in 1934)

There’s Mary with her perky smile And eyes of heavenly blue. A dearer girl has never lived Nor yet a heart more true.

Then there comes my Annie girl She too has eyes of blue

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 221 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD A winsome girl from heaven sent She is so staunch and true

And now for my Edgar boy Your eyes of brown, your curly head Your loving ways, your sunny smile Has brought great joy to me and to your Dad

And Doris with her sunny grin And with those eyes of blue A great big dimple in her cheek And with a heart so true.

And Ruth with her curly hair And eyes of lovely brown My dear you are a precious girl Some time you’ll wear a crown.

Now Bonnie Mae the baby chick She has two eyes of blue A dimple cheek, my baby girl We love and bless you, too.

1919 Beginning in 1919, and continuing until the late 1930s, the Buzbee land was leased with great hopes to oil exploration companies, during what then was an oil boom in Southwest Arkansas, especially around the El Dorado area. On 16 June 1919, part of the tract was leased to Maurice Scott and Combination Oil Co., who subsequently leased the project to Penn-Ark Oil Corporation; and 24 October 1921, to Harry Evans for exploration. On 5 June 1937, Edgar F. and Jennie transferred 40 acres to Edgar A. Buzbee, and the remaining 28 acres to Ruth Buzbee. The search for oil had been, and was, fruitless.

(I have a vague recollection of seeing oil exploration equipment in about 1936 or 1937 near the site. Later on, in the 1970s, in the aftermath, nationally, of the Arab oil boycott, the tract was leased, with great expectations once again, for the mining of lignite, a low grade of coal. Edgar A. Buzbee inquired during the leasing process about the extent of the lignite deposits in the area, and was told that the leasing companys’ tests had shown a band of lignite about 10 feet in depth. In the leasing process, Edgar ensured that the leasing company guaranteed to restore the land surface to a good condition, after the mining had ended. Once again, however, the search for minerals on the land was to prove either fruitless or non-economic. There was no mining.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 222 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1923 In 1923, Edgar Farrior, Jennie, Edgar Andrew (who was 17), and the five daughters, Mary, Doris, Ruth, Annie, and Bonnie Mae, left the farm, and moved to Fordyce. Edgar Farrior worked first as a lumber checker in the saw mill at what came to be Fordyce Lumber Company.

The Saw Mill, Fordyce Lumber Co., 24 October 1927

1927 On 24 October 1927, a panoramic photo of the Fordyce Lumber Company was taken, showing 360 degrees of a company that would dominate Fordyce’s economic landscape, just as company owners and managers would dominate Fordyce’s political, civic, and cultural landscape for virtually the rest of the 20th century. The mill’s whistle would set the time for Fordyce, as well as the rhythm of work within the mills. Both Edgar Farrior Buzbee and Edgar Andrew Buzbee were working for the company in 1927. They preserved the two 180-degree photos of the 1927 mill, which showed the extensive size of the operation, and a few other major landmarks of Fordyce at the time, such as the entrance tower to Fordyce Grammar School, which towered over the many trees.

1927: Not especially a landmark, but one of the Fordyce Lumber Co. services of 1927 was the mill’s tennis court (middle right) which was virtually the only tennis court available in Fordyce. Helen and Edgar used it, and the court remained for a generation.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 223 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 24 October 1927: Fordyce Lumber Co. This panoramic view begins north at rail cars, then east, over the flooring mill, then south at College Street (where the Edgar Buzbee family moved in 1938), and ends near the tennis court, which Helen and Edgar used. In the enlargement below, the entrance tower of Fordyce Grammar school is at far right,

The Company in Company Town

Looking east over the Flooring Mill, with Fordyce Grammar entrance tower at the far right, on College street.

Fordyce Lumber Co.: Panoramic view continues at the tennis court, south, then southwest, then west, showing the Saw Mill, then northwest over the huge Mill Pond, and back again to the rail road cars at north.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 224 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1934 The lumber company’s administrative offices were south of the plant, facing West College street, on which also was located the Company Store, where the employees shopped for essentials. In later years, Jennie and Edgar F. Buzbee, who had been promoted by then to foreman of the saw mill, lived in a company-owned house on Russell Street, which intersected West College street. In 1934, however, Jennie longed for the old home in the country near Thornton (as did Edgar throughout his life). Jennie remembered the old place and wrote of it, poignantly and elegantly:

1911: The old home place of the Buzbees before the family moved to Fordyce: On the porch, left to right, are Judson Hearnsberger (a neighbor), Jennie Justice Saunders Buzbee and Edgar Farrior Buzbee. At the fence, left to right, Mary Hearnsberger holding Ruth; Mary; Annie; L. Hearnsberger; Doris; Edgar Andrew Buzbee. The home site is still owned by the family, 28 acres by Ruth’s son, Ronald Yeager; and 40 acres by Bobby Dale Buzbee. Part of the lumber from the old home was used in the 1940s by Edgar at his home in eastern Fordyce, near the city’s airport.

THE DEAR OLD HOME Gaunt and weather beaten you stand Your window panes gone, your doors sag Old and forsaken and lonely No one to enter and stand

To admire the flowers or stately pines No children to rush about with happy cry Old and forsaken you stand alone As the years roll swiftly by.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 225 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD As a girl bride I entered your portals For long years you were my home I planted and set out flowers And grubbed in your soft rich loam.

I bore my babies within your walls But God taken three of them away The others are not with me any more Like you, old home, I’m lonely today.

If you could talk, dear old home Some wonderful stories you’d tell Of high hopes and of ambition Of love, and of heartache as well.

In my heart I haven’t forgotten The long years you were home to me I, too, am old, forgotten The days will never more be

When I shall walk within your halls Or pluck the sweet-smelling rose. My day like yours is almost ended The night is drawing close.

Today, old home, I am longing for you Ah me, with a heart that’s sore, For babies I’ve loved and tended with care They think of me no more.

Jennie’s despair was premature. Though, as she wrote these poems in the midst of the tragic Great Depression, with all her children leading their own lives and building families, and her fear that “my day...... is almost ended,” she still was to have 30 years of active living stretched ahead. She was to live to see her grandchildren have children.

In a letter, presumably, to her sister Annie at about the same time, she wrote:

“Here is another thing I did. You are responsible for it by saying what you did about us not whining about our lot in life.

“I’d always thought I was a whiner, and when you said I wasn’t, it thrilled me so I gave birth to this, whatever you want to call it:”

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 226 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD NO ROOM FOR WHINING Aw shucks! What’s the use of whining And wearing a great long face? Smile and the world smiles with you And walk with upright grace. We’re told, ‘Laugh and world laughs with us Weep and we weep alone’ So meet life with a great big grin And not with a whine or a moan. And soon we’d all be smiling With never a faint lament We’d be enjoying the sunshine And the flowers that God has sent. So let us all be cheery And smile our way thru life Then there’d be no room for whining And no such a thing as strife.

1939: The Buzbees on Russell Street in Fordyce (after Sunday dinner) Front Row: Dick, Bobby, Rex, Martha Jane Wilkins, Rosemary Wilkins, Max, Ruth Carolyn. 2nd Row: Helen, Aniece, Mama B., Papa B., Bonnie Ruth, Annie. 3rd Row: Edgar, Bonnie Mae, Mary, Ruth, Doris, Edward, Bonnie Wilkins. Top: Nathan Rogers, Sam, Frank, O. L. Wilkins. The family had gathered on the steps at Mama and Papa Buzbee’s company-owned home on Russell Street. The youngest was Bonnie Ruth Jordan, who is on the lap of her mother, Annie, 2nd row.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 227 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD A Jittery Tale

I’m all aflutter A jittery and asputter, Cause I seen a rat in a gutter All I can do is moan and mutter,

If you can make sense of this, it’s more than I can do. The rat riz up on his hind legs and flew He bellered and he mooed And begosh! That’s all he do’ed.

My tale is all told I fear it’s not worth much in gold It turned my hair white And bugged out my sight.

But still I’m sure of all I’ve told And I’m sure I have no gold But still I’m a flutter Over that rat in the gutter.

He neither jingled or jangled He neither talked or wrangled He just bellered and moo’ed And riz up and fleewed.

This is senseless and silly No rhythm or rhyme Just to give you the willies And take up my time.

This is the end of the story I’m seeking neither fame nor glory Blow cold or blow hot And believe it or not.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 228 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Touch of bitter, dab of sweet (21 October 1934)

Life is real, yes, darn real. Especially on a cold winter morning When we have to jump out of bed Before the day is dawning.

When our feet hit the cold icy floor And the shivers run up our spine We make a high dive for the stove And grab a stick of fat pine.

We ram it into the fire box By now our back teeth are loose Our body is covered with goose bumps Our nose is running a sluice.

We wish for the good old summer time You see we’re never content We’ve forgot how we cussed in August The heat the weather man sent.

Oh, yes, life is real darn real I’ve experienced all this before Even to shivering my back teeth loose And hitting the cold icy floor.

You can’t tell me a thing About the hard bumps of life Whether it’s administering to babies Or whetting the old butcher knife.

Life is real, thank goodness I’d like it no other way It holds just lots of happiness No matter what others may say.

It takes a touch of bitter Along with a dab of sweet To ease us over the rough spots And make our lives complete.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 229 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1940 Edgar Farrior was employed 17 years by the Fordyce Lumber Co. or its predecessor firm. He retired in 1940 as foreman of the saw mill. He was 71. The company gave him $100, but did continue his salary for a few weeks while he was waiting for his first Social Security check under the new Social Security system. Daddy, Helen, Bobby Dale and I traveled with him to Little Rock (probably 15 July 1938), to complete the paper work leading to his getting Social Security benefits. In those days, Social Security was all the retirement income there would be. (I remember the trip. I was about 7 or 8. I was already eager to get out of Fordyce, and was astonished to see how city folks lived. It was in Little Rock that day that I went to my first real restaurant...... but the most impressive thing about the restaurant wasn’t the food, it was the machines into which you could feed nickels to hear music. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the nickels to test the machines, but noticed how other folks operated the devices. His card 430-12-0341 showed it was issued 15 July 1938 to Edgar Farrior Buzbee.)

Golden Wedding anniversary: 1898-1948

FOR THEIR 50th ANNIVERSARY in 1948, Mama and Papa Buzbee posed for Fordyce’s professional photographer, Mr. Alexander, and presented their children with a formal portrait. By then, he was becoming increasingly frail.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 230 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD A small, slightly-framed and stooped man, Edgar F. Buzbee was active also in retirement. When he left the employ of the Fordyce Lumber Co., he had to give up his company-owned house on Russell Street, which he and Jennie had rented, and in which countless family Christmases and other gatherings had been held for many years. They moved into the home with Ruth and Lloyd Yeager, about a block away, on West Fourth Street. As long as he was able, he would frequently walk from West Fourth street across town about two miles to the home of his son, Edgar. There, he delighted in working in the yard, and in clearing the constantly-encroaching pine trees away from the house on the 10 acres, even at his advanced age.

He died 15 July 1951 at the Ruth Yeager home, 606 West 4th street, Fordyce, after a desperate surgical effort failed. He was 81. He was the only surviving child of Joshua Buzbee, the two generations having spanned 145 years.

The obituary: Edgar F. Buzbee, Retired Sawmill Man Is Buried Edgar Farrar Buzbee, 81, most of whose life was spent in Dallas and Calhoun counties, died Sunday at his home in Fordyce. He had been ill for some time. Mr. Buzbee was born near Hampton, in Calhoun county. He formerly worked for the Fordyce Lumber company. Included among his survivors are: His wife; a son, Edgar Buzbee, Fordyce; five daughters, Mrs. Frank Jordan, Mrs. Edward Jordan, Mrs. L. H. Yeager, and Mrs. G. N. Rogers, all of Fordyce, and Mrs. S. L. Ederington of Banks. Funeral services were held at 2:30 o’clock, Monday afternoon at the Fordyce Methodist church, conducted by Rev. Louis W. Averitt, assisted by Rev. Joseph A. McGehee and Rev. J. T. Eliff. Burial, under direction of the Benton Funeral Home, was at Oakland cemetery. Active pallbearers were: Rex Ederington, Dick Buzbee, Bobby Buzbee, Max Jordan, J. L. McGriff, Lloyd Yeager, Floyd Yeager and O. H. Darling. Honorary: Dr. H. H. Atkinson, Dr. E. E. Estes, Dr. T. E. Rhine, Howell Easterling, Walter Jordan, Henry Brandon, O. S. McDaniel, B. A. Mayhew, Henry Russell, Walter Bryant, Bill Porter, Bruce Dedman, George Rogers, Joe Jordan, Lem Bradley, Lewis Smurl, Albert Abernathy, E. C. Benton, Ben Smith, C. C. Darling, John Selman, Calvin Spain, H. B. Crowder, Ed Moore, H. E. Bigford, O. H. Darling, Bill Tanner, Jack Wood, Henry Hearnsberger, William Gresham, Roy Gresham, Frank Knight, Carlton Webb, Barney Adams, Clarence Heinley and J. L. Hammonds. (The Fordyce News-Advocate, ca. 18 July 1951)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 231 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD (The pallbearers were four grandsons and others in the Buzbee-Darling- Yeager-McGriff families. Honorary pallbearers included many of his old friends from the Fordyce Lumber Co., as well as the town’s leading citizens. Among the latter were the three doctors, Atkinson, Estes and Rhine. Rhine, especially, was a legend in the community, having served throughout much of the history of Fordyce at the time as the classical, country doctor. (B. A. Mayhew ran the Fordyce Lumber Co. and much of the town from that vantage point. E. C. Benton presided over the Bentons’ financial empire. Lumberman Henry Hearnsberger had been an honorary pallbearer nine years earlier at the funeral of H. H. Darling. And most of the others from the lumber company...Bigford, Hammonds, Heinley, especially.....would remain family friends throughout their lives.)

Jennie continued her active life well into her 80s. Always conversant on any subject, she never ceased wanting to know more about the rapidly-changing world events around her, and curtailed her extensive reading only with the gradual onset of blindness in her 80s. She changed as the times changed, and remained intensely devoted to her family, which, like the large family she came from, grew constantly larger.

Thirteen years after Edgar Farrior died at the Yeager home, she died on 9 June 1964. She was buried alongside her husband in the Buzbee-Yeager lot at Fordyce’s Oakland cemetery. Her obituary was published by Dick in The Olathe News,, and in The Fordyce News-Advocate:

Funeral Services Today For Mrs. Jennie Buzbee

Mrs. Jennie J. Saunders Buzbee, age 84, of Fordyce, died Tuesday, June 9, at her home. She is survived by one son, Edgar Buzbee of Fordyce; four daughters, Mrs. Mary Jordan, Mrs. Ruth Yeager, Mrs. Bonnie Rogers, all of Fordyce, and Mrs. Doris Ederington of Warren; 13 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held (today) Thursday, June 11, at 2 p.m. in the Benton Funeral Chapel by Rev. Charles Ashcraft and Rev. Cline Ellis. Burial was in Oakland Cemetery by Benton Funeral Home. (The Fordyce News-Advocate, p. 1, Thursday 11 June 1964)

Before leaving Olathe for the funeral, I wrote a personal column for publication on her funeral on 11 June:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 232 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Spanning Many Generations A personal note today, as, in a small Southern town, a white-haired dear friend of long standing is laid to rest. She is my grandmother, the last of her generation in a family that has long since scattered in a tradition that has been America itself. She never knew her grandmother, and scarcely her parents after joining the great westward movement before the turn of the century. For, once separated, families’ ties with the older generation ceased. She came to live in a small Southern town that was to be her home for decades, past former slave huts, where there were no longer slaves, and where today little remains but flowers that have multiplied so over the years that they no longer bloom. But the fragrance of a love spanning generation---that is the beauty one recalls today. My grandmother found a vast amount of joy in an ever-changing world, but she never had the wonderful experience of going to visit her grandmother, and little of going home to mother’s, even. The next generation was more fortunate. For a brief time, there was a grandmother; and for these many years, there was a mother’s to visit. My generation, the next, was vastly more fortunate. For all my life there has been not only a mother, there has been a grandmother to share love. And the next generation encompassing my sons, for a glimpse of a lifetime, has been blessed enough not only to know their mother and a grandmother, but to love a great-grandmother as well. This is one of the greatest beauties in this fast-moving world there could be. For in such a way is the world made a far more beautiful place to live. (The Daily News, Olathe, Kansas, 11 June 1964)

14 May 1949: Mama Buzbee’s letter to me on graduation from FHS

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 233 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD THE CHILDREN of Edgar Farrior and Jennie Justice Saunders Buzbee: 1. Son, stillborn 20 June 1899

Maudina Buzbee, a drawing, ca. 1902 2. Maudina Buzbee (b. 30 August 1900, d. 4 June 1902)

3. Mary Amelia Buzbee (b. 16 June 1902), married James Franklin (Frank) Jordan (19 August 1894-11 October 1978) on 26 July 1924. Frank operated a pool hall in Fordyce. Mary Buzbee Jordan died 17 October 1982. Their daughter: a. Mary Aniece Jordan (b. 24 May 1925), m. James Lacey “Cutter” McGriff (b. 5 September 1924) in Fordyce. Their daughter: (1) Dona Kay McGriff (b. 29 June 1949), m. Gary Talley. Their daughter: (a) Stephanie Talley (b. 23 August 1985)

4. Annie Berniece Buzbee (b. 28 March 1905), married Edward Franklin Jordan (b. 5 September 1905) on 24 January 1925. They farmed northwest of Fordyce.

Edward Jordan near his back porch; Edward, Annie, Max and Bonnie Ruth

In 1957, Edward Jordan was diagnosed with incurable cancer, and hospitalized in Little Rock. Annie Buzbee Jordan traveled regularly from Fordyce to visit him, in what was expected to be his final days. On her visit, 3 April 1957, her car was involved in a traffic accident south of Little Rock. She was killed. Edward recovered, and remarried twice. He died 23 May 1974.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 234 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD The children of Annie and Edward Jordan: a. Max Edward Jordan (26 March 1929-1 January 1993). Did not marry. b. Bonnie Ruth Jordan (b. 11 January 1939), married Marvin Edward Potter (b. 27 July 1932) on 30 August 1957. They live at 9601 Stardust Trail, Little Rock. She writes: “I WAS NAMED after my aunts, Ruth Yeager and Bonnie Wilkins/Bonnie Mae Rogers. I grew up on the farm with the beautiful countryside, deer, birds, etc., which I never appreciated much back then. “We raised basically what we ate: Corn, peas, beans, okra, potatoes, onions, peanuts, watermelon, and cantaloupe. We had cows for milk; chickens for eggs; and pigs for meat. I almost forgot those turnip greens. “I went to school at Fordyce Grammar and High School. I rode the school bus. We lived about 4 miles from town. I sure looked forward to the summers---going barefooted and fishing in the pond. I actually caught a fish now and then. “We went to town on Saturdays and church on Sundays, pretty cut and dried. Upon graduation, I received a scholarship to Draughon’s School of Business in Little Rock. I remember O. L. Wilkins worked there. While attending school there, I met Marvin Edward Potter. I met him at Troy’s Roller Rink one night, when a bunch of girls from school went skating. He was assigned to the Jacksonville Air Force Base at that time. “He was the son of Joseph Randolph Potter and Ada Bell Haley Potter of Wagoner, Okla. He was born July 27, 1932. He grew up in Oklahoma and attended school there. He enlisted in the Army and spent most of his service time in New Jersey and the Marshall Islands. There he participated in “Operation Ivy,” atomic tests at Eniwetok proving grounds by the Atomic Energy Commission. “After his time in the Army, he enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed at Jacksonville, Ark. This was 1957. “April 3, 1957 was a devastating day in my life. My mother was accidentally killed in an automobile accident. MARRIED IN PINE CREST BAPTIST CHURCH “I continued on at Draughon’s during the week-days, and rode the bus home week-ends to wash clothes, cook, and do what I could for my Daddy and Max. Potter and I dated during this time and he became pretty special to me. We got married August 30, 1957, at Fordyce in the little Pine Crest Baptist Church that I had gone to as a kid growing up. My Daddy was a deacon and my Mother had been church clerk. “We lived in Little Rock for a while and moved to Fordyce after he got out of the Air Force. A few months after Michael was born, we moved to Oklahoma. There were not many jobs around Fordyce. Potter went to work for Safeway at Wagoner, Tahlequah, and then on to Okemah as assistant manager. “Later, Potter was transferred back to Arkansas, where we bought our first home at 7701 Arch Street Pike, Little Rock. He continued working for Safeway. We spent most of our week-ends at

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 235 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD the race track where “Cherokee” Potter (#77) owned and drove his race car. He actually won a little money now and then. “Our oldest son, Mike, got hit by a car while we lived on Arch Street. He survived, badly beat up and many stitches. It scared us so badly we decided to sell our house and move to the country to raise the kids. Again, months later, not enough work and the kids were allergic to every blade of grass (ivy), so we moved back to Little Rock. We bought a house at 9601 Stardust Trail in 1970. Potter worked at Canteen Corp., vending machines. I went to work for Avon. CAMPING, SKIING AND SWIMMING “All the kids went to school in this area, worked for fast-food places, and graduated from schools in this area. I felt like a taxi driver, plus working and holding the home together with paste. Poor Potter just went to work every day and patiently took each day with a grain of salt. We spent our summers at Lake Ouachita, camping, skiing, and swimming. We started out with a tent, and later on we bought an old motor home that Potter refurbished. We took a few vacations to Florida, Disney World, and out West as far as New Mexico and over into Mexico. “We never made it up North. We ran out of years and the motor home got sold. Potter had to work on it too much. “On to the next phase: Potter worked real hard and got his pilot license. He thought it would be a neat way to travel. Forget that! “The kids all got married one at a time. They all had nice weddings. They just didn’t take the first time. For one reason or another, they all had second marriages. We refused to pay the second time. They all seem to be happy enough, I guess, working and raising their families. It is a chore. RETIREMENTS in 1997 and 1998 “Many years down the road, with remnants of what the kids left, grey hair and shattered nerves, we are going to retire! I plan to retire before summer and Potter next Spring. “My first project will be to clean my house and see if I can salvage anything. It might be just as simple to donate it all and start over. I have so many things I would like to do. My family research books, pictures need to be in albums, paint the inside walls of the farm house at Fordyce, lose weight and spend time in the pool. We have had an above-ground pool for about 14 years and I am always too busy to enjoy it.” Bonnie Ruth Jordan Potter, Little Rock, Ark., 22 May 1997

Their children: (1) Michael Jordan Potter (b. 24 June 1958) m. (1st) Debra Ann Davis on 28 March 1981 (divorced), and (2nd) Deborah Lynn Rigsby on 20 December 1985. He had been the second baby born in the new Dallas County Hospital, Fordyce. He is assistant manager of Harvest Foods, and has worked for them for more than 20 years. He and his family live in Bryant, Ark. Two sons: (a) Justin Michael Potter (b. 18 May 1986) (b) Aaron Christopher Potter (b. 21 March 1988)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 236 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Step-son: (a) Mark Louis Cone (b. 31 May 1981) (2) Jacqueline (Jackie) Anita Potter (b. 17 December 1959), at Okemah, Okla., m. (1st) Joseph Hobart Crippen on 7 February 1981 (divorced), and (2nd) Dan Schuh Edrington on 14 April 1994. She has worked as a beauty operator, dental assistant, and has owned a gift shop, “Whistle Stop.” She is now a homemaker. They live in Benton, Ark. Two children: (a) Crystal Nicole Crippen (b. 7 November 1981) (b) Joseph Zachary Crippen (b. 22 July 1988) (3) Carolyn Denise Potter (b. 18 June 1962), in Little Rock, Ark., m. (1st) Vincent Joseph Mayer on 12 July 1986 (divorced), and (2nd) Marvin David Amerson on 11 March 1994. David is a professor of radiology at University Medical Center. Carolyn has worked as a secretary for Roach Paper Co., and the University Medical Center, then worked as an office manager for an oral surgeon at St. Vincent Hospital. She is a homemaker. They live in Conway, Ark. One daughter: (a) Lindsey Michelle Mayer (b. 22 May 1988) Two step-daughters: (a) Evan Elizabeth Amerson (b. 17 January 1986) (b) Lauren Kathryn Amerson (20 September 1987) (4) Charles (Charlie) Edward Potter (b. 11 September 1964), in Little Rock, Ark., m. (1st) Melody Kay Chambliss on 11 October 1986 (divorced), and (2nd) Sheila Denice Roberts on 28 January 1989. Charlie has worked as a roofer and an apprentice electrician, and currently works for Best Buy. Three children: (a) Lacey Marie Potter (b. 22 May 1989) (b) Steven Andrew Potter (b. 26 November 1990) (c) Jessica Michelle Potter (b. 14 January 1994) One step-daughter: (a) Tonya Daralane Roberts (b. 29 August 1987)

Frank and Mary Buzbee Jordan. Ruth Buzbee and Edgar Buzbee

5. Edgar Andrew Buzbee (16 February 1906-23 April 1978) m. Helen Koester Darling (b. 27 July 1910) on 14 June 1930.

6. Janie Doris Buzbee (b. 21 December 1907), married Sam Ederington and farmed in the Banks, Ark., area. She died 12 February 1967. Their children:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 237 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD a. Rex Ederington (d. 1964) was a newspaper advertising salesman. Four children: (1) Sammy Ederington (2) Cathy Ederington (3) Rexanne Ederington (4) Carolyn Ederington. Step children: (1) Jimmy (2) Linda. b. Ruth Carolyn Ederington, m. Ray McLeod. She has been a teacher. Their children: (1) Butch McLeod (2) Debbie McLeod

7. Ruth Elizabeth Buzbee (b. 21 October 1909), married Lloyd Yeager (b. 1 April 1908) on 2 June 1940. Lloyd was injured in a railroad accident that left him partly paralyzed. However, he equipped his Oldsmobiles so that he could drive, and was able to travel outside the home. He died 12 October 1963 at age 55. Ruth taught school 39 years in the Fordyce Public Schools. She died 11 April 1997 in Pine Bluff, and was buried in Oakland cemetery, Fordyce. Their children: a. Suzanne Elizabeth Yeager (b. 28 October 1944), m. Herman Horton Ginger (b. 9 March 1942), on 27 November 1964. She writes:

Suzanne Yeager, Mama Buzbee “I GUESS THAT GROWING UP when I did, times were basically good and easy going. “Even though Daddy was in a wheel chair, we were able to have vacations and family trips just like everyone else did. Maybe the fact that he was in a wheel chair was a mixed blessing---we were able to see more of him than most kids saw their dad. I still can see him sitting in the den with his feet on a table by the window with a radio on, listening to a ball game, and he was also watching one on the TV. I never understood how he did that, and now I find myself doing the same thing. SUPERB ORGANIZATION “Mother would go by the Fabric Center on her way home from school and get a pattern and material for a dress, cut it out before she cooked supper, make it after supper and I would wear it the next day. She really had to be organized to teach school, take care of us and go back and forth to Texarkana with Daddy. THEY SEEMED STRICT AT THE TIME “I always thought that Mother and Daddy were very strict with us, but now that I have grown up, I know that they really did us a great favor. “I really don’t remember much of Papa Buzbee---he died when I was only 6 years old. “I remember that Mama Buzbee loved to watch the wrestling

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 238 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD on TV and she had to sit real close to the screen. When Ronald and I first got our driver’s licenses we would always see if Mama needed us to go to the store for her. (Usually she would come up with something.) “Because Mama and Papa lived with us, the rest of the family seemed always to meet at our house on special occasions. This was great because we got to see our uncles and aunts and have cousins to play with. At Christmas, we always had a house full and lots of good food. “Uncle Edgar would come over to the house after work, to see Mama. I was amazed that he could roll his cigarette and chew his gum at the same time. Aunt Helen had the neatest washing machine- --sometimes it was in the back yard, and sometimes it was on the back porch and it had a big roller on the top. There is one taste that I remember from my childhood that will be with me forever: Aunt Helen’s fudge! “Uncle Frank always had gum in his pants pocket and there was always enough for everyone no matter how many there were of us. Aunt Mary was the one aunt who was always on the go, but she kept the house spotless and I was afraid I would get something dirty. “When we went out to Uncle Edward’s and Aunt Annies’ we would use pump water from the well (It was so cold) then sit in the swing on the back porch and eat cold cornbread and tomatoes or onions. “Aunt Bonnie Mae always had the time to stop and talk to me or just sit and listen to our problems---she may not have the answers I wanted to hear, but she would never make fun of me. She also helped me get my first part time job....working at Matthew’s during Christmas holidays. I think that by the time the job was over, I owed more than I made. AFTER THE TORNADO “I really don’t remember much about going to Uncle Sam’s and Aunt Doris’ house. When they lived in Warren, we went down to see about them when the tornado took about half of the town away. When they moved to Banks and the farm, Rex and Ruth Carolyn had already gone to college. The farm was out in the country so far, I was scared when we went down there. “Looking back on growing up: We had a wonderful time and a wonderful family that kept us straight. That was one thing about having all the family in the same town...there was always someone around to see that we did what was right. Today I am thankful for all of the care and love we got.” Suzanne Yeager Ginger, Pine Bluff, Ark., July 1997

Suzanne Yeager Ginger and Dr. Herman H. Ginger live in Pine Bluff, Ark., where he is an optometrist. Their daughter: (1) Amanda Suzanne Ginger (b. 8 September 1974)

b. Ronald Ell Yeager (b. 6 June 1946). He lives in Bartlett, Tenn.

8. Otis Lindsey Buzbee (b. 1912, d. 1913)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 239 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Nathan Rogers and Bonnie Mae Buzbee Rogers

9. Bonnie Mae Buzbee (b. 18 July 1916), married George Nathan Rogers. Divorced. She worked at Matthew’s, a Fordyce clothing store, for many years, and died 19 July 1987. She was buried in a Buzbee-Yeager plot, Oakland cemetery, Fordyce, Their children: a. Jean Carolyn Rogers (b. 10 May 1940), m. (1st) Clifton Clyde Cain (b. 7 February 1943) on 14 December 1962, and (2nd) Ronald Ellis Green (b. 26 December 1939) on 22 October 1979. She writes: “I WAS NAMED after ‘Mama’ Buzbee, Jennie Justice Saunders Buzbee. The first few years, I grew up around Ivan, Ark. I started my first year of school at the Cooterneck school. All grades were all in the same classroom. Each morning we would walk the miles to school. I was one of the younger ones and I remember how scared I would get when we cut through the woods. Of course, the older ones enjoyed scaring the smaller ones. The Cooterneck school consolidated with the Fordyce schools and I finished my first year in Fordyce. AUNT RUTH TAUGHT WELL “I remember us having dancing in the halls at Grammar school. On May Day we had plays and did the Mayday Pole. I remember Mrs. Fran’s stories, what a great storyteller she was. Oh, yes, we cannot forget the operettas. They were great fun. We must remember the Grid Kids and Chiggers football teams. I remember Aunt Ruth as my teacher, and how hard I thought she was. She was hard, but I did learn lots. “Then I became a ‘Topwater’ (7th grader). Scared at first, but then was a breeze. I always enjoyed and had loads of fun at the ‘sock hops’ in the gym at Fordyce High School. “Home Ec was never my strong point; just couldn’t master straight seams. Making it through that class was a blessing. “During my high school years, I was active in the band. We performed at all the football games, parades and competitions. I enjoyed all my school years, staying active in the band and on the Hi-Times staff and helping Miss Cash in her office. We walked to school since we didn’t have other transportation. Also enjoyed my years in the Girl Scouts. Worked at the Dallas Theater. I was a very

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 240 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD good pop corn popper! In the summers, I enjoyed swimming, going to camp, fishing, visiting family and friends. Also our bike trips and picnics to Jordan Mill Pond. Boy, were the gravel roads hard to pedal. “Church was a big part of our lives. We were there when the doors were open. SENIOR TRIP WAS TO BILOXI “Graduation day was wonderful and kinda sad, but we made it. Graduation was May 18, 1958. That night we left on our Senior trip to Biloxi, Miss. We had a great time and still think, remember and talk about it even today. “You know we thought times were hard. And they were, but they were also good times. looking back now, I am proud to those times, who I was and who I am. “After graduation, I moved to Tulsa to work. On weekends, I enjoyed bowling, plays, and my church groups. In Tulsa, I met Cliff Cain and we were married in December of 1962. He was in the U. S. Army and we moved to Kitzingen, Germany, where he was stationed. “Sonja Jean Cain was born June 10, 1964 in Wurtzburg, Germany. We lived there until she was two years old. Then back to the States. “Farrin C. Cain was born March 14, 1967 at the Dallas County Hospital in Fordyce. Moving back to Europe when Farrin was a little over a year old. Stationed at Crailsheim, Germany for the next three years. Toured all of Europe and saw everything possible. “Moving back to the States again, I then attended Arkansas State University at Jonesboro. After several years, I was divorced and moved with the children back to Fordyce. There I worked and raised my children, enjoying them and our lives together. Things were made easier with the help and love of family and friends. SPECIAL REUNION AT THE 20TH REUNION “At my 20th class reunion in Fordyce, Class of ‘58, I was reunited with a former classmate. After many letters, lots of phone calls, and visits, I was married to Ronald Ellis Green at the First Baptist Church, Fordyce, in October 1978. “We then moved to Katy, Tex. Ron worked for Shell Oil Co., in the Computer Center, Houston. I worked for First Bank, Katy, for 14 years. We stayed very active, keeping up with Sonja and Farrin and all of their activities. “We enjoyed our family and friends. Our vacation trips were great fun, from the East Coast to the West Coast, making many craft shows on weekends, where we made many friends. In 1993, Ron retired from Shell. After lots of thoughts we moved to Wynne, Ark., in 1994. We have a home on a small lake. I enjoy rocking on the patio and watching the ducks swim. Ron enjoys the fishing. I work at Southern Paramedic as secretary, office manager, or whatever needs to be done. It’s owned by Sonja and her husband. Ron is doing some contract painting, and recently tested and received his Arkansas real estate inspectors’ license. “We are enjoying a slower pace of life. Our greatest joy is our

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 241 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD grandchildren. They are such a joy and we love them very much. We seem them real often, and they love each other, which makes them a greater joy. Sonja’s two live only two houses away, and Farrin’s, about one hour, but we seem them all often, which makes life worthwhile. “We also have a travel trailer, which we enjoy very much. We like just getting away and running around. “My Mother was a wonderful mother and how I still miss her, even today. She was so good and kind; she was my idol. Even though she went to her heavenly home, July 19, 1987, I still consider her my best friend. I pray to be half the lady she was. She was a great inspiration to me. I know she is keeping a watch over me and my family every minute. THOSE FRECKLES “When I was younger, people would tease me and make remarks about my freckles. Of course, at that time of my life, it just crushed me and I would cry. I would run to Mama Buzbee, who would take a dip of snuff, sit back and say, ‘Come here, ‘my precious redhead.’ I’d run over, sit down, and she would say, ‘Don’t cry, freckles are promises from heaven.’ Things seemed to be okay at that moment. “Oh, how I remember our family gatherings at Christmas. Really do miss them. “We also enjoy reading and collecting books, especially Stephen King, Grisham, Sheldon, Ann Rice. Computers are a must in our home and business. Also pleasure.

1939: At the porch on Russell Street, after Sunday dinner: Frank, Mary, Aniece; Sam, Doris, Rex, Ruth Carolyn; Dick, Helen, Edgar, Bobby Dale

THE FAMILY “Papa Buzbee never said too much that I can remember. I always enjoyed his stories. I have many fond memories of our families. Some of my Aunts and Uncle are: Aunt Mary: Sewing my feedsack skirts and making me stand so very still while she marked the hem, and taking me on shopping trips to Little Rock. Aunt Doris: Her free spirit. She was her own person and lots of fun.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 242 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Uncle Edgar: His quietness and his big, wonderful grin that could make you melt. Aunt Annie: What a wonderful cook she was, and so full of goodness and kindness. Aunt Ruth: She was a very classy lady and example to all. Bonnie Mae (my Mother): Her smile, guidance and abundant love for her family and friends and her love for her church and God. Mama and Papa Buzbee: Dipping snuff, of course. Only a certain tree could produce the limbs for the snuff brushes. I remember they were small people with lots of love. Seems like our family had lots of love, at least that’s the way I remember. “Remember Uncle Edgar’s birthday cake, that when he cut it, all the icing ran out, since it sank in the middle and was iced even to look smooth.” A WISH COMES TRUE “Another memory: I remember the day Jerry Dale Rogers was born. August 15, 1948. I had wanted and prayed for a little brother. My wish came true. I am, and always will be, thankful for the brother God send me. “I think we as part of the Saunders-Buzbee clan have lots to be thankful for---a great family. To each of you, I’ll always have a place in my heart and love for you. We are truly family.” Jean Carolyn Rogers Green, Wynne, Ark., July 1997

The children: (1) Sonja Jean Cain (b. 10 June 1964), m. Jerry Allen Medlin (b. 8 August 1964), on 22 November 1985. After marriage, both continued college at Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Ark. She graduated with a teaching degree. They lived in Mena, and later bought Southern Paramedic, Wynne, Ark. Their children: (a) Kyle Fabien Medlin (b. 26 November 1988) (b) Taylor Nicole Medlin (b. 10 December 1992)

(2) Farrin Clifton Cain (b. 14 March 1967), graduated from University of Arkansas, Monticello, with a degree in physical education. He worked in Little Rock, and Crossett, where he m. Melissa Anne Hackworth on 28 December 1993. They live in Carlisle, Ark., where he is parks and recreational director. Melissa works for Dillards. One daughter: (a) Katy Anne Cain (b. 7 July 1994)

b. Jerry Dale Rogers (b. 15 August 1948), m. Becky Ann Vineyard (b. 22 February 1951), on 29 May 1971. He writes: “I REMEMBER that Mama Buzbee always had her snuff. She had a little metal can and always had a stick. On Saturday morning, you could find me sitting with Mama Buzbee watching wrestling on TV. Mama Buzbee died while I was in New York City at the World’s Fair with the Boy Scouts. I wasn’t called and told of her death. In fact, I didn’t know until I got home. They wanted me to enjoy the trip.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 243 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD I was too young to remember Papa Buzbee. The only thing I remember is standing beside my father looking at the casket at Aunt Ruth’s house. (I remember that while I was growing up, we walked everywhere we went.) AUNT RUTH She was a tough 6th grade teacher. I couldn’t do anything at school because she would always tell my mother before I could get home in the afternoon. Skipper Ledbetter and I went into the 6th grade the same year. Skipper was supposed to be in Aunt Ruth’s class and I was to be in Mrs. (Adrian) Ledbetter’s class. Aunt Ruth got wind of the plan and got together with Adrian. When school began, I was in Aunt Ruth’s class and Skipper was in his aunt’s class---Mrs. Ledbetter. I helped Aunt Ruth to grade papers at night. When I was in Vietnam, the family sent me a Christmas family picture taken at Aunt Ruth’s house. It looked like everyone was in the picture. I remember one night while we were sitting on the front porch, Ronald was riding his bicycle up Uncle Lloyd’s wheelchair ramp. Ronald caught a spot on the ramp and had a wreck. In the process, he broke his toe. We had to take him to the hospital. One Christmas, Ronald, Paul Osbourn and I went riding around Tri-County Lake. We were lighting cherry bombs and throwing them out the car windows. I thought that I would be really big and throw one also, the only problem was that I forgot to roll the window down. You should have seen me trying to get out of that back seat. AUNT DORIS Frequently on Sunday afternoon, Uncle Frank, Aunt Mary, Mother and I would travel to Aunt Doris’ house for the afternoon. No one else would sit in the front seat with Uncle Frank, so I got to sit up there with him every time. Years later I learned that everyone said that I was the only one who didn’t know any better than to ride in the front with Uncle Frank. I remember that Aunt Doris always had a pan of cornbread on the stove when we arrived. Mother would always tell me not to eat as I had just eaten lunch, but Aunt Doris would always reply, ‘Bonnie Mae, be quiet.’ I would then eat at least half the pan of cornbread, and most of the time I would eat all of it. That is still the best cornbread I’ve ever eaten. I remember running through the field barefoot with Butch and some other kids. I can recall stepping in warm, fresh manure. Aunt Doris had a well. I thought that it was really fantastic! That water was better than any to be found. I remember that one time when I was visiting Aunt Doris that she let me go in the woods to shoot wild hogs. She instructed me to shoot them in the stomach so that they would go off and die somewhere else. One time Aunt Doris had a lump in her bed. When she finally pulled back the mattress, she found a snake in her bed.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 244 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD AUNT MARY Fantastic cook. I would go to her house after school to wait until Mother could get off work. She knew that I liked peach cobbler, so each afternoon when I walked into her house she had a fresh peach cobbler just out of the oven waiting for me. To this day, I am very picky about peach cobbler. Aunt Mary could bake great pies. Uncle Frank worked at Harry’s Pool Hall. Mother would only let me go down there when Uncle Frank would be there to keep an eye on me. Uncle Frank liked fried chicken. His favorite piece was the leg. I have seen him gnaw on that children leg until there wouldn’t be much left. Uncle Frank and Aunt Mary sat behind us in church every Sunday. Uncle Frank would always slip me a piece of gum or a mint at the beginning of the service. One Sunday I was really excited when Uncle Frank slipped me a whole Snickers Bar. To my disappointment, Mother wouldn’t let me eat it in church. She said that I didn’t have enough to share with everyone in church, so I would have to wait until I got home to eat. That Snickers was really good---but I sure had a hard time trying to wait until after church. Aunt Mary couldn’t see very well, but she could see a piece of lint on the floor across the room. I remember getting to read stories from their Reader’s Digest Condensed books. The stories that I liked best dealt with Hunting, Safari, Lion Hunting, etc.

UNCLE EDGAR and AUNT HELEN I remember that there was a tire swing on the big oak tree. I loved swinging in that tire. I remember talk of a black panther that came through. We couldn’t get very far from the house. The woods were off limits. I remember in August 1973 when Jamie was born. We had named him James Edgar Rogers. Of course, the Edgar was for Uncle Edgar. My favorite memory of him at this time was watching him stand in the hall at Dallas County Hospital looking in the nursery room. Any time you didn’t see him in the crowd, you could always find him standing there looking in the window. Uncle Edgar was the first family member to arrive at the hospital when Jamie was born. Every Halloween, Uncle Edgar and Aunt Helen would have a ‘special’ treat for Jamie and Jennifer. They couldn’t wait to get to their house to ‘trick-or-treat.’ Aunt Helen always had a case of Cokes. AUNT ANNIE Mother and Aunt Annie were gathering eggs one day. I decided to help. When they started getting chickens, to cook, I knew that I could do that, too. I picked up a chicken, swung it around by the neck, and threw it down. That chicken got up and chased me all over the yard.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 245 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD I remember catching my first fish in a creek behind Aunt Annie’s and Uncle Edward’s house. We brought it back and put it in a tub, but I wouldn’t let them clean it and cook it. Aunt Annie always had fresh cold milk in the cooler. Ronald and I went swimming in the pond. After we got out, we saw 3 water mocassins swimming in the same area where we had been. I remember that Uncle Edward let me help him plow the field one day. The only problem was that I didn’t know whether to say ‘Hee’ or ‘Haw.’ I didn’t know which one meant left and which meant right. Boy, was I confused. So was the mule. The first time I went deer hunting was at Aunt Annie’s. The night before, I slept on the couch. She had a wood stove in the house. Since the fire would die down during the night, she piled at least 6 quilts on top of me. Jerry Dale Rogers, Fordyce, Ark., August 1997

The children of Jerry Dale Rogers and Becky Ann Vineyard: (1) James Edgar Rogers (b. 24 August 1973) (2) Jennifer Mae Rogers (b. 7 July 1976)

Edgar F. and Jennie Buzbee: Depression, War, Post-War cards, stamps Edgar F. Buzbee’s SMA identification card, used to obtain food and cotton stamps (left), and his Social Security card (right) showing issuance 7-15-38 to Edgar Farrior Buzbee; and (bottom) War Ration Book No. 3, with some of the ration stamps that weren’t needed before they received War Ration Book No. 4 .

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 246 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD PART 5

Edgar Andrew Buzbee

He liked to hunt...... and his old Home Place He wrecked his car and broke a hip Searching for the right job Correspondence School The Old Home Place South Arkansas: The Buzbee ‘Old Home Place’ After the Louisiana Purchase, by Bobby Dale Buzbee Ruth Buzbee Yeager remembers the ‘Old Home Place’ Edgar returns from Business College...... to a wedding soon thereafter

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 247 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD

EDGAR ANDREW BUZBEE (born 1906, died 1978)

“MY LIFE ON THE OLD PLACE was pretty rugged at times, but I enjoyed it more than anywhere I ever lived. It was a big settlement there then. As a little boy I always loved the woods. We all worked hard on the farm, and when I was six or seven years old --- not big enough to reach the handles of a regular plow stock -- Pappa had one made for me, small enough for me to use a horse and plow. Driving a team of horses at 8 or 9 “I would drive the team of horses and wagon to Thornton to get groceries when I wasn’t over 8 or 9 years old, by myself. We always had dogs, as everyone else did, on the farm down there. I always loved hunting. Pappa had a double barrel shotgun that I learned to shoot when I was very young. It has kicked me down flat of my back many times. (Bobby Dale has the gun today.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 248 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD EDGAR looks back: In the summer of 1967, Edgar responded to Dick’s first request for recollections about growing up in the South. His letter was published in the first edition of the family book, Christmas 1967, and set the stage for the subsequent editions. Many of his later letters are included in Vol. 2, Redbug Country (The Darlings, Buzbees and Fordyce, Ark., in the 1900s).

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 249 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Fast trips by the cemetery at night “The rainy days, and days when it was too wet to work in the field, were the days we all congregated and rabbit and squirrel-hunted, negroes and whites alike. I did lots of possum and coon hunting at night. Sometimes I would meet a bunch of boys a mile or two from home, and then have to come home in the dark by myself with an oil lantern for a light. Couldn’t see anywhere with it except where you were walking and when I had to pass the old graveyard, I could feel the chills running up my back. Before I got to it, I would get a good running start and run as fast as I could, past it. The possum keeps, in the church’s wood heater “I went to school at Chambersville, and would take my gun and hunt as far as the Baptist church, which was about 200 yards from school. I would hide my gun in the church until school was out, then hunt all the way back home. One time I caught a possum before I got to the church, and couldn’t think of any place to hide it except in the old wood heater in the church. After school, I went back to get my possum, and there was a man in the church tuning the piano, so I had to hide for about an hour before he left. Then I got my possum and gun and went home. “I never got to go to school regularly because when there was something to be done on the farm I had to stay out of school to do it. I worked at little cross-tie mills on off-times to get a little spending money. In 1920, when I was 14 years old, they put an oil drilling rig close to our place to drill for oil. I went and asked for a job, and I still remember what he told me: ‘You don’t have time to work...... you hunt too much.’

Conflicts with sorghum, basketball, school “In 1923, I was in the 10th grade. I started to school at Thornton, rode a horse part time, and walked back and forth part time (4 miles) until November, and had to be out to work at home, making sorghum molasses for 3 or 4 days. Went back to school and the superintendent got on me, so I quit and came home. Then, later on in November, Pappa went to work in Fordyce and we moved there. I got a job at the mill, age 17, worked until Friday about noon, laid off, and went back to Chambersville to play basketball games (as I had stayed on the team). All that season, the boss at the mill would tell me every Monday morning that the next time I laid off he was going to fire me, but I kept laying off, and he never did fire me. He was Clyde Well’s daddy, a good old man.

The oil fields were too rough in those days “In 1924, I got a job at Smackover in the oil field. Laid off at the mill, went down there, but it looked like it was too rough a place for me, so I caught the train back home, went back to my job at the mill, and they never knew where I went. In 1925, I got a job close to Ellisville at a mill. Laid off and went down there to work at 7 a.m., and tried to quit at noon. The boss talked me into keep working but about 3 p.m., I walked off and came home. Went back to my job at the mill, and they never knew at the mill that I had tried another job out.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 250 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD A lasting love affair with ‘The Old Home Place’ “I never could get the old home place and friends off my mind and began to run around with a rough bunch. Then Pappa and Mamma agreed that if I would settle down they would move back to the farm. I knew Mamma’s health could not take that, so I quit the bunch I was running with and adjusted myself but I still love the old place I was reared on. I enrolled in a correspondence school in civil engineering and studied that for about two years at night. Then, in 1930, I went to Oklahoma City and enrolled in a business college for bookkeeping. I stayed there two months and came home. I had gotten a leave of absence for that from the mill, so when I came back, I went back to my job grading flooring.” Edgar Andrew Buzbee, Fordyce, Ark., Summer 1967

1957: Another generation at the ‘Old Place.’ Bob makes his first visit, and that makes it 5 generations of Buzbees at the site. Harriette Jane, Edgar, Helen, Bob, Joy, Betty Jo and Bobby Dale. (Right) Daddy, four years earlier at the same stack of pulpwood logs that marked the spot where Daddy, Bobby Dale and Dick abandoned the hot project in the Summer of ‘52.

SOUTH ARKANSAS: THE BUZBEE ‘OLD HOME PLACE’

THOUGH the “Old Home Place,” which four generations would preserve, would not be assembled until land sales in the later 1800s, the Buzbees had arrived in South Arkansas in about 1850. Edgar’s grandfather, Joshua Buzbee, was an early arrival. Prior to the 12 January 1850 birth of his son, Wesley M. Buzbee, Joshua brought his first family from Alabama to what is now Calhoun County. Later, on 1 July 1859, Joshua applied for, and received 40 acres from the federal government. That tract may still be owned by a Buzbee family. However, it was the purchase by Joshua’s second wife, Purmelia Fry Buzbee, that the first part of the “Old Place” near Thornton was acquired. ” 8 August 1878 Purmelia Fry Buzbee buys 40 acres at land sale for Calhoun County. The deed was dated 24 January 1883, and filed in the circuit court 2 April 1883. The deed noted only that “all purchase money and interest has been paid.” (Did they belatededly file the deed because they were getting ready for their first mortgage ?)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 251 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 16 February 1883 Purmelia J. Buzbee mortgages the land for a $110 loan from E. A. Acruman. Interest rate: 10%. 26 January 1884 Purmelia Buzbee mortgages the land for a $110 loan from E. A. Acruman. Interest rate: 10%. 2 April 1886 Purmelia Buzbee mortgages the land for a $100 loan from J. W. Frost. Interest rate: 10%. 4 June 1886 Purmelia Buzbee sells 1 acre to Deacon J. J. Harris, for Primitive Baptist Church. $10. 2 March 1887 Purmelia Buzbee mortgages the land for a $100 loan from Ederington & Dunn. Interest rate: 10%. 10 March 1892 About two years after the marriage of Mary L. and Edgar Farrior Buzbee, his mother and sisters, Purmelia J. Buzbee, P. D. Wilman, Ida Draher and Mattie I. Carroll agree to turn over the 39-acre “Old Place” to him. 23 April 1892 Edgar Farrior sells another acre to the now-named Pilgrims Rest Church, for a cemetery. $10. 11 April 1894 Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Ida M. Buzbee, Edgar Farrior Buzbee buys 30 adjacent acres from H. J. and Martha E. Easterling. $75. 9 November 1913 Edgar Farrior and Jennie Buzbee mortgage the land for a $100 loan from J. M. Cupp. Interest rate: 10%. 19 February 1915 Edgar Farrior and Jennie Buzbee mortgage the land for a $200 loan from R. W. Mays. Interest rate: 10%. 13 December 1915 Edgar Farrior and Jennie Buzbee mortgage the land for a $200 loan from D. C. Ellis. Interest rate: 10%. 16 June 1919 Edgar Farrior and Jennie Buzbee lease the natural gas and mineral rights on the 68 acres to Maurice Scott. The 30-year lease provided that the Buzbees would get 1/8 of all oil produced and $25 for each gas well. Maurice Scott and his wife, Myrtie, assigned the lease to Combination Oil Co., Little Rock, on 23 April 1920. Combination Oil assigned the lease to Penn-Ark Oil Corp., 30 April 1921. 17 February 1920 Edgar Farrior and Jennie Buzbee mortgage the land for a $400 loan from First National Bank of Fordyce, with proceeds to Mays Mercantile Company. Interest rate: 10%. 24 October 1921 Edgar Farrior and Jennie Buzbee lease the natural gas and mineral rights to Harry Evans for 5 years. 1 December 1922 Edgar Farrior and Jennie mortgage the land for a $500 loan from the Federal Land Bank of St. Louis, a federal farm lending agency. The principal and interest would be paid in 68 semi-annual installments of $16.25, and a final payment of $16.21. Interest rate: 5.5%. 5 June 1937 Edgar Farrior and Jennie Buzbee transfer a life estate in the 40 acres to Edgar Andrew Buzbee. The remaining 28 acres would be transferred to Ruth Buzbee Yeager. 5 April 1976 Edgar Andrew writes his will, which assigns 20 acres each to Bobby Dale and Richard E. Buzbee. After Edgar Andrew’s death on 22 April 1978, Richard E. conveys a life estate to his 20 acres to Bobby Dale. Ruth conveyed her 28 acres to her son, Ronald Yeager.

The formal description of the ‘Old Home Place’ The 40-acre start: SE 1/4. NW 1/4. Sec. 16, Twp. II. South, Rge. 13. West. The final 68-acre tract: SE 1/4. NW 1/4. and the W 3/4 of SW 1/4. of NE 1/4. Sec. 16. Twp. 11. South. Rge. 13 West, (less the 2 acres for the church and cemetery).

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 252 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1 July 1859: Joshua L. Buzbee receives his patent from the United States General Land Office, at Champagnolle, Ark., for 40 acres in Calhoun County. The patent was signed by a secretary for President James Buchanan. After the Louisiana Purchase By Bobby Dale Buzbee Maumelle, Ark., June 1997

The "Buzbee Old Place" is located in the 16th Section, which is unique as far as ownership is concerned. When the original survey for the Louisiana Purchase was begun in 1815, the starting point for this survey was established at a spot which is now the intersection of Lee, Monroe and Phillips Counties in east central Arkansas. From this point, a north-south line was run (the 5th Principal Meridian) the length of the state and then an east-west (Base Line) line was run approximately mid way of the north-south line. Then parallel lines were run approximately six miles apart beginning at the Principal Meridian and Base Line. This resulted in a grid, each about six miles square covering the entire state. These six miles squares are known as townships. Each of these townships contain 36 "Sections.” Each is 1 mile square. When the Convention of Delegates in Little Rock in 1836 petitioned Congress for admission as a state they must have asked for money, or something which Congress rejected. Congress countered with a proposition "for their free acceptance or rejection". A federal “offer” The first part of this "offer" was that ownership of each section numbered "16" (of which there was one in every township) would become the property of the state (all other lands to be sold with receipts going to the federal government) with all receipts from the sale of the state land to be used for setting up and operation of schools. That is why Joshua, John D., and Martha J. bought their land from from the (Federal) General Land Office. Don't know if this applied to all States resulting from the Louisiana Purchase, but it did apply to Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana and Tennessee. After gaining statehood in 1836, the Arkansas Legislature didn't get around to doing anything about this 16th Section state land until either 1875 or 1885

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 253 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD (I have conflicting records of this from the Abstract) when the General Assembly passed and Governor signed an Act providing for the procedure for disposing of this land.) The first owner, after purchase from the state, for the 30 acres, eventually coming down to 20 to Dick and 10 to me was J. M. Gresham. He purchased it in 1887, then sold to H.J. Easterling in 1891 who sold to Papa Buzbee in 1894. The 30 acres were kept in timber The 30 acres, which Papa Buzbee bought from H. Easterling, (which includes Dick’s 20 acres) was mostly always left in timber, and according to Dad, only some ten or so of these acres were ever farmed. The remaining 40 (where the house stood) was always the farm land. I suspect also that the old “wire road” (Princeton-Little Bay road) separated this farming land from the timber land. To the best of my recollection, from what Dad indicated, it would have separated this land by having 40 - 50 acres on one side of the road (where the house was) and 20 - 30 on the other side of the road which was not farmed. There is not any indication in the record of any of this land being lost (after they purchased it), either through non payment of taxes or any other action. At the intersection of roads The site: Locating the roads of the time, from the two deeds to the church: 1. The Purmelia deed: The one-acre tract is described as beginning at the intersection of the Chambersville-Princeton road with the Camden-Smith Crossing road. 2. The Edgar Farrior deed: “Where the Princeton and Little Bay road crosses the Pine Bluff and Camden road.” These would be the same roads, as the second deed merely extends the distance the roads are named for. That is, the Chambersville- Princeton road (which runs north and south is extended to Princeton-Little Bay (Little Bay being a settlement on the Ouachita River Southwest of Hampton) and the Camden-Smith Crossing on Moro Creek road (which runs east and west) is extended to ‘Camden-Pine Bluff road. Many times, in talking about the “Old Place,” Dad would refer to the “Old Wire Road.” It is identified in the deed as the Princeton-Chambersville (and on to Little Bay) road. I remember Dad showing me (probably 50 or so years ago) where this original intersection was, although there is no sign of it now. The road which now runs near where the old house originally stood is not the original road. The original road was a little east of where the road is now. As the original Camden-Pine Bluff road and the cemetery are still discernible, it is pretty easy to generally compare the roads to the map. The Pilgrims Rest Church building itself was on the south side of the road and the cemetery was south of it. When we now park there, we park on the north side of the cemetery, which, as Dad showed me, would be about where the Church building originally stood. When the land lines for Dick and Bobby Dale’s property (the 40 acres) were run several years ago, our north line ran through the cemetery, so apparently P. J., and Papa Buzbee deeded some land to the Church that they didn’t own, as this referred- to beginning point (this cross road) for the two acres would be some 20-30 yards north of the property (that Ronald now owns.)

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 254 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Where are the lost cannon? This, too, had to be the road of the retreat of the Union troops after the battle at Poison Springs, west of Camden. The 1864 military road map pretty well coincides with a road, probably long gone, going across here and lining up with the area of the Mark’s Mill battlefield. This would have put the (Smith?) crossing on Moro Creek somewhere in the general area where the Tri-County Lake is now. I remember hearing stories of how, when the Union troops had crossed Moro Creek, they had lost some of their cannon in the deep water. And so, back in the ‘40s, every time Troy, Wendell and I went over there to fish, hunt or whatever, we always spent quite a bit of our time walking up and down the creek banks looking for those cannon. We usually went to the (now gone) Fordyce-Pine Bluff road crossing on Moro Creek, but we didn’t know that the actual crossing for the Union troops was probably several miles south of there (the Smith Crossing?). Fears of a Negro uprising There were three old houses that used to be about a half mile south of the “Old Place.” Don’t really know anything about them, or who lived there as I just remember the houses. Not too many years before Dad died, he and I were down there and he wanted to go over to what had been a fairly large Negro settlement when he was growing up. It was located some quarter to half a mile west of the three old houses. We found the old road going over to the settlement and he remembered where the Negro houses stood. The old shade trees (which were large) were still there. We found a lot of old broken bottles, jars, miscellaneous pieces of iron, etc. He also talked a lot about how, when he was growing up how, very year or so a wild rumor would start and go around among the whites that the Negroes were planning an uprising. From, or about what, he didn’t know.He said that all the white men would get their guns and gather with all the women and kids at the Chambersville Church to, if necessary, defend themselves. Usually it must have started early in the day and by nightfall the church would be full of women and children with the men scattered outside with their guns. Can imagine what would have happened had a black, or a stranger, happened by. By the next morning, everything would have quieted down and all would start back to their homes. From the way he described it, it must have happened a number of times in his early youth (prior to his age 12 or so) and the women and kids who, as could be expected, were terrified each time it happened. You can imagine the stories that would have accompanied such an occurrence, however, as he told me, there was probably never anything to it, just someone starting a wild rumor for some unknown reason. The Federal Land Bank loan Interesting also that the loan from the Land Bank was for $500, with semi- annual payments of $16.25 for a total of 34 years. Final payment was due in 1956. Don’t know, but I’d almost bet that this is what Dad paid off for them in exchange for the promise that he would get the land upon their (Papa and Mama B’s) death. I

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 255 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD knew about the “promise” but never knew what the debt was, although had assumed, and which could have been, the involvement of unpaid back taxes. Locating the land from early Arkansas maps Among the early maps of the area are: 1. 1855 Arkansas Map 2. 1936 Arkansas Transportation Department Map The 1855 Arkansas map shows relative land locations of purchases from the Federal land office by Martin V. Ratcliff, the Frys, the Moores, the Sanders, and the Buzbees. Also some Smiths. The locations I have colored in on these maps are not exact as far as actual locations within each Section (1 mile square) are concerned, but do show the Sections in which the individual tracts are located. Land records (researched in 1998 via the Internet) just show Sections; to get specific locations within the Sections would require the sale documents. For instance, on the 1855 map, I have colored in the entire section where the land is located. As in several cases only 40 acres is involved, but there are 640 acres in a Section, actual locations could vary by up to 3/4 mile. Don’t know that having the specific location would shed any additional light on the matter, though. Dates shown are dates of land purchases from Federal Land Office. Ratcliff bought the 40 acres in 1859 Federal land records show that Martin V. Ratcliff purchased 40 acres from the Federal Land Office in 1859 (some two years after his marriage to Permelia Fry; and Alexander Fry and a George Fry purchased land also in this area in 1860 and 1861. Would appear possible that these were brothers of Permelia and in particular, Alexander, as the land he purchased either adjoins or is very near the 40 acres purchased by Martin V. Ratcliff. This could be the explanation of the old story of Permelia losing land to carpetbaggers after the Civil War. Could assume that Permelia and Ratcliff lived on this 40 acres (which is some 5 or so miles from what we call the “Old Place”) up until his death in 1864. After the war, it would be quite possible that being by herself with one child, Permelia would have been unable to obtain the money (where and how would she have been able to obtain the “Yankee dollars?”) necessary to pay the taxes and that this 40 acres was the land that was lost for non-payment of taxes. Any money she might have had would probably have been Confederate, which became worthless in 1865. Would presume also that, under those conditions, she would have had to, at least partially, rely on her brother(s) just to exist, and would presume they would not be in much better financial condition than she was. As Alexander Fry (her brother?) lived on what must have been adjoining property to that purchased by Ratcliff, it would seem that the arrangement would have been quite likely. Several Moores lived nearby There were several Moores who purchased land around the same time in the same general area also. Were they relatives of Susan (Moore) Buzbee? It would appear likely, as four of them (Andrew, Elisha, John and Labetha) lived with 5 to 6 miles of the land purchased by Joshua Buzbee in 1859.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 256 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Notice that all, Joshua Buzbee (also John D.), the Moores, Frys, and Ratcliff, although having lived there for several years apparently, purchased their land from the Federal Land Office in a 22-month period from July 1, 1859 to May 1, 1861. Suppose they saw a war coming and wanted to get ownership before it occurred? There apparently was a procedure for purchasing this (Federal) land from the Federal Government as soon as Arkansas was admitted as a State in 1836. One of the purchases by Washington Smith was for 40 acres in 1839, so their delay in these purchases must have been for some other reason. (Lack of money?) It would appear that most of the roads, creeks, rivers, etc., on the 1855 map are incorrect relative to actual location as determined by land lines. For instance, the Smith land in Cleveland County as shown on this map indicates the location of Moro Creek to be some 2+ miles west of this Smith land. The actual location as shown in the 1836 map would be the Creek is probably the west boundary of the land. Verifying the “Smith Crossing” name Have included this land (Smith) as it would seem possibly to verify the description as shown on the Permelia deed for the 1 acre to the Pilgrim Rest Church, which described the road as Camden-Smith Crossing road. Washington Smith obtained the first of this land in 1839, and subsequently he and Cleveland Smith (brother, father, son?) amassed over 1,000 acres in the immediate area up until 1861. While my illustration of this land on the map is not completely accurate in that I don’t know the precise location within each section, the areas I show are the actual sections where the lands are located, so it would not vary over 1/4 to 1/2 mile in any event. This would be in the same area (Tri-County Lake) I had previously mentioned might be the location of the old Camden-Smith Crossing-Pine Bluff road that crosses on the north side of the “Old Place.” It would seem to be reasonable that since the Smiths were in the area since 1839, and owned a considerable amount of land on Moro Creek that he (they) had a road crossing on the Creek and it would eventually be called “Smith Crossing.” Also as the location of the three tracts of their land generally run in a SW-NE direction, it would also seem to be reasonable that a road connected all these tracts. The “Mark’s Mill Civil War Battleground” is only about 2-3 miles east and a little north of this land; it would seem possible that this old road ran east from the Buzbee “Old Place,” crossed Moro Creek at the Smith land, and then ran northeast (from Moro Creek) for about 5 to 7 miles to Mark’s Mill. A 1914 Arkansas map shows a road from Camden going roughly by the “Old Place,” and crossing Moro Creek in the general area of the “Smith” land, then intersecting the road to New Edinburg in the Mark’s Mill area. This is a different road, and different crossing on Moro Creek, from the current Fordyce to New Edinburg road, which also is on this 1914 map. Fordyce was built at intersection of 2 railroads This “old” road crossing Moro Creek (on the Smith property?) doesn’t show up on any later map that I have. Presume that the current Camden-Pine Bluff road did not exist until the building of the railroads through the area and that Fordyce was a

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 257 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD result primarily of the Cotton Belt Railroad running east to west, and the Rock Island Railroad running north and south. The current Camden-Bearden-Thornton- Fordyce road in particular parallels and is only a short distance from the Cotton Belt tracks. An 1882 map of railroads (and towns and cities) in Arkansas doesn’t show either of these railroads, so presume this road did not exist at that time, either. This map does show Chambersville, but not Fordyce or Thornton, so Chambersville must have been a fairly good size (at least relatively speaking) town at the time. Most of the Sanders arrived after the War On the 1936 map, I show several Sanders land purchases made in the area after the war in 1889 and 1897, although a James Sanders had purchased some land here in 1855 and 1861. Most was located primarily either in or adjoining present day Thornton, except for George Sanders, whose land was located some 6 miles south of there. Presume Thornton existed at that time of purchases by James and William primarily as a result of the Stout Lumber Company setting up operations at that location. (Don’t know exactly when, but would presume in the mid-late 1880s, as Papa Buzbee worked there in 1892.) There is no record of Lindsey, Jr., having purchased land from the Federal Government. It would also seem logical that the presence of George, James and William (whatever the relationship) already being there may have been what brought him to the Thornton area. All these Federal land purchases were made with the spelling, “Sanders,” and would think that it could be reasonably assumed that there was some relationship to Lindsey, Jr. There was one listing of a land purchase with the name, “Saunders.” It was by a Samuel Saunders in 1856-57, for 80 acres, some 12 to 15 miles northwest of present-day Thornton. An intriguing difference in spelling Rather intriguing to me in the way they spelled their name, and why. Lindsey, Sr., spelled it “Saunders.” Lindsey, Jr.’s, wife spelled it “Saunders,” all their children (Lindsey, Jr. and Mary E.) were (I presume) spelled “Saunders,” but Lindsey, Jr., spelled it “Sanders.” Why would a wife spell her married name, and ultimately her children’s the way her father-in-law spelled it and not the way her husband spelled it? As Lindsey, Jr., was, for the time, a very well educated man, he certainly knew how to spell, so for some reason, he must have consciously made the decision to change the spelling to “Sanders.” Also, what, if any, was his relationship to George, William, and James Sanders, or Samuel Saunders, who preceded him to the Thornton area?

Bobby Dale Buzbee, Maumelle, Ark., June 1997 and 20 February 1998

Locating the “Old Place” and the farms of the other kinfolk: National and Thornton-Fordyce area maps: 1830, 1840, 1855, 1895, 1936, 1998:

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 258 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1830: U. S. TERRITORIAL MAP UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, VIA THE INTERNET

(COLOR MAP)

1840: U. S. TERRITORIAL MAP UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, VIA THE INTERNET

(COLOR MAP)

Compiled by Bobby Dale Buzbee, Maumelle, Ark., February 1998

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 259 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1855: AN EARLY ARKANSAS MAP SCALE: 1 inch = 6.5 miles (approx.)

Graphics added by Bobby Dale Buzbee, Maumelle, Ark., February 1998

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 260 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1895: CALHOUN COUNTY, ARKANSAS (Also showing Fordyce, and adjacent counties)

(COLOR)

THE BUZBEES, FRYS, SAUNDERS, RATCLIFFS & MOORES By 1895, Fordyce had grown to 908. Thornton had a population of 406, Chambersille, 75. 1895 was a tragic year for the Buzbees. Edgar Farrior’s wife, Mary L (Evans?), died on 29 April. She was 24. A year earlier, on 22 July 1894, Edgar F. and Mary Buzbee’s young daughter, Ida M. Buzbee, had died. She was almost 5 months old. In either 1896 or 1897, however, another Saunders family, that of Lindsey Saunders, Jr., moved to the Thornton area. Jennie Justice Saunders, a daughter of Lindsey and Mary E. Justice Saunders, was still a teenager, but already a teacher who had taught grown men in the Lonoke, Ark., school system.

Fordyce is in Dallas County, close to the Calhoun County line, in which is located Thornton, Chambersville, Hampton, and other sites that were familiar to the Buzbees, Saunders, Frys, Ratcliffs, Moores, and Smiths. In 1895, Fordyce High School’s first class was graduated. There was a faculty of 5 for the 9 graduates, one of whom, Ed Rhine, stayed on in the Fordyce area to become a famous country doctor....and at whose countywide recognition day in about 1947, Bobby Dale and Dick were members of the Fordyce High School Band that performed in his honor in Thornton.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 261 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1936: TRANSPORTATION DEPT. MAP SCALE: 1 inch = 2 miles (approx.)

Graphics added by Bobby Dale Buzbee, Maumelle, Ark., February 1998

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 262 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 1998: ARKANSAS TODAY (With Buzbee landmarks: “Old Place,” Southside home at 309 West 8th, 323 West College Street, and East Fordyce (Box 493) SCALE: Size as indicated = 3,000 feet

Graphics added by Bobby Dale Buzbee, Maumelle, Ark., February 1998 Precision Mapping, via Internet

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 263 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD RUTH BUZBEE YEAGER recalled some of the early days with her brother, Edgar Andrew Buzbee; her father and her mother; and life on the Old Home Place near Thornton, and on and near West Fourth street in Fordyce:

About Mama Buzbee: “Mama was one of the best-read people I have ever known. She could converse with you on any subject. She never ceased to want to know more. However, when blindness came on, her reading was curtailed considerably. She was a person who really changed as times changed. Her thoughts were always about her family.”

About one of Mama Buzbee’s relatives: “Frances Perkins, first woman Secretary of Labor, was an offspring of, I think, Mary Frances Saunders (Jennie Justice Saunders’ aunt).”

About Mary Justice Saunders (her Grandmother): “She was of French descent; she was an orphan and her name was Justice. That is why mother’s middle name was Justice”......

About Edgar and his Ford: “As all boys, he bought a Ford -- got smart with it, and had a wreck in which he broke his hip. I helped him when he was able, to work the thing over.”

About his school: “Edgar went through the 9th grade at Chambersville, where he participated in sports as they had there---baseball and basketball. Then went into Thornton to high school. While there, he played basketball. In one game he knocked his shoulder out of place. An excellent player. “In school, he never had trouble with any study excepting English. He did not graduate. Don’t remember but think he quit in 10th or 11th grade. When came to Fordyce, Mr. McDaniels, planer mill foreman, took him “under his wing” and trained him to be one of the best hardwood graders in the South. “(Studied at) O. L. and Bobby’s (Wilkins) Business College (Correspondence, and then at Oklahoma City.) Didn’t stay too long as he was too much in love with Helen to be away from her. Came home and short time later married. “You know the rest. “Love, Ruth.”

(P. S...... and a note of the events of those days in Fordyce: It was 15 July 1967:) “Everything here is about as usual. The weather is queer. I slept under my electric blanket last night. Today the temperature is 77. Isn’t that something for the

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 264 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD 15th of July? Do hope that Marie and the boys are fine. Poor Marie; I know those boys really keep her on her toes, but she’s young and can take it. Jean’s (Jean Carolyn Rogers) husband, Cliff, is home from Vietnam. They are moving to Fort Polk in Louisiana. “Ronald will start in new semester Monday. Spring semester, he made 3.07 out of 4.00, so guess he’s doing o.k. “Love, Ruth.”

Ruth Buzbee Yeager, Fordyce, Ark., Summer 1967

Edgar and his Ford, and 1930: Edgar and Helen

EDGAR RETURNED to the Fordyce Lumber Company from the business college in March of 1930. Three months later, on 14 June 1930, he married Helen Koester Darling. She was 20. He was 24.

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 265 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD Next: VOLUME 2: Redbug Country: The Darlings, Buzbees and Fordyce, Ark., in the 1900s

SOME OF THE BUZBEES AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS 266 VOLUME 1: BEYOND THE OLD WORLD