THE KIDDS OF AMELIA, DINWIDDIE & NOTTOWAY COs., VA 1750-1850 by Reiley Kidd, Seattle, WA and William R. Kidd, Newport News, VA (version of February 2018) INTRODUCTION Benjamin3 Kidd1 of Middlesex County, Virginia died in 1761. Shortly thereafter, two of his sons migrated south, and settled in the southeastern corner of Amelia County, VA, near Namozine Creek; their land was within a mile or two of the Dinwiddie County line, and just a few miles north of Nottoway County. The older son, Benjamin Jr., left little trace of his time there, and appears to have returned to Middlesex County. The younger son, George Kidd, remained in Amelia County for the rest of his life. He and his wife Elizabeth raised a large family, including 6 sons, and this couple are the progenitors of many descendants scattered across the U.S. today. Colonial records are difficult to research, since few records have survived, and because most records that have survived relate to individuals with more education and wealth than our ancestors had. Research of this particular family is even more difficult, because they moved back and forth between Amelia County and the two adjacent counties, each just a few miles from where George4 Kidd settled in 1763. Two of these counties, Dinwiddie and Nottoway, are among the "burned records" counties, meaning that most early records have been destroyed or lost.2 Genealogical research in such situations is akin to working on a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle in which many pieces are missing – regardless of how hard one works, the picture will never be complete, and some guesswork and imagination will be required. We have tried to find as many of the "pieces" (the mentions of these ancestors in the historical records of the three counties, and elsewhere) as possible, in order to have the best chance of eventually coming up with a good "picture" of the individuals and their relationships to each other. This document attempts to list all historical mentions of every individual with the surname of Kidd in this 3-county area between 1760 and 1860, in order to sort them by name; to distinguish between individuals with the same name, like Benjamin, James and George; and to place them into family lines, where possible. One product of this endeavor is the Pedigree Chart for the Descendants of Benjamin3 Kidd (Figure 1, on page 4 of this document). This chart is our interpretation of this particular jigsaw puzzle, despite its missing pieces. It may not be totally accurate, but it represents our best effort to determine the correct familial relationships, with the information at our 1 In our papers on the Kidds of Virginia, we employ a numbering system to designate an individual’s generation, relative to Thomas Kidd, the immigrant and patriarch of the Virginia Kidds. This number follows the individual’s name, as in “Benjamin3 Kidd” here; this Benjamin Kidd was in generation three, and was the son of William2 Kidd, and grandson of Thomas1 Kidd, the immigrant. 2 In Dinwiddie County, fires in 1831 and 1865 destroyed nearly all early records. In Nottoway, most courthouse records were destroyed in 1865, during the Civil War. A few volumes of deeds, wills and court orders have survived. disposal. We suggest that the reader keep the chart handy, for quick reference and orientation, as you review this document, with all its repeated names, and confusing relationships. This compilation of data has been contributed by several individuals,3 all of whom trace their roots to the area around Namozine Creek, with Dinwiddie county to the east, Amelia county in the northwest, and Nottoway county to the west (see the map below). Figure: An 1895 map of the three-county area covered in this paper. Namozine Creek forms the boundary between Amelia and Dinwiddie counties; Ammon, the small community near which George4 Kidd settled by 1782 is in the SE corner of Amelia Co., located in the area just above the "F" of Ford, in Dinwiddie Co. It is our belief that most if not all of the Kidd males in this paper are the descendants of Thomas Kidd, the immigrant who arrived in Lancaster Co., VA by 1648 (hereafter referred to as Thomas1), through his son, William (William2), and through William’s son, Benjamin Kidd (Benjamin3). We know that one, and probably two of Benjamin’s sons moved from Middlesex Co., Virginia to Amelia County, arriving there by 1763. We know of no other 3 Reiley Kidd, a descendant of George4 Kidd via his son, Lodowick; Troy Kidd, a descendant of the same George Kidd, via his son, James5a; William R. Kidd, probably a descendant of George4 Kidd via his eldest son, Benjamin5; and the late Jane Andrews, whose husband Preston is a descendant of Thomas J. Kidd – Thomas J.s connection to George Kidd is unproven, and hypothetical at this time. See Figure 1 for a Pedigree Chart of the Kidds who lived in this 3-county area. page 2 Kidds from other lines arriving later, up to 1850, although one cannot be certain that this did not occur. Because of this geographical and temporal proximity, most if not all the names listed here probably descend from one of these two men. The results of the Kidd Y-DNA Project for the descendants of several of these individuals on this list support this hypothesis, but do not prove it. SOURCES INCLUDED IN THE CREATION OF THIS DOCUMENT: We have made a concerted effort to identify every primary and secondary source record for these three counties, and to examine as many of them as we could. WorldCat, the online catalog of the Library of Virginia and the catalog of FamilySearch.org were our three main sources in this endeavor. EXPLANATION OF THE GENERATIONAL NUMBERING SYSTEM WE USE Before you get started, an explanation of the numbering system we have used in this document is in order: The number following an individual’s name in this compilation indicates the number of generations relative to our common ancestor, Thomas1Kidd. Thus, for example, “George4 (Benjamin3, William2, Thomas1)” is short-hand for “George Kidd, 4 generations down from Thomas the immigrant, and the son of Benjamin3, grandson of William2, etc.” The numbers used in this system refer to the generation of each named individual, relative to Thomas1 Kidd. Our Kidd ancestors favored several names, and repeated them in each generation; George, James and Benjamin were used in nearly every generation, in multiple branches of a family. In order to separate these individuals with shared names but in the same location and generation, we have arbitrarily listed them as James5a, James5b, etc. The accompanying diagram (see Figure 1, on the next page), may be useful in identifying them and their specific family lines, and in distinguishing between them. page 3 Figure 1: Pedigree Chart for the Amelia, DinWiddie & NottoWay Co., VA Kidd families BENJAMIN3 KIDD m. Judith CHOWNING (~1714, MSX – 1761, MSX (1716, MSX - ????) GEORGE4 KIDD m. Elizabeth (Coleman?) BENJAMIN4 KIDD ~1737, MSX – 1797, Amelia Co. VA 1739, MSX - ?~1804?? Benjamin5 George5a LodaWick James5a Usley Elizabeth BartholomeW Jasper James5b George5b 1761 - ~1821 1763- 1765- 1767- 1774-?? 1782-?? 1788-1838 1790-???? 1771- 1773-???? 1844 1856 ???? ???? No known 1. James6b 1. William John B. children ~1794 – 1797, VA - 1794-1862 Francis 1882, TX 1883, MS ~1825 – aft. 1880 2. Asa 2. George7 1806-1864 ~1806-aft. Archer J. 1880 James7 ~1830 - 1879 1. Thomas 3-6. OTHERS ~1820 – aft. 1890 J. See L’s section ~1785-~1858 ?another son Stith J. b. 1820-1825 ~1825 – aft1882 2. James6a 12 children, 11 sons! ~1794-~1871 William R. ~1819 – aft. 1870 Stanfield T. Other sons? ~1831 - ~1855 1. In 1820, Benjamin5 had 3 sons 0-9 & 1 10-15; in 1830, his Widow Mary had 1M 10-14, 1 15-19, & 1 20-29 in her household. This suggests that Benjamin and Mary may have had more than tWo male sons Who survived them. 2. Individuals in red have descendants participating in the Kidd Y-DNA Project page 4 THE KIDDS OF AMELIA, DINWIDDIE & NOTTOWAY COUNTIES, 1772-1860, BY GIVEN NAME, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER NOTE: names in red font have been added to the MSX Kidds Tree at Ancestry.com Archer/Archibald J. Kidd – the son of Jasper Kidd and his first wife, Susan/Susanna Powell Kidd4 (b. abt. 1830,5 in Dinwiddie Co., VA,6 died between 1870-1880, supposedly in Greensville Co., VA) - ancestor of Rebecca Starr. 1846 – Archer appears for the first time on the Dinwiddie Co., VA Personal Property Tax List (Lewis P. Lanier's list), listed as Archibald Kidd. He was taxed for himself, no property and no horse or mules. 1848 - he appears again on the Dinwiddie PPTL, this time listed as Archer Kidd, along with a Francis Kidd, another newcomer to Dinwiddie Co. Both have no slaves, horses, or other taxables. 1850 - on the federal census in the Northern District, Dinwiddie Co., VA, p. 456, HH 338: Kidd, Susan 52WF VA " , Francis 25WM laborer VA cannot read or write " , Archer 20WM laborer VA cannot read or write (This Susan Kidd MAY be the same Susan Kidd who died in magisterial district #1, Dinwiddie Co., VA in October 1859.7 1859 - Dinwiddie County, VA Marriage Register: "This is to license and permit you to join together in the Holy State of Matrimony Archd J. Kidd and Dorothy Pillian, and for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given under my hand this 30th July 1859. 4 From the 1868 second marriage record of Archer Kidd, which lists his place of birth, and names his parents.