WILLOUGHBY, Benjamin, of Fauquier Co VA and Greene Co TN

Benjamin Willoughby was born 1736 in Virginia and died around 1800 in Greene Co TN.[1] In Fauquier Co VA, about 1761, he married Susannah Wyatt, daughter of William and Winifred (–?–) Wyatt.

         William’s widow Winifred married Edward Sparks in 1763.  Benjamin Willoughby received administration expenses for attending court.[2] Benjamin’s wife in the lawsuit mentioned was Susannah, believed to be Wyatt, and the suit was against her mother Winifred (—) Wyatt, administrator of the estate of William Wyatt (Wiat). Evans Wynn mentions another lawsuit brought by Winifred Wyatt against Benjamin and John Willoughby, Bk 1, p. 89, Fauquier Co VA. John Willoughby was married to Mary Leachman ten days after Elijah’s marriage to Susannah Leachman. In the settlement of the estate of William Wyatt, Benjamin Willoughby and Thomas Leachman are clearly listed as sons-in-law.[3] Although Benjamin and John Leachman were stated to be sons-in-law of one man, William Wyatt, nowhere have we seen the relationships of their own fathers. Were the fathers brothers or cousins? This remains to be studied. Early correspondents of my mother and my aunt said cousins, but the brothers theory seem to have taken over at Ancestry.com. Documentation is needed.

         Another lawsuit was abated due to the marriage of the plaintiff, Hannah Bates, who had sued Benjamin and John Willoughby in 1762.[4]

         On 27 Mar 1775, both Benjamin Willoughby and Thomas Leachman together with Silvester Welch paid cash to three men in the settlement of the estate of John Hogan of Fauquier Co VA.[5]

How does Benjamin fit in with the more prominent Willoughby families of VA? Ruth Thomas wrote my aunt Ramona Duff that Benjamin was born ca 1725, the son of William Willoughby, b ca 1668, and his wife, Elizabeth Warrington, possibly Harrington. Documentation is also needed for this and the next generation.

Benjamin was in Hampshire Co VA in 1782 as follows: Hampshire Co VA [later WV], Benjamin Willowby: 10 [whites]/0 [blacks]/3 [Justice Michael Stump’s list]. He was not listed there in 1784. By 1787, his son Elijah was again in Fauquier Co VA where he married Susannah Leachman.

Several gedcoms at Ancestry.com state that he was in a returned tax record for Greene Co TN 1793,[6] and by the 1820 census he and many of his children and their families were in Montgomery Co KY. Three Willoughbys were in Greene Co TN in 1812: Thomas, John, and Benjamin. The only Willoughbys in TN in 1820 were households headed by William and Sarah in Smith County.

            Based on his 1782 tax, we can assume that Benjamin and Susannah had at least eight children born before that date and possibly others after that. Their known children include:

1. Elijah WILLOUGHBY. Born in 1762 in VA. Elijah died in Monroe Co IN, in 1834.

On 19 Oct 1787, he married his first cousin, Susannah LEACHMAN, daughter of Thomas LEACHMAN & Mary WYATT, in Fauquier Co VA. Born ca 1766 in VA, Susannah reportedly died in Vigo Co IN, on 26 Feb 1853. This date is suspect. They had the following children:

                        i.          George W (ca1788-~1835)

                        ii.         Polly (ca1798-)

                        iii.        Enoch (1794-1827)

                        iv.        Elijah Jr (1802-)

                        v.         Benjamin Jefferson (1809-1850)

                        vi.        Elizabeth (1813-<1900)

                        vii.       Anna (1814-ca1845)

 

2. John WILLOUGHBY. Born in 1765. He is not on some lists of their children; his name may be a confusion with the cousin John, who married Mary Leachman.

 

3. Margaret WILLOUGHBY. Born in 1765 in Fauquier Co VA. Margaret died in Coles Co or Edgar Co IL, on 11 Jun 1851. She married Thomas Donaghe, or Donica, 3 Apr 1797 Greene Co KY. Margaret and Thomas married in Greene Co TN, and both Thomas Donica and the Benjamin Willoughby families are on the early tax records of Greene County TN. They were in 1810 in Montgomery Co KY where Benjamin’s family stayed behind a short while then followed on to Lawrence Co IN. Thomas and Margaret (Willoughby) Donica’s daughter Margaret who married Rev. James F. Smith from Hawkins Co TN …moved latter to Illinois then MO. Margaret and Thomas had twelve children.

 

4. Sarah WILLOUGHBY. Born in 1771 in Fauquier Co VA.

                

5. Benjamin Jefferson WILLOUGHBY. Born in 1773 in Fauquier Co VA. Benjamin Jefferson died in 1834. He possibly married Susan FRAZIER.

 

6. William WILLOUGHBY. Born ca 1780. He married Phoebe (poss Hutson). Their children were:

         1. William, 1805 in Tennessee

         2. Phoebe, ca 1810

         3. Susan, 22 Feb 1811 in Montgomery Co KY

         4. Pleasant Wade, 1811 in Castle Rock,(or Rockcastle) Kentucky

         5. Benjamin Franklin, 1814 in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery Co KY

         6. James W, ca 1817 in Montgomery Co KY

         7. Maylon, 1821

 

7. Anna WILLOUGHBY. Born ca 1790. This daughter is not in most lists of Benjamin and Susannah’s children.

 

© 2008, Kathy Alvis Patterson

 

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[1] “Re: Benjamin Franklin Willoughby Sr.-KY,” posted by Caroline Sims Coon, 5 Mar 1999, on <http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-genforum/pageload.cgi/Wyatt:: willoughby::237.html>.

[2] Southern Lineages, Records of Thirteen Families, by A. Evans Wynn, p. 229. 1759-1763 Minute Book of Fauquier Co VA, p. 239.

[3] Ancestry.com. Abstracts of Fauquier County Virginia, Wills Inventories and Accounts 1759-1800 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: Gott, John K. Abstracts of Fauquier County Virginia, Wills Inventories and Accounts 1759-1800. Baltimore, MD, USA: Clearfield, 1999, page 23, pages 89-90 in the original county records.

[4] John P Alcock, Fauquier Families, 1759-1799: Comprehensive Indexed Abstracts of Tax and Tithable Lists, Marriage Bonds, and Minute, Deed, and Will Books, and Others. Iberian Pub. Co., 1994, page 28.

[5] Gott, op cit. According to “Howdershell Geneology [sic]” at Ancestry.com, Sylvester Welch, who died in 1810 in Fauquier Co VA, was married to Jemima Carroll. Possibly this was a case of men who owed money to Hogan paying directly to Hogan’s creditors.

[6] See also Willoughby Family Genealogy Forum, message #1147 from Connie Cartwright Kwasha.