WYATT, William, of Fauquier Co VA

November 2017 Update: Descendant Ramona (Armstrong) Duff, who has a clear paper trail to this William Wyatt, is a DNA match to a descendant of Francis Wyatt, brother of James Wyatt, both sons of Conquest Wyatt.

William Wyatt (or Wiat) was possibly the son born in 1705 in Stafford Co VA, son of James and Grace (Newton) Wyatt.[1] He died in Fauquier Co VA in 1762.[2]

William’s marriage date and place are unknown. His daughters were married by the mid-1760s, so he was certainly married at least by the mid- to late-1740s. His widow Winifred married Edward Sparks in 1763.[3]

On 7 Sep 2001, a researcher named Connie Cartwright Kwasha, posted an analysis of the information which suggests a link from William to James and Grace Wyatt of Prince William County, at Genforum, that is, the Wyatt Family Genealogy Forum, under the title “Re: WIATT, James[,] Prince William Co, VA 1748.” Her posting reads, “I too have been trying to determine whether there is a connection from the Wyatts/Wiatts of Prince William Co. to the Haute Wyatt line. In fact some years ago I tried to hire a professional genealogist (which I was not myself at the time though I am now) to check that question for me, and he rather haughtily declined, while at the same time asserting that the Wyatts of Prince William were not related to the Haute line. But he did not show anything to substantiate that claim. So it still remains a mystery to me, but my evidence indicates that he was likely wrong. Here is what I have on the family of Prince William Co VA, in a nutshell: James Wiatt, died in Prince William Co Va. sometime prior to March 1741/2 when his estate was finally settled by the paying of accts for the raising of his children, William and Anne. (My impression from the very brief record is that James had died some years before and the person who had raised his orphans had just then been paid for their schooling; they at that time [1741] having reached adult age.) The record mentioned the son William’s schooling in Stafford or Gloucester County; and from records concerning the Haute line, it is shown that James of Haute’s line had land in Prince William County. So I am convinced the record of settling of accts for schooling children William and Anne related to the James of Haute’s line, whose children are not satisfactorily discussed in any of the materials I have studied related to that line. Further: The son William (of James Wiatt, died 1741) was married and having children by 1745, since later records of Fauquier Co. (taken from Prince William) on his own death in 1761-65 show that he had at least two daughters, Mary and Susannah, who had married Thomas Leachman and Benjamin Willoughby, respectively. (This means they would have had to have been born by at least ca 1745 to be married by 1761. I have in my notes ‘possible other children: sons James and William?’ So I am thinking that your James Wiatt/Wyatt who was born in Prince William County ca 1748 must have been a son of this William Wyatt, who was himself son of James Wiatt who died some time prior to 1741. (And, as I believe, was of the Haute line.) Unfortunately, as I mentioned I have yet to find anything further to prove the Haute connection other than the fact that one of Haute’s descendants named James had land in Prince William County.”[4]

Connie’s history goes from the father James’s death in Prince George Co, some time prior to 1741, when the accounts relating to the schooling of the son William and a sister were settled. Within a few years William had married, to a woman named Winifred, the young couple having two daughters born old enough to be married by say 1761 -1765. The youngest child appears to be a John, who at his father’s death in 1762, chose Thomas Leachman, husband of his married sister Mary, as his guardian.[5]

Acting for his wife Mary Wyatt, Thomas Leachman filed a suit against his mother-in-law, Winifred (—) Wyatt, administrator of the estate of William Wyatt (Wiat). Benjamin Willoughby’s wife was Susannah, op. cit., p. 238. John Willoughby (and I see no indication of more than one in that county at that time) was married to Mary Leachman 10 days after Elijah’s marriage to Susannah Leachman. Ramona mentions Gott, Abstracts, pp. 89-90, but my copy of Gott must be a different Gott. Benjamin Willoughby and Thomas Leachman are clearly listed as sons-in-law of William Wyatt, died 1762.

            On October 14, 1779. A petition of sundry freeholders and inhabitants of the County of Prince William shows that after the division of Fauquier from Prince William County, Govenor Fauquier fixed the Court of Prince William at the town of Dumfries. They complain that the Court is now inconvenient to at least three fourths of the inhabitants of the county. For twenty years the inhabitants have struggled with the inconvenience and expense of traveling long distance and staying away from home several days in order to seek their own rights, defend their property, serve as witnesses, serve on grand juries, etc. The petitioners ask that the courthouse of their county be removed from the Town of Dumfries and carried to the land of John Randolph or somewhere thereabouts near Butler’s Ford on Cedar Run which the conceive is near the center of the county.

Signatures are: [including]… Thomas Leachman… Leonard Leachman… John Wiat… Conquest Wiat…

The only known children of William and Winifred Wyatt are the three identified in his will and subsequent lawsuit:

2. Mary WYATT. Born say 1742 in Virginia. Mary married Thomas LEACHMAN, son of John LEACHMAN. They had the following children:

                        i.            Susannah (ca1766-1853)

                        ii.            Mary (1767-)

                        iii.            George (ca1770-1837)

                        iv.            James (ca1773-)

                        v.            Thomas (ca1777-)

3. Susannah WYATT. About 1761 Susannah married Benjamin WILLOUGHBY, son of William WILLOUGHBY & Elizabeth WARRINGTON, in Fauquier Co VA. Born in 1736 in VA. Benjamin died in Greene Co TN, in 1800. They had the following children:

                        i.            Elijah (1762-1834)

                        ii.            John (1765-)

                        iii.            Margaret (1765-1851)

                        iv.            Sarah (1771-)

                        v.            Benjamin Jefferson (1773-1834)

                        vi.            William (ca1780-1850)

                        vii.            Anna (ca1790-)

4. John WYATT. Born aft 1741 in VA, probably Prince William or Fauquier Co. He may have been one of the John Wyatts in Kentucky in the 1810 census.

© 2009, Kathy Alvis Patterson

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[1] Various undocumented gedcoms at Ancestry.com. The DNA evidence mentioned here strengthens the claim.

[2] 1762, Fauquier Co VA. Will, estate and court papers: Administrator of Account, Bk 1, p 89, 1762; recorded Jul 23 1765; Inventory, Bk 1, p 37, dated Jun 4 1761; p 40; p 51.

[3] The Sparks Family Association Quarterly published the following query: Page 2369, Whole Number 116: Lucille M. Ponder, 1603 No. 46th St., #201, Seattle, WA 98103, is seeking information on Edward Sparks who married a widow, Winifred Wiatt about 1750-1760 in Fauquier Co VA. This family moved to Hampshire Co VA, which later became part of West Virginia. Was Winifred’s maiden name Willoughby? Who were Edward Sparks’s parents? Ms. Ponder would be pleased to exchanged information.

[4] http://genforum.genealogy.com/wyatt/messages/3140.html. Mrs Kwasha has no Genforum postings after Sep 2001; this writer hopes the disdainful reply of one person to one of her postings did not discourage her.Maybe she simply changed her email address and nothing is recorded.

[5] Southern Lineages, Records of Thirteen Families, by A. Evans Wynn, p. 229. 1759-1763 Minute Book of Fauquier Co VA, pp. 128, 150, 167.