THE UNBORN CHILD OF THOMAS CREWS OF SURRY COUNTY, VA

In the will of Thomas Crews of Surry Co, VA, written Jan 21, 1727/8, proved July 17, 1728, among other devises, he devises to his unborn child as follows: if the unborn child is a boy, he is to have one-half of a tract of land on the north side of Cypress Swamp (part I bought of Ann Warren) 300 acres. If a girl, then the land to remain in common. Other land devised in this will: 80 acres to son William, 120 acres called Haystack to son Thomas, 100 acres called Gray’s to son John[1]

 

Jan 9, 1732. Richard Rowell and wife, Mary Rowell, and Anne Warren, sell to William Gray Jr, 300 acres bounded by Indian Spring Branch and Thomas King.[2] The land was, in 1744, sold by William Gray of New Kent County, VA to Philip Lightfoot of York County, VA, but it is not described in the 1744 deed. [3] I do not know where exactly Indian Spring Branch is, but I guess it is a branch of Cypress Swamp or even another name for Cypress Swamp.

 

The deed from Ann Warren to Thomas Crews I cannot find. Nor can I find a deed from Thomas Crews to Richard and Mary Rowell and Ann Warren. This can be explained by the fact that by Virginia law did not require the recording of conveyances where the buyer was a legal heir to the property. [4] According to the IGI, Ann Warren’s maiden name was Hart, and I do not know the maiden name of Thomas Crews’ wife, Mary, so Ann Warren’s relationship to the Rowells remains unknown, as does the legality of her conveying land to Thomas Crews when she was married rather than a widow. The relationship between Thomas Crews and the Rowells can be inferred by the 1741 Surry County deed from William Gray of New Kent County to Gilbert Gray of Surry County of 100 acres in Grays Creek, bounded by the mouth of Cross Creek, the Mill Swamp, Crews’ land whereon Richard Rowell now lives, thence along Crews’ line to Augustine Hunnicut’s Spring, then to the Middle Neck Gut. [5]

 

Therefore, 300 acres is conveyed by Ann Warren to Thomas Crews. Thomas Crews dies and his widow, Mary, marries Richard Rowell. In 1732, Richard and Mary Rowell and Ann Warren sell the 300 acres to William Gray. Why was Ann Gray a seller in 1732? I’ve seen this in deeds where the title to the land was not absolutely clear. In other words, the Rowells were covering their behinds by including Ann Warren as a co-grantor. Getting back to the will of Thomas Crews, if the unborn child was a boy, he was to get 150 acres. If the child was a girl, the 300 acres was to be left intact. Four years later, the Rowells and Ann Warren sell the 300 acres. What does this mean? Either the unborn child turned out to be a girl, or was a miscarriage, or the terms of the will were ignored. But if the terms of the will were ignored, the heirs would have taken the Rowells and Ann Warren to court. I cannot find such a suit. Therefore Richard Crews is not the unborn child mentioned in the 1728 will of Thomas Crews of Surry County.

 

There is a 2^nd way of looking at the unborn child which would rule him out as being Richard Crews of Lunenburg County: by reference to the Lunenburg tax lists[6], Richard was the father of Josiah Crews and Josiah was born about 1745. In 1745, the unborn child would have been 16 or 17 years old. Biologically possible? Of course. But, in conjunction with the land record analysis, extremely unlikely.

 

Conclusion: Richard Crews of Lunenburg County, VA was not the son of the Thomas Crews who died in 1728 in Surry Co, VA.

 

May 27, 2001. Analysis by Eve Kinney, fastfeet@bellsouth.net