NOTE: In the Cavaliers and Pioneers Patent Book 4, John Sandever and Richard Addams transported a Henry Furr in 1658.

Primarily because of the continued name of William in our line and the highly likely age connections of the subsequent generations, my father and I made the leap of faith that William was the progenitor of our line. Unfortunately for positive verification, most of the records of Stafford County and other surrounding counties were either totally or very heavily damages during the Civil War and definitive proof has yet to be found.

We presume William to have been about 25 when he landed and that he probably began growing tobacco, the major product of the colony at that time.

The first traceable Furr was Thomas, whom we believe to have been William's son. He was born about 1679 and lived in what became Stafford County, Virginia, in 1722. In 1722, he received a grant of 1072 acres from Thomas Lord Fairfax for land at the head of Elk Run. This land has been located and has been in the Peters family since the early 1850's. As late as 1936, a home known as Cherry Run, believed to date back to Thomas had stood on the land, but finally deteriorated due to neglect.

The grant to Thomas is transcribed as follows, with original spelling, wording, and lack of punctuation:

The grant above was recorded in Miscellaneous Records, Page 370 and 371 Faquier County, Virginia Courthouse. It turns out that this land has been held by no more than 3 or 4 families since that original grant.

This land was rich and good with low rolling swells and many small streams (among them Furr's Run). Drainage was gentle, so washing away of the soil into the surrounding streams was negligible. Thomas must have had sufficient indentured or slave help to do the heavy work of plowing and raising tobacco. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had three children, Elizabeth, Thomas, and William. Thomas was already grown in 1732 as will be seen shortly.

Thomas became a successful planter and the children grew to adulthood with Elizabeth marrying one Malachi Cummings. Thomas gave the couple a part of his land for their plantation.

In the early to mid-seventeen hundreds, England made a practice of "transporting" criminals of all degrees to the Colonies for use as labor. Originally the practice included primarily minor criminals, although there were, at the time over 150 capital offenses in England. During the 1720's and into the 30's, however, more violent prisoners were shipped to work the plantations of Virginia. In 1722, Robert Beverly wrote, "It is feared that the malefactors condemned to transportation, though the greedy planters will always buy them, yet it is to be feared they will be very injurious to this country, which has already suffered many murders and robberies, the effect of that new law in England."

By 1732, then Prince William County planters including Thomas Furr, facing the dangers of these violent criminals, as well as a new tobacco tax revolted against the English in the area. To express their discontent, these predominantly Scots-Irish planters raided tobaccos warehouses, burned harvested tobacco and created such a furor that the Governor ordered out the militia to put down the burgeoning insurrection. It must not, however, have been a very serious affair and, apparently, other than damage to the crop and warehouses, no serious bodily harm was visited upon anyone. Evidence of this assumption comes from the minutes of the Colonial Council for May 2, 1732, "James Bland, Thomas Furr, Thomas Furr the younger, together with Henry Filkins of said county to attend this board at the next court of Oyer and Terminer, held the second Tuesday in June and that all other persons concerned in the insurrection upon giving security for their future good behavior for one twelve month and one day, before the court of said county of Prince William be discharged from all further prosecution for their aforesaid offense."

One could assume that had serious offenses been committed, the Tom's may not have faired so well, and we could conceivably have been Australians instead of Americans. So ended the Prince William Insurrection of 1732.

Thomas lived for less than three more years. Thomas' will was presented to the court in Prince William on May 19, 1735. He must have been sick for some time, as the will was prepared on November 3, 1734. The will reads as follows.

Note the discrepancy in the amount of land to Malachi Cummings. Was it 100 or 200 acres? It appears that Thomas could not write since he signs the will with the mark "X" as witnessed by the witnesses, two of whom could also not write and signed with their marks.

Also from the deed books of Prince William County, we find the following:

These deeds were obviously written by two different people, note the phonetic spelling of Hamilton parish in the first.

Thomas the younger lived until 1783. He was married to Elizabeth and had one known son, Benjamin Williams, not by his wife.

At the June 1763 Court of Faquier County, "Thomas Furr brought into court a son and woman named Mary Williams for having a bastard child during the times of her servitude and moved that she might be ordered to serve him a year after her time was expired, whereupon she offered to swear to it the said Furr to which he objected that she was a convict and her time not expired and offered an indenture by the Lord Mayor of the City of Dublin but the Court were of the opinion that the same was not a sufficient conviction admitted her to be sworn, upon the said Furr prayed an appeal to the eleventh day of the next general court which is granted upon his giving bond of security in the office before the next court."

We do not know when Thomas married Elizabeth, but she was his wife when he made his will and when he died in 1783.

Thomas was included in the poll for the Election of Burgesses in 1741.

In 1748, Thomas witnessed the deed for lease of 150 acres on Goose Creek by George Lamkin to Joseph Allen for 21 years. This land was adjacent to north side of Thomas' Spring Branch. (Prince William Deed Book L, p 221, 8 Dec 1748)

The same George Lamkin, the next day (Prince William Deed Book l, p 223, 9 Dec 1748) recorded the following:

The Furr's have started to migrate! Goose Creek is some 45 miles northwest of the home plantation on Elk Run.

The development of the Virginia Counties is also of interest: Stafford County was created in 1664 by splitting Northumberland. Hamilton Parish was created in May 1739 and included the present counties of Fauquier, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington. Hamilton Parish Church was located near Occoquon, Virginia. Truro Parish was created from part of Hamilton in 1732 and included Fairfax, Loudoun, and Arlington counties.

Apparently Thomas was also something of a cobbler for the Prince William Order Book 3, part 2, p 237 25 Oct 1756, "Ordered that the Church Wardens of Hamilton Parish bind Mary Warfield, an infant of seven years old, Elizabeth Brooks, an infant of nine years old and James Brooks, an infant of four years old to Thomas Furr, until they attain to lawful age. The said Thomas Furr to learn the said James Brooks the trade of shoemaker."

We also find in the Fauquier County Deed Book 2, pp 639-641, 25 May 1766, "Thomas Furr and Elizabeth, his wife, and Simon Miller, planters, of Fauquier county, sell to George Lamkin, of Fauquier county, Va for 30 current money of Virginia, paid to Thomas Furr, a tract of 150 acres of land in Faquier county on Goose Creek, between the lands of Thomas Furr and George Lamkin."

We believe that Thomas relocated to the Goose Creek area after 1758 since the names of Thomas and William Furr and Simon Miller are noted in the ledger of Daniel Payne, merchant of Dumfries from 1758-1761. Dumfries is located about 15 mile Northeast of the Elk Run plantation.

Thomas' will reads as follows.

The will was proved on motion of Elizabeth and Thomas Cummins on March 25, 1783.

Some interesting sidelights about Thomas, after the Prince William Insurrection he used aliases including Johnston Furr and Thomas Johnston.

And as for Benjamin Williams, perhaps he inherited some of his father and mothers wild Irish ways. The following from Loudoun County Court Minutes, 25 Sept 1782, "Benjamin Furr, alias Williams, charged with stealing a mare worht 18 pounds, property of Maj William Cocke. To be tried at the next general court. If found guilty he will go to jail." He was remanded to jail but Enoch (of whom we will learn a great deal later) posted a bond of 50 pounds with Benjamin to appear at the next general court at Richmond. So there is the Furr horse thief!

William was born about 1715, the second son of Thomas the Elder. He was about 20 when Thomas died. William married Charity, last name unknown, and they had eight children.

William married Charity shortly after his father died, given the birth date of Edwin as 1739. It is likely that they stayed on at the Elk Run plantation until sometime in the neighborhood of 1754. On November 2, 1754, the Northern Neck Grants Book I, page 527 recorded the grant of 502 acres to Simon Miller and William Furr "on Goose Creek adjoining Charles Ewel and Col Turner's land and Burgess' corner." This land is located about midway between current Middleburg and Upperville, Virginia, adjacent to Route 50 where Route 50 crosses Goose Creek and can be seen from the highway.

Fauquier County Deed Book 1, page 483, 26 May 1763. Simon Miller sold William 280 acres part in Loudoun and part in Faquier where said William resided at the time. This land adjoined that of Mr. Burgess, Nichols, and Triplett. William in turn sold this land to Robert Scott on June 12, 1764. (Loudoun County Deed Book D, p 357, 12 Jun3 1764)

We have been unable to locate any records related to William's death nor where he may be buried. We do know that Charity later lived with Zacariah Helms, a son-in-law since she shows up on a Tithables List in 1788. William drops from all Tithable Lists in 1784, so we assume he died thereabouts at the estimated age of 69 years.

Edwin was born at Cherry Lane in 1739, died 1801 in Mason County, Kentucky. He moved to Mason County in 1790. He had seven children Margaret, Leah, Charity, Stephen, William, Sampson, and Sabina. The whole family moved to Kentucky even though Edwin was near 50 at the time.

William married Sinae Edwards and moved further west to Fountain County, Indiana. He was an overseer for Mason County roads in 1810.

Sampson married Sally Cantwell and later moved to St. Louis where he died. He was mentioned as an overseer of roads for a time in Mason County. He had twelve children. One John Furr married three times. Martha Hume, Clarissa Rodman, and Mary Snyder. All four are buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis on the boundary of New Augusta and Traders Point about two miles from Layfayette Road and 71^st St.

Sabina (aka Sybill) married James Reed in Loudoun County in 1784. He was a Revolutionary War Veteran (Revolutionary Pension claim Number R8676). On May 16, 1816, Enoch, Edwin's brother in Loudoun County gave him a power of attorney, after a visit by Enoch to Kentucky. We wondered why until we found a deed in Loudoun that stated, "February 11, 1822, sold by Enoch and Sarah Furr of Loudoun County, VA to William DeBeel, of Fleming County, KY for $3036, 253 acres of land on water by Fleming Creek, part of 800 acres surveyed and patented by Edwin Furr." Enoch held a bond or mortgage for 5/16^th of the 800 acres.

Enoch was the start of the search for my roots. He was a Revolutionary War veteran; however, we have found no evidence that he was, as is mentioned in the oral history of other branches of his descendent family, a member of George Washington�s bodyguard. He definitely did not come from France with Lafayette as other have claimed. He was apparently a rough and tumble type fellow who lived a very long life and appeared to have been very active almost to the end. Casper Milquetoast he definitely was not! He caused trouble for his kids and his wife, fought with them relatively constantly, and appeared to have been somewhat grouchy and irritable to the end of his days. You either gotta love him or hate him. Illiterate to the end of his days, his will was an abomination that was tied up in the Loudoun Courts for over 13 years.

The search for Enoch was compounded by the fact that, in the Loudoun, Culpeper, Fauquier area there were at least four Enoch Furrs. To keep them straight we nicknamed the Enoch L (our Enoch from Loudoun), Enoch F (Fauquier), Enoch C Sr. and Enoch C Jr., although the Enoch C�s were apparently not father and son. Both Enoch L and Enoch F wives were Sarahs and the other Enochs� wives were Susannas.

Enoch was born in 1752, after the beginning of the "Biblical" name period. He was probably born at Cherry Lane at the old place in Stafford. There was a story later in his life that he remembers moving to Goose Creek when he was about 6 years old.

He served two enlistments in the Revolution. The first (November 1775) was as a private in Captain George Johnsons Company under Colonel Spotswood�s Virginia Regiment. He fought in the Battle of Long Bridge and at the Burning of Norfolk by Lord Dunsmore in January 1776. After that he was a scout around Williamsburg until discharged a year later. He reenlisted in the place of his brother Moses in the middle of September 1777 and served 3 months as a private in Captain McMichen�s and Captain Reed�s Virginia Companies. He was appointed a Lieutenant in the Loudoun Militia in 1781 and received a pension in 1836 under file # W11030. There is little else about his life during this period.

Enoch and Sarah Clawson took out a marriage bond on 5 March 1787. We assume they were married shortly thereafter. She must have been strong-willed as well for she not only stayed with him but also outlived him by 2 years. Then she wrote a will even worse than his! Enoch was about 35 years old when they were married and Sarah was 19 or 20. He died in 1845 at the age of 93 while she died in 1847 at age 79. They are buried side by side at the Ebeneezer Baptist Cemetery in Bloomfield, Virginia. There are two churches there, the Primitive Baptist and the New School Baptist churches. It appears the congregations did not exactly see eye to eye. The primitives did not have paid ministers, and they frowned on singing at their services. Over the years the churches fell into disrepair but, for the past 15 or 20 years much restoration has been done. There is one service a year at the churches on Memorial Day replete with Scottish Piper and Amazing Grace on the pipes as the congregations walk the graves to remember their ancestors. This is a very moving experience for those of us with history there.

In an interesting side note, the Ebeneezer churches are the site of the spot that John Mosby and his Rangers held up to divide the proceeds of their most famous excursion when they hit a Union train for over $180,000. Can imagine old Enoch smiling in his grave over that one!

Enoch and Sarah had 9 children, 5 girls and 4 boys. Hannah, the oldest (born in 1793), married John K. Littleton (more of Johnny later). The others were Edwin, Tacey, Newton, Charity, Jeremiah C., Barsheba, Elizabeth (Betsy), and William Gilmore.

Hannah and John lived next to Enoch and Sarah at a spot up under the Blue Ridge Mountains called the Trappe. Enoch�s original house is still occupied, having been bought and restored back in the late 30�s. Quite an impressive sight to see the original log beams and stone cookhouse. Hannah and John Littleton�s home also still stands directly across the dirt Trappe Road.

Originally, Enoch used his son Edwin as his business agent until they had a fight over $20 that Enoch thought Edwin had cheated him out of. He then turned to Jeremiah and finally to John Littleton. This appears to have gotten on the bad side of Sarah and some of the other children, but it appears that John was a shrewd businessman and made Enoch quite a lot of money.

Betsy married a Mazariah Thomas who turned out to be a complete ne'er-do-well, an alcoholic with a violent temper. Enoch gave them some land to farm close to his. Thomas drank so much he once beat a young slave to death and crippled one of his own children. Another time he ran Betsy out of her own house. Enoch didn�t think much of Mr. Thomas, and he eventually "disappeared," leaving Betsy a "widow" with young children. Betsy later married one John H. Costello.

Charity was also a bit of a tough luck case being termed insane in her later years. She had married Benjamin C. Wills.

Jeremiah C. (or Charles) farmed in Loudoun County. A map from 1853 shows his location as near Bloomfield about 5 miles from his father.

William Gilmore married his cousin Mary Agnes Furr and farmed in Loudoun within about 4 miles of the home place.

Tacey married Samuel Berkeley and lived in Culpeper County, Virginia.

Barsheba married Norman Urton and lived in Hampshier (now West Virginia) County until Norman died. She remarried a Mr. Morehead.

Newton, my g-g-g-grandfather, was born May 2, 17978. He married Pleasant Matthews in 1818. She was the daughter of Richard Matthews and Elizabeth Woolfkill. They farmed for a while in Loudoun County before moving to Frederick County, Virginia, and from there to Illinois in 1854 after both his parents had died.

When Enoch was 91, one of his neighbors rode into the yard and witnessed him breaking a young colt. When he asked Enoch why he didn�t let one of the younger ones do that work, he replied that he was still better at it than any of them. When he died at the age of 93, he had been in good health up to the end, but his doctor did opine that "he was getting a little forgetful in his old age, but lacked not for the strength of his opinions."

Enoch made his will at the age of 79 when he probably thought he didn�t have long to go, but he went on and on and on. His will follows.

In Loudoun County Court the 14^th of April 1845, the will was presented and proven by the oath of the witnesses and ordered to be recorded. "On the motion of John K. Littleton one of the executors therein named who made the oath as such entered into and acknowledged a bond in the amount od $9000 as conditioned as the law directs certificate is granted him for obtaining a probate thereof in our court of law."

So there it is, John has it and Sarah doesn�t! Not only is she cut out of her dower right (1/3 of the estate) but all the household goods and everything else is given right out form under her to the children. She gets $60 a year. Wonder if she ever saw this will before he died?

Sarah promptly went to court petitioning for her dower right which she claimed never to have given up. Littleton continued his attempt to probate the will even as Sarah was going to court.

Now it is interesting to remember that Enoch was illiterate until the day he died. Of note also is the fact that John K. Littleton was his business agent and husband of Hannah who, of all the children made out the best under the terms of the will. Shoot old Newton, my g-g-g-grandfather didn�t make the will at all! And guess who it turns out wrote the will for Enoch � sure enough John K. Littleton!

One month later, on May 15, 1845, John Littleton held an estate sale at Enoch and Sarah�s home. Nearly all the household goods were sold along with livestock and crops as follows:

In the interest of space, the remainder of the estate included 19 head of cattle, 2 shares of Snickers Gap Road stock, a little over 100 bushels of assorted crops (wheat, corn, oats, rye), close to 600 pounds of wool, a gray mare, another bed set, and assorted sundry small household items. The resulting proceeds from two sales (the 15^th of May 1845 and 23^rd of January 1846) amounted to a bit over $1,470.

In the meantime, Sarah�s suit for her dower rights was heard in Loudoun County Court on 9 Dec 1845. She was awarded her dower rights of 502 acres of property as well as her share of all profits from the sales as well as rents on property. So Sarah gets the property back, gets to live in her house, and has the land to support her. John K. lost round one. William Gilmore and his wife Agnes lived with Sarah in Enoch�s old house until Sarah dies a little over a year later.

After Sarah died, the other children girded for battle with John K Littleton over the original will. It was a fight that lasted 13 years. In all, Enoch left 502 acres, $1,470 worth of personal property, 6 slaves valued at $1,450, and a lot of notes and mortgages due him. The total of the estate was approximately $25,000, not bad for a fellow who couldn�t even sign his own name.