Wayland - pafg170 - Generated by Personal Ancestral File

Immigrant to Virginia prior to1720, Thomas Wieland and related lines


George FORT [Parents] was born about 1670. He died in 1719. George married Elizabeth Accabe DUCKWOOD in 1695.

Elizabeth Accabe DUCKWOOD was born about 1675. She married George FORT in 1695.

They had the following children:

  M i Elias FORT

Elias FORT [Parents] was born about 1645. He died in 1678. Elias married Phillis CHAMPION.

The following was found at: http://www.linkline.com/personal/xymox/roh/fort.htm
which is on the "America's First Families" site:

The first date recorded on Elias FORT is dated Oct.9, 1667, when he scrawled his mark on the findings of a coroner's jury investigating the death of William PERSONS in Isle of Wight Co., VA. There is another record of jury service later that year when he and other men looked into the death of Edward BURGESS. In the years 1669, 1670 and 1677, respectively, he was called on to administer the estates of Joseph POOLE, Thomas DIXON, Robert ROE and William GROVES. A court record in Isle of Wight County for September 7, 1675, shows him in debt and overdue in his payments to Tom DENSON.

Elias died in late 1677 or early 1678, probably the latter, leaving his widow and "orphans". No one knows where his bones rest in old Isle of Wight.

There is fairly good evidence that Elias was born before 1646 and probably after 1630. His service on juries required him to be at least 21 years old. While the estate administration papers filed after his death tell little about his family, they describe the children as being "orphans" and hence under legal age. Elias and John FORT show up on the "tithable" list for Surry County June 10, 1694. George appears in listings for Surry Co. in Southwark and Lawnes Creek parishes in 1698. These lists of tithables cover white males 16 years and older with independent livings. All indications prove he left comparatively young children and died perhaps in his 40's. The administration papers on Elias' estate show his wife's name was Phillis; the will of Joseph POOLE, made Jan 8, 1668, in Isle of Wight County, indicates rather strongly that she was Phillis CHAMPION, and that her widowed mother had married Joseph POOLE after bearing a son Edward CHAMPION.

There is also evidence that in 1686 Phillis CHAMPION once married to John DUCIE, moved her son's with her to Surry County, VA. On 28 April 1694, sold 200 acres of land in Surry County to Lawrence FLEMING.

Elias shows up on no surviving land records in Virginia. But is seems highly unlikely for a man who administered four estates and who owned 18 pigs and 10 horses at the time of his death to have no land of his own. The records seem to have been destroyed by fire.

Speculation has it that Elias might have been an indentured servant earlier or even at the time of his death. But Elias' service as an executer of estates argues against his having that status in later years of life. The small appointments of colonial living are shown in Elias' inventory, filed by his widow. They include a dozen "spoones", a long table, "three old pots", two flock beds and one featherbed, and "very old" furniture.

Kate Hayne's Fort's Memoirs of the Fort-Fannin Family -one of the few published works on the family-recounts a tradition that three brothers named Moses, Arthur and Elias FORT came to America with a British expedition sent to quell the Bacon Rebellion in Virginia. One was a wagon master. An elaboration of this tradition says they arrived under the command of a Colonel MORRISON and Colonel Hubert JEFFRIES, the three brothers decided to stay after Nathaniel Bacon's uprising aborted.

Kate FORT'S story came from her mother who was trying to recall something Kate's grandfather had said years earlier. Facts are that Bacon's Rebellion did not take place until 1676, nine years after Elias first appears on the VA jury list. Furthermore, the brothers Moses and Arthur, along with a brother Drury FORT do appear together in a migration to South Carolina-though some 75 years after Elias died.

Another source states that two brothers did come to America together and they landed somewhere in the North, and one brother came South to Virginia.

A "Jennet FORTH" arrived in James City County, VA in 1651 and was indentured to Edward GREENWOOD; Surry County was originally part of James City. Some of Elias' descendants evidently pronounced and even wrote the name "FOORT" until about the end of the 18th century.

Another tradition states Elias FORT and his wife Phillis came to Virginia on the ship GEORGE in 1630. But this date seems to early for Elias.

A membership application from Ms. Mattie HIGGS sent to the Washington D.C. chapter of the Huguenot Society of America states "Elias FORT born 1631, married to Phillis in England in 1660".
Submitted by Delores Ellen Mann Franks of Hawaiian Gardens, California.

The Children of Elias FORT and Phillis CHAMPION were.
1. Elias, b. 1663-1665, d. 1739, m. Sarah HOLLIDAY or BATTLE 1685-1690
2. John, b. 1663-1665 in Isle of Wight, Va. d. 1725 in Surry Co. VA. m. Elizabeth JORDAN, b. abt. 1663, m.1685-1690 in Surry Co., VA. d. abt 1743 in Surry Co.
Virtually all of John's children migrated to NC, settling in what is now called the Johnson, Wilson, Lenoir Counties and Halifax.

Phillis CHAMPION [Parents] was born about 1645. She married Elias FORT.

They had the following children:

  M i Elias FORT
  M ii George FORT
  M iii John FORT

George FORT was born about 1610.

He had the following children:

  M i Elias FORT

John FORT [Parents] was born about 1675 in VA. He died in 1725 in Surry Co., VA. John married Elizabeth JORDAN.

Elizabeth JORDAN was born about 1675. She married John FORT.

They had the following children:

  F i Sarah FORT
  M ii Elias FORT

Elias FORT [Parents] was born about 1665. He died in 1739. Elias married Sarah FORT.

Sarah FORT [Parents] was born about 1695. She married Elias FORT.


Elias FORT [Parents] was born about 1700. He married Olive PITTMAN in 1734.

Olive PITTMAN was born about 1708. She died before 1759. Olive married Elias FORT in 1734.


William FORT [Parents] was born on 23 Jun 1759. He died on 8 Jan 1802. William married Elizabeth HILLIARD.

Veteran's Questionare answer by Joel Battle Fort (b. 1854-1934) William Fort a grandson of Elias Fort was the member of the 1st Constitutional Convention of North Carolina and a member of the 1st Constitutional Convention of Tennessee.

Elizabeth HILLIARD was born on 6 Sep 1763. She died on 4 Oct 1819. Elizabeth married William FORT.

DAR #103876

They had the following children:

  M i Jacob Hilliard FORT was born on 13 Jan 1783. He died on 13 Sep 1785.
  M ii Jeremiah FORT was born on 28 Aug 1784. He died on 23 Feb 1806.
  F iii Sarah Coleman FORT
  M iv James FORT was born on 18 Oct 1788. He died on 9 Jul 1819.
  M v William Anthony FORT was born on 21 Dec 1790.
  M vi Jacob Hilliard FORT was born on 29 Nov 1792. He died on 22 Dec 1833.

I'm not sure if it is this person or not, but the book, "A Family Called Fort" quotes the book, "Historical Sketches of Adams and Port Royal" that says:

"One of the first records that we have found is a deed recorded January 20, 1824 (Book U, p. 252, Robertson Co., TN) in which Thomas Gorham [my ancestor] of Missouri sold to Solomon Clark of Davidson County, Tennessee, 1089 acres of land on both sides of Red River and including the mills 'now being
occupied by J.H. Fort and Pleasant Easley. The consideration was $11,734. The census of 1820 shows that Jacob H. Fort was operating a Grist Mill, Saw Mill and Distillary, so we assume that this was Gorham's Mill."
  M vii Josiah W. FORT was born on 25 Jun 1795.
  F viii Mary Smith FORT was born on 24 Oct 1797.

HARRISON was born about 1785. He married Sarah Coleman FORT.

Sarah Coleman FORT [Parents] was born on 6 Sep 1786. She married HARRISON.


Elias FORT Jr. [Parents] was born in 1774. He died in 1827. Elias married Katherine PRINCE.

Katherine PRINCE was born about 1775. She married Elias FORT Jr..

DAR #61697

They had the following children:

  F i Polly B. FORT was born in 1807. She died in 1842.
  F ii Catharine FORT was born about 1810.

Edward CHAMPION was born about 1620. He married Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was born about 1620. She married Edward CHAMPION.

They had the following children:

  F i Phillis CHAMPION

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