GODWIN-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: Suffolk in 1843
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 01:20:10 EDT

Note: The info below is not complete - only portions of the letters have been
included (mostly dealing with Godwin's).

Lori :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Periodical "The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume
64, 1956" Published quarterly by the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond

SUFFOLK IN 1843
Letters from Archibald Allen of "Rose Hill", Nansemond County, to William G.
Driver
Edited by Fillmore Norfleet

Letter dated: Suffolk 31st January 1843.

...our Town was visited in 1837 by a very destructive fire which swept all
that part between the cross streets from Mr. Arthur Smith's to the Court House
including the Court House, jail and every dwelling except the low brick house
(opposite Mr. Wells saddle factory) belonging to the Shelton family.
[footnote: The fire that occured Saturday, June 3, 1837, nearly destroyed the
town of Suffolk burning houses on both sides of Main Street from the post
office to the courthouse...Starting "a little after the meridian" in Edward
Arnold's cabinet shop on the northeast corner of present Mahan and North Main
Streets, the fire moved rapidly, fanned by a strong wind from the southwest,
towards the river. "Before 6 o'clock P.M. the most valuable and thickly
settled portion of the lower part of the Town, on both sides of the street,
were laid in ashes" About one hundred and thirty houses in all were
destroyed...]

Miss Elizabeth Richardson - still living & single. [footnote: Elizabeth
Richardson, daughter of Archibald Richardson. Her pastel portrait by Felix
Thomas Sharples, has written in ink on the back, "Taken 1807 / age 16." It is
owned by Miss Hilah Kilby and Mrs. Bradford Kilby.

Renamed "Betsey Tabb", in Ella Taylor Disoway's novel Beppie, Elizabeth
Richardson is frequently described:

"Betsey Tabb, a cousin of my uncle Allen, had joined the fanatics
(Methodists), and had consequently become the laughing-stock of the family.
She amused our elders and awed the children, by her precise ways and Quakerish
dress; and we all looked upon her eccentricities as peculiar to the sect to
which she belonged"

"She came slowly toward me...and I immediatley recognized the scant, plain
dress and slender, prim figure of our Cousin Betsy Tabb. She was related to
the Godwins, and lived at the Grove ["Cherry Grove" on Chuckatuck Creek]. I
had occasionally seen her at Rose Hill, for she was also a kinswoman of my
uncle Allen, and with the rest of the younger members of our family, I
regarded her queer dress and personal pecularities with a certain awe, which
was increased by the fact that she was a firm advocate for children being
seen, and not heard"

The daughter of Archibald Richardson. Her pastel portrait by Felix Thomas
Sharples has written in ink on the back, "1807 / 18 / Va." It is now owned by
Miss Hilah Kilby and Mrs. Bradford Kilby.]

...Mrs. James Riddick & Mrs. Miles have been dead many years. [footnote:
Born Charity ("Cherry") Godwin, daughter of Jonathan Godwin and Charity
Holladay, his wife, she married, first, William Henry Baker (d.s.p. 1792;
uncle of Richard Henry Baker), and second, James Riddick, Jr., who with his
wife was administrator of the estate of W. H. Baker in 1805 (Nansemond County,
Fee Book, p. 34). On May 25, 1816 Joseph Prentis charged Cherry Riddick,
administratrix of James Riddick, $10.00 for legal advice, and in 1833, no
payment having been made, gave "up the debt" (Joseph Prentis, Account Book, p.
25, Virginia State Library). Caroline Riddick, daughter of James and Charity
(Holladay) Riddick, married Bray B. Walters.
~~~~~~~~~
Letter dated: Suffolk March 17th 1843

...The Portsmouth & Roanoke Rail Road crosses near the centre of the Town just
at the foot of the hill taking off a part of the Barber lot built up by Mr.
Jesse Godwin, you recollect. [footnote: Born in 1777. the son of Jeremiah
Godwin I (1727-1791), of "Castle Hill" (the Bunting Place), on Nansemond
River, and his third wife Mary Read, Jesse Godwin married in 1791, Mary Godwin
of Nansemond County. In the Nansemond County Census of 1820, they are listed
as having four children, 1 male and 3 females.]

...A frame dwelling has been built on the lot where Doct. Fisher lived and
died, now owned and occupied by Mr. George Godwin (of Jere).

GENEALOGICAL NOTES

GODWIN, George (b. Dec 3, 1785, at :"Stockley Plantation" on the Nansemond
River-d.s.p. 1866, his will dated Aug. 20, 1866, probated May 13, 1867,
Nansemond County, Wills, Vol I, pp. 244-245), the son of Jeremiah Godwin II
(1766-1820), and Sally Wilkinson, his wife, married in 1804, Fanny Green (b.
1788), whose pastel portrait, together with that of her husband, were done by
Felix Thomas Sharples about 1807. He lived first at "Small Hopes,' near
Providence Church, and subsequently, according to the Census of 1860, "in the
"Town of Suffolk."

GREEN, James G., the son of Thomas Green and Mary Giles, his wife, married, as
1st husband, Ann T. R. Hancock (she m. 2nd, Josiah Pinner), and had issue: 1)
Octavia Green 2) Mary Frances Green (b. 1822) m. 1839, James Samuel Browne
(1818-1874). (The pastel portraits of Mary Giles Green and James G. Green
were among the nine of that family painted at "Stockley Plantation" by Felix
Thomas Sharples about 1807.)

HOLLADAY, Joseph of "Holladay's Point" on the Nansemond River, married
Patience Godwin, and had issue: 1) Patsey Holladay (b. 1779), m. Maurice Blow
Langhorne, of Warwick Co. 2) Mary Holladay m 1795 John Godwin 3) Margaret
Holladay (1782-Aug 15, 1824) m. Sept 21, 1797 Josiah Murdaugh.. 4) James
Holladay (b. Feb 1784, at "Holladay's Point" on the Nansemond River d, 1848,
in Portsmouth), inherited "Holladay's Point" and "Sleepy Hole"; married 1806
Ann Gray Godwin (b. 1786 at "Cherry Grove" d. 1858 in Portsmouth), daughter of
Mills Godwin (1759-1825) of "Cherry Grove." 5) Joseph Holladay (Jan 10,
1787-June 20, 1855) of "Holladay's Point, married three times (1) Feb 20, 1812
Elizabeth Eleanor Stone Charlton (2) Martha Ann Pinner, and (3) Edith Eley
Ballard (will dated Dec 10, 1857, probated April 8, 1867, Nansemond County,
Wills, Vol I, pp, 218-219), widow of Thomas Ridley Day, of Isle of Wight Co.
Issue by 1st wife: (1) Francis David Holladay (June 8, 1817--"Died July 3,
1868, Aged 51 years," Cedar Hill; will dated June 29, 1868, probated July 13,
1868, Nansemond County, Wills, Vol I, pp. 334-335), m. Jan 4, 1837, Emily
Susan Pinner (Feb 27, 1817-Oct 27, 1900, Cedar Hill).

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