PEAD-L Archives

From: Glennis <>
Subject: DEUEL PEAD
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 16:28:03 -0800 (PST)

From: Michele <>
Source:
Subject: Middlesex co. Virginia


Some of you may not be aware to this book.
A Place in Time: Middlesex County, Virginia,
1650-1750, by Darrett B. Rutman and Anita H. Rutman,
W.W. Norton and Co., New York, NY, 1984.

This book is an excellent resource for anyone
interested in the early history of Virginia,
particularly for those with ancestors who arrived
prior to 1750, as did Thomas Kidd who arrived around
1648.
The book is available from Hearthstone Bookshop
(www.hearthstonebooks.com or 1-888-960-3300) for
$11.95.

Abstract
To the men of York county in the 1650s, the peninsula
that was to become Middlesex Co offered the
opportunity of newly opened, unclaimed land for
settlement and farming. King and Queen,
Spottsylvania, and Albemarle served the same purpose
to the men of Middlesex as the 18th century
progressed. (p. 237-238) The son of a less well-to-do
father, left landless, could perhaps gain control of
land at home by marrying the daughter of a father
without sons, or, in this land of early death, a
landed widow of the neighborhood. Failing that, he
could only leave the county altogether, departing with
a wife and in some cases young children in the hope of
replicating elsewhere the rise to landed status of his
father or grandfather. For to remain landless in the
county was to face a grim future. (p. 238)

Lancaster 1653 tithables list included essentially
all males and black females 16 yo and older (i.e.,
those capable of economic production in tobacco).
Leading citizens were charged with collecting the
tithables. (p. 48-49)

As the county formed in late 1668 and early 1669, 83
families, just over 900 men, women and children, lived
on and about the Road, the single main route running
the length of the peninsula between the Rappahannock
River to the north and the Piankatank River and the
Dragon Swamp to the south....large portions of the
county were unpopulated. (p. 62) with MAP.

The vast majority of families of Middlesex, together
with their possessions, crowded into spaces not much
larger than a modern two-car garage. (p.69)

In 1668, bound laborers amounted to 45% of the
population. Most (just over 38% of the population)
were white, preponderantly male, and 15-25 years old,
recruited for their labor from the farms, villages and
city streets of old England....their servitude was
temporary. Depending upon the terms of their entry
and to some extent their age, they would labor 4, 5
even as many as 10-12 years, and then, provided always
that they lived, merge into the free population. (p.
71-72) The conditions of their lives, and, above all,
the disease environment of the Chesapeake was such
that only a minority survived. (p. 72)

With luck and hard work, they might be able to amass
enough capital to buy their own land. A few ... took
a shortcut into the ranks of the landed by marrying
the widows of free-holders and assuming control of the
property. (72)

The bound laborer was the mudsill of county society.
In the 17th century, they were predominantly white
and servant; in the 18th century, black and slave. By
any standards, the lot of the servants was hard, and
the amenities of their lives few. They worked from
sunup to sundown, some as artisans, most in the
fields. They slept in barns or in lofts or sheds.
They were prey to disease, particularly during their
first 6 months to a year in the Chesapeake; yet they
had minimal recourse to even the poor medical
assistance of the times. hence only a minority lived
to the end of their service and joined the ranks of
the free." (p 130)

Many references to the Tuggles, a few to Thomas
Kidd. The Tuggles are used as an example of a modest
family, not part of the gentleman class.

Almost half of the children born in the county
through 1689 lost one or both parents by their ninth
birthday, and almost 2/3 (61%) by their thirteenth.
And the phenomenon of parental loss was a continuing
one. Of Middlesex's children born 1690 through 1709,
43% lost at least one parent by age 9, and 60% by age
13, roughly matching those born 1710-1749 (45% and 57%
respectively). (p. 114)

First and second sons and daughters tended to carry
on the names of the grandparents and parents. (p 119)

Most citizens lived in tight clusters 2-3 miles
across, which formed a natural "range " for most of
their commerce and interactions. "When we plot
marriage "runs" - how far apart the parties to a
marriage lived - we find that 36% of all marriages in
a 5-year span at the turn of the century (1700) were
between persons living within a half mile of each
other, and 95% between persons living no more than 5
miles apart."

The same is true for auction sales, estate sales,
etc. The distances suggest the effective limits to
neighborhoods in a society constrained to foot and
horse for mobility."

In the 17th century - before the rise of slavery -
the social world that was Middlesex can be described
in terms of concentric circles centered on individual
families, and their neighbors, a circle of friends and
kin (and increasingly the latter, with intermarriage).
The precinct embraced a second, wider circle. at
least familiar with one another via church and militia
musters. The third circle was that of Court day. (p.
241) But by 1730-1740, race, rank and commerce
imposed a different geometry, one of tangential
circles. ( p. 242)

MSX was divided into three churches, all one parish.
The middle church was the center of activity and was
located on Rosegill, a large plantation belonging to
Ralph Wormeley.

"One single register of births, baptisms, marriages
and deaths was kept by the clerk of the middle
precinct; regulations of 1689 specified that the
clerks of the upper and lower precincts "make . . . .
True and Timely Returne" of their own registers to
him, while in 1701 and 1702 all of the records were
transcribed into two volumes, a register and a parish
book." (p. 124)

Names one minister of Christchurch Parish as DEUEL
PEAD, 1683-1690. This is a possible origin of Duel
Kidd's name.

The most important imprimatur of status among the
men of Middlesex was the extent to which they served
the public. Vestry and county court were
self-selected boards. Justices and sheriffs were
appointed.

County men generally began their public service as
petit jurors and appraisers, and rose, if they rose at
all, from there. (p. 145) Family, quasi-familial
relationships such as guardianships and godparentage,
and even friendships seem to have had a particular
meaning for status as well. (p. 152)

Blacks began arriving in significant numbers in the
1680s, concomitant with the decline in the number of
new white servants. (p. 165) Slavery exacerbated the
population loss in the maturing county, forcing
landless families to leave the county. (p. 238)
Urbanna was established in 1706. (p. 237)


For me to check my database I need location and about
birth and deaths! Other information would be most
helpful.

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• DEUEL PEAD by Glennis <>