Samuel Earle III (abt. 1692 - abt. 1771)

Born about 1692 in Cople Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Anna (Sorrell) Earle — married 5 May 1726 in Westmoreland County, Virginia

Husband of Elizabeth (Holbrook) Earle — married 13 Jan 1754 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford, Virginia

Descendants

Died about 1771 at about age 79 in Earle's Ferry, Front Royal, Frederick County, Virginia

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Biography

This profile is part of the Erleigh Name Study.

Samuel Earle III was a Virginia colonist.

He married first Anna Sorrell on 5 May 1726 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He died in 1771 in Earle's Ferry, Front Royal, Frederick County, Virginia.^[1]

Samuel Earl was born in 1692 in Cople Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia.

"Samuel Earle, was educated at the College of William and Mary, was a large and very prosperous landowner and a close friend and neighbor of Lord Fairfax. Samuel Earle was also the first representative from Fredrick District elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was elected in 1742 and served for five years. George Washington occupied this same Fredrick seat in the House of Burgesses from 1758 to 1761." ^[2][3]

Samuel Earle is a direct ancestor of Whitfield Diffie, ^[4], ^[5] who won the 2015 Turing Award. ^[6]

Samuel Earle is the ancestor of five South Carolina political figures.^[7]

1. Col. Elias Earle. US Congressman, and member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Earle-796

2. Adj. Gen. John Baylis Earle. US Congressman. Adjutant General of South Carolina. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Earle-822

3. Senator Joseph Haynesworth Earle. US Senator. Attorney General for South Carolina and member of the South Carolina Senate and House of Representatives. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Earle-744

4. Senator John Laurens Irby. US Senator. Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Irby-988

5. Capt. Samuel Earle. US Congressman. Delegate to South Carolina convention that ratified the Constitution. Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Earle-400

Biographical Sketch

Quoted From the book: The History and genealogy of the Earles of Secaucus: ^[8]

CHAPTER TWO.

HISTORY OF THE VIRGINIA BRANCH.

Page 93 - Samuel Earle 3rd, only son, so far as we know, of Samuel 2nd and his wife, Phillis, was born in Westmoreland county in 1692, resided subsequently in Prince William, Stafford and Fauquier counties, and finally settled in Frederick county, Va. As he was the ancestor of all the southern Earles this now became the second home of the race.

He was educated at William and Mary College, was a planter, attorney-at-law, member of the House of Burgesses from Frederick county in 1742 - 1744, colleague of Lord Fairfax as justice of the county 1749 to 1752, collector of tobacco 1748, High Sheriff, church warden of the parish in 1751, and Major of George William Fairfax’s colonial regiment.

His first wife was Anna Sorrel or Sorel, or Sorrell, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Sorrel of Westmoreland county. They were married in 1726. Dr. J. B. O. Landrum, in his “Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina,” a work to which we are greatly indebted at this point in our story, says that Anna Sorrel was of Richmond county.

There is much conflict as to the order of births in this family, and which children belonged to the first and second marriage. Mr. R. H. Earle, in the information furnished to Burke, mentions only Anna Sorrel, and says there were eleven children, his own ancestor, Baylis, being one of them. In a letter to Rev. I. N. Earle he states there were 13 children.

Rev. Julius R. Earle, in his pamphlet on family history, says that Baylis Earle was the son of Samuel 3rd and Elizabeth Hilbrook, and that John was his own brother. He also says that Elias was by the first marriage. This is in direct conflict with all other accounts. From a careful comparison of the various lists we have reached the conclusion that Landrum is right in assigning the first five children to the first marriage: Samuel 4th, Judge Baylis, b. 1734; Col. John, b. 1737; Rachel and Hannah.

Anna Sorrel died 1748, and is buried “in what is now Warren county, near Greenway Court, the home of Lord Fairfax, on an estate belonging to the family of the late Capt. Alexander Miller Earle.” Mrs. John B. Earle of Milldale, Warren county, a daughter-in-law of Capt. Alexander M. Earle, writes in 1910: ‘‘The grave of Anna Sorrell Earle is still to be seen on the old home farm that belonged to the family from the time of Samuel Earle 3rd until sold by Capt. A. M. Earle after the Civil War.”

A daughter of Capt. A.M. Earle writes: “His (Samuel 3rd’s) first wife is buried at Earle’s Ford on the Shenandoah River, and the inscription on her tombstone is very odd.”

Samuel 3rd married as his second wife Elizabeth Holbrook, daughter of Randolph(Randall) and Jeannette Holbrook of Prince William county.

The date of this marriage was after 1748 and after the removal to Frederick county.

Several lists of the children of this second marriage are at hand, by comparing and combining of which we get as the probable family of Samuel 3rd and Elizabeth Holbrook,

• the second Samuel,
• Col. Elias,
• Isaiah or Ezias, (we know that Elizabeth Holbrook, survived her husband Samuel Earle. She married twice afterward, Mr. Burns and Mr. Rogers. She removed with her youngest son, Isaiah, to Greenville county, S. C., where she was known as “Granny Rogers.” Isaiah (or Ezias) never married and he and his mother died five miles southwest of Gowensville, S. C., and are buried there, the “graves unmarked and the exact place of burial perhaps unknown.”
• Elizabeth,
• Theodosia,
• Mary and
• Lettie.

This makes thirteen in all, the number attributed to Samuel 3rd by R. H. Earle and the number and list kept in the family of Aspasio Earle of Georgia, son of Baylis and Mary Prince.

What property was held by Samuel 3rd in Westmoreland county we not know. We do know that the great ancestral estate patented by his great-grandfather, John Earle, was left to his eldest son, Samuel the 4th. He doubtless acquired property of his own. Landrum speaks of other lands “subsequently granted by the Lords Proprietors of the Northern Neck to his (John’s) immediate successors”, not included in the estate bequeathed to Samuel 4th. Perhaps he had inherited these. It is interesting to note that in an old patent his lands are described as “adjoining the lands of Augustine Washington”, the latter being the father of George.

The reasons for the migration of Samuel 3rd into the Shenandoah Valley are the same as those given for the migration of many others, among them the parents of John Marshall, and are discussed at length in Beveridge’s Life of John Marshall. They were part of that everwestward urge that has possessed the settlers of the United States from the beginning.

Samuel moved first to Prince William, then to Stafford, then to Fauquier, and finally to Frederick. This home, which was to remain in the family for more than a hundred and ten years, was located not far from the present Front Royal, in what is now Warren county. It descended in the line of Ezaias, eldest son by his second marriage. Here most of his children were probably born. Here his first wife lies buried. From here his children emigrated to other states. Near here some of his descendents are living today.

Research Notes

Male YDNA Test Needed

Several Male Y-DNA tests have been completed with documented decendents of Edward Earle Sr. (1628-1711) of Secaucus New Jersey.

The Y-DNA major Haplogroup for the Edward Earle (New Jersey) line is R1a.

We know of one individual who has a documented decent in the Ralph Earle line who has taken a Y-DNA test and he is in the major Haplogroup of R1b.

This means that Ralph Earle and Edward Earle were not biologically related. Not even close.

We are now looking for males with a known direct lineage to John Earle (abt.1614-1660) who may have already taken a Y-DNA test or would like to take one. This is NOT an Autosomal DNA test like the ones from Ancestry or 23andme.

We want to confirm the haplogroup of any known male decendeded from John Earle of Virginia in order to know whether the New Jersey Earle line and the Rhode Island/Massachusetts line are related to the Virginia Earle line.

The best place to obtain this yDNA test is Family Tree DNA https://www.familytreedna.com/products/y-dna

If you cannot afford to pay for the test or have been avoiding taking the test because of the cost we will pay for the test.

Leave a message on my profile Glenn Earls for information or help.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I34160&tree=Tree1
2. ↑ Southern Campaigns in the American Revolution
3. ↑ Burgesses for the Assembly of 1742-1747
4. ↑ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Diffie-26
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitfield_Diffie
6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Award
7. ↑ Earle family of South Carolina
8. ↑ History and Genealogy of the Earles of Secaucus, with an account of other English and American Branches, Marquette, Michigan: Guelff Printing Co., 1925..

• Samuel Earle married Elizabeth Holdbrook, 1/13/1754 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford, Virginia. Per Virginia Marriages, 1785 - 1940. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GSJS-LLJ

• Burke, A. M. The Prominent Families of the United States of America. Edited by A.M. Burke. Vol. 1. Sackville Press: London. 1909. Pages 398-400.

• Hubert Nelson Buck, The Descendants of Charles Buck of Virginia, Name: Hubert Nelson Buck, Atlanta, GA, 1963. This series of nine large charts was researched and drawn by my great-uncle, Hubert Nelson Buck. -- G. S. Buck, Jr.

• Virginia G. Meynard, The Venturers: The Hampton, Harrison and Earle Families of Virginia, South Carolina, and Texas, Name: Easley, South Carolina, Southern Historical Press, 1981.

• Births Publication: Edmund West, comp., Family Data Collection - Births (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001.). Frederick, South Carolina. -Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970. Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Microfilm, 508 rolls. Ancestry.com. (U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 [online publication], Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011).

• Earle Narrative. Page 5 - 6 lists Samuel & Anna, their children: "Samuel Earle 1692 - 1771, like his Father, was a planter, but he was also a pioneer, attorney at law, high sheriff, justice, burgess, church warden, investor, solider and a Major in the Colonial Regiment. He was the only son (but as mentioned before - not the heir) of his Father. Born in Westmoreland in 1692, Samuel Earle residen in the counties of Prince William, Stafford, Fauquier, and finally in Frederick County. He was educated at the College of William and Mary and was the first member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Frederick (1742 - 1747). He owned extensive properties in six counties including land next to that of Augustine Washington (the Father of George Washington)."

"Samuel Earle's first wife was Anna Sorrell, the orphaned daughter of Thomas and his wife Elizabeth (Occany) Sorrell of Westmoreland. Samuel and Anna were married in 1726. As mentioned previously, Sam's Father gave the couple a lavish wedding present - the deed to the Aquia Creek plantations (with its slaves and stock) plus 200 acres at the Yeocomico site. The marriage contract ofSam and Anna is mentioned in the deed: "Wheras there is a treaty of marriage... between Samuel Earle, my son... and Anna, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Sorrell..."

"Anna Sorrell was descended from a family of Huguenots who went to England from France at the end of the 16th century. Her Father, Thomas Sorrell, was a Captain in the James City Militia and was killed during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676."

"The Earles' first child, Samuel was born in Stafford County in 1727, followed by baby Anna (b. ca. 1728). There is a gap between Anna and the next child, Baylis (b. 1734), which probably indicates the birth of another child who died young. Baylis was followed by John, Rachel, Hannah and Lettice..." Goes on with more on Baylis.

"On 3/5/1747, Samuel Earle bought 340 acres at the mouth of Muddy Run (in what is now Warren County, Virginia) and made it his permanent home. He built a manor house and a tall, one-story wooden chapel on a promontory overlooking the sparking Shenandoah River. Below the cliff, at a crossing which became known as "Earle's Ford," he constructed a still and gristmill. It was probably here in the family chapel that the Earle's eldest daughter, Anna, 19, married Charles Buck in 1747." http://oatesfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EARLE-NARRATIVE.pdf