John Garner (bef. 1633 - 1702)

Born before 2 Sep 1633 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Susanna (Keene) Garner — married 1660 (to 26 May 1702) in Cherry Point Neck, Northumberland County, Colony and Dominion of Virginia

Descendants

Died 26 May 1702 after age 68 in Kinsdale, Westmoreland, Virginia Colony

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John Garner migrated from England to Colonial America.

Biography

In 1637, Richard Garner who was the brother of Thomas, and his son John, who had been baptized at St Chad's in Shrewsbury 2 Sep 1633, immigrated to Virginia, arriving on Farrar's Island.^[1] Richard Garner died in 1643, and John Garner became a ward of William Farrar Jr/II, and inherited 500 £. The proceeds were sent to him by his Uncle John Garner of Shropshire (ca. 1599-1643), who liquidated via "quite title" Richard Garner's interest in The Lion Inn, extant today in Shrewsbury as The Lion Inn Hotel.^[2]

John Garner, after growing up in the care of William Farrar, had moved into the Northern Neck of Virginia by 1650. When our first Garners arrived, the Colony of Virginia was settled and administered by representatives of the Virginia Company of London. But in 1624 Charles I claimed most of Virginia as a Royal colony. The Northern Neck, the stretch of land between the Potomac and the Rappahannock Rivers extending toward the Chesapeake from the Blue Ridge Mountains, remained a proprietary of Lord Fairfax until much later. John Garner's quit-rent or outright payment for land would have been to this proprietor or his land agents in Virginia.

When John Garner arrived in Northumberland County, Virginia, it was still a densely forested landscape, cut through by waterways, ranging in importance from the Chesapeake Bay to the brackish streams in the Tidelands. Settlers had not penetrated to higher ground yet, though John Garner himself, and certainly his descendants, played a part in pushing the frontier of the English Colony westward. The settlements consisted of a few plantations, small in size when compared to twentieth century farms in the Midwest or California. The plantations were established along the waterways, the more prosperous having their own wharf with loading facilities and tobacco warehouse. These water routes were the colonists' safest method of transportation. Between plantations, there were no roads cleared and the forest rider faced the strong possibility of being ambushed by Indians. Along the main rivers, up from the Bay, at or near the most westerly English residence, the colonists would build and man a fort, and every male was expected to do his part in protecting the settlement from marauding Indians.

The English settlements expanded through the encouragement of the Crown and the Lord Proprietor. A planter who imported another person into the Colony was entitled to fifty acres. Anyone who came to the Colony on his own was also entitled to fifty acres. And of course, relatively large tracts of land were owned by former shareholders in the Virginia Company and by businessmen in England.

Many of your own ancestors came to Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas as "headrights," i. e., some business man (usually a Virginia tobacco planter, a boat captain, or a London merchant) had brought them into the Colony, paid their transportation and settled them onto land that the business man was entitled to as a result of this enterprise of importing labor for clearing land, planting and curing tobacco. Within a few years of the Garners' arrival, Richard died and left young John Garner in the care of William Farrar, an "ancient planter of Virginia" for whom Farrar's Island was named, and the man who had transported them from England to Virginia. For their first few years in the Colony, all your Virginia ancestors probably worked on the plantations of other people. But as the Colony grew and their terms of indenture ended, more westerly lands were offered for settlement and your people located their own plots on the frontier of that time. Within John Garner's own lifetime, this frontier region was pushed from a line only slightly west of Williamsburg, Virginia to a line about even with present-day Richmond, Virginia...

Marriage

Husband: John Gardner

Wife: Susanna Keene

Child: John Garner

Child: Henry Gardner

Child: Martha Gardner

Child: Thomas Garner

Child: Parish Garner

Child: Susanna Gardner

Child: James Gardner

Child: William Gardner

...Before the marriage, in 1658, John Garner had been named the assignee of Francis Roberts who in 1657 had bought 500 acres in the area that later became Stafford County. The assignment was shared by Joseph Fielding. In 1663 these two men transferred their rights, titles and interest in this same land to John Garner, Jr. who would have been the infant son of John Garner I and to John Bailes, Jr., the soon-to-be step-son of Joseph Fielding. In 1663 John Garner was sworn as Constable for Cherry Point Neck.

The Colony was building a fort on the Yeocomico River in 1667, and the Association of Northumberland, Westmoreland and Stafford Counties ordered that a house be built for the workmen "by John Garner and other assistants whom he shall select."

Around 1672 John and his family moved farther north and west on the Northern Neck to Westmoreland County near the present village of Kinsale. In October, 1672, John and Susanna bought 100 acres on the Yeocomico River from Nicholas Jenkins. John Garner's business associates and friends in Northumberland and Westmoreland Counties included Robert Francis, Joseph Fielding, Thomas Watson, Henry and Elizabeth Moseley and Robert Middleton.

January 15, 1694/95 John Jenkins of Cople Parish sold to John and Vincent Garner 100 acres in Horne Point on Yeocomico River. It may be upon this very tract of land (between Kinsale and Hague) that a descendant of Vincent Garner built "China Hall" in the 1700's, still standing today. Its modern name is "Kirnan."

...At his death, John Garner owned more than 800 acres in one tract of land, a second plantation and more lands adjoining it, a separate parcel of land in Horn Point, at least 4000 pounds of good tobacco in cask, at least half interest in a sloop named "Outcry", a valuable chest, a yoke of oxen, jewelry and other personal property.

Last Will and Testament of John Garner

In the name of God, Amen! I, John Garner being sick and weak of body, but of perfect memory and understanding do give and bequeath my Soul unto God that gave it, and my body to be decently interred. As to my worldly Estate, I give and bequeath as followeth;

Item-I do give and bequeath unto my well beloved son John Garner and to his heirs forever one moiety of eight hundred and odd acres of land, also I give unto my well beloved son Henry Garner and to his heirs forever the moiety of the aforesaid eight hundred and odd acres of land to be equally divided between my said sons John and Henry Garner the said eight hundred and odd acres of land being the sand my said sons John and Henry Garner are now seated upon.

Item- I give and bequeath unto my well beloved son Henry Garner my chest together with my wearing apparel.

Item-I give and bequeath unto my well beloved son Vincent Garner and heirs forever the whole plantation and land I now live on together with the lands adjoining. Also I give unto my said son Vincent and to his heirs a parcel of land lying in Horn Point.

Item- I give and bequeath unto my said son Vincent Garner my long gun and my hanger and a yoke of oxen. Also my will is that my said son Vincent Garner hath the one half of what is got of the money of the sloop which is called the Outcry.

Item-I do will and appoint and order my said son Vincent Garner, his heirs, Exors and Amrs to pay unto my son Thomas Garner his heirs or assigns the sum of two thousand pounds of good tobacco in cask. I do will and appoint my said son Vincent Garner his heirs or assigns to pay unto my son Parish Garner his heirs or assigns the sum of two thousand pounds of good tobacco in cask.

Item-I do will and appoint my said son Vincent Garner his heirs or assigns to pay unto my son Benjamin Garner his heirs or assigns the sum of two thousand pounds of good tobacco in cask, to be paid unto my said son Benjamin Garner when he shall be one and twenty years old.

Item-I will and appoint my said son Vincent Garner his heirs or assigns to pay unto my son James Garner his heirs of assigns the sum of two thousand pounds of good tobacco in cask to be paid unto my son James Garner when he shall come to the age of one and twenty.

Item-I give and bequeath unto my well beloved daughters Mary Susan and Martha each of them a thomb ring and also my will is that my well beloved wife to see them paid.

Item-I give and bequeath unto my well beloved wife Susan all the rest of my Estate as Goods and Chattels moveables and unmoveables and do make my said loving wife Susan the sole Executor of this my last will and testament, willing all my due debts to be paid, revoking all other wills and testimonies, this my last will and testament, also my will is that my well beloved wife Susan her heirs of Executors pay the one half of the tobacco which is given to my said sons being four thousand, the 22nd day of Jan: 1702.

John Garner (Seal)

Signed, sealed in the presence of us:

Wlliam Gardner Jno. Williams Wm. Moore

Westmoreland Co. At a Court held for the said county the 26th day of May. The last will and testament of John Garner dec'd, the within subscriber was proved by the oath of Wm. Gardner, and a probate thereof granted to Susan Gardner, Executrix, therein named.Testl I. A. Westcomb C.C. Com. Rd. Recordity. Prime Die Jany. 1703

Susanna's estate was inventoried March 28, 1716 by James Carr, James, Thomas and William Garner.

Research Notes

Embedded in the above narrative is the conflation of two Johns: one was the son of Richard, and the other (correctly identified here with appropriate parents and as the spouse of Ms Keene, by whom he fathered many children) was the ward of Lewis Burwell and Abigail Smith. Richard Garner and Kathran Lacye's son, also named John - with similar birth and death dates, being the cousin of the John, of present - had wardship assigned to William Farrar II.

Sources

1. ↑ Early Virginia Families along the James River, Foley, Vol.1, p. 6, as cited at Richard Garner Geni Profile, last updated 23 May 2018, accessed 13 Oct 2018.
2. ↑ Hen. C.O.B. 1643-1644, page 23, as cited at Richard Garner Geni Profile, last updated 23 May 2018, accessed 13 Oct 2018.

Yellowrose.net - Garner

If the Legends Are True...

Source: S27 Author: Edmund West, comp. Title: Family Data Collection - Births Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001. Repository: #R1 Record ID Number: MH:S27 User ID: DDF13E06-D1A8-4D21-976D-4CDD427E1493

Source: S42 Author: Gale Research Title: Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.Original data - Filby, P. William, ed.. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.Original data: Filby, P. William, ed.. Passen Repository: #R1 Record ID Number: MH:S42 User ID: 0BC294B4-E216-4B2B-8E53-D4E31910CFAA

Source: S80 Author: Ancestry.com Title: London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.Original data - Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London Metropolitan Archives, London.Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives Repository: #R1 Record ID Number: MH:S80 User ID: 331737E5-6D59-4B9E-9E67-60026AEFB576

Source: S86 Author: Edmund West, comp. Title: Family Data Collection - Deaths Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001. Repository: #R1 Record ID Number: MH:S86 User ID: E599BC92-94B0-4221-BB55-62C6C082C0BC

Source: S94 Author: Lineages, Inc., comp. Title: Westmoreland County, Virginia Wills, 1654-1800 Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.Original data - Records transcribed from LDS Family History Library microfilm copies of wills for this locality.Original data: Records transcribed from LDS Family History Library microf Repository: #R1 Record ID Number: MH:S94 User ID: FE91C9F6-C640-41D5-B884-3F68304862A0

Source: Ritchie, Ruth and Sudie Rucker Wood. Garner-Keene Families of Northern Neck Virginia. Salem, MA: 1952 (2013).

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Coltrane Milholen for starting this profile.

WikiTree profile Garner-301 created through the import of Paula's family 5-28-2011.GED on 29 May 2011 by Paula Marksman. See the Changes tab.

Thanks to Kelly Sinclair for starting this profile.

Another iteration of this WikiTree profile Garner-446 was created through the import of familytreex.ged on 20 Jul 2011 by Adri Oldershaw. See the Changes tab.

Another iteration of this WikiTree profile Garner-460 created through the import of Merten_Rappolee_Armstrong_2011-07-27.ged on 27 Jul 27 by Peg Merten. See the Changes tab.

Another iteration of this WikiTree profile Garner-726 was created through the import of Freeman Family Tree.ged on 9 Aug 2012 by Emily Freeman. See the Changes tab.

Another iteration of this WikiTree profile Gardner-1305 was created through the import of 2010-09-14.ged on 28 Jul 2011 by Bob Carson. See the Changes tab.

Rita Harvey, firsthand knowledge. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Rita and others.