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William L B Ledford (1722 - aft. 1796)

William L B Ledford
Born in Lancashire, Englandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 1745 in Augusta County, Colony of Virginiamap
Descendants descendants
Died after after age 74 in Davidson, Mecklenburg Carolina, North Carolinamap
Profile last modified | Created 29 Jul 2011
This page has been accessed 2,253 times.

Contents

Biography

William L B Ledford[1]

William Ledford came to America in 1738 on the Ship Wapoole with Captain James Patton. He came with his brothers Henry and John. William married Elizabeth before 1745 in Virginia. William and Elizabeth had twelve children. Upon leaving Virginia they settled first in Rowan County, North Carolina, then on to Randolph County, North Carolina, where he left a Will naming his children, some of their spouses, and his wife. William died in 1798. William is buried at Abbott Church Cemetery in Davidson County, North Carolina.[2]

Jo White Linn, Rowan County, North Carolina Deed Abstracts, Volume 2, 1762-1772: Deed Books 5, 6, 7:

5:426, 427. Walter Thornbrough and wife Margaret sell to William Ledford, 320 acres on Abbotts Creek. Granted by Granville August 27, 1762. January 2, 1764, Williiam Spurgin and Jack Brumel.
6:501. Sary Teague to sons John Yokely and William Yokely for love, livestock. October 15, 1765. Elijah Teague and William Ledford.
7:378. WIlliam Spurgin to Samuel Ross, son of James Ross & Mary and Jane Ross, the rest of his brothers and sisters younger for good will, personality. July 10, 1771. William Ledford and Jacob Brommel.

1790 Census - Nicholas Ledford - Residence: Rowan County, North Carolina

William Ledford - [1 - Male - Ages (16 & upward)] - Age 78

Research

These notes are from family researchers who started profiles for William Ledford.
(1) William Ledford Sr of Generations fame had a lot of children: Thomas b ca 1748, John b ca 1752 and William were the sons. William Sr's wife's maiden name appears to have been McCurry, and this McCurry family was closely associated with William's family as far back as Augusta county, VA, having also been part of Ephraim Vause's settlement on the South Fork of the Roanoke. It appears also that William Sr's sons Thomas and William moved to the Lincoln county NC/ Spartanburg SC area, along with Elizabeth Ledford who married William McCurry and Lydia Ledford, widow of George Towery. More of this family may have moved south, but I don't know of them, there was a Mary Ledford in Spartanburg county in 1790 with one son, Lewis Ledford. They were in Rutherford from 1800 on. Mary's husband isn't known to me at this time, nor the names of any other children. Acoording to the 1800 census she was born 1755 or before so had to be married to one of the sons of William, Henry or John.
(2) I've checked indices for the Ledford surname in Lancashire and it never appears. The Ledford clan was based in SW England, Dorset, Somerset and Warwick. The possibility of the three brothers actually having been born in Lancaster is only a remote one. That's not to say that the DIDN'T sail from Lancaster, but more likely they were born in the south.
(3) As for the 1738 passage, Col. Patton was a member of a rather influential family in Ulster both his mother's and his father's side. The ship Walpole was built by his father. Col Patton served in Queen Anne's War in the early 1700's, then afterwards was given the ship Walpole and began trading goods to and from the colonies. His main port of docking in America was at Hobbeshole, Virginia on the Rappahannock, the area in which the Rev. Matthew Ledford lived, and Hobbeshole was settled by the Hobbes family which was associated with Matthew's wife, Lettice Weekes's family. The book Generations makes Col Patton out to be something of a scoundrel, which he may have been to some degree, but he was well liked by the Crown for his services in the War and trading. In the 1730's Ireland was not a very good place to live, many landowners were confiscating properties and raising rents. The holdings of the Patton family came under this kind of condition, and they no doubt considered moving to the colonies before 1738. Well, in early 1738, the King told Patton that he would grant him so many thousands of acres on the conditions that it had to be west of the Blue Ridge and he had to settle it with people loyal to the Crown. This is more in response to French encroachment along the Ohio Valley than the King actually liking Patton. That spring, Patton loaded up the Walpole with his family. Mind you that ship wasn't very large, and I believe this particular trip there were only about 56 people on board, mostly his relation. There is only one single record of the Walpole departing England in 1738 (not from Lancaster), and one record of it's landing in America, I believe three months later. Col Patton then retired and never sailed again. He moved his family west of the Blue Ridge, from Staunton (founded by Patton's cousin Charles Lewis) to Draper's Meadow (modern Blacksburg). If the Ledfords were on this trip they must have been good friends of the family. Between 1715 and 1738 there are some 25 recorded voyages of the Walpole to Virginia, and the three brothers could well have come over prior to 1738, staying in Tidewater until Patton called on them to return the favour and settle in his land. Ephraim Vause was given the original tract along the South branch of the Roanoke to settle for Patton. He built a fort (Fort Vause) and sold the land in the area for Patton. Ephraim was from PA, his wife Theodosia was from NJ (there was a Ledford there too, in the late 1700's) In 1755 Draper's Meadow was attacked, but it wasn't just local natives who did the attacking, the tribes were from the Ohio Valley and led by French forces to eradicate the English loyalists who were getting too close. The next year the French led an attack against Fort Vause which was entirely annihilated, the fort burnt to the ground and only a few women surviving (Theodosia and her daughter among them).
(4) In comment to the above history lesson, isn't it more likely that Henry may have just died, and not in the skirmish. Draper's Meadow was quite a ways from Ft Vause where the Ledfords would have been defending, and who is to say really that the "three brothers" were actually brothers? In 1738 the road order says "All the Ledfords" implying more than three, and John held on to his land until 1763 when he sold it through power of attorney, William and Henry's land was just handed back over to William Preston the only surviving heir of Col Patton (he was "away" when the attack occurred at Draper's maedow, and was conveniently late to help defend Ft. Vause) This makes me think that William and Henry Ledford never finished paying for their land, while John's was most likely paid up before he left to Carolina, or else why keep paying for a piece of and they had no intention of ever seeing again, and just give it up, like William did. John is also noted in Augusta county records as receiving payment for rent of land in Louisa county, VA. Is anyone sure he wasn't the father of the others since he seems to have been the more productive; moneywise anyway. In either case, three brothers or John with sons William and Henry, the road order would more than likely have named them as "John Ledford and sons [Henry and William]" or "William Ledford and his brothers [Henry and John]" For only three family members that was the way they were generally done, which is my reasoning for believing there may have been more than just the three. Perhaps one went to Louisa county and bought land, and after he died it was left to John Ledford, which would explain why he had land in Louisa county in the 1760's. If this is the case then why did he leave it to just John and not William too? If it's not the case then what was our John doing so far off track and so far away from any land owned by Patton and Preston?
PS: the 1738 voyage of the Walpole sailed from Whitehall. I did a search of that locale and there are five in the British Isles, one in the Orkney

​Islands (nope), and four in Ireland, counties Cork, *Westmeath, *Dublin ​and Roscommon; the counties with the asterisk are the most likely to have been the port as they were on the Irish Sea.

Sources

  1. Ancestry Family Trees contributed by various subscribers.
  2. Legacy NFS Source: Henry Ledford - Generations: An American Family, John Egerton, The University Press of Kentucky, 1983, Page number: p 38 Notes: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2033102581
  • United States Census 1790:
  • 1790 Census - Nicholas Ledford - Residence: Rowan County, North Carolina

Acknowledgments

  • WikiTree profile Ledford-83 was created by Gene (Lee Gourley) Davies through the import of 229-Davies.ged on 19 Oct 2010.
  • WikiTree profile Ledford-237 was created by Bob Carson through the import of 2010-09-14.ged on 28 Jul 2011.
  • WikiTree profile Ledford-305 was created by Richey on 03 Aug 2011.
  • WikiTree profile Ledford-524 & Ledford-526 were created by Roy Ledford on 09 Feb 2013.
  • WikiTree profile Ledford-304 created through the import of richey Family Tree.ged on Aug 2, 2011 by Ty Richey.
  • * WikiTree profile Ledford-235 created through the import of 2010-09-14.ged on Jul 28, 2011 by Bob Carson.




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Comments: 4

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Ledford-304 and Ledford-235 appear to represent the same person because: same birth/death, spouse
posted by Mark Burch
Ledford-235 and Ledford-511 appear to represent the same person because: Same data
posted by Jorge Gubbins
Ledford-511 and Ledford-304 appear to represent the same person because: clear duplicate
posted by Mark Burch
Ledford-511 and Ledford-1208 appear to represent the same person because: The dates appear to be the same, the spouses are the same, and the children are the same.
posted by Andrea Lynch

Rejected matches › William Ledford (1720-)