Arthur Whitehead (1623 - 1655)

Born 1623 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Katherine (Ruffin) Whitehead — married about 1654 in Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight, Virginia

Descendants

Died 1655 at about age 32 in Isle of Wight, Colony of Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Cynthia Curtis [send private message] and Casandra Clark [send private message]

Biography

This profile is part of the Whitehead Name Study.

Arthur Whitehead, Sr. was born in 1625 in Rochdate, Lancastershire, England and died in 1655 in Isle of Wight, Virginia.

Arthur left England in 1643 when he was 18 years old. He arrived in Virginia 22 March 1643 aboard the ship Guiding Star. He was listed as one of the Head Rights of Obedience Robins who received a patent for 450 acres in Northampton County, Virginia. ^{[1] [2]}

Arthur, Sr. settled in Northhampton County, where county property records show him living there until about 1750. ^[3]He then migrated to Isle of Wight County, Virginia as recorded in land records.

Arthur was probably married twice but his first wife is unknown. She is the mother of Arthur, Sr.'s only child, Arthur, Jr. born about 1648. (Arthur, Jr. went by Arthur, Sr. after his father's death in 1655.) This first wife died between 1648 and 1654. Arthur, Sr. married Katherine Ruffin just a year before he died in 1655. His son was only about seven years old. It is presumed that Katherine adopted him after Arthur's death and he is named in her will as son, Arthur Whitehead whom she said was "unnatural to her". ^[4] Katherine had married two more times after Arthur's death, once to Edward Thornton and then to John Bathe. See Katherine Ruffin.

Research Notes

From the Order of First Families of NC source, pg. 276:

"Records, concerning Katherine _____ Whitehead (later Thornton, then Bathe), including her nuncupative will indicate some profound differences between the testatrix and her son by her first marriage. However, the term "unnatural", which she employs in the description of her son, does not mean that Arthur Whitehead was not her child "lawfully begotten." Boddie makes this mistake in his chapter on the Whitehead family in Historical Southern Families, Vol 1. In fact, the resolution of Arthur Whitehead's maternity eliminates Katherine Whitehead as his step-mother as well. Was Katherine born Ruffin in 1634 according to her age at the time of her deposition, and sister to a much older William Ruffin, Sr., born c. 1617? Boddie in the same work states that Robert Ruffin in the deed (a deposition from 1664 in which she is Katherine Thornton, aged 30 "yeares or thereabouts") called her the sister of his father William Ruffin but a partial transcription of the deed reveals that Robert Ruffin did not call Katherine his father's sister.

Arthur Whitehead Sr. was born in 1620 in Lancashire District, England. My research has revealed little about him before about 1640. He immigrated to America sometime between 1640 and 1643. He is listed on the Court records of Accomac County, Virginia as a Head Right of Obedience Robins, who, from all indications, brought him to this country.

Obedience Robins Immigrated here from the town of Long Buckby in the Northamptonshire District of England around 1620. He landed at Jamestown and made his way north to what was then Accawmacke County. He was a man of prominance and responsibilioty. He was one of the Commissioners of the Accawmacke County Court from about 1623 until he died in 1662. He also represented Accawmacke County in the Virginia General Assembly, and was appointed to the Virginia Council in 1655.

Accawmacke County was settled very early by the Brittish and was quite a large area covering the eastern shore. The name was taken from the Indians and meant, "Across The Water Place". In 1642, around the time Arthur arrived, the name was changed to Northampton. It was change in an effort by the English, to rid the New World of all "heathen" names.1

By 1663, many settlers had moved into the county. A decision was made to divide the county into two parts. The northern half was called by its ariginal name but spelled it ACCOMAC.(It became Accomack in 1940) The southern half retained the new name of NORTHAMPTON.2

Accomac County was abolished for a time in 1670. Then Governor, William Berkley, wanted to arrest Col. Edmund Scarburgh for the murders of some native chiefs. However, Scarburgh claimed to be a Burgess for Accomac and therefore immune to arrest. To circumvent this situation, Governor Berkley nullified the law that created the county. This eliminated Scarburgh's protection from being arrested. When Scarburgh died in 1671, the general assembly re-created Accomac County.

Sources

1. ↑ John Bennett Boddie. Historical Southern Families, Vol. 1, 1957, p. 40-242
2. ↑ George Cabell Greer. Early Virginia Immigrants 1623-1666. W. C. Hill Printing Co., Richmond, Virginia. 1912. Page 355.
3. ↑ Northampton County Records Volume III, page 229; Volume IV, page 175.
4. ↑ Will of Katherine Bathe of 11 October 1687, Isle of Wight County Record of Wills, Deeds, Vol. 2, 1661-1719, page 271 (Reel 23), Library of Virginia, Richmond.

• THE WHITEHEAD FAMILY TREE, VIRGINIA ROOTS, 1600-1900: 2nd Edition. Bert "Tiger" Whitehead IV. Updated September 6, 2015. In particular: Chapter 5 -- Arthur Whitehead 1625-1655, the Isle of Wight County, His Ancestors, and His Descendants, Pages 38-73.
• Brayton, John Anderson. Order of First Families of North Carolina; ancestor biographies, Otter Bay Books, 2005, Chapter Six - The Godwin Connection pg 253-259
• Whitehead, J. B. “The Whitehead Family in Southern Virginia.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 44, no. 4, 1936, pp. 358–365. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4244754. Accessed 17 Aug. 2020.

Acknowledgements

• Whitehead-1486 was created by Casandra Clark through the import of Rutledge Family Tree.ged on Apr 6, 2014.