Thomas Whitmell (abt. 1709 - abt. 1788)

Born about 29 Dec 1709 in Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Blount (West) Whitmill — married 1738 in Bertie, North Carolina

Descendants

Died about 1788 at about age 78 in Bertie, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Colonel Thomas Whitmell served with Bertie County Regiment, North Carolina Militia during the American Revolution.

Spouses & Children

(attribution of the children to the proper wives is uncertain. Yes, he had three sons named Thomas.)

(1) Elizabeth West

-Martha Whitmell, b. 09 Jan 1739/40; d. 1793; m. Cullen Edwards; b. Abt. 1728; d. Abt. 1784.

-Thomas Whitmell, d. Bef. May 1779; m. __ __

-Winifred Whitmell, d. Bef. 15 Dec 1779; m. __ Stephens.

-Mary Whitmell, b. 09 Jan 1739/40, m. __ Slaughter

-Thomas West Whitmell

(2) Mary Blount

-Thomas Blount Whitmell, d. 20 Sep 1798, Halifax County, NC.

Will

Will of Thomas Whitmell, 15 Dec 1779, Bertie Co., NC. Probated Martin Co., NC^[1]

In the Name of God Amen I Thomas Whitmell of the County of Bertie in the State of North Carolina being of sound and perfect mind and memory thanks be to God but calling to mind the Mortality of Mankind and knowing it is Appointed for all men Once to Die Do make and Ordain Constitute and Appoint this my Last Will and Testament in Manner and form following To Wit,

First I give and bequeath to my daughter Martha Edwards her heirs and assigns one Negro Woman named Jenny & her increase now in her possession

Item I give and bequeath to my Grand Daughter Mary Whitmell Daughter of my son Thomas Whitmell Decd one Negro Man Named Ceaser being in her Mothers possession

Item I give and bequeath to my Daughter Mary Slaughter two Negroes To Wit, Moses and Venus and five shillings to & her heirs & assigns

Item I give and bequeath my two Negroes Jacob & Bridget & her increase to be equally divided between the children of my Daughter Winifred Stephens Decd & her heirs

Item I give and bequeath to my Daughter Sarah Whitaker five shillings current money

Item I give and bequeath to my son Thos. West Whitmell two hundred and fifty acres of land more or less in the county of Bertie bounded as follows Beginning at an Oak near the side of Hobsons Road from thence up a branch on the West side to the fork of sd branch then Easterly to the corner of my field fence as it now stands thence along down the swamp side near about as the fence goes to the corner of sd fence from thence along the fence about an No Et to a poplar on the marsh then up the marsh along by the spring to a point near the Hogg pen then across the branch near a Northwest Course to a poplar from thence Easterly to Cashey River near the (Wase?) house then down the river to Ballards Corner then up to Herrins Corner a hickory on the edge of the marsh then down the the South side of sd marsh to a poplar then Westerly to Hopsons Road then up the road to the beginning and three Negroes, to Wit, Peter, Jubitor & Cambridge which sd land and Negroes I give to my son Thos West Whitmell his Heirs or Assigns

Item Whereas my son Thos. West Whitmell is now out of the country it is my Will and desire that if my said son Thos. West Whitmell (_?) never return to America that then and in that case I give and bequeath the land herein above mentioned to my son Thos. West Whitmell to my Daughter May Slaughter her heirs and assigns

Item I give and bequeath to my son Thos. Blount Whitmell his heirs or assigns the remaining part of all my lands & plantation that is not herein before given to my son Thos. West Whitmell

Item I give and bequeath to my son Thomas Blount Whitmell the one half of all my household furniture of eevry kind whatsoever now in his possession

Item I give and bequeath to my son Thos. West Whitmell his heirs or assigns the remaining part of all my household furniture that is not herein before given to my son Thos. Blount Whitmell

Item Lastly I Nominate Constitute and Appoint my Friends Ben Wynns William Gray Whitmell Hill & William Williams Exers., to this my last Will and Testament heerby revoking and disannulling all others heretofore by me made. In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the 15th day of December 1779

-Thos Whitmell

Signed Sealed Published & Declaers by the sd Thos Whitmell to be his last will and testament in preence of us

Wm Williams, Jurat

Betsy Williams

Winifred Alston

Undated Document - Colonel Thomas Whitmell Estate, Chowan Co., NC^[2]

Slaves Named in the Will

Per the US Black Heritage: Heritage Exchange Portal protocol, the following is noted. About ten slaves are named in the above will transcript, each of them passed to the next generation of heirs.

Research Notes

• Needs a date to determine which generation of Thomas is making the oath. Thomas Blount Whitmell made oath that he was the son of Colonel Thomas Whitmell deceased, who had been dead about a month or six weeks. He has been unable to find his father's Will, but intends to apply for Administration. Col. Thomas Whitmell had been involved in a Court case where he was Plaintiff and James Moore was Defendant. (Edenton Dist., NC).
• The North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1, 1900

(Pg 445)

"John Blount appeared April 7, 1722, before the Commissioner of the Treasury at the Court House on Queen Anne's Creek, in behalf of his daughter Martha West, Administratrix of Thomas West, deceased, late Treasurer of Chowan Precinct, showing that John Gray, John Nairne, John Dew, Thomas Pierce, Jr., and John Worley had acted as his deputies, in collecting the revenue, and asking that time be allowed for their report, which was granted until the 3d Tuesday in May next.+

+Martha Blount married 1st. Thomas West. Issue (a) Martha West married Edward Bryan son of Lewis Bryan, (b) Elizabeth West married Col Thomas Whitmell son of Thomas and Elizabeth Hunter Bryan , daughter of Lewis Bryan and wife Elizabeth Hunter. Mrs. West married 2d - - Worseley .

Col. Thomas Whitmell Biography from Carolana.com^[3]

"Colonel over the Bertie County Regiment of Militia - 1775-1778

"On September 9, 1775, the NC Provincial Congress appointed Thomas Whitmell as Colonel/Commandant over the Bertie County Regiment of Militia. He resigned his commission in August of 1778, and was replaced by Col. Thomas Pugh.

"Thomas Whitmell, the son of Thomas Whitmell and Elizabeth Bryan, was born on December 9, 1709 in Chowan County, NC. He first married Mary Blount. He married a second time to Elizabeth West c.1738, and they had six known children - Winifred, Sarah, Thomas West, Thomas Blount, Mary, and Martha. He died in 1788 in Bertie County, NC.

"Thomas Whitmell was an Indian trader and interpreter with the Tuscarora Indians. For most of his life, he was a merchant. Thomas Whitmell was also a Justice of the Peace, a Sheriff, and a delegate to the Colonial Assembly from 1754 to 1760.

Smith, Claiborne T., "Whitmell, Thomas" NCPedia Biography ^[4]

"The public career of Thomas Whitmell began on 14 Oct. 1736, when, although he was only twenty-three, the North Carolina Assembly appointed him, Robert West, John Gray, and one Spiers general commissioners for Indian affairs. On 18 Sept. 1737 the Council of the colony allowed Whitmell and Gray £77 for running the dividing line between Crown lands and those of Lord Granville. Granville was the only Carolina Proprietor who refused to sell to the Crown, and the northern section of the colony had been laid out as his district. A justice of Bertie County in 1739, Whitmell was sheriff for many years. In 1749 he was a vestryman for Society Parish, and in 1750 he was mentioned in county records as a merchant. He also represented the county in the Assembly during the period 1754–60 and while so serving was delegated to deal with Indian affairs. Late in 1757 some Indians appeared in New Bern to visit Governor Arthur Dobbs, producing a scalp to demonstrate that they had been in action against the "Swanees." Whitmell was allowed £10 from the public treasury to be laid out in presents for the Indian allies.

"Whitmell had a special relationship with the remnants of the Tuscarora tribe who were then living on a reservation in Bertie at a place still called Indian Woods. In 1752 Moravian Bishop A. G. Spangenberg visited North Carolina to look for land for his followers who planned to move to the colony from Bethlehem, Pa. On 12 September of that year he wrote that Whitmell had taken him to the Indian settlement, noting that Whitmell had been a trader among the Indians and spoke their language fluently. He commented further that Whitmell was one of the wealthiest men in Bertie County and enjoyed an excellent reputation among all classes.

"At the beginning of 1755, when the Tuscarora in the county had one hundred fighting men, the colony called on them for help in the French and Indian War then in progress. In May 1757 Whitmell was awarded £40 for the relief of the wives and children of the warriors from the Tuscarora and Meherrin tribes who had gone to the assistance of Virginia. In 1771 Governor William Tryon issued him a warrant to raise militia for use against the insurgents in the War of the Regulation. This proved to be Whitmell's last public service of record.

Thomas, Gerald W., “Indian Woods: A Lost Reservation”^[5]

In October 1736 the governor’s council renewed Robert West’s and John Spiers’s appointments as Indian commissioners and appointed two new commissioners, Thomas Whitmell and John Gray, both Bertie justices of the peace. The council ordered the four commissioners to ensure that in the future, individuals who traded with the Indians “do not presume to trust or give any credit” to the Indians.

Thomas Whitmell, reportedly one of the wealthiest men in Bertie County, maintained a close, interactive relationship with the Tuscarora Indians. He traded with them, understood their language and spoke it fluently. He owned land located within the boundaries of the Indian Woods reservation, and at some point he resided on the reservation. On October 26, 1769, he sold five hundred acres “within the Indian line” to John Allen. The tract was situated near Quitsna and Chewatock Swamps. Allen paid £50 for the land. Also, a site called Whitmell’s Island was situated on the reservation. Further evidence of Whitmell’s respected association with the Indians is the fact that the chief and headman of the Bertie County Tuscarora in 1778 was named Whitmell Tuffdick. Surely, the chief was named in honor of Thomas Whitmell and may have been a relative.

• Rootsweb hints

Sources

Thomas served as a Colonel in the Bertie County Regiment from 1775-1778. ^[6]

"The assemblage of patriots which met in 1775 at Hillsborough elected as officers Colonel Thomas Whitmell, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Pugh, First Major James Moore and Second Major Arthur Brown." ^[7]

1. ↑ Thomas Whitmell Will, 15 Dec 1799, Bertie Co., NC. Probated Martin Co., NC. Martin Co. Will Book No. 1 - 1774. Archived on Ancestry.com: North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, Film Roll: Martin Wills, 1774-1867. Img 64 of 723. Transcribed by Tim Treadwell, 12 Nov 2020.
2. ↑ Undated Document - Colonel Thomas Whitmell Estate, Chowan Co., NC. Archived at Ancestry.com: Chowan Estate Records, Smith, Robert-Wilroy, William, 1756-1806. Img 1688
3. ↑ Col. Thomas Whitmell Biography from Carolana.com: © 2013 - J.D. Lewis - PO Box 1188 - Little River, SC 29566
4. ↑ Smith, Claiborne T., "Whitmell, Thomas": NCPedia. from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press.
5. ↑ Thomas, Gerald W., “Indian Woods: A Lost Reservation”, Research Paper. Posted to http://ncgenweb.us/bertie/indianwoodslostreservation.html, Accessed 11 Nov., 2020
6. ↑ NC and SC Revolutionary War Soldiers; https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/nc_patriot_military_colonels.html
7. ↑ Historical Sketches of North Carolina from 1584 to 1851, Vol. II, page 31

• North Carolina Wills and Probate Records, Thomas Whitmill, 15 Dec 1779 (Bertie County)