Is there a list that points out mistakes in the Jamestowne census of 1624/24?

Question

I am researching the 3 wives of William Carter of Surry.  The wife I am working on right now is Avis Turtley.

When I adopted her profile her LNAB was listed as Purtley or Turtley.  After years of serious research I can't source her with that name.

 So I have been searching every mention of William Carter and the people listed with him and any mention of the name Avis.

I found Avis Partin listed in the 1624/25 census as the 5 year old son of Robert Partin. I have found 3 sources that state Robert had 2 daughters Avis and Rebecca.

William Carter has business dealings with Robert Partin. Robert had 2 daughters, Avis and Rebecca.

This is of interest to me because one of William's wives was taken to court for fighting with another who may have been her cousin or sister. ( These sources are on William's profile. )  The other woman's name was Rebecca.  I found a source that states Avis Partin was given 40 lashes for fighting with another woman.

So if the census is not proven to be incorrect, I will have to figure out what direction to take the info I have.

I have not proven William's wife Avis was a Partin but the lead may pan out with some serious digging. The same source also list the names of the men who William was caught with stealing a calf.  They received 40 lashes but Williams punishment was not listed. Anyway I haven't listed that source here because I want to get the info together and see if someone can help add it to the profile.

Comments

Is there any other way to account for Avis Partin?

Answer 1

William Carter's wife cannot be the child who was five in 1625. William was not married at the time of the muster, but may have been married by 1626 (there is a reference in records to "Goodwife Carter's house").  Avis is not on the muster because she was not in Jamestown yet.  In 1629 William's unnamed wife (believed to be his first wife, Avis) was required to apologize for calling another woman a "hoore."  The woman was described as her "cousin Gray's wife."  (Minutes of the Council and General Court of Virginia, 1629  https://archive.org/details/minutesofcouncil00virg/page/196/mode/2up?q=Hoore ).  William received a grant of land in 1638 for the transport of 20 persons, including Avis Turtley. (Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, Patent Book 1, Part II, p. 91).

Comments

Thank You Kathy.  I have all of this information on William Carter. Since Avis' last name at birth is not proven to be " Turtley" it is not known when she came to Virginia.  The claimed head rights are not proof that she came from England.  Only proof that at one time William Carter paid for her passage from England to the Colonies.  William himself was claimed as a " head right " by 5 different people at 5 different times.

Head rights had no regulation.  The system was greatly abused.  Many men became quite land wealthy abusing that system.

Other than the one record of William Carter taking head rights for his 3 wives in 1635 there is no record of her birth, where she came from or and other info that I have found.

If Avis is the daughter of Robert Partin and the census incorrect, Avis Partin could very well be the wife of William Carter.  William and Robert Partin lived close to each other and had business dealings. Avis may have been a Turtley but I have searched high and low for years. Other than the standard easy to find info you have provided there is no mention of an Avis Turtley I can find.  As matter of fact Avis Partin is the only Avis I can find in Jamestown up until the 1700s.

T. Stanton. I have 3 different sources stating that Robert Partin had 2 daughters. Avis and Rebecca.  I have one source that states Avis Partin received 40 lashes for fighting with another woman.  One of William's wives was taken to court for fighting with another woman.

My question is:  is there a list that points out mistakes  in the 1624/ 25 muster.  Because according to the 3 sources I have Robert Partin did not have a son named Avis he had a daughter named Avis.  I need to know if there are known mistakes in the census.  If it is not a mistake I am searching for any info as to if William Carter could have married his neighbor's daughter Avis.  If that Avis could have married a man named Turtley . I am also looking for any family connection or marriage connection of Partin's daughter to Thomas Gray. Thomas Gray is not referred as " Goodwife Carter's" cousin but simply as" cousin Gray".  The woman " Goodwife Carter" called a whore was Gray's wife Rebecca.

As I have searched out descendents  of Carter, Partin and Gray I have found men with the names Carter Partin, Partin Carter and Gray Partin.  To me this is a lead that may point to a Partin-Carter- Gray family connection.   It may not prove to be true and may be a total waste of a lot of time.  But it is worth looking into for me.

Thank You Kathy and T.Stanon for your replies.

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I don't see any way that Avis Partin could be a wife of William Carter. William's first wife may not have been the Avis that he claimed as a headright, but whoever she was it wasn't the Avis Partin in the muster.  William was married to Alice, his third wife by 1637.  CORRECTION:  Avis Turtley is listed by name in William's 1636 land grant, original and image at the Library of Virginia. 

The originals of the muster roll are in England.  The roll of 1624/5 as transcribed by Dorman lists the Partin family as:  

Robert Partin aged 36 yeares in the Blessinge in June 1609, Margaret his wife aged 36 in the George 1617,Robert, Avis, Rebecca theire children aged 4 Months, aged 5 yeares, aged 2 yeares

Avis Partin was born in 1619or 20 since she was 5 in 1625, the year of the muster.  There is no question that William Carter was married by 1629, quite possibly by 1626.    Avis, her sister, and two other little girls were raped by a servant when she was seven years old.  Avis, her mother, and her sister were all sentenced to be whipped, the mother for failing to promptly report the crime and the children just in case it was their fault.  The rapist, Thomas Hayle,  was executed.  Minutes of the Council and General Court, pp 149-150.   https://archive.org/details/minutesofcouncil00virg/page/148/mode/2up?q=Hayle

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Kathie thank you for the information.

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Hard to read but here is the original land grant imaged at the Library of Virginia.  It lists by name all three of William Carter's wives, Avis Turtley, Ann Mathis, and Alice Croxson.  It's abstracted in Cavaliers and Pioneers, p. 42

https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990007340750205756&context=L&vid=01LVA_INST:01LVA&lang=en&search_scope=MyInstitution&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=LibraryCatalog&query=any,contains,William%20Carter&facet=lds04,include,LAN&offset=0i

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Thank You Kathie.  I have this information .  What I don't  have and am trying to source is when and where Avis Turtley was born and who her parents were. I have a great deal of information on Alice Croxon. I know she had a " kinsmen" who had business dealings with her husband William Carter.  What I don't have is her date of birth, birth places or parents.  I have her husbands after William  and their wives and children,, her children and much more info. Thank You for the info it will be helpful.