Matilda (Burford) Floyd (abt. 1754 - 1768)

Born about 1754 in Amherst, Virginia [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1768 at about age 14 in Virginia

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Biography

Matilda Burford married John Floyd in 1768 at the age of fourteen. She died in childbirth in 1769. Her daughter, (Mourning Burford) was raised by her sister, Virginia.

Two years after the death of Matilda, John Floyd returned to Amherst, VA where he had an affair with Virginia. The affair resulted in one child, John Floyd Burford, born 24 October 1771.

Since John Floyd left about 1772 for Kentucky and later went on to captain his privateer, the Phoenix, and to his subsequent capture and imprisonment, he may not have known for some years that Virginia had been pregnant with a son.

This boy was raised as John Floyd Burford, later adopting his well-known father's name as his last name. The basis for these speculations come from the Stewart Clan papers. Also, letters from John Burford Floyd's son note his father as a brother to Mourning.

Family

Will of Daniel Burford^[1]
Written: 1 May 1787
Probated: 2 July 1787
Legatees:
daughter Virginia Taylor (250 acres), her natural son Floyd Burford, and all her children
granddaughter Mourning Buford Stewart
sons John and Daniel
daughter Milly Crews
daughter Frances Goodwin
daughter Elizabeth Goodwin
Executors: sons John and Daniel and John Stewart.
Witnesses: John Crews, Abel and Noel Blankenship

Children

Child of M. Buford and John Floyd^[2]

When about eighteen years of age, Mr. Floyd married Miss Burfoot, age fourteen, of Chesterfield County, Virginia, who died within the year leaving an infant daughter whom Mrs. Burfoot adopted and named Mourning.

Sources

1. ↑ Davis, Bailey Fulton. 1998. The wills of Amherst County, Virginia, 1761-1865. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press.
2. ↑ GenealogyTrails.com Biography of John Floyd

See also:

• Ancestry.com Profile