Susannah (Unknown) Stewart (abt. 1640 - aft. 1699)

Born about 1640 in Henrico, Virginia

Wife of William Hatcher Jr. — married about 1660 (to before 1670) in Henrico, Virginia

Wife of Thomas Burton — married 1670 (to 1685) in Henrico, Virginia

Wife of John Steward — married 2 Oct 1686 in Henrico, Virginia

Descendants

Died after Dec 1699 after about age 59 in Henrico, Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Robin Lee [send private message], Gail Williams [send private message], Deborah White [send private message], Merilee Burton [send private message], and US Southern Colonies Project WikiTree [send private message]

Susannah (Unknown) Stewart resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies

NOTE: Please coordinate changes to this profile. The mother was removed based on G2G discussions and the fact that a merge had two different mothers for this profile with no proof for either. Recent Y DNA testing showed that direct male line descendants of two of Susannah's sons have Hatcher DNA, thus making it unlikely that WIlliam Hatcher, Sr. was her father. Instead, it appears that William Hatcher, Jr. was her husband and her father is unknown/unproven.

Synopsis

Susannah married William Hatcher, Jr. and had children (who were renamed by her second husband to be) Thomas Burton, Jr., Anne Burton, John Burton, Isaac Burton, and Abraham Burton.

Then she married Thomas Burton, Sr. and had no known additional children.

Then she married John Stewart and had no known additional children.

Biography

Marriage about 1670 Henrico Co., VA

Husband: Thomas Burton

Wife: Susanna Hatcher, a widow.

Her marriage to William Hatcher, Jr. in 1659/1660 is now better aligned with the birth of her first children in 1661/1663. ^{[1] [2]}

Some of the data in these sources are contradictory, still working.

Notes from Reading in the Burton-Allen/Hatcher Anthology:

There are descendants of Anne Burton who married in 1693 Bartholomew Stovall of Henrico County, Virginia who have been admitted to the Colonial Dames of the 17th Century through the line of Allen as shown by Worth Ray. The ascent is as follows: Anne Burton, dau. of Thomas Burton who married Susannah, dau. of Valentine Allen and Mary Page. (?!!) The ever frustrating thing about Ray is that he so often fails to give dates or any kind of references, but because it is published, it has been accepted without question as "the fact." There are others who claim Susannah was a Hatcher and they are as convinced (as we are in this file) as those who put forth Allen. However, the DNA evidence (discussed below) clearly shows that Susannah is almost certainly not a Hatcher, so maybe the Allen story is more likely.^[3]

Dr. Philip Burton of Fort Myers, Florida who has done a great deal of research on the Burton family is of the opinion that Susannah probably was a Hatcher, but that neither he nor any careful genealogist known to him could give a satisfactory and final answer to the question. Susannah Hatcher was born in 1650, dau. of Edward Hatcher and Mary Ward, who was the dau. of Seth Ward. --Source, Burton Genealogy of Marlene Burton DeLung & Peggy Burton Rich; Salem, Virginia; published on-line. ^[4] The Hatcher researchers believe this information is wrong in several respects. There is no Susannah Hatcher. Susannah who married Thomas Burton was not a Hatcher (see below). The assertion that Edward had a daughter born in 1650 is based upon the unlikely presumption that Edward was born in England before his father arrived in Virginia. The best view of the evidence is that Edward was the second child of William, born about 1638. Mary Ward was likely the second wife of Edward, and he likely married her before April 1684. Edward's first wife was likely Mary Jameson, who he likely married in about 1659, as his first son, William Hatcher, was born about 1660.^[5]

In 1676, William Hatcher names Thomas Burton Jr in his will and indicates that Thomas Jr is not yet at the age of 17. This would indicate that William Hatcher is the grandfather of Thomas, and that fits with William, Jr. being the father of Thomas Burton, Jr.

I give unto Thomas Burton, Jr. the plantation between the land of Mr. Henry Lound and the land of Gilbert Elam to wit: two hundred and twentysix acres, his choice of all my horses or mares, one heifer called blackchops, a young ewe, and a years schooling and clothes, till he reaches the age of seventeen years, to the confirmation of which I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this two and twentieth day of February, 1676/7.^[6]

The above will indicates a probable biological relationship. However, it appears that Thomas, Jr. died without issue. Recent Y-DNA testing has demonstrated that direct male descendants of the purported sons of Susannah. John and Abraham, have Y-DNA which matches the sons of William, Edward, Henry, and Benjamin. Descendants of all five of those men have matching DNA. The best view of this evidence is that Susannah was a widow of a Hatcher, and the only rational candidate would be William, Jr., brother of Edward, Henry, and Benjamin, and that Thomas Burton, Sr. adopted (formally or informally) those Hatcher kids and made them his own (giving them his surname, and perhaps even renaming the eldest son after himself). Please see more, here: https://hatcherfamilyassn.com/getperson.php?personID=I40980&tree=WmTheIm

DNA and Document Evidence

For a very long time, researchers from the Hatcher, Burton, and Stovall families (all of whom have engaged in extensive research of their 17th century ancestors) have believed that this Susannah was the daughter of William “the immigrant” Hatcher, Sr. (1613-1680), as mentioned above.^[7] However, the best view of the evidence is that this cannot be the case. Modern day descendants of Susannah’s sons John “Old John” Burton (1665-1755) and his brother, Abraham Burton (1668-1737) have Y DNA matching the said William Hatcher. It seems very unlikely that Susannah might have committed incest with one or more of her male Hatcher relatives. The far more likely possibility is that Susannah was a Hatcher by marriage, and a widow, at the time. We do happen to have a dead Hatcher man who could be assigned as the husband of Susannah: William Hatcher, Jr. (1637-1667). The dates are tight, but they do fit without doing excessive violence to any known facts.

For the sake of completeness, we thought about and rejected the possibility that Thomas “of Cobbs” Burton (Bef. 1630-1686) was the son of William Hatcher, Sr. The best view of the evidence is that Thomas was born before William Hatcher came to Virginia. Thomas had a brother, John “of Longfield” Burton, and Thomas appears to have been the older brother of John. First, Thomas was listed first on the 1656 deed where the “Cobbs” plantation was acquired. Second, when the brothers split up, it was John who moved away from their joint venture. Both facts make it more likely that Thomas was the elder brother.

The direct male descendants of John “of Longfield” Burton have Burton DNA of a distinct type. It does not match the Burtons who descend from Susannah. Those Burtons have Hatcher DNA.

The eldest child of John, Mary Burton, was born about 1650 and his eight children seem to space out at a normal rate of two years per child. This argues that the younger brother John was born before 1630 (generally, men are at least the age of 21 before they marry), and that Thomas was thus likely born before 1628 (at least 2 years before John). This all matches with the idea that Thomas was born before the arrival of William Hatcher in Virginia, which is believed to have been around 1635. William obtains his first land patent in Virginia dated 1 Jun 1636, and the deed indicates he was single at the time he arrived (he might have married after arrival but before the patent, but that would not have entitled him to the quantity of land that a married immigrant would receive). In 1639, Ambrose Cobbs took up an adjacent parcel of land, and that is how the “Cobbs” plantation got its name. In 1656, the Cobbs plantation was acquired by the Burton brothers, Thomas and John (named in that order).

On February 1, 1661/2, William Hatcher, Jr. and his younger brother Henry (again, named in that order in the deed) acquired a 200-acre parcel of land on the north bank of the James River at Varina. At least one brother would have needed to be at least 21 years of age to make that transaction happen. So, as the older brother, William, Jr. would have needed to be born before 1 Feb 1640/1 to be at least age 21 on the date of that deed. The best view of these facts is that William, Jr., was born sometime around 1637. The most likely birth order is William, Jr. (about 1637), Edward (about 1638), Jane (about 1640), Henry (about 1642), and Benjamin (about 1643). Susannah, born about 1640 and now attributed as the wife of William, Jr., no longer needs to be wedged into those other 5 kids born over a timeframe of 6 years. Susannah likely married William, Jr. in about 1660, again arguing that William, Jr. must have been born by 1639. The likely dates of birth for the children are Thomas Burton, Jr., about 1661; Anne Burton, 8 Aug 1663 (per Stovall research); “Old John” Burton, about 1665; Isaac Burton, about 1667; and Abraham Burton, on or after 1 Oct 1668. On 1 Oct 1692 Abraham deposes in court that he is “aged about 23 years” thus born no later than 30 Sep 1669. It is also possible that Abraham was older than age 23 for his 1692 deposition (people were frequently older than what they stated in a deposition).

William, Jr. is dead by 20 Aug 1667(or maybe 1669) when Henry Hatcher, as the surviving partner of the 200 acres of land, signs that land over to his other brother Edward. There is just barely enough time for Abraham to be conceived, William, Jr. to die, and Henry to sign over William’s land to Edward. The known facts argue that Abraham was likely born after his father’s death. Now, this is the one place where the known facts don’t quite fit. The easiest explanation is that we know the date when Henry Hatcher signed over the land to his brother Edward only from a later deed dated 1 April 1684 which recites the date of the earlier deed in the chain of title. I believe that the date was 1669 and was wrongly copied as 1667 when the 1684 deed was written (it is easy to confuse a “9” for a “7” in those old documents). Or Abraham could have been born earlier than he stated for his 1692 deposition, as noted above. The one fact that cannot be disputed is that the direct male descendants of Abraham have Y DNA that matches the direct male descendants of William Hatcher, Sr. And, as we have seen above, the biological father of Abraham Burton is most likely William Hatcher, Jr. Accordingly, William, Jr. must have been alive for the conception of Abraham, even if he died before Abraham was born.

Of course, all (or at least, most of) the children of William, Jr. were renamed when Susannah married Thomas. The eldest son was renamed Thomas Burton, Jr. The next son was named John Burton after the brother of Thomas. Isaac and Abraham were renamed in accordance with a long running Burton tradition of naming kids with names from the Old Testament. We can see this in later generations. And the names of Susannah’s children do not appear in the Hatcher family with any great frequency. But certainly William Hatcher, Sr. knew that Thomas Burton, Jr. was his blood grandson. William made a special “deed of gift” to Thomas, who received a 226-acre parcel of land, his choice of horses or mares, one heifer, a young ewe, and “a years schooling and clothes, till he reaches the age of 17.” (See the full quote, above.)

One thing to keep in mind is that there are almost no surviving records for Henrico County prior to 1677. So, the only way we know about the transfer from William, Jr. and Henry to Edward is through the recital of the chain of title in the 1684 deed from Edward to the Estate of Nathaniel Bacon (yes, the man of Bacon’s Rebellion). And there are no marriage records for Susannah and William, Jr. (about 1660) or Susannah and Thomas “of Cobbs” Burton (about 1670). After Thomas, Sr. died, Susannah was granted a license on 2 October 1686 to marry John Stewart. That marriage we have a record to support. In the absence of records, we look at other known facts and draw reasonable inferences. This story of Susannah is based upon numerous such inferences. The one undeniable fact is that the modern descendants of Susannah have DNA which matches William Hatcher, Sr. This makes it highly unlikely that Susannah was the daughter of said William Hatcher, Sr. Accordingly, all of the relevant profiles have been adjusted to make Susannah LNU the wife of William Hatcher, Jr. and to make William, Jr. the biological father of the children of Thomas “of Cobbs” Burton.

Correspondence

E-Mail

From Dennis Stewart to David Douglas, Feb 05, 2019

Dennis Stewart

2:21 PM (13 minutes ago)

to David Douglas

Don't know if this may shed some light.

Court at Varina May 16, 1692

Letter produced in court by Edward Hatcher as

evidence of the death of Thomas Burton--

addressed to Mrs. Susanna Burton &

commences "Honored Mother", signed,

"Joanna Elizabeth Bucanan". Tells of

the death of her husband, Thomas

Burton & of hearing from her by Mr.

Jarland, who had been told by one

Mr. Chickley. Dated Boston, Nov. 9th

1691. ^{[8] [9]}

Susannah was born about 1646. She passed away in 1699.

Sources

1. ↑ Entered by Merilee Burton
2. ↑ Revised by Bill Schultz
3. ↑ Revised by Bill Schultz
4. ↑ Entered by Merilee Burton
5. ↑ Revised by Bill Schultz
6. ↑ "Colonial Wills of Henrico County, Virginia" Part I, 1654-1737, by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, 1976, p6.
7. ↑ This entire section added by Bill Schultz
8. ↑ "Extracts From The Records Of Henrico County, Virginia 1677-1771", by Stanard
9. ↑ Re: HELP !!! WHICH WIFE OF THOMAS BURTON.....ALLEN or HATCHER, By Bob Burton in June 20, 2010 at 09:10:28, In reply to: Re: HELP !!! WHICH WIFE OF THOMAS BURTON.....ALLEN or HATCHER, Erwin Lepiarczyk 6/20/10

See also:

• Hatcher Families Genealogy Association page about Susannah.
• Local History: Thomas Burton and Cobbs Plantation, VA, by Greg Burton
• Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
• Edmund West, comp.. Family Data Collection - Deaths, Births, Individual Records
• Francis Burton Harrison, Burton Chronicles of Colonial Virginia (Darmstadt, 1933), pp. 33-40.

• Burton Family History clearly states that the connect to England has not been proven.

• Website with sources for Burton Family descendants of Thomas of Cobbs and John of Longfield

• "Colonial Wills of Henrico County, Virginia", Part One, 1677-1737, pp.13, 14, Benjamin B. Weisiger III, Richmond, VA., 1976.

• "Henrico County, Virginia Deeds 1677-1705", p.32, Benjamin B. Weisiger III, Richmond, VA, 1986.

• "Burton Families", Series I, p.59, A. Maxim Coppage, Walnut Creek, CA. May, 1969. "ibid.", p.82, December, 1969. "ibid.", Series IV, p.161, Summer, 1989. "W&MCQ"(1), Vol.XXIV, No.1, p.131, July, 1915,

• "Henrico County, Virginia: Beginnings of its families", William Clayton Torrence..
• Hatcher Family Genealogy Association, http://hatcherfamilyassn.com, Accessed September 1, 2014
• http://hatcherfamilyassn.com/getperson.php?personID=I40980&tree=WmtheIm
• http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/HATCHER/1998-09/0904782416

Acknowledgments

Thank you to William Graham Martha Scott, Michael Christian,Ron Norman, Kathy Scott , Donna Roberts Andrea Wood Gail Williams

• U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, Source number: 3121.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: MLC ; Submitter Code: MLC; Name: Susannah Hatcher; Gender: Female; Birth Place: VA; Birth Year: 1646; Spouse Name: Thomas Burton; Spouse; Birth Place: VA; Spouse Birth Year: 1634; Marriage; Year: 1662

• Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1900; Susannah, widow and relict of Thomas Burton Senr., appointed administratrix of the estate of Thomas Burton, Senr. Recorded in Henrico Co, VA Deeds, Wills, Etc. 1677-1692, page 342. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9P6-SW4G?i=157&cat=397197

• Burton Chronicals of Colonial Virginia 1933, by Francis Burton Harrison; Describe The Record: No will of Thomas Burton has been found. The widow Susannah obtained letter of administration upon his estate on February 1, 1685, with Henry Lound and Edward Stratton, Jr., as securities. At the same time, James Baugh, Thomas Lockett, Abra. Womeck and Edward Stratton, Jr., were appointed appraisers of the estate. In the same year, his (Thomas Burton's) widow Susannah married John Stewart generally referred to in the records as "John Stewart, Glover" to distinguish him from another individual of the same name, a contemporary in Henrico. Their marriage license was dated October 2, 1686.