Isaac Perkins Sr. (1697 - 1774)

Born 1697 in Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Grace (Booth) Perkins — married about 1722 in Hopewell MM, Frederick, Virginia

Descendants

Died 2 Mar 1774 at about age 77 in Frederick, Virginia

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Biography

Isaac and Mary Perkins were probably married in 1723 because their oldest child Rachael was born the 23rd day of the 3rd month of 1724. This is in the 'old style' dating and before the Quakers converted their dating on 31 Dec., 1752.^[1] Using a conversion tool from Swarthmore College (see footnote # 1) this date becomes 3 June 1724. They bought their first property from Henry Hollingsworth’s widow Lydia in Cecil Co., Maryland on April 20, 1724. That day Isaac “late of New Castle on Delaware” made two purchases of land in Cecil Co., Maryland. One was for 84 acres from Lydia Hollingsworth, for which he paid £15 and six shillings. It was a tract called Lydia’s Joynter on the west side of the west branch of Elk River. Stephen and D. B. Hollingsworth were witnesses to the signing. The other was 116 acres from Mathias Van Bibber, for which he paid £20 and 16 shillings. It was part of a larger tract called Hopewell and Stephen Hollingsworth was again a witness to the signing.^[2] The sale of these properties (as all deeds for these years) are missing from about 1725 to 1732 in Cecil Co., Maryland. A 1737 deed in Cecil Co. deed book 4 page 341 refers to this land as "formerly in the possession of Isaac Perkins" and then belonging to Joseph Thompson, but by then Isaac is probably living in Virginia.

On 17 February 1725/26, Isaac Parkins of Cecil County, Maryland, and Ebonezer Parkins of Brandywine Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, sold to Thomas Cartmell for 100 pounds, 200 acres of land in New Castle County that they had inherited equally from their father, Ebonezer Parkins.

In the State Land Office at Richmond, recorded in Book 16, pages 315-415 inclusive, the patents issued to the settlers who came to the Shenandoah Valley under authority of the Orders in Council made to Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan. All bear the date of November 12, 1735, and recite that the grantee is one of the seventy families brought in by them, and excepting location and acreage, are alike in wording and conditions, and are signed by William Gooch, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony at that time. Isaac Parkins, who came from Jersey and his wife and children were one of these seventy families. The patent states “. . . To Have and To Hold, possess and enjoy the said tract or parcel of Land and all other the before Granted Premises and every part thereof, with their and every of their appurtenances, unto the said Isaac Perkins his heirs and assign forever, to the only use and behoof of him, the said Isaac Perkins his heirs and assign forever.”

Isaac Parkins was granted 1425 acres in three separate tracts. His home plantation of 725 acres lay just south of, and partly within, the present limits of the City of Winchester. The remaining two tracts lie about five miles northwest of Winchester. He sold part of this last mentioned land in 1739 to “William Hogg, the Younger,” who settled thereon and gave his name to the stream now known as Hogue Creek.

George Hollingsworth and Hannah McKay were married at Isaac Perkins house in Orange County, VA on 19 Dec 1734.

On 11 October 1735, Isaac Parkins attended the wedding of John Ross and Lydia Hollingsworth at Hopewell.

Isaac Parkins had a flour mill on his property as early as 1736, probably in connection with a saw-mill, as an order is entered in the minutes of the Frederick County Court, December term, 1743, being the second meeting of this court, directing that he be paid tobacco to the value of $62.00 for “1000 feet of sawn plank” furnished by him and used in the erection of the first court house and county jail. The Parkins family operated one or more flour mills on Abram’s Creek from 1736 to 1874.

On April 26, 1737, Orange County records show that Isaac Parkins, Lewis Neill, and Lewis Stevens gave bond to administer the estate of Joseph Hollingsworth. And in August, 1738, Isaac witnessed a deed for the sale of land in “Orange County, Colony of virginia.”

On March 25, 1742, a public record found in an order book in Orange County, Virginia, that an order directing that a road be built between James Caudy’s home at Capon Bridge and Isaac Parkins mill located just south of the site that is now Winchester. 

When the new county of Frederick (part of what was previously Orange County) was erected in 1743, Isaac Parkins became very prominent in the conduct of its affairs. He served many years as a justice, a captain of militia, and a vestryman. He used his influence to ameliorate the sufferings of Friends caused by the laws governing those dissenting in religious opinions from the established church. Court records of Frederick County show that he repeatedly secured the release of persons “imprisoned for conscience sake,” and was active in their defense. 

On April 13, 1744, Isaac Parkins was witness to a deed of land sale in Orange County, Colony of Virginia, and on Jun 14, 1744, he was bondsman on the estate of John Hood.

On a county levy laid October 12, 1744, Isaac Parkins was paid 19s. 8 1/2d. 315 pounds of tobacco “for 526 feet of plank for use of court house,” and “as per account” he was paid 2£ 2s. 5d. or 678 2/3 pounds of tobacco.

In 1749 Isaac Perkins, Samuel Earle, Isaac Hite and Lewis Stephen were present at the time of an order that names James Cunningham as grantee of a license to keep an ordinary for one year, the latter having paid the Governor's dues therefor, with John Stroman as security. (see "Old Chapel & Parish in Clarke Cty, VA; History from the founding of Frederick Parish 1738...")

In 1751 he presented to the Frederick County Court a petition asking that the vestry for Frederick Parish be dissolved, charging misappropriation of funds. In the following February, 1752, the General Assembly passed an act charging the vestry for Frederick Parish with oppressive and corrupt practices, and Ordering its dissolution and the election of a new vestry. Along with two other Friends, James Cromly and Lewis Neill, Isaac Parkins was elected to this new vestry, and served for many years.

On 8 March 1753 a Frederick County Militia Roster was recorded (due to continued Indian attacks) which included Isaac Parkins, Capt. (See "Virginia's Colonial Soldier's: County Militia Rosters")

Isaac Parkins was a leader of the Society of Friends and an influential citizen of Frederick County. He served as a justice, a captain of militia, a vestryman, and as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was elected to the House of Burgesses from Frederick County in 1754 and 1755. On 21 May 1755 Isaac was given leave for the rest of the session of 1755, probably due to the onset of the French & Indian War. (Braddock defeated July 9) The Burgesses were elected from only freeholders. The freeholder was supposed to be of the gentry class and owner of valuable estates. Those who proved they owned not less than fifty acres of unimproved land, or twenty five acres with a house thereon at least twelve feet square, or a lot in town with a house thereon, were allowed to vote, and vote in any other county where they had similar holdings.

On 12 June 1755 Isaac Perkins of Frederick, VA. had published in the Philadelphia, PA., 'Runaway servants, Convicts and Apprentices Bulletin that Jacob Wiseman, age 19 years, 19 days was a runaway. (see Phil. PA., Runaway Servants...")

In April, 1756, Isaac Parkins, a captain, was present at a council of war called by Lord Fairfax to regulate the militia against daily attacks by the Indians. The officers could find only 15 men to go against the enemy, and were subsequently discharged because they were not a large enough force to wage warfare.

The account book of Col. Washington with the Colony of Virginia for the 1755 - 1758 period, which is now in the manuscripts division of the Library of Congress, contains the names of a number of Winchester residents with whom the Colonel conducted business for the Colony; and among these residents is listed “July 5, 1757 -- Paid Isaac Parkins for 2 barrels of beer to Cherokee Indians.”

Fort Loudoun was built on Outlot Number 49, a five acre tract laid off by John Baylis at the behest of Lord Fairfax and James Wood when the Town of Winchester was chartered in 1752. This Outlot together with Inlot Number 32, was granted to Isaac Parkins at that time. It is assumed that when the outlot was needed as a site for the defense of the Colony, Parkins, who was a patriot, raised no objection, or if he did, it was seized anyway as a military necessity. Other private property was seized at the same time, and when the crisis was over, local citizens whose property was seized petitioned the House of Burgesses for damages sustained. 

In 1758, Isaac Parkins was one of the group of men appointed as trustees of the new town of Stephensburg and of Winchester, Virginia, by an Act of Assembly “for erecting a town.”

At the General Assembly held in Williamsburg September 24, 1758, realizing that the border counties needed encouragement from the Colonial government, to insure greater protection to the settlers who were required to render unceasing service to protect their homes from the ravages of Indian warfare, enacted a law that stimulated the Valley counties, to not only maintain their independent warfare, but to furnish enlistments in the Colonial Regiments then being recruited for general purposes. Up to this date the border counties were expected to protect their homes at their own expense, and also to furnish their quotas for the Line regiments. This was found unjust to the Valley settlers, who for twenty years had formed a bulwark of defense for the county East of the Blue Ridge. At no time did they allow Indian forays to extend Eastward beyond their own settlements. The General Assembly recognized this, and appropriated a large sum to pay the Home Guards--or Minute Men, as they were called--for their services equal to that paid the Line soldiers. . . and made provision for all who should thereafter secure certificates from their courts; and Isaac Parkins furnished provisions and horse hire to the Minute Men.

After the settlement in the Shenandoah Valley in 1749 of Lord Fairfax, with whom Isaac Parkins was on very friendly terms, he secured from Fairfax several additional grants for lands in the Northern Neck, lying in the counties of Frederick and Hampshire. He maintained on his property a sawmill and two flour mills, probably the first erected in Frederick County. The journals and diaries of traveling Friends, ministers, and others frequently mention visiting his home. At his house took place the marriage of George Hollingsworth and Hannah McCoy on 19 December, 1734. This was the first marriage of Friends in the Shenandoah Valley. Meetings for worship were frequently held at his house, and were continued there after his death by his son Isaac Parkins, Jr. These meetings resulted in the setting up of Center Meeting, for which Isaac Parkins, Jr., provided a lot of land, on which was a meeting house used until Center Meeting was moved into Winchester in about 1819. The graveyard adjoining Center Meeting was deeded to Hopewell Monthly Meeting as a gift from Isaac Parkins, Jr. It may be seen today at the southwest border of the city, on the west side of the Valley Pike.

The home of Isaac Parkins, Sr. passed through marriage and purchase to Isaac Hollingsworth who married his grandaughter, Hannah Parkins, and who erected in 1836 on the site of the old home, a new brick mansion. Isaac Hollingsworth also built nearby a four story stone flour mill, for many years regarded as the finest in the Shenandoah Valley, and which survived the Civil War but has since been destroyed by fire. This ancient plantation was called “Milltown” and remained in the possession of the descendents of Isaac Parkins until 1881. On this same tract, about a half-mile east of the mansion house, is the burying-ground of the Parkins and Hollingsworth families, which was devised to Hopewell Monthly Meeting in 1815 by will of John Parkins, for use of Friends as a burying-ground.

George Hollingsworth and Hannah McKay were married at Isaac Perkins house in Orange County, VA on 19 Dec 1734.

Sources

1. ↑ Swarthmore College has a date converter for translating dates to the new (Gregorian) calendar. The link is: https://www.swarthmore.edu/friends-historical-library/quaker-calendar
2. ↑ Cecil Co., Maryland deed book 4 pp. 82 & 83

• O’Dell, Cecil, PIONEERS OF OLD FREDERICK COUNTY, VA, Walsworth Publishing Co., Marceline, Missouri, 1995. pp.414

• Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934; Hopewell Friends and Wayland, John W.

1936 Strasburg, Virginia p. 478

*Kerns, Wilmer L. Ph.D., FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA: Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley 1730-1830, Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, Md 1995.

• Norris, J.E. editor, HISTORY OF THE LOWER SHENANDOAH VALLEY. A. Warner & Co., Chicago. 1890

• Cartmell, T.K., SHENANDOAH VALLEY PIONEERS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS A history of Frederick County Virginia, Maryland,1989.

*Quarles, Garland R., GEORGE WASHINGTON and WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA 1748 -1758, Frederick County Historical Society, Winchester, VA. 1974, VIII: Winchester - Frederick County Historical Society Papers.

• Old Chapel and the Parish in Clarke County, VA: a History from the founding of Frederick Parish, 1738 to the Centenary; Pg.53; Pub: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Pub.Date: 2005 @ Provo, UT., USA; Online access 10 May 2019.

• Philadelphia, PA., Runaway Servants, Convicts & Apprentices, 1728-1796; W (Wiseman); Original data: Grubb, Farley. Runaway Servants, Convicts, and Apprentices Advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1796. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992. Published 2016 by Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Online access 10 May 2019.

• Virginia's Colonial Soldiers: County Militia Rosters; Publisher: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Online access 10 May 2019.

• Frederick County, VA, Wills & Administrations, 1795-1816; Will Book #9, 1810-1816; Parkins John Will dated 14 May 1815/ 3 Jul 1815 "That spot of ground known by the name burying ground where my parents and others of our family have been entered be reserved for the Society of Friends. Sole Bequest. Signed at Hannah Hollingworth's. Exrs: Isaac Parkins, Sr., Isaac hollingsworth, Jesse Hollingsworth, son of Jonah, dec'd, and Hanna Hollingsworth and any others nominated by Society of Friends. Codicil dated 17 May 1815: 'Just debts paid.' Wit: Hannah, Sarah and Isaac Hollingsworth, Wm Helphenstine (p.425-6).