It has been traditionally said that Margaret, the wife of Richard Gilliam of St. Peter's Parish is a Lawson. There is no primary source documentation to support this claim. This is based on the fact that Richard and Margaret named their last known son, Epaphroditus, supposedly after Epaphroditus Lawson of Lancaster County. There is no known daughter of Epaphroditus Lawson named Margaret. His will mentions one unnamed child: "make & ordaigne ye Child my Wife now goeth with my heire."
It is more likely that Epaphroditus Gilliam was named after one of the families of St. Peter's Parish that used the given name Epaphroditus. Among them are the Drakes, and the Howles. The Drakes married into the Gilliams. The Howles did too, but later. An Epaphroditus Howle precedes Epaphroditus Gilliam by about 25 years. He appears to be the most likely namesake for Epaphroditus Gilliam.
It is likely Margaret is the mother of only William, Margaret, Richard and Epaphroditus.
Birth
bef 1679
Marriage
bef 1699
Richard GILLIAM
(1669–1713)
Richard was likely married twice as there is a 9 year gap in the birth of his children and William's mother is expressly named Margaret. [1]
Vestry
26 Mar 1699 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
1699, March 26
William, son of Richard and Margaret Gillum baptised
[2]
Vestry
2 Nov 1701 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
1701, Nov 2
Margaret, daughter of Richard Gillum, Bap.
[3]
Vestry
2 Sep 1722 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
At a Vestry held at the Parish Church of St. Peter’s on the Second day of September 1722
Ordered that Marg’t Guillam have 600 lb of Tobacco for keeping Rebecca Spurlock.
Ordered that Jno. Guillam, have 800 lb of Tobo for keeping eliz Johnson.
[4]
Vestry
30 Sep 1723 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
At a Vestry held for St Peter’s Parish Sep’r 30th, 1723
To Jno GILLIAM for keeping Eliz. Jnoson, 815; Tho Howl for Keeping Edm’d Bedford 1515 . . .
To Ste. Moone, Eliz. Scruggs, ___ Marg’t GILLIAM ____ Mr. Wm. Waddill __ _____ 2991
[5]
Vestry
13 Jun 1724 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
At a Vestry held for St. Peter’s parish June 13th, 1724
To Marg’t Guilliam for keeping Spurlock, Sam’l Bugg for keeping Edm. Bedford 1450
[6]
Death
12 Feb 1725 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
1725/26, Feb 12
Margaret Guilliam died
[7]
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Featured National Park champion connections: Margaret is 13 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 22 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 16 degrees from George Catlin, 13 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 19 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 17 degrees from George Grinnell, 25 degrees from Anton Kröller, 16 degrees from Stephen Mather, 22 degrees from Kara McKean, 14 degrees from John Muir, 16 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 20 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Even though I am officially the "profile manager for Lawson-151, I am not at all convinced that the maiden name of Richard Gilliam's wife Margaret was Lawson. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the only basis for such a belief is that William & Margaret had a son named Epaphroditus Gilliam. This name is extremely rare in the annals of colonial Virginia. Consequently, I am willing to entertain the possibility that he was named for Epaphroditus Lawson (son of Rowland), or for Rowland's grandson of the same name. But I don't know how to make a really convincing case for a family connection with the Lawsons. The name Epaphroditus could have come into the Gilliam family from the Bible and not from the Lawson family (who didn't even live especially near the Gilliams).
We know from the court records of Lancaster County that the older Epaphroditus Lawson died intestate (probably in 1660 or 1661), but since there is no mention of any widow or surviving children in the order that granted possession of his "small estate" to his mother Lettice Lawson for "the payment of some small debts of her said son and the good of her self and children," it must be concluded that he died without leaving any children.
Bottom line -- I believe a merger is in order. The surviving profile should be the one with the "unknown" maiden name, since the "Lawson" surname is speculative at this point. The possibility that her maiden name was Lawson should be discussed in research notes. If I could find any evidence of the existence of a "Margaret Lawson" in the right time and place, I would want to maintain a separate profile for her, but not when she seems to be only a figment of someone's imagination.
That said, in the merged biography I would want to use an estimated birth year of 1669, based on the birth of her first child in 1687 and the birth of her last child between 1707 and 1709 (the last digit of the year having been lost from the parish register by fraying, apparently). The birth year of 1658, as listed on the "unknown" profile, is simply too early unless Margaret was fertile at an age worthy of some Guinness record book.
Finally, the merged profile should resolve the discrepancy in death dates. It's easily done because in the parish register the date was entered as a "double date" of 1725/6, showing both the Julian calendar year as well as the Gregorian calendar year of 1726. I hope for the day when Wikitree's software will allow us to enter a double date as "1725/6" in the date fields, but to my knowledge that time is still in the offing.