James William (Crossthwait) Crosthwait (abt. 1750 - bef. 1787)

Born about 1750 in Virginia [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 11 Jan 1787 before about age 37 in Albemarle, Virginia, United States

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Biography

William (Crossthwait) Crosthwait performed Patriotic Service in Virginia in the American Revolution.

His birth and parentage are unknown. The Crosthwaite's Family Tree, a good resource using quoted sources, says his parents are William Crosthwait and Milley Golding.^[1] However, the publisher of the Crosthwaite Chronicle, after discussion, says "This all means that it is impossible for the William Crosthwait of Albemarle County, Virginia (who married Ann) to have been son of William and Milley." ^[2][3] See Research Notes for additional info.

James was married to Ann Shelton, the daughter of Henry Shelton and Eleanor Rea from Albemarle Co., Virginia. Children:

1. Shelton Crosthwait (1775-1825)
2. Thomas Crosthwait (1777-1815)
3. William Crosthwait (1781-1833), m. Mary Hutcherson
4. Perry Crosthwait (1783-1823), m. Fanny (Madison) Breeden, widow of Caleb Breeden
5. Ann B. Crosthwait (1787-1851), m. Thomas Gooch

Personal property tax lists for Albemarle Co. are available beginning in 1782. Entries for William Crosthwait:

1782: 1 male, 3 slaves^[4][5]

1784: 1 male >21, 1 slave >16^[6]

1785: 1 male >21, 1 slave >16, 1 slave <16^[7]

1786: 1 male >21, 2 slave >16, 4 slave <16^[8]

1787: Ann Crosthwait is listed as the tithable person.^[9] See note on Thos. Crosthwait.

In 1785, William Crosthwait is listed as the head of a family of six in Albemarle County, Virginia. (The only other Crosthwait head of family in the county is Isaac, family of eleven.^[10] Note: It is unlikely that Isaac is James William's father because his 1810 will left land to his living son named William.)^[11][12] In March of that year, "William Crosthwait of Albemarle County" purchased 213 acres of land from Robert and Margaret Miller for £40 Virginia money.^[13] (Note: The land was sold in 1803 by Shelton Crosthwait to Absalom Lowry in exchange for a tobacco crop.)^[14] Also, on 14 Jul 1785 a road order: "Ordered that William Crosthwait be appointed overseer of the road in the room of John Miller with the usual gang."^[15]

"James William was called William except when he signed the Declaration of Independence in Albemarle Co, VA.^[16][17] He died in Dec 1786 leaving a very pregnant wife and four sons: Shelton Crosthwait; William Crosthwait, Thomas Crosthwait, and Perry Crosthwait. His widow delivered a daughter she named, Ann Bowen Crosthwait in March 1787 "^[18]

His 23 Apr 1781 will, proved on 11 Jan 1787, mentioned only three children (without naming them). It was written before Perry's and Ann's births.^[19][20][21]. The executors were "my Kind friends Henry Shelton, William Shelton, his son" (his father-in-law and brother-in-law). Although his children were not named in his will, they were later mentioned in a suit against the estate:

"His estate was probated in March 1798 at Albermarle Co., Virginia; The settlement of Wm. Crosthwaite's estate did not go smoothly as a suit against George Divers, adminstrator attests. The plaintiffs recorded in Albemarle Co., VA Order Book for March 1798 reads:^[22]

Jacob Powers and Ann, his wife, relict of William Crosthwait deceased; Shelton Crosthwait, heir at law of the said William, deceased; Thomas Crosthwait, William Crosthwait, Perry Crosthwait, and Ann Bourn Crosthwait, children of the said William Crosthwait, deceased, by Shelton Crosthwait their Guardian - suit against George Divers, administrator of William Crosthwait , deceased."^[23][24]

Daughters of the American Revolution Entry:^[25]

Service: VIRGINIA Rank: PATRIOTIC SERVICE

Birth: CIRCA 1740

Death: ANTE 1-11-1787 ALBEMARLE CO VIRGINIA

Service Source: WOODS, HIST OF ALBEMARLE CO IN VA, PP 365, 366

Service Description: 1) SIGNER OF ALBEMARLE CO DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Research Notes

Due to the recent loss of the Rootsweb archive, this posting is reproduced in whole:^[2]

To: CROSTHWAITE-L @ rootsweb.com
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 21:47:08 -0700
Subject: William Crosthwait and Ann Shelton
From: xthwait @ juno.com (Carol D. Crosswhite)

RE: WILLIAM CROSTHWAIT WHO MARRIED ANN SHELTON There has recently been some interchange of questions and answers on William and Ann on this list. It was asked whether this William could have been son of Isaac Crosthwait who married Elizabeth Rippetoe. Georgia Crosthwait, to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude for early Crosthwaite/Crosswhite genealogy, was concerned that there was no documentation as to where this William fit into Crosthwaite genealogy. Nevertheless, she gave us her best guess that the William who married Ann (and whose will is preserved in Albemarle County, Virginia), with the information she had then, must have been the son of the William Crosthwait who married Milley and lived in Culpepper County, Virginia. It is clear from court records that this Culpepper County William was son of the William Crosthwait who came down to Spotsylvania County, Virginia from Pennsylvania. This Pennsylvania William was father of Timothy, William, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Elizabeth, and Sarah, a family very well documented in Orange County, Virginia.

The William of Culpepper County, Virginia was indeed the son of the Pennsylvania William and is proven by court documents to be brother of Timothy, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Elizabeth and Sarah.

However, the sons of this William of Culpepper County and his wife Milley have now been traced beyond any doubt using court and census records. William, the son of William and Milley proves to be the William who sold the land inherited from his father in Culpepper County and settled in Stokes County, North Carolina. His brother Jacob with his widowed mother Milley settled in Newberry District, North Carolina. The Milley Crosthwait who was member of the "traveling church" of the Billy Bush colony proves not to have been this Milley, but rather the Milley who was daughter of Abraham Crosthwait.

This all means that it is impossible for the William Crosthwait of Albemarle County, Virginia (who married Ann) to have been son of William and Milley. However, in the 1740's there was a separate Crosthwait family in ALBEMARLE PARISH of Sussex and Surrey Counties. The origin of this family at this time is totally unknown. We have no evidence that this family was closely related to the Orange County Crosthwaits. For an Orange County Crosthwait to settle in Sussex or Surrey Counties would be contrary to the normal pattern of settlement in Virginia. Albemarle PARISH is in the eastern coastal plain of Virginia nearer to Williamsburg. Settlement of Albemarle COUNTY which is in the Piedmont came from two sources: 1) people moving west from the coastal plain which included Albemarle PARISH, and 2) people moving south from Orange County. The Sheltons moved west into Albemarle County from the coastal plain. If William married Ann before they came to Albemarle County, then he was probably one of the Crosthwaits of Sussex and Surrey Counties.

We can prove that the William who married Ann can not be son of three of the five brothers of Orange County. 1) Timothy of Orange died childless; 2) William of Orange (who settled in Culpepper County and married Milley) had a son William who settled in Stokes County, North Carolina; 3) Isaac of Orange (who settled in Albemarle County and married Elizabeth) had a son William who settled in Kentucky and had 14 children. This line has been extremely well researched by Vida Vance whose 227 page manuscript is in the Mormon genealogical library in Salt Lake City.

If the William of Albemarle who married Ann was descended from any of the Orange County brothers, rather than coming west from Albemarle PARISH into Albemarle COUNTY, then he would have to have been son of either Abraham or Jacob. We have presented evidence in Crosthwaite Chronicle No. 6 that JOHN William Crosthwait of Wilkes County, North Carolina was likely the son of Abraham. The William of Albemarle who married Ann is proven by court documents to have been JAMES William Crosthwait. Administration papers of the estates of James William and John William prove that they were different people. This would leave only Jacob as a possible father if William of Albemarle come south from the Orange County Crosthwaits. If this William of Albemarle was son of Jacob, then the possibility exists that he not only married a Shelton but also had a Shelton for his mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother, etc. He is known to have had a brother named Shelton Crosthwait, incorrectly interpreted by some to have been his son. This might have required Jacob to have had a first wife with surname Shelton and to have left his children of the first family with Shelton grandparents. The one fact that would support such a theory is that Jacob's son Aaron seems not to have been a son of Jacob's wife Mary Brockman. This Aaron had a grandson named Shelton Crosthwait, suggesting that Jacob might have been married to a Shelton before marrying Mary Brockman. It is also possible, however that Jacob's grandmother or great-grandmother was a Shelton, which could account for his descendant having been named Shelton Crosthwait. There have been at least seven different Shelton Crosthwaits, some with no obvious relationship to the others. The Crosthwaits in the Albemarle PARISH records are women who happened to be godparents for children born in this parish, suggesting that they were already of age in the 1740's and therefore could not possibly be children of Jacob. One of these women could, however be mother of the William Crosthwait who married Ann Shelton.

There is some evidence that the Crosthwait-Shelton connection goes back to England, in which case both the Orange County Crosthwaits and Albemarle PARISH Crosthwaits might trace back to a common Shelton ancestry in England. We have records of a marriage in England of a "Wilyam Crosthwait" to a Skelton wife. Georgia thought that Scelton and Shelton were the same name. We are currently researching this.

Frank S. Crosswhite

and Carol D. Crosswhite

Publishers of Crosthwaite Chronicle.

Another entry suggesting who he is not:

"The record of the sale of that land is very important for another reason. It proves that the William Crosthwait who was the brother of Timothy, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had a wife named Miley. Thus, it proves that the William Crossthwaite who married Ann Shelton was not the brother of Timothy, etc. (Another fact in proof is that when the above-named William 2nd died in 1770, he still had the same wife Miley. (See the sketch about him)."

• Georgia Crosthwaite, "Abraham Crosthwait, Second Known Ancestor", Crosthwaite Chronicle, No. 3, Sep 1963, p. 97; digitized edition at www.familysearch.org/library/books/idviewer/615813/21

Based on Jacob Crosthwait's will from Clark Co. in 1807, he is unlikely to be the father:

• Kentucky. County Court (Clark County). Mixed Probate Records, 1793-1868; Index to Wills and Settlements, 1793-1854. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1959. "Mixed records, Vols. 1-3 1793-1815", Vol. 2, p. 303-4 (FHL Film 183147, image 344 of 674)

Older Thomas Crosthwait

After William died, his wife Ann is listed on the tithable list of 1787 for Albemarle Co. In the same entry under the heading for white males over the age of 21 is listed Thos. Crosthwait. Due to his age, he cannot be son Thomas. He is listed on his own in tax years 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, and 1794. He does not appear in 1795 or 1796. Thomas reappears in 1798, 1799, 1801, 1802, and 1803. This Thomas must be a close relative. He is probably the son of Isaac Crosthwait who had sons Thomas and John. Thomas must have gone to help Ann after William's death. This suggests that William must be a close relative to Isaac. Additionally, the grandson Thomas Crosthwait married Susanna Powers in Fleming Co. in 1821, the same year and location that Ann Bowen remarried to Joseph Christy; FamilySearch Image: 3QS7-L9S9-BW3T

Notes entered by Costa-310 on 9 Sep 2020:

An email written in 1997 [above] explores who the father of James William Crosthwaite might be. The writer questions whether or not James William Crosthwait's father could be William Crosthwait, the son of William Crosthwait, born 1723 in Philadelphia and his wife Millie Jackson. While William and Millie did have a son named William, he was not the William who married Ann Shelton. Court and census records show that William and Millie's son sold the land in Culpepper County that he inherited from his father and settled in Stokes County, North Carolina. In addition, James William Crosthwait was born in 1740, four years before Abraham and Milley were married. Since no birth records can be found for James William Crosthwait there are a lot of assumptions discussed in the correspondence [above].

Sources

1. ↑ The Crosthwaite's Family Tree
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Rootsweb posting by Frank S. Crosswhite and Carol D. Crosswhite, Publishers of Crosthwaite Chronicle (Secondary copy)
3. ↑ Georgia Crosthwaite, The Second William Crosthwait of Colonial Virginia, Crosthwaite Chronicle, No. 4, Oct 1963, p. 178 (Available on FamilySearch)
4. ↑ Taxes, image 20
5. ↑ Personal Property Tax Lists, 1782 [Virginia State Library]; Call Number: FHL Film 2024443; Page Number: 12; Family Number: 25. Ancestry Record 2234 #77375
6. ↑ Taxes, image 53
7. ↑ Taxes, image 67
8. ↑ Taxes, image 85
9. ↑ Taxes, image 123
10. ↑ United States. Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Records of the State Enumerations, 1782 to 1785, Virginia. Washington: G.P.O., 1908. p. 80
11. ↑ Kentucky. County Court (Clark County) 'Mixed Probate Records, 1793-1868; Index to Wills and Settlements, 1793-1854']. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1959. "Mixed records, Vols. 1-3 1793-1815", Vol. 3, p. 54-5 (FHL Film 183147, image 462 of 674) https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/423051
12. ↑ "Kentucky, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1774-1989". Will Records of Clark County, Kentucky; Author: Ellsberry, Elizabeth Prather, 1923-; Probate Place: Kentucky. Ancestry Sharing Link Ancestry Record 9066 #323908 (accessed 1 October 2021). Isaac Crosthwait probate on 11 Dec 1810.
13. ↑ "Deeds, 1748-1917 ; general indexes 1748-1917", Catalog: Deeds, 1748-1917 ; general indexes 1748-1917 Deed books, v. 7-9 1776-1789, Vol. 9, p. 107-8; Film number: 007893701 > image 450 of 684, FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CS4X-GWNF
14. ↑ "Deeds, 1748-1917 ; general indexes 1748-1917", Catalog: Deeds, 1748-1917 ; general indexes 1748-1917 Deed books, v. 14-15 1802-1807, Vol. 14, p. 251-2; Film number: 007893703 > image 136 of 640, FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CS4H-4SST-C
15. ↑ "Order books", Catalog: Order books Order books 1744-1748, 1783-1785, p. 514; Film number: 007893705 > image 508 of 537, FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CS4H-Z95D-K
16. ↑ Albemarle Declaration of Independence
17. ↑ Woods, Edgar. 1901. Albemarle County in Virginia; giving some account of what it was by nature, of what it was made by man, and of some of the men who made it. [Charlottesville, Va.]: [Michie Co., printers]. p. 366
18. ↑ http://newsfeed.rootsweb.com/th/read/VALOUISA/2001-06/0992849546
19. ↑ Virginia. County Court (Albemarle County). Virginia, Albemarle County, Wills, 1748-1919 ; General Index, 1748-1930. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949. "Will books, v. 2-3 1752-1798", Will book 3, pp. 19-20 (FHL Film 30212, image 263 and 264) (Copy)
20. ↑ Albemarle County, Virginia Will Book 3, 1785-1798, Reel 34, pp. 19-20. Will transcription. Available at the Library of Virginia
21. ↑ Prather, p. 11
22. ↑ “Roberts - Hubbard Ancestry - William (James William) Crosthwait,” accessed July 22, 2018, http://ourwebsite.org/marilyn/gendata-o/p2500.htm.
23. ↑ Virginia. County Court (Albemarle County). Order Books. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949. "Order books 1795-1801" (FHL Film 30257, #304/719)
24. ↑ Ardery, William Breckenridge. Kentucky Court and Other Records. Vol. II. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1900. p. 168 (Ancestry.com Image, free link)
25. ↑ DAR Ancestor Search

• Virginia. Commissioner of the Revenue (Albemarle County). Personal Property Tax Lists, 1782-1851. Richmond [Virginia]: Virginia State Library, 1986. "Personal property tax lists, 1782-1799" (FHL Film 2024443)
• Prather, Genevieve Logan, and Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry. 1960. Descendants of Henry Shelton's daughter, Ann. 1960. Chillicothe, Mo: E.P. Ellsbery.
• "We cousins" (Virginia to Texas) : a genealogy of ... [v.1]. Hudson, Florence Sutherland, 1900- (https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89082430406?urlappend=%3Bseq=166)
• Vance, Vida Surber. The Missouri Vances and Their Descendants: A Study of the Ancestry and Posterity of John Vance of Frederick Co., a Virginia Colonist of the Eighteen[Th] Century with Pertinent Data on the Related Families from Ca. 500 to 1985. Mexico, Mo. (1400 Dorcas, Mexico 65265): Mrs. V. Vance, 1985. (Available to download in a Family History Center)
• Find A Grave: Memorial #185491544