Jane (Miller) Skipwith (abt. 1748 - 1826)

Born about 21 Feb 1748 in Blanford, Prince George County, Virginia

Ancestors

Wife of Peyton Skipwith Bt — married 25 Sep 1788 in Granville, North Carolina, U.S.A.

Descendants

Died 19 May 1826 at about age 78 in Prestwould, Mecklenburg, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Jane was born in 1748. She was the daughter of Hugh Miller and Jean Asbury Bolling. Her father was a Scottish tobacco merchant who lived in Virginia from 1746 to 1760.

Her mother passed away in 1756, and four years later her father returned to Glasgow in Scotland with Jane and her four siblings. She changed her name to Jean.

Jean was twelve when she began her new life in Glasgow. Her father died in 1762, providing in his will an income that was to be received by Jean and her sisters when they married or came of age. Jean and her siblings were in many ways left in charge of their own affairs with only the guidance of family advisors and each other. In 1764 Jean's sister Anne left Scotland to begin her new life in America with her beau Sir Peyton Skipwith (son of William Skipwith and Elizabeth Smith).

After the death of her sister Ann in America in 1779, her brother in law Peyton was on a business visit to the British Isles in 1784 when he renewed his acquaintance with Jean, who was then living with her sister Lillias Ravenscroft at Cairnsmoor in southern Scotland. Peyton's visit had a strong effect on his sister-in-law for by 1786 Jean was on her way back to Virginia to continue the relationship.

Jean took over the care of her late sister Anne and Peyton's children and was 40 years old when she married Peyton on 25 September 1788 at Granville, North Carolina, United States.

At the time their marriage, Sir Peyton Skipwith was one of the wealthiest men in Virginia, making a living by planting agricultural commodities and by mercantile enterprises.

She endured five pregnancies with only four children surviving infancy.

In 1788 Jean was in residence at Elm Hill in Mecklenburg County. Elm Hill had originally belonged to her father but had passed to Peyton Skipwith through her sister Anne's dowry. They built a large house named "Prestwould Plantation", after the Skipwith family home in England. Jean was a keen gardener, with a good knowledge of the botanical names of plants. Lady Skipwith's lists and notes on gardening form a valuable resource for those interested in the period. [1] Jean Miller Skipwith, Lady Skipwith, assembled one of the largest libraries owned by a Virginia woman early in the nineteenth century. [2]

Jean, her sister Anne and a red shoe have become the subject of delightful ghost stories at George Wythe House, Williamsburg, Virginia. Click here for the stories [3] [4]

Her husband passed away in 1805 when their children ranged in age from 6 to 11. Jean continued to live at Prestwould until she died in 1826, aged 78.

Will of Lady Jean Skipwith

The Will of Lady Jean Skipwith

Burial

Skipwith Family Cemetery, Prestwould, Mecklenburg County, Virginia, USA^[1]

Research Note

• http://genealogytrails.com/vir/henrico/marriages.html

The link above (Early Henrico Co., VA marriages) notes: "Payton Shipworth of Mecklinburgh Co., to Miss Miller - 1788 - Richmond" It would make more sense that they married in Richmond (not in North Carolina that was noted in some other location; not sure of the source).

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=124540048

• https://www.virginiahistory.org/sites/default/files/uploads/AAG.pdf

"Skipwith family papers, 1780–1942. 151 items. Mss1Sk366a.

Correspondence and financial records of three generations of Skipwith family members of Prestwould, Mecklenburg County. The correspondence, 1810–1822, of Lady Jean (Miller) Skipwith (1743–1826) includes a letter from Elizabeth Beverley (Munford) Kennon written from Richmond on the night of 9 June 1810 while awaiting word of a rumored slave insurrection (section 3). Also, includes letters, 1828–1833, written to Humberston Skipwith (1791–1863), including one from Alonzo Murphy regarding a lawsuit over the recovery of slaves sold in the New Orleans market (section 5); agreements, 1864–1865, of Grey Skipwith (1839–1895) concerning Upper Quarter Island at Prestwould with John Harris as overseer and with freedmen (section 9); and letters, 1829–1831, written to Elizabeth (Bolling) Skipwith of Louisiana by Thomas Wither Chinn (concerning the estate of Judge Thomas Bolling Robertson and the employment of African American slaves) (section 10).

• http://thepeerage.com/p57850.htm#i578496
• "North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 ," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XFSQ-7VC : accessed 17 December 2015), Peyton Skipwith and Jane Miller, 25 Sep 1788; citing Granville, North Carolina, United States, county courthouses, North Carolina; FHL microfilm 1,758,775.