James Nimmo (abt. 1680 - abt. 1753)

Born about 1680 in Blackridge, Linlithgowshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about Apr 1753 at about age 73 in Virginia

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Biography

James Nimmo was from Blackridge, Linlithgowshire, Scotland. He had a cousin named William who was an attorney, also in Virginia. By the end of his life he was known as "The Honest Lawyer"^[1].

Current line of investigation : may have entered Virgina as a Jacobite prisoner (not the first Nimmo, to support Catholic James VII of Scotland (James II of England) and his Stuart descendants be restored to the throne of Scotland and England).

"the majority of prisoners were Scots, making the episode truly British in scope. Indeed, the transportation of approximately 600 (of 1,500) men to British colonies on the North American continent and in the Caribbean gives a British imperial aspect "^[2]

"In 1697 the town of New Town, on the Eastern Branch, was established by law and 50 acres of land were laid into two acre lots, in 1751 the Court House, stocks and Pillory were removed to New Town and there remained until 1778. James Nimmo taught here in 1732, he was the church clerk and vestryman for a long period, and the king's attorney from 1732 to 1752."^[3]

Kings Attorney for the County of Princess Ann, Virginia from Jan 10, 1738 and held office from 24 Nov 1741 to 27 Nov 1752. In 1741 his salary was 2,000 lbs of tobacco, afterwards he received 860 lbs per year.^[4]

The Genealogical Abstracts of Princess Anne County, Va. Court Records: From Deed Books 6 & 7 and Minute Books 6 & 7, 1740-1762, page 57, also give him the title Captain, and use Kings Attorney in the same line.

"Nimmo family: James Nimmo emigrated from Linlithgow, Scotland, about 1723; was king's attorney for Princess Anne County, where his residence was "Shenstone* Green." He married Mary daughter of Jacob Johnson, Jr., of Prince Anne County, and his will was proved April 17, 1753 (Norfolk county Antiquary, No 1, p. 89.) Issue: (1) William, (2) Gershom, (3) Jacob, (4) James. His wife married, secondly, Jacob Hunter. William Nimmo, attorney-at-law, son of James Nimmo, married Elizabeth McClennahan May 5, 1753. He will was proved September 5, 1791, and names children (1) James, (2) William, (3) Joseph, (4) Elizabeth, married Ghiselin, and four grandaughters: Mary Daranl, Elizabeth McClenahan, Nancy and Peggy Ghiselin. James Nimmo (lawyer), son of William and grandson of James, married 1775 Elizabeth Thorowgood (daughter of Argall Thorowgood and Elizabeth Keeling). He died January 1, 1833. She died January 23, 1808. Issue: (1) John, married Anne Archdeacon, (20 Margaret Keeling, married Charles Ellis, of Richmond, brother of Powthatan Ellis, Senator United States; (3) William T. Nimmo, member House of Delegates, etc., Married Anne Brodie; (4) Col. James Robinson Nimmo (born 1787; died Dec. 31, 1841) who married Elizabeth Tunstall McCandlish, daughter of Robert McCandlish and Elizabeth Coleman (daughter of Thomas Coleman and Mildred Richards). William Nimmo, nephew of James Nimmo, the emigrant first named, was a distingushed attorney-at-law, and his will was proved in 1748 (Quarterly, VI., p. 123). He gave all his law books to his cousin, William, son of James; one of these, being "A Collection of Laws of Virgina," printed at London in 1728, and bearing their names on the Fly-leaf, is in the Virgina state Library (Quarterly, VI., p. 123) "^[5]

• from the poet William Shenstone??

Sources

1. ↑ Men of mark in Virginia : ideals of American life; ... v. 1. Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. 1853-1935
2. ↑ https://muse.jhu.edu/article/204681
3. ↑ p 69 County of Princess Ann, The History of Lower Tidewater Virginia
4. ↑ The Lower Norfolk County Virginia Antiquary. New York: Peter Smith, 1951.
5. ↑ https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/nimmo/32/

• Critic, Volume 3, Number 2, 21 September 1889 https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=CR18890921.1.3&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-nimmo-------
• https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/nimmo/52/
• Kellam, Sadie Scott & V. Hope, 1958 Old Houses in Princess Anne Virginia, Printcraft Press Inc., Portsmouth, VA https://archive.org/stream/oldhousesinprinc00kell/oldhousesinprinc00kell_djvu.txt
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Ancestral File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:MCC5-STB : accessed 28 December 2019), entry for James NIMMO (1NKM-T4W); record merged from multiple submissions.
• Dey Whichard, Rogers, PhD, (1959) The History of Lower Tidewater Virginia, Lewis Historical Publishing co. Inc., New York available at http://www.ancestraltrackers.net/va/resources/history-lower-tidewater-virginia-v2.pdf
• Walter, Alice G. Genealogical Abstracts of Princess Anne County, Va. Court Records: From Deed Books 6 & 7 and Minute Books 6 & 7, 1740-1762. Baltimore, Md: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1996. Print. https://books.google.co.th/books?id=wOeDDnwXbYYC&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=pembroke+nimmo&source=bl&ots=CYIzsiNqFa&sig=ACfU3U0fcOsFfC1zLklk0-jegiNPdSDscw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4697Bgt_mAhWYSH0KHSVVAvYQ6AEwAnoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=pembroke%20nimmo&f=false
• https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/nimmo/32/
• https://immigrantships.net/jacobite/scipio17160330.html
• https://muse.jhu.edu/article/204681
• The Honest Lawyer https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433082309307
• https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol29/pp159-177
• https://calculators.law/caselaw/decisions/pLVNe7Kl98Qr/nimmos-executor-v-commonwealth