Biography

Drury Stith was born about 1695 to Lt. Col. Drury Stith Sr. (abt.1670-bef.1742) and Susannah (Bathurst) Stith (1674-1745). In 1915, the Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography said of Drury Stith:

Drury Stith, son of Lieutenant–Colonel Drury Stith and Susanna Bathurst, his wife, was born about 1695, lived for some time in Prince George County, and later in Brunswick County. In 1726 he was a justice of Prince George County and in 1727 a captain in the militia, but he was lieutenant–colonel before 1735. He qualified as clerk of Brunswick county, May 11, 1732, and he was also county surveyor. He was interested in a copper mine. He married Elizabeth Buckner and died in 1740, leaving issue Drury Stith.^[1]

Additional information about Drury Stith has become available since this summary was written, in particular the diaries of William Byrd II, which were only decoded in the 1940s from the shorthand in which Byrd wrote them. One older source has been found to be very inaccurate. A research note discusses these issues.

Marriage

Drury's wife, Elizabeth (Buckner) Stith (abt.1700-1777), was the daughter of William Buckner (bef.1668-bef.1716) and Katherine (Ballard) Buckner (abt.1675-bef.1716). She was probably born about 1695-1700 since she married Drury Stith around 1717.^[2].

The WikiTree profiles of Elizabeth's father, William Buckner, and grandfather, John Buckner (1630-bef.1694), discuss some facts that are relevant to Drury's career. Her father was Surveyor General of Virginia and of York County from 1709 until his death in 1716; Drury and at least three of their sons were also county surveyors and intermarried with other surveyors' families. (Hughes at 75, 168-70)^[3] The profiles show that the Buckners had long been connected with real estate and surveying.

Elizabeth married in the year following her father's death. His will divided his plantations among his two sons, William and John, with other assets divided among his children. The children were entrusted to the care of his three brothers, who were also given approval authority for the marriages of his daughters, under threat of their disinheritance.^[4] Both of Elizabeth's brothers died childless, and the last to die, John, made bequests to some of Elizabeth's children, as identified below.^[5]

Lieut-Col Drury STITH married, about 1717 Elizabeth, daughter of Maj. William BUCKNER (d 1716) of Yorktown (Wm & Mary Q, VII, 57). Issue named in this record. (Genealogies of VA ?Families, Vol IV, The Stith Family, pp 569-570).^[6]

Children and Slaves

Contemporaneous sources document the following children of Elizabeth and Drury:

• Drury Stith III (1718-abt.1770) – Drury III was appointed to replace his father as surveyor of Brunswick County, Virginia, and appointed administrator of his estate at the first court session following his death.
• Griffin Stith Sr. (1720-1784) – Griffin was the first child of Drury and Elizabeth whose birth and baptism were documented in the Bristol Parish Register.^[7]. He is also documented by a bequest in the will of his uncle, John Buckner.^[5]
• Buckner Stith (1722-bef.1791) – Buckner received a bequest in the will of his uncle, John Buckner.^[5]
• John Stith (1724-1773) – John's birth and baptism were also documented in the Bristol Parish Register^[7] and he received a bequest in the will of his uncle, John Buckner.^[5]
• Richard Stith Sr. (abt.1727-abt.1802) - Richard is called "brother" in the will of Thomas Stith, identified below.^[8] The family Bible of Richard Stith's youngest son also identfies Drury and Elizabeth (Buckner) Stith as Richard's parents.^[9]
• Bathurst Stith (1729-1801) – Bathurst's birth and baptism were documented in the Bristol Parish Register.^[7] His Wikitree profile says that he died in Brunswick County, Virginia, in 1801. However, the apparent absence of his name from other records, including marriage records^[10] and personal property records,^[11] suggest that he may not have lived to adulthood.
• Thomas Stith (1731-1801) – Thomas's birth and baptism were also documented in the Bristol Parish Register.^[7]
• Katherine Stith (abt.1735-1786) Katherine received a bequest in the will of her uncle, John Buckner.^[5]

All of these children, except Richard and Katherine, are also identified in Dr. Johnson's article in the William and Mary Quarterly.^[2]

It does not appear that the following persons, who have been attached as children of Drury and Elizabeth on WikiTree and included in some genealogies, were actually their children:

• Dudley Stith – his WikiTree profile says that he may never have existed and cites the possible sources of his creation.
• Elizabeth Buckner Stith (1725-abt.1773) – The 12 June 1725 date of birth shown in Elizabeth's WikiTree profile is documented by the following Register entry: "Elisabeth female Slave of Drury & Eliz'a stith Born 12 June 1725." Unlike the entries for the Stith children, Elizabeth's and those of the other slaves whose births were entered in the Register were not shown as being baptized.^[7]
• Joseph Stith (1733-) – Joseph's WikiTree profile connects him as a son of Elizabeth, but not of Drury. His one appearance as a juror in Bedford County, Virginia, is a source that does not indicate his parentage.

In addition to Elizabeth Buckner Stith identified above, the Bristol Parish Register recorded the births without a baptism for the following slaves:

• "Poll female Slave of Ditto Born 20th June 1725."
• "Liewess male slave of Ditto Born 3 feb'r 1726."
• "Christian female Slave of Ditto Forn 2th Nov'r 1727."
• "Martha female slave of Ditto Born 4th Nov'r 1728."
• "Hannah female Slave of Ditto Born 30th april 1730."
• "Ned male Slave of Ditto Born 29th Jan'ry 1731."

Education and Career

Drury apparently received an education appropriate for the positions of County Surveyor and Court Clerk that he would eventually hold, as did other sons of families with similar expectations and means. Robert Hall (1660-1730), an attorney of Drury's father's generation, who was also a part of the James River gentry surrounding William Byrd II's Westover plantation, represented the legal interests of a writing master and his descendants held many Clerkships, as did the Stiths.^[12] Drury would occassionally decorate the Court Records of Brunswick County with his penmanship.^[13]

In 1726, Drury STITH was a Justice of the Co (ibid. I 940), and also in 1720 (VA Magazine XX, 90). In 1727, he was still Captain (Chamberlaine's Bristol Par, p 35); but he was Colonel (or rather Lt Col) before 1735 (ibid, p 83).^[6]

Surveyor

The most frequently cited report of Drury's connection with surveying is from Willliam Byrd II's account of a trip to survey frontier lands Byrd hoped to settle as the "Land of Eden." A 1888 source summarizes Drury role in the expedition as follows:

He was the Colonel Drury Stith mentioned by Colonel William Byrd in "A Journey to the Land of Eden" (Westover MSS.), in the paragraph wherein the author, under date of September 13, 1733, says: "By the way, I sent a runner half a mile out of the road to Colonel Drury Stith's, who was so good as to come to us. We cheered our hearts with three bottles of pretty good Madeira, which made Drury talk pretty hopefully of his copper mine. We easily prevailed with him to let us have his company, upon condition we would take the mine in our way." Memorials of old Virginia clerks by Frederick Johnston,^[14]

Other portions of Byrd's book were more critical of Drury. Byrd describes Drury's miner as a "tall, meager figure which I took at first for an apparition" who had been brought low by "sheer famine." He wrote that Drury was the first to be seized with the mine "frenzy" and had "spread the contagion far and near."^[15]

A more damning description of Drury's conduct five years earlier (and that of many other officlals of Virginia and North Carolina) is contained in a secret version of Byrd's History of the Dividing Line, describing the progression of a joint Virginia/North Carolina surveying team that surveyed the boundary line between the two states in 1728. Drury was the Surveyor for Brunswick County, on Virginia's southern border, at the time and joined the party, but does not appear in the public version that was completed about 1738. He does, however, appear in a "secret" version that may have been viewed by others in 1737 or earlier. This version recounts the sexual activities and assaults of the surveying party, including those of Drury.^[16]

Although Byrd's secret diaries show that he was a serial sexual predator,^[17] he portrays himself as above the debauchery in the secret journal that he appears to have shared with only a select group of confidants. The handwriting of the manuscript, however, is said to not have been his and the manuscript has his daughter's name written on it.^[16] The manuscript could have come to the attention of Drury's father, or even his cousin, William Stith (1707-1755) who was then the parson of a church that Byrd attended, later wrote a history of the settlement of Virginia, and likely had access to Byrd's library.

Brunswick County Clerk

The records of Brunswick County show that he produced his commission as Clerk and qualified for the position at a court held 11th of May 1732. Prior to the formation of the Court, he had assumed the position of County surveyor and held both positions until his death (Va Magazine, XIII, 281).^[6]

Property and Debts

• 10 September 1722, Prince George Land Records. Robert Bolling of Prince George County conveys to Drury Stith of the same county, 892 acres of land on the North Side of Sappony Creek, in consideration of five shillings and "the Natural affection he bears unto the said Stith."^[18] Robert Bolling's wife Ann, Drury's first cousin, released her dower rights in this land on 8 October 1723.^[19]
• 21 November 1724, Date of Survey for Mr. Drury Stith recorded in Prince George Land Records by Robert Bolling. 1200 acres on Sappone Creek.^[20]
• 11 February 1725/26, Date of Survey for Capt. Drury Stith recorded in Prince George Land Records by Robert Bolling. 3496 acres on Sappone Creek, including his old land.^[21] These appear to be the same lands for which a patent for 3596 acres was recorded on 13 October 1727 in Virginia Land Patents, Book 13, p 192).^[6]
• 5 June 1727, Prince George Land Records. Drury Stith and his wife Elizabeth, for 95 pounds, current money of Virginia, give a mortage on 600 acres of their land on Sappony Creek to Henry Harrison. This was part of the land on which they then lived, conveyed to Drury by Robert Bolling. The 95 pounds plus 6 pounds per centum per annum was repayable December next at Henry Harrison's dwelling house in Surry County.^[22].^[6]

• 7 November 1734, Mortgage Deed from Drury Stith of Brunswick County to Robert Bolling of Prince George County, for 86 pounds, 4 shillings and 3 pence, secured by 6 Negroes. Witnessed by Stephen Dewey, George Walton, and Moses Dunkley. Presented in Court on 7 November 1734.^[23] Deeds and Wills Book 1, page 132.^[6]

• 7 November 1734, Mortgage Deed from Drury Stith of Brunswick County to Robert Bolling of Prince George County, Administrator of the Estate of Drury Bolling, late of the County of Prince George, dec'd., for 38 pounds, 11 shillings, 9 pence and half penny, secured by 3 Negroes. Witnessed by Stephen Dewey, George Walton, and Moses Dunkley. Presented in Court on 7 November 1734.^[23] Deeds and?Wills Book 1, page 133.^[6]

• 7 April 1736/37, sale by William Walters of St. Andrews Parish and wife to Drury Stith, Gentleman, for 20 pounds, conveying 240 acres on South side of Maherrin River. Witnesses were M. Cadet Young, Willm. Jones, and Canduis Cargill . Presented in Court and acknowledged on 7 April 1737.^[24] Deeds and Wills Book 1, page 313.^[6]

Indenture made the 7th day of June, 1738, between Thomas Loyd, Sr., of St. ?Andrews Parish and Drury Stith, Gentleman, for 50 pounds, conveying 283 acres ?on lower side of Sturgeon Run on the South side of Nottoway River. Witnesses were James Parrish and M. Cadet Young. Presented in Court and acknowledged ?on June 7, 1739. Deed Book 1, page 526.^[6]

• 2 August 1739, sale from Thomas Couch, Sr., and Thomas Couch, Jr., to Drury Stith, Gentleman, for 30 pounds, conveying 566 acres on ?the Pine Lick Branch (John Stroud's corner, Thomas Lloyd's line, Talbott's line, Morris's corner), same being granted to the said Thomas Couch, Sr., by Letters of Patent at Williamsburgh, 1720. Witnesses were M. Cadet Young and William Edwards. Presented in Court and acknowledged on August 2, 1739.^[25] Deed Book 1, page 530.^[6]

Indenture (Mortgage) made the 27th day of June, 1741, between William Stroud, Planter, and Drury Stith, Gent., conveying 196 acres on both sides of Sturgeon Run and 392 acres which was surveyed for John Stroud, dec'd. in 1729, to secure payment of 12 pounds, 12 shillings and 2 pence. Witnesses ?were M. Cadet Young, Wm. Maclin, and Thomas Sadler. Acknowledged in Court on ?December3, 1741. Deed Book 2, page 125.^[6]

Death and Settlement of his Affairs

Drury Stith, Jr., died between the Brunswick County Court sessions of 3 April 1740 and 5 June 1740. At the beginning of the 5 June 1740 session, Sterling Clack (abt.1719-abt.1751) and Drury's son, Drury Stith III (1718-abt.1770), submitted Commissions for the offices, and took the necessary oaths, to replace Drury as County Clerk and County Surveyor respectively. The entries in the Brunswick County Court Order Book begin to appear in a different hand, presumably Sterling Clack's.^[26]

The same change in penmanship shown in Order Book 1 (image attached) is seen on page 454 of Brunswick County Deed Book 1 (image attached),^[27] but in the Deed Book the change occurs in the middle of the word "Evermore" in a deed that had been ordered filed by the Court on 3 August 1737. The entry begins in Drury's handwriting, but although it is signed with Drury Stith's name, the signature and the handwriting following "ever..." appears to be that of his successor, Sterling Clack.

It appears that Drury died after he had recorded the 3 April 1740 Brunswick Court session, while catching up on a backlog of deed entries. Subsequent entries in Deed Book 1 for transactions prior to his death bear his name as Clerk, but not with his penmanship. Overdue entries are mixed with later ones. Sometimes Clack countersigns an entry as Clerk, as if to verify its validity.

At the same Court session on 5 June 1740 when Sterling Clack took over as County Clerk, an attachment obtained by Drury Stith, Gent, against the Estate of William Taylor "abate[d] by the death of the said Stith." ^[28] On the following day, gentlemen were appointed to obtain the court papers and records from his widow, Elizabeth Stith.^[29]

At a Court held 3rd July 1740, letters of administration on the estate of Drury STITH, Gent, were granted to Drury Stith, Gent, who entered bond and qualified.^[30] An inventory was made of Drury II's estate and recorded on 7 August 1740 and 4 September 1740.^[31] As Administrator, and the only son over twenty-one years old, Drury III responded to claims against the estate. In one case settled on 2 July 1741, he appears to have become liable for the costs of suit, but not the judgment for 89 pounds, 7 shillings, and 3-1/2 pence.^[32] He settled another debt by agreeing to be personally liable for slightly less less than one–half of the amount he admitted was due from his father's estate.^[33]

Although William Byrd II had known Drury well since he was a child and had been a close friend of Drury's father, he makes no mention of Drury's death in his diary. Byrd attended church in Williamsburg on 15 June 1740 and wrote that "Mr. Stith [William Stith, Drury II's, first cousin] entertained us with a good sermon. After church I dined with the Commissary [James Blair] again ..."^[34] Blair was then acting as president of the Council of Virginia in the absence of the Governor and Byrd was a member of the Council whose presence was recorded at its 18 April 1740 and 11 June 1740 sessions.^[35] Both Byrd and Blair would have participated in designating Drury's replacements after his death. They also joined with other members of the Council in designating Drury III as a Justice of the Brunswick County Court on 10 December 1740. At the same session of the Council, Bryd obtained an extension to survey and obtain a patent on the 100,000 acres of land on the Roanoke River that Byrd had hoped to settle with Swiss families after the 1733 trip to a "Land of Eden" that Drury II had joined.^[36]

His cousin William Stith, whose sermon Byrd attended shortly after Drury's death, appears to have taken over duties as a temporary minister of the Bristol Parish shortly after Drury's death, perhaps in part to help sort out the financial, legal and family issues resulting from the sudden death.^[37] William Stith would later preach a sermon to his own Parish on "The Sinfullness and Pernicious Nature of Gaming." At the request of he Council and House of Burgesses of Virginia, he repeated the sermon for them on 1 March 1752, and they had it published. Stith warned that the vice of:

Gaming is often known to lead Men to those blackier and more odious Crimes of Duelling and Murder, Nay, the Despair and Distraction of the Ruin and Beggary, which they have brought upon themselves and Families, hath sometimes carried the unhappy Wretches to that highest and most horrid of all Crimes, the Sin of Self–Murder."^[38]

Although we know that Drury was in debt at the time of his death, and we know that his father's plantation was the site of horse races, we don't know whether gambling loses had added to his debts. William Byrd was circulating a private manuscript concerning Drury's conduct that would certainly have troubled him if he had become aware of it. Perhaps, Byrd's awareness of his unkind descriptions of Drury was enough to deter him from making any reference to Drury's death in his diary. Drury's apparent demise in the middle of the recordation of a deed appears more likely to reflect a sudden medical event, rather than the more violent ends described by his cousin William. Multi–generational debt was common in colonial Virginia. William Byrd II was in debt from the time he assumed the debts of his wife's father until his death. His son, William Byrd III (1728-1777), added to those debts with his own gambling losses, and committed suicide in 1777.

Legacy

One of the earliest sources for Drury Stith notes that his descendants were frequently appointed clerks for colonial Virginia courts:

Of the descendants of Colonel Drury Stith, at least eight became clerks, certainly the following: Griffin Stith, one of the early clerks of the county court of Northampton; Drury Stith, Charles Turnbull, Edward Randolph Turnbull, Robert Turnbull, respectively the ninth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth clerks of the county court of Brunswick; Edward Randolph Turnbull, Jr., the first clerk of the circuit court of Brunswick after the separation of the offices; David Meade Bernard, the second clerk of the corporation court of Petersburg, and John Randolph Stith, one of the clerks of the county court of Northumberland.^[14]

They were also appointed County Surveyors. As noted above, Drury Stith III was made Surveyor of Brunswick County immediately after his father's death. Buckner Stith became Deputy Surveyor of Lunenburg County in 1747^[39] and became the senior Surveyor of Bedford County after it was created out of Lunenburg County in 1753. Buckner's brother, Richard Stith, became Buckner's deputy for Bedford, until taking over when his brother retired. Drury Stith II's youngest son, Thomas, became Surveyor of Brunswick County in 1783, a position that had been held by his father and his brother Drury Stith III until their deaths. (Hughes at 82, 168-170)^[3]

Research Notes

Comments on Sources

Drury Stith's apparent financial distress at the time of his death, the absence of a will, and the discretion with which his family appears to have sorted out his affairs appear to have limited the litigation and property settlements that sometimes help identify family members. Sources have had varying degrees of success with the available evidence.

An 1888 book, Memorials of old Virginia clerks by Frederick Johnston,^[40] appear to have been generally successful in identifying Drury's descendants who became court clerks in colonial Virginia.^[14]

One source frequently cited for Drury Stith and his children is very unreliable. The 1907 The Buckners of Virginia and the Allied Families of Strother and Ashby, a 1907 book by W.A. Crozier, W.D. Buckner and H.R. Bayne mixes events from his life with those of his father, Drury, Sr., and his grandson, Drury Stith III. It also appears to have invented another son of Drury and Elizabeth named "Dudley"and attached Elizabeth, a daughter of Drury Stith III, to her grandparents.^[41] The WikiTree profile for Dudley Stith notes that he may never have existed and the profile for Elizabeth Buckner (Stith) Fitzhugh (1754-1786) has been assigned to the correct parents.

Two 1913 articles by Christopher Johnston (1856-1914) of Baltimore, a noted Assyriologist (Wikipedia:Christopher Johnston (Assyriologist)) and a third great grandson of Drury Stith II, began a series of articles in that publication concerning the Stith family.^[2] Dr. Johnston died after the second 1913 article^[42] and the series was continued by another Stith descendant, Armistead C. Gordon.

The "Secret Diaries" of William Evelyn Byrd Jr. (1674-1744), only decoded in the 1940s, provide greater detail into the Stith family and the James River society of which it was a part. Drury Stith, Sr., appears frequently in the first two periods of Byrd's diaries that have survived: 1709–1712^[43]and 1717–1721.^[44] Other members of the Stith family appear in the third period of the diary, 1739–1741,^[34] and in Byrd's "Secret History of the Dividing Line"^[16] and "A Journey to the Land of Eden."^[15]

Sources

1. ↑ Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co. 1915), Vol. 1, 330; https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044021203278?urlappend=%3Bseq=364%3Bownerid=4760365-368
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Christopher Johnston. "The Stith Family." The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 21, no. 3 (1913): 181-93. doi:10.2307/1914697, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1914697
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Sarah S. Hughes, Surveyors and Statesmen . . . Land Measuring in Colonial Virginia (Richmond: The Virginia Surveyors Foundation, Ltd., and the Virginia Association of Surveyors, Ltd., 1979); [Citation as (Hughes at ....)].
4. ↑ York, Virginia, Orders, Wills, etc. 1709-1716, No. 14, part 2, 513 (21 May 1716); images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-992Z-C4KJ : July 22, 2022), image 468 of 473; Virginia. County Court (York County).
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4} Will of John Buckner, dated 27 Apr 1748, recorded 12 Jul 1748;Stafford County, Virginia, Will Book 1729-1748, 537 ; images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PF-DV5Q : May 22, 2022), image 543 of 549.
6. ↑ ^{6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10} Judy Canant, "Lt Col Drury Stith Notes" (viewed 23 Oct 2023); http://www.stithvalley.com/ancestry/stith/jcanant/druryii.htm
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} Churchill Gibson Chamberlayne, ed.,The Vestry Book and Register of Bristol Parish, Virginia, 1720-1789, (Richmond: privately printed, 1898), 362-65; viewed on 25 Jul 2022 at HathiTrust, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uva.x000302721?urlappend=%3Bseq=402%3Bownerid=27021597765480499-456
8. ↑ Will of Thomas Stith, Brunswick County Will Bk. 6. pg 357/8. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99PH-S97D-3
9. ↑ Fast, Frances Shacklette, (Apr 1926) "Stith Family." The William and Mary Quarterly. Omohundro Institute, JSTOR.org (Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 136-137).
10. ↑ Brunswick, Virginia, Marriage Records, 1750-1850, p.174; images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XF-2SQ3?view=explore : Sep 19, 2024), image 83 of 98; .
11. ↑ Brunswick, Virginia, Personal Property Tax Records, 1784; images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQ2-7Y6V?view=explore : Sep 19, 2024), image 1 of 29; .
12. ↑ Prince George, Virginia, Deeds, Etc. 1713–1728, 546; images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PX-XSG5 : June 10, 2022), image 222 of 401; Virginia. County Court (Prince George County).
13. ↑ Brunswick County, Virginia, Order Book I (1732-1741), p.116 (5 Dec 1736); "Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America records, Jul 6, 2023," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CK64?view=explore : Oct 23, 2023), image 78 of 258; Virginia. County Court (Brunswick County).
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2} Frederick Johnston, Memorials of old Virginia clerks, ( Lynchburg: J. P. Bell Company Printers, 1888) p. 101. Accessed December 10, 2020, at https://archive.org/details/memorialsofoldvi00john_0/page/n205
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1} William Byrd II, "A Journey to the Land of Eden," (1733), included in Lewis B. Wright, ed., The Prose Works of William Byrd of Westover (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1966) 382–409.
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1 16.2} William Byrd II, "Secret History of the Dividing Line," presented on facing pages with the public version in William K Boyd, Intro & Notes, William Byrd's Histories of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1984), xxvi-ssviii, 147–49.
17. ↑ David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 300, 312 n.7.
18. ↑ Indenture, Prince George County Land Records, 1719–1724, pp. 557-559; "Prince George, Virginia, United States Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PX-XSPL : November 4, 2023), image 233 of 401; Virginia. County Court (Prince George County).
19. ↑ Recordation of Voluntary Release, Prince George Land Records, 1719-1724, p. 652; "Prince George, Virginia, United States Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PX-XSG3 : November 4, 2023), image 328 of 401; Virginia. County Court (Prince George County).
20. ↑ List of Surveys, Prince George Land Records 1724-1728 (recorded Jun 1725), p. 816; "Prince George, Virginia, United States Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99PX-X43F : November 4, 2023), image 106 of 408; Virginia. County Court (Prince George County).
21. ↑ List of Surveys, Prince George Land Records 1724-1728 (recorded 11 Jul 1727), p. 1025; "Prince George, Virginia, United States Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99PX-X4DK : November 4, 2023), image 315 of 408; Virginia. County Court (Prince George County).
22. ↑ Indenture, Prince George Land Records 1724-1728 (5 Jun 1727), p. 1027; "Prince George, Virginia, United States Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99PX-X4ZN : November 4, 2023), image 317 of 408; Virginia. County Court (Prince George County).
23. ↑ ^{23.0 23.1} "Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America, Order Book 1, 1732-1741, p.72 (7 Nov 1734); records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CKFN?view=explore : Sep 6, 2024), image 56 of 258.
24. ↑ "Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America Order Book 1, 1732-1741, p.153 (7 Nov 1734);" images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CK8L?view=explore : Sep 6, 2024), image 96 of 258; .
25. ↑ Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America, Order Book 1, 1732-1741, p.254 (2 Aug 1739); images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CK4Y?view=explore : Sep 6, 2024), image 148 of 258; .
26. ↑ Brunswick, Virginia, Order Book 1 (1732–1740), 302-303 (3 Apr 1740 & 5 Jun 1740); "Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America records, Jul 6, 2023," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CK4L?view=explore : Oct 23, 2023), image 171 of 258; Virginia. County Court (Brunswick County).
27. ↑ Brunswick County, Virginia, Deed Book 1 (1732-1740), 454 (Date of documents do not appear to represent date of entry); accessible at Family Search History centers; viewed 9 Sep 2024); Film 30632, Item 3, Image 765 of 813)
28. ↑ "Brunswick, Virginia, Court Records 1732–1741", 311 (5 Jun 1740);"Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America records, Jul 6, 2023," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CK7G?view=explore : Oct 23, 2023), image 175 of 258; Virginia. County Court (Brunswick County).
29. ↑ "Brunswick, Virginia, Court Records 1732–1741", 326 (6 Jun 1740);"Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America records, Jul 6, 2023," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CK71?view=explore : Oct 23, 2023), image 183 of 258; Virginia. County Court (Brunswick County).
30. ↑ "Brunswick, Virginia, Order Book 1, 1732–1741," 328 (3 Jul 1740);"Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America records, Jul 6, 2023," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CK74?view=explore : Oct 23, 2023), image 184 of 258; Virginia. County Court (Brunswick County).
31. ↑ Will Book 2 (1739-1785) 16–19; "Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89PH-SNKH : September 10, 2024), image 30-31 of 305; Virginia. County Court (Brunswick County).
32. ↑ Settlement of Field vs. Stith, Order Book 2, p. 8, Brunswick, Virginia, British Colonial America records (2 Jul 1741); images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CKM6?view=explore : Aug 27, 2024), image 12 of 292; .
33. ↑ Settlement of Fisher vs. Stith, Order Book 2, Brunswick, Virginia, (3 Jun 1742), British Colonial America records, images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9PH-CVYJ?view=explore : Aug 27, 2024), image 67 of 292; .
34. ↑ ^{34.0 34.1} Maude H. Woodfin, editor, & Marion Tinling, decoder,Another Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover for the Years 1739–1741 (Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1942), 54, 77
35. ↑ Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia, Vol.5, p.5, viewed at www.familysearch.org/library/books/idviewer/39692/21 (10 Sep 2024)
36. ↑ Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia, Vol. 5 (10 Dec 1740) 38; www.familysearch.org/library/books/idviewer/39692/54
37. ↑ The Bristol Parish levy for 22 October 1740 alloted the Reverend Mr. Stith 2,560 pounds of tobacco for preaching; Bristol Parish Vestry Book, p.100; viewed on 10 Sep 2024 at archive.org
38. ↑ Stith, William, 1707-1755.; Dinwiddie, Robert, 1693-1770, dedicatee. and Virginia. General Assembly., 2009, The sinfulness and pernicious nature of gaming. A sermon preached before the General Assembly of Virginia: at Williamsburg, March 1st 1752. / By William Stith, A.M. Rector of Henrico Parish.; Published at the request of the House of Burgesses., Literary and Linguistic Data Service, http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14106/N05476.
39. ↑ Order Book 1 of Lunenburg, Virginia, British Colonial America, p.290; images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4X-94YB-F?view=explore : Sep 18, 2024), image 185 of 284; .
40. ↑ Frederick Johnston, Memorials of old Virginia clerks, ( Lynchburg: J. P. Bell Company Printers, 1888) p. 101. Accessed December 10, 2020, at https://archive.org/details/memorialsofoldvi00john_0/page/n205
41. ↑ W.A. Crozier, W.D. Buckner and H.R. Bayne,The Buckners of Virginia and the Allied Families of Strother and Ashby (New York: The Genealogical Association, 1907) 28-29, 206-207, ; viewed online on 25 July 2022 at HathiTrust, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uva.x002528180.
42. ↑ "The Stith Family," Christopher Johnston, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Apr., 1913), pp. 269-278. Published by Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Article DOI: 10.2307/1915353. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1915353
43. ↑ Louis B. Wright & Marion Tinling, The Secret Diary of Willam Byrd of Westover 1709–1712 (Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1941) 1, 26, 162, 178, 192, 214, 304, 318, 405, 412.
44. ↑ Louis B. Wright & Marion Tinling, editors, The London Diary (1717-1721) and Other Writings, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958) 373, 395, 436, 433, 441, 503.

See also:

• Judy Canant, "Lt Col Drury Stith Notes" (viewed 23 Oct 2023); http://www.stithvalley.com/ancestry/stith/jcanant/druryii.htm
• Genealogies of Virginia Families, Vol IV, The Stith Family, pp 569-570
• E. Jay Stith, Brøderbund Software, Inc., World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, (Release date: November 29, 1995), "CD-ROM," Tree #5156, Date of Import: Jan 16, 1999. (1995), "Electronic," Date of Import: Feb 2, 1999.