Agnes (Forsyth) Albritton (1669 - abt. 1728)

Born 6 Mar 1669 in Charles Church of Charles Parish, York, Virginia

Wife of Thomas Albritton — married 1704 in York, Virginia

Descendants

Died about 1728 at about age 58 in Princess Anne County, Virginia

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Biography

Agnes was born on 6 March 1669 in Charles Parish, York County, Virginia, the daughter of James Forsyth and his wife, Grace.^[1]

We know little of her early life, except that she presumably married in the latter 1680s or early 1690s. Certainly, her father's will written on 8 February 1695/1696 implies that she had married prior to that time. ^[2]

Agnes Forsyth's first husband had died by about 1704, when she married Thomas Albritton. A 1724 document proves their marriage and identifies the wife of Thomas Albritton as Agnes Forsyth, daughter of James and Grace Forsyth. ^[3]

Agnes Forsyth was Thomas' senior by thirteen years, as the Charles Parish Register records his birth on 1 August 1782. Agnes perhaps had children by her first marriage, but we have no record of them. Agnes and Thomas Albritton had two children born in Charles Parish, York County: James, born on 17 September 1705, and Agnes, born on 13 March 1707. ^[4]

Soon after the birth of their daughter, Thomas and Agnes Albritton went south, across the Virginia/North Carolina border into what was then Currituck Precinct, Albemarle County, later designated as Currituck County, the northeastern-most North Carolina county. They only remained a few years, when the Tuscarora Indian War prompted their return to the Virginia Colony. After living in close contact for many years in northeastern North Carolina, a series of white encroachments on Tuscarora Indian territory led to violence. On 22 September 1711, just two months after Thomas Albritton purchased land in Currituck Precinct, the Tuscarora attacked settlements further south on the Trent and Pamlico Rivers, massacring 130 white settlers. The extended hostilities between the North Carolina colonists and the Tuscarora Indians during the 1711–1715 wars drove many recent white immigrants back into the safety of coastal southeastern Virginia. Thomas Albritton and his family had vacated northeastern North Carolina by 1715. ^[5]

Thomas Albritton’s residence in Currituck Precinct during this period suggest that he moved his family there between 1709 and mid-1711. Agnes and Thomas Albritton did not linger in North Carolina for long. ^[6]

They settled in Princess Anne County, where Agnes died sometime between 1727 and 1730. ^[7]

Anges and Thomas Albritton did not return to their previous home in York County, but merely crossed over the colony line and settled in Princess Anne County, then the southeastern corner of the Virginia Colony. He purchased 57 acres of land there on 2 April 1715. ^[8]

Thomas Albritton made several other land transactions over the next dozen years. On 3 April 1727, Thomas Albritton sold his 120-acre tract of land purchased back in 1721 to John Airs. Agnes Albritton, Thomas' wife, relinquishedher dower rights to the land on April 5th. ^[9]

By the time Thomas Albritton wrote his will on 24 January 1731, he had remarried to Ann. thus, Agnes Albritton died between 1727 and 1730, probably in Princess Anne County, Virginia. ^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ Bell, Landon C. Charles Parish, York County Virginia, History and Registers. Richmond, VA: Virginia State Library Board, Division of Purchase and Printing, 1932, p. 90.
2. ↑ York County VA Deeds, Wills, Orders, Etc. Book 10 (1694-1697), p. 337 (Grace Forsyth appointed Executor of James Forsyth, 21 November 1696); p. 443 (Will of James Forsyth, written 8 February 1695/1696, filed in court on 24 November 1696).
3. ↑ York County VA Deeds and Bonds Book 3 (1713-1729), pp. 432-434 (John James and Thomas and Agnes Albritton to Thomas Nelson, 14 November 1724).
4. ↑ Bell, p. 42.
5. ↑ Currituck County NC Deed Book 3, p. 110 (William and “Christain” Reed of Albemarle County North Carolina to John Northen of Charles Parish, York County Virginia, 12 November 1709); Deed Book 3, p. 107 (William Russell to Thomas Albritton, both of Currituck Precinct, Albemarle County, North Carolina, 10 July 1711).
6. ↑ Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 145. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1952 (reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD, 2003), pp. 86–87.
7. ↑ Princess Anne County VA Deed Book 4 (1724–1735), p. 111 (Thomas and Agnes Albritton to John Airs, April 3 and 5, 1727); p. 318 (Will of Thomas “Albrittin,” dated 24 January 1730/31, filed in court 3 March 1730/31). Agnes Albritton relinquished her claim to Thomas' land on 5 April 1727, but when he wrote his will in January 1731, Thomas had remarried to Ann).
8. ↑ Princess Anne County VA Deed Book 3 (1714–1728), Part 1, pp. 82–83 (Denis and Milborrow Capps to Thomas “Allbritons,” 2 April 1715).
9. ↑ Princess Anne County VA Deed Book 4 (1724–1735), p. 111 (Thomas and Agnes Albritton to John Airs, April 3 and 5, 1727).
10. ↑ Princess Anne County VA Deed Book 4 (1724–1735), p. 318 (Will of Thomas “Albrittin,” dated 24 January 1730/31, filed in court 3 March 1730/31).