Same Name Confusion: William Buckley Jr. of Loudoun, Virginia

Subtitle: Dead Men Weren’t Tithable

            A good friend believes that “same name confusion” is the most common error in family history research. She is probably right, although careless errors — e.g., failure to note that a child was born when its purported mother was four years old — surely rank a close second. “Same name confusion” occurs, for example, when a man named George Washington, born in 1799, is identified in a tree as the first President of the United States. That also counts as a careless error.

            A frequent candidate for the “same name” error is William Buckley Jr. of Loudoun County, Virginia. He was a son of William Buckley Sr.[1] His wife was Amy MNU Buckley.[2] William Jr. had several brothers, including one named John and another named Joshua.[3] The only conclusively proved child of William Buckley Jr. and Amy is a son, Elijah, named in his grandfather’s will.[4] William Jr. also had daughters named Frances, Sarah, and Ann, who are established (IMO) by a convincing web of circumstantial evidence.[5] The daughters married Claiborne Martin, Gibson Martin, and Elijah Moseley, respectively.[6]

            Same-name-wise, William Jr. is confused with a William Buckley who died in 1776 while in military service during the Revolutionary War. The vast majority of online trees about this family identify William Jr., father of Elijah, husband of Amy, and son of William Sr., as the soldier who died in 1776. I did a search at Ancestry on William Jr. (also using father William Sr., wife Amy, son Elijah, mother Elizabeth, and death = 1776 as search terms). That search produced seven-hundred seventy-one trees identifying William Jr. as the soldier who died in 1776. There were only fourteen trees showing William Jr.’s death as 1780 (correct) or 1779 (close).

            Numbers, however, aren’t evidence, much less proof. All those trees prove is how easy it is to copy someone else’s tree without confirming research. In fact, it simply cannot be the case that William Jr. (husband of Amy, father of Elijah, and son of William Sr.) was the same man as the soldier who died in 1776. With apologies to my 5th cousin L. E., this is not a theory, it is an in-dis-effing-putable fact. Pardonnez mon français, s’il vous plait.

            If you accept original military and abstracted tax records as direct and weighty documentary evidence, that’s the unavoidable conclusion. Let’s consider the evidence …

            First, check out the military muster roll for Capt. Thomas Berry’s Company of the 8th Virginia Regiment at this link. The roll has a list of privates, including #17 Abram Buckley, appointed 22 Feb 1776, and #18 William Buckley (no “Junior” included), also appointed 22 Feb 1776. The muster roll states that William Buckley died on 16 Sept 1776. 

            Second, please see Loudoun County tax list abstracts by Ruth and Sam Sparacio.[7] Here’s a quick summary of tithables (i.e., taxable persons) from relevant years:

1773 — Samuel Love’s list included William Buckley Sr., who was listed with Joshua Buckley and Ben for a total of 3 taxables. I made a note of this because we know from Wm. Sr.’s will that Joshua was a son of his. The enslaved man Ben is important because he continues to be taxed with William Sr. in subsequent tax lists … so we can be confident that some stray William Buckley hasn’t snuck into the Loudoun lists. There was a separate listing in 1773 for “William Bukley,” who may or may not be William Jr.

1777 — the tax list of Samuel Love included William Buckley Sr. with Joshua, William Jr., and slave Ben — a total of 4 tithes. Dead men weren’t tithable,[8] so William Buckley Sr.’s son William Jr. was still alive in 1777. If you are descended from the soldier named William Buckley who died in 1776, then you can write off William Sr. as an ancestor and Amy MNU Buckley as an ancestress. This might cause 771 Ancestry tree owners some distress. Or perhaps not. I wonder how many claims of descent from William Sr. and Jr. the D.A.R. has accepted?

1779 — William Buckley Sr. was listed with Jas or Jos Gold (I don’t know him) and slave Ben for 3 tithables. William Buckley Jr. was listed with slave Suck (usually Suckie, a nickname for Susannah) for 2 tithables. Joshua Buckley was listed with slave Amey for 2 tithables.

1780 — George Summer’s list included both Joshua Buckley (slave Tom, 2 tithables) and William Buckley Jr. (1 tithable). William Jr. was therefore still alive when the 1780 tax list was made. William Buckley Sr. was still on Love’s list. He was taxed on himself, a man named Halbert, and enslaved man Ben, for 3 tithables.[9]

            Finally, there is an entry in the Loudoun County order book that establishes that William Jr. died between the time the 1780 tax list was made and the end of 1780. The order book for 11 December 1780 says, “[O]n the motion of Amy Buckley who made oath according to the Law & together with John Buckley and Joshua Buckley her securities …bond of 10,000 pounds … letters on the estate of Wm Buckley Junr dec.d.”[10]

            For icing on the cake, the 8th Virginia Regiment didn’t recruit in Loudoun County. It recruited in a half-dozen other Virginia counties.[11]

            If you can figure out a reasonable way to explain away these facts, I will give you a lifetime free subscription to this blog. Emphasis on reasonable.

            Considering the evidence, Pvt William Buckley of the 8th Virginia Regiment, who died in Sept 1776, was not the same man as the William Buckley Jr. who died in 1780. The tax lists conclusively prove (IMO) that William Buckley Sr.’s son William Jr. was alive through the time the tax list was taken in 1780, but he had died by December 1780 when his widow Amy applied for letters of administration on his estate.

            And that’s it for now. Some other ancestors are calling my name.

            See you on down the road.

            Robin

[1] Loudoun Co., VA Will Book D: 36, will of William Buckley of Loudoun Co. dated 12 Jul 1786, proved 8 Jun 1789. Sons John, Joshua, and Samuel Buckley and daughters Elizabeth Harris, Sarah Harris, Catherine Harris, Rosanna Halbert. Grandson Elijah Buckley, son of William Buckley, dec’d.

[2] Loudoun County Order Book G: 313, LDS Film #32,349, order dated 11 Dec 1780: “[O]n the motion of Amy Buckley who made oath according to the Law & together with John Buckley and Joshua Buckley her securities … bond of 10,000 pounds … letters on the estate of Wm Buckley Junr dec.d.” There is reportedly a record ordering Amy Buckley Huff and her husband James Huff to appear to administer on the estate of Elijah Buckley. I haven’t been able to find either the record itself or a citation.

[3] See Note 1.

[4] Id.

[5] There is a 5-part series on the Buckleys and Martins on this blog. Displaying an utter lack of imagination, I designated them Part 1 ,  Part 2,  Part 3,  Part 4,  and Part 5.

[6] Id.

[7] The Sparacios abstracted so many Virginia records they founded their own publishing company (“The Antient Press”). They don’t exactly abstract, they copy deeds and other records verbatim. See Tithables Loudoun County, Virginia 1775 – 1781 (McLean, VA: The Antient Press, 1992); Ruth & Sam Sparacio, Tithables Loudoun County, Virginia 1770 – 1774 (McLean, VA: The Antient Press, 1992).

[8] A deceased person’s estate (land and taxable personal property) was taxable. The deceased person was not himself tithable (or taxable).

[9] William Sr.’s daughter Rosannah married a man named Halbert. See Note 1.

[10] Loudoun Co., VA Order Book G: 313, LDS Film #32,349, order of 11 Dec 1780. The 10,000 pounds refers to lbs of tobacco, not pounds sterling). Some people might rationalize that probate of the estate of person who died in September 1776 might be delayed until December 1780. If you can produce an example of such a lengthy delay, I will eat both my hat and my laptop. As a practical matter, family,  heirs, or creditors typically filed for probate within a very short time after death in order to care for assets (crops to be harvested, e.g.) and assure prompt and orderly disposition of the.

[11]  https://revolutionarywar.us/continental-army/virginia/.

 

Find-a-Grave Bloopers: a Really Cool One

First, I need to acknowledge that Find-a-Grave is a wonderful source for family history researchers. The information on tombstone images can be invaluable. Of course, the website itself doesn’t commit “bloopers,” e.g., confusing two men having the same name. Instead, Find-a-Grave members who post on memorials or add pictures sometimes provide bad information.

I am now aware of three Find-a-Grave bloopers for Rankins, all of which are wrong identifications of men named William. See articles about the first two here and  here. But the third Rankin blooper takes the cake. It’s not only that some Find-a-Grave poster has claimed the wrong William Rankin is interred in the Mahnes Cemetery in Ridersville, Morgan County, West Virginia. In this case, the grave has an image of a tombstone that wrongly identifies him! Better yet, the tombstone image is attached to two William Rankins who allegedly have different birth dates. Somebody has some ‘splaining to do, Lucy …

Here are the facts. If you go to the Find-a-Grave page for the Mahnes Cemetery and search on Rankin listings, it will take you to this page. There are three men named William Rankin who were born in the 18th century in that list of Rankin burials:

  1. William Rankin, 1760 – 25 Feb 1830
  2. William Rankin, 1748 – 22 Feb 1830
  3. Private William Rankin, 1720 – 1783

There is no tombstone photo for Private William, who was allegedly the father of the William born in 1748, according to a poster’s information.

Both the William born in 1748 and the William born in 1760 have tombstone images. It is the exact same stone for both men, although the two photos were clearly taken at different times. Here is the tombstone image for the William allegedly born in 1748, with what appears to be a slightly altered birthdate that is clearly not 1748. And here is the tombstone image for the William allegedly born in 1760, again with a slightly fuzzy birthdate on the stone.

You will notice that the marker doesn’t look like an almost 200-year-old stone. It looks more 20th century-ish. I wonder (1) when the stone was installed and (2) who paid for it. I have not yet tried to find answers to those questions.

The tombstone has this inscription:

PVT BRADYS CO ROWLING’S REGT

REVOLUTIONARY WAR

This is great information because it is subject to easy verification. In fact, there was a Private William Rankin who enlisted in Capt. Brady’s Company, Stephenson’s Regiment, later known as Rawling’s Regiment (not Rowling’s, although that’s close). His Revolutionary War pension application says he enlisted in July 1776 in Berkeley County, Virginia. Morgan County was created from part of Berkeley in 1820. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, the rest of the facts present serious problems. Private William Rankin of Brady’s Company, Rawling’s Regiment, filed his pension application from Mason County, Kentucky in 1833 — three years after the Mahnes Cemetery Williams reportedly died.[1] He lived in Frederick County, Virginia after the war. He may have moved to Mason County by at least 1800, based on tax lists. He was definitely in Mason County by 1810, when he was listed in the federal census there with a profile that fit his family. He died in Mason County on 12 April 1836. His estate was probated there. For detailed information about Private William Rankin of Brady’s Company, see articles about him here and here. His war story is fabulous and you might enjoy it, even if you aren’t related.

I don’t have any information about the William Rankin in the Mahnes Cemetery whose tombstone is attached to two listings. There is virtually no  chance that he is the same man as Private William Rankin of Brady’s Company, Rawling’s Regiment, who died in Mason County in 1836 — not in 1830, as the two listings in the Mahnes Cemetery claim. FYI, it is 500 miles from Washington, Mason County, Kentucky to Ridersville, West Virginia. Even if the Mahnes Cemetery Williams had the same death date as William Rankin of Mason, it is highly unlikely that the family would transport a body that distance for burial.

The William Rankin who died in Mason County in 1836 may be buried in the Old Washington Cemetery there, although there was a cemetery plot on the land William owned. When his children sold his land after he died, the deed reserved a 70 square foot graveyard.[2] It is a reasonable bet that William and his wife, who also died in 1836, were both buried in that family cemetery.

Finally, the odds are absolutely nil that there were two Private William Rankins in Brady’s Company, Rawling’s Regiment. Military records are clear on that point. The one and only William Rankin who served in those units lived in Mason County, Kentucky, where he applied for a pension in 1833, died in 1836, and is surely buried.

I would love to know more about the Morgan County Rankins. There are quite a few of them buried in the Mahnes Cemetery in Ridersville. Perhaps there is a living male Rankin descendant who might be persuaded to Y-DNA test? It wouldn’t be surprising to find that he is related to Private William of Mason County. There were more Rankin families in Virginia’s Northern Neck and into West Virginia than I can count. And we need more information about Private William’s important family.

Here’s hoping someone reading this knows about the Mahnes Cemetery Rankins. If so, I would love to hear from you.

See you on down the road.

Robin

[1] I have omitted citations to supporting records because my two articles about William Rankin’s war story provide considerable documentation, readily available for anyone who is interested. See links here and here.

[2] Mason Co., KY Deed Book 43: 65, deed dated 24 Sep 1836 from the heirs at law of the late William Rankin, dec’d, of Mason County, tract near Washington on the Waters of Lawrence’s Creek adjacent Berry, et al., 70 square foot graveyard excepted.

Henry Willis, Carpenter of Maryland and Philadelphia (1829-1906) Part 1

Who the heck is Henry Willis who died in Philadelphia in 1906? And, is he part of the “Maryland Group” in the Willis DNA Project? Most of the Maryland Group descend from John Willis of Dorchester County, Maryland who was born about 1650-1670 probably in Berkshire County, England. (See https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/willis/about)

Spoiler alert — I am not sure about Henry, although I have an opinion. This post consists of two parts. Part 1 below sets out the facts, factoids, and gaps in the records that have frustrated the search for Henry. Part 2 will offer a theory identifying his parents based on circumstantial evidence.

Here goes …

Henry is the brick wall in the Willis line of Erin Daniels who descends from Henry’s daughter Lola. Erin has searched for years for Henry’s parents and for a male descendant of Henry’s son Harry. Her story about Henry, much of which is confirmed in the 1900 census for Philadelphia:[1]

    • He was born about 1829 in Maryland. Both his parents were born in Maryland.
    • In about 1880, he married Martha Anne (Annie) Stewart born about 1846. She and her parents were born in Delaware.
    • Family legend says the couple ran off from her home near Glasgow, New Castle County, Delaware to be married in Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland near the Delaware border.
    • Henry and Annie lived in Philadelphia in 1900. She had four children between 1880 and 1885, two of whom died in infancy.[2]
    • Henry was a carpenter.

Beyond the 1900 Census and the records relating to daughters who did not survive, there are only a few pieces of record evidence about this family:  a few entries in the City Directory of Philadelphia; a baptism of their youngest son; a death certificate for Henry; the 1910 census after Henry’s death; and the 1920 censuses after the death of Annie. Here is what we learn from those data …

Philadelphia City Directories                

Henry Willis, carpenter, appears in the 1901 and 1904 city directories of Philadelphia with his home address of 1335 South Hicks . However, he does not appear in 1873, 1881, 1894, 1897, or 1898.[3] It is reasonable to conclude that he did not take up residence in Philadelphia until shortly before the 1900 Census. This obviously raises the question, “Where the heck was he?”

 Harry Willis 1888 Baptism  

Henry and Annie may have almost lost a third child. On 17 October 1888, they arranged for the minister of Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Church to come to their home  and baptize their youngest child, Harry. The entry in the church record indicates the child was sick.[4] Often, a couple arranged for a home baptism if they feared their child was about to die. Thankfully, Harry lived to have children of his own.

Henry Willis 1906 Death Certificate

Carpenter Henry Willis died on 18 Sep 1906 and was buried at Hillside Cemetery in Philadelphia. His death certificate states he was born in Maryland and lived at 1335 So. Hicks Street. His death certificate does not name his parents or their place of birth. It states he died of kidney failure,[5]

1910 and 1920 Censuses

The widow Annie appears as Anna Willis in the 1910 census for Philadelphia as head of household with daughter Lola, son Harry, and five-year old granddaughter “Elsa.” [6] That census shows Lola working as a candy maker and Harry as a street car conductor. Both Lola and Harry are listed as single. Elsa apparently is Lola’s child. She appears with Lola Stevenson (neé Willis) in the next census as “Elva” Stevenson, age 14, along with four other children.[7] Harry appears in the 1920 Census with his wife Emma and four children ages eight through five. [8]

Missing Records

Here the frustration begins. There appear to be no other records that might help explain this family. For example, Henry Willis does not appear in certain census records, vital records, or probate records :

Census Records

Annie appears as Martha Anne/Annie Stewart in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses for Pencader Hundred, Glasgow Post Office, New Castle County, Delaware. She is in the household of her father James, a farmer in that community. However, Henry Willis does not appear in the 1850 through 1870 censuses for Maryland or any adjoining state. He should be named somewhere, but is not. Furthermore, Annie and Henry do not appear in the 1880 census. It is not all that uncommon for a person to be missed or a name misspelled in one census. However, it is highly unlikely for that to occur three or four times in a row, unless of course, that person wants to be missed. Erin Daniels also told me that Henry may have been a bit of a rascal or a troublemaker. It makes one guess that Henry might have used an alias.

Vital Records

There is no marriage record for the couple, nor are there birth records for any of their children except Harry’s twin Julia. There are no baptism records for any of their children except Harry, who was sick. There is no death record for Annie or for young Harry’s twin Julia. Again, some of this may be due to incomplete or lost records, or perhaps they are just not available online. However, given Henry’s absence in the census record, one has to ask, “Was the couple actually married? Did they use an alias?”

Probate Records

There are no probate records for Henry or Annie, which is not surprising. The couple apparently did not have significant assets. They did not own real estate; they always rented the place they lived. However, Annie Stewart was not from a poor family. She and her sister Mary were the only children of James Stewart and his wife Eliza. After her mother’s death between 1850 and 1860,  Annie continued living with her father. Her sister Mary married Henry Kendall in 1864,[9] and the couple lived on her father’s farm in 1870. Annie was also there in 1870. James Stewart died in 1874[10] owning real estate worth about $2,000 and $400 of personal property.[11]

There is no online probate information for New Castle County, Delaware beyond 1800. Therefore, we do not know whether Annie inherited anything. James Stewart’s probate file may not reveal anything about Henry Willis, but you never know. I will just have to make a trip to Wilmington or Dover when Covid abates, and check the original paper records.

This ends Part 1 and the litany of missing information. In Part 2 we will see if we can find Henry hiding in plain sight.

—

[1] 1900 Census Philadelphia, Ward 26, District 0628

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DTG3-6M1?i=18&cc=1325221&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AM3W8-DKX

1335 Kick [sic South Hicks] Street

Henry Willis head May 1829 71 M20  MD MD MD Carpenter Rent House

Annie Willis wife Jun 1846     53 M20  4/2 DE DE DE

Lola Willis son [sic Dau] Apr 1882 18  S  PA MD DE

Harry Willis son  Oct 1885 14  S  PA MD DE

[2] A Philadelphia Death Certificate proves a daughter born in 1884 who died that same year: Elinar Jessie Willis, born 1884, died 22 Sep 1884 in Philadelphia, PA, age one month, female, father Henry Willis, mother Annie Willis, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2233393:2535?tid=&pid=&queryId=c55646857b4faa216b36bf1856d9b842&_phsrc=DgH3&_phstart=successSource

And, a Philadelphia Birth Record proves a daughter born in 1885 who did not survive. She was a twin of Harry: Julia E. Willis, female, born 16 Oct 1885 in Philadelphia, father Harry Willis, mother Anna Willis

“Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2NV-K9B : 15 February 2020), Julia E. Willis, 1885.

[3] Philadelphia City Directories by various publishers as found on Fold 3.

[4] Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church Records, Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Church,https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2451/images/40355_267328-00065?usePUB=true&_phsrc=tQw4&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=7976645

[5] Philadelphia Death Certificate:

Henry Willis, male, white, married, date of birth unknown, date of death 18 Sep 1906, age 75 years, resided at 1335 So. Hicks Street, was ill for 10 days, chief cause of death Uraemia [kidney failure], contributing causes Nephritis [kidney disease] and myocarditis [inflammation of the heart], Dr. J. Moon Campbell/Camphill?, Philadelphia Hospital, date of burial 21 Sep 1906, place Hillside Cemetery, Undertaker Robert P. Martin, 1444 So. Broad St

“Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JK37-W2X : 18 February 2021), Henry Willis, 18 Sep 1906; citing cn 23553, Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; FHL microfilm 1,319,466.

[6] 1910 Census Philadelphia Ward 40, District 1033, “United States Census, 1910,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGHQ-XJ2 : accessed 5 January 2022), Anna Willis, Philadelphia Ward 40, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1033, sheet 7B, family 143, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1410; FHL microfilm 1,375,423.

1826 South Allison Street

Anna Willis F 63 Wid 4/2 DE DE DE Rents Home

Lola dau F27 Sing PA MD DE  Candy Maker in Candy Store

Harry son M 24 Sing PA MD DE Street Car Conductor

Elsa granddau F Sing PA PA PA

[7] 1920 Census, Philadelphia Ward 40, District 1453, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/77217633:6061?tid=&pid=&queryId=19c95d4c019145aa9bda5fa51a2c83eb&_phsrc=Vvv1&_phstart=successSource

5532 Paschall Avenue

James Stevenson M 37 PA PA PA Auto Mechanic Rents Home

Lola wife F 37                 PA DE MD

Elva Dau F 14  School  PA PA PA

James Son M 8 School  PA PA PA

Harry Son M 7 School  PA PA PA

Reba Dau F 5                   PA PA PA

Mildred Dau F 2 10/12 PA PA PA

[8] 1920 Census, Philadelphia, Ward 40, District 1461, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/77226506:6061?tid=&pid=&queryId=ccccee670eed5c7a101f6852bb057775&_phsrc=Vvv4&_phstart=successSource

6332 Theoadore Ave.

Harry Willis 34 M Phil MD DE Driver in Coal Yard Rents Home

Emma wife 28 F Phil PA PA

Harry son 8 M Phil Phil Phil in School

Ethel dau 7 F Phil Phil Phil in School

Helen dau 6 F Phil Phil Phil

Effie dau 5 F Phil Phil Phil

[9] Marriage date 28 Apr 1864 per Delaware Marriage Records, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1508&h=78789&tid=&pid=&queryId=dabeb42f303b1ebacf9892713f541bf5&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Vvv14&_phstart=successSource

[10] James Stewart (of Seth) death date 7 Dec 1874 per Presbyterian Church Records, 1701- 1970, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=61048&h=1500507877&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7163

[11] 1850 Census Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/18428343:8054

James Stewart 44 M DE Farmer

Eliza                    44 F  MD

Mary E                     7 F DE

Martha A                5 F DE

John Stewart    46 M DE Farmer

David Willey    14 M DE

1860 Census Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, Glasgow Post Office, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/10383554:7667

James Stewart    53 M DE Farmer $2,800 real prop, $750 personal prop

Mary                         17 F DE

Martha                     14 F DE attends school

1870 Census Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, Glasgow Post Office, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1897649:7163

James Stewart    64 M DE Farmer $2,000 real prop, $400 personal prop

Martha                     24 F DE Keeps House

Henry Kendall      35 M DE Farm Hand [second family in same dwelling]

Mary E                     27 F DE Keeps House

Mary E                     5   F DE at Home

Ella May                  3  F DE at Home

Harry                        1 M DE at Home

Vietnam War Story – Medevac Meadow

Introduction to Revised Article

In January 2022, I published the following article which is a chapter from my book Red Markers: The Rest of the Story, available now at Lulu Publishing. The book recounts the history of the forward air controller unit — the Red Markers — I served with in Vietnam. This unit worked exclusively to support the Vietnamese Airborne and the American advisors — known as Red Hats — who served with the Airborne on the ground. The article describes one of the more memorable engagements that occurred in 1970 during the incursion into the Fishhook region of Cambodia to destroy enemy base camps and supplies. An original version lacked an important detail – the identity of a helicopter pilot who swooped in to pick up the occupants of a downed helicopter during the massive rescue operation. A reader who was there, former Captain Ron Wood, identified the missing hero as Major Jolly, commander of B Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment. Ron was a Cobra pilot, the Blue Max maintenance officer, and later a Blue Max platoon leader. Ron and Major (FNU) Jolly are included in this revised article.

Medevac Meadow

The Vietnamese 6th Airborne Infantry Battalion moved with the rest of the 1st Brigade from Song Be during early May to reinforce the three battalions of the 3rd Brigade engaged in the Fishhook.[1] The battalion headquartered at Fire Support Base (FSB) Oklahoma while its troopers maneuvered in the region. FSB Oklahoma was about ten miles inside Cambodia off Highway 7 on the eastern edge of the Memot Rubber Plantation.[2] The fire base was the operational home of the 1st Brigade’s Artillery Battalion of 105 mm howitzers and the long range 8-inch howitzers of A Battery, 2ndBattalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, the “Proud Americans.”

On 23 May, a task force of the 61st and 63rd Companies of the 6th Battalion encountered NVA troops during a ground sweep about eight miles southeast of FSB Oklahoma. After a brief fight, the NVA withdrew to the west side of a clearing oriented southeast to northwest. The Airborne retired to the east side. The battalion senior advisor, Red Hat Captain Jesse Myers, was overhead in a command-and-control helicopter. He called for artillery fire from FSB Oklahoma and asked Red Marker Control to divert some airstrikes to the enemy’s possible routes of withdrawal.

The artillery fire mission required extra caution. Only eighty meters separated the NVA on the west side of the clearing from the Airborne troopers on the east. The standard safe distance from an 8-inch round was 100 meters for unsheltered personnel. A miscalculation could be fatal. The howitzers’ alignment, elevation, and propellant charge had to be just right. The fire control center made its calculations and double checked them. Then, the battery commander Captain Lee Hayden double checked the “double check” by hand.[3] Myers watched the first shots land on target and gave the okay to fire for effect.

A Red Marker FAC arrived on scene and orbited his Bird Dog to the east, waiting for a set of fighters scrambled from Bien Hoa. Myers briefed the FAC and shut down the artillery when the fighters arrived. They bombed and napalmed the western tree line as darkness fell. The Airborne dug in for the night. FSB Oklahoma stood ready if needed, but only sporadic small arms fire came from the opposite side of the clearing.

At dawn on the 24th, the NVA attacked in strength. The Airborne drove them back, suffering several killed and eight seriously wounded. Myers again called on the artillery at FSB Oklahoma and requested that Red Markers direct some airstrikes on the NVA positions. Red Marker 16, Lieutenant David G. Blair was already in the air. He diverted to the site to control immediate airstrikes aimed at possible routes of retreat. After the two Airborne companies secured the area, Red Hat Staff Sergeants Louis Clason and Michael Philhower requested Medevac. Myers relayed the request to brigade headquarters and asked for gunship cover. The request went out to the 1st Air Cavalry helicopter units at about 1100 hours.[4] The Cav called on a Medevac Huey already in the air and scrambled two Blue Max Cobra gunships standing alert to cover the mission.

A Medevac helicopter piloted by First Lieutenant Stephen F. Modica, “The Wild Deuce” (official call sign Medevac 2), received the request for the evacuation.  Modica was en route from Phuoc Vinh to Katum when he got the call. Red Hat Sergeant First Class Louis Richard Rocco happened to be hitching a ride with Modica. Rocco, a qualified medic and advisor to the Airborne’s Medical Bat-talion, sometimes volunteered to fly on Medevac missions. When Rocco heard Medevac 2 was going to pick up wounded paratroopers, he asked to stay on board and help. Modica landed at Katum, off-loaded some supplies, and picked up a ceramic chest protector for Rocco. The Wild Deuce departed Katum toward the task force location.

Meanwhile, two Blue Max Cobra gunships scrambled from Hot Alert at Quan Loi. The aircraft commanders First Lieutenant George Alexander Jr., call sign Precise Sword 12, and Chief Warrant Officer–2 (CW2) Paul Garrity, Precise Sword 12A, were airborne within the requisite two minutes from the time the alert horn sounded.[5] Quan Loi Tower cleared the flight of two to take off to the south. As Alexander and Garrity smoothly nosed over and headed down the runway, CW2 James “Bugs” Moran manning the front seat of the lead ship radioed Blue Max operations for mission information.

“Blue Max ops, this is Precise Sword One Two airborne on scramble. Mission brief. Over.”

“Roger, Precise Sword Twelve. Mission is Medevac escort for pickup at XU5101 in a hot LZ. Depart Quan Loi heading 290 degrees, about seventeen klicks. Ren-dezvous with Medevac Two coming out of Katum.”

“Roger, Blue Max. Copy all. Heading 290.”

Precise Sword flight tuned in Medevac’s standard frequency 33.00 FM and met The Wild Deuce on the way to the LZ. Meanwhile, Blair flew his Bird Dog back to Quan Loi for fuel and rockets.  Another Red Marker FAC arrived on scene with a flight of diverted fighter aircraft.[6] Myers again shut down the artillery while the Red Marker directed more bombs into the western tree line. A few minutes after the airstrike finished, the trio of helicopters was several miles from the clearing.

The Red Hats monitored the Medevac frequency awaiting contact. When Mede-vac 2 called in, Myers briefed them on the situation and suggested a run in from the south. Precise Sword 12 and the Wild Deuce descended to treetop level two miles out. Precise Sword 12A remained high to cover them both and give direc-tions to the LZ.

“Medevac Two, hold this heading. I’ve got the clearing in sight about one klick. I’ve got green smoke on the eastern tree line.”

“Roger, Twelve Alpha. Got it.”

All Hell Broke Loose

The Wild Deuce and Precise Sword 12 came in low and fast just above the treetops. Modica wanted to give any North Vietnamese gunners only the briefest glimpse of the helicopter before setting down, loading wounded, and speeding away.

Red Hat Clason, advisor to the Vietnamese 63rd Airborne Infantry Company com-mander Lieutenant Thái Kim Hwang, stood in the clearing and watched green smoke spew from the grenade he had popped. Behind the tree line, Philhower, advisor to 61st Company commander Captain Nguyễn Văn Nghiêm, manned the FM radio. They all heard the distinctive whup-whup-whup of the Huey’s blades well before it entered the clearing.

Lieutenant Hwang had stretcher bearers waiting outside the tree line with the seriously wounded troopers. Hwang and Clason waited tensely, hoping they could load the men without any trouble. Modica brought the ship into the clearing, lined up on Clason, and expertly flared for touchdown.

Then, all hell broke loose. AK-47 and .51 caliber machine gun fire ripped into the cabin from the western tree line. The Cobra gunships responded immediately. They returned fire with 2.75-inch high explosive and flechette[7] rockets, mini-guns, and 40 mm grenade launchers, hoping to suppress the enemy fire long enough for Medevac 2 to complete its mission. The low bird turned hard to the left in front of The Wild Deuce to get lined up on the source of the fire. The high bird dove straight at the NVA positions and un-leashed a salvo of rockets. The Medevac’s door gunners opened up with M-60 machine guns. Rocco fired his M-16 out the left door into the trees. Modica felt two enemy slugs glance off his “chicken plate” chest protector. At the same time, a third round shattered his left knee. The Medevac pancaked into the clearing. Copilot Lieutenant Leroy “Lee” G. Caubarreaux swiveled his head to give Modica some shit for such a bad landing, then realized Steve was hit. Lee immediately grabbed the controls. “I’ve got the ship!” he shouted over the intercom. As he pulled pitch and poured on full power, Caubarreaux jabbed the FM key, shouting now to the two Cobra gunships,

“Precise Swords One Two and One Two Alpha, we are outta here! Cover us!”

Sergeant Clason hot-footed it out of the clearing as Medevac 2 spooled up and started to climb. But safety was a long way off. Coming in hot and low to the clearing had made the bird harder to hit. Liftoff was a different matter. The UH-1H heli-copter took time to get back up to speed and out of the clearing. The NVA gunners got a clear view of the slow-moving Huey and unleashed everything they had. The entire western tree line lit up. From the left seat, Modica saw the RPM sliding past normal minimum and knew they were in trouble. He switched to VHF Guard channel and broadcast,

“The Wild Deuce is going down! XU5101! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! XU5101!”[8]

At about fifty feet in the air, gunfire and aerodynamic stress ripped the tail boom from the ship.[9] The Huey spun out of control, crashing to the ground on its right side. Smoke billowed from the chopper as the fuel tanks burst into flame. In his C&C chopper, Myers “watched in horror as the Medevac seemed to land, then shot almost straight up and fell to the ground on its side thrashing, briefly like a wounded quail.” He thought at first it had fallen on Clason.

In fact, Clason was not hurt. The Medevac crew was another story. Sergeant Gary L. Taylor, right side door gunner, died on impact, crushed by the aircraft. Medic Specialist 5 (SP5) Terry T. Burdette was badly burned and suffered multiple fractures. Crew chief and left door gunner, Sergeant Patrick Martin, was thrown clear and knocked unconscious. Rocco was also thrown clear, breaking a wrist and hip. Modica’s leg was shattered, and Caubar-reaux suffered a crushed right shoulder, broken arm, and back injuries. He was trapped beneath Modica as the ship caught fire.

Precise Sword 12 lined up at low level to attack the tree line point blank with flechette rockets. Even before Alexander got lined up, Bugs Moran in the front seat swiveled the minigun under the Cobra’s chin, spraying the tree line. Meanwhile, Garrity and his copilot Warrant Officer (WO) James Nabours rolled in from above and plastered the tree line with rockets, minigun fire, and 40 mm grenades.[10] Both ships took numerous hits, but the Cobras pressed the attack. At one point, Moran asked George on the intercom, “Are we gonna die here?” Ignoring the tracers flying past, they made repeated head on passes into the NVA positions.[11]

 When Medevac 2 smashed into the ground the ground, Sergeant Philhower dropped the radio handset and sprinted toward the clearing, leaving Captain Myers overhead in the dark. However, Myers knew the paratroopers and Red Hats would try to get any survivors out of the downed Huey. Lieutenant Hwang immediately sent a skirmish line of 63rdCompany troopers forward to provide covering fire. Clason and Philhower approached the wreck while the Vietnamese moved their wounded troopers away from the landing area. The Blue Max gunships kept attac-king the NVA positions while the Red Hats pulled survivors from the burning wreckage and helped them to the friendly tree line. Lieutenant Alexander noticed that one person getting people out of the burning Medevac “was not wearing Nomex — very odd for an aircrew.”[12]

Myers radioed FSB Oklahoma about the crisis in the clearing and asked for more artillery fire. The 8-inchers stepped up the fire on the western tree line, keeping the NVA’s head down. At one point, each weapon at FSB Oklahoma had several rounds in the air at the same time. The enemy did not venture into the clearing in force.

 Failed Rescue Attempts[13]

Modica’s Mayday call attracted numerous helicopters wanting to pick up the injured crew and the wounded troopers. Precise Sword 12 escorted the first ship, call sign Killer Spade, as it approached the field. Intense ground fire erupted, repeatedly hitting the Huey, and Killer Spade aborted the attempt.[14] Meanwhile, back at Quan Loi, Captain Henry “Hank” O. Tuell, III, aircraft commander of Medevac 1, learned that the Wild Deuce was down. He shouted to his pilot Lieutenant Howard Elliott, who was in the shower,

“Get your butt in gear! We gotta go get Modica and his crew!”

Elliott scrambled into his Nomex flight suit and boots. Tuell had the Huey cranked when Elliott arrived at the revetment still dripping soapy water.  Medevac 1 ap-proached the clearing from the south, also escorted by Precise Sword 12, and took ground fire that wounded Tuell. Elliott took control and flew back to Quan Loi to get medical attention for Tuell. Mean-while, Garrity alerted Quan Loi they needed to launch the Cobra section sitting Blue Alert. This situation was not going to be resolved quickly.

Lieutenant Thomas Read, Medevac 12, and his copilot Lieutenant Monty Halcomb were in the air forty miles away northwest of Song Be when they heard the Mayday call. They sped toward the Fishhook and soon spotted the smoke rising from Medevac Meadow. They arrived just as Medevac 1 was taking hits and struggling to get out of the clearing.[15] At this point, Precise Swords 12 and 12A were low on fuel and out of ammo. The relief section of gunships led by CW2 Maurice A. “Mac” Cookson came on station to support subsequent rescue attempts. Cookson asked Alexander to mark the enemy position for him. Alexander replied,

“No can do. I’m Winchester.[16] Just lower your nose toward that western tree line. The enemy will mark his position for you.”

Mac did as suggested, and a stream of tracers erupted toward his ship, precisely identifying the NVA locations.[17] Mac responded with flechette rockets trailing their telltale red smoke. The Precise Sword flight limped their damaged Cobras to Quan Loi. Maintenance grounded Alexander’s bird until they could install a new set of blades. Alexander pulled a slug from Garrity’s seat and presented it to him some years later, preserved in an epoxy pyramid.

Cookson  and his wingman continued the attack on the NVA tree line while Medevac 12 assessed their options. Read and Halcomb decided to approach over the friendlies in the eastern tree line rather than coming in from the south.[18] They came in just over the trees, made a right hand U-turn, and started down fast with their tail pointed at the NVA tree line. The NVA opened fire from the west and the north as Medevac 12 reached about 100 feet. The crew heard and felt the ship taking hits. The Huey began a severe vertical vibration at about fifty feet from the ground. Read aborted the descent, slowly climbed above the trees, and called, “Mayday.” He set the wounded bird down in a clearing to the east and shut down the engine as CWO Raymond Zepp, Medevac 21, arrived on scene. Monty Halcomb jumped out of the Huey to assess the damage as Zepp landed close by to pick up the crew if needed. Although there were numerous bullet holes in their ship and major damage to one rotor blade, Read and Halcomb decided to try to get it back to Quan Loi. They just barely made it. The ship went to the scrap heap a few days later, slung out under a CH-47 Chinook.[19]

Medevac 21 took off from the clearing and flew back to the Meadow to make a fourth rescue attempt. However, Lieutenant Caubarreaux ordered him not to try. He said the LZ was too hot and there was no sense possibly losing another ship and another crew.[20] As the day ended, Medevac had lost three ships, one still smoldering in the Meadow and two heavily damaged – including one that had to be scrapped. The crews of the two damaged birds made it back to safety. But the injured crew of Medevac 2 and the wounded paratroopers would spend the night on the ground with no medical care except first aid.

Clason and Philhower were awarded the Silver Star for their actions. Vice President Agnew presented the awards at a ceremony shortly afterwards. Sergeant First Class Rocco was recognized several years later for rescuing survivors from the chopper and administering first aid before he became immobilized from his injuries.[21] He was awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented by President Gerald Ford in February 1974. The Medevac pilot and crew also received awards for bravery. Modica received a Silver Star and Caubarreaux, Taylor (posthumously), Burdette, and Martin were each awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. Those were not the only awards conferred, for this engagement was far from over. Unbelievably, despite braving intense enemy fire in repeated head-on attacks, the gunship crews received no such awards.[22]

Jesse Myers knew what needed to happen next. The two Airborne companies had run into a buzz saw. But they had given better than they had gotten in return. They had a good defensive position and overwhelming artillery and air support. The only thing they lacked was mobility. Ideally, they would pull back and bring in a B-52 Arc Light mission to pound the enemy. However, the paratroopers could not withdraw because of the number of injured on hand. They would not abandon their wounded, and they could not easily move them. They had to hold their position until after a successful evacuation of casualties. Some of the enemy fire now came from the north and south sides of the clearing. The NVA may have been attempting to flank the two companies, or at least be in position to score more hits on helicopters they knew would be coming. Myers adjusted the artillery to com-pensate.

 Airstrikes

That afternoon, the Red Markers diverted more strike aircraft to Medevac Meadow. Myers informed them of the expanded targets. For several hours, fighter aircraft bombed and strafed the enemy-held tree lines on the north, south, and west sides of the clearing. Red Marker 26, Lieutenant Lloyd L. Prevett, flew his longest mission of the war – 4.8 hours. His twin engine Oscar Deuce carried seven white phosphorus rockets under each wing. During his mission, Prevett expended all fourteen of them, one at a time, marking different strike locations with smoke around the perimeter. After running out of Willie Pete, he marked targets with smoke grenades tossed out of the pilot-side window. Prevett controlled mostly F-100s, with at least one flight of  A-37s and Vietnamese A-1Es.  Prevett recalled:

“One interesting note is I requested a flight with wall-to-wall nape and 20 mm, figuring it would be a standard load of snake and nape. I was shocked when a flight of two F -100s showed up with just nape and 20mm.[23] When I put them in, the nape uncovered a fortified bunker and of course, no snake to employ. Took care of that on the next flight. My hat is off to all the fighter pilots that showed up that day. They put their asses on the line to ensure each and every drop was right where it was needed. Gives me shivers today thinking about what everyone did to try and protect the guys on the ground.”[24]

Lloyd did not record the number of strikes he directed, but was amazed on his way back to Phuoc Vinh at the amount of grease pencil writing on the side window. He had scribbled on the plexiglass the standard info for each flight — mission number, call sign, number of fighters in the flight, ordnance load, and expected time of arrival on scene. Given the number of strikes Prevett controlled, it is a wonder he saw anything through that window.

The Skymaster could fly for more than six hours when conserving fuel with a lean mixture at cruise power setting. After directing airstrikes with the mixture rich and power often at max for almost five hours, Prevett’s O-2A was near minimum fuel when he landed at Phuoc Vinh. The crew chief refueled and rearmed the Skymaster, cleaned the inside of the window, and the detailed record of those strike missions was lost to history.

Radio operator Sergeant Jim Yeonopolus manned Red Marker Control outside the Airborne Tactical Operations Center at Quan Loi. The firefight and his job became more hectic about 1500, when the FACs called for additional airstrikes. As daylight faded, the fighting became more intense. Earlier, Red Hat Sergeants John A. Brubaker and James H. Collier asked Yeonopolus if he would accompany them to the Meadow and stay on the ground overnight to call in air support if needed. Jim told them he would be more effective with his full set of radios at Quan Loi. In any event, Brubaker and Collier could not catch a ride into Medevac Meadow that afternoon.

Red Markers continued to direct airstrikes into the enemy positions until nightfall. Lieutenant Gary Willis, Red Marker 18, controlled two more F-100 flights just before dark. According to Captain Myers, the Red Markers directed thirty-six tactical air sorties during two days at Medevac Meadow.[25]  Myers saw one FAC make low passes to drop canisters of water to the Red Beret troopers who had not been resupplied for two days. Most of the containers missed the mark or burst upon landing, but some made it into the perimeter intact.[26] Early the next morning, the Medevac crew chief and copilot retrieved from the destroyed Huey a few glass bottles of saline solution that survived the wreck and fire. It was all they had to drink that day.[27]

Overnight, artillery support from Oklahoma became even more important. The NVA attacked the Airborne position three times during the night and were repulsed each time. Oklahoma responded with precise artillery fire, sometimes extremely close to the eastern tree line. Many of the gunners had not slept much during the prior forty-eight hours. The Red Hats also called on flare ships and Air Force gun-ships to help defend the Airborne posi-tion.

A Rescue Plan

Myers returned to 6th Battalion’s com-mand post at FSB Oklahoma, monitoring the situation on the ground via the radio net. At the firebase, he received a surprise visit from Lieutenant General Michael S. Davison, II Field Force Commander, who asked simply, “What do you need, Captain?” Myers replied, “Sir, I need a B-52 strike.” Davison said, “You’ve got it.” The general ordered an Arc Light mission for 1500 hours the next day.

Brigadier General Robert M. Shoemaker flew in later to be briefed on the situation. Shoemaker was a principal architect of airmobile warfare concepts and an experienced helicopter pilot. He flew his own command and control (C&C) chopper throughout his tour.[28] Shoemaker listened to all the information about the condition of the wounded (there were now about forty casualties), the resupply situation, and the ability of the troopers to hold on. He vowed to round up additional resources and return in the morning with a plan.

Overnight at Quan Loi, Shoemaker ordered the local Medevac, Blue Max, and Headhunter commanders to design a rescue operation.[29] Blue Max committed six gunships to the mission, half the entire C Battery fleet. Headhunters provides two Cobras and a Huey as a C&C bird. The Medevac platoon had lost so many aircraft the first day that it borrowed several Hueys for non-combat missions.[30] That freed up enough Medevac birds to send four on the rescue. Three flew as primary and one as backup.

Early the next day, Shoemaker flew into FSB Oklahoma to brief the Airborne and the artillery commanders on the plan. Major Jolly of B Troop also arrived with his  C&C helicopter. After a fifteen minute briefing, everyone left to rendezvous at Medevac Meadow with the Hueys and Cobras coming from Quan Loi. An additional C&C helicopter carried the 6thAirborne Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Trương Vĩnh Phước, Battalion Senior Advisor Captain Myers, the battery commander at FSB Oklahoma Captain Hayden, and the Vietnamese artillery commander. General Shoemaker flew his own Huey in overall control.[31]

Beginning at 0930, Red Markers directed a series of strikes into the perimeter of Medevac Meadow controlled by the well-bunkered NVA. When the airstrikes ended at 1100, the fleet of sixteen helicopters arrived on station – eight Cobras, four Medevac Hueys, and four command and control birds. According to Myers’s description:[32]

“The plan was for the landing zone to be ringed by artillery fire, friendly troops, and gunship suppressive fire. After we were airborne, we first adjusted the artillery. There were two Vietnamese 105mm batteries, a 155 mm battery, and the American 8-inch battery.[33] The artillery prep was fired and the wood line was smoked[34] and then the extraction was started. Arty fires were not shut down, but shifted to form a corridor through which the Medevac ships were to fly. The gunships formed a continuous ‘daisy chain’ whereby suppressive fire was kept on the area of greatest enemy concentration.”

After the artillery adjustment, Shoemaker flew his chopper at low level the length of the field to check the safety of the corridor before clearing the gunships and Medevac birds to proceed.[35] CW2 Mac Cookson led the flight of Cobras with Captain Ron Wood in the front seat. The Blue Max birds to flew a south to north pattern con-centrating their fire on the western tree line. The two Headhunter gunships flew east to west at the north end of the field firing into the northern tree line being careful not overlap the Blue Max pattern. Mac ordered everyone to save some ammo “just in case something went wrong.” His caution was justified.

The plan worked almost to perfection. The three primary Medevacs came in one at a time, loaded up, and took off in sequence. The first two made it out of the clearing without significant damage. CW2 Richard Tanner, Medevac 24, came in first and picked up the surviving crew of Medevac 2 at about 1115. Captain Jack Roden, Medevac 7, landed second and took off with most of the wounded paratroopers. The third ship, Medevac 25 commanded by CW2 William Salinger picked up the remaining seriously wounded. His ship was hit heavily as it took off. It sank back to the ground and caught fire. Before the backup bird flown by CW2 Denny Schmidt, Medevac 23, and his copilot Monty Halcomb could react, Major Jolly radioed from his C&C ship, “Saber Six is inbound! Cover me!” Before the blades on Medevac 25 had stopped turning, Jolly dropped his Huey into Medevac Meadow beside the burning ship. Salinger and his crew shuttled the wounded Vietnamese aboard the rescue bird. Jolly exited the hot LZ with Blue Max providing cover with their remaining ammo.[36] However, Jolly’s ship was badly damaged. He barely made it to a nearby cold LZ and safely landed, to be picked up later by another Huey.

Several days later, General Shoemaker presented “impact” awards to some of the rescue participants in a ceremony at Bien Hoa Air Base.[37] One recipient was Cobra aircraft commander CW2 Mac Cookson. Mac received a Silver Star for his contribution to the rescue. Captain Hank Tuell, aircraft commander of Medevac 1, stood beside Mac in the award formation and received a Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart for the first day’s combat. Nineteen days later, General Shoemaker received a Silver Star. At FSB Oklahoma, commander of the Vietnamese Airborne Division General Dư Quốc Đông presented a Cross of Gallantry to Captain Hayden and Lieutenant Granberg for the excellent work by their 8-inch battery. Red Marker Radio Operator Jim Yeonopolus was awarded a Cross of Gallantry recognizing his work coor-dinating strike aircraft for the Red Marker FACs during the engagement.[38]

 Back in the Fight

Relieved of their serious casualties, the Airborne companies withdrew a couple of klicks to the southeast. Resupply choppers soon arrived with food, water, ammo, and medical supplies. At 1500 hours, the promised Arc Light mission hit Medevac Meadow. A light helicopter flew over later to assess the damage. Surviving NVA drove it off with ground fire but not before the pilot saw numerous dead and a lot of destroyed concrete bunkers.

There is no official estimate of enemy casualties, but the NVA must have suffered tremendous losses.[39] They made four frontal assaults across the open meadow into the dug-in Airborne position. The artillery units at FSB Oklahoma poured extremely accurate fire into the NVA tree line. Air Force fighters bombed and strafed the NVA bunkers with thirty-six sorties during the two days. Blue Max Cobras flew at least thirty sorties expending rockets, minigun, and 40 mm grenades into the NVA position. The B-52 Arc Light mission dropped eighty-one tons of explosives. That totaled a signi-ficant amount of ordnance in a relatively small area.

The 61st and 63rd Airborne Companies swept the area the next day. They captured weapons, signal equipment, and some wounded combatants. Some of those were in a hospital complex. Clearly, this was part of a major base camp area. The two companies continued to battle in the Fishhook until withdrawn with the rest of 6th Battalion on 25 June. At that point, each company had about forty effective troopers remaining of their original hundred.

The engagement at Medevac Meadow impressed Myers in a number of ways, as he wrote in his letter to U.S. Army Aviation Digest:

“I saw time and again the courage and concern of one pilot on behalf of another. I saw outstanding teamwork between Vietnamese and American forces, be-tween air and ground forces, and between combat and combat support forces. I saw magnificent employment of air/ground coordination to provide massed fires.

“I saw commanders all the way up to the three-star level who were vitally interested and concerned for the welfare of their men and who were willing to get personally involved to remedy a bad situation. And finally, I saw raw courage and heroism displayed time and time again by U.S. and ARVN soldiers alike.”[40]

——

[1] The description of the following event is based on numerous sources, some of which contain conflicting detail: Dust Off: Army Aeromedical Evacuation in Vietnam by Peter Dorland and James Nanney; magazine article by then Captain Stephen F. Modica, U.S. Army Aviation Digest, June 1975; letter written by former Red Hat Major Jesse W. Myers in response to that article; emails among various surviving participants, including former Lieutenant Jerry Granberg and Ralph Jones (artillerymen), former Sergeant Patrick Martin (Medevac crew chief), Major (R) Jesse Myers (Red Hat), Colonel (R) Hank Tuell and former Captain Monty Halcomb (Medevac pilots), Major (R) George Alexander, former Captain Ron Wood, CW3 (R) Mac Cookson, and former CW2 Paul Garrity (Cobra pilots); Oral History and other statements by Warrant Officer Rocco; mission statements by Alexander, Garrity, and Tuell; various reports of related awards and citations/orders; and other sources as individually footnoted.

[2] Grid Coordinates XU425098, per the History of the “Proud Americans” at ­­­­ https://proudamericans. homestead.com/VIETNAM_1963-1971-1.pdf

[3] Emails July 2021, former Lieutenant Jerry Granberg, second in command, A Battery, 2nd of the 32nd Field Artillery.

[4] Medevac Platoon, 15th Medical Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), and C Battery, 2nd Battalion Aerial Rocket Artillery, 20th Artillery Regiment, 1stCavalry Division (Airmobile), known as Blue Max.

[5] See Glossary for explanation of Hot Alert.

[6] Unidentified but likely Lieutenant Mayberry, Red Marker 19.

[7] Flechette warheads contained hundreds of steel nail-like projectiles.

[8] The grid coordinates Modica screamed into the mike designated a one-kilometer square of territory about five miles inside the Fishhook north of Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam. In an article Modica wrote for the magazine U.S. Army Aviation Digest, he incorrectly stated the coordinates as XU5606, which is right on the border of Cambodia and Vietnam rather than five miles inside. Chalk that up to the “Fog of War” and frailty of human memory. Interestingly, “5606” is the designation of the hydraulic fluid used in the Huey, which might explain why the number came to Modica’s mind while writing from memory about five years later. According to the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots’ Association, XU507010 is the six digit grid coordinate for the downed Medevac, tail number 69-15121.

[9] Lt Alexander, Precise Sword 12, did not see the tail boom break away, but did notice that the tail rotor was not operating as the Wild Deuce tried to climb. Both Vietnamese company commanders stated that the tail boom hit a tree and broke off, which could have been caused by the rotor being inoperative.

[10] Another Cobra pilot, WO Brian Russ, claims to have been flying Precise Sword 12 with Alexander in the front seat. Aircraft commander Alexander disputes that claim. Cobra commanders Garrity and Cookson also believe that Russ was not involved in the mission.

[11] Rocco’s oral history recorded in 1987 testifies to the volume of fire. The crew does not believe they would have gotten safely to the tree line without the protection of the Blue Max Cobras. The damage inflicted on the helicopters speaks for itself.

[12] Statement by George Alexander in possession of the author. Note: That person could have been Red Hat Rocco, Clason, or Philhower, who all wore camouflage fatigues. Modica and Caubarreaux wrote that Rocco pulled them from the wreckage. Both Vietnamese company commanders credited Clason and Philhower and stated they did not see any other American.

[13] Details of the failed rescue attempts are primarily from several sources:

[14] Killer Spade was the unit call sign used by B Company, 229th Aviation Battalion (Assault Helicopter), part of the 1st Cavalry Division.

[15] Emails and telecon, Jan 2022, with Cecil M. (Monty) Halcomb, former Captain, USA pilot on Medevac 12, later aircraft commander of Medevac 8.

[16] Winchester – flyers slang for “out of ammo.”

[17] A basic rule of modern warfare – “Tracers work both ways.” Tracers help a gunner see how close the gunfire is to the target, but they reveal the gunner’s exact position.

[18] Jesse Myers recalls advising Medevac 12 to make such an approach. Monty Halcomb does not remember that communication.

[19] Halcomb telecom. Also, Joe Baugher’s Serial Number website lists UH-1H tail number 69-15139 as written off on 26 May 1970. That may have been Medevac 12. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1969.html

[20] From Halcomb. Lee used Modica’s survival radio to communicate with Zepp.

[21] From the Citation to accompany the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to Warrant Officer (then Sergeant First Class) Louis Richard Rocco.

[22] The Blue Max aircraft commanders, Lt. Alexander and CW2 Garrity were recommended for the Silver Star, but that paperwork was lost. To date, each has been awarded an Air Medal with V device for Valor. Attempts to upgrade the awards to Silver Stars have been denied.

[23] Snake and Nape – Air Force slang for High-drag bombs (“Snake”) and Napalm (Nape”). This was a standard ordinance load for situations with troops in contact.

[24] Colonel Lloyd L. Prevett, USAF (Ret), emails Dec 2020.

[25] Most of those strikes were controlled by Red Markers Dave Blair and Byron Mayberry (both now deceased) and Lloyd Prevett.

[26] The FAC who made these drops is unknown. None of the surviving Red Markers or crew chiefs remember such a mission. Medevac pilot Monty Halcomb recalls a sector FAC, call sign Rod 15, who flew from Quan Loi as being the one involved. The Rod FACs supported the 5th Vietnamese Infantry Division, a unit not involved in the Fishhook operation. However, if Rod 15 were in the air, he would have heard the Mayday call and could have learned of the plight of the men on the ground. The author continues to search for Rod 15.

[27] Emails, Jan-Jul 2021, former Sergeant Patrick Martin, crew chief on Medevac 2, Medevac Platoon, 15th Medical Battalion.

[28] Lieutenant General (R ) H.G. “Pete” Taylor, telephone interviews, January 2021.

[29] Local commanders were Majors Mike Haggerty, Donald E. “Gene” Wilson, and Jolly, respectively. “Headhunter” was the nickname of the 1st Squadron, 9thCavalry Regiment of the 1st Air Cav. B Troop was located at Quan Loi.

[30] The borrowed helicopters were from “Dust Off,” the 45th Medical Company, Air Ambulance, out of Long Binh.

[31] Shoemaker logged 14.3 hours flying time on 25 May 1970 per Individual Flight Record, DA Form 759-1, Archives Texas A & M University – Central Texas

[32] From Myers’s letter to U.S. Army Aviation Digest, undated but shortly after June 1975.

[33] Myers does not know the location of the Vietnamese batteries engaged in this effort. The Vietnamese had their own forward observers and controlled their own batteries.

[34] With white phosphorus shells to screen the evacuation flight path.

[35] Per General Order Number 2605, Award of the Silver Star Medal (First Oak Leaf Cluster) to Brigadier General Robert M. Shoemaker, 13 June 1970. The first award of the Silver Star and of a Distinguished Flying Cross to then Colonel Shoemaker came in 1965 as a Battalion Commander with the 12th Cavalry Regiment.

[36] In an earlier description of this engagement, the identity of the helicopter that picked up the Medevac 25 personnel was unknown. Subsequently, Ron Wood Identified Major Jolly and the participation of two Cobras from Jolly’s unit. Telecon and emails with Wood, December 2022.

[37] A so-called impact award did not go through the normal steps requiring recommendation, review and approval. An appropriate authority could grant such an award to give immediate recognition for actions that had a significant impact on a battle or mission.

[38] Peter Dorland and James Nanney wrote at page 106 in Dust Off: Army Aeromedical Evacuation in Vietnam that nine Silver stars were awarded to pilots and crewmembers involved in the rescue. I have not been able to confirm that number. Dorland and Nanney did not cite to a record. Unfortunately, both those men are now deceased.

[39] A newspaper article on 26 May reported very few casualties on both sides. It was obviously incomplete. “Fort Lauderdale News”

[40] Myers letter.

Revolutionary War Story: William Rankin of Virginia’s Northern Neck (part 3 of 5)

The previous article in this series ended with the Battle of Ft. Washington on November 16, 1776. William Rankin was captured there and imprisoned in Manhattan. Against long odds, he survived. His elder brother Robert Rankin was not in that battle, so far as we can determine.[1] Their war experience diverged after Ft. Washington, despite the fact that both had enlisted in Captain Brady’s Company of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment. Most soldiers in that regiment fought at Ft. Washington.[2]

Let’s turn to their individual war stories. We’ll start with William because there is so much detail in his pension application file. Robert, bless his heart, didn’t have much to say about his war experience.

Private William Rankin[3]

The facts William states in his pension application dovetail with military history to a “T.”[4] His memory was awesome. His military service had been over for more than fifty-four years when he made his application declaration in November 1833 from Mason County, Kentucky. Here is part of what his declaration said:

    • He enlisted in July 1776 for a term of three years in Berkeley County, Virginia. He enlisted in Capt. William Brady’s company of Col. Hugh Stephenson’s regiment. He notes that Stephenson soon died and the company was attached to Col. Moses Rawlings regiment. William didn’t say so, but Rawlings was Stephenson’s second-in-command of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment. The regiment to which William’s company belonged didn’t change after Stephenson’s death, it just had a new commander.
    • William marched first to Philadelphia, then went to Trenton by water, then marched to Princeton.[5] All of his regiment went first to Philadelphia, where Washington was having his men inoculated for smallpox.[6] Next, William marched to Ft. Lee and Ft. Washington.[7] He stated the precise date of the battle at Ft. Washington. I’ll bet he could also have testified to the weather conditions.
    • The British imprisoned William in one of the notorious “sugar houses” in Manhattan before transferring him “after some time” to the British ship “the Duttons.”[8] The majority of British prisoners in New York City – four out of five – did not survive captivity.[9] Instead, they died of starvation or disease. William must have been a pretty tough teenager.

That gets us to the point in the previous article where we left William.  In February or March 1777, the British paroled him and he went from New York to Philadelphia. In April 1777, said William, “he was sent home by direction of Gen. Daniel Morgan who happened to be a personal acquaintance.”[10] He was recalled from home a year later to rejoin some remains of Rawlings’ Regiment at Ft. Frederick in Frederick, Maryland.[11] From there he went to Ft. Pitt in Pittsburgh, where he worked as an “artificer” – someone who constructed fortifications.[12] He was discharged at Ft. Pitt when his three-year enlistment ended in mid-1779.

Now let’s go back to when Morgan sent him home from Philadelphia. Thomas Jones filed an affidavit in support of William’s pension application, confirming that Morgan ordered him to take William home to Virginia. Jones said “in the year 1777 he received from the hand of General Morgan … William Rankin in … Philadelphia, a sick soldier … to convey Rankin to Virginia, his former state of residence.”[13]

Jones took William home in a wagon.[14] In my imagination, William was horizontal on the wagon bed, on top of and under (I hope) some blankets. A John Kercheval also filed an affidavit in support of William’s pension application. Kercheval stated that “he met the said William Rankin returning to Virginia then in a low state of health in the wagon of Thomas Jones who lived in the neighborhood.”[15]

Where the heck was William’s home? He was still a teenager in April 1777, about eighteen. You would think he was going home to recuperate under the care of his family of origin, wouldn’t you? Inquiring minds want to know who they were …

William leaves us dangling on that question. Kercheval was more helpful. In the middle of his affidavit is this attention-grabber: Kercheval said he understood “from Mr. [William] Rankin’s brother Robert Rankin, who was an officer, that his brother William” was at one time ordered to Pittsburgh. Yes, indeed, William Rankin was once in Pittsburgh, where he was discharged. William’s brother is the man I nicknamed “Lt. Robert” in the  first article in this series.

William may not have identified his parents, but his file gave us his brother, which is one clue to his family of origin. There’s more. William also provides the link between the Rankin and Kercheval families. William said that “John Kercheval and his wife Jane Kercheval both know that he did serve in the war of the Revolution and the latter recollects the day he marched from her fathers in Frederick County Virginia.”

John Kercheval’s wife was Jane Berry, a daughter of Thomas Berry of Frederick County.[16] One of Jane Berry Kercheval’s sisters was Margaret “Peggy” Berry, who married Lt. Robert Rankin in Frederick County. Seventeen or eighteen-year-old William Rankin may have enlisted in Berkeley County, but he marched off to war from Frederick County – to be exact, from Thomas Berry’s house. My imagination has Jane Berry and her sister Peggy, both still single, watching Robert Rankin (Peggy’s fiancee)[17] and his brother William march off to war from their father Thomas Berry’s house in Frederick County.[18]

Kercheval also testified that “William Rankins not long after the war was done settled in … Frederick” County, where he was still living when Kercheval moved to Mason County, Kentucky about 1798-1799.[19] That seems to imply that William wasn’t living in Frederick County before the war, which comports with him having enlisted from Berkeley. William was definitely in Frederick by 1792, because a Frederick County lease and release[20] recites that William was “of Frederick” in that year. Two Frederick deeds prove William had a wife named Mary Ann and a son named Harrison.[21] Thomas Berry was a witness to those instruments.

There is another tidbit or two in William’s pension file. Kercheval also said that William Rankin was “a very respectable man and entitled to credit in any court or county … he is a wealthy farmer of Mason County Kentucky.” Some of William’s wealth undoubtedly came from land speculation, which may have been Lt. Robert’s financial undoing. William said that his discharge papers had been “lost long ago or put in the land office in Virginia to get land warrants.”[22] At that point, his remarkable memory fogged up. He said he “could not recollect but possibly the latter,” he “having traded so much in that business cannot speak certainly.”

William was certainly well off by the standards of the day, when wealth was measured in part by ownership of other people. The 1836 inventory of his estate included twenty enslaved persons.[23] The current account of his estate in November 1839 showed an amount to be distributed of $17,911, after payment of an agreed $1,000 fee to the two estate administrators.[24]

That is all of William Rankin’s story I can tease out of online records.[25] He died intestate in Mason County on April 12, 1836, leaving a widow and children to collect the remainder of his pension.[26] William may be buried in the Old Washington Cemetery (AKA the Washington Baptist Church Cemetery) in Mason County. [27]

William’s pension file doesn’t name his children. Fortunately, a deed and court record fill in the blanks. First, a deed was executed conveying William’s land in September 1836. It identified the grantors as the heirs at law of William Rankin.[28] The heirs – in this case, his children– sold William’s land for $12,930. The tract was near the town of Washington on the waters of Lawrence’s Creek adjacent a Berry family. The deed excepted a graveyard.

Here are William’s heirs, along with the names of their spouses and their locations when they executed the deed.

  1. Blackston H. Rankin and wife Elizabeth of Bracken County, Kentucky.
  2. James M. Rankin and wife Lorina, also of Bracken County.
  3. John Hall and wife Elizabeth Rankin Hall of Scott County, Kentucky.
  4. Wyete (sic, Wyatt?) C. Webb and wife Ann D. Rankin Webb, also of Scott County.
  5. George D. Stockton and wife Harriett Rankin Stockton of Fleming County, Kentucky.
  6. John L. Rankin and wife Mary J. of Mason County.
  7. George W. Stockton and wife Caroline S.? Rankin of Illinois.
  8. Robert P. Rankin and wife Mary C. of Scott County, Kentucky.
  9. Thomas P. Rankin of Mason County.

Finally, here is a record from the Mason County court order book for September 1836.[29] It names eleven children rather than nine and was proved by the oaths of John Hall and Marshall Rankin. I don’t know Mr. Hall, but Marshall Rankin was William’s nephew – a son of William’s brother John. The purpose of the court order was to establish a claim to William’s pension. The children are listed in this order:

  1. Harrison Rankin. You may remember him from the lease and release for life back in Frederick County.
  2. Blackston H. Rankin
  3. James M. Rankin
  4. John L. Rankin
  5. Robert P. Rankin
  6. Thomas Rankin
  7. Elizabeth married John Hall
  8. Sarah married James Rankins
  9. Harriet married George D. Stockton
  10. Ann married Wyatt Webb
  11. Caroline married George W. Stockton

The court order list adds two children to the heirs identified in the deed: a son Harrison and a daughter Sarah, who married a James Rankins. It also states that William Rankin died on 12 April 1836 and his widow Mary Ann died on 29 July 1836.

May you rest in peace, William. And now … on to your more famous brother’s war story.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

[1] Gary and I found no military records to prove Robert’s location in 1776. Consequently, we can only speculate why he wasn’t in the battle at Ft. Washington. Perhaps he was one of the Rifle Regiment’s members who remained at Ft. Lee because of sickness? See Tucker F. Hentz, Unit History of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment (1776–1781): Insights from the Service Record of Capt. Adamson Tannehill (Richmond: Virginia Historical Society, 2007) 12, Note 50, at this link. Perhaps Robert was actually in the battle, but was neither killed nor captured? Statistically, that is highly improbable.

[2] William’s pension application declaration expressly stated that he enlisted in Brady’s company. Robert’s declaration didn’t name a company and contains an error about his regiment. Fortunately, muster and payroll records for Gabriel Long’s composite company of Virginia riflemen consistently name remnants of Brady’s company, including Robert Rankin. Those rolls specifically identify Robert as a member of Brady’s company. The remaining members of the other two rifle companies (Captains Shepherd’s and West’s) that were decimated at Ft. Washington also appear on rolls for Long’s composite rifle company.

[3] Information about William Rankin’s military history is largely taken from his pension application file. I made screen shots of many of the original images at Fold3, but unfortunately I rarely included the page number assigned to each image by Fold3. Accordingly, I have simply cited to “William’s pension application” with a brief description of the document in question. One of these days, I will go through the drill again and identify page numbers.

[4] William’s pension declaration echoes the history of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment, some of which was the subject of the previous article about the Northern Neck Rankins.

[5] Pension file of William Rankin, S.31315 (hereafter, “William Rankin’s pension file”), his sworn declaration supporting his pension application dated 22 Nov. 1833 in Mason Co., KY.

[6] Hentz, Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment. See p. 15 re: smallpox inoculations. The Philadelphia location was obviously before the British occupied the city in September 1777 following Washington’s defeat at Brandywine.

[7] William Rankin’s pension file, sworn declaration.

[8] Id.

[9] This discussion of “Prisoner of War Facts” states “[b]y the end of 1776, there were over 5,000 prisoners held in New York City. More than half … came from the soldiers captured at the battle of Fort Washington and Fort Lee.” Four out of five prisoners died.

[10] Morgan was actually a Colonel when he sent William home, although he ended his career as a General and was undoubtedly referred to with that title by anyone who knew him. Morgan lived on a farm just east of Winchester in Frederick Co. and was apparently acquainted with the Rankin family. See this link.

[11] William Rankin’s pension file, sworn declaration.

[12] United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, Familysearch.org, FHL Film/Fiche Number 7197150, image 57, return of Capt. Heth’s Company at Ft. Pitt, listing Private William Rankins as an “artificer.” He apparently recovered from his prison ordeal.

[13] William Rankin’s pension file, affidavit of Thomas Jones. I took some liberties with the affidavit’s spelling.

[14] Id., affidavit of John Kercheval.

[15] Id.

[16] Will of Thomas Berry of Frederick Co., VA dated 20 Feb 1806, proved Frederick Co. 4 Mar 1819. Copy certified and recorded in Mason Co., KY at Will Book E: 17 et seq. Thomas named his daughter Peggy, who married Col. Robert Rankin (that was his rank in the KY militia, not the Revolutionary War), and his daughter Jane, who married John Kercheval. Thomas Berry left part of his land in Mason County to his daughters Peggy Rankin and Jane Kercheval.

[17] Pension file of Robert Rankins, No. W26365 or Peggy B. Rankin, L.Wt. 1380-200, images of originals available from Fold3.com. Peggy (Berry) Rankin’s declaration dated 16 Feb. 1844 states that she and Robert were married on Oct. 1, 1781 in Frederick County while he was on furlough after his capture at Charleston, they “having been previously engaged.” Peggy’s declaration is at pages 16-19 of their combined Fold3 file.

[18] Presumably, William would not have bothered to mention that Peggy also saw him march off to war. By 1833, she and Robert no longer lived in Mason County and Peggy wasn’t available to testify in support of his pension application.

[19] Id.

[20] A “lease and release” was a two-step land transaction created to circumvent the English Statute of Uses. The two documents were typically executed on consecutive days. Together, they had the effect of a conveyance of land in fee simple.

[21] See Frederick Co., VA Deed Book 24A: 152, 155, lease and release dated 3 Nov 1792 from Fairfax, proprietor of the Northern Neck, to William Rankin of Frederick, 79 acres, part of the “Chestnut Level” in Frederick. Lease for the lives of William Rankin, his wife Mary Ann Rankin, and son Harrison Rankin. One witness was Thomas Berry.

[22] William Rankin’s pension file, declaration of 22 Nov. 1833.

[23] Mason Co., KY Will Book K: 448, inventory of William Rankin’s estate dated 4 June 1836.

[24] Mason Co., KY Will Book L: 538, Nov. 1839 current account of John L. Rankin and Robert P. Rankin, administrators of the account of William Rankin, dec’d.

[25] Deeds would probably provide evidence of William’s land speculation and the identity of other family members who witnessed his deeds or were grantees.

[26] William Rankin’s pension file, letter dated 14 May 1927 from Winfield Scott, Commissioner of the Revolutionary and 1812 Wars (pension?) Section, to an inquiry about William’s record from Miss May Harrison. Scott’s reply noted William’s date of death and failure of his pension file to mention names of wife and children. See also a letter of 17 Sep 1931 responsive to a request about William from Mr. Walter H. Rankins stating the same facts.

[27] See Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry, Cemetery Records, Mason County, Kentucky, Vol. 1 (Chillicothe, MO: 1965). The contents of that book were the source for the Mason County Cemetery Index database on Ancestry.com.

[28] Mason County Deed Book 43: 65.

[29] Mason Co., KY Court Order Book M: 403 (FHL Film No. 8192456, Image No. 563 et seq.).

James Winn, Son of Daniel of Lunenburg: Lost but now Found? Probably …

REVISED TO INCORPORATE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY A DESCENDANT

I recently stumbled across online images of a Winn family Bible I had not seen before.[1] The Bible is from the family of James Winn, son of Daniel Winn of Lunenburg County, Virginia. James’s wife was Mary Ann Winn, daughter of John and Ann Stone Winn, also of Lunenburg. I wrote about James and Mary Ann briefly in Part IV of the recent Lunenburg Winn series.

What stands out about James in that article is his Revolutionary War service. He enlisted in February 1776 for two years in Capt. James Johnson’s company of the 6th Virginia Regiment, as did his brothers Elisha and William Winn.[2] He is shown on a Revolutionary War roll as a Sergeant in May 1777.[3] His individual service record lists him in Capt. Billey Haley Avery’s company of the 6th Virginia Regiment from August 1777 through January 1778. He was discharged in February 1778 at Valley Forge.[4] That catches most people’s attention, as well it should. And because today is November 11, I hereby send best wishes and gratitude to all veterans, including my husband Gary, a Vietnam vet, and (posthumously) to James Winn, a many-greats uncle of mine.

Back to the Winns: my article goes on to say that James probably left Lunenburg because there doesn’t seem to be a will or estate administration for him there. I added that I did not know where he went. In short, I just flat lost James and Mary Ann.

So … have we found James, son of Daniel, in this family Bible record? As a black plastic “Magic 8 Ball”[5] might say, “all signs point to ‘yes.’ ” For starters, the first members of the family recorded in the Bible are named James and Mary Ann Winn. The Bible says he was born in 1757. I had estimated that Daniel’s son James was born in 1757-1758, so the Bible’s birth year is spot on.

Also, several descendants of this family have been accepted by the D.A.R. on the basis of the Revolutionary War service of James Winn, son of Daniel Winn of Lunenburg. In short, there is every reason to accept that the James and Mary Ann Winn in the Bible record are the same people as James and Mary Ann Winn of Lunenburg.

But wait, there’s more … one descendant of James posted a comment on the original version of this article. She says the line has been Y-DNA tested and is well-established as part of the genetic family of Daniel Winn of Lunenburg. This blog has turned out to be a great way to meet nice cousins, and she is another one who is also a great researcher.

There is an “in memory of” marker for a James F. Winn in the Oakwood Cemetery in Martinsville, the county seat of Henry County, Virginia. Here it is:

Please note that the marker is fairly modern, perhaps mid 20th-century. The cemetery wasn’t founded until 1883, sixty-eight years after James died, so it is virtually certain that he was not buried there.[6]

A minor nitpick: the many Lunenburg records for James Winn, son of Daniel, never included a middle initial. The same is true for his military service records, which have his first and last names only, with no middle initial. There is no evidence of a middle name or initial in the Bible, either … he is simply James Winn. Nevertheless, the marker includes a middle initial, and most Ancestry trees identify him as “James Francis Winn.” Of course, people routinely include middle names for 18th-century men without any basis in the records, so this isn’t s a big surprise.

OK, back to the Bible. It was printed in 1833, roughly two decades after James and Mary Ann died. The family entries are in two parts.  First, there is a list of gifts of the Bible from one Winn family member to the next – i.e., the Bible’s ownership provenance. Four pages headed “Family Register” follow. Those pages record names, dates of birth, and some marriages for family members. I was reeling after reading both, and didn’t feel as though I had a handle on this family until I did a fair amount of additional research. May you have better luck.

Here, sans commentary, is a verbatim transcription of the family information. It begins with the provenance of the Bible and continues with the four pages of “Family Register” entries.

“This my fathers family Bible. I will to my niece Susie Winn Shute after my death it is to be hers. [Signed] Mary A. Thompson. April 30, 1895.”

“I give this Bible to my cousin Walter S. Winn & if he ________ [indecipherable] _______ William Winn. [Signed] Susie W. Shute.”

“I give this Bible to John T. Winn Jr. with the request that it be kept in the Winn family. Walter S. Winn, June 5th1920.”

“I give this Bible to William Edward Winn with the request that it be kept in the Winn family. Jan. 28, 1962, Charlotte, NC, John T. Winn Jr.”

“I give this Bible to Thomas Edward Winn with the request that it be kept in the Winn family. April 26, 2003, Charlotte, NC.”

Here is the first page headed “FAMILY REGISTER.” In the original Bible, the names are shown in two columns on each page. I couldn’t make that format work here. Sorry. It would be easier reading.

Column 1

James Winn was born April 14th 1757

Mary Ann was born 14th December 1759

Olive Winn was born January 28th 1779

Crecy Winn was born November 29th 1780

Archelaus Winn was born November 17th 1784

Younger Winn was born April 12th 1786

Frances Winn was born October 15th 1787

Coleman Winn was born June 30th 1789

Elizabeth Ann Winn was born June 15th 1791

Column 2

James Winn and Mary Ann Winn were married on the 15th of May 1778

Jerusha James Winn was born March 7th 1793

James Sibley Winn was born January 1st 1795

Arlysha Scott Winn and Clearecy Harloe Winn twin sisters were born February 4th 1797

Whitehead Washington Winn was born February 22nd 1799

Clarecy Harloe Winn died Sept 6th 1802

Mary Ann Winn the wife of James Winn died August 13th 1813

End of first page of the register. Here is the second page, also titled FAMILY REGISTER …

Column 1

James Winn died June 14th 1815

Mary Ann Winn his wife died August 13th 1813

Susanna Winn died Dec 16th 1864.

Archelaus W. Winn died April 13th 1868

Column 2

Calma C. Winn wife of Rev. G. W. Winn died Aug 4th 1893.

George Washington Winn died April 8, 1895

Livin A. Winn died May 16th 1892

Louisa Yourman? Winn died June 25th 1894

Mary Ann Winn Thompson died Oct 29 1905, the last of the old family

End of the second page. Here is the third page of the Family Register …

Column 1

Archelaus W. Winn was born Nov. 17th 1784

Susanna Ballanfant was born January 23rd 1789

Ebenezer P. Winn was born Aug 17th 1809

James Winn was b. June 26th 1812

John B. Winn Sept. 2nd 1814

Joseph B. Winn Dec. 6 1816

George W. Winn b. Jul 5th 1819

Mary Ann Winn Nov. 23, 1821

Column 2

Louisa Y. Winn 28 Apr 1824

Levin A. Winn 22 Mar 1826

William Alexander Winn Aug 29th 182? 1828?

Franklin L. P. Winn 20 May 1831

Mary Elizabeth Hoskins was b. 21 Dec 1837

F. L. P. Winn and M. E. Hoskins were married 1855

End of the third page of the register. Here is the fourth and final page …

Column 1

Joseph B. Winn died Jan 9th 1828

John B. Winn died Oct 23rd 1855

Ebenezer P. Winn d. 12 Jul 1863

John A. Thompson died Oct 21 1866

William A. Winn d. 12 Dec 1866

Silas D. Thompson d. Nov 8th 1882

Column 2

John Thompson Winn d. July 12, 1932, Bedford Co., TN, son of F.L.P. and M.E. Winn was born Mar 23, 1856.

Walter Salt? Winn son of Livin A. Winn and Marth A. Winn was b. July 2 1864

Emma Ellen Maxwell Winn wife of W. S. Winn was born Oct. 5, 1871

John A. Thompson and Mary A. Winn was married Aug 10th 1852

S.? D. Thompson and Mary A. Thompson m. Dec 13th 1870

E. L. Winn son of J. T. Winn Sr. was born Feb 16 1882

And that’s all of the family information in the Bible. If the spirit moves, I will prepare and post a conventional descendant chart for clarity, along with some additional information from census and other records.

See you on down the road.

Robin

[1] The Bible is online at the Library of Virginia at this link.

[2] James Winn’s military muster rolls at the National Archives can be viewed  at this link.

[3] Online at FamilySearch.org, United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783: May 1777 muster roll, Sergeant James Winn and Corporal Elisha Winn in Capt. James Johnson’s company of the 6th Virginia Regiment, available here.

Id., Capt. Billy Haley Averys Company of the 6th Virginia Regiment, January 1778, Sergeant James Winn and Corporal Elisha Winn. NARA Series M246, Roll 103, online at this link.

[4] See Valley Forge Muster Roll Project here.

[5] Mattel still manufactures the Magic 8 Ball.

[6] Here is a link to the Find-a-Grave site for Oakwood Cemetery.

QUERY: (1) WHO WAS JOHN WINN d. AMELIA COUNTY 1781 and (2) WAS HE RELATED TO THE LUNENBURG WINNS?

— ANONYMOUS

Hooray! A query via email …

Answer #1: the circumstantial evidence is that Lt. Col. John Winn of Amelia County, Virginia (hereafter “Col. John”)[1] was a son of Richard Winn of Hanover County. Richard’s wife and perhaps John’s mother was Phebe, widow of a Mr. Pledger.

Answer #2: Yes, Amelia John was related to the Winn families of Lunenburg County.

Well. I suppose an explanation and some evidence is in order. Alternatively, we could avoid a lot of footnotes if readers would just accept my version of the facts as readily as people accept unsourced family trees on Ancestry.

No?

I thought not.

For Answer #1, we need to look at records involving Richard Winn of Hanover County. They establish that (1) Richard married Phebe ___ Pledger,[2] (2) he owned land in Amelia County, (3) he didn’t live in Amelia but paid taxes on some enslaved people there, and (4) Col. John subsequently acquired Richard’s tract and the enslaved people, evidently via inheritance.

(1) A 1733 Hanover County lease and release proves Richard Winn’s wife was Phebe, the widow of a Mr. Pledger.[3] We don’t know when Richard and Phebe married, so we can’t be certain that Phebe was the mother of Richard’s children.

(2) In 1744, Richard Winn of Hanover County bought 388 acres in Amelia County in the fork below the Little Nottoway River and Lazaritta Creek.[4] Richard had tithable (taxable) people on that tract in at least 1746, 1748, and 1749, even though he didn’t live in Amelia.[5] In 1749, John Wilke or Wilkes, perhaps Richard’s overseer, was one of his taxables. The two other taxable people with Wilkes were enslaved persons named Harry and Flowrey? The latter name is difficult to read on the film. Turns out it is “Flora,” perhaps pronounced “Flory,” see item (3).

(3) In 1751, the Amelia tax list includes an entry for John (rather than Richard) Winn, with taxables Joseph Wilkes, Harry, Flora, and Jean. Col. John Winn had apparently acquired the tract along with the enslaved people from Richard. There is no Amelia deed for any such purchase. That raises the inference that Col. John acquired the tract and enslaved people via inheritance. Records in Hanover are largely lost, so there is probably no will to be found there.

However, there is other evidence linking Col. John to Hanover. His eldest son Richard Winn[6]  was a Revolutionary War soldier whose widow Jane Pincham Winn applied for a pension for his service. Her application file includes the information that Richard’s father was Col. John Winn (identified by that title) who was born in Hanover County, Virginia.[7]

Other facts for the record … Col. John married Susanna Irby, daughter of Charles Irby Sr., in 1754.[8] John was probably born in the early 1720s and died in January 1781.[9] Col. John’s sister Susanna Winn married John Irby (Susanna Irby Winn’s brother) in 1757.[10] Are we dizzy yet? John and Susannah Winn Irby had children named Charles, Lucey, and John. Another sister, Phebe Winn, was the wife of Michael Holland.[11] The Winns and Irbys of Amelia County played a significant role in proving the Amelia-Lunenburg Winn family connection.

Which brings is to Answer #2, Col. John’s relationship to the Lunenburg Winn families.

The Winn DNA project results table does not include a group identified as descendants of Col. John Winn of Amelia. However, there is a group  designated “Richard Winn … m. Phebe Pledger, Hanover Co. VA.” If you accept that Col. John was a son of Richard of Hanover  with wife Phebe, then the Y-DNA evidence will convince you that Col. John shared a common Winn ancestor with Col. Thomas Winn, Daniel Winn, and John Winn (wife Ann Stone), all of Lunenburg.

Of course, Y-DNA doesn’t identify the nature of their relationships. However, there is compelling circumstantial paper evidence that Col. John of Amelia and Col. Thomas of Lunenburg were brothers. The evidence that Daniel Winn of Lunenberg was another brother is also convincing. I identify five people as children of Richard and (perhaps) Phebe Pledger Winn of Hanover, not necessarily in birth order:

Col. John Winn of Amelia (wife Susanna Irby, daughter of Charles Irby Sr.)

Col. Thomas Winn of Lunenburg (two wives, possibly Miss Bannister and perhaps Sarah Bacon)

Susanna Winn of Amelia (husband John Irby, son of Charles Irby Sr.)

Phebe Winn of Amelia (husband Michael Holland)

Daniel Winn of Lunenburg (wife Sarah, possibly Sarah Tench)

The key to the family relationship between Col. John and  Col. Thomas is Thomas’s Lunenburg will.[12]

Most importantly, Thomas named John Winn of Amelia (expressly described as “of Amelia”) an executor along with his wife Sarah, son William, and Lyddal Bacon. IMO, that is sufficient evidence standing alone that Col. Thomas and Col. John were siblings. The most loved, trusted, and capable members of the testator’s family were usually designated executors. Further, an out-of-county executor was not the norm, because he would necessarily have to travel to administer the estate. Col. Thomas surely named John of Amelia executor out of affection without any expectation that he would perform estate administration duties.

The witnesses to Col. Thomas’s will, who are traditionally also close family members, provide additional evidence that he and Col. John were siblings. Here are the people who witnessed Col. Thomas’s will:

… Members of the Amelia County Irby family, including Susannah Irby, Charles Irby, and Lucy Irby. Susannah was Susannah Winn Irby, proved sister of Col. John. Charles and Lucy Irby were Susannah’s children.[13] Keep in mind that the Irbys had to make a trip across the Nottoway to witness Col. Thomas’s will. One had to witness the will when and where the testator executed it.

… the Winn witnesses were John Winn Jr. and John Winn. As you know if you follow this blog, Lunenburg was awash with Winns named John. That means my opinion is ripe for second-guessing. Because Col. John Winn of Amelia was named executor, I believe that he and his son John Jr. were witnesses.[14]

I have saved the low-hanging (read: easy) fruit for last. Namely, whether Daniel Winn was also a sibling of Col. John, Col. Thomas, Susanna Winn Irby, and Phebe Winn Holland. I will refrain from reciting the many connections between Col. Thomas and Daniel in the Lunenburg deed records. Instead, I offer the following two items.

Naomi Giles Chadwick’s book, Winn – Daniel and His 9 Sons, states without any citation to county records that Col. Thomas testified in a deposition that Joseph Winn, son of Daniel, was his nephew. I haven’t found that deposition. If true, then Daniel Winn and Col. Thomas Winn were brothers.

There is one more will “factoid.” Joseph Winn and Elisha Winn, sons of Daniel Winn, witnessed Col. John Winn’s Amelia County will. All of the other witnesses (with the possible exception of Giles Nance) were Col. John’s close relatives. And, of course, Joseph and Elisha made the trip across the Nottoway to witness their Uncle John’s will.

With that, I’ll move on. More Winns are tugging at my sleeve.

See you on down the road.

Robin

[1] John Winn was commissioned a Lt. Col. in the Amelia County militia on 23 May 1771. Lloyd Bockstruck, Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988). My Air Force Academy graduate husband tells me that a Lieutenant Colonel is addressed as Colonel. I am doing that in this article.

[2] I am glossing over Phebe Winn’s maiden name in order to avoid a sidetrack into lengthy proof. I believe she was née Wilkes.

[3] Rosalie Edith Davis, Hanover County, Virginia Court Records 1733-1735: Deeds, Wills and Inventories (1979) 13-14, lease and release from Richard Winn and wife Phebe of Hanover to John Winn, 517 acres with a plantation on Chickahominy Swamp.

[4] Amelia Co., VA Deed Book 2: 82-83, lease and release from Stith Hardaway to Richard Winn of Hanover, 388 acres. The tract was then in Amelia but is now in Nottoway County, about 6 miles north of Effing Creek/Falls Creek/Hounds Creek where the Lunenburg Winns lived.

[5] FHL Film #1,902,616 has Amelia County tax lists including those for 1746, 1748, 1749, and 1751. Two of the tax lists identify his property as “Richard Winn list” or “Richard Wyn’s Quarter,” which means the taxpayer didn’t reside in the county.

[6] Amelia Co., VA Deed Book 15: 6, deed dated 24 Sep 1778 from John Winn of Amelia to his son Richard of same, for love and affection, 400 acres on the south side of John Winn’s mill pond, part of the tract belonging to the late Col. Irby adjacent John Winn and Charles Irby.

[7] Virgil D. White, Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files Vol. 4 (Waynesboro, TN: National Historical Publishing Co., 1992). Revolutionary War pension application No. W.6558 by Jane Pincham Winn, widow of Richard Winn, Virginia Line. View it here.. If it is correct that Col. John Winn was born in Hanover rather than a predecessor county, then he was born during or after 1721. Hanover was established in 1721 from part of New Kent County.

[8] My notes indicate that, years ago, Ann Avery Hunter somewhere (!?!) cited the accession number at the Virginia Archives for the marriage bond of John Winn and Susanna Irby, daughter of Charles Irby Sr. The bond was dated 4 Apr 1754. I cannot locate the accession number, nor can I recall where I found the reference. I nevertheless trust Ms. Hunter and my woefully incomplete notes on this fact.

[9] For Col. John’s birth date, see Note 7 saying that he was born in Hanover County. I estimated he was born after 1721 when Hanover was created but during the 1720s because he married in 1754, see Note 8. Colonial men (in my observation) typically married about age 25. His will was proved in January 1781, probably very soon after he died as was the norm. See Note 14.

[10] Amelia Co., VA Will Book 2X: 45, will of John Irby dated and proved in 1763. Executors wife Susannah Irby, “her brother John Winn,” and brother Charles Irby. Children Charles Irby, Lucey Irby, and John Irby. See also Kathleen Booth Williams, Marriages of Amelia County, Virginia 1735-1815 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1978, originally published Alexandria, VA, 1961), John Irby and Susanna Wynne married 29 Jan 1757, surety John Wynn.

[11] Amelia Co., VA Deed Book 8: 314, deposition of John Nance re Michael Holland’s gift of enslaved people to his children Mary and Joseph. Nance testified that Michael Holland’s wife (unnamed) wanted the gift recorded and asked Nance to have her “brother Winn” take care of it. Nance’s testimony proves only that Mrs. Holland was née Winn. However, Susannah Irby, a proved sister of Col. John, also testified on the gift issue. Id. at 315. Finally, Mrs. Holland’s given name was Phebe. Amelia Deed Book 14: 1774 deed from Pheby Holland, widow of Michael Holland, and his son Joseph and wife Mary to Medkip Tomson of Amelia. That combination of facts convinced me that Phebe Holland was Col. John’s sister.

[12] Lunenburg Will Book 3: 75, FamilySearch.org film #32,380, will of Thomas Winn dated 18 Sep 1779, proved 12 Apr 1781. Thomas named six of his eleven children in his will, see the  article about a chancery suit identifying all of his children.

[13] See Note 10.

[14] Col. John Winn had sons Richard, John, and Charles, and a daughter Jane Winn Epes. Amelia Co., VA Will Book 2: 360, will of Col. John Winn dated Mar 1780, proved Jan 1781. He named his wife Susanna (née Irby, daughter of Charles Irby Sr. and wife Susanna), sons Richard, John, and Charles, and daughter Jane Winn Epes. Executors were his wife, Truman Epes, and Charles Winn. Truman Epes was John’s son-in-law. Witnesses were Giles Nance, John Irby, William Gooch, Elisha Winn, Joseph Winn, and Jane Epes. I have long suspected that John Nance or Giles Nance married a Winn, but cannot prove it. John Irby’s wife was Susanna Winn Irby, sister of Col. John. William Gooch married Henrietta Maria Irby in Nov. 1769; Charles Irby testified that Henrietta was 21 and the daughter of Charles Irby Sr. Kathleen Booth Williams, Marriages of Amelia County, Virginia 1735-1815 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1978, originally published Alexandria, VA, 1961).

 

PART IV Addendum: a Friend Told Me Where Daniel Winn’s Son Thomas Migrated

I may start a regular “Query” feature. Readers would email questions about any line they found on this blog. I would assemble and publish them as often as appropriate. I know that queries here WORK: I recently published an article about Daniel Winn of Lunenburg and asked if anyone knew where his son Thomas Winn (possible wife Joyce) had migrated. I had a response within days from a descendant who has tracked Daniel’s line like Frank Hamer on the trail of Bonnie and Clyde: Daniel Winn’s son Thomas and his wife Joyce of Lunenburg went right next door to Brunswick County.

I must blush. I immediately opened my document containing Brunswick records, and there, big as Dallas, was Thomas’s will naming his wife Joyce and his brother Joseph as executor. I should have been able to find that in my own dang research.

Below is an image of a transcription of the will. More blushing and forelock tugging is appropriate. I did all my Southside Virginia research very early on, when I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. Consequently, I have no idea what the source of this transcription might be. All I know is that I found it in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and that it is on page 36 of some book. Worse, I cannot find the will among the microfilm of Brunswick probate records available online. If that makes you entertain doubts about its authenticity, can’t say that I blame you.

For what it’s worth, here ‘tis. And that is all I know about Daniel Winn’s son Thomas and his wife Joyce of Lunenburg and then Brunswick Counties, Virginia … and their children Buckner Winn, Caty Winn Laffoon, Martitia Winn Bishop, Robert Winn, Oratio Winn, Freeman Winn, Marian J. Winn, and Betsy Winn.

See you on down the road. Another Frank Hamer type sent an email about another son of Daniel. I need to investigate to see if I have equally nebulous evidence about him.

Robin

PART IV of ?? John Winn Sr. of Lunenburg Who Died in 1795.

In Part I of ?? of the Lunenburg Winn series, I promised articles about three Lunenburg Winn patriarchs – Col. Thomas Winn, Daniel Winn, and the John Winn who died in 1795. I discussed Col. Thomas in Parts I and Part III. Daniel Winn was the topic of Part II. Relative to those others, this article is short and sweet. If you already have even cursory knowledge of John Winn’s family, this may be a yawner.

There are several reasons John is getting short shrift. First, I don’t know much about him because he was not the focus of my Lunenburg research. Col. Thomas and Daniel are my ancestors; anything I learned about John while researching them was collateral, so to speak (oooh, bad pun!). Second, I don’t want to get up the learning curve on John because there are several ideas for fun Winn articles bouncing around in my skull. The squeaky wheel gets the research effort, and John isn’t making any noise. Third, there are countless Winn researchers out there who already know everything worthwhile to know about John. I have nothing to offer except a few bare facts. That’s fine for people like me who just want to know how John’s family fits in the overall Winn picture.

I cannot answer even that much about John. I have no idea who his parents were, or where he came from before he lived in Lunenburg. A reasonable guess is that his family was from Hanover County. That guess runs counter to online trees I have seen, which attach John to the line of Speaker Robert Wynne and his wife Mary Sloman Poythress Wynne of Charles City, Prince George, and Surry Counties.

Those trees are fighting a losing battle against Y-DNA. If I am counting and comparing markers correctly (this is a genuine issue and I may well have goofed), the John Winn who married Ann Stone is a hopeless mismatch with Speaker Robert’s line. Only one descendant of John and Ann has tested on more than twelve markers. Comparing his results to the modal values for Speaker Robert’s descendants, there are 15 mismatches on 37 markers. The Winn DNA project puts John in the same genetic family as Col. Thomas Winn and Daniel Winn of Lunenburg.

I don’t know how John is related to the other two men. The three were not brothers, a topic of another potential article. Someone who has researched John thoroughly may know the answer, and will perhaps let us know. All I know is that John is connected to Col. Thomas and Daniel in the Lunenburg records, primarily in land transactions. The only  close connections are that John and Ann Stone Winn’s daughter Mary Ann Winn married James Winn, probably a son of Daniel. Also, John and Ann’s daughter Jane (“Jincy”) married first Richard Stone and then Alexander Winn, another son of Daniel.

So far as I know, John first appeared in the Lunenburg records in 1740. He patented 314 acres that year in what is now Lunenburg on a famous watercourse renamed, with a heavy dose of irony, from “Effing Creek” to Modest Creek.[1] Daniel and Col. Thomas also owned land there. John frequently appeared in deed records with the other two men, e.g., John witnessed a deed along with John and Richard Stone from Samuel Wynne to Col. Thomas Winn of Hanover conveying 150 acres on Modest Creek.[2] Significantly, Col. Thomas conveyed 762 acres on Modest and Fall’s Creek to John in 1762 at a very favorable price.[3]

John’s wife Ann Stone was a daughter of John Stone.[4] They were married by at least May 1755, when she was a grantor in a deed along with John.[5] He reportedly had a wife prior to Ann Stone, although I have not seen any evidence on that issue.

John’s will named ten children.[6] Here are the barest of bare facts about them, to the extent I know anything at all.

John Winn (Jr.). was born by at least 1744.[7] His father gave him 381 acres on Modest Creek in 1765. John and his wife Mary sold that tract in 1775 and[8] may have moved to Mecklenburg County soon thereafter.[9]

Peter Winn bought 381 acres from his brother John Jr. in 1779. He was shown each year on the Lunenburg land tax lists from 1787 through 1807. He had died by April 1808, when his estate was appraised.[10] Like most of the Lunenburg Winns, he was a wealthy and literate man.[11] The only children I have identified are sons Peter Winn and Archer Winn, both minors in September 1809.[12]

Lucretia Winn. Her father’s will identified her surname as Hundley. According to Anne Bassett Stanley Chatham, Tidewater Families of the New World (Tollhouse, CA: Historical Publications, Inc., 1996), Lucretia was born 23 Feb 1753. Her husband was William Hundley Sr., born in Amelia County and died in Mecklenburg County.[13]

Little Beary or Littleberry Winn. He married Mary Maynard in 1783 in Mecklenburg. The couple were living there in 1800 when he sold his inherited tract to his brother Peter.[14]

Morning Winn (sic, probably Mourning, a male). I have no information about him.

Mary Ann Winn married some James Winn of Lunenburg, probably a son of Daniel Winn. I wrote in Part II of the Lunenburg Winns that James had difficulty managing money. The couple probably left Lunenburg. They are the subject of one of the fun Winn articles I have in the queue. Please stay tuned.

Jincy Winn Stone became Jincy Winn Stone Winn after her husband Richard Stone died. See Part II of the Lunenburg Winns about Alexander Winn, son of Daniel, her second husband.

Jerusha Winn Gunn. Jerusha married Daniel Gunn Jr. of Lunenburg in 1786.

Elizabeth Winn Allen. I know nothing about her.

Millinder Winn Stone. Ditto.

 As I predicted, this was short shrift for John and Ann Stone Winn. They undoubtedly deserved much better, but c‘est la vie. Now to convince one of the potential Winn articles knocking around my head to become the primary squeaky wheel …

See you on down the road.

Robin

[1] Cavaliers and Pioneers Volume IV 236; Virginia Patent Book 18: 883. John Winn patented another 230 acres on Modest Cr. in 1746. The old deeds and patent books apparently had no qualms about calling it F**king Cr. before it was renamed.

[2] Deed Book 1: 71. See also Deed Book 7: 227, John Winn and wife Ann to John Stone, 230 acres on Modest Cr. witnessed by John Winn, Thomas Winn, and Daniel Winn. That was the same day as a conveyance from Col. Thomas to Lunenburg John, 762 acres on Modest Cr., Deed Book 7: 231. Note: all citations to record books in this article are Lunenburg Deed, Will, and Order books unless expressly identified otherwise.

[3] Deed Book 7: 231, deed dated 8 Apr 1762 from Thomas Winn to John Winn for £20, 762 acres on the  South side of F**king Cr. in the fork of Fall’s Creek adjacent Irby, Evans, grantor, et al. Witnesses John Winn, Daniel Winn, John Winn.

[4] Mecklenburg Co., VA Will Book 3: 243, will of John Stone dated and proved 1782 naming among others his child Anne Wynne.

[5] Deed Book 4: 162, deed dated 17 May 1755 from John Winn and wife Ann of Lunenburg witnessed by Melania or Melinia Winn, who proved the deed.

[6] Will Book 4: 83b-84, will of John Winn of Cumberland Parish, Lunenburg, dated 17 Aug 1793 proved 12 Feb 1795. Wife Ann. Children John Winn, Peter Winn, Lucretia Hundley, Little Beary (also Littleberry) Winn, Morning Winn (son), Mary Ann Winn, Jincey Stone, Jerusha Gunn, Elizabeth Allen, and Millinder Stone. Executors John Winn, Peter Winn, and William Hundley.

[7] Deed Book 10: 165, gift deed dated 1765 from John Winn Sr. “the elder” to John Jr., 381 acres for love and affection and 5 shillings, 381 acres on F**king Cr. adjacent William Stone.

[8] Deed Book 12: 435, deed dated 12 Jan 1775 from John and Mary Winn. She is not mentioned in the deed, but the deed book index names her as a grantor along with John.

[9] Mecklenburg Deed Book 5: 46, deed dated 12 May 1777 from John Winn of Mecklenburg to John Stone Sr. of Same, John’s wife Mary relinquished dower.

[10] Will Book 6: 234, 1808 appraisal of the estate of Peter Winn, £641.10.5.

[11] Will Book 6: 234a, 1808 inventory and appraisal of the estate of Peter Winn. The estate included 8 enslaved persons, a black walnut desk and table, and other personalty. Books included Burket on the Old Testament, a large Bible, the Buchun family physician, Gutheries Grammer, and unidentified others.

[12] Lunenburg Guardian Accounts, 8 Sep 1808  account of Charles Betts, guardian of Peter and Archer Winn, orphans of Peter Winn, dec’d.

[13] Tidewater Families lists Lucretia Winn Hundley’s children as (1) Willis Hundley, b 3 Nov 1777, Mecklenburg, died 1816, (2) Nancy Hundley, born 18 Dec 1779, (3) William Hundley, Jr., born 30 Jan 1783, Mecklenburg, may have married Mary Stone 3 Dec   1805, Lunenburg, (4) Lucretia Hundley (Jr.), born 18 May 1785 in Mecklenburg, (5) Patty C. Hundley, born 18 Feb 1787 Mecklenburg, died 6 Apr1816, may have married Peter Winn on 7 July1810, (6) Jennie Hundley born 25 Jan 1789, and (7) John Hundley born 16 Dec 1792 Mecklenburg, died 15 Feb 1834, New Orleans, LA. Lucretia Winn Hundley and her children reportedly moved to Sumner County, TN in 1810. I have not verified any of that information.

[14] Deed Book 18: 217, 13 Apr 1800, Littleberry Winn and wife Mary of Mecklenburg to Peter Winn of Lunenburg, £165 for 248A. The will of John Winn, dec’d  gave the land and plantation where John Winn lived to Littleberry. This deed conveys the upper part of John Winn’s land to Peter.

Part III of ?? How Many Times Was Col. Thomas Winn Married?

(OR MORE THAN YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT INTESTATE DESCENT & DISTRIBUTION)

My recent article about Col. Thomas Winn of Lunenburg County, Virginia (circa 1718 – 1781) may have been unclear about that question.[1] The answer: Thomas was married more than once. More importantly, Thomas had children by more than one wife. A Lunenburg chancery lawsuit concerning the estate of his son Washington Winn makes it abso-effing-lutely impossible to conclude otherwise. This might be important to some, because a legion of people claim Col. Thomas as an ancestor.

Perhaps the only way to set the record straight on this issue is by analyzing the chancery lawsuit orders. But first, let’s flesh out the bottom line …

Col. Thomas had seven children by his first wife (or wives).  Their mother is unproved but she is traditionally identified as Elizabeth Bannister.

  1. MOURNING
  2. ELIZABETH
  3. THOMAS
  4. RICHARD
  5. WILLIAM
  6. BANNISTER
  7. JOHN, who predeceased Col. Thomas

Col. Thomas Winn’s widow, who was at least his second wife, was named Sarah. Her maiden name is also unproved, although she is often identified as Sarah Bacon. Sarah and Thomas had four children who survived him:

  1. KETURAH
  2. HENRIETTA MARIA (or MARIE)
  3. EDMUND
  4. WASHINGTON

Proving these children is not easy. If you don’t wish to hear how the law of intestate descent and distribution in late 18th century Virginia treated siblings and half-siblings, or why a married woman was not allowed to appear as a party to a lawsuit on her own and how that matters in this case … and if you have no desire to dissect just the style of a lawsuit for family information, and also scrutinize the court’s distribution of estate assets for more family information … for heaven’s sake, people, quit reading NOW!! Otherwise, grab a cup of coffee or an adult beverage and pull up a chair. Anyone who makes it all the way to the end will receive a suitable reward to be announced later.

Before we start, it is important to know that Washington Winn, whose estate was the subject of the chancery lawsuit, was a son of Col. Thomas Winn. See Lunenburg Will Book 3: 75, FamilySearch.org Film #32,380 (will of Thomas Winn proved 1781 named his underage son Washington Winn).

Some law and why it is important for figuring out Col. Thomas Winn’s family

First, the easy part: legal issues. This discussion is largely based on personal knowledge. I will spare you and myself citations to  Hening’s Statutes at Large. I will try to explain why this legal esoterica is important to identifying the family of Col. Thomas.

  • Coverture is “the condition or state of a married woman … [sometimes used] … to describe the legal disability which formerly existed from a state of coverture.” Black’s Law Dictionary, from a very ancient edition I acquired during law school. What it means is that a married woman had no legal rights of her own because she had no legal existence apart from her husband. Thus, a married woman could not be a party to a lawsuit on her own behalf. Her husband had to be a party to assert her rights and to receive her award, if any. On the other hand, when a lawsuit involved a married man, there was no need to include his wife as a party. She just.didn’t.matter, to mangle a famous Bill Murray line.

Why is coverture important to the family of Col. Thomas? Because understanding it proves that Elizabeth Winn and Mourning Hix were his daughters. It also tells us that Elizabeth’s husband was Joseph Winn, who was a son of Daniel Winn, not Col. Thomas. The chancery lawsuit is the only evidence of the identity of Joseph Winn’s wife that I have found.

  • Style of a case. “Style” refers to the title of a lawsuit, so to speak. For example, Marbury v. Madison. The style of the Winn chancery suit is not easy to decipher. That is because it is very, very long and the clerk of court wrote it differently in two separate court orders. He also made an error or two. But deciphering the style of the Lunenburg chancery case is essential to identifying members of this Winn family.
  • The law of intestate descent and distribution. “Intestate” as a noun means a person who died without a will. If a deceased person left a valid will, the estate is distributed according to provisions of the will. Period. If there is no valid will, then the decedent’s estate is distributed according to the applicable statute of intestate descent and distribution. Every state has such a statute (although I can’t speak for Louisiana, which is its own form of crazy). Here is what the chancery suit reflects about the Virginia law at the time:
    • If a person owning an estate died intestate without a wife or children, his estate was distributed to his siblings and a surviving parent. This is important because it tells us that Washington Winn had no wife or children and he died intestate. His estate would therefore be distributed  “according to the statute,” as the court said. Washington’s mother Sarah also received a “child’s share” of his personal property, although we aren’t concerned about that here. The important thing is that Washington’s estate distribution revealed the identities of the other children of Col. Thomas – and Washington’s relationship to each one. 
    • Half-sisters and half-brothers were called “siblings of the half-blood” by the Lunenburg court. By law, each received half as much of the distribution amount paid to a “sibling of the whole blood.” The amount distributed to each sibling thus tells us whether he or she was a half sibling or a full sibling. The court’s order proves that Washington had siblings of both the half-blood and the whole blood. His siblings of the whole blood had the same mother as Washington, namely Sarah, Col. Thomas’s widow. His siblings of the half-blood had a different mother than Washington. Thus, Col. Thomas necessarily had a wife (or wives) before he married Sarah, by whom he had children who survived him.
    • If a sibling (claimant) of an intestate has died, his share was divided among his children, if any. If he had no children, then his share went to his surviving siblings.

The lawsuit

At this point, we have no alternative except to dive into the court’s orders in the lawsuit. These were difficult for me to grasp, and I like to think I have had some decent experience in the law. I nevertheless had to read the orders several times before I began to comprehend them. That also makes them difficult for me to explain, so the explanation may induce “MEGO” (“my eyes glazed over”). If so, I understand and sympathize.

The court clerk recorded two slightly different versions of the style of the suit. See Lunenburg Order Book 17 at 134 (order of 12 Nov 1796) and at 292-293 (order of 10 Nov 1797) (FamilySearch.org, Lunenburg Order Books 1796 – 1805, Film #32,410, image 113 and image 192 et seq.)

Here is the style in the 1796 order. The silly colors make it easier to discuss each group.

John Hix and Mourning his wife, Joseph Winn and Elizabeth his wife, Thomas Winn, Richard Winn, William Winn and Banister Winn, Children and Coheirs of Thomas Winn, dec’d, and Harrison Winn, Beasley Heart and Elizabeth his wife, and John Winn, children and legal representatives of John Winn, decd, who was the son of the last mentioned Thomas Winn, dec’d, and Susanna Bacon, Sarah Bacon, Lyddal Bacon, and Thomas Winn Bacon, infants, by Edward P. Bacon their guardian and Keturah Hardy, Armstead Hardy, Sally Hardy, Edmund Hardy, and Jeane Hardy, by Alexander Winn, Gentleman, their next friend,

Complainants in Chancery,

v.

Edmund Winn, administrator of Washington Winn, dec’d, and Sarah Winn,

 Defendants.

And here is the style in the 1797 order.

Mourning Hix, wife of John Hix, dec’d, Joseph Winn and Elizabeth his wife, Thomas Winn, Richard Winn [William Winn’s name omitted here] & Bannister Winn, Children and Coheirs of Thomas Winn, dec’d, Harrison Winn, Beasley Heart & Elizabeth his wife, and John Winn, children and legal representatives of John Winn, dec’d, who was son of the last mentioned Thomas Winn, Susanna Bacon, Sarah Bacon, Lyddall Bacon & Thomas Winn Bacon, by Edmund P. Bacon their next friend, William Winn [William is moved here from the first group] & John Hardys children by Alexander Winn, Gent., their next friend

 Complainants in Chancery,

v. 

Edmund Winn Administrator of Washington Winn, dec’d, and Sarah Winn,

 Defendants.

Might be time for a refill on that adult beverage.

Let’s start with the parties listed in red. They are described as “children and coheirs of Thomas Winn, dec’d.” Thomas is Col. Thomas. An early Winn researcher transcribed “COHEIRS” as “COUSINS.” This is an understandable mistake because the handwriting is small and cramped, but it will drive you nuts if you try to make sense of the relationships among all the parties on that basis. I stared closely at the original in the Lunenburg courthouse. It is “coheirs,” I promise, not “cousins.”

First, notice the four men separated by commas at the end of the red group: Thomas (Jr.), Richard, William and Bannister. They are obviously children of Col. Thomas because that is how they are expressly described. Because men had legal rights of their own, there was no need to name their wives as parties.

Now consider coverture, and notice “John Hix and Mourning his wife” in the first order in the red “children and coheirs” group. John Hix was obviously not Col. Thomas Winn’s child, so Mourning must be his daughter. Her husband John had to be named as a party, though, because … Mourning had no legal existence or rights apart from him.

Also, we already knew from Lunenburg Winns: Part I  that John Hix was Col. Thomas’s son-in-law and Mourning was a daughter. That’s how Col. Thomas identified the couple in his will. See Lunenburg Will Book 3: 75, FamilySearch.org Film #32,380 (will of Thomas Winn proved 1781, naming his son-in-law John Hix and wife Mourning Hix). John had died by the second order, making Mourning a single woman. She was therefore no longer subject to a married woman’s legal disability of coverture and could be named as a party in her own right, as “Mourning Hix, wife of John Hix, dec’d.”

The remaining names in the red group are Joseph Winn and Elizabeth his wife. They are confusing because they are both Winns. Consider coverture again. If Joseph had been a son of Thomas Winn and was asserting rights to his brother Washington’s estate, his wife Elizabeth wouldn’t be named. Thus, Elizabeth, not Joseph, was a child of Col. Thomas. Joseph was her husband — who had to be joined as a party to the lawsuit because she had no legal rights except through him.

The only hiccup in the red group list is William, who migrated locations in the style from the first order to the second. He is included in the red group in the first record, but the clerk forgot him for a while in the second order … and stuck his name in between the blue group and the magenta group. I can sympathize with the clerk. All those names, and think how tedious all that copying must have been.

The red group proves these six children of Col. Thomas:

  1. Mourning Winn, wife/widow of John Hix
  2. Elizabeth Winn, wife of Joseph Winn
  3. Thomas Winn
  4. Richard Winn
  5. William Winn
  6. Bannister Winn

The next group, shown in green, is identified as “children and legal representatives of John Winn, dec’d, who was the son of … Thomas Winn, dec’d” (still Col. Thomas). We already know from Part I  that Col. Thomas had a son John who predeceased his father. John died in 1768 leaving a will naming his children Harrison, Betty (a nickname for Elizabeth), and an unborn child. See Lunenburg Will Book 2: 326 (will of John Winn of Lunenburg dated and proved in 1768, naming children Harrison, Betty, and a child “wife Susannah is now big with,” and appointing his father Thomas as one of his executors).

This lawsuit nicely identifies for us the name of Betty/Elizabeth’s husband, Beasley Heart, and the name of the unborn child. Not surprisingly, John’s afterborn son was also named John.

This adds another name to the list of children of Col. Thomas:

  1. John Winn (who had children Harrison, Elizabeth [“Betty”] married Beasley Heart, and John).

Moving on to the blue group. The differences in the two versions of the style are not significant. The only substantive error the clerk made in the first version is that the Bacon children’s guardian should be Edmund P. Bacon, not Edward.

Susanna Bacon, Sarah Bacon, Lyddal Bacon, and Thomas Winn Bacon, infants, by Edward P. Bacon their guardian, in the first version, or

Susanna Bacon, Sarah Bacon, Lyddall Bacon & Thomas Winn Bacon, by Edmund P. Bacon their next friend.

These children, like Harrison Winn, Elizabeth Heart, and John Winn in the green group, were grandchildren of Col. Thomas. Because their surname was Bacon, they were obviously the children of a daughter of Col. Thomas who married (presumably) Edmund Bacon. She was dead by the time the lawsuit was filed, or she and her husband would have appeared in the “red” group and their children would not have been named.

The magenta group poses the same situation. A daughter of Col. Thomas married John Hardy and has died, leaving children. Had she been alive, she had John Hardy would have been listed in the “red” group and the names of their children omitted. Here is how they are identified in the two versions of the style:

Keturah Hardy, Armstead Hardy, Sally Hardy, Edmund Hardy, and Jeane Hardy, by Alexander Winn, Gentleman, their next friend, in the first version,

or

 John Hardys children by Alexander Winn, Gent., their next friend.

FYI, Alexander Winn was just the legal representative of the Hardy children, not their guardian or a parent. He was a justice of the Lunenburg court, making him a good choice to be the Hardy children’s advocate.

Here are the eighth and ninth children of Col. Thomas: 

  1. _________ Winn Bacon, wife of Edmund P. Bacon
  2. _________ Winn Hardy, wife of John Hardy

And here are the remaining two children of the eleven who survived Col. Thomas:

  1. Washington Winn, the deceased son whose estate is the subject of the lawsuit; and
  2. Edmund Winn, administrator of Washington’s estate.

The last four (children #8 through #11) are identified in Col. Thomas’s will. He named his daughters Keturah and Henrietta Maria, not yet married when he wrote the will, and his sons Edmund and Washington.

We are down to two remaining questions: (1) which daughter married a Bacon and which married John Hardy; and (2) which of the children were Washington’s siblings of the whole blood, and which were Washington’s siblings of the half blood?

The order book muddies the answers to the first question. In the first order, I believe the clerk reversed the daughters’ surnames and entered this: “children of representatives of Keturah Bacon and Henrietta Hardy, deceased …” In the second order, the clerk entered, “to the children of Keturah Bacon, dec’d…” and “to the children of Keturah Hardy, dec’d,” erroneously using the same given name twice.

Both orders are probably wrong. In the original order book, someone struck out the Bacon entry “Keturah” in the second order and penciled in “Henrietta.” I believe the person who defaced the order book was correct … Henrietta Maria was the mother of the Bacon children and Keturah was the mother of the Hardy children. But I cannot find the evidence and I’m not certain! Can anyone help me out on that issue?

The last remaining question is the easiest. The second order details the amounts to be distributed to each party. It says this:

To Mourning Hix of the half blood £48.14.10

To Joseph Winn of the half blood ditto (recall Joseph was the husband of Elizabeth and therefore received her share)

To Thomas Winn of the half blood ditto

To Richard Winn of the half blood ditto

To William Winn of the half blood ditto

To Bannister Winn of the half blood ditto

To Harrison Winn, Beasly Hart & Elizabeth his wife and John Winn, heirs of John Winn, dec’d, son of Thomas Winn, dec’d, £48.14.10

The court doesn’t expressly describe John Winn, dec’d, son of Col. Thomas, as Washington’s sibling of the half blood, but the amount of the distribution (the same as the other half-siblings) proves it.

Tying a neat bow around the status of each sibling (ignoring the question of which daughter married a Bacon vs. a Hardy), the court record says:

To the children of Keturah [Keturah is struck out in pencil and “Henrietta” written in] Bacon, dec’d, Susanna Bacon, Sarah Bacon, Lyddall Bacon, Thomas Winn Bacon, of the whole blood, £123.9.8 

To the children of Keturah Hardy, dec’d, Keturah Hardy, Ann Hardy, Sally Hardy, Edmund Hardy & Jeane Hardy of the whole blood, £123.9.8 

to Edmund Winn his part £123.9.8 

The court doesn’t expressly state Edmund’s status as Washington’s sibling of the whole blood, but the amount of his distribution again proves the relationship.

In the final analysis, here is what the chancery case proves regarding the children of Col. Thomas:

Seven children were Washington’s siblings of the half blood and were children of Col. Thomas’s wife (or wives) prior to Sarah:

  1. MOURNING
  2. ELIZABETH
  3. THOMAS
  4. RICHARD
  5. WILLIAM
  6. BANNISTER
  7. JOHN

The siblings of the whole blood, who were children of Washington’s mother Sarah, were:

  1. KETURAH
  2. HENRIETTA MARIA (or MARIE)
  3. EDMUND
  4. WASHINGTON

Did anyone make it this far without experiencing MEGO? If so, are we clear, Col. Jessup? Answer (I hope): “Crystal.”

If not, I’m going to have to ask someone else to give it the ol’ college try. I’m tuckered out.

See you on down the road.

Robin

[1] I say that my prior article (Part I of ???) may have been unclear because a friend emailed to me a link to a website that cited this blog as a source. In fact, the website cited that specific article, which was primarily about Col. Thomas Winn. Among other things, the article identified his eleven children and their probable mothers. But the person citing my article as a source totally botched that family. Since that may have been caused by my lack of clarity, I figured I’d better try to explain it better.