{"id":96401,"date":"2023-12-12T09:14:22","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T14:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=96401"},"modified":"2023-12-15T13:02:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T18:02:06","slug":"tracing-jamestown-family-lines-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/tracing-jamestown-family-lines-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Tracing Jamestown Family Lines (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about a Virginia jeweler\u2019s account book from the 1760s and the history it contains about early Virginia families. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently I came across an article published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch<\/em> written by William B. Cridlin, the secretary of the Virgina Historical Pageant Association, that features commentary about an old account book. This information may be very useful for those researching early Virginia family lines.<\/p>\n

The account book belonged to Zachary Lewis, a jeweler in Richmond, Virginia, and contains records from the 1760s. Along with details of Lewis\u2019s business, this account book also contains:<\/p>\n

A compilation of statistics bearing on the population and growth of Virginia from the landing at Jamestown of the \u201cFounders of Democracy\u201d through the various periods as a colony and state.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), 2 April 1922, page 24<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Through the courtesy of J. M. Lewis, of Richmond, it has been the pleasure of the writer to examine an old account book of Colonel Zachary Lewis, dated 1762-1769. The book is of special interest, as it contains the names of many citizens of Richmond and vicinity of that day. Among the patrons of the jewelry store and the watchmaker (employed by Colonel Lewis), we find such familiar names as Patrick Henry, John Marshall, James Madison, and other well-known Virginians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the following collage, we see a portrait of Patrick Henry (1736-1799) by George Bagby Matthews. Also included is mention of an entry from Zachary Lewis\u2019s account book about repairing and cleaning Henry\u2019s watch, and a note about Henry\u2019s watch fob on loan to the Council of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.<\/p>\n

\"Collage:<\/a>
Collage: Patrick Henry, portrait by George Bagby Matthews. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before I continue with Mr. Cridlin\u2019s report, I want to inform the reader that the account book is housed at the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation<\/a>, in Williamsburg, Virginia.<\/p>\n

I contacted the collection\u2019s librarian and, after a few exchanges, the library decided the account book will be included in the next batch of archival items to be digitized. So, stay tuned!<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I have included this link to the index of names in the account book, which can be viewed at Americana-Archives.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is more from Cridlin\u2019s newspaper article:<\/p>\n

Colonel Lewis was born in King and Queen County in 1731. He was the son of Zachary Lewis, a lawyer of wealth, and grandson of Zachary Lewis, of [Brecknockshire] Wales, who settled in Virginia in 1692.<\/p>\n

Colonel Zachary Lewis was a captain of foot in Spotsylvania (1758) and later served as a colonel in the Revolutionary War. At the time the account book was opened, Zachary Lewis was 30 years of age and already engaged in numerous business enterprises of the day. Not only was he in business in Richmond, but operated a stock farm in King and Queen County. He was owner of \u201cValiant,\u201d the progenitor of many noted horses of the past century.<\/p>\n

Among the various entries found in the old account book, there are items of charge for \u201cmaking\u201d silver knee stock and shoe buckles, silver buttons, candlesticks, candle snuffers, snuff boxes, mourning and engagement rings, and many other articles not now in common use. [Also clock and watch repair.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The significance of this account book for my research was an entry made by Lewis for a sale of three gold rings made for Mr. John Pemberton, 25 February 1764.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Zachary Lewis\u2019s account book entry, 25 February 1764. Credit: John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have been researching the ancestral lines of Katie Crocker<\/a>, who has several Mayflower<\/em> passengers including Stephen Hopkins<\/a> (also of Jamestown) through her paternal side.<\/p>\n

Here is a photo of Katie\u2019s parents: James Lauchlan Crocker (son of Merle Macdonald Crocker and Jean Hazelton); and Debra Sue Pemberton (daughter of Robert Pemberton and Shirley Joyce Smith). The photo was taken in Barnstable, Massachusetts, shortly after their wedding.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: parents of Katie Crocker. Courtesy of Katie Crocker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I began to investigate her maternal side, I found many old Virginia families. Among them are Walker, Warren, Stanton, Robinson, Delaney, Pemberton, and Lewis.<\/p>\n

It has been quite a challenge. Most of my clues have come through old wills, deeds, and family Bibles, but I believe the entry in the account book shown above provides information on her ancestor, American Revolutionary War hero Capt. John Pemberton, who married Elizabeth Stanton Delaney<\/a>, daughter of John Delaney and Frances Stanton.<\/p>\n

The gold rings were probably made for Pemberton\u2019s wedding, purported to have taken place between 1760-1764, but there is no paper record found to date.<\/p>\n

Capt. Pemberton was one of the heroes who fought at King’s Mountain on 7 October 1780, along with his wife\u2019s brother Major William Thomas Delaney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cGive Me Liberty or Give Me Death!\u201d Patrick Henry delivering his great speech on the Rights of the Colonies, before the Virginia Assembly, convened at Richmond, 23 March 1775. He concluded his speech with the above sentiment, which became the war cry of the Revolution. Credit: Currier & Ives; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n

To be continued\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Davenport Berry writes about a Virginia jeweler\u2019s account book from the 1760s and the history it contains about early Virginia families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":96419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12557],"tags":[705,12,8265,58507,1094,58655],"class_list":["post-96401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-stories","tag-colonial-america","tag-genealogy","tag-jamestown","tag-katie-crocker","tag-virginia","tag-zachary-lewis"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/illustration-1212-2023-featured-graphic-patrick-henry.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96401"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96493,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96401\/revisions\/96493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}