| Notes |
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From the Valdo James Smith Research document, The Sudburys of Virginia and Tennessee.
EZEKIEL SUDBURY (ca.1695-1757) is the earliest person that we can identify with
reasonable certainty as the ancestor of all the Sudbury family members mentioned in
this history. Based on available evidence, he was probably born in Henrico County,
Virginia, near what is now the city of Richmond, sometime between 1690 and 1700.
There is no evidence to indicate that he came to Virginia from England; probably he
was the grandson of Peter, Robert, or Edward Sudbury, each of whom emigrated from
England in the mid-1600s. Glenn Boyd speculates that Ezekiel's father was John
Sudbury, one of Peter Sudbury's six sons.
The earliest documentary reference to Ezekiel is found in the records of Henrico
Parish, Virginia, and evidences his witnessing of the will of Bartholomew Stovall, of
Henrico Parish. The entry, dated May 1, 1721, is quoted by Glenn Boyd as follows:
"Will of Bartholomew Stovall presented by Anne Stovall (executrix), proved by
Ezekiel Sudbury, Ashford Hughes, Stephen Hughes (a quaker). Security: Stephen
Hughes, Robert Hughes."
The next known reference occurs in the record of a sale, on January 2, 1729, from
Richard Grills to Abel Turner, of 200 acres of land "in the possession of Ezekiel
Sudbury". He may have been working this acreage as a tenant farmer. In April 1734,
Ezekiel purchased some land for himself, in the amount of 140 acres, from George
Francis of Henrico County. The land, which cost £25, was situated on the south side
of the James River, "bounded by Henry Vanderhood, Col. Byrd, Chamberlain's field
and Sadler's line".
Ezekiel's first wife was named PATIENCE. He was married to her sometime before
1730, and she died before 1747. Patience was the daughter of PATIENCE TURNER,
who left a will dated June 13, 1730, recorded in May 1733. In her will, Patience
Turner named Ezekiel Sudbury as executor, and left certain items to Ezekiel, to her
daughter Patience (Ezekiel's wife), and to her granddaughter Martha
.
Evidence in the will of Patience Turner, and in the will of her husband, Henry Turner,
dated January 17, 1712 (or 1713), clearly indicates that Henry Turner was the second
husband of Patience Turner, and that he was not the father of Ezekiel Sudbury's wife.
Patience Sudbury had a different maiden name, but we can't be sure what it was. An
article in volume 31 of The Virginia Genealogist entitled "The Jacksons of Lower
Virginia", speculates that Patience Turner was originally married to Joseph Jackson,
and that Ezekiel's wife, Patience, was their daughter. However, the evidence cited for
this proposition seems inconclusive to the author of this history.
In 1746, Ezekiel began a series of conveyances of land and personal property to his
family, which provide a great deal of information about him. The first of these
conveyances, dated July 4, 1746, and recorded the following month, was apparently a
deed of gift "for love & affection" of certain land to his son, also named Ezekiel. (To
avoid confusion, the second Ezekiel will be referred to in this history as "Ezekiel Jr.".)
The land thus conveyed consisted of two separate parcels, the first of which Ezekiel
described as "all my land I purchased of George Francis [in 1734]". This parcel was
apparently given to his son outright. The gift of the second parcel was to take effect on
Ezekiel's death, and was to be accompanied by a gift of, in Ezekiel's words, "my
negro boy Robin". Ezekiel described the lands that were to pass on his death as "all
my land and the plantation where I now live, . . . being all the land I purchased of
George Rennard Turner".
Among the information which we can glean from this deed of gift is that fact that
Ezekiel was a resident of "Dale Parish", Henrico County. The deed also tells us that
Ezekiel Jr. was the son of Ezekiel's first wife, Patience, and that by 1746, Patience had
died. Ezekiel Jr. must have been approximately 20 years old at this time, if not older,
to have been deemed responsible enough to handle a 140 acre farm.
The following year, on April 8, 1747, Ezekiel signed an odd deed of gift which we
must assume was made in contemplation of death (although he did not die for another
ten years). To his son, Ezekiel Jr., he gave all his "goods and chattels", except that he
gave the following menagerie to his wife ANNE: "2 cows and 2 cows with calf, 2
sows and pigs and 2 sows with pig, 2 yews and lams and 1 chest". To his daughter
Patience, he gave £10 and £5 credit at a store. To his daughter Hannah he made the
same gift, except that it was not to take effect until three years after his death, a fact
that suggests Hannah may have been relatively young.
The 1747 deed is important in that it shows Ezekiel married to a second wife, Anne,
and with two daughters in addition to his son. Whether Patience and Hannah were
daughters of Ezekiel's first or second wife is open to question. The author of this
history speculates that they were progeny of Ezekiel's first wife, due to repetition of
the name "Patience", and the fact that Ezekiel's last four children seem to have been
much younger.
By way of a deed dated March 20, 1756, and recorded April 2, 1756, Ezekiel made
another conveyance to Ezekiel Jr. of the 200 acre plantation where he lived, together
with "one negro male slave Robin". This time the conveyance was not in the nature of
a gift after his death, but a present conveyance in exchange for £20. It is recorded that
Anne released her dower rights in the property.
Less than a year after this conveyance, Ezekiel died. The public records of Henrico
County contain the following entry:
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[O]n 25 Jan. 1757 Ezekiel Sudbury, in his last sickness, and at his house sent
for Benjamin Horner and Thomas Farmer to write his will and they, not
thinking themselves fit, declined. He said as follows, "Remember what I say.
All that I am now possessed with I give to my wife" and called in Benjamin
Horner, Thomas Farmer and Elizabeth Horner to bear witness to same.
Ezekiel's dying words were reduced to writing by his wife Anne, and on October 7,
1757, the writing, "purporting to be the nuncupative will of Ezekiel Sudbury", was
presented in court by Anne, as executrix, and was proven by the testimony of Benjamin
Horner and Thomas Farmer. It is interesting to note that the same Benjamin Horner
was a witness to the will of Patience Turner 27 years earlier.
The last public record relating to Ezekiel Sudbury is at the same time one of the most
in-formative and one of the most puzzling. The entry, dated March 1758, reads as
follows:
Churchwardens bind James and Benjamin Deans, orphans of Richard Deans to
Jane Hales to learn a trade of taylor; and also Joseph Stevens, a poor child; also
David, John, William and Jane Sudbury, orphans of Ezekiel Sudbury.
The entry tells us that Ezekiel had four additional children, David, John, William and
Jane. Probably they were Ezekiel's children by his second wife, Anne, since none of
them is mentioned with his other three children in the 1747 deed of gift recorded eleven
years earlier. The puzzlement arises from their description as "orphans". We know
that Anne Sudbury, who was probably their mother, was alive in early October 1757
when she probated Ezekiel's will. Did she die sometime in the ensuing five months?
Or did the term "orphan" simply refer to the fact that the children were without a
father? If so, and Anne was still alive, why was she unable to take care of them? Had
she fallen on hard times, or become seriously ill? We may never know the answers to
these questions.
Children of First Marriage
11. EZEKIEL SUDBURY
12. PATIENCE SUDBURY
13. HANNAH SUDBURY
Children of Second Marriage
14. DAVID SUDBURY
15. JOHN SUDBURY
16. WILLIAM SUDBURY
17. JANE SUDBURY
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1700 - 1757 (67 years)
