----------, Elizabeth (b. )

Given Name: Elizabeth

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: John

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Jane

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: David Lewis was born and grew up in Hanover County. In 1734 he and his brother-in-law Joel Terrell entered 3000 acres in Albemarle County, land located just west of where the University of Virginia now stands in Charlottesville. His brother Abraham also entered 800 acres, including the land on which the University now stands, but never moved there. David Lewis was a captain in the militia in 1745 and a magistrate in 1746. His plantation was just a few miles west of Shadwell, where Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743.

According to the Lewis genealogy, although it does not say on what authority, "he was a very large man with light hair and blue eyes, of strict integrity, benevolent character, and an exemplary member of the Presbyterian Church." In his old age he often taught school without pay.

There are three stories about David Lewis, none of which have been confirmed by me, that are two good to pass up. The first is that he went bald early and wore a wig, which he hung on the bedpost at night. But he was subject to frequent nightmares and one night he awoke in the middle of one, thrashing about as he tried to fight off the phantom fiend of his imagination. In the course of his delusion he dislodged the wig, which landed on him. "I have you at last!" he screamed as he trottled it. The next morning, when he woke up and saw his wig in tatters, he said, "There is fifteen shillings gone!"

In addition to planting, he also ran a mercantile business and one day heard that a ship on which there was a cargo in which he had an interest had foundered. He set off to Norfolk to find out exactly what had happened and en route stopped at a house to get some dinner and his horse fed (a common custom in the thinly settled southern colonies). It turned out that he was an old acquaintence of the owner, who insisted that he spend the night, which he reluctantly agreed to. That night a mulatto boy showed him to his room, but took the candle and closed and locked the door behind him. He called for the slave boy to give him the candle, but he refused to open the door, saying "There's a mug under the bed." Lewis checked and, sure enough, he could feel a dead man under the bed. Through a crack in the wall, he could see his host digging what appeared to be a grave. He mussed up the bed and waited beside the door for a long time. Finally, the host unlocked it, walked quietly into the room, raised an ax, and plunged it into the bed, where he presumed his guest was sleeping. Lewis fled down the stairs and out of the house and reported the attempted murder to the authorities. The host confessed to having murdered seven other men besides the corpse under the bed.

Finally, having outlived three wives, Lewis was, at the age of ninety-four about to take a fourth, when, on a hot summer day, he chopped down a tree that had a hawk's nest in it, and then drank a deep drink of cold water. He had a seizure and died.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Lewis
Title: William Terrell Lewis, Genealogy of the Lewis Family in America (Louisv
ille, Kentucky, The Courier-Journal Job Printing Co.: 1893)
ille, Kentucky, The Courier-Journal Job Printing Co.: 1893.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: RDLewis
Title: RDLewis

Given Name: David

Death: 1779 Albemarle County, Virginia

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Lewis
Title: William Terrell Lewis, Genealogy of the Lewis Family in America (Louisv
ille, Kentucky, The Courier-Journal Job Printing Co.: 1893)
ille, Kentucky, The Courier-Journal Job Printing Co.: 1893.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: RDLewis
Title: RDLewis

Given Name: Anne

Death: 1734 Hanover County, Virginia

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Councilor John Lewis, so-called because he was a member of the Governor's Council, and his wife were immensely wealthy, thanks to inheritances from their fathers.

They were the great grandparents of Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809), the exploer of the West with William Clark.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: MLCook
Title: Michael L. Cook, Pioneer Lewis Families

Page: Vol. IV, pp. 12-14, 35-56, 74-82.

Given Name: John

Death: 14 NOV 1725 Warner Hall, Gloucester County, Virginia

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: William

Death: 1743 Hanover County, Virginia

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Jean

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Catherine

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Ralph Gordon
Title: Ralph Gordon's genealogy of the Gordon family

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Nicklin
Title: John Bailey Calvert Nicklin, The Taliaferro Family (Tyler's Quarterly H
istorical and Genealogical Magazine)
istorical and Genealogical Magazine.

Page: Vol. 11 (1929) 12-28.

Given Name: Richard

Death: 1748

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Rose

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: John Taliferro was a lieutenant of rangers in 1692. He was a justice of Essex County in 1695 and later sheriff. He served in the House of Burgesses in 1699.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: TVG
Title: The Virginia Genealogist

Data:
Text: "Katherine (___) (Debnam) Grymes and Some relatives," Vol. 41, No. 3 (July-Sept. 1997), pp. 163-171, and "Margaret (Dedman) Perrott and Some Relatives," by Rudolf Loeser, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 3-17.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Ralph Gordon
Title: Ralph Gordon's genealogy of the Gordon family

Given Name: John

Death: 1720 Essex County, Virginia

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Sarah

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Benjamin

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Elizabeth

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Robert Taliaferro immigrated to Virginia before 1647. He received large land grants, including 6500 acres he owned jointly with Major Lawrence Smith (No. 1402). By 1660 he had received 6300 acres by head rights alone, having transported 126 people to Virginia.

Some contemporary deeds spell the name "Tolliver," indicating that the current pronunciation of the name was the one in use even then.

Robert Taliaferro and Katherine Debnam are also ancestors of the actress Joanne Woodward.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: TVG
Title: The Virginia Genealogist

Data:
Text: "Katherine (___) (Debnam) Grymes and Some relatives," Vol. 41, No. 3 (July-Sept. 1997), pp. 163-171, and "Margaret (Dedman) Perrott and Some Relatives," by Rudolf Loeser, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 3-17.

Given Name: Robert

Event: Type: Living
Date: 26 MAR 1666

Death: BEF NOV 1671 probably Gloucester County, Virginia

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Katherine

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Major Lawrence Smith was a substantial landowner in Gloucester and York Counties, Virginia.

In 1676, to protect against Indian attack, the governor ordered forts to be constructed along the Rapahannock and Potomac Rivers and placed Smith in charge of them. In 1679 he was granted a tract of land along the Rappahannock 5 1/2 miles long and 4 miles deep, provided he settle 50 armed men and 200 others on the land.

In 1691 he laid out the town of Yorktown and in 1686 purchased the Temple Farm, on which land Lord Cornwallis was to surrender to George Washington decades later, ending the American Revolution.

He was nominated by the governor to the King's Council, the upper house of the Virginia legislature, but died before he could take his seat.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: McCurdy
Title: Mary Burton Derrickson McCurdy, "The Townleys and Warners of Virginia a
nd Their English Connections" (The Virginia Magazine of History and Bio
graphy)
nd Their English Connections"
nd Their English Connections". The Virginia Magazine of History and Bio
graphy.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Clagett
Title: Brice M. Clagett, Seven Centuries

Given Name: Lawrence

Death: 1700 Virginia

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: TVG
Title: The Virginia Genealogist

Data:
Text: "Katherine (___) (Debnam) Grymes and Some relatives," Vol. 41, No. 3 (July-Sept. 1997), pp. 163-171, and "Margaret (Dedman) Perrott and Some Relatives," by Rudolf Loeser, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 3-17.

Given Name: Mary

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: John

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003