MIDLOTHIAN

The Southside Virginia Land That Became Midlothian

Used here by permission of the author

by land grant to Captain John Edloe of Charles City County

to son-in-law John Edloe. of Lunenburg County

to daughter Rebecca [Edloe] Hare, wife of Parker Hare of Chesterfield County

to Edward Pegram of Dinwiddie County

to John Christian of Lunenburg County

to Thomas Blackwell of Lunenburg County

to son Robert Blackwell of Lunenburg County

to son Robert Augustus Blackwell of Lunenburg County

to son Robert Eldridge Blackwell of Lunenburg County

The descendants of Robert⁸ Blackwell (1798-1843) and his wife Mary “Polly” Ann Abernathy trace their Blackwell lineage to Midlothian in the early years of the nineteenth century, but the Midlothian land is part of a tract granted in 1739 to Captain John Edloe of Charles City County, Virginia, several years before Lunenburg County was formed from the western portion of Brunswick County.

On 22 September 1739, William Gooch, Governor of the Virginia Colony, in conideration of £11/15, granted John Edloe a tract of 2354 acres situated “in the County of Brunswick on the South side of the Flatt Rock Creek and on both sides of the Beaver Pond branch.” [PB18:502] The boundary began “at a hiccory in the fork between the said flatt Rock Creek and Beaver Pond Creek and then north along Beaver Pond Creek to the mouth of a branch at the Cattails” and along various meanders and branches of Beaver Pond to a corner and along Moody's line to a branch of Flat Rock Creek, then down the creek “to Broadnax's corner white oak at the Falls” and along his lines to the beginning. In 1746, this Edloe tract was in the jurisdiction of Lunenburg County.

A Lunenburg County deed dated 1 August 1748 shows that John Edloe, Sr., “of Charles City County” made a gift of 724 acres in Lunenburg County to his “son-in-law John Edloe of Lunenburg County”; in the deed, the land was described as situated on Flat Rock Creek, from Beaver Pond to Little Beaver Pond Creek to Cattail Branch. [LDB 1:338]

It should be noted that in early records the designations Jr. and Sr. did not always denote father-son relationships but often identified the younger and elder of two unrelated persons bearing the same name. By evidence of the 1739 land grant to John Edloe and the 1748 deed of gift to his son-in-law John Edloe, Jr., there were two men of the same name. Further, a 1751 patent for 2700 acres on both sides of Flat Rock Creek in Lunenburg County indicates that the 724 acres given to son-in-law John Edloe were part of the 1739 patent “formerly granted to John Edloe, Sr.” [PB30:449]

According to a 1751 patent to John Edloe [the younger], the boundary line started at Nobles's corner on the creek, to and along John Parham's line, to and along John Calleham's line, to and up Flat Rock Creek, to and along Sanford's line, to and along “old Captain Edloe's line” to the mouth of Cattail Branch on Beaverpond Creek, then along its meanders to Flat Rock Creek and thence to the beginning. The 2700-acre tract was described in the patent as comprised of three parts: (1) 724 acres being “part of a patent for two thousand three hundred and fifty five [sic] acres formerly granted to John Edloe Sen^r”on 22 September 1739, (2) 76 acres by patent granted on 27 January 1734 to William Kelly, (3) and 1900 acres “never before granted.”

At February Court 1759 in Charles City County, the will of John Edloe, Jr., was presented by his executors, and his lands in Charles City and Lunenburg Counties were ordered appraised. [Weisiger, Feb Ct 1759:99-100] When his Lunenburg estate was settled in 1772, he was identified as “John Edloe decd. of Lunenburg County.” [LDB12:354] His widow married Park Bailey, as noted in a 1764 deed of trust secured by John Bailey's 1700-acre Crooked Creek land, three slaves, and other personal property said to have been purchased from the estate of John Edloe deceased of Lunenburg County “during the life ofParke Bailey and Cybella his wife formerly wife of John Edloe decd.” [LDB8:219] As proposed by researcher John W. Pritchett, court records of Charles City County suggest that this John Edloe, Jr., (son of Matthew Edloe and his wife Martha Hunt) had married his cousin Cybella Edloe (daughter of Captain John Edloe and his wife Rebecca Hubbard.) [Pritchett; Weisiger, April Ct 1760:184]

By his will, John Edloe, Jr., lent his wife Cybella during her life all of his real and personal estate, to be divided at her death among daughters Rebecca, Martha, Tabitha, and Alice Edloe, but John Bailey's deed of trust indicates that Cybella had sold part of her life right in Edloe's estate; this John Bailey may have been her son John Edloe Bailey. [Weisiger, February Court 1759:100; March Ct:1747, p 468] A few years later, according to an inquisition held in Lunenburg County on 19 May 1770, John Bailey was determined by a jury to have unlawfully forced Edloe's heirs from their inherited property:

. . . last February, John Bailey and other malefactors unknown to the jury did with force and arms Desiese and Expel Parker Hare & wife Rebecca, William Barret & wife Tabitha, Martha Edloe & Alice Edloe from their demesnes of fee of and in one messuage with the appurtenances lawfully & peaceably seised, Bailey continues to hold such until day of this Inquisition, to the great disturbance of the King's Peace.

The jury's report was recorded on 14 June 1770, signed by Francis Niblet, Thomas Moody, Richard Haggard, John Brooks, Matthew Organ, John Wright, French Haggard, Harberd Hight, Henry Gill, Joseph Blanks, Edward Jackson, and David Dearden. [LDB 11:374]

Even though Edloe's widow Cybella was still living, the jury's verdict was followed two years later by settlement of the deceased John Edloe's estate in Lunenburg County.On 18 September 1772, sons-in-law William Barret and Parker Hare posted bond for each other, Edloe's widow Cybella (for a consideration) agreed to relinquish her life right in the estate, Hare acted as trustee for Edloe's unmarried daughter Martha, and David Garland was chosen to divide the land before 1 December 1772. [LDB 12:354-358] On 23 November 1772, Garland submitted his “impartial division” of the lands of the deceased John Edloe:

1616 acres, the manor plantation on the east side of Flat Rock Creek, part of 2700 acres by patent to Edloe 5 July 1751

Lot #2 1090 acres, all the remainder in the said patent with the plantation on the west side of Flat Rock Creek, called Old Quarter Tract

Lot #3 2162 acres, on Crooked Creek, by patent to Edloe 5 July 1751

Lot #4 1414 acres, on Great Branch, by patent to Edloe 1 Jun 1750

The lot of 1616 acres that included the manor plantation on the east side of Flat Rock Creek was drawn by Rebecca [Edloe] Hare, wife of Parker Hare. The reference to the “manor plantation” suggests this lot included the dwelling place of the deceased John Edloe. The Lunenburg County land tax list for 1772 charged Parker Hare with 808 acres; in 1787, the 808 acres were charged to Edward Pegram. The 1616 acres in lot #1 had been divided and sold as two parcels to Edward Pegram and Roger Atkinson, both of Dinwiddie County.

Pegram and his wife Ann of Dinwiddie County sold this Edloe parcel of 808 acres on Flat Rock Creek to John Christian on 28 July 1802; the deed describes the tract as “bought by Pegram of Parker Hair[sic].” [LDB19:128] It adjoined Hinton, Sturdivant, Joseph Dunman, William Taylor, John Blackwell⁷, and John Williams.

The following winter, on 8 Dec 1802, Christian and his wife Salley sold 300 acres of the 808-acre tract to Sterling Neblett. Jr. [LDB19:129] Situated on Flat Rock Creek, this parcel adjoined William Taylor, Joseph Dunman, and Mary Sturdivant. In 1805, Neblett sold 297 of the 300 acres to Josiah Daly of Mecklenburg County. [LDB21:31] As described in the deed, the land adjoined Flat Rock Creek, Sturdivant, John Daly, Harper's Road, Lambert, and John Christian. In 1806, Neblett sold the remaining three of the 300 acres to Joseph Lambert – on branches of Stony Creek, adjoining Christian. [LDB20:171] From 1805 to 1815, Josiah Daly was taxed for 297 acres, until 4 July 1815 when he sold the parcel to John Daly; in 1816 the tax commissioner noted a gain of one acre for a total of 298 acres.[LDB23:375; LTB 1816]This small portion of the original Edloe-Pegram 808-acre tract adjoined Fisher, John Daly, John Blackwell⁷, John Christian, and Flat Rock Creek.

Christian eventually sold all of his remaining land. On 12 January 1803, 90 acres were sold to James Hinton; this portion adjoined Hinton's land on Flat Rock Creek, the old ford, and Williams. [LDB20:89]

On 9 April 1805, Christian sold 18 acres to John Williams, on the branches of Stony Creek, adjoining John⁷ Blackwell, a new line, James Hinton, and the said Williams. [LDB20:84] On 9 June 1806, Christian sold to John⁷ Blackwell, Sterling Neblett, and Thomas Adams, as trustees in behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church, one acre on which to build a meeting house that was to be free for use as a school when not occupied by Divine Worship; situated on Harper's Road, near Christian's residence, this became Antioch Methodist Church. [LDB20:225]

On 29 December 1814, John Christian (for himself and his sons Thomas and Stephen), in debt to William Jones of Mecklenburg County, signed a deed of trust to Thomas Adams as trustee. The deed was secured by the 400 acres where John Christian was living, adjoining the lands of James Hinton, John Daly, John⁷Blackwell, and others not named in the deed. [LDB23:404] Christian sold 10 acres of the 808-acre tract to Robert Hudson on 25 September 1815. [LDB23:375]

On 9 April 1818, Christian sold his home and the remaining 389 acres to Thomas⁷ Blackwell. [LDB24:408] The deed described the land as on Flat Rock Creek, adjoining James Hinton, Robert Hudson, John Williams, John⁷ Blackwell, the acre at Antioch Meeting House, and John Daly. Two weeks later, on 24 April 1818, Thomas⁷ Blackwell sold 50 acres of this former Christian tract to his brother John⁷ Blackwell; this parcel was situated on the waters of Stoney Creek, adjoining John Williams, John⁷ Blackwell, the acre at the meeting house, and the said Thomas⁷ Blackwell. [LDB24:409]

These transactions are reflected in the following year's tax list: Thomas⁷ Blackwell was newly charged with Christian's former 339 acres and the buildings valued at $50, and John⁷ Blackwell was charged with 50 acres on Stony Creek and no buildings, transferred by Thomas⁷ Blackwell from Christian's tract. The minutes recorded at Lunenburg County Court for 13 November 1818 show that Thomas⁷ Blackwell proposed that a road be turned from a little below Antioch Meeting House into Harper's Road, near Stony Creek; any three of Edmund F. Taylor, Benjamin W. Hite, John Smith, and John Goodwin were appointed to view the proposed route. [LMB 1817-1819] At court on the following February 11, the committee's report was returned with a certificate signed by James Hinton, and Blackwell was granted leave to turn the road as requested. This road would have been for better access to his 339-acre tract on Flat Rock Creek.

Thomas⁷ Blackwell and his wife did not live on the land bought from Christian; their home was a few miles NE.In 1820, the year of Blackwell's death, land tax lists show that he owned land in three locations: (1) on the waters of Flat Rock Creek, designated the “home plantation” in the inventory of his estate; (2) on the waters of Crooked Run Creek, designated the “Crooked Run plantation”; and (3) on Flat Rock Creek [the former Christian tract], which contributed nothing of value to the estate inventory. [LOB22:175-6, 363, 366; LOB23:281, 302]

Blackwell's will dated 16 Feb 1819 made specific bequests for his wife and children as to the disposition of his real and personal estate. [LWB8:106] The 339 acres bought from John Christian were bequeathed to his eldest son, Robert⁸ Blackwell, who was to pay the executors $1000 –$500 on the Christmas 12 months after his father's death, and $500 when his sister Martha Elizabeth became age 12. Such stipulations to balance estate accounts were not unusual at that time; to avoid family disputes, testators tried to provide for each child equally by maintaining lifelong records of sums advanced against eventual estate value.

In 1821, the tax commissioner charged this son Robert⁸ Blackwell with the 339 acres and buildings valued at $50 on Flat Rock, SE17, transferred by will from the estate of his father, Thomas⁷ Blackwell. According to the deed, this tract that adjoined the one acre sold by Christian to the trustees of Antioch Meeting House included the former residence of John Christian and his wife Salley. Robert Blackwell⁸ had married Mary “Polly” Ann Abernathy in 1818, and probably moved into the original [Christian] portion of today's Midlothian: three rooms, one above the other, over a dirt-floored storage area, with an enclosed stairway to the upper rooms. The original house underwent substantial changes between 1821, when the house on the property was valued at $50, and 1822, when the valuation increased to $1500 and is probably when the front portion of today's Midlothian was built. The land tax list for 1822 has a note by the tax commissioner that a “new house” had been built and its valuation added. [Land Taxes, 1821, 1822] Robert⁸ was listed as Robert Blackwell, Jr., denoting him as younger than his uncle Robert⁷ Blackwell, who lived on Kettlestick Creek.

Several parcels of land were added before the death of Robert⁸ Blackwell in 1843 –

In 1822, 10 acres from Zillah [Jackson] Hudson, widow of Robert Hudson deceased [LDB 25:493]

In 1828, 212 acres with building valued $50 (formerly land of James Hinton) from Thomas⁸ Blackwell and his wife Minerva [Fisher] Blackwell [LDB 25:77; 27:505]

In 1832, 586 acres [another part of the 1616-acre Edloe tract] with building valued $600 from Chasteen Claybrook, where he lived, adjoining Daniel Daly, on Flat Rock Creek, with a corner on Harper's Road [LDB 29:168A]

In 1834, 80 acres from Henry W. Harper (his portion of Wyatt Harper's estate) [LDB 30:19, 32] and 146½ acres from the estate of John Fisher deceased through settlement of a Chancery suit brought by various Dalys [LDB 30:49]

In 1835, 10 acres by exchange of 10 acres with John Hawthorn and his wife Eliza [Harper] Hawthorn, probably no gain [LDB 30:306]

In 1836, 1632/3 acres on the Meherrin River, from William Y. Ward and his wife Frances [LDB30:491]

In 1836, 6 acres from William Wilkinson [LDB 30:495]

In 1837, 39¼ on Flat Rock Creek sold to Julius Hite [LDB 31:51]

The tax valuation for buildings on Robert⁸ Blackwell's land remained at $1500 until the gain of $600 at the purchase of Claybrook's residence in 1832 brought the total value of all buildings to $2100. In 1839, the county tax commissioner combined all of these parcels owned by Robert⁸ Blackwell into one tract of 1499½ acres, SE17, with buildings valued at $2100; the total value of buildings was altered to $2000 in 1841. In 1844, this land was listed as the estate of Robert⁸ Blackwell deceased – total value of all buildings, $2000. Tracking the building values from year to year suggests that no substantial changes had been made to the Midlothian house since 1822. According to family tradition, Robert⁸ is said to have added the front section of the house ca 1840, with a colonnade connecting the six-room addition to the original house, and an interior kitchen added later. However, the land tax records suggest that ca 1822 the house valued at $1500 was built in front of the original $50 home of Christian, and no major changes took place until long after the death of Robert⁸ Blackwell in 1843; perhaps it was the colonnade that was constructed ca 1840 . His widow Mary held the homeplace and its 326 acres in life right for many years; the valuation of the buildings on the Midlothian tract varied between $1000 (1851-57), $1500 (1857-61), $1300 (1861-70). No buildings were taxed on the other parcels of land in the estate, and no alterations were noted by the tax commissioner after 1822; the changes in valuation may have been by fluctuation of tax rates. [Land taxes 1823-1870]

Robert⁸'s wife Mary is said to have been responsible for rooting the boxwood in the front yard; their youngest child, Marietta Susan⁹ Blackwell, for naming the house Midlothian. [Paul White, Taproots:126-7]In 1843, Robert⁸ Blackwell died, and the Midlothian homeplace later went to his son Robert Augustus⁹ Blackwell, who married his cousin Martha Dance⁹ Blackwell, daughter of John Chapman⁸ Blackwell, in 1864. They brought up their seven children here at Midlothian, which later passed to their son Robert “Rob” Eldridge¹⁰ Blackwell.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the house was in need of maintenance, resulting in significant modifications by “Rob”¹⁰ Blackwell and his wife Sarah “Sadie” Emory [Harmon] Blackwell after their marriage in 1916. [White, Taproots:128-31]Eventually, their children grew up, the property went out of the Blackwell family, and the house fell victim to neglect and vandalism, stripped of handsome architectural features as well as the luxuriant boxwood, and weeds joined the periwinkle obscuring the few remaining markers in the family cemetery. Fortunately, the house was sold in the mid-1980s to a young couple with the vision necessary to restore Midlothian, and once again this gracious home stands beside the shady lane as one of the county's loveliest.

Sources

Evans, June Banks, comp., The Blackwells of Blackwell's Neck, New Orleans: Bryn Ffyliaid Publications, 2004 rev. edition

Evans, June Banks, abstr., Lunenburg County Deed Books, Will Books, Land Tax Books, Order Books, Minute Books [various volumes/years], New Orleans: Bryn Ffyliaid Publications, 1983-2005

Library of Virginia, microfilm, Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants,

Pritchett, John W., comp., Virginians: The Family History of John Pritchett

Weisiger, B. B., III, abstr., Charles City County, Virginia, Records 1737-1774, Richmond: Weisiger, 1986

White,Paul R., Sr., comp., Taproots, A Virginia-Carolina Legacy, Nashville: White, 1986

Blackwell men as identified in the family line proposed in The Blackwells of Blackwell's Neck, June Banks Evans, Bryn Ffyliaid Publications, revised 2004:

John⁷ Blackwell (Robert⁶, Robert⁵, James G⁴, James³, James², Robert¹)

John Chapman⁸ Blackwell (John⁷, Robert⁶, Robert⁵, James G⁴, James³, James², Robert¹)

Robert⁷ Blackwell (Robert⁶, Robert⁵, James G⁴, James³, James², Robert¹)

Robert⁸ Blackwell (Thomas⁷, Robert⁶, Robert⁵, James G⁴, James³, James², Robert¹)

Robert Augustus⁹ Blackwell (Robert⁸, Thomas⁷, Robert⁶, Robert⁵, James G⁴, James³, James², Robert¹)

Robert Eldridge¹⁰ Blackwell (Robert Augustus⁹, Robert⁸, Thomas⁷, Robert⁶, Robert⁵, James G⁴, James³, James², Robert¹)

Thomas⁷ Blackwell (Robert⁶, Robert⁵, James G⁴, James³, James², Robert¹)

Thomas⁸ Blackwell (Robert⁷, Robert⁶, Robert⁵, James G⁴, James³, James², Robert¹)