GARNER Family

Two James GARNERs of Virginia, married two Lucy WEBBs

Two wills, one in Halifax County and one in Mecklenburg County, indicate that two James Garners were married to two Lucys. Both James Garners are supposed to have married Lucy Webbs.

The line of James Garner and Lucy (Webb) Eddins has already been proven. This Lucy Webb married a first husband, Isaac Eddins, before marrying one of the James Garners in Mecklenburg Co. in 1790.

The James Garner who married Lucy (Webb) Eddins died in Halifax County in 1815. Lucy Eddins was granted a Revolutionary War pension based on her husband’s service. Unfortunately, the pension application does not state the birth place of this James Garner, nor does it give his parents’ names. It is the typed letter at the back of the pension application which fills in the military service of this James Garner, and presumably, it is correct. Lucy is 79 in 1840, at the time of her petition for a pension. Thus her birth year is approximately 1761.

James Garner of Halifax County died a somewhat early death, as none of his daughters is yet married or age 21 when he writes his will in 1812. He speaks in his will of giving each of his children a feather bed and furniture, to be given “after marrying or attaining to the age of twenty-one years…” He also speaks of his desire to put his son Archer to a trade when he attains the age of seventeen. His son Lewis is to be sent to school a year longer than that, and he, too, is to be put to a trade when he attains seventeen years. His Executors do not include any of his children, as his children must have been relatively young.

Given the approximate ages of his children, this James Garner might have been 45-50 years old in 1812. If he were 45, he would have been born in 1767, and he would have been six years younger than Lucy. If he were 50 years old, he would have been born in 1762, close to Lucy (Webb) Eddins’ age. If he was born in 1760, he would have been sixteen in 1776. This would seem to more closely fit his birth date than the 1748 record in St. Stephens Parish, Northumberland Co., VA.

Turning attention to the second James Garner, we must follow a collateral line, the Doggett families of Northumberland Co., VA and Mecklenburg Co., VA. James Garner was the half-brother of the children of John Doggett and Mary (Unknown surname), whose second marriage was to a James Garner of Northumberland Co., VA. Mary ( ) Doggett Garner left a will in 1767 giving her surviving children’s names: Elizabeth Brown, John Doggett, William Doggett, Benjamin Doggett, and James Garner. [See will, p. 10, History of the Doggetts of Guilford County, North Carolina, by Anna Doggett Doggett.]

Elizabeth (Doggett) Brown’s husband was George Leasure Brown. She and her brother William Doggett do not recur in the Mecklenburg County records. That leaves the three half-brothers that can be followed:

Mecklenburg Co., VA Deed Book 2, p. 284 [abstracted in History of the Doggetts of Guilford County, North Carolina, p. 11] indicates that 1) John Doggett bought land on Irby’s branch in 1763; and 2) six years later, on the same day in 1769, both Benjamin Doggett and James Garner bought land on Bluestone Creek from Conway Garner. John Doggett witnessed both deeds. [Conway Garner is generally shown as born abt. 1722 in Northumberland Co., VA, the son of Vincent Garner and Winifred Conway. If this is accurate, he was a first cousin to James Garner.] So here are the three half-brothers buying land from a cousin. It is further stated in the same Doggett history, p. 11, that a court record indicated Conway Garner owed money to both men.

John Doggett later buys land on Bluestone Creek in 1776. So the three half-brothers are still in close proximity to one another.

In 1781 and 1782 Benjamin Doggett’s name is next to that of James Garner, in the two lists in Virginia Revolutionary Publick Claims on pp. 656, 674. John Doggett, the other half-brother of James Garner who moved to Mecklenburg County, is listed immediately ahead of James Garner on p. 656, and a few names away from him on p. 674.

John Doggett is shown in the Doggett books to have married Ann Garner, his stepsister. Since Ann is not listed as an heir in the will of Mary who married James Garner in Northumberland Co., this relationship looks to be erroneous. [Mary does give a saddle and a bonnet to “Anne Doggett” in her codicil, but that does not make her her child. She might have been a child of James Garner from a former wife, though.]

The Doggett books also say that John Doggett was the oldest of the Doggett orphans, born in 1734 and that he moved to Columbia County, GA in 1790, dying there in 1804. That left only Benjamin Doggett near James Garner, Sr. From the division of his father’s property, Benjamin is shown to have been born the same year his father died, in 1738. (See History of the Doggetts of Guilford County, North Carolina, p. 10.)

Benjamin Doggett, James Garner, Sr. and James Garner, Jr. lived on past the 1820 census. Benjamin died in 1822, James Garner, Sr. sometime after his will of November 1835, and James Garner, Jr. sometime after 1870.

It is easier to follow James Garner, Jr. through the censuses than his sister, Winifred Coleman (Garner) Toone. Where his line continues to live also gives important proof that ties back to early deeds.

The 1820 census shows a James Garner, Jr., as 45 and over, with James Garner, Sr. age 26 to 44 living next to a Benjamin Doggett, 45 and over. (It looks as if the census taker recorded the ages of Jr. and Sr. backwards.) James Garner, Jr. is listed three names above his father’s name in the 1820 census.

The 1830 census does not show Benjamin Doggett. This matches the Doggett history book information on the date of death (1822) for Benjamin. Also as expected, the 1830 census of Mecklenburg Co., VA still shows a James Garner [Sr.], now over 80, which would give this James Garner a birth year of approximately 1750 or earlier. James [Jr.] is living next door to Thomas Toone on the same page, several names above that of James [Sr.].

The 1840 census does not show James Garner, Sr. He has presumably died. Now it is a Samuel Garner and an Asa Garner who are living immediately next to a James Garner. There are sons of these names in the will of James Garner.

The 1850 census shows James and Polly Garner raising their family. Samuel Garner is no longer present, which matches the account on p. 58, Garner-Keene Families of Northern Neck Virginia. The family of James Garner, ‘Jr.’ is listed on ibid., p. 54.

The 1860-1870 censuses show James Garner, ‘Jr.’ continuing to live with part of his family. The 1870 census district is “Bluestone Twp.” Bluestone Creek is the name in the early deeds of the Doggetts/Garners of Mecklenburg Co.

Going back to the St. Stephens Parish records in Northumberland Co., VA, was the John Webb whose children with Winifred are listed the same one who died in Lunenburg Co. between 23 Dec 1795 and 13 Sep 1804? For a continuation of this discussion, see essay and documentation posted in "Repository' at Webb DNA Project site <https://www.webbdnaproject.org/repository.php>.

In the 1770s there is no marriage record for Lucy Webb who married James Garner. But in the St. Stephens Parish records in Northumberland Co., VA we have a James Garner born 6 Sep 1748 and a Lucy Ann Webb, born 14 Sep 1751, daughter of a John Webb with a wife Winifred. This may be the Lucy Webb who married James Garner somewhere between Northumberland Co. and Mecklenburg Co., as they were three years apart in age and they would have had opportunity to know each other from a young age.

The will of James Garner is on file at Mecklenburg Co., VA, written on 21 November 1835. In it he names his wife and children, and he names his son Asa and his son-in-law William Smith as his executors. Clearly this man was older than James Garner who died in Halifax County, and his second son (seventh child), Asa, was of such an age to be able to serve as his Executor.

From the 1830 census James Garner’s birth year would have been 1740-1750. He might have been the James Garner of the 6 Sep 1748 birth record in St. Stephens Parish, Northumberland Co., VA.

We also have evidence of a further connection through the 1825 marriage of Benjamin Doggett’s youngest daughter, Lucinda Doggett, to William Garner, youngest child of next door neighbor James Garner, Sr. Lucinda’s children are named as beneficiaries in the will of her sister, Lucy Doggett, who died in 1841. (Lucy’s will is abstracted in History of the Doggetts of Guilford County, North Carolina, by Anna Doggett Doggett, p. 13, and p. 44 indicates Lucinda was still alive in 1850. Garner-Keene Families of Northern Neck Virginia, p. 62, gives that William Garner, son of James Garner, Sr. married Lucinda Doggett.)

The 1880 census shows Lucinda (Doggett) Garner, widow of William Garner, living with two of her children in Mecklenburg Co., VA. Her children’s names match a familysearch.org record.

Mecklenburg County Marriages, 1765-1853, p. 55 shows that the surety bond holder’s name on the marriage license for Lucinda Doggett and William Garner is Edward Toone. If this Edward Toone is Edward Toone, it would mean that he put the money up for his young uncle. Since no other Edward Toone/Toon/Tune of an appropriate age or race is evident in the census records until 1860 (when an Edward K. Tune lives in Richmond County, VA, while E. H. Toone lives in Clarksville, Mecklenburg Co., VA), it would seem quite possible that Edward Toone on the marriage license was Edward Hogan Toone, the nephew of William Garner and the grandchild of James Garner, Sr.

Given all of the above evidence, James Garner is likely the one who furnished supplies to the Continental Army, as recorded in Virginia Publick Claims, Vol. II, 1992, pp. 656, 674.

Contrubutor Unknown