Our Bobbitt Family Genealogy

Husband: William BOBBITT

Born: 1649 in Pt. of Bristol, Glamorganshire, Wales Died: 1703 in Charles City Co., VA Father: Mother: Spouses:

Wife: Joanna "Anna" STURDEVANT

Born: 1652 in Wales, England Died: UNKNOWN Father: Mother: Spouses:

Children

01 (M): William BOBBITT Born: between 1674 AND 1675 in Prince George Co., VA Died: between 1737 AND 1738 in (?) Warren Co., NC Spouses: Mary GREEN

02 (M): John BOBBITT Born: 1678 in Charles City Co., VA Died: 06 NOV 1736 in Burke Co., NC Spouses: Sarah GREEN

William BOBBITT:

Notes:
Source: Calvin Kyle Bobbitt Home Web page at:
http://members.tripod.com/~Calvin_Kyle_Bobbitt/index-58.html
and
http://thegenealogists.com/bobbittbookone/1-220011.htm

Chird Bobbitt Web site

1673 Land Grant to William Bobbitt, Sr.
Researched by John W. Bobbitt in 1972 and from his book titled "The Bobbitt Family in America":

The original of the land grant to William Bobbitt on October 27, 1673 is in the Virginia State Archives in Richmond, Virginia. This record is from Land Grants, Book 6, page 481.

To all (to whom these presents shall come, greeting in our Lord God everlasting); Whereas (it doth please our Soverign Lord King Charles the Second); Now, know ye that, I Lord and Governor, William Berkley, (appointed by the King, Governor of this commonwealth etc.); Give, and Grant unto said WILLIAM BOBBITT, a divident of land, containing ninety six acres, three rods, 24 poles, on the south side of the Appomattox River in Charles City County, extending as followeth. 1, begining at a point of a hickory, near Mr. Whittington, (thence along) his line and running north along said line, by a line, 1/3 of the said line, 200 poles along Major Cooper, thence along his line to a corner continueing by the same course 40 poles to a small red oak near by Cattail branch, thence along the line 80 degrees; 56 poles to a head of a valley, to a white oak marked four ways, 80 degrees; 56 poles to Mr. Whittington, thence along his line then 20 poles along his line, northeast; by 80 degrees; 296 poles; north 6 poles; to the place aforementioned. The said land being due by transportation of two persons into this colony, to have and to hold etc. Dated on this day, the 27th day of October, 1673. Wittnesses: John Leader, Richard Tonstall.
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The Government of Great Britain offered to all persons who would go to the Virginia Colony, a land grant of fifty acres per person. The land had to be lived on, and cultivated within three years of the land grant. At this particular time they were also exempted from quit-rents, for a period of seven years. Robert Berkley in 1705 wrote in his "History and Present State of Virginia", Chapter XII, Paragrah 58. "A right is the title any one hath by the Royal Charter, to fifty acres of land in consideration of his personal transportation into that country, to settle, and remain there; by this rule also, a man that removes his family, is entitled to the same number of acres, for his wife, and each of his children."

From this we know that WILLIAM BOBBITT came to the Virginia Colony with his wife, claimed his fifty acres for each, and received 96 acres of his choice. Such grants were given to persons at this time, who had paid their own passage. William and his wife thus began their life and family in the colony in 1673. They had no children at this time or they would have recieved additional acreage for each child.
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The year 1649 was about the time that William Bobbitt was born in the Glamorganshire area of Wales, near the "Port of Bristol". By the time William Bobbitt had reached the age of twenty, the stories of the colonies were more like the stories of paradise. Edward Bobbitt, a relative of William Bobbitt had gone to the colony of Massachusetts in 1640, and no doubt the stories that came from all the colonies were of much interest to the Bobbitt family in Wales.

William Bobbitt could not have been more than 20 years of age when he arrived into the colony. He and his wife were probably married in Wales. They had to be man and wife before the voyage in order to receive 100 acres of land as husband and wife, for making the voyage and paying their own transportation.

The land William Bobbitt received in 1673 is in present day Hopewell, Virginia. William and his family lived on the land until his death in 1703. His eldest son, William Bobbitt Junior, sold the land on May 12, 1703. The deed was recorded in Prince George County, Virginia. The laws of the colony, guided the descendants of William Bobbitt in obtaining and cultivating land until after the American Revolution.

William Bobbitt cleared his land, built his home, cultivated. the soil and reared his family on the 94 acres granted to him by the King. On June 10, 1702, William Browne, took a list of tithables in Southwark Parish of Surry County. This list was taken 29 years after William had received his land grant and on June 10, 1702 he was living on the same land.
"William Bobbitt, 94 acres of land, 0 sons over 16"

From October 27, 1673 until June 10, 1702 William had reared his family. His sons were grown and had left home. William and his wife were content to live on their first home-place in America.

The William and Mary Quarterly, volume 2, page 3, second series, gives an interesting account of the land of William Bobbitt.

"On November 12, 1723, John Peterson of Prince George County, the Bristol Parish, to John Fitzgerald of the same (Parish), for 200 pounds, water grist mill and corn mill, called Fragghole Mill on Bailey Creek, in Prince George County, in Parish and State aforesaid, three tracts of land in the Parish and County aforesaid."

"95 acres of land, purchased from John Peterson, the feoffer, of William Bobbitt Senior, by deed, May 12, 1703, it being the land on which said Bobbitt then lived and was granted to William Bobbitt Senior, the father of said William Bobbitt Junior, by patent on October 27, 1673 and descended to said William Bobbitt Junior, as heir at law to his said father." (Prince George County Records, Volume 1713, page 28.)

William Bobbitt Senior died in 1703 and the law of English primogeniture prevailed. After William Bobbitt Junior sold the land of his father, he purchased 90 acres of land on June 18, 1712, and 245 acres of land on December 6, 1718 on the north side of Rocky Run in Prince George County near the border of present day Dinwiddie County, south of Petersburg Virginia.

We do not know the maiden name of the wife of William Bobbitt Senior, but believe it was Joanna Sturdivant and that she was called "Anna". The Sturdivant and Bobbitt family came to the colony at the same time and the two families were related but the records are not clear as to the exact relationship.

William Bobbitt Senior died in 1703 a member of the Church of England. He is believed to have been buried in the church yard of the "Ferry Chapel" of Bristol Parish. His grave has been calculated to be under the old Norfolk and Western Railroad station in the city of Petersburg Virginia. His tiny plantation was in the present day city of Hopewell Virginia.
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According to the records of land patents in Charles City County the land of William Bobbitt was recorded in book number 6, page 481. Entries from the same book and the same year as the entry of our William Bobbitt are interesting.
Page 481, WILLIAM BOBBITT. October 27, 1673. 96 acres, 3 roods, 24 poles. on the south side of the Appomattox river, adjoining the land of Mr. Whittington, thence .... nigh the Cattail branch.
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Bobbitt Creek and Burks Fork are both tributaries of Big Reed Island Creek,
with Bobbitt Creek on the north, Big Reed Island Creek on the west, and Burks
Fork on the south and east. These three streams enclose approximately 200 acres
2 mi SW of Dugspur in Carroll County (formerly Grayson County).

Marriage Notes


As with any research or transcribed records, errors could have been made. Please contact the author if verification of errors can be proved.

Revised: April 29, 2004
Copyright © 2004 Mary Ann Kaylor. All rights reserved.