Elizabeth (?) Meriwether Browne, Second Wife
© The Meriwether Society, Inc.

We definitely know that the name of Nicholas’ wife at the time of his death was Elizabeth, though we have no clue as to her maiden name. If she is the second wife as believed, Elizabeth and Nicholas probably married in late 1664 or early 1665, as their first known child, Nicholas II, was born in Oct 1665; she subsequently gave birth to four additional known children: Francis, Jane, Thomas and William Meriwether.

In Surry County Court on 4 March 1678/9, Elizabeth was listed as the executrix of Nicholas Meriwether, who had died the previous December. In July 1679 she was granted a Commission of Administration for the estate and orphan of Lewis Williams; her relationship to Mr. Williams is not known but it seems likely she was closely connected to him to justify taking on this task while still recovering from the loss of Nicholas. By July 1680 she has married Lt. Col. William Browne and has moved to “Four Mile Tree” to continue raising her family. She and Browne had a daughter, Elizabeth Browne, who is mentioned in the 1699 Will of Elizabeth’s brother-in-law, Henry Hartwell.

Elizabeth is apparently dead by 21 Apr 1695, when Nicholas II and his (half?) sister Elizabeth (Meriwether) Clements are appointed administrators of the estate of their brother, William. She is certainly dead by Jan 1695/6, when her son Thomas is assigned a guardian. She is most likely buried in the Browne family cemetery at “Four Mile Tree”.

For more details and evidence of these events, as well as other surname possibilities, see The Meriwether Family in America: Volume I, The Colonists published in 2017 by The Meriwether Society, Inc.

Sister Jane
Meriwether genealogies before 2017 stated that Nicholas Meriwether had a sister, Jane, who married Henry Hartwell. In his Will dated 1699, Henry Hartwell names the known living children of Nicholas (Nicholas, Francis, Thomas and Jane), and Elizabeth Browne, daughter of widow Elizabeth (?) Meriwether by her second marriage to Col. William Browne, as nephews and nieces of “my wife”, Jane Hartwell. This proves that Jane was the sister of Elizabeth, not Nicholas. (Parish records in England have since proven that Nicholas did not have a sister named Jane.)

In 2020 the siblings of Nicholas were documented in baptism records and there was no sister named Jane, further supporting the 2017 claim.

Property Sale
On April 7, 1685, [William] Browne and his wife, Elizabeth, sold George Lee their ¾-acre lot in urban Jamestown. The tract, which contained the easternmost bays of a long row house on Back Street, was described as formerly belonging to Thomas Woodhurst (Woodhouse?). This raises the possibility that Elizabeth Brown was Woodhurst’s widow or daughter.13

Commission of Administration, Lewis Williams Estate

In the following, Elizabeth is granted a Commission of Administration for the estate and orphan of Lewis Williams. This has led TMSI to speculate that Lewis Williams was perhaps a brother or father of Elizabeth.

Know all men by these presents that wee Robert Caufield & Ar: Allen Justices of the Peace in Quorum for the County of Surry & we send greeting in our Lord God Everlasting, whereas Lewis Williams late of this Collony dyeing & leaving an Estate in Divers goods, In _____ where of Mrs. Eliz: Meriwether hath made humble suite to the Cort that a Commission of Administration might be granted her of the said Estate in Right of the Orphan of the said ______, now know all men that wee the said Robert Caufield & Ar: Allen According to an Order of Surry County Cort beareing date June 16th 1679 for the better ordering & secureing of the said Estate, do give & grant unto the said Eliz: Meriwether the administration of all & singular the goods Rights & Credits of the Estate of the said deced, of what nature Quallity or Condition they bee or in whose custody soever they remain within this Collony, And doo by these presents further Order & appoynte that the said Eliz: Meriwether shall present unto ye ______ (Court or Commission) of the said County of Surry at the next Cort a true & perfect Inventory of the said Estate being lawfully Appraysed by Suffisient men upon oath, & further that shee satisfy & pay all such debts as remain due & oweing from ye said Estate unto any person or persons within the Collony as far as the Estate will affoard, & after such debts are paid then the said Eliz: to bring a true & Just account of the surplusage or remainder of the said Estate when shee shall be thereunto Lawfully Called and diliver the Same unto the _____ (Court or Commission) for the use of such person or persons unto whome of Right it shall belong or lawfully appertain. Given at Southwarke this 25th day of July 1679

Ro: Caufield
Ar: Allen

Mrs. Eliz: Meriwethers Commission of Administration on Estate of Lewis Wms deced in R. of deceds Orp.
Test William Edwards, C or Cr, Coun. of Sur.

Vera Record: Aug. 1st 1679 per WE C or Cr

(Published in Meriwether Connections, v1 no. 4)

Nicholas Meriwether I (1631–1678)
© The Meriwether Society, Inc.
 
Nicholas Meriwether, the Virginia immigrant, was born in 1631 in Norfolk county, England, and was baptized on 9 Aug 1631 in Little Walsingham Parish. He was the eldest child of John Merywether and his wife Joane Browne. According to Norfolk church records he had younger siblings John, Anne, Fayth, Joane and Francis. His father was a Fellow at New College, Oxford (1618-1629), until he became Rector of the Stratton St. Michael Parish from 1629 until 1653. John died sometime between 1653 and 1660 onboard a ship sailing to Virginia, reportedly “to join his son already there.”
 
Based on the careers of Nicholas in Virginia, he was obviously well educated, like his father. Where he received his education and training has not yet been determined.
 
Nicholas arrived in Jamestown, Virginia Colony, about 1652; as no record of him being transported has been located, it is possible he was among the officials sent with the Parliamentary Fleet to force the surrender of Virginia to the Cromwellian government. The first confirmation of his existence in Virginia was 4 July 1653 when he patented 300 acres of land in Lancaster County. From at least 13 Oct 1653 until 13 Dec 1656, Nicholas served as a clerk of the Quarter Court and Governor’s Council for the Colony in Jamestown under Gov. Richard Bennett and deputy governor William Claiborne.

By the end of the 1650s, as the Monarchy was being restored, Nicholas seems to have retired from public office to pursue land speculation and tobacco production and shipping from his Island House property. Since his entire government career was during the reign of Cromwell and ceased upon restoration of the throne, this seems to contradict those who claim Nicholas was one of the “Cavaliers”, supporters of the Crown who came to the Colony to escape persecution.
 
Nicholas lived in Jamestown for a number of years, before moving to Surry county about 1666, when he purchased the Indian Spring plantation; that is where it is believed he reared his family. While there the family worshiped at Southwark Parish Church, where Nicholas served as a vestryman. Rev. John Clough was a minister there and married a daughter of Nicholas.
 
Nicholas had six known children: Elizabeth, Nicholas, Francis, Jane, Thomas and William..
 
Family historians claim that a (now lost) Bible record states Nicholas died 19 Dec 1678, probably in Surry county. Records there prove that his wife was appointed the executrix of his estate. Where he is buried is unknown.
 
For a detailed account of the life and accomplishments of Nicholas Meriwether I, see “The Meriwether Family in America: Volume I, The Colonists”, published in 2017 by The Meriwether Society, Inc.

Public Service
Nicholas initially worked as a Clerk of the Quater Court in thr mid to late 1650s. Although many researchers state he was clerk of Surry County during this time, there are no documents supporting this claim. As a Clerk of the Quarter Court, he sometimes signed Surry County documents, which may have led to the erroneous conclusion that he was Clerk of Surry County. Upon restoration of the monarchy under King Charles II, Nicholas retired from public service, continuing his land speculation and becoming a tobacco exporter. In later years in Surry County he served as a Justice of the Peace as well as a vestryman in the Southwarke Parish church.

Headrights Claimed
Nicholas was engaged in buying and selling land patents early in his career as Clerk of the Quarter Court. As a consequence of his land speculation activities, Nicholas supposedly claimed headrights for importing 264 persons.

There is an entry for a “Nicho. Merror”, imported in 1648 by Richard Lee, Gent. It is possible, though not likely, this is Nicholas Meriwether himself.

Marriage(s) of Nicholas Meriwether I
In 1660, “N. Merriwether” and “E. Merriwether” witnessed a document for Thomas Woodhouse.8 It is believed that these individuals are Nicholas and his wife Elizabeth, establishing that he was married by 1660.

The Meriwether Society has entertained the notion that Nicholas married twice, that both wives were named Elizabeth, and that the oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is the only child of the first marriage. Under this scenario, the first wife died after Elizabeth’s birth and about 1664 he married a second time. We know her name was Elizabeth as she was named as the Executrix of his will in 1678. She is the mother of the remaining five children. She is probably much younger than Nicholas, as she remarried after his death at the age of 48 and had another child about 1681.

Proof
The logical proof that there were two wives is this: The 1699 Will of Henry Hartwell named the living Meriwether children of Nicholas and Elizabeth, as well as Elizabeth’s daughter with second husband Col. William Browne, as nephews and nieces of his wife, Jane. It has been proven that Jane is not the sister of Nicholas and therefore must be the sister of his wife Elizabeth. NOT named in Hartwell’s Will is the oldest child of Nicholas, Elizabeth (Meriwether) Clough Clements. This Elizabeth was alive in 1695 when Henry and Jane returned to England and she was probably alive in the late 1690s when the Will was written. While there are several possible explanations for why she was not mentioned in his Will, when all other living Meriwether and Browne nephews and nieces were, it might be because she was NOT the niece of Jane Hartwell. That implies that she had a different mother than Elizabeth (?) Meriwether Browne, mother of the last five children. If so, Nicholas I married twice and Elizabeth was the child of the first marriage. A second explanation is, of course, that Hartwell knew Elizabeth Clements was dead when he wrote his Will. Or maybe Hartwell just left her off.

While The Meriwether Society believes there is a strong possibility that Nicholas married twice, our genealogy records will continue to assume that Elizabeth was the only wife and was mother of all six children, including the eldest, Elizabeth.

Residences
Nicholas was born and likely raised in the county of Norfolk, England, though the family also spent time in London. During his early years in Virginia he almost certainly lived in Jamestown, where he worked as a clerk of the Quarter Court and also engaged in land speculation. His last years were spent in Surry County as a planter and tobacco exporter.

Norfolk and London
Nicholas’ father was Rector at Stratton St. Michael Parish in Norfolk during Nicholas’ childhood. In later years John was sent to debtor’s prison in London; the family usually accompanied the inmates. Where Nicholas lived and was educated after Norfolk is not yet known.

Jamestown
Upon arrival about 1652, Nicholas almost certainly lived in Jamestown, where for a number of years he was a clerk for the government. His permanent residence there probably ended when he bought an estate in Surry County in 1666.

Island House
On 25 Nov 1661, Nicholas bought “Island House” on Jamestown Island from Elizabeth Kingsmill and her husband Nathaniel Bacon, a relative of the Bacon who started “Bacon’s Rebellion”; a marker on Jamestown Island identifies the “Island House” location today. A fine brick house had been built on the site, but it was destroyed in a hurricane in 1656. Nicholas built a tobacco barn to support his growing tobacco export business but whether he lived there is not known. His son, Francis II, inherited the site and later sold it to William Sherwood. It eventually was acquired by Richard Ambler and many documents associated with the land may be found in the Ambler papers at the Library of Congress. In 1999 members of the Meriwether Society were able to hike to the site of the old house in an epic journey of discovery known as “The Great Tick Trek”.

Indian Spring
About 1666, Nicholas purchased “Indian Spring” in Surry county from William Seaward and is believed to have resided there the remainder of his life. Surry county tithable records show that brother Francis I also lived, and probably died, there. Son Nicholas Meriwether II inherited the property and in 1693 sold it to his brother-in-law, Capt. Francis Clements. The Clements family lived there for many years before moving to Isle of Wight County. Francis Clements Jr. inherited the property and upon his death in 1721 gave the land to the Southwark Parish to be used as a glebe. A fine brick house was built for this purpose and is still in existence, but now as a private home.

Nicholas I owned many more plantations and land parcels. For a more complete list, see “The Meriwether Family in America: Volume I, The Colonists”.

Children
Nicholas Meriwether is known to have had at least six children: Elizabeth, Nicholas, Frances, Jane, Thomas and William. They are all proven to have existed by various primary sources. It is believed that Elizabeth was the oldest.

Many people claim descent from a David Meriwether, whose daughter Susannah married Nicholas Catlett about 1669. There is no record that NM1 had a son David, nor even that the maiden name of Nicholas Catlett’s wife was Meriwether.

Death Information
Nicholas’ death date was supposedly found in the Bible of Nicholas Meriwether II, in possession of descendants in Louisville, Ky, in the late 1800’s. Efforts to locate this Bible record in the late 1900’s have failed.

Nicholas was presumably residing at “Indian Spring” in Surry county at the time of his death, as he was an active Vestryman in the Southwark Parish Church. He also still owned “Island House” on Jamestowne Island and probably maintained a residence on the island, as did many other Surry county planters of the day. Where he died and where he was buried are not known.

Many published and unpublished Meriwether genealogies claim that Nicholas died in Lynnhaven Parish. There is no historical evidence to indicate that Nicholas ever lived in that Parish.

Indian Spring Purchase 9

3 May 1666. Wm Seward to Nicholas Meriweather, James City Island in Virginia, 300 acres of land in Surry County commonly called the Indian Spring, being part of a greater quantity taken up by Thomas Swann, Junior, beginning at White Marsh and Indian Sprint to Coll. Jordan’s corner tree… to Ready Branch issuing out of the Main Branch granted to Wm. Seward by patent 29 September 1664, to him the said Wm. Seward and by sd Wm. Seward to Nicholas Meriwether, and Wm. Seward’s wife Elizabeth, in right of her one-third, etc.

Wit.: Roger Rawlings, Thos. Hart.

Lancaster County Deeds & Wills
- To all to whome &c. Whereas by ye Artikles date &c. Now Know yee yt: I ye sd Ricj: Bennett Esqr with ye consent of ye Councell of State acordingly give & grant unto NICH: MERIWETHER a tract of four hundred acres of land scituate or beinge in ye Countye of Lancaster on ye southside of Rapa: River NNW on ye land of Nich: Dale, SSW into ye WOods & ESE on a Creeke devidinge this land & ye land of James Bonner, the sd Land &c. dated at James Cittye the 10th of February 1653.
RI: Bennett
WM: Claiborne, Secr
Recognitr: 6yh Febry Recordr: 11th die 1654

BE IT KNOWNE unto all men by these pr:sents yt: I NICJ: MERIWETHER for a valuable consideracon indebted for doe bargaine sell assigne & set over unto HUMP: HAGETT his heirs & assignes for ever one p:cel of land contg : 400 acres in Rapa. River as by a Patt: to

Lancaster County Court 25 January 1659/60

It appeareing to this Cort that Charles Hill (deced) stands indebted unto Nich Merywether in three hundred & sixtie pounds of tobacco & ca: or goods to the value thereof & alsoe in eight paire of shooes by two specialties. It is ordered that the same bee paide according to the tenor of the sd specialties out of the sd: Hill his Estate with costs.

It is apparent that Nicholas Meriwether had a will, based on legal actions of his widow and children in later years. No such will has been found in the largely intact Surry county archives, so it is likely that the will was recorded in Jamestown and was among the records destroyed during the Civil War. Though Nicholas was residing in Surry county at the time of his death, many Surry residents kept records and an additional residence in Jamestown at this time, so this is not an uncommon situation. We do know the following:

Nicholas II received Indian Spring in Surry, which he subsequently sold to brother-in-law Capt. Francis Clements. It was then inherited by Francis Clements Jr., only child of Francis Clements and Elizabeth Meriwether.

Francis II received “lsland House” on Jamestown Island. He subsequently sold the property to William Sherwood. The documents for the original sale to Nicholas by Nathaniel Bacon and Elizabeth Kingsmill, the sale by Francis to Sherwood, and other documents related to Jamestown Island, may be found in the Ambler Papers collection at the Library of Congress.

Most early Meriwether genealogies claimed Nicholas I married Elizabeth Wodehouse/Woodhouse. Several claim her name was Mary.

Following link has been deleted from Google Books:
Nugent - Virginia Land Patents:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kl3NQvvVBW...bep1CkvtQ/edit#gid=0

Nicholas Meriwether (<1631-1678)

Nicholas Meriwether
b: bef 09 Aug 1631
bp: Norfolk, England
d: 19 Dec 1678
dp: Surry County, Virginia

Nicholas Meriwether
The Corageous Caroline 10

Nicholas Meriwether is the first of whom we have much knowledge, and there are differences of opinion, among writers, about him. In fact there was so much confusion that I almost decided to ignore him completely; however, I have tried to unravel the tangle so far as possible, and have arrived at the conclusion that he was born in Kent County, England, about 1631. Various reasons are given for his coming to Virginia: that he had made a loan to the Crown, in the troubled reign of Charles I, and later was given a grant of 5,260 acres of land by Charles II, in Virginia; other surmises are that he came for safety, which could have been possible; or that he might have come on a prospecting trip. If this with this case, it paid off well, for in 1658 he married Elizabeth Woodhouse, daughter of Thomas Woodhouse of Westmoreland County, Virginia. He died in 1678 leaving six children.

Nicholas Meriwether II, the second son, was born October 26, 1667. As to the place of his birth, there are differences of opinion. One writer says he was born in Surrey County, Virginia, and another that his parents brought him to Virginia as a child of two years. If this is the case, Nicholas I and his wife Elizabeth returned to England sometime after the marriage, for they were married in Westmoreland County. Still another version is that Nicholas II and his brother, Francis, came to Virginia about 1687 to take charge of land which had been given their father by Charles II. If this is true they came with pounds a-plenty in their pockets, for in a short time they had acquired extensive land holdings as well as high places in both government and Church.

“In 1656 George Thompson was in Westmoreland County, which was cut from Northumberland County, and there witnessed a Edward Deanes [Daines?] power of attorney to Capt. Giles Brent. At that time one Sarah Thompson owned land in Westmoreland County adjoining Nicholas Meriwether and James Hare.” NT p193.

MERIWETHER. Albemarle County
Virginia Heradica being A Registry of Virginia Gentry Entitled to Coat Armor with Genealogical Notes of the Families:

Arms. Or three martlets, on a chief azure a sun in splendor ppr.

Crest: An arm in armor embowed, in the hand a sword argent, hilt and pommel or, entwined with a serpent vert.

Motto: Vi et consilio.

The immigrant ancestor of this family was Nicholas, who was thought to have been born in Wales. He died in 1678, leaving issue, four sons: (1) Nicholas, born 1647 (sic). married Elizabeth, daughter of David Crawford of New Kent, by who he had issue, nine children. He was a vestryman of St. Peters, New Kent, from 1685 to 1698. (2) Francis, married Mary Bathurst, daughter of Lancelot Bathurst and granddaughter of Sir Edward Bathurst. (3) David, married and had issue, one son. (4) Thomas, lived and died near Tappahannock, Essex county, his will was probated in 1708. The descendants of the above settled in what is now Albemarle county. 11

Corrections to above: No evidence Nicholas I was Welsh; Nicholas I’s four sons were Nicholas, Francis, Thomas, William. No David. Nicholas II was born 1665.

Virginia Encyclopedia Britanica 12

The first Meriwethers to come to Virginia were Nicholas Meriwether, from Wales, his wife Elizabeth, brother Francis, and Joan Meriwether, either sister or wife of Francis. This Nicholas, known as “Welsh Nicholas”, is first found recorded in Virginia, April 22, 1655, at which date he was twenty-four years of age and clerk of Surry county court located “at Southwarke.” He was probably the first clerk of the county which was set off from Isle of Wight in 1652. He was a large seller of land patents in the different counties and both he and his brother Francis seemed to have come to Virginia with ample means and to have been men of unusual education for their day. They were gentlemen of high social standing and held large landed estates. Francis Meriwether left no issue. All tracing to the early Virginia Meriwethers are all sprung from Welsh Nicholas and his wife Elizabeth (supposed to have been Elizabeth Woodhouse) who survived him. Nicholas Meriwether died December 19, 1678; the date of Elizabeth’s death is unknown. Nicholas and Elizabeth Meriwether had six children, of whom Nicholas (2) was the eldest.

From: Edith Macdonald <wmacdonald@cfl.rr.com>
Date: Tue Jul 1, 2003 12:03:59 US/Eastern
Subject: poss new info in Nic I

While in the Wm & Mary bookstore in Williamsburg on way home I purchased Adapting to a New World by James Horn. (I was much impressed when 2 students saw me with the book and enthused on it and Dr. Horn, whose class they had taken)

Anyway, Nicholas Merriwether was listed in the index - p. 59 so I turned to that shortly after taking off from the Norfolk Airport.

“The importance of family ties can be illustrated by a few examples. Henry Fleet was born in the small Kentish village of Chartham in the Stour Valley, a few miles southeast of Canterbury in 1600. At the age of twnety-one he took ship for Virginia, where he was captured by Anacostan Indians and held prisoner for five years. After his release he returned to England but was soon back in American trading along the Chesapeake Bay as well as further afield to New England. In the same year that he first set sail, his kinsman,Sir Francis Wyatt from Boxley, Kent, took up residence in Jamestown as the new governor of Virginia. Fleet was also related through marriage to the Kentish families of Argall and Filmer and more distantly to the Horsmandens, Codds, and Culpeppers, all of whom were represented in the Chesapeake during the early and middle decades of the century. From another part of the county, Thomas Warren of Ripple, in East Kent, settled at Smith’s Fort in Surry County in 1642. He was related to the Gookin family of the same parish. Daniel Gookin, a Puritan, had arrived in Virginia in 1621 and lived first at Newport News before moving to Nansemond and, later, to Maryland and Massachusetts. Warren might have heard about opportunities in the Chesapeake through his kinsman. Two other kinsmen of Warren’s also moved to Virginia: NICHOLAS MERRIWETHER settled in Surry, and DAVID CRAFFORD at James City. Linked by marriage in England, these families continued to intermarry in the Chesapeake.”

The footnote covers the entire paragraph and is non specific as to where the Meriwether info derived.

1. Henry Fleet, “Henry Fleet of Fleet’s Bay,Virginia, 1600-1660” Northern Neck Historical Magazine, XXI (1962) 1068-1076
2. Jester and Hiden, eds. Adventures purse and person 248-286, 718-712.
3. Peter Laslett “The Gentry of Kent in 1640” in T.H. Breen, ed. Shaping Southern Society: The Colonial Experience (New Yrok, 1976) 32-47.
4. James D. Alsop, “Sir Samuel Argall’s Family 1560-1620” VMHB, XC (1982) 478-484
5. Stanard, comp., Some Emigrants 24
6. Will of Samuel Filmer, 1670 (VCRP 3730)
7. John B. Boddie Colonial Surry (Richmond, VA 1948) 67-72
8. William Berry County Genealogies, The Pedigrees of the Families of the County of Kent (London 1830)

I will undertake to look at these unless advised that this has been done.

Edy

William, known as Lt. Col and then Col. Browne, served as a Justice of the Peace for Surry County for nearly 40 years —

Will of COL William Browne.
COL Browne signed his Will on 4 Dec 1704; it was probated 3 Jul 1705. Named in the Will:

Son:
William Browne
Henry Browne

Daughters:
Anne Flood, wife of John Flood
Priscilla Blunt, wife of Thomas Blunt

Granddaughters:
Jane Jordan
Mary Jordan
Mary Sowerby, wife of Francis Sowerby.
Ann Flood

Grandson:
William Browne, son of William & Jane Browne
Henry Brown
Jane Browne
John Flood
Walter Flood

Will of William Browne
Signed 4 Dec 1704, Probated 3 July 1705:

To granddaughter, Jane Jordan, negro girl and other bequests.

To granddaughter, Mary Sowerby, the wife of Francis Sowerby, and to her children that shall be born, negores; if no heirs, to William, son of William and Jane Browne.

To daughter, Ann Flood, wife of Walter Flood, fifty pounds.

To daughter, Priscilla Blunt, the wife of Thomas Blunt, five pounds.

To son, Henry Browne, 20 shillings.

To grandson, John Flood five pounds.

To other grandchildren, Walter Flood, Fortune Flood, Mary Flood, Ann Flood, William Browne, Henry Browne, Jane Browne, Mary Jordan, the younger and William Blunt 40 shillings apiece.

Rest of the estate to son, William Browne, and make him exor. and whereas my son, William Browne, is now gone for England and it is uncertain how it may please God to deal with him and that he may die before he returns to posses estate which God forbid --- if he should die to my grandson Wm. Browne all my land I have at Blackwater.

To grandson, Henry Brown, piece of land in James City now in occupation of John Child.

Daughter, Jane Browne, wife of William Browne, ten pounds. To granddaughter, Jane Browne, daughter of William and Jane Browne, eighty pounds when 18 or married. Grandsons William and Henry Browne, sons of William Browne, Walter Flood,

The land whereon Sion Hill lives and has built a mill contained in my patent of a tract of land on the South side of Blackwater, my will is that my herinafter named Executor do make a conveyance of the said land to said Sion Hill beginning at the nearest place of the said land to down to the lower end, the said Hill already made satisfaction for the same tract.

Executors: Nicolas Maget, Thomas Blunt. 66

COL William Brown 66

Colonel William Browne served as a justice of the County Court of Surry for nearly 40 years - from 1668 to 1705. He was presiding Justice in 1687 and probably at other times, was Sheriff in 1674 and 1687; Burgess, 1676-77, 1679, 1681, 1682; Lt. Colonel of Militia 1679-87.

He made his will 4 Dec 1704, probated 3 Jul 1705.

Willliam Browne was probably a nephew of Col. Henry Browne, Mary's father, and in 1652 he was one of his trustees to hold property for his wife, Anne, and his children. In 1659, he was on the coroner's jury with Henry Browne. In 1663, "Robert Staunton, late clerke of Surry County, Virginia," gave a power of attorney to Capt. William Browne of Southwark Parish. He was appointed justice of Surry, December 22, 1668 and remained a member of the court until his death in 1705. In 1672 he is styled a major, and 1679 lieutenant-colonel; and was again commisssioned lc, commanding the Surry militia in 1687. From 1681 he appears in the lists as presiding justice; was sheriff 1674, 1687 and was a member of the House of Burgesses 1676, 1677, 1679, 1681, and 1682. In the list of tithables, 1687, appear Lt-Col William Browne, Mr. William Browne, nine negroes and in 1692, Col. William Browne, William Browne, Henry Browne and eleven servants and negroes. Virginia Magazine, Vol. 111, page 149. His will dated Dec 4, 1704, was proved in Surry July 3, 1705.