HAWLEY/HALLEY IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY VIRGINIA
By Ann H. Mack
La Canada, California
THE THIRD GENERATION
The third generation of James Hawley, immigrant, moved with their father, Henry, from the forests surrounding Nominy Creek in Westmoreland Co., Va., northward to the newly opened proprietaries in Stafford County. There, two Hawley boys took up patents next to one another on the south side of Occoquan main run, at the head of the north run of Quanticott, in Overwharton Parish. In 1700 Overwharton and St. Mary’s Parish in Richmond County guarded the western frontier of Virginia and as late as 1724 Overwharton could only boast around 650 families and some 1800 tithables.1
HENRY HAWLEY, JR. was born ca.1678/9 in Westmoreland Co., Va., and was definitely the son of Henry Hawley as he so stated in a deposition given 8 Nov. 1704. He was then about 25 years old and living in Stafford County.2 Earlier in the year a Henry Halley was listed on the Northern Neck quit rent list, without acreage, in Lancaster County, but no other records have been found in Lancaster for him.3 This man was probably Henry, Jr., because Henry, Sr., was a tenant on Spencer’s land in Stafford County then.
By 1710 Henry, Jr., petitioned for 330 acres of land in Stafford County and received that grant on 24 September 4. He obtained another warrant and grant for 235 acres in the same location in Jan. 1714/5 adjoining lands of Henry Lucas and William Halley, which in turn were bounded by Henry, Jr.’s original grant.5 The description of these lands was “on the south side of Occaquan” which eventually placed them in Prince William County. The two patents combined to make 565 acres seem to be the total lands that Henry, Jr., owned in Prince William County.
There is a description of a tract of 800 acres granted by the Proprietor’s office in Stafford to “Halley & Hogan” in a 1733 Prince William County deed. The first names of neither party were given. The tract was on a small run called Spiller’s Run, on the south side of the Cedar in Hamilton Parish, and was on the south side Occoquan. The deed states that Halley sold 50 acres of his part to William Spiller who, in turn, sold it to Henry Filkin, all by record in Stafford County.6 No records of the patent or deeds have been found.
However, Stafford records do have a 1720 patent to Henry Filkin and Mathew Moss. This patent is on the north side of the Occoquan and describes a parcel of land as “… below Mathew Moss’ plantation opposite against the land of Henry Hawley’s otherwise Withal Spiller …”7 Filkin sold 100 acres to Spiller in 1728 in that same area. This does not seem to be land described in the 1733 Prince William deed and implies yet another piece of property that Henry either owned or leased on the north side of the Occoquan.
Henry, Jr., was distinguished as an early settler rather than a speculator in Landmarks of Old Prince William. There his land was described as near the “Cedar above the confluence with the Broad”.9 Abraham Farrow, Thomas Harrison, Francis Jackson, Philemon Waters, John McMillan, William Spiller and John Fail were neighbors who took up patents on the branches of Quantico Creek..
These few facts are the only substantiated ones during Henry, Jr.’s lifetime, but references in Stafford and Prince William records have been found to round the picture a bit more.
The 1723 Quit Rent roll for Stafford County lists “Widow Hawley” with 565 acres of land.” I think a valid assumption that this refers to the widow of Henry, Jr., since the number of acres is exactly that of his two patents. No Hawley is listed as a tender of tobacco on two lists from Overwharton Parish compiled about 1724, however,11 From this we must assume that they did not grow tobacco, or had others farm their land.
The name of Henry’s wife is unknown, but we do know the names of four children and possibly a fifth from Prince William deeds. A 1733 deed of lease and release between Zacheus Miles and Mary his wife sells the moiety of 165 acres of a larger parcel to Edward Violet.12 Mary Miles was named as the daughter of Henry Halley and inherited these lands from him in his last will and testament.13 The same inheritance is described in greater detail in the 1741 deed of division between Leonard Hornsby and James French.14 There is it stated that Henry Halley devised to his youngest son Francis Halley and his two daughters, Mary and Sibella, a tract of land lying on the south side of Occaquan and at the head of the north run of Quantico in the County of Stafford (now Prince William), containing 330 acres. Francis Halley died before he came of age and James French bought his part from their eldest brother Henry and the other one-third from Edmund Holmes and Sibella his wife, youngest daughter of Henry Halley. Hornsby had purchased the other part of the land from Edward Violet who purchased it from Mary and Zacheus Miles, Mary being the eldest daughter of Henry Halley, decd.15
From the rather complete document we can reconstruct part of Henry’s family. In the will of John Gregg, dated 1741, it is stated that Gregg purchased land from Henry and Thomas Halley. 16 Investigation has revealed a forced sale deed for the lands of Thomas Halley to John Gregg in 1741.17 Thomas Halley apparently did not appear in Court and a judgment was given to his surety Thomas Harrison, Jr., to recover his costs. This judg¬ment was dated in 1739. Halley’s “undivided moiety in a 235 acre tract” was put up for auction and John Gregg purchased this moiety for £18 in 1741.18 The judgment and non-appearance had been dated two years prior to the actual sale of lands and in 1741 Thomas Halley was styled as “no longer of said County of Prince William.
From the preceding discussion it appears proved beyond a doubt that Henry, Mary, Francis and Sibella are children of Henry, Jr. There is very strong circumstantial evidence that Thomas was a middle son since he receive one-half of the parcel of land granted to Henry, Jr., 1714, while his brother Henry received the other half.
Until other books from Prince William and Stafford counties can be found it is impossible to date exactly the births of Henry, Jr.’s children. They certainly would have been born prior to 1723, when his wife was widow. Mary, the eldest girl, was married before 1733 and Francis the youngest son had died by that time without reaching his majority. Therefore they were probably born between 1705 and 1722.
The children of Henry Hawley, Jr., were:
Henry Hawley.
Mary Hawley, married Zacheus Miles.
Francis Hawley.
Sibella Hawley, married Edmund Holmes.
(possibly) Thomas Hawley.
WILLIAM HAWLEY was born ca.1685 in Westmoreland Co. Va., brother of Henry Hawley, Jr., and son of Henry Hawley, Sr., as evidenced by Thomas Odford’s deposition in the 1748 Marshall vs. Darrell trial.20
He was the second Hawley to obtain property from Margaret, Lady Culpeper, and Catherine, Lady Fairfax, in Stafford County. William requested a warrant and survey of land from the Proprietors in the Northern Neck the same day as Henry Halley, Jr., in 1708/9. William and Henry Lucas were granted 520 acres in Stafford County adjacent to Henry, Jr.’s land, again on the same day in 1710.21 Further mention of Henry Lucas is missing and William was listed as owning 520 acres in the above mentioned 1723 Quit Rent Roll for Stafford County. His levy was 125 pounds of tobacco which seems to be an average figure for that acreage.22
Just how William farmed these lands is not known, as he was also known as an “ancient tenant” on Francis Spencer’s land near Mount Vernon in the northern part of the county as late as 1730.23 William may have had his own tenants, working his own land, thus accounting for the tax list tabulation.
W. W. Hawley witnessed a Stafford County deed in 1725/24 but was not listed on the list of tobacco tenders in 1724. He is also not listed as a voter for the House of Burgesses election from Prince William County in 1741 even though his land on the Occoquan was then in Prince William.25 Whether or not he was eligible to vote as a tenant of Spencer is not clear.26
A William Halley appears briefly as a witness to several deeds made in Dettingen Parish, Prince William County, from 1745-46.27 He may be the same William since there were no other records of a William of mature age in the area.28
No mention has yet been found of William’s lands being sold or passed on to his children. At present, there seems to be no way to reconstruct his family. There is an excellent possibility that James Halley of Fairfax is the son of William. 29 Several other Halleys are in Prince William-Fairfax area during the 1740-60 period whose parentage is unknown. These will be dis¬cussed in the fourth generation.
A child of William Hawley was:
(possibly) James Hawley.
EDWARD HAWLEY appears in the Westmoreland County records in 1698 as security for Ann Redman, relict of Solomon Redman.30 He was probably born ca.1675 in Westmoreland County. He was named as an appraiser for the estate of Charles Flewellin in 1698 also.31 In Nov. 1702 his will was probated and proved in the Westmoreland courts and his wife Sara was named executrix. 32
In his will he named his daughter Elizabeth Halley who would be 4 years old on 11 Aug. 1703 and his son John Halley who would be a year old on 19 Dec. 1702.
Edward’s estate was inventoried in Dec. 1702 by Thomas Simmonds, James Tayler and John Moore.33 T total valuation was a rather modest 7104 pounds of tobacco consisting of the usual household goods, three cows and calves, three young cattle, one barren cow and mare and colt. Most of his goods were devised to two children by will.
The children of Edward and Sara Hawley were:
Elizabeth Hawley, born 1699.
John Hawley, born 1701.
SARAH HAWLEY was born 1686-87 according to her deposition in the Marshall vs. Darrell trial (“Sarah Lewis of Fairfax County, aged about 62 yr….”).34This deposition also proves that she was the daughter of Henry Hawley.
She married William Harrison around 1702 and had five children. Capt. Harrison died testate in Stafford County in 1724.35 In later life she married Thomas a man about 10 years her junior.36 Since Sarah was 55 years old at that time, there were no Lewis children. After the death of Thomas Lewis in 1749, Sarah move Fauquier County and died there in 1778. Her will was probated 22 June 1778 and named her daughter Mary Peake and her Peake grandchildren as heirs.37
The children of Capt. William and Sarah (Hawley) Harrison were:
Capt. William Harrison (1703-1745).
Sybil Harrison (1705-1787).
Sarah Harrison (1708/9-1785).
George Harrison (1707-1748/9).
Mary Harrison (post1714-post 1760).
1 Writer’s Program, Virginia, Prince William, The Story of Its People and Its Places (Richmond, 1941), p. 24
2 Westmoreland Co., Va., Deeds , Wills 4, p. 10. The spelling on this deposition is Halley. From now on either Hawley or Halley is used according to the recorder’s whim or scholarship. As late as 1845 in John Hawley’s Kentucky will there is still a choice of spellings. Therefore, confusing though it may be, the spelling of the document is used in the text.
3 Annie Laurie Wright Smith, The Quit Rents of Vir¬ginia, 1704 (Baltimore, 1975), p. 107.
4 Northern Neck Grants, Bk. 3, p. 269.
5 Ibid., Bk. 5, p. 38.
6 Prince William Co., Va., Deed Book B, pp. 63-E
7 Stafford Co., Va., Deed Book 1722-28, pp. 77-7
8 Ibid., PP- 21-23.
9 Fairfax Harrison, Landmarks of Old Prince Will (reprint, Berryville, Va., 1964), p. 199.
10 George H. S. King, The Register of Overwharton Parish … (Fredericksburg, Va., 1961), p. 149.
11 Ibid., pp. 157-59.
12 Prince William Co., Va., Deed Book B, pp. 193-95.
13 It is unfortunate that the Prince William Will Book covering this time period is lost, so no will exists.
14 Prince William Co., Va., Deed Book E, pp. 495-97.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., Will Book C, pp. 404-05.
17 Ibid., Deed Book E, pp. 249-51.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Washington MSS, Mount Vernon Ladies Association Library, MSS #243, a-d.
21 Northern Neck Grants, Bk. 4, p. 3.
22 King, op. cit., p. 149.
23 Washington MSS, loc. cit.
24 Stafford Co., Va., Deed Book 1722-28, dated 17 Jan. 1725/6, deed between Carpenter and Awberry.
25 William Fletcher Boogher, Gleanings of Virginia History (Washington, 1903), pp. 116-20.
26 Robert E. and B. Katherine Brown, Virginia 1705¬1786: Democracy or Aristocracy? (East Lansing, Mich., 1964), pp. 130-33.
27 Prince William Co., Va., Deed Book I, pp. 102, 142, 151.
28 This William is definitely not William Halley, son of James Halley, Sr., in Fairfax, since that William is said to have been born 1732-35 and could not be wit¬nessing deeds in 1745-46.
29 Several early researchers have ascribed James Halley, Sr., of Fairfax to an immigrant Thomas Halley in the Dogue Run area. Despite an exhaustive search, no official records have been found for this man. A deposition given in the Marshall-Darrell trial by J himself in 1748 clearly states that “old Henry Hawley”, his grandfather, was a tenant on the Spencer land. Therefore, it is a strong possibility that James is son of William and earlier articles concerning this family need to be revised.
30 Westmoreland Co., Va., Order Book 1698-1705, 18a.
31 Ibid., p. 8a. Any confusion with Edward, so James Hawley, the immigrant, is impossible since that Edward was deceased in 1680.
32 Ibid., Deeds 4 Wills 4, pp. 106-07; Order Bo 1698-1705, p. 76.
33 Ibid., Order Book 1698-1705, p. 121.
34 Ibid., Deeds & Wills 3, p. 121. The margin name is spelled Hawley while within the text of the inventory “Haley” is used. His widow, Sarah, signs her name “Hawley”.
35 Stafford Co., Va., Old General Index. The w was recorded in Will Book K, p. 99, now lost.
36 Washington MSS, loc. cit.
37 Fauquier Co., Va., Will Book 1, pp. 336-37, written 4 Feb. 1768 as a resident of Loud