A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Robert Wilson
My information on Robert Wilson and his family is collected in "Descendants of Robert Wilson of Augusta County, Virginia: From Mid-Eighteenth Century to Early Twenty-First Century". It is available at https://archive.org/details/WilsonBook_201809 .
From the Hotchkiss manuscript:
Robert Wilson ... probably came to Virginia from Pennsylvania. Robert bought 461 acres of farm land in Augusta County in 1755 from his brother, who had acquired it ten years earlier.
...
Robert Wilson died in 1768 and left the property to two of William's older brothers.
The earliest information I have about Robert is that he bought land in Augusta Co., VA, on 3 Jun 1755. He bought the land from his brother, Samuel, who had bought it in 1745. (I’m not completely sure that Samuel Wilson was Robert’s brother, but Katherine Bushman thought he was.) Augusta County was only organized in 1745, and the deed for Samuel's purchase is near the beginning of the first County deed book. (Documents before that time are in Orange County records.) Augusta County was huge at the time, stretching in theory from the Blue Ridge all the way to the Mississippi River. However, Robert’s land was in the core part of the county, south and a little west of Staunton, which is the county seat.
Augusta County was not a safe place at the time. According to "Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871" by Joseph A. Waddell (Second Edition, C. Russell Caldwell, Staunton, VA, 1902; obtained from http://www.archive.org/details/annalsofaugustac00wadd), the Shenandoah Valley was not inhabited at the time European settlers started arriving there in the 1720s. Quoting an earlier author, he says "This delightful region of country was then only used as a hunting ground, and as a highway for belligerent parties of different nations, in their military expeditions against each other. In consequence of the almost continuous hostilities between the northern and southern Indians, these expeditions were very frequent, and tended somewhat to retard the settlement of the Valley, and render a residence in it, for some time, insecure and unpleasant."
A major pathway for immigration to the Shenandoah Valley and beyond was called the Great Valley Road. From "Map Guide to American Migration Routes, 1735-1815" by William Dollarhide (Heritage Quest, Bountiful, UT, 1997):
Before 1744, the “Great Warrior Path” was an Indian trading path from New York to the Carolinas. This trail marked the western frontier of the colonies, and no white man ventured across that line without fear of attacks from hostile Indians. In 1744, when a treaty with the Indians gave whites total control of the area east of the Great Warrior Path in Virginia, the way was clear for the path to evolve into the most heavily traveled road in colonial America. By the end of the 1740s, the Great Valley Road was the scene of large migrations into the wilderness of western Virginia, beginning at the Shenandoah Valley.
During the period 1745-1775, thousands of immigrants used this road. Many of them were Scotch-Irish families who had sailed from Ireland to Philadelphia or Alexandria….
The general route of the Great Valley Road today is called U.S. Highway 11 (or I-81) and is very easy to locate on a modern map….
Beginning in the 1730s, the government of the Colony of Virginia was encouraging settlement in the area that would become Augusta County to form a buffer between the Native Americans (and the French) and the more settled parts of Virginia east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The danger increased quite a bit after the French and Indian War started, and especially after the defeat of British General Edward Braddock at what is now Pittsburgh, PA, on 9 Jul1755 -- just a month after Robert bought his land. Most of the action in the French and Indian War was farther north, but there were a number of raids and even massacres in Augusta County. "Annals of Augusta County" has a long discussion of events in the "Indian Wars" from 1753 to 1764. Included are some incidents involving Wilsons, but they are not known to be related to Robert.
Many of the early settlers of Augusta County were from Scots-Irish families who had initially settled in Pennsylvania (as noted above), so speculation is that Robert and Samuel might have been born in Pennsylvania or in Northern Ireland. (The Scots-Irish, or Scotch-Irish, were people who had settled in Northern Ireland from Scotland and northern England, primarily of Presbyterian faith; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch-Irish_Americans.) There is some backing for this theory in the biography of Adair Wilson in "Portrait and Biographical Record of Denver and Vicinity, Colorado", which says “His paternal great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland to the United States and after a short sojourn in Pennsylvania went to the Shenandoah Valley, of Virginia, where he was engaged as a planter until his death.” Note, however, that this biography also says that Adair’s paternal great-grandfather was a brother of James Wilson, the signer of the Declaration of Independence—but James Wilson was from Scotland. This suggests another possibility, that Robert could have been born in Scotland, but it also undercuts the credibility of the Adair Wilson biography unless Robert moved from Scotland to Northern Ireland to Pennsylvania to Virginia.
Stories that our Wilson family was related to James Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the authors of the Constitution, are fairly widespread. It was just mentioned above that an Adair Wilson biography said his paternal great-grandfather (Robert Wilson) was a brother of James Wilson. Leonie Rinker, in a letter to me, said that James Wilson “was a brother of a many times great grandfather of yours.” Mollie Turner Reid, in the Reid manuscript, said that James Wilson was a half-brother of a grand or great-grandfather of D.W. Reid (this would be William or Robert Wilson). "Portrait and Biographical Record of Lafayette and Saline Counties, Missouri", in the biography of Robert H. Wilson, said that his grandfather (this would be William Wilson) was a half-brother of James Wilson. Benjamin Harrison Wilson, in a letter written around 1895, also said that his grandfather, who would be William, was a half-brother of James Wilson. The Foster/Reid Family Tree has Robert Wilson as a half-brother of James Wilson. This version is the most plausible, but Page Smith’s biography of James Wilson says nothing about James having a brother named Robert or having any half-brothers. This doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t, but I don't know of any evidence for it. Another possibility is that James was some sort of cousin to Robert, rather than a brother or half-brother.
Ronald Wilson's family tree on Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/173621658/person/222254590511/facts) shows Robert as born in 1721 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and also has some information about his parents. Ron told me that the birth place was based on information that his son James was born there, and that 1721 was just an estimate. I don't know if any of this is right, though; see the notes for son James.
Here is my attempt to transcribe Robert's will (which is in Augusta County Will Book 4, pp. 161-163; originally obtained from James Hotchkiss). I have added punctuation to improve readability; the original has almost no punctuation marks.
In the name of God Amen, I, Robert Wilson, of the County of Augusta in the Colony of Virginia, Farmer, being sick and weak of body but of Perfect mind & memory thanks to Almighty God, & Calling to mind the Mortallity of my body, do make this my last Will in manner & form following that is to Say Principally. I recommend my soul to god & my Body I Committ to the dust to be buried in a Christian like & decent Manner, & as touching such worldly estate where with it hath pleased God to bless me I give, devise, & bequeath as follows. Imprimis: I give & bequeath to my son David two hundred & Sixty acres of the land I live on, with the houses and other Improvements, & order him to give a Sufficient Maintenance to my Wife out of it during her life and to take care of my son William and daughter Littice till they see reason to remove from this or till their Marriage, and also to pay to my Daughter Ann Twenty Pounds at her Marriage. Item: I give & bequeath to my son Robert the Remainder of my Land, Viz. two hundred acres & Order him to Pay my son William Forty pounds when he Arrives to the age of Twenty-one Years. Lastly, I order all my House hold Goods & Stock of Horses, Cows, hogs, and sheep to be equally divided Betwixt my Wife and my sons Robert, David, Ann, & Lettice & my Sons Thomas, Samuel, and James having already had their Shares from me I order them five Shillings each [without punctuation, this is ambiguous, but I'm pretty sure the first group is sharing the livestock, etc., and Thomas, Samuel, and James are getting five shillings each (having already had their shares)] & I appoint my Wife Mary my Executrix & I do hereby revoak & disanul all other former Wills made by me heretofore, ratifying and Confirming this to be my last Will. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & Seal this 9th September 1768.
Robert Wilson, his mark
Sealed & delivered in the presence of Robert Mitchell, John Tate Senr., John Tate Junr.
At a Court contd. & held for Augusta County Novr. the 16th 1768, This Last Will and Testament of Robert Wilson dec'ed was proved by the Oaths of John Tate and John Tate Junr., two of the witnesses thereto, and Ordered to be Recorded and on the motion of Mary Wilson the Executrix -- name in the said Will, who made Oath According to Law, Certificate is Granted her for Obtaining a probat thereof in due form, she having with Securities entered into & Acknowledged their bond According to Law.
There is additional text about the administration of the will, but it's not particularly interesting. Thanks to William J. Wilson for help deciphering the will. Note that Robert’s will was dated 9 Sep 1768 and was proved on 16 Nov 1768, so he died sometime between those dates.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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