Job's Children: Thirty Fathers in Thirty Days: Mathias Marriott

The Old Mill by Jacob Alfred Miller

The surname of Marriott entered my family tree with the marriage of Henry Davis and Mary Marriott, who became my 7th Great Grandparents. Mary was the daughter of William Marriott and Sarah Collier Marriott, daughter of Thomas Collier, my 8th Great Grandparents. William was the son of Mathias Marriott and his wife, Alice, my 9th Great Grand parents and Matthias is the subject of this post.

The name has French origins and means literally "Little Mary" or "son of Mary". It originated with French Huguenots, a group of Protestants who held to Calvinist, or Reformed, Protestant values and traditions. They arrived in England by the 12th Century, when the first recorded Marriott (in its varying forms) was Hervicus Mariot who was found in a listed in the Register of Knight Templar for Warwickshire.

The clip above was shared anonymously on Find-A-Grave from a list of Surry County individuals receiving acreage for the transportation of British settlers to Virginia. Mathias Marriott and his partner, Thomas Hart, received 338 acres of the north side of Blackwater Swamp for transporting seven people from England to Virginia. The land bordered the property of George Blow.

Blackwater Swamp is in the headwater section of the Blackwater River. It begins in Prince George County, flows southeast through Surry and forms borders with Sussex and Isle of Wight, Virginia before crossing into North Carolina. It's a beautiful, but not particularly navigable or profitable area for the early colonists to plant farms. Mathias Marriott became a miller.

From "Early Virginia Families Along the James River: Their Deep Roots and Tangled Branches Vol. III Louise Pledge Heath Foley

These were the first generations spreading south, west and north out of Jamestown, in someways still inextricably tied to Jamestown. The growth spread like wildfire. Mathias Marriott and his partner Thomas Hart had received that first tract of land in 1672 for transporting William Jellett or Gilette, John and Richard Booth, an unnamed African couple, and two women, Ann January and Alice Price. Ten years later, in 1782, Robert Caufiled was granted a parcel of 2250 acres, with record of a trail of cadaster from George Blow in 1664 to Mathias Marriott and Thomas Hart in 1672, those before and said 'deserted', meaning they no longer were in possession of this particular property. Why had Marriott & Hart deserted this particular parcel? Was it dangerous or untamed? Caufield had transported 26 people including "Jacob, an Indian" and "James, a negro" and Thomas Turner, someone I'm looking at to see if he is the same possible ancestor in another line.

Mathias Marriott was the son of a William Marriott of Swan's Point, Surry County, Virginia, and I elaborate a little more later on. His date of birth is given as anywhere from 1641 to 1645, with 1644 being given the most often. Sometime during the 1660's, most likely the latter part of the decade, he married Alice Warren, daughter of Col. Thomas Warren, Esquire. I have Warren ancestry through Henry Davis who married Mary Marriott, Mathias's granddaughter, and also, this line through Mary, herself. Whatever the actual marriage, date, we know it preceded 1670.

In the above record from 'Surry County Records" compiled by Eliza Timberlake Davis, Baltimore, on page 377, is found a September 1670 record of an indenture by Mrs. Jane Warrne, the widow (seen as 'relict') of Thomas Warren, "late of Surry County, Virginia, deceased, " and "Mathais" Marriott, who had married their daughter, Alice (Alyse) Warren, "ye only sister by ye whole blood unto Wm. (William) Warren, deceased and sonne (son) To ye aforesaid Thos. (Thomas) Warren.' Apparently Mathias and his mother-in-law, Jane, were not in agreement on the division of property after the death of Thomas Warren Senior. "controversie and variance" the document called it. Jane was given her due and a stipulation was made that if she or Thomas Jr. (sonne of above said Thomas Warren and Jane his wife) should die before Thomas reached the age of maturity, twenty-one, their portions are to go to the youngest son, named William, and when he died to the heirs of Mathias and his wife, Alice Warren Marriott.

The inheritance was listed as 1667 pounds of legal tobacco, casks, a white and her foal, a bed, a gold ring, a castor hat from the estate of William and the full share of a child. Jane, the widow. was given one third of the value of the house, orchards, and estate and Mathias was allowed his own share of the crop of wheat. It was signed Jane Warren, Mathias Marriott, George and Gertrude Watkins, neighbors.

The above clip from the same book, just down the page, leads in with an entry that mentions a Major Marriott on the west side of Besse's Swamp. I don't believe this is Mathias, but his father, William. However, two entries later, we see that on February 24, 1670, John Hunnicutt and Elizabeth Warren had contracted to enter marriage. Witnesses were John Corker and Jane Warren. This was the sister of Alice Warren, and the Jane signing as witness, the widow of Thomas Warren. Elizabeth, who'd received a small inheritance from her father, had suddenly became more marriageable and John Hunnicutt was an opportunist. The Hunnicutt family was an early and expansive one. I don't know it the descendants of this couple were among those who would populate our area of North Carolina, but it is certainly possible. The river of migration flowed in the right direction.

At the bottom of the page is a mention of James Stradling being indebted to William Marriott, father of Mathias. He owed 755 lbs. of tobacco. There were also some random, yet interesting entries that simply told of the details of life at the time in early Virginia. A 19 year old boy testified of the hogs on Hog Island. Had they been placed there for keeping, or were they wild hogs? Also, the body of a man, who had been dead a long time was found in the river. Who was he? Was he English? Had foul play been involved?

On the next page, which ventures into the year 1671, we find the entry stating John Hunnicutt, brother-in-law now of Mathias Marriott, had been given Elizabeth's 'due portion' of the estate of her father, Thomas Warren Sr. by Mathias. Jane Warren is mentioned and George Watkins was witness. The lead in was concerning a Hannah Davis, servant to 'ye Watkins', maybe or maybe not, George. She came to court to testify about her child. What issue about the child was not explained.

Another page over, in 1672, Mathias Marriott sold to George Watkins a man named "Kie". This shows that slavery had began. There were two types of servants, slaves and bond servants. The lead-in mentioned a servant boy with two and a half years remaining in servitude to the Allen family name Edward Welbanks. I hope Edward made it. Only one in ten child servants made it to adulthood and freedom. They were worked hard and fed poorly, sometimes abused. If they fell sick, their recovery was rare, due to lack of treatment, cleanliness, and nutrition. A few were treated like family, and those were the most likely to survive.

A preserved Colonial Sawmill

In a list of Surry County Proprietors of Surry County is found the name of Mathias Marriott. It was located, "within one mile of the courthouse on the head of Grey's Creek.' Marriott's Mill was located at Wier Neck, Gray's Creek, Surry County.

Location of Gray's Creek across from Jamestown

- From the Virginia Gazette (Dixon) October 23, 1779:

"To commence from the first day of Jany 1780, at which time possession will be given, the plantation whereupon the late Mr. Mathias Marriott formerly lived, lying in Surry County, within one mile of the courthouse on the head of Gray's Creek...The sawmill with her appurtenances and a 25 hogshead flat for the use of the sawmill will be included in the lease of his plantation. "Virginia Gazette (Dixon), 23 October 1779, 1:2

His sawmill was so sturdy it would survive him for decades.

While Mathias's year of birth is assumed to have been between 1641 and 1645, that of his wife Alice is known to have been 1645, as she gave her age as 32 in a 1677 deposition.

Mathias and Alice were the parents of five known (some debatable) children:

Margaret Marriott Flake (1673-1722) Married Robert Flake III

Elizabeth Marriott Mizell Hill (1676-1738) Married Luke Mizell 1st, then Robert Hill, son of Sion Hill

"Marion" Marriott Cripps (1679-1767) Married William Cripps (Matthias's Will names her as "Marriott Cripps, not Marion).

Rachel Marriott Browning (abt. 1680-?) Married Francis Browning

William Marriott (1688-1767) Married Sarah Collier

William (my line) was the only son.

Some include a daughter, Alice, who married a William Gwaltney. She was instead a granddaughter, daughter of Margaret Marriott Flake. (See lineage at end of post)

Among appearing in other lists of early Virginia colonists, and Surry County records, the family Matthias Marriott and Alice Warren Marriott are also among the descendants of Charlemagne.

While interesting, this is not rare among anyone who can trace their family lines back to Jamestown. Charlemagne currently has an army of descendants, and any Warren line carries this honor. This brings us to face with a few horrifically sad facts. Many poor families came to unfruitful ends, not having the ways and means to support growing, healthy children who would grow up to propagate. Many of the settlers in the new world, and Jamestown in particular, were the families of younger sons of the landed gentry. Oldest brothers were heirs to the estate, and the younger sons had to seek their fortunes elsewhere. They were, however, not without resources. Many would transport servants and the indentured and endured the same harsh winters, Native attacks and diseases that the disenfranchised and bonded servants did, but they had better accommodations, skills and education, and they ate better, so their offspring were the more abundant and viable.

One of the earliest records of Matthias in Surry was when he was called to serve on a jury in 1665. He was called for an inquisition into the death of a young boy, an indentured servant of a man named Ralph Coats. In the end they found that the child had died a natural death. Mathias would have had to have been over 21 at the time to serve on the Jury or born before 1644.

In a timeline of Matthias Marriott's name appearing in court record we next find:

1669- He appears on the list of tithable or taxable citizens with himself and two other people, one of which was a slave.

1670- Matthias was in court in an argument with his mother-in-law, Jane. Jane was an incredible woman. One must keep in mind that women often married very early in these days. Life expectancy was brief, childbirth was dangerous and marriage was often a game played by the parents of a couple that involved inheritances and fortunes and associations. It was not uncommon for a 15-year-old girl to be married to a 48-year-old man. Widows still in their child-bearing years were encouraged to remarry quickly and men with young children often sought a wife to aid in their care quickly, as well.

Jane Allen had first married a man named John King. After he died, she married Thomas Warren, Sr. on January 1, 1659, at the age of 29. She married a third time to Samuel Plaw in 1669 at the age of 39. She had three sons, all of them with Thomas Warren: Thomas Jr., Robert Sr. and Allen Warren. Some attribute Elizabeth Plaw, daughter of her third husband, Samuel Plaw, to Jane, but that would be a little disgusting. Elizabeth Plaw would become the wife of Thomas Warren Jr. While stepsibling marriages were not uncommon, as life was short and women were few in those days, but not half-sibling marriages. I would then propose that Elizabeth Plaw was the daughter of a previous marriage of Samuel Plaws, not Jane's child.

Jane was not Alice's mother. She was Thomas Warren's second wife, as he was her second in exchange. His first wife was Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of William Spencer and Alice Lightfoot. Elizabeth had been previously married to a Robert Shepherd but had married Thomas Warren on September 23, 1654. She was the mother of Alice Warren Marriott, William Warren and Elizabeth Warren Hunnicutt. Also, by her first husband, Anne, John, Robert and William Shepherd.

In 1670, Jane Allen Warren Plaw and Matthias Marriott had a dispute involving the division of the estate of Thomas Warren, which had been burdened with a number of stipulations, one that had also involved the estate of William Warren, son of Thomas Sr. To solve the issue, a slave or servant by the name of Thomas was to remain in the servitude and home of the Marriotts. The next year, 1671, is when Matthias sold the slave he was likely taxed for in 1669, named "Kie", or in some transcriptions, "Kid", to his friend, George Watkins.

1672- September 4th - Matthias Marriot was found in Contempt of Court. The "Act of the Assembly" was awash with inane rules, one of which forbid servants from walking willy-nilly about town, or anywhere really, on Sunday, typically their only day off. He had given his man, "Thomas", a note, "to go abroad on Sunday, he having no business, also he rendered scurrilous language (Matthias) to the Court both yesterday and to-day". Boy, I'm sourcing the renowned Davis temper that our genomes still carry to this day further and further back. Matthias was fined 200 lbs. of tobacco, the favored currency of the time, and costs.

1673- Matthias and his wife, Alice sold to John Salway on Jul 23rd, a tract of land that had been inherited by her brother, William, from their father, Thomas, and upon William's death, to her.

1674- Mathias again appears in the list of Tithables, with someone named N. Witherington and one slave, probably Thomas.

Now, here is where it gets a little confusing.

1675- Matthias Marriott barters the services of one Thomas Boggs, his "", as security, to Nicholas Meriwether for a debt owed. Now, from previous records, we know Matt had a slave named Thomas. We know from the tax list, that Thomas had to have been black, as his slave was referred to as "Negro", a Spanish word for black, that was used archaically to refer to someone of African origin. In later records, it appears that Thomas Boggs was freed from services and lived as a white man, so there must have been two Thomas's, Thomas Boggs, an indentured servant and an English or Irishman, and Thomas, an enslaved man of African origin.

In 1679, Mathias is listed with two taxables, the other being Thomas Boggs, above.

In 1680, Thomas Boggs is a free man and responsible for his own tithes, or taxes. There is a Mizell next to him, whereas Matthias's daughter would marry a Luke Mizell, and a Charles Marriott, relation unknown, showing up in the household of Walther Flood (later Floyd).

Matthias Marriott is also one of the enumerators that year.

1683, Matthias is in a list of debtors to George Proctor. He is probably 40, or close to it by then.

This document also lists John Hunnicutt as a debtor to the same estate.

And mentions the estate of Major Marriott, which refers to Major William Marriott. While there is not one particular document that names Matthias as a son of Major William, there is a weight of circumstantial evidence that implies as much. There was about a three-decade age difference, multiple connections, and locational proximity to for the support of it.

1688 Matthias is alone as a taxable. No more slaves or indentured servants in his home. His children and in-laws may have been able to provide labor by then, the oldest entering their twenties.

1695- Things were quite for a number of years until Matthias received a small stipend for some service from the estate of Mary Ironmonger.

1696- Matthias must have been a good boss.

In July of 1696, he purchased land in Southwark Parish in conjunction with Thomas Boggs, his former servant. The land was from the estate of Christopher Lewis, consisted of 200 acres, and part of a grant to Christopher Lawson. James Stanton and Richard Hargrave were witnesses.

As an example of how small this community really was, and how interconnected its people, Jane Plaw, widow of Thomas Warren, Sr., is also mentioned on the same page.

As was Robert Flake (Flacke), who married the Marriotts daughter, Margaret.

The two entries also connect Alice Gwaltney with the Flake's. For various reasons, some parents did not mention all of their children in their will, as was the case with Alice Marriott Gwaltney. Later probate and land records qualify Alice, named for her mother, as a sibling of the others named in the will.

Mathias Marriott died in 1707. He knew the end was near when he wrote his Will on June 12, 1707. It was probated on September 2, 1707, so he passed away sometime that summer between those two dates. Probably in August. He would have been around 65-66 years old. Life was hard.

1707

He left his soul (written 'soule') to God and named Alice, his wife as Executrix.

He required his debts to be paid and wanted all of his 'profits and commodities' to go to Alice, and upon her death or remarriage to go to his son, William. He left his land to William Marriott, his only son, with the stipulation that if William should die without issue, (heirs/children), then his share to go to his grandson Thomas Flake, son of Robert and Margaret Marriott Flake.

Everything else, not before stated to go to William, exceptions listed below that statement. He left a book of 'Deniry" to each of three listed daughters, Margaret Flake, Elizabeth Hill and Marriott Cripps. Some have her as 'Marion' but it is clear to me in her father's will that it was Marriott. He also left for Elizabeth Marriott Hill a spotted rug, to go to her after the death of her mother. Witnesses were Samuel Thompson, William Humuford and Roger Williams.

One of the coolest things to me when I began climbing my family tree was to be able to see the actual signatures of these long-ago ancestors on the ancient documents. This is Matthias's signature from 319 years ago.

Inventory of the estate of Matthias Marriott, November 1707.

Matthias's estate was not much compared to today's capitalistic standards, which is a blessing to us all. But for these early years of scrapping the Virginia swamps, he did pretty well. Listed was 4 cows, three heifers and one young steer, three calves and one small yearling. He had 32 old books, that must have been shipped over from England. There was the standard amount of furniture, beds, blankets and such, a pallet of pewter, candlesticks, mortar, pallets of wool and cotton, cookware, farming utensils, bridles and other horse-riding apparatus, three sheep, shearing utensils and pottery and poultry and one breeding cock. And several mules.

Descent from William Warren to Mary Marriott Davis