Rick Llewellyn - Oct 20, 2012
I wrote the following for my blog and I am copying and pasting here:
We know of a Freeman Llewelling from an easily found record[1. Virginia Colonial Militia, Vol. II, 1651-1776] in which it is stated that "Freeman Lewelling, et. al. severally privates in late war between Great Britain and France, under command of Col. Wm. Byrd and continued in service during their enlistments." A similar mention [2. Virginia Colonial Soldiers, Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck] is made of his service under Col. William Byrd. This was William Byrd III [3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Byrd_III], Colonel of the Second Virginia Regiment.
From another record [4. Virginia Colonial Soldiers, Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck] we know that this "late war" actually refers to the French & Indian War. The record states:
In 1770, Nicholas Alley presented a bill for provisions furnished the Prince Edward militia in 1767 . . .. If one thinks Alley slow in presenting claims, let him consider a number of soldiers in the French and Indian War who did not file until 1780 claims for land to which they were entitled under a proclamation of the King of England in October, 1763. Between January and May, 1780, a number of ex-soldiers, including Freeman Llewelling, filed such claims. This is further substantiated in the Order Book from Prince Edward County [5. Order book, Prince Edward County, January Court, 1780, p.67].
I pause to reflect upon Freeman's age. It is possible that entered this war as a boy and of course he may have been much older. The French and Indian War [6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War ] was fought between 1754 and 1763. If Freeman was merely a 15 year old boy, this would place his birth as late as 1739. Hmm, let's hold that thought until the end of this writing.
One source of genealogical evidence in Virginia prior to 1800 was the ever popular petition and our subject Freeman liked signing petitions. On the 23rd of November, 1780 [7. Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly, XXX, Vol. 2, 5/1/1992] Freeman signed a petition concerning religious matters and asking that the Reverend Christopher MacRae be retained. Thirteen days earlier he signed a petition saying a clergyman refused to give allegiance to the state. This occurred in Cumberland County, Virginia which is adjacent to the very Llewellyn rich counties of Amelia and Prince Edward.
One day I reviewed each and every page of the Ten Thousand Name Petition [8. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/petitions/rpessay3.h
tml ], which was dated October 16, 1776. This document played a significant part in the separation of church and state in our government. To my surprise, I found the unmistakable name, Freeman Llewelling.
Given the recurrence of the name Freeman in later years it is fun to imagine that our Freeman was a colorful and outspoken character with strong convictions that made an impression on subsequent generations. Freeman was a name found in the John Llewellyn line that descended from Anderson as well in the William Llewellyn line that descended from Anderson. Could there be a family connection here?
As we move forward in the timeline of this Freeman Llewelling there is another record in which Freeman is identified in "A List of Bonds supposed to be on Good men": List includes Freeman Lewelling and Phil Holcombe Jr. to John Dalbey 10-15-1789." [9. Records at Large Book II: Page 202] The significance of this record eludes me, other than to date our subject as being at least 50 years old. Still assuming he was a boy in the French & Indian War.
Sometime around 1999 I obtained the microfilms for the Prince Edward County Property Tax Lists and abstracted my findings. Freeman is identified in lists from 1789, and 1790 living in the home of Philamous Holcombe who was an officer in the French & Indian War. By 1791 he was in his own home and appeared in the lists for 1802 and 1803. [10. Further research of these records show that the tax lists were bereft of Lewelling's for 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1804 and 1806. In 1788 a portion of Amelia, not Prince Edward County was taken for Nottoway, otherwise changes in county boundaries could not account for the absence of Lewelling's during these years. They had either removed to other locations or were living too remotely to have been included.]
In the Prince Edward County marriage record of Thomas Oliver and Lucy Lewellin it is documented Lucy is the daughter of "Freeman Lewelling, deceased" and the record is dated December 15, 1806.
As I think back to the age of this subject, again assuming his being a young man of at least 15 years old while fighting in the war, meaning he was born by 1739, our subject would have been at about 67 years old at the time of Lucy's marriage. From this, I conclude we are indeed talking about one Freeman Llewelling and not a son and father.
Darlene Luallen Griffin - Oct 20, 2012
Rick, in all of your research have you ever come across documents that would indicate a connection between Llewellyn/Lewallen and Davis/Davies families in the 1700s in North Carolina or Virginia?
Billie Harris - Oct 21, 2012
Good analysis, Rick, and thanks for the information you've found. I agree with your estimation for his date of birth. I had it at 1740 so the 1739/1740 seems to be on target.
Just to keep the info on Freeman in one posting, we know his wife's name was Mary. Her Will is dated Jan. 16, 1826, in Bedford County. It names a son William A. and Lucy Oliver's children. William's wife was Frances S. and in Feb. 1826, he sold 50 acres to Thomas R. Oliver who was probably Lucy's husband on the waters of Little Otter in Bedford County.
Thanks again for all the information and for sharing. It's appreciated.