Ahnentafel #481 - Mary Yowell

Mary Yowell or Howell

Probably not Howell, I'm not finding any Howells in Orange County, Virginia. 

Born: ca. 1720
Died: Unknown

Buried: Unknown

Married: James Fitzgerald - a James Jarrell married Mary D. Yowell Nov. 4, 1837 Orange Co., Virginia - recheck date - is it 1737?  Yes, it's 1837, not 1737 . . . back to the drawing board.

Records:

Yowell, Clark. Yowell: A Genealogical Collection, Somerville, NJ: C.P. Hoagland, 1931.

The Yowell Family in America

The first member of the Yowell family to migrate to the New World was Thomas Yowell, who according to this deposition given on Kent Island, Maryland, May 20, 1640, was born in the parish of Wilbarson, Northamptonshire, England. No data is available on this parish, but we find recorded the marriage of Steven Ule, of Stowe, to Margaret Lewes on October 4, 1590. Also, in Castor Parish, June 5, 1592, is recorded the marriage of Jeremy Yowle and Joane Sergeant.

Further information derived from the aforementioned deposition is that Thomas Yowell was born in 1618 and arrived at Kent Island with William Claiborne in July 1634. One authority states Thomas Yowell was brought into Virginia by William Claiborne, which would place his arrival in 1631, at the age of thirteen years. At any rate, he arrived first in Virginia, later going to Kent Island in company with Claiborne. Thus we find Thomas Yowell starting his career at an early age with the later Secretary of State of Virginia and one of that State's most noted characters.

A further perusal of the aforementioned deposition throws much ligh on conditions on Kent Island at that time. It is herewith produced in part, as taken from the "Maryland Archives:"

20 May 1640. Thomas Youall de Insul Kent in Provincia de Maryland . . . That att his (this deponents) arrivall on the articulate Iland being in July 1634 there was great want of trucking stuffe and that the said Claiborne did provide a pinnance and boates, with men and things necessary in expectation of Trucke as this deponent believeth to goe a trading with the Indians, and that the said Claiborne if he had been trucking stuffe this deponent believeth might have bought 3000 Beaver skinns at least more than he did with the same boates and provisions he had provided for that the Indians (to this deponents own knowledge) would sooner trade with the said Claiborne than with any other, and that the unnecessary providing of the said boates, men and other things in expectation of trucke, was (to this deponents owne knowledge) a great damage to the jointstocke and hapned for want of the said truckingstuffe, and not by any default of the said Claiborne.

Ad. 14. Articulum dicit et deponit, That there hath beene great want of ammunition on the said Iland, as powder shott and gunns ever since this deponent came on the said Iland being for the space of 3 years att least before the said Claiborne went to England. And that the plantation was allwayes in great danger to be last, for want of said ammunition, and the men expected allways when they should be cutt off by the Indians and that the Inhabitants and Freemen did in this deponents hearing, much murmure and complain to the said Claiborne therefore constrayned to make many voyages to Verginia the said plantation being accounted 50 leagues from the said shipping in Virginia to his great hindrance, and that the said Claiborne did pay for such commodities bought in Virginia two for one or 50 per cent more than they cost in England, and that the said Claiborne might have bought them cheaper if he had bought the same goods att the first comming in of said shipping, but he referred at til the last shipps came in expectation of some out of England as this deponent hath often heard the said Claiborne say, and that therefore the apparell of every servant did yearly cost the said Claiborne at leaste £5. .10s a piece. 

Ad. 15. dicit et deponit That by the said Claiborne's industry and by the supplyes the said Claiborne procured the said plantation thrived very well, and that the interruption of the Marylanders, theire killing of three men vizt Leif Warren, John Bilson and William Dawson being kild in the shallopp the cockatrice and theire takeing the pinance Longlayle with the truck and goods in the same whereby the plantation wanted corne, and for want of a patent the greatest cause of losse and damage to the joyntstocke, and not by want of industry or care that the said Claiborne could use or procure for that to this deponents owne knowledge he said that Claiborne did take extraordinary care and paynes therein, the want hereof is generally complained of.

Ad 17 dicit et deponit That all therein conteyned is true for he hath been oftentymes a trading with the said Capt. Claiborne and one type especially himselfe and four other men in the shalloppp start have beene sett on by 300 or 200 Indians at Choptanck like to be taken by  them unlesse God had wonderfully delivered them.

Ad 28 dicit et deponit That the said Evelin sold and delivered to the Governor of Maryland in this deponent's sight severall pieces of Dutch trading cis deponent knoweth not and further deposeth not. .

Ad 29. That the said Evelyn did goe several tymes to Maryland and there the Governor of Maryland say did much persuade him the said Governor to come upp and take the said Ile of Kent as being belonging to his government and that the said Iland till he had further heard out of England, but that he the said Governor could not rest in his bed for the said Evelin in persuading him to come thither to take the said Iand.

Ad 33. That the said Evelin did deliver certain trading cloth full of holes and rotten in many places ut how many yards there was of it this deponent knoweth not, and alsoe that the said Evelin did deliver at the same tyme to the said Smith axes, knives and other comodyties for which said trading cloth and other trucking stuffe this deponent did deliver for the said Thomas Smith into the mill of Robert Turtle miller forty bushels of corne at a tyme when corne was scarce and this deponent hath heard that the said Turtle say that the said Evelyn commanded him to deliver the same corne and other corne in the same mill 50 bushells of meale or thereabouts, and this deponent believeth the said Evelyn sent the 40 bushells of meale to Maryland, for it was generally soe reported, and that by want that was on the said land for want of the said corne, the people and servants there had beene starved (as this deponent verily beleeveth) if the said Smith and other Friends of the said Claibornes had not supplied them . . .

Rich: Moryson, Will: Frith, The mark of Thomas [X} Youall.

On September 7, 1640, William Medcalf and Thomas Yewell, of the Isle of Kent, ask the Maryland authorities for a confirmation to them of Mattux Neck "which they now hold by grant from Capt. William Clayburn, and Thomas Yewell asks 500 additional acres for services with Captain Clayburn."  On September 25, 1640, the Neck was laid out for them.

On November 1, 1641, James Calther leased to Thomas Sturman, of the Isle of Kent, cooper, and Thomas Uell of the same Isle and Province, Planter, a house and plantation in St. Maries Hundred. Thomas Yowell evidently took up his residence in St. Marys at that time, as we find him, April 3, 1643, appearing before the St. Marys Court as attorney in fact for John Smith of Kent Island. There also, two days later, he assumed all the debts of Steven Thomas (probably thereby saving a friend from debtors' prison).  On June 14 of the same year Thomas Yewell made oath that Capt. William Clayborne had made certain promises to Robert Cooper in his presence on Palmer's Island, which was probably the site of the aforementioned "services with Captain Clayburn."  Further records in St. Marys reveals the suit of Thomas Uell against Mrs. Margaret Brent under date of November, 1649.

Within the next two months Thomas Youelle removed to Virginia, having established his residence in Northumberland County following the loss of Claiborne's cause in Maryland. A deposition given by Thomas Youelle on February 16, 1650, was read in a court in St. Marys in a case in which John Sturman was plaintiff.  The deposition was attested before an officer in Northumberland County, Virginia.  On January 10, 1651, William Hardwick, of Nominy, Virginia, gave a power of attorney to John Sturman of St. Marys, which was witnessed by Tho. Youell in Nominy.  This portion of Northumberland was set off as Westmoreland County in July 1653. John Sturman was a son of Thomas Sturman and brother of Anne (Sturman) Yowell, wife of Thomas Yowell.

In Virginia, on September 16, 1651, he was granted three hundred acres of land by Governor William Berkeley, for the transportation of six persons into the colony. The grant was in that part of the county set off in 1653 as Westmoreland County and is described as "on the south side of Potomack River abutting easterly on Nominy Bay, northerly upon a creek which divides this land from the land of John Armsby; easterly and southerly into the main woods . . . "  September 14, 1653, he was granted "one hundred acres in Northumberland County on the north side of Armsbys Creek."  July 20, 1655, "assignment a patent for 500 acres on the south side of Potomack River, said land beginning at the mouth of a small creek that issues out of Nomoney River on the east side which divides this land from the land of John Carter, Sr."

The will of Thomas Kendall, dated November 9, 1646, leaves the residue of his estate to Thomas Youell in trust for his three children.  The will of Henry James, dated April 27, 1645, proven September 23, 1646, leaves his house and plantation to Thomas Yewell.

The will of "William Hardwich, late of Nominy in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Gent., now of the city of Bristoll, England, dated October 24, 1698," names as executors his brother-in-law Augustin Hull and Cousen Thomas Youle. William Hardwich was early in Maryland, probably going there with Thomas Yowell.  He received pay as a soldier in 1642 during the Indian troubles and was active during the disturbances of Richard Ingle. He shortly afterward settled in Westmoreland County, where he left a large estate bordering on the Potomac. He married, as his first wife, Elizabeth Sturman, daughter of Captain Thomas Sturman and sister of Anne (Sturman) Yowell.

Thomas Yowell married, probably about 1636, on Kent Island, Anne, daughter of Thomas and Anne Sturman. Thomas Sturman was a Puritan and gained some prominence during the disturbances of Richard Ingle in Maryland in 1645. He was an early resident on Kent Island, later moving to Virginia, probably at the same time as Thomas Yowell. Ann (Sturman) Yowell married (second), following the death of Thomas Yowell about 1656, Augustine Hull, Justice of Westmoreland County.

Thus we find in Thomas Yowell a sturdy pioneer who, in his twenty-three years on American soil, lifted himself from a sixteen-year old boy in the services of a great man to a position of comparative affluence and power, and left his children commanding the confidence and respect of the best people of two colonies.

Regarding the children of Thomas and Anne (Sturman) Yowell, much confusion seems to have arisen, probably through an account of the family appearing in William & Mary Quarterly, IV, 41. This note gives the children as Richard, Thomas, Anne, Winifred and Penelope, apparently taking the last three names from the will of Thomas (2) in Westmoreland County. This supposition is strengthened by the statement that he served in the House of Burgesses in 1688, 1692-93, this being the dates of the service of his son, Captain Thomas (2) Yowell.  As his land grant of 1651 was for six head rights, his family probably consisted of himself and wife and four children, Thomas (2), Richard, William and Anne.

Another source of confusion in tracing the early members of this family is Greer's "Early Virginia Immigrants."  Greer was a clerk in the Virginia State Land Office for years and derived his information from a reliable source insofar as records go. However, headright grants are very confusing, as the same man may appear several times, each time under a different patent; nor does  it always mean that land was granted in the county where the certificate was issued. Certificates were also issued for intercounty transportation; and sometimes years elapsed between the granting of the certificate and the issuing of the patent.  In the case of this family, it appears quite possible that the "patent by assignment" was mistakenly omitted, as is sometimes the case.

In the aforementioned work, "John Hallawes, Gent.," is credited with the importation into Northumberland of "William, Ann Jr., Ann, Tho. Jr. and Tho. Yowill" in 1650. In 1652 John Johnson (of Graft, Northampton County) received credit for "Thomas Yowell," while in 1654 Tho. Hobkins, of Lancaster County, received land for the importation of "Wm., Ann Jr., and Ann Yowell Sr.," with a separate entry for "Tho. Youle" in the same year. Apparently these entries all pertain to the settlement of Thomas Yowell and his family in Northumberland in January 1650.

A diligent study of early Maryland records strengthens the supposition that Thomas Yowell, of Kent Island, had two sons named Thomas. He is recorded as having paid a tax of forty pounds of tobacco in St. Michael's Hundred in 1642, and it was apparently here (Talbot County) that his eldest son, Thomas, made his home. The records of Talbot County extend back to 1662, and therein we find the following entry:

January 19, 1677 - Bond given by Thomas Youle, who married in that year Elizabeth, the rellict of William Smyth, Sr., to educate his son, William Jr.

June 14, 1680 - Henry Costin conveys to Thomas Youle tract of land (200 acres) called "Lambeth Field." This tract of land Thomas Yewell conveyed (November 9, 1695) to "my well beloved son-in-law William Jones," husband of Sarah (Yewell) Jones.

The will of Thomas Yewell, Sr., of Wye River, dated April 13, 1696, probated June 16, 1696, left "To son Thomas Yewell, Jr., 250 acres of land, part of land called Wilton at head of Wye River, being all the land I now possess."  The will of Sarah, widow of Thomas Yewell, dated August 23, 1696, probated March 13, 1696, left "To my daughter Sarah Jones, wife of William Jones, wearing apparel; to son Thomas, remaining part of estate."

In 1706 the lands above referred to became part of the newly formed county called Queen Anne's, and it is there we find the next generation. The line descends from Thomas Yewell, Jr., through two sons of record: Christopher and Solomon:

Christopher Yewell married Abyah (--?--), and died in Queen Anne County in 1746, leaving children: Solomon Cooper, Christopher, Sarah and Esias (Isaiah).

Solomon Yewell, second son of Thomas, Jr., married Margaret, widow of John Seeders, and died in 1695. He left the following children: Thomas, Richard, Solomon, Mary (wife of Samuel Hadley, Jr.), Solomon Slaughter and Christopher.

(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas and Ann (Sturman) Yowell, married in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Anna Lee, born in 1650, a daughter of Col. Richard Lee, one of the most famous characters in early Virginia history and the ancestor of Robert E. Lee.

Thomas Youell, of Nominy, in ye County of Westmoreland, and Anne Youell, wife of ye sd. Thomas, one of ye daughters of Coll. Richd. Lee, late of Stratford Langthorn, in Ye Co.: of Essex, deceased, (executed a deed of release to) John Lee, of Lower Machotocks, in ye county of Westmoreland, son and heir apparent to one of Ye Ex's of Ye afrsd. Richd. Lee, deceased, (in which they relinquished all claim to any share in the estate of Col. Richard Lee. The deed was dated June 23, 1673.). [The Lees of Virginia]

Thomas Youell, as his name was more generally spelled at that time, was added to a commission of Westmoreland County to settle a boundary dispute with Northumberland County on March 19, 1672-73, by Governor Berkeley. He was appointed captain during Bacon's Rebellion, at which time he was an active supporter of established authority, as is witnessed by the following extract:

An act inflicting paines & penalties upon greate offenders - Feb. 1676 - 1677 - And be it further enacted that Stephen Mannering, Richard Barton and Joseph Hardidge and all those that were in the garrison with the said Hardidge and Barton, and that did not willingly and readily surrender themselves to their due alligiance when they were summoned by Capt. Thomas Yowell, and that they and every of them doe upon their bended knees, with ropes about their necks, acknowledge their treasons and rebellions in Westmoreland County Court and that they and each of them be committed to safe prison until they shall procure good security for their future good behavior. [Hening's Statutes, ii, p. 377.]

On September 6, 1673, Col. John Washington and Major Isaac Allerton, of Virginia, addressed a letter to the Council of Maryland informing them that Major Richard Lee and Captain Thomas Yowell had been directed to ferret out and pursue enemy Indians in the Northern Neck of Virginia. (Maryland Archives, XV, 48-49.)  Virginia County Records, II, 104, lists Thomas Youell as a major of Westmoreland forces.

The "Journal of the House of Burgesses" records Mr. Thomas Yowell as an estimable member of that body in 1685-86, 1688, and 1692-92, representing Westmoreland County. In a letter of William Fitzhugh, dated June 5, 1682, is reference to a bill of exchange drawn by Major Thomas Youle. He is again mentioned in William & Mary Quarterly, v. p. 87, i n an article under the head of "Washingoton and His Neighbors" as follows: "At a court held for the County of Westmoreland June 14, 1682, Prest. Lt. Coll. Isaac Allerton, Mr. Lawrence Washington, Maj. Thomas Youle" (Justice) in an action concerning Lawrence Washington, grandfather of George Washington, as executor of his father Col. John Washington. He is again referred to as "Major Thomas Youell" in an inventory and appraisement of his estate returned by Ann Youell March 25, 1696.

Captain Thomas "Youel" (October 1, 1692) was "appointed to keep the ferry at Nominy and to give speedy passage to the horse and foot every marketing day for all passengers betwixt sunrise and sunset . . . and that he be paid for the same out of the next county levy the sum of 5000 lbs. of tobacco." Following the custom of appointing the ranking justice as sheriff, we find Thomas Youell acting in this capacity at the time of his death, 1694-95. In his will, dated December 7, 1694, he leaves his home farm, containing 980 acres, to his wife Ann. Other real estate holdings are apportioned to his daughters and grandsons.

Thomas & Ann (Lee) Yowell had:

1. Penelope married Patrick (2) Spence, son of Patrick (1) & Dorcas Spence and had Thomas, Elizabeth, Jemma and Mary Spence.
2. Winifred, married Walker English and had a son, Youell English.
3. Elizabeth, married James Watts and had Youell, John (a signer of the famous "Westmoreland Resolves") and Spencer Watts.

II Richard, son of Thomas and Anne (Sturman) Yowell, is first mentioned as "orphan son of Thomas Youell, dec., of Nominy," in a patent for 500 acres "bounded Easterly upon Potomack River in the Freshes adjoining the land of Richard Holden &c.," the said land being due for the transportation of ten persons - dated July 15, 1657. A marginal note on the record adds "This Patent renewed and granted to the said Richard Youell the first of April 1662, by Col. Fra: Moryson, Esq., Gov."  Richard Youell married Ann, surname unknown, they both being deceased in 1695. they were the parents of:

1. Samuel - md. Judith (--?--) settled in New Kent County
2. Harman (see below IIIa below)
3. Elizabeth md. John Atwelle4. Mathew, sheriff of Northumberland Co., 1739
4. Christopher (see IIIb, below)
5. Ann, a minor at the time of the death of her parents. She was taken into the home of Patrick Muckleroy and, on May 3, 1695, upon the petition of Penelope (Youell) Spence, "Ann Youel, an orphant daughter of Richard and Ann Youel, dec., & goddaughter and near relation to the said Penelope, is by this Court Comitted to the said Penelope, she having assumed in Court to provide decently for her and to bring her up in housewifery & teach her to read."

IIIa Harman Yowell, son of Richard & Ann Youell was born in Westmoreland County about 1673, died in 1725; married Dinah Muckleroy, daughter of Patrick & Elizabeth (Minor) Muckleroy. They had the following children of record:

1. Batteran, md. Frances Footman, daughter Elizabeth
2. Thomas b. Sept. 24, 1713
3. Elizabeth b. 1715
4. Mary b. 1718.  At the time of the death of Dinah (Muckleroy) Yowell, in 1730, Thomas, Elizabeth and Mary being minors were "bound over" to Nicholas Minor, of Westmoreland County, "he being a distant relative to their mother."  This is the most likely Mary to be our Mary.  There is nothing in the Yowell book about what happened to her.

It is to Culpeper we next turn our attention, but, before leaving Westmoreland, we quote from a letter written by Mr. G.W. Beale, of Hague, Virginia.

Hague, Va., October 16, 1912

. . . From where I am now sitting in my home a gentle descending plain reaches for three miles to Nomini River, which makes a graceful curve on each side of a bridge to which the road that intersects the plain leads. On this ground Thomas Youell settled about 1650, and here Captain Thomas Youell died in 1695. Captain Youell married a sister of his neighbor, Dr. John Lee, and daughter of Richard Lee, the immigrant, of Northumberland. Captain Youell's children were principally daughters, who intermarried with the families of English, Watts, Spence and Atwell. Many of their descendants are still here, and the name "Youell" as a Christian title distinguished many of the descendants through several generations.

No family of Youell (Yowell) remained here as late as 1750 as far as I have seen.  A great tide of emigration early set in towards the mountains, and this family doubtless followed it, locating in Culpeper.

G.W. Beale.

IIIb Christopher Yowell, son of Richard & Ann Yowell, was born in Westmoreland County and died in Culpeper County in 1761. He migrated westward up the Rappahannock River to the neighborhood of the forks of the Rapidan, settling in that section set apart as Orange County in 1734.  Here he was granted land in 1733 and again, by Lord Fairfax, proprietor of Northern Neck, in 1752.

The Register of St. Mark's Parish is the oldest manuscript record in Culpeper County. This parish was established by Act of Assembly in 1730, eighteen years before the establishment of Culpeper as a County. Until 1735 St. Mark's was in Spotsylvania, at which time Orange County was formed. This continued until 1748 when Culpeper County was formed. Bromfield Parish was cut off from St. Mark's by an Act of Assembly in 1752, including what is now Madison and Rappahannock counties, and a small section of Culpeper. Of the records of this later parish there is now scarcely a trace.

Christopher Yowell married Margaret (--?--) and they were the parents of:

1. Christopher Jr.
2. James, died 1777 leaving sons James, Ephraim, Samuel, Nicholas & William
3. David
4. Elizabeth md. Jacob Broyles
5. John

(IV) 5. John, son of Christopher & Margaret Yowell, left a will in Madison County, dated January 14, 1795 and probated the following September. He married Mary (--?--).

Children:

1. John, Jr.
2. Joel associated with Thomas & Zachariah Shirley
3. Humphrey died in 1832 without issue
4. James
5. William
6. Amy
7. Mary probably a bit too late for our Mary
8. Sarah who was not yet of age at the death of her father

Children:
James
John
Solomon
William
Daniel
Nancy

Revised 11/4/2019