The Todds of Mossey Creek. Augusta County, Virginia

Richard McMurtry

May 2007 rev Aug 2019 rev Oct 2020, Oct 2022

 

There were two Todd families that settled in Augusta County

Family historians for decades have tried unsuccessfully to determine if James Todd could have been a grandson of William Todd (through his son James 1726-1789).  However, there is no conclusive evidence of this and the evidence we have is contradictory.  See discussion at the end of this section.

Here is what we know about James Todd

James Todd abt 1750 d 1799 first appears conclusively in the 1787  to 1789 tax list for Rockingham Co under Capt Joseph Smith and Capt Uriah Gartens.  Uriah Gartens was associated in the public records with the Dever/Devier family who lived on Mossey Creek near the Augusta Co border which is where James Todd eventually settled.

He appeared in the Augusta Co tax lists first in 1791 in Joseph Bell’s district, and then in the Districts of the Kinney family 1793 until his death in 1799.  In 1795, he encumbered a debt with Walter and James Davis (who had bought land in 1793 on Pudding Spring Draft of Mossey Creek).  In 1799, the Davis’ went to court to collect.  

James seems to have obtained some sort of verbal agreement from the Davis’ to sell to James Todd their 104 acre parcel on Pudding Spring Draft near Mt Solon.  This land was obtained by patent by Moses Hall in 1755/1756, sold to the Hogshead family and then to Walter and James Davis in 1793.   In 1804, James’s sons George, Nathan and Samuel agreed to sell to their brother James Todd Jr. their interest in the land their father was in possession of at his death and which they seemed to infer came to them by inheritance.  But there is no evidence that the land was actually deeded to James Todd.  In 1820-1822, James Todd Jr. obtained a court judgement (presumably based on the verbal commitment of the Davis’ to sell) that resulted in the Walter and James Davis selling James Todd Jr. the 104 acre parcel.

James’ children were:

            James Todd d 1799 connection to William Todd family

As mentioned above, family historians have been trying to prove that James Todd d 1799 was the grandson of William Todd of Buffalo Creek.  Here is the evidence in support and against.

            Evidence in support

  1. James Todd descendants are an exact genetic match with the family of William Todd.  (This means that James COULD have been a descendant of William, but he could also have been a cousin from a family that immigrated from Northern Ireland independently of William’s migration.  This latter possibility seems to me to be the most likely explanation for James Todd’s arrival in Augusta County.)
  2. There is a James Todd who served in the military operation of Pt Pleasant in Dunmore’s War in 1774.  He was from Augusta Co and some sources say that Most if not all of that military unit were from the Rockingham area of Augusta Co.  He would be the right age to be James Todd d 1799 of Mossey Creek.
  3. The Walter, James and John Davis family of Northern Augusta County associated with James Todd d 1799 may have been  kin to the Nathaniel and James Davis family that moved from the Beverly Manor area of Augusta Co between 1751 and 1763 to the Buffalo Creek area where James Davis’ son Samuel married Hannah Todd in 1758.

      Samuel Davis who married Hannah Todd in 1758 was probably born in the 1730s and was the son of James Davis.  James Davis bought land on Buffalo Creek in 1751, 1759, and 1762 in lands next to the Todds; Nathaniel Davis  got a grant there in 1763 having sold his Beverly Manor land in 1760.    

Nathaniel’s 1749 Beverly Manor grant was about 6 miles west of the cluster of Walter (1753) , John and William Davis  in the 1730s/1740s and this cluster in turn was 4 miles west of James Davis’ 1738 grant.   Whether this proximity is cause to assume family connection is not clear.  Though there are records connecting Walter, John and James Davis together; we have nothing to connect them to Nathaniel other than proximity.

Evidence against

  1. The James Todd who appeared in the 1774 record does not seem to appear in any subsequent records.  The next appearance of a James Todd in northern Augusta Co is in 1787 and not in the tax lists between 1782 and 1787.  This does not suggest that the James of 1774 is the James of 1787.   I suspect that James was just another Scotch-Irish immigrant from the same area of Ireland as the William Todd family, but is not directly connected to William Todd.
  2. There is an Andrew Todd born 1750s that has a similar though not identical DNA structure to the William Todd family.  His DNA most closely matches a family that migrated to Hunterdon Co NJ in 1749.  This Andrew was in York County, Pennsylvania in 1779 and 1781, married in Maryland in 1782, and appears in Rockingham in 1787 in Capt George Crissom’s company, and then went to what became Tazewell Co by 1789.  I suspect this is another Scotch-Irish immigrant family just before the Revolution.
  3. Though the Todds of Buffalo Creek and the Todds of Mossey Creek were associated with Davis cousins, we have no evidence that this means that the Todds were related.

Below are some transcripts from Barb’s site.  These documents which I obtained many years ago are the basis of our history of James in Augusta County.

 

***

Review, Re-Do, and Rethink Todd Ancestry: James Todd Jr. Buys out his Brothers



Review:

I continued reviewing Katherine Bushman’s The Todd Family of Mossy Creek, Augusta County, Virginia. Mrs. Bushman cited Deed Book 33, page 345 in her proofs for James Todd Sr. She concluded Nathan, Samuel, and James Todd Jr. sold James Sr.’s land on Pudding Run in 1804.

 

FamilySearch.org digitized some Augusta County, Virginia deeds. I was able to view the deed in question at a Family History Center near my home. My read on the document differed from Mrs. Bushman.

 

Re-Do:

I’ll summarize my interpretation and follow with a transcription of the agreement.

 

The Augusta County, Virginia indenture was dated November 1, 1804—five years after James Todd Sr. died. Nathan and Samuel Todd each sold their undivided sixth share in a tract of land located on Pudding Run to James Todd Jr. The land belonged to their late father.

 

Money changed hands to seal the deal. James Junior paid Nathan and Samuel 30 Pounds each after borrowing 60 Pounds from J. McCue Dec. 18, 1804.

 

Transcription: Augusta County, VA Deed Book 33, pages 345-346

 

This Indenture made the first day of November in the year 1804 between Nathan Todd & Samuel Todd of the County of Augusta of the one part, & James Todd of the same place of the other part,  Witnesseth that the said Nathan Todd & Samuel Todd each for themselves & for and in consideration of the sum of thirty pounds to Nathan Todd & Thirty pounds currency to Samuel Todd to them in hand paid by the aforesaid James Todd at & before the ensealing & delivery hereof the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged & themselves fully satisfied contented & paid do each for themselves Grant bargain sell assign alien ______ & confirm unto the said James Todd his heirs & assigns forever each and all their undivided part of in and to a Tract of land lying in Augusta County on Pudding run which s’d tract of land their Father James Todd dec’d Sr was seized & possessed of & which they hold as heirs at law of the s’d JamesTodd Sr dec’d to have & to hold the s’d two undivided shares to him the s’d James Todd & his heirs & assigns forever and the said Nathan Todd & Samuel Todd do covenant and agree to & with the s’d James Todd & his heirs & assigns forever that they will forever warrant and defend each his undivided sixth part of in & to the aforesaid Tract of land against themselves their heirs & c. & all others claiming anything therein or thereto by from or under them or any of them to him the s’d James Todd & his heirs & assigns forever.  Given under our hands & seals the day & year first written.

 

                                                                                    Nathan Todd

                                                                                    Samuel Todd

Test

James Cochran

William Cochran jun

Thomas Denny

 

I do assign my right and title to the two parts or Shares mention in the within Indenture, which shares I have bought of my brothers Nathan and Samuel Todd, together with my own sixt part of my fathers tract of land, on the within mentioned pudding run;  I say, I do assign my right and title, and that of my heirs, forever to J. McCue his heirs forever, in order to secure to him the Just and full payment of Sixty pounds one Shilling and nine pence on dem’d this 18th day of Dec’r 1804 and he may sell said land any day to make his money. Witness my hand and Seal the day above written.

 

                                                                                    James Todd

Test

James A. McCue

 

 

 

 

Deed Book 33, page 346

Top of page

 

At a Court Continued and held for Augusta County June the 26th 1805 ~~

This Indenture of bargain and Sale between Nathan Todd & Samuel Todd of the one part, and James Todd of the other part was proved by the Oath of William Cochran jun’r a witness thereto ~~

At July Court 1805 This Indenture was proved by the oath Thomas Denny a witness thereto ~~

At a Court held for the said County the 24th day of March 1806

This Indenture was further proved by the oath of James Cochran a witness thereto and ordered to be recorded.

                                                                                    Teste

                                                                                    Chesley Kinney C.C.

 

It’s too bad a more detailed land description wasn’t included. I only know James Senior’s land was in the same vicinity as the 104 acres that James Junior paid the Davies family 100 Pounds on Pudding Run in 1822. See my last blog James Todd’s Ties to Pudding Spring Draft.

 

Richard McMurtry’s web site The Todds of Augusta County, Virginia is a genealogical goldmine for Todd family descendants. Mr. McMurtry traced the history of the 104 acre lot on Pudding Spring Tract to James Todd Sr. James Senior “encumbered a debt” with James and Walter Davies in 1795. The Davies’ purchased the land from the Hogshead family in 1793 and they obtained the parcel from the original patent owner Moses Hall. In 1799 the Davies’ went to court to get the money they were owed.

 

I confirmed a connection between James Todd Senior and the Davies among my papers. Senior died intestate leaving his son George to administer his estate. George Todd’s settlement was presented in Augusta County June 22, 1801. At first glance I thought the first item read ‘To paid Davies Executor 7 Pounds, 9 Shillings’.

 

 

 

 

Excerpt from Augusta Co. VA Will Book 9, page 113

 

Only when I enlarged the image, I saw ‘To paid Davies Execution’. Execution—what’s that? I checked my A to Zax Dictionary and soon realized James Todd Sr. had a judgment against him because he didn’t pay a debt. The Court had stepped in to satisfy the debt. This agrees with Richard McMurtry’s research.

 

I learned more specifics about the Todd tract from Peggy D. Munson’s web page Lytle Family: Register Report of James Hogshead. James’ son, William Hogshead, bought 2 lots on Pudding Spring Draft Aug. 16, 1773 from Moses Hall. One tract contained 104 acres and the other 99 acres. The Davies’ paid 120 Pounds for both Sept. 17, 1793.

  

I looked for Moses Hall on the Library of Virginia web site among the Land Office Patents issued by the Secretary of the Colony. He did indeed receive a land grant August 16, 1756 for 104 acres on Pudding Spring Branch in Augusta County, VA. I downloaded an image of the patent to study. Lo and behold, the land description was almost word for word as written in James Todd Jr.’s 1822 deed.

 

Rethink:

It seems James Todd Sr. owned the 104 acres on Pudding Spring Draft near the waters of the Mossy Creek. Then James Todd Jr. took over the property. A similar scenario was played out by James Junior’s children leaving the land to Todd grandsons Preston and James H. Todd.

 

By this time you know I’m a document diva so my next task will be to find any evidence of these dealings in court records.