William Chesnut of Bucks County, PA

Copyrighted by John B. Chesnut, Jr.

The following is from a book by John B. Chesnut, Jr., 4045 Raymond Rd., Livermore, California 94550. The book follows many of the descendancy lines of a Chesnut that I will call "William of Bucks Co., PA." The text below is quoted from John's book (with permission of the author).

"1William1 was the earliest confirmed and documented ancestor; recorded and published comments of his grandson (802William3) say he came from Scotland. He may have come to America as a child with his parents. Bucks County, Pennsylvania land and probate records show that 1William probably was the son of another William Chesnut who died in 1754 and left a recorded will in 1754 in that county. William, the father, was apparently illiterate as he signed his will, probably on his death bed, with a mark rather than his name. However, the body of the will showed the spelling of the name as "Chesnut."
William Chesnut of Bucks County, the likely father of 1William, having been born probably in the 1690s, arrived in America (Pennsylvania) most likely around 1740, probably with his wife and children and his brother John. On October 5, 1743, William obtained a Bucks County land warrant for 50 acres. However, it appears possible that William may have located on the land on or about 1738 since the warrant stated: "...hold to commence from the 1st of March in the year 1738." However, the 1738 date probably is referred to for some other reason. Subsequently, a survey of Plumstead township land was made on March 28, 1746, containing 112 acres by virtue of the 1743 warrant for 50 acres (no explanation was shown on the documents for the difference in acreage). The 112 acres adjoined the land of William's brother John Jr. who already owned land at Plumstead. On October 6, 1746, the 112 acres were transferred by William to his brother John. Then on September 8, 1761, a patent was recorded on the land when John sold it to a John Russell; this patent stated John was definitely William's brother.
William and John apparently came to America together since John received a warrant for 143 acres on February 7, 1744, shortly after William's 1743 warrant. He is shown as John "Junior" on that warrant. The Junior is John's name was inserted as an afterthought, and indicates the father of William and John was also named John. He would probably have been born in about the 1670s in Scotland. A later 1820 example shows a grandson (810Daniel4), rather than a son, as "Junior" when the grandfather was still living in the vicinity. However, there was no evidence that another John Chesnut was in the Plumstead vicinity during the 1740s.
William named three children in his October 19, 1754, Plumstead, Bucks County, Pennsylvania will (will probated January 24, 1755); they were John, William, and Margaret (in that order). It is believed that the son William is the same person as our ancestor, 1William. There are three reasons for this conclusion:

1. The siblings, John, William, and Margaret, in the 1754 will, have the same names as the first three known children of 1William. About 1764 or 1765, Margaret married a Capt. William Ramsey (born 1732), and all five of their sons were reportedly born in Virginia from 1766 to 1777 (at least one born in Augusta County), when 1William settled there. A William Ramsey purchased 120 acres in June, 1764, form Silas Hart, on the North River. North River starts in Augusta County and runs into adjacent Rockingham County, Virginia, so William and Margaret (Chesnut) Ramsey may have settled in what became (in 1778) Rockingham County. Silas Hart was in the same 1792 Rockingham County militia company as 1William's sons Daniel and Charles. We also note that in June, 1816 a William Ramsey sold land in Rockingham County.

2. 1William bought land in the southern Shenandoah Valley, in Augusta County, Virginia, in November, 1762 (became Rockingham County in 1778). the land transfer document showed he was already a resident of Augusta County. A William Chesnut was on the tax rolls in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, until 1759 (when the French and Indian War had wound down considerably in western Virginia). After that year, there was no William Chesnut on the Bucks County tax rolls (tax rolls of 1761 through 1764 and of 1775 were available and were reviewed).

3. Other William Chesnuts (see below) besides 1William that were found (except possibly one) were not the right age to be consistent with the circumstances of the Bucks County Chesnuts. However, without something stating specifically that 1William came to Augusta County, Virginia, from Pennsylvania, we cannot be absolutely certain that the William Jr. in the 1754 will and 1William are the same person, mainly because other references were found in Pennsylvania records to other William Chesnuts: in 1774 (Northumberland County land warrant) and 1762 (Cumberland County tax list).

To add to the problem, the name William was the most common and popular for any Chesnut branch in the 1700s and caused much painstaking elimination and research, even in Augusta County, Virginia, where several William Chesnuts were found living at the same time in the 1700s. Specifically, there was our ancestor 1William (area where he settled became Rockingham County before his death) who also had an adult son, 3William, who eventually settled in the Back Creek area of Augusta County (now Highland County, Virginia). There was also another William Chesnut family in Augusta County at the same time; that William was born about 1750, and he also had a son named William; in 1770, this family patented land near another "Back Creek" in Augusta County (area is still Augusta County, near the city of Waynesboro). The two families were unrelated as far as can be determined, except possibly in the more distant past.
It should be mentioned that the same surname does not necessarily show blood relationship since when surnames were established they may have been taken by different unrelated persons. Yet another non-related (except possibly in antiquity) branch of Chesnuts (from Ireland) came temporarily to the northern Shenandoah Valley in the 1740s (not Augusta County), and then in 1756 resettled in South Carolina where eventually a large plantation, known as Mulberry, with several hundred slaves, was built, and from which a James Chesnut (spelling confirmed) became a United States Senator, only to resign just prior to the Civil War. James Chesnut was one of three persons who delivered the ultimatum for surrender to Fort Sumter, resulting in the Civil War. He later became a Confederate general and was an aid to Jefferson Davis. James had no children."

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