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. |
END QUOTE