Benjamin M Terry, Sr^{[1, 2, 3]}

1704 - 1760  (56 years)

• Name	Benjamin M Terry
  Suffix	Sr
  Birth	1704	, Lunenburg, Virginia, USA
  Gender	Male
  Death	28 Dec 1760	Camden, Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA   [4]
  Person ID	I11157	Master
  Last Modified	12 Sep 2019

  
  

  Father	Capt James Terry,   b. 1676, , Lunenburg, Virginia, USA d. 13 Jul 1744, , Caroline, Virginia, USA (Age 68 years)
  Mother	Mary Diana Royall,   b. 1680, , Lunenburg, Virginia, USA d. 1745, , Caroline, Virginia, USA (Age 65 years)
  Marriage	1698	, , Virginia, USA   [5, 6]
  Family ID	F3106	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Irby Dickerson,   b. 1708, , New Kent, Virginia, USA d. 1760, , Bedford, Virginia, USA (Age 52 years)
  Marriage	1724	, , Virginia, USA   [7]
  Children	+ 1. Nathaniel Dickerson Terry,   b. 17 Mar 1725, , Hanover, Virginia, USA d. 21 Apr 1780, , Halifax, Virginia, USA (Age 55 years)  [Father: natural]   2. Joseph Terry,   b. 1727, , Halifax, Virginia, USA d. 19 Dec 1785, , Greenville, South Carolina, USA (Age 58 years)  [Father: natural]   3. Keziah Rozia Terry,   b. 1728, , , Virginia, USA d. 6 Sep 1809, , Lincoln, Kentucky, USA (Age 81 years)  [Father: natural]   4. George Terry,   b. 1730   d. Dec 1802 (Age 72 years)   5. Lavinia Terry,   b. 1734, , Charles City, Virginia, USA d. 1800, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA (Age 66 years)  [Father: natural]   6. Peter Terry,   b. 1736, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA d. 1810, , Rockingham, Virginia, USA (Age 74 years)   7. Sarah Terry,   b. 1738, , Caroline, Virginia, USA d. 1775, , Charleston, South Carolina, USA (Age 37 years)   8. Mary Terry,   b. 1740, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA d. 1771 (Age 31 years)   9. Elizabeth Terry,   b. 1742, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA   10. Robert Terry,   b. 1744, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA d. 1794, , Abbeville, South Carolina, USA (Age 50 years) + 11. Benjamin Terry, jr,   b. 11 Dec 1745, , Halifax, Virginia, USA d. 15 Dec 1817, Shockoe, Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA (Age 72 years)   12. Mary Terry,   b. 1746, , , Virginia, USA d. 1830, , Rockcastle, Kentucky, USA (Age 84 years)  [Father: natural]
  Family ID	F6918	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Sep 2019

  
  

• Event Map		Birth - 1704 - , Lunenburg, Virginia, USA Marriage - 1724 - , , Virginia, USA Death - 28 Dec 1760 - Camden, Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Notes

  Benjamin Terry Will In the name of God Amen I, Benjamin Terry Senr. of Pittsylvania County and Parish of Camden being in my perfect sinces and memory thanks to God for the same but considering the frailty of this Life and the uncertainty of Death, I do make and ordain this my Last Will and Testament. Disannuling all other wills by one made either by word or Wrighting and this only is to be taken for my Last Will and Testment. In manner and form following,Vis First being Penatent and sorry for my sins past most humbly desire forgiveness for the same. I give and commend my soul unto almighty God my savour, in hoom and by the marits of Jesus Christ to trust and hope to be saved and have full remition of sins, and that for the settling of my temporal estate and such goods, chatils and debts as it hath pleased god for above my deserts to bestow me I do order give and dispose the same In manner and form following, that is to say first, of all it is my desire that all my Debts that I owe to any person or persons be truly and honestly payed by my Executors hereafters named. Item, I lend to my beloved wife Elizabeth Irby four negros namely Abraham Melender and her Child Beler and Sener, six cows and calves with all my hoggs, one feather bead, and furniture one Frying pane, Two Iron potts and hooks with all the plantation Touls one black mair known by name of Lasard and her colt, sober John and the sorril Plow mair all During her natural life and at her Decease to be Disposed of as in this my last Will as further Directed, I give to my son Nathaniel Terry one Survey of Land being the uper Survey on Sandy Creek also one negro man named Tach and one negro man named Gregory to him and to his heirs forever. Item, I give to my son Benjamin Terry the Tract of land I now live on that is to say the old and first Tract Containing three hundred acres more or less and one negro man named Tach and one negro man named Gregory to him and to his heirs forever. Item, I give to my son Peter Terry the survey of land on the mine branch and one negro boy named Dave and one negro girl named Isabell and one Riffle gun to him and his heirs forever. Item, I give------to my son Joseph Terry one negro man named Tommey and one negro girl named Jenney and one rifle gun. Item, I give to my son Robert Terry one survey of land joining Peter Terry's also one negro Boy name Usoerry and one negro boy named Jessey and one rifle gun which is not payd for but to be paid for out of what I have to be sold. Item, I lend to my daughter Rozia Murphy two negros namly Harry and Tillie, during her natural life and after her Desease to be equally divided between her children. She the said Rozia, had by her former husband James Scott and all her other children that she has or should have by her present husband Richard Murphy but if the said Richard Murphy should not pay his wifes just children she had by a James Scott their Legesses, that is or will be due them out of their fathers James Scotts estate which I am security for, that it shall be paid them out of the two said negros Harry and Tillis. I lend to my daughter Levinia King two negros namly Abbey and Inez during her natural life and then to be equally devided they and their increase between her daughter Grace Terry and all her children that she has got or may have to her husband Elijah King. I give to my daughter Sarah Terry , three negros namely; Malinda and Bailer together with their futer increase from this time but not to be possessed by them until after my wifes death. I give to my daughter Mary Terry two negros namely Cyner and Qushener one side saddle feather bed and furniture and it is my desire that all the rest of my estate be sold to pay my debts and if there should be money left that it be devided between all my children and I do appoint my wife Eliz Terry, my son Nath Terry, and my son Benj Terry Exectors B. M. Terry Signed scald published and declared before us this 28th day of Decr. 1760 interlined before signed. Theops Lay John King William King At a Court held for Pittsylvania County the 26th day of September 1771. Excerpt from "Pittsylvania's Eighteenth Century Grist Mills" by Herman Melton page 102-105 JEREMIAH WHITE: PATRIARCH MILLER ON SWEETING'S FORK Three Sweeting brothers entered grants of land along the Banister River in 1748. It was from these early settlers that Sweden's Fork, as the waterway is now called, got its name. Jeremiah White called it "Sweeting Fork, a branch of Sandy Creek," when he wrote his will in April of 1788. This branch heads up on the south slope of White Oak Mountain near Chestnut Level. It is the mniddle branch of the creek and is joined by John's Run at a point a few hundred yards from its confluence with Sandy Creek of the Banister. This location is approximately three miles southeast of the village of Spring Garden. Some distinguished patriots of the Revolution lived along the banks of Sweeting Fork. Among them were Nathaniel Terry, who was a member of the Pittsylvania County Militia during the Revolution. His father, Benjamin, lived on Sweeting's Fork, and Nathaniel may have been born there. Colonel Robert Williams had holdings on that branch also. In the Colonel's property was a grist mill and over five thousand acres of land. Williams was one of the most prominent Pittsylvania County patriots during the Revolution. Since he was a lawyer before the founding of the county, and a planter with enormous wealth, milling was not his chief pursuit. Nevertheless, Patsy, one of his daughters, married into a milling family when she married John Henry, one of the owners of Henry's Mill on the Sandy Creek of the Banister. From the sale of inherited land by Jeremiah's son William, the historian learns that Matthew Clay, who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and in the United States Congress, was a neighboring landowner. Although Clay was a distinguished public servant, who was at least partly responsible for the founding of the Town of Danville at Wynne's Falls, his career was overshadowed by that of Henry Clay of Kentucky who descended from the same family. Jeremiah White moved to the Sweeting's Fork area from Dinwiddie County in 1778. He filed a petition to erect a grist mill on the waterway in August of 1782 -- "he being the owner of the land on both sides." The move was made during the Revolution, and that would have been the most difficult of times. Jeremiah was in declining years by this time, but county records show that a Jeremiah White served as a member of the County Militia during the Revolution. He was to die ten years later, but managed to accumulate 2108 acres of land on six tracts in the county, most of which was presumably on Sweeting's Fork. He left the use of his land to his wife and named sons William and Jeremiah as Executors. County records show Jeremiah White to be a very prominent citizen. He was commissioned First Lieutenant of the Militia in the County and took the Oath of Allegiance in October of 1780. White was a charter member of Pittsylvania Lodge No. 24, of the Order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons when it was constituted on September 15, 1788. He was named Justice of Peace in 1780, and qualified as Coroner on March 15, 1787. It was common practice in the early days for prominent men in the communities to qualify as Deputy Sheriff. Jeremiah White did likewise on May 16, 1786. His son, Jeremiah Jr., rose to the rank of Captain in the Militia in 1794 before being elected to the office of Commisioner of Revenue in 1798. Old Jeremiah was one of the landed people who owned slaves and was sometime granted exemption from paying property taxes on them. From County Court records, it appears that slaveowners were often exempted thusly when they furnished "tithables" (laborers in this case) for the buildling and repairing of roads, bridges, public buildings, etc. A Jeremiah White diary would make interesting reading. However, as is the case with the histories of most of the early pioneers, there is a paucity of records. Even so, there is at least one trait which characterizes Jeremiah White. He wa a loyal family man who loved his children and went to any extreme to be fair. This assessment is based on the wording in his will. One can see the effort he went to in trying to divide his estate equally among his heirs. There were eight children in Jeremiah and Jane White's family. One was a daughter who married a prominent county leader, politician, planter, businessman and miller known as Col. Clark. William Clark. He lived some seven miles east of Competition in the elegant high columned home he called "Pineville", near the Banister River. His wife was the daughter of a miller, married a miller, and gave birth to a daughter who married a miller. The daughter, Lettice, married Col. Leonard Claiborne who applied to build two mills in the county during the late 1820s and early 1830s. One was on "Sawyer's Mill Creek" and one was on Burch Creek. It is known that he operated one of them for awhile, since the name "Claiborne's Mill" appears on a batteaux manifest of the Roanoke Navigation Company during the 1830s. It was not unusual to find three generations of millers in one family in Pittsylvania County during the 19th cCentury. Jeremiah White's will was written on April 28, 1788. The will included the following dispositions of his property: A. He left the use of his "Manner" (manor) house to his wife, Jane, for her natural life "to enable her to educate my younger children." He left seven slaves to her and the use of all land and slaves bequeathed to younger children until they "become of age". B. One half interest in a tract of land was mentioned. It was a parcel he acquired in an agreeement in which he was to share ownership with the "Conway orphans." This was a strange arrangement which defies understanding. C. The share of any living child who preceded him in death was to be divided equally among all living children upon his (Jeremiah's) death. D. He defined the boundaries of the land each child was to receive. This provision gives historians the identity of his neighbors which included the aforementioned families of Terry, Clay and Williams. E. There was a division of some four hundred acres in Charlotte County. The disposition of the grist mill became the most interesting and poignant provision in the will. He driected that interest in it should be divided equally between "my two sons, William and Jeremiah, to them and their heirs forever, subject to the following encumbrances, to Wit: As my children have laboured hard with me in assisting to build said mill, I am desirous to give them some privilege therein, but hope this privilege may never become a bone of contention between them, but as a recompence for their labour and dutiful behaviour. It is my will and desire that all my children be entitled for their own families to grind their grain to be free and they bare an equal share of all expenses in keeping the said mill in repair." He also directed that ten acres of land be set aside for the mill. This will, one of the most carefully crafted wills in early Pittsylvania County history, was proven on May 19, 1788 -- a mere fortnight before the Virginia Constitution Ratification Convention in Richmond. Col. Robert Williams, one of his closest neighbors, was duly elected, in the March past, to be one of Ptittyslvania's two delegates to the convention. Old Jeremiah tried painfully hard to divide land, slaves, personal effects and household goods equaillly among his heirs. The provisions covering the ownership and operation of the grist mill after his passing are unique in that all were to share in its upkeep and all were to share in its output. The inference from the reading of the will is that it was a closely knit family which was kept that way by a stern but caring and considerate patriarchal father. The provisions in the deed indicate that he was an impeccably honest man also. The mill property was buried in tax records as ordiinary acreage with assessed value and all of White's property stayed in his name until after the probation of his estate. Its final disposition is obscured by settlement of the estate and by missing, or non-existant. There is no reason to believe that it was as successful a mill operation as was that of his son-in-law William Clark on the Banister. Perhaps it was largely a plantation mill since there were many slaves in the White fields and a large personal family in the manor house to feed. It is believed that it stayed in the White family for an extended period, since no record of the sale of it was found in county archives. The records concerning the fate of the remaining White property are confusing. Some heirs begin selling property as soon as their mother departed this life. However, one cannot judge their successes or failures on land transactions and tax records alone. Furthermore, the new nation was to endure at least two of its worst financial panics during the next half century. Failures were not always the fault of the property owner, but were frequently the direct results of distant events and forces beyond the control of local citizens. Present day Jeremiah White descendants believe they know the location of the mill site because of some stone formations, etc. The story of Jeremiah White's Mill affords the best example of a family run mill wherein everybody worked and everybody shared in the output. This arrangement worked during Jeremiah White's lifetime because he appeared to have been every inch the "Patriarch of Sweetings Fork". All unanswered questions aside, he deserves having this title applied to him in 1988 -- the bicentenial of his passing.

  
  

• Sources

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