Evan Ragland^[1]

1656 - 1717  (61 years)

• Name	Evan Ragland  [2]
  Birth	31 Mar 1656	St Decumans Parish, Somerset, England   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	30 May 1717	Saint Peter and Paul Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA   [3]
  Person ID	I3387	Master
  Last Modified	17 Sep 2015

  
  

  Father	Thomas Ragland,   b. 1628, Stogomber, Somerset, England d. 1684, St Decumans Parish, Somerset, England (Age 56 years)
  Relationship	Natural
  Mother	Jane Morgan,   b. 1628, Blarry, South, Wales d. 1728, , , Somerset, England (Age 100 years)
  Relationship	Natural
  Marriage	1654	, , Somerset, England
  Family ID	F6400	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Susanna Pettus,   b. 1656, Saint Peter and Paul Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA d. 30 May 1717, Saint Peter and Paul Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA (Age 61 years)
  Marriage	1680	Saint Peter and Paul Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA   [2]
  Children	+ 1. Catherine Ragland,   b. 1681, St Peters Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA d. 19 Sep 1703, St Peters Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA (Age 22 years) + 2. Stephen Ragland,   b. 1688, Saint Peter and Paul Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA d. Jan 1747, , Northampton, North Carolina, USA (Age 59 years)
  Family ID	F1099	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Apr 2016

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 31 Mar 1656 - St Decumans Parish, Somerset, England Marriage - 1680 - Saint Peter and Paul Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA Death - 30 May 1717 - Saint Peter and Paul Parish, New Kent, Virginia, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Evidence strongly indicates that he was the eldest son of Thomas Ragland and Jane Morgan of St. Decuman's parish, Somerset, England, and that he was born in that parish in 1656. In 1670, Evan Ragland, from Somerset, arrived in Virginia. He was 14 years old, and with his cousin John Davis had been abducted (shanghaied) from the dock of the port town of Watchet in Somerset, a common practice at the time. The Raglands lived in Stogumber and St. Decuman's parish near Watchet, and the boys had taken a stroll on the dock. English sources estimate that between 1640 and 1680 up to 100,000 children may have been kidnapped in Britain and sold to the highest bidders in America. This is a surprisingly high figure but it's stated that in periods when the British were reluctant to emigrate, captains of ships bound for the colonies would simply kidnap children for sale on their arrival. Protests and increased interest in voluntary emigration brought the practice to an end around 1679, in which year a captain was hung for kidnapping an eleven year old boy. In Virginia Evan was sold as an indentured laborer (slave) to Stephen Pettus. After five to seven years, due to his superior education, Evan was able to buy his freedom. He married Susannah Pettus, his former master's daughter, inheriting the 500-acre plantation and acquiring wealth. Stephen Pettus was a moderately wealthy planter living along the Chickahominy River in New Kent county, Virginia. Although unrecorded, the marriage of Evan Ragland to the daughter of Stephen Pettus probably took place around the year 1680. From 1689 when Evan Ragland first appears in the vestry minutes of St. Peter's parish, New Kent county, until his death, his name appears at irregular intervals in the rent rolls of New Kent and the vestry minutes and register of St. Peter's. These records, aside from the patent records, are the only documents which have survived from this period. The last known mention of Evan Ragland is a simple notation in the register, "Evan Raglan Departed this Life may ye 30th, 1717." Although the records tell very little about his life a few "facts" can be established and certian assumptions made which shed some light on his activities and condition. He does not appear to have acquired any additional land in New Kent beyond the 500 acres inherited from his father-in-law and already in his possession in 1689. While he and his sons obviously worked their own plantation the register revels that he owned slaves, although in what number is not known. Nowhere in the records was he accorded the title of "gentleman" nor does it appear that he ever served on the vestry board or in any important county office. These facts would seem to infer that socially he was of the "middle class." The death of his wife is not recorded in the register; however he is known to have left at least four sons and a daughter.

  
  

• Sources

  [S761] Yates Publishing, Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Tree. http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=83664346&pid=1 [S32] Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.), Source number: 289.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: EQW. (Reliability: 3). Name: Evan Ragland Gender: Male Birth Year: 1656 Spouse Name: Susanna Pettus Marriage Year: 1680 Number Pages: 1 http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=worldmarr_ga&h=989997&ti=0&indiv=try [S767] St. Peter's Parish (New Kent County, Va.), The parish register of Saint Peter's, New Kent county, Virginia from 1680 to 1787, (National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1904), p442 (Reliability: 3). Evan Raglin departed this life May ye 30th 1717. https://archive.org/details/parishregisterof00stpe