Robert Bittle (abt 1720-1795) Gets a Land Grant in 1750 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia

My 7th great grandfather Robert Bittle's 1750 land grant in Isle of Wight, Virginia.  Quite some boilerplate language, but then they were still a colony of England and subject to English law.  Virginia. Colonial Land Office. Land Office Patents No. 29, 1749-1751 (v.1 & 2 p.1-532), p. 288 (Reel 27).  Robert Bittle, grantee, Isle of Wight county, Land grant 3 November 1750; digital images, Library of Virginia catalog (http://image.lva.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/GetLONN.pl?first=288&last=&g_p=P29&collection=LO Patent : 25 March 2017).

Robt. Bittle 150
George the second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith etc.
To all whom there Presents shall come Greeting Know Ye that for divers good causes and
Considerations but more especially for and in consideration of the Sum of Fifteen Shillings of good
and lawful Money for our Use paid to our Receiver General of our Revenues in the this our Colony and
Dominion of Virginia We have given granted and confirmed and by these Presents for us our
Heirs and Successors do give grant and conform unto Robert Bittle one certain Tract or Parcel of Land
containing one hundred and fifty acres lying and being in the County of Isle of Wight on the South
Side of Nottoway River and bounded as followeth, to wit, Beginning at a small black oak a Corner
of Samuel Lucy's Land in the Fork of Cocks Swamps Thence north East fifty eight poles to a white
Oak Then north thirty five Degrees West one hundred and ninety Poles to a Hiccory Thence
north seventy five Degrees West one hundred and thirty five Poles to a Pine then South
twenty five Degrees West thirty six Poles to a black Oak Then South forty Degrees East sixty
two Poles to a white Oak Then South eighty seven Degrees East seventeen Poles to a red Oak
a Corner of William Brooks Land Then by the said Brooks Lines South fifty Degrees East
forty three Poles to a black Oak and South twenty Degrees East one hundred and sixteen Poles
to a Hiccory Saplin in Samuel Lucy's Line aforesaid Then by the said Lucy's Line South eighty
Degrees East eighty four Poles to the Beginning With All Woods Underwoods Swamps
Marshes Lowgrounds Meadows Feedings and his due Share of all Veins Mines and Quarries
as well discovered as not discovered within the Bounds aforesaid and being Part of the said
Quantity of one hundred and fifty acres of Land and the Rivers Waters and WaterCourses
therein contained together with the Privileges of Hunting Hawking Fishing Fowling and all 
other Profits Commodities and Heredetaments whatsoever to the same or any Part thereof
belonging or in anywise appertaining to have hold possess and enjoy the said tract or
Parcel of Land and all other the before granted Premises and every Part thereof with their and
every of their Appurtenances and the said Robert Bittle and to his heirs and Assigns forever
to the only Use and Behoof of him the said Robert Bittle his heirs and Assigns forever
To be held of us our Heirs and Successors as of our Mannor of East Greenwich in the
County of Kent in free and common Soccage and not in Capite or by Knight's Service
Yielding and Paying unto us our heirs and Successors for every fifty Acres of Land
and so proportionably for a lesser or greater Quantity than fifty acres the Fee Rent of one
Shilling yearly to be paid upon the Feast of Saint Michael the Arch Angel and also
cultivating and improving three Acres Part of every fifty of the Tract abovementioned
within three Years after the Date of these Presents Provided always that if three
Years of the said Fee Rent shall at any Time be in Arrear and unpaid or if the said

page 289 of the same land grant.

Robert Bittle his heirs or Assigns do not within the Space of three Years next coming after the Date of
these ^Presents cultivate and improve three acres part of every fifty of the Tract above mentioned then the Estate
hereby granted shall cease and be utterly determined and thereafter it shall and may be lawfull to
and for us our heirs and Successors to grant the same Lands and Premises with with the Appurtences 
unto such other Person or Persons as we our heirs and Successors shall think fit In Witness
whereof we have caused these our Letters Patent to be made Witness our Trusty and Welbeloved
Thomas Lee Esp. President of our Council and Commander in Chief of our said Colony and Dominion
at Williamsburgh under the Seal our said Colony the third Day of November One Thousand
seven hundred and fifty in the twenty fourth year of our Reign.
                                                                 Thomas Lee P.


I keep using the big aggregate websites like FamilySearch and Ancestry.  When I remember to look at state resources, like the Library of Virginia, it amazes me what is available there.

I just typed in Robert Bittle and actually came up with a record on him!  I need to play around with what this Library of Virginia catalog offers since I have so many people who came from Virginia in the Colonial era.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My 7th Great Grandfather Robert Bittle (abt 1720-abt 1795) Was on a Slave Patrol in Southampton County, Virginia

Google Books often provides a limited preview to recently published books, like the one I came across today while searching for my Bittle ancestors in 18th century Southampton County, Virginia, "Lethal Imagination: Violence and Brutality in American History," edited by Michael A. Bellesiles (also available on Amazon).

From page 73:

From these patrol-created files we can learn much about the pattern of violence that slaves experienced in colonial Virginia at the hands of whites who were not necessarily their owners.  The earliest extant notes recording patrol activity come from Southampton County in 1754.  Three patrol groups submitted extensive accounts in that year, listing the days and times they rode and giving details of the slaves they captured. A comparison of the names of patrollers with the names of the plantations visited suggests that the three patrol groups worked as distinct units in different parts of the county and submitted separate reports of their activities.  Multiple patrol groups would have been a necessity in the large and growing counties of Virginia.  Even though Southampton had more white residents than slaves by the mid-1750s, the fact that whites outnumbered blacks did not ease the fears of many Virginia colonists; attempted slave revolts in 1729 and 1730, and rumors of insurrections later in the 1730s must have frightened many whites.  The knowledge that runaway slaves had repeatedly and southern margins of Virginia must have been unsettling, and that knowledge provided a strong rationale for the activities and payment of county slave patrols. 13 

The details in patrolling journals vary dramatically, depending upon the individual recordkeeper, but broad similarities can be found in all.  Colonial Virginia slave patrols typically rode in groups of four or five, and their journals commence by listing the individuals' names.  "John Brantly & Philip Bran[t]ly & Will[ia]m Grimmer & William Joyner Junr have Rode in the patrole servis the 28th of Septem[ber]" runs a standard patrol entry. 14 

Virtually every patrol report gives specifics about the number of hours worked, with a few presenting precise information about the exact number of hours worked by each man in the group.  In Southampton, John Seuter, Jacob Turner, Simon Harris, Robert Bittle and William Kirby worked precisely 50, 32, 126, 108, and 126 hours, respectively, in an eight-month span.  The patrol reports usually carry the signature of the militia captain, justice of the peace, or court clerk who vouched that the work had been completed faithfully.  Patrols most often worked from sundown to sunup, during the "Negro's day" -- when slaves left their cabins to attend meetings or to travel after their workday ended.  As they patrolled, they encountered both slave men and women.  After an evening's work in October 1754, patroller Bennet Hilsman wrote, "We Patrolers did ketch a negroe man slave belonging to Joshua Barnes & a Negro woman slave and Childe...and she was a Runaway she said."  

Where is the "Dislike" button?  This is one of those things that I don't enjoy finding out, that my ancestor was a member of a slave patrol, in an area later rocked by the Nat Turner Slave rebellion over 70 years later, no less.

This information doesn't surprise me, though, given what I already knew about the area during that time, and my people there either owned slaves or were overseers.

Using the "Search Inside This Book" at Amazon I discovered that footnote 14 was taken from "Patrol returns and lists, 1754-1861, Free Negroes, Slaves and Indians records, Southampton County, LV."

This lead me to the Library of Virginia's website, and A Guide To The Southampton County (VA.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1754-1860, a non-digitized collection of 3 boxes taken from the Southampton County Circuit Court.

This is a good reminder that most stuff is not online!  I just lucked out that a researcher published the records in their work.

Robert Bittle was an ancestor of my 4th great grandfather, Benjamin "B. R." Biddle.  The William Kirby mentioned in the same sentence in the quote is most likely Robert Bittle's brother-in-law.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Lucy Westbrooke (About 1754 - 1816)

When my paternal fifth great grandmother, the widow of Kirby Bittle of Southampton County, Virginia, came to make her will in September of 1815, "being in low health," Lucy's first bequest was to her younger son Thomas Westbrook Bittle to whom she left all her land, a slave named Jim, one feather bed, and a black mare. If he were to die before reaching the age of 21* without "lawful issue" everything was to be divided among her three daughters, otherwise each of them would receive a slave and some special piece of furniture.

However in the final item of her will, Lucy named her older son, Benjamin,**  and left "thirty gallons of apple brandy to him and his heirs forever." That's all.

[Lucy Bittle's Will. The Brantley Association of America

http://www.brantleyassociation.com/southampton_project/southampton_project_list.htm#Will_B ooks]

Now Benjamin had been the the administrator of his father's estate in 1810 and among the items in the inventory are an "apple mill and trough" and a "cider press and hoops." I'm wondering if the apple brandy follows from something Benjamin did (or didn't) do as administrator which caused his mother to essentially disinherit him. There definitely seems that a message was being sent.

[Kirby Bittle Inventory. The Brantley Association of America

http://www.brantleyassociation.com/southampton_project/southampton_project_list.htm#Will_B ooks]

*He appears to have survived receive his inheritance.
**From whom I descend; the surname spelling changed to Biddle over the course of the 19th century.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.