February 15, 2011 Richard Walden Will

Image by Universal Pops (now returning late February) via Flickr

I have been researching the Walden Family that married into the Ward family of Pittsylvania County.  As you know,  there was John Ward, his son William Ward and William had a son John.  This John married Tabitha Walden.  Today at the Tennesse Archives I found an abstract of the will belonging to Richard Walden.
at Abstracts of Pittsylvania County, Virginia Wills, 1767-1820  Compiled by Lela C. Adams, Virginia Bassett
page 75

Page 185-186
February 10, 1790
Probate:  July 19, 1790

Last Will and Testament  for Richard Walden
To my well beloved wife Candace, the house and plantation where I now live during her widowhood and negros; Cupit, Lucy and Hannah, beds and furntiure.  Also cattle.
To my son Charles Walden, the land where I now live and negro: Cupit; a desk, bed and furniture and mare.
To my son John, the lower tract of land where he formerly lived and negro Robin.
My cross cut saw and carpenters tools to sons Richard and Charles.
To my daughter Lucy Hudson, negros Judah and Jenny.
To my duaghter Mary Whitworth, negro Winney and a bed and furniture.
To my daughter Milley, negro Dinah and her daughter Dinah, a bed and furniture, chest, table, chairs and a trunk.
To my daughter Mourning Walden, a negro Betty and her daughter Sarah, a bed and furniture, chest, chairs, table and a trunk.
To my daughter Fanny Bobitt, a negro Hannah, a bed and furniture, and at her mothers death, her equal part.
My son Richard's negro to be given up at years end after my death, Also John Walden, Lucy Hudson and Mary Whitworth's.
Should either of my daughters Milley or Mourning die without issue, the negro Betty to return to my son Richard, and her daughter Sarah to go to Candice Barber.
If my daughter Milley die without issue, negro Dinah to go to Lucy Hudson and negro Dinah, jr, to my grand daughter Milley Whitworth.
To my daughters Milley and Mourning, 6 head of cattle each.
To my daughter Elizabeth Ballard, a cow and a calf.
To my wife, Candace, my wagon, horses and gears and at her decease the horses to be divided between my three sons: John, Richard and Charles.
Appoint my sons Richard and Charles Walden, executors

Richard Walden
Witnesses:  Ralph Smith, Booker Smith
William Ward and Booker Smith security for executors.

This is only an abstract of the will, but it seems that he did not have a huge estate, but he could have sold property before he died.
By this will we know the following:
His Wife's name is Candace.
His three sons are John, Richard and Charles.
Charles received his plantation in Pittsylvania and John received some land.  I don't know yet, but it is probable that Richard may have received property from his father earlier.  When naming their children the first born son was usually named after the grandfather, then the second was named after the father.

His daughters are:
Lucy Hudson
Mary Whitworth
Milley
Mourning Walden
Fanny Bobitt
Elizabeth Ballard

Grand daughter
Milley Whitworth

And there is also a mention of a Candice Barber.  Where she fits into the story I do not know as of yet.

Virginia Cavalcade - Spring 1971 - Courthouses of Halifax and Pittsylvania Counties - That "Wonderful Solace": Virginia Tobacco and the Civil War
Thirteen-month crop: One year in the life of a Piedmont Virginia tobacco farm

February 8, 2011 Tabitha Hubbard Walden Ward

Image via Wikipedia

Last Friday I wrote about John Lynch Adams.  He was the father of Elizabeth Mumford Adams that married William Ward and was the mother to my ancestor Cornelia Ward.  Elizabeth is the last of my direct descendants to the Adams family.
As I had mentioned before, I will be following the families that are connected to the Wards.  We first learned about the Ward generations and then we researched Ann Chiles Ward's family.  Ann Chiles and her husband John Ward had a son by the name of William Ward.  He married Mildred Adams and that began our connections to the Robert Adams' Family which we explored extensively.  Mildred Adams and her husband William had a son by the name of John.  John married Tabitha Hubbard Walden.  The Walden family will be our next family on the list.

According to Campbell Chronicles and Family Sketches Tabitha's father was Charles Walden. Charles' father was Richard Walden.  Richard Walden married Candace Hubbard, thus the name Tabitha Hubbard Walden. The Waldens traced their lineage to Lord John Walden of Ravensworth Castle, England.  I researched Ravensworth on the computer and I can find no reference to a Walden or de Walden.  According to page 523, they trace their ancestors to Lord John Walden who settle in Leyton, Essex county, Virginia, in 1715, moved later to his home Walden Towers in Caroline, site of which is about nine miles from Bowling Green; the house was destroyed by fire about the middle of the 19th century.
In Richard Walden's will  dated 1790 he mentions three sons John, Charles and Richard and daughters Lucy Hudson, Mary Whitworth, Millie Mourning, Sarah, Fannie Bobbitt and Elizabeth Ballard.
Charles received the home tract in Pittsylvania County and he married Elizabeth Wall. She was the daughter of Col. Charles F. Wall.  Their daughter Tabitha married John Ward of Edge Hill Pittsylvania County,Virginia.
On Page 524, Ms. Early says that Milly daughter of Richard Walden married Thomas Ward the youngest son of Major John Ward and moved to Ohio.  That would have have been John Ward of Edge Hill's uncle and Milly was either Tabitha's cousin by her uncle Richard or her aunt by her father's father Richard.  It doesn't seem clear to me which Richard she is talking about.  She says that Richard the Sr. had a daughter named Millie Mourning but it is not quite clear to me if this is the one..
Now John Lynch Adams married Martha Walden.  Martha was the daughter of Charles Walden and the sister to Tabitha.  And as we know John Lynch Adams' daughter Elizabeth married William Ward (2nd of that name) son of Tabitha Hubbard Walden and John Ward.  This would have made them first cousins.
In his will he gave the tract that he lived on to his two daughters Tabitha H. Ward and Polly Walden, after the death of his wife.
On page 273 she notes that Richard Walden Jr. was a ensign, Richard Walden, Sr. was a captain, in the Campbell County Militia.

That is all the information that I found in just one book.  I hope to find more as I begin researching, but this certainly gives me a good place to start.
Historic Sites in Virginia's Northern Neck and Essex County: A Guide
Settlers, Southerners, Americans: The History of Essex County, Virginia, 1608-1984Settlers, Southerners, Americans: The History of Essex County, Virginia, 1608-1984
Photo Vauter's Church, Loretta vic., Essex County, Virginia 1930