William Lea and Francis Major

 William Lea and Francis Major 

The Jamestowne Society wrote a letter to me in 2006 stating that they were not accepting any more members based on William Leigh b. 1654 in New Kent County, VA.  In addition, a three-year YDNA project of the Leas of Caswell County on Family Tree DNA proves that the Leas of Caswell County do not match Leigh's at all. 

In reference to the name change of Leigh to Lea and Lee - I read the diaries of Wilhelmina  Lea  (all of them!) who with others stated "Some histories of the Leas have said that the descendants of the wealthy William Leigh that came to Caswell County, NC changed their name to Lea or Lee on a "lark" ... on a "whim" "because they wanted to put distance between themselves and the wealth of VA"  etc. and it was highly doubtful that this was the case.   Ben Rose came to this conclusion as well.      

Reviewing trees on Ancestry, I have not ever seen documentation that George Major had a daughter named Frances although he did have a son named Frances - see this research report below.  Nor have I seen any proof of a marriage of a Frances Major to William Lea.  All things are possible - but there simply is not any credible documentation.  

As for the possibility that James lea of Country Line Creek's parents were William and Frances Lea, who sold land in Spotsylvania County in 1752, there are some problems with that.  According to information recorded in the Rose Family Bible, Capt. William Lea was the William who had a wife named Frances.  Their daughter, Eunice, married Alexander Rose.  Capt. William and Frances were documented in North Carolina as attending the baptism of Alexander Rose and Eunice Lea’s son, Duncan, in 1777.  William is believed to have been born about 1715, according to Ben Rose.  His son-in-law, Alexander Rose, was born about 1738.  According to the historical chronology of Ann Herndon, believed to be the wife of James Lea of Country Line Creek, she is believed to have been born about 1715.  Her husband, James, is believed to have been born sometime between 1706 to 1713.  This would mean that William Lea, who married Frances, must have been born about 1680 to 1690.  He could not be the same William who died in 1804, in Person County, North Carolina.  It is possible that there were two Williams who married a woman named Frances, from the Spotsylvania County area.

A study of the Major family of Virginia should be made, to see if any connections between them and William Lea can be detected.  So far, no documentation has been presented that William Lea married a Frances Major.  The source of this information is unknown.  This could have been an assumption made by a Lea researcher, in order to explain the unusual given name, Major.  But that given name, while somewhat unique, is not uncommon.  The online 1790 census of North Carolina shows thirty-two men in the state with ‘Major’ as their given name.  Those with an additional given name, such as “Major John Smith”, were not included in the count, since that combination suggests a military title.

A statewide index to Virginia wills shows several entries for the Major surname, but none in Spotsylvania or King and Queen Counties.  The tragic loss of records in King and Queen County in 1865 destroyed the deeds, wills, estate, court, and marriage records.  

Online sources for research on the Major family give three different names for the father of Frances, who married William Lea, John, George, and William.  These names were searched in the records of Virginia, for whatever evidence may have survived the ravages of time.  From Virginia Colonial Records, a three-volume set of abstracted early records of the colony, it is revealed that the Major family lived in the area before 1650.  Volume II contains the petition of George Major from 1707, by which he asked the court for a grant of three hundred and seventy-six acres of land in Essex County.  This land had been granted to John Major of King & Queen County in 1701, but he had let it lapse.  John Major appeared at the court hearing and consented to let the land go to George Major, their relationship not stated.  Seven years later, George had still not received the patent to this land.  John Major had since died, and George desired to let the patent pass to William Major, son of John Major.  Another entry shows that George Major had been granted two hundred and fifty acres on the north side of the York River in 1683.  This land was located in the area that would become King & Queen County upon its creation in 1691.  Transcriptions of the Spotsylvania County court orders pertaining to the Lea family, already discussed in this report, are contained in this volume.  William Lea received a grant of one hundred acres in King & Queen County on December 16, 1714.

Many early and obscure records of Virginia have been compiled into historical and genealogical quarterly publications.  From The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, an abstract of the 1693 will of Edward Porteous mentions George Major, Sr. as the recipient of money from the estate.  The footnote tells that Edward Porteous lived in Gloucester County in 1681, although the will was filed in England.

  This shows that there were two George Majors, Sr. and Jr.  Another issue of this quarterly includes 1704 quit rent rolls of King & Queen County, which lists Francis Major and John Major.

  

The Calendar of Virginia State Papers shows that in 1714, George Major petitioned for land in King & Queen County that had lapsed from John Morgan.

  This puts George in King & Queen County around the time that Frances is believed to have married William Lea.  Another interesting find from the William and Mary College Quarterly comes from a biographical sketch of the Collier family of New Kent and King & Queen Counties.  John Collier appears to have married the daughter of Francis Ironmonger and his wife, Elizabeth.  A lawsuit came into the General Court in 1722, between “John Collier, an infant by John Collier, his father, and Richard, James, Samuel, George and Francis Major, by George Major, their father, and William Barnett and Eliza, his wife, late Elizabeth Ironmonger, executrix of  Francis Ironmonger.”

  It is not exactly clear who is siding with whom, but it is clear that George Major had sons named Richard, James, Samuel, George, and Francis, adults in 1722.  If George was the father of Frances, who married William Lea, it does not make sense that he would also have a daughter named Frances.

From compiled family histories in the library collection, the Metts Ancestors in America was located.  Considerable attention is focused on James Lea of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and Caswell County, North Carolina.  His parents are given as William Lea and FrancesMajor, and his birth occurred about 1707 in St. Stephen’s Parish, King & Queen County.  Some documentation is offered for some of the information, but not for the names of James’ parents.  A pedigree of James Lea is included in this source, showing several generations on the major and Mason families.  Frances is believed to be the daughter of William Major.  The baptismal date of Frances Major is given as November 19, 1699, presumably in St. Peter’s Parish.

  Another family history entitled The Majors and Their Marriages, by James Branch Cabell, does not mention Frances.

Records of St. Peter’s Parish of New Kent County are available in printed, abstracted form.  The transcribed baptismal records do indeed show a Frances Major, daughter of William Major, baptized on November 19, 1699.  William had two other children baptized in that parish: John, on May 17, 1702, and Thomas, on November 28, 1703.

  This may have been the girl who would later marry William Lea, but if her birth occurred shortly before her baptism, she could not have been the mother of James Lea, born about 1707.  Sometimes a family had their children baptized later, not as infants.  In those cases, several children from the same family would be baptized on the same day.  The dates shown for the three children of William are spaced at two and a half and one and a half years apart, suggesting that these baptisms occurred close to the time of the children's births.

Raquel Lindaas, AG®

Heritage Consulting

2008 Research from Heritage Consulting