This study will trace the title of The North River Plantation from the Lindsey Family to Capt. William A. F. Stockton to Theophilus T. Whitcomb to John Aydlett.  Stockton bought a one-half undivided interest in 1872, and he died on the property on 21 July 1877.  In 1882, Stockton's brother, Dr. James C. Stockton, sold the property to Theophilus T. Whitcomb, who shortly thereafter sold it to John Aydlett.

Capt. William A. F. Stockton, on 9 April 1865, while engaged in a skirmish with Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, spotted a white flag, ordered his troops to halt, and immediately sent word to his commanding officer.  Soon after, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant arrived at the court house to meet Lee and establish the terms of surrender.  (excerpted from an article by Matthew Strauss, Chief Archivist, Detre Library & Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center in Association with the Smithsonian Institution).  This establishes the significance of the contribution to United States history by Capt. William A. F. Stockton, who came after the close of the Civil War to what was to became Jarvisburg when the post office was established later in 1872.  He was a native of Cross Creek in Washington Co., Pa, and he was a graduate of Muskingum College.  He was the son of Rev. Dr. John D. Stockton (18 Nov 1803 - 5 Apr 1882) and Nancy R. Clark Stockton (4 Apr 1804 - 18 Sep 1857).  William A. F. Stockton was born 23 Feb 1840.   He was a pomologist, and he raised peaches for northern markets.  He died at 37 at Jarvisburg on 21 Jul 1877 from typhoid fever.  He never married.   He is buried in the Cross Creek Village Cemetery in Washington Co., Pa, near Pittsburgh.  There is a photograph of him and a picture of the tombstone on Find-A-Grave.

Following is the descent of The North River Plantation by title abstracts from Elizabeth Lewis found in John Aydlett's 1906 estate:

Currituck Will Bk. 4, pp 40-42 - Will of Daniel Lindsey, Senr. (probate 22 Sep 1837) left the property to his son, Col. Jonathan Bray Lindsey, who died in 1856.  (Previous research has indicated that Daniel Lindsey put the vast tract together via buying land from people such as William Hunnings, Thomas White, John Sanderson, Angelica Sanderson, and Jesse Sanderson.  See a photo of the Daniel Lindsey, Sr. home.)

Currituck Deed Bk. 31, p 580 - 3 Oct 1872 - E. C. (Edmund Coke) Lindsey and wife, Mary Eliza Lindsey to William A. F. Stockton for $10,000, a one-half undivided interest in a 1,000 ac. tract being the lands that descended to Jonathan Bray Lindsey, dec'd., from his father Daniel Lindsey.  The description began at the mouth of a creek on North River, thence by the various courses of said creek to the head thereof to a marked beech tree, thence a southerly course along the line of Jesse Sanderson and Nathan Etheridge to the line of William Jarvis thence along said line to the line of James Woodhouse, thence along said line to the low lands and marsh, thence through said low lands and marsh to the Duck Pond Creek, thence binding on said creek to the river, thence along the river a southwesterly course to the place of beginning, being all the lands that descended to Jonathan Bray Lindsey, dec'd., from his father, Daniel Lindsey, containing 1,000 acres.

*  Edmund Coke Lindsey (1825-1890) was another son of Daniel Lindsey, Senr.  and a brother of Col. Jonathan Bray Lindsey.  He was a real estate agent in Norfolk, and that is the reason why he was selling the property to Stockton, apparently as agent for the heirs of Col. Jonathan Bray Lindsey.  It is unclear whether he actually owned the property.

Currituck Deed Bk. 36, p 350 - 21 Aug 1882 - James C. Stockton and wife Louisa, of Philadelphia, Pa, sold to T. T. Whitcomb for $1 lawful money of the United States,  "part of a farm known as Stockton & Lindsey Peach Farm" . . . beginning at a marked tree or stake at the southeast corner of the lands now owned by Nathan Etheridge and running an easterly course binding on the lands of Josephus Baum (Whitehall Farm) to a stake or marked tree thence running a westerly course binding on the lands formerly belonging to J. M. Woodhouse and now belonging to Jesse Sanderson to a stake or marked tree on the North East corner of said Nathan Etheridge land binding Nathan Etheridge land to the place of beginning.  Containing 500 acres more or less.

*  Nathan Etheridge (1827-1898) was married to Loudica Dudley (1824-1879), and their daughter, Anne, married William Littlejohn Owens, and they were the parents of Dr. Zack Doxey Owens.  William L. Owens was a first cousin through his mother, Betsey Brock Owens, with John Aydlett and Lydia Ann Aydlett Garrenton, whose mother, Alafare "Allie" Brock Aydlett, was her sister.  Elizabeth Brock Owens and Allie Brock Aydlett were daughters of Charlie and Elizabeth Brock.  Jesse Sanderson (1825-1908) was Nathan Cartwright's grandfather.  His daughter, Ella (1871-1911), married Johnson Cartwright.  Jesse Sanderson's wife, Polly Jarvis (c1831-1919) was the daughter of William A. Jarvis (c1801-1870) and his wife, Betsy Hunnings (dau. of William Hunnings d. 1818).  William A. Jarvis was a half brother of Rev,. Banister Hardy Jarvis, father of NC Governor Thomas Jordan Jarvis.  The William A. Jarvis homeplace was said to be identical to the Bannister Jarvis homeplace, and it stood off what is now Garrenton Road at Jarvisburg to the north of the Charlie Garrenton house.  William A. Jarvis had another daughter, Elizabeth (1839 - 1870's) who married Thomas Sears.  A relative of William B. Garrenton, Dr. James Francis Garrenton, died at the old William A. Jarvis house on 2 Nov 1918.  His son, Dr. Cecil Garrenton, delivered my father at Coinjock on 28 Aug 1913.

Currituck Deed Bk. 36, p 406 - 1 Jan 1883 - T. T. Whitcomb and wife, Charlotte Whitcomb, sold the property described in the deed above to John Aydlett for $700.  John Aydlett's wife, Mary "Polly" Gregory was the daughter of Hiram and Julia Bean Gregory.

Currituck Deed Bk. 38, p 328 - 9 Aug 1886 - John Aydlett and wife Polly Aydlett sold to William Garrenton for $200, beginning at a chinquapin stake at the fork of the road that leads to the lands now belonging to Jesse Sanderson thence running a southerly course binding W. A. Jarvis and Wilson Lee's land on the East to Nathan Etheridge land to a locust post, thence a Westerly course binding Nathan Etheridge's land on the South to a marked oak tree to John Aydlett's land, thence a Northerly course binding John Aydlett's land on the West to Jesse Sanderson's land to a cedar post thence an Easterly course binding Jesse Sanderson's land to the first station containing 75 acres more or less.  (William B. Garrenton also owned another tract, the Wilson Lee Tract, which came out of the William A. Jarvis estate, and this land was to the east of and adjoining the land he bought from John Aydlett).

Keep in mind that these deeds were for a "one-half undivided interest in a 1,000 acre tract.  No one seems to be able to adequately account for the other five hundred acres, and a guess is that the missing land is somewhere in North River Swamp.  According to Col. Gordon C. Jones, whose wife, Anna Eliza Lindsey, was the granddaughter of Edmund Coke Lindsey, in the 1940's,  the Lindsey heirs filed suit against Nathan Cartwright in Currituck County Superior Court, to establish their claim to the other half of the property.  Harvey Lee Lindsay, a great grandson of Jonathan Bray Lindsey, was married to Katherine Pretlow Darden, whose brother, Colgate Darden, had been governor of Virginia and president of the University of Virginia, brought his brother-in-law, Colgate Darden, with law degrees from Columbia and Oxford, down to Currituck as legal counsel. Colgate Darden was married to Constance DuPont from Wilmington, De.  Nathan Cartwright represented himself in court without an attorney and won the case.  Col. Jones appeared quite baffled by this.

 

CAPT. WILLIAM A. F. STOCKTON, 140th Pennsylvania Volunteers

Capt. William A. F. Stockton, Cross Creek, was a generous and open-hearted disposition, and served with faithfulness.  On the 29th of July, '63, he was detailed and sent back to duty at the General Recruiting Station in Pittsburgh, where he remained until the summer of '64, returning to Command of K, and was with it until the Company was disbanded, except that on several occasions, by virtue of his rank, he had command of the Regiment.  After the war he embarked on raising fruit for he New York market, in Carituck, NC, where through fever he died,  July 21, 1877, and was buried in the old Cross Creek Village graveyard.  He was brevetted Major, April 9, 1865.  (History of Company K of the 140th Pennsylvania Volunteers, B. F. Powelson, Carnahan Printing Co, Steubenville, Ohio, 1906, p. 48)

William A. F. Stockton
Residence Washington Co., Pa
On 9/4/1862 he was commissioned into "K" Co. Pa 140th Infantry.  He was mustered on 5/31/1865 at Washington, DC
Promotions:
   Major 4/9/1865 by Brevet
Died 7/21/1877 at Carituck, NC
Source:  Historical Data Systems, Inc., History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861 - 1865, by R. Ross Houston

Number 31.  Appomattox Report of Captain Williiam A. F. Stockton, One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania Infantry
Hdqtrs, 140th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers
April 16, 1865

Captain:
     In compliance with orders of this date, I have the honor to submit the following report of operations of this regiment during the campaign just ended.
     Having received orders, this regiment broke camp on the morning of the 29th ultimo, and marched with the division beyond Hatcher's Run.  Here we deployed as skirmishers, and advanced about two miles and took up a position and remainder on outpost during the night.
     On the morning of the 30th the lines were advanced, and we engaged the enemy and succeeded in driving them into their works beyond the Boydton plank road and cutting the telegraph communications at this point running south.  Early in the morning of the 31st the regiment marched with the brigade and formed a connection with the Fifth Corps.  At this locality we marched by the flank until we met the enemy's skirmishers near the Boydton plank road.  A charge was made by three regiments of this brigade, of which this regiment was one, and forced the enemy from their alignment in our front, capturing 9 prisoners.  On the first day of April twenty five picked men, under Captains Ray and Burns, from this regiment, in pursuance with instructions from Brevet Major-General Miles, were sent to ascertain the exact locality of Gregg's cavalry and from a junction with the division.  This was successfully accomplished, and a report forwarded immediately on their return to the general commanding the division.  The morning of the 2nd day of April we marched with the division through the enemy's works, and we immediately sent to the front in support of the skirmish line commanded by Lieutenant -Colonel Glenny of the Sixty-Fourth New York volunteers.  At or near the South Side Railroad the enemy offered considerable resistance, and this regiment was deployed on the line and relieved the Sixty-Fourth New York volunteers, and advance was ordered, and the men charged the works of the enemy protecting the South Side Railroad, and drove them beyond the railroad one mile, capturing 18 prisoners.  The loss of the command in this engagement was 7 wounded, two of them are considered mortal.  The 3rd, 4th, and 5th days of April were occupied in marching on the Namozine road in pursuit of the enemy.  We advanced in line of battle on the 6th instant and drove the enemy from their entrenched position, with the capture of 175 prisoners, inclusive of five officers.  During the whole day the enemy was forced back and pursued with great energy, which terminated the capture of the great part of their train and a number of pieces of artillery.  The right wing of this regiment was the first troops that advanced to and beyond the train.  A strong skirmish was posted beyond the creek, and remained until the Third Brigade, which was advancing on the right of the division line {sic!}.  The casualties of this day's engagement in this regiment are 1 commissioned officer killed and 3 enlisted men wounded.  The 7th of April we marched toward Lynchburg, and we deployed as skirmishers at or near Farmville.  The enemy under Mahone, being entrenched in a strong position, the skirmish line, consisting of the Twenty-Sixth Michigan, and the One Hundred Fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, was checked by a strong line of battle located behind works.  The casualties of this engagement were, in this regiment, 1 commissioned officer killed, 3 enlisted men killed, and 1 officer and 25 enlisted men taken prisoners.  Our march toward Lynchburg on the 8th was uninterrupted, and we continued the pursuit of the enemy until 12 o'clock at night.  On the morning of the 9th, being the Sabbath, we were placed in the advance, and through the skirmish line of this regiment the flag of truce was entertained which terminated in the surrender of the Confederate forces under the command of General Lee.

I am respectfully,
     W. A. F. Stockton, Captain, Commanding Regiment
     Captain McAllister, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General
Source:   The War of the Rebellion:  A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 1, pp 723 & 724

The following biographical sketch of Thomas C. M. Stockton M.D., brother of William A. F. Stockton, gives family information and the cause of death of William A. F. Stockton as typhoid fever:

Thomas C. M. Stockton, M.D., a cultured gentleman and physician of Washington County, is the son of Rev. Dr. John Stockton, whose ancestors came from England to America prior to the Revolution, settling in New Jersey.  Thomas Stockton (grandfather of subject) was born in New Jersey, and coming to Washington County, Penn.,  in early manhood, was married to Miss Sarah Graham of this county.  The children born to them were Polly, Sarah (Mrs. Gordon), Robert, Thomas, and John.

John Stockton (father of subject) was born November 18, 1803, in Washington County, Penn., and was reared to manhood on his father's farm near Washington.  He was a student at Washington College, graduating therefrom in 1820, and then entered the Theological College at Princeton, N.J.  On June 20, 1827, he was ordained in the Cross Creek Church of Washington County, and preached regularly for that congregation until June 20, 1877, proclaiming the "glad tidings of the Gospel" for over fifty years.  although many times offered a more lucrative position in which he would seemingly have a wider scope, his only answer to such propositions was:  "I have started with my people here, they are my children, and I will live and die with them, and be buried among them."  In 1831 he was united in marriage with Nancy Clark, daughter of James Clark, a prominent farmer of Washington Co., Penn., and six children came to bless their union, namely:  Thomas C. M., James C. (a physician living in West Philadelphia), John P. P. (a minister of West Unity, Williams Co., Ohio), Robert W. G. (deceased in infancy), William (a graduate of Muskingum College, and Marion E. (wife of Hugh Lee, a prominent farmer in Cross Creek twp.).  William entered the Civil War as captain in the One Hundred Fortieth Regiment P. V. I., attached to the Second Corps, and served for some time as colonel of his regiment, although never promoted to that rank.  After the war he went to North Carolina, soon afterward dying from an attack of typhoid fever.

Thomas C. M. Stockton was born May 30, 1832.  He was a close student from early boyhood, and at the age of twelve years entered the Cross Creek Academy, afterward taking a course at Washington College.  After his graduation the young man returned home and taught in Cross Creek Academy, for six or seven years, and then one year in Muskingum College.  In 1862 he began the study of medicine under Dr. Dickson of Pittsburgh, with whom he remained one year, afterward attending one year at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.  At this time, the War of the Rebellion being in progress, he joined the Union Army as assistant surgeon of the Eighty-Third Regiment, P. V. I., serving until the close of the struggle, when he re-entered Jefferson Medical College.  In 1866 he graduated, and same year entered upon his professional duties at Cross Creek Village.

On June 4, 1863, Dr. Stockton was married to Miss Anna, daughter of the late Hampton Kerr, Cross Creek Village, and they had two children:  Jennie, born Sept. 7, 1871 (was a student at Wilson College, and graduated in June, 1892), and Hampton Kerr, born Sept. 23, 1882 (a bright, affectionate child, possessing an intelligence far beyond his age, he was the hope and pride of his parents in their declining years, but when three short years of the little life had passed, God called this flower to the "eternal gardens", leaving a void in the family circle which can be filled with none other.  The dread disease Scarlet Fever was the messenger sent by the Angel of Death, and though the years were few, that life has left a blessed memory that will never die.  Dr. Stockton has been very successful in his chosen calling.  He is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church of Cross Creek Village, over which his father had presided for so many years.  Politically he was firmly a Whig, and since the organization of the party has been a Republican.
Source:  Text taken from p 120, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania, Beers, J. H. and Co., Chicago, 1893.  Transcribed April, 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, Il, as part of the Beers Project published April 1997 on the Washington County, Pa, USGenWeb page

Dr. James Clark Stockton (1 May 1836 - 18 May 1892), who sold William A. F. Stockton's property at Jarvisburg in 1882, practiced in Philadelphia.  He was married to Louisa M. Covington (28 Sep 1848, Wheeling, W.Va. - 6 Mar 1927, Wheaton, Il.).  Their daughter, Marion Blanche Stockton (1869 - 1941) married Nathaniel Richardson Losch (1869 - 1921), an attorney and banker of Chicago.  In 1900 they were living at 49 Aster St. in Chicago.  Their children were:  Henry C. Losch (1907 - 1988), John Stockton Losch (b. 1901), and Nathaniel R. Losch (1904 - 1994).  According to the 1880 census, James C. & Louisa Stockton also had a son, Algernon C. Stockton, born in 1880.
Source:  Census Records & The Book of Chicagoans; Vol. 2

It is not known exactly when William A. F. Stockton arrived in Jarvisburg, it was after the end of the Civil War, so it could have been any time after 1866.  Here is his entry in the 1870 census:

Source: 1870 Census:  Poplar Branch, Currituck County, North Carolina

William Stockton	W	28	PA	Pomologist
Lillin Tillett	B	52	NC
John Harris	W	35	NC
William Harris	W	22	NC
Thomas Harris	W	15	NC
Sarah Harris	W	13	NC
John Miller	B	25	NC
Delah Miller	B	4	NC

The biographical information above stated that Rev. John Stockton preached regularly until 20 June 1877.  William A. F. Stockton died 21 Jul 1877.  It is possible that Rev. Stockton made his way to Jarvisburg to be with his son in his last days and perhaps accompanied his body home to Pennsylvania.   Whether he did or did not is unknown, the body was probably prepared at the residence in Jarvisburg, placed in a coffin, and the journey home commenced.  There was no rail service in Elizabeth City until 1884, so the trip had to be made by steamboat to Norfolk, and then by rail on to Pittsburgh.

THEOPHILUS TRACEY WHITCOMB - Carpetbagger

Theophilus Tracey Whitcomb was born in Hartford, NY, on 19 Jan 1835, and he died in Elizabeth City, NC, on 20 Oct 1903.  He is buried in Old Hollywood Cemetery. He was the son of Flynn and Jerusha Tracey Whitcomb, and his father owned a meat market and bought and sold cattle.   On 16 Oct 1861 he enlisted in the New York 2nd Cavalry, Company F, and he mustered with the company 31 Mar 1862 in Washington, DC.  His first wife, Charlotte, was born in New Jersey, and she died in Elizabeth City in 1898.  His second wife, Mary Allen (30 Apr 1844 - 7 Jan 1919), was born in Burdett, NY, and she died in Elizabeth City.

Pasquotank Co., NC Deed Bk. NN, p 329 - In 1870 T. T. Whitcomb bought land near Pearl St. in Elizabeth City from James A. Woodard.  This land was where the U.S. Colored Troops had set up a base of operation in late August, 1863.
Source:  This deed and the above photo is provided by Chris Meekins, NC Dept. of Archives and History, Raleigh, NC

On 2 May 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed T. T. Whitcomb as the first postmaster of the "Jarvisburgh" Post Office.  George N. Jarvis (brother of Gov. Thomas J. Jarvis) succeeded Whitcomb in 1876 as postmaster.  While George N. Jarvis was postmaster, Spence Bright served as postal clerk.  I remember him fondly as "Uncle Spence" - he had been born a slave in 1859 on the Jarvis farm.  Uncle Spence was unusually bright and talented, and thus he was given the last name, Bright.  He lived until  1957, and I have fond memories as a little boy going fishing for round robins in the spring with my father and Uncle Spence.  George N. Jarvis' wife, Clara Chaplain Jarvis,  ran an exceptionally good private school at Jarvisburg, and one of her students, Myron Edson Forbes, had an exceptionally remarkable career in modern industry as plant manager for Deere and Company, vice president of Oliver Farm Equipment, and treasurer and president of The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company.  He was even a Fellow in Perpetuity at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.   The Jarvis' only son, Raymond Preston Jarvis, graduated from Columbia University in 1898.  Mrs. Clara Jarvis grew quite fond of the little black boy, Spence Bright, and began teaching him along with her other students (this was illegal at that time).  He excelled in music as well as academics.  He also became a Baptist minister and preached at Corinth Baptist Church for many years.  His first wife was Cathenna Woodhouse.  After she died, he married Katie Goodman and had three children late in life.  His daughter, Katie Rolle, lived in New York, and she kept in touch with our family as long as she lived.  I am proud to tell you that today Uncle Spence Bright has a grandson who sometimes conducts an orchestra in Baltimore, and a granddaughter who is an opera singer in New York City.  Uncle Spence always called my mother "Lady May".  This did not please her.  When my parents were first married, they kept a store, and sold beer.  Uncle Spence enjoyed a beer, but he didn't want the other black people in the neighborhood to see him drink.  My father and grandmother would open him a beer and then take him in the back room for him to drink it.  He called beer "Ski-Dam-Snap".  

Currituck Deed Bk. 37, p 159 - On 5 Dec 1883, Charlott Whitcomb received a clear deed from C. E. Ansell (Trustee), for $500 . . . lands adjoining Joshua Harrison and others, known as the Thomas Woodhouse Tract, bounded on the north by the lands of the heirs of Isaac Fisher, dec'd., and the land of Hiram Gregory, on the east by the main road, on the south by the lands of Joshua Harrison and the lands of the heirs of Samuel Owens, dec'd., and on the west by North River, containing 250 acres.  (This is the land known today as "The Whitcomb Farm").

By the mid-1880's, the Whitcombs were living in Elizabeth City at 143 Martin St.  

On 5 Nov 1885, T. T. Whitcomb was instrumental in organizing the Fletcher Grand Army of the Republic Post in Elizabeth City.  It met at the old Normal School House (forerunner of Elizabeth City State University).  T. T. Whitcomb was elected Va/NC commander in 1893.

On 2 Jul 1896, T. T. Whitcomb was first Sachem (Chief) of the Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, Chapanoke Tribe No. 10, Elizabeth City.

The land known today as the Whitcomb Farm was part of the lands forming another vast plantation dating back to 1712 when Henry Woodhouse came down from Princess Anne Co., Virginia, and began by buying lands from his brother-in-law, Richard Sanderson.  Henry Woodhouse's holdings were almost 700 acres and included the Whitcomb Farm, the Fisher Farm, the Forbes Farm, the Gregory Farm, and part of the Jarvis Farm.  The Colonial Assembly ordered that quit rents be collected at Henry Woodas' landing on North River, and that  location continued to be a scene of commerce and trade until the John Fisher Wharf ceased operations in the early 1930's after river traffic had declined and long distance trucking had commenced.  Farmers in Jarvisburg could load their farm produce on trucks in the afternoon and have it unloaded the next morning at the Brooklyn International Terminal.

The Weekly Economist (Elizabeth City, NC) - Friday, Oct. 23, 1903; pg.

DANIEL LINDSEY, (SENR.)  (18 Mar 1769 - 16 Aug 1837)

In addition to the North River Plantation already discussed, Daniel Lindsey, (Senr.), owned other vast plantations in southern Currituck County, with his main plantation being at what we know today as Poplar Branch Landing.  About 1808 he built the large mansion which stood behind and to the east of Griggs School, until it was razed in 1972.  His first wife was Grace Bernard/Barnard, and she died by 1806.  His second wife was Elizabeth Bray (9 Nov 1786 - 14 Oct 1865).  Both Col. Jonathan Bray Lindsey and Edmund Coke Lindsey were sons by his second wife.  The family enjoyed a life of wealth and privilege, and the daughters were sent to Raleigh to study under Rev. Albert Smedes at his "School for Young Ladies", which later became St. Mary's College.  A picture of his house is posted on the NCGenWeb page for Currituck, and it also appears in The Albemarle Lindseys and Their Descendants published in 1979 by Col. Gordon Cowley Jones.  Photos of portraits of Elizabeth Bray Lindsey, Col. Jonathan Bray Lindsey, and Col. Edmund Coke Lindsey also appear in that publication, which also contains biographical and genealogical information. 

Daniel Lindsey, (Senr.) , was the son of Daniel Lindsey (died 1774) and his wife, Susannah Jarvis (died after 1789).  There were numerous Daniel Lindseys, and that explains why Daniel Lindsey, (Senr.) was the son of another Daniel Lindsey.   Since the purpose of this study is to acquaint people with William A. F. Stockton and his role in ending the Civil War; likewise it is important to include a relative of Daniel Lindsey, (Senr.), through the line of his mother, Susannah Jarvis Lindsey - that person being General Douglas MacArthur, who played an integral role in ending World War II.

Susannah Jarvis was the daughter of Jonathan Jarvis (c1700/10 - 1776).  Jonathan Jarvis was the son of Foster Jarvis (c1673 -1750/51) and his wife, Frances Martin (dau. of Joel Martin of Bath, NC).  Foster Jarvis was the son of Hon. Thomas Jarvis (died spring of 1694), and his wife, Dorcas Foster, from Lower Norfolk Co, VA (Princess Anne).  Hon. Thomas Jarvis was deputy governor of the Carolina province from 1691 until his death.

Jonathan Jarvis had a son, Col. Thomas Jarvis, Senr. (c1735/38 - 1795), who with his wife, Lydia, had a daughter, Lydia Jarvis, who married Rev. Edward Hardy.  In Deed Book 8 p 274, 31 May 1798, Lydia, Samuel & Richard Jarvis & Edward Hardy, legatees & heirs of Thomas Jarves, Sen dec'd for the sum of 10 pounds to me paid by Joyce Shannen for a parcel of land on the North Banks, it being the 1/2 of land that Thomas Jarves Sen dec'd & Daniel Lindsey dec'd bought of Valentine Jarves 1/2 containing 50 acres.  Col. Thomas Jarvis, Senr.'s plantation was in Powells Point and included the farm many remember as the H. D. "Buster" Newbern land.  It extended from sound to sound.

Lydia Jarvis married Rev. Edward Hardy on 25 Dec 1796.  Rev. Hardy had been ordained a circuit rider on 11 Dec 1793 by Bishop Francis Asbury, and in 1795 he was assigned to Mt. Zion Meeting, the oldest continual Methodist congregation in North Carolina.  The Hardys were the parents of four sons:  Charles Wesley Hardy, Edward Washington Hardy, William Jarvis Hardy, and Thomas Asbury Hardy.  Lydia Jarvis Hardy died 20 Dec 1807, after eleven years of marriage, leaving four young sons.  Rev. Edward Hardy was to marry three more times before his death in 1837.  (It is interesting, but not pertinent to this study, that Rev. Edward Hardy had a grandson by his fourth wife, Lydia White Bray, named Caldwell Hardy, who was president of the American Bankers Association in 1902-03, and he is who signed the warrant with the Pinkerton Detective Agency for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).

Thomas Asbury Hardy moved to Norfolk and entered into the business community there c1829, doing business as "Thomas A. Hardy & Bros.".  His brother, William Jarvis Hardy joined him in the business - they were cotton brokers and fertilizer dealers and ship owners engaged in trade with the West Indies.  Thomas Asbury Hardy married Elizabeth Margaret Pierce on 3 August 1831.  They lived on Granby Street where the Smith & Welton Department Store later stood.  As prosperity came, he acquired "Riveredge" on the Elizabeth River in Berkley.  Later he acquired "Burnside", a country estate near Henderson, NC.  They had a very large family of twelve children or more, and the children enjoyed a life of privilege due to their wealth.  Their daughter, Mary Pinckney "Pinky" Hardy attended a Mardi Gras ball in New Orleans and fell in love with a young army colonel from Wisconsin - Arthur MacArthur.  They were married against the wishes of her family and had three sons, one being General Douglas MacArthur.  Arthur MacArthur later became a general and was military governor of the Philippines.

At 9:25 a.m. on the morning of 2 Sep 1945, General Douglas MacArthur, aboard the US Battleship Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay,  signed the Instrument of Surrender with the Imperial Government of Japan, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, thus officially ending the hostilities of World War II.

COL. JONATHAN BRAY LINDSEY (11 Nov 1807 - 22 Mar 1856)

Jonathan Bray Lindsey was the son of Daniel Lindsey, (Senr.), and Elizabeth Bray Lindsey.  He is buried with his father at Poplar Branch.

Jonathan Bray Lindsey married Jane Bright McDonald Knox Lindsey (16 Sep 1801 - 13 Feb 1859).  They were married on 8 January 1829 in Pasquotank.  She was the widow of both Hugh Knox and Dr. Edmund Sanderson Lindsey, Jonathan Bray Lindsey's cousin.  He enlarged the North River Plantation  about 1838 when he bought the "Hunnings place".  Their son, Ambrose Harvey Lindsay (he appears to be the first to use the "a" rather than the "e"), married Adelaide Charles from Elizabeth City, and as a young man he began acquiring a vast tract of land in the vicinity of Deep Creek, Virginia.  For a while he lived on Crawford St. in Portsmouth, served as postmaster for Portsmouth, and later lived in the Whidbee-Lindsay House in the Grassfield section of Deep Creek.  His grandson, Harvey Lee Lindsay ((1895 - 1969) was a commercial real estate developer in Norfolk, and he is responsible for much of the commercial development and shopping centers/malls in the Tidewater area.  His firm, The Harvey Lindsay Company, still exists, and is now controlled by his grandchildren named Bilisoly.  Another of Jonathan Bray Lindsey's descendants was Virginia Wise Galliford, who was active in Christian and cultural affairs in the Tidewater area.  She was married to William B. Spong, Jr., who served in the US Senate and was president of Old Dominion University.  Harvey Lee Lindsay's daughter, Katherine Darden Lindsay, was married to James H. Kabler, Jr., partner in the real estate firm of Kabler & Riggs, who developed Carova Beach on Currituck's Northern Outer Banks in the 1970's.

COL. EDMUND COKE LINDSEY (25 Sep 1825 - 18 Sep 1890)

Edmund Coke Lindsey was the son of Daniel Lindsey, (Senr.), and Elizabeth Bray Lindsey.  He remained at the old home at Poplar Branch until after 1850.  After his sister, Ann Matilda Lindsey married Willoughby Wilson, his mother began spending part of her time with them at Northwest, Virginia, and the rest of her time with Edmund's sister, Elizabeth Bray Lindsey, who married Col. Wilson Reed,  and lived in Hertford, NC.  On 29 Mar 1853 he married Margaret Sylvester in Norfolk.  She and their infant daughter both died in 1856, possibly from the Yellow Fever Epidemic which hit Norfolk.  On 2 December 1857 he married Mary Eliza Owens, and they lived on Granby Street the second house from Freemason Street, where the F. W. Woolworth Co. store later stood.  They later lived on Walnut Street in Berkley.  Edmund Coke Lindsey is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Berkley (now Chesapeake).  His business was real estate.

In 1859 he and his mother sold for $8,000 the Poplar Branch mansion and plantation to Rev. William A. Crocker, a Methodist minister, who sought the property as a retreat.  In 1874 he sold to the US Government twenty five acres at Currituck Beach, where the Currituck Beach Light (Corolla) now stands.

His death notice appeared in The Norfolk Daily Landmark on Friday 18 Sep 1890 . . . 
  "Death of Colonel Lindsey . . . Colonel E. C. Lindsey, of the real estate firm of E. C. Lindsey & Co., Main Street, died at his home in Berkley last evening after an active business life, in which he saw Norfolk develop from a comparatively unimportant seaboard city to the active, busy commercial center she is today.  He has had much to do with advertising her abroad and bringing investors here, many of whom have settled here and are now improving her farm lands and helping to build up her interests in the Norfolk section.  He had reached his three score years and beyond, being at the time of his death 65 years of age; in the real estate business perhaps no gentleman in this vicinity was better known, and his interests in the prosperity of this section was daily demonstrated previous to his sickness. He leaves a widow and six children.  The funeral will be announced hereafter."
Source of Daniel Lindsey, Jr., Jonathan Bray Lindsey, & Edmund Coke Lindsey:  The Albemarle Lindseys and Their Descendants, Col. Gordon Cowley Jones, privately printed Chesapeake, VA, 1979)

JOHN AYDLETT AND WILLIAM B. GARRENTON

John Aydlett (30 Aug 1849 - 1 Aug 1906) was the son of John and Alafare "Allie" Brock Aydlett, of the Broad Neck section of Powells Point.  He came up to Jarvisburg and married Mary "Polly" Gregory (17 Oct 1853 - 5 Aug 1900).  Besides being a farmer, he also had a schooner for shipping produce.  His younger sister, Lydia Ann Aydlett (1855 - 1899) married William B. Garrenton (1851 - 1926).  William B. Garrenton also had a large farm on the Little River in Pasquotank Co. and a small property on the North Banks (Duck), because he liked fishing.  John & Polly Aydlett, William & Lydia Ann Aydlett Garrenton, their first cousin, William Littlejohn Owens & his wife Annie Etheridge Owens, and their brother, Elijah Aydlett and his wife Calcedona "Calsie" Owens Aydlett, were all charter members of the Poplar Branch Baptist Church when it was organized in 1885.  The lineage of this Aydlett family is traced to Jean Aidelo, who was living in 1610 in Mauvoisin, France.  He was a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of France (Huguenot), and his son, David Idolet, fled France and lived in London because of religious persecution against protestants in France.   David Idolet's son, Benjamin Aydelotte, immigrated to Northampton Co., Virginia, by 1670, and later migrated into southern Maryland, where the family was Presbyterian.  For many generations the Aydletts were shoemakers, and Benjamin Aydelotte's grandson, David Aydelotte, was the one who migrated down to Broad Neck in Powells Point.  [See the John Aydlett Family Photo Album and the William B. Garrenton Photo Album]

John & Polly Aydlett's great granddaughter, Elizabeth Aydlett Lewis, has posted on the NCGenWeb page for Currituck Co, abstracts of deeds for John Aydlett and for his children after his estate was divided after his death in 1906.  Names like Jonathan Case, Isaac O'Neal (went by "Neal" rather than O'Neal), Mack Moore, Abner Jarvis, and Willis Lindsey all appear. These were black people.   Col. Gordon C. Jones spoke fondly of the Lindsey slaves, and he had traced the families of some of them, and he even stayed in contact with some of their descendants.  I remember him speaking of Basheba, Washington, Nelson, and Hanibal.  Hanibal Lindsey's daughter, Adline, was married to Abner Jarvis.   Adline Lindsey Jarvis lived to be quite old, dying in the late 1950's.  Their son, Ambrose Jarvis, lived until in the 1970's.  Ambrose Jarvis was a tiny little fellow and he had lost his hand in a fight in New York as a young man.  There was some sort of mechanical device attached at his wrist, perhaps a hook, but he always wore a brown work glove over it to cover it up.  Ambrose had worked in dry cleaning up north and he used to dry clean for people around Jarvisburg.  Once, Ambrose lectured my father about how to get out of a sandtrap playing golf.  His advice was astonishingly accurate, and my father was surprised when he asked Ambrose how he knew so much about golf - he had been a caddy at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island.  Abner Jarvis had been married at least once before he married Adline Lindsey, because he had a daughter, Ina Jarvis, who lived with her step mother, Adline Lindsey Jarvis, and her half brother, Ambrose Jarvis.  Ina was very short and extremely hunch backed.  She had worked as a maid for the Willis Gallop family and in her later years worked for Cleveland and Nettie Aydlett.  My memories of Ina Jarvis when I was a child are very fond.  She always loved petting my puppies.   Willis, Wesley, George and Edmond Lindsey were also Hannibal Lindsey's sons, and Willis Lindsey lived until about 1956, and one of his sons was named Wesley.  Willis Lindsey married Nancy Gregory, and their 2-story home was on Fisher Landing Road.  He always grew sweet potatoes on his portion of the property, which was at the north of the intersection of Jarvisburg-Grandy road and the road leading back to the North River Farm.   Mack Moore was likely Gerthy Moore's father.  Gerthy Moore lived in the sharp bends that used to be in the road going back to the North River Farm.  His daughter, Edna Mae Winslow still occupies that property.  When my parents kept store, they told of Isaac 'Neal walking the distance of approximately a mile to the store, wearing an old overcoat with its pockets filled with eggs for him to trade for items.  They said sometimes he would pull several dozen eggs out of those pockets and never broke the first one.    George Lindsey's daughter, Frances Ann Lindsey married Crawford Jones, and their daughter, Helen, married Procton Owens.  Their daughter, Ruth Dillard and her husband, Henry, still live on the property along the road going back to the North River Farm.  Jonathan Case's daughter, Mahala,  married W. H. Jones on 23 Apr 1890, and she lived also until the late 1950's.  I remember her living in a tiny little house with a yard full of flowers - the daylillies are still there as a reminder that it was once a home.  She was very polite and formal and dignified.  I remember her visiting my grandmother and I was fascinated by the long formal dress gloves that she wore, to speak nothing of the MG that her nephew had brought her in.  The Cases were not slaves and had enjoyed freedom for a very long time.  It is especially rewarding to know that descendants of the slaves who toiled this land could one day enjoy land ownership and property rights on the soil where their ancestors had lived as chattel property.

The North River Plantation is in northwest Jarvisburg.  At the end of Garrenton Road where it intersects with Grandy-Jarvisburg Road, the John Aydlett property is to the west, the Isaac O'Neal property and the William B. Garrenton property are both to the north and east before reaching the intersection.  The property extends northward to the sharp curve to the east which is the old Jesse Sanderson property.  North River Swamp is to the west and north. The William Littlehohn Owens/Nathan Etheridge farm is to the south.  Anne Etheridge Owens also owned the "North River Farm", the portion to the southwest along North River.  The William A. Jarvis land is to the east, along US 158, beginning at the line of the James E. Owens' former property (Weeping Radish Brewery today), including the Dan Leary Farm, southward to past Garrenton Road.  The North River Plantation began about where the woods line is in line of the back of the former Leary land, and it extended westward.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge four special people, who each in their own special way, have contributed somehow to the information I have presented here.  I have considered them to be good friends, and I miss each one of them.  They are:  Col. Gordon Cowley Jones, USA, George Holbert Tucker of The Virginian Pilot, Mary Alyce Sumrell, and Martha Ward Woodhouse Blee Holland.  

The land is still there, and North River is still there.  The people who lived on the land are gone now, and they should not be forgotten.  I do hope that you will frequently use the word "pomologist", and that you will always remember what a "Ski-Dam-Snap" is!   Please feel free to share this with anyone you feel might be interested.