My Passage Through Time

Sunday, April 17, 2016

The West Family Line

James West

The Story Continues

From the last post we saw that James probably was the James convicted and transported to Baltimore on the Tryal. So, what happened to him between the time he landed and appears in the records of Granville County, North Carolina. Unfortunately I have not discovered information that is directly linked to James. I have, however, discovered the general story of many that were transported. This story is conjecture... what I think might have happened.

This week I posted on FaceBook asking for information about James West. Many people do not realize what a wonderful resource for genealogy FaceBook is. From this post I have discovered new cousins!!! I am so excited to be able to share and talk with them. One of the stories about James that was passed down went something like this; He was slopping the hogs, put down the bucket, walked to London and hopped on a boat to America. There is usually some truth in these stories...

James life as a laborer in the new world could not have been a pleasant one. They were treated worse than slaves and many ran away. Below are some actual advertisements looking for these runaways. If James ran away, which I believe he did, it would explain how he was able to marry and start a family before his seven years were up. We may never find "his" advertisement because many of these convicts did not give their "owners" their real names.

So, going back to the family story, maybe James did put the slop bucket down and walk/run away.

Looking for a Runaway

James was probably in Maryland or not too far away when he walked/ran away. How did he get to Granville County, North Carolina?

Let's look at the roads during that time and the best way to explain it would be to look at this map.

James would have started his travels on the King's Highway traveling down to Fredericksburg, Virginia. From Fredericksburg he would have taken the Upper Road which went right through Granville County. The Upper Road was especially popular among the Scots-Irish colonists. By 1748 the original trails had been improved enough to be considered wagon roads.

The Upper Road was actually a part of the Occaneechi Path that joined Petersburg Virginia to the Carolinas. The path was named for the Occaneechi, a small but important tribe who acted as trading middlemen between the Europeans and the Cherokee. The Occaneechi lived primarily on a four-mile long island on the Dan and Roanoke River near present day Clarksville, Virginia. Those of us that know the area are probably thinking "so close to where the West family lived".

Here is a map of the Occaneechi Path.

The Occaneechi Path

Today parts of the Interstates 85, 77, and 20 follow the Occaneechi Path.

The next puzzle is when and where did James meet and marry Sarah??

From the database, U.S.and International Marriage Records 1560-1900 we are given the following information about James and Sarah.

However, we need to aware that this database was built using information from family group sheets, pedigree charts, family history articles, Bible records etc. This database is not built on primary resources. Information about this particular record can be obtained by contacting Yates Publishing.

Since James' first child was born around 1769 we can assume that they were married at least by 1768.

On my next post I hope to share the records that I have actually found that have James in them.

Until then, happy digging!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pattie

Thursday, April 14, 2016

The West Family Line

James West

My 5x Great Grandfather

I have spent several days trying to nail down this man. I know he was in Granville County, North Carolina in 1784, but where did he come from??

There were a few other men with the surname, West, in Granville in the 1700s.

Thomas and Francis West were both listed as being on the Muster Roll of the Granville Regiment under the command of Colonel William Eaton in 1754.
Thomas West had a land patent in 1761 on Cypress Creek.
Thomas and his son Richard West were on the list of taxables in 1755
Richard West had a land patent in 1761 near Bear Swamp.
John West had a land patent in 1754 on Stony Creek.

But these men do not appear to be related to James and they seem to have moved away from Granville County. I am still looking into these men as possible father of James. I can not eliminate them definitely yet.

However since I am a DNA match to others that are descendants of Peter West, Jame's son, I have looked into other trees and we all seem to have the same sources for James.

This is what appears to be the story of James West.

James was born in the United Kingdom, probably in Middlesex, although family stories indicate that he said he was from Wales.
The database; U.S. and International Marriage Records 1590-1900, has James marrying Sarah Bowman. They both have a birth year as 1750.

In January of 1765 James appears in court documents. He was convicted of Grand Larceny in the theft of a cloak. He was transported to Baltimore, Maryland on the ship Tryal. His sentence was for seven years. He was 15 years old at the time.

In 1718 the first Transportation Act allowed the courts to sentence felons guilty of offences to seven years transportation to America. Although it was believed that transportation might lead to reformation of the offender, the primary motivations behind this punishment were a belief in its deterrent effect, and a desire to simply remove hardened criminals from society.

Below are the transcribed court documents.