Are you a descendant of John and Lucretia Burnett of Picataway Creek, Old Rappahannock County (now Essex County), Virginia? You are not a descendant of John Burnett, Merchant of Aberdeen.

Recently I attended the East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference in Maryland. While there I was talking to another attendee and he mentioned he descended from an Isham Burnett. I have an Isham Burnett in my Burnett family and I said I'd get back to him after the Conference. In examining my Burnett line I found that the often followed ancestry for John Burnett and Lucretia Burnett back to Aberdeen, Scotland, appears to be incorrect.

According to research published in 2020, by Mary Neil Burnett and Susan Kromer Hunt, in "John & Lucretia Burnett of Essex County Virginia", John Burnett of Old Rappahannock County was an indentured servant claimed in a land patent dated in 1653 and released from indenture in 1656/7 and who acquired land in Lancaster County (later Old Rappahannock, and now Essex County), while John Burnett, Merchant of Aberdeen/Edinborough, acquired land in Old Norfolk County in 1637. Details with supporting documents and citations are in the referenced article above.

I find the evidence in the article to be very well presented and I agree with the conclusion. I look forward to their further research.

My Immigrant Ancestors with known Origins from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and France

Here is a list of my immigrant ancestors with a known origin in the British Isles and France. More will be added as prepared.

England:

• 1621, Thomas Farley, wife, Jane, and daughter, Ann, to Jamestown, from Worcester, Worcester, England. Documentation: Records of the Jamestown Company; Will of his father Roger Farley. Correspondence with brother Humphrey Farley, merchant of London.
• Abt. 1640, Matthew Moulthrop, from Bridlington, Yorkshire, and wife, Jane Nichol, from Wraby, Lincolnshire, to New Haven Colony. Documentation: Articles by Patricia Law Hatcher in The American Genealogist, vol. 74.
• Abt 1640, Samuel Hotchkiss, from Dodington, Whitchurch Parish, Shropshire, to New Haven Colony, d. 1663. Documentation: Will of father, John Hotchkiss.
• 1653John Burnett, mentioned as imported to Virginia as an Indentured Servant. 1656/7 Finished Indenture. Purchased land on Piscataway Creek, in Lancaster County (later Rappahannock and then Essex County), Virginia. Iventory 1686. Wife Lucretia (Lues, Lois, Lucy) LNU Burnett, her Will in 1709, Essex County, Virginia. See, .John and Lucretia Burnett of Essex County, Virginia.
• Bef 1690, Joseph Phipps, and wife, Mary or Sarah Benefield, from Abington, Berkshire. Documentation: Reading (Eng.) Monthly Meeting, his will in 1716, her biography published in The Friend. Comparison of children in England and Pennsylvania.
• 1717, George Boone, and wife, Mary Maugridge. He was from Stoke Canon, Devonshire, and she was from Bradnich, Devonshire. They settled in Pennsylvania. Ancestors of Daniel Boone.
• 1771, James Harvey May, alias Emanuel King. Documentation: Records of The Old Bailey. Transported from Middlesex Gaol on the ship Justitia to Virginia.

Wales:

• 1693, or 1694, Maud Richards, wife of Rowland Powell. She was from Llanllwch, Carmarthen, Wales. He is presumed to be Welsh. Immigrated to Pennsylvania. Documentation: Certificate from St Peters Parish, Carmarthen, Wales. Married at Radnor Monthly Meeting in 1694.

Scotland:

• 1635, John Burnett, and wife, Lucretia Johnston, from Aberdeen to Old Rappahannock, Virginia. Documentation: Called "Merchant of Glascow" in Charter from King Charles II. Ship Abraham of London.

Ireland:

• 1727-1728, George Aston, from Wicklow, and wife, Elizabeth Hunter, from Ballinaclash, Wicklow, Ireland. First to London, then to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Documentation: London, England, Monthly Meeting; Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Member of Delaware and Pennsylvania legislatures.

France:

• Abt 1660, Benois Brasseur (Benjamin Brashear) and his wife, Mary [Richeford?], are called "subjects of the King of France" in their Denization paper from Lord Baltimore. He is first found in Nancemond and Lower Norfolk, Virginia, and then moves to "The Cliffs" in Calvert County, Maryland. He was a Justice of the Peace and died in 1663 without a will. Mary wrote a will before her marriage to Thomas Starling. The home of Benois Brasseur, "Upper Bennett", was in existence in 1957 and was located at "The Cliffs" in Calvert Co., Maryland. it was purchased from Richard Bennett, Esq., colonial Governor of both Virginia and Maryland.

Rediscovered Headstones Hold Clues To Calif. Quake: [the Gilliam-Sullivan Cemetery]

This is a program on NPR about the Gilliam Cemetery of Sevastopol, Sonoma County, California. In 1852, my 3rd great-granduncle and his wife, Mary Gilliam, buried their still born child there to start the cemetery. Isaac Sullivan was a wagon train drover and explorer.

His parents were James Sullivan and Eleanor Wilson. James was a Revolutionary War veteran and Methodist circuit rider in Kentucky and Tennessee. Served in 1st VA State Rgmt., Rev War. In Yellow Springs Hospital at Valley Forge, 4 Apr 1778. He was Ordained by Bishop Asberry in Knoxville, TN in 1793. School teacher at Carrol School on Cumberland River and Clear Fork Creek.

[Whitley Co., KY, Will Bk 1, p25, made 9 Feb 1817 or 18? Nuncupative will on deathbed. recorded July 20,1818, Book 1 Page 25. See, History and Families, Whitley Co., KY, 1818-1993, page 325.]

Isaac appears in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses of Annaly, Sonoma Co., California. He has not been found in 1850. They had the following children:

• J W Sullivan 53 KY
• Mary Sullivan 26 MO
• James M Sullivan 7 CA
• John W Sullivan 5 CA
• Cornelius G Sullivan 4 CA
• Minerva A Sullivan 2 CA
• Nancy A Sullivan 1 CA

The following children first appeared in the 1870 census:

• Sophrona C Sullivan 9
• Charles C Sullivan 7
• Letha Sullivan 5
• Asa I Sullivan 3
• Amanda J Sullivan 4/12

In 1880 a last son shows up:

• Jabez B. Sullivan 7

James and Isaac Sullivan were descendants of Peter Sullivan or O'Sullivan and Emma Craven of Northumberland, Virginia. See these wills:

• Will of Peter Sullivan, Northumberland Co., VA, Record Book 1743- 49, pp 227a-228. Will dated 15 April 1746, proved 10 Aug 1747.
• Will of Charles Swillivan of Wiccocomoco Parish, Northumberland Co., Virginia, will made 19 March 1767, will proved 11 May 1767, Record Book 7, p. 77. Abstract printed in Lewis, Wills and Administrations of Northumberland Co., VA, vol.1, p. 132.

For more information of Col. Isaac Sullivan and Mary Gilliam and their descendants, see, The Patriarch of the Valley: Col Isaac Wilson Sullivan by Emma A. Street-Hively.