Identifying the Parents of Elizabeth Coleman Cannon

 

Any genealogist familiar with the Ellis Cannon (1748-1833) family has assuredly read that his wife (charmingly called "Ailsabeth" in Ellis's Revolutionary War pension application) has been identified as Elizabeth Coleman. If she was a Coleman, she was almost certainly from the wealthy Coleman family of King & Queen County, Virginia that migrated into Spotsylvania and Culpeper Counties, Virginia in the 1730s.

Though I haven't been able to ascertain exactly where this tradition came from, it struck me as more likely to be an authentic tradition than an assumption made by a genealogist (which is unfortunately common). As I began researching this claim I found near zero relationship between the Cannons and Colemans in either Virginia or South Carolina, so a genealogist making an assumption from records seems unlikely. Though in-laws commonly migrated together, the Colemans did not migrate with the Cannons to South Carolina. There is a small Coleman family that appears in the records of Spartanburg, Union and Fairfield Counties but they are an unrelated family from Amelia County, Virginia.

No parents have ever been identified for Mrs. Cannon, but if you know where to look, sometimes the evidence just falls together.

Assuming the identification credible, we can start our research with the established facts.

• In deeds and other records, she was identified as "Ailsabeth" Cannon, which is clearly a phonetic spelling of "Elizabeth" based on her husband's unique pronunciation.
  

• In his Revolutionary War pension application statement dated March 6, 1829, Ellis Cannon noted that his wife was 79 years old, so we can ascertain that she was born in 1749 or early 1750.

• We know that between 1769 and 1788 she gave birth to several children and that she migrated with her husband's family from Culpeper County, Virginia to Spartanburg District, South Carolina in 1784.

That's about it. With no identified gravestone, family bible, census records or anything else shedding light on Mrs. Cannon, we don't have much to go on.

But I think it's enough. In fact, I believe I've been able to correctly identify her parents.

The best place to start looking for her origins is where records show the Cannons would have first intersected with the Colemans: Culpeper County, Virginia.

We can surmise based on the birth of her first son in Culpeper County in October 1769 (per his tombstone, which gives the county of his birth) that the marriage of Ellis Cannon and Elizabeth Coleman likely ocurred in Culpeper around 1768. Unfortunately, Culpeper is a burned county and no pre-Revolutionary court records survive aside from a single minute book from 1763-64, which does not mention any Cannons or reveal much about the few Colemans it mentions. The will book of 1749-70 isn't helpful either. And of course, no marriage bond has been found.

There is one small clue: In the Culpeper County tax list of 1783, "Robin Coleman" is shown with John Cannon in the list of Benjamin Lillard. "Robin" was probably a nickname for Robert. This is the closest the Cannons get to the Colemans in any Culpeper record. Unfortunately, the list is alphabetical so it isn't possible to tell how close together their households were. There were a number of Robert Colemans associated with Culpeper County at this time, from different branches of the family and we don't have enough information to positively identify this particular one.

Adding to the complexity, the Coleman family of Culpeper/Spotsylvania was large and used many of the same given names over and over again across generations; they also spread out across several counties and interacted with each other in complex ways, making tracking individual members difficult. Being wealthy landowners however, they were extensively documented and most of them had wills, even if they died young.

It's a daunting task. But the key to cracking this mystery is a little body of water seen in a handful of deeds in the mid-18th century: something called Gourd Vine Fork. It is also sometimes called Gourdvine Branch, or Gourdvine River. Its a small tributary of the Rappahannock River in the northernmost section of Culpeper County near what is now Rixeyville.

If you've read my earlier post about the origins of the Cannons, you know that John Cannon (c.1720-c.1788) of Spartanburg District's likely father, James Cannon, patented 552 acres on Gourdvine Fork in October 1727:

1726-1730 Cavaliers and Pioneers, Patent Book No. 13; [Nell Marion Nugent]; Page 16. JAMES CANNON, 552 acs. (N. L.), Spotsyl. Co., in St. George's Par; by the North River of the Goardvine River on the N. side; crossing Cattail Mountain Run; 13 Oct, 1727, p. 167.

James Cannon bought more land in the same area the following year. By 1732, he had his own namesake tributary, which is still called "Cannon's Run."

April 27, 1728: James Cannon, planter, of St. Margaret Parish, Spotsylvania County, VA to John Thompson of same 100 acres in Spotsylvania County on the north side of the North River of the Guard Vine fork. Wit: Thomas Duncomb, Thomas Little. Signed James Cannon and wife Mary Cannon.

This is important. Because the ONLY Colemans who can be placed near the Cannons are found in a series of deeds referring to Gourd Vine Fork in the 1740s through the 1780s. One of them is likely to be the father of Elizabeth Coleman Cannon.

First we have this deed between Robert Coleman Sr. (1701-1793) of Culpeper County, and a distant relative, Richard Lort Coleman (c.1725-1783) of King & Queen County, Virginia:

1745-1747 Orange County, Virginia Deed Book 10; [Antient Press]; Page 438
Indenture 25 Sept 1745 between Robert Coleman and Sarah, his wife, of St. Mark's Parish, Orange County, and Richard Lort Coleman of St. Stephen's Par., County of King & Queen .. to Farm, lett land in the Gourd Vine Fork containing 900 acres pattent granted Robert Coleman 28 Sept 1730 and bounded .. Francis Brown's .. line .. Wm. Lobb's line .. in possession of Joseph Abel .. for five shillings ..
Witnesses: P. Clayton, J. Pendleton, John Campbell
Recorded Orange County 25 September 1746.

Richard Lort Coleman sold a third of this tract to another relative, Robert Spilsbe Coleman, in 1752:

1757-1762 Culpeper County, Virginia Deed Book C; [John Frederick Dorman]; Page 274-77.
20 Nov. 1752. Richard Lort Coleman of St. Stevens Parish, King and Queen County, to Robert Spilsby Coleman of Drisdale Parish in county aforesaid. For £35 current money. 300 acres on the Gourd Vine Fork being part of a patent granted to Robert Coleman 28 Sept. 1732 and by Robert. Coleman conveyed to Richard-Lort Coleman by deeds of lease and release 24 Sept. 1746 ... in Francis Browning's line corner to William Lobb now in possession of Joseph Abell ... on Black Water. Run side.... a small rock near a rock of stones at the head of a small branch corner to the land in the possession of Abell Richd. Lo. Coleman
Wit: Joseph Wood, N. Pendleton, Betty Pendleton, Mary Pendleton.
18 Jan. 1753. Proved by Nathaniel Pendleton.
15 March 1753. Proved by Betty Pendleton.
[n.d.] Fully proved by Mary Williams another witness thereto.
] Nov. 1752. Bond of Richard Lort Coleman of St. Stephen's Parish, King. and Queen County, unto Rob.. Spilsby Coleman of Drisdale Parish, King and Queen County. For £70 current money. To keep the covenants mentioned in the indenture.
Richd. Lo. Coleman
Wit: Joseph Wood, N. Pendleton, Betty Pendleton Mary Pendleton.
18 Jan. 1753. Proved; by. Nathaniel Pendleton.
15 March 1753.. Proved by Betty Pendleton.
21 Feb. 1760. Fully proved by Mary Williams another witness.

Throughout the Coleman clan, there are a few men named Robert Spilsbe/Spilsby Coleman. But there is only one who was an adult in the 1750s -- Robert Spilsbe Coleman (c.1710-1761) of Essex County, Virginia, who frequently bought land in Spotsylvania County, Virginia in the 1740s and this one tract in Culpeper in 1752. He and his wife Sarah were the proprietors of an ordinary in Tappahannock, Virginia, which is still standing.

Despite the fact that almost every record of his life places him in South Farnham Parish in Essex County, we know this Robert Spilsbe Coleman is the same as the above man, said to be "of Drisdale Parish, King and Queen County" because he appears there in a merchant's account ledger book there around the same time, along with two of his sons John and Thomas. 

He was also said to be from King & Queen County in one other deed of 1750, when he was sold property in his native Essex County:

21-22 Dec 1750, p. 178, Fleet: Hugh Wilson & Catherine his wife of S. Farnham Parish, Essex Co. sell Robert Spilsbe Coleman of Drisdel (sic) Parish King & Queen Co. for L56., 112 acres in S. Farnham Parish, Essex Co. being part of 340 acres left by the will of James Taylor, late of King & Queen Co. to Ann his daughter...

These appear to be the only two references to Robert living in King & Queen County, so he evidently lived there only briefly in the early 1750s. 

Robert's will was sealed in Essex County on December 8, 1760, naming his wife Sarah and children Richard, James, Sarah, Whitehead and Elizabeth Coleman and a married daughter named Susannah Richards. These children were born in the 1730s and 1740s.

Importantly, the will states that he was to leave land owned in "Spotsylvania, Orange and Culpepper Countys" to his son Whitehead Coleman. He also left to his son James a 400 acre tract "bought of Francis Taylor, Nathaniel Pendleton and Hugh Wilson." Though it isn't the same tract, note above that Nathaniel Pendleton was a witness on his 1752 purchase in Culpeper County. He also left to his daughter Susanna Richards land in King & Queen County, further indicating he is the man from the 1752 deed.

So it is clear that Robert Spilsbe Coleman of Essex County, Virginia bought property in 1752 on Gourd Vine Fork in Culpeper County where James Cannon (d. aft.1748) lived; property inherited by his son John Cannon (c.1720-c.1788), who later migrated to South Carolina and left it to his own son, John (1750-aft.1806), who remained in Virginia. 

This makes Robert the only Coleman that shows any proximity or association with the Cannons of Culpeper who could be her father. Robert Coleman Sr. (1701-1793) who was originally granted the Gourd Vine tract left a will but named no daughter Elizabeth; Richard Lort Coleman (c.1725-1783) evidently only had a son named Francis. Robert Coleman Jr. (c.1740-1817), son of the above Robert Coleman Sr., was too young to be father of Elizabeth.

And its also clear that Robert Spilsbe Coleman had a young, unmarried daughter in 1760 named Elizabeth, who would be the perfect age to be the Elizabeth Coleman who married Ellis Cannon c.1768. This Elizabeth has never been identified by Coleman genealogists in any records of her adult years.

But wait -- there's more.

Because two of Robert Spilsbe Coleman's children -- his son John (c.1730-aft.1775) and his daughter Susanna Richards (c.1735-1778) -- migrated into Stafford County, Virginia in 1753. John, whose eldest son Spencer Coleman reported in 1832 that he was born in King & Queen County in 1752, had children baptized in Stafford County's Overwharton Parish church in 1753, 1755 and 1757 before departing for the Shenandoah Valley. His sister remained in Stafford the remainder of her life, with her husband, Capt. John Richards, serving as a tobacco inspector at Falmouth.

Stafford County's Overwharton Parish is of course where John and Sarah Cannon married in 1745 and where Ellis Cannon was born on January 3, 1748.

Interestingly, these are the only families of the Cannons and Colemans alike who lived in Stafford County; none of their kinfolk seem to have settled there in the 18th century.

One would assume their acquaintance began as close neighbors in Culpeper in 1752, but its hard to say. As congregates of the same church, they could have also met in Stafford in 1753 and realized they had neighboring properties in Culpeper. In any case, Ellis Cannon and Elizabeth Coleman probably met as young children around this time.

What is clear is that the circumstantial evidence lines up very clearly on Robert Spilsbe Coleman, who died in early 1761 in Essex County, Virginia, as the father of Elizabeth Coleman Cannon. He was the son of Spilsbe Coleman (c.1690-1727) and his wife Mary and the rest of the Colemans are very well documented.

 

Research and documentation by Jason M. Farrell