In Tryon County, North Carolina during the 1760s, a small family of Wyatts first started appearing in records. James Wyatt Sr. was granted 392 acres on the Catawba River in October 1767; in April 1769 he sold part of that tract to Daniel Wyatt. In 1771, James Wyatt appeared in a Tryon County militia roll; by 1777, Edmund Wyatt and Vincent Wyatt began appearing in deeds. When Tryon was subsumed by the newly formed Lincoln County in 1779, the Wyatts began appearing in Lincoln county court and by 1784 migrated into South Carolina, where many of their descendants continued to appear in records for decades thereafter. Other names appearing in these first two generations in North Carolina were John, William, Jeremiah, Leonard, Abraham, Thomas, Elizabeth, Susannah, Rachel and Lillian Wyatt.
While it is widely known among genealogists that James Wyatt Sr. (c.1722-c.1795) and wife Bethlehem had migrated from Northumberland County, Virginia (where several of their oldest children were born and baptized in 1746-52), it seems no one as yet has been able to figure out who James's father was, or arrange a comprehensive theory of how the Wyatt clan was likely structured. A deep dive into the deed and order books of several counties in Virginia and North Carolina, as well as certain parish registers, sheds light on this family and its Virginia origins.
Both James Wyatt and Daniel Wyatt who appear in Tryon County, North Carolina in the 1760s first entered the historical record in Richmond County, Virginia. Daniel Wyatt witnessed a deed in Richmond County in 1740; James Wyatt first appeared in court in 1744. They also appeared in Northumberland County court records around the same time, Daniel Wyatt having witnessed a deed in Northumberland in 1744 and James Wyatt having children baptized there in 1746, 1749 and 1752. So its clear that their father might be found in either county.
The only Wyatts who appear in Northumberland County records who are old enough to be father to James or Daniel are Edward Wyatt of Gloucester County (c.1705-bef.1771), son-in-law and executor of John Keene's will in October 1740; and William Wyatt, who was named debtor to Mathew Quill in Northumberland court on Aug. 28, 1740. This is likely William Wyatt, mariner of Gloucester County (d. aft. June 2, 1747), brother to the above Edward Wyatt. William is not otherwise known to have lived in Northumberland and he is known by old family letters now in the British Archives to have married and raised children in Liverpool, England through at least the 1750s so he can be ruled out as father to James and Daniel. It seems neither Edward nor William ever lived in Northumberland, but only appeared in court as they had business. John Wyatt, merchant of Gloucester, mentioned having an estate in Northumberland in a letter of 1756, but he was a young man then and cannot be father of James Wyatt or his siblings.
It is known that Edward Wyatt was a son-in-law of John Keene (1671-1740) by the latter's 1740 will in Northumberland County. The will mentions his daughter Eleanor Wyatt and two of her children, John and Elizabeth Wyatt. John appeared in court in 1754 to sell the inherited land and disappears from county records. Decades later in Lincoln County, North Carolina, an Elizabeth Wyatt was deeded land by John Wyatt adjacent James Wyatt on June 21, 1783. This may be the same John and Elizabeth Wyatt named grandchildren in the will of John Keene; if so, this would affirm James and Daniel Wyatt sons of Edward Wyatt and Eleanor Keene. Of course, the names John and Elizabeth are two of the most common in the English-speaking world and appear across several Wyatt clans in this time period, so caution should be exercised.
The will, deed, order and account books of Northumberland show no other Wyatt families in these early years. Edward Wyatt appears in the will books to handle John Keene's estate in 1740-43; then John Wyatt witnessed a deed in 1744; James Wyatt's childrens' births were recorded 1746-52. John Wyatt, son of Edward, sold land given to him by John Keene in 1754. The Wyatts then vanish from Northumberland.
It is tempting to theorize that Edward Wyatt of Gloucester, a descendant of the wealthy Boxley Wyatts of Kent, is father to the Wyatts who immigrated to Tryon County, North Carolina in the 1760s. But this is problematic at best.
First, Edward is documented to have married Eleanor Keene, daughter of John Keene, who we know by parish records was born September 29, 1710. It does not seem likely that she could have given birth to men who started having children and appearing in court in 1740. There also seems to be no evidence Edward was married twice. Second, Edward was a coastal merchant and spent much of his time overseas, in particular, in Barbados. It seems odd that all of his children would have moved inland to become farmers. Third, Edward is documented to have had children named Edward, John and Elizabeth but no others.
As previously noted, both James and Daniel Wyatt of North Carolina first appeared in court not in Northumberland, but in Richmond County, Virginia. Daniel and wife Susannah had a son named Edmund in 1740 (Overwharton Parish Register) and its worth noting an Edmund Wyatt appeared in records with them in North Carolina in the 1760s-1780s. Its probably not a coincidence then, that the only Wyatt who appears in Richmond County records before James and Daniel was an Edmund Wyatt who died intestate and whose widow Mary Wyatt appeared in court on July 4, 1737 to receive letters of administration on his estate. This Edmund Wyatt is known from other records to have come from Westmoreland County, the son of a senior Edmund Wyatt, and had documented siblings named Sarah, James and William. His brother William also had a documented son named Vincent Wyatt, which is unique a name we see being appearing in the 1770s in Tryon County, North Carolina.
Further association is shown in a court record of 1739, whereby Susannah Wyatt who we know by several other records to be the wife of Daniel Wyatt, was a witness for Mary Wyatt, administrator of Edmund Wyatt in Richmond County, Virginia. This shows a firm association between James and Daniel and the late Edmund Wyatt of Richmond County.
Because of these documents and the uniqueness of some of these names, the circumstantial evidence is strong that the Edmund Wyatt who died in 1737 was the father of the Wyatts who immigrated to Tryon County, North Carolina.
Research by Jason M. Farrell
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