Tag Archives: Hanover County
Sometimes a name pops up and it seems to connect a family. This time the name is Felix Gilbert. I think he was part of the same group of aligned families who settled the most rural parts of colonial Virginia.
Gentry And Common Folk: Political Culture on a Virginia Frontier, 1740-1789, by Albert H. Tillson (pub. 1991) describes Felix Gilbert as “an Augusta merchant and justice of the peace.” With an association to William Preston. There’s a nifty map online that shows the proximity of Gilbert and Preston’s property in Albemarle Co., VA (view map)
I first spotted Felix Gilbert mentioned with a Pryor on an 1757 record for military pay in connection to the French-Indian War – AUG. 12 1757 John Pryor. Receipt to William Preston for 3 11s. being in full of his pay. Witnessed by Felix Gilbert. Howdy, neighbor! There’s William Preston again.
About a decade later Gilbert is paired with another Pryor: Felix Gilbert vs. Richard Pryor. Elizabeth Pryor Harper in Twenty-One Sourthern Families found this suit in Chalkley’s Chronicles with an abstract reference to this case in Augusta County Court judgments for Aug. 1765, Bk. B, noting that Richard Pryor had not been found, and lived on the Roanoke (Chalkley, vol. 1, p. 333). This says writ was issued 28 March 1765.
He moved from VA to NC. In 1785 Felix Gilbert was named on the estate of Stephen Shifflett in Orange Co. Matthew J Pryor married in Orange Co. and it should be noted that his brother Haden Pryor (of Granville Co., NC) and Elizabeth Wade – named a son Felix G Pryor in the 1770’s. Was he Fexlix Gilbert Pryor?
And then Felix Gilbert pops up again. He signed a petition in 1799 in Knox County (see signers). Another signer was William Pryor who I believe is from Bedford County, VA.
I don’t like to throw around loose theories… so I’m going to keep Felix on the back burner. I have a feeling he’ll be a clue later on.