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I am posting this information for the benefit of the Channell Message Board readers who might be interested in some research on Thomas Channell and Elizabeth Montgomery, long attributed as being the parents of the Three Brothers Channell: Jeremiah, Joseph and John.
Unless otherwise noted, all references come from the Orginial Order Book of Isle of Wight County for the years 1759/63. The Original Order Book was filmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and is listed as:
County Court Order Books, 1746 - 1866; film #'s 032033 thru 032041. (1) The original film viewed here was #032033 which lists the years as 1759-1768. I found this to not be correct, as the film ended with the completion of Court entries for the year 1763. My understanding is that several of the original order books are lost, perhaps this is the reason for the erroneous listing? LDS research personnel could offer no other information on the missing order books. I am working with the Isle of Wight Circuit Court Clerk's Office to determine what records are available at this time for the period I am
speaking of.
BACKGROUND:
Many Channell family genealogists show Thomas Channell and Elizabeth Montgomery as the parents of the boys Jeremiah, Joseph and John Channell. Commonly, the genealogies state that the parents died in South Carolina and that the boys came to Virginia after their death. Unfortunately, no dates of any significance that could be researched were ever mentioned, leading to a more or less dead end. In September of 2004 while doing some research on Arthur Channell of Isle of Wight, I came across a
reference on a marriage for a Thomas Channell and Elizabeth Montgomery, date of 1763. (2) At that point, a copy of the order book entry was obtained from the Circuit Court Clerk's Office, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Working from that document, we are able to find the following information concerning Thomas Channell and Elizabeth Montgomery:
RESEARCH:
In Chancery
Elizabeth Montgomery by John Streeter
her guardian
against
John Fullgham & Mary his wife
The Plft Elizabeth hath since the last continuance intermarried with Thomas Channell, who is ordered to be made a Plft in this cause and on the Motion of of the said Plfts by their attorney, a Commission Debene else issue is awarded them to take the Deposition of Elizabeth Whitfield, and the said cause is ordered to be continued till the next court. (3)
The date of this entry is the first Thursday of May, 1763. Now we have proof that Thomas Channell did marry a Elizabeth Montgomery, apparently sometime in 1763. Can we learn anything of Elizabeth and what she was in court about? Who are her parents? We know from this entry that Elizabeth is a minor, as evidenced that her guardian John Streeter is taking up her cause. The fact that Streeter is involved means Elizabeth was under the age of 21 years. How much younger, we do not know at the time of this entry, but do have some clues and partial answers that are provided by working backwards in the order book entries. Thomas, by marrying Elizabeth is now made a part of the cause.
Court session of February, 1763:
The defendant having not filed their answers to the Bill of Complaint, further time is granted them to file the same. (4)
Now we know that between the first Thursday of February, 1763 and the first Thursday of May, 1763, Thomas Channell and Elizabeth Montgomery were married. We still do not know why Elizabeth is suing John Fullgham and his wife Mary, so we continue working back in the order books. Now that we know the approx. date of marriage, what can we learn of Thomas and or Elizabeth?
At a Court held for the County of Isle of Wight on Thursday the first day of January, 1761:
.. Elizabeth Montgomery, orphan of Robert Montgomery came into court and chose for her guardian John Fullgham, who there upon gave Bond as the law devises. (5) We know that if Elizabeth came into court, apparently on her own, and chose her own guardian, then she would be approx. 14 to 17 years of age at the death of her father. What can we learn of Robert Montgomery? Not much ...
MONTGOMERY, Robert: Appraised by Tristram Norsworthy, Jr., Tristram Norsworthy, Sr., Henry King. Signed John Fullgham. Ordered March 5, 1761. Recorded May 7, 1761. (6)
Now we see some of the puzzle pieces falling into place. Robert dies prior to 1 Jan 1761, when Elizabeth appeared before the court and appointed John Fullgham as her guardian. Robert also appears to have died intestate, because I have found no evidence of a will being entered upon the Order Books, just that the estate was appraised between March and May of 1761. Fullgham appears to know Montgomery, could there be a connection? Mr. Dan Fulgham of Conroe, Tx. provides the following family information on our John Fulgham:
John Fulgham was the son of John Fulgham and Mary Purcell. He was born in the Isle of Wight County, Virginia, in about 1746. He married Mary Montgomery, who was born about 1745, in the Isle of Wight County, Virginia. They moved first to North Carolina, probably in or near Wayne County. They later moved to the Craven District, now Fairfield County, South Carolina. John furnished supplies to the Continental
Army during the Revolutionary War. The children of John and Mary were:
1.) Micajah, born Feb. 10, 1767, Isle of Wight Co., VA.***
2.) Henry, born November 20, 1772, married Patience Sherard.
3.) Jesse, born about 1775, in Lancaster County, South Carolina.
4.) John, born about 1770, in the Isle of Wight Co., Virginia.
5.) Hardy, born about 1778, in Lancaster County, South Carolina.
John Fulgham died in Montgomery County, Georgia, in about 1801.
Now we have some interesting possibilites as to the relationship between Fullgham and the Montgomery family. The dates provided here are a bit troubling, and clearly they are circumstantial. The big question here: is Mary the sister of Elizabeth? Circumstantially, she appears to be, but the truth appears:
..FULGHAM, JOHN AND MRS. MARY MONTGOMERY, relict of Robert Montgomery, 1761... (7)
Mrs. Montgomery, as was quite common in those days, wasted no time, apparently, in remarrying. This would appear to be why Elizabeth came to court and asked for John Fulgham to be her guardian. What then, happened that landed Fulgham and his wife Mary, Elizabeth's mother, in Chancery Court? Unfortunately, without access to the 1768 Order Books, we might never know the answer.
At court on the 6th day of August, 1762:
..this day came as well the Plft by John Cohoon his attorney, as the Defts by Miles Cary their attorney and pray to me till the next court to consider the said Plfts. Bill of Complaint and to them is granted. (8)
In reviewing the order book, I never could find an entry for the Bill of Complaint that is spoken of here, nor did I find any evidence of any commission entering the deposition of Elizabeth Whitfield. This does not mean that it did not happen or get recorded, as I have stated earlier the 1768 order book is missing from the microfilm.
While there further references to the cause in the remaining order book entries, they all continue the cause to the next court case, until the final entry for this cause on December 2, 1673 which states simply that the said cause is ordered continued until the next court. (9)
As I have stated, I was unable to view film of the next order book, which covered the period up to 1768. I did, however, find something that might explain what was going on:
6 Jun 1767 ... division of the Negroes in the bill between Thomas Channell and John Fullgham. Rec. 5 Sep 1767. (10)
Although I can not state so with absolute certainly, I do believe we have an idea of what was taking place. From reading the order books, it was very clear that Isle of Wight lived and breathed tobacco at this point in time. The tobacco was the currency of the day; it was used to pay taxes, it was used to pay for goods and services. Isle of Wight county used it as payment for personal and property taxes and to pay the county bills. Everything revolved around receipts and payments in pounds of tobacco. It was so important that page after page of court order entries
dealt with claims brought against men for failing to pay debts owed, for their farming of tobacco. Tobacco farming was labor intensive; it required much manpower to get it planted and harvested. Against this back drop, it appears that Robert Mongtomery, John Fullgham and Thomas Channell were all tobacco farmers. The 1767 entry mentioned above shows a division of the Negroes between Channell and Fullgham, and we know from earlier entries in the record that there was some type of Bill of Complaint entered somewhere in the court against John Fullgham and his wife Mary, now known to be the mother of Elizabeth. Fullgham's name does not appear in the other recorded instance of the Robert Montgomery's estate -- by the time of that entry Elizabeth had filed her action against him in Chancery Court. My best guess is that the Bill of Complaint was about the estate of her father, perhaps Fullgham and her mother
denied Elizabeth her fair portion of the estate? That portion may have contained perhaps land and the mentioned Negroes that were divided by Fullgham and Channell. According to Mr. Dan Fulgham, John Fullgham and wife Mary move on to first North Carolina, then South Carolina and then Georgia, where Fullgham dies in 1801. Knowing the family legends about the brothers Channell, could it be that Thomas and Elizabeth patched up things with the Fullghams and perhaps made the move with them? It's clear that Channell is still in Isle of Wight in mid-1767, so we have a time frame to start looking for them in the Carolina's.
I still am not a believer that Thomas and Elizabeth are the parents of the boys. Clearly, Elizabeth is not the mother of Jeremiah and Joseph, the marriage date and the boys estimated birth dates rule that out. That would point to a second marriage for Thomas, of which to this point, no evidence has been found to support that suggestion. If Elizabeth is anything, she is a step-mother to Jeremiah and Joseph, and the mother of John, thought to be born in 1767. Which leads to interesting speculation about the period between 1763 and the time of John's birth -- could it be that unknown children were born during that time frame?
I encourage anyone with thoughts, ideas, suggestions or further research to contact me.
Regards,
Micheal Mathews
Notes:
The Court consistently met on the first Thursday of every month, sometimes, depending on case load, continuing to the next day. Those dates are consistently entered on the entries recording the start of a new court session.
The film I viewed was of the original order book. The film itself was in excellent condition, however, the book at the time of filming was in fair to poor condition throughout, with many pages quite readable and many pages that were faded, torn and difficult to read. It is more than possible that the information we are looking for was contained in entire sections of the book that could not be read due to fading, staining, etc. As with everything, I encourage anyone with further interest to view the film for themselves to make appropriate judgements as to what the entries describe.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) State of Virginia, County Court of Isle of Wight "County court order books, 1746-1866" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949) Film #032033. Hereafter referred to as: #032033
(2) Chapman, Blance Adams "Marriages of Isle of Wight County, Virginia 1628-1800" (1976. Reprint. Genealogical Printing Co., Baltimore, MD) Pg. 9
(3) State of Virginia, County Court of Isle of Wight "Original Order Books, Isle of Wight County 1759 - 1763" (Circuit Court Clerk's Office, Isle of Wight, Virginia) Pg. 431
(4) #032033, Pg. 405
(5) #032033, Pg. 207
(6) Chapman, Blanche Adams "Wills and Administrations of Isle of Wight County, Virginia, 1647-1800" (2003. Reprint. Genealogical Printing Co., Inc. Baltimore, MD) Pp. 200, 214
(7) Chapman, Blance Adams "Marriages of Isle of Wight County, Virginia 1628-1800" (1976. Reprint. Genealogical Printing Co., Baltimore, MD) Pg. 18. Original record contained in: State of Virginia, County Court of Isle of Wight. Will Book 7 p. 76. Original Order Book 1764-68 p. 183.
(8) #032033, Pg. 342
(9) #032033, Pg. 533
(10) Hopkins, William Lindsey "Isle of Wight County, Virginia Deeds. 1750-1782" (1995. Iberian Publishing Company. Athens, Georgia.) FHL, Salt Lake City, Utah. Call No. US/CAN 975.544 R2h v.3
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