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Dawn:
On second thought this is more likely to be the Beenjamin you seek
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1. BENJAMIN SR.19 LAWLESS (JAS.18, RICHARD17, WALTER "CAPT."16, RICHARD15, WALTER14, ADAM13
LAWLES, WALTER12, RICHARD11, ADAM10 LAGHLES, JAS.9, WALTER8, ROBERT7, RICHARD6, THOS.5, HUGH4 DE
LAIGHLEIS, RICHARD3, HUGH DE "SIR"2 LAIGHLEIS, DAVID1 "DUKE-OF-NORMANDY") was born Bet. 1720 -
1725 in Essex Co., VA, and died Abt. 1798 in Pittsylvania Co., VA. He married MARY UNK. She was born
Abt. 1730.
Notes for BENJAMIN SR. LAWLESS:
Benjamin Lawless Sr. b. c1720/25, Essex Co.,VA. d. c1798, Pittsylvania Co.,VA. Benjamin Lawless first
appears in the few surviving Caroline records in Dec. 1745 when he demonstrated his volatile and
unpredictable nature. He was at court in the case of Edw. Crowley against his purported brother Henry
Lawless. The court ordered Henry to pay Benjamin for his attendance as a witness. Benjamin also had to
answer for his own misbehavior; placed in the custody of the sheriff, Benjamin must pay a 1 yr. peace
bond, as recorded by John Frederick Dorman. Benjamin appears in the Caroline records only one other
time. On 6 Oct. 1747, the court ordered him to pay the balance of a debt Like his brothers, he appears to
have left for the frontier. He and his purported brother Michael Lawless appeared on the List of Tithables
for old Lunenburg between 1748 and 1751, undoubtedly in an area where Halifax was soon to be created.
Benjamin Lawless, Sr. made his first acquisitions, in what was to be Pittsylvania, from 1755 to 1762:
On the ridge between the heads of the North Fork of Birches Creek and the Southern branch of Sandy
Creek about l0 miles NNE of what is now Danville, Noteworthy is the simultaneous entry in 1755 of
Samuel Harris whose land abutted that of Benjamin Lawless, Sr. and who ordered the transfer of 400 acres
to Wm. Lynch in l765. Other neighbors included Thos. Burgess, Wm. Lynch, and Matthew Tanner. Note
the marriage of the Lawless kinswoman Judith Hardin to a Burgess. Wm. Lynch was probably her
uncle. Also see the marriage of Benjamin's presumed nephew John Lawless (son of Jas. Lawless II) to a
d/o Matthew Tanner.
The Fall Creek region, including Lawless Creek, to which a deed of the 1770's referred as "Ben's fork of Fall
Creek" , his neighbors including John Wilson who married Elizabeth Hardin. See ibid., p. 267, for the
reference to "Ben's Fork." Lawless Creek can still be found on county maps at the northeast corner of the
city of Danville.
The long branch of Cane Creek about 4 miles E. of Danville. Of the 1,600 acres which Benjamin Lawless
added in 1762, 800 abutted the property claimed at the same time by Henry Hardin whose daughter Sarah
married Benjamin's purported nephew Jas. Lawless III. By 1772, Benjamin Lawless, Sr. had accumulated
8,000 acres in these locations and on the South Fork of Beaver Creek which was some 2 to 3 miles west of
what is now Chatham, the Co. seat. The identity of his wife Mary is indicated on several land transactions,
although her maiden name is unknown. The prominent Theophilus Lacey became a neighbor in June 1772
when he acquired 1,600 acres abutting the property of Benjamin Lawless, Wm. Lynch, and Wm. Gwinn in
the Sandy Creek area; Lacey's overseer was Mark Hardin, son of Henry Hardin and Judith Lynch Hardin
and brother of Sarah Hardin Lawless, wife of Jas. Lawless III. Thos. Burgess added 1,000 acres abutting the
land of Benjamin Loyless the Burgess property originally surveyed for Jas. Walker, possibly a son of Dr.
Thos. Walker noted in conjunction with Benjamin Lawless' purported brother Henry. All the while,
Benjamin Lawless continued to demonstrate the volatile temperament already observed in Caroline. He
was in numerous law suits with his neighbors.
He was charged several times with assault and battery in the Halifax Co. court. In 1769, he had to pay a 1
yr. peace bond of ten # for "insulting the Pittsylvania Co. court;" due to the charges brought by Camden
Parish in 1778, the Commonwealth of VA fined him for drunkenness. Later that same year the court
remanded him to prison on a charge of theft; Wm. Lynch and Benjamin Lawless, Jr. had to post bonds to
assure their appearance during the trial as witnesses. In 1781, Benjamin was found not guilty of stealing
three blacks (ibid., p. 287). Then came the imprisonment ordered by the Commonwealth of VA for treason
in July 1781 (ibid., p. 372). The charges were evidently dropped after the War for Independence, as he
would soon be back in court with various civil suits. Although he had once owned considerable property, he
died almost penniless ca.1798; his estate consisted of one mare valued at 9 pounds that sold in time for 13
pounds 11 shillings. Benjamin's apparent brother Jas. Lawless II evidently had little trouble with the
governing Patriot authorities until after Benjamin's trial for treason. He and his son Jas. III, the Hardins,
Lynchs, and Taliaferros took an oath of allegiance in 1777 to the American movement, as did Benjamin
Lawless, Jr.; but not Benjamin, Sr.
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