Re: Joseph Lett m Unknown Nance c. 1760 VA
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In reply to:
Re: Joseph Lett m Unknown Nance c. 1760 VA
Robert Nance 1/30/00
THIS IS A COPY OF AN E-MAIL I SENT TO SUSAN MCVEY:
Susan,
I see that you have come across my postings at GENFORUM and thought I would respond to you directly.I also see that you are a descendant of Elizabeth Hardaway Short.According to the family Bible of William Malone, copy sent to me by Rose Mary Delmore of Eugene, Oregon, Elizabeth was born on February 26, 1792.She married William Malone on January 04, 1821 and then C. C. Glover on February 04, 1838.She died on March 11, 1846.She had six children: Jones, Edwin, Edward, William, Amanda Hardaway and Anderson Short Malone.I have dates for each of these children.
Elizabeth "Betsey" was the daughter of Bartholomew "Batte" Short and Martha "Patsey" Lett.They were issued a marriage bond on May 30, 1791 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia.Patsey died young and Batte remarried to Seller Murdock on November 09, 1798.I believe that Betsey was their only child.In the will of her grandfather, Joseph Lett, Sr., he gave "unto Betsy Hardaway Short one Negro Girl by the name of Nelley to her and her heirs forever."Nelley's date of birth was given in the Malone family Bible as November 25, 1805.She was only two years and seven months old when given to Betsey.
Because of the year of marriage (1791), it seems that Patsey was the daughter of Joseph Lett's first wife, Unknown Nance.(They also had a son, Nance Lett).Some say that her name was Elizabeth but I am not sure what her name was to be honest.Joseph's second wife does not start to appear in records until the late 1770s, about the time Patsey was ten or so I would assume.With this in mind, she was the granddaughter of Daniel Nance that died in Randolph County, North Carolina in 1784.Daniel's wife was named Sarah at the time of his death.I do not know if she was the mother of his children or a later wife.That is basically what I can offer on the Nances.
As for the Letts, Joseph Lett, Sr. died in 1808 and I have no idea how old he was at that time.I also do not know who his father was for certain.I believe it to be Francis Lett who was married to both an Amy and a Mary, respectively.There is a chance Joseph could be the son of a John Lett but I do not know either way
Just so you know, this is how the whole Lett-Hardaway thing got started.The logic is fairly simple.Joseph and his second wife had a son named Hardiway Lett.Joseph had a granddaughter, Elizabeth Hardaway Short, a great granddaughter, Amanda Hardaway Short, and there was a John Hardaway Lett in, I think North Carolina or Georgia, that apparently came from Virginia.Anyway, someone pointed out an article to me in "The Virginia Genealogist," Volume 37, Number 1, Whole Number 145, page 18: "Sergeant John Harris of Charles City County, Virginia: A Reappraisal," Claiborne T. Smith, Jr., M.D., Ardmore, Pennsylvania.Here is an excerpt:
"The issue of Frances Harris by her two husbands, John Hardaway and James Batty, can be inferred from the will of her daughter Edith Hardaway who married after 1710, as his third wife, Henry Tyler of York County.On his death in 1729 she married Mathew Pierce of York County who died in 1737.There were no children by either marriage.Her 1739 will, probated In York, devised £25 to be divided among her brother Thomas Hardaway, Dorothy Hatcher, Elizabeth Lett and Mary Parsons.Frances Harris and John Hardaway also had a daughter Sarah and a son John who do not appear in Edith's will and may have been dead in 1739. In 1689 James Batty acknowledged a mare given to his wife's daughter Sarah Hardaway by one Susan Hardaway, whose identity is unknown.Sarah probably died young.In 1693 John Hardaway, as one of the orphans of John Hardaway. being 15, chose his brother-in-law Henry Hatcher of Henrico County as his guardian.
Elizabeth Hardaway Lett is placed as the wife of John Lett, the only contemporary of the name in the Charles City records.There are many references to him in the court orders 1687-95.On 4 December 1694 James Batty, his presumed father-in-law, was his surety in a suit.A John Lett was a headright for Richard Flewellin in a 1714 Charles City grant.John and Elizabeth Lett left descendants in Brunswick and Mecklenburg counties.A John Lett died testate in Brunswick in 1787."
There is no proof that John and Elizabeth were the parents of Francis or John Lett but it seems likely with the name Hardaway in so many later Letts.In my opinion however, Betsey H. Short was the daughter of Patsey Lett was the daughter of Joseph Lett, Sr. was the son of Francis Lett was the son of John and Elizabeth H. Lett.Remember, this is only speculation so take it for what it is worth.
Kevin Lett
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