Richard Simpson, Sr.-2
John Simpson-1; Richard-2; George-3
JOHN ‘The Scotsman” SIMPSON’s youngest son, RICHARD SIMPSON-2, the first generation of our SIMPSON family born in the colonies, was probably only a few years old when his father died about 1698. He may have been born as late as 1691, but probably not before his brothers were bequeathed the 300 acres of land. His mother, MARY, was probably still alive until at least the time his father died. RICHARD-2 was reasonably well provided for and, apparently, received a fair start in life. The family was reasonably prosperous, but did not provide an education for the children. He was illiterate, and signed with a mark. This did not preclude him from voting, however, since he was a freeholder.
One researcher states RICHARD-2 may have had an early marriage which produced no children. It appears, however, that this contention is an error and confuses another Richard, one in Maryland, with our RICHARD-2. We do know that he eventually married a young widow named SARAH Barker. She was born a few years before 1700. The name “Barker” was her previous husband’s surname, and we do not know her maiden name.
About 1724, they moved to the site that would become Fairfax County, Virginia, not far from where his father had lived. One of their sons, GEORGE-3, would become our ancestor. He was born possibly as late as 1724 to 1726. While we don’t have a definite and exact date of birth for GEORGE-3, we do have for his sister, Elizabeth-3, who was born in 1717.
The earliest purchase of lands by RICHARD-2 is for 100 acres bought from “John Parsons, tailor,” for 3,500 pounds of tobacco in “upper fork of South run Pohick bounded by the said run on each side, all that tract or parcell of land commonly called and known by the name of Chestnut Fork.” [Stafford Deeds 1722-28, pg. 199.] RICHARD-2 patented 300 acres, in what would later be designated as Fairfax, April 15, 1727 [Northern Neck Grants B:80 LS]. It was located on Wolf Run, Popeshead, adjacent John Waugh. On April 18, 1745, he deeded this land to Richard, Jr.-3, [Fairfax deeds A:355] who eventually sold it to Edward Emms for 20,000 pounds of inspected tobacco [Fairfax Deeds C:786] Mary, wife of Richard, Jr.-3, relinquished her dower. Very shortly after this date, Richard, Jr.-3, and his wife, Mary, moved to Caswell County, North Carolina.
Interestingly enough, John Waugh’s land was also adjacent to the lands of HENRY WISHEART, whose daughter, CHARLOTTE, would marry AARON SIMPSON after the Revolution.
Stafford County deeds also indicate that Anthony Lynch was an adjoining neighbor to the Chestnut Fork plantation. His son, John Lynch, sold these lands to Hugh West about 1741.
A neighbor, Robert Carter, called “King Carter, ” was a man of tremendous and shrewd business habits. He left over 300,000 acres of land when he died at age 69. He received grants for 26,000 acres in Fairfax County. He had some of the deeds listed in his son’s name [when the son was three years old!]. One of the deeds for a small piece of his holdings was for land bought in 1729. The tract was for 875 acres “Popeshead and Pohick adjacent Terence Byley.,” The deed also mentions Paynes Road and RICHARD SIMPSON-2’s lands.
On March 8, 1730/1 [OS/NS] land on “Poh ick branches adjacent Simpson, north of land on which he now lives,” 188 acres. He also bought 202 acres from Samuel Talbot April 17, 1759, “south run of Pohick adjacent John Parson” [Fairfax Deeds D:557] for 80 pounds money.
Fairfax County per se wasn’t actually established until 1742. Colonial Virginia statutes specified that each county would build a courthouse, one common gaol [jail], well secured, with iron bars, one pillory, whipping post, stocks, and a ducking stool. It also required 10 acres for exercise of the prisoners with good behavior. People placed in “gaol” for debts might have their wives and families come visit them, and bring food and clothing. They might walk about the 10 acres surrounding the jail. Long sentences in jail were not the usual punishment for crimes at that time. Prisoners might be kept in jail awaiting trial, or for debt. Usually a sentence for punishment would be whipping, branding, fines, extension of indenture, cutting-off-of-ears or hands. Crimes for which a free white man might be hanged were not usually handled at the local level. [Fairfax County, VA, a History.]
The county court was a major part of the colonial social life. It was the center of the Colonial government. English law and the order-of-things had been generally accepted in Colonial Virginia and government was arranged very much as it was in England’s counties. The courts also took care of many non-judicial aspects of colonial life.
The Established Church and its vestry also controlled things covered by county and state governments today, such as the care of the poor. Poor people were boarded in people’s homes and the vestry paid the people for boarding them. “Idiotic” children or adults might live with their families who would be paid by the vestry for keeping them.
The highest hierarchy of officers of the county court were the justices, later called magistrates or commissioners. The full title was Justice of the Peace. Today, in most places, this is almost an honorary title, with little authority outside of performing marriages.
The “Gentlemen Justices” were usually appointed for life and were generally of the aristocratic class. There was no compensation attached to the job, but Justices could be fined for not performing the duties associated with it. The appointments were almost hereditary, since, if a man died or was no longer able to function, usually one of his sons or relatives was appointed to fill his position. The Justices had a tremendous amount of power in the community, though they were not totally independent of supervision from above. Above them was the Assembly, Council, and Royal Governor. They usually had little or no training in the law, and settled cases more or less based on “instinct” for what was right and fair. Because things were done in open court, the people usually felt they could get a fair hearing. [Fairfax County, VA, a History.]
Any disruption or expression of disorder in the courtroom, or of disrespect for the court itself, was instantly punished, and sometimes, with great severity. The court routinely demanded and received deference. The court did not represent the people, but the court was a representative of the oligarchies who, in reality, ran Virginia, but it was what the people expected and was “the way things were at home.” [In England.] Stocks, whipping posts, and branding irons were still common-enough punishments for violating the community moral standards. Punishments were also different for different classes of people for violating the same law. At this time in history, people accepted the fact there was a caste system in society. All men were not created equal before the law, in either position or wealth, and no one expected that they should be. While improving one’s financial status could surely raise one in the eyes of the colonial community, the caste of birth was still more or less fixed.
The county jail, generally held people for petty offenses or debt. If a prisoner were incarcerated for debt or other petty crimes, it was usually up to his family to provide him with food and fuel for warmth. If a man really had no assets and was imprisoned for debt, this did not go on forever. When it was established that a man had no assets to squeeze out of him by imprisoning him, then he would be released. It was a sort of “bankruptcy court.” The purpose of imprisonment for debt was to encourage a person not to make debts he could not pay, and to keep deadbeats from refusing to pay if they could.
Jails at this time were usually more like stoutly-built barns, made of logs, than like houses. They might be one or two rooms, and would have provisions for locks. Many times the building of stout jails was neglected by the courts, and instances of the sheriff complaining to the courts about the poor quality of the buildings are found in court records.
Sentences for crimes or misdemeanors were usually fines. If the fines could not be paid, the prisoner might be whipped. Sometimes people were branded. One sentence that appears very harsh to us today was commonly given for theft and other such crimes. A man might be sentenced to have his ear, or ears, nailed to the pillory and would be given a set period of time to stand there with the nails through his ears. If the sentence were “light” he might have the nail pulled out, but if it was a “harsh” sentence, he would have the ear cut from his head to release him from the nail. Capitol crimes were usually not handled on a local level. If a person sentenced to be branded was of a higher class, they might be sentenced to be “branded” with a cold iron, where a poor man would have the iron heated red-hot. A man could also plead “benefit of clergy” if he could read [again, a class distinction] and might even get out of a “hanging offense” if he could quote the “neck verse” from the Bible. In England, the petty criminals soon caught on to this, and though they could not read or write, would memorize the necessary verses and when called upon, would “read” them from the Bible. Justice was not blind or equal, and few people expected that it should be.
Sentences for slaves or indentured servants were even harsher than for the lower classes of free whites. A slave who killed or severely wounded his master could expect to be burned to death, or hanged. A slave who killed or severely wounded another slave could expect anything from a severe flogging to hanging. If a slave was convicted of a capitol crime and sentenced to death, the county would reimburse the owner for the loss of his property. Usually, the testimony of a slave in court, even where the slave was the only witness, was only acceptable if the case involved another slave. By the 1800s, this would somewhat change in some parts of the South, but never entirely until after the Civil War.
The colony extended more opportunity than the motherland in rising above the station of birth, but few people actually expected to do so at this time in the history of the colony. Until the slave economy became prevalent, land was cheap and labor was dear, so that early in the history, there was more opportunity to rise economically. An indentured servant could sell his labor for enough to establish himself as a freeholder in very early Virginia. With the rise of slavery, in the mid-eighteenth century, competing against slave labor made this more difficult for the lower classes. Land prices had risen and the choicest lands were grabbed up by others. By the 1750s, the proliferation of slaves in the colony had decreased the value of the free-man’s labor to such a low standard that the free man had difficulty making a living, much less rising in prosperity or station. Those with social position or wealth to build upon, however, could rise dramatically in financial position. George Washington is a classic example of a man with a little social position and not much financial position, who rose in wealth and station by taking advantage of the times. He married the richest widow in Virginia and amassed huge tracts of land for his military and surveying exploits.
During the 1750s, in the Fairfax courts there were 188 cases of assault and battery, and 100 cases of women brought before the court for having bastard children. In some cases, the fathers of the bastard children were specified, and in others not. The women were fined up to 500 pounds of tobacco, had their indentures increased [usually by one year] and/or were given 25 to 50 lashes “well laid on” their bare backs. The whippings were not the punishment for the crime, but were because the “criminal” could not pay the fine. Five-hundred pounds of tobacco was a hefty fine and probably impossible for most women to pay. It would have been enough for a person to live on for one year. Premarital sex was not so much frowned on for moral reasons, but the court had an interest in not producing children which would be on the county dole. Women in more-affluent circumstances, who had families to provide for them and any illegitimate offspring, or who could pressure the man into marrying her, did not wind up at the whipping post. This was a post-Elizabethan and pre-Victorian era, and the people’s standards of morality were more or less “realistic,” rather than “moralistic.” Station in the community and/or financial status had great bearing in any sentences passed by the courts.
Virginia was ruled by a colonial gentry descended primarily from the “second sons” from England recruited by the Governor. There were many others who were prosperous planters, but were not among this “elite.” The SIMPSONS had probably risen to be among the prosperous planters who were not among the “elite.” They did vote as freeholders in the infrequent elections held for the Burgesses. Elections were held in 1742, 1752, 1755, 1758, and in 1771.
On court days or polling [voting] days, the people who could get away from home gathered at the courthouse. Outside the courthouse the county standard flew proudly from its flag staff, and the royal arms of England were emblazoned above the door. Court day was usually once a month. Farmers came with their produce to sell and the streets around the courthouse were thronged with all sorts of people, both on foot and on horseback. Cake sellers had tables in front of the courthouse and people running for any kind of office were almost required to buy cake and drinks for their supporters, although the law strictly forbade “buying drinks and votes.” Kind of reminds you of the way things are today, doesn’t it?
People attending elections were generally in a jolly mood. Each man would go up when his name was called and sign his name or make his mark underneath the list or “poll” of his candidate. The candidates were usually standing there thanking their supporters. If a candidate couldn’t be present himself, he would get one of his close friends to represent him and personally thank his supporters. There was no secret ballot. Sometimes elections became very heated. Local politics were taken very seriously by the community. [Fairfax County, Virginia---1649-1800.]
In one election in 1755, George Washington, later our President, argued with another man over the election and struck the other man with a stick and knocked him to the ground in the courthouse square. Later, Washington apologized to the man and avoided trouble which might have led to a duel. Since he voted in this election, we may wonder if our GEORGE SIMPSON saw this fight. [Americans]
In 1742, arrangements for the building of the new courthouse for the new county of Fairfax were made at “a place called Spring Fields... between the New Church and Ox road in the branches of Difficult Run, Hunting Creek and Accotinck.” This was probably a log building with rock or brick chimneys. No description exists today.
In his History of Truro Parish, Slaughter states,
Orders for Processioning: James Halley, Sen., and Moses Simpson between Occoquan, the Ox road and the county line. George Simpson and William Keen between the Ox road and the Blacklick road from the parish line down to the road that leads from Cameron by the Glebe to where it crosses the Pohic, below Robert Boggess’
“Processioning” was the colonial way of marking boundaries between adjoining land owners. The church vestry was responsible for this task within the parish. It was supposed to be done every four years, but the vestry was not always timely with processionings. When a time was set, however, each land owner had to be there or send a representative to literally march or procession around the lands. Trees were blazed or other landmarks noted and agreed upon. The lists that survive of these boundary markings give us a good idea of who lived near our ancestors and where their lands were located. Rivers and creeks were frequently noted in deeds or processionings.
The population of Fairfax County in 1749 was 1,947 tithables. The total population of an area was usually calculated at three times the tithable number. Fairfax encompassed both Truro Parish and Cameron Parish. Each parish had more than one church building. For some reason, though, Truro Parish required a much higher budget than Cameron. Truro had three churches, Pohick, Falls, and Rocky Run. There was a vestry house which was a fourth building to support. [Fairfax County, VA, a History]
Each tithable was assessed so many pounds of tobacco per tithable, per year. The church vestry decided what expenses would be, counted the tithables in the parish, and divided the one into the other, and came up with the per-head tax. A white male was a tithable when he reached age 16, slaves were counted at a set age regardless of sex. Widows were not counted, and white female servants were not counted, unless they were worked in the fields. An old or disabled man could be exempted from the head tax, as was a minister. The idea behind the tax of “tithables” was that a productive member of the labor force would be taxed. Non-productive members would not be taxed.
RICHARD-2 and GEORGE SIMPSON-3’s names are on the Fairfax voting lists for the 1744 election for the representatives for the House of Burgesses. George Washington, the future President of the United States, also worshipped at Truro Parish and voted there. George Washington was a vestryman and a member of the House of Burgesses as well. The other Simpson men that voted in that election were Robert Simpson, Baxter Simpson, Gilbert Simpson, and William Simpson They were classed with the planter class, well above the yeoman class of farmers, but not of the aristocracy. By this time, Virginia required ownership of either 25 acres of improved lands or 100 acres of raw lands in order to vote. [Fairfax County, VA, a History]
GEORGE-3 had patented 256 acres on “South Run of Pohick adjacent own land” November 14, 1741. In May, 1761, GEORGE-3 bought 182 acres on “southwest side South Run Pohick” from Catesby Cocke [Fairfax Deeds D:875.]
In 1752, the Fairfax Courthouse was moved to Alexandria, which was showing signs of becoming a major seaport. The county court remained there until about 1798 when it was moved to Providence. Fairfax, as a whole, experienced great growth during the 1750s. The population was about 5,500 in 1750, but rose to 7,600 by 1756, which was a 40% growth in six years. Loudoun County was split off from Fairfax lands due to the distance the citizens in the west had to travel to the county seat, and due to the increase in population in the area. [Fairfax County, VA, a History]
The children of Richard-2 and Sarah __?__Simpson
John “The Scotsman” Simpson-1; Richard-2; George-3
GEORGE SIMPSON-3, perhaps the oldest son, born about 1724, married SUSANNAH WHEELER. He died before November 18, 1782, in Fairfax County.
Captain Richard, Simpson, Jr.-3, was born about 1723 and married Mary Kincheloe. They moved to North Carolina in the 1750s. He died about 1786 in Caswell County, North Carolina. His only son, Richard Simpson-4, encouraged the migration of their Simpson cousins to North Carolina in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Elizabeth Simpson-3, who may be the oldest child, was born 1717, she died July 22, 1785. She married James Halley, who may be the same man who received the 300 acres of land that Ann [Simpson-2] Gist’s affidavit referred to. They moved to Caswell County, North Carolina, as well.
Sary or Sarah Simpson-3, born about 1734 in Fairfax area, married John Thomas Windsor. There has been much published research on the descendants of this family, and the ancestors of the Windsor line who supposedly came from the family for whom Windsor Castle was named. This volume will not attempt to reproduce this research. However, those interested in this information may find it in almost any large genealogical library.
Mary Simpson-3, born about 1738, married Samuel Canterbury as her first husband, and Eli Cleveland as her second.
Moses Simpson-3, is sometimes confused with the Moses-4, son of William-3, son of Thomas Simpson-2. Moses-4 was born April 20, 1748. Moses-3, the son of RICHARD-2, died in Fairfax in 1787 and left his property, known as the Calico Tract, [Fairfax Wills E:184] to his nephews, George-4 and Joseph Simpson-4. In the 1782 census, he was shown as owning 37 slaves and as the only white person in the household. Also, he had 15 buildings of one sort or another on his property.
We don’t know if he married or had children, but apparently not. There were several men named Moses Simpson, so the records are somewhat confused. The author has not made any major attempt to straighten these lines out. His will, in Fairfax, Virginia, dated January 7, 1787, lists his nephews.
The life of the people in Virginia was governed by the seasons of planting and the rhythms of nature. Planting season for tobacco started shortly after Christmas, as early as the weather would allow. Seedbeds were prepared and the seedlings slowly sprouted. After five months, the plants were transplanted into the fields. Transplanting seedlings is what is referred to as “stoop labor” since it must be done stooping over, or on hands and knees. Once in the fields, the seedlings had to be kept weed-free by hoeing and cultivating until they were large. They required constant care and observation, so that the huge ugly tobacco worms did not devour them. The worms had to be hand-picked off the plants. These same green-horned worms infest many gardens today and devour the tomatoes. Then the harvest time came, which was another labor-intensive process. The tobacco cycle exercised a complete control over the lives of the Virginians.
White women were almost never worked in the fields during this period, even indentured servants. The women, though seldom worked in the fields, did not lead a life of leisure. Even “housekeeping” required so much manual labor that the women toiled even if they didn’t work in the fields. There was still the kitchen garden to tend, and clothing to produce, cows to milk, meat to slaughter and process.
The plantations grew the fibers for spinning and weaving into clothing for the family and for the slaves and servants. Flax plants were grown for linen and sheep were grown for wool, and later, cotton was grown. These were processed, spun into thread, and woven in the home for the family’s and the servants’ needs. If the family was wealthy, they might have materials for dress-up clothing imported from England. Even wealthy people in the colonies, though, did not have many changes of clothing as we do today. Clothing was an item of high value passed on in wills. Shoes and boots were made for the individual, but they were not made for left and right feet, but were more generic. Many people did not have shoes at all, but would use a rough form of moccasin. Good shoes were usually kept for ceremonial occasions. A pair of shoes cost more than a day’s labor for a common man.
Flax and wool were the principle fibers used for clothing before the Revolution. Cotton required too much hand labor to separate the lint from the seeds before the invention of the cotton gin in 1793. Though they were also labor intensive, flax and wool required less hand labor and the fibers were easier to prepare for spinning and weaving.
In addition to crop-calendar activities, the Christian calendar held influence in the community. Debts were settled and rents due on Lady Day [March 25], mid-summer’s day [June 24], Michaelmas [September 29], and Christmas Day. Many saints’ days, and other religious holidays were also celebrated. New Year’s Day was the day for gift giving in early Virginia, rather than Christmas as we do today. [Fischer, Albion’s Seed, pg. 370.]
RICHARD-2 and SARAH SIMPSON participated in this plantation and community life and lived to see their children grown and with families and plantations of their own. Several of the children settled around RICHARD and SARAH’s plantation, but others moved away to find new lands.
Richard Simpson, Jr.-3, called “Captain” Simpson, had received land grants and moved to Orange/Caswell County, North Carolina, about 1751, but the family continued to visit and maintain close ties. Captain Richard-3 Simpson’s son, Colonel Richard-4, [John “The Scotsman Simpson-1; Richard-2, Captain Richard-3; Colonel Richard-4] sold land to GEORGE-3’s sons and convinced many of them to move to North Carolina. Colonel Richard Simpson-4 eventually moved to Kentucky where he died. Their titles were probably related to militia service, but at this point we have no proof of that supposition.
The will of RICHARD SIMPSON-2 [Fairfax Will Book B, pg. 347] was dated September 19, 1761, and probated December 21, 1762, in Fairfax. RICHARD-2 was about 70 years old when he died. In the will, RICHARD-2 gave GEORGE-3 the land on which he lived, being part of two tracts, and he gave Moses-3 204 acres of land lying on the south run of Pohick that was purchased of Sam Tollburd. RICHARD-2’s son. Moses-3, later left this same land to GEORGE-3’s son, Richard-4. RICHARD-2 left the use of 12 slaves to his wife, “SARY” and gave two slaves outright to GEORGE-3, two each to Richard-3, Moses-3, Elizabeth-3, daughter Sary-3, and to Mary Canterbury, “in default of heirs to Elizabeth Halley and Sary Windser.” Grand-daughter Karen Happuch-4 [this was a given name, from the Bible] and Grandson George Windsor-4 received one Negro each.
RICHARD SIMPSON-2 owned about 25 slaves. Owning this large number of slaves meant he was quite affluent, though far below the huge wealth and number of slaves owned by the aristocrats, like George Washington, who owned nearly 200 slaves. Only about seven-percent of the people living in Virginia owned any slaves at all during this time-period. Most of those who did own slaves, owned only one or two. Very few slave owners owned six or more. If you use the number of slaves owned as a gauge of wealth, the number of slaves which RICHARD owned placed him in the top one-or two-percent of the wealthiest men in the colony at that time.
SARAH “Barker” SIMPSON also wrote a will, and it was probated in 1766 in Fairfax. SARAH had one son from her previous marriage, William Barker. Her will gave her son, Moses Simpson-3, a gold ring, and if he died without heirs, that ring was to go to Sarah Simpson-4, daughter of GEORGE-3. SARAH also left to granddaughter, Sarah Halley-4, the wife of William Wilkinson, a gold ring with the first two letters of her name engraved in it. Sarah Windsor and Sarah Simpson-4, the daughter of Richard Simpson, Jr.-3, each received a ring. She directed that her wearing apparel be equally divided between three granddaughters, with Elizabeth Halley getting first pick. She left GEORGE-3, Moses-3, and Richard-3 one shilling sterling each. To William Barker, “My well beloved son ... all and every part of my estate except those legacies above mentioned.” William Barker was the executor. The will was signed May, 1764. For whatever reason, RICHARD SIMPSON-2 had failed to mention his step-son, William Barker, in his will at all. SARAH apparently made up to some extent for this slight or oversight of her firstborn. [Fairfax Will Book B, page 418.]
What exactly it was that SARAH owned in fee simple which she could will to her son, William Barker, is unknown. She would have had a dower in her husband’s real property, [a life estate in one-third of it] but she couldn’t have willed that portion of the estate as it reverted to her husband’s heirs upon her death. If she had inherited lands, slaves, or other goods from her own family, she might have owned that property in fee simple, and thus have been able to will it to whom she pleased. She may also have received part of the personal estate of either her former husband or of RICHARD in fee simple and willed that. Virginia was one state in which the widow [at certain times] received part of the personal estate of her husband in fee simple as part of her dower.
Obviously, the family had prospered to the point they were relatively wealthy by the standards of the day. The bequests of the gold-initial mourning rings was common with the upper classes in that era. The bequest of clothing was also common practice and frequently mentioned in wills. Sometimes the articles were even described in detail. The colonial period of Virginia from 1650 to 1800 was a time of increasing prosperity for the families of the colonists.
Few girls today would be “thrilled” by inheriting the clothing of their grandmother. In Colonial America, however, clothing or cloth ordered from England was quite dear and not to be cast off lightly just because the owner died, or the item was slightly worn. Bathing and changing clothing every day, as most people in this country do today, was not practiced in the eighteenth century. Among some groups of people the only real baths they might get would be at birth and at death. That didn’t mean that they never washed at all, just that a “tub bath,” or all- over-bath, was not the common practice.