Dabney Family of Early Virginia
Cornelius Dabney (b 1630) and his descendants
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John Dabney

Male Abt 1715 - Bef 1771  (~ 55 years)


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  • Name John Dabney 
    Born Abt 1715  New Kent County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Died Bef 1771  Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Person ID I468  Dabneys of Virginia
    Last Modified 7 Oct 2016 

    Father Cornelius Dabney, II,   b. Abt 1686, New Kent County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1764/65, Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 79 years) 
    Mother (__) (__),   d. Bef Apr 1721 
    Married Bef 1713 
    Family ID F320  Group Sheet

    Family Anna Harris,   b. 31 Mar 1724, Albemarle County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft Jul 1766, Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age > 42 years) 
    Married Abt 1739/40  [3
    Children 
     1. Sarah Dabney,   b. 2 Oct 1740, Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 10 Jan 1822, Spotsylvania County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 81 years)
     2. Mary Dabney,   b. 14 Sep 1742, Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location
     3. William Dabney,   b. Abt 1743, Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1779, Henry County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 36 years)
     4. John Dabney,   b. 3 May 1749, Albemarle County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 11 Mar 1831, Williamson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 81 years)
     5. Anna Dabney,   b. ca 1746-50, Hanover Or Albemarle County Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1784  (Age ~ 173 years)
     6. Elizabeth Jennings Dabney,   b. 18 Jun 1751, Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Jun 1826, Albemarle County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 74 years)
     7. Susan Dabney,   b. 1756
     8. Lucy Dabney
     9. Rebecca Dabney,   d. Aft 1840, Bedford County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location
     10. Cornelius Dabney,   b. Abt 1759, Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft Oct 1815, Rutherford County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 56 years)
     11. Nancy Dabney,   b. Bef 1766
    Last Modified 14 Jul 2010 
    Family ID F322  Group Sheet

  • Notes 
    • John Dabney was born to Cornelius Dabney II and his first wife (name unknown) about 1713 in New Kent County, later Hanover County, Virginia. He is called John Dabney of Spotsylvania in W. H. Dabney’s Sketch of the Dabneys of Virginia, but the reason is unclear.
      He married Anna Harris about 1739/40. She was a daughter of Major Robert and Mourning (Glenn) Harris of Albemarle County, Virginia. John and Anna had 11 children: Sarah, born 1746; Mary; William, born abt 1748; John, born May 3, 1749; Anna; Elizabeth; Susan; Lucy; Rebecca; Cornelius; and Nancy.
      In 1747, he substituted for his father in the quadrennial processioning of his father’s land in Hanover County. Processioning was a legally requred procedure in which groups of land holders in a small area would walk around the edges of farms, usually with the owners, to make sure there was agreement between neighbors about boundaries. This was done every four years and was important for the public interest because the very irregular boundaries defined by the old metes-and-bounds system and the rough surveying methods of the time could easily lead to disagreements between neighbors.
      In 1750, he was appointed a tobacco inspector at Page’s Warehouse, located on the Pamunkey River at Hanover Town, a no longer existing 18th Century village. The purpose of the inspectors was to ensure that tobacco collected to be shipped to England and Europe was of high quality. In 1752, the inspectors at Page’s and nearby Crutchfield’s warehouses petitioned the House of Burgesses for increased pay because of an increase in the volume of their business. The House concluded that the request was reasonable and ordered an increase of £10 for each year of their service to date. At the next session in 1753, the predecessors of the inspectors asked the House to increase their pay retroactively, so the House resolved that John and the other inspectors should share their increase with the claimants. The inspectors refused and the former inspectors appealed to the House, which passed a resolution repeating the first one, but without enforcement. John was still employed as an inspector in 1761, when he and the other inspectors at Page’s warehouse requested reimbursement by the government for 2 hogsheads of tobacco stolen from the warehouse, but were refused.
      In 1759, he bought 400 acres in Albemarle County on Ivey and Moore’s Creeks from David and Mary Lewis of Albemarle County, William and Frances Terrell of Louisa County and Joel Terrell of Albemarle County. He may have been living in Albemarle County in 1763 because he failed to participate in processioning in Hanover in that year. In May of 1763, he purchased 400 acres called Terrell’s Ordinary on both sides of the road from the Blue Ridge to Albemarle Courthouse from Joel and Anne Terrell. He continued to hold 140 acres in Hanover, according to the 1763 quit-rent roll for Hanover County. In May, 1765, he traded the Terrell’s Ordinary tract to his son William in exchange for 400 acres on Mecham’s River, also in Albemarle County. In July of 1766, they traded the two tracts back again. He may have moved back to Hanover before 1767, when he was a processioner again.
      In 1765, he was appointed one of the executors of the will of his father, Cornelius. He was living when his land was processioned in 1767, but deceased before the processioning in 1771. In May, 1773, 600 acres of his Albemarle land were sold by the trustees of his estate to James Kerr and 200 acres to Robert Anderson to pay his debts. Anna was living in 1766 when she signed a deed conveying 400 acres to their son William, but her death date has not been found. [1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]

  • Sources 
    1. [S533]

    2. [S212] 12 Nov 1771, p. 490. Describes John Dabney as deceased..

    3. [S263]

    4. [S38] p. 163..

    5. [S445]

    6. [S247] 1752-1755, 1756-1758, p. 55..

    7. [S1611]

    8. [S438]

    9. [S439]

    10. [S440]

    11. [S356]

    12. [S212] p. 490..

    13. [S441]