Col. Peter Ashton - Looks like the Colonel was childless

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Simon Miller definitely had a first wife:

https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0227...

James Hughes 2005-07-04 12:33:38
Re: Simon Miller/Margaret Gaines - VA

Posted By: Margaret Amundson
Email:
Subject: Re: Simon Miller/Margaret Gaines - VA
Post Date: September 10, 2002 at 10:26:16
Message URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/miller/messages/21617.html
Forum: Miller Family Genealogy Forum
Forum URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/miller/

Margaret (?) may have had two children by Simon Miller her second husband. The will of James Scott probated in King George Co. 4 January 1722/3 names three aunts, one is Margaret Amon, Isabella Triplett and Margaret Taliferro and his Uncle Hugh French. This suggest to me first that James Scott's mother was probably Mary French who would have been a half sister to Isabella and Margaret Aron [if she is the Margaret Miller named in Symon's will] And Hugh and Margaret Taliaferro were his full blooded relations by Margaret [who was not nee Gaines] and Hugh French.
Here is an excerpt from a segment of the book I am working on.
John further directed that he be buried next to his first wife, Martha. He named his children, including a son Anthony, who is identified in the will of Simon Miller, as Margaret's child. Prosser’s will was presented for probate 30 June 1677. The exact date of Prosser's death is not known. The family lived on the frontier of [Old] Rappahannock County, where there was an Indian massacre on 25 January 1675-76. There was a higher than usual number of wills submitted for probate in [Old] Rappahannock County, in 1677. It is felt by many that this can be explained by Bacon's Rebellion. However, Dr. Lorena S. Walsh in a letter to the compiler 15 February 1995, thinks there was an epidemic in the region that caused this increase in deaths, because the phenomenon occurred in Maryland also.
It can not be established exactly when Margaret married Simon Miller. Not only is exact date of John Prosser’s death not known, but neither is the date of Symon Miller's first wife. Margaret probably did not remain a widow too long. A widow with property did not have a hard time finding a husband. Simon had several motherless children, and Margaret had at least one of her own, and three stepchildren to care for. Symon [sic] Miller, boatwright sold four hundred and forty acres to Roger Cleveland, November 1679. Margaret signed with an M for her mark. Thomas Hoskins Warner in his History of [Old] Rappahannock County, Virginia, has the following to say about Symon Miller:

...During the summer and fall of 1676, Major Simon Miller, who was in command of Bacon's forces in the upper Rappahannock...devoted his efforts to fighting the Indians and keeping them under control. His lands lay on the south branch of Puemendson Run, sometimes called Mill Creek: and later on he lived on Golden Vale Creek above Port Royal. Miller's lands adjoined those of Cadwallader Jones and were within the area of the massacre of January 25, 1675-76. So great was the service of Symon Miller in protecting the settlers when their homes and lives were imperiled by the red men that even his nominal enemies joined with his friends in petitioning the Governor to look upon him with an eye of favor.

Cadwallader Jones wrote when it appeared Miller might be hung, along with others who participated in Bacon's Rebellion,

...because of the good he hath done to protect this section from the Indians and keeping them under control.

Simon Miller wrote his will 16 February 1679. He was seven and thirty years old then. In it he lists the following children; Simon, William, John, Susanna, Isabella, and Margaret. He mentioned Anthony Prosser and called him his wife's son. Later on in his will he included provisions for the sons of Mr. Prosser
===

I think that maybe he was just very meticulous, and wanted to give the kids to control over their own lives if James Ashton wasn't around to advise them. For some reason James seems to be very much in demand as a godfather and guardian.

Simon was 37 years old when he made the will, and apparently not expecting to die immediately since the will was made in 1679 but not used until 4 or 5 years later. He described the seven children named Miller as his sons and daughters, and he gave them all land. The amount isn't described for all of them, but there are two bequests of 200 acres and one of 408 1/2 acres "adjoyning to Col Cadwalldr Jones". I like that guy's name. I wonder if the daughter who got 400+ acres was his favorite.

He was generous enough to give each of his underage stepsons a cow. Apparently he was a breeder of horses, since he talks quite a lot about having a stock of them. He even talks about what will happen if his wife's next husband doesn't keep up the property.

The wording is ambiguous, but it looks like maybe James Ashton is to step in as overseer only if Margaret's next husband doesn't take care of the property. That makes more sense than just appointing him as overseer no matter what, and Miller's property was apparently close enough to Chatterton for James to step in if Margaret and her new husband were letting everything go to hell.

"I give unto my wife Margaret Miller the plantation and houses I not live in during her natural life. And in case she should mary one that should lett the house and orchard goe to Ruin then she is to return to her thirds accouding And I make James Ashton overseer over my estate and children and the overseer Jas Ashton to dispose of the children at sixteen years of age as he shall think fitt "

Agree, they’re neighbors; James Ashton to keep an eye on things (livestock, property, new husbands ...). But explicitly the Miller kids.

I’ve always loved the name Cadawaller Jones!

Anyway, this god parenting is a curious business. In all the Ashton wills we saw that the legatees were in fact related. In other Virginia wills I’ve seen orphan children taken in my neighbors, and guardians. But this is the first I’ve seen an “overseer.”

1st wife of Simon Miller

Mother of Simon Miller, John Miller and Sarah Parks.

It seems to me that the overseer job would be hard to legally enforce if James actually did have to step in and do something. If Margaret and her new husband weren't taking care of the property themselves, they might resent having a neighbor come in and start trying to run the show. He wouldn't actually have a right to do it unless he went to court and they appointed him.

https://genfiles.com/articles/orphans-guardians/

The guardian’s primary role was management and preservation of the inherited property until the child reached majority and could manage it themselves. The Virginia statute of 1643 put it succinctly: “…guardians and overseers of all orphants shall carefully keep and preserve such estates as shall be comitted to their trust either by order of court or otherwise…” 3

So “overseer” of the orphans property (looks like more livestock than land). Remember that James was JP, obviously respectable and trusted. I think the arrangement was good for all. Capt Simon Miller sounds like something of a hero, and I think these guys all knew each other in Bacon’s Rebellion, so that’s another common element.

There’s a lot of Prosser property ..,

“Item I give to my 2 sonns joyntly by name Roger Prosser & Anthony Prosser a devident of land containing 1,100 acres lying upon Mattepony Swamp to them & their heires for ever to be divied by lott, when the eldest of them come of age & they dying without issue to be equally divided betweene the surviving brethren; yet this shall be no barr to any of them or to hinder any one of them from selling his own proper inheritance if occassion require. ...”

https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0050...

John Prosser

OK well there's the word "overseer" in the legal code. It was a real thing, not some creative terminology that Simon Miller cooked up in his own mind.

Do you think James was involved in Bacon's Rebellion? It's funny how an event that's mostly forgotten today had such a huge impact in colonial Virginia. Its influence is everywhere, and I keep running into it in various branches of my family tree.

1676 - all brothers (and sister (s)) we’re in Virginia:

“Modern historians have suggested the rebellion may have been a power play by Bacon against Berkeley and his favoritism towards certain members of the court. Bacon's financial backers included men of wealth from outside Berkeley's circle of influence.[4]”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon%27s_Rebellion

(You have considered the possibility that some of these unknown mothers of the godchildren could be Ashton sisters, cousins, nieces ... ) ?

We've suspected all along that Richard Elkins was a nephew, so the others could certainly be nephews and nieces too. I'm not totally convinced that Mary Elkins was a sister - I think it's odd that James refers to Richard as a godchild not a nephew, and that he doesn't mention Mary or her other children in his will when they were living nearby. But it does look like there's some kind of blood relationship.

The paraphrasers of Peter's will all indicate that John and James were still living in England when Peter died, and came to Virginia in 1672 or later. As newcomers they may not have felt ready yet to rebel against anything, and having lived through the English Civil War they may have had their fill of fighting and politics. But they certainly would have been aware of the rebellion.

And who knows, maybe they actually LIKED the governor. He obviously had some supporters, because the rebellion would have succeeded if everybody hated him and wanted him gone.

The Battle of Winwick Pass, 19 August 1648 by John Barratt

https://www.newton-le-willows.com/954/

Baillie met Cromwell at the bridge and agreed terms. The Scots surrendered as prisoners of war, giving up their colours and arms. Few of the rank and file ever seem to have found their way home, dying either in prison, or from hard usage and disease in England or as near slave labour in the West Indies.


Hamilton, with about 3,000 horse, survived a few days longer, heading with increasingly aim-less desperation south through Cheshire and into Staffordshire, followed by Cromwells horse, so weary that they could scarcely move at a faster pace than a walk. On 25 August, his men in a state of mutiny, and with Parliamentarian forces closing in on all sides, Hamilton surrendered at Uttoxeter.

Apart from a few stubbornly resisting Royalist garrisons such as Colchester and Pontefract, the Second Civil War was over.

(Trying to find Elizabeth Ashton )

https://web.archive.org/web/20120722215905/http://www.stoswaldwinwi...

The Pugin Chancel

Cromwell had stationed his troops in the Church after the Battle of Red Bank 1648. Much damage was done to the church; from then onwards the mediaeval chancel decayed. It was reconstructed in 1849 by the famous architect A.W. Pugin who designed every detail – modelling it on the old chancel – from floor tiles to ceiling, and from stained glass to vestry cupboards. In 1970 the chancel was restored to Pugin’s original design and is one of the glories of the church.

'Townships: Winwick with Hulme', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 140-142. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp140-142 [accessed 15 July 2019].

Two encounters took place here in the Civil War; in 1643 Colonel Assheton routed the Cavaliers (fn. 3)

3. 23 May 1643. 'Whilst the duty (of prayer and fasting) was in performing tidings came of the taking of Winwick Church and steeple, they on the steeple standing on terms till God sent a deadly messenger out of a fowling piece to one of them; also a strong hall [the rectory] possessed by professed Roman Catholics and stored with provision, as if it had been purposely laid in both for our supply and ease'; Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 138. For a counter attack on the parsonage in 1650, and its tragic results, see the account of Rixton

https://wheredoyougetideas.wordpress.com/plunder-and-loot/the-siege...

The English Civil War broke over Liverpool in May 1643, when Parliamentarian Colonel Assheton took the town and penned the Royalists up in Liverpool castle before driving them out of town with the loss of 300 prisoners and 80 dead. There were 1,000 Parliamentarian horse and foot soldiery in Liverpool under the authority of Colonel John Moore; Parliament meanwhile sequestered the tithes of the parish of Walton, which then included Liverpool. ....

Once the monarchy was restored in 1660, the castle of Liverpool was destroyed by order of Charles II.

——

So now we can suspect the Ashton’s of Virginia were no Cavaliers nor Catholics (although of course the family could have divided its loyalties). And that puts them closer to Bacon’s crew also.

That would be this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Assheton_(general)_

Maj. Gen. Ralph Assheton

With a Banaster daughter (as in Banastre Tarleton...)

Mary Banastre

Descent traced to an Australian arriver ...

Eliza Wilson

Maj. Gen. Ralph Assheton Was her 4th great grandfather

https://www.geni.com/path/Eliza-Wilson+is+related+to+Maj-Gen-Ralph-...

—-

This is a productive area to explore.

- Military
- Correct geography

I don’t think Gen. Ralph is “it” but perhaps nearby. Fingers crossed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Assheton_(general)
|"Assheton's eldest son Ralph was created a baronet after the restoration."

So the baronet and the knight are from the same family. I'd been wondering if they were, since they're both from Middleton, but I hadn't summoned up enough ambition to check it out.

It seems possible that the Ashton-Tarleton marriage in Winwick was related to this family. Winwick is about 20 miles from Middleton, which isn't conducive to daily visits. But it's close enough for occasional meetings, and for all we know it might have been an arranged marriage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Assheton_(general)
"In November 1640, Assheton was elected MP for Lancashire in the Long Parliament.[3] He was an energetic supporter of parliament and the avowed leader of the Presbyterian party in Lancashire. In the Civil War he became a colonel-general in the parliamentary army and was commander in chief of the parliamentary forces in Lancashire. He was excluded from parliament in 1648.... Assheton's eldest son Ralph was created a baronet after the restoration."

That's pretty weird. This guy was vigorously fighting the Royalists, but his son was made a baronet after the restoration. Either the father and son were fighting on opposite sides, or father got mad and changed sides after he was excluded from Parliament. Either way, the son was rewarded after the war.

There's a tedious account of the lineage of both Assheton baronets at https://books.google.com/books?id=K1kBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA19&lpg=... They don't say much about the father who fought the royalists. They say that the son was knighted by Charles I and created a baronet by Charles II after the restoration, but they don't give a reason for it.

It says that someone was hanged for witchcraft in connection with the death of the General's first son in 1631.

Ha! I knew it.

Maj. Gen. Ralph Assheton is General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB's third great grandfather.

https://www.geni.com/path/General-Sir-Banastre-Tarleton-1st-Baronet...

And we’ve arrived in America ...

I have no idea which side the Chatterton/Lincolnshire Ashtons were on, or if they had divided loyalties. I suspect that John and James sat out Bacon's rebellion just simply because there are no reports of them getting in trouble afterwards. The men who joined the rebellion were on the wrong side of the law, and could hang for what they did. John and James could have stayed at home sympathizing like mad (or deploring it like mad), without caring enough to put their own lives at risk.

Some men were hanged after the rebellion. Simon Miller got off easy because he was a local hero for other reasons, and local sympathy for the cause could have contributed to that. Dominic Rice had to beg pardon on his knees with a rope around his neck.

Not too long ago I was looking up someone (don't remember the name) who joined Bacon's rebellion but found out that he'd misunderstood their intentions, and what they were actually doing wasn't something that he wanted to be part of. So he left, with the reluctant permission of Bacon himself. Afterwards he had to present letters explaining the situation to get himself off the hook. It looks like anyone who'd been involved had some 'splainin to do, and they couldn't just go home and act like it never happened.

One of my alleged ancestors actually died in the rebellion: Nathaniel Frith, II

40 of the less prominent Baconians (including George Proctor) were able to take advantage of the King's pardon, and signed a letter saying that they "do with all humility and earnestness implore and lay hold on his Majesty's most gracious act of pardon". They were mostly from Southwark parish. See https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir6kljPPONgC&pg=PA136&lpg... for a full list of names.

Royalist Ashton’s of Penketh here

Thomas Ashton

http://vagenweb.org/stafford//tricent.htm

Stafford County Tricentennial

August 1 - 8, 1964

From the Souvenir Program

STAFFORD, " THIS LAND IS OURS"

In 1664 because of increasing number of settlers on the Potomac and Aquia Creeks, a new county was formed by a line drawn westward from the Potomac River somewhere below Potomac Creek, although there is no known record of the actual location of this southern boundary. This new county, which included all of the territory between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers from the elusive southern boundary to the Blue Ridge Mountains, was named "Stafford'. This territory came from Westmoreland County and at that time Stafford included all of what was later to become Prince William, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Alexandria (renamed Arlington in 1920).

The name Stafford was taken from "Staffordshire", the home country in England of Captain George Mason and Captain Gerard Fowks, both early leaders in Stafford, and of many other Cavalier followers of Charles II who was denied his place on the throne of England by Oliver Cromwell. Many of the Cavaliers whose property in England was confiscated by Cromwell sought refuge in Virginia, a colony still faithful to the English King despite his displacement by Cromwell. Wanting more land and freedom than they found at Jamestown, a number of Cavaliers, having heard of Giles Brent's village travel up the Potomac to the settlement at Aquia. it was during this period that the population in the region around the Creeks rose sharply, creating the necessity for the formation of the country called "Stafford', the name being brought by the Cavaliers from their home country in England. ...

Near where the Jesuits are alleged to have landed and where they attempted to build what would have been the first Catholic church in America, Giles Brent, ironically a Catholic himself, having left Maryland over circumstances arising in connection with the land holdings of his Indian wife, built a home. Later he was joined here by his sisters, Margaret and Mary, and other followers from Maryland. Soon on Aquia Creek, at what is now Brent's Point, the group erected a Catholic church around which formed the village of Aquia. Brent's small village thrived at first because of his friendly relations with the Indians. These friendly relations were unusual in the 1640s and were fostered by the fact that Brent was married to an Indian Princess, Kittamaquad. Then in the 1650s the Cavaliers, having lost their land in England when Cromwell took the throne, came to Aquia seeking new land; and Giles Brent, although a Catholic at a time when the only legal form of worship in Virginia was the Church of England, took many of these men in, furnished them with protection from the Indians, and showed them the ways of survival in the New World.

With the influx of the Cavaliers, Aquia became a prosperous village with a stone quarry, warehouses, many homes, and a wharf from which the tobacco from the newly settled plantations was shipped to England and Europe, and thus when Stafford became a county in 1664, over 500 people lived in the area around Aquia and Potomac Creeks.

Strangely Giles Brent, a Catholic in a Protestant state, set the stage fro much of the greatness which was to emanate from Stafford. However, it was from the Cavaliers whom Brent had aided that many of the leaders of Virginia were to come. Many of the Cavaliers, unaccustomed to hard labor, suffered along in the wilds of Stafford until 1660 when Charles II overthrew the followers of Cromwell and returned as King of England. Charles remembered with gratitude the loyalty of the Cavaliers and rewarded many of them with money and land. This firmly established many prominent families in Stafford. Among these William Fitzhugh, the emigrant, and George Mason, ancestor of his famous namesake who wrote the "Virginia Bill of Rights', were particularly outstanding. William Fitzhugh, having come to the country in 1655, acquired widespread acreage throughout the country and at the time of his death left thirty-eight tracts of land which totaled 53,688 acres. The Fitzhughs continued to predominate in the early history of Stafford County. While few of the planters had holdings comparable to Fitzhugh's, many with the coming of slaves, lived grandly.

Aquia is about 12 miles from Chatterton in a straight line. The distance by land is probably about 20 because the river does some meandering.

Are they saying that William Fitzhugh was a Royalist? Not necessarily an actual soldier, since we know he was a lawyer, but at least a sympathizer. That would be a possible argument for the Ashtons being Royalists, since they did business with him. But they needed to go to someone for legal assistance, and there may not have been a lot of other options.

They're not kidding about Fitzhugh being land-grabby. Every time I see that guy doing something for his own interests, he's trying to buy some more land.

"until 1660 when Charles II overthrew the followers of Cromwell and returned as King of England."

Well that's a gross exaggeration. Oliver Cromwell died and nobody liked his son, so they invited Charles to take the throne since they didn't have anyone better to put at the head of the government.

From https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0195...

Among those who resided in the "suburban" area (Westmoreland Co. VA) above Machodic, at Nomini Creek, were:

Walter BRODHURST, Edmund BRENT, Nicholas SPENCER, Valentine PEYTON, Maj. John HALLOWES(HOLLIS),

Above Nomini resided at Appomattox Creek (now Mattox) Col. John WASHINGTON, his father-in-law, Col. Nathaniel POPE, William BUTLER, the minister, and Andrew MONROE, who lived in Maryland, in 1643.

Still further upthe river, beyond Nomini, were Samuel HAYWARD, , Col. Giles BRENT, and his famous sister, Margaret BRENT, at "Peace" on Acquia Creek.

Other settlers were Capt. John ASHTON, Capt. John LORD, brother of Rich'd LORD, of Hartford, New England; Capt. William HARDWICH, a tailor from Maryland, brother-in-law of Mrs. WASHINGTON; Thomas STURMAN, of Maryland; Daniel HUTT, formerly of London; John ROSIER, minister, Anthony BRIDGES, Capt. George MASON (born in 1629), John HILLILER, Capt. Thomas EWELL, Col. Gerrard FOWKE, Col. Thomas SPEKE, Capt. William PIERCE, Capt. John APPLETON, Col. Tomas BLAGG, Capt. Alexander BAINHAM, Col. John DODMAN, Lewis MARKHAM, Clement SPELMAN, William BROWNE, of Plymouth, Daniel LISSON, Robert VAULX, and Capt. Thomas and William BALDRIDGE. " ( Genealogies of VA Families" from Wm. & Mary Quarterly, Vol. V, p.903-907.)

The Famous Sister: Margaret Brent

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