Updated, 9/27/2017
After more extensive research I decided to redo the section of John Meeks in Hanover County. The reason we are interested in Hanover County is because of the deed record of Littleton Meeks selling 117 acres on Allens Creek in Hanover County. This land was willed to Littleton by John Meeks. From an immigration perspective, Allens Creek was the oldest settled land for anyone in our Meeks family to be associated with. So it is generally assumed that the family, including William Meeks (1720-1797) lived in Hanover County before migrating to the west.
To fully understand what is going on, we need to keep things in context. We'll start with the history of the area. A good place to start is in the year 1700 when this area was all located within New Kent County and St. Peters Parish.
The eastern seaboard has a geometric feature called the Fall Line. This line divides the upland region of hard crystalline basement rock and the coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. Its called the fall line because the rivers all have waterfalls at this line as the ground transitions from high to low.
Because of this geometric feature, no European settlements beyond the fall line were built before 1700 (I am specifically referring to the James River area of Virginia). The disadvantage of settling beyond the fall line was lack of access to ships. The area that St. Paul's Parish will be established is in New Kent County and this fall line runs right through it:
According to the Huguenot Society, No settlements beyond the fall line were built prior to 1700. However, leaders in Virginia were anxious to settle beyond the fall line for a buffer against attacks from the Natives. The first settlement began with Manakin Town. Several French Huguenot refugees came to Virginia in 1700, and the leaders of Virginia had them settle about 20 miles beyond the James River Fall Line. In the map above I have Manakin Town Highlighted, along with Allens Creek to see where they are with respect to the Fall Line.
The Huguenot Society claims that by 1710, settlements had already developed farther west than Manakin town and westward development beyond the Fall Line was well underway. The land beyond the Fall Line is known as the Piedmont.
In the year 1700, religious services for New Kent County were being administered solely by St. Peter's Parish. But due to settlement expansion into the Piedmont, a new Parish farther west was needed. St. Paul's Parish was created in 1704. The boundary of the new parish was everything in New Kent County west of the Matadequin River. At the time New Kent County had no western boarder, so by extension, neither did St. Paul's Parish.
When settlements got a foothold in the Piedmont, the population started to explode and New Kent County could no longer support the distant settlements to the west. So Hanover County was organized in 1719. Its eastern boarder being the boundary between St. Paul's Parish and St. Peter's Parish. At the time, like New Kent County, it didn't have a western boarder.
In 1726 the population became too great for St. Paul's Parish to handle and so St. Martin's Parish was created. The boarder between St. Martin's and St. Paul was the South Anna River. Starting from the fork until it reached Stone Horse Creek. Allen's Creek is located in the boundary of St. Martin's Parish.
Finally in 1742, Louisa County was formed, just a little west of Allen's Creek, which finally defined a western boarder for Hanover County. The map below shows the boundary of Hanover County, the yellow line shows us where the Fall Line is, the red line shows the border between St. Martin's and St. Paul's Parish.
Information gathered from The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish can conclude that settlements in the area of Allens Creek began around the late 1710's. So we know that settlements west of the yellow line did not appear until the year 1700, and about 15 years later settlements were showing up on Allen's Creek. A chapel was built by Allen's Creek in 1724 and it was considered a frontier chapel at the time. [The Colonial Churches of New Kent and Hanover Counties, Virginia, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 53, No. 4, Oct. 1945. by George Carrington Mason, page 257]
Records for Allen's Creek grow silent in 1726, when it fell into the district of St. Martin's Parish. The Vestry Book of St. Martin's Parish didn't survive. This is one reason there's so little information in this area.
St. Paul's Parish would routinely organize its constituents into precincts, first one happened in 1708. When these precincts were organized, it was written down what precinct the land owners belonged to. In other words, the names of all the land owners were mentioned along with the land owners they lived near.
The name John Meeks appears in the precinct organizations several times.
The first precinct that's of interest to us is precinct 15 in the 1708 precinct organization, the names in this precinct are:
*George Alves * William Harris * Thomas Harden * Theophilus Watson * George Marr * John Hamilton * [Page 213 from the Vestry Book]
This is of interest to us because when the precincts were organized again in 1711, these owners show up on precinct 23 as follows:
*William Harris * Adam Rotherford * Thomas Casey * Thomas Hurden * Widdow Watson * George Alvis * Thomas Rice * John Meeks * Martin Baker * [Page 230 from the Vestry Book]
The name John Meeks first appears, which means he arrived in St. Paul's Parish sometime between 1708 and 1711.
The next record for John Meeks in St. Paul's Parish doesn't come from the vestry book, but from the Virginia land grants and patents:
"JOHN MEEKS 427 acs. (N.L.) New Kent Co,. in St. Paul's Parish; adj. Samuel Aris; by Perry's Sw; John Giles; Paul Harrill; John Sneed; 16 June 1714. p. 148. Imp. of 9 pers: Ralph Calver, John Cape, Anne Lenson, Henry Edwards, Nicholas Stephens, George Sands, Eledia Glenton, William Cooper, Robert Cooke" [Page 146 in Cavaliers and Pioneers, vol 2]
The next precinct organization occurred in 1716 with precinct 23 having the following land owners:
*William Harris * Adam Rotherford * Thomas Casey * William Staples * Tim Murfield * Richard Watson * George Alvis * Widdow Rice * John Meeks * Martin Baker * [Page 254 from the Vestry Book]
But thanks to the land patent, precinct 20 is also of interest to us:
*Henry Chiles * Paul Harroldson * John Giles * John Ray * Hen: Born * John Snead * John Killcrease * Richard Anderson * Richard Corley * Henry Snead * Thomas Tinsley * [Page 253 from the Vestry Book]
So this record is a little weird, clearly this is the precinct that John Meeks patented land in 1714, but his name doesn't appear on this list.
The next precinct organization took place in 1719, and again, this time in precinct 22, we find the following names:
* William Harris * Adam Rotherford * Robert Mckoy * William Staples * Thomas Wattson * Richard Wattson * John Sym * Widow Rice * John Meeks * Martin Baker * [Page 262 from the Vestry Book]
And also, this time in precinct 25 we find the names:
* Paul Harroldson * Richard Anderson * Widdow Chiles * John Chiles * John Ray * Henry Bourne * Widdow Snead * John Killcrease *Richard Corley * Henry Snead * Thomas Tinsley * [Page 263 from the Vestry Book]
And again, John Meeks isn't listed on this list.
A new precinct in the 1719 organization is also of interest to us, precinct 38. This precinct contains the properties that were settled on Allens Creek, including Edward Nix, on his property the future church of Allens Creek would be built in 1724.
The next parish wide precinct organization wouldn't take place until 1731, after the split with Martin's Parish. But before that happens, another land patent for John Meeks in 1722:
"JOHN MEEKS, 44 acs (N.L.), Hanover Co; adj. land of Mann Page, Espre,. on Perry's Sw; * Edward Chambers; 18 Feb. 1722, p. 160, 5 shill." [Page 240 in Cavaliers and Pioneers, vol 2]
This land is in the general area of the patent from 1714, in the same precinct as the Snead family.
In the 1731 precinct organization, we finally find John Meeks in the precinct we expect to find him in, precinct 11:
*Widdow Chambers * John Tinsley * Ambrose Hundly * James Hooper * John Rea * Thomas Tinsley * Paul Harroldson * Edward Lewis * William Snead * Charles Bostick * Sarah Bourn * John Giles * John Meeks * John Smith * Charity Anderson * Colonel Bird * Michael Holland * William Chambers * Henry Chiles * John Jones * Joseph Gentry * [Page 278 from the Vestry Book]
It appears that precinct 22 from the 1719 organization was disbanded after the St. Martin Split. Adam Rotherford ended up in precinct 4, Martin Baker went to precinct 5, William Harris went to Precinct 7. The name Watson does not appear in the 1731 re-organization.
So were the two John Meeks' the same person? Your guess is as good as mine. It is peculiar that John Meeks begins showing up in 1711 during precinct organizations. He purchased land in 1714, but doesn't show up in the same precinct as that land until 1731.
The name John Meeks still shows up in 1735 in precinct 1, and and 1739 in precinct 1, and again in 1743 in precinct 1.
His name does not appear in the precinct organization in 1751. So he either died, or moved away some time between 1743 and 1751. If all the records are about the same John Meeks, then at the very least he would've been 53 years old in 1743. This age comes from the age requirement to own land being 21. Since his name first appears in 1711, he could not have been born later than 1690.
It is difficult to draw any definite conclusions from the above information, but the following observation can be made:
- Since the precincts that included Allens Creek are known, and no Meeks family was living there, we can conclude that William Meeks (c. 1720) and his brother John Meeks (c. 1725) were not born on Allens Creek.
It would be helpful if I could identify where Perry's Swamp was, but right now I haven't figured it out yet. I have a hunch that its on the Piedmont side of St. Paul's Parish but that's just a guess.
So the big question is where does this John Meeks fall into our family, or does he fall into our family at all? Because of his location, and the families he lived near, I would say he is likely a member of the family. The family names Snead, Priddy and Watson are associated with provable members of the family. John Meeks lived next to a Snead family in one precinct, and next to a Watson in another precinct. Members of the Priddy family also lived in St. Paul's Parish.
So the big question is where does this John Meeks fall into our family, or does he fall into our family at all? Because of his location, and the families he lived near, I would say he is likely a member of the family. The family names Snead, Priddy and Watson are associated with provable members of the family. John Meeks lived next to a Snead family in one precinct, and next to a Watson in another precinct. Members of the Priddy family also lived in St. Paul's Parish.
- William Meeks' (b. 1720) oldest son has the given name Priddy.
- William's second son, Athe, married Margaret Snead (father unknown).
- In the 1780's, the Meeks properties along Allens Creek were next to properties owned by Joseph Watson
John could be the father of William (b. 1720) and John (b. 1725) but that reality can only be true if John was born within the narrow window of 1680 and 1690.
We also can't dismiss the claim of Dr. Priddy Meeks, who claims that his grandfather William was the son of another William. Although his claim should be classified as family lore, it still shouldn't be ignored.
The Meeks name disappears in St. Paul's Parish between 1743 and 1751. If you take into consideration the estimated married dates of William Meeks (abt. 1746), and John Meeks (abt. 1750) then the scenario exist that they grew up on Perry's Swamp. Lets assume that John was their father and he died in the 1740's. William gets married and moves to Goochland, and John gets married and moves to Allens Creek. By the time of the precinct organization of 1751, there are no more Meeks' in St. Paul's Parish.
Next Post: Hypothetical Origin
