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The Stith Family

Armistead C. Gordon

William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 1.
(Jul., 1913, pp. 44-51.

THE STITH FAMILY.
BY ARMISTEAD C. GORDON.

(XXI WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY, p. 181 and
seq. Id., p. 269 and seq.)

1. Major John Stith1, in Virginia before 1656. (21 QUARTERLY, p. 182)
md, Jane, widow of Joseph Parsons, and had issue:
2. i. Capt. John Stith2, md. Mary Randolph.
3. ii. Lieut-Col. Drury Stith, d. 1741.
4. iii. Anne Stith, md. 1681. Col. Robert Bolling.

2. Capt. John Stith2, (John1) (21 QUARTERLY, p. 183) md. Mary Randolph,
and had issue:
5. i. Rev. William Stith, b. 1707, d. Sept. 19, 1755; md. Judith
Randolph, his first cousin (7 QUARTERLY, p. 99).
6. ii. Lieut.-Col. John Stith (erroneiously stated by Dr. Johnston to
have been a son of Lieut.-Col. Drury Stith) (21 QUARTERLY,
p. 187), md. Elizabeth Anderson, dau. of Rev. Charles Anderson
of Estover. d. circa, 1758.
7. iii. Mary Randolph Stith md. (first wife of) Commissary William
Dawson.

3. Lieut.-Col Drury Stith2 (John1) (21 QUARTERLY, p. 183) md. Susanna
Bathurst, and had issue:
6. i. Lieut-Col. Drury Stith of Brunswick Co. d. 1740.
ii. William Stith of Charles City County, d. 1749.
[iii. Probably Jane, wife of Thomas Hardaway of Prince George Co., was
another daughter as the names Stith and Drury descend regularly

in the family. Hardaway family QUARTERLY, XX, 216.-EDITOR.]

4. Anne Stith2 (John1) (21 QUARTERLY, p. 184), md. (2nd wife of) Robert
Bolling and had issue:
i. Robert Bolling
ii. Stith Bolling.

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iii. Edward Bolling.
iv. Ane Bolling.
v. Drury Bolling.
vi. Thomas Bolling.
vii. Agnes Bolling.
(For the descendants of 3 and 4, supra, see Dr. Johnstone's "The Stith
Family," 21 QUARTERLY.)

5. Rev. William Stith3 (John2, John1) (21 Quarterly, p. 185) md. Judith
Randolph, daughter of thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe, and had issue:
i. Judith Stith d. unmd. June 17, 1773, (6 QUARTERLY, p. 126).
8. ii. Elizabeth Stith, md. Dr. William Pasteur of Williamsburg, d.
1792.
iii. Mary Stith, d.unmd. 1816.

6. Lieut-Col. John Stith (John2, John1) erroneously stated by Dr. Johnstone
to have been the son of Lieut-Col. Drury Stith2 and his wife, Susanna Bath-
urst, was the second son of Capt. John Stith2 and hiw wife Mary Randolph,
and younger brother of Rev. William Stith, President of William and Mary
College. He was of Charles City County; and married Elizabeth Anderson,
dau. of Rev. Charles Anderson of Westover, and his wife, Frances. In 1739
the will of Mrs. Frances Anderson was presented in Court by Frances Ander-
son, one of the executors, John Stith in behalf of his wife, admitted
executor, and Jane and Charlotte Anderson the other exectors. Charles City
County Records, (4 QUARTERLY, p. 127). Lieut-Col. John Stith and his wife,
Elizabeth Anderson, had issue:
9. i. Anderson Stith, md. before 1765 Joanna Bassett, dau. of William
Bassett of Eltham, New Kent Co., and his wife, Elizabeth
Churchill, d. 1768.

7. Mary Randolph Stith3 (John2, John1) md. Commissary William Dawson. She
was his first wife. Commissary Dawson's second wife was Elizabeth Bassett
(nee Churchill)

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widow of William Bassett of Eltham. Elizabeth Churchill was a daugher of
William Churchill, the emigrant, and his wife, "Madame" Elizabeth Wormeley,
(nee Armistead). (Keith's Ancestry of Benj. Harrison, p. 30). By her
first marriage with William Bassett, Elizabeth Churchill had a daughter,
Joanna Bassett, who married Anderson Stith, son of Lieut-Col. John Stith
and his wife, Elizabeth Anderson. (See "Anderson Stith," Post).
"William Dawson was sone of William of Aspatria, Cumberland, pleb.
Queen's Cottage, matric. 11 March, 1719-20, B.A. 22 Feb., 1724-25 M.A.
1728; D.D. by Diploma 10 Feb., 1746-47, then President of Williamsburg
College in Virginia". Foster's Oxford Matriculations. (2 QUARTERLY, p.
51 note (2) ).
Mary Randolph Stith and her husband, Commissary William Dawson had issue:
10. i. Colonel John Dawson of Williamsburg, mar. Mary Johnstone, dau.
of Governor Gabriel Johnstone, of Edenton, N.C.
11. ii. Mary Dawson md. 1756, Ludwell Grymes.

8. Elizabeth Stith4 (Wm.3, John2, John1) married Dr. William Pasteur of
Williamsburg, and died in 1792. She is said by a writer in 3 QUARTERLY,
p. 275, to have died without issue in that year. Dr. Johnston states (21
QUARTERLY, p. 185) that she d.s.p."; and follows this with the statement
that she "had a son William Stith Pastuer (b. 12th November 1762) who
seems to have died young."
An account of the Pasteur family is to be found in 3 QUARTERLY, pp,
274-5. Elizabeth Pasteur, who was probably a niece of Dr. William Pasteur,
married Dec. 24, 1793, Richard Harrison Long, son of Col. Nicholas Long of
Halifax, N.C. Richard Harrison Long was a brother of Mary Long, who md.
Colonel Bassett Stith, son of Anderson Stith and Joanna Bassett. (Long
Family Bible). Ann M. Pasteur, probably another niece of Dr. William
Pasteur, was on of the witnesses to the will of Richard Harrison Long of
Halifax, N.C., dated Feb.

 

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17, 1810, prob. May Session 1810, Will Book 3, p. 99, Halifax Co., N.C.
Fanny Pasteur, probably another niece of Dr. Pasteur, is named in the will
of Mrs. Mary Long (nee Coupland), wife of Lunsford Long of Halifax, N.C.,
who was a brother of mary Long, who married Col. Bassett Stith. (See
post "Bassett Stith.") The will of Mrs. Mary Lunsford Long, who married
Lunsford Long in 1799 (Long Family Bible), is dated May 25, 1811, and
prob. November Session 1811, Will Book 3, p. 522 Halifax Co., N.C.
Dr. William Pasteur died March, 1791. In his will he mentions his wife,
Elizabeth Pasteur, his nephew William Pasteur, his niece Ann Smith, and
his sister Ann Craig, wife of Thomas Craig. Mrs. Pasteur died in 1792
intestate, and the fact that her sister, Mary Stith, who survived till
1816, was her sole distributee would indicate that any children which she
and her husband, Dr. William Pastuer, might have had, had pre-deceased
her. (Burwell vs. Anderson, 3 Leigh's Reports, 348). They had issue:
i. William Stith Pasteur, born Nov. 12, 1762 (3 QUARTERLY, 275)
who appears to have died unm. and without issue.

9. Major Anderson Stith4 (John3, John2, John1) was, as stated by Dr.
Johnston (21 QUARTERLY, p. 191), a practicing lawyer in Charles City
County in 1755. He married at Eltham, New Kent County, VA., some time
before the year 1766, Joanna Bassett, daughter of Col. William Bassett
(3rd) and his wife, Elizabeth Churchill, who, as heretofore narrated, was
the second wife of Benjamin Harrison, the signer of the Declaration of
Independence, and the ancestor of the Harrison Presidents. (Keith's
Ancestry of Benj. Harrison, p. 30). A younger sister of Elizabeth and
Joanna Bassett married Rev. Thomas Dawson, brother of Rev. William Dawson,
and himself a President of William and Mary College. William Bassett
(3rd), of Eltham, was

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the son of William Bassett (2nd), and his wife, Joanna Burwell, daughter
of Lewis Burwell (2nd) and his wife, Abigail Smith (2nd, p. 36).
Major Anderson Stith died in 1768 in King William County, Virginia,
and his widow, who survived him, was living in 1774.
Anderson Stith an dhis wife, Joanna Bassett, had issue:
12. i. Colonel Bassett Stith, of Halifax, N.C., born in 1765, md. July
8, 1790, Mary Long, dau. of Colonel Nicholas Long, of Halifax,
and his wife, Mary McKinne, and died there August, 1817. (Long
Family Bible, in possession of Mrs. Gen. Junius Daniel, of
Henderson, N.C. See McRee's Life of Iredell, for an account
of the weddikng of Col. Bassett Stith and Mary Long).
ii. Elizabeth Stith, d. unmarried at Halifax, N.C., surviving her
brother, Bassett, for many years.
iii. Major John Stith moved to Georgia.

10. Colonel John Dawson4 (Mary Randolph Stith3, John2, John1), Williamsburg,
Virginia, md. Mary Johnstone, daughter of Gabriel Jonstone, Colonial
Governor of North Carolina, and his wife, Penelope Eden, who was a daughter
of Charles Eden, also a Governor of North Carolina, from 1720 to 1722. Both
the Johnstone and the Eden families were residents of Edenton, N.C. (Col.
Cadwalader Jone's "Genealogical History." Privately printed, Columbia,
S.C., 1900, page 66).
Colonel John Dawson and his wife, Mary Jonstone, had issue:
i. William Johnstone Dawson, member U.S. Congress, (1793-1795).
13. ii. Penelope Eden Dawson md. Tristram Lowther, of North Carolina.
"They had William, md. Annie Sawyer; Maria, md. Joseph B.
Skinner, a gallant officer, who fell at Sharpsburg; a
Penelope, md. Thomas D. Warren, of Edenton." (Col. Jones'
Genealogical History,", p. 66).

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11. Mary Dawson4 (Mary Randolph Stith3, John2, John1), married Ludwell
Grymes. From Deed Book H. (1771-1774), Spotsylvania (Va.) County Records
(p. 283), it appears that on May 18, 1771, Ludwell Grymes, of Orange Co.,
and Mary, his wife, conveyed to Thomas Walker of Fredericksburg, for L37
curr. Lot 236 in the town of Fredericksburg.
Mary Dawson Grymes will, dated May 15, 1787, and proved June 23, 1788,
mentions her daughter, Hannah Grymes and her son John Grymes; and also
gives legacies Mary Maury, daughter of Rev. Walker Maury, and to Mary Moore,
daughter of William Moore. The executors were Hon. James Madison, Esq.,
Hardin Burnley, Thomas Barbour, Esq., and Mr. Henry Fry. (5 QUARTERLY p.
208). In 1795 there is in the Orange records an account of John D. Grymes
as administrator of Ludwell Grymes, in which he charges for expenses in-
curred by "travelling to Williamsburg to attend suits in the high court of
chancery" between Ludwell Grymes and Walker Maury, and by having "the
graves of his father and mother paled in." (Id.)
Mary Dawson and her husband, Ludwell Grymes, had issue:
14. i. Mary Grymes, md. Rev. Walker Maury.
15. ii. Elizabeth Johnstone Grymes, md. Rev. William Moore,
iii. John Dawson Grymes.
iv. Hannah Grymes.

12. Colonel Bassett Stith5 (Anderson4, John3, John2, John1), was born at
Eltham, New Kent Co., Va. in 1765. He married in Halifax, N.C., July 8,
1790, "at the age of 25", Mary, daugher of Colonel Nicholas Long of Quankey,
Halifax, Co., N.C., and his wife, Mary McKinne. He was a member of the
North Carolina House of Commons for the session of 1802 (Wheeler's Hist.
N.C., vol. 2, p. 202). His will is recorded in Halifax, Will Book, No.3,
p. 607. It is dated Jan. 13, 1816, and prob. August Session, 1817. It
gives to his wife, Mary Stith, and all of his children

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his estate to be equally divided, and names his sons, William Anderson
Stith and Albert Augustus Bassett Stith (with others), "to be executors,
when they shall arrive of lawful age." (Keith's Ancestry of Benj. Harrison,
p. 30; Long Family Bible).
Colonel Bassett Stith and his wife, Mary Long, had issue:
16. i. Maria Stith, md. Judge Joseph T. Daniel, of Halifax, N.C.
17. ii. Mary Long Stith, md. Edmund Freeman, of Raleigh, NC.
18.iii. Virginia Stith, md. Nathaniel Macon Eaton, of Warrenton, N.C.
iv. William Anderston Stith, d. unmd.
v. Albert Augustus Bassett Stith, d. unmd.
19. vi. Nicholas Long Bassett Stith, md. Anna Austin Hill.
20.vii. Martha E. Stith, md. Gen. J.R.J. Daniel, of Halifax, N.C.
21.viii. Lavinia Bassett Stith, md. Robert Newsome, of Norfolk, Va.
ix. Sarah Frances Washington Stith, b. Jan. 14, 1809, md. Gen. J.
R.J. Daniel (his second wife) and died s.p. in Washington, DC,
Nov. 26, 1895.

13. Penelope Eden Dawson5 (Col. John Dawson4, mary Randolph Stith3, John2,
John1), married Tristram Lowther, of Bertie Co., N.C., son of William
Lowther, of New York, and Barbara Gregory, his wife. William Lowther's
will, March 28, 1782, is recorded in the clerk's office of the Superior
Court at Edenton, N.C. It names his wife, Barbara. Tristram Lowther's
will, Feb. 18, 1796, is recorded in the same office. It names his wife,
Penelope and Samuel Johnstone, James Iredell, and his bro.-in-law, Wm.
Johnstone Dawson (2 N.C. Hist and Genealogical Register, Edenton, N.C.,
p. 8).
Penelope Eden Dawson and Tristram Lowther, her husband, had issue:
22. i. William Dawson Lowther, md. Eliza Ann Sawyer.

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23. ii. Maria Louise Lowther, md. Nov. 16, 1804, Joseph Blair Skinner.

14. Mary Grymes5 (Mary Dawson4, Mary Randolph Stith3, John2, John1) married
Rev. Walker Maury. They had issue:
i. James Maury.
24. ii. Mary Stith Maury married W. Hay.
25.iii. Ann Tunstall Maury md. Isaac Hite.
26. iv. William Stith Maury md. A. Woolfolk.
27. v. Leonard Hill Maury md. V. Campbell.
28. vi. Penelope Johnstone Fontaine Maury md. Robert Polk. (Huguenot
Emigration to Va.)

15. Elizabeth Johnstone Grymes5 (Mary Dawson4, Mary RAndolph Stith3,
John2, John1), married Rev. William Moore. She died March 31, 1852, in the
87th year of her age.
In 5 QUARTERLY, p. 208, is reproduced an obituary of Mrs. Moore, which
appeared in the Nashville, Tenn., Republican Banner, April 15, 1852, stating
that she was born in Gloucester County, VA., and was "the second daughter of
Ludwell and Mary Grymed, and the granddaughter of Rev. William Dawson of
William & Mary College". Her parents removed to Burlington, their county-
seat in Orange County, where she married the Rev. William Moore, then an
itinerant Methodist minister, and afterwards settled in Fluvanna County,
where they remained a few years, and then moved to the vicinity of Milton,
N.C., where they raised their family, and in 1820 removed to Robertson
County, Tenn." (5 QUAR., 208). Elizabeth Johnstone Grymes and Wm. Moore,
her husband, had issue:
i. ----- ----- Moore, md. W.C. Richmond, of Robertson Co., Tenn.
ii. ----- ----- Moore, md. ----- ----- Durrett, and had issue:
iii. ----- ----- Moore, md. Durrett Richards, of Nashville, Tenn, and
died about 1820, leaving issue: (5 QUAR., 208-209).

(To Be Continued)