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Aldridge or Arledge family of Northumberland County, Virginia (which borders
Westmoreland County to the east). On 21 August 1728, Isaac, orphan of
William Arledge, was “bound aprentis to John Callahan until he arrives to
the age of Twenty one years he being Six years old last Christmas ... to
learn him to Read and write and the Trade of a weaver.” (Order Book 1719-
1729, Page 307). On the same day, Sarah, orphan of William Arledge, was
“bound by the Court to John Callahan and Mary his wife until she arrives to
the age of eighteen years she being five years old ... to learn her to Read,
Knit and Spin.” (Order Book 1719-1729, Page 307). On 20 January 1731, John
Aldridge, orphan of John Aldridge, was “bound apprentice to William Owens
for four years ... to Learn him the Trade of a Carpenter and Joyner” (Order
Book 1729-1737, Page 27). But James Hambleton, although an orphan, was
never identified as an apprentice, nor was he released from servitude when
he reached majority. He was a “servant” from age 17 to age 30. If he had
committed any crime to bring about his servitude, it was not so stated. We
do know that James Bourn was well connected, as he served on the Grand Jury
of Westmoreland County for November 1713 (Order Book 1713-1715).
Under Virginia law, white “servants” (i.e., white slaves) could be bound
until the age of thirty-one. (Hoffman, Michael A., “They Were White and
They Were Slaves,” op cit., page 89) The manner in which John Garner Jr.
obtained James Hambleton is not recorded, but he was not “worth” very much,
with only one year of servitude remaining.
John Garner Jr. died on 25 March 1713 in Northumberland County, Virginia,
without assigning or bequeathing his “servant” James Hambleton to anyone.
This left James a free man with a wife and three children. John Garner Jr.
willed separate tracts of land to four sons, William, Abraham, John and
Jeremiah, including “all my land in Ragged point also one hundred acres of
land in horn point unto my said son Abraham” A transcription of the Last
Will and Testament of John Garner, dated 14 February 1712, is posted at
http://www.homeofourfathers.com/lisbeth/docjohngarneriilwt1712a.htm
The Westmoreland Deeds and Wills Book 6, Page 484, contains the following
notice, dated 3 May 1719: “Inquisition taken at Ragged Point sands upon the
body of a man to the coroner and jury unknown there lying dead, before Henry
Lee, Coroner, by Wm. Newton, Jno. Footman, Wm. Garner Junr., Jno. Bailey
Junr., Wm. Lain, Thomas Allison, Wm. Veale, Thomas Watson, Thomas Jenkins,
James Hambleton, Morris Jollott, who say that he was drowned by accident.”
Two of the witnesses to this drowning were relatives of the late John Garner:
William Garner Jr. was a grandson of John Garner; and Thomas Allison was the
husband of Hannah Garner, niece of John Garner. The drowning occurred at
Ragged Point, near the land of Abraham Garner. It appears that James
Hambleton was a friend and neighbor of the Garner family, whose patriarch
had freed him from servitude.
On 21 July 1725, James Hambleton, then of Cople Parish, Westmoreland County,
Virginia, obtained a Warranty Deed for 100 acres of land on the branches of
Appomattox (Mattox) Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia (Recorded in
Westmoreland County Deeds and Wills, Book 8, Page 53a). According to the
chain of title set forth on the deed itself, this 100 acres was part of a
1200 acre patent granted to Colonel Nicholas Spencer on 22 September 1668,
who assigned it to John Washington (great-grandfather of George Washington)
on 9 October 1668. John Washington willed it to his daughter Anne. She
married Francis Wright, who deeded 450 acres to Henry Asbury Sr. on
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