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The Last Will and Testament of James Hambleton was dated 17 November 1726
(recorded 15 April 1727 in Westmoreland County Deeds and Wills Book 8, Page
80). In it he states: “I give to my Son James Hambleton one hundred akers of
Land to him and his heirs Lawfully begotten, if he doe die without an heir to
fall to my son John Hambleton.” He also leaves “to my Wife Grace Hambleton a
Negroe Garle,” and he wills the remainder of “my whole Estate to be Equilly
Devided between my Wife and my three Children.” He does not name the third
child. And he states, rather movingly: “I give my Soul into the hands of my
gracious God, and my body to the Earth from whence it was taken.”
The Last Will and Testament of Grace Hambleton was dated 11 February 1727
(recorded 18 April 1727 in Westmoreland County Deeds and Wills Book 8, Page
80a). In it she states: “I Give all my part or portion allowed to me in the
Last Will and Testament maid by my descesed Husband, James Hambleton bairing
Date ye 17th Day of November 1726 to be Equalley devided between my three
Children James, John and Ann, Excepting two Gold Rings, a Silver bodikin, a
Warming pan and all my Wairing Cloughs to my Daughter Ann & to John Hambleton
a Bell mettel Skillit, And I doe heareby Desire my three Children be Left
under the Cair of Phillip Baugust for to be maintained and Eduecation till
they Com of Aige at Law to Inherritt there Estate Lefet them by there father
and of Equitey belongs to them. I Give to my son James Hambleton a new Bed
Ticken & feathers with Bolster, Pillows, Rugg, Sheets; And Lastly I Doe
hereby Appoynt Phillup Baugust my hole and sole Executor of this my Last Will
and Testament.”
Both wills were probated on 29 March 1727 in Westmoreland County Court.
The wills are recorded consecutively in the Deeds and Wills of Westmoreland
County. James and Grace owned their land for less than two years.
As indicated by the Court Orders of neighboring Northumberland County,
wherein orphans were bound as apprentices (see above), the age of majority
was 21 years for boys and 18 years for girls. Thus we know from Grace
Hambleton’s will that her sons James and John were born after 11 February
1706, and her daughter Ann was born after 11 February 1709. We know from
James Hambleton’s will that James Jr. was the first born son, as he inherited
all of his father’s land, pursuant to the law of primogeniture.
On 30 June 1741, James Hamilton Jr. and his wife Priscilla, then of Trucrow
Parish in Prince William County (which borders Stafford County to the north)
sold the 100 acres to John Marshall, grandfather of the future Chief Justice
(Northumberland County Deeds and Wills Book 9, Page 158). One of the
boundary lines was subsequently surveyed (on 22 August 1752) by George
Washington (Recorded in the “Abstracts of the Northern Neck Warrants and
Surveys,” page 175). James Hamilton Jr. later moved to Stafford County,
where he witnessed and acknowledged a deed on 22 September 1755. On 8 July
1774, James Hamilton of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was killed by Indians, 100
miles from the Ohio River (“Abstracts of 18th Century Virginia Newspapers,”
Page 149). His brother John Hamilton was a witness to the will of Reverend
Alexander Scott of Acquia Church, Overwharton Parish, dated 19 January 1737
(Stafford County Will Book M, Page 258), and to at least five other documents
in Stafford County, the latest being dated 1 January 1760.
Ann Hamilton also moved to Stafford County, Virginia, where she married
John Alridge at Overwharton Parish on or before 11 June 1738. The “original”
register of births and marriages, of which a photographic copy is on file
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