Jane Crew
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: William W. Crews 204
Mother: Hannah Sanders 204
Jesse Crew
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 18 Jan 1765 211
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: James Crew 44
Mother: Judith Harris 45
Jesse Crew
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 1 Aug 1768 206
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: David Crew 206
Mother: Sarah Gooch
John Crew Jr.
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Bef 13 Sep 1694 - Charles City County, Virginia 85
Christening:
Death: 11 Apr 1762 204
Burial:
Parents
Father: John Crew
Mother: Sarah Gatley
Spouses and Children
1. *Agatha Ellyson
Marriage: 14 Mar 1717 - Charles City County, Virginia 204
Status:
Children:
1. Judith Crew
2. Agatha Crew
3. Elizabeth Crew
4. Abigail Crew
5. Gatley Crew
6. John Crew
7. Ann Crew
8. Ellyson Crew
Notes
General:
[113] John IV (John II and Sarah Gatley) b. Sept. 13, 1694 in CCC; d. June 8, 1761
+Agatha Ellyson (Gerrard Robert II & Sarah Spence) b: Aft. 1697 New Kent Co., Va.d: Bef. May 29, 1762 CCC, Virginiam: May 14, 1717 New Kent Co., Va.
[1131] Ellyson
[1132] Judith
[1133] Agatha
[1134] John V
[1135] Elizabeth
[1136] Abigail
[1137] Ann
John Crew
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 17 May 1746 144
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Ellyson Crew
Mother: Lydia Ladd 84
Spouses and Children
1. *Judith Crew 44
Marriage: 9 Nov 1773 144
Status:
John Crew
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Gatley Crew 45
Mother: Elizabeth Magee
John Crew
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Andrew Crew 45
Mother: Hannah Ellyson 83
Spouses and Children
1. *Sarah 44
Marriage: Bef Nov 1750 44
Status:
Children:
1. James Crew
2. Judith Crew
3. Jacob Crew
4. John Crew
5. Joseph Crew
John Crew
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Abt 1670 204
Christening:
Death: Between 1749 and 1752 - New Kent County, Virginia
Burial: in New Kent County, Virginia 212
Spouses and Children
1. Catherine 7
Marriage:
Status:
2. *Sarah Gatley
Marriage: Abt 1692
Status:
Children:
1. Sarah Crew
2. John Crew Jr.
3. Joseph Crew
4. Andrew Crew
5. Mary Crew
6. Elizabeth Crew
7. Jane Crew
8. William W. Crews
9. David Crews
10. Anne Crew
Notes
General:
Some Crews Quarters - A North American Story - John and Sarah Crew with some of their descendants
By CH Jones <https://stumblingintheshadowsofgiants.wordpress.com/author/julianatsleep/>
Some Crews Quarters - A North American Story - John and Sarah Crew with some of their descendants
By Thomas Randolph Crews
Copyright 1998. Published by Thomas Randolph Crews, 319 Oakwood Court, Lake Mary, Florida, 32746.
Chapter 1: John Crew (1669 - 1752)
It is fairly clear that our Crew(e)(s) ancestry is old Saxon English. But it is not at all clear which individual was our first immigrant ancestor. Early Virginia settlers were understandably more concerned with matters of survival than those of record keeping. And when you include the later destruction of records due to fire, age, and the American civil war, it is truly surprising that our family is documented back to the seventeenth century.
There are many immigration possibilities from England to the colony of Virginia. The list includes the following: Randall Crew, age twenty, arrived on the "Charles" in 1621; Joshua Crew was living in Virginia in 1623; Robert Crew, age twenty-three, arrived one the "Marmaduk" in 1623; Joseph Crew arrived on the "London Merchant" in 1624. Roger Crew in 1638; John Crew in 1640; John Crew in 1642; Thomas Crew in 1652; John Crew in 1664; James Crews in 1664; John Crew arrived in "James Town" in 1667; Andrew Crew from Maidstone, County of Kent, arrived in 1668 as a home circuit prisoner by way of Barbados; James Crews in 1677; and Robert Crew in 1681. Our "immigrant" ancestor may have been one of these individuals; or he may have been one whose record has not survived.
…
Our earliest known ancestor, John Crew, was born about 1669. Agreeing with other researchers, I inferred this date from the Charles City County, Virginia court orders. In the October court of 1690, "the said John Crew is now in his non age"10 Ed1 (implying that he was not yet twenty-one). In the March Court of 1690/1, his wife Sarah was referred to as "being now at age".Ed2 And by November of 1691, John was sued in court as an adult.Ed3 These court appearances will be discussed later in this chapter. It is possible that John may have been born in England and later migrated to the colonies. But there are strong clues that John was born in Virginia. On November 15, 1738, then about age sixty-nine, John signed a petition on behalf of the Quakers which was submitted to the Virginia House of Burgesses. The petition stated that the signers "for the most part" were descendants of early Virginia inhabitants, were native subjects of the crown, and that Virginia, the first English colony, was their native country. This petition will also be discussed later in this chapter.
…
One extremely significant event when John and his future wife, Sarah Gatley, were about seven years old was Bacon's Rebellion, also known as the Chesapeake revolution… colonists from all of the settled parts of Virginia rose up against Governor Berkeley, in support of Nathaniel Bacon. In defiance of the Governor, they elected Bacon to represent them in Virginia's governing assembly, the House of Burgesses, along with Bacon's very good friend, Captain James Crews. I do not know whether Captain James Crews was related to our John Crew, but he was at least a very close neighbor.Ed4
…
The first written reference I have found to our John Crew is a civil court case in Charles City County. The case was started in August 1689 court, but carried on to the October 1689 court. Thomas King, the plaintiff, accused John Crew, the defendant, and "sayth that the defendant in anno 1689 hath contrary to law killed one sow belonging to ye plaintiff for which offense he prays benefit of the law."20 The case was referred to a jury who found John innocent and held Thomas King responsible for the court costs.Ed5
Several things are of interest in this case. The evolution of our surname from Crew to Crews had already started. John was recorded in the court orders as John Crew, John Crew, Jr., and as John Crews, Jr. "Junior" does not necessarily mean that his father was John Crew. But it does at least mean that there was an older John Crew living at the same time in the same county. We do not know much of the details of the case. It is very possible that John had become a Quaker by this time; and that Thomas King was one of the many members of the Church of England who actively persecuted members of the Society of Friends. Later in the same October 1689 court, an order was granted against Thomas King for the costs of six days attendance at court by one of the witnesses, John Craddocke; three days against John Crew and three days against Joseph Renshaw. It appears that if you lost a seventeenth century Virginia court case, you not only paid all the court costs, but you also reimbursed the witnesses for their attendance.
The next reference to our John is another civil court case, which started in the February 1689/90 court. The case was lengthy, carrying on through the following courts in 1690: June 3, June 12, August 4, September 15, and October 3. It continued in 1690/1: January, February 3, and concluded Marc3, over three fourths of a year in all. Following is a brief summary of the trial.
[Editor's note: For the gravity of the trail details to be understood in proper context, it's necessary to note that in seventeenth century Virginia, tobacco served as the established currency for all debts, business transactions, or monetary exchange. Coin was not in common circulation at the time, and printed notes were even less common.]
…
By August 4, 1690, John Crew had married Sarah Gatley, but neither one was of legal age yet. Sarah's father was Nicholas Gatley. Nicholas died in 1678 leaving an estate valued at 6000 pounds of tobacco to his daughter, Sarah. The case gets a little complicated from here. Sarah's mother (Nicholas Gatley's widow) was also named Sarah. I do not know her maiden name. Because Sarah (the daughter) was a child when Nicholas died, Sarah (the mother) became administrator for the Gatley estate. Sara (the mother and widow) later married John Smith. After John Smith died, she married her third husband, William Morris. William Morris died by 1689, leaving her a widow for the third time.
By the time John Crew and Sarah Gatley were married, Sarah (the mother) had refused to give Sarah (the daughter) her rightful inheritance. One very real possibility was that John and Sarah had become Quakers by this time, and the mother was prejudiced against Quakers. But this is just my conjecture. At any rate, the case continued through the modern (Gregorian) year 1690. In the March Court 1690/91: "Jno. Crew who Marryed Sarah the orphan of Nicho. Gatley…. And the said Sarah ye orphan of ye said Gatley being now at age, pray this Courte…. To demand soe much… from Sarah ye Mother… as will pay 4605 pounds of tobacco."21 The court then ordered the mother to pay this amount to John and Sarah Crew and thus concluded the case. Later that same year, in the November court of 1691, judgement was granted to a John Justine against John Crew for 200 pounds of tobacco. There is no indication as to the reason for this judgement…
…In the November court of 1694, it was recorded that John Crewe's deeds of gift to his children be recorded.
The next reference that I found to our John Crew is in the surviving original minutes of the Society of Friends, Henrico… monthly meeting. On the ninth day of the twelfth month of 1699/1700, a list was recorded of the founding members of this old and venerable monthly meeting. Nineteen names were recorded together with their pledges to build a new meeting house. The pledges totaled 5900 pounds of tobacco with John Crew's personal pledge being 400 pounds. This meeting house was not completed until 1706. "It was 30 x 20 feet and inside there was 'one row of seats around… a double seat at one of the ends about ten feet long with a bar of banister before it, for the easement of Friends of the ministry." 22, 23
John and Sarah raised a family of ten children on the Virginia frontier. They must have been very good friends with the Quaker family of Gerrard Robert Ellyson because "three of Gerrard's children married three of the children of John and Sarah Crew, of Charles City County, and a fourth married the daughter of Robert Crew."24 "This was a common occurrence among the early colonial families, as their neighbors were the people they saw most often. It was especially prevalent among the Quakers because they had even greater limitations set upon their choice of marriage partners. Of those persons available because of age and distance, only those of the Quaker faith were acceptable. Other children of John and Sarah were: Joseph, who married Massey Johnson on the 12th day, 6th month 1725…"25
I do not know who the above Robert Crew was. I suspect he was John's brother; and possibly the Robert Crew who immigrated in 1681. If so, it raises the possibility that the family were Quakers in England and then migrated to Virginia.
Anne Crew was another of the ten children of John and Sarah. "There was a tradition that Ann was not John's daughter, just raised by the family and was actually Sarah (Ann) Elmore Crew, daughter of John Elmore and his Indian wife An-Nah-Wah-Kah, a full blooded Cherokee."26
Following are other references to John from various minutes of the Henrico monthly meetings: On the eighteenth day of the third month, 1706, a weekly meeting was organized at John and Sarah's residence at the request of John Crew, Robert Crew, and William Lead (Ladd). On the nineteenth day of the eighth month, 1706, John was appointed to represent the Old Man's Creek meeting of Charles City County at all of the monthly meetings. On the nineteenth day of the twelfth month, 1708, John was mentioned as having moved from his house where the weekly meeting was being kept. The meeting was then changed to the house of William Lead (Ladd).
… John was the clerk of the Henrico monthly meeting from the eighth day of the fourth month, 1711 to the tenth day of the seventh month, 1714. The implication is that he was skilled in both reading and writing. During his tenure… in 1714…two new Quaker meeting houses were soon constructed: "Weyanoke" in Charles City County and the "Swamp" in Hanover County. The "White Oak Swamp" meeting house in Henrico County was refurbished. And in 1717, John was mentioned in the Quaker minutes as being a member of Weyanoke meeting.
In about 1726 or 1727, John and Sarah moved to New Kent County, north, and just across the Chickahominy River from Charles City County. We would have better family data; except the colonial records of New Kent County were destroyed by a fire in 1787.
…conflicts with the Church of England continued. The Quaker minutes include a list of "sufferings" for the year 1726: John Crew had been taken into custody and released on the same day by paying the sheriff's demands. His son, Andrew, was imprisoned for two weeks. Andrew's neighbor, a non-Quaker, had secured Andrew's release by paying the sheriff's demands. Andrew also had a bridle and saddle taken from him. John Crew, Sr. was fined seventy-six pounds of tobacco, a gun and five pewter dishes for refusal to bear arms or pay tithes. During 1735, John was again fined for refusing to pay tithes. On the fourth day of the seventh month, 1736, he was appointed to sit in "the select meeting". The persecutions eventually became so bad that John, together with other Quakers prepared a petition. It was published in the Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg from November 10 - 17, 1738. And they presented it to the House of Burgesses on November 15, 1738:
"To the Honourable the Governor and Council, and Burgesses, met in General Assembly at Williamsburg.
The Humble Petition of the People called Quakers.
We lay hold of this Opportunity, with all Humility of Mind, to beseech You that You would be pleased to consider the Case of our Society in this Dominion, who, for the most Part, are the Descendants of Early Inhabitants; and who, as well as our Ancestors, are and have been, subject to great Loss and Detriment in our Substance and Employment, by Annual Seizures and Distress made upon our Goods and Persons on Account of Parish Levies: A Hardship, we hope, You do not desire we should lie under. And as we humbly conceive it is in Your Power to relieve us, are therefore the more emboldened to lay before You this our present aggrieved Case; and the rather, for that, as we have understood, You have been pleased to bestow the like Favour on Sundry German Protestants, by exempting them from Parish Levies: We (being native subjects) are encouraged to hope You will charitably look on our Condition, and afford us some relief: That being once freed from a Burthen, which we have long and patiently born, we may be better enabled to follow our Callings, for Support of our Families, according to Faith and good Conscience.
We need not, we hope, tell You that in most of the Provinces under the British Government our Friends set easy in this Behalf; either by Charter of Privileges or by a Special Law, made for that Purpose.
This our Native Country, is the first English Colony, and immediately under Our most Gracious Sovereign King George, who, we hope, looks on us to be universally attach'd to his Interest, and the Succession of His Noble House; and a People not useless, nor inconsiderable in his Dominions. For,
We pay all Taxes of Support of Government; we transgress no Laws of Trade; we keep back no Part of the Revenue due to the Crows; the Public are not charged, in the least, with our Poor; and we nevertheless willingly contribute to the Public Poor, and we endeavor to follow Peace with all Men.
To conclude, we are not numerous, which makes it the less difficult for You to grant us such Ease as we pray for: And are far from thinking that such Indulgence would increase the Number of real Quakers; and for hipocritical Pretenders, we shall hold ourselves under Obligations to detect them; so as the Government shall not be imposed on, nor Your Favour any ways abased; And further be pleased to know, it is for the Tender Conscience Sake, and not willfully nor obstinately, we have hitherto suffered, having sustained more than Treble Damages for our Conscientious Refusal: And by the Assistance of Divine Grace, preserved from Prejudice, against those who have been most active against us; We hope it will please Almighty God to put into Your Hearts to sat Amen to the Prayer of our Petition; and to also hear our Prayers; which are for Your Tranquility and Happiness, both in This World and That which is to come.
Signed in Behalf of the Society called Quakers in Virginia.
By
John Cheadle, Thomas Pleasants,
Abraham Ricks, Matthew Jourdan,
Wike Hunnicut, Thomas Newby,
William Lad, Thomas Trotter
Arminger Trotter, Robert Ellyson,
Peter Denson, John Crew,
William Outland, John Pleasants,
John Murdaugh, and Samuel Sebrel,
Edmund Jourdan, Samuel Jourdan,
John Denson."27
But the persecutions continued. On the fifth day of the seventh moth, 1747, John reported to the monthly meeting that he had a horse seized for fine. John and Sarah, together with other relatives and friends, endured fines, having property confiscated, being placed in jail, etc. for many years while still managing to remain successful planters on the Virginia frontier.
About fifteen miles downstream from present day Richmond, the James River makes a series of deep horseshow bends. This area was known as the "Curles". To help us better understand the Quakers, there is a letter by Robert Pleasants of Curles. "It sets forth the attitude of a minority group of whom John Crew and his descendants were members. Dated January 10, 1775, it is addressed to Robert Bolling of Buckingham, an apology to those who misunderstood the Quakers because of their uncouth mode of dress and speech, their studied aloofness, and their principle of submitting meekly to misunderstanding and injustice. Pleasants writes:"28
"I apprehend if we are sequestered from the rest of the community we are by no means culpable for it. It is well known that we have always declined the use of the sword as well as taking any oaths, supporting an hireling ministry and some other matters, which, tho' peculiar to ourselves, are by no means intended, or in justice ought to be, an exclusion from the common interest of the community; nor can I conceive how the community can be injured by our adherence to these principles. For, if we cannot fight for the state, we cannot fight against it; for so long as we keep to the truth (and I believe the contrary can't be charged upon us) swearing is unnecessary; and while we continue to be useful members of society and study the peace and welfare of the government we live under, every reasonable man will allow it is unjust we should be made to suffer for not conforming to a law in favor of a few individuals, utterly inconsistent with our belief."29
In later years the children of John and Sarah followed the westward migration to other counties in Virginia and southward to North Carolina. The Exodus westward depleted many Friends' meetings in Virginia. By 1808 the Swamp, Black Creek, White Oak Swamp (which was another name for the Henrico Monthly Meeting) and Curles Meeting Houses were for sale.30
…
John died in New Kent County between 1749 and 1752 at about eighty to eighty-three. John and Sarah were very likely buried in a Friends' cemetery. Their ten children were all born in Charles City County. With some exceptions, the children were firmly committed to the Society of Friends. Because birth dates are not known with certainty, they are listed in order of their marriages:
i. Sarah Crew married Robert Ellyson in 1714/15. They had five children and lived in New Kent County, Virginia where Robert was overseer of the Black Creek meeting. In 1738, he was made treasurer of the Henrico monthly meeting. The family suffered numerous fines, but remained in New Kent County.
ii. John Crew married Agatha Ellyson in 1717. They also lived in New Kent County where John was a minister and Agatha was an elder. The family, including eight children, suffered many fines. The Virginia yearly meeting of May 29, 1762 reported that they were both deceased and ordered memorials read and recorded for them.
iii. Andrew Crew married Hannah Ellyson in 1720. They had eight children and continued to live in Charles City County, where they were members of the Weyanoke Meeting. The family suffered numerous fines, and at one point Andrew was imprisoned for two weeks.
iv. Mary Crew married John Ladd in 1724. They lived in Charles City County with their eight children and were members of the Weyanoke Meeting. In 1726, John made testimony against bearing arms and paying tithes. For this testimony, they lost so many of their household goods to fines that the Quaker meeting aided them in their distress.
v. Joseph Crew married Massey Johnson in 1725 and lived in Hanover County, Virginia with their nine children. Joseph was fined in 1738. Joseph and Massey are subjects of Chapter 2.Elizabeth Crew married Thomas Stanley, Jr. in 1726. They had ten children and lived in Hanover County where Thomas was the first overseer of the newly established Cedar Creek meeting. The Cedar Creek meeting house was built on "Stanley Land", part of an 800 acre tract granted to the Stanleys in 1714 by Governor Alexander Spotswood. A Quaker meeting house at Cedar Creek existed until a forest fire in the year 1904.
vi. Elizabeth Crew married Thomas Stanley, Jr. in 1726. They had ten children and lived in Hanover County where Thomas was the first overseer of the newly established Cedar Creek meeting. The Cedar Creek meeting house was built on "Stanley Land", part of an 800 acre tract granted to the Stanleys in 1714 by Governor Alexander Spotswood. A Quaker meeting house at Cedar Creek existed until a forest fire in the year 1904.
vii. Jane Crew married John Sanders, Jr. in 1727/8 and had nine children. They were fined in Hanover County and later migrated to Guilford County, North Carolina where they were among the original members of the Deep River monthly meeting. Jane died in 1793 in Guilford County.
viii. William Crew married Hannah Sanders in New Kent County in 1729 and had eight children. They suffered seizures of property in 1733 because William refused to bear arms and again in 1735 for refusal to pay tithes. They later moved to Louisa County, Virginia. William was put on probation by the Quakers in 1750 and dismissed from the church later that year. He died in 1771 in Louisa County.
ix. Anne Crew married William Lane (Ladd) in 1733/34 in Charles City County and had seven children. In 1764, the family moved to New Garden monthly meeting in Guilford County, North Carolina with other relatives. William was dismissed from the Society of Friends in 1769.
x. David Crew married Mary Stanley in 1733/34, having at least two children. After Mary passed away, he married Mary Ladd, widow of Samuel McGahea in 1754. David was disowned in 1758 for neglecting to insure that his children attended regular Quaker meetings. His son, David, Jr., is further described in Appendix A. This "Neglected child", David, Jr., was a soldier in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. He was a later business associate of Daniel Boone and was a citizen and a military guard of Boonesboro, Kentucky.
John Crew
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: John Crew Jr.
Mother: Agatha Ellyson
John Crew
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Joseph Crew 204
Mother: Massey Johnson 204