Christian Waddington (unknown) - Relationship to Ka Okee cut?

Thomas Pettus owned more than one piece of land, but it looks like his primary residence was the Littletown Plantation, whose location is known - it's basically the current site of the Kingsmill Resort marina on the James River. It's close to Williamsburg and about four miles east of Jamestown.

Passapatanzy is about 80 miles north of this. It's my understanding that the Patawomeck were semi-migratory, living in different places in different seasons, while the English usually liked to settle down in one place.The Patawomeck probably had to change their habits as the English encroached more and more on their lifestyle.

Littletown was close enough to the seat of English government that Thomas could be part of the action easily enough. Passapatanzy was far away from the hub, and it would be hard to live there and be a prominent citizen at the same time. Based on the story told by Bill Deyo himself, it seems likely that the Mr. Pettus who married Ka-Okee was not Thomas Pettus the bigwig.

This story still isn't holding together very well IMO. Ka-Okee wasn't just anybody, she was royalty. If a Patawomeck princess married a prominent Englishman at a time when both communities disapproved of intermarriage, you'd expect it to cause enough controversy for somebody to make note of it. The English probably wouldn't know or care it an obscure English married royalty out in the middle of nowhere, but the Patawomeck probably wouldn't be too happy about it.

It does create a new angle on the story of Christian Alleged-Pettus and her unknown sister. What do we know about Christian's geographical location? The court testimony involving Frances Golber was in King George County, which is where Passapatanzy is located. Dumping Thomas Pettus for Unknown-Male Pettus frees us from a lot of timeline constraints, since we know absolutely nothing about this new guy. Christian still has to be born around 1636, but her unknown sister could be older, which would make the Keziah story less unbelievable. Ka-Okee was born around 1610-1612, and could have started making babies around 1625. A grandchild born in 1651 would fit that timeframe. But let's not forget the uprising of 1622, when community relations took a dramatic turn for the worse and never recovered. There were still a lot of factors working against intermarriage.

Yes, Francis Waddington, Jr was the son of Christian unknown Martin and Francis Waddington Sr. Francis Sr. died about 1700.
Francis Jr. married a widow named Joanna unknown Monk. Francis Jr. died in 1724, he left a will but only the index remains.

Deed & Will Abstracts of Stafford County, Virginia 1686-1689, Deed Book D – Part 1 p. 27
pp. 32a-33
11 March 1686/7 Memorandum that then Lt. Coll. Fitzhugh did freely clearly and absolutely in cond of his good Will and affection which he bearish towards Francis Waddington sone of Francis Waddington of Pottomack Creek give unto him his Exrs. For Ever one Redde Heifer three yeares old called Cherry marked of the said Francis Waddington the Eldr marke and all her Encrease both male and female and 1 doe desire this might be recorded in the County Court Records of Stafford for the proper use of the said Francis Waddington Junr the day and yeare first above written.

Deed and Will Abstracts of Stafford County, Virginia 1689-1709 p. 12
pp. 39-40
An inventory of estate of James Monk late of this county deced made May 16th, 1700…signed by Francis Waddington.
The above inventory was equally divided according to the tenor of an order from Court…Francis Waddington in right of his wife has reced the sum 695 pounds Tobo. According to valuation more than his equal share. Wm. Williams Jno. Waugh Jr
Sundry goods valued and delivered to Mr. George Monk in right of the orphans of James Monk amounting to sum 9641 pounds Tobo…
Goods valued and delivered to Francis Waddington in right of his wife being admx of James Monk amounting to 2766 pounds Tobo
Recorded 14th day of August 1700

Not sure this page is completely up-to-date, but here is a link to a page which includes all the references for Thomas Pettus. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Colonel_Thomas_Pettus_of_Virginia

Based on research done by someone in England, (reviewing wills and church records) the Thomas Pettus born in 1598 is the man who came to Virginia.

The will of Edward Pettus makes it clear that Theodore and Thomas were brothers:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Will_of_Edward_Pettus_1620

I've gotten confused between Francis Sr and Francis Jr, myself, and also confused between Christian Sr and Christian Jr.

It looks like Bill Deyo's thinking evolved beyond a nondescript "Mr. Pettus" into a full-blown belief that it was Thomas Pettus the bigwig. From the Henry Meese article at https://patawomeckindiantribeofvirginia.org/ct-menu-item-35#Meese

"Mary’s mother is strongly believed to have been a daughter of Col. Thomas Pettus and his first wife, Ka-Okee, daughter of Pocahontas and her first husband, Kocoum, younger brother of Japasaw. That would help to explain why Col. Thomas Pettus deeded his land that adjoined Chief Wahanganoche to Henry Meese, who would have been the husband of his granddaughter, Mary. "

Wikitree has information on the land transaction: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Meese-9 This link has information on that transaction and more: https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0393...

This land is in Stafford county, which included Passapatanzy in 1665. There's a wonderful interactive map at https://www.mapofus.org/virginia/ where you can click to see where the county lines were in any given year. Don't hit the "play" button though unless you want to see a time-lapse progression that's too fast to follow. The years underneath the map indicate a change in county lines, so click on the year that starts right before the time you want to see. The website has other states too.

Here's the land transaction: MR. HENRY MEESE, 1000 acs. Stafford Co., 20 Oct. 1665, p. 432, (513). S. side of Potomack Cr., beg. on E. side of a swamp & small gutt deviding this & another tract in possession of sd. Meese, extending S. &c. to greate Eastern br. of Wipsewasin Cr. including a poynt of land on the W. side of sd. Cr. abutting upon Potomack Cr. &c. Granted to Col. Thomas Pettus, Esqr., 15 Mar. 1658 & by him & Eliz. his wife assigned to sd. Meese & ack'd. in court by Major Edward Griffeth, Atty. of sd. Pettus & wife, as by records of W'moreland Co. will more fully appear.

Notice that Pettus acquired the land in 1658, decades after he was supposedly living there with Ka-Okee.The English land system did not allow people to just pick out a piece of land that they liked and live there as squatters.

It's hard to figure out exactly where Wipsewasin Creek is. But Potomac Creek is identifiable enough, and there's a spit of land called Whipsawason Point that's about two miles directly north of Passapatanzy. Wikipedia says that the modern Passapatanzy district covers two square miles.

Deyo seems to think the land transaction was a gift, but I'm not seeing any consistent language in the land deals so I wouldn't bet on it. It's known that Pettus had a variety of landholdings, but it seems to be generally agreed that he lived in Littletown. For example https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/211960/I13033/thomas-pettus/individual

"Kingsmill Plantation The pattern at Kingsmill shifted shortly before 1650 when Colonel Thomas Pettus arrived on the scene. Pettus was the 12th son of William Pettus, a wealthy merchant of Norfolk in England. Due to his dismal prospect of inheritance, Pettus emigrated to Virginia shortly after 1641 and acquired the 800 acre Littletown tract at Kingsmill. He employed both Indian and African slaves and quickly established a profitable tobacco planting program. The archaeological remains of the Pettus plantation are much more substantial than those of the previous state. The manor house, although continuing to make use of timber for most of its construction also possed sturdy brick chimneys, glass windows, a brick-lined well and an ice house for the storage of diary products The plantation was active until 1669 when Pettus died and then passed onto his son, Thomas. An ash layer associated with dateable artifacts indicates that the house burned down in the 1690s."

The "Indian Reservations" articles always have an interesting skeptical viewpoint.The article you cited includes a footnote for Pettus' purchase of a Native American.

Staring at the information at https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0393... is starting to make my eyes cross, but I'm only seeing two land acquisitions in Stafford, the Pettus transaction in 1665 and another one in 1666. But the Pettus transaction mentions another tract that's already in Meese's possession.

Timeline note: Wahanagoche was killed in 1662 or 1663, and a war in 1666 made the Patawomeck and a few other tribes functionally extinct. I'm not sure that it's documented that Wahanganoche lived in Passapatanzy, but it's likely to be true.

Thomas’ arrival in America is undocumented. The only records for the name “Pettus” or similar prior to 1641 are: Theodore Pettus, mentioned in two records, 1623 and 1626:

“Theodore Pettus of Norwich, gent” arrived in Jamestown on September 12, 1623 on the Bonny Bess and took the oath of supremacy.

November 6, 1626 testified in a court case. [Minutes of the General Court]

Mr. Pettys. mentioned in a land patent as an abutter, 1635. NOTE: this land was several miles downriver from Jamestown, near Elizabeth City. Patent Book 1, Part 1 Augustine Warner, one neck of ground called by the name of Pynie Neck conteyning by estimation 250 acs., lying at the new Poquoson, W. into the woods, E. upon the bay, S. upon Samuell Bennetts plantation & N. upon Mr. Pettys land. Trans of 5 pers.* 12 Oct. 1635, p. 298. Renewed and 200 acres added.

Step. Pettis, mentioned in a land patent as someone transported to Virginia, 1637: Mathew Edloe, son & heir to Matthew Edloe, late of Va., dec’d., 1200 acs. upon the N. side of James Riv. Over against the Upper Chippokes Cr., S. W. upon the maine river and N.E. into the woods towards Dancing oin. 12 July 1637, p. 435. Due in right of 24 Servts. Trans. at the costs of his father: Math. Edloe, Hugh Tyder, Wm. Deane, Edwd.Tompson, Wm. Cox, Eliz. Jax (Note: maybe “Ux” for wife?), Griff. Roberrs. Fr. Roberts, Jon. Licheston, Peter Homes, Eans Kemp, Jon. Buxton, Tho. Crosby, Rand. Heyward, Hen. Croft, Tho. Morris, Tho. Rogers, Step. Pettis, Chri. Jones, Wm. Marsten (or Marshen), Jon. Bethone,Tho. Martin, Jon. Seaton, Geo. Pricklove. [Cavaliers and Pioneers” Book 1, Part 1, pp. 59-60]

I think the compiler of the "Colonial Settlers' database made the common error of attaching Joanna to the wrong Waddington. The land records and other documents make it clear that Joanna was the wife of Francis Waddington, Jr. and would have been the half-sister-in-law of Anne Martin MacPherson.

I get the impression that the "when and by whom" is all the work of William Deyo. The list of Deyo articles at https://patawomeckindiantribeofvirginia.org/ct-menu-item-35 actually has all the articles on the same page, with sublinks to each one at the top. If you start at the top and search for the name Martin within the page, you'll see references to her over and over again, but it seems like "tradition" is the source of the information.

A lot of sources assume that Thomas is the right Pettus because he had a sister named Christian. I haven't looked into this particularly hard and don't know if it's true. The article at https://genealogyadventures.net/2017/10/23/playing-genealogical-hid... says that there was a Thomas Pettus mayor of Norwich who married Christian Dethick and was NOT the father of "our" Thomas; if anything, they might be the grandparents.

It also says that there is a different Thomas Pettus, grandson of Mayor Thomas and Christian, who was born in 1610, came to Virginia about the same time as "our" Thomas, and settled in New Kent, Virginia. It says there are records showing both men at the same time, although I haven't tried to verify this.

Wikitree says there are records of a Stephen Pettus and his brother John arriving in 1637 as indentured servants: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pettus-16 Stephen patented two tracts of land in New Kent in 1665 and 1667, so he made good. There may have been other guys named Pettus whose records have been lost.

"Christian" doesn't seem to have been a common first name for women at the time, but it's a natural choice for somebody who wanted to hang a label on their child that was both pious and different. The Puritans were sticking their kids with all kinds of crazy names at the time, like "Thou-shalt-not-commit-adultery". https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/09/puritan-names-lists-of-biz...

Virginia wasn't inclined to Puritanism (that was more of a Massachusetts thing), But there could have been an odd Puritan here and there, or somebody who decided to innovate.

Here’s a link to Wikitree Thomas Pettus, who was Mayor of Norwich briefly, was a son of another Thomas (and wife Christian) , and had two sons named Thomas, one named Theodore, a daughter named Christian and numerous other chidren. The second son Thomas, seems almost certainly to be the one who came to Virginia and married Elizabeth Durrant.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pettus-408

Thinking some more about how the legend emerged. From https://patawomeckindiantribeofvirginia.org/ct-menu-item-35#Ancestors

"After finding out about the descent from Pocahontas and Kocoum, the task began to figure out the exact lineage. This was not difficult because every family line which carried the knowledge of a descent from Pocahontas went back to the Martin family and the Indian girl, Ka-Okee."

This makes it sound like the families had preserved the memory of everyone from Ka-Okee on down, but forgot that Pocahontas was Ka-Okee's mother. This is unlikely, unless you want to argue that there was a conspiracy to keep Ka-Okee and her children from finding out who her mother was.

What seems more likely is that these are the elders we've been told about who believed they were descended from Pocahontas but didn't know how. Christian Martin Waddington's most memorable act was confirming her relationship with Frances Golber, so there was no reason for her descendants to preserve her memory for 300 years unless they were preserving the memory of their line of descent from her grandmother.

What seems more likely is that somebody went on a hunt to find names that they could attach to the family stories. There was a relevant family named Martin, and a woman named Christian Martin was found, and then a guy who owned land near Paassapatanzy and had a sister named Christian was found. Add one leap of faith and you've got Christian Pettus Martin Waddington.

Vague family legends get started when somebody intentionally makes up a story and other people believe it, or when innocent wishful thinking gradually turns into a belief that it's true. If somebody in the Martin family a couple hundred years ago started believing they were descended from Pocahontas, the story could be spread across a lot of branches in the family by this time without anybody knowing the details.

Some info on the Ann Meese story. At https://patawomeckindiantribeofvirginia.org/ct-menu-item-35#Meese2 Bill Deyo complains that people are trying to claim that Col. Henry Meese (who allegedly married Wahanganoche's daughter by Unknown Pettus) never met Wahanganoche and was never in the area before his death. To refute this accusation, Deyo posts this land transaction:

“Laws of Virginia, March 1661-2: WHEREAS Wahanganoche king of the Potowmeck Indians acknowledged before the committee appointed for the Indian busines, the sale of that whole tract of land possest by Mr. Henry Mees in Potowmeck according to the bounds and marked trees which he confest were marked in his presence and with his consent, it is ordered by the assembly that the said Mees enjoy the said land to him and his heires for ever. SALE [my caps] of land by Wahanganoche king of Potomack, to H. Mees confirmed.” This shows that, not only did Wahanganoche deed land to Henry Meese, but that Henry Meese was already allowed to reside on the land previous to the deed. The only logical reason for the Chief to allow Meese to reside on his land was that Meese was married to the Chief’s daughter.:

This transaction was recorded in 1661-2, and it sounds like the actual land transfer had occurred earlier. Ann Meese was reportedly born around 1656, which looks pretty sound. If Thomas Pettus is the father of Wahanganoche's wife Unknown Pettus, we're pretty much locked into a birthdate around 1636 for Unknown, and about 1651 for the minimum age at which she could start making babies. It's hard to conjure up a timeline where Ann Meese would be old enough to be married in 1661.

Notice that Wahanganoche did not ALLOW Meese to live on his land as Deyo says; it's stated that the transaction was a sale. There's no mention of money, but this is typical. This is probably the first tract of land that Meese acquired in the area. I had complained earlier because there was a mention of an existing tract but I hadn't seen any record of its purchase.

Sorry for the redundancy, but I left the "A-ha!" moment out of the quote I posted earlier. From https://patawomeckindiantribeofvirginia.org/ct-menu-item-35#Ancestors

"every family line which carried the knowledge of a descent from Pocahontas went back to the Martin family and the Indian girl, Ka-Okee. Since we know from a deposition that Ka-Okee’s daughter, Christian, was born about 1636 or 1637, it was not hard to figure out that Ka-Okee, herself, was the daughter of Pocahontas!"

Birthdate of 1636-1637 = you must be the granddaughter of Pocahontas.

Political correctness note: I noticed that Deyo uses the word "Indian" over and over again, and the word "native" doesn't appear in his articles at all. It's my understanding that all his articles were written in the 21st century, so presumably this indicates the current terminology preferences of the Patawomeck. This is a huge relief to me because I live in Arizona where "Indian" is the preferred terminology. I see "Indian" in news stories all the time, and never learned how to use "Native American" in a graceful way. So I'm gonna quit trying, at least for the duration of this thread.

New timeline problem, or should I say existing timeline problem part 2. I had previously put in my private tree that Ann Meese descended from a marriage between Wahanganoche and Ka-Okee - I'm not sure where I got that, but I didn't make it up myself and it did fit the timeline. But Deyo's article at https://patawomeckindiantribeofvirginia.org/ct-menu-item-35#Wahanga... says that Ann Meese was descended from Wahanganoche's marriage to Unknown Pettus, and that she married her first cousin Richard Bryant.

So now Ann's mother "Mary" has the same timeline problems that we have with Keziah. Remember that Keziah must have been born after 1650 and couldn't have been old enough to give birth to Richard Bryant around 1651. Keziah's sister would also have been born after 1650, and was too young to marry Henry Meese and give birth to Ann Meese around 1656.

I wish they'd stop doing this to me.

Anne Brannen I think the basic question is about how common it was for a woman in the Virginia colony to be named Christian circa 1635.

Erica Howton if Henry Meese was a bigamist he could have a second daughter named Anne in Virginia. If the "marriage" was a shacking-up situation rather than a church ceremony then it wouldn't even be bigamy. Although Deyo says that Wahanganoche and his family converted to Christianity in 1642, so the Chief might insist on a real wedding for his daughter. But "could have" doesn't matter because this is all a moot point. The timeline doesn't work at all, and there were strong social barriers on both sides to Anglo-Indian marriages.

The Christian that we're looking at is alleged to be the Virginia-born daughter of Thomas Pettus, from the prominent Pettus family of Norwich, England. In reality, her maiden name is unknown, and we don't know whether she was born in Virginia or England.

The Pettus family did name some of their daughters Christian, apparently named after Christian Dethick who married into the family. It's reported that Christian Dethick was born in North Elmham, Norfolk. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dethick-3