Robert Lancaster (ca. 1631- 1720) of IOW/Surry, Virginia

The State of Research as I Understand It

by John Ezekiel Lancaster

These genealogical notes were requested and posted by Andrew Lancaster, as part of an effort to gather more information about the early roots (for example before 1750) of Lancaster families around the world. For Andrew's main page see http://users.skynet.be/lancaster/. Anyone with an interest in this family or other Lancaster families, please contact us. Another important part of this effort is the Lancaster Surname DNA Project.

Everyone agrees that Robert Lancaster, Sr., of IOW/Surry County, Virginia, was English, but the precise time and mechanism for his arrival in Virginia is undetermined. The consensus seems to be that he arrived before 1652 when he was one of 72 signatories of a petition submitted to the colonial government. No further record of his life in Virginia has been found bearing a date earlier than 1670, when his name began showing up regularly on tax rolls and other official documents. From this period numerous records exist. These establish that he married a year or two before this chain of records began, and that his three children were born in the same period (a little before and after 1670). There is no doubt that Robert Lancaster, Sr. (ca. 1631-1720) was the progenitor of the IOW/Surry Lancasters and that his three children were Robert, Samuel, and Elizabeth.

Several  questions about Robert Lancaster (d. 1720) have been raised, however, and some of them are listed below, with the best answers I can provide at this time. I am indebted to Nancy L. Mathews for sharing much of her research with me and enhancing my understanding.  She is not only one of the most able researchers I know, but probably the most generous.

1.      Considering that the name on the petition of 1652 was written as “Robert Lancashire,” how do we know that “Robert Lancaster” is his correct name?

First, Robert signed with a mark, so he probably did not know how his name was spelled. Whoever wrote Robert’s name presumably spelled it as he thought it sounded, or perhaps had some experience with someone named Lancashire and simply did not distinguish between spellings.  Second, researchers have found no record of another person to be put forward as the possible signer.  Third, in all the records found for Robert Lancaster from 1670 to 1720, except for his will, the name was spelled “Lancaster.”  In Robert’s will, the scribe spelled the surname for Robert and all members of his family as “Lanquishear,” but again Robert signed with his mark and perhaps did not appreciate the distinction between Lanquishear and Lancaster.  If he did recognize “Lanquishear” as a misspelling of his name, he may well have considered it unimportant, as there was nobody else in the vicinity for whom he would be confused. When his will was probated, as has often been pointed out, the court wrote the name as “Lancaster.” The will’s spelling of “Lanquishear” appears to have been the only instance of this version of the name. In a recent posting (29 January 2008) on the Lancaster Genforum site, Nancy L. Matthews stated that she has not seen the “Lanquishear” spelling elsewhere in all her years of Lancaster research. It appears that little interest has arisen in researching the name question, which is assumed to have resulted simply from Robert’s inability to write. Robert probably had no idea such petty distinctions could be troubling to his descendants 288 years later.

2.      With respect to the petition of 1652, out of 72 signatories the only two specifically named are Mr. John Dibdall and Robert Lancashire. Does that not imply that the Robert Lancashire who signed it was a person of note in the community, not a simple indentured servant who had recently arrived? And does this not suggest that the signer was a different person than our Robert Lancaster?

No. Nancy Mathews has seen the actual text of the document. She visited the Surry County courthouse and talked to officials there about it. This was a petition to the Virginia government to establish Surry County, and virtually all men in the jurisdiction appear to have signed it.  Nancy is convinced the singling out of Robert Lancaster for mention in connection with the petition was a decision of the modern transcriber (who knew the present-day significance of Robert Lancaster or the Lancaster name), not an act of the 17th century court official.

3.   If Robert Lancaster signed the petition of 1652 and was presumably at least 21 years of age at the time, he must have been born no later than 1631. That would make him 89 years old at his death.  Is it reasonable to expect a man to have lived so long in colonial Virginia?

That is certainly a long life-span, but we must take the facts as we find them.  This is what the records indicate.

 

4.   If Robert Lancaster was born in 1631, he was in his late 30’s when he married and started his family.  Considering the social and economic pressure to have children in 17th century Virginia, how can we explain his beginning a family so late in life? 

 

First, although no specific record of this has been found, it is likely he arrived in Virginia as an indentured servant without money.  Before starting a family, he would have needed to work out the contract period (perhaps 4 to 7 years, or longer), then accumulate money to acquire property, including livestock, equipment, and land.  Of course he also had to find a woman that he wished to marry and who chose to marry him.

 

5        Applying for a headright land grant of 2,000 acres in 1673, Arthur Allen included a Robert Lancaster on the list of 40 persons that he claimed to have brought to Virginia. Wouldn’t that suggest that Robert Lancaster arrived after 1652?

 

Not necessarily. Arthur Allen’s list went back 24 years. Nancy Mathews looked into this list and found some interesting facts. Seven of the 40 were described as “Negroes,” and two listings were for Arthur Allen, himself. The remaining 31 were English, and 15 of those are shown in published volumes to have departed from the port of Bristol. Names of 9 of the 31 persons appear in Virginia land grant applications, without notation of port of origin (at least in the published records). The earliest date associated in the published works with any of the listed persons was 1649, which was three years prior to the petition of 1652. Dates associated with some persons on the list were as late as 1666, so the range of dates for persons on the Allen list amounted to 17 years or more. Robert Lancaster is among the 5 for whom a port of departure has not yet been determined, and a specific date of arrival or indenture has not been found.  The lengthy time-span observed in the list included with Arthur Allen’s petition suggests that, if the Robert Lancaster on Allen’s list is our man, Robert might well have arrived before 1652. 

 

Incidentally, six of the individuals on Arthur Allen’s headright claim list, including Robert Lancaster, seem to be the same six named in the 1679 claim submitted by William Powell.  To focus this issue sharply on Robert Lancaster, we can say it appears that both Arthur Allen and William Powell claimed land on the basis of having brought him (and five others) to Virginia.

 

As for the place of Robert Lancaster’s origin, on the basis of the data mentioned above, one can reason in two directions. Since so many of the English people on Arthur Allen’s list came to Virginia from Bristol, one might expect that the same could be true of Robert Lancaster and the other four for whom no specifics have yet been found, as well as the nine with land grant dates only.  On the other hand, it could also be argued that these five (plus nine) must have come by some other route or routes because, unlike the fifteen for whom documents connecting them with Bristol have been found, records of passage for these others have so far escaped our detection.

 

Some years ago, in a one-line comment, Nancy Mathews speculated that Robert may not have come directly from England, but from another colony.  No record of passage having yet been found, that possibility must be considered.  DNA testing could help resolve this question, among others.

 

6.   Who was Robert Lancaster’s wife?

 

Over the years this question has elicited a number of answers, partly because Robert had a first wife and a second wife.  The name of the second wife, Sarah, has been known all along because she survived Robert and died soon afterward, leaving a will. Robert Lancaster was Sarah’s third husband, as she had been married previously to Daniel Lewis (1st) and to Richard Bennett.

 

The greater challenge has been identifying Robert Lancaster’s first wife, the mother of his children.  At least two different Elizabeths have been proposed by various researchers through the years, but evidence has been lacking, and many have simply despaired of ever finding the answer. Recently, Nancy Mathews discovered information that she believes tips us off to the identity of the first wife.  She found a record of a Quaker marriage in December 1682 at the home of John Barnes. Among the attending witnesses, there was a lady with an unusual name, Lettis Lancaster. It happens that Robert Lancaster had a granddaughter with the same given name, Lettis Pittman. Being very familiar with Lancaster names of that place and time, Nancy concluded that Lettis Lancaster must have been the wife of Robert Lancaster.  With that thought in mind, she looked again at the list of people on Arthur Allen’s headright list, and there was a Lettice Powell, who departed England by way of Bristol and whose date of indenture was 1665. Further research revealed that William Powell, mentioned above as petitioner for a headright grant in 1679, was a Quaker. We know also that some of Robert Lancaster’s descendants were Quakers.

 

This research is still in progress. Some of these facts may prove to be unconnected, but they are suggestive of a possibly very interesting story about the earliest period of our IOW/Surry Lancasters.  We may discover that the Lettice Powell who came from England as an indentured servant in 1665-66 was related in some way to William Powell the Quaker of IOW County.  Considering the infrequent occurrence of the name Lettice, one can easily believe that Lettice Powell became the Lettis Lancaster who witnessed that Quaker wedding in 1682, and she may have been a source of Quaker influence in the family. It does seem reasonable to state that the best evidence we have indicates that the wife of Robert Lancaster was Lettice.

7.  Are there major research issues related to Robert Lancaster’s descendants?

Yes.  Although some lines of Robert’s descendants have been researched fairly extensively, others need much more attention. One problem is that families descended from different sons or grandsons of Robert Lancaster, Sr., have migrated to certain counties in particular states and become intermingled with each other.  Scarcity of documentation adds to the confusion. The same factors affect research on other Lancaster families in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and other states.  As a means of untangling, sorting, and connecting Lancaster families in America with each other and with those in England and elsewhere, some of us have joined with the Lancaster Surname Project, administered by Andrew Lancaster, to encourage DNA testing. Some Recent Genforum Messages about DNA Testing and the Lancaster Surname Project are:

By Andrew Lancaster -- 3827, 3859, 3860, 3993, 4040
By Nancy L. Mathews -- 4014, 4083, 4085
By John Lancaster -- 3970, 4037, 4086, 4097

Link to Genforum: http://genforum.genealogy.com

Link to the Lancaster Surname Project: http://users.skynet.be/lancaster/Lancaster.htm

 

Needs List for DNA Tests

Nancy Mathews has compiled a partial list of Lancaster families in the United States for which DNA tests could be of great usefulness in resolving questions of relatedness. Please encourage males from these families to participate in the surname project by having a Y-chromosome test. The lines are listed below by state, county, and family.

On most of these lines discussions have taken place via the Lancaster Genforum message board.  Some message numbers and links are provided to facilitate checking these.

Link to the Lancaster Surname Project: http://users.skynet.be/lancaster/Lancaster.htm

Georgia

Troup Co., GA
John Lancaster's Line. Sons were: James Lancaster, Lewis Lancaster, John Lancaster, and William Lancaster.

See Genforum Messages 195, 311, 313, 365, 387, 505, 968, 1775, 2286   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/195.html


Kentucky

Trigg Co., KY
Henry Lancaster line. Sons were Thomas Lancaster, William H. Lancaster, W. Henry Lancaster, Hartwell Lancaster, and Gabriel Lancaster.


Levi Lancaster line. Sons were Wiley Lancaster, Edmond Lancaster, William Dorsey Lancaster, and Joseph Barnes Lancaster


See Genforum Messages 1875, 1900, 1905   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/1905.html   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/1875.html

 

North Carolina

Moore Co., NC
Hartwell Lancaster's Line. Sons were Hartwell Lancaster, Jr., and 3 unidentified sons.

See Genforum Messages 3479, 3490, 3630, 4020, 4108, 4115, 4116  http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3490.html


Warren Co., NC
Laurence Lancasters line. Sons were Samuel Lancaster, Absolom Lancaster, John Lancaster, Laurence Lancaster, Jr., Aaron Lancaster, Moses Lancaster, Joel Lancaster, Sr., and Rev. William Lancaster.

See Genforum Messages 3407, 2673 (Laurence)            http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3407.html


John Lancaster line. (Most of his children are unknown. He married Laurence Lancaster, Sr’s. daughter, Martha Patsy Lancaster. These are a few of his sons: Micajah Lancaster, Laurence R. Lancaster, and Joseph J. Lancaster.


See Genforum Messages 3784, 3792, 3802, 3803 (John)   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3792.html


Edgecombe Co., NC
Robert Lancaster line. Sons were Henry Lancaster, Robert Lancaster, Jr., and Hartwell L. Lancaster

See Genforum Messages 3479, 3490, 3630, 4020, 4108, 4115, 4116 (Hartwell)   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3479.html

See Genforum Messages 1264, 1288, 1291, 1304, 1305, 1313, 1427, 3379, 3382, 3383, 3384, 3642, 3643 (Benjamin) http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3382.html

 


 Cravens Co./Johnston Co.
James Benjamin Lancaster line. Sons were William Sinclair Lancaster, Jesse Lancaster, Jethro Lancaster, and maybe others.

See Genforum Messages 1834, 3377, 3365, 3388, 3391, 3408  (James Benjamin)   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/1834.html

See Genforum Messages 1450, 1464, 1545, 4023, 4024, 4025, 4030 (Jesse)   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/1464.html

 

Pennsylvania

Bucks Co., PA
Thomas Lancasters line. Sons were Thomas Lancaster, John Lancaster, Benjamin Lancaster, Jobe Lancaster, Joseph Lancaster, Jacob Lancaster, Isaac Lancaster, Aaron Lancaster and Moses Lancaster


See Genforum Messages 388, 398, 1791, 1796, 2342   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/388.html

 

Tennessee

Smith County, TN
John Lancaster, Sr., of Henrico line.

See Genforum Messages 1999, 3216, 3225, 3226, 3254, 3301  http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3301.html

Virginia

Bedford Co., VA
Robert Lancaster line.
See Genforum Messages 1903, 2649               http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/2649.html


Henrico Co., VA
John Lancasters, Sr. line. Sons were John Lancaster Jr., Nathaniel Lancaster, and William Allen Lancaster.
See Genforum Messages 2651, 2658               http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/2651.html


York/Hanover Co., VA
Gowen Lancaster Line. Son was Robert Lancaster.
See Genforum Messages 1908, 2650, 3290, 3294, 3295 3296, 3297, 3331 3863   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3294.html

Surry Co., VA

Robert Lancaster, Sr. (ca. 1631-1720)

See Genforum Message 3404   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3404.html

Robert Lancaster, Jr. (ca. 1669-1739)

See Genforum Message 3405   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3405.html

 


No will or heirs settlement was ever located for these men out of Surry/IOW, VA.

William Lancaster (1691-1740), s/o Robert Lancaster, Jr.

See Genforum Messages 2729, 3404, 3406   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/3406.html


John Lancaster (1724-1812), s/o Samuel Lancaster

See Genforum Messages 1424, 3404, 2729   http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/2729.html


Robert Lancaster (b. bet 1715-1717), s/o Samuel Lancaster
See Genforum Messages, 1424, 3404, 2729                http://genforum.genealogy.com/lancaster/messages/2729.html


We know that Samuel Lancaster left no will, but he gave his children each some land. So we were able to determine his heirs.


Link to the Lancaster Surname Project: http://users.skynet.be/lancaster/Lancaster.htm