Mentioned as friend of John Thach

Mentioned as friend of John Thach

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Name: John THACH

***: M

Birth: about 1718

Death: between Aug 1778 - Jul 1779

Perquimans Co., NC

THE EARLIEST PROVABLE RECORD CONCERNING THACH/THATCH FAMILY HISTORY IS IN REFERENCE TO JOHN THACH WHO FIRST APPEARS IN CHOWAN COUNTY (EDENTON), NORTH CAROLINA, IN 1744. NOTHING IS KNOWN OF HIS ORIGIN.

JOHN WAS WELL ESTABLISHED IN CHOWAN COUNTY BY JULY 1744, SINCE HE WAS CHOSEN FOR GRAND JURY SERVICE IN THAT COUNTY'S COURT IN THAT MONTH. HE WITNESSED THE WILL OF THOMAS HOLLADAY ON AUGUST 30, 1744, ACCEPTING THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PROVING THE WILL'S AUTHENTICITY. AT THE SALE OF HOLLADAY'S ESTATE IN JULY AND SEPTEMBER 1745 HE PURCHASED A WARMING PAN, A JUG, A CANTER, A BOX OF DRAWERS, A SWORD, A PARCEL OF OLD LUMBER, AN IRON POT, A HORSE, A KETTLE, SOME OLD CHAIR FRAMES AND SOME BUTTER POTS. IN 1746, HIS NAME APPEARED ON A LIST OF TITHABLES TAKEN BY WILLIAM LUTEN AND HIS TAXABLE PROPERTY INCLUDED SIX BLACKS.

IN 1748 JOHN MARRIED, PROBABLY FOR THE SECOND TIME. HIS MARRIAGE BOND WAS DATED APRIL 17, 1748, AND HIS BONDSMEN WERE WILLIAM LUTEN AND WILLIAM LEWIS. HIS BRIDE, SARAH STANDIN(G), WAS PROBABLY THE DAUGHTER OF EDWARD STANDIN OF CHOWAN.

JOHN CHANGED HIS RESIDENCE TO ADJOINING PERQUIMANS CO. IN 1758. ON JANUARY 23RD OF THAT YEAR HE SOLD HIS HUNDRED ACRES IN CHOWAN TO JESSE COPELAND FOR 35 POUNDS. THE LAND LAY ON CHOWAN RIVER ADJOINING JOHN WHITE AND WAS PART OF A LAND GRANT TO LEWIS WILLIAMS. THE DEED OF SALE WAS WITNESSED BY CHARLES ROBERTS, ANN THACH (HIS DAUGHTER, her witnessing being a lead to her age of which she was required to be at least 18) AND GREEN THACH (HIS SON, required to be at least 21).

A MONTH LATER, FEBRUARY 23, 1758, JOHN THACH, "FARMER", PAID 100 POUNDS PROCLAMATION MONEY TO MARTHA ANN KIPPEN, INNHOLDER OF EDENTON, FOR 500 ACRES ON THE HEAD OF INDIAN CREEK IN PERQUIMANS COUNTY, NEAR HORSE PIT BRANCH. THE TRANSACTION WAS WITNESSED BY THOMAS BONNER, HENDERSON STANDIN AND ANDREW KNOX. JOHN MOVED TO THIS FARM ON THE EASTERN EDGE OF BEAR SWAMP IN TIME TO APPEAR ON JOHN HUBORD'S "A True List of the names of the Masters Mistresses & Overseers of Familys within my District Taken this 16th Day of October 1758". JOHN WAS, BY NOW, WELL SITUATED ECONOMICALLY FOR HE HAD SEVEN TAXABLE SLAVES THAT YEAR ON WILLIAM WYATT'S LIST AND SEVEN THE NEXT YEAR ON JOHN HARVEY'S LIST.

SOMEONE FOUND A FLAW IN THE TITLE TO JOHN'S 500-ACRE HOME PLANTATION IN PERQUIMANS CO. BENJAMIN SCARBROUGH CLAIMED TO BE THE RIGHTFUL OWNER, PERHAPS LAWFULLY, AS JOHN PAID HIM 100 POUNDS PROCLAMATION MONEY ON JULY 1, 1762 IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS FRIENDS THOS. BONNER AND HATTEN WILLIAMS.

IN 1777, JOHN'S TAXABLE PROPERTY, ON GENERAL WILLIAM SKINNER'S LIST, INCLUDED 500 ACRES, 3 NEGROES, 1 HORSE AND 13 HEAD OF CATTLE. ON DECEMBER 29TH OF THAT YEAR, HE MADE HIS WILL, PROBABLY IMPELLED BY CONSIDERATION OF HIS ADVANCING AGE AND THE UNCERTAINTIES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. HE DESIRED HIS LAND ON SHINGLETREE BRANCH TO BE GIVEN TO HIS SONS, THOMAS AND GREGORY; HE NAMES NO OTHER OF HIS FAMILY BUT HIS SON-IN-LAW JAMES BOUSH (husband of his daughter Esther). HE APPOINTED HIS SON THOMAS AS EXECUTOR AND CALLED IN JOHN BRATTEN AND NATHANIEL BRATTEN TO WITNESS HIS SIGNING THE WILL.

JOHN THACH took The Oath of Loyalty to the State of NC in August 1778 but WAS DEAD BY JULY 10, 1779 at which time HIS SON GREEN PETITIONED (Green was identified as "his son" in the petition) " the Worshipfull Court of Pleas or Ouarter Sessions. .. that John Thach DeceasEd. . . having made no provision in his Will (NOVEMBER 1777) for the Paying his Just Debts nor given any Directions concerning his Personal Estate he the said Green Thach prayeth for Letters of administration on the Same & likewise for an Order to Sell the Personal Estate that the Debts may be paid and the Remainder Divided". AN INVENTORY OF THE ESTATE WAS MADE THAT DAY AND, ON JULY 27TH, AN ESTATE SALE WAS HELD TO DISPOSE OF PERISHABLE OR NEGLIGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY AND TO PRODUCE CASH FOR PAYMENT OF DEBTS. TWO PRAYER BOOKS, ONE WORTH 13 POUNDS AND THE OTHER 8 POUNDS 5 SHILLINGS, WERE AMONG THE ARTICLES SOLD; THEY SUGGEST JOHN was probably a MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. IN SETTLING THE ESTATE, GREEN PAID 3 POUNDS 10 SHILLINGS FOR DOCTOR'S ACCOUNTS AND 16 POUNDS 12 SHILLINGS TO JACOB BRANCH FOR A COFFIN.

A DIVISION OF THE ESTATE WAS MADE APRIL 12, 1780, AND EACH OF JOHN THACH'S TEN SURVIVING CHILDREN (his daughter Ann was not named and therefore is presumed dead by that date) RECEIVED THE INFLATED SUM OF 587 POUNDS 1 SHILLING AND 5 PENCE. SPECIAL NOTE SHOULD BE TAKEN AS TO RELATIVE COSTS COMPARED TO TWENTY YEARS EARLIER, I.E., JOHN'S PURCHASE PRICE OF HIS PERQUIMANS PROPERTY IN 1758.

IN 1784, JOHN THACH'S ESTATE WAS SUED BY JEAN BLAIR, PARTNER IN THE FIRM OF ANDREW KNOX AND COMPANY, IN A PLEA OF TRESPASS ON THE CASE, WITH 30 POUNDS DAMAGE CLAIMED. BLAIR OBTAINED A JUDGEMENT TO RECOVER THIS DEBT AND 300 ACRES OF JOHN'S FARM WAS SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION; JAMES BOUSH, A SON-IN-LAW OF JOHN BOUGHT THE LAND FOR 21 POUNDS ON JANUARY 5, 1786.

ANALYSIS OF JOHN THACH

FACT AND OPINION

WHO WAS JOHN THACH? WHAT WAS HIS ORIGIN? THE EARLIEST FAMILY RECORD, JULY 1744, INDICATES JOHN WAS, BY THAT DATE, A MAN OF MEANS AND ONE WHO WAS AN ESTABLISHED MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY, BUT THE QUESTION IS "HOW LONG HAD HE BEEN IN CHOWAN COUNTY"?. THE BEGINNING OF MASS IMMIGRATION INTO THE COLONY OF CAROLINA DID NOT SIGNIFICANTLY BEGIN UNTIL THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CROWN RULE (1729) AT WHICH TIME THE GOVERNOR REPORTED THAT "great numbers of people have come from other places and many of them are possessed of good American estates". WHILE THE ENTIRE PERIOD OF JOHN'S LIFE WITNESSED POPULATION GROWTH IN EASTERN NC, THE GROWTH WAS MOST PROFOUND DURING THE PERIOD OF 1730-1750. WAS JOHN AMONG THESE? IF SO, WHERE DID HE COME FROM AND WHO WERE HIS PARENTS?

THERE IS, AMONG OTHERS, A PRIMARY TRADITION REGARDING THE ORIGIN OF OUR JOHN THACH WHICH HAS BEEN PASSED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION AND PERSISTS AMONG KNOWN DESCENDANTS LONG SEPARATED FROM ONE ANOTHER. THAT TRADITION IS THAT THE FAMILY CAN NUMBER AMONG THEIR ANCESTORS THE NOTORIOUS PIRATE, EDWARD TEACH OR THATCH, KNOWN TO HISTORY AS BLACKBEARD.

DR. ROBERT E. LEE, IN HIS BOOK, "BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE" A REAPPRAISAL OF HIS LIFE AND TIMES (WINSTON SALEM, NC, JOHN F. BLAIR, 1974), MADE REFERENCE TO THIS TRADITION AND STATED THAT WHILE HE COULD FIND NO PROOF, THERE WAS A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY THE PIRATE LEFT AT LEAST ONE FORMALLY RECOGNIZED DESCENDANT AS A RESULT OF A LEGAL MARRIAGE IN SEPTEMBER 1718, TO MARY ORMAND OF BATH COUNTY, NC TWO MONTHS BEFORE HIS DEATH. THE MARRIAGE WAS PERFORMED BY GOVERNOR EDEN.

IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT BATH IS ONLY A SHORT DISTANCE FROM THE EARLIEST PROVEN LOCATION OF JOHN THACH, 26 YEARS AFTER BLACKBEARDS DEATH AND IT IS CERTAINLY POSSIBLE THAT JOHN THACH WAS THE PRODUCT OF THE BATH MARRIAGE.

TO DATE THERE HAS BEEN LITTLE FOUND THAT WOULD HELP DETERMINE JOHN'S ORIGIN. WITH THE HELP OF OTHERS A FEW FACTS HAVE BEEN FOUND. WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAVE RELEVANCE WILL BE LEFT TO THE IMAGINATION AND TO FURTHER RESEARCH:

1. "Virgil Thack was sponsored to Virginia in 1651 by Thomas Clifton of Northampton County." SPONSORSHIP WAS IN EXCHANGE FOR FIFTY ACRES OF LAND. (EARLY VIRGINIA IMMIGRANTS, 1623-1666, BY GEO. C. GREER, W. D. HILL PUBS., 1912) CLIFTON WAS PROMINENT IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY AT THE TIME AND SEVERAL RECORDS HAVE BEEN LOCATED CONCERNING HIM, BUT NOTHING ABOUT VIRGIL "THACK". A PROFESSIONAL GENEALOGIST OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, VA., TOLD ME IT WAS QUITE COMMON TO PAY OR "SPONSOR" SOMEONE TO THE NEW WORLD IN EXCHANGE FOR LAND, BUT SPONSORSHIP DID NOT NECESSARILY INFER AN INDENTURE TO THE SPONSOR, BUT RATHER TO THE COLONY. THEREFORE, VIRGIL COULD HAVE SETTLED ANYWHERE IN VIRGINIA, WHICH WAS THE PRINCIPAL COMMITMENT.

IN CONSIDERATION, IT SEEMS TO ME THE INDISTINGUISHABLE APPEARANCE OF THE OLD ENGLISH SCRIPT "h" AS COMPARED TO "k" COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN MISTAKEN BY THE TRANSLATOR (GREER) AND THAT VIRGIL THAC"K" COULD VERY WELL HAVE BEEN "THE IMMIGRANT" THACH AND IF NOT THE FATHER OF JOHN, THEN PERHAPS THE GRANDFATHER.

2. "BARBADOS RECORDS", BAPTISMS, 1637-1800, MARRIAGES (VOLUME 1), 1643-1800, AND WILLS (VOLUME II), 1681-1700, BY JOANNE MCREE SANDERS, LIST SEVERAL RECORDS OF THACH/THATCH FAMILIES. DAVID L. KENT, IN HIS BOOK, BARBADOS AND AMERICA (1980), DOCUMENTS THE IMPORTANCE OF BARBADOS TO THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA.

MR. KENT STATES THAT "colonization of Barbados began in 1626/1627 and it subsequently became the wealthiest and most populous (except for Virginia and Massachusetts) of England's colonies". THIS GOOD FORTUNE WAS OWED TO THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS. HOWEVER, BETWEEN 1660-1680, BECAUSE OF OVERCROWDING AND DWINDLING RESOURCES, LARGE SCALE MIGRATION BEGAN TO THE NORTHERN COLONIES, NOTABLY VIRGINIA AND THE CAROLINAS "where provisions are more plenty and the weather more temperate". DURING THIS PERIOD, OVER 17,000 LANDLESS FREEMEN AND SMALL FARMERS JOURNEYED NORTH. THE SIGNIFICANCE IS THAT "THACH" WAS A WELL ESTABLISHED FAMILY NAME ON THE ISLAND AND, THEREFORE, JOHN'S ANCESTORS OR JOHN HIMSELF COULD QUITE POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN AMONG THE IMMIGRANTS. IT IS ALSO INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT DR. LEE REPORTED THAT BLACKBEARD MAY HAVE ORIGINATED, EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FROM BARBADOS.

3. IN OLD KENT COUNTY (VA) HISTORY BY HARRIS, THERE WAS FOUND AN ENTRY THAT "MARY, DAUGHTER OF SPENCER THATCH, MARRIED DR. JAMES BOYD OF GLOUCESTER COUNTY". NO DATE WAS GIVEN, HOWEVER, I SUBSEQUENTLY LEARNED THE DATE TO BE 1712. IT IS SIGNIFICANT TO NOTE JOHN HAD A GRANDSON NAMED SPENCER (THROUGH HIS SON GREEN) AND young Spencer was probably HIS FIRST GRANDSON.

4. IN THE VESTRY BOOK OF STRATTON MAJOR PARISH (VA), PAGE 66, THE FOLLOWING ENTRY WAS FOUND, "Ordered that the church wardens pay Mr. James P. P______ a pistole his fee for prosecuting a suit against John Thach (1745)". THIS PARISH ENCOMPASSED A LARGE GEOGRAPHICAL REGION OF LOWER VIRGINIA WHICH IS ABOUT ONE HUNDRED MILES NORTH OF JOHN'S PROVEN LOCATION IN CHOWAN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, IN 1744.

CENTRAL TO THAT PARISH WAS THE PRESENT DAY KING AND QUEEN COUNTY AND GLOUCESTER COUNTY, VIRGINIA. THIS MAY POSSIBLY BE "OUR" JOHN THACH IN THAT, WHILE THE COURT ACTION WAS ONE HUNDRED MILES NORTH OF CHOWAN COUNTY, IT DOESN'T IMPLY THAT JOHN WAS PRESENT FOR THE PROCEEDINGS.

JOHN'S MARRIAGE(S)

THE MARRIAGE OF JOHN THACH IN 1748 WAS PROBABLY HIS SECOND. AS CITED EARLIER, TWO OF JOHN'S CHILDREN (GREEN AND ANN) WITNESSED A LAND SALE IN 1758. THE LEGAL AGE FOR DOING SO WAS TWENTY-ONE FOR MALES AND EIGHTEEN FOR FEMALES. THUS, GREEN WAS BORN BY 1737 AND ANN BY 1740. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR GREEN'S AGE IS THAT GREEN APPEARS ON CAPTAIN JOHN HARVEY'S MILITIA LIST OF 1754, A QUALIFICATION FOR WHICH ONE HAD TO BE AT LEAST SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE. ADDITIONALLY, HIS DAUGHTER, MARY, WAS MARRIED IN 1762 AND PRESUMED NO YOUNGER THAN AGE 15, THEREFORE, BORN Ca. 1747. MY OWN SPECULATION IS that John's first wife probably had one or two miscarriages between the birth of their second child and Mary and THAT MARY'S BIRTH MAY HAVE RESULTED IN THE DEATH OF JOHN'S FIRST WIFE in late 1747 or early 1748.

AS WAS THE CUSTOM, AN IMMEDIATE MARRIAGE BECAME DESIREABLE. IT APPEARS THEREFORE, THAT OF JOHN'S ELEVEN KNOWN CHILDREN, AT LEAST THREE WERE FROM AN EARLIER MARRIAGE. ASSUMING GREEN'S BIRTH AS Ca. 1737, ENABLES SPECULATION AS TO JOHN'S BIRTH AS Ca. 1715-1720, based upon the average male age at marriage of about 22. A CONVIENIENT ASSUMPTION that adds "fuel" to a possible Blackbeard connection.

GIVEN THE ABOVE, WHO WAS THE MOTHER OF JOHN'S FIRST THREE CHILDREN (perhaps as many as five or six children)? I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO LOCATE ANY RECORD REGARDING AN EARLIER MARRIAGE. A "COUSIN" HELPING IN THE RESEARCH OF JOHN PROVIDED INFORMATION THAT HER RESEARCH OF BARBADOS RECORDS HAD YIELDED A "HESTER GREEN(E) AND ELIZABETH GREEN" FOUND ON A (THACH) WILL. SOME SPECULATION AROSE ON OUR PART THAT ONE MAY HAVE BEEN A MOTHER OR FIRST WIFE OF JOHN, IF NOT SOME OTHER RELATIONSHIP.

JOHN'S ESTATE

JOHN, AT FIRST GLANCE, APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN IN A GOOD ECONOMIC POSITION AND ANYTHING BUT A PAUPER. AFTER SETTLEMENT OF DEBTS, HIS ESTATE WAS VALUED AT AROUND 6,000 POUNDS STERLING AND WAS EQUALLY DIVIDED (NOT INCLUDING HIS LAND) AMONG 10 SURVIVING CHILDREN. THE ONLY ONE NOT MENTIONED WAS ANN WHO WAS APPARENTLY DEAD BY THAT DATE. ALSO, IT IS PRESUMED THAT SARAH STANDIN(G), HIS WIFE, HAD PREDECEASED HIM, SINCE THERE WAS NO PROVISION FOR HER ANYWHERE IN HIS ESTATE PAPERS.

OPINION

While the potential connection to Blackbeard is colorful, I believe John to have descended in some manner from Virgil Thac"h". I also believe the John Thach referred to in the minutes of the records of Stratton Major Parrish, VA in 1735 and the John of this record is one and the same person and in some fashion connected to Spencer Thatch and his daugHter Mary who married Dr. James Boyd.

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Marriage 1 UNKNOWN

Married: about 1736 in VIRGINIA (?)

Children:

Green THACH born before 1737

Ann THACH born before 1740

Mary THACH born before 1748 in Chowan Co., NC

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Marriage 2 Sarah STANDIN born before 1725 in Chowan Co., NC. married: 17 APR 1748 in Chowan Co., NC

Children:

Deborah THACH born after 1748 in Perquimans Co., NC

Elizabeth THACH born after 1748 in Perquimans Co., NC

Esther THACH born after 1748 in Chowan or Perquimans Co., NC

Mildred THACH born after 1748 in Chowan or Perquimans Co., NC

Phana THACH born after 1748 in Perquimans Co., NC

Sarah THACH born after 1748 in Chowan or Perquimans Co., NC

Thomas THACH born about 1758 in Perquimans Co., NC

Gregory THACH born about 1767 in Perquimans Co., NC