BIRTH 1693
DEATH April 25, 1777 Buckingham County, VA (WV)
7th great-grandfather
We have been able to trace our Anglin roots in this country back to Adrian Anglin. Of course Adrian had parents, but this is where most genealogy researchers in our lineage feel confident with the findings. Adrian Anglin came to this country in 1717 at the age of 24, paying for his passage with four years of indentured servitude. His servitude was sold by Capt. Abraham Lewis to John Ragland of Hanover County, Virginia. We would never have known this if John Ragland had not refused to free Adrian when his four year term of servitude was over, thus forcing Adrian to sue for his freedom in 1721.
Translation: Hanover County pt To the Worshipfull the Court of the said County Adrian Anglin humbly Showeth That your petitioner came as an Indentured servant into this Colony for four years and as such was sold by Capt Abra Lewis to John Ragland of this County and that now his said time by Indenture is expired notwithstanding which his said Master Ragland tho often required refuses yor petitioner his freedom wherefore he prays the sd Ragland may be summoned to Court to show cause why your petr should not have his freedom according to Law
The area where our family lived in Hanover and Buckingham Counties are both considered “burned” counties, sustaining severe damage during the Civil War and subsequent years. Aside from royal patents, there are very few surviving records. The only county records in Hanover County during the period our ancestors were there are for the years 1734 and 1735. Having a copy of Adrian Anglin’s will we owe to our ancestors’ quarrels; Philip Anglin needed a certified copy of the will to use as evidence in a lawsuit. This copy was included in a collection of family papers deposited with the Library of Virginia.
Adrian was married first to Elizabeth W. Gates, and by this marriage he had five known children: Ann, William, John, Maryann, and Ann. He later married Mary Thornhill, who bore him six children that we know of: Philip, Elizabeth, Sarah, Lydia, Adrian, and Joseph. Thornhill was apparently not Mary’s maiden name, because she had a daughter, Joyce, born about 1734, apparently a step-sister to Adrian’s children, who married Abner Harbour. She was the Joyce Harbour who gave her deposition in a suit between Philip Anglin and his sister Sarah’s husband William Hays over the care, treatment, maintenance and property of Philip’s and Sarah’s (and Joyce’s) mother, Mary Thornhill Anglin.
In 1727 Adrian was listed as a creditor of the Estate of John English, deceased, of Hanover County. In 1734 he was still in Hanover County, but by 1746, Adrian had moved to the part of Goochland County which later became Albemarle, and still later Buckingham County. His land was about 70 miles upriver from Richmond on the south side of the Fluvanna River and on both sides of the Slate River, which flowed into the Fluvanna. Adrian raised his family in Buckingham County, served as a constable there, and remained there the rest of his life.
Adrian Anglin’s Will
Library of Virginia, Accession Number 34126, Box 18, Folder 543: The Gravely Family Papers (Anglin – Athey Families)