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Descendants of Thomas Duke

Generation No. 4

4. JOHN TAYLOR⁹ DUKE (HENRY CAPTAIN⁸, HENRY SR. COL ESQ.⁷, THOMAS⁶, RICHARD⁵, RICHARD⁴, JOHN³, HENRY², RICHARD¹) was born 1710 in Prince George Virginia, and died Aft. 1790 in Wilkes Georgia. He married JANE UNK. Abt. 1730 in Lunenburg Virginia. She was born Abt. 1709 in Lunenburg Virginia, and died Unknown.

Notes for JOHN TAYLOR DUKE:
John Taylor Duke. son of Captain Henry Duke of Prince County, Virginia, was born between 1705 and 1710 and named for his maternal grandfather John Taylor of Flower de Hundred. Like his older half-brother, John Duke, Gent., (eldest son of Capt. Henry Duke). John Taylor Duke settled in Brunswick County, Virginia. He was there in 1733. Brunswick County was created in 1720, but until 1732 there was no court and all records were entered in Prince George County from which it was partially formed. Of this family, John Duke. John Taylor Duke and Henry Duke were all noted in the records of Prince George County.
On February 4, 1733, John Taylor Duke of Brunswick County purchased of Burrel Brown and his wife Mary 100 acres of land in Brunswick County on the south side of the Meherrin River "Beginning at a Red Oak on the South Side of Rocky Run." Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of John Duke, Charles Stewart, Thomas Tapley, and Lawrence House ( Brunswick County, Va., Deed Bk. 1, p. 106). John Duke, the witness, was certainly John Duke, Gent., brother of John Taylor Duke, who lived in the vicinity, arid was related by marriage to and lived next Lawrence House in Brunswick County.
A grant of land was issued to John Taylor Duke on February 1, 1738, for 504 acres "lying and being in the County of Brunswick on both sides of More’s Swamp adjoining his own line, Loftin’s line, Tapley’s line" thence along his line South . . to a corner between Wallace, Poole, Loftin, and Smith" one hundred acres formerly granted to Mary Irvin and the residue never before granted( Va., Land Pat. Bk., 18, p. 207).
The above grant was the tract of land that John Taylor Duke and his wife Jane Duke sold to his brother John Duke, Gent.. on May 5, 1743 ( Brunswick Co., Va., Deed Bk. 2,p. 277). By then John Taylor Duke had moved on to a tract of land he had by patent on January 30, 1741, containing 273 acres lying on "both sides of Old Field Branch on the north side of the Old County Line" adjoining Sisum and Peter Simmons (Va., Land Pat. Bk. 20, p. 135).
John Taylor Duke disposed of this tract on the same day as his 100 acre grant, February 4, 1733. Of the 273 acres he sold 213 acres to Richard Lanier of Brunswick County and the remaining 60 acres to James Cocke. In both cases Jane Duke, his wife, relinquished her right of dower ( Brunswick Co., Va., Deed Bk. 2, pgs. 277-279, and 281).
On April 7, 1743, John Taylor Duke purchased of James Mitchell and Amy his wife, both of Brunswick County, 450 acres of land on the east side of Flatt Creek ( by 1746 this part of Brunswick County became Lunenburg County. Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of Walter Campbell, Ralph Tapley, and Adam Taylor ( Brunswick Co., Va.. Deed Bk. 2. p. 251).
Later John Taylor Duke and his wife Jane of Lunenburg County, Virginia, sold,on March 18, 1747, one hundred acres of the 450 acre tract to Edward Goodrich of Brunswick County. Witnessed by John Duke and Rejoice Duke this was John Duke, Gent., and his wife Rejoice). Jane Duke, wife 0f John Taylor Duke relinquished her right of dower (Lunenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 1, page 312).
John Taylor remained on the remaining 350 acres until 1754, when, under date of June 3rd, he and his wife Jane sold the 350 acres purchased of James Mitchell in 1743 to Thomas Taylor (Lunenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk.4, p.114). He had by then moved on to land he had by patent on August 14, 1754, a tract in Lunenburg County containing 400 acres on the head branches of Jeneto Creek and the head branches of Wolf Pitt Creek, a fork of Flatt Creek, and John Ward’s line (Va. Land Pat. Bk. 32, p. 387).
Lunenburg County was served by Cumberland Parish and later by both Cumberland and St. James Parishes. The several Duke families are noted in the Vestry Books of the Parish. John Duke, Gent., who had joined John Taylor Duke in Lunenburg County in 1748, was listed in a single entry with his son John Duke, Jr. on the List of Tythables taken by William Howard in 1749. In 1752 and 1753 John Taylor Duke was on the List taken by Field Jefferson in that part of the county south of the Roanoke River. In 1757 John Taylor Duke, James Duke, and Edmund Duke were listed as a unit with three tythes and two slaves by John Speed in the district south of the Roanoke River. Their having been listed as a single household should constitute proof that James Duke and Edmund Duke were sons of John Taylor Duke.
John Speed, the enumerator, was a witness to a deed made by John Patrick on June 6, 1758, when he conveyed 100 acres on Dorches Creek (empties into Flatt Creek) to John Taylor Duke Lunenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 5, p. 253). John Taylor sotd this land the following year to Sherwood Bugg under date of February 20. 1759. Witnessed by Henry Delony, Benjamin Estes, and Joseph Gray (Lunenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 8, p. 104).
After the sale of this property he again moved on . This time to 245 acres in Lunenburg County located on the head on Taylor’s Creek and Flatt Creek Adjoining Ward’s line, which he had by patent on August 20, 1760 ( Va. Land Pat. Bk. 34, p. 661). He sold these 245 acres on September 1, 1761, to John Wagnon of Dinwiddie County, Virginia ( Lunenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 7, p. 139).
James Duke and Edmund Duke, sons of John Taylor Duke, were on the. List of Tythables taken by Henry Delony, Lunenburg County, in both 1761 and 1762. Their father John Taylor Duke was not. He was no longer in Lunenburg County, having returned to Brunswick County, where in 1761 he was on 170 acres of land in Brunswick County which he bought of James Johnson (Brunswick Co., Va., Deed Bk. 6, p. 648). It seems that John Taylor Duke never remained long in one place. In March of 1764, John Taylor Duke and his wife Jean (Jane) of Lunenburg County sold to John Nash of Brunswick County the 170 acres he bought of James Johnson (Brunswick Co., Va., Deed Bk. 9, p. 300). He was, by then, back in Lunenburg County on 373 acres of land he bought on April 4, 1763, from William Watson of Lunenburg County on the head branches of F~att Creek beginning at Ballard’s corner and touching the lines of Gordon, Timothy, and Ward land granted John Mackoy in 1756( Lunenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 9, p. 81).
Members of the John Mackoy ( Mackay, Mccoy, McKee) family were later in Granville County, North Carolina, and still later in Lancaster County, South Carolina, as were members of the Duke and Crenshaw families of Lunenburg and Mecklenburg Counties, Virginia. Among those leaving around 1760 were Thomas Mckay (Mackey) who married, secondly, Mary Ann daughter of Micajah Crenshaw in 1783, as well as Gideon and Micajah Crenshaw.
Gideon and Micajah Crenshaw were sons of Joseph Crenshaw whose will was proved at the October Court of Lunenburg County in 1758. His sons, besides Gideon and Micajah Crenshaw, were Joseph Crenshaw, Jr., William Crenshaw, and Thomas Crenshaw. His daughters were Priscilla Duke, Mary Cook and Hannah Buchannon (Lunenburg Co., Va., Will Bk. 1, p. 228).
Priscilla Crenshaw married one of the sons of John Taylor Duke. He and his sons were the only men of that name in the whole county after 1750. Robert Duke and James Duke, sons of John Taylor Duke, were in Granville County, North Carolina, with the Mackey and Crenshaw families about 1760. By 1764 Robert Duke had sold his land in Granville County and gone to Camden District of South Carolina. Thomas Mackey, Gideon Crenshaw, and Micajah Crenshaw were later his neighbors in South Carolina. This long and continued association between Robert Duke and the Crenshaw Family suggests Robert was a son of John Taylor Duke and that it was he who married Priscilla Crenshaw.
Mary Crenshaw, mentioned in the will of Joseph Crenshaw in 1758, married John Lett Cook who lived next to Thomas Duke (another son of John Taylor Duke) in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, in 1777 ( Mecklenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 5, pgs. 63 &64).
Mecklenburg County was formed in 1764 from part of Lunenburg County; the land of John Taylor Duke, previously in Lunenburg, fell within the bounds of Mecklenburg when it was created.
On September 13, 1767, James Robertson of Johnson County, North Carolina, sold to Ephraim Mabry of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, 200 acres in Mecklenburg County adjoining Samuel Manning, William Poole, Sr, John Taylor Duke, and William Lucas, Sr. ( Mecklenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 1. p. 523).
By 1769 John Taylor Duke had left the state and gone to South Carolina Seemingly, for a period of time, his wife remained in Mecklenburg County. On January 23, 1769, she gave a receipt to John Watson, Executors, by the claim of Ephraim Mabry for 12 pounds . . in full for all moneys or things paid John Watson for a certain grant of land in Mecklenburg County purchased by the said Watson of John Noble Mccoy, which said land was conveyed by William Watson to John Taylor Duke by Deed in the County of Lunenburg, which I do oblige myself which at any time required be conveyed to the said William Watson or Ephraim Mabry or any person for him that the said William Watson or Ephraim Mabry shall designate. Witness my hand and the date above.” (Signed) "Jane Duke, for John TaylorDuke." Witnessed by Henry Delony and Thomas Taylor, Sr.
At a Court held in Mecklenburg County the 14th of December 1772, this receipt was proved by the oath of Henry Deloney and ordered recorded ( Mecklenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 3, p. 513).
Henry Delony, above witness, married Rebecca Watker, widow of Alexander Walker who was the mother of Edward Broadnax Walker. Edward Broadnax Walker held land in Brunswick and Mecklenburg Counties. He died in Mecklenburg County. His will dated September 11th, 1773,named his mother Rebecca Deloney, wife of Henry Delony, to whom he devised land in Brunswick County “ whereon Thomas Duke now lives as overseer.” He appointed Henry Delony and mother Rebecca Delony executors. Recorded October 11, 1773 ( Mecklenburg Co., Va., Will Bk. 1, p. 90).
Thomas Duke was a son of John Taylor Duke and his wife Jane. In the instance of the above receipt, Henry Delony, associated with Thomas Duke through his step-son, was acting as a witness for Jane Duke through his conneection with her son Thomas Duke. By this time Thomas Duke was the only son of John Taylor Duke remaining in Mecklenburg County.
Supporting the conclusion that Thomas Duke was a son of John Taylor Duke and his wife Jane, is the fact that Thomas Duke also had some connection with the Watson land mentioned in the receipt that Jane Duke gave to the John Watson executors. On February 27th, 1775, Thomas Duke, then in Bertie County, North Carolina, bought from Henry Watson of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, 192 acres of land 1n Mecklenburg County, Virginia. Henry Watson was one of the heirs of John Watson. Thomas Duke seems to have been buying land once belonging to his father, John Taylor Duke (Mecklenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 4, p. 468).
Thomas Duke, thereafter returned to Virginia. As Thomas Duke of Brunswick County, Virginia, he, on March 3, 1777, sold to William Lloyd that tract or parcel of land “ Containing one hundred and ninety-two acres belonging to John Watson Dec’d in the County of Mecklen burg Contiguous to Jacob Watson on the South side Creek Beginnin at the Creek on Ballard’s line thence along the said line to Nathaniel Cook’s corner thence along the said Cook’s line to John Lett Cook’s line thence along the said line to the Orphan’s land . . . that the said Thomas Duke hath himself full power and lawful Right to bargain, sell the sd tract or parcel of Land of the Aforesaid , etc.” Witnessed by William Shell and Charles Coppedge. On the 9th day of June, 1777, Elizabeth the wife of Thomas Duke relinquished her right of dower( Mecklenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 5, pgs. 63 &64).
Although Thomas Duke was later in Georgia, his name was mentioned in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, on August 11, 1777, when John Butler of Granville County, North Carolina, sold to Thomas Mitchell of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, fifty acres of land in Mecklenburg County “ being the tract of land conveyed by John McDaniel to Ann Butler, wife of Geoge Butler . . . adjoining Thomas Schepp (Shell), Thomas Duke, and John Lett Cook (Mecklenburg Co., Va., Deed Bk. 5, p. 78).
One Jacob Mitchell, Revolutionary soldier, born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, son of James Mitchell, is said to have married Winnie Duke. They had William, Elizabeth, Margaret Mitchell, and perhaps others.
John Taylor Duke and most of his sons were later in Georgia. Most of them served in either the State Militia or the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Known to be sons of John Taylor Duke and his wife Jane were Robert Duke, Henry Duke, Thomas Duke, James Duke, Edmund Duke, and John (Taylor) Duke. Robert Duke died in South Carolina in 1784/5. John (Taylor) Duke was in Orange County, North Carolina, just below Mecklenburg County, Virginia, by 1764.
Above information from THE DUKE FAMILY, II by Evelyn Duke Brandenberg.

More About JOHN DUKE and JANE UNK.:
Marriage: Abt. 1730, Lunenburg Virginia

Children of JOHN DUKE and JANE UNK. are:

	i.	EDMOND¹⁰ DUKE, b. Abt. 1726; d. Unknown.
	ii.	CHARLES DUKE, b. Abt. 1728; d. Unknown.
	iii.	JAMES DUKE, SR., b. Abt. 1730; d. Unknown.
	iv.	THOMAS DUKE, ESQUIRE SR., b. Abt. 1734; d. Unknown.
	v.	HENRY T. DUKE, SR., b. Abt. 1736; d. Unknown.
	vi.	JOHN TAYLOR DUKE, JR., b. Abt. 1740; d. Unknown.
5.	vii.	ROBERT DUKE, b. Abt. 1745, Kershaw County, South Carolina; d. Abt. 1784, Kershaw County, South Carolina.

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