Michael A. O’Neill
First published 27 October 2014
Last updated 27 October 2014
Seattle, King, Washington, USA
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Summary
Mary Caldwell, wife of James Chew (~1740-1783) was the daughter of Andrew and Jane Caldwell of Berkeley County, West Virginia based on the will of her brother, Andrew Caldwell Jr., and that of her father, Andrew Caldwell Sr., all supported by other primary source evidence.
This conclusion is contrary to the common assertion that Mary Caldwell Chew’s parents were James Caldwell and Catherine Buford.
For reference, James Chew was the son of Thomas Chew and Martha Taylor, first cousin to President James Madison’s father, a major in the Virginia Militia during the Revolutionary War, and a member of the 1780 Virginia House of Delegates.
Assessing the Internet Consensus
As of October 2014, eleven family trees on Ancestry.com list James Caldwell as the father of Mary Caldwell, wife of James Chew (including, for a time, my own tree.) Some trees also list a Catherine Buford as Mary Caldwell’s mother. This mirrors dozens of other trees found on other genealogy sites.
The only published source I have found for this connection is an unsourced sentence in “Courses of Empire: The Thomas Chew Family of Orange County,” an undated article written by Frederick Madison Smith and posted on the National Society of James Madison Family Descendants website.[i] I suspect that Smith relied on the many family trees posted on the internet that list these names and relationships,[1] trees which at best cite only other published family trees as support.
In my own research into James and Mary Chew, I have found only two primary sources that provide any support for this relationship. The first is New World Immigrants: A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists and Associated Data from Periodical Literature (Michael Tepper, editor)[ii] which lists a 1740 arrival for a James Caldwell with five children, including a Mary Caldwell. The second is a June 1937 article in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly listing the same names as associated with James Caldwell’s Augusta County, Virginia land claim[iii] based on headright.[2]
Additionally, there is a James Caldwell who was a major landholder in West Virginia, receiving multiple grants totaling thousands of acres, according to Sims Index to land grants in West Virginia.[iv]
None of this is sufficient to assert that James Caldwell’s daughter was the same Mary Caldwell that wedded James Chew. It only shows that he had a daughter named Mary.
The 1790 Will of Andrew Caldwell
On 8 December 1790, a Berkeley County, West Virginia man named Andrew Caldwell wrote his will, making specific provisions for his sister, Mary Chew:
Then I give and devise to my sister Mary Chew for and during her natural life the house and Garden where she now lives with ten Acres of land adjoining thereunto with a free privilege of water and [illegible]. Also I give and bequeath to my said sister Mary Chew the sum of twenty five pounds Virginia Currency to be paid in five equal and annual payments, the first payment to be paid in one year after my decease.[v]
Establishing that this Mary Chew was James Chew’s widow requires several distinct pieces of evidence.
Mary Caldwell Chew’s sons, Coleby, Andrew and Joseph
First are the provisions made for Andrew Caldwell’s nephews, Coleby, Andrew and Joseph Chew.
Then I give and devise to my nephew Andrew Chew, his heirs and assigns forever after the decease of my wife all my whole real estate of Lands situated, Lying and being in Berkeley County aforesaid. Also I give and bequeath to said Andrew Chew my riffle gun and accoutrements.
Then I give and bequeath to my Nephew Joseph Chew the sum of twenty five pounds Virginia money to be paid to him when he shall arrive at twenty-one years of age. Then I give and bequeath to my Nephew Lewis Quily … But if the said Boys should die in their minorities then the Legacy of each deceased shall be the property of my wife Sarah Coldwell.[vi]
Then I give and bequeath unto my Nephew Coleby Chew five shillings Virginia Currency.
A 26 March 1915 statement sworn to by James M. Bishop asserts that he is one of Andrew Chew’s grandsons, and that he recalls his mother frequently mentioning her grandfather, Major James Chew.[vii]
Coleby Chew is referenced on several records as “heir” or “heir-at-law” of James Chew in lawsuits with James Scott[viii] and David Scott[ix], and in a 1789 Monongalia County, West Virginia land grant.
Heir at law is a term used to describe the person entitled to inherit from a decedent who either died without leaving a last will and testament, or who left a will which did not specifically devise all of the decedent’s property. Until 1785, Virginia law followed the practice of primogeniture, which directed all such undevised property to the eldest son. In James Chew’s case, this was his son Coleby Chew.[x]
Coleby, Andrew and Joseph all appear in Berkeley County, West Virginia tax/census records, starting with Coleby from 1787 through 1798; Andrew from 1790 through 1793; and Joseph from 1798 to 1799. The order of appearance in the tax records correlates with the presumed birth order and ages of all three men.[xi]
James Chew and Berkeley County
Second is James Chew’s connection to Berkeley County. While he is most frequently associated with old Monongalia County due to his military service during the Revolution, and to his numerous land transactions in the area, James spent the majority of his adult life in old Frederick County Virginia, which includes Berkeley County[3] and most of the modern-day panhandle of West Virginia.
He first appears in Frederick County as a witness to a 5 June 1758 land transaction between Jacob Hite and Lawrence Harrison;[xii] and continues to appear in various documents from 1760 through to the assumed year of his death in 1783, including as:
- A Lieutenant under the command of Capt. Zachquill Morgan in the Frederick County militia in the early 1760s.[xiii]
- The Frederick County Constable in 1767.[xiv]
- A witness to land transactions in 1768[xv], 1772,[xvi] 1773[xvii] and 1780.[xviii]
- A signatory to the “Ten-Thousand Name Petition in 1776.[xix]
- A purchaser at an estate sale on 18 November 1783.[xx]
Even James’ period of intense activity in old Monongalia County between 1777 and 1782 is tempered by a challenge to his residency issued while serving as one of old Monongalia County’s elected representatives to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1780. The committee of Privileges and Elections found that James Chew “is a justice of the peace and militia officer, for the county of Monongalia, where he hath resided the greater part of his time, and hath not a freehold in any other county,” and that “Mr. Chew, was a resident of the county of Monongalia, at the time of his being elected a delegate to represent the same in this present General Assembly.”[xxi] Still, the challenge shows that he retained a strong association amongst his contemporaries to a part of the colony other than old Monongalia County. Unfortunately, the Journal of the House of Delegates of the State of Virginia does not include any further details of the residency challenge (for example, the place where James Chew was supposedly living), nor is the language used—that he “was a resident of the County of Monongalia at the time of his being elected”—specific enough to even answer the question of his residency at the time of the challenge.[4]
Friends, Associates and Neighbors
The third piece of circumstantial evidence is the tie that both Andrew Caldwell and James Chew had to the Morgan family of Bunker Hill, West Virginia in Berkeley County.
A 20 August 1751 record names Andrew Caldwell a Lieutenant in the old Frederick County, Virginia militia—a body commanded by Thomas Lord Fairfax[xxii] (who had a dispute with the Colonial government over whether or not he owned much of the land in old Frederick County). One of Fairfax’s senior officers was Lieutenant Col. Morgan Morgan, whose son Zachquil Morgan was James Chew’s commanding officer several years later. James Chew and Zachquil Morgan—along with Jacob Prickett—were three of the first settlers of the old Monongalia County area, first exploring the Monongahela watershed as early as 1766.[xxiii]
Other Mary Chews
The evidence above should be sufficient to show that the Mary Chew mentioned in Andrew Caldwell’s 8 December 1790 will is the same Mary Chew married to James Chew (~1740 to 1783).[5]
Thoroughness requires identifying any other potential Mary Chews that could be related to Andrew Caldwell. I have only been able to identify four other Mary Chews that might have been alive in 1790 and living in the area west-southwest of Washington, D.C.:
- Mary Beverly Chew (1732-1795), the daughter of John Chew, James Chew’s uncle, and Margaret Beverley. She married Joseph Brock long before Andrew Caldwell wrote his will.
- Mary Perrot (b. 1733), who married Robert Chew, brother of Mary Beverly Chew and another of James Chew’s first cousins.
- Mary Beverly (b. 1704), who married Larkin Chew Jr., one of James Chew’s uncles. Her parentage is well established.
- Mary Chew, daughter of Larkin Chew Jr. and Mary Beverly, and a first cousin of James Chew. Larkin’s 1770 will notes she married a John Smith, so she would not have been known by the surname Chew in 1790.
None of these Mary Chews could be confused with Andrew Caldwell’s sister.
Andrew Caldwell Jr’s and Mary Chew’s father
Following the path begun with Andrew Caldwell Jr.’s will, it is simple to show who their father was: on a 14 October 1780 land transaction with James Kelso and James Wilson, Andrew Caldwell Jr. is described as “Heir at Law of Andrew Caldwell deceased.”[xxiv] Again, primogeniture would indicate that Andrew Caldwell Jr. was Andrew Caldwell Sr.’s eldest surving son.
Additionally, Andrew Caldwell Sr.’s 1 July 1757 last will and testament names a son, Andrew, as well as two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth.[xxv]
Andrew Caldwell Jr’s and Mary Chew’s mother
Andrew Caldwell Jr’s and Mary Chew’s mother is almost certainly Jane Caldwell (maiden name unknown), who is named as the “Widow and relict of the said Andrew Caldwell deceased,” in the same 14 October 1780 land transaction.[xxvi]
Several other sources support the maternal relationship.
Andrew Caldwell Sr. names Jane as his wife in his 1 July 1757 last will and testament.[xxvii]
Andrew Caldwell Jr. states in his 8 December 1790 will that:
It is also my will that my dear Mother should live with my wife where she now lives and to be well and sufficiently maintained but if she should chuse to live elsewhere then to receive an annual sufficient support out of my estate so long as she shall live.[xxviii]
This correlates with records from Morgan’s Chapel in Bunker Hill, West Virginia, which show that “Geane Caldwell Departed this life Febewery 2th 1793,”[xxix] three years after her son Andrew Caldwell Jr. made provision for her in his will.
Of course, it’s always possible that an unknown first wife of Andrew Caldwell Sr. was the mother of any or all of Andrew Jr., Mary and Elizabeth rather than Jane, but there is no evidence to support such speculation.
Friends, Associates and Neighbors
Morgan’s Chapel in Bunker Hill, Berkeley County, West Virginia was founded in 1736 by Andrew Caldwell’s commanding officer from the early 1750s, Col. Morgan Morgan, who was also father of James Chew’s close friend Zachquil Morgan.
Both Morgan Morgan Sr. and Morgan Morgan Jr. were witnesses to Andrew Caldwell Sr.’s 1757 will.[xxx][6]
The deaths of both Jane and Andrew Caldwell Sr. are listed in the Morgan’s Chapel register:
- “Andrew Caldwell died July the 4th 1757;”[xxxi] and
- Jane Caldwell on 2 February 1793.
While I suspect they are buried in the chapel’s cemetery, their names are not listed in the Find-a-Grave cemetery registry for Morgan’s Chapel, nor could I find their graves (nor those of James Chew, Mary Chew, or Andrew Caldwell Jr.) when I visited Morgan’s Chapel on 5 October 2014. There are, however, quite a few gravestones that have been worn smooth, even more that have broken off, and plenty of large gaps between the oldest graves. Any of these may have been Andrew and Jane Caldwell’s final resting place.
In 1752, Andrew Caldwell Sr. purchased a tract of land south of Mill Creek in Bunker Hill, West Virginia that is mostly on the western side of US Highway 11, and is roughly bisected north and south by County Road 26.[xxxii]
Smack dab in the middle of this tract of land on the north side County Road 26 is Morgan’s Chapel, meaning Mary Caldwell spent most of her childhood just a short walk away.
While this tie to the Morgan family adds the least amount of evidentiary weight to Mary Caldwell Chew’s ancestry, to me it provides a unifying thread that helps weave a story from raw the documentary evidence—whether it’s the Morgan family connection that probably led to James Chew and Mary Caldwell first meeting; to the chapel where they were probably married; to the community where their children were likely born, baptized and raised, both as toddlers and again as teens after James died; and even to the purely hypothetical (and surely lost) family graveyard in Bunker Hill where I believe James & Mary Chew are buried following the same tradition of unmarked graves near the family home that Thomas Chew and his in-laws, the Madisons practiced.[xxxiii]
Appendix
Map of the Bunker Hill area
This map is from Cecil O’Dell’s
Pioneers of Old Frederick County, Virginia. Sections 190 and 165C, highlighted, were purchased by Andrew Caldwell around 1752.
Bing Maps overlaid with outline of sections 190 and 165C
A Bing Maps image of Bunker Hill, with the outlines of sections 190 and 165C overlaid. US Highway 11 runs NNE/SSW, while County Road 26 (a.k.a. Runnymead Road) runs E/W. The small orange circle with the number “1” is the location of Morgan’s Chapel.
Footnotes
[1] This statement is in no way intended as a criticism of the article, which contains numerous well-researched insights into this branch of the Chew family which have been extremely valuable to my own research. Smith’s article focused on James Chew’s father, Thomas, and his relationship to the Madison family. While the article did include a cursory examination of Thomas’ children, it was never intended to be a detailed and definitive study of James Chew and Mary Caldwell.
[2] Colonial Virginia laws granted fifty acres of land to any individual who paid for passage to the colony, whether passage was for himself or for another (whether a child, spouse, indentured servant, slave or any other person). This was called “head right.”
[3] Berkeley County was carved out of the northern third of Frederick County in February 1772. Jefferson and Morgan Counties were subsequently carved out of Berkeley County. Source: Wikipedia. “Berkeley County, West Virginia”. Accessed on 27 October 2014 via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_County,_West_Virginia.
[4] When considering this challenge to James Chew’s residency, it is tempting to consider the possibility that while he resided in Monongalia County in 1780, he had moved his family to Berkeley County to protect them from English-funded Indian raids on colonial settlements in the Monongahela watershed. Histories of the period document many attacks on, and injuries & deaths of, James and Mary Chew’s neighbors and associates in Monongalia County. See, e.g. Core, Earl. The Monongalia Story. Vols. I and II. Morgantown. 1976.
[5] I have been unable to discover any primary source evidence showing that James Chew married Mary Caldwell. The relationship between the two has probably been passed on through the large number of published genealogies—both electronic and print—without any way to identify the original source (probably either oral history or a privately held family bible)
[6] The name of the executor of Andrew Caldwell Sr.’s will, Lewis Moore, also appears in the will of Andrew Caldwell Jr. as a nephew, meaning Lewis Moore Sr. may have been Andrew Caldwell Sr.’s son-in-law.
End notes
[i] The National Society of James Madison Family Descendants / Smith, Frederick Madison. (undated). “Courses of Empire: The Thomas Chew Family of Orange County” [Article]. Retrieved from http://jamesmadisonfamily.com/Chew.asp.
[ii] Ancestry.com. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900. database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010. Original data: Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012. Citing Teper, Michael. New World Immigrants: A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists and Associated Data from Periodical Literature. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979. 568p. and 602p. Repr. 1980. Vol. 2.
[iii] Ibid, citing King, Fannie Bayly (Mrs. W.W.). “Augusta County Early Settlers, Importations, 1739-1740.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly, vol. 25:2 (June 1937), pp. 46-50.
[iv] See e.g. Sims index to land grants in West Virginia [database on-line] via Ancestry.com. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: Sims index to land grants in West Virginia. Charleston, W. Va.: unknown, 1952.
[v] “West Virginia Will Books, 1756-1971,” index and images, FamilySearch ( https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-18264-36451-40?cc=1909099 : accessed 30 Jun 2014), Berkeley | Will book, v. 002 1788-1796 | image 57 of 230.
[vii] “26 March 1915 Affidavit of James M. Bishop.” Attached to the 24 May 1920 Daughters of the American Revolution membership application of Minnie Williams Lewark. Accessed on 6 October 2014 at the Daughters of the American Revolution Headquarters.
[viii] Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, Vol II. Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc. Baltimore. 1974. Page 104.
[ix] Zinn, Melba Pender. Monongalia County, Records of the District, Superior and County Courts Vol 6: 1805-1808. Heritage Books, Inc. Bowie, Md. 1990. Page 140.
[x] Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet / Robert W. Baird. Wills, Intestates and Probate [Article]. Retrieved from http://www.genfiles.com/articles/wills-intestates-probate/.
[xi] Berkeley County, Personal property tax lists, 1783-1853. Virginia. Commissioner of the Revenue (Berkeley County). FHL 2024479.
[xii] Gilreath, Amelia G. Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Book Series 1, Vol. 1. Amelia G Gilreath (publisher). 1989.
[xiii] Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers. Genealogical Publishing Company. Baltimore, Md. 1988. p 187.
Eckenrode, H.J. List of the Colonial Soldiers of Virginia. Library of Virginia. 1913. p 28.
Omanson, B.J. / FortBlog. (3 June 2009). Ancestral Wars [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://prickettsfort.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/ancestral-wars/
[xiv] Virginia DAR GRC Report; s2 v035 abstracts of court records, Frederick County, 1763-1830.
[xv] Gilreath, Amelia G. Frederick County, Virginia, Deed Book Series, Vol. 4; Deed Books 12, 13, 14 1767-1771. Amelia G. Gilreath (publisher). Nokesville, Virginia. 1991.
[xvi] Shuck, Larry G. Berkeley County, [W]Va Deeds and Wills Abstracts: Deed Books 1-5 (1772-1781), Will Books 1-3 (1772-1805). Closson Press. Apollo, PA. 1999.
[xvii] “West Virginia Will Books, 1756-1971,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-18264-35923-57?cc=1909099&wc=M6DN-53N:17968860 1,179688602 : accessed 20 Oct 2014), Berkeley > Will book, v. 001 1772-1788 > image 27 of 279.
[xviii] Shuck, Larry G. Berkeley County, [W]Va Deeds and Wills Abstracts: Deed Books 1-5 (1772-1781), Will Books 1-3 (1772-1805). Closson Press. Apollo, Penna. 1999. West Virginia, Berkeley County, Deeds, v. 5 1778-1782, page 571. FHL 829881.
[xix] Hall, Jean Pickett. “Legislative Petitions: The Ten Thousand Name Petition.” Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. Vol. 37, No. 3. Page 221. Virginia Genealogical Society. August 1999.
[xx] “West Virginia Will Books, 1756-1971,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-18264-33739-57?cc=1909099&wc=M6DN-53N:179688601,179688602 : accessed 20 Oct 2014), Berkeley Will book, v. 001 1772-1788, image 199 of 279.
[xxi] Journal of the House of Delegates of the State of Virginia.
[xxii] Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers. Genealogical Publishing Co. Baltimore, MD. 1988. Page 15.
[xxiii] Omanson, B.J. / FortBlog. (3 June 2009). Ancestral Wars [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://prickettsfort.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/ancestral-wars/.
[xxiv] West Virginia, Berkeley County, Deeds, v. 5 1778-1782, page 571. FHL 829881.
[xxv] King, J. Estelle Stewart.
Abstracts of wills, inventories, and administrations accounts of Frederick County, Virginia 1743-1800 With Cemetery Inscriptions, Rent Rolls, and Other Data. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, Md. 1980. p. 18.
[xxvi] West Virginia, Berkeley County, Deeds, v. 5 1778-1782, page 571. FHL 829881.
[xxvii] King, J. Estelle Stewart.
Abstracts of wills, inventories, and administrations accounts of Frederick County, Virginia 1743-1800 With Cemetery Inscriptions, Rent Rolls, and Other Data. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, Md. 1980. p. 18.
[xxviii] “West Virginia Will Books, 1756-1971,” index and images, FamilySearch ( https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-18264-36451-40?cc=1909099 : accessed 30 Jun 2014), Berkeley | Will book, v. 002 1788-1796 | image 57 of 230.
[xxix] Berry, Leota Morgan (comp.). Register of Morgan’s Chapel, Bunker Hill, W. Va., Episcopal. Col. Morgan Morgan Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Fairmount, West Virginia. 1949.
[xxx] King, J. Estelle Stewart.
Abstracts of wills, inventories, and administrations accounts of Frederick County, Virginia 1743-1800 With Cemetery Inscriptions, Rent Rolls, and Other Data. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, Md. 1980. p. 18.
[xxxii] O’Dell, Cecil. Pioneers of Old Frederick County, Virginia. Walsworth Publishing Co. Marceline Missouri. 1995. pp. 156, 510-511.
[xxxiii] Chapman, C. Thomas. n.d. “Who Was Buried in James Madison’s Grave? A study in contextual analysis.” Retrieved from The National Society of James Madison Family Descendants website.