William Bobbitt cleared his land, built his home, cultivated. the soil and reared his family on the 94 acres granted to him by

The Bobbitt Family In America

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William Bobbitt cleared his land, built his home, cultivated the soil and reared his family on the 94 acres granted to him by the King. On June 10, 1702, William Browne, took a list of tithables in Southwark Parish of Surry County. This list was taken 29 years after William had received his land grant and on June 10, 1702 he was living on the same land.

"William Bobbitt, 94 acres of land, 0 sons over 16"

From October 27, 1673 until June 10, 1702 William had reared his family. His sons were grown and had left home. William and his wife were content to live on their first home-place in America.

The William and Mary Quarterly, volume 2, page 3, second series, gives an interesting account of the land of William Bobbitt.

"On November 12, 1723, John Peterson of Prince George County, the Bristol Parish, to John Fitzgerald of the same (Parish), for 200 pounds, water grist mill and corn mill, called Fragghole Mill on Bailey Creek, in Prince George County, in Parish and State aforesaid, three tracts of land in the Parish and County aforesaid."

"95 acres of land, purchased from John Peterson, the feoffer, of William Bobbitt Senior, by deed, May 12, 1703, it being the land on which said Bobbitt then lived and was granted to William Bobbitt Senior, the father of said William Bobbitt Junior, by patent on October 27, 1673 and descended to said William Bobbitt Junior, as heir at law to his said father." (Prince George County Records, Volume 1713, page 28.)

William Bobbitt Senior died in 1703 and the law of English primogeniture prevailed. After William Bobbitt Junior sold the land of his father, he purchased 90 acres of land on June 18, 1712, and 245 acres of land on December 6, 1718 on the north side of Rocky Run in Prince George County near the border of present day Dinwiddie County, south of Petersburg Virginia.

We do not know the maiden name of the wife of William Bobbitt Senior, but believe it was Joanna Sturdivant and that she was called "Anna". The Sturdivant and Bobbitt family came to the colony at the same time and the two families were related but the records are not clear as to the exact relationship.

William Bobbitt Senior died in 1703 a member of the Church of England. He is believed to have been buried in the church yard of the "Ferry Chapel" of Bristol Parish. His grave has been calculated to be under the old Norfolk and Western Railroad station in the city of Petersburg Virginia. His tiny plantation was in the present day city of Hopewell Virginia.

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