There is a record in the newly formed Granville County clerks book #81, page 32, whereby, Robert Forster, Clerk of the court, o

The Bobbitt Family In America

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There is a record in the newly formed Granville County clerks book #81, page 32, whereby, Robert Forster, Clerk of the court, on December 22, 1747, summoned through the sheriff, for March 1748 court, jurors to attend court in the house of William Easton, who lived 3 or 4 miles from Henderson, North Carolina, where all the earliest courts of Granville County were held. Later they were held at Harrisburg, and then at Oxford. The jurors who were summoned were; Phil Hawkins, Robert Mitchell, William Bobbitt, Senior, John Macon, John Ferrell, William Lison, Jon Bishop, Joseph Kimball, Sr., Sugar Jones, Israel Robinson, William Moore, Richard Jones, John Gaunt, Charles Kimball, Peter Hill, and Robert Hollemon.

This is of course William Bobbitt who was born in 1704, the son of John Bobbitt of Chowan. The only other William Bobbitt in this county was William Bobbitt, Junior, son of William Bobbitt Senior, and a brother to John Richard Bobbitt. We estimated that William Bobbitt Junior was born in 1727.

In Halifax County, Book 5, pace 334, there is a deed recorded as Edgecombe County records in Halifax County.

"From John Tomkins of South Carolina to Richard Bennitt of Edgecombe County, dated August 2, 1744, for 180 acres of land on the north prong of Buffaloe branch, a land grant to the said Tomkins on July 9, 1738."

Witnesses: William Bobbitt, Jr. Charles Tomson."

This William Bobbitt had to be born before 1738 to be a witness to this deed. He had to be born in 1727 to be 17 years of age and would have been born in 1723 to be 21 years of age. The above land is in present day Warren County, North Carolina. Note this next deed in Book 5, page 406 of Halifax County records.

"From William Bobbitt Senior of the province of North Carolina, to John Smart of the aforesaid province, dated February 19, 1744, for 100 acres of land in the fork of Buffaloe, joining Richard Bennett, on the main branch on the north side being part of the land granted to Francis Young, all houses, buildings etc." Witnesses: John Langston, Richard Bennett.

The sorting out of records of the various William Bobbitts is so important to the early history of Bobbitt families in North Carolina that all the evidence is repeated and analyzed every time it is necessary to make a positive William Bobbitt identification.

Keep in mind that only the descendants of John Bobbitt of Chowan are in North Carolina before 1753 at the earliest and probably before 1755.

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