-
 Dictionary
of Terms &ct.
The original "Proprietary
of the Northern Neck" was given by King Charles II in 1649,
while in exile, to seven of his friends
for their help in keeping him from being executed. These
were John Lord Culpeper, Baron of Thoresway; Lord Thomas Culpeper; Ralph,
Lord Hopton, Baron of Stratton; Earl
Henry Jermyn, Baron of St. Edmund's Bury [Earl of St. Albans];
Lord John Berkley, [Sir John Berkeley of Stratton]; Sir William Morton, and Sir
Dudley Wyatt. Lord Fairfax later inherited this portion of Virginia.
Sir Edwin Sandys' promised property!
100 acres per purchased share!
for every new tenant an
investor imported to Virginia, he received fifty additional
acres. And so private property came to Virginia. These grants
were known as headrights as land was apportioned per
each head imported.
A hundred was used to
describe a subdivided amount of land, or plantations for
administrative, military and judicial purposes. Originally, when
introduced by the Saxons between 613 and 1017, a hundred had
enough land to sustain approximately one hundred households
headed by a hundred-man or hundred eolder. He was
responsible for administration, justice, and supplying military
troops, as well as leading its forces.
A tobacco hogshead was used to
transport and store tobacco. A standardized hogshead measured 48
inches long and 30 inches in diameter at the head. Fully packed,
it weighed about 1000 pounds.
Laws in Colonial Virginia were based on English
common law, which did not recognize adoption. Formal
adoptions did not take place in Virginia until after 1850. In
colonial days (and even after) children were considered orphans
if their father was dead, even if their mother was still alive
and had custody of them. There was no such thing as welfare in
those days, and so the courts would order orphans to be "bound
out" to someone who would see that they were taken care of (fed,
clothed, etc.) until they reached legal age, and this person
would also usually be obliged to teach the child a trade (girls
were often taught the trade of "housewifery"). 
 In
Westmoreland a "ducking stool" was provided for each
parish; one placed at the milldam situated on Colonel Laurence
Washington's plantation, and the other at the milldam on the
plantation of Colonel Isaac Allerton. Acts of Assembly,
passed in 1660 & 1662, made it obligatory upon the justices of
every county to provide for the erection, at public expense, of
a stool to be used more especially for the punishment of
women of slanderous and brawling tongues.'
- "Tithable" referred to a person
who paid (or for whom someone else paid) one of the taxes
imposed by the General Assembly for the support of civil
government. A "poll tax" or "capitation tax"
was assessed on free white males, African American slaves,
and Native American servants (both male and female), all
above the age of sixteen. Owners and masters paid the taxes
levied on their slaves and servants.
"Midden"
A dunghill or
refuse heap or, as in Archaeology, a mound
or deposit containing shells, animal bones,
and other refuse that indicates the site of
a human settlement. Also called kitchen
midden.
"Coat of
Arms" There is no such thing as a "Family
Coat of Arms". A coat of arms is
issued to an individual, not to a family.
The study of coats of arms is called
heraldry. People who control the issuance of
coat of arms are the heralds. They decide
who is authorized to display as their own, a
certain coat of arms. Even the heir of such
an individual may not claim their ancestor's
coat of arms without the authorization from
the heralds. For more information, visit the
College of Arms web site |
