Ivey Headrights in Virginia Patents

Other than those mentioned elsewhere in these web pages, there were either three or four persons named Ivey used as headrights for Virginia patents.  Many of the names of these headright names are very difficult to read and, having been copied at least twice before appearing in the patent books, are subject to mistranscription.  Some names transcribed as Joy, Ives, Jury, Ivory and the like may actually have been Ivy or Ivey (or vice-versa).

Two Iveys appear as headrights for land in Northumberland County.   Robt. Ivy was one of 6 headrights of Dennis Eyes and Dennis Connaway for a patent issued for Northumberland County on 11 March 1662/3.¹   Wm. Ivy was one of 14 headrights claimed by James Clayton and James Johnson for a patent in Northumberland County issued on 21 February 1664/5.²   Northumberland records are reasonably well preserved, but there is no further mention of any Ivey or Ivy in its records.

Another Wm. Ivey was one of 20 headrights claimed by John Sexton for a patent issued on 16 March 1667/8 for land in New Kent County.³   The records of New Kent are completely destroyed, though there do not appear to be any Iveys in that area.  Nearly a century later, however, there was a Thomas Ivey in New Kent (see below).

There may have been a fourth Ivey.  A name that may be Jno. Ivy was one of 27 headrights of Laurence Robinson for a patent issued 23 March 1671/2 for land in Northampton County.⁴  Whether this name is actually “Ivy” or not is nearly impossible to tell, as the patent is too faded to be certain.

Ivey Headrights in North Carolina Patents

On 1 Jan 1694/5, a grant was issued to Capt. John Hunt for 450 acres in Pasquotank precinct of Old Albemarle County on Little River, for importation of 9 persons including “Antho: Ivy”.  No Anthony Ivy appears in later records of Old Albemarle or its later counties or precincts.   It is possible that this was the same Anthony Ivey who was still in Norfolk County a few years later before removing to Maryland.  I note that the same John Hunt witnessed the will of Ann Hunt, widow of the Joseph Alford whose will was witnessed by Ludford Ivey (Anthony’s brother).  It is possible that Anthony Ivey was claimed as a headright by virtue of his visiting or inheriting his brother’s land in North Carolina, just south of Lower Norfolk.

Other Virginia Iveys

A Robert Ivey was on the 1704 quit rent roll of York County, Virginia with 100 acres “he living in James City Cty & no tennt on ye land.”  There is no further record of him. I should note that James City County records are entirely lost.

Thomas Ivey of New Kent County:  There is a record in Middlesex County, Virginia for the marriage of Thomas Ivey to Ann Dudley dated 4 December 1751, with Christopher Curtis the bondsman.⁵   The St. Peter’s Parish register mentions the birth of a son William born to Thomas and Anna Ivey on 29 March 1757, a daughter Mary born 9 December 1759, and a negro girl Cloe born in 1760.⁶    Thomas Ivey appears to have lived in the now-defunct port town of Cumberland, located on the south side of the Pamunkey River in New Kent County.  A tax return for the town of Cumberland in 1782 shows Thomas Ivey as a lot holder.⁷   A separate 1782 land tax list for New Kent County shows Ann Ivy with 100 acres and a lot in Cumberland, suggesting that Thomas Ivey may have died that year between the compilation of those two tax lists.  Indeed, “Thomas Ivy’s Estate” was taxed in New Kent County from 1783 through 1786, after which no male Ivys appear on tax lists.  The state census shows Mary Ivey heading a household with two males over 16 who were evidently not related.  The 1790 New Kent property tax list shows Mary and Sally Ivey, each with 30 acres but no male Ivys appear on person property tax lists.

Staples Ivey.   The Suffolk Parish vestry records (of Nansemond County) mention a Staples Ivey as a vestry payee in 1751 and as a processioner the following year.⁸   A Mary Ivey, perhaps his wife, is a payee in 1753.⁹   W. Mac Jones’s article mentions a Stapleton Ivey, perhaps the same person, as a justice and sheriff in Nansemond County in1764 and 1765.¹⁰   The abstracted 1779 will of Francis Jordan in neighboring Norfolk County gives “her freedom” to his wife Hester Jordan “who I bought of Mr. Staple Ivy.”   There are no further citations for him, largely because all records of Nansemond County are lost.  It’s location between Norfolk and Isle of Wight suggests that Staples Ivey could be associated with any of several Ivey lines.

Maryland Iveys

Apart from Anthony Ivey, originally from Lower Norfolk County, Virginia, and his son Robert Smith Ivey, who both died in Maryland (see that paper)  there were other Ivey families in Maryland.

The records of Christ Church Parish of Calvert County, Maryland contain the births of four children of John Ivey and his wife Eleanor:  Mary (born 16 June 1738),  Abigail (born 15 May 1740), John (born 24 August 1743), Elizabeth (born 12 August 1745), and James (born 30 September 1747).¹¹   John Ivey is mentioned several times in Maryland records in the 1730s but was dead by 1 September 1749, when his inventory was recorded by the administratrix Eleanor Ivey.¹²   Eleanor Ivey, “sister”, was made executrix by the will of Assilla Devor [Deavers?] of St. Mary’s County written on 9 June 1750.¹³   She apparently did not remarry, for on 9 November 1756 Eleanor Ivey was called a widow in the will of Susannah Mackall.¹⁴   The daughter Abigail Ivey later appears as a witness to a will in Calvert County in 1764.¹⁵  The two sons, James Ivey and John Ivey, both served in the Calvert County militia in the Revolution.¹⁶   John Ivey is probably the same person who married Elizabeth Powell in Christ Church Parish on 12 November 1780.¹⁷   The 1790 census for Calvert County is missing, and only John Ivey appears the 1800 census – in Calvert County as a single male over 45 with one female in the household.

A German-speaking Henry Evey left a will in Frederick County, Maryland dated 2 March 1763 and proved on 25 April 1763.¹⁸   The will, which spells the name both Ivey and Evey, names sons John, Jacob, and Joseph.  Both Henry Evey and his son John Evey (as witness) signed their names as “Evey”.  The will was translated from the German for recording purposes.

A William Ivey was on the 1783 tax list of Kent County, Maryland.  He had served as a private 1775-1778 in Kent County in the Revolution.¹⁹  He is not in the 1790 or 1800 censuses of Maryland.

The Maryland 1790 census shows only a Joseph Ivy in Harford County (1-0-2-00), with the only Ivey in 1800 being the John Ivey above.

17^th Century New England Iveys

A James Ivey left a nuncupative will in Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts in 1654.  Two witnesses deposed that he died on 3 March 1653/4 leaving the majority of his estate to “Jno. Ivey, his brother’s sonne.”²⁰   The son was perhaps the same “John Ivie”, son of John Ivie, born 6 November 1653 in adjoining Essex County.²¹   Numerous genealogies report that John Ivey of Boston, perhaps the same person, married Mercy Bartlett in 1668, but one authoritative source gives the groom’s name as “Joy” rather than “Ivie”.²²

A William Ivey, perhaps related to the above James Ivey, died in Massachusetts in 1652 after immigrating in 1635.²³

It appears none of these Iveys left male descendants in New England.  No Iveys, under any spelling, appear in the 1790 census of any New England state.

William Ivey of Jamaica

A William Ivy is mentioned as a 17^th century settler in Jamaica in several publications.  He was a Council member in Jamaica in 1666, and a militia colonel by 1670. It may be that later members of the Ivy family in Jamaica were related to him.

 

 

1. Virginia Patent Book 5, p303. [↩]
2. Virginia Patent Book 5, p169. [↩]
3. Virginia Patent Book 6, p114. [↩]
4. Virginia Patent Book 6, p390.  The names are almost impossible to read, but Nugent read this one as “Jno. Joy (or Ivy)”. [↩]
5. Middlesex County Marriage Bonds, Vol. 4, p119. [↩]
6. The Parish Register of Saint Peters New Kent County, Virginia (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1966), p163. [↩]
7. William & Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Second Series, Vol. 23, p500. [↩]
8. Suffolk Parish Vestry Book 1749-1784 Nansemond County, Virginia…,  William Lindsay Hopkins, p4 and p5. [↩]
9. Ibid., p7. [↩]
10. William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Second Series, Vol. 7, No. 3. (July 1927), p186. [↩]
11. Records of Christ Church Parish, Calvert County, Maryland, p66 and p67. [↩]
12. Prerogative Court Abstracts 1748-1751, p72. [↩]
13. Maryland Calendar of Wills, Vol. 10, p111.  She was the widow of Richard Deavour, whose inventory mentions John Ivey as a creditor. [↩]
14. Maryland Calendar of Wills, Vol. 12, p172. [↩]
15. Maryland Calendar of Wills, Vol. 14, p221. [↩]
16. Military Records of Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties, Maryland, p152. [↩]
17. Maryland Marriages 1778-1800, p115. [↩]
18. Maryland Calendar of Wills, Vol. 12, p203. [↩]
19. Military Records of Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties, Maryland, p140. [↩]
20. Suffolk County [Massachusetts] Wills… (Genealogical Pub. Co.), p125. [↩]
21. Town of Newbury Records. [↩]
22. Mayflower Increasings, Susan E. Roser, p112 reports that the original record actually reads “John Joy” and was incorrectly transcribed as “John Ivey”. [↩]
23. Directory of Ancestral Heads of New England Families 1620-1700, Frank R. Holms. [↩]