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 1688 - 1766 (78 years)
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| Name |
Benjamin RUSH |
| Suffix |
Sr |
| Birth |
1688 |
Westmoreland County, Virginia  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
Dec 1766 |
Granville County, Colony of North Carolina |
- Four years earlier in June of 1749, Benjamin Sr. had purchased 640 acres of land in Granville County, later Bute County, Colony of North Carolina. [86] He died there in December 1766 and his Prince William County Will was approved at Bute County court in January 1767. [87, 88]
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| Notes |
- William Rush IV and his brother, Benjamin Rush Sr.
Let me summarize the Rush family about 1715: Although his Will and estate?s inventory - which should have been sizeable - are missing, William Rush II apparently died about this year. William Rush I died in late 1691; William Rush III died in late 1708; William Rush IV was about 24 years old and had inherited Rush III?s land and 1/3 of his assets; and Benjamin Rush Sr. was about 20 years old, probably living with his widowed mother, Elizabeth, in anticipation of inheriting his 1/3 at maturity. About this time (1715), William Rush IV married Mary Hudson, daughter of John Hudson who had died in 1708. Benjamin Sr. would marry Amy (Amee), the widow of James Elkins sometime after Elkins? death in March 1716/1717. [67, 68]
Both William IV and Benjamin Sr. would continue to live in Westmoreland County for a number of years. After Benjamin's marriage he and Amy (Elkins) lived on 150 acres of her late husband's, James Elkins', farm which fell into King George County when it was designated in 1720. On the same day, 11 May 1726, Rush III?s sons, William and Benjamin, received Land Office Patents adjacent to each other?s farther west in Spotsylvania County on the south side of the Robinson River. [69, 70] According to their Patents, William was "of Washington Parish, Westmoreland County" and Benjamin was "of Hanover Parish, King George County" - these Parishes were actually side by side. William obtained 400 acres and Benjamin obtained 387 acres. This map shows their adjoining land plats (image) in relation to Thomas Mylam?s. Please note that the stream which courses along the southern border of William Rush?s property is named Quaker Run. Interestingly, a 1728 patent of land adjoining Benjamin's by Richard Maldin reads: "813 acres....in St. George Parish....upper fork of the Robinson River....adjacent to William Duff..." [229] These facts suggested to Robert Vernon that "the land was surveyed for William Duff and later patented in the names of his stepsons". [71] Thus the wealthy Duff, a Quaker, gave Elizabeth?s two sons these properties and the name, Quaker Run, to the stream since it is mentioned in the Rushs' 1726 patents. In Duff?s 1741 Will he also gave "to the three younger sons {Crafford, John and James} of William Rush {IV}.....all the remaining tract that I took up at the Ragged Mountain {in Spotsylvania County, after 1735 Orange County} to be equally divided between them according to the approbation of Robert Green of Orange County". [58] These sons were Mary Mylam?s brothers. In October of 1732 Duff had at least 2000 acres "under Ragged Mountain" since his improvements to those acres were "valued" at that time. [72] A March 1742/1743 court record involving Duff and his nephew, Green, showed that Marry's oldest brother, William Rush {V}, had use of 400 acres in Orange County located "on Huses {Hughes} River on the south side.....under the foot of the Ragged Mountains". [99]
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- Benjamin Rush Sr. and Benjamin Rush Jr.
A careful review of the court records for Westmoreland, King George, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Orange, Caroline and Richmond Counties (image) demonstrates that Benjamin Rush Sr. never lived on his 387 acres in Spotsylvania County. The earliest record for Benjamin Rush Sr. is on 3 April 1717 in Richmond County when he and Joseph Alssup made a Performance Bond for Amee (Amy) Elkins, recent widow of James Elkins, assuring that she as Administrix would prepare a "true and perfect Inventory" of her late husband?s estate. [67] By 1722 they were married and living on 150 acres of her former husband?s land. Richard Elkins, a brother of James Elkins, was living on the remaining 100 acres. After King George County was formed in 1720, this land fell into Brunswick Parish then Hanover Parish of King George. In May 1723 Benjamin Rush was appointed a Constable for King George [73] and in July 1727 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff. [74] In that capacity he did appear at the Spotsylvania County court on two occasions: 2 September 1729 when he "made return of Richard Bryants & c." [75] and 2 March 1730/31 when he " returned John Grave {? Grame}, Gent." [76] In early May 1734, Benjamin Rush Sr. "of King George County" sold his 387 acres in Spotsylvania County to Joseph Strothers. [77, 78] Ironically, on the same day at Spotsylvania court his older brother, William Rush IV, was appointed a Constable in place of Michael Holt. [79] The remaining Spotsylvania Court entries for a "Benjamin Rush" appear to be William Rush IV?s second son and Mary Mylam's brother, Benjamin.
Amy and James Elkins previously had at least one son, Joseph, who was a minor and who at age 16 chose Benjamin Rush Sr. to be his guardian. [80] Joseph as the eldest son would at majority inherit his father's entire 250 acres. Benjamin Rush?s sale of his Spotsylvania property and removal to Prince William County may have been prompted by this Joseph's decision to sell the land that Amy and Benjamin Rush Sr. lived on in King George County to James Jones, a bricklayer, in August 1732. [81] However, Amy Elkins Rush did not give up her right of Dower in this property until 5 July 1734 - shortly after Benjamin?s Spotsylvania land sale. [82] In September 1735, Benjamin Rush Sr. purchased through Lease and Release 112 acres in Prince William County which extended to the "Occoquan River...{and}...upon Marompsco {Marumsco} Creek". [83, 84] Benjamin Sr. did not become either a Constable or Deputy Sheriff in Prince William County and his court appearances significantly decreased. Almost twenty years later, in May 1753, a license was granted him "to keep an Ordinary {tavern} at his home". [85]
Four years earlier in June of 1749, Benjamin Sr. had purchased 640 acres of land in Granville County, later Bute County, Colony of North Carolina. [86] He died there in December 1766 and his Prince William County Will was approved at Bute County court in January 1767. [87, 88] It is not clear from Virginia records when exactly he relocated to North Carolina. My best guess for the time frame of his move is from the date of the last Prince William County court record identifying Benjamin Rush "Senior" on 5 May 1762 [89] until 7 March 1763 when his son, Benjamin Jr., was granted a license to keep an Ordinary. [90] I chose the latter date because Benjamin Jr. completed the sale of all of his land in Prince William County in December 1762 perhaps in preparation to take over his father?s Ordinary after Benjamin Sr. relocated to North Carolina. [91] After this time, Prince William County court records no longer add the suffix "Senior" or "Junior" following their name suggesting that there was only one Benjamin Rush in the county, Benjamin Rush Jr.
Benjamin Rush Sr.?s estate inventory submitted in Bute County by his son and excutor, Benjamin Rush Jr., in August 1768 was significantly larger than his father?s, William Rush III, and was impressive wealth for the time. Owning an Ordinary must have been quite profitable. In part, the inventory included:
"To cash in house 20 £ of Virginia Currency.....63 hogs....18 cattle...8 sheep...2 hogshead of tobacco... 4 ploughs...4 axes...a crop of corn, fodder, pease, beans and potatoes...3 feather beds and furniture...14 tables...11 plates...4 pewter dishes...8 tin pans...5 wooden plates...14 pewter spoons...4 butcher knives...5 table knives and 7 forks...4 butcher knives....1 ladle and flesh fork...1 frying pan...6 pair of sizzors...{many assorted dishes and flatware}...1 earthen cream pot...1 pewter chamber pot...a small spit to roast fowl...a small pocket pistol...1 gun...1 man?s saddle...1 woman?s saddle...2 bridles...1 off riding chair and harness...2 tables and chests...1 small trunk....1 safe.... 2 Bibles...{many farming utinsils}...{carpenter tools}...4 shoemakers awls....marking irons...1 pair sheep shears...6 padlocks...8 fish hooks...1 trowel...1 cooper?s axe...1 joyner...1 pair spectacles...1 smith?s bellows...3 pairs of tongs...3 hammers...1 wool wheel... one tobacco box...3 small snuff boxes...2 copper compasses...one ink pot...etc. {oddly, no horses are mentioned} Recorded. Teste: Ben McCulloch, Clerk of Court [92]
The 14 tables and 14 pewter spoons probably indicates that he again had an Ordinary (tavern) in North Carolina and makes the point that most people ate with spoons since food typically was prepared in large pots over an open fire in a fireplace i.e. porridges, soups, stews, etc. Frying and grilling of meat was reserved - as today - for better, more tender cuts of meat which most persons couldn?t afford. In fact, eating with a fork didn?t become fashionable in the courts of Europe until the 1760s and later for common folks. The Rush family did own one frying pan perhaps used occasionally when cooking for themselves. The collection of tools for carpentry, shoemaking, cooper?s axe and blacksmith?s bellows indicates the trades that Benjamin Sr. and his sons could perform. In fact, a May 1761 Dellingen Parish church Indenture in Prince William County records the following: "Benjamin Thomas, Orphan of William Thomas, deceased, age 11 bound until age 21 to Benjamin Rush. To be taught the art, mystery and occupation of cooper, and to read and write." [93] I also found a July 1755 Dellingen Parish Indenture for Benjamin Jr. for teaching an orphan blacksmithing: "William Fewell, an Orphan boy, age 10 on March 18 next; bound until age 21 to Benjamin Rush, Jr., Blacksmith. To be taught the trade, art or mystery of blacksmith and to read and write English." [94] These Parish records also demonstrate that they were members of the Church of England?s Dettingen Parish, Prince William County.
Children of Benjamin Rush Sr.
? Benjamin Rush Jr. (3 Feb 1717 - 23 May 1801) ---married Alice Grigsby
? Catherine (3 Jul 1719 - after 1750) ---
? Amie (1 Feb 1721 - after 1750) ---married ___ Grigsby
? Elizabeth (13 Sep 1723 - after 1750) ---married Joshua Perry
? Jane (5 Feb 1725 - after 1750) ---married George Bledsoe
My Chronology of Court Records for Benjamin Rush (link) has 110 records for him and his son, Benjamin Jr., dating from April 1717 until Benjamin Sr.'s Bute County, North Carolina, estate inventory of August 1768.
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| Person ID |
I11104 |
Johnson & Hanson |
| Last Modified |
9 Apr 2018 |
| Father |
William RUSH, III, b. 1665, Westmoreland, Virginia d. 1708, Westmoreland, Virginia (Age 43 years) |
| Mother |
Elizabeth PERRY, b. 1663, Virginia, USA d. 1746, King George, Virginia, USA (Age 83 years) |
| Marriage |
Jun 1667 |
Westmoreland, Virginia, USA |
| Family ID |
F565968051 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Event Map |
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 | Death - Dec 1766 - Granville County, Colony of North Carolina |
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