Walter Maxey

Walter Maxey, a son of Edward and Susannah ( ) Maxey, had no original
patent land of his own, but by the terms of his father's will, received after
the death of his mother, one-half of the Virginia plantation on which they
lived in Goochland County (later Cumberland County). In 1748 his brother
Sylvanus, who had moved over to Albemarle Co., Va., deeded the remaining 200
acres of the patent to Walter. Note 1. He lived on this land until 10
December 1762 when it was sold to Creed Haskins for 390 pounds. Note 2. This
important deed reads, in part, as follows:

.....400 acres of land ...on the south side of James River...beginning at a
corner white oak of John Radfords land on Jones' Creek thence South 100 chains
to a corner black oak in a bottom of Fighting Creek thence East 160 chains to
an oak thence North 100 chains to a corner oak on Radfords line thence on
Radfords line 160 chains to the beginning it being a tract of land granted
Edward Maxey by Patent bearing date of 17th day of August 1725 and left to be
divided between Walter Maxey ...and Sylvanus Maxey by the last will and
testament of Edward Maxey bearing date the 18th day of April 1737 Sylvanus
Maxey's part conveyed to Walter Maxey ... by deed bearing date the 12th April
1748.

Walter then moved with his family to that part of Bedford Co., Va., which in
1785 became the county of Franklin. The terrain in this area of Virginia is
quite different from the original Maxey settlement on relatively flat country
west of Richmond, the former being rocky and mountainous and quite verdant,
reminding the compiler somewhat of the Welsh countryside. Walter purchased
from Samuel and Grizel Smith 528 acres on the west side of the Staunton River
and the north side of the Blackwater River for which he paid 420 pounds in two
separate transactions on 20 Aug. 1763. Note 3.

Walter was the last surviving child of Edward and Susannah and without
question left the largest number of descendants, many of whom still reside in
the area. The original copy of his will (text follows this sketch) as well as
other records relating to the probate of his estate are still on file at the
courthouse in Rocky Mount. Note 4. An amusing item in one of the accounts of
executor Jeremiah Maxey in 1798 was a charge for a quart of whiskey "for the
use of my mother". The children mentioned in Walter's will were Josiah,
Jessie, Walter, Jeremiah, Lucy Cowden, Mary Adde, Susannah Syllivan (t) , Jane
Craghead (dec'd), and Esther Camp (Kemp).

On 8 May, 1798, seven years after the death of Walter, and perhaps right
after his widow's decease, a suit was brought into court by the children and
heirs of Walter in order that a commissioner be appointed to dispose of 130
acres on the Staunton River owned by Walter at his death Note 5 A settlement
of Walter's estate was further complicated by the fact that Josiah, a son, had
died two years after his father, leaving a large family. In 1799
commissioners appointed by the court -- Jeremiah Maxey, John Craghead (husband
of Jane Maxey), and Thomas Kemp ( husband of Esther Maxey) -- sold the above
130 acres to Thomas Leftwich for 400 pounds, and the proceeds were then
distributed to the heirs. Note 6

We have nothing to corroborate some earlier genealogists' claims that Walter
had more than one wife. We note that the name of his wife in 1763 (when she
relinquished her right of dower to the land in Cumberland County) was Mary;
that was also the name of his wife when he wrote his will in 1791.