George Fawdon (ca 1600 – ca 1654/1655), also spelled in various sources as George Fawden, George Fawder, George Fadoin, George Faudon, George Fawdoune, George Faudown, George Fawdowne, and George Fowden,More than one spelling of the name sometimes may be found in a single one of the sources shown in the references. See for example Tyler, Lyon Gardiner. 'Encyclopedia of Virginia biography'. Volume 1. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915. . Retrieved August 14, 2012. p. 233. was an early Virginia colonist, landowner, militia officer, county court clerk, county clerk justice and legislative representative (politician). He served at least two terms as a burgess in the Virginia House of Burgesses in the 1640s and 1650s representing Isle of Wight County, Virginia.
Early life George Fawdon was probably born in England about 1600.Grant, Marty. (Marvin A. Grant, Jr.) Major George Fawdon (d 1655) and Ann Smith of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Retrieved August 14, 2012. No definitive information about Fawdon's early life has been found.One author states that: On November 1, 1624, George Fawdon (Fedam, Shedam) notified the General Court that he had assisted George Phillmore with writing his will and that the testator had bequeathed him a pig. McCartney, Martha W. 'Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary'. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007. . p. 292. This conclusion would place Fawdon in Jamestown or its vicinity as early as 1624. John Bennett Boddie refers to the same incident with respect to testimony concerning a missing will. He gives the name of the person assisting George Phillmore as George Fadom and gives no alternate spelling as Fawdon. This and the lack of other references raises doubt about whether Fawdon and Fadom were in fact the same person, as McCartney thinks. Boddie, John Bennett. Southside Virginia Families, Volume 1. Originally published 1955. Reprint: Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. . p. 51. Dorman, John Frederick 'Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5: Families G-P'. Fourth Edition, Volume 2. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005. . p. 819 is in accord with Boddie in only giving the name as Fadom.Boddie, John Bennett, in Boddie, John Bennett. Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Chicago: Chicago Law Print. Co., 1938. . Retrieved August 14, 2012. p. 51 states that Fawdon was a Cavalier who fled England and that he died without heirs. George family biographer Marty Grant, Jr., points out that Fawdon was in Virginia long before the English Civil War and could not have been a Cavalier. Also, since many sources state that Fawdon had a daughter Hester who married a son of John George, and Fawdon gave 1,000 acres of land to Isaac George in 1654, the Boddie statement about Fawdon dying without heirs also seems dubious. Grant, Retrieved August 14, 2012.
The earliest definite official record of George Fawdon's presence in the Virginia colony is from a court in James City, Virginia, on February 8, 1627 (/1628) which ordered "that George Fawdon, Thomas Sawyer & Wassell Weblin shall have leave to goe & live at Warosquoyacke."Stanard, William Glover, ed. 'The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 29' Minutes of the Council, 1622–1629. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society, 1921. . Retrieved August 14, 2012. p. 297.The first letter of Fawdon was written "ff", apparently a stylized capital "F". Warrosquoyacke was one of the several spellings of the area that became Isle of Wight County, Virginia, in 1637.Boddie, John Bennett. Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Chicago: Chicago Law Print. Co., 1938. . Retrieved August 14, 2012. p. 95. Warwicksqueake is another. On September 29, 1629, Justinian Cooper and wife deeded land there to Wassall Weblin and George Fawdon.Several spellings of Weblin's first name also are given in the few records or references that contain his name.Boddie, 1938, p. 530. Weblin and Fawdon assigned the land to Robert Sabine on February 25, 1630. Because of later grants of land abutting Fawdon's land along the Nansemond River, another grant of land to Fawdon was made but no abstract of the transaction was found in the references.
Several sources state that George Fawdon's daughter, Hester, married John George's son, Isaac. This suggests that Fawdon was married in or about 1630 since Isaac and Hester were married in 1654. Since no record or mention of Fawdon's first wife has been found, direct support for this earlier marriage for Fawdon and for the fact that Isaac George's wife was his daughter can be found only through a gift of land from Fawdon to Isaac George in 1654.Boddie, 1938, p. 528.
Fawdon's name, variously spelled, appears in several Virginia land patents: Grant to Richard Bennett of 2,000 acres on the Nansemond River adjoining George Fawdon, June 26, 1635;Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623–1800. Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents 1623–1666, Volume 1. Richmond, VA: Press of the Dietz Printing Company, 1934. p. 23. . Virginia Land Patents Book 1, page 186. Grant to William Clark of 250 acres of land in Warrosquoyacke County, Virginia, on the south side of Nansemond River, adjoining George Fawder (Fawdon);Nugent, 1934, p. 24. Virginia Land Patents Book I, page 195. Grant to Thomas Butler of 1,000 acres of land in Warrosquoyacke County on the Small River, falling into Nansemond Bay, on the back side of land of George Fawdon and John Parrott on July 11, 1635;Nugent, 1934, p. 26. Virginia Land Patents Book I, page 222. Grant of 150 acres on the south side of the Nansemond River adjacent to the land of George Fawdon, July 14, 1635.Nugent, 1934, p. 36. Virginia Land Patents Book I, page 329.
George Fawdon received a 200-acre patent for land on the south branch of the Elizabeth River adjoining John Yates on June 6, 1639.Nugent, 1934, p. 111. Virginia Land Patents Book I, Part II, page 660. Viewers of tobacco from Red Point to the head of Pagan Point Creek appointed in 1639-1640 were Joseph Salmon, John Miles and George Fawdon.Boddie, 1938, p. 172.
George Fawdon and Thomas Carter witnessed a deed from Justinian Cooper to John George on March 16, 1642.Boddie, 1938, p. 529. On June 10, 1647, George Fawdon, Anthony Jones, and Thomas Wombrell witnessed a deed from James Roche to Henry Pitt in Chuckatuck, Isle of Wight County.Boddie, 1938, p. 513. George Fawdon, William Underwood and James Taylor, were appointed overseers of the will of Captain John Upton.Boddie, 1938, p. 519.
Virginia House of Burgesses, court justice, militia In 1646 and in 1653,Tyler, Lyon Gardiner. Encyclopedia of Virginia biography. Volume 1. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915. . Retrieved July 15, 2011. p. 241 George Fawdon represented Isle of Wight County in the Virginia House of Burgesses.Stanard, William G. and Mary Newton Stanard. The Virginia Colonial Register. Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons Publishers, 1902. . Retrieved August 14, 2011. pp. 66–70Isle of Wight County Records in William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 4 Apr., 1899. pp. 313–314. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
George Fawdon is listed as a justice of the local court in the Isle of Wight County Records for 1646 with eight others including John George.Isle of Wight County Records, 1899, p. 235Boddie, 1938, p. 704 Since no names are listed between 1646 and 1666, George Fawdon may have served on the court during some or all of the years from 1646 until his death in 1654/1655. Fawdon was also listed as County Court Clerk in 1646 with James Bagnall, and in 1653 with five others.Boddie, 1938, p. 703
George Fawdon also served as an officer in the local militia. He was listed as "Major" in several records.Tyler, 1915, p. 233.
Late life On April 10, 1654, Major George Fawdon gave to Isaac George, son of then Major John George 1,000 acres of land, if he lived to 21, but if he died before then, the land was to return to Major Fawdon. This strongly suggested to Grant family biographer Marty Grant that Hester Fawdon, wife of Isaac George, was the daughter of George Fawdon because there would be little other reason for Fawdon to make such a gift. No record or mention of an earlier wife of George Fawdon has been found, but since Fawdon was married to Anne Smith within a year of his death, she could not have been the mother of Hester Fawdon.
On October 30, 1654, George Fawdon assigned to Mrs.Stanard, 1921, p. 297 points out that "Mrs." was used for "Miss" or "Mistress" at the time. Anne Smith whom he intended to make his wife, 1500 acres of land in the Upper Parish upon the main river beginning at Job Beasley's adjoining the land of that was formerly John Olivers and adjoining land of Richard Corseys. It was further recorded, March 16, 1654/1655: "All of which the jointure and dowry the nuptials now being celebrated, We the said George and Anne Fawdon, do oblige ourselves never to alter without the consent of our father in law Nathaniel Bacon and our mother Ann his wife, with her brother William Smith."Boddie, 1938, pp. 528–529. On July 9, 1655, Nathaniel Bacon, administrator of the estate of Major George Fawdon, confirmed "unto all points Isaac George the full contents of this gift."This Nathaniel Bacon is identified as the cousin of Nathaniel Bacon, the rebel of 1676 in "Isle of Wight Records," 1899, p. 233. Also, Bacon was married to the widow Anne Smith, evidently the mother of Fawdon's wife and sister of the first William Bassett of New Kent County. p. 233. This shows Fowden had died by July 9, 1655. Fawdon left no will which might have identified Hester, or other children, and his gift to Isaac George is not easily explained except as a gift to a son-in-law.
See also List of members of the Virginia House of Burgesses
Notes
References Boddie, John Bennett. Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Chicago: Chicago Law Print. Co., 1938. . Retrieved August 14, 2012. Boddie, John Bennett. Southside Virginia Families, Volume 1. Originally published 1955. Reprint: Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. . Dorman, John Frederick 'Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5: Families G-P'. Fourth Edition, Volume 2. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005. . Grant, Marty. (Marvin A. Grant, Jr.) Major George Fawdon (d 1655) and Ann Smith of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Retrieved August 14, 2012. Grant, Marty. (Marvin A. Grant, Jr.) Col. John George (c1603-1679) and Jane (---) & Ann (---) of England; Charles City County and Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Retrieved July 15, 2011. Isle of Wight County Records in William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 4 Apr., 1899). pp. 205–315. Retrieved July 15, 2011. McCartney, Martha W. 'Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary'. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007. . Stanard, William G. and Mary Newton Stanard. The Colonial Virginia Register. Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons Publishers, 1902. , Retrieved July 15, 2011. Stanard, William Glover, ed. 'The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 29' Minutes of the Council, 1622–1629. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society, 1921. . Retrieved August 14, 2012. Tyler, Lyon Gardiner. Encyclopedia of Virginia biography. Volume 1. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915. . Retrieved August 14, 2012. Virginia Historical Society. Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents in The Virginia magazine of history and biography, Volume 4. Richmond, VA: House of the Society, 1897. . Retrieved July 15, 2011.
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