52Ancestor: William A GHOLSON 1705-1795, Virginia

Today my focus is in my ex-husband's maternal RICE line, William A[nthony] GHOLSON.  William is the 6th great-grandfather of my children and their Lewis first-cousins. The Gholson surname seems to have morphed from Goldstone, and the spellings are varied: Golston, Gholston Gulston, etc.

Gholson and Allied Families, written/published in 1950 by Virginia Baker Mitchell before her untimely death, and edited by Margaret Ann Scruggs, has a wealth of details and collected possibilities in regard to the relationships between the Gholson/Gulston families who moved to Virginia. I have it as an e-book on my computer. Here is a snippet from one page - someone wrote all over this, which I find both annoying and yet, very interesting!

William's parents were known to be Anthony GHOLSON Sr. and wife Jane. Both Anthony and Jane appear to have lived in Virginia all their life, from the late 1600s. I have not yet found detailed histories or documents of their parents or other past ancestors, except from this book, plus a will and several land records. However, it is widely thought that they may have been related to the original Gholson settlers from England to the Virginia region, several generations earlier. There are many spellings for Gholson, although Gholston is the more common variant in this family line in Spotsylvania county.

William, the eldest child of Anthony GHOLSON/Gholston, was born approximately 1705 in the region of what is now Spotsylvania County, in Virginia. At that time, Virginia was known as the Colony of Virginia and statehood was declared in 1788.  He was the eldest of five known children.

About 1728 or so, William married Susanna COLLINS, one of the daughters of Capt. Joseph COLLINS and Susanna LEWIS. Currently I know very little details about William, although he was a farmer and land-owner, owning several large plots of land. His name has been found in the Virginia Land Record Deed Books, regarding a number of records of buying and selling land.

William is not mentioned in any way in regard to the Revolutionary War, although he may have supported the militia. His relatively advanced age would have limited his ability to join the militias in active campaigns.

Known children of William and Susanna, born in Spotsylvania County, VA:
    1.  [Sgt.] William Gholson, b. abt 1728
    2.  John Lewis Gholson, b. 1730
    3.  Anthony GHOLSON jr [ancestor], b. 1733, d. abt 1815 Steubenville, KY;
              m. abt 1759 to Elizabeth [unknown surname]; 12 children
    4   Frederick Gholson, b. abt 1735
    5.  James Gholson, b. abt 1743
 
The birth order of William and Susanna's children is not necessarily correct, but is assumed by other records, marriages, etc. There is a single girl sometimes attached on online trees to William and Susanna, named Philadelphia, b. abt 1754, but this has not been confirmed as far as I have been able to find online.

Tax records show that in 1782/3 William was permitted to conduct an ordinary [pub].  In addition, in  Order Book 6 of Orange County between 1747-1760, there are a number of records of his numerous slaves.  Note his property was around the boundary line for Orange County and Spotsylvania County. He held a great deal of land, with a number of records of buying and selling land. However there has not been found a probate or will, to date.

Searching through Virginia Road Record Books [for road maintenance mainly], I have not found William mentioned, only a John Gholson - and there is more than one John in each generation of the Gholson children.

In 1786, William's wife Susanna died.  Apparently, shortly after, William took a second wife, Jane/Joan Perry, who  outlived William.  In approximately 1795 before 1800, William died. I have not found a will or probate as yet for either William, Susanna, or Joan.

Although William, Susanna, and Joan were most likely buried in either Orange County or Spotsylvania County, no gravesite/cemetery has been found as yet for any of them.

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I would love to find more details about William GHOLSON, and if you have any information and/or sources on this early Virginia family, I would be very happy to learn more!  My blog is not allowing me to reply directly to your comments, but aside from commenting, you could email me using the email address at the very bottom of the line of blogs [several blogs below today's blog post].

Thank you so much for reading today's blog post in the #52Ancestors challenge.

52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, #22: William A. GHOLSON

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 22nd installment, WILLIAM A(nthony) GHOLSON.  William is the 5th great-grandfather of my ex-husband, born and died in Spotsylvania county, Virginia, his life spanning the 1700s.  Note that the surname Gholson is a variant of the English surname Goldstone; other variants are Golson, Golsan, Gholston, Ghulson, Gulston. 

William was the eldest son of five known children of Anthony & Jane [unknown surname] GHOLSON; Anthony also was born in Virginia apparently, so I'm not certain yet of the original settler in the GHOLSON line.  All the children were apparently born in one of the precursors of Spotsylvania county, VA since Spotsylvania was not formed until December 1720.  As Spotsylvania was formed from 3 other counties, it is quite confusing to research this family line!  Checking this page [previous link] I see more research ideas for the area. My early research was done following clues on a very detailed history of the GHOLSON line on RootsWeb, plus a few land records.

William was born about 1705, and in about 1728 he married Susanna COLLINS, b. 5 Dec 1709, daughter of Joseph & Susanna COLLINS.  It is difficult to be certain of their children, and there are some unusual gaps in years of birth. To date, these seem to be the children:

1. Lewis, b. abt 1730 - controversial addition to this line; more research needed
2. Anthony [direct ancestor, named after gr-fa], b. abt 1733, m. abt 1759 Elizabeth [unknown]; 12 children - our line follows eldest, a son, Francis and wife Mary CRAIG.
3. Frederick, b. abt 1736
4. John, b. abt 1740
5. Francis, b. abt 1742 or 1752
6. James, b. abt 1743
7. William Jr., b. abt 1758  [Susanna lived to about 1785, so the gap between the last two children remains unexplained]; m. Mary Jarrel.
8. four or five daughters... still searching for a record detailing their names - his final will?

William apparently bought and sold a relatively large amount of land in Virginia, and was considered quite wealthy; he also had many slaves, according to records.  Details on the land records and related other records may be found in "Gholson and Allied Families", pub. 1950 by Virginia Baker Mitchell, which can be found online or through WorldCat.  In addition, FamilySearch.org has digital versions of several genealogies and histories of Gholson families, including the previously mentioned book.

Several of William's children served in the military; e.g., our ancestor, Anthony GHOLSON jr., has a Revolutionary War gravestone in Steubenville, Wayne county, Kentucky. 

William's wife, Susanna, died in Caldwell County Kentucky about 1775, possibly visiting family there. Sometime after 1775 and before 1786, William married a second time to "Joan" unknown surname. Joan is listed as wife on a land sale record of "William and wife" Joan.  No other details seem to be known of Joan, and they do not appear to have had additional children.  

William died about 1795, possibly in Spotsylvania or Orange county Virginia.  No will has been found to date, nor is it known where exactly he died or was buried. Note that Orange county was formed out of Spotsylvania in September 1734.  

Clearly there needs more research on the Gholson line, but there are missing or damaged records for the area over this time period and before, making it quite challenging. For example, the Census records for 1790 and 1800 are lost, and there are no parish records for this period.  Oh, those burnt courthouses and repositories! 

If you have more information or questions about the GHOLSON line, particularly William and his wife Susanna, do please contact me via calewis at telus dot net or through the Comments section below. I am always happy to find more sources to search, more details to add, and corrections to make!