Family Connections to Virginia Beach History

My parents moved to Princess Anne County from Norfolk in 1959. In my early childhood, our address was Princess Anne County. Until 1963, the town of Virginia Beach existed only on a strip of land at the oceanfront - a quaint cottage village compared to today's bustling commercial tourist destination. When we went to the "beach" it was a pilgrimage from our home in "the county." We parked in the sand and ate picnic lunch from the trunk of our car. 

My father's parents resided in Norfolk, leaving their families and their home in Richmond during the Depression. My mother's parents had moved to Norfolk from "out west" in the 1940s. Though both sets of grandparents lived nearby, I always knew our family was not originally from the area. 

I was lucky to grow up in the "town" of Kempsville. As an early settler in one of the first suburban housing developments in Kempsville, there was a sense of belonging that still holds strong. Back then, there were still plenty of farms and undeveloped land all around us and miles of desolate country roads. We ate fresh produce from farm markets, much of which we picked ourselves. We had milk delivered from the nearby dairy farm. I share common memories with hundreds of neighbors and classmates who all stay connected to Kempsville in one way or another.

Dr. Fletcher was the only dentist in the area. His office in Kempsville was a small brick building behind the fire station in Kempsville. Dad said he was our cousin. Curious! I have written before about "the rift" between my great grandmother and her twin sister so I won't repeat, but I learned eventually about my distant relatives in Virginia Beach. It was surprising and satisfying to learn that my 2X great grandparents were once farmers in the Blackwater area of Virginia Beach. My dad never even knew about this connection. My grandmother never mentioned it.

I am completely invested in the history of Virginia Beach, having worked for the city all of my life. 

Then, I happened to marry into an old "county" family. I heard all the familiar names from the old Princess Anne County days... Waterfield, Flanagan, Whitehurst, Malbon, Mansfield, Henley, Cox, Kellam... these names are still active in Virginia Beach social and cultural life. In my quest to find the graves of my great great grandparents, I became immersed in the history of the area. I discovered that the old names from the county are intertwined with my own family. 

For years I've been drawn to the story of Grace Sherwood, the Witch of Pungo - Virginia Beach's cultural icon. She has become especially significant to me for several reasons:

• My uncle's parents lived at the very end of Witchduck Road at the presumed spot where Grace was ducked. For many years, our family celebrated Easter on the bank of the Lynnhaven River at that place. 
• Also, my father's parents lived in a house on Witchduck Road when I was 4 or 5 years old.
• Grace Sherwood's house and farm were on Muddy Creek Road in Pungo where my parents once considered purchasing land.
• As a teenager, I visited the home of Louisa Venable Kyle who wrote the children's book, The Witch of Pungo. 
• My ex-spouse's uncle drew the portrait on which the Grace Sherwood statue was based...the likeness was actually that of a family member. The statue stands at the corner of Witchduck Road and Independence Blvd. 

I just finished reading the newest, definitive work about The Witch of Pungo, by Scott Moore. So interesting to read about all the names and places that have been familiar to me all of my life. 

Searching for Burial Site (Margaret and Eley Bryant)

Since we strongly suspected that Margaret and Eley were buried on the family farm in Princess Anne County, the next logical step in our search was to find the current owner of the Bryant farmland. We found her! She is a 90-year old woman who lives in a modest ranch home across Blackwater Road from the property. Her name is Doris (family name, Frost), and she was born in the original farmhouse which had been located across the street (our family's home?) where there is now a barn owned by another family. 

Here is how we found her:

Cousin Terry invited three of us, including my sister and a mutual friend, to meet her for breakfast on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023 at the Redhead Bay Cafe very near the location of the old Fletcher farm in Pungo. The mutual friend is a member of the Princess Anne Historical Society, and she had a particular interest in the history of lumber mills in the County. After breakfast Terry suggested we go for a ride and see the family properties that had taken so much effort to find three years ago. 

We first drove across the Pungo Ferry bridge toward Blackwater Road, pointing out the Fletcher property. Turning left on Blackwater, we saw the old Blackwater Store and the pond where the lumber mill must have been. Heading back in the other direction, I pointed out the 40+ acres that was once the Bryant farm, now all soybean fields. 

A man was out in his front yard across the road. His house and fields took up the triangle at the corner of Blackwater and Head of River Roads where Blackwater Road had once been straightened. We got out of the car and approached him. He wasn't friendly at first. He even challenged the story we told him. But then his wife (?) came out and she was more interested in helping us. They told us that "Doris" is the current owner of the property and lives right across Blackwater Road... and... look! She's home right now, waiting for a ride to go somewhere. Hurry and catch her! 

We drove immediately to Doris' house and got out of the car. The front door was open and Doris came right out. She soon warmed up to us and told us about being born in the old farmhouse there. She pointed directly across the road to where a barn now stands. Learning the location of the house was significant in that we realized the Bryant property had been divided sometime after 1908. We explained that we were searching for graves. She assured us that she has walked every inch of that property and there are no graves. We thanked her and told her that she had saved us a lot of trouble and satisfied our curiosity. 

I remember seeing the name "Frost" on an old map. Next step is to follow up on that lead. 

NEW DEVELOPMENTS:  Here we are more than a YEAR later! November 2024!

Matt discovered that Ancestry added the death registries for Virginia, and he found Portsmouth 1900-1908. There was Margaret, on May 18, 1908, age 73, dau. of Wm Cobb and Evelyn Wallace, burial permit #1401, Snelling & Knight Undertaker, place of burial Hickory Grove (Ground?). 

There is no cemetery by that name in Portsmouth, Chesapeake, or Va. Beach. The invoices from Margaret's death and burial indicate that her body was transported from Portsmouth to Blackwater for "services and burial." Blackwater in Virginia Beach is very close to the Hickory area of Chesapeake. There is currently a voting district in Chesapeake called Hickory Grove. It was all part of Norfolk County in that time period. The closest match on FindaGrave was Pleasant Grove cemetery in Hickory. 

On Wednesday, November 6, Holly, Clayton, and I set out for Hickory in Chesapeake. We stomped around several cemeteries looking at old grave markers. No luck. Clayton called Hickory UMC (formerly "Hickory Ground Methodist" we later learned) and spoke with a staff member there about the church history. No cemetery there.

Matt suggested that I try going through the individual cemetery records in Family Search or checking the collections in local libraries. I went through the probate record with a fine-toothed comb, and so did Holly. We didn't come up with anything helpful except that the body was taken to Blackwater by train. I researched the train system at the time and found that there were railways that ran close to Blackwater and Hickory.

On Halloween, the "Norfolk County Historical Society of Chesapeake, Virginia" posted a photo of a cemetery on Facebook. I made a comment on the post about looking for my ancestor, and on November 25, I received a reply from a volunteer with the organization offering assistance! After a few emails back and forth, now two more researchers are taking on the challenge. 

One of the researchers, Suzy, wanted to know the address of the Bryant farm. That was not an easy question! The farm's original property line had been changed due to the straightening of Blackwater Road. The original house was gone, and part of the property (where the house had stood) was sold out of the family. The best I could figure out is that the property's address became Head of River Road (3101?), as it was now cut off from Blackwater Rd. I sent her copies of the map with the property marked, and the current owner's house circled. I also sent her the property description from the probate documents. 

Suzy sent copies of Margaret's obituary (which I already have) and told me that according to the newspaper, she was buried in Blackwater. I then sent her the Portsmouth death register that indicated the cemetery, "Hickory [Grove?]". She then brought in another researcher to interpret the handwriting on the record, believing it to say "Ground," not Grove. I found a 1911 map showing the railways, and sure enough, one of the stations, the closest to Blackwater, was called Hickory Ground. 

Searching through South Norfolk/Chesapeake documents online revealed that Hickory Elementary was once called Hickory Ground Elementary, and that Hickory UMC (in front of the school) was called Hickory Ground Methodist Church. As I mentioned before, Clayton had already called the church and learned that there was no cemetery there. 

Suzy sent an email today (Dec. 2, 2024) saying that "Kay" had searched all of the deeds and found nothing. She suggested I call or go to Virginia Beach and search the deeds at the courthouse. There are no gravemarkers listed in Chesapeake for Margaret and Eley, according to a book that I can purchase for $20. She said that it was most likely that they are buried on their property. We may just have to accept that conclusion. I made a joking comment about their graves being covered by soybeans. She said that is often the case. Often farmers have no regard for graves on their property. They find many graves in soybean fields.

There is a corner of the Bryant farm property that is still forested. The owner says she has walked every square foot of the land, but could they be in that little wooded section? Or maybe they were buried near the house, in which case, it would be on property that belongs to the family that lives in the little triangle of land that got cut off by the road straightening.

Next steps: the deed room at VB courthouse. Try to find W. E. Charlton who performed the services at burial. Also, look up burial permit #1401 (per Portsmouth death register). 

My thoughts about W. E. Charlton... according to a receipt in Margaret's funeral papers, he was paid $7 for "services at burial." We have been thinking he was a clergyman of some sort who performed services. No person by that name came up in any records, including Ancestry. However, now that we have come to believe she was buried on the farm, we think he might have been a local laborer who dug the grave for them. Interesting sidenote: the receipt was written in elegant handwriting. 

Also, as Charles Bryant stated in a 1924 letter to Bluke, "I must find someone to take care of Mothers and Fathers graves." This strongly indicates a private cemetery. If Margaret and Eley were buried on the farm, it would make sense that the 1908 deed at the time of sale would show the location of the graves. The farm was sold to J. F. Cox on November 16, 1908. That deed of sale should show the house, and hopefully, the graves.

Could this be the very train that brought Margaret's body to Blackwater in 1908? 

Personal note: it was such a relief to identify Hickory Ground (instead of Hickory Grove), and to learn confirm that Margaret's body was taken to Blackwater in [what is now] Virginia Beach. There were some very puzzling coincidences that almost made me give up. There is a Blackwater River and a Hickory Grove Church in Isle of Wight County, both near the Bryant/Cobb ancestral home. And, to complicate things more, I searched in Glen Allen in Richmond, near Ida's home where Margaret had been living for several years. There is a Hickory Grove church there as well. It was hard to figure out which direction the family would have taken. At last, we have narrowed the search to the farm in Virginia Beach. 

Another personal note: on Charles Bryant's birth record, his mother Margaret is listed as "Peggy." 

Unrelated question: in transcribing Charles' 1924 letter to Bluke on Ancestry, I noticed that he mentions visiting Uncle Sam in Virginia. Who could that be? Answering one question always leads to ten more.

Update: Dec. 18, 2024 

On a Facebook page, "Abandoned Places in Virginia," a comment (from someone I know!) suggested contacting the City of Virginia Beach Historial Preservation person. I sent an email explaining my quest and am awaiting reply. 

New Jersey and Virginia - full circle

Today the NJ and VA cousins came together on the farm in Old Church, Virginia. 

Matt - the great grandson of William Bryant and Bonnie Abbott - drove down from NJ for a genealogy conference in Richmond, and the chance to get together with a matriarch of the Virginia faction of the family was too good to pass up. I, Teresa - the great granddaughter of George Abbott and Ida Rene Bryant - arranged the visit and brought lunch. 

The three of us, Matt, me, and "Teeny" (Miriam - granddaughter of George and Ida), spent the afternoon sharing family lore, pictures, and recollections. Though, memory loss was somewhat of a barrier to reliable information, I believe there were some insights gained from our visit. 

Teeny recalled a memorable visit to New Jersey when she was in high school. As a real southern belle, she was a novelty attraction for her northern cousins. The more they made over her, the more southern she became, and her cheerleader type personality became exaggerated. She claims the New Jersey girls were all mad over the attention she drew from the boys, and she just reveled in it. It was the first time she experienced such personal power. 

She remembers that at least one of the boy cousins came to Virginia to visit her after that, but can't remember names or details. Matt remembers his aunt Mary telling about going down to Virginia where she visited one of the family grocery stores. She must have visited the Lukhards in Richmond, probably in the 1950's, who were heading up a household of multiple families at the time, including George Abbott and Earl Butler and family.  

Matt showed us old photos of his family members, in particular his father Lawrence, and his "Nan," Margaret Bryant Weismantel. Margaret was the daughter of William and Bonnie Bryant. Matt told stories about the tumultuous relationships between William and Bonnie. William evidently caused a great deal of trouble for the family. He was an alcoholic who finally ended his days in an institution. Bonnie threatened to bury him in the midst of all the Abbotts in the cemetery family plot so that he could be tormented for eternity (which she did). 

There was another story about someone in the Virginia family stealing the Bryants' valuable colonial patent for growing peanuts out of William's luggage on a visit to Virginia. Maybe he sold it. Or it might have been one of the Butler boys who took it. Anyway, as a result, the New Jersey family did not have a great impression of the Virginia folks. 

We told Teeny about some of the things we had learned in our research. I'm sure Teeny does not remember any of it, but it was entertaining at the moment! I reminded her about the framed photo of the Episcopal church she had given me - how I had discovered it was a postcard send from Matt's great grandmother Bonnie to her sister May. I gave the postcard to Matt. We found another framed postcard on Teeny shelf, but the people pictured on it were not identified. There was another photo of a family in front of an old home in Richmond, also not identified. I took photos of them for future research.

We told stories about Aunt Miriam, as she was our link to the Abbotts and Bryants. Miriam never knew what drastic thing Herman was going to introduce into their lives. She just adapted to whatever he wanted. We talked about the alcoholics in the family, how as kids we just thought our family was crazy and fun. We also talked about George "Gramp," and how on his deathbed he had asked Teeny to name Barry after his father Whitfield Barry Abbott  - and he didn't even know she was pregnant much less that it was a boy! 

We talked about the animals. We told how Uncle Herman would try to raise his own supply of food for the grocery store. Those ventures did not work out - the turkeys all suffocated in the back of the truck by piling up in one end. The hogs were sent to slaughter, accidentally including Robin's pet pig. Farm life was hard work. I recalled seeing Junior work out in the fields at night, driving the tractor around with the headlights on after working all day in the store. 

We talked about Uncle Herman's love of real estate. He had owned several different properties on the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. There were always lots of family members gathered in these homes, which he generously shared with all of us. This discussion led to telling Matt about Tangier Island, which he had not heard of before. 

We ended our visit with a tour of the farm. We left Teeny's at about 3:00 without thinking of taking a single photo. 

PS Barry told me that he has a photo of Whitfield Barry Abbott. He will send me a copy of it. He also told me about a mix up regarding the family plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Apparently people aren't buried where they're supposed to be. There should be an empty plot, but they don't know which one it is. 

Fort Lee, Ellis Island, Philadelphia - check!

It is on my bucket list to visit as many places associated with our family history as I can. One of those places was Fort Lee, New Jersey. Other nearby locations on my list: Ellis Island, Staten Island (or anywhere in NY City- never been), Philadelphia (history tour), Asbury Park, Middletown (founders). Some of these items were checked off this week! 

My grandmother, Jacqueline Abbott Zaun, was born in Richmond, Virginia, but her father, George Wright Abbott, was born in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Jacqueline’s mother, Ida Rene Bryant, married George Abbott in 1904, and they resided in Richmond. Ida’s brother William Bryant was already married to George’s half-sister Bonnie Abbott; they moved back to Fort Lee in 1900 after living for several years in Princess Anne County, Virginia, with William's parents, Eley and Margaret Bryant. 

The Abbotts of Fort Lee were a well known, respected family. The original immigrant from England, John Abbott, was my third great grandfather. John came to America with four brothers: William, James, Nathaniel, and Abiel, and they built a successful piano manufacturing business in Fort Lee. James’ son John was the first mayor of Fort Lee. Sadly, William Bryant did not represent the Virginia family very well. The Abbotts did not look upon their Virginia relatives favorably. Three generations later, Matt and I have effectively reunited the New Jersey and Virginia families. Full circle!

[See blog post about the Abbott Piano Factory: https://descenddance.blogspot.com/2014/05/abbott-sons-piano-factory-fort-lee-nj.html]

A memorable visit with cousin Matt in New Jersey answered some nagging questions and helped to provide context. We started sharing ancestry information right away! Matt discovered a mug shot (?!!) of his grandfather Lawrence Weismantel among my materials from Ray Eggers (Ray's letters and documents sent to Miriam Lukhard were entrusted to me by Aunt Teeny). Matt called his father to ask about the photo. We had a hilarious video chat with Matt's dad:

Videochat Interview

Sample conversation:

Ted Nussbickle ("He was a good man, Uncle Ted" "He bought me chocolate cigars"), 

"Aunt Leonie," Leonie Abbott Nussbickle ("She was a pain in the ass") and her daughter,

Doris Nussbickle (per Matt's mom: "she married a guy at the horse track"; "she and Aunt Mary were close"), William Bryant ("gentleman who had wounds on his legs"), 

"Uncle Bobby" (Bobby Bryant, "they would come there for dinner...and sleigh riding") and "Uncle Buddy." (Roger Bryant) 

Matt: You remember when "Nanny" (Margaret Bryant Weismantel) would talk about her grandfather as a peanut farmer, right? 

Dad: No. 

Matt: that was Eley Bryant...he fought in the Civil War.

Random comment: "My family is so screwed up, if you put them all in a box and shook it all up...I don't know what would happen." 

When Matt clarified the facts about some of his father's memories, he replied, "I'm started to get worried you're gonna tell me how many times I go to the bathroom."

We also had a videochat with Aunt Teeny (Miriam Vaughan, daughter of Miriam Abbott Lukhard), and her son David. Aunt Teeny remembered visiting her cousins in New Jersey as a teenager and being the "bell of the ball." She said that the more they fawned over her southern accent, the more southern she became! She couldn't remember names, but said some of the boy cousins later came to Virginia to visit.

How I am related to Matt:

Two Abbott siblings married two Bryant siblings. 

I am the great-granddaughter of George and Ida; Matt is the great-grandson of William and Bonnie. 

Whitfield Barrie Abbott is our common NJ ancestor

(the son and only child of immigrant John Abbott, pianomaker, and his wife Sarah Godfrey).

[See my blog post about Whitfield Barrie Abbott: https://descenddance.blogspot.com/2018/03/whitfield-barrie-abbott-1844-1889.html]

Ellis Island

Matt surprised me with a behind the scenes tour of Ellis Island. The majesty of the place and the weight of history was just overwhelming. We spent a good bit of time outside, enjoying the view of the Statue of Liberty and the panoramic view of lower Manhattan. 

Edgewater Cemetery (Vreeland Cemetery)

We found the cemetery in the middle of a congested area of town. The walled cemetery had once been surrounded by an Alcoa Plant. We parked in a busy shopping center lot across the street and risked our lives to get across the road. A sign on the gate told us to call the police non emergency number, and we were instructed to wait for someone to bring us the key. We stood at the gate in the cold for a half hour admiring the Manhattan skyline across the Hudson River. Finally, a Supervisor from the Department of Public Works named Tom Quinton showed up in a white city vehicle and let us in the cemetery. He knew exactly where the Abbott family plot was located and took us right there. We found Whitfield Abbott's tall monument, then saw James Abbott and William Abbott's headstones. After a frustrating search for certain other graves we knew had to be there (Sarah, John C.), Tom decided to go back to his office and bring us the file containing the list of interments and plot numbers. We were able to identify the graves' we were looking for, but there were no headstones (see listing of family members buried here at the bottom of this post). Whitfield was buried with his first wife, Gertrude, while his 2nd wife Sarah was buried at the back of the cemetery all alone. There was an entire Abbott plot with no headstones, but several Abbotts were buried there according to the records. We noted graves for family names Heft, Schlosser, and Beucler scattered amidst the Abbott graves.

Edgewater Cemetery inhabitants' view of the Hudson River and Manhattan

Church of the Good Shepherd

We drove through the Palisades Park area, and up Palisades Avenue to the church. The church secretary let us into the very old sanctuary, but we soon realized that this "newer" part of the old church was built after our family attended there. The original tiny chapel was now a day care center, and little preschoolers were asleep all over the floor. The entrance of the original chapel had been on Parker Avenue, but the steeple had been removed and a new entrance made on Palisades Avenue. The new entrance faces the buildings across the street where Whitfield Barrie Abbott lived (I believe he owned the two adjacent lots at 1585 & 1589 Palisades Avenue), and where his children, including my great grandfather George was born. At least one of Whitfield's children was baptized there, Bonnie Abbott (her baptismal certificate is on Ancestry). The stained glass windows in the church were donated by church members including the Beuclers and the Hefts (names from the cemetery). I later learned that one of the Abbotts married a Beucler (I knew I had seen the name somewhere!)

The smaller chapel to the left is the original church.

Ridgewood Public Library

Driving up Lemoine Avenue on our way out of town, we passed the site of the piano factory near the foot of the George Washington Bridge. There is a bank on the corner where the original factory had been, and the old Port Authority building is where the larger brick piano factory had been. It was about a 20-minute drive to Ridgewood where the public library was supposed to have an excellent genealogy collection. The librarian at the front desk, however, seemed clueless when we asked her about it. She directed us upstairs where we saw a sign in letters a foot high: "Bolger Heritage Center." (How could she miss that?) The door was locked. A young man let us in, and we began searching for the Fort Lee section. The collection was interesting, but we found it difficult to search much of their materials. 

We found one amazing book that made the trip to the library worthwhile: Fort Lee, by Lucille Bertram for the Fort Lee Historical Society, in the "Images of America" series. There were quite a few references to the Abbott family in the book, so I went on Amazon and ordered it for Matt. Images and information in the book revealed the answers to some of our questions. We believe that our Sylvia Abbott provided much of the material about the Abbotts to the Fort Lee Historical Society. 

Information in the book included:

Schlosser's Hotel (image) - "Fort Lee's mayor [i.e. John C. Abbott] and council met there until the 1920's."  There is a Schlosser Street in Fort Lee and Schlosser graves in Edgewater cemetery near the Abbott graves.

Abbott Piano Factory (image) - "The Abbott Piano Factory was located on the west side of Lemoine Avenue near what is now the Bridge Plaza. James Abbott, an English immigrant, founded this piano-action company c. 1870. In 1912 he employed 50 men and 25 women and was a major employer in Fort Lee. The Abbott family, one of the early Fort Lee settlers, resided on Lemoine Avenue for nearly a century."

The newer piano factory was a brick building behind this house.
[This building was moved to Main Street and is still there].

Mayor John C. Abbott (image) - the mayor and his council. "On March 29, 1904, Fort Lee officially broke from Ridgefield Township and formed its own government. In May of that year, the citizens of the borough elected their first borough council Mayor John C. Abbott..." (et. al.). [John C. Abbott, Sr. was the son of James Abbott, one of the four brothers who immigrated from England.]

Church of the Good Shepherd (image) - "In 1885, an Episcopal congregation moved into an abandoned church known as 'the estate' on Parker Avenue...The Gothic Revival building has been extensively renovated, with its entrance now on Palisade Avenue. A tower has also been added." [Note: the 'estate' was owned by the Moore family and includes the property that is now the Fort Lee Memorial Park. The original house, built by Judge Moore in 1922, is now the Fort Lee Museum run by the Fort Lee Historical Society. This building was closed for renovations when we were there.]

Bergen County Historic Sites Survey 1980-1981 (image of the Allen House) - "One of the other significant homes was the pre-Civil War Abbott home on Lemoine Avenue. Both the Abbott and Allen houses were razed soon after the Sites Survey was published."

The George Washington Bridge at its Fort Lee terminus (image) - the Abbott Piano Factory can been seen clearly in this aerial view. 

 

                   The Abbott Piano Factory is in the top right quadrant of this photo - original photo and close up. 
          The building that I have marked "Abbott House" was actually the original piano factory building
         that is now located behind 214 Main Street. (see photos at the bottom of this post).

Abbott Boulevard (image) - "In August 1909, after Palisade was incorporated into the borough, the borough council changed the name to Abbott Boulevard to honor Fort Lee's first mayor, John C. Abbott."

Outside the Heritage room at the library, there was a huge wall map of Bergen Counties that explained why the location of the Abbott Hotel was described in the U.S. Census as being in Hackensack. Hackensack at the time included a much larger area that encompassed Fort Lee and Coytesville. "J. Abbott" is shown on the map just north of the fort area. 

Hackensack County in 1861.
"J. Abbott" is on the map above the words "Fort Lee."

Some library searches were fruitless - no obituaries in the newspaper microfilm reels, except for a brief mention of Whitfield Abbott's funeral in the Bergen County Democrat: 

"The funeral of Wm. B. Abbott was held on Thursday. He had been ailing for some time. Mr. Abbott was for quite a long period principal of the Coytesville school."

There were promising materials held in various file cabinets, such as files on prominent family names in Fort Lee, but they were locked and the librarian could not find the keys. 

"Come back next week," she says.

Barrymore Film Center

Back to Fort Lee for a tour of the Barrymore Film Center museum. This was not directly related to our family history research, but was fascinating to learn about the film industry that was burgeoning in Fort Lee at the time that our family was there. I watched a silent movie that was filmed in Fort Lee which was known as the "Hollywood of the East Coast." 

Philadelphia

We spent a whole day in Philadelphia, hitting the top few items on my bucket list. I did a tour of Independence Hall, and viewed the Liberty bell from outside the glass enclosure. We walked down to Christ Church and had a guided tour. Then walked a few blocks away to the Christ Church Cemetery, where Benjamin Franklin and other signers of the Declaration of Independence were laid to rest. Of course, we stopped and had a Philly cheesesteak at Sonny's. The afternoon was spent at the Barnes Museum of Art. The collection of one man - Albert C. Barnes - was moved in its entirety to this modern building and set up in rooms exactly as he had them set up in his home. In addition to its main galleries, there were 18 rooms full of some of the most important works of art in the world. The uniqueness of this collection is singular in its juxtaposition of his vast assortment of antique hinges which were strategically arranged on the walls with the artwork.  

Preparation for research:

Here are the questions I had prepared for collaboration with cousin Matt, and some of the answers I learned during and after the trip to Fort Lee:

Q: What was Whitfield Abbott's home address on Palisades Avenue?

A: 1589 Palisades Avenue - His home was directly across the street from the Church of the Good Shepherd; there is now a bank on that lot, built in 1905 (a year after Sarah's death. Whitfield also owned the lot at 1585, now a dental office building.

A land map of the historic area of Fort Lee. Whitfield Barrie Abbott's property on Palisades Avenue
is marked,as is James Abbott's property just down the street.

Q: How does Stephen Hopkins (Mayflower) fit into our family tree?
A: through the Godfrey family. There is probably a second connection to Stephen Hopkins as well.

Q: What did the C stand for in John Abbott's name? Conway, after his mother in England?
A: Did not resolve this one. In some sources, his middle initial was "L." In his will, it appears to be the letter "C." James Abbott's son was named John Coyte Abbott. Coyte was James' wife's family name. 

Q: It was "James Abbott and Sons" by 1891; when did John Abbott bow out?
A: One source mentioned that he got out of the business at age 26. John Abbott owned the "hotel" where many of the piano factory employees lived. The Abbott House was located on Lemoine Avenue.

Q: Where did the name "Lemoine" come from? (Lemoine Avenue). Who/what was Abbott Blvd. named for?
A: James Abbott married Eliza Lemoine; William Abbott married Susan Ann Lemoine. Lemoine was a prominent family in Fort Lee. Abbott Blvd was named for the first mayor of Fort Lee, John Coyte Abbott, son of James Lemoine Abbott, Sr.

Q: Where did the name Fenton originate? (Southampton County)
A:

Q: What is the story about a probate dispute over William Cobb's probate 14 years after his death?
A:

Q: Where is the home of Charles and Maria Bryant?
A; I found several specific addresses for them and for their businesses in Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, and Newark. We did not have time to look for them, but most buildings are long gone anyway.

Q: Charles' death certificate?
A:

Q: Where was Charles between 1880 and 1908?
A:

Q: Is the Charles Bryant in the Richmond newspaper article the same piano dealer listed in the NJ city directory? (11/30/1911). 
A: According to the city directory, Charles lived in NJ as early as 1909. Ida was living in Richmond, so Charles did have a connection there. Perhaps he was living near Ida before he moved to NJ..?

Q: Where are Eley and Margaret buried? They are buried together. In Charles Bryant's letter to Bluke, 1924, he wrote: "I must see if I can't get someone to look after Father and Mother's graves," indicating that they were not buried in a formal cemetery.
A: Their graves are not marked, but we assume they are buried on the land at the corner of Blackwater and Head of River Roads in Princess Anne County, now a soybean field. It may not be possible to locate their exact burial sites.

Q: Explain the errors in William Bryant's death certificate (William Thomas Bryant, son of Eley and Margaret Bryant in Southampton, Virginia, NOT "Peter" and "Margaret Garttom" as on his death certificate).
A: William died in a poorhouse in Newark, NJ. He was an alcoholic booted out of the house by his wife Bonnie. He was despised by the Abbott family and buried in their cemetery plot for spite (so they hound him for eternity). The information on the death certificate may have been recorded by a staff person at the poorhouse based on ineffective communication from William.

Q: Are these our family?
Eli Bryant, Nottoway Co, slave owner
A: probably not.

William J. Cobb, E. Nottoway River, 1860 slave schedule
A: 

Q: What is story about the lost deed? lost patent?
A: According to the "NJ" family lore, someone in the "Virginia" family (i.e. the Bryants) stole the deed to the original Southampton land grant out of William T. Bryant's luggage. The patent refers to a peanut patent, unknown story.

Postscript:

In the Bergen County Historic Sites Inventory, 1980-1981, it shows that the original Abbott & Sons Piano Factory building was moved just after the sites survey was done. The building is now located behind 214 Main Street in Fort Lee. 

214 Main Street

The original piano factory building today, behind 214 Main Street.

DPW record of Abbott family burials at Edgewater.
Photo of Tom Quinton's burials list obtained from Matt Weismantel.

DPW record of Bryant family burials at Edgewater.
Photo of Tom Quinton's burials list, obtained from Matt Weismantel.

The Rift: a sad story of the Bryants of Virginia

Something happened long ago that tore the Bryant family apart. My father told of a mysterious "rift" between his maternal grandmother, Ida Rene, and her twin sister Addie, but he had no idea what it was about. This legacy was passed down through the next three generations, though no one remembered the original cause. When I asked, the grownups would just shrug and claim not to know. No one could explain. It was just an accepted thing. We rarely associated with our cousins in Virginia Beach. 

This was an anomaly in our family. We had a close, warm relationship with other distant relatives. We dutifully made the annual trek to Richmond from Virginia Beach to visit my father's large, extended family - great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and cousins two and three times removed. I remember thinking it was strange that we never visited cousins who lived in our own city. 

To give some background, the twins, Ida and Addie, grew up in Southampton County, Virginia. There were born in 1868 to Eley and Margaret Bryant, who were poor, illiterate farmers. Margaret and Eley had ten children, five of whom lived to adulthood. 

• Charles became a piano dealer in New Jersey and married a wealthy widow, Maria Harper. 
• William married Bonnie Abbott from Fort Lee, New Jersey. 
• Ida Rene married George Abbott from Fort Lee, New Jersey (Bonnie's half-brother). 
• Addie, Ida's twin, married Blucher Fletcher from Moyock, NC. 
• Gattie Jane married John F. Chappell from Princess Anne County, and then Dr. Edwin Stanton Davis from Manhattan, NY. 

All of Margaret and Eley's children and their spouses played a part in "the rift." But I'll get to that... 

Three generations later, in the 1990's, something serendipitous occurred. My sister Holly and her husband befriended a couple (Jim and Terry) in their Sunday School class. The couples were friends for months without knowing their true relationship. One day, by chance, Terry mentioned that her father was a dentist in Kempsville for many years. Holly, surprised, asked her if her father was Charlie Fletcher - why yes, he is! Holly immediately recognized how much Terry resembled our little red-haired grandmother Jacqueline Abbott. 3rd cousins! They lived in the same city all their lives and had never met. 

The twins, Ida and Addie, were finally reunited through their great-grandchildren after 100 years! In another miraculous turn, Matt, the great-grandson of William Bryant from New Jersey, recently joined his 3rd cousins in Virginia, bringing the Bryant-Abbott family full circle. 

So what caused this mysterious rift? 

Digging into the Bryant family history, I discovered some other surprises and baffling mysteries. Some of them involve Ida Rene and her many marriages and children which are written about in another post.

How did some of the Bryants - poor farmers from rural southside Virginia - end up in New Jersey? How did they merge with the Abbotts, a successful piano making family? A possible explanation has to do with the railroad, which was extended to Southampton County in 1888. William Bryant went to NJ in the 1890's looking for work. He met Bonnie Abbott, a coworker in a hat factory. Bonnie became pregnant in late 1899, and she traveled by railroad to Norfolk where she and William had a quick marriage in January 1900 performed by a preacher in the church parsonage. In 1904, Ida married George, Bonnie's half-brother. Charles Bryant moved to NJ around 1911 and sold pianos (perhaps made by the Abbotts?). 

In 1886, Margaret and Eley sold their farm Southampton County, where both of their families had lived since Colonial days, and moved to the Blackwater area of Princess Anne County. Addie and "Bluke" bought a nearby farm in 1890. Then Eley died unexpectedly in 1895. William and Bonnie lived with Margaret for a time, but then moved back to New Jersey around 1900 (their child did not survive). Margaret rented out the farm in Princess Anne County and moved to Richmond to live with Ida. Why did she live with Ida and not Addie who lived just down the road? Perhaps there were already the beginnings of some hard feelings between Addie and Margaret.

Here’s what happened. 

When Eley died intestate in 1895, Margaret deliberately failed to notify authorities so that she could keep the farm. Otherwise, by law, it would have gone through probate and would have had to be sold, with half the proceeds divided among her four living adult children. Margaret collected rent from the farm after she moved to Richmond to live with Ida, and continued to earn income by selling lumber from the property. It seems Addie resented this financial arrangement. 

In April 1908, 13 years after her father died, Addie Fletcher sued her mother over her rightful inheritance. The legal proceedings included depositions from her children and their spouses, including Ida and George Abbott. In a potentially disastrous complication, their recently deceased sibling, Gattie Jane, had held the note on the farm. When she died in early 1908 in Manhattan, her will left the note to her husband, Dr. Stanton. In gracious assent, upon request from Charles Bryant, Dr. Stanton sent the deed, not to Margaret or Charles, but directly to a lawyer in Norfolk. 

The next month, Margaret boarded a train in Richmond, bound for Norfolk. We will never be sure of her purpose, but it’s reasonable to believe it had to do with the lawsuit. Sadly, she never quite made it. She had "apoplexy" on the train and was rushed to the house of D. W. Godwin at 914 Greene Street in Portsmouth, where she died three days later (May 8, 1908 at 5:30 p.m.), with her four living children gathered at her bedside, Charles, William, Addie, and Ida. Did she have a stroke brought on by the extreme stress of getting sued by her own daughter? The timing seems more than coincidence. If so, it is no wonder the family fell apart. The fact that Margaret’s daughter Gattie Jane died earlier that same year may have just been too much heartbreak to handle.

Did the siblings ever reconcile? In a letter to Bluke Jr. in September 1909, Ida sent love through Bluke to her sister and expressed sorrow at their broken relationship. She told Bluke how she tried to connect with Addie on a visit to Norfolk, but Addie would not see her. 

There is a photo of the sisters with Charles and Maria, who married in 1911 in New Jersey. If the photo was taken near that date, they may have made some kind of truce. 

In a 1924 letter to Bluke Jr., Charles wrote, "how's your Mother and Father [Addie and Bluke Sr.] give my love to them when you write again. I thought your mother and Ida were coming to see us 2 years ago." Did that visit ever happen?

Charlie Fletcher, born in 1926, lived in the same house with Addie and his parents. He remembers that suddenly his family did not go to Richmond to visit family anymore. He didn’t understand why at the time, but this was probably due to Ida’s death in 1933. However, Charlie remembers his Uncle “Billie” coming to visit them from New Jersey. He also remembers visits from his namesake, Uncle Charlie Bryant. The Bryant siblings, it seems, worked through their issues regarding the lawsuit and Margaret’s untimely death.

After Ida died, her children, except for Jacqueline, remained in Richmond. “Jack” and Ernie moved to Norfolk after the Depression. Ernie lived with Addie in Norfolk until he could find a job and a place to live for his young family. After Addie died in 1948, and maybe even before that, the two families drifted apart again. 

Now, a century after “the rift,” the great-grandchildren of Ida, Addie, and William have joyfully rediscovered each other. They are working together to find the stories in their mutual family history. 

Full circle.

The remaining mystery now is the location of Eley and Margaret's graves. In 1924, Charles Bryant writes to Bluke Jr., "I must see if I can't get someone to look after Father and Mother's graves," implying that they are buried together. Since Eley died in 1895 and Margaret in 1908, their graves could be on the property in Blackwater which had not yet been sold. However, by 1924, the land was long out of their hands. The property is a 42-acre field today, totally cleared of trees and plowed under. The original house is gone. There is no sign or indication of a possible burial site. There are no records of their graves in any church cemeteries. The funeral home that handled the transportation and burial of Margaret's body was sold long ago, and the records of her burial lost in the transfer. 

Eley and Margaret Bryant - a Timeline of Discovery

Three 3rd cousins met up on August 16 and 17th to do some local research on our mutual great great grandparents, Eley and Margaret Bryant of Southampton County, Virginia. I have traced the Bryants and the Cobbs back to the 1600s on my family tree.  Here are the results of that research and the questions that arose.

(Prior knowledge in black/new knowledge in blue/pursue further in red):

1829

Eley Bryant was born on March 6, 1829 in Southampton County, Virginia. His father was Jacob Bryant, and his mother was Temperance Owens. At age 19, Eley lived in Nottoway Parish, Southampton, Virginia with his parents and siblings. 

1835

Margaret Cobb was born between 1835 and 1839, in Southampton County, Virginia, the daughter of William Cobb and Evelyn (Evie, Eveline) Wallace. In 1850, Margaret lived in Nansemond, Virginia with her parents. According to the book, The Cobbs of the Tidewater, by Bruce Montgomery Edwards (c) 1976, Margaret was born in 1835. 

1858

Eley and Margaret married on May 19, 1858 (per family Bible) in Southampton County. He was 29. She was about 19. They had 9 children: Charles Fenton (1859), Jacob Fenton (1860)*, Mary Eliza (1862), William Thomas (1867), Ida Rene and Ariadne (1868), Gattie Jane (1870), Margarett (1880)*, Fenton (1886).* *lived less than a year. Their marriage date was confirmed in The Cobbs of the Tidewater, by Bruce Montgomery Edwards. This publication states that they had six children in 1880.

The marriage registration for Eley and Margaret.

1860

In the U.S. Census of 1860, Eley and Margaret lived in Jerusalem on the "east side of the Nottoway River." We tried to find the "metes and bounds" of the property at the Southampton County Courthouse, but such specific data never existed. We did find the location and acreage of the property on a map. According to records, the land was next to the William Cobb farm. The property today is at the corner of Rt. 58 and Agri Park Drive. A Food Lion now sits on that corner, and the Bryant property would have been just on that site or west of the store. The Peanut Patch Gift Shop is nearby on the same side of the road. 

On Google Earth, there is definitely a shack deteriorating in the woods where the Bryant house might have been. 

Mary Eliza was born in 1861 according to the Birth records in the Southampton County Courthouse (the family Bible said 1862).Which was correct?

1862

In 1862, Eley was drafted into the Southampton County Militia on March 15, 1862. He joined Company H, 41st Virginia Infantry. He was captured near Petersburg and sent to POW prison at Pt. Lookout on Oct. 31, 1864. He was exchanged on Mar. 28, 1865.

1870

Gattie Jane b. 14 Jun. 1870

In 1870, Eley age 30: Post Office in Jerusalem, Franklin Depot. (Farmer, Postmaster?)

Jerusalem is now called Courtland. The story is that post Civil War, they didn't want the name Jerusalem associated with the atrocities associated with the Nat Turner Rebellion. "Black Head Post Road" got changed to "Post Road." Nat Turner was hung in Jerusalem in 1831.

1874

In 1874, an Eli Bryant was listed as a member of Mount Carmel Christian church in Isle of Wight County. (see record attached to Eley in Ancestry). Follow up on this by locating the book Joyner of Southampton by Ullyses S. Joyner at the Library of Virginia. (See 1883 below).

1880

In 1880, Eley and Margaret lived in Franklin.

Margarett [sic] b. 21 Oct. 1880; d. 20 Aug 1881 in Southampton County.

1883

In the Joyners of Southampton book, Eli Bryant is mentioned on p 138: "St. Clair Joyner shown as member of Union Christian Church (Joyner's Church) from September 1880 until expelled on October 13, 1883, for 'uncrhistianized conduct.' Reported by Eli Bryant, Church records.) Membership later restored."

1884

Ida's 1st marriage according to the 1930 U. S. Census was at age 16. No other evidence of this marriage has been found, but it does suggest that Ida had told someone about a marriage in her teens. In the 1910 U. S. Census, she only admitted to two marriages, including George Abbott.

1885
In 1885, Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia stated that Eley "engaged in farming" and resided in Delawares, Southampton County. They had a patent on peanuts, but it was lost or stolen. 

1886

Eley and Margaret sold the farm (85 acres) in Southampton County on 7 Jan. 1886 to J. B. Prince (no re-sale for three years; released 9 Jan. 1888). 

Fenton Bryant b. June 1886 in Princess Anne County; d. 10 Mar 1887. Eley and Margaret had not yet purchased the Blackwater farm. Did they perhaps rent property in PA County after the sale of their land in Southampton County?

1887

Ida m. Lewellyn Eley on April 13 at age 19 in Southampton County.  Her parents had already moved to Princess Anne County. [Marriage register #6 1886-1890 Southampton County p. 184.]

1888

Eley and Margaret purchased the "Young Tract" in Blackwater. 42 Acres, "give or take" for $425. 3 Feb 1888. Deed for Johnston G Forbes and Margaret F. Forbes to Ely Bryant (Princess Anne County Deeds, book 59, pp 364-367.  Deed of Trust held by JM Keeling. Transcribed by Matt Weismantel Aug 2021). Eley and Margaret moved to Princess Anne County before the Fletchers did.

Eley and Margaret lived in Princess Anne County at "Land of Promise" Plantation (a bit of exaggeration here), growing cotton, tobacco, and peanuts. (Source?) Their farm was at the "T" intersection of Blackwater and Head of River Roads. It was 42 acres according to probate documents obtained at the Library of Virginia. A major source of income was lumber. 

UPDATE 9/20/21: The property that Charlie Fletcher originally identified as the Bryant farm was in error. Today, I used the legal description of the property in the original deed record to confirm the location, and found that the farm was actually across S. Head of River Road, on the other side of the Cox farm. This upset some of our major assumptions, and it now leads our search for Margaret and Eley’s graves in a whole different direction.

Here is a map showing the property, sold to Eley by Johnston Forbes in 1888. This location perfectly matches the description in the deed of trust. [This map is on the Virginia Beach public library website, and is attributed to the year 1930 though it contains dated information].

UPDATE: 9/23/21:  Cousin Terry and I drove out to Blackwater to scope out this newly discovered Bryant Farm. The boundaries of the original farm are easy to see, but it is all now a field where it once had been woodland. The field is nothing but soybeans as far as the eye can see. There is no indication of an old homesite or of any signs or markings of graves. We did find a map, however, that showed a house on the property... just a dot indicating its location:

Near the bottom of the map below the circled area, see the number 11 at the corner of the intersection. That is the location of the Bryant farm. You can see a small dot below the 11 indicating a house that was there in 1992 when this map was created by the City of Va Beach Planning Commission. If you look at the map above this one, the dot next to the name "Johnston Forbes" is in the same location. 

https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/VB-052_Survey_VA_Beach_PH_II_1993_TRACERIES_report.pdf

1888, continued...

Addie married Blucher “Bluker” Fletcher on March 7. They ran a store in Woodville, NC for a time afterward.  

1893

[Ida's ex-husband, Lewellyn Eley m. Sallie Ann Jones in Southampton County on Jan 11, 1893. Lewellyn went on to have a large family and lived in Norfolk]. Was his marriage to Ida annulled or did they divorce?

1890s

Blucher and Addie purchased the Blackwater farm from Mr. Baum. What date?

The Fletcher farm today

An old tree that marked the original home site died and has fallen over.

Blucher and Addie’s farm was just down the road from the Bryant farm. We found surveys of the Fletcher property at the VB Courthouse, showing that the farm was purchased in two stages. The first part of the farm, 75 acres on the north side of Pungo Ferry Road, was purchased [c1890] from Mr. Baum, who kept the land from the tree line back to the North Landing River. The second part of the farm was purchased in 1904 from Mr. Baum, 58.3 acres on the south side of Pungo Ferry Road. At the time, Blackwater Road turned left almost at a 90-degree angle at what is now Blackwater Loop. Part of the Fletcher farm is under the present-day Blackwater Road on the north end of the property. 

Below are rough drawings based on property surveys from the Virginia Beach Courthouse:

When was this parcel originally purchased?

Purchased in 1904.

189?

Ida married ___ Williams. No marriage record in Southampton County. By 1895, "Ida (Bryant) Williams" was widowed and  living in Princess Anne County. (See 1895 marriage license to William Butler). 

Was Ida's 2nd husband a "Williams" of PA County? Ida is named "Ida Williams, widow" on her Princess Anne County marriage license to William Butler in 1895. Was she living with Eley and Margaret? (This is where the 1890 US census would have been helpful). Ida never mentions this marriage or her marriage to Lewellyn Eley to her children. 

NOTE (9/9): a search of marriage records at the Library of Virginia yielded no results for "Ida Bryant," or "Ida Williams. Her marriage to L.P. Eley is recorded for 1887. A search for [husband] Williams for the years 1884-1899 showed a "Jesse Williams" who married "Ida Major" in 1884 in Norfolk County, and a "Geo H. Williams" who married "Ida Butler" in 1888 in Norfolk City. These records require some follow up. Those last names don't fit Ida's currently-known profile, but might possibly indicate a last name of a husband as yet to be discovered.

189?

Ida’s husband __Williams died.

1892

Ida's son Earl b. 18 Nov. 1892 where? Who was the father? Is is possible to get Earl's grandson Scott to check his DNA link to William Butler and to ___ Williams? 

1895

Ida m. William Butler on 17 Jan. 1895. "Ida Williams, widow." Marriage license in Princess Anne County 17 January 1895. Marriage took place in Norfolk Virginia.

Ida's son William Brown Butler Jr was born in Oct 1895 in Lynchburg.

Eley died in Princess Anne County at the age of 66 on Dec 15, 1895. 

Margaret did not report Eley's death. This enabled her to continue to live on the Blackwater farm and collect income. If she had reported Eley's death, the farm would have to be divided - 1/3 for Margaret; and 2/3 to be split among her children. This would mean that Margaret would have to sell the farm, which she did not want to do. 

1897

Ida's son Rawley Butler b. Nov 1897 in Lynchburg. Was he really Ida's son? See notes under 1900.

1900

William T. Bryant m. Rebecca "Bonnie" Abbott (George Abbott's half sister) at the Queen Street Methodist Church parsonage on 15 Jan. 1900 in Norfolk, Va. 

In the 1900 U. S. Census, Addie and Blucher lived in Princess Anne County.

In the 1900 U.S. Census (June), in Lynchburg, Ida has only TWO living children (all three are listed as William Butler's sons). NOTE: Earl's grandson has been linked to me by DNA, so Ida is definitely his mother. Is Earl the son of Ida's previous husband? If so did William Butler give Earl his last name legally? It is assumed that William Brown Butler (Jr?) is also her son, considering that he was born exactly nine months after her marriage to William Butler in 1895. There was a servant named Susan Austin, age 23, living with them in 1900. Could Rawley be Susan's child? I have contact info for a grandson of Rawley's... perhaps he did a DNA test..? This would explain why William's obit (1904) says he has only one son, presumably William Jr. 

In 1900, Margaret, a widow, lived in Pungo, Va. (Princess Anne County), with William Bryant and his wife Rebecca “Bonnie.”

Around 1900-1901, William and Bonnie moved back to NJ, and Margaret moved to Richmond to live with Ida.

When Margaret went to live with Ida in Richmond, she rented out the Blackwater farm for $50 a month. Her youngest daughter Gattie Jane held the bond for the property. (Per probate papers from 1908 court case).

1904

Blucher and Addie purchased the 2nd parcel of land at Pungo Ferry Road from Mr. Baum. 1 Jan. 1904.

William Butler died in Lynchburg, Va. 1 Aug. 1904. (His obit says he was survived by one son). All 3 boys were placed in an orphanage in Richmond.

Ida m. George Abbott. 17 Dec. 1904. in Norfolk, Va. She was 36, he was 21. Family lore says that Ida met George when he was just a boy in NJ. Why did Ida move to Richmond? to be near her sons? To my knowledge, there were no other family connections in Richmond. Apparently her sons were placed in an orphanage in Richmond after William Butler died - not unusual for a widowed parent (see 1910 US Census). Note: The Methodist Children’s Home was established in 1890, Mr. WH Vaughan administrator 1891-1908 (mch.org). The Children’s Home Society of Virginia was organized in 1899, but had no facility in Roanoke until 1920; therefore, Richmond would have been the nearest orphanage to Lynchburg.

1906

Blucher had the land north of Pungo Ferry Road surveyed. 6 Jun. 1906. To sell, or perhaps refinance? Blucher purchased the property in Norfolk (Peachtree Street, Ocean View) sometime before 1920.

1908
On Jan. 21, 1908, Gattie Jane died in NY, leaving her husband, Dr. Edwin Stanton Davis, to hold the the bond documents for the Bryant farm. In her will, which was lost but remembered in detail by Dr Davis, Gattie left the bond to her mother, Margaret. Dr. Davis honored Gattie’s wishes and gave the bond to Charles Bryant, who then turned it over to a trust lawyer in Norfolk. Thus began a family court case over disposition of Eley’s estate.

April 6, 1908: Probate filed against the estate of Eley Bryant by Addie and Blucher Fletcher.

April 20, 1908: Margaret filed a response to Addie’s suit.

On May 16, 1908, according to the newspaper, Margaret had a stroke while traveling by train from Richmond to "scenes of her childhood," her "former home" in Blackwater, Norfolk County (see slightly sensationalized news articles below). She was taken to the home of D.W. Godwin at 914 Green Street in Portsmouth (an address that no longer exists). She had medical and nursing care at the Godwin home, and her four living children gathered by her side from NJ, Richmond, and Blackwater. She died on May 19 at age 73. According to the newspaper, her body was sent to Blackwater for interment. 

Poor thing, no wonder she had apoplexy! Her own children taking her to court... the trip to Blackwater was likely related to the family legal dispute. Imagine the scene at her deathbed! Amazing that they were able to work together to take care of the business of burying their mother.

Addie continued the lawsuit against her remaining siblings to sell the farm and divide the proceeds as should have been done in the first place. [It appears that she won the case - in 1909, the farm was sold, all debtors were paid off, and each of Margaret's living children - Charles, William, Ariadne, and Ida Rene - received $113.29. 

August 1908: receipts were included (see probate file) from D.W. Godwin (“for Mrs. Bryant’s grave”), medication, nursing care, Snellings funeral home, and W. E. Charlton (Justice of the Peace) for services related to Margaret's death and burial.

The newspaper articles about Margaret's death said that she was taken to the home of "G.W. Godwin" of “413 Green Street” in Portsmouth and died in the presence of her four children three days later. According to a receipt found in the probate papers, the name was actually D.W. Godwin at 914 Green St. 

Where are Eley and Margaret buried? Since Eley's death was not reported, it is likely that he was buried on the family farm. Margaret was buried with him, as Charles referenced in a 1924 letter (see below) to Blucher. On which farm were they buried? 

We researchers stopped along the road at the intersection of Blackwater and Pungo Ferry Roads to speak to a man who was mowing on that corner of the property. His name is Danny Thrasher. He said that his mother has lived on that property since 1940. He promised to ask her if there is an indication of graves anywhere on the property and let us know. He also said that the Mansfields across the road had been there for a long time - they might know something. 

Why was Gattie Jane Davis holding the bond (secured by the deed of trust) for the Bryant farm in Princess Anne County?

UPDATE: On Sept 22, 2021, I attended a meeting of the Pungo Historical Group, led by former city councilwoman and board member of the Va Beach Historical Society, Barbara Henley. Everyone at the meeting had deep roots in south Princess Anne County. There was no opportunity to speak with individuals at the meeting, but I did pick up on some facts and resources to investigate:

• Dr. Mansfield, historian, old PA County family - Archives at Virginia Wesleyan College
• See transcript of original Bryant farm deed - is it Miles Munden or Murden? both old PA families.
• Alice Walter at Westminster Canterbury in Va. Beach - Norfolk County genealogy
• Chesapeake Public Library - Robert Hitchings, Head of Norfolk County Historical Society.

1909 

The Bryant property in Blackwater was sold, debts paid, and distributions made to the four living children: Charles, William, Ida, and Addie. 17 April 1909. 42 acres, give or take. (Today the tract of land is listed as 48.86 acres).

Letter from Ida to Bluke, Jr. 8 Sept. 1909 mentions a rift between she and Addie. This rift was well known in the family when I was growing up in Virginia Beach (former Princess Anne County). It seemed to have an impact into the next couple of generations. Certainly, the legal action taken by Addie would be a likely cause of this rift. There is a photo however with Addie and Ida together with Charles and Mariah which must have been taken around the time of the court case:

Mariah, Ida, Addie, Charles

There is no record of Charles Bryant's residence before 1909 in NJ. Where did he live? The Newark city directory shows a "Charles F. Bryant, salesman" in 1909 and 1910. According to a deposition in the probate papers, Charles was living out of state in 1908. Though there is no evidence that he ever lived in Richmond, could this 1911 newspaper article about the dispute over a piano be about him? (Times-Dispatch, 11 Nov 1911):

1910

According to the U.S. Census, Addie and Blucher lived in Pungo, Virginia. 

According to the U.S. Census, Ida, mother of 6 living children, lived with George Abbott on Maryland Ave. in Tuckahoe, Richmond, Virginia. It noted the 1st marriage for George; 2nd (!) for Ida. Ida's sons were not living with her:

• William Butler Jr. is listed as inmate in the Methodist Orphanage in Richmond, age 15.
• Rawley Butler is listed as inmate in Laurel Reformatory, age 11.
• Earl, age 18, not found in any records so far. 
• Miriam, age 2.
• Audrey, age 1.
• Jacqueline, age 3/12. 

1911

Ida's son George Wright Abbott Jr. died at less than one year old.

Charles married Mariah in Westchester NY on 22 Mar 1911. 

1917

Jamestown Exposition: Blucher and Bluke Jr. helped to de-construct the "State" homes, per Charlie Fletcher. 

1920

In the U.S. Census, Ida lived in Henrico with George, Miriam, Audrey, Jacqueline, Earl (age 27, widowed, Reformatory guard), and Earl's daughters Edna and Hellen [sic]. 

In the U.S. Census, Addie and Blucher lived in Pungo, Virginia in 1920.

Blucher purchased eight lots in Ocean view and built a house (706 Peachtree St., now 9337 Peachtree) from Cypress lumber milled on the farm in Blackwater. The house was made into several apartments and multiple generations lived there. He created a mini-farm and sold produce from this property. According to property records for the house on Zillow the house pictured below was built in 1920. [Later, Bluke Jr. built his wife Catherine her dream home at 716 Peachtree].

1924

Letter from Charles to Bluke on 11 Apr 1924 "I must see if I can't get someone to look after Father's and Mother's graves." Where are the graves?! Did the Fletchers still own the farm in Blackwater after they moved to Ocean View?

1926

Charles Fletcher b. 9 Apr 1926 in Norfolk, Virginia. Charlie never lived on the farm in Blackwater..?

Fenton and Phenie - who were they?

Besides the three Fenton children of Eley and Margaret, there was a couple named "Fenton and "Phenie" who lived near the Blackwater River. Jacob Fenton was the son of William Bailey Bryant (brother of Eley), and his wife was Josephine ("Phenie"). Cousin Charlie Fletcher remembers visiting them as a child. He recalls an abundance of good food, but also lots of flies in the kitchen. There was a black church across the river, and he could hear the choir singing from Fenton's house. I found a possible location for their home where Rt. 58 Bus crosses the Blackwater River (based on a map held by Charlie Fletcher’s daughter  that was roughly sketched on a scrap piece of paper). The road was then called Coolspring Rd per US Census. There is a Coolspring Island nearby, northeast of Franklin. Used to be Isle of Wight County. Zoom in on Google Earth to see a foundation is visible where the black church might have been, and also where Fenton and Phenie’s house might have been:

1928

Jacqueline Abbott m. Ernest Earl Zaun on 7 Apr 1928 in Richmond, Va.

1930

John Beverly Zaun b. 23 Jan. 1930 in Richmond, Va. 

According to the U.S. Census (April), Blucher, Addie, and Ruth rented [a house] in Ocean View, Norfolk, Va. They lived at 706 Peachtree Street with son Blucher Jr., his wife Catherine, and their sons Phillip (age 5) and Charles (age 3 -11/12).

Blucher Fletcher Sr. died on 8 Sept 1930 in Norfolk, Virginia.

In the U.S. Census, Ida lived on Old Washington Hwy with George, Herman, Miriam E., Herman L. Jr. (age 4), Rawley K. (age 0), Charles Page, Audrey M., Idarene (age 3), and George A. (age 2). Note on Census: Ida's 1st marriage was at age 16. Who was the informant? Was there really a 1st marriage at age 16? If so, it predates her marriage to Lewellyn Eley. Ida must have told the family about a marriage in her teens, but most of the family thought she had only been married twice. 

1933

Ida died in Richmond. 

1934

Jacqueline Gail Zaun b. 14 Aug 1934 in Richmond, Va.

1935

Addie lived in Norfolk Virginia at 706 Peachtree Street, with Ruth, Blucher Jr., Catherine, Phillip, and Charles. 

My grandfather, Ernie, came down from Richmond in search of employment, and lived at first with the Fletchers in Ocean View. He resided temporarily in a boarding house on 10th St. in Ocean View. His family did not join him right away, but stayed in Richmond. I have letters between my grandmother and grandfather that were written during this period of time. Charlie Fletcher remembers visiting the Zauns in their home on Mason Creek Rd., a house with porches on both the first and second floors. What year did the whole Zaun family move to Norfolk? I remember stories about my grandmother, Jacqueline, grieving over leaving her Richmond family.

1938

Ernest Earl Zaun lived in Norfolk, Va. and worked as a bookkeeper at Dalton-Bundy Lumberyard. 306 W. 35th St. Apt. 1. There are family stories about living in this tiny apartment. My father and his sister had to share a bedroom. When Helen (Earl’s daughter) came to visit from Richmond, she also slept in their room.

Cannot find Ernest and family in the 1940 Census, but his WWII draft card lists his address.

General background on the Bryant history:

Bailey Bryant left land (on loan) to Jacob B. Bryant (Eley's father), which was at his death to be divided among Jacob's sons. The Plantation was known as the Fitzhugh land, formerly owned by Thomas Fitzhugh. Jacob lived on this land in Nottoway Parish until he died in 1857. Was this the same land that the Bryants lived on in the 1880's?

Nottoway Parish (1734) served both Isle of Wight and Southampton Counties. It became Nottoway County in 1788.

Resources to locate:

The William and Mary Quarterly Vol, 23, No. 1 (Jan.1943,) pp. 41-63. "The Colonial Churches of isle of Wight and Southampton Counties, Virginia."

Mt. Carmel Christian Church records.

Some of our questions include:

• Where are Eley and Margaret buried? (possibly on the Fletcher Farm at Pungo Ferry, now wooded and newer houses built on the site - can still see the old tree that was beside the original house. Search along the roadside?) Charlie Bryant expressed concern in a 1909 letter to Bluke: "I must see if I can't get someone to look after Father and Mother's graves." This would suggest the graves are not in a formal cemetery. Sometime after 1920, the Fletchers moved to Ocean View in Norfolk, leaving their farm in Pungo. I called the Snellings Funeral Home in Portsmouth and they are going to check their records for Margaret's burial location. I also called Holloman Brown on Tidewater Drive as they bought out the Snellings business. A helpful man named Chris said he would search their records. He called back and said he did not find Margaret's record. He suggested calling the Chesapeake Health Department for a death certificate. (Terry C. has the phone number). Meanwhile,Terry noticed a couple of white markers in the trees behind where the house would have been on the Fletcher farm. On Aug. 31 I contacted the Old Princess Anne County historical group that meets at Creeds twice a month. I got an almost immediate reply from Donald Moore of Pungo, who offered some great information and whatever further assistance I need... he is a professional genealogist, and.... drum roll... we are related through Blucher Fletcher who is his gg grandfather! 

• Why did they leave Southampton County and move to Princess Anne County?  (Speculation: the farm was not supporting them).  We learned that the Bryants moved to Princess Anne County BEFORE Addie and Blucher Fletcher bought the land at Pungo Ferry Road. Blucher and Addie didn't marry until 1888, and according to Charlie Fletcher, they operated a store in Woodville, NC for a time after they were married. Eley and Margaret's sold their land in Southampton County in January 1886. Their baby Fenton died in Princess Anne County in 1887. Did they rent the land in PA County before buying it? When did the Fletcher's buy the original property in PA County? (It had to be in the 1890’s as they lived in PA County in 1900 per US Census. They purchased a second parcel on Jan. 1, 1904).
• What happened to the "lost" land grant/deed? It wasn't a lost grant, it was a lost or stolen patent for growing peanuts. Find out more?

• Was Ida married at age 16 (see ref in 1930 Census)? No record of this marriage in Southampton.
• Who was Ida Rene's 2nd husband (last name Williams)? Not found in Southampton Courthouse.
• Find divorce record for Ida and Llewellyn Eley. Found the marriage certificate, but no divorce or annulment record found in Southampton Courthouse. 
• Why were William Bryant’s parents' names on his death certificate incorrect? (Peter Bryant and Margaret Gartlan?) Possible mistranslation by staff member at the Newark City Hospital where he died.
• Probate dispute over William Cobb's estate. What was that about?
• How did the Turner Rebellion affect the family?
• History of Queen Street Methodist Episcopal Church (Samuel Hatcher, 107 Wood St. parsonage). In 1900, Bonnie took the train from NJ to Portsmouth, rode the ferry across to Norfolk. William met her and they went immediately to the nearest church to be married. The church is now AME.
• Where did the name "Fenton" originate? We don't know where the name "Fenton" came from, but it was heavily used in the Bryant family. There was a James Fenton Bryant who was Superintendent of Schools and a well-known leader in Southampton County. 
• How did the Bryants of Va. originally connect with the Abbotts of NJ? (William and Bonnie?) The final link of what would later be called the N&W RR came to Jerusalem in 1888. This is around the time that Eley sold the Southampton property and bought the farm in Blackwater. William Bryant went to NJ and worked in a hat factory gluing bands inside the hats. There is where he met Bonnie. In 1900, after Eley's death, William was living with his mother Margaret in Blackwater. In 1900, Bonnie came down on the train, took the ferry to Norfolk from Portsmouth, and they went straight to the Queens Street Methodist church parsonage and got married. Bonnie had a large, ornate marriage certificate made and signed by the preacher. She was pregnant, but the baby died in infancy. William and Bonnie moved back to NJ in 1901. Family lore says that Ida Rene first met George when he was a boy. She could have met him when visiting William in NJ sometime before 1900. Charles went to work in NJ around 1909, or possibly earlier. William's family in NJ did not remember ever visiting Charles, which is strange since his piano business was on Broad Street in Newark, their home town.
• William Bryant “Billie” visited Addie's family on Peachtree Street in Ocean View, Norfolk. We were able to confirm to Charlie Fletcher that William did not receive his leg wound in the war - there was no war at the time, and he was too old to have been in WWI. Matt speculates that it might have been an ulcer caused by alcohol-related diabetes. Bonnie was apparently happy to have William out of the house. William died in a residence facility for alcoholics. The Abbotts threatened to bury him the Abbott graveyard in Newark so that he would be tormented for eternity, and that is exactly where he was interred. The graveyard is in the middle of a building complex. 
• Abbott Blvd in Fort Lee, NJ, is named for our family. (John Abbott was mayor of Ridgefield/Fort Lee).

Random information:

Margaret smoked a corn cob pipe.

Margaret had one baby after the move to Blackwater. She was in her 50's. The baby died in infancy. Is this even possible? 

Newspapers:

• Franklin Gazette OCLC#: 34273845 Published Weekly From 1880 To 1886 In Franklin, Va. : K.R. Griffin, Publisher varies. Editor: K.R. Griffin, <1882>; W.W. Degge, <1884>; M.E. Daughtry, <1885>. Originals held by: Virginia Museum of History and Culture and https://www.worldcat.org/title/franklin-gazette/oclc/34273845&referer=brief_results. Also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96096530/
• Blackwater Courier. (Franklin, Va.) 1891-1900, https://www.worldcat.org/title/blackwater-courier/oclc/34224051&referer=brief_results also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96096531/
• The Graphic. (Franklin, VA.) 1900-1905 https://www.worldcat.org/title/graphic/oclc/34273796/ also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96096535/
• Tidewater News. (Franklin, Va.) 1905-Current ** [still published https://www.thetidewaternews.com/] https://www.worldcat.org/title/tidewater-news/oclc/32981283&referer=brief_results, also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95079232/
• Southampton Democrat (Franklin, VA.) 188? - 192? https://www.worldcat.org/title/southhampton-democrat/oclc/34273870&referer=brief_results also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96096536/