So many genealogical accounts of the origins of English settlers in early Virginia commence with prestigious families that are recorded in the tomes of Mr. Burke, et al.; understandably so, for it is no simple task to identify clusters of settlers that shared the same names of clusters of near neighbours and kinfolk in England – almost invariably they being synonomous. A common tragedy is that the seed sown out of Mr. Burke’s book takes on the qualities of a much loved and copied story, which resists more realistic accounts.

The origins given for Richard Sharp and Nathaniel Floyd of Virginia fall into the category of the unknown, yet it may be the case that they were part of an English kinship group.

FLOOD/FLOYD

The first recorded Flood/Floyd families of Somerset appear in the parish registers of Wiveliscombe, and it is cetainly possible that they were the same family that were to be found in Bridgwater, 18 miles west of that place. In this conjecture, the following genealogical table is proposed.

The Bridgwater Floods were those to be found in early Virginia, as earlier posts signify. The name Flood had many variants in Somerset, Floyd, Fludde, Floudde, as examples. It is entirely possible that they were “corruptions” of the Welsh, llwyd, but this view is perhaps a much copied simplification, with, in former times, a fludde being a wooden joist. The term fludde/flode-gate was much in evidence, derived from the Saxon word “flud”, which described a small water-course. It was certainly the case that when baptisms were recorded the spelling used would be interpretations of a phonetic. The dipthong Fl(oy)d was pronounced as a very long au in old Somerset dialect. Fl(oo)d was pronounced as a long oo as in food/book. The diphthong ou was synonomous with oo.

BRIDGWATER FLOODS OF VIRGINIA

1. …
1.1. Edward FLood m. … Aug. 4, 1567. Will proved June 23, 1572, bequested to “Christopher Fludd my sonne one quarter of my goode sheep”.
1.1.1. Christopher Floudde, m. Joane Castlebrooke, Feb. 11, 1609. (A local toponym).
1.1.1. “Johannes Fludd”, bapt. Dec. 21, 1621 (“son of Xpofori”), made a deposition in 1652 stating that he was 30 years old, or thereabouts. He m. Mary Creede in Surry Co., Virginia, dau. of Ralph Creede, son of Edward Creed, Clerk, of Shirehampton (a tithing of Westbury-upon-Trim, Gloucestershire), whose Will was proved in Bristol, in 1649: “To Raphell, my disobedient sonn twelve pence in money (and prayer that he may reform his life”). As Ralph Creed, carpenter, he was deeded 150 ac. by Thomas Flood*, his brother, on August 27, 1661. Shirehampton and Bridgwater were connected on the main trading road which passed through Bristol.
1.1.1.1.1. John Flood, m. Ann, dau. of Thomas Blount, and sister of … Blount, wife of Joel Barker.
1.1.1.1.1.1. John Flood, m. Mary Howell, d. aft. June 20, 1715.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Jane Flood, m. Thomas Lane (b. ca. 1662), whose Will was proved Nov. 20, 1734, witnessed by Richard Ricks, Thomas Lanier, and William Barker.
1.1.1.2. ”Thomae Fludde”, bapt. April 19 1612 (“son of Christopher and Joan”).
1.1.1.2.1. Thomas Flood Jr., b. ca. 1637-1642, m. Ann Rose, b. ca. 1650-1655.

WIVELISCOMBE FLOODS

1.2. Robert Flood, m. Elizabeth, Jan. 21, 1560,
1.2.1. Robert Flood, b. ca. 1562. bur. April 19, 1612 as “Robert Floyd, the elder”.
1.2.1.1. Robert Flood, b. ca. 1592.
1.2.1.1.1. Robert Flood, bapt. Feb. 15, 1618
1.2.1.1.2. Henry Flood, bapt. May 27, 1620.
1.2.1.1.3. Agnes Flood, m. John Sharpe,* Feb. 2, 1647.
1.2.1.1.4. William Flood, m. Agnes Bowring.*

1.2.1.2. Nathaniel Floyd? He can be conjectured to be of this family because the Nathaniel Flood of Virginia had strong connections to the Harris Family of Wiveliscombe, and the common description of him – he was a Welshman who came to Virginia in 1624, aged 24 – can be questioned on all acounts; the Nathaniel Flood/Floyd associated with the Harris family need not necessarily have been him of the 1624 Muster. Thomas Harris, ca. 1630-1688, held land in lower par. IOW Co. on borders of Blackwater to the bottom of Pig Neck (B. 7, p. 510), which had been granted to Mr. John Seward on April 16, 1648, who had patented land in 1638 “upon Warresquioke River”, against the land of Nathaniell Floyd, whose widow m. Francis Hobbs, whose son, Francis Hobbs, was the father of a dau. who m. John Harris, son of Thomas Harris, d. 1672. Nathaniel Floyd’s headright was Mathew Tomlin; his land being adj. that of Thomas Harris, d. 1688: (B. 7, p. 299). The sons of Thomas Harris, d. 1672, John (son-in-law of Francis Hobbs Sr.) and Thomas Harris, held land which had beem Nathaniel Floyds: 365 ac., Upper Parish of IOW Co.; on N. side of the Ashen Swamp, near the head and on W. side of Seward’s Creek, April 20, 1685, p. 441.
1.2.1.3. Richard Flood, m. Margaret Stevens, Apr. 29 1634.

BOWRING

1. …
1.1. Robert Bowring.
1.1.1. Robert Bowring, bapt. Feb. 14, 1560.
1.1.1.1. Robert Bowring, bapt. Feb. 8, 1590.
1.1.1.1.1. *Agnes Bowring, bapt. April 20, 1616.
1.1.1.2. John Bowring, m. Margaret Rogers, Nov. 13, 1630.
1.2 John Bowring, m. Joan Clowter, Nov. 29. 1565, sister of John Clouter, who m. Joan Westbrooke, sister of Dorothy Westbrooke, wife of William Harris, progenitor of the Harris family of Wiveliscombe; given here in a trimmed form:

1. William Harris, m. Dorothy Westbrooke, on Aug. 31, 1562, in Wiveliscombe, Somerset.
1.1. Richard Harris, m. (1594) Elianor Bennett, in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, sister of Edward Bennett, the Virginia coloniser.
1.1.1. Edward Harris, held land patented by his cousin, (Governor) Richard Bennett,* on Nov. 4, 1642. This was adj. land held by Wm. Newsome, April 6, 1653, p. 51.
1.1.1.1. Edward Harris, d. 1677. The estate accounts of Edward Harris Jr. inc. “100. Payd Coll. Bacon for rent”, land bought from Thomas Harris, d. 1672.
1.1.2. Thomas Harris, m. Judith Blake, on Nov. 20, 1623, in Wivelscombe.
1.1.2.1. Thomas Harris, b. ca. 1625, d. 1672, in Virginia.
1.2. William Harris.
1.2.1. Richard Harris, bapt. Jan. 28, 1595, “son of William”. (“Harries”).
1.2.1.1. John Harris, bapt. Feb. 18, 1624, “son of Richard”.
1.2.1.1.1. Elizabeth Harris, b. ca. 1662, m. Samuel Lancaster, son of Robert Lancaster Sr.
1.2.1.2. Thomas Harris, d. 1688, whose descendants were much linked to the Lancasters.

STEVENS

1. William Stevens.
1.1. Christopher Stevens, m. Elianor Forte, Oct. 19, 1581.
1.1.1. William Stevens, bapt. Jan. 24, 1585.
1.1.1.1. Nicholas Stevens, m. Mary Body, June 20, 1614.
1.1.1.1.1. Margaret Stevens, m. Richard Flood, Apr. 29 1634. The link between the Wiveliscombe families of Body, Forte, and Harris in Virginia has been given in previous posts.

CANNINGTON (3 miles N.W. of Bridgwater, from whence a family of Sharp, who, as their namesakes of Wiveliscombe, disappear from church registers from the 1630’s, or so.

1. John Sharp, m. Joan Horne, Jan. 16, 1608/9, in Cannington.
1.1. Richard Sharp, bapt. May 10, 1609. Was he synonomous with his namesake of Virginia, whose will was dated Jan. 15, 1699/1700, which bequested to: “Anne Harris in case she recovers from the present sickness”. Thomas Harris, Will recorded October 9, 1688: “daughter Ann to Mrs Ann Sharp for 7 years”. Thus, did he m. a sister of the said Thomas Harris, or a sister of his wife, with Thomas placing his dau. with her aunt. Or, more simply, were the Sharps just neighbours of this Harris family, and shared peripheral ties of kinship?
1.2. *John Sharp, bapt. Nov. 30, 1616, m. Agnes Flood, Feb. 2, 1647.
1.3. Mary Sharp, bapt. Aug. 22, 1612, m. James Lott, July 24, 1643.

The registers do not reveal if the said Richard Sharp had a son of the same name; perhaps born in Virginia, though.

The Sharps may have been of Tetbury, Gloucestershire, as suggested in previous notes.

HOBBS

1. …
1.1. Francis Hobbs, born c. 1600. (Tanners v Hobbs. Plaintiffs: William Tanners. Defendants: Francis Hobbs, Mary Hobbs his wife, Edward Knight, Robert Webb, Walter Tanners and Edward Tanners. Subject: property in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. 1661. (C 6/48/118). It was this Francis Hobbs who m. the relict of Nathaniel Floyd.
1.1.1. Francis Hobbs, born 1624. Francis Hobbs, aged 40, and Robert Kae, aged 36, deposed about John Askew, Aug. 9, 1664. Edward Bechinoe’s Will was rec. June 9, 1679, naming wife, Mary, son George. George Bechinoe’s Will, rec. 1688, was witnessed by Robert Kae (of Bristol), his son-in-law, and mentions Edward Bechinoe, his son. Edward Harris: Appraisers: Edward Bechinoe, Richard Corsey. The Bechinoe family held property in Bristol, as well as adj. that of Nicholas Hill (a kinsman of the Harris family, having married their Bennett cousin).

Will of Nicholas Hill, the first day of January, 1674: to his wife Silvester for life my plantation in IOW … being bounded betwixt the cart path that goes from the mill belonging to Mr. George Hardy (probable father-in-law of Edward Harris, d. 1677) … to son George Hill all my woodland, betwixt the aforesaid branch betwixt Mr. Briggs’ and Mr. Beckenoe’s plantations, and the old cart path that goes from the River side to Blackwater, being the bounds betwixt the land Col. Bacon bought of Thomas Harris* and my land”, *d. 1672.

1.1.1.1. Francis Hobbs, born ca. 1650, m. (1) Elizabeth Bridgers, Oct. 9, 1671, in Tetbury. His Will was recorded on June 9, 1688, leaving a legacy to “cousin John Davis”, and “brother John Harris”; the former being a lender to Edward Harris, d. 1677, as given in the estate inventory, overseen by his wife Mary Davis, i.e. Mary Greene.
1.1.1.2. … m. John Harris.

John Wayne –

“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway”.

John Wayne, as from old Somerset (Zoomeerseet).

Cooraage iz beein scaard too dee-ath boot saadlin oop anywaay – in the accent of Robert Newton’s Long John Silver, after drinking a gallon of strong ‘ziider’, perhaps.

Sometimes you have to laugh.

by m stanhope, copyright B.T. Shannon 2023