Elizabeth Halloway Bacon

Elizabeth Halloway Bacon was associated with Northampton County, Virginia, where she was identified as the widow of Dr. John Holloway and later as the wife of John Nuthall. The supplied material gives her life dates as 1598–27 July 1653, while also containing conflicting statements about her birth and death.

Elizabeth Halloway Bacon is given in the supplied material as having been born in 1598 and died on 27 July 1653. A family-tree note, however, describes Elizabeth Bacon as born about 1609 in England and as dying sometime between 1653 and 1660.

She was the widow of Dr. John Holloway of Northampton County, Virginia. By this first marriage, she reportedly had a daughter, Priscilla Holloway, who married William Stevens.

Elizabeth married John Nuthall in Northampton County, Virginia, in January or February 1644. John Nuthall was said to have been born in 1618 at Rocheford, Essex County, England. The material places him in Northampton County by 1643 and states that he later died in July 1667 at Cross Manor, St. Mary's County, Maryland.

In the latter part of 1651, William and Elizabeth Gaskins accused Elizabeth Nuthall of adultery. According to the Northampton County court record cited in the notes, the Gaskinses were found guilty of slander and received fines and severe lashings.

The supplied notes state that John Nuthall married Jane Johnson at Hungar's Parish, Northampton County, Virginia, on 12 September 1660, after Elizabeth's reported death. Jane Johnson was said to have died by 1663. Because the notes give inconsistent dates for Elizabeth's death, the exact date remains uncertain from this material alone.

Historical context

Elizabeth's known associations in the supplied material are with Northampton County on Virginia's Eastern Shore and, through her husband John Nuthall, with St. Mary's County, Maryland. The 1651 slander case illustrates that personal accusations could be heard in the Northampton County court and could result in financial and corporal penalties when the accusation was judged slanderous.

Sources & research

Research of Linda Smith Cheek.
Northhampton VA Wills, Deeds and Orders.
Maryland and Virginia Colonials.
MD and VA Colonials by Doliante.
Deposition of Levina Twisden of St. Marys County, 1720.
Deposition of Capt. William Jones, 18 July 1664.
Northampton County, Virginia, record dated 9 August 1661 concerning John Nuthall's purchase from Thomas Cornwallis.