Thomas Wooten

Thomas Wotton, also recorded as Watton and Wooten, was christened at Castor, Northamptonshire, England, on 27 September 1612. Records and later family research place a Thomas Watton in Virginia by 1639. He later held land in the area that became associated with Isle of Wight County, Virginia, married Sarah, widow of Arthur Wood, and made a will dated 15 March 1669 under the old-style calendar.

Thomas Wotton, whose name appears in records as Watton and Wooten, was christened on 27 September 1612 at Castor, Northamptonshire, England. The christening record identifies him as the son of Thomas Wotton and Jane. A later family-history study describes him as probably the son of Thomas and Jane Watton of Castor, near Peterborough, but this parentage should be treated as a qualified conclusion rather than established solely by the supplied record.

A Virginia land patent dated 18 June 1639 credited John Pawley, described as a surgeon, with the transportation of Thomas Watton and eleven other servants from England to Virginia. The patent granted Pawley 600 acres above the head of Lawnes Creek in James City County. This record places a man of Thomas's name in Virginia in 1639; the supplied account interprets the arrangement as likely involving a term of service to Pawley.

By January 1645/46, Thomas Watton received an assignment of 150 acres from William Troloder. The tract had been part of land patented by Robert Eley in 1639, near Pawley's land. Arthur Wood witnessed the assignment. The supplied family account states that Thomas later married Sarah, the widow of Arthur Wood.

Thomas and Sarah had a son, Richard Wotton. Sarah's son by her earlier marriage, Thomas Wood, is identified in Thomas Wotton's will. A deed dated 4 January 1668 names Thomas Wood as the son of Arthur Wood and Sarah Wooten, widow of Arthur Wood, and also names Thomas Wooten, Sarah Wooten, and Richard Wooten.

Thomas Wotton made his will on 15 March 1669, using the calendar then in force in England and its colonies. He named his wife Sarah Wotton and his “only & true begotten sonne,” Richard Wotton, as executors. After payment of debts, he left Thomas Wood the value of 200 pence and left his remaining land, houses, livestock, household goods, and other estate to Sarah and Richard. After Sarah's death, Richard was to possess the estate; if Richard died without issue, Thomas directed that it pass to his next kin of the Wotton name in Castor, Northamptonshire, near Peterborough. He requested that James Sampson and Richard Briggs serve as overseers of the will.

Under the modern calendar, which begins the year on 1 January, the will date of 15 March 1669 old style corresponds to 15 March 1670. The supplied material does not independently establish the date or place of Thomas Wotton's death.

Historical context

Thomas's surviving record trail in the supplied material consists chiefly of a 1639 Virginia land patent, a mid-1640s land assignment, a 1668 deed, and his will. These records connect him with the Lawnes Creek area, then at the meeting of James City and Isle of Wight counties, and with later Isle of Wight County research.

Sources & research

England Births and Christenings, 1538–1975, FamilySearch, entry for Thomas Watton, 27 September 1612, Castor, Northampton, England; FHL microfilm 94,951.
Wooton, Richard C. The Woottons of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Greenville, N.C.: Wooten and Related Families Association, 1981.
Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers and Pioneers, volume I; Archive.org scan, page 110, https://archive.org/stream/cavalierspioneer00nuge#page/110/mode/2up/search/William+Woten.
Virginia Patent Book I, part 2, page 670; abstracted in Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, volume I, page 114.
Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, volume I, page 863.
Isle of Wight County Records Microfilm 1, page 99, Virginia State Library, Richmond.
Wooten and Related Families Association, Special Studies I, pages 31–32.
Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia: A History of the County of Isle of Wight, Virginia, During the Seventeenth Century, Including Abstracts of the County Records. Chicago: Chicago Law Print Co., 1938, page 557.
Hammonds, Sadie L. Southern Relatives, volume I.
Wooten DNA Surname Project, “Thomas Watton b. 1612 and d. 1670,” FamilyTreeDNA, kit 239283, haplogroup I-M235, 112 markers tested, familytreedna.com/public/wooten.
Find A Grave, Memorial 55116902.
Ancestry family-tree person facts, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/1577295/person/110093080421/facts.
Ancestry family-tree person facts, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/1577295/person/110102010374/facts.
WikiTree, profile Wooten-256, created through import on 26 August 2012 by Judy Young.
“Wills of Wooten Family,” bjhughes.org, http://www.bjhughes.org/wootenwill.html.